I’ve been ill just a few days back. So ill that the doctor decided to admit me into the hospital ward for treatment & observation. While I was in pain & misery early that morning, only 2 major thoughts came to mind. Haley & my clients. Boy oh Boy, was I in a mess! Who’s going to take care of them if I’m like this?

Honestly, I was partially afraid for my life that day. My heart was beating so hard so fast, that doctors were worried about my thyroid situation. I was praying so hard that I do not get a heart attack that day. It was so scary… an event which has left me lots to ponder about… again.

This year has me struggling in keeping a balance between my personal life & my business. I was at the verge of burning out. I was working so hard to achieve so many goals, that I forgot to take a step back & give enough time to myself. Every time I wanted to do that, I started feeling guilty about it. I started telling myself the “Me Time” can wait. Lots more important stuffs need to be done first. And thus, I got caught into a whirlpool of family responsibilities, making sure every one is happy, making sure our monthly income is flowing in steadily, chasing after deadlines & deadlines of editing, and endless other things. I forgot about ME. And that affected my creative self, my self esteem, my happy self. I let a certain people bully me & take advantage of me. And that almost killed my passion & my business.

Lucky thing is that I realized about it before it’s too late. I decided to take a real break. I took the courage to have my first solo trip away from home. The wonderful times with my dear friends Laura & Pau Ling are still fresh in my mind. I got to have some time alone & explore Melbourne all by myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love being in a company of people. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a social butterfly. But there’s this special good feeling once a while being alone, especially when traveling in a foreign place. I guess I get the chance to think and not think at the same time. It’s just ME time. And it did wonders. I came back refreshed & strong again.

Laura took time off from work & flew down to Brisbane from Sydney to be with me. She took me around town & even brought me back to her beautiful parent's home. This is her goofing around in the house.

Such fun refreshing time in Melbourne with little Meagan. Mummy Pau Ling is one of my besties. I miss our times chit chatting in bed at night about everything under the stars.

During my exploration of Melbourne city, I visited the beautiful St. Patrick's Cathedral where I offered a prayer for my late father. I did some private reflection here to find some peace in my heart & soul. And found them I did.

I made new resolutions that includes more of ME this time. My health is one major issue I need to keep in check. My family is another, especially my relationship with dear hubby who’s been much ‘neglected’ since we both became parents. And I was so caught up in building up this photography business while juggling with motherhood & keeping the household in order that I just didn’t have much time for anything else. But I want to change all that. And change has been happening. Slowly but surely. And so far, I think I’m doing quite okay.

Our own version of Winter Sonata at Nami Island, Korea. Hehehe...

My beautiful Haley... my everything.

All these changes will not have been easy if not for the amazing amount of support I have been getting from my dearest friends & clients. For trying to understand that I need this time to re-prioritize. For understanding that I am a mother, a wife and a daughter as well. Most importantly, I’m a person with feelings & needs too. And for that, I want to thank my current & past clients who have been so supportive to me. Your little words of encouragements, your short sms-es & messages to see how I was doing, your small little gifts of food & little pretty things. All these I treasure close to my heart.

My business have finally grown enough this year to let me afford help & I’m really happy to welcome my dear friend Su as well as a new found friend, Kevin, into ALP’s little family. We aim & hope to make more happy hearts amongst our clients so praying that our team still stay strong & bonded in order to do just that. To make more happy memories & more happy hearts.

This little slideshow is dedicated to our 2011 clients. Thank you for your unconditional supports! Thank you for taking my hands & walk through this beautiful journey of photography with me. Love you!

A remembrance of 2011.

Here’s to a better 2012 for everyone the world around.

xoxo,
Asther

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Now back to last night…

After the hubby read Haley her usual bedtime stories, I switched off my work station and went to bed with them. Haley & I decided to sing. From “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”, “The Alphabet Song”, “Baa Baa Black Sheep” to many more, we sang happily together in the dark. Giggling & clapping in between songs. We were happy… I felt very blissful. And we finally fell asleep with melodies in our dreams.

Waking up this morning, I opened my eyes to a little smiling face. Haley crawled from her bed corner to mine & started snuggling with me. She softly wishes me a good morning and her sweet little voice calling me “Mommy” just made my day. I’m happy. I’ll worry about all the other stuffs later. For now, I just want to soak in my happiness. I am thankful for being blessed.

My little girl who always makes me happy.

I’m currently juggling between work & motherhood without any help at the moment. My mum’s gone back to our hometown and my trusty PA is on her own family breakaway. So work will have to slow down a little and I hope my beloved clients will give me a little bit more time to settle them one by one.

Hoping to write a year end blog post before 2012 comes, but if I couldn’t, here’s wishing everyone a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year!

Hugs,

Asther

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The pretty Shi Ning!

Shi Ning with her lovely mommy

Daddy's little girl!

Mommy I took months to prepare for this session. She went on a shopping spree, buying all these beautiful attires & headbands for her precious little girl!

Sweet!

Love those funky socks!

Rocking it out infron of my camera!

Tu-tu girl!

We managed to capture some awesome family portraits that day. Seeing their happy faces always makes my heart sings!

LOVE!

FAV!

I brought along my little girl for the shoot so she can spend some time with us and her friend, Shi Ning. Here’s a shot of the two girls together.

Besties in the making?

That is all for now. It’s been a crazy few weeks for me with travels, family & work. Just a little note to inform that my shooting schedule is currently full up to February 2012. I feel so sorry that I’ve to turn down many enquiries for shoots lately but I try my best to refer my good photography friends over whenever I can. So, do book early to avoid disappointment and I look forward to spending some wonderful time with you & family!

Till then, take care & God Bless.

xoxo

Asther

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Music credit: Akvalung

Yup! I’m finally conducting a photography workshop with 3 of my awesome friends. *excited* Wow oh Wow! It’s been a busy busy few months for us, preparing for the launch of our workshops. I’m really happy that it’s finally here and we can go to the next phase!

Want to know more? Head on over to our website at BLOOM Workshops Malaysia. Hope to see you there!

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… with a SPLASH!

As you’re reading this post, darling hubby & I are on a live-on-board dive cruise somewhere in Savu Sea, enjoying one of the many things that we love to do together that is scuba diving. We’ve been dreaming of exploring the underwater world around Komodo National Park for many many years and finally we can tick this off our bucket list! For the first time ever, we left Haley behind (in the care of my own mother) so that we can use this opportunity to be together & do some reflections on our life together.

Fourth year into a marriage life is still considered “young” by many, but to us, it’s one more year of achieving several new milestones together! As husband & wife, and as parents to our beautiful Haley. We started dating back in 2003, going through both highs & lows in our lives together. Living together & apart due to the nature of my previous career as a scuba diving instructress but managed to keep our relationship going although at times we almost call it quits. We’ve never really talked about getting married to each other. I guess it was due to the uncertainty of what we want in life as an individual and as a couple.

But one fine day we did! We got married! A simple, “Darling, I want to get married. To you…” with an even simpler reply, “Aaaarrr…” marked the beginning of the next stage in our life together. And when Haley came into our life, we feel almost complete.

Photo courtesy of Grace Tan (2011)

Here’s an excerpt from an article I read recently which reminds me once again about how important it is to take time off from everything else & focus on just the two of us.

Gal Baras wrote:

“I bet your mind just filled with thoughts of “the children”, “my work commitments”, “that project I have to finish”, “how hard it is to get a babysitter nowadays” and various other seemingly-appropriate reasons for your romantic situation being what it is and why you should not be feeling too horrible about it. Besides, is this not what everyone experiences when they turn from a couple into parents?

Yes, they do, and yes, they all feel just as horrible as you do about it, but does that make it better?

Nope.”

Read more…

Hence, the reason why I took the courage to book this trip for our wedding anniversary celebration this year. This means both of us have to leave our precious little girl behind for so many days. I’m not sure how I’d fare by the time this post is published but I do know that both hubby & I need this “break” together. Our journey is an on-going one… and this is one journey I’m willing to walk through for a very long long time. Pray that God will bless our journey together & let it be filled with more love, happiness & adventures.

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Music by Akvalung

Want to know more? Stay tuned and everything will be revealed pretty soon.

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Su with her precious boys! She was pregnant with her little girl when this photo was taken.

She is a mother of 2 boys & 1 really cute baby girl.

She is a beautiful dedicated wife to her handsome husband.

She loves CHOCOLATE! (a per-requisite to this job I must say… )

She is a pro in multitasking.

She home-schools her boys.

She is breastfeeding her 4-month old baby girl exclusively.

She does some designing work occasionally.

She is my good friend.

Starting this month of November 2011, Su will be helping me in organizing my biz operations, such as handling all emails communication & calendar management just to name a few. We hope that as this little family grows, we will be able to improve in everything we do, especially towards making our clients happy & building up mind-blowing creativity in our photography industry.

Welcome on board, Su! VERY VERY HAPPY TO HAVE YOU. Let’s rock & roll!

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Album Box (with prints inside) and Mini Album

The special Album Box will have your favorite image as the label. The label is printed on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, one of the best paper for photo printing.

The beautiful custom hand-made Album Box (6"x8")

Album Box with prints (mounted & sheet)

You can order the Mini Album and we can custome made the Album Box to accommodate the Mini Album for easy keeping.

We offer professional prints (on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper) as part of the Album Box set, with the option to have each mounted on acid free mats to give a more exclusive look & feel. TOTALLY LOVE THEM!

Professional high quality prints (6"x8")

Prints mounted on acid free mats (6"x8")

The Mini Album is a tri-fold with 3 panels of photos of your choice from your photo session. Personal labeling with your baby/family name can be custom imprinted on the middle panel (not shown in the photo. Sorry!).

Love the American satin ribbon!

Photos can be printed in vertical or horizontal or square orientation. Best to have one type of orientation per album for consistency.

We’re calling them our 2012 new products seeing that our 2011 is currently FULL. So if you book your photo sessions with us NOW for 2012, you’ll be assured to get at least one of these BEAUTIFUL product in your package! Additional orders are most welcome as well.

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I love her smile!

This is the ONLY "naked" shot we managed to capture that day.

Here we used Mommy V's wedding saree as the backdrop.

And then we head outside at their beautiful garden for some outdoor background.

I think she loves sleeping there.

Here's a little moment with daddy dear.

And here's with her beautiful mommy.

And here's with handsome big brother! We had a photo session with him a few months back too.

Thank you again, Mommy V, for being so patience with me during the session. And for trusting me once again to capture your precious moments. I’m even more thankful for the friendship we’ve built and pray that we get to see each others’ kids grow up happy & successful.

I hope to be sharing more of the newborn sessions I’ve done from the past few months. *fingers crossed* In the meantime, my 2011 calendar is almost filled up, so here’s an update of my booking schedule:

• August: FULL
• September: FULL
• October: 2 more weekdays & 1 more weekend available
• November: FULL
• December: Open only for sessions in Kuching (Sarawak). Limited slots available

I am in the midst of revising my packages & rates as well as other products to compliment your sessions and will be launching them in September onwards. Any bookings done in August will still be of the current old rates. So if you plan to have a photo session with me in 2012, you might want to consider booking it now to get the current rates.

Wokay… hope to share another post here soon. Take care & see you soon.

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My Two Babies!

Happy Birthday, my husband, my soulmate, my buddy, my love, my guide, my pillar of strength, my hero. Wokay… too much to write already! But you know I Love You, right?! Let’s celebrate many more birthdays together, okay? *muaks*

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