Stock trading

There has been so much news regarding the US recession, it gets scary at times when you wonder if the same economic crisis will get to our own economy. I'm not an expert on trading, I've only some slight background on stuff like futures trading, hedging, etc. I don't even understand much of it. I tried something like a stock market online game, and I think I did fairly well, but is it something I will look into in the future? Probably. I think the stock market is still a good way to augment income and savings, better than a bank account that is. But the saying still goes, the bigger the risk, the bigger the loss or the gain. I'm hoping when I do try it, its going to be a gain.

On beauty regimens

Funny thing, the other day I bought a facial cream (I won't say the brand) because I am almost running out of it, only to find out when I was already putting it on my face that I bought a facial foam instead. yikes. One thing I'm most thankful for is that my skin never required me to undergo acne treatment. I have fairly normal skin, and even though I have had my share of pimples, white and black heads, there was no real need to undergo serious treatments and facials. In fact, I'm not too fond at all of facials. Spa I like, facial, not too much. I only put some facial cream on my face for maintenance, and lately I'm lazy to put makeup on myself. When I'm 30 I think I need to put more serious thoughts on my beauty regimen, I can't wait till I'm 40 to do that.

fetish for cute stuff

Last saturday was Jessica's checkup. Poor girl had 3 immunizations done to her: Booster for DPT and BCG and her MMR vaccine. She cried loads, poor soul. Afterwards we went to Ayala Center and went malling the whole afternoon. Got Jessica her first pair of Minnie rubber shoes and they fit so well! Could have gotten her a pair of Crocs but I just can't bring myself to imagine that it won't fit her anymore after 6 months, and that costs almost 2k!
Blame it on mommy, whose just so fond of cute things, whether its just office supplies, or small, cuddly stuff. The fact that I have a little girl to buy those stuff to adds all the more fun to it (but dents the pocket, though). But then, having a kid smile at you over the cute thing you bought for her makes it all the more worth it.

Losing Weight

No, not for me. I don't need any weight loss pills at the moment. Far from it, actually, I need to gain weight! But hubby surely needs to lose some weight, but at the rate of very little to no physical activity for him, I'm quite sure its a long way to go till he sheds those pounds a bit! I don't think he'd resort to weight loss pills though, that would be so unlike him. But I might someday convince him to exercise, though that could mean I have to follow suit. Ewww.... We'll see, who knows, I might get into the Wellness craze much sooner than I'd imagine.

Beauty treatment

I love long weekends! It gives me a chance to do the stuff I want, and also do some beauty treatments for myself. For the past few days I've been able to take long, leasurely baths without thinking of time (weekdays I shower for 10 minutes max!). Which means I still get to apply lotion all over, and this afternoon I was able to apply a facial mask to reguvenate the skin. I don't need acne cream at the moment, as I'm not really acne prone, but I enjoy putting some stuff to help my skin look younger on occasions when I have the luxury of time. At least for the next three days for this weekend, I get to pamper myself, even for a while.

Investing in homes

A colleague and friend of mine is moving into their new townhouse this weekend. Funny how as we get older, we meet a lot people with quite the same priorities as we do. Liezel, for instance, is older than me and has 3 kids already, but its never too late to invest anyways. To cut the long story short, she must have gotten a moving company, like the New York Moving Company to help her haul her stuff in. Although, come to think of it, I think I remember she said she bought a lot of new stuff for her new home. Well, that's what you get when you have the money. Shopping!!!! I didn't have that luxury then, what with all the stuff we already have, and the stuff we'll be getting that was left by the owners. But hey, not a moment's regret for me, I'm sure if I have the resources, its so much easier to buy the things I want anyway.

financial freedom

Another dream I am yet to attain. So far I've tried and given as much effort as I can to being debt-free, but I'm far off from being so at this point. I have really set a target to be debt-free, but its been a moving target ever since, and probably till I start being good in my new venture or start on a new, higher paying job, then that would be the only time I can call myself financially-free. I have tried loans, balance transfers, and what have you, but I still have a huge debt and most of my monthly income goes to paying off credit card bills.... hay, ranting. I'll be setting 2010 as a target, hopefully we'll be out of the rat race and enjoying all the money and not giving it to interest. and on that note, jess might be starting school then so we really need to save up!

looking for furniture

I would so love to do some interior designing in our home. I mean, I know we don't really need it and can't afford it at all right now. But I would love to have something to look at, with sleek, modern furniture that would WOW my guests. Something as cute like these.


The first one is an ultramodern bed, the other one is a nice coffee table. Love them both! Can somebody please give me some money to buy these things???? Kidding.

accidents

I hear soooo many accidents happening lately. Around a month ago there was the accident along edsa where an ethanol truck crashed into the middle of the edsa underpass railing, causing a long, long queue of traffic on a monday morning. Boy, is that guy gonna need a good truck accident lawyer, because for sure some concerned individuals would probably want to file a case against the poor guy, though I doubt people would want to feel bad from him because of the huge traffic and delays he caused.

well, the justice system must work with things like this. more and more truck drivers are getting to be a pain in the streets what with their attitudes and their perfect disregard for traffic rules. something's gotta be done. and fast.

marrying age

More and more, we are approaching the age where most of our peers are getting married. Hubby and i got in the game quite early, at age 26, but that was after being together for 9 years, so its hardly a surprise nor is it unexpected. A lot of our friends are still unmarried at the moment, but in a year we do attend around 3-4 weddings already, so I guess that's a sign. I've also been part of the entourage a couple of times, the bridesmaid gifts also come as nice surprises in the wedding.
Seriously, I'm glad we got married at the time we did. Yeah, we may be the first in our own respective barkadas, but why wait, when we are both in it for the long term anyway. Now we don't have to worry about getting the things we want. Because we can work for it together.

home theaters

part of the big plan now that we have our own place is to personalize the look of the place, and quite frankly, one thing in my wishlist is a home theater seating system to go with a home theater -- take a 40" LCD TV mounted on the wall of our living room. And surround speakers that shake the place up when there's a load bang on the movies. Ahhh... bliss...
Well, of course, we are quite far off from this dream but hey, everything can change in an instant, or when we work for our dreams. Who would have thought we'd be on our way to owning the house of our dreams after being married for two years. So no, nothing is impossible, and sooner or later, we might just get all the things we want. All at the right time of course.

rainy sunday and baking

Ok its been a while again. Last time I blogged it was still about the typhoon frank. Now its another rainy sunday and I'm here whiling away the time. Well, I'm hoping I can make some blog entries, and later on I'm hoping I can work a bit. But really part of me wishes that the rains will continue because if it doesn't stop I can file for an emergency leave tomorrow!

Anyhow, I have quite a restful weekend now, at least as far as I think it is. no fuss, no long trips out of the house, had time to rearrange my closet, and I had time to practice driving (well, a bit), had time with jessica, had time to watch TV, and I had time to bake! yey!!!!

Which leads me to make kwento that ever since we got the gas range and the lpg tank, I've been more and more learning other stuff to cook. I'm proud to say I've already mastered pizza preparations, already tried roasting a chicken (rosemary blend+barbeque sauce), buffalo wings, and the latest addition: Revel bars!!!! For a first time baker, my revel bars were a huge success!!! If I can say so myself. Which makes me really want to buy a hand mixer (I don't really think I need an industrial type mixer anyways), for my baking needs. I intend to pursue baking of course, and in the course of time, I'm hoping I can up my skills and be able to work out a truly fulfilling hobby again.

typhoon frank

today we experienced the first flooding in our new home. well, not exactly in our house. it was down the street actually. hmmm... I'd say my weekend at home was eventful, to say the least. First, I short-circuited a switch which ended up burning a fuse, then in the afternoon we had visitors, hubby's parents and his aunt, who also came coz she wanted to see our place as well as to inquire re our loan. apparently when they applied for the loan for the balance of the condo unit they bought they did not get any mortgage quotes, and now, after three months, they are still waiting for loan approval. Ours came after 5 days, and I'm quite happy about that part, otherwise we probably won't be here right now.
Anyhow, the typhoon Frank came over this morning and decided to make a mess of Metro Manila. We all woke up around 5:30 because of the gusty winds, and then there was no electricity. and then around lunchtime, the flooded waters of antipolo came through the subdivision. There was literally water all over the streets. Good thing our house was really elevated so there was no worry on the mess it'd make to the appliances and furniture. The water subsided after a couple of hours, but well, seeing that much water outside was still scary. :-)

still searching for the prepaid plus

i've found a place near the office that sells the sim cards for the landline prepaid plus, unfortunately its still out of stock and I would have to wait probably for a longer time now. Its sad because I like the features of the sim, its like having a cellphone with a landline number. Really cool if you ask me. I still have an old SE750i with a micro sd that I can still use with the landline plus sim, plus some memory to catch some more pics. I sometimes use the pics for some office work, though I honestly don't know if my office laptop accepts the micro sd as a removable drive. And I haven't found any trick yet to access it. :-p nevertheless, I will still keep looking for the landline plus sim, something I really know I want.

trip to HK

We actually have a trip scheduled to Hongkong this November, unfortunately am not in such a good mood lately to mull over it. Maybe I'll get excited come September or October. But right now, well, the experience of moving into a new home has been in my mind the past few weeks, and they seem to be occupying my thoughts and will be occupying my thoughts for the next few weeks more. Nevertheless, I've come to think that since we will be bringing with me my darling daughter, Jess, then I would have to buy us some luggage bags, since the ones we have right now are rather small ones. That will have to wait till October though, things are crazy these days at home and at work. Believe me when I tell you, I want a new job!!!!

on window blinds

this morning the person I called to yesterday with regards to re-upholstering our sala set came by. actually my main concern with them is to have a quotation for the re-upholstery of the sala set, and to ask how much it would cost to have my first sala set covered. We kinda kept underneath its plastic sheets because we didn't want it to turn black of dust. I also asked them how much it would cost to have some curtains made. he didn't give me a quotation, though it seems to me they are expensive with their service. 6,500 just for labor charges on upholstery is a lot. I can only guess how expensive it would also be to have those curtains made, which is sad, because I wanted to get rid of the window blinds for a change in atmosphere. it looks like it will actually be cheaper to just buy the ready-made ones in Divi. That is the next thing on my agenda, well at least once I get me some money. heehhe...

jessica's nursery

jessica's nursery is by far the most loved room in our new house. we all like it there, because of the ambiance and the fact that it is really the most convenient place to be with (except of course, for the kitchen, which i my personal favorite also). we always get a relaxed feel staying there. even if jessica is asleep. we normally stay there just to watch tv and keep a watch on jess, which is more convenient to do when the little tyke is sleeping. because if she's awake, all you will be able to do is watch over her while she is busy with baby gifts to her. toys, learning stuff, and stuffed toys alike. its such a good thing she has the dora tent there, all her stuffed animals are there and not accumulating dirt and grime. needless to say, i love that room very much. :-)

catching up

Im now playing catch up with all my post backlogs. And believe me, they are a lot. So please be don't surprised to see plenty of new posts from me because this is something I have to do now. I won't have any more time to do it in the weekdays so I'll have to do this now. Good thing there is already LAN connection in our bedroom, and my dell memory is around 2GB. Its fast for me, and actually when I open up my adobe photoshop files they open up easily, though I have not really tried to do an actual layout in my office laptop since I use it the whole day at work, and then sometimes leave it in the office at night, or sometimes just take it home and do nothing. hahahaha.... Ok, so I still download a LOT of scrapbook kits. Pardon me, but its my biggest weakness. Seriously.

lots of space to fill

Its just so nice whenever I realize that there is still some space to fill in our home. I'm excited to have some funds to be able to buy some stuff for the house, not that it really needs anything more all that much. some basic stuff would do anyways. But of course that doesn't stop me from wanting to have some nice-to-haves, such as patio furniture for example. After all, a 3-car garage which holds only 1 car is kinda sad. hehehehe... but I'm sure we will get to that. soon.

long due postings

whew!!! been able to blog after the longest, and I mean the longest time. Its so sad I don't even get to post as much as I want nowadays. Understandable though. Jessica's yaya is on vacation, we have moved, and in between there are a whole lot of stuff we attended to in the past few weekends. Now that we've moved though, I understand there might be quite a few events to come my way, so I can have my much needed rest. Hmmm... I still owe the suppliers' ratings for Jessica's first bday and the details of the BIG MOVE, but that can wait. Anyhow, Cathy's wedding is coming up and I'd also have to prepare for that. Another whew. Another thing to do. I would have to buy me sexy shoes next week when I get back to work. Sexy silver shoes, that is. That's because that's what would match my dress for Cathy's wedding. Hay.

will post some more soon!

on weddings

My friend, Cathy and Justin will be married soon, 2nd week of June, if I remember it right. She wasn't able to send me any save the date magnets like I would have sent out before, but I do think I was part of the entourage of the wedding. Yikes, I'm so not prepared! hahaha.... I'd have to think out a gift for her too. Tell me, what would I give to a couple who is starting out but must have everything already.
I always loved weddings! And whenever I attend one, I always want to be there in time for the bride to march, simply because I think its an essential part of the ceremony, and I want to be there to see any crying episodes or something. hehehe... call me sentimental! But I simply want to see the love in the couple, I think its really inspiring to see that.
Meanwhile, I would have to think up a nice gift for them already. Suggestions, anyone?

digital picturebooks

i finished the layout of jessica's digital picturebook today (yey! clap clap!) am so happy. I actually thought that I won't be able to execute this part of the plan because I have yet to complete the layouts for jessica's growing up months. yesterday I was with anj in digital picturebooks and I asked the lady there what format I should use if I wanted to have the format I needed for the picturebook, and she informed me I could use .pdf files. great! Thing is though, the initial LOs I did were size 12x12. Am still thinking if I could print those LOs though and put them in picture frames for the guests to appreciate during the party, but those plans are still in the making, depending on the budget I have, worst case, the picturebook will do for the guests to look around. tomorrow I will go to megamall to have the picturebooks printed. :-)

on eye treatment

Hubby's eyeglasses were broken yesterday. well, it was slightly cracked anyways. and hubby was still thinking if he's gonna buy already, and I asked him to avail of his optical benefit in the office. Why not? Actually, if they offered lasik treatment for free from his health benefits I would tell him to use that instead. I know lasik has a lot of good benefits and the treatment is for the longer term. Its like getting brand new eyes. worth the expense if you have the money, actually. I actually know of somebody whose kids just recently underwent the lasik treatment, and the feedback was actually great.
Maybe in time I could ask hubby to undergo the treatment. Hopefully, before he turns 40 at least.

Druggies

A month or two ago I read the blog dedicated to DJ Montano, this socialite guy who was being accused by his ex-boyfriend of stealing his money. It was a very powerful guy going against the Gucci gang, this gang of socialites who does drugs and all that. The blog gets around a hundred thousand hits per day, and has gone to a point where people actually donate to his paypal account and it has reached 10,000 USD. Whew. Now one would think that after this the Gucci gang would go to drug treatment centers to stop their own addiction, which not only affects them but their families as well, but I guess they
haven't. To sum it up, even prominent, big shot families have skeletons in their own closets too.

to feel secure or not secure

yesterday jessica's yaya went on her day-off with the yaya of Sophia, my previous co-tenant and MBA-classmate Doods' daughter. If friendship was a concept that applied to babies then I would say Sophia is jessica's first friend and playmate. They left last december and moved to a condo unit of their own. To cut the long story short, Che (jessica's yaya's friend) related a story of a murder within the condo premises. Specifically on the same building and on the third floor unit of their place (they live on the 2nd floor). Scary, well, not scary because of the ghosts that might live thereafter, but because of the lack of security in the premises. I was looking at security system in the net and this one made by ademco seems quite good. Of course, for our place, there might be a different system that would work also, but I'd probably take my time and settle for a dog first. hehe

lighting up the house

well, to be honest, despite the recent events that have been happening, I'm still excited and still planning for our moving out. One thing I am happy about is that the house is clean and neat (hopefully more so when we move in). I have a few things to change of course, one such thing is the lights. I noticed that the lights were quite dim around the house, considering we were going there at different times, during daytime and at night, but the lighting was quite that dim the whole time. So its one of the things I plan to change when we are staying there.

venting out.

i'm a bit scared with the recent exchange of text messages I've been having with the owner of the house we are planning to buy. just this morning he told me might stay till end-june. i firmly said it was not possible since, to put it bluntly, we will be homeless by end-May. Scary but true. I think it was a matter of negotiation on our end, and we might have handled it better, but then again these are things that come to light a bit too late. in my end I really think that if they handle the transfer the soonest possible time they would have no problems at all and they will get the loan release by the second week of May. And for me this is really essential to the deal, and it should be honesty now, because the second we hand them the payment, then it really is ours. they cannot simply say they intend to stay till june, because we cannot simply give out our own plans to see to theirs.
just venting out....

Patek watches

To show off your money, you can dress up in the most elegant attire and wear the best designer names there is, or you can go low profile and own a nice gold swiss watch, such as a Patek Phillipe watch. The watches are of the best quality and exudes such fine elegance that probably, only swiss watches can match. And it never goes out of style. If in the next ten years you find you don't want to wear your watch anymore, you can resell it, or better, give it as an heirloom to your family to keep for many, many years.

Mattress Toppers

I just learned about how a mattress topper works today. I actually didn't realized that these things actually existed. They cushion the body and allows for a more comfortable and supported sleep. There are even two types of foam mattresses:

• The thicker memory foam mattress toppers offer increased cushioning, and the higher density memory foam toppers provide firmer support.
• Featherbeds and fiberbeds add an extra layer of softness between you and your mattress to cradle you gently as you sleep soundly.

So next time you go shopping for mattresses, and about nothing seems to satisfy your needs, then foam mattresses might be able to do the trick.

Jessica's Nursery

We got the Letter of Guarantee from the bank last night. Needless to say, after I send out the docs later to the sellers of the house, the next step would already be up to them. They need to transfer the title to us, and only then can we process the loan release, and finally the house and lot is ours. I'm just so excited to move it, and more so, to make Jessica's nursery a reality. I've already studied the room in my mind, and I've prepared what it would look like in my dreams, with the rubber mats in the whole room, and the toys on one side of the bedroom that she can simply grab whenever, and a hideaway gate so she won't be going out without supervision, and the bed mattress on one end so she can sleep there when she wants to. I'm just so full of ideas. and I really can't wait to implement them!

best buys

I think when it comes to women, they will always, always be after the best buy in whatever they shop for, be it clothes, shoes, accessories, or simply things they need at home. Which is why women sooo love SALE items from stores. It gives them a sense of accomplishment in that they were able to save on the costs of the items they bought, regardless if they actually NEED the items they bought. It's like, "I got a good deal!" and not, "I bought what I need". hehe.... Women will always be like that.

missing digiscrapping

since my laptop is busted now, am unable to download digikits and do some LO's. huhu.... such sadness, just when there is a long weekend and I'm on leave on tuesday too! I just wish they can repair the laptop and get the data there! I have no backup of my layouts! its so sayang! waaaah!!! of course I can probably download the new ones again but then the photoshop files are all there!
I'm now using the laptop I borrowed from the office, and its a good thing i can access the net from home, at least. the sites aren't restricted so its ok to access everything, but then I love firefox more because I can put all my bookmarks on one page and its so much easier to browse. huhuhu. things have got to get better for my laptop. at this point its hard to contemplate buying a new laptop because I might still be issued a permanent one at the office, in that case I don't need it, except I have to have IT install me a photoshop CS. hehehe.... i wish!!!! I would love getting me a MAC, but it doesn't make sense and especially so that we are buying a house. hayyy..... i am ok with working with a PC, but a Mac has always been a dream. Maybe I should ask someone who's going to singapore to buy me a Mac... I wonder how much more it would cost....

Bic Pens

Bic pens are probably one of the more common ballpen names of our time. Sort of like Xerox for photocopying machines. Some of us were exposed to this brand while we were young, and we have since regarded it as a trusted brand name. Now I realize that bic pens have actually gone from their initial simple yellow pens to different and funky designs for the youth, some of the designs are actually funky and cool! I'd better get one for myself the next time I go to the bookstore.

Wellness program

In the office we have this Internal Wellness Program wherein the employees have a 6-month personal goal for them to accomplish. This can either be weight loss, gain or maintain. Of course, given that most of the people in our office live quite a sedentary lifestyle (myself included), a lot of the employees have a weight loss program put into place for them. The program runs April-November, and everyone is required to join at least 4 activities every month, and are required to keep up with the target set for them. For me, fortunately, the target was to maintain my weight, but I need to do some strength training since I could not even finish 1 curl-up. Hahahahaha.... I always argued that I love my sedentary lifestyle, unfortunately I'm quite forced to live a more active life. We will see.... Wish me luck!

Dressing her up

The cutest thing about having a baby girl is that its so much more fun dressing them up! There are so many more designs and styles of clothes to choose from, from cute onesies down to personalized baby clothes that you can mix and match to your heart's content! I love dressing up Jessica, and till now she has a whole lot of clothes just waiting for her to grow to size. Its simply amazing and wonderful to see her all dressed up, my pretty little princess!

laptop batteries?

Waaah!!! Oh noh! My laptop went nuts on me! It won't turn on. I'm soooo doomed! All my files are in there, and I so wish that the files can still be recovered, otherwise I will cry for sure!!! Even all my digikits are there! huhuhu.... I wanna die.....

I hope its just on vacation mode, and I hope everything will be all right tomorrow....

Guarding your health

These days people live very busy lives. Unlike a few years ago when people could enjoy leisurely lives, now people seems to be running around trying to get from place to place and always trying to do so many things at the same time. This has somewhat of an effect to our health. Now more than ever, lifestyle diseases are taking its toll, diseases such as AIDS, diabetes, allergies, and the like. This makes the use of a medical id bracelet useful to a person because wherever he or she, when an emergency should happen, the medical personnel can easily be informed of any medical information that can spell the difference between life and death.

excited to move in

yesterday we paid the balance of the downpayment for the house and lot yesterday. honestly, processing the papers and getting the loan fixed have been all the we're thinking about for the past few days. moving out of the apartment and moving into our own place. its really fun and exciting to think about finally investing in our own house, something we know we will be living in for the long term and something we can finally call our own. its something really special for tabs and me, we know we have probably lapsed in saving or investing, but we do have our own car and house now, so in a sense it is the fulfillment of all our dreams and our hopes for our family. we recognize we will have tougher times ahead of us in the near future once we live farther from work, but that's something we can eventually adjust to and hopefully our income and our financial state will get better in the next few years. its all a matter of working hard for it.

the exciting thing for us is really the part about leaving this apartment and moving there. its quite a challenging phase since we have to do a LOT of packing up because we have a lot of stuff here. and then we have to squeeze the stuff we have into the house and organize it so it won't be messy. i want our own place to be really organized and clean. because its ours for keeps.

oh, and another exciting part I'm looking forward to is to have a nursery for jessica. since we're moving into a 4-bedroom house, I've alloted the small room for Marites, our yaya, and the next smaller room for Jessica's nursery/playroom. I plan to put rubber mats all over the floor of the room and then put up a mattress there so that yaya and jessica can also sleep there. but there won't be any bedframes because I don't want any hard surfaces there. it should just be the mattress, the rubber mats and I'll have all her toys there so she can play and go around there to her hearts content without me having to worry about her bumping her head all over the hard surfaces. looking forward to that most of all!

we're getting our own!

more than two years ago when hubby and I got married we had simple dreams. a good career, time to spend for ourselves, have a baby or two, get our own house and car. and I remember back then that we set a certain age as a deadline for ourselves. hubby was saying then that he was sad that some of our HS batchmates were so successful at their careers already, and he felt he wasn't. I earned my MBA degree but I wouldn't say I'm in my most desired place in my career yet, I just simply knew that time would take me there.
and then we had jessica, and a few months before she was due, we loaned for our first car. We both didn't have our own cars from our families, so the car was really a big thing for us then, we wanted to have it before jessica was born so we can drive her around between families and so she won't develop any of those pollution related illness. It was a blessing for us.
now, we're both 29, and we will be moving forward with our dreams. We're finally moving out of our rented apartment in 2 months and we will move in to our own home. We got the loan approval yesterday, and I can only say that it was really God's blessing to us, that we are able to attain this much together despite the odds. We're not rich, we work for the money we have and we have almost no savings. We want to find our own place because we believe its something we can already work hard for and renting meant throwing away hard earned money on something we don't own.
I'm feeling quite nostalgic about it, really, but it just makes me feel so glad that we got this blessing.
Thanks to all who prayed for us. Thanks to all who helped.

hotel reservations with a plus

Unfortunately, with the many things happening in our lives this year, we won't be haing any vacations anytime soon. I get a lot of flyers on discounted fare rates across asia and other countries, and had I the budget for it, I would definitely consider taking a much needed break from the office. This nice website on hotel reservations would be a great help in my planning.

The good thing about planning and booking for hotels online is that there are is so much information available on the web, and unlike doing it alone with local agencies, there is so much transparency when booking in the net, and there's no need to talk to so many agents here and there, wait for fax or email copies of quotations, and you can easily get reviews of the hotels in your priority list. I've tried booking via the net for some local trips and I really believe it was easy and stress-free.
The locations on the web also vary, you can book anywhere from hotels to motels to resorts, and there is no limit to the places they offer and to other services you can avail together with it. It really is very convenient, and the rates are very much competitive in comparison with other local travel agencies. One of the many offerings of the site is their $100 rebate for booking on certain specified dates, but this would of course be dependent on the length of stay within the hotel booked. Isn't that really enticing? Vacation packages are available to a LOT of places, there are more than 1000 destinations to choose from. Now that really is service plus. Even though I don't have any immediate plans (at least in the next six months) to use their services, it is good to know that they are just a mouse click away, and that there are always so many choices for me, and travel planning will never be burdensome for me.

MBA Besties

just a short tribute to my MBA best friends. they have made my MBA life so much more fun and memorable, I could even say that despite the fact that I enjoyed college life because I spent it with tabs, I also enjoyed MBA life because I asserted my independence there and I spent three years there making a degree for myself. The 5 gals with me there made all the difference. They made going to school fun and appealing, coz we had a lot of stories to share, and they were never a burden when it comes to schoolwork. It fact, its the chemistry we shared that made it better because we always made things easier for each other. We always said that now, our lives are already intertwined, what with three of them being godparents to my daughter, and myself am a grandparent of Joaquin, fran's son.

well, just wanted to share this, it'll be a year next month since we graduated, and its fun to remember the good times.

updates on the house

today we paid half of the DP on the house and lot we wanted to buy. last monday we filed for the loan at the bank, and we are really, really hoping that the appraisal would be enough....

here's a sneak peak of the house we want to get... and we are hoping that we get the appraisal we want next week so that we don't have to think about a Plan B.

the master's bedroom has its own built in closets and own T&B. its also very spacious and comfortable. they were supposed to leave the master's bed and mattress behind. hahaha.... why not! its a king-sized bed anyways.

the dining table is between the kitchen and the living room, and is separated by the doorway/arch above. the owner, I would say, loved plants at least and made it a point to have plants around the small corners.

the living room. they will be leaving the sofa (and hopefully the table, too) and according to mom the sofa needs a bit of re-upholstery. its kinda big so i hope we can find upholsterers willing to do it at home. hmmm.... i'll have to find a nice color to fit in the theme. I would also want to have new curtains made for around the house, but of course that would have to wait until after we get a lot of the stuff we need to have immediately.

the frontage of the house. its really nice and warm. actually, if I can have a choice, I would have it repainted white or blue, but that's just me. of course this can come later naman. over-all I like the look of course.

the kitchen. love it!!!! of course, i figure we need to have some repainting done I suppose, but I love that it has a lot of cabinets. Space!!! I sooo love space.

Don't you think its worth it? We got it for a really good price, its all up to bank now to give us the appraisal we want by next week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get approved with a good appraisal so we can move forward with the processing of the title.

Please do pray for us....this is indeed the fulfillment of our dreams and our family's future. that's what makes getting the loan so important to us.

gossip girl, anyone?

I've been hearing stuff about this new TV series out there, and several of my officemates have actually been watching it (That would be anj and kate chu). So the last time hubby and I bought DVD's I got one myself. Actually this is the only time in the past month that we have actually used the DVD again. Thank goodness for the holidays. hehehe.... I will finally have a few hours rest.

Anyways, back to Gossip Girl, its a pretty little series, all about fashion and classiness of the Upper East side of NY. Sweet really, I'm only on the third or fourth episode, so far I'm enjoying it, and I'm also taking the time that hubby is not here so I can watch this. I'm so sure I cannot watch this while he's here because he would most likely be asking 101 questions. hehehe....

Well, just wanted to post a bit, while enjoying the next few days of rest...

PS. I finished the whole first season today. geez. talk about addicting.

jessica's invite

Finally finished Jessica's invite. Its already mid-March so I figure its not too early already to save the date for Jessica's birthday. Hopefully this is already the final one, because I keep on changing the look of the invite. hehehe.... now I can already proceed to the thank you cards. hahahaha....

BTW, check out what I did for the object jessica's holding compared to the original pic. hahahaha... cute eh!

my digiscrapping hobby

Ever since I went to work at my current company life had been so busy that I haven't had time to work on digiscrapping, which is really unfortunate since I rather enjoyed doing it. Being a new mom now and since I want to catch up on jessica's pics, I now want to get back to the hobby I used to want to concentrate on.
I happened to glance upon this site while looking for free digiscrapping kits, they have an annual membership fee of $19.95,had 6 downloadable free kits, 1 book on phrases, and another on sketches for layouting, plus bonuses and free kits throughout the year. Oh, also there's the free website. Would think its quite a steal already, I mean this is done for a year anyways. :-) I do hope I get enough time to do layouts!

i wanna go to school

Well, plans are in the ropes, but probably in a few months time still. One of our initial plans with my MBA friends is to take up dressmaking or pattern making, more as a skill development so we can start a business venture in the next couple of years. I know it would be quite tough to start it, but it would be something we can work on so we won't have to work our ass off till we're too old to enjoy our lives and just keep on working till we are 50.
Fashion schools in California may be a good example for us. It might be a great idea to go there since the place is a center of fashion, but then it would be quite expensive for me to even contemplate. But really, I wouldn't think twice if I were given such opportunity.

on mineral makeup

I got the mineral makeup sampler from everydayminerals.com, and the verdict: Winner! I got nice colors and it looked good on me, at least that was what my friends told me. The only downside of it is that its a bit messy to use. Ok, messy is an understatement, its very messy to use. But since I turn out beautiful anyway, I'm still ok with it. haha.... Now I can't wait to get the custom kit I actually ordered. That's a lot more colors including eye colors. Yipee. If I get really good reviews for it then I will build up my own kit. Will also try Bare Escentuals, just to check which one is actually better for me.

i hate google

I hate Google. I visited my blog rating in PPP today and I found out that I have been reduced to a PR 0! ^%#$^%!!!! Now I won't get any opps! :-( sad and hateful.... why do they do that anyway? I think I have to find out why this happens. I guess I have to just count on the posts that don't really require a high PR rating, I might get one or two. Good thing I've had a pretty good month and have managed to get a few postings out. Otherwise PPP would be a futile venture for me.

jessica's pics

As promised, here's a peek at the BUB pics of my darling jessica. Isn't she such a princess? We had a harder time with her the last pictorial but seeing how she is, it was all worth it, wouldn't you say? I like both and if you ask me to choose which I like better, I won't be able to tell!bath time with jessica and the rubber duckies

cupcakes anyone?

getting a cruise

One thing I would like to go on to for a vacation is to get on a cruise. Cruises are really a great way of spending vacations, because you get to spend your free time on the cruise ship, a luxurious way of whiling away travel time, and then when you get to the specific areas where the ship stops over, you get to visit a new place and see new sights. Its really two in one. Add to that, the cruise ships are really luxurious and you can really immerse yourself in that luxury, even for a few days. I have to really get into one, so I'll make it a dream to get myself and my family into a cruise, before we turn 40!

blow up babies

yey! we'll be getting jessica's pics later, which makes me really excited! we had the same photog last time we went there which was really nice. she still remembers our jessica. we had a harder time this time versus the last because now she seemed to have her own mind. she doesn't want to sit still and smile. she was a little better when we gave her a stress ball but then she wanted to chew on it. she still smiled though, and we had pretty good shots. I still had a budget of only 1 pic printed so we only got the one free and upgraded the gc for my birthday, so we're getting two shots of 8x10 later. excited!!!!

the house we want to buy

Got a text message from the owner of the house we wanted to buy. She's already received her visa and is seriously looking into awarding the sale of the house to the most prospective buyer. Unfortunately she jacked up the price of the house to 1.7million, because she made some home improvement measures just a few months back. sad, we're still interested though, but the next move would really be up to her to decide if she wants to sell it to us.

more work for me

Had a short meeting with my boss today. To cut to the chase, I now have more responsibilities at work. Well, its really a big deal for me, I guess it also reflects my abilities and the fact that my boss believes in my capabilities and that I can handle the additional workload. It impresses me, well. I impress myself! To those who don't know, the thing is that I work in Procurement. Its a function where you gain a lot of friends and enemies at the same time, and one where people skills also matter, not only skill. Well, skills also matter a lot, and over the years that I've been into procurement, I've learned to handle both. I would say that my people skills have increased from 1 to 9, with 10 being the highest. My negotiating skills have improved a lot, from 0 knowledge, I can confidently say that I have around 80% skill level.
Anyway, this afternoon my boss asked me to take on some of the new spend our group has started to handle, that is, tv commercial productions. currently I'm handling several events for some of our bigger brands, premium items and corporate giveaways, bundling services, polybags, plastic and paper cups, and garments. So yes, I'm quite loaded. But before tvc's came along, I could say that I was able to manage my responsibilities well enough. I could go home at past 5, I could relax on some days, I could involve myself in some of the other activities. Now I must again get out of my comfort zone to learn something new. And I hope I can learn well and learn fast, because just like all of my previous endeavors, I want to be able to handle this well. Wish me luck!

to get or not to get insurance

I don't have any insurance yet. Whether its by chance that I don't have one, or that I haven't considered getting any yet, is a matter of perspective. Yeah, there are a lot of companies offering accident insurance, auto or truck insurance, pre-need plans, etc. I have a vague knowledge about it and how its done, but frankly, I don't have a clue on the basics of the computations or how they come up with the premiums. I like and have contemplated several offerings though. I like the ones that offer premiums for women, like free check-ups or freebies when they give birth, I also like the ones that give you a certain amount after several years. I think this is what they call pre-need plans. But of course, this comes after paying so much to them, and the money is not as liquid as when you put it in a bank. But then again, you hardly earn at all when you put something in a bank. Money sleeps there, if you know what I mean. So overall, over putting something in a bank, I would think it would be much more worth it to put it in an insurance plan as a safety as well as an earning investment.

looking for the $1K post

Well, I didn't succeed this time. I heard there were those $50 posts every tuesday, and I was hoping to land into 1, but unfortunately its not my lucky day today. hehehe.... I hope next week will be the week. Gosh, that's a lot of moolah for one posting. I sure hope I get one soon!

buying the dream house

The economy seems to be faring well enough, interest rates are going down, bit by bit, and so is commercial mortgage. Now I think would be a good time to go into buying real estate. To good thing about investing in real estate is that the value normally appreciates over time, though the sad side is you still need to pay for all those real estate taxes yearly. Even so, property normally is a good, hard investment to keep in the long term, so its so good to go and buy them when the interest rates are going down, so will the mortgages you have to pay, after all, the small increments in the interest rate matter a lot when you have to pay it long term, say 10-15 years. It makes quite a difference, really.
We're also looking at buying our own place, and its a really challenging task. We will be staying at the apartment till mid-September, which gives us enough time till then to search our own place. Its kinda hard given that we want to have the best value for what we will buy, because its such a long term investment. We need to get the best bank interest rates as well because we need to get the lowest possible mortgage. It really is quite a challenge, this business of buying real estate. A challenge we'd surely be facing head on in the next couple of months.

Withdrawing funds from Paypal

Yey! I've just added my bank account in Paypal. I was contemplating trying to withdraw funds while I only have 5 dollars in it, just as trial, but I wanna be sure first. hehehehe... its free for transactions more than 7k, and then needs 50php payment for less than that. So I'm not quite sure what is worth it or not, I'll certainly try! Especially now that I have a lot of lined up for payment postings, probably around $60 worth. So its quite worth it I guess. Still too low, but then I know I have to work some more to earn more. :-)

On playing online

I found that the neatest thing about the Internet is that people can actually do anything now while they are in front of their computers. They can choose to learn, to play, to be creative, to relax. In fact they can do just about anything with the Internet. Now they can even play online casino without having to go to Vegas or a similar location. The same thrill I suppose, but with more flexibility and at your own time. No need to get a vacation just to find time to travel and go to one.
If you're the type who likes wants to master the casino game, or the type who can spend millions in online gaming, then this is certainly for you. No need to leave your home or office and travel far to get to a casino. You will definitely get the same thrill doing the same thing online. Its really an opportunity one cannot miss!

mineral makeup

mineral makeup is the new trend in make-up these days. I even saw loreal having their own. I was browsing a while and I saw the site the sells the mineral makeup called Everyday minerals. So I decided to try it out because their prices seem really inviting and cheap! Why not right? Maybe I'll ask one of my suppliers who will go to the states to buy me Bare Escentuals when she goes to the states so I can have my new own set of makeup! teehee.... i'll do that when she tells me she's gonna leave. Anyways, I ordered the sampler kit from Everyday Minerals. The kit consists of the following:

• 3 Foundations
• 1 Blushes & Face Colors
• 1 Concealers

Pretty cool. I paid for the shipping at $5.05. And then I ordered some makeup myself! hehehe.... Here's what I got:
The kit consists of this stuff:
Custom Kits: I Can't Believe It Kit

• blush or face color: Everyday Bronzer 6g
• brush: Angled Blush Brush Brush Size
• blush or face color: Snooze Bar 6g
• finishing powder: Natural Reflections Fair Large
• brush: Angled Blush Brush Brush Size
• foundation: (Buff) Buff-Light Neutral 8g Semi-Matte
• eye color: Comfy Large
• eye color: Oasis Large
• concealer: Spring Concealer 6g
• eye color: Dark Brown Brow Color Large
• foundation: (Golden) Golden-Medium Tan 8g Original Glo
• blush or face color: Apple 6g
• eye color: On the Phone Large

Add to that, I got the following freebies from their coupon:
Enter discount code 5GizZt in your cart to get 8% off your order before March 10th. All orders over $35 (after discount and minus shipping) receive the 2 NEW PRE-RELEASE COLORS, the new sample-size eye shadow GLASS BOTTOM BOAT-- a gorgeous iridescent blue-green that will remind you of that trip to Key West -- plus the new sample-sized blush and eye shadow combo MOJAVE CAMPING a super versatile apple red with a luxurious shimmer and rich brownish undertones. These will be available March 15th but you can get a preview of two fantastic colors today!

Not bad, right?

Telemarketing as biz

Face it, we are in a new age. Gone were the days with which the facsimile machine was the best invention in the world, and morse code was the best way to send a message through. With the dawn of the World Wide Web, a lot of things have become possible. Actually, so much so that you wonder if some of the things you see in those hi-tech movies are actually possible...
Well, one thing is possible. That is, that with the dawn of the new technology, so did the way that firms do their business. It helped in Accounting, Finance, Supply Chain, now its making its way into Sales, Marketing and Market Intelligence. Telemarketing has changed the way of doing business, and has brought the customers closer to the companies who want them. Its genius, really. A lot of stuff that were not possible before, or were possible but were much to expensive to implement, is nearer to the consumer because of telemarketing. Its a good thing too, because it also made the playing field a bit more on the fair side, when you consider that all means of communication are now available for the use of even the small firms. Even individuals really. Telemarketing has done that. So really we should be thankful for that.

google rank 2

yey! I've just been promoted. hahaha... To a google rank 2... teeheehee... was looking if my other blog got approved already and lo and behold! this is a google rank 2 blog! whoopeee! I'm actually very happy about it because I want to keep earning. And besides, the short articles really aren't hard to do. And its fun doing it. Who knows, I might earn a substantial amount in the upcoming months, enough to give me money to buy some stuff I wanna buy for myself. hehehe... so i wanna celebrate being a rank 2. :-)

rebuilding credit status

In the western countries a lot fewer people actually use cash, for a lot of professionals, using a credit card is like the norm. and while sometimes its good, other times if can destroy you, especially when you are unable to pay off those debts. which is why there are already companies that offer a bad credit credit card, which is supposed to give the person the chance to redeem his credit standing and get back up.

Its a good thing really, because it helps a lot in regaining confidence, and in the long term, helping the individual in making better credit decisions.

on being a professional

my head hurts... a lot. i went to the Professional Regulation Commission this afternoon (PRC for short) to renew my professional license and have my status changed, mainly because I realized that I don't have a government-issued ID to my married name, which may sound unfair to hubby, and after all its already been two years. so at least I have to deal with it now.
its a big headace, i tell you! my gosh.... its all queues, and lines, and queues.... and more lines. and i hate government service.... oh, and then I'll get the ID in a month! should have gotten it in Feb, when its a shorter month. hahahaha... oh yeah, it is Feb. So since I have this planned leave on April 8, I might just get the ID by then.... Meanwhile I should also work my way into getting driving lessons and a drivers license, and then my new SSS ID.
so many things to do.... so little time.

on credit cards

One thing I learned, and one thing I intend to change in the next few years, is to reduce my credit card debt. Honestly and admittedly, I'm in a very, very bad financial position right now. Given that I earn a modest income that's supposedly enough already for me, I have a lot of debt at the moment that I'm paying off, and the list really doesn't get shorter by the day. Its sad sometimes because deep inside I know I should be enjoying the things I want with my salary, buying stuff I need, but here I am, paying off interests more than principals. I swear I should change this already. Debt Management is one thing I should put into my system, but aside from that I think I should awaken myself up to the fact that there are really some things in life meant to be learned. Its indeed a lesson for me that I got here. And when the day comes that I'm debt-free, I'd be the happiest person in the world! Really! Ok, maybe I should just this out slowly but surely. I'm giving it a few years. But I do hope when I'm 31 at the most, I'll be rid of all these debts. I promise and I hope!

Questions on Marriage

Its amazing how my baby's face has changed so much over the nine months. Here she is at 2 months, 3 months and 8 months.... She's getting to be so much cuter isn't she?

Black Friday Sale

Being in a country that's majority Roman Catholic, I was used to having the Holy Week treated as a solemn occasion, where people are expected to repent and contemplate on their lives (much like what New Year's Eve does to us). And so it comes as a surprise when I saw this site that gives out black friday ads for shoppers. Its actually quite surprising and interesting at the same time. Been looking at the stores that offered these sales, I'm surprised as well that these are also the big stores and chains that have these sales, and they even open at 5am on black friday. Wow.
Well, about this site, it beats the black friday sale at the stores because you can actually buy the stuff off the net, without having to fall in love. Isn't that cool. I mean, ok, there's a certain joy in seeing all that stuff around you, and sometimes even finding stuff you don't need but are really big bargains. hahaha... that's just me. but of course, being able to shop while sitting around in your desk also provides relief. Hey! they should do this for Christmas! Then people won't have to shop everyday looking around for bargains, but still end up beating the holiday rush!

Bloggerwave Postie

So happy!!!! I'm now a postie. After waiting around a week to get approved, my blog is now accepted. That's more paid postings for me and a lot of additional income. Great! Seriously. I mean, I have realized that its important to at least have some additional income for myself. So I can buy the things I want online, if not all the time, at least some time. And to me the best and the simplest way is still to have paid posts. And bloggerwave does just that. For that I'm quite proud of myself and what I'm doing now. :-)

On Cosmetic Surgeries

This is a cool trivia. I read from a website that the Cosmetic Surgeons in Hollywood are so busy just before the Oscars. Isn't that cool news? Well, not entirely hard to believe, with the weight of beauty so emphasized in the ceremonies. I mean, what does a GA gown or suit look worth? If you can't wear it with style might as well not wear it at all.
Here in our country its not unusual to see new stars suddenly get bigger, better boobies. Perhaps,even in this country of ours, breast augmentation is already a common procedure. And if you have the moolah to have one, and it boosts confidence (and in the case of Showbiz, market value too), then why wouldn't you? Its just a procedure. Its simply science.

Tack Rating in PPP

I've kinda noticed that I'm getting several posting opps the past few days. I dunno if it has to do with my tack rating or if its just the season for opps. Either way I just wanted to say I'm happy about it and I hope the fun continues because I want to be able to earn the extra moolah so I can buy the stuff I want online! hahahahaha..... Who knows, maybe someday I can also get me an LV bag from my postings!

about my MBA

Did I say that the one thing I am truly, truly proud of about my accomplishments is getting my MBA? Indeed, if someone would ask me today what I considered my proudest accomplishment would be then I would say its my MBA. I know college was something I should be proud of, I'm a licensed chemical engineer. But my MBA is something I worked on, on my own, from Day One. It was something I wasn't required to go through, but I chose to, and I choice I would never, ever regret. It was worth the almost three years of work, long hours of school, and endless exams and papers. To say the least, its more than having accomplished all the academic requirements, more so, having been able to impart my own experiences and knowledge, and hearing from others their own, that truly made the management courses better. I gained a lot of friends, insights, and knowledge that I would otherwise have been unaware of had I focused only on my chosen expertise. its something I will always be proud of, and never ever regret.

babies grow up fast

i'm on leave at the office now. and one thing I realize about being a mom is this: kids grow up so fast. In a span of nine months I've seen my baby change from this independent infant now to a stronger-willed toddler. its amazing to see just how much she learns and adapts with her environment with each passing day. sometimes just seeing her learn one thing can bring so much more joy to me than would a good grade at school then, its true when they say that motherhoods brings with it infinite joys. I just never could imagine what would make me happy now if I didn't have jessica.

what makes a nice room enviroment

When I imagine my dream home, I always, always wanted it to be something that will truly represent the comfort and the beauty i want. I always think - if I could have the bed that I really, really want, it would be something like this.

Of course it should have a really soft mattress. Softness that should hug the body but not necessarily drown it... I'm not all for spending tons of money for a piece of furniture, but I do believe that its important to have one that suits you and your personality, at the same time exude the beauty and elegance of the home.
I happened to pass through this website with Faux Leather Beds and I realize I want to buy a lot of their beds! Its so beautiful and enticing. Funny if you think about since you can only have so many beds in a house, unless you live in a castle. But seriously, the designs and the look of the beds in the website are really enticing. Had I been living there in the UK I would frankly consider getting one for myself already. And then, I would get another one for the other room of the house (which I will be living in... had I been living in the UK).... really, there's nothing wrong with hoping is there?

government service

Since I became an adult I was never privy of government service. I grew up learning from the news about politicians getting rich everyday from spending people's income taxes. Sadly enough it is really that which makes the country poorer and poorer.
Of course, my sadness for the country's fate cannot be stopped by the fact that this morning I had to go to the National Statistics Office to get copies of my Marriage Certificate and of Jessica's birth certificate. And I was unfortunate enough to have to stand on line for close to two hours, and still have no certificates to take home. I had been thinking of getting the thing online but having to pay more than twice as much for it discouraged me. I applied for four copies today and paid only 500 whereas getting it online cost 300 a piece, totalling 1200 if I get the same number. totally no way! But really, what pisses me off is the long line and the heat. And the fact that it is just plain frustrating to see so many people spend so much of their time doing something that could have been easier to do. I mean, in the US, is it really so hard to get these things???

Mortgage lending increase

Seems that a lot of people are borrowing these days. Except probably in the US where there's a recession, mortgage lending is going up, meaning people are doing well and investing in properties. Its good. Properties, after all, are a really good investment to make. Something one can count on if the going gets tough, and though its not really liquid, its value generally goes up as the years go by, unlike cash in the banks that sleep over time. Literally. Which is why hubby and I see it fit as well to invest now that we're young and the kid is still not in school. Even if we have to pay for mortgages for the next so many years, we are guaranteeing ourselves an investment over time. Something we really need to do while we are young.

jessica's avp

same as what i did for my wedding, i made a cute avp of jessica's pics for her birthday. I actually don't know if i still intend to show it then, but irregardless, i had it done because I want to catalog her first year. and it will be a keepsake for me and for her grandparents as well. i can't upload it yet seeing that the is still something i would have to know how to do.... but i will very soon... promise.

for when we have our own house

since hubby and i saw that one house in Vista Verde, we've both fallen in love with it and pray everyday that we will be awarded the purchase of the house. It was really cheap and yet it was big and presentable. it even had a 3-car garage! Never mind that it didn't have a pocket garden... :-( hubby was so happy to see the large garage because it could house a lot of stuff for him. He could have a Concrete Workshop that would give him the freedom to do the things he would want to construct! Since lately he's been very busy with his hobby, i don't doubt that when we get our own place, he would want to make stuff of our own, given that he can already house the stuff he needs and no one would really care about the noisy surroundings. I myself would ask him to make some (a lot) of shelves and cabinets, because when we do have our own place, I would certainly want it to be organized. Shelves for my clothes, hangers for my bags, etc. All of which I have a lot of.... hahahaha..... Call it a fetish for being organized. teehee... seriously, had we our own place, wouldn't it be nice to be neat and create the illusion of space?

my job

Today I made a purchase decision which probably, at least for me, marked an important realization in the career I chose. I realize, in so many ways, that growing wiser means I have to learn to accept that decisions we make may not always be easy, much less have no consequence. Especially in my line of work, I have to learn to accept that sometimes, decisions I make hurt others, but nevertheless, I have to be tough and learn to realize that for all it's worth, I was really fair.

Ok. Case in point. I will use only symbols so as not to preempt any news or to identify any person.
I have this project I'm assigned to, where I have to negotiate for the company's purchase of a certain item X that will be part of a big promotional campaign. I have two suppliers, A & B, who are both reliable ones, that were actively fighting for that project. Even though, A has been the one directly coordinating with the users of this item, Supplier B was equally interested because they have not had any big projects lately. When I got the quotations for Supplier A & B, Supplier B was the definite winner... However, I couldn't just award to Supplier B because I had to consider on what stage of development the project was, and that at the same time, I had to be sure that they were both on the same page as far as specifications are concerned. This bugged me for a few days, and to cut the long story short, I decided to give the project to Supplier A, since I was more confident about their ability to implement the project. It was a hard decision to make, and what makes it ever harder is telling Supplier B that they didn't get the project. I texted Supplier B this evening and told her the news (that they weren't awarded the project) and she never texted back. I'm hoping she didn't take it personally, because this was after all, a professional decision.

In a lot of ways I think its a good preview of what lies ahead should I pursue my managerial career, that I have to learn to realize that it can't be a bed of roses all the time....

Just my thoughts....

Cheap glasses

I'm happy with my health because so far, I've had control of my 20/20 vision. Hubby isn't as fortunate though, since he has glasses and can't live without them. I saw this site on the net that sells glasses at the cheapest price. Zenni Optical: Sell Rx Glasses $8 with case!. Would you look at that. Sometimes the net is the best shopping place there is. And the glasses are really nice, much like the ones you see in the optical shops here.
Well, should time come that I need glasses, this is definitely an option.

jessica's bday preps

Latey I have been as lousy a blogger as I've been at sports (lousy analogy- couldn't think of anything I'm as lousy at).... I only post once a month and that post isn't as credible. jeez....

anyways, i'd like to report that preparations for jessica's birthday are now on their planning stages. This month my main deliverable is to finally book the venue, and so far I am far inclined to just have it at the KidzRepublic in Megamall. Less hassle setting up everything since the venue will have its own program already. And the kids will surely enjoy. And the moms and dads since they will be in the mall... huh.... I'll most likely lie-low in feb since I don't have money, and then start again in march when I do get my perf bonus at the office, afterwhich I'd have to shell out for the cake and probably half the food and the souvenirs. hehehe. Come may its time to pay for the balance of the food bill.... hay.... surely hope everything will turn out as it should be....

on bad credit loans

since i got used to using credit cards i've learned the harsh realities of having to pay HUGE finance charges for not paying it in full. i guess that's the price you have to pay for being cashless. one thing i make sure of though, is that I remain in good credit standing.

Bad credit loans can be very bad when one considers taking out an investment in the future, such as a house or a car, so its very important to make sure that credit ratings are good at all times. Right now hubby and I are considering getting our own house, so keeping up my good credit is important for me so we can take out a home loan this year.

happy new year!

hello there! missed me? been a while since I last posted (i know!) and its not like i got too busy or simply didn't have any stories to tell. I guess I just didn't have so much to talk about and wasn't too inspired to write. i suddenly realized i missed blogging! whew!

well, so what's new? christmas came and went, it was pretty simple as usual, but of course it was made more special with the fact that jessica experienced her first christmas holiday season. she got a lot of new gifts and money of course, which we plan to put into a trust fund after her birthday so she can have something for herself when she's aware of the cost of money! hahaha....

hmmm.... what else is there to say? the bad news was that we lost our globe connection again since january 4, and only got it back an hour ago, again after 21 calls made to the globe hotline. we were already contemplating getting smart bro, i even had all the boxes of the phone and modem out and was ready to return them to globe on sunday if they have not repaired it by then.

lastly, i'm getting set to go to our department's planning conference on friday at punta fuego, it'll be the first night i would spend without jessica by my side. I'm sure i'll miss her soooo much!

hmmm... guess this is all for now, but i'll leave you with pics to share:

jessica's new year's feast

bumblebee helmet

wearing my sexy backless dress