On A Wonderful Day Like Today

I normally do not surf through local news and felt quite bad to see the Philippines in the international news pages. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20863691 Really, P-Noy?

Yup! Up and coming this 2013. "We shall never know all the good that a simple SMILE can do." -Mother Teresa

The Christmas tree is up early and the kids are excited to put up their socks for Santa. Here is Luigi's Christmas sock. This one is Zoe's Christmas sock. I wonder what Santa will bring the kids this year. Hmmm....

Re-posting from a helpful site  since I want to take my professional and financial plans in perspective.  Maybe these will help me decide what to do and hopefully it will lead me to true financial freedom.  I want to be financially independent. I want to work (if I decide to work) on what I enjoy the most, not on what pays me the most. — Jose Anes, financial  blogger Paying for yesterday is perhaps the most important investment you can make in your future. Getting rid of those debts will buy you breathing room. It will buy a future of freedom. And it will bring your dreams — the things you really, really want — into reach. — Elizabeth Warren & Amelia Warren Tyagi,  All Your Worth  (Review) Your bills tell your past, but they also tell your future. Every debt, every monthly payment, every dollar you owe is a claim against your future. Debt affects what you can — and cannot — do about your future. And when you pay off the credit cards and IOUs, you open up new worlds of

 My childhood best friend Cristy married Ramil last September 8 and I was the Matron of Honor. :-) It was a lovely wedding.  Sharing some of the precious pictures from this event. Best wishes to you! Hope your marriage will be as beautiful as your wedding. Love, love, love you!

Getting ready for the Linggo ng Wika next week. Bought this Filipiniana outfit from a store in Taytay, Rizal. I just need to use starch to "oomph" the butterfly sleeves and we're good to go. :-)

Actually, what came to my mind when I saw this picture was - What if I also owned a gazzilion shoes like Christina Aguilera, I get pregnant (again) and then never return to my old shoe size (just like what happened to me)????? My feet were 6.5 inches before and now I'm a size 8. Oh well, maybe for Christina Aguilera she can afford to replace all of these damn shoes or at least hire a trainer to be able to return to her old weight and original shoe size. But for me, that's close to being a miracle. Sigh. But then again, maybe owning these beautiful and uber expensive shoes would be reason enough for her. (rationalizing!)

Every so often, we let our kids ride the carousel.... For fifty bucks, it's a priceless childhood experience. :-) Love, love, love that these pictures are able to capture that fond memory.

Sometimes, God sends us some tests for Him to see if we really, really trust Him. While we felt moved and somewhat a bit troubled, we did trust Him (!!!) and thus, we celebrated my sister's health with a huge banana split! Of course, we did have remorse after finishing it all up and vowed to diet once again. Hahaha. I love you Ate! I wish you a long life of grace and good health.

...and Zara is on sale! Wee!

"Stuff Girls Love" - that's the tagline of Lisa Frank. For those who have a bit of generation gap: :-) About Lisa Frank - Based in Tucson, Arizona, Lisa Frank, Inc. is named for its founder, Lisa Frank, an American pop artist and designer who pioneered an unmistakable aesthetic loved by generations. The distinctive brand celebrates and understands girls and features high quality products in bright, vibrant colors. Today's core products include stationery, craft, seasonal and cosmetic items. Built on a mission to enable young girls to believe in themselves, express individuality through creativity and have fun, Lisa Frank has an extensive fan club base, now boasting over 10,000 Facebook fans. More is available at www.lisafrank.com . In our case, Lisa Frank means fun stickers! Thanks to Ninang Net and Tita Josie for giving Zoe the stickers last April. Now Zoe wants to be an artist! :-)

We promised our kids that we will bring them to the beach this summer. But as the summer days passed by, we simply became so busy with other things that we didn't really get to plan our outing earlier. And so, on the last weekend before school started, I was finally able to book ourselves a hotel for an overnight stay at Subic. It was so worthwhile since family bonding is so priceless! I'm sure the kids will treasure the memory of that special time we had together. On our way to Subic- the kids were so excited! As we had prayed for, the skies were clear!!! Welcome to Subic Bay Freeport Zone! When we got to Camayan Hotel, we quickly checked-in to our room, left our bags and headed straight to Ocean Adventure to catch the Dolphin Show and Sea Lion Show.   We visited the big aquarium too. After the shows at Ocean Adventure, we changed clothes to have quick dip at the beach. On the next day (Sunday), we woke up to a beautiful day:

I know...it's been on for the longest time. But then again, it's better late than never. :-) Have a nice day everyone!

Zara's first day of school - Grade 1 (June 13, 2012)

This year marks the second time I celebrated my birthday in __. I was expecting that my birthday will just pass silently just like last year . However, my officemates surprised me with a song and a very beautiful bouquet of flowers. When I heard some singing in the background, I was even surprised that they were singing for me. My birthday wouldn't be in 2 days (it was a Friday) and I wasn't feeling the "birthday feeling" yet. Hahaha! Great shot of my Hub friends and myself: TR Girls: A closer shot of the flowers: Anyway, on my birthday itself, we had a small get-together with my Dad, Ninang, my mother-in-law, sisters-in-law and some friends and pamangkins. Here's my birthday cake: Some of the handa: Sorry, I can't seem to rotate my pictures with the new blogger system. Sigh. Family picture: This one with my Tatay: When we prayed the blessing before meals, Zoe started crying! I think she was expecting to si