Christmas Celebration

CHRISTMAS 2013

Our nine feet Christmas tree. It's too high and too big tree we have this year. I'm very thankful to my mother-in law and sister-in law with her daughter for helping us putting the tree after we celebrated Thanksgiving. All the ornaments and decorations were from my in laws that I kept last year holidays. I'm very happy of my decorations this year. I was little disappointed because the day I took pictures the memory card of my camera didn't work. I took more pictures but this was only I've got. And of course, Christmas is a big event in a year, people are spending for the decorations, gifts and food. We are in a budget but we able to prepared dinner for the family. My husband's cooked Southern style pork barbecue which everybody loved it. For the first time, I cooked turkey. On Christmas eve, my father-in law and his wife came with chicken wings and we had homemade cheese ball and crackers, pizza and carrot cake for dessert. On Christmas day, everybody in my husband's family came. My sister-in law brought some of the ingredients of sweet potato souffle and I fixed it. I baked some Filipino rice cake or we called it bibingka and puto. We had homemade cheese dip too. I'm sure everybody was happy, we gathered together at the dining table and shared the food while have conversation. You know, people said that Christmas is everyday but 25th of December is a special day, our Lord Savior's birthday! Happy holiday! May the spirit of Christmas brings happiness and love of Jesus Christ be on us throughout the year.

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving Dinner

Of course, thanksgiving won't be complete without turkey. Sorry I don't able to take picture of turkey dressing and giblet gravy Southern style cooking. My mother-in law prepared them in traditional way and my husband asked me to learn how to fix them and to show to our kids in the future. Hopefully I remember the steps not to depend on my notes:)

Biscuits

Mother-in law Lemon Pie

I baked my own sweet potatoes souffle for the first time. It turned out good! According to my sister-in law, "the best souffle she ever had" 

Mother-in law Corn bread

Super Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan

Super Typhoon Yolanda/ Haiyan hit Philippines

There's no days that I don't cry watching news, videos, reading articles about the devastation of super typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines. A lot of places where devastated but not like in Tacloban City where the major destruction happened. Tacloban City is the capital of the Philippines province of Leyte. It's approximately 360 miles southeast from Manila, the area is 77.88 sq miles with the population of 218.144 (2007). It's heartbreaking! Every time I think my homeland, the word that I can say is "I wanna go home, I want to see the reality, I wanna help personally" but I'm over thousands miles away. When I able to contact my family Friday noon (US time) and it was already 1AM (Philippines time) my sister-in-law said they were deadly tired. They were scared, the slashing wind and heavy rain that caused landslide in mountainous area of our town, flooded river and a lot of trees fell down in our village and the power was bogged down. Nobody hurt in my family and people in our town. Panay island is in Western Visayas region  was also hit by typhoon Yolanda. My hometown Leon is located in Southwestern part of Iloilo which is the highly urbanized city of Panay island. The biggest damaged of typhoon in Iloilo are towns located in Northern Iloilo. My sister-in-laws families in Sara town and Concepcion where devastated, their houses were washed out and their pump boat that help them for living was totally destroyed. Typhoon Yolanda or Haiyan as called internationally is the super typhoon tore the Philippines, Friday 8th of November 2013. Winds reached 235 kmh (147 mph), waves were as high 15 m (45 ft). The storm brought nearly 400 mm ( 15.75 inches) rain in some places. The BBC reported.

I'm very thankful for UN for sending help monetary and in kinds. Countries all over the world are hand in hands extending their comfort, sympathy, good thoughts and prayers to all Filipinos especially to affected families. Death toll is rising everyday and many are still missing. The survivors are still shocked and helpless waiting for the aids. Tacloban city had much destuctions according to the news "No more Tacloban left" the buildings, infrastructures, hospitals, schools, airport, houses were totally washed out. US militaries, navies and other countries are helping 24 hours giving food, relief to all survivors and digging rabbles to find missing people, gathering and cleaning the area. The sad thing is, where are the Philippine government? It's already 6 days, Tacloban city is still in the dark, no help from our own government, where's the president? Where are the senators and congressmen? Very pour and disorganized system. Only foreign countries allies are working and helping Tacloban. What a shame! When I saw news and one of the foreigner said "Give the monetary help to NGOs (Non Government Organizations) " to reliable persons to be sure that the help will go to the people not to the corrupt officials. Some foreign countries said "Don't give the relief goods or donations to the government". To the Philippine government this is an eye opener. Where's your conscience? Nobody trust any of you, YOU who are in positions now. God bless Philippines.

Amicalola Falls

Dawsonville, Georgia

The view

Amicalola Falls State Park Trail Map

The trail from the parking area

The trail going to the falls

The interesting view in the wood

The viewing area

Halloween 2013

Pumpkin Patch

Burts Pumpkin Farm at Dawsonville, Ga.

Halloween Props and Decorations

Pumpkins in all sizes

Signs everywhere

Wheelbarrows to haul pumpkins

The sign says: If you sit on a pumpkin you have bought it! They bruise easy and are likely damaged.

Halloween 2013

 Halloween Decoration

This will be my second year to celebrate Halloween in the States with my 13 month son. These are the decoration we bought last year for our son's first halloween. I remembered what my husband said that, Halloween is one of the biggest celebration in the States. I agree because the parents spend money in purchasing outfit for their kids, halloween parties, candies for treat or tricks. Last year, we asked my mother-in-law to babysit our baby while my husband and I had errands to do on halloween day. Of course I was surprised seeing people with their fancy outfit, creepy or scary looks, young and adult as well as children walking the street going to the stores and neighborhood for treats and tricks. In the subdivision we live in was crazy traffic, the cars parked everywhere, so crowded. We spent a lot for the candies, were kind of worried last year because of so many kids for treats or tricks we thought our candies wasn't enough, our door bell kept ringing until past 9 PM. It was a big relief when it was over. This year we received an invite from homeowners association that we will have halloween party, everybody is welcome. I think this will be more exciting, they have a lot of activities for the kids and adults. This will be fun! 

Cotton Plantation

Cotton 

It was my first time to see the cotton farm and I amazed.  My husband and I had been to bridal shooting while he was driving he kept looking at the clouds. It was very beautiful day! He was so tired and hungry and so do I. We went by in one of known Southern food restaurant and had late lunch after that he drove back on the way home. Surprisingly! He kept driving and we just past  the house and we ended up shooting the beautiful creation that day. He able to shoot the Ladds  mountain near our place which he was aiming to get some shots of the mountain and the clouds for a long time.  I'm sure he got some pretty pictures. The cotton plantation was suggested by his dad and he directed us how to go to this place. I was really speechless when I saw the huge cotton plantation. I felt I was floating in the sky, for me, it looked like clouds. It's all white on both sides of the road. I couldn't resist to grabbed my camera and took some shots while my husband was on the other side of the road busy taking pictures too. I'm happy of what I've got and it was a good opportunity for me to see the place. It's a beautiful creation indeed.

Cotton to harvest

Insects - Bee

Bee in action!

In our yard

Beautiful lilac rose and the bee

Photography

Southern Exposure Studio

This is our new logo for our photography page. My husband is working too hard to make this for living. We make ourselves available for any photo sessions and you can avail this for a cheaper and reasonable price. We do our best to make our clients happy and satisfied of what they really want as photography is concern. We are taking online photography classes to enhance our knowledge to make our work the best as we can. Upgrading gear and do more practice everyday inspires my husband and I being one of the best photographer as we become. We shoot engagement, bridal, wedding photos, senior's portrait, sports, landscape, pets and other family events. We keep ourselves available in your convenient time. Check out also my husband facebook page, Gerald Adams Photography. We'll appreciate very much for having business with us. Thank you for dropping by.

Frost Chapel

Frost Chapel at Berry College, Rome, Georgia

The church facade

The main entrance

The back entrance

The corridor

The altar

The church pews

Old Mill

Berry School's Old Mill

The side view

The History

Garden Club

Garden Club

It was my first time to join Garden Club meeting. I was curious about it so when my husband's step mom told me that she's a member of garden club I talked to my hubby if it's ok with him if I will join and attend every meetings. You know I can't drive and it will be a work for him to send and pick me up during meetings. I made it for the first time and able to met some of the members, you can see it on the picture above. It was a nice experience meeting other people. Through this club, ladies, retired women, mothers, homemakers, single women even husbands and wives can join. For two hours or over then that we started the meeting with a prayer led by Rev. Gloria, she's a preacher and she's the brain to build this group through the encouragement of her friends. After the prayer, she had a short message about the garden club and she turned over to the facilitator that day name Sheryn. Sheryn said, she attended garden club twice before. She let us introduced ourselves and she shared to us her experiences in garden club what we gonna do as members and how this club be successful followed by exchanging ideas, question and answer is a part of discussion.These are some of the questions, "As a beginner what kind of plants I supposed to grow?", "What are the plants are to be planted in Fall/Autumn season?", "What season we supposed to start planting trees?", "What are the plants we can grow indoor?" These questions are answered by sharing ideas of everybody. How about you can you share your knowledge and ideas with us? I will look forward for that. After the discussion, one of the member name Mary, she loves gardening and attended a lot of garden club before gave us fresh flowers from her own garden. She arranged them in a vase with water as you can see in our photo above. The club meeting ended with snacks brought by the members. It was fun! The Garden Club meeting is every the second Saturday of the month at three o'clock in the afternoon. Come and join!

The venue: At the back of the house of Rev. Gloria. 

The Garden

The path walk from the entrance door of the building to the back of the building.

Behind the building

Beside the building

The front yard

Farmers Market

Global  Market

It was amazing day! We visited one of the biggest farmer's market in Atlanta, Ga. I called it global market because I found out that a lot of merchandise are from other countries. They categories all the products by countries. It is very easy to find the things you need. The security is very tight in and outside the market. The staffs are helpful and of course you have chance to meet other people from other countries and listen to different languages. Not only that, at the food court they have a little counter for each country where they cook their own special dishes for free taste and for sale. As I said, the store is well kept, the American products has biggest selection as well European and Hispanic. In Asian they classified each country like, one isle is all Chinese products, other isle is Korean, the same for Thai, Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. The fresh produce is in the other corner which is full of different variety of fruits and vegetables from all over the world. I also saw a wide selection of fresh flowers and plants. I didn't see the whole store, I wanted to go to see their meat or fish section but I didn't want to messed up with my little son so just walked around the Asian isle.  On the picture above, those are some of the items we bought. I got Bibingka and Puto Mix, they are Filipino delicacies I'm missing. Some sardines, sticky rice, noodles, Chinese sauce and Thai chili paste and powder and etc. I was looking forward for Filipino food that day like "lechon" or roasted pork but we arrived there late. My husband got some Korean kimchi, Korean pork barbecue and some kind of lobsters, I forgot the exact name and I also felt bad of not taking picture of those foodies. Yes, next time I'm sure we will go back there. It's not far at all, it takes 45 minutes to drive from our place, you can check Buford Highway Farmers Market 4.5 star rating253 reviews Rating Details Categories: Ethnic Food, Grocery [Edit] 5600 Buford Hwy NE Doraville, GA 30340 For groceries and daily needs this is the best market to go. Go and see!

First Birthday

Our Son's First Birthday

Yes, our son just turned one. He is so precious to us, the fact is he's our first child. There are times that so hard for both of us as a new parents but we learned a lot by doing. I'm very dependent to my husband, he is very strong person and he does everything not to harm our little angel. Now, our baby is getting bigger. Time flies so fast. He is starting to walk and saying many words. We can tell that he is smart too. He is mimicking actions and say the words we are teaching every time. He is our happiness, our sunshine as what my husband says. I don't want him to grow older because I want him always as my little angel. I may sound crazy but I think most mothers everywhere thought about that. Anyway, he is always our precious angel and we thank our Almighty God for giving us a healthy and good looking son. We, the parents are very proud.

Baby Food

Baby First Table Food

Our son is 11 months, in a few days he will be celebrating his 1st year birthday. We started giving him 2nd stage food when he was 6 months. He likes all the flavors like; mixed fruits, fruits and grains, meat and vegetables, grains and vegetables, grains and meat. I'm happy to feed him because you don't need to ask him to open his mouth just to feed him, he's the one opening his mouth ready for food. Sometime, we let him try a little pinch of table food we eat. Now, he's almost a year so, today I decided to cooked fresh vegetables. What I did is, boiled the water, add cooked white rice until smooth and soften then, add small slices of Chinese pumpkin, carrots and a little brocolli, boil again until the vegetables cooked very well so that it's easy to be mashed. I decided not to blend it so that he will use to the texture of what he is eating. When I gave it to him, at first he was curious trying to taste what he is eating and I can see on his frowning face with his wrinkled nose puzzled "what's mama giving me"? and he tried to cleaned his mouth with his hands. I thought he won't like this. I have to do something else so that he can eat. So, what crossed in my mind was a banana, he likes to eat fresh banana. I've got a banana sliced, mashed and mixed to his food. Wow! it works. He ate all in the bowl. I'm happy for my son accomplishment that day. I just wanted to give him fresh and healthy food and learn to eat more fruits, vegetables and of course home cooked food. 

Church Wedding Decoration and Reception

Church Wedding Decoration

This is what we come up for the church wedding decoration. In the middle of the altar we used the light stand for the photography both sides then, Christmas light dripping icicles at the back of the white fabric and plastic red roses pinned on the fabric. The isle was decorated with red and white tulle formed into flowers and plastic white petals scattered on the floor. I'm kind of disappointed with this photo because I forgot to turn on the lights in the middle background before taking picture, not bad though. What do you think? Please, say something about my work. Thank you.

Guest Book Signing Table.

Center Piece

Bride and Groom's Table

Church

Center Baptist Church

This will be my first time to help my husband to shoot wedding. We went to this church which our clients will have their wedding on September 7th. We surveyed the place to see where the best spot to take some shots and to test our camera and camera lights. It will be exciting experience for me yet I'm nervous. Hopefully we can capture Aj and Nicole's precious moments on their wedding day. I'll be posting wedding portraits soon. Wish us luck!

Easy and Quick Homemade Meatloaf Recipe

Homemade Meatloaf

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef

2 eggs - well beaten

1 medium onion - finely chopped

2 cloves garlic - minced

1 cup bread crumbs

1 cup milk

2 tbsp brown sugar

ground black pepper and salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree fahrenheit 

2. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, beaten egg, chopped onion, milk, bread crumbs, pepper and salt and mix well.

3. Lightly grease 9x13 inches pan and form the mixture into a loaf.

4. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and ketchup. Mix well and pour on top of meatloaf.

5. Bake for 1 hour.

This is my homemade meatloaf served with mashed potatoes and fried okra or lady's fingers. For the recipe of my mashed potatoes and fried okra, I may post next time. Hope you're enjoying my simplest, quickest and tasty food. Thank you for following my blog.

Easy and Quick Spiral Macaroni and Chicken Soup

Spiral Macaroni and Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups of spiral macaroni pasta 

3 chicken breast - cooked and shredded

1/2 cup of carrots - thinly sliced

 

1/2 tsp ginger - finely sliced

1 medium onion - minced

3 cloves garlic - minced

1 chicken cube

2 tbsp of scallion - finely chopped

1 tsp soy sauce

ground black pepper and salt to taste

4 cups tap water

Preparation:

1. In a deep pan boiled the chicken until cooked, drain the water, cool it down until ready to be shredded.

2. Cook the spiral macaroni pasta in a deep pan until tender. Drain it and put aside.

3. Heat a deep pan with 1 tbsp of cooking oil. Saute onion, garlic, ginger and chicken cube.

4. Add shredded chicken, mix well and add soy sauce, salt and ground black pepper.

5. Pour 4 cups of tap water and bring to boil.

6. Add carrots and cooked spiral macaroni pasta. Simmer for 2 - 3 minutes.

7. Garnish with finely chopped scallion. Serve while hot.