Friday Photos - Where Dreams Come True

How many Fridays have I missed Friday Photos?

I'm tired. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally, no. Something to be thankful for :)

Since I need a little something to lift my mood, I decided to share this today.

This was taken during the fireworks show at Disneyland in California a long time ago. I remembered this recently because Andrea likes looking at pictures and she discovered the pictures from our trip to the US (before she was born) in one of our photo albums. She loves the ones from Disneyland the most, as expected. And she has been telling me she wants to go to 'Mickey Mouse' a lot. I'm thinking maybe I can take her to the Disneyland in Hongkong next year... but she also starts pre-school next school year and I am discovering how much private pre-schools here cost. Hmmm... I wonder if she will appreciate watching the Disney on Ice show in December instead?

Friday Photos on a Monday - Saranggani Highlands

I missed  Friday Photos last Friday and in a few hours, in another post after this one, I will tell you why. 

Today's photo is dedicated to Kelley of Kelley Highway:

I have read your email Kelley, and I haven't had a chance to reply yet. But I will in a while. And since you mentioned General Santos City in your email, I decided to post this today for you :)

This is a photo of the main building/restaurant at Saranggani Highlands. It was taken in the early evening before we left for home. The sky has already darkened and the lights were one. 

Saranggani Highlands is located somewhere around or in General Santos City in Mindanao (Southern Philippines). It's sort of an events venue and restaurant on top of a hill. This place has a garden and has a great view of mountains and fields. The food served is just so-so... nothing spectacular and a little pricey according to the locals (our friends there considered it pricey since they are charging something like P80 or $2 for a plate of fries but for me, based on prices in Manila, it seems reasonable). But seriously, you don't go there for the food... you go there for the view, and ambiance which to me was worth it.

Friday Photos - The Dizzy Star

These are Christmas lights:

...taken with slow shutter speed. I don't know the exact settings but from what little I could understand of my husband's explanation, you set your shutter speed, and then click, and move the camera around slowly. And you get this effect. Makes sense? :-/

We have several of this photos because my husband had fun taking them. This is just one of them. Interesting isn't it?

Friday Photos - I am trying

Before I post my Friday Photo for today, let me give a brief explanation for my blogging absence. It can pretty much be summed up by one word:

WORK.

I wish I can say that I have projects lined up which I will be posting soon. But the truth is, I've been too busy at work to think about doing anything much when I get home. When I get home, I just want to rest my mind and body. I'm just... tired. All the time. 

But...

I am trying to learn something new. 

This photo is not particularly beautiful. It just shows you what I'm hoping to try. I say 'hoping' because I joined the Crochet-Along at Maybe Matilda, and we're supposed to have 12 inches of our cowl by today... and well, my photo pretty much showed you what I have.

I'm hitting a lot of stumbling blocks lately.., with my project at work, and this one. I don't want to bore you all with my project at work, so let me share a little about my attempting-to-crochet-along project.

Rachel's first lesson for her crochet-along was choosing yarn. Stumbling Block number one. I tried to follow what her guest Sarah said. On the yarn available here... I couldn't find any indication as to their weight. I bought the only yarn available anyway and hope that will work. I am totally feeling Karen's issues with finding yarn here in Manila.

Stumbling block number two. My crochet hook. I pretty much took the sales person's recommendation on which hook to get based on the yarn I bought. It turned out to be too small. I can't even make a decent chain stitch with it. So I decided to get the biggest hook they have which they are calling a size 'Number 1'. Whatever. But it does work with the yarn I bought so all good now. 

Stumbling block number 3. How do I hold the yarn to keep it in place and to get the correct tension??? I tried Rachel's method but it keeps slipping. My sister crochets and she showed me how she does it. She told me it gets easier with practice. I hope she's right. 

In spite of all my issues... I WILL DO THIS! And I will have 12 inches of this cowl done before Friday ends in my time zone!!! 

- take deep breaths - 

Ok, let's look at how to do those chain stitches again.

Friday Photos - Siling

November 1, 2007... thanks to budget flights, my husband and I were able to travel to his home town in General Santos City in Mindanao. And like most Filipinos, November 1 found us in the cemetery where some of his relatives were laid to rest, including this sister, who died when she was only 5 years old.

Every year, on November 1, Filipinos celebrate All Saint's Day, and it has been our tradition to go to our loved ones final resting places to light candles, offer prayers and reunite with other living family members who also visit. It might sound solemn and sombre and in some ways it is, but All Saint's Day is almost like a festival here. Some people, especially in provinces, spend their entire day at the cemetery, playing games, having a picnic, telling stories... it's like one big reunion party. 

So 2007, we spent the day at the cemetery in General Santos City and during the day, family and friends stopped by their mausoleum to say hi. One of them was this man. He is an old friend of his family. He used to play with my husband's mom and her siblings when they were kids. And while my husband's mom went on to live a comfortable life, his life had been more difficult as can be seen on the weathered lines on his face. The family has not seen him for a while so they spent the afternoon catching up.

My husband caught this image of him during a lull in the conversation. He says he remembers my husband as a little boy. We showed him the photo and he said he looks older in the photo.

Friday Photos - Peacock Pride

Since I started using the My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software, I've had to go through a lot of our old photos. I am rediscovering a lot of nice photos we took after I last did my compilation for my original photo book project in 2009. 

This one was taken just last summer:

Peacocks are being used as symbols for vanity. How can you not be vain when you are that beautiful?

This is one of the peacocks at the Villa Alfredo Resort in Pampanga. The pools and the villas and cottages are already showing signs of wear. But the gardens surrounding the pools are still beautiful, and they have a mini-aquarium and aviary. The only thing I loved about that resort was the aviary.

Aside from this peacock, they also have gorgeous white peacocks. But alas, he (only male peacocks have beautiful feathers like this right?) didn't feel like showing off the entire time we were there. Here he is:

Snubbing all of us gawkers :) Not the best photo but that was the best one I have of him.

It's Friday everyone! I am looking forward to some rest this weekend. It's been a little busy at work. Hope you all enjoy the weekend!

 By the way, have you joined my giveaway yet?

A $40 value! Join now!

Friday Photos - Revisiting My Memories (Giveaway Preview!!!)

I am going to give you something a little different for today's Friday Photos. This is a little preview of something I am currently working on and sneak peak of a GIVEAWAY I will be hosting.

Yes, I will be having my FIRST GIVEAWAY next week! So make sure you check back ;)

-oo0oo-

A Story of Two Precious Little Girls

by: Janelle

-oo0oo-

To be continued...

-oo0oo-

This story is about my daughter, Andrea, and her cousin, Helaena. And if you haven't guessed yet, I'm making a story photo book. Check back again next week for the rest of the story. If you want to make something like this, I will also be sharing how I made mine. And of course, there's the...

GIVEAWAY!!!

P.S. This is something you will not want to miss.  See you next week!

I am linking up to the following parties:

Think Pink Sunday at Flamingo Toes | Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime | Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming | Not Baad Sunday at Lamb Around | Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple | A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | A Marvelous Mess at Marvelously Messy |

Friday Photos - Ritual Dance

This carving hangs from a wall in one of the common areas of the Boracay Regency Resort. I'm not sure about the origin of this wall art but my husband and I found it interesting because of the intricate detail. It looks like some tribal women doing a ritual dance.

Friday Photos - Summer Bloom

Do you have a DSLR camera? If you do, I bet one of your first favorite subjects to practice on were... flowers. Or leaves. Right? Right? :)

I see a lot of photos like this on the web. And we definitely have our share of them. I don't even know where this one was taken. I guess from a resort since the date says March, and March is around summer time here. 

This photo is also a good example of one of the rules of photography my husband showed me first: the rule of thirds. Something like the subject of your photo should not be right smack on the center but somewhere around 1/3 of the photo area. 

And that blurring of the background thing... I have yet to learn how to do that.

Friday Photos - City by the Bay

I initially thought this was taken from our trip to San Francisco until I noticed one of the hotels in the background. And then I checked the date. We weren't in San Francisco that time. I realized this is a photo of Manila Bay and must have been taken by my husband when their ferry boat got back from Corregidor. I wasn't with him then that's why I have no memory of this photo being taken.

Friday Photos - Mountain Cabin

Can you guess where this photo was taken?

... nope, not in the US... not somewhere in Europe either... this was taken right here, in the Philippines. This photo was taken while my husband and I were riding the cable car inside Tagaytay Highlands.

Tagaytay Highlands is a posh country club located in Tagaytay City, a few hours drive south of Manila. We're not members, and I think it was a friend of my mom's who invited us there. Aside from the country club's facilities, there is also an area inside where you can buy real estate property. I think this house, is one of those. There is actually a row of houses like these which you can see on the mountain side, across the cable cars. Photo quality is courtesy of my husband's telephoto camera lens... you know, one of those loooong camera lenses which are a pain to carry around and aren't very practical when you are just regular people who aren't into photography? I wanted a simple point-and-shoot camera but no... he wanted a DSLR and bought several lenses which we never use much and... I digress. Sorry :) 

So anyway, using that lens, my husband was able to zoom and get a good photo of this house which was quite a distance from where we were. This is one of the few photos taken using that camera lens.

NOTE: About the camera lens, well... after a couple of years of non-use... my husband finally agreed to sell it so we don't have it anymore. I'm still wishing for a point-and-shoot camera. Maybe my hubby will see this blog post and get a clue (*HINT* Wedding anniversary soon sweetie... wondering what to get for me????).

Friday Photos - The Garden Path

Another photo taken by me:

... and edited with Photoshop within every inch of it's surface :) I wanted to make it look like a painting.

This photo was taken at a Durian farm somewhere in Southern Philippines. Somewhere in South Cotabato, I think. (So good with Geography, I am! I didn't even know where we were!) The place had several fruit trees and gardens and I took this photo of a covered path which leads to... I have no idea. It was a little dark at the end of the path and I was with my 3-year old niece at the time so we did not venture that way.

When I was looking at the photos from our trip, I didn't think this particular photo captured the beauty I saw that day. But when I started looking for photos to compile for our photo book, I saw this again and thought that the shot had some 'drama' to it and with a lot of little editing it can pass for 'artistic'. I worked on the photo in Photoshop, using Filter > Artistic > Watercolor. I love how it looks now.

NOTE: Regarding Durian by the way, I am not particularly fond of the fruit... and the smell!

Friday Photos - Potomac River

For this Friday, let's skip to another continent.

And for a change, this photo was taken by me, not my husband.

This photo of the Potomac River was taken from the Mount Vernon grounds while we were taking the tour. I looked out the door and saw these 2 tourists on the grounds, thought it looked pretty and snapped the photo using a cheap point and shoot camera. 

Mount Vernon, the former residence of George Washington, is beautiful! Though initially the attraction for us was that it was related to the movie, National Treasure 2, haha. I hope we get a chance to go back. I'm sure we took loads of photos but for some reason, this is the only one that made it to my supposed-to-be-Photo book project. Oh wait, here is another one... again, taken by me!

I'll dig around our hard drive for some more. Hope you guys have a lovely weekend! I have guests so it's sure to be busy around our house this weekend.

Friday Photos - Corregidor

Ruins in Corregidor

Corregidor is an island located a few hours from Manila. It can be reached by ferry boats which make daily trips from a port in Bataan and a port in Manila Bay. Every inch of Corregidor's landscape tells a story. During WWII, American and Filipino troops retreated to this island during the Japanese invasion. It was their last refuge... though not much of a refuge because people on this island taking shelter in underground tunnels endured heavy bombings from the Japanese. 

After WWII, this island also bore silent witness to the massacre Moro Muslim soldiers, formed and trained for a secret mission during the Marcos regime. The Jabidah Massacre. When their mission had to abort, the President ordered all soldiers who have knowledge of the mission killed. Or so the story goes.

If you visit today, you will still see the ruins of buildings, barracks, and underground tunnels. There are also several monuments. It is also said that the entire island is haunted by the ghosts of the many soldiers and other people who died there, during the way, and after. One of the attractions is a ghost hunting activity facilitated by the hotel there if you stay over night. My husband and his officemates went, but according to them, aside from the whole island being eerily quiet at night, they did not see or feel anything unusual.

Friday Photos - My Forgotten Project

Two years ago, around January of 2009, I planned on compiling some of my husband's photos into a photo book and give it to him as a gift. I compiled 2 sets for 2 photo books: one I laid out like a digital scrap book containing our  photos from all the trips we took since we got together, and the other was a compilation of his photos. It was the first time I will be ordering a photo book and I wanted to see what it looks like so I decided to order one book first. Since Valentine's Day was coming up that time, I decided on the more sappy one, you know, the one with all our photos together (hehe) and then give it to him as a gift (I'm the one who wanted that photo book...  So in the end I got what I want, AND I had a gift ready for him... I win! I win!).

The book arrived a few days before Valentine's day and I loved it!

However, that was also around the same time we found out that I was already pregnant with Andrea. With all the excitement and preparation for the baby, I totally forgot about the other photo book.

And then yesterday, I was transferring my files from my old desktop to my laptop when I saw a folder marked "Photobook". Inside were my husband's photos which I prepared for the second photo book! I have forgotten that he is actually good at taking photos. Since Andrea arrived, our photo subject is mostly a small moving object that tries to grab the camera when she sees it pointed at her.  

I will still get that second photo book printed (and maybe give it to him for our wedding anniversary). But for now, every Friday, I will be posting some of his, and maybe some of my, photos here, with a little story behind them.  I'm calling it my Friday Photos series.


For now I give you this:

This was taken on the plane our way home from Boracay, where we spent our honeymoon after our wedding. I saw the light shining behind the wing of the plane from the window and tried to take a photo. I wasn't successful. I couldn't capture the light properly. I tried several times until hubby asked me what I was doing and when I told him, he adjusted the camera settings and took a shot. He got it!