Edwin & Beatrice's 25th Anniversary Invitation

The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch swing with, never say a word, then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation that you ever had.” ~ Quoted

Because you are very special to us, we are privileged to invite you as
our Honored Guests to:

What: Our Silver Wedding Anniversary Celebration ...an all-year long celebration of LOVE in its barest simplicity, essence & beauty

When: January 9, 2007-January 9, 2008

Where: In your hearts, thoughts, & in the silence of your prayers with God's holy presence

We look forward to your company throughout the year

as we express our "Gratitude to Life" through small gestures of kindness to the most inconsequential things & beings in this world, this, our special way of celebrating a milestone as we believe that "The best portion of a good man's life is his little nameless, unremembered acts of kindness & of love."

With our sincerest appreciation,

Beatrice & Edwin,
together with our greatest blessings on earth - our sons,
Tristan Duke & Bernard Josef

“The world is so empty if one thinks only of the mountains, rivers, and cities;
but to know someone who thinks and feels with us, who is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden”.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

THE WEDDING
January 9, 1982
San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, Philippines


"It turns out that it's not what we do with our Life
but who we spend it with that is crucial to our happiness."


THE SILVER WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
January 9, 2007
San Diego, California, USA

~~~

"True-life love stories never have endings..."

Beatrice's 50th: A Black & White Party for Gawad Kalinga

The Black & White Theme: Life as a Poetry in Gratitude

A 'food for the soul' party like no other!
It's about the black & the white,
the yin & yang,
the tear & laughter,
the dawn & dusk,
the hello & goodbye,
the beginning & ending...
two opposing forces of life that give it profound meaning & depth...

Friends joined us celebrate ArtsyGutsy's 50th wonderful years by
rekindling the goodness & the spirit of gratitude of the Filipino.
Proceeds of this event benefitted the Gawad Kalinga Project
(building villages for the homeless).

An elegant cocktail-reception in a very unique floral showroom setting
laced with fine music, poetry & beautiful thoughts, flowers, candles &
the love of friends,
also an event to honor ArtsyGutsy's Gawad Kalinga Heroes:

Mr. Allan Camaisa

Dr. Ben Camacho

Ms. Tess Carandang

Mr. Ross Labadlabad
Ms. Yolly Rosario

Ms. Ellen Sexsion

Mr. Chris Mallari

Ms. Tata Villegas

Saturday, 17 December 2005, 5-10pm
Botanica, 2310-B Kettner Blvd., San Diego, Ca 92101
Black & White Cocktail Attire/Business Suit

"GRATITUDE is a twofold love --
love coming to visit us, and love running out to greet a welcome guest"
~ Henry Van Dyke

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;
they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."
~ Marcel Proust

"There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy".
~ Ralph Blum





"Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live".
~Jackie Windspear





"Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.”
~ Kahlil Gibran

“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls”
~ Aesop

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."
~ Melodie Beattie





"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us." ~ Albert Schweitzer

"If one could only learn to appreciate the little things...
A song that takes you away, for there are those who cannot hear.
The beauty of a sunset, for those who cannot see.
The warmth and safety of your home, for those who are homeless.
Time spent with good friends, for those who are lonely.
A walk along the beach, for those who cannot walk.
The little things are what life is all about.
Search your soul and learn to appreciate."
~ Shadi Souferian





"As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily. The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world". ~Adabella Radici

"Of all the "attitudes" we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude
is the most important and by far the most life-changing".
~ Zig Ziglar





"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that
what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for".
~ Epicurus





"Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel".
~Author Unknown





"Generosity is self-existing openness, complete openness.
You are no longer subject to cultivating your own scheme or project.
And the best way to open yourself up is to make friends with yourself and with others".
~ Chogyam Trungpa





"Happiness cannot be travelled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed.
Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and GRATITUDE."
~ Denis Waitley





"We can only be said to be alive in those moments
when our hearts are conscious of our treasures".
~Thornton Wilder




"The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it".
~ Richard Bach





"Charity never humiliated him who profited from it, nor ever bound him by the chains of GRATITUDE, since it was not to him but to God that the gift was made".
~ Antoine De Saint-Exupery




“After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn’t it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it?"
~ Richard Dawkins





“Today a thousand doors of enterprise are open to you, inviting you to useful work.
To live at this time is an inestimable privilege, and a sacred obligation
devolves upon you to make right use of your opportunities.
Today is the day in which to attempt and achieve something worthwhile.”
~ Grenville Kleiser

Thoughts 2003

"Thriving is elegant."
~ Maya Angelou

To New Possibilities

What better thought that summarizes our 2003 experience! Each new experience - big or small, happy or sad, triumphant or otherwise - brought us new levels & meanings of humaness & spirituality. With this in mind, we strive to grow & blossom every moment with charm & grace. Indeed, to begin taking roots & sprouting leaves in the midst of challenges, in a new environment, & on a new journey - this time with America - is wonderful.

Edwin continues to find meaning in his work with the Immigration Law Office of Korenberg, Abramowitz & Feldun; it provides him opportunities to help people of different races achieve their American dream. As former Consul General, he pursues the dream of making a difference by contributing to the advancement of Filipino & other immigrants here in America. He recently got appointed as Board Member of the prestigious & newly organized Immigration Museum of the New Americans Post WW2 based in San Diego. Home & family have taken center stage in his life this year.

Beatrice for her part, is blessed to have family & friends who support her vision to explore boundless opportunities not only to sharpen her 'creative saw' & fulfill her passion to support Filipino & Asian arts & culture but also to explore mutually advantageous pursuits. She considers the following as her key involvements in 2003: The Rizal Breakfast which she coordinated with Edwin for the Immigration Museum; Asian Fashion Fantasy to showcase the Fashion Designers Association of the Philippines & support San Jacinto Foundation's School for the Underprivileged Students in the Philippines; Farewell Performance of the University of the Philippines Concert Chorus World Tour '03 in Los Angeles; the Filipino American Library Gala in Los Angeles; and the Asian Enterprise Awards held in San Diego.

Tristan Duke, intensely expressive & creative, a young man with an attitude, dares to manifest his artistic inclinations through his studies in telemedia & communications. At six feet two with a gym-sculpted physique, carelessly handsome, and with a flair for fashion, he actively supports Mom's artistic undertakings by being one of the models of the Asian Fashion Fantasy, & designing the stage for the Asian Enterprise Awards. More importantly, he devotes his time helping the family in every way to make this trying interlude, a little more bearable. At this stage in a young man's life, he defies expectations when he takes an effort to understand & be patient when being rebellious & reckless would be the easier thing to do.

Bernard Josef, at fifteen, strikes a higher level of love affair with the computer. He gathers friends from all over the world through the internet, playing competitive games as well as exchanging ideas on web designs. Most of the time, his ideas are sought after by his high-tech friends, a preoccupation that may gain for him financial advantage, but at the moment, serves as a channel for his artistic & intellectual energies. He has slimmed down & grown as tall as his Dad.

Family & friends, the meaning of Christmas for us in the past year has added a new dimension: we count as our gifts beautiful people like you...for the most beautiful people we have known are those who have experienced all kinds of difficulties, and "have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, & a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen." We thank our dear Lord for the gifts of beautiful people in our lives throughout the year - YOU!

To new possibilities in 2004 !
Wishes from

Edwin, Beatrice, Tristan Duke & Bernard Josef

Edwin's 50th: A Champagne Party

"For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together.
For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad".
~ Quoted

Edwin's 50th is a toast to life, family, & friendship,
celebrated with a Champagne Party on Nov. 16, 2002
at the Eastlake Shores Beach Club in Chula Vista, CA.
It was attended by family & very special friends
from Los Angeles & San Diego.

The End of the 20-Year Romance & New Beginning: San Diego, California

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
~ Gandhi

“The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.”

- Abraham Lincoln

“The past is solid, the future is liquid.”
- J.L. Aubert

"All the world's a stage, and all the men & women, merely players,
they have their exits & entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts."
~Shakespeare, As You Like It

2002: The End Of The 20-Year Romance

"To understand a man, you must know his memories..."
~Anthony Quayle

And what do we remember of our 20 years romance with foreign service? Perhaps, it would take another 20 years to unravel the intricate designs that make up this all too-wonderful-all-too-exciting-all-too-satisfying work this world could offer. It is because foreign service is not just a job, it is a life.

Remnants of the memory glow & we see only the effects - what we have become all these years. It has fashioned us to become more resilient to life's ups & downs, helloes & goodbyes, beginnings & endings. This life teaches us to welcome all challenges with brave hearts & never with faint spirits.

Today, as the year nears its end, we remember not the agonies we experienced through the past months but the lessons they teach us. As we also look back at all the 20 beautiful years, we borrow these thoughts: "It was a time of such splendor - charming people, good food, laughter, and brave ideas - enough to entertain us for years." ~ Maya Angelou

2003 & Beyond: Definitely There's Life After The Romance

Someone says that "Memories are like corks left out of bottles. They swell. They no longer fit." True. Especially as we embark on our new journey this coming year & beyond, we see ourselves experiencing the exhiliration of freedom.

June 12, 2002 marks the conclusion of our government service. The preceding events clearly indicate that "one must be thrust out of a finished cycle in life, and that leap is the most difficult to make, when one would rather renew the faith & recreate the passion." ~Anais Nin

Enriched with our experiences, we are ready to embrace life's new challenges, as we open a new chapter in life. "Change can come anytime but transition comes along when one chapter of your life is over & another is waiting in the wings to make its embrace." ~William Bridges, Transitions

To old colleagues & old friends, we thank you for the memories. To new colleagues & new friends, we thank you for the dreams. To our dear Lord, family, & friends-for-life, we thank you for both the memories & the dreams...

Edwin, Beatrice, Tristan Duke & Bernard Josef

Love is Lovelier The Second Time Around: Los Angeles-Beverly Hills, California

“But because truly being here is so much; because everything here apparently needs us, this fleeting world, which in some strange way keeps calling to us. Us, the most fleeting of all. Once for each thing. Just once; no more. And we too,just once. And never again. But to have been this once, completely, even if only once: to have been at one with the earth, seems beyond undoing.
- Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies, 9th, 1923
Translated by Stephen Mitchell

“When Time who steals our years away
Shall steal our pleasures too,
The mem'ry of the past will stay,
And half our joys renew.”
~ Thomas Moore, 1779-1852

“So many years in one yesterday.”
~ Carla Phelps Wert

“This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere;
the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling;
vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal
dawn and glowing, on sea and continues and islands, each
in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”
~ John Muir

“All my possessions for a moment of time.”
- Queen Elizabeth I

‘Only the ephemeral is of lasting value.’

~ Ionesco

“To these delights of a garden, age may add a further interest which can hardly be distinguished from beauty, for the mind, at least with those who have the historic instinct, is always longing to be connected with the past, and dreading for itself confinement upon the plane of time, delights in evidences of the long continuance of nations, families and institutions, in hale and vigorous old age, in long-settled peace beyond the turn of Fortune's wheel, the 'scornful dominion of accident.' Restfulness is the prevailing note of an old garden; in this fairy world of echo and suggestion where the Present Age never comes but to commune with the Past, we feel the glamour of a Golden Age, of a state of society just and secure which has grown and blossomed as the rose.”
~ Sir George Sitwell, On the Making of Gardens, 1909

“Let it be forgotten, as a flower is forgotten,
Forgotten as a fire that once was singing gold,
Let it be forgotten forever and ever,
Time is a kind friend, he will make us old.”
~ Sara Teasdale, Let it Be Forgotten

“It is like clouds rising in the sky: suddenly there, gone without a trace.
And it is like drawing a pattern on water: it is neither born nor passes away.
This is cosmic peace and eternal rest.
When it is enclosed, it is called the matrix of the realization of suchness;
When it emerges from the enclosure, it is called the cosmic body of reality.”
~ Ma-tsu

"The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post."
~ Thomas Holcroft

“ Suddenly, as rare things will, it vanished.”
~ Elizabeth Barret Browning

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