Food & Family

Day 2 of 24Boodle fight is a military style of eating in which food, piled on top of banana leaves laid out on long tables, is to be taken with bare hands washed with water from jugs prepared on the side.Explained HereSo one of the things on my list when we went to the Philippines in 2016 was to have a boodle fight. We never had time to, so my loving family made sure that I got it this time! This is what greeted me as soon as I walked through the door.It was pretty impressive and yes, it's as good as it looks. This was an awesome way to get the family together and just laugh over a great meal, I honestly don't think life can get any better than that.... good food surrounded by your loved ones. This explains why I love Sticky's so much. I love gathering people over good food and just have a good time.Food in the Philippines is really outstanding. I wish everyone can experience its deliciousness.With a full belly, jet lag hit me hard and I knocked out for at least 5 hours. After getting re-energized we spent the rest of the evening bonding with our cousins over drinks, music and more food. 🤤

Unexpected Vacation

Day 1 of 24So when Dad says, "I'm going to the Philippines, are you coming?" You try to find a way to say "YES!"I wasn't planning on taking a vacation this year, especially one overseas. Honestly, it didn't really take much to convince me since my brother was going too. I FOMO'd thinking of all the adventures they would have without me, so I gave in.Our family, the 4 of us together, haven't taken a vacation in years. The last time we all went to the Philippines together was for Papa's funeral. BJ and my parents left 2 weeks ago so I can take care of stuff back home and I've already missed so much!I'm on my last plane headed to my final destination, Cebu..... aaaannndddd it's a Gudetama plane!! 🤗🍳

Life Edits

Sometimes it's ok to edit your life.So I picked up a new hobby. I love scrapbooking (not my new hobby, keep reading). I use to spend hours at the craft store picking and choosing cute little scrap pieces of lettering stickers, fancy papers and just little items that I can creatively paste with my pictures on an 8x8 carefully chosen paper. It was a great mental stimulation for me that allowed my creativity to come out. Ain't nobody got time for that anymore (plus all my fave scrapbook stores have closed).One of the things that I always wanted to learn when I scrapbooked was to take better pictures. Back then I owned a 35mm film camera and then when they became affordable, I always had an easy to use digital point and shoot. I never really wanted to admit to anyone, but taking better pictures was always a secret hobby I wanted to pick up. It was just more fun to scrapbook with better, more creative pictures.Anyway... the point of this post.As I learn the ins and outs of my new Sony A7 (I know, fancy right?), I started realizing how photography is about capturing life in the best way possible.... then we edit as we see fit.LIFE is exactly the same way. We should take in life, in the best way possible. The good and bad of it all, the emotions that come with it... that's what life is about. By actually living life, we are able to capture all of it into our souls and the experiences help to mold us into the people we choose to be. Then when we are ready, we edit the parts we want to keep or delete or simply just tweak.Life is beautiful, do your best to experience it in the most amazing way possible, you can always edit it later.