Happy and New!

Must be my age and hormones. Suddenly the turning of this year seemed more pivotal than all other new years I have welcomed in the past. Plus the moving to another continent, starting careers once again, the gaining and losing... made me I guess a little more  reflective than I have ever been. But I realized ... I am actually enjoying them!  And so, as hopefully as I can be.. I have these new things to be excited about this year. I don't know what to call it.  Goals? Resolutions? Realizations? or are they just pure wishful thinking!

With much prayers and with little help of my crossed fingers, I hope I'll make 2013 as meaningful as it can be.

1.  One new challenge, a year at a time.  To do something new each year, a new thing or activity I haven't done in the past.  And this year, my big challenge is:  *Tada! To BUILD. Yup, as in gumawa, lumikha, bumoo, magkutingting ng kung ano ano! And since my husband is an architect and a craftsman himself, I think I will be propped up in this department.  Hintayin nga lang ang summer and spring for the those little carpentry works. :)

2.  It will be a year of many new! Creativity is my game.  Learn new skills.  Explore.  Try activities I haven't done before.  I started by reading craft books.  I'm getting giddy looking at the quaint designs! Well this is quite tied up to my no. 1 above.   I also want to design, sew and draw.  (cause until now, drawing a person would still mean drawing 1 circle and 5 sticks together)


3.  Focus on things that I have. Nurture the present.  While I have tons of things listed in my wishlist, I'll try to focus on things that God has already given me and be enormously grateful for gifts I most often take for granted.  I am trying to practice a sunshiney heart that beats gratitude...especially for the things I did not control but was put together wonderfully for me. Like where I was born, to whom I was born and how I was raised.  I am also grateful to the people I have met and the places I have called home even for a short period of time. (San Mateo,California, Las Pinas, Paranaque, Quezon City, Richmond & Surrey, BC)

I appreciate the things I now recognize as talents but used to take for granted, like my (just the right amount) english proficiency, ability to write (business or just plain blogging), public speaking (despite how nerve wracking it always has been).  Heck, for someone who struggled to start all over again in a very tight-rigid-requiring-a-canadian-experience-workforce, these.. afforded me my job. I now sincerely thank Philippines' mandatory academic curriculum in English and my English teachers from Elementary to High School for seriously imposing Filipino children to learn english from an early age. Knowing how to communicate in english, became my ticket to start again. (and I'm not kidding!)

4.  Start creating and documenting memories.  Pictures, family/couple traditions.  As much as I love taking pictures and collecting keepsakes, I am guilty of plainly relying collections from friends and families.  Especially with the advent of "tagging" in social networks, I became a notorious "tagged" dependent. :)

I realize though that these memories will never ever come back and just like time, should never be wasted.  I realized I wanted to keep something for whoever is in my/our future to see.  How beautiful life is from different points in time.  I have passed by a couple of years undocumented, but it sure isn't too late to start now.  To infinity and beyond!

                

Spring and Summer 2012

 

                                           Winter 2012 (I realized we still don't have a decent picture for Winter)

5.  Prioritize to do things that makes me happy! Life is too short to worry.  I am now 33 and those numbers breezed through without me noticing it.  When I was young, I thought that people who are on their 20s are already old (ergo should be matured) and those on their 30s are toooooooo old (and again ergo should be overly matured!) ! :) I, together with many others I guess got too engrossed on living what adults ought to be and I am guilty of being too serious planning and acting it all out.  I know I have my silly, unguarded and carefree times.. but I guess making room for more and choosing to spend majority of my time to things that would genuinely make me happy will allow me to be more receptive of life's offerings.  Having been allowed the opportunity to recalibrate (by way of migration), I'll try to carefully choose to do things that will make my time more worthwhile simply because I love doing it. :)   


                                                  One of the things that makes me happy! Being with kids!

Cheers to 2013 and for things that have not yet been, but still can be. :) 

Day 1 Photo Challenge: Food (Crave..not Fave)

Since I've been having dreams of Jollibee the past days, I decided to put my hallucinations to an end.

This I did by making pinoy style spaghetti.  The sweetest-ala-jollibee!

The closest I can be to the taste of it.

Here it is...



Not my fave, but my top crave!

Day 1 photo challenge straight from the stove.   Check.

Using my Right Side of the Brain for 30 days

Sharing pictures has gained worldwide dominion over most of Facebook pages, and to most of us these snapshots are somehow the fastest way of sharing experiences - beyond words and illustration. We take pictures of almost anything to share with family and friends. To us Filipinos, picture taking has evolved from merely documenting special occasions or "Kodakan", to a more informal day-to-day "Pichur...Pichur!" :)  And now, picture taking has taken over our daily runabout with the convenience of our smart phones and digicams... taking pictures are now easy as counting from 1 to 3!
 
But have you ever wondered why pictures somehow always appeal more than any other information exchange?  Well, according to some studies, looking at pictures pushes someone to think beyond what they see. It is called Picture Thinking, some books coined it as visual-spatial thinking or learning.  When we look at pictures, the processing of the images passes through our right side of the brain, which is the part that is emotional and creative. That is also why creative people are called "right brainers". These are the people who are intuitive, expressive, emotional, music lovers and are fund of colors. (Left brainers on the other hand are those very good in linguistics, analysis, numbers & reasoning). Personal note to self: I wonder where I fall? Parang wala. Hahaha! In psych, this theory is based on what is known as the lateralization of brain functions. Where one part of the brain dominantly controls some specific function/s over the other.

 Brain in Colors
(grabbed from tumblr)

And since I have been in a profession where 'creative AHAs' are mostly restrained and where creative writing were limited to developing company guidelines and preparing employee infraction memos, I'd like to wiggle my brain a bit and challenge myself to do the visual kind of creatives.

For 30 days, I'll try to defy the use of my right brain to post as a blog entry. (Or an excuse to do blogging rather easier?) I'll try to organize info and be creative through pictures simultaneously and candidly! :)

I am challenging myself to this 'one-word' photo challenge instruction.

Hmm, it seems really brain stimulating!

Image grabbed from Pinterest

Am not a pro though, so my pictures wouldn't be 'Photography-mala-SLR' ang dating. :) Images taken really just for the fun of it at malaman if I have even a-little-itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie creativity in my brain! Hala, parang wala! Hahaha! 

 Ahmhexcited!! Hope you and I will have fun picture thinking!

To follow will be my posting for Day 1.

Ok, Grace ..... Right Brain, Stare!!!  (i love care bears!)