When Boredom Strikes, I...

1. ...search for photos from my iBook.

2. ...tweak chosen photos with Easyframe.

3. ...post tweaked photos to Flickr.

And... voila!

Here's a school of fish swarming all over the lone slipper that one of us threw. Note how clear the beachwater is.

Matt and Kyle on the grounds of Shangri-la Mactan

Matt and Jake contemplating on some World Cup moves on the beachfront. Lovely clear blue sky and pristine white sand...

Beach dudes!

Photos above were taken during our June 10 company outing at Shangri-la Resort, Mactan. It was a Sunday, the yaya was on day off. Just the perfect excuse I needed to bring the kids along.

Out of boredom too, I changed the outfit of my caricature (yeah, "Moms rule" hehehe), changed my chatboard and added some stat items on my sidebar. Added as well are a few more pages to my navigation tabs above.

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Is it lunch yet? 12:10 PM? Ok, I'm off...

Pre-Celebration of Matt's Birthday

We didnt plan on celebrating Matt's birthday yet due to Jerry's absence and instead we planned to hold a boys get-together (Matt and his close friends) only after Jerry comes back. But last Sunday, on the way to lunch at their A-ma's place, I thought we should buy something to make lunch a bit more special. We stopped by for a 1/2 gallon of Fruits in Ice Cream (strawberry flavor) at Tinderbox and a whole round of chocolate layer cake from Postrio.

Lunch was a quiet affair as another family (Allan's) was not around. They flew to Manila for some award given to their Kamiseta franchise. Anyway, for those who were present, we all had too much food to last us for another meal!

One of the highlights of the day was during Matt's candle-blowing "ceremony". Their A-ma who has been spending most of her days in her room with her nurse, suddenly decided to join in. It was the first time in days that she walked to the dining room to join in the ruckus. My sisters-in-law were quick to say that Matt was really A-ma's most favorite grandchild. He was the only one who was able to make A-ma take a short walk, a much needed exercise in a long time. Matt smiled sheepishly, not letting the compliment get to his head.

Random activities for the rest of the day:

1. 930 am mass at Redemptorist church.

2. My Posh salon visit (Banilad Town Center) for a hair trim which was a mix of pleasant and unpleasant experience. After my trim, I checked my back with a mirror to see if the cut was straight only to find something else. My hot pink shirt was stained by some dark hair dye left on the back rest of my seat. Que horror! Bad bad bad service!

3. My glorious pedicure and reflex foot massage at the same salon in #2.

4. Impulse shopping for an EXS shirt for P279 (cheapo!) to replace the stained one I was wearing.

5. 2-hr Netopia gaming session of the boys.

6. Tempura, roasted calf, pasta dinner and ice cream dessert treat by my sis-in-law, Mary, and her boys at City Sports Club.

7. Billiard games by the cousins until 9 PM.

I guess it was all too much for young Jake who gamely ran around the whole time at City Sports. I found him exhausted on top of the billiard table just before we all decided to leave.

Other pics taken last Sunday:

Jake was so intent to blow the candle for his A-hia. I was wearing here my shirt pre-stained by "UV or Juvy" from Posh.

A rare occasion nowadays since their A-ma would prefer staying in her room than venturing out of it.

Guess Who's....

...celebrating his birthday today???

I officially have a teenager for a son. Yey or should I now begin to worry? Hehehe...

Happy 13th birthday Matthew Michael!

Yey!

t

Color me HAPPY!!! I just got a raise!

*** Thanks to the powers that be, that made this possible. ;)

Grateful Moment

There are days when I just get too petty about a lot of things. I get irked on the slightest provocation. I whine when things don't go my way. Annoying, I'm sure, to the people who get the brunt of my moods. And it's not just because of PMS. PMS is over-rated. Hehe... Sometimes, it happens by (my) choice. Oh well.

This morning, I woke up earlier than usual. Jerry was out of town and I was driving the boys to school. Matt lay beside me sleeping like a babe but looking like a grown-up at 13 years old (in 4 days). I looked over to the pen where Jake, 2 years and 4 months old, slept and cramped with his favorite pillows. What a cute bundle, I wanted to smother him, I thought. Hehe...

I felt a special "moment" looking at the 2 of them (Kyle, 9, the middle child was already taking a shower). Jake is a spitting image of Matt when the latter was that age. It was all of 10-11 years ago, yet it felt just like yesterday.

And in all those 10 years (well 14 years in marriage actually), it was mostly smooth-sailing in our party of 5 with only minor bumps along the way and a few major turning points. But all is great, nevertheless.

That mood carried me along (hopefully till day's end, at least). As I was cruising along the road on the way to school, I savored every minute. We prayed the novena, talked a bit about our schedules and about their school activities, listened, sang along and moved to Gary V's cd and sat quietly in between.

Here I was with my 2 boys. Soon there'll be three when Jake starts school in 2 years, and 2 again when Matt goes off to college. Thinking about all the petty stuff that get to me, the whining, the mood-swings... ugh, what a waste of time.

Time really flies fast. My boys are growing up fast. And life is good. Carpe Diem.

Matt, Jake (his diaper peeking from his toddler pants) and Kyle

* pic taken at Marco Polo Plaza Hotel

Oh Please Don't Make Me Wait

This amused me no end...

Please click here and view hungry Jacob in Shangri-la Mactan.

Visiting Friends

It's always a happy reunion when friends visit.

Genny, Marlyn, Hazel

June 10 - These are my former Accounting angels. They made work and life easier for me back in those days with my ex-employer of 7.5 years. Loyalists to the max even when things took a turn for the worst (in that office). Now that I'm not there to mentor them, they still honor me with their high regard and unwavering respect. If I had such unlimited resources, I would definitely have these girls working with me again.

Jerry, moi, Jing, Charm, Dakila

June 14 - Jing, an old friend from La Salle Zobel since the early 80's (hehe) came. Though it was a business / pleasure trip for her and her colleagues, it was definitely all fun for me.

Rox, Mafe

June 23 - A business trip in Manila wouldn't be complete without an afternoon coffee with close colleagues. Just look at the happy smiles on Rox and Mafe when I whipped out my camera. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf along F. Ortigas was witness to Rox's (left) yummy birthday coffee treat. :D

Prime, moi, Lito, Melissa, JJ

July 6 - A long delayed visit that finally came to fruition. These are my ex-colleagues who are Manila-based but went out of their busy schedules to drop by and treat me to my Oreo frapuccino fix. Sarrrap! Especially so because its for free. Hehehe... My treat next time guys.

"A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire." - Francois Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Back to Philippine Programming

After a long delayed series of posts about my very first (and hopefully not the last!) USA trip, I'm back to posting local news about the family.

First on the list is about Kyle's Grade 3 gold medal given last June 9. It was a Friday morning and Jerry and I didnt want to miss it for anything. We were in school early for the distribution of medals.

As usual, it was a quick ceremony and the parents and student awardees were jostling for the best spot to pose while they donned the medals on the beaming medalists. It was at the last minute that somebody volunteered to take our family picture.

Here's the result. Don't we all look proud?

Good work Kyle!