one word: love

photo via lovelife

Oh, vanilla bean frap ice cream...I love you. I love you Thursdays. I love you Fridays. I love you weekends. I love you sunny afternoons. I love you Ringo. I love you the-person-who-makes-me-happy. I love you hardwood floors. I love you Room 306. I love you homemade meals and desserts. I love you laundry detergent. I love you messages between friends over the airwaves. I love you real letters from real people. I love you friends and family around the world, at home and everywhere. I love all of you, really. Love love love.

All you need is love. I'm in love with life and I just can't hide it.

a real life toy story

In Toy Story 3, Andy leaves his fond memories of childhood and well-loved toys behind for college. Then came along, a real life toy story. I lived a dream come true for Andy or any kid at heart out there. I actually got to take my toys with me to college, in the library. I used Legos to teach biology. I never owned Legos until now and so I was quite ecstatic to play. Even if the other students thought they were too cool to play with toys again, I enjoyed every moment of it.

musique! listening to + swooned by

Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More

Joshua Radin - Streetlight

Brooke Fraser - Something in the Water

Chromeo - Don't Turn the Lights On

William Fitzsimmons - The Sparrow and the Crow

Elliott Smith - XO

Album Releases

Sept 14 2010 - Chromeo - Business Casual

Oct 12 2010 - Brooke Fraser - Flags

Oct 12 2010 - Joshua Radin - The Rock and The Tide

it's official

For a little less than a year, I've been thinking about and wanting to be a biology ta. Now my dream has come true. I am a bio ta! And I couldn't be more grateful to have this opportunity.

Oahu

swimming with turtles in North Shore

crash into me during sunset

sun-soaked perfection

a distorted reality in the waters

"it's the Black Pearl!"

A two week retreat back to our home away from home in Hawaii.

Some highlights and things I did:

Swimming with sea turtles

Giovanni's

Snorkeling at Waimea Bay

Beach hopping in North Shore

Sunset Beach

Kayaking at Kailua

The Black Pearl docked at KoOlina

Beach bum

Playing my guitar every morning

on the balcony with an ocean view.

San Francisco

I've been to San Francisco since I was little and I never fell in love with this city until a few years back. I want to do touristy things in San Francisco because I've never really seen any of the touristy attractions. I've gotten off to a start because I saw The Golden Gate Bridge myself for the very first time. Mist surrounded the Bridge and the Golden Gate looked like the postcards I had seen. The Golden Gate is exactly how I imagined the bridge to be. Every time I think of the Golden Gate Bridge, I want to watch Homeward Bound and Vertigo all over again. I'm not the type who admires bridges, but the Golden Gate Bridge stands all glorious in my mind. I can't wait to see The Golden Gate's sister bridge, Seto Ohashi in Japan this winter.

"the buzz of the city, as we settle in its majesty"

-Vanessa Carlton, San Francisco

Sydney

Sydney Opera House & Bridge

dreamy sailboats & yachts

Manly Beach

I stopped shortly in Sydney before heading home. I went there last year so I covered most of the sight seeing. This time I went to new places, Balmoral and Manly. I wish I could have stayed longer. I can never get enough of the Opera House and I still need to see the Paddington Market. I'll be back, Sydney.

Some highlights and things I did:

Park across Sydney Harbour Bridge

Balmoral Beach

Harry's Chili Crab

Manly Beach

JB Hi-Fi

Cairns

zebras swim in water

deer antlers and spaghetti

taking pictures and scuba diving all at once

Captain James Cook once set foot here.

a walk through the rainforest

Scuba diving in The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most adventurous and daring things I've done in my life so far. My first descent scuba diving was one small step for other adventurers and thrill seekers out there, a huge step for someone like me who was afraid to submerge their entire body in the ocean for more than five seconds. Scuba diving in the ocean, seeing coral reef, floating and getting lost in all sorts of directions is a surreal breathtaking (literally) experience. Seeing the biodiverse ecological life swimming around you is almost an out of body experience, nothing is holding you back and you see an entirely magnificent different world. When all kinds of fishes swim before your eyes, you realize you're not alone in the ocean and the ocean doesn't belong to you. Being there was unbelievably incredible, better than any aquarium trip because you're in the aquarium and you realize all of this is real.

I journeyed back in time on the train to Kuranda Village, a period before World War II. The train looked like a historical trip back to the past. I imagined if everyone had been wearing vintage clothes, I would have believed I was in a scene in an old photograph.

I have a journal cover with the quote, "just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it turned into a butterfly." The Butterfly Sanctuary made the quote even more sense once I saw these caterpillars and rather large cocoons, only later turning into graceful, fragile winged species.

There's a beach at Cape Tribulation, a place Captain James Cook once ventured and broke down and I walked on those same grounds. Pebble sized crabs crawled beneath the sand, a bank near the shore lurked crocodile territory, a vinegar station and warning signs made me aware that life is very much alive on that corner of the earth. Never so much until then, I was almost convinced I arrived on a primitive and forgotten island, some sort of Treasure Island.

On the crocodile hunt, I didn't see any killer crocs, but as dangerous as crocs are, I would have to say crocs rule! (And no, I'm not talking about the gardener's plastic shoes with holes in them).

Some highlights and things I did:

John Butler (well, posters of his tour)

Tim Tam gelato and Milo ice cream

Scuba diving in The Great Barrier Reef!

Train to Kuranda Village

Butterfly Sanctuary and cassowaries

Cape Tribulation

Rain forest walks and crocodile hunting, crikey!

Brisbane

Streets Beach. A beach in the midst of a city.

City Centre. I can't get enough of these buildings.

Office for lease. I want this to be my space.

a gorgeous skyline view

night scene after I got off the ferry

tortoises rule!

Brisbane is the faraway city I've been searching and dreamily waiting for. The colourful modernistic structures, Streets Beach at the heart of a metropolis, markets and all terrain, outdoor recreation park across from the skyline have made me believe that Brisbane has been waiting all along for me to find this city.

I walked through the botanical gardens, learning the difference between the types of vegetation all over the world. Now I know the difference between ferns and palm tree doppelgangers. There were indie rocker fashionistas at the City Centre, dressed in style I aspire to. The Cultural Centre with all the museums lined up in one place, where I met Ron Mueck's life sized characters is something I could never forget. I only wish I took pictures, only it seemed creepy at the time.

On the train to Beerwah (1 hr 15 min) to Australia Zoo, we passed by The Glass House Mountains. I want to go back there and actually stop to capture the landscape. At Australia Zoo, I instantly fell in love with all the animals, especially the Aldabran tortoises. I petted a baby alligator, fed a joey, fed an Asian elephant and hugged a koala. I felt Steve Irwin's legacy. The Australian Zoo emphasizes on conservation of wildlife. In part, I now feel responsible for caring for and protecting wildlife. I have so much enthusiasm for wildlife.

Some highlights and things I did:

Hop on and hop off city bus

Lookout from Mt Coot-tha

China Town

South Bank: Streets Beach

Stop No. 17 city lookout

Brisbane Mormon Temple

Botanical gardens

Museum of Modern Art: Ron Mueck

Australia Zoo (near Brisbane)