Trust

1. A Love To Light Up the Sky, 2. Trust, 3. Boho Love, 4. What the Mind Does Not Understand

Had dinner at HEAT tonight with the family, together with Howell and D. It was a nice, relaxing way to spend the evening :)

Sharing some quotes that tugged my heartstrings.

I especially like, "The best proof of love is trust." I struggle with trust at times. And I constantly remind myself to love and to trust~

Christmas Weekend

The weekend has come and gone. It's back to work again tomorrow.

On Saturday, D took me out :) We had brunch at Toast Box in Trinoma. I was craving for the kaya toast set - which includes toast slathered with generous amounts of butter and kaya butter, coffee with condensed milk, and soft-boiled eggs. Breakfast goodness~ D had the Hainanese chicken. I like that he shares his food with me, and lets me steal food off his plate :) Hehe

Went book shopping at Powerbooks. Got the Isabel Dalhousie series - the first four books, and two young adult books :)

Headed home afterwards and cleaned my room. D helped put the awry puzzle piece in my Snoopy flower house puzzle back in its place :)

Had dinner at Silla. I miss kimchi and red pepper paste~

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My family got back from HK today, and they brought with them lots of pasalubong from Disneyland :D I got four stuffed toy magnets, an "Angel" stuffed toy (Angel is Stitch's female version), and couple keychains for D and me. D came to the house early and kept me company until I had to leave for the airport.

Howell met us at the airport and we then proceeded to Golden Bay for lunch with his family. There was lots of food, as in LOTS. Burp burp :P Ran into Ahia James & Achi Anne and family :)

Spent the afternoon watching The Buzz and later on chatting with Nini, Zel, Mom, and Howell. Memorable tidbits included:

- 我愛你，再見

- Black Spaghetti

- Ai's cable car moment where she held on to the pole tightly due to fear of heights

- The above led to Nini's recalling Mom's hobbie cat experience

D picked me up later on and we had dinner with his family at 22 Prime. Fancy and cozy place with a great view of Ortigas :) I ate so much I felt as if I would burst :|

Memorable tidbits on the way home:

- D's Christmas song LSS (I think it was 'Away in a Manger')

- Navigating Podium's parking building. "To park?" quips :P

- Fruit cake - Fear Factor style

- White forest cake and maraschino cherries

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It was a fun weekend :)

A few more days and it'll be 2010.

I still have to add some entries to my Bucket List~

Merry Christmas!

1. Tiny houses in a row..., 2. candy canes, 3. "I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month." ~Harlan Miller, 4. Pink Peppercorn Peppernuts

Christmas Eve was spent fixing the accessories section of my room :) Thanks to Laurice's and A-ie's gifts :) Then, snacked over Fita crackers and Che's yummy cheese pimiento dip while waiting for people to gather about for the Bingo game. Bingo was fun and memorable with little ol' I16, whom everyone was waiting for. When Nini announced it, everyone came charging towards the prize table. Haha. Fun night :)

Played with little Tricia, who can call Papa, Mama, and Ahia now :) She has beautiful eyes and a sweet smile :) Kyla made her first appearance too. She has a smiling face like Nicole's. My nieces and nephews are growing up so fast.

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Spent the day with D. We made potato croquettes, washed dishes (after the cooking XP), played Uno Stacko and Cafe World, and watched Seven Pounds :) The day just passed by real quick. It was fun and memorable :)

expectations

I've been told not to expect too much from people, not to compare myself too much with others. It lowers my self-esteem, you see. And comparing doesn't really help. It only fosters jealousy, uneasiness, and sometimes even anger.

I've been blessed with so many things, and I am thankful for all the privileges and challenges life has given me. I've been blessed with a lot of love, from family and friends, and even random people I've met. In a few of my relationships though, I've felt that love was more of a struggle, a process that involved yearning for it and doing things to earn it. It's a vicious cycle of expectations and disappointment. I guess, sometimes, it's enough just to give love. Just give without expecting anything. As my coach used to say, "If all else fails, just love."

More than focusing on my unmet expectations, I choose to cherish what I have now :) After all, life is beautiful. God is good.

responsibility

Responsibility is both a privilege and a burden.

It is a privilege to be trusted by people, to feel powerful and able. Yet, there are times when even the best intentions are misinterpreted. What ensues is a battle between your own principles and what you feel should be done in order to protect a system and to preserve a certain order.

I guess in the end, although it is individuals who manage a business, who make and set the ground rules, sometimes these individuals need to hide behind a system, an institution in order to implement their goals and best intentions. I've witnessed that people don't necessarily listen to the advice or kind words of an individual, but they respect (maybe because of fear?) the guidelines and restrictions imposed on them by an institution. Like disciplining a child, sometimes kind words don't work. It pays to be firm and strict and authoritative. I think I'm still trying to find that balance, if ever there is one, between firmness and kindness. More often than not, it pays to be "mental" in the business world. It's head over heart in this field.

It's been a few months since I shifted jobs, and I can say that I'm grateful to be able to learn about life, relationships, and business in such an environment. It's barely perfect but somehow the daily activities allow me to see the bigger picture and how the smaller details figure into the grander pattern of things.

christmas is in the air

The mood at the office has been lighter. People seem to smile more nowadays. Maybe it's the bonuses? :P Or it could be the general atmosphere that December brings. Christmas season is much more eventful here as compared to Toronto. I do love the snow in Toronto though :) Makes for a beautiful white Christmas.

Had my violin lesson today, and played one song over and over again, for an hour :-S Tired fingers but I think I improved somewhat. Hopefully, I won't play too badly during the recital :X

I'll need to be strict on my practice for at least 30 minutes a day rule. I'm still having a hard time with the arm vibratto. Ganbarimasu!

D picked me up after my violin class today. He braved the traffic down south to come up north to meet me :) I like seeing D at the end of my day. He has that unique ability to make me feel lighter at the end of a tiring day. I smile at the thought and sight of him :) Had a quick dinner at Sakae Sushi, where we lost sorely to Nini's 36-plate record haha.

Christmas is only a few days away~

Should get started on my Christmas shopping.

All this thought of Christmas makes me think of hot chocolate with chewy marshmallows :)

weekend recap

And so, there goes another weekend. And here comes another week :)

Weekend highlights:

- Sweeney Todd with Nini and D. Saw Dingdong and Marian too :) Hehehe. And I saw the accessories shop I saw in Seoul, here in Greenbelt! I didn't have time to explore this weekend. Should find time to do so :) I liked Sweeney Todd. Images of the movie version kept flooding my mind but the theater version was well executed as well. As with the movie, it was a tad long. My favorite character was Mrs. Lovett, whom Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo did a brilliant job of portraying. The dinner we had at Italianni's afterwards was yummy :)

- Dinner with Angel :) Always something to look forward to.

- Chatting with Jerome and Patti. Catching up with friends is fun :) I hope to hear more about their future happenings.

- Dinner with Jed (which was last week) but I'll include it in this weekend countdown. Talked about second chances and the reasons and circumstances on why it could work out and why it couldn't.

- Hair cut at Piandre - 20% off :D I have short hair again.

- Toast Box breakfast with family. Kaya toast, soft-boiled eggs, and coffee with condensed milk. Happiness comes in simple Singaporean-style breakfasts :P

- My day with D. Quick bite at Cafe Mary Grace. Shirt shopping, window shopping, shoe fitting (I should get myself a set of killer heels :D ), grocery shopping. Oh my stars, that's a lot of shopping :-S

- Dinner at Luk Foo with family and D.

- Magic sing with family! :D Fun fun fun :P

In hindsight, Friday was a tough day for me, but the weekend more than made up for it. I'm glad I didn't let my Friday mood ruin my weekend :)

rough around the edges

Today, I am thankful for:

- meeting up with Angel and having a wonderful time catching. She reminds me of the importance of prayer and humility. God is good. God is grace.

- D. Because he sticks around and supports me when I'm feeling melancholic and down. I think he has this intuitive sense when I'm not being myself :|

- My family. Even through the rough times, they're here for me. Even through the disagreements and rough patches.

- Carrie Underwood. Because her music keeps me sane. And somewhat upbeat.

- Mistakes. Because they serve as lessons for me to learn from.

I've been a continual swing of highs and lows today. I've been over-thinking and rationalizing. Sometimes, I need to remind myself that life is good. Life is good, even when things are a bit rough around the edges.

heaven and hell

This made me laugh out loud :D

Source: heaven and hell