Sweetest Day

According to the editor of 123greetings.info, October 18 is a Sweetest Day. So to all of you guys Happy Sweetest Day! For me, everyday is a sweet day because our children always give me hugs and kisses and say "I Love YOu Mommy!" And of course my husband does the same too!

Faith

When I came home from work last Thursday night, my daughter was already in bed sleeping. Her cry woke me up at around four in the morning, she was hyperventilating and I couldn't understand what she was saying. So I told her to calm down, i rubbed her back and she eventually stopped crying. That's when I asked her again what's wrong. She told me that she woke up crying because she wanted to say the Lord's Prayer. My husband usually read her a book at bedtime and I lead her to pray after. But since I came home at ten o'clock that night, she wasn't able to say the prayer. I was so happy that at early age, she is already forming her faith..

Perfect gift!

Before we relocate here, my husband's former boss gave him a flash drive. We used it to store all our important documents before shipping our computer. It is handy and safer to store our personal stuff. Personally having flash drive is a must.. Why? Because it is vital in restoring your files, especially if your computer crashes.. If you have this gadget, be sure to store all your important files. Visit pexagontech.com and buy this cool gadget for you and your love ones, they will sure appreciate this, it is a perfect gift you can give. You can personalize it with your favorite color, and even engrave it with your favorite quote or name. Its affordable and if you buy additional drive it will only cost 20 cents.. How cool is that, buy now and be remembered!

What's in a Name

The first paragraph is kinda not-so-true but the rest are: What Rose Means

You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Find out what your name's meaning guys... Its FUN!

Benefits of Walking

I burnt 111 calories by walking for 30 minutes on a tread mill after my work last night. I inclined it to 3.0% and my average speed was 2.94, I walked about 1.6 miles or 237 feet on a mountain climb. Not bad right? I wanna grow old healthy so I can still see my kids have their own families and enjoy life with my loving husband. Isn't it nice if we have a bodilicious like this? Well, we sure can have one like that if we do exercise even once a week... Walking is an activity we do everyday everywhere. There's no great trick to walking.. It doesn't require any special skills or advanced conditioning. Some health benefits of walking include:

• burns almost as many calories as jogging
• eases back pains
• slims your waist
• lower blood pressure
• reduces levels of bad cholesterol
• reduces heart attack risks
• enhances stamina and energy
• lessens anxiety and tension
• improves muscle tone
• easy on your joints
• reduces appetite
• increases aerobic capacity
• can be done in short bouts
• slows down osteoporosis bone loss
• and can be done when you're travelling

FOTO Fanatic

Call me photo addict but me and John love capturing our kids every little moments. This will be our greatest treasures when they're grown up and have their own lives. You know, they can't be kids forever and we have to accept the fact that sooner we will go back to being just us. Kinda sad to think about it but I am preparing myself to it. Time flies so fast and so is the children's growth.

Here's a snapshop of my daughter at the veranda of the cable car station at Mt. Seorak.

Here's Rylie and EJ at the hotel lobby..

Here's us with some Korean hikers!

Here's our family Pic at Seorak Mountain

Enjoy, your thoughts and opinions will be appreciated! Thank you...

My precious blessings

Isn't it weird how our kids are very different with each other? These are my kids differences and some things in common:

• My daughter Rylie drank formula for 4 months but my son EJ didn't like it, he just want mom's b-milk;
• She love baby food - and still love it until now, my son however don't
• She started potty training before she turned one, now she's completely potty trained (got done using training pants when she was 2 1/2 years old). My son would cry everytime I try to put him in his potty. I think boys are harder to train compared to girls, do you agree?
• EJ is allergy to peanut and Rylie is to soy milk
• Rylie love dancing and EJ wants to sing a lot
• EJ never cry whenever I am giving him a bath but Rylie always does (which frustrates me)
• Rylie like butter, EJ don't
• EJ used his baby crib, Rylie did not (its my fault I think lol)
• EJ always wants me, Rylie wants Daddy
• Rylie love fruits and veggies, not really for EJ
• Rylie is not very fond of cake but EJ does
• Rylie love just any kind of juice but EJ doesn't (would make faces when I try giving him some)

These are some things that they're in common with:

• They're both loving
• both passionate about nursing. Rylie nursed with me for 18 months until EJ was born so I have to wean her which she refused so much. EJ is 17 months old now and still nursing. Other people often asked, how can you let them.. I just tell them that I enjoy it too!
• They both love outside
• they both love filipino foods esp. rice
• they always want Mommy when they get hurt or need something
• and most especially they're both always malambing (sweet)

Well Celebrated Anniversary

I can say that our 5th wedding Anniversary was very memorable because it was celebrated in the Mountain with our kids. We left Chinhae on October 11 at 8 am and it was a dreadful 7 hours long drive... Here are some photos taken in the bus (am not in the pic, photographer ang role ko lol)..

Photos at rest stops....

Then we stopped at Sokcho Fish market where we devoured on some tempura shrimp and sushi.. Here are some snapshots: We arrived at the hotel around 5 pm, we slept early after taking shower and dinner.. Man that hotel was so hot, there's no ceiling fan or lampshades, weird huh.. the heating and colling runs on the floor.

The view on the hotel's veranda:

We head out to Mt. Seorak at 10 am and came back at around 6 pm, we ended the celebration with a dinner at the four season restaurant at the hotel with a filipina friend... picture taking while waiting for the food, we ordered bibimbap-it was good:

here's my daughter enjoying her pork steak - korean style

Oh we had a funny experience dining out because our original plan was to go out and eat at a Korean Resto so we asked the hotel desk clerk to help us find one, so he made some phone calls and finally he wrote something on a paper and told us to just handed it to the taxi driver. When we arrived there, no one understand what we are talking about and we can't understand what they are trying to tell us either, so we just left... lesson learned, never go out without an interpreter hahaha.... But of course to make it memorable, i have to take a pic lol..

For the breath taking scenery of our hike, just click on this link... Alrighty guys, thanks for reading!

Magbayo

This was my husband's first time visit in our munting bahay kubo (shanty). We let him try pounding (bayuhin) the soaked rice by using wooden mortar and pestle. This is the old tradition way of making the rice turn into a flour. Hubby like maruya or banana fritters (am i right, am not sure lol) so before sya pakainin dapat papagtrabahuhin muna lol.. But anyhow, he ended up having blisters on his palms hahaha..But he said that he liked and enjoyed it so much! Pardon readers, for some reason my mind is not functioning well today so there's a lot of wrong grammars to this post hehehe. Am sleepy kasi lol. PEACE!

My New BORN Blog

Okay, here's what's new with me hehehe.. I created a new baby to take care of and enjoy. I hope you guys can visit and support my new one just like you support Rose's O&G and my husband's blog. Thank you so much!

Thank you God!

I have a lot of things to be thanked for today! First and foremost, my mother is going out at the hospital tomorrow - thank you so much for all those who prayed with us, may God bless your good hearts! Although she still have to maintain meds at home, I felt relieve knowing that she's out of danger. Then I got assignments, thanks for my sponsors! God always works in a very mysterious way and HE is always there when I needed Him so much!

Celebrate

Trick or Treat is one big attraction for kids during Halloween. But how do you entertain those friends and families who are visiting from a distant place and wants to stay in your house for the occasion? Halloween party food is the best idea I found from celebrations.com because you can be as creepy as you can be for your Halloween Treats. You can serve so many weird looking foods, that will surely make the occasion a fun filled celebration both for kids and adults. Having found celebrations.com gives me so much ideas on what to do this coming Halloween for our guests. My husband love to bake so I think witch finger cookies is one of the good choice to serve for dessert. I also love this orange pepper jack o lantern, its so neat that me and kids will have fun doing it. If you want to learn more about great ideas on how to make your special occasions a memorable one, celebrations.com is the best place to consult to. They have experts that can help you host a fun and appetizing party that your guests will never forget. It is a place where everyone can share tips or ideas on hosting a party, recipes, and pictures and vids.

Journal of the Week

I started my new blog just last week (Oct. 5) which tackles about my personal experiences in life. I am so elated when I checked my email this morning and saw an email notification from Bravenet. Along with anothe bravenet member, my blog was chosen as one of the Journal of the Week Winners! Wow, thanks Bravenet, it's an honor! Here's the email I received.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Journal of the Week Winner Wednesday, October 15, 2008 12:30 AM From: "membernotify@bravenet.com" Add sender to Contacts To: cutiestfriend@yahoo.comWeb Journal Community ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Congratulations, Your journal has been Selected as Journal of the Week! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are pleased to inform you that your Bravejournal has been selected as a Journal of the Week! Each week, we pick two journals to be listed as Journals of the Week based on good use of design and/or content and yours has been selected due to the outstanding job you did on your journal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ JOTW Awards In recognition of your outstanding work, we have made several award graphics available to you that you can place on your journal to show your visitors that you have been selected as a Journal of the Week. Simply use the copy and paste codes provided below to have that award graphic display on your journal. Welcome to the Community Thank you for your interest in the Bravejournal Community and we are pleased to have you join us as a Bravejournal of the Week! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Posted by Community Blog: Hi there! Congratulations on winning this week's JOTW Award! You have an awesome journal here - excellent content, great layout... It all works very nicely. Have a great day! October 14, 2008 @ 09:58:29 AM

We're Back!

We came home from our hiking trip yesterday but I wasn't able to blog or do anything in the computer because I am so occupied with worries for my Mother. She's confined in the hospital and its killing me that I can't be there for her. I thank everyone who keep coming back to visit my blog! From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much! Okay guys this is it for now, will update you about our trip next time, when I'm stress free I guess.

Nature Trek

Okay, I am quickly posting this short note to let you know guys that I'm not gonna be able to visit you for a couple of days due to our mother nature trip as part of our wedding anniversary celebration. We'll be back by Monday, hopefully I can bloghop hehehe.. Wanna know a little something about our love story? Well, I'm sharing it to you here. gotta go guys, need to pack our things.

Accident

I was doing laundry this morning and I did not notice that the water overflowed on the floor, the drainage got clogged. So after I cleaned up my Son, we were playing hide and seek and when I chased him, he went to the laundry room and I heard ...SPLAT.... Oh my God, I was so scared because he fell pretty hard on the wet floor. My poor little man cried like heck.. When hubby arrived I told him about the incident and he's worried that our son got a concusion..

Here he fell asleep after crying subsided..

surprise, surprise!

I was surprisely happy when I went home from work tonight.. You wanna know why? Well, aside from the fact that my two kids are cleaned and bathe, hubby was also done with our laundry... AWESOME! It seldom happen lol.. I mean its not the first time that he did the laundry but I have to ask him to do it, but tonight is phenomenal.. Not to mention, he also clean the dishes! Thanks Hon, luvya!

Coolest Blog Award

Thank you so much Nanay Belen for this lovely award. This will be added to my collections as a remembrance of my blogging journey. Within four months of blogsurfing, I have learned a lot from different people's blog and I'm so happy about it. Once accepting this award, the rules are as follow: Put the logo on your blog. Add a link to the person who awarded you. Nominate 10 other blogs. Add links to those blogs on yours. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs. With that I nominated 10 other bloggers for this award.. I would love to give this award to the the following cool bloggers.. luvvydubby for taking time to share interest with me in blogging, Malou and Faye for always being there for me, thanks guys, Cely & Gilbert for sharing the same interest with me in cooking and politics Ate Cecille for always visiting and commenting demcy who never fails to visit and drop EC pchi for her sincere analytical point of view, lovely for her inspiring stories, sunny for his unique perspectives, and last but not the least is lauren for her religious posts..

Wishes for a Friend

Another fruitful year for you my dear Malou, may everything that you're wishing for come true... From the Cottrill family, we wish you all the best in life!

There is a gift that gold cannot buy A blessing that's rare and true That's the gift of a wonderful person coming into my life Like I have in you! Thank you for the friendship bru! GOD Bless!

Cinderella Man

Hubby and I watched two movies last night.. My first pick is the Cinderella Man starred by Academy award winners Russel Crowe and Renee Zellweger. It is a powerfully inspiring true story during the time when America needed a champion and the legendary James J. Braddock arose. He proved how hard a man would fight to win a second chance for his family and himself. He was driven by love of his family, he willed an impossible dream to come true.. I can just watch this movie over and over again with tears. The impact of this movie in a family is very beautiful.. Have you seen this one? It's phenomenal... The second movie is the Last Samurai... I'll tell you the story later hahaha, have to go to work wahhhhh...

FUN

Just for fun, i took this purity test which I grabbed from Pastilan and the result is funny. I just thought that I have to share this to you guys.. I was surprised of how pure I am hehehe.. I think its because most of the questions don't apply to me or I never experienced before so I have yet to explore the dark side of me lol.. Try yours now and see how pure you are..

You Are 94% Pure

You're so pure ... you make a nun look like a whore! There's a lot of life's dark side left for you to experience... if you want to.

The 100 Question Purity Test

PS: No offense to the NUNs, sowiiiii!

Attention pasta Lovers, here are some Pasta Possibilities

Hubby and kids love pasta so much. You might think that we're Italian but we're not. They just love eating pasta hehehe. here are some great recipes you might wanna try to alter your pasta menus. If you are tired of the same old pasta dinner, try a little something different tonight. From Spaghetti with Herb Butter and Zesty Garlic Pasta Primavera to Lemon Basil Pasta and Shrimp and Rigatoni with Eggplant, you'll find plenty of fresh ideas right here. Pair with some Italian bread for the perfect finish. You can also try the following: More Pasta Dinner Ideas Linguine with Garlic and Oil Spaghetti with White Clam Sauce Ravioli with Fresh Sage Tomato Sauce Fettuccine with Wild Mushrooms Angel Hair Pasta with Vegetables Spaghetti with Pesto Sauce Linguine with Red Bell Peppers Fettuccine with Tomatoes Penne with Chicken, Peas, and Peppers source: nubella.com

Curry-Crumbed Pork Chops

How do you like your pork done? Dare to be different. Instead of serving the same old pork chops, try this quick yet inspired recipe. The secret to its mouthwatering moistness lies in the layer of yogurt that's brushed over the pork before cooking. Add a crispy topping of bread crumbs, and you've got a risk worth taking. Don't this look yumyum! I bet you have watery mouth right now hehehe..

Panko are coarse bread crumbs usually found next to other bread crumbs in the supermarket.

3/4 cup plain yogurt 1 teaspoon dry mustard 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 3 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion 2 bone-in center-cut rib pork chops (3/4 inch thick) 1 tablespoon canola oil 1/3 cup panko 1 teaspoon curry powder

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Combine yogurt, mustard, salt and pepper in small bowl. Reserve one-fourth of the yogurt mixture; stir green onion into remaining yogurt mixture. Brush reserved yogurt mixture onto both sides of pork chops.

2. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Cook pork 4 to 6 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. Remove pork; place on foil-lined baking sheet.

3. Combine panko and curry powder; stir into drippings in skillet. Spread over top of pork.

4. Bake 8 to 12 minutes or until pork is pale pink in center. Serve with yogurt sauce.

This makes 2 servings. Per serving : 310 calories, 16 g total fat (4 g saturated fat), 26 g protein, 15 g carbohydrate, 60 mg cholesterol, 465 mg sodium, 1 g fiber

source: cookingclub.com

Witty

My daughter Rylie love collecting leaves. I dunno why but everytime we go for a walk, she'll always finds these neat leaves around. My son EJ is different, he collects small rocks...

When Amy (my student) came to our house today, she gave Rylie a present. My daughter was so elated because she loves Dora stuff. In her excitement, she told Amy "I have a surprise for you too!" and she handed her a pine cone that she picked up on the way to our house when we fetched Amy at the gate. I was laughing at her wittiness.. Thanks Ms. Kim!

Here's Amy and Rylie.

here's Amy helping my children assemble the Dora pieces.

Here's EJ trying to escape the picture taking lol..

6 Dirtiest Food in America

Watch out for this guys! This is very important especially if you love dining out! If you've ever been struck with diarrhea, vomiting, fever, or abdominal cramps after dining out (or in), chances are that you were just one of the millions of "dirty food" victims that United States sees every year. Food borne illness, or food poisoning, is the result of consuming food or beverages contaminated with parasites, viruses, or bacteria—and may result in as many as 5,000 deaths each year. Here, a look at the dirtiest foods that are most likely to make you sick. source: nubella.com

What is PageRank?

When I checked my addictus hobby (blog) today, I can't believe what my eyes saw when I looked on top of my page, I saw a color green on my PageRank button. Well, at first I ignored it because I told myself maybe I was just imagining so I logged out and logged back in again to make sure that I wasn't just hallucinating.. hahaha what a term.. But anyhow, its real.. I got PR2... Yohooooo! Google finally recognize the importance of my page on the web... To those who has high rank than mine, of course you will say that PR2 is nothing, but for me its a big thing lol... So with that being said from the bottom of my HEART, I thank you all who always visit my blog because without you my blog is nothing...Kamsahamnida, salamat, gracias or however you say it...Thank YOU! According to Phil Craven PageRank is the numeric value that represents how important your site is on the web.. It is basically calculated when somebody linked up to you which is considered as a vote. Google also determine how important the vote that has been casted for you. From my understanding it's not just the number of the link you have but the importance also of the page you are linked with. The more PRsites that is link with you the better.. To learn more about PR please check the link below. source: http://www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html

Sportsvids and You!

My favorite sports of all time are volleyball, basketball, softball, football and soccer. Among the five, volleyball is the best one for me, I been playing that sport since I was in high school, then in college and even after I graduated. Me and other office mates used to play it on Saturdays as our form of exercise. I also love watching tennis and track and field. Sometimes when I receive sports clips on email and I'm not contented watching it because it is a short one, I go to Youtube and watched my favorite sports. I don't like it though when I'm looking for sports vids that I want but I can't find it in just one site. I have to search for different websites just to find what I am looking for. That's why when I've learned about sportsvid.com, I am so happy because it is a one stop shop to watch online sports videos. Isn't that great! So if you are like me who love watching sports videos, go to SportsVids and upload your top 5 sports highlight videos. And oh, don't forget to tell your friends about it so all of you will enjoy and have fun! This are the five videos that I picked!

blogging journey

OK here's a quick stat of my blogging experience. I started blogging on the last week of May at Friendster but my dear friend Malou encouraged me to join Blogger.com. So I transferred my posts from F to B. Then just last month, I got my own domain through the help of my webtech mentor Malou (salamat bru).

Now this is my 270th post already, got 3,584 visits, 1,245 profile views, my Alexa Rank was down to 1,570,068(started like 7 million +) so this is a good sign, then my real rank went down from 7k+ to 2,662 (need to bloghop more but no time lol), got countless tags and some awards too. The most rewarding part of this blogging experience are the friends that I met in the blogsphere. So to all of you guys who always visits and contributes ideas to me, SALAMAT po (thank you)!

Ladies Night Out

Four of my friends and I went out for a dinner tonight as a treat for the birthday celebrant Mindy (on the pic). We ate at a local Korean Resto (which i forgot to get the name of lol) but it was sooooooo good. The food were fabulous and so cheap! Our bellies were stuffed when we finish eating. We ate Calbi, Samgapsam (not sure about the name though), a lot of fresh veggies, rice, kimchi, fruits and some Korean delicacy.. They also taught me how to use the chopsticks lol. I remember when we first went out to eat with my hubby's co workers, I wasn't able to eat because I really don't know how to use the CS, I felt so damn idiot in front of everybody..Here are some of the photos: