Senseless Dressing.

We are finally getting snow. Although winter doesn’t officially start until next week, it’s been slowly getting colder as the days go by. I can’t complain though because it stayed relatively warm during all of fall and the temperature only started dropping to the negatives last week. Hey, I’ll take what I can get!

During this time of the year, I find it puzzling and amusing to watch the way some women dress themselves even though it’s freezing cold outside with risk of hypothermia. The other day, Steve and I were walking down the street dressed in our warm clothes with our boots on and a heavy jacket on top and we saw this woman frantically waving down a taxi and she was wearing a mini skirt... a MINI skirt! The kind that when you sit, you can practically see everything. The weird thing is, this was at 10:30 am. I can somewhat understand if this was in the evening because maybe she was on her way to a club or a house party or something. But where does one go at 10:30 in the morning wearing skimpy clothing in -3 degree weather? She wasn’t even wearing any tights or leggings or even a pantyhose to keep her legs warm. I had layers of clothing on me and I could barely stand being outside for more than 15 minutes!

It’s really bizarre how many women would rather look “hot” than be comfortable. I often see women walking by wearing clothing that you know isn’t geared towards keeping the “wearer” warm in any way. I always see women in high-heeled shoes walking down a snow or ice-covered street. It’s an accident waiting to happen. It’s funny how some women dress themselves with every intention of looking like a runway model except that it somehow doesn’t fit the picture because as they’re “strutting” their stuff down the street, there’s strong gusts of wind blowing and snow all over the place. You can see white smoke coming in and out of their noses as they inhale and exhale the ice-cold wind.

Some people are just impractical I guess. Well at least they look good.

Loving this song right now.

I'm five years old, it's getting cold, I've got my big coat on
I hear your laugh and look up smiling at you, I run and run
Past the pumpkin patch and the tractor rides, look now, the sky is gold
I hug your legs and fall asleep on the way home

I don't know why all the trees change in the fall
But I know you're not scared of anything at all
Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away
But I know I had the best day with you today

I'm thirteen now and don't know how my friends could be so mean
I come home crying and you hold me tight and grab the keys
And we drive and drive until we found a town far enough away
And we talk and window shop 'til I've forgotten all their names

I don't know who I'm gonna talk to now at school
But I know I'm laughing on the car ride home with you
Don't know how long it's gonna take to feel okay
But I know I had the best day with you today

I have an excellent father, his strength is making me stronger
God smiles on my little brother, inside and out, he's better than I am
I grew up in a pretty house and I had space to run
And I had the best days with you

There is a video I found from back when I was three
You set up a paint set in the kitchen and you're talking to me
It's the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs
And Daddy's smart and you're the prettiest lady in the whole wide world

And now I know why the all the trees change in the fall
I know you were on my side even when I was wrong
And I love you for giving me your eyes
For staying back and watching me shine
And I didn't know if you knew, so I'm takin' this chance to say
That I had the best day with you today


The Best Day
- Taylor Swift

Hey new Dell! Welcome!

My new laptop finally arrived last Friday! Yay!

I must say I love Windows 7 so far. Certainly better than Vista in my opinion! I don’t really know it well enough yet but I like what I see and the little new features that are available. My laptop is a 15.6 widescreen and I ordered it in Cherry Red (which I adore by the way). I would have purchased a better laptop (maybe a Mac or a Sony Vaio) but since the laptop got stolen unexpectedly and we weren’t really planning on buying a new one so soon (wasn’t in our budget), we decided to go with a Dell which is relatively more affordable compared to the other brands. I know most people would cringe (“What?! A Dell??”) but it really is good enough for what I use it for. I don’t really do any sort of programming on it (unless you call changing my blog layout “programming” and neither do I do anything considered to be “heavy” on the machine).

I was pretty thrilled that it was delivered so shortly after we made the order. It would have sucked if we had to wait several weeks for it to arrive. I love having a laptop and since Steve and I both use the computer at night, it really is convenient having 2 computers at home.

Now all I have to do is to make sure I get all my programs installed and find the files I lost. I’ve already asked my dad for a copy of the wedding photos he took with his camera. It’s a good thing he has a back up of some of my files from my former laptop (he reformatted it about a year ago so he made a backup of it then) and so I can just hopefully put it all back in the new one. I am a bit worried though about the songs I purchased through iTunes because aside from my iPod, I don’t really have a backup for it. My brother has a CD that lets me rip songs from the iPod back to a computer but when I spoke to him last night, he said he ran an update for it and now he can’t get it to work. I am hoping we’ll be able to figure out a solution because I would hate to not be able to get the songs out of my iPod and re-purchasing all those songs is just not an option for me.

I wonder what the thieves did to my former laptop. Did they sell it already? If they did, to who? How much did they sell it for? What did they do to my files? They probably deleted all the files and just reformatted the computer but I wonder if they looked at them first before getting rid of it. Don’t they realize that those files were important to me?! How do these people sleep at night (oh wait – it probably doesn’t bother them anymore... Mine was probably not the first laptop they’ve stolen and I’m sure they’re pros considering the manner they opened the car – swift and skilfully I imagine).

Although I am happy that I have new hardware, I still can’t help but feel sad for the one I lost. It had some nice features to it that I would miss, it had all my photos and important files and it was the first big purchase I ever made with my own hard-earned money.

But what can I do... there’s no point in crying over spilt milk.

New Moon - Yay!

As usual, the weekend flew by in a blur.

I finally saw New Moon on Friday night with a couple of girl friends. It was a girl’s night out at the movies while the guys spent their evening with chicken wings, beer and video games.

I personally liked New Moon better than the first movie. I guess having a new director and an increased movie budget helped. The special effects were great! Of course, I still think the books are 100 times better than the movies but I enjoyed watching it nonetheless.

There were some things I found frustrating in both the first and second movies like how exaggerated Edward’s make-up is. I know they’re supposed to be somewhat pale – being vampires and all – but I honestly think there’s too much powder on him (look at Jasper!). I also feel like they didn’t really do him justice in the movie… there’s so much more to him other than his good looks and I feel like they focus too much on the fact that he’s hot rather than his personality, the complex relationship he has with Bella and his internal conflict.

I liked how they developed Jacob’s character in the New Moon movie because you can see why Bella would have conflicted feelings for him and Edward. To be honest, when I was reading the books, I envisioned all the characters looking differently and Jacob wasn’t that hot in my imagination. Admittedly, he’s gorgeous in the movie and I can’t help but swoon when he finally appears on screen with short hair and a buff bod. Don’t worry, I didn’t squeal in the theatres like a schoolgirl although the tweens sitting in the row behind me were beside themselves with sheer delight (it was quite annoying – you’d think it was the first time they saw a hot dude on screen). Despite how loveable Jacob is in the movie, I am and will always be pro Edward.

I liked it when Bella says in the movie, “Please don’t make me choose… because it’s him. It’s always been him.”

Ahhh… I love love love this book!

My laptop

got stolen today. Huge bummer.

We had planned to pass by the mall today after work since there was a lamp I had seen on a website that I wanted to check out. We eventually did buy the lamp together with a few other items, had dinner there and when we got home, I noticed that my laptop bag wasn't in the car anymore where I left it. Out of panic, we decided to drive back to work and see if I had somehow left it there by accident. I knew I brought it with me but since we lived only 20 minutes away from work, it wouldn't hurt to go and see if it was there. Turns out I was right, I did in fact bring it with me and it was in fact gone.

I gotta tell you, whoever stole it knew what he was doing. Somehow he was able to open the car doors, take the bag and locked the car again. We didn't even notice it was gone until we got home!

I can't tell you how bad it feels to lose something so personal as a laptop. I invested quite a bit of money on it when I bought it 3 years ago. It had all my photos, music and various files. The laptop itself is replaceable but the contents aren't so easy to get back. Thankfully, I have back-ups of our wedding photos and my dad has a back-up of most of my photos on his computer (I don't know why he has them but he does). My brother has a software that allows me to grab the songs that are in my iPod and put it back into a computer so I can always give that a try. I am just a bit perplexed about all the other pictures that I may not have a back-up of and knowing that someone else has something that rightfully belongs to me is unnerving.

A laptop is something I consider personal and I can't help but feel somewhat violated. I know there are people out there who have no qualms about stealing but it doesn't make it right.

Farmville Rocks.

I’ve been playing a game on Facebook called Farmville and I am totally addicted to it. It’s amazing how hooked I am to this game considering how boring it must seem to other people. It’s exactly my type of game and I could spend hours on it planting, harvesting and buying different things for my farm. My cousins were the ones who got me to play it and I’ve been playing so much that I’ve pretty much surpassed them in level. Steve says that these days when he finds me sitting in front of the computer, it’s always Farmville that’s on the screen. That and my hotmail. I’ve actually started playing some other farming games on Facebook like Farm Town and Li’l Farm Life but Farmville is still my primary focus and my favourite.

I was so excited this morning when I found out that Zynga (creators of Farmville) has just recently made the farm expansion to 22x22 available plus the ability to gift chicken coops which produce mystery eggs. I have been waiting for this farm expansion for the longest time and it’s finally here! I didn’t even bat an eyelash when I happily spent 250,000 coins for additional farm land. I was also happy to have received a chicken coop from some of my farm neighbours (thank you!). The only problem is, I’ve been experiencing a lot of connection issues with it and it’s really beginning to annoy me. I’ve been trying to send a chicken coop to my neighbours with no success whatsoever. I’ve also been trying to acquire a mystery egg and some fertilizer bonus and again to no avail.

I also found out from the forums (yes, I actually read this too) that apparently if you harvest flowers, there is a chance you might be able to purchase a garden shed. I haven’t been offered one but I definitely want it. It sucks that it’s not available for purchase at the market. I don’t know why they don’t just add it there so everyone can have one. Soooo annoying.

As you can see, I really am hooked on this game.

Dedication

When you’re about to read a book, do you read who it’s dedicated to?

I always do. I always wonder who the author is dedicating the book to or who he/she is thanking. The ones that I love to read are those dedicated to the author’s parents, spouse, and children. I find those the most touching. I think it’s really thoughtful and sweet when an author writes even the simplest of poems to express the amount of love and gratitude they have for their loved ones.

Today, I opened a book and this is what the author put:

For my husband, Ian
My heart, my love, my home

For someone to have so much love and respect for one’s spouse is truly magical and special.

Tid Bits of the Day

It’s Monday morning and I’m sitting at my desk at work trying to figure out what I’m supposed to do. For some reason I feel lost today. I know I have a call at 11 am to try and resolve an issue a client is having. But other than that, I have no clue if I’m supposed to be doing QA or trying to do some research for my boss. I asked my manager if she needed me to do something for her but she said she doesn’t have anything that she specifically needs me to do so I am free to use my time with whatever projects I have on the go. This is one of the things I like about my job... I have the flexibility to use my time however I want as long as I am able to submit my deliverables.

I think I’m going to do QA today since it really is my primary responsibility right now.

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We had a bright, warm, sunny weekend which is rare for this time of the year. I spent my Saturday morning doing some chores around the house while Steve worked on an assignment for his CGA course. Then, we took my mother-in-law out for lunch at the Danforth. It would have been nice to be able to walk around for a little bit after lunch but we were rushing because we had dinner plans with a friend for 5.30 pm. So we practically had to scoot out of there right after eating.

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I’ve been meaning to clean our bathroom for several days now and I feel bad that I still haven’t done it. I hate having to procrastinate on chores. But I’ve been busy doing other things and by the time I actually have time left to do the bathroom, I’m always so tired. So I tell myself I’ll do it the following day and the same thing happens and I just keep prolonging it. It also doesn’t help that cleaning the bathroom is my least favourite chore to do. But I have to admit I always feel better after I’ve scrubbed it clean all around.

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I finally got my hair coloured and cut again! My gray hairs were beginning to be a distraction. Every time someone talks to me, it’s as if they are trying to figure out why I have so many gray hairs when I’m only 26 years old. They eventually say something like, “Wow, I didn’t realize you had so many gray hairs!” or “How come you have so many gray hairs? You’re so young!” which then prompts me to explain that it’s hereditary and that I’ve had it since I was fourteen. It really isn’t as bad as you think it is... most of my gray hairs are hidden but I still prefer to get my hair coloured every now and then. It’s also a good excuse to get it trimmed since I’m already at the salon. The only problem is, it gets a bit pricey especially since I have long hair.

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I want to go to Ikea.. we were there last week but we went an hour before closing so I didn’t really have enough time to look around and there were a few things I wanted to get. I enjoy shopping at furniture stores and I especially love cute and unique items that are affordable. It’s just finding the time to actually go around and having the money to be able to buy things... is the issue. Ahh money, where are you?

What's up.

We are back on Standard Time which makes it a 13-hour difference between Canada and the Philippines. I don’t know why but I always keep the time difference between Canada and the Philippines whenever we switch time zones. The Philippines seems to be my point of reference... always.

We were lucky last week because it was relatively warm. By saying relatively warm, I mean to say that the temperature stayed somewhere between 5 degrees and 10 degrees. I heard it will be cold again this week which means we’ll have to bundle up... which reminds me, I have to look for my gloves. I can’t remember where I put them (I think it’s somewhere in my dresser). I don’t particularly like wearing gloves unless I really need them but I like to keep them in my purse anyway just in case it gets cold enough for me to want to wear them.

Steve and I had a somewhat busy weekend. On Friday night, we went to Mississauga to check out the Homesense store located at the Heartland Centre. A co-worker gave as a Homesense gift card as a wedding gift and we haven’t used it since so we thought we’d go and see what they have. We’ve heard good things about it from some of our friends but when we checked it out, we weren’t too impressed. It felt like shopping at Winners. Piles and piles of random things that were neither nice nor unique. Maybe we just happened to go to a bad Homesense location. Sabi kasi nila, every location is different. There’s good ones and there’s bad ones. Maybe we went to a bad one. But we also checked out the Homesense store along the Queensway and we didn’t like that one either. Two bad stores in a row?? Parang unlikely.

Anyhow, we had dinner at an Indian restaurant with Steve’s cousin on Saturday night and the food was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! Just remembering how good everything was is making me salivate. I don’t have a high tolerance for spicy food but I really like Indian food. Yummy yummy! My favourites include samosas and butter chicken. I also like the chicken biriyani and nan bread. The restaurant we went to is relatively new and I wish they had better signage in front so that more people will see it and more people will eat there and they won’t close. I hate it when we find a good place to eat and then they close after a few months because there’s not enough business.

I am back to my “let’s-furnish-the-apartment” mode. We already have the big items we needed to get and now we just need to paint and decorate the place a little bit to make it cozy. We’ve been concentrating on other priorities so we put it on hold for awhile but now I’m eager to get back to it. I always enjoy shopping for our place (come to think of it, I enjoy any type of shopping really). We’re trying to keep our spending within our budget (it’s super hard!) so we have to be careful with what we spend our money on. So far, I have been really bad with saving. Kawawa naman si Steve, lagi nalang siya ang nagbu-budget.

I received an email from a friend last week about the difference in symptoms between the cold and the H1N1 (swine) flu. I think I may have had the H1N1 and just didn’t know about it. My symptoms were very similar to what was in the email. But I’ve heard so many different things about it that I don’t really know for sure. I should have gone to the doctor and had myself checked when I was sick. Now I won’t know what I had. There’s such a huge demand for the flu shot and I’ve heard that a lot of the health centres have to put a limit on how many they can accept since there’s just an overwhelming demand for it. I’m a little wary about getting it since the swine flu vaccine is so new.

Edward's Perspective

I’ve been reading the Midnight Sun draft from Stephenie Meyer’s website again these past few days. Even though I’ve read it a few times before and even though I know the story inside and out, I still get hooked on it once I start reading the first few lines. I still feel disappointed that the draft stops at 264 pages and that Stephenie has decided to put it on hold indefinitely. I understand why she would be upset about the draft being leaked on the internet but I wouldn’t have even known about the leakage if she had not posted anything about it on her website together with the draft. So a draft was leaked... she did mention that there were several versions of the draft... but because there was no confirmation of which version is true and accurate and since it isn’t finished, she could have continued writing it and fans like me would still be waiting for the real thing to be published so we could eagerly get our hands on a copy and read it. Sometimes I even wonder why she bothered showing some people the draft to her book which led to the leak.

I loved reading the book from Isabella Swan's perspective but I would equally enjoy reading the entire story again from Edward's perspective. To learn the reasons behind his gestures and facial expressions. To gain more insight on his character. It would be nice too to look at Bella from his angle when you're not as privy to her thoughts.

I realize I’m being selfish about the whole thing. I’m just really disappointed that there is a huge possibility she might never finish writing it and hence, I will never get to read it. It just feels so unfair to be denied that privilege.

Nakakainis talaga!

I saw...

... this on Post Secret today:

-----Email Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:50 PM
Frank-
I am typing this to you at the library because I cannot afford a postcard and stamp. My family and I are living in a self-storage unit illegally. It's getting so cold at night. I want them to know I'm sorry, it's my fault, but I can't say it.

I couldn't help but feel sad knowing that there are people out there who don't even have the most basic necessities. It's so easy to take for granted the things we have and we often forget that there are others who don't even have food to eat, water to drink or have a house to sleep in.

Flu

I’m just at the tail-end of the flu and I was finally able to go to work today. It’s literally been a week and thank goodness it was the Thanksgiving weekend so we had the Monday off for the holiday. At least that didn’t count towards my sick days. The past few days had been filled with on-and-off fevers, headaches, soreness, coughing, a few tears and lots of Advil. I’ve consumed more Advil in the last week than I have altogether within the 5 years I’ve been in the country. It’s totally ridiculous.

I can’t remember the last time I had the cough. I always get the cold but very rarely do I actually get the cough. It’s been so long that I can’t even remember what it felt like until recently. I think having the cold is much better than having the cough. My throat and abs hurt from coughing too much. Even when I’m sleeping I wake up because I’m coughing. My poor Steve had to sleep through all that coughing. It’s funny though because every time I cough, he would wake up, look at me and then fall back to sleep. Half the time, he doesn’t even remember waking up.

Although it was nice having a valid excuse not to go to work, it got a bit boring staying at home all the time. I just want to feel normal again. Healthy and no coughing.

Paint

I saw The Proposal last night and I loved it! I heard it was good but I missed it at the theatres so I only saw it last night on DVD. I have a huge crush on Ryan Reynolds now.. dang he’s hot! Steve’s pretending he’s jealous which I find quite adorable.

We are thinking of painting our apartment starting with the living room. The problem is, we can’t seem to find the right paint color. About a month ago, we picked up a couple of paint samples so we can try them on a wall in our living room. We realized that neither of them looked good with our furniture so we decided to go paint-shopping a second time. This time, instead of just buying paint samples, we decided to just go ahead and buy 2 gallons of paint. BIG MISTAKE!! We painted a section of the wall with it and it was UGLY!! It doesn’t even look like the paint sample on the picture! We were sooo disappointed. So we’ve decided to put our “paint project” on-hold until we are ready to go paint-shopping again. I find it a bit challenging choosing paint because it looks different on the paint swatch and it’s different when you put it on the wall. Plus, lighting affects it a lot so you just don’t know how it’s going to turn out. I don’t know how other people do it! It seems so much easier for them than it is for me! I am amazed at how some people can just pick a color, go home, paint the walls and voila! It’s perfect.

I was toying around with the idea of hiring someone to paint our place but after checking out the paint services on the Home Depot website, I’m having second thoughts about even inquiring. It says on their website that you basically book an appointment for a consultant to come over, do an assessment of your place and then they give you suggestions on what needs to be done and then I’m assuming provide you with a quote after. The whole thing just sounds expensive so maybe that idea’s out the window. I was just hoping we could pick out the paint color and let the professionals do the job. But I was hoping the professionals would do it for an affordable rate.

I’d love to have some fresh paint on our walls to make the room cosier... it’s just a matter of actually getting the work done. It just sounds so tedious!

On repeat.

Something always brings me back to you
It never takes too long
No matter what I say or do
I still feel you here ‘til the moment I’m gone

You hold me without touch
You keep me without chains
I never wanted anything so much
Than to drown in your love and not feel your reign

Set me free, leave me be
I don’t wanna fall another moment into your gravity
Here I am and I stand so tall
I’m just the way I’m supposed to be
But you’re on to me and all over me

You loved me 'cause I'm fragile
When I thought that I was strong
But you touch me for a little while
And all my fragile strength is gone

Set me free, leave me be
I don’t wanna fall another moment into your gravity
Here I am and I stand so tall
I’m just the way I’m supposed to be
But you’re on to me and all over me

I live here on my knees
As I try to make you see
That you’re everything I think I need
Here on the ground

But you’re neither friend nor foe
Though I can’t seem to let you go
The one thing that I still know
Is that you’re keeping me down
You’re keeping me down

You’re on to me, on to me and all over
Something always brings me back to you
It never takes too long.

Gravity
- Sara Bareilles

I recently came across a new TV series called Vampire Diaries. I have only seen two episodes so far and I haven't really decided on whether I like it or not but I am intrigued. Paul Wesley who plays Stefan Salvatore is absolutely heart-melting.

Anyhoo, whenever there's a scene between Stefan and Elena, this beautiful song is playing in the background. It's the same song that was playing on So You Think You Can Dance for the "Addiction" routine that was choreographed by Mia Michaels (I think?). I downloaded it on to my iPod and I just can't stop listening to it. Sara sings it so beautifully.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I finally saw the Time Traveller’s Wife two weeks ago with Steve and my sister-in-law. I thought it was great! Very well done and stayed close to the book. Obviously there were some scenes in the book that didn’t make it to the big screen but nothing that you’d miss. I loved the cast (I think Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana were awesome for their roles) and the chemistry was believable to me.

I often get disappointed with books turned into movies because I always feel like it’s not even half as good as the book itself. But I wasn’t disappointed with this one. I really, really enjoyed watching it. I even cried twice! I thought I’d be immune to it, knowing the story already and everything. But man, it was good.

I am going to buy the DVD when it comes out. It’s def going to be a part of my Sappy DVD collection.

A Few Updates.

Back to work after the Labor Day weekend and I’m playing catch-up with my Farmville and my blog-reading. I’ve been so pre-occupied with playing Farmville that I haven’t posted anything new here since. My cousins have been talking about it so much that I decided to try it out. That probably wasn’t such a good idea because now I’m hooked on it and I can’t stop playing the darn thing. It’s the first thing I check in the morning and the last thing I go on before jumping into bed at night. It’s absolutely ridiculous but I find it so entertaining. My brothers tease me for playing games that are somewhat childish but it’s these simple games that I love the most.

Work’s beginning to pick up so I’ve had a few hectic work days. Nothing too crazy although I was pretty frazzled one morning last week. I had run out of patience and it was phone call after phone call after phone call. I really should be used to it by now but I was just out of it that morning.

Steve and I went to Naigara Falls for the long weekend with his cousins. We stayed at a hotel with a water park so his nieces and nephews could play in the water. Steve was just as excited as the kids were. It was quite adorable actually. He couldn’t wait to pack and go. We forgot to bring toothpaste in the process. It was a good trip... we spend our Sunday afternoon at the water park then had dinner at a restaurant close-by. The next day, we had breakfast near the falls then headed to Buffalo to do some shopping. I’ve never been across the border so it was a new experience. We didn’t go around much and only stayed in Buffalo for a few hours. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (food was great and the cheesecake was just FABulous!) and we are definitely coming back for more.

The long weekend turned out to be expensive but we both had fun. Shopping in Buffalo is definitely something we’d have to do again. I didn’t take a lot of pictures... there wasn’t much to see where we went.

I’m already counting the days till the next long weekend.

A Case of Verbal Diarrhea

I feel so sleepy and I have a training session starting in half an hour. I am not looking forward to it at all. I knew it was a bad idea to go out for gyros at 10:30 pm last night but it was a last minute invitation from a bunch of friends to celebrate one of the guy’s big mile stone. So even though Steve and I were already getting ready for bed when we got the phone call, we decided to go anyway. I didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before either so all I feel like doing right now is jumping into bed and just sleeping.

Our CEO and his wife just had a baby – their firstborn – so Steve and I decided to get them a present. I had just finished wrapping it the other night, complete with ribbons and all, when I realized that I had actually wrapped the card with the present. So dumb of me. The plan was to leave the gift on his desk but since stupid me decided to wrap the gift with the card inside, now I have to personally hand him the gift and explain that the card is wrapped inside. Ugh!! I can only imagine what he is going to think of it. I can’t even wrap a present properly.

I am considering having a physical check-up one of these days. I suspect that I have low blood because I keep getting bruises, I am always tired and I get dizzy really easily. Every time I mention these symptoms to anyone, the response I often get is the “are you pregnant?” inquiry. I know I’m not but people always give me that quizzical, are-you-hiding-something-from-me look. Like I would hide that kind of happy news! Crazy!

Being a newly-wed, I always get asked “how’s married life?” and I always reply with either “It’s good, pretty much the same as when we were dating except we see each other all the time..” or “It’s okay... it’s good.” Let me tell you, apparently replying with the latter is not good. I think the expected reply is “It’s GREAT! I LOVE being Married!” where you proceed to jump up and down gleefully and clap your hands like an excited little girl. Hehehehe! Just kidding. Seriously though, I don’t know what people expect to hear but when I say that being married is okay and that it’s good, they look like they’re expecting more. But in Filipino, when someone asks, “kamusta ka naman?” and you answer with “okay naman” it’s usually a good thing. I guess when using the same expression in English where your reply is a mere “okay”, it’s worrisome. Truth is, I love being married. Yes, there are things that didn’t change from when we were dating and there are things that are new and require some getting used to and there are things that are worse and things that are better. But that’s married life.

The other question I get asked often is whether I like kids and if we’re going to have some. I love kids and yes I would love to have some. Then before I can continue, someone will interrupt and say, “I think you should wait before having them.... it’s a lot of responsibility... wait till you are ready, are stable, when you no longer want to party,...” yada yada yada... it always annoys me... just because I said that I love kids and would love to have some doesn’t necessarily mean I’m trying to get pregnant now. Sometimes I think it’s a trick question you know? It’s like there’s no safe way of answering it without getting some form of lecture or advice. I think next time, I will begin by saying, “We’re waiting to have kids for now but yes I would love to have one when we are ready...” The funny thing is, I know that the closer I get to thirty, the more pressure we’ll be getting to have kids. I’m telling you, you’re either too young to have them or you’re getting too old and you should be thinking of trying to have one. It’s like when you’re engaged and you hear people saying you’re too young to get married or when you’re not in a relationship and you hear people asking you why and then telling you that you’re getting older so you should be thinking of settling down soon. It’s as if you could will your future spouse to come at the right time when people feel you should get married. “Um, do you mind coming into my life when I’m 26 years old and then we can date for about 2 years and then we can marry by the time I’m 28 because that would just be perfect.”

Aaannnyyyhow, I’ve had mixed feelings about the weather lately. I’ve always said how big of a fan I am of warm weather and how I’d rather be hot than be freezing. But it’s been so humid and hot these past few days that it has made sleeping at night a bit uncomfortable. We don’t have airconditionig in our place so it does get really muggy really easily. As a suggestion (if anyone could actually suggest weather and temperature conditions), I would prefer to have hot days and cool nights. Not cold – just cool”er”. That way, it would make sleeping a bit more pleasant.

We were invited to a BBQ this weekend and have been asked to bring meatballs for at least 100 people. So we’re probably going to be spending our Saturday afternoon up to our elbows in ground beef, flour, eggs, mint, onions and breadcrumbs. I’ve never made 100 meatballs before so it should be quite an adventure. I hope we don’t show up for the event smelling like cooking oil!

A Sad Passing...

I had to work during the Civic Holiday so I get tomorrow off instead. Yay! I’ve been meaning to do some errands and catch up on a few things so I’m pretty happy about getting the day off. The only downside is that Steve doesn’t get it off with me so he’ll be stuck at work the entire day. Bummer.

While on MSN the other day, I came across the sad news of Cory Aquino passing away. I am always stunned when I hear about such a prominent and influential individual passing away. I was surprised when Francis M. and Michael Jackson died and I got that exact same shock when I found out about Cory. I can’t help but feel that they were taken away too soon. I remember my dad telling us about the EDSA revolution. I was only a few months shy of being a three-year old at the time and my brother, JR, barely a year old when it occurred. As no one knew how the revolution was going to turn out or what it would mean for the Filipino people, my dad was apparently very worried that it might mean hoarding of goods and supplies and shortage of food. He was particularly worried about the possibility of the shortage of milk – being a dad to two very young children. So he had taken all the money he had with him to the grocery store and bought all the baby formula he could afford. My parents had bought enough baby formula to fill up a small cabinet. They wanted to be sure that if anything should happen, we wouldn’t go starving. Yes, it’s a small thing in the grand scheme of things but I love knowing that my parents always put us first in every situation. It’s one of the many sacrifices they’ve done for our benefit which is why I love my parents very much.

I saw an eighteen-minute snippet of Kris Aquino’s speech during the funeral ceremony and I couldn’t help but get a bit emotional. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a parent. I don’t even want to think of it.

I look forward to a time when death will be no more.

As Revelation 21:4 says:

And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.

All I Can Say Is...

... this movie better be darn good.



I saw a movie poster for it the other day while Steve and I were in the car and I started pointing and squeeling at it like a maniac. Steve started panicking because he was driving and he thought I was pointing to a bug on the windshield (I kinda react that way towards bugs) or something alarming. I told him no, it was just a poster.

I really do hope this movie does not disappoint me. I promise to buy the DVD if it's good so let's make it happen people.

Too much television.

I’m glad this season of the Bachelorette is finally over and we get our Monday evenings back. That’s the problem with having a show you like watching, it tends to take over your time. I’m still a bit disappointed that she didn’t pick the one I wanted but Ed isn’t so bad for her. They do look legitimately happy and he does seem to really love and adore her. Steve and I were saying how obvious it is that the producers of the show really make an effort to make the bachelor/bachelorette look extremely good for the show. Not to say that they don’t look good naturally but you can tell they had to work out to get a toned body. Not only that, but they always look so fab during the show. Just look at their clothes, hair and make-up!

I didn’t get a chance to watch last night’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance because we were busy preparing dinner for some guests we are having tonight and also because I was busy cleaning the bathroom. It took me 2 hours again! Ugh. At least this time I didn’t have to do the laundry at the same time since I already did it over the weekend. I saw the 100th episode of So You Think You Can Dance last week and I was so disappointed with Katie Holmes’ dance. All she did was lip synch to a song and do some really basic dancing (if even that). They made such a big fuss about it that it raised my expectations only to be disappointed. It kinda sucked. I think she’s gorgeous though – with long or short hair.

I am still bummed out about the fact that both Jason (there goes Mr. Cutie) and Janette got eliminated last week. To be honest, as much as I like Evan, I think he should have gone home. As for the women, I think Melissa should have been eliminated. She’s beautiful and she’s a terrific dancer but she’s not as versatile as the other remaining dancers. I thought she bombed when they did the cha-cha or rumba was it? I can’t remember. But her and Ade didn’t dance it very well. I hope Brandon and Kayla make it to the end because they’re really strong dancers. Kayla, I think, lacks personality but she’s got the technical skills.

When So You Think You Can Dance is over, I’ll probably try watching Wipeout. It’s on the same time slot as So You Think You Can Dance which is why we never see it but I’m hoping that whe SYTYCD is over, we can begin watching. It’s hilarious! I always find it funny seeing the contestants tumble their way through it. I don’t know if they get hurt when they bounce off those giant red balls but it sure looks painful the way they hit themselves and fall sometimes.

TV can be soooo addictive.

Yummy!

My co-worker has an entire jar of pistachios on his desk and man, they’re so addictive! I always find myself gravitating towards that dumb jar. They’re just soooo good! But really salty too which is why I am trying to stop myself from devouring too much of it. I have a bag of frosted flakes hidden in one of my drawers which I snack on every now and then. I don’t like eating my cereal with milk so I eat cereal the way I eat potato chips. Since the pistachios are so salty, I usually follow it with my frosted flakes and because it’s sweet, I end up getting really thirsty so I’ll drink several glasses of water through the course of the day and in turn end up having to go to the washroom so often. So there... there’s the vicious cycle that’s been going on at work. By the end of the day, I’m all snacked out that I’ve lost my appetite for a proper meal.

I ate THE perfect mango last night for dessert. Steve had come home from playing basketball with his friends and I was watching the finale of The Bachelorette (I’m disappointed she didn’t pick Kiptyn by the way!) and he peeled and sliced a mango for me. It was soooo good! Just the right amount of sweetness and firmness. It kinda reminds me of an Indian Mango common in the Philippines and it tasted just like the Indian Mangoes that grew in our backyard when we still lived there. I kept telling him over and over again how delicious it was and he kept telling me he doesn’t like mangoes because to him, it tastes like soap. Don’t ask me why because I don’t understand how it could possibly taste like soap. Weird! If I had bagoong (shrimp paste), it would have been heaven. Yum yum!

Another co-worker told me that there's a Bario Fiesta here in Toronto too. I just don't know if it's the same as the one in the Philippines or not. But she said they have halo-halo there so I think I'm going to check it out. Steve always asks me what halo-halo means in english and I tell him it literally translates to mix-mix. Hahahaha! He doesn't really like any of the Filipino desserts. But I think it's just a matter of him trying as much as he can until he finds one he actually loves.

All this talk of food is giving me some massive cravings. I want to go on a food trip!

Funny Wedding Dances

My cousin posted this video on her Facebook page and I thought it was super creative and hilarious at the same time. What a great idea to start a big celebration. I wish I had thought of this for my wedding!

I also found this video on YouTube which I thought was rather amusing.

Clean

My hands are so dry from cleaning the bathroom yesterday. I was tired and wanted to just take a nap but I ended up having a really bad nightmare and I was scared to go back to sleep so I decided to do some chores instead and keep myself distracted. I figured I’d do the laundry since I’ve been meaning to do it for awhile now and there were already 3 loads to do. So I hauled all of our dirty clothes to the wash (I had to make 2 trips... we had so many clothes to wash and I couldn’t carry everything including the detergent, fabric softener and bleach in a single trip). After letting 2 washing machines run, I went back upstairs and started cleaning the bathroom. It took me 2 hours to finish because I wanted it to be thoroughly clean. I realize there really isn’t any graceful way of cleaning the bathroom... you have to be on all fours, scrubbing everything and reaching high and low just to make sure everything is spotless. I kept having to run back downstairs to check the laundry...I actually realized I had the left our front door open so many times. By the time I finished cleaning the bathroom, the entire apartment smelled like Vim. I took the fan from our bedroom, opened the bathroom windows and just let the fan blow out all of it. Since I was still waiting for the laundry to be done, I decided to do some sweeping and vacuuming. I also tidied up the living room a bit. I was tired after doing all the chores but it felt good knowing that I accomplished a lot for the afternoon. When Steve got home, he started making dinner and then we went out for a walk to Blockbuster to rent a video. We also passed by Baskin Robbins on the walk back home so I could get a tub of ice cream...Yum!!

Dinner turned out nicely – roasted chicken with potatoes and corn cob on the side (omg I’m beginning to sound like a housewife). Steve’s such a good cook... I wish I could cook that well. He’s patiently teaching me so hopefully one day I will master the dishes he makes. I’ve already mastered his Greek salad, ribs and mashed potatoes (they’re easy dishes to make). I attempted to cook Tortang Talong once but it turned out bland and not quite the way my mom makes it. I haven’t attempted it since but Steve’s traumatized (I think) from that cooking experience so it might be awhile before I make a second attempt. JR says I’ve ruined the dish for Steve permanently and that he wouldn’t be surprised if I ruin Filipino food for him for good because I make such horrible dishes. I take him to Filipino restaurants once in awhile and he has his favourites like Beef Kaldereta, Menudo (only if it there’s no liver in it) and pork barbeque (he absolutely loves it). He actually once Googled the recipe for Beek Kaldereta and we attempted to make it from home. It turned out okay but I still think my mom’s recipe is better. Steve loved his version though.

I want to make Tinolang Manok, Tortang Ampalaya and Pinakbet because I haven’t had them for a long time. I don’t think Steve will like tortang ampalaya because last time we were at a Filipino restaurant, I made him try it and he said it was too bitter. He doesn’t mind Pinakbet so I think that’s a safe dish to make. I’m also craving this dish my mom makes which has squash and gata (I think). I think Filipino recipes are better learned from family members... the ones that have been passed on from generation to generation. For some reason, they just don’t turn out as good if the recipe came from the internet.

Last night after washing the dishes, I thought about halo-halo... I think I’m going to go on Google and look for any Filipino restaurants that might serve it here in Toronto. All this talk about food is making me hungry!

Man, I wish I could dance like them!

I didn't get a chance to watch the full episode of So You Think You Can Dance last night and only caught a few of the last performances. Among those that I was able to see, I loved this one the most. I think it was danced really well and I loved Wade's choreography. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

It got me

Once all alone
I was lost in a world of strangers
No one to trust
On my own, I was lonely
You suddenly appeared
It was cloudy before but now it's clear
You took away the fear
You brought me back to life

You are the sun
You make me shine
Or more like the stars
That twinkle at night
You are the moon
That glows in my heart
You're my daytime my nighttime
My world
You're my life

Now I wake up everyday
With this smile upon my face
No more tears, no more pain
Cause you love me
You help me understand
That love is the answer to all that I am
And I?m a better man
You taught me by sharing your life

You are the sun
You make me shine
Or more like the stars
That twinkle at night
You are the moon
That glows in my heart
You're my daytime my nighttime
My world
You're my life

You gave me strength
When I wasn't strong
You gave me hope when all hope is lost
You opened my eyes when I couldn?t see
Love was always here waiting for me

You Are My Life
- Michael Jackson

I didn't get a chance to watch the memorial for Michael Jackson yesterday because I was at work and last night we weren't home to see the recap. So this morning I looked for some clips on MSNBC as well as YouTube. I have always been somewhat curious of the relationship between Michael and his children so I was glad to see some pictures and home videos. He seems like a lovely father based on what I just saw. I feel sorry for the kids because no child should ever lose a parent especially at such a young age. I think that despite Michael's quirks, he really loved his children and did his best to protect them from the prying eyes of the public. I think that despite the fame that surrounded him and all the crazy antics, he did what he could and gave them the best of him.

In the videos I saw, You Are My Life was playing in the background and I couldn't help but get teary-eyed. It is a beautiful song.

Wes is gone! Woot Woot!

I am soooo happy that Wes was finally eliminated from the Bachelorette last night. The snake should have been kicked out from the show a long time ago. Jake, Michael or Jesse should have been at the top 4 instead of stupid Wes (is it obvious that I don’t like him at all?). I just don’t think it’s fair that he went as far as he did on the show. I don’t like the fact that he went in it with the wrong intentions. The song he made for Jill wasn’t anything special anyways. It was kinda annoying actually. I told Steve last night that if he somehow didn’t get eliminated, I would have stopped watching the show. I don’t think I can stand another episode with him in it.

Anyhow, I really hope she ends up with Kiptyn. I don’t mind Ed either actually. Reed isn’t bad but she just seems more compatible with either Kiptyn or Ed. She obviously has a physical connection with Ed but I think that there is a comfort level with Kiptyn that just comes naturally between them. I also admire Kiptyn’s honesty when he said that although he feels that everything is going better than expected between them, he also feels that a proposal is somewhat far off. I think it’s perfectly okay to want to know each other better before getting engaged. At least it shows that he takes it seriously. He is right... how well do you really know a person in a month or two? How do you know this is the person you want to spend the rest of your life with?

I find Ed charming and it’s obvious that Jill has the physical chemistry with him (he must be a good kisser or somethin’) but as much as she’s attracted to Ed, I think you need to be with someone who you can be with beyond all the physical chemistry... what happens when all that fades?

So yea, I’m hoping she chooses well. I can’t believe how invested I am with this show now considering wasn’t too crazy about it in the beginning.

The Weekend

As usual the weekend went by again in a hurry. On Friday evening, we decided to have dinner with my family and my brother’s friend, Dan, who had spent the week in Toronto to see my brother. Since it was his last night in town, we thought it would be nice to take him out for dinner as a family. He’s never been to a Greek restaurant before so we took him to Danforth which is basically Greek town here in Toronto. I was hoping to eat at Mezes because it’s one of the best (if not the best) restaurant there and they have such good food. They are a bit pricey (dinner for 4 people could easily go over $200) but the quality of the food is just outstanding. They have the best iced tea in Toronto as far as I can tell. Steve always complains about the fact that they seem to nickel and dime you for just about anything. You pay for each glass you consume instead of it being refillable like most places in Toronto. I don’t really mind... okay, let me rephrase that..., I am also conscious of the money we spend when we go out for dinner. But we don’t eat at Mezes everyday so I don’t mind paying more than usual when we do go there.

Mezes was packed when we got there. We didn’t have reservations because earlier that day we couldn’t decide on where to eat. Since the wait was long and we didn’t want to have to stand in line all night for dinner, we decided to go to Ouzzeris instead. It was also busy but not as packed as Mezes. We were able to get a table for seven and soon enough we were seated and having a delicious meal. The food is good too and about the same price as Mezes. We ended up staying there for almost 2 hours.

The following day, Steve and I just did some stuff in the morning then ate lunch at home and took a nap in the afternoon. I always feel good when I get the chance to nap. I also always end up getting a headache after napping. I never used to but now I do and I don’t really know why. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to nap... I still love it! After our nap, we headed out to dinner with Steve’s dad and sister at a patio. Boy, his old man sure can eat! I am always surprised at how much food his tummy is able to hold. After dinner with them, we went back home, changed to warmer clothing and then headed out again to meet some friends for a bonfire by Lakeshore. They were doing fireworks at the Exhibition Place and from our spot on Lakeshore we had a perfect view of the city and the fireworks. It was a bit chilly if you weren’t sitting by the fire but we did have a good time. Good thing though that we ate dinner before going... I don’t think the chips would have done it for us.

Sunday morning Steve let me sleep in a little bit then we took his mom out for lunch. Later that evening we made dinner at home (we already spent so much eating outside) and then rented a DVD from Blockbuster. We decided to rent Confessions of a Shopaholic since we haven’t seen it and I was curious. It was okay... quite funny because I could relate to her shopping addiction although on a much smaller scale compared to her. She was just crazy! I love the part where she’s trying to rationalize buying the green scarf and in the end she tells herself it’s “really an investment”. Hahaha! That part was so me! I always convince myself that my expensive purchases are good investments. Steve gave me a knowing look at the part where Rebecca says “I forgot I even had this!” when she realizes she has this little black dress in her closet. It certainly wasn’t Oscar-worthy but it was still entertaining. I just hope I don’t turn into a shopping maniac like her. It would be such a disaster.

So that was what made up my weekend. Short but quite enjoyable.

Lovely little things

Oohhh found these on ETSY and I WANT them!!

Almost late

Toronto weather’s been nice lately. We’re finally getting temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius. We had to buy a fan because we don’t have airconditioning in our apartment. We slept so soundly last night that we both woke up extremely late this morning and had to rush to be able to make it to work on time. I had a sudden adrenaline rush when I saw the time on our bedside clock. I couldn’t believe that it said 7.43 on it. At first I thought, “that couldn’t be right…” so I woke Steve up and asked him if the time was right. He just nodded and said, “yeah…” and closed his eyes again. My next thought was sh*t we’re going to be late!! I think I may have heard the alarm go off earlier but I think I dozed right back to sleep and that’s probably why we both woke up so late. I hate waking up and realizing I’ve gone waaay past my “getting-up” time. It screws up my morning routine completely and I spend the next few minutes panicking and trying to organize my thoughts and figure out what I should do and the order I should do them so that I can be out the door right away without forgetting anything. Surprisingly, with all that mad dash to get to work on time, we actually arrived a few minutes earlier that we usually do. Oh the power of our adrenaline! Better than Red Bull I tell ya.

I overheard a colleague talking to our manager about his vacation time. He had just submitted his vacation request and they’re trying to figure out if the time he’s taking off is going to conflict with another colleague. I couldn’t help but feel envious. Dude, I want to go on vacation too! I know we just came back from our trip to Punta Cana 2 months ago but still…I feel like going back to the resort and spending a week or two there. It’s soooo nice just sitting on the beach with the sound of the waves nearby. I LOVE the beach and I was blessed to have been proposed to and wed at the beach. I can just imagine myself sitting on a lounge chair, sipping a cold beverage and just basking in all that sunlight. Maybe I should stop torturing myself by thinking of it too much. It makes it hard to concentrate at work.

Back to work!

Love furniture shopping

This morning a colleague asked me how my weekend was and I honestly couldn’t remember what I did! I had to think hard for a while! It’s so strange…

Steve and I saw the Hangover with his cousin, had lunch with his mom and sister, saw my family, gave away old clothes to a charity drive and bought dining chairs at iKea. We’ve been looking for dining chairs and a book case for awhile now so we were pretty excited to have found the dining chairs we bought. We found a really beautiful book case at Crate and Barrel but it was unbelievably expensive so we didn’t get it. We might settle for a Billy book case from iKea which you can buy separate pieces and then put them together any way you like it. We just haven’t decided on what we want to do with it exactly so we’re holding off on it for now. Plus, it won’t fit in the car so we either borrow his dad’s van or get it delivered.

Since the dining chairs are from iKea, it required assembly. We decided to put them together last night and it was a bit painful. There were really only 4 things that needed to be screwed together but we had difficulty with attaching the back of the chair to the seat. The bolts just wouldn’t go through! Steve was getting so frustrated that he started to regret buying them. We did eventually put all of them together then we realized that the chairs were too wide to fit two of them between the dining table legs. In the end, we decided to expand the dining table by adding the leaf in the middle (it’s an extendable dining table that can sit 4-6 people) so that we could fit two chairs side by side on each side. Although it was a lot of work, I actually am pretty pleased with how it turned out. Steve, on the other hand, was a bit agitated after all that effort so we had to go for a walk around the block to calm him down. Hahahaha!

Our place is slowly coming along but there’s still a lot to be done. While we were at iKea, we noticed they had a room with a bunch of furniture and décor in the same color scheme we had in mind for our living room so we’re thinking of painting our living room with the same color as that room. It’s funny how similar Steve and my tastes are when it comes to furniture and items for the house considering we have such different tastes in clothing. It’s so evident when we go shopping together for clothes. He’ll often point to a dress that I will never wear in a million years and tell me it’s beautiful. I just raise one eyebrow and tell him it’s ugly. But when it comes to furnishing our apartment, we’ll often eye the same things at the same time. So it really is quite easy agreeing on what to get. We also have no problems agreeing on the colors. We’re only focusing on our kitchen and living room for now. We’ll eventually move on to other areas of the apartment later on.

The best part of furniture shopping for us is finding things we love at reduced prices. Sometimes we come across an item so beautiful and unique and finding out it’s marked down is BIG bonus. It’s almost wrong to not buy it. While we were at iKea, we also saw this really cute wall unit on sale. It was so cheap that we were considering buying it. The only problem is, we don’t know where we would put in our apartment. Otherwise, we would have surely bought it.

Pier 1 is growing on me. I find so many nice little knick-knacks in affordable prices. I always thought that store was expensive but they're actually not bad. I can't help but get excited everytime we pass by a Pier 1 store. It's like I'm a kid again about to go in the toy store. Everything's just so beautiful.

Why me?

Our CEO approached me today to ask how QA is doing. I gave him a safe answer by saying that we were getting there. I never really get into details with him as it is never good to do so. Not that I am trying to be sneaky about anything. But he does tend to make a big fuss about unnecessary things and completely ignores the big issue at hand. So the safest bet in every situation is to give a safe answer and let the managers take care of the rest. It has always been the way to go within our company.

So anyhow, he asked me if it would be possible to have a meeting with him at some point to go over the QA process. He was curious as to how we do QA – what steps are involved, how we track and report issues, how do they get passed on to development... and so on. I told him I wouldn’t mind having the meeting with him and all he has to do is let me know when he wants to have it. I acted cool, calm and collected... just like how a good employee acts when in front of the big boss. But the truth is, as soon as he leaves, I freak out. I freak out because he really should be having this meeting with my supervisor who is the head of QA and not me. I freak out because I don’t know what his expectations are, what it is exactly he is looking for in terms of QA processes. Mostly I am freaking out because I don’t know what to do and I don’t know just how much information he is looking for and how much information my supervisor is comfortable with me giving (remember the whole keep the details away from him issue I mentioned earlier?).

My other boss (yes, I have multiple bosses because I’m special...hahahaha.. kidding! I have so many different tasks that span different departments so I end up having to report to more than one manager) told me to go ahead and just show him how it’s done. Easy for him to say because he doesn’t have to be in that meeting and he really isn’t involved in that part of my work. Eck! I am so anxious it’s making me sick.

I really hope I get a chance to speak to my supervisor first (she’s on vacation but should be back tomorrow) so that she can give me advice as to how best to go over the meeting with the CEO. Or better, have her spare me the trouble!

If worse comes to worse, I may just have to wing it and hope for the best. Totally not comforting.

10 Embarrassing Songs...

So the rule is to list 10 embarrassing songs from your iTunes library. You know, the songs that you have downloaded and probably listen to once in a while (or maybe a lot) but you’d never admit to having it in the first place. Oh, and I didn’t come up with this idea... I just happened to come across it from another blog. I just thought it would be fun to come up with my very own embarrassing song list. So here goes...

Baby Got Back by Sir Mix A Lot - This is a more recent download actually. While we were in Punta Cana a month ago, we went to the disco within the resort and they played it while we were there. My cousin and I just had so much fun making whacky dance moves and laughing our heads off to this song so I decided to download it because although the lyrics really are shallow, it always puts a smile on my face. C’mon, how can you resist not singing along to...

I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung...

Don’t you just want to laugh?

Be A Good Lover (Zuo Ge Hao Qing Ren) by Jerry Yan - I think you all know by now how big of a Meteor Garden fan I was back then (and in some ways I still am) and... I ended up actually listening to the F4 albums and buying their concert DVDs! There I said it! I know, it’s silly because I can’t even understand the lyrics but I love them anyway! I would never dare listen to it in the car with someone else present though... they just wouldn’t understand.

Boombastic by Shaggy - Two words for ya – Levis Commercial!

Yes, remember the Levis Ad where they had this clay man wearing Levis jeans and he zip lines from the top of his building to rescue the lady in the burning building using his jeans? I think that’s where this Shaggy song became so popular. Anyhoodle, I have it in my iTunes library because I think Mr. Levis is HOT. Hahahaha! Kidding! I just like the song really... funky and funny at the same time.

Liquid Dreams by O-Town - Okay, I don’t really remember any other O-Town song although I’m sure there are others. The only one that stands out is this one (obviously if it’s the only one I can remember!). I remember thinking to myself back then, what’s up with the title? Then after listening to the lyrics I went, “oohhh.. ew...” hahahaha! But I like the song anyway.

Posters of love surrounding me, lost in the world of fantasy
Every night she comes to me and gives me all the love I need.

Now this hot girl, she's not your average girl
She's a morpharotic dream from a magazine
And she's so fine designed to blow your mind
She's a dominatrix supermodel beauty queen

I dream about a girl who's a mix of Destiny's Child
Just a little touch Madonna's wild style
With Janet Jackson's smile, throw in a body like Jennifer’s
You've got the star of my liquid dream

....
Looks ain't everything she's got the sweetest personality
Like Halle B
My mama thinks I'm lazy, my friend all think I'm crazy
But in my mind, I leave the world behind every night I dream
Oh.

Liquid Dreams, my Liquid Dreams
Waterfall and streams, these liquid dreams

Mambo No. 5 by Lou Bega - This, I think, classifies as a one-hit-wonder. I don’t even know what happened to Lou Bega after Mambo No. 5. My mom absolutely loves this song and a part of me thinks that I downloaded it because it reminds me of how her face lights up every time she hears it. She always bobs her head in a cute, funny way.

What's New Pussycat by Tom Jones - Okay, I honestly do not know how this song got into my iTunes library to begin with. I am guessing I had copied it from a CD together with other songs that I actually like. It’s so annoying too because during the odd times it ends up playing on my iPod, it gets stuck in my head and I get a really bad case of LSS (Last Song Syndrome). I tell you, it’s bad spending your afternoon hearing Tom Jones sing “What’s new pussycat? Ohhhh ohhhh..” over and over and over again.

You’re probably wondering, why don’t I just remove it? Because my dears, it’s still a classic song! Hahahaha!

Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex by CSS - The only reason this song made it to my library is from a TV commercial (yes, as you may have noticed I have a bad habit of picking up songs from TV commercials... I actually have a bunch of them on my iPod). I don’t even really like it. I think I liked it for a few minutes after I downloaded it and then that was it. It’s just one of those songs where if I happened to be listening to it, I really hope no one asks me what I’m listening to. It’s just really uncomfortable having to respond with, “Music is my hot, hot sex”.

Oh! Carol by Neil Sedaka - Huh. I didn’t even know I had this. You know what it reminds me of? Driving to church on Sunday mornings. While we lived in the Philippines, we used to tune into this radio station (I forgot which one it was) and they would play oldies like this one. We used to like it so much that it almost became a family tradition. I can just picture my boss’ expression if I ever played this song out loud at work... hahahaha! He’d be like, WTF?

Stars Are Blind by Paris Hilton - Oh boy... I don’t know what to tell ya.

Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!! by The Vengaboys - I don’t know why. But it sounds like a fun song... you can’t help but think of the Vengabus right? Hahaha! Seriously though, it reminds me of a DDR song.

I could use some zzzzz..

It’s Monday morning, we’re back to work and I am exhausted. Steve and I had a busy weekend attending a conference in Kitchener from Friday to Sunday and we haven’t gotten much rest. We were up as early as 6.30 am and then getting home at roughly about the same time in the evening. I was so tired that I fell asleep on the way home every day. And then last night, we went to Mississauga to spend some time with a visiting family friend so we didn’t get home until late. It was past midnight by the time we went to bed. So you can just imagine how difficult it was for both of us to get out of bed this morning. We had forgotten to set the alarm clock too! Luckily, I happened to glance at the clock at just the right time.

The drive to Kitchener took about an hour or maybe a bit more but it was a smooth ride for the most part. We did encounter a bit of traffic on the way there both Friday and Saturday mornings and then got stuck on the way back on Friday afternoon. I find it to be a quiet ride with a nice view of some farm land and what appeared to be a ridge. I liked Kitchener too – it seemed like a quiet, peaceful place to live in and I found the residents to be very friendly. The houses we passed by were really cute and I couldn’t help but admire them. It was also nice seeing so many kids outside riding their bikes with their parents. You don’t get to see very many of those here in Toronto.

Although the ride there took only an hour or so, it felt long to me. It’s weird because I should be used to long rides – with all that back and forth commute to UST which sometimes took up to 3 hours! It seems I may have gotten used to travelling short distances within the GTA and anything over an hour makes me a bit impatient. I still enjoyed the ride though I kinda felt sorry that Steve had to drive us to and from for all 3 days (I haven’t applied for my driver’s license yet... I should though and soon).

I could really use at least 8 hours of sleep right now.

Love it

I love this new site called Swish and Swanky which I recently discoved while browsing through blogs. Oh how I adore all the lovely colors and decor! Just beautiful.

See what I mean? Some people are just REALLY talented when it comes to putting things together. If I can make our apartment look like the rooms featured on the blog, I'd be very happy.

Frosted Flakes and Fairy Dust

So I finally decided to make some minor changes to my page layout. I call it “minor” because I basically re-used one of my former templates and tweaked it to make the design a bit better (I hope!). It didn’t take me a long time (surprisingly!) since I was able to find the things I needed quite easily. I know, the colors are somewhat “childish” – light blues, pinks and greens – but it’s easy on the eyes so I figured why not?

To the people that developed Adobe Photoshop, a BIG THANK YOU!! I love it more each time I use it. I always learn something new.

Looks like there won’t be any furniture shopping this weekend... BOO! We’re extremely busy so I don’t think we’ll have time to look around. Le sigh...

We have to go somewhere tonight for dinner and it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to go home early. That means we also won’t be able to go to bed early. Which means that we’ll be up early tomorrow and I’ll be bobbing for apples by mid-day. Yeesh. I just hope nobody notices... I think I’ll have to buy me some gum. Actually, maybe I’ll buy me plenty o’ gum.

When we went grocery shopping two weeks ago, I bought a big box of Frosted Flakes. Steve kept asking me if I’d be able to finish it since it doesn’t look like anyone else will be eating it but me. He kept reminding me that it would be a waste of money for me to buy an entire box and not eat it (I suddenly felt like a five-year old again). I told him I honestly don’t know if I’m going to be able to finish the box but I love Frosted Flakes so I don’t think I’ll have a problem eating plenty of it. He says he doesn’t understand how I can eat cereal without milk. I told him milk ruins it. I love my cereal plain. Like eating a bag of potato chips except they’re not made of potatoes and they’re sweet. I’ve been eating it little by little and the box is now half-empty. Hey maybe I will be able to finish it after all!

Oh and by the way, I didn’t necessarily find a “creativity” store. But I did borrow some fairy dust from a pixie this morning. Hopefully it's working!

Where do I buy a bit of creativity?

I am considering revamping my blog but I’m too lazy to do it. It takes so much work to have it look like the way I want it and since I don’t always know what codes to use, I have to go online and do a bit of research. I also often find myself looking for graphics and images to use and the ones that are free aren’t always that great, and the ones that are great aren’t always free. I got really inspired after seeing a few other blogs that had such beautiful designs. The only problem is, most of them were web designers and they know a lot more than I do. I know what I know only be reading and practicing but that’s about it. I need to re-learn web design via Photoshop since I’ve already forgotten most of it.

I am also considering changing the site name but I can’t think of anything. How do other people come up with such cool and witty names anyway? I feel like a dumbass for not being able to come up with anything creative or original. You’d think I’d know a lot of words with all the reading I do but nothing comes to mind whenever I think about it... nada, nil, zero, NOTHING.

Other people can pull it off with a simple phrase or word and it would still sound interesting. Me? I come up with the cheesiest names possible. I don’t even dare mention the names that have come to mind.

Oh how frustrating... do you think I can buy creativity even for a day?

The way of the geese

It’s already June but it’s still cold during the mornings and evenings. I’m disappointed because I thought I’d be wearing flip flops by now! Instead I’m still going out with a jacket... MEH!

The geese are in town having babies and I don’t know why but they seem to always come back to our area. I don’t really get it since we’re in an industrial area in the city and it’s not like we’re beside a pond or anything. It’s quite amusing because there’s a pair of geese in almost every building and they build their nests and lay their eggs. Our pair wasn’t very smart because they’ve decided to build their nest up on our roof (our building is a single storey by the way) and it gets really hot up there with barely any protection against the elements. We suspect that the babies had died because the pair of geese we have aren’t very good parents and it seemed they neglected to feed their young. The poor little babies weren’t big enough to go down from the roof to our lawn to fend for themselves.

It’s quite cute because the babies of other geese in neighbouring areas have grown and we see them crossing the street or walking across lawns and there’s so many of them. There are parents and babies and there must be about ten pairs of geese and their young ones of different sizes. It’s funny when they cross the road and they walk sooo slow that they cause traffic. I find it rather amusing when the babies decide to lie down in the middle of the road, totally oblivious to all the cars waiting to cross. Steve says they’re defiant because they don’t seem to want to move even when there’s a car tire or person right beside them. Man I tell you, they must know they’re protected by law and that they can’t be harmed.

I still haven’t figured out what it is that they eat at lawns but whatever it is, they seem to like it very much.

Furniture and Decor

Among the many new and exciting experiences of being married is picking out furniture and decorating our apartment. We live in a 2-bedroom apartment with a balcony in a quiet neighbourhood amidst beautiful, big houses. I have to say that it’s both inspiring and depressing living around big homes. Inspiring because it motivates me to do well in my career so that one day, hopefully, we too could live in a decent-sized house. Maybe not as big as the ones around us, but one that can fit a family. But like I said it’s also depressing at times because I can’t help but wonder if we’re ever going to get there. I can’t help but envy the people who own those houses. I always tend to wonder about what do they do for a living, how they can afford such luxuries and wishing that us, too, could afford the fancier things in life someday.

Anyhow, I find furniture shopping somewhat addictive. I get so giddy knowing that we’re going to go see a furniture store. I can’t wait to see what they’ll have and what new ideas it will give me. It’s always fun even when we’re just looking because it give us as glimpse of what we could do with our place. New ideas about what color to paint the room, how to arrange our furniture, little trinkets that could spice up our little space and so on. I’m always amazed at how talented other people are at putting things together especially when they combine different colors in a room. A purple couch with green pillows and a pink paisley rug?! Who knew it could look so good?!

I keep seeing different kinds of color schemes and they all look so good when put together that it’s beginning to confuse me. One day I want red, the next it’s green and then white and then blue... Eck! So many color combinations to choose from, so many different ideas! I almost want to try them all just to see which one we’ll like the best. That’s not a very practical thing to do, of course, but it would be fun.

There are still a few big items we need to purchase for our living room but buying furniture is no joke. It costs a lot of money and even when you don’t think it’s a lot, it IS a LOT. I am always surprised when it comes to paying for it. “Huuwaaat?! It’s THAT much?!” We are also thinking of painting and it’s always a question of when do we paint and what color to paint our rooms with. But as Steve keeps reminding me, Rome wasn’t conquered in a day. So I think we’ll take our time and continue to look around and save up until we find something we absolutely love. We’ve both decided that it’s better to hold out for something we both really want rather than settling with what’s good enough. After all, if we’re spending that kind of money, we might as well buy something we really, really like.

Updates.

This is my very first attempt to post directly to Blogger from MS Word 2007. I didn’t even realize this was an available feature until today. I honestly don’t know how I missed it before! So we’ll see how this post goes and if it looks okay, then maybe this will become my method for posting.

I have recently discovered shopping online for Bath & Body Works. They opened their first location here in Toronto at Yorkdale mall but they don’t carry all their products. There’s so much more on the website. Too bad... the ones I like are not available at the store so I have to buy them online which means I’ll have to pay shipping costs on top of it. They’re pretty affordable at $8-$15 compared to buying L'Occitane at $45-60. I still love, love, love the Almond Milk Concentrate from L'Occitane even though it sells for $58 (plus tax!). It’s just sooooo good with a light scent that stays from when you put it on in the morning to when you go to bed at night. I find it really expensive for a body lotion but it’s my favourite so I’ll splurge. I’m one of those people who are very particular to the creams they use. Some people splurge on coffee beans and cigarettes... I splurge on body creams and lotions.

The last book I read was the Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Our VP had lent it to me a week before the wedding and I was so busy that I never really had the chance to read it until after we came back from our trip. I actually brought it with me to Dominican but could only read a few lines here and there and then I would drop it and just go swimming. I found it slow in the beginning but I kept on reading it until I got to the part where I could no longer put the book down because I was dying to find out more. The conclusion was very surprising, one that I didn’t expect. I found the book very different because it had a sort-of melancholy tone and I couldn’t distinguish whether it was sad or mysterious or both. Nonetheless, it was a really good read. There is still a book at home I haven’t read and it’s entitled The Long Walk Home by Will North. I started reading the first few chapters several months ago and for some reason I forgot about it. I literally put the book down and put stuff on top of it and just completely forgot I even had the book. I have to re-read the first few chapters because I can’t recall what I had already read. Last week, I saw a book at Indigo called The Disappeared and it looked interesting. I was going to buy it but then I changed my mind because I still have a book to read at home.

I just have this big urge to read. I can’t go for months without reading. It’s like writing, I just feel the need to do it because I enjoy it so much.

The big highlight of my work day was making strawberry shortcakes. They’re so yummy and perfect for an afternoon snack. Exactly what I need to tide me over until five pm. Yum Yum Yum!

They finally narrowed it down to the top 20 dancers on So You Think You Can Dance last night. I was so bummed out that Alex Wong didn’t make it simply because he is under contract and wasn’t allowed out of it for a few months. I felt soooo bad for him because he looked like he really wanted it and he seemed like such a strong and talented dancer. I also felt bad that they chose between Ryan and Evan. It just wish they didn’t have to choose between the 2 brothers. They were both equally talented and Ryan just sounded like he needed a break.

I can’t wait till it gets to the choreography... it will be a blast!

Grumpy.

I’m having a really bad day at work. Not only did I have so many things to do today, but I also received a phone call from a really difficult client who almost single-handedly consumed what little remaining patience I had in me. I’ve had several back and forth emails and conversations with our development team regarding certain major issues within our application and because there is a bit of communication gap in the department, it has made it even more challenging to get a task done. To top it off, I am told that the pay raise we were promised isn’t exactly going to happen. Just what I needed to hear at the end of my work day.

I suddenly feel very tired and unmotivated. I would elaborate on why exactly it is that I feel so upset over the things I’ve mentioned but something’s are just better left off the internet.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely grateful I even have a job. But sometimes there are things that just drive me off the ledge.

I made a cruel joke

Someone at work showed Steve the Jim Gaffigan comic skit on Hot Pockets and he thought it was so funny that he keeps playing it over and over again. That’s one new thing I’ve learned about him... that when he finds something amusing, he will play it over and over again and will laugh at the exact same things over and over again. I think it’s cute because he tends to think about it even when he’s driving and he’ll suddenly burst out laughing without me knowing what made him do so. I always end up giving him a questioning look and then he’ll tell me he just remembered the clip. He gets so excited that I can’t help but find it rather amusing.

I missed work last Friday and spent the entire day mostly sleeping. Around five in the afternoon, I sent Steve a message on MSN telling him to come home and that dinner’s ready. He arrives home about 20 minutes later (yes, we live that close to work), tells me about his day and the proceeds to surf the internet. After a few quiet minutes, he asks, “Hey honey, where’s dinner?” to which I reply with, “Oh I didn’t make any... I was only kidding...”

He then goes on to saying, “aww... why did you tell me dinner’s ready? I got so excited that you finally decided to experiment in the kitchen...”
And then I say to him, “Oh honey, you should know better.”

He says it was a cruel joke.

I thought about it after and I agree, it was a cruel joke.

I think I'm going to have to make him a meal one of these days...

SYTYCD update!

So You Think You Can Dance is back!! Woot Woot!

Steve and I watched the New York and Denver Auditions last night which aired at eight in the evening. I was so happy I caught it on time because I had no idea it was even on. I liked the song Natalie Reed danced to (it sounded like a Jason Mraz song) and I hope I’ll be able to find it online. Too bad that the Blogging So You Think You Can Dance site is no longer in use. It was really good for getting updates on everything related to the show as well as a good resource for trying to find out what songs the dancers used for their auditions and performances.

I saw some really good auditions last night although Steve was saying that it seemed more female dancers were getting tickets for Vegas compared to male dancers. He wonders if may be they are saying no to some female dancers on purpose to make the numbers more even between males and females. I wonder that myself, but I think it’s a little premature for them to be limiting dancers based on gender. I would think they’d wait until the eliminations in Vegas to narrow it down to the top 20 dancers.

I hope that this season will still feature choreography from Wade Robson, Mia Michaels, Jean Marc Genereux and Dan Karaty. I was also excited to see Sonia last night during the auditions. She was the new choreographer they introduced on the show last season.

I can’t wait until they narrow the dancers down to the top 20!

Lily in Hut?

Saw this on the MSN Wonderwall this morning...



Do you think it's true?

Catching up.

I’m going to try to make up for the weeks I didn’t post a single entry.

I’m happy to report that I have caught up with all my tasks (of course as soon as I say this, I’m sure something will come up). That’s not to say that work hasn’t been a hectic (because it has and still is) but I’m coping with it as it goes along. We’ve lost a key member of our Development Team and although management has informed us of the adjustments that will be made, I still can’t help but worry about how this is going to affect myself and the company in the long run. I’ve been asked to move from my office to the Tech Area to assist with technical support and to guide the team in doing support more efficiently. I am still to do training in my office but my desk has been moved to the tech area. It sure sucks to not be in my own office anymore. Bleh!

The other day, while reading on the MSN website, I came across an article about Mexico’s plan to once again boost tourism since it had declined so much due to the Swine Flu outbreak. I wanted to link the article here but for some reason I couldn’t find it anymore (too bad). Apparently, the plan is to offer tourists travelling to Mexico free vacations for the next three years if they display Swine Flu symptoms within eight days of travelling to Mexico. Would you consider it? Three years of free vacations seems like a tempting offer but don’t forget that you’ll only get it if you actually contract Swine Flu during your visit. Although I enjoy going to all-inclusive resort, I personally don’t think I’d risk going there right now in the midst of the Swine Flu outbreak. Yes, it could all be under control and yes they could be doing intensive check-ups and taking all sorts of precaution but wouldn’t it be wise for us to not tempt it?

I’ve only been back for two weeks and I already feel like I need another vacation!

Guy in Pink Boxers

I thought this was quite cute. Hey, what was he supposed to do? He was sleeping and suddenly they get attacked. At least he had the mind to quickly get up, put his helmet and vest on and prepare for battle. I don't even know what I would have done if I were in the same situation. I'd probably be thinking, "What's going on? Shit, my hair's a mess!" Hahaha! Kidding! Anyhow, I thought I'd share this with you...

Army Spc. Zachary Boyd, 19, who hails from Fort Worth, Texas, said he was in his sleeping quarters at Firebase Restrepo in Afghanistan’s Kunar province when the Taliban attacked the base, forcing him to take up a defensive position while clad only in his helmet, protective vest, a T-shirt and his pink “I Love NY” boxers.

A wire service photographer snapped a photo of Boyd rushing into action in his underwear and the snapshot wound up on the front page of the Star-Telegram and the New York Times.

Article and Image courtesy of Z103.5 Blog Posts

Stay With You

This is the song Steve and I danced to during our wedding in Punta Cana.

We've been together for a while now
We're growing stronger everyday now
It feels so good and there's no doubt
I will stay with you
As each morning brings sunrise
And the flowers bloom in springtime
On my love you can rely
And I'll stay with you

Oh I'll stay with you through the ups and the downs
Oh I'll stay with you when no one else is around
And when the dark clouds arrive
I will stay by your side
I know we'll be alright
I will stay with you

Though relationships can get old
They have the tendency to grow cold
We have something like miracle
Yeah, and I'll stay with you

Oh I'll stay with you through the ups and the downs
Oh I'll stay with you when no one else is around
And when the dark clouds arrive
I will stay by your side
I know we'll be alright
I will stay with you

And there will be heartaches and pains, yes it will
But through it all, we will remain
In this life, we all know
Friends may come, and they may go
Through the years I know I will stay
And in the end I know that we'll find
Love so beautiful and divine
We'll be lovers for the lifetime, yeah
And I'll stay with you
I will stay with you

Oh I'll stay with you through the ups and the downs
Oh I'll stay with you when no one else is around
And when the dark clouds arrive
I will stay by your side
I know we'll be alright
I will stay with you
Everything will be fine
And I will stay with you
Through the end of time
I will stay with you

Stay With You
- John Legend