Nostalgia

C's Grade 5 class picture:

My Grade 5 class picture:

We had maroon and white in common. :)

Back to work after a long weekend. I wish we had more 3-day weekends.

Hope you are having a great start to the week!

Friday Back To The 80s

Life In A Northern Town -- Dream Academy

It's going to be a long weekend. After that sad Monday, we all could use a break.

Last Monday was supposed to be a holiday commemorating the death of Ninoy Aquino, the father of our country's present president. Many people were looking forward to a long weekend.

Despite the decision of the government not to declare it a holiday, the day would not be left unmarked.

I got home late afternoon and was able to catch the news. I had seen posts on Facebook in the morning about a hostage-taking in Manila. I was surprised that the problem had dragged on till evening.

Seeing footages of hostages released earlier, I thought the situation would end peacefully.

Then the ugly turn of events. Police struggling with the brother of the hostage-taker. Family members and media crowding around the scene. The brother being shoved forcefully into a patrol car. Then gun shots and the bus lurching forward. It felt like scenes from a movie.

Police hacking their way into the bus. Rapid gunfire inside the bus. The bus driver escaping and running to safety, shouting to media that everyone inside was dead. No sign of movement inside the bus, even after cans of tear gas had been thrown.

I was so horrified at the turn of events I had to call C who was still in the office to watch the events with me. It was so surreal and horrible.

8 hostages died and the hostage-taker was felled by a bullet to the head. After a long and slow ordeal in heavy rain. What an ugly thing.

I have no more words to describe what happened and not enough words to describe how I (and most Filipinos) feel.

We too mourn your loss as if it were our own.

Happiness Is...

... waking up refreshed, excited and raring to go. Much like how I feel after a cup of joe. He he he.

Have a great week!!! Big hug!!!

Photo from here.

P.S. If you are curious why a cup of coffee is called a cup of joe, here's an interesting thread.

Marcel The Shell With Shoes On

I don't usually post on Sundays but this one had to be shared right away! I love the part where she's on the phone.

"My one regret in life is that I won't ever have a dog." Awwww.....

"We won't fight unless we're provoked." Stop it!

Things Found On The Web

In Finnish, mahtava means awesome. Awesome!

In Filipino, mataba means fat. Uh-oh. He he he.

Photo from houseofmilk via candychang.com.

Oh boy.

Wishing you a sunny weekend. Be grateful. Give thanks. Give praise.

Photo from here.

Friday Back To The 80s

Well, this isn't really from the 80s. More of like from the 70s. And this post is late. Was out the whole day and had no chance at the computer till now.

Caught a James Taylor special on tv and it just made me weepy. I am such a sentimental fool.

I think if you love how words are put together and you love making simple things special then you most probably love JT and this song. :D

Oh Julia

I only read Eat, Pray, Love because Julia is in the movie. :D She is my mostest favoritest. :D

Photo from everythingfabulous.

Now I'm off to get my hair lopped off. Teehee. UPDATED: My appointment got moved so I have no business driving far today. Haircut will have to wait. I am going to try full bangs this time. Teehee.

Mrs. Cold -- Kings of Convenience

My current favorite song and group. So easy on the ears. Perfect for this gray weather.

:D

Photo from woostercollective via thehouseofmilk.

The Great Leche Flan Adventure

 C and I have recently been tasked to write a little article on leche flan for an online city guide.

I should've learned from high school that you don't volunteer ideas unless you are prepared to take on the task yourself. Haha. My friend edits the city guide and was asking for ideas on what food Top 10 they can feature next.

For the past few weeks I have been obsessed with leche flan. No, I am not pregnant now. I am just a dessert fiend and I have recently fixated on leche flan.

So I suggested they write about leche flan, posting the suggestion on their Facebook page, hoping their Facebook admin and not my friend would read it. Alas she read it and a few days later she wrote to me asking if we could write the Top Ten. Reimbursible.

What, eat leche flan for free? Who's crazy enough to agree to that?! Come on!

So now we have a list of 18 Filipino-themed restaurants that we know or assume to have leche flan. We have to come up with an article by Sunday. What a tough job. Phew.

My taste buds are quivering in anticipation. My pants are sighing in defeat. Haha.

Photo from here.

Missing Running

I miss pre-race night when I almost can't fall asleep, super excited and worried I won't wake up to the alarm.

I miss leaving the house while it was still dark and seeing the EDSA street lights still ablaze.

I miss warming up in the holding area with other runners.

I miss gun start and the smell of sun block all around.

I miss conversations I have with myself, especially on hilly portions where I have to ignore the pain and take the next step and the next and the next till I'm on flat terrain again.

I miss the anxiety of the last kilometer when I don't really even know if I can make it to the finish.

I miss the thump thump of blood in my legs after I've crossed the finish and I walk to the water station to cool down.

I wonder if I'll run that way again.

Happiness Is...

A personalized menu which includes Big Delicious Cookies. I hate you John Mayer. :D

Have a great rockstar week, everyone! :D

Photo from here.

Giving Back To Him Who Gave More

I recently discovered that morning, just after breakfast is the best time for me to do my computations. Be it computing for the cost of finished pieces or, in the case of this particular morning, computing for tithes to be given on Sunday.

I remember Denzel Washington saying in a magazine interview a long, long time ago that he was a Christian, a tithe-giving Christian. I love that description. To me, it is a mark of a seriousness in one's faith. A determination to obey.

I am far from an ideal Christian, that I will tell you. But I thought I'd share with you this little experience I had today as I was computing for my tithes.

Payments were kinda slow the other week and this week I had a number of trips to the bank for deposits. So when those checks started clearing and I'd see my account balance increasing, I was ecstatic. I began thinking of things I could buy with the surplus. Haha.

Finally this morning I paid my bills. Sobering experience. The list of things I could buy dwindled as I realized the surplus wasn't that big. Haha.

Then came the computing of the tithes.

Like I said, payments were delayed last week so I had a lot to compute today. As I went through each piece to compute (I go by the tithe on your net income principle), and the list of amounts to tithe got longer, I started to feel blue. Bye-bye nice account balance. Haha.

But I wasn't going to let my selfishness ruin the beauty of what I was doing. So I sang Ron Kenoly's Give song. Give and it will come back to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. Give and it will come back to you. When you give, give to the Lord.

I felt much better. I was after all giving to God who owns everything. He doesn't need anything we have to give. We give back as thanksgiving for the blessings we have been so generously given. We give back to make room for blessings to be received. I am weepy now as I write this.

So finally I tallied the total tithe (I just couldn't resist the alliteration) and came up, expectedly, with a higher than usual figure. I thought of my account balance and subtracted the tithe amount from it and knew that the balance was more than what I need. By this time the list of yummy things I wanted to buy had become unimportant. My perspective had been changed.

Tithing, I believe is more for us than for God. It teaches us to depend on He who owns the universe and reminds us that it is not by our strength or ability that we are able to have that money in the bank. Tithing is my offering of thanks. My song of gratitude for the fullness of Life He gives.

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

Malachi 3:10          

We have tested the Lord on this promise and He has been faithful. I will tell you that when we are obedient with tithing, we have not wanted for anything. Not for anything at all.

And with that I leave with you with Ron Kenoly and the wonderful song on giving. Have a great weekend! Give!

 

Friday Back To The 80s

A friend of mine has been convincing me to buy these Sperry Topsiders. It's nice no? A cool update on an 80s classic. I'm not inclined to get a pair though because it only reminds me of a crush I had in high school. He was a few batches ahead of me and little freshman me was smitten. He wore green topsiders and my friends and I codenamed him Green. Hahaha. He was tan and had deep dimples and had a shy smile. It was a big school and I'm sure he didn't know I existed. Haha. Young, sweet, bitter love. Don't you just love that?

Have a great weekend! Kisses!

Hair How-To

A few posts ago I featured a picture of a high hair bun that I absolutely love. Today I came across this picture from Happenstance.

It's the high bun haunting me again. Finally I googled it and found a wealth of ways to do it. In my previous post, I joked that maybe the girls have a teacup in that bun.

This how-to proves that some of those buns do have something in them!!!



Since I don't have those kinds of supplies with me, I searched some more and found this girl's amazing You Tube site! Here's her version of the high bun:



Awesome!!! She has so many hair how-tos! I wish I had the time to experiment. But at least today I have a new hairstyle. Yay!

Photo from here.

The Love of Swimming Pools and Cool Freebies

Free photo of the day from National Geographic!

I am a Facebook fan of National Geographic so I always see updates. I must confess though that I only scan the title and the first paragraph and the photo. Rarely do I click on the link to the whole article. Too lengthy! But this made me sit up and notice (and click).

Thank you, Nat Geo.

I so LOVE swimming pools. Something about water. It envelopes you in a world of your own, drowning out all noise except the bubbles you blow into the water and the slapping sound of the water against your skin. A tub of bliss.

Pick out your free desktop photo here!

Happiness Is...

A surprise dockside picnic in the middle of a truly hectic week.

Read this post and was relieved someone articulated what I've been feeling for the past week. Too busy. Too noisy. Too many things on my plate.

As I am thankful for the increase in workload, I do admit I am having a hard time adjusting.

I was telling C that I used to have so much free time I could go to the nearby mall at odd hours, several times during the week. Just to go to the grocery or have a crepe and coffee afternoon. Gone are those days.

Now it has come to a point I have to ask the sewers to label each piece we produce or I will forget who it is for. Haha.

Lest God think I am ungrateful, I'd like to make it clear that I am very happy with the new projects. I am immensely in awe with how God has blessed our work. So many exciting things to do. Like making clothes for a gay guy who has, according to him, stopped buying clothes for men! :)

I constantly pray that our work will bless not only the people we employ but also our customers. May we make clothes they will keep for a very long time in their closets. Clothes they will cherish and wear till they are threadbare. :)

Have a great week everyone!!!

Photo from here.

Happiness Is...

A wedding as happy and as carefree as this:

Max, Margaux, & The Marvelows from Shark Pig on Vimeo.

I've been terribly busy. Hopefully I can write more soon. We celebrated Gemma's birthday last Saturday. She's one of our sewers. It was simple but that day touched us immensely. Will tell you more about it soon.

In the meantime, enjoy the video and have a great week! xoxo

Video by Sharkpig. Coolness.