Posts tagged: the gratitude project

Honestly, we did not have a great start to 2016 in the family because we lost a few relatives one after the other on the first few days of January and I also got sick. However, this is not a reason for me not to look back at the blessings I had for December.

I was done with my writing work by mid-December. I have pending commission art work which I already planned to complete before the year ends. My December was full of get-togethers, food, presents, friendship, family and laughter. I tried my best to embrace every moment with joy in my heart.

My friend, Teram, threw a party for us and I enjoyed what she prepared.

These are some of the bunch I went to Coron with this year and we are looking forward to our next trip together.

My friend came home for a vacation and we got these as presents.

I also got pomelo from my former colleague.

When Christmas came, we did not want to slave in the kitchen so we just cooked a pre-sliced ham, made macaroni salad and bought brownies. We had these for dinner.

Because we were not busy with the preparation, we were able to attend the midnight mass for Christmas. When we went home, we ate cookies.

It was on Christmas day when we prepared for Christmas lunch with family. We were well-rested for the night so it was a stress-free lunch.

This is my family.

There were more parties and get-together with friends and relatives.

And I got this awesome carrot cake from my high school friends. It was rich, moist and dense. The texture was even. I told her that she needs to teach me how to bake this goodness. I cannot bake as well as her and I am excited to learn especially that my aunt is getting an oven this year. My oven still needs fixing. It has been two years since it broke.

December was also the month that I lost my loving father six years ago. I posted this photo on Facebook to remember him. I really look like my father and in this photo, many saw that he is my doppelganger. I am now older than him in this photo.

And despite the busy schedule, I am happy I was able to complete this commission work.

I hope you all had a wonderful December!

I had a steady November.  I worked, I traveled. I had fun in between. There were challenges. I am always amazed how God works. In times that I feel low, blessings came along.

November 1 and 2 were the days we remember the dead but you can trust Filipinos to make light of a somber occasion. Notice the hot pink tomb in the cemetery here.

My aunt’s friend sent us rambutan. Lots of them.

I have always egged my cousin to drive me to the Bood Promontory. It is an elevated area where the first mass in Philippines was held.  We used to cross the river in that area by hiring a boat to help us cross. Now, there is a hanging bridge and that is why I wanted my cousin to bring me there.

Standing on the middle of the bridge, I took a photo of Mt. Mayapay.

Oh, I saw this  photo contest in my  Facebook newsfeed. When I clicked on the link, I found my entry of last year’s contest being featured. No, I did not win. The Tinuy-an Falls entry won. Mine is the third one. Mine was taken in Laswitan, Cortes, Surigao del Sur. It is nice that two photos featured are both taken in the Philippines and in Surigao del Sur. I just hope they put captions to identify the locations.

The larger version of my entry is this.

This was taken last year and this year, my friend invited me again to join her on this trip.  My instagram page was filled with photos of that trip.

We made a side trip to the Britannia Group of Islands in San Agustin, Surigao del Sur. As the sun set that day, I was able to take this photo.

Oh, since it is almost December, I got to clean the living room and decorate my tree.

 This artwork I made last November speaks a lot about my entire November.

Lately, I have not found time to blog that I feel the days and weeks slipping away.  Was I just uninspired to post or was I just too busy to find time? Instead of posting each of my story separately, let me compile them all in one blog post.

I have finally made pastillas that we all loved. The balls were firm this time that I do not need to wrap them individually. 

I also got chicharon bulaklak (fried pig intestines) from my cousin.

And it seemed like all the unhealthy food was not enough. I bought some interesting snacks from the grocery.  Coincidentally, these are all Oishi products. Must avoid them!  I consumed all these in a day.

I decided that by November, I will start eating healthy to loss a few inches to make way for December.  Christmas is around corner.

I did some artwork in October. I still have pending commission work. I do not want to put out work just because there is a deadline. I want to put some thought in creating them.  Some of these are exercises to try some technique. The other are commission work.

Oh, I finally tried to color Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden.  I only tried a page.  With so many inspirations from those who sent their colored pages to her website, I did not know how to make my coloring work uniquely my own. I kept thinking that if I mess this up, I can no longer re-do this.  I know. I can overthink thing.  Then, I just decided to just color and not stress over the outcome. This is supposed to be a stress reliever. Ha!

My friend introduced me to a friend who taught me how configure my DSLR manually. Yes,  I used to shoot in auto-mode. I did not understand how to control my camera the way I wanted.  I am trying to learn this time.

While on a shoot, this man came from the mountain with chopped wood oblivious to us. We were intruders in his path.

Sunset is beautiful in this part of my city. I am glad we still have areas with this clearing with some fresh air and splendid view.

These are my October stories. I am thankful for the simple things that made me enjoy life to the fullest.

It was my birthday month. I would have wanted to do something special but the month started with work. My waking hours was spent working on the report for the first week that by the time it was my birthday, I was typing like crazy trying to beat my own deadline. I don’t want to spend the birthday buried with work. Thankfully, I finished at 10 AM on the day of my birthday.  We had a simple celebration at home.  Like the previous year, I picked my own cake which my aunt paid for. I had a yellow mango roll cake this year. I had a simple lunch with family.

I tried to catch some sleep in the afternoon that I missed my friend’s call. She was looking for me. Since I made no plans to celebrate with friends, she decided to treat me on my birthday. Thank you, God! I have awesome friends and family. My heart is full.

Vendors started selling Lanzones in September that I got excited. There was a time that we bought 3 kilos of Lanzones and ate them until we were satisfied.

My friend who was into farming brought us some of her produce. She had dragon fruit and passion fruit. I have not tried both fruits. The passion fruit was juicy but very sour.  The dragon fruit tasted like papaya to me.  I do not mind eating both fruits again.

Oh, she also brought a snake gourd.  She said it tastes like ampalaya (bitter gourd) without the bitterness. I was not able to taste this because I gave it to our friends. My aunts who are scared of snakes did not want this in the house. They always get frightened whenever they see the gourd in my table. So I gave it to my friends. Well, I took a photo first. Hahaha

My friend and I snagged a trip to Bacolod on a promo fare early this year. So off we went on the second week of Septmber! I have yet to write a post about it. For now, let us marvel at The Ruins in Talisay City. Note the little watermark I created. I will start adding that little logo on my creative photos.

Since I started doing art, a month without it is a month wasted. I have started accepting commission work and this is part of a series which a friend requested. I also added a new logo as a watermark. All photos of my artwork will now have this type of watermark.

It has been a wonderful September and I am really thankful for the blessings.