Two days left!

I don't know why, but the for the past few weeks I've been so busy with work and family stuff. I wasn't even able to go to the HS reunion the other week.

Such a busy bee...

Anyway, for some unknown reason, I feel really excited with Christmas!!! (Or maybe I'm excited to get Sansrival from Chokiss.. haha! Yay! Food! And the fact that I was supposed to go to work later, but it got canceled. Weee... I know these are just mundane things but it made me really happy. Finally a break! :D )

Okay so it wasn't any unknown reason at all. XD

The other day I bought Mom's present. It was in a huge box. And the store didn't have a bag for it. I didn't want the gift wrap ruined so I carried it around the mall and while going home. Phew! Did my arms hurt or what?! ;_;

Just one more day and I've completed Simbang Gabi... for the second time! :D

And another note, I haven't been able to receive text messages last night. Argh! People thought that I was being suplada and not answering but that's not the case. T____T

It's so hard to think of Christmas gifts, that's why here's my wishlist: (I know its a few days late.. okaaaayyyy weeks but you know I was busy soooooo... ;) )

1. Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella
2. Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho
3. White plastic box where I can stash books and stuff.
4. Post it
5. Coloring pencils
6. Sharpener (the one with the hand crank, oh! oh! and if its battery operated [w/o hand crank]then so much the better! I broke my sharpener/toy [because it looks like a car and has wheels and all xD] last year, so I need a replacement. :( )
7. Playstation 3 with Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion (Well... save the best for last! XD)

Alright, I'll stop spouting nonsense. This post is so random. Hehe! I'm soooooo excited for Christmas. I just know its going to be so much fun! :D

Time flies when you're having fun.

- Calvin


I don't know if I'm having so much fun but time went by REALLY REALLY FAST. I feel like it was just my birthday yesterday but nooooooooo~ ITS ALMOST CHRISTMAS! (And yes, its almost Chrissa's birthday. Hehe...)

So now coming up with the "Things to do before the year ends" list.

1. Update blog. (Yay, doing it now.)

2. Go shopping for stuff. (Stuff is a relative term.)

3. Think of gifts for family, relatives and friends. (Try to come up with something that won't bust my budget.)

4. Get my TIN Number. (I don't want to get lost... again. T_T)

5. Bake a super duper amazing cake. (Because the cake I made last June needs A LOT of improvement in the "Looks" Category... good thing it tasted great. XD)

6. Learn to _____. Hahahahahahahahahahaaa.... ^^;

Will come up with more later, or at least in the next few weeks. :P

Sometimes I want a little sister...

...that I can dress up with new fashionable clothes.
...that would like the girly games I play online.
...that can appreciate the times I play with make-up.
...that would be willing to taught with difficult words and math concepts.
...that would watch Barbie movies and all those fun fun fun kiddie movies with me.
...that can hug me whenever I'm feeling all down and tired after a long day at work.
...that would try to take care of me when I'm sick.
...that would cheer me up with just a cute smile.

But I don't have one.

So I'm spoiling my little niece so much. She's like a little sister to me. I bought her a cute little swimsuit (and of course I also bought my nephew swimming trunks) and then I inflated their little pool in the garage. We also played at timezone and treated them in different fast foods. We also finished reading the new coloring book that Tita Cel gave her. She loves reading and learning new things. She's like a sponge absorbing everything that I teach her. And she already knows how to help out at the kitchen. She's so adorable. :D

Gosh I love those kids so much... breaks my heart every time I hear that their parents are going through a difficult time, with the recession and all the internal family conflicts. :(

Well, I'm trying to do what I can. (And if I had my way, my little niece would be staying with us this summer, just like last year... but mom has tons of commitments and meetings. *sigh* )

Life is truly interesting.

Just when you think you've got it all figured out, something comes out of the blue and shrivels your theories into dust. That way you just have to work back from the start.

Anyway, my life as of late has been anything but boring. Daddy came home last January 18, so I treated my Mom at Banana Leaf and we also got something for Dad. His flight came around 8pm - Singapore Airlines is amazing, they came a few minutes before the estimated time of arrival. Talk about being on time. :D Last week they changed my schedule for tutors from MWF to TWTh. Then yesterday it's been confirmed that I'll be giving tutorials for two Sundays in February and March. And at least once a week I hang-out at Timezone just to mash those buttons in Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion. So much fun. Lolz.

I was also able to watch a few movies like Bedtime Stories, Yes Man and Inkheart. I still can't get the song "Jumper" off my head. :P

American Idol Season 8 is off to a great start! I'll be rooting for the guy who sang "Kiss from a Rose". :D

Dad has some training by next week and he'll scheduled to leave on February 21. Just a month of rest and then it's just the two of us - Mom and me - again. Oh well...

And I've read Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn and Midnight Sun's partial draft. Bella and Edward are really Mary and Gary Sue. If I ever read the word "dazzle" again, I am going to cringe. And yeller? Obsessed much? -_-; Oh, but for the most part... it was an entertaining read. :)

I was chosen to proofread a book. Wow. I mean... I've never done something like that so it was a great honor. Whee~! :D

I also won something from 17 magazine, although I haven't claimed it... but yaaaay! ;)

I'd also love to learn more about taking really good pictures and utilizing Photoshop extensively. I just have to reformat my laptop before doing that. Hmm... :)

And that is about it! Valentines Day is coming soon.. I wonder what's in store for me this year? <3

Merry Christmas! Hohoho... :P

I felt like Santa during Christmas day while giving gifts to my god-children. I definitely enjoyed capturing the funny moments. All my cute nephews, nieces and grandchildren (Oh yes.. the horror... I'm a young grandma) were so game to pose for the camera. ;)

Good thing that I was okay during Christmas, because last December 23 I had a fever. It went down the next day but it came back to haunt me today. :(

I wasn't even able to go to mass. I was really hoping to hear the mass with my nephew and niece and then strolling in Market Market as soon as I'm finished with my volunteer work. But noooooooo... I'm down with a runny nose, tonsilitis and coughing like crazy every few minutes. I blame Manila Bay. Why? Because I couldn't say "No" to the cute kids asking me to come with them to SM Mall of Asia. (You try doing that.. I'm telling you, "No" is not an option to them. @_@)

Ate Amphie was going to meet Ate Grace (a long lost friend) and her kids there. So I went to MoA and woah! There was this pretty nifty place near the Manila Bay where a playground and lots of food stalls stood. It was really nice. Anyway, long story short... I ended up baby-sitting three kids. It took a whole lot of energy to play with them. We played "Simon says...", "The boat is sinking..." and "Agawan base". I had to entertain them for 3 hours... really long bonding time for Ate Amphie and Ate Grace. By 11:30pm we finally found them hanging out at one of the bars and listening to old songs. I was soooooo tired. I barely had any energy left but the kids were chanting "playground!" so off we went. Around midnight they finally decided to leave, but Angelica and Mikaela (Ate Grace's kids) were poking me and clutching my arms, asking to play with me. @_@ Er... am I some sort of toy? Anyway we chased each other as we walked to the jeepney stop. I like those kids, they were so friendly and active. Maybe if I was feeling a bit better we could have stayed longer. :)

By the time I came home, I felt like my throat was burning. But I couldn't sleep because Kuya Edu came and we were bonding over stuff at the province and stuff at his shop. By the time I went to sleep, I kept waking up every 30 minutes because my throat was super itchy and I was coughing so much. It was very, very hard to sleep. :(

So here I am, sitting in front of the laptop. My cousin bought me dalandan to help fight the sickness. My boss wants me to report at work tomorrow. And the kids want to play.

I just want to sleep, sleep, sleep. :D

Ooooff... and Kuya is home! Yaaaay! My present was a bag of Kitkat. Yum! :9

Er... new month?

I'm currently looking for Tales of Legendia stuff because I don't want to spend a lot of time going wherever just to find the crystals I need. Haha...

And yaaaay! Happiness is getting some rest. After working on a holiday, they all decided to not let me work for today. Uber happy. Rest, rest, rest! Today I slept up to 12noon. *plops on a pillow* :D

It's already December. Time sure flies. In a few weeks, my nephews and niece will be spending their Christmas break with us, and Kuya will be coming home. While I was in Trinoma this afternoon, I was remembering how Kuya and I always fought over the silliest things. But when he went away, it's like our closeness went up a notch higher. Weird. Maybe it's me missing how I annoy him to death. :P

And now I leave with this quiz I got from Kimi (not the one from F1). XD

Your rainbow is intensely shaded white, yellow, and green.

What is says about you: You are a contemplative person. You appreciate optimism. You're good at getting people to like you. Those around you admire your fresh outlook and vitality.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Birthday post..

So for today, I was armed and ready to be home alone because Mom has a seminar for the entire day. Then I received a phone call from my Tita, turns out Ate Amphie is coming all the way from the province and she brought Mavik with her.

At first I was shocked. And then I felt happy. Yay for not spending my birthday alone! XD

And so here is the my birthday gift for this year...



They brought me a dozen roses and this doll. It dances, sings and does silly stuff. Haha! XD

My week in pictures...

What started off as a boring week turned out to be one of the most devastating and memorable days of my life.

The first few days of the week, I was bored out of my skull. I was really happy to finally get out of the house and watch Prince Caspian with friends but they are busy with work. Guess I'm the only one with a lot of free time, huh? :(

Anyway, by Friday I was back in UP... not to enroll, mind you. I had to finish teaching those apprentices how to use the ISE with different settings. And I am just glad that I don't have to wait for long hours for the form 5 and other enrollment issues. Yay for being a graduate! Turns out that one of the apprentices had an emergency, one had to finish filing for student loans and I was left with only one apprentice to teach. Wow.

Friday night I watched MMK and cried buckets of tears because of their featured story. I surfed for a while and fell asleep while the laptop was turned on. I woke up around 4am because I suddenly remembered the laptop and quickly turned it off. Then there was a phone call...

It was the most heartbreaking news I've ever heard. Ate Lhet was crying and saying "My house... it's burning..." I was completely shocked. We went there last week and they were still renovating their house. Not only that, they were 6 families living side by side so my 4 other cousins and my uncle were left with nothing. Absolutely nothing but the clothes on their backs.

I was so shocked for about 5 minutes and then I asked my mom what do we plan to do. I told her we should get the kids and keep them in the house for the meantime and then she said that those people need food and shelter. I was still in my sleeping attire (meaning tshirt and shorts) and I just changed my pants, got a taxi and rushed over there.

By the time we got there, the firefighters were still trying to control the fire. All their houses, all their things... everything... burned down to the ground. They were not even able to grab slippers because of panic. Thank God that no one was hurt. Some kids suffered a few scratches but nobody was hurt.

I'm super close to my cousins (on my Mom's side) because they've been taking care of me since I've been born. We even lived with them until I turned 1 year old because our house was under construction.

It was so painful to see all of them crying while sharing their stories on how they barely survived and got out of the big fire. The kids were terrified, I was so worried about them. I tried to make the kids eat, but they all refused. Genevel was throwing up because of shock and fear. They were wet and shivering because the firefighters were spraying water all over and they got soaked. Mom asked me to go with Ate Lyn to buy some food from the market for their lunch. Ate Lyn was still crying while we were on our way to the market. :(

After breakfast, Mom and I went back home to gather clothes that they could use. Then we stopped by the terminal because our cousins back in the province were able to send rice, clothes and pillows. Thank God for their speedy reply. As soon as I texted them, they called me and offered their help. :)

We brought the clothes and other supplies to my cousins. Then we gathered some of the kids and brought them home. Right now, they're all sound asleep... which is good because after the incident they were unable to sleep or think about anything else. :(

Another thing is... school starts in a few days. And all of their things... books, uniform, school supplies... everything... gone. :(

Please pray for my cousins... that they may be able to recover soon and get through this hardship together.

Happy birthday to my very first inaanak, Lee Adam!

Here is a slide show of what they did at the park last May 30. I was taking pictures using my camera phone so the pics are kind-of grainy.

I'm going to miss these kids. They went home a while ago after staying here for over a month. I love them sooooo much. XD

In other news, I called Ate Lai's Cyprus cellphone (she's my cousin). She was crying a while ago because she was homesick, broke up with her bf and she was still at work. My dear, dear Ate Lai... I miss her a lot. :(

Yay!

I finally graduated from college! Wheee! The graduation ceremonies were mostly boring, especially the Univ Grad Ceremonies.

Here are the pictures from the College Graduation, University Graduation and Grad Party. The past few weeks have been used in preparation for these events. The Grad Party was a blast! I stayed at Fiamma up to 4am because we had to wait for everyone to leave and Mina (who was giving me a ride home) forgot to call her parents so we had to wait for over an hour. But when we finished the Grad Party, I was super happy... it's finally over! :D

So, what else is keeping me busy these days?

This kid! XD


This is Mavik, my super kulit niece. She's having a vacation with us. :P

Right now, she's learning the different parts of the Philippines. She finished reading and writing Regions 1 to 3. She's a smart girl. (It runs in the family. :D)

She's my little teddy bear because she loves sleeping beside me. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and her foot is in my face, she's like a helicopter. Hahaha! XD

I love that kid. ;)

Post valentine's day post...

Valentine's day was fun. Started off with me lacking sleep and having lunch at the office. In my afternoon class, I gave chocolate mallows to Abbee because its her birthday and Chocnut to my other groupmates. Then I got out of school with a rose and a balloon (funny story how I got it) which I just handed to my Mom. I think my Dad wanted a rose and a balloon too. After dinner he was muttering that we forgot about him. Haha.. :P Kuya treated us at Kamay Kainan and he brought Sheila (his gf). I was so full after that night. XD

Anyway, fast forward... I went to the studio today and found out that our accounts did not tally. How did that happen?! It was an "OMG, where did that money go?!" moment. Anyway, I will be reviewing the records I have and I'll check it with theirs. I'm sure we'll be able to work things out.

No class on Monday! I'll be in La Salle on Wednesday. I've got meetings for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Busy bee...

BREATHE

I was so tired when I got home from school that after dinner and relaxing on my parents bed, I fell asleep. @_@

Well, stress stuff started last Wednesday, escalated by Saturday and started to diminish yesterday (Monday).

Stressful things:
1. Lola's funeral - Spent the whole Friday night up to Saturday morning. No sleep. Parents were not home for the past 3 days. ^^;
2. Thesis - Not yet finished. Target to finish the first draft by the end of January.
3. Academics - Report for 151, Interview for 197, EEE exam and homework, and Presentation for 173
4. Yearbook - For the ads and barkada pages and marketing stuff.
5. Jobfair - Where am I going to apply? What am I going to put in my resume? O_O
6. Gifts - Ahaha... last minute shopping! XD

De-stressers:

1. Barkada Bonding - Yay for Nikki's comeback! So sad I wasn't able to bring a camera, I forgot all about it because my parents used it that the morning and I didn't have any sleep. We didn't get to go to Global Fun Carnival because it was raining, but the seafood feast, cheesecake galore, exchange gifts and Monopoly more than made up for it! (I really wanted to go to the Carnival. ^^;) :P
2. My nephew and nieces - I love them to bits.
3. My pets - Because fun-loving dogs are so cute! Birds do the silliest things. XD
4. The Secret - Positive thinking gets you EVERYWHERE. ;)
5. Shopping - Enough said. :D
6. Internet - It's always nice to unwind by just browsing stuff.

Yesterday, I was in school by 8:30am for our report and got home around 7:10pm because we had to finish our interview. That explains the super tired feeling. ^^ Right now, I'm still researching for the homeworks. Ehehe... good thing I got some sleep before working. :)

Let's go!

Family bonding time!

I really cherish our yearly reunions. I rarely see my uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews and grandchildren. (I have four! And there is one coming next year.. gosh.. I feel old! :( ) It was so good to see them so grown up! And lots of very cute kids too! Ahaha! I feel like a paparazzi chasing after them for their silly antics. :P

Lots of girl bonding time with Grace, Ate Eleng, Ate Julie, Ate Jane, Valen, Dyan and others.. haha.. Its really fun to just spend time together and keep on joking about everything under the sun... or moon for those moments. XD

I wish I was there a day before the reunion. I feel like I've missed a lot. T_T

I was the camera girl again, but this time Grace had a camera too. More moments to capture! Yay! :D

Oh well... sacrifices. At least when we got home at lunch time on December 26, the doggies were still active and very hungry. Ehehe.. ^^;

Merry Christmas!

May the spirit of the holidays be with everyone!

Tomorrow I'll be in Nueva Ecija. We will hold our family reunion there, and everyone is excited to meet and have fun! Of course, there will be lots of food and games. I'm one of the game masters... as usual... haha! I'm really excited because the last time we had Christmas in the province was more than 10 years ago... woo! XD

My parents and my brother already left, around 5:30am this morning. I will be commuting tomorrow around 2am (so that I'll be on time for the start of the reunion!) and it's my first time to go there... alone. Haha.. This going to be an adventure! Let's pray that I get there safely. XD

Cheers! :)