weekend meet-up with friends

mum's thoughts, family, friends, me-time, orange tuesdays, weekendsOne of the things that I love about December is meeting up with my lifelong friends. Busy with their own families + affairs, we hardly have enough time to catch up on each other all throughout the year. The Christmas holidays are the only chance we had at meeting up + rekindling old, familiar friendships. And last December was equally special as one of our friends, Ella, was here for a short vacation. She’s working in the US + has stayed there for over a year now.

mum's thoughts, family, friends, me-time, orange tuesdays, weekends

After our Gerry’s Grill get-together earlier last month, we decided the time was not nearly enough to catch up on each other + agreed to meet again. So, after a few weeks, on the 17th, we agreed to meet up, this time at Med’s place to resume the chit chats + the merrymaking 😀

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2012 goal #1: buying a new home

mum's thoughts, home, family

I am done with New Year’s resolution, I am most disappointed to find out at the end of the each year that I have not fully accomplished each of what I’ve listed at the beginning of the year. So I am christening them this time appropriately by labeling them as “goals” or my “bucket list” 🙂

Several dozen items hum in my head once I started thinking about goals or bucket lists, there are travels + places to visit, schools for the little one, things to buy, among others. + one of the most prominent ones is “buying a new home.”

I have only experienced renting for a few months + I realized that it will be much more practical to look for something that is rent-to-own, that way, a few more years down the road, the property will be ours. This is a lofty goal, I know, I do not even have the bank account to support my plan, but am thinking even if it is not possible to purchase a new home this year, maybe I can look around for prospects or ask my friends for invaluable suggestions.

Turned out one of my high school friends, Rochel, is now working with a local developer here in town. She visited me last Thursday + showed a few of their brochures. We’ve also discusses possible options for when I decide to purchase a property from them. I have found this particular home in one of their subdivisions which can be very ideal for my small family + fits our budget, too. We’ve scheduled to see the model unit by next week. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate so it’ll push through.

image from Mr. Google.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for St Louis homes for sale and was compensated. The views + opinions are 100% my own, however.           

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i wish i were a professional photographer

photography, family

With a subject as beautiful as this little fellow, who wouldn’t wish that, right? I would’ve loved to take  photographs of special and random occasions as mementos + so far, all I’ve really taken are mediocre shots that fail to give justice to my very beautiful subject.

Photos have been a part of my family since time immemorial. If my memory serves me right, as Papa mentioned this in one of his stories only a few times, my grandfather {from Papa’s side} was a photographer in Pampanga during the Japanese occupation. Back in the days when SLR or digital cameras have yet to be invented, we are among the chosen few who own a Kodak camera {the ones where you have to put strips of film in it, remember those? :)} in our place. My father saw to it that every milestone or special occasion is captured in films for posterity.

photography, family

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