31/365 - Dante at the Bookstore

Dante having a field day at the bookstore.

I can leave him here and come back for him hours later. Of course, I didn't.

30/365 - Innocence

I love this close-up of Dante. I edited it to black and white.

There's no better way to express innocence than in the eyes of a child.

29/365 - Sweet Dreams

I don't know about you, but I can watch a baby sleep all night. So peaceful.

28/365 - Sweet Oranges

My mom says that Dante and Erica can knock out three oranges between their two toddler bellies every morning. I decided to capture these fruits for an online photography assignment.

27/365 - B.E.L.T.

Bacon, Egg (Fried), Lettuce, Tomato

Need I say more?

26/365 - These Nuts!

These nuts keep me awake in the afternoons at work. Walnuts are not only filling, but good for the brain as well--supposedly. I'm on my quest to eat healthier so in lieu of soda drinks, I've resorted to these nuts!

25/365 - Look Ma, a Tiger!

Plastic tiger: $1.00 at Target.

Adorable bib: 3-pack for $14.99.

Pacificer: 2-pack for $5.00.

Dante running to greet me at the door when I come home: priceless.

24/365 - Waiting for Birds

Home project: bird feeder. My sister, Binky with her daughter, Erica, attempted this bird feeder yesterday. After an episode of Curious George and a mad dash to the pet store, we still await birds to flock to our backyard. With patience, I am assured (by internet articles anyway), that birds will come.

23/365 - Dante's 19 months old today

Happy Birthday, Dante!

22/365 - Spring Blossoms

Our plum tree has begun to flower. Spring must be right around the corner.

I particularly like the shallow depth of field (DOF) created in this picture. I zoomed in on the flowers and the fence in the background came out nice and blurry--just the way I like it. I'm pretty happy with this photo.

21/365 - Abandoned

Everyday I walk past this abandoned building that used to be a car showroom. Just recently, its doors were opened and the smell of mold, mildew, and all else spilled onto the sidewalk and the street. It smelled old.

20/365 - My Social Network

Where do you find "everyone" now-a-days? Facebook. It's where people converge, play games, post what they've eaten, seen, or done. It's where "friends" email or chat. It's where the word formerly and widely used as a noun is now used as a verb. "Friend" me. Or not. Facebook. You either hate it or you don't. Oddly enough, I got on Facebook because of peer pressure. Ha!

19/365 - Full Moon

Today's the actual full moon date, according to the calendars. Needless to say, I went out there again in the winter cold and took my picture. It is a nice, clear night. Tripod in hand and set up, camera settings on auto, this is what I got. I'm loving my camera and being able to push it to the limit is great.

18/365 - "Fool Moon"

It's a full moon out there tonight. I always call it a "fool moon." My amazing camera (a point and shoot at that!) was able to capture this moon many, many miles away. It's optically, then digitally zoomed. But whatever the method was, it's good to have a camera that can capture nature in its finest form. I was too lazy to grab my tripod and set it up. I'm still proud and happy with the end-result though.

17/365 - Remembering Kuya Eric

17 years ago today, Kuya Eric was called to join God in Heaven. We remember him today in our prayers. We miss you, Kuya Eric! You would have enjoyed Kulit and Likot.

I'm sure you're smiling down on us. We smile back.

16/365 - Dante Hugs

Dante's moment with Tata (aka Tita Joy).

15/365 - First True Sunny Day

We've been having a bout of Winter weather lately (read: rain) that today, we had the first nice sunny day in almost three weeks. It was just fitting that I photograph something outdoors, to mark our anticipation for the coming of Spring.

14/365 - Comfort Food

Friday night comfort food with the family. This is an old Filipino recipe for clam soup. It was paired with tocino tonight. Diet? What diet? LOL!

13/365 - Dante and Friends

Lately, Dante's been amused with his toy dinosaurs and other animals. I just had to capture this moment as my FPOTD. He particularly likes to stand them all up, all facing him. Maybe secretly, he's playing Noah's Ark and he's Noah... That's his bible to the right and the story of Noah and his Ark is in there.

12/365 - Bye, Bye Shingles

I had a bought of shingles that started up last week and my doctor promptly put me on Acyclovir, to be taken five times a day. Isn't that a weird dosage? Initially, I was waking up in the middle of the night to take the meds... then later on, I was told that I just needed to take the meds five times during my waking hours. Well, just remembering to take the medicine in itself was tricky...so I feel quite accomplished that today is the last day of my meds! Here's my last pill which will be swallowed just as soon as I take my picture to remember this event by. To summarize, shingles = No Fun.

11/365 - Healthy Greetings

My former boss, Dr. Liberman, has been sending me "healthy" season's greetings for the past three years. Dr. Liberman was a great boss, is a huge San Francisco Giants' fan while being a fantastic GI doc with great humor. While working at the doctors' office years ago, I was always told to eat healthy. But Dr. Liberman took that another notch--he has been sending me healthy treats! He sent these juicy pears to my work and I received it today. I just had to capture it.

10/365 - Father and Son

Dante woke up at 3 AM this morning. Drew took him to the living room sofa so I can sleep some more before getting ready to go to work. Both of them were so sleepy by the time I left for work at 6:30 AM--they were nodded!

9/365 - Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Our gas range has conked out. The back panel that controls the oven has become unreliable (turning on by itself!) that we have been prompted to purchase a new gas range. Well, the gas range isn't here yet and while I cannot make my "famous" baked bacon-fingerling potatoes, I had to improvise and come up with another potato recipe to go with my other "famous" dish--my turbo chicken.

Here's our garlic mashed potatoes for lunch today. The recipe can be found in my other blog (as soon as I post it).

8/365 - Board Games

Just recently, I was thinking that when the kids (Erica and Dante) grow up, they won't know what board games are. In today's age of electronic "everything," I was almost sure they'd give me strange looks if I told them about board games that I used to play when I was young. This was my thought....until today when Erica came home with her very own board game!

I used my cheap-y photo editing software to diffuse this photo. I used flash and again, it created a harsh light on the picture that it needed to be softened. I also wanted to make it appear slightly like an older picture. Not sure if I got that effect or not, but I'm happy with some photo editing on it.

7/365 - St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco

I took this picture at a spur-of-the-moment trip to St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco. I was a bit early for a doctor's appointment nearby that I hiked up a hill to take some pictures of the church, and of course, to pray. The unexpected exercise was a welcome addition to my day.

I took several pictures outside and inside the church. Most came out "just okay." Most pictures were taken mainly for posterity's sake only. The church brings back many varied memories for me. Among those memories is my fulfillment of my college degree (here at USF). The graduation ceremony was here at this church! And at the honors ceremony, my sister, Joy was with me at this same church!

Anyway, back to my photos: it's been difficult to find the "perfect" picture-of-the-day (POTD) to post as part of my 365 mainly because none of the shots shout out to me as the "best" picture. Instead, I now pick my favorite picture of the day (FPOTD). Most of the time, these pictures will be off center, out-of-focus, and weirdly composed. But I'm in this project to learn and be better. So be it.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a favorite prayer spot for me. Looking at all these candles, I can only imagine that it's a favorite prayer spot for many others, too. Today, this is my FPOTD.

6/365 - Dante Loving the Shower

Don't you just love that smile?

Lately, Tita Binky has been giving Dante-boy his daily showers. He loves the water sprinkling on his face. Thanks, Ta Binky!

5/365 - Tone Down that Flash!

I'm still trying to figure out the intricacies of my newest Canon Powershot. And while I now have "almost" mastered taking pictures of fast-moving subjects (read: kids), I still have to master how to lessen that bright effect of the flash. I have adjusted the shutter speed for quick kid snaps, lessened the f-stop, and upped the ISO for more light, but I'm finding that without the flash, the photos still come out too dark. So here's a photo with the flash used. Other than photo editing software, I have to see how else I can manipulate my camera settings to give me better SOOC (straight out of the camera) pictures.

4/365 - Charlie

He's abused, he's loud, he's furry, soft, getting old, the list goes on... More than anything, he's loved. Kids love him and he loves kids. Honestly, I'm not sure he knows he's not human. This shih-tzu turned 8 years old on December 3, 2010. Recently diagnosed with Cushing's Syndrome, Charlie's still our Char, Chee, Chuckie. We love you, Mr. Lee!

3/365 - Meet Erica

This is Erica. She's my other muse. She's 3 years old now, but like the 18-month old, it's difficult to take a "decent" picture of her. She's into making funny faces for the camera now-a-days. This shot has a fresh-out-of-bed look to it. I like it. So natural. So innocent. So Erica.

2/365 - My Dante

How can I not post my baby's picture when this blog bears his name? Meet Dante. Here he is with one of his silly-er looking shots.

He's 18 months now.

Try taking a photo of an 18-month old and you tell me if you can get a good enough shot. LOL!

1/365 - Superstitions

It's a Filipino superstition to have the following on your table when the New Year arrives. From the top, clockwise: rice to symbolize constant food on the table, cottonballs to bring in a "light" year ahead, and salt...to go with the rice, I guess? I try and do this ritual yearly, not only because I believe in the symbolism of it all, but more so because it's important to me to uphold family traditions.

What are some of your New Year's traditions/superstitions?