 | **Welcome to my Charmed Home** | |
Living in Australia would usually mean that some chocolates from around the world may not be locally available here. Our friends from Manila gets shocked when we tell them that we don't really get to eat some chocolates that we used to have in the Philippines.
One of the chocolate brands that the Husband and I love is Meiji from Japan. There may be a store here in Australia that sell this brand that we don't know. All we know is that we can't simply find Meiji Chocolates in supermarkets. Sometimes a friend or a relative or ours would travel to Japan and bring back some Meiji goodies. One of my aunts gave us this Meiji chocolate blocks and it was smooth, delicious and addicting. 
When the Husband and I vacationed in Manila in April, we made sure to hoard several Meiji chocolate bars that we can find.
Until now we are still enjoying the last few bars we have. We are trying to control eating our Meiji chocolates at home to hopefully last us until someone comes to visit us from a country that sells Meiji.
I'm not aiming to be reed thin. My goal is basically to get rid of unwanted fats I gained from the past year that I wasn't able to regularly exercise. I mainly want to go back to my old and normal lifestyle when my food intake is proportional to my physical activities.
Other than going back to my usual lifestyle, getting fit would be futile without some goals and here are mine: (1) lose 3 kilos (2) go back to having a waistline of at least 27 inches (3) get used to exercising regularly
And I hope to achieve all those in three months.
Sounds reasonable? For me, it is. If I exceed my goals, that would be great.
There are so many exercise programs to choose from but since I know my body well, I'll share with you some of my ways of getting fit. Exercise Gadgets. an Elliptical Strider, a skipping rope (not in photo), light hand weights and a hula hoop. Everyday I get on our Elliptical Strider and lift hand weights everyday for a 10-15 minutes. The hula hoop and skipping rope I do them once or twice a week only.
Brisk Walking. Monday to Friday, I average about 30-40 minutes of brisk walking. I love walking! Other than a source of physical activity, walking is also a spiritual thing for me.
Dance Workouts. I have a copy of the Crunch Cardio Dance Blast and I do this at least once or twice a week, usually on days when I don't have work. I love this DVD because the steps are easy to follow.
Wii Fit and Wii Just Dance. I use Wii Fit for my Yoga, Boxing, and Running exercises. For Wii Just Dance, obviously for dance exercises. These may just be simulated games via a console but I swear, they give me a good sweat after a few minutes. 
So those are my basic physical activities in a week, my very own exercise programs! I vary my routine every time I exercise because I tend to get bored easily so I find it handy that I have exercise equipments, video games and dance videos that I choose from.
What about you? What are your exercise routines these days?
|  | Hilda's last week being single! So our barkada thought of having one last Friday dinner with her as a single lady--sort of like a despedida de soltera.
Met up with her after work and made a few errands like buy her wedding jewellery at Swarovski (in QVB) and some wedding paraphernalia for their souvenirs. Then we went to Myer and tried on hats! Wala lang, trip lang.
Dinner at Sagano Japanese Restaurant. Love the food and service. It's owned by a Filipino who was a chef in Japan and then moved to Sydney where he decided to open his own restaurant.
We also took the opportunity to have one last meeting with Hilda. Chris and I are in-charged of photo, Tom and Ara for music and Gary and Yyoni for the video. One big team effort!
A fun night once again with friends (although we missed the Gerardos): great food and great conversations. |
| | Last coffee date with Jeanny before she leaves for Manila.
I discovered this cozy cafe in QVB called "Old Vienna Coffee House". They serve good coffee and the place will make you feel like you're in another place.
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| | Two-in-one celebration as we celebrate Adam's Christening and Joaquim's birthday.
And because we just need to catch up some more, we had coffee and dessert at Max Brenner :).
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| | As a parting celebration for Jeanny, my Husband and I took her to dinner by the bay (East Bank Restaurant), with the view of the Harbour Bridge. We gave her a Starbucks Sydney Tumbler as a goodbye gift, as she is living for Manila that same week.
After dinner, we hung out by the harbour. Such a beautiful night. My Husband and I would sometimes just hang out by the bay and just appreciate the beauty of Sydney at night. We wanted to share that with Jeanny before she left.
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| | Not too long ago, I wrote about one of my best friend's engagement and here we are now..just one more day before they say "I do".
Two weeks ago, during Evan's surprise birthday party, we suggested to take a few shots at the park. Two reasons: (1) we needed more photos for the wedding AVP {two of our other friends are working on it} and (2) we needed to have a feel on how we will go about our shoots with them--building rapport.
These two are a natural in front of the camera...and so is Jasper, their dog.
Pre-nuptial: Hilda & Evan
Bicentennial Park, 17 May 2010
Photos by Chris and Ivy Sanchez, Copyright 2010 |
| | It's always such a joy hearing news of couples having a baby. And it's always extra special when those kind of news come from good friends.
When I learned about Tom and Ara's pregnancy, I screamed with so much delight. Ara and I were walking on the beach a few days after my birthday when she told me the news about her pregnancy. I was totally ecstatic when she told me I will be the godmother of their little bundle of joy, it felt like a belated birthday gift.
Chris and I thought it was the perfect concept for a pre-natal shoot. Trees for the symbol of life. Autumn colors which symbolize the season. Changing of leaves for the symbol of growth.
To make the pre-natal shoot a bit different and more special, I asked our other girlfriends to join in the shoot.
We hope that when Tom and Ara's little bub sees this photos of ours in a few years, she will know how much she means to us.
This is my Husband and I's first pre-natal shoot and we are grateful that Tom and Ara trusted us in capturing a very special moment of their lives.
Pre-natal Shoot for Tom and Ara
Bicentennial Park (NSW, Australia)
17 April 2010
All photos by Chris and Ivy Sanchez, copyright 2010.
Cameras: Canon 7D, 30D and 400D.
Lenses: Canon 17-85mm, Canon 50mm and Fujinon 55mm
Flash: Canon 430EX and Canon 270EX |
| | It was a successful surprise party for Evan as he arrived at Bicentennial Park with family and friends waiting for him.
The birthday boy was blessed with a lovely day spent with family and friends, lots of food and laughter. The Kolokoys (the name of our barkada) couldn't be happier for him.
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| | Surprise visit from our friends Jojo, Jackie and the kids on a Sunday afternoon. We had a short but sweet afternoon tea at Max Brenner. |
| | I had one of the most fabulous afternoons with my girls on Saturday (10 April 2010).
In celebration of our good friend Hilda's birthday and upcoming wedding, we organized a Hen's party for her at The Tea Room.
It was a High Tea affair so we all dressed up to the nines as we sipped our choice of tea/coffee and enjoyed delicious cakes, pastries, sandwiches and scones.
The pastries and sandwiches were served in three-tiered serving racks on very classy English-inspired plates. Not only did our table looked so alive with all the food but the dining ware and glassware made it more vibrant and abundant. It was so lovely.
I was the official photographer of the event but my Husband also came with me to the restaurant so he can take photos of the group for a few minutes. The minute the food were being served he left me to my own devices.
This was my first time to shoot a Hen's party and I'm very challenged by the fact that the star of the day is a friend of mine. I have seen Hilda in so many different light and we have gone thru a lot of good and bad times together. There is a certain level of familiarity between us already because we practically treat each other as sisters. I was afraid that familiarity will make me take some things for granted when I'm taking photographs of her.
This was not the usual hen's party where you have strippers or naughty games but nevertheless, we played a couple of games and we enjoyed it. Rachelle won on the first game, while I won during the second game.
As a token for everyone's presence, I made Girly Loot Bags and gave them to the girls. I called it a Girly Loot Bag because each bag contained body wash, lotion, lip gloss and nail emery boards.
After High Tea, some of the girls went home but some of us decided to have more drinks at a bar. My Husband joined us so he took care of taking photos so I can just focus on having fun with my girls.
We found ourselves a the Ivy (yes, that's the name of the place). The Ivy is a compound of bars and restaurants. It's one of nicest places to dine here in Sydney.
We had drinks at The Royal George. Talked some more...laughed some more.
It was one of those perfect Saturday afternoons with friends. We all had a great time especially the Bride-to-be. |
| | Some photos from my "me" time on a Maundy Thursday.
I used our vintage lens, Fujinon 55 mm lens, which is a powerful tool for capturing photographs.
For the story, please read
Reflective "Me" Time on Maundy Thursday.
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Hello and good day from the rainy Land Down Under! Hope all of you are having a great week.
I was asked by one of my bloggy friends, Toni of Wifely Steps, to join in the celebration of her wedding and blog anniversary by sharing my own wifely steps.
It was such a great honour to be a part of her celebration so I especially wrote "Lessons Learned from Marital Fights" (click! click! click on the title) for her blog.
Please visit and share your thoughts. Thank you!
| | In celebration of Earth Hour this year, we joined by turning off all the lights and electric gadgets at home and stayed by the balcony for more than an hour. To make it more enjoyable, I prepared a chocolate fondue for us to share. |
| | Due to some drama on our new camera, Buknoy-->more on that later, we had to make an errand to the city to have it replaced. Unfortunately the branch in the City ran out of 7Ds so we were asked to go to their Bondi Junction Mall branch.
We took this as an opportunity to have lunch at their posh food court and for Chris to see Bondi Junction Mall for the first time.
After we accomplished what needed to get done, we had lunch, did some window shopping and had coffee at Laurent before we left. |
| | Great time, delicious food, good friends bonded by passion for photography.
Coffee date with Chris after work before we met up with John and James for Laura's model shoot.
Dinner at Pancakes at the Rocks with the rest of the gang: Larry, Jon, Val and Che.
Night shoot at Darling Harbour before we all went home.
Thanks to Larry, Jon and Val for the photos :)
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| | A short trip to the city that turned out "bring-my-wife-to-my-workplace-so-she-can-see-my-office" day. Not that I haven't been to Chris' office but since his building is so big, I haven't really explored much of it.
It so happened that there was some sort of Sesame Street exhibit in one of the rooms but there's really not much going in there. But I had so much fun exploring the lobby and garden of Chris' office. It's so posh!!! *sigh*
Had a bit of a photoshoot as we wanted to test the capabilities of the 7D. And that camera took my breath away. Seriously.
Chris took me to lunch at Regal Restaurant where he and his workmates always have Yum Cha :) We love yum cha!!!! And we love the Regal Restaurant because they serve the yummiest Roast Duck evah! :) I'm definitely coming back for more.
We went home after our late lunch and went straight to the shops near our place. Had a bit of window shopping and grocery, then decided to have coffee at Coffee Culture before going to church.
Another lovely Saturday. :)
Photos by Chris and Ivy Sanchez, Copyright 2010.
Canon 7D and 400D
Canon 17-85mm and 50mm
Canon Speedlites 430EX and 270EX
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| | Finally, the addition to our growing Canon family has happened.
We made a vow for 2009 not to buy any Canon gears because we focused more on home stuff (buying a car and refurbishing the guest room) and travel.
This year, as we would like to grow more in photography skills and experience, we decided to buy a Canon 7D, a more powerful gear compared to our 30D and 400D.
This is also our belated 3rd anniversary gift to each other as we didn't have gifts to each other on our anniversary.
While we were buying this camera at the store, Chris surprised me by buying me a Canon 270EX flash. I've always wanted to have a small Canon speedlite for my 400D and my soon-to-be-owned Canon G11 (fingers-crossed hehehe---I know, nauna pa ang flash, wala pa yung camera). When he bought it for me he said, "Happy birthday!!!" :). He didn't have any birthday gift for me in January because I said I didn't want any gifts but he still remembered. Awwww so sweet. :)
The best bonus of the night was buying the Canon EOS Crumpler bag for half the price.
By the way, the name of our Canon 7D is BUKNOY. :) |
| | The goal of the day was to buy vintage lenses at the Sydney Camera Market. So we asked our friend Jeanny to come with us so she can experience it as well and at the same time take her to some places in Sydney.
Chris and I were lucky to find a Fujinon 55mm vintage lens and a Fujica vintage camera (it came with a lens too--so that makes two vintage lenses) at very cheap prices. Thanks to our friend Jon who helped me out in finding a good lens.
We had lunch at the Sydney Fish Market and hang out at Star City for a bit.
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