thewanderkat

31 December 2012

Baby Nico's Christening

I went for a brief trip to my father's hometown, Bacolod City, to attend my first nephew's christening ceremony. Nico is my first cousin's son and I was also chosen to be one of his godparents. He is my first godchild so I was excited and even more when I got the chance to take his pictures.

The baptism ceremony was held at San Sebastian Cathedral and it was a mass baptism. There were about thirty to fifty children to be baptized that day. As eager as we were, we still cannot help but feel stressed out from all the waiting and gosh, all that people! We proceeded to Apollo Restaurant for the little celebration for lunch.

Nico is a very happy little baby, and rarely ever cries. And when he does, he doesn't cry very loud at all. He's about six months old and really (like most babies out there), very cute and adorable. It's always quite a joy to see him smile at you.

SUCCS Christmas Party 2012

The year is almost over! Today's the last day of 2012 so I'm catching up on blogging!

This was the Christmas Party of the Computer Studies Department of Silliman University. We hold it every year at the ATA Hall. It's a small gathering of the faculty and staff of the college. Their families are also invited. We started with a short devotion lighting two of the advent candles. And then we played games, ate dinner, we exchanged presents and take home leftover food :). Five of us teachers also had a short dance number. We entertained them with our own version of Thriller and Gangnam Style.

Happy holidays to one and all!

21 December 2012

Vintage Cover Journals

Today's December 21st, as everyone in the world knows, today is the predicted date of when the world will end. Nothing much happened on our side of the world today except having a really gloomy weather.

I finished a new set of those crafty vintage-looking journals I like to make. A friend of mine wanted to give them as Christmas presents to her friends, so I'm customizing the covers. I'm guessing they are based on the recipient's interests. I used to make cut-outs but some front designs are too complicated to cut by hand so I printed them instead. It felt a bit like cheating, though (haha).

To anyone curious, the covers are made of brown kraft folders, hand-brushed with brown ink to give that vintage effect on the edges. The spines are a bit of work too. Blank cream-colored pages inside, which I sometimes find so smooth I would hate to write on them. :) Whew! Talk about labor of love!

I also made the extra effort of wrapping it nicely because that actually gives it a bit more personal touch and might bring a smile to the person receiving it.

If you like this set, you can view my other craft work here.

06 December 2012

Swept Away by Pablo

On Tuesday, December 4, 2012, superstorm Pablo hit Dumaguete City strongest at around 5-7 pm. No electricity for an estimate of 31 hours. Drove around first thing in the morning at 6:30 am after the storm (Dec. 5). The streets and places all over the city looked devastating.

In our beloved Rizal Avenue, also popularly known as the Boulevard, a number of trees fell and got uprooted. Never thought typhoon winds could do that. It was indeed a stronger one than Sendong. But Pablo was stronger in terms of wind. Not so much flooding in the city but so many roofs got flown away, electrical posts fell down the streets causing danger to passersby.

It was bad but the good thing was we were at least prepared. We knew it was coming and we stayed home to be safe. Rescue teams were ready, radio stations broadcast hotline numbers for anyone who needed help. People volunteered even during the storm to help others risking their own lives.