Tag: updates

Birthday Trip in Sevilla

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So, I went back to Andalucía end of last month to see the city of Sevilla. Last time I was in that region, I stayed only in the mountains in Alajar for my Botanical Skincare and Art Retreat. Well, this time, I went to see the famous city for some sight-seeing and some artistic workshops – Mosaic Tile Making and the Flamenco Dance tutorial in the video below. 😀

This was the first time I went on a birthday trip without really much planning. I just wanted to take it easy this time. And also, no going to too many fancy restaurants that explain too much about the food and all that. Just simple, fresh and good quality food with some nice ambience. 🙂

We stayed at an AirBNB in a quiet location right next to the Market along Calle Feria. We had a lovely two-storey apartment at the top floor, with a big terasse overlooking the neighborhood and the gorgeous bell tower of the Parroquia Omnium Sanctorum, a nice small church right next to our place. Having a good view, is always a requirement for me when picking a place to stay. This is probably one of the nicest views I have ever had in an AirBNB (except for those overlooking the sea). I enjoyed taking my breakfast, snacks and apéro in this private terasse, just outside our bedroom. It was the first thing I see upon waking in the morning. And so, it was almost impossible for me to not paint this view. And I had to use my new Fabriano watercolor pencils, I chanced upon at the Fabriano shop at the airport in Munich from our last summer trip. These pencils are fantastic! I love them!

We wanted to go to Real Alcazar on our first day but the tickets were already sold out when we got there. We tried again the next day, earlier this time, but still sold out! We decided to just go to Plaza de España instead. I am not about to start queuing at 6AM and wait for three hours to enter! I was not really sure if Real Alcazar was worth it anyway since the garden was closed due to the flooding the day before we arrived. Also, it must be very crowded inside. And I don’t do well with overcrowded places. Meanwhile, Plaza de España did not disappoint. I also later found out that this was used as a filming location in “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.” It was so grand and so gorgeous in every corner! I was surprised to find out it was only built in the previous century!

The next day, my daughter and I tried our hand at Mosaic tile making at Triana Market. It was a bit tedious but quite a nice bonding experience. I found out that this market used to be a prison, and it was also right next to the dreaded Spanish Inquisition. I remember that from history classes. Not a very good core memory. We also checked out the tile shops right next to the market, where they sell just too many tiles. I got myself a nice small and cute souvenir in the form of hand-painted ceramic earrings.

We did a lot strolling around the area of our AirBNB, the market there was very nice, along with the shops and the restaurants. Also, the crowds were more local. The food, more authentic and cheaper. But still so very near to a lot of places of interest. One of the more quiet places that I liked so much was Palacio de las Dueñas, just a 10-minute walk from where we were staying. Lovely architecture, lovely garden, and lots of quiet corners.

I had the loveliest time in Seville, I highly recommend passing by it if you get a chance to visit Spain. Oh, and those orange trees everywhere !!! I just love them!

Watercolor Art Retreat, Lanzarote, Canary Islands

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As a loving treat to my wonderful self this year, I booked this relaxing Yoga and Watercolor Art Retreat in Lanzarote, Canary Islands in Spain. It was organized by Lucia of The Sun Collective. We had four days of very informative art classes by watercolor artist and Sennelier Ambassador, Catalina Rodriguez Villazon. I did not care so much about the yoga, though. It was too early for me to join, and I was always sleeping so late, or in the wee hours of the morning, for some reason. Probably because I was not used to the complete quiet, except for the howl of sea breeze at night.

The place was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! And I had the most beautiful room of all, with the beautiful view of the sea, and the surrounding volcanoes. It was a few steps to the dining / recreation area, with the huge orchard down below.

The food was wonderful, the service was exceptional, the place was magical! I had the most wonderful time with wonderful people, and it was one of the best experiences I will cherish most. 💖✨

Eat Paint Travel – Lago di Como and Piemonte, Italia

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I can’t believe I have totally forgotten to post about my Italian road trip with the family in the summer of 2023.

We started off in the French Riviera — Nice and stayed overnight in Menton. The next day, we headed off to Genova, and stayed at a tiny fishing village called Boccadasse, because we were avoiding the crowds in Cinque Terre. After a couple of days there, we headed towards Lake Como (Lago di Como) and visiting the famous villages around it — Bellano, Bellagio, etc. And finally we ended up in the beauteous and picturesque wine region of Piemonte (Piedmont), famous for its Nebbiolo vineyards for making Barolo wine.

It was a lot of driving, eating good Mediterranean food, vineyard visits, wine tasting, and my very first time to swim in a lake, coz I usually find them creepy. I still do, but Lake Como was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous in every corner. We also visited Villa del Balbianelo, the famous site of Star Wars Episode 2 wedding scene of Padme and Anakin Skywalker. Oh, and did I mention, I did a lot of watercolor painting too?! 🙂

So here is a quick youtube video to show you how gloriously beautiful Italy is, which is why we keep coming back there with my family.

Thanks for dropping by, and have a good weekend!

Botanical Watercolor Art Retreat in Teyssode, France

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So, I just got back from a wondrous, week-long watercolor art retreat with Harriet de Winton here in the South of France.

I spent a full week interacting with a small group of lovely people from different parts of the world — mostly from North America, and the UK. And I got to meet and chat and learn first-hand, up-close and personal some watercolor tricks from Harriet herself, who stayed with us in the same location.

First of all, the venue, Domaine d’En Naudet was lovely. The hosts, Nicolas and Sophie, are a lovely couple who own the estate. My spacious room was kept clean every day (very unusual in these parts, except in hotels), has huge windows and is conveniently located directly in front of the hall where we hold our daily (almost) watercolor sessions with Harriet.

Each meal (lunch and dinner) was specially prepared by a British chef (forgot to get his name) but he said he works only with uptrek (the event organizer), and that he has a food truck somewhere in Teyssode or Albi. I should look him up. He was really good. As for the wine, and the wine trip and dégustation, I was not so crazy about it, and really quite disappointed. Although, I appreciate that they are trying to promote local wines.

All in all, I had the most enriching experience and wonderful time painting and relaxing and walking around the neighboring village of Albi, which I had not seen in ten years! It was worth revisiting.

Thanks for dropping by and have a lovely weekend!

Ode to My Beautiful Garden

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As the light temperature becomes warmer and more incandescent with the onset of Spring, and before the flowers start bidding, “Adieu”, I would like to share this Ode to my lovely flower garden.

But before anything else, I would like to share this watercolor demo of a quick doodle of my Agapanthus flowers:

This year, we have taken on the works of renovating our terasse floorboards surrounding our tiny swimming pool. And while we were at it, we took the opportunity to remove the old shrubbery and replace them with flowering herbs and shrubs with a tropical and Mediterranean theme.

And now it all feels like I’m on holiday all summer long whenever I step out into the terasse. We have more beautiful butterflies, all kinds of bees, and I even saw some dragonflies once while having breakfast. I absolutely adore it!

Here you see my newly installed terasse floorboards, while the surrounding plants are not yet planted.

That’s it! Have a lovely flower-powered weekend! 🙂

Summa cum laude

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Omigosh! This is definitely the stuff of dreams. And this is such fresh news. I am feeling giddy with happiness. I just got my digital diploma and transcripts from the school, and imagine my shock when I read at the bottom of the diploma the following line:

Distinction / Mention : “ First Class / Summa cum laude (with honours) “

These are the sweetest words I had been waiting for since I started my master’s degree in autumn of 2021. All my hard work, blood, sweat and tears summarized in that lovely font, in one line of ascii characters, which could have practically spelled, “happiness” or “you did it”. 😀

Once upon a time, I decided on taking a random university degree that was not offered in our province so that I would have an excuse to study in the capital city. And what a fruitful future blossomed out of this total randomness. BS Computer Science was definitely not my first choice at sixteen. I wanted to enroll in Fine Arts. But that was not my calling. And who knew I would be able to practice art and fulfill my destined calling in tech at the same time! Everything in life falls right into place at some point.

After taking this course, I have a renewed appreciation of my experience and skills in the field of Information Technology. I have also developed a lot of interest in different fields of technology, like Artificial Intelligence, Data Engineering, Cloud Tech, etc. It made me realize how far I’ve come. And although, along the way, some people discouraged me, and a lot of people didn’t believe in me (including myself, at times), all it took was a handful of quality people to give me their complete faith for me to be able to have faith in myself.

Faith can really do move mountains.

I should end on this note coz I’m starting to ramble, and sound cheesy and all…

Lastly, I just want to say that my (real) friends and family (especially the hubs and the daughter, my number one fans) are so proud and happy for me. So am I. So please, indulge me with this extraordinarily in-your-face brag post. 😀

Lovelots,

Rio

My Birthday in Paris and Yoyo Ma Concert, etc.

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Last month, I celebrated my birthday in Paris with the hubs and some friends. We stayed at one of our friends’s very lovely apartment, which overlooks the Eiffel Tower. It was wonderful!!! I didn’t wanna leave the room with the view. 😀

We also saw Yoyo Ma at the Philharmonie de Paris. We booked the ticket early this year, and it was almost fully booked! We were still lucky to get seats third row from the stage, facing the front. Here is a video of some of snaps and video shorts I took during the mini-breaks in the concert.

The Philharmonie de Paris was majestic outside, but a bit disappointing inside. But I still had fun watching the concert. It was a birthday gift from my wonderful husband. We had a great time despite the noisy people in the audience violently coughing and sneezing all the time. It was so nerve-wrackingly distracting. I do not know how Yo-Yo Ma managed to keep his calm and cool throughout all the noise. And having said that, I think it will be the last time I will be watching him live. It was too distracting. But it was a real pleasure seeing him live in the flesh. Best birthday gift ever!

Lastly, a bit of update on the job hunt: before going on this trip, exactly a day before, actually, I received a very good news from one of the companies I have applied to. I started working two weeks after this trip. I was ecstatic!!! I have been on the job for two weeks now, and so far, I’m still not disappointed. It’s a great company, one of the biggest French IT Consulting companies, and my client is the biggest aviation company in Europe. Also, I’m working on their big data platform, doing Data Engineering until the end of this year. After that, I might go into another project, of which, I do not know yet. 🙂 I am quite happy. C’est fini, la tristesse.

Cheers, and have a good week ahead!

Fiesta Filipiniana in Le Triadou, France

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My friends and I, together with the Philippine Honorary Consul to Occitanie, Jeffrey Cabuay, went on a trip to Le Triadou, in the South of France to attend a Filipiniana Festival and Art Exhibit. This is a Philippine Festival featuring a programme with Philippine folk dances, and folk songs. There was also an art exhibit, where my artist friends and I contributed some artworks.

The event was organized by the Filipino association, “Tanglaw” (Guiding Light), with members mostly living in Montpellier, France, and around the area.

It was very refreshing to see young people (Filipino students) being very active in the event. There were also some participants and guests from surrounding European countries. It was all very entertaining, relaxing and enjoyable. Even the variety of Filipino food being sold at lunch time were delicious! I had such a great time in this event.

Here are the watercolor artworks I have submitted for the exhibit:

You can get more information about them here:

https://springfugue.com/pahiyas

https://springfugue.com/gumamela

https://springfugue.com/paintings

Also mentioned in my vlog:

https://phinaymarket.com for shopping online Filipino items https://www.zazzle.com/store/springfugue for shopping my online Filipino themed artworks

Thanks for dropping by and have a good day! 🙂

Random Thoughts and Updates

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Hi everyone! I hope you’re all having a good holiday. As for me, I have a three-week school break at the moment. I am only on my first week but I have already finished doing THREE out of FIVE exams. It’s not fun but I’m surviving. I find this course very interesting. I have learned so much in a span of three months! We had classes on Python programming, Machine Learning, AI and Data Laws (very sensitive, touchy subject), Applied Maths (Calculus, Algebra, Matrix Manipulations), Statistics and programming in R, Databases (which was a very good review), etc.

So far, my favorite was Artificial Intelligence and Data Laws. We talked about AI for Good, The GDPR, Patents on Algorithms, Ethics and Morality. I am suddenly ever more aware and conscious about all the information that I share about myself and my loved ones online. I’ve started deleting pictures of myself and my immediate family, which I wouldn’t want anybody (especially my classmates) to see while trying to scrape for image datasets for our school projects! LOL!

As for the Maths, I am still trying to catch up on Calculus. I never really had a strong background on it since, first and foremost, I never really realized before how fascinating it was when I was first introduced the subject. My interest in Maths, back then especially, Calculus unfortunately heavily relied upon my interest in the teacher conducting the class. I would say that my Calculus teacher was mostly absent, treated us like idiots, except for maybe one or two people in the class, and shamelessly collected money from students in exchange of a passing grade. I can only hope that she really needed the money. Otherwise, I hope someday she grows a conscience.

I never totally hated Maths, I was really interested in Trigonometry and even Algebra when I was in HS and College. In fact, I always like to watch a lot of videos about Maths. This one today, I found very intriguing, touching, and surprisingly poetic...

This video talks about Incompleteness and how, after a certain point, we keep getting back to the problems of infinite loops, who guards the guards and turtles all the way down. This might just be connected to this gnawing, nagging thought that I always get whenever I look out into space, especially looking up at night and just seeing blackness and the stars… it always, always makes me wonder whether I am looking outside, trying to see what’s way out there or I am really way outside trying to look deep within.

What do you guys think?

Also, in the spirit of total randomness… just wanna say that, it’s always difficult to find that balance in a conversation among friends where each person talks about himself/herself just enough. Sometimes, I feel like I’m being interrogated when I talk to French people. They almost always do not share anything about themselves but like to ask questions instead. I guess it stems from the fact that in most (non-Asian) cultures, it’s considered bad form or impolite to talk about oneself all the time. While the people from my home country are just the exact opposite. Filipinos almost always just talk about themselves. Never really even asking you even a simple, “how are you doing”. We were never really taught a lot of social graces, especially when it comes to oversharing and talking too much about ourselves. Tough. Not sure which one I prefer.

Anyway, hope you have a wonderful Christmas! Hopefully, I’ll be back again with some watercolor video with a Christmasy vibe. Ciao for now.

Watercolor Painting of Santorini

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Finally, after almost two years, I managed to travel outside of France once again. My family and I stayed in the lovely island of Santorini in Greece for a week during the school holiday. We stayed in this beautiful apartment in Pyrgos, a quiet area in the middle of the island, away from the bustle of the touristy areas of Oia and Fira.

We had a lovely view of the sea, some of the islands, and the mountains from the balcony of our Airbnb apartment. The view, and the Bougainvillea flowers at the entrance of the apartment inspired me to paint plein air on the balcony, one day, when I had the occasion to take a break from our usual walks.

I had so much fun, and felt so relaxed doing this watercolor painting of a scenery in Santorini. It was actually inspired by this picture of myself standing under the lush and lovely Bougainvillea of our Airbnb apartment. I just edited it a bit to make it look more interesting in the painting.

Me and my bougainvillea tree

Hope you are all having a fun week. Thanks for dropping by! Cheers!