I have always loved IKEA products. Never mind if they could only be bought abroad. When I was living in the States, the idea of modular furniture was something that caught my eye and the products of IKEA fit the bill to a T!
The IKEA concept is really simple. Well designed, functional, modular, affordable furniture you can mix, match, stack, combine in thousands of ways to suit your home, regardless of its size, theme color and design. They also carry home decor that’s both functional and great looking (eye candy!).
In the 80s, my brother-in-law from Sydney visited and when he opened his balikbayan box, he had a stack of magazines. Get what you want, he said. So I pored over them, noting that most were mags on gadgets and men stuff. But wait….there were a couple of IKEA mags among them. Whoopeee! I immediately told him that I wanted to keep these as I loved IKEA and the catalogs were great references in case I wanted furniture done.
He remembered how I enthused over them, I guess, because each time he came back to Manila, he had 1 or 2 magazines with him for me.
Now, I read from Anton’s blog that there is an IKEA PH. Clarification though, it is not a branch of IKEA but they are importers of IKEA products. I just came from their website and noted that while they are not yet fully stacked, they are carrying some great products for starters. Hopefully, in the near future, we will have an IKEA branch here in the Philippines as I really love the way they design their cabinets and shelves.
For the men out there who always say they do not know what to get their wives for Valentines, here is your chance to get something you can’t go wrong with.
Want to see my collection of IKEA catalogs? Here is a pic I took with a Valentines theme.
Yes, it happened today at Mag:net Cafe, Bonifacio High Street. I met Christine Gambito a.k.a. Happy Slip.
I took so many pictures and videos and am swamped with stuff to put up on the web so I will do all that over the weekend.
Suffice it to say, it was one heck of a day and no doubt about it, Christine is one awesome ambassadress. She is a beautiful person inside and out and just radiates sunshine wherever she goes.
There was an overwhelming clamor to have another meet-and-greet event with Happy Slip. The first meet-and-greet, which is tomorrow, Feb. 7, was limited to only 100 bloggers. I was just plain lucky I got into that magic 100.
But for all the fans of Happy Slip out there, fret no more. There will be a second chance to meet Christine. The venue will be the same (Mag:net Cafe, Bonifacio High Street, Fort Boni). This will be on Friday, Feb. 8, from 1-4 pm.
For details, go to Yehey.com’s site for this event. Click HERE.
Our community had a chance last Jan. 31 to attend a healing Mass with Fr. Fernando Suarez, the healing priest, whose healing Masses have been attended by thousands seeking healing for ailments and other afflictions. About 600 of us attended with our sick loved ones.
Ever since Fr. Suarez returned for a visit from Canada where his congregation, Companions of the Cross, is based, his schedule has been gruelling and exhausting. But he has always managed to smile through it all. He never takes the credit to himself and always does healing sessions only AFTER he celebrates Mass. He makes it a point to remind people that God heals but not always in the form we expect, which is usually physical. We also need healing on the spiritual and emotional aspects and there are times when that is what the Lord heals.
He said Mass at the Main Hall of our Center on the 3rd floor. I was assigned to a room on the 2nd floor that had a live feed from the cameras so we were able to follow everything going on. After Mass, we waited our turn as he began with those in wheelchairs. I saw him make several of them stand from their wheelchairs and walk a few steps. Many were “slain in the Spirit” (a term for what looks like fainting but is a response to the Holy Spirit enveloping you upon the touch of a holy person).
When it was our turn to go up to the Main Hall, I reviewed silently what I wanted the Lord to heal in me. I was thinking whether I would specifically ask that my episodes with kidney stones and dizzy spells are what I want Him to heal. But on second thought, I decided to leave it in God’s Hands and told Him that He knew best what needed healing in me.
When Fr. Suarez came to me, he gave this really huge smile and called me by name: “Hi, Jane!”. And when he touched my forehead, I too fell backward and rested on the floor for several seconds. It was a very peaceful feeling.
This phenomena is something I want to do more research on and maybe I will post about it sometime. But for now, I know I should not put too much stock in the extraordinary, outward events I have witnessed and experienced. What is really important, as pointed out to me by a Jesuit priest friend, is that whatever Fr. Suarez does makes me closer to God…and might I add, change me for the better.
I was never aware of the huge plans Fr. Suarez has to build an oratory to the Blessed Virgin Mary on a large tract of land overlooking Batangas Bay (and eerily, the name of the place is MonteMaria or “mountain of Mary”). Based on the plans I saw in their website, Mary Mother of the Poor Foundation, it will be even larger than Jesus’ statue in Sao Paolo, Brazil and about as high as the Statue of Liberty. It is meant to be a beacon for sea travelers plying the Philippine seas. Many are speculating whether this is part of the Marian message at Medjugorje that the Philippines is to become a global spiritual center.
As high as Statue of Liberty
Soon to become the center of Suarez’s healing ministry is Montemaria (Matuko Point) in the outskirts of Batangas City. Set on a hill on 20 hectares of land, the center of the Oratory of the Blessed Virgin at Montemaria will have chapels, prayer gardens, Stations of the Cross, retreat houses, campsites, lodging houses, a center for the poor and even a replica of Mary house in Ephesus (ancient city in Turkey). The place is meant to draw pilgrims who want to renew their faith.
I got this video from YouTube. It shows some testimonials on Fr. Suarez’ healing as well as plans for Montemaria.
This other video is a cyber healing prayer from Fr. Suarez. May you be blessed by his prayers for spiritual and physical healing.
Hi All,Thank you for confirming your participation in the Happy Slip Meet-and-Greetthis coming February 7, ThursdayatMag:net Café, Bonifacio High Street from 11:00AM-3:00PM. You are one of the lucky 100 bloggers to join us in this rare opportunity in meeting Filipina YouTube sensation Ms. Christine Gambito brought to us by the Department of Tourism.
And with that confirmation email, I will join 99 other selected bloggers who will get to meet Christine Gambito (a.k.a. Happy Slip), our Ambassadress of Tourism.
When I posted a comment on Anton’s blog and emailed Yehey.com at their Happy Slip site, I never expected to get in, considering Christine’s thousands of fans here in the Philippines. But I got in!
Am I excited or am I excited?
Well, not only is it a chance to meet, greet and blog about Christine, the FilAm YouTube celebrity whose funny videos on Pinoy life have garnered her over 100,000 subscribers to her channel, but I am also looking forward to being with mommy blogger friends, Dine and Noemi.
This event is sponsored by the Department of Tourism, Yehey.com, and Euro RSCG. Kudos to all you guys for bringing over someone who so positively portrays the Philippines even when in her adopted homeland!!!
Watch out for my Happy Slip blog post….sooon!!! With pictures, I hope!
Now — to have my son M1 teach me how to operate our new videocam……
The FilAm YouTuber, Christine Gambito, whose Happy Slip channel now has over a 100,000 subscribers and whose very humorous videos focus on the life of Pinoys trying to make it in a foreign land, is in town.
She was recently chosen by the DOT as the Philippine Ambassador of Tourism and her wide following on YouTube is expected to generate interest among Filipinos in the US, including Americans, to visit the Philippines.
I was curious about Christine’s choice of title for her YouTube channel until I read that ‘Happy Slip’ came from her Mom’s way of saying “half slip” (hap e-slip). Hehe, isn’t that so Pinoy?
Christine successfully mimics several “family members” all played by her (her Mom, her Dad, her aunt, a FilAm cousin, etc). She gives each of them a Pinoy accent, a way of speaking, Pinoy habits, Pinoy expressions, etc.
She has made over 40 videos to-date and many of them are really so hilarious. This lady is a looker and yet she does comedy with aplomb. No wonder she won second place for Best Comedy in March 2007 at the YouTube Video awards!!! Believe it or not, her comedy sketches have already been viewed over 30 million times!
See a sample of one of these videos aptly called “Morning Meest” (guess what the meest is!):
