katrina and the great world

Before I bid summer adieu.

It is with utmost dread that I wave goodbye to my favorite season. We must all come to terms with the dreary reality-summer’s sunshiny rays have now been tucked away under massive clouds of gloom and our tank top wearing days have officialy of come to a close (errr well, not really..we do live in a tropical country. I just wanted to say that for extra flair. Because I’m dramatic like that. Bite me.) Melodrama aside, I’m still pretty pleased at how my whole summer played out. Praise God. My weekends were filled with wedding/ pre-wedding shoots with oh-so-in love-you-want-to-cry-cause- they’re- so-darn-cute couples and some downright deeelightful downtime with family and friends. I just got back from a fun little surfing trip up north and I cannot wait to share the deets of my short sojourn with all of you, but before we get to that, here are some pictures from another beach trip earlier in the summer.

It was nice to vistBoracay again, even for a short while. I flew to the island with the team to shoot another beautiful couple get hitched by the sea. When the cameras weren’t rolling, I spent my time frolicking around the beach in an attempt to get a tan and just chillin’ like a villain with the rest of the Mayad fam.

I had been obsessing over dreamcatchers for a while now and I highly regretted not getting these babies on my first visit to the island. So when I chanced upon these again, I didn’t think twice about getting one for the apartment. It has now found a new home in my tiny living room! 

I spent the afternoon before the wedding running on the beach. I went through a running phase last summer-one that proved to be quite short lived. Saaaad.  MUST. RUN. AGAIN.

Spotted a major cutie sunbathing on the shore.  Score!!! 

This was  where we worked most of the time. I truly enjoyed shooting another wedding by the sea. The sun was shining, everyone was giddy and happy, the couple looked at each other with big google-y eyes ( I tried desperately to hold back my tears while they exchanged wedding vows!) and  everything went by without a hitch. Another  lovely day at work.

Here we are after the wedding, goofing around  with the crazy boys of Mango Red. I’ve been a huge fan of their work for quite some time now- their photographs are just genius and totally worth checking out- that is, if you haven’t already. It was really nice to work with them again!

That will be all, I guess.  I am so looking forward to shoot more weddings on the island this year!

Oh and this… this is why I love my job. We get to take part in a couple’s incredible love story and make them happy!  Mission accomplished. Yaaaaay!

Soon after leaving Boracay, I joined my familia for a weekend of good ole’ family fun. We drove down south to Laguna for our annual San Juan family reunion. It was so nice to see everyone from my biiiiiiiig family again.  Catching up with the cousins and my other relatives  is always good fun. We spent most of the weekend pigging out (you should know, everyone in the San Juan clan loves to eat. You so cannot diet in the midst of a San Juan family reunion. It’s just…wrong! Everyone in my big fat family-no pun intended, has a biiiig appetite for food and for life!) talking about what we’ve been doing with our lives (We have transitioned from bangka-riding, ghost-hunting pre-teens to full on productive members of society. Our ancestors would be proud!) and yes, playing a lot of ultimate frisbee- with the picturesque Mount Makiling as our view. I was awesome how everyone participated in the frisbee festivities. I played against my Dad on the field, which was pretty funny. Let’s keep it at that. Hi Daddy!

And yes, there was dancing. Everyone did awesome during our little family talent show- my cousins did a bit of fire dancing, there were renditions of hit karaoke songs and a very entertaining MC hammer performance.

This was the first family reunion we have had since my Lola Buen’s passing. We all miss her presence in our day to day lives, but we knew that she was with us (and with my Lolo Ernie )in spirit, smiling down on us  from heaven as we celebrated the love of family on that wonderful weekend.

It was an over-all awesome weekend with the family. So awesome that some of us met up the weekend after, before my Tito Jonathan headed back to Cape town, for some good ole dancing. Totally looking forward to next year’s little powwow. Haaaay… everyday I am thankful for a thing such as family. All together now…. ONE SAN JUAN!

Below are some instgrams from my weekend with the awesome San Juans.

Cheers to summer!

instagrams from the last few weekends.

I wasn’t lying when I told you I was going hopping on the instagram-blogging bandwagon! I mean, its tempting not to. It’s fast, easy, convenient ( just go click click click with your iphone, choose a filter and your all set! I know, the way I’m talking makes you wonder if Zucky paid me to write this! Haha ) and gives you pretty decent/blogable pictures that you can share with the minute number of people who actually care enough to read about your daily misadventures. So, if your reading this now….uuuuuyyyyy you caaaaare! And because you do, you’ll get what you came here for…instagrams from the last few weekends of my so-called life.

Here goes.

So there. A few photos from my day to day existence. I’m tempted to caption all pictures but i’m feeling too darn lazy as of the moment. So, I’m just going write down a little something-something for y’all.

For starters, I am in between 2 awesome books! The happiness project, which is just really inspiring and ridiculously relatable. I feel like I actually know Gretchen Rubin. The book of Jane, which my sister Jammy picked out for me because she said the protagonist, Jane reminded her of me. So far, I am loving both books, but I’ve been more partial to the latter these days because yes-I see a lot of myself in her, like my sister had suggested and because the book is actually a modern adaptation of The book of Job- which I find really eye-opening. l mean, it’s easy to be a Christian when everything is peachy, but what happens to your faith when God decides to take away all that He has blessed you with? It’s just inspiring to read about someone’s steadfast faith in the face of adversity.

When I’m not reading,I’m mostly hanging out with friends at work, “attempting” to fix up the flat(attempting being the operative word), working on a few personal projects and pigging out a lot with my sisters ( thank God I get to run regularly!) otherwise I’d be a looot wider!) - getting my share of glorious dips and mochi ice cream (it’s a shame I have to wait for the Eastwood weekend market to get my mochi fix!)

Aside from the usual wedding shoots (that I’ve really been enjoying!) at work, we’ve also been doing a bit of model shoots. One in Subic and another at this old, rundown house that they sometimes use as a movie set. The place was cool but it gave me a bit of the skeevies. Haha! We were there to shoot a photographer’s promo video (they’re really popular in other parts of the world. Check out one of my faves HERE.) for renowned fashion photog Manny Librodo. Right after, we dropped by our co-worker Shake’s awesome photo exhibit at Heima. The southern stories exhibit was downright dreamy. Also, we got a sneak peak of the new summer collection at the party.

I continued my supporting role at my sisters fashion show in Greenbelt. It was an awesome little shindig. She and everyone else did great! Proud ate! After dinner and cocktails at the event, we headed out to this Surf pub called Casa Nami. And OH. MY. GOODNESS. They had the most awesome band, I am so not exaggerating. They did covers from my favorite artists! Phoenix, Gavin de Graw, The jets, Oasis, Franz ferdinand, Temper trap, The killers..I die! And yes, I was singing along like a crazy person. It was a much needed over all good time with good friends.

Okaaaay, I’ve being blabbing relentlessly for a while now. That will be all for tonight. So much for not captioning everything! Haha

Cheerio!

a little weekend break from weddings.

In my vocabulary, weekends usually translate to wedding shoots. But as much as I love filling my weekends with blushing brides, pretty flowers, nervous grooms(I just love that look of love on the groom’s face when he’s trying to hold back all those happy tears. I too tend to get a bit teary-eyed while I film such beautiful moments!)and those sometimes awkward first dances- it’s nice to take a breather from all that mush and mix things up every now and then.

A few weekends back, our seniors sent us (company newbies) on a little “surprise” shooting trip. We went on a little roadtrip to Subic to shoot a short glamour video as sort of a challenge. We really didn’t know anything about the said activity until the morning of the shoot itself, so everything was pretty impromptu.

After what seemed to be a long drive, we set up, had lunch and shot some scenes by the beach at the Kamana sanctuary in Subic. We also shot part of our video in the rainforest just outside of the resort. I loved how the lush forest was well preserved and how there were monkeys all over the road, walking around like they owned the place. The audacious little primates even jumped on top of our moving van (I’m just glad that none of them came after us and stole our cameras during the shoot!)

But most of all, I loved that we got full creative freedom over the video. It was my first time to actually shoot, edit and direct a short production. I’ve tried all three at work but never at the same time, so this was really pushing it. But even in the absence of a solid shot plan, things played out pretty smoothly. Thank God!  Our gorgeous model Natalia also made things a loooot easier. The girl is a pro! Hanging out with the whole team was also tons of fun- as usual, we were heavy on laughter and    on snacking in between takes. Haha! It was  also refreshing to shoot guerilla style sans the tracks,tripods and fancy-schmancy equipment for once.

Some of the photos below are stills from the finished video. Will share the whole thing here soon.

You folks have a good weekend! Cheerio!

the month that was-in instagrams.

A couple of random  instagrams from my day to day existence.

1.) Wedding shoots outside the city. 2.) The last book i finished (for anyone who grew up with Carmen, Lena, Tibby and Bridget from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, you MUST pick up Sisterhood everlasting!!!  Brace yourself for major WATERWORKS AND GOOSEBUMPS.)  3.) Our brutally pop music video shoot.  4.) The bridal fair. 5.) Brazilian supermodels. 6.) Calorie-laden hotel breakfasts and dinner dates with the parentals. 7.) Visiting friends. 8.) my almost-daily-extra fattening milk tea runs.

I seriously have more to share (since I have been going instagram crazy over the last few months and instagram-ing  everything in sight!) but these will do for now. 

Hello world! This is me getting on the instgram-blogging bandwagon! Haha

sojourn in the southern sea.

All my life I have been living 7 hours away by land, from paradise and had not known about it until this summer. Straight from my little hiking trip, I rushed off to vacation with my family in this  lovely little place by the sea. My parents planned a trip for all of us at this place called Sohoton cove. I was pretty excited about the trip after I googled the said island and saw how gorgeous the place was. When we actually got there I was floored! It was a loot prettier than the pictures I had seen. The water was ridiculously clear, the sand nice and powdery, there were caves with gigantic stalagmite formations that you could climb and then dive straight  into the water from and there was marine life everywhere (there was a baby shark swimming under our cottage for crying out loud!) 

I also loved how it wasn’t too packed with tourists, how everything was just nice and serene.  You even have to go through a cave just to get to the cove. The place is said to be unreachable during the high tide-the water makes it virtually impossible for a bangka to pass through the cave’s opening. Also, the locals were the sweetest ever. We had the nicest bangkeros who really made sure we saw all the sights. The place doesn’t really boast of a beachfront, but they took us to this little spot that had a small strip of  soft powdery white  sand that sucked in our feet with every step. I loved lying in the crystal clear ocean and having lush green trees and the magnificent blue sky drape over me as I floated along. I loved swimming in the  sea at sunset with my favorite people in the world. I loved our bangka ride home, under the full blue moon, it made me wonder if all the evenings in heaven were just as lovely.

It was an over all wonderful time that I had totally forgotten about the body pains I had acquired from the hiking trip I took  just a day before and the fact that I was completely sleep deprived (the fatigue caught up with me as soon as i got home! ) 

I am definitely coming back if my schedule once again permits and maybe try to learn how to surf in the nearby island that we weren’t able to visit. But that still remains to be seen. For mean time, I think I can still thrive on the high that I got from this little sojourn. :)

From summit to open sea.

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I’m still a bit hungover from my little 10 (that streched out to 12.. heehee) day vacay, so I might as well take a little break from editing and blog about my all-too-short trip to the province. Aside from spending some downtime at home and soaking up all that hometown goodness, I went on a five day summit-to-sea excursion. Heart-pumping stuff. (like, literally. )

What I got out of my packed week were a lot of good memories, a minor sunburn aaaaand not to mention..dumdumdumdum.. wait for it..another check off my bucketlist!! Friends, I am proud to announce that I, Katrina San Juan CLIMBED MY VERY FIRST MOUNTAIN! Yaaaaay!

I’ve been eyeing Mount Kitanglad since forever and I’ve been itching to conquer the majestic mountain (it’s the 4th tallest mountain in the country! ) in an effort to somehow satiate my ever growing taste for adventure. After 3 failed summers of planning to do so, all my little adventure stars had finally come to align and the next thing I knew, I was off to do some major hiking (with very little to no training! Haha)

We all set off for the sleepy town of Intavas from Malaybalay at the crack of dawn. The beautiful Bukidnon sunrise and the glorious mountain ranges made for a beautiful backdrop as we travelled to our destination. The groups tongue in cheek banter and the beautiful scenery definitely psyched everyone up for some adrenaline-pumping adventure.

From our drop off point, we had to walk almost 2 hours on a slightly inclined plane to get to the foot of the mountain, where we would then begin our ascent to the top. This was probably my least favorite part of the whole trip. It was only the first half hour of our little journey to the top and everyone was feeling really good, still giddy and packed with adrenaline (well, they pretty much stayed that way the whole trip! Amazeballs.) but I couldn’t really say the same for myself. The first few minutes up the incline was torture. In my head, I was like, Why am I even doing this to myself???!!!

Don’t get me wrong, I love the outdoors and I love running around but before the climb, the only exercise I got was from chasing after brides, rushing at our wedding shoots and the occasional (and often times short lived) jog around the village. Everyone else in the group was physically active and trained for this- Jerrold included, who I felt sorry for because he had to wait around for this slowpoke. Peace jer!

But after a few more minutes of walking and a looooot of positive thinking, I had finally eased into the whole thing and my lungs had finally stopped feeling like they were about to explode. I then started to enjoy the cool morning air, the sunflowers along the trail and the first class view of the mountain we were about to conquer.

After almost 2 hours of walking up the incline, we finally reached the foot of the mountain. I had no idea what was about to hit me-I was surprised that the climb was a direct assault to the top! Which meant, the whole trail was inclined. Which meant, it wasn’t exactly the easiest hike up. Which meant, I had a serious amount of work to do.

I enjoyed the many opportunities to squish my fingers into the good earth every now and then. Mud was my friend. I was pretty much aquatinted with it, especially when I had to practically crawl my way up.

Above: One of the kids who live at the foot of Mount Kitangald. These boys are downright fast! They can put any experienced hiker to shame. These kids basically sprinted to the top, even carrying heavy sacks and gallons of water. Amazing.

Below: Me on one of my maaaany maaaany breaks.

Here we are at dakong bato, an indicator that we were halfway through the trail. I must say, I truly found the 1st half of the ascent pretty leisurely. Yes it was physically strenuous-but the excitement, my swinging from tree to tree and the pretty scenery was more than enough to keep me going. The next half of the climb though, was a slightly different story. After more hours of climbing, the lactic acid starts to build up In your thighs and the air gets a little thinner as you go along-this is when ones determination and will power is put to the test.

It’s amazing how much you learn about yourself on excursions like this . Even if you’re hiking with a group of people, it really all comes down to you and the mountain. (although positive and encouraging hiking buddies can make a world of a difference. It really helped to be cheered on by others. I was lucky with my group! Although It irked me everytime Jerrold told me to pick up the pace, I realized that I probably would have fallen asleep mid climb under the shade if it weren’t for his encouragement. heehee!)

Above: My funny post-3-hour-nap face after getting to the peak.

The first thing I did when I got to the peak was devour a ridiculous amount of food and then crawl into my sleeping bag to drift off to lala land. I awoke feeling less frazzled and then it finally occurred to me that I had accomplished and pretty awesome feat! My first major mountain!! In 7 hours! I was the last one to arrive at the peak , but I was still pretty happy with how everything went! (everyone else made it in 6  except for me and Jerrold, who felt obliged to stay with me! Haha) If you should know, it takes most first timers 8 hours. I am so darn proud that I made it in 7 aaaaaaand that I didn’t complain! Huraaaay! Even if my heart was beating ridiculously fast and I thought my jugular vein was about to pop out of my neck at some point (Excuse my ranting, I had to hold all of this whining in! )

One of the perks of hiking with experienced mountaineers, is the delish dinner that awaits you at the peak after a loooooong day of climbing. Spam what??! My hiking buddies made sure we had a full-blown homecooked meal. Nothing better than Bulalo to warm our tummies on that fffffreezing evening. It was 5 friggin degrees! We also gathered around a bonfire and played a game of kings cup to help us keep warm. Good times.

Above: with super girls Elaiza and Camille by the bonfire under the full moon.

I haven’t seen a sunrise in a while ( given my erratic sleeping pattern) and I loved that my first sunrise after the longest time was of epic proportions. Seeing the sun rise at such great heights was unarguably glorious and worth braving the cold morning air for. The awesome 5 am aerial view of the rest of Bukidnon and my hometown was worth the 7 hour climb. 

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After chilling some more at the peak and having another all out homecooked meal for breakfast, we started our descent from the top. Going down was less work and a lot faster . Again it was tons of fun- swinging from the same trees, jumping from stone to stone, sliding my way down a couple of slopes and even diving into a gigantic puddle of mud and then washing myself off with some spring water from the mountains while killing my big toenail in the process (this, not too much fun).

After 4 hours, we completed our descent and were back in the lowlands. At this point I was really exhausted but still pretty fulfilled. I mean, conquering a mountain is downright empowering stuff! Although, at that moment I had promised myself that I would never subject myself to such physical strain again. Ever. I mean, how many times to you need to check something off your bucket list? But I guess it was just the sore muscles talking. Now that I am better rested, more sane and back on the ground, my itch to conquer another mountain is wanting to be scratched and my affinity towards great heights feels stronger than ever.

Uh-oh, it looks like somebody has just found a new hobby.

Year One.

Hello folks! This week officially marked my first year in the company that I have really come to love. Yaaaaay! Let’s cheers to that!!!

So, I just got back from a day of shooting a lovely little wedding by the seawith the rest of the team. I’m pretty beat from the long drive and the many hours spent shooting under the summer sun but it was still pretty awesome, seeing how we made the couple really happy. Weddings, photography and videography have always topped the list of my many interests and I am eternally grateful to our maker for giving me a chance to pursue some of the things I am passionate about. Hurrraaay!

I still can’t believe its been a year since I first got the email that held such deeeeliiightful news-that I was soon to join the team whose work I absolutely admired. You can only imagine how stoked I was! ( I even have a blog post to prove it, written in true fangirl fashion! Haha ) That now feels like it has been forever ago (and I mean that in a good way!) just because so much has happened over the last year- I’ve been learning a lot about the wedding industry and my craft, I’ve met tons of wonderful people and best of all, created beautiful friendships with the rest of the awesome folks at Mayad (they are just downright special!)

It isn’t always peachy at work (it is , after all still a fulltime job! even if I sometimes forget it is because I actually get to do what I love! ) and I continue to be a work in progress. But there’s just so much to be thankful for that I am really in no positon to complain! :) I cannot wait to see what else what the next few years have in store for me. I am psyched!

All of the photos in this post are by the awesome Von.

Counting down the days.

Another tell-tale sign of growing up: Having the next six months of your life planned out. It’s an adult thing that comes with having a job, I guess. Our  work schedules came out a few weeks ago and normally I get squeamish at the thought of putting my immediate future in someone else’s hands, but when you actually  kind of like  the things set out for you on your little itinerary (like a 10 day summer vacation in april and a bit of traveling here and there for some wedding shoots), you aren’t in any position to complain, really.

I love the fact that we’re going to get 10 days off from work for the holy week! Where I’m going to spend those 10 days is a no-brainer…I’m coming home of course! There’s no where else I’d rather be! Living away from home can be pretty awesome but being away from all that  comfy hometown goodness for quite some time, eventually takes its toll on you.  

Since I am unable to contain my homecoming excitement, here are some pictures from a weekend I spent with my parents on a little hometown visit late last year. This place is only an hour away from the city and I had such an awesome time with the parentals- breathing in the fresh air amidst some pine trees, lounging around in a quaint little cabin and driving a little buggy on top of the mountains. 

Ahhhh!  writing that down makes me want to fly home all the more! I can’t wait for my little vacay to start! This time though, my visit is going to involve  an “enchanted” island, some MAJOR hiking, hundreds of non-sting jellyfish and the welcoming of Ate Kring and Kuya Ken’s  rather handsome (i’m just sure of it!)  baby boy into the family!  God-willing!

Okay, before I let all the hype get to me and deem me unproductive for the day,  I think I need to come down to earth now.  There’s still  so much that needs accomplishing and I have approximately 15 days to finish all this work related stuff. I absolutely have no business blogging as of the moment, but I just had to vent! I’m so psyched to come home! Yaaaaaay!

Fierce love.

I still can’t believe  that this month is coming to a close! This rather eventful February pretty much went by in a flash-with all the editing and shooting we do at work, the occasional tete a tete with family and friends and my constant fuss over some DIY projects for the flat that  I share with my sisters (will blog about that soon!)  But amidst the everyday chaos that this month has brought, I was blessed with  a weekend of clarity. For the first time this month, on one beautiful weekend, everything stood still.  (you can laugh at my drama queen self now! Haha)

The love of my life (scoffs!)  had decided to fly in for the weekend,  a little post vday/ anniversary pow wow.  This being our 4th year together, I decided to do something out of the ordinary  and cook dinner for Jerrold.

If you should know, I do not cook…AT ALL. But this year, I am hoping to transform into a domesticated goddess of some sort (LOL)  and this dinner was my very first attempt at  becoming that.

I was pretty happy that Jerrold and my sisters were brave enough to partake of my cooking, given my history (or lack thereof) in that department.  And they actually  really enjoyed the food! YAAAAAY!  That, or they were just being nice. Haha!

I enjoyed grocery-shopping for everything, running around the condo and making sure I got the dinner ready before Jerrold’s flight arrived. Oh the things you do for love!

Love.. LOVE… love.. Love.. we throw the word around ever so often, but do we really know what it means?  Forgive my sudden shift in tone, butif this  this entry is going to be about anything remotely close love, then I would very much need to mention the awesomest being in this universe who started this whole love revolution, Jesus.

 The reason why we love is that because He first love us. Don’t you just wish we could all just love each other the way Jesus loves us? For anyone who has tried, you know  that it is very much easier said than done. It’s hard to love someone who has hurt you, wronged you or turned their back on you. But we do such things to our Savior, the Giver of life and Creator of the universe,  every time we sin. But because He loves us so much, every time we cry out for Him, He hears us aaaand graciously forgives us even if we clearly don’t deserve it! Don’t you think that just beats Hollywood’s airbrushed version of  love a million times over? That’s the fiercest kind of love I have ever heard of!

Last sunday I was pretty iffy about going to church. I felt like I didn’t deserve to be singing songs and worshipping God after I had once again succumbed to my worldly and earthly tendencies.  I was ashamed, sad and feeling totally unworthy of God’s goodness.  I was pretty much decided to just work on my video for the day, but I just somehow felt and incessant tugging on my heartrings to stand up, get dressed and get in the car with my co-workers who were leaving for the afternoon service.

I knew God was somehow beckoning me to come when I recalled what my friend Sarah had said to me before, to bounce back and not let sin get you down. Because that’s what sin does, it brings you down and builds an enormous brick wall between you and God. My heart was broken, for I had broken His. But by God’s grace (and some prompting from my co-workers) I skipped my shower, literally hopped into our moving van and  found myself in church that  fateful afternoon.

I felt that my being in church and taking that first step to overcoming that shame and guilt that sin had burdened me with, was God’s way of saying, Katrina I am not giving up on you!  As I sang in unison with the congregation, worshipping the Lord,  I slowly  felt Him working in my heart and taking away all the hurt that my sin had brought upon me. The Lord knows you heart. He knows the everyday struggles that you go through. He knows how I am still very young in this new found faith and I am struggling with my old selfish ways, with the constant temptations of the world. He knows that every time I fall into sin, I sometimes think, Lord, maybe  this isn’t who I’m supposed to be. Maybe I’m destined to remain selfish, worldly. 

But every time the devil starts to make me believe in that lie, God saves me and makes  me feel his  immense love for me.  And indeed, His love was felt that afternoon in church. As the band began to close in praise and worship, they sang this song that my sisters and I used to sing as  little girls. As kids, my Dad always made me and my sisters  do a little  blending of melodies and we’d be like,  “I love you Lord, and I lift my voice…”  in different pitches all throughout our car ride home from school.

Hearing the song again after the longest time felt like God was telling me, through this song, that I have always been His. That even from the beginning, as a little girl,  I have always been His  child.  He was ridding me of my doubts and telling me that this relatively new faith  has been inside of  me all along. That there is this wonderful and beautiful purpose that I have been created for.  That inside of me is this person, the person God has destined me to be, waiting to come out. 

At that very moment, I felt forgiveness- He had once again washed away my sins.  I felt a love so strong, so intense  and so pure. I can only pray that by grace, someday I am able to somehow  give back that sort of love. I am a work in progress, and will remain so for the rest of my life.  But despite my imperfections, my flaws and my tendencies to break His heart, He loves me 10 million homecooked meals over.

P.S. Incase you were wondering, this is what I did on my breather of a weekend.

After Sunday service, my sisters, Jerrold and myself headed out to Market! Market! for lunch, cupcakes and some plant shopping (since two of the plants I bought at the start of the year had gone to plant heaven! Do not ask why! Haha) 

After much bonding over good food and our usual funny stories with my sisters Jammy and Nikki, Jerrold and I set out to meet my co-workers Jony and Mike to check out the Logos hope.

Logos and its sister ship Dulos have been up and running since the early 1900’s. The ship is known to be a floating library that circumnavigates the world, making educational materials and God’s word available to all nations. It also houses young volunteers from all over the globe, who are involved in ship operations and charity work in the communities of the different countries they visit. It’s pretty inspiring what these young people do!

It would be so cool to volunteer on the ship! I mean, being surrounded with such diversity and seeing people from all over the world committed to helping the world become a better place. Mike is looking at volunteering on the ship someday and I think he would fit in just perfectly. As for myself.. well who really knows, if God wills it for me then HURRAAAAY! 

After exploring parts of the ship, buying a few books and snacking on some sundaes, we decided to visit Fort Santiago. It was pretty close to where the ship was docked so we walked and made  a day out of it.  I last visited the place when I was 7, so  this little  drop by  was long overdue.

So yeah, there you go.. my sunday in a nutshell.  If you actually took time to read through all of this, then….. CONGRATULATIONS FOR GETTING THROUGH THE LONGEST BLOG ENTRY IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! I AM ETERNALLY GRATEFUL!  I LOVE YOU!