Posts

Posted on

Italianni’s EXTRA Treat

It says something when, in the midst of crisis (rice shortage, escalating gas prices, reeling food prices) an institution decides NOT to pare down its service or hike its prices but instead decides to give EXTRA to its dining customers — no charge, without questions, without being asked. Just like that!

That is exactly what I experienced when I got a special invite from Ann of Yehey.com to be one of 15 bloggers last June 16 to experience and taste Italianni’s EXTRA treat at Bonifacio High Street.

 

 

I was the first to arrive at the venue so I chatted briefly with Ann and Jori of Yehey (Jori was wearing a cute panda cap that made him look like Po of Kung Fu Panda fame).

I also got to meet Cyril Reyes, the General Manager of Italianni’s Boni High Street, who indulged me as I did an ambush interview.

Continue reading “Italianni’s EXTRA Treat”

Posted on

Yoga for Bloggers Event (June 28, 2008)

I had long been wanting to organize a yoga blogger event. Maybe it began with my love for yoga followed by a desire to get more people interested in their own healthy lifestyle. The idea had been brewing for over a year now but I did not even know where to begin.

Enter The Blog and Soul Movement with Jayvee and Juned, two buddy bloggers I first met at iblog summit two years ago. When I spoke with Juned about it recently, he immediately offered Blog and Soul as a venue for gathering the bloggers. This was followed by a lunch meeting with both Jayvee and Juned to seal the deal. We were off to organizing the first ever Fat Blog series of Blog and Soul (the first of several planned series to get bloggers who often lead sedentary lives off their butts and into a healthier lifestyle). And of course, my yogini mate-cum-blogger herself, Chona, is helping out with the logistics.

I am lucky to have my very own yoga teacher, Pio Baquiran, from Vinyasa Yoga Center (VYC) doing the FREE yoga class.

This is to be followed by a short Q&A on health and yoga and capped by a vegetarian dinner.

We also have some sponsors so as is usual in a blogger event, there will be items to give away.

Some details are as follows:

Date: June 28, 2008

Time: 5pm onwards

Place: Vinyasa Yoga Center, 17/F Strata 100 Bldg., Emerald Ave., Ortigas Complex, Pasig City

Space is limited at the shala so Blog and Soul is only taking in ten (10) bloggers. Several things though to keep in mind. One, you MUST BE A BLOGGER. Two, this is for non-VYC students as this is an event to make more people aware of yoga.

Head on over now to Blog and Soul. Those who make the cut-off will get confirmation emails from Blog and Soul. More details will be provided later. Visit this blog regularly for updates.

Posted on

Diamond Hotel’s Cake Club (A Sugar Rush Like No Other)

“Buffet” is a term meaning endless choices and is often associated with lunch or dinner. But believe it or not, there is now such a thing as a dessert buffet. And none other than Diamond Hotel lays claim to being Manila’s dessert Mecca.

Last Friday, son M2 and I hied over to the Archaeology Strip of Rockwell Power Plant Mall to be part of the launching of the Cake Club of Diamond Hotel.

Continue reading “Diamond Hotel’s Cake Club (A Sugar Rush Like No Other)”

Posted on

When a Child Is No Longer a Child

This week, I matured one degree as a parent again.

Summertime is when the children go to the province to be with my in-laws. This year at least, it was just our 2 boys. The older one, M1 (16), spent most of his days helping out with the family business. I guess in Chinese households this is the norm and M1, being the oldest boy of the oldest son, fits into this mold.

M2 (14), on the other hand, is still a playful boy. He worked last summer but this summer refused to do so as he said he wanted time with his cousins. Oh well….

But I am digressing from my point.

This Tuesday, M1 flew back to Manila on his own. And last Thursday, M2 also did the same.

Being the mother that I am, I naturally asked hubby to let them travel together. It would be one less trip to the airport and they could be together for the flight. Well hubby insisted that it was time to teach them to fly on their own. So that ended all discussions.

On the days of their flights, I admit feeling anxious. Anything could go wrong. They could lose their boarding pass. Or lose something like money or their cellphone. Or bad weather could divert the plane (this already happened to me and the 2 girls and it was NO pleasant experience).

But everything turned out smoothly. In fact, M2 rang me up from the provincial airport to gush about the newly renovated airport. Looked like I was worrying more than they were!!!

So in short, both boys came home safely and they are back with me now, squeezing the last precious summer hours left with friends and with their computer games.

As I reflect on this episode, I do so with mixed emotions.

I am happy because my sons have grown wings and are learning to fly on their own. But in some strange way, I also feel a tinge of sadness…..because they no longer need me as much as they used to.

A lesson in letting go. A lesson in trusting. A lesson on making my own life the way I would really want to because in the end, as our children leave the nest, we are really left with our selves.

What would your life be like without your children around?

If you are in this stage of life, think about it. Pursue your own dreams and aspirations with a passion. Do things you have always wanted but shelved as a result of time for your children. And start making a life worth living for yourself.

May your life be always beautiful, good and worthwhile — not just for YOU but for others as well.

Posted on

Family Blogging Is Here to Stay

I just realized that it was May 26, 2007 (just over a year ago) when a group of mommy bloggers came together and met for the FIRST TIME over lunch organized by the Pinoy Moms Network which included Connie.

Wow, has it been one year already???

Most of these mommy bloggers are still active bloggers who I bump into every so often. Of course, the likes of Noemi and Dine are already steep into blogging and you can be sure that at almost every major event, they would be in the crowd and never without their laptops. However, every so often, I would also bump into the others like Chats who joined a recent dinner/reunion with Raquel at Dine’s bday celebration. Or twit with her, Feng, Cess, Julie and Kongkong.

Since I met this group of bloggers, life has not been the same, at least for me. My blogging has escalated several notches and my network of bloggers has expanded. We greet each other on birthdays and anniversaries and exchange tips of all kinds. Isn’t that just wonderful?

Lately, there have been a handful of DADDY bloggers already in some events and I hazard a guess there would be more. Husband-wife tandem bloggers are starting to crop up and recently, even brother-sister combinations. Family blogs are sprouting with each member of the family contributing articles to a blog. Wow, family blogging is born!

I can see so much potential in family blogs and who knows, this could very well be a topic in the next iblog5 summit! If technology is one bonding tool with this multimedia generation, why not in the form of blogging? Family events can be blogged about with each member contributing his/her own view and having all these combined into one post. Family memoirs preserved through blogs.

What do you think?

Posted on

A Tag on Mother’s Day

Apples tagged me for Mother’s Day.

The rules are as simple as this:

(1) Post a photo of you and your mom together (recent or old) and write the words “I heart my mom” across it (or type the text below the photo if you don’t feel like opening your image-editing software).

(2) Tag your friends!

I went through my computer files and found this pic of me with my Mom, taken Christmas of 2006. You’d think I had already outgrown snuggling with Mom, huh? Well, it’s been a while and I thought that was a good time as any to be just a daughter with her mother.

I my MOM!

As we were growing up, our Mom was the glue that held us all together. Here are some of my memories of her being a Mommy of mommies:

– sitting patiently outside my Grade 1 classroom (I was in a new school and was terrified of being left alone)

– crocheted our first bathing suits (I need to look for pics of those!) and later, knitted several blouses for me and my sisters and sewed many of our clothes

– prepared warm milk for all of us each night before bedtime

– loved to “talk, talk” with me when my siblings were already asleep

– made some of the best desserts I could remember — like Floating Island (a leche flan-like dessert topped with eggwhites that were beaten up into fluffs and were mixed in different food colorings)

– was present in all my major school activities

– cut out paper dolls for me whenever I was sick and bored to death

– played the piano in spontaneous and frequent “concerts” at home while my sister and I twirled here and there in our ballet outfits

– would lovingly give me sponge baths whenever I ran a high fever

– bought me and my siblings a whole stack of our favorite comics for the long boat trip from Davao to Manila

– swatted mosquitoes together with my Dad while waiting in the car for me on a late night when I was a budding auditor working past midnight at a client’s

– never failed to pray the rosary nightly, naming all of us one by one at the end of her prayers as she lifted us to the Lord for His protection and blessing (she still does this to this day and her list now includes our children)

I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH, MOM! And that goes for everyone in the family. I am trying to be as good a Mommy to our kids as you were to me.

Well I choose not to do Rule # 2, seeing that all my mommy bloggers have already published their Mother’s Day posts. So I guess this game of tag stops here, at least with me.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the mommy bloggers out there as well as to the mommies of whoever stumble upon this blog post!!!!