Our bahay kubo event held February 24 (Sunday) in my mom's hometown in Pampanga was... how shall I say it? Hmm, let me see... a day full of eccentricities and insanely crazy celebration.
Kuya Dave picked us up in our home in Cainta, with my 3 medium-sized fruit-salad-filled microwaveable containers. As expected, my eldest sister wasn't able to bring her assigned Ineng's barbeque. We had to go through every nook of Angeles City to look for an alternative native barbeque. Unfortunately, we weren't lucky enough to find one. We ended up buying Max's chicken along Gapan Road. Their store looked old and rustic. It gave us a vintage ambiance.
That's my husband Gino and my brother Matt goofing around while we waited for our orders. Matt had a blast mocking the foreigners who came in. He was wearing this weird collection of clothing: a red polo shirt, a strange-looking orange tasmanian devil necktie, gray jacket, army-styled board shorts and his blue cartooned havaianas. As the foreigners started to pour in, Matt wore my lengthy beaded necklace, placed his orange necktie on his head, wore ate Boots' wooden dangling earrings and sported Kuya Dave's ray-ban. With that out of this world get-up, he walked in and out of the restaurant, delighted in each laughter the waitress expressed as she opened the door for him with the generic greeting "Welcome to Max's". Oh well, when you're with my brother, hilarious moments such as this, are expected.
By noontime, we finally arrived at the event. The tent was set-up already but the swimming pool was still packed in its box. It would take awhile (and some manpower) to inflate it so they decided to just leave it that way. Food were served outside, similar to the cookout we had last Christmas.
While the other members of the family had their siesta, the rest of us amused ourselves singing our hearts out, playing badminton and freesbie. An look at their new toy... a bow and arrow from the Aetas! With one pull of the string, Matt hit the apple-sized papaya! I swear, we all went crazy cheering for him. Could it be just beginner's luck?
Here are some pictures I took. I wasn't so inspired to take photos because I'd rather have fun with my family. Plus, the weather looked so gloomy with the heavy clouds.
Old Nook
Storm
As One
Above and Beyond (image I used in my latest scrap on Moving On)
There comes a time in our lives when we feel torn apart. Shattered. Broken. Crushed to the depth of our soul. Overpowered by pain. Yet there is not a single word that would even come close to describing our suffering. We would find ourselves with endless questions left unanwered as to how and why we fell into this bottomless pit of agony.
Whether we admit it or not, we all, in a forgetful time of our lives, experienced the pain of failing and losing. I believe that pain and suffering are all part of God's plan. It teaches us so much about loving. Whenever we're in that situation, it is but normal to feel helpless. But there is no need to be harsh on ourselves. Or to that person who has caused us the ache. We don't need to rush ourselves in breaking away from all the hurt. We should give ourselves enough quiet time. Solitude, as I always say it. Connect with our inner selves. And eventually, come running back to God.
The year 2008 has started on a bad note for some people very dear to me. With all honesty, I would give anything to comfort them. Though I'm a guidance counselor by profession, I am no expert in this gift called life. A scrap with a prayer on moving on is the most fitting encouragement i can afford.
Credits for this scrap: Mary Giles_framed , Anne Schlegel_sing the blues kit , Font_Cigno
Journaling: God of my journey, there is a part of me that is dying and a part of me that is coming to life. Renew in me a deeper trust in you. I don't know how I shall move on. But I'm placing my life into your welcoming arms. (Praying Our Goodbyes)
There was something I wrote in 2004 that I'd like to re-post here. You might agree with the thought I tried to point out (and I still believe in what I said here).
"coincidence does not exist in this life. things happen for a reason. and reason is the wind that touches our face. we may feel it... we may not. we may know it... we may not. we may understand it... we may not. so don't try to catch it. for reason will come if it has to."
If you had the choice, would you change that sorrowful part of your life? Or would you rather re-live the pain? And learn from the experience all over again?
Guess what! Remember the heavy tasks I was telling you about yesterday? I finally finished it!!! And I'm so ready to submit and present it to my boss. It pays to be patient and task-oriented huh. Yipeee!
And because I'm in cloud 9 right now, I want to give my blogmates a tight-gripped-clinched-affectionate-bear hug. Here it is!
That hug is for you farah, joanne, joy, mari, cheryll, and diane! This hug is contagious girls. Pass it on to 6 more blogmates!
My husband is my #1 fan! Whether it be on blogging, digiscrapping or photography. He would do anything, and I mean A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G, to help me in my passion. Just 2 weeks ago, he brought home eBooks about blogging and volunteered to re-dress my blog. Yes, he is into computers, software programming, that is. But he's not very familiar with CSS (cascading style sheets). And he promised me he'll read tutorials on it so he could help me give my blog a make-over.
The eBooks he gave me about blogging are my treasures at this moment (well, next to datu, my point-and-shoot digicam). As I read the first one last night, I came up with endless ideas on how I could make my blog more interesting.
And yes you read it right! That teaser above says it all. I'm currently working on it. It's going to be really explosive! Abangan!
Yeah, yeah, I know. I should be hooked with my paper works. But here I am so hooked at browsing David Cook links. You can't blame me. I can't help it! This guy is soooo 200% H-O-T!!! So irresistible!
I can't forget the way my husband, with eyebrows tied together, stared at me over the weekend after I watched American Idol three times. OMG! David's version of Happy Together ROCKS!
Oooh, how crazy I was. And to just prove how much I drooled at him, while the whole family was celebrating the birthdays of my husband and my 3 sisters in Pampanga last Sunday, I sang Happy Together! Hahaha! My sisters were all laughing at me. Goodness. I didn't know the original version, sang by The Turtles, was so slow! Guess what my Magic Sing score was. An insulting 77. Sniff. Sniff.
I would have given it a better rendition if it were David's version! If, by any chance you'd like to belt-out the song in your bathroom, here's a copy of the lyrics. And to all David Cook fans out there. Rock on!!! (Oops. Does that make sense? Teehehe!)
*By the way. I also like David Archuleta, Jason Castro, Michael Johns, Asia'h Epperson, Alexandrea Lushington and of course, our fellow Pinay, Ramiele Malubay!
Tagged by Joanne. Thankies sis. Here goes the ratings of my life.
The Rate My Life Self-Help Quiz will ask you a number of questions and then compute your life rating. In addition, it will break down your score on the following categories: Mind, Body, Spirit, Love, Friends/Family, and Financial. Finally, it will analyze your scores. Please note that this quiz is intended for entertainment purposes only. Will your bars be shades of orange, or blue? Take the quiz and find out.
I'm a freaky busy bee today!!! And I swear, I'm losing my mind already.
It may look like just 5 tasks but the first 2 items eat up a lot of my precious blog hopping time! Item #1 even has its sub-categories. It will look like this:
OSA Manual Policy on Guidance Campaigns
A. Anti-Bullying Campaign (ABC) - policy - procedure - work instruction
B. Career Options (CARE-Ops) - policy - procedure - work instruction
C. Substance Abuse Prevention (SAP) - policy - procedure - work instruction
D. Why Am I Tempted? (WAIT Campaign) - policy - procedure - work instruction
Sniff. Sniff. And item #4? Guess what. It will take up 3 hours! Boo huhu!
Let's just hope I finish the first 2 items quickly so that by tomorrow, I could present it to my boss and I could go back to the blog world.
Shared by my oh-so-super-duper-to the highest level supportive blogmate mari. Thankies sister! This is really sweet! I'm tagging chary.
Anger is only one letter short of danger If someone betrays you once, it is his fault; If he betrays you twice, it is your fault. Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. He, who loses money, loses much; He, who loses a friend, loses much more; He, who loses faith, loses all. Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, But beautiful old people are works of art. Learn from the mistakes of others You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself. Friends, you and me… You brought another friend… And then there were 3… We started our group… Our circle of friends… And like that circle… There is no beginning or end… Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift.
So now, let’s see how many circle’s of friends we can make by simply adding your link on this Friendship Meme!
I always find it sweet seeing my mom and her 2 sisters sit together while they swap their amusing stories. The topic could be trivial, like "what's the color of your nail polish". Or it could be something serious, like "why do they want GMA to quit her post!" (they're GMA fanatics even if most Filipinos hate her!). Of course they say this in Tagalog, with really (and I mean REALLY) high-pitched voices. Kapampangans are known for that, speaking their hearts out in loud voices. You would think they're engaging in a vocal tournament! At least that's my --- and my sisters, observation.
I love this picture of them together, sitting quietly, after a tiresome debate. I thought of making a scrap out of it to make it precious with a tone of seriousness. It kinda gives emphasis to the saying "blood is thicker than water".
Credits: Sueli Colbert_my moment kit , Adeyeo_garden kit
Journaling: With the different lives we now live, days spent together are considered sacred. Though we seldom see each other, our bond grows deeper each day.
I'm planning to have this printed and framed, 8" x 8". I'm pretty sure they will appreciate this. Especially if they have their own copy each. I wonder what frame color would suit it best. What do you think? Hmmm...
February is synonymous to celebration because 3 of my sisters and my husband are all The-Love-Month celebrants. Last night in my mother's house, with everybody feeling festive, we planned a Kainan Sa Kubo in my Mama's hometown in Pampanga. With the long weekend ahead of us, we chose Sunday, February 24 to be The Date for our day of hearty meals, hilarious games and heavy laughter.
Meals were assigned to everyone. Take note, assigned! So if the meal assigned to you takes up a lot of cash from your wallet, then that means you were not assertive enough! I made sure I outwit them all by volunteering to prepare the dessert (and my other sister will also share a different sweetened treasure). To make sure everybody doesn't forget her assignment, we made a rundown of the things to prepare.
Take note of the last line: bring magic sing and inflate the swimming pool!
Before Gino and I left my Mama's house last night, I heard my eldest sister shouting out that there will be additional meal c/o Kuya Dave. And if I heard it right it's his oh-so-famous sizzling steak! Oh my good Lord! I can't wait for Sunday!
And so I finally received a reply from Blogsvertise. As the title points out, it's a bit of a rejection. But not quite like it. The admin said I didn't have enough traffic yet. No hard feelings though. I expected the message I got. As I told one of my blogmates, "I'm still a nobody in the blog world" and the idea of paid blogging might be far fetched. A day after I got their response, I read Mari's post on blogging How To's, and a realization came to me. Why pressure myself in getting into the paid blogging world this soon! Here was my thought bubble:
I want to enjoy writing. I should write not because I want to earn and draw my own pool of crowd. I should write because I want to express myself and release whatever thoughts of creativity I have in me. It's just going to be a bonus if readers keep comng back to read my blog and see my digital crafts. If I keep pressuring myself into paid blogging this early, the content of my blog might suffer. It might lack the quality I want it to hold. So for now, I'll first have fun typing on my keyboard the essential matters I think of, as often as I could. And hopefully increase my traffic soon! And when I've gained enough popularity, that would be the time I would seriously pursue paid blogging. No pressures for me for now. I'll just type my way into the entertaining world of blogging!
Now that's a spunky way to deal with a "...the blog you submitted has been put on probation status...". Hahaha!
Here's the rule: Copy the entire list and add your name at the bottom. And tag at least 5 friends. (But you can tag as many as you like.) Thea is {bloggerhappy.com} Childstar Mike My Scrappy Side Abie Aggie Alpha Apple Apols Jacqui Jane Joanne Jody Joy Kelly Mich Peachy JAN
I'm tagging my blogmates Myls, Ging, Mari, Farah and Rhoda! You may want to allow pings on your entry to enjoy the full domino effect. Have fun!
It has been a month since I last made a scrap. I have been too busy with work and politics (yep, you read it right, p-o-l-i-t-i-c-s, tuning in to the ZTE scandal with all my patriotic heart and soul). Yesterday, as I raised my tired feet up on my fluffy pillows, I found myself relaxing to Kyla's song entitled Beautiful Days while it was played in my cellphone. And off I went to a dreamy, romantic world!
By the time Kyla was singing the chorus, with all my renewed energy, I was up on my feet turning on my computer, rushing up to open my adobe photoshop and scanning my digiscrap files in search for the best paper and embellishments! The next search was to find photos I would scrap and look what I found! Our grande island pictures!
Credit: Lliella Designs_burnt spice sample
Journaling: Beautiful Days by Kyla_i see beautiful days with you / i feel beautiful ways of loving you / everything is just so wonderful / every little thing is just so beautiful / when i spend it with you
The song says it all. 233 beautiful days since our wedding. I would never, ever, in a lifetime, trade these days for anything else. Never. Ever.
I was a doubting Thomas the very moment my inbox was filled with forwarded messages about making an extra income through paid blogging. I would often find myself saying, "How in the world?!" with my left eyebrow higher than the right one. And then a thread about this very same topic began in the n@wies forum. And in than moment, after stalking my fellow n@wies' blogs, I realized that indeed, there's a dollar sign in today's blog world out there!
I was in every page of ging's blog when i saw this post on blogsvertise. And as fast as lightning, I found myself reading the How To's of paid blogging through blogsvertise! Registering at blogsvertise is as easy as 1-2-3! And in less than a minute, I have my blogsvertise account already. Well, I'm just waiting for their approval now if I could write for them.
Photos of registered members are posted on blogsvertise's site. And seeing their photos is a testimony itself that these people are earning while they have fun writing! Now who wouldn't like a taste of that! You get to do your passion, which is writing. And at the same time, you get an extra income. It's having the best of both worlds!
"I could get used to this", I told myself as I completed the final task of activating my account. After all, way back in High School, I have always dreamt of writing, professionally. And this opportunity with blogsvertise might just be the beginning of a dream-becoming-reality. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
I remember shooting the Lenten season back in 2004 in Pampanga with a Konika SLR I borrowed from a friend. I had such great confidence back then and couldn't care less that I had to stay under the scorching heat of the sun. As the crucifixion started, I got so insecure with the professional photographers I was brushing elbows with (both local and foreign). My goodness, their cameras were such treasures to look at! And they had these exuding charm that the organizers allowed them to go inside the chicken-wired ground. It left me speechless seeing them do that. I felt so small. So insecure.
I kept the photos I took in an empty drawer and hoped I could re-shoot in the future. And I think thatre-shoot is finally going to happen this year! Although I have my own camera now, it's just a point-and-shoot cam with not-so-special features. Also, I'm still the photographer wanabe I was back then. No formal photography classes, whatsoever. I couldn't possibly squeeze that in my schedule. But I do have plenty of time browsing through photo blogs. And here are 3 of my favorite Lenten photos in Pampanga.
I'm really excited about seeing this event again. Not only will I get to shoot the second time around. But this time, I have my husband Gino to accompany me too. Oops I mean, I have my husband to guard me as I squeeze myself in the crowd. Hahaha! I just hope I capture worth-blogging-about photos! Abangan!
Yep. You read it right. It happened friday of last week, the 15th day of February. It was Reedley International School's Teachers' Day. And I lost my job to my Lower School counselees who got to experience how it was like to be a Guidance Counselor for 40 minutes.
Having 70 counselees, it was a tough choice who would play my role for 40 minutes. Eventually, I decided to choose 4 Koreans. I wanted them to know how it feels like talking to students in a personal level. Jess (Jang Won Hee) and Sarah (Yoon Hyo Jeong) were lucky enough to experience counseling first hand! Or were they unlucky? Haha! Jess, my Lower School 3 counselee, was barely done with the orientation when 2 of his classmates were reffered by their Teacher because they were fighting. I could see Jess sweating in the 18degree coldness of my room! After 20 minutes of counseling, Jess shared his experience in English saying something like "It was difficult. I was thinking of the solution to the problem but it was just here in my brain. And ____ was waiting for my solution." Sarah on the other hand wanted to try it out so we called-out a Lower School 2 kid. Sarah asked her personal information and she thought it was a weird feeling talking to a person in that manner.
Mia (Kim So Hee) and Jessica (Suh Yu JIn) weren't able to counsel any students as they had to help me finish some paper works. I guess all of them enjoyed the experience though. After all, they really dressed up for this occasion, with their collared blouses & skirt (for the girls) and the polo with necktie for Jess.
As a sign of gratitude for helping me out for a day, I gave my 4 counselees a bar of Choco Mucho and a magic pencil each.
A Thank-You note attached to my tokens.
A picture of Mia helping me out typing some important documents.
Thankies so much kids! I hope you learned something from it. It was a great experience for me too!
(Re-post from Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada's nephew, Voltaire Lozada)
I met with my uncle earlier today, unexpectedly, I might add... It just so happens my dad was in the area because the court hearing (he was the one who filed the writ of amparo, I initially thought it was the writ of habeas corpus) was done for the day... Quick quip though, while administration senators want to file a perjury case against my dad, the justices were saying "wag kayong matakot, kaya nyo to." It's cool to think there are those who are not that corrupted yet in that part of the government which essentially must be impartial... Anyway, I did my best to share everything with my uncle, all your thoughts, your thanks and support... His main concern was "naapektuhan naman ba ang mga bata?" I said yes, but aired out some of the people's reservations about the "communal action" (sounds better than "rally" don't you think?) tomorrow and on Sunday... He doesn't have internet, though he does want to share his thoughts through blogs... He told me there are 2 documents in his computer... The other one is 14 pages long. Let me just post the 2-page version.. I'll find a way to upload the longer one...
FROM JUN LOZADA:
An appeal to our Patriotic Countrymen
It is time to move
“Once you achieved your aim of destroying the system you fought against, do not leave a single trace or else the bad habits that were formed during the period of the dysfunctional system and which still remains in the heart and mind of the people, shall nurture this remnant and allow it to come back in a more vicious form.”
This is one of the three conditions set forth by our beloved hero, Jose Rizal, this condition captures the framework of action and shall act as the guiding principle in any postgame scenario that must be formulated as part of the preparation to undo this brazenly corrupt regime.
But before we consider any action to take, it is a must to first address the concerns and arguments of other individuals and sectors that I believe are critical in creating a broad based support for such an action.
The Arrogant Mindset - first of which are the purveyors of the Perversity issue whose main contention is that taking action may simply result to a more seriously worsened scenario than the present one we are against with. This is typified by remarks such as “any action against the administration will only result to anger and chaos in the street, a situation that can be taken advantage of by ideologically and militarily cohesive groups such as the CPP/NPA or the Right Wing military groups, which will be bad for the economy and will only worsen the already bad situation.” Let me warn you to look out for this arrogant mindset, it is arrogant because it is their view that the universe is totally predictable, and that they are capable of knowing ahead all the unforeseen both the intended purpose and unintended consequences of such purposive social action. It is a fact that no person has been endowed with such gift that borders on the Divine.
The Insulting Mindset - Second are the believers of the Futility issue, whose main contention is that any action taken will simply result in the same thing we are fighting against. This is typified by remarks such as “Kahit ano pang gawin natin, kahit sino pang ilagay mo dyan, pareho pareho lang ang mga yan! Ganun pa rin ang kalalagyan natin, mangnanakaw din lang ang papalit dyan!” Filipinos who say these words are insulting our entire race, they are condemning all of us as incapable of patriotism and love for one another. It seems that they are the majority now, they may have the numbers, but they are wrong. I’ve always believe that real strength does not come with numbers but it comes with commitment.
The Untrustworthy Mindset - Third are the proponents of the jeopardy issue, whose main contention is that any action taken will be too costly for the intended purpose of removing a morally corrupt administration. This is typified by remarks such as “Hintayin na lang natin hanggang 2010, anyway mahigit 2 taon na lang yan. Baka pag ginalaw yan mas lalo pang masaktan ang ekonomiya at maghirap pa tayo lalo.” These type of statements are usually observed from people who are willing not to do the right action now for fear that they may not have the courage to do what is right in the future. Watch out for people who thinks like this, for they will be the practitioners of the same corrupt practices that you are now fighting against once they are the ones in power.
What alternative action can we suggest?
Take action together– There seems to be a common agenda from among all sectors to eradicate state sponsored corruption in the country, as practiced by the current and her immediate predecessors. This shared goal will be enough to put together a sober and well thought out post scenario plan that will address the concerns of the first group in a more synergistic and certainly with a more chances of success compared to a number of separately conceptualized plan by different independent groups.
Inaction is going to be more expensive both in short term cost and long term goals – The short term cost of this state sponsored corruption is going to be enormous if measured in total peso cost, our quick estimate just for the current Chinese projects will run into tens of billions of pesos. But the more costly and hidden from the public is the long term damage to the government institutions, which will now have a new standard for public service that is “Corruption pays as long you as steal big, only the small gets to jail”.This argument will blow the second and the third groups arguments for not taking action, because it is more costly and it will not be business as usual even if a new group takes over government.
History will vindicate us – The history of our Nation has repeatedly shown that Filipinos do not punish a sitting administration for political and authoritarian misdeeds but rather only upon gross moral transgressions such as exemplified by Rizal’s death by the Spaniards, Moises Padilla’s death from the hands of a Quirino henchman in Negros, Ninoy’s murder from Marcos’ thugs and the Tessie Aquino’s jig from the unsealed envelope in Erap’s Senate. The Filipino people are now being subjected to such gross moral abuse such as the ZTE-NBN deal, the bribery scandal, Garci affair and other outright and blatant lies to the people.
“Why be a single stone alone out there in the field? If you can be part of a great monument of the Filipino people.”
I am posting 2 youtube videos of yesterday's Thank-You speech of Jun Lozada and the mass at La Salle, Greenhills. I felt sorry I didn't know there was a mass for him. Had I known about it earlier, Gino & I would have been there to support him. Anyway, re-posting these links I guess would somehow help our country in its current corruption issues. Feel free to re-post it too.
Disclaimer: This blog entry is not meant to spoil the V-day atmosphere that most individuals (couples, singles, divorcee) look forward to. It was written to voice out the author's opinion. Tabi-tabi po.
Over lunch today, the topic in our pantry was about L-O-V-E. Each and every soul in our work area was so willing to share his and her thoughts (even experiences!) about loving, being loved and hurting. And so I pondered on this ad that QTV showed which said: is valentine's day --- must or bust.
Way back in college (I can't recall if I had this same feeling in High School), I've thought of V-Day as (sorry to use this word) corny. I simply think the event got too commercialized. You go to the grocery and you see chocolates overflowing. The decors are all red. Restaurants are filled with a lot of couples. Flower shops double the prices of their items. The traffic is so darn jammed. And just these past few days, the Frenzy condom ad was too visible! (It was too visible that 2 of my Middle School 5 counselees were asking if it tastes good esp. that it has a lot of flavors.) Whoa!
To me, Gino and I don't need V-Day to show our love for each other. We have every minute of our lives to do just that. With this way of thinking I have, Gino gets to save up a lot of moola for more meaningful days (say, our 1st wedding anniversary). But then again, maybe not! You see, it's his birthday today. Yep. And after my monologue about busting V-Day, I am now eating my words. I can't really do that, right? I mean, V-Day is my hubby's birthday. Oh well. It's his birthday we're celebrating, not the V-Day. Nyahaha!
Oops. Just my opinion friends! No hard feelings. Here's a little someting for you guys:
It's a surprising feeling when people express how much they appreciate you. It makes you feel wanted and treasured. It's even more surprising when these people are your on-line friends! For 2 straight days now, my blogmates have given me these awards:
Awarded to me by Mari! Thankies girl!
Awarded to me by Joanne! You rock!
Now, it's time to pass it on to my other blogmates. Faith and Chary. HVD to all!
I had so much fun doing this. Obvious naman di ba. That's why I used 3 photos (my wedding pic, a picture of me in Grande Island & a sunset shot i took in Zambales).
I'm tagging che-che, teacher abby, teacher mona, jowee & cel. C'mon! Lemme see what mag cover you got. Go, create your own mag and share it with us!
Finally! After a very long wait. Here goes the band list for Friday's event at UP. It's called 2.15 Degrees FAIRenheit sponsored by the UP University Student Council.
Line-up of bands: Queso Chicosci Itchyworms Sino Sikat? ( yeeey!!!=D ) Datu’s Tribe Cambio Callalily ( yeeey ulet!=D ) Silent Sanctuary Mayonaise Soapdish The Wuds ( astig! ) Blue Ketchup The Jerks Machine Gun Anak ni Aling Juana And a lot more!!!
Location:
Sunken Garden
University of the Philippines, Diliman
Cost: Tickets are available (85 pesos) at the venue and with the sponsoring organizations, or call the USC at 981-8500 local 4521.
Ok, ok, ok. I admit. I kinda neglected my hubby last night because I was so hooked watching the senate hearing on the ZTE broohaha. I was so emotional watching it! I was even close to tears when Sen. Joker Arroyo got furious (obviously) at the senate's star witness Jun Lozada. This afternoon, while I was scanning my files, I saw this thing I give to my counselees to help them see where their feelings stand on a particular item. And I told myself, "Why don't I try answering this one too?"
1. Today I feel very--- ADHD-ish (there are a lot of things going on in my head) 2. I enjoy --- staying under the sun to get a tan, tan and more tan! 3. I am unhappy when --- what I cooked for me and my hubby isn't masarap 4. I feel good when --- hubby loves what I cook! 5. I wish my boss --- would join me and my officemates sa UP Fair this friday (hehehe, safe answer!) 6. My officemates think --- i'm serious and reserved (well, tama naman sila di ba, nyahaha!) 7. My work area is --- cold but relaxing! (but sometimes it gets kinda lonely kase alone ako dito sa room ko) 8. I enjoy reading about --- people's way of seeing and living their lives 9. I like myself best when --- I meet deadlines, capture great photos, create cool digiscraps, cook sumptuous meals 10. If I had a choice I would --- bring my hubby to Camiguin Island (again) and live there! (money and career has to be considered, you know) 11. I wish --- it's vacation so hubby and I could go to the beach 12. Tomorrow I would like to --- finish more tasks and submit my weekly report
I'm tagging my blogmates abbie, anne, icay, joanne, mari, myls, noi and rhoda!
I must say that january 25-28 is one of our best weekend for 2008. Gino & I spent it with the whole family, all expenses paid by ate Bom, in Grande Island Resort in Subic. It was also a time to catch up on each other's lives, me & my brother. Oh, how we missed each other! From the Subic port, it took us about 30-40 minutes to get to the island via the Grande Island ferry. Day tour costs Php250 per pax (ferry leaves for the island at 10am, comes back from the island at 4pm).
This is how the waiting area/dock looks like.
We stayed at the island's hotel rooms (Php2200++). Each room can accomodate 4 pax inclusive of free breakfast for 2 and ferry transfer for 4. Guests are not allowed to bring food since the island has 2 restaurants, and both charge really high. Imagine the smallest mineral water bottle costing Php40 plus 8% vat! Butas sa bulsa!
This is one of Grande Island's restaurants.
The island is relaxing, hands down on that. There are a lot of activities to choose from. There are ATVs (Php650 30mins), banana boat (Php250 per pax 30mins), 2hrs trekking (Php50). You can also go fishing or play beach volleyball.
"Pimp my ride!", says the birthday girl, ate Bom.
My sisters tried the ATV and the trekking. On the other hand, my hubby & I, with my nephews, niece & brother, enjoyed the sun! We swam in the beach. We tried the pool. We goofed around the numerous trees. We isolated ourselves & trekked on our own at the rocky side of the island! 100% fun! The next day, we left the island and went straight to Subic Homes for another day of fun. We spent most our time in the playground. Even mama & her siblings, despite their senior-citizen age, tried the monkey bars! Here are some of my favorite photos! Quick! Click this link to view the rest of our pictures & see how crazy we all were!
a full-time life coach. a part-time masteral student. full-time daughter. a part-time cook. a full-time sister. a part-time tv addict. a full-time friend. a part-time dishwasher. a full-time photo enthusiast. a part-time techie wannabe. a full-time digiscrap fanatic. a part-time dreamer. a full-time wife to my loving husband gino.
That's my husband Gino and my brother Matt goofing around while we waited for our orders. Matt had a blast mocking the foreigners who came in. He was wearing this weird collection of clothing: a red polo shirt, a strange-looking orange tasmanian devil necktie, gray jacket, army-styled board shorts and his blue cartooned havaianas. As the foreigners started to pour in, Matt wore my lengthy beaded necklace, placed his orange necktie on his head, wore ate Boots' wooden dangling earrings and sported Kuya Dave's ray-ban. With that out of this world get-up, he walked in and out of the restaurant, delighted in each laughter the waitress expressed as she opened the door for him with the generic greeting "Welcome to Max's". Oh well, when you're with my brother, hilarious moments such as this, are expected.
By noontime, we finally arrived at the event. The tent was set-up already but the swimming pool was still packed in its box. It would take awhile (and some manpower) to inflate it so they decided to just leave it that way. Food were served outside, similar to the cookout we had last Christmas.
While the other members of the family had their siesta, the rest of us amused ourselves singing our hearts out, playing badminton and freesbie. An look at their new toy... a bow and arrow from the Aetas! With one pull of the string, Matt hit the apple-sized papaya! I swear, we all went crazy cheering for him. Could it be just beginner's luck?
Here are some pictures I took. I wasn't so inspired to take photos because I'd rather have fun with my family. Plus, the weather looked so gloomy with the heavy clouds.
Old Nook
Storm
As One
Above and Beyond 
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7.7
6.8
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