Saturday, October 26, 2019

Autumn Family Adventure at Highland Hills #FallFun2019

Last Sunday,we decided to have a little adventure. My friends daughter lives in Highland Hills in Follansbee and they always hangout there since there plenty of space to run around, ride bikes, and explore the beauty of nature.  My daughter wanted to share how beautiful the view us so we went.
 
The place didn't disappoint.  There's a beautiful memorial garden where we decided to take some family photos.  I brought our camera and tripod to take the opportunity to capture the beauty of Autumn and also capture the moments of our adventure.
The houses nearby probably thinks that we are weirdos for taking photos in the cemetery lol.
Adjacent to the place us the Ohio River which provide picturesque view.
While the two anti-photo members of our family went ahead, I asked my son to pose for me.  The view is beautiful!
My hair stands up when I see creepy-crawlies like worms but our son loves to make them crawl in his hand.
Am I the only one who is afraid of worms?  Oh I can't stand the sight of them.  I would rather mess around with spiders, which is a big no-no to my husband 😂.
Anyway, I was trying to direct my kids for some photos but they just goof around so I just captured the fun.
Aside from the. river view, I thought this part of the cemetery is beautiful.  My husband calls it mini-Parthenon ☺.  I wanted to have our family picture taken in it.
Self timer in cameras comes in handy, it's just hard to run and pose with them lol.
Enjoying the river view.  If I am one of the residents near the area, I would frequent this place, the view was amazing.  It would be a great place to sit and contemplate, enjoy the view and the breeze.
My kids were wondering if we will ever capture a wandering soul in our pictures.  Fortunately there was none in the photos.
This was at the back of the mausoleum.  It represent the remains of the ones previously buried at the Steubenville site some 3,700 years ago.  



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Thursday, October 10, 2019

My Happy, Silly, Crazy Family

When I was still single, I told myself that if ever I will get  married, I hope that I can find a man that would make me laugh.  I wished for a man that has sense of humor and I thank God that my wish came true.  My husband can be sarcastic sometimes but I get the humor in it which I find very charming.  I can't imagine being married to someone whose very serious and no humor at all.  I think that  being able to connect with someone through laughter is a great thing.
"Smile, it is the key that fits the lock of everybody's heart." -  Anthony J. D'Angelo
"The child in you, like all children, loves to laugh, to be around people who can laugh at themselves and life. Children instinctively know that the more laughter we have in our lives, the better." Wayne Dyer
"Laughter is much more important than applause. Applause is almost a duty. Laughter is a reward." -  Carol Channing
"At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities." -  Jean Houston
"Laughter is an important part of a good relationship. It's an immense achievement when you can move from your thinking that your partner is merely an idiot to thinking that they are that wonderfully complex thing called a lovable idiot. And often that means having a little bit of a sense of humor about their flaws." Alain de Botton
"Laughter heals all wounds, and that's one thing that everybody shares. No matter what you're going through, it makes you forget about your problems. I think the world should keep laughing." -  Kevin Hart
"Indulging in unrestrained and immoderate laughter is a sign of intemperance, of a want of control over one's emotions, and of failure to repress the soul's frivolity by a stern use of reason." Saint Basil
"So many tangles in life are ultimately hopeless that we have no appropriate sword other than laughter." Gordon W. Allport
"With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come." William Shakespeare
"Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of your heart. " - Mort Walker
"Laughter is important, not only because it makes us happy, it also has actual health benefits. And that's because laughter completely engages the body and releases the mind. It connects us to others, and that in itself has a healing effect." -  Marlo Thomas

I am glad that both our children got their Dad's genes when it comes to humor.  I am their biggest fan when it comes to laughing at their jokes.  They find it funny when I laugh because tears always came rolling in my cheeks when I laugh so hard.  We are not always  happy but when we are silly and being crazy, our whole  family shares laughter and bring out the best in us.
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Monday, October 7, 2019

Homecoming Dress, Shoes, and Accessories

 Dress shopping has always been a  challenge for our  little lady.  It's hard to find  a dress that would fit her but luckily this time, we found a store at the mall that sells clothes for  a very petite girl like her.  The moment we entered the store, I was drawn to this  red dress.  I thought it would look good on her.  She didn't like it at first because of the  back but I said to try it on.  
Our daughter has a big birthmark at the back and she's always conscious about it  but I said to just own it and embrace it as part of her personality and beauty.  
 It's a simple dress with no embellishments but I thought it's  beautiful.  The fact that it  fits her body perfectly was a plus and the price was not so bad  either.
 We had her hair done at Locks and Legends.  She did her own make up which she learned from watching a tutorial on Youtube.  I have no idea when it comes to makeup so I wasn't of help on this  department for her.  
 I bought this shoulder bag at Gabe's  to match her Calvin Klein shoes that we bought at TJMaxx.  I have an exact style of shoes in black but it is in size 5.5.  My daughter's feet is now size 6.5, whoa, when did she really grow up?  We have the same height now so she's probably going to be taller than me  anytime soon.
Her nails are very short so she opted for fux nails, the color that match her  bag and shoes.
 The nude color shoes was perfect for her skin tone.
She had so much fun  at her first homecoming dance that she is looking forward for the next one.  This homecoming stuff can be quite expensive.  All the stuff that is needed for a night can add up but as long as  she has fun is what that's matter.
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Tuesday, August 13, 2019

16 Years and Counting #WeddingAnniversary

"Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, 
which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, 
with whom they make up a sole family - a domestic church." 
- Pope John Paul II


16 years ago today, hubby and I decided to officially seal our long-distance relationship.  We've dated online for about 8  months and despite  skepticism and a lot of opposing opinions from other people, we gave it a go and believed that we could make it work.  Thank God we did because when I look at my  children now, I always think,  what if I listened to those voices and did not try us?  I would have regretted it for the rest of my life.    
Life is really unpredictable.  You never know what  will happen so it is best to take risks and try your  best to make it work.  I believe in destiny and fate.  Who would have known that a 30 year old me would  met a guy from almost-heaven, West Virginia.  I did not even  imagined I would go out of my country.  My childhood dream was to finish school and  find a good job and  hopefully meet a man and have a family we could both  raise.  Never in my dream I would  marry a foreigner and live outside my comfort zone but here we are 16 years later.
"The real act of marriage takes place in the heart, not in the ballroom or church or synagogue.
It's a choice you make - not just on your wedding day, but over and over again -
and that choice is reflected in the way you treat your husband or wife. "
Barbara De Angelis

I thank God for blessing me a wonderful man, a great and loving husband and father to our children.  I thank him for choosing a little feisty Bicolana and bringing me here in WV, I love it here.
"There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage. "
- Martin Luther
Thank you for marrying me and for being with me for all these years.  I hope that we could continue to celebrate blissful years like we have been since year one.  

I hope and pray that  we could grow old together.  That even if our hair turned grey, we  could continue to be  each other's strength and love each other till our last breath.  Thanks for the love, humor, and faith in me.   

"A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love,
 trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. 
The order varies for any given year."
Paul Sweeney
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Thursday, July 11, 2019

Forty Six

Oh my, I am 4 years away of being in golden years lol.  I turned 46 last month but you know what's odd?  Although my body  tells me I'm getting old, I still feel like I am in my twenties.  At least that's what my mind tell me to believe  ha ha.  It's a good thing I guess.  Age is just a number.  Getting old is inevitable but we can choose  to  feel young and be  positive about aging. 

Our two children are still young and I worry sometimes if we will be able to be there for them before they settle down.  That's why I told myself to stay as positive as I can with everything that comes our way.  Getting married in the 30s and starting a family late comes with pros and cons.  I gotta say, it's been a blessing every step of the way.  I'm learning more and more everyday especially dealing with my patience.

Below are some words I can relate to or of importance to me which I listed as FORTY SIX.
F - FAMILY .. When I was a kid, I told myself that if ever I would have a family of my own ,   I don't want to have so many children.  I grew up with 8 siblings and life was tough but looking back at it now, I was blessed with brothers and sisters whom I can depend my life on.  We didn't have fancy things growing up but we had each other.  I stick with my plan, I only have two children and that's enough for me.
O - Optimism ... Growing up with nothing , optimism  is something that I really held on to.  I had to be optimistic all the time  in order for my life to be a little easier than it was.  My husband is a total opposite of mine, he is a pessimist but somehow we matched perfectly.
R - Responsibility ... My parents taught us responsibilities at an early age.  It is part of the Asian culture.  I am the second child so I was in-charge of my little siblings when my parents are away.  At the age of 7, I  knew how to do basic household chores like cooking rice, doing laundry (manually in the river), sweeping the yards every morning and feeding the chickens .  Now that I'm a parent, I teach my kids basic  things around the house that they need to learn how to do.
T - Tagalog is the language we used in the Philippines.  When my kids were little, I used to teach them how to speak tagalog but I somehow gave up.  I wish I continue to teach them so they can be bilinguals like me.
Y - Yearning ... It's been 10 years since I last visited my family  in the Philippines so my yearning for them is becoming more and more  everyday.  I do hope that we could  push through with our plan to visit next year.
S - Sentimental .. I am a very sentimental  person.  I have things I have hold on to because it bears a sentimental value to my being.
I - Independence .. I learned to become independent early on in life.  My parents taught me that and I am deeply appreciative of it.  

X - Xylophone ... When I was in high school, I wanted to  join the drum and bugle corps because I love playing xylophone but I didn't have money to buy the instrument so I ended up joining the ROTC instead.  
Forty Six is such a great age.  If God will give me an opportunity to live longer, I'd love to double my age.  Who knows what will happen to us, only God knows, right?  For now, I live day by day enjoying even the simplest things in life.  Living the life to the fullest especially with my children and husband.
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