Relationships

Grace Tan In For Photographers, Musings, Relationships, Running a Business

On the hunt for adventure!

It’s been 4 years and 4 months since the ever bubbly Diane stepped into the Stories studio, making it a really happy place to work. Everyone who has been through the Stories door as a client (or potential!) over the past 4 years have met Diane in some way or another. Either through the phone, email or in person. So it’s really sad that we bid her farewell today as she embarks on a new adventure in her life. She’ll be heading to New Zealand for a few months to work there doing the YOLO thing before mid life crisis hits (just kidding!). :)

Well Diane, we do wish you a wonderful adventure ahead and the office will definitely feel a lot quieter without you around. No more bursting into random songs, lame jokes or just sharing a story or two over the table. You’ve made my life so much easier the past 4 years and have been such a pillar for me. I appreciate all those nights you worked late and those weekends when you came into the office on your own, just sorting out shoots or some paperwork.

Your dedication to your work and to people really speaks volumes and it is a testimony of your desire to do things with excellence even though at times, it was really hard to achieve. I am sorry if I have been hard towards you in the past. I pray that you will discover God’s path for your life (and life partner!) as you seek Him the next few months.

A post would not be fun without photos, so here’s a slideshow we did recently for our dearie Diane.

Diane from Stories on Vimeo.

Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships, Running a Business

Monday Blues

There are days when you just get home from work, and all you want to do is continue working because the tasks never end. And yet you feel tired and a split second later, tell yourself, that work can wait till tomorrow. It feels like an almost vicious cycle…. even if this whole entrepreneurship journey started as a passion because you love your job. It has been a little like that lately… I even notice myself looking a little more grumpy in the mirror with more wrinkles.

Strangely enough, I come alive when it’s time to photograph a family or a couple. Adrenaline kicks in and I am in my ‘zone’… all energetic once again. Perhaps it’s the curse of the artistic entrepreneur – you get excited doing all these creative work, but the daily routine ‘business’ tasks bog you down. I feel stressed and worry about a lot of things. I feel sorry for my staff who sometimes sees a really serious, grouchy and stressed personality at the office! (Love you all, keep being your cheerful selves!).

Guess it’s not easy writing something like this, being authentic to yourself and others. But in order to be true to my soul, I have to be honest about everything. So this is my way of speaking to myself and saying, that maybe, I just need to look up and lighten up a bit.

I must say that coming home to two small smiley (one very drooly) beings makes me really really happy. Their hugs makes the world a lot better again. So tonight, the hubby and I decided to bring them out for a weekday ice-cream treat (ok, only one can truly enjoy that, since the other is too young to eat ice-cream). Simple pleasures in life of just being in the moment.

And since every post is better with photos, here’s a few images that we took from a day out with the kids at the local fire station visit last week.

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Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships

Being a Peacemaker

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This is the 9th year of my marriage. What incredible 9 years filled with joy, hurt, reconciliation, love and compromise. Deep down, I know that marriage comes with its own set of challenges. There’s no going into it feeling naive. There will come a time when you will argue, say hurtful things to one another and regret it. As a Christian, I’ve always based my marriage on the principles I read in the Bible. It really helps me to know that my husband values marriage and wants to work at it as hard as I do.

I recently read this verse that made me stop and think a little more about relationships.

They must turn from evil and do good;
they must seek peace and pursue it.
1 Peter 3:11

What really struck me were the words seek peace and pursue it.

It takes effort to keep the peace. It must be something that is worth pursuing and going all out for. We must be proactive in any relationship to maintain the peace, and not expect it to just ‘happen’. In any relationship, we have to believe that pursuing peace is worth the fight.

Which brings me to the other question… “What does peace mean, really?” (According to Alex, he says it’s when the wife doesn’t nag).

After giving it some thought, I think a peaceful relationship means that I can trust someone. That we are both working towards the end goal of each other’s happiness. It doesn’t mean we keep quiet or sweep under the carpet issues that need to be discussed just to ‘keep the peace’. It means talking things through and being mature enough to compromise sometimes.

I am not an expert at marriage, but I work at it. Hard.

Grace Tan In Beautiful Everyday, Family + Children Portraits, Life, Musings, Portraits, Relationships, Studio

You Made me a Mother

This Mother’s Day, I’d like to share a poem that I came across on Facebook, written by this lady, Melanie Tan. It’s a really lovely piece adapted from another similar poem. I love how she has captured the feeling of motherhood through these lines. Wishing all amazing mothers out there, a Happy Mother’s Day.

20150429_FAMILY_NICO_MURIEL_YASMIN_27 Two blue lines,
Tears, excitement and fears
Will I be a good mother?
Can I survive child birth?
I wasn’t ready

Then, the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard
Hearing your heartbeat for the first time
That fast paced rhythm
I told myself, I can do this

I felt you
Your first kick
I smiled
Your first in-vitro hiccups
I laughed

Suddenly, you were here
Daddy’s nose, mummy’s lips
and those eyes
staring at me when we first met
and I fell in love

I held you, fed you
You cried and I cried
Our 3am staredowns
Sleepless nights

That smell of your head
Little wandering hands
A sniff, a kiss
While you gently suckle on my breast
You doze off
With droplets of love on your lips
I wipe them off and put you down gently
Thinking how much I will miss this
When you grow older

But there are also times I wanted to give up
Then you smile at me
Your cheeky wide grin
And you grab my hands with those little fingers
I pick myself up and console myself
This only gets better

We are growing together
Seeing the world as new
I’ll open my heart and shower you with love
You’ll giggle and I’ll do it all over again
And we’ll walk hand in hand
Until you let go
and explore the world with your two little feet
and I’ll be right behind you
Cheering you on
Or to catch you when you fall
Wherever you need me most
I’ll be there, always

I made you…

But you made me a mother.

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Life, Musings, Portraits, Relationships

The birth of Kyle

20141030_KYLE_EZRA_LAM_182 I must truly give thanks to God for the birth of my two children, Krysta and Kyle. Everything from conception to birth is really a testimony of how good God is. For someone like me who has irregular menstrual cycles (once every 4 months?), I am firstly quite amazed that I could even conceive in the first place. I remember after I stopped breastfeeding Krysta, my period only appeared once and then in March this year, my pregnancy test kit proved positive! God is indeed good!

Kyle was due on 1st of November 2014, but around the first week of October, I started having really bad cramps that I could not explain. The pain was excruciating and came frequently, so much so that one day, I thought that I was having contractions as I could feel an intense pain every 5 minutes. That Tuesday morning, I went to my hospital for a check up and during the scan, was told that I wasn’t having contractions and the baby and water bag was fine. It was then that I discovered I had urinary tract infection and was given a round of antibiotics to cure it.

But two days passed by and my pain was still there. I just endured it but on Wednesday night, it was really so painful after every cramp that I had to stop doing whatever I was doing and allow the pain to pass. The next morning I was due for my final pre-wedding photo shoot before my scheduled c-sec the following week (Kyle was in breech position). That night, I called my staff to standby for the shoot the next day in case I couldn’t go because of my intense pain.

I guess God had other plans because that Thursday morning, I noticed a bloody show on my underwear and realised that labour had already started! Once we reached the hospital and did a scan, we realised I was already 4cm dilated and was experiencing contractions! (and to think I was about to head out for a shoot!). Kyle was under distress and his heartbeat was slow every time a contraction came. Within half an hour, I was in the operating theatre and during the operation, my gynae said that my water bag had burst some time back as I was completely dry. But despite of all that drama, Kyle was born safely on the 9th of October 2014 at only 1.99kg.

By the way, Kyle’s name means “Victorious!”

20141030_KYLE_EZRA_LAM_110 Continue Reading