Another Excitement Post

Like my cousin's YM status, I, too, am so glad that the week is coming to a close. I can't wait for the weekend to come. It's been very stressful at work and this is so not my week with my quality score dropping a few percentage these last few days of the month.

It's a good thing that there's something good to look forward to this coming weekend. I can't say yet but I'm really, really excited for this. This will be yet another milestone for our family.

I am so glad it's Thursday already! Just one more day...

Overly Excited for Next Year's Event

Today, I received a text message from a long time friend. She's finally getting married and she's inviting us to attend. What's exciting is that she's asking my permission to have Johan included in her entourage as her bible or coin bearer! She didn't have to ask permission. I, myself, would have volunteered my son for the part! #imsuchastagemom

You see, I am actually worried that my son won't be asked to be somebody's coin bearer or ring bearer or bible bearer because most of my cousins are already married. My sisters (ahem, ahem) don't seem to have any plans on getting married anytime soon. So, hearing the news from my friend sent me to seventh heaven! Hehehe, OA much?

I know, the wedding won't happen until June 2013, but I am just so excited to see Johan in a tux and walking by himself to the altar. I will make sure he does and I will make him practice and practice when the date comes nearer.

Anyway, congrats again to my friend KJ and his would-be-hubby RC! Thank you for thinking of Johan to be a  part of your wedding and for making a certified stage mommy's dream come true. =)

Fifty Shades of Grey

photo credit

I heard about the book through my yahoo group, Newlyweds at Work. I was intrigued because they call it the "Mommy Porn". =) So, to satisfy my curiosity, I downloaded the complete trilogy. As I go through the first part, I was introduced to the Dom-Sub relationship. I didn't know this existed and after doing a quick Google search, I was led to the very dark world of BDSM. It is scary, really.

Anyhow, though this book does contain some, okay, a lot actually, of erotic scenes (not for the fainthearted) - the entire story line is, surprisingly, done in good taste. The love story of Christian and Ana maybe highly unusual but one cannot ignore the fact that they are both crazy about each other. I actually felt the electricity between the two the first time they met. Like innocent Ana's inner goddess, I applaud whenever Ana's agreed to another, yet, of Christian's weird sexual acts and my heart (and knees) melted when the domineering Christian slowly gave in to "hearts and flowers".

I wasn't able to put the book down and actually finished the trilogy in one day. I must say that I find this way even better than the Twilight series. Yeah, I know, I'm a sucker for love stories, even unusual ones.

Now, I've heard that the book will soon be released into movie. I wonder, though, how they will be able to portray the steamy scenes from the book. And another huge question, who are going to portray the characters of Christian Grey and Anastacia Steele? I'm leaning towards these two to play Christian and Ana:

Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder from the Vampire Diaries

But then, I wouldn't say no to these two either.

Jessie Pavelka

Kirsten Stewart

I cannot wait to see the film,err, maybe they could just make it into an HBO series or something, so the producers could get all the good parts in and not chop off parts of the book like they usually do.

Laters, baby...

The Beauty Junkee's Grand 3rd Anniversary Giveaway!

The Beauty Junkee is celebrating it's 3rd Anniversary and as a way of saying thanks to all her wonderful readers, she is having the grandest ever anniversary giveaway. The prizes at stake are worth P70,000 pesos!

This is just one of the 16 sets of prizes she's giving away and this is the one I am eyeing to win.

Woman On Top Loot:

One winner will take home Flawless Face and Body Clinic Gift Certificates worth P2,500.00, LapDance 14”- 15” luxe laptop bag (manmade and genuine leather- made), and Covergirl makeups (Lash Blast Length mascara, Liquiline Blast Eyeliner, and 2 Covergirl Natureluxe Lipbalms), and Royal Effem Delight Fluid Bronzer

There are more great prizes to win so you better head on over to her blog here and join her giveaway! BTW, it ends May 31st!

Interest in Stocks

For the longest time, I have been overly curious how the stock market works. I’ve heard several success stories of people buying stocks and earning a lot from their shares and I wonder how they do it. Lately, I noticed that I’ve been reading the Business Section of the daily newspaper, something that I don’t usually do. I am very interested in learning how to make my money grow – be it in buying and selling shares in the stock market, investing in trust funds or purchasing shares of penny stocks from Timothy Sykes.

I know I can always save my money in the bank but the low monthly interest,  which is close to none by the way, does not appeal to me that much. My husband and I have been thinking of starting up our own business but we’re still on the researching process on what kind to put up and if we have enough capital to start with.

Some of my friends are even urging me to join those pyramid companies where you won’t do anything and yet, you’ll still earn by way of your down line. It sounds too good to be true to me so I didn’t really pursue that nor do I intend to.

I do hope I’ll get to learn the ropes on purchasing and selling stock shares. Can anybody teach me?

The Road to Healthy Living

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Whitney Farms for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I admit that when I was younger, I ate whatever I fancy eating even if it's fatty or has artificial ingredients as long as it will satisfy my craving – fast food burgers and fries, chips and dips –you name it, I’m sure I ate it. Now, that I am a bit older (and hopefully wiser) with a few sickness already, I am gearing towards healthy eating for myself and for my family. I would want my son to grow up in a healthy environment and to be disciplined when it comes to his health.

Anyway, my mother-in-law grows her own garden - with some vegetables and fruit-bearing trees - she's keeping everything organic by planting her seedlings in organic soil and feeding them only organic plant food. I want to be able to do the same and grow my own organic garden and feed myself and my family only organic produce. It sure would be great to rid our bodies of the harmful toxins that we probably get from the unhealthy food that we eat.

Whitney Farms organic plant food is the best because it does not have any harmful chemicals that might damage your plants or worse be harmful to you and your family's health. What's even better is that they're giving away a $3.00 off coupon for plant food and soil so you can be on your way to healthy living as well.

What are you waiting for? Let's all move towards better eating and better health with Whitney Farms®!

I Survived the PPSI Amazing Race Challenge

Last Friday was our company outing/team building in Club Balai Isabel in Talisay, Batangas (more on the venue in later posts). We left around 9 in the morning and arrived at the resort at 11am, had lunch, checked in and took some rest before we headed out again to the grounds to start the PPSI Amazing Race Challenge.

Days before, when I received the email from the HRD telling me which team I belong to, I was a bit hesitant to join the challenge. I've been suffering from Asthma for the last 5 years and even though I haven't had an attack for a while now, I was scared that participating in the challenge would trigger it.

But then I thought, I've been wanting to join something like this for the longest time now and since I am not one to back out of a challenge (even if I am asthmatic), I joined.

I am part of the yellow team and we had nine stations to complete. Now, this is the part where I'll let the photos do the talking. :D

The Sunshine-y Yellow Team!

1st Challenge:  Crack the Riddles - our team answered the first two
without difficulty but we had a hard time answering the third
making us the last team to leave the 1st station.

Taken after we completed the 2nd station - sack race - where everybody from the team
have to get in a sack in twos and jump together from point a to point b and back to a.

Station 4: Find the missing coin in a bowl filled with flour

Station 6: Eating Challenge - we had to eat one "balut" each! The other teams had adidas,
betamax, isaw and one-day old chicks

Station 7: Obstacle Course - we went under some ropes and crawled in the mud,
crossed a narrow plank, jumped through some tires and logs and went up
this "wall" to complete the station.

Station 8: Sudoku

Station 9: Jump in the pool and complete the words "Team Building"

I know I am missing photos of stations 3 and 5. I can't find any photos from my friends' albums either. But on Station 3, the smallest girl from the team had to do a three pointer in the basketball court and Station 5 is the "trust" station wherein one member of the team was blindfolded while another member guides him through verbal instructions on where to go.

I must say that this is the most tiring yet most fun team building I have ever attended and I am just so proud of myself for finishing the race without having an asthma attack. 

So, did my team win? Sadly no, we got lost on our way to the last station but it's alright. We all had fun, anyway and we still got Php 1,500.00 in consolation prize. Pang McDo din yun! =)

A Good Enough Mother

"This is my official entry to TechPinas.com Gadget Bonanza BlackBerry Power Pair Edition".

I always knew I would love to have my own child. Even if I was deathly scared of hospitals and needles and people wearing lab gowns whose faces are hidden beneath face masks – I knew deep down, I would face all these fears for the opportunity to give birth to another life.

When I finally got pregnant and the pregnancy became too complicated, putting my baby at risk, I decided to resign from my good-paying job and prioritized my child above all else. When I gave birth, I decided to stay at home and be a devoting mother to my son – putting his needs first before mine.

Almost two years after my son, Johan, was born. I am finally ready to get back to the work force. I miss my job, the perks that come with having my own money, a new set of friends. What I didn’t realize is how hard it’s going to be to leave the little one behind, every day, five days a week.

That’s why I am so glad to have my Blackberry with me at all times. With my Blackberry 9300 3G phone, I can always make a call at home to say hi to my son; I can post significant motherhood quotes over at Facebook with just a few button presses; I can send Twitpics of my son whenever he welcomes me home with his wet kisses and warm hugs; I can check on my yahoo groups and stay in touch with my mommy friends and chat about the latest books, studies and educational toys that would benefit Johan. It is great that Blackberry is paving the way for me to still be a mother despite the fact that I am working away from home.

Being a mom truly changed me. I realized that my life does not belong to me anymore but to this tiny being that is depending on me. I am not aiming to be a perfect mother, I am nowhere near perfect. What I am aiming for is to be a good enough mother to my son, one that my son will be proud of, one that my son would think highly of despite the need for me to be away from him five days a week. And from the bottom of my heart, I thank you, Blackberry, for helping me do just that.

Family Travel Plans

My family and I have been contemplating on traveling together. We’ve been on constant planning where to go, what places to visit, how to travel to the place but none of plans, however, have pushed through.

We cannot quite decide where to go, one wants to go to Tagaytay while the other wants to go to Puerto Galera. Me, I’d love to go somewhere overseas, that is, if we have the budget to do that. I wanted the kids to bond together because they don’t see each other that often. I wanted them to grow up like me and my cousins did. We are all bonded so close that we treat each other more as sisters and brothers than merely cousins.

I’ve been searching online for cheap apartments for rent that could fit everybody in. There were a lot of options over at airbnb. I’ve seen apartments, condos, vacation houses even castles to name a few. These are all good options and I’m going to discuss this with everybody else so we could get to travel before summer ends and before school starts.

I hope everybody’s schedules will meet so our plans will finally push through. I also hope I could get to take a leave off work to do just that.

Mother's Day 2012

We were supposed to celebrate it the day before which was Saturday because hubby and I were anticipating a huge crowd filling up the malls on the day itself. But my husband was too tired to get up hence we celebrated it on Sunday instead.

My sisters and I were to meet at 2pm at Alabang Town Center to surprise our mom. Hubby decided we should leave early and have lunch first before the get together. So off we went and we arrived at ATC around 12:30. As expected, there were a lot of people in the mall and all the good restaurants were packed with hungry people. We weren't able to find any space and we ended up at the food court. Sad.

I didn't expect us to celebrate Mother's Day in the food court, eating so-so food which costs a lot, almost as much as those from the place we were supposed to have our lunch. #whatawasteofmoney

Johan, however, seemed to enjoy the huge crowd and the food which was a given. It's so cute whenever we passed by a table where people were eating and Johan would suddenly stop, smile at them and then say "Mmmm", in appreciation to what they're having for lunch. He sure brightened up my gloomy day plus the new pair of Havaianas that hubby bought me as gift. Thanks, Dad!

When my sisters, brother and parents have arrived (and the surprise given away), we relived our childhood and ordered Beef Stew at a Korean fast food joint, Kimchi, where we used to eat when we were kids. I swear by the taste of this, it is so good and tastes the same as many years back.

I then treated everybody to glasses of Halo-Halo from Razon's and Chowking.

Overall, it still was a good celebration even if the day didn't start out right. My arms are still aching from carrying Johan almost the entire day, he refused to go to anybody else than me and husband. But, who's complaining? Definitely not me. I know it'll only be a short while until he will refuse to be carried by me as well. I am enjoying it as much as I still can.

Belated Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful Moms!

The Joys of Online Shopping

I have been an online buyer for years. For me, it’s easier to buy online than to go to an actual store with a throng of other customers and then fall in line again at the fitting rooms and then again at the counter to pay for your items. Besides, I find more items that I want online, mostly imported stuff.

The first time I bought something online is for a bag and I remember even staying up late at night to watch the bidding take place on Ebay. The adrenaline rush and the anxiety of winning the item up for bidding is great, well, especially if I won the item I am bidding for.

Now, that I am a mom, most of the items I buy are for my son – clothes, shoes, books, some snacks, creams and whole lot of other stuff. The modes of payment are very varied and I can even decide which option I could use, which is a huge advantage to buyers. However, there came a few times when my funds are low and the bidding for the item I’ve been watching will be ending soon. Since, there is no way I could pay for the it; I sadly let the item go. It would be nice to have some sort of ebay loans I could acquire and then pay for the loan come the next payday. That really would be great!

The joys of online shopping truly is contenting yet draining to the wallet. Wouldn't you agree?

Our Third Wedding Anniversary

We didn't end up in Tagaytay, after all. We chose to celebrate the day with a movie date, lunch and lots of quality time together.

After reading many great reviews of the movie The Avengers, we decided to watch the movie in 3D in Alabang Town Center. We arrived early around 11am to purchase the tickets and to be able to reserve seats of our choosing. After which, we just strolled along the mall, looking for things to buy but sadly we didn't find anything we liked.

Since we both had breakfast at home we decided to just have lunch right after the movie, we only bought a couple of Hokkaido Milk Teas from Serenitea and a couple of hotdog sandwiches from Smokey's to bring inside the cinema.

By 12:15, we're already in line for the screening and exactly 30 minutes before the schedule, a cinema employee announced that the 3D screening of the movie was cancelled for the day because of technical problems. Such a disappointment, especially since it'll be the first time that hubby and I will be watching in 3D. Yep, we're 3D virgins! Haha!

It would have been great to have watched the movie in 3D =(

Anyway, after hearing the announcement, we immediately went back to the ticket counter to have our tickets exchanged to a regular movie screening which was at 1:45pm. Sadly though, there weren't much seats available and I was only able to get us two seats at the far left side of the cinema, five rows down from the screen. We were that close! We were scared we won't be able to enjoy the movie but surprisingly we did. Yes, The Avengers is a great movie and it's worth every cent.

After that, we were supposed to go to PF Chang's to have lunch, but there were a lot of people and we're already hungry given that it was already 4pm, so we ditched the plan of eating there. Where did we end up in? North Park!

We're both craving for Chinese food and North Park is the closest we could find to silence our rumbling tummies. While waiting for the food to be served, hubby and I talked about a lot of things. How we are at work, our son, plans for the future. We even talked about having another baby. I opened up to him why it's hard for me to decide if I even want another child. I told him how traumatized I've been with Johan's birth and if I were the only one to decide, I would be more than happy to just have Johan with us. But, I tell him, it makes me sad to think that Johan will grow up alone, so I decided to give him a sister, not in the near future, of course, it'll have to be carefully planned like 3-4 years more. 

Did you notice that I specifically wrote "give him a sister"? Yes, if ever I'll be having another child, the baby has to be a girl so I have an assignment - research on ways to choose a specific gender for baby. Is there any?

Oops, I got off track with the second baby thing. Going back to our anniversary celebration, we had our lunch of our usual order - Chicken Feet for appetizers, Yang Chow Fried Rice and Boneless Spareribs for the main and we skipped dessert because we're already full. We had the in-house special Lemonade and Four Seasons to quench the heat.

Our anniversary celebration might just like be any usual day but as hubby pointed out to me, it doesn't really matter how extravagant or how simple the celebration is as long as we're together, which is what really matters.

Happy Anniversary, dear hubby! Thank you for another wonderful year of love and companionship. Three years down and a lifetime to go!