Cabby Craft: Blog & Brand Design, Web Hosting & Migration

I’ve been sooo behind my design posts! One of the things I want to do more this year is to blog about these amazing people who entrust their blog designs to me. The thing is, there’s just been a lot of design work lately that I couldn’t squeeze in blogging about them! (Story of my life.)

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dresses / on the table / beautiful / flower vases / tea towel

This inspiration board came out in October last year (remember?), and it’s for Ate Michelle of Cabby Craft. She’s a doctor by profession, but she takes her passion for crafting and writing quite seriously, which is what her blog is all about. After having her blog on blogspot for years, she finally decided to buy her own domain name, move to WordPress, and to invest in her personal brand. Needless to say, I was so thrilled to be working with her!  Continue reading “Cabby Craft: Blog & Brand Design, Web Hosting & Migration”

My One Word for 2015: Pursue

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I knew what my word was going to be few days before 2014 ended, and the first few days of 2015 brought me major affirmations that this, indeed, is THE word.

But first, let’s talk about passion.

Last year I faced my fears and chose a word that kept me on my toes the whole year: passion. I told myself I was done with just settling with what’s convenient, or forcing myself to do things just because people expected me to do them. It was time to purge my life with the word “passion” as my *breathe* ultimate qualifier.

So 2014 was the year I rekindled my passion for everything that God has called me to do in this particular season of my life—as a wife, a mother, a breadwinner, a homemaker, a daughter, a sister, a friend (in that order, too!). It was the year I started to pursue things that make me restless at night, things that wake me up early in the morning eager to start the day. Anything short of passion was not good enough.

Which also meant I had to let go of things that held me back from spreading my wings, stuff that boxed me up and conflicted with the values we want to uphold as a family, commitments that were not bad at all but essentially were not the best for us. Others may not have understood some of the choices my husband and I made last year, but we turned to God for direction and His affirmations kept us going and made us strong. In the end it gave us more time and space for the things that truly matter, for family, and for His true calling for us.

And now, this passionate pursuit continues.

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This year my one word is PURSUE. I intentionally picked a verb because I want this year to be a year packed with action. Now that I’ve identified my passions, my God-given calling and skills, the industry I find myself relevant in, the work that I really enjoy doing, and the relationships that matter, it’s time for me to pursue them (or to keep pursuing them). I’ve had a lot of planning and dreaming already, and now is the time to get the ball rolling, to translate those plans to action, and to make those dreams happen.

This year I’m going to..

Pursue God more.
Pursue my calling.
Pursue my passions and dreams.

Pursue what truly matters. 

Continue reading “My One Word for 2015: Pursue”

52/52: It’s a Wrap!

Photographs of our twin daughters, once a week, every week, this 2014.

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We were at a 4-day family reunion during the last week of the past year, and it was a perfect culmination to the awesomeness that 2014 was. It was also a time of rest, slowing down, and reconnecting with relatives from literally all over the world who we haven’t seen for so long.

Both my husband and I came from big, wacky, closely-knit, Jesus-lovin’, God-fearing families, and we’re so grateful that we get to raise Dawn & Rain with our big, crazy village!

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These photographs were all taken through my phone camera because, obviously, these days we don’t have enough hands to carry a bulky DSLR around. Just the same, I’m happy with these blurry, grainy, imperfect remembrances of those perfect moments. Definitely for keeps.

So.. more than just a pile of photographs, this project has been good for me.

I only wanted to preserve memories for Dawn and Rain, but in the process, this project gained me more than just a pile of photographs. I discovered that taking photographs of them has become an instant pick-me-upper, especially when bedtime routines are dragging on way too long, or we’re having a rough week.

The truth is, I started the project thinking I was doing something that Dawn & Rain would appreciate in the future, only to realize that I did it for myself, too. 

First, I needed to be challenged. Taking photographs of two toddlers (and getting them to smile at the same time!) was such a challenge. To do the routine every week for 52 consecutive weeks required some discipline, and a bit of push, which makes it all the more gratifying in the end.

And second, I want to remember. These babies grow too fast! And these photographs are proof. Often, in the busyness of each day—all those hours spent changing diapers, cleaning up after them, feeding them, giving them a bath, getting them to sleep, dealing with tantrums, training and disciplining them, you get the picture—I worry about being sucked in the routines and missing out on the good times and the milestones. I know most of these priceless moments can’t be captured in photographs, but I want to preserve as much as I can, to help me remember these years forever.

I’m putting this gallery page up, if you want to see and walk down the memory lane with me. It’s still under construction for now, but I’ll build it up within the next few days.

Over and out!

And that’s a wrap for 2014’s 52 Week Project! Can you believe I managed to complete the whole thing? 52 sets of photographs, every week, for the whole year of 2014. Thank you for bearing with me and this little project of mine, for reading my endless lovestruck mommy-musings, for all the messages, the likes, and the comments.. and for somewhat making our stories a tiny part of your weekly reading. Thank you, thank you.

Project 52, Year 2015

So I’m doing this project differently this year. I want to keep taking photographs weekly, but I will no longer post them weekly on this blog. Instead, I’m going to put the photographs in a Project Life album, and maybe share a blog post about it monthly or quarterly.

If you want to challenge yourself and take photographs of your children weekly this 2015, go for it! Jodi’s 1/52 is now up, you can learn all about the mechanics (more like, non-mechanics!) here.

Read about our Project 52 here. View all posts in this blog series here.

51/52: Christmas Gifts

Photographs of our twin daughters, once a week, every week, this 2014.

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It’s true what Jodi once said, something about this project feeling like a countdown of sorts. Here we are at Week 51 of this 52 Week Project, and I still can’t believe how fast the year has gone by. Here are some photographs from the night before Christmas, which, by the way, also went as fast as it came.

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It wasn’t exactly an easy Christmas season for us, having to move to a new apartment at the start of the month, with all the packing, and cleaning, and transitioning. Our yaya went away for a holiday break too; which means my husband and I had to divide the house chores among ourselves on top of everything.

Just the same, we have learned to embrace these occasional opportunities to spend quality time as a family, just the four of us, especially during this time of the year.

It’s been a tough month, but just one smile, one song, one hug from these little humans and everything becomes a lot easier to bear. We wrapped them some presents and placed them under the tree, but the truth is, they are our real Christmas gifts.

“Children are a gift from the Lord,
they are a reward from Him.” ~Psalm 127:3

This Psalm has never been more real to me than now. More specifically when the children are throwing a fit, or being unruly, and there’s a pile of dishes and chores and tasks waiting to be dealt with. I keep going back to this verse to remind myself that these children are gifts from the Lord. They are a reward from Him! And indeed they are. No amount of chaos in the house can take away the sense of wonder and amazement that God has “gifted” us these two happy, curious, energetic children that we so love.

And then again there was this beautiful Child, who was sacrificed as a ransom for our sins, and it blows my mind all the time, especially now that I’m a parent, to realize how huge of a sacrifice that was for our Father in Heaven. Surely, nothing can top that priceless gift we have in Jesus Christ, if only we would open our hearts to receive Him.

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Merry Christmas!

Behold, the photograph that became this year’s Christmas e-card. Smile, Dawn! :)

I hope you had a meaningful Christmas yourself, one that’s filled with happy children, meaningful conversations, quality time, lots of hugs and kisses, God moments, unspeakable joy, love. 

51 sets of photographs down, one more to go. This is it. See you soon, 2015.

More about Project 52 here. View all posts in this blog series here.

50/52: Cebu

Photographs of our twin daughters, once a week, every week, this 2014.

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It was a weekend of firsts. First plane ride, first Cebu trip (for David and the kids), first boat ride, first island-hopping experience. We’re happy to have an “excuse” to try out flying, something that we’ve been putting off because we were unsure how to handle long trips and plane rides with two toddlers. When our cousins who were visiting from Australia (you’ll remember them from these posts), invited us for a long weekend in Cebu, we knew we just had to take the plunge. And we’re soooo glad we did.

You realize time and time again that you have to dare to get out of your comfort zone, otherwise, you wouldn’t really know what you’re missing. And that Cebu trip was just that for me. It began with a truck load of worries and fears, but it ended with ZERO regrets and a mental smack in the head for even worrying at all.

We had a lot of favorite moments from that trip, but these photographs were from our island-hopping experience, which the kids reallyyy enjoyed.

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Remember their first time to swim and they didn’t like it? This time around, in Cebu, the girls loooooved it! They loved walking on the beach, they loved swimming in the pool, and true enough we had a difficult time pulling them out of the water.

The Cebu skies and seas, and the company of this family we love, were good for my soul. There were so many personal realizations, God moments, divine revelations, and a hundred reasons to praise God for.

Thank you, Ninong Mitch, Ninang Dots, Jonah and Zaki! We’ll remember this trip forever. “Jehovah-Shammah”, we won’t forget. ;)

More about Project 52 here. View all posts in this blog series here.

49/52: December Wedding

Photographs of our twin daughters, once a week, every week, this 2014.

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December 1, 2014. The same old story: It was a special day (it was my cousin’s wedding), in a special place (back in the good ol’ Fernbrook Gardens), and I made sure to bring our bulky DSLR in hopes that I could capture blog-worthy moments. In the end, of course, my plans were once again overruled by these toddlers who can’t seem to stay put in one place!

Good thing, our photographer friend, Ian Fornoles, had some great shots of the twins from that day. Thank you Ian! 

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A beautiful day and a beautiful wedding such as this one is easy to remember, with or without the photographs. Just the same, I’m glad we get to take home memories from that day, and from a professional photographer no less. (Score!)

A little word about the photographer—I’ve seen Ian grow from a little boy running around our church into this remarkable designer and photographer that he is today. I’m so proud of this guy, and would highly recommend him for all your lifestyle and wedding photography needs. Visit his Facebook page, you guys, and check out his work.

All photographs in this post are by Ian Fornoles Photography, except for the first one, which I took with my trusty iPhone.

More about Project 52 here. View all posts in this blog series here.