Good morning everyone although it is not so good morning for me!   A very close friend succumbed to heart attack just last night and it was only early morning today that I’ve learned about it.  I can only offer prayers for the repose of her soul and her untimely demise definitely is a sore loss for the family.  Technology connected me to her only daughter Sarah because it is physically impossible for me to go to her mother’s wake.  I wanted so much to give the little girl a hug and  know she being a strong willed and a brave girl would find comfort with the thought that her mom was safely home to her Creator.  No more pain.. no more sufferings.. There is peace.. goodbye my friend…

Oh well.. life has to go on.   Good morning everyone!

My daughter celebrated her 20th birthday and I was glad that she lived and enjoyed her teenage years in a fun but legal means.   How blessed are we to have a child who did not give us much  problems while she was growing up.  And so today,as she celebrate her 20th birthday, I felt relieved that she has gone past her teenage years..  though I know she is a responsible girl, but sometimes we can’t help worry because peer pressures are one factor that can influence even the most behaved child.

Her celebration is a simple get together with family minus us her parents because we are working overseas.  However, we see to it that they are not only well provided for (allowances, cellphone loads), we lavish them the love and care they need despite the long distance.   The wonder of technology keep us always in touch with each other.

I was touched with a crying picture of her before the fondant cake. Is that an act or she was really sad? Perhaps she is sad because we are far or maybe because it is already goodbye to teenage life.  Well, it will take a while before the reality sink in and for her to realize that she is no longer a teenager and she is now going to face  the complicated world of adult.   But once she found her place in the world of mature ones, she may not wish to go back to teenage years full of challenges.

emotional b-day celebrant?

Oh dear, the rest of the  ”ber” months are coming because September just came 2 days ago.  I don’t know why I suddenly experienced this panic attack and thoughts came into my mind to stock up early with gifts because when December comes, people will be rushing again for things to buy and long queues will be a nightmare.

But late last night, deep in my thought, I realized that it is more practical to give personalized Christmas gifts.   Well, I believe I can come up with exciting gifts by using my creativity and imagination.  Actually, I’ve started to create personalized photobooks and some had already been given away as birthday gifts and it was heartwarming to see how their faces lit up when they opened up my gifts.

Christmas is a Filipino tradition of gift giving and sharing of love and blessings with family and friends.  So as not to be overwhelmed with photobooks to finish, I will start asap.  I will make it a point that time, love and patience will be put into every book I’ve worked on which will definitely give a lasting impression on the recipients that they are very special.   For indeed they are!

I am getting excited already.. September is the beginning to countdown to Christmas!  And I am counting now….

yes, I made these photobooks…

Last night, much that I wanted to hit the comforts of my bed earlier, but a call from a friend Jessa made me stayed up late because of her endless stories of a not so close friend of ours named Sheryl.     Yay.. again?  It  was one of those girls chit-chats and Jessa pointed out how Sheryl irked her no end.  I really don’t want to get involved with these kinds of petty issues because it only drive us to sin against her.  We can’t help but talk about Sheryl and her Louis Vuitton bag!   Apparently, based on stories, she is all over the place prominently displaying her LV bag and all of her pics in Facebook showed her carrying her “one and only” bag.   It was noticed that she seemed not to own another bag and that is the same bag she repeatedly carries with her in all occasions,  meaning, be in the mall, partying, at the beach, in a local shop, out of town trips, everywhere….  The ladies tongues keep wagging asking that “Isn’t it that there should be a bag for a particular place like at the beach.. a straw bag or trendy plastic carry bags would be best and for out of towns, colorful bags hand carried or back packs?”

Jessa would not stop blabbering… that Sheryl’s LV is not the “real thing”.. not authentic…and yet she displays it as if it is or maybe she is not aware that it is only a cheap imitation.  Apparently she bought it from her Hong Kong trip last month and the other fashion conscious ladies in our circle would swear that her LV is fake and that genuine bags cost thousand of dollars.

Lol.. the ladies would say that maybe Sheryl thought that they will drool with envy  but doesn’t she knows that they can’t be deceived even there is LV monogram…just because it has an LV monogram doesn’t mean that it is..  They don’t like Sheryl.. obviously!

Of course, I can’t relate because I don’t have any plan or means to buy one so I don’t bother to

found this pic on the web showing the difference of both bags

browse on how on to spot a fake LV.   However, on second thought, best to have hints or tips  so that if someone would be parading before me with an LV and would try to belittle my bag, I can just raise my eyebrows.  Oh dear, I think I have unconsciously learned that from the ladies…

BTW… my bag is also LV…. Local Vag…. yay!

Mom warned us not to swim last night…. And why?  It was raining hard and she said we might get wet in the rain if we go ahead with our planned swimming.   But of course, it is  one of those running joke and so still our hard headedness prevailed and we swam anyway only to find out that we were only the lone souls braved enough to swim that night amidst the heavy downpour. But who cares?   We were prepared for that.. so we thought but admittedly it was really cold though we submerged ourselves in the pool up to our neck line and only our heads showing so as we won’t be able to feel the extremely cold weather .. harsh wind blowing and intermittent rainfall…

enjoying the rainy swimming night?

took us about 45 minutes stay in the pool because it was getting really chilly and we’ve noticed that one by one, our companion headed to the shower room to rinse.   Alright.. since we had satisfied our swimming mode, we had to follow others who were dashing out of the changing room to the condo unit.

got you guys on cam.. those who dashed out of the pool

The swimming mode turned into eating mood because we felt we were very hungry after getting out of the pool.  At least we had experienced how it was to be getting wet in the rain while swimming.. (*wink)

It was one rainy swimming night to remember… Promise..

The post is inviting…  who wouldn’t want to leisurely spend their vacation in an island paradise… away from the polluted air of the city, the hustle and bustle of the ever busy streets.   A week end get away is the perfect answer.

I momentarily closed my eyes and think of a refreshing place where I want to spend my 45 days holidays andthe picture of what I had in mind immediately shifted when I saw the post of a friend.   Undoubtedly, since he is working in a travel agency and maybe he have heard that we are coming for a vacation, he made an interesting post that really caught my attention.

promo vacation package….

Ah… such a relaxing place… and I want to spend dreaming on the hammock… fresh air… calm sea and serene place.    I phoned my friend June to book us for 3D2N on that island and I even asked for some discounts too because I know that we will definitely extend our stay there.

W

OMG.. I can’t believe it … the stark truth that those laugh lines, brow lines are getting to be too prominent on my face.. so it is confirmed that my youthfulness is lost forever.  But who wouldn’t be.. at the age of 51 what else can I expect to happen on my face.. forever young???   I guess, I should start to psyche myself that it is perfectly alright and that I can still be beautiful with lines everywhere.   I should also learn to face the realities that there is no stopping now of getting older each day.  No amount of creams, make up can camouflage the signs.. yes, signs of aging…  Invasive procedures promises temporary solution …Yah.. botox as whispered to me by a cousin will be of help but it would mean regular injection … like every 6 months of injection… I did not not pay much attention before because I was confident before that I won’t be needing it, but now, I might consider it ,if I have already conquered my fear of  injection.  The thought made me cringed….

oh me.. oh my lines….

Well, there is really no use of sulking and wishing for the impossible… the best thing to do now is to help oneself to grow old gracefully.  How?  They say that diet and exercise can somehow delay the aging process….enough sleep and rest and the much sought stress- free life  is of help.

There should be acceptance….everybody will pass this phase of life, it just happened that I was born earlier and have to face the truth ahead of time. But, I am thankful that I was able to reach this age.. for there were some did not even manage to celebrate their golden years.

Indeed.. life is good!  Even if my mirror is really telling the truth….

Delay in the release of our  passports renewal halted our plans to travel to Canada.  We received an invitation from my SIL (sis in law) to visit them for an exciting reunion with some of my hubby’s other siblings and relatives who will also also coming over (from the States and Korea) but the plans went kaput.   As we eagerly planned and prepared our documents we had already set our eyes for the travel but the passport renewal did not blend much with our supposed to be smooth sailing application.

It took almost 3 months (yes.. that long) that we decided to make alternative plans just in case it will not still be released on the date that we hope it will be… since our scheduled vacation in the office is getting near… we need to take it or else we will lose our chance since it was earlier on, the staff turned in their schedules to avoid overlapping of leaves….

Checking the consular office website did not help much.. most of the time their site is not working or cannot be found  (as an escape to some irate applicants and hopefuls that their passports are already in the embassy?) because true, it was not only us who were bogged down with worries…. the Embassy’s advisory is to understand the technical problems they’ve been experiencing and they are doing their best to serve us….

Yah… they’ve been serving us but with much delay….painfully so.. for the nth time that we had checked for our passports that did not come at all.  The embassy staff for sure is all prepared to hear bombarding complaints….  We visited them once again not to check for our renewal but to extend the passport for a year but lo and behold.. OMG… the passports were there!!!

precious passports… took 3 months to renew…

What a heavy sigh of relief we had that afternoon…..while it is  true we might not be going to Canada for now but still,  we will be bonding with our children back home… Everything really happens for a reason….

Yehey…. it will be vacation time once again…..

Getting a bit melancholic today because sometimes you can’t help but looked back and trace the life you had the years past.  Hubby and I only had each other when we started to weave dreams and build our family.   One by one, our children came to complete our union and we had 3  (2 boys and a girl).   Parenting is not that easy… from conception to toddler.. to adolescent years and presently 2 had gone past their teen-age years, and the youngest will soon be 19 years old.   Time flies so fast and now we can’t help shed tears as we recall wonderful moments with our children… good times, trying and difficult times  which made us stronger even more.

Now… in the end it will only be me and hubby once again… the children are living far from us as they pursue their university studies in the city.. the beauty of modern technology and social networking is commendable because there will be no excuses now not to keep in touch with families overseas.

I guess,  today… I am missing my children terribly today… sigh****

Our photography class wrapped up 2 weeks ago but we never stopped shooting and aiming for  picture perfect shots with elements of photography used on the subject.   We’ve learned the basics and hopefully if an advance class will be offered, we will surely grab the opportunity to be part of the Circulo In light workshop once again.

Taking pictures is only one welcome hobby but we have realized that if you will really put your hearts and minds into it you will be amazed on how exciting and fulfilling photography is.  And that is why, hubby is really bent to make good on it.   He never leaves home without his gadget and always ready to shoot an interesting subject of interest.   During our closing ceremony, even though he was a novice in the field, it made him proud that he was included among the top 10 photo entries.  (sigh..I was not among them… ).

Posting here the top 3 pictures and the entry of hubby.

Arches by Angel Tugado

Red flower by Bobby Ikram

drop by Michelle Bollough

Honorable mention (among the top 10) – by hubby

And not to mention... my entry…  lol!

I am not losing hope… achieving the best picture is only within arms reach… just keep shooting and believing… Never surrender!