THE ART OF CRUISING (PART 1)

SHARING vacation photos is one of my favorite thing about traveling. However, the 1,000 digital photos from our recent cruise to the Southern Caribbean are not yet ready. My husband who is in charge of those photos, is extremely busy with our income tax return, although it will be finalized by our accountant.

This time, I share with you some past memories from previous cruises. So far, we made four cruises to the Caribbean. We have visited many of the islands in the Western, Eastern and Southern Caribbean. We loved the Caribbean because its setting is close to our homeland - tropical, humid and charming.

COCLEAR AMERICA CELEBRATION Last year on February 2006, my husband and I attended the first Cochlear America Celebration and Reunion in Walt Disney Resort (Orlando, Florida). The celebration was for people who have cochlear implants, spouses and supporters. To justify the big expense for such a short event, we decided to embark on a fantasy cruise on Disney Wonder to the Bahamas, prior to the Cochlear celebration.


DISNEY WONDER The 4-night Disney cruise was short, but the most magical and fantastic cruise we had ever experienced. This cruise sounded like a fairy tale because it happened in a floating castle known as "Disney Wonder." With Walt Disney, the creator of Disneyland, as our imaginary traveling companion, it's guaranteed to be a fascinating and interesting cruise.

CHILDHOOD DREAM Its time to recapture my childhood dream on board the Disney Wonder. This cruise ship is very artistic, impressive and innovative. Disney's creative talents and dozens of world's best ship designers task, were to design a cruise ship that makes every adult feel the vacation was intended for them, while at the same time giving every child the same impression. The result may surprise people: whether they please everyone, particularly adults without children, remains to be seen. Look, how happy I was.

This was my photo taken in front of Disney Wonder. Keep smiling!

My husband with full view of Disney Wonder. SMILE! Good shot.

On board the Disney Wonder was like living in a fantasy castle. We talked, laughed, danced and sang among Disney's famous characters. Believe me, they were not robots. They're real.

We posed with Captain Mickey Mouse. Hail to the Captain!

Hello Snow White! So happy together. During this photo shoot, the seven dwarfs were in a different place in the floating castle.

My favorite fantasy princess. A beautiful moment with Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.

We posed with the Donalds. Not the famous Donald Trump but the friendly "Mr. and Mrs. Donald Duck." By the way, we fired Donald Trump.

NIGHTLY ENTERTAINMENT Was unlike any other cruise line's and featured quality, Disney-produced shows. The 1,000-seat Walt Disney Theater staged a different musical production each night with talented actors, singers and dancers. The costumes were extremely elegant,

backgrounds very impressive and shows very artistically lavished.

ART OF DINING Of course our favorite part of cruising was the nighly dinner on board. Here at Disney Wonder, it was a wonderful experience because of its major innovation in dining. The ship had three different family restaurants, plus an alternative restaurant for adults only. Every evening, we dined in a different restaurants with different theme and menu, but our waiters and dining companions moved with us. In each restaurant, table wares, linens, menu covers, and waiter's uniform fit the theme.

FIRST NIGHT We dined in Parrot Cay, which dished up Caribbean-accented food in a fun, tropical setting.

SECOND NIGHT We had a dinner at Palo, an Italian restaurant.

CHEERS! We were toasting our peach flavored bellini. The Palo is lovely with semi-circular room that had a sophisticated ambience with soft lightning, Venetian glass, inlaid wood and backlit bar. It's the best on board.

ART OF FOOD PRESENTATION I don't know about you but I care a lot how my food was presented. I remembered most fondly those aesthetic experiences that have unity -dinners that were attractively presented as well as super taste, treats, that were complete in themselves. Not "just a meal," these special experiences gave daily life quality and resonance. High color contrasts, textural changes -from the crunchy bright green asparagus to the richness of velvety chocolate mouse - quality around us, All these added to the incomparable pleasure dining could be. No matter, how good a cook we are, the presentation of the food and the setting should be a large part of the art of dining.

At Palo, the food and presentation were excellent. No kidding! Here's a photo of my main dish. What a special way to garnish the platter of fillet mignon with asparagus spears and carrots, mini-squash and roasted garlics. What a special dinner! How tasty!

Here's my husband's dinner. A platter of leg of lamb whet his appetite. It was beautifully presented with twigs of rosemary asparagus, carrots, and crunchy chips. Yummy!

We couldn't all go cruising and couldn't live in luxury every day, but I learned a lot how careful details contribute to the beauty of life and the pleasure one could get from a beautiful meal.

THIRD NIGHT We dined at the Triton, a handsome Art Deco venue serving continental cuisine. Themed after "The Little Mermaid." We ate seafood that night.

ANIMATOR'S PALATE But its this restaurant that reflected the creative genuis of Disney animation.

Diners were given the impression they have entered a black-and-white sketchbook. Over the course of the meal, the sketches on the walls were transformed through fiber optics into full-color extravaganza. Waiters changed their costumes from black and white to color.

The first course was a montage of appetizers shown above. It was presented beautifully.

Many times, I and my husband ordered different menu, but not that night. We had the same New York Steak for dinner. Who could resist this beautiful and delicious food? Wow!

DESSERT A mouse in the shape of Mickey, came with a parade by waiters bearing trays of colorful syrups - mango, chocolate, and strawberry- used to decorate it. It's very entertaining. We got absorbed in watching Disney performed his magic. Our eyes feasted not only on the show but our tummies as well. We felt so good and that's the magic.

"Eating is and always should be one of life's greatest pleasure," according to Bob Greene, the personal trainer for Ophrah. Yes, he's right.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT Throughout history, food has been a subject for artists to draw and paint. When cruising, I never paint. But I took lots of food photos. Back home, I like to paint the food that inspired me during our cruises. Of course, on a cruise, food is the biggest enticement for us. But after six cruises, I am more interested in how the food is presented. I also feasted with my eyes not much with my tummy. My latest paintings are about food too. Did I make you hungry?

POSTCRIPT Someday, if given another chance, we'd like to cruise with Disney Cruise Line again. No doubt about it. It's worth sailing with Disney and its Imaginneers. He was one of the most inventive, creative and imaginative artistic visionary that one could find in the world of entertinment. He was brilliant and dedicated man who loved ART - a highly stimulating artists.

Who wouldn't like to be with anything created by Disney? It's never boring.

SON#1- YOU'RE WORK OF ART

OH, SAN FRANCISCO! My husband and I met at a Halloween party in Sta. Monica, California. Our love affair didn't start on top of the famous Empire State Building in New York, the setting of many romantic movies. Ours, started in San Francisco, the beautiful city by the bay. No wonder, we left our hearts in San Francisco.Here's my favorite old family photo taken near the Golden Gate Bridge, a famous San Francisco landmark. Over the years, we made hundreds of trips to San Francisco, but we never get tired of this beautiful city.
IT'S A BOY!!!!!! My husband and I wished to have a boy for our first child. Gratefully, God granted our wish and gave us a boy. We named him RODNEY. On March 19th, will be another birthday in our family. I am dedicating this blog space to him. Hopefully this will make him appreciate his artistic heritage more. Thanks also to him, for designing my art blog.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY RODNEY!"

ART LESSONS When our four children were younger, we let them took art lessons. During birthdays and Christmases, we gave them lots of toys like woodblocks, tinkertoys, legos, play-dohs and transformers, to start their creativity and imagination early. I believed that since art is in our blood, it will come out naturally even if I didn't have lots of time to teach them how to paint. When Rodney was a kid, he liked to play with woodblocks for many hours. He was never bored. Thank God! This photo was a living proof. LEGOS!LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS!
LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS! He was excellent in creating many figures out of legos. It was amazing how many things he could create with plain legos. Being a busy mother, I let him spent hours playing with legos instead of watching more TV's. Legos were good babysitters.As always, Rodney was the leader among our children in designing and creating figures out of legos. These three brothers got along pretty well when playing with legos. They were busy with legos, so there were no fights.

LEGOS! AND MORE LEGOS!

Everybody smile! Here's all our children, displaying their lego masterpieces. WOW! They were all artistic and creative, while still very young.

JUNIOR HIGH Rodney was a good student, during junior high. Although he didn't excell in academic subjects, he was good in other thing like getting a certificate for perfect attendance. While many called in sick, he liked school and had a perfect attendance for a year. Good work!
In our family every award no matter how small, was always appreciated.

It helped boost self-esteem.
AWARD AND REWARD? When Rodney was in junior high, one day we received an invitation to an award night. My husband and I were smiling but wondering what kind of award he would get. We could hardly wait for the award night.

AWARD NIGHT The award night came. The principal first called names who excelled in Math, English, Social Studies, Science. We didn't hear Rodney's name. We wondered WHY? What a surprised, when his name finally came up. He received an award for Industrial Arts. WOW!

Remember? When he was a kid, he liked to play with woodblocks. It paidoff at last. We were so happy and proud of him.

In the past he made beautiful wooden lamp, glass, tool box, and cutting board, which he gave to me. He made me happy. I knew Rodney was destined to become an artist. He received for Industrial Arts."CONGRATULATIONS!"

COLLEGE DAYS After graduating from junior college in College of the Canyon, Rodney moved to San Francisco to start a new life and to pursue an art degree at the Academy of Art. Later, he transferred to San Francisco State University. While still in art school, he worked for Butterfield and Butterfield and designed their auction catalogues. He did a good job. Later, he also worked for E-Bay and Action Watch. At the same time, he was juggling work, school, family and home improvement. He matured so fast. How he could achieve so much with his life and busy schedule was amazing. It's unbelieve to have a son who's a clone of SUPERMAN.

"HAPPY GRADUATION DAY AND CONGRATULATIONS!"

Finally, Rodney graduated from the University of Phoenix with a Bachelor's degree in Information Technology. At present he's very sucessful and doing well in his present job at VENDIO.

He's also doing some sculpture art during his leisure. Last week, he e-mailed me about his latest art work. I was very excited to see his new sculptures via Internet.

He said: I've been working on a new art project. My work throws away computer hard drives when they no longer function. I've recently come into possession of 100 or so drives. Since the mirrored platters are very visually appealing, I decided to make some sculptures out of them. They are inspired by Alexander Calder. You can see my creations here:

http://www.resella.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=19

GOLDEN PAINTING I did this beautiful oil painting ( 16" x 20") of the "GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE," many years ago. I gave this painting to Rodney. It's now on display in their house

in Pacifica. I painted this bridge twice. When I was taking some art classes at the Senior Center, there was an elderly lady who always visited me every Wednesday. She admired this painting. One day, she asked me if I could paint it again for her. She was so nice, I couldn't say NO. Our art teacher told me, "This lady couldn't afford to pay you." Well, I finished the painting and charged her only $150.00 (without frame). I let her pay in installment. I wanted to make her happy by owning an original art work. I thought, lack of money shouldn't keep her from enjoying art.

MY HUSBAND, MY SON...YOU'RE WORK OF ARTS

FEBRUARY 4,2007
"DARLING, I AM GROWING OLD......."
February is a special month in our family with two birthdays. Today is very special. Who's growing old? Not me! Shhhh....its my handsome husband.
Let's go back to the future. The first time I met and dated him, he looked like a clone of Michael J. Fox. He has fair-skin and almost same height as him. Now, that he's older, hopefully in the future he wouldn't be shaking a lot like Michael, who is suffering from Parkinson's decease.
SUPER BOWL .........RAH! RAH! RAH!
Today is double treat with the much awaited Super Bowl. I am not that crazy about football, but because its my husband's birthday, I am joining in the shouting and cheering......Rah! Rah! Rah!

My husband is an electronic engineer. He works for a defense company that makes sonar system. Many years ago, I painted this "Sonar Airborne," (AN/AQS-18(V) for him. I painted it with all my heart. I thought that this painting would be a good reminder of his working days when he retires someday. This oil painting ( 18" x 24") is on display at his office.
I feel fortunate to have a husband who is a work of art. He's a snappier dresser than the "Blue Boy." He's more thoughtful thant Rodin's "The Thinker." He's a better listener than Van Gogh.
I enjoyed painting this for my him. Who wouldn't like to have a husband who is a work of art?
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET-ART!"
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BIN-BIN!"
Do I hear another birthday song? Yes, another birthday. Guess who? It's the birthday of our youngest son. We are celebrating my husband and son's birthday together because we will be on vacation when February 9th roll around.
FAMILY PROFILE
I never understood why God gave us four children while others were desperate to have at least one child. We wanted to have two sons and two daughters, but our youngest came out to be another boy. Of course, we thanked God for another BOY.

BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER
One of the joys of motherhood is having two sons who followed in my footsteps as an artist. Today, I am writing about Bin-Bin because his birthday is comming up. I'll be telling you about my eldest son (Rodney) also an artist later on. His birthday is comming in March.
I believed that "Blood is thicker than water." Like me Bin-Bin became an artist not a scientist.
HAPPY GRADUATION DAY WITH DAD AND MOM
In 2004, Robin earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Graphics. It was a happy day for all of us at the California Polytechnic University in Pomona.
Dad and son, both alumnus of Cal Poly Pomona

GENERATION GAP
When I was in art school, art was designed meticulously by hand. Today, my son speedily designs and creates art with computer. Art changed with technology.
During my art school days, I drew every ads, logos, letterings and pictures by hand. I painted with brushes, pencils, chalks and pens. I used oil paint, watercolor, ink and temperas.
AT PRESENT Robin now works for Motion Theory, an advertising agency. He designed televison ads that appeared during the past two Super Bowls like Nissan, Toyota, and Subway. Today, when my husband and I watch the Super Bowl, we are so proud and happy to see the new ads he designed for Budweiser. It has five million dollar advertising budget. Wow!
I still remember when we used to watch the GAME and get up during the COMMERCIALS. This time its the opposite. We get up during the game and are glued to the commercials waiting for Robin's ads.

I remember, when my mother was still around, she was one of my biggest art fan. Today, I am one of the biggest art fan of Robin. Well done Robin. Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah ! TILL THEN!