On A Wonderful Day Like Today

Looked at my calendar and noticed that it's exactly a month before our wedding anniversary. Got no plans yet so I guess we need to start looking for a good place to dine (cramming as always). Any suggestions? Anyway, was bloghopping too during lunch and stumbled into this through Alpha's blog (thanks for the link!). Hay, hay, hay! Enjoy ito! This pic looks like it was taken so many years ago. It got me thinking....that's the goal, right? Hunny, advance happy anniversary! Many, many more to come!

Why am I so bubbly today? Well, I'll give you 5 reasons. 1. Today is the last day of September and September has been a great month! 2. Tomorrow is a holiday and I plan to spend it well with Zoe and hubby. 3. I had found a renewed sense of peace again -- after finding time to pray today. 4. I'm wearing my new blouse from Kamiseta (new clothes always makes me feel good!). 5. I have many things to be thankful for ---my work, my family, my friends, good health and food on the table. So smile and have a happy Tuesday!

Zoe's current addiction! The future's so bright --- gotta wear shades!

Why do I say this? ...because I was the youngest in the family (out of 2). ...because my hubby was the youngest (out of 8). ...and now, because Zoe is the youngest apo (out of 15!) Because of this, she gets to receive heaps of wonderful second-hand toys and clothes from her cousins. ...lucky kid! ...Ooops! Kasyang-kasya!

Have I ever mentioned here that one of my favorite food places is Pancake House? Well, I love it there. In fact, I think I can eat there every day. LOL. Well the last time we ate there was last Sunday on our way to Batangas to attend the interment of my Ninang's mother. We stopped by first at the Pancake House in Petron SLEX for lunch and enjoyed a full 30 minutes of husband and wife bonding (we left Zoe at home since she was feeling a bit sick). :-) Feeling so relaxed on a breezy Sunday morning: Hubby's favorite Tapsilog: My favorite Salisbury Steak: Yummy!

We have been hearing news lately about the big financial crisis that the United States is currently facing. The White House has already made a statement to Congress about letting them act accordingly in order to avoid a great recession from happening in the country. But if the recession does happen, for sure most of the world markets will be negatively affected and we definitely don't want that to happen, of course. In my case, since I am working for a big financial institution, we could already feel, as early as now, the effect of the filing of bankruptcy of this big investment firm in the United States since we have huge dollar investments there. But Management is taking it all in stride. There is no immediate need to panic since there are still solutions that can be applied and life goes on as usual. Well, I guess that's really the way things are in the investment business. Everything is all a big risk. But do you know that risk is not all about losing but also about winning

Hi guys, just want to squeeze in this little post. Work is still so busy at the moment (on top of all the Lehman buzz and Wall Street problems) so I really got to control myself from doing personal blogging. Priorities, priorities!!! I know I owe so many tags/award posts from friends and I promise to do it as soon as I can have a breather from my work. Meanwhile, thanks for dropping by! Take care everybody!

Some pre-pregnancy planning over here... Anybody who can recommend a good Intellicare-accredited OB from Cardinal Santos or Makati Med? Since our company shifted this year from self-administered hospital reimbursements to a health card, we sooner or later have to change our OB (in UST) since she's not Intellicare-accredited lest we want to pay all OB consultations and pfs using our personal money (which amounted to more than 50k the last time). And although USTH is a good hospital, I think it would now be more practical to transfer to another hospital. You see, when I gave birth to Zoe, my visitors (including close family) could not get to UST because it was oh so flooded in Espana. LOL. But of course, this is all just planning....we continue to hope and pray that God will give us baby#2 soon. :-)

There has been a lot of brouhaha in Congress lately but I think that this reproductive bill issue is something worth lobbying against (that's just my opinion). For other similar views, click here and here .

Caution: Loaded with pictures!!! Everything was set for Zoe's 2nd birthday party. We initially invited only a few close family and friends but then our guest list ballooned up to more than 60 people on the day before. No regrets because it turned out to be so much fun! First, the FOOD! We asked the help of my SIL to cook kare-kare and kalderata while our Ate Nilda prepared molo soup, spaghetti, hotdog on stick and fruit medley. My Ninang pitched in and made some leche flan while I made peach & mango ref cake and some canapes (with egg salad) which was a HIT (thanks Anne for the tip!). Our birthday cake was from Red Ribbon (best buy!) while the rest of the food (pancit bam-i, fresh lumpia, chicken lollipops, herb-crusted fish fillet) were ordered from ever dependable Conti's. Pictures here: We had some goody bags and party hats for the guests too. The party started at 12 noon with a short prayer and a cheerful happy birthday song for Zoe: Then it was chowtime right

Last Sept. 9, we took Zoe out to celebrate her birthday. We already hung her birthday poster and banner the night before so that when she wakes up, she would be delighted to see the picture of Dora on the wall. That morning, we brought her to church first to attend mass as a thanksgiving. On the way home from the mass, we decided to pass by the nearby Jollibee/Red Ribbon to buy her french fries and a small birthday cake. We left the house again before lunch and headed for Megamall where we ate at KFC... ...and dropped by Toy Kingdom (she had a blast!). We also passed by SM Department Store to buy Zoe her birthday outfit plus a dora item that could serve as her cake topper. We were really supposed to buy her big birthday cake from Goldilocks since they offer a Dora character cake. However, the lady at the store was disgusting to deal with so we decided last weekend to just order a generic kid's 2-tiered birthday cake from Red Ribbon and just put a Dora statue on top of the cake. Any