Lady friends

I grew up knowing the 3 ladies in this picture - one is my Mama and her two closest friends since they were kids. They all saw each other from first grade, boyfriends, weddings, losing husbands, bad and good health - including the ups and downs in between.

Theirs has not been smooth sailing all the way. They had their little spats too, sometimes lasting a few months. But they all come back together. They are each others staunchest allies and worst critics. But they would never back out from each other.

They taught me this: friends make room for you to grow. And true friends allow you grow apart from them, but know when to reel you back in.

Fifty + +

Heard about the book Fifty Shades of Grey from my bestie.  She still lives in Cagayan de Oro and comes to Manila once in a while, and when she does, we always make it a point to catch up.  And one of our favorite topics is books, specifically, what we were each reading.  She has the most interesting reading list even way back in High School - from science fiction, fantasy stuff and thrillers.  I was more into love stories (Sweet Dreams), then adult love stories.  It was only in college that I started reading into science fiction, fantasy, action books.  But I still read a lot of chick lits to satisfy my chick soul. :D

She introduced me to Fifty Shades of Grey.  Googled the book the minute I got home.  Found a lot of people blogging, tweeting and talking about it.  So I downloaded the trilogy that very same night, and I've been shackled since the flipped on the first page :P

Christian Grey is so easy to like and then love haha!  Of course it turned out to be a love story, but a cute one nonetheless.  My college friend calls it Mommy-porn, which I must agree that it is.  I'm not the only one who's enjoyed it too.  The hubby has been very happy since I've read the books haha

There are talks of a movie in the making.  I'm sure the movie's going to be changed coz if they follow the books up to the very minute details, it's going to be edited a lot.  And I saw somewhere in twitter that it's going to be Matt Bomer of the White Collar fame to play Christian Grey.  I think he can totally pull if off too.  Although in my head, I somehow imagined Christian Grey as Ian Somelholder or Ryan Gosling.

Laters, baby :D

Bare skin

My personal skin essentials

Because it's been raining for days in our side of the world, let me share with you my skin care regimen. Haha! I know there's no clear connection with rain and skin care, but what the heck, right? LOL

When I was in high school, most of my friends were battling with pimples or acne. I never did have any pimples, which at that time, I felt so lucky. I was already in college that I realized I had dry skin. After I washed my face, it became so tight that it burns. So I started using moisturizer, my first was Neutrogena.

I was never the face powder or make-up girl. I only started wearing face powder and lip gloss when I started working. And those two are still my only daily regimen, sometimes I even forget to wear face powder haha!

But I never forget to take care of my skin. I only use Cetaphil for daily wash. I alternate with a hydrating facial scrub from Celeteque. I also used Human <3 a="a" after="after" amazing="amazing" an="an" and="and" been="been" cheaper="cheaper" cosmetics="cosmetics" coz="coz" dry="dry" for="for" from="from" go="go" hoard="hoard" hongkong.="hongkong." hydrating="hydrating" i="i" in="in" it="it" just="just" ladies="ladies" light="light" moistrurize.="moistrurize." mostly="mostly" my="my" nature.="nature." never="never" olay="olay" p="p" re="re" reason="reason" s="s" sasa="sasa" skin.="skin." skin="skin" so="so" some="some" store="store" there.="there." these="these" they="they" toners="toners" up="up" used="used" user="user" usually="usually" ve="ve" washes.="washes." washing="washing" with="with" years.="years.">
Wash, moistrurise - that's all I do. Oh, and put on face powder if I don't forget LOL!

Whirlwind week and weekend

Last week was quite heavy for me.  My Mama was rushed to the hospital Wednesday, her 3rd hospitalization this year.  I had to hurriedly get tickets home and be with my her.  Thankfully she felt better and was discharged last Saturday. 

But she needs to get heart tests - the Holter test and an Angiogram too.  I had to stay in Cagayan de Oro until yesterday to be with Mama for the Holter test.  We'll have to canvass for the Angiogram first since it's a bit pricey in Cagayan de Oro.

I'm the eldest of 3 girls and my sisters still don't know how to handle these kinds of situations.  And my Papa is an OFW and this time, he's out of the country.  The first two hospitalizations, he was home so I didn't have to fly to CdO.

It's hard to leave my little one and hubby home.  My little one has school, he has homework that we have to do and other little things.  Although the hubby is quite great with studying and doing homework with the little boy, thank God.  But it's still different when I'm there with the little one. 

When I left Cagayan de Oro yesterday, I felt sad leaving Mama behind.  Mostly because I also saw she was struggling to hold back her tears.  But also because I worry about her - how she'll be with an empty house while my sisters are out, Papa away and me and my family here.

At the same time, I so wanted to go home and be with my own family.  I can't wait for the little boy's stories about school, his friends and what he's been doing while I was away.  And I can't wait to be with hubby, just spending time and talking. 

C'est la vie!

Of crowns and dragons

I'm a Queen, not a Princess.

Loved Game of Thrones Season 1 from the first season.  No, make that, LOVE Game of Thrones.  Watched Season 1 in a span of 2 days, almost non-stop, except to eat, toilet breaks and sleep.  I hated when they killed Eddard.  My favorite characters are Eddard and  Jon Snow in Season 1.

Reading list in iBooks

While waiting for Season 2, I started reading the book.  And then book 2 - A Clash of Kings and book 3 - A Storm of Swords.  After a long wait, finally, Season 2 started.  I was reading A Storm of Swords already while watching for Season 2.  So there would be instances when I get confused - like I wasn't sure if I read the scene or watched it LOL  Enjoyed Season 2's ending.  And my favorites are Sam, Brienne, Arya and Daeny.

I'm now reading book 4 - A Feast for Crows.  And playing DragonVale while waiting for Season 3.  I'm a new dragon lover.  I wanna have this adorable little figurine I saw at a store :)  Too cute!

I want.  Perfect for my desk.

Learning a new language - the new way

My little one's enrolled in a Catholic Chinese school and he's learning Mandarin now.  We (yes, we, because it's a family effort) are having fun learning new words of a new language.  Although I think he's better at learning the language than I - his enunciation and pronunciation are so much better.  Hubby and I don't have a drop of Chinese blood, so this isn't easy for us.  Thankfully, there's youtube!  I don't know what we'd do without it, probably buy VCDs or DVDs or cassette tapes even (yes, 80s ito! haha).  So, yes, thank you youtube, you're saving us tutor money :D

Deafening

Hanging out with my bugoy :)

Hubs is sick and I'm working from home but the little one is at school.  The school boy is at school from 6:30am to 3pm.  It's so quiet at home.  We're not used to this kind of silence. 

No one bugs me with "May I" questions.  No one comes and squeezes himself between my chair and the laptop and asks "May I play in your computer?".  No one tells me that lunch is ready.  No one complains that he doesn't want to take a nap, and then promptly falls asleep.  No one takes long baths, turning the bathroom into a wet big room.  No one watches basketball or cartoons on TV.

So yeah, I miss him. A lot.  I can't wait for 3pm.

So apparently....

Cibo dinner: tomato soup, spinach with bread and salmon with caviar pizza

.... at 34, I learned I'm allergic to dust, pollen and well, rain haha
.... bcoz of which, I can't eat a lot of food - allergens mainly: nuts, junk food, spicy food.  And others I didn't care to remember LOL
.... so what's up with ladies, it-bags and living the high life?  Read here. I'm a self-confessed bag addict, but I only buy bags I can afford (euphemism for SALE! LOL).  And even when they're on sale, I still have a price ceiling.  It's hard earned money, I refuse to just spend it on one thing.
.... speaking of addiction, I now find myself starting to like shoes as well. OH NO - says the Hubby :P
.... the picture was taken last Monday night.  I met up with my UP college girls for dinner and tea.  Yes, we're soshal like dut haha
.... so nice to spend time with my girls.  It's so comfy and cozy, it's like wearing your old PJs to sleep.  Yes, the butas-butas and threadbare one :) 
..... Don't you just love gurlfriends? They're one of the best things in life.  Next to, well, sleeping in your old PJs :D

A day in my old playground

I had to work overnight on Friday so I decided to stay over in a Makati hotel for that night.  I didn't want to sleep alone so I asked my boys to accompany me.  Gladly, since it involved a hotel stay, they obliged :)


Surrending to a whole day of mall fun



The next Saturday, we spent the entire day at Greenbelt.  It was an easy breezy day. Well, it wasn't exactly breezy as it was rainy.  Anyhoo, I've mentioned somewhere before that we don't normally spend weekends at the mall.  So this was a treat for all of us.  We tried to get tickets to the Amazing Spiderman in Greenbelt 3, but all we're fully booked up to the last show.  The little one really couldn't wait to watch it, so we tried at Greenbelt 1 and fortunately they still had seats.  We got Wendy's burgers for lunch inside the movie house. 

Spiderman was good :)  I loved Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield together.  Although it had few action scenes and was a bit on the emo side, as the Hubby said, I still loved it. LOL!  Maybe bcoz it was on the emo side that's why I loved it HA!

After the movie, we then went around the mall where most of the shops were on sale.  I went to Mango but my boys got bored, so I didn't have time to really check out the stuff.  But we got a pair of shorts for the little one at F&X, which is also a Bench company hence points with my Bench card.  Yay! haha



An old favorite of mine and the little one loved the hummus with the pita bread! :)



Turkish salad at Cafe Med - tomatoes, while cheese and olive oil.  Yum!

We then had late merienda at one of my mine and Hubby's fav - Cafe Med.  We had the hummus, Turkish Salad and the Chicken Kebab.  Although I totally forgot to take a pic of the Kebab as I was too busy stuffing myself with food :D