NEW BRAT ON THE BLOG

A big brat-ty welcome to one of the new members of our etsy Military Brats Street Team:

http://www.julenas1oak.etsy.com/

1.What is your first name & where are you originally from?

I'm Elena J. Abella,from the Philippines.

2.What branch of service was your parent in?

My father is a Master Sergeant from the Philippine Air Force.



3.Where did you live while growing up?

I lived inside a military base called Edwin Andrews Air Base,from birth through college and until I was called to active duty.

4.How did growing up as a military dependent affect you?

Growing up as a military dependent greatly influenced my choice of work after passing the Nurse Licensure Exam.  Instead of working abroad,which was the trend then, I opted to enter the Armed Forces thru its Nurse Corps.  I guessed I have always wanted to be a Lieutenant and the pride that it will give my father who was still in the service that time.

As a nurse, I genuinely would have loved to serve the men in uniform who were fighting insurgency and insurrectionist (sad to say, the Philippines has them all) but that was not the case for me, as I was assigned to the Presidential Security Group.


5.Where do you live now?

It has been 3 years since we moved out from a military camp.With my husband and our 3 very young kids.  We now live in a residential community in the suburbs. It is a middle-class subdivision. I still haven't gained the peace of mind like I had while living inside a military base.Maybe because my entire childhood and most of my adult life I lived inside a peaceful, secured community,where almost everybody is like a family. It's so different now, I miss living in a camp already!

6.Tell us a little about your life now?

So far,I think this is the most challenging and rewarding stage of my life- being a full-time mom! You have to be on your feet even if you don't want to! My goodness, I wasn't warned! After a decade of working as a professional nurse, I thought it's just right that I focus on looking after my brood. I love and cherish everyday I spend with these 3 little angels! It could be chaotic sometimes, but knowing you're making an impact to their lives is enough motivation to be a good person whom they can look up to. Now that we have kids, being a wife is only secondary to being a mom, and in between I have a 'non-profit' business(according to my hubby) to attend to.


7.What is the name of your etsy shop & what is your specialty?

My etsy shop is named Julenas1oak(julena's one of a kind).I make jewelleries such as necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and a few hair accessories. What makes them different from other jewelries you see is that most of the materials are rare, hard to find vintage components, and reproductions from old toolings sourced from reliable online suppliers. Some of these components are not being made anymore and are very limited so that I only make 1 per design.  As they say, "the possibilities are limitless", which is so very true.

It's tedious as most of my materials comes from outside of the country. Most of the time materials requires 2-3 sources to come up with a single piece like a necklace, not that they aren't available in one supplier, but thats just how I want it to be. As much as possible I use natural stone beads and very few glass beads just to add sparkle to a piece.

8.Where else can we find you online?

I maintain a blog at http://www.julena14.blogspot.com and a new twitter account http://twitter.com/#!/VintajjulEna


Okay Brats, let's all go follow Elen on twitter, visit her blog and comment, your circle on etsy.

Thank you Elen, for participating in this new blog feature!