Have a special occasion to commemorate or simply have the urge to capture an impromptu moment with your loved ones? If you want to save the effort and money in engaging a professional photographer yet yearn for a quality studio photoshoot, then here's a great alternative! 

Photo booths upgraded

Right smacked in Orchard Central is a new trending photo studio concept by Photopia. It's a private, no staff contact experience as the photos will be taken with a remote clicker, by you. Yes, for the camera-shy ones, this is perfect to provide an exclusive space while you click away. No photographers to direct you or anyone to look on while you do your kissing shots (if any) :)

The high quality gloss photos under a professional studio setting! For a timed duration of 15min and $30, you can get whacky and enjoy unlimited shots, inclusive of a single Photoprint and a single Collage photoprint. That's really affordable. With 5 backgrounds to choose from, you can have your finish in black&white or colored.

It's the best gift with your loved ones.

Studio Interior

2 spacious studios in the Orchard Central outlet, each filled with professional lightings and photography equipment san the photographer. Not much props around so you can bring along items of significance for a personal touch. There were only 2 stools around provided for sitting poses but basically you just have to let your creativity flow. Remember no 2nd chance so just snap away!

In fact we took a number of similar poses to get the 'perfect' shot. But well, don't harp on it for too long and move along quickly.

15 mins Zoomed Past and We Were Just Getting Into The Mood

Love the Prints!

Thereafter, you can hang around for 30mins till the photos are ready or collect it another time. I am really pleased with the quality of the prints which are printed in gloss and really worth the bucks. Definitely be framing these prints up in our new house.

Stuck at home? Feeling aimless? I certainly feel the same uncertainty as Singapore moves towards Phase 3 (heightened alert). Instead of focusing on the disheartening news around the world which we cannot control, why not find some positivity in life and constantly keep our spirit, morale and mental state resilient.

If there's one thing we can take control of, it's how we feel about ourselves. Learning a new skill is one the many ways we can do to boost our confidence and education has always been an essential key in breaking that cycle of poverty. Even as most of us are doing fine financially (lucky us), continuous learning can improve our cognitive abilities and long term well-being. 

The fulfilment that comes with learning a new skill is priceless. Not easy, especially if you have been out of the education system for an extremely long period, definitely something I can echo with. There is always this nagging thought of signing up for courses and programs to 'upgrade' myself and yet, on the other end of the spectrum, there's this opposing force that pulls me away as I turn my attention to other milestones in life - career, family, building a home etc. 

Sounds familiar?

I have always wanted to learn about data analysis (the next 'big' thing) but was hesitant on the commitment to invest money and time when it comes to signing on for a physical course. There are, of course, many merits to attending a physical class such as networking, live QnAs, better learning experience possibly and a recognised certification at the end of the day. However, if you are like me, preferring to do things at your own pace and perfectly happy do away with the socialising, then sourcing for an online course and 'testing' the waters to see if a course fits you, may be ideal.

This is when signing up for courses in bite-sized formats may actually help in allying the fears and commitments before signing up for a long term big program. 

NTUC LearningHub’s Grow60 package is here to help freelance community and professionals, managers and executives upskill. Over at Grow60, you will have access to an extensive library of courses catering to everyone's varying interests, including courses on Personal Development, Digital Skills, and Technology Skills.

With the Grow60, you need only as little as $6/year (U.P $26/year), exclusively for NTUC members only, to have access to over 60 courses and more to come and received an e-certificate upon every course completion. If you are not yet an NTUC member, head here for details. 

So back to the Grow60 portal, I personally had my hands on attending a 'Mastering Data Analysis' course. It was a 50mins online interactive course and sounded too good to be true for the time commitment required, to becoming a master, but nonetheless, the course turned out to be really informative and time was well spent. 

This course basically focuses on how you can master data analysis while working with Excel. Given the Excel noob that I am, I certainly did gain new-found knowledge with Excel. As I paused every so often to try out the hands-on, it took me about 30 to 45mins in addition, but definitely worth it as I began to understand niches like creating tables from lists, building pivot tables and charts etc. I had fun absorbing those knowledge, to say the least.  

To access any courses, head to your user's dashboard upon login and scroll to 'Technology Skill' or any topics of your interest.

Once inside, you can see a list of relevant courses within the broad category. Upon clicking into 'Technology Skill', I can find courses such as 'Mastering Data Analysis' and 'Introduction to Data Science' which I had set my sight on next. 

Upon Completion, you can click on the 'View Certificate' on the top right corner and there you have it, an e-cert, with your name.

That's not all. If you have completed a course, you can always return to the course on your dashboard under 'Completed' and head for a review or resume where you left off.

I am already planning for my next data analysis course in Grow60, in the hope of gaining knowledge. What would you like to learn?

Join me on this learning journey with NTUC Learninghub and let's grow wiser, even as we stay strong in this new normal. We can do it! 

 How do you spend a beautiful day if not by the beach?

One of the most beautiful and popular beaches in Singapore will have to be in Sentosa.

With the pandemic situation, we had to pre-book our slots to the Sentosa beaches minimally 5 days in advanced on the Sentosa website here. These beaches, which include Siloso, Palawan and Tanjong, are now split into zones due to safe distancing measures and patrons can choose a zone of your choice for the beaches. We booked ours for Siloso Zone 2 which was easily done.

On the day of visit, hop on to the free beach shuttle at the Beach Station and alight at the zone of your choice. For Siloso Beach Zone 2, it is also the nearest to various other attractions such as the Siloso Point Cable Car Station, Mega Adventure Park, the Sky park by AJ Hackett etc. 

You can drop at the 'Mega Adventure' stop. At the beach pavilion entrance, simply show your booking confirmation email and you are on your way to a beach day out by the sun (if it doesn't rain), sea and sand!

It has been awhile since we were at the beach and it definitely provided a much needed scenic change from the urban landscapes. 

To make ourselves comfy, we took our Tesalate sand-free beach towel out for the beach. Hailing all the way from Australia, these beautifully designed towels are super absorbent witth the ability to hold up to 1 litre of water, compact and light without the burden of lugging it to the beach. 

No more bulky towels~

I have with me the Bohemian - XL which sits comfortably for two and all our beach stuff. Not just for two, but your family and friends can definitely fit in these extra spacious towels for sure. The soft microfiber fabric makes sitting or lying down really comfy and its rapid drying property allows for half the drying time of a regular towel. 

Now for the design. I fell in love with the vibrant, loud colors and beautiful prints on first sight. This beach towel simply screams fun and joy and makes for such an instagrammable piece.

Its double-sided feature also means you use both sides of the towel. Here's the Tesalate towel's signature in black and white triangle pattern at the back of every of their towels. The towel is compact when rolled and makes carrying around easy, along with the free pouch. Packing made easy!

Washing the Tesalate towel is easy. cold machine wash or rinse under the tap, like I did, and simply put out to dry.

These pretty and functional beach towels, with 2 sizes, can be purchased on their website here. In fact, they are not only for the beach, but they can be spread anywhere and whenever, whether you are out on a hike or at a picnic by the grassland, definitely multi-functional. 

They also carry a series of workout towels which are effective against bacteria and fungi growth here. 

Time to pickup a new beach towel for your next beach outing? Perhaps Tesalate towels can be part of your consideration. 

Meanwhile, take good care and stay safe.