We are Erlina, Young and Hongjun. We are living in Singapore this year, so we're not taking any assignment in US for 2009. We post our latest work and journal here so check back often. To visit our websites, you can find the link from the directory above.
Feel free to leave comments or just say hi, that would make our day.
Our trip was awesome!! This image below can pretty much describe the trip. Lots of laughter and food.
We cruised to East Caribbean, and lucky us... we didn't get Hurricane Fay. The ship was amazing. People who worked there really made the trip so pleasant and the ship was just like a museum. It's filled with beautiful art all over the ship. It's even worth to get on it just to see the art work.
We enjoyed this route because there were enough time to relax. There were only three islands we visited so the rest of the time we could use to enjoy the ship and have a nap.
When we were at St. Thomas, I got this awesome necklace by Bernard K. Passman I didn't plan to shop for jewelry at all but I really wanted to check out Passman's store. This simple black square coral is what I like, so I've got to have it, right?!
While we were on Morning Star beach in St. Thomas, I lost my wallet. We went back to this beach after we realized that I lost it but couldn't find it. So, we were sure that we won't get it back, especially with the cash in it. However.... (I know I shouldn't keep saying how lucky I am but) after we returned to Columbus, we got a voicemail from someone that was on that beach too but was with another cruiseline saying that his wife found my wallet, the cash and all the cards in it and they will send it to me this week. How crazy!!! I think I can say that I'm lucky and very blessed :) Thank you, Don!!
Another lucky factor that made a huge difference on our trip was being in a dinner table with these two fabulous families; The Cooke and the Berg. We were hoping to get a small table at first because we were with Hongjun, we're not sure how long we can stay for dinner and all. But they placed us on this huge table and we couldn't be happier. Each day we look forward to dinner time because we know that it will be fun. Hongjun adored Conner. He usually wouldn't stay on the table through meal but he did. He even ate quite well. We miss everyone so much already. We'll make them visit us in Singapore or we'll visit them in San Diego.
I always make a book of our trip, if you want to see it, click>HERE<.
Today our little sunshine turns 3!! We're going to spend the day having fun with Hongjun and we'll have a party for him this sunday. Hongjun has grown so much and so fast. His temper tamtrum has gone for quite sometime and replaced with a lot of drama. It's challenging but so much fun!! He goes by Batman nowadays, and wear his blue blankie cape a lot. Hongjun has this smile that is so affectionate.... it melt my heart each time... can't imagine not having him in our life. We are so blessed. Love you, Hongjun... Happy Birthday!
Amber and Ryan came yesterday to check out albums and they brought us the coolest gifts! We LOVE all of them. I especially adore the passport holder. It's totally something that I would pick up myself and I can't wait to use it next month for our cruise trip :) Thank you, Amber! We can't wait to enjoy the wine and candle, too. That candle smells soooo good.
They told us yesterday that Ryan surprised Amber with vows renewal on their honeymoon in Hawaii on the beach. Amber loves beach wedding and she had no idea that Ryan planned that for her. How sweet is that?! Now, they have two anniversaries to celebrate!
Young and I want to let you know about a recent decision we made. Young has been considering a job with Pico Art in Singapore and he just came back from Singapore to check things out and get familiar with the company. He loved it there and the people at Pico were talented and very nice according to him. The opportunity they offer is something we couldn’t pass. So, this morning Young signed the letter of acceptance and we decided to move to Singapore. Young will move first, sometime early September of 2008 and I (Erlina) and my son will move early next year to finish all of my wedding obligations first.
I will email all of my past clients that I have all of their packages done to let them know but I have emailed everyone that I still have obligation to meet. So, if you have not receive an email and you're my clients, please contact me. Most of you have received your hires files, if you have, please check them and make sure that none of them have any issue and always keep a backup file. If you haven't received the files, please email me with your current address so that I can send the DVDs to you.
Thank you so much for trusting us and letting us be part of your special day. It's been an honor for us to have this opportunity and to have so many beautiful memories with all of you. We will keep our blog updated even after we move so check back often. As far as what I will be doing, I’m not sure yet, probably relax for a little bit after we move there, settle down, find a preschool for Hongjun and see what the market in Singapore is like. I might continue doing wedding and portrait photography or I might try a different endeavor. If you know anyone in Asia that might be interested for me to photograph their wedding or having portrait session please let them know I’m available in 2009. We would still love to do photography because we love it.
And we're not sure how long we will stay abroad. We may return to US soon. This is not a permanent move. At this moment, we want to explore this opportunity and experience to live in a wonderful country like Singapore. We will keep our blog updated even after we move and we still have many awesome weddings for this year, we're so looking forward to all of them. So, check back often!
These are some images that Young took while he was in Singapore last week. He didn't go to the main district this time which is Orchard Rd. The street photos were from Bugis street which has open markets. He also visited National Museum of Singapore which will be one of the place I want to visit once I get there. It looks so amazing.
When I worked at a financial company years ago... Thank God It's Friday is a phrase that I hear or say a lot. Since I started wedding photography, obviously I don't say that anymore for the obvious reason. Friday is the day I spend getting all our gear ready, charge all batteries, planning, put my mind to start imagining the day and what I want to do, what I want to try, etc... etc... I don't usually sleep much friday night not because we go out partying :) but my mind just don't stop working.. and I have that anxious feeling which I'm glad I still have after all these years doing wedding photography. I think once I don't have that feeling anymore, I need to find another career.
This past few weeks, I've been racing, trying to meet deadlines... trying to do many things at once and still feel I'm behind. This week is one of those week that I feel exhausted... maybe because Young is not here and I can't complain bug him.. maybe because Hongjun was sick the past two days and refuse to take Mortrin to ease his fever.. so he was grouchy and have endless requests that I couldn't possibly fulfill. I'm glad his fever is gone this morning and happy to see him running around the house.
Hongjun finally fell asleep
After I got home, read some news and read that oil price jump again... I got off my chair and went to fill up my tank... still $3.85.. feel like I got a bargain .. $3.85?? Then, I did't feel like going back to work right away, instead I detour and stopped by at World Market. Love that place. I browse the soap area, because a girl need some pampering.. and I found these.. Pangea Organics soaps. It smells so good... it's not strong but sooo good... and the soap container is made out of 100% post-consumer paper and seeds.. so you can soak it in water and plant it. How smart?! These soaps are not cheap, in fact they are pricey but today I don't care. I got to have them. I couldn't even decide which one I liked most, so I got three. Once I got home, I took a shower :) couldn't wait. and I love it. It leaves a clean feeling and I've been sniffing myself like every five minutes, good thing I work alone. I feel better.
Then I got an email from relative of David (Denise and David wedding). It was a very nice email, and it was exactly what I need today. Thank you, Karen. Now, I feel much better.
I have no intention on highlighting the word that's in focus on pictures below. I was focusing on the word "seeds", really..
This is one of the soap and the smart container that you can plant
Young is out of the country for two weeks.. it's not as fun without him here.. So, I got Hongjun some new toys (action figures that he's been wanting lately) and watercolor set.
He loves painting with watercolor, he doesn't care much with crayon.. so I was very happy to see this.
Quick photo of us while he begged for the camera. It's been almost impossible to take his picture. Each time he sees the camera, he wants to use it.
He had the camera and asked me to pose his new toys.
I just finally finished putting together a book of the images we took on our recent trip to Korea, Indonesia and unplanned trip to Singapore. It was an amazing trip and we thank our families to make the trip so wonderful and fun. Time passed by way too fast and we miss going back home again already.
Enjoy the slideshow from the book pages we made (it may take a bit of time to load)
Thanks to the blizzard, our flight was cancelled this morning. I'm quite disappointed because my mind is totally not here anymore. It kind of spoiled my excitement about going.. my body ached partly because of digging out our drive way yesterday and partly because .. mentally I think.. I'm feeling that I'm in the airplane for a very long hours and I'm feeling that ache.
Last night when I got notice that our flight got cancelled, I called United and Singapore Airline right away, and they kept throwing me back and forth to each other to be responsible to rebook us. Anyway, it was interesting that SQ rep asked us if we could somehow find a way to get to Chicago, because the flight there should go on schedule. Drive, you mean drive?! Anyway, we already booked sunday departure and we hope everything will go as planned.
So, today we gave Hongjun some lessons in taking pictures. He's been very interested about taking pictures lately and he's getting really good... his biggest issue is to support the weight of the camera.
First lesson, to know how to chimp, see how serious he's taking this lesson
We are going to be out of the office from March 8th through April 9th. We're visiting our family in S. Korea and Indonesia. We can't even describe how excited we are since we haven't been back for a while.
If you're interested to inquire information about wedding or portraits or would like to reserve your date, please send us email at erlina@erlina.com
We'll try to check our email once a day or every couple of days depending on where we are at that time (since we'll visit a couple of different places including Bali, yei!!) o.. I'm excited.. and we may not always have internet access, but we'll try to get back to you with information and answer your question as soon as we can. You can definitely reserve your date with us during our time off.. just check with us first to make sure that your date is still available and we will get back to you with information on how to reserve the date.
We also have a project that we plan on doing during this trip, so please check back in April after we return. We may even post something while we're there.
It won't be interesting without posting any photo, so these are some images:
Second round.. Hongjun didn't want to eat dinner so we gave him timeout. We thought we should not keep him on his chair this time. So, he got his timeout at the usual spot. Few minutes later.. he fell asleep.. again..
Hongjun has been very challenging during meal time these days. Sometimes he eats some, sometimes he eats nothing, sometimes he eats a lot. It doesn't matter what we give him, we really think it depends on his mood.
So, since last night, we thought we would try to be more firm with him by not letting him leave the dining table until he finishes his meal. Last night, he just cried and cried and still didn't want to eat. That boy is stubborn. So, we waited and hope that he will finally eat but that never happened. He was starting to fall asleep so I offered him other options so he would eat something. He chose bread with nutella. ok.. good.. at least he ate something.
Today for lunch we prepared his favorite fried rice. He loves this fried rice. When he's in the mood, he can eat a big bowl of it. But today was not the day. He didn't want to try it at all, I also offered him soup.. which he didn't try either. Until we finished eating, and washing the dishes, he was still sitting on his seat. A few minutes later, we saw him resting his head on the table.
We thought, he must be tired and being really stubborn. After we finished cleaning the dishes we go around and check on him and he's sleeping!!!
ok he won.. again.. He always knows how to be comfortable while being disciplined. Same with timeout, he would just sit at his spot and just chill there. We really need to figure out how to make him eat more regularly. Any suggestion?
Too bad Hongjun got pink eye yesterday at daycare (which we're not sure if it's really pink eye) He's totally fine today but since they might think he's contagious, we decided not to take him there today.. and he missed his halloween party there :( We did trick or treat in our neighborhood though and he had a blast. He loves it!
We'll be in South Carolina for our friend, Yenny and Jeff's wedding. We are so excited!! We'll be back on Sunday. In the meantime, if you want to contact us, email us at erlina@erlina.com. We'll be checking our email regularly.
We originally plan to go to LA just for the food. But.. like all of you that have kids would know.. if your child is not having fun, nobody will. So, we spent most of our time at the beach. We all have a good time... and I want to get a house there :) We bike, and play in the water.. the weather was really nice, too. It was cooler than Columbus when we're there.. like high 70s or low 80s. Really nice. See previous photos here We almost going to cancel the trip since Hongjun was sick since the sunday before but on thursday he was fine.. so we went. We're glad we did cause it was a lot of fun. We're not a fan on the traffic there.. it's bad! Wish we know good Asian restaurants close to the beach, there's probably some but we just don't know.
This was our first time to fly with Skybus. It was really good. The taxing time was very short. Everyone get to their seat very quickly and getting out quickly, too. There is also more legroom which is not a huge deal for me since I'm short.. but with Hongjun try to kick the seat in front of him a lot.. it's good that it's not that close.
yummy!! I found this place in Korean town through internet. Soot bul jeep?? I think that's the name. You cook the meat on charcoal grill on your table so it's really good but the place is very smoky. We ordered Kalbi and beef tounge.. YUM!
The only photos of three of us. We asked two different people to take our photo, on one of the time, Hongjun was not wanting his picture taken, so he always look away.. and the other one, was great, he was smiling to the camera but somehow the picture was not taken :( I think the person didn't press the button enough..
This time we only took our little Fuji Z1, which we love. It has limitations but we think it's pretty good for a tiny camera and has a really good video, too.
Now, I have to get back to work... with last week Hongjun being at home and sick, I didn't get much done. We'll have three amazing weddings this October which we're so excited about, and a couple of e-sessions! Yei!!
