New Layout for 2010

Howdy! I thought I will not be able to change the layout of my blog before 2009 ends but here I am... I finally got to change it! I still need to do some tweaks here and there like changing the font color on my blog entries to plain black (goodluck to me) and of course, adding the blog links of N@Wies and the sites that I love to visit.

What do you think of my blog's new look? Is it a yey or a nay?

I finally got to keep my promise to my blog for it to have a new appearance in 2010! Hooray for me! Let me hear you make some noise! ;)

Countdown

3 hours to go and it's 2010!

As I've mentioned in my post I will be staying here inside the comforts of my aunt's home. It's my first time to bake and I'm excited to taste the outcome. Hopefully the brownies are tasty.

For my fellow bloggers I want to thank each and everyone of you for religiously visiting my blog and for helping me with technical stuff that concerns about the blogosphere. This reminds me of changing the way my blog looks just in time for the new year.

Be safe everyone! Let's all welcome 2010 with a positive thoughts!

Spotted : Charter Digital

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

For those who have Charter Digital at home, you may not know it but there's a gem waiting to be unveiled and it's all for free! That's right, I have a friend who's living in Arizona for quite sometime now and she shares me this piece of information about Charter Digital. There's a feature called On Demand wherein you can watch your favorite movies and TV shows anytime you want! I know it's sounds too good to be true but hey it wouldn't hurt if you start poking with your Charter Digital unit. To learn more at charter.net/ondemand just go to their website.

Now entertainment is literally within your reach. No need to wait for show schedules or getting a copy of the movies in your mail. All you have to do is simply access On Demand and presto! High Definition experience anytime of the day at the convenience of your own home. Helps you save a couple of money from movie trips and popcorn right?

Since social networking is the in thing nowadays, you can get updates and fun extras on Charter’s Facebook page so you wouldn't miss a thing. This is very timely since most of us will be spending our weekends at home to celebrate the New Year. Start spreading the word my friends!

Holiday Wish

Your Holiday Wish is Being with Family and Friends

The holidays are near and dear to your heart. You don't need much to make you happy this time of year. As long as you're able to be near the people you love most, you are content. It's really that simple. You want nothing more than a full house of people celebrating the season. It doesn't matter if it's your house or not, just as long as everyone is there. And if someone doesn't happen to be around during the holidays, you think about him or her often. You get very sentimental this time of year.

What's" Your Holiday Wish?

Work is Hard. Time for Blogthings!

Circles

It's a Filipino tradition that every New Year's Eve people will always have to wear something that has circles or polka dots on it to symbolize money or prosperity. It wouldn't hurt if you follow this old tradition since it will not cost you anything. Hence I decided to make the same thing for our room this New Year's eve! The problem is we wouldn't be spending our New Year in our apartment but in my aunt's house in Cavite where there is a lot of people to celebrate it with.

I just hope that our absence in our home wouldn't affect the blessings to come in 2010!

Here's a peek of our room:

Bedsheet with colored blue and green circles with matching pillow cases plus the partner pillow case (colored aqua) that I bought last month.

Curtains with Circles :)

We are really sticking to our wedding color motif two years ago which is bluegreen =P

Fear of Fireworks

New Year's eve is just 3 days away. Compared to other people around the world who welcome the New Year outside their houses with fireworks, I on the other hand stay inside the comfort of our home. I'm not exactly sure how my fear of fireworks started. As far as I know at a young age I always hide myself under a chair or table or even closet just to avoid hearing the noises created by the fireworks. Yes, I am afraid of hearing the noises of the fireworks especially if I can see them with my two eyes. As long as I don't see them spark and boom in front of me I am fine.

I still like to watch the fireworks display within proximity.

I was thinking that maybe when I was still a fetus I was at ease with my comfort zone inside my mother's tummy. No noise and no disturbance. I was safe in my own little world.

I was looking up for the type of phobia that I have in fireworks, surprisingly Wiki Answers said that - A fear of fireworks isn't a phobia, but a combination of rational fears based on human defense mechanisms.

So it means I'm a defensive human being?!

Wishing for a 22 LCD

I was able to get in touch with a friend whose been living in London practically her whole life. She was a cousin of my college friend and I was drawn into her because of her British accent that is not so deep compared to Spice Girls or the Harry Potter characters. We were talking about LCD TVs and she is wishing for a 22 LCD TV that she can mount into the wall of her room. I made a suggestion to her to check a certain website where they have an extensive comparison of all the top models in the UK plus reviews for her reference. I do hope this can help her make a decision in owning an appliance like this.

I on the other hand will start making my dreams into reality in 2010! It's now or never.

Still Awake

In a few minutes I'll be tucking myself to sleep. Surprisingly, I managed to stay awake up till this time and it's not even Christmas eve =P

I'm actually hooked in playing Sims 3 in my sister's laptop thus I lost the track of time but my body knows better that I have to take a rest.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas moment with your families. Tomorrow I will start posting my own story of how we spent our Christmas here in Cavite with my family.

Ciao for now bloggers! ;)

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Gift Ideas

I'm not sure if there are some people who are still looking for gifts to give this Christmas but I just want to share the two things I've discovered which are perfect as presents for any occasions.

FARM Bracelets - I discovered them through an email in N@W yahoogroups. The bracelets are one of a kind and comes in different colors. I planned on giving this to my friends who are into accessories. I even bought some for myself ;)

Human Nature Organic Products - Also a discovery online. What's good about this is that they are made of fruits and veggies that are all safe for our skin. All of them doesn't contain any chemicals that can be harmful for those who have sensitive skin. I'm planning to give it to my godchildren since they offer Christmas packages for kids. Additional bonus is that they are cheaper compared to the imported bath essentials that we see in the malls. As usual I also bought some items for myself. Can't wait to try their Goat's Milk and Cocoa Body Butter. I heard a lot of raves about this one :)

Both of these products have another purpose aside from profiting. Some portion of its earnings will help our fellow Filipinos to have a good education and a living. What a cool way to celebrate Christmas!

Holiday Personality

SPIRITUAL

It doesn't matter if you're religious or not... the holidays carry deep spiritual meaning for you.You like to take this time to reflect on your life. You act deliberately and conscientiously during every day of the year - and even more so during the holidays. While you like giving and getting gifts as much as anyone else, you do your best not to overspend or overconsume. You also take time to connect with the natural world during the holidays- whether that means playing in the snow or planting your Christmas tree.

What's Your Holiday Personality?

The First Rule of Blogthings Is: You Don't Talk About Blogthings

White Party

Last December 12, I was invited to attend the bridal shower party of my friend and former colleague Aisah. It was a relief on my part to know that the location of the party is in Fraser Place in Makati. I don't have to worry coming home late since it's near our apartment.

On the invitation it says that the party will start at 7:30pm but we arrived about an hour and half later =P The good news is that there are other guests that are late :) Oh before I forgot, we are required to wear something white thus the title of this post ;)

We helped with the decorations of the living room area of the hotel room which is a 3-bedroom suite. The bride's cousins are present who organized the shower party for her. As the clock ticks by, guests came one by one. Before officially starting the program, we had first a dinner (snacks) so we can have all the energy to participate in the games.

Here are some of our photos taken before the party:On the right side picture, the one whose wearing a tube dress is the bride-to-be...Aisah :)

As soon as the party starts we were asked to wear tiaras.

Oieyds and Jem posing a wacky shot with tiaras in their heads.
Sorry I don't have a photo of me since I'm the one whose taking the pictures...tsk!

There were 3 games where the guests are required to participate.

First Game is you have to get as many breadsticks as you can in a pile of whip cream within 40 seconds. The one who gets most breadsticks will be declared the winner.

Second game is to blow an elastic rubber (contraceptive) and make it big as you can. The one who can blow the biggest is the winner.
And the winner is....Jem! Surprise! Ü

Third game in which I participated is to peel a banana and put the elastic rubber on it. You have to do the task as fast as you can without breaking the banana.
The first three to put the rubber on the banana are the winners.
Sadly I didn't win as I was gently peeling the banana.

There is one game specifically created for the bride. She have to answer the questions correctly (it should eb the same answer of her groom) otherwise she will have to take a shot of tequilla for every wrong answer. If she got the answer correctly, her cousins will be the ones who will take a swig of the alcohol. Sounds fair right?Aisah getting the correct answer thus her cousins are getting the punishment =P

And of course the highlight of every bachelorette party, a male guest to entertain the future wife! I've taken a few photos but I decided not to post them here since my blog is wholesome. Sorry =D

Our group (CAI-STA) together with the bride after the main event...hehehehe.

It was a night filled with laughter and enjoyment. Cheers to Aisah's cousins for putting up a party that all of us will never forget...that's for sure ;)

Ho-hum

I was literally having a hard time to pull myself up in bed. A lot of meet-ups were scheduled from Friday to Saturday and I was able to do all of them! Yey! The price I have to pay was the lack of sleep.

Now I'm thinking of dozing off in the office during our lunch break to recharge. Then later after office hours, I'll just have to buy a cooked food for the husband since I have no energy by that time to cook and I bet he will be hungry by then. The additional two hours required to me was eating a lot of my spare time at home and all I have to do as soon as I get there was to change into my PJs and sleep.

I still have a lot of pictures and stories to share since this month has been full of parties and reunions. Ahhh the spirit of Holiday Season :)

Kiddie Xmas Party 2009

So sorry for the late posting of this entry since I am waiting for the pictures to be uploaded on our LAN here in the office. The pictures came from the programmers who are armed with their DSLR cameras to capture the event.

Last Friday, December 11 we held our Kiddie Christmas Party for the daughters, sons, nieces, nephews and cousins of our company's employees. Some came in costumes while other are just comfortable with their casual outfits.

Lots of treats for the children!

The host magician of the party doing tricks for the kids.

Eating Time!
Kids and adults alike are hungry since they all participated in the games.

It was a fun-filled day and I enjoyed watching the kids played games. Surprisingly I also like the magic show when the host asked the children to participate in every tricks. Someday I will be able to experience the feeling of being a parent and I have a hunch that I will be a stage parent like some of them...hehehehehe.

Tomorrow

There are a lot of things happening tomorrow. Let me enumerate them:

First, its PJ and Aisah's wedding which they prepared for a year. I'll be going to a salon for a foot spa with pedi and have my hair and make-up done since it will be a formal affair and I will be part of the offertory. I don't want to be under dress for the occasion. Excuses, excuses...hehehe. It will also serve as a ME time ;)

Second, my sister will be coming home from China for a two-week vacation! Yey! I missed her so much. I'm still thinking of a gift to give her, she deserves it :)

Third, it's our company's Christmas party to be held in the vacant space inside our office but I'm not going to attend since I will be in Aisah's wedding.

So there, three events in one day. Saturday and Sunday I will be pretty busy as well as I have to attend a dinner and a birthday party respectively. Whew! I can't wait for my vacation to start soon. I need a break!

Is Marriage Good For Your Health?

I just want to share this article to all of you - married or single individuals :)

Is Marriage Good For Your Health?

Contrary to what comedians will tell you about marriage, getting hitched appears to be good for your health. That is according a New Zealand-led international study of nearly 35,000 people across 15 countries. The study released by clinical psychologist Kate Scott of New Zealand’s University of Otago said that married people are less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and substance abuse.

What our study points to is that the marital relationship offers a lot of mental health benefits for both men and women, and that the distress and disruption associated with ending marriage can make people vulnerable to developing mental disorders

- Dr Kate Scott

Here’s the key points listed by Straits Times.

* The study did find that men were less likely to become depressed in their first marriage than women, and Scott said this might be due to women being more likely to follow the traditional role of a wife first time around.

* Other studies have found that as gender roles have become less traditional, with women working more and becoming better educated, female depression has fallen.

* The latest study also found getting married reduced the risk of substance abuse more for women than for men. This might be due to evidence that women cut their alcohol consumption sharply when they became pregnant and this often continued while the children were young.
According to a study, married people are less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and substance abuse, clinical psychologist Kate Scott of New Zealand’s University of Otago said on Tuesday.

And what’s the downside? According to the study, ending marriage can increase the risk of mental health problems. The type of end of marriage cited are separation, divorce, or being widowed and is true for both genders.

Sources :
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/15/content_12649518.htm
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/TechandScience/Story/STIStory_466779.html

Lack of Sleep

Hello everyone! As Christmas day nears a lot of people are cramming and bustling in and out of the malls and I'm one of them.

I still have a few(?) things that I need to buy to complete my Christmas list. I was thinking of buying some of them later after office.

I only manage to have 5-6 hours of sleep today and now I can feel my eyelids getting heavier by the second. I was giving the husband a pep talk last night about buying the things we need in the grocery. The supermarket near our house is holding a 10-20% discount on some grocery items from 10pm-2am yesterday thus I told hubby to go there so we can spend less. We managed to get a discount of almost US$2 (Php 80+).

Aside from the pep talk, I also started fixing and arranging our clutter little by little. I want to celebrate Christmas in a clean and organized home. We even put up new curtains in our room and put on the new bed sheets and pillowcases. Will post a couple of photos of our room tomorrow. They are color-coordinated =P

Just thinking of the things I need to accomplish before Friday makes me want to doze off right in an instant.

Ruby Tuesday: Dusk

Yey

Finally I was able to skim the html codes that are embedded here in my blog. If you haven't noticed there is something wrong with my blog when you access it. After entering or clicking my blog URL the page starts to load and then after a few seconds it will give you a blank white page.

Thanks to Doc Joey for telling me to remove the Paying Post code which is the culprit of the glitch.

Now my blog is running smoothly. Also I was in the midst of preparing to change the layout of my blog which I know is taking too long. So sorry about that. I promise before this year ends, you will be able to see my new and improve (ahem!) blog layout.

Anyways, I have a few entries to post within the day so make sure to keep an eye on my blog before calling it a day! ;)

Busy as a Bee

This coming weekend I will be busy as ever! There are a lot of events that I have to attend to. I guess this is normal during the Holidays here in Manila. Let's see my appointments:

Friday - Attend PJ and Aisah's wedding @ 3pm. In the morning, I'm thinking of having a foot spa and a visit to a salon for hair make-over before attending the wedding.

Saturday - Lunch date with high school buddies. Dinner with former colleagues.

Sunday - Attend CK's birthday.

I'm almost fully booked on Sunday, good thing I have the whole morning to lounge in our house before going out. Whew!

2 Hours

I forgot to mention this last week since it's been a crazy one where I need to accomplish a lot of things.

Anyways, for the whole month of December I am required to render extra 2 hours of work since I was below the 150 average working hours. I've been into a lot of sick leaves since November and a couple of vacation leaves this December plus the holiday season.

I'll just have to endure the fact that I will be going out of the office at 6:30pm instead of my usual 4:30pm or 5:30 pm. Sniff! :(

Bonn and Ninch's Wedding (Reception)

Sorry for the late continuation of the wedding we attended last Monday. I've been so busy at work plus decorating our work areas with Christmas decors (will post a separate entry about that). Now, on to the wedding story...

After the wedding ceremony of Bonn and Ninch in Binondo Church it's time for the photo ops of all the guest with the couple inside the church before heading to the reception.Me and my friends decided that it's better we go ahead since the place is close to Divisoria and the traffic is building up quickly.

On our way to reception which is in Teatrillo situated in Intramuros we got lost as we are not familiar with place. We've asked a lot of people who resides in Intramuros and they all gave us the wrong directions so we drive in circles inside the ancient walls looking for the reception venue. Good thing we asked a "guwardia civil" for the directions and his the only one who gave us the correct one. Sigh!

We are all hungry upon arriving in the reception. Most of the guests are already there. Fortunately the caterer placed a plate of nibblets composed of frank hotdogs and bacon for each tables. I remembered eating two pieces just to pacify my grumbling tummy.

While waiting for the couple, we took pictures (naturally) of us on our table:

Finally the couple arrived and sadly our table is located at the back so we can't see much of them. Regardless we are happy that we are near the buffet stations...hehehehe.

After doing the wedding traditions during reception, the two hosts started calling table numbers through raffle. This got the attention of all the guests and they were all attentive including us!

Our table number was called after 6 numbers before us ;) We cheered when our number was called...ahahaha. Obviously we are famish!

We still have two other friends who will arrive. They will be late since both of them came from their respective work. We are done with our meals and desserts when Rod got a text message from Aisah. They are waiting outside the Teatrillo and she wants to be fetched. I accompanied him and off we went outside the venue.

We didn't see her or her husband so we waited for a few more minutes thinking that they send us a text messge in advance. While waiting, we have a photo opp of our own =P
It's been 15 minutes that we've been waiting for Aisah and PJ so we decided to go back to our table. Surprisingly the two are already there! Good thing we were back on our place since Bonn and Ninch are going to start their sing number. How sweet!

Anyways we chat while the two are singing in front...hehehe. And of course we wouldn't miss a chance having our photos taken as a group.

Us in their paparazzi wall ;)

Us with the newlyweds!

P.S. Next couple to wed in church will be PJ and Aisah happening this Friday ;)

Bonn and Ninch's Wedding (Church)

Last December 7, my former colleagues and I attended the wedding of our dear friend Ninch to Bonn.

Going to Binondo is a test for a commuter like me and two of my friends. Apart from that it's traffic, the place is far from Makati City. We have no choice but to take a cab and the driver asked us to add Php30 on the metered amount. We agree so that we can go to wedding.

We arrived in Binondo Church at 3:20pm. We were all surprised to see the amount of fare we have to pay on the meter. Php 262.50?! Whoa! All in all we paid Php 300 due to the additional 30 pesos. Bummer!

We got to meet-up with Con on the church and since we were all early thus we have a spare time to have our pictures taken before the ceremony.

After a few minutes, the bridal car came into view ;) We are lucky to see the bride (Ninch) firsthand than the other guests. Like other brides, there is a certain glow in her.

4pm the entourage started to walk the church aisle. Some of them are late but that didn't keep the wedding from starting. The church is pretty strict since right after their wedding, there will be a mass.

Their color motif is black and pink since that's the favorite colors of the couple. The male entourage are all wearing a black chinese collared Barong Tagalog while the female entourage wears a pink dresses and gowns with a black belt as an accent.

The groom while walking is grinnign from ear to ear and when he saw me with my digital camera in hand, he started waving like a Hollywood star =P

Same with the bride, Ninch is all smiles and you can't see a trace of tears or anything dramatic while walking the aisle. She even complained to me that she's having a hard time walking while she's doing her bridal march...hehehe.Her gown is out of the ordinary. There is no veil and no train. It's simple and I love the ruffles on the lower bodice of her gown. If you look at the pictures, you will think that they are made of cottons :) Her gown totally represents her personality ;)

She dones a head dress with feathers colored white and pink.

Sneaking

Yesterday I was on leave to attend a friend's wedding. The couple are all smiles and they really look good together.

Today we have no office work since it's Taguig Day. Later afternoon, the husband and I will be attending mass since it's also the feast day of Immaculate Concepcion.

Will post the story and pictures of the wedding that I attended tomorrow.

For now I just have to make a quick surfing and posting of photos in ny facebook account before I finally sign out =p

TJ's First Birthday

Last Sunday (November 29) a fellow blogger, W@Wie and N@Wie whose name is Thet invited me to be a part of her son's first birthday party. Originally it was set to September but due to the continuous visit of typhoons and storm they had no choice but to set it aside and move it to another date. The birthday theme is Sponge Bob so there are a lot of yellows everywhere =P

Thet told me that the birthday party starts at 2:30pm and it will be held in a clubhouse in her in-laws village in Noveleta Cavite. Since I'm not aware of the traveling time from Manila going to Noveleta I decided to get there early.

I fetch first my youngest sister in my parent's home in Parañaque before riding a bus bound to Cavite City. The husband didn't go with me since his still asleep.

The travel time is quicker than I expected and we arrived in the clubhouse 2:20pm. Thet is busy giving instructions while the others are setting up the decorations, balloons, loot items, etc for the birthday boy.

While waiting for the party to start, Thet invited us in her in-laws house which is near the clubhouse. A lot of peeps are bustling in and out of the house for the preparation. TJ is lucky to have a very supportive family who loves him dearly ;)

The party starts around 4-4:30pm. Guests start to arrive one by one. The host of the program is there as well. His prepping up the kids and adults for the party to start.

My sister took the time to enjoy the face painting service on the party and here is her photo:

(Yeah, I know she looks a lot like me....hehehehe)

The host is very good. I enjoy myself considering that it's a children's party. There are a lot of games and giveaways. My sister is too shy to join the games so she's happily contented watching the magic and puppet shows. This is the first time I saw a puppet of Superman...ahahahaha!

On the latter portion of the program, the host welcomes the three valuable guests that when the kids and adults alike saw them, they all got rowdy...hehehehe.

Kudos to Thet for throwing a great party! Till next time! :)

Back Again

Just as I thought that I'm okay last Wednesday I got a surprise when I got back home from work. I feel chills and I think I'm having a fever. To confirm my instinct I used a digital thermometer and true enough I indeed have a fever (38 degrees Celsius) thus I was not able to come to work yesterday as per my husband's order.

I don't know exactly what's wrong with me but since last month I somehow become vulnerable and fragile that I get sick easily.

The husband and I decided to have a checkup tomorrow in the Intellicare clinic which is near our home instead of going to Medical City. The cab fare is eating up the budget!

I just want my cough to go away. Period.

UPDATE: Unfortunately there's no Pulmonologist available tomorrow in Intellicare Clinic so I will be going to Makati Medical Center instead.

Lagundi

I'm feeling a little better than yesterday. I still have a cough but at least I don't have a fever.

My throat tends to get itchy when I cough or when I talk non-stop so right now I'm not talking...yet. It's better to rest my throat and besides my voice is not normal so I'm not up to making small conversations unlike before....hehehe.

I hope that my cough and soreness (I assume) of my throat will be gone soon. I have a wedding to attend next Monday. I'm self-medicating by the way. I'm trying the Ascof Lagundi Cough Syrup if it will work wonders on me (crossing fingers). It is said to be made of the extracts from Vitex negundo (aka dried Lagundi leaves) which is a medicinal herb used to treat skin diseases, diarrhea, cough, colds, fever, flu and other bronchopulmonary disorders.I just hope that my cough will not take a week otherwise I have no choice but to seek a pulmonologist for consultation or maybe I should try drinking a Lagundi tea. Hubby used this as his medicine before and it worked for him. We didn't have to go to a doctor at that time. I just need to make a visit to a drug store after office hours then.

And I thought I am much healthier now compared to my yester years...

December!

Wow! Surely time flies really fast especially for this year. It's December...finally! This means a lot of spending and gift giving is coming my way...hehehe. Actually I just spend some items last weekend. Hope that I won't faint when I see my credit card bills...ahahahaha!

Last Friday I posted some of the things I have to do on weekend. Most of it was accomplished! Some are not :(

* I was not able to meet Kerslyn and her hubby
* I was not able to clean the whole house with the help of hubby (I got sick - fever, colds, sore throat and mild cough) thus I am on leave today from work. Need to take a rest for tomorrow.
* I didn't watch New Moon for the 2nd time :(

Oh well, there are still a few days left for the general cleaning which the husband will do since I'm sick. As for the New Moon, I guess I just have to wait for the DVD to be release :)

In the future I hope to meet Kerslyn and do some photo ops with here...hehehe.