No, I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving Day the way it is done in the West.
But on the eve of Thanksgiving a few days ago, I had some things I had to be thankful for and gratitude always needs to be expressed.
In 2007, I found out that I had a kidney stone 1cm in diameter. It was lodged at the entrance of my ureter, too large to be flushed, too lodged to be pushed back into the kidney. During an operating room procedure where they inserted a camera into me, the doctors also found my ureter was crooked so putting a stent in was also impossible. The only solution was to blast the stone near the ureter — a 75% chance of success compared to over 90% if blasting was done to the stone in the kidney.
A post-operative ultrasound showed that the stone was blasted to smithereens but fragments were left in the kidney. Flushing had to be done so they do not start more stone formations. I was drinking up to 2 liters of water in the office daily.
This week, I visited my urologist again with some concerns. A follow-up ultrasound last January 2008 showed a tiny calcified cyst . My blood test also showed that the iron stored in my body was twice the normal range. My late dad had an uncommon blood disorder called thalassemia and I had myself tested for it with results coming out this week. Thalassemia shows up like anemia but thalassemic people cannot eliminate iron from the body. Iron overload, if not corrected, leads to heart and liver damage.
To top it all, my yoga has been erratic so there went a great detox mechanism.
But after a repeat ultrasound ordered by my urologist, I received great news:
1. For some unknown reason, the calcified cyst could no longer be found;
2. Our family doctor who is an internist assured me that the high ferritin levels were of no concern now although I need to give him my screening results for thalassemia; and,
3. My urologist also cleared me of kidney stones (at least for now) and told me I just need an ultrasound every 6 months as preventive measure.
HOORAY!!!
This episode reminds me again to look after my health first — this in the midst of the holiday stress and yearend work and systems implementation work that keep me so busy that yoga is now self-yoga. In the end, good health matters more than anything. And yes, I need to get back to my regular yoga routine — SOON!
Last year, in order to get my 2 girls the planners they wanted, I was at this coffee shop almost daily ordering a cup of coffee. This year, though, I told myself I would not do that. After computing the cost of daily coffee at that shop, I figured it was an expensive way to buy a planner.
But I have changed my mind after attending the blogger event hosted by Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL) at Boni High Street.
I confess I had no idea what the event was all about except that I was drawn to the word “Giving” in the text I got from Geiser Maclang.
C1 came along with me. As we entered CBTL, we were surprised to see bloggers huddled around tables talking with people who had brochures laid out. That was how I found out that CBTL was launching its Christmas program, 12 Cups with The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf: Give in to Giving. At each table were representatives of each of the 12 organizations being supported by CBTL this Christmas.
Here’s how it works. Every cup of coffee or tea you buy, which is covered by the program, gets you a stamp on a card. Once you complete the 12 stamps on the card, you get to choose your favorite cause/advocacy from the 12 supported organizations and CBTL will make a donation in your name. Not only that! For having completed the card, you also get one of the 3 CBTL limited edition commemorative journals specially designed by 12 of the most important Filipino artists in the country today — FREE! And if you get to donate to all 12 organizations (that means 12 cards x 12 cups = 144 cups), CBTL will give one year’s supply of coffee!
Notebook 1 Notebook 2Notebook 3
Whatever your advocacy is, there is sure to be one organization from this lot that you can help. Here are the 12 organizations you can help support via CBTL as well as the kind of support CBTL will donate in your nameafter you complete your 12th cup of giving:
1. Kababaihan Gabay sa Bayan (KAGABAY) – poverty reduction through social, political and economic empowerment of women. CBTL will donate P600/child for their education needs.
2. The Restorative Justice Program of Caritas Manila – service to prisoners and their families through formation, paralegal assistance and outreach. CBTL will donate P1,000 under your name for values formation class materials per school year for inmates.
3. The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) – animal protection and care. CBTL will provide medicine for animals under PAWS’ care.
4. Bahay Tuluyan – serves streetchildren. CBTL will give a birthday present for a child worth P250 under your name.
5. Haribon Foundation – conservation of Philippine biodiversity. CBTL will adopt a seedling under your name.
6. Cartwheel Foundation – education for the country’s indigenous people. CBTL will donate P8,000 for educational materials, curriculum development, tuition, teacher training & seminars, and school supplies for each student per school year.
7. Kythe Foundation – supports children with cancer; its Child Life Program seeks to alleviate the anxieties of a child during hospitalization. CBTL will sponsor an unforgettable kids’ outing for the kids and the volunteers.
8. Autism Society Philippines (ASP) – committed to the wellbeing of persons with autism spectrum disorder. CBTL will donate P2,000 for books needed for autism disorder awareness.
9. Philippine Cerebral Palsy, Inc. – aids cerebral palsy victims. CBTL will give a patient P1,800 per month to help in their medicine and rehabilitation.
10. Philippine Band of Mercy (PBM) – attends to indigent Filipinos suffering from cleft lip & palate, congenital cataract & glaucoma, hydrocephalus & meninggoceale. CBTL will give P8,000 for the operation of each child & become the leading provider of comprehensive craniofacial health services for the less privileged.
11. Resources for the Blind – seeks to ensure that blind students have access to the same information that sighted students have. CBTL donate P1,000 for the production of Braille textbooks.
12. Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) – seeks to improve the quality of life for Filipinos through corporate citizenship. CBTL will sponsor a child’s medical consultation worth P200.
Representatives of the 12 NGOs with Paolo del Rosario of CBTL
I had the chance to speak with Coffee Bean’s Marketing Director, Paolo Del Rosario, who enthused about the program. I told him that I was very touched by their gesture to support not one but TWELVE NGOs. And Paolo assured me that this is going to be a yearly thing with CBTL and not just a one-shot deal. Much later, I also had the chance to meet CBTL’s Managing Director, Walden Chu, who was likewise very enthusiastic about their program.
If I had to spend my money on coffee, this is were I would plunk it down. Not only do I actually enjoy CBTL’s coffee and tea (Chai Latte and African Sunrise are my all-time favorites) but their food fare, for a yogini, is very healthy and tasty. There is a CBTL on the ground floor of my yoga center and we would often hang out here before or after classes over cups of coffee or tea. With The 12 Cups of Giving program, CBTL has earned my respect and admiration — not just for their good food but more so, for their generous hearts for the marginalized among our citizens.
A big THANK YOU to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for giving us good coffee, tea and food while giving us this rare opportunity to give back a little of ourselves to society as well.
The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is located at TriNoMa, SM The Block, Gateway, Ortigas Park, Paseo Center, Bonifacio High Street, Mall of Asia, convergys Ayala Avenue, Salcedo Village, Alabang Town Center, Rockwell, Robinson’s Ermita, Greenhills Promenade, Robinson’s Galleria, Eastwood, Tomas Morato and 2 more branches in Cebu.
The flagship store of the trendy and sporty bag people, Bratpack, opened recently at Greenbelt 5.
Bratpack Greenbelt 5
I was there at GB5 for a lunch date with friends at Cibo and saw the Bratpack people setting up in the lobby area right outside Cibo. Seeing all the bags hanging on display made me recall my school days when I almost always went around school with a backpack. Truly, the contents and the type of bag one carries says a lot about the personality of its owner!
When my daughter C1 bought a backpack, we went for JanSport after seeing the other varieties around. JanSport was the one that met our standards not just aesthetically but functionally, with its wide, foam-padded shoulder straps which I found very good since the books she used to bring home felt more like boulders and I was really concerned about possible injuries to her shoulders and back.
To this day, this backpack is still here with narry a tear or damage. It has weathered all the use (and abuse) it has taken after being lagged all around C1’s school daily.
When I got to the Bratpack launch, people were milling around and getting some food to eat. I immediately spotted Noemi and Bong and joined their table. Much later, more blogger friends arrived and so I went table hopping to get some of them in photo ops.
I also got a good look at the latest styles in bags that Bratpack was offering and noted that not only did they retain the functional look but they had evolved from plain colors to bright, spunky prints as well! And some of the bags were fashionable enough for the office (something I noted since I now work).
They had a contest going on to color some fashion templates as you wish so Noemi and I got right down to being as artsy as we could be (which was quite an effort for me as I had not doodled and colored in such a long time!). But it was fun and I must say, the outcome of what I did was not too bad. Even C1 liked it!
My attempt at fashion designing
Another riddle contest had us guessing what the items were as well as in which Bratpack bags they were located. 10 bags were given away to 10 lucky bloggers who were able to guess correctly 3 times. I was lucky to be the 2nd winner and my bag was the pink & black backpack!!!! Of course, when I got home, who else would beg to have it but C1, the JanSport lover.
I won the cute pink & black Jansport backpack! Here I am getting it from Brian Kong, Bratpack Marketing Officer
And here are the 10 lucky blogger winners!
Whatever one’s lifestyle or personality, Bratpack seems to have just the right bag for you, as can be seen from the different types of bags, colors, sizes I saw. And yes, their Greenbelt 5 store is HUGE (designed by renowned graphic design house Team Manila)! Wide open space to move around and ogle the bags for whatever your sport or fashion sense dictates.
Their 3 major lines are JanSport, Timbuk2 and Hedgren. But at Greenbelt 5, they carry new brands that cater to more lifestyles: skate brand DC and Sector9, Sanuk the surfers and beachbums, Skull Candy for music lovers, as well as Eastpak and Life is Good.
I will be going back soon as it’s just along the pedestrian walkway from my office in Makati. Their laptop bags are worth checking out!
Bratpack has branches at Greenbelt 5, Robinsons Place Manila, Robinsons Galleria, SM Cagayan de Oro, SM Davao, SM The Block, SM Pampanga, SM Southmall and Ayala Cebu.
Yes, so now you’ve met my new love. But I never did get to tell you his name, right?
Well, his name is MAX. I have my own private pet name for him but for the world, this shiny, new hunk of metal is MAX – short for My Apple Xtreme! 🙂
I guess having the power of the earlier Macbook Pros makes my baby qualify to be called Xtreme (at least till the next more powerful model comes along!).
It was also as close to a man’s name as I could think of and quite close to “Mac”, which he is. And it also reminds me of Max Alvarado whom you would either love or hate for his contrabida roles in Pinoy movies till his death in 1997. I used to be amused when he did comedic roles as a bad guy and the name Max does conjure images of a bouncer.
Do you give names to your laptops? Do share them with me so I know Max is not alone…
It took me a while to take the plunge. Over a year to be exact.
So much time was spent thinking about it. My kids were on both sides of the fence. Two of them were fierce lovers of M; the other 2 went for W. Choosing either way was agony. I was torn!
My comfort zone was with W. After all, I had known W for the longest time — at work and at home. I knew what made W tick. There was no need for adjustments. He knew what I wanted; I knew his strengths and weaknesses. He was not perfect but he worked for me. As they say, why fix what ain’t broken?
But a few weeks ago, I made one of the most important decisions in my life. I chose M over W.
While my love affair with M is still brief and the novelty is still there, it is definitely not a whirlwind one as I had over a year to think about him. And I find more and more things about M to love as the days pass.
There is so much still to learn about M. He is still mysterious and fascinating and surprises me now and then with unexpected things. I hope M will not disappoint as I am wishing this will be a “for life” love affair.
See what the Halloween Party, put together by Unilever and its Clear Shampoo, did to this mommy blogger and her 2 blogger daughters (AND their young friend). IT MADE US DARE TO WEAR BLACK!!!
The girls were excited when they received their invites about a week or two before the event.
Invite to the Clear Black Night Party
It was right smack during their sem break so it was easy to get them to come. Excitement was in the air as they planned what to wear on this blackest of black nights. They passed for me at my office and chatted away as we sped off to Taste Asia at Mall of Asia for the event.
It was also a big change for me. Several years back, the girls were excited about what costume to wear as they went trick or treating. Now here they were, on Halloween Night, all looking glam and grown-up in black!
Lady Predator with my girls and a friend of theirsMy girls & their friend obviously enjoying the Clear party
The crowd at Taste Asia ranged from the young to the yuppies. I ended up making my rounds of the bloggers who were outside while the girls, attracted by the lights and sounds, spent some time dancing the night away inside.
DJ Herbie WaltonBeauties & bloggers alike filled the dance floorDancing the night awayBatang Yagit and Jezhlau in the foregroundJane the foodista + Jane the yogini + ChrisKring and Alan in the foreground; Fritz with a cam"Bachelor Girl", "Jester" & Mike AbundoMoi with Jay, Aileen, Fritz and the girlsMy girls with their blogger friends
The highlight of the night as far as my 3 young girls went was suddenly seeing Ms. Earth candidates coming in to join the bloggers and party the night away. My girls were so taken by Ms. Tanzania who, in their words, had “the most beautiful dark skin” they had ever seen!
Ms. TanzaniaMiss Earth contestants
And Ms. Canada was most charming and accommodating enough for us to get this shot of her and the girls:
A "kilig" moment posing with Ms. Canada
Many thanks, Unilever people, for this awesome party!
You bet, this mother and her girls had a great time. Generation gap no more!!!! This was one night when mother and her daughters did the same thing TOGETHER! That, for me, was a CLEAR MOMENT…
