Auburn Cherry Blossom Festival 2015

This year I decided to venture out to Auburn Botanical Gardens for their annual Cherry Blossom Festival. It was my first time and I anticipated it would be just like ripping a page out of an Anime..

It sorta was, except the fact that the place was packed with hundreds of people having the exact same idea. We got there at around 11am, thinking we arrived at the perfect time. Little did we know there was a line that stretched across from the entrance to the edge of the gardens. Lucky for us and everyone else, the line went very quickly.

I have to admit. Snapping photos proved to be a hostile mission. But with the magic of photoshop and strategic placement, we got the shots.

Entrance of the Japanese Garden

The simple things that make me happy.

Candid family selfies.

This walkway was the highlight of the Botanical Gardens and we probably spent most of our time there. To get our $5 worth, we walked around the gardens and stumbled upon some beautiful spots.

Reflective pool.

The Billabong. PS. The water is actually this colour.

When you lonely, but make new friends.

Sorry for the lack of posts, been a busy few months.
Promise to be more diligent with posting!

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all."

- helen keller

FIST BUMP,

Kyla 

Vivid Sydney Photography Spots

LOVE THIS SHOT

 
I think Vivid is one of the events in the year that I look forward to the most in Sydney, simply because I have a slight obsession with lights. There's something about it that just makes me feel so happy. I really enjoyed the light displays this year, especially because I was able to experiment with my camera and tinker with different exposures. They aren't the best, but it was the first time I ever took pictures with this sort of lighting. I've probably attended vivid around five times so far, but I only managed to take nice photos in Circular Quay, Sydney Harbour Bridge and North Sydney because my tripod and camera equipment was heavy. No regrets though, I managed to get some badass shots.

circularquay.

Customs house was pretty dang amazing this year.

experimented with reflective silhouettes

there's something so beautiful about this contrast.

crazy close-up

one of my favourite artworks this year

northsydney.

Spontaneous trip down to McMahons Point

Lavendar Bay

 sydneyharbourbridge.

 All photos are collected from my Nikon D90 aka Nigel Thornberry with my kit lens.

I think spontaneous journeys make for really nice photos, especially on solo escapades where you don't need to keep track of other people and time. Walking the harbour bridge twice and down to North Sydney makes for great exercise, but probably smart if you rug up especially since it's winter. Also the top of your friend's head makes for a great DIY tripod if you don't bring one. Hope I keep up with these photography adventures, they make for nice instagram posts HAHA.

FIST BUMP,

Kyla

My Mother's Day Surprise - Passiontree Velvet + Swissotel High Tea

I always find it really hard to find presents for my mum, especially since the past few presents I've given her were a dud. Let me point out that they weren't bad quality presents, just more she didn't appreciate it because she didn't see the need. Hashtag Mum logic (I would actually put a hashtag, but my 'three' on my keyboard is broken lol), what are you gonna do. This year I decided the best thing to my mum's heart is through her stomach, it's a genetic thing I suppose. 

On Mother's Day, I made a french feast (not really, but I tried really hard to make it nice) and bought some flowers. She doesn't particularly have a favourite flower, but her favourite colour is purple so I bought an arrangement with purple flowers with lovely complementing roses.

There was a new cafe that opened up at Macquarie called Passiontree Velvet that caught my eye as I did my weekly grocery shopping. Aside from the Parisian desserts and Belgian chocolates, three things caught my eye. The display of Tiffany & Co hues across the cafe, a colourful display of my favourite dessert after ice cream (macaroons) and the fact that I've been wanting to try high tea for the longest time.

Strawberry cheesecake eclair & box of 6 macaroons

From Left Top side going down : Blackberry, Pistachio, Strawberry, Passionfruit, Chocolate, Blueberry

French Toast + Macaroons + Eclair + Tea

So that was the first part of her present. The second part included a High Tea at Swissotel. Being the asian person I am, I found a really good deal on groupon that I couldn't resist. I think it would've been a good experience to share with her since it'll be both our first time at a High Tea and it'd be a good change from normal cafe and restaurant setting. We went today because it was her day off and I made it a double date with my friend and her mum. The High Tea was located at Crossroads Bar at Swissotel and the decor was quite nice. We started the High Tea with a Chocolate Chai Brownie Mocktail/Cocktail and a shot of Italian Hot chocolate.

I really liked these drinks, the chai brownie mocktail especially.

Then came our high tea sets. Don't be deceived. These don't look that filling, but we didn't even eat lunch and we left in a food coma.

Serves 4 people.

Top Layer: White chocolate panna cotta with strawberry coulis, Milk chocolate profiteroles with cream, Chocolate Tart with raspberries & Orange cheesecake

Middle Layer: Chocolate Chip Scones with jam and cream

Bottom Layer: Vegetarian wrap, Turkey with vegetables with basil aioli, Smoked Salmon and cream cheese & Roasted beef

They also had a chocolate fountain with melon and pineapple, which I definitely couldn't resist.

That chocolate shine doe.

On top of all that, we got to try their wide selection of T2 teas. I drink tea on a daily basis, so I loved the selection. I tried the rosy red hip tea, which was really nice and my friend tried the detox tea. 

Overall, it was a really good experience for high tea. We spent 2.5 hours just sitting down and chatting. I realise that people have really busy schedules nowadays, but it's always good to wind down and spend time with each other. Both our mothers didn't want to take photos, but we couldn't help but take some candid snaps of each other. 

Meet my friend Alicia.
Despite what she may look like, she's not actually Korean.
On the plus side, she's single.
Just saying.

wingwoman skills too strong.

FIST BUMP,

Kyla