Happy

It has been two days since I arrived from my almost three-week vacation with my husband. I was really reluctant at first to join Howell for this trip because I don’t want to leave Bela but my friends have convinced me to go with Howell since it will be a perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with my husband.

And I am really glad that I did this trip with Howell. I am just so happy and the more I realized that I have the best husband any woman could ever asked for. I am so happy that I even wanted to buy a gift for him. He used to play paintball but it has been a while since he last played since he has not budget left to sustain his sport. So I am thinking of buying him a paintball marker package from Zephyr Paintball. Their prices are really cheap compared to other online sites and they even have free shipping.

I am sure Howell will be so ecstatic once he sees his new paintball gear and accessories.

Jacqui's Baghag Shop

I am so happy for my good friend, Jacqui. She has a new business venture. She is selling pre-owned designer bags from Japan and Europe. I checked out her site and it is really tempting as the bags are still in very good condition. I was not able to buy an LV bag (as what I initially plan to do) when we went to Paris since I ran out of budget already as it is really expensive in Europe. And so I am really close to getting a bag from Jacqui. But I am still able to contain myself as I know that I still have a lot of dues from my credit card this month which I incurred from our last trip.

Good luck sis in your new business venture and hopefully someday I will be one of your clients. LOL.

You can check out the bags form Jacqui’s multiply site.

Crossing our fingers

Most of my good friends know that our recent trip is also our second honeymoon since we are already planning for baby number 2. As soon as we arrived, my friends are already asking if they will be receiving baby birth announcements from us soon.

Oh hubby and I can’t wait to find out too if we will be ordering birth announcement cards soon as we really want to give Bela a baby brother (hopefully it is a boy this time). I have been checking out http://www.cards-411.com to look for photo birth announcements like the one below.

I know it is still too early to plan and I know ordering Birth Announcement cards from Cards-411 is just easy as they will create a special design for me and they can print and ship the cards the same day I approved the designs. But can you blame me? I am just one excited mommy eager to have another baby. Hopefully we will be blessed with another addition to our family.

Next Project

Now that one of our major project for this year is finish, hubby is already asking me to start preparing for our 5th year wedding anniversary celebration this coming January. I am still not sure though if we will still have the time and the money to push through with hubby’s plan of having a small celebration in a hotel with our close friends and relatives.

But if only we have the time and the budget, I dream of having one of those destination weddings like holding the celebration in one of the resorts of Karisma in the Mexican Riviera Maya.

We will be flying all our relatives so they will be at the resort days before the wedding and we can enjoy the white sand beaches, the delectable foods, the beach beds with a magnificent view of the ocean. I am sure it will be one fun and memorable celebration that we will like to share with all our friends and relatives.

New Friends

One of the most unforgettable experience that we had for this trip, aside from seeing in person our Pope Benedict (I will make a separate post about this), was the Filipinos we met during our trip.

The first group of Filipinos that we met was in St. Leonard church in Frankfurt. The Alcanatara family was one of the Filipino families that we met after the mass and they accompanied us to the bus station where we will take our ride to Prague. They even offered to take us to Heidelberg (where you can find Rizal’s monument because Howell was really interested to go there), but since our bus leaves that evening, we have to beg off their offer.

The next group of Filipinos that we met in Venice was siblings Meg, Danny and Chito and they are traveling together with Fr. Lito (who is base in Rome) and his mother. We had dinner together and we really hit it off and we are laughing like crazy as if we have known each other for such a long time already. Since they are going back to Rome the same time we are there, they even invited us to have dinner at Fr. Lito’s house in Rome. We learned that they are also planning to attend the Papal Audience and since Fr. Lito’s house is near the Pope’s summer house where the Papal audience will be held the next day (which is 1 hr travel from Rome downtown), they did not let us went back to our hotel but instead they accommodated us at Fr. Lito’s house so we will be early for the Papal Audience. After the audience, we explored Rome together. In just a matter of two days, we became really close and comfortable with each other. I especially became close with Meg, who is also a mom like me. We exchange phone numbers and email addresses and we promised that we will see each other again when they get back to manila this coming September.

This is some of the highlights of our trip. Most stories and pictures soon….

My Photographer Hubby

Howell discovered his passion for photography after I gave birth to Bela. Since then, Bela has been the subject of his photos. But when we went to Europe, we left Bela behind so he has no choice but to use me as his subject. LOL. Anyways, as Howell always say, Bela and I really look alike and even without DNA testing, people can easily tell that she is my daughter so maybe that is why he is so passionate to take my pictures because he can remember Bela through me.

I told Howell that I am lucky since I have a photographer as my travel buddy. But I was teasing him since I run out of energy to pose for his pictures since he never stops taking pictures and he will not stop unless he gets the perfect shot. Like when we went to Prague, we had a picture in Charles Bridge when there is still daylight but Howell did not get satisfied unless we went back when it is already dark to get a picture of the Charles Bridge at night. The same is true when we went back at the Eiffel Tower on our second day in Paris to take a picture of the tower at night.

But looking at all our photos, Howell really captured everything. (A+ really for his effort). But as a photographer, I guess he really had a time of his life capturing everything in photos.

I think we have more than 1000 pictures so it may take a while before I can finish uploading all of them. But I promise to post our day to day itinerary during our trip so those who are planning to go to Europe (calling Jody, Jacqui and Jane) can have a glimpse of what they can look forward to in their future Europe tour.

Good Luck Sis!

My sister has been asking my help for her thesis since last month. She was really having a hard time looking for a possible algorithm that she can enhance that will be feasible to the users. Since I am a Computer Engineering graduate, I do have some ideas regarding this matter. I definitely know what’s in demand for technical people nowadays.

And so with the help of my background in this field, I suggested that it is possible that she enhance a search engine algorithm that can be used for a more productive seo services that will benefit more users especially when using the internet. I tried searching for an algorithm and I immediately forwarded them to her email so that she can browse and study the flow including the predicaments present in the existing algorithm.

When she received and read the documents, she immediately called and thanked me for helping her. It was a relief for her because she has now something new to present to her professor for approval.

Well, I just wish my sister a good luck for her thesis and may God bless her.

Daily Message

On this day of your life, Abie, we believe God wants you to know...
... that doubt is the greatest gift, - it's the space between two certainties.

Any change on its way from one place of stability to the next one, passes through a period of doubt. Your old perspective has to disintegrate, and doubt comes in for a visit - even if only for a moment, before the new perspective takes root. Doubt is your greatest gift, because from doubt you can go anywhere.

Atty's Big Help

Accidents seem to happen even if we are extra careful with our works and actions. That’s why, no matter how careful we can be, worst case scenarios always come unexpectedly.

This is what happened with my cousin few months back. He was on his way to his school when a fast moving cab accidentally hit him. He was totally hurt physically and his motorcycle is a total wreck. He was really lucky that he survived that accident and good thing he was wearing a helmet that’s why there was no damage in his head.

Since the cab driver doesn’t have enough money to shoulder the expenses, we asked for the operator’s assistance to at least share with the expenses for hospitalization. But the operator doesn’t want to give anything and he continuously denies that it was my cousin’s fault. So they decided to seek help with San Jose motorcycle accident attorney in their case.

By doing some investigations and confrontation, they settled with an agreement that the operator of the cab and the driver will support the expenses for the hospitalization of my cousin.

Business Ideas

I really don’t know if I can be a good businesswoman. I really am not effective as a salesperson and I’m generally shy so I do not know how I will market my products. That is why I just invest on other people’s businesses.

My brother has a lot of business ideas and he is an able businessman. That is why I really do not hesitate in investing money in his business investments. For one, he is my brother and I trust him. Secondly, I know that there will be transparency on the profits of the business. There would be no need for a Las Vegas Quickbooks Accounting Firm to audit the business.

Thursday Thunks - stupid questions that you love to answer

1. Your thoughts on hunting? Simply reminds me of Edward Cullen.

2. Swine Flu vaccine... will you get it? Yes, I had it once.

3. What is one job/profession that you think there are just too many of? Nurse..

4. I want to go on a diet, what advice will you offer me? Stick with the greens.

5. You are going out on a date with someone for the very first time. When you get into their car, you see a box of condoms on the floor. What do you do? Just ignore it but be careful with his actions.

6. Name something in your bathroom that shouldn't be there. I don’t know.

7. What was your Kindergarten teacher like? Has a very long patience and very approachable.

8. What kind of oil do you use when you cook? I don’t cook. LOL!

9. If someone takes an unflattering picture of you and posts it online, do you beg them to take it down or do you laugh at yourself with everyone else? Sometimes I do both but ends up begging them to take it down.

10. What brand of dishwashing soap do you use? JOY!

Anyone Interested?

My friend is starting his own business now. In fact he has started a small one before but he decided to stop it and focus more on his work at a company. He’s into buying and selling now just like my brother, but the only difference is, my brother is buying and selling cell phones while he is into cars, brand new or used one.

He’s now starting to receive contacts and orders but they are still few and that’s why he’s exerting more effort to publish his name. In fact he’s even asking for other’s help including his friends to advertise his business even through internet and text messages.

Now, he has a used rv for sale and he’s actually asking for my help to assist him in looking for a great buyer. But then again, I don’t have any idea on whom to sell it that’s why I asked my brother’s help who is an absolute expert when it comes to buying and selling.

In Need of Energy Supplements

I need vitamins and energy supplements lately. Working during weekdays, coming home to take care of Bela and stay up late to study or blog has taken a toll on me. I feel tired all the time. I doubt if coffee will have an effect on me as it used to. I am thankful I still haven’t gotten sick but I am afraid I will be if I don’t slow down or take additional vitamins for myself. Acai Berry Energy Supplements have been getting a lot of reviews lately. It seems the fruit acai berry has a lot of antioxidants that is good for the body.

Still Working Hard

I’ve done so many posts about me taking up my masters in a prestigious university through online. I can say that it is fun and easier since I don’t have to go to school every day just to hear my professors discussing my subjects. But as time pass by, things are somehow becoming harder because of the loads of work that I have to finish.

Lately, I realized that this is a bit disadvantageous because at times we don’t clearly understand what we have to do which leads to a great confusion since we don’t exactly have good communication to our professors and classmates. Our only way to communicate with them is through the forums and in there, we will be able to get our assignments which are at times not clearly explained. Maybe if they only have video classes just like in LSAT prep, we can further understand our subjects through the guidance of the professors present in the video.

Oh well, I think I just have to cope with this and just study hard in order for me to finish my masters.

Sunday Stealing: The Blame Tara Meme

Question 1: Who do you think is the hottest movie star? Hugh Jackman

Question 2: Apart from your house and your car, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought? My Euro ticket? LOL!

Question 3: What is your most treasured memory? When I first saw my loving daughter Bela.

Question 4: What is the best gift you’ve ever received as a child? Lots of toys of course. LOL!

Question 5: What is the biggest mistake you’ve ever made? No comment!

Question 6: Give four words to describe yourself. hardworking, loving, caring and shopaholic. LOL!

Question 7: What was your highlight or lowlight of 2008? Uhmm..

Question 8: What was your most embarrassing moment? Secret.

Question 9: Tell something not generally known about yourself. I don’t cook well. hahaha..

Question 10: If you were a comic strip/cartoon character, who would you be? Tinkerbell.

How You Can Save by Using Coupons

I love using coupons. I always think of it as a way to save more so I can shop more. For example, if I saved $50 from shopping by using coupons – I can use the $50 I saved into shopping for something else.

My family loves to watch Home Shopping Network. There are a lot of items which look interesting, hence if ever we use HSN.com coupons to buy fitness equipment (we really should be using them more though), I can buy more magazines using the National Geographic magazine coupons I clipped from the newspapers. I have been collecting them because I plan to give them to a very good friend this Christmas.

So don’t think of it as a hassle when you need to clip coupons from the mail or look for it on the web – it can let you save and shop more!

Handling Money and Debt

I would like to think I handle money pretty well. My only weakness is shopping for Bela but I would like to think I am disciplined when it comes to spending. For example, whenever I use my credit cards I make sure that I pay for them when they are due for payment.

I also take advantage of 0% interest deals when buying investments like furniture and appliance sets. I also use the card’s reward points and have them converted to free flight miles as we love to travel a lot.

I hate getting calls from debt collection agencies whenever some payments are past due. I think collectors are very rude and sometimes even use harassments and threats to make people with due credit card payments pay. I remembered a very frustrating and disappointing experience with Standard Chartered Bank. I paid a sizable amount of money through their ATM express payment for my December bill and somehow my envelope was the only one that got lost in the machine. The company would not honor my payment that I had to pay the amount of money again!

So you can already tell what happened, right? I paid my outstanding balance in full and closed the account. I would never deal with Standard Chartered bank ever again.

Coffee Please!

You Are a Caramel Frappuccino

Creative and expressive, you tend to match your Frappuccino flavor to your mood. And a flavored syrup is always a must!

What Flavor Frappuccino Are You?

For Our Own Safety

As what I have observed nowadays, different diseases and viruses are being discovered and most of them are contagious just like the recent swine flu virus that infected many people in several countries.

As a mom, I am worried for my daughter and of course, I am also worried for my hubby and myself. I don’t want any of us to get sick because just like everybody else, I want our family to always stay healthy and free of diseases. This is the main reason why I am currently planning to have our Medicare supplement insurance. In this way, our family will have an assurance of security towards medical purposes. I know that this will be of great help in case of anything happened.

I do hope that this will really serve as our protection because I always want the best for our family and I don’t want anything worst to happen to us.

Getting Back Into Shape

We are not getting any younger and we must admit that at our age, diet would no longer work if we do not pair it with exercise. I personally hate exercising. However, I would need to make an effort to do so or else I would go severely out of shape. Perhaps a pedal exerciser would be a bit more exciting than a treadmill? I get so bored when doing exercise on the treadmill.

I would recommend getting some fitness equipment at AllegroMedical.com. They have been in the business for quite awhile so they have a very good and stable reputation.

Watches

If bags were not enough to tempt shoppers like me online, they are also selling watches like these very nice TechnoMarine watches.

 

I still do not know which one to get – a bag or a watch. But knowing me, I know that all my extra money will go to shopping for Bela. She is my princess after all. Time flies so fast, before we know it it’s going to be Christmas!

Bags For Sale

Online friends Glo and Faye have new bags for sale. You can check them out here and here. Instead of Coach bags this time, they are selling cheaper items like Kenneth Cole, Juicy Couture and Lacoste.

I haven’t shopped at all since we were saving for our trip to Europe but since we are now enjoying the trip, I hope next month I can finally shop :).

After all, shopping is such great therapy for stress!

Look!

Make-up Training

I have always wanted to learn how to apply make-up on myself. It will sure allow me to save on money whenever we go to official functions in the office when formal dressing is required and when we attend weddings. If only there is an opportunity, there are good cosmetology schools in kansas I can enroll in but it so far away. I can find schools nearer in our area at FindaBeautySchool.com though. Maybe I can try that. They have included every accredited beauty school in the United States, searchable by state or zip code.It is really easier for people to find things on the web.

Paris IT

AUG 20
• 8:55 - Depart Rome to Paris via Easy Jet
- Rome Ciampino to Paris Orly
• 10:55 – Arrive in Paris
• HOTEL ACCOMODATION: Hotel Saint Honore

ADDRESS:
85 Rue Saint Honore
Paris, 75001
France

TELEPHONE: +33142362038
EMAIL: hotel-st-honore@wanadoo.fr

TRAVEL DIRECTIONS: (2 OPTIONS)
- 1st you can take the metro from orly till antony than RER (train) B from antony direction paris till chatelet les halles
- 2nd you can take the bus from orly direction paris till denfert rouchoreau than metro 4 directio porte de clignancourt till les halles or RER B till chatelet les halles.

TOP 10 ATTRACTIONS (Source: Trip Advisor's Travel Guide)

1. Cook’n With Class, 21 rue Custine, 06 31 73 62 77
2. Bike About Tours, Charlemagne statue, Rue du Cloitre Notre Dame, 06 18 80 84 92
3. Fat Tire Bike Tours Paris, 24 rue Edgar Faure, 01 56 58 10 54
4. Palais Garnier - Opera National de Paris, 8 rue Scribe, Place de l’Opéra, 01 72 29 35 35
5. Les Invalides, Place des Invalides, 01 44 42 37 72
6. Paris Authentic, 2 place du Palais Royal Paris, 06 64 50 44 19
7. Musee du Louvre, 99 rue de Rivoli, 01 40 20 53 17
8. Musee Rodin, 79 Rue de Varenne, 01 44 18 61 10
9. Notre Dame Cathedral (Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Paris), 6 place du Parvis, Ile de la Cité, 01 42 34 56 10
10. Musee d’Orsay, 62 rue de Lille, 01 40 49 48 14

AUG 20
• PLACES TO VISIT: Place de la Concorde, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe
and Eiffel Tower in the evening.

AUG 21
• PLACES TO VISIT: Louvre Museum, Notre Dame, walk from Palais de Chaillot,
towards the seine, to the eiffel tower

AUG 22
• PLACES TO VISIT: Versailles

AUG 23
• PLACES TO VISIT: Musee d'Orsay, Sacre Coeur Basilique, Moulin Rouge, boat
ride along the river seine

AUG 24
• Last minute City Tour and Shopping
• 17:09 – Depart Paris to Frankfurt via DB Bahn
- Paris Est to Frankfurt(Main)Hbf
• 12:58 – Arrive in Frankfurt
• HOTEL ACCOMODATION: I haven't booked our hotel accommodation for our last day in Frankfurt yet. Hubby will asked around which is the best area since we will be arriving via train and we will leave the next day for our flight back to Manila.

AUG 25
• 11:30 – Flight to Manila

Halloween Party Fun

Depending on where you stand on the social totem pole, it just but the same, anticipating the alacrity of Halloween party celebration is definitely where you and I belongs. And getting hold of Halloween Invitations made by holiday-invitations.com precisely induced us to dance with glee especially if the invitations Halloween form, style and designs are made exclusive and personalized for every party invitations Halloween guests. Expressing the most ardent thoughts of weirdness and touch of whimsy is the scary invitations Halloween, a work of art that seek to hold ealloween invitationsveryone’s attention, bulldozing a highway through the house of everyone’s imagination how weird yet fun filled and whimsically fantastic the Halloween celebration will be!!!

Rome IT

AUG 17
• Arrive in Rome at 6:56 AM
• HOTEL ACCOMODATION: Milton Roma
- Breakfast included

ADDRESS:
Via Emanuele Filiberto,155
Rome, 00185
Italy

TELEPHONE: +39064523161
EMAIL: claudia.trapletti@miltonroma.com

TRAVEL DIRECTIONS:
When you’ll arrive in Termini Station you have to take the A line and drop off in Manzoni station.

TOP 10 ATTRACTIONS (Source: Trip Advisor's Travel Guide)

1. Borghese Gallery (Galleria Borghese), Piazzale del Museo Borghese, 5, 06 841 3979
2. Pantheon, Piazza della Rotonda, 06 6830 0230
3. Vatican, Vatican City, 06 6982
4. Eden Walks , 338 59 61 622
5. Colosseum (Colosseo), Piazza del Colosseo, 06 700 5469
6. Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi), Piazza di Trevi
7. Roman Forum (Foro Romano), Piazza Santa Maria Nova 53,06 3996 7700
8. Through Eternity Cultural Association, Via Astura 2, 06 700 9336
9. Miles & Miles Tour Company, Via Ciro Trabalza 105, 335 66 38 184
10. Vino Roma, Lungotevere dei Mellini 10, 06 3254 0512

AUG 17
• PLACES TO VISIT: Colloseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill/Museum, Bocca de Verita

AUG 18
• PLACES TO VISIT: St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, Tomb of the Popes, Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel

AUG 19
• PLACES TO VISIT: Papal Audience, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Spanish Steps

Early Xmas Party Planning

I was browsing through my mails and I saw this Christmas holiday invitations that my friend sent to me last year.


Too bad we were not able to attend their party as we have to attend a family gathering too on the same date. This year my friend said that she will be sending her party Christmas invitations early so she can make sure that we will be present for the Christmas Party that they will be hosting this year. And I am sure she will be true to her words because she orders her Invitations Christmas from www.invitations-shoppe.com. She has been raving about their service since all she has to do is select the design for the Party Christmas Invitations that was specially designed for her and once she approves the design, it will be printed and ship the same day.

I promise my friend that we will be present this year for her party so I will really mark off her party date as soon as I receive her invite.