Fragrant Garden

As a promise to keep up with our exercise habit, we started our nature walk routine again yesterday. Our nature walk destination was the Fragrant Garden, it's a newly opened garden at Singapore Botanic Gardens.

I love the scenery and the color right after it rained! Sentimental, fresh and radiant!

On the way to the new garden, we walked past the Evolution Garden.

I always have new feelings for all the old places when I revisited!

Do you like bougainvillea? I like them! Nostalgic, maybe! There is a Vietnamese poem about bougainvillea that I like very much!

Hoa giấy

Anh trở về căn nhà cũ không em
Hoa giấy rơi như ngày xưa xa lắc
Vẫn nhẹ nhàng như những dòng nước mắt
Rớt nhẹ bên thềm lơ đãng chiều đông

Gió lạnh lùng như kí ức mênh mông
Hoa rơi mãi vô tình trong thinh lặng
Chẳng còn bài thơ đã từng viết tặng
Hoa giật mình, rớt khẽ xuống tay anh

Anh ngậm ngùi vì hoa giấy mong manh
Chẳng giữ được em, dù là chiếc bóng
Và khi đại dương dạt dào cuộn sóng
Anh vẫn là dòng nước lững lờ trôi...

Hoa giấy bây giờ vẫn là hoa giấy thôi
Vẫn bay khẽ trong hoàng hôn lộng gió
Lặng lẽ thả mình giữa không và có
Chẳng biết là mãi mãi hay mong manh

Có lẽ nào chỉ là của riêng anh
Dông bão, lặng yên, ngậm ngùi, tiếc nuối?
Hoa vẫn rơi đẹp như lần hẹn cuối
Như chưa bao giờ biết đến đổi thay

Chùm hoa rung mình khi ngọn gió lay
Anh biết mùa đông chẳng còn hoa nữa
Nơi xa vô tận, mình anh đứng giữa
Có cánh hoa nào nhẹ rớt trên tay...

Finally we reached the Fragrant Garden!

It's quite a small area, but really it is a fragrant garden! Almost all the flowers there are aromatic!!!

Some photos of flowers and plants, also tiny insects that I captured!

Saw the droplets of rain water on pine tree leaves that really fascinated me. They were just dangling delicately like crystals.

We decided to walk around Botanic Gardens before exiting. I like watching people and activities happening around me. Felt blissful!

I have learned that life isn't fair, but it's still good! I've got joy in abundance! I've got life full of substance! I've got something to live for! I've got surplus to give more! So I count my blessings!


Have a good day, everyone!

Enlightened Ways at Asian Civilisations Museum

Last weekend we made a trip to Asian Civilisations museum. On the way there, we came upon an old school playground at Raffles Place!

To my surprise, it was an exhibition! There were swings, see-saws, picnic tables, benches and even a mini merry-go-round! The temporary exhibits will only be there for two months before heading to East Coast in June, Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park in August then making the final stop at the Singapore Botanic Gardens in November.

I actually waited to take photos of the see-saws and merry-go-round, but they were occupied all the time, so we continued our trip to the museum instead.

As soon as we arrived, we were guided to the Gallery, which happened to have a traditional Thai dance performance at that time.

In the Shaw Foyer, there was a talk by Venerable B.Dhammaratana about Buddhist Practices.

There was a Stupa exhibition at the Shaw Foyer as well.

We continued exploring and I was awed when I entered the Salak Yom, Trees of Gifts from Thailand exhibition. These trees are exploding with colors. I love colors!

In that exhibition, we learned to weave our own bamboo fish in the Salak Yom tradition.

We also participated in another activity called Wish Upon A Fish! Lg's wishes are hilarious and he had three wishes!!!!

The main exhibition, Enlightened Ways: The many streams of Buddhist Art in Thailand.

This exhibition features more than 190 works dating back 1500 years of Buddhist art in Thailand.

Besides a well-curated collection of Buddha statues, there are a mix of artefacts, artworks, paintings, scrolls, amulets and textiles showcases.

It was a fun day! I hope for more!

Anything could happen

I seldom share my personal thoughts on my blog but lately, my mood was so down that I made my loved ones worry about me! I know what it is but I just like to keep those thoughts to myself even though I have to find the way out of it.

I have to keep reminding myself these...

1. As long as you are alive and healthy, anything is possible. You have a choice to keep trying until you finally succeed.

2. Believe in your dreams. Don't sell yourself short. In life, there are many people trying to bring you down and tell you what you want is not achievable. You just have to believe in yourself.

3. Prove yourself. Focus on your goals. You are strong, stronger than you think. One little setback is not enough to stop you from achieving your goals.

4. Your family and friends. Let the people you love be your inspiration to persevere. You need to try a different angle, study more, practice more but don't give up!

5. You deserve to be happy! Don't ever let anybody tell you otherwise. Keep that in mind and anything could happen.




Life is fragile. Live to the fullest while you can!

DIY upcycle T-shirt

My current hobby is upcycling Lg's old T-shirts into trendy pieces! All his T-shirts are so huge that I can just cut and design into any shape and size!!!

Tada! Before and after DIY! From a T-shirt, it became a fringe dress!

This is the back! It's a braided back! I'm about to share how I did it! Before starting, prepare what you need, which are a pair of scissors, sewing kit and some patience!

Cut out both sleeves and downsize the shirt by cutting both sides of it. After cutting to your desired shape, sew back all the open seams! To make the braid at the back, cut as many strips as you want, as shown in the picture. Now start to braid!

Braiding is easy! Cross the second strip over the first one then the third over the second and so on, until you finished braiding all the strips! When you're done with braiding, sew the last strip to the shirt to secure the braid. Now, continue with designing the shirt by cutting out the collar at the back, as shown in the last picture.

Add a ribbon just below the braid to hold up the loose material, also to create the waist line. The last step is to create fringes at the bottom! Cut off the bottom hem then cut as many strips as you like! Slightly stretch the strips to make the fringe. Done!!!

One more DIY upcycle shirt from me!!! I love the cute print on the shirt, so I have to transform it into my favorite piece!

I did an asymmetrical look on this piece! It's a hi-lo crop top and it's very simple to make! I'll show you how!

Measure and cut the shirt into your desired size and shape! I want to have a loose fitting for this design, so I only cut a little. Fold the T-shirt into half so that you can easily cut the bottom into a half cresent. Unfold the shirt and cut the bottom front into a cropped look! Sew back all the seams and roll up the sleeves into a cute look! It's almost done here! The last step is to sew two flaps in front to tie a knot at the bottom, which helps adding structure to the piece! I hope you enjoy my tutorial! Have fun DIY!