Undecided

I've been thinking a lot about myself this week, my future, what I'm going to do career-wise, and what and where I want to be in the next few years. Thinking about reaching success sometimes pressures me. And the thought of not feeling accomplished 5 or 10 years down the road is depressing. But then I don't know what it is that I want to fulfill and what it is that will make me feel truly accomplished. Sometimes I dream of graduating from a good university in the US and later become a successful career woman, making big bucks, feeling a great sense of self-worth. But there are times that I think I should not postpone motherhood longer, that it's about time I start a family with my husband, that we are not getting any younger and at our age we should already have at least one child. I know that going to school would mean child bearing has to wait until I graduate.

I admire working women a lot especially those who climbed their way up to the top. But I'm also jealous of mothers who devote their time to their family. A hardworking dad coming home from work to his wife whose hair is messy from taking care of the house and the kids all day, and his naughty little kids racing to the door to greet him with kisses and hugs, and together they eat dinner then snuggle in the living room watching TV, is like picture-perfect to me.

Do I want to be called "Ma'am" or would I prefer "Mom" a few years from now? I need to decide soon.

New Collection

Since Brandon and I frequently eat at Panda Express, I thought that it'd be fun to start collecting the "fortune" from their free cookie. Just FYI, I don't believe in fortune telling. I just like collecting fun stuff. I'll only keep "fortune" from my cookie.

So here's one from yesterday.

Sunny Days and Sundays Always Lift Me Up

I can't believe that it's Sunday again, and it's been a week since I ripped the skirt that I always wear to Church (you can read about it here). I love Sundays. Aside from Thursday, it's Brandon's day off.

We went to a park enjoying the beautiful start of Spring, talked about a lot stuff, watched some kids fly their kites and tiny dogs walking around, and just being sweet to each other. I missed this! I don't remember the last time we went to a park although we always used to. When we go out, it's always at the mall or somewhere else.

Chillin' inside the car on the park parking lot.

He always gives me this face everytime I take a picture of him. I always have to beg him to look cute and not goof for pictures.


We were laying down inside the car for about 15 minutes just talking about anything. Then Brandon became dreamy and started talking about our dreams and plans. :)


Out of the blue, I felt like dancing so I danced. The 2nd picture is my new favorite picture of myself.


I can't decide which one I like better, the one with bright colors or the one with muted colors. Which do you think?


Then Brandon played papparazzi.


Time to change my footwear. Yep, when I'm wearing heels outdoor, I make sure to bring flats too. I just put 'em in my purse so I can change whenever I need to. Excuse my nasty feet. :P


Just like me and B.




First blooming flower I saw after winter. Can't wait to see more.


bugged.

How to get rid of stinky smell in the house fast.

I got this advice from my friend Deborah and it works like charm. Sometimes I make dried fish for lunch or dinner which makes the whole house very stinky all day and even for the next couple of days...yea the smell is that strong. But I don't care because it's all worth it (just my opinion). I really love fried dried fish and it's what I eat when I'm trying to gain weight (because I'm always underweight). The problem is my husband. Sometimes he's very patient when I fry dried fish but there are times that it pisses him off.

So here's the solution that my friend gave me to not just get rid of the smell but replace it with a pleasant scent. Boil Downy or any fabric softener on the stove, then simmer immediately. The amount of fabric softener should just be enough to simmer for a few minutes or until the smell is almost gone. The smell of the simmering fabric softener diffuses throughout the room fast because of the steam. Of course be attentive to what you're doing and not leave your house while the fabric softener is still simmering. If a fabric softener is not available, use vinegar. I used it the first time and it worked too, the only difference is that vinegar doesn't smell heavenly like fabric softeners do.

And that's it! Just that easy and simple, and it works a lot better and faster than any of the air fresheners I've used.

Updates:
-If you're using vinegar, add cinnamon or nutmeg to it to lessen the strong smell.
-When cooking something stinky like sea foods, start simmering the fabric softener or vinegar as soon as you start cooking. It is also best to leave the windows open at least until the food is done.

Death of my go-to skirt

After watching Wyatt and his first love (read previous post), Brandon and I headed to the car to leave for Church. We were already 3 minutes late because of the cats' love-at-first-sight scenes. As soon as I stepped inside the car, this happened:



Good thing Brandon had a jacket in his car so I wrapped it around my waist when I went back to the apartment to change. Now we're not only 5 minutes late but 10 minutes. Agh!

This isn't my favorite skirt but I wear it to Church almost every Sunday because I can pair it with anything.

The "Girl" Next Door

Brandon and I were leaving in 10 minutes for Church yesterday when we heard Wyatt meowing like he was very excited or happy. It's the same meow when he's watching birds from the windowsill and hear them chirping. It's funny when he's excited because he wags his tail continuously and fast then suddenly jumps off the window and runs around the apartment. So Brandon cheked if there were birds playing outside but he didn't see any, he saw a black cat instead. So we figured that Wyatt wanted to play with the kitty. But Wyatt has always been an indoor cat, I think we only let him out 2 or 3 times and we were with him until it was time for him to go back in. He goes really wild once he's out (which doesn't surprise us knowing that he's part Asian snow leopard), he runs on the apartment yard like a tiger chasing a prey. That's why we barely let him out. We just can't afford to lose him because we paid so much when we bought him from a Bengal cat breeder back in Florida. Another reason is that our neighbors' dogs are always outside.

The black cat obviously noticed Wyatt because the next thing we knew, the kitty was now on the windowsill too.


Look at his tail!


His hair was standing up but we knew for sure that he wasn't mad or felt threatened.


Awwww


I got closer to the window to take the picture above. I guess the black kitty noticed me and got scared because it jumped off the window sill. End of the cat scene. So Brandon and I finally headed to the door to leave. But guess who was waiting outside for the door to open?

The black kitty wanted to come in.


We found out later that the kitty was female and that she lives in the apartment unit right next to ours. When we came home from Church, the kitten next door was no longer outside and Wyatt was lonely again. :(

Pigtails are not just for girls

I hope I won't get in trouble for posting these pictures here, and I pray that he won't find out.

Brandon sometimes grows his hair this long and it gives me the opportunity to do show my hairstyling skills. Haha!

Maybe I'm just longing for a baby girl? Hmmmmm...



SMILE!

A bored girl and a hyper cat

Another boring night in my life. Got tired of clicking different websites so I took out my camera and took a picture of my Facebook profile.


Don't ask about my Facebook profile picture. :D






Wyatt was very hyper




He wouldn't leave me alone.




But I like teasing him. The more that I ignore him, the harder he tries to get my attention and I love it.




I later played with him and got this.

First

As you have noticed, my previous posts were imports from my 2 old blogs. So this one is my first entry for this blog, and I'm just gonna write about what happened today. Don't be excited, it's nothing special.

Terie and I met a new friend named Susan. I'm sure you're wondering who Terie is, she's the only person (aside from my husbee) that I often hang out with here in Utah, and we lived about 1.5 hours away from each other in the Philippines. So, she's like my only friend here (you can imagine what a lonely person I am :P). Terie first met Susan, who by the way is also from the Philippines and told her about me. So Susan invited me and Terie over at her house for lunch so she could meet me. Susan made fried bangus (milk fish) and some green beans drizzled with bagoong (bah-go-ong) sauce, and of course rice. I really missed fried bangus, it's been forever since I last ate it, and I miss how my mama used to make it for me and sisters. The bagoong sauce-drizzled green beans also tasted like heaven. I usually don't eat a lot when I'm at someone else's home, but I sure did today. I don't care if Susan thought I was a pig for eating so much, the lunch just looked, smelled, and tasted too delicious to resist. I went home with a prego tummy.

I brought my camera with me but didn't take pictures. I was too focused on eating I guess.

Holiday Cooking Failure Part 2

Originally posted on my Friendster blog, January 2, 2009 at 11:56 am

As you can read in my previous post, I failed to understand a direction in a recipe which resulted to additional 3 hours of baking the chicken in the oven. I guess that wasn't enough lesson for me to be careful next time because "ooops! I did it again" as Britney Spears says. But this time, it was a different case...and worse. You may call me dumb, stupid, careless, or whatever you please but I'll still blog about it anyway.

It's a Filipino tradition to eat dinner at 12 am of December 31, the very first hour of New Year. I didn't do it last year which was my first New Year in the US but decided to start doing it again beginning this year with my husband and will make it a family tradition when we have a kid/kids already. So at about 9 pm on December 31, I began cooking. Again, I made more than enough for 2 persons to eat because I wanted leftovers for the next couple of days. I made pineapple ham, teriyaki chicken, brownies, and pansit(an Asian noodle that is present in every Filipino household during special occasions because according to Filipino and Chinese superstition, it represents long life. Yea, I'm kinda superstitious.) I wanted to make a sweet potato casserole too but didn't have enough time, it was almost 12 am when I was done cooking the last recipe. Everything came out great except for the ham. I cooked it according to the recipe direction but didn't like the result. The meat wasn't very tender. I like my ham to almost fall apart when I slice it. That night neither I nor my hubby ate the ham though he tried a slice. I hate throwing food so I just let the ham sit in the fridge until I figured out later what to do with it.

Yesterday all other food I cooked for the New Year was almost gone. At night after dinner, I decided to slowcook the ham. I remembered that on Thanksgiving, I cooked my ham in the slowcooker at low temperature for 10 hours and the result was perfect that my husband devoured it. It was a fully-cooked ham and this one I got for New Year is smoked. I figured that maybe a smoked ham needs longer cooking time than a fully-cooked ham. So I set it to 15 hours at low. Calculating the time, it would be done in the morning the next day (which is today.) So, I woke up at 9 this morning and immediately checked the slowcooker on the counter. It still had 1 minute and 3o+ seconds left. But when I checked the ham, this is what greeted me:

That's why it's important to cook more than one recipe

Before I decided to cook it "better".

Lost in Translation on Christmas

Originally posted on my Friendster blog, December 25, 2008 at 11:26 pm

Today is Christmas, yay! I love Christmases. So I prepared some food for me and Brandon earlier today for our Christmas dinner. Since there's only 2 of us, I only made a cake, 2 loaves of bread, and roasted whole chicken. Actually this was even too much for us but I wanted to have some Christmas leftovers the next day. I wanted the chicken to be fresh from the oven by the time we start eating so I made the pineapple upside-down cake first at about 2 o'clock. The cake turned out really yummy, and it also looked pretty. After the cake was done in a little over an hour, I prepared the loaves of pumpkin bread. I haven't tasted them yet but Brandon has and he told me that they're really good. But the problem is, the center of both loaves collapsed haha. They probably weren't done yet when I decided to take them out of the oven but the sides were already very brown, I was worried about burning them. Maybe I'm just not lucky at making anything that has pumpkin because the same thing also happened to the pumpkin pies I made on Thanksgiving and Halloween. Anyways, after the bread, I put the 3-pound chicken in the oven for roasting after marinating it with some spices for 30 minutes. I set the baking time to 1 hour and 15 minutes because that's what the recipe says. After waiting that long, I checked the chicken to see if it was done or if it needed to be cooked a little longer. It was still very raw and didn't look like it had been in the oven for more than an hour. So I set the timer again, this time to 1 hour and 45 minutes. When the timer went off, the result was the same, the chicken was still not cooked. In fact, it was still white. I was wondering what was wrong. This wasn't my first time to bake, and I have cooked meat in the oven many times before. Even before I started cooking the chicken, my guts told me that I misunderstood a direction in the recipe but just ignored it. It was already 8 o'clock and both Brandon and I were already starving so I decided to show the recipe to my husband and read the directions to him.

Me: The first direction says, preheat the oven at 350 deg. F. Then the 3rd direction says bake the chicken to a minimum internal temperature of 180 deg. F. Which temperature should have I baked the chicken at? 350 degrees or 180 degrees?

Brandon: The 350 degrees is the baking temperature and the chicken is done if it's meat temperature is 180 degrees. Don't tell me you've been baking the chicken at 180. It's only a warming temperature.

So yea, I was just warming the chicken the entire time. I haven't in my entire life used a cooking thermometer so I didn't know that 180 degrees was for the meat temperature. Of all the recipes I've used, this is the only one I misunderstood (well, by far haha). The cooking directions in most recipes say "bake at ___ (temperature follows)", so I figured 180 was the baking temperature. I baked the chicken again for another hour, this time at the right temperature :D. This is the longest time I've cooked something in the oven...4 hours total man! We planned to eat dinner at 6 but we ended up doing it at 9:15. Well, at least it's still not too late. Good thing I started preparing for dinner very early. But the chicken came out very juicy and tasty, so I guess it was worth the long wait.

The chicken that took 4 hours to cook, LOL

num-num!

Merry Christmas!

I'm now 25...yay!

Originally posted on my Friendster blog, November 21, 2008 at 11:00 pm

Can't believe it's been 25 years since I popped out of my mama's womb. I remember when I was only 14, I couldn't wait to grow into a full woman and get married. But now, I miss being a teen-ager...so fresh, so naive, so innocent. Sometimes I wish I could go back to my high school days. But I'm grateful that God is soo good to me for letting me live this long and the only thing I wished for my birthday as I blew the candles is more years for me and my loved ones to live in this beautiful world...a lot more years.

Brandon and I celebrated my birthday the way we did last year which was my first birthday in the US. It was very simple, we just ate dinner at a restaurant. Although I miss celebrating my birthday the Filipino way (lots of food, friends and family around, fun talks and stuff), I also like doing it this way because I feel like Brandon and I have our sweetest hubby-wifey moment. It's like the night is all ours to share (I know I'm corny). Besides, preparing dinner at home for my birthday won't make sense if it's just gonna be me and Brandon. I mean I have some acquaintances here in Utah, but people that I can call friends? None. So who am I gonna invite? Brandon has friends here but...uhmmm it's not his birthday, LOL.

Brandon decorated this cake :)

We were supposed to eat dinner at my favorite restaurant, Cheesecake Factory (this place is sooo good,and so are their food. num! num!) but when we got there at around 7, the place was so packed. A guy who works there told us that the next available table would be at 10, so that means we would have to wait for 3 hours. Arggh! So we checked out Olive Garden and Applebee's, same thing...long line. It's always like that here in the US on Friday nights, restaurants are so crowded. If you plan to have dinner at 7, you better arrive at your choice restaurant at least 2 hours earlier if you hate long lines. Our plan was to leave at 6 but putting make-up on and doing my hair took me an hour, so... my bad! Please say you understand coz you're a girl too, haha! So we looked for a restaurant where we couldn't see a line of waiting customers outside and we found this one called Hopper's Grill. It was a few minutes away from downtown Salt Lake so it wasn't very packed although there were a lot of people eating there too. When we got there, we only had to wait for not more than 15 minutes. I haven't been to this one before, neither has Brandon, but it was a pretty nice place...not just as nice as Cheesecake Factory,lol. Ohhh...how I wish they had Rainforest Cafe here in Utah, that would have been my top choice. But we had fun the whole night.♥

A Tropical Girl's First Snow Experience

Originally posted on my Friendster blog, November 5, 2008 at 6:32 pm

It snowed hard today, but not hard enough for skiing, sledding, or snow boarding. So I went out with Brandon and just did whatever I could do for fun. I ran on the snow-covered apartment yard like a little kid, jumped on it, threw snowballs on my husband, and of course took pictures. It was already fun that way. Brandon said he's gonna buy 2 sleds so we can go sledding at the park when it snows more.♥

First Snow

Originally posted on my Friendster blog October 13, 2008 at 10:56 pm

Yesterday morning, my hubby woke me up and told me that it was snowing outside, as soon as he opened the blinds hanging on the window of our bedroom. I thought it was just his way of making me get up early because it was Sunday and we had to go to church before 11 am. I was already awake but pretended to be still sleeping and then he said again "Bes, look it's snowing. Wake up!" He knew that I've waited everyday for the snow to start falling. This time I believed him and quickly jumped out of bed. The trees almost covered with snow looked really amazing. They looked like those pictures of trees you see in Christmas cards . The roofs of houses were all white. The grasses on the yard of the apartment complex were covered with snow and it looked very beautiful. I waited for this day to come...to see snow for the first time and be able to touch it. This was one those moments that I felt thankful we moved to Utah from Florida. I wanted to take a lot of pictures after Church but by the time we came home, the sun was already up and the snow were already melted, except for those that were on the mountains. And today it didn't snow at all although when we drove to Wyoming to pick up Kristine (she'll be staying with me and Brandon for 2 weeks) I saw snow-covered mountains on our way. I can't wait to go out and enjoy the winter season having fun sledding, skating, or skiing when it snows more. It sure is gonna be a lot'a fun :)♥

Apartment yard

Walking on the Right Path

Originally posted on my Friendster blog, September 25, 2008 at 1:15 pm

Sometimes when I'm not doing anything and just laying on the bed, I can't help but wonder how my friends and all other people I knew in highschool and college are doing. I wonder what they already look like, what they do for a living, who and what kind of person they married, or where they're living. It's been quite a long time since I last saw most of them and I can't even remember the last names anymore of those who weren't close to me. That's why I'm glad whenever I read the words "New Friendster Friend Request" and the name or picture of someone I had known from the past comes up. But to those who I'm still in touch with, I have at least an idea of what's going on in their lives and they too have a glance of my current life situation. When I receive a private message or comment from them on Friendster, I'm touched to know that they are happy for me and my married life. There were even some who told me that they're jealous because I have managed to walk on the right direction.

Looking back, it was never easy for me to keep my feet on the right side of the road. In fact there were times when I almost stepped beyond the line but I was lucky enough to have 2 persons in my life who pulled me back everytime they saw that I could cross that line anytime...and they were my parents. I must say that college was when I felt most miserable. Not only because I was away from my family, but also because I didn't like the city I was living in. I hated the dialect, the people were different, and I didn't like my school. It was a pretty good school, I just hated the rules and regulations because they were too strict. To add that, I regretted taking my degree because I realized when I was in my second year that to be a media personality wasn't really what I wanted. I wished I studied a computer or business course instead. But it was too late to shift to either of these two. Besides, my parents weren't cash-cows that could afford whenever I wanted to quit and switch to a new degree. I also wanted to finish college the soonest time possible. I hated school!

My friends made my college life a bit easier to handle. I always had good laughs everytime I was around them. But of course we also had dramas and fights but the longest fight I could remember lasted for only a week or so. But the hardest part was that my standards and beliefs were different from theirs. For every glass of alcohol offered to me, I had to say "no" at least 5 times. At first it was hard for them to understand why it was a big deal to me. They did all the convincing that they could. I felt pressured all the time but my stand was firm enough not to be shaken, until my friends couldn't take any more disappointment, haha. The reward was respect. On those instances when someone passed around a glass of drink again, they had to skip me. They wouldnt even ask anymore because they already knew what my response would be. There was one time that we had dinner with a group of guys I didn't even know. But these people were friends of one of my barkada. One of the guys offered me a glass of alcohol and before he could finish talking I already said "No." He thought I didn't mean it so he was persistent. He eventually stopped. The next day at school, my friends told me that the same guy secretly asked them the night before if I really didn't drink at all or if I was just trying to impress the group of guys around. I couldn't help but laugh when they told me this. But my friends told him that getting me to drink is an impossible mission and they explained to him why :)

Like what I said in the 2nd paragraph, my parents were the ones who kept me on the right track. I guess you'll understand if I tell you that I went through a rebellious stage. And if you're a girl, I'm sure you'll understand me even more if I tell you that my rebellion was to defend my right of choosing which person I wanted to be in a relationship with. You're probably getting the hint by now. So yea, I was one of those young girls who thought they knew what was best for them and that parents were the most "killjoy" people in the world when it comes to their daughter's lovelife. Needless to say, I was in a relationship with someone my parents or maybe even my sisters disliked. And they had every reason not to like him. He drank, smoked, had a history of drug use (I wasn't sure if he still used drugs during those months that we were together), and he was a spoiled brat. But I was very naive and hoped that I could change him for the better, and I did try. To make the long story short, the relationship ended because of my parents' total disapproval. I was at first very mad at them and felt like I was deprived of the right to make my own decisions. But now when I look back at that time in my life, I'm always grateful for what my parents did to protect me. Sometimes I even ask myself, "What was I thinking?". I hated how our home was always like under martial law. My sisters and I had to listen to what our father would say whether we liked it or not. Then I realized that if it wasn't for that "martial law" , I would have gone astray since I'm very stubborn. I would have married the wrong person. I can't imagine what kind of life I would have been living by now, had my parents not interfered and I continued my relationship with that guy. I'm also proud of myself that despite my stubbornness and rebellious spirit, I always chose to use my head and not let my emotions control me. I was very depressed that if some other girl were on my shoes, she would have either committed suicide or ran away with her boyfriend. I'm glad the attempt of doing such things never even crossed my mind.

It is indeed true that the choices we make today will affect the later years of our lives. Like what they say, regrets always come at the end. It's you who choose to be happy or unhappy depending on the decisions you make. I must say that prayers helped me make the right choices I've made in my life. With prayers as your guide, you can never go wrong. Also, I've learned that it's good to surround yourself with good people because the ones you always spend time with will have the biggest influence on your decisions and choices. There are still so many choices and decisions to make ahead of me, and like my life, I'm also far from perfection. Therefore, there is no assurance that I can keep walking on the right road. But I do everything I can to keep myself standing firmly on the road I'm at right now, so that no matter how many storms in life come, I will be strong enough not to get blown away and tossed by the wind that will take me to the wrong side.♥

To Dream the Possible Dreams

Originally posted on my Friendster blog September 22, 2008 at 12:18 pm

Last night I had a weird dream. I dreamed that everyone including me was filing for a scholarship to study in England. I was a little hesitant because I knew that if I passed the exam, that would mean leaving my husband to go to another country so I intentionally didn't follow an important instruction on filing for the scholarship, that way I wouldn't be accepted. As a result and to my regret, I was the only one who wasn't given the scholarship and everyone else felt bas for me hahaha.

In real life I've also had dreams that let me down because they weren't even an inch close to reality so I just left them unfulfilled until they disappeared like bubbles in the air. When I was little, my father who helped me learn to dream big often encouraged me to dream of becoming either a lawyer or a physician someday. I'm squeamish so I preferred to be a lawyer. Growing up, I had this vision on my mind to defend people and help them fight for their rights. It was in my teen years that my eyes were opened to the reality of life. I realized that it takes not only hard work and ability but privilege and luck as well to get what you want. I knew that all I got was the capability and willingness to learn, that even if I worked the hardest I could or no matter how much support my parents could give, it would still come down to "not enough". It was money that hindered that dream from turning into reality.

There were also dreams that seemed reachable but I was afraid that if I tried to reach them I might just fall so I just left them hanging in the clouds of my dreams. When I was 18 and already in college, I was asked if I wanted to study in Brigham Young University- Hawaii 'cause the Church Educational System was giving a scholarship to those who were willing. Who in his right mind would refuse an offer like this? Besides, I had always wanted to study in one of the BYU campuses. So I took the Michigan test in Tacloban and passed with a decent score, actually the highest among those who took the test that day...or at least that's what I was told. My parents were giving me all the support they could give, my father at the time could afford every penny that I needed for the process and everything else. But it was me who distanced myself from my own dream. At that stage in my life, I had always experienced failures. I lost confidence in myself and thought that I would just fail in everything I do. I was afraid of trying only to find out that I would only fail again. What if the process takes so long I get bored of waiting? What if the process is too hard? What if I mess up on something along the process? What if I won't pass the interview at the US Embassy? Those were only some of the many fears I had. And most of all, I feared that my parents' efforts and money would just go to nothing if I failed. I did regret for not overcoming those fears but I eventually got over it. Looking at the bright side, I would always think that perhaps God had better plans for me.

And yes He did :) Eversince my family and I became members of our Church, by the way I was only 12 when we joined, I had always been taught in youth class to "marry the right person in the right place". That means marrying a faithful member of the Church in the temple. So that teaching was carved in my mind while growing up. When I was old enough to understand the importance of marriage, I had no greater wish than finding the right person who was worthy enough to take me to the temple. I had always prayed for this ever since. This was my biggest dream in life and I always lived the way I was supposed to if I wanted it to come true. I saw people who seemed to have the potential to marry in the temple, but when they married outside the Church, I started to get worried that the same thing might happen to me too. In my 20's, I started thinking "What if 10 years down the road the man I've been praying for all these years remains an imaginary lover? Would I still be willing to wait? What if before he comes, someone I could fall inlove with but isn't exactly the one I dreamed of shows up? I sure don't wanna be an old maid!" That's why I felt like the luckiest woman in the world the day I went inside the Orlando, Florida temple with the man I had been praying for since I was 12 or 13, the man I love and who loves me more in return. That was the first time I felt like a million bucks because it wasn't only a dream come true, it was also an answered payer. Now I realized that it was a personal revelation when I decided not to go to BYU because something 1,000,000x better was planned to happen sooner.

Of course I also have dreams that are until now I'm still dreaming of. But I'm not star gazing alone anymore. I have a great husband to share dreams with. I'm not sure if I still want to be a lawyer someday because I've seen things that and met people who influenced me to have other goals. I'm not sure either if I still want to go to BYU 'coz I don't know if we'll still be in Utah by the time I'm ready to go. I have dreams for my family, I have dreams for me and my husband as a couple, and I dream of a family of our own.♥

Are You One of Us?

Note: Originally posted on Multiply Site

One day I stumbled on someone's myspace profile and found an interesting post. I couldn't stop grinning while I read one by one the contents of the post. I even read some of 'em loud to my hubby whose comment was either "yea, true" or "hahaha". I made some editing like numbering and a few vocabulary translations.

.

You know you're Filipino when...

1. Your middle name is your mother's maiden name.
2. Your parents call each other "Mommy" and "Daddy."
3. You have uncles and aunts named "Boy," "Girlie," or "Baby."
4. You have relatives whose nicknames consist of repeated syllables like "Jun-Jun," "Ling-Ling," and "Mon-Mon." Mine by the way is "Dan-dan".
5. You call the parents of your friends and your own parents' friends "Tito" and "Tita".
6. You have four or five names.
7. You greet your elders by touching their hands to your forehead.
8. You always kiss your relatives on the cheek whenever you enter or leave the room.
9. You follow your parents' house rules even if you are over 18.
10. You live with your parents until and at times even after you're married.
11. You decorate your dining room wall with a picture of the "Last Supper".
12. You keep your furniture wrapped in plastic or covered with blankets.
13. You have a Sto. Nino shrine in your living room.
14. You have a piano that no one plays.
15. You keep a "tabo" (water scoop) in your bathroom.
16. You use Vicks Vapor rub as an insect repellant.
17. You eat with your hands.
18. You eat more than three times a day.
19. You think a meal is not a meal without rice.
20. You think sandwiches are snacks, not meals.
21. Your dining table has a merry-go-round (lazy Susan) in the middle.
22. You bring baon to work everyday.
23. Your pantry is never without Spam, Vienna sausage, corned beef, and sardines.
24. You love to eat daing or tuyo.
25. You prop up one knee while eating.
26. You eat your meal with patis (fish sauce),toyo (soy sauce), suka (vinegar), banana catsup, or bagoong (fish paste).
27. Your tablecloths are stained with toyo circles.
28. You love sticky desserts and salty snacks.
29. You eat fried Spam and hot dogs with rice.
30. You eat mangoes with rice--with great GUSTO!
31. You love "dirty" ice cream.
32. You love to eat, yet often manage to stay slim.
33. You put hot dogs in your spaghetti.
34. Everything you eat is sauted in garlic, onion, and tomatoes.
35. You order a "soft drink" instead of soda.
36. You hang a rosary on your car's rear view mirror.
37. You get together with family at a cemetery on All Saint's Day to eat, drink, and tell stories by your loved ones' graves.
38. You play cards or mahjong and drink beer at funeral wakes.
39. You think Christmas season begins in October and ends in January.
40. Your second piece of luggage is a balikbayan/pasalubong box.
41. You've mastered the art of packing a suitcase to double capacity.
42. You collect items from airlines, hotels, and restaurants as "souvenirs."
43. You feel obligated to give pasalubong (bring-home) to all your friends and relatives each time you return from a trip.
44. You use paper foot outlines when buying shoes for friends and relatives.
45. You're a fashion victim.
46. You can convey 30 messages with your facial expression.
47. You hold your palms together in front of you and say "excuse, excuse" when you pass in between people or in front of the TV.
48. You ask for the bill at a restaurant by making a rectangle in the air.
49. You cover your mouth when you laugh.
50. You respond to a "Hoy!" or a "Pssst!" in a crowd.
51. You'll answer "Malapit lang!" (just near from here)--no matter the distance--when asked how far away a place is located.
52. Goldilocks is more than a fairy tale character to you.
53. You refer to power interruptions as "brownouts".
54. You love to use the following acronyms: CR for comfort room, DI for dance instructor, DOM for dirty old man, TNT for tago nang tago, KJ for kill joy, KSP for kulang sa pansin, OA for over-acting, TL for true love, BF for boyfriend and GF for girlfriend.
55. You say "rubber shoes" instead of sneakers, "ball pen" instead of pen, "stockings" instead of pantyhose, "pampers" instead of diapers, "ref" or "prijider"(from the company Frigidaire) instead of refrigerator, "Colgate" instead of toothpaste, "canteen" instead of cafeteria, and "open" or "close" instead of turn on or turn off (as in the lights).
56. You use an umbrella for shade on hot summer days.
57. You like everything imported or "state-side."
58. You love ballroom dancing, bowling, pusoy, mah jong, billiards, and karaoke.
59. You have a relative who is a nurse.
60. When you're in a restaurant, you wipe your plate and utensils before using them.
61. You can squeeze 15 passengers into your five seater car without a second thought.
62. You wave a pom-pom on a stick around the food to keep the flies away.
63. You always ring a doorbell twice, assuming that the first ring was not heard.
64. You let the phone ring twice before answering, lest you appear overly eager.
65. You use a rock to scrub yourself in the bath or shower.
66. You're proud to be Filipino - and you pass these jokes on to all your Filipino friends!♥

An Umbrella for 2

Note: Originally posted on Multiply blog in April 2007

Being newly wed, Brandon and I are going through the adventures of marriage. See, it's only been 8 months since that day we said "yes" to each other but our married life has already had different ups and downs. And like any another wedlock, ours is not perfect. But the good thing is after a fight and when apologies have been said, we do compromise. We learn more about ourselves after each let's-talk-about-it session and realize our mistakes. And we reward each other bear hugs after each misunderstanding resolved. All these, including problems have brought us closer. We've learned that when one of us hurts the other, though not intentionally, we shouldn't make room for grudges for we're not magkaaway but magkakampi. I hope that someday I could write a beautiful song about the fragile stage of our union, reflecting everything that we've gone through together. But for now there's one particular hit song that I've fallen inlove with since it came out. I love it not only because of its beat that makes me put my dancing shoes on but also because of the lyrics that seem to have been written for us. Kodus to Ms. Rihanna for these meaningful lines from her song Umbrella:

When the sun shines, we’ll shine together, told you I'll be here forever. Said I'll always be a friend took an oath I'ma stick it out till the end. Now that it's raining more than ever, know that we'll still have each other. You can stand under my umbrella, you can stand under my umbrella.

You can run into my arms, it's okay don't be alarmed

Come into me

There's no distance in between our love

So go on and let the rain pour, I'll be all you need and more. ♥

One More

The title is about me creating another blog. That means I've had blogs from different free blog domains before. I made maybe 2 with Wordpress, one with Multiply, also blogged on Friendster, and I don't know how many blogs I've created with blogger already. None of all those blogs survived.

My interest in blogosphere came alive when one Sunday someone at Church spoke at the sacrament meeting about keeping records of our lives that we can pass on to our children and grandchildren for them to read about us. This guy said about taking advantage of the high technology we are blessed with today by writing a journal online aside from keeping a handwritten diary so that just incase the latter gets blown away by a strong hurricane wind or washed away by the flood:P, the records are still there.

My first few posts will be imports from 2 of my old blogs.

So we'll just see how long this one will exist :).♥