As I was going through all our mail, I found one envelope from Apple that contained a $50 gift card. I almost forgot about it, so it’s a good thing we are organizing right now because I want to get rid of things and that gift card is one of them.

So I’m gonna hold a really simple contest.

Here’s what you need to do:

Just leave a comment below and tell me what was the coolest or weirdest thing(s) you found while organizing your home or office? Please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address and your full name so that I can contact you if your name is randomly picked.

We will announce the winner on Tuesday, July 20 at around 12PM, so as long as you submit your entry before then, you will be included in the contest. I’ll be sure to send it out the same day.  So please, help me get rid of it!! :D

Okie dokie… back to our summer cleaning..I hope everyone has a great weekend!

YES I WON A CONTEST on Justin & Mary’s Photography Blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See how excited I am!?!!? This is the first time I’ve ever won anything in my whole entire life!!! 

Thank you Justin, Mary, and Julia for the opportunity!! It really is something I’ll never, ever forget :D

If you’re wondering what the contest was about, here’s the link to read about it! Basically, we had to leave a comment about our Best Travel Upgrade OR Worst Travel Experience.  So I decided to give it a shot with this entry:

Joan Solitario My most memorable travel upgrade happened when my mom and I were coming back to the US from the Philippines. We didn’t anticipate having to pay customs and we gave all our cash away. So when we got to the airport, we realized we needed to get cash fast. I wasn’t married to my husband Ryan then, so it was kind of a blessing for me to see him one more time as he came to the airport to give us some cash. I couldn’t go outside to see him, because my mom wanted to thank him personally while I watched our luggages. So the only way to tell him thank you and I love you was through sign language. There were two glass walls that separated us. I was really sad that I didn’t get the chance to hug him one last time, but I was just happy to see him before we left. For some reason though, we still didn’t have enough cash… so a really nice guy in line behind us offered to pay the difference. (Thank you Mr. Nice Person!) As my mom and I finally got to the counter to get checked in, we realized that the attendant behind the counter started to upgrade us to business class (which isn’t first class, but is totally better than coach). The airline had overbooked the plane and we were the last ones to check in! It just proves that there’s a reason for everything! And that is my most memorable travel upgrade moment.  

So there you have it, my winning entry and now I’m going to get some survival travel goodies, like L’Occitane lotion and a “Mophie” for my iPhone!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!?!?

Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH JUSTIN, MARY, and JULIA!! All the best to you and your business!

Thank you God for giving me the experience to write about my most memorable travel upgrade!  :)

And since blogs are so much better when it contains a photo(s). Here’s a picture I took of my friends and cousin during our settin up for the Recoginition Night for High School Grads on Saturday, June 12 which was held at the Ontario Marriott Hotel.  I loved how excited my friends and cousin were that evening :) Congratulations to the youth members of our church who graduated High School this year!

P.S. My friend, Kevin, doesn’t really look like that.. he made that face on purpose.. :) 

Krystle: You did a great job with the photos and it is the cutest thing EVER! You really put some thought into it and I appreciate you taking the time to share your talent and creativity! Thank you and your family always for your support!!

I hope you enjoy the $100 Apple Gift Card because you definitely deserve it!

I’ll contact you soon so you can tell me where to send it :D

Without further delay, here is her contest entry:

Okay, I did buy it for Ryan for his birthday, and it really is for him, but that doesn’t mean we are not going to make it work for our business as well. Ryan thinks it’s a great idea to use it for es-sense too! I really love how with a few moves, I can show off a recent engagement, wedding or portrait session! I love how I am able to upload photo slideshows on to it and have it play right then and there!  This new toy of ours is going to give a whole new experience to client meetings and that’s quite exciting! It really is perfect for photographers!

I think what I really love the most is how long the battery lasts! They said it would last for approximately 10 hours, and you know what, it does! That just means family road trips will be so much more fun with this awesome gadget! Especially since I’m always trying to set up trips for my family and relatives! I’m so glad we got the iPad!

Anyway, this just leads me to my blog contest!

Ryan and I would like to help someone in purchasing an iPad by giving away a $100 Apple Gift Certificate. I think this would help someone, don’t you? I mean, if the iPad starts at $499 and you win the gift certificate, then you basically just need to come up with $399 (+tax) to get a 16 GB iPad with wifi, right? Now, if you don’t want the iPad, then you can use the certificate to get something else from the Apple Store.

So this is how you can join the contest.

1. You must be a fan of es-sense. I could open it up to non-es-sense fans, BUT I wont. I need to take care of those who support me first. To be a fan, join by visiting this website: http://www.facebook.com/essense.photography and clicking the “Like” button.

2. With this quote, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, take a picture of yourself that creatively depicts that quote with an apple or a bunch of apples. The fruit kind. :)

3. Email the picture you took to: info@es-sense.com

4. Ryan and I will choose amongst the photos we receive, our favorite and post it up on our ES-Sense Fan Page. 

6. Deadline to turn in your photo to me is Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST on my watch.  I will post up the winner on June 1, 2010. Goodluck my friends and thank you again for always showing us your support! :)

What does NTME stand for in NTME Photography?
Natasha Theresa Marshall Esguerra

What got you interested in starting your own photography business?
When Fred and I got married, he insisted we treat ourselves to a dSLR camera.  On our road trip honeymoon, I began taking pictures and ever since then, I couldn’t put the camera down.

What is the reason why you joined the contest?
I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to win a Shootsac!!!  I saw you carrying it around and I thought it was the coolest thing since I just have a bulky bookbag :)

How did you get people to comment on your facebook photo for the shootsac giveaway contest?
Well, I individually messaged each person on Facebook to ask them for their help. And so many of them were so nice to take a moment to help me out, despite the fact they would get a LOT of notifications as a result.  I really felt the love and support!

What message do you want to tell all your friends who helped you win?
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!  YOU ARE ALL SO AWESOME AND I AM SO BLESSED TO HAVE SUCH CARING FRIENDS. Thank you for supporting NTME!

Thanks Natasha and congratulations! Here’s a sneak peak from a photoshoot we did with Natasha two days ago. Here she is, styling her new shootsac! More photos from the session to come! :)

CONGRATULATIONS NATASHA of NTME Photography for winning the shootsac!  Natasha told me that she had personally messaged each of her friends to ask them to comment on her photo and with a 177 comments, it just shows that it totally worked!

She also told me that she wanted to win the Shootsac for her husband and her second photographer, Fred, because she just ordered a Kelly Moore Bag, but like me, she’ll have to wait for the May shipment to come in!

Special thanks to Katie, Lei, Amy and Natasha for participating! Here are their photos!

And the winner is…

In celebration of my new blog design (Yes, I’m STILL celebrating!) I want to help someone win a Shootsac.  (Special thanks to Jessica Claire for giving me the go signal to give one away)! I kept thinking about HOW I was going to give it away and then it hit me! I want to see how people can help their friends win a Shootsac! So here are the rules.

1. You must be a fan of es-sense. I could open it up to non-es-sense fans, BUT I wont. I need to take care of those who support me first. To be a fan, join by visiting this website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Long-Beach-CA/es-sense/120695114014 and clicking “Be A Fan”

2. Comment on this blog by answering the following question: Why do you want to win this Shootsac?

3. On the es-sense facebook fan page , put a fun, creative, non-derogatory picture of you with a sign saying, “I want to win the Shootsac!”

THIS IS WHERE YOUR FRIENDS ARE GOING TO HELP YOU OUT!
4. Have your friends comment on your picture!

5. The photo on our es-sense facebook fan page with the most COMMENTS and does all the above requirements wins the Shootsac.  Each of your friends can add as many comments BUT only ONE comment per friend will be counted.  CLICKING THE “LIKE” BUTTON WILL NOT BE COUNTED.  They need to comment on your photo.

6. Again, you must do all the steps above to be qualified to win the prize. Any missing requirement will disqualify you.

7. Deadline for comments for your photo is Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST on my watch.  The WINNER will be announced on Wednesday, March 31st.  That way I’ll have time to count all the votes on your photos!

Now if you’d like to help me out too, ask your friends to be es-sense fans! I will really appreciate your help and support too!

Since photos makes a blog post more pretty and interesting, here’s a picture I took after work last Friday. I went to the Upper Newport Bay and took some nature shots just because :o).

To use the excel file to randomly choose a name, list everyone’s name on Column A.  Then to run the macro, either do a Alt+ F8 or from the toolbar:  TOOLS > MACRO > MACRO and (if it isn’t selected already) select the macro and click Run.

The names that were randomly chosen for this contest are the following:

1. Gene Mapa
2. Steffanie Espiritu

I’ll be sending out the books today. Thank you both for your support and we’re looking forward to doing more contests for our “fans” :o)

Because this blog was pretty much about picking random winners for our contest.  Here’s a random picture of me and Ryan. This was taken after our very first visit to Porto’s, early February of this year.

Okay, back to my diet!

These past few weeks, I’ve been trying to master the skill of baking pandesal. I don’t want to make this blog post any longer by explaining what pandesal is for those who don’t know, so please click here to view the wikipedia explanation of this popular bread from the Philippines. Although I still can’t get the bread to look like how it’s suppose to, I think my favorite part about baking pandesal is spending quality time with my mom and younger brother, Jordan.  Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Projects are definitely wonderful ways to spend quality time with your loved ones. This brings me to our blog contest!!!

THE CONTEST:
I’m giving away two (2 ) copies of this book to 2 es-sense fans. A HUGE THANK YOU goes to Khris Cochran, the author of The DIY Bride, who was kind enough to give me permission to give away her book, The DIY Bride – Crafty Countdown, as prizes for this blog contest!!! Be sure to visit her website at www.diybride.com. Also a special thank you goes to her publisher, The Taunton Press, for providing the books for this contest! (Thank you Janel!)

1. It’s the perfect gift for any bride who is about to or has been planning for her wedding.

Let me tell you a few things as to why this book is so awesome!!

2. It has 40 awesome DIY ideas that makes me wish I can get married all over again!

3. Who doesn’t love saving money?? OR are you on a budget? If so, this will totally help you out! The crafty calculator on each project shows you how much money you could save if you did these DIY projects. It even gives you a list of materials for each project.

4.  You can even set up your own photobooth for your wedding/event! It tells you how!

HOW TO ENTER:
1) Must be part of the es-sense community by becoming a fan on our facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Long-Beach-CA/es-sense/120695114014

2) To get double the chances in getting this book, follow me on twitter:

http://twitter.com/jvesolitario

3) We will collect all names and randomly select the winners on March 1, 2010 (MY BIRTHDAY!).

Good luck to all our fans/friends/family!! We truly do appreciate your support!!

We have a winner for our “thank you for being an es-sense facebook fan” contest #2!

I recorded this video with my iphone – no editing was done!

Congratulations to the winner!! Mrs. Myra Arceo will be receiving the $100 Disney Gift Certificate!