Ten Things Saturday

It's the tenth today (already!?), which means, it's time to come up with
Ten things, anything that you fancy, and link up here at Ms.
Shimelle.

Believe it or not, I actually had a mind block and didn't have any special topic planned for today's post. Not until I started surfing from my emails, to the sites I love to read first thing in the morning while having my first cup. Then lightbulb!... Why not share with you some of the interesting ones I just read and some old ones I refer to now and then about "photography". Sounds good?

1. It all started with my 30 Days Lists and led me to Kam's post about this Productivity app. Since today is my day off, I am trying hard to find the motivation to do things around the house that I've been meaning to when I am at work. The trouble is, I also take that day off from doing nothing and end up feeling guilty in the end. We'll see if this app would help....

2. Since it's day 10, today's theme at Photo a day is supposed to be "loud". Hello! Can you hear me? Listen, I can't wait to see all the interpretations out there, but meanwhile, here are some how to's on Wallpapers for your Iphone at fatmumslim's....

3. When I surf, I leave some of the sites that interest me opened for later, like this one from beautiful mess on Ttv. Gladly, they're still there after doing a software upgrade on my Ipad. Did you know that you can now take photos from your Iphone on the lock mode? Cool! Try it! I just did.

4. Then one thing led to another. This ttv post reminded me of the photography series that Ms. Shimelle had a while ago on her Blog. I enjoy all her tips and tricks on any-photo-thing. I learn a lot and they have been part of my photography skills since, like she's always there, guiding me, whenever I hold any type of camera. Strange but true...

5. But if you're looking for a cheat sheet, quick and easy, brief instructions, head on to Ms. Pioneer Woman's Photography section. She has 4 brief series that explain some of your dslr's terminologies...

6. Another fun thing to do with photos is this Animated gif, which I will definitely sit down to and try, someday. Is it possible to add another day to 7 days a week and dedicate it to doing what you love most, selfishly?

7. I've been reading some inspirational posts lately and one of them sort of point out that if you don't love your job, you don't live at all, something like that. If I had to choose, I would rather have a full time Photography business. Someday soon, we'll see...

8. And if you haven't heard of Photojojo, quick, it's your ultimate IPhone camera user guide.

9. And I'm sure you are familiar with Pugly Pixel. Lots of interesting things and links. Love, love it!

10. So once you're ready to share what you gathered, you might want to join this Photo Challenge on the 12th, hosted by Ms. Elizabeth Kartchner.


Have fun and happy linky Saturday!

10Things of Lists and Links: Feb2012

TGIF!

And it's that time of the month again...

Time flies! I can't believe that we're on the 10th of Feb already.

How is yours doing so far? Hope all is going well with you and yours...

For my Ten Today, thought I'd share another list of projects

with links (feel free to navigate on the links if you haven't visited them),

that I'm working on right now, such as the following...

1. Time to redesign the blog again...

2. Time to work on my PL-Wk2 of Feb is almost over!

3. I've been working more on creativity lately....

4. Keeping my 1LittleWord in mind on everything I do...

5. Did you sign up on Amy Tan's class @ SC?

The challenge? Create your own masks!

Hearts & Chevron, how can you go wrong?

Will post my process another day, deal?

 

6. I finally started working on Shimelle's Starting Points

this year but will post again some other day, ok...

7. Is anyone doing Alissa's 29Days of Love this Year?

I loved her 2011 but I think I love this year's even more,

 and I think I found the motivation to play along... we'll see...

8. Aside from all the photo apps I found on the web,

I'm also doing 365 this year with our NewD90, baby!

9. Then, there's also the Photo a Day on my365.

(will have to update this very soon!)

10. 30 Days of Lists, anyone?

Yup, signed up and ready to rock March!

Thinking I should make use of my Smash books

for this project before they get rotten in their boxes.

Have a great weekend everyone and if you want to play along,

Ms. Shimelle will be posting her 10Things soon....

It's finally here! Feel free to join in &/or see what others have instored.

So, meanwhile, I will grab me some lovin' from Starbucks and will link up later.

Okidoks!

Ten Things 2012

A little late but hoping to get started with some projects this year. First off is 10Things which was one of the few things I enjoyed doing last year. I was so happy to see that Ms Shimelle Laine is doing this post again and hope it will continue on all through this year. Since I haven't really been present in the blogworld lately, I thought I'd post a variety of ten things: that I've been doing during my absence; planning on doing; projects that I have on my plate now and little things I'd like to share like the following:

1. Photo a Day 2012: Since I take photos almost everyday with my Nikon and Blackberry, I decided to finally order this Project Life album which you can get from a Canadian store. I haven't really started but I want to do a combination of this and at least a layout a month. I ordered different types of sleeves but will make my own pps and journals out of my stack. I am envisioning an album of photos and memorabilias, etc in one album at the end of the year. I also upgraded my flickr to a pro just so I can get this Mosaic Maker out of Big Huge Labs (thanks to Ms. Amy Tangerine). With some help from Instagram, my365 and PicYou apps on my IPad, I get all these cool effects on my photos.

1. new year, 2. dhealthy, 3. us, 4. yorky, 5. rain, 6. timmys, 7. party, 8. temptation, 9. wrk, 10. flipboard

2. I've been doing a lot of researching on my Flipboard. If you love any source of information or the latest updates on anything and you have an Ipad or Iphone, this is a must have! All my stuff in one spot: facebook, twitter, instagram, blogs, websites, it's endless! Aside from the morning news, this is the first thing I grab for the latest and greatest and lately, I have been hooked on techy stuff. And because of that, I think my next gadgets will be a professional camera like the Nikon D4, and an Android phone like the new Galaxy Nexus only because it can do panoramic photos. Hmmm... let me get back to you if I find any source of instant win on the lottery.

3. More photo ideas: I started off this year with a photo class by Studio Calico but registration has already been closed, unfortunately. But here are other sources which you can find on the web: Fat Mum Slim's JANPhotoaday;  Photojojo specially for IPhone users; Printing Instagram photos; Polaroid lovers, if you can't get the Fuji printer in America, you might want to check this out. I was so excited and never been happy this much on printing my own tiny photos since my Santa baby gave me this mobile printer for Christmas! Love it!!! And my Zink papers just arrived today from Amazon- they're really fast and efficient. And I also got some good deals on photography books....

4. Moving on to doing something out of these photos.... how about some scrappy ideas? Thanks again to Ms. Shimelle for launching her 2012 Scrapbook Start to Finish. I've never scrapbooked this much since she started this challenge last year and I think it is the perfect fit for me. And here's my most favorite of them all:

5. Another new class by Ms. Shimelle Laine: Something Completely Different, that I might explore this year as well. And if you are looking for more ideas/ free classes, 2Peas has new ones for this year like they usually do every year...

6. On the other hand, there's another class, Stretch your Kit at SC by Ms. Amy Tan which I am still debating to take or not. I  think it is mainly for the January kit but of course, you can always use the ideas for anything.

7. And speaking of, did you know that her new line was just launched? I actually got my new order from SimonSaysStamp today and they even added a free set of stamps, yey! Thank you, SSS! Another fast and efficient and great customer service! Wanna peek?

8. To complement my AC Amy Tan goodies, I can't wait to use my new chevron stamp by Hero Arts' new line this year. You might be interested on visiting  their blog and play along on their bloghop for some giveaways... See why this stamp is a must have on this very inspirational post by Ms. Ali Edwards in one of her DD layouts.

9. DD aka December Daily or Journal your Christmas: what have I done since the last time? Not much except for photos already been printed and picked up, layouts waiting for finishing and hopefully, getting it all done before the end of winter, maybe?

10. My one little word for this year: AIM! Aim to finish what I started, aim for results, aim for goals getting done... aim to do... to act... to work harder... to accomplish. And that my friend is my aim: to finish 10 things starting this January and get them done!

If you want to play along, just hop in and join us at Shimelle's here. Sweet dreams...

10 Things on my Fall List

It's that time of the month again.... It's every 10th of the month when we get the chance to see ten interesting things in the blog world, starting from Shimelle's to some lovely ladies and gents. As for me, I thought I'd share some ten things that I am excited about this fall and projects for the coming holidays. Feel free to hop in and hope you'll enjoy!

1. Journal Your Christmas by Ms. Shimelle Laine

Since I started with this project in 2008, I seem to slack by the end of the month of December and none of my album made it to the end. But I love the idea of journaling your Christmas in December partly because I am so far away from home. The big family circle of families and friends I used to enjoy this season with had scaled down to a member of three since I moved to the island: me, my honey and mom. So JYC made this holiday extra special for me and someday, if I get the chance to be with family in the Philippines, I have these albums to share with and also get them to experience white Christmas in photos.

2. A Weekend of Christmas Crafting by Ms. Shimelle Laine

Have you heard? I can't wait to get started tomorrow. Since I have so many projects that I am thinking of doing for a change this holiday season, thought this might inspire me to get on with it. After doing a big clean-up in my scraproom, I found a big pile of holiday papers (really old and some from last year's) waiting to be used!

3. Fall Crop: The Craft Fair at Cocoa Daisy

Have you registered yet? If this weekend crafting is not enough to make use of my hoarding of pretty papers, I don't know what is! Not even sure if I find the time since I am back to work on Saturday after Remembrance day. Huh!

4. Pretty Paper Party by Ms. Shimelle Laine

Another on-going project for me... so sad that it's the last day this Saturday but that doesn't mean it ends there. With all the classes you get from Shimelle, you have access for life which means you can work on them at your own pace which is why we love her so. And because of this particular class, I am pushing myself with a lot of courage to do something with my pretty papers instead of just staring and admiring and hoarding them to bits!

5. December Daily by Ms. Ali Edwards

This year, I thought I'd mix my JYC with Ali's December Daily. Some days, I just feel like journaling the moment and this project is perfect for it. I can't wait to see what's in my SC box this month. I finally decided to order their DDKit (which unfortunately sold out!), although I still have a few sets of kits that I haven't opened from last year's. What a shame! Again, I just discovered this while cleaning up on the weekend....

6. Project Life by Ms. Becky Higgins

Oh my! I finally joined the bandwagon just because after a lot of research, I found this site where they ship the kit in Canada! Yoohoo! And for the whole kit which is slightly more than $80.00 Can, they will ship it for free- until tomorrow only! So hurry in! I placed my order of the album and the sleeves and I plan to make use of what I have for the rest. It's part of the organizing process, mostly for my photos, and being happy with what I've got. There are so many ideas to get this project going and I finally want to commit myself to tell more stories about the photos I take and at the same time, enjoy them nicely in an album. Also, I am aiming to scale down on papers next year and make use of my stack of everything else. 2012, here I come!

7. The Happiness Project by Ms. Gretchen Rubin

As part of the motivation to continue what I started, I signed-up on the Happiness Project last night. Thanks to Ms. Amy Tangerine for this post. Her title caught my attention so I went ahead and found that this is not just a scrapbooking advice but something to apply in life in general....

8. American Crafts Projects

Because I love Amy Tan's new line so much, I love American Crafts more and they have this ongoing project on the blog right now where inspiration is endless! I just wish the shipping cost is not that costly or I will order the whole line wherever I can get it from to complete my small collection....oh well!

9. The Red Cups are Back!

A day of crafting is nothing without my Chai Misto in Red cups! Did you know that I have been collecting these since 2008? I bet a lot of you go way back but I didn't realize until I got my latest this weekend that at the bottom, there's a year indicated in there! What to do? I ripped apart some of them and thought of making an album. Any better idea?

10. I Am Greatful Album

I shared a bit of this album from a previous post and it's still going. As part of this month's Thanksgiving, I really want to make something special as giveaway. Not sure yet but I will be posting this soon. As I mentioned before, I have a stack of stuff that I really want to use up and maybe share some so keep an eye on it. Thank you for stopping by and hope to see you again next month with maybe 10 finished projects!

Excuse the mispelling! And since it's Remembrance Day in Canada tomorrow, thank you to our War Veterans and Happy Remembrance Day to all the families and friends!

10 Things on the 10th: Happy Thanksgiving!

It's the 10th and around here, there are great blog posts

going on for you to get entertained and maybe learn something.

So come and join us for the ride every 10th of the month which I actually missed in September (I learned that I shouldn't take more than I could swallow, whew! busy month!) And since it's Thanksgiving day in Canada,

(yes, you guessed it right!),

I will be sharing some random photos I took yesterday on our Turkey dinner.

Ready? NOTE: to those who didn't make it, we have leftovers.....

(1) @ 3:16 The time: it used to be so easy and mom would give us a quick calculation but this time, my honey pulled out a vintage cookbook that tells you all the calculation for what meat or poultry you stick in the oven to get it perfectly done. So my honey and I were both calculating (him thru his "construction" brain, the shortcut way and me with pen and paper bec I had to convert the kilos into pounds then multiply each lb into 15-25 minutes divided by 60 minutes which come to think of it, his makes more sense after all!

(2) @ 5:27 The beer: after holding off  for quite a while, I had to have my beer after this whole math argument, (not to mention the preparation and trying to remember dad's secret as to the answer, if you question yourself whether the turkey should be breast up or breast down... which am not telling here for censorship purposes...)Meanwhile, my honey is laughing hard at one of mom's old stories and in between, embellish them with more funny ones as much as he could remember.

@ 5:36 Mom says quote unquote: " I wonder if I shoud have a beer?", pause then she went on and said with confirmation: "I can feel it!" ... hilarious!

(3) @ 6:51 Check the bird and the potatoes: so in between basting the turkey with its own fat (secret of having a really moist, juicy, tender turkey...), my honey started taking charge of the kitchen while mom as usual, try to show us more to be in the loop.

(4) @ 7:08 The mashed potatoes: after all the years I spent turkey dinner with my honey and mom, I think I know now why he takes charge of the mashed potatoes and does it like a pro. He does this voice and imitates his dad saying, "gotta to have #@$%^some creamy/army mashed potatoes!" everytime he mixes them with the cream on one hand, while he has a caesar drink on other hand. It never fails and the potatoes are just as perfectly creamy and delicious!

(5) @ 7:18 The star of the night: I present to you, Miss Turkey! Fact finding truth and please never laugh or it's ok if you gross out: did you know that I love pope's nose? There, no more secrets! The Johnson's story had it that dad always gets the pope's nose and if one wants it, he is kind enough to flip a coin for it. I always get it since they adopted me. No matter who comes to share the turkey with us, pope's nose belongs to little one. But what would you do if that main thing that completes you is gone missing? Yes, the very first time I didn't have one after we take the turkey out and lay it to rest a bit. Mom was ready to go back to the butcher and give him a lesson on how to butcher a bird when we were cleaning it and saw a big hole down there! We managed to cover it but of course it was an extra job to make it work.

(6) @ 7:26: The gravy; mom is back on the groove. Last year she let me do the gravy myself but she usually gets this done while my honey measures the flour consistency for her. It shouldn't be too oily, not too thick, not too thin and keep stirring...

(7) @ 7:54 The Grace: as soon as we sit down, mom would always say the grace from John3:16 "for God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have Eternal life." , as we chorus away....

(8) @ 8:24 Stories about dad: usually mom remembers all the stories and would tell us the same ones and continue on after dinner. My honey put the background music on but for some reason, the first song  we heard on air was her favorite one that she shared with dad for many years: Tennesse Waltz same song I associate with her because she sings it so dearly with twinkle in her eyes and magic in her voice.

(9) @ 9:10 Bed time mom: I think this triggered her most sensible emotion than any event I could remember and all she talked about was about dad and all the good things and funny stories they shared together. She was supposed to tell me one more story here that I haven't heard of but, .... mom was getting tired. For the first time, she went to bed without finishing her glass of wine. My honey and I started cleaning up the zoo....

(10) @ 8:24 Happy tummies.

Thank you mom, for another beautiful evening and for filling our souls and tummies with happiness and love and laughter...

Thank you honeyko, for the extra effort esp those candles that you took a special trip for because you knew that world war 3 is around the corner if you didn't! (just kidding!) You know how much I thank you and in so many ways....

Thank you to ms Shimelle Laine for another fun 10 on the 10th and all the lovely people taking their time to share and visit....

Thank you all for taking the time to read my little stories and hope you are enjoying every minute of each day with your loved ones. Everyday is another day but there is something special about it if we take the effort to make it and share with others later on.

Ten Things in September

Better late than never...

For ten things, thought I'd catch up on my LSNED

so here are the Ten Things I've Learned

the first 10 days of September....

No photos included on my album yet.

A word each day as part of the big lesson is highlighted.

All pps are SC's Elementary kit including stamps.

My date stamp is from Smash.

Until tomorrow.....

10 Little Stories on the 10th

Hello Friends!

It's been a while... and today is our 2nd installment of Ten Things on the Tenth.

Remember this? So since I haven't been posting, I thought I'd share some

little stories of special events and happenings in our little family that made us so pre-occupied here for the last nine days of this month.

Because it's a heavy load of photos, I made it easier for you thru collages.

That being said,

I want to thank you and wish you all the best to make it to the last post.

So grab a cup of tea and hear my stories.

Once upon a time.....

 1st of July: still sleepy and just got out of bed, my cell phone rings and it was Teri, "we're on our way and we're taking the 8:30 am ferry". Oh my gosh!, with so much anxiety and excitement, my honey and I didn't know what to grab first and it was about an hour before he leaves to pick them up. It was Canada day and they decided to come and visit as foot passengers with no preparation and little warning on our side. As Asians, we usually go thru the length of doing a general cleaning and whole day cooking. but for what time we have left, my honey and I just vacuumed away! If it were big brothers, we would have been voting against each other as to who would get out of the house that day. But we managed and it happened so fast that we didn't even notice how short the day was. We got to enjoy our company till they left the same day. Whew!

 2nd time in the evening, we had the deck all to ourselves. We missed the parade but this is the 2nd year that we watch from our deck, the trouble that people go thru parking just to see the fireworks. If you are the type who gets giddy like me whenever a car pulls into your previously well kept lawn, you'll know what I mean when we watch like owls to keep them away from our area. We let them park in the driveway instead of setting a bad example! It was more fun to watch this than the fireworks itself.

 3rd of July: Sunday off and I was able to convince Tery and Che-che to stay for another night with us. It was such a lazy afternoon that I thought it would be best to spend some bonding with mom. Mom is such a social person and she will entertain you from her garden to her craftroom. She loves to tell stories and shows off interesting pieces in her house. In a short while, Teri learned how to make rug out of plastic bags. Oh, and Che-che drove her first truck the same day too! There are no late nights to these girls so always remember to take a nap if you can't stay late as 2 in the morning!

4th of July:  Breakfast time before we hit the big day of shopping. Che-che had a very special request as to where we should go that day so might as well load up with lots of carbs and protein. First we hit my Thriftstore downstairs ;), where I normally show shoes I inted to give away and stuff and a bit of photo shooting...

 5th story was the highlight of the day. Instead of taking them to another thriftstore, there's a new consignment store just right across the Beach Club I know that we will all enjoy. It didn't fail because these ladies love to shop! Very inexpensive shoes, bags, clothes and stuff, why not? And I got a really nice tablecloth, a tiny pale I can use as a vase and a summer cloth bag. Those boots I found were nice but quite pricey so I will have to wait till they go on sale. We could go on to a third store but time to head home.

 6th story of the day, we had enough time to have lunch at Pho Boi before hitting the ferry. Teri is the type who can't stand spicy food. We gave her a chance to taste our hot and sour soup but she still thought it'd be ok. Well, guess who left her bowl half full? I will miss these ladies and I was so happy that they made it to the Island again!

 7th story of the day, life goes on in our little home. While I was enjoying our friends' company, my honey was busy with the yard, and as soon as we got home, here he was, working away again. In between, Sugar would say hi. By the way, he found the bike from someone's garbage and it's in very good condition. Unfortunately, the seat was too high for me or for mom, so we'll see how long it will keep at the backyard.

 8th on the 5th: sprinkle day and the city of by-law would only allow us to sprinkle on odd days. It was the hottest day of summer so far and we still managed to have hot curry soup that night. See my little green vase? And I picked those white flowers from a house for sale next door. The deers just love it there, peaceful and bountiful....

 9th story of little things growing in our garden. For the first time we are experimenting on different types of vegetables and herbs that are now happily showing a good life ahead. And for the first time, our roses are blooming like we've never seen before! Thanks again to my honey for that fence to keep the deer out.

 10th on the 9th, Friday. This is our typical Friday, Caesar (bloody mary to some) made by my honey, barbequed chicken wings, (collaborated with my mixed rub and his sauce- yum!), relaxing and watching the tube with him and wait till the night falls....

So there you have it and congratulations for making it this far. Hope you have a fun Sunday and if you feel like joining us on this journey, feel free to do so....