It’s been a while since the last time I wrote a blog, an unpaid blog that is, and I guess I should start creating one now before its too late. It’s not because I don’t have anything to say. Actually, its either because I’m too busy with work and daily errands or ideas are all mixed up that I cannot come-up with a good topic. But then I realized, why need to wait for a good topic if this is not a report anyway. I’ve been wanting my blog site to be active but as I’ve said, I’ve been so conscious about what to write. So to rev things up, I have to come-up with daily blogs. (Pressure!)

To start, I just want to share some of my thoughts every morning as I bring my kids to school. Actually, it’s not much of a thought but just an observation because my brain is still half awake having to rise 6 in the morning. Inside the elevator or outside the parking lot I would see employees, most of them in a hurry, on their corporate attire with laptop bags hanging on their shoulders. Women are wearing their make-up trying to conceal the tired look on their faces. I used to be like that and used to think that life should be like that.

On the other hand, there I was still with bed lines on my face, wearing shirt and shorts, carrying (or pulling) school bag in one hand and holding my son’s hand on the other, also in a hurry to make sure kids won’t be late. People look at me and I wonder what they’re thinking. Sometimes it’s a humbling experience. Sometimes it makes me proud. Nobody knows I gave up my career to spend more time with my children. It is a privilege, not a sacrifice.

I have to admit I miss wearing slacks, blazer and boots. I miss putting on a light make-up and perfume to make sure that I’m at my best having to deal with different people everyday. I miss having friends at the office and looking forward to coffee breaks. I miss going home knowing that I was able to accomplish a lot of work in a day. But surprisingly, I don’t want to go back to the corporate world. It’s definitely a different world now.

I love my husband for a thousand and one reasons, but since it’s infeasible to put them all in writing, I just decided to list my top ten in time for his birthday;

10. He is a Clown. He can make me laugh even in my most worried/problematic state. Others may think that I play for laughs and he is the serious one, in real life, it’s the opposite.

9. Very generous (He should be thankful that I am not a shopaholic, haha!). One of the reasons why God has been showering him and his family with so much blessings.

8. He makes sure that we still spend time as a couple despite the busy schedule and having 3 kids. Our favorite thing to do? Eat and have coffee at Bonifacio Highstreet. Hopefully in the near future we’ll eat out less but travel more.

7. He is a loving, responsible and supportive father. He prepares everything for the kids’ future and gives them more than what’s expected of him.

6. He is independent, intelligent and street smart… a few of the reasons why I was so sure I should be married to him.

5. Unpredictable and risk-taker. Or else he would be boring.

4. He lets me see his vulnerable side (even Superman has kryptonite) and makes me feel needed.

3. He has taught me so much and made me realize that life is not a fairy tale. What we have shared together (trials, victory, dreams, failure, sickness, joy, tears, laughter, comfort, faith and so much more), as a whole, is irreplaceable.

2. He is very loving and sweet. No need to expound…

1. Most of all, he is God’s gift to me.

Lastly, quoting Roy Croft like he did more than a decade ago in one of his letters,

“I love you, not only for what you are
But for what I am when I am with you.

I love you, not only for what you have made of yourself,
But for what you are making of me.

…. You have done it
Without a touch, Without a word, Without a sign.
You have done it by being yourself.”

Need I say more?

The Mercado that I am talking about is not a market place like how Cebuanos would call it. It is a restaurant inside Resort World Casino where my husband and I had lunch just recently. What’s special about it is that they’re offering their buffet lunch for only P188++ (Breakfast P88++). I remember as we were entering the buffet area, I saw the price and I was so disoriented that I asked my husband, “Is it in dollars?!” (While making peso-dollar conversion in my head) My husband said no, and I think so too or else it would be too expensive.

Food choices were not as fabulous as Sofitel, Circles or others of the same sort but definitely worth way more that P188. I was able to make myself four “courses” and they are as follows:

1. If others would skip the rolls section of every buffet table, I don’t. So I had an onion roll and a muti-grain roll from their bread section to match my mushroom soup.

2. Next, I prepared a small salad with balsamic dressing. What makes it different from other buffet I’ve tried is that their salad area comes side by side with their sushi section. So, beside my salad, I placed 2 california maki and 2 other sushis on my plate.

3. For the main course, they have 3 different viand choices (seafood, chicken and meat), vegies, rice and pasta. So I had very small servings of each just to know which tastes better.

4. Finally, I placed coffee jelly and 2 leche cakes on my dessert plate. I was actually waiting for creme brule but gave up because it took them too long to replace their empty tray.

With good food and casino-ambiance, my husband and I left Resort World with full stomach spending only approx P600 (inclusive of drinks).

I’ve read that the promo will run till Oct. 6, so you still have a few days left to try it yourself. It is in Newport City complex, infront of NAIA terminal 3 and beside Villamor Airbase. Btw, no reservations needed.

And Yes! It would have been better if I took pictures of it but I’m sorry CCTVs are everywhere. And when I say everywhere, IT’S EVERYWHERE!

When I resigned and left the corporate world last year, I actually started a new career (if you might call it that). Aside from becoming a full time wife and mom, I was actually earning online. Thanks to my husband, I was given the opportunity to write paid reviews and do some SEO stuff. I may have stopped getting continuous professional education as an engineer and a certified internal auditor but I was gaining knowledge on the online marketing side. Not so much though, but just enough to earn more than I did when I was still working.

People would actually ask me if I am not yet bored being at home. Why would I be? Aside from having 3 children to attend to, food and grocery to think about, bills to pay, errands to do, I was also busy working. My daily routine would start at 5:30am to wake up Marcus and be sure he’s ready when his school bus picks him up. By 7:30am I would bring Zach to school and fetch him by 10:30. In between I would either take few more hours of sleep, think about what to serve for breakfast, play with Lia and/or start working. By 11am I should have given Lia a bath, massage and her daily dose of vitamins. If Gary chose to work at home, I would think about what to serve for lunch, else I would tell my housemaids to cook whatever’s available in the fridge as I would be content eating wheat bread with either peanut butter or cream cheese on it.

With no appointment or errand to do, usually from 11am to 5pm you can just find me sitting in front of the computer busy working. Once in a while I would take a break and would take Lia from her yaya while we watch tv or just play together. I also would take the time to help Zach practice his reading and writing.

By 5pm, Marcus will be home and I would check his Diary for assignments, things to bring (which I hate because it would mean I would have to go to the mall looking for those stuff) or bad remarks (which Thank God he seldom gets now, whew!) By this time I should also be preparing for dinner. If I have exhausted all my efforts thinking about what to cook but cannot think of anything, that’s the time I would text our ever dependable club house.

When the kids are asleep, that’s the time I would go back to the computer and continue working. If I don’t have anything to do anymore, I would read a book or sleep early. (Sleeping early means being in bed by 11). If my husband is not so busy, we would have coffee at Bonifacio Highstreet, else I would make him brewed coffee.

This is definitely far from my home-office-home (sometimes with gimmick in between) schedule that I used to have. Others might find it surprising but I am enjoying what I have and what I am now. The only thing that bugs me though is having to choose between forever giving up my profession and embrace online marketing as my new field of expertise or go back to my comfort zone and continue working as a certified internal auditor. Well, I give myself until the end of 2009 to decide.

I received an unexpected message from a HS batch mate yesterday and I must admit it made me smile. She attached a video of me in I-witness featuring the E-heads reunion concert and said she was happy to see me there. The first time I heard about that 2-second or so video of me, I thought I was just being fooled around. But then I remembered the incident during that concert wherein I thought a camera man was focusing his lenses on my face but ignored it thinking it couldn’t be me. Two or more friends started texting me about it and that made me really curious. I searched it in youtube and yes, there I was, crying while watching my much awaited concert. Honestly I was not happy about it because I felt that they took advantage of that moment when I was too emotional about the whole thing. You see, since HS, I have loved this band and their songs. It’s like Frank Sinatra to my Lolo’s ears or George Benson to my mom’s. And now seeing the video again, I am surprisingly thankful that I’ll forever be remembered as someone who took part of that history.

See for yourself… enjoy!

Any idea how much it cost us Marcus’ enrollment, school supplies, books and uniform? It was in whopping 6-digit! That’s how much Gary and I value education. We are willing to give the best that we can and even sacrifice some just to be able to enroll our children in a good school. One thing that frightens me though is the thought that my children will think that we are rich when in fact we’re not. This fear heightened when I attended the New Parents’ Orientation. I was with parents who were either foreigners or coming from a well-off family. I was not insecured, but my son could be with these wealthy children around. How will I explain to my son that he’s already lucky being given the chance to be enrolled in that school and living the life as these people do is another story. If these parents can give their children P500 or more daily as allowance, we can’t and we won’t. How can we convince Marcus to get the most of what that school provides in terms of learning when all he could possibly see and hear is that his classmates, even buddies, are fetched by expensive SUVs, provided with up-to-date toys and gadgets, lives in Forbes or Dasma and travels to different countries every vacation. I can’t help but ask, have we really made the right decision? Well, I am hopeful. With me and Gary around to monitor our son’s every move, I think we’ll be able to guide him and instill the values that we would want to impart. Besides, once in a while we give our children what they want and let them experience good things in life just as long as they are responsible enough to do the things expected from them. Above all, we continuously seek God’s help in all our decisions and in everything that we do. So for new parents out there… start saving now!

The last time I heard about it in the news, the approximate winning amount for lotto is P180 million and though I don’t buy lotto tickets, it just occurred to me what would it be like winning the jackpot. My son would always ask me what I plan to do just in case I won millions of pesos and without giving it much thought I would always give him this answer, “I’ll buy whatever I want.” He would then ask me with a wide grin, “Aren’t you going to give me some?” I can imagine my son day dreaming about the toys, books, psp games and a lot more that he plans to buy just in case his mom won millions. And that gave me an idea of making my own wish list just in case I won the P180 million jackpot price.

Here’s my list:

1. I’ll buy my parents a condominium unit – P5M

2. We’ll build our dream house in Pangasinan where we already bought a land – P10M

3. We’ll settle the remaining payments that has to be made in our condo – P2M

4. I’ll buy Gary his dream car (The Hummer) – P5M (I really don’t have any idea how much it costs but maybe P5M is enough… hehe)

5. Hello Dra. Belo (hahha!) – P1M (This is not a one-time visit though…)

6. I’ll buy myself an SUV – P2M

7. Budget for Around the World Travel – P10M (Do you think this is enough?)

8. Shopping, shopping, shopping – P5M

- watch out LV and RL stores for my bags!
- I’ll buy a new celphone (haha… babaw)
- I’ll let my kids get all their dream toys
- more watch for Gary
- La Coste and RL Shirts in all colors… haha!
- Books!
- Laptop each for my kids
etc. etc.

9. Charity (For Children who are sick especially of Cancer) – P5M

10. A million each for my parents, siblings and In-laws – P10M

11. I’ll buy our ancestral home in Cagayan de Oro (they are selling it now) – P5M (Is it?)

This is getting more and more exciting…

12. I’ll deposit P10M each for my children’s savings account – P30M

13. I’ll buy a parlor and fast food franchise – P10M

14. We’ll get a town house in Mahogany Place in Taguig – P10M (including home furniture and interior design)

15. Another Church Wedding – P1M

16. Balato – hmmm… bahala na magkano. (haha!) But for sure my yayas will get their share.

The rest will still be on investments and savings. Huh! I just realized it’s tiring to be too rich, but I am not complaining.

Last year I celebrated my 30th birthday and it was really worth celebrating because of milestones I have set for myself and successfully achieved, not to mention the blessings that God has showered us with – big and small alike. And now, celebrating my 31st birthday, I would just want to make a list of all the major things that happened to me while being 30.

1. I left International Container Terminal Services Inc. (the last company I was in) to become a full time mother and wife.
2. Few weeks after I resigned I learned that I was pregnant. (And six months after, I learned that we are having a girl this time)
3. While being jobless and pregnant, I was reviewing for CISA (Certified Information Systems Audit) Certification. I finished the review but I postponed the exam.
4. I started getting busy blogging for money… and inviting friends to write reviews as well.
5. I finally learned how to drive.
6. We paid all our credit card dues and other liabilities in full, except for our condo which we still have to pay for monthly.
7. We bought a land in Pangasinan where we could build our dream house in the future.

Looking back, it was indeed not a boring year for me. Being jobless and all, I realized that I – together with God and my family – still had a fruitful year. It is really true that dreaming together as a couple could make wonders. It did work for us and I thank my husband for being a great dreamer dragging me where we are right now and where we will be in the future… heheh.

Let me do a restaurant review this time.

Last week my family and I decided to have dinner at Serendra since we haven’t tried eating there as a family. Well, I have tried Conti’s, Duo and Mary Grace already so I was hoping none of those will be my husband’s choice. I was somewhat hoping we could try Polu Kai Grill but I was actually open to any of his suggestions. Luckily, it was also his choice, without me saying anything or giving out clues. Hehe…

So we ordered the following:
(1) Seafood bucket which includes lobster tails, fish fillets and fried calamari served with tartar sauce.
(2) Giant Squid Steak
(3) Aloha Rib and Chicken, and
(4) Hawaiian Keiki Pizza for Zach

I don’t know if it’s pure luck or this restaurant just serves all good food because I have to say I loved everything we ordered. The squid were soft and easy to chew, while the ribs were juicy and very tasty. The chicken though was not as fabulous as the rest but still good, so maybe you can order just the ribs instead. The iced tea tastes good and not the usual Nestea flavored served in other restaurants. The place is not intimidating and is really good for bonding with family and friends. I must say I would want to go back to this restaurant and try the other food on their menu. I suggest you do the same.

It was in 2004 when I was finally approved by a credit card company to own my very first credit card. It took me years to finally convince HSBC that I am financially capable enough to maintain a credit card and since then, several credit card companies has been calling and bugging me to have one of their own. I ended up having 2 HSBC credit cards, 1 Red and 1 Mabuhay (because of my greed to accumulate miles). The rest of the credit cards that were mailed to me (without my consent) remains to be inactive.

At first I was in control of my purchases, being able to pay the dues on time thus avoiding interests. But as the years passed by, I was not able to pay my dues in full for the simple reason that my salary cannot afford to do so. So what has been my purchases then? Mostly went to groceries where each time I fall short of my budget on food, I depend on my ever reliable plastic card. It has also been our saving grace each time an emergency happens, like for instance sickness and hospitalization. Also, instead of applying for a loan, it has been very convenient for us to just withdraw from an ATM through their cash advance facility. Worse, my credit card was used to pay for our wants that we could not afford at that time. In short, I was slowly drowning in debt and all I was able to pay for is just a little above the minimum payment required. And thanks to the interest and annual payment, they were an added weight that pulled me down. Well, I have to admit that life hasn’t been that easy at that time that even if we wanted to have as much savings as we would want to, expenses are soaring high. I reached a point where all my bonuses went to HSBC and all I could pay for monthly is the interest. I felt helpless at that time… and hopeless.

Not until last year when I and my husband decided to settle all our credit card dues. That means spending a material amount of cash just to finally close my accounts. At first we felt hesitant because we could have saved the money or spent it on other important things. But we realized that if we want to improve our financial status, we really have to invest on our liabilities thus zeroing in our debts. It took us months to finally settle everything but it was all worth it because I am not paying any interest anymore plus I don’t have to allot any amount on credit card payment from our budget.

And now that I have learned my painful lesson well on credit card use, I only use my credit card for online transactions and paid everything else in cash. I may still maintain two credit cards for emergency purposes (the one has no annual fee and the other one has a large credit limit) but I make sure that each time I use any of them I already have the cash to pay for it in full.