chicken soup

D made a surprise visit last night. He came bearing gifts of chicken soup and corn chowder - soups to help nurse the cold I have. Boo cold >.<; Yey to yummy chicken soup with celery and macaroni :) Loved the corn chowder as well. It had bits of bread and potatoes in it, which made the soup rich and chunky.

He taught nini, zel, and me two magic card tricks. The first had us amazed and we kept pestering him to tell us his trade secret :) And when he did, we tried it on our parents :D haha. It was fun :)

D's visit was a lovely way to end the work day :)

weekend recap

This weekend has just truly truly been happiness all around.

Saturday. Traffic was awful that day as there seemed to be more cars than usual. I laughed most of the car ride because of D's comments :P I attribute his sudden loquaciousness to chocolate cake :D Went to trinoma to pick up warm knitted scarves for amy :) During dinner, D surprised me with a question and what do you know, we ended the night as an official couple. Talk about surprises ;)

Sunday. Karaoke despedida for Amy, who's off to Colorado for a year for an internship program. It was a fun afternoon :) I hope Amy gets lots of new experiences during her one year stay.

Didn't go with Ni and the cousins to shop for Bingo prizes anymore. Felt a bit tired with my cold and all :(

Should start sleeping earlier~

tournesol

Source: Sunflower

I'm thankful for everything that's in my life now.

I'd just like to bask in everything first.

I'll take things as they come :)

There are beautiful and warm moments in life, the ones where you can't seem to wipe off that goofy, sappy grin off your face, that more that make up for the more challenging ones. I'll draw strength from these sunshine-inspiring moments.

simply you

I read this on tumblr today.

"I don't want phenomenal love confessions and expensive gifts and romantic moonlight walks and songs you wrote just for me and calls every five minutes to tell me you miss me.

i simply want you.

for the rest we'll see."

I was thinking on my way home from violin class, about how a successful relationship, or a good one, for me has been measured in terms of material things. I've used personal evaluation criteria to quantify and qualify. It surprises me that things don't have to be that way, that there are some things that just fall into place without you having to make an effort.

I've had - and I guess I still do have - expectations about how relationships and friendships should look like, should feel like, how they should be. But I realized today that it doesn't really matter if not all those expectations are met. It's enough having someone to share mundane things with. The rest will follow. I trust in that.

stranger in the background

“You ever look a picture of yourself, and see a stranger in the background?. It makes you wonder how many strangers have pictures of you. How many moments of other peoples life have we been in. Were we a part of someone’s life when their dream came true or were we there when their dream died. Did we keep trying to get in? As if we were somehow destined to be there or did the shot take us by surprise. Just think, you could be a big part of someone elses life, and not even know it.”

- Lucas Scott, One Tree Hill -

infinite beauty

Today's inspiration :)

There is nothing to fear. For nothing can diminish the true beauty at the heart of you.

How is it that you’re able to recognize beauty when you see it? Because that beauty resonates with the beauty that is you, and you know it, and you feel it.

Live from a perspective of beauty, for it is your most authentic nature. See each circumstance as an opportunity to express the unique beauty that is your life.

What could possibly be more beautiful than the ability to experience and comprehend beauty? That is who you are, and that is what you do.

Live the miracle that is the beauty that is you. Give your beauty to life, and it all grows more beautiful."

- Ralph Marston -

"I do my thing, and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful."

- Frederick S. Paris -

Look at the stars. Look how they shine for you, and all the things that you do.

Everything you can imagine is real.

little miracles

I've been having little bouts of tiredness.

Maybe it's from sleeping late. Or not drinking 8 glasses of water a day. Or being in front of a computer screen most of the day. Or thinking too much about work.

It's a slow tiredness. It seeps gently into the bones, spreading drowsiness - both mental and physical. I sort of want to drown in its lethargic character.

Seeing D makes me happy. He sort of lifts me from my bouts of tiredness. It's like escaping into a bubble where everything just drops into place. For a while, at least. For a sliver of time, everything's just peaceful and quiet and soothing. Just as it should be.

I thank God for little miracles as these moments. It's these moments that linger and rejuvenate once the tiredness has left my bones and mind.

:)

openness

I had a wonderful weekend :)

Saturday started out a bit slow and sedated. I felt I was doing everything in slow motion :| Luckily, I made it through the day and wasn't too tired for dinner with high school friends at New Bombay in Glorietta 3.

Indian food takes some getting used to, and I'm thankful that my friends gave in to my request and dug into the food - not so much with gusto - but carefully and gave the dishes a try. I loved the spinach paneer and the tomato sauce paneer. I love paneer, in general :D It's always to gather everyone around and talk about how everyone's doing. Special thanks to Char for organizing the dinner :)

Walked around with Ai and Rae after dinner, and enjoyed fresh pretzels from Auntie Anne's :)

Today, D ran a 5k Marathon. Yehey! :D I'm sure I'd have simply plopped down on the ground after 15 minutes :| Haha. Spent the day at Serendra. Not many people around as there was a Pacquiao match - which he won! :D

Had lunch at Abe where we tried the rellenong mais and talked about scheming to get free cake by telling the waiters it was one of our birthdays :D Hmm, I think we did that before with Ni and Howell, and we got a pan of chocolate brownie cake for free. Fun times :)

Hobbes and Landes has a whole range of Monopoly games. I wonder if there are people who collect the different Monopoly editions. There's even an anti-Monopoly game where people assume monopolist and free market techniques. Seems pretty cool. There's a lot of interesting games out there nowadays - from scientific gadgets to word games to logical jigsaw blocks. H&L could very well be the "candy store" for present day kids :)

Of course, no trip to High Street would be complete without dropping by Fully Booked. Got a new book by an Irish writer - Claudia Carroll. Enjoyed peppermint mocha while we pored over a choose-your-own adventure book. I was successful at cracking the mystery at my first try while D got to try a whole lot of different endings before he settled on one he was satisfied with :D Choose-your-own-adventure books bring me back to the days I spent reading in the Dallington library. I loved those books when I was younger. They opened new worlds of mysteries and sleuthing :)

Ended the day with Monsignor salad, eggplant caviar (oddly combined with curry), and pumpkin soup at Healthy Kitchen.

Had a lot of fun and meaningful conversations today. It made me realize and acknowledge the fact that open conversation is truly important. Good and healthy relationships are built on honest sharing and good humor~