Wonderful Wednesday with Oh My Heartsie Girls

Another week passed and May is here!
Time really flies here, particularly as I was heavily buried under the never ending work at the office. Starting from last week, we have the annual Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN.  As I follow these issues closely, I have been spending so much time at the UN.

let's take a cherry walk :)

But during the weekend, I took the liberty to spend some quality time with my beloved family, including by cooking their favorite food and visiting Brooklyn Botanical Garden for a cherry walk :). 

Now that the weather is getting warmer, hopefully we will have more picnics and outdoor activities.

at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Now, let's party, shall we?
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Have a place in your home for the latest trend......Succulents are huge right now, Paper, Faux and live succulents are the biggest thing in home decor.  

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WW: A Visit to Harvard University

One lovely day in Boston and we decided to visit the famous Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

We took the free, official tour from the Harvard University. 

Here are a few photos from that visit and our 1-hour guided tour.

the 'fake' John Harvard :)

Near the Charles River

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Magical Old Montréal in less than One Day

"Where are we now, Ma?" asked Obi while I was busy snapchatting.
"Bienvenue  à Montréal, Obi!" I replied.
"What's that mean?' She said back with a frowning face.
"It means welcome to Montréal, Obi," said Bo. "It's French..just like in Québec City, remember? You know how to say 'candy' in French? If you don't know how to say it, Mama won't give it to you" he added teasingly.
My hubby and I were just grinning widely listening to Bo et Obi's conversation in the back, as we saw the cityscape of Montréal in afar.
Our adventures continue....And this time, Montréal is enticingly waiting.

*** 

Hello, there..

I'm back with more story from our last spring break road trip.
After helplessly being in love with Quebec City, now let's take a closer look of the next city we visited, Montréal.

Anybody has been here before?
I bet many of you have. And again, as expected, we enjoyed Montréal as well, amidst the similar but slightly warmer weather than Québec City. 
But enjoying magical Montréal in one day is possible indeed!

And that's exactly what we did when we visited this beautiful city.
Montréal in a big city for sure. Being the second most populous city in Canada and the biggest, busiest one in Québec province. Many of us, including me, might associate Montréal with the Montréal Jazz Festival and Just for Laughs festivals that I keep watching on TV! Founded on May 12, 1642, Montréal was founded with a strong will of  a handful of settlers, soldiers, artisans and farmers, led by Paul de Chomeday, Sieur de Moissonneuve, and Lady Jeanne-Mance. We saw their statues at the Places d'Armes.

So, as we continue our spring break road trip, we arrived at Montréal at around 8 PM after 2 hours drive from Québec City.  It was still drizzling when we left Québec and so was Montréal. We directly headed to Holiday Inn Montréal Centre Ville down town, which was so close to the China Town in Montréal. 

view from our room terrace :)

Hungry after  driving for 2 hours, we had our dinner at Beijing restaurant, just a block from our hotel. We did order a lot, with noddle soup with roasted duck, fried calamari, veggie spring rolls and fried rice for the four of us :). We slept very well that night and woke up super fresh, ready to explore this beautiful city.

bon appetit!

So, what can we see in Montréal if we only have less than one full day?
Indeed Montréal has a lot to offer, but this is what we managed to explore in less than one day. We decided to stroll around Vieux - Montréal or the Old Montreal. Even this historical part of the city is huge. Old Montréal is only 5 minutes walk from our hotel, so we parked the car and explored the old town on foot. It was still cold that day, but not raining anymore, so we had friendlier weather.

Let's take a look at some places we managed to visit and tell me what your favorite spot is.

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal

For sure, Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal is the gem of the city!
Only with admission of CAD 5 for adults and CAD 4 for kids aged 7 - 17, we were truly amazed by the magnificent Gothic revival church. Built in 1829, all its incredible details are mindblowing!

Place d'Armes

This is a very interesting part of the city, as it has the oldest building in the city, the first parish's church as well as Canada's first skyscraper!

Bo posing in front of Paul de Chomedey statue at Place d'Armes

Marché Bonsecours

This beautiful market is packed with cute small boutiques and some local, trendy designers shops. It took us around 10 minutes walking from the Basilica.

What we love most from this place is the distinct architecture of the market, in Classical Revival style. 

Place Jacques-Cartier

Too bad when we reached this beautiful square, it was drizzling again.
But this marketplace is surely the spots where people love to hang out, as we saw many cozy restaurants and lovely shops around the area.

here comes the rain :)

Of course, again, as I've mentioned earlier, there are soooo many beautiful places that you can explore here in Montréal, but those places I mentioned above can be a good start :). 

We had to prematurely wrap our stroll in Old Montréal thanks to the rain. But if I got a chance to go back, we'd love to see more of this wonderful city. I guess we have to stay at least 2 - 3 days here to really enjoy its beauty. But hey, even with our crazy itinerary, exploring magical Montréal in less than one day is possible :).

Hope to see you soon, Montréal

Next, we have Ottawa, the capital city. 
I know I have shared some photos from Ottawa, but the stories are yet to be published.
Stick around, will you?

Cherry Blossoms at the UN Headquarters

Who is not in love with the cherry blossoms?
Well, perhaps those with allergies .. but I do love cherry blossoms.

If you notice, I have been posting our cherry blossoms seasons here in NYC.
Like Cherry Blossoms at Corona Park, Flushing Meadows, Queens that we visited last year.
 We have been wanting to go to Washington D.C. and enjoy the famous Cherry Blossoms festival there, but my schedule is always conflicting :(.

This year, we have put D.C. in our list but it coincided with the Spring Break and by the time we went back to NYC, we heard that most of the cherry blossoms in Tidal Basin were gone due to heavy rain and wind.

So, I just enjoy the cherry blossoms at the small section of the UN Rose Garden at the UN Headquarters.

One cloudy day, amidst the never ending meetings, I sneaked out and had a brief 'cherry blossoms moment' at the UN Rose Garden. Using my smartphone, I surely snapped a few pictures.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do :)

The cherry trees planting in the UN Rose Garden were made possible by the Lasker family, in the loving memory of Albert Davis Lasker, an American philanthropist, as you can see in the plaque below.

Join us on Skywatch Friday and  enjoy sky snaps from different corners of the world

Maksimalkan Foto Liburan dengan iPhone

Siapa di sini yang suka foto-foto?

Kalau ada pertanyaan seperti itu, saya pasti tunjuk jari paling tinggi!

Rasanya di jaman sekarang yang penuh taburan selfie, update status, online check-in  dan tuntutan 'kekinian' lainnya di berbagai lini masa media sosial, foto (dan juga video) memiliki tempat istimewa. 

Pokoknya tiada hari tanpa foto!

Mau makan, piring yang  penuh dengan makanan enak harus difoto dulu.
Saat mau boarding menuju tempat liburan, selfie dulu di depan check-in counter atau malah di depan pesawatnya.
Mau pilih baju untuk makan malam, foto dulu, upload, lalu minta teman or audience out there memilih mana yang paling oke.
Mau belanja, buat real time video dan share harga plus diskonnya.

Terus nyengir sendiri because it's so me :).

Don't get me wrong! 
I'm not complaining about this karena beberapa hal yang saya sebutkan di atas itu memang sebenarnya bagian dari pengalaman pribadi (peace, yooo :)) 

Well, saya memang ngga akan membahas mengenai etika berfoto atau kenapa ya kita ngga bosen-bosen untuk foto lagi dan lagi di sana-sini.

Saya cuma mau share aja kalau saat liburan musim semi yang baru lalu dengan anak-anak, saya benar-benar memaksimalkan foto-foto dan video dengan iPhone.
Iya betul, dengan iPhone. 
Salah satu telepon pintar yang dipakai berjuta-juta umat.
Walaupun saya harus akui bahwa saya pun masih amatiran dan pecinta berat azas 'aspret' alias asal jepret, tapi sebenarnya sudah lama saya ingin share kenapa hampir sebagian besar  foto yang saya pakai di blog dan di berbagai akun media sosial saya adalah hasil jepretan kamera di iPhone saya. I'm not saying that I don't like my DSLR photos anymore, tapi dengan segala kerempongan jalan dengan anak-anak dan cuaca yang tidak selalu bersahabat plus badan yang sudah mulai gampang capek, memotret dengan smart phone bener-bener solusi yang paling pas buatku.

Dan kesukaanku memotret dengan iPhone bertambah karena suka melihat kampanye 'shot with iPhone' yang asli bertebaran di mana-mana di pelosok the Big Apple ini.
Pernah lihat juga kan? Pasti dong!
Saya selalu membatin." Ya ampuuun..itu foto-foto bagus bangeeeet!" dan semuanya difoto dengan menggunakan kamera dari telpon pintar ini. 

Memang salah satu fitur utama yang saya pertimbangkan kalau membeli telpon genggam adalah kecanggihan kamera dan hasil fotonya. Plus kemudahan penggunaan atau user friendly dan kalau bisa casing-nya warna ungu ahahaha. 

Tapi memang harus saya akui, saya memakai iPhone sejak generasi pertama.
Percaya ngga kalau saya masih punya iPhone 3Gs, 4, 5, dan 5S dari jaman baheula yang masih saya simpan hingga kini, serta 6 plus dan  6S plus yang saya dan suami pakai sekarang. Walaupun sempat diselingi dengan telpon genggam merk lain, tapi kelihatan kan kalau saya pengguna setia iPhone hehehe.

ini andalan saya libur

Beberapa pesawat telpon genggam itu saya beli di Jenewa, New York City dan Jakarta.
Harganya pun bervariasi. Tinggal dicek saja online, termasuk harga iphone 6 plus misalnya. Dengan menggunakan iPhone sejak generasi pertama hingga sekarang, saya merasakan betul perbedaan dan kecanggihan masing-masing generasi dengan fitur dan spesikasinya.
Saya masih belum tergiur membeli generasi terakhir, iPhone 7, karena masih super happy dengan iPhone yang saya pakai sekarang. 

Foto John Harvard saat mampir ke kampus ini :)

So, back to memaksimalkan foto liburan dengan iPhone, khususnya iPhone 6S Plus yang saya gunakan,  here are a few notes yang saya coba share untuk teman-teman. Dan please, as a disclaimer, ini hanya catatan dari saya sebagai pengguna awam iPhone dengan pengetahuan fotografi dasar plus semangat, energi dan kesabaran luar biasa tinggi untuk foto sana-sini. So, mind you, the results may vary :).

Master your gadget

Tak kenal maka tak sayang. 
Dan prinsip ini berlaku juga untuk kamera dan telpon genggam kita.
Kalau ada waktu, kita perlu melihat fitur kamera dan berbagai setting yang ada di telpon genggam kita, seperti pilihan time-lapse, slo-mo, video, photo, square dan panorama, yang biasanya ada di di iPhone keluaran beberapa tahun terakhir ini.
Selain itu, cek juga pilihan flash (on, off atau auto) , HDR atau tidak, atau pun timer, dengan pilihan 3 detik, 10 detik, atau off. 
iPhone juga memiliki pilihan filter dasar, seperti mono, tonal, noir, fade, chrome, process, transfer dan instant.

Locking focus juga bisa dengan mudah kita lakukan dengan men-tap screen di bagian objek foto yang akan menjadi fokus. Exposure pun demikian, walaupun saya lebih suka pakai yang otomatis.

Cherry blossoms di Kantor Pusat PBB, NY, yang baru saya foto minggu lalu :)

Selain menekan tombol di screen saat memotret, kita juga bisa memanfaatkan tombol volume di sisi kanan iPhone sebagai shutter. Ini penting buat selfie :). Dan bisa juga pakai burst mode kalau kita ingin merekam momen seru dan tidak mau ketinggalan setiap detiknya.

Tergantung kebutuhan dan foto atau video apa yang akan kita buat, pilihan-pilihan tersebut sangat membantu lho. Paling tidak proses memotret jadi lebih cepat dengan hasil yang kita inginkan. Jadi kalau lagi jalan bareng teman-teman atau keluarga, kita ngga ketinggalan terus dengan rombongan karena keasyikan foto atau momen tidak terlewat karena kita sibuk mencari settingan kamera yang paling oke :).


Remember the basic principles

Di mana-mana kalau urusan foto, apapun tools yang kita pakai, prinsip dasar tetap berlaku.

Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizone, difoto dengan iPhone 6S Plus :)

Jadi pengaturan cahaya, rule of thirds, framing, komposisi and balancing elements, viewpoint, depth of field, background vs foreground, leading lines atau horizon, symmetry vs patterns dan lainnya juga harus dingat.

Waktu mampir di Toronto, Canada :)

Tidak ada yang salah dan benar dalam fotografi, jadi yang penting kita selalu semangat untuk mencoba dan mencoba lagi. Foto terus dan coba terus sampai mendapat angle yang kita suka. 

Seringkali saya memotret satu objek atau tempat dari berbagai angles and viewpoints. Jangan heran kalau photo gallery saya isinya ribuan foto hehehe.

penuhnya photo gallery aku :)

Use the app to help

Ada banyak sekali aplikasi untuk foto maupun untuk mengedit foto yang tersedia sekarang.
Baik gratis maupun berbayar, aplikasi tersebut membantu kita untuk mengedit maupun memotret dengan pengaturan tertentu, misalnya slow speed photos.

Slow speed photo Horseshoe Falls, Niagara, Kanada, yang saya ambil dengan iPhone 6S plus dan aplikasi Slow Shutter

Untuk mengedit foto, saya suka menggunakan aplikasi Snapseed dan Layout jika ingin membuat collage. Atau aplikasi Phonto jika akan ditambah dengan tulisan atau gambar lainnya. Ada banyaaaak sekali aplikasi terkait dengan foto yang bisa di-download, so feel free to do so. Untuk pilihan aplikasi, kemabli semuanya tergantung kebutuhan dan juga kenyamanan kita saat mengaplikasikannya.

Seringkali kalau fotonya menurut saya sudah cukup oke, saya hanya akan mengedit sedikit dengan aplikasi edit yang memang sudah disediakan iPhone di fitur photo gallery. 

Just remember, secanggih apa pun mengeditnya, tetap saja terlihat foto mana yang aslinya oke dan mana yang heavily edited. 

Accesorize

Untuk aksesoris kamera, semua kembali ke kebutuhan pemakai dan foto seperti apa yang akan dihasilkan. 

Notre-dame Basilica, Montreal, Canada

Saya selalu menggunakan lensa tambahan seperti wide angle, macro, fish eye dan juga CPL filter untuk kamera iPhone saya. 

foto makro dengan tambahan lensa makro Ztylus

Untuk pecinta selfie, selfie-stick atau mini tripod sudah menjadi aksesories wajib. Bahkan sekarang sudah ada ring light flashes yang bisa dipakai di iPhone. Paling oke nih untuk selfie-lover dan beauty blogger :).

Ayo, silahkan dipilih :).


Check the memory

Kapasitas memori di kamera penting juga untuk selalu dicek.
Paling males kan kalau lagi asyik memotret atau dapat momen yang asyik tapi kamera sudah tidak sanggup menampung foto baru karena memorinya penuh.
Saya rajin memindahkan ribuan foto yang ada di iPhone ke external hard disk atau media penyimpan lainnya. Jadi, kalau mau jalan-jalan atau ada momen penting yang baru, iPhone sudah siap menampung foto-foto terbaru.


Jadi, itulah catatan pendek saya untuk maksimalkan foto liburan dengan iPhone.
Feel free to add more points atau kalau ada yang salah, tolong dikoreksi ya :).
Foto-foto yang saya pakai di postingan ini semuanya diambil dengan menggunakan iPhone juga lho.

Jadi...sudah siap foto-foto?
Yuuuuk...