Chasing Dreams

[Photo heavy, you have been warned.]

I take a lot of photos (you know that already), and sometime ages ago, I got hooked with digital scrapbooking too. But lately I enjoy doing traditional scrapbooking again. There’s something about putting together patterned papers, instant photographs, and library sticker labels that make me fall in love, in the same way I love keeping and writing on journals.

Here’s something I did last December. I wish I have more time doing non-digital stuff like these.

I love browsing through a completed scrapbook project, but the process is long and can be really frustrating (because it takes time, something I don’t exactly have so much of.) You know what I’d really like to have in the Philippines right now? I want Project Life to be available in local art stores and specialty stores here. Is that even possible, Becky Higgins? I could really use a hassle-free way of preserving photographs. Project Life would have been a breeze. :)

Oh well, in the meantime, I make use of whatever we have in this side of the world. Here’s what’s inside my little scrapbook project:

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I’m very brand-loyal. When I found the right brand of pen, you bet that’s the only brand you’d ever see me buy. Same goes with cosmetics. And laptops. And journals.

Picking up my first Peter Pauper Press journal was random. I got the first blue floral-printed journal that caught my attention from a pile of stuff at a FullyBooked counter at the start of 2011. Since then, I never bought any other brand of notebook other than PPP.

I had a total of 7 journals last year, including the one I’m writing on right now. Allow me to share photos of them because they’re just too photogenic! And they’re actually prettier in real life than the ones you see on their product catalog!

It’s difficult finding them here in Manila, so when I was in New York, I hoarded a couple of pieces from Barnes and Noble. Later on I learned that if you looked hard enough, you’d find them at some National Bookstore, Power Books and Fully Booked branches. I love them so much I started buying them not just for myself but to give to some friends as well.

To make it sweeter, I’ve so far made sure I didn’t get the same design twice. (Hover over the photos to see the captions.)

Their paper is usually plain white and finely-ruled, but once in a while you get yourself a little surprise. Some of these notebooks come with dainty little prints like these:

Cute no?

I’ve made myself visible online all these years, blogging, twitting, posting here and there; but nothing still compares to writing things down old school way—paper, ink, and heart. My journals are the keeper of my most honest thoughts and musings, my most daring prayers, and even my dried-up tears on its pages.

I love the thought that long after my blog sites are abandoned, my eyesight too blurry to see the computer screen, and my hand too shaky to type on a computer keyboard, I still have trinkets of my life preserved in a box-full of journals, which, hopefully, I’d get to hand down to my kids.

27/30: Typography. I love words and fonts. I can spend hours browsing these sites, drooling and staring at fonts I can’t afford. I’ve collected fonts through the years and I feel so bad for failing to keep a back-up. You see, when that creep (whoever he is) stole our MacBooks, he also stole my font collection. *sad face*

Anyway, enough about things we can’t anymore change. (:

Imagine my restlessness when I was choosing fonts to use for our wedding invites. I must have changed the layout and the fonts ten thousand times. In the end, agreeing that we want the invites to look simple and modern, we settled with Avenir, Chapparal Pro, this pretty (and not to mention free!) sans serif Bebas Neue, and a vintage script, BallPark Weiner. Those fonts are all over our love story too.

And.. I have nothing more to say today. :P

Last 3 photographs, coming up!

11/30: Something blue. Instead of getting the ladies in my entourage corsages, I gave them these custom-made satin floral accessories in shades of blue. They came with matching pairs of earrings too. They’re so pretty I regret I didn’t order more.

The idea was to give them something they can keep wearing long after the wedding day is over. True enough, once in a while I’d see my girlfriends wear them even in ordinary occasions and it makes me really happy when they do. (:

It’s been almost two months since, but I love that our wedding left little traces of love here and there. It’s like being reminded in random moments that yes, it really happened.

2/30: Outfit. You only get to wear that long white dress once.

“You saw me wear white by pale candlelight, I said forever to what lies ahead.” 
~I Am, Nichole Nordeman

My wedding gown was custom-made by my friend Ivy‘s Lola, who, for the record, was also the one who made the dresses I wore to my JS Prom, Graduation Ball, and Debut. There were just too many bridal gowns and couturiers out there, too many choices off-the-rack too. And trust me when I say that I looked far and wide for the perfect dress (and dress maker). At the end of the day, I just knew that Lola Doming was the only one I can entrust my wedding gown to, and I was right. Empire cut, halter-strap, laces and beads, and a flowy, A-line chiffon skirt — the dress was everything I imagined it to be.

It’s amazing how God takes care of even the smallest of details in His grand scheme of things, you know? (:

Photo on the left was taken by my dear friend, Sheila Catilo; and the one on the right was taken by my brother, Nate Sanchez.