graduation

It was Eizel's graduation today :)

D and I took lots of pictures and videos :D

Congrats to Eizel! Proud of you!

Had lunch at Little President afterwards. Then headed to the office.

Had a graduation dinner celebration at Kimpura trinoma. Lots of food :| Still full now.

I liked the coconut sherbet :D Yum!

Doing some last minute packing for tomorrow's trip.

It's going to be a four-country trip! :)

small pleasures

Went grocery shopping with Mom and Ni today.

Had dinner at the food court and shared a Wendy's Frostie.

Frostie always reminds me of the "fat free" ice cream Jughead made in one of the Archie comic stories. Same color and consistency and I believe, same sweet yummy taste. Definitely not fat free :| Hehe.

Read this on Tumblr today and it just made me smile:

"She lived on one side of the sea and was always searching for something. He lived on the other side and knew what he was looking for. One day, she decided to put on her bravest wings and fly across the ocean. At the very edge of the other side, he met her in a place called Hope. "I know you," he said, so they laughed and loved and explored and one day at dawn he asked her to spend the rest of her life with him and they got married amongst the trees, laughing."

Sweet and whimsical, don't you think?

Yahoo! Shine featured "101 small pleasures of life" today. It inspired me to come up with my own list. So here are 10 of my small pleasures.

1. Veggie hot dog in downtown Toronto

2. Sitting on our marble panda bench

3. My soft warm blanket

4. Laughter

5. Hanging out at Fully Booked with D

6. Pancakes and waffles with butter and maple syrup

7. Backyardigans (special mention to Uniqua :D )

8. Warm bagels with cream cheese

9. Phone call from a friend

10. Hugs

i heart toothless

The weary week has come and gone. I thank friends and family for cheering me on :) Special mention to Lin and D and my two beautiful sisters *hugs*

Went to watch How To Train Your Dragon on Saturday night, with my sisters and D. I originally planned on watching When in Rome (Has anyone seen it?) because of my love for Kristen Bell. But this animated dragon film looked interesting enough to catch my attention. It was a funny and relaxing and endearing film. I believe the dragon Toothless could give Hiccup, the main character, some serious competition as main lead. It's one of those movies that leave you smiling even days after you've watched it :)

The main plot is about Hiccup, the son of the chief Viking, who can't seem to fit in in the community. He's lanky and awkward and thus doesn't show any promise of being a true warrior and dragon fighter (as his dad is). His status in the community greatly changes however, when he takes care of a dragon, and not just any ordinary dragon but a night fury, the one dragon that his people have never seen nor fought. And so goes this lovely tale of how Hiccup finds his true calling with the help of his pet dragon.

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Sunday was the Globe Run with Lin, Kristine, Vendric, Mic, Rainier, and D. This 5k seemed to be a lot shorter (and faster) than the Century one. Am I improving? :D My legs still hurt post-race though. Soreness :|

Had lunch with D's family at Circles afterwards. I got to meet cute Baby Morgan :)

Headed off to the Fort where D and I played drums at Timezone :) Great stress reliever hehe.

Had an oriental foot spa afterwards - perfect for my post-marathon feet. Got to see the barre3 studio at The Spa. I'm looking to attend a trial session in April.

***

The weekend was surprisingly relaxing. And I wasn't as harassed today so the weekend must've calmed my strained nerves :)

weary

Tiredness has sunk into my bones.
Even the upcoming weekend seems tiring.

panda bench

Our marble panda bench gives me an uncanny sense of comfort.
It could be that I feel amazed at its carved design and Mickey Mouse ears, or that it's marble slabs provide cooling comfort during summer nights, or that it adds a touch of cutesy charm to our landscaped garden.
Whatever the reason, I love sitting out there at night, after dinner, and just enjoy the cool summer breeze, gaze at the stars, and relax after a long day.
Walking in the garden reminds me of my grandfather, who would always go sit out by the round table in their garden after dinner and in the late afternoon. More often than not, he'd go out to enjoy a cup of coffee. Most of the time, when we went over to visit, he'd be by the garden, just sitting quietly and sipping coffee, or talking to my grandmother.
I love our garden best during Sunday mornings, just before the sun gets too scorching hot, and in the late afternoons, around 4 or 5 pm when the sun is just about to set and the breeze really kicks off.
There's a certain calmness that I find in the garden, a peaceful solitude that I embrace esp. after long work days.
And so, I'm thankful for that Mickey Mouse panda bench of ours, because it's allowed me to enjoy and appreciate the little oasis I have at home.

pyramid

Enjoying Charice's new single :)

Catchy pop song. And she looks like she's really enjoying herself in the video.

Reminded me of "Essence, essence." Hehe

inspiration

God gives us inspiration in the most unlikely places.
One of our clients came to the office today. He had no hands, and still he was able to write beautifully and carry his delivery out the door by himself.

I'm reading a book about choice now - The Art of Choosing.
Is resiliency an innate trait or a chosen trait?
Good news either way for me. If it isn't innate, I can always choose to be so.

quality of life

Today was tiring. It was one of those days that just zip by without you really noticing.

I think I need to add more pizzazz to my daily routine. My routine's just getting too...routine. Pun intended (>.<)

I sort of feel as if my life's reached a hump. And I haven't quite figured out how to get over the hump yet. It's as if I'm itching to do, create, manage, construct something, but I have no clear images yet. And so, I've been praying -for guidance, for strength, for direction, for confidence, for passion, for trust.

I've been thinking about quality of life lately, and how much I'm willing to sacrifice and forego for the sake of the "future." My dad seems to be a very forward thinker, in the sense that he thinks far ahead into the future. Long-term thinking, one may say. Visionary, others may say. I live too much in the present, maybe. Is that even possible, I think sometimes - living too much in the present. I just don't feel that emotionally ready to embrace living for the sake of the future.

These days, I feel stretched, perhaps a bit too thinly in some places. Being pulled here and there, never quite settling in either place. Tons of choices and here I am, where I am now. There's got to be a reason, I say. There's always a reason, isn't there? And so, I can only choose to grow where I am now. I'm still lost, in more ways than one. I have no idea where to go, how to go about things, but I trust - in myself, in the universe, in God. I trust that I'll find my direction one day.

Now, if I could only set the gears in motion...

pizza night

When the parents go out for dinner, the girls have a pizza night! :)

Nothing but good ol' pizza (with hot sauce) and pepsi to wash the day's tiredness away.

Add to that a good ol' dose of sister talk and you've got one sweet night.

I love gathering around the dinner table and talking - be it sharing the day's stories, reminiscing childhood memories, reliving embarrassing situations, or pondering about the future. Talking and sharing always helps me keep things in perspective.

Now that Zel's older, I enjoy being able to talk to her about more grown-up things, albeit in the adolescent sense. She's a smart girl and she picks up on things fast. It's pretty amazing how now she has her own stories to tell, her own set of friends to talk about, her own opinions to express.

These past few nights, we've ended dinner by going out for a short stroll - to the gate and back :| We make time to spend a few minutes on that adorable marble panda bench of ours ;) We talk, tease, stare at the stars, try to make out the consolations, and just enjoy each other's company.

My family gets on my nerves from time to time. But the good times more than outweigh the bad ones, if you could even call them that.

And so, as this day draws to a close, I thank God for the parents and sisters I have, for these are the people I've grown up enjoying pizza night dinners with.

visual feast

I still can't get over the Alice in Wonderland film :) Watched it in 3d at trinoma earlier. The storyline wasn't fantastic but the visual effects were amazing. The colors just seemed to pop out from the screen. I loved the Cheshire cat in this film version, although I distinctly remember hating him in the animated version when he was a purple striped cat with yellow eyes :| The entire film was visually enchanting, from the Queen of Hearts' fiery red hair to the Mad Hatter's bright garish outfit to the portrayal of the Wonderland woods and Red and White kingdoms. I also quite liked the scene where Alice at 13, was painting the white roses red. I wish that some things could be "painted over" as easily.

Met up with my parents and sisters at SM afterwards for a sushi dinner at sakae. Total count for the night was 44 plates for all 6 of us. We were still short of 2 in matching Sharmane's record (and they were only 4 people that time!).

Spent the morning at valenzuela chamber where nini was inducted as an officer of the youth org. Woohoo! :) The event was uneventful save for that, and spent most (if not all) of my time there playing with D's nintendo ds, which he lent me because i got so caught up in the Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box game :D In fact, D lent me his DS to use this entire week :D Hehe.

I started playing the game last night, when D and I had dinner at chili's tomas morato, which left us absolutely bursting at the seams. It did quench my craving for fajitas though hehe :D After salad and fajitas, we finished off the huge molten chocolate cake which was yummy with vanilla ice cream. Of course, i didn't (and still don't) want to think of the calories I must've gained :|

The past week was busy for me. Finished some part-time translation work, which had me awake till 2am most of the week. There still might be some revisions the next few weeks but the bulk of the work is done :) D came by Thursday evening, helping me translate a few sections. The wonders of google translate ;)

And so went the weekend. Tomorrow's Monday again. Am looking forward to a less stressful week as I've got the translation work out of the way already :) Hehe

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The Taiwan trip was fun and eventful :) Spent the three days looking at interesting machines at the exposition, eating and shopping at the shilin night market, visiting tourist places (like the sun yat sen memorial hall, taipei 101, and jiufen fishing village - where i had yummy roasted mushrooms!). The weather was wonderful too, although it did get a bit chilly on our last day.

I'm missing the boiled tea eggs and green tea milk tea and the organized subway system.

On this trip, I did get confused a few times, because the place reminded me of korea :)

I even got to buy some accessories at the Accessorize store near Sogo. The Korea and Taiwan branches of Accessorize have better choices for statement rings.

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Our panda marble bench has arrived! Ama shipped a panda bench for our garden. It arrived from china a few days ago, and it's now sitting comfortably on our walkway :)

globe run for home

Registered for the globe run for home - 5k leg today. Heard that there are already around 10,000 participants :|

Headed off for Taiwan tomorrow to attend a trade show/exhibit.

Of course, i'm hoping i can sneak a bit of shopping on the side :D

sushi cravings

I was thinking of sushi all day yesterday :|

And lucky me that I have a marvelous boyfriend who offered to take me out to dinner :D Thanks D :)

And that's how we found ourselves at Omakase on a Tuesday evening.

I ate sushi to my heart's content :D I love avocado in sushi. Well, i like avocado in almost everything. And i love the crunchy bits they put outside the sushi to make it well, crunchy :)

Tempura ice cream to end the filling meal.

All in all, it was a yummy, crave-fulfilling dinner :D

Walked around Rustan's afterwards. Saw unique flavored Pringles - soft-shell crab, shrimp, and seaweed. The shrimp variant is pink! Like the cheap chicharon you can get at Ongpin :) What would chicharon-flavored Pringles taste like? :-?

It's the middle of the work week.

I have to finish some stuff before I head off to Taiwan for the weekend.

I'll have to do double time on the translation work too.

Oh well, a positive attitude always helps make work seem not-so-tedious.

Still find myself humming to BSB songs these days. Still having LSS moments post-concert. I totally enjoyed the concert - seeing them perform live and singing along to their old and new hits. Fun :)

Oscar show's coming up! I'm rooting for Sandra Bullock :D Hehe.

Plan to watch Up in the Air when it shows in theaters here.

Back to the work week~