Nap Time Rocks!

Poor Dora

Having a conversation with a toddler is like having a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.
–
Me: Mia, where’s Dora? (expecting a smart answer)

Mia: Atay na! (*patay*)

Oh no!

Travel (wish) List

I’d like to see the world, one place at a time. You can consider this my travel bucket list, in no particular order.

• Camiguin (“Island Born of Fire”) and its sunken graves, falls, hot and cold springs, white beaches (of course!), and Mantigue Island
• Palawan and its underground rivers (the last time I was there I was ‘stranded’ in an island… a very beautiful one)
• Pagudpud
• Batanes
• Bohol and its beaches
• Kota Kinabalu, Borneo and its beaches
• Bangkok, Thailand
• Paris, France
• Italy
• Greece
• Singapore
• Hong Kong and Disneyland!
• Caramoan, Camarines Sur
• Cairo, Egypt
• Sydney, Australia
• Tywyn and Wales
• Anchorage, Alaska
• Spain
• Nassau, Bahamas
• Cayman Islands
• Georgia, the country
• Edinburgh, Scotland

I guess I’m really just a free spirit. Will update this from time to time.

Foundations [lp]

Buildings are beautiful when they have great foundations. Come disasters for great structures with weak bases, they won’t be pretty anymore when they’re in heaps of rubble. Diba?

The reason why I’m pointing this out is because I heard Smart Buddy’s Me na Me radio ad earlier today and I thought that it didn’t promote such nice values.

The VO in the ad starts by asking kung strict ba parents ng nililigawan mo or something to that effect. The girl VO says “sorry ha, strict parents ko eh” in a pakipot way. Then the VO suggests na araw-arawin mo nalang sa telepono! Labo ha. Ligawan mo nalang sa text araw-araw, gabi-gabi.

Call me conservative. Whatever. I still think it wasn’t promoting the best of principles. So ano yun, never mind tradition to pay courtesy to the girl at home? Medyo hindi yata ako agree dun ah.

Sa huli nung ad sinagot nung girl yung lalaki. Okaaay.

Alarming lang what kind of values our kids are growing in these days. I know when I was younger and raging in teenage angst and hormones my parents worried about the same things. Pero ngayon, iba na eh. What with ingrained technology in our lifestyles. Text lang, pwede mo na ligawan. Mapapasagot mo pa. Eh hello, sa Facebook nga lang pwede ka na magka-gf/bf ng hindi mo pa nam-meet yung tao.

Like I said, foundations are what make a sound building. It won’t be beautiful if the base wasn’t strong.

–

The Baguio Manor Hotel at Camp John Hay. Canon EOS400D.

This week’s Litratong Pinoy theme: Gusali

Picture perfect

Clarice: Smile Mia, we’re on camera!

Mia: Ito na nga, naka-smile na.

Clarice: Ganito turo sakin ng mommy ko!

Mia: I’m 2 years old!

Clarice: Hinde, ganito pag nagpapa-peechur. Korean style.

Mia: Ganito?

Clarice: Actually hindi ako sure…

—

This is Mia with her second cousin Clarice.

It’s always fun to watch kids. Their curiousity is just so amusing.

My ABCs

You’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with the ABC’s of YOU. At the end, choose 26 people to be tagged. You have to tag me so really you just need 25 more people. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you – but not in a creepy stalker kind of way.

A – Age: 26

B – Bed size: Queen size, but apparently it’s not enough for Mia

C – Chore you hate: cleaning the bathroom. yaak

D – Dog’s name: Barbie

E – Essential start-your-day item:  uhm, soap, shampoo and water?

F – Favorite color: green and orange and red

G – Gold or Silver: silver

H – Height: 5’2-3″ i think

I – Instruments you play(ed): Piano, a bit of the guitar and drums

J – Job title: Mommy / Trade Devp’t Mgr

K – Kid(s): Mishka Andrea

L – Living arrangements: from whence I came from

M – Mom’s name: Elsa

N- Nicknames: Ris / Morks

O – Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Nov 20 2006, normal delivery, 2 months too soon

P – Pet Peeve: “Txt speak/spelling” – same here, Mee!

Q – Quote from a movie: uhm, cowabungga? hehe seriously, “time doesn’t heal the wound, but, ever so mercifully, it blunts the edges” or something like that (Al Pacino from 88 Minutes)

R – Right or left handed: Right, learning to write with the left

S – Siblings: Chino and Ian. Only girl

T – Time you wake up: 5:15am on Mondays, it depends the rest of the week

U- Underwear: boy cut ones

V – Vegetable you dislike: string beans. they just don’t chew well

W – Ways you run late: bad estimation of time. in other words…. mali ng gising! hehe

X – X-rays you’ve had: chest

Y – Yummy food you make: Creamy-and-tasty-heart-attack-but-in-a-good-way carbonara

Z – Zoo favorite: the ones we don’t usually have in the philippines.. but it’s sad they’re taken out of their natural habitats, like the tigers

–

Tag from Meeya

heatwave

this is too much. the heat is just too much!

Ice Cream by Ninang Patty (Lomo lc-a)

i want ice cream!!! what’s a good ice cream you can indulge in without the calories though? what’s that brand from DQ again?

Mia moment #1

Mia just loves to shout out loud in places where she knows there will be an echo.

So mommy teaches her the word “echo”.

Mommy: Mia say e-cho (enunciating the syllables very carefully)

Mia: eee-cho! (like eco)

Mommy: No, say eh– (this time emphasizing the ‘e’) –cho!

Mia: eee-cho!

Mommy: haay.

At 28 months

Mia writing

Creating a Creative Spirit in Your Child
Give a toddler’s imagination room to grow — you’ll be amazed at how far it can take her.

By age two, your toddler’s creativity and imagination is fully on display, and what an entertaining show it is! She’ll wow you with herability to scribble a blue blob and call it a picture of a kitty cat, or pick up a stick and wave it around like a pretend firefighter’s hose. Your 29-month-old can tell you she’s planning to “move my house to the moon” with pure conviction. You’ve gotta love that!

The Power of Imagination

What toddlers lack in ability (and logic), they easily make up for in imagination… – (Continue reading at Whattoexpect.com)

I am resisting the urge to bring out the Play Doh and let her play with it. But why not, right? We had so much fun the last time we played with clay, just very, very messy.

Beeing Well

This could not just be coincidence and might be God reminding me more to take up that long stalled promise to myself. Everyday (or at least every week) I vow to allot at least an hour to jog again. I was already successful last year but guess what, work happened.

I know no excuse will hold up if I really, really wanted to. But hey, we’re all allowed that little wiggle room, right? Mine just had to be justified. *sheepish grin*

But anyway back to the impending signs of health and wellness, Bumble Bee Foods made a commitment to donate $0.15 for every mile that a runner logs into a website. The project is called BeeWell Miles and the donation goes to the Breast Cancer Network of Strength, . (I wish there were more companies with advocacy like this, so it’s not just all marketing and profitability). And if I’m not mistaken as of now there’s about $1,500 worth running/walking miles up for donation already.

If you know a breast cancer patient/survivor/victim, you can also dedicate miles for them. It’s really a very meaningful cause and you don’t just get to Bee Well yourself. I need to spread word around (and maybe gain a jogging buddy in the process?) about this. In fact, I know a couple of joggers and health buffs who might be interested in this.

So it all comes back to committment. Truth be told, my mom and I have been getting into bouts of argument because of this since she’s been pushing me to “go excercise!” or “go jogging!” for the past year. And frankly, I’m hating all the nagging. I know what needs to be done I just lacked the motivation.

This should be enough of a sign.

All rice

a matter that’s close to filipino hearts. quite frankly, who prefers GMOs?

sign the petition against genetically modified rice.

Water therapy

Healing takes some time, a fact I haven’t exactly embraced with arms wide open. After all who wants to get stuck in a place where you don’t know where you are, whether in somebody else’s life or life itself? But I’m on the way there. It takes some time, but I think I’ve passed the majority of the timeline.

Al Pacino in 88 Minutes said, “time does not heal the wound. It will though, in its most merciful way, blunt the edge ever so slightly.” Whoever thought of that line must be given an award.

What do you do then, to pass the time? To wait until it hits you, that life is just waiting to be lived again? I’ve tried it, letting myself drown in work, but after some time it backfires. You never want burnout while you’re in the process of moving on. That’s double jeopardy.

I’ve realized the water is my therapy. Whether it’s going to the beach, swimming in the pool, or just plain looking at it (let alone taking pictures of it), it relaxes me. I think it has something to do with our psychological predisposition to go back to our mother’s womb where we’re surrounded with water. It’s a comfy and secure place (for a fetus), albeit a little disgusting. But it’s true, I’ve read it somewhere.

I’ve thought of keeping pet fishes again like we used to. I was never the one to clean out the aquarium but I really think it adds some zen to your house, whatever that means. I’d like to get some stuff from North Coast Pets for the aquarium if that happens. There are some pretty cool stuff in there for the fishies like organic pet food and coral reef replicas. Talk about therapy. For now, I’m going to plan another trip to the beach with some best friends. Nothing beats that coping strategy.

Water, please!

A day out swim is just NOT enough. I’m so proud of Mia, she’s not scared of the water at all! (Hello, she’s not even afraid of the dark). She would count to 3 and jump off the edge of the pool into my arms. Now that’s brave. 

We still want to go swimming. Water please!

Customize it

Now how come we don’t have customizable plans for landlines, cable tv and internet here? I’ve come across this service provider (in the US though) called Charter that offer customizable packages for all three which makes it easy to save a lot and just get what service you need. Maybe we do have it but I’m just not aware?

I’m having a bit of a dilemma again with our cable and internet service providers. Our current cable subscription gives us too many channels we don’t even get to watch and it doesn’t have the one I want (Playhouse Disney). But if I upgrade to get that, it’s too expensive. Plus, our internet provider sucks, even if it’s for free (thank you wifi router). Cable internet would definitely be great.

I won’t miss out anymore on Heroes, House MD, GG, Prisonbreak, or Grey’s. Right now it seems like I’m living in a cave. Haha.

Here, cable tv/internet service providers have yet to take advantage of these gimmicks. It’s not really a surprise though since a large part of the tv-watching population hasn’t hooked up to the cable networks yet. There have been some promos but not as big as this one from Charter. Oh well, research time.

Interview with the traveling vamp

Pictures speak louder than words, don’t they? I did this photointerview 2 years ago and it’s about time I updated it.

full time mom and biggest fan of Mia, never regretted it, and never will. day job includes pimping and corporate slavery. love to go places and the beach especially. want to be an NGC photojournalist.

Clue: the One who made all the beautiful sunsets, magnificent beaches, and all the good in this universe.

young enough to enjoy life’s adventures so I’m sure in that area Mia and I will get along just fine. as my good friend P said, we will be the ones who will never grow old.

More »

Kissimmee

The cobwebs were thick and refused to untangle. It took a while to shake them away and after some time I pried my eyes open to blinding light. And chirping birds, and such fresh smelling breeze. I wasn’t in Kansas no more, that’s for sure.

I took a stroll down the Main Street, I was pretty sure that was it, with quaint little shops alongside and paused at the large billboard down to my left.

“Welcome to Kissimmee“

Then someone called my name. To the aquatic center, he said. The bass were biting. I took a step towards the park and almost fell. I was swinging up in the air in wide circles, with people around me throwing their hands up in the air and big smiles on their faces.

I was in the carnival and it was night. The pretty lights adorned the dark like stars come down from the sky. The music filled the air and smelt of butter popcorn and hotdogs. I didn’t want to come home yet but someone was calling my name again.

“Hey come on, lunch is over. Meeting starts in 10 minutes. 10 minutes…. 10 minutes…”

The cobwebs were suddenly back, and I was fighting to stay in Florida.

—

Yup, dreaming. By this time, it’s not a wonder to find me daydreaming out of frustration with our still-pending incentive trip. It was supposed to be in Tokyo last February but the visa approval went kaput; then it was voted to be moved in June for Cairo but that’s not even sure yet. But who’s complaining right? The best things in life, as they say are free. No worries as long as we get that well deserved reward. Soon, I hope.

And of by the way, Kissimmee is a real city in Florida and they’re giving away three (3) weekend getaways (3 days/2 nights) for two (2); and two (2) weeklong vacations for four (4).