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Grace Tan
In Casual Portraits, Life, Portraits

Some Family Portraits (of the other kind)

It’s very normal that certain members of the family get neglected when it comes to taking photos. It’s not easy when your family members don’t want to cooperate even when you offer a treat to them. I’d like to introduce a few extended members of my family but unfortunately, I don’t have many nice photos of them.

This is Tanya (or Tania). She greets me everyday when I go to work, or when I get back from work. She’s young, excitable and sometimes likes to jump on me and land her paws on my outfit, especially when it’s white. When I scream her name, “Tanya, stop it!” she does it again, looking rather proud at her scuff marks on my dress. Other times, she chews my slippers or shoes, and then gets a prompt beating from Alex. He lost the straps to his Crocs that way. Tanya belongs to my in-law’s and is supposed to be a guard dog, but so far, she has failed at her duties. Guests who come by are promptly greeted with a grin and a tail wag.

This is Chino. The photo was taken by my friend Eugene some time back. Chino used to live with me, but now he’s freeloading at my sister’s house (while my home is being renovated). Chino likes to run and attack if he thinks you’re fun to play with. Hands and feet are for biting, he says. Oh, and my claws are hurting you? Sorry but I can’t help myself.

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Grace Tan
In Life, Musings, Relationships

The 14th of February

Valentine’s Day. It brings back memories of childhood infatuations and dreams, wishing that that guy would somehow notice you and give you a rose. Even if it was only one rose. Or a little note. Or maybe even a phone call.

But of course those things never happened. And when you’re 15 in an all-girl’s school, seeing those other kids receiving roses from the boys in the school-next-door, you kind of feel… neglected. I tried to convince myself then that Valentine’s Day is nothing special. Roses are expensive anyway, and who cares whether you got one or not? But one day, I received roses. A dozen of them. And surprisingly, I was embarrassed. COMPLETELY.

I wanted the attention, and yet I didn’t. You see, I didn’t expect it from this guy!

Well, years later… I still can’t recall a good Valentine’s Day memory. The importance of Valentine’s Day faded and I didn’t really care whether my boyfriend and I celebrated it. Now that it’s my fifth year of marriage, I think about it even less. But little did I know that I was in for a surprise this year…

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Grace Tan
In Life, Musings, Running a Business

That “Corner”

It’s been my dream to own a little Stories studio and decorate it beautifully. Over the past one year, I’ve been meeting couples in 2 places – my office / studio in Centrepoint Bandar Utama and also my home. Because I share the office space in Centrepoint with my other Integricity colleagues (different companies under the same umbrella), I don’t have a specific room where I can meet couples, showcase my work and decorate it to my heart’s content. All I have is a little corner that is ‘somewhat’ decorated, but up till today, I am still dissatisfied with that space.

Over the past few months, my home has undergone a major renovation, and I’ve allocated a space that will be dedicated as a consultation studio. That’s when my excitement level increased. I am no Interior Designer, but I can look at inspiring images and plan. Pretty much like brides who start planning about how the decorations will look like on their wedding day, I am thinking about how my little consultation room will look like once it’s done. An excellent website that showcases lots of inspiring details is Style Me Pretty, where you can get lots of ideas for your wedding.

This was my thought process as I planned on how to decorate the room:

1. Colour theme – Brown, blue and white (Brown and blue because that’s the Stories’ colour!)

2. Words to describe what I want to portray – Chic, Stylish, Romance, Warmth, a hint of Vintage

3. List of items that I can display – photos on canvas, metal prints, albums, postcards, Save the Date cards, cool phrases, my dad’s old camera, my lomo cameras, my mum’s handmade blue seashell jewelry case, cookies, birdcages…

Since I have so many ideas in my head, I have to sometimes stop and ask myself if that really goes together… or does that idea clash? I don’t want to end up with a room that looks completely disjointed in terms of ideas! :)

Here’s a photo of my half completed home taken with Alex’s iPhone camera. The image on the right (the room behind the brick wall) is my consultation studio.

And here’s some images that I borrowed from various sources to illustrate the idea of what I want to create. What do you think? Any ideas?

Grace Tan
In Life, Musings, Relationships

Chinese New Year Musings

I am always really happy whenever my family gets together and is complete. Chinese New Year is one of those times… when my brother comes back from the States and we can all sit together, enjoy a Starbucks coffee or o-chien and laugh over silly things. This year, he’s only in Malaysia for a week. The problem about time is that it just flies by so quickly. Soon, it’s time to say goodbye. Unwillingly.

Speaking about goodbyes, my entire family, including my brother’s friend Ariel who’s visiting from the US, helped to clear up our Malacca house over Chinese New Year. Some say that it’s pantang or bad luck to do that during CNY, but to us, it’s about being practical. I wrote about my home in Malacca some time back. This Chinese New Year, we cleared a lot of things, and said goodbye to many items that held memories. Some things will be kept purely because it’s sentimental, but lots of stuff will just need to be put aside, just like these plants that were left to fend for themselves.

My mom’s collection of recipes. Sadly I did not inherit her cooking skills.

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Grace Tan
In Life, Musings

Resolutions and Goals

On 31st December 2010, I was at a private condo in KL with friends, ready to usher in the new year with gusto. I don’t usually fancy going to huge street parties on nights like these because I am not really the party-going type of gal. Plus, I am a weeee bit older… ahem, past my 20s. We thought we had a great view of KLCC from the poolside deck. And when the clock struck 12, we heard the fireworks… but didn’t see anything. It was then that it struck us… we’re on the wrong side of town! There were buildings blocking our view of the fireworks!

Close, but missing the mark.

I guess it reminds me of life, and how we often wait for a spectacular moment to happen… only to realize that we were close, but just missed the mark. What is it in my life that I am seeking? In the pursuit of success, am I missing the mark on things that should be important to me, like relationships? I vaguely remember this quote (or was it a comic strip) saying something along the lines of… “If you don’t have a mark to aim for, you’ll definitely hit your target”.

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