Twilight

Bella: So what you’re saying is, I’m your brand of heroin?

Edward: Yes, you are exactly my brand of heroin.

This book melted my heart. One of the best contemporary love stories I've read. It's so hard to put down I finished it in 2 days! The story revolves around Bella Swan, the heroine, a beautiful 17-year old brunette who is very much mature for her age, thus the strong character. She moves to Forks, Washington to live with her Father. She's quickly gained lots of attention from the local boys. None of them interests her except for this one guy who is so godly handsome but seems repulse by her, Edward Cullen. To make the story short, Bella's attraction remains despite his dark secrets and they fell in love with each other.

Sigh.

What could be more romantic than forbidden love? The book was being narrated by the heroine so when you read it, it's like you're actually Bella herself. You feel her emotions; her pain, her excitement and her love for Edward. Well, I can't blame her. Edward also made me weak in the knees. His love for Bella was so great you can't help but to envy the girl.

I'm dying to see the movie. A and I will check it on Thursday. I hope it captures all elements of the story. Thanks to my BFF Toni I am so hooked I can't wait to read the rest of the Twilight series!

WS: Can You See The Moon?

Can't see it? Click the photo

Taken on All Soul's Day. The sky was so clear we can see the the half moon peeking. The moon became a white tiny speck on the huge blue sky.

weekend-snapshot

Krispy Kreme Gateway Mall Opening

Everyone's invited to the opening of the 9th store of Krispy Kreme on November 14, Friday at the Ground Floor of Gateway Mall at 10:00 AM.

And here are more reasons for you to line up before the store opening:

• 1st customer to ring the cash register wins 1 YEAR SUPPLY of Original Glazed Doughnuts*
• 2nd customer wins 6 months supply of Original Glazed Doughnuts*
• 3rd customer wins 3 months supply of Original Glazed Doughnuts*
• 4th to 200th customer wins 1 month supply*

*1 dozen per week

Mechanics:

a. To win, customers must stay in line from the time they lined up until the store opening - 10:00 AM of November 14 at the Gateway Mall store and purchase at least a dozen doughnuts.
b. Customer may only win once.
c. To claim the prize, winner must present the prize certificate to the manager on duty at Krispy Kreme Gateway Mall only to claim the 1 dozen Original Glazed Doughnuts per week. Validity of prize certificate is1 year from date of issuance.
d. The prize certificate is transferable but not convertible to cash.
e. Employees of Krispy Kreme and relatives up to 2nd degree of consanguinity or affinity, PR Agency are not qualified to join.

Per DTI-NCR Permit No. A3-0998, Series of 2008

WS: Trick or Treat!

weekend-snapshot

Angels and Demons Official Trailer

Angels and Demons was the prequel to The Da Vince Code. If you're also a fan of Dan Brown's novels then you'll be as excited as I am for this film. The story was centered on Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), a Harvard symbologist who's trying to solve a murder that involves the Illuminati, terrorists, and the Vatican. This was a hard book to put down. A story full of action and mystery from the beginning to the end -- shockingly, wonderfully written! So I am very much interested to see how it'll translate into film. Hopefully, it will be as good as the trailer promises and better than The Da Vinci Code.

Angels and Demons will hit theaters on May 2009. I can't wait!

http://www.angelsanddemons.com/

To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity

This is an email from a friend. Some are so silly they made me laugh.

---

• At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.
• Page yourself over the intercom. Don't disguise your voice!
• Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.
• Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.
• In the memo field of all your checks, write 'For Marijuana'
• Finish all your sentences with 'In Accordance With The Prophecy.'
• Skip down the hall rather than walk and see how many looks you get.
• Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
• Specify that your drive-through order is 'To Go.'
• Sing along at the Opera.
• Put mosquito netting around your work area and play tropical sounds all day.
• Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party because you have a headache.
• When the money comes out the ATM, scream 'I Won! I Won!'
• When leaving the zoo, start running towards the parking lot, yelling 'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'
• Tell your children over dinner, 'Due to the economy, we are going to have to let one of you go.'

10 Things That Made Me Happy On My Birthday

1. The beautiful and loving family I am blessed to have in my life.
2. The sweet birthday kiss I received from my little girl.
3. The fabulous weather. The sky was so unbelievably blue!
4. The gotto and crunchy tokwa't baboy I devoured for breakfast. Delish!
   
5. The first lotto ticket I'd ever bought. It would be more fun if I won the lottery though.
   
6. The big bunch of flowers from A. They were so beautiful.
7. The dinner date at Le Souffle Rockwell with A. Great ambience and great food. A loved the succulent rib-eye steak and the Ciabatta bread and the grilled chicken and dessert I had were superb. The only thing that ruined the moment was the little roach roaming around our table. Thank God the roach decided to stroll before the first course was served or else I'll freak out. They had us of course moved to another table.
   
8. The steaming cup of Morrocan mint tea after the heavy supper.
9. The amazing feeling of being surrounded by books. We had a Fully Booked trip after the dinner. I was tempted to buy Sherry Argov's "Why Men Marry Bitches?". Not that I'm a bitch or anything. Well, okay define bitch. Hehe.
10. The late night movie to cap it all off. We watched "Tropic Thunder" which is by far one of the funniest movies I had ever seen. I swear I had no clue it was Tom Cruise!
    

My First Rubik's Cube Solve

My first attempt to solve a Rubik's cube and I couldn't be happier. I am no genius OK? I followed the algorithms correctly to put them back together. And it took me an hour or so to figure everything out. Back then I can only make one side and wouldn't bother attempting the rest of the cube. Now, A and I are hooked. He even bought his own cube so we can work together or compete. We also bought Hamy her own toy cube so she won't mess with ours. Now, I'm trying my best to memorize the algorithms so I can put them into use without the cheat sheet.

Why don't you try it? Boost your brain power with Rubik's cube exercise. I warn you it can get a little addictive.

http://www.rubiks.com/

Barney Live at SM Cinemas

Image from Ticketnet

This would be our first time to watch Barney LIVE and we're so excited for our dear Hamy. She loves the purple dinosaur to bits! I hope it won't scare her to see Barney so big in person. Well, she's not afraid of mascots so I have high hopes here.

Yes, this would be a tee-rific time to have fun with your kids so check your calendar and buy your tickets at any Ticketnet outlets or call 911-5555. Here are the details of the 40-minute show:

Ticket Prices:
VIP - P1,150 (Hitch: The chance to take pictures with the cast)
Deluxe - P930
Premiere - P590

Showtime: 12:00 nn/3:00 pm/6:00 pm

SM North EDSA Cinema 8
November 22 & 23 (Saturday & Sunday)

SM MOA Centerstage Cinema
November 29 & 30 (Saturday & Sunday)

SM Sta. Rosa Cinema 3
December 6 (Saturday)

SM Dasmariñas Cinema 2
December 13 (Saturday)

SM Megamall Cinema 4
December 14 (Sunday)

There's only limited seats so hurry up and book your tickets as early as now. Toodle-oo!

WS: October Morning

"O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief."

- Robert Frost

weekend-snapshot

Reese's Peanut Butter Doughnuts from Krispy Kreme

http://www.krispykreme.com.ph/
Assorted Flavor - P335/dozen, P38/each
Original Glaze - P265/dozen, P30/each

1 dozen Assorted, 1 dozen Original - P550

Krispy Kreme now has Peanut Butter doughnuts made with Reese's! Available in three variants:

1. Peanut Butter & Kreme - an irresistible Reese's peanut butter mixed with creamy vanilla icing on a Krispy Kreme doughnut.
   
2. Peanut Butter & Chocolate - a perfect combination of Reese's peanut butter, vanilla and rich chocolate on a Krispy Kreme doughnut
3. Pieces & Kreme - a chocolate iced Krispy Kreme doughnut topped with crunchy Hershey's Reese's peanut butter candies drizzled with creamy caramel

Curious as to what they would taste like, we dropped by at the nearest KK store in Serendra and bought all three variants. They looked so good I gobbled them up as soon as the box was opened. The verdict? Sadly, none of them tasted like Reese's. Although the doughnuts were delicious the flavor was missing that rich peanut butter chocolatey goodness of Reese's PB Cups. Oh well, at least they didn't taste blah. Taste it for yourself!

WS: Raindrops

We support the Breast Cancer Awareness Month

The photo was taken on a rainy Friday morning. Hamy stretched her leg out the window to feel the raindrops on her toes. Priceless moment!

weekend-snapshot

My Birthday Wish List

Just random things I would love to have.

Nikon D40x. A beginner's DLSR. Not too pricey and easy to use. *My dearest A will get this for me. Yay!*

Lumix LX3. A 10.1 megapixel point-and-shoot camera with interchangeable lens. How cool is that?


MacBook Air. Who wouldn't want the world's thinnest notebook?


Belkin CushTop or any brand of comfortable lap desk. I need one badly. I am tempted to use a bed tray right now or DYI my own stand.


Wireless Mighty Mouse. Not than I'm an expert or anything but I find it hard to edit images using the trackpad.

Image from http://www.tech2.com

Montorguiel GM. Simple, stylish but not overly expensive. Yeah, sure.

Image from http://louisvuitton.com

Any great books on parenting, housekeeping, cooking and Origami or any good books/novels period.

Image from http://pixiestixkidspix.wordpress.com

So there.

* All other images are from Amazon.

Special Award

Thanks Pat for this lovely award!

The rules are:
* The winner may put the logo on his or her blog.
* Put a link to the person you got the award from.
* Nominate five blogs.
* Put links to the blogs.
* Leave a message to the nominees.

I nominate:
1. Toni - my BFF because I love reading her blog.
2. Dyes - love the creative format of her blog.
3. Kreez - love her writing style.
4. Mrs. G - love her housekeeping style.
5. Kitchen Cow - love her food and bento ideas.

Please Vote For This Shirt

Aeroplano ni Pepe by Jerome Bayawa
Inspired by AJ Dimarucot’s design "1000 Cranes".
CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Jerome is one of my sweetest friends. He's an awesome Graphic Web Designer turned Web Developer. I found his tee shirt design very clean yet artistic. If you like his work please cast your vote.

I Heart Your Blog

Got this from Mandy. Many thanks sis!ü


***start copy***

The rules of the award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you have nominated.

Previous awardees: Mabelle, Prily, Ate Norma, I Love Philippines Too, Shenga, Nova, WebbieStuffs, Nancy, Webloglearner, Pinay Wahm, and My So Called Life, Let’s Spice Things Up, Beauty and Shop, Idealpinkrose, allin, kimchiland, Korean Food, The Paper Vision, Embrace Simplicity, Me and Mine, A Window To Our World, A Grateful Heart, Can of Thoughts, A Mother’s Stuff, Housewife@work, MommaWannabe, Lourdes Mia, Praning’s Shoutout, When Silence Speaks, Etc Atbp, Aeirin’s Collections, Life is What we Make it, Underneath It All, Cellulitic Bliss, 100% Kelly, C'est La Vie, Everything but the Kitchen Sink, YOUR BLOG

I'm passing this award to Alpha.

Goo Gone

Image from http://www.partsquik.com

We heard a lot of good reviews about this product. Many people swear by its effectiveness in removing chewing gum, grease, tar stickers, labels, tape residue, oil, blood, lipstick and mascara, shoe polish, crayon, bumper stickers on any surface. I bought one yesterday and have it road-tested today. All my expanding file cases with their nasty sticker residues from price tags were lined up ready. I opened the bottle and was surprised to smell a citrusy scent (hello? bottle says citrus power). I started rubbing the residue with a cotton and a teeny-weeny drop of Goo Gone. The residue was gone in no time. I tried it on our wall to remove the red smear from a floor polish and it worked magically. Goo Gone made it easier to remove barcode stickers on any glass surface, too. Needless to say, I became a believer. Tomorrow, I'll try it on my laptop, the tub, the glass window, Hamy's trike... anything stained I can get my hands on. In fact, I'll be bringing it everywhere I go. A must for anyone who has OCness tendencies.ü

Foot for the Gods

We had our feet indulged at Foot for the Gods MOA. It was our second time and the experience was as good as the first one. I had a foot spa/massage and A went for the foot reflexology and back massage package. I enjoyed the footsie spa so much that I insisted to have a back massage, too. What a big mistake. The strong as a horse masseuse was pushing too hard no matter how many times I tell her to lighten the pressure. A enjoyed the hard massage though. Good thing, the foot spa was so great it outweighs the fact that my back felt sore after the massage. We love the place, too. The dimmed lights, the soothing music and the comfortable padded chairs create a relaxing and cozy atmosphere.

We always enjoyed feet pampering sessions so we happily agreed to put it on our monthly much needed "me time" list. We'll probably try Mint spa pedicures on our next feet trip.

Foot for the Gods
SM Mall of Asia 2nd Level, South Wing
Tel. 556-0727

Rates:
Foot Spa/45 mins - P320
Foot Reflexology/45 mins - P340*
Foot/Back Massage/ 1hr and 15 mins - P420

*if my memory serves me right

Something About Me

I got tagged by Dyes.

::START::

1. Add your blog/s to the list. Feel free to add all your other blogs. It’s okay if you only post this questions in one blog as long as you answer them.
2. Get back to ME and I’ll add your blogs to the master’s list HERE {Note that you are not ALLOWED to change this links and make sure to leave the exact URL.}
3. Copy from Start to End.
4. Tag as many friends online you know. But you don’t need to be tag in order to join.

Who played along:1. Music of my Heart 2. Me and Mine 3. Creative in Me 4. For the LOVE of Food 5. Little Peanut 6. Pea in a Pod 7. It’s Where the HEART Is 8. Around the World 9. Quicker8 10. Eds Mommy Life 11. My Precious Niche 12. Just Me.. Eds 13. Princess Vien 14. In The Spirit of Dance 15. A Pocketful of Happiness 16. 1 Twelve St. 17. Everything But the Kitchen Sink 18. YOUR BLOG HERE

Questions and Answers:

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says:
"... decomposition behind the doors that he didn't open that other time." - Leaf Story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?
The bedside lamp.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Barney!

4. WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what time it is:
2:00 pm

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
1:45 pm

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
Swooshing sound from the electric fan.

7. When did you last step outside? what were you doing?
Yesterday, we went to Jollibee for lunch.

8. Before you came to this website, what did you look at?
Twitter.

9. What are you wearing?
The usual clothes I wear at home - baby tee and shorts

10. Did you dream last night?
Yes but I can't remember the details.

11. When did you last laugh?
Just this morning.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Our wedding portrait.

13. Seen anything weird lately?
According to this website, I'll be an alligator on my next life and that 39% of people will be born as a higher form of life than me. Umm okay.

14. What do you think of this quiz?
An entertaining quiz to pass the time.

15. What is the last movie you saw?
The Mummy 3

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?
I'll buy each of my family and friends an around the world ticket and then we'll all travel together.

17. Tell me something about you that I don’t know:
I'm a procrastinator perfectionist.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
Eliminate poverty by distributing wealth evenly.

19. Do you like to dance?
Yes, when no one's looking. Hehe.

20. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her? a boy?
I named my baby girl Amerie.

21. Would you ever consider living abroad?
Sure! I'll take my family with me.

I am tagging bessie Toni, Jown, Jacque, Ann, Carla and Mandy.

One Windy Sunday

Grainy shots from A's phone. Hamy's early addiction - gumming down an empty SB cup

We went to Karl's first birthday celebration, Hamy's batchmate -- they were delivered by the same doctor and they also have the same pediatrician. He had a very nice Ferrari themed party. Sayang I didn't bring my camera with me. We enjoyed the food and Hamy loved the balloons. So cool they given away Ferrari caps as souvenirs. It was a fun, windy afternoon. We topped the day off with a cup of chai latte and a hot chocolate at Starbucks overlooking the Taal. A delicious way to warm up on a cool Tagaytay night.

yet another proud moment for charice

Celine Dion's Taking Chances Tour
Madison Square Garden, NYC, New York
Sept 15, 2008

Grabe! I had goosebumps all over while watching this on the news and the full video almost brought me into tears. Amazing voice. Surprisingly, if you Google just the name "Charice" it will come back with Charice Pempengco results. Wow. That's how big her name now. Maybe David Foster was right that she'll be known by her first name just like Cher, Madonna and Celine.

Go Charice! Shine your way to stardom.

Watch Charice on Oprah: Part 1,Part 2,Part 3,Part 4,Part 5

the little tea pot

Image from Amazon

I found this interesting product at Healthy Options especially made for children 12 years and below. A European herbal tea concocted from chamomile and linden tree blossoms that said to have relaxing and calming effects on kids who have a hard time sleeping at night or those who just need to relax during the day. 100% organic, caffeine free and no artificial sweetening. Good stuff! I was about to reach for it along with the arrowroot biscuit when I realized my Hamy's barely 2 years old and doesn't seem to have trouble sleeping. Oh well, maybe it may come handy someday with Dr. Vienne's approval of course.

the apple cut

The new do

We took Hamy to Hair Play today for a quick trim. This was her second haircut and I tell you it didn't go very smoothly. She's too wiggly the entire time. We were literally holding her down to keep her still. Nevertheless, the end result was great. The hair made her eyes all the more bigger and her chubby little cheeks so cherubic I want to pinch.

save your favorite youtube videos

Hamy loves watching Barney, Wonderpets and her favorite TV commercials on YouTube and it really gets tiring to wait until the buffer is full to play a steady stream. So to make life easier for both of us, I usually had a different tabbed window for her fully buffered videos. My laptop was always on sleep mode because I don't want to close the window and start all over again.

Imagine my happiness when I came across Savetube, an online tool where you can download and save your favorite YouTube videos in a snap. The videos need to be saved as a flash video (.flv) and in order to view them you must download an flv player. You may also download a converter if you wish to have the videos in AVI (MOV for me), MP4 or whatever format you want. I don't know how long Savetube's been around but I'm glad it works.

To add, if you want to convert FLV files or YouTube videos to MP3 this flv online converter will do the work for you. It's fast and efficient. Another great online tool is vixy.net which is an MPEG4 (AVI/MOV/MP4/MP3/3GP) converter. I have yet tried it because I had no patience to use it. It's too slooow for me.

a trip to manila ocean park

The school of fish and the mantra ray

We could have enjoyed the trip more if the place was not uncomfortably packed. We were sardined inside by overjoyed elementary students on a field trip. I can handle the crowd but the assaulting smell coming from a hundred or so sweaty kids, di ko kinaya! Sakit sa ulo so we stayed away from the mob bago pa kami himatayin.

The oceanarium was smaller than what I expected but the marine life collection was amazing. It was divided into three areas: Agos, Laot and Buhay na Karagatan. The Agos section has waterfalls and colorful saltwater and freshwater fishes. The Laot section has big tanks with big and small saltwater fishes. The school of fish swimming with a mantra ray was a sight to behold. The Buhay na Karagatan area has the underwater tunnel which is the main attraction. Hamy was so happy to see so many fishes swimming around the tunnel but she got bored easily. We went to the 2nd floor and boy it was hot! We didn't try the fish spa because we couldn't take the heat. Instead, we went inside the unfinished mall, passed a fine a dining resto and had our picture taken for a 3D bag tag souvenir. Hamy saw the kiddie rides at Quantum kaya we went in there din. Actually, mukhang mas nag-enjoy pa siya sa rides.

Manila Ocean Park

Admission:

P400 - adult
P300 - kids less than 4.5 ft
Free - babies less than 2 ft