Qatar Vacay

Hello 2014!

Again, I failed to update my blog even for just one post a month. I won't mention excuses because failure to update my blog with new post was done deliberately on my part, well no one else to blame, right?

2013 flew by just like that. I have the same job and same daily routine, work, home, went out with friends, attended school functions on behalf of my kids etc. But one thing major that happened in the last quarter of previous year is I got the opportunity to travel outside the country. I went to Doha where my husband is currently employed.

Actually the main purpose of going to Doha is to accompany my sister and her kids. She couldn't manage to travel with two kids ages 6 years old and less than 3 month old baby. The 9 hour flight was unbelievably exhausting. The baby would not sleep for more than an hour, so my sister and I would take turns in taking care of Baby Nadine (the 3 month old baby) and sometimes you have to carry her and stand to pacify her, can you imagine that?! But it's all worth it especially when we landed in Qatar airport and my husband John and my brother in law were waiting for our arrival.

I got the chance to spend alone time with hubby. Although work as usual for him after a couple of days since my arrival, he leaves as early as 6am till 5pm. He and my sister managed to bring me to places frequently visited by Filipinos and other tourists. It was a month long vacation. Hubby encouraged me to submit resume to companies in Qatar but I refused. I still would like to go home. Our company was kind enough to give me a month vacation and the least I can do is to fulfill my promise to our manager that I'll come back and so I did. But then, if God would support my 2014 plans and the timetable I have set will be executed accordingly, I'll be back in Qatar by second quarter of this year.

In the meantime have a look at my photos taken while vacationing in Doha. 

And oh, belated Happy New Year and advance Kung Hei Fat Choi! With positive attitude, 2014 will certainly be a better year!

 Ikea in Doha

 Katara, cultural village

 Villagio Shopping Mall

Souq Waqif

A Visit to Monasterio de Tarlac

Eversince my sister and my niece came home for vacation, actually my sister is pregnant on her second baby and is due to deliver on August 06 via ceasarian section, we've been spending our weekends eating, bringing the kids out somewhere, karaoke singing and do everything that would make us laugh out loud and put huge smile on our faces.

Last Sunday we went to Monasterio de Tarlac. It was a long trip, took us more than an hour to reach our destination, there was no dull moment since the SUV car is full with both adults and kids. We took a lot of pictures, made funny poses especially yours truly. Unfortunately, the mass was already on going when we arrived in the monastery.

The place is impressive. The reception area is spacious and tidy. A lot of people visit the monastery even if it is far away if you come from other province like Pampanga. The comfort rooms are clean with glade air refresheners. You just have to drop a donation for using the comfort room with any amount.

If you have no qualms taking long travels and in search of a place that'll give you relaxing and tranquil atmosphere, Monasterio de Tarlac is the perfect place to be.

Mt. Samat Adventure

My officemates and I made a trip to Mt. Samat last June 01 (Saturday). It is located in Pilar Province of Bataan. The Mt. Samat Cross of 302 feet is what it is famous for, but before you reach the top of the cross through elevator, you need to pass through several stairs.

We left Angeles City a little after 8am and reached our destination after 9am. I did not expect Mt. Samat to be that beautiful. I commend those who takes care of the place and transformed it completely to a tourist spot, very well maintained but the comfort rooms need major improvement, for the sake of the visitors especially foreigners who are curious to see the mountain.

The trip was exhausting but the feeling to be on the peak of the Mt. Samat Cross will make you forget the tiredness and scorching heat of the sun. The air coming from the windows is so cool. You will appreciate the beauty of nature when you look down and all you see is a tidy landscape and greeny green grass and trees.

Afterwards, we went to Harbor point for our late lunch slash afternoon snack.

I'll never forget our trip to Mt. Samat especially the unexpected and horrifying fainting of one of our colleagues while on the second part of the stairs going up. We talked and laughed about it on our way home.

Overall, the trip was memorable and hilarious.

Hello Blogger World

Hey! Hello...Aloha!!!

Gosh, it's been almost a year since my last post. Obviously I was on hiatus for so long. I feel bad for neglecting my blog though I take at look at it once in while and pay visit to my favorite blogs.

So what kept me busy all this time? Well, I got hooked reading ebook, the contemporary young adult and paranormal type novels. In a week, I can finish 2 to 3 novels but now I decided to slow down a bit, one novel a week is I think ideal. This way, I still have time to update my blog. It would be awesome to have a little time for everything, don't you think?

I'll be back very soon with a new post, promise!

Chic & Sassy 2nd Blogiversary Giveaway

I started liking Korean products especially Pomegranate facial masks from The Face Shop. I also love serum from SkinFood, however, a find it quite expensive. Blogger Des is addicted to Korean cosmetics and she's fond of buying Korean products from Ebay at a discounted price. She unselfishly share her reviews on certain Korean product after testing or trying it. Her blog is turning 2 years old and she's giving away a bagful of Korean products and more.

I just joined her giveaway and I urge everyone to do the same. If your reluctant to spend money just to try Korean products, this is your chance to get it for free if you win the giveaway!

For more details, please visit Chic & Sassy Mom blog.

The Beauty Junkee's 3rd Blog Anniversary

One of my favorite blogger, Ms. Martha of "The Beauty Junkee" is celebrating her 3rd blog anniversary and she's giving away 70k plus worth of prizes to her loyal readers! I have been busy with my career and personal life which is why I'm a bit late in joining her blog contest/give away. I will regret if I let this give away just slip away. Win or lose, I will always be a loyal reader of her blog because I enjoy learning a lot from her. I promised myself, as I near the age of 40, the more I'll continue reading beauty blogs just like "The Beauty Junkee". I want to keep myself updated with news regarding prettifying oneself.

I am replying to TBJ's questions: 

"What did you learn from The Beauty Junkee? 

I learned to appreciate more the morena skin, you can use any shade of eyeshadow or clothes for as long as you wear it with confidence regardless of skin color and more than make up, what really makes a woman beautiful is what she feels inside and her disposition in life. She knows her priority and even if you're face with personal problems, it shouldn't affect your job or the people around you.

"What else would you like to see in The Beauty Junkee's blog?" 

More beauty and fashion tutorials and maybe cooking demo of a menu that you learned to love in one of your food adventures. This I think will help you when you settle down in the future.

If ever I win, I'll be happy to receive either the Pro Beauty Loot or Modern Woman Loot.

For detailed information about the contest please visit "The Beauty Junkee's 3rd Anniversary Give-Away"

Magnum Craze

I learned about Magnum Ice Cream from Chuvaness' blog. My friend Coline of PinkChinadoll and I agreed to give it a try last Friday. We headed to 7 eleven near our workplace and took the Magnum in Almond flavor. It has vanilla flavor ice cream inside that does not melt easily covered with Belgian Chocolate with almond bits. You can really taste the almond flavor in it...YUM!

The next day, after my son's interview in school where he will attend his highschool, we went to KFC for lunch and I felt he wanted something sweet after he savored the KFC chicken. Fortunately, there's 7 eleven in the mall so I told my son I'll buy him Magnum Ice Cream. This time, I took the Magnum Truffle Chocolate. For me, it was like chocolate ice cream covered with Belgian Chocolate and tasted like dark chocolate...YUM again!

I promised my daughter Acey, I'll have her try Magnum Ice Cream as well this coming weekend and Magnum Basic Flavor is on my mind...can't wait!

However, if I have to buy 3 Magnum Ice Cream each for me and my kids when we feel like doing sweet indulgence, I'd rather spend on Reese Selecta ice cream in pint that cost 154 pesos only and it's more than enough for us mag iina:)

A Different Prize

I finally received my prize from Project Vanity blog over a week ago, but it was not a Fresh Fragrance gift certificate, the package contained a Revlon Mascara, Colour Collection lipstick, Rexona Deo and Avon whitening cream. I emailed Ms. Liz about it and she admitted there was a mix up in sending the prizes for her flash contest and commenter of the month winners. I told her I fell in love with the Revlon Mascara and Colour Collection lipstick and ask if it's okay for me to just have them and just give the Fresh Fragrance gift certificate to the other contest winner, to avoid inconvenience as on all parties. All is well that ends well as mentioned by Ms. Liz.

I'm now using the three items included in the package except for Avon whitening cream.

Lucky V Day!

After my Yummy Magazine winning, I won as commenter of the month (for the month of January) in my favorite beauty blog Project Vanity. I was announced as winner on feb 13, a day before Valentines Day. It's one of those beauty blog that I read regularly and religiously. I heart how beauty guru Ms. Liz would describe a certain product and share her honest reviews. She's very knowledgable, articulate and honest.

I won a Fresh Fragrance gift certificate I have yet to receive worth Php2500. Incidentally, before all this, I went in Marquee Mall with my family early part of February and I saw the Fresh Fragrance store and just stared at different perfumes in their display window. Now, I have a reason to come in to their store bringing my gift certificate and choose a perfume that I will consider as my Valentine gift to myself...hmmm, I wonder if I can claim my favorite D & G Blue light? Will let you know guys which perfume would fit in the Php2500 budget.

Happy Weekend Fellow Bloggers!

Acey Turns 9

How time flies. My little daughter just turned 9 years old. I planned on cooking special lunch for the family this Sunday to celebrate Acey's birthday but Acey have been bugging his Dad to have a birthday celebration in their classroom. I am not in favor of the idea, the only time I really spend on my kids birthday is during their first & seventh birthday, after and between that, it's always been a simple family dinner of some sort. When you work abroad, you try to compensate for the lost time with your kids by giving anything and everything they wish, mostly in material form. That's exactly what hubby tends to do with our children. He easily gives in to their wishes and most of the time I am the kontrabida (LOL). Oh well, I just try to understand and I realized, Acey, being a diligent student and a loving daughter, deserves her request.

Acey discussing with her Dad her upcoming birthday

A day before her birthday, I handed to her class adviser the birthday invitations to be distributed to her classmates so the parents would know of the free meal c/o of the birthday girl. 

the birthday invitation

I ordered 40 jollibee chicken joy and spaghetti for her classmates and teachers plus zesto juice. I also bought goldilocks cake and everyone was given a slice of that cake. The kids excitedly sung happy birthday for Acey and they enjoyed the sparkling candles I bought online last December. 

Acey's classmates sung her the birthday song

The smile on Acey's face...PRICELESS!!!

Mom's 65th Birthday

February 02 was supposedly my mom's 65th birthday. She passed away 5 months ago. The pain we felt losing her hasn't lightened or changed a bit. It was too difficult to handle because it happened too fast, we were all in shocked. It hit us BIG TIME. God knows how much I try to suppress my emotions everytime I miss my beloved mom. God knows too how much I try to look at the brighter side of things. I know there's a reason for everything.

As her birthday draws near, I waited  for my brother to give me a go signal to order  catered food and even made a list of visitors to invite. However, I felt my brother is not fond of the idea. He just wanted a simple celebration, invite the sister of my mom and her cousin who were really close to our mom.

I thought of the birthday food that my mom would usually cook whenever member of the family is having a birthday. She will cook them whether you like it or not. Unfortunately, I did not learn her technique/s in cooking roastbeef. Good thing, my hubby and my sister were supportive of my idea and sent me the ingredients and directions in cooking a delicious and well tendered roast beef.

Our househelper is great at cooking pancit guisado and springrolls so I let her do that. I cooked the sipo egg effortlessly. But we fumbled a bit when it comes to roastbeef. Our househelper threw away the water used to boil the sirloin, that was needed in making the sauce or the gravy. There was no point of arguing and it was almost dinner time. I just thought of other way to make the gravy. I boiled 3 cups of water and threw in beef boullion, when it was already boiling, I added the sliced mushrooms to make it a little tender, afterwards, I added the cream of mushroom and voila! Perfected Roastbeef was served on the table right on time!!!

Main Course: Sipo egg, Roastbeef, Pancit Guisado, Spring Rolls

for dessert: brownies and Ube Cake from Red Ribbon

From the morning I clocked out of the office (GY shift), I attended the mass dedicated for mom, bought flowers, went home and checked what else is needed. I then went to supermarket to buy sirloin, got back to the house and slept for 2 hours. When I woke up, I went to La Pieta memorial to visit mom, then went straight to the mall to buy cake.

I was dead tired after the short celebration but I don't mind at all. I'm sure mom was happy with what I did for her birthday. She's happy at the thought I learned to master her food specialties. I know I can't thank her enough, no words can express how much I miss and love her.
 

Me & Mom, Jan. 2011 during my brother and his wife wedding anniversary celebration

A Yummy Win!

It's the last day of January and I am delighted to announce that I won a Yummy Magazine January issue from Candisssh blog. She emailed me and I replied with my contact details including my complete address just in case she will ship the magazine.

This blog talks more about family, friends, FOOD and sometimes beauty products. I am fond of cooking for my family so Yummy magazine is something I want to collect this year. I am excited to learn new recipes!

I hope the year 2012 will be a lucky year for me and win more blog contests. I guess, this is the start!

Family Sunday Snack

I was so in the mood last Sunday to cook merienda for the family.  I still have 500 gram pack of Fettucini noodles, spaghetti and pizza sauce and queso de bola from previous holiday season so I decided to buy ham slices, ground lean pork, quickmelt cheese and baguette from last Saturday's grocery shopping.


I started cooking at 3pm and ended at 4pm. The kids love the pizza baguette, each consumed around 3 to 4 baguette plus pasta. We were so full that afternoon and we forgot to eat dinner. The kids just had cereals with lots of milk in it an hour before bedtime.

sorry for the poor resolution, i just used my samsung mobile, hope it still looks yummy!

What is your Family's favorite Sunday merienda?

Party!!! Party!!!

I know it's too late to share anything about the previous holiday season, still, I want to write about how our department celebrated our Christmas Party.

In December 2010,  we had our Christmas Party in Century Hotel, Angeles City. We agreed to wear black although few of our fellow Analysts wore a different color outfit. But that is totally fine, their presence is what really matters. The food was okay but not that spectacular. We had games and so much FUN!!!

On the contrary, the party food we had in our December 2011 Christmas party became the highlight of the night care of K Cafe, who happens to be the owner of the famous Shanghai Restaurant in Balibago, Angeles City. Oh so yummy! is all we can utter during dinner...savoring every bite!

I just realized that I've been hosting our department's Christmas party for three consecutive years now. Hosting is exhausting but you will never feel such when everyone truly enjoys the moment! I don't mind doing it again and again.

QA Christmas Party 2010

 

QA Christmas Party 2011

Healthy Activity

My brother bought this stationary bike few days after Christmas so we have something to use to burn the calories deposited in our bodies for eating halaya ube, BBQs, pastas and a lot of holiday food.

It was only this week that I started using it because my father have been bugging me to exercise. Can you imagine the joy in his eyes everytime he sees me exercising using this bike? If this stationary bike will help me lose weight, I'll consider my 2012 a healthy and better year, otherwise, it's fine. For now, I'm happy using it for 10-15 minutes, losing 200-300 calories.

And oh! my father is asking (actually instructing) my Bro that a threadmill should be his next purchase...waaahhhhh!!!

Hoping for a Great 2012!

Hey guys, Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Yeah I know, I'm now a certified lazy blogger. It's been 6 months since my last post, I don't want to make a promise again but deep in my heart there is so much I want to write and share and believe me I continue to visit and read my favorite blogs and would even write my comment's on their post/s that I find interesting.

It's now 2012 and I'm really hoping that this year will be better and kinder to me and my family. Looking back, I would say that 2011 tested my courage, faith and emotion. My family and I faced the most tying time of our lives with the passing of my beloved mom in the last quarter of 2011. I am not ready to share the details yet as I still get very emotional everytime I think of it. It will take forever to endure the pain.

On a lighter note, I am delighted to receive a Starbucks planner with the help of my friends Pao and Coline. It's my first time to have an SB planner. The frugal person that I am is satisfied with having Cosmopolitan or Sterling planner, the dates and days are just the same anyway, be it an expensive or cheap planner. But this SB planner that I have now is special because it was a gift from friends. I did not spend a single centavo to complete the stickers and redeem it.

Have you guys written down your New Year's Resolution yet? I said written because most of the time we just write them and ended up not doing them at all. But it's fun enumerating new year's resolution when a brand new year is about to start. I guess I have an idea what to share in my next post, hopefully soon?

I wish everyone a FRUITFUL and  BLESSED Year of the Dragon.

Purple Day!

Hi Fellow Bloggers!

Yay!!!...it's been more than 3 months since my last post. I'm not updating my blog but I regularly visit my favorite blogs. My work and my business venture kept me super busy.

So many happened in the last 3 months and no matter how hectic my schedule was, I made sure to find time for everything and that includes bonding with family, friends, officemates and my favorite people in the world, my kids, of course!!! I have stories and photos to share and I'll do it one at a time.

Let me start with our Company General Assembly. This happened last July 19. Employees were requested to wear clothes, accessories and anything with purple color. It was a purple day in SM Clark. Registrations started at 9pm, after registering, you may proceed in the long table closely located the movie gate to get your snacks which included hotdog sandwich, popcorn and a choice of softdrink or iced tea. We're thankful that our site director hastily discussed he's agenda for that day because he felt everyone's excitement to watch TRANSFORMER, Dark of the Moon. After the movie, we went back to the office to finish the rest of our shift.

Here are the pictures taken before registration and getting inside the moviehouse.
 

 waiting for my turn to register

with some of my QA Family

The Gorgeous QA Ladies

 

Have a great weekened Fellow Bloggers!!! 

Gelato Ice Cream: My New Favorite

I have read in so many food blogs I visited about gelato ice cream, it's something I wanna try because of curiosity, however, such is not available in any malls here in Angeles City so I always ended up buying frozen yogurt.

One time, while walking in SM Clark, I saw a vacant stall with signage a gelato ice cream store will soon open, this brightened my face, finally I'll be able to try the famous gelato ice cream.

I have forgotten about it until last Saturday, when my friend Pao and I were at Robinsons Galleria. We went on a business seminar in Pasig from 8am to 12nn, afterwards, we decided to spend our free time in Galleria. We went straight to Starbucks for coffee and dessert. We walked around the mall and we saw Caramia that serves gelato ice cream and cake. We feasted our eyes in the different flavors of gelato ice cream and cake. I decided to try the pistachio flavor for 70 pesos in a small cup.

Gelato ice cream is believed to have less fat than the regular ice cream. Its silky and dense flavor is truly addicting. The flavor becomes stronger as it melts in your mouth.

This is now my new favorite. I'll head to SM Clark one of these days to check on the gelato ice cream stall I was talking about.

Baby Megan

I am delighted to inform you that my niece was born on March 31, 2011. We named her Megan Nicole. My sister in law and I are lucky for being able to give birth via normal delivery and we never experienced long hours of labor pains. Other moms endured almost 24 hours of labor pains but ended up delivering via ceasarian section. My sister in law was in the hospital together with my brother at 1AM and was put to delivery room at 2AM, that’s the time my brother started sending me SMS, I was at work at that moment so I couldn’t accompany him but I kept on texting him back because I could imagine how nervous, uneasy and excited he was even if it was already his third baby.

Megan is such an angel, she got all the beautiful features of her mom. She's the baby of the family. Few months before she came out, my sister working and living in Qatar have collected the old baby stuff such as nap mats and kids backpacks that her daughter used to bring in nursery school. She bought new baby stuff as well and she assigned me to buy Chico feeding bottles which I already did a month ago. However, we will only be receiving the baby stuff for Baby Megan on April 17. I am in search of baby comforter that would perfectly fit her crib with her name embroidered in it like the ones made by Embroidery Dallas especially now that Posy Lane created and launched a new website, North Dallas Embroidery.

My daughter Acey have been asking me for a baby girl, yes, she specifically wanted “baby girl” for sister but I told her that’s impossible because her Dad is working abroad. Secondly, having another baby is the least priority. I just explained to Acey that I wanted to focus on her and CJ, I am happy and contented with the two of them. Now that Baby Megan is around, she suddenly forgot about her request.

Consistent Honor Awardee

This morning, Acey and I attended their Recognition Day. My daughter was awarded "with honor" for having an average grade of 90.26 from first to fourth grading. I was honestly not expecting for this award because my daughter had a hard time achieving perfect score every periodical exams.

I mentioned before that I will never pressure my kids to be the highest scorer in their class, what matters to me is to see my kids enjoy school. I learned from a school owner who happens to be a child psychologist to teach our kids not to compete with others but to themselves, inculcate positive motivation.

Acey is a consistent awardee. She finished her pre elementary schooling with awards every end of school year. Now that she's in elementary, her good study habits stayed the same. She make sure to finish her assignments before playing and she reviews for exams all by herself most of the time.

I'm thankful to God for giving me a daughter like Acey, she's the daughter every mom and dad would wish to have.

Nursery: with high honor awardee and model pupil

Kinder: with highest honor awardee

Prep: Graduated with high honor

Grade 1: with honor awardee

Congratulations to the Graduates of 2011