{ su m m e r }

it's getting to be colder, though slowly.
& not like the usual 10 inches of snow that drops overnight in chicago
+ the single degree weather.
i am anticipating it. i feel as if i am prepared for it now.
but still, i am not looking forward to it.


found this roll of film i forgot to develop from this past midwest road trip.

i miss summer already

summer is almost over!

I can't believe it's already September.
The last half of the year goes by way faster than the first half.
This 3-day weekend was perfect for recharging.
I can smell fall and the holidays in the coming months.
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.

midweek breakdown

My friends road tripped here this past weekend and it already feels like it was such a long time ago. This week has been pretty long. It's been a week since Lola left for the Philippines and Sofia had to go back to daycare. Adrienne also gave birth to Leila on Tuesday. And it's been really hot which equals to a very irate me. I really wish fall would come soon and I wish for a weekend getaway to Boston or Baltimore or Philadelphia. I need to go somewhere. The only thing that keeps me sane are photographs and taking pictures. I was very annoyed at myself when I dropped the camera and exposed the film after taking pictures with/of my friends. And it's not very often I get to take pictures of people other than Sofia or Andrew or random strangers.











Andrew was mad that I used up all his Fuji Pro film. I feel half bad that I did, because I really like it, but I wish I would've taken better pictures with it.

*edit: I changed my layout to look like my old xanga page. It feels a bit more comfortable to me now.

arts & crafts

I've been feeling the need to do some arts 'n crafts. I finally found a Michael's near me so I'll be hitting that up. This morning I kept thinking, "an art project a month/week/day will keep the doldrums away." And so it's decided, I will start on projects and depending on how big the project is will try to complete at least one every month.

More pics from Pitts. Responsible for this need to be all crafts-y.

We'll see how this goes.

"Wildcard", indie handmade paper goods store


"everyone an artist"


"Society for Contemporary Crafts" gallery


quilt art work

must be the colors & the kids

Day 2: Explored Lawrenceville

This area is quite interesting and reminded me a little bit of Brooklyn. A lot of new boutiques, furniture stores, cafe's and consignment shops along side old ma & pa stores and homes of people that's been there all their lives.

Also, I really loved the random splashes of color anywhere we looked and how each house differ so greatly from one another. Part of it reminds me of Seattle, how nature meets urban life. With all the bridges and hills and rivers surrounding it, the geographic make up of Pittsburgh makes me feel like each road I turn on will have something new for me to discover. There are lots of nooks and crannies waiting to be explored. An uncharted territory!

City of Bridges

Day 1: Drove to the strip and had breakfast at Deluca's.

Then we rode the Monongahela Incline to see the city scape.
See here for a better picture of the incline and a thorough explanation.

"Pittsburgh is world record holder for bridges with piers, beating Venice, Italy."

my baby turned 2!

Happy Birthday my sweet baby.

Pittsburgh, Pa. yinz hear?

I miss Pittsburgh. I think we left our hearts there. We're still obsessing about it and daydreaming about moving there. Yes this city moved up in my #1 spot of cities to live in. I guess I'll be inching my way across the map to the Pacific Northwest.

Delicious donuts from "Peace, Love & Tiny Little Donuts".
(coconut, oreo cookies, powdered chocolate, sicilian w/ sea salt & glazed)


decisions, decisions.


Went to this coffee shop two days in a row and the barista already
remembered what we wanted. Instant regulars!

"midwest is best" road trip

"For the record, West Virginia has strict anti-incest laws."

"midwest is best" road trip

Day 7, Wednesday: En route to Pittsburgh, PA we passed through the tip of West Virginia.

As we crossed this bridge coming from OH, we noticed this little historic town &
decided to take a detour. Turned on some random streets and found this area.

We didn't stay too long. Though the little town had a lot of beautiful bridges and historical buildings , there was something about it that was amiss. To be honest, and I know this may sound ignorant, but the people there sort of creeped us out. It seriously reminded us of those movies about urbanites getting lost in some small town and never making it out alive. Our theory was that there was something in the water, or we wonder whether incest is legal in this state, because some of the people there was just... not right. So we made sure we were out of there before dark.

Thinking about all of this, I just decided to wiki Wheeling, WV, and lo and behold:
"The origins of the name "Wheeling" are disputed. One of the more credible explanations is that the word comes from the Lenni-Lenape phrase "wih link", which meant "place of the head." This supposedly referred to a white settler who was scalped and decapitated. His severed head was left on display at the confluence of Wheeling Creek and the Ohio River."
Well, this explains it all! Oh by the way, we drove all the way up the tip of WV and saw an oil refinery along the river. Hello, toxic exposure...

On a lighter note, John Corbett is from Wheeling, WV and I just found out he's dating Bo Derek.

"midwest is best" road trip

I just realized I didn't take any pictures of Chicago with film, just digital. It's funny because I uploaded film faster than digital. I'm being lazy right now to go through all the pictures that's in there and picking the ones I actually like. So I guess I'll skip that for now and show you pictures from my sister's house in Dayton, OH.

Day 6: We left Chicago Tuesday morning and decided to stop over my sister's on the way to Pittsburgh. Which works out perfectly because it's halfway to PA and we don't have to pay for a hotel. We got to check out a couple of Goodwill stores while we were there, but I didn't find anything, except for a $5 simple black Burberry dress in my sister's size. I had to convince her to get it too because she's not really into designer/name brand stuff, but even if it wasn't a "Burberry" dress, I thought it was still pretty.

This is the first time I'm using this camera and I like it.


Jhayda's such a great kid. She has this innocence about her and imagination that I wish I had as a kid. She paints, draws and writes stories. She's really good at taking care of her little brother and Sofia while we were there.

Jhaxie's collection. He just turned 5. He is still very much into dinosaurs and animals and has recently started getting into Pokemon. When he was 3 he knew more about dinosaurs that I ever did my entire life. He started reading last year. He's such a clever boy, but he can be very emotional and mischievous at times.

Sofia loved spending time with her cousins and still asks me every now and then: "Ate?"
(which means "big sister")