Sweet and Clueless

I've been going through old photos and found this. This is actually just the size of a regular post-it. We don't have a scanner so I basically just take photos of everything. Anyway, I found this drawing lying on the table a couple months back. I meant to blog about it then but I don't know, it slipped me. Anyway, when I saw it, I was like "awww...". This was obviously just some random doodle and was not meant to be given to me. And that's exactly what makes it incredibly sweet.

Isn't it just nice when your beloved is being sweet and he doesn't even know it? It's almost like a romantic movie moment. So, so, so in love! (* heart eyes*) (* day dreams*)

What about you, what's your "sweet and clueless" story?

tags: activities, activity, he is so sweet, simple ways to be sweet, Sweet and Clueless

Our Magic-al Date

Naldo and I were being spontaneous last Saturday and so we woke up really early just to attend the Magic 2012 or M12 pre-release launch at Eton Cyberpod Corinthian. The original plan was for me-Shirl to join the MTG tournament. The registration fee was PhP 1200 and with that you get:

a seat at the tournament

6 Magic 2012 booster packs,

and 1 promo card (Bloodlord of Vaasgoth).

Unfortunately, I didn't get to join. We thought they were going to provide Magic 2012 dueling packs to registered players but they did not and I didn't bring a deck with me. =( Naldo suggested we get a new deck but I thought we've only been playing for a week. Hahaha! Yes we're completely newbies and there I was trying to join the tournament. Anyway, so yeah we've only had our deck for a couple of days and I didn't want us to be buying new ones yet. So we just observed a little bit, checked a few trader's folders and went to have lunch.

Here's a glimpse of the M12 cards. They are pretty nasty. =)

After lunch, Naldo wanted to check a Magic store in SM Megamall and so we headed there. But before more Magic, we had a detour. There was a Gundam Caravan workshop going on.

At first we just wanted to have a free catalog...

but we learned that we get to take home a Gundam SD if we join the SD building and painting contest.

Win or lose, the SD Gundam is yours- who can refuse that? It's totally free. There's no registration fee and you don't have to buy anything to join. All you have to do is attend the workshop- which we did.

If I had brought my deck, we would not have been able to take home these cuties!

That's it for today! Hope you're happy!

We ♥ Beach

We went to a beach in Bataan. The resort wasn't Boracay-material but it was nice. You know how some resorts offer activities like snorkeling, diving, water skiing, etc., this beach resort didn't have anything like those. They also didn't have videoke -thank goodness! It was very provincial - very quiet. Seeing how laid back the environment and just being there was very relaxing. Our plan was to laze and we sure did.

This flower fell right in front of me and I couldn't resist taking a photo of it.

“Play in the sand; splash in the water; get dirty; get wet. The beach is the only place my mom doesn’t get mad about me doing that stuff. Of course I love the beach!”

--Dixie Dykens

"At the beach, life is different. Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides and follow the sun."

--Unknown

"There is nothing more musical than a sunset."

-- Claude Debussy

Some photographs taken against the light are pretty awesome. We'll be doing this more often.

Bubbles are the closest thing to fairy dust.

"I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day."

--Vincent Van Gogh

The colorful lights made the nearby resorts look like a carnival.

We light painted though the night.

We just thought that light painting is also a great way to propose marriage or tell your girlfriend that you love her. All you have to do is wait 'till it's dark and set your camera to long exposure mode. Have your girlfriend stand by the camera. About ten steps away from the camera (or more so long as it is within the viewfinder), write your message using a flash light. She won't really see what you're writing because it's dark. She probably won't even know what you're doing. The camera will take a while in processing the photo so make sure she keeps her eye on the LCD. When the photo appears, she surely will be surprised.

Indeed it is true that it doesn't matter where you are but whom you're with. You can be in the simplest of all places and have the most fantastic time. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Claw Machine

After an exhausting seven hours of waiting at a certain government office (cough* LTO), we went to World of Fun arcade yesterday night.

Having only fifty pesos worth of tokens, we set our eyes on their claw vending machines. Guess what... we won two very kawaii plush toys! =)

Naldo controlled the claw while I crossed-fingers. It was absolutely equal work! Hehe! =D

Anyway, we usually take home all sorts of items from playing arcade games but this was our first time to be successful with the claw machine. Here are some of the prizes (Heffalump included) we've won from Timezone.

Tofu right below is the first plush we've won at the arcade. It is now in our car.

That's it for now. Hope you're having a great week. =)

A Snowman Story

This is a real story but since we've always loved fairy tales, we'll start it with once upon a time. Here it goes.

Once upon a time (June 14, 2010 to be exact) in a not so far away land, Shirl was ransacking her drawer in search of paper clips, or was that ribbons something. As she was going through her stuff, she found one of her Kera plast air-drying modeling clay packs already opened and starting to dry up. Not wanting to waste it, she decided to sculpt something awesome like a mermaid or a dragon. However lacking skills, Shirl decided to create something nice instead.

She was really happy about her snowman and named him Chico. After that, Chico went to her toy display cabinet and had been forgotten.

Five months later (November 29, 2010 to be exact), their aunt from Australia came to visit and brought them a snowgirl. The snowgirl was supposed to go on their Christmas tree but Shirl had a better place for her.

Shirl was so thrilled and introduced the snowgirl to Chico. It was love at first sight. Shirl put the snow couple back in the display cabinet and both lived happily ever after.

Happy Holidays everyone! May love be your gift this Christmas and your blessing all year through.

Another Ghibli Moment

Last Sunday afternoon, Naldo and I were out on the rice field taking pictures of God's hidden creatures. When suddenly this butterfly flew to Naldo and landed on his thumb.

It must have taken some liking for him because it chose to stay all throughout the time we were there. Well, it flew from time to time like when Naldo moved but it always managed it's way to us whether on him, on me or on the tripod.

Good thing I realized to take a video so we can remember the moment. After all, the scene is very "Ghibli-ish", don't you think?

Happy Easter Everyone!

Instead of the usual egg hunting...
What we had was egg racing.
Happy Easter! Happy Spring!
May this video keep you smiling!

Timezone Portrait

We were an hour earlier than our movie so we went to Timezone to kill time. We haven't gone there for a while. We certainly lost our stacking skills so zero prize this time. (Sniff!) (Sniff!) We spent our remaining credits on this portrait machine. This was our second time so we just made silly faces and this was the cutest.

Music is "It's not just make believe" by Kari Kimmel. We definitely do NOT own it. This is merely a video blog.

How Sweed It Is To Be Loved By You!

One December afternoon as they were strolling down the village, Naldo picked and handed a light brown thin-walled, papery, inflated capsule-like fruit to Shirl. He then asked her to open it for the surprise it contains. Shirl opened it slowly making sure not to drop the surprise for she was certain that it would be small. Inside were THREE black seeds with white PERFECT HEART markings on them. Shirl smiled. Naldo got a kiss.

These seeds are from the plant called Balloon Vine with the scientific name Cardiospermum grandiflorum ("fuusen-kazura"). The brown fruits of the Balloon Vine always have 3 seeds inside- perfect for saying "i love you". Those 3 little seeds will truly be appreciated by your special someone. It's simple, sweet and naturally impressive. So if you come across this weed, don't forget to pick one balloon. Make sure you get the BROWN one because the seeds in the green ones aren't fully developed yet.

That's all for this post. Thank you for reading!

How to make Char Aznable's Helmet

Last time at the Anime Overload Festival, a lot of people asked Naldo "Where is your helmet, Char?". So due to public demand, he decided to make one. Yeah, yeah we know there are better ways to do it but this is our version.

YPQs (Your Possible Questions)
1. Experience level in making helmets:
-Level 1 (first-time)

2. How long did it take to finish?
-Half a day

3. What materials were used?
-a really cheap safety helmet
-tape measure
-marker
-pattern paper or newspaper will do
-illustration board
-handy bow saw
-sand papers (cc400cw)
-a dozen of the smallest screws and nuts
-cutter and scissors
-sticky tape
-duct tape
-spatula
-mask
-polyester body filler or putty used for cars (you can get this from any hardware stores) + hardener
-airbrush
-surface primer
-white spray paint (400cc)

4. How to make it?

STEP1: Remove the inner foam of the helmet.

STEP2: As you can see in the picture, the "peak" or "bill" of Char's helmet is more of a V while the safety helmet we have is more of a U.
STEP 3: Draw a V. Make sure you find the center point.

STEP4: Following the mark you've made, saw the bill. You don't have to use too much force when sawing.


STEP5: Sand the rough edges of the sawed bill.

Step 6:Using this reference photo, draw the helmet's "back arc" (sorry we don't know how else to call it) on a pattern paper. Cut and paste it on your helmet to see if it fits and if it's the right length on you.

STEP7: Once you've finalized the pattern, trace it on your illustration board and cut.

STEP8: Then, screw the board on your helmet.

If you want to have that slightly arc effect at the bottom, cut a triangle then bent it outwards a little bit. Cover it up with duct tape.

STEP9: Apply putty to cover the screws and to make the helmet and board look as if they're one piece. By the way, please don't forget to wear mask. The putty smell can be really strong.

STEP10: Let the putty dry.
STEP11: When it's dry, the surface will be very uneven. So sand it.

It doesn't have to look smooth but it has to FEEL smooth. If after sanding and you still notice hollow parts, just cover the small holes with putty. Dry then sand again.

STEP12: Paint it with surface primer. You may hand-paint if you want but Naldo used air-brush. It's way faster. Then wait for it to dry.

STEP13: Make the W. We won't be giving instructions on how to do it since it's really easy.

STEP 14: After you're done with the W, attach it to the helmet. There are so many ways, you can double tape, glue or screw it. It really depends on you.

STEP15: Spray Paint.
STEP16: Let it dry and voila!

If you don't want to go through all the trouble of making your own, there's this (refer to photo below) for sale. As to where and how to get it, we are not really sure. Even we ourselves couldn't find it. We think it may be only available in Japan or maybe it can be ordered online.

Anyway, we hope we helped and if you have more questions, the comments box is below.

p.s. Here's a photo of the putty and the hardener we're talking about.