food blog

i was browsing my mobile uploads on my facebook account and it hit me that i've been making tons of FOOD... sooo maybe i should just start a food blog?! hmm..... I love to cook whenever i'm in the mood and not lazy but for the past 3 weeks, i've been cooking homecooked meal because we are on a budget. Thats basically one reason why i've been cooking a whole lot. I've been trying to help out the husband cut out some of our expenses and start paying off bills that accumulated over some unforeseen events.... Hayyy if only i'd win the lottery... *wishful thinking!

One thing aside for all the plans i have in my heart (not anything material or extravagant for our lifestyle - but some plans i have for the less fortunate) i would enroll to Le Cordon Bleu and explore the wonders of international cuisine and culinary :) ahhhhh don't we all just wish for that jackpot?! :)

anyways, gotta hit the bike. I hate working out but u gotta do what u gotta do right?! the price of not being gifted on being skinny.... LIFE.... soooo TTFN

Kali's 1st day :)

iMovie

I seriously want to learn about video editing but i have no extra $$ to spare to buy any software for it. So for now, i'm using my ever reliable iMovie on my benzie ;) Will post the vid i made out of the pictures and videos i took from Kali's 1st day. Yes, i am a doting mom. It my life not yours so don't judge me ;)

Kali's 1st day of school...

I've been looking forward to this day since she was born. I told myself, she'll grow up and starts school and i can start looking for jobs but seriously, i have been having some separation anxiety over it. It finally hit me that she's growing up and the baby that I almost died delivering will now start preschool :(

I have one of the most amazing daughter in the world, true that she has her antics and tantrums but on times i need help, even for a toddler, she's willingly there to help me w/ a lot of things especially when it come to her little brother Kai and she's sweet. I'm kinda scared to put her out in the real world, i'm scared that she'll get hurt and mommy isn't there to pick her up but then again, we have to let them go at some point right?! and it's just 3 hours ;)

I pray that Jesus will guide her in everything, will keep her safe always and that she would be able to adjust and make friends. It scares me that the teacher would make a mistake and would give her to a wrong parents. Seriously with the news you read these days, it scares the crap out of you that your kids will get harmed. Now, it makes me wonder if my parents ever felt how i felt when i first went to school but then again, i went to a strict catholic school way back in the day and my big brother and cousins goes to the same school as me. hmmm.....

Anyways, today is actually orientation day so I have to be with her in her class for an hour and class would be dismissed so technically tomorrow is the day i'm kinda dreading. I have a feeling i will cry or will stay in the parking lot and wait till her class ends. haha yes i'm an overly protective parent, who's not anyways! Sooo..... will update later on how it all turns up... Wish me luck that i won't cry... :)

P.S. I have never left my children to a babysitter or daycare since the day she was born. On days me and bu goes out or something, i leave them w/ my mom or my inlaws sooo there, you'll understand why i feel this way :)

P.P.S. I still cant find a job, i have my 2 year old boy w/ me while her sister goes to school for 3 hours. So till they start going to full day of class then i can get a job....

TTFN....

turning the big 3-0 in 54 days

ahhh the big 3-0.... Something that i really didnt look forward to. Why?! well, for one aside from graduating in college, passing my board exam as Civil Engineer in the Philippines, Living in US, being married to a wonderful husband and have 2 beautiful kids, i haven't really accomplished anything career wise. I forgot how to manipulate the autoCAD and basically i forgot what i learn. I know reviewing such and such would help me remember but the drive to be a successful CE isn't in my book anymore. I feel like everyday is the same day like it has been for the past 4 or so years.

Midlife crisis i tell you and though i dont regret it i just wonder how it would feel to actually practice being a CE. oh well, life begins at 30 they say. Right now, i still don't know what i want. I still don't know which direction ill follow but i still hope ill hit the jackpot in lottery! haha wishful thinking....

I wanted to write more of the things that i'm going through here but sometimes i'm to exhausted to think. I love being domesticated although sometimes i wish our manang elsa is here to help me out and i still wish i can sleep longer than what ive been getting. But i'm just thankful that w/ all the whining i do w/ my husband, he still loves me.... So i'm still lucky!!!

I wanna do something when i turn 3-0... No i don't want to go clubbing w/ friends because it would mean that my kids have to stay home. They are part of me and i want them to be part of that so maybe i'm gonna throw a party that day. haha gotta ask my parentals to help me out, food wise! and gotta think of what theme i'll do... If only i could do it in Gensan w/ all my friends... haha oh well, we can never have it all right?! Andd..... what if i win the jackpot?! that would be awesome....

Anyways, yah i'm bored.... so ttfn :)

home cooked meal :)

Soooo the husband and I are trying to save and I'm trying to cook homecooked meal as much as possible. So far we are on day 3 on cooking home cooked meal for the week. Spent about $75 on groceries for 5 day meal and hopefully i can stretch it all the way to a week meal. here's our menu for the past 3 days so far:

Day 1: Ginisang taogi and ground pork
Day 2: left over taogi and pork chop
Day 3: Ginisang Pechay w/ pork
Day 4: hopefully some left over of the Pechay ... and SPAGHETTI?!?!
Day 5: Spaghetti .... and Pakbet
Day 6: left over Pakbet and Beef giniling :)
Day 7: Left over Beef giniling....

so there hoping i can accomplish that and the husband and kids wont be picky on eating left overs :)

remembering my highschool

The past days i've been reminiscing my High school days. I guess seeing some of my cousin Deanna's 30 years reunion pictures and walking at the grounds of our old school Notre Dame of Lagao made me remember some events that made me "ME" for that 4 years in that institution.

It was the school that made me happy, made me feel accepted, made me feel that i need not to be someone to be known by people that mattered and by people that made the same memories as me. I miss my friends to be honest, we haven't had a single decent reunion since we all left Highschool, i guess it has something to do w/ the 2 section among the 3 we have are kinda aloof over the 1st section. I started as an "N" section in 1st year and spent the last 3 years on "D" (sophomore/junior/senior) because as what my teachers have said, I AM LOUD. but well, i never regretted belonging to D for that 3 years. I was happy that i made friends w/ the N D and L section.

My BFF were all w/ me in D sec though we all started as N. haha the loud ones gets to be thrown out of the 1st sec! and i still have a lot of close friends up to now from N... It doesnt really matter what section you comes from, its the footsteps you leave on their hearts.... College was fun too, dont get me wrong on that and I will blog about that next time....

So anyways, i'm here listening to Alanis M. Jagged Little Pill album like crazy, remembering some class presentation I did to pass PE. yes, thats how it was in my school. You either have to suck it up to dance or sing or do whatever talent you can do and as a music lover yet cant sing a note, Alanis M. fits my kind of vocals, if i have such! haha I think it was in freshmen when i sang You Outta Know infront of the whole class, wearing Levis Plaid Longsleeves and 501 Jeans. man... it was one of the most embarrassing moments i have but heck! i passed PE! hahaha

anyways, I'm suppose to go workout so i'm gonna go on and do that right now. LOL soooo I'm gonna leave and say TTFN...

P.S. Did i ever say i graduated w/ PERFECT ATTENDANCE medal?! yup i did and one of my BFF did to! Right Nov? ;)

edited a bit

using iPhoto to blur a lil on the side but thats it no color enhancing or anything. FYI i have no photoshop ;)

Straight from Cam...

cropped w/ my cam too!

Gadgets: My Cameras

My Still and Video Cam's collection over the years.... Actually the Canon Film SLR isn't mine but my big bro though he gave it to me when my dad bought him his first DSLR. And then when i passed the Philippine Civil Engineering Board Exam way back Nov. 2003, he gave me a tiny sony digital cam he bought as a gift for my hard work ;) Thanks big bro! ;);)

Then there's our (Nik & I) Sony DVD video cam we used the first time we went home together in Pi in Mar/Apr. 2006 . And since my big bro and cousin jing are soo into photography for as long as i can remember, they told me to save up for a DSLR.... And as Nik knew how much i love gadgets, he got me my first DSLR w/c is the Nikon D80 whom i called BONO in Xmas of 2006. I've taken thousands and thousands of pictures using BONO, capturing moments of my children growing up and etc etc that My big bro, gave me his spare prime lens of 50mm sometime in 2009 when we were in Pi for our church wedding.

But BONO wasn't really a thing you wanna bring when you go clubbing since it wasn't compact. Nik as always, he knew its time for me to upgrade my compact digicam ( the one my big bro got me in 03). He gave me a Samsung TL220 as a xmas gift in 2009, the LCD infront of the cam was the big reason why he liked it but we werent really too happy w/ the pictures it takes, i guess because we keep comparing the images to the ones Bono takes...

The DVD video cam is kinda bulky, expensive (i have to buy lots of spare miniDVD) & outdated for our Disneyland trip for Kali's 3rd bday last year... first it was a flip cam that caught my attention and they have deals during black friday w/ it. And sooo for that we went to walmart and lined for it during black friday, but i wasnt too happy w/ it that i returned and got me the bloggie... ;)

And the latest in my collection is a micro 4/3rds camera of Olympus called PEN Epl-1... My husband said i'm seriously crazy having all this gadget but before you guys react, my Samsung TL220 is practically sold to my lil sister soo the Epl-1 would replace my samsung in my purse.... that is if i get to buy the 17mm or 20mm micro 4/3rd lens.... So hopefully before xmas, i can get myself a new lens and be able to carry it around anywhere i go since i love capturing the moments w/ the kiddos....

And FYI... i'm no Pro... I just love taking pictures!:)

I got a new toy!!!

soooo finally gave in w/ temptation and got myself a new toy and it came today. weeee Soooo happy now i'm gonna take it for a spin and see how the works... Hopefully it doesnt disappoint me. ;)

One of the nicest place i've been to here in California that leaves me at awe is the Hearst Castle. I always wanna see a real castle and i always believe castle = europe till i discovered that we have one by the coast of california between LA and SFO... The guy who owned was just bored and decided to build his own castle in his big land near the coast by monterey bay. Crazy if you ask me but if you have sooo much money, i guess you can do just that. LOL anyways, I was lucky enough to capture a nice pic of it fr. the bus after taking its tour ;)

California State Capital

My family and I went to Sacrament last february and I was lucky enough to capture a great picture w/ my old but reliable Nikon D80 DSLR whom i called BONO.... And since i'm cheap and didnt buy adobe photoshop, i only edited this to crop and adjust a lil on the tone side. And as much as i wish to put a watermark on it, i don't know how w/out the photoshop software.... So there...

Soo hoping to Blog more isnt something i did for the past 6 months

Well, i've been wanting to blog for a while but always got reason to be sidetrack over something. Today, while the kids are napping and i've been boost w/ caffeine from my morning cup of coffee (I wonder how much coffee my husband put on the pot this morning) i'm here uploading some videos on vimeo and thought while waiting to blog.

We've been hit by bees yesterday and it was creepy and yucky at the same time. I hate it when disasters strike on the time you are trying to save. Like one time we were trying to put some money on our savings and one of the showers in our house doesnt produce hot water sooo i had to call a plumber and spent almost $200 to get it done. This morning the bees exterminator came and thank god it wasnt a worst case scenario but it did cost us $200 to get it removed. Yes it sucks!

Thankfully our pool equipment was still under warranty when the heater panel broke sooo it didnt cost us anything to get it done but some few headaches and tempers.... And since its summer, we basically been swimming almost everyday. Gotta love that....

My BIL's gf is due in 13 days! whoohoo, we all can't wait to meet lil sammy. THis will be the 3rd grandchild in my husband side and 1st -1st cousins of my kiddos.... YEsterday when Sendy (BIL's gf) went swimming my daughter told her how did sammy swim (pointing on her belly), he doesnt have a floaters inside and it just crack us up. This lil girl is just funny!:)

anyways, will try to figure out how to post some vids here.... Soooo TTFN.... till next time ;)

Happy New Year

ahhh.... sorry for the late HAPPY NEW YEAR greeting everyone!:) Its so hard to get away from my kiddos and go to my own zone... I told myself that this year, i'll blog more but we'll see. No promises.. 2010 was such a fun year, hoping 2011 will bring me and my family more blessings ;)

Nik got in on the LVN program here in MSJC and since it will be a full time status, he'll be doing it for 3 full semester and to top it all, he will still work full time. WE have bills to pay and sad to say, i have to stay home and watch the two babies till they are old enough for school so i'm really a no help in that scenario.

This year will be a tough year for us, so i'm really hoping that i can be more patience with all the trials ill encounter in the near future. THe breathe in breathe out doesnt work to be honest and i never really had a ME time since having the kids sooo I'm not counting on that but i'm counting that my kiddos will be not too hard on me and bu will be not so stress... Grant me patience o lord ;)

My resolution is as follows:

1. Appreciate the little things in my life.... sometimes, we forget about them and never really understood whey such and such are there in the first place.

2. Complain less.... haha since i'm impatient, you'll know i complain a lot. Mapa facebook, twitter, text, here and esp to my bu. bwahahaha.... so yes... i will do my best to do sooo.....

3. Cook more homecook meal.... ahhhh the reason why we are broke, we eat out a lot! soooo i wanna be a good wifey and mommy and start cooking our meal, if not everyday (well i make a lot whenever i cook) atleast 4x a week and those 3days i'm not cooking, its leftover days!.... and well, so far soo good ;) i've been cooking. hahaha

And since i wasn't naughty but nice last year, SANTA fr. the north pole, got me a MacBook Pro i5 500gb for christmas! haha and everyday is a new day for me exploring this, hopefully i can buy me a photoshop software soon.... oh well...

its almost 2am here, so i'm gonna go and hit the sack! Night night....