SSS #118: Why August is Special

I don’t want August to pass me by without making mention of the special event which we celebrate in our family for the past eight years.  

Yes, we ushered in the new millenium with a baby! Rafael Inigo, or Rafa, our middle child, was born during the 11th day of this month eight years ago.  Incidentally, he shares his birthday with his great-grandfather, my paternal lolo, Lolo Badoy, and his great-great-grandmother, my Mama’s grandmother, Lola Charing.  How cool is that?

I find it funny that while he came out as our biggest baby (tipping the scales at 7.5 lbs), Rafa now has the smallest frame among our three kids – thus earning him our term of endearment, “Skinnito”. A true-blue “Leo cum dragon baby”, Rafa can be very passionate about things  and has let us sample this ”fiery temperament” and “leonine war growl” often – his kuya can most certainly attest to this – hahaha!

Though Rafa may appear shy and disinterested at first, he can be very engaging and opinionated once you get his “motor running”.  He loves tinkering with things and seeing how they work.  He has a knack for building and constructing and has been cited in school more than once for displaying this talent. 

To our dear Rafa, thank you for enriching our lives in more ways you can imagine.  I pray that you grow up to be a loving, responsible and God-fearing man – confident of your God-given talents and aware that you can make a difference and make the world a much better place. There may not be a lot of times when I show you I love you but please know that you will always have your very own place in Mama’s heart which no one can take away.  I love you, son! Belated happy birthday!

SSS #117: Mona Lisa Wannabe

Yup, I’m back – though admittedly still c-r-a-w-l-i-n-g my way back to my usual blogging groove. To all of you who have left me tags, please be patient – I promise to work on them really soon…

With our 2 1/2 month Manila holiday over and the reality of kingdom life staring at me (sometimes oh-so-bluntly) in the face, there are so many things I definitely look back to with fondness (and longing – as in “sana maulit muli”! ) during our recent vacation.  Guess I’ll leave the more descriptive ”blow-by-blow” to hubby in LOF and will just happily  “cherry-pick” my way through my list of holiday faves.

Hope you don’t mind if I start with my most surreal experience yet – an impromptu “portrait seating”! Believe you-me, never in my wildest dreams have I ever imagined this would come to be! What’s more, I had mine with not one, mind you, but TWO, very talented and experienced Filipino artists – THE Jun Alfon and his good friend, Cebuano artist Mr Celso Duazo Pepito (who happened to be in Mr Alfon’s home when we visited).

A brief backgrounder: hubby and I were scheduled to EB with Mr Alfon whom we had the pleasure of meeting first – you guessed it – in cyberspace! (Psst…hubby actually has more to say about it here.) It all started when I featured his painting in one of my LP entries and he happened to chance upon it while surfing the net and was kind enough to leave a comment.  A series of cordial e-mail exchanges and text messages followed which led to our fateful meeting in Mr Alfon’s home/studio shortly before we left for the kingdom.

What we thought would be a short and simple “meet-and-greet” turned out to be such an unforgettable experience for us both as we were so warmly welcomed by Jun and Car into their home.  Conversation flowed smoothly and there was hardly any feeling of awkwardness at all (well, except perhaps when Jun suggested that I sit for him and Celso – hahaha! Hirap palang maging showbiz!).

Allow me to share some snaps with you (courtesy of Ms Maricar Alfon) from that “fateful day”.

The session begins…

Two “masters” at work

“Hmmm… looks like I need more creative license on this subject…” Hahaha!

Thrilled to have my very first Celso Pepito sketch done entirely with a ball point pen – amazing!

Of course, my day wouldn’t be complete without the finished product – Jun Alfon’s interpretation of how I look – really neat

Before I go, some “shameless plugs”: Watch out for Jun Alfon’s second coffee table book which is due to come out by end-September 2008.  Also, Celso Pepito has an ongoing traveling exhibit entitled Full Circle whose last stop would be at the SM Art Center Cebu from 12-25 Nov 08 so make sure to catch it!

This is all for now.  Be with you again very, very soon!

 

SSS #116: Taking a Breather

…from blogging, that is!

Pardon the self-imposed hiatus (again!).  Been really busy the past few days letting  “real life” get the better of me that admittedly my “cyber life” has taken a back seat.

Do cut me some slack.  Gimme two weeks more and I’ll definitely let you in on what’s been happening to all of us as we spin wildly towards the tail-end of our home leave… That’s a promise!

Till then, take care and see you all very soon!