Monday, December 29, 2014

Joaquin's 1st Birthday Party

We had a blast during Joaquin's 1st birthday celebration.

Has it been one year already, Sweetheart? Time flies so fast!

Happy Birthday, Baby Joaquin! We love you so much!

Joaquin's 1st Birthday Party
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Shakey's Loyola
1:00 pm



Monday, November 24, 2014

Busy Busy Busy

Busy, busy, busy! Traffic, traffic, traffic!

That's just how you can sum up the past few days. There are currently so many things to do and so much traffic that hinders me from maximizing the time that can be spent doing those many things.

I know it's bad to complain but sometimes we just need to let it out so that we can release the stress. How I wish that we get to finish all the tasks I have in the office and at home. So many small things that I need to tend to. So much paperwork to complete and so little space for all the stuff that needs to be kept and filed (which reminds me to order heavy duty drawer slides - ovisonline.com for my cabinet).

Anyway, on the positive side of things, December is nearing and that means the Christmas bonus is nearing too! Thank God for my job and my bonus! Happy, happy, happy! Rich, rich, rich!

Currently Reading...

I am currently reading up on the life of Don Alvaro del Portillo via the book entitled, "Saxum".

Lifting from the online synopsis of the book:

Saxum—the Latin word means rock—is the nickname that St. Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei, bestowed on Alvaro del Portillo. Don Alvaro, as he came to be known, was for many years the founder’s closest associate as well as his successor and first Prelate of Opus Dei after it became a personal prelature—a foundational rock for this dynamic international Catholic group devoted to promoting sanctity in ordinary life.

Written in anticipation of Bishop del Portillo’s September 2014 beatification—his official recognition by the Church as “blessed” and a stage on the way to his possible canonization as a saint—the book is a fact-filled biography set against the background of historic events like the Spanish Civil War and Vatican Council II. It depicts a person of powerful integrity and conviction who set aside a promising engineering career to follow the vision embodied in Opus Dei. Don Alvaro emerges in these pages as a tower of strength, reliability, and good humor in the face of a host of threats and challenges that might well have defeated a lesser man.
John Coverdale, an attorney and historian, is the author of two other books detailing the early days of Opus Dei—Uncommon Faith, about St. Josemaria and his companions during and shortly after the civil war in Spain, and Putting Down Roots, about Father Joseph Muzquiz, along with Alvaro del Portillo one of Opus Dei’s first priests, who played a key role in introducing it in the United States.

I hope you can grab a copy of this book as well.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

In My Christmas Wish List

I've recently been thinking about Christmas and how it is a season of giving.

Ahem! So I thought of my 2014 Christmas wish list in case you would like to make it come true. :-)

Here is what I've been "wanting" (note: just want, not need).

1) An external hard drive with terrabyte space
2) New Nike Rosheruns for women
3) A new laptop (Macbook air?)
4) New wardrobe or cash to buy new wardrobe
5) Have the whole house repainted in time for the holidays
6) Mobile speakers from muscians friend
7) Airconditioner for the two other rooms in the house
8) A bike
9) Annual gym membership
10) A new bag

 Hi there, Santa! Are you reading this? I really hope so!

Advance Merry Christmas to everyone! Ho! Ho! Ho!

When Life Gives You Lemons - A Compilation

Being so toxic these days, I went back to old adage of "When Life Gives You Lemonds, Make Lemonade" and then found myself amused at how this saying has evolved depending on how's your attitude in life.
 
The Original Version:
 
 

The Other Versions: :-)

For the Segurista Person:


For the Free Loader:


For the Narcissistic:

For the Weak of Heart:


For the Carefree:


For the Happy Eater:


For the Strong-willed:


How about you? What will you do when life gives you lemon?

Thursday, October 16, 2014

A Taste of Macau

Just a throwback on our memorable trip to Macau last June 2014.
 
We went to Macau without expecting anything. We just wanted to see the sights of the city and enjoy every bit of Macau history. With this in mind, our feet led us to a wonderful trip amidst a beautiful city with fantastic sights, sounds, smell and even taste!
 
Our very first stop was at the St. Paul's Ruins near Senado Square. The scene here is so romantic and peaceful. I loved how the church as if suddenly shows itself as we took a turn from where our hotel was. The impact of the church's ruins was great and I could just imagine how beautiful the church would have looked like when it was still intact.
 

 

After St. Paul's, we went to Senado Square and took advantage of the free mini-concert by this band in the picture. I listened to them playing for a few minutes and was inspired by their jazzy genre and wonderful instruments. They must have known about pro line, I wonder! Too bad, we had to move on and dig deeper into the city.

 
 
Here is a picture of a typical wall that you can find in the streets of Macau. That blue and white design is distinctly Macanese. 


And of course, another thing I couldn't miss while in Macau is their famous egg tart. Love this to bits!


Sorry for cut this short. Will continue with the Macau stories soon!

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Motherhood

Hi everyone!

Sharing with you a quote on motherhood today.


This is to inspire mothers like me who feel that so many things are happening all at the same time.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Zoe and Luigi's Birthday 2014

September has always been considered as a birthday month in our family. Zoe turned 8 years old while Jose is now 5 years. How time flies! My kids are growing up so fast!
 
Sharing with you some birthday pictures.
 






 
Jose's birthday, also Mama Mary's birthday, was spent having a simple school party. Then we went up to Antipolo to fetch Zoe and afterwards we headed to St. John Paul II Parish for mass and dinner.
 
The next day, Zoe's birthday, we again went to Mass in Eastwood and then we let the kids enjoy one hour of play at Timezone.
 
I guess with the kids growing up, they tend to celebrate their birthdays leaning more to the way they want it spent, just as they want to decide for themselves like what clothes to wear or what toys or book to buy. We as parents, I guess, just need to keep up with them, keeping in mind that we need to still uphold the Christian virtues needed to be practiced by both kids and adults alike. :-)

Don Alvaro

The first Prelate of Opus Dei and successor of St. Josemaria, Alvaro del Portillo will be beatified on Saturday, September 27, 2014 in Madrid, Spain. My father and sister will be there to witness this special event while the rest of my family, including myself, will be seeing it live via cable tv.

Just to share - I am very grateful to him for interceding for me in so many ways. For one, I saw my vocation on the same day he turned 80 years old way back in 1994. It was the perfet timing! And more recently and more significantly, he had given his love by helping me and baby Joaquin through the whole pregnancy ordeal last year which I and the baby miraculously survived. Thus, I believe to this very day Joaquin and I will not be alive right now if my family had not gone to Don Alvaro and asked for his help.

Now on the centenary of his birth, by the grace of God, this year also marks the year of his much-awaited beatification. He will be raised to the altar as among those who are called blessed.

Don Alvaro, please guide us from heaven to be faithful and serene children of Christ, just as you were.






Thursday, September 4, 2014

Linggo ng Wika 2014

My daughter had their yearly Linggo ng Wika activity in school last week. As usual, they were asked to come in their traditional Filipino costumes. And since this is the third year that Zoe will be participating in the Linggo ng Wika, we saw that she already outgrown her old Filipiniana costume. So for this year, I got her a new red Filipiniana ensemble.

She looked adorable and beautiful as always. The costume I got is perfect for her.


A quick snapshot with her 2 brothers:



For this year, I learned that they danced the Flamenco. Unfortunately, I was not available to watch it that day because I was in a seminar. I just told her that I will include this post in my blog so that she can remember this time in her life when she grows older.

Blogs are really so convenient, right? I see many blogs in the world-wide web and many of them have been so helpful. For example, there the EntirelyPets blog which gives me information about pets. There are fancy videos, reviews and pictures in there. Check it out please.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

I'm not a baby. I'm a kid.

That's what we would hear from Jose these days. He now does not like being called "Baby Jose" - and would correct us and say that he's not anymore a baby but a KID. Lol! But then he also hates being called "Kuya Jose", so I guess he's just a kid, but not yet a Kuya. So I guess we let just him be what he wants to be, until he is ready.

Before



 
Now
 
 

Mantra for the Week

Let's think positive!

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Gearing Up for Middle Childhood

We are currently gearing up to facilitate/attend a 10-week course on Middle Childhood in our daughter's school c/o the Educhild Group. The course kicks off on August 16, wherein facilitators to the course will train on the 5 cases to be taken up in the "curriculum".

As my husband and I are keen on learning how to raise our pre-teen daughter properly, we both signed up for the facilitator's training so we can maximize the benefits of this "parenting education".

 
With all the cases and talks we have attend c/o Educhild, one thing we have learned is that being a good parent is one of the most difficult jobs that we have, if not  the hardest. It's a never-ending learning experience. We always have to be prepared mentally, pschologically, emotionally, even physically to be able to fulfill our role as a parent. And this would only come if we really prepare and study for it. It is like learning how to play an instrument. First, you find yourself familiarizing with the parts of the guitar, for example. You need to know how to handle the bass bridges of the guitar, before you learn how to fret or manage to play the chords. Then when you do learn to play, you need to practice every day so that when you encounter more difficult musical pieces, you still manage to play it correctly. Then practice again and again until you know it by heart. I feel that that's how parenting is like, well, more or less. It's a hard task but we need to do it right. So, a-ja!

Thursday, July 31, 2014

So Many Things Happening Right Now...

But first, let me take a selfie. LOL

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Late Post - Birthday and Pahiyas 2014

Hi! Please let me quickly document my birthday this year. I know this has been long delayed but I just wanted to make sure we keep the memory of this special moments published in the web because for sure my memory will fail me some 20 or 30 years from now.

I  celebrated my birthday "silently" as I still went to work that day. I only left a bit early than usual to be able to catch the tail-end of the Santacruzan and the Fiesta Mass in our village where we always celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.




After the mass and dinner, Hunny took me out to Eastwood to watch The Amazing Spiderman. As a bonus, he got us our favorite Starbucks drinks for take-away.


A couple of days after, we took a quick vacation to Quezon to see the Pahiyas in Lucban. Joaquin was left at home :-( but the 2 kids tagged along.





We stayed over at my relative's house in the province. It took me back to memory lane when I was a teenager who would come and visit my grandparents' house during the college semestral break. I would take a vacation back then, during the time that gibson '57 humbucker pickups were still my kind of thing. Hehehe!

Anyway, it sure was a great way to spend my birthday month! It was a whole lot of fun having my family and friends to celebrate with me!

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Hello There!

I'm back to visit my blog today. Welcome back to me! :-)

There are so many things that happened in my life for the past months that I hadn't had the chance to update this page (faulted mostly since I keep my pictures in IG now).

Anyway, sharing some pics of my kids and of our quick getaway trip to Hong Kong and Macau in July.





Monday, March 17, 2014

Two Weeks to Go

It's only 2 more weeks to go before I go back to work from my maternity leave. I actually have only started to enjoy the time recently after I got back into "normal" condition and then I realize there is only a short period left for me to do all the stuff that I want to do while on "vacation".

So far, I've only managed to fix up my closet and some paper documents. I took advantage of the sale in Shopwise to buy those plastic crates which I filled up with importants documents.

I literally threw out a huge box containing old papers (old credit card bills, old work-related papers, old payslips, etc. etc.). I organized my docs in clear folders and piled them in these plastic bins for easy access.

I also put into bigger crates my old clothes, maternity clothes and even some clothes in good condition but I choose to not wear anymore for some reason or another. Because of this, my clothes collection was cut into half. With this, my closet has become a more organized space to look at, whereas it was literally a jungle during my entire pregnancy period.

I also checked out and dispatched of old shoes. During the process, I realized that a girl can never have enough pair of shoes! Although I've gotten rid of more than 7 pairs of old shoes, I feel that I needed to replenish all of it to have a "secured" shoe collection fit for my job and my role as a mom, wife and friend. Thus, one time, when I went out with my balikbayan aunt, I got myself a new pair of driving shoes (in flesh) and a pair of black slippers that are okay for strolling around the mall. Heaven! Hahaha! Seriously!

Next up for cleaning is our attic space. Apart from it having inches of dust, there are loads and loads of bags, stuff toys and other knick knacks (which includes an aerobic stepper, computer stuff, blankets, curtains, toys, and many more) which need to be sorted out and decided whether to keep or give away. And knowing myself, to sort it all out would take me forever to do. Hahaha!

Did I say that this week is also exam week for the big sister? I am drowing in Science and Language worksheets now. And then at the end of the week is the big recital for Zoe. She will play Swans on the Lake and Dutch Dance. We need to seriously practice!

So good luck to me on my last 2 weeks of maternity leave. Hope I get to finish all my personal stuff before I concentrate again on my corporate responsibilities (and that one deserves a separate post!).

Time for a Cool Change

I went on a beauty day-off with my girlies from college last week. Ruby got coupons from Ensogo and we got ourselves "beautified" at the Status Salon in Katipunan.


I initially wanted to have my hair rebonded but decided the last minute to go for a digiperm. Whhaaa! It was a big change for me :-). Good thing, I'm quite happy the way it turned out. Here are some pictures to share.

Before and During:

 
 
The finished product:
 

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Happy Thoughts - March


1. I can drive again!
2. Trip to Duty Free - new perfume for hubby and new lipstick for me + PX goods galore!
3. Ash Wednesday - time to reflect again
4. Cutie pasalubong from cousins from the States
5. Chocolates
6. Online shopping finds
7. Growing baby
8. Continuing to breastfeed baby morning, noon and night - Thank you Lord for this gift of motherhood
9. Exam week for the little school boy - he's doing well even if I don't get to tutor him as much
10. Good health for the whole family

My Lovely Baby

Can't stop myself from posting some pictures of my new baby. I am still composing my birthing story and baptismal post of baby so thought of publishing first some lovely pics to capture the memories.








 
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