These Days

April 23. Vegetable .  This is Apan-Apan , a vegetable dish we ordered during team dinner at XO 46.  It was quite a walk to this restaurant but the ambience, food and company was worth it. April 24. Something you're grateful for .  How appropriate that I get this challenge today, our 7th wedding anniversary.  I edited the wedding photo below and posted it on Facebook.  Most liked and commented post so far, which brings me to two more things I am grateful for, friends and technology that bridge distance and time. April 25. Looking down .  View from the 28th floor of the office building. April 26. Black and white .  I rarely shoot in monochrome.  Most of my black and white photos were taken originally in color, then processed in the PC.  For this challenge, I committed to shooting in true black and white.  I love how this turned out. April 27. Somewhere you went .  I went to a final meeting with the boss at the office....

Over a week ago, our team had a fun run to raise funds for Shelter in a Storm, a charity that the company supports.  We were asked to pledge distances and the company will match $1 per kilometer.   We did this activity in UP  last year .  This year, we opted to stay closer to work.m at Bonifacio High Street. Before the run.  We waited for the sun to start setting before starting the activity.  It was a hot afternoon. I did four rounds on our route. We had dinner at Wee Nam Kee afterwards.

The team leads had dinner at XO 46 last Monday.  This is a Filipino restaurant located along Valero St. in Salcedo Village.  We just walked to the place from the office and it felt like a long walk because I was hungry and wearing heels.  Anyway, the place was really nice.  The interiors are well-designed, very cozy.  The staff addresses the customers as senor/senorita and they wear traditional Filipino costume.  It's refreshing because the concept is unlike what we commonly see in most restaurants. The food served here are popular dishes from the Visayas provinces.  We were able to try a few dishes... Sinugbang Manok (P455) Cebu Lechon Belly (P685) Kinilaw sa Gata Not in picture are Chicken Binakol and one other dish with veggies that I forgot the name of.  The food was really good!  I can see why this would be a go-to place if you want to taste authentic Filipino food apart from the usual kare-kare, sisig, sinigang, adobo...

Knowing God's will is always an interesting topic for many, including me.  This came out top in a survey done by the church about what subjects people want to hear about in the preaching.  We want to know so we can align our decisions and actions to God's will.  This series will run for 3 weeks - What is God's will?  How do we know God's will?  How do we obey God's will? What is God's will? Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will . (Romans 12:2) Good, pleasing and perfect is from God's perspective.  This is why it says 'be transformed by the renewing of your mind' because it is important to realize and acknowledge that and not struggle when things don't go our way.  We can classify the will of God into three -- providential, moral and personal.  God's providentia...

In September 2011, I bought a voucher for a Fotosnaps  photobook.  I've always wanted to make one because it's a fast and easy way to view and show pictures.  Fast forward to April 2012.  I was left with barely a week to complete the layout before the deal expires.  I planned to do it one weekend but it didn't happen so I crammed, rushed the layout and submitted it day before expiry.  Here's the final product. Front Cover Before getting married - in the Philippines Before getting married - in the US April 24, 2005 2006 - Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Camiguin 2007 - Hong Kong, Singapore, Coron, Iligan 2008 - New house in Cavite, Baguio, Manila Ocean Park, Neil's first Christmas 2008 - The Neil Year 2009 - Manila and Iligan 2010 - Atlanta, San Diego, LA, Batangas, Manila, Iligan 2011 - Bohol, Manila, Iligan Past 6 anniversaries Back Cover Given more time, I would have added more text and improved the layout...

After weeks of checking out TVs, we finally upgraded our 15-year-old CRT Sony Trinitron.  Guess which one we got? The small one, of course!  That big unit at the bottom would be impractical in a small condo plus it's still way too expensive.  We bought the 32-inch Sony LED 3D Internet TV.  We're finally caught up with 21st century technology.=) Sony is having a huge sale on the current models because they are due to release the new ones in a month or so.  This TV was 20k off.  In at least 3 shops that we checked, they only had the display units left and we were told it would be the same case here, but we were fortunate that a reseller was around and gave us a new unit.  It came with freebies like a home theater system and a 320GB PlayStation 3.  Cool! The TV was mounted yesterday and SkyCable came for installation as well.  We're back to regular programming.  We went without cable since moving to Makati and I'm still not very...

We are seven! Richard and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary yesterday and we both took the day off from work.  First, it bears mentioning that we both came home from work really late the day before, around 3AM of the 24th.  Rich still had to get up early to take Neil to summer class at 8:30AM and pick him up two hours later.  So we stayed home the whole morning and just had an afternoon/evening date at  Ayala Center Makati. As we were leaving the condo, the receptionist called to inform us of a delivery.  How appropriate is it that I received the album that I ordered from Fotosnaps on this day? We got ourselves pampered at The Spa in Greenbelt.  We availed of a package with 3 different treatments for almost 3 hours.  I love a good massage!  My upper back still hurts because I had a lot of 'hangin-hangin' and the masseuse gave me a good, hard kneading, at my request. After massage, we walked around Greenbelt while trying t...

Three months until Neil turns four!  Whenever I do these posts, I'm always struck by how fast time flies.  He has grown so big, officially 16.3kg and 106 cm.  His doctor says he's between 50th and 60th percentile in weight but above 90th percentile in height. The photo below was taken about a year ago and he's still a baby here.  I'm sure I would say the same looking at his recent photos one year from now... One year ago April 2012 Whenever I ask him, "Are you a baby?"  He says, "Big boy."  So, what is the big boy up to these days?   He attends Orkidstra music classes for two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  This is just for the summer.  He'll be Senior Nursery when the term starts in June. We're starting to talk to him in Filipino and he's currently learning body parts.  I wish we could have started sooner but we should be catching up soon! He's really into The Wiggles and has seen The Big Red Car songs dvd coun...

April 17. Something you don't like .  Ah, so annoying especially since I was trying to get in touch with Mommy to address their visa-related questions.  I got this connection error more than 5 times (!) which is why I was able to capture a photo.  At least I have something for the project no? April 18. Hair . I haven't cut my hair since late 2010.  I need a change but it's hard to go to the suking salon in QC without a car... April 19. Orange . I was on my way to dinner thinking of anything orange I might find at home.  I realized how few orange things we see in nature, at least here in Manila.  I recalled the orange that has been in the ref for at least 2 weeks and decided that was going to be my subject.  When I got home, I found more orange things. Ah, the things you notice just by paying more attention!  So I don't have 1 or 2, but 3 orange things here.=) April 20. Something you drew . So unfortunate that I don't have a photo from ...

I read an article about this book some months ago and I was immediately intrigued.  At that time, there seemed to be a lot of strong reactions/outrage about the strict parenting methods of the author, Amy Chua.  Many people thought it was extreme, even bordering on abuse. I think different strings are pulled when you are reading this book as an American/Westerner vs. Chinese/Asian.  Even before I read it, I agree that parents need to instill discipline in children while they are young.  It's a necessary skill that helps them to be successful later on.  The ways and means of achieving this can differ from parent to parent.  As they say, there are as many parenting styles as there are parents! I bought the book last Sunday, finished it Monday.  That's how engrossing this was to me and I would bet most parents would find this to be compelling as well.  It was interesting to read about a very different kind of parenting than I have been exposed to...