Somewhere Over the Rainbow

One of the best American Idol episodes this season. Contestants were supposed to pick songs that inspire them. Best song of the night probably goes to Jason Castro with Somewhere over the rainbow. I love this version...and it reminds me of the same song sung by Katharine MacPhee a few years back. Same lyrics, entirely different arrangments, and I love them both.

In a way, the song brings me back many years ago when I was in Primary One sitting in my school hall watching a ballerina dance performance. The tune the ballerinas were dancing to was "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". I fell in love with the song and the dance, and even bought some photos of the performance!

When I was young, it was my dream (and probably the dream of many young girls) to be a ballerina. The grace and beauty associated with the elegant art was just too enticing. I actually took up ballet in my lower primary days, but gave up after realising that I had bones as stiff as chopsticks. I was just no talent at ballet.

It's nice reminiscing those days of dreams. Where you are free to dream big, and look to the future, wondering what it may hold for you. Sadly, now that I am all grown up, practical reality has set in. There's hardly time for dreams and great ambitions. Not that it really matters. If I could turn back time, I would probably have done many things differently. Maybe I would have been more insistent to pick up piano, maybe I would have studied law, maybe I could have salvaged that friendship...there are countless maybes.

But now, I just want to appreciate life. It's difficult to dream big anymore because I am already of the age where I should be working towards the dream. There are still small wishes and hopes...while I don't dare to dream too big, I'll definitely work my "best-est" so that my little wishes and hopes do come true.

Home & Decor, Nature

Home & Decor came by today (or to be exact - yesterday, since it is already past midnight) for a photoshoot of my place. How did it went? An ok experience, I suppose. The people were nice and friendly, but a lot of reorganisation of my home furniture though. For example, I had to remove my husband's chunky PC monitor from the study area, my ames-replica was shifted away from my ideal spot...

The photoshoot took slightly over 3 hours, and boy, my hubby and I had quite a bit of reorganising & packing to do after that. Had to reassemble the PC, connect our speakers, move things back to original place...I'm not complaining by the way, cos even though they didn't offer to help us put the stuff back in place, my husband and I would much prefer to shift things back ourselves.

As homeowners who had saved up for our home, we tend to be more careful with our furniture. For instance, I almost freezed when the photographer just slided my black footstool to one corner...my fear at that moment was that my cement floor might not be able to handle that harsh treatment, but lucky for me, my fears were unfounded. But still, the policy in my home between my hubby and me is that all items are to be lifted and placed down, not dragged across the tough-looking, but unfortunately, sensitive cement flooring.

Anyway, the team showed us the final pictures. The photos were nicely taken, but I felt that it didn't reflect the "feel" of my place. The photos showed nice angles, but failed to capture what we thought were the best spots in my home. Guess the photographer had a different perspective of my place...

I'm obviously not as professional as him, though I do dabble in a teeny bit of "artistic shots" with my non-professional Canon Ixus. Anyway, I was inspired to take some photos of my place to reflect what I think were the missing elements from the photoshoot today.

On a VERY separate note, there was a really lovely sunset viewed from my home about a week ago. These are some pictures I took.

The pretty blend of colours in the sky is definitely an instant perk-me-up to any nasty mood. I think no man-made colours/structure can be as beautiful as that found in nature. And I guess that's the beauty - nature, God's creation, is constantly evolving, surprising us. Man can never duplicate nature 100% - a simple example lies in the fact that most ladies prefer fresh to artifical flowers because the latter just looks, well...fake.

I love travelling because there's so much nature I soak in which I cannot find in the city I call home. Staring at the sea for hours without feeling bored, trekking past the Himalayas and filled with a sense of awe, observing the giraffe patiently chewing off the tree - I miss travelling and can't wait for my Peru holiday in July.

Ok I'm digressing. But I certainly hope to catch another beautiful sunset from home again...and do look out for June's issue of Home & Decor. My place will be featured in it =)