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.
(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!!!!
Founded by Todd Goldman in 2000, David & Goliath is an American clothing company that makes tees with slogans which regular clothing outlets would never dare print but which Todd’s brand gets away with. This guy, who doodled his way to creating these “misfits” while taking Accountancy, has a collection of 57 characters (of which 21 are available locally).
I arrived at the venue pretty much on time. Actually…a bit ahead of the 8PM starting time in the invite. But guess what! Aileen was way, way ahead of me and having her caricature done by an artist at the bar!
I got a table for 4 near the front (for my myopic eyes) and Noemi and daughter Marielle joined me later on.
Funny man Gabe Mercado was host for the night and boy, did he keep everyone laughing with his quips!
He got us thinking of “loser” titles beginning from A all the way to Z! Then made us play charades by guessing the loser title being acted out (and my team composed of Noemi, Aileen, Shari,Jehzlau and moi were losers enough to think that since we were losing the game, they would award the prize to us. In our dreams!).
Later, Gabe got chicken-at-iblog4 guy Arthur to play the Dating Game with Arthur asking 3 questions and through sheer chicken genius, ended up guessing the correct characters of his 3 “dates”: Miss Bitch, Mr. Well Hung and Miss Gossip Queen.
Noemi and I won “Bloggers Suck” tees (the very same ones we were earlier admiring on Dingdong) just because we were chosen as the “most enthusiastic bloggers” during the powerpoint presentation of David & Goliath. (Hey, it must have been because Noemi had her to-die-for Nikon D40 DSLR and I was shamelessly taking videos of everyone and everything).
Then I won another bag of goodies for jokingly defining the word apositive as “the opposite of anegative”. So being a stupid loser pays after all, huh?
And every blogger went away with still another bag of goodies from David & Goliath. Here is everything I had inside the loot bags:
If you squint your eyes and look carefully at the top, you will see — YES, a P1,000 GC — enough to buy another one of those David & Goliath tees which run around P995 each (I am swinging between choosing “Miss PMS” or “Miss Trophy Wife”). No, maybe “Miss Bitch” or “Miss Gold Digger” is more dramatic, hehehe.
So, who says losers can’t be winners?
Here, meet all the LOSERS who came to the loser party.
Of course, blogger events like these mean that bloggers blog about the bloggable event. Here are links to some of them as taken from Noemi’s list — since loser ME has had no time to go blog hopping).
If you blogged about it and I missed you, please holler and post the URL below. After all, that is why I am such a LOSER. Not only am I probably the last person to blog about the event but I also have my very own senior moments! 🙂
One last plug: David & Goliath outlets can be found at Boni High Street, Power Plant Mall, TriNoma, Greenbelt 5, Robinsons Place Manila Midtown, and Rustan’s Makati. Thank you for making us losers, WINNERS!
Just a few days after iblog4, the blogosphere is a-buzzing with post after post from people who were there. I went on Google and blogs in search of people who posted.
WHY???
Well, I want to make a list of blogs down here and continue touching base with bloggers (way, way ahead of iblog5!, hehehe).
To the iblog 4 bloggers >>> There were just so many of you to meet (I hope we can linger longer next time) but I sure will try to include as many of you here so I can at least drop by your blogs and say hi there. If you posted and I somehow missed you in this blogroll, pls leave me a comment with your URL so I can update the list.
For the second time in a row, I was able to attend a blogger summit. Called iblog4 (its their 4th year), the summit (held at UP’s Malcolm Hall auditorium) brought together bloggers from everywhere and from all walks of life. It was a full day covering a wide spectrum of topics.
Last year, I attended alone, driven only by my growing passion for blogging, and met the bloggers who would change my blogging life. This year, I had the wonderful chance to have Chona, my yoga mate and co-blogger, with me.
The summit was of interest to media. In the morning, it was ABC5. And in the afternoon, the folks from GMA7 (Inquirer.net) came over. The whole place was WIFI-ed so bloggers with laptops were able to blog live. There was also a hook-up on the web that allowed people who were unable to make it to the venue to follow the sessions AND post their questions to the speakers! Woohoo, high tech!
Charo Nuguid covered Blogging 101 (tips for newbie bloggers and maybe a tip or two for more seasoned ones).
Brian Gorrell (yes, the same Aussie blogger who is pursuing the return of his life’s savings from his former Pinoy lover) sent in a vlog with tips on how to maintain one’s blog. Below is the video clip, courtesy of Brian’s YouTube channel.
Juan Carlo Licudine talked about his move from student to problogger as well as the pros and cons of problogging. Hmmm, after he revealed the monetary potentials for problogging, I think it got a lot of the student audience VERRRRYYYY interested!
Juned Sonido covered the world of photoblogs (what it is, what you need, how different is it from photo galleries/albums posted online, etc). Juned amused everyone as he literally unloaded his equipment onto a long table onstage (most of his smaller cams were taken out of several pockets of his cargo pants!).
Jonas Diego updated us on the world of blog comics (or is it comic blogs???). Apparently, it is not always printed comics that get on to the world wide web. In his case, an interested investor saw his blog comics and asked that these be published in print.
Lunch break was a time to fellowship with other bloggers. I found myself having discussions over packed lunches with Noemi, JJ Disini (a leading internet lawyer) and Chona. We got into a discussion about the prospects of libel vs bloggers (with Brian Gorrell’s blog being one of our subjects). Much later, we were joined by Mike Abundo (whom I first met at the Happy Slip Meet-and-Greet) and Azrael Coladilla.
The afternoon sessions were just as interesting as the morning:
Aileen Apolo and Coy Caballes did their presentation on Vlogging (video blogging) and podcasting via what else? A vlog!!!! That was cool! I think this has given me a lot of tips and ideas are now swimming around my brain!
They were followed by several speakers who talked about blogging during the 2010 elections and how we as bloggers can possibly be part of that coverage. They emphasized the importance of bloggers getting involved way ahead of 2010 in preparing different courses of action to get ready to cover the elections. A mini blogging summit covering elections was done last November and Janette said that another one may happen end of 2008.
In the order of their talks on Blogging for 2010 Elections were:
JJ Disini then covered the legal issues surrounding blogging such as copyright infringements, libel, and other such areas. An active open forum ensued as bloggers fielded questions to him and which JJ answered with huge doses of humor.
My dear friend Noemi covered the next topic on Blogging for Advocacy where she spoke about one of her and Dine’s latest advocacies, The Filipina Images: Reshaping the Filipina Image Online, which seeks to improve the Filipina’s image globally by influencing the SEO ranking when people use search engines to find terms such as “Filipina” and direct them to wholesome sites on the Filipina.
Last but definitely not the least was Ria Jose, from Davao City, who was one of a group of bloggers who are taking Mindanao blogging to a different level. I had the chance to chat with them afterwards and exchange contact numbers. You see, Davao City was the city of my childhood. Lots of wonderful memories of that place. Just learning that young bloggers are now talking of one of my favorite cities just brought back waves of memories. I just might hang around their blogs more often…..
There were light moments as well during the entire summit:
Marcelle, upon insistent public demand, performed a magic trick with the help of Sir Martin, his contemporary from that BLUE school where my girls study.
The hilarious guys from Chickenmafia.com had one of them come dressed as a chicken! Hey, heard they won best “Come As Your Blog” entry at the blog parteeh afterwards — which I obviously missed!!! Congrats, chickens! You deserve the award! After all the pains you went to making your props (yup, I read in your blog how you prepared this sans any craftmaking background!)
And of course, nothing was complete without photo ops at the end of it all. If anyone has a picture of the entire group, please please send me one!
The event was not just a chance to know more about blogging trends and tips. It was a great way to see old friends and meet new bloggers as well.
Here’s a shout out to the familiar blogger faces (definition: friends & people I met at iblog3):
I also got a chance to win a free FilipinaImages.com shirt during Noemi’s trivia portion! Thanks for egging me on, Dine! I’ll be SO PROUD to wear this around! I also want a pink shirt! 🙂
Great job to the entire iblog4 team (you know who you are)!!! And see you next year for iblog5.
It seems like this whole week, all I did was stare at financial statements, reading them word for word, checking the numbers, cross-checking all references, and all other accounting stuff (yes, I am a CPA by profession; a wife and mother by Divine grace; and a yogini at heart).
After reviewing balance sheets and profit and loss statements (to name a few), it got me thinking of how my life would equate to these financial statements.
By stroke of luck, I came across two sites. One is by Joy Fisher-Sykes, a professional speaker, author and success coach in the areas of leadership, motivation, stress management, customer service and team building: “Take Time to Create a Life Balance Sheet for Success”. The other is Marc Accetta who conducts workshops on living a balanced life.
They both speak of life in terms of debits (those choices we make and actions we take that detract in some way from our overall life balance) and credits (the ways you live your life that you truly value because they support and honor your chosen path and move you towards your desires). Marc breaks these down into 6 areas: financial, social, emotional, mental, physical and spiritual. Joy writes:
It’s important from time to time that we sit down and honestly assess our lives. Doing so allows us to make an honest determination about where we are now and where we want to be in the future. When we’re assessing our finances, we prepare a financial balance sheet. On it we list our debits and credits so that we can determine our bottom line. What if you wanted to determine the state of the life you lead? How is it, or is it not, serving you? The answer is simple – prepare a Life Balance Sheet.
First, list down some debits like:
Procrastinating on things you know you need to get done.
Sitting in front of the TV instead of being productive or doing something of value.
Not getting enough exercise.
Eating inappropriately and paying the consequences.
Being a coach potato when there is so much more you could be doing.
Staying involved in a toxic personal relationship.
Maintaining relationships that drain you emotionally, mentally, socially, spiritually, physically or financially.
Being unwilling or refusing to listen effectively to others.
Getting into arguments you know you don’t need to be involved in.
Passing judgment on others when you know it is inappropriate to do so.
Taking family, friends, coworkers and others around you for granted.
Taking too little time to yourself, to just sit and contemplate, meditate and relax.
Not enough reading or other mental stimulation.
Constantly complaining and being negative.
Failing to say NO when NO is the right choice right Now.
Expecting the worst instead of expecting the best life has to offer.
Expecting the worst from others.
Being ungrateful when you have so much to be grateful for.
Letting things get you down, then using that as an excuse to eat, drink or smoke for immediate gratification.
Staying up too late at night and not getting enough rest.
Next, list your credits. Some of these are:
Call someone you know just to say “hello” and to see how they are doing.
Walking barefoot in the grass or on the beach.
Expressing your Higher Self by telling someone “I love you”.
Helping and giving of yourself to others with no expectation of receiving anything in return.
Doing things that are outside of your comfort zone on a reasonably regular basis.
Driving traffic friendly by allowing others to merge into traffic even if they didn’t wait their turn.
Compliment others as you go about your day, whether they are nice to you or not.
Take time out for exercise and play.
Staying clean, sober and smoke free.
Spending time with a child, even if you don’t have one of your own.
Being honest about what you need in order to feel whole and happy
Taking time to read a book to a child.
Taking time to nourish your soul by reading a few lines from a good book.
Playing your favorite music and dancing around the room and singing to it out loud.
Picking up someone else’s litter instead of stepping over it or walking around.
Learning at least one new skill or hobby each week.
Keeping a morning gratitude journal and giving thanks for the things you value on a daily basis.
Spending that little extra on something you really, really like, even if it isn’t on sale.
Smiling to others, and yourself, as you go about your day, especially people you don’t know.
Looking others straight in the eye and saying thank you.
They both suggest this be done at least once a month. Joy further says, “Take a look at your Life Balance Sheet at least once a day. This will empower you, at a glance, to realize how wonderful life can be and allow you to make lifestyle adjustments as necessary. Remember, a great life is yours to create. Go create a fabulous life!”
I glanced at the list above and can immediately add some of my own:
(-) Debits (what I need to minimize or totally eradicate):
1. Forgetting to take care of my health
2. Becoming a slave to my work
3. Being impatient with others, and more so with myself
4. Letting pet peeves get to me
(+) Credits (what I need to do more of):
1. Balance out my life through a regular yoga practice and a healthy lifestyle
2. Unwind with a book that has positive values, success stories, or humor
3. Have more frequent “dates” with my loved one (need not be expensive!)
4. Walk barefoot on sand (I prefer this to grass, actually), watch a full moon, or sit under a starry night sky
5. Pat someone’s back often. It makes people feel special and recognized
6. Hug my kids (and spouse) A LOT!
7. Laugh with family/friends often and have “let-your-hair-down” moments
8. Pray, pray, pray always!
So here I am taking stock of LIFE in general and trying to put them into some kind of equation. Am I balanced?
To be honest, many times I have to catch myself overextending or indulging in some debit aspect. At the moment, my life sometimes seems imbalanced, with work occupying a great part of my waking hours and my once regular yoga practice suffering. But work is also a blessing in itself if looked at from another perspective and while I cannot see the bigger scheme of things in my life, I know that Someone does, and He knows best. What’s important is that I trust in Him, take things as they come, do the best I can with what comes my way, live in the moment, and leave the rest to Him.
