Thursday, June 4, 2009

A Bit About Me...



Once upon a time...

there was a sweet, baby princess born to....

ok, so I wasn't blond-haired.
and I wasn't a princess.
...but I was a baby and I am sure I was sweet.

And my beautiful mom was an amazing, industrious "queen" of all things & kind, loving, and giving. And growing up, my dad was definitely the strict, hard-working, and loving "king" of our domain.


Here's the real bit about me:
1. Born in the Philippines, but at 3yrs old, left with my parents to Massachusetts (my dad was in the Air Force). As a 4 yr old kindergardener, I have to admit my report card showed my teacher's assessment of me- "...Maria has to have her own way... blah, blah, blah" (I'm not like this now, at least, I try not to be.)

2. Grew up in this military life, moving about every 2 yrs to a different military base. Hmm, let's see... Philippines~>Hanscom Field, Mass.~>Wakkanai, Japan~>San Antonio, TX~>Taipei, Taiwan(my brother, Leonard, was born here)~>Clark AFB, Philippines~>Holloman AFB, NM.

3. Graduated in 1981 (goodness, it seems like only yesterday...well, maybe not). Go, Alamogordo, NM "Go, Tigers!" Met my handsome, Hawaiian hunk of a hubby, of now 27 years!!! (cue in the Sound of Music soundtrack: "I was 16, going on 17...")

4. So, I was 16 and he was an 18 yr old Airman: SpaceShuttle/crash/rescue/paramedic Airforce fireman and a very handsome, body-builder. We met in Nov 1980, he went home to Hawaii for Christmas, and when he came back, he proposed!!! (My father, the "King", promptly had me return the ring back).

5. After graduation, with my dad retiring from the military and plans for the family to move to Wisconsin, my dad did allow me to accept the ring. (His thoughts were that the separation would damper the relationship... and with only letters via snailmail and limited phone calls. So different than how it is now-a-days with cell phones, computers emails, skype, i-chat, etc )

oh, forgot to mention the infamous line that my handsome Hawaiian recalls my dad saying. It was only after about 6 months knowing each other. After Dad saw the tattoo that Handsome Hawaiian had just gotten and tried to keep low-key- "You think because you have a tattoo of my daughter's name on your arm that you'll marry her???..."

*thoughtful pause*

...I realize as I am writing my bio leading up to present day, that it is filling up fast! So, instead of writing more of this mini-novel in this section, I will stop and continue in future postings.

With that said, I will jump ahead to wrap it up by saying:
I have been blessed, blessed, blessed by a loving, Christian man, three loving, Christian children, loving, Christian son-in-law, and a wonderful, amazing extended family and friends.

I finally did graduate this past May 2009 and am waiting to receive my dental hygiene license and get hired in an awesome dental practice, somewhere :o). I have also been doing artwork for over 24 years, with wonderful customers!  You can read more of how I got started with drawing the art with the names on this post called:  Personalized Sketches and Sentiments

I am excited about my Etsy shop, this blog, and getting to meet all of you in this world of blogging.

And of course.... the perfect ending to my once upon a time... is a happily ever after!

Blessings & Aloha!
Maria

***

UPDATED on August 2013 (I thought it would be a good idea to post some art on my first blog post~ for those that are new to my blog).

Here are some "royal-inspired" artwork drawn entirely with a person's name... samples of the art I do :o)
Can you see the names?

This castle was an order for a family, whose last name was PRINCE.

The next castle was drawn from a photo of the actual Neuschwanstein castle in Germany. It was a favorite site for Justin, who this was drawn for.



A crown drawn for one of the Kentucky Derby princesses, the year that our younger daughter was a Kentucky Derby princess too. :o) Here is my post about more "Royal-ness" in our family.



22 comments:

theluckiestmrs said...

Yay, Mom!!! ;) This is so fun to read! haha...you are too cute! I can't wait to tell all my bloggy friends about your new site! yay!!

Unknown said...

Wow! The old pictures. It's fun to see the resemblance of your mom with you and your girls.

GreatGramma said...

Hi there, Bing!

Boy this age of technology is terrific......I love your blog, and the pics of your mom and dad....I had the best fun with your mom sitting out under our tree..remember?
My Google name is Greatgramma.....'cause I usually go to the blog Megan has for the baby......

Personalized Sketches and Sentiments said...

"theluckiestmrs",thanks for telling your bloggy friends about my place... it's fun "meeting" people through this.

"Linda", Yes, I love the old photos. And was happily surprised to come across some of these (had forgotten that I had them). Please let me know if yo start a blog!

"GreatGramma", Thanks for stopping by! yes, how awesome to ahve had this when our three were little (I think I would have kept track of their funny or sweet moments, better!) and if it was around during my parent's time growing up, I would have loved to have read back on my mom and dad's journals!

And I definitely remember you guys sitting, talking, laughing under your tree. Great times :o)

I was hoping you had a blog too! Is Megan's an open blog for visiting?

Keep in touch! and stop by my blog again.

Valerie said...

Thanks for commenting on my blog - I see many tendencies in you that are familiar with me. Sister in Christ, Graduated HS same year, love old family photo's (I am starting to work on mine and create digital scrapbook pages -nothing fancy, though) and a bit long winded - I don't say that as a bad thing - I just had to giggle when you described yourself that way - because I see that in me too (obviously!).
I like your sketches, I cannot draw to save my life, but my talents lie more in the music end, as a music teacher, singer and pianist.

How nice that you have the gardenia plant. When my mom died, her neighbor gave me a gift of money from a local nursery and I purchased an orange rose bush -( my mom loved orange so much, she had the house I grew up in painted orange. Imagine living in a pumpkin your whole life. At least it was a Christ filled happy home - most of the time.)

I look forward to visiting again!

Felicia said...

I love this! So nice to meet you. Thank you for stopping by today and I am so glad that the code worked for you!

I also have another blog.. the main blog I guess.. http://www.gograhamgo.com

Now.. I'm headed off to check out your daughter's blog!

Tracey@Aloha Monkeys said...

What a cute story! I love the happily ever after. It's so nice to meet you in the bloggy world. Looking forward to reading the continuations of your story.

Bearly Sane said...

Hi Maria,
I see the connection now...it's the service background that brings out that peculiar sense of humour. My dad was Navy, hubby also Navy, son Army (broke his wrist in Hawii, by hitting the deck with his rifle while on exercise).
I also like working with pen and ink although I haven't done any illustrating since retiring.
Please keep in touch...I have also added you to my reading list.
Hugs,
Sandi

Lynn Barbadora said...

What a wonderful love story!
Hugs,
Lynn

Grandmabeckyl.blogspot said...

Was visiting your blog.Thought I'd share a few things with you. My last duty station in the Air Force was at Holloman AFB from 1/1979-8/80. Interesting that we lived in the same place. We moved from the base to Las Cruces after my enlistment was up. Lived in NM for a total of 10 years before moving to Oregon, where I'm originally from . My husband is from PA and we met in England when both of us were serving with the Air Force. Small world and I like your blog. Take care and God bless!! Come by my blog and visit sometime! :0)

Sarah A. Galang, Ph.D. said...

I enjoyed reading your story, I always love to read true stories. I'll be coming back...
I'll add your blog. See you!

His Unfailing Love

MsRay said...

This is my first time to visit your blog and I love it. I enjoyed reading about your life story. Did you post the continuation of your love story?

Happy Gramma said...

"I have no greater joy than to know my children walk in truth." From the Bible
I enjoyed reading about your love story. My husbannd and I started going together when I was 14 and he was 16... married at 19 and 21. We have been married for 38 years, with 6 children and 13 grandchildren. The Lord has blessed us richly!
I am following from FF. Please visit me and enter my two giveaways. One is very short and ends Monday noon, so don't wait!
www.happyfamilyhappykids.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Thank you for visiting me at Totally Temberton. I decided to hop over here to visit you. I love your blog! I'm a Navy brat and my husband is retired Air Force. We've been to some of the same places, though not at the same time. We moved from Hanscom to Hickam in '03 and he retired a year later. We now live in VA. We also lived in Alaska, Georgia, and Japan. We were actually visiting Alaska on 9/11/01 and were scheduled to leave just after midnight, so that event is forever burned into our memory. It would have been anyway, but you know what I mean! We were stuck for 6 days before we could finally fly out. Not a terrible place to be at the time, but the reason for being there was certainly tragic. We eventually flew into BOSTON and the parking garage was basically empty, except for our van. We were just glad it was still there!

Blessings,
Cara

Unknown said...

Hi!
thank you very much for visiting my blog and leaving comments. I really appreciate it.
Your blog is so nice and i just added it to my daily readings.
It's so nice to read true stories like yours.
take care!

Amy said...

It was such a wonderful idea to go back and read the very first post on a blog! I just did and I'm glad to get to know you more. :) Thanks for sharing your stories. BTW, I'm your newest follower.

Amy
http://utry.it

XmasDolly said...

I have a friend who lives in Hawaii that I grew up with, and he just sent me videos and photos of where he lives due to Japan's earthquake & to shorten this some I look all over for your e-mail address and I got worried and just wanted to know if you're all right.

Jennifer Bowen said...

What a beautiful story! Funny that you lived in Mass. because I grew up there. Went to high school in Somerville, then moved to Worcester. =)

Esther Joy said...

I enjoyed going back to your beginning posts and finding out a bit about you. I have just returned from Georgia, visiting a niece who is in the Air Force. Her husband transferred from Air Force to Army and is in Afghanistan, which leaves her to care for their four young children. I don't think she could continue in the Air Force without the help of my sis and her retired Air Force husband caring for the children. Many thanks to your husband for his service to our country!

Anne Garry said...

hello maria! i got all your comments . yhank you so much for dropping by.

www.randomthoughtsdoordi.com said...

I just read your bio and we have a lot in common. I met my husband when I was a senior in high school. We have been married for 40 years! My husband is a dentist! We have 4 sons, 2 are dentists, one fireman, one chef. I worked in the dental office for 20 years but retired to spend more time with my mom after my dad died in 2000. I'm happy to say my mom is fine and now I spend as much time as possible sewing. We have 8 grandchildren. Nice to find your blog.

Granny-Guru said...

Love reading your life story. My husband's family has cousins who are dentists married to each other, so I can relate to your daughter and son-in-law. Sounds like you have a wonderful family. Thanks for visiting my newgrandmas blog.

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