Lucio Clan

Photo Field Trip

2007-04-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

Din just came home for her spring break and brought along her shiny and brand spanking new point and shoot Canon Powershot A630. Din being new to the wonderful world of photography wanted me to show her the ropes of her new toy - how to use the camera for more than just point-and-shoot auto "green" mode. I am not an expert by any means, but I do take great pleasure in this great hobby called photography. Dad and I have been talking about going out for a photo field trip since his birthday. There's no time like now right?

A photo field trip it is, so Dad and Din came over to Tropicana Manor for that purpose. Tropicana Manor isn't exactly the first place that comes to mind when considering a photo excursion (think urban, dilapidated 1960's-1970's condominiums), but it's convenient and we were lazy to drive somewhere that'd be more conducive for a proper photo excursion. At any rate, I thought that it'd be good to shoot here because it would force us to be very creative in our subject and composition choices.

Dad has the same camera as Din, but forgot to bring it so he borrowed Ange's Powershot A540. I used my Canon EOS 400D DSLR. I know what Shar is thinking, "Great...another shutterbug!" Just wait till you get your camera. You'll see what the hype is all about soon enough ;-P

"Who want's to go on a photo field trip?" Raising her hand, Din says, "Meeeee!" I was actually demonstrating to Din what shutter speed does in relation to stopping motion. She was actually waiving her hand up and down pretty fast. We froze her arm and hand at 1/500.

Dad and Din compare shots.

Dad and Din are have a go at macro photography.

These flowers were right next to the stairs leading up to our apartment.

A prickly pear cactus about to blossom and bear fruit.

Here's a Red Ginger blossom. This belongs to my neighboring tenant downstairs.

A somewhat abstract composition: looking through an Avocado tree to the sky above.

Electric meters for our building unit. We were running out of things to take pictures of.

Long exposure night photography anyone?

Here I show Din how to "drag the shutter" - flash combined with long exposure.

Easter 2007

2007-04-08T21:53:00.001-07:00

This is going to be a short one folks, because I wasn't there to celebrate with the family due to church duties. Fortunately, Angelyn played Mrs. Photographer in my place so we'd have some pictures to share. This year the family celebrated Easter at Makino Chaya at Aloha Tower for brunch.

Din is daydreaming about her wedding day while Deidre, Jason, Aunty Betty and Uncle Leo pose for the camera.

To everyone's suprise, they bumped into some family who were visiting from the mainland. They're the hapa looking girls in the middle with their mom putting her hand on one of their shoulders.

The Revestir's with Captain Morgan.

The Barkada-ettes: Mom-E, Mom, Aunty Coying, and Aunty Betty.

Sha & Din sport the latest fashion trend - the kimonouse (kimono+blouse) or is it blousono or bloumono? I don't know. Dad is busy snapping away in the background.

Looks like Ange got the memo to wear her blousono too.

The Barkada - Mk I

The Barkada - Mk I rear row, Mk II front row.

Mom-E and Ange. Happy Easter to all of our friends and family!

Arvin's Birthday Part II

2007-02-20T19:24:00.000-08:00

Monday, February 19, 2007. My actual natal day. Mom, Dad, and Shar came over for a late lunch. Since we're Filipino, it's a given that we'd be doing the time honored tradition of eating noodles (as a symbol of long life). Everyone liked the food from Kit n Kitchen so much that we ordered take out. Thanks for picking up the food Mom.

You guessed right ladies and gentlemen, I ordered the Beef Chimichurri, get some! For those not familiar with Chimichurri, it's a sauce of Argentinian origin made from chopped parsley, oregano, garlic, salt pepper, onion and olive oil. There are other recipes, but those are the key ingredients. Chimichurri is a sauce (sometimes used as a marinade) for grilled meat.

Yupper, Ange is having Beef Chimichurri too.

Mom and Dad went out on a limb and ordered a non-Beef Chimichurri dish. Their loss, just kidding.

Mom can't get away from her favorite sauce - Tomato. If I recall correctly when Mom was pregnant with me, she craved Mexican and Italian food. I used to be a former die hard exclusive tomato sauce fanatic, but have since expanded my horizon (A la Chimichurri...say that ten times fast).

Sha came a bit later because she had to work a half day. I asked Sha to give me her best "bruha" face. This was the best she could do. Can somebody say, "SASSY?!?" :-P

Ange is too sweet and gentle to do either "bruha" or "sassy".

I would've given my two thumbs up, but I had to point to reference my fantabulous plate of Beef Chimichurri. I waited for Sha to come before I ate my portion. I didn't want her to eat alone. Well that and I was too busy taking pictures hehe.

Even with Sha already over, I still had to wait even more. She was too busy yakking on the phone with Din. I'm just joking. I love you Sha heehee.

Lucio Family photo sans Din. Wish you were here.

Arvin's Birthday Part I

2007-02-18T22:09:00.000-08:00

Friday, Febuary 16, 2007. It was a dark and stormy night...just kidding. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I have hit the big 3-0. You know how the saying goes, "30 is the new 20" and "40 is new 30?" Whoever coined that wannabe younger phrase well, just wished that he/she was younger or was just afraid of getting older. It's a fact of life folks and there's no getting around that. Hmm, makes me think that maybe the generation X-ers & Y-ers are taking longer to grow up. And I am no exception to that sentiment.

Alrighty then, deep thoughts aside...for my birthday this year, we ate, drank and made merry with close friends and family at Kit n' Kitchen in Pucks Alley. The shindig was a 2 for 1 combo event - Arv's Birthday + Gratia Plena CD completion party. We celebrated my birthday 3 days early, because that was the day that everyone could get together. Kit n' Kitchen is a cozy place with a unique charm and very friendly staff. If you're ever in the area, do stop by. I highly recommend the Beef Chimichurri dish, one of their house specialties. That's all I ever order when I go there. Their garlic pillow toast is worth checking out too.

I was honored by all of those who came to help commemorate these two milestones and I express my deepest thanks in your attendance and generous gifts. I'd like to especially thank my mother-in-law, Mom-E, for planning and coordinating the event. And of course, I thank my parents for procreating me. You both are my heroes and I aspire to be as good a parent (when I grow up) to my future progeny, as you have always been for Sha, Din, and me. For those who couldn't make out that night, thanks for remembering my Birthday. I was touched by your phone calls and emails.

It actually was a dark and stormy night. Go figure. I stayed in my car for a bit to wait for the rain to die down a bit. I liked how the street lights and neon signs looked through my car windshield as the rain water smeared and distorted the view.

Here's Lauren of Gratia Plena giving her Aloha.

A candid of Angelyn having a conversation.

All in attendance (clockwise) Uncle Richard, Aunty Allene, Aunty Betty, Uncle Leo, Dad, Mom, Aunty Nita, Mom-E, Lauren, and Angelyn.

My Lilikoi Birthday Cheesecake. Kit, the owner decided to play a funny trick on me, but I was on to him the moment he put the plate down. It was one of those reigniting candles. I could see that it was letting off sparks (dead giveaway), but I decided to play along to be a good sport.

Not shown in this picture is the prismatic rainbow effect of my spit misting over the candle as I tried to blow it out.

Dad aka "Shutterbug Sr." snaps a picture of me taking a picture of him. I was the snake to his mongoose. Or is it the other way around? Either way, it was a funny moment. You had to be there I guess.

Aunty Allene and Aunty Betty - they're also my God Mothers.

Mom-E laughs in amazement after looking at the bill we ran up. Speaking of money, Mom-E is the bookkeeper for Gratia Plena.

Either Dad was ready to go home, or he was getting annoyed by me taking so many pictures of him. What can I say? I get it from him you know? That is, good looks and my shutterbugness (if that's a word).

Mom, the other half of which I got the good genes from. At cough cough years old, she's still a looker.

No, I'm not Santa. But Angelyn did sit on my lap and told me what she wanted from me when we got home - to finish this year's taxes. You thought I was going to say something else? You naughty people you ;-P Hey it's my Birthday?!? I thought I was the one who gets to ask for things?

Aunty Nita and Mom-E buddy up for the camera.

Aunty Betty and Uncle Leo - they look so cute together!

Uncle Richard and Aunty Allene. Aunty Allene is the Executive Producer for Gratia Plena.

Mom, Kit, Aunty Nita, and Mom-E. Kit is the owner of Kit n' Kitchen. He's such a ham.

I forgot to mention that Kit and I used to work together while I was in college. Wow, that was 12 years ago. Ouch! I'm getting old!

A Birthday self-portrait.

(continued in Arvin's Birthday Part II)

Haute Dogs

2007-02-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

This update is dedicated to our often disregarded family members - our dogs. Dad spent the day with me in Salt Lake. When Sha came to pick him up, she had Tobi in the car with her. And wouldn't you know it, I just so happened to have my camera hanging from my neck, so I snapped off a couple of shots. After going back up to the apartment I thought, "Hmm...why not make the next post on our 0.5 family members?" And so here we are with a doggone blog update about our dogs.

Sorry folks, we don't have any Lucio grandchildren to show for YET. Hey, Ange and I are working on it, but for the time being, all three - *Tobi, Fibi, and Mimi - have been a proxy of sorts. They make for a distant approximation for kid-practice methinks. Grandma and Grandpa as well as Mom and Dad know all about it, as we have often asked them to babysit our "kids". Yes, grandchildren will be forthcoming (God permitting), but for the time being our K-9 kids will have to do.

Tobi hams it up for the camera.

Tobi appears to be well behaved, but he was quite fussy actually and was trying to jump out of the car.

"Lemme out of here!"

The camera piques Fibi's curiosity.

Showing top form, Fibi strikes her award winning pose.

"All right, I'm done. I'm just gonna lie here if it's anything to you."

Mimi - let me tell you, this dog possesses super-puppy-dog-eyes power.

Look at that punum.

How can you not fall in love with this dog?

*Tobi is the Lucio family dog. Mimi & Fibi are of the Arvin & Angelyn branch.

Dad's Birthday

2007-02-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Dad's 61st birthday at Makino Chaya at Aloha Tower Marketplace. As usual, in the Filipino fashion, we arrived fashionably late at 1:15 pm(about 45 minutes before closing). As soon as we got there the server was already telling us that the buffet line would be closing soon. Other than that, we all had a grand old time with good food and good company.

Mom & Dad about to start the buffet.

Gramps, Shar, & Grams chose to sit closest to the buffet. Smart.

Angelyn giving a grin.

Mom demonstrates to Grams how to crack open the crab leg.

Not as easy as it looks eh Dad?

Dad's embarrassed after I showed him the previous picture
straight from the cam.

I look like a greasy gringo no? Bigote, pompadour n' all :P

Dad & Arv, the Lucio men.

New Year's Day Part II

2007-01-05T22:43:00.000-08:00

It was a really warm and humid day. The smarter ones ate outside. Couple copious amounts of food and muggy weather = instant siesta (see Polynesian Paralysis in New Year's Day Part I). After eating lunch, I continued to take more pictures and as I did, I reflected on the past year. 2006 came and went. Welcome 2007! Here's to good health, happiness, good fortune, and success in all our endeavors!

As you can see, Grams really enjoyed her NYD meal.

And so did Gramps, as he demonstrates text book Polynesian Paralysis.

Mom proudly sports a 10+ year old bottle of Ballatore Spumante. I don't think sparkling wines are meant to be aged. I could be wrong.

Dad's about to uncork the Spumante.

Joel says, "Don't tell anyone that the wine is expired." Speaking of which, the Spumante had a funky dark yellowish tinge to it. I chose not to partake of the booze.

Sha & Din feeling the effects of the wine. "Whaddaya mean it's expired? Oh well, it tastes good." I took their word for it and chose not to drink it still.

New Year's Day Part I

2007-01-03T20:12:00.000-08:00

We celebrated New Year's Day at Grandma & Grandpa's House in Foster Village. You can tell that we're true Tagalogs - just look at our table of meat, meat, and more meat. If you look in one or two of the pictures, you can see the only dish with vegetables - pakbet, but then again it had more meat than vegetables hehe. I take that back, if you look at the stack of paper plates, you can see that they have a veggie motif, so make that 2 dishes with vegetables. My favorite dish in the spread was Dad's banana baduya.

Our gracious hosts: Gramps & Grams

Mom, Gramps, Grams, Aunty Femi, & Aunty Celi with bundles of beef.

Apollo, Din, & Sha commence round 1.

Sitting 10 degrees cooler outside are: Jason, Jason's girlfriend (sorry forgot her name), Dennis, April, and Uncle Armando.

Uncle Willy (aka Uncle "Boss") about to get to work on the BBQ pit.

Uncle Boss working the beer-keg-converted BBQ pit.

Uncle Willy cruising on the Cherokee.

Dad & Mom are busog na busog!

Din & Gramps. Gramps exhibits early signs of polynesian paralysis*.

Sha & Din - Hawaii's next Top Pinay Models.

Arv & Grams share a moment.

Self portrait

The festivities carry on in New Year's Eve Part II.

*Polynesian paralysis - aka food coma, aka kanak attak. Consumption of mass quantities of food which induces the need for immediate sleep or rest.