Party With The Nifties

I have been wanting for months now to start blogging again.
But what do I blog about? I have nothing to say.
So today, I am trying to overcome this sill 'when you have nothing to say syndrome' just to get me going. Just to keep my finger busy...and I will keep hitting the keyboard with whatever nonsense excuse there is to talk about. Ha!

While no doubt the holiday season is keeping everyone in a rush...I on the other hand seem to slowly find my balance, and hopefully I get to have that full rest before Christmas! Last weekend was fun, I had a great time with the girls, and I promise I am going to blog about each of them! Yup, soon!

These are snapshots of the fun times we had...

 

 

 

Good food. Good wine. Great friends. Indeed, I am blessed.

Christmas Escapade

The Sunday after after Christmas allowed me and the IT Guy some time to explore Bacolod City. We visited few places with a good friend of ours, Hustler.

The first stop was at The Ruins!

 This place was owned by one of the prominent families here in Bacolod. It's an old house that they burned down intentionally to prevent it from being used as Japanese headquarter during the Japanese - American War.

Here is the IT Guy with our friend Hustler!

And of course, Mariposa wanting to fly! LOL

Here are my two bodyguards...

After having coffee at The Ruins, we proceeded to Mambukal Resort. It's a hot spring resort...with very affordable but decent cottages.

The kids are playing!!!

All in all it was a very fun Sunday...and we're so glad we found the time. We've been meaning to visit these places since we got here in Bacolod but work always get in the way. It was so worth our time!

If you happen to visit Bacolod, make sure to find time to visit these places...you will LOVE them.

So that's it for my Tuesday's Tales! I hope to being more fun tales in the weeks to come.

First Mutterings of the Year

And for the first Unconscious Mutterings for the year 2011!

1. Carwash :: wet and messy
2. Intuition :: gut feeling
3. Desperate :: I will never be!
4. Tears :: ...on my pillow.
5. Purple :: Purple Rain
6. Storage :: warehouse
7. Duct :: duct tape
8. System :: system administration
9. Cabinet :: cabinet members
10. Manager :: leadership

Hurray, I made it to my 2nd day of NaBloPoMo! This month's theme is all about friends...and friendships. I will be sharing more about this topic in the coming days. Meanwhile...today I really appreciate a friend's patience. He waited for me at the airport for more than three hours because my flight was delayed by an hour. Yes, even before the delay he opted to wait for me already. How? We both arrived back here in Bacolod this morning and his arrival was way earlier than mine. These are small gestures that mean so much to me. Thanks for patience Hustler. I owe you one. ;)

Fun Monday - It's All About Friendship!

This is my first attempt to revive FUN MONDAY and my theme for this week is It's All About Friendship! Everything will be about friends and friendship...and I am so hoping and praying that people will get to join me this week.

I have been blogging to years now...make that 5 years this November specifically. This little space in the web have become so much part of me that I have met so many people and make friends with them. I have come to know friendship despite the distance...and friendship despite lack of personal meetings. Friends here have picked me up many times...and even in one of my downiest moment. I could never imagine talking to someone miles away whom I just get to know about through blogs just to make sure I am fine or otherwise. I have extended my home and family to theirs. And Fun Monday played a significant role in my friendship with people online. It was through Fun Monday that I get to circulate around blogosphere. I met so many wonderful people and have learned so many wonderful things from them...and this just makes me so sad to see it go.

My take for this week's theme is very simple...I want to thank all the people I have made friends with through Mariposa's Tales. You may have not realize it but you have made a great mark in my life and that I will forever cherish. Once again...this week's friendship is all about the friendship I have found in this little corner of the web...something special, beautiful and hopefully lasting! I will not mention names because if you are reading this, then  you are one of them. :)

Please visit other FUN MONDAY participants --

Sayre Smiles

Pamela

Jill

Beyond My Slab

Faye

CynicalGirl

If you are playing FUN MONDAY, kindly inform me in the comment box and will add your link...while I am trying to set up Mr. Linky back.

Happy FUN MONDAY to all and may you all have a wonderful week ahead!

Never Too Late To Give Calendars!

We're in the middle of the first quarter of the year but certainly it's never too late to give out 2010 presents to friends and clients!

I still find companies and some people still sending corporate gifts. Most of the gifts I got the past weeks are pens, organizers and desk calendar. Needless to say I have just a lot of them right now! LOL

Mariposa and IT Guy did give out some as well. We also gave pens and some executive planners. We thought then we ordered a lot but oh boy, we did ran out! I never realized IT Guy has a lot of friends...and his corporate network suddenly seems bigger. Well for one, I work in the BPO and since it is off shore I cannot just send pens to clientz and friends in the US and Europe. The shipment would be way more costly than the item. Anyway, going back, yes we did ran out of supply. At first I was like, well, there's none so we stop giving. But wow, people are asking for it. We feel bad when they say hey you give so and so something, where is mine. Though they may say it jokingly but still, we can't help but wish to have more to give.

Enough for wishes, Mariposa is big on making things happen to today I opted to order more items. This time, not pens, but pocket calendars! After all we're still in the first quarter and Chinese New Year is still approaching, so I can technically argue that it's not that late yet, right? =)

My Time Alone

February is here and almost everybody's looking forward to Valentine's Day already, I know because I am. I always do, even during the time when I had nobody with me to celebrate it with (no counting the parents of course!). 

As hard for most people to believe, there were also times when Mariposa had to spend Valentine's Day all by herself and it wasn't bad at all! ;) In fact when I was single (not that I'm married now!) I was more eager in planning my Valentine's Day. Why? Simple, I don't have to consult or wait with anyone. I can simply do whatever I want. (Right now, I just have to wait and see what the IT Guy plans for us...shhh!) So for those single ladies out there, ha, you may want to know how I survived Valentine's Day alone. 

First of all, Valentine's Day for me is not just about lovers but its for friends too. So I had dinner with other single ladies. We dress pretty and go out! Then we rent a hotel room and spend the night there drinking champagne. But of course, prior to that we made sure we ordered some heart warming chocolates and candies to accompany us. Then we talk about just anything. We talk about the weather,, the devaluation of peso, how many kids we want to have, our best and worst dates and all other out of this world stuff. But of course, all those conversation were passionate and sweet because we had the champagne and the candies! LOL

Oh boy, how I miss those moments! How I miss those candies! And yes, the champagne too.

Plus Size Clothing for Men

Am I the only one having a hard time shopping for men's clothes? Not that I can't find any...but what I am having a hard time finding is the right size. Not all friends of mine are as minute as I am and I need no just ordinary menswear. I need large men's clothing to gift a friend. And I don't just mean the usual XL size.

So I have been shopping around and I got into this JacamoMen'sClothing. You will be amazed with the collection of menswear that they have. They have big sizes and ha, this is just exactly what I am looking for. I am so excited with what to give to my friend and I am looking at what they've got and just how convenient it is to get a good pair of top and pants for my friend as I am sure he too is finding a hard time shopping for himself here. I just know that because I shop a lot and still can't find a good store thus I got into this online store.

So if you are looking for menswear with over XXL sizes, please visit the site and the solution to your problem might just be there.

P.S. I don't consider my friend huge nor fat, he is a basketball player and is just an outlier when it comes to clothing sizes here. :)

Finding That Dining Room Set

I'm helping a friend shop for some furniture for their new home. For whatever reason friends always go to me for home advices, duh, as if I'm that good. LOL Anyhow, I love to do home makeovers and stuff so I guess they see that. Plus the fact that it's not always that you see a very patient woman shopping around for other people.

My friend is just finished their home and well they need furniture. She seemed to be about done with her living room but need help with their dining room. Just a background, this friend rarely stay in the kitchen and doesn't like to eat much. Despite that she know that her family needs to eat so she has no choice, they need that dining room! Ha!

When I first spoke to her over the phone about it, she just told me to jest grab anything to put there. I told her if that's all she needed, she could have done it all by herself. Then she told me she trust I can do better. There you go. It's more than just filling in the room with furniture. It's way beyond that. So Mariposa had to visit the house to take a look. She wouldn't let me take a photo of it because she said it's not done yet and she'd be too embarrass to show it to the world. Pfft! Anyhow, I did my check. The area was not that big and the paint was just simple. By simple I mean no fancy colors like orange, yellow, etc. So that means any neutral colored furniture would readily fit in there. So I hurriedly check online for some dining room furniture available. Bingo! I found a site which offers several kinds. Now she has a list of options and hopefully can make up her mind asap.

Mariposa's Christmas Decor

So glad to be back to Fun Monday before ending the year!

The lovely Gattina is hosting this week and her task for this week is --

Just take a picture of one Christmas ornament which you love the most, explain why, and if you don't have any explanations it's also OK. For those who haven't celebrated Christmas, just take a picture of something else you love as decoration.

This is quite easy to do and I have more than one. I remember doing a similar theme in my first year with Fun Monday, but of course I'm not posting that old photo. ;)

First off, here is my Christmas tree! This year I did not so many decors like I used to but I decided to bring the tree out the porch. This is a favorite decor as there was no Christmas without it. So here it is with its lights. I love them in evening...it feels nice listening to the lights sing those Christmas carols. 

Then under the tree is where my gifts are. (I know there are not decors but I love them and my Christmas tree is not complete without them!) I love wrapping gifts and moreso the fun of distributing them to friends and families. Here is my taking a short break with my wrapping of gifts adventure. Iwas not halfway then...but the IT Guy asked me to pose and so the obedient me did as he told me and you see there one harassed butterfly! LOL

 

 And my most favorite Christmas decor of all is the Nativity! And most especially this one as this was given by a friend 12 years ago. One of my most treasured decor. For 12 years I have kept it and I intend to keep it forever. By the way, here in my place we this Belen. We always display the Nativity in our living room every Christmas. It's not so big we can put it on top of a table, a low shelves, etc.

 

 So that's it. Let me go and visit the others now and see what they have. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2010!

Hugs and Kisses,

Christmas at CCMC Pediatrics

I promise to make a post about it so here goes. Trust me I had to struggle with this post as I just can't seem to find any strength to type anything. I'm more than happy to have shared few moments with the children at Cebu City Medical Center's Pediatrics...plus the fact that I'm still not so over with one event I saw while I was there.

First off I don't have any better photos to show as I did not go there ready to document the said activity. As most of you noticed I have stopped writing posts about my outreach programs. I don't really have any reasons for that though. Anyway, when we got home the IT Guy told me that in between his breaks (since he was helping out most of the time!) he was able to take some photos in some areas of the Pedia Ward.

Cebu City Medical Center, also known as CCMC is a public hospital run by the Cebu City Goverment. And like most state-owned hospitals, it's not really the nicest place to go to or stay with. So this Christmas I told the IT Guy that I wanted to go there and be with the children. It was a last minute thing I wanted so we did whatever we can with whatever we have. I have to thank several people too who made this project successful. I'd like to thank the man in black, Rene S. for helping me facilitate this visit as well as Dr. M. Go, the Chief of the Hospital. So many thanks to Agnes who shared some candies, juices and biscuits to the children, my sister in law Sheila for all the particular help, and of course the IT Guy who cooked the spaghetti himself. Did I mention before that the IT Guy is very good with pasta? Well he is! And we just wanted his best spaghetti to the children. :)

So here we are in action!

The Pedia Ward is located at the ground floor of the hospital and there were about 60 children there, that includes the Pedia ICU and they have an extension at the third floor where there were about 12 children.

This is the one on the third floor. Here is my SIL giving candies and biscuits to the children.

I had just to ask how come this child is alone...I was glad to know she's to check out and the parent was just checking with the nurses downstairs.

 

Here is Mariposa putting all her trash in one bag. Cleanliness is next to godliness so they say!

 

I met this baby when I went back downstairs. He just spent his Christmas at the hospital and I do hope he will be out there by New Year. (I didn't even notice the IT Guy was able to take a photo!)

 

The scene I left downstairs wasn't quite the same when I got back. The four month old baby who was in manual respirator (they call it bagging) was being pumped by the nurse. I could tell it wasn't good and I was standing there helpless seeing the baby go. I couldn't understand why we had to end the day with that. When I first stepped into the Pedia Ward the first thing I asked was what happened to her. The one who was doing the bagging told me that she had a cough. I had to ask the IT Guy how come she wasn't in normal oxygen, he just looked at me and said because she may not be capable to do it on her own. I know deep inside that once a patient is in respirator it means that patient is in critical condition, it just didn't dawn to me that, that child was in critical condition. I went to her Mom before going upstairs and told them I pray they can go home soon. It never occurred to me that they will go home sad. While I stand there looking at the nurses and the doctor trying to revive the baby, I kept asking people and myself what can I do. What do they need. Nothing. They needed the baby to respond first. I was standing there wishing one could share their lifetime with someone in an instance. I would gladly give some of my years to that child. It's just awful. I couldn't believe a child could die because of a cough. I couldn't believe how could parents wait for a simple cough to complicate before rushing them to the hospital. That baby I learned was just brought there on that day. Early that day another baby died because of the same illness. What in the world is going on?

I want to stop this post as I am just too overwhelmed with a lot of things. I know I can only do so much, and I always wish I can do more but every time I struggle to do more for people I see how helpless I am and it hurts. 

I pray for God's hand to rest on the shoulder of the family of that baby who's with the angels now. I also pray that the children there get better soon so they can spend New Year's eve at home. May God bless all the little children in world.

I Have Been To The Edge

It's Tuesday's Tales time once again and yes I am here. I made it! WOOT!

One of the many reasons why I got so busy the past weeks was my friend's visit to Cebu. We did a joint training on Project Management and Total Quality Management. But the tales here will not be about that, but rather the fun we had!

The first day was rather manic thus we decided to end it with a bang! So we went to Crown Regency to have dinner. But then it was not just dinner. I guess we wanted to get so hungry that we had to scare ourselves and tried the Edge Coaster.

I never thought I'd tried it as I've been telling my friends before I will never try it. Ha, never say never so they say...and now I know what they mean.

So what is an Edge Coaster. Will it is that! A ride at the edge of the hotel at the 37th floor mind you! A sure ride of a life. A hell of a ride for me. My friend kept saying it's controlled fear, to me, it's many things...it's when you get excited hovering the city seeing all the buildings and lights and at the same time having that cliff hanger feeling because you are in a seating position, tilted up to 55 degrees and at the edge of the building.

So here is how I look in my first few minutes...

Cameras are not allowed so only them can take photos and you have to pay to get your hard copy. I have to thank Jherlie for sending me this soft copy to post here. I have something more fun, but I still have to ask the IT Guy to scan it. IT Guy missed it by the way because he had some business cocktail to attend to. (Well he told me he will not try it anyway. LOL)

We had to take some poses after that nerve-wrecking experience to settle our senses or we could have ended up eating horses for dinner! Hehehe

Behind us is Cebu!

This was just Day 1. Next week I will share more photos of our Cebu escapade!

Happy Tuesday people!

You Can Still Be a Dad!

I will be sharing today my thoughts on reproductive health. Yes, it's a Friday and I'm so into this topic that the IT Guy is mocking me this early morning.

Anyway, I have friends, male friends for that matter who got themselves snipped several years ago. Now, they're married again and sad to say, having children seems hopeless for them...or at least that how most people would think of. But well, a friend told me that there is now a thing called vasectomy reversal.

That is good news! Really good news, specially that the last article I've read stated that about 6% of men who has undergone vasectomy would eventually want to restore back their fertility. So what is this vasectomy reversal and just effective is this?

First, let me discuss very briefly the process of vasectomy. It is a surgical procedure that blocks the vas deferens, preventing the sperm from flowing to the prostate. This obstruction is usually done by removing a very small segment of the vase deferens and placing small metal clip (or suture) on the end of the vas.

Now, the reversal of this procedure involves another surgical procedure that re-approximates the cut ends of vas deferens to restore the flow of the sperm from the testicle to the prostate and this can be done in two ways: a vasovasostomy or vasoepididymostomy.  To have this procedure accomplished by an expert micro surgeon also adds to its success rate among other factors such health, length of time since the vasectomy was done and others. For the details of vasectomy reversal I encourage you to visit that site to learn more about it.

What I am so excited about is the fact that there is hope for couples who wants to have children and that it can be done safely without risking the life of the man...and looks like its success rates are trending up! Another God's little miracles.

Ace, this post is for you! ;) 

After Office Gimmick

It's been awhile since I last posted for Tuesday's Tales. Though I don't run out of tales, I do run out of time and that's the reason for my absence here.

I have spent some of weekends with my staff. Below is one of our first get together...Kristian cooked for all of us...then we tried to drown ourselves with 3 bottles of brandy!

Brandy equals wasted girls!

Ha! What a shame....

And about 2 weekends ago, it's Kristian's birthday and we had a last minute urge to go to the beach...straight from work! It was a Saturday morning...and it was so fun!

This is a small cottage we rented.

We're all fresh from the water here... :)

 

Mariposa so ready to go home and sleep...LOL

My new job is quite demanding but the fun I share with my staff can't be undervalued. I LOVE them all.

That's it for my Tuesday's Tales...I invite everyone once again to play along...just drop me a comment so I can link you up!

Getting Together With Friends

My college classmates and I agreed to hold monthly dinner dates after graduation. We made sure we would always find time to get together and catch up on each other. Every month, one of us would organize our dinner date at an expensive restaurant or at a fabulous place. And every after dining out, we would always crash a friend’s place and spend the night there. But before we take our beauty sleeps, we would always find another moment of gossips over our favorite wine, which can be bought at Shop.Com. This site is such a lifesaver, offering so many stuff, from wine to even Powell bar stools! Amazing ha?!

Anyway getting together with friends means fun talk, and fun talk is always more fun over glasses of wine.

Sponsored By SHOP.COM image. http://www.twitpic.com/kispr

A Fun Week!

It's 5AM here and it's a Monday!

Today is Eid ul-Fitr and is a holiday here. Not a manic Monday for me but I have to be at the office later around 9AM for some magazine interview...anyhow it feels good to be doing FUN MONDAY again!

Sayre Smiles is our lovely hostess this week and she said -- If you had a WEEK with no obligation and money was no object, what would you do with it?

Ha! This is FUN! Let's see --

It's a week...so I have 7 days...168 hours.

Day 1 - Will be my super lazy day. I'll be at the farm of my Grandparents watch sunrise sipping coffee...munching some toasted bread with strawberry jam! It will not end there of course as I plan to sit on my @$$ the whole day doing/thinking nothing but just listening to some nice country music. I'm going to spoil myself with lots of fruits especially watermelon. Then comes the sunset...and I'm going to enjoy the sunset sipping margarita! Then I'm going to meet silver moon...stare at it for awhile...and hopefully by then I've had enough margaritas that I'll just pass out...

Day 2 - I will be up feeling to refresh and alive...knowing I have nothing to do! I'm going to visit my farm...plow and harvest and fill it with buildings, fences, flowers, paths and other decorations. But of course, I'm talking about my Farmtown and Farmville accounts at Facebook! Day 2 will be about the Internet. I will blog...read blogs...and play!

Day 3 - I will be at one with sea. I will go island hopping....watch dolphins...do SCUBA diving and will enjoy the sun and the sands! I need lots of fresh orange juice for this...and watermelon too! In the evening I'm going to stay at the shoreline...stare at the bonfire...and will summon every person I wish to talk to 'til dusk. How cool!

Day 4 - Since there is no budget constraints...I'm going to have some shopping spree with families and friends. And since shopping can stressful too, we will have some nice time at the spa after.

Day 5 - This day will be with the IT Guy. (Just one day because I can't assume he has this super nice week with no obligation or anything...LOL) We'll go to places he wants us to go...do whatever he wants...in the evening, I'm going to luck myself with him all night!

Day 6 - This will be my fantasy day. I'm going to take a very important role in business or government and will have an office there for a day. I will end the day with a very nice champagne dinner with VIPs.

Day 7 - I will be very busy organizing a birthday party for a very good friend. I'm going to call all his friends and will give him a surprise party! We will be singing....dancing...eating...drinking...'til we drop!

Happy birthday Sage!



I wish you all the best....CHEERS!

Please visit Sayre to see how others FUN Week going to be! Wish you all a great week ahead!

Photo Holiday Cards

I just did a post about sending holiday cards and well as the days pass, ideas keep coming in and it's just getting better and more exciting!

Remember I mentioned about the thrill of sending customized holiday cards to friends and families specially for the ones who are really far from us? Well...what could be cooler than sending them photo holiday cards!

I think sending some photos as holiday cards will just add to the thrill and excitement of getting something real...you get to touch it...feel it! Perfect!

So today I am going for sure to spend more time in my archives looking for photos with friends...families to have my photo holiday cards ready soon. What I'm doing is making a list of people whom I want to send these holiday cards and brainstorm what photo I want to send them. Once I have everything organized I can have them printed. Hopefully all would be sent out by last week of November to beat the holiday rush. Or it would be funny getting a thank you message from a friend for a Christmas card on a February with a P.S. of "happy valentine's". Ha!

Postcards for Christmas!

When was the last time you received a postcard? And I mean a real one!

Yesterday I got one. And I saw it just now. Mom left it at my beside table and since I was in bed the whole time due to hay fever I missed it yesterday.

I am so happy! I usually get one from a friend in LA but this time it's from an old friend. She wrote there - "...sometimes the real thing feels better. " So very true. I'm technology passionate but somehow a part of me still enjoys some old stuff...such as the traditional snail mail...and printed postcards.

So this morning I'm trying to make some quick searches and see if there are any good postcards I can order and send to friends. I found one site which offers printed postcards and they're customizable! Yes you can upload your own design...print your own text using their different layouts.

This discovery is making me so excited for the coming Christmas. I always love sending gifts to friends but let's face it, it's just quite hard to send gifts to friends and acquaintances across the globe...but sending printed postcards is just...fun and thoughtful, in my opinion.

This weekend I'm going to work with the IT Guy on several photos and design for our printed postcards...I hope to send hundreds of it this coming Christmas. We still have enough time, right?

Congratulations to Hustler!

calmly he arranged
the chessboard pieces - soldiers
marching to vic'try

he was in control
as tension surrounds the game
a knight leaped, checkmate!

This is a rather late Friday Haiku but then I have to make a shout out for that friend of mine who just won the chess tournament help at our main office in Makati. Congratulations!

I know I promised to give you something...and well as you know by now, I always keep my promise...right?! ;) So just wait for it!


Please don't forget
to visit other
people's wonderful haiku
at It's a Jan's Life!

And It Still Shocked Me?!

Remember that recent online discovery IT Guy and I had on nfl sunday ticket?!

Well we did get our friend unlimited nfl sunday ticket schedule, if you get what I mean. He's so happy with it and well I just can't believe it! LOL He is indeed an NFL fan...and a big one at that. He is saying his Sundays couldn't be any better. Wow! Amazing.

Anyway today I got a call from him asking me for nfl sunday ticket price. I was like no way! It's your gift to you and why should we tell you how much we got it. That is kind of odd, right? But then he told me his friends want it too....oookay, but hello, go get it yourself! Don't ask me! LOL

Anyway this friend has just some amazing charm that I went ahead and gave eventually. Now I can imagine several souls locked up inside their houses every Sunday enjoying NFL to no end.

Again...let me say it out loud. WOW!

Another Online Discovery

My friend is crazy with NFL. Okay...maybe he is worst than that! LOL

Last week he did something really sweet for me wanting me to return the favor...very badly. While rocking my head on the way home on what to give him, IT Guy suggested that I just get him an nfl sunday ticket. I was like what?!

Forgive me but I know nothing about it.

IT Guy told me that he did not mean the "ticket" literally. He means the friend might love watching NFL games every Sunday...with no hassle. So I did take a look on the nfl sunday ticket price and nfl sunday ticket schedule. Sounds amazing.

It will apparently let the friend can catch up to 200 NFL games per season which is up to 14 NFL games each and every Sunday! I can just imagine how his next Sundays would be.