Make it your OWN

Can’t believe I haven’t shared this yet (with all the traveling I’ve been doing in the past month) – the latest addition to my repertoire of crafted products. You know that feeling where you’re just bursting to share something with anyone who would listen cos you’re so excited about something? That’s how I felt after I made this.

Make her happy with one of these | Photo credit: Juxxtapose

These made-to-order personalised notebooks make perfect gifts of any occasion (or even no occasion at all). You can be sure that I’ll be churning these out as gifts to my own friends and loved ones!

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Art Journal Entry – Dreaming of Ladakh

Credit: Juxxtapose

Majestic peaks, bright blue waters, trees dressed for autumn. Especially the trees – I loved the trees. (You can see that I put in more effort while drawing the tree.) They were a brilliant display of greens, yellows, oranges, and a tinge of red.

Early Year-End Reflections

I’ve been traveling for a bit in the past month and so, I’ve been writing a lot about new places and experiences on the go. In fact, we’ve only just returned from a week-long trip back home, where I had the pleasure of meeting 3 new babies I had yet to meet, catch up with old friends, and attended one wedding and a funeral. Yes, all within a week.

I’d like to take a break from the travel blogging and just write about anything else for a bit. So this post might turn out like a random, haphazard train of thoughts – welcome to my head.

The year is coming to an end, and that usually gets people in a reflective mood. For most, this happens perhaps closer to the making of New Year’s resolutions, but I tend to reflect often and so it is no surprise that the end year reflective period comes early for me.

Looking back at the past year, I realised how much of my life has changed in a very obvious, in-your-face sense. I met up with ex-classmates, whom I haven’t seen for a long time, at the wedding I attended. Naturally, as all people do in these situations, they asked what I was doing now. Usually these questions are answered with jobs and such, but now I say, ‘I’m living in India.’ My life has also changed internally. Not many will notice this change. I have noticed that the outlook I have on life has changed, improved, to be exact. They say that spending time overseas helps you gain more perspective on your life. I’m not sure whether that is the case. What I’m sure of is that getting time off the daily grind provides you the time and energy to sort the rest of your life out.

I’m still grateful everyday for the opportunities to travel and to learn to live on our own. It’s not always easy to live away from home, but now I have grown to appreciate the respite that comes along with not having so much stuff going on around you all the time. My pace of life has slowed down considerably, and the Singaporean in me still cannot come to terms with that. This is what 26 years of fast-paced city life will do to you.

Regardless, never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined my life to be what it is today, and I am eager to know what the next year will bring. I wish I could write a letter to my younger self to tell her that she would receive all these blessings, but I think she want enjoy the surprise and reaction when it all happens.

I watched Sex and the City on the plane back. In the movie, Charlotte, who already had a happy family life, found herself pregnant despite being told by doctors that it would be difficult for her to conceive. She expressed a sentiment that I’ve been feeling for some time.

Nobody gets everything they want! Look at you, look at Miranda. You’re good people and you two both got shafted. I’m so happy and… something bad is going to happen.

She was worried that something bad was going to happen during her pregnancy. Just as I am worried that something bad will happen to me or my loved ones or something because everyone needs to get their fair share of bad things in this life. Does anyone else feel this way?

Dreaming of an African Adventure

I was a very distracted kid. I remember numerous occasions when I sat staring at my homework for hours and at the end of it, it was still not done. In fact, scratch ‘numerous occasions’, it was more like almost every single time. I would sit and immediately get lost in the dreamland of my mind.

I think it was my mum who told me that when I get distracted by thoughts I can’t shake off, to write the thoughts down on a piece of paper and put it away. It did help. Writing it down seemed to have cleared it from my mind, allowing me to focus better on the task at hand. Gradually, though, I forgot this piece of advice. Despite this, I retained the habit of having to write down lists of to-do tasks when it felt like they were building up in my mind. I immediately felt more at ease and in control after writing them down.

I only got reminded of this piece of advice yesterday when I found my mind refusing to concentrate. I incidentally decided to draw what was on my mind, and immediately after I got it on paper, I could focus much better.

Here’s what I drew, dreaming of an African adventure:

Credit: Juxxtapose

(My camels look like dinosaurs!)

This is definitely an easy trick you can try when you find yourself distracted by your thoughts, and also, it is living proof that there are practical benefits to journaling or doodling.

What to Write in Your Travel Journal

This is something I used to struggle with when I decided to start journaling.

A friend gave me one of those travel journals where they have printed in it, set fields to fill in daily. For example, ‘What did you do’, ‘Your favourite meal today was’, ‘How did you feel’. I found those helpful, yet restricting. I felt like I was obligated to fill in all the fields. And Iwould feel annoyed with myself if I left any of it blank. Filling it in daily would feel like a chore.

Instead, I decided that blank journals work best for me. I’m more a write-spontaneously type of person. In fact, sometimes, I feel like words alone cannot capture the moment (or will be too lengthy to capture that moment), so I opt to draw straggly doodles to represent the moment. The structure and format these printed travel journals provide end up hindering my free spirit of random journaling.

So, for those of you like me who are not too keen on journals with set fields and boundaries, here are suggestions of some of the things I found useful when thinking of what to include in my blank journals.

Pre-trip (oh yes, you can start even before you travel):

1. Lists of must-sees, must-dos, must-eats.

2. Important addresses or notes. Might as well keep them close by.

3. Random excited ramblings (Oh, I can’t wait to see a real life bison in the Scottish Highlands! BISONSSSS!).

4. Any travel-related quotes you stumble upon.

During the trip:

1. How you felt when _______. I like to focus on how a certain setting made me feel. I’ve always believed that you remember how you felt at a given time more than the details in that setting. For example, ‘As I stood looking out into the vastness of the Blue Mountains I felt so tiny, and I wondered how the aboriginals walked through all those trees. It made me feel that there was so much in the world more than just me.’

2. New discoveries about the place or yourself.

3. Strange sightings or incidences (I just witnessed a grown woman peeing behind a tree!!! O.O – true story by the way).

4. Other memorable tales that can be retold to your grandkids, like that time you almost got pick-pocketed but turned around just in time for the pick-pocket to drop your wallet and run for it.

5. Notes on your unexpected finds, like the name and address of the ice cream shop you walked by that had a long queue despite the cold weather. You just had to queue to see what all the fuss was about.

6. Random doodles. Perhaps of the oddly-shaped coffee mug at that quaint lil cafe.

Post-trip:

I like to get into a more reflective mood post-trip.

1. General views of the place I visited. Do I think I could possibly live there for a year or 2? I could likely live in Shanghai for a while.

2. Things I am grateful for during the trip or how the trip has made me feel more grateful. (Like that time I found the guy with access to my accommodation by total accident. He was already leaving after waiting for me for an hour. I wouldn’t have gotten in if I hadn’t accidentally bumped into him. And I was traveling solo for the first time in my life.)

3. Things I’ve learnt both about the place and about life in general.

Of course there are so many other things you could write about or leave out of my list of suggestions. The possibilities are endless, and also subjected to YOU. Make the journal your own so that years later you can read it and remember fondly the ups and downs of your adventures. All the examples I’ve given did really happen, and I wish I had started writing them down at that time. Never too late to start I guess!

Back to Everyday Life

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

That was my last view of Singapore as the plane flew 4,149 kilometres to Ahmedabad. 5 hours later, I’m typing this before I go to bed. I’m thankful to have had such safe travels so far. And thankful to have the few weeks back at home. Now, I’m also thankful that I will be falling back to the everyday routine I created for myself in Ahmedabad. I look forward to having a productive week ahead (:

Good night everyone!

Why I Keep a Travel Journal

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

I’ve never been the one to write long paragraphs of narratives or prose. So when I decided that I wanted to start journaling, I made sure that I did not have pre-set expectations of what I would eventually produce. If I had told myself, ‘you’re gonna write a page-long entry each day’, I would most probably have given up within a week.

I have 2 journals right now: a gratitude journal where I jot down (point-form is allowed) the things I am grateful for, and a bible verse journal where I write short reflections on verses that speak out to me whenever I read my Bible.

I don’t force myself to write daily, or even weekly. I just write when I feel like I have something worth writing, or something I would like to remember in the years to come.

Now, I have an additional journal: my India travel journal. I plan to use it to capture everyday anecdotes and thoughts relating to my experience living here. Additionally, as I grab on to the opportunity to explore the Indian sub-continent, I want to sketch the sights that I see as well.

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

I do admit that I’m not very good at drawing. But one thing I’ve learnt about learning to draw well is that to draw, you must first observe.

I’ve been too guilty of rushing from point A to point B without truly seeing what’s around me. It’s even a joke that my colleagues make, that I don’t ever look up from my phone even when I’m walking. I’ve looked at things but haven’t actually seen them. So in a bid to live a life in which I am truly present and mindful of my surroundings, I want to draw the things around me so that I am forced to truly see what I’m looking at.

(I shared about my trip to Calcutta here. And there’s more information about the travel journal that I’m using here.)

Create Your Own Highlight Reel

By chance, or perhaps due to my habit of procrastination, I was just browsing through my Instagram photos for the past year. And to be honest, I look like I have an incredible whirlwind of a life.

Two thoughts followed:
1. I now understand what they mean when they say social media is unhealthy cos it shows you the ‘highlight reel’ of someone else’s life and it causes you to compare your own life to that and subsequently feel like you don’t have enough going for you. My string of posts did indeed look like a highlight reel, showing massive amounts of the exciting parts while close to nothing of the boring mundane ones.
2. Looking at my own highlight reel made me realize how blessed I’ve been in the past year. And maybe that’s one of the upsides of social media – that when you look back at your own properly documented ‘highlight reel’ you see that indeed you had many good times.

It is a known fact that the human mind tends to remember the bad things better. When things go wrong, or when you feel angry or upset, the feelings stick to your mind much more that the happy feelings. That’s why I think things like gratitude journals or #100happydays are useful because when we do reviewing them, we can clearly see the remember the good we’ve enjoying. And hopefully this will give us a better appreciation of our own lives.

In my case, scrolling through my Instagram account unexpectedly made me feel thankful for the life God has given me. I hope this little trick of creating your own highlight reel also helps you find and feel gratitude in your own lives.

And before I go, just thought I’d share a few of my favourites:

Our honeymoon in USA: Double rainbow at Niagara Falls and the crazy lights parade at Walt Disney World.

Our wedding ceremony. Good friends who remember my birthday with sweet gifts.

The amazing Greece. Beautiful flowers in Sydney.

Simple things like awesome waffles back home (this one at Stranger’s Reunion). Embarking and planning for the next adventure.

Credit for all 8 photos: Juxxtapose

Get Ready for Summer with My Favourite Beach Destinations

Summer vacations are the best! Hanging out at the beach, armed with an cold drink and a good book…

Except, I think I like the idea of that more than what it is in reality.  In Singapore, there are only 2 kinds of weather, scorching hot and rainy. So we’re usually not too keen on the summer part. But the cold drink and good book sounds awesome!

Another thing I like is this new notebook I’ve created to celebrate the summer (or in my case, the idea of it), complete with an iced-cold bottle of lemonade!

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

(More pictures here)

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In celebration of summer, here are some of  my favourite beach destinations, in reverse chronological order:

1. Paradise Beach, Mykonos (actually, the whole of Mykonos, really).

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

2. Bali. Cheap and good. This was when we had dinner facing the sea at Jimbaran Bay.

(You can book a villa with a private pool for your holiday)

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

3. Venice Beach, Los Angeles.

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

4. Nice, Antibes, Cannes, and the other beaches along the French Riviera.

(Side note: Photo quality drops because I was using an older camera then)

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

5. The beaches at the towns of Cinque Terre, Italy.

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

Which are your favourite beach getaways?

Travel Done Slow

“Let’s take it slow because some of the good things in life are worthy of reverence and appreciation. Let’s take it slow because what we have is like a cross-country ride, where all the breathtaking scenes must be breathed in and stared at with wonder. “
Nessie Q., Snippets of Imagery

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Photo credit: Juxxtapose

Here’s what’s new in my Etsy shop.

I personally really like it a lot. Clean, simple, minimalist. Hmmm, I should definitely make one for myself too.