Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category
When you need a hand in wedding preparation
February and June are closing in and surely, a lot of couples are going to tie the knot on these months. As early as now, wedding preparations should be underway.
I remember that I planned my own wedding almost 10 years ago, with the help of my colleagues in radio. One of them volunteered to be the wedding coordinator (for free) and emcee at the same time. The rest of them took charge of the flowers and giveaways, and even decorated our wedding car. Some acted as usherettes at the reception. My brother took care of the invitation cards’ design and printing. My then fiance had our picture published on the local paper, announcing our upcoming union.
Weddings take a lot of preparations and unless you pay for a professional wedding coordinator, you’ll probably wear yourself out before the big day. I was just so blessed to have friends who volunteered to help us out and make our wedding so memorable. If you’re planning your wedding or know somebody who is, try to check out cheap wedding programs online. It’s a one-stop shop for bridal needs, from gifts to invitations and many others.
My husband and I didn’t spend much on our wedding because we had a good number of volunteers and freebies, lol! It pays to have lots of good friends. And that made our wedding very memorable.
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Happy new year, happy new blog!
It’s 2010 finally and I hope this year would be better for all of us. This year, I’m starting a new blog as I’ve been seriously contemplating on “killing” this femmepower blog…gradually. Though I definitely love this blog and have been earning from it for some time now, I somehow feel that I have to move my blogging adventures to another domain, host and platform.
Blogging on a subdomain doesn’t give me full control over my theme designs, plugins, etc. I’m always at the mercy of the domain owner. Plus I can’t get accurate figures from Alexa. Alexa can’t detect the correct number of inbound links to my blog (instead of 66 links, Alexa only detects 8 and they’re all pointing to the main domain, not mine). But despite that, I’ll always be grateful to my friend Adelle who gave me this subdomain more than a year ago so I could start blogging without the fuss.
No, I’m not about to thoroughly stop posting here abruptly. I’m still weighing things out if it’s worth staying some more or totally move on to my new baby. I’ve “met” good online friends and readers here in femmepower and that’s what attaches me to this blog. So it’s not that easy for me to abandon and leave it for dead.
So much for contemplating, I thank you all for visiting this site for the longest time. Rest assured, I’ll keep you all posted when I’ve finally decided not to continue updating this blog anymore. In the meantime, let me invite you to please visit my new blog love which I set up just today, the first day of the year! I’m looking for blogs to include in my fresh and empty (almost) blogroll in my new blog, Mom Says, so please feel free to leave your links there. I’ll be happy to see you there, really. *hugs!*
My Grown-up Christmas List
Do you remember me?
I sat upon your knee;
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies.
Well, I’m all grown-up now,
And still need help somehow.
I’m not a child,
But my heart still can dream.
So here’s my lifelong wish,
My grown-up Christmas list.
Not for myself,
But for a world in need.
No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,(and wars would never start)
And time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end.
This is my grown-up Christmas list.
As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath our tree.
Well heaven surely knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul.
No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end.
This is my grown-up Christmas list.
What is this illusion called the innocence of youth?
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth.
No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end, oh.
This is my grown-up christmas list.
This is my grown-up Christmas list.
Christmas all over the world
Yes, there’s no stopping Christmas and tonight is the big night! All Christians all over the world are one in celebrating the birth of our dear Jesus Christ. I wonder what’s cooking in your respective places tonight. Do you have Noche Buena too like we have here in the Philippines? Will your family be complete tonight for dinner? Will you share or exchange Christmas presents with members of your family and friends? Or will you be alone in some distant land for some reasons (work perhaps)?
Sad but unlike last year, I, my hubby and our daughter can’t go home to our province and spend Christmas there with our 
families. Airfare rates are not a joke at this time of the year and even if we could get promotional discounts by booking flights earlier, our family budget would still be jeopardized since we have spent a great deal for our travel vacation last month. Hence, we opted to stay here in Manila for the holidays and to our delight, my hubby’s family sent us a Christmas package containing bags, a cute Hello Kity utility box, a pretty Christmas card and some pictures, among others. Thanks to my sisters-in-law, Pinky and Mel, for their generosity and thoughtfulness.
We also got lots of gifts from my hubby’s officemates. I can’t believe how thoughtful some people are! Thanks a hundred times, peeps!
Let me also share with you some pictures of the fireworks display initiated by SM Marikina a couple of nights ago. We were so close to the source that we felt like the fireworks would land on our heads.
Well, that’s about it for now ‘coz I’m gonna get my hands full in the kitchen. I’m making Mango Float, fruit cocktail, and pasta. Yey! However you celebrate Christmas, I pray that you and your family be blessed day after day and that you yourself will also be a blessing to others. Spread the love this Christmas!
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White Christmas in the Philippines
No, we didn’t go elsewhere to see snow. And we didn’t travel to China to see these Panda bears nor did we ride on Santa’s sleigh to fly over to the North Pole just so Bianca could “mingle” with these huge polar bears.
White Christmas and these animals came to us! Yep, these life-size stuffed toys are now in SM Marikina’s ground level attracting lots of mall-goers each day. Such a nice diversion from the Holiday Rush. We took time to relax a bit and hobnob with these humongous stuffed animals coz if they were true and alive, they wouldn’t be this cute and harmless. Lol! Enjoy the pics!
What animal were you in your past life?
I found this short quiz while I was doing my usual “rounds” on the Internet. In my curiosity, I snooped in to check what animal I was in my past life (if ever reincarnation is indeed true). No big deal, just for fun. Surprisingly, the result says a lot about me:
You Were a Wolf |
 You have an instinctual intelligence that guides your life. Your family and “pack” is of primary importance, and you protect them. |
Yep, that’s me! My biological (and extended) family can best attest to that. I may already have a family of my own, but I still hold a certain amount of responsibility over my parents and siblings. Sometimes that burden gets too heavy and is getting painful, but there’s no way that I would abandon my pack. I’m a wolf! No wonder I have a strong fondness for New Moon’s Jacob Black? Lol!
So what animal were you in your past life?
Parents’ role in cultivating kids’ love for music
Bianca (3rd from left) and her groupmates strumming their guitars on stage together with their trainor.
These kids are not pros but they certainly played the hits “Can’t help Falling In Love” and “Sway” like experienced musicians. Yes, this group of elementary students surpassed our expectations during their recital yesterday and I’m proud to say that my daughter Bianca was part of this performing group. Much to the delight of the audience in IVC Elementary School, the group also played the Filipino folk song “Bahay Kubo” and the Christmas carol “Jingle Bells” among others.
Bianca has developed the love for guitar music since we enlisted her to her school’s Rondalla class a few months ago. Now she can read notes and even teaches me how to strum. So instead of sitting in front of the TV for long hours when there are no classes, Bianca now plays her guitar and forces makes me her avid fan. It’s an easy thing to do for a stage mom like me, lol!
Bianca and the rest of her groupmates have one thing in common - a pair of supportive parents. It may take a few bucks off our family budget and it may steal a few hours of our time each week to get our kids involved in a music class…but the fruit of all this is priceless. Our kids not only learn to play and love music but they also get to meet more friends.
At home, my daughter and I would go online together and scour for video tutorials on guitar playing. It helps that I love music too and I get to influence Bianca in appreciating any genre. For an 8-year old like her, it’s quite unusual that she likes the music of Elvis Presley, Steely Dan, Randy Newman, Robbie Dupree, and Corey Hart. In turn, she’s my major influence in appreciating Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.
By the way, Bianca and her classmates also made a group presentation about the story of Christmas wherein each of them had a few lines to say in the middle of the stage. Though well-rehearsed, two of her classmates forgot their lines, perhaps due to stage fright. If we adults get the fear of public speaking sometimes, what more the little kids? It was a good thing though that nobody laughed. Clearly, the schoolkids’ discipline and respect for fellow students prevailed.
And lastly, since it’s only eight days to go before Christmas, my daughter’s school had its simultaneous Christmas parties this morning. Let me share with you some photos below.
