Happy New Year East Coast!
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52/365: Chichiria Time
Today's photo of the day is brought to you by Chippy, Cheese Curls and Boy Bawang. As the girls and I treck up the bedroom to start winding down for the day, I felt an urge for some chichiria. So I raided our cabinet and found that it's been newly stocked. Awesome!
51/365: Funtime at Jump Zone
We woke up today excited for X's swimming class. There was no class last week, and we missed the week before that (When I came back from San Francisco). When we got there, we learn that the class was cancelled because a meet was scheduled. Bummer, we were looking forward to some swimming time. At lunch, we packed everyone up to attend a birthday party at the Jump Zone. XYZ enjoyed themselves and had fun! Had a couple of photos but especially loved this one of Z. He's a bit mesmerized by this funny mirror and he kept on looking at himself on it. One time, I caught him doing this! And I don't blame him. I kiss him everytime I see him too. He's just soooo cute :)
50/365: Mangoes
Got home late with no photos taken. Which is weird, because I have my camera and I had lots of interesting photos to take at work, but for some reason - I can't find the time to take those photos. So, at home in the bedroom with the girls, I again have to find something. Tonight, it's mangoes. This is not a very good shot, but I want to talk about mangoes :) These are not the popular Philippine mangoes. These are what's closer to what's called indian mangoes in the Philippines, but I think is really closer to Mexican mangoes here. The batch we got from the grocery this week was really good. Sweet and crunchy. And when we get them that way, EVERYONE wants one. These are normally for me, but I can't eat one with X and Y wanting their share. If Z is still awake, he wants some too and when hubby is home, he steals some himself. The funny thing is no one else asks for them! They just want to eat them when they see me eating them. Isn't that weird?
49/365: Cobweb
Been trying to get an inspiration for today's photo all night. A colleague gave me a good idea of taking a photo of the Pizza oven after we had after work drinks at the Italian place but I wanted to get moving and be at the train station. So, now I'm in one of those nights where I am stuck trying to find inspiration inside the bedroom. Tonight's subject came from my end table lamp shade. I've actually seen this in the past and remembered tonight that I've been looking for a web to take pictures of. This one under one of the lamp shades looked interesting. What do you think? I liked this one because of the detail on the web. It's not silky and perfect, but feels like one of those halloween fake ones. LOL.
48/365: Sweetheart candies
I know Valentines day is over - but everywhere around the house, we continue to have reminders and everyday, X eats something from her Valentines treat bag from school. I was having a conversation in the office, and a colleague mentioned that he found the phrase "Tweet me" in one of these sweetheart candies. So, curious - I grabbed X's box of candies and started going thru each one to find "Tweet me" for the photo of the day. I found "XOXOXO", but unfortunately didn't find "Tweet me". I did find something that said "weet _e" but it wasn't printed clearly and could have been "Sweet Pea" for all I know! If you find "Tweet me" or something equally modern, reply and share! :) Totally out of topic, X tells me: "Mommy, XOXOXO kisses!". Where did she get that?!
47/365: Back to the grind...
I love long weekends, and today is the first day back from the long weekend. The problem with long weekends is that you get swamped on your first day back. And such is my day today. It was also my birthday yesterday, and today, my team mates are treating me out to lunch. Got a photo of the whole team at the table (well, our server did), but I am not using that as photo of the day. Instead, I am using a boring photo of one of our rooms in the office. This room used to be a closet used by our IT to store spare keyboards, cables, etc. It's a utility room. But then, the company started growing and room became sparse that the closet became a "war" room. We actually was just using this as a war room for one of our projects before a bigger one opened up and we moved there. Then, facilities came over, painted the room and this is the next incarnation of the room. It is now referred to as the Lounge and is a good place for an informal conversations and meetings. Do
46/365: Happy Birthday to Me!
Yes, it IS my birthday today, and it is also President's day, which just so happens to be a non-working holiday for my company. Yay! Hubby was off, I was off, and the kids are not scheduled to go to school on Monday so today was one of those rare days where we are all together for the whole day. w00t! It was uneventful day. We brought Y and Z to the dermatologist for checkup and consultation. I tried to not read e-mail :), push off work until tomorrow, and sleep as much as I can in preparation for the busy week. In the evening, hubby had a reservation for us at the Morton Steakhouse in Schaumburg to celebrate both Valentines day and my birthday. This photo was taken on the way home, as I was in the car. Snow was falling and I we were at a stop light when I looked back and saw the Morton sign and liked how it was framed amidst the melting snow flakes.
45/365: Happy Valentines Day!
Happy Valentines Day everyone! This is what I got from hubby... I was just thinking about the flowers (he gives me flowers every year) and was gonna tell him to switch the roses this year with something else and it looks like he read my mind! :) The card was cute and funny. It reads: Sometimes, when I wake up in the morning I feel the warm embrace of your arm around me, and I wish the moment would last forever... And then inside, it continues... "and I didn't have to pee." Bwah!
44/365: Valentines Day Shoot
First day of the 3 day weekend. No plans, no parties so am looking forward to a weekend of relaxation and fun with the kids. Valentines day is tomorrow so the girls and I are planning to make a card for Daddy. To make a card, we need photos! I was hoping to get a photo of the three kids together, but nanay put Z to sleep as soon as dinner is over, so it's just the girls and I. The shoot lasted 20 minutes, which is usual with the kids. But it was a VERY successful 20 mins. First, I got Y to dress up, which almost NEVER happens - and she was actually in the mood tonight. These are two of my favorites from the girls: There are a couple more good shots, but these 2 make the photo of the day, and since I'm trying to just use 1 photo each day (unlike January), I made a card out of these two. Instant card made using Sweet Stuff Page Kit by LaWanna Desjardin, Desjardin Digital Designs.
43/365: Bayanihan
Today's photo of the day was a no-brainer. I arrived at the train station this morning to hear that my train is running approximately 15 minutes late due to a mechanical failure. So while waiting, I took a photo of all the people in the station, standing around doing whatever it is people do when they're waiting. When the train finally arrived, I got on my regular coach and noticed that the lights and the heat were off. When we got to the next station, it stopped - and then stalled. Meanwhile, the train voice over lady keeps on insisting that "The Mechanical failure has been fixed. We apologize for the delay". Outside, I was hearing a LOT of banging. So, after about 10 minutes of this, I got curious. The banging was really loud and sounded as if it's right outside my window. I was on the aisle, so I cannot really see from the window, so I stood up and peeked at the door and saw this... It turns out that the handicap lift was used at the Winfield stati
42/365: Last 2 minutes
Another back to back to back meeting day starting early in the morning with an interview and ending with a late meeting and drinks with our offshore leadership team. Got home almost at 10 pm, then had to tend to the girls. By the time I realize I haven't taken a photo the whole day (even with my phone), it was almost too late! I had a couple of photos of this clock actually. No flash, with flash - but for some reason, I liked the version with the flash (removed all shadows). I was in Photoshop cropping it when I started playing around with the Levels, and though, hey - this is interesting. So, yes, my photo of the day today is a bit processed. Another close call... I'm still amazed I haven't slipped and am still going strong. I keep thinking one of these days I will slip.
41/365: The calm after the storm
I woke up today to a gorgeous sky day. The accumulation wasn't bad at all, and this being Chicago - everything is running normal. The storm has moved from Chicago to the East Coast and they're getting a lot of it. Ah, global climate change in evidence right there. Because of the close call yesterday, I've decided to try and take pictures from the phone as well everyday, just in case. I took this photo with my iPhone as I was waiting for the train on the platform. The sky was a gorgeous blue, the morning light and the snow all together makes our little train station house very picturesque. Even though I have other photos today, I chose to make this photo my photo for the day. The weather was very deceptive though. It was sunny but the temperature was veeeery chilly. I get cold just thinking about it. Brrr.
40/365: Let it Snow
Chicago is under a snow storm watch from last night to around 4pm today. So when I woke up in the morning, I peeked out to see if it was smart to come to the office. Here was what I saw... This was taken fromy my iPhone so the focus control was really bad and it is showing the mesh, instead of the scene outside. The accumulation wasn't that bad, but the roads (and my driveway) are unplowed so I decided to stay and work from home. You'd think I'd have more time to steal and take photos since I am home, but I was tied up with work all day, and had to pick up the kids from school in the evening. Hubby also called to tell me to get the girls to bed early so I had them all bathed and sleeping around 10:00pm which was a record time for us. Unfortunately, that also meant, I slept early too. When I woke up the next day, I actually thought that I FINALLY slipped and missed a photo! Then, I remembered the photo I took from the phone in the morning. Alas, that becomes th
39/365: Something French in Chicago
Busy day at work today specially since I've been out for three days last week. Had to catch up with team members, and make sure that all projects are running as expected. Reviewed and brain stormed on design with team members until I realized it's way past 6 and I've missed all rush hour trains. So, I actually have time to spare on the way to the train station since the next available train is not until 7:40pm. At the train station is the newly opened Chicago French Market that sells fresh produce and fruits. They also have crafts, and chocolates galore! I was hungry, but I didn't think I'd have time to eat, so I just walked around taking pictures of the colorful fruits and vegetables for today's photo. In the end I chose this photo just because the produce and fruit photos look very generic "fresh market" type photos. This juxtapose the elegance of the French market with the sterility of the train station environment. It's very industri
38/365: Super Bowl XLIV: Colts v Saints
Super Bowl Sunday and I have no plans whatsoever to watch the game. We used to watch the game with friends, but it's not happening this year and with all the backlog I have from being away last week, I passed on going to another friends house for the game. Before the game though, I told hubby that he will be my photo of the day. I asked him if he has a Saints jersey I can wear, so we can then have a photo of each of us in a different uniform. Alas, he only has a Colts jersey (which he wore) - although he told me he was rooting for the Saints. So, in deference to the Super Bowl, today's photo is hubby in his Colts jersey. Boring? Too bad :)
37/365: Odyssey Fun World
Landed in Chicago around 5am, and finally got home and on my own bed around 6:30am. X has a 10:30am swimming class that we missed because X (and I) both overslept. In the afternoon we attended Nathan and Danny's birthday party at the Odyssey Fun World. X, Y and Z all had fun in their own way. We played games and won tickets, went and played at the Exlporation Adventure. I can't pick any one photo so I collaged three, one for each of them. X loved the obstacle courses, Y the moon jumps (as long as she was the only one in there) and Z loved walking, running and riding the horsey! Thanks Nathan and Danny for such a fun time.
36/365: A walk along the wharf
Been in San Francisco for 3 days now and haven't really seen much outside of the hotel and the office. Taking a red eye back to Chicago and I had about 4 hours to spare before I have to head to the airport. Where do I go to kill 4 hours?! Why, the Wharf of course. Hotel Palomar is near the corner of 4th street and Market so it was easy to hop on to the F-line for the ride down to the wharves. The street car was free, courtesy of a broken meter - where I talked to two "sea men", who are really more like "sea boys" handing out flyers for a "Ladies Night" back at their ship/frigate. They are Canadian Navy men and have been docked at Pier 27 for the week. I hopped off at Pier 39 planning to walk all the way to Ghirardelli Square and back. Took some photos, which was a challenge, because I didn't have a tripod with me, and also bought presents for the kids.
35/365: Things you find in your hotel room when you're desperate
It's 10pm and I'm finally back in my hotel room. It's raining outside so I'm desperate to find things in the room that are interesting. I open the closet and find this... I mean really? Who wears these? I also found this on one of the tables. It's a cork and on the card it says "Redeem this cork for a complimentary glass of Paso Creek Cabernet Sauvignon in our restaurant". They should have stopped there... instead it continues, "with the purchase of any entree". At the bottom it says "With each cork, a donation will be made to the Plant a Billion Trees effort". Too bad I don't drink wine.
34/365: San Francisco, here I come
Woke up really early today to fly out to San Francisco for our company's Tech Summit. I am one of the presenters on Friday and we're doing rehearsals with the whole team at the San Francisco offices today. My flight boarded without issues but when we were about the push out of the gate, the captain informed us that the occular inspection showed that one of the doors was missing a hinge. The mechanics had to figure out what has to be done to fix it and took about 30-45 minutes to fix the issue. So, while the flight was almost an hour delayed, it was better than getting us bumped off other flights. From the airport, I checked into the hotel, so I can drop off my heavy jacket (which I don't need here) and the suit case and walked to the office. This is a picture of my room for the next few days. Dinner was at Dosa, a Southern Indian restaurant, and while I had to return my food for a redo, the Lamb Chops were awesome. Wish I had time to take photos of downtown San
33/365: Y's first day in school
Today is a momentous day, Y goes to school! Since Mamu is back in the Philippines for a vacation, we decided to put Y to school so nanay is only home with Z. So for a couple of weeks now, we've been weaning her off of her bad habits (like sleeping really late) and getting her used to a more regular routine (dinner, bath, play, sleep). And today is the first day we get to see if that's all successful. Last night we slept early. Yay! We woke the girls up early and get them all dressed up. X is used to all these, but Y is new to this routine. When we got to school, we brought her to X's classroom (Pre-K) then to her own classroom (Intermediate). She was a bit hesitant at first, but I spied some stacking cubes - and knowing how much Y loves her mega blocks, gave it to her to play with. And that seemed to be successful. She played and didn't even complain when her dad I and left.
32/365: On the Road
Today is one of those rare days that I actually have to drive to the office of my client. While rare, I actually love going to the client office and working and talking with the client face to face. The only downside is of course driving :) since I love taking the train to work everyday but that's alright. Luckily, it didn't snow as was forecasted. I was out on the road early because I had to plan to pull over for a conference call. I also stopped by the O'Hare Oasis to grab some breakfast, and as I was sitting there waiting for Auntie Anne's to open, I saw this view which reminded me of the poster of the movie "Up in the air", except it's more like "Down on the road". No camera with me (it was in the car), so this is from the iPhone.
31/365: 8.33% Complete
1 month milestone.... w00t! Went out with the girls to run some errands today, and ended up eating and playing at McDonald's. Y, who is usually brave at these things surprised me by chickening out of going up the slide. X loved it though (and she used to be so scared of climbing up these maze like tubes). Y was happy enough eating her french fries, cheering her "ate" and taking photos from mommy's phone. I forgot to bring my camera with us, so today's photo of the day is brought to you by the iPhone.
30/365: Snowflakes
I have this picture in my head that I've been trying to take. I've seen other pictures of it but they don't really explain their setup or their equipment, so all I can do is experiment. For all I know, I may not even have the right equipment for it. Anyways, this morning, with the light coating of snow flurries that were on the car, I thought I may have the opportunity. I think it's close to what I want, but it's not quite there. I wanted a photo that would show the individual snowflakes in detail. Not all of it, but at least some of it (at least 1!). However, this is the closest that I got to what I wanted. The others were really just either a chunk of ice, or a blob of white :) Maybe next time, it will be better. Meanwhile, I also got one of those rare moments where my 3 angels posed together for a photo. Y is even smiling! X is not in her best smile, and Z has his deer in a headlights look -- but this photo is preciously rare :)
29/365: Abstract
Ending this week with some really good news. I am also proud of having made it this far into this project! It's been almost a month, with a few close calls including today. Got home pretty late because I hung out with team mates after work. By the time I had late dinner, and gave the girls a bath and into their PJs, it's 11:30pm and still no picture of the day! We were all already in the bedroom so I've been trying to improvise and find something interesting. I liked the patterns of this and actually liked the way the light made it look soft and glowy. This photo is in its original composition, no cropping whatsoever. I liked it as it is! :) I won't tell what it is though I'm sure it will be obvious.
28/365: Having a bad Mac day
My MBP has 240 GB of hard drive, and today, at the worst time - I was down to 50MB. I had to backup a lot of files on my external hard drives and delete a lot of my VMWare snapshots to free up some space. Adding to that, Entourage is acting up again! For 2 days, my colleagues can't see my calendar in Outlook so it's been difficult to schedule meetings to the point that I've been sending them screenshots of my calendar. And this afternoon, I noticed that my Entourage database, started rebuilding itself! It's already 12AM now the next day and I'm still about 5 days into 2010. *sigh* So for the photo of the day, sorry for this cliche keyboard shot. Hee.
27/365: Peek-a-Boo
The weather has turned for the worse this week. From the rainy but warm(ish) days we had last week and the weekend that melted ALL the winter snow accumulation, we woke up to chilling temperatures and a light coating of snow. As such, its inside the house photography again, courtesy of my kids. I had a series of fun portraits with X and this one is my favorite. We are featuring her tattoo from Y's birthday party. That one was already almost gone, and we put a new one just before the shoot.
26/365: Catching up
Busy with work today and had back to back meetings on the calendar. However, all pending work is done so I didn't have to bring any work home with me. Was hoping to catch the 5:40pm train, but got caught up with conversation with my team mates. As such, I find myself actually having time to take photos at the train station instead of running JUST to catch the train in time. I took a couple of pictures of the new Chicago Farmers market, inside and out - but chose these for the photo of the day. The good news is, I finally had time to upload and blog about 6 days worth of photos.
25/365: Back to the grind
After 3 nights of partying (hee), it was back to work and back to the grind. Also meant back to finding subjects for this project. I have 4 days photo backlog and Y goes to school/day care next week while I am out of town. Yaiks! That means I have this week left to make sure she gets into a good habit of sleeping early. So, for today's photo, I turn to the residents of our aquarium. We used to have a salt water tank, which crashed. Nowadays, the tank holds fresh water fish and biggest of which is this one.
24/365: Presents for Y
Last night was so much fun and Sunday was spent cleaning up, and resting. Today is also the day we open Y's presents! Y says "Thank you for the presents!" and yes, I have video to prove it... Ha ha!
23/365: Y's Birthday Party
3rd party in row! This weekend is Y's long awaited birthday party. We normally schedule her birthday party around this time in January because the 2nd is too close to the holidays and who knows who can come ?! Instead, we keep that day to celebrate Y's and my brother's birthday with family instead. While I've been researching and preparing for this party for a while - I wasn't really able to spend time to execute any of the plans until last weekend! With all work slowing down, and the long weekend over MLK, twas the perfect time to finish all the preparations, and invitations. Apparently, Blue is no longer very popular so the party stores don't carry her as a theme anymore. I had to order theme related stuff online, drive over a couple of neighboring cities to find a Target with the cake in stock and had to manually do the rest. There's also the small matter of Y flip flopping between being excited about her party, and NOT wanting a party at all (
22/365: Work Holiday Party @ Salvage One
Tonight is my company's holiday party! Went with all my team mates, and since I live far far west in the suburbs, I had to go in my work clothes :( I was told this is the same place we had the holiday party last year, which I missed because I was on maternity leave. The place was huge! It had a lot of different chandeliers, that I actually think are for sale (I took a photo of one of them). The main entertainment of the night is CRUX Capacitor, our very own rock band! They were awesome!
21/365: Bowling with the Krafties
Q4 over... projects all launched... Time to party! Went bowling at 10pin after work with all the team members working on the account. It was a fun night! I think I played 5 games, and should have stopped at 3. I had a great game, and I had the worst.game.ever! I should have stopped while I was ahead! :) Even though we were having fun, I had to find my photo of the day. This drink became a topic of conversation because we didn't know what it was. Since it was laser bowling, the drink "glowed". I just had to take it's picture.
20/365: Under the weather
20 days into the year, and three grown ups in the household has already been sick. I was trying to find things to photograph in the house while blogging about myself so I figured this is a good subject. Both nanay and hubby had to go to urgent/convenient care this week - and both got prescription medicines. They say you always need to group things in threes and I had one too from my sore throat/lost voice from the beginning of the year so that completes my subjects. The good news is, nanay is finally better and hubby is on preventative medication. The kids have nothing (cross fingers), and hopefully continue to do so because we have Y's birthday party on Saturday! I've been noticing that on most days (good days), I post 2 photos. Hopefully one that is a commentary on what my day is like, and another that is more artistic or photography related. I think I will continue in that mode. At the end of 365 days, I might have 500 pictures! Today's artistic picture is
19/365: Smorgasbord
I've been trying to find bugs in the house to photograph lately and I just can't find one. Tonight, while I was in the basement with the girls, they screamed "Spider! Mommy!". So yeah, apparently, there are a couple of house spiders in the basement - but they're really too small, thin, and pale to take pictures of. But, beggars can't be choosers - so, I grabbed my gear, dropped a comforter on the floor and tried to get to it's level. The tripod was too high, so I have to do this hand held. There isn't a lot of light, so, with a macro lens and hand held, I had to up the ISO to make it manageable. This bug photography again is not simple, its not like, you can grab them and pose them your way so you can get a clear view of its eye. For the most part, they crawl away, and show me their ass. I found another one in the ceiling, and that was too high up that again, the tripod is useless. Anyways, after a couple of tries, and a lot of discarded pho
18/365: 36 years and counting
Today's project365 is dedicated to my parents who celebrated their 36th wedding anniversary last week, on January 13. Today was the first day since then that we are all available to go out for dinner and celebrate. This is a combo celebration as tomorrow is also my papa's unofficial 58th birthday. Now, this birthday is a subject of debate in the household. We celebrate it because for the longest time, papa knew his birthday to be in January. Then about 20 years ago (?) when I was in highschool, as part of his passport application, he had to get a certified copy of his birth certificate from the National Statistics Office - and lo and behold, his birthdate is in March! Since then, he has used these two dates to get out of celebrating his birthdays. In January, he'll say his birthday is not until March; and in March, he'll say that his birthday is over last January. To papa - the source of my "smartass"-ness. Happy Birthday!
17/365: Crafting day
Day 2 of prepping for Y's birthday. Today, I tried to find the cake I wanted and had to drive a couple of towns over to find a Super Target that carries the cake I want. Finally sent the evite last night and today is the day to actually make the cards. As my first major Cricut project, I am making Y's invite. Took me almost all night to do it, and by the end, I feel like I overdid it. I normally do my cards digitally - even though it takes a while to finalize the concept and the design, once you're done - all that's left to do is print them out. With the hand-made cards, the act of mass producing the card is tedious! Kudos to my friends who are really good at it! Not sure I am going to do this a lot in the future, hee. Need to find a way to mix the best of both worlds - digital and crafts. For my Project 365, I took a couple of photos of my crafting tools: my Cricut Expression and accessories, my Macbook Pro for all digital design and Sure Cut's a Lot (