The Ark Encounter | #FeatureFriday

It's time for #FeatureFriday!
I'm not going to be sharing an artist with you today, but rather, a location!
Helps me get all of my vacation related updates out of the way, but also takes care of #FeatureFriday! Aren't I a genius?

Or just lazy. Whatever. I call it efficiency :P

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"The Ark Encounter"

The Ark Encounter has a life-sized Noah's Ark to view in, made according to the dimensions given to Noah by God, as mentioned in the Bible. Translated to modern day "feet" instead of cubits, the Ark is 510 ft long, 85 ft wide, and 51 ft high. It was FREAKING EPIC.

It's a little pricey for those of us on a smaller budget, but if you think of it as providing an offering to the Creation Museum and those affiliated with it to continue spreading the amazingness of our God, visiting at least ONCE is a must.

Second time...maybe wait till you're paid more. lol XD
And bring people who've never been with you.

Full Ark

The Keel

The Bow

They also had really cool models made of the dinosaurs that Noah could've possibly (and probably did) bring on the Ark, complete with the very logical discussion that he did NOT bring giant ones, but probably young of the species to be sure 1) they'd fit (physically), 2) they wouldn't be as aggressive or powerful and endanger Noah and his family, in addition to the other animals, and 3) easy to feed and pick up after. 

Here are TWO I took pictures of. 

The models were all great. My attempts to take pictures of them weren't :(

They had infographics, EXTREMELY well made and well designed, so I was very happy with that. They had so many small figurines and robotic models made, in addition to the plethora of props, that just made everything mind-blowingly impressive. I was legit excited when their models had TOE NAILS. This is what my life has come to, guys.

But really, there's one scene where they show Noah and his family worshiping God. They put freaking SANDALS in the corner. They didn't even have to have the sandals there. But they did! And they put them in the corner because that's what would've happened before the family got down on their knees to pray. WHAT!!!!

At the "end" of the museum, they have a comic on the walls that illustrated a journey about a young lady and a young man learning about Christ. The young lady had fallen away because of the death of her father and the young man didn't end up believing in Christ at all. 

I love this because it's true that while all will hopefully encounter an opportunity to accept Christ in their lifetime, not all WILL. There's a reason why God gave us free-will rather than making us all machines that have no choice but to accept Him. Our God is LOVE and He wants to be in a loving relationship with us, even if our denying Him our hearts breaks His. That's how much He loves us. 

He wants us to be His beloved, His children, but like a true gentleman, He will let you go if you really don't want Him.

The book the comic's from

And that concludes today's Bible lesson. Thanks for listening. lol

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The #kuaula wedding (for better lack of their official hashtag if they have one) is tomorrow!! 

Here's hoping it goes well!! I'll either rejoice or cry about it in the next #WeeklyWednesday post lol XD 

Subscribe (top right, click on SUBSCRIBE and enter email) if you haven't already!!

Byee~

Goh Family + Juan Family Visit | #WeeklyWednesday

It's been a PACKED past couple of weeks! WHOO! But I am HOME and THANKFUL that I don't have to spend hours of my day just WALKING places. I'm officially "city"ed OUT.

Really. I don't want to visit another big city for a while.
It's like...Chicago in March, NY in May...I NEED A BREAK!!!

That said, I will do my best to provide you snippets so 1) you get a good feel for what I've been up to, 2) you don't feel like you've been left out of fun details because I'm attempting to cut this short, and 3) we won't be here all day. lol XD
Also, due to the SHEER VOLUME of photos, most aren't edited. 
Because this post would never get done if I had to wait on that, so here we go!

Off on our (mostly) unedited adventure! 

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"New Jersey + New York: Goh Family Visit (Ellis Island + Statue of Liberty)"

We haven't gotten the chance to see my cousin and her family for a while because like us, they're based in the US, but WAY up north. What a golden opportunity this was for us to get to meet up with them after so many years apart! It was great to meet our "nephews" (yes, I realize that here in the States, we don't call them that, but that's how we do it in Singapore)

Mandatory Bubble Tea shop visit
with the nephews age (from the right) 8, 13, and 15

Loh family and 1/2 of Goh family picture on Ellis Island
Kun-Zen (8) is so silly XD
My cousin is the lady on the very left <3

They literally took us all over the place and I feel very tired after the trip, but I'm very thankful that we were given the opportunity to visit NJ + NY. Thank you so much for everything, Kershing Jie (if you're reading this) for all of the places that we got to visit and all the food we got to try, per your recommendations ;)

View of NY from NJ

Front of Ellis Island Museum/Building

Lady Liberty herself

HILARIOUS FAIL on Ellis Island

They wanted us to enter our country of origin to showcase how we would have traveled from Singapore to the US. Singapore doesn't exist in the system because we're too young lol XDMy mom quipped that maybe it's an error to travel from Singapore to the US?!! 

Sister wefie with Lady Liberty

Here are a few other sights from New York that don't really have a fascinating story, but were still cool and thereby, here. lol

Shiny. Self-Explanatory.

So close and yet so far :(
We couldn't get tickets!! :(

Building near the 9/11 Memorial.
Don't remember what it's called, but it looked cool :P

One World Trade Center

Beautiful memorial piece in the 9/11 Museum

Mom's mandatory photo at Fox News lol XD

Bryant Park Trees

View of NY from Bryant Park
Really nice place. Also has Wi-Fi provided by Zara I think lol XD

Also, no photos (for obvious reasons that I'll state in a minute), my dear cousin treated Ash and I to a trip to a traditional Korean spa. The kind where you're *cough* in the nude in front of a 60+ year old Korean grandma who proceeds to scrub you from head to toe, while telling you why you've missed out on life because you've never "properly" exfoliated till now. True story according to my cousin's experience.

We didn't get to do the scrub (we went at 11pm and the next slot was at 6am, so there's no way THAT was happening), but we got to sweat it out and eat potbingsu and ice rice drink (I think that's what that was called) and didn't get home till 2am XD At which time we decided to eat ramen. SO STEREOTYPICAL, right?! 

But it was SO MUCH FUN!!
Kershing Jie stepped out in her work outfit the next morning looking like the awesome lady boss she is and we were like "WHOA our cousin is awesome" lol XD

Needless to say, it was fun :P

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"Mitsuwa + Kinokuniya + Little Japan"

No explanation needed for this bit, really. 
I went Japanese shopping at various parts of NJ and NY, overspent as expected,  and don't regret any of it. :P 

      
FOOOOOOOOOOD :D
I'm Southeast Asian. Can ya tell? :P

The picture on the left is what Ash and I ate for lunch at Mitsuwa.
The middle is a small macaron corner in a dessert shop in which I got (pictured on the right) a green tea crepe with red bean paste and chestnuts. Yummy <3

Ash and I also got a strawberry daifuku because after playing Etrian Odyssey Fafnir Knight, you kind of HAVE to try it.

To sum it up, I got:
- mizuhiki cord (craft form and also ready-made form to study how to improve my skills)
- FFXV art book
- Bokura no Kiseki art book
- FOOD (pics above)
- geta (FINALLY found them in MY SIZE!!!! It's been 6 years that I've been looking now!)
- gifts for friends (not mentioning specifically what because said friends might read this!)
- tea fishermen (little asian fishermen figures that sit on the edge of your cup with a long hook to hold up your teabag as you make tea)
- nori rice glue (yay!)

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"Chelsea Market"
Lyfted to get there and WOW there was so much food <3

Chelsea Market thingy of where to go

Smoked Salmon on Matcha Cream Cheese
We didn't know it at the time, but apparently it's a Chelsea Market wow factor lol

Mom's face when she realized that all of the fresh clams she was seeing had no chance of going home with her

Self-explanatory yummies. Didn't get to eat them :(

Savory pies. YAS!

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"Reunited with Abby"

Reunited with my dear childhood friend from my elementary school days in Athens, GA!!
I haven't seen this dear one for THIRTEEN years. It's amazing that we kept in touch from when I was 12 till when I finally got Facebook at 21. I don't know how we managed that.

I'm so thankful that things worked out for us to meet up! It doesn't feel any different from when we were 12, which is hilarious because we spent most of dinner talking about where we are in life now. haha XD

We almost missed our window to meet up, but God was gracious and provided a way!
Our dinner was at a little Japanese fusion bar restaurant called Tomi Jazz, and though we only had an hour to catch up, it was SO precious and I'm still reeling at the fact that we got to meet at all.

We had great food: 
- grilled mozzarella with prosciutto
- avocado sauce spaghetti with bonito flakes
- avocado salad with crab meat

Yes, you're noticing a trend here. FOOD. I'm Singaporean. Food is LIFE. 
I'm simply making full use of the fact that God gave us taste buds!! :P

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"Pennsylvania Visit with Juan Family"

Unfortunately, no photos because we were all travel weary at this point and looked horrid. hahaha XD
However, it was nevertheless great. I hadn't gotten much good quality time with my girls Melody and Charity and we really just managed to pick right back up where we left off, updated 3 years worth of life in 1 evening, and continued on our merry way.

I've also greatly missed my "second" mom and dad, so getting to see them and eat (particularly) Auntie Oi Lin's homemade pineapple tarts was so deliciously nostalgic, I felt like I was 15 again. 

We also did a quick, impromptu trip to Marshall's (we don't have one here in C'dale, so Ash and I were keen to go) and I invested in a new tea diffusing bottle and a hat! Yes! Me!! You'll probably see it in some photos here and there as summer goes on.

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Pray for me! I EAT TOO MUCH!!

No, for real though, I'm super busy this week, which means that next week's #WeeklyWednesday is going to be chock-full (I think that's how that's spelled?) of Type A busy life goodness!! AGAIN!

Subscribe to the top right if you haven't already and I'll share about our Ark Encounter visit on Friday! I also saw Wonder Woman yesterday and that SERIOUSLY deserves its own post, so that'll be on #FeatureFriday NEXT week.

K-Tigers : BTS - Blood Sweat & Tears Taekwondo ver. | #MusicMonday

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Breaking the trend a little bit as we roll back into things with the blog!
K (Korean)-Tigers is a dance + Taekwondo group from Korea, featuring young men, women, and boys who have an EXPLOSIVE amount of talent combined.
 

I love that their Taekwondo is so sharp and on point, but that they are able to convey the necessary "fab" that comes with K-pop music. Wanted to share because, well, these guys deserve more views. 

Their mens' group is always so sharp and powerful with their dancing, while still maintaining the infamous allure of K-pop boys. No make-up created abs here, ladies. This is the real thing. 

Speaking of ladies, their womens' group, while obviously going for a softer feel than the mens', is no less talented, and I love that they're able to portray the sexy side of themselves without having to reduce themselves to showing off a ton of skin or doing moves that make them look slutty (a major pet peeve of mine in K-pop girl groups). The uniform is plenty modest but these girls send their sex appeal through a myriad of other channels, which I can appreciate. 

And the little boys...the DARLING little boys. AGH!!
This video is the latest one I've seen that showcases the adults quite well, but you can look at this one if you want one that showcases the little boys more (girls aren't as well featured here though). 

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Enjoy the videos, guys! I LOVED this thing when I saw it. 
This is part one of Dance + Music covers for #MusicMonday. We've got another video of this SAME song for next week, but with a different twist ;)



I hope you loved it as much as I did? 
I'm probably terrible for saying this, but I love this cover (and the cover for next week) more than the original MV for this song (oops)...

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See you on Wednesday for a weekly update!~
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