Friends, Then and Now

Time flies fast but friendship stays forever. I didn't lift that up from a Hallmark e-card. I happen to get hold of old pictures with two of my friends since college while I was looking at my stacks of photos. It put a smile on my face. Look at us, we were college freshmen when we met at the university. We often have sleepovers like the one in the picture at another friend's house.

I graduated a semester ahead of them since I had always taken up summer classes. I got busy with work and with the new people I met along the way. But they never lose touch. I was the one always missing in action. It felt so good when I reconnected with them. That was the time I needed real friends. They were still there for me. That was four or five years ago when we renewed our friendship. And we have kept in touch since then - lunch, occasional night outs, chatting online, etcetera. I will never lose my friends again. I love them and I thank God for them.

For this photo hunt, this is the part of me I want to share with all of you. Me as a friend, then and now.

Picture at the left was taken decades ago, late 80s. I am the one at the rightmost. Picture at the right was taken in a cafe December last year. I'm the one in the middle. :)




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Thankful

One of the best memes I have encountered so far - Thankful Thursday. Most of the memes I participate in I post in my other blog. But this one's a bit personal so let me post my first entry for this meme here.

I have a lot to thank for for the past weeks. There may be things up in my head which need deep contemplation and quick decision. But because of the following, things do not bother me much. I am thankful for them actually.


* My family in the U.S. always send us a lot of things just because. Their packages just arrived. I am thankful for their generosity.

* My daughter's guitar lessons is doing great. Her instructor commends her for learning fast. :) Way to go, Trish!

* Going to church today, praying and eventually gaining enough confidence with the major decision I have to make.

* Finally I sat down and watched The Secret. I am almost done with the book but for some reason, I feel like I don't want to finish it. It feels like savoring a sumptuous meal, having a taste of it little by little to preserve it. I believe in the Law of Attraction. Watching this lifted up my spirits all the more.

* Spending time with my mommy friends last week. See post below how fun it is.

* The big projects my department spearheaded were launched finally and targets were met.

* Having a good laugh watching What Happens in Vegas. :D

* It rained hard this morning while I was still in bed. It gave me a good morning. I love rain, just enough of it. It soothes me.

* I thank God for the positive feeling I have in me now. Keeping the attitude of gratitude is doing wonders for me.

* A nice pampering at the salon this morning. I love the paint of my toe nails.

Simple things, big things, I am thankful for all the blessings.

Picnic Fun

Without so much planning our picnic pushed through as scheduled. There are times it's better that way, haha. Everything was done mostly through emails - what food we will bring, what time and where we will meet. Good thing I was able to manage my schedule at work. All set and ready to go for our La Mesa Ecopark picnic with the kids! This is going to be fun. And it indeed it was! A second picnic, third, fourth and so on is in order.

The weather was humid and there were 'guests' flying around while we were devouring our food - fish fillet, pancit malabon, peachy-peachy, fried chicken, lechon manok, gonuts donuts, hotdogs, and grilled bangus which has an interesting story care of Chats. Chats and I met at the parking area which was quite far from the picnic area so we have to walk all the way from there carrying our food supplies. We literally sweat it out. The shuttle's driver was on a lunch break and they have no reliever for him.

All these were compensated by everyone's presence. The kids most especially enjoyed going around the park while playing together. Us, Mommies, chatted all the way from mundane things to well, more mundane things. :) Basta, relax lang kahit mainit.

Wenchie's house is very near the place so we headed there when it started to rain. We stayed maybe for another hour, ate again and continued chatting while the kids played tirelessly in one of the rooms of the house.

Here we are. I think Chats' Patricia and my Andrea were not in the picture as they were tasked to take this one.

(left to right) Cess with son Troi, Wenchie with son Pio (but where is Gaby?), Feng, Cookie with Gaby and Adi, Chats (at the back, where is Nate?), Julie, and Me with Vera (Chats' daughter)
The two pretty misses. My Andrea and Chats' Patricia. Picture courtesy of Chats.


The kids were ever ready to stop from playing and strike a pose. :)



And look at the stage moms, all set to click the cameras.


Till next meet up, girls! Nail art, foot spa, massage...the choices are endless. :D

Read My Blog?

Julie, my friend over at Greenbucks has this weekly question posted on her blog which needs an answer. Feel free to participate and check her blog about it. The question for the week is:

If you are married would you know if your husband is reading your blog?

My husband does not actually read my blog like he goes online just to read it. He only goes online for his emails for one or watch Top Gear on YouTube but that's not often. He doesn't even open the Friendster account our daughter made for him. I am the one who checks it actually. :) He knows though what I often blog about - our daughter, my photo hunts, about dining, etcetera since I tell him about my posts. At times too he browses on them while I'm asking him how he finds my current template.

Early Bird

Hubby dropped me off in this cafe as I opted to wait than go with him to attend to some early, really early, business related matters. I wanted to do some groceries as soon as the mall opens. Early morning Starbucks. It feels good to be there without much people around, like the place is reserved just for me. There's no car passing by, the road is clear. It's a Sunday morning, people may still be sleeping or still at the church.

Savor the laid back morning.



This cake is best...


with coffee. Short will do for me.


But I only had a bite or two of that cake. What was I thinking? I had to take the rest of it home. Cake so early in the morning is not just for me.

I will be visiting the rest of the WS participants later tonight. I have to run now. :)

Pink Shoes

My daughter has loads of shoes - school shoes, for malls, her rubber shoes, shoes that will match her Sunday dress, etcetera. It used to be that we share the same shoe cabinet but she just got to have her own. Tweens today compete with mommies' shoes.

My husband has his pairs of shoes but they are nowhere close with my set and my daughter's. Sometimes he is overwhelmed with the number of shoes we have. I guess that goes for most women. We have shoes that match the different roles we have. What an excuse, huh. :D

For some reason, my daughter is not fond of Crocs. She wears it once in a while. See how clean it still is.


But this one's her favorite. :)


More pink shoes. This tiny shoe key chain I have posted several photo hunts ago. It's still in one of my daughter's bag's. I find it really cute.


And this is a miniature flip-flop with my daughter's name on it given by my sister. Pink is still the dominant color.


See more shoes at the Photo Hunt headquarters. :)

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Brick Wall

I could site a lot of inspiring sharing from Mr. Randy Pausch watching The Last Lecture but what stuck on my head is the brick wall.

But remember, the brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.

Remember brick walls let us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don’t really want to achieve their childhood dreams. Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap.

And so be it. The brick wall is not an enemy. Eventually it will give in. The sooner the better. It's my call.

Rolls & Pie

We grabbed these over the weekend. There are only three reasons why I go back to Goldilocks, a popular local bakeshop. One is their polvoron, two, is their egg pie which I still love up to now. And third, the lumpiang sariwa which my husband and my mom loves. I don't really like it. I'd rather go for lumpiang shanghai.

Lumpiang sariwa (fresh spring rolls) is a Filipino staple. Feasts most especially is not complete without it. It is served in egg wrappers and its main ingredients are ubod (heart of palm), turnips, crushed peanuts, garlic, spring onion, pork, salt and pepper to taste. Chicken broth, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and cornstarch to make it thick make up the sauce.



A slice of this will do for me. :)

Purple Stones & Fortune Cookies

I haven't had earrings for a long time now. They just suddenly closed. You know, the pin hole where you're supposed to put in the earrings. And that was what happened to my daughter too.

But she's a growing girl and it will look prettier if she has her own pair of earrings. Vanity calls. It just completes the look sometimes. So I called her pediatrician and we headed to her clinic. It took us about fifteen minutes to have our ears pierced. It did not hurt much. Now we're mom and daughter sporting our hypo-allergenic earrings. My daughter chose the earrings with purple stones and I chose the fortune cookie shaped earrings.


Look, there's a Mamarazzi in the mirror! :)

I had to ask for some vitamins too from our pediatrician. It's school time in a few weeks. My daughter needs some energy-boosting suplements. She will be spending eight hours at school already unlike the previous years that it was only five or half day.

Since my vanity mode was on, we heade to the salon after the ear piercing session. My daughter had a haircut. She wants to sport some bangs now because that's the current hairstyle. Uh-oh, she is so updated. This mom wanted her to have some bangs because it's easier to manage that way. No hair covering her face. No frills.


Checking the guitar at the store.

And for the rest of her vacation, she's going to learn how to play the guitar. We bought her her first real guitar last week along with the chord book, case, strap and tuner. She's just so excited to learn her first song strumming her guitar. Mommy's excited too. :)

Mud Bowl

Candy, that's the theme of today's Photo Hunt. We had our lunch last Mother's Day at Tender Bob's and the dessert my daughter had is perfect for the theme. Presenting the mud bowl - scoop of chocolate ice cream with chocolate bits, oreo crumbs, candy sprinkles and gooey gummy worms in different colors.


Presenting too, my daughter with the yellow creepy crawler.


Happy candy hunting everyone! I'll be out in a while and will do my visits later.

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Iron Man

This is a belated post. I have other movies to post as it is one of my goal to put in here the movies I've watched. Iron Man deserves to be the first from my line up.

I have watched several Robert Downey movies. From Natural Born Killers to Less Than Zero and The Pick-up Artist to Zodiac. I particularly like him in Chances Are. Love him there as a matter of fact. But through the years I never really liked him the way I liked Tom Cruise (pre-TomKat and Scientology) or even Robert de Niro or Michael Douglas. Yes, I do love Michael Douglas.

I had reservations watching Iron Man with Downey playing the lead as Tony Stark/Iron Man. It was hubby who wanted so much to watch this so daughter and I got dragged going to the theater. But the movie's opening made me eager to watch this. It painted a would-be hero as someone who is not as clean-cut as The Cape Crusader or Clark Kent. I have not really read comic books so I have no idea who Iron Man is. It was good I met him a few weeks ago. I like it that way. That someone not so perfect could after all be a hero.

I liked it that the movie is fast paced and nothing overly dramatic. I like the hologram effect and the flying scenes. CGI has never been better here. It gives me goose bumps though whenever that 'gadget' is taken off from his chest. But that 'gadget' also was symbolic in capturing the film's sweet moment with Gwyneth as Pepper. Just see it and get mushy - 'this proves that you have a heart', it goes something like that.

It helped too that Gwyneth Paltrow gave an understated performance. She did not steal the scene but complemented Downey's character whenever they are presented in one frame. And I did not know till the end of the movie, courtesy of husband, that it was Jeff Bridges who played Iron Monger/Obadiah Stane, the greedy arms dealer cum business partner of Tony Stark.

The story with its strong political adventure - its stand against weapons and terrorism - and the seamless CGIs keep the audience, young and not-so-young glued to their seats intently watching the game. I was not big on the ending, how Iron Man defeated Iron Monger but I love the press conference where Stark declared, "I am Iron Man". It smells of a sequel. What super hero movie does not have a sequel?

Good thing hubby got a tip from his friend to stick to the end of the credits and watch some more. There were only six or seven of us who waited for the preview to the sequel. There's a scene with Morgan Freeman as Nick Fury telling Tony Stark something about The Avenger Initiative. More Iron Man, please.

*Picture from the movie's official website.

'Mi

Happy Mother's Day!

I call her 'Mi, short for Mommy. My Mom is a cool Mom. She's more fashionable than I am. Her taste in clothes, shoes, bags, make-up, how she sets and decorates our house is remarkable. She just knows the right things to buy. One look and she can give you the right size, the right fit, the perfect color. Like all the clothes and shoes she sends to my daughter, they all fit considering they haven't seen each other for almost three years now. Whereas me, I'm not good at that. My daughter has to be with me whenever I buy her things to wear.

Until now, at 59 summers, my Mom's waistline does not exceed 32 inches. It's just her. Unfortunately, that part of her genes skipped me. But my Mom, she still wears her jeans oh so perfectly, at least for her age.

My Mommy and Papa call us practically everyday. We talk like we're just neighbors updating what our lunch or dinner is or what happened during the day. It feels like they aren't miles away from us. I appreciate this thoughtfulness of
both my parents. They are always with me. Not once have I felt they left me.

My Mom, ever the adviser, always tells us to eat the right foods ("eat less rice please"), take our vitamins, not to miss routine check-ups and to my husband - "stop smoking", to always check on my daughter's needs, etcetera.

That trait of her has not changed. I remember seeing my Mom (and my Papa too) put off anything she needs for herself just to provide me and my siblings the good things in life. She always puts herself last. Sometimes even scrapping what she needs just to ensure there are still enough for the next days or months to come.

My Mom is the most generous person I know. Ever since we're kids, I remember her giving gifts to everyone she knows during special occasions. Even the water boys in the neighborhood has gifts from her. Everybody knows how a trooper my Mom is. Magaling s'yang makisama. To my mind though, it's sometimes to a fault. But that's her. She understands everyone's peculiarities.

She values relationships especially if we talk about family. Like what I've said, she's always there for her family. Always ready to help us, guide us even now that my sister, brother and I are of age. She never tires of taking care of us.

I will always have superlatives for my Mommy. This post will just go on and on talking about how I love and value my Mommy, how great she is. But words cannot really express how grateful I am that I have my Mom, the kind of Mom that she is.

All I can say is thank you for all the love and care, for all the nurturing and valued lessons you have shared with us. I am not even a quarter of what you are but I'm getting there. I have to thank you and my daughter for inspiring me to be a
good mother. You are a mother I am truly proud of! I love you, 'Mi!

Kiddie Crew Summer Program

Today's Photo Hunt encourages participants like me to share whatever pictures we feel like posting. I would like to share some pictures of my daughter as one of the Kiddie Crews at McDonald's. This is her second year to join this fun activity. This is a yearly program of McDonald's which is open to children five to twelve years old if I remember it right.

The first day was their orientation day. She was assigned at the counter together with some of her batch mates. They have a guide which coaches them on greeting the customers and putting the condiments on the tray.

Look, they're so busy! :D


She was taught how to dispense soda. My daughter is almost as tall as the service staff. She's a growing girl!


The Kiddie Crew project is conducted for five consecutive days, two hours each day. Three days are spent going around the counter and lobby areas with their coaches. No, there are no monetary rewards for the kids. Parents enroll their children for P500 (roughly 12USD) which include their snack and uniform (cap, shirt and ID). On the fourth day, they spent an hour doing arts and crafts. The fifth and last day, there were games and a little program with Grimace. The children enjoyed posing with him. I did too but I won't post that here anymore. :D


A portion of the program was giving the parents the kids' chosen project during their art and crafts day. I was happy to see my daughter painted this canvas bag for me. She could have chosen other projects like the mosaic glass or the picture frame, but my daughter chose this. :)


As always, these activities aim not just to foster team spirit and cooperation but having a great time while learning. Just like last year, my daughter enjoyed her stint and gained new friends too. It is also a good exposure for children in valuing work and mingling with people. This is a fun activity for kids since it's just like playing in a real McDonald's store.

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Ripples

Didn't I say I should postpone buying a book because I have not finished reading a few books which were given to me as Xmas gifts? Well, I did buy one. I want to read something inspiring. I need that right now. I just need to read something to perk up and soothe my senses. Am I saying something contradictory?

I have succeeded so far in balancing my life. It's not like before that work eats up most of my time. I feel good about that. I just need a good book now to relax me more.

After The Alchemist and Veronika Decides to Die, I thought I had enough of Paulo Coelho's musings. Coelho is a master storyteller no doubt as he can clearly strike your emotions, at least for a lot of people who reads his book. But after reading the two books I mentioned, it felt like I read self-help books about finding your destiny disguised as novels. So I stopped reading Coelho.

But I remember coming across a famous quote from one of his books which has inspired me a lot when I first read it.

.....it is important to let certain things go. To cut loose. People need to understand that no one is playing with marked cards, sometimes we win, sometimes we lose…Complete the circle, not out of pride, inability or arrogance but simply because whatever it is no longer fit in your life. Close the door, change the record, clean the house, get rid of dust. Stop being who you were and become who you are....

I have no idea what book this quote was from. What is Google for if I won't find this book. It's from The Zahir. That's the little story why I bought the book. A book about obsession. I am just on the first few pages of the book and I must say I am enjoying it. Or more appropriate to say, I am feeling it. They are poles apart but this is like the way I feel when I read Haruki Murakami. Every page seems alive and every words written I can visualize and react as if I am in the story. At least for now that's how I feel for the book. Let me see how this will go as I go on reading. The book do not have enough good reviews but I don't want my own judgment to be diluted by reviews.

Taking this a little further, I must say though that for now I must start refining, enhancing my circle, let the ripples grow and reinforce more positive vibrations. More freedom, more creativity, more passion.

A Touch of the 70s

We watched Iron Man at Mall of Asia yesterday. My take about the movie in a different post. I love it though. :) More often than not, we go to a bookstore whenever we are in a mall. We trooped to Power Books and scouted for some books. I wanted something inspirational.

My daughter was able to buy her book but I did not find anything that suits my mood. I haven't finished about five books which are all gifts so maybe I shouldn't really buy any book now.

While hubby and I were on separate sections of the bookstore, we were both thinking whose music was playing. It's calming. I went to him and said the music's nice to which he agreed. He said he was thinking it's Barbie Almalbis. I was thinking it's Juris of Make Your Mama Proud (M.Y.M.P.). Her group after all loves doing remakes.

Finally he asked the sales person what's playing. It's by Angela and the CD is Folk Acustico. We both don't know who she is. Maybe we're not updated. But we know Sitti and Mocha...and even Faith Cuneta, haha. Anyway, hubby bought the CD.

A few days back I was listening to some 80s music. Now we both find ourselves drawn to listening from the musicians of the 70s. We were still toddlers during the early 70s but we are familiar with the era's discography. But for me, nothing Judas Priest or Led Zeppelin and the like. There are some songs I come to like depending on the rendition. One example is Wild Flower which I don't really like but when Martin Nievera sung it, I came to like the song even if I am not a big Martin fan. He just sung it so well and full of emotions.

I favor what's in the Folk Acustico because the songs were sung well. Easy listening. Most of the songs in the CD were released at a later time though - 80s, 90s, y2k under the folk genre. Daughter also had her Jonas Brothers CD so we made an agreement that we will play the acoustic first and then her Jo Bro CD after. Well, she slept the whole time Angela's music was playing.

Folk Acustico includes Angela's versions of Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell), I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song (Jim Croce), Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (Carol King), Fire & Rain (James Taylor) and many more. I just feel soothed with the singer's own rendition of the songs. I already copied them in my laptop for more of my listening pleasure.

Click and play if you want to listen. Do you know what I remember hearing this song? Sharon Cuneta's version in one of her promotions for her movie, Kapatid. It's a nice song.

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And here's the version from Joni Mitchell.

My Cake

I have recounted in my Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies post that there was no more caramel cake when we visited Estrel's a few days ago. I was disappointed but then we planned on ordering the following weekend.

But hubby thought otherwise. He ordered my cake a few days ahead in time for our anniversary last April. That's our anniversary as boyfriend and girlfriend by the way. Our anniversary as husband and wife is on January. :) Anyway, I was grinning from ear to ear when I saw it inside the ref. Hubby sure knows how to make my day even better. :D Big thanks, xoxo and that's hugs and kisses...haha.

I love the flowers!

This cake has no preservatives and best eaten on the day it is purchased. The shelf-life is only for two days. We didn't finish it off on the first day as we expected. We gave a quarter of it to my aunt a few houses away from us. What I noticed with the cake on its second day is that it became a little soggy. And the taste is not that distinct as the day hubby bought it. Still it's a good buy because the cake is so soft and the filling really creamy.

I love the flowers in the middle. I remember my aunts and cousins used to preserve flowers from their birthday cakes. They 'plant' the flowers on a lid and enclose them in a bottle. They keep them and they serve as decorations of their headboards. I don't remember how long they were able to preserve the flowers or if they use anything to keep the candy flowers from getting molds. I find them beautiful. :)

Hannah, Miley and My Girl

My husband, my daughter and I watched The Best of Both Worlds 3D Concert of Miley Cyrus last Thursday. My daughter is a great fan of Miley a.k.a. Hannah Montana. It was good! Miley has a very strong stage presence, a very powerful voice and her performance speaks so much fun. Reports have it that this 3D concert grossed a lot better than U2's. And why not, the tweens will not go alone in the theaters and in the concert venue. The parents are there to accompany them. That's why the tween market is very lucrative. To some extent, they are decision makers. They know what they want it appears because of all these bombarding from the media. Mom and Dad though still have the last say. :D

This is not related to the topic but the fashion shampoo for little girls crossed my mind. The television ad have all these pretty little misses doing some dancing and fashion show, hair flowing and all. My lord, even shampoos are being marketed for tweens like that will make a great difference with their young lives. But that is where the sensibilities of parents like us come in. We know when to put a stop to all these excesses.

Going back to Miley, me and my husband particularly love this girl's closeness with her Daddy. It's sweet and the girl is more guided with Daddy around and not just publicists. But the Vanity Fair pictorial put a little dent on my trust with Miley, the tweens' superstar. I was thinking why the need to pose with a bare back and a provocative expression on her face. She's only 15. What were the parents thinking? What's disappointing is only a few of them now can be called wholesome and a magazine cover could just put doubts now with the most popular tween idol.

Those interested with Miley know by now that she (and I guess the parents too) regretted the result of the photo shoot. It was never intended to project a sexy image of someone so young. Reading some internet news, almost 50% thinks that this will affect Miley Cyrus' career. I am not sure about that. But I don't know what to make of the revealing pictures of Miley over the internet. Some say it's not really her. But then again I don't want my daughter looking up to someone who makes a mess of herself.

As a mother, I see to it that my daughter gets to watch shows which offers good, clean, fun. And celebrities which show more of their talents than just mere projection.

Let me give my take on the good points though of The Best of Both Worlds 3D Concert. It shows Miley rehearsing hard for her concert, committing mistakes, getting nervous about it, but still carrying on. That's the fine points I noted with my daughter. That it's not all glamor out there but perseverance. Just like in school. It's not all about popularity but what matters most is being dedicated at what you do and being happy about it. I don't make a hard sell out of all these food for thoughts but I know my daughter listens to what I say.

With that, hubby, daughter and I chilled out after the movie. Haha. And non-stop High School Musical soundtrack aboard the car on the way home. :D

My Template Is Ruined!

There is something wrong with Blogger. I was just testing a template but clicking the Upload button, Blogger saved the template I was just testing!!! What the..????????

BIG, BIG, BIG SIIIIIIGGGGHHHHH!

And I can't find the file where I saved my Mom Zone template!!! Geez!!!!!!!!

And when I tried other templates, they can't be uploaded! There's always an error!

I'll continue redoing the template tomorrow...I mean later. There is no background when I checked in IE7. Everything looks in order in Firefox.

Oh, Blogger! Some glitch you have tonight!

Go Big Time

I was craving for an ice cream a while ago but there's nothing in the freezer. No left-over from the previous days. I thought of having a sundae, that will do. As if on cue, my daughter asked if we could have a delivery. She wants a quarter pounder. The next step was to dial-McDo.

I posted several months ago that I find the script of most food chains for their delivery customer service representatives a little off or funny. At least McDonald's have refined their spiel. They ask for the telephone number right away and your name and ask if the delivery is for the same address registered in their data base. Good. Swift transaction.

Of all the delivery services I had the past weeks, only McDonald's asked if I have their Go Big Time coupon, their promo for the month of May. The other food chains don't even mention what their latest offerings are. They're missing on a big marketing opportunity. At least here I was able to save a few bucks upsizing our drinks and our fries. And I have an impromptu entry for the Photo Hunt theme - Time. Go big time is it. :)

No, this is not a paid post from McDonald's. I just appreciate the professional service they are giving, even the representatives I've encountered at the other end of the line sound so well trained.