Working It

When WifeSpeaks started four years ago, it was just a small, cozy, group blog created by us, a circle of friends who were simply very excited to be blogging together. Seeing what a good thing we had, we additionally invited more wifeys whom we knew and respected to join us in speaking out about topics regarding wifehood and parenting. Over the years, we’ve tackled a lot of topics, seen our little blog grow into an online resource, had wifey contributors come and go, and even had a few burn-out episodes here and there. Unfortunately, the structure that we developed for the blog was losing its novelty and, after a while, we sort of lost steam.

However, despite our sluggish activities on the site, we knew that some people – wifeys and hubbies alike – still followed the site. And also, we really missed writing about…stuff. :) WifeSpeaks was always a fun way for all of us to get together and brainstorm and make chika. Besides, it was sort of a part of our online life that we couldn’t just throw away.

And so, we decided to revamp WifeSpeaks a bit to make it a little more current, more interactive, and more in-tune with the times.

Next week, please do join us as we re-launch the new WifeSpeaks. :)

So what’s new about it?

Well, for one, we will be making up for all the lost opportunities during our long hiatus. This time, we will be posting WS topics every day – that is, from Monday to Friday! How about that for a major come back? :D Whereas we used to feature only one topic per week, this time, every day is a chance for you to join the daily discussions depending on your interest. :)

Every Monday, we will be inviting you to share your favorite photo memoirs with us. We’ll provide the topic, you provide the memory. :)

Our classic Chikahan Corner happens every Tuesday. We’ll be throwing out light, anything-under-the-sun topics for you to discuss with us – perhaps a short slumbook-type meme, a round of tips sharing, possibly even some advice seeking/giving, or just plain chismisan or kumustahan between all of us misis (and misters, too!).

Calling all foodies, Wednesdays are for you. Share recipes, discuss restaurant trips, share your kitchen yays and nays, or simply tantalize us with your creative gourmand creations. Wednesday is definitely our “yummy day”.

Thursdays, all kikays are invited to come out of the closet. We’ll talk about the cheapest, the prettiest, the “it”-est, the most high-tech, the most sulit, the least attractive, the most worthless, the most cost-effective, or perhaps even the simplest, but definitely the most fabulous finds for you or your hubby anywhere and everywhere!

To close off the week, we’ve reserved Fridays for our trademark WifeSpeaks discussions – because WifeSpeaks is not WifeSpeaks without our regular takes on wifehood and parenting. Fridays are especially dedicated for everyone to bash (in good taste), rant (even hysterically), ponder (the meaning of life), panic (in case of emergency), and share the excitement of falling more in love with our husbands (and vice versa!).

Plus, to make it easier for everyone to share their photos, chika, recipes, fabfinds, and opinions, we’re going to adopt a blog carnival-type system, wherein you can answer any of the themes or topics on your own personal site, leaving a link back in the comments section so we can visit your entries! :)

We’re pretty excited by this facelift and we hope that you can join us as we embark on this new chapter in WifeSpeaks’ history. Of course, we’d like to thank all of the past and present loyal readers of WifeSpeaks who have made us a part of their weekly blog hops. Aside from our relationships with our husbands, our relationship with you is something that we truly cherish! Thanks :)

So, see you next week! :)

MrsWorkingGirl :: Apr.23.2009 :: Patalastas :: No Comments »

Em, one of my very good amigas is celebrating four blissful years in the blogging world. Congrats Em!!!

From one little LJ blog, her online presence eventually blossomed into a total of seven (going on eight!) very prolific and (ehem) very lucrative blogs! :) I’m really really happy to see how our “raketeering” greatly motivated Em to take blogging more seriously and, in effect, brought the writer out in her.

I am just so amazed with this woman! I mean, I can’t imagine how any sane person could churn out article after article after article on an almost daily basis, haha! Anyway, Em has always been a little crazy quirky and I really love her for it! :)

So anyway, for her blog anniversary, she’s put up a cute little contest for all of her friends in the blogosphere. All her “contestants” have to do is to answer a simple question on their own blogs and then to link the entry back to her so that she could raffle off the prizes.

There’s a humongous amount of moolah involved but, honestly, even just a cup of Starbucks coffee would do it for me. :) But if you guys want to join the contest, go ahead! The question is pretty simple really (and very ingenious, if I should say so myself, nyahaha!) and I’m sure you’ll enjoy racking your brains as much as I did.

Em asks:

When you first came to visit any of my blogs, which from among my numerous entries do you remember landing on? Doesn’t really matter which of my 6 blogs you landed.

First, I would have to say that I’m honored to be one of the first visitors of her one and only blog in 2004. Yes, our friendship does go back a long long way, and yes she only had one blog back then, hehe.

Not a lot of people know this but, before her current blog evolved to what is now http://em.wifespeaks.com from being http://purpleism.livejournal.com, she actually kicked off her blogging career through http://em_blogs.livejournal.com. We were all new to the blogging world back then but, even as the newbie feeling wore off, we continued to carve our niche into the blogging world.

Em was also one of the pioneers of WifeSpeaks.Com – it was a given that she was going to be a part of it, knowing how thoughtful, generous, and outspoken she is about her thoughts and opinions. I can’t imagine Wifespeaks without Em, she’s always been a wonderfully gregarious contributor.

And now, after that very long-winded intro, to answer her question…

Without looking at her archives, this is what first came to mind:

I remember when I first visited her blog, there was an entry about the book “Hope For The Flowers” and why it was a very sentimental to her and to her husband. That was the first thing I read in her blog. I remember, I even bought a copy of that book because of her. :)

But now, though, when I tried to check her archives to see if it was indeed the first entry I read, I was really surprised (albeit a little panicky) because I couldn’t find the entry, hahaha! And then *toink* I remembered that the Hope For The Flowers story was actually a blurb she had written on the sidebar of her blog at that time! Oops. :D

Now I know that the first entry I actually read in her blog was the one where she posted a sort of poem or wish about wanting to see her little one soon. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a huge commenter yet at that time so, no proof? Haha!

Looking back at her old entries, I’m so glad to see how far my friend has come in the past four years. Blogging is not for everybody but, whether she agrees or not, I think Em is born to be a blogger. :) Keep it up sis and I wish you more power, more love, and more opps (of course!) now and always! Luvyah!

MrsWorkingGirl :: Aug.28.2008 :: Patalastas :: 2 Comments »

We were supposed to drive to Sanibel Island last weekend but, at the last minute, we took a detour and ended up somewhere much nearer – at Naples.

After a yummy lunch at Cafe Luna, we headed off to scout for the perfect beach this side of our State…and we had plenty to choose from.

Beach Number 1: Tigertail Beach

Tigertail Beach at Marco Island is actually more of an inlet beach rather than an ocean beach. What’s good about this particular beach is it has a park beside it with a playground, a butterfly garden, and a cafe, which makes it ideal for family outings and picnics. Tents and watercycles are also available for rent here. Hubby said that the location reminded him of his childhood when they used to go swimming in the river. Yeah, it kinda had that vibe.

Beach Number 2: South Marco Beach

South Marco Beach is also at Marco Island but at the other end (as opposed to Tigertail, which is at the North) and looks out to the Gulf of Mexico. Now this one really looked like a beach. :) The sands are white, though a bit rough because of the broken shells strewn all over.

But then again…look who had fun shelling.

Happy with her loot.

Beach Number 3: Naples

Our final destination was the Fifth Avenue beach at Naples. We were hoping to catch the sunset here. Unfortunately, it got really cloudy so I just had to content myself with watching my little sunshine.

One Saturday, three beaches, a bucketful of shells, and lots of beautiful memories.

~~~

Our shelly weekend at Naples and Marco Island, FL.

~~~

Shapshots of our weekend lunch HERE.

You can check out the otherWeekend Snapshot entries HERE.

MrsWorkingGirl :: May.05.2008 :: Patalastas, WeekendSnapshots :: 14 Comments »

Uunahan ko na kayo, this is not a paid post, hahaha!

I never really knew the reality of it until now but, one thing about doing paid posts is, I’m forced to update this blog up to six times per day. Whew! Do you have a mental picture of my creative juices trickling out?

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Nooooo, give it back, I need those.

Seriously, I never knew I could churn out entry after entry after entry pero, obviously, I could pala. Anyway, it got me thinking about how I can best manage the content of my blog, all while accommodating those little income generating efforts. I had to ask myself, what are the two things I love doing on my blog?

First, writing (of course!). And second, photography.

Yes, naysayers, I am getting more and more serious about those two things. Whereas before, my life was simple and uncomplicated – almost greyscale. Now, I have decided to challenge myself (some more) by making my blogging life ever productive – not just financially (although kasama na yun), but moreso creatively.

Anyway, as this blog has promised from the start, I’m here to exercise my dormant brain cells.

So here’s what will happen starting next week. This commitment that I’m going to make right now should run like clockwork. Otherwise, you’re free to kurot me anywhere.

Here’s what you should expect in the coming weeks…

MONDAYS
:: A dose of Weekend Snapshots. I love this meme, it forces (there’s that word again) me to blog a little something about our weekend, which are always full-packed.
:: I have also decided to finally take the challenge of responding DAILY to Toni‘s writing prompts at StoryFever. I have always wanted to do this but I guess I just didn’t have the right motivation nor the venue for it before. And then, lightbulb moment, I just realized that I can do that here! At least, even if I ramble and ramble and ramble away based on her prompts here, kahit hindi ninyo basahin, I won’t get too sad, hehe.
:: I will answer a meme or tag that was passed on to me by my Tag Buddies.

TUESDAYS
:: Tuesday goes wordless for me, as I have decided to move my Wordless Wednesday participation to Tuesday. Why? Wala lang.
:: Did I say I was going to do Toni’s Writing Prompts daily? Yep, I did. Wish me luck.
:: I also decided to join Ten on Tuesdays. I love making lists. In bullet points. Obviously.

WEDNESDAYS
:: Wednesday is Lensday. Now you know why Tuesday became wordless.
:: I hope Toni doesn’t run out of inspiration.
:: I will again take this opportunity to answer a meme or tag that was passed on to me by my Tag Buddies. So TAG ME!

THURSDAYS
:: It’s Litratong Pinoy day! Yehey!
:: Right about now, I think Toni’s expectations are increasing.
:: I will unleash my little inner bookworm and join Booking Through Thursday. I’ve also wanted to join this activity for a while now but somehow the motivation got shelved (get it? shelved? books? aw c’mon). Basta, sali ako.

FRIDAYS
:: My last photomeme of the week is Photo Friday. I actually started today, or didn’t you notice?
:: Never knew how much I luvd yah, never knew how much I care, when you put your prompts around me, I get a fever that’s so hard to bear. Storyfever. Fever! In the morning, fever all through the week.
:: Finally, I’m going to fill my Fridays with Fill-In Fridays. I actually started today, or didn’t you notice?

SATURDAYS
:: Let’s just say that something is in the works. Di ba Tin? *wink*

SUNDAYS
:: Pahinga muna si Curacha.

I will probably need oxygen after this.

MrsWorkingGirl :: May.02.2008 :: Patalastas :: 9 Comments »

Raise your hand!

Because I kind of realized that I have probably maxed-out the “tag-able” friends that I have in my blogroll, hehe. :)

Eversince I started this meme-blog, I’ve always tried to pass on the memes to the people whom I felt wanted, needed, or appreciated the memes I steamrolled handed over to them. As much as possible, I matched the tags to the recipients, depending on their needs or interests.

However, since I answer a minimum of one meme per day, I realized that I couldn’t very well tag the people I normally tag each and every time. Aside from the fact that I think I’m the only one in the blogosphere who probably has a high tolerance for tags, I don’t want to overly burden my recipients with more memes than they can handle. I’m trying to make friends here, not become an allergen to the blogging world or something. Besides, tags and memes only work if they are passed on. That’s the spirit of it. Seriously, I like memes and I want to answer as many memes as I humanly can. As I said, its a great way to pass the time, as well as to excercise my lethargic brain cells. However, I have found that I am limited by who I can actually tag or not. Thus, my dilemma.

And thus, this patalastas.

Friends, Romans, Tag-buddies, lend me your ears. From this day forward, I plan to make a separate blogroll for people who will agree to be recipients of my tags. If you want to be a willing victim participant, please leave your name and link in the comments section and I’ll add you. You may also indicate if you want to receive only certain types of tags (photo memes, essay memes, q&a memes, linky loves, virals, anything except virals, etc.) or all of them (if you are as game as me) so I’ll know which ones I can pass on to you. I’m sure there are some working girls out there like me who might find linky loves beneficial, and I understand that. This is a win-win thing – I help you, you help me, haha!

So please, if you want to be tagged (or not), don’t be shy to tell me. Even if I don’t know you personally, I’ll still add you and then tag you. And, of course, you can tag me. :)

Game?

MrsWorkingGirl :: Mar.18.2008 :: Patalastas :: 9 Comments »

My sidebar has a mind of its own! On post pages, the layout looks ok, it’s as it should be. Pero once you go to the main page, aaarrrgh, it goes to the bottom. What do I do? This thing sucked out what’s left of my IQ.

Haay. I think it’s time for me to look for a new theme.

MrsWorkingGirl :: Mar.11.2008 :: Patalastas :: 5 Comments »