Father's Day

I know, my post for Father's day is too late for this year but hey, one way to look at it is it's really early for next year right :) (always look at the glass always half full!!!)

I've been out of it late with my little blog but with the kiddos, house and 1 full time work and 2 other part time work; I can't seem to find the time to squeeze and post about my life. By the by, it is is beautiful. Honestly speaking though, I don't know how others in blogland do it! They are each and everyone their own version of wonderwoman and I salute them!

Anyhu, back to Father's day....

This is our beautiful Daddy :)

We went out to dinner to celebrate. Got him a lovely shirt... I know, not very original of us, not very crafty either but he liked the shirt. LOL!

Posing for the cam...

My 2 beautiful boys :)

Me writing list in my head of what I have to do for tomorrow....

One of the things I've been planning to do for a very long time is to make-over our dining set. loooong story but looks like I really need to just get my head down and do it. I went and looked for a staple gun in the shops today and was blown away by how much they cost. I think I will just find an alternative on how to re-upholster the chairs without using one since I know I can't spare that much money! I will find a way! Already bought sand paper and will start with one chair. LOL, one step at a time, crawl before you walk so to speak...

Have a wonderful week ahead beautiful people.

xoxo

June Wedding: An Update

They are hitched! Zander and Irene, congratulations! I wish you all the best for your future together.

The happy couple

I couldn't get a close up coz I coulnd't really move as I was one of the ninangs :)

The wedding and the reception were really nice

Great food and great friends (forgot to take pics of food, LOL! Hey, I was really hungry :)

And of course with my lovely Mr. T

So that's it for this post. Have a great week ahead. I am enjoying Monday since we have the day off, thanks to the queen! Happy birthday Queen Elizabeth, say hello to Prince William and Princess Kate for us. (Not sure but is she a princess now?)

A Mug of Tea with Jane Austen

I want to share something with all you beautiful people. I am a major Jane Austen fan. I can still remember the time when we were introduced. I was sixteen and Pride and Prejudice was one of the novels we had to tackle in English lit. From then on, I knew I will have a long-term relationship with her.

My fave novel is... surprise, surprise; Pride and Prejudice. I read it about 12 times a year, so that is once a month. (I'm soooo good at math!) so, 17 multiplied by 12 is that's how many times I've read it LOL! (so sooo good at math!) Why 17? I will let you figure out that one (wink wink)

Anyhu, I would like to show you how my Pride and Prejudice book looks like now...

I know, I know. This is my second book actually. The first one was lost when we moved from our old house to our house now. I got this brand new but now it looks vintage... antique... ancient!

I don't think I can part with it. Mr. T just shakes his head whenever he sees me holding it. To be honest, I read Pride and Prejudice whenever I need an escape from this world. It is a beautiful world but sometimes, we need to get away from reality and what better way to do this than to visit Jane's world.

I love the romance of Lizzy and Darcy, their stubbornness and of course their happy ending. Every time I read this novel, it's like I'm reading it for the first time. I find new things and by chapter 10 I cannot put the book down. That's my problem. I have to finish the book within the next couple of days. Yep, I didn't get my negative 450 eyesight genetically, Jane Austen helped a lot with that!

When Lizzy and Darcy met at Pemberly grounds! Whenever I read this passage, cant help but smile...

I just wanted to share something with all of you since I plan to escape this weekend after all my home organization is done, that means... a mug of tea (or two or three) with Jane Austen. Hope you all have a beautiful weekend :) and oh, don't you just love the smell of old books???

Update: Got through a few chapters of Pride and Prejudice during the weekend. Unfortunately, it was a very busy weekend for a mommy like me (getting ready for first day of school, grocery shopping, laundry day etc etc. Don't worry Jane, we will have a date again on Saturday, you can count on me. Anyone want to join us???

Sharing this over at

Go check out her beautiful blog...

A June Wedding

Hello, hello and hello!

It is nearly the weekend and I promise myself I will have to do a to-do list! I plan to get organized this weekend so we will see how that goes :)

On a lighter note, Zander and his bride to be visited us the other night. You see, Zander is our pc tech. If my laptop or Mr. T's desktop suddenly goes on the blink then he's the guy to call. I know him from the bank I used to work for (now closed, long story for another day)

He is getting married and he asked Mr. T and I to be one of their ninongs and ninangs. What are those, I hear yah asking. Well, you know the godparents in christening and baptisms? I know, weddings don't have godparents, that's what I was told by a friend of mine that lives in the US. Well, we have godparents here for weddings. I'm sure of it!

I was pretty shock that he asked us, well me in particular coz I'M STILL YOUNG! Usually, the people you ask are in their 50's or someone much wiser with a lot of life experiences. I can understand him asking Mr. T coz he's older than me, 5 years to be exact and no, I don't look his age :)

But then I thought about it, Mr. T and I have been married for 13 years! WOWOWOW! Yep, it doesn't seem all that long but if you count the years, more than a decade huh? I'm sooo good at math!

And when I thought of it some more, Mr. T and I have been through quite a lot! Even more so than other couples that have been married for longer than us. We've had a lot thrown at us but I'm glad to say we rose above it all so far. I'm so grateful for that. I will tell you a secret, I am never afraid of what will be or what the future has in store for us as long as I have him on my side. Cheesy huh!

Anyhu, It is a great honor to be asked, of course we accept (invitations have been printed after all LOL) My problem now is I don't have anything to wear :( oh my oh my! and I am not sure what to get them as a wedding gift. Any ideas??? The wedding is in 8 days! sheesh!

p.s. The flowers you with with the invitation is called Euphorbia, I think. Well, its a cactus flower, yes it is. cactuses are the only plants I can grow.... oh and a lot of grass and weeds :)

Have a beautiful day, be content and may that bring you happiness...

Getting Ready for School

We live on the other side of the world, so school here is about to start (1 week and counting) whilst others in blogland, summer vacation is just approaching. My kiddos are excited to go back to school, see old friends and of course get new things!

My eldest, Brandon...

My youngest, Liam...

My boys are so sweet. It only takes a small thing to make them happy, such innocence. We are not well-off. Don't get me wrong, we can afford mostly everything that we need and for that I am very grateful; it's just sometimes, we can't afford everything that we want. C'est la vie as they say and my boys understand and I'm proud of them.

Anyhu, after the department store we went to Jolibee, it's the equivalent of McDonald's over wherever you beautiful people are :) On our way out, I asked the kids to do some poses with the statue of Jolibee so that I can blog about it, this is when I realize they are growing up because they went "mom-miiii!" in an embarrass tone. They used to love having their pics taken with him! LOL, well, Mr. T. thought he would look cute so here he is,

Isn't he sweet? (Mr. T and not Jolibee, LOL!)

By the way, I swear I had followers since the last time I logged in to blogger (I even blogged about it!) but now I have none :( Does that mean I was unfollowed??? LOL, oh my oh my! Hope you all have a great week ahead! Linking this to a beautiful linky party hosted by a beautiful lady...

Getting Comments is Addictive

Hello beautiful world!

I was thinking this morning, I haven't blogged for a couple of days now! Oh my, what would blogosphere think of me?!! and then I thought, why did I start doing this in the first place? For myself of course! I mean I was over the moon when I saw I have 6 followers! and when I read comments under my post, I WAS SO EXCITED! You cannot imagine how excited I was. I want to thank all those lovely and beautiful ladies that took the time and read my blog. You have no idea how happy you made me feel when I read your comments and saw your pics on my sidebar :)

What is my point exactly? Well, receiving comments is addictive! It's like the first time you tasted an ice-cold coke in a hot summer's day and all you want to drink after that is just coke. The same with blogging, once you first tasted someone commenting on one of your posts, you just want to keep the comments coming, the followers following! And if you haven't posted for a couple of days, SHEESH! peer PRESSURE! I mean you pressurize (I think the word pressurize sums up my state of mind at the mo, lol) yourself into writing about anything so that you can post it into your blog!

So I am taking a deep breath and keep reminding myself that blogging is not about pressure, it's supposed to relieve stress after a hard day, my blog is supposed to be a kind of journal as per say so no pressure, no pressure at all.

I am just so excited that I may happen to make a lot of new friends because of this blog. What a lovely opportunity that would be!

Stay beautiful everyone, outside and in....

Carmen xoxo

Work, Work, Work Wednesday!

Hello beautiful people. What a manic Wednesday! All day long I felt like this!

I work at home for an online company, it's an 8 hour day shift. For some reason, most of our web-based tools weren't working or working really really slow! On top of that other tasks were assigned so I was having a brain overload AND the it's really really hot here! Gosh, I feel like we live in the desert or something!

And for this reason I've been constantly thinking about the beach today...

Just sitting on the beach with a cool drink...

Enjoy the beautiful scenery...

Make new friends...

Or just play around like a kid!

These pics were taken Feb of this year. It was our company conference and it was held in Boracay. It was the first time I met everyone in the company!

Linking this to...

It’s Tuesday!, You gotta Love That it’s Tuesday!

Hello beautiful people… You know why I love Tuesdays? I love Tuesdays because it means there are only 3 more days to go till the weekend. Yeay!!!

Although its been sooo hot here in the sunny Philippines, weather report said that there is a typhoon coming. Hopefully, it will just pass by and get eaten by the ocean (not sure if that is possible but in my head everything is possible!) and that the sun will just keep on shining...

To be honest, I like it when its cold! Why? because my allergies are shy to come out when its cold. but when its hot here, gosh! I think my skin thinks I'm rich coz the meds for my skin allergies cost a fortune!

Going back to the weather (oh my! LOL) seriously, the Phils get hit by typhoons more than you can imagine. We use up the letters of the alphabets twice for their names in one year! It's that season again so hopefully, any one coming over here will not cause any destruction.

The image I posted is of my backyard. As you can see, I live in the COUNTRY! Lots of grass and lots and lots of clouds! ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

Wishing you all contentment, subsequently HAPPINESS...

Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. John 14:1

I have a friend overseas. I met him online through my work at oDesk. I used to write articles for him for his website. He sent me this picture.

Recently, his sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. It's the kind of cancer that's very aggressive. She was due for surgery on Saturday because the chemo wasn't working. Him and his family are very distraught by all of this. He is the eldest so he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders I think.

I know the feeling, I've actually experienced it myself when Mr. T. was in an accident a few years ago. But I think God will not give you anything that you can't handle, there is a plan for everyone. So when I heard the gospel at mass last night at church "Do not let your hearts be troubled, Trust in God, trust also in me" I felt a sense of uplifting. I know things will be ok for him and his family whatever happens.

Trust in God, do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trying my first link at Debbiedoos Blogging and Blabbing

My Nokia N70

Hello beautiful people!

Ok, about my Nokia N70, I recently made a post about my new free phone. I am still over the moon about it because it's free :) It made me happy especially because of what happened to my old one.

I've had my Nokia N70 since 2006! That is a long time. Mr. T. got it for me for my birthday. Honestly speaking, I wouldn't spend that much money on a phone (it was P12,000 at the time, a lot of money for me) This is what it looked like:

What you have to understand is that I get attach to things especially when they are given to me. They hold a special place in my heart. So this phone I fell inlove with. Even though it doesn't have the same capabilities that other phones have these days, for me it was a great phone! 2 months ago it broke, it just wouldn't come on. So I asked my sister-in-law's hubby to have it fixed coz he knows someone. After about 2 weeks he brought it back, only to find that he changed it to something worthless. He took important parts from it. I noticed because my phone is gray. The one returned to me was black. I told him to return it and he did. However, his COUSIN said that he did not change anything, he fixed it, didn't take anything etc, etc.

It still gets to me how people can be so bad. Call me naive but to be honest, I would like to think that there is good in everyone. After that, I couldn't use the phone anymore. He took the memory stick anyway so all my contacts were gone (he said the memory stick wasn't there when he opened the phone!) I couldn't even look at the phone because it made me angry. I eventually gave it to my mother-in-law (I thought about smashing it believe me!)

Anyhow, it was a big deal to me because something important was taken away from me and they tried their hardest to insist they didn't :( SO when I got that call saying I'm getting a new phone, I was ecstatic. Life has a funny way of turning things around to make it beautiful again :)

Speaking of beautiful things, here are some things that made me smile that day;

Raindrops on leaves :)

Flowers in bloom :)

So that is the story and I dedicate this post to my N70.

Wishing you all contentment, subsequently HAPPINESS...

Free Stuff - Don't You Just Love It!

Don't you just love free stuff??? I do! yes sirrr-y! It doesn't really matter what it is as long as its free I'm happy to accept it.

About a month ago, my net provider, smart communications called and said that our contract will be expiring soon and would we like to renew. Of course we do because they are the only provider here in my area! I know the contract will expire in September so it is still a long way away. They wanted us to come in and sign some papers but it was Mr. T that answered the phone. You know how men are, meaning they really don't care about the little details so when I asked what they said, he just grunted "something about renewing contract and they want us to sign some papers now" so my reply was, that is just weird because September is more than a couple of months away. So I didn't give it a second thought. And besides, I needed to go down there the following week to pay so there's no hurry.

Well, well, well. When I went to pay, I was told that when they called they had a FREE cellphone to give to me if I renewed. Of course since I didn't, they gave it to someone else!!! Sheeeesh! But to cut a long story short, they said they will reserve my "retention giveaway" as soon as their head office has sent more. I was so gobsmacked coz the phone they were giving away was not half bad. It was a Samsung champ. It's not an iPhone or Blackberry but it is still decent for a FREE stuff. LOL. So I went home and hoped and hoped that it will still be the same kind of phone.

Oh well, IT'S NOT! they called the other day and this is their giveaway at this time :)

And here is my cellphone model... LOL :))

It's pretty to look at, yes. cute, yes. can it text, yes, call? yes. So IT IS a phone and a FREE phone at that so it is OK and I'm very grateful to Smart communications for giving me one! My next post will be about what happened to my old phone and how it broke my heart! So stay tuned.

Wishing you all contentment, subsequently HAPPINESS...

Sulit 1M Members Raffle Giveaway

Sulit.com.ph is paying it forward via a fantastic giveaway because they have reached 1M members! You just gotta love them! As for me, totally love giveaways especially if they are iPad2 and blackberry cellphones! So I'm in!!! Well, I have joined the raffle but if I actually win is a different matter! However, you know what they say, nothing ventured nothing gained is here goes my entry!


Sulit.com.ph Buy and Sell
Join the 1M Raffle Giveaway

Good luck to everyone, but I would really love an iPad2 or a blackberry cellphone pllllzzzzz :) winning any of these gadgets will make make me smile in my sleep tonight!

Getting A Passport - Why Is It So Hard?!

Ok, you would think that getting a passport is as easy as abc. In many western countries probably yes. Here in the sunny side up Philippines, well think again!

Yesterday, hubby and I went to the proper authorities to get his passport. So we went on our way at 6am to get on the bus. It is a 4 hour journey so starting early means we will get there early. We forgot that buses are very busy this time of year because everyone is going back to schools and their work after the Easter holidays. After much ado (and an hour or waiting around in the terminal, we finally got seated on a van!

We were told that applications for it are electronically done so we thought, yeay! It would only take a click of a mouse and voila, here's your passport. Boy, we were such suckers. This is what greeted us;

and this;

You really can't tell from the image how terrible the experience was sitting in this waiting area. It was very hot in Tuguegarao City but it was three times worse in that open waiting shed! That aqua-colored roof is like the ones you use for greenhouses and it was like a human oven! Even with 2 huge electric fans it was terrible. We got there at 9:30 am and by the time we finished with the "processing" it was 4:30 pm! and with the "rush" processing, hubby's passport will be release after 35 days! YEP, you are reading right. 35 days is the expedite process! Just when everything is supposed to be electronically processed, it now appears that it takes twice as long for the passport releases. SHEEEESH!

This is Mr. T. thinking "why are we doing this?" LOL!

Because we need to go through it (hey, we have no choice. It's not like we can get a passport from anywhere else that doesn't have the same process) we gritted our teeth, wiped our sweat and counted the hours until his name got called to go inside the building and waited again for another 2 hours for the validation process!

We are glad we went yesterday though because we were told that starting the next day, processing will be for 55 days, no more rush passports. Atleast we won't have to go through that again for another 5 years or when his passport expires! Hopefully by then it wouldn't be so bad. (fingers crossed!)

So that was my exciting Monday. Glad we got home ok and that is behind us. for now...

An Introduction To My Head

So I have finally gone ahead and done it! A blog that is personal, not blogging pretending it to be a mini-website, not blogging trying to make my first million but blogging because I want to finally put into words whatever it is I am thinking about! I've come to terms with my fear of rejection (what am I so scared about? if people want to read this then they will, if not, so what? right?)

I suppose I want to document what is happening right now in my life and look back at it and see if I've grown (not that I will physically but you know what I mean!) I want to look back someday and be reminded that I am a lucky person to have a beautiful life from the beginning.

So here goes my journey. Thanks for coming along for the ride!