this blog turns 2

You read it right. This blog turns 2 years old today! I have been a deliquent blogger several times by neglecting this little corner of mine. But after all the lethargic and sluggish days, my blog has survived! So here's a simple scrap with a 2-layered cake to announce to the blogosphere that it's a day to celebrate.
Credit for this little birthday announcement I made goes to: Numb Bumm for the 2-layered cake embellishment and Nicole for the paper from her One Day I'll Fly Away kit.

My blog wishes more blogging years together. More creatively crafted digital scrapbooks. More well-composed photos. More useful freebies. And more spirited blog hopping and blog link exchanges! Cheers blogmates!

ninoy's last letter to cory

A love so strong that can withstand any form of adversity is what each of us long for. In our most private moment, we storm the gates of heaven asking God to let our one true love come forth in our lives. We fervently hope for that person, albeit our imperfections, to put up with us, through thick and thin. But this kind of love is not something that God simply grants us. A love that remains strong, amidst a cycle of misfortune, is a priceless gift a man and a woman gives to one another. It is something they willingly work on. Needless to say, it is a selfless act.

The slain senator Ninoy Aquino, in his last letter to the late President Cory Aquino, affectionately professed his eternal love for his beloved wife. True enough, theirs is a love story so true, withstanding all forms of misery. I snagged a copy of that letter and I am posting it here for the world to know. I am certain, that after a woman reads this, she will wish for her own Ninoy to come in her life.

My Dearest Cory,

In a few hours I shall be embarking on an uncertain fate, which may well be the end of a long struggle. I slept well last night for the first time since I left Boston -- maybe because I'm just plain tired or I'm really at peace with myself. I want to tell you many things but time is running out and I do not have any machine. After a few more paragraphs, my penmanship will be illegible.

All the things I want to tell you may be capsulized in one line - - I love you! You've stood by me in my most trying moments and there were times I was very hard on you. But if anyone will ever understand me, it is you, and I know you will always find it in your heart to forgive -- and unfair and ironic as it is -- it is because of this thought and belief that I often took you for granted.

Early on I knew I was not meant to make money -- so I won't be able to leave anything to the children. I did what I thought I could do best, which is public service, and I hope our people in time will appreciate my sacrifices. This would be my legacy to the children. I may not bequeath them material wealth but I leave them a tradition which can be priceless.

I realize I've been very stingy with praise and appreciation for all your efforts -- but though unsaid -- you know that as far I'm concerned, you are the best. That's why we've lasted this long. There will only be one thing in the world I will never accept -- that you love me more than I love you -- because my love for you though unarticulated will never be equaled.

If all goes well I should be back in my cell before sundown. Should I be detained do not rush to get home. Take your time and enjoy a side trip to Europe with the girls.

I'll try to call you tonight if the authorities will allow me. Otherwise just remember me in your dreams.

Love,
Ninoy

P.S. I offered a special rosary for Papa and I asked for his intercession. You know he never failed me. (Ninoy here is referring to Cory's father, Jose Cojuangco, who died on August 21, 1976)

august is the perfect reason

The clock just alarmed signaling it is the month of August! This month gives me the perfect reason to ask my husband for another out-of-town weekender. Why? Because it's my birth month! And how perfect the timing is! Marked in our calendar are 3 holidays --- Quezon City Day on the 19th, Ninoy Aquino Day on the 21st and National Heroes Day on the 31st.

Sure enough, time flies when you have a throng of things to do. But given the chance to quiet down and take a break, wouldn't you fleetly grab it?

6 blogging tips

Congratulations! I see you have discovered the beauty of recording your musings through blogging. It is indeed comforting to be able to share with the rest of the blogosphere all of your heart’s reflections. But how does a blogger survive the world of blogging? Here are 6 blogging tips I have summed up based on my own humble experience.

1. FIND YOUR NICHE. If it is poetry, novels and other literary-related pieces, then write about it. If you are into photography, post your photos and talk about the hobby. If you are an expert in technology, write about computers and other gadgets. Let your blog stand out by posting entries that have the same theme! You don’t want confusing your followers on what your blog is really all about.

2. UPDATE. You want your readers to keep coming back, right? Then by all means, update your blog! You don’t have to write every single event that transpires in your life. But do update regularly. You don’t want your followers to keep seeing outdated posts.

3. KEEP IT SHORT BUT SENSIBLE. Did I say novel? No, I did not. I said it is a blog so keep it short but sensible. Avoid writing novel-type posts. However gifted you are at writing, chances are your long posts will bore your readers to death. If you can’t avoid posting long entries, divide them into parts. With that, you leave your followers something to look forward to. And they will surely come back for more!

4. LINK-UP. You blog because you want to build bridges. Hurry up, link your favorite blogs and ask them to link you back too! Think of it this way --- You scratch my back, I scratch yours. It is a simple gesture of paying it forward.

5. BLOG HOP AND COMMENT. It’s a blogger’s unwritten etiquette. You blog hop and make your presence felt by commenting. It makes you popular too. Remember, when you blog hop and leave some love, leave smart love! Don’t give dull comments. Otherwise, they won’t blog hop to you.

6. PROMOTE. Again, the idea is to create a following. So, promote your blog! Join forums. Comment on social networking sites. Personalize your email signature with your blog’s address included. Submit your blog to Google, Yahoo, Technorati and other search engines. Keep joining but always remember to share just the basic info.

Those 6 blogging tips will definitely boost your blog. It did mine! Now go and start blogging but don’t forget to show me some love and do numbers 4 & 5! Have fun!

a deliquent blogger influences budding poets

Who, in her right mind, would have thought I , a deliquent blogger, could influence 2 of my friends to venture into blogging! And these girls are truly talented --- 2 budding poets hiding beneath those lovely smiles. Now that they are finally out in the blogosphere, they deserve to be mentioned in this little corner of mine, and be introduced to the rest of my blogmates!

Her smile brightens everyone's dull morning. Liway, a gifted Lower Grade teacher, always has something wonderful to say about Life and Love. Add to that, some Laughter too. Read her Injured Tales at Twenty-Plus and be inspired.

A blooming bride she definitely is. Whatever instrument you hand her, Olive is a genuine artist. Be it a pen and paper, a paintbrush and a canvas or a kikay-kit and a mirror, the artist in her will eventually emerge. Read her Life in a Nutshell and let her awaken your senses with her musings.

I am a deliquent blogger. But, aware of the influence I have on blogging, I have to gather myself up and ensure this nook of mine is updated every now and then. Who knows, maybe I could influence my nephews to start blogging too!

unable to do my regular routine

Although I often have cough and colds, I rarely get a fever. But when I do, it stays with me more than a couple of days.

Hit with a slight fever since afternoon of Saturday, I am still bedridden with a temperature that ranges from 37.2 - 37.4. The dry cough that comes with it does not help at all, as it adds to the agony of being unable to do my regular routine. (Well, at least I can blog, and it gives me comfort). I am only taking paracetamol, careful not to self-medicate on my cough. Thanks to my husband, the refrigerator is loaded with fruits. Aside from filling my empty stomach, I think taking fruits, is what's more important than drinking cough tablets.

There. I feel hungry again. With my husband in his office (I didn't want him to go on-leave today), I have to cook my own lunch. It's a good way for me to get out of bed too and feel less sickly. Oh, are those droplets of sweat falling on my temple? That must be a good sign that I am getting better! I will soon be back doing my regular routine!

bedridden with a slight fever

Enough of raving about typhoon Isang. It is now time to rant about it's rage, now that I am bedridden with a slight fever and dry cough. A day or two of heavy rain is ok. More than that is annoyingly insane.

Out of touch from the real world right now, we are here spending our weekend at my in-laws' house. With a busted desktop computer, I am blogging through my phone's 3G, bored at not being able to do anything aside from lying in bed. I've had warm soup and lots of fruits prepared by my husband. I've taken oral medications and glasses of water. We've monitored my temperature too. Now I just hope this fever and dry cough will leave me alone.

Save-The-Date

She is the fifth bride in our barkada and all eyes will be on her as she walks down the aisle on January 8, 2010. Gladly, I volunteered to make their Save-The-Date magnets (at least its layout) as I searched for inspiration in the world wide web. After coming up with about 5 designs, she fell in-love with a layout I called minimalist. She calls it simple but with a kick of elegance!


After printing a sample of their STD, my friend Jane kept convincing me to create a website showcasing all my designs. She says I could make extra money out of designing Save-The-Date cards or even invitations for special occasions. Come to think of it. It does seem feasible! But with a load of things I need to accomplish at work, designing can only be done in my spare time (which rarely happens). But yeah, I love the idea. In time. It shall happen.

goodbye curls

And so it finally happened. After a year of living and enjoying my every day life the sophisticated and matured way --- in other words, facing the mirror with long and big curly hair, I said goodbye to my curls. It felt nerve-wracking as my hairstylist snipped his scissors with my long hair slowly falling to the ground. I kept myself busy with all the fashion magazines within my reach, pretending I couldn't care less with how the haircut would suit my face. Truth is, my heart was pumping wildly!

By the time my hairstylist did his final touch on the last strand of my hair, I looked in the mirror and thought I was looking at a complete stranger. But no it wasn't a stranger. I was actually looking at me! Bob hairstyle, cut just below the ears to remove the curls. This time though, the highlight was the full bangs.


A day after I had my haircut, was our school's anniversary party at Dusit Hotel in Makati. It was hilarious when some of the guests, who knew how long my hair was, asked if I was wearing a wig! I guess they found it bold I cut my hair just like that. The photo above shows me on the left with my boss. As the party ended, the guests couldn't help but calling me Cleopatra, with my green and gold gown complementing my hairstyle!

home maintenance

Staying at home the past few days made me realize how much dirt a house could collect during summer. With the irritatingly dry season, home maintenance can be such a challenge. As one stares at the filthy bathroom and dust-filled furniture, cleaning one’s house seems like an impossible task. But with various appliances being sold in the market right now, even bathroom painting can be a breeze. So what are these home maintenance tools and what wonders do they do?

As we move around our house, a scratchy throat and a red nose are common things for me and my husband during dry season. A humidifier helps relieve us from this discomfort by adding moisture in our living space. This is something we can just place in any area of the house and it would work on its own. To deal with dust mites that leave ugly and red marks on my skin, I have read of deep carpet cleansers. We haven’t tried one but it claims to deeply penetrate each and every thread of a carpet. Aside from compact canister vacuum cleaners, steam cleaners can also be a cheap way to keep one’s home bacteria-free. Both are light enough to carry.

In general, a regular home maintenance routine is a must-have for every household. It doesn’t matter how much tools you have. What matters is how regular and keen you are in keeping your house dust-free as often as you can.

summer means freedom

Summer can be irritating especially for women like me entertaining a monthly visitor. Yet for some, it can also be the grandest time of their lives. For students, summer means freedom. And that is exactly how my nephew feels since he had his last school day in Don Bosco.

With my sister's permission, Bruce was allowed to stay in my place for 3 days and 2 nights. So what does that mean to him? It means endless playstation and PC games with my husband, bottomless ice cream serving, plateful of chips, late-night movie marathon plus a bonus trip to nearby Pasig Rainforest.


Those were freedom days for Bruce. And as I brought him back to his house, I noticed how quiet he was the whole ride. "You miss Bryan and Ogre?", I asked him, referring to the Tekken characters he used. His reply was a sheepish smile!

customized signature

I remember adding an animation at the end of my posts before. Any of you recall the dancing stick? I thought to myself, "that isn't so original at all since I just downloaded the Gif file from somewhere". As mentioned in my previous post --- I want my blog to have a unique look. I ended up creating a customized signature and my only hope is that I correctly add it now.

Looky here!

new blog dress

Would you believe, after months of planning, I finally have a new blog dress! It feels so refreshing to look at my blog now, especially that I created the header and the headings for each link. I have traveled to a lot of sites offering free templates but I want my blog to look unique --- have its very own dress. And so I planned and designed, using Adobe Photoshop of course plus the templates available on Blogger. I had to do several revisions before I came up with its final look.

The header, showing the photo of my brother's pet turtle is my current favorite shot and I thought using it in my blog is just perfect. The headings for each link, or what I'd like to call as icons, are made from scrapbook elements I found online for free.

Looking at my blog now, it is quite obvious how I love the color green. There are still some issues I need to fix though, like my customized signature and the font color of my old posts. But for now, I think my blog's new look rocks! What do you think?

dreaming about blogging

I admit. I miss blogging. I miss it so much I even have dreams about it. Weird, isn't it? You miss blogging. You dream about blogging. Yet you don't blog. So why didn't I blog the past 30 something days that went by? I was swamped with tasks and deadlines at work. I had so much stuff to do that when I leave my workplace, I go straight to the mall to have dinner with my husband. See, I didn't even have time to cook! As soon as we reach home --- I hit the sack right away.


Now that I am more than half-way done with the tasks, I am committing myself to have more time with my sweet little online nook. Coffee breaks should be posted consistently. New photos should be loaded at least thrice a week. Digiscraps should be displayed weekly.

I missed blogging. Really. I wonder if the blogosphere missed me as well.

handle stress

Sometimes, in the midst of life's hustle and bustle, psyching oneself is essential. With all the things happening in my life right now, especially at work, how do I handle stress?

1. Psyching Oneself: I nag myself. Yes, you read it right. I enumerate the reasons why I shouldn't be stressed out. Stress is related to 99% of all illness. Pimples. Heartburn. Dry skin. Sleepless nights. And the list goes on.

2. Techie Frenzy: It's either the Ipod or the computer. I either turn up the volume of my Ipod as I listen and usually, sing with my playlist. In most cases, I will be sitting infront of the computer - downloading, web surfing or digiscrapping. But just recently, I realized how stress-relieving playing computer games is! (My current addictions are Return to Ravenhearst and Forgotten Riddles --- both are mystery and puzzle type games.)

3. Forward-Not-Backward: I look forward. I anticipate how beautiful life can be after a stressful situation. I picture the exact scenario. I visualize the moment when being thankful for the experience is felt.

4. The Other Half: I am and will always be grateful for having my husband. I spent last Sunday doing nothing but sleep while he, again, did all the household chores. He knows when I simply want to be hugged. He knows when I just want to be quiet. He knows when I feel like ranting and cursing. He knows when my tears just have to roll down. At all times, he is there walking with me, holding my hand.

In a strange way, stress teaches us more about life, than we can ever think of. Wether we like it or not, we all go through it. It's only a matter of how we handle stress that makes so much difference.

blog overhaul

I really believe this spot of mine needs a blog overhaul. By saying blog overhaul I don't just mean its physical look but its content as well.

For a month now, I have failed to update the blogosphere with my coffee breaks. I am pretty sure my blogmates out there who are frequent coffee drinkers are waiting for our discussions. And I have been a lousy "barista", not being able to stir my drinkers minds. And the photos and digiscraps? I haven't been consistently posting too! Aside from these, I also need to update the links in my blog because some of them aren't working anymore. They are just taking up some space here but do not provide anything at all. And my blog's total look? It's also given that I need to change it. Sometimes, I can't help but feel bored looking at it.

Aww. Poor me. So much to do, so little time. I wonder when I could do all these.

christmas rush

This is what happens when you don't plot events and follow your calendar. You end up going crazy cramming. If you guys have been checking out my blog the past few days, you would definitely notice how rarely I update. I have been hit by the Christmas rush big time!

My husband and I have long been done with our Christmas shopping. I have wrapped gifts as well. However, the parties here and there have been overlooked and we ended up feeling swamped with these events!

To all my blogmates... my apologies for not updating you with our coffee break sessions. You won't be seeing and hearing much of me until the year ends because I don't go online that often these days. I won't make promises! But I will try to check you out as I cling on to this season like dear old Santa here. Don't get me wrong though 'cause I am not complaining. To be honest, I am having the greatest Christmas of my married life!

Merry Christmas blogosphere!

hail UP oblation

My husband and I are proud UPians. Proud meaning, we would do anything to proclaim to the world how much the University of the Philippines has changed us, mentally, emotionally and politically. The UP System has played a major role on how we rationalize on things, especially if it concerns our government. All the days spent in the University of the Philippines, from college up to the days of our graduate studies, are valued. The fraternity riots. The rally and boycott-the-class days. The Unos and Cincos. The UP fairs. Dropping out of Math 17. The Ikot and Toki rides. The Sunken
Garden nights. The Isaw gimiks. The Chocolate Kiss dinners. All these experiences weave a colorful blanket of memories.

Proclaiming to the world the greatness of the University of the Philippines on its Centennial Year has come close to me and my husband. Receiving a message about featuring 100 male UP students, alumni, faculty and staff for a photo shoot entitled Hail UP Oblation was an invitation we just couldn't resist. My husband, though reluctant at first, eventually embraced the idea of posing beside the UP Oblation wearing nothing but a flesh-colored tanga covered with a fig leaf. With an objective the photos will be featured at Time Magazine in celebration of UP's Centennial Year, with a wide grin, we blocked off the date and headed our way to the UP Ampitheather last December 13 at 4:30 in the morning.

What a historical day it was! Years from now, I can imagine myself proudly showing my crease-filled copy of Time Magazine to our grandchildren, "That's your Lolo imitating the UP Oblation!"

100 live UP oblation men at the frontpage of Philippine Daily Inquirer
and other leading newspapers
(There's my proud husband!)

Here's a wacky shot of the group
(Hubby is 2nd from the right, arms in the air)

View more photos at Aei's multiply.

absence makes the blog

... boring and dull!

I bet you all agree with me. The days I was gone in the blogosphere were the most dull moments of this blog. I wanted to post a lot of stuff! A lot of things were happening in my life and I wanted to share them with you. But our internet connection was busted for days. For whatever reason, I didn't even wanna know!

Now that I am back, there are a lot of things I need to share with the blogosphere. For now, I am patting myself on the back for a well-spent weekend! News about it will be posted later.

a queen in our castle

After 3 days of absence in the blogosphere, I am finally back. Hit with cough and colds, I had to stay at home doing nothing in bed. My husband did everything for me, from preparing our meals to making sure I take my medicines on time. Awww, you're so sweet labski! I felt like a queen in our castle the whole weekend!

I'm getting sickly lately. Must be the weather. So, what did I miss in the blogosphere the past 3 days?