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scents and sensibilities

My husband and I met with Michelle and Jim (who are soon to be wed) last Saturday to scout for a wedding veil.  Well, dsc04554a.JPGwe all got sidetracked sniffing perfumes on sale at Canberra Centre in Civic.  A few dollars later, we came out like happy kids with a bagful of lollies and smelling like potpourri J.

Good perfumes can be quite expensive, so I seldom miss a sale opportunity - one of the tricks to always get value for money.  Here’s more: …READ MORE… »

The Hulk’s second chance

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Having seen the first Hulk installment, I must admit that I was bracing myself for another disappointment.  The Eric Bana starrer was too dark for my taste, heavy and full of melodrama that dragged on and on and on.  After all, I watch this sort of movie to entertain myself.  If I wanted something deep and thought-provoking, I’d watch something Shakespearean or Freudian maybe. 

I didn’t mind that the filmmakers made the Hulk so huge, but I certainly found myself getting annoyed how they made whatever little action scenes the Hulk had too fast and too hazy.  No wonder it sank in the box office.

But it’s a good thing that Marvel didn’t give up on the Hulk and took another plunge.  This time with Edward Norton as the troubled scientist who turns green when angry.  The filmmakers made the storyline simple and close to its cartoon origins.  They even downsized the Hulk to believable dimensions and used the original music.  The movie doesn’t try to be intellectual either.  Best of all, it is fast-paced, action packed and entertaining!

I’m not going to tell you bits of the story, just go watch it!

light bulb moments 2

Reflecting on my life and the lives of those around me, i say:

  • How can you expect love to find you when you keep running around looking for it?
  • Happiness is not …READ MORE… »

to GMA’s advisers…

…and to all those working for the government:

i’ve come across this article that so aptly describes the challenges policy advisers have and the standards that any public servant should strive for when providing advice to government.  Here is the link:  Challenges confronting economic policy advisers.

Learn the message by heart - isapuso, baka sakaling gumanda (kahit konti) ang takbo ng gobyerno.  

can’t wait for sex…

and the city.  hehehe.  what d’ya think?  ;)

the movie premiered here in Australia Thursday last week.  hordes of female moviegoers lined up to see it, all dressed and dolled up ala SATC’s fashion - patterned winter stockings, evening wear, stilettos and a glass of wine to boot.  My friends and I were too underdressed in our jeans to join their very looong queue, so we watched Narnia instead.  I want to watch SATC end of this week.  hopefully, the female specie would be more subdued by then.

i hardly missed an episode of the tv series and i’m hoping the movie version will live up to the wackiness and quirkiness that made the tv version ultra-famous.  i haven’t heard or read (on purpose!) any reviews yet, so please shut up and don’t spoil the fun.  :D

synch this in.

Life always happens in seasons and I’m constantly out of tune with it.

There was a time when every girl my age in my neighborhood, friends and former schoolmates seemed to be getting married and pregnant, vice-versa or just plainly getting pregnant.   …READ MORE… »

things you do for a wedding

lest you think i’m dead,  i’m writing this quick short blog to let you know that i’m still alive and kicking.  and yes, literally kicking as i’m trying to lose some weight for an upcoming wedding.  …READ MORE… »

work and earn from home

after my globetrotting mission for the last few months, i’m now a full time housewife.  i spend my days sending my hubby off to work, cleaning the house, cooking meals, doing the laundry, greeting hubby from work and… i’m finding that it’s not so full time at all.  argh, retirement is not what it purports to be!

i’ve read until my eyes hurt.  i’ve blogged, walked around, window shopped.  take note, WINDOW shopped!! it used to be like when I shop, i SHOP.  now that i’m not working, i get guilt pangs.  so i stopped going to the mall.  maybe, this will cure me of my shopping addiction.  NOT!  i’m having withdrawals!!!  i once spent one entire afternoon online, browsing through hsn.com, macys.com, victoriassecret.com and salivating over mother’s day sale and mid-year clearance sales. haaaay!  surely, there are ways to stay at home and still earn income for …READ MORE… »

summer dreams

it’s cloudy, rainy and cold today.  and i’m miserably stuck inside the house without my usual morning walk and dose of sunshine to envigorate me. 

i don’t like …READ MORE… »

the story of Digos

my dad’s a Digos historian of some sort, having lived in Digos since he was a child.  he dedicated most of his working life as a policy adviser for several mayors, as the town’s information officer and development planner for many years, and once served as an elected councilor.  his knowledge of the town is intimate and his memory is remarkable. 

prodded by those who believe in his authority on the subject, he wrote a book …READ MORE… »

over my dead body!

we recently completed building a 30 cubic metre biogas digester on our pig farm.  A biogas digester is a waste management system that will turn our farm waste into reusable energy in the form of methane gas used for lighting and fuel.  i did tons of research on different systems and found this to be more sustainable and more environmentally friendly than any other methods of waste disposal.  

the size of my pig farm requires a digester with a reasonable capacity to absorb and process the waste.  the cost wasn’t cheap.  i had to …READ MORE… »

light bulb moments

i’m a person who introspects a lot.  something i see, hear or feel could send me to a psychoanalytical babble with myself.   oftentimes, an internal debate happens.  a light bulb clicks.  an agreement is reached.  a stand formulated, and with a few words, articulated.  they become my words of wisdom. 

here are some - from stuff i scribbled on the pages of my notebook, post-it notes, receipts or wherever i wrote them - for you to take on your own terms…

  1. there’s nothing i can teach someone who’s not ready to learn.
  2. my competitive spirit is …READ MORE… »

be self-sustainable!

this growing rice crisis in the philippines has prompted me to write this blog…

the first thing i blurted out when i heard about it was, ‘why do we have to eat rice all the time?’ 

having lived overseas for quite a while now, i learned to …READ MORE… »

digos city

why do i keep coming back to it?

it’s simply because this is where i was humbly born, bred and deeply rooted.  

it’s my vessel of childhood memories -of chasing grasshoppers and hunting spiders, of my first garden, of childhood games like tubig-tubig, syatong, tagu-an and bahay-bahayan.

it’s where my first stirrings of adolescence came to pass - girlish giggles, young boys and first crushes.

it’s where my loved ones are.  it’s where my friends are. 

it’s not the best of cities.  it’s sometimes boring.  generally, quiet and still very provincial.  but it’s my first home.  and i love it.

how i lost weight, dramatically.

hotpants dvdMy friend Roan asked if she could borrow my dance dvd.  I once raved to her about it as it helped took 20 kilos (yes, 20 kilos!) off my weight in 2006.   I used to weigh 65-68 kilos and for someone who’s an inch short of five feet, that’s heavy! 

I slowly gained my weight since i came to Australia and kept it for about 8 years!  Appearance wise, I didn’t care that I was heavy and fat.  But my near collapse on a bus when I ran after it to catch it made me realise the risk I was in.  I was heavy, unhealthy, risking heart disease, invalidity or death.

A hard process of self-assessment followed. Then, acceptance of the culprits:

1.  love of food + no moderation = gluttony

2.  lack of exercise and lack of will to start it = sloth

3.  no care attitude about one’s appearance = self-denial. 

Self-denial was the hardest to accept.  I even denied that I was in self-denial. I said, I accept myself and people should accept me for who I am.  I’m loved and that’s all that matters.  I said, I am happy and beautiful inside and that’s all that should matter.  To me, these mantras were true (and are still true today). 

But reality was, I put everything at risk.  Reality was, I was in the path of self-destruction by ignoring my body.  Reality was, I didn’t care enough for my family to stay healthy and not get sick.  There they stood, at risk of being troubled or hurt by losing a wife, a daughter, a sister because I was undisciplined, lazy and a glutton.  That was the reality.

Well, that hit me hard.  Hard enough to run to the mall and grab an exercise dvd, start on an exercise regime, and  change my diet.  I didn’t have any special diets.  I didn’t enrol in a gym. I didn’t have a trainer and a coach.  But I had motivation.  I was self-driven.  How did I lose all the extra weight in less than two months?  …READ MORE… »