Ohhh Christmas time. Full of family, food and awkward photos. Here are mine with my two little dudes but we warned, 85% of them are blurry (I blame my malfunctioning remote) and 100% of them are very attractive. Enjoy!

I have no idea who these amazing people are but I took their picture. Here's the story:

I was finishing getting ready to eat dinner with my family for Christmas Eve and I suddenly heard my dogs barking and going crazy. My family was downstairs so I thought maybe my parents were waiting for someone else to arrive. Next thing I know, I hear a guitar and a group of people singing a Christmas medley. So I go downstairs and see these 4 wonderful people singing. I was thrown off by this that I turned to my mom with an awkward smile with the thought of, "Uhhh, what's going on, mom?" I was diggin' the tunes though and they sang with such soul. We all clapped when they finished and the mother (I'm assuming) proceeded to tell me that they were going to every house in the neighborhood asking for donations to send to the Philippines to help feed and rebuild after the tragedy that happened there earlier this year. This made me extremely happy so I asked if I could take their picture in front of my decorations, we donated to them and they were on to the next house. I saw the flyer they gave my dad after they left and they are part of the Pentecostal Missionary Church of Christ (4th Watch) in National City which are a part of the Dalaw Kalinga Foundation. I am always touched by the amazing people in this Earth that go day by day making it a better and positive place even when tragedy hits. I can hear them singing as I'm finishing up this post in my room, they definitely put the cherry on top of my holidays.

Finals week is here! I hope everyone had a smooth week of finals and aced those tests. I've been working on my final for my film class these past two weeks and I FINALLY finished. It's been a crazy but fun experience since it was my first time shooting and putting together a video of my own. I came up with the idea as I was listening to Two Door Cinema Club's newest album Beacon. I was jamming to the song "Next Year" and was like, "Eh, why not?!" Then I started planning for my final. I ended up casting a few people but they ended up bailing last minute. LUCKILY my awesome friend Marianne volunteered and it was a go. I had my friend Luis help me out during the entire making of the video minus the plane shots & Seattle shots. Our first day of shooting was taking a mini road trip to Julian, home of the best pie and caramel apple cider there is. On our second day we went to downtown to shoot at some rooftops (we got a work out walking up 10 stories) met some awesome Canadian people and after we went to Lestat's to shoot some more. On our third or so day I shot at Soma with Chris and Mari. Fun fact, they're a real couple. Chris had just came back from tour and the last day on it was in San Diego. Lucky me! I shot some quick stuff with both of them since we were very limited on time. My editing process was somewhat smooth. I had started with some footage I shot on my way home from Seattle on the plane. I had filmed some footage when I was GOING to Seattle but my memory card was corrupted so all my videos were un-usable. Such a bummer. But I got it done. Things I would have changed: GET MORE FOOTAGE. It seemed like I had gotten a bunch from every location I went to but I needed more when developing Mari's & Chris' scene. I used some fun clips as fillers which I think look alright but you live and you learn. I definitely admire all my friends and everyone that is in this field. You guys make it look so easy, so much more respect for all of you. Enjoy the BTS (behind the scenes) pictures and the final video :)