Revisiting Resolutions

This year has been a "no specific direction type of year" for me. I don't have any listed resolutions, but I do have few things that I want to do with no outcomes in particular:

1. be more eco-friendly
2. blog at least once a month
3. enjoy/love my job
4. explore/travel
5. organize/declutter
6. financial declutter/organize

Two days ago I started at my new job. It was a hard decision to make, leaving the previous one because it was the typical government job that most people wanted to have. Something that bothers me because I love working on pressing deadlines. With the new job, i thought it was the same with my former job when I was still under an executive office. On my third day, I am bored and dreading going back to work. The horror stories are starting to catch up on me. The terror boss that they described has not surfaced yet but I am already on the job seekers' wagon.  I will try to stick with my item no. 3 for awhile. Try to love this job.

Do you have anything that bothers you lately?

*** I purchased new bento accessories lately. I will be posting them later.

Found this wonderful blogger with her list of linky party that I will probably read for awhile.

Hello Monday. Goodnight Sunday.

A storm is probably brewing on the lower part of our country again. Although it was a wet Saturday, we were able to catch up with our sleep yesterday. It was cold and raining every few hours, sleeping is necessary.

After the Sunday service we went to the mall to pay to our internet provider. We got hungry and ate some of this local delicacy: Bibingka:

locally grown coffee + hot bibingka + rainy morning = love

Sorry about not posting a photo that I actually took. Photo was from their Facebook account. It was really delish.

The husband has finally talked to the InLaws and we are officially anticipating the Moving Out within the month. We are looking for househelp, so we have to wait a little bit. But all plans are already laid out.

For the interior inspiration, here goes:

from here

Love the color combination.

photo here

Wont be able to have the same look on my small kitchen but this is a very nice kitchen that I can't get out of my head.

from here

This is my favorite. I'm not sure if this is the second time I have posted it here in this blog. I love this DIY.

Good night Sunday, Hello Monday.

Have a good time this week.

How Do You Spend Your Weekend?

One of my blog hopping agenda is looking at how people from other places spend their days particularly on the food that they enjoy. Based on the blog comments from my favorite sites, there are lot of us who are interested on everyday, ordinary people's way of living. For those people out there wondering how we spend our ordinary day here in the Philippines, here's mine:

Yes, you are looking at an arcade machine. We spend our Sunday (after church) at an arcade playing games. And this is my favorite game because I always win tokens:

This is not the ordinary day things. I had this baby back ribs while vacationing in Cebu City, visiting my best friend working there.

Another food while on Cebu vacation. We ate at the famous AA's Barbeque :

One of my ordinary day activities, playing play-doh with kids. Yes, I did that, dressed the gecko toy with clay, a summer outfit. or maybe it's a spa for mr. gecko.

And this is part of my weekly grocery shopping list. They vary of course but you can already imagine how my grocery bag contents look like.

and this is an authentic Filipino sweet from one of the cafe near a tourist destination in our town, Sampaloc Lake. This delicacy is called suman for those living in the metro. I don't know what its called here {my bad}.Its a sweet sticky rice with sweet coconut syrup.

I wanted to show off the house that we purchased but its too soon to do that because we are having some issues with the financing. What are the things on your everyday, ordinary life?

Decluttering Yahoo E-Mail Account

My day would always start with blog hopping and pinterest "pinning".

Pinterest account have served me well until I forgot my passwrod and user account.

 My bad. 

I am back to pinning again since I was able to retrieve the information I need to get back on the roll.

image credit here

Another thing that kept me busy this week is my email organization.

Yes, I finally found the time to work on my email account and remove the 9,000 unimportant emails that has been there for years.

After deleting those, I feel sort of free from clutter.

That was for my yahoo account.

My gmail is another story.

I haven't started on working on it.

image credit here

With the yahoo account, I have been using the "Other InBox" organizer that comes with the email. It makes deleting messages easier and faster.

You just have to click the icon on the left side bar and it will prompt you to update your settings.

The cons will be additional folders on your account with names like OIB Home, OIB Social Network...etc. existing and new emails will be categorized there.

Then you can delete.

If you haven't tried it, do it now.

Vice Ganda Concert: An Hour Late and Other Weekend Specials

I watched Vice Ganda's concert at the Araneta Coliseum, Friday night.

S/He is more than an hour late. 

I was pissed when the show have started and told my best-friend that even if Vice makes me happy and rolling with laughter the whole show, I will blog about the tardiness. 

She was late. 

But I laughed non-stop till one o'clock in the morning.

While waiting, we had our fill of Jamaican Pattie. It is one of the hubs favorite.

my favorite, Beef Pinatubo. This is the spicy one.

(photos from their fb page.)

Sleepless from the show, I have to proceed to our family date (I missed the seminar at work because it will be impossible to get back to the metro on time, i feel sort of guilty). 

mozzarella sticks

banana split worth 25 pesos with edible bowl

banana split (again!) with textured ice cream

pizza, Hawaiian and bacon&ham

I had a great week although the rest of the Sunday was spent sleeping almost the entire day, thus we were not able to attend the Sunday service. 

I hope you had a great weekend too.

Rain and Storms on Summer Days

We only have two months of summer here in the PI and there is only two weeks left and rainy days will be here. 

But this post is not about summer and rainy days. Just something to keep readers visiting.

 like photos of food for you to crave (like I did):

Soft-serve Ice Cream of 7-11. Cost: P15

crepe with strawberry, ,mango and creme. {we ate at a crowded store selling crepes while in SM Cebu}

I think the crepe cost around P100 and it's a favorite,though expensive. But it is the company I was with that made the crepe more tasty,{ imagine talking with your friend that you haven't seen since she relocated in Cebu ten years ago}.

 and here is the inspiration for my kitchen/dining area that is so small it will probably accommodate only four person during dinner time. I prefer white walls. or any color except this one.

image credit: apartment therapy

and my excuse for not blogging: I have a new job! a real job. When I say a real job, it is something that gives you benefits and does not have any "no employee-employer" relationship in the contract.

The sad thing about is is that I was not assigned at the technology transfer unit (my area of expertise, or so i think). 

But rather, I would be forging international relationship and making economic studies, etc. 

The hard stuff that I would really avoid if I have the chance. 

But I cannot say no to a challenge. 

And they made me feel really welcome. Specially the top management. and i hope to be part of the top management or at least rise from my entry level (which is a senior position, anyway. not an ordinary feat for my age. when working for the government, i mean) before I reached the 24th month of my stay there. 

I owe my former boss a lot. 

for the training and the network and perhaps even the confidence.

and of course, for allowing me to grab the opportunity.

I hope we all have a blessed and productive week ahead.

Thinking of Homemade Halo-Halo

There will be some changes on my workload soon. I will probably be starting to work on the new company before the summer is over. There are three offers that I received but recently, I turned down the consultancy job because I realized that working on a Saturday means we have to squeeze in all the activities like shopping, spending quality time together and visiting friends/family in one day. Working on a Saturday is not for me. 

I hope that it will be easier to choose between the two offers but choosing the higher position
is easier if only they keep you away from the guessing game for too long. I just want to have a more focus type of work. To earn, to show them what I have to help the company. Anything else aside from that, I would ditch because I am a very private person.

♥○♥○♥○♥○♥○♥

Now, on the food stuff. I love halo-halo.

image from here

It is a sweet concoction that is available year round on some local fast food and restaurant here in the country. Although it is available yea round, the best time to have them is during summer. And the best place to buy them is from the neighborhood temporary halo-halo stand. If you are familiar with lemonade stands, then this is the lemonade stand version here. You only get to see them in your neighborhood during summer and this is the venue to see old friends and new people living in the community because no one at least once in the summertime, can resist buying a glass of halo-halo. It usually cost around Php 20 (too expensive, actually for that price). If you prefer the quality controlled ones like ChowKing's halo-halo, you will shell out around 50pesos.

If you prefer less textured type of cold sweets and cheaper, you can opt for the ice candy. 

image from here

My favorite flavors are mango and chocolate. 

or 

the all time favorite of my age {and above}, the 

Ice Scrambles

 

you can buy them on the streets, usually on small makeshift stands near grade schools. The good thing about innovation is that there are business-minded people who finds the opportunity to sell them up-scaled. You can now buy them at the malls costing around 8-10 pesos for the plain one. 

What is your favorite summer food/sweets?

 

Sleepy On Tuesday

I was busy yesterday with school stuff and did not noticed it was Monday. Now I thought its Monday when it is already Tuesday. What happened to my Monday? and why am I sleepy? 

One of my friends invited me to a joint venture on pizza franchise. I am drowning with the paperworks that she was ignored this weekend. Today she informed me that she already had a discussion with the franchising group and asked me to visit the site so that we can assess how the business is going. I can not go today but I am hoping to drop by tomorrow or on Friday during my research sessions. I hope she understands. Maybe she does. I am on the last month of my Masters. 

It is final. I will be applying for an online drawing course. It requires 4 hours a week of drawing activities and I told hubby how badly I wanted to join but do not know where to squeeze in that 4 hours of no-disturbance work. He told me I can work on my drawings during Saturday. I can also opt for 2 hours on Saturday and another 2 hours on Sunday. The latter seems to be more enticing, right? I am glad for having a wonderful man in my life.

So now that the drawing course was settled, I need to purchase a scanner. But since I have been planning to buy a printer as well, we agreed to buy those multifunctional printer that comes with a bed scanner and copier. I had my eye on the HP brand since I have been using it for many years in the office but I do not have any idea in how do HP printers (low end, cheaper version) work. I have been scouting for inks and printers on sale and find them expensive. Do you think a 2 cartridge-printer (ink worth P1,500.00 = approx $35) is a good investment? The Epson printer have 4 cartridges with P298 per cartridge. I will only buy the color that rans out. Your comments on this one will be very very helpful. We will be printing lots of stuff soon. 

I am working on the projects and it is difficult for me to keep up with all the research works and write up hanging on my head. The timing of resignation of my former staff is starting to piss me off.

Now, back to work. Having a great day despite the sleepy mood.

Today is Tuesday challenge. :D

photos taken from the {web}

Grill

It was a fun filled day.

Since finally I am not on the denial stage (re examination this August), things will be more busy around here. I am  not sure though if I will be able to squeeze everything in but my priority now is to cram in every lessons missed and finish at least half of my paper. I should not be discussing it here since I have a blog about school but just to let you know what have been keeping me from bento this day. 

Now that I have that posted, here is my Friday Fun activities:

Today is the last day of one of our staff so we had a lunchout instead of the usual crackers/ramen in the pantry. 

Sorry, no photos. my bad. 

We had a "scramble". That sweet pink colored crushed ice (and milk) with powdered milk on top that we used to buy when we were kids. We bought it at the mall and happy to be eating the street food with an assurance that it passed quality control. 

Then I had fun printing some Ta Da list. I will post below the links on this "to-do-list"and much more.

My classmates came and visited me since I have not been attending their review lately. I am happy to see them as well.

I started working on the data of my paper.

Cancel meeting next week (Agency Directors) and happy to plan of skipping work on Monday. Unfortunately I have to go to work since we will be transferring on the other office.

Found the tea that I have been looking for: Twinnings Four Red Fruit. 

In addition to that I also bought a jar of nutella and a bag of oatmeal (with raisin, banana and pineapple). 

I promised to blog more. even if I am busy.

No photos today. I will try tonight. 

Have a great weekend.

***

A DOZEN LINK FOR YOU

List of downloadables and organization link (+ some for home management)

1. Living Locurto
2. I am an Organizing Junkie
3. Get Creative with Pink
4. My Daily Randomness
5. The Blog Train Blog
6. Little Paper Dog
7. I am not sure what is the name of this flickr account but on blog referred this account and says the photos there are free (for wallpaper).
8. Daisy Jane
9. Creating Keepsakes
10. The Small Objects
11. June Pfaff Daley
12. Creature Comforts

and one more blog for Mom's out there:

IXL for online lessons for kiddos

I Miss This Space

I have been busy the past week on missed deadlines and review. 

That's my lame excuse for the lack of posting.

I did not forget this space, in fact there are bunch of photos on my camera that is waiting to be uploaded. 

There are plenty of time but there are plenty of things to do to fill them up easily. 

But I did not forget blogging. Particularly Bento.

I have frequented stores for bento accessory hunt and I often see these but never realized its usefulness:

image via Hawaii 's Bento Box Cookbook, Bentos and More for Kids

Now I know where to use them. It could have saved me few minutes if I got them earlier. 

Anyway. I am happy to learn something new today.

On the work related post, I am happy to announce that everything is okay. I have my list of to do and everything seems to be moving towards the list of have done. 

Sidebar will be updated for blogs with loads of kid bento (easier to do).

Having a great Tuesday. Hope you do, too.

Break Away

That's all I want.

I need a break from all these politics*.

Asking around, I found out there is more life out there. 

On those places he called jungle. And I don't care if there is an army waiting to jump in once I left this post.

I want a more professional environment. 

A more respectable politics where you don't always get the blame.

I understand that it somehow mold me into a stronger person. 

But that person is unhappy and always put barriers/walls when dealing with people.

I need a life that is simple:

relaxing enough to energize me

challenging enough to make me creative.

Enjoy life.

I have at least four months more to change direction.

It is time for the Engineer to wake up. My mind was already made up.

* politics = Social relations involving intrigue to gain authority or power

101

I am not vain but it seems that running on the opposite direction can do damage on one's self esteem. 

Especially when you are not getting any younger.

 When I was 27 years old (and younger) , being yourself {your own stylist} seems okay. 

but lately.

Oh, well. 

My point is, even if you took good care of yourself and avoided fatty foods, metabolism slows down when you reach 30. 

Even if you are Asian. 

The Hubby thinks I am fit. 

Something I do not agree. 

The evidence is the bulge on my tummy. 

Fats screaming.

For my 5' height and being slim my whole life {until I reached my 29th birthday}, it is scary to load fat fast.

I am hoping to lessen my food intake and increase my exercise. 

I always link procrastination with fat. 

My idea of being healthy is getting slim. 

slim = can move around quickly=healthy=high stamina

and being fat slows me down [even if it is more on psychological]

and it means you can wear what you want without worrying about size.

maybe i should start on my diet. 

because

i 

{heart}

these:

ohne Titel by Cookierella featuring Marc by Marc Jacobs bags


 and this one too:

ohne Titel by Cookierella featuring Miu Miu bags

I will start on buying weighing scales.  

and watching my food intake.

then try to run  few miles {wii game will do}

I am having a great day. 

I added some links on my inspiration category (sidebar)

and the photos uploaded here are from polyvore.

I am trying my hand on them and maybe add some link here later. 

You can comment if you like. 

Just try to be nice. 

have a great day.

tomorrow is review/research day for me so I am not around.

Office Outfit by TeeEmm featuring Christian Louboutin shoes

Friday Office by TeeEmm featuring Rebecca Minkoff bags

Tuesday Office by TeeEmm featuring Alexander McQueen shoes