juls random thoughts

It's two hours before New Year. I am taking the chance to greet everyone a very happy new year.

Happy New Year!!!! Welcome 2008.

I am optimistic of what the new year will bring. I am excited for the new chance, the new hope, new opportunities.

I pray to God that it will be a peaceful year for our country. That our family be healthy all the year through, more love and kindness.

It's three hours before midnight. A few hours before we welcome the new year. 2008. And, I am here, enjoying the one hour quiet time blogging.

We just got back from the second pamamanhikan for Chris and Aimee. We had the pamamanhikan already last summer but since Aimee's dad who was in the US that time arrived last Christmas, we went to their house again for get-together, this time with him. As usual, kainan na naman, bestseller are the crabs, too bad, i'm too full that I only ate one piece. Another hit to both kids and adults is the Nintendo Wi (sp?). It's so galing! the boys (both young and adult) played bowling, boxing and tennis. Galing kasi you're really going to move. Hindi katulad ng mga usual games na nakaupo ka lang at kamay lang ang gumagana. Dito as in you'll really do the act of playing like in bowling, as in you'll act like you're really playing bowling. Sure hit kay kurt ang boxing, he's so galing as in he knocks off you kalaban.

So, why the quiet moment now? well, everybody, except me, hubby and kurt, are in the church. Why are we not in the church? kasi the little boy, who's so cranky kanina is sleepping kaya we've decided na bukas na lang kami mag-mass.

As we're a few hours before 2008. I'm listing here some of my targets for the new year, which I really hope to accomplish. And, I'm broadcasting here as sabi nila, you should make public your intentions para mas may pressure na tuparin.

So, here is my list:
1. On top of my list, to seriously lose weight. AS IN! I really have to. I target to go back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have a plan, and I just hope that I can stick to it.
2. To do at least 2 scrapbook layouts per month.
3. Be more organized. I am burara pag kulang ng lalagyan, so my solution is to constantly buy plastic boxes para hindi nakakalat gamit. My first project - the back of our headboard. Second target, my steel cabinet in the office, I'm hoping to empty the four drawers when we move in to our new floor. Third target, my overhead cabinets.
4. To read more helpful/educational books. Hoping that this year be a year of new learning din.

So that's it. I think it's a fairly good list.

I have been so excited until the day that we're going to watch comes. Kurt likes Barney so much, as in for a time, si Barney lang pinapanood nya. Though a few days before we watched Barney, he suddenly showed interest na on Dora. Anyway, to go back to Barney, we've been preparing kurt na rin for this pero i think hindi nya alam na he's going to watch Barney live. As posted here, we got the sunday, 3pm show.

Lunch time that day, the little boy had a preview na of Barney. He saw Barney in ASAP, as in he's asking me "Paano?". His dialog was: "Mama, paano?" tipong hindi makapaniwala that Barney is here in the Philippines. So I had a preview na of kurt's reaction when he sees the actual Barney.

The way to Cubao was so bad, as in grabe traffic, kasi we took the mistake of passing by Cubao's bus station, so super traffic. We parked in Gateway, then off we went to Barney.

I've been telling hubby that I am worried that I am gonna cry. I'll cry kasi I know kurt will be very happy to see Barney.

The show started, the little boy's reaction? tulala. As in! nakatitig lang sya, not even participating. As in silently nanonood. Syempre, naluha ako. Medyo, kainis nga later on kasi parang wala lang sa kanya, I guess he still can't believe that he's seeing the actual Barney. When the first part was about to end, they allowed the kids to go near the stage so kurt and his dada went there.

Had a break, then on the second part na, ayun, he asked me to go back there near the stage and he's dancing na but not as much as when he's watching Barney on TV.

In a way, I didn't quite expected that he'll not participate that much, he loves Barney songs and dances and sings with it at home pero that time, not much, siguro nga, kasi nagulat sya na it's a real Barney. Stage design is not that good, simple lang. What we really paid for here is for Kurt to really experience seeing Barney live again. I know na from the start that the show is not that long, kasi syempre, the audience are kids.

Here are some of the pictures:

I actually didn't know that Nyree tagged me for this but I was reading her blog and saw that she actually tagged me so late man eh sagutin ko na rin.

5 things found in my bag (note: i have no the really small lacoste bag, so my answer is based on this current bag. depende kasi sa laki ng bag ang dala ko):

Mobile phone
Wallet
Body Shop flawless skin protecting foundation
Wipes
Excedrin migraine medicine


5 things found in my wallet (i have separate case for cards so konti lang cards sa wallet ko):

payroll atm
money
various receipts
pictures (hubby & i, kurt)
drivers licence


5 Things found in my room

Bed
TV
DVD player
personal laptop
kurt's toys

5 Things I've Always Wanted To Do

travel
learn baking
have my own coffee shop
have enough time and space for scrapbooking
shopping


5 Things I am Currently Into

blogging
scrapshopping (mwahahahah...tsk..tsk..tsk)
bloghopping
Lacoste bag shopping
working?? (corny... can't think of any na eh)


5 People to Tag this Meme

Hmmm... parang almost all blogs i visit have this na.

I saw this tag in Pia and Jeff's blog. I love Christmas so I snagged it. LOL!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, I enjoy wrapping gifts no matter how plenty they are.

2. Real tree or Artificial? artificial tree, nasa Pinas ako eh. I don't think a real tree will survive that long considering na November pa lang eh naka-set up na tree. LOL!

3. When do you put up the tree? After all saints day. But now, I'm not the one who sets up the tree, it's the maids

4. When do you take the tree down? 1st week of January


5. Do you like egg nog? nope. tasted it when I was in the US, didn't like it

6. Favorite gift received as a child? toys

7. Hardest person to buy for? my in laws and hubby

8. Easiest person to buy for? Kurt

9. Do you have a nativity scene? In our house in Batangas, yes

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I love to receive mailed christmas cards but I don't send one. Really bad of me as my sis in the US expects to receive one.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? hmm.. can't think of any

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I love christmas movies except How the Grinch (sp?) stole christmas

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? when i was single, November pa lang I buy na but now, as in parati last minute.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Only once, just this year and one gift only.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Our family in Batangas tradition is to have hot chocolate even if it doesn't match with the food.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear Lights

17. Favorite Christmas song? I love all christmas songs. I have this particular song that I love, not sure if title is Christmas all over the world but the lyrics goes like this: It's christmas, all over the world tonight...


18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? stay home with family


19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s? Nope, I only know Rudolf ...and Vixen na rin kasi I remembered him from Pia's answer.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? star


21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We exchange gifts in Batangas christmas eve, I open my gifts pero si kurt, he opens all his gifts on Christmas morning when we get back to Manila so he can open all his gifts in both side in one time

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? heavy traffic, grabe!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? if we have our house, i would have different shades of christmas decor. i'll have red, pink, blue and orange. my favorite ornament, hmmm...nothing in particular, i love them all!

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? hmmm...queso de bola and hamon

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? tapos na eh, too late for this. but my wish, love in the family and for kurt to behave

26. Who is most likely to respond to this?

27. Who is least likely to respond to this?

That saturday night, kurt is really having fun with picture taking.



The next day, he's still in picture mode. As in! He wants to have a picture taken, these were taken before lunch. At gusto nya pa, he's complete with the bonnet and neck wrap.


In Mines View Park:


In The Mansion:



During our merienda in Cafe by the Ruins. Really great coffee, bread and dip, and salad. Expensive nga lang!



Kurt enjoying his hot chocolate:



A picture of me, taken by the little boy:

Still part of our anniversary celebration, we went to Baguio, as planned before we had the "no speaking terms". We left really early saturday morning, dec. 8, stopped over the Caltex station in EDSA to buy coffee and pandesal from Pugon, it's still so dark, kurt is still awake but not complaining kasi layas din etong batang eto eh. LOL!

Second stopover was in Luisita in Tarlac, the sun is coming out already but since hubby is stil sleepy, we went to Starbucks and bought cappucino, Kurt had a blast looking at the old train at the back of Starbucks. We stayed there for a while so hubby can rest then continued on with our journey.

We arrived in Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan at I think past 9-10am. We dropped by hubby's lola's house since mommy, daddy, kuya arnold, ate sweet and jonathan are there. We had breakfast, rested a few minutes, looked for lodging in the internet then off we went to Baguio.

We are in Baguio by lunchtime, we went to Microtel Inn & Suites to check in, place is new and located near Victory Liner station. Too bad, the single queen bed room is fully booked as one company have a function there. We no longer had any hotels in mind so we just decided to check in at Prince Plaza along Legarda road. Both hubby and I stayed there in the past on separate instances, for the same client assignment. It was old but at least, we're familiar with the place. Good news here is the room rate is way lot cheaper than Microtel plus hubby got 20% corporate discount. Fixed our things, rested for a while, gave kurt a bath and changed clothes then off to lunch.

We had lunch in Matutina's kitchen beside the hotel. Food is really great. Sarap nung sinigang na fish (forgot the name of the fish) and inihaw na liempo. Well worth it! Rested for a few more minutes in our room then off we went to Philippine Military Academy (PMA). Kurt had a lot of fun here. Here are some of the pics:







Hubby and kurt watching the PMA'ers practicing a drill:

Hubby and Kurt going up the tree house:

Since we already patched things up that midnight, ok na kami. We decided that we'll have lunch in Circles, Makati Shangri-La to celebrate. We haven't eaten in Circles for so long that we were suprised to see the major changes. There are more sushi, more seafood, there's even a lobster and better food choices. We saw the chef making his rounds and checking everything with some of the waiters, we guessed that he's probably new and he's responsible for all these really good changes in Circles. Of course, enjoy kami ni hubby as in major!

We started off with the sushi then seafood, then i tried some of the various salads and appetizer. Headed off to carving station and finally my favorite, the dessert bar, having a feast with all the different chocolate desserts. I managed to take a few pics using my camera phone, however, i cannot post them yet as my little boy is busy playing billiards in my phone = )

Now, here are some pics of my plate.

My sushi and seafood plate:

A close up photo of the sushi:

My greens plus caesar dressing:

A sampling of the different salads and appetizer:

I forgot to take a picture of the roast beef. So, here's my dessert plate. Hindi obvious that I love chocolate noh? LOL

There are actually a LOT more food kaso I prioritize, I only eat the sushi, seafood, salads, appetizer, carvings and of course the dessert. I always skip on the chinese, indian, pasta and other main dishes. I don't see anything special kasi on these food. In the carving station, I usually only get the roast beef but when I am in the mood, I also request for a slice of the lamb.
A picture of the huge Christmas tree in the Makati Shangrila lobby:



So funny how my anniversary celebration post turned to focus on the food that we ate. LOL!

I posted here my dilemma regarding our anniversary. Good thing, everything worked out well. The night before our anniversary, I've been waiting for hubby to arrive from work, with me really have no idea what to do incase he gets here. It's late already but still no hubby so I decided to go to bed, trying to make kurt go to sleep. After a few minutes, already past 11pm, he arrived, me asar kasi late na sya dumating decided not to go out of our bedroom to welcome him. But tagal pumasok kaya i went out pasimple, surprised not to see him there, he's probably upstairs. I went back to bed, when he entered, di ko talaga pinapansin, my face on the wall. Kaso si kurt has a way of spoiling (or fixing?) things out, he asked me that he wanted to make weewee so I have no choice but to stand up, hubby already lying on bed then. I glimpsed, a dozen roses on top of our personal ref pero kunwari di ko nakita. I was smiling in the bathroom then syempre pagbalik sa room i cannot deny it na so bati na kami. Babaw ko ba?

Since I am so delayed in my posting, I will have this summary page again to remind me of what to write. I am just waiting for my phone's battery to completely charge then I'll post na my entries complete with pictures.

1. Christmas parties we attended
2. My Starbucks planner
3. Barney show
4. Christmas eve in Batangas
5. Christmas day in Manila

Last thursday, Dec. 20, we had lunch with our calipanga friends. As usual, we had it in Aveneto in Glorieta 3. Attendees were Chel and Denden, Lau & Jo, Ais, Quel plus me and hubby. Good thing, Chel and Den, and Jo and Lau were early there kasi super dami tao when we get there. Lau was trying to make reservation kaso that's not allowed daw. We ordered our usual food, seafood nut pesto pasta, appetizer platter plus one more red sauce pasta and special pizza. It was our first time to see Ais after giving birth and sobrang galing kasi she's back agad to her old figure, parang di nanganak! kainis! as usual, asar talo kaming mga may kasamang hubbies because of our figures. LOL! Had fun kwentuhan that we did not notice that it's past 1pm already. We exchanged gifts. Got also the gift from Benz, John and Kite! Thanks mimma and didda! really nice gifts kasi personalized. We hope to meet again, this time for a longer kwentuhan and hopefully with Nyree and Jasper, Raquel & Carlo, Aileen and Kristian, plus Songs, Joey na with us. And ohh, we're planning din to go to Avalon Ark this January.

Thanks guys for the gifts! Kurt opened it up already yesterday.

Wishful thinking. I thought after my weeklong training last week, I'll be able to blog and bloghop. I forgot that we need to do our christmas shopping, wrap the gifts, christmas parties, etc.

We had our second batch of christmas gifts shopping last weekend. First attempt on saturday in greenhills. Unfortunately, I was only able to buy one polo shirt. Why? kasi na-guilty akong iwan si kurt sa bahay on a weekend so sinama ko sila ng yaya. Kaso mo, he won't let me touch nor look at anything. As in he'll say No touch mama or No look mama. Kaya ayun. That sunday, we went to Divisoria with the hope of finishing everything. GRABE!! super dami tao. We expected that there'll be a lot of people but never expected that it will be that plenty. We were so tired and harassed na sa sobrang pagod eh we bought most of our gifts in one store.

The nights that followed was spent on wrapping gifts. Abuso sa dami! Since sunday night up to monday night, we wrapped 87 gifts!!! grabe noh! para kaming nagta-trabaho sa department store sa dami ng gifts na binalot. And, majority of that eh gifts pa lang ni hubby sa officemates nya, plus some gifts to my officemates. I still have to complete my gift wrapping for my officemates. Then wrap pa gifts to family and friends. Uber talaga! Good thing I enjoy wrapping gifts but I really never expected that hubby will give that plenty of gifts to officemates. Tapos, we only start with the wrapping really late na kasi busy din with parties and all.

Last night, hindi na kinaya ng katawan ko to wrap gifts kasi went home really late na from a dinner with the Bautista girls. We had dinner na lang instead of bridal shower for Aimee. We ate in Misato in Metrowalk.

Oh, and I went shopping din pala last night in Tiendesitas for some more gifts. Still a lot to buy based on my list and I intend to do it this lunch break.

Need to buy toys and gifts for my friends, the calipanga kids and couples as we'll have lunch tomorrow = )

Just to help me remember what I will post once I have more time to do blogging, I'm listing here the happenings:

1. the day before our anniversary
2. our wedding anniversary day
3. weekend anniv celebration
4. who i met in my training and where did i get this title
5. blogging everywhere
6. our christmas gift to kurt

That's it! Hopefully by friday, I can go back to my usual blogging schedule...

Just droppin' by. Been busy with a lot of stuff lately. About our anniversary, everything turned out really well! As in! really happy about the outcome. Miss posting on this blog and reading my fave blogs!

It's our anniversary tomorrow..BUT..we're not on speaking terms. Hay... long story. What now? I don't know what will happen tomorrow. I can't just give way right? sometimes, I have to stand on what I believe, right? or, should I give way for the sake of reconciliation? I don't know.

Dec. 1 2007, that was the date that I joined the rest of yuppies going crazy over Starbucks 2008 planner. I am a coffee drinker, but since there is a Figaro in our office I seldom go to Starbucks to buy my coffee for the day. I was also not interested with the planner as I had this the first year that they had this promo, and i never used that planner. But curiousity got the better side of me. When I saw how nice the planner is, I know I have to. I have to have it. So, starting that day, I am one of the hundreds of people falling in line in Starbucks, most especially last Tuesday, Dec. 4 until tomorrow because of the promo. On those few days, I already got 13 stickers! 11 more to go and I will finally have the coveted planner. It's soooo nice. More pics and info about it from Dessert comes first.

I was tagged by my friend Nyree. Thanks sis!

1. Name one thing you do everyday.
- read my friends blog! LOL!

2. Name two things you wish you could learn.
- scuba diving
- bake!

3. Name three things that remind you of your childhood.
- our house in batangas
- every May, seeing the Flores de Mayo
- seing ipil-ipil plant! that's my rice pag naglalaro ako ng lutuan or tinda-tindahan

4. Name four things you love to eat but rarely do.
- steak!
- lobster/crabs
- cupcakes by Sonjas!!! I super love their melt in your mouth chocolate cupcake and banana monkey pie and everything else
- Conti's food

** first two, because its expensive. Cupcakes is because their expensive and add to that the fact that I need to drop by Serendra to buy it then have to pay pa for parking and all. For Conti's, it's because parating ang dami-daming tao if I go there during lunchtime and dinner time! the only times that we were able to eat there are the times na alanganing oras kami kumakain.

5. Name five things that make you feel good. Things di ba?
- my car, i feel good when i drive, it's so liberating
- scrapbooks, kahit titigan ko lang masaya na ko
- massage
- gifts =) Though i'm old na, i still feel really good when i receive gifts
- aircon - sobrang mainitin ako and madali akong pagpawisan so i love it when it's cold

I am tagging Tet and Jody!

I've been tagged by Tet.

The rule:

When you get tagged, you have to add your name next to the person who tagged you and by doing so you are letting the list grow.

Limadang.com
RamblingMoo.com
bloggininmypyjamas
StyleWithPassion
Chinneeq
Dora-zoorapazoo
BabyShern
HipNCoolMomma
Rachel’s Soulful Thoughts
When Silence Speaks
Dancing in Midlife Tune
Underneath it All
My Charmed Life
A Sweet Taste Of Life
Juls Random Thots

To let this list grow more, am passing the tag to: Diane, Nyree, and Quel.

Let’s spread the link love ",)

(Ok... I have to re-create this entry. For some weird reason, I got an error when I published my original post. Grrr... this is a long post pa naman, I hope I still remember everything. Anyway...)

I got inspired by the January 2008 issue of Creating Keepsakes that I thought of doing this list:

January - Welcomed the year with a BIG bang, lots of fireworks/crackers courtesy of hubby's balikbayan relatives

February - A major purchase. Bought my own car! A Honda City! and got it a day before my 30th birthday.

March - Hubby went to Malaysia while I went to Singapore, we met up in Singapore airport when I arrived and he checked in for departure to Manila. We went back to the city together, checked in my hotel, went out to lunch with friends before he went back to the airport for his flight back to Manila; I conducted/co-facilitated a training for Singaporean clients

April - ??

May - We went to Boracay with the rest of the Bautista family for a much needed vacation

June - Father's Day celebration in Tagaytay with the rest of the Bautistas

July - Kurt started with his tutorials; I got hospitalized; Hubby moved to a new company while I got promoted as Senior Director!

August - I attended a training in Hongkong.

September - Hubby's birthday! Huling chance na sa kalendaryo! Sa lotto na ang sunod na bilangan ng edad. LOL; Kurt's first fieldtrip - Manila Zoo!

October - Kurt turned three! and he learned to say "Barney" straight; Kurt's first try in "trick or treat";

November - A very good payraise (wink!); Beyonce Experience Live;

December - (hoping for a lot of great happenings)

This is a work in progress. Need to check this blog for more happenings during the year that I forgot to include.

(Now, I'm playing safe, I copied everything in MSword to make sure I have a backup in case it happens again)

Hubby and I had an impromptu lunch date today. It happened kasi my co-managers are not here in the office and I want to eat out. I am actually craving for a grilled chicken caesar salad and can't think where to buy it so I asked hubby if he's available. Since he can't think of a restaurant that has the salad that I want he suggested the fusion japanese resto in Greenbelt 5. He ate there twice already and he's been raving about this resto so off we go.

Its my first time to go to Greenbelt 5, I just don't find it appealing yet since a lot of stores are not yet opened so even if I pass by it a number of times a day, I haven't been there before. John and Yoko is located in second floor, the place is impressive, a lot of choices in the menu. We ordered the spider roll (soft shell crabs roll) and japaella (a japanese paella). The food is good. Hubby is actually showing me other choices from the menu which he tried already, maybe next time. Total cost = P600.