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after thought...

My previous post got me thinking… maybe aside from the fact that our family is not as complete and in tact as it used to be…maybe my bah-humbug attitude was also brought about by my many activities leading to the big day. I didn’t really have enough time to internalize and appreciate the season and what it means. I’ve had so many things going on in my life… my personal life (gimiks/reunions with various groups of friends, anniversary celebs, tons of pic taken and waiting to be scrapped, books purchased and waiting to be read,), my daughter’s school activities, my so called career (blech)…,I am just not used to this! I just like being laid back and basking in nothingness… hahaha! I guess I got caught up. It’s my fault. hay.

Misa De Gallo

Christmas is definitely here! This despite my not feeling very Christmassy… Hubby and I attended the first day of the novena masses yesterday. We attended the anticipated mass at the Greenbelt Chapel where he works nearby. We decided not to attend the dawn masses simply because there is a higher probability of us finishing the 9 succeeding novena masses if we attend the masses at night instead of the dawn masses. =)

Here’s to hoping we complete it this year! =)

The Super Duper Hectic Weekend That Was...

 

It started last Friday, officemates scheduled a dinner at a nearby restaurant. I really wanted to go since it was a new resto and I wanted to try their food,  but I was also thinking about dropping by the David’s Salon near our office, since I badly needed color on my hair. In the end, I opted to go to the salon and just gave away my slot at the dinner table… I spent a couple of hours at the salon (got myself a pedicure too, and chose a fire truck red nail polish) hubby fetched me and we proceeded to the Mang Inasal Restaurant for a late dinner. We got home late, but still went ahead and watched the DVD we rented (Lindsay Lohan’s I Know Who Killed Me).

The next day, I woke up early… trying to accomplish some scrap projects. Then I snoozed for a bit with the little girl… when we woke up, we ate a late lunch and proceeded to Puregold to buy some stuff for the Barkada Christmas Party the next day. Hubby and I then proceeded to the Intellicare Clinic in Makati for my check up. The verdict: I need a colonoscopy. (sigh!). We made a quick stop at Watson’s to buy some goodies for relatives leaving for the US. Our next and last stop was the Magallanes Complex. Hubby’s boss was celebrating his birthday and he hosted a dinner/videoke session. I was not in a sociable mood so I opted to stay in the car, still tinkering with my scrap projects…  After more than 2 hours, we were on our way home… stopping at the 7-11 store just to buy a hershey’s hot choco…

When we got home, we were dead tired and just literally fell on the bed and in deep slumber in no time…

After a few hours, I woke up at 3:30am. I got up to wash my face and brush my teeth… then I remembered that I still had some chores to do… the dishes I whipped up at Café World were cooked and ready for transfer to the counter *wink*, and I still had gifts to wrap. I knew I needed to wrap these gifts while the little girl was still asleep since she’d want to play with the toys meant as gifts for other kids….I got a little carried away when I decided to print my own Christmas tags. I found the cutest tags online and I tried printing them, but the black ink on my printer was running low, so I had to replace it first. It was my first time to replace the cartridges, so it took me so long… =) After a while I was finally able to print the tags, wrap the gifts and just as I was to put them in the bags, I heard small footsteps behind me, I didn’t notice that it was already 6:00am and the little one was already up!

I played with the little one for a little while, then I woke the nanny up, told her to start feeding the little one, since we were going to hear mass at 9:00am. As for me, I went back to bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

Hubby woke me at 8:30am. We all rushed to get ready for church but we still arrived late, leaving us no choice but to stand since there were no seats left.

After mass, hubby proceeded to a christening of a friend’s daughter, while my sister, the little one, the nanny and I hopped on my sister’s car and proceeded to Cabalen at Sta. Lucia Mall for our relative’s despedida. It was a rare occasion since we were almost complete =) save for my father who had a prior commitment and a cousin who was in the province, Pamilya Ganda was complete! It was an eat-all-you can buffet, so after lunch I was so full I literally thought I was going to burst! Hahaha! I only went to the buffet table once but since I was having digestion problems, (hence my check up) I felt soooo full!

At 2:30pm, no one was still standing up to leave, but we had no choice but apologize and leave early since we are still going to host a Christmas party for friends at 4:00pm!

Before leaving the mall, we went up to the department store to get a gift for the little girl who was christened that morning. Then we rushed home, hoping none of my friends decided to come early… on the way, we picked up some ice and table napkins. When we got home, we cooked the rice and the lechon kawali, bought the soft drinks, arranged the rented tables and chairs, hubby attached the balloons on the gate and grills, and made last-minute ligpit around the house.

Finally at 4:40pm, our friends and their families started to arrive…we decided to go potluck this year so they came bringing their promised dishes and desserts. I warned them that the little girl didn’t really have that many toys so friend Apple, volunteered to bring her son’s plastic slide and rocking horse so the kids were able to bond and play together. Hubby and I were very happy to note that the little girl is now big enough to play with the other kids, unlike in the previous years when she couldn’t join in the fun since she’s easily knocked down by the boisterous boys… =)

The yummy smell of Lechong Kawali filled up the whole house, provoking our appetites, so by 5:30pm, after a round of picture taking, we started eating dinner. Yum-yum!!!

After dessert, the boys started their own discussion/bonding session while drinking beer, while us girls caught up with the latest chismis over a bottle of The Bar. At around 9:00pm we exchanged gifts, to the delight of the kids! The husbands played their roles perfectly, paparazzi for the night, as we happily gave each other gifts. One of them remarked that next year they should be part of the exchange gifts too. Hehehe…good luck with that!

Before going home we tried rounding up the kids for a photo op by the Christmas tree, but since it was already late, they were already cranky and some refused to cooperate so we just moved the photo op to the couch and just clicked away since none of the kids were really in the mood to face the camera directly and smile… =)

After a few more pics of us – the party officially came to a halt… and with it our super duper hectic weekend!

Whew!

Hard Work

I read something funny early today… very apt for me…

I know this is the universe’s way of sending me a very strong message…

 

Doing nothing is the most tiresome job in the world, because you cannot stop and rest!

Get it?!? Hahaha!

Karen start working na kasi!

Dinner at Piazza Pazzo - Powerplant Mall

Yummy food, great company, wonderful evening. (click here)

need i say more?

This Is Getting Ridiculous

I feel like a ping pong ball… I am again to be transferred back to my former unit…; the unit I was more than happy to leave…

Yesterday, my boss talked to us. When he called the meeting, I had no inkling that this meeting was going to involve me… I’ll have to hand it to my boss though, he handled the situation pretty well… he tried to break the news to me as gently and as professionally as possible…

My former boss resigned (something I was hoping for while I was there…) and so there was a void in the organizational chart. A section head will assume that position, and being that I worked there for sometime and that I supposedly I had a “grasp” of the transactions(boo), I was hand-picked (blech!) by our division head to assume the vacated position….

Hmmm… how do I feel? Mixed emotions really, all of them negative. Hahaha! I thought I was already home, back to my original department 12 years ago…back with the boss I’ve stayed loyal to through the years and through the other bosses I had… only to be brought back to the unit I (ehem) disliked and which I thought I’ve finally escaped. Hay.

Although this time, I can choose to see this positively. This time I was transferred because apparently I already know most of the transactions there. As opposed to trying to teach a new officer everything about the department.  

Please bear with me. I just received the news yesterday afternoon, just before leaving for home. I’m giving my self 0.5-1 day more to wallow in my misery… then tomorrow, I’ll be back to being a ray of sunshine. =)

This is a blessing. This is good for me… the universe has conspired for this to happen… this is meant to be…

Hmmm. Maybe tomorrow I’ll believe these words…

For the mean time, I still have a couple more hours to wallow in my misery… hehehe.

Books: Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

As I previously shared, I went on a shopping spree on scrap books, and one of these books is The Big Picture by Stacy Julian. In the book, she listed books that inspire her in her scrapbooking projects, I copied her list thinking that I’ll check them out the next time I go window shopping in our local bookstores. She had only good things to say about a particular book: Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. She said that it is a must-read for all scrapbookers. That the author has proven that ordinary life is interesting, important and valuable. Aha! That was enough for me… I got really curious and interested.

I got the chance last Friday. Hubby and I went to Powerplant Mall in Rockwell, Makati. Of course I simply had to pass by Fully Booked =) I asked customer service if they had the book in stock.. after a few minutes of frowning into the computer monitor… his face lit up, yes ma’am we have one copy! Lucky me!

He proceeded to ask an assistant to bring it over to us. When I got it, hmmm… it wasn’t really what expected, it didn’t really ring any bells and whistles.. It was a simple paperback…bearing my favorite color combination: blue and yellow. =) There was a simple upturned umbrella on the cover.. and these simple words: I have not survived against all odds. I have not lived to tell. I have not witnessed the extraordinary. This is my story.

That’s what struck me. Those statements summarized my whole life! Haha!

Although I was hooked, I wasn’t reeled in that easily. How do I say it? It wasn’t exactly love at first sight for me. When I opened the book I initially couldn’t understand what it was supposed to be. I had dates and lists and tables of random tidbits. I felt confused. This was supposed to be an inspiring book, and yet as I skimmed the pages I didn’t feel inspired at all.

So I stood there, in the middle of Fully Booked, trying to decide whether to purchase this supposedly great book… in the end, I decided to trust Stacy Julian (she is a scrapbooking guru after all). The book wasn’t that expensive anyway at P546.00.

When I started to read the book… I still didn’t like it that much. I just kept on. Until slowly, I started to understand…I started to relate…

And then I came upon an entry: “Tries to write fiction in a creative class in college. Keeps writing the truth, stuff that actually happened“. Ding! That’s me again! For the longest time a writer for me is a writer of fiction, and since I can’t even come up with a fairly decent short story, I have always cringed at the thought/dream of me being a writer. Friends keep on telling me I write well, but how can they understand that I write well only when I am sharing my own thoughts and feelings? How can I make them understand that I need to be inspired/moved by what I am writing about to be able to write well. All the while I though I was just a literary freak that way. Writers are supposed to write prose, and amazing stories… not short, simple, irregular statements of thoughts and ramblings. AKR understands! Hehehe! She even wrote a book about it! She went on to share how mastering the segue worries her, how her writing is such that each paragraph does not drift fluidly and seamlessly into the next. Goose bumps ran up my arms. It’s like she’s a kindred spirit!

I bought this book to inspire me in my scrapbooking projects, instead it has inspired me in my writing…

Thanks for the inspiration… thanks for understanding… thanks for giving due credit and attention to the much-unappreciated ordinary life.

Scrapping Mojo Is Back With a Vengeance

Last Saturday, they arrived! the package i've been waiting for since i placed my order last wednesday:

Yes, i did. i splurged a bit. i reasoned these books are advance birthday gifts to myself. and they will surely last for a very very looong time. these books have anything and everything there is to discuss about the art of scrapbooking!

I have already finished reading Clean and Simple The Sequel by Cathy Zielski. It was such a good read! definitely both inspiring and educational. it was well worth every penny! it is the kind of book that i will refer to again and again. Although i must say that her designs may be too clean and simple for me... hehehe. i like my pics crooked and embellished. =) it helped a lot just the same, especially as to theaspect of organization and creating a system for my scrapbooking hobby.

I am now reading The Big Picture by Stacy Julian. Now her designs are more like mine... organized and clean chaos if you will. i'm not yet done reading but already i am learning so much. i especially admire her handwriting. it is so pretty and she can vary it depending on her mood. and to think i have to purchase the fonts that i use... if i had the confidence to use my own handwriting someday that would be simply awesome!

I realized the importance of scrapbooking. It's not just about the pictures or the embellishments or the alphas... it's about the story behind the picture that needs to be told...

i feel obligated to preserve our memories. if i don't do it, who will? =)

Starbucks 2010 Planner

Since i have been able to kick the caffeine habit just this year, i really told myself i won't even try to get a starbucks plannner for next year...

the promo started last november 4, 2009... 2 days into the promo... i only have 5 more stickers to go... hehehe. of course i didn't drink them all, my friends and i had coffee there yesterday as a despedida to our friend who was transferring to another office. lucky for me, none of them were planning to collect enough stickers to get the 2010 planner... all their stickers were stuck to my stub! woohoo!

plus, i ordered decaf! =)