Day by Day

This has been my favourite thing to say lately. "We take it day by day."

There is no way to fairly compare our experience as first time parents with our experience now. If anything, the exhaustion is probably double that of our experience the first time around since we need to balance our time and attention between two children. To be honest, my recovery feels so much longer this time around since I've had very little time to relax and just rest. Oh, and have I mentioned that we do have a third baby of sorts, being still in the first year of a fledgling business?

I've complained about running on empty with only prayer to back me up. I've mentioned last time that a single week has seen me go through highs and lows faster than I've gone through in previous years.

This is it!

I had my check up last Tuesday and apparently we are almost there!

It's something of a double-edged sword, to be honest. It's exciting and frightening at the same time, not knowing what adjustments we will be making and how.

So if there's an extended silence, we all know why. Let's hope it's only silence this time and not dropping off the face of the blogosphere like I'd done before.

Pen and Ink Adventures Review: Elias Pad

First time I'll be talking about my return to art!

Allow me to dive right into what I've been obsessed with of late: watercolours, mixed media, and the aforementioned Elias Pad.

Now, normally I would pick up either a Corona or Canson sketchpad for my art. I'd been using the former since I was eight and the latter beginning college. But I needed something that would serve two purposes: doodling and actual writing since I do carry around at least six fountain pens on an average day.

Yet another new beginning

Each time I start blogging I realise I almost always start with focusing on what I know best: myself.

I look at older posts and I feel like most are so self-centered, sometimes, repetitive. It speaks quite loudly of where my mind goes whenever I am overwhelmed by everything going on around me. I close into myself and just keep moving forward, talking almost randomly about whatever comes to mind.

Isn't it always like that though, that one needs to reflect upon the self before speaking of what's going on outside?

At some point we'll begin moving on to other subjects.

For now, please allow me the vanity of just getting my thoughts down. There will be better points to discuss at a later date and we will strive to keep moving from here to there.

One year. Really?

I remember feeling the same way in August when I marvelled at the fact that my last blog entry was in July. Today I'm recognizing the fact it's been a year since I became a mom.

It has been a very difficult year. Growing as a couple is made doubly (at least!) hard with a child. Chances to discuss the day's events, plans, etc. are cut short constantly or put on hold indefinitely. Nearly everything revolves around the baby. We have been very fortunate to have friends who still have us over even when we have "extra baggage" in tow.

Making it all work

Today we made a rather impulsive but we believe soundly-judged decision to purchase a condominium. To rent out, not for us to live in.

I confessed to the husband that its not quite up to par with what I like in terms of workmanship but the income is necessary at this point and that would give us what we need. We've been guided throughout all our choices; we have every faith that this is the direction we need to go to get to our goals for our family.

The Unexpected

Perhaps this ought to be linked with my "not in the books" posts but you know what, it feels good enough to let it stand alone.

And so, this is the way it is. My personal list of things I never would have believed of I didn't go through it myself.

Don't you just love it when...?

What is it about the Filipino culture that...

1. ...if the person on the other end of a cellphone call can't seem to hear us, we resort to yelling into the phone?

2. ...there seems to be a need to hear the person on the other end of a call as loudly as their voice would be face to face, which also allows others to inadvertently eavesdrop on your supposed private conversation?

3. ...arguments conducted over the phone are conducted so unashamedly publicly that even the most polite witness cannot help but gape and listen, piecing together base on the one-sided conversation what must be going on?

I know I ought to finish the Ireland 2012 series but...

Well, let's just put it this way: there are far too many pictures to wrap my head around at the moment.

So let's go travel elsewhere for a while.

I've had this entry bookmarked for a few months now (take a look at the blog entry date). It's an entry by Chantelle, a.k.a. Fat Mum Slim, on her blog and it talks about little language nuances which, in her case, are Australian.

I took this photo on the weekend, while visiting a Farmer’s Market. It’s controversial and I didn’t know it. I shared it on Instagram and people got a bit ‘funny’ about it, because ‘spunk’ means something else. Other than good looking that is. Let’s not go there. (Keep reading her entry here.)

I am no stranger to such strange words, phrases, and word use. In fact, I have been as much a user of strange words, phrases, and word use as I have been a victim of it.

The Puzzle (Ring) Quest

Note: This is an old entry reposted from my old blog called Boudoir Angel on Tumblr. I'm reposting all of these old entries because I plan to delete my old blog and consolidate everything to this one. Some posts may have its text updated and/or reformatted slightly according to the platform change.

I am normally very good at crediting photos to owners or to the web source. Unfortunately, these have been in my harddrive for so long and without being renamed to indicate the source. If you are the owner of these images or know where they come from, please let me know.

When my husband and I were planning our wedding, one of the things I really wanted was to have everything reflect our combined personalities, however strange our ideas may sometimes seem. That alone drove me to go on a quest to find the most perfect components to complete the ceremony, among the most important being the physical symbol of our union: the ring.

Guest Post!

No, not here, but on our wedding photographer and friend, Noel Salazar's blog! It made me giggle so much I just had to share. :3

For a bit of background, Noel is a photographer for Imagine Nation Photography. I've written about him and a little bit of why he was such a blessing to our wedding in this post. He and his fiancée, Rae Venturanza, have become friends of ours since and among the things that stuck with me during our trip to Ireland is Noel's love for the colour orange and his weekly (whenever he's not too busy, hahaha) Orange Thursdays posts. Every time I saw something orange I was reminded of him and I took the photos he posted with him in mind. (I also sent Rae some flowers--she loves sunflowers but it wasn't the time for sunflowers if they even grow in Ireland, but the sunny yellow flowers we saw during our cliff walk reminded me of her so I took photos of those and sent them over.)

Anyway, Orange Thursdays.

See? Heehee.

You might recognise the flowers from a previous Ireland 2012 post. I believe I posted a different angle of the same bunch of flowers.

Lately I've been grilling Noel about pro photography equipment. I've decided I really want to take my photography seriously and take it a step up to the professional level so I'm working on saving up for the necessary equipment so I can begin my training. Guess where? LOL

So, yes. It makes me all nice and giggly to have my photo up on his blog alongside his pro work and other guest Orange Thursday photos. I'm already learning bits and pieces from studying how my pro friends do their thing so I can't wait to have my shot at it too.

(Ha, get it? Shot?)

Five days to Ireland

I'm actually nervous as heck. This time around I have no checklist to follow and I'm packing for myself and my husband purely based on what I remember bringing when I was last in Europe.

Oh boy.

Conversations #2: Back-up, baby, back-up

I have items in my iPod that I copied or borrowed from other people so I'm very finicky about backing up the contents of my iPod to make sure that the items I copied from others will not be lost should anything happen to my iPod.

Note that my iPod is on its 6th year and it has been in use nearly 24/7 for the past 5 years. For the ones keener on details and times, yes, my iPod's age also reflects the length of time my husband and I have been in a relationship.