After several months of not having a single photo together, I’d say my family and I finally got to declare sweet revenge. Two hours, three albums, and 200+ pictures later, we could say that revenge was best served in a myriad of poses.
Continue reading “Rethinking the Family Portrait: Our Day at the Trick Eye Museum”
After back-to-back days of nature-tripping in Melbourne, we hurled ourselves back to the urban jungle, this time in the heart of Sydney! It was a cool coincidence that we arrived just in time for Australia Day. Festivities were in full swing in almost every nook, despite the unusual rainy weather. On the train, I glimpsed at kids and adults alike proudly bearing the Union-Jack on their board shorts, capes and even temp tattoos. Continue reading “Yey for Australia Day in Sydney!”
Everyone has their destination must-do; for Geebee, it was to see the Penguin Parade at Phillip Island. Fortunately, it wasn’t that difficult at all to arrange a day trip. It took us just a couple of sites before we set our hearts upon the fairly-priced Phillip Island package offered by Wildlife Tours.
We sneaked in a quick breakfast jaunt at the Queen Victoria Market, before rushing back to the hostel, where our tour coach was to pick us up at 11 am. Continue reading “Happy Feet and the Wildlife of Australia”
Coming across Paulo Coelho’s story of Ali, Aydi and the fire of friendship, I immediately thought of this gorgeous throng of kindred spirits from childhood that I am blessed to have.
As 2011 was the year I was reunited with my blood sisters, I felt that 2011 was also the year for another batch of my sisters — Bugsy. The year that just had past was momentous, to say the least — it was the year that Rina left the nest for Boston, that Tonette released her biggest film TO DATE, that KE launched their first Sole Sister mall store, that Bugsy itself pulled off our first overseas trip. Whew. A lot of leaps of faith in that list, and I’m pretty much sure I left out a lot more.
Thanks to Bugsy for being my beacons, for making me smile with the random posts and messages, for inspiring me to better myself whenever my will falters, for never failing to remind me of who I am before we were hurled into the world of career paths, credit ratings, and all the uglies of adulthood. Yes, 2012 might appear blah compared to all the adventures we had in 2011, but then again, who knows, it might be even better!
In the Gagno residence, we have a gaggle — a gaggle of 5 spunky girls, each of whom went their own way as they grew up, with literally an ocean between them. Yet I would remember 2011 as the year that brought all of us together under the same roof, after 5 long years of never being in the same country. Continue reading “2011’s Gift of Sisters Galore (a.k.a. the ‘Ganda-mo-teh’ post)”
I was idly surfing de-stressing between conf calls at work when I stumbled upon this ghost from my past. Visual Complexity was one of the lovelier finds I had back in the days of my brief fling with graduate studies.
I was drawn to Data Visualization as it was the marriage of 2 things I loved — graphic art + shameless geek-dom. Continue reading “When Geek Goes Artsy-Fartsy”
It was during my layover at HongKong that I learned that my father has passed away while I was dozing on the flight back from Toronto. After several episodes of crying in the departure terminal like a heartbroken OFW that had to leave her sweetheart behind, a thought consoled me — in the moments right after he passed away, I was the closest one to him, all the way up there in the clouds.
I’ve been meaning to post the pics below, although I did not imagine I’ll be putting them up now in such a grave light. Continue reading “On keeping and letting go”
Fenway Park’s a fun place to visit even if you know zilch about baseball (I sashayed in wearing a Miami Heat jersey — wrong sport, for crying out loud!). One thing I discovered was that Boston was home to probably the most loyal fan base of the sport. Locals speak of their home team (and ballpark!) with much pride. Probably the only thing that can match their worship of the Red Sox is their fervent hate of the Yankees. Continue reading “Having a Field Day in Boston”
This is one lady that does not need an introduction. Imposing, alluring, heart-stirring, the Statue of Liberty is one of those landmarks that make you say, ‘Yes, Dorothy, you’ve arrived.’ Continue reading “Thoughts on Liberty”
My sister kidded that maybe I should consider being a journalist instead, since I keep running into the Occupy movements as I move around. We chanced upon Occupy Toronto on a drive downtown, and we literally walked into an Occupy protest march while in Montreal.
The one campsite that I did deliberately flock to was the mother of the movement — the Occupy Wall Street base in Zuccoti Park. I had to see it for myself. Perhaps more than anything, there was this intense desire to witness why these men and women, who had the sheer luck to be born in an affluent nation, have grown so discontent that they had to take to the streets. Shameful it might be to admit, but having grown up in a third world country that has more or less given up in expecting any sort of productivity from its own government, I guess I sort of felt smug. I was genuinely puzzled, and I had this need to understand how protestors on this side of the world felt and what they had to say. Continue reading “Crossing Paths with Occupy Wall Street”
Good morning, sunshine!
Grab a bagel, gulp down that cup of joe, then head off to the Met to start off your day. The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens at 9:30 am, and offers a Highlights tour almost every hour starting at 10:45-ish, to help you find your way through this mammoth of an art refuge.
Unless you plan on spending the whole day to comb the gazillion of tributes to divine craftsmanship, I suggest that you do your research in advance and just choose the galleries that you really want to see. The Met caters to all kinds of fanatics — from devotees of the classic and the ancient, to aficionados of the edgy and modern, from the earthy to the whimsical — there’s something for everyone. It still blows my mind to think about how they managed to get all those glorious works of art under one roof — it’s as if the Celestial Star of Everything-Almighty-in-the-World-of-Art wandered into the museum and suddenly burst, just leaving globs of awesome all over the place. Continue reading “How to Spend an Artsy Fartsy Day in NY”
From Dusk
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve cried during the Empire State Building scene in Sleepless in Seattle (who hasn’t?). I never actually thought that one day, I’ll be riding the same elevator ride to the top of the same building, hopefully to catch sight of the love of my life. Continue reading “The Rock, the Empire and the Big Apple”
.: ishcapades 