Counting our blessings

Its been a very rough time for my family, but I truly believe God doesn't give us more than we can handle. Even now, during this very scary and uncertain situation God finds ways to show his love and compassion. My parents have always open their doors to students from all over, from San Diego to the Philippines, without any expectation of receiving anything in return. During my mom's stay in the hospital a group of 6 UP students came to visit. Three of them had stayed with my parents back in '03 & '06 as part of the UP Concert Chorus. What they did for my mom was so amazing, even I had a hard time keeping myself from crying. Thank you to the 6 of them...you brought joy into this hospital room!! 

(You can download the audio file if you don't see a player Dahil Sa Iyo - UP Alumni Concert Chorus members)

Faith

Hilda and Carla

I've been blessed to work with such an amazing woman. She reminds me everyday about what is important in life through her actions and words. Today she sent me this from www.dailyword.com and I thought it was worth sharing:

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

FAITH

I have faith beyond all doubt.

If I feel unsure about the direction of my life, I take a deep breath, remembering that faith is my sure foundation. It is the basis upon which I build my life. When the winds of change are blowing and my future is unclear, I remember Jesus' words to his disciples: "If you have faith and do not doubt ... it will be done."

I stand on this promise, knowing that I have the strength of God within me. So I not only stand firm in the face of adversity, I move forward with confidence, trusting the faith that emanates from the core of my being to guide, support and encourage me. I am a messenger of God's love and an emissary for the power of faith. All things are possible.

If you have faith and do not doubt ... even if you say to this mountain, "Be lifted up and thrown into the sea," it will be done.--Matthew 21:21

I LOVE FREE - Music: Cage the Elephant: Shake Me Down on KCRW

Free Music!! Yes there are plenty of places to download some great free music out there! I typically stop by KCRW and Amazon.com for some daily freebies. Today on KCRW it was Cage the Elephant: Shake Me Down from the show Today's Top Tune on KCRW. I LOVE FREE!

My day off list

Things to do on my day off:

1. Sleep in
2. Clean apt
3. Laundry
4. Finish up crafts from last year
5. Go to gym
6. Pick up brother from LAX
7. Go to 85C & Lollicup
8. Drop off brother with other brother in Irvine

Now if only I could get out of my comfy bed! Or maybe I'm still not done with #1...

DIY Office Calendar

Banksy Office Calendar

I've always tried to utilize whatever is at my disposal for my craft projects (partly because I'm strapped for cash or too impatient to wait to go to a store). I came up with this calendar a couple years ago and have had it up since. Working with student files means that we have a endless supply of file folders and no one will miss 1. Giant paper clips hold the 8.5x11 sheets used for the months. I came up with an InDesign template (happy downloading) that I take 10 mins to update every semester. Finally, I used a Banksy piece for the background image; I will probably never get tired of seeing it and its like having a piece of art on the wall. Actually, now that I think about it, the Banksy image was what made me want to make this calendar in the first place!

Who wants a piece of Cake?

I'm so excited for the Cake show at the Troubadour in February! Found this in studio performance they did up in Sacramento of Daria and it got me all pumped up again!!

Trader Joe's - its a wrap!

Gift for my boss

I always forget to bring one of my gabazillion tote bags into Trader Joe's and so I 've got a stock pile of paper bags. I found that these bags have come in super handy for wrapping books that need to be dropped in the mail (Side note I love half.com and all the suckers...I mean grad students...that buy my used text books). Yesterday I noticed the Christmas graphics and realized the bags would be great gift wrapping paper!

I Heart Faces Photojournalism Photo Challenge

Photojournalism:  Using an image (or images) to tell a story.

Earlier this year our family was blessed to welcome a new member, Jayden Maze Nacu. I think my little nephew has more pictures of him than I have of myself and he's not even a year old! It was so exciting to capture his first moments, especially the amazing change I witnessed as my older brother became a father.

I Heart Faces Week 33 • Got To Wear Shades Photo Challenge!

I love reading photography blogs because I can get some great tips and advice from photographers across all skill ranges. Seeing other people's work, creativity, and art is really inspirational. The fun thing about photoblogs is how interactive they can be. Not only do they have tutorials, but also challenges where you can share your photos and get friendly feedback.

I've been subscribed to digital-photography-school.com and just recently I came across iheartfaces.com. I got sucked in through an Epiphanie Camera Bag Giveaway and was happy to find something new to subscribe to! I missed the boat on entering my photo for their "Got To Wear Shades Photo Challenge!" but these are some perfect shots I could've entered from my weekend with the Shenanigans girls. It was super sunny down in SD for Alicia's Sky Diving 30th Bday Celebration so everyone had their shades on!

My husband is crafty! - Business Card Holder

I'm super excited about my new business card holder that my husband made for me last night! I've been itching to get a new card holder and when I checked out Etsy there were a bunch made out of fabric. We have a bunch of really cute fabric that we didn't end up using for our wedding invites and I figured they looked easy enough to make.

I searched for some online tutorials and decided to go with the project posted on Schlosser Designs. I know Cadman would have rather focused on his online poker tournament, but he obliged me and my impulsive need to do this craft project! He busted out our sewing machine, showed me how to make patterns and cut fabric. After I got all the prep work done he quickly ran it all through the machine and we ended up with a great final product!

Taking a Sick Day

How many sick days do you have accumulated? I've been saving my sick days & using them so sparingly that I've got plenty banked for if I really need them. Knowing that, I decided to take a sick day...for my mental health. Its summer, being in an office without windows (technically there are windows, but they are too high and are blocked by panels from the outside...so really they should be considered a wall. In fact they should just paint over them instead of teasing us) I was going crazy knowing that I was freezing my butt off while its 75+ outside. I think we should all remember to take care of our bodies as well as our minds & souls.

Of course my sick day just happened to coincide with the day Bedouin Soundclash was playing a free concert during the US Open of Surfing. 

  

Shade tattoos TL

Concentration - Shade working on TL

My husband and I share a love of art and often we'll trek up to LA to check out a gallery opening or drive around taking pictures of street art. This trip was a little different because we got to see an amazing artist at work, Cadman's old friend Shade. Shade does some amazing portraiture work, but this time around he drove out from the desert just to do a bit of lettering for Cadman's buddy TL at Shamrock Social Club in Hollywood. Shade let me be a fly on the wall and sit next to TL so I could take pictures. They're posted up on my flickr. One thing I wish I could've done was taken a picture of Shade and his dad. It was the first time I'd met him and I could tell how much he adored his son and was so proud of the amazing artist he had become. If you're interested in seeing more of Shade's work check out his blog.

Summer is happiness...Concerts

One reason that I love summer is because of the multitude of shows in SoCal. I was a little bummed at the end of May due to my empty concert calendar & expected empty pocketbook. But with the recent $10/no fees Verizon deals and local free concert offers...WOW has it been getting filled! Today I got the best news yet with a date for Bedouin Soundclash in HB!!!

Here's what on deck:

7/16 - Slightly Stoopid @ Verizon/$10
7/29 - Aerosmith @ Verizon/$10
7/31 - Sublime w/Rome @ OC Fair (tickets still not bought, but I'm crossing my fingers!)
8/4 - Bedouin Soundclash @ HB US Open/ FREE
8/7 - Weezer & Hot Hot Heat @ HB US Open/FREE
8/21 - Weezer @ Del Mar Race Track/$10
9/23 - Muse @ Honda Center (yes I know, this technically a fall date)

See you on the lawn and in the back row!

BLINK-182 @ Verizon 09/18/09

Honeymoon Picture Overload!

Rome/Vatican - Our excursion group...& Cadman

The one disadvantage to having 20+GB of SD memory while on our Honeymoon is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to many pictures to sort through! Yet, while I'm slowly chipping away at my pictures, I'm wishing I took more! I imagine one day I will have an amazing vacation video to show people...

In the mean time, here's a link to my Flickr where I'll be posting all my dslr photos: www.flickr.com/photos/hahahippoo/sets/72157624123681227/

LAX to BCN

So we're checked in and finally headed off to a long awaited
honeymoon!! Mr. & Mrs. Cherry ready for our European Adventure! We'll
be in BCN for a few days before & after our western med cruise then
it's off to Istanbul to visit Iraz & her Turkish peoples. After such a
crazy end of the semester at work & school hopefully I am so tired I
just sleep right through our flight...or I will have to resort to
benadryll. Next post, new time zone... Yay so excited!!!

So true...

correlation, originally uploaded by recovering lazyholic.

Just ffffound.com this photographer/artist. Thank you Recoveringlazyholic....I'm inspired!

I love Frosted!!

FROSTED CUPCAKERY from SAYER DAN4TH on Vimeo.

Make your dreams take flight

This picture is of my niece during a wedding aka family reunion. I love taking pictures of all my nieces and nephews they are amazing reminders of how to enjoy life! I decided to use this phrase because sometimes we forget that we have the power to MAKE our dreams and visions reality. All we need to do is give ourselves a running start and we’ll get there!

Give a Day, Get a Disney Day

I was really bummed when our Disneyland passes expired this year! We (or maybe just I, since I know Cadman doesn't really like Dland, he just likes making me happy) had so much fun visiting the park whenever we felt like it. I guess I just lucked out that this year their theme is volunteerism and that's something I've been trying to get back into. On the last day before they closed their Give a Day, Get a Day promotion I found the perfect activity...designing a flier for a community organization! I was really happy that I could use my talents to help out...and get a free pass...that will go towards my new season pass!! Ok so is the point really to just volunteer without the expectation of anything in return? Yes, but its still nice to be rewarded and really its made me think that I can offer my skills this on a regular basis. Its hard for me to find a free weekend or day to go and volunteer, but I can whip up a flier anytime and anywhere! So if any community org/non-profit needs graphic work done send them my way!

Here's the project that I did for Your Cambodian Street Children Organization:

Music for Relief - Download to Donate for Haiti

Today I saw a posting/link on the Obey Giant site to Music for Relief. You just download the album & then choose how much you want to donate to help those effected by the earthquake in Haiti.