Spending Time with Dear Lolos & Lolas

Today we went to the Golden Acres (Home for the Aged) to distribute gifts to the lolos and lolas (grandpas & grandmas). It is my first time to go there, although this is the favorite beneficiary of my FIL. Remember he recently celebrated his 90th birthday, and in lieu of gifts, guests were instead requested to share a cash donation for the beloved elders of the Home for the Aged. A sufficient amount was raised which enabled us to provide towels, face towels, house dresses, shorts, tees, bed covers and slippers to the residents of Golden Acres. We were warmly welcomed, some even gave me a kiss and wanted their pictures taken with me. I was deeply moved by these gestures, surely they miss their families who have abandoned them. Quite sad, but they are better off living there, rather than roaming the streets of the city. I can't help but wonder, why can some people just abandon their relatives? Are they heartless? I was just overflowing with joy, spending time with these lolos and lolas, they're very sweet and friendly.

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Revitalize your Skin

It's amazing that people now discover a lot of uses from fruit extracts. Take for example the fruit Gac. Not many of us know about this fruit and the benefits we get from them. Gac is a tropical fruit grown mostly in Vietnam. A lot consider it as a "fruit from heaven" because it promotes longevity, health and vitality. Recent research shows that gac contains concentrated amounts of carotenoids, and lypocarotenes, more than you'll ever get from tomatoes and carrots. These are natural sources of antioxidants which help support strong cellular rejuvenation. Since the extract you get from gac is oil, it is essential for the absorption of fat soluble nutrients, since its digestion is assisted by natural fruit oils. This puts gac ahead of the other fruits.

Stpaulbrands.com has come up with a dietary supplement made from the oil extract of the gac fruit which supports skin health. Having a very good skin should always start from inside out. R.G. Skin Revitalizer, when taken daily helps in skin nourishment because of the presence of antioxidants. It works from inside out thus it complements topical skin care. You will be amazed at how your skin glows. Antioxidants are highly needed by our bodies because it keeps free radicals under control. Now that we know the benefits we get from the gac fruit, we can now decide to include it in our daily dietary supplements.

**Sponsored Post**

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5 Amazing Nights

I was tagged by Cuz Marie and Anna aka Francine some 100 years ago ^_^ , geez I just couldn't find the time doing all these tags so it took this long =)

1. HS Club's Party - when my then crush gave me his hanky which I kept for a very long time, I guess until I graduated from college, lol.

2. On my 25th birthday - when I dated this guy who really made me feel that I was really important.

3. August 22, 1992 - When I married my husband, you already know why ^_^

4. August 28, 1993 - Seeing my darling doll Ish for the first time.

5. December 15, 1995 - Seeing my darling boy Josh for the first time.

I'm not tagging anyone with this, I've been tagging a lot of people lately, but if you want to do this, go ahead and grab it, then please let me know, okie?

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Reviews by Real People

This is what I normally do whenever I go places for a vacation. I check out the country over the internet first before making my itinerary. I don't like wasting my time looking for places to dine, to shop, or to chill out at nights.

If you are planning to spend your vacation in London, I suggest you visit Trustedplaces.com first. Here you can find new places to eat, drink and chill out. They have an extensive list of restaurants, London bar , shopping places, tourist attractions and hotels. And what's nice about it, you get to read recommendations of real people. This is what I actually look for, rather than depend on some ads. The people at trustedplaces.com share their reviews of the places they love, and places to avoid. I find this site very helpful, with just a click of the mouse, you will be able to discover interesting places to go to, no need to worry if the place is good or not, as every place is rated, and so it's up to you to decide really!

**Sponsored Post**

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True or False

Francine wants to know if I'm a snobby girl. And the result is...ah very true!

You Are A Little Snobby

And being a little snobby every once and a while is totally allowed. Because if no one was ever snobby, no one would ever try to dress up or look pretty. And while you do enjoy the finest things in life (that you can afford), you tire of superficiality. You know there's more to life than what's just on the surface.

Are You a Snobby Girl?

Now, let me tag the following gurls, actually I have an idea already, but then I might be wrong ^_^

1. Cuz Marie
2. Shern's Mom
3. Cutie Patootie Rhada
4. Shireen
5. KC

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On Wedding Vows

I've witnessed too may weddings already because of our business, each wedding different from the other. Others opt for a simple one, while the rest go for grand weddings. One of my favorite portions when it comes to our coverages is the wedding rites proper. Normally I find myself shedding a tear especially during the exchange of wedding vows. I just cannot help it, especially if the couple wrote their own wedding vows. I've witnessed several grooms cry as their brides look deep into their eyes while saying their vows.

It's really up to you how you want to go about your wedding vows. But for me, I just find writing your own very romantic. Personalized vows are now commonly used not only in civil ceremonies, but in religious ceremonies as well. If writing your own personalized vow is difficult for you, and this is the reason why you just want to settle for the statutory vows instead, Hitweddings.com is the website for you. Here, they give you ideas and simple steps on how to write your own memorable and original wedding vows, vows that your partners and guests will remember for a long time. Remember this is the time you can show the person you want to spend the rest of your life with how you really feel, with your guests as witnesses too. Start writing your own weddings vows now, after all it's not as difficult as you think it is.

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Pissed Off Big Time!

I just do not understand why there are still people who are ill-mannered and inconsiderate. At our wedding coverage yesterday, the couple hired two different teams of photographers. This is not the first time that we covered a wedding with 2 teams of photographers, but this is the first time I experienced such irresponsible photographer. I was elbowed, yes me, a frail photographer in my little black dress! How dare him! We were all lined up, ready to take photos of the couple, I was positioned in the right spot, and he was beside me. He probably wanted to exchange places with me, so he can take better pictures. But what the hell is that elbow for? This is not a do or die shot anyway! I may have forgiven you when you blocked my way twice or thrice, but this elbow thing? Man, we shall still see each other!

This is work, and remember we were both hired. Can you please at least give courtesy and show some respect next time, you are a photographer too and you wouldn't want this to happen, know how to play fair. Use your head, you can still take good pictures even in the sidelines you know!

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Video Captioning

The hardest part when it comes to editing a video is the captioning portion. I should know, because whenever our editor does his thing, I often sit it out with him, and checking once in a while his work especially if the idea of the whole video is mine. I just want to make sure that the outcome from the storyboard I gave, is what I would see in his output. We would always spend time arguing where and which part of the screen the captions should be placed. Of course I wouldn't want it placed anywhere, sacrificing some of the onscreen graphics, just to be able to come up with the clients' request for a caption. Maybe we can hire the services of vicaps.com for their closed captioning. We can send them the copy of our edited video and just leave the captioning with them. It's totally different when it's being done by people whose forte is captioning. They just know the right places where captioning can be placed without sacrificing online graphics.

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The Beautiful Villa Nicoletta

I have always loved the sea, and if ever my husband will decide to retire somewhere near a beach, I will not have second thoughts of giving up city life. But meantime that we are far from the retiring age, it would be wonderful to bring the whole family and experience the sun, the quiet waters, away from the hustle and bustle of city life. And here's one place I dream of visiting. It is located in the US Virgin Islands, in Caret Bay, St. Thomas. Gosh I can't seem to get over this place when I first stumbled upon it in the web. It is for me the best place to spend even only for a week. Villa Nicoletta is just one beautiful place I can only dream of, but who knows, one day can we can pack our bags and enjoy the place. Isn't it that dreams are to be realized? I'm sure you will agree with me about Villa Nicoletta. It's just paradise! It's like you wouldn't want to leave the place and just spend the rest of your life there. No stress, only pure bliss! Imagine this, a villa located atop a cliff overlooking the serene waters of the carribean sea, sunbathing or reading your favorite novel at the balcony. What about having dinner by the balcony too, watching the stars twinkle at night, isn't that romantic. This can be a perfect honeymoon destination too, the whole villa all by yourself, wow! For now, I can only dream, yeah poor me ^_^

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Batch Meeting

I once again attended the general meeting of our batch(HS) held at the conference room of my alma mater, Trinity College. Since we will be hosting the 25th(yikes) Alumni Homecoming this coming February 2006, we had to work overtime for the preparations. It's been nice seeing some more batchmates, others I can recall, others not. But it's been good, we get to update on each others lives, reminisce a bit, laugh about the good old times. I will always look forward to these meetings, a time to renew friendships with long lost friends.

Arlyn, Doudelyn, Millicent, Jing, Richard, moi, & Aurea

After the meeting, we were treated to dinner by Jing (now AVP of AIU Corporation, AIG) at Tempura. The fun and reminiscing cotinues! We can only laugh at the silly things we did back in High School. Thanks Jing for the wonderful dinner!

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I Love To Dance

Isn't is obvious? I just love to dance. If only I can learn all the dances, then it would be a dream come true. I remember a point in my life that I wanted to be a professional dancer, like the ones seen on TV, yeah really, I'm not kidding. And if there are opportunities to learn how to dance, I usually make a go for it. Like there was a time I was into ballroom dancing. I was doing it once a week and it was just fun. I learned different dances at that time, like swing, tango, jive and aventura bachata . Too bad, my ballroom dancing days ended too soon, that I am not able to master this dances. Well, I can still learn especially the bachata. At Bachatacrazy.Com, they offer a step by step guide to bachata dancing. They do the instuctional step by step, with an in-depth analysis of footwork, styling and hand positions. You can be assured that you can catch up, they do detailed close ups of each step, so there's nothing you will miss. You can watch the dvd over and over again, until you perfect it. And the nice thing about it, you can learn the dance anytime, if you want to do it everyday and make it as part of your cardio exercise, then that would be great. I tell you, dancing is a very good form of exercise, it can never be boring, take it from me!

**Sponsored Post**

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Blogging Tips

A tag from Shern’s Mom. She wants me to share 1 more blogging tip in addition to the list below.

Here’s how it goes:

When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.) Write your own blogging tip for other bloggers. Try to make your tip general. Tag as many people as you want.

1. Look, read, and learn. http://www.neonscent.com/
2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. http://www.bushmackel.com/
3. Don’t let money change ya! http://www.therandomforest.info/
4. Always reply to your comments. http://chattiekat.com/ *
5. Blog about what you know & love. http://sugar-queens-dream.blogspot.com/
6. Don’t use filthy language-buy a dictionary. http://shinade.blogspot.com/ *
7. Blog about something educational. http://climateofourfuture.org/
8. Be yourself; others will follow. http://sfgirl-thealiennextdoor.blogspot.com/ *
9. Don’t have too many blogs that will become a chore to maintain. http://cubicledenizen.blogspot.com/
10. Keep it simple, user-friendly, interesting and organised! http://erishaling.blogspot.com/ *
11. Keep the blog simple and sweet!! http://www.leslieho.com/
12. Share with others your thoughts and don’t be shy! http://groovy-olives.com/blog
13. Never ask for link exchange. Blog hop to increase traffic. http://www.jessieling.com/
14. Don’t clutter your blog with ads all over the place. IT’S IRRITATING. http://oliviasy.blogspot.com/
15. Don’t comment for the sake of commenting. Some looked too fake and its a big turn off! http://tagsnsuch.blogspot.com/ *
16. Share something interesting and you will gain more readers. http://judychow.blogspot.com/ *
17. Show that we care to all bloggers, treat each other as friends. http://mummyinvain.com/
18. Pictures say a million words. Keep them coming! http://familyfriendsnfood.blogspot.com/
19. Blogging should be fun or you’ll get tired of it pretty soon. http://justmyrambling.com/
20. Don’t think people will come to your blog if you’re not willing to pay a visit to them. http://joshualai.blogspot.com/
21. Everyone loves read short posting and best, illustrated with a picture. http://www.demoments.net/blog/ *
22. Try not to publish more than 5 posts in one blog a day. Even if it’s from feed reader, it’s quite hard to digest and catch up reading everything. http://montessorimum.com/
23. Blog, the other window to peek into people’s life, minus the trouble. keep a certain level of privacy to yourself. http://www.babyshern.blogspot.com/ *24. Use simple words, not like the ones that require your readers to consult the dictionary. Girlie of http://www.hipncoolmomma.com/

Now it’s your turn to share some of your blogging tips:

1. Cuz Marie
2. Rhada
3. Thess
4. Anna aka Francine

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The Fan in You

I am not much of a football fan, but I have friends especially those ones located in the US who are. It's fun seeing their family watch a football game wearing a jersey of their favorite football players. And not only that, they have a section in their house dedicated to NFL memorabilias. I asked them where they buy the items, they said that some were bought in the football stadium but most of the items they got online. Now I can email them this site where they can buy different NFL Merchandise. This site is dedicated to NFL fans where they can buy different accessories, apparels, and collectibles. Wouldn't it be fun wearing this cool official headband with a wig that has the official color and logo of your favorite team attached to it? It's like shouting it out to the whole world that you are indeed a serious die-hard fan of football. It would also be a nice idea to dress up like your favorite player when you go to a halloween party, then have your face painted with the color of your favorite team or better yet wear a rubber face mask decorated in your team's color. I'm sure you will be one of a kind that day, unique, away from the traditional halloween costumes you see. You can find all these, and much more at fanshopinc.com. They not only offer NFL stuffs, but also baseball, hockey and basketball stuffs.

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Sad =(

The report cards were released the other day, but Josh was not given his, instead I got a “love letter” from his class adviser requesting us to go see the HELE (Home Economics) teacher. So I went to the AV Room yesterday and talked with the teacher. He did not pass 1 project so he got a grade of 0, making his grade in the report card 68, yes for the first time, a red mark. The teacher claimed that she sent a warning slip, to which I asked, how come I did not get any? She showed me the copies but could not provide her duplicate copy of the slip she was suppose to give my son. I really didn’t have time to argue with her as I was in a hurry to leave for a meeting. There will be a PTC tomorrow, and I’m still not resting my case.

Now he can’t be in the top 10, even if his average is 90.4 because of that damn HELE. First time since he started school. I am sad and disappointed, but what can I do?

Ish on the other hand got her report card too. Yep, I’m quite disappointed with her grades too, but encouraged her to concentrate more. It’s hard raising up teenagers, seems like a lot is getting in their way when it comes to their studies, they are not as focused anymore. I don’t like to pressure them either, but at the same time I am disappointed when they fall short of my expectations…what now?

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They Need Help

As I've written in my previous posts, drug is a very serious problem being faced by our society now, in fact crimes are committed everywhere. Most of the time culprits are under the influence of drugs. If we don't do something about it, then what will happen to the world we live in? It's no longer safe to move around. Now it's up to us to do our little share. We can tell them about the benefits of drug rehabilitation, which at this point can really solve their problem. We can make them aware that there are treatments available, and finding the right rehabilitation center is really important.

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Revolutionary Ironing Boards

When I stumbled upon this website, I was really smiling ear to ear. How primitive I can get, I keep telling myself! It's about time I do away with my conventional ironing board, anyway it has served me well. Introducing, the revolutionary Ironing boards. I really like their Lifestyle Fold-away Wall Mounted Ironing board. You see my laundry room is very small, and this is just the ideal ironing board I can install. What's nice about it is it does not stand in your way when you're done ironing because it's wall mounted. Not only that, it has numerous features that I really like, it swivels and locks at any angle, so you can choose which side you are comfortable in since ironing is such a tedious work. It's sturdy and stable since it's wall mounted, this feature can be attributed to the superb design and engineering. You can choose to mount it according to your height. It's space saving, this is really very important especially to people who has limited space. After use, it can be folded to a about 4 inch wall profile. Don't worry about the installation, you can do it yourself. There's no need to call on somebody to do the installation for you. And there are no special tools either. It's fast and easy. Yeah let me remind you, you get $40 off when you purchase now, or you can buy two and get $100 off. Share this with a friend and avail of the 100 off.

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My Kitchen

This is my beautiful kitchen (imo), I spent sleepless nights (haha how OA) flipping every page of kitchen mags, surfing the internet, just to be able to come up with what I had in mind. And this is the reason too why I cook a lot, a promise given to N just to let me have the hand in designing the kitchen. Nah really, I like spending time in the kitchen, I feel relaxed and can never stop admiring it ^_^

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Learn Salsa Dance Online

I have always loved dancing as far as I can remember. Now that is my way of keeping fit. I have gone to gyms, went into biking and badminton, but nothing beats dancing really. Whatever form of dancing, it can be a very good cardio exercise. I'm now into belly dancing, but I want to try learning the Salsa. But the thing is, I don't think I have the time to squeeze it in my schedule if ever I enrol in a dance studio. I have read in some blogs that you can learn salsa online by becoming a member at SalsaBootCamp.Com. Yay! 24/7 access when you become a member anywhere in the world, I like that! If I'm away on R&R, I can still choose to learn salsa as long as there's internet connection, it's like bringing the dance class everywhere with you. I have watched a portion of their video, and it's like being in a normal dance class where every detail is taken up, instructions very clear, no wonder even people with two left feet or those that never danced salsa before only have good words for them. And before I forget, aside from salsa, you can also lean other latin dances like ChaCha, Merengue, and Bachata.

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Creamy Chicken With Mushrooms

I was out on a Tuesday night to go with N to a client call. The children are not really used to not seeing me home when they get back from school. My daughter sent me an SMS asking where I was so I called her. She had actually nothing to say but, "Mom, the chicken was really sooooooooooooooo good", yes, with a very long O. That's what I like about Ish, she appreciates my cooking always with a very long O when she says sooooooooooo.

So here goes the recipe:

salt and pepper
flour
cooking oil - I use canola oil for frying
1 can button mushrooms
1 tetrabrick nestle all purpose cream
1 small can alpine evaporated milk
chicken broth
red wine
parmessan cheese
thyme
dried oregano
chicken

1. sprinkle chicken strips with salt and pepper then coat with flour and fry until golden brown. Remove excess oil leaving about 1 tsp just enough to cook the mushroom.

2. Heat chicken broth, cream and milk, put a dash of pepper, thyme, dried oregano, and about 2 tbsp of red wine. Add parmessan cheese.

3. Put chicken and mushroom and simmer until tender.

**you can either serve it with rice or pasta**

Note: No pictures taken, I was already running late with my date with fave bff Cuz Marie.

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My Little Tribe

Meet Carla, the woman behind My Little Tribe. She's a mother to four beautiful growing kids and yet still finds time knitting and spinning, a hobby she started in 2003. She is very vocal about hating George W. Bush and very much into politics, in fact she has another blog in another domain documenting all her political views. Carla lives an exciting life in New York but at the same time says, she does not really like New York that much. She loves giving her finished knitting projects as gifts to friends. You should check out her knitting projects, it's really beautiful and the colors she uses for each project is just awesome. Get to know more of Carla's interesting life by dropping by her site, and find out more about her "Little Tribe."

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