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Archive for November, 2008

WS26: My Little Party Girl Is Five

A snapshot from her birthday, which we celebrated last weekend at Monkey Joe’s.

She’s five going on fifty – she already has a mind of her own, including (but not limited to) what she can and cannot do, particularly what she can and will not wear. I half expected her to ask for a pair of Wayfarer sunglasses to go with this outfit. What can I say, she is turning out as cool as her mommy, haha!

Sigh, my little girl is not so little anymore.

~~~

Thanks for viewing a snapshot of our weekend birthday bash at Monkey Joe’s, Roswell, GA.

Her birthday cake is HERE at my other weekend snapshot.

More weekend snapshots HERE.

LP35: Pagwawagi [Victory]

Litratong Pinoy

Hindi lingid sa kaalaman ng mga sumusubaybay sa aming buhay na napakadalas naming lumipat ng tahanan. Sa limang taon na aming inilagi sa Amerika, may anim na beses na rin kaming nag-alsabalutan at nagpalipat-lipat.

Para sa amin, ang aming bawat paglipat ay maituturing naming pagsubok – sa aming katatagan bilang isang pamilya at sa aming hangarin na mabigyan ng magandang kinabukasan ang aming anak. Salamat naman sa Diyos at kinakaya namin ang mga pagsubok na ito.

Wagi sa Miami
Wagi sa Miami, sa aming ika-limang paglipat.

Kung tutuusin, maswerte pa rin kami dahil nabibigyan kami ng pagkakataon na mabisita ang mga lugar na hindi naman namin otherwise mapupuntahan. Panalo pa rin sa experience, di ba?

Mahirap man, nagwawagi din. :)

[My family and I live a pretty nomadic life. In the five years that we have lived in America, we have already moved to six various locations - Kentucky (Lexington and Louisville), NC, Texas, Florida, and Georgia. It's a struggle, really, to literally live life in a suitcase. But, c'est la vie, what will not kill you will make you stronger. :)

Besides, as long as my family and I are together, anywhere is Home.]

~~~

Ang pagwawagi ng Team Texas DITO sa aking isa pang LP entry.

LP34: Madumi (Dirty)

Litratong Pinoy

Actually, hindi naman madumi – makalat lang.

Tuwing umaga, lalo na kung sinisipag ako, itong pathway na ito ang aking nilalakad-lakaran. Kasagsagan na ng taglagas dito sa amin kaya kahit kakalinis lamang ng daan na ito nung kinagabihan, marami na ulit mga dahon na nakahandusay ngayong umaga.

Paborito ko ang panahon ng Fall dahil sa ganda ng panahon at ganda ng mga kulay sa paligid. Pero buti na lang at sa apartment kami nakatira kaya may taga-linis nitong mga ito dahil kung sa sarili namin itong bahay, baka hindi namin kakayanin ng aking trusty walis tingting. Hindi naman pwedeng hindi linisin ito dahil may kabahuan kapag nabulok.

Ganda no? Sarap magpa-gulong-gulong sa maruming lapag, heheh!

(It’s not exactly dirty – just a wee bit messy. That’s autumn for you, my dear friends.

I love walking down this path every morning, especially now when I can hear and feel the crush, crush, crush, of the dried leaves underfoot whenever I take a step. It’s such a liberating feeling knowing that you can step on the old (hopefully not leaving it to rot) and then inhaling the promise of rebirth that’s sure to be on its way.)

~~~

Kaya hindi pwede ang puti sa akin, DITO sa aking isa pang LP entry.

10 Things You are Thankful for This Year

Hmmm, this one is a toughie! This past year has been very challenging (to say the least) not only for us, personally, but for the whole of my family and friends. Still, there are small miracles that happen even in the darkest of times and, for each one, I am grateful. :)

So for this year, here’s my list of 10 things I’m thankful for.

1. For my hubby’s job. His current one is definitely a blessing. It came at a time when we were actually ready to throw in the towel on the USA – the scenario was just too bleak. But I guess, there were better plans for us so, thanks!

2. For our recent move to Atlanta. I love it for a lot of reasons: I love the city, we have a battalion of friends here, and I wasn’t really digging (our part of ) Miami as the place to raise my children, if you know what I mean.

3. For my daughter’s school. Because we moved here so late in the summer, it immediately became apparent to me that the spots in most (affordable) pre-K schools were already taken. I must have put my daughter in every waiting list there ever was, haha! And then, just when we were about to bite the bullet and enroll her in an expensive religious school, we received a call from one of our “choice” schools and they had a slot for her! :) Oh joy! You should see now how happy she is to be there. Her teachers are wonderful and she always has a smile on her face when I pick her up in the afternoons. I actually think that, now I may have a nerd on my premises (which is good because nerds sometimes turn out to become millionaires, haha!).

4. My family’s good health. Despite the fact that my brother-in-law and a niece of mine are both undergoing chemotherapy (and they are responding very well, I’m happy to report), the rest of my family is in the pink of health! Health is wealth, and there you go.

5. For my both of my sisters’ career opportunities. Although it saddens me to see my sisters leaving our homeland for work opportunities abroad, I am also happy that they’ve spread their wings and are embracing, perhaps, their personal legends *wink*. Besides, one of them will be living in the same continent as me, how happy is that?

6. The Children’s Dental Center of Atlanta. They really deserve a special mention as well as a high-tech digital signage if I could only spare it, haha! Email/Plurk me for details. :)

7. The birth of my niece, Rianna. New life is always a blessing.

8. Losing ten pounds in the last two months. Yes, I did. And I didn’t even do anything except do HipHop Abs for two days, haha! Although, I think I need to lose more than ten to make the weight-loss obvious, haha! And because I lost the pounds and ultimately won a wager with my hubby, he promised that he would get me…

9. A gift. It hasn’t come yet but whatever it is, I know I’ll be thankful. :) I am always thankful for his little generosities (that I sometimes do not deserve, haha!). I am blessed to have this man in my life.

10. The opportunity to do paid posts. I know the “business” is not as lucrative as it was when I first started, but a lot of people that I love have benefited from my earnings. It’s nothing big, of course, but just the thought that I was able to save from doing the thing that I love doing the most (which is writing) and being able to share it, its tops for me.

And may I just add YOU. I am thankful to you for always dropping by and continuously enduring my oftentimes long-winded musings and/or mundane posts. Without you, my statcounter would be just another useless widget. :D

How about you? What are the 10 Things You are Thankful for This Year?

Tagged [One Word]

I wanted to snag this easy one from Dyes a while back but was then eventually tagged with it by LT so, game! :)

1. Where is your cell phone? SOMEWHERE
2. Your significant other? POGI
3. Your hair? LAYERED
4. Your mother? FAR
5. Your father? ALSO
6. Your favorite thing? FOOD
7. Your dream last night? FORGETTABLE
8. Your favorite drink? WATER
9. Your dream/goal? HAPPINESS
10. The room you’re in? BRIGHT
11. Your hobby? READING
12. Your fear? ALZHEIMER’S
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? SETTLED
14. What you’re not? SLIM (Maybe Fenphedra is the answer?)
15. Muffins? CHOCOLATE
16. One of your wish list items? VALEXTRA
17. Where you grew up? BULACAN
18. The last thing you did? SHOP
19. What are you wearing? WARM
20. Favorite gadget? (Nintendo) DS
21. Your pets? GAGAMBINO
22. Your computer? SONY
23. Your mood? LETHARGIC
24. Missing someone? HUBBY
25. Your car? EXPLORER
26. Something you’re not wearing? SHOES
27. Favorite store? TARGET
28. Like someone? YES
29. Your favorite color? BLUE
30. When is the last time you laughed? NOW
31. Last time you cried? SECRET

Feel free to snag if you like! :)

WS25: Food Fix At The Market

For Korean food, I mean.

I’m glad that there’s a Farmer’s-slash-Asian Market within close driving distance to our place. However, one of the things that I’m really happy about is, there’s a Korean food bar right inside the Market.

Like a local carinderia, they cook all kinds of Korean food on the spot and then pack them so they’re ready to buy and take home.

I have to admit that my repertoire of Korean dishes is not very extensive and I guess this has a lot to do with my tendency to stick to the kinds of food that I’m familiar with. So despite the fact that there are a lot of Korean dishes on display for brave little me to try, I just usually stick to the ones I know.

For this particular outing, I was very in the mood for some fresh dumplings.

For $6.99, I got this: eight humongous pieces of steamed shrimp dumplings that I shared with some good friends.


The Jjin Mandu. These are stuffed with a mixture of tofu, eggs, glass noodles, some vegetables, and shrimp (or Kimchi or other kinds stuffing, if you like), served with dipping soy sauce and pickled radish.

And what do they say about not doing the grocery shopping on an empty stomach? Well, I sometimes discover new food that way. No wonder I’m a good candidate for the best diet pills. :)

Anyhow, lunch and craving accomplished!

~~~

Thanks for viewing my weekend grocery shopping-slash-food tripping at the Buford Farmer’s Market, Atlanta, GA.

My other stuffed weekend snapshot is HERE.

More weekend snapshots HERE.

Autumn

I was almost too late to capture the grand colors of the season. Leaves have already fallen so I actually count myself lucky that I still have images like this one to capture. A few more days and they’d have been gone – swept away or swept off.

~~

Well, I hope someone would sweep me off to some Disney vacations or two. I miss sunny Florida when the winter is just around the corner.

LP33: Kinagisnan

Litratong Pinoy

Kahit nandito na kami sa kaharian ng shower at tissue paper, hindi pa rin pwedeng talikuran ang kinagisnang paboritong kaagapay sa palikuran – ang tabo. Sa totoo lang, itong mga ito ay ang dalawa sa mga unang-una naming inimpake noong kami ay umalis ng Pilipinas. Kita niyo naman, nagbaon din kami ng mini-version para sa aming anak para naman, tulad namin, ito na rin tuloy ang kanyang makagisnan.

Hindi nga ba’t hindi kayang ipagpalit ang kaginhawaan at kalinisan na dulot nila. Tama? :)

~~~

Itaktak mo, DITO sa aking isa pang LP entry.

10 Things That Are Going To Change In The Next Four Years

Or at least the 10 things that I HOPE are going to change during the term of the new President-elect.

1. The economy is hopefully out of this hole its currently in.

2. Less reliance on foreign energy sources.

3. Better Healthcare system.

4. Troops are home with their families. No more dumb wars.

5. The US image will (hopefully) improve globally.

6. Bin Laden will get mad at Obama for targetting the Al Qaeda and it might probably pose as a huge test to the US’ security as well as Obama’s life and his career.

7. Increased taxes, but I do hope these will translate to better government services.

8. More involvement from the grassroots level.

9. Maybe McCain will run for president again in 2012 (hehe!).

10. One way or another, I am going back to las vegas nevada, haha! (Sorry, long overdue vacation wish! Not at all related to the huge gamble that is the US government.)

How about you? What are the 10 things you think are going to change in the next four years? Play along with us at Ten on Tuesdays.

Tagged [Seven Ramdom Part Trois]

I already did two seven random tags about me way way back. Since I’ve been tagged again with this same meme by MunchkinMommy oh so very long ago, I might as well do another round and pay my dues, hehe! :)

The rules:
a. List these rules on your blog.
b. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
c. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. You’ll have to read on for my 7 facts and see who i tagged.

1. I can’t do Art, even to save my life. I hope Ninna doesn’t inherit this abnormality, though.

2. I love hanging out at grocery stores. Sometimes, after I bring my daughter to school, I go to the grocery straightaway and stay there until it’s time for me to pick her up again, hehe.

3. I have a thing for dimsum, Harbor City steamed rice, and lechon in Cebu. Cebu is a haven of Cantonese love and good-bad cholesterol for me.

4. I’d really like a home based business.

5. I’ve been using the same phone since 2005 – its a Palm Treo 650. It’s the longest I’ve ever had the same phone ever. Needless to say, we have a long-standing love-hate relationship.

6. My favorite Disney animated princess film is Beauty and the Beast. I love the songs!!! And I seriously think that the beast-prince is the most pogi Disney prince ever created. :)

7. One of the things I dream of doing is to travel from Aparri to Jolo. And, boy, was I glad to know that it’s one of hubby’s dreams, too. Maybe someday. :)

And that’s it. Mission accomplished! :)

Thanks, Weng! :)

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