Bad day

All of the excitement that I felt after watching the Sex and the City movie was ruined this morning. I was so happy when I woke up as I really had a great time with my sister and my cousin when we watch the SATC movie last night. Not until this morning.

It is all because someone can’t seem to make up his mind. One minute, you want me to do this. Then the next minute you want a different thing. You can’t make up your #@$%^ mind. That is why you are so confused on what you want me to do since you keep on changing your mind. Then you talk to me as if I am a moron, “Oh come on!!”

Good thing it is already Friday. At least that’s my only consolation – I won’t be seeing you for the next couple of days.

Beverly Hills 90210 Spin Off

Can you still remember the Beverly Hills 90210 days? I remember I was in high school then and my mom would always scold me for staying up late to watch the show. Beverly Hills 90210 is really one of my favorite TV series back then. I remember how I would giggle in excitement every time I would see Jason Priestley and Luke Perry. They were really the most popular teen idols that time. My notebooks amd boosk would all be covered with pictures of the whole 90210 cast and I would even buy magazines that features them.

So you can just imagine how excited I got after learning the they will be doing a Beverly Hills 90210 TV Redux. Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth will be back in the show and they bring their old character, Donna and Kelly, back to life. (Rumor has it that Jennie Garth left the CBS pilot show My Best Friend's Girl to make time for this 90210 spin off) They also said that Steve Sanders Ziering will be back in the show too. And there is one US website that launched a campaign to get Shannen Doherty to the show.

How I wish Luke Perry and Jason Priestley will be back in the show too. I wonder what happened to them and what have they’ve been busy with.

Wish List: MANOLO BLAHNIK

Since I was able to watch the Sex and the City movie last night and I still have hang over after seeing the complete cast of Sex and the City again (specially the girls and Mr. Big), look what I have been fantasizing about after watching the movie.

.: I love the purple hue of this shoe :.

Photo Credit: Neiman Marcus site

Aren’t they a gem? But the price tag is pretty too and I still have a long list of expenses to take care of. So for now (yup, I’m still hoping that there will come a time that I will be able to own one of Manolo’s classic shoes) I think I can just settle seeing these pretty shoes here in my blog.

Wordless Wednesday # 8 - Blue Lagoon – Coron, Palawan

Walk this Way: Carlos Celdran

Do you know who Carlos Celdran is? I always hear his name from our Canadian officers and it looks like he is really famous among the ex-pat community.

So I got really curious since I always hear his name among our Canadian officers, and so I did some research about him. And that’s when I found out some intereting information about him.

Carlos Celdran’s mission is to educate and help the people understand the city of Manila. Quoting him, he said: "I cannot change the way Manila looks, but I can help change how you look at Manila."

He has been named as the Pied Piper of Manila by several local newspaper and publications. He has been organizing walking tours to give foreigners and even Filipinos, a new outlook of Manila.

His tours really became popular since he uses Manila itself as the classroom. Every time he conducts a tour, he is wearing a Baraong Tagalog, slippers, and his native hat armed with his portable radio for his sound effects and pictures of relevant events in history.

Photo Credit: Google

I remember now that he was featured in Jessica Soho reports and his tour is very entertaining since he also incorporates humor to his tours. So tour participants won’t have a dull moment during the entire duration of the tour.

He offers half day tour, day tour and even overnight tours. You can check out his website: Walk This Way, for more information about his walking tours and tour rates.

Hubby and I should attend one of his walking tours. It really sounds very interesting and at least it will help us refresh our history and who knows it might give us a new perspective about Manila.

Possible business venture?

Every time there is a special occasion that will be celebrated in our family, in our circle of friends and even in our colleagues, they would always ask for our help in doing their invitations. . My husband is very creative and he has a lot of unique ideas every time he has to make an invitation. On the other hand I am into digital scrap booking. We both know how to use graphic software like Adobe Photoshop and Corel Draw so we really love doing this stuff.

When we got married last 2005, my husband was the one who did our wedding invitations, from the design and lay out up to the printing and assembling of every details of the invites. While I have done dozens of birthday invitations, baby shower invitations, christening invitations and all other types of invitations that you can think off.

.: our wedding invites :.

.: Bela's 1st Bday Invite :.

.: Bela's 2nd Bday Invite :.

My friends and my colleagues are saying that we are really good at it and they are suggesting that we could have it as our business. Since my husband is into photography business, he can offer his clients our printing and editing service for their holiday photo card, birth announcements or for all their invitations needs.

That would be a cool thing to do. We get to earn from the things that we enjoy doing. But we figure, doing those kinds of stuffs requires a great deal of time. And since my husband and I are both working, we don’t have the luxury of time in our hands. So we decided, we would just continue doing this for our friends and relatives for free.

Mommastuff Questions Week 4 - Budget Tips

I was asked by Nice to participate in this week’s Mommastuff Question of the Week. So here’s the question for this week : Can you share any budget or money saving tips that you find effective?

When it comes to budget saving, I don’t think I will be the right person to ask since I’m really not the spend thrift kind of person. But here are some tips that I can share.

1. Take into account all your expenses. What I do is I have a spread sheet where I record all my expenses so I will have an idea how much I’m spending already so I will know if I’m already over the budget or not.
2. Set a weekly or monthly budget and stick to it. I was able to do this by monitoring my expenses with the use of a spread sheet.
3. I always have packed lunch from Monday – Wednesday and it is only every Thursday that I go out for lunch. I was able to save big by doing this since prices of meals in restaurants (specially restaurants here in RCBC) are quite expensive so bringing packed lunch really gives me a big savings.
4. Prioritize your expenses. I love to go shopping for my daughter, my husband and I also love to travel. But before we splurge on these type of things, we have to make sure first that our basic needs are met first before dealing on our wants.
5. Have a sideline or other business. If you live in the Philippines, having just a day job is not enough. You should really have a sideline or a business so you will be able to save some money and splurge on some of your wants. I’m really not a business minded person but my brother is. So every time he invests on a business I am always his business partner.
6. At home, I always turn the lights off during day time and unplug the equipments that are not being used. They say that even if equipments are turned off, it still consumes electricity so better to unplug it. This is also environment friendly.
7. Every time we do our grocery, I have a list of the things that we need. This will help eliminate buying unnecessary things.

So there. Hope I was able to share something useful.

Her pearly whites

Look at how great my cousin’s smile is and how she shows her shiny pearly whites. That is because she just had a cosmetic dental treatment with a Cosmetic Dentist NYC.

You see, my cousin is the building supervisor of one of the high rise and high class condominium located in the upper class district. She deals and talks to her tenants everyday and they are not just ordinary people, they are high society people who either has a position in the government or who belongs to the high society class. So it is really important for her that she looks good all the time so she is confident when dealing with her tenants.

She has long been planning to visit a New York Cosmetic Dentist but due to her busy schedule and the money that she needs to undergo a dental procedure, she has always been postponing it. So when she got her mid-year bonus this month, the first thing that she did is visit Cosmetic Dentist New York to have a dental cosmetic treatment.

And she said it was all worth it since she really got the smile that she desires and she is more confident now which is really what she needs for her job.

Welcome back Rafter!

Yes, he is back. My best friend who has been assigned for temporary duty to Majuro for three weeks is now back here in Manila. I received a text message from him last Saturday evening upon arriving here.

Dude, how much did you saved from your per diem allowance? Looks like your wallet is full of US dollars and you can very well afford a Jaeger LeCoultre watch that you have long been planning to buy.

You see, he went to Majuro for temporary duty. Majuro is the capital city of the Marshall Island and he had nothing to do there except go snorkeling or scuba diving as there is no malls anywhere in the island. He was not able to do some shopping (which is the thing that he really loves to do) when he was there, so I bet, he really saved big time from his allowance.

And of course he will not let our good friend Timmy steal the lime light of his coming as he also has good news for us because he got promoted too. So dude, when will you treat us out? We missed you badly and we can’t wait for your birthday/welcome/promotion treat for the whole gang.

Indoor Garden Designs by Pido

I was browsing one of the wedding websites as I was helping a friend prepare for her wedding when I chance upon a site about Pido.

So who is Pido? Pido (Ferdie as we call him), is my cousin who is an event stylist. He was our event stylist during our wedding back in 2005 and he was just starting out back then. He is the first event stylist in the Philippines that brings the garden to an indoor venue. This allows the couples to have a natural feel of a garden wedding and at the same time experience the comfort of an air conditioned venue. He is very creative as he never runs out of ideas for your wedding reception.

We just love how he transformed our reception. He has lots of ideas that we never thought would be possible for our venue and he was able to execute all his ideas well. We just love the overall set up of our venue and all our guests was awed by how he transformed it.

So I was really happy when I learned that Pido is really making it big already in the wedding industry. He already started to join trade show exhibits so he can very well promote his service. I remember when we visited him in one of the trade shows that he joined, his table covers and table top display are very different from all the participants of the trade show as he still uses his styling and creates an indoor garden booth every time he joins a show.

Here are some of his creations (including some pictures from our wedding).

Congrats Pido! We know that someday you will really make it big and you would be a well known name in the wedding industry and we are not mistaken.

Be the cover of a magazine

I was browsing the friendster account of my sister in law and saw this cute magazine cover style picture posted in her account. So I gave it a try.

Aren’t they cute? It’s so easy to do. Just visit MagMyPic.com. Then upload the photo that you want to put on the magazine cover. After uploading the picture, select the magazine cover that you want then select the size for your cover. And that’s it. They will give you the HTML code that you can easily paste to your blogger, facebook, friendster account or wherever you want to use it. Isn’t that cool? Try it now.

Congrats Timmy!!

Nothing is really final yet as she hasn’t signed the contract but I want to be the first to say congratulations to my good friend Timmy, for getting the Immigration Officer position. I never really doubted that you will make it and it’s really about time since you have been in your current position in a long time now and you really deserve the promotion.

Timmy is one of my closest friends in the Management and Consular section. She is my lunch buddy, my room buddy if we have out of town team building activities, and she makes everything fun as she is game for everything. When I learned that she got the promotion, I was really happy for her as I know that she really deserves it. Although I felt a bit sad as I know I lost another good friend in our section. I’m already thinking about our next team building and how would it be without her this time. And she is really one those people that I can really trust and share my secrets with about my rant about the office.

But hey, she will just be two floors away from me and she will always be my lunch buddy and my good friend. So good luck to your new job at the Immigration section. I know you will do well there. And this will give you additional money in your savings account so you better treat us out, ok. :-)

Bela and Sassy

While we were at the mall last week, we checked out a pet store to buy some pet supplies like dog food, a new dog collar and dog shampoo for Sassy, our cute Labrador. (Howell bought her as his gift for me when I told her I was pregnant.)

When we were at the store, Bela was having fun watching the hamsters playing, the fishes in the aquarium, the dogs and even the turtles. We noticed that Bela is really fond of animals. She loves playing with the hamsters and guinea pigs of our neighbors. She is not even scared to play with Sassy even if Sassy is too big for her. She would love to play catch and throw with Sassy and she loves to touch Sassy’s wiggling tail.

.: These pictures were taken when Sassy was just a few months old. She is definitely much bigger than at 2 years old. :.

Howell wanted to buy her a smaller dog like a pug but I don’t think Bela is ready for her own pet. Owning a pet is a big responsibility and I want to buy her a pet when she is big enough to take care of it. And at least she can choose herself, which pet she prefers.

So for now, she will just have to play catch and throw with Sassy.

Recipe Sharing: Fish in Creamy Curry Sauce

Ok, since our house help is away for eight days, I have been doing some cooking (or let say some experimentation. LOL). So here is one of my successful experiments that I whipped up for the husband.

Fish in Creamy Curry Sauce

Ingredients:

½ kilo tanigue steaks
1 tablespoon Maggi Savor
Olive oil for frying
2 table spoon butter
2 table spoon curry powder
2 table spoon flour
Salt and pepper
One 250 ml. All purpose cream
4 tablespoon calamansi juice

Preparation:

1. Marinate fish in Maggie Savor for at least ten minutes. Fry fish steaks in olive oil until brown. Set aside.
2. Melt butter, stir fry curry powder. Add flour, salt and pepper, mixing until well blended. Remove from heat. Stir in the all purpose cream and calamansi juice ad cooking stirring constantly until tick. Serve with fried fish.

So hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.

Trying something new

My friend who has been working in the Customer Care department has been complaining about how she finds her job so routine already. She has been in this position for six years now and she feels that she doesn’t find any room for growth.

Her friend from college is now in the retail industry and is inviting her to apply to any of the retail jobs that are open in their company. She has been considering it since it offers competitive salary, great benefits like medical benefits and stock options, paid time off and even educational programs.

This will definitely kill her boredom since this is something new for her. And come to think of it, I know my friend would do well if she ever gets the retail job since she is a people person. I’m sure with the right training and education she will make it big in the retail industry.

Hubby’s request

My husband has been bugging me to cancel our current cable subscription. He is not happy with their service especially with channels that he anticipates after a long day of work since it is not being offered with our current cable subscription.

Men do usually watch sports shows, news or informative channels and lastly movies. In his case, he’s a sports fan, from baseball to basketball to football to tennis and all those sorts of physical activities that helps him release stress from work. You can always sense his energy after watching games. And taking that away from him makes him really dissatisfied with our cable service provider.

According to him, not like DirectTV, those sports channels are not included in the package of our current cable subscription since our current cable subscriber was not able to renew their contract with those sport channels. And if ever it is available from them, they offer it at “pay per view” option which cost more.

He said we can switch to Direct TV instead since those sports and movie channels and even kids channels are included in their package. And since it is Satellite TV, the reception is clearer than our cable subscription now.

I will inquire tomorrow so at least before he leaves for three weeks to Majuro, he will get to enjoy the sports channels that he already misses in a long time now.

Res – Toe – Run

I was reading a magazine while waiting for Bela’s class to finish and my interest was caught by an interesting article about a new Shoe store in Trinoma.

The name of the store is Res – Toe – Run. When I first read it, I thought it was a really a restaurant since the architect Dindo Guevarra and artist Robert Alejandro designed it to actually look like a real restaurant.

Res – Toe – Run is owned by the Primer Group of Companies who are the creators of brands The Travel Club and Bratpack, The store carries multi brand of shoes so does with shoe festish will really have a wide array of options to choose from.

According to the owner, they decided to create a store with this concept since the stores located in the same floor as theirs are mostly restaurants. And architect Dindo Guevarra excitedly accept the challenging offer. They name the store Res- Toe – Run since it represents the three categories of shoes that they offer in their store: RES for their casual footwear, TOE foe their sandals and flip-flops and RUN for their athletic.

I really haven’t checked the store yet but I will definitely check it out if we happen to be at Trinoma.

Photo Credit: ShopCrazy.com

Adieu, Adieu! Till we meet again!

I can’t believe that four years has past already and my good friend will soon be leaving us again.

You see, my good friend from college married an American Citizen and so she has to move with him to the US after they got married. Luckily, they were able to get a posting here in Manila last 2004 so we were able to spend some time again with each other.

But I was just talking to her yesterday and she mentioned that it is time for them to move for their next posting assignment. She didn’t really realize that their four years of assignment here has just passed by like that. Time really flies when you’re really having fun.

Next week, they will be traveling to North Carolina to find a house where they will live when they move there this coming July for their next posting assignment. And while they’re there, they will also go to Outer Banks with her family for a vacation.

Oh well, that’s just the way of life for ex-pats like them. I will surely miss my friend. We really have some good times here in Manila and I promise we will really try to visit you in North Carolina so we can have some fun there again. So as the cliché goes, I will not be saying good bye but see you soon.

Bamboo Clips = Email Newsletter

We had a meeting with our community coordinator this morning and she is asking for a suggestion on how she can effectively distribute the monthly newsletter to the Canadian community in the mission.

Right now, she makes a monthly newsletter called the Bamboo Clips which is distributed to all the Canadian community in the mission. This newsletter contains important information on how they can adjust to the new culture, information from other ex pats like shopping tips, preschool information, play class, and the like.

Her problem is, she finds the current system of distributing the newsletter to be not that effective. Since the newsletter is just stacked in her room and the members of the Canadian community can just get it in her room if they like. She thought that having an email newsletter would be a better option and this will give a better chance that members of the community will actually receive and read the monthly newsletter. So we suggested that we employ an email newsletter tool that can help her manage all the subscribers of the monthly newsletter and newsletter software that can help her track if the newsletter has been successfully delivered to all recipients via email.

So this will be our new project for her. We have to get the approval of the big boss and we can start looking for a supplier for the software that she needs so she can start implementing an effective way to deliver the monthly newsletter.

Ice skating without ice?

We were at Mall of Asia last Sunday after attending the christening of the son of my colleague. We passed by the ice skating rink since Bela would love to watch the skaters as they glide and do their thing on the ice. She would excitedly say “Skate, skate.”

But unfortunately, there were no skaters when we passed by as they have to take a break as the technicians have to do something with the ice, like they were polishing it or something.

But ice maintenance like this can be totally eradicated if the ice skating rink in Mall of Asia uses the iceless ice skating rink invented by the Japanese. The ice skating rink is made of plastic panels manufactured by Mitsubishi and will be introduced in Japan this coming June.

An ice skater has tried this new iceless ice skating rink and she claimed that the more it is still not best for the more complicated figure skating moves.

This is really a cool invention specially for tropical countries like us. Right now, I think there are only two ice skating rinks here in the Philippines – one in Mega Mall and one in Mall of Asia. Maybe the reason for this is the high cost for maintaining ice skating rinks. The inventors of this iceless ice skating rinks claimed that skating rink operators can save approximately $190,000 annually for their electricity and water bills if they use this fabricated rinks. If this is true, that would be good news. Who knows, in the coming days, all SM malls will now have an iceless ice skating rinks.

Planning for Office Renovations

Looks like the planned room renovations for our floor to accommodate the growing demands for additional rooms of one of our section will be starting soon. This week, an advance team from headquarters arrived to look at the floor plans and all the other work that needs to be done.

We have been working with one of them and we have been helping him in identifying the data drops that will have to be redone since some of the walls will be tear down which means that data drops will have to be disconnected.

He said that we really don’t have much work to do during the renovations since a contractor will be doing the network cabling for us. All we have to do is identify in the patch panel from the telecom closet which data drops have been removed and then update the patch panel with new data drops that have been installed. He suggested that we better buy Primera labels which we can use to properly label the patch panels in the telecom closet and all the cables and data ports. This way we will be more organize and will make our work a lot easier.

This is really not a big work for us and renovations won’t start not until July but it pays to start early with the preparations and the planning.

Ideas for our future home renovation

We had dinner at one of the posh restaurants in Greenbelt five last night as our send off party for one of our friend who is leaving for Singapore. It is one of the high end restaurants in the Greenbelt area and it has a great view of the Greenbelt garden which we really loved. We also love the restaurant because we love the ambiance because of its great interiors and nice furniture which give the restaurant its over all appeal.

When I used the washroom, I was really impressed as they even extended the restaurants ambiance up to the bathroom. They used beautiful bathroom furniture and they even have copper sinks. I can’t help but noticed their nice copper sink since it is very rarely that I get to see restaurants used those kinds of sinks and they really look good.

It then gives me an idea to use those kinds of copper sinks when we have our home renovations. We still don’t have the budget right know for our plan to renovate our home but my husband and I have been giving our inputs already on what do we want for our home. We can even have copper kitchen sinks as well to have a uniform look.

Alba and Cash Tied the Knot

Looks like it’s the time of the year when a lot of Hollywood stars are tying the knot.

Two weeks ago, I made a post here on rumors going around about Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon secretly tying the knot. And then I just heard from the news today that Jessica Alba tied the knot too with her boyfriend and the soon to be father of her daughter, Cash Warren.

The two have been dating since 2004 after they met at 2004 after they met on the set of The Fantastic Four, where Warren was a director's assistant.

Even close friends and relatives where surprised by the news too as the two got married quietly in the Beverly Hills courthouse. They arrived at the courthouse, applied for a marriage license, waited for the paperwork to be processed, and then a staff of the courthouse married the two lovebirds.

The two really look lovely together and I can’t wait to see their daughter. For sure she will be one lovely and pretty baby.

My other world at work

In line with the Canada Day celebration, the Trade section will have a series of trade show exhibits. As early as now they are already starting the preparations and you can see most of their staffs running around and getting busy with all the event preparations.

The IT section is not really that involve with the trade shows. Our only job is to help them do the lay out and print all the posters and the brochures that they need to be displayed on the trade show booth.

I love doing this part of the job since I get to practice my digi-scrapping skills every time I helped them do their lay outs. Ever since I got so busy with taking care of my daughter and with work, I rarely get to digi-scrap. So I really look forward every time they have trade shows as it is only this time that I can go back to my digi-scrapping world.

Money Talks

My aunt was rushed to the hospital just recently because she had a mild stroke. Since it was an emergency, we rushed to the car to take her to the hospital and just grabbed whatever we can get. When we reached the hospital, we rushed her to the Emergency Room. The resident doctor checked on her and was advised that she be admitted so they can further check her condition.

My dad and I went to the admitting office, and since my aunt doesn’t have a health insurance, they are requiring us to give a deposit before they can admit my aunt. And since we were in a hurry when we left the house, we don’t have enough money for the deposit.

That’s the problem with private hospitals here in the Philippines. If you don’t have a health insurance, you always have to have cash on hand before you can get admitted in the hospital. Good thing that our house is just near the hospital so we were able to ask my brother to bring the money that my aunt needs.

We’re fortunate that we were able to produce the money for my aunt so she was admitted in the hospital and the doctors attended to her needs. But what about those poor individuals who can’t produce instant money if ever they need to be hospitalized. Does that mean they don’t deserve a decent kind of hospitalization?

Maybe what the government needs to do is instead of concentrating on projects like the National Broadband Project which will really never benefit majority of the Filipino citizens, is they can prioritize giving a decent health insurance to all tax paying Filipinos. At least it can give them the security and the peace of mind that somebody will cover for them if they get hospitalized.

Bitten

I am already excited for the movie screening of Sex and The City that I can’t help but check for informations about it on the net. And while I was browsing, I chance upon the site of Bitten. This is Sarah Jessica Parker’s first apparel line that is sold exclusively at Steve & Barry's store nationwide.

The collection is mostly sportswear design by Sarah Jessica herself and Steve & Barry's. the price is ok since all of the items are priced at $19.98 or less. But as I browse to the collection, I don’t think I would want to be BITTEN. I didn’t really find anything that I like as the styles are just the usual sports clothes. Or maybe I was just expecting more since they said that Bitten reflects Sarah’s personal sense of style and taste and so judging from her Sex and the City look, I was expecting something more than the ordinary,

Take a look at some of the pieces from the Bitten Collection:

But this is something that I would like to have, a Sex and the City official movie merchandise.


Too bad it is not available online. Otherwise, I might have hit the “add to cart” and checkout button right away. LOL.

On Holiday Clubs

It’s almost the end of summer but up until now we haven’t gone to the beach to have some fun under the sun. The problem is since we were not able to plan our beach getaway early, almost all of the resorts that we liked are already fully booked during the weekends and weekends are the only time we have for a short road trip. My husband then suggested that maybe we should get a timeshare so we won’t be having the same problem again next year.

Now why didn’t I think of that? I have heard of timeshare from my officemates and she has been raving about how much she likes the setup. What she likes about it is that she gets to enjoy the great amenities being offered by a holiday club and so it’s like she owns her own holiday club. She shared with me the last time they spent a weekend there and it is as if they really own the place since they almost have it all to themselves as it is really private since only members can gain access to it. Not unlike those public beaches where it can really crowded specially during the peak seasons. So every time she spends a week there, she really gets to relax, have fun and really bond with her family.

This is really something that we should consider. We have been working really hard and I think this is the perfect prize that we can give ourselves and our family.

♥ Friendship Around the World ♥

Rule:
1. Copy from ::Start Copy Here:: through ::End Copy Here::.
2. Add your blog to the list. Feel free to add all your other blogs. Just make sure to post this to each of the blog you added in the list.
3. Tag other online friends you know.You don’t need to be tag in order to join. If you want to join just post this one in your blog.
4. Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE. I will add you to the master list.That way, everyone is happy and can meet new friends too!
5.Come back once in a while to get the master list! Let’s see how this makes our Technorati and PR goes up!
6. DO NOT REMOVE THIS: scrap page made by Yen. Using alphas and tapes from Kate H., flowers from Ida,paper by Catrine.

1. Me and Mine 2.Creative In Me 3.Little Peanut 4. Pea in a Pod 5. Sugar Magnolias 6.Because Life Is Fun 7. Piece o’Kaje 8. Mon a Bric 9. Celebrate Life 10.My Journey11. Deeply In Love 12. Pink and Brown Diaries 13. Happyheart 14. Wilstop 15. FunFierceFab 16. Because Life is Fun 17. Just Me.. Eds 18. Mommyhood and Me 19. My Charmed Life 20. Sassy Finds 20. Our Journey To Life 21. Princess Bela 22. My Planet Purple 23. Women Xplore 24.YOUR BLOG

::End Copy Here::

Now, I’m tagging Vien, Big Eyed Gal, Farah, Em, Peachy and Jason.

Posting Season

It is the posting season again. During this time of the month every year, new officers will be coming for their new posting to replace those outgoing officers. During this time almost all the sections in the Administration section are busy with the move of the new officers.

The Property Section gets very busy in coordinating the house requirements for the incoming officers. And since a number of officers are also leaving, it is also this time that they renew leases for the house and look for a new house or apartment to rent for the new officers.

The Protocol Section is also busy in helping the officers and their family with the move from coordinating for their auto transport to preparing all the documents needed for their new posting here. The car shipping is the one that takes most of the time of the protocol officer as she has to coordinate with a number of government agencies here when the car arrives regarding tax, customs duties and the like for the international car shipping.

The IT section is also busy since we have to coordinate the move of their accounts from their previous postings to their new postings. We also have to archive the files and emails of the outgoing officers so they have something to bring for their next posting,

But hey, we do this every year so just like what my boss has said, it is just a piece of cake for us.

A Long List of Things I've Done

I was tagged by Big Eyed Gal and Vien.

Thanks for this. I enjoyed doing it. Gosh, I still have a lot of things to add to my To do list.

*******************************************************************
Highlight the ones you've done.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain <-- Mayon Volcano
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath
08. Said I love you?and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game <-- watched an NBA game with Hubby
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper <-- Yeah, too many times
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster <-- And I vow never to do it again
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer <-- I even have more than 2
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was too drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played a Computer game for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas <-- With hubby and friend last 2004
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldnt have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol <- Does paintball guns count?
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office <-- I was once an SK Chairman
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair <-- I used to joined bazaars and tiangge
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

I'm tagging: Thea, Jody, Aggie and Yvelle

Wordless Wednesday # 7 - View of the Punta Fuego Beach

Hong Kong this time

I’m really a sucker when it comes to air line promotions. I have no plans of booking a ticket for another international vacation. But I was not able to control myself when I saw the Zero Fare promo of Cebu Pacific. Of course I did not think twice again as low and discounted fares go fast, so as soon as I found an available date that offers a zero fare promo, I booked it right away.

So now, I have to do some research again for our hotel accommodations. I tried browsing the site of Hotelscombined.com as my friend told me that it is much easier to look for hotel accommodations here as it compares and search over 30 online booking sites at once. This means I don’t have to visit each of these thirty sites to compare their prices.

Right now, below are some of the hotels I’m considering:

1. BP International Hotel

When we last went to Hong Kong, we booked this hotel as recommended by my friends who have been to Hong Kong also. What we like about the place is it is clean (which is my number one consideration) and their rate is just ok. Also, the hotel is within walking distance to the MTR station and Nathan Road so we are very near the night market and the shopping areas.

I would like to stay here again although I’m still trying to look for other options for a change.

2. Shamrock Hotel

This hotel was recommended by a friend who stayed here a couple of months ago. It is also in the TST area which is the location that I like since it is centrally located. Another plus factor is that it is also close to the MTR station and other location such as the ferry terminal is just walking distance from this hotel. My friend said that the room is just okay, quiet normal for Hong Kong Standards.

3. Disney's Hollywood Hotel

On our last day, I plan to stay overnight at the Disney Hotel. We will be travelling with my 2.5 year old daughter so I think she will enjoy it here since the style of the hotel has a touch of Disney Deco ambiance. I also heard that you can see almost all the Disney characters anywhere in the hotel so my daughter will really have a blast here for sure.

So far, these are the three hotels that I’m considering for our trip. Any other recommendations?