old photos and old phriends

My bunny Pepper got tired of his usual play space so he ventured into that hollow under the dressing table. At the end of the day I noticed that he left two slightly-yellowed sheets of paper on the floor, something I assumed he yanked out from under there. The corners were chewed out. Upon inspection, I realized that those were figure drawings I made as a college student - some stuff I forgot about in the past years. As when a window opens to let in light, I remembered some other stuff that should be under there with the old sketches - old watercolor drawings, technical plates, a plastic drawing board. A whole lot of photographs.

Photographs.

I decided to dig out the photographs and see what they bring back.


I inspected them one by one -the dog-eared, dust-mottled, faded prints. I let my mind venture into its storage area to pull out whatever i could remember about each image. I tried to clean them up and took photos of them with the borrowed DSLR, aiming to make digital copies. I downloaded into the laptop and tried restoring them via Photoshop but most of them are beyond bringing back to their original clarity - unless of course I slaved for hours and days on end with the brush and clone tools, but I didn't want to do that.

I shelved that project after getting bored with all the tweaking.

Then a few days ago, a Facebook contact posted photos of us and some common friends, circa 1998. The people tagged in the photos had fun tagging other people, as well as reminiscing what they can about the time the pictures were taken. Of course we couldn't help observing weight gain, weight loss, the awkward '90s hairstyles ...

Then other friends posted other old photos, and the fun multiplied. I wanted to add to the reminiscing, so I returned to the to-be-restored old images in my hard drive and worked on them (I tried not to be obsessive so I would finish fast; I just did what was necessary to improve on the color and contrast and removed the big stains). Pretty soon I had my own nostalgic photos to pool into the fun. I must have had around a hundred images of friends from several different circles. I just put them all in one album and tagged who i could.

I received comments almost immediately. Reminisce here, reminisce there - it was fun. Pretty soon my friends tagged our common friends who weren't my FB contacts, so I easily got to reconnect with them by clicking their "add as a friend" button.

It was fascinating - and funny - how we remembered trivial things about the captured events. What was amusing is how people remembered details about each other, and even bothered to remember. That was kind of touching. We had a blast chatting away and making fun of each other. It was a catching up of sorts.

Even if I haven't even seen or contacted most of them in a decade or more, it felt like we never really moved apart - with the familiarity we addressed each other, the unabashed fun-poking, the humor not to take offense at the childish comments and the incriminating photos. It reminded me that - though I've quite isolated myself from most of them - I've had some real friends in the past who still care somewhat about the friendship we shared back when ... whenever that was.

But I guess that was the whole point, right? ^_^

girls talk: fave gift

This week on Girls Talk, it's about Fave Gift!

My most beloved gifts received ever (so far) are my two bunny-wabbits, Davey and Pepper.


I received them summer last year as a no-reason-at-all-gift from one of my favorite boys, G (assisted by another one of my favorite boys, K). The bunnies must have been 2 to 4 weeks old then.

They're HUUUUGE now at age one year and a half, around 2.5 kilos each.


I can't really say I'm an animal lover, but loving a furry friend is a cheerer-upper, a stress-reducer and a lesson in unselfishness. I'm really glad they came into my life.

This meme is hosted by Girls Rule.

today's current fave: mascara

It's been a year or so that I think I forgot such a product ever existed. Go figure. I've been using mascara since I was a college kid so it isn't really a stranger to me. But I really can't remember why i stopped brushing gook on my lashes. It's not even that i didn't have any - in fact I realize that I've had had two half-consumed year-old tubes in my makeup stash.

When my sister-in-law arrived from the 'States the other week, she had with her an assortment of makeup samples - including tubes and tubes of mascara. When i saw the sleek little packages, I imagined how it would feel like to put on some of that gook on my lashes . . .

So anyway, I got dibs on the mascara. When I got to being alone, I though of brushing some onto my lashes - just for fun. Itfeltsoooonice. And I looked so nice. I picked up my forgotten eyelash curler (that may need to be replaced, haha) and dolled my peepers away.

So I tell myself I will be using mascara every time i leave the house from now on. At least until the next time I forget that such a product exists.

beach wedding weekend

This past weekend was a sweet one.

First of all, I attended a wedding.


I generally like weddings because they give me a reason to girl up more excessively than usual, and I get my paws on some free yummy food. This particular wedding was of the Hubby's second younger sister to her significant-other-for-three-years.

Secondly, the Hubby's brother flew in from Singapore, and sister #1 and her hubby flew in from the U.S. just to be at this wedding. I thought that was an extremely sweet and special surprise for the bride and groom. Besides that, it was quite refreshing to see them again.

Of course I also appreciate the pasalubongs I got from the balikbayans. :)

Thirdly, this wedding was held at the beach.


I loooove the beach. And this beach we were at was a clean, pretty one that i happen to like - the light-sand Laiya in San Juan, Batangas. We stayed in one of the nicest resorts.


Just a few months ago when the Hubby and I spent a few days at another establishment in the same stretch of beach. I would walk along the sand and look at the other resorts. I stopped by this particular one and mused about staying in it next time. Well, I got my wish.

Fourthly, this wedding was one of the nicest ones I've ever been to. The bride and the groom obviously spent a lot for this, but it was well worth the cheer and the memories. The ceremony was held right there on the sand, facing the stretch of sea.


The reception followed right there beside the makeshift outdoor chapel. There were these creative flower arrangements garnished with vegetables.

The guests took part in launching these fire-lanterns that shone as beautiful orange orbs in the sky.


The buffet was wonderful, the food voluminous. There was a non-cheesy video presentation. Then they had a live band to come in and entertain the guests.

And of course, the cake - the cake was in the form of a sandcastle, with little sand-bucket cakes for giveaways.


Fifthly, i had a rad time snapping photos with the cam. I took over 200 raw ones. It's not that often that i get to go out of town, and i really love having the opportunity to take shots of things other than the same old same old city things.

Lastly, it was the first time in years that the Hubby and I got to do something different while somewhere different on a Sunday. It was quite a treat, quite a treat.

girls talk: i'm a chocolate fan!

I realize i haven't had any chocolate in weeks because I temporarily gave in to another food craving. I can't believe I haven't even noticed!

Anyway, i chanced upon this sweet idea at Girls Talk:




The point i guess is to share about our favorite chocolate. Here are some of mine:

Reese's rules.

m&m's have got to be one of the most brilliant chocolate innovations.


Hershey's is my default comfort food.
I love it in Kiss form, too.

I've actually tasted this only once - when I was ten years old.
I never forgot about it and I still crave for it from time to time until now.
I thought it was that good.

Another unbeatable classic.

This is something I really can't afford to splurge on;
I only happened to try it when a friend brought some.
Halleujah, Royce potato chip chocolate is just heavenly!
It's a unique combination of two of my favorite happy thawts eats.
Who would have ever thought potato chips went well with chocolate?

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This cute meme is hosted by Girls Rule! Drop by and share.
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I Wish More Days Can Be like This One

Staying home on a rainy weekday.
Snuggled in bed with a thick blanket.
While watching a series on DVD.
After having breakfast in bed.
With the Hubby.
And the bunnies.
And a laptop and a good connection.
And a good book for later.

I love. <3

suddenly-free saturdays

One great thing about graduating from youth pastoring is that the Hubby and I have our Friday evenings and Saturday evenings free! woot! woot! Instead of spending it at church like usual, we - for the first time in years - had no preachings, meetings or altar calls to worry about. We happily spent the afternoon looking for duds to wear to a beach wedding, and the evening watching an ultracute movie. The mall was crowded (it was a payday weekend) but I really didn't mind. Instead of hanging out with the church kids or their parents, the Hubby and I spent it with each other.

The suddenly-free Saturday p.m. schedule is a much-appreciated change that I could and would gladly fill with other things. We can date, we can come early to those family parties that are always held on Saturdays, we can meet up with old friends who are free only on Saturdays, we can stay home and read. We have Saturday p.m. now!