Breaking Blogger Award for 2011

I've been pleasantly surprised by this award from my blogger friend, Nancy! Thanks so much my dear friend!  Glad you're back! Actually, it's been a while since I last received one.   Here I am posting the said award although I know the meaning doesn't fit me.  However, just being thought of for this award is ...I agree with her when she said,   this' means SOMETHING! It is,  indeed!

So, here it is and the few things about me.


7 Things about myself:

1.  I like coke so much but trying hard to avoid.
2. I love dining out
3. Traveling lifts up my spirit
4. I follow my own CD exercises instead of going to a gym
5. Having coffee with close friends  makes my day.
6. I always do the cooking for my family.
7.   Happiness for me is when hubby voluntarily dates me out to an elegant dinner and night of good music.  (which I miss lately! hu hu!)

This is all my friends.  I may have not extended you this award but you are free to grab.  Whether stylish or not, sharing some things about yourself will allow me and other blogger friends to know you more!  So don't waste time. Grab this now!

Lunch in Tong Yang Mega Mall

Few weeks ago, nephew and his wife joked if I’m gonna treat them for lunch. I don’t remember for what reason they asked me that,  all I know of  is that the delivery of the joke was timely coz I was craving for shabu shabu and barbecues of Tong Yang that time.  I readily asked them to come over so we could lunch at the mall in our vicinity.  They agreed but I later realized that Makati, where they were coming from is too far from our place in Novaliches.  Hence, we settled to meet halfway and had lunch in Tong Yang Mega Mall instead.

Tong Yang in Mega Mall is the “Eat all you can” restaurant we frequent since long time past.  But because it was eons ago from our last trip to the place, I didn’t know it has moved to another location, though within the mall too.  The new site is much smaller and looks crammed.  The food choices aren’t as plentiful like before!  The prime dish which is the crab is served only once and no refill was made. The food attendants aren't as attentive to the customer’s needs unlike their people in Fairview who never gets tired of offering what you ought to have.  Anyway, I'm no regular patron of the Tong Yang Mega Mall anymore so it mustn't be a big deal after all.  What’s important is,  I enjoyed the "cooking and eating" with nephew, his wife and his cute son.





'Twas indeed a nice day!

I hope you guys are having a wonderful week.  Keep cool always!

It's Baguio in a Day!

Going up to Baguio was an on and off plan weeks earlier.  But when hubby informed me about his biking escapade with his biking buddies, we (the big kiddos and I) chose to push through our plan even only for a day.  So last Sunday, all of us, together with daughter's friend,  left our place at 1am and reached La Union by 4am. Daughter’s friend took over the wheel when hubby stepped down and took his bike off from it's rack at the rear of the car.  He was fetched by two biking buddies to meet the 16 others.  They biked their way up to Baguio via the zigzag Kennon Road.  And we on the other hand, went our own way with daughter’s friend taking over the wheel.

Baguio is one place I never get tired of visiting.  Although this so called City of Pines isn’t as attractive as it was when I was younger, it’s cool climate is extremely longed and wished for. We trekked the Marcos Highway at early dawn in zero visibility due to heavy fog.  Our only guide was the white line on the road which was barely visible even with headlights on. Fortunately, we’ve pass through that dangerous driving condition without any glitch at all.  

Picturesque sunrise welcomed our arrival.

Daughter fighting off the chill to catch the beautiful sight with her lens!

The view from SM Baguio..

The beautiful panorama seen from Mines View Park

Lions Head: Baguio Icon located in Kennon Road.

Kennon Road

The sun hasn’t completely shone when we got to Burnham Park, our first destination. The place wasn’t active yet.  Seemed like all the people in Baguio are all curled up in bed that time taking pleasure of the cold weather.  We took a rest in the car for a while before we started roaming around.  After being rejuvenated,  it was a whole day of strollin’ and roamin’ for us.. Quite tiring but fun!  There wasn’t much we did in Baguio but drive around and eat.  We met hubby late in the afternoon after he was done with his biking itinerary.   He sure was much happier because he was able to achieve his goal of biking his way from La Union to Baguio via Kennon Road.  Baguio is no longer as attractive like before.(hmm.. being redundant!) It’s now like Manila for being overly populated.  But I guess, I’ll keep coming back for it’s beautiful scenery, colorful flowers and awesome climate!

Have a wonderful day buddies! Keep smiling!

A better deal on gold

The lengthy economic crunch hasn’t improved much.  Many of those looking for the right venue to keep their funds safe and earning have explored various investment sites to keep up with the difficult time.  Apparently, investing on gold is one good option.  Gold is said to be the supreme asset .  Gold is the highest form of money that has ever existed on this world.  Thus, for those currently employed and seeking the best alternative for retirement plans, Ira gold is seen to be the excellent option.  Many are opting for 401k gold over their traditional IRA.  With this, gold IRA transfer is continually getting an excellent upshot.

How to roll over a 401K, traditional IRA, Roth Ira or pension plans isn’t much of a trouble.  All you have to do is to deal with a reliable investment advisor and they’ll guide you to the best approach on handling your traditional IRA, Roth IRA, 401k account to IRA gold and 401k gold.  Since managing your own physical gold entails various conditions, dealing with a reliable investment advisor would make sense.  They’ll lead your way to a rewarding result.  So pick the best. You may refer to goldcoinsgain.com for further information.

How to deal with hurt feelings

No person is exempted from being hurt whether from physical pain or from emotional pain.  If at one time or another you are hurt and it keeps you upset, here are some helpful tips I got from surfing the net.

1. Stay calm when your feelings are hurt and allow time for yourself to completely cool  off.
2. Think before you speak, or you may lash out with words that you can't retract and    regret the consequences
3. Prevent misjudging by not presuming the other person's intention. You may pass judgment incorrectly and make the situation worse. Ask yourself if the person's intent was deliberate or if it's unintentional
4. Walk away from situations that may cause you to retaliate or seek revenge.
5. Try to put yourself in the other person's shoes and understand why he acted the way he did. It's a lot easier to forgive when you can understand the reason for someone's behavior.
6. Approach the person that offended you and express to her that she hurt your    feelings by her behavior, actions or words. It's healthier to resolve the concern than to let it sit and debilitate you. However, be careful how you phrase what you say so that you do not appear to be antagonistic.
7. Choose to be not offended and avoid self-pity; you are only hurting yourself.
8. Forgive, overcome oversensitivity and seek to be at peace with yourself.
9. Pray for the ability to let go of hurt feelings. 

The last one, I think is the best!  It always works.


Thanks for your time buddies! Keep smiling and take care!

Pursuing her dream

I’m glad that our niece who stopped from her studies for a while is back again in pursuing her dream to become a nurse.  She proved me wrong for thinking that she’s not gonna make it back to school after she got pregnant.  I’ve learned lately that she is now on her last semester of her B.S Degree in Nursing.  I could see it wasn’t as easy for her like before when she had no baby yet.  But she’s lucky to have a caring mom who, most of the time baby sits for her aside from washing her nursing uniforms scrubs every so often.  

Our niece will be assigned in a provincial hospital South of Manila. Her mom’s concern now is to look for a scrubs store that sells those medical scrubs and the likes and buy her additional nursing uniform scrubs so she won’t be short of her daily uniform when she wouldn’t have time for laundry.  But niece refuses assuring her that she could manage even if she only got few pieces of it. Also she considers that she’s in her last few months of her studies and buying more uniforms would be a waste.

As of now, everyone of us is with her in achieving her dream which I can see, is at hand’s reach.

Maybe a habit

Days before the New Year’s Eve Celebration, I’ve made a declaration that I would not cook  our “Media Noche” that time. I thought I was tired of doing it over and over again.  The family willingly agreed with my plan. They even suggested that we just have pizzas, pasta and chicken be delivered from a pizza chain store.  However, as I passed by the wet market the day before, I found myself picking up those food stuff required for cooking my usual Media Noche fare again!  These people around me were like..  shrugging their shoulders and telling me, “it has now been a habit for you that you hardly would ever beat”.  Well, I think so too.  Not that I always prepare special dishes!  I only feel that I need to be busy in the kitchen to feel the atmosphere of the holiday’s gaiety!   Weird, but that’s me! 

Here are some of the simple dishes that took my time:

Roast Beef

Roast Chicken

Lengua Estofado

Rellenong Bangus

Macaroni Salad

I didn't make desserts anymore as they've been made available by friends who sent Ube Jam and Leche flan. Thanks to daughter's friend and mine!

Media Noche 2011

How was your 2011 New Year Countdown celebrated?  Ours was a simple one sans the usual firecrackers!  I remember on past years, we used to go out of our way just to buy fireworks from Bocaue, Bulacan, the place of original manufacturers of pyrotechnics here in the country.  This year however, we decided to skip them over.  Could the incessant media dissemination on the terrifying possible results of igniting one in some way, affected us?  Fairly, it did! But other than consideration for safety, I preferred  saving some bucks from burning.  Lol! 

Our neighbor's fireworks as captured by daughter's cam.

 What we had was an effortless Media Noche and videoke-ing that lasted until past midnight. It was a no fuss, no frills family affair! Relaxed and easy bonding, simple  but relatively cool way of welcoming 2011!

                                                                      

Have a wonderful first week of 2011!  Keep smiling!