Sharing the Love

I am honored to be the recipient of this very heartwarming award.

Thank you Tracy!

The rules of this award are: SHARE THE LOVE!!! Share this award with all those blogs out there that you love. All the people who make you smile. All those that make you laugh. All those that make your day. All those that leave uplifting comments on your blog. **All I ask, is that you include a link to this post with the award and ask your recipient to do the same**

Do read Crystal's post and learn about the origin of this award, hopefully it raises your awareness on Organ Donation too. Leave her some love while you're at it. :)

I'm sharing the love to the following:

• Tracy (Lovin' you back!)
• KimB - The world would be a happier place if more people were like you :)
  
• Ganns - Keep making music that get people closer to the Lord.
  
• Kris - Thank you for sharing your world.
  
• Mec - Hot momma ;)
  
• You (thank you for visiting, and for leaving your footprints)

Alfred's 29th Birthday - June 8

This is Alfred's Photo Mosaic. He gave me his answers to the questions and I ran the search and picked the photos from Flickr.

He turned 29 yesterday - Happy Birthday babe! :)

We spent the entire day with his family yesterday, something that we've never done before ever. So his birthday was also the day I got to meet his entire family (including cousins and nephews and nieces).

On my way to their home in Pasay, I bought a cake (ube, by their request) and my dad was kind enough to drive me to the store and then to the train station. Alfred was supposed to pick me up at the Taft station and we would walk to their house but he wasn't there yet when I arrived. I called him and I got the feeling there was going to be an entourage coming to pick me up. I wasn't wrong.

His two nieces, Ena and Pauline were there, plus his nephew Lance whom I've met and spent some time with before. So I met the two giggly girls and they were really nice sweet ones. At their home, I met his two older brothers and the girls' mom. They were all really warm and welcoming.

So we had lunch (his mom cooked Bulalo, Dinuguan, Hamonado and Pancit - all were very very yummy, no wonder he has a tummy like that). The plan was to have lunch there, and then go our own way after. But since I felt like they went out of their way to spend time with their Uncle Dodong and to meet me, why not spend more time with the kids? I asked if they wanted to come with us and see a movie - they did! We went to SM Mall of Asia and saw Kung Fu Panda. It's a hilarious movie, comparable to Shrek! Haha :)

After the movie, we headed back to their house because a cousin was there waiting. I met him before but that was the first time I met his girlfriend. Later on, this cousin's older sister, her husband and two teenage kids (boys) came along too. It was a full house, literally.

There were lots of laughter and cases of beer. I drank with them too though I'm not a real beer drinker. There were lots of stories to share and to catch up on. We ended up staying until midnight.

I know he's very happy, and I'm happy that he is.


Credits for the Mosaic photos:
1. King Alfred's Tower, 2. Chicken Adobo Bento, 3. My Old School, 4. one headlight, 5. Kianna Dior @ AVN Expo 2006, Las Vegas, 6. beer belly, 7. Paradise, 8. Leche Flan, 9. flambé, 10. "Norouz" is coming!..., 11. These little piggies, 12. Blue Devil

About Me Photo Mosaic!

Here's a photo mosaic for a meme I found over at Dee's blog. I had fun playing along and if you decide to make one, show it to me okay? If you're wondering why the last block is empty, it's just because I don't have a flickr account and a search for verabear yielded no results. Hehe.

The instructions are below if you decide to make one too!


Credits:
1. beautiful vera, 2. choco truffles, 3. St Joseph's, 4. The Love Trail - Violet, 5. Brad Pitt, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, Angelina Jolie, 6. Coke Club, 7. Windmills, Oia, Greece, 8. Miniature Cakes, 9. The Lawyer's House10. Not available11. Not available

The concept:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your flickr name?

Love, Dolly Parton and an Award

What is Love? What a grade school slum book question. Hehe.

Ganns tagged me with this meme (weeks ago) where one is supposed to define love without using cliches. You should read his definition(s). Sweet. The day I read his post, I remembered feeling so loved just the night before.

Alfred spends a few nights every week here. We've found that that's the best way we could spend quality time with each other without being grouchy with each other. Anyway, as we tucked in to sleep (actually he already was asleep), I complained about having been bitten by a mosquito on my elbow. He reached over and scratched it for me. Aaaww. Haha. Oh yes, he was still sleeping. And I didn't ask him.

So what's love? Love is willingly going out of your way to do something for another. Um-hm. But it's when you don't feel that it's an inconvenience, when it's not being done out of obligation, when you do it with all of your being and there's no conflict in or outside of you. Yup, that's love.

Is that a cliche? Anyhow, I am tagging Kiss, Tracy and Dauphine. I hope you ladies play along!

Anyway, I signed up for the Live Search Club. Okay, it's not a real club. There are tons of games there that are powered by Windows Live Search. You earn tickets while playing, and those tickets can be redeemed for real prices. I've got my sights on a Kitchen Aid mixer or a 30Gb Zune player. I don't know if I'll actually get either one though. Haha. While playing the games on there, I thought about how cool it would be if my nieces would just play those games instead of browsing through Friendster. It would be a much better use of their time. I learned a lot playing!

One of the games is Celebrity Reveal. There are five trivia questions that would serve as clue as to who is the featured celebrity. One of those was Dolly Parton. Through the questions, and the search results that came out in Live Search, I learned about her Imagination Library. It's really a cool project for children's literacy. They mail free books to kids every month, from birth up to their fifth birthday. What a great way to encourage reading and learning. It started in her hometown but it's now all over the US, and also in Canada and the UK.

I hope there is something like that here in the Philippines. I wonder how I can start something similar? If I win the lottery, I swear, I will start something like it. Makes me want to sit with like-minded friends and brainstorm about a program we can actually make happen.

Reminded me of the pre-school classes we taught as part of a child rights and abuse prevention program we planned and implemented years back. The concept was about the importance of education in keeping kids away from abuse and exploitation. I miss my past life sometimes. :)

Okay, on to another tag. Dette awarded this to me, and Tracy did too months ago!

It's the Arte Y Pico Award.
Art y Pico Award Rules:

1. Pick 5 blogs that you feel deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging atmostphere (regardleess of what language).
2. Each award should have the name of the author with a link to their blog.
3. Award winners to post the award with the name and link to the blog of the person who gave them the award
4. Please include a link to the "Arte y Pico" blog so that everyone will know where the award came from.

I hereby bestow this award to Vicki, Susan of Raspberry Road, Jen, Brandy of Mega-Doodle Inspired and KimB. All awesome digital scrapbooking artists :)

7 more facts about me (verabear)

I've been tagged by Angelica and Kimberly, who are both digiscrap designers. I was so surprised to see comments from both of them about the tag, I never would have expected it. This was the same tag that I did for Vicki awhile back, but I figured there's gotta be more than 7 random facts about me right? Wouldn't hurt to have another go! hehe.

1) Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs (now this is the part I will be having a hard time with)
4) Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


Here are 7 more random facts about me :

1. It is 3:05 AM as I start with this list and I am watching a movie online. It's PS I Love You and it is an awesome movie. I love it! I cannot believe I didn't go see it in the cinema. The first 13 minutes - wow! I am adding it to my list of favorite movies. Oh - I want me an Irish man! Hahaha :)
--> First random fact: PS I Love You is one of my favorite movies.

2. I had intended to look into the ad sites I signed up for in the past two days so I could carefully place them in my blogs, and consider how I can place them in my verabear.com site too. See, I seriously want to make extra money with all the time I spend online. I can't for the life of me design anything for digital scrapbooking, so I had to find something else. Hopefully that really takes off soon.
--> Second random fact: I'm into making money online.

3. I think my boyfriend is really serious about marrying me in June of next year. I told him I won't be making any plans until I get a ring. That was just a joke of course. We'll see. ;)
--> Third fact: Plans to get married are underway. No one else knows but us. And YOU :)

4. I submitted an application at work today for a different position than the one I currently hold. If I get it, I'd be going back to training people - something I've really loved doing when I was doing it. I knew it was something I really wanted. But honestly, it was tearing me apart this afternoon deciding whether to turn in my papers or not. I've grown attached to my current team, it's as if I don't really want to leave them. And for once, I seem to be somewhere where things are going along just as planned. Oh, we'll see.
--> Fourth fact: I think my calling is somewhere along the lines of education -- in teaching, facilitating learning, training. My previous job was in this line too.

5. I will not make a very good housewife - I'm not good at cleaning house, I don't cook. Both could change though. That's the fifth fact -- I am not domesticated.

6. There were photography classes in a Summer Workshop I attended when I was 8 years old. I believe I took really awesome pictures that summer. I wonder where those are. I don't remember any of the things I learned then.
--> Fact number 6: I am a frustrated photograher. Hehe.

7. I secretly wish I was in Kris Aquino's staff. I think she shares her blessings with her. Kris is a local celebrity. Read her Wikipedia article to know more. I am not happy that there is no single site that features her beautifully!

That took a long time to list. Weird. I hope you learned some new things about me :)
Here's the very hard part, tagging 7 other people. Here goes (but going to their blogs and telling them they're tagged will have to wait until tomorrow, I'm pooped!):

1. Ganns
2. Dette
3. Dee (oh I hope you can find time for this)
4. Hummie
   
5. Arianne
   
6. Dauphine
   
7. Ugh. I am still one tag short!
   

My Cooking Master Boy and Thursday Thirteen #11

Cooking Master Boy - that is Alfred's favorite anime. I enjoyed watching it too when it was on ABS-CBN but for Alfred, it's like a how-to guide for cooking. Seriously. He's been watching the series again, but this time through Youtube.com or Crunchyroll.com or some other video site that carry the any or all 52 episodes of the toon.

He's been wanting to cook the perfect Yangchow fried rice, or even just to simply perfect the art of adding egg to rice. The other day, after watching an episode of Cooking Master Boy, he claimed to know the trick to get it done. For breakfast yesterday morning, he got up and tried his newly learned trick. In fairness, he didn't disappoint. So breakfast was a big, fun event yesterday. :)

A couple of hours later, while we were at the mall looking for a chopper/food processor to make crushing Oreos an easier task for me, he still couldn't forget about his wonderfully cooked fried rice. He was disappointed at not having taken a photo; I said we'll capture it on film next time - if he can recreate it. :)

Today, I am bummed about NOT being able to post a decent TT in the past 3 or 4 weeks. Really, I had several ideas and posts written out in my mind but I never reached the keyboard to get them all out. Does that happen to you too? I think it happens to many of us - we actually think about stuff that's happening around us and react to them, and then later think what a great post that would turn out to be - and then not get to post.

So here's my thirteen posts I have yet to write.

1. A post for or about my Mom and our relationship. Of course with Mother's Day last Sunday, I thought about how we didn't grow up as 'good friends' but having an ok relationship nonetheless. Instead of posting those thoughts right away, I stopped to look for her pictures that I can scrap and include in the post.
2. My top freebie hunts for digital scrapbooking. I have long wanted to feature maybe two designer blogs at a time, as my little way of thanking them for all the wonderful designs they give away to cheap-o's like me who grab every freebie that comes their way. :) When I get to do this, the first one I would write about would be Susan of Raspberry Road.
3. My follow up post about our day at the beach waves of Club Manila East. I have not finished my layouts of our pictures. And I MUST talk about the indestructible paper bracelet.
   
4. Ramble about what I'm going to do for social change. As a young girl I was involved in many activities that contribute to society. I really was a child rights advocate and not just one who would talk about it. Now, I don't really do anything in that front and I wish I could change that.
5. My thoughts on being a non-active Church member who does not attend Sunday mass (or any mass for that matter). I specifically want to dig through my thoughts and feelings about what I can do to be part of either the Youth movement or Sunday School. I know I have something to contribute, I'm just not making time.
   
6. Our third anniversary in the company. On the 23rd, Vanette, Edsel, Bea, Joey and I would be celebrating our 3rd year at NCO. We're down to 3 from the original 24 (am I correct?) who started training as L2 TSRs. We were the special class that spent one week at Camelot Hotel. We were the class with a lot of potential.
7. I wanted to share an inspirational video that I watched while I was at work the other day. It's about how our attitude towards events and things in our everyday lives could be key to what becomes of us . At least that's what I remember about it. I will watch it again and get the link up here someday.
8. Ramble about friends and why I am not like others who spend so much time with friends. This is something I think about very often.
9. Budgeting and saving money; making money. I really would love to travel and go on trips but don't have the resources for it. I've been earning three times as much as I did three years ago and yet my bank account doesn't have much. I know I can be thrifty if I wanted to, so why am I not so? I also make a little money through my blog over at http://verabear.bravejournal.com but I'd also like to explore how else I can earn online.
   
10. Marriage/Wedding plans. Okay, there are no concrete plans yet
    
11. I have not added Steve Berry's The Third Secret to my bookcase. I read this weeks ago.
12. How my luck is turning and my team is performing well at work now. I wanted to write about each team member to go with the pictures of our videoke night. That's another item on my "to-scrap" list.
13. The baking courses and schools and I read about online and why I want to sign up. Last month, I had plans to sign up for baking courses (which would have started in May).

I will post about these things SOON. If not, well, at least they're on this list already. Hahaha!

Read my past TTs here and here.

7 random facts about yours truly

I did not visit digital scrapbooking blogs over the weekend because I was catching up on reading local gossip, as I mentioned in my previous post. So when I saw Vicki's comment today about the tag, I was thrilled.

I enjoy visiting Vicki's blog and it is NOT just because of the freebies that she gives away. Oh okay, in the beginning that was the draw to her site. She designs kits that are vibrant and colorful. But that's not all, she also talks about her life and posts pictures of her dogs Pompey and Lily (those two are superstars!).

Anyhoo, so she tagged me today and the reason it's special is that I'm just one of her regular readers. I just pass by and politely say thank you for her gifts. I didn't think she would remember me for a tag, know what I mean? But I'm happy that she did :)

So here are 7 random facts about me:

1. I was a Sunday School girl. Me and my friends always looked forward to all the fun we would have on Sundays. I especially remember and enjoy the productions we would put up every Christmas and in the summer.
2. I am a thespian at heart. I used to be part of a children's theater group. I loved acting onstage and singing most especially. Later in highschool, I preferred being backstage and cherished those times that I was part of productions that people loved to watch.
3. My secret wish is to become a Stay at Home Mom when my time comes.
   
4. I belt out and really sing my heart out whenever there's Videoke around. My brother bought one but you can't hear sound from the mic so much. Apparently, we need to buy an amplifier for the sound to be really great. I am so tempted to spend on that amplifier, but I am leaving it up to my brother to make that purchase too.
5. I am a chocoholic, so is the rest of my family. Which means there's one choco hazard or another for our little Zune here. We're careful about choco crumbs and we keep him off the sofa whenever we share chocolate bars. Hehe.
6. Through my cousins on the mother's side, I have three nephews aged 3-7 and 4 nieces aged 8-12. From cousins in my father's side of the family, I have 4 nieces aged 1-14, and 4 nephews aged 1-5.
7. I am checking out options for me to attend a baking course this summer. I really hope I can make it happen.

So those are my 7 random facts. I tried not to repeat things that I've already posted about at one point or another, but that's hard because I ramble on and on about this and that!

I am now tagging three wonderful women. Girls, please write 7 random things about yourselves. Link back to me. And then tag three others :)

Tracy - She's a very talented designer who lives two cities away from me. I'm hoping we could meet up soon sis :)

Kiss - I see this mom of 3 every night at work, but there's no time to just chat no?

Everth - Classmate from gradeschool through highschool. Mommy to Vien. Kakainggit mga posts mo about projects with Vien! :)

Pata-Pata-Pata-Pon!

I am crazy about this game on my PSP (yes boyfriend, it is still mine! hehehe) - PATAPON!
It is a simple game - but not too easy! It's like Dance Dance Revolution but on PSP, and there's a story :)

The little Patapon characters are so cute and the colors so vibrant, and the music - it sticks with you. Yes it does. The beat has been with me constantly, hahaha. Go to the website and listen to it!

I'm gonna miss it in the next 5 days. Boyfriend took the PSP with him on his trip with his family. Aw.

--------------

Here's a tag from Dette from Dance of the Motherhood:

4 Jobs I've Had:

• Administrative Assistant and Assistant Trainer
• Level 2 Technical Support Representative
• Trainer
• Team Manager

The first were two posts I held in the same organization. The remaining three were the various positions I've held in the company I am currently working at.

4 Shows on my TiVo/DVR:
We do not have TiVo here and I have not mastered the art of recording a TV show on DVR. Hehe. Here are 4 shows currently still being shown on TV that I would like to record or would hunt DVDs for

• House, MD
• E.R.
• Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition Plus! (yes, I am a reality TV junkie too and I haven't been able to tune in to this season)
• Palos (another admission - I am a teleserye and even a Koreanovela addict at times, it helps me destress)

4 Places I've Been:
Outside of the country...

• Paris, France
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Yokohama, Japan
• Bangkok, Thailand

4 Favorite Foods:

• Desserts(oh yeah this includes all things chocolate, cakes and pastries)
• Chicken Cola (even if the boyfriend doesn't like it, it'll probably be the only dish I will cook when we get married and move in together. hehehe)
• Spaghetti
• Salmon Sashimi!

4 CD's Recently Listened To:
Let's just say 4 artists I've recently listened to?

• American Idol contestants
• Leona Lewis
• Fergie
• Beatles

4 Things You Can Do to Make My Day:

• Leave me a comment (yes I am fishing people!)
• Say 'Thank you' to people who have helped you or who have done or said something nice to you.
• Give me a hug.
• Tell me what made you smile today, or what I can do to help make your day :)

4 People I Tag:

• Mec - please? :)
• Tracy
• Chikai
• [S]

Adam is turning 1!

One of my best girlfriend's baby is turning 1 year old on the 18th. I am looking forward to that because (I'm afraid to admit) I haven't visited him ever. :(

I would so love to hear comments... :)

On another matter...

What I love most about my boyfriend (a tag from Tracy):

• He understands my shortcomings.
  
• He indulges my videoke addiction (haha!)
  
• He's good with kids.
  
• He is a dog lover (yup, mine too Tracy). He is my Zune's personal groomer.
  
• He's like a kid sometimes.
  
• We love shopping together.
• He's my personal computer guy.
  
• He resists when I tell him what he doesn't like hearing, but accepts it in time.
  
• I would not need to cook for him, he'll take care of it :)
  
• He slides in first in the backseat of cabs - I don't like having to do that, so unlike most, it's not ladies first when we ride a taxi.
• He encourages me to dream bigger and reach higher.
  
• He is working his way to being the best him that he can be.
  
• Though our personalities and interests are as different as night and day, we complement each other.
  
• Wherever he is, I feel at home.
  
• There's nothing that I really love best about him, I just love all of him.
  

Thursday Thirteen - #8

Wow, it's been more than a year since my last T13 (my previous t13s are over here). I've been wondering when I'd be able to post leisurely on a Thursday so I could participate in this popular meme again. Glad am still up at 245AM this Thursday :)

For this week, let me showcase 13 pictures of my boyfriend, Alfred. This afternoon, my colleague Richard asked me why I always referred to Alfred as 'boyfriend' when I talk about him. Well, I'm not used to calling him Alfred anymore and that's how he's called at work. So if I'm speaking with people who call him Fred or Alfred, I refer to him as boyfriend. If I'm speaking with others who refer to him as Dodong, as I do, I call him that. Simple :)

I'm doing this because I appreciate what he did for me today (oh, yesterday). Actually, he does a lot of things for me and I truly appreciate all of it. I love you sweetie! :)

--> Okay, so this is more a picture of me with my college girlfriends, but look at Dong right there on the far right looking at us? He finds us amusing. heheh. We've been together almost as long as I've been friends with these girls. I still remember how nervous he was the first time I took him to meet them. :)






--> Now this second picture is one I took with my camera phone while having lunch at Petruss, probably around Valentine season last year. That's him pretending to be impatient.







--> This is his solo shot in the picturesque Fedilisan Rice Terraces, taken in our Sagada trip last year. We were resting because I was sooo tired with the trek back up to Bangaan so we took pictures of each other. He was so patient with me that time, which he normally isn't when I slow him down. He says he was so proud of me because I conquered it all during that trip. :)



--> These next two were both taken in restaurants. On the left is the 'before' pic of our boodle feast at Seafood Island. On the right is his Gramm's Diner pic while waiting for our orders.




<-- This next one is him lounging at our company employee lounge during the Family Day last year. We brought several of my nieces and nephews and we had just finished eating and were watching an animated movie. The kids were either sprawled in bean bags or slouching on the other furniture too.



--> Now, he will kill me for posting these next two! The first one was the first/last time he had a facial. He was totally complaining about the pricking! The second one was a surprise shot at Seafood Island.

<-- He'll definitely remember this, he was so happy when he finally got his iPod! Almost a year ago now :) It takes a lot of convincing to get him to lend it to me.


The next three photos were significant - our first dog iPod's birthday 'party.'

And now for his all-time favorite picture that I took while waiting at the recruitment area of our office:


I love you sweetie! :)

THE PURPOSE BEHIND THE THURSDAY THIRTEEN:

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. What do you do? Write Thirteen things about yourself, summarize your week in one entry, make it easy for other bloggers to get to know you on a weekly basis. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is not only encouraged, it is part of being a Thursday Thirteener!

Have your 13? Add your link to Mister Linky and leave me a comment so I can go check it out. :)

Edit: I think there was something wrong with my choice of Linky because it isn't posting the links? I'll change it if I can see what will work...

Play Domino!

Chikai of DigitalScrapz (Captured Memories) tagged me awhile back with this. Sorry girl for taking so long to return the tag :)

How it works: Copy the entire list and add your name at the bottom. And tag at least 5 friends.

Thea is {bloggerhappy.com} Childstar Mike My Scrappy Side Abie Aggie Alpha ~ because life is fun Alpha’s blog Apple Apols Jacqui Jane Jody Joy Kelly Mich Peachy cherryrose02 BlogsilogCherry Chikai Rose Vera

Now, I'm tagging Tracy, Mec, MissKriss (I'm not sure you do tags but I hope you don't mind), Heidi and anyone else who might be interested (sorry, one link less). :)