random photo of the day

I've been terribly remiss in posting for Project 365 (things have just been too busy for me to take a photo a day), but this is what I want to share with you today:

Mouse, meet Turtle.

The turtle is a gift from our intern J, whose last day is today. When she gave it to me, I really thought it was bread, and I was about to rip it open and take a bite (bad timing on her part to give it to me at lunchtime!) when she suddenly said, "Ma'am, that's not edible, okay?" And I said, "Then what the heck is this??"

It turns out it could be something like a stress ball or something to prop up your wrist while you're at the computer. But it looks like bread, feels like bread, and even smells like bread.

In my current hungry state, I kinda wish it was bread. Haha.

A minute a day

I was filling out the registration form for the 6th Philippine Blogging Summit when it suddenly asked me for the title of my blog. I type fast, but the name of my blog --From dreams to reality and somewhere in between-- took forever to type. Whatever the digital equivalent of "it was a mouthful to say" is, that's what it felt like.

So I decided to change the name of my blog into what the URL really is: One Minute Dreams. Unfortunately, it's not because my posts take just one minute to read, nor do they take just one minute to write. It's more of, in the course of my busy day, somewhere in between getting things done at work and thinking of what I'll be doing when I get home, a minute arrives where I think of something that would be fun to share. Just one minute out of the... 1,440 minutes (yes, I had to stop and do the math right there) in a day.

That's it, nothing witty, nothing... profound (I can't believe that this word was on the tip of my tongue and I had to check my thesaurus for it, when I used to just throw this word around before. This makes me sad.)

Goodbye, "From dreams to reality and somewhere in between" (WHEW!). Hello, "One Minute Dreams"! :)

Beauty in Bantayan

While it was fun to relax with M and friends, one thing struck me about my recent trip to Bantayan: God created such a beautiful world.

We endured a three-hour trip by land and a one-hour ferry ride to Bantayan. Though cranky and hungry, I had to marvel at the beauty of the sea.

If only I could photograph all of the beautiful flowers in Maia's Beach Resort, our Bantayan home for three days.

We hopped on a banca (which I prayed wouldn't tip over) and swam to our hearts' content here at Virgin Beach. There are many more places that we could've seen, more islands we would've visited, but it was a good decision to just chill on this island. We enjoyed the sun, sand, and surf here and hardly shared the beach with anyone.

The beach was beautiful to photograph, but I found myself looking inland and seeing that the trees were hauntingly beautiful too.

And the best gift of all: though our resort did not have a beach front, it had the most wonderful view of the sunrise and sunset. By God's grace, I awoke at 5:45AM and witnessed how the sky slowly turned to light as the sun rose above the horizon. I've always loved sunsets, but my gosh, the sunrise is a pretty magnificent sight too.

I can't wait to see where He takes me next. :)

Bad Blogger!

I can't believe it's been a month since my last entry! Obviously, I've been remiss in blogging, and sadly, that means that I've also been remiss in completing Project 365.

This is when reality sinks in, when it becomes more difficult to keep resolutions and promises. I need to resume blogging, and I think my first entry for February will be about my recent trip to Bantayan Island, Cebu-- complete with pictures! Wait for it!

In the past month, I've also become more determined to save up for an SLR camera. I should also be enrolling in the gym already, but my finances begged to disagree. My goal now is to start working out on March 1, giving me a month and a week to shape up before going to Boracay for work.

That's enough of an update for just one minute! More next time, promise!

Sofia Daniella

I spent the better part of my afternoon watching over my godchild Iya. She's turning five years old this March, and she's growing up to be a very precocious little girl. She's at that age where her favorite word is "Why?" and I see much of myself in her. She showed off her writing and spelling skills by writing down her full name, Sofia Daniella. She spit out spicy spaghetti, proving that children will only eat sweet spaghetti, and preferred to munch on chicharon instead. She danced around our living room, smelling the flowers, peering at our lamp, messing up all the pillows on the couch.

I finally got to wind her down by sitting down with her and watching "The Little Mermaid" on Disney channel, and it was fun. It was a little tiring to go up and down our stairs with her though (our house isn't very child-friendly, with so many breakables and a slightly steep flight of stairs).

I love hanging out with children because when my brother and sister were born, I was just a child myself. Now, we're all grown up and our ages have caught up with each other. Hanging out with my nieces and nephews always makes me feel like a kid again, and yesterday afternoon I enjoyed making noises and nonsense babble with Iya, and seeing her laugh as I did so. It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. ☺

sunrise, sunset

This is the sight I've been waking up to for the past three days. Admittedly, it's a beautiful sight, but I'm not used to seeing it everyday. I've always been the type of person who grabs every chance to sleep until noon. On a normal day, I get up when the sun is already high up in the sky.

I suppose there are benefits to literally seeing the dawn of a new day, to greeting a day filled with possibilities. But I've always been drawn to sunsets, to the realization that as the sun disappears below the horizon, another day has come to an end and it is time to rest.

Sunrise, sunset. Both beautiful sights. I guess which one you prefer kinda says something about you. Me, I'm just glad that it's already a Friday and the weekend is in sight!

Starstruck!

I actually passed by him in the hallway and didn't realize it was him. Throughout his press conference, I was hardly inside--instead, I manned the registration booth and took care of giving press kits to the media. And in the moments that I found myself inside the venue, I didn't whip out my camera and document this day that we were fortunate enough to have him in our presence. I'm not really a super-fan, like many other women are.

But when you get the chance to have your picture taken with Mr. Piolo Pascual, you don't say no. No girl in her right mind passes up that opportunity. Not when he puts his arm around your waist and you get to wrap your arm around his waist too, as if you're good friends. You just don't say no to that. ☺