Thursday, November 06, 2008

A Whole New World

after 8 months in absentia, my life takes a sweet, sweet turn to a world that seemed elusive for the past 7 years - - - motherhood.

for sure, there are much better things to blog about this time. only that, i'm relishing 24/7 my new-found joy.

i promise to be back the soonest.

please bear with me dear blog.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

For a Worthy Cause

unsure that i will be able to attend the march 8 fundraiser for the carmelite nuns in tarlac, i made sure that i will be able to contribute some cards as part of the fund drive.























i'm not much of a card person, but making all 15 of these was a breeze.

in hindsight, i think the universe conspires when a purpose is for a noble cause
.














to my delight, the universe conspired yet again, because i was able to attend the fundraiser!

i was happy to see both familiar and new faces (for the latter, it meant a thriving pinoy srapping community), watch cabbie & nita's demo, and witness the lee-led auction of scrappy goodies at low, low prices. i couldn't imagine 'til now, that the cricut went to the luckiest bidder at 3.5k. my, oh my, almost 1 yr ago, i got mine at 15k *sigh*.

among the activities of the day was a charity themed-challenge which i joined, using pre-selected kits by the organizers.

this was my entry -------->



which was chosen 2nd place and earned me this cosmo cricket kit
that i so, so love.
<------------------


my luck didn't end there
because i also won a dozen of raffled patterned papers, these ----------->



and shopped these yummies on a discount.
<---------------

all things said, let me congratulate the organizers behind the event. it was really so worth it (especially that i had to traverse the long route from makati to loyola heights - - - whew!).

and oh, thanks a bunch lindy for these ------------>



Monday, February 18, 2008

{Note}worthy Challenge

whole day of feb 10 was left to me & myself while dh watched basketball & did some 'for the boys thing'. it gave me an opportune time to do my mini album entry for scrapbukan's {note}worthy challenge. i tell you i dreaded tearing apart the oh-so-cutie pie making memories journal, but i just needed the pages w/ the red brackets for my mini album (and i still can use the other pages for some layouts or minis maybe). so from this:
i achieved this:

8 days later, i learned that my mini placed first in the challenge. i'm so happy *blush*.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Urban Lilly Album - A Gift

i made a 12x12 album for my mother of the '06 del rosario feast in our town where she was the hermana. i tried finishing this in time for christmas, but failed. fast forward to january, i was finally able to dish it out.

i was content with the fact that i was able to manage with white cardstock and the colorful urban lilly papers. oh, i'm so lovin' urban lilly a lot now.

technique-wise, i didn't do much except for cutting, cutting, & some more cutting *LOL*.

the closest english translation i can think of for the visayan word
'padul-ong' is 'to accompany'. the holy rosary image stayed
in our house for the whole year of '06.
the 'padul-ong' in january '06 sort of kicked-off the event.
a breakfast buffet at our garden awaited the participants

9 months later, or 1 day before the last sunday of october '06,
the holy rosary image was transferred from our house to the church,
and again, food was abundant *LOL*

(left LO) still part of vesper day; (right LO) the feast day!

the procession passed by our house

(left LO) procession; (right LO) the con-celebrated mass

still at the church

after the mass, it's dinner/party time!

this LO speaks much of our feelings - - - indeed grateful.

materials used:
cs - white bazzill & dcwv;
pp - UL everyday lilly collection (sushi dot, sushi & blush dot),
happy everything collection (beautiful & forever),
may ella collection (bliss);
chipboard alpha - heidi swapp lemonade & scrapworks;
paint - deco art metallic gold & li'l davis brownie mettalic shades
ink - colorbox chestnut roan;
rubs - mm simply stated;
flowers - prima;
others - mm snaps, colorbok brads, the happy hammer eyelets,
canson tracing paper, rikrak


Sunday, January 13, 2008

At Home for Christmas & More

nothing beats in making my DH & i happy than being with our families. so when i learned that he bought for us pal promo tickets for the holidays, i was rather ecstatic. but a week before christmas, i found out that what we had were business class seats for the manila-tacloban route.

i consider myself a frequent flyer, but have never experienced business class, ever. on dec. 23, i realized that with the fare almost 4x the promo rate, comes many amenities like: no more queueing at the airport entrance & check-in counter, a business lounge to while away pre-boarding time with free internet access & buffet breakfast *LOL*.

i so love the mango crepe...yummmmy!

the feast didn't end at the business lounge, for aboard the plane
awaits a sumptuous breakfast.
i tell you, i am just used to the usual crackers *another LOL*.
after a 1-night stay in tacloban, we headed to home-sweet-home on dec. 24.

after celebrating 2 christmas parties: at my in-law's & ours, our family re-lived a christmas tradition: family portrait on christmas morning. ahhhh, i looked forward to this while i was young, i mean the girly young.

what is sad is that 9 family members are in far-away places. back home, we were a minority. and while we are used to dressing up to the nines for our christmas picture, we went laidback this time.

our backyard is so perfect for our christmas morning picture

on dec. 27, my DH & i, with my BIL & his family, & 2 SILs & their families started our un-planned travel to cebu via ormoc. our group of 7 adults & 4 kids were just enough the hired van from tacloban to ormoc (1.5 hours). in the nick of time, we boarded a huge boat, m/v heaven star. we occupied 2 cabins so that we can take a rest during the 4 hour-sail, but with 4 hyperactive kids, i wasn't able to shut my eye.

i was impressed with the physical facility of the boat. it's very unlike the boats in the '80s.

cool food court

no waves at all

what's so funny about our 1-day & 1-night stay in cebu is that, we weren't able to move around historic spots 'coz the kids' butts were glued at the malls *sigh*. the good part is that we were just enough in the huge family room of royal court business hotel adjacent to ayala mall. talk about bonding time at its best.

while lazying in our beds on our first morning in cebu, came the idea to move to bohol. so to bohol we go on board the speedy supercat (2 hrs.). i was surprised that pinoys were a minority on the supercat lift, a big number of travellers being foreigners. that speaks well of bohol's tourist promotion.

at the port of tagbiliran city, bohol. first impression: it's clean.


we were fetched at the port by a tourist van we hired while we were at the supercat boarding area of cebu pier.

the van was to tour us around bohol for 8 hours. from the port, our first destination was the majestic chocolate hills, and passed by the man-made forest and a private garden where we viewed tarsiers. from the tarsiers, we headed to a private house where my companions viewed a phyton in captivity. i said my companions 'coz i did not dare look. eeeew. we also dropped by the historic baclayon church and shopped at the aproniana souvenier store. we were too tired to go further, thus, the next stop was bohol tropics resort hotel for dinner.

we were not told that food service takes ages at bohol tropics. my DH & nephew couldn't hide their disgust. taste verdict: not good, either.

we at least hoped to stay at bohol tropics for the night. but there was no more room *sigh*, so we settled at the nearby hotel la roca, which is not as physically pleasing as bohol tropics.


after a much-needed sleep, i was again ready for a city tour.


by noon, we were at the pier back to cebu.

after 2 hours, we were in cebu. as we planned to take the boat back to
ormoc later in the night, we went straight to sm cebu to deposit our luggages.
a traveller's lounge is such a cool idea. huge hotel savings here.

by 10pm, we were headed to ormoc on board m/v heaven star, this time we took the suite room. and yes, all of us 9 squeezed in there. bonding time once again *LOL*.

my niece bea was too engrossed w/ her tarsier experience.
she climbed the pole all by herself!

to get myself to sleep, i took a peek at the only souvenir item i have of cebu: a cheap-y pocketbook i found at sm cebu booksale. now i can say i just bought a book in cebu *LOL*.

indeed one for the books

we reached ormoc by 2m of dec. 30. after a 1.5 hours road ride, we were at my SIL's house in tacloban. w/o being told, the kids continued their sleep, much to our relief. by noon, we headed back to home-sweet-home to welcome 2008 with our families.

during my sister's bday party on jan. 1, came the idea to visit our great-grandfather's island, around 5-minute boat ride from the town. the visit happened in the morning of jan. 2.

i so love the virgin green of the island....
....& the pristine waters facing the pacific.

3 male cousins took the challenge to find food, as if to relish how our
great-grandpa survived in his lonesone at the island. true enough,
barely 30 minute after, they came back w/ these:

by 3pm, my DH & i were on the road to tacloban. almost halfway to our destination, our tire blew. it could have been easy to replace the tire had the tire wrench been A-ok. but it wasn't and it was getting dark, and rain was starting to fall. fear struck. as if an answered prayer, the occupants of the only house nearby offered help to find a tire wrench in the next barrio. 2 hours after, our blewn tire was replaced. thanks heavens for kind strangers. lessons learned: check your tools & pray more.

who would have thought this huge tire would blow?

early morning of jan. 3, we were bound for manila, this time, to fly ordinary *LOL*

it was a 12-day breeze, and my only disappointment is that i wasn't able to finish the album i intended as christmas gift for my mother. now, i have yet to finish my 12 days of christmas mini album, and i have accumulated again holiday pictures to scrap. so help me God.

as i unfold our tree back in makati, my thoughts of the year that was
continued to play on my mind. i thank the Almighty for His many blessings,
and i continue to pray for His guidance.

A BLESSED NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!!