32 and Counting...

Yikes my birthday is only nine days away. I honestly have no idea what I want for my birthday. Well, I am sure what I want is a colored laser printer but I'm also 100% sure no one's going to buy that for me- not even my mommy. I actually have a wish list but I am not very sure if I want them for real.

 ♥ My Birthday 2014 Wish List ♥

{photo credit}

1. Wax Seal Kit with my initial "V" or "J" - I think I've wanted this since I found out about its existence but I keep forgetting that I want one until I go to Scribe and see it on their shelves. They're much cheaper now than six years ago (I think) but I still don't buy it because I do not know where I am going to use it. Although now I think I can use it for packaging purposes.

2. Clarisonic Mia- This is another "gadget" I want and because it's pretty pricey- $100- I am very, very wary. If estimated price is 5K, unti na lang dagdag ko I can buy a laser printer already. So you see my dilemma?

3. 1TB External Hard Drive - This one I've been planning on buying very, very soon because my laptop's free space is only at 45%. If mommy gives me birthday money, this is what I'm going to get. Tee hee.

4. Martha Stewart Large Circle Cutter and all their punchers- but alas, it is very expensive. Maybe if I'm getting lots of orders I can "invest" in punchers for, you know, packaging purposes☺ Nakakatulo-laway talaga pag tumitingin ako sa Amazon nito. Talagang history repeats itself. I was into scrapbooking ten years ago. Now I still want scrapbooking gadgets but not exactly for scrapbooking purposes. I want to have a craft room and am slowly building my crafting inventory.

5. I still want Clinique Acne Solutions but not sure in what shade. AC and I already used up AB's pamana Neutrogena funda and I am in dire need of a new one which will not give me breakouts. I tried AB's Clinique Acne Solutions funda once (I just need to try it once to know if a make-up product is agreeable to my skin- quick reflexes yata ito) and I knew right then we were meant to be together. Maybe next time I feel pangit and splurging on a "beauty" product would be justifiable.

6. A new pair of sneakers- not exactly Converse. Keds or Tretorn will do. But I kinda like these mint-colored sneakers. For the longest time I wanted a new pair of Birkenstock Madrid but I don't like showing my feet and toes to the world as of now. They're pretty fugly as of the moment so I'm shielding them from bashers of ugly feet.

7. A Fraxel Laser Treatment- because aside from having fugly feet, I also have fugly skin.

8. Daddy's Dinuguan ☺


Ayan, my wish list for this year's birthday. And oh, I also want good health for my birthday. My health card already matured last August 10 so I had to pay when I had my FBS, SGPT and creatinine taken. Sana lahat normal. And and and... I really want to get a hair cut NOW. Yep, medyo damaged ang self-esteem ko ngayon eh, so pardon the pity party. Anyway, to battle the demons, here's my gratitude list:

♥ The brow pomade I ordered from Anastasia which I thought got lost in transit has been found! Hallelujah! And I really do mean it- Thank God talaga. Then I guess it wasn't $35 down the drain. Yipee ☺ My sister's former landlady told her my brow pomade is with her. Yay! Yun lang kailan ko kaya makukuha. But patience is a virtue and I have pa my Anastasia brow grooming set from AB. So yuuuh, that's good news.

♥ New orders. Yay! That feeling I get when I check my email without any expectations and then I see that email ordering my stuff- and a repeat order at that- and I feel so so good. Being a one-man production team, what I do requires a lot of effort and attention to details from beginning to end but I love doing all that work. I hope I can be given more opportunities to work on new orders. And also, I'm happy that this time I'm not rushing. Both orders are ready for delivery tomorrow. Good job to me.

♥ Fast internet connection. I don't need LTE. Happy na ako sa 3mbps internet speed. No need to buy DVDs to watch my Korean series. I just have to visit my favorite video streaming sites et voila, I have access to my Kdramas- updated and with good subtitles. Just finished Marriage Without Dating and I loved it. Hindi ko man masyado gusto ang mga bida, the storyline is enough to make me stick with it 'til the end. Currently watching High School King and It's Okay, That's Love. Not as funny as MWD pero puede na. I'm thinking of watching Fated to Love You which I was hesitant to watch again as I already saw the Taiwanese version (which I loved, by the way). I'm so distracted. Oh noes.

♥ Lower electricity bill. Guess one of the perks of transferring place of business is paying lower utility bills. Sales is lower but I am quite shocked that I am only a few thousands away from hitting last year's sales figures which means bigger income for me. Hopefully come September sales will pick up. 

♥ Friends coming home. I love it when friends come home from where they came from. Haha. I miss my friends. The only friend I used to have regular meet-ups with just recently had a boyfriend and I guess she's spending more time with the boyfriend or maybe she's just busy career-wise, let's give her the benefit of the doubt na lang. So I'm just happy that my friends are coming home and meeting up with me. Next on the list is Ycel. I'm so excited!

Dazzit. I can't think of anything more but I bet there's so much more I have to be thankful for. Bye for now because I'm getting my daily massage bugbog. Toodles xoxo

You can turn off the sun but I'm still gonna shine...

My birthday is only two weeks away, YAY!!! However, I am having these feeling of inadequacies again. Kuma-quarter life crisis lang uli. Dagdagan pa ng weight gain na bonggang-bongga and I'm definitely sulking my life away with a bag of White Cheddar Pop Corners and a Coke. It's a vicious cycle, y'all, and I am sucked right into it.

So anyway, this is an update of what I've been doing with my life which I tell you right now is not much. Haha! I started blogging nine years ago as some sort of therapy- writing down my feelings, getting it out of my system. I also journal old-school style with pen and paper but I wanted to post music, pictures and occasionally, videos, so that's why I made this. Pansin ko lang that most of my posts nowadays are about books that I've read, food I've eaten and mostly material stuff. In fair naman din mas marami akong personal life posts this 2014 as compared to last year. Okay, lezdodizzzz ☺

(+/-) Place of business already transferred here in the house. It has pros and cons but now mas feel ko ang cons. Sales has been lower than what's usual of August and I attribute that to the fact that we are not very accessible. It's like starting from scratch again wherein we had to do flyering and post tarps around the village. In fair I think I'd pay less for electricity. One of the cons I can see is our customers trying out the competitors' services first as they're much more visible and accessible. I just hope they'd still look for our brand of service. Our space is very limited now- no space for waxing and massages.

I hope eventually sales will go higher cos if the customers get used to coming here, we'll convert part of the garage into the nail care area so the upstairs aka my ex-lab will be the waxing and massage area. As of now, pakiramdaman muna. 

Another con I can see is that I am now again without a work space for my other business. The sink area is still where I'd work but then I will miss the luxury of having a big space to work in. This means working in the library or AB's room which also means I'd have to clean up my mess after every working day. Ako pa naman I leave my work space as it is, mess and all, becauSKse that means getting back on track in less time. Mahirap nang kumuha uli ng momentum, no? I guess I really have to start production early and be more systematic this time.

(+) Reunions. Started with my reunion with Lola X who's home for the weekend from Singapore. I think the last time I saw her was during our SG visit. Met up with her for some catching-up an also to get my stash- the SK-II and the pen I bought. Merienda at Red Mango na may bonus sighting pa ni Richard Poon at Arron Villafor. 

I lost the teal one she gave me two birthdays ago and I have grown so attached
to it that I want a replacement. I had her buy me a new one, same color sana but
they didn't have stock at that time, hence this green one.
Advanced bday gift ko na lang daw. Thanks, Lola! ☺ Ahlavet.

Before meeting with Lola X, I met first with my IC friends J & J. Lola X and I agreed to meeting at 3 in the afternoon and as I was already in Manila at 11:30, I sought after my IC friends who I haven't seen for quite some time. Lunch with J & J at Lido Cocina Tsina, J's treat. New stories regarding our friend's complex lovelife and other IC chismis. Nakita ko rin si Tonya Ferrer. Mas sosi na si Tonya kasi may posse na siya. Ick. 

Also met up with Dra. D for a "business proposition," aka a networking shizz. Kahit ano pa sabihin nila na hindi siya networking, there's still some semblance to one. Haven't seen Dra. D since college graduation, I think, and it's good to know that everything's still the same. It's good to know that some people stay humble and down-to-earth albeit their accomplishments. Emphasis on some kasi may some din na akala mo na kung sino... bago ka makarating sa inyo, kailangan ka muna dumating sa secretary niya. O ha! Tapak naman paminsan-minsan sa lupa, teh!

Most recent reunion with Lola J, Prinsesa ng Binondo. Had lunch at Wai Ying for the nth time and although I was disappointed with their hakaw, solve pa din. As usual, kwentuhan about life and love (or the lack thereof) at life and love ng ibang tao (ehem, Lola Juningning!). For the first time after downloading the 10,000 steps app, that was the only time I did move/walk 10,000 times. 

And now I am excited to be reunited with Lola Y! She's coming home this September and she's here on my birthday, yay! ☺ Haven't seen her for a year and a half already and I miss her so much already. Alam ko gusto niyang mag-Dubai pero mas gusto kong andito siya sa, haha. So excited for our meet and greet, hehe ☺

(-) At dahi na-open ko na ang topic na hakaw, I just want to share my dissatisfaction with Tim Ho Wan. Finally got to try this very-much-talked-about dim sum place last month. Umm... it was okay. Nothing special. Just liked their BBQ pork buns and all the other food were only so-so, in my opinion. 

Yummeh! 

Ha-kaw na!

So yesterday A and I ate at Tim Ho Wan and our bill was 1,500++ And there was just the two of us and we didn't even eat that much. Feeling ko na-hold up ako. Haha! I'd come back here only to eat bbq pork buns. For my hakaw fix, I'd go to Wai Ying instead. Sana nag-ramen na lang ako. Or Pollo Loco. Kahit chicken joy mas masaya pa ako. 

(+) General cleaning! Because most of my stuff from my ex-lab/office were brought back here in my room and the lib, I had to do major cleaning again. I have so many stuff that I don't know what to do with them anymore. I don't want to throw them away as I feel they're still of importance. I just need to devise a way how to keep and organize them with the limited space I have. 

So that's the before & after shots of my room. I'm still not completely done and that computer table looks clean and organized because I haven't returned all the stuff that goes in there yet. But I'm getting rid of the table soon. Will be using my old study table once it's already re-finished ☺

(+) Driving on SLEX and EDSA for the first time ☺

But of course, not without Nonoy. Sa ngayon, kailangan ko pa rin ang supervision (at naka-abang sa hand break) ng marunong na driver. Drove all the way to Alabang and back and for the first time, I hit 60 on the speedometer. Pagsasabihan ako ni daddy niyan but what can I do when the speed minimum limit is 60 kmph? 

Hmm.. more good than bad actually. Guess my bad luck is only in the mind. I should really keep a gratitude journal and update more regularly to remind me that I'm very blessed. 

[Post title from a Jason Mraz song]

2014 Book Challenge: Fifty Shades Freed

Wow at last I finished the book (and at last I have gotten myself to write this review of sorts) after so many attempts. The first book, Fifty Shades of Grey, I did enjoy mainly because of the "chase" and of course, the kilig. However, during the second book I think I already got tired of their game and tired of Anastasia's inconsistencies and her inner goddess. I was thisclose to putting the book on DNF status when A said that there was a chapter told from Christian Grey's point-of-view.

If I remember correctly, the book begins with Christian and Anastasia on their honeymoon and helluva plenty of sexy times. I don't know why but it's always the girl characters who annoy me. In Twilight, I hated Bella with a passion which was growing with every book which made me stop at book 3, New Moon. And now, Anastasia. She says she doesn't want Christian "lifestyle" but then again she wants to make him happy so sometimes, she does give him what he wants. Eh diba nga sabi dapat consistent ka, ate? Ika nga ni Yoda, "Do or do not. There is no try." So ya, that's what's been eating me about this book since Book 1.

Fifty Shades trilogy was born out of a reader's frustration with the lack of sexy times in the Twilight series. So she made a story very similar to it but with sexy time in every chapter, but if she's really horny, two. Haha. Fifty Shades and Twilight are very, very similar- the story line, the characters, the premise. And at that last chapter which was told from Christian's POV, eerily similar to when Edward was contemplating on why she liked Bella so much- why the interest on this plain-looking girl? Yung kay Edward gets ko pa kasi delicious ang amoy ng blood ni Bella. Pero si Christian? Kadiri naman kung naaamoy niya rin yung dugo ni Anastasia. Gaaahd, gross! Ang gross ko. Haha! But then again, they explained that Ana does look like all of Christian's ex-subs which explain the initial attraction.

Another show I feel is somewhat similar to Fifty Shades is Dexter. Both Christian and Dexter were adopted. They both came from abusive backgrounds and both watched as their mothers died (hmm.. now I'm not so sure if Christian also saw his mother die). Both had "secrets." And both had brother/foster brother who wanted to get back at them for getting adopted into the better life.

Fifty Shades of Grey is actually a mash-up of Twilight and Dexter.

And oh, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that Jack was able to breach all Grey securities.

And to end this post, here's the official trailer~

Sad to say, he is not my Christian Grey. However, I a giving him a chance. Naks, as if my opinion matters, no? But seriously, when Twilight's trailer was first shown, didn't we all have the same disapproval of Robert Pattinson? So I will be reserving my impression about this guy being Christian Grey after watching the movie. But still I feel Charlie Hunnam would have made a better Mr. Grey. But alas, that wasn't for me to decide. 

Ayan, may closure na ako. Pero gusto mo pa rin hampasin ang inner goddess ni Anastasia ng chaise lounge na hinihigaan niya.

2014 Book Challenge: The Sea of Tranquility

First up, I just want to say something about the cover. I never really paid attention and I thought this was just a silhouette of a woman in a long gown. It's just recently that I realized that it was a spilled ice cream and only today (as in now lang, mainit-init pa) that I noticed the two face silhouettes.  If I had noticed the ice cream on the cover before I read the book, I wouldn't get the significance but of course, now I do. But still, I think this is an ugly book cover.

I needed a really good book because I am three books behind. This book was included in the 30 Contemporary YA Romance Reads and ratings on Goodreads are high and I'm a sucker for frustrating stories about love. Although I hesitated at first cos although I like frustrating, I don't like "too much baggage," and both Nastya and Josh have plenty of baggage- overweight pa.

It was clever of the author to not divulge right away the reason of Nastya's silence. All the while I thought that she was raped or that she was in some witness protection program and the mystery of it somehow kept me glued to my e-reader. But you know, real life gets in the way so it took me longer to finish reading.

At first, I found Nastya annoying. Maybe because I didn't know what was eating her and actually even after I found out why she did what she did, I still couldn't understand it. I know I shouldn't be judgmental because people cope in different ways and she, after all, went through a very traumatic experience. She may have not been sexually assaulted but what happened to her was as equally horrendous and in the process, she also lost her identity as The Brighton Piano Girl. But what I found very frustrating about her is that she's pushing away and shutting out people who love her. Her parents may not know how to exactly deal with her ordeal as well but I'm sure they mean well and if they could take all of Nastya's pain instead, they would in a heartbeat. Josh, on the other hand, is another sulky character. He lost his family members one after the other and I think it's but normal to sulk after losing everyone. Individually, they're annoying characters but together, they just work.

I loved Nastya and Josh together. Obviously, Nastya chose to speak to Josh because she found him attractive. I am not sure if Josh was already attracted to her at the start but even then, the chemistry between them is undeniable.

Aside from Nastya and Josh, another favorite is Drew. He's Josh's best friend and although Josh wasn't really one of the cool kids, he wasn't afraid to be associated with him. I thought he'd be one of those jocks we'd love to hate in YA books but he's different.

Loved this book. I loved how the characters evolved, most especially Nastya. Now I believe that two broken people can make each other whole. Naks. Haha. Pero kasi before I didn't understand the deal with these "broken" people, but when I talked to two of my friends who were both broken (separately) and then they found each other and found solace in one another. It's very easy to say that happiness is a decision but hard to put into practice.

I liked how the book ended- nothing too dramatic.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

Anak ng pakshet. I feel so disoriented these days. Yes, this is me not very good at dealing with life's little detours and not-so-nice surprises. I know, I know... this too shall pass. But seriously, I am frakking stressed right now and I still so much like George W. Bush when he was told the WTC towers were hit by airplanes and I was already feeling like this, I think, two weeks ago and I still haven't moved on. Gah! This is so frustrating. I am so frustrated at myself for going things at the last minute. I swear ang bagal ko. Haven't had tarps done yet and they're, like, very important information-dissemination tools re: the move. I had flyers done already but guess what? The landline number I put there was wrong. Bravo. Pakshet talaga yang homeowner's association na 'yan. Haha ang passive-aggressive ko lang talaga. Shet ang schizo ko lang din.

Oh, Lisa, I hope the day comes I can say this too

Another thing that's making me so frustrated right now is my skin. Eh kasi nga vain ako kahit hindi halata. I noticed that my skin's acting up again and the dark patches are here again at mukha na akong dalmatian sa dami ng spots ko. And you know what they say, shopping ang outlet ng malungkot. Because I am frustrated with my fez, I splurged on skin products- I bought a skin care regimen set from VMV (which is actually a steal, mind you, cos if you get the set, it's like you get one product for free and no, I'm not saying this just because I am justifying my purchase) and I made Lola X buy me SK-II in Singapore. In fair naman to the facial scrub- Skin -buffing Cleansing Scrub- it is effective. I haven't used anything else (maybe except kojic acid soap occasionally) and my skin hasn't had any breakouts yet. I think hiyang ako dito (pwera usog) although medyo nag-dry nga yung mga dati nang problem areas ko. I'm on week 2 of this new regimen and hopefully, it will really work wonders on my complexion.

Okay, another thing I am super mega over frustrated about is the weight. Sabi ko lose 20 lbs. Not GAIN. As in WTF talaga. I know I gained 10 lbs which I blamed on medication and excessive food intake over the Christmas holiday pero ano'ng petsa na?!?!? Usually I lose the added poundage after a few months pero July na and instead of losing, I gained weight pa! But honestly, I think I was a little sluggish and inactive this year. So I think I won't be taking that guilt-free month-long break in January after my holiday high. Medyo mahirap kasi kunin ang momentum and since I already got the ball rolling over the holidays, might as well take advantage. Feel na feel ko na ang bigat ko. Argh.

I haven't ranted like this in a loooong time. I still feel bad after. Pwe.