This is Crazy

This has made the rounds in the social networking sites, - twitter, instagram, for a long time now I guess but it still cracks me up. What if you're dining somewhere al fresco and someone approaches you and give you this card/s?

{Photos all from Google Images}

What do you think? Funny? Hilarious? Desperate? In my opinion, it's quiet cute and funny. It is definitely a plus.

It made me think...what if I'll have my own call me maybe business cards from printingamerica.com? Hubby might not like the idea. LOL!

Of course, I was just kidding. But for all the singles out there, what have you got to lose. I think this is worth trying.

Hello 2013

Today is the first day of the year 2013 and I spent most of day in bed. It's not because I want to but because I am down with a flu or something.

It's now almost 9pm and I just finished taking a shower. If were to strictly believe the old saying about how you spend your new year then I guess I'd be spending most of my year in bed sick! No!!!!!

Whether I believe the saying or not, I just don't want to spend the start of the new year being sick. So aside from taking the meds, I am also sipping tea and psyching myself up to get better faster. And I think it is working.

With the new year comes the usual new year's resolution. I haven't made my list because right now I am busy getting better. I also have prioritized listing the tasks I need to accomplish before we head back to Cambodia. I know that I am here for challenge coins among other things.

As for the new year's resolution, I know what I want to accomplish this year. Still, I want to write my resolutions down so it's crystal clear to me.

I hope you guys are having a fantastic time. How did you celebrate the new year's eve? Did you get to watch fireworks display? We did and we had the best view from our hotel room. Lucky us!

I wish everyone a year full of love, blessings and peace. Happy 2013!!!

Save Your Head

Cambodia is not a Christian country and they don't celebrate Christmas. But Christmas being hugely commercialized now, you can definitely feel that Christmas is around the corner by just visiting grocery shops (lots of tempting chocolates!).

I am not sure if it's just me or traffic is also really getting worse around this time of year in the city. I mean, I can understand christmas rush in Manila. People are probably running from one party to another, shopping for christmas, etc.

But here? Hmmm...

I mentioned this because yesterday, the traffic was unusually heavy made worse by another motorcycle accident on the road.

When we passed by the accident area, I saw a kid being helped out. The kid looked fine but was a little disoriented probably. He did not have a helmet on.

Geez people! Just go to the nearest helmet shop helmets and get one. It's for your own safety!

This one looks like a hit with the kids.

Parents should not let these youngsters run around bare in the head when driving a motorcycle. I know I won't let my son.

Anyway, I am off today to finish my christmas wish list. Here's hoping I won't encounter any more accidents on the road today.

Stay safe everyone!

Trumpets

My friends had the unusual conversation today. They were arguing whether the color of the trumpet has anything to do about its quality.

I say unusual because both of them have no musical background much less play a trumpet or any instrument for that matter.

I took it upon myself this afternoon to look for the best trumpets. But then I have no idea where to begin so I just looked at different styles and colors. LOL!

I couldn't decide which one I like better. The silver or the gold one?

Silver

Gold

I think both look nice. If you have a friend who plays the trumpet, these ones will surely make a great gift.

Uniformed

Travel for me is not just about the destination. It is important for me that I also coordinate my wardrobe with the place I am going to visit.

I am not saying I have to be fashionable. I just want to look nice and not out of place. Guys have it easier. Whatever they wear, they blend in easily. Girls have to make an effort.

For our recent trip to Japan, I made a little research about what people in Tokyo usually wear. I do have this impression that fashion in Japan is more about individuality. And I am right. Japanese have the most unique fashion sense I have ever seen.

The research gave me an idea what to wear during the whole trip. I did not make an overhaul of my wardrobe. I just made sure that what I wear will also be weather appropriate and something that I will be comfortable to wear.

For our Tokyo Disneyland trip, I wore this:

Hubby, at first objected with my choice of clothing. He said I looked like I am wearing one of those restaurant uniforms. Well, he doesn't know anything about fashion anyway. So I just ignored him. And besides, Disney has a Halloween theme that time. I could pretend I was wearing a costume.

When we were inside the theme park, he noticed that a lot of women have almost the same outfit as I have. LOL!

It's nice to blend in with the local but still remain true to your own fashion sense.

Building an Online Store

A friend emailed me a link to an online store builder. She wanted me to check the website and give her my opinion.

My first impression: How come I did not think of this before?

I remember there was a time when I was crazy about putting up a travel agency specializing in honeymoon packages.

I spent a lot of time researching and then trying to build my own website. Since I do not have any know-how at all about websites and online store, in the end I got burned out from trying to do everything on my own and finally I just gave up.

If there's one thing I regret, it was about not utilizing Google to look for someone who can help me. If I did, my honeymoon travel agency would have been up and running by now. But then, maybe it's not too late to start all over again. Hmm?

Anyway, an online store builder is something I would definitely suggest to people trying to start their online business and especially to people who have no idea how to start one. They can do so much for you and your business.

I checked the link my friend gave me and their services include: set up your store, design your website, find customers and even answer phone for you!

After I went through the site, I am filled with sadness. I shouldn't have done everything my own back then. Lesson learned: If you don't know anything, ask for help.

But like I said above, maybe I can start all over again.

Uniqlo in Bangkok

I found something interesting, shopping related of course, in Bangkok during our recent trip.

Whenever I want to buy something, a dress or tops or pants, I always gravitate towards my usual brands - ZARA, Mango, GAP. Sometimes I break my own rules and buy at some random shops.

But most of the time, I end up feeling either guilty (expensive item) or disappointed (bad quality). So to save myself time and money I just go to my "favorites".

But this recent trip to Bangkok, I found myself buying clothing items from Uniqlo.

Uniqlo opened in Bangkok a year ago. We were also in Bangkok then. I checked it out but I did not find anything I like.

But to my surprise this time around, I found a lot of items I like and the prices are of course cheaper compared to my favorite brands. A pleasant surprise!

What's funny is that it was my husband who ended up buying a lot of items from Uniqlo. He loved the long sleeves there. I think he bought seven! LOL!

As for my kiddo, he did not want anything to do with shopping. He just really want to buy some mesa boogie 2x12 cabinet guitar center. I know pretty sophisticated for a young age, huh?

But we told him, we'll buy him his rockstar guitar next time.

Uniqlo is a Japanese brand. We'll be flying to Tokyo next month and I can't wait to see what's in their Tokyo outlets!

P.S.

The Uniqlo shop we went to is located at Central World Mall, Bangkok.

Safes

Break from shopping find...

My husband and I were just talking about gun safety earlier. I told him I saw someone with lots of bullets as his belt yesterday. Apparently hubby saw him too and apparently he was a security guard of someone important.

I don't know, but seeing a civilian-wearing guard with lots of bullets gives me the creeps. With a lot of things going on around us, the very last thing I want to see are those bullets.

If I have my way, nobody should own any armory or anything like that. And if they already have, it should be put in a safe where nobody could access them.

Well, something like this..

gun safes from GunSafePros.com

I really think ordinary citizen should not be allowed to carry guns or pistols. License should be revoked or not issued at all.

Well, that's my opinion. 

Father's Day Treat

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there especially to my own father and to my husband who is not only a good man but a responsible and loving father to our son.

How are you going to show your appreciation to the man who makes your life easier, funnier, more meaningful? I've got a few suggestions:

1) A greeting card with your own words. Simple, effective and most especially it's not expensive. I think any dad would love a well-written appreciation card from you.

2) Lunch treat. If you have money, treat your dad to a nice restaurant. Like they say, a way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

3) If your dad is a little vain, why not buy him spray tanning supplies? Or better yet bring him to a Spa for a day of pampering and relaxation.

4) Cook his favorite dish. My husband loves it when I cook leche flan, his favorite food.

5) Give him full control of the remote control today. If you are just staying at home, let him choose whatever he wants to choose. I am sure he would love it.

These are just a few of my suggestions for Father's Day. I am sure you could think of something special  for your Dad.

As for me, I am cooking up a surprise for my husband. Hopefully he will be surprised and will like the surprise.

Once again, happy Father's Day to all the Dads!

It's The Thought That Counts

I did not know we could find that specific string here in Phnom Penh! When we were in Manila, we looked everywhere but we could not find one. Either we were not looking hard enough or we were looking in the wrong places!

Now that we are no longer looking, we find ourselves staring at it! Oh, the irony of life and life's events.

Hubby wanted one because he was planning on giving it as a gift to his musician friend. But what hubby does not know (which he only found later) is that his friend already have a lot of it given as gifts as well.

We treated hubby's friend to a nice resto which the friend truly appreciated.

Moral of the story: Simple things, given or offered heartily mean more than the expensive but thoughtless gifts.

Practice

Last week, we spent most of our time window shopping for home furnishing. We looked at different stores for sofas, dining sets, TV racks, bed frame and mattress, pillows, body pillows, sheets, electronics like flat TV, refrigerator, etc, etc.

It was fun but it was also a test of restraint on my part. I needed to make my wants meet with my budget. Fortunately, I did not have to really put it in practice as we did not go thru with furnishing our condo because we found a tenant instead.

I wouldn't say it was all a waste of time. Instead it a was a needed practice so when we finally decide to go thru with renovating and furnishing our condo, we already have an idea what to do or where to buy the things we need.

Follow or Subscribe?

I have not been much active in facebook lately. I am still visible though. I post some random stuff, I like a page or a picture and comment on some of my friends' activities. But I am not that active unlike before.

I could not say I am active in twitter either. I visit the site and post my blog updates there. Once in a while I come up with some totally random stuff and post it in twitter just because I want to. Nah, just kidding.

I follow some inspiring people and read their tweets during my idle time (usually when I am in the car going to pick up my son). It always makes for a very interesting ride on the way to my son's school.

Back to facebook, I just found out today that you can read some celebrity's timeline without being friends with them. I think this has been around for some time now. I am just late. Anyway, to read a celebrity's status update, you just have to subscribe. Or if it is a fanpage, you can click like to get updates as well.

Here are some of the people I "like" or subscribe to:

Mark Zuckerberg - Facebook Founder
Tyra Banks - Supermodel, CEO Bankable Production
Timothy sykes - Business/Economy
Paris Hilton - Celebrity
Britney Spears - Singer

I haven't checked yet if Dalai Lama is on facebook but he is on Twitter so I follow him.

One thing I like about this social network is that it is bridging the gap between ordinary people like me and those people we look up to.

Isn't internet amazing?

Ready, Get Set!

It's almost April already and I have tons of things to do!

We're going on a holiday next month, we're fixing our condo in Manila and we're moving to another apartment here in Cambodia.

With these things in my mind, it's no surprise I get anxiety attacks lately. LOL!

What I am super excited though, is the part where we renovate our condo in Manila. All I can think of are furnitures, accessories and electronics.

My macbook's desktop is full of furniture pictures. No wonder the battery is drained quickly. I have to get the chargers battery ready all the time. LOL!




I think I am getting obsessed about this project. LOL!

I only wish we have more time in the Philippines. Three weeks is definitely not enough.

Reminds Me of My College Life

I was window-shopping for ovens because I want to replace our table top oven when I was directed to laboratory ovens. I guess I wasn't clear with my google search.

These laboratory ovens remind me of a part of my college life. Did you know that I changed courses two times back in college? Well, here's the story..

When I entered college, my major was BS Agriculture in UP Los Banos. At that time, I really wanted to be a farmer. Seriously!

I took Agriculture because I had major ambitions of revolutionizing the small farming industry in our province.

But even before the first year ended, I had changed my mind already. LOL! I wanted to become a hotelier. So I moved to UP Diliman because Hotel and Restaurant Administration was not offered in Los Banos.

Unfortunately, BS Hotel and Restaurant Administration was already closed for "shiftees" when I went to Diliman. Since I did not want to go back to Los Banos, I took BS Food Technology because it was the only available course left.

And that's the time, I spent a lot of time with the laboratory ovens. I remember "incubating" germs in the oven and then later on counting the germs. LOL! I did that for two semesters. It was fun but I knew I will not survive with a lot of chemistry subjects.

The following year, I finally shifted to Hotel and Restaurant Administration.

It took me five years to finish college because I made a series of mistakes. But I am thankful at least I found out sooner what I really wanted. Some people have already graduated from college but they still don't know what course or which path to take.

My love affair with hotels started the time I shifted to HRA. And since then I am hooked. One day, someday...I will have my own hotel.

LOL!

Tweaking in the process

I have been neglecting this blog, I know. Busy is my only excuse but that shouldn't really be an excuse.

I am planning to do some tweaking in this blog. I guess I deluded myself into thinking I can write a wide array of topics here. Who am I? Superwoman? LOL!

I would like to focus on key topics only, things that have impact on my shopping choices and things I covet.

That shouldn't be too difficult.

But we'll see.

Year 2012 looks bright for me, workwise. I shouldn't disappoint my horoscope. Hahaha!!!

I shall work harder this year. I promise!

I wore this

In Paris, everyone seems chic.

At least that's my idea of Paris. Like I have mentioned in this blog before, going to Paris is half the story of the trip. The other half is the outfit you're going to wear while you are there.

Since I am not a fashionista and my budget is limited. I just try to work around on what I have.

That's me, in what felt like a marmot coat, projecting too hard. LOL!

They said the color black is like Paris' uniform. Everyone wears black. So I made sure to bring most of my black clothes like this coat and the knitted top inside.

But I also wanted some colors on my outfit so I used a red scarf and my skirt with some red color.

I like the result. LOL! Gotta love your own! Hahahaha!!!

Oh my highschool life

Feeling nostalgic right now. Probably because I just had a mini-reunion with my high school classmates in Dubai.

It's always fun reminiscing our younger days - the crushes, the jokes, the teachers, even the exams and essays. I don't think anybody was fond of doing essays during that time. But we had no choice. We had to do it and do it from scratch. Unlike now, kids can just easily get free online essays. How charmed their lives are?!

High school was tough but when we look at it now, it was mostly fun!

My friends and I stayed until 4am just talking and laughing. We never noticed the time. If we did not have a planned itinerary later that day, we wouldn't have cut short our conversation.

To my friends in Dubai, thank you for your time. I really had a great time with you guys. Hope we will be able to do it again soon. Somewhere.

The list

Hubby blurted out this morning that he wants to put up our Christmas tree. I totally forgot about Christmas!

I am still getting over the jetlag from our EU and Dubai tour plus there's still the unpacking I have to do and hubby wants to start on Christmas already.

Stress!

Just kidding. I was actually thinking about the holiday already. I still have not thought of our theme at home. I have to start researching on that one soon. And there's the Christmas gift list I have to work on too.

One advantage of living away from home is that you don't have a long list of people to give presents to. LOL!

I only have a handful of presents to give actually. And it's a manageable list. There's a request for affordable hair replacement present, a toy car, an apple TV and lest I forget, a bag for myself. Hahaha!!!

I so wish we have a lot of money. I would like to go away for the holidays even for a few days.

But we've already spent so much during our recent trip so travelling again is not an option right now. We have to live within our means.

That doesn't mean that it's going to be a blue Christmas. There's no such thing in my vocabulary.

Christmas will always be a merry event in my family. We don't need to splurge. But we certainly won't skimp that much also.

How's your list so far?

To live in Paris

Hi all! We are already in Paris. It's been amazing so far. There are some hiccups but nothing big to dampen our mood.

I love Paris! Everything looks beautiful and picturesque. When you take a shot, it looks like taken straight from a magazine or something. Really, it's that beautiful.

And the people look so chic, well, except me of course. Hahaha!!!

Yeah, seriously. These Parisians are the epitome of cool and chic. I love how they dress up. All in black. It's like a uniform. And the scarves. Oh, how they wear it well! My scarf looks awkward on me. It felt like I am being choked or something. LOL!

I asked my husband to look for a job here. I told him to find a job with a great employee benefits. Hahaha!!!

Well, Paris is not cheap. Everything is expensive. So to be able to live well, you need a good compensation and benefits. Right?

And then I realize, I could not live here. It's cold. Really cold.

Yesterday, I was already wearing what seemed like a very thick coat, a scarf, and a gloves but the chill still went inside my bones. Seriously.

I had to buy a bonnet from a souvenir shop even if it was expensive! It did not even match well with my outfit but I couldn't care less. I was freezing!

My friend said it was not even cold yet according to Paris standard. And I said, what? She laughed so hard.

I can't imagine what cold is like for them. I'd probably be wearing the whole house by then if the temperature starts to go below 8 degrees. LOL!

It makes me sad that I could not live here. But on the bright side, I can always visit if our budget allows us to. I will just have to work harder =)

Outfit Dilemna

Planning a winter wardrobe can really be a headache. Literally. LOL! Of course, there's the weather to take part in the blame but I think it's mostly from planning an outfit I have no experience of.

It's exactly one month from today that we are going to Europe. They say that November in Paris is already winter-like cold so my friend advised me to bring on the full gear - coat, boots, gloves and scarf.

I have all of it already, thanks to a recent shopping trip in Bangkok but I don't know how to wear it. LOL!

There's also the accessory I have to think about. Should I bring my steel bracelets, chunky bangles, chandelier earrings, etc?

Believe it or not, I have been researching on what to wear in Paris on November. And surprisingly, there are a lot of women out there like me who's asking the same thing. Hahaha! I think we're all scared we'd be caught by the fashion police in Paris. Isn't Paris the fashion capital of the world? Or at least one of the fashion capital of the world.

Now, let me go back to my research and report here what I find.