When Two Hearts Become One

No Other Woman Movie: Realizations

2011-10-22T05:48:00.001+08:00

The other day I downloaded the movie No Other Woman (sorry to those against piracy!) and I was watching it during break times at work. I finished it and liked the movie, then asked hubby to watch it again with me two nights ago. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the movie very much, and it may very well hit a spot in my top ten movies of my time (currently what's in my list are transformers - all three of them, and pretty woman - its a pretty short list now). I think the actors gave a superb performance. I'm not saying they can win best actors or actresses come awards night, but I personally think portrayed their characters very well. The script was well written, with quite a few quotable quotes in there, and the plot was really so nice because it plays around what actually happens in real life. That to me is the best thing.

(Spoiler Alert)
The movie plays around the lives of three individuals: Ram (Derek), Charmagne (Christine) and Cara (Anne). Ram and Charmagne are married for 5 years, with Ram being a furniture salesman (or owner, wasn't clear in the movie) and Charmagne was a housewife. Cara is the heiress of a successful businessman who happens to be developing a luxury resort, she's liberal and studied in NY. Ram and Cara meet during one of the visits of Ram to the resort as he is one of the bidders for the furniture of the resort. To cut the story short, they get into a relationship and Charmagne finds a way to confirm it, and in the end there was fighting, there was temporary separation, but all ends well as Cara leaves and Ram and Charmagne gets back together.

Being a wife myself, I feel the character of Charmagne. And yet, I can't really blame Ram's character. Ok, so you may think its all his fault. I am not all for the getting into an affair is ok thing, but somehow I have come to accept the fact that men are not really that hard to spell. An affair may not be the first thing on their minds, but offer them something in a silver platter (aka a girl saying that theirs is a non-committal relationship) and you have a guy sold. Everyone wants freebies anyway. So ok, in the end Cara falls in love, and apparently for the first time, and she decides to fight for Ram too.

There are soooo many realizations with this movie, I think I can't even spell them out in one post. For one, wives can think theirs is an ideal marriage. How do you know when there's something going on? Worse, how do you know something is amiss when your husband is acting normally anyway? What is normal behavior?

When you're in the position of the wife who had been cheated on, how do you move on? Or do you forgive at all? This is a subject of discussion in the forum I'm in with mostly wives and moms. You know what? I've told myself over and over again that I don't mind one-night stands. What I can't tolerate will be him getting into an affair. I can't share him with anyone else. But you know what, after watching that movie, I realize how much pain an affair can cause in a relationship. I won't change my stand, but understand where the wife is coming from, having to leave the house to allow herself to heal. I might have done the same thing, heal, then fight for him. but that will only be after I see that he really commits to the marriage. If he's staying just because and there is no love left, then why bother? I'll show him what he's losing though?

In the end, I realize that more than preparing for a fight with the mistress, its important that a wife makes sure that she can be the other woman. Be as desirable as you can be. You can be a housewife (but not a boring housewife), a career woman, or a mom, but you have to also play the role of the mistress. That way, who would think to go astray?

Almost November!

2011-10-21T16:32:00.000+08:00

The days are going by so fast nowadays. Ever since we started the -ber months the days have been going on fast forward all of a sudden. Not that I mind though. I'm happy. In two weeks we are already off to HK. Yey! Its a dream to see the excitement of my little girl on seeing the Disney characters, on seeing her happiness with the rides, stuff like that. Last time we were there she was too young to know the characters except for Pooh, now that she's 4 years old she knows all the characters and I soooo look forward to her enjoying Disneyland.

They also declared two consecutive Mondays as holidays: October 31 and November 7. Yey for that. Time for rest and for me to fully prepare for my bazaar.

Then the bazaar weekend, Right now, at a little less than a month to go, I am down to only 17 more booths open for November and 20 for December. Its the fastest so far, I expect bookings to flood in on the last two weeks of November, but at this point, I'm kinda hoping next week we can fill in the slots, or at least till we leave for HK. Its not that far off anyway. So happy. December bazaar comes after, but I'm pretty confident about that too.

So the weekend will be spent packing up the bazaar flyers, ready for mailing by next week for most participants who did send in their address, and retrieving the addresses of those who didn't?

Overall its a happy time now. The only downside I see right now is that unlike the past years, I'm not too keen on the halloween parties. I guess this is mainly because we have something much more exciting to look forward to. I don't have a costume yet for Jess. And well, I'm not too excited about it at all.

Midweek - I want to destress!

2011-10-05T20:40:00.000+08:00

Its only Wednesday and yet I feel like its been a long week and I can't wait for it to be over. My Monday and Tuesday were really heavy days at work so today I just had to forget all the stress and (almost) did not any work done. Well, part of it was having dinner with friends on a Tuesday night and getting home at 11pm to find Jess still up and wanting to play, so I really slept at past 12 already and woke up at 6am to cook food for the day. Stress! At work I barely got anything done simply because I was way to tired to think. My mind just hibernated.
So I'm on my way to bed now. I got a bit of work done on the bazaar but I'm just not up to do any flyers designing this evening when I'm still on sleep mode. Hopefully tomorrow.

New Gadget Again!

2011-09-24T21:03:00.000+08:00

This year has been a mixture of good and bad experiences for our family. For one, I would like to think that this year was good for us financially and career-wise. First we were able to get the company car, and since we had some savings, we were able to add some cash to upgrade the company car to an SUV (Ford Escape). It makes us a bit more confident when it comes to heavy rains.

While we were drained financially when I miscarried last March, we were not exactly in a rut. I'm really thankful that I had a great job that at least paid for all the bills, and hubby is able to save a bit while I cover most household expenses.

Last month I was able to convince hubby to help me get a Macbook Pro. Since my office laptop did not allow me to install Photoshop, I had to have a reliable laptop to use. The laptop hubby was using had an LCD problem so he has to use it with a monitor, and that is not exactly handy. The old netbook is being used by my college student-househelp, and its not also exactly the best in performance when it comes to Photoshop -- meaning it hangs a whole lot and is really frustrating (happened to me the first time I tried to make the backdrop for the bazaar). Anyway, I digress. The MBP is now my home laptop. The office laptop only goes home with me on weekends. Its 12 months to pay at 0% interest so it isn't as heavy to pay. Always been my dream gadget (yes, I've wanted this one ever since I can remember, and I can live without ever getting an iPhone but a Mac is one thing I've dreamed of owning).

Now that the bazaar planning is already in the works, I've decided that the next business investment for me would be a DSLR.

Background, since I started with organizing bazaars, I bought another business investment every run. The past two years (2009 and 2010) it was for the digital printing business --- heat press last 2009 and the pvc card package in 2010. This year we bought a DSLR. Hopefully by 2012 we can already seriously start the digital printing business. Always told myself that I should make sure to teach the hubby how to do it in Photoshop since its not something I can do all by myself. That's my target in 2012.

This is what we got: Bought it from Kimstore and although there was a slight glitch and I'm waiting for the replacement SD card, I'm happy with the ease in dealing with them. Happy that we have this and hoping I can learn how to use this well soon!

Developing Jessica's Artistic side

2011-09-11T21:06:00.000+08:00

This morning our family decided to go to Trinoma to have a little family time. We had to leave early because we didn't want to have a hard time getting a parking space (QC malls are notorious to me for having limited parking spaces, no matter how big the malls are, same with SM Megamall). We also had to drop by my mom and dad's house to give them some chicken nuggets so we went out early. We did arrive at Trinoma around five minutes to 10am so we got a great parking space but the mall was still closed, we had to wait around 10minutes or so. It wasn't too bad, except Jessica wasn't in much of a mood to go around walking. We first let her play at Kevin's playroom at the Kids Zone. The one hour there will give me and hubby some time to walk around the mall by ourselves, plus it lets Jess interact with other kids there. I saw the Gymboree there also offered an hourly rate, but it costs a whopping Php 320 an hour, so I had to beg off on that, I should get a trial class instead. hahaha :-p Anyway, we ate lunch after fetching Jessica when the hour was done, and so her wearing a pirate's hat and a sword. Really cute but she removed it even before I got to take her picture. duh.

We decided to eat first before going around again, and unfortunately Jessica requested to eat at Jollibee and we didn't have much of a choice. Gave her a jolly kiddie meal and she was happy for a while until she requested for something we couldn't understand (except for a word: yellow!). After she was done crying we just told her we're going to the toy store and it improved her mood. We went to Toys R Us and Jessica would point at so many toys she wants which I would reject because they seem pretty useless to me: stuffed toys, barbie dolls, pink wand, etc etc. But she did point some stuff that would be useful like Megablocks, but she had those already and won't need new ones. She then got this one and for me its pretty useful and would be something good to develop her artistic and creative side, which I think really has potential (hubby draws well and is good at this, I AM NOT! hahaha). And its handy enough to bring anywhere. I may just need to replenish paints and crayons (and lots of paper) but essentially its easier to lug around because of the compartments and the retractable legs. It costs Php 1,399. But hubby agrees its worth the money. So I went for it. We also bought some drawing notebooks, more markers, poster paint and glitter paint (Jessica wanted these) at National bookstore. I'm happy she loved it and used it immediately after we unpacked it.

This looks like a laptop table. She can sit on the floor or couch when the legs are used or use the table on top of a table when the legs are folded.

The paper can be locked in so it won't move while she's working on her artworks. Notice too the slots above so she can easily place the watercolors in separate compartments. I see these watercolor types in Japan home for 88 bucks so I know I have a problem once the first set runs out.

Under the blue cover comes separate compartments and free art materials: 8 watercolors, 2 containers for water, one of which has this great cover of using a brush, 5 markers (the ones we bought from National are already included here), two brushes and 12 crayons. I was also able to sneak in the scissors - Jessica loves to cut paper.

Clean up is pretty easy since we can easily wash or wipe it, whichever would be applicable. I love it!

I think this is more effective than the megasketch we bought just a week ago, which can be used by our next child anyway so I'm not too sad she doesn't use it much -- she was back to asking for bond paper after a day! :-D

And then my recurring thought is this. I am glad and thankful that I have a good career that allows me to buy these things for her. When she starts studying and we're spending 2x what we spend now on tuition fees, these gifts won't come off as easily.

Car Maintenance

2011-09-10T11:31:00.000+08:00

Ok, so today I had the new car scheduled for maintenance, its actually the third maintenance schedule for the 10,000km or 6months PMS (whichever comes first). The sad thing about it is the mileage is only at 3,000 km. But since this is something we have to deal with because of the warranty, then it has to be done at the dealership. Good thing about it is that hubby told the service advisor to use mineral oil instead of synthetic oil. I mean, who needs expensive oil for 3 months use and like another 1000 km? We barely use the car, I use it daily for a 4km trip to and from the office, so really, by how much can you really tire the car out, right. So anyway, from the initial quotation of P 8,960, the actual bill came out at P5,894.47. Whew, that's a whopping P2,000 off by just using mineral oil instead of synthetic oil. The joys of having a husband who knows he's way around cars. Now what I have to prepare for next is the next PMS, which comes around December. Whew another 5000 I think. :-( Looking on the positive side, at least I am not paying for any amortization. So this is enough I guess. :-) Count your blessings, right?

Fixed!

2011-09-05T20:34:00.000+08:00

Whew. That was a scare. Ok updating my previous post. I deleted some widgets and removed that hacked script. Whew. Irritated. Can't believe someone would hack my page. Now more than ever I want to get my own domain. But that's too much to ask now that I still have a lot on my plate.
Maybe some other time. :-)

Where'd my blog go??

2011-09-05T19:49:00.001+08:00

Drat, someone might have hacked into my account and got through my blog. I'm quite irritated. I still do not know how it happened and what to do with it but I am posting anyway. Not in a mood to check on it today, but believe me, I am sooo pissed!

Prepping for BFAS 3

2011-08-19T08:35:00.000+08:00

Things are starting to get busy now. I'm constantly in check of my personal emails because I have put out the announcements for the bazaar this November and December. So here come the busy days. I look forward to it of course, and I am also pretty excited since, 4 days into the announcement I already have several booths reserved. That goes a lot in saying I've done a great job with the past two years. Its really exciting. I'm happy that the sellers are coming back.
This year is going to be different though because on the last day I will be out because of the wedding of my brother in law. I'm not fearful though, I'm quite sure my parents would do a lovely job at the bazaar. Me thinks I'll be there in the morning then leave it to them in the afternoon. The wedding is at 6pm so I still have time for other stuff. So no, I am not worried. I can just leave the keys to mom and dad and have them bring back the stuff home. Of course, I will miss the fun of the last day of the bazaar too. :-(
But its too early to think about that now. I look forward to the busy days! and here's the ad for this year's event!

Meet the MAC OS Lion X

2011-08-16T19:08:00.000+08:00

Ok, I'm not quite sure which comes first or last between these 3: OS Lion X. Whichever it is I don't really care. Anyhow, I'm quite happy and satisfied. When we bought Macky the other week I knew we were automatically qualified for an upgrade to the Lion OS X, since what is installed in the laptops are still the leopard versions. The guy from PowerMac told us it generally takes around 2 weeks, so I was really happy when I got the email last night that gave the password for me to download the free upgrade (a $29.99 deal in iTunes!). It was a whopping 3GB that had to be downloaded and I was getting up in the middle of the night. I almost didn't get to finish the download this morning, luckily it did and I was able to install it before I went to the office. I'm so far happy with it, like shifting from a Windows XP to a Windows 7 (pardon the comparison, but its the simplest way to say it!). I've yet to learn all the other perks of this new OS, but so far I'm liking it. In the scheme of things though, in so far as Mac expertise is concerned, I'd say I'm 5 out of 10! Lots to learn still!!!!

Short Family Day

2011-08-14T20:34:00.000+08:00

Spent a few hours today checking out SM Masinag. Well, its my second time there and the first for he kid and the hubby. Didn't spend too much time too. Just went to buy some books for the little girl, and then she and hubby found nice shoes at Payless. Then spent some time in the grocery buying meats and veggies for the house.
Someday I wish I can do some unique dishes. Kinda getting tired of the usual: menudo, nilaga etc stuff. Looking to cook something unique the next time.
P.S. Nice to be back to blogging for a change. My Macky is effective in making me a good blogger again!

Angelica's birthday

2011-08-13T06:30:00.000+08:00

Today is August 13. Four months ago, I was prepared to be in the hospital at this exact date, giving birth to our second baby daughter, Angelica. God had other plans, and Angelica is now with Him in heaven. But of course, I can't keep out the sadness of the what could have beens. Like, I could have been holding this little girl in my arms now. Changing diapers and breastfeeding. Life as I know it now may have been different. But God had plans. I am not questioning them of course. I'm quite sure our little angel is watching over us now. I did light a candle for her though. For my sweet angel who's in heaven.
Happy, Happy birthday Angelica!

Got my wish! ME and MACKY!

2011-08-12T17:07:00.000+08:00

For so long a time, I've wanted a macbook. It wasn't just a spur of the moment thing, it was the type of thing I wanted to own because I loved how it looked and its a perfect tool for my creative side (ok, i'm not that creative, and windows can do the same things, but a mac looks so much nicer!). And for me, if ever I were to buy another laptop, why waste money on another windows-based laptop (no matter how powerful) when all I really want is a mac? But its just too expensive, right?

So anyway, fast forward to a few months after. I had to have my office laptop reformatted because the system we use in our office got corrupted (by Adobe Photoshop... so they say). After that, I was told not to install photoshop there so I won't corrupt the system again. Problem is, I've been meaning on working on the digital printing business for the longest time, and I need photoshop for that. The only laptop with Photoshop now is the netbook, which is also being used by my studying housekeeper, and I don't really want to deprive her of that. Besides that, its also so slow, that it takes a while getting anything done.

So really, I'm just justifying that I needed the mac, the VERY EXPENSIVE MAC, which by the way, I can't pay in cash. Now comes the tricky part! I was looking through the internet for possible sellers and all of them are actually pricing the mac the same way. I was really hoping I can get something that would allow me to pay it in installment. And then it hit me that perhaps, we can transfer some of hubby's credit limit so that its converted to an SIP (Installment credit line). And when I called the customer service of the bank, they said its possible. Next hurdle is to convince the hubby. This was not too difficult since he knew I had the means to pay for it if its installment anyway. And I was only plotting for a simple white macbook but he was the one who told me I should get a macbook pro instead. So in the end, he agreed. And here we have my new baby! Its not paid yet, but i love it to bits! Here's to many years of friendship for me and my mac!

Week end ends.

2011-07-03T19:36:00.000+08:00

Ok, so its 7:30 pm Sunday and there goes the weekend. We've just had dinner. Stayed at home the whole day, and yesterday too. Well, yesterday after work the yaya asked to go out, and the other one went to school, so we just stayed at home and rested. Like I said in my previous post, saturday is not such a good time to go out. Come sunday, we initially planned to go out in the afternoon. I just went out to go to the wet market in the morning and did some cooking too. Planned my menu for the week. I might be out next weekend. Poor Jess won't be seeing the mall for 2 weeks at least. I'm sure she'll get over it though. hahaha....
Will just make it up to her the following week, as am not quite sure if I will be in Cebu this weekend. :-)

In other news though, our weekend was spend eating. This week I was in a "cooking" mode so I was able to do a lot of cooking. Pancit, crispy pata, champorado, dinuguan (not so good since the blood seemed old and had a bad smell) and calamares. It was good to be back on the groove. I am still hoping that one day I can still be in "experimental" cooking mode and mix up something I saw on TV. I like watching all those cooking shows: Iron Chef, Top chef, Masterchef Australia, Barefoot Contessa, and Everyday Italian. I really like their recipes. If I did not have Saturday classes I might even have enrolled in some cooking classes. Howell. Someday.

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Good night and have a productive week ahead!

Weekend mode: Mall review

2011-07-02T11:30:00.000+08:00

We finished our management meeting early today, started at 7:45 and ended at 9:30. So I'm now spending the last one hour in the office alternating between doing this price monitoring worksheet, checking FB, and blogging. I rather like that this is a no-pressure day, and it will be a no-pressure weekend as well. No commitments this weekend, though I am contemplating going to the mall, but really wondering which mall it would be with not too many people, and no traffic to deal with.
Saturdays are hell days in terms of traffic in our area these days. Marcos Highway, which will lead us to Quezon City, Manila, and all other areas in the north, is really heavy on saturdays, what with all that drainage construction ongoing, there's only one or two lanes open and the volume is big on this day (don't know why, it seems people from the East (Rizal) simply like to travel on saturdays.
I also don't like overcrowded malls on Saturdays and Sundays. Harder to park. Lots of people walking around, especially in my favorite mall which happens to be Megamall. Somehow, the other big malls don't appeal as much to me (Eastwood, Galleria, The Block, Trinoma and MOA). It's just not my type of format. I like that Megamall is one simple mall, only two sides and not many sidestores/hallways you can get lost in. Plus it has all the amenities you need: grocery, hardware, cinema, department store (large selection too!). Fave stores: Payless, Toy Kingdom. Its a no-brainer mall. And its middle class.
If I wanted the ambiance of a high end store though, I think the place to be is Rockwell. Hubby and I share the view the Rockwell is a nice place to be to see lots of "beautiful" people, models, artists, rich classy businessmen. Its the only place where you see the old rich ladies all dressed up in the grocery. :-)
We also have several malls nearby, but they don't really satisfy my taste and preferences all too much. IMHO, they are malls to frequent only when you need something and are either too lazy to go to a bigger mall, or in such a hurry that you buy one thing only. Like last week, it took me 10mins in and out of Toys R Us in Robinsons Metroeast just so I can buy a gift for a party we're already running late to. Imagine that. No time to search for an ultra cool gift. I got the most educational thing I can find and bought a card and paperbag. I call it cramming! LOL
Well, now I'm about to start my weekend and I'm wondering if I want to go to the mall later. The little girl hasn't been out the whole week (Hubby and I went to Megamall thursday to watch transformers). And next week she may also be stuck at home IF my out of town trip is cancelled. So now I wonder if I want to go out. Hmmmmm...

How do you start doing other things you love to do?

2011-06-28T20:10:00.000+08:00

(DISCLAIMER) I am practicing typing on the iPad. So if you find some typo errors on this post, I blame it on the iPad.
I'm too lazy at home to be productive in anything else. I know I should really be more productive. Sometimes I think it also has to do with the fact that I have two yayas/house help at home so I really don't need to do any household chores. Since there is only one child to look after, and not many chores to do at home, I would really have to exempt myself from chores otherwise I'd feel like I was overpaying them. Problem though, I am too lazy to do other things, like perhaps do some digiscrapping or some arts and crafts, or start working on the digital printing business.
I do hope I will find the energy to start an evening routine soon, though I am not really guilty that I don't do Anthony, because I also know that the time at home should also be spent with the family. And I am happy that I have lots of that time for hubby and Jess.

Here come the Rainy days

2011-06-27T19:28:00.000+08:00

Last friday brought a a lot of rains to Metro Manila. And it was scary. But looking at the glass half-full, we felt blessed in a lot of ways.
First, we were able to go home, though not to early, we were braver in going through the flooded roads inside our village since we were riding our Escape, rather than the black Sentra. Now we feel that it was indeed a good choice to get this car rather that settle for a car (it cost us much more since we had to add equity to pay for the upgraded car). But seeing that we can go through 5-6 inches of water makes if so much more worth it. For the past three years when a situation like this happens we were forced to wait it out near the village gates, where we would have to stay for 5-8 hours until the roads are passable. So for instance, if we arrived there at 6 or 7 pm and the roads aren't passable anymore, we would need to stay there for up to 2 am. Add to the anxiety that there might be some water inside the house (will get to that later) and we're not there to help.
Second, this weekend's floods were really scary, but thank God that we were spared from an Ondoy-like situation. Some water came into the house from underneath and there were flashfloods inside the village, but all in all the situation was manageable. We had to do some cleaning Friday night but only the floors, we managed to lift most of the stuff out of floor level (except of course so heavy appliances) so there's no damage to any of our stuff.
Third, our office (being 10minutes away from home) was almost flooded, but thankfully it was spared. Highest level was at 35", a few inches shy of the floor levels of the plant and the office, but it didn't get into the plant. If it did, it would mean a lot of damage and longer days and nights for everyone in the office. So yes, I am so thankful that we were spared with that.
Life really has a way of reminding us of the many blessings we have day to day. And this is one case where I am really thankful for the blessings (even if it is disguised as a typhoon.) :-)

Miscarriage at 20 weeks ... Our story

2011-04-02T22:31:00.001+08:00

March 20 AM - I decided to treat myself and my daughter to a bonding day at the mall (In cubao). So we went out, had her play at the playroom there while I went around naman and did a little window shopping. Got home around 3pm

March 20, 6PM - I felt this GUSH of WATER come out of me all of a sudden, similar perhaps to the bag of water bursting to those who are on term already. I don't know really, I didn't experience this when I gave birth to my first daughter. Anyhow, I called my OB right then and there since it just continued to drip, and she advised us to go to the hospital. We went to TMC. They tested the fluid and it came out as amniotic fluid na nga. They confined me and put me on bedrest.

March 21 - My birthday. Short of saying the saddest yet most memorable bday so far. Good thing no plans were made yet, since I'd end up cancelling them anyway. Had ultrasound, blood tests, urinalysis. Bedrest and IV the whole day. Ultrasound results indicated my amniotic fluid level was at .88cm. Two weeks ago when I had another ultrasound, the level was at 5.3cm. The heartbeat of the baby was strong though, and I can feel her strong kicks.

March 22 - Spent the day in waiting. Bedrest still. We waited for the OB but she never came and just texted me that its too soon for a repeat ultrasound. Despite the difficulty, I could still feel the baby moving.

March 23 - OB visited us, and we told her we wanted to go home already and i preferred to be at home instead. After all, hospital bedrest isn't helping, what with nurses coming in every 2 hours for vitals and I can't even get enough sleep. I can feel the baby fighting and I know I would fight for it also, but being away from my daughter isn't calming me at all. My bitchiness is starting to set in. My OB instead, told me the baby will go out TODAY OR TOMORROW! She tells us there is no chance of survival, she will just monitor it since it will surely come out in a day or two. She advised the nurses to transfer me to the labor room for "monitoring". It was the longest 4 hours of my life. They were monitoring contractions (NON-EXISTENT) and heartbeat of the baby (STRONG!) and I can feel her kicking all the while. And then somebody would go to me and ask me what happened and I'd have to narrate it again (sometimes I declined) and I'd end up crying. Finally I said wanted to go back to my room. If baby was fighting, who am I to give up on her. So they transferred us back to the hospital room. My daughter was also there and it lessened the sadness I really felt.

March 24 AM - Against my OB's advice, I said I wanted to go out and have the bedrest at home. The hospital expense is piling up, I don't trust my OB, and I can feel the baby fighting. I missed my daughter. My hubby and I decided instead to go directly to another OB (one I visited when I miscarried last year), for a second opinion. She advised for another CBC and another ultrasound before I left. The heartbeat was still good but the fluid level is still going down (meaning the tear isn't healing yet). So we were discharged from the hospital

March 24 PM - We visited the other OB and though her prognosis was that the chances are really slim at 90%bad, 10%good, she did say it can take days or weeks to finally come through (the miscarriage). I guess it was then that we finally accepted that the baby may not really survive, but I was still carrying on that as long as I can feel the baby fighting, then I will. She even checked the baby on the ultrasound and heartbeat was still good so she was positive about it. I was happy to be home with my daughter that I missed so much! until I slept that night, I could still feel the baby.

March 25 - At 6am, I was feverish, and desperately waiting for the baby to move, but NADA. By 6:30, I was having chills already and my teeth were chattering. It was not good, I knew the baby was gone, and it seems my body was really fighting the infection. Hubby rushed me to Cardinal Santos where my new OB is. I came in with a 40.2degree fever. when I went into the labor room it was 39.8. They tried looking for the baby's heartbeat but it was gone. They transferred me to the labor room already for induction, put me on IV/oxytoxin. I had to push the baby out because they didn't want her disfigured if they pull it out. Finally delivered her at 3:15pm. Slept through the D&C and they woke me up only before transferring me to the recovery room.

It was the recovery room period that was really troubling, since my blood pressure levels continued to drop. They had to put 3 doses of epi on me to push up the BP only for a while. I was supposed to be back the room by 5:45 but my BP was at the 77-80 levels so they couldn't let me out. At 6:30 they finally decided to have blood transfusion (2 bags). I was finally released back to the room at 1:30AM the following day.

March 26 - OB referred me to a Cardio for 2D echo and ECG, because she feared the BP levels and the high heart rate I had the day before may have other effects. I was still on IV antibiotics and continuous monitoring of BP and temp.

March 27 - finally discharged from the hospital.

The baby was already fully formed. Right now, we've already accepted that she's gone and she will always be our little angel looking at us from heaven. We're positive that someday, God will give us another one, when the time is right.

Back to blogging post

2011-03-12T11:28:00.000+08:00

Ok, so two months is again a long time for me to go back. I even planned on a Project 365 but stopped right smack on January (1st or 2nd week). Duh. Well, time for me to do some creative thinking since spending Saturdays here in the office without the management meeting can be really boring.

Well, anyway, lots of updates up ahead. I guess I should make a long post in case I don't get to blog again in a month! I'll just number my updates so I get to see just where I am right now and hopefully the next time I read it I get to give better (and more up to date) updated.

1. On Jessica. Jessica will be graduating Nursery on March 25. Yey! I always laughed and said I only had 16 years to go to have a daughter with a college degree. yey! But anyhow, I heard from her teacher she'll be 2nd or 3rd place in her nursery class (of 8 students! LOL). I really don't want to sound too proud of her, but I am happy that at the minimum effort, she has actually been a great student and eager for school. To think I just wanted her to interact with other kids, and still she managed to get good grades. I've seen a lot of improvements too. She can identify letters, numbers, she can count, she can color well. And my oh my, can she speak well. She speaks like she's 7 years old. Its so nice to be in a conversation with her because she really can speak like a normal adult. I'm really happy how she turned out with one year at school. I won't be enrolling her in the same school but with a bigger one, since now we can more or less afford a better school. But nevertheless I am happy with her experiences on her first preschool year.

2. On Baby No. 2. Well, she's a GIRL! I went for an ultrasound yesterday (hey, I've always said I had really short EQ, so I HAD TO KNOW). We would have wanted a boy of course, so we can stop at 2 kids, since a 2nd girl brings about the pressure of a baby no. 2. But I can't be all sad knowing we're gonna have another baby girl who I can dress up again, and who I know will be really cute and look like me. :-) And I am happy, she's as trouble free as Jessica was, and so I know she will just be as smart and pretty. Baby boy will have to wait, if at all, at least another 3 years (still subject for discussion though).

3. On Household stuff. Well, nothing much has changed. The house is till the house, not much renovation. One major change coming up though is that I am gearing up Jessica's nanny (and our all-around) for school. I told her time and again that I was willing to pay for her education, so I made my research with the nearby college here in Cainta called ICCT. The tuition is quite affordable at 5k per trisem for a bachelors degree, and I guess its money I am willing to let go to see that my yaya will have a good future someday. I planned her to be in school for the afternoon sessions, that's 3-7pm. So in the morning she can tend to Jessica first, who will go to school mornings. In the afternoons normally its just sleeptime for them anyway. She usually does housechores in the morning. Well, when I called up the school regarding their entrance exams I learned that they require a 75% passing mark in the exam to qualify for a bachelor's degree, so that put pressure on me for yaya to pass. I don't want her to take a vocational course because a bachelors course could take her farther. So I bought her reviewers and told her she can study first before taking the test. Hopefully she will pass. Its been 3 or 4 years since she graduated high school so she has a lot of catching up to do. And so plans are already made to ask for the yaya no. 2 to come in 2 months earlier than my EDD. Though it will be an added expense, its ok since it will take a load off my having to do household chores too, specifically cooking and going to the market. Its a plus that this new yaya is a friend of my yaya now so I hopefully will have less worries of them not getting along. I don't want to have to deal with that stress. That said, I still will need to buy them a double deck bed and an additional closet space. But its a plus that the new helper worked in our neighborhood before so she knows the stress come the rainy days (i.e. potential flooding).

4. On Career. Work has been fairly easy and less stressful these days, probably because I already know my job now so I can deal with it easily, as I always do. Oh, and we already got my company car, which we paid to upgrade from a Vios to a Ford Escape. We wanted something bigger for the rainy days. Before we wanted to get an Innova but we found it too expensive for being too bare. So we got the Escape instead. I also get 100L free gasoline with it so it helps take a load of fuel expenses. Hubby prefers not to use the car on weekdays to Makati because its easier for him to commute. So technically, 100L of gas can take us weekends out malling or to go around a bit, plus every once in while to go out of town. Oh, and I already get to drive to the office by myself. So in a few months time, I'm sure I can go out on my own already! :-p

hmmm... that's that for a while. I have not blogged about the biz or or recent trip to Baguio. I hope I can do that soon enough,

till next time!

January 2: Malling and Haircut for Jessica

2011-01-02T20:30:00.000+08:00

Today rather than to stay at home and say goodbye to the last day of the holidays, we decided to go to Megamall for some family time. That is after I finished packing up the Christmas tree and all the lights and decor. Now that the home space if free from the clutter of the Christmas season (except for some gifts that I need to give away), there is more free space for the little girl to play and run around. But I digress, so we went to Megamall, got to see the new Toy Kingdom (which is huge), ate at the Food Court (Sizzling Plate), then brought the little girl to Cuts 4 Tots for a haircut. Jess' hair has already grown and we decided to cut it down by 2 inches (its actually still too long, might need another haircut in a month or so). After the haircut the girl asked to play at Kidz Republic. So we left her and her yaya (who is fresh from a 2day vacation btw) and went around the mall. After getting her back we finally went to Girbaud where I was able to buy a wallet for me and for my sister who's having her birthday tomorrow.
On the pregnancy: I still have not gone to the OB, will probably do so 2nd or 3rd week of January, where hopefully the baby's heartbeat will be there already. Meanwhile I am religiously drinking the vitamins (folic acid + prenatal vitamins) to keep healthy. We are hoping this will be a good pregnancy now and come around August we will have the newest member of the family.

Oh btw, this is the second days of (hopefully) Project 365. Off to a good start, I hope to finish at least with half and I will be happy.

2010 Recap

2011-01-01T22:20:00.000+08:00

The past year has been so memorable (in both good and bad ways) that it deserves a recap. I feel I should keep this in mind because someday when I look back, 2010 will be the year with the most challenges for me and for our family.
We started the year with me jobless (by choice, and hoping for a good year ahead with the bazaar business. At some point I know I will have to look for a job back at corporate because it was hard for us to save with me just into business. All of hubby's salary was going to daily expenses. I had a bazaar coming up but that didn't turn out well. In the end it was a frantic search for THE next job. Unfortunately the next 2 job offers that came were not to my liking, not even close to what I had with the Selecta job. And hubby patiently told me to hold off until I find what is worth me.
So careerwise, things started getting better when I got this interview with a food manufacturing company whose office is just outside our village. It was a pleasant surprise that it was so near, and the position they were offering was really something I liked. It took a good month and a half before I got the offer and it was really a dream come true. A good career position, directly under the General Manager's supervision, with great benefits and competitive salary. I had under me 5 staff to supervise, and the real plus part is that the office is just outside our village. It is truly a dream. Of course, dreams don't last forever and now that I have it, its no bed of roses, but I'm learning and its a matter of time before I can excel in what I do, just as I always do.
Homewise.... we started the year without a helper/yaya after I fired the previous one (for abuse of authority --- aka shouting and harassing my little girl). I was a full time homemaker for a total of 3 months. No regrets though, being able to take care of my girl, no matter how difficult, is really something to be proud of, in a modern world like ours, not all careerwomen get the opportunity to stay home full time to take care of their kids and watch them grow up. In February we finally had a new helper/yaya, and she is heaven-sent! I can't begin to say how she has become family to us and I do hope she stays with us for a long time.
And then I thought we were going to have someone new in the family. Found out I was pregnant sometime in October, but that ended soon with a blighted ovum. It was a sad and trying time, having had an easy pregnancy with Jessica, this came as a surprise. But then I had to be strong and we just decided to try again. After the miscarriage we hoped we could have it easy and and fortunately it paid off. I haven't gone to the OB yet but the last 2 home pregnancy tests came positive so I am hoping this one will take off, and smoothly too.
Since June, things have started to get better for us, a new job, great career ahead, financial stability. Finally we have enough to live a more comfortable life. Hopefully in 2011 we will have an additional member of the family too.
So I hope things will go well for you too. :-)

Weekday bonding time

2010-11-03T17:17:00.000+08:00

Its 5:15 and I am waiting for my daughter and yaya to arrive so we can go to Megamall. Somehow I like that we get to spend some hours at the mall for some bonding time (dinner + malling). Because normally during the weekends time is spent for chores or resting at home or going places we need to go to. And malls are usually very cramped on weekends and parking is hell. Weekday traffic can be bad as well but at least we don't have trouble parking, and the number of people around the mall is forgiving. I don't know yet if it will get any worse with the Christmas season, thereby we will have to cut back on the weekday visits. I guess two or three more weeks will be ok, but by December I can forget about it with all the traffic that is Ortigas.

First Checkup for the Baby No. 2

2010-10-29T18:13:00.001+08:00

Yesterday afternoon I was finally able to tell the boss that I am pregnant. I've been contemplating for the past 2 weeks how to tell him, it was sheer luck that he put me through a feedback session. And since it was a no-holds barred session anyway, I already told him in all honesty about my pregnancy. It takes a lot off my mind to be honest with him on that. And luckily he was ok with it and appreciated the honesty and the very early advise. :-) I was relieved.
And then this morning, I finally decided to spend lunchtime going to The Medical City-SM Marikina to have my first check up. I was kinda delaying it thinking that I want the first ultrasound to have a clear pole and heartbeat already however it was not the case. Though by age based on my last LMP I am already 6 weeks along, by the trans-V ultrasound I was just actually 4 weeks and 6 days. No heartbeat yet. I need to wait another 2 weeks for another trans-V ultrasound and hopefully we would have the heartbeat by then. I need to take the vitamins, folic acid and the anmum now to supplement.
So all is well, I am hoping this is a successful pregnancy. The two weeks wait is a long stretch but then time flies fast and next thing you know I'd be hearing Baby No. 2's heartbeat already.

Lunch Break

2010-10-28T12:26:00.000+08:00

Testimony to my newly found laziness: I am now at the office for the 3rd consecutive day during lunchbreak. I don't know if its because I'm pregnant that's why I'm lazy or its because I've no shopping money right now, but I don't really feel like walking out the door during lunch breaks as I usually would, up until last week. Now I want to just stay in the office and hug my cute pillow during the break, get a shut-eye for 15-minutes, and then wake up still sleepy at 1pm.
Oh, and I'm really happy that so far, there are no pregnancy symptoms yet. Last time I didn't get any, I'm hoping this time its the same, a few cravings here and there, and then some throwing up a FEW times is ok. I did that for like less than 5 times during my first pregnancy and I'm hoping its the same thing now.
Oh, I'm glad I am back to blogging now. Hopefully, I'll be able to write down my experiences from now on, its something I miss doing, but now I resolve to write again. I want my second pregnancy to be just as memorable as the first one.

Blessings come when you least expect it

2010-10-26T15:20:00.000+08:00

A few months ago, to be exact when hubby when to the US for a month, we decided that I stop taking pills already. One, to guard my health. My family has a history of cancer and we're fearing that prolonged use of the pills will have a negative effect. I've been using it for more than 2 years before giving birth and another 3 years after Jessica. No other means worked for me. We are not good at withdrawal and NFP and injectables shook up my hormones a bit when I tried it. We're not so thrilled of using C's. So the pills were still the most stable thing we could think of. And so in July I stopped using it. When hubby came back it was more the calendar method.
When my period didn't come this October, I didn't think any of it. Might be delayed. I might be stressed. We did our counting and all seemed well. Or so I thought. Just for the fun of it, I tried taking the test with an old kit I kept at home. For some reason I can't even remember why I had it. And then it turned positive. And with the many things I read about the topic, I could remember so well that its more common and probable to have a false negative than to have a false positive.
And the rest, as they say, is history. :-) Jessica is turning 4 in May and I'll be due in June. Hopefully I can give Jess a jollibee party before I'm due as a tribute to being the only child. And so she won't feel too jealous when the baby comes out.
We are happy for the blessings. While its a bit earlier that we expected it, we're just as happy knowing that we have been blessed again. God is really great. He gives us what our hearts truly, truly desire.

A year since Ondoy

2010-09-27T08:33:00.000+08:00

Its been a year and one day since that fateful day when Ondoy struck hard and changed lives of millions. Us included. As I look back to the year that was, its more so that I feel blessed for all the experiences, hardships, and gifts of love for the past year.
I've just stopped from work last July 2009 so when Ondoy happened, I was staying at home and was able to clean and put back what Ondoy destroyed. Despite being one of the thousands flooded that day, all I felt after the flood was through and the electricity was up and we could look at the news, was to thank God for sparing our lives, and while we had to throw so many stuff away and it took us a month to put life back to normal, a lot had it worse, suffering the loss of loved ones, homes, cars, and livelihood. All our appliances worked after Ondoy. Our car, although it was wet and a bit flooded, survived without any major problems and there was no need to bring it to an auto shop for repairs. We received a lot of help from family and neighbors and friends, and no one got sick because of the flood waters. It was an experience we won't forget but rather than to feel remorse or abandoned, I feel blessed that whatever damage was brought about by Ondoy, we were able to move on.
A month after I had my first stint at business and I'd say it did well. Now even as I do it part-time I know it will work and I know some people already trust me to become repeat customers. I will still work on the bazaars despite working full time. That I know for sure.
I let our 1st househelp go last December. I was seeing things that I felt were not good for my daughter and didn't like the way she was acting up. While I was tired at night having to bring a toddler everywhere, I was thankful that I could spend time with her, while a lot of moms having full time jobs don't get as much chance. I spent 3 months as full time nanny and wife before the blessing of another househelp, twice as good as the first, came. I still consider her as one of my blessings.
Starting January I actively started looking for work again. It was hard in that I was looking at getting into a senior/mid-manager position but a lot that was coming in was more of supervisory posts. But I tried anyway. I got some offers but they were far below expectations. And I was finding it harder and harder to balance the home budget. I was never a big spender but I wanted to have the liberty to go out with family and spend some for them. And I felt guilty that all the earnings of hubby went to the family. I always did let him have the things he wanted, spend for his hobbies. But he stepped up and offered to give everything and just leave some allowance for him. He was even the one to tell me to reject the offers that came that were too low. He felt I deserved better.
The job offer I was waiting for finally came in June. It was near our home and the pay is good. The position was what I was waiting for too. Its a good company and I enjoy what I do. Now, three months into this career and there are no regrets. We get to enjoy some family eat-outs and I can splurge a little when I want to. Life is good.
So the past year was one great roller coaster ride. But it brought me closer to family, and while it was the hardest we have had so far as a family, it made us realize priorities and made us want to plan more for the future. Now life is back on track and while I find myself so busy at times, balancing work, business, some more outside work, family, and friends. Sometimes I feel I don't even have time to spend for myself. I'm in dire need of a haircut, a massage and waxing. But I go to sleep at night and always, always feel thankful for all the blessings we've received.
Sometimes it takes challenges for us to be wiser and stronger. And for me the past year was exactly what I needed. :-)

House.. house...house...

2010-08-31T09:05:00.000+08:00

There is truly a great joy in living at your own place. Ok, in our mortgaged place, if I may correct myself. One major, major (tribute to Venus!) is not having to ask permission from anyone to do anything there. Like if I wanted house repairs then nobody really cares about it and I can do it anytime.
And so I took advantage of hubby's one week vacation to Dumaguete (he went with his friend/officemate), to do some stuff at home. Pictures to follow, was too busy with the activities to take any pics.
One thing I planned to do on the onset was to paint the single wall in the Dining area that was not white. Backgrounder: we got a 20yr old house, so it was not exactly in "mint" condition, the previous owners who sold it to us did paint it white before they sold it so it looks ok, but the house itself was built on two parts, the original house had some wood on it separating the dining area to the room (what we now call the hobby room). All the other walls in the living room, kitchen area, dining area, were concrete and painted white. So when two weeks a go hubby and I took advantage of a buy-one take one sale on makro of 3-layer shelves, which sold for 2 for 500, or 250 each, I felt what needed to be done was to paint that single wall with white so everything turns out white around the dining table. And so when hubby finally decided to push through with his vacation I took the opportunity to do the painting.
So Sunday morning Jess and I went out to Robinsons MetroEast to do some paint-shopping. I had in mind to use odorless paint so there's a more forgiving smell once I put in on, since its indoors and not exactly a lot of windows around it. Unfortunately after a long discussion with the hardware guy, I found out odorless paint can't be applied to unpainted surfaces, you will still need a primer, or flatwall enamel in our case, to put there before putting the odorless paint. Then there is the issue of size. The odorless paint sold gallon sizes only. And with the primer plus the odorless paint (which costs than Php 500 per can by the way), I felt I did not need all the leftover paint. So I had to make do with smelly paint and just bought the flatwall enamel, around half-liter which supposedly can cover around 20-25 sqm, my wall was around 2x3 meters only so it should be enough for two coatings already. Bought a paint tray and a roller, a bottle of paint thinner and one paintbrush. And then I bought another can of gold spray paint because I wanted to paint an old aluminum table gold so it looks new. But I'll get to that later.
When I got home I prepped the area, took out everything that's hanging there, set aside the new shelves, and put masking tape along the circular mirror on that wall. I had no plans of taking out the mirror and risk breaking it. Someday I will take out the whole wall and replace the old wood, so what I was doing was not at all permanent. I painted the wall with one coat using a roller, and for the small gap-things that was supposed to be part of the design, I had to use a brush since its brown in there. I felt I did fine, after a few hours I painted a second coating, and left the electric fan open throughout the night to let the wall breath. I put some vinegar and baking soda there as well, to help absorb the paint. The result was nice, there were smudges of paint on some brown framings near the ceiling, but its no big deal for me.
The next day I painted the old table gold, after spending an hour taking off the rust and the stuff there, I suppose they were because of oxidation. I used the spray paint which was a really nice idea, and the gold color was a good choice. I am very pleased with the outcome.
And then I realized I actually need some white spray paint to paint some discolored areas of the wall. That's another small project for me.
All in all, I'd say the past weekend was very fulfilling. I got to do a lot and that pleases me. I do need some rest though, but this week is going to be quite a busy week, so these activities will probably have to wait until the next weekend.
(Pictures to follow...)

July Update

2010-07-27T15:16:00.000+08:00

Ok, so I haven't updated my blog for a while. Its been a month since I last blogged and again, I feel bad I always forget, when it makes me feel good that I actually blog.
But anyway, there is quite a few stuff to update, the past month, as I said, was the first time hubby left for a short onsite stint, so for a month it was just me, yaya and Jess at home. Did a couple of things to while away my time. That is, aside from actually working and transitioning myself back to the corporate world. But I will forever be grateful that I landed this job, I believe its really more than what I could ask for. A great role that is both a challenge and a sign of achievement (naks!), pretty good compensation (I am not super highly paid, I just feel that I am fortunate to land a job where I can comfortably stay and not feel underpaid), and winner location, where I actually do walk from outside the village to the office. Its not something people are lucky to get. I won't mind working in Makati if it would give me a good role or good pay, but this one, this is just a dream. And I love it because of that. One month forward and I'm ok with work. I love that it doesn't kill me with pressure. There are downsides of course, such as half-day saturday work which is a first, but since I live too near home I don't mind. The people in the office are ok, my boss is trying to mentor me, but I think I am slowly getting in the stream of things. So work-wise, there is a lot to be thankful for.
Last month I got myself to finally work up the courage to enroll in driving school. Thankfully, I can now drive the car to work (and sometimes a bit farther too!). Yey for me! I have yet to go a longer way, but I'll let that be slowly. I still like it better when I'm the passenger anyway.
Hubby is finally home, and we're now enjoying time together, as if we're newlyweds! Kidding! We will get back to the mainstream though, just as soon as he's recovered from jetlag. But all in all, he's ok. And I feel the time away from each other has also helped us see the value of the marriage and being together and actually spending time together (believe me, these are entirely two different things, which you will only realize when you are away from each other).
In summary, the past month was a great one for me, and hopefully a start of better things to come. :-)

A new first

2010-06-28T15:20:00.000+08:00

After 9 years of being together as a couple plus another 4 years plus married, you'd think we'd have experienced most of our firsts together already. First big fight, first car, first family home, first pet, first baby. Now there's a new first for us, and that is the first time to be physically apart for a month.
Hubby has been assigned to an offshore project for a month in the US. We've been anticipating this already since initially he was supposed to be out in April, but this was cancelled and now he is on a new project and it entails being in the US for 4 weeks. He left june 27 and is due to be back july 25.
Like all first times, it mighty hard to adjust. First, I'm so used to having him just here. Free to text, free to chat, same time zone. The 1 day apart from the time he left to the airport was hellish enough because he was incommunicado. Thank God for Skype though, we at least get to see each other. Its a big thing, this technology. At least there's webcam and chat. Good thing I am allowed that here in the office, I can wait for hubby to be online.
We're just starting with the setup and though I know it'll get easier in time and then one month is just a short period, well, there are times I just terribly miss him, and the thought of not having him here just plain sucks. I could of course savor weekends I can spend with myself or with my daughter. Always wanted to go out sometimes, and maybe this is one of those opportunities to do so.
As for hubby, I can only say that this is such a great opportunity for him. I've always been by himself, and by going out of the country alone he will be more confident and sociable. :-) Spread your wings and fly, my love!

On moving on and forward

2010-06-15T19:54:00.000+08:00

Today marks my last day out of a 1 year hiatus from the corporate world. Hopefully it will be a breeze starting work again. It's a good thing though that I am really happy where I am going, it has all the elements for a start of a good career. Too early to tell, I know, but I always think that thinking positive helps to make a good start. Anyway, I'm happy with what's going on ahead of me.
The past year has been a roller coaster ride for us, I definitely learned a lot, lived a lot, and definitely feel that for what we lacked on the financial side the past year, the memories and the experience more than made up for it. I would not have exchanged it for the world.
First and foremost, it was the experience of having been a stay at home mom for a time, while I had busy days when I tried to handle a business, for the most part I was busy with Jessica and running the home. It was heaven being able to take care of a toddler, see to her needs, and generally see how she's growing up, good and bad sides included. At the end of 2009, I even let go of my yaya, and had to struggle being the full-time mom for around 3 months. And I definitely have no regrets over that, I think those 3 months together where we only had each other (hubby, me and Jess) was also a plus because I can definitely say I can take care of my daughter + all the chores on my own, and I can live without being dependent on someone else to do the chores. It was a much needed realization for me as well, that the yaya I had simply lacked the motivation and the concern she once had for my daughter, so it was time for her to move on. The new yaya I have now, I believe she's very much worth it and worth the wait of a couple of months. I'll be leaving the house every morning confident and assured that my daughter is in good hands.
Career-wise, I don't feel that the past year has been a letdown in terms of my career. I for one, believe that the last employment I had was inevitably going to be a dead end. I was happy I ended it at three months otherwise I would spend the next few months (or years if I tried, I guess) probably miserable and 20 years older. I also don't regret that I left the previous one before that. After a couple of months things there didn't turn out well from what I hear, so it was still a good move. True, I spent a couple of months and several frustrations over my 5-plus months of job hunting, and two job offers after I was studying the possibility that I lost my marketability, despite the UP-education and the MBA. Turned out it was a matter of getting the right offer at the right time. Kudos to hubby for always reminding me that the right offer will come at the right time. And it surely did.
Over my relationship with hubby, the past year has been deeply enriching, for both of us. I have always earned my keep, and I always got the things I wanted. I had a good career in the past and really good compensation for the past 4 years that we were together, we lived a comfortable enough life and can buy the things we want. He had a whole collection of remote-controlled cars and trucks and I was happy seeing him with that, he never heard a word from me about it, just as I never heard him say anything about me shopping, whether its for me or for Jess. But when I let go of my job our world turned upside down, he had to give me almost all of his earnings, where previously he just gave half of it so he could save or buy the things he wanted). Now he had only his allowance. It was fine for a couple of months, I had the bazaars which also earned enough to keep the lifestyle at the very least, but came December we were already having a hard time. The first half of 2010 had been a struggle making ends meet. Though we said goodbye to diapers already and saved a lot when Jessica changed over to more economical milk - Nido 1+ to 3+ will save you a lot, we still had to struggle because the salary was only just enough. No extras. It was hard because when I had the time to spend money, there wasn't any to spend. :-p But I never heard hubby complain, because I am sure he gave up a lot too. No night outs for him, he would take food to the office so he can minimize lunch outs. But it did bring out a sense of responsibility for him to be the head of the house. And I am proud of that. It made us closer to each other and we realize that if we had each other then we can make it, for better or for worse.
In parting, this closes a difficult but otherwise very enriching one year. And as I move on and hopefully to a better more wonderful workplace, I keep this experience up my sleeve and feel happy that I got through it. :-)

On careers and office issues

2010-05-31T20:55:00.000+08:00

A good friend of mine and I have been having lengthy discussions about this matter since last week. A week ago my friend got the shock of her career when she was reassigned to a post which she didn't really like for some bogus reason she didn't really believe. Its when we realized how futile some efforts are. Even if you work the best years of your life in a company, sometimes its just not enough. There are simply times when this will be disregarded, and after all your efforts, you will end up feeling betrayed, empty, and completely demotivated.

Its a sad reality that we can't take out of the corporate world. And in our field its doubly sad because my job, being in purchasing, is based mostly on respect, trust, and integrity. I believe these are the most important things I need to do the job well. And take out one, then its all gone. For instance in the case above, if I were in my friend's shoes, how would I feel knowing the bosses have lost trust in me, and that I have lost my trust and respect for them as well. I'll end up not loving what I do, and resisting any effort for a continuing relationship with them. And an unhappy workplace is the worst there is. I mean, I envy the people who last long in working for companies they absolutely don't like. Never been one to be like that. Never will, I guess. I'll say, if you are not happy, move on. You spend more waking hours at work than you do at home, can you really live for so long doing something you hate? Its not worth the stress, and life's to short to be bitter. Move on. You'll probably find something better, especially if you know you're good. That way, you'll live a healthier and more productive life ahead of you.

Just springing my thoughts. I definitely feel sad for my friend, and sad for the company I once trusted and loved. I wish things didn't end so badly. But then, its a good thing I've moved forward ahead of time, otherwise I may be suffering the same state now.

Life is too short for regrets. I definitely won't live my life having any.

Jess is starting school!

2010-05-19T15:08:00.000+08:00

And finally, I got to enroll Jess to nursery at the pre-school nearby. The place itself is just a few blocks from here and is very easy to go to. Jess and yaya will just walk to school (great exercise). Now I realize though I'd have to prepare her an umbrella and a raincoat for the rainy season. Good thing last week there was a back to school sale in robinsons so I already got Jess her black shoes, rubber shoes, socks and school bag. yipee. fewer things to buy. The teacher did give a few more things on a list to buy, and I'll get to that as soon as school is nearer. She also put on the list 6 notebooks (how can nursery kids use notebooks??) and pad paper for grade 1. Not used to the idea of tests, seriously, but I guess they can make that work. Which makes me realize perhaps I'm just not teacher material. :-p
Oh, and they have a uniform, which is a dress for girls which is blue (or is it black) and white checkered - dress. love it! just imagining Jess on her uniform makes me all excited for her to go to school. School starts on June 14 and its just 2 hours a day, and there's really no pressure for her to go everyday. I take this schoolyear as just an in intro for her to go to school and enjoy it with new playmates. Doesn't matter if she doesn't learn to write or to count to a 100. :-) I'm sure she will get to that on her own phase, and I'm sure she'll be just as bright and smart as her mom and dad. :-)

Jess is now 3 years old!

2010-05-19T14:55:00.000+08:00

Yey! Our one and only princess in now three years old. The other week I was sorting through her kiddie pics trying to prepare for an avp or mini-movie about her 3 years, but I stopped midway coz I realized the music I put in there sucked. I'm still looking for good music to put in the AVP. Inspite of that, I was really, touched, amused and generally pleased looking back at those pics, and I realize just how much my little girl has grown up. I won't say I'm the most "hands-on" mom on this planet, I still leave a lot of work to the yaya most of the time, but generally I still could say that I know my daughter inside and out. I can tend to her even if the yaya goes away (have proven that after taking care of her myself for more than two months this year). But I would say, and I always will, that leaving my career, which was, I believe, a good one, was worth it, despite the financial difficulties now. I feel that I would never trade off this one year that I have spent together with her for any promotion or higher salary. Being a mom is the best career there is. I guess, if not for me wanting her to have the best of stuff, and giving her everything we can possibly afford (without spoiling her too much), then I won't mind not going back to work.
Generally her birthday passed well enough, my in-laws generously gave what they can so we can celebrate jess' birthday (just us family). So we cooked up a few stuff. I wanted to please the little girl so I made a few surprises for her too. I got the pabitin she used last year at her party and filled it with fruitos, lollipops, nips and some chichirya, then put a few toys in there too that I got from that veinte store in Robinsons (where everything is 20bucks only). She got to pick the stuff and food she wanted anytime (there is still some more here till now). Also found some old party hats from her first birthday and made her wear them. She also got to blow her birthday candles on the cake.
Happy birthday my baby! Mommy and Papa loves you!

God is GOOD - All the time!

2010-05-03T14:46:00.000+08:00

And I have proven that to myself once again. And it makes me happy, and very thankful. That despite the many problems that came my way the past year he still takes care of me and gives me hope. And has proven also that sometimes we ask for something but he gives us something more. Just because he doesn't give us exactly what we need doesn't mean he won't, he will in fact give us something that is better.

So what's this? Well, I've honestly been one of the many people who got addicted to plastics -- you know, credit cards, the things you swipe and then you instantly get what you need. Retail therapy. Oh, there were times they were useful. Like for booking flights, or for much needed groceries. Stuff like that. And CC companies are such nice entities (*evil grin here*), they will actually give you more credit so you can enjoy your life more. That is until you fall into a financial problem and they complicate your life more. So even when I stopped working, I could still pay them up when I was organizing the bazaars last year. Probably why I don't see where all my hard work went (hmmm...). And then this year, when the bazaars are seasonal and there really is no sense in working my ass of it only for it not to work out, I just reserved the bazaar idea until Q4 of the year. And then the CC problems started to surface. Because, now, we are living under a single income, and hubby's salary is enough for our family's needs. We are after all, paying for mortgage, gas, electricity, phone, cable, housekeeper. It adds up to a whopping 35k plus a month. Add the fact that Meralco also jacked up the rates so it adds up. And I have to prioritize, and of course, when it comes to priorities, nothing comes close to family.

So I start worrying every day (and night) about what to do with it, because short of selling my beloved Omnia, I really will not be able to pay up the minimums of these cards. And to note, I've been paying the minimums for the longest time. But I was a good account, I paid every month, 90% on time, and never failed to give them my hard earned money - until this 2010. And so I worry, and worry some more, and plead to God to please give me a job (a high paying one so I can pay my cards....) and to please make it soon (like next week). Then I'd get depressed that I don't get calls for interview, worry a bit more, and more....

But much as I would like to, money really doesn't grow on trees. So I failed to make the minimum payments. And then they (evil CC companies) will call me, will try to work it out, sometimes I do, for some I don't. And then I defaulted on them one by one. CC company 1 has cancelled my card, so did CC company 2 for my two cards. I still have one loan and one card still active, and hopefully I can work these out till the end if and when I find a job. They now want me to pay in full and return the card in halves. Already did the second one, what good is a cancelled card in your wallet anyway. The pay in full part is like duh? how do you pay a card in full if you don't have the means to pay the minimum. (I am not philosophical here, merely practical). And then days after I already got a letter from a collections company for CC company 1. Ok.... Panic mode it is. Called them up, told them I don't have a job so I can't pay and I will call the Credit Card company once I get a job. They go like -- oh ok, hope you find one soon but we can't do anything about it, it'll get transferred to another collections agency.

In fear (lots and lots of fear -- near panic and suicidal mode), I searched my best friend (Google) and came up with this blog and the matching support group for it. I realized that I'm not alone and I found virtual friends that understand my predicament. I've also come to a lot of realizations on my finances and on my future. I'm armed with knowledge on how to deal with my problems and move on. I know I am still starting and haven't seen the worse of it, but seeing how others dealt with their problems gave me so much hope. And no, I am not going to run away from these debts and credit card companies. I simply realize a few things. First, by paying them off with minimum I make them rich, but I don't save, and my balances don't even move. duhhh... Second, I will stop going ito financial marathons - meaning borrowing more just to pay off another. That is digging my own grave because it won't stop. Third, the money I do save from not paying these minimums, I save for my family (when I do find work), and should I be compelled (in court) to pay them CC companies, that's the time I will. Technically, if I add up all the interests and charges I paid them in the past x number of years, I already paid them off for what I DID spend on the card, so I'll just see them in court.

And now, I actually am looking forward to meeting these collectors. Its good to be financially free and not worry about it. I am hoping to spread the word about this support group. So if you have questions, just send me a note.

And I thank HIM for showing me this. I really am blessed!

Saving on Electricity (Meralco Woes)

2010-04-26T17:17:00.000+08:00

We got our electricity bill last Friday, and I must say, we're bordering on panic on electricity spending! With the hot summer days its so hard to scrimp say, on electric fan costs just to avoid some costs. We live in a house with complete appliances so while our electricity spending is not too much, I won't says its the least bit cheap.
First thing we did was to clean our air conditioning unit. Admittedly we're quite stubborn when it comes to maintaining the A/C unit and we haven't had it professionally cleaned since we bought it in 2005. And we did feel that's its due for some cleaning because the room is not as cold anymore even with a temp of 19degC. What we did is take out the AC from the case, wrapped up the electronics parts in plastic (the timer/controls), and then hosed down the tubes and the body with water. Its such a good thing that water pressure is good from where we live and we have a great water hose that adjusts the pressure of water so its easy to take out the dirt. After cleaning we left the A/C outside under the sun to dry it completely. We installed it back after lunch but we didn't test it till the evening, since its the only time we actually do use the A/C. Oftentimes its quite breezy here even if its too hot, so we really don't need the A/C anyway.
Oh, and just after we've received our bill, I made it a point to monitor our usage for electricity, meaning I take readings every morning and evening to see how much we use. So for the A/C, we normally use 8-10 kW per night, thats from around 8pm till 3am, If I shut it down at 5am, it goes up to 10, which is why we are now diligently using the timer to make sure it shuts down on time. The result of the cleaning has been really good, we're now down to 6 kW for the evening, that's already good considering that our daily consumption is at an average of 13.5 kW per day (24hours). Our consumption during the day is at 4 kW. So next step is to see where we can reduce with the daytime consumption.
And as a first step, I decided to measure consumption of every electrical item we have. This is to see where we are spending so much of electricity and then reduce its usage. Starting at point 0 - meaning all sockets and appliances unplugged, I measured each and every appliance, lighting, and electronic items in the house. That way I see where the big chunk of the electricity is. And true enough, I was taken aback by the results. The appliances I wasn't expecting could contribute to a higher electricity rating were actually the simple, unexpected ones, like the oven toaster and the water dispenser (heater). Now at least we know where to adjust. And then I looked at meralco's sight for estimating the consumption) per month for electricity, and now I have some monetary value estimates for the appliances' usage. Pretty good benchmark. Now all that's left to do is to check how we do with the adjustments we made.

Kids grow up so fast

2010-04-21T20:35:00.000+08:00

Its been almost 4 months since I actively searched for a job. I got an offer today, and looks like its going down the drain again. Its simply not for me. I know its not about being choosy. Yeah, I could grab it on the context that we need the income now, but then it won't be fair to me, and it won't be fair to the employer. Yes I'd have a job, but I won't be happy. And yes they would be happy with their choice, but I'd leave the moment something better comes along. Lose-lose for both of us. So I'm saying no. Well, tomorrow that is.

On another context, it means a few more weeks with Jessica. While she spends a lot of time with her yaya, its still going to be a huge adjustment for me when I go back to work. I might just cry everyday thinking about how much I miss her. For all the times I let her be, seeing her, her milestones, her laughter and tantrums, and seeing her only at night, spells a huge difference and a whole new adjustment period for me. I seriously think it would have been easier for me if she wasn't talking yet. Now that she's this amazing interactive character, its so easy to miss her, tantrums and all.

But well, that's something I have to get through if I will be moving on and moving up again. :-) Here's to new and more exciting challenges ahead, and SOON!

Artsy Craftsy Blog

2010-04-19T19:51:00.000+08:00

So this ends my posts on my craft works. Since I'll probably posting on this one a lot of times because of this new addiction, I decided to create a separate blog just for my arts and crafts works. This is so I can concentrate my postings on my creations there and hopefully come up with a unique fan base for that. (fingers crossed).

So if you want to see my latest works, be it digiscrapping and stuff, well, it will be here at my crafts website. Please feel free to link me up there too. ;-) See you soon!

My stash and latest projects

2010-04-16T17:06:00.000+08:00

Been on and off being busy the past few days with new projects and have more items on my list. Unfortunately my list of things to do have also drastically lengthened! :-p

But to give a rundown of my new projects, here goes:

1. A box out of old corrugated boxes here. Then I wrapped it up in fabric so it looks really cute. I still don't know what to do with it, but I like the look just the same.

2. Here is baby Alive's diaper. :-) I'm sure she would have loved to thank me, but its ok, I'd rather not hear her speak. ;-p

3. At last, my dream of making sofa covers for our matching L-shaped sofa. They're not together now, but they now have the same fabric. I'm kinda wishing it could just replace our old (i mean old) sofa set we got when we bought the house, but then its too bulky to take out so it stays there. Its not perfect, but it does its job of hiding the dirty sofa. :-p

4. Kikay Kit!!! - I've always wanted to match up my kikay kit, and here are some samples. There's a tissue holder, a case for the powder + lipstick, and another for my brushes (I use mineral makeup btw). The brush kit is foldable and can be tied with a ribbon, like the pic below.

5. Fetish: Here's a case for my USB Card reader, such a delightful companion with the digicam since I always upload pics. ;-p Coming soon: Similar case for my internet dongle. This one is made from Catcha fabric, and some brown bias tape.

And just this morning I went to Divi for some fabric shopping-slash-much needed retail therapy. I didn't get to buy the usual stuff I buy like clothes or house stuff, but I had a grand time building up my fabric stash. Now I don't envy the website I've been looking at anymore. :-) What I bought are just simple cotton fabrics in cute designs much like the ones I also like when I digiscrap.

pinks!

green

blue!

orange!

yellow/brown

stripes!

florals!

bought some threads too.

Love love love my collection!!! Can't wait to start with my new projects!

New Sewing Projects

2010-04-11T21:14:00.001+08:00

I was also able to do several projects the past few days. I haven't finished the projects I intended to do from my current favorite blogsite, until then I'll be doing the stuff there. Luckily when I went to the market I was able to buy some zippers, ribbons and bias tape (which I later on found out was too small and hard to use under several fabric layers. yaiks. Here are some of the newest projects on the house:

1. My sewing machine's new dress. Yup, surely I got it from the website of Ashley here. It came out nicely with my revisions, such as the foam inside, and the ribbon went to one side only. I also made a small pincushion earlier on, which matched the fabric of the cover. They do look cute together, don't they? :-p

2. I was also able to make a hot & cold rice bag out of the tutorial here. I've seen this around bazaars last year though I am not sure what material they put inside. Nonetheless I'm thinking of making it my christmas gifts of love this coming holidays, but will have to research on what best to put inside. Its supposed to be put on microwave for heat (2-3 mins I guess) and then a couple of hours on the freezer for the cold. I tried it on both and it worked, albeit I can still smell the rice grains. Perhaps some organic floral beads can be placed inside. I'll try that soon.

3. And here's another throwpillow case set from the scrap fabrics I had. So cute! Its made of soft stretch cotton so its smooth to use. love it!

My sewing projects

2010-04-08T21:28:00.000+08:00

Yey!!! I had a really fun, productive day today. Well, not too fun as I was still constantly reminding myself that I needed to get a job already. But at least the hours thinking about it have been drastically reduced by my sewing projects which I enjoyed doing. And looking back and taking pics, I realize I was able to do a lot! Oh and by the way, I went to Taytay yesterday where they sell fabric leftovers - aka retaso - and I was able to find some. I won't say they are great ones but I then it can get me a long way with the projects I want to do for now. And the retaso is much much cheaper than having to buy per yard which is usually too much for some of the small projects I want to do. So for now, they will do.

First though, I want to show off my sewing nook at home, actually I have in a room that only I use and it has with it a bigger table and the heat press for our soon to be tshirt biz. But here is the special nook for my sewing machine. Its a bit hot in this room, but hey, its summer!

Ok, one of the sites I saw (sorry, have to look for that link again) had this cute pattern holder, but I prefer to call it a reminder nook instead. Its made of wood inside, which I lined first with duct take (don't ask me why, its just something I wanted to do to avoid splinters), and then with the black printed cloth which instead of gluing which I saw in the website, I stapled with a staple gun. I then placed the clothespins in cute designs (something I bought in Divi last Christmas) by glue gun. I placed it above the whiteboard because there's no other place for it the room, and it would be hard to put holes in the wood walls.

Here's a closer look with the clothespin designs:

Next I was able to make 2 throw pillow cases of the cloth I bought yesterday. They are matching black and white. I'm thinking of making other throw pillow casings the same way but I'll need to buy more cloth first. This will do for the meantime.:-)

Finally, I was able to make a new stroller cover for Baby Alive. I made some changes because of availability of materials and because I wanted a reinforced one, and i think it was really good.

Here's the original one.

And here's my finished product.

Nice eh? I still have a number of projects I want to do, and hopefully I'll get a good many things done before I get tired and stop. My biggest project and one I hope to actualize is the cover of the sofa, but that's a pretty big challenge so I won't post it till its done!

Crafty Sewing

2010-04-06T11:19:00.001+08:00

I'm determined to have a productive week ahead. And short of saying I don't have budget to do any more extravagant projects, well, I'm gonna do sewing projects this week. Its kinda sad that I don't have any nice fabrics to work with, but this site I found is simply so nice and helpful for someone like me who wants to start doing crafty things. The steps she gives are simple and easy to follow. I'm just bummed that she uses such great fabrics and I don't have any. I'm going to try to look for retaso sellers soon so I can make some good projects too.

Here's the website I'm referring to: http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com. I know those moms and crafty people will like it too.

Here are my first two projects, the directions of which I got from the the site above:

1. Grocery Bag Holder. Here fabrics she used here are so much more beautiful, and I would love to have something similar to work with. Since I don't, I used some simple katsa and green ribbon that I have here at home.

2. This one is from a similar project I got here which I simply tweaked so I can place as a tools holder in our storage room. Again I used the katsa at home and made a bigger version than the one she used, and made it good for hanging instead of a belt. I do intend to do one for Jessica, granting I can find good fabrics to work with.

3. My third project is Jessica's doll's dress. Baby Alive has been naked most of the time what with her shirt always coming off, so this dress is really a cute change for the little girl. :-)

Mixed Emotions

2010-03-31T17:30:00.000+08:00

I don't know if its for the lack of anything else to do, too much FB-ing, or just me questioning my self-worth again that I feel really sad and empty. Not that its anybody else's fault. But a hundred questions are actually running through my mind each and every time I hear of someone else in my circle (be it in my acquaintances side or friends side or simply batchmates in the N@W and W@W e-groups) getting pregnant for the second time. I mean second time because I surely won't be jealous of first timers. I have one pretty and loveable girl of my own and its the best source of happiness I can ever imagine.
So why do I feel sad? Jessica is turning three this coming May. Sometimes I think that I should just let nature take its course and stop taking the pill. God will surely bless us with another one if its the right time, and he will most likely shower us with more blessings, much as he did when jessica was born and hubby got his new job then. I guess I feel scared because right now there is really that uncertainty, what with me in between jobs and there's no defined job waiting for me yet, what if we get pregnant and life becomes too difficult? That's not questioning faith right, merely asking ourselves if its the right path to take.
Perhaps one of these days I will find the courage to stop taking the pill and move head-on, allowing God to shower us with another child at the right time.
A year ago if you ask us if we're ready, I'd say no, reason being I am not emotionally ready to give up some of the time for Jessica. But now that I gave her one year of an otherwise successful career, I feel that she can already adjust pretty much to a little brother or sister, and with lots of love to shower. Now its just a matter of crossing that bridge...
Just pouring my thoughts....

Gotta Learn to drive

2010-03-24T08:10:00.000+08:00

I have to learn how to drive. and soon. I know I'm missing a lot but I've always been pretty capable in commuting, so there is no real drive for me to learn to drive. I like the train better. or jeepneys. For a while when we didn't have someone else to take care of Jess, I've thought that its easier if I drove myself and we just had a car seat for her so she can sit in the back. The thing is, Jess was not a car seat baby. She likes to be with me at the back of the car while hubby drove. But with the inevitable trip of hubby looming ahead of us, I have to pressure myself much more now. Don't worry, I will drive. I promise myself that.

Hubby's amazing diet

2010-03-15T13:38:00.002+08:00

Sometimes our partners will amaze us in ways we never imagined. Let me tell you something about hubby. He is the type of person who, when he really, really puts his mind into a goal, he will get it. That being said, he has proven this again when he decided to lose weight and begin to live a healthy life.
Just last February 1 him and his officemates had a mini-contest for losing weight, sort of like the Biggest Loser. It was when he decided to go head on with the weight loss program he set. He didn't have a nutritionist but he read so much about it, I'm quite sure he did a good job with the research! So to give you a rundown, here are the changes he did to achieve his goal:

Diet: Change in diet and eating habits was a huge contributor to his goal. I won't say he's not healthy before because he's not the type to overeat and is not really eating fatty foods, but he did change a lot of what he does to make sure he gets the right stuff in critical to his weight loss program:

Meats: From the usual pork, beef and chicken we ate, he said goodbye to pork and all its derivatives too! I would just cook chicken for 6 weeks, never fried usually steamed, broiled, roasted. and it has to be skinless too. Seafood is ok, but its either grilled or steamed to avoid any fats. He stuck to this and it really, really made a huge difference.
Veggies: He wasn't too fond of veggies before. But mind over matter, he put in a lot of veggies into his diet. The lunch I would pack for him is really much of veggies - brocolli, cauliflower, string beans, carrots, lots of kangkong leaves (like the one with chowking). Its either steamed or sauteed. Sometimes beef with brocolli but he sticks to the brocolli. No potatoes, no corn. He says its non-value adding. :-)
Fruits: He chooses the fruits he eats. Mangoes have too much sugar. Its mostly bananas, apples, oranges. He's not into pineapples because of hyper acidity, but he hopes that the change in diet can also help.
Oats and Cereals: For a time he would eat oatmeal - unsalted, no sugar - for breakfast. It worked a good deal but he got tired of the taste (or lack of it). We use rolled oats by the way. It tastes so much better than the quick-cook ones or the cereal milk drinks. He also eats cereals (healthy ones) with low-fat milk. Fruits with the cereals help too.
Rice: This is the clincher. He stopped eating rice altogether. Its been six weeks now and he's ok. After their mini contest he can start taking in some but he said he will still limit the intake to maintain his diet.
Supplements: He just had 1 supplement that he took: Its component is L-Carnitine and Green Tea, same as that of Fitrum but higher mg. He says it will help in his exercise.
Lots of water but no salt to avoid water retention. I won't elaborate since I'm no nutritionist/dietician.

Exercise: When we got married we bought a home-gym for hubby, which he barely used the past 4 years. And then when we moved here in Cainta he bought a stationary bike. Also barely used till this year. When hubby started his program both have been used extensively.

Basketball - He plays basketball twice a week: Wednesdays and Saturdays. He also shoots hoops every once in a while in the court a few houses away from ours.
Weights, home gym, stationary bikes - he tries to put around 30mins to an hour for this daily, sometimes morning and evening. Now that he achieved his goal he might put in less time but he says he won't stop
Walking/running - a few times, not regularly because of too many wandering dogs in our neigborhood.

It was quite a drastic change in both our lifestyles the past six weeks. I had to prepare him the right foods and there were really times we would argue over it (overcooked, too much, too little, etc). But I do understand how much effort and sacrifice hubby put into it and I really, really am proud of it.

The result: 31 POUNDS LOST IN 6 WEEKS. Hubby is back to his pre-marriage weight and built. I'm so happy and proud of him.

Castillo-Sy Wedding

2010-03-15T09:16:00.000+08:00

Yesterday Hubby and I attended the wedding of Anj and Lester, Anj being one of my closest friends in Nestle and Les her boyfriend of two years, whom she also met at Nestle. We were witness to their two years of great love which was full of surprises. Lester actually made great effort in coming up with a proposal for Anj, when he asked for her hand in marriage after finishing the ironman race in Camsur, with the cheesy proposal line of "Andrea, will you be my finish line?". That took their love story to various media: Balitang K, Sports Unlimited and even Weddings Magazine. Ahahaha....
More than 6 months after, they got married at St. Rita de Cascia and reception followed at the Crowne Plaza in Ortigas. It was a fun reception, with quite a few not so ordinary gimmiks, and truly veering away from the traditionals, while still displaying the love from family and friends and giving that wedding its own original touch. They had at least 5 AVP's shown throughout the program, from the start of their love story to the beginning of their new life together. It was truly one of the most unique weddings I have been to. And I am so happy for them. I wish for them to keep the love overflowing and keep the surprises coming.
Love you Anj and Les! Congrats on your new life together!

NBI Clearance Rants

2010-03-11T10:06:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I decided to get my NBI Clearance already. This is in anticipation of the fact that I want to go to work very soon and this is surely going to be part of the pre-employment requirements, hence I decided to get it already since its an inevitable thing to do anyway. So I went to NBI Taytay at 7am hoping they were open at that time already (which they were not). There was a long queue already and I was hearing conversations about how you should be there by 4 or 5 am to be first in line. Like duh! So it was 7:30 already when they started to give out numbers, I was 148 of the 150 numbers they gave out. Huge relief? Another thing is that you should be using Taytay Residence Certificates, not Antipolo, not any other Rizal or Pasig residence certificates. So there were some tricycle drivers even asking people there to just get from barangay offices nearby (and of course you will ride their trikes). I didn't, I had enough time already waiting for the 147 other people in front of me.
At 11am I was starting to panic. I needed to be back home by 12 to prepare for my 2pm interview. Lo and behold, at 11:15 they declared they will stop at 141. And I was 148!!!! Grrrr... We tried pleading to let it finish till 150 but they were rude. :-( i ended up leaving (and bringing the number 148 with me!) empty handed and frustrated. I just decided I'll try out Megamall branch after the interview, maybe I will have better luck there.
Which I did. I got to Megamall around 4pm. The line was short, around 8 or 10 people ahead of me, and after payment took me around 5 minutes to get the clearance. Five minutes! As opposed to the 5 hours I wasted in the morning. Call that irony.
I'm just looking at the bottomline now. At least I accomplished my mission for the day. However frustrating it was. That's it. No regrets, but lessons were learned. ;-)

2010-03-05T08:01:00.000+08:00

Here are a few of my newest LO of the little girl. Happy to be digiscrapping again. Its so fascinating that Jessica has grown up so much since she was a tiny, tiny infant. To see her grow up everyday is a blessing, and me stopping work and seeing her in this period of her life is really something I will never, ever regret.

2010-03-04T19:34:00.000+08:00

Last year in July the four of us friends from our previous work in Nestle went to Cebu for an all-girls vacation. It was really a lot of fun and we truly, truly enjoyed the bonding time we had, away from boyfriends and in my case, being the only married one in the troop, away from hubby and daughter. It was something different from all the vacations I had, I was never the type to go out vacationing with girl friends. For the most part, this is the 2nd time I was away from hubby and baby ever since I got married, the first one being my trip to Boracay which was both work and recreational. :-P

Anyway, back to Cebu. We left on a saturday and checked in at Marriot hotel. Landed in Cebu around 1pm and we checked in the hotel first, then had lunch at a popular resto in Ayala Mall. We went back to the hotel afterwards to rest and wait for Kate, who would be landing late afternoon. She arrived dinner time already and we went back to Ayala for dinner, then back to the hotel to dress up to go to a newly opened club (sorry forgot the name already). We were at the bar till about 2am, was too sleepy already when we got back. As usual, I am not the clubbing type of gal. never been one, and probably never will. Its also not something hubby and I used to do.

Come morning, we checked out of Marriot and went to Plantation Bay, which was a much, much better resort. We rested and had to catch up with some sleep, because we were going to Crown regency that evening to test our fear of heights. :-D And we did, in the evening. We conquered the roller coaster on top of the hotel as well as the skywalk. Well, almost all of us did. Anj backed out last minute on the skywalk, and kate gave up on the idea of scary heights the moment we planned to go there. We ate the very popular pochero of Cebu afterwards, and then back to the hotel, where I slept early while the girls were chatting up with Anj's former schoolmate, Mick.

Monday morning before we checked-out of the hotel, we went for a swim, enjoying the waters of Plantation Bay. Had a blast bonding again with the girls. We had late checkout and went to the airport afterwards.

All in all, it was a very memorable trip with my girl friends. Loved it and hope we get another chance. Oh well, Anj is to be married this month, so she'll be pretty busy adjusting for a while. If not this year, I hope we can get a repeat of our all-girl getaway next year!

Dad and Jessica

2010-03-03T15:49:00.000+08:00

The two most important people in my life. :-D

4 years and counting

2010-03-03T14:49:00.000+08:00

It has been more than four years of marriage. Its not perfect, definitely, we were like any other couple. We fight, we encounter problems along the way. But in our marriage, there's always love, and laughter.

We have a long way to go, and more upsides and downsides to come, but as long as there is love, I'm sure we can conquer them all.

MamaLa and PapaLo

2010-03-03T13:07:00.004+08:00

First (of many, I hope) of my digiscrap work. I'm targetting to finish quite a number of pre-selected pics so I'm hoping my creative juices will soon be on a roll. Once I've done this maybe I can go back to scrapping just ordinary, day to day pics so I can have lots of memories to share as well. This are Jessica's maternal godparents (my mom and dad), and though we don't often spend a whole lot of time with them, they are really such great parents to me and they love Jess very much. I wish I could tell them everyday how much we love them.

starting anew

2010-03-03T11:11:00.002+08:00

Ok, here I am again after a LOOOONG non-posting period. And I really do feel guilty about not posting, but then everytime I attempt to write my mind ends up blank so I simply forget about it.

Its been a while, holidays have passed, non-eventful if I may add because I am kinda financially incapacitated with no job the past few months. I'm actively searching now, and since I already have a new housekeeper after more than 2 months without, then I have a bit more time for myself while waiting for interview invitations and things like that.

So what else is new? Right now I am too busy hoarding scrapbook kits that I am finding for free courtesy of some n@wie/plurk referrals, and I am hoping to start and be active again at digiscrapping. I have a lot of pics I need to digiscrap anyway, its just a matter of putting it altogether. hayz. Maybe I should make a target, like 10 in a week. that'd be neat. :-)

Oh, and if any of you have any job leads in purchasing and supply chain (middle manager posts), please feel free to call buzz me, I'm more than happy to try it out!

Hello!

2009-11-19T16:13:00.002+08:00

Don't tell me! I've been a bad, bad girl and my last blog post has been AGES ago! not that i haven't had time to get a good thought going, its just that I have been quite busy doing legwork on the new enterprise I put up. Glad to say that the efforts have not been in vain, slowly things are working out. We were successful in the first ever bazaar I organized and I'm not in the middle of another one. Add to that, I've already made bookings at the same venue as the first for next year (February, November and December). Seriously, its not wasted effort knowing I was able to push through something huge, alone. Of course, I've had supportive friends and family who all came and visited, but I firmly believe I deserved the good results given my efforts and perseverance.

I'm still thinking of other good projects, especially for the theme for February in time for the UP Fair, and hopefully, hopefully I can come up with it soon!

Till next time!

Items for sale

2009-07-13T10:49:00.007+08:00

I'm doing some cleaning up of the items I can afford to let go off (I'm sorta making this a regular habit, because I dont want to accumulate too much of the stuff at home and realize that I'll need to let of it soon anyway because I need some home and shelf space.

1. Leapfrog Little Touch Leappad system - barely used (only 4-5 times). My baby has many toys and sadly, this is one she is not interested in too much, she looks at it then moves on to the next toy. I'm selling it for Php 2,300, will include already all the books we have of it: Pooh loves you, Mr. Brown can moo, Let's get busy baby and A to Z adventure (still unopened). The other 3 books were also barely used. Price exclusive of shipping. Box is intact. It doesn't come with the backpack since the item was bought in the states for me. Here are some pics:
2. My Child's Health Journal baby book - This is much like a baby book only its a bit more focused to health. Bought it at Rockwell Fully Booked (impulse buy, hehe) but never got to use it na. Selling it for 250 exclusive of shipping.

3. The Milk Memos book - How real moms learned to mix business with babies - and how you can too. It was a book I never really got to read. New pa talaga (with tag price). SRP is 529, selling it for 200 na lang excluding shipping.

All for now. Will post as soon as I get to add more stuff to sell.

meeting up with friends

2009-07-03T14:18:00.002+08:00

I just had a sumptuous lunch with my friends from Nestle today, and I enjoyed it every bit. Now I have to reminisce all the times we actually spent together, and I really, really miss having them around. They were the type of friends you can maturely talk to about all the issues in life. And since they were all were smart guys and gals, its always a good brain exercise to be speaking with them. Like I always said, I never had any regrets for trying the life outside, but, if I were to free-handedly choose which company I would like to go back to, I would choose Nestle without a blink of an eye. Why, because I love the people I worked with there. My officemates were my close friends and I never had to pretend to be anyone else for them. The work environment was hard, yes, but if when I weigh now the friendship + benefits + compensation, its so far the best. :-)
Well, I don't have to be working for Nestle to keep my friends, but just the same, I'd just like to say they were truly best friends and I miss them all!

fitness first

2009-06-29T15:08:00.002+08:00

My husband likes to invest in gym equipment ever since we got married. Just after we got married he bought a home gym that took up a huge amount of space in our living room and later on in the bedroom. When we moved to our own home he then bought a stationary bike, which, unfortunately, is also gathering a lot of dust particles in our room. We don't have a gym room so the stuff is parked in our bedroom, with the bed being in between the bike and the gym. Uncanny. I'm more inclined to think that I want us to have a much, much smaller fitness essentials, such as a Kettlebell, which won't take up so much space in our home. Of course, it not like I want or need it now, but for those thinking about getting them a home gym, consider getting something small and light.

looking handsome

2009-06-29T14:58:00.002+08:00

One of the things I don't find in my husband's wardrobe is a tuxedo shirt, and a coat. I would love to see him in one, unfortunately there are not much opportunities to get to wear them since he is not working for a company that requires it. And besides, working in a tuxedo and shirt in a tropical country like ours would be horrible, I can just imagine that one would be perspiring the whole day wearing that one. Might as well ask the ladies to come in fashionable trench coats. But seriously, had there been an occasion that would call for it, I would surely pursuade hubby to get one for himself, though he won't wear it often, its a good investment to keep for occasions that would require him to be majorly handsome! :-p

Missing Coffee

2009-06-29T14:50:00.002+08:00

One of the things I miss about working for a consumer company that has coffee as its main brand is definitely the free coffee high I can get anytime I want. I hardly ever went to a coffee shop simply because all I had to do was to go to the pantry and push a few buttons to get my favorite cup of coffee. Of course it does not discount the fact that I also want to be pampered sometimes with a really good cup of coffee, one that came out of a Capresso machine. Brewed coffee is much too different from the usual instant coffee, the taste is much more bitter, giving you a much more intense coffee high. Now, when I get my own office this is one thing I am sure to get for myself. Nothing like a good cup of coffee for that extra energy boost.

online selling

2009-06-29T14:42:00.002+08:00

Now that i am finally a free (ergo: jobless) lancer, I have to find ways to earn online without having to burn my brains out. One way is to do paid posting, another way is to do free online auctions, by selling some unused but good enough stuff. I just need to plot some of the stuff I can still sell, so that means cleaning up the closets again. Sometimes the free online auctions are also a venue to just be able to put up your own online store. of course, that's if it doesn't require huge costs just to be able to post. I'm going to try my hand on this online auction thing really soon, for now I'd have to search my deepest closets for the stuff I can get money out of.

My newfound friends

2009-06-28T19:31:00.003+08:00

Last Friday, June 26, was my last day at Selecta. My officemates gave me a goodbye dinner at Eastwood (the first time I went back there since my Baby shower, which, if you can imagine, was in April 2007!). It was a really nice dinner, the first time I really went out since I quit Nestle, and I could really say I had fun chatting with them (despite the fact that most of them were fresh-grad-young, if you know what I mean. After dinner, they gave me a farewell gift, which was a scrapbook signed by them and several of the people I had interacted with over the past 3 months. Awwww....
It was really touching hearing what they had to say, how they had thought I looked tough the first day, but over time they thought I was a cool boss and really nice to be with. ahhheeem. lol. Seriously, it makes me feel good that at least in the short time that I led them (sort of...) they felt I did well. Even my ex-boss felt I was bright... :-p
On one side, I really felt sad for having to leave such nice colleagues behind. The people I've worked with (Production, RND, QA) have all been pleasant and gentle, seeing that I was not entirely from the Operations point of view, but they understood. The PPIC pics have all been supportive and loving, and I will keep a lot of happy memories of my stay there. Its sad I couldn't prolong the stay because I also have my own plans. But they will forever play a big part of my life.
I'm thankful for having been a part of this team.

Thanks Guys! I'll cherish the happy times we had, however short it was. :-) Good luck to all of you in your careers! See you soon, I hope!

PS. Pic background shows a replica of Optimus Price. So cool! I hope they can do a cute (and cheap) model toy of the transformers, even the car version of Optimus would be ok for me.

Realizations

2009-06-26T15:01:00.006+08:00

sometimes it takes not so good experiences for us to realize the things we want in life. In my case the past 4 months have been humbling, and it made me realize, finally, what I actually want to do with my life. Even if its scary and is not a simple feat, I believe that I will actually feel better doing this that trying forever to fit into a corporate setting.

Yesterday I was chatting with a former supplier in my previous work, and entrepreneur who happened to make it big by starting young. I know that he was capable and hardworking and for sure he really made it there by sheer hard work. So we were chatting about what I wanted to do and he related to me his story of how he started out by sending 20 proposals a day coming from the yellow pages, to be able to network his own PR company. Which got me to thinking about what I really want to do, and how lucky I am over others that I also have a network working for me, and I believe that I am wise and smart enough to do this business.

After all, I fell in love with events management the day I started handling it. I always told me friends that this is something I wanted to do, and something I had passion for. The fact that I will be doing this full time just excites me. I'm planning to start small of course, small events first and learn the business. Get contacts. After I've gained enough experience I plan to venture into the more professional side of it, hopefully get into some good companies with upcoming events. Who knows maybe soon I can have clients that are the calibre of Nestle. We can never tell of course, but its where I want to be in the future.

Isn't that fun?

Jessica's 2nd Birthday: Supplier Ratings

2009-06-18T16:35:00.002+08:00

Ok, this is more than a month overdue (its 1 month and a day overdue, to be exact), and I know I owe myself to have to make this review for the sake of the readers, friends, and most of all, myself!

So, here it goes.

The idea for a birthday party for Jess' 2nd birthday came to mind because I wanted to celebrate the two years that was virtually hassle free for our family. Jessica never got really sick, never got hospitalized, never gave me reason to feel sorry for myself, and constantly made us proud becuase she is smart, cute and really really sweet. With that, I felt I wanted to reward her for the two years of love she gave to our lives. But of course, I was on a budget and wasn't ready to spend as much as I had the first year. That would be too much. I also decided it was a small celebration only at our house, so it need not be grand. But of course, I wanted to make it special and presentable.

Theme: Winnie the Pooh party.

Food: I didn't get a caterer. I inquired but felt it was too much to spend. So instead I planned to cook it all myself, which I didn't end up doing of course, because I might drop dead tired had I tried. So it was a mixture of bought and cooked stuff.
Spaghetti - I cooked (Rating: 5+++ (highest of course))
Pancit Bihon - Bought at Crisgard (new discovery). It was a really good one. A lot of people tried it and the serving was quite big, I had one whole bilao unserved after the party because there was too much food already (pasta + pancit = lot of food). Rating: 5
Barbeque - Bought from my party balloons supplier. It tasted good, as expected of course. No regrets and no bad experience. Nothing extraordinary about it though. Rating: 4
Chicken Lollipops - Prepared by me, cooked by Mom and Sisters. This one I wasn't able to do anymore. Everything was at a rush already and I am so very glad they took this in for me. WheW! Rating: 5+++
Crispy pata - I cooked. I could not afford lechon, so I figured this would work. I'm always happy about cooking this because I feel its one of my best dishes. hehe. Rating: 5+++
Dessert: Pichy-pichy by Arni-Dadings. Love it and its hassle free: Rating: 4
Dessert: Ice Cream sticks and Pinipig Sticks from Selecta: Love it also, and again, hassle free. Rating: 5.
Dessert: Gulaman Jelly from tabios Side - another addition to the menu I didn't expect, but definitely thankful for. Rating: 5
Drinks: Softdrinks and Nestea Iced Tea. No need to rate. :-)
Overall, I think the food I prepared was sufficient. And I got to use my Chafing dishes as well, so its an added point for presentation.

Decors and Tables and Chairs: I found their number on a tree just around the corner from our house, so I called them up and good thing there were no issues with them. I initially wanted to get it from a N@wie friend but it just didn't fit the budget so I decided on a cheaper alternative for now. I ordered 50 chairs and 4 round tables, and 5 square tables. Hassle free. And I also ordered the balloons from them and as a last minute order, I got their pabitin (nothing hanging yet) and barbeque. I would definitely get them again if there was another affair! Rating: 5++

Emcee/Host/Clown/Magician: The life of the party came at a really reasonable price. Which makes me happy. Got them from the Party favors supplier and I really am happy with the results. They were a typical party host. Nothing to grand or special, but at least they made the audience laugh and the kids happy. And Jess was more than willing to pose with them after the show. Rating: 5

Cake: c/o Goldilocks. Because they had a Winnie the Pooh theme. Need I say more? Rating: 4 (Met expectations)

Costume: c/o Disney costumes. Found a terribly cure Winnie the Pooh costume in SM Marikina and I just couldn't resist not buying it. So there. The happiness of seeing Jessica sooo happy wearing it was priceless though. Rating: 5++++

Giveaways: Divi Mall. DIY. Need I say more. Rating: 5+++

Overall I'd say the party was a huge success. And I thank those who helped me though it. I know Jess might not remember it too well, but seeing how happy she is reward enough for any mom.

got my netbook back

2009-06-18T16:22:00.002+08:00

Whew! I'm so happy I finally have my netbook up and running. It has been a frustrating month what with having to recover and recover all over my files because it just keeps crashing. Apparently something was wrong with the harddrive and it was causing all the blue screen terrors. We brought it several times to where the store that sold it (Octagon). First we brought it to Megamall branch. They used the recovery disk and I lost all my files the first time. Then it crashed. I built my own removable cd rom to recover it. same thing. I used someone else's external drive (the offices' equipment). Still crashed. Took it to the Sta. Lucia branch. It still crashed after a week. Upon checking there were a lot of bad sectors in the HD, must be the one causing those crashes. We went back to the Sta Lucia branch and they advised us to go directly to the distibutor for faster service, since if we course it through them it will take around 3 weeks. And so I did. Brought it last Saturday to the distributor, I called up in the morning and they informed me that its ready for pick-up, and they replaced the hard disk. Yey! So happy about that. I went there during lunch and I have it back now. Whew. It was a struggle, but I'm happy its fixed. I hope. I'll be placing it on trial mode for a couple more days but hopefully all will be fine now. In as much as I don't spend too much time on the PC at home anymore, its been a hassle using the bigger laptop. hehe... I still love this one because its just too easy to carry around. And when we go to Singapore next month, I'll definitely be glad I'll be carrying this one around instead of a really bulky thing.

Going on vacations

2009-06-17T18:51:00.002+08:00

Got the news that my SIL will be going to Turkey this June. They live in London right now, and being newly married and still in their honeymoon stage, its a good thing for them to be travelling all around, while there's no baby yet. They might even go to the US next year. For us, vacations have now become a luxury what with the baby and having to pay for the house and such. Been looking at online reservations in Westgate and it really is enticing. But one has to consider the sheer expense of vacations. So I guess that is something on hold for a while till we're more liquid financially.

welcome me back

2009-06-17T16:10:00.002+08:00

hey there!!!!! welcome me back! I'm so sorry for the really long months that I was not able to blog (ok fine, that was more than 3 months!). life has been busy and there have been so many changes all around. moved to a new job, new adjustments, jessica had her birthday, and now new stuff are keeping me quite busy.
so what's new? I have a whole LOT of catching up to do, as I'm sure you would know. pretty much everything in my life is turned upside down at the moment, but there's a lot of things that I am happy and grateful for. and that will never change. Making lots of plans, and hopefully these will materialize soon and reap its benefits for the hard work.
i'll write a more intense blog entry about the things going on in my life, just need to do some cleaning up of thoughts. :-) I do miss blogging. I wish I had more time and energy to do this and release my thoughts.

The Crocs Megasale - mega-tiring!!!

2009-03-13T21:45:00.003+08:00

Tired is an understatement. I feel sooo exhausted after today. Never realized how tiring it was, really. Here's a short rundown of the day that was.

The announcement for the sale was 10-8pm. Naturally I was not in such a big hurry to get to the sale in meralco avenue, ortigas. It came as a shock that there was a huge traffic jam around the place and everybody seemed to be on their way to the sale. Good thing I saw someone I knew there (Thanks stips!) so I saved some 30minutes of queueng time to get inside. Once inside the area, there was a huge commotion there and there were so many people there already. The stocks were all over the place and the queue to pay at the cashier was also just as long it was shocking. It took me around 2 hours (12-2) to get the stuff I wanted and another 3 hours to just finish lining up to pay. So I ended up using the whole day just to stay at the sale. It was not a loss though, I was able to get really nice crocs and the prices were hugely discounted too. But just to give you an idea, here's a shot of the place inside.

That from the point where I stood in line. and at the end of the tent, that's where the cashiers were.
Stocks were all over the place. People go around to get the stuff they need, it seemed the best and fastest way.

And here are the stuff I got from the sale:

Pelican Winnie - From 1850 down to 740 (6o% off)

Minnie Janes - From 1850 down to 740 (60% off)

Kids Cayman - From 1475 down to 590 (60% off)

Women's Juneau - From 2350 down to 1410 (40% off)

Alice - from 2350 down to 1175 (50% off)

Sobek black - From 2500 to 1000 (60%)

Venture Canvass - From 3700 to 740 (80% off)

Tikali black - from 3500 to 1400 (60% 0ff)

Good buys huh? Of course it was shocking to see the people in front of me spending like 10-12k in their buys. whew. happy.... but tired. If you're eyeing just one or two pairs, I don't think it will be worth it.

on growing up so soon

2009-02-22T20:41:00.005+08:00

sometimes as we see our kids grow up so soon, we realize just how fast they do actually grow up.
just last week i've been constantly groggy from lack of sleep because jessica wakes up several times during the night. we realize later on that she may have "pilay" so maritess had her checked and apparently there was something there. we though we fixed that but on thursday night she was just as frantic and clingy and I can't tell you enough how tiring that is.
on friday night I happened to realize that after all, jessica just wanted to have the bed all to herself, so I had her sleep in the couch in her room, while I slept at the floor. magically she slept so much better. I finally realized this is how she wants it, to be alone in bed, so saturday night I laid out the mattress from the pullout bed underneath her big bed, and had her sleep there instead. it worked well! she slept nicely, though she woke up in between to play. yey! so tonight after a lot of rearranging the whole house to make things fit, jessica now has her own bed, and she seemed happy about the idea. she's sleeping there at the moment, i do hope it works!!!
on the contrary, it makes me sad that jessica is already on her own bed.... makes me think she's all grown up already!

moving forward

2009-02-04T20:13:00.002+08:00

i did it. happy!!! i'm finally moving forward with my career.
i got the email earlier from my new employer and everything is now as it should be.
funny how things fall into place when we least expect it. this morning I was thinking that I should call the headhunter to follow up drastically, but before that could happen, I got the pre-employment requirements in my email. yey!! and what's more, I got the results of the CBC and Urine test and both results were quite good! double yey! i need that to be ok because I want to ensure I won't have any problems with my medical pre-employment exam. so immediately after I I got back to the office, i tendered my resignation. and I'm feeling happy and light ever since. it really feels good to look forward to something.
will update you once I have more details.

my new toy

2009-02-03T04:55:00.003+08:00

I just got my year 2009 present from hubby. year 2009 meaning, it probably represents all the gifts I am supposed to receive from him the entire year. not that it matters, this one is really to die for, and brings out the geek in me. hahaha... kidding.

Anyway, hubby and I just bought a notebook, the ultraportable and cute MSI Wind LX100sp2+. Pardon the numbers, its basically an MSI Wind. The specs are the best, as far as we have looked around, and the laptop itself is pretty handy to take anywhere. Here are its specs:

• Intel® Atom™ N270 Processor, 2 GB RAM
• Genuine Windows® XP Home
• 10” Wide Screen Display
• Convenient Magnifying Capability
• Ergonomic Big-Size Keyboard and Touch Pad
• 160 GB hard disk drive
• Built-in 1.3 Mega Pixels Webcam
• Built-in High-Performance 2 Channel Stereo Speakers, and Microphone
• 802.11b/g/n Wireless Lan

We've looked around for similar models of a mini notebook that can match this size and specs, and we've really not found one that matched, at least in terms of speed and the price. There are a lot of similar priced notebooks, but most of them only at 1 GB speed. The beauty of having 2GB, for me, is that it will allow me to go back to my hobby of creating digital masterpieces (also known as digiscrapping. And since its soooo portable, I won't have a hard time carrying it about. plus, we don't have to worry about sharing it, since we now have 2 laptops at home (well, we did since I have an office laptop, but I barely use that at home, just for work and the usual web browsing --- the photoshop version installed was really ancient).

I'm just too ecstatic about this one, I really, really, really love it.
Thanks sweetheart! Love you!!!!

turnovers

2009-01-25T20:29:00.002+08:00

One thing I don't look forward to having to turnover work. And with my upcoming resignation, its needless to say that I would have to plan this part and turnover well to the person who's going to handle my work. seriously. It would be such a hard job because I handle so many things! It may seem trivial, but since I handle the biggest brands its going to be a headache both for me and for the new one to handle it.
There's just too many projects and too many stuff to do.
Plus I would need to inform my suppliers that I will leaving them soon, and for good! Its sad for me too, but its something i need to do too. I've made real good friends with a lot of my suppliers, and its just so sad to have to leave them all so soon and so suddenly. I'll truly miss all of them. :-(

Keeping tab of memories

2009-01-25T20:21:00.002+08:00

I've been considering getting a camcorder for us. That way we can take videos of all the important memories of the family. Some we already have on pics, but the future ones, it would be nice to record them and get to watch them a few years from now. Its going to be a while still, I have so many priorities at the moment, but even so, its one of the things on my I-want-to-buy list. Hope in 2 years time, at least before Jessica goes to school, we can have one already. Hmmmm. I still do have a lot to buy in my wishlist though. hahaha.

back on track - jenn's comeback

2009-01-25T12:51:00.003+08:00

just when you would have thought that i have abandoned my blog(s) forever, well' here i am, back to the blogging world. and hopefully for good. Pardon such a long hiatus from all this, there has been so many things that happened in the past few months I have not been able to update for the longest time. For instance, we went to HK, baguio, and last month I went to batangas. And I haven't been able to blog about any of it just yet. so ok, I owe everyone, big time.

but just the same, a quick update, hopefully I can get back on the rhythm in the next couple of days as I slowly unwind. Because, and here comes the news.... I'll be leaving my current company and joining another one.

Why blog about it? Well, it was an extraordinary story. Believe me. It came and went just like that, and just as unexpectedly, I never realized that my life, and my future, could change as fast as it did last week.

What happened? Thursday morning I got a text message from a headhunter, inquiring if I am interested in applying for an opportunity at this large FMCG company. I said yes, of course. He asked me to apply to the job at the company's website. Went there, found out I've already applied for it sometime in December, I think. After a while he says ok, then texts me again asking what time its convenient for a phone interview. So I said 2pm. He calls me up, interviews me. After an hour or so he sets up another interview, this time with the hiring managers, and after a while tells me that they will call up at 4:30. And a few minutes before 4:30 they already called up, apparently they are in a rush, and interviews me for a while also.

A few minutes after, they call up to ask if we can meet up after work to further discuss. So I said ok. Left early from the office. We get to talking in Sta lucia, and they tell me about the job, the details of it, and asks a few more questions. They told me frankly what the offer amount would be, and in a number of words, offers me the job. Well, it was somewhere between an offer and a please consider. They did tell me most of what I needed to know, where they would want to take me, as part of for a future with the company, the benefits of working there. The promise of a challenging future, and possibly as part of succession planning. They gave me a few hours. Well, it was 8pm and I needed to decide before lunch the next day.

When I got out, I immediately called up good friend Jerome, told him what happened. He encouraged me to take the offer. The position was good and promising. One vote for the new company. I asked my ex-boss for advise. Another vote for the new company. Hubby says go for it! so that made three. I thought about it in my sleep even, I had a headache when I got up. Geez. Part of me (the bigger part of me) wanted to take this job. But part of me, while not denying it, must be in shock with the way things went! A day ago, I was worried about all the pending items in my inbox, the unread mails, and the pending projects. The next day I was considering my future in a new company.

At around 9 am my mind was made up. I called my would-be boss and told him I would accept if they would choose me. And asked for a few concessions. He said they will decide by 2pm who would be offered the job. Ok that's good. I decided to inform my boss, as an FYI. I explained of course, about the urgency of everything. She was shocked. Can't blame her, I was in shock myself. After a while, during lunch I learned that she had spoken to the Purchasing Head about it already, even if I had informed her that I was not sure yet since they were due to decide that afternoon. She was leaving after lunch so I figure she just decided to let everyone know anyway.

At 2:10 I got the call from my would-be-boss, inviting me to go to the office in the afternoon. To sign the offer. Wow. I said: "Does this mean its me?", hehe... I had to clear it up, I wouldn't want to have any misconceptions, you know. And he confirmed it. so that's it. I landed a new job, in a record of 2 days with job offer signing. I thought things like that didn't happen to people like me. I heard it happen to other people, but not to me. But it did. And yes, it makes me happy, and important.

What I like about my new job:
- The position was what I was aiming for for the last few years since I graduated MBA.
- I will be having direct reports, 6 of them, I think.
- The company is respectable, the brand is number one in terms of its market share.
- The exposure was different from my current one, allowing me to expand my knowledge and growth.
- Job offer was above my current, which is great for us financially.

What I will miss:
- My friends! The two closest to me: anj and jerome. They were already like sisters to me and knew everything about me. It will be such a loss for me.
- The office. I love my current office. I love the benefits. I like most of the people in my department, and apart from the ups and downs, I believe I have already made a lot of contributions, and would at least be remembered as a good member of the team. Well... things do happen without us realizing it, and there are leaps of faith that we sometimes have to jump to in order to survive.

PS. A few years back, I put it in my long term goals that at 30, I should already be a manager. Its heartwarming to know that I will reach that goal, almost exactly as I turn 30. :-)

Stock trading

2008-10-19T07:22:00.000+08:00

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

2008-10-19T07:04:00.000+08:00

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

2008-08-25T07:06:00.000+08:00

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

2008-08-17T17:16:00.001+08:00

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

2008-08-17T17:05:00.000+08:00

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

2008-08-17T16:19:00.000+08:00

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

2008-08-14T05:23:00.000+08:00

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

2008-08-08T22:27:00.000+08:00

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

2008-07-27T20:35:00.000+08:00

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

2008-07-27T15:33:00.000+08:00

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

2008-07-27T14:20:00.000+08:00

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

2008-07-27T14:02:00.000+08:00

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

2008-06-22T21:10:00.000+08:00

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

2008-06-22T20:56:00.000+08:00

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

2008-06-22T20:48:00.000+08:00

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

2008-06-15T22:13:00.000+08:00

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

2008-06-15T22:06:00.000+08:00

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

2008-06-13T21:53:00.000+08:00

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

2008-06-01T19:25:00.000+08:00

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

2008-06-01T19:15:00.000+08:00

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

2008-05-04T08:03:00.000+08:00

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

2008-05-03T23:08:00.000+08:00

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

2008-05-01T11:28:00.000+08:00

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

2008-04-29T06:38:00.000+08:00

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

2008-04-20T14:49:00.000+08:00

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

2008-04-18T20:53:00.000+08:00

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.

2008-04-18T20:29:00.000+08:00

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

2008-04-12T11:22:00.000+08:00

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.