Finally getting back to Pole training. It was my second day today and, my muscles are starting to remember their tricks! I worked on mostly tricks with this twisted grip. My next challenge is to do an aerial handspring! And lately, I’m getting used to hanging in this grip. Yey!

I took this photo with my iPhone in dim lighting, which is why it’s so grainy. I actually added the blur in the BG, just to give it a little depth. It seemed off that it didn’t have any grain, so I added some noise to that as well. Then, the rest is just grading.

I’ve finally posted on my tumblr, if you’d like to visit. I post mostly my pole photos and instagram shots there.

(So annoyed that my lips are pursed here >_<)

I went to Phuket, Thailand last weekend and I got some pretty good shots. These are my favorites right here. I’ve already been posting some on Instagram but these ones I did some real post on. But, I kind of stuck with the Instagram / Hipstamatic look.

We stayed in Nipa Resort

Small, but had a gorgeous pool

Which was a short walk away from Patong Beach

I was there with my lovely oz girls

While there were a lot of colorful umbrellas for shade

Some of us wanted a little sun on their backs

Connie’s enjoying her new 200 baht shades.

But what’s the beach,

without a some alcohol?

SangSom, Thai Rum

But I’m not the only Alco in the family. Here’s Rhea with her MASSIVE San Mig light.

We got some night market food too

I had some seafood

Rochelle got some juicy kebabs

While Kat and Connie, well…

We toured around for a day and rode an Elephant,

and drove ATVs.

At night, we watched some Muay Thai

and went to Bangla Road. But what happens in Bangla, will stay in Bangla.

Finally, just to mark my Phuket trip, a little guerrilla pole

I graded this photo in Adobe Lightroom. It was quite interesting! I didn’t know there was a brush and gradient tool that you can play around with. I’ve only used the basic color and curves options for when I do a quick grade for bulk photos. Since, I’ve got loads of time to burn, I decided to poke around. I think it’s good enough if you’re not doing major post.

I’m going to go play around and make presets now…

Thanks sis!

My sister and I used to fight a lot. But, that’s what you get when you’re 6 years apart, right? I think I was just jealous of the attention she got, being the new kid in the family. I would always hate it when she do the things I do and copy every move that I make. I didn’t want a “mini me”.

But now, we’re getting along better and we’ve made an identity for ourselves. We’ve got our own styles and differences but we still share some interests, like art, photography, piano and pole dancing. Although, I’m more advanced in pole, she’s been dancing ballet more than half her life.

And, it looks like she might end up in the same industry as I am. I don’t mind, as long as she doesn’t get into the same line of work. Another trait we share is competitiveness. So, I really wouldn’t wanna see what that’s like.

Yea, that’s a real HP 7.2 teaser!

Z’s gifts were Harry Potter themed this year. He also got me a Gryffindor scarf, a small deck of the other teasers (which I plan to frame too) and these cute button pins of anime versions of the leads.

It is indeed a very happy Christmas. And, it’s not because of that gift. But because of all the love all around. It’s so great to be with family and good friends, just eating, drink and laughing!

Enjoy the rest of the holidays!

I LOVE wrapping gifts! Unfortunately, materials are really expensive, especially ribbons. Sometimes, I end up with a packaging more expensive than the gift itself! Over the years, I’ve tried alternatives to the materials, like, newspaper and manila paper. Last year, I found this huge roll of brown paper for less than 200php in national! So, since then, I’ve been using that as a wrapper and just made awesome ribbons! But, ribbons are also expensive and I really need to save up for my Phuket trip in January.

So, this year, I decided to ditch the ribbons and put cellophane over the brown paper! They look like Yema! Now, I’m craving for some…

I had so many gifts to wrap this year! Not just my own, but mom had me wrap some other gifts. I still like doing ribbons, so I used some left over ribbons for some smaller gifts.

(I asked my sister to do the lettering)

I’m also not a big fan of those pre-made holiday cards that are just slapped on. As a sub, I use big white buttons that I tie to the ribbons. But, my favorite is still tiny christmas balls, which I used 2 years ago. You can’t always find them, though.

I think it turned out pretty well! It sure satisfied my craving! Or maybe I was just that hungry. haha. I may have left it in there a few seconds over, since part of the yolk wasn’t runny anymore.

I fried some bacon with basil and pepper as well and toasted some whole wheat bread to go with my eggs. Next project, hollandaise to complete that Eggs Benedict!

For anyone else that wants to try poaching their eggs, here’s a good how-to that I found, written by Smitten Kitchen. I like how it’s written, as if someone’s talking you through the whole process. It’s complete with photos of every step too! Thanks, Smitten Kitchen!

It’s come a long way, Pole Dancing. It’s really not as easy as it looks and it’s definitely not stripping. Pole dancing is a dance art form, which involves blood, sweat and tears to master, and doesn’t just happen overnight.

Yesterday morning, I was surprised by a message from Geri, PAP‘s manager, asking if I was available to sub Pole class that day since Ed, our director, was coming down with a fever. I was excited and more than happy to do it! But then, I got nervous and stressed over what dance to teach.

It turned out pretty well. I didn’t have much students, just my friend, Nicole, and her sister, Carissa. We had one and a half hours and 6 poles to ourselves! We ended up doing, of course, the usual strengthening and tricks, and a photo shoot!

We didn’t focus much on the art of shooting but rather more on documenting our progress by capturing digitally the pole moves we’ve been doing. We simply used Nicole’s point-and-shoot camera.

I tried doing a GIF animation, since I had a multi-burst of myself executing a handspring. Of course, I graded the photos as well. I’ve been into color spills lately. You’ll notice some spills of violet or orange or green on the edges of the photos. I think it just makes for a more interesting feel to a flat photo.

Oh, and I just love that this dance studio we were in had a really big window that let all that natural light in, which made perfect lighting for our shots!

Yes, my camera will have gone to Singapore twice in less than 2 weeks, 2 times more than I have been to Singapore.