Christmas Rewards...

I recently saw Jody’s post regarding buying an expensive brand of luggage (a Louis Vuitton ) for herself this Christmas, and I can’t help but agree with her that it is indeed a very damn nice Christmas gift for one’s self.

Actually, I’ve been doing this kind of gift-giving for myself… or probably others will call it self-reward wherein I buy an item that I’ve been eyeing (read: craving ) for the longest time. Something illogical, expensive lavish treat or something you think as a reward-satisfying item that you’ve earned and saved up for some time. And, what would be the perfect timing to get this? Christmas time!

My take on this, I don’t see any harm on rewarding thyself. And in fact, I do encourage people to get something really special and reward-satisfying gift for themselves during Christmas. It’s like a year-end bonus, Santa’s Christmas gift or a grand prize rolled into one for working real hard for the year. It’s more of saying thank you to one’s self for being strong, healthy and simply being happy. A personal gift for being a loving wife, good mother, caring daughter, kind sister and a friend to others.

Well, enough of my justifications, lol.

So, what do I plan to get myself for this Christmas? I want to reward myself with ONE of the lavish treat candies below: ( I am realistic, I can afford to get one item only!)

1. Philip Stein Teslar watch

I am a sucker for watches! Can't stop buying them... I love this watch because of its cool shape on my wrist! :) and for health reasons na din :)


2. A very nice LV bag

I go for the traditional bucket-style. I love shoulder-type bags. Stylish and convenient since I am always on the go :) It looks good on jeans also, my usual get up!

I've wanted to get this bag for I think more than 2 years now. But, with the house construction and other unnecessary expenses, I've diverted my plan to other essential must-buys! Hopefully, this year... pwede na! :)




3. Yellow gold charm bracelets

I love jewelry! I love bracelet with lucky charms or dangles. I’ve outgrown my love for white gold. Yellow gold bracelets will be quite nice addition to my collection.
Probably like these items below...but yellow gold.











Hmmm... choices, choices, choices. Need to make-up my mind soon. Hehehe! For the meantime, dagdag ipon ulit to buy my reward! :)

Oh by the way, Jody was right…. These are all investments, darling! :)

Can't stop jumping!!!

Terrible two… that is what other Moms would tell you as soon as their kid enters the age of two. But are your prepared for a more terrible three? :)

In two months time, my little girl will turn three. But, as I watched her everyday, I can’t help but be amazed as to where she gets all that energy that she can’t stop goofing and jumping around! She loves to jump so much that she won’t stop!

She has this knack of jumping on people (particularly on me!) unexpectedly that you will be caught off-guard. She loves to do this whenever I am with her… whenever I am eating, watching TV, lying on bed or just by simply standing near her...she’ll jump on me with no apparent reason! She’s just so happy doing this! :) I wish that sometimes she would stop… because most of the time, I end up getting hurt with her unexpected jump.

There are times that I would beg Mike to ask her to stop because she won’t listen to me! If I ask her to stop, the more she gets crazy and really “nanggi-gigil” on me. I would sometimes resort to crying na lang or ask Daddy to scold her for me! :( Haayyy…hirap maging Mommy!

I wonder sometimes if jumping is her outlet of saying how much she misses us, since both of us are working. This may be her way of showing her appreciation and joy seeing us at home with her … or this may her way of keeping herself busy all-day or calling our attention by simply telling us: Hey, I am bored at home! I need playmates! Hahaha! Again, this is one of my reasons why I wanted to send her to school.

Well, I’m hoping one day that she’ll stop jumping wildly. But for the meantime, I think I’ll just let her be and enjoy her jumping indulgences. She won’t be forever three … and she’ll definitely outgrow her passion for jumping. And for the meantime, I’ll just enjoy her jumping moments… even it makes me wince once in a while! :)

Catch Sam on her favorite trampoline board… OUR BED!

Fits just perfectly right….

Last Sunday, the sofa on my previous post was finally delivered at our house.

Mike was totally unaware that I also purchased a center table to complement the new furniture. Given the small space we had, buying the center table was quite a challenge but still, I persisted buying this one with a hope that it would fit our living room. And it did.

Finally, it fits just perfectly right…


Posting here new addition inside our house!





*btw, with the new center table, I am praying that Sam will not have any accident with it. Otherwise, hubby will kill me… because he already forewarned me that the table might injure Sam… (God, please keep my baby safe!)

2 Things

Got this blog post from Yen, since I’m quite lazy to post new blog updates, I’ll just do this post instead. Aliw eh! :)

2 things you always bring in your bag (aside from wallet)
cellphone and kikay kit

2 tv shows/telenovelas you love to watch
CSI series and Dr. House. Looking forward to watching the next season of CSI Vegas.

2 softdrinks you enjoyed drinking
Diet coke (forever!) and regular Coke... next option.

2 magazines/books you love reading
Smart Parenting and books by Sophie Kinsella.

2 places/countries you love visiting or would love to visit
If budget permits, I would love to go to Europe and Maldives.

2 hobbies you enjoyed
Shopping and cooking! :)

2 actors you would love to have a date
Brad Pitt and Ben Aflleck

2 websites you never failed to open everyday aside from email and your own blogs/site
Amazon.com and Pinoy cook, love her day to day cooking tips and kwento!

2 fondest childhood memories

Playing patintero, agawan-base, tumbang preso, hide and seek, and piko with my neighbors! Yes, we loved to play outdoor games back then.

Going to fiesta carnival and watching Christmas show at COD,Cubao.

2 scary incident/accident/instance that you will never forget

My first driving accident...not that traumatic, but really unforgettable since it was my first time! After this, I became a pro na…hahaha! got so used to doing police reports and insurance claims na! :)

When Sam underwent major surgery due to Hirschsprung’s disease, I feared for her life.


Take a break, really fun answering these questions! :)

My Sofa Hunt

Was finally able to purchase sofa for our living room. Since Sam’s already quite “toilet-trained”, it would be timely to get our new sofa now. I've been waiting for this moment eversince we transferred to our new house.

Sad to say, I am supposed to buy the sectional sofa from Loft Details (on sale!) but… when I went home to do my measurements, the sofa will not fit my living room! Too bad, I really loved that sectional chair! The color just perfect, khaki/brown colored sofa with floral print pillows! I felt bad when I got my living room measurements! My actual room measurement was 10ft x 10ft. The sofa I wanted to buy was already 6ft x 9ft! No more space for us to walk around. Sadly, Loft Details don’t have small sectional sofas that would fit my space. They don’t do customized sofa also! Really aarrrggghhh!! I really wanted that sofa on my living room... been thinking about it for days on how gorgeous it is, how it will blend with my other furniture pieces inside our house and how it will be the focal point of my living room! So frustrating!! Funny because I even got so frustrated not because I can’t buy the sofa BUT for having a small living room! (very bad of me!)

Anyway, after doing some window shopping, finally found the one! Our Home has a small sectional sofa that would fit my space. I immediately got the measurements and happy to say, the dark choco-brown sectional sofa size was 4ft x 7.5ft. Perfect! The sofa I wanted was available only at Our Home, The Block. So I waited patiently for September 5 to purchase the sofa at The Block. Oh, I was able to get an insider tip that all Our Home outlets will offer great discounts for SM Advantage Card Holders during this day! True enough, I was able to avail great discounts for all my purchases! After paying for the sofa, I even bought center table that would fit rightly on my living room. I also purchased cream-colored shaggy carpet at 50% off and got some accent pillows also to go with the sofa. All of these items will be delivered by Saturday. Can’t wait! I hope everything will fit just right….or else, Mike will kill me! lol.

Maid Stories

Well, I feel so blessed having truly nice and very concerned neighbors who happen to watch our house (and maids) while we are at work. You see, hubby and I work full time and we leave our precious daughter at home with our trusted maids.

I got a surprise call last Thursday from one of my neighbors informing me that one of our maids into a “major fight scene” with our neighbor and her helper. So surprised with the news, I asked my FIL to immediately go to our house (who lives 10 minutes away from us) to check what happened. I immediately called our house also and asked yaya to ensure Sam’s safety and away from all the brouhaha going on outside.

It appears that the cause of the away was a “love triangle” amongst our lady neighbor, a boy helper, somebody’s helper (Sam’s playmate yaya) and my helper! I was informed that it was a huge fight with exchange of bad words, hair-pulling and kicking scene. My helper was outnumbered and was hurt during the fight hence FIL accompanied her to our village security to file charges against her attackers. It was resolved during the “talks” that this incident will not happen again and more so, respect should be given to the owners of the house (us) before dealing with our maids. That is, if they have issues with my maids, they should inform us so we can deal with her accordingly and not to resolve the issue through street fight! Shame on them! :(

Anyway, I really felt helpless and scared when I got the call from my neighbor. I am afraid what might have happened to Sam with nobody to ensure her safety. Imagine, leaving your daughter to your so-called trusted hands and putting all your hopes with them to take care of your child while you are at work! Good thing I’ve got really nice neighbors who were so concerned with my daughter and our property, who called us immediately to report goings-on inside our house. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know all of these and I am sure my maids would not tell!

So, what happened to our maid? Despite my in-laws asking me to replace her immediately, I’ve decided to give her another chance. It’s hard to look for a new replacement especially we’ve already trained and got so used with her ways. She knows how we want our things done inside the house and teaching a new maid would be quite handful and time consuming especially for working moms like me. We’ve become stricter and we imposed new regulations inside the house which I believe would refrain my helper from mingling with other helpers in our street. She’s now on her “probationary” status again, until such time she can prove to us that she can be trusted again.

Sad to say, we will miss Sam’s BFF. Her yaya was also banned from going out so her alaga was also affected. So I guess one less afternoon playmate for Sam! :( We are still hoping that will change, eventually. Kawawa naman kasi yun bata!

Lessons learned:

1.Be really, really nice to your neighbors! Befriend them and let them be your eyes and ears while you are away!
2.Establish good relationship with them. Exchange contact numbers so they can reach you should there be any concerns, emergencies or problems.
3. Avoid getting young helpers -- they tend to fall inlove easily!
4. Maids should not entertain boys, texters, manliligaws etc... Be on watch!
5. Restrict their freedom. Small afternoon chit-chat with other helpers ok but should not be a venue for tsismis or ligaw time. Afternoon play/ relaxation should be kept to a minimum only (1-2 hours)

Christmas List Goodies

Yup, start of the -ber months again... time to pick some Christmas goodies for our family and friends.

My Top Christmas goodies list: --actually, whole year round goodies!

1. Becky's Kitchen - for those oh-so yummy walnut fudge brownies! I love giving this for Christmas! So chewy and very affordable too! Nice packaging also. If you plan to give this for xmas, place your order weeks in advance.

Price: P280/box or P140/half --- ata! forgot the actual price na!

Try to visit their branch at Zobel Roxas St, Makati or better or check them out at Valle Verde 1, Pasig.

2. Adelina's Ham - One of my favorites! I love their boneless ham. Try buying the scrap ham too. Ideal for "baon" or "merienda". Very juicy! You can find them at Tiendesitas or Greenhills. But their main branch is at Kalentong, Mandaluyong (5316833)

3.HOPS (House of Polvoron) special pulvoron - think they have carts available at all SM malls. I love their bite-size polvoron. Price also affordable at P100/box or P50/mini box. Try getting the assorted polvoron flavors. Real good! :) My fave, polvoron with cashew nuts! :)

4. Conti's Mango Bravo - heavenly mango dessert! Affordable too at P700/box. Do check this out at Serendra branch.

5. Mary Grace for super soft ensaymadas and delicious cheese roll. Never fails to delight my clients whenever I bring them box of cheese rolls! hehehe! :)

6. Lord Stow's Bakery - I fell in love with Lord Stow's four years ago when my bestfriend forced me to buy 1 box of egg tarts. Actually, she forced me to bring the egg tarts as our "baon" for our all-girls movie date. It was P25/pc back then and it was really love at first taste!! I love how smooth and creamy the egg custard was made, and the softness of pie crust. Really addictive! My shopping visit to Podium or Glorietta will not be complete without buying Lord Stow's egg tarts!

You can get them at P35/pc now in boxes of 4's, 6's, 8's and 12's. Oh, you'll enjoy them more if eaten slightly warm! Makes the custard more soft and creamy! Yummy! :)

7. Krispy Kreme - Another winner for tokens/give-aways! Really loved their freshly-baked glazed donuts! Think I can eat 3 donuts in one sitting! Very bad! :)

What about you, do you have any goodie finds you can share? :)