December 31, 2011

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Today is the final day of 2011! I just can't believe it. Even though a little part of me cries every year when the numbers go up, I'm still so excited for what's in store for 2012.
How was your Christmas vacation? Mine was splendid! I went to California with my hubby and saw my family! I haven't seen them since we got married, so it was a treat. I miss them a lot already.
Here's some photos of our trip to the OC :) We had a blast.


Florida doesn't have the restaurant "Claim Jumper," which I had to go to get my favorite dessert in the world: a Chocolate Chip Calzone. Absolute best. You must try it!

Newport Harbor.
1st Christmas all together since 2005!
Balboa Island.

Yay! So long, 2011! Hello, 2012! You will be great! :)

December 7, 2011

Inklings & Oceans

I've been using this blog to update about our lives and post photos and stuff.
Yet I really have this yearning to write. Even to ramble my thoughts.
And I don't feel like this is the place.

So, of course, I created "Inklings&Oceans".

Just a place for me to write and think. Be inspired and be random. Heavy if i have to.
I've been needing something like that.
I can get forgetful and not write stuff down in my leather journal, but I think a lot when I'm working on the computer.
I need to write it down somewhere.
Ever since we got married, I feel like I haven't done a good job of documenting my deep feelings and emotions.
It's slipping away!
I've got 12 days left until I turn 21! OMG. Can't believe I'm basically 21 now.


I want to cry.


I have such a child's heart and don't want to kiss my childhood goodbye.
My heart sunk down a huge hole last year when I wasn't a teenager anymore.

Well anyways, enough of this sad talk.

"Inklings & Oceans"  (link)

December 2, 2011

Christmas music lovin

Did I say How much I love Christmas?! and what's Christmas without the music??
I love all the classics, but also have been really loving some of these contemporary albums!
Add (at least 1 of) these to your playlist!! :)

Merry Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Here we are picking out our very first Christmas tree as a "family" :)
We decided to keep it on the small side this year, 
but last night we raided Target's Christmas section and got lots of ornaments.
We'll be decorating in the next week sometime :))

Plus I got some little red guys from the farmer's market 
and they decided to bloom some pretty yellow!
A sweet surpirse...





November 26, 2011

Two days *after* Thanksgiving


Oh, it's been such awhile since I've blogged on here! Life's been just the busiest!

Well, it's been two days since Thanksgiving, hence the title, and I guess I should've journaled/blogged that day of the many things I'm thankful for. Zeb and I had a wonderful simple Thanksgiving lunch/dinner with his side of the family. We even whipped out the croquet! Woot! :)

In 2011, I'm thankful for...

1. An amazing God who has given me the greatest amount of grace this year I have known. So many blessings, I can't even count.

2. Making one of the best decisions I could ever make : marrying Zebulun. We've been married nearly 7 months! I know our marriage is going to change and grow over the years to come, but it's been incredibly wonderful so far! WE love being married to each other! HE loves being married to me! and I love being married to him! God's taught us so much through each other and it's the best feeling waking up next to the love of your life and best friend every morning.

3. Heading in the right direction. For so long, I've felt confused what my purpose is here in Sarasota. However lately, Zeb and I both have started to hear a little bit from God that he's got a reason for us and a plan here. I'll reveal more as things come to fruition, but God's been so faithful. I've been slowly developing my photography more and more. I did my first bridal portrait and family shoot and created my official website: www.leijeaphotography.com !
Also the greatest news ever: Zeb's CD finally comes out TOMORROW!! ahhh!!! yayyy!
He's poured so much of his time and heart into it and tomorrow morning it finally gets into the hands of our family and friends. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus!
Zeb's also got a new website @ www.zebulunabalos.com .

4. Friends. God's putting more friends back into my life. I've felt pretty "friend-less" for a long time now. Definitely, not so great when I used to have tons and tons of great ones in High School. Thank you, Lord. You provide.

5. I think one of the things I'm most thankful for right now is the place of peace and joy God has taught me to come to. And knowing that my family loves me. All of my family is proud of Zeb and me. They support us. Some may have different ideas of what we should be doing with our lives, but the bottom line is they love us and will always be there for us.

I remember last year in December, I was going through a super hard time and one night I called up my parents in the Philippines and told them everything.
I was just happy to talk to them about it.
By the next day, they called me back and decided to fly my Mom to be with me during Christmas. It was only for a week and they spent all that airfare to come and be with me when I was hurting the most.
That's a small example of how I know my family's there for me. Even when they're far away.

I better stop. Too many details already :)
Can't believe November's almost over! Yay, Christmas! Best holiday season.




Here's my first holiday decoration to go up. Tree still to come. :)

 


and some pretty hydrangeas from the farmer's market today.

October 25, 2011

downtown adventure

We took a photo field trip to downtown Sarasota. Sarasota's not a super huge city, but it's filled with lots of character. 
This picture reminds me of all the Boogies that used to grow in front of my grandparent's house in California. 
Sigh, sweet times.
just one of Florida's many residents ;)

Downtown Sarasota ♥

October 23, 2011

i love fall.


thank you florida for coming around

October 4, 2011

Blessing here and blessings there

"When it rains, it pours! and I'm not talking about the weather." - Zeb

We've been quite busy latey, but I had to share about some exciting things that's been happening in our lives. 
First off, where do I start?! God is amazing! Yes!

Ok. I'll start with this:



Look over there in the corner of the picture. That's Zeb's car.
Or was Zeb's car.
A 1992 Ford Explorer.

It worked fine except for the squeakiness and AC always breaking and interior pretty beat up... along with some other things. Zeb really wanted something newer and nicer, but we both knew it'd be several years and a lot of $ later till that could happen. 
But I guess, God had other plans. Like usual :)

A few weeks ago, on Zeb's way to work he was on the street coming up to an intersection and right  as he was about to cross, a car from the opposite side, left turn lane decided to pull a U-ey. and guess what? It was a definite red light. Not even a "just-turned-red" but a dead red light. And I guess he didn't see Zeb coming and thought for some reason he could turn left on a red, so he went for it!

Zeb was in the middle lane and quickly swerved to the right but the other driver had completely collided into Zeb's nose, left side and pushed Zeb to the side of the road, knocking down a pole and some other things.

No one was hurt, and the other driver admitted to his mistake. And to make a long story short, Mr. Ford Explorer up there got totaled! Which is kinda wonderful actually since so much money was being poured into it to keep it running.

We're down to one car now, but it's working out ok! and there's still a lot of dough to come in from the insurance co. for a new car!

&

We also got to go to this amazing marriage conference up in Tampa, for FREE, and stay in a beautiful hotel, for FREE.
Family Life's "Weekend to Remember" was really a wonderful time for us. We both walked away being reminded that there SUCH an amazing gift God gave us in our spouse.

Sadly, this is only picture I took. It's from our room. :)


We've been pretty busy besides that, but that's not the end of the blessings.

A good friend surprise bought us a big brand new plasma TV! We loooveee it.
&
Zeb finally finished his CD!!!!  Ahhhh! This is like monumental! He's been working on it for so long and now he's finally done :) I'm so proud of him!
This next month he'll be getting the copies made and the word out so our lovely friends can have a copy of their own! I'm so excited.

Here's the cover!! "Heroes & Kings" will be out soon!

&

The bestest husband in the world just gifted me something I've been wanting and talking about for a long time...


The Canon 50mm f/1.4!

Yay, no more kit lens! It was a total surprise and I'm so happy!!! :)))) 
Here's to many portraits to come!

So just about all these little blessings. We are so thankful.
We both recently came out of a very tough season during our dating and engagement years, and so much of the time, all we could do was hope for that day when God would bring us to the next chapter of our lives.
Right after we got married, things really started changing. It's like boom, a shower of good and happy things fell on us. At times, we're both like "Whaa? How on earth did that happen?" or "What did we do to deserve this?"
And it all comes down to God being so good. He is a god full of grace!!!!
He's brought us into a season of rest and peace. I'm nothing but thankful that our marriage has started out this way. These little happy things God keeps surprising us with are just beautiful reminders of his grace and faithfulness :)

We've realized that God does have good things for his children. Even though so much of my life has had trials and pain, I know it's not all meant to be like that. 
There's
 "A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance" (Ecclesiastes 3:4)

and all we can do is praise him for it. I'm realizing more, more, and more HE IS A GOD of GRACE. Unlimited grace.
I've heard and acknowledged that since I was in high school, but it's not til now that I'm really "knowing" what that means and experiencing what that means.

I've spent so much time associating his grace with his mercy. Not giving me what I deserve is his mercy, and for some reason I subconsciously looked at his grace as the same thing. But it's not! It's entirely different as he gives and blesses us with heavenly gifts we do not deserve. I cannot believe what an amazing God we have. Also, something that I did not realize before, is that besides being thankful, a way to show our gratefulness is by giving others the same attitude of grace that God has given us.

This is something I have pinned on my pinterest:

Back when I pinned this, I remember thinking, Wow, I wish I could always remember this, or I wish this could be written on everybody's shirts or something!! It's so easy to forget, cuz people all the time say they're doing "well" or "good," but seriously, it's hard to find a person who's not going through a battle.
Something I learned in pre-marital counseling was that your future spouse is a "good-willed person." And most people are.
Our humanity can make us prone to a sour attitude or other emotions, but most everyone has a good will and they need to be treated with grace that says, "I love who you are. I respect who you are. You are a good person, a gift from the Lord and I want to make you feel loved."

Whew! That's so hard to take in and apply in my life! But I pray I can be more like that and have more of that kind of attitude toward others.

Well, I'll be signing off now, It's a beautiful day in Florida! Fall weather has finally come!
Pray we have a chilly one :)




Toscana

Our time in Tuscany :)
We could not believe our eyes during our entire stay in Torrito di Siena and visit to Pienza. It's full of so much life and tranquility. I want to live there forever! :)
Why can't Florida look like this?

*Sigh* Tuscany, how are you so gorgeous?

p.s. We stayed at the most awesomest accomadations in the area!
Completely beautiful, completely worth it.
5 stars from us!