My Customized Blog Header

I've been pestering Mike to make me a blog header but  he seemed to be always busy. So last Sunday, after all the chores have been done and the lil monster was asleep, I decided to do it myself. With my beginners level Photoshop skills, I am proud that I was able to come up with this one :) I just uploaded the photo as header and voila! instant customized header. I'm still figuring out though how to resize the header because I just used the "shrink to fit" option.

A little explanation not that it needs one but just because I want to :) 

The first photo from the left is our wedding rings shot by Mike.

The second photo is one of our prenuptial photo taken by Mike's friend, Dot.

The third photo is Kulay's tiny little feet and Mike's hand when Kulay was just a week old.

The fourth photo is Kulay's pre- Baptism photoshoot when he was still 5 months.

The last photo was our first New Year in our own house, we just used a tripod to take this photo.

So that's it! I love that it sorta represents our journey as a family. This header will probably be staying for a while as I am too lazy these days to fiddle with the layout of this blog.

Mother's Day 2012

I know that I shouldn't expect any flowers or surprise from Mike for Mother's day even though I've been dropping hints here and there...he's really bad at special occasions. I didn't expect anything from anybody but I was surprised how the day turned out. Random people and random things surprised  me in their own little way.

When I woke up, the first SMS I got was from my boss "Naa moy bonus next week, Happy Mother's Day!" Hurray! My boss sure knows how to surprise us. This is our most awaited yearly bottom line bonus and there were rumors that we won't be receiving any for the year so yehey!

Mike and I were thinking of eating out but we we thought that the restos would be full so for lunch, we decided to order in Pizza and Pasta from Yellowcab.

May 13 is my Kuya Edwin's birthday, he passed away last 2010, so Mike and I went to St. Joseph to light candles and offer our prayers. Afterwards,we went to buy Ice Cream at Merco Lanang but we ended up buying the elusive Magnum Chocolate Truffles which I really wanted to try for quite sometime. We wanted to go to a nearby beach for fresh air but we ended up at Waterfront Hotel Parking Lot :)

For Dinner, we assumed that the in laws would be inviting us over at their house but surprise2x, they decided to bring food and have dinner at our house instead.

I was really happy how the day turned out and the biggest present came from my one and only ...Kulay. I've been teaching him to kiss me on the cheek but he wouldn't and would give me a flying kiss instead. But today, he gave me a wet and noisy kiss on the cheek. A Perfect Mother's day gift.

DFAT 2012

What have I been up to for the past few days? Well, I was part of the Davao Food Appreciation Tour 2012 (DFAT) which started last Friday (May 4) and ended yesterday (May 7). DFAT as the name suggests is about bloggers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao gathering to visit places around the Davao Region and trying our the best dish each cafe or restaurant has to offer. We went to Kapatagan, Davao Del sur and Island hopping in Samal. I really enjoyed the 4 day food tripping though I missed out on some restaurants. Mike was also able to join the last 2 days of the tour and we worked up a tight schedule with our parents for watching over Kulay. The food we ate was really overwhelming and I felt really gluttonous! Eating even when I'm still full! I really enjoyed the tour not just because of the food but because I was able to bond with really cool and fun bloggers who are really inspiring esp. those travel bloggers. 

Mike and I will be posting the details of the tour on The Kulay Project blog.

Group Picture infront of Piyesta KTV and Resto Bar. Photo courtesy of Anj Nacorda

The Avengers Movie

Watching movies in the cinema have become a luxury for Mike and Me as I mentioned before. But thanks to   the Davao Bloggers community (esp. to Andrew) and Globe who cooked up a free movie screening of The Avengers at Abreeza last Friday, we were able to watch the movie. Lucky for us that there were still slots left. We immediately contacted our parents to babysit Kulay so can watch the movie. 
Okay enough of the intro and into the movie. IT WAS SIMPLY AWESOME!!! I have such high expectations about the movie and I wasn't disappointed...it even exceeded my expectations. What I love most about the movie was that aside from the superb cast, action scenes, effects and story line , the dialogue and exchanges between the characters were so witty esp. those that involves The Hulk! I wondered a bit why they didn't cast Edward Norton who originally played it in the solo movie so I Googled and learned that it was due to financial issues between him and the makers. Oh well, Mark Ruffalo though not as as famous as Norton still gave justice to the role. I am looking forward to watching the movie again and again and will be counting the days for the next Avengers movie.I have read that Keanu Reeves and Angelina Jolie will be on the next Avengers so more reasons to be excited!

Earth Hour 2012 Davao City

Last Saturday, March 31 people from all over the globe celebrated the Earth Hour. This is an event organized by the WWF with the aim of Uniting the people to protect the planet. Everyone was encouraged to participate by turning off their lights from 8:30pm-9:30pm Philippine Time.In Davao City, the government, various sectors and private companies organized several activities. One of which was the lantern (biodegradable) releasing at Magsaysay Park. Mike and I wanted to pacticipate and witness this event so we brought Kulay along. We arrived at Magsaysay at around 7:30pm and the park was already in a festive mood with lots of people and various food stands. People can buy the lantern at P150 and join the release, we just opted to watch though. Unfortunately at around 8:20pm it started to rain that everybody ran for cover and the lantern release was postponed. Around 8:30pm or so the rain let up so the lantern release went on. It was really beautiful to watch as each of the lantern was lit up and released to the sky. I felt like I was in the Tangled movie. Even Kulay was mesmerized at the lighted lanterns filling the dark evening sky.

My Friend Tayn with Sleeping Zac and Me with Sleepy Kulay

The Earth Hour Celebration in Davao was a success not just because of the beautiful and fun activity releasing of lanterns but in making Dabawenyos aware. Making us all aware of the effects of global warming and the call for us to do our share.The call to go beyond turning off the lights for an hour and releasing lanterns. The call to take serious and concrete actions to save our planet. We must all review our lifestyle and see what we can do in our own way.We only have one planet so we must do everything we can to save it for our children and future generations.

75th Araw ng Dabaw Blog Contest Winner

I usually don't participate in contests because I always thought that my talents or skills are not good enough to compete. I hate losing and have this imaginary L on my forehead. However, when I learned that there will be a blog competition for the 75th Araw ng Dabaw and the theme is Davao Life is Here, I decided to join. I said to myself that I have no reason not to join because I love blogging and I love Davao and usually my blog topic is about Davao anyway, contest or no contest. So I wrote and came up with the entry My Davao City. And last Monday, Mar 19 I was announced as the 3rd place winner. I was deliriously happy that I skipped work! I went to the Davao City Hall and attended the awards ceremony where Mayor Sarah Duterte handed out the award. 

Fellow Winners Leah,Karla and Me With Mayor Sarah, Photo Courtesy of Rudolph Alama

I received a plaque and cash. How cool is that! This is my first plaque ever that it is proudly displayed in our living room for all to see.

Now I'm inspired to join more contest because I realized that I don't have to be concerned  with winning or losing because doing something that you're passionate about and the joy of doing it is enough reward.

Staycation

It's been a while since Mike and I traveled. The last adventure we had was our Surigao del Sur Escapade which seemed ages ago. We do have family outings with Kulay at local pools and beaches but Mike and I wanted to have a family trip ideally outside of the city. Some place close to nature where we can conveniently bring our son and some place where he would enjoy at his young age of 1 year and 3 months. We were thinking of Nature Parks like Eden, Malagos Garden or Philippine Eagle Center but we're still waiting for our car to get fixed. In the meantime we thought of an activity to bond as a family. We have an inflatable swimming pool we use as Kulay's play pen and we filled it with water and invited a couple of kids over and we had an instant pool parteeey right in our own backyard! Street Smart! We actually enjoyed it and took turns bathing in the pool because it has limited space. 
I realized that for those like us who are budget conscious, one need not go far to bond and have a good time as a family. One can always be creative in finding ways to spend quality time with people they love.

P.S. After the pool partey...Mike and I recycled the pool party and used it for our laundry :)