Beach Mode

Was reading about Fort Walton beach and then I remembered I have never blogged about our Boracay vacation last July. My bad!

We came from Cebu on this trip to Boracay and stayed there for 2 nights. This was my 3rd time to Boracay and I still had fun. We stayed at The Tides on our first night and then at Swipers Inn on our second night. We discovered Swiper's Inn as we were just walking along station 1 in search for a place to stay in on our second night. We were not even sure if they were renting the rooms but we just had to ask because the location was perfect (beside Ambassador's hotel and Discovery Shores) and it had a beautiful view of the beach from the room. Good thing we asked because they were indeed renting the rooms, it was within budget and it was beautiful! Atleast I now know of a place on where to stay the next time we go back. Here are some pictures of our The Tides and Swiper's Inn for those who might be interested.

Bindi is O-N-E!

Before I forget and before I check on some acne treatment for my cousin, let me blog about Bindi's first birthday party.

It was a PowWow party for the little princess. Her actual birthday is Sept 11 which her parents celebrated with a mini party at home. It was raining and we could only wish for no rain on the day of her actual party which was Sept 13. The venue for the party was the clubhouse of Royal Palm Residences in Taguig. My cousin told me that we had to be in costume so I had to prepare for one the day before the party. I felt like I was a contestant on Project Runway trying to come up with something to wear for me, my sister and my mom. Good thing my cousin made one for my dad already. It was a fun party and Bindi enjoyed it to bits! She never cried even when everybody forgot on giving her milk or just anything to eat. She loved her costume/outfit too--and I must say she was so cute! Everyone obviously had fun and thank God for a nice weather. It was raining Sunday morning but by early afternoon the skies cleared up already. Here are some pictures of the party

Invitations made by her mom and Chachi (Aunt) Peewee

Let's Party!

Clubhouse of Royal Palm Residences
Birthday Cake...my cousin ordered a plain cake from goldilocks and then she just added the decor
The Aswani's
Bindi With Papa and Mama

Cousins in costume

Everytime you ask her on how old Bindi is, she does this O-N-E sign

Time Flies so fast indeed. The little baby is now one and she is bringing so much joy not just to her parents but to everyone around her.

Happy Birthday Bindi Athena! We love you!!!

What Now?!?

I hate it when I can't make any plans. I used to believe that I'm a patient person but looks like my patience has been growing thin the past few weeks. All the waiting and the uncertainty is killing me. I know I have other things to worry about (like my upcoming NCLEX, that I had to again reschedule!) but at times I find myself not being able to concentrate and just lost and frustrated. I even forgot to get the air filters for my room from my Aunt's house. Apart of me is thinking I should not really stress out but then again since I don't know on what is to happen in the coming months, I end up stressing again.

I know, I'm crazy like that.

Pfft!

Woa! I just realized I have not posted anything in 13 days. Just so many things to do and my review has taken up so much of my time. Im such a bad blogger! I have not update my other blog for close to a month now and to think that blog does not only need updating but I have yet to finish the layout as I changed it about 2 months ago. I'm hoping to find time to do that soon. If not for the health insurance leads I need to look for, I don't think I will even remember updating my blog.

A few more weeks and then I'll have time to do anything and everything I want.

Thank God

I almost lost precious files and photos! I would have never done on what to do had I lost those files. For sure I would never be able to recover them and I would totally hate myself for not doing the free online backup. I have been having problems with the desktop computer and I have been delaying having it checked. I have totally learned my lesson and have now made use of the free online backup. The desktop is now ready for repair/reformatting.

Long Weekend

Long weekends are always nice and is something we all look forward too. No out of town trips for us and I don't even have plans of going out today. Just staying home today and hopefully be able to do some readings. I'm hoping to finish off a few chapters and make a lot of progress with my review.

I had fun shopping with my aunt (who went back to the US yesterday) and my sister last saturday. Shopping is always fun. We had a family dinner after and then went around the mall again to check on some netbooks. A cousin has been wanting to buy one but has not found one that has a reasonable price and would have the specifications that she needs. I told her to just have someone buy it for her in the States since it's a lot cheaper there.

Had a fun weekend with the family again and looking forward to next week as we celebrate the princess's first birthday.

Freebies

Learned about this freebie through someone else's blog and then visited the website to register, got the coupon on my email and then headed to a National Bookstore of my choice to claim my freebie. Post-it's are love! Visit this website to register. I want more of this freebie!

Ienne's

Powerplant Mall's baker fair is love! I always get to discover good pastries. Two Friday's ago, I made a quick trip to the mall to buy some groceries and found some really yummy cupcakes I brought back to the Condo to give to my Aunt but I ended up eating both. I think no amount of weight loss pills would work on me since I'm such a sucker for sweets.

I bought vanilla and red velvet. Cupcakes were so moist and really yummy. I guess I'm still lucky I don't have extra set of hands to carry a dozen of this cupcakes.

Shoe Shopping

I planned on taking a nap for an hour or two but shoe shopping has prevented me from doing so. I didn't have the intention of buying new shoes. I'm on a shopping ban but I can't help myself from buying Naot shoes. I would have to say that it was i have to buy it on first sight feeling. I just knew had to put it on my cart and click on the check out button. Good thing they still have it on my size.

It's such a cutie right? Perfect to wear with shorts or jeans! I know, I'm trying so hard to justify my purchase. Teehee.

Vacation

I love vacations, who would not? Just a last month, T and I had a grand time in Cebu and then Boracay. We didn't even want to go back to Manila anymore. But of course, we had to. This early, we are already planning for our next getaway. This is to happen in January and if things go as planned, we'll go to HK and then Cebu. We are to attend a wedding in HK and will take this as an opportunity to take a vacation. I'm still on the look out for "promo" tickets or we might end up using his mileage points from PAL. I'm not so keen on booking anything this early as plans might still change. I have done my research already and so looking forward to this trip.

In the near future, we hope to take a family vacation in El Dorado Seaside Suites – Riviera Maya. We have heard so many good reviews about this resort and we are have promised ourselves that this is on the list of resorts to visit for us. I love planning vacations and travels with T and so does he that is why we already have a list of places to visit.

We work hard, we play hard. :D

I Won!

In celebration of Kikay Exchange's third birthday, they had a birthday contest on their website. All one has to do is to leave a comment on a certain post. I have been trying for the longest time in winning something from this website and finally I did. Im so happy since the last time I won an online contest was when yen gave out a Belle de Jour planner on her website.

To my surprise today, I got an email from Jill asking for my address since I won. Here's what I won...

I won not just one but five tubes of this wonderful lipstick. That's a lot especially for someone who hardly wears lipstick.

Thanks to Kikay Exchange for the wonderful gift and for starting my week with some good news. I pray and believe that this week is going to be a really good one.

Bindi @ 11 months

My little niece is turning one in less than a month. I got to see her again the other day and everytime I see her she just gets bigger and bigger. Here are current pictures of the little princess...

Everyone is now excited as the little girl turns one.

Stress!

I honestly don't need any extra stress right now. Im in the middle of a review for the biggest and toughest exam I have to take. I had to quit my work from home job to concentrate on review and then now Im being asked to do a business plan. I knew it was something I won't be able to do and there was no way I could do it but I had to help out and Im glad I was able to come up with a great solution. Instead of stressing myself and working my a@s off, I suggested that they get business plan writers. For one, they have experience in doing a business plan and we can just help with the review and revisions but the writers would do most of the research. Good thing my dad agree to it so now Im off the hook.

Home Sweet Home

My mom's sister arrived from the US last week and before heading to Dumaguete she stayed for a week here in Manila. She had errands to do in Makati and she didn't want to stay here in QC so she decided to rent a condo unit in A. Venue Suites. I stayed with her for the whole week so the QC girl was a Makati girl for a week. The condo she rented was fully furnished but since we didn't like the hassle of cooking, we always ate out. Good thing the condotel is right beside a mall so we had plenty of options.
I missed home cooked meals but had trying out new restaurants too. If you happen to be near Makati Ave, you might want to go to A. Venue and try the restaurants Fluke and Foccacia. Foccacia for their pizza's and pasta. Fluke for the close to home food they serve. They have really good mini burgers, tacos and other rice dishes. Got to try Botongs also and OkiOki. All the time I was there I was thinking I'ld need fat burner pills with all the eating I was doing. Good thing I brought a swimsuit so I was able to do some swimming to burn all those calories.
I'm now back at home and eating what home cooked meals. Hopefully, I get to continue with my "diet".

Tivoli Garden Residences

Around 2 weeks ago, I with a few friends got to go to our friends new home in Mandaluyong. This friend of ours is getting married in Sept and the first ever investment they made was to buy a condo unit. The property is developed by DMCI and it' called the Tivoli Garden Residences. I have been seeing this property being constructed since I do have relatives living near the area and at first I thought it's not so good of an idea to build condo property there because of the location. But DMCI impressed me because the property was really nice. My friend got to move in already and they hired an interior designer to help them with their new home. They have decided to keep the ceramic tile of the living room area though but the for the rooms they had it changed to wood flooring.

Their unit was perfect for a couple who is just starting a family. The skylounge on the penthouse was really nice too as it had a view of Makati. It was at the skylounge where they had the party as the unit was to small for every one to fit in.

Pardon my ugly photos. Congratulations R&R!

Gold

I was looking at our bank statement and have realized how little we earn from bank interest. I don't think it would make much of a difference if we just keep the money in a safety deposit box inside the house. Well, another reason for that is that we don't really have much in the bank ;)

If you think about it, investing in a foreign currency is not that good either. With the worldwide recession, you don't want to be caught with money in a currency that has lost it's value overnight. If you really think hard and well about it, the best form of investment right now is gold. Im no smart pants when it comes to investments but just by reading business newspaper and researching deeper into the value of gold, even a 5th grader could tell you that it's the wisest investment to make. I remember our Pastor in church even mentioned it.

I would have to look into how much it would cost to buy gold right now and if we do have enough funds to invest on them I would need to make further research about it but I know that if I could come up with a good proposal the T would not hesitate and agree with me that investing on it is way better than keeping money in the bank.

Dalagita

Went to Glorietta with family last Saturday and our little Bindi had a grand time trying on dresses at Zara. She's not even 2 and she loves staying at the fitting room already. She loves looking at image. Their was this one dress that my Aunt made her try and she was crying when we were trying to take it off. Bindi is really a mall rat. She is so used to the mall already and we got to try her walking wings too. she loves walking and can now walk for around 10 steps without anybody holding. I was able to capture it on video and I'll try to post it soon. If your my friend on FB you'll find her video there.

She's such a big girl already!

Coffee

Reading and studying makes me super sleepy. If I try to go answer a 100 item quiz, not even half way through the quiz I start to get really sleepy. For this reason, I have started drinking coffee. I like the flavored coffee the most though. I've been trying to stop myself from heading to starbucks (too expensive!), so everytime I go to the supermarket I try to look for different coffee brands and flavors. On a quick trip to the grocery this week I saw a new coffee by San Miguel.
It says it can boost memory, improve stamina and detoxify the body...will see all about that. So far, the taste is ok. I can't say yet if the said "perks" from drinking this coffee flavor are true. Will finish the box and then will see if it does improve my memory. I need all the help I could get with that.

Just Another Saturday

All I can remember that I would need to do today is to study. How boring right? Everyday for the coming weeks that's all I have planned out. Well, I am going out later in the afternoon with the parents and meeting up with my cousins and cooter but that just about it. When I get home, it's time to hit the books again. Last night though, I was side tracked from all the studying. I feel guilty for all the time spent surfing but then again it was a good time off the books. Everybody is getting sick and I just thought of looking for the best and yet affordable health insurance. So many options online but you really have to be careful with signing up with an insurance company and make sure that they'ld provide you with the best coverage.

Need to get off the internet now and go back to do some reading. I hope to have some fro-yo later as reward for myself.

Happy weekend everyone!

Bindi is Turning 1!

Birthday party preparations for my niece bindi is in full swing. Our little princess is turning 1 already. How time flies indeed! Her party is going to be really simple but truly memorable for the baby who has been a source of happiness not only to her parents but to everyone around her. Her mom has already done a layout of the invitations and she is currently choosing between 2 layouts.

Both are so cute, right? Im going to their house tonight and Im looking forward to playing with cooter. Good thing I had to pick up some textbooks from their house that I need.