I Cooked!

Something that I don’t mention when I’m asked to describe myself – I don’t cook 😜. Haha! I try not to admit it because deep inside I know I can, I just don’t practice much (that’s the problem if you have a mom and a father-in-law who cooks really well, why would I bother cooking..haha!). I usually get busy in the kitchen when my mom’s not around. I usually make pasta dishes. They turn out edible maybe because I’m kinda good in following instructions. I read and follow procedures from recipe books.

I don’t normally blog what I cook, but today I realized I prepared three simple (really simple) kinds of food for the family.

First, I made pancakes for breakfast. I made a Choco Chip Banana Pancake for Brio and a Banana Raisin Smiley Face Pancake for Lucas. Of course I used the ready to cook pancake mix. I just added the bananas, choco chips and raisins I found here at home. Next I cooked the Basmati rice and I’ve been doing this for quite awhile, I think I’m getting really good at it. Lastly, I tried and experimented on my friend’s recipe of the Ultra Healthy Baked Pineapple Chicken. Well it turned out ok. It’s neither a failure nor a success because now I know what I need to improve on. It was edible…I ate it for lunch. Haha! (For more healthy recipes please check out my friend’s blog thehappyhealthyhippie.com)

Is this a start of my kitchen journey? Maybe. It’s never too late and I’m optimistic about it 😊.

Let’s Get Dirty and Stay Healthy

As parents, Brio and I let Lucas play outdoors and we let him explore the things around him. We let him pick up dirt and soil, sit on the ground, etcetera. But of course he’s always supervised.

Here’s an article shared by Glam-O-Mamas on their Facebook Page about the benefits of letting your child get dirty 😀.

Let me share some photos of “dirty” Lucas 😉

How I Became a Teacher

This summer break just made me reflect on different things about my life especially after I turned 30. I still can’t believe that high school was 14 years ago and college was 9 years ago. The question is, how did I end up being an educator? Where did my passion for teaching came from?

Let me share, hopefully briefly, my educational background in college. It was a roller coaster ride choosing what I really wanted to take up in college. Freshman year, I studied at the University of Asia and the Pacific. I have nothing against the school but It didn’t feel right being there. I gained really great friends there, but I didn’t see myself graduating there. So I told my dad that I’m going to transfer to De La Salle University in Manila. My parents were hesitant to send me there because it’s too far from Marikina. I really wanted to study there and take a premed course so my parents finally let go of me and we searched for homey dormitory for me near the school. Since I’m a transferee, the choices of courses were limited, mostly from the College of Education (CED). I got in touch with highschool friends who initially went to DLSU and they said that the CED will be the best college for me to get in because I’ll be graduating with a double degree. I asked myself, education? Being a teacher is the last thing on my mind that time. But then there’s a course in CED for secondary teaching where Biology is the Major. It’s so much similar with BS-Biology of the College of Science except that I’ll have to take education units. I told myself, this is perfect, still a premed. I enjoyed my first year at DLSU. The friends I met were just as great as my UA&P friends. The difference was my feeling of seeing myself graduating from that school. Meeting the best roommates in our dorm is also a plus.

After a year and I think one term in CED, three of us decided to shift to BS-Biology in the College of Science because we told ourselves that we won’t be teaching anyway. I didn’t feel so much of the difference except that I’m not taking up educ units anymore and I’ll graduate sooner (a year earlier). I really loved my course and enjoyed every learning experience I had. I was so sure that I’ll attend med school after and be a doctor. I attended review classes for the NMAT, applied in various med schools, had my interviews and even reserved in one school. But then a few weeks before our last day in college, there was a Job Fair in our campus. We were encouraged to submit our resume (since we just learned how to make one) and apply for our Social Security Number. Since my course was Biology, job offers were limited. The only booth that accepted my resume with open arms was Xavier School…yup! You read it right, I applied to become a teacher. I told the personnel assigned that I don’t have any teaching experience and I didn’t finish all my educ units. She said that it’s alright because Xavier School will help in that process if I get hired. She told me to wait for their call after the initial assessment. And they called, after a week or so for the written assessment. I went and took the tests.

I don’t know but eventually I felt that I shouldn’t go on with med school. I thought about it several times before I made the final decision. Then I just told my dad about it and knowing him, he was very supportive. I thought of taking Masters in SPED at DLSU. I actually enrolled and attended several Saturday classes until Xavier School got in touch with me again. They asked me to come and for an interview and met the Science Department Head. He’s asking me to demo teach for the Grade7 level, I remember the topic was Genetics. I said alright and truthfully told him that I don’t have any teaching experience yet. So he gave me tips and lent me a sample lesson plan that I may use as a guide. Another catch was that since it was summer vacation that time, I’ll have to demo in front of teachers who’ll pretend to be Grade7 students. Oh…ok I told myself “what have I gotten myself into?” Well here’s my opportunity, my parents and friends were supportive and told me that I should go on with this. I even told myself “what if I just back out and don’t show up?” Of course I didn’t do that because when I prayed God told me to go on. So there I did the demo, then I wasn’t expecting them to call me back. But Xavier did. I went through the panel interview then interview with the Director. Before I knew it, I was accepted in Xavier School.

I started as a Science substitute teacher. Until the next year, I was given my own advisory class for Grade 2…and then that was the beginning of my teaching journey. Xavier gave me an opportunity to take further studies to acquire the required education units before taking the Licensure Exam for Teachers (LET) that I fortunately passed.

I fell in love with teaching easily. It is indeed fulfilling. Being a teacher is not only teaching children but also learning from each and every student I interact with. Everyday is a different learning experience when you’re a teacher. It is not a high paying job, I swear! But it is the good feeling after a long day thinking how much I’ve touched my students lives even for just a teeny-tiny bit.

Going back to my story, I taught in Xavier for 4 years and then I moved to a private preschool in Marikina, Integrated School For Young Children (ISYC), where I’m currently teaching (my 5th year).

So that’s my story, how I ended up being a teacher. I was thinking of what photo to include in this blog, I just thought of a red ballpen. It’s something all teachers have 😊.

Double Happiness

Today, some of my co-teachers and I decided to visit one of our colleagues who just gave birth to a beautiful set of fraternal twins last March 25.  Oh my!  They are so adorable!  I wanted to hold them, but in a weird way I felt like I’ve never held a newborn before.  I was hesitant because they are so fragile.

Of course, I brought our camera with me to take some photos (another opportunity to practice).  I have a lot of ideas but I was too scared.  I just told myself that I would read more to learn more how to do newborn photo sessions.  So far I made some shots but I needed to do a little bit of editing.

Presenting…. The Dumlao Twins:  Briana and Amaia

 

Thank you so much Teacher Yeng, Daddy Jovian and Malix for letting me do this 🙂

Confession:  I know they’re fraternal twins, but I still get confused who’s who.  Haha!  But they’re so beautiful..don’t you agree? 😉

Brother and Sister

Last Good Friday, we’re still in Lingayen, Pangasinan so I got the chance to take photos of my two other pamangkins Gelo and Kaixin.  Gelo is almost 5 years old and Kaixin is 1 year and 7 months.  We had the shoot at Lingayen Capitol Veterans Park at around 5pm.  The natural light is still good so I took advantage of it.

Kaixin was just effortlessly cute.  She likes looking at the camera and giving me timid smiles (and guess what? She’s not even feeling so well that day, what more if she’s not sick?).

Gelo and Kaixin

Gelo on the other hand was a bit of a challenge.  He was too shy. He literally ran away from me several times.  But I was really persistent to capture his handsome smile, with that really nice dimple on his right cheek.  I literally ran after him.  When I was reviewing the shots,  I’m happy that I got what I was looking for.  However, when Brio took the camera from me and tried to take photos of Gelo, unbelievably, he started smiling and posing.  Geeez!  He likes Brio better that’s for sure. 🙂

Thanks to Rachelle, my cousin and her husband Jason for letting me take photos of their wonderful kids.  They even gave us a tour inside the Capitol Building where we had the chance to enjoy the cool wind at the roof top and see how it looks like in the Governor’s office.  It was a very humid  afternoon but it was fun and all worth it. 🙂

My First Ever Model

Last March 27 of 2013 my family together with my parents spent the Holy Week in Lingayen, Pangasinan.  I’m just so glad that my cousin agreed that I take some photos of her 1-year old baby girl Gaile.  We decided to have it in the park (Lingayen Capitol Park) right in front of my cousin’s home.  We had it at around 4:30 pm where the sun is not too bright and not too hot because I prefer the natural light.  One good thing is that Gaile just woke up from her siesta as she traveled from another town (Dagupan) to Lingayen.  All I could say is that this little girl is so adorable!  I didn’t have a hard time taking photos of her. She smiles a lot as if she knows what’s going on.

Gaile’s also super sweet.  When we’re done I felt lucky to take a shot of Gaile hugging and kissing my cousin.  

I also got a chance to take some photos of one of my nephews, Gaile’s first cousin, Jake.  I just caught him enjoying the afternoon with Gaile and Lucas as they lay down on the picnic mat.  I truly enjoyed that afternoon so I told myself this is just the first.  I’m hoping that I’ll have more opportunities like this.  As a preschool teacher, I work closely with children all the time so I’d say I gained patience and I sort of have some techniques on how I could encourage them to give the smile I’m looking for.

Actually, two days after, I had another photo session with my other cousin’s kids.  I’ll be posting those photos too as soon as I’m done :).  I hope you enjoyed looking at Gaile’s photos.

Life Behind the Camera Lens

I’ve always been interested in photography and I just enjoy taking photos of the things I see around me using the mobile phone camera, iPad, point and shoot or the DSLR.  I just enjoy doing it.  I got even more interested when I met Heidi Aquende through a common college friend, the photographer who shot our family portraits.  Not only she is also a Lasallian, Heidi and I (even Brio) easily got acquainted the first time we met.

Heidi’s really talented and creative.  She makes everything look beautiful or I’d say she makes everything desirable to look at.  Her passion can be seen on her works.  Based on experience, she creates a “magical” connection between her camera and subject.  She is also comfortable to work with (well at first I was conscious because I’m also always behind the camera).  I don’t know how else I’ll describe how good she is with her craft, but I truly got inspired by Heidi.

Our meetings made us learn about each other a little bit on a personal level.  I learned that we have something in common, being a mom.  She is a mother to a beautiful and cute little girl Issa.  We were even able to share our parenting skills.  She and her husband also got curious about our lives as educators which Brio and I gladly shared with them.

Meeting and knowing Heidi made me realize that maybe I should go back to taking pictures.  Doing something I love to do besides being a nanay and a teacher.

Now, it’s officially summer break for me, I might as well take my shots.  What do you think about that? 😉

To check out Heidi’s works check out the following sites:

www.portraitsbyheidi.com

www.heidiaquendephotography.com

NITA on Me

From my previous post about our very first family photo session, I sort of had a hard time choosing on the clothes that I’ll bring.  The photographer and stylist required me to bring the ones that will define my body.  Oh well good luck to moi!

I’m just so glad that one of my closest friends in high school owns NITA (which I’ve blogged about before).  I got great stuff from their store and brought my favorites during the shoot.

My good friend Roc, who is also a stylist, mixed and matched the clothes I brought (I’d say she’s a really talented stylist to be able to do that the fact she doesn’t have a lot of options).  With a little bit of accessories and attitude…oh yeah! I rocked it! (Sorry but I really worked hard during the shoot so I guess I’ll have to commend myself for that..hahahaha!  And it wouldn’t turn out that way if it weren’t for my friends’ talent and creativity.)

I would say that NITA clothing isn’t just for the fashionistas, the teenagers, women with model-type bodies but also for average women out there who is more like me – a nanay, not at all a fashionista and kikay and a pre-school teacher who’s wearing a polo shirt, black jogging pants and rubber shoes to work almost everyday.  It’s not so difficult to match their tops with jeans or shorts.  Just add a little bit of accessories and you’re good to go.  From this I realized that fashion need not be glamorous all the time.  One just needs confidence and creativity to make what you’re wearing look good on you.

When you see my photos, you might say that it’s all glamorous.  Look at it again because you’ll notice that it was just the hair and make up plus the poses made it glamorous.  The bottoms are mine, not at all designer.  You can wear the same thing even when you’re at the mall.  Don’t you think?

top by NITA

dress by NITA

ysai’s top by NITA

Before I forget, I just can’t remember the names of the tops I wore.  You may always inquire Shop Nita or visit their store in Greenhills.

All photos by:  Heidi Aquende

Family Photo Session

Last January 28 of 2013, my family experienced our very first photo shoot.  It wasn’t just an ordinary photo shoot, it was customized and planned.

This shoot was made possible by a close friend from college, Roc, who sent us a Christmas Voucher for a family photo shoot with one of the best photographers in the Metro.  The voucher was inclusive of the pre-shoot consultation, make-over and the photo session (which was worth P2,200 during that time) plus a P1,500 for the products or prints.  We’re so glad that Roc chose us to have the voucher.  I owe this whole experience to her.

We were quite busy during the Holidays so we decided that we’ll make use of the voucher by January of 2013.  I exchanged text messages with the photographer until we decided on the date to meet up for the pre-shoot consultation.

January 18, we finally met Heidi Aquende (a Lasallian) together with her husband Melvene at Starbucks SM Marikina.  We easily got comfortable with her and discussed about the themes that we could probably work on during the shoot.  We decided to let my friend Roc, who by the way is also a stylist, to come and join us so she could also put our clothes together and make us look…you know good in front of the camera.  We’re given about 2 weeks to prepare for it.  I started gathering our clothes that would go with the theme.  Heidi also suggested that I bring a dress (oh no!) and clothes that would define my body (bigger oh no!).

For two weeks, I started brainstorming on the clothes that we’ll bring for the shoot.  Lucas’ was the easiest, he’s got more clothes than I do.  I had a difficulty with Brio too, because he’s not the fashionista type as well.  He’s all shirt, jeans and rubber shoes.  I actually ended up buying some clothes for him.  Mine’s the hardest.  I got lots of tops more on t-shirts less on blouses.  Good thing I previously bought great stuff from a friend who makes a really nice clothing line (NITA).

I communicated our theme and clothes we have to my friend Roc who agreed to style us on the day of the shoot.  Thanks again to her great talent, she got these “dream come true” ideas for us.  The night before the shoot, Heidi sent me a text message and gave me some reminders of what I need to bring.

The photo session day came.  I decided to go to the studio earlier than Brio and Lucas because the little boy is still asleep (he’ll get really grumpy if he doesn’t get the right amount of his sleep and we don’t want that for the shoot).  When I arrived at the studio, Roc came in next and she’s with the make-up artist.  There I met Cai De Leon (who is also a Lasallian…yey! An Animo shoot day!..haha!).  Then Heidi and Melvene followed.

Roc started browsing through the clothes and shoes I brought then Cai started with my make-over.  We had chit chats in between and I would say the session started right.  Then Brio and Lucas came in and I’m so glad that the little one was in the mood.  While I was still being made-up, Heidi started taking photos of him as topless (as I requested).

believe it or not that’s me

Then when I was done, Heidi asked me to change into one of my “body defining” clothes because she wanted to take some solo photos of me.  I was really nervous because it is my first time to do a “glamourous” photo shoot (and I’m so glad I did it as it is an item in my bucket list).  Roc made me wear her 6-inch size 9 black pumps which made it even more challenging.  Heidi gave me tips on how to look 10 pounds thinner in front of the camera without photo editing.  Haha!

Then in between my wardrobe change, Heidi took shots of Brio and Lucas as they play around the studio.

We finally got into the “Rock Star” theme wherein we wore band shirts or band artist shirts.  I wore a Rolling Stones Magazine cover white shirt with Madonna on it.  Brio wore a John Lennon shirt while Lucas’ was an ACDC shirt.  This theme actually depicted my love for music and my appreciation of the different genre of the artists we wore created.

Then one of our most favorite was the “Mickey Mouse” theme.  Brio and Lucas wore Mickey Mouse shirts and I wore a Minnie Mouse shirt plus a Minnie Mouse ear head band provided by Heidi.  It was so much fun since Lucas is a Mickey fanatic (a character that really makes him smile…even laugh).

Then while waiting for our lunch (care of Jollibee), we continued with the “Haciendero/Haciendera” outdoor theme (we had it in the garden right below the studio).  It was really sunny and hot but we pulled off some great photos.

When our delivery came, Lucas gained back some of his energy again.  So while he has it, Heidi continued to take photos of us even when we’re having our break.

Lastly, we’ll do our another outdoor shoot together with Brio’s black 1968 Volkswagen Beetle that we also used during our pre-nuptial shoot 4 years ago.  We thought of this theme because my husband’s car has so much sentimental value.  This is also his passion and depicts our appreciation for vintage.  Our favorite color black also came in to the scene.  To make this theme work, we drove to one of UP Diliman’s grounds.  I really loved the rusty steel sheets in our background.

Lucas was really getting tired at this time.  He started to whine and be a normal 2-year old who’s feeling the heat as well.  Good thing Heidi still captured great photos.

Then, it was a wrap.

We really had a great time doing this photo shoot.  It’s really important that you’re comfortable with the people you are working with.  I can’t thank enough the people who made this possible.  It’s an experience that we will cherish for a lifetime.

Please check out Portraits by Heidi Aquende if you want to experience this kind of photo session we had and also her blog – Camera Mom.

If you liked my hair and make-up check out Cai de Leon Hair and Make Up Artistry.

And of course, if you need a good stylist I highly recommend my friend Rochelle Rafon.

Girl Bonding at Nail Files

It’s been a while since I had a foot spa and I can’t even remember the last time. Haha! For those who knows me well I’m not really the “kikay” type of nanay and for me going to nail spas takes so much of my time and I’d rather spend the money for Lucas’ vaccine, diaper, milk and etc. But today, after I had breakfast with my girlfriends, we decided to have a nail spa bonding. I told myself why not. It’s officially our summer vacation and I’m sure that it’ll take me months to do this again.

We checked out Nail Files Marikina Branch and we saw their Piso Promo for Mani-Pedi services valid on weekdays from 11am to 2pm. This promo is on top of their P300 indulgence foot spa service (I just can’t remember the exact name of the service). This service includes foot scrub and massage. We also get to choose the massage oil.

I was satisfied with their service. However, one of my friends waited for a very long time because they were only 4 and there were 5 of us. As for the place, it is nice, comfortable (they have a lot of throw pillows) with pup,e, pink and apple green color scheme. A free wi-fi is also a plus.