The SM City Fairview Annex Atrium was jam packed with moms, dads, kids, kids-at-heart, babies in strollers, mascots, as well as all kinds of cartoon character goodies this Friday afternoon. We quickly circled the entire area to find entrances, and to get an idea of the event’s general lay out, so we knew what we needed to do in that sea of people. Stage and audience area on one end, the booths and play centers in the middle, and the gift shop on the other end, next to the registration booth and main entrance to the cartoon fest. Check!
We went around the booths as the characters were being introduced one by one onstage and the booths were still empty. We found a booth that Lia loved at first sight: the Barbie Ballerina booth, where there was a table for coloring pages and activity books, as well as a table where she could get her nails painted. My 4-year old daughter did not like the idea of having her nails painted, but took a seat without a moment’s hesitation on the activity table and started coloring Barbie pages.
She had to stop coloring when Spongebob went onstage and shrieked with delight upon the explosion of the confetti. Confetti that kids would love throwing onstage, up in the air, and at each other, afterwards.
At five o’clock, the characters went to their respective booths one by one so kids could come meet them, or have their photos taken with them. Lia, upon going through all the booths, also one by one, and overwhelmed with the mascots’ sizes, said they were all scary so we went around the shop instead. And here is where she found the most joy, amidst the Barbies.
It was a really fun Easter activity for the kids last Sunday at the Greenhills branch of Young Artists’ Studio.
Lia had been really looking forward to this egg painting activity and she was delighted to see the venue. The Young Artists’ Studio is located inside Sound Learning Therapy Center on the 3rd floor of the Promenade Bldg. at the corner of Wilson St. and P. Guevarra St., Greenhills, San Juan.
Lia was borrowed by her grandparents during the weekend and I was missing her so much that I went back to the photos taken at Stonehouse Gardens Resort while we were in Bicol last month. This is really, I could say, Part 2 of Lia and her Mama at Stonehouse Gardens.
Having finally decided that Lia and I will never come back to live in Bicol, we embarked on a road trip to haul all of our stuff back to Manila. We used to travel together every two weeks when Lia and I were both based in Bicol in 2011 but this was Lia’s first return trip to Bicol after leaving nearly ten months before. We allotted two out of the three-day long weekend for just driving the 900+ kilometers back and forth, and only one day to stay and roam around the area. This mainly meant having coffee at Starbucks Magsaysay, dropping by Bigg’s Diner and Red Platter, having kinalas and puto bucayo. Of course we could have done more but with the limited time, we had to prioritize the ones I missed the most.
I have always wanted to go up and visit Stonehouse Gardens, and because we had no plans of ever coming back, it was imperative that we go this time.
Finally.
We arrived a few minutes before four in the afternoon on the first Saturday of December. The sun was nearly at the horizon and behind the clump of trees by the fence. After refreshing ourselves with glasses of juice served by the resort and take-out food from Bigg’s Diner, we went on a walk around the place and took photos. The setting sun gave just the right light for what would become some of my favorite photos for the year 2012.
We were all sitting in our respective “offices”, mine under the stairs, Lia in her designated sofa space, and H on the dining table, when we heard this song playing on Lia’s tablet. It’s a pretty catchy tune, and more often than not, it’s the music that I hear and never the lyrics of a song. H says, “I like that music Lia. Great music choice,” so I go over and look at her tablet to see what’s playing, because earlier she was just singing along to Umizoomi videos on YouTube. And I see the cartoons and hear the “dumb ways to die” lyrics. The mother in me says, “Uh-oh, what is this song about? Masquerading in great, catchy tunes and adorable animation, BUT what is the message?” So we google.
“Well, this is definitely the most precious way to convey the message, “Don’t stand in front of a train, idiot.”
Australian Metro put out this twee-soaked, very creative animated music video listing things that end in tragedy that are just as preventable as being careless around trains — like using your private parts as piranha bait and taking your helmet off in outer space. The song is by a band called Tangerine Kitty, of course, and can also be downloaded here.
This is a message that anyone living in a city with public transportation should listen to.”- Huffingtonpost
This song and video is now going viral and I can only say thanks Lia for finding this, you are amazing! Though wait, I might have to re-think about what this does to 3-year old minds.
As much as Lia loves the beach, Lia also loves the malls. But only if there are reindeers. No, just kidding. Lia loves the beach more. She will never say no to the question, “Do you want to go to the beach?” regardless of her mood or her state of hunger or tiredness. On the other hand, she would say no to the question “Do you want to go to the mall?” eighty percent of the time. Sometimes I even have to force her.
Lia also didn’t want me to take photos of her. She wanted me to take photos of puppy wearing her new funky plastic glasses that we bought at a street stall while waiting for the car’s tank to get filled up at a gas station the day before.
I had planned on going to the Global Pinoy Bazaar at Rockwell Tent earlier but Lia had fallen asleep on the sofa. We let her sleep because we knew she needed the energy, and we needed her to be in a good mood for a time at the mall and the bazaar. We left before six in the evening and traffic from Junction at the Ortigas Ave. Ext. all the way to Ever Gotesco mall was a crawl. Slower than crawl actually. The traffic was light past the mall though and we arrived in Rockwell Makati an hour later – hungry and tired already. More
Getting supplies is primarily the reason why we go to town, but some days, especially when it’s sunny like this, we also make it a point to hang out by the beach.
It was July 22 and unlike the past days, the sun shone bright. It was a really hot day that made for good photographs of the beach. We usually go down to town in the afternoons when it is low tide. This time, we caught the high tide and suddenly, the beach looked different. It was quite beautiful. I am always amazed at how beautiful El Nido can be.
We walked by the beach, which the locals called “aplaya”. Before I went to live here, I always thought “aplaya” meant lake or fish pond. It was a beautiful day to be out and sunscreen was required.
My Flickr Pro is expired so I can but see 200 of my most recent uploads. This makes it difficult for me to look for old photos I need for some comparisons or reminiscing experiences whenever I feel so inclined. I have not felt the need to renew my Flickr account in the past 2 years, especially last year, when I was busy managing the bar in Naga City and had absolutely no time to take photos. I feel the urgency now though. It seems that every other day I shoot at least 200 photos – and about 20 of them would end up being posted or in the very least, blogged about.
Lia’s first few days in El Nido were blessed with excellent weather. It was really bright and sunny and we went to town and the beach every day. She and I also took a lot of photos.
I have been quite busy too testing my Vitacon wide angle lens converter and I think I have decided that it is best that I shoot two of whatever it is I fancy every time – one with the converter and another without it. The converter comes with vignetting and other “effects” that I find only acceptable for certain artistic inclinations – the edges become soft or smeared, there is considerable image quality loss and I get a fish eye effect.
I still have a lot of problems with regards to my shooting and post processing workflow as I feel that I’m not being as efficient as I should or can be. I am badly in need of a refresher on workflow management.
Since I cannot see my old photos, I had to repost some of them. Only because I wanted to show a little bit of now-and-then.
It was one of our friends’ son’s first birthday party at the Makati Park and Garden. Lia absolutely loves parties. We we’re late but managed to have a good time nevertheless.
Ever since my phone camera has been revived, we’ve been Instagraming nonstop. It gets addicting, yeah.
These photos were taken 12th of March at our home in Camarines Sur. Lia was playing with my toy camera from childhood. These days toy camera goes by a different meaning but back then, it was JUST a toy camera. More
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