We started our Christmas early as Bela and Cobi are up early because Bela is excited to see what Santa left for her. They were still in their PJs when they started to open their gifts from Santa and Bela was just so happy when she found out that Santa gave her what she requested.

After opening their gifts from Santa, we all prepared and then went to my brother’s house as we will have our reunion there. We started with lunch and then the traditional giving of gifts to everybody where Bela played as Santa for our family. Then they opened all their gifts and Bela was just so overwhelmed with all the gifts that she received.

Around 4 PM, we left the house to celebrate Christmas with hubby’s family this time. We had our dinner there and Bela played as Santa again as she give our gifts to her cousins and aunties on hubby side.

It was already 9 PM when we went home and called it a day. It was a very happy Christmas celebration for us. I thank God for giving us loving and supportive family and hubby and I are both glad that we get to spend this special day with all of them.

Last year, we spent our New Year in Tagaytay away from the noisy and polluted Manila. Everybody had fun as there was karaoke, overflowing drinks, over flowing food and my cousin prepared a program while waiting for the clock to strike 12. Then for this year, we would have wanted to go to an all inclusive resort where all we can think of is just relax and have fun but we were not able to plan for it ahead of time and if you are booking for a group of 20 persons, short notice booking will be a big challenge.

So all of us agreed that we will really prepare for our next family getaway so we can enjoy one of those Jamaica all inclusive vacations. Imagine, all we need to do is just be at the airport and everything will be serve for us:

• all inclusive meals (from breakfast, lunch, dinner and even evening snacks)
• all inclusive entertainment
• airport transfers
• tips
• land and water sports

This is one kind of Jamaica vacations that I am sure everybody will enjoy since all of us just loves the beach. So as early as now, we will save up and will start researching about Breezes Resort so we can book early for our flights and accommodations so everybody can go and have fun in Jamaica. I told everybody about it and everybody got excited already even if it is just a few months away. Who wouldn’t? Jamaica offers the nicest beach so it is guaranteed fun!!

The microphone is now ready and everybody is lining up to select their songs in the karaoke. We are currently here at Casita de Anna Maria, a private resort in Pansol, Laguna to celebrate New Year here.

The place is nice with a big garden, a gazebo, 3 bed rooms, swimming pool and the favorite of everybody, a karaoke.

I came from the office where my husband fetched me and we went straight to SLEX to meet up with my family. Ever since we arrived, the adults are all in front of the karaoke machine having fun. While the adults are busy with the karaoke, the kids are all enjoying the pool including Bela and Cobi.

I am still catching up with work so I will not have any back log as I welcome 2011. But I think I can finish all of my work before dinner time so I can start partying with them.

Happy New Year to all my friends and talk to you again on 2011!!

If there is one travel escapade that I love looking back to, then it will be our Europe trip last year. One of the cities that we visited was Vienna. We spent four days in Vienna as we are taking Eurolines to move to Italy but they don’t have daily trips so we have no choice but to be stuck in Vienna for four days. In that four days, we were really able to see Vienna Art as we explore museums, palaces and churches such as the Schonbrunn Palace, St. Stephen’s Church and St. Peter’s Church, Votivkirche, Rathaus, Parliament, Hofburg Palace, National Library, and Museum of National History and we were also able to visit Mozart’s House.

I only have less than three weeks to plan for this trip so I was not really prepared and I don’t have that much on my itinerary on the places that we can visit in Vienna. If only I have discovered the site of coolcapitals.com back then, I would have been able to plan for our trip well as they have suggestions on what places are worth seeing and exploring if we want to see Vienna Design, culture and architecture.

My husband and I wishes to go back to Europe someday and Switzerland is part of our list so we can see Zurich art and more. I will surely visit coolcapitals.com for suggestions on places to visit so we will not miss anything on the must-see places in Europe on our next tour there.

I still have work on that day but luckily we were dismissed early so I was able to meet up with some of my best friends from work for lunch. We met at Greenbelt 5 and we had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. After lunch, Dennis treated us for desserts at Caffe Ti-Amo then we parted ways after.

I was able to do some last minute shopping before finally going home and I was also able to buy a Melissa shoe from Mix. Then we went home after so we can rest for a bit before the 8 PM evening mass that we will attend.

As what we always do every year, my whole family all went to hear mass at our former school then we head to my brother’s house for our Noche Buena. My aunt prepared simple meals that we can share while we wait for the clock to strike 12.

Since we will have another long and busy day the next day, we all went home for our beauty rest after dinner.

I spent the whole morning computing for my total credit card bill which I incurred when I went shopping for Christmas gifts for my family and friends and I was really surprised at how much I incurred.

Christmas is the season of giving and sharing but I think there is a way to spread the Christmas cheer without hurting our pocket. And one way to do that is by doing arts and crafts that we can give out as gifts just like making bracelets, earrings, necklaces and other jewelries made from glass beads.

All I need to do is find a bead store where I can buy the supplies that I need for my project and with a little creativity, I can turn these semi precious stones into a work of art. It is just a simple step and aside from the fact that I can save by doing this, it is also one good way for me to relax. This can also be a nice project that I can do with my daughter so it is a great bonding session for us also.

I am so excited to start on my project and I am sure my friends and my relatives will truly appreciate my labor of love for them.

2011 is just a few days away and we are so lucky to have received a good news to welcome the new year. We have a sort of vacation house and since we are so busy, we rarely get a chance to spend our weekends there as what we originally planned. And so I feel that we have a property that we are not being able to put to good use.

But hubby told the good news to me this morning and a colleague will be renting our place for three months as they need a place to stay while they sort out their problems with their house and so it will be extra income for us so we can finally buy patio furniture for our vacation house.

At least if we have outdoor furniture, we can start entertaining guests there and it will even encourage us to spend our weekends there more often so that the property will not be put to waste.

I got so excited that I started browsing the site of patiofurniturebuy. They have a wide range of products from patio lounge sets, tables, dining sets and even wrought iron patio furniture.

This is really a good way to welcome the new year, a new business for us, so we can find the budget to finance the purchase of furniture for our vacation house.

One of the major events in 2010 was the final decision made by the Supreme Court in giving a non-guilty verdict to the suspects of the Vizconde case. I saw the reaction of the father of the victim upon hearing the bad news and my heart was broken as I can see the pain in his eyes upon hearing that the only suspect that they have for the case can walk free.

Let’s face it. Filing for a lawsuit is not only time consuming but quite expensive too so the case was not only mentally and emotionally draining for the father of the victim, but it also crippled him financially. That is why some victims are really thinking twice before filing a lawsuit as they know it will cost them a leg and an arm.

But thanks to TriMark Legal Funding LLC, victims does not need to stay in the dark and just be victims forever as they can always apply for a lawsuit funding so they can have the money that they need to file a case or the money to support for their needs while waiting for the result of the case.

Applying for a lawsuit cash advance from TriMark Legal Funding LLC is very easy as you don’t need to have the requirements, such as a collateral, good credit standing, a job, as what the back requires to be approved. Applicants do not even need to pay for up-front fees or even monthly fees as they will only have to pay if their case wins.

TriMark Legal Funding LLC is the number one provider of funding such as this and even attorney funding too so victims now have their chance to get justice with their help.

This is a very, very delayed post. Thankfully I found the energy to stay up last night to sort through our pictures and upload it to my Flickr and facebook account and I saw our pictures when we first went to Nuvali last November 29 and I remembered that I haven’t made a post about it yet.

Our initial plan was to go to Tagaytay but we left home late (around 12 noon already) as I have to work and finish all my pending work before leaving. Since it is already lunch time, I suggested that we drop by at Nuvali first for lunch and then just have merienda or dinner in Tagaytay.

It is actually our first time at Nuvali. I have long been waning to check out the place as I have seen nice pictures of it from my friends. We looked for a restaurant on where we can eat when we arrive and we decided to have lunch at Conti’s.

After lunch, Bela went to the area where you can watch the kois and she does not want to leave. Howell even bought her feeds so she can feed them. Then we also tried the boat ride. There was a queue and we have to wait for around 30 minutes before we can have our turn. While waiting we checked out the stalls in the bazaar and we were able to do a little shopping.

It was already 5 PM when we finished and my dad was not up to driving to Tagaytay as he thinks that we may experience heavy traffic going up so we decided to just go to Paseo de Sta Rosa for dinner and more shopping.

You can view more pictures here.

If you have kids in the house, I bet you will be as paranoid as me in keeping the house clean and bacteria free to keep your kids away from sickness. I remember in one of the episodes of my favorite TV series House MD, they have a patient who has been very, very sick and they later found out that the sickness was due to algae found in the patient’s bathroom.

That is why when I found out that the house we are buying has a bath tub, I quickly made some research on how to maintain it so that it will be bacteria free and I discovered that natural hot tub treatment is the best way to go as it does not contain harsh chemicals that is bad to our health and the environment too and naturalhottub.com offers these kind of treatment for natural hot tub.

All their products do not use bad hot tub chemicals but instead only uses natural enzymes that are 100% bio-based. Their products are also very easy to use and it only needs to be applied once a week to keep bathtubs and the water clean and germ free.

I am sure our kids will love to have a bath tub and for sure they will always use it for their everyday bath that is why I really wanted to make sure that it is 100% germ and bacteria free to safeguard the health of our kids.

Merry Christmas everybody!! And In just a few days, we will al say goodbye to 2010 and welcomes 2011.

So how can we start the new year right? I must admit I was not able to save that much for this year as I wanted my family to enjoy the fruits of my labor. But now that our family is growing and soon Cobi will go to school also, I think 2011 is the right time to start saving up.

One of the things that I am considering is to invest in gold and buy gold bullion. I checked out the site of United States Gold Bureau and I have learned a lot about gold investment. After reading the information found on their site, it gave me confidence that gold is a best investment as it is a stable way to preserve one’s wealth.

So as we bid goodbye to 2010 in a few days, I am glad that I have some plans now on how we can manage our finances for 2011.

I can’t wait to move in to a bigger house. Our house is so crowded right now:

- one part of our house is where our Christmas tree stands where we dumped all the gifts that we will distribute to our friends and relatives
- then there is one part for Cobi and Bela’s toys
- one part where I have boxes full of stuff that I ordered online

I was even telling hubby the other day that I wanted to disassemble and pack our Christmas tree already as it is occupying a lot of room. even if the holidays is not yet finish My OC-ness is kicking that if only I don’t have tons of work to finish, I would have put out our green cleaning supplies and I will really start to de-clutter and clean our house. Even in our room, there is not much space to move on.

I really hope that things will work as planned so we can finally move in to our new home by mid of next year. I really can’t wait!!

Part of hubby’s early Christmas for me:

He bought it during the Black Friday sale and he was so excited as he knows that I really want an LCD TV. It arrived last week and he installed it that same night.

Our initial plan actually was to have it installed in our room as we don’t get to watch TV at night as we try to go to bed as early as possible so our kids will go to bed early too. But we realized it defeats that purpose if we have the TV installed in our room as for sure, our kids will watch with us and will not go to sleep as long as the TV is turned on.

So we just installed it in our living room instead. But I think we need to buy a smaller TV table that will match our LCD TV or I think it will be better to mount it in the wall to save space.

Thanks again dad for your early Christmas present. I love it!

We were able to do some last minute shopping yesterday for Bela and Cobi. I still need to look for a pair of shoes for Bela for the clothes that I was able to buy for her last week but I was not able to find a nice pair of shoes that will match her clothes in all the shops at Robinsons Place. So I asked around and as suggested by my good friend Joy, I can try looking at the shops in Greenbelt 5.

And so that is what we did and asked hubby to drive us to Greenbelt 5. I checked Tarte Tatin and Gingersnaps and luckily I was able to find a nice pair of shoes and even blouses from both stores and so finally Bela’s Christmas and New Year’s outfit is now complete.

As for me, I think I just have to rely on acne home remedies as I don’t think I will have time to go to my dermatologist and even have a hair cut and treatment before Christmas.

But that is just okay because I am happy already because despite our busy schedule, we were able to finish our Christmas list and we were able to shop for both Bela and Cobi.

I got a call from hubby this morning and is asking me to check my email as he sent me an Excel file for our projected budget sheet for 2011. I am impressed as at least now he is really becoming serious in really saving up and investing for the future of our kids.

Aside from the monthly amortization that he allotted for the property that we will be buying, I also saw a separate column in hubby’s budget sheet for additional investments and hubby told me that it will be our savings in case we want to make additional investments like buy gold coins.

Gold is a very good investment as its value does not depreciate over time so hubby believes that if we have extra money, gold is the best way to preserve it.

I am very positive that we will have a good year ahead in 2011 as I can see how serious and dedicated hubby is in attaining our financial goal.

We got home today and we saw the big mess in our house because of all the clutter and hubby and I look at each other and thought that we really need a big house. So we are really happy when we found our dream house that is on sale. We already dreamed of us living there: there are six rooms plus the two big rooms at the ground floor so hubby can definitely have his own room for his toy collection and all his bowling trophies, the kids can each have their own room and there is even a spare room to be their play room and my parents can live with us too.

We got the news that our loan has been approved but the appraised value of the property was way too low than what we expected so we requested for a re-assessment. We are also even thinking to try other banks like Banco De Oro and PS bank as we heard that BPI really gives low appraised value of property.

Hopefully by next week we will have the answer so we can finally proceed in purchasing our dream house.

We went to Nuvali with my mom, dad, sister and her boyfriend two weeks ago and we really had a great time boating, shopping and food tripping. I haven’t downloaded the pictures yet so I will just make a separate post about it.

But last Sunday, we went back to Nuvali for the second time and this time we tagged along my Tita Jie, my lola, Tita Jenny and her two kids Aliah and Jego, my cousins Tessa and Joseph, my brother and her wife Grace and daughter Izzie and of course my mom, my dad, my sister and her boyfriend, Ronie.

It was actually the Christening day of my niece Izzie and since we are complete, we decided to have a short road trip to Sta Rosa, Laguna and show Nuvali to my relatives. We left Pasig around 3 PM already and so it was almost 4:30 when we arrived in Nuvali. I know there was a long queue in the boating and so I went to purchase our tickets right away while my other relatives checked out the bazaar.

We did not wait that long for our turn to ride the boat and the kids did not get tired waiting as they tried feeding the kois while waiting. All of us tried the boat ride except for my dad, my nanay and VJ and Ronie. Everybody enjoyed the short ride and if there were no long lines, we would have tried it for the second time.

After the boat ride, we moved to Paseo de Sta. Rosa for a quick shopping and this is where we had dinner also.

It was a very long and tiring day but it was a great bonding time again with my family. I hope I will always have the budget for activities like this.

It is still a busy week for me as I still have a lot of things to finish. Aside from work, we will be very busy also this weekend as Bela will have her ballet recital this coming Sunday.

I have a lot of deadlines to meet on Saturday but I have some mommy duties too as I have to take Bela to her ballet practice so I am planning to bring my laptop with me so I can work while waiting for her. I also plan to do some shopping if I will find the time as I haven’t actually started yet with my Christmas shopping and next week will be the Christmas party of Bela already.

Sunday will be her recital so I am sure we will be busy preparing Bela as we are all really excited as this is her first ballet recital.

But even if this is going to be a busy and crazy week, I am still excited as I have a lot of things to look forward to for my family.

Have you ever thought of buying more than one baby outfit? Unless you are selling them in a retail setting, there is no reason to purchase a large quantity of baby clothes. However, for some people buying more than one baby outfit can save money in the long run, such as purchasing cases of clothes on websites such as Tapout. Some online vendors offer discounted rates if you purchase more than a certain amount of clothing for your baby.

If the online vendor offers a discount on ordering more than one case, you can also save money on shipping. Think about this: instead of paying for shipping on one case every time, ordering more than one case can help you save a bundle on shipping, or receive it for free because of the quantity. In a few days time, the cases of baby outfits you ordered online is at your doorstep.

Your next question is probably, “What would I do with more than one outfit for a baby?” But, if you are in the habit of forgetting or losing your items, having a “backup” outfit for your baby might just be what you need. Also, with the way babies dirty clothes, there is at least more than one occasion in which you wished you had a replacement outfit for the one the baby had recently soiled. Extra outfits are also good as gift items, or to donate to charities.

Not only can you use the extra outfits as replacement outfits when you lose your favorite one, or give them as gifts, but quite a number of people have gotten into the habit of displaying their baby outfit as a fashion statement; they change their baby outfits as often as they change their own outfits, and with the different range of colors and styles, babies can be as well dressed as their parents!