Photography
Post Christmas Post: The Christmas Tree
February 22, 2010
1/365 days of blogging.
Since the last entry I have in here was when I was waiting for us to buy a tree, it’s but proper, I think, that I follow up on that entry and show you THE tree. I know… too late, eh? But what the heck, I need to blog about it for journalling’s sake. So here goes.
We got the tree the day after Thanksgiving day. We knew we wanted a slim one and not t00 big, but big enough to make the house look very special during the time we have it up. We went to Home Depot and started to look around. My darling husband (DH) found this one and I have to agree with him, it will look really nice.
It wasn’t that easy to bring home the tree either. DH had to take down the seat at the back of the van and we made sure we were careful while we were loading it inside the van – too much needles, too hard to take off the seats. And it was a weight, too, carrying it inside the house.
After that, I brought all the stuff I’ve been buying little by little out in the living room and started putting in the lights first. I admit, I am soooo picky. I did it myself to make sure that I could get the lights inside the tree and that 95% of the branches would be lighted. In fact, we even had to make a short trip back to Home Depot because I ran out of lights 2/3 of the way to the most bottom part. And I didn’t want to start all over again from the top. It would be way much easier just to go do the trip.
Posted in Our Home, Photography | 
Tags: Christmas, Christmas Tree, DH, Love, Ornaments | 
No Comments »
My Girls
September 2, 2009
I’ve been sooooo busy this summer. Since my husband and I got married, this might be the first summer that saw us really enjoying every day of it from beginning to end that it just went by so fast for us.
We had a chance to go to Virginia, take a trip down to Florida with friends, went camping and picnic-ing at the beautiful state parks here in Maryland. Not to mention all the get-togethers, the dinners, the little what-nots here and there with our friends. It was indeed a wonderful summer. And we both look forward to more summers like this. (Rome and Italy and the Philippines next year, maybe?)
Anyways, this will explain why I haven’t been too good in updating this blog. As much as I want to do so, there’s just too many things happening that maintaining many blogs during these days could be quite time-consuming. Altho I’ve been trying to update my Filipino blog as often as I can. Its only because more people know me from that blog. They bug me when I don’t update it as often. 
But school has started and we’re slowly (despite protests from my husband) inching our way towards fall. As proof, it was a cooler summer night by comparison last night and the weatherman says it continues on tonight. So maybe… just maybe, I’d have more time now to update my 10,000 and 1 blogs while I wait for next spring to come.
Also, I have 2 girls who are also keeping me away from blogging these past few weeks. I’ve been sewing dresses for them and I just can’t stop! I’ve been taking pictures of them and I want to share them with you. You’ll be seeing more of them from now on. I know my friends are all having a blythe overload what with all the photos of them all over. But I just LOVE them and I am a little bit obsessed with them right now. All I can think of are their dopey faces and what else I can make for them and how else to photograph them. So here they are. Hope you’ll enjoy them too.
Minicake
Matet
Pourin’ So Much Love On Your Scraps
February 22, 2009
G and J
I love scrapbooking.
When I got into this vice addiction hobby, I never knew that I’d be putting in so much time, effort, money and emotion into it. Before the dawn of digital scrapbooking, I had already amassed a HUUUGE collection of stickers, papers, albums, scissors, and all sorts of embellishments one can put on a layout. I’ve done my share of printing every picture thru Walmart and Target and even Snapfish. To-date I have categorized my paper into colors, my stickers into small, medium, large and extra-large, my embellishments in neat little tiny boxes and my rolls of ribbons in roll boxes. If not for my husband jokingly warning me that he’d be donating all my stuff to Goodwill (which is his way of saying “ENOUGH!”), I would have filled the green room from top to bottom with no place left to go to.
My Brother, the Actor
I know you’d think that I’ve already spent a fortune on my materials. On the contrary, if you know where to shop, it shouldn’t be too much. I go to stores like Ollie’s, Big Lots, Gabrielle Brothers, dollar stores, and Joann’s. Even Walmart is just an option I use when I couldn’t find what I like at those stores, and Michael’s I go to when I get desperate (which doesn’t happen often). I’ve tried online stores also, but sometimes, they get too pricey once you factor the shipping and handling costs in. So yes, I’ve invested a lot (only due to sheer volume of what I already have), but not as much as others had, still. (At least, that’s my defense, and I’m sticking to it!)
A Happy Marriage
Then digital scrapbooking came along. This is a different ballgame. you don’t have the physical materials anymore. Just JPEG and PNG files that you’d store on your PC’s hard drive. And just as much as I deeply enjoyed the traditional scrapbooking method, I also got addicted to doing DSB. But this time around, instead of spending a fortune on digital scrapbook stores, my sisters and I decided we were going to get into the business and create materials we could sell to other scrapbookers. That’s how I’m getting my materials for free 
My Sisters, My Bestfriends
If only I had more time, I would’ve earned as much as what my sisters are earning (did you hear me say it’s a good business?) but with all the other things happening in my life and with the long commute to and from work, I just don’t have the energy anymore to do some. I do collaborate with my sisters once in a while but I’ve never made a single kit all by myself. The digital scrapbooking business is highly competitive and to really stand out, your kits require a lot of attention to details and clean and careful editing aside from being very innovative. Something that would need a lot of time… something I don’t have the luxury right now. *sigh*
Cousins
Digital scrapbooking really comes in handy when most of people now take pictures using their digital cameras. Unlike before when if you want to have a digital copy of your photos, you’d need a scanner and be able to tweak and adjust colors in a photo editor to get the right hues. A lot of people still do that but only for photos dated BD (before digital). Also, with digitals, you don’t need a whole room to store all your materials. All you need is a good-sized hard drive, and they’re getting cheaper and cheaper as we go into the age of infinity and beyond. Gosh, I got my half a terabye of external hard drive for $85. (1 Terabyte = 1 Million Gigabytes – that’s 200,000 high resolution digital photos!) And photo editor softwares are getting easier to learn. And even if they look like rocket science to you, google would help you look for a tutorial fit for your mental capacity.
But see, that’s just the techie side of it all. Scrapbooking, whether digital or traditional is more than that. It doesn’t matter if your layouts turn out so striking or just simple, whether you used the most expensive materials or just grab what you have lying at home (or free from the digital stores). ‘Bottom line is, you’re doing this for someone you love, about someone you love. That’s where the time, effort and emotion come in play. For every photo, for every embellishment or element turned this way or that, for every word of endearment you put in, you’re putting it in for the people in the photo, the people you care about. That’s what makes scrapbooking such a personal and intimate activity.
And this is one addiction I will gladly subject myself to
Litratong Pinoy #11 – Kalayaan
June 12, 2008
Malaya na ako…
Malaya na akong kumain ng gusto kong kainin, inumin ang anumang gusto kong inumin, anumang oras kong gustuhin.
Malaya na akong bumangon at mahiga ng walang nagsasabing gumising na ako o matulog na ako.
Malaya na akong magsuot ng kahit na anong gusto kong ibihis sa katawan ko (o wag magsuot ng kahit na anong saplot kung nais ko rin).
Malaya na akong panoorin ang pinaka-baduy mang palabas saTv at sinehan, makinig ng kundiman, rak o disco nung panahon ng 70s.
Malaya na ako…
… pero hinahanap-hanap pa rin kita.
Bilanggo pa rin ako ng mga ala-ala mo.
(Kuha ko ito ni C nung mga 2002. Si C ay isang mabuting kaibigan ng mahaba-haba na ring panahon. Nung nag-e-eksperimento pa lang ako ng potograpiya, sinubukan kong kunan sya at ang bata kong tyahin ng “nude”. Hindi pa digital ang camera ko nito. Pero tuwang-tuwa ako nung makita ko ang mga nakunan kong litrato. Yun nga lang, nasa Calgary ang mga negatibo ko. Kapag umuwi kami ng asawa ko sa Canada, hahanapin ko ang mga negatibo at palalakihan ko. )
I am free…
I am free to eat whatever I want to eat, drink whatever I want to drink, whatever time I want to.
I am free to rise and lay without anyone telling me it’s time to wake up or go to bed.
I am free to wear what I want to (or choose not to wear anything, for that matter.)
I am free to watch the cheesiest movie or TV show, play rock, classical or even disco songs of the 70s.
I am free……But I still long for you.
I am still a prisoner of your memories.
(This is my friend, C. We’ve been friends for quite sometime now. This was taken in 2002 when I was still trying my hand out in photography. I did some experimental nude shots of her and my very young aunt. This wasn’t even taken with a digital camera and so I was so delighted when the prints finally came out. I just have to get the negatives from Calgary once me and hubbie go there to visit my mom and dad. Might be nice to have them framed
Photohunt for Litratong Pinoy series #11 Kalayaan (Freedom)
Litratong Pinoy #10 – Pag-iisang Dibdib
June 6, 2008
Ang paru-paro at ang bulaklak, kapag nagsama nakakapagkalat ng mga punlang magiging mga bulaklak rin.
Yan ang sabi ng siyensya.
Pero maging matagumpay kaya sa pag-iisa ang bulaklak at paru-parong ito?
Kinunan nung Halloween sa Los Angeles.
The butterfly and the flower, when together could create the seeds of new flowers to come.
According to science.
But would a flower grow from the union of these flower and butterfly?
Taken at the Halloween parade in Los Angeles.
Photohunt for Litratong Pinoy series #10 Pag-iisang Dibdib(Union of the hearts)
Posted in Photography, Photohunts | Tags: butterfly, flower, gay parade, halloween, Litratong Pinoy, Photohunt | 2 Comments »
Litratong Pinoy #9: Ihip Ng Hangin
May 31, 2008
Magmula ng lumipat ako sa Maryland, pinakaaabangan ko lagi ang Preakness Celebration tuwing Mayo. Ang Preakness ay isang serye ng mga kaganapan sa palibot ng Baltimore na sineselebra ang Preakness Stakes, isa sa tatlong karera ng kabayo na kung tawagin ay Triple Crown (ang dalawa pang karera ay ang Kentucky Derby sa Louisville, Kentucky at ang Belmont Stakes sa Elmont, New York).
Ang isa sa pinakahihintay na bahagi ng selebrasyon at ang Hot Air Balloon Festival. Ang litratong ito ay kuha nung kauna-unahan kong taon sa Baltimore habang pinapalipad ang mga hot air balloons sa Oregon Ridge. Nakakamanghang pagmasdan ang mga nagliliparang lobo nun sa himpapawid.
Ever since I moved to Maryland, I had always looked forward to the Preakness Celebration held every May. It’s a series of events in Baltimore celebrating the famed Triple Crown thoroughbred race, the Preakness Stakes (the other two races of the Crown being the Kentucky Derby in Louiseville, Kentucky and the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York) .
One of the more awaited events during this time is the Hot Air Balloon Festival. This shot was taken during the launch of the balloons at the Oregon Ridge on my first year here in Baltimore. It was truly awesome to see all of them in the air.
Photohunt for Litratong Pinoy series #9 Ihip ng Hangin (Breeze)
Posted in Photography, Photohunts | Tags: Breeze, Hot Air Balloon, Litratong Pinoy, Photography, Preakness | 7 Comments »
Early Signs of Spring
April 14, 2008
The temps had been slowly going up. Nothing drastic, nothing weird – just the normal change towards a very wonderful season. Even the evenings are very agreeable – not too warm but not very cold anymore. How else can you describe it? My spring is here!
Hubbie’s house sits on a lot with a backyard rich with full-grown trees and flowers. The dining room is adjacent to the deck and so during the days we would sit and just watch the birds flying around. We have a mommy and daddy blue jay and a mommy and daddy oriole that we always see hopping from one tree to the other. In the early mornings, if our windows are open, you can actually hear the baby birds chirping. We also hear a pecking sound which we know comes from a woodpecker, altho we haven’t seen it anywhere – yet. On my first spring here in Maryland, we even saw two vultures taking a rest on the neighbor’s roof at the back. Honestly, seeing those buzzards really gave me the creeps, they’re not my favorite creatures in the world.
And hubbie’s daffodils are all out! Really, really, REALLY beautiful! Hubbie planted them all around the house and it’s very refreshing to see them. True as a lot of people say, when you see the daffodils in bloom, you would have a feeling of a promise of a new life – no matter how cold and severe a winter would be.
Hubbie and I have been taking pictures left and right. Thanks to the telephoto lens my dad gave me, we were able to take pictures of the birds even from afar! I can’t take being near birds, (no thanks to my bird-o-phobia, hahaha) so my gift from my dad was sooo cool to use.
So anyways, here are some pictures I took. I’ll be taking some more in the coming days. I just have to rest a bit today tho ’cause my whole left arm hurts so bad because of a bad fall on the stair last night. 
But I hope it’s just a slightly bad fall and nothing really serious.
Posted in Garden/Landscape, Photography | Tags: Blue Jays, Daffodils, Maryland, Orioles, Spring | No Comments »
It’s Springtime!
March 31, 2008
And just like that, springtime is here! It’s still cold but the temperature is slowing climbing – and the rain has come! I like rains during spring cause it means, hopefully, that the summer wouldn’t be that hot, or at least, not that dry. The daffodils my husband planted are blossoming – not all of them yet, but they’re slowing showing. I’m also seeing a lot of cherry blossoms around. Hmmm.. I wonder if hubs and I can squeeze in a time to see the cherry blossom festival in DC. Soon, the tulips will be coming out. My dear hubbie said that this could be a good year for the tulips because the winter temps have been consistent – no nosedives on the temp scale to confuse the flowers that it’s time to come out.
I can’t wait to see the tulips my husband planted this year. Last year he uprooted this bush on the corner of our front yard that was getting to be a nuisance. He also transplanted some of the large bromeliads to our backyard and in their places, he planted a lot of tulip bulbs. And I’m really counting on seeing them all come out a few weeks from now. This is the time of year that I love taking pictures of the flowers in our garden.
Even for hubs, this is his favorite time of the year. He looks forward to all the planting he’d be doing – both in our flower and our vegetable gardens. Altho we might be doing a little bit of cleaning this year in the yard. (God, please give us the time to do so . We had a walk around the neighborhood one night and while we looked at some of our neighbors’ front yards, we decided that we want to downgrade on some of the “shrubbery” in ours. Just to give our elevation a “neater” view.
It would be a big feat to do some new landscaping, tho. But with my husband’s green thumb, I guess we have a better chance of accomplishing the task.
But just in case we can’t get it done, I wonder how much TruGreen would charge for the job? (Trust me, I’m not really that good with plants but I do know a thing or two that could be a big help, ha ha ha).
Posted in Garden/Landscape, Our Home, Photography | Tags: Daffodils, Garden, Home, Landscape, Tulips | 1 Comment »
My Favorite Picture
March 27, 2008
I took this picture during our last outing to Washington, DC. This is my good friends’ sweet daughter, Therese.
When I was still working at Thurmont in NW Maryland, I lived with a couple who were both my co-workers. Eventually, they became our very good friends and we’re very close. During then, I was missing my husband so much because I could only see him during the weekends or not even if he was scheduled for a “weekend-to-work”. My friends’ little girl became my source of joy specially when I felt like I was getting lonely for my husband.
This is one of my favorite pictures during that trip to DC.
Good Vibe Visit
March 20, 2008
I had a wonderful weekend courtesy of some very, very good friends who came and visited us Saturday to Sunday. These are friends who, some, I haven’t seen for more than two years. (Two of them moved from California and are now working in the same company I used to work at before I moved to Annapolis.) They came with their kids and it was such a fun riot! We housed 8 adults and 8 kids (our niece, Pearl) included. The whole living room was full of sleeping bags and air mattress on Saturday night.
I love having people over every so often. They bring warmth and good vibes. My mom always said that inviting people over brings in good chi. So true. Even after my friends left, I could still feel the good vibes going around the house (that, plus maybe our living room and kitchen really look neat and clean right now Kids also bring in good vibes maybe because their young energy is very effecting.
That Sunday, we all went to DC. It was tiring but so much fun. I guess I was so inspired by our meeting that I’ve taken some nice pictures (I think so I’m showing them all off here.
Here’s hoping I see them all again really soon.
