One of the reasons why I love to cosplay is the way I get to play a hero’s character because there’s something inside of me that wanted to save the world. But as time goes by, I realize that you don’t need to wear costumes or capes to call yourself a hero. We are all unsung heroes in own little ways whenever we are able to surpass every challenge life throws at us without giving up. Sometimes even when you can’t save others, being able to save your own self is enough already.

Captain Marvel (Endgame Version)

Photo By: 📷 Victor of @consagaphoto on instagram (Thank you for the wonderful shot!)

Cosplayer, Costume, Makeup, Post-Processing: 🎨 Mariella Lapid (@mariellalapid on instagram)

📱GADGET GIVEAWAY TIME‼️

This baby needs a new home. I realize I bring a lot of gears when I’m out shooting and I am not really able to use her to the full potential. i am really hoping to find a new owner who can create awesome videos with my DJI Osmo Mobile 2. I am so stoked to find alot of responses on my instagram Story so I am doing this simple giveaway! So here it is:

Calling all creative artists, videographers, travel lovers, hobbyists, enthusiasts and all sorts of people! Open to all Guam, Philippines and US residents.

Winner will be announced on my Instagram on September 2, 2019 at 3pm ChST- Chamorro Standard Time

PRIZE:

🌟DJI Osmo Mobile 2 — a mobile phone gimbal/stabilizer (barely used, bought last year)

3 Simple Steps to join:

1️⃣. Like this post on instagram.

2️⃣. Follow @mariellalapid on Instagram.

3️⃣. Tag atleast 3 friends in the comments on Instagram. (More comments has more chances of winning)

Bonus entries:

◾️Comment down why you wanna win the gadget.

◾️Share this post on your instagram with Hashtag #GiveawayByMariella

◾️Share this post on your Instagram Story and tag me and hashtag it with #GiveawayByMariella

Winner will be picked randomly by a random picker. Must follow all the 3 steps.

People would sometimes tell me that I should just “stick to the status quo”.

Being a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology, the journey has never been easy. Earning the degree itself took a lot of time, money, effort, sleep and energy. Other college students have month long summer breaks and semestral breaks but we only had a few days and the enrollment is already included on that “break” because we have to go to classes. We spent 4 years of our lives with little or no sleep and rest and there are those family occasions that we couldn’t go because we have school or we have hospital duty. It doesn’t end after getting the degree, we also have to prove ourselves worthy by taking licensure examinations. And of course, working in the laboratory, we work our asses off even if we get yelled by patients and doctors almost every day of our lives. Most of the time we tend to neglect our health just so we could attend to the needs of the patients and give them accurate and reliable results.

But don’t get me wrong, I love my job and I love what I do. It can get overwhelming but in all of the breakdowns, at the end of the day, i feel like a hero because i became a part of saving people’s lives.

And in all of that chaos, art has always been there to keep me sane. Taking photos ever since I was 10, winning competitions, i always do everything for fun and treated everything as a hobby. But deep inside me is a voice telling me that i have a gift. A gift that I could use to deliver a message to people. Promote awareness to people about certain issues, promote positivity and to help people become a better person. I want to inspire people, motivate them to strive harder, thrive in everything that we do.

People would sometimes tell me to just stick to my career in the medical field and forget about my “hobbies”. But why not do both? Why are we limiting ourselves into just one thing when we can be everything we want? I totally believe that we can be anything we want.

Yesterday was a big leap for me on my creative journey. I attended the Digital Global Summit #GuamTravelTalks with Anne. I spent two hours in anxiety before going to the venue but I am so glad I was able to make it because I learned alot of things and I was able to meet content creators that I look up to like Sam Kolder @samkolder, Laureen Uy @laureen and Daniel Del Carmen @_ddc. The fire in me has lit up and I can’t wait to create contents that will not just please people’s eyes but will also touch their hearts.

Lastly, I would like to thank Guam Visitors Bureau @visitguamusa for organizing this big event. I could have bought a signature branded stuff with the money but I chose to invest it on registering here because it’s an opportunity to widen my horizon and learn. The knowledge and experience i gained from this event is something that no one can take away from me.

TOASTMASTERS GUAM — The story of how God Ied me to Public Speaking:

The week has been rough. I feel like I am not doing anything that can fulfill the purpose God intended to do with my life. Shame on me for being able to finish half a book of Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life not achieving anything, not fulfilling anything. Not being able to apply it on my life. I feel empty.

I knew to myself that this time is crucial. I am vulnerable. I was so afraid loneliness will creep on the very parts of me and that the depression will hit me. Then, there’s gonna be no way out.

But, there is a way in — A way to God’s heart. So the only thing I was left to do was to continually seek God and worship Him, praise Him in any way possible. As Rick Warren says. “Worshipping God even when you feel abandoned is worshipping Him in the deepest way”. Through my SFC family, we made all of these things possible.

As I carry on seeking Him, I stumbled upon a Youtube video of one of the few people in the Philippine Show Business that i look up to —Ms Toni Gonzaga. The video is about her life testimony where all her life she wanted to become a singer on tv but got rejected too many times. Almost wanting to give up, she surrendered everything to the Lord. She let God’s will be done. That’s when she had her big break on showbiz. How she got a spot on tv was not because of singing but instead it was because of hosting. Before she would always ask God why “hosting” when she knows she’s better at singing and she later on realized that God wanted her to hone her public speaking skills to become a voice. To use her influence in media to be able to preach the goodness of God to people as what she was doing on the video itself was God’s plan for her.

Soon after watching the video, i found some interest in public speaking itself but I never made a concrete plan about it. Not really planning on taking a public speaking class in the next 6 months because I have plenty of other things to worry about. Also, as my introvert self, I am also pretty anxious to start taking an action on that aspect of myself, speaking to people.

Later on that day was the fellowship we had. While singing and worshipping God, I told Him that I surrender everything to Him. It was also a day full of laughter and love within my newly-found family. Before the day ended, I was amazingly invited by my brothers in Christ Jordan and James to check out this thing called Toastmasters — a platform where you could improve public speaking!!!! It felt like God wanted me to do it now. I don’t know what had gotten onto my mind but my usually introverted self went out of my comfort zone and decided to go and not only that I also invited fellow SFC members to come with me. The only thing that I have in my mind that time is to be able to improve at public speaking so that someday me and my brothers and sisters will preach together on how great our God is. During the session, I felt the fire burning with passion within me and the emptiness my heart has been feeling for days was filled with God’s promises.

Once you stopped controlling the steering wheel and let God do the driving, God will eventually take you to beautiful places with beautiful sceneries, with things you have never seen before. Beautiful things that only God has the ability to bring into your life.

Just remember that during your moments of darkness, if you continue to seek light, the light will eventually shine upon you, As Albert Einstein says: Darkness is only the absence of light. Therefore it doesn’t exist! So light is always present! it can get dim but it’s always gonna be there just continue to seek for it.

Thank you God for giving me the gift of family through CFC — Singles For Christ Guam.

Joining Singles For Christ, it started as a funny story. After attending the 5pm mass alone at St Anthony Church in Tamuning, as I got back from my car, someone knocked on my car window and gave me a flyer convincing me to join SFC and informing me that the start of the CLP (Christian Life Program) is on that next Saturday. And since I know SFC and i’ve been wanting to become active, I willingly joined the program and after several weeks of CLP and makeups for the weeks I wasn’t able to attend because I was off-island, I officially became a member in July. i’ve always felt that the Holy Spirit is within the place and within all our hearts throughout. And I love the people because they are all kind and welcoming even to my introvert self.

From what I know, my spiritual journey started when I was in high school. I remember noticing that I am one of the few people who enjoys the Novena every Wednesday at school when most of my schoolmates are either chatting with each other or are getting bored about it. There was a time of my life when I honestly thought I was going to be a nun, LOL! I was on fire burning with the desire to live a Godly life. But things happened and my journey has been inconsistent. There was a lot of road blocks, bumpy roads, detours, wrong turns and u-turns but my desire to build a relationship with God has always been there. I guess the fire is always there but it has grown weak.

I was born and raised Catholic in a typical Catholic family and always been surrounded by adults who thought me how to pray in my blessed hometown called, Santa Rita. This has always been my basis on how to live a true Christian Life, the Catholic way. Sunday masses, rosaries, processions, and some activities done during certain occasions, sometimes somehow i felt like those weren’t enough for me. I became a member of Youth for Christ way back but my situation and college made me unable to become active. During college, I also started attending to non-Catholic activities. My intention was not to convert but to seek and know more about God because I believe that we all serve and believe in one God. I’ve always attended with only one foot forward because my family, especially my Dad, is against it.

When people ask me who’s that person who gave me the flyer, it’s been several months and I still don’t know who that was! I’ve already met other SFC members but none of them look like the that person. Who is it? Maybe God? But regardless of who he is, big thanks to him because it is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. Sounds cliche but for me it’s true that only God can make you complete. I am struggling but I have a big God. We are not perfect and there’s no perfect Christian but what is important is that we have a perfect God and that you are making an effort to build a relationship with Him.

Hi Dad, I know you always listened to my voice whenever I sing the hymns when we go to the mass together. When I was a kid, you would always nudge me to encourage me to sing the church songs and I didn’t understand why. But as I grew up, and my Catholic Faith flourish, with you as one of my biggest influences, I get to learn that “To sing is to pray twice” — St Augustine

“Someday I know we’ll meet again, in heaven by the rainbow’s end...”

Whenever I hear this song it will always reminds me of you Dad because it is the first and last song I sang in front of a big crowd while you were there watching me.

“And I only wish you happiness, until we meet again.”

Happy Father’s Day to my Daddy, my guardian angel in heaven 👼🏻

Today, i cried more than any other day after you passed away. And I know that’s okay because It’s a part of the grieving process. According to Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, there are 7 stages of grieving: 1. Shock, 2. Denial, 3. Anger, 4. Bargaining, 5. Depression, 6. Testing, and 7. Acceptance. It will be a long way for me to be stuck on the 6th Stage but It’s ok because I know healing takes time. I recognize it’s what makes us human so if someone is going through the same thing (or some other kind that needs to be healed) please don’t be too hard on yourself.

Thank you daddy for always carrying not just my drone (just like in the 5th and 6th photo) but you carried me my whole life throughout my 22 years. I am beyond grateful to have you. I promise i’ll be well and I will achieve more things to make you and the family proud. You are always my strength and mg inspiration.

My only wish for you is to be peaceful in heaven. I’ll also try to be happy because I know you are with God Our Creator.

Tbh I didn’t expect this to turn out to be an emotional post. But if you took the time to read, thank you! And Happy Fathers’ Day to all fathers out there!

‪Stolen shots are gold. ✨These are some photos of me and my daddy I found on an old San Jose Barrio Fiesta Committee Yearbook. ♥️😭‬

“My name is Carol Danvers. Ever since I was a little kid, I didn’t fit in. See, I always wanted to fly.” ⭐️ — Captain Marvel Primer Pages (2017)

#DontSpoilTheEndgame

Cosplayer, Costume, Makeup, Photography, Edits: 🎨 Mariella Lapid (instagram: @mariellalapid)

THAILAND FOR MAY 2019, ANYONE?

Clearer and smaller pores 2019 🙏🏻

What you see vs What I see 👀

Fish Eye Marine Park in Piti, Guam

📷: DJI Mavic Pro

Cause her name is Ari ♥️

Ariana Grande inspired make-up 💕 I’ll be making a cover of her new song soon!

Pink Vibes Only. 💕

“Monsters don’t sleep under your bed. They scream inside your head.” 🧟‍♀️

I promise to love you but I gotta love myself first.