Wordless Wednesday # 25 - Face of Liberty

My Day

My daughter did not take a nap the whole day today. We went to her pediatrician before lunch since she was irritated the whole night and she wakes up every now and then. So I did not go to work today since I want to take care of her. Her doctor just gave her medicines for her coughs and colds and said that we don’t have to worry about her eye irritation because it is just a result of her colds. Then we had lunch at our favorite restaurant, Café Monaco.

My daughter is already sleepy while we are having lunch but she manages not to fall asleep on our way home. Since she didn’t take a nap, it is so quite now here in our room since hubby and my daughter is already fast asleep which means I should better start working so I can hit the sack after doing all my tasks.

I know I still have a lot to do like I have to prepare for our meeting tomorrow and I have to search online for bus for sale but after staying at home for three days, my laziness hit me again. So instead of starting with my list of to dos, here I am blogging and doing some window shopping online.

Oh well, I have to get my groove back as I am sure that it will be one busy day in the office again tomorrow.

I heart NY

Just a few months ago, we purchased a high end PC since my husband is really having a hard time using our old PC every time he does layouts for his clients. But I noticed that it hasn’t been performing at its top performance and is almost as slow as our old PC. I did a basic check and discovered that the Hard Disk is almost full from all the pictures that we saved there. So last night, I did clean of our pictures and I discovered our pictures when we visited New York back in 2004.

It really made me miss New York City. New York has been one of our favorite cities. I remember when we were there, we were able explore the city on our own. Armed with a map and our MTR card, we visited almost all the famous spots in New York like the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Tower, the Statue of Liberty at Liberty Island, Central Park, and Time Square.

It was fun exploring the city on our own but it was really tiring. We stayed in New York for five days only and so we really want to visit all the famous spots in New York during those five days.

We will always love New York City and the next time we visit the United States, New York City will always be a part of our itinerary. We are hoping that the next time we go there, my siblings and my parents together with our daughter will be able to join us for that trip. I will definitely get the service of charter bus nyc for all our transportation needs so we can explore the city again with them.

Location: Atlanta

Yehey, Internet is back. After not being online the rest of the weekend, I was so glad to have my Internet connection back. (Imagine, I missed the weekend sale of Old Navy and Gap. But maybe it is a good thing as it spared me from another credit expenses).

I have a lot of things to do but my mind is still not in the mood to work so I decided to check my Friendster account instead and I was surprised to see my friend who is now in Atlanta. I was even chatting with her last month and she promised to meet with us before she leaves for Atlanta. But looks like she didn’t really have a hard time looking for Atlanta jobs as she was asked to leave right away as soon as her visa was released which leaves her no time to meet with us. I will definitely miss her and I just like to wish her good luck for her new life in Atlanta.

E-book reader for the bookworm

I am really not a book worm. I think I only read 1-2 books a year but if there is a book that I really like, I can just sit down the whole day to finish the book. I can even manage not go online just to finish the book right away if I am really that engross with the book. Just like the Twilight saga that I am reading now.

But for book worms who can read dozens and dozens of books in a month, I think an e-book reader like the Reader Digital Book from Sony, would be the best gadget for you. Imagine you can store 160 e-books and you can add more since it has removable memory cards. And since it has a paper like display, you can still find the books easy to read, even in bright sunshine. It is so portable that you can bring it with you anywhere you go. So you an enjoy all the e-books that you love anywhere you are since you can carry the e-book reader even in your pocket.

Weekly Round Up #14

For the Week of September 22 to 28.

My weekday was really boring. My Monday to Thursday is just my usual day at work – busy, busy, busy.

Friday, my husband and I were able to join the “day at the park” activity of our daughter at Toddlers Unlimited. Hubby took a day off from work since he covered a wedding in the morning and so he was able to proceed to TU after the wedding.

I was also able to check out the wine of the month club that my dad is interested to join. I gave him the information yesterday and hopefully he continues his plan to join this club so he will have some diversions.

It was a busy Saturday for us as we attended two parties and went mall hopping again. It would have been a perfect day as we spent the whole day together but Bela looks sick at the end of the day. Looks like her colds are back again.

Sunday, Bela’s colds worsen. She is having difficulty breathing and so we use the nebulizer on her almost every two hours to help her with her breathing. I might not report to work tomorrow as I plan to bring her to her pedia.

Kids Zone @ Glorietta

Ever since we moved to RCBC building, I rarely get the chance to pass by Glorietta since it is a little far from our building. It was only last Saturday that I was able to check it out after the bombing accident that happened at Glorietta 2 several months ago. The shops that was damaged by the accident has been moved to one area called Kids’ and Teens’ Zone. I checked it out with Bela and it was heaven to have all the shops in one big room similar to the setup of an outlet store. And majority of the items were on sale too. Here are some of my grabs:

1. Yellow blouse for my daughter from Gingersnaps
2. Giraffe bean bag for my daughter from Gift Gate at 10% off
3. Uniqua talking and singing doll at 65% off from Toy Town. She already has 2 Uniqua dolls but I can’t resist the price tag that is 65% off (and they are even giving away promotional pens for every purchase from their store). And my daughter really loves it also that she goes around the store carrying it (which my husband is having a difficult time to believe).

That is the reason why I sometimes hate going out as I always end up with huge credit cards bills from all my shopping at the end of the day. LOL.

Done with New Moon

After a week of not going online at night, I was able to finally finish Book 2 of the Twilight series. I was really in a hurry to finish the book as I really miss Edward since he is not visible in the most part of Book 2.

(Warning: This is a spoiler. Stop reading if you don’t want to know what will happen in Book 2)

He decided to say goodbye to Bella as he realized that he is putting Bella’s life in so much danger. That’s how unselfish his love is for Bella since he is willing to give up even his town happiness just to make Bella safe. Of course, Bella was truly hurt. I even cried bucket of tears while reading the part where the author described how Bella tried to survive her day in Edward’s absence.

That is the reason why she tried things which Bella describes as stupid and reckless. She tried riding a motorcycle. She even tried cliff diving and she nearly drowned after doing it if not for Jacob who saved her. She suffered numerous injuries and had several trips to hospital that I sometimes wished she got the service of Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorney to help her file claims instead of her using her college funds for all her hospital expenses for her injuries (I heard Fort Worth attorneys are best in providing legal representation for accident victims).

During the last few chapters of the book, I was glad that Edward’s character is back and how much happiness this has brought to Bella. The end of book 2 has left me a question to answer – will Bella be one of them too? Will Carlise or Edward or Alice change Bella and turn her into a vampire too. I can’t wait to find my answers in the next book of Twilight series.

Wordless Wednesday # 24- Images of Thailand

Multi tasking and my loot

I am so used to doing this. At work, I have one window open to record my stats for the day, then another window open for the Internet, then another window open for email and I switch from one application to another while doing all my task for the day.

I did the same thing again today. I have one window open for the Old Navy website and while I was waiting for the pictures to load, I have my blogspot account open too as I was also blogging. Then I have another window open for Google since I am searching for tv lift cabinet too.

But I guess I am already an expert when it comes to multi tasking since I was able to make eight blog posts and I was able to buy this online (just in time for the deadline of the Old Navy sale) at the same time.

Weekend Snapshot # 19 - Cafe by the Ruins, Baguio City

Since we just stayed at home during the weekend, I don’t have any new pictures to share as my Weekend Snapshot entry. So I just grabbed some pictures from our archive.


These pictures were taken during our recent trip to Baguio. This is one of my favorite restaurants that we visited while we are in Baguio. The name of the restaurant is Café by the Ruins. I love the ambiance of the place and the food was good. I had crispy tapa which I really enjoyed. (Although they are a little pricey compared to the other restaurants that we visited in Baguio but it sure is worth the experience.)

A pet for her birthday?

It is really evident how much our daughter loves pets. She is not even scared to play with our Labrador that even though it is twice or thrice her size, she never gets intimidated and would still want to play with it. Even her teacher at school have the same comment about our daughter when it comes to her love for animals and pets.

And so my husband is thinking of buying her a pug for her birthday. I know my daughter will be really happy if she gets her own pet but my question is will she be able to really take care of her pet. Because if not, this means that the responsibility is upon us to make sure that her pug will be well taken care of.

My husband thinks that it is not a big deal and he can handle the responsibility of taking care of her daughter’s pet which I really doubt because my husband really has a very busy schedule. So if ever we really decide to get our daughter a pug, a litter box would be the first thing that I will buy just to be sure that our house will remain clean even with a per around.

Computer…Computer

“Playhouse Disney mom. Computer, computer, please.” This is what my daughter always tells us whenever she wants us to access the Playhouse Disney website so she can play games and listen to stories from the site.

My husband was just saying that our daughter is already a big girl. Time really flies. I can still remember when I first hold her after I gave birth to her and now we already have a toddler. Before we know it, she can already open the computer on her own. My aunt was even teasing me that I should not give my daughter my password for my Pay pal account because she might learn how to shop online too since she has a mom who is addicted to online shopping.

Looks like in the near future, we may have to install keylogger software on our computer so we can monitor all online activities of our daughter.

Quiet Weekend

It is really very unusual that we didn’t go anywhere this weekend. First reason on why we just stayed at home is our nanny took the day off so I felt lazy going out because that means we won’t be getting any help in running after Bela while we are out. Second is, hubby has to finish the layout for the signature book of the client that he will be covering this Friday.

But that is just okay because Bela and I (since hubby was still working) were able to get a good rest. And that is just what we need since we will be having a bust weekend next week.

My boss invited us for a brunch at their house and we will be attending two birthday parties. I’m planning to order something from Conti’s Pastry Shop to bring at the brunch and then I have to find unique baby gifts for the birthday party that we will be attending.

I wish tomorrow is still a weekend but I guess I have to face the reality that tomorrow is the start of another tiring week for me.

Sayuntis

Do you like to belly dancing? I just saw this new trend in belly dancing while I was watching TV this evening. They called it “Sayuntis”, which is a shorter version for sayaw ng buntis (dance for pregnant women). Dr. Faye Cagayan, an obstetrician-Gynecologist and Ms. Jennifer Santos, a Psychologist was the one who conceptualized “Sayuntis."

“Sayuntis” is belly dancing and yoga where the meditative movements are specifically designed for pregnant woman. They say that doing Sayuntis while pregnant can help prepare and condition the muscles that are essential for giving birth. But aside from that, they say that doing sayuntis can give pregnant women a good sense of herself thereby helping her face pregnancy with a positive outlook.

Pregnant women who wish to do sayuntis just needs to get a certificate from their OB stating that their OB is allowing them to do exercise. Usually, you can get a certificate after the first trimester.

So for pregnant women looking for a good way to exercise, Sayuntis is the perfect thing for you.

PPD

Did you experience post partum depression after you gave birth? I was just watching the show Mel and Joey and it is one the topics of the show. They interviewed an expert and according to her, studies show that eight out of ten women experienced this depression after child birth. Symptoms of post partum depression includes sadness, social withdrawal, inability to enjoy things once previously enjoyed, low self esteem, to name a few.

They interviewed one woman who suffered from this condition and she said that she was really low and sad that she cries almost everyday or every time her baby cries. It even came to a point that she really regretted having a baby.

When I gave birth, I am not sure if I suffered post partum depression. I feel really happy just by looking at my daughter but there are times that I feel so tired specially if I don’t get enough sleep since the my daughter is awake almost the entire night during her first few weeks. I also remember that I really feel sad about my weight that I even wanted to try diet pills like Ephedrasil Hardcore.

But according to experts, women should not be shy if they are suffering from this kind of depression since it is a normal thing for women who gave birth. They even advise women to admit their condition so they will be able to seek professional help in order to get through their depression.

Weekly Round Up #13

Weekly Roundup: For the week of September 15 – 20

Monday – My daughter got sick during the weekend and so we decided to just let her stay in the house and skip school that day. Good thing that her fever was gone since her pedia advised us to have her undergo CBC exam if she still has fever by Monday.

Tuesday – She is still cranky maybe because she still has coughs and colds. She always throws tantrums specially when it is time for her to drink medicine.

Wednesday – My daughter was able to go back to school today and we even were able to have a short trip to SM after class to buy uniform for my new yaya.

Thursday – We did not attend mass at St. Jude as my daughter is still cranky and clingy since she still has to take medications. So we decided to just go home early.

Friday – It was a busy but quite a productive day at work since I was able to finish all my pending jobs. The only thing left for me to do this coming week is to do my statistical report and continue looking for a training provider for the new GPS tracking device that we purchase.

I was also able to go to my daughter’s school and inquired about the activities that I can do for the school party that I am planning for my daughter.

Saturday – We just stayed at home the whole day since the nanny took a day off so it’s bonding time for us and I was also able to have the time to sit down and read Book 2 (New Moon) of the Twilight Saga.

Wall of Fame

I am so proud of my husband. He was so determined to finish all the Microsoft and Cisco certifications that even though he is so busy with work and with his sideline, he still was able to find the time to review for his exams.

Below is a list of his certification:

* Microsoft Certified Professional
* Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator
* Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator - Messaging
* Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator - Security
* Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
* Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer – Security
* Microsoft certified Technology Specialist
* Certified Cisco Network Associate

As for me, I am only able to obtain being a Microsoft Certified Professional and I got lazy reviewing after that. And so I know, it really takes hard work and dedication to get certified with Microsoft and Cisco. I will be getting custom picture frames for our recent vacation pictures so I’m planning to surprise him and send all his certificates for framing too and hang all of it on the wall in our spare room. I know this is just a small gesture but it is just my way to show him how proud we are for all his accomplishments. And it will be a perfect timing since he really needs all the inspiration that he can get since he is now preparing for his CISSP exam.

Good luck dad and we are so proud of you.

Couch Potatoes

randomness...feed your mind and your blog

1. what are your favorite TV programs? how long have you been watching them? One of my favorite TV Show is CSI Vegas and I have been watching it since its first season I think.
2. what's your favorite snack while watching tv? None. I don’t really like to eat while watching as I am always lying down on our sofa every time I am watching TV.
3. who's your tv crush? Gary Dourdan, Marc Nelson, Mr. Big, Aidan (From Sex and the City)
4. where's your favorite place to watch tv? In our living room
5. name a tv show you wish would go off the air. Wowowee… I am a certified Kapuso
6. name a tv show that is no longer on the air, but you really wish they would bring back. My all time favorite Sex and the City
7. have you ever purchased any tv program collectables? ie...posters, figurines...etc....
I purchased the DVDs for all the season of Sex and the City.

Celebrity Diet Secrets

Jessica Alba and her three month old daughter, Honor Marie was spotted in New York City last September 10 where Jessica attended the Fashion week. I can’t believe it’s been only three months since Jessica gave birth to Honor and just take a look at her.


It looks like she is back to her pre-pregnancy weight already. I remember when I gave birth, it took me seven months to loose the excess pounds that I gained when I was pregnant. I wonder if these stars use diet pills like Anoretix to help them get back to red carpet shape after giving birth.

I Googled it and here are some of the celebrity diet secrets that I discovered:

1. Jennifer Garner, Kate Hudson, Elizabeth Hurley and Catherine Zeta-Jones followed a low carb – high protein diet to get out of their post baby bodies.
2. Kate Hudson's does a three hour workout, Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna does yoga while Gwen Stefani runs so they can loose weight.
2. Denise Richards and Uma Thurman relied on food delivery services that deliver portion-controlled healthy foods to them so they will be able to control what they should and shouldn’t it in order to loose weight.

Bagaholic

If sports cars and luxury motorbikes is one of the passion of men, then I can say that is synonymous to women’s passion for designer bags.


If there are stores where men can buy used sports cars and used Harleys, then why not have a store where women can buy second hand bags too? This is the concept of the Bagaholic store in Makati. It sells pre-owned designer bags like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel, Prada, Dior and Fendi. Bag prices ranges from 20-70% off the original price depending on the quality of the bag and how rare the bag design is. The store is also a place where bag hags can trade in their old bags and buy a bag of a different style and they can even pawn their designer bags here.

This store is really the answer to designer bag lovers who wants to save a little money but at the same time they can be assured that they are really buying the real thing. Bagaholic is located at the corner of Makati Avenue and Pasay Road, adjacent to Renaissance Hotel.

His and hers

I wonder what I will give my hubby this coming Christmas. We are kind of boring when it comes to giving presents for each other as we hate surprises. So we always ask each other what we want for our present and we sometimes accompany each other when we buy each other presents.

But I am wishing that it will be a little different this Christmas and surprise him for a change. He always wants action figures or DVD or accessories for his SLR camera. But I think he already have enough of this stuff so I’m thinking of getting him one of those Festina watches.

His old watch is already broken so he just uses his cell phone to check the time so I think a watch will be a perfect gift for him. And I can even buy the same watch as a Christmas gift for myself too. What do you guys think?

Celine Dion and Charice Pempengco in Madison Square NY

The young Charice Pempengco is really making it big. This time she was finally able to fulfill her dream as she sang together with her idol, the diva Celine Dion last September 15 at the famous Madison Square Garden in New York city.

Celine is doing her Taking Chances World tour and being a part of that concert was really something for Charice. Celine was even the one who personally introduces Charice to the audience. There are a lot of Filipinos who are watching the concert and even if Celine hadn’t mentioned Charice’s name yet, the crowd are already clapping with proud and excitement as they already have an idea who Celine Dion is talking about.

This is how Celine introduce Charice:

“This young girl’s name is Charice. I’m so excited. She’s 16 years old and she’s from the Philippines. Let me tell you she has a voice that can literally blow the roof off Madison Square. But the real story is, Charice and her mom escaped a terrifying experience and had to leave Charice’s violent father. You know, to start a life on their own, Charice vowed to save her mom from life’s desperation. Through prayers and dreams and God-given talent, an incredible voice, Charice entered and won every singing contest in her native country and eventually got noticed. By such a fortunate chance people saw the show on Oprah and Oprah wanted to take her under her wing and David Foster joined them.”

The two sang Because You Loved Me and the crowd really was overjoyed by yet another accomplishment of one of our “kababayan.” Here is Celine and Charice’s duet that I snagged from youtube.

Questions of the Week #31

I know this is a little late already (Yah, just 9 days delayed), but I still want to write a post for Yen’s Question of Week before I start to look online for a term life insurance for me and hubby.

1. Do you draw conclusions about what a person might look/act like in real life because of their photos posted on their blogs? No. Photos are just one part of a person and it has different interpretations depending on who is looking at it. So I never draw conclusions about a person if I will base it only on photos posted on their blogs.
2. Choose 5 online friends you want to meet in person. And tell us why each one of them.
I would like to meet my twitter mates and blogging buddy Yen, Vannie, Kathy, Farah, and Nice.
3. When was the last time you climbed a tree? I don’t think I have ever climbed a tree.
4. Would you rather be a big fish in a little pond or a little fish in a big pond? Metaphorically. A little fish in a big pond. At least I will have a lot of room to move.
5. Do you have any royalty or historically famous people in your ancestry? I don’t think so. The only one I can think off was the cousin of my grandmother who is one of the famous movie directors back then and the brother of my grandmother who is one of the Filipinos who participated and survived the death march.
6. Is it difficult for you to sleep on the “wrong” side of your shared bed? No. I can sleep easily whatever my position or side of the bed is.
7. Imagine, you’re alone in the world, what would you do? Alone? Maybe I will just cry for that situation would really be lonely.
8. Have you ever wished that you were famous? No. Famous people are always the topic of gossips and intrigues and I am not the type of person who can handle intrigues that well so I would rather stay low profile.
9. As you get older do you find that you behave more and more like your parents? No. LOL.
10. List your 5 top most wants to receive for Christmas this year!
LV bag, out of town vacation, overnight stay at one of the 5-star hotels, I can’t think of anything else. LOL

Renovations: When????

I remember it was last year when they started planning for our office renovations. One of the departments in the office is continuously expanding which brought the need to convert the board rooms, trainings rooms, and storage rooms into work areas for the newly hired employees of that expanding section.

The IT team was not really involve with the planning of the renovations since they said that they will require only minimal work from us as all the network drops will be laid out by the contractor so all we have to do is to terminate the drops after it has been laid out.

Just last week, we had a meeting and my boss brought the topic about renovations. He just gave us a heads up that we might do overtime work but everything is still uncertain since up to know, they still don’t have a definite date on when the renovation will start.

I guess planning for the renovations is really a complex work. They have to coordinate everything from the network connection of each PC and printer, to the office furniture, to the power lay out, and to the work schedule of the employees as the renovation team can only do work during weekends and after office. So I guess it will still take weeks or even months before we start to get busy with this renovation project.

No plans for tomorrow

We might just stay at home the whole day tomorrow. Hubby needs to work to finish the lay out of the signature book for one of his clients. He has been busy with his day job the past weeks so he didn’t find the time to work on the lay out. He promised to finish the layout tomorrow since I am already bugging him to start working on the tarpaulin, invitation and souvenir for our daughter’s party.

So even though my mom will be shock if she finds out that we will just be home tomorrow, I really need to give hubby time to work on his pending jobs. And the nanny will be off tomorrow too and since our daughter has been really cranky these past few days, I think I would really prefer to just stay at home. Anyways, we just went to the grocery last Wednesday and the only thing that we need to buy are cat supplies if ever we will be going out and I think it can wait until our next scheduled trip to the grocery.

Fashionable Boombox for Ipod

Take your music anywhere you go. That’s the concept of the iPod right? But if you want to boost the sound of your iPod, this miniMove Boombox for iPod by Memorex will really do the thing for you. I’m sure when my sister sees this (paging Veejay), she will put this in her wish list for Christmas.

















This Boombox for iPod is like a purse because of its handle so you can really carry it anywhere you go without sacrificing fashion. It plays music from your iPod and it also works as a charger. It has a built in FM radio and works using an “AA” battery or you can plug it to a wall outlet. This miniMove Boombox comes in Pink (which I really like, but I have to buy an iPod first. LOL), teal, silver and black.

So what are you waiting for? Go grab this cute and fashionable Boombox from Memorex.

Appliance Talk

Sony
Carrier
GE
La Germania

This was our topic of conversation when my office buddies when out for lunch last Thursday. One of our friends has already moved in to her new condominium unit and she is now doing some appliance shopping.

As for me, my next dream project would be to convert our spare room to a TV room complete with LCD TV, home theater seating, home theater system that has surround sound system that will make you feel like you are inside a movie house.

I don’t know when I will be able to turn this dream into reality though. I still have a dozen of expenses in my list and this dream project of mine is at the bottom, bottom part of my list. I guess that’s the way it is when you have a family. We really have to set priorities for our expenses.

But I can wait and I know in time I will be able to turn my dream into a reality.

Fresh from China

My husband was so happy when he arrived from work today and he shared with me the good news that our good friend will be here in Manila for a week to attend training. He was able to buy a Wilmington NC real estate but he and his family are now posted in Beijing, China after staying here in Manila for five years.

It has been months already since we last saw him so I can’t blame my husband if he is that excited. I remember when they are still here in Manila, almost every month my husband goes out with them as he and his wife loves the outdoors so they always plan for out of town adventures where they do mountain climbing, play paintball or just about any adventure sports that they can think of.

I know our friend is as trilled as my husband for his visit here in Manila and for sure they will have an out of town getaway again before he goes back to China.

Book 1 of the Twilight Saga: Done

Yehey, I am finish with the first book of the Twilight saga after less than a week. I am so excited and I can’t wait to get my hands on the second book. This is what has been keeping me busy this week. This is the reason why I haven’t updated my blog for days now.

My sister has been teasing me that I should start to look for acne treatments too like her since I am starting have pimples again. It is because I have been sleeping late in my desire to finish the first book of the Twilight saga right away.

Yah, I am that addicted to this book. Can you blame me? I am so much in love with the character of Edward in this book. Ok, I’m not going to give more details as my sister might read this. She doesn’t want me to give her details of the story as she wants to read the book too before I give her some spoiler. LOL.

Weekend Snapshot # 18 - Still on Twilight

Nothing much happened last weekend. We just stayed at home since my husband needs to continue with his clean up project that he has been postponing for two weeks now. So while the hubby is busy cleaning up our rooms, I was busy with this:


I already made a post here about my current book purchase and I can say that I am already addicted with this Twilight and it is really one good read. This is the only thing that I did during the weekend. I am already done with the first half and I can’t wait to finish the book as I now have a copy of Book 2 and 3. (Thanks to my cousin who bought it for me and to my hubby who paid my cousin for the books).

Twilight: Addicting

Ok, I mentioned here that I got three new books during the weekend. I started to read the first book of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight saga and I’m already in the interesting and romantic part that I can’t seem to put the book down. Still have a few pending works to do but I put my work on hold since Friday since I got really busy with my new book. I tell you, once you start reading the Twilight book, you really can’t stop.

And my cousin sent me an SMS yesterday that she already bought Book 2, New Moon and book 3, Eclipse for me so I am already in hurry to finish Book 1.

Looks like I will be breaking my promise again that I will try to sleep early and get at least eight hours of sleep which mean I might end up looking thin again that my friends and relatives might think again that I am using dietpills. LOL.

But that’s ok. The Twilight saga is really so good that sleeping at 2 AM everyday to finish all four books is all worth it. LOL.

New Books

Ok, I got bitten by the Twilight Saga fever. I sent an SMS to my cousin who is a book work and asked her if she already read the book by Stephanie Meyer. I told her about how my officemates have been going crazy about the book. She got really excited that she bought the book right away.

She updated me last night and after one day, she already finish reading the book. She said it is like Sweet Valley High since the characters in the book are teenagers but it is so addicting like Harry Potter and it is perfect for readers our age.

We are at Robinson’s Place yesterday and so I decided to buy my own copy too. It’s been a while since I last sit down and read a good book. I got really excited that I bought the fourth book too of the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn.


Book 2, New Moon and Book 3, Eclipse is already out of stock but I already made a reservation. My cousin said that it is available at Fully Book Rockwell branch since the stocks just arrived last Thursday. Hmm, I might be able to convince hubby to drive us there so we can go malling and buy my book.

Oh, and bought another book too, Babyville by Jane Green. My twitter mates love the book that I got inspired to buy it too.


Can’t wait to get my hands on all my new books.

Business expansion

Business expansion? Can we afford this?

Our cell phone has been doing good that my brother (who is really the brains behind our business) is thinking of expanding the shop so we can carry laptops as well. He is thinking if getting a business loan so we can have a capital to fund the expansion.

Actually when it comes to our business, my only role is that I am a part owner who contributed to the capital of the business. But when it comes to decision making, it is all up to my brother as he is the one who is at the shop already so he really knows the ins and outs of the business.

He said that business loans will be good if it offers fast processing and funding can be readily available so we can use the money right away for our planned business expansion.

Oh well, it is all up to my brother to decide. Anyway, he knows the business so well that he can really asses if getting a loan will give us more benefits or not.

Twilight Saga

Have you read the book of Stephanie Meyer entitled Twilight? All my colleagues have been going crazy over this book. All of them has been talking about it and the book of two of my office mates has been circulating to almost the entire office as they are all crazy for it.

Twilight is the first book in the Twilight saga which includes three other books entitled: New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.

The first book, Twilight, is about a girl named Isabella Swan who moved in to Forks to live with his dad and fell in love with a vampire.

This book is so famous that they will be turning it to a one major motion picture. Here are some awards that were given to this book:

Source: wikipedia.org

Twilight gained recognition and won numerous honors, including:
* A New York Times Editor's Choice
*A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
* An Amazon.com "Best Book of the Decade...So Far"
* A Teen People "Hot List" pick
* An American Library Association "Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults" and "Top Ten Books for Reluctant Readers"
* Translation into 20 languages
* A New York Times Best Seller

You can read more about this book from the official website of the author, Stephanie Meyer.

Dr. House is in the house

Do you watch Dr. House? It is one of our husband’s favorite TV series. We find Dr. House’s character very interesting as he is both funny and obnoxious at the same time that his staff of diagnosticians sometime hates him.

Another thing that we like about the show is it really solves cases of patients that are very complex and subtle. This is what keeps Dr. House juices going as he does not want to accept patients that have very common condition as he finds it very uninteresting.

I really don’t have a medical background that I sometimes refer to Google or the medical online database of Epocrates even for the simple medical conditions like Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo but we really love the show. And besides it really makes us aware of some rare medical condition that Dr. House’s team was able to solve.

Do check out Dr. House. They say that it is the most-watched scripted program on TV and the third-most-watched program overall. It has already aired four seasons and the fifth season will be aired this September 2008. My husband and I are already looking forward for it.

This announcement was paid for by Epocrates.

Wakie – Wakie

Looks like I will be up until the wee hours of the morning again. Since Monday I have been sleeping late to finish a lot of stuff that I need to accomplish. But last night, I was so tired and sleepy already that I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed. I was even chatting with my good friend Peachy but my daughter called me so I have to go to bed to put her to sleep. And I fell asleep instantly. I was not even able to turn off the PC.

But I can’t afford to sleep early tonight (and looks like I will be needing acne creams as my pimples are starting to pop up again due to my lack of sleep). I still have a lot of work to finish so even though the bed is already calling me, I have to fight my sleepiness and finish everything that I have to accomplish today.

Thanks to the Internet

Can you still remember those days when you have to go to the library and extend your school hours just to do research for your homework? I remember back in my college days, I even have to meet with my classmates during weekends so we go to the National Library and our research work there. Sometimes, we are at the library almost the whole day as we have to search through hundreds of books, read them to get the information that we need and then copy all the data and information that we can use for our research work.

But students now are so lucky. They have all the information in their hands with the help of computer and Internet. Just like yesterday, my cousin needs to do a research about incontinence and incontinence products and with just one click of the button; she got all the information that she needs from the World Wide Web.

I wish things are just as simple as this when I was still studying…..

Wordless Wednesday # 23 - Right in the middle

Money Talk

On our way home from work, hubby opened up the topic again of our option to apply for migration or to work abroad. You see, he really wanted to try to apply for a work in Singapore but it is just me who always says no and discourage him. My argument is that we are doing ok here – we have a stable job that pays just ok to sustain our basic needs, we get to splurge once in while, we get to travel at least once a year, and we are together as one happy family. So I told him, we are doing ok so why ask for more?

But his point is that he will definitely earn more if he works abroad. This means that if we will be able to save enough, we can retire early then just have a small business franchise or buy at least two or three more apartments that will sustain our needs if we retire.

Maybe I am just not adventurous enough to try something new. I am the type of person who gets really scared of new things. We are stable here, so why do we need to start form scratch again?

Our agreement: I told him to try to apply and if the salary (minus all his expenses for food, housing, etc) that he will be getting for working abroad really has a big difference to the salary that he is getting here, then we will sit down and talk about it and then decide if it is all worth it to have a new life in a new country.

Xmas List

Here in the Philippines, Christmas season officially starts when the BER months enter. So don’t be surprise if you see some homes already decorated with Christmas lights or their Christmas tree is already up or you can hear Christmas carols on the radio and even on the malls. Just like last week, my husband and I were shopping and I got all excited when I heard Jingles Bells being played on the radio.

I can already feel Christmas is here. As early as now, I am already making my gift list of all my relatives, god children, colleagues and friends. Last week, when we are at Toy Kingdom, I am already scouting for the gift that we will give our daughter. I even checked the Internet for some ideas for the Christmas invitations that I will be doing for our annual family reunion. I even started my budget sheet for all my Christmas shopping expenses.

Overacting? Oh well, Christmas is really my favorite holiday so I am just enjoying every single day before Christmas day as it really adds up to fun of the Christmas season.

Hi Lo for the week.

Hi: We got a new nanny last week.
Lo: We are not happy with how she works – very inefficient, very unreliable and very, very lazy.

Hi: Just finished my stat report for last week.
Lo: It is the middle of the week which means I have another stat report to accomplish.

Hi: It’s the BER months which mean that Christmas season is almost here and I love it.
Lo: Christmas shopping means 4-5 digit bills on my credit card.

Hi: We let our new nanny go after a week.
Lo: I feel bad because I have to ask her to leave which is the most difficult thing for me to do.

Hi: More racket
Lo: Less sleep

Hi: Mulan play that we will be watching on Friday
Lo: I have to take a day off from work again.

Hi: Read about the famous warehouse sale of branded clothes in Bulacan
Lo: There is no chance that I cold go as it is a weekday

To buy or not to buy?

By February, our housing loan will be finish which means that we will have additional money on our monthly budget. We have been sending our second hand car for repair quite often lately and we are talking about major repairs here which leave a big hole in our pocket. So my husband and I have been thinking if we should buy a new car or not to replace our current problematic car.

We can easily apply for a car loan and since we have a good credit standing with BPI (this is where we got our housing loan and we never miss a single due date), there is really a big chance that we will get approve. But do we really need a brand new car? We all know that value of cars do depreciate and so it is really not a good investment. Plus my husband wants to start the renovation for our house in Bulacan so he is thinking to prioritize this instead of buying a car. And even if we get approve, we have to have money on hand of at least 20% of the actual price of the car for the down payment plus additional cost for the car insurance, registration, processing fee, etc.

But on second thought, our car is really not a luxury for us but more of a need as my dad uses it to take my daughter to school thrice a week since my daughter’s school is far from where we live. We also use it to commute to and from work and with a toddler in tow, it is really convenient to have a car when going out.

So should we buy a new car or not? I think we still need more time to decide on this. Anyway, it is not until February until our housing loan is finish. And it is only during that time that we can afford to get a car loan so we still got more time to really think about it.

Getting ready for Xmas Shopping

I can’t believe that the first eight months passed by just like that. Before we all know it, Christmas is just around the corner.

Christmas is my favorite holiday of all the holidays. It is the most festive occasion in our family as we always have family reunions on Christmas day every year. Another thing that I love about Christmas is it gives me a reason to do one of my most favorite thing in the world, and that is shopping.

Lucky me, I was able to discover a lot of online sites as shared by some of the members from one of the yahoo groups that I joined and when I visited each one of the sites, I found a lot of great stuffs that I can order as my gifts to all my relatives, friends and my dozens and dozens of god children.

One of my favorites from all the stuff that I saw online is the presidential new dollar coins. I’m sure it will be a perfect gift for my two uncles who both loves history and who both have a coin collection. I already added to my Favorites the site of Collectibles Shopping Network so anytime I have the budget ready, I will purchase this new dollar coins as Christmas gifts for my uncles.

Import & Export in Blogger

Did you know that the all Blogger Draft has a new Import and Export feature?

I have always been a Blogger user ever since I started blogging. Although I love the feature of Word Press that allows me tom Import and Export blog posts from different blogs and even from different blog platforms. But since I was too lazy to study Word Press, I stick with using Blogger.

So when I learned that the Import and Export feature similar to Word Press is now available in Blogger Draft, I got really excited.

Since it is only available in Blogger Draft, you have to go to this link to use the Import Export feature: http://draft.blogger.com. Then logged in as you would normally do using your Google account then go to Settings tab and you will see the Import, Export and Delete Blog option.

If you Export your blog posts, it will be saved as an XML file that you can import to a new blog or an existing blog. The XML file includes the post plus all the comments for that post. After importing the file, the blogger can then select the post that he or she wishes to publish.

This new feature of Blogger will be very useful in making a back up of your blog or if you have several blogs that you wish to merge into one blog or if there are certain posts in your numerous blog that you want to move to a new or an existing blog.

TARA 3: Racers Revealed

Were you able to watch the Racers Revealed episode of the season 3 of the Amazing Race Asia? I was all ready to watch it that I had my dinner early and I was already glued in front of our TV before 9:00 PM but still I was not able to watch it.

Why you may ask? Nobody wins to a crying two years old who wants to watch her favorite TV show too. So no matter how much I tried to explain and to beg (as if a two year old would really hear me out), I still did not win and I watched cartoons instead of my Favorite TARA.

Hopefully I will be able to catch the Season Premier on the 11th.

Another promo from Cebu Pacific

I have no plans of checking out the site of Cebu Pacific but since I still have fifteen minutes before the end of business hours last Friday, I navigated through Cebu Pacific website and discovered that they are offering zero fares promo for their domestic flight. This really made me think if we can afford another vacation before the year ends.

A nice vacation in one of my favorite beach resorts would be really nice. I remember early this year, we went to Bohol and then before that we spend a three days vacation too in the tropical island of Boracay. We just stayed in the beach the whole day under our Beach Umbrella, pigged out in the buffet lunch and dinner being served at the resort’s restaurants, did island hoping and just enjoy the sun and sand.

I will never get tired of doing that. That is one thing that I like about going to the beaches instead of traveling out of the country. Since we can really relax and have our much needed rest. But I guess even if the airfare is really cheap, I don’t think our budget will allow us to go to the beach before the year ends. Hopefully next year.

AR Asia Season 3 - Race Starts on Sept 11

The new season of Amazing Race Asia will begin this coming Sept 11 on AXN. I’m excited for this new season as they dubbed it as the Toughest Race Ever!

“Dubbed as "The Toughest Race" ever, the focus of this season is not on the locations, but in the challenges teams must now face, which were designed with the team's relationships in mind, and created to test their strengths. This race will definitely not be a walk in the park for the new contestants.” – Source: AXN Asia Website

This season, one team from the Philippines is part of the 10 teams who will race to win the $100,000. They are dating couple Geoff Rodriguez and Tisha Silang. Geoff is a model while Tisha is a Business Development Manager and is a former Miss Universe Philippines but she was force to give up her throne due to technicality since she is a Canadian Citizen when she won the title.

They admitted that they have big shoes to fill after Marc and Rovilson. I hope that they can bring home the title this time.

Racers will be revealed on September 4 at 9 PM on AXN and the race will start on September 11.

Power of the Internet

My boss approached me this morning since I just got back from an out of town vacation and is asking me for suggestion on where they can go for a one day out of town getaway. They prefer beaches as he and his wife both love the beach. I haven’t visited any beach in a while now but I remember I have a lot of website of beach resorts saved on my favorites and I used that as reference for the beach resort that I recommended to my boss.

That’s how powerful Internet works. A lot us really depend on the Internet to look for things that we need on our day to day lives. I for one rely on the Internet to look for anything from online shopping sites to my bank transactions or just anything that I need on a day to day basis. That is why a lot of companies are getting web hosting tutorials to look for the best web hosting company to host their company’s Internet site.

Internet is really one of the best ways to promote a company’s product. That is why when my friend told me that she will be resigning from her day job and she will be starting her own business, my first advice to her is use to power of the Internet to promote her new company. I told her to read information about web hosting rating so she can assess the best web hosting provider for the website that she will be setting up for her company. There are a lot of web hosting providers that received different web hosting awards based on budget, the operating system used for hosting or e-commerce web hosting providers so my friend can study these different awards so she can get a better idea on the best web hosting provider base on her needs.

I know my friend will never go wrong if she uses the Internet as a way to market her new company so as early as now, I am already giving her my early congratulations for the future success of her business.

Wordless Wednesday # 22 - Sunset

Weekend Snapshot # 17 - An Afternoon in Binondo

My husband joined a photo trip two Saturdays ago hosted by the Filipinas Heritage Library. Famous photographer Jay Alonzo supervised the photo soot where the participants explored Binondo and Chinatown.

Binondo/ Chinatown presents endless picture-taking possibilities that one may consider it a photographer’s haven. Binondo/Chinatown still continues to surprise everyone who pays a visit with the many things this quaint district can offer such as the Chinatown arcs and calesas, their places of worship, the food haven, and the marketplace.

Here are some of the pictures that my husband took during the shoot.