I was suppose to post this yesterday but wasn't able to hook on a wireless internet connection. boo...

The time now is exactly 5:02 am, Feb. 1... Blogging from NAIA now while waiting to board... it's another hour of waiting... hay...

I wasn't able to rest well last night coz I was crying uncontrollably. My heart was literally aching. I can't bare to think we're leaving our family and our home. Sabi nga ni dex, "pano yan di pa tayo umaalis umiiyak ka na?" O nga naman... e why ba? Nalulungkot ako e. Actually, lahat naman yata kami sa family naging senti lalo na last night when we had despedida dinner. Anyways, as my sister-in-law said in her goodbye text "now wipe the tears and go".. we'll always have a family to come back to in case we feel homesick .. aaawww... we're gonna miss you all....

Here's my post for today....

Nasira ang beauty ko sa flight namin kahapon... 6am flight to HK then to San Francisco then finally New Jersey. Almost 20 hours of flight time plus stop-overs in between. Whew... tiring. Now, we're finally here.. safe and sound. I was expecting to see snow when we arrive but nada.. no snow yet. It's been raining though, so the weather is still cold. Jetlag? Nope, not really. Dex and I wasn't able to sleep the night before our departure so knock down talaga kami ni Dex when we hit the bed. It's 7:30am Feb 2 (NJ Time) right now... I'm sending a few emails and will get back to bed.

That's all for now... Thanks to all who left love through the shout box... *hugz*

Labels: blabs, travel

As mentioned in my previous post, the husband is now home from his business trip. Poor dear, he went straight to the office after arrival, without even dropping his baggages at the hotel. First 2 days were mostly work. He would stroll around nearby malls by himself on weeknights to kill time and have dinner. Good thing though, he wasn't required to report for work on Saturday. So that morning, he went to Tian An Men Square by himself with instructions from colleagues. He said the subway was pretty convenient so he was able to get there easily. He got to see the Forbidden Palace where the emperors during the Qing Dynasty lived. They have this small device for rent, sort of like a walkman, for 40 RMB which served as recorded tour guide for tourists who visits the palace. After his TAM tour, he met with his colleague and off they went to Great Wall of China. The majestic creation of Emperor Qin Shi Huang which was built using the bloody hands of his people thousands of years ago. The only visible thing on earth that can be seen from the moon. (My teacher in chinese history surely thought me well *LOL*). Boy, I really have to go there some time in the future to see it with my own eyes! Anyways, he said they weren't able to walk far coz his colleague was tired after a short walk. I told him - nasa kabilang lupalop pa ng China ang end nung Great Wall. *LOL* He brought home a couple of photos from the trip. A couple - meaning not a lot - coz he was mostly taking self portraits while on tour. Though only a few, the tour was documented through photos. Here are some of them... (click image for larger view)

The husband has his own blog by the way. For the first time, he posted something not related to programming! See his post here.

Anyways, I'm glad he's back home. And I'm so looking forward to traveling with him come year 2008!

credits: cardboard clusters from misschifis

Labels: travel

First off, I would like to start this post with a good news. A BIG one, I should say. After 5 1/2 years of waiting, it finally came. I can't bear to imagine the things we went through just to get these precious holograms on our passports! Just when we were starting to lose hope, *kaboom*! Well, at least, better late than never. We have a few months left to prepare ourselves before the BIG move.

Will be seeing more of this flag soon huh?


There are lots of things I want to blog about. The forgotten supplier ratings (which I originally planned to scrap out), more photos from the past that I wasn't able to share, a couple of overdue tags, and some random thoughts. Let's see if I can catch up in the next few days (it's the same line as always).

In the meantime, I'll share a blog I've been visiting a lot these days. The author is Scott Young. I can't believe this guy's only 19! He even has this Postitive Media Blog list which I have to visit one by one if I have time. I made a new subfolder in my bloglines list with the label "wellness" - meaning all feel-good and inspirational stuff goes inside. A couple of entries from Scott's blog that I can personally relate to:

• The Seven Major Beginner Mistakes
• Quit Procrastinating! 20 Ways to Energize Out of Your Slump (I need this badly!!!)
• Slim Your Reader, Go on an RSS Diet (I really needed this so I started RSS diet today)
• Don't Confuse a Degree with Learning
• 14 Tips for a Less Materialistic Lifestyle
• You Suck. Get Over It
• 5 Methods For Cutting Needless Worry From Your Life
• Do You Need to Be a Competitive Jerk to Succeed?

There are a lot more.... I hope to see nodding heads while you dig on his posts. :) Happy reading!

P.S. Thanks to all who left their greetings.... to chikai: yes, the camera of K800i rocks big time! :)

Labels: blabs, events, inspirational, travel

More photos from our trip last June with friends at Balay Indang. Mostly from my 50mm 1.8 lens. With little tweaking using Itty Bitty actions.





















I've been struggling for weeks contemplating on the next lens to buy. Photography IS an expensive hobby. At times, I've thought of selling the DSLR all together and get another point and shoot camera instead. Hay buhay... kulang pa ang bonus para sa mga lenses na yan!

Labels: photography, travel

I was trying to look for ways to enhance the photos as is so to avoid further manipulation in Photoshop. As I mentioned before, I want to focus first on learning how to become a photographer... not a graphic artist. Don't get me wrong. I love graphics. I love editing. That explains why I love tweaking photos and digiscrapping very much. I just want to start from the basics and then learn one step at a time.

When we were still preparing for our wedding, we came across different "breeds" of photographers with different selling points - some are good in effects (graphic enhancements and album layouting) while some focus on photos that are good even without Photoshop. Now we're married, I still find time to visit the blog sites of different wedding photographers and see what's new with their photos. And I notice a lot of them have adopted graphic enhancements into their photos making it another form of art. However, sometimes I do wonder, how do you differentiate a good photo from a good graphic work? Somebody please enlighten me. *LOL* Pardon me for coming up with stupid questions. Alam niyo naman BUM ako ngayon kaya kung ano ano ang naiisip ko. *LOL*

Now, some shots to share. These were taken during our team building at Punta Fuego Batangas last June. I did a little experiment by adjusting the camera settings (contrast, saturation, sharpness) to pop/boost the colors. It worked well for scenery and plant shots. But for people shots, it somehow changes the skin tone and doesn't look natural. I guess I need to read up and do more experiments. And purchase a filter probably *LOL* By the way, I wasn't spared with Photoshop on these photos either. *LOL*

Click to view larger image...

Labels: photography, travel

Some photos taken last weekend on our Manaoag Pilgrimage Trip. Click image for larger view.

Labels: photography, travel

Tagaytay Trip

Went on a roadtrip last Sunday with the hopes of finding a perfect location for our outdoor prenups. MIL2b and SIL2b went with us as Dex needs a navigator to point the directions. By the time we reached Tagaytay, it's lunchtime already. So we had lunch at "Breakfast by Antonio's" -- yeah, we had lunch there not breakfast. :) The place is nice, view is fantastic, but the food? Hm.. let's say it's just so so. What I ate doesn't match the raves I heard. Not bad, but not too good. After lunch, we headed to Balay Indang. The place was highly recommended by a friend. Indeed it's a nice place to stay. If you want some quiet space, this is the best hangout. I heard the food is good also. Price is reasonable. Will trying the eating next time. In the meantime, we just checked the place if it is good enough for pictorial. I like the cottages especially the white swags and curtains... will definitely add that dreamy feel to the pictures. As I mentioned, it's a quiet place... hence, not a lot of people. We heard that the owner just built the place as their family rest house, which explains why there isn't much advertisement to promote the place. Very good I must say! At least, we won't be bothered with "killer" stares from strangers. SHY AKO! (bwehehehe... so not true). :D Balay Indang is only 1.5-2 hours drive from Manila. If you need to relax and unwind, this is the place to be (parang jingle to ah..) :D Below are some pics we took at B.I.










Team Building

I believe my "current" boss doesn't know this site. So I think it's safe to spill everything out here. hihihi... I'm moving to another company this coming July. yeehee... The "future" boss organized a team building (sort of outing) and she invited me and a couple of new hires to join. So nice of her. So there... I celebrated Independence Day with a bunch of strangers! haha. I was so nervous at first coz I don't know any face at all. I'm glad they're all friendly. By the time we reached Pansol Laguna, I already have friends! hehe... It was a fun trip! What excite me the most was meeting a couple photography enthusiasts.. and I was told that the company has a photography club where experts and newbies exchange know-hows and organize photography escapades or trips! Wow!! I gotta join that club! They said I need not buy an SLR at once... there are lots of people in the club who are willing to lend their unused cameras to the beginners. I can just buy one when I get the hang of it. WOW! My dream of learning photography isn't far away! :D And oh! I was able to try one of the SLRs they brought.. GRABE! My Golly! ANG BIGAT!! I was really afraid of dropping the fully geared camera... wala akong pambayaaaad. hihi...

P.S. no pictures to share yet. Siyempre mahiya naman akong ilabas ang (cellphone) camera ko, kita mo naman mga dala nila Digital SLRS with Telephono Lenses, extended battery pack, and extra large horse-shoe flashes! oh my. Nanliit ako. hehe.. Joke.. siyempre ba't pa ako kukuha ng pictures knowing that I'll be more happy being the model. HEHE... Excited to see the pics.

New Gadget











It's not mine.. it Dex's! After more than 6 months of begging (Hehe exag)... I finally agreed to Dex's plead of buying a new cellphone in replacement of his ever reliable 3650. Haha.. I'm proud to say that's my gift for him for the past X birthdays, anniversaries, and christmas. haha.. I'm so bad talaga... I think I need a little tutoring from my wawie sisters on how to make surprises. I'm really bad at it! Anyhoo, Dex seems to love his new phone.. I love it too... it's sleek, got nice sounds (heaven talaga compared to nokia).. and the camera with it is nice. Siyempre, being the photographer (wanna-be), picture picture kaagad. Would you believe, the pictures we took sa Balay Indang were from this cellhpone's camera? Grr talaga... the batteries for the digital camera really needs to be thrown away! I charged it for more than 10 hours the day before! By the time we're starting to take pictures, low batt na sya! Grrr talaga! Buti nalang we already bought the Moto. Anyways, here are some of the testing shots I took using the Moto. Not bad eh? Siyempre majority Black and White pics.. feeling Dino Lara kasi. HEHEHE...

Labels: blabs, photography, techi stuff, travel