Freebies

I have updated my freebies files and added more designs on my Beauty and The Brush Collection. Here is the link to go to my freebies page: 

http://www.4shared.com/dir/8709801/36eb7af8/wallpapers_BeautyAndTheBrush.html

 

Beauty and The Brush Collection

 

 

This is just one of the designs that I recently made, it is one of my growing collection. I played around with my favorite Photoshop brushes and used a 3D model, and voila, the collection was made. Hope you’ll enjoy these as much as I do.

Download Free Desktop Wallpapers

 It’s nice to be back in circulation again! As for my come back, I have made some FREE Desktop Wallpapers for everybody who happened to visit my blog. I offer Landscapes, Flower Garden, Inspirational and Beauty and the Brush. I will add more to these collections on my free time, so please check often. Click the link on each thumbnail below to see the rest of the wallpapers. You can either download one or have them all. Our summer was a great one, although we have not been anywhere far it was well spent. I have learned a new 3D program and have a new business venture heading for a better direction. I’m so excited about it. When I checked out my blog (I know it’s been a while) Akismet have caught about 80 spams for me. Thanks, Akismet–you’re doing your job well.

Click the links below the thumbnails to see the album for each collection. Download anything you like. Comments are welcome. Have a great day, friends!

Landscapes Collection 1600×1200 size

Flower Garden Collection 1600×1200 size

Inspirational Collection 1600×1200 size

Beauty & The Brush Collection 1600×1200 size

Twenty Years From Now

 

Since the kids have started their summer vacation, I have tried to follow through my long list of projects. One of them is cleaning up my bedroom. I have put away so many things that I needed to do and when I wrote everything in black and white it gave me a sense of direction. As I was sorting out my dresser drawer, an old photo of mine fell on the floor. The photo was dated back in 1988 when I was in my early twenties and my first time to have my own apartment. I picked it up and saw my younger self, twenty years ago when bushy eyebrows were the “in thing.” Big hair and padded shoulders were in fashion, Madonna’s hit songs were number one and movies like Big, Rain Man and Working Girl were the newsmakers. That was also the same year my grandma passed away. Oh, I missed her a lot.

As I looked back at those years that has passed by, time fleet away like rushing wind in front of me. And when I woke up to reality, here I am, a mother of two boys and a wonderful, loving husband, our home and I am a naturalized citizen. I felt like I was in a dream, shook my head and the question that came to me was “Did I even think about this before?”

A brilliant idea came to me and I added this to my list of things to do for summer “make a video for myself” that I will watch 20 years from now. I will document my everyday chores, the arrangement of our home furnishings, what food do I cook, my husband playing with our kids, books that I read, music that I listen to, TV shows that I love to watch, the everyday news, maybe I will sing and dance. For how will you know what happens in 20 years. I won’t be the same, I know that. Time changes everything. I would address the older me as if I’m talking to an old friend, myself. 

Twenty years from now… such a long, long time. I remember my Dad (may his soul rest in peace) always said back then, “so much water will pass the bridge.” Where will you be, what will you be? Have you asked yourselves the same questions? 

 

Childhood Memories

 

Mom just turned eighty this year. Still, strong, independent in some ways and have tons of repetitive stories to tell. Although she already said it more than 5 times before, I still listen as if it is the first time I’ve heard of these stories. Her favorite hobbies are solving crossword puzzles, reading fiction or non-fiction books and of course, Globe magazine. When Dad passed away sixteen years ago, Mom used to rent her own apartment but because of her declining health, she moved in with us. So I drive her to the doctor, pick up her medicine from the pharmacy, take her to the store and run errands for her. She has a huge CD collection of yesterday’s singers, Frank Sinatra, Eddie Fisher, Perry Como, Doris Day, Matt Monro and all the rest. She listens to their songs everyday. These are the same songs she played when I was growing up. They stayed in my thoughts and preference. I have liked these type of music since then, easy listening and oldies. Dad was a good singer, the same voice range as Mario Lanza. He can prolong the song up to its last note. I am his fan until this day. 

Flashback when I was three years old, Mom bought me a tin set of pots and pans, plates and spoons. She picks some hibiscus leaves from our garden and we both pretend that we’re cooking vegetables. I did not realize at that time that many years later I will actually cook for her and care for her. I was a child and the way I see things back then differs so much from what I think now. All I knew then was that it was nice to pretend cooking with Mom.

Mom loves food but I wish I can find the ingredients needed when cooking our native dishes. In America, these particular ingredients that we add to our soup or main dishes are not available at the oriental store. So we use spinach instead of “dahong sili,” or food coloring instead of “atchuete.” Nowadays, when I look at these recipe books I bought here, they always talk about alternatives but these so-called other choice do not taste as good as the actual ingredient (sigh).

When I was in elementary school, me and my best friend Imelda would go to our house (which was walking distance from school) during recess. Mom prepares us delicious fried rice and she called it dragon’s eggs. She shapes them into fist-sized balls and how we enjoyed eating these dragon’s eggs. 

Imelda and I were like two peas in a pod. We wear the same style of dress that Mom would design for us. Her mother would buy the fabric, buttons and other dress decorations and Mom would take us to the dressmaker to get our measurements. We have two maids at that time and we lived at the mining camp where Dad was the company physician. We often go to the beach, a two-hour drive from the mining camp. Imelda would also go with us and sleep over for the night after we get back to the mining camp. We spent a lot of time talking about our classmates, the boys we like and the girls we don’t like. At that time we were so crazy about Michael Jackson, when he was still a typical teen-ager. There was a river next to Imelda’s house and under tall, shady trees we sit on the rocks as we drink softdrinks (soda). We sing “One Day In Your Life” on top of our voice as the mellow sound of nature plays in our background. I wonder where she is now, she’s probably married with kids. 

This coming Mother’s Day, the memories of my happy childhood still reverberate in my mind. I am so blessed that Mom is spending her last years with us. And I hope and pray that she will have more long, blissful years to come. To all the mothers who may have read my blog, a warm Happy Mother’s Day to you all!