Before I check if the source has geocaching outdoor chirp by Garmin, let me post this first:

My second batch of Photo Books arrived already last week. These are the albums that I created for Bela’s 2nd to 5th birthday party (finally after almost 6 years).

I showed it to Bela and she was just so excited as she reminisce each of her birthday parties, especially now that her 6th birthday is coming soon. It’s so cute looking at how happy ad amazed Bela was with the photo books that I created for her.

The print out is a bit dull and yellowish, but for its price ($9.99 for 30 pages), I think this will do. I think it is better than just having the pictures stored on CD only. At least with these photo books, Bela can always take a look and reminisce her childhood.

My next project now are our travel pictures which I am hoping to finish next week so I can order it before the 60-page promo expires.

My husband loves taking pictures. Some of my friends even call him trigger happy because he just won’t stop shooting. In fact he is now doing photography as a sideline and he covers all types of events from weddings, birthdays, baptism, reunion, etc.

Of course his most favorite subject for his photography is his two kids. So you can just imagine how many gigabytes of pictures are saved on our PC and how many piles of DVD of pictures we keep.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t had the time to send those pictures for developing. So when I saw the digital frame of my friend, it gave me an idea to get one which I will display in our living room so our guests can see the beautiful pictures of my kids. I just need to insert my memory card or USB device to the digital frame and voila, all of the pictures will be randomly displayed.

Howell was happy with the idea and in fact he is already ordering one for us already.

Howell’s camera is broken. He was even able to use it yesterday during Bela’s Fashion Show at school and so he doesn’t know what happened why is started to malfunction all of a sudden. He suspects that the problem is in the mechanism inside the camera and he is quite scared that the price might be too expensive to have the camera repaired. (huhuhu). The worst part is since we just came back from our Europe trip, we don’t have enough money left for his camera repair or worse to buy a new camera.

I know how much Howell loves his camera. The problem is it is already out of warranty so he has to take the expenses for the repair from his own pocket. I just hope that the damage is still repairable and it is affordable. He even has a client this coming September 12 so hopefully his camera gets fix before this event.

I love weddings. If only we are rich, I might get married again and again. LOL.

Weddings are also one of my husband's favorite events to cover. He does photography as his sideline and hobby and he says that he enjoys to cover weddings more than any other events.

His last wedding coverage was last January, when he covered the wedding of his colleague, Relly and Leiza. They had a prenuptial pictorial at La Mesa Eco Park and my hubby and the couple really had fun during the shoot. Here are some shots from the pictorial:


The church ceremony was held at St. Rita De Cascia Parish and the reception was held at Sulu Hotel. I was looking at the pictures after the event and one of my favorite are the wedding flowers. And I was even more surprised when the bride spilled to me the cost for their flowers. It was really affordable but the flowers were just so fantastic. They got the flowers at a wholesale price and the flowers are ship overnight fresh from the flower farms so the flowers look fresh and gorgeous during the wedding ceremony.

Hubby has been really busy with work lately that he does not have enough time for his hobby but I hope he gets a wedding coverage soon as I know how much he enjoys covering weddings.

When Howell left for the US last June, he declined a number of bookings since he won’t be here in Manila during the event. When he came back from his training, business became slow and there are times that we won’t receive any bookings in a month.

But looks like November is a good month for Howell’s sideline as he already booked two events this November – a birthday party and baptism. Then he has another wedding this coming December. It looks like he will be busy starting next month which is just in time for the coming expenses this Christmas season. LOL.

Have you tried having a pictorial at Blow Up Babies? Blow Up Babies (BUB) is the country's one and only full-production photography studio that is managed by seasoned professionals from the advertising and film industry. They take care of every detail of the photo session from make-up and costumes to sets and lighting and even the digital post-production work.

I really wanted to be a member of Blow Up Babies ever since I found out about them and schedule a pictorial there with our daughter but my husband is really against it. As some of you might know, my husband does photography as his sideline and so he feels that we don’t have to spend that much just to have a pictorial since he has the gadget to produce great quality pictures. I have been arguing with him since I know that having nice props and good studio lighting will really contribute to the outcome of the picture but up to know, I still can’t convince him. He just don’t like the fact that we have to pay more than P500 for the prints and another fee just for the photo session and we won’t even be getting the soft copies of the pictures.

Oh well, I guess we won’t be having any photo sessions at Blow up Babies anytime soon. I hope I will be able to convince him to have a full production pictorial at BUB for our next baby.

Just got another confirmation for a photo-video coverage on January 12. We now have 5 bookings for January – 2 birthdays, 2 weddings and 1 debut. Looks like Howell’s sideline is off to a good start. Sana tuloy tuloy na ang pag pick up ng business.

So if ever you have photo-video requirements, just leave me a message and I’ll forward you our packages. Syempre may discount ang mga mommy bloggers. LOL.

So dad, pwede mo a dagdagan budget natin for Bohol?…LOL.

Howell was on leave from Wednesday to Thursday as he has 4 more leaves that he has to use before January 5 otherwise it will just be forfeited. And since yaya is not around, Howell and Bela are left alone in the house. So what do you think the mag-ama would do if they are home alone? They will have one pictorial session, of course. Below are some of the pictures while Bela is posing and playing with her new Aqua Doodle wall mat (looks like she is enjoying it. Makes me want to buy the Aqua Doodle floor mat too).

.: parang mino-model ang aqua doodle :.

.: bela drawing a circle for dad :.

And Howell also took a picture of his sand collection from all the beaches that we have been to. He made the rock sculpture form the rocks that we got from our last Bora trip.

.: howell's sand collection :.

.: "Y" is for Ysabela :.

Bela will be one of the flower girls for Noemi and Vice’s wedding on Saturday, January 5. Noemi is Howell’s officemate. We got the gown of Bela yesterday and she really looks cute on it. Hope she will not have any tantrums and she will walk down the aisle together with the other flower girls. This is her second time to be a flower girl. Her firt was during the wedding of her Ninang Joy & Ninon Erwin at SOJ.

Howell will also be the backup photographer for the wedding. The wedding is at 10 AM so we are planning to check in Friday evening so we won’t cram the next morning for the preparation. I’m still looking for cheap Tagaytay hotels where we can stay for the night. Rigth now, I’m currently looking at Days Hotel and Tagaytay Econo Inn. Their room rates are affordable plus they are highly recommended by my officemates.

Mga sisters, if you have any suggestions for nice & affordable hotels in Tagytay, just leave me a comment. Thanks in advance.

Howell truly fell in love with the new Canon 40D that he had to buy it before he left for his training. LOL.


We we’re able to use it on our despedida dinner for Howell. Kaya lang Howell was not able to download the pictures as he has to leave early for his flight. But the pictures are really amazing. No wonder Howell really fell in love with it. Sana more bookings to come for 2008 para mabawi nya yung pinangbili nya ng bago nyang cam. LOL

And Howell let go of his Canon SLR 350D.

He sold it to my brother because he’s really in love with the new Canon 40D. Hopefully he’ll be able to buy it next week, as I know he’s already dying to get it.

Niloloko ko nga sya kagabi noong binigay na nya sa brother ko yung 350D nya. Sabi ko “Wow, you we’re able to let go of your Rebel”. Sagot nya “Yup, coz I’m getting a much better camera.”

I’ve been wanting to post this for months now but I have to wait for it be aired first.

So here it is, my husband’s first TV exposure. Not as an actor of course, but as a photographer.

Day Off, one of the prime time shows at GMA’s QTV, celebrated its anniversary by treating 100 winners for a day off and my husband was the official photographer for the studio event.

Below are some of the pictures that he took.

The second part of the anniversary special will be shown next Saturday at QTV at 8:30PM.

Do watch out for the last part because Fokalente (our business name) will be flashed during the credits section. LOL

Hubby just finished their first event for November, the 66th birthday of Engr. Junior Co. Engr. Co is the grand father of my cousin’s (our videographer) best friend.

Business is starting to peak up as they always have 3-4 bookings in a month so we are really thankful. Hopefully, more bookings will start to come in so Howell can save again for our next family vacation. LOL.

And by the way, they just gave me a tip as their booking agent/secretary. LOL. My first salary since they started their photography business.

We attended Tito Jeb’s 7th birthday party held at Jollibee Ever Commonwealth last Saturday.

As usual, Bela had fun playing with Jollibee. Jollibee never ceases to amaze my Bela.

But if Bela enjoys attending birthday parties, it’s twice the joy for us watching how our Bela is having fun. And Bela appreciates party more now compared to when she is younger as she loves being around lots of kids. She loves to participate with the games and all the activities. Her favorite part is the candle blowing ceremony. Feeling nya birthday nya as she also blows the candle after the children sang the happy birthday song. She even wants to join the Trip to Jerusalem game so Yaya Chris & I we’re always following her as we’re afraid that the kids might accidentally hit her.

Here are some pictures taken by my husband during the party.

Happy 7th birthday again Tito Jeb and we love you very, very much, Hope you enjoy our gift.

It’s Thanksgiving Day in Canada and Columbus Day in the US so Howell and I are both off from work.

We decided to just stay at home and have the second round of pictorial of Bela for her 2nd birthday party invitation & souvenirs.

Howell was really firm on not going to a studio to have Bela’s picture taken. He said he has all the tools we need for the pictorial, so why pay a huge amount of money for it. So we just improvised and turned our living room and Bela’s play room into a temporary studio for her pictorial.

It’s difficult to take a picture of Bela as she is really moody. We have to play a number of her favorite DVDs just to entertain her and make her laugh. We had a pictorial session in the morning but I was still not happy with the results so I asked Howell to have another round of pictorial in the afternoon. And luckily, Bela was in the mood so Howell was able to capture some nice photos.

Howell was able to take 416 pictures for that whole day pictorial which makes it difficult for me to select the picture that I want for Bela’s invite, souvenir and tarp.

Below are some of my favorites:

Isn't she adorable?...hehehehe

Out of the hundreds of entries for the Photo Category in the recently concluded Colors of Subic – Biay Festival sponsored by SBMA held last April 21-22, I was very proud to say that one of Howell’s entries entitled “Three’s a Crowd” was selected to be one of the finalists.

My cousin, who is a videographer, was the one who found out of the contest. He invited my husband to join the Photo category while he will join the video category. At first my husband was reluctant to join because the pictures have to be shoot at Subic (of course, because that’s the theme of the contest), and so he doesn’t want to travel that far just to join a contest. But since my cousin was really persistent to join, he was able to convince my husband also.

So off they went to Subic last April 13 to take pictures and video, which they will use as entry to the contest. They we’re accompanied by my dad who is used to going around Subic.

They just send their entries the next day via LBC. That week, di talaga mapakali si Howell. He was always asking me if I think he can win the contest. I always tell him, that he already did his best, that the pictures that he took are just awesome (specially for a first timer to join a contest), and it really doesn’t matter if he wins the price or not because what’s really important was that he enjoyed the photo shoot.

Yesterday, he went again to Subic with my dad (who is really very proud and supportive of Howell) to join the on the spot contest. They left the house just before lunch. Around 3 PM, I received a call from Howell and he said that one of his entries was selected to be the finalist. So ok na daw sya, di na daw sya sasali sa on the spot contest. Happy na daw sya na nakuha yung isang entry nya as finalist.

8 PM pa yung announcement ng winners yesterday kaya hindi na nila naintay yung awarding. Tawagan na lang daw nya today yung mga organizers para alamin kung sino nanalo sa contest.
To Howell, Bela and I are so proud of you. You already accomplished a lot and we’re so happy for you. We love you very much.

You can view all the entries that he submitted for the contest here:

Colors of Subic – Biay Festival Entries