Ibyang
Ibyang

Photography

Christening and Furniture Shopping

Busy day on Sunday. First, Husband and I had the privilege to cover Isabella Rae’s Christening, the newest princess of our barkada. 🙂

The Kolokoys all had a share of tasks to help our dear friends Richard and Rachelle and our part was to take photographs.

It’s been awhile since Chris and I covered an event and like always, it was fun because we were surrounded by friends.

Jiona is sooooo cute!!! *Gigil* It’s so easy to photograph this kid because everytime she sees her Tito Chris, she laughs like crazy.

Cheek-to-cheek moment with Evan and Hilda.

I finally found the courage to wear heels (wedges actually) and a dress while covering an event but I can’t say that it was a good decision. During reception, Hilda asked me how I was and I could say was “My feet is killing me!”

With the Husband in our happy-and-a-little-bit-ngarag look. This was towards the end of the reception and it’s only in this photo that I realized that the camera strap goes well with my dress hehe.

For more of Isabella’s christening photos, click here.

Right after the christening, we went straight to Ikea for some furniture shopping. Busy days at home in the coming days as we get ready for my parents to arrive. The goal was to buy a bed, mattress and lamp shades. All done and more—as always, you can never leave Ikea with just what you need. We stayed til late afternoon and decided to have dinner there. At this time I was feeling stressed with the highlights of our day. Ikea is a big place and it’s self-service so Husband and I carried the furnitures when we needed to. After our Ikea adventure, I felt really really tired, my arms hurt a bit from all that carrying. When we arrived home, all I did was get ready for Monday’s work and lie down.

Anyway, everything’s set. We’re just waiting for the furnitures to arrive today (as in now while I’m writing this).

READ MORE

Magnificently Melbourne

In celebration of our 2nd anniversary and my 32nd birthday, we decided to take a quick break from Sydney and spend it in MELBOURNE!!!

Melbourne is such a refreshing and welcoming place, so let me share with you the things I love most about it.

I love their quaint alleyways that entices you to follow your senses: you’ll smell heavenly food offered by eccentric little cafes and see dainty boutiques that sell fashionable clothes, bags and accessories.

I love their different modes of transportation: the colorful trams, old and new buses and their cute cute trains.

I love that this place is the coffee and chocolate capital of Australia. Every nook and cranny, you’ll find cafes that serve delicious chocolate and coffee.

I love that this is the fashion and shopping capital of Australia. Need I say more?

I love that everywhere I look, I find something artsy like sculptures in the middle of the sidewalk, graffitis that doesn’t seem offending, and some of their buildings’ architecture here are more innovative-looking that can rival structures in Dubai and Hongkong.

I love it that they have the better Casino place here that boosts of a great hotel (where Roger Federer stays so I’m told hehe), a beautiful view of the Yarra River, posh restaurants and designer boutiques.

I love that they have Nobu Restaurant and TGI Friday’s here.

I love that this is the home of the Australian Open. This was an event that we weren’t keen on participating on the onset, but we’re glad we spent one day watching games at the Australian Open. It was such a marvelous experience.

I love their night market: numerous stalls of clothes, bags, house decors, lamps, food and even massages!

I love that they have an avenue full of photography shops where we even found a cafe called “Zoom Cafe” (how cool is that!)

I love that this is the maiden home of “Wicked” The Musical. It is because of this musical that made my birthday doubly special…and one of the main reasons why we chose Melbourne to spend our 2nd anniversary and my birthday in.

Our anniversary and my birthday were significantly more special because we spent it there, all the more making our trip to Melbourne magnificently memorable.

We were in Melbourne for only four days, but it felt like home…and we would gladly go back there with or without a special reason.

For a more detailed account of our Melbourne experience, please click on the following links:

First day in Melbourne

Anniversary Dinner at Nobu (Crown Entertainment Plaza)

The Australian Open 2009 Experience

Melbourne at Night

A “Wicked” Birthday Celebration in Melbourne

READ MORE

New Year 2009

A 5-million show. With a theme of Creation. 12-minute never-before-seen fireworks. 15 months of planning to showcase the world’s greatest pyrotechnique display. 1.5 million Sydneysiders and tourists from all over the world. Nobody does the New Year’s celebration the way Sydney does!

-o0o0o-

The first time I’ve witnessed Sydney’s New Year Fireworks was in 2002. At that time, I was with my cousins, at a certain bridge in the City, far away from where the fireworks was but we can still see the fireworks nonetheless, and feel the spirit of the new year coming in. At that time, it was just us cousins with bottles at hand, laughing and drinking while watching the spectacle above us…no cameras, no mobile phones, no hi-tech gadgets…our eyes solely watching, our minds capturing every sparkle and putting each “photograph” into our memory. It was one of my most cherished experiences when I visited Australia for the second time. It was remarkably beautiful.

-o0o0o-

This year, as much as I’d like to spend New Year’s at home (like I always do), I decided to take the Husband to the City to see the 2009 Fireworks. Since I have cherished memories of how Sydney celebrates New Year, I’d like for him to experience it too. So on new year’s eve, off we went to Mrs. Macquaries Point, hopeful to get a good spot.

Before leaving home, I prepared at little something on our dining table so the house “can welcome” the new year too. I got this tradition from my mom–gathering up 13 fruits for prosperity. She also told me to have a bowl of rice with coins and another bowl with garlic cloves in it. According to her those are all symbols of prosperity and money.

We arrived at Mrs. Macquaries Point, a little before 3pm. Thank goodness for our friend Jon for being early or else, it would took us ages to get inside. By the time we got in, the good vantage points were all taken. If not for Jon patiently roaming around the place, we wouldn’t be able to get a spot that has a little bit of view of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

For the next eight hours, we hung out there and waited. The sun shone brightly, most people sunbathe. Us? We setted up our umbrellas and tripods to shield us away from the sun. The waiting was long but playing with our cameras and watching Big Bang Theory on my iPod helped to pass the time.

We also made friends with some of our “neighbors”. We were surrounded mostly by tourists (I kinda find it funny to say “tourists” when I myself feel like a tourist here sometimes) from Germany and UK. When they asked us where we’re from, they actually thought we were tourists too and that we’re visiting Sydney just to spend new year’s here.

We brought sandwiches, chips and bottles of water. Chris bought beer. We drank water and beer, ate a bit. But we were never really hungry. For some reason, we somehow lost the appetite to eat. Maybe it was because of the heat, and we’re a bit tired from carrying our gears. Or maybe we’re just anxious to see the fireworks.

At 9pm, the Family Fireworks lit up the sky for about 7 minutes. It was followed by the Harbour of Light Parade wherein 55 vessels made their way around Sydney Harbour. The ships illuminated emblems which represented this years theme: CREATION.

Quarter to midnight, we got ourselves and our gears ready for the nth time. Cameras and lenses, check. Tripods, check. Handycam, check. Excitement and antipation, check!

Note: Chris and I never really used our tripods though. Initially, Chris was to use a tripod but he gave it up and stood up with me and moved around. Hence, all our fireworks photos were handheld. Maybe if we had a more comfortable vantage point, we could’ve maximized our resources but we had to do with whatever space we had that time.

Ten…nine…eight..seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…(an additional second)…and the fireworks began!!!!!!!!!

This year’s theme was CREATION which was designed to encourage everyone to think of where they came from, where they are now, and where they are going, as individuals and as a community.

The best part of the fireworks is always the finale where the Harbour Bridge is enveloped with a myriad of colors and sparkles.

And by the end of the fireworks production, the CREATION symbol was finally revealed: A SHINING SUN.

As I watched the finale unveiled before me, it reminded me of this bible verse:

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. – Genesis 1:3

I have initially compared the New Year 2008 fireworks to this year’s celebration and thought that last year’s was more grand (because last year was Sydney’s 75th anniversary, so why not?) but as the last bit of the New Year 2009 Fireworks unfolded before my very eyes, I realized that no matter how many times I’ve seen Sydney’s New Year Fireworks, each experience will always leave me in awe, because Sydney makes sure that each celebration is beautiful and spectacular in its own way.

We left for home at nearly 2am. As we were at Hyde Park, we saw a Kebabs Station still open and finally we felt really hungry and so our first meal for the New Year was a Beef Shawarma. Our train ride home was crazy! There was so many people going home and there were delays but we were all in high spirits so it wasn’t so bad. At exactly 4am, we were home.

For more fireworks photos, click:

Chris and Ivy Sanchez’s New Year 2009 Fireworks Collection

Playing with Shutter Photoblog

Jon Dael’s awesome photos

Jon Dael’s New Year’s Eve Countdown

Some tips to enjoy the New Year’s Eve celebration in Sydney, Australia:

  • New Year’s in Australia is Summer season, so wear lightweight clothes. To be more sure of what the weather will be on the day of the fireworks, check http://www.weather.com.au/
  • Wear shoes if you will be hanging out at the park to protect you from dirt, drink spills and broken glasses
  • Plan well by checking websites concerning the celebration.
  • If you plan to hang out at no-entrance-fee vantage points, be early. Some venues open at 10am.
  • Bring food and beverages. Alcoholic drinks in some parks are not allowed.
  • Bring something that will entertain you while waiting (i.e. playing cards).
  • Be ready for big crowds in the City at this time. Even train stations are congested.

READ MORE

Weekend Snapshot: Working on the Sydney’s New Year Fireworks Album

This weekend, I found some time to work on the photos I will be publishing for my Sydney’s New Year Fireworks Photoblog. Since I was also busy with organizing stuff at home, I wasn’t able to finish working on the album. I can only share this photo for now.
And with this photo, let me also greet all Weekenders a happy new year!

-o0o0o-
Weekend at home was quite busy due to our goal of turning our “storage room” into a real guest room. When we moved in to our unit, we put all our boxes and luggages that need sorting and organizing in the guest room (that’s why we call it a storage room for months). Over the Christmas break, we were able to sort out our clothes, bags, shoes and important documents. We’re not yet done but at least we can now see a space where we can put a bed. 🙂
Oh, and we were able to put away our Christmas decors too! 🙂
READ MORE

Weekend Snapshot: Weekend Date with the Husband

For the past month, Husband and I have been spending weekends either with relatives and friends or we’re busy buying stuff for the home. So this weekend, we declared it as a Weekend Date, where we exclusively just hang out with each other and stay home and do anything we want (but that includes chores hehehe).
Friday night, we had dinner at The Rocks to watch the lighting of the Christmas Chair Tree. While having dinner we were entertained by a Hawaiian Band and an acapella group singing Christmas songs. It was so lovely. Our Friday dinner date ended us having coffee at Starbucks where I had my Christmas favorite “Toffee Nut Latte.”
Saturday, I was pretty busy in the kitchen as I cooked a lot of stuff like Spam, Egg and Fried Rice (I usually cook something unhealthy for breakfast once a week as a sort of treat for eating cereal for the rest of the week), Menudo and Fat Burning Soup. While I was busy cooking, Husband assembled our Tallboy cabinet.
Since it’s summer here in Australia, we welcomed the first summer weekend by having Halo-halo and Turon for afternoon snacks.
After our delicious afternoon snack, we had a bit of re-arranging of furnitures. Our bedroom really looks like a bedroom now (Yay!). Now we only need to find lampshades we like for our side tables.
Sunday morning was just spent at the shops for some grocery and a little Christmas shopping.
Weekends like these are priceless. Although we do enjoy spending time with relatives and families, it’s always good to re-connect with each other every chance we get.
May you all have a blessed week!

READ MORE