3

On Yaya and our Baguio trip

Posted by abie on 12:49 AM in ,
My yaya left today so I will be yaya less for a couple of days. But the good thing is, my hubby and my mom will be able to help me in taking care of Bela. We will be leaving tomorrow for Baguio, so Howell will be on leave plus my mom and dad is coming with us so I have extra hands to take care of Bela. And hopefully, we will have our new yaya on the 1st of September.

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We haven't decided yet what our final itinerary would be for tomorrow until Sunday but souvenir shopping would be in our list. We are also scheduled to have a tour of the US Ambassador's residence in Baguio tomorrow afternoon.

I'm really excited already. Hope the weather will cooperate with us and Mr. Sun will always be with us. It’s almost 1 Am and I have to wake up by 3:30 AM since we plan to leave by 4. So I will hit the sack now and I promise to do my rounds on Sunday when we get back.

Advance happy weekend everyone.

1

Bathing in the rain

Posted by abie on 12:20 PM in

“Turn on the shower, turn on the shower.” This is what my daughter kept on saying when I gave her a bath the other day. She enjoys taking showers and she pretends that it is raining and it is one of the ways to entice her to take a bath.

But our shower faucet broke down last week and since we got busy during the weekend, we were not able to find the time to have it fix. And besides we still haven’t got the time to purchase a replacement shower faucet too. And since then, Bela has been looking for her rain every time she takes a bath.

Since my father is a real handy man, he volunteered to fix it for us. He will probably do it this weekend so we have to look for Moen faucets before the week ends so my dad can finally fix our shower and Bela will get to enjoy her bath time again.

4

Quiet Monday Afternoon & MBAPs EB @ DAMPA

Posted by abie on 12:33 PM in ,
I was supposed to be at work today but I decided to use my authorized holiday leave instead so I can have time to rest since I know I will have one hectic day on the 24th. Howell has a prenuptial pictorial today. Bela and I initially wanted to go with Howell but since Bela has slight coughs and colds, we decided to just stay at home. And it looks like Bela is still tired from yesterday’s activities as she had a long afternoon nap and went to bed early. I too was able to just laze around the whole day and spend some bonding time with Bela. I even got the chance to had my nails done.

Long weekend is almost over. I can’t believe that three days just passed like that and I’m back to reality tomorrow. Oh well, I guess life is really like that.

==

MBAPs had a lunch EB again last Sunday at DAMPA Macapagal. You can view more pictures and stories here.

0

Giddy with excitement

Posted by abie on 12:27 PM in
Ok, before I search the net for kitchen sinks, I just want to make this post:

The nanny is leaving this Thursday. She is suppose to leave on the 31st (since she still wants to get her full salary), but since we will be leaving for Baguio on the 29th, she was asking me yesterday if she can leave on the 28th instead. I have been counting the days for the day that she will leave. LOL. I am excited. But at the same time I am anxious too for the new nanny that we will be hiring. I have included it in our prayers and I have asked the Big man up there to please give us a nanny that will really take good care of my daughter.

I already spoke to my dad’s friend who recruits nannies from the province and we will meet her on the 1st of September to fetch our new nanny. I am worried for my daughter though because I know how much she is used to her old nanny. But we will cross the bridge when we get there.

Meanwhile, let me enjoy this moment first as I am really excited already to see my nanny leaves.

0

HK Accommodations: Booked

Posted by abie on 12:07 PM in
We’re booked. For our accommodations in Hong Kong, that is. I made online reservations last week for our city accommodation and our one night stay at Disney’s Hollywood hotel.

I booked BP International for our city accommodation and I booked them through hotel travel. BP International is not really one of those five start hotels in Hong Kong like the Marco Polo hotel that has free standing bathtubs in their bathroom. But every time we are in Hong Kong, we always stayed here since their rates are really okay and their rooms and bathrooms are clean, which is really an important thing for me. Their rooms are really not that big but that is just normal for Hong Kong standards I already received a confirmation email from Hotel Travel and they also sent me our hotel voucher.

I also booked one night stay at Disney’s Hollywood Hotel last Saturday and I just got a confirmation email today that my reservation is also confirmed. It is our first time to stay here so we are all excited. I haven’t checked though if their rooms are equipped with discount walk in bathtubs as a nice long bath would be perfect to sooth my aching muscles after one tiring day. But I know the hotel has a swimming pool and my sister and my cousin is planning to go swimming during our stay there. I just don’t know if they would still have a time for this.

And although my wish is really to stay at one of those five star hotels in Hong Kong, I think we can settle for BP International and Disney’s Hollywood Hotel this time as I prefer to have a bigger budget for shopping than our hotel accommodation. Maybe, when we get home, I will just convince my husband to check out bathtubs store and maybe we can install one at our home.

0

TGIF

Posted by abie on 11:02 PM in
I was so busy at work this week that I was not able to make “chika” with my twitter mates this week. New PCs have arrived for the Cyclical upgrade and so we have to start rebuilding them and deploying them. Plus office renovations started this week also which means we have to terminate a lot of data ports everyday plus we might need to disconnect and re-connect a number of PCs before they can begin renovation jobs. Then I have to do my report also as I will be the assigned chair for next week’s section meeting. I was not even able to fetch Bela at school today as I have to stay a little longer in the office since I have to finish a lot of stuff since I will be on leave this coming Monday.

But I’m glad the week is over. This coming Sunday, I will be meeting with the MBAPs and I know we will have a lot of juicy stories (read 42K and LV bags) to talk about. Plus we will be leaving for our Baguio vacation this coming Friday so I am really excited (yup, it is our first time at Camp John Hay so we are all excited).

I still have a lot of tags and awards to post. All of them is listed in my To do list and I promise to finish the as soon as I find the time. I also miss visiting all your blogs and I promise I will make it up next week.

So happy long weekend everyone!! To MBAPs, see you on Sunday.

3

Christmas is almost here

Posted by abie on 10:50 PM in ,
Oh boy, I can’t believe how time really flies. Next week is the last week for August and it is the start of the “BER” months once again. I was already thinking if we will put our Christmas tree up this early. You see, Christmas really starts early here in the Philippines. They say that when the “BER” months come in, it is the official start of the Christmas season here. My foreigner boss finds this as a weird thing that Filipinos do. But I guess, Filipinos are just happy people and we just love festivities.

So as early as now, I am already doing my Christmas shopping list:

* Sister – Crocs or RL bag (of course I have to buy this online. Probably from eBay and shoebuy so it is cheaper)
* Mom & dad – I will probably buy them clothes again.
* Tessa – bags or “kikay” accessories form Rubis
* Joseph – Mc farlene toys
* Aliah and Jego – Crocs also from shoebuy
* Jayson – Books as he really loves to read.
* Jebriel – more toys
* Jahnna – I still have no idea
* Hubby – I have to ask him. That’s how corny we are when it comes to giving gifts as we always ask each other what we want so it is really not a surprise
* Bela – I have no idea what to buy for her. Hubby wants to buy her a Pug puppy but I’m not sure if we can manage to take care of a puppy

This is just my initial list. I still have a long list for my god children and my uncles and aunts plus my friends and colleagues too. Add to that gift for Bela’s teachers. Hmm, looks like I really have to start my Christmas shopping early.

0

coffee break ver. 1.32

Posted by abie on 11:40 PM in

When I was still in High School, I can say that I was one of the nerdy-nerdy types of students. All I worry about was my grades, exams, my standing in the honor roll, etc. I always wanted to get a perfect score and I worry a lot if I don’t get one. I always fear that my competitors in the honor roll might get a higher grade than me and will steal my standing in the honor roll.

But there are times that I would stop worrying about studies and think of other things too. My dad was working abroad that time so my mom was a little strict with us so there are times that I would worry a lot on how I can convince my mom to allow me to go out with my friends. I also think about pimples, boys (LOL) and on how I can get money so I can do some shopping.

0

Still on parties

Posted by abie on 11:14 PM in ,

I am almost done with the preparations for Bela’s birthday. I am down to the small details like the invitation, tarpaulin and additional game prizes. Howell will take care of the layout of the invitation and tarpaulin and I think he can easily do it as I told him to just keep it simple as it is just a smaller party compared to her first two parties.

This reminded me that Bela’s second birthday party video is still not done yet. My cousin was the one who covered Bela’s birthday. They have been busy last year as they received a number of bookings so he was not able to find the time to edit Bela’s video. But I talkd to him the last time and he mentioned that he already started to edit the video as he knows that Bela will be having another party which means that he will be editing a new video of Bela soon so he has to finish Bela’s last birthday party video soon. He said that he is almost done with it. He just needs to add some closed captioning and little editing on the video effects and he will be able to finish it in no time.

Bela just loves to watch her first birthday party video. It is one of her favorite DVDs to watch so I’m sure he will enjoy her second birthday part video as well.


7

Weekend Snapshot # 13 - The story of the rocket

Posted by abie on 10:53 PM in
Last June, my husband when to Majuro, Marshall Islands for a three weeks temporary duty. During his stay there, he did some online shopping at Amazon and bought a Little Einsteins toy for our daughter. The item was supposed to arrived in a week but he left Majuro without the toy that he ordered for our daughter.

My husband knows how much my daughter loves Little Einsteins but up to now the toy is still at Majuro. He asked one of his officemates there to ship it to us but unfortunately, it has been more than a month already and the Little Einsteins toy of my daughter is still not here.

So out of my husband’s frustration, he bought a Little Einsteins toy for my daughter (this is cheaper than what he ordered from Amazon). My daughter just loves it and she immediately asked her dad to open the box. She played with it right away while she is watching her Little Einstein DVD. Look at the picture and you can see how happy she is with her new toy.


0

Addicted to eBay? Not Me.

Posted by abie on 7:17 AM in ,
Remember my post a few days ago about Howell not winning his first bid on eBay? Well he is still not over that magazine since after loosing his bid, he has been checking out eBay everyday to see if there is a similar magazine being sold or being auctioned on eBay. And he did succeed in finding one and it even has a Buy me now option so he didn’t have to go through the torture of waiting in anticipation if he won or not. He got so excited that he immediately paid for it (he has to wake me up to ask for my paypal details since the seller only accepts paypal. LOL) without even waiting for the invoice. LOL.

And just recently he bought another item again: Muhammad Ali Joe Frazier Thrilla in Manila POSTER. He said that it is a rare collection so he bought it as soon as he saw it on eBay.


So who is more addicted to eBay now? LOL.

1

To Baguio on August 29-31

Posted by abie on 6:36 AM in
My husband really wants to go to Baguio this month. He said that he really needs to have a vacation as he is so stress from work. I was reluctant to say yes to his request at first since we just got back from our Singapore trip and then we are leaving again on November for another vacation and we are also saving for Bela’s third birthday party.

But I found out from my friends, Jody, Jacqui and Joy that Camp John Hay Manor is having an “Irresistible Baguio” promo where they give 50% discount for their room rates for a minimum stay of two nights. That is really a steal. Plus I saw pictures from Jody and Jacqui’s blog from their recent trip to Baguio and Camp John Hay is really beautiful – the room is so big that it can accommodate even up to six adults, they even have Electric Fires which is really perfect for Baguio weather, they even have horse back riding and a play ground where Bela can have so much fun.

So I got excited and called Camp John Hay Mmanor immediately. The earliest booking that I got is for August 29-31 but that is okay since Howell and I don’t have work on September 1st so the date is just perfect. And another good thing about that date is that my fellow blogging mommy Jacqui, will be staying at the Manor also with her family on those same dates so we will see each other there. I’m sure her daughter Sam and Bela will enjoy the horse back riding and the play grounds at Camp John Hay. I just hope that it won’t rain on those dates as it has been raining almost everyday these past few weeks.

I can’t wait for our Baguio vacation. I’m excited to go shopping at the famous “ukay-ukay”, get a feel of the Gas Fires in our room at the Manor, visit the Burnham Park and Mines View Park and enjoy the famous restaurants in Baguio that offer sumptuous meals. Does it really show that I am that excited?

0

The beauty arrives on Wednesday

Posted by abie on 6:08 AM in ,
This coming Wednesday, this beauty will be arriving at my parent’s doorstep.


But this car is not for my mom and dad. It is not for us either but this car was bought by my brother.

I remember a few months back, I received a call from my brother asking me if I can apply for a car loan for him. You see, he is one of those who really need credit repair tips as he has a bad credit standing with the credit card companies. He tried applying for new credit cards but all of his application got denied. So he really thinks that if got rejected for applying for a credit card, then he will definitely not get an approval if he applies for a car loan.

But we will need a car loan too in a few months time since we are also planning to buy a second car, so I can’t apply a car loan for him. So he has no choice but to do some action in order to repair his bad credit standing.

The first thing that he did is request for a credit report. By doing this he will be able to check how much his real debt is and at the same time he will be able to check if there are any credit report errors. Then after going through the credit report, he started to negotiate his debt with the credit card companies and he started to pay them one by one.

And it is good because there is a fair credit reporting act, my brother’s credit rights has been fully protected. Now, he is debt free and was able to regain his good credit standing that is why he got approve for his car loan.

I’m sure he is all excited to get his new car.

4

The Longest Breakfast Menu List

Posted by abie on 10:29 PM in
Thanks Kathy for this.

Let’s learn what blogger’s favourite meal (Breakfast) is. Simple straightforward meme and great for link love. Have a good Breaky! Good thing I have a photo of my hubby’s favorite morning food start, because I’m not a breakfast gal actually

*Start copy here*

Everyone likes to start their day with a comfort food for breakfast. What kind of food do you take? This would be a good way to find out your blogger friend’s favourite food for breakfast.

All you need to do is to put your name down, the country you are in and your favorite breakfast meal. Let’s see how we can have this breakfast ‘menu’ travelled all around cyberspace and learn what each blogger living in different country and what they eat for breakfast. This meme was created by a little lady with a penchant to spy around little baskets while marketing. Her favorite breakfast of the day is none other than Roti Prata, an indian flat bread. What about you? What is your favorite breakfast meal of the day?

1. Spymama, Singapore - Roti Prata 2. Janeth Vicy’s Life Journey, Philippines - Ham and Hotdog with Rice 3.As The World Turns, Philippines, Milk and Biscuits. 4.Just Me.. Eds, Philippines- Sausage and Egg with Garlic Rice/Fried Mash potato 5. KATHYCOT, Phils, Fried Spam, Chicken and Scrambled Egg paired with Fried Rice 6. Abie, Phils, Ham Sandwich with plenty of mayo and mustard 7. Your Name, Country, Food



*End copy here*

Passing this to Vien, Crissy, Jhona , MM and Dez

0

She really needs help

Posted by abie on 10:21 PM in ,
If there is one phone call that I hate receiving, it would be phone calls from credit card companies harassing me to pay my debt. Luckily, I haven’t been in that situation. I was able to manage debt and manage all my credit card expenses that I was able to pay all my balances for the month on time. What I do is I keep a spreadsheet of all my credit card expenses so I can monitor every month if I am already over my budget. And even though I am shopaholic and I sometimes shop impulsively specially if it is for my daughter, I was able to stick to what I can only afford every month, thus I was always able to pay in full whatever is due for the month.

But I have a friend whom I think badly needs debt elimination tips. She owes almost all credit card companies and a big chunk of her salary just goes to paying her debt. But since she can only pay the minimum amount per month, her payment just covers the interest and not the principal amount which doesn’t help in reducing the debt that she owes the credit card companies.

I know it is really stressful to always be harassed by credit card agents asking you to pay your debt and it would even be more stressful if you know that you cannot pay all of them at the same time. I think her best option is to look for a debt consolidation company that can help negotiate debt. These companies have the experienced to make a good deal for my friend. They may even help her negotiate for a lower interest rate or a much longer payment scheme that would fit the budget of my friend.

I just hope that my friend gets to settle her debt soon as I know how much stress her debt is putting on her.

5

Wordless Wednesday # 15 - Twin Towers

Posted by abie on 12:33 PM in

9

Weekend Snapshot # 12 - Mall Rat

Posted by abie on 11:04 AM in
We hit the mall again last Saturday as we always do almost every weekend. We were all tired after going around the shops at the mall but we are all happy as we were able to have some quality family time again.

2

I change my mind.

Posted by abie on 10:51 AM in ,
I am almost finish booking all the major suppliers for Bela’s third birthday party. I was happy since I was able to book the magician that I want and the venue that I was able to book was just perfect for the number of guests that we will be having.

After her second birthday party, my husband and I decided that we will not have a party for her on her third birthday. We initially plan to just celebrate her birthday by having a vacation in the US. Our friend in Florida is inviting us over there and I already looked for discount Disney World tickets where we can purchase our tickets. But then I realized that I will be having training in Canada in 1-2 years time so we can just go to Florida after my training instead so my airfare will be free. That would be a big saving for us. So instead of going to Disneyland Florida, we just booked a ticket to Hong Kong so we can visit Hong Kong Disneyland this year for Bela’s birthday. Bela had a great time when we went there last year and I’m sure she will enjoy it more now that she is more aware of what’s going on around her.

So I’m already decided in not having a party for her this year but I suddenly changed my mind when I let my daughter watched her first birthday video. She was all so excited watching her party. And so I suddenly decided that I will have a small party for her – relatives, close friends and her classmates and teachers.

I was a little late already with the planning but I was really happy since I am almost half way finish with the planning stage. I booked most of the major suppliers already and all that is left for us to prepare is the invitations and the tarpaulin and we are all set.

6

Bye Yaya! Yipee!!

Posted by abie on 10:33 AM in
I was really planning to talk to my nanny this morning to tell her that she better clean up her act or else we will have to let her go. But I just received the best news ever this morning.

My nanny texted me and said that she can only stay up to the end of August as she wants to concentrate on her AVON business. Good luck to her. LOL. I think she is already lucky that we allowed her to do business on the side while being Bela’s yaya and so I really hate it that she is abusing our kindness.

This is the best thing that she has done so far. LOL. At least I don’t have to ask her to leave, which is the hardest part for me to do. That is why even though I really hate her so much, I can’t ask her to leave because I don’t know how to say it nicely. But since she volunteered to leave, then well and good. I was all smiles while I was reading her text. But I must say that Howell got worried and was really not happy with the text that we got from our yaya because he still thinks that we can no longer get a better replacement for our yaya now.

I admit that it would really be difficult to look for a new yaya that will do a good job with our daughter and will really take care of her. But I just have to pray for it since things are really not working well between me and my yaya. So it’s really time for her to go. So I’m now on the search for a new yaya for Bela. Please help me pray that the replacement that we will be getting will really take good care of my daughter.

2

E-Load Here

Posted by abie on 10:30 AM in
This is the sign that greeted me last night when we arrived home. We left our nanny at home as I can’t bear to spend a day with her (yeah, I am that irritated with her) and when we reached home, there is a sign in our front door saying “E-Load here.”

We allowed our nanny to do business on the side while being Bela’s nanny. She is selling Avon products and we allowed her since she promised that she will only sell her goods at Bela’s school. But then she started selling her goods too in our neighborhood so there are times that she will ask for my permission if she can go out since she has to collect payments from her buyers. Then she will ask permission too every Saturday to go to Avon because she needs to get her orders. She did not hear anything from us as we know that she also needed the extra money to send to her family in the province.

But when I saw the sign in our front door about E-load, then I said it is too much already. I asked Howell to talk to her and remove the signage. Imagine, there would be a lot of people who will go to our house to purchase E-load from her. What if Bela is sleeping? Bela takes a nap in the sala and she easily gets distracted even with small noise. So it means my daughter will not be able to have a good nap.

Well I guess we have been too linient on her. Howell said that our nanny asked his permission before we left yesterday if she can put the signage and my husband said no way. So even my husband was shocked when he saw the signage when we reached home. This only gets to show that my nanny no longer knows how to respect the authority.

So that’s it. I really have to talk to her.

1

Her best option

Posted by abie on 10:07 AM in ,
Should I resign? This is the question that my good friend asked me when I saw her in the office one morning. She said that she really is no longer happy with her job and the only reason that she is coming to work is because of the salary. She is working as a makeup artists here as her sideline and she is thinking to just resign from her day job and just concentrate on being a makeup artist.

Her first option is to continue her career here which is a good option as she really has some talent and she is starting to get notice in the wedding and fashion industry. Her second option is to enroll in one of the beauty schools in michigan and find a career there. She just got back from her vacation in the United States where she visited her friend in Michigan and during her stay, she discovered how in demand and diverse a career in beauty industry is.

I told her that if she is no longer happy with her current job, then there is really no point of staying just because of her salary. She loves being a makeup artist so I’m sure she will be happier being in that field. So the bottom line is, whatever makes her happy would be the best option.

1

She is now up

Posted by abie on 10:10 AM in
My boss (my daughter) is now up. And as much as I wanted to finish all the tags that each one of you has left for me, I have to sign off for now as we have a whole lot of activities lined up for today.

I will try to go online later (if I still have the energy) and I promise to finish all your tags and awards soon.

Have a great weekend.

0

I’m an early bird

Posted by abie on 7:59 AM in
Good morning everyone. I was up at 6:00 AM today as I have to finish a lot of things online. I was not able to go online last night because one, by 9:00 PM, I am already sleepy so I fell asleep when I was putting my daughter to sleep. Second, my husband was doing something on our PC. He ran the Virus Scan and Anti Spyware program since our PC is really slow and it took forever for it to finish so I decided to just go to bed early.

He was doing a layout last night and our PC keeps on freezing that is why he decided to clean it up. I tried it as soon as I get up and I think the speed has improved a bit since the anti spyware was able to detect and delete a lot of spywares. But I guess, we need to by an additional system memory for our PC. Since we bought it a couple of months ago, we have installed numerous programs plus all the pictures and videos that it stored on our hard drive. An additional memory might do the trick in improving the performance of our PC.

1

Diva Forever!

Posted by abie on 7:42 AM in
Thanks for this Jody and Peachy.

The button is a Flair created by Litzie!

RULES:
1. Post the button in your blog.
2. Please link back the person that gave the button to you.
3. If you have more than one blog, please post this to all of your blogs so your other blogs can be listed to the master list too.
4. You need to pass the button to at least 4 people that you think are also divas in any way.
5. Come back here and leave your post url so you can be added to the master list and help increase our rankings.
6. Please add to the list below a reason why you love being online all the time.

Online Divas:1. All Merging in the Path of My Life2. My Big Picture3. Walk on Red with Me4. Supah MaMa Wannabe5. The Stories of a Now SAHM6. When Mom Speaks7. Kathycot Cooking With a Twist 8. Coffee Table Conversations 9. My Precious Niche 10. The Shopaholic In Me 11. Our Journey to Life 12. Your Blog here

Reasons why I am an Online Diva:
1. Litzie - It helps me pass time when I’m at work and don’t have any patient to attend to.
2. Kathycot - Because it serves as my past time plus it gives me moolah for my kapricho’s
3. Jacqui - keeps me updated with all the online sale ; chikas and tsismis also from my online friends.
4. Eds – I looove being online the whole day and I’m definitely addicted to blogging (even at work but with exception- when I’m with Aj- Family First!)
5. Jody - I love writing, I love sharing stories about myself, my family. I also love reading stories from other people. In other words, I’m tsismosa! Hahaha.
6. Peachy - because I am ! I enjoy the online world, it keeps me up to date with my friends , and my family.
7. Abie – I think I’m online almost everyday. It helps me get connected and get updated with my friends and relatives. It is also my way to pass time, to share my thoughts or just share anything about me, my life, and my family.

{end copying here}

Passing this to my fellow online divas ..Yvelle, Jan, Jhona and Thea

0

Las Vegas and Macau

Posted by abie on 12:20 AM in
I am so excited for my friend. She and her family will be going to Hong Kong for a short vacation after my friend’s training in Canada. She has been asking me for some tips and advise for their suggested itinerary as she knows that I have recently visited Hong Kong.

They are also considering on having a day tour at Macau and I really encouraged them so they can see the new Venetian hotel in Macau. I heard it is one of the biggest hotels in the world and is way better than the Venetian in Las Vegas.

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My husband and I were able to have a Las Vegas vacations last 2004 when our good friend Jacq and her husband Neil brought us there from Los Angeles. Las Vegas was one of our favorite cities and I even considered it as a big theme park since each hotel along the Vegas strip have their own theme and we enjoyed checking out each of the hotels. Our favorite is the Venetian hotel as it was really grand and unique. Imagine there is a river inside the hotel where we can ride the Gondola similar to the gondola experience in Venetian. And if they say that the Venetian hotel in Macau is way much better than the one in Las Vegas, then it is really something worth seeing.

0

coffee break ver. 1.30

Posted by abie on 12:05 AM in
Jan's Coffee Break

When it comes to food, I don’t think I would be the perfect person to ask. One, me and my husband are not really adventurous when it comes to picking restaurants so we really have tried a lot of restaurants and we won’t try it unless it was recommended to us by our friends. Second, I really have no sense of taste as for me everything is really delicious and I am no picky eater since I eat almost anything.

But here is my list:

1. Banana Leaf – My husband loves spicy food and so when we discovered Banana Leaf (our friend brought us there), it became one of our favorite restaurants. But I like their Podium branch better than their Midtown branch as the servers at Midtown are not so helpful with their customers. Our favorite is the Roti Canai with curry sauce, Penang Char, Fish with Malayan Curry Sauce and my husband’s favorite is their lamb dish. Although I find Banana Leaf a little expensive compared to the other restaurants that we like.
2. Caf̩ Monaco in Banawe РAgain, another friend introduced us to this restaurant. It is just a small Korean restaurant along Banawe and it is one of the things that I like about this resto Рit is not crowded and so we always have one quite dinner every time we are there. Their price is also very affordable and all their foods are really yummy. My favorite is the Bibimbop, their California Maki (which is really better than Tokyo-Tokyo) and their Fruit Crepes)
3. Racks – Their servings are big that is why I always share their house specialties with my sister since I can’t finish it and I find their prices affordable too.

0

He can see clearly now

Posted by abie on 11:40 PM in ,
Before I had my lasik surgery a year ago, I used to wear thick glasses then I switched to contact lenses since I already have a very poor vision. My brother is experiencing the same situation right now. He just visited his ophthalmologist and advised him that he wear prescription glasses or contact lens. He tried contact lens first but it has been weeks already and my poor brother can’t seem to grasp the technique on how he can put the contact lens in his eyes. And so for the past weeks, he hasn’t been able to successfully use his new contact lens.

And good timing, since I saw on TV that Zenni Optical was on FOX news! I quickly called my brother’s attention and gave him an advise that he better drop the idea of wearing contact lens and he should just start looking for incredible stylish new frames from Zenni instead of having a grueling day every morning as he struggles to put his contact lens on his eyes.


He still doesn’t want to stop using contact lens at first, but then after a few weeks, he decided to just surrender and he just bought Zenni Optical $ 8 Rx Eyeglasses. So he can see clearly now and he finally made a conclusion that contact lenses is really not for him.

7

Wordless Wednesday # 14 - I love Colors

Posted by abie on 11:10 AM in


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I am sleepy

Posted by abie on 12:55 AM in ,
Yes, I have been sleeping a little early than usual these past few days. Before, I used to sleep around 2 – 3 AM because I need to finish a lot of work. But lately I just feel that I have no energy left to continue working at home. I always feel sleepy so even though my mind would still love to work, my body is resisting as I can’t find the energy to keep my eyes open. So these past few days, you won’t find me online as I am already sleeping like a log right after dinner. And besides, a lot of my friends have been asking if I am taking weight loss pills since I already lost a lot of weight.

Thanks God, I got back to my senses and I finally realized that my health should still be my top priority. So from now on, I promise to stop working at home and go to bed early.

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My Dream TV

Posted by abie on 12:50 AM in ,
I was doing my usual blog hopping and I read from Jacqui’s blog that her husband just finished mounting their LCD TV and home theater system to the wall.

I just so love their LCD TV. If I have the budget, I would definitely buy an LCD flat TV since it’s so compact and a real space saver plus it really produces high definition videos. We bought our TV right after our wedding as we are trying to fill our house with furniture and that time, we are a little short on cash so an LCD TV and home theater furniture is really not on our list. Our goal that time is just to buy a TV as my husband knows that I can’t survive a single day without television.

Hmm, maybe I can add this to my list of future projects that I am saving for. It’s a long list and I don’t know how many months it will take before I can buy it but at least it will be my motivation to work harder. Or maybe, I can add this to my Christmas wish list. LOL.

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Xmen and eBay

Posted by abie on 1:21 PM in
I was taking a bath this morning when I heard my husband knocking on the door. When I answered, he said “Mom kainis, di ako nanalo.” And that’s when I remembered that he woke up early to monitor an item that he is bidding on eBay. So he is having a bad day because he didn’t win this:


I don’t really know what it is. I think it is an Xmen magazine with an autograph of WHILCE PORTACIO. He placed a maximum bid of $6 and the highest bid that time was only $2.5. So he thought he will win but during the last few seconds, somebody bid $6.5 so he was really pissed.

And then he gave me a call this morning and he said that the buyer of the X-men magazine is now selling it on eBay at $50. Darn. LOL.

Don’t worry dad, let’s try our luck next time. (I think my husband will be hooked with eBay too, just like me. LOL).

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I once dream of being a flight attendant

Posted by abie on 8:13 AM in
When I was a little girl, my dream was to attend a flight attendant school because I dream to have a flight attendant career. The mother of my best friend is a flight attendant and every time she goes to work, I often see her so well dressed and very good looking and so I thought that she has a wonderful and prestigious career. Plus she gets to travel all around the world and sometimes her family also gets to travel with her. And so when I was a kid, I always dreamed of being one.

But I think God has a different plan for me. I am working now as a Systems Administrator in one of the embassies here in our country. I have been in this job for seven years now. And I may say, even if I was not able to fulfill my dream of having a flight attendant career, I am enjoying my job now in the Information Technology field.

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Shoes!!

Posted by abie on 11:40 PM in
I was tagged by Aggie and Jenny. Thanks for this mga sis.

{Start Copy}

What’s your shoe size? Are your feet the same size as your mom’s feet? How about your sister’s feet? Can you borrow shoes from each other?

Post a picture of your latest shoe buy. Tag the number of women of your shoe size, i.e. size 5 = tag 5 friends. Don’t forget to drop a line in this blog when you’re done.

1. Jenny and Belle
2. SAHMdom and Beyond
3. The Journey Continues…
4. Mommy Talks…
5. Our Journey to Life
6. your blog here

{End Copy}

My Mom’s Shoe Size: 5
Sisters’ Shoe Sizes: 7
My Shoe Size: 7

I used to be a size 6 but became a size 7 after giving birth to Bela. But it’s good since I have the same size as my sister so I can borrow my sister’s shoes and she can borrow mine too.


These are my latest shoe buy. I think I bought it last May. I have no plans of buying new shoes that time. I just accompanied my sister since she need a new school shoes to Mendrez. But these shoes caught my eye and they are even on sale so I can’t go home without them and I decided to buy them both.

Im tagging: Peachy, Em, Val, Farah, Kite, Vien, Jason

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My To do list for tomorrow

Posted by abie on 11:29 PM in
1. Since all of the magicians on my list for Bela’s birthday are already booked, we’re thinking of just getting the magician of Kidz Republic (since he is cheaper) and then get a puppet show also. There will be a party at Kidz Republic tomorrow with the magician so we might drop by there tomorrow and check out if he is okay.
2. Then it will be a bonding time for me, Howell and Bela and we might try the play area with Bela at Kidz Republic tomorrow.
3. Then I have to look for a shop for plus size lingerie since my aunt is looking for one for her friend.
4. Contact my cousins and check what time they will be free on Sunday for my cousin Tessa’s treat for the whole family at DAMPA. (yum, yum. I’m excited already)
5. I failed to blog hop today so I have to make my rounds tomorrow for my friends in my blog roll and visit the blog of LP Participants and thank them for welcoming me at LP and for visiting my blog.

Looks like our day will be full again tomorrow so I will hit the sack now as I need more energy for tomorrow.

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Her search for gladiator shoes

Posted by abie on 11:11 PM in
What’s the latest fashion or trend now when it comes to shoes? My sister has been obsessing over gladiator shoes and she has searched the malls in her search for a perfect gladiator shoes. Since it is the “in” thing right now, she is having a hard time finding the shoes that she wants at a budget friendly price. She was able to find a lot of gladiator shoes in the malls here but it is way over her budget. She is already getting frustrated as she really wants to get hold of that shoe.


And since I did not get her anything for her birthday, I decided to help her look for the gladiator shoes that she wants and promised to give it to her as my birthday present. I showed her the gladiator shoes that I found from Blowfish Women's Shoes and she loves it. Finally, her quest for her gladiator shoes is finally over and she was really happy because she didn’t have to pay anything for it.


And since I’m on the lookout for shoes also and the shopaholic in me kicked in again, I found some nice Blowfish Shoes for me as well. And looking at my budget, I can even afford a Blowfish Men's Shoes for my husband too. Oh, well I guess that’s what really happens when I browse an online store, I always end up buying something.

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Yesterday

Posted by abie on 8:31 AM in
I was stuck for 3.5 hours inside a bus last night. What used to be a 15-30 minutes drive from RCBC to Buendia LRT became 3.5 hours. I left the office just a few minutes after 4:30 PM because we will be going to St. Jude to hear mass. Rom the Makati Post Office, I noticed that the buses and cars aren’t moving but I thought it is just a stop light. But after an hour, the bus is still in front of Makati Post Office.

Because of the heavy rains, the streets of Buendia are flooded so there are a lot of stranded passengers and most of the cars aren’t moving since the flood is half knee deep. So for 3.5 hours, I was able to watch half part of the movie of Vic Sotto and Rossana Roces, I was able to finish the movie of Ogie Alcasid, Patrick Garcia, Jimmy Santos and Sunshine Cruz (I didn’t know that Sunshine Cruz has been teamed up with Jimmy Santos) and the first half of the movie of Joey de Leon and Dennis Padilla with Rita Avila and another female actress who is a former beauty queen I think. I was trying to stop myself from laughing as I don’t want to look “jologs” but I must admit some of the scenes are really funny so I can’t help but giggle in silence. LOL. (I can’t remember the last time I was able to watch a tagalong movie).

But you know what they say about Filipino movies is true, that they always have the common factors like:
1. There should always be a protagonist and antagonist.
2. That the protagonist should always have a side kick.
3. That the protagonist should have a love team.
4. That the protagonist should experience serious beating up first but he will always triumph in the end
5. That the protagonist together with his side kicks and love should have a song and dance number in one of the scenes of the movie.

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