6 years ago today

Here we are 6 years ago today just minutes after you were born!

6 years ago today you changed my life and I am forever grateful, who knew that caring for you and watching you grow would be such an incredible journey. Lauren when I met Daddy I thought my life was complete but then we were blessed to find out we were expecting a child and that child was you; and you my dear completed me that day, as did your brother 2 1/2 years later. You have helped me to understand the true meaning of love and what being a parent is all about. You have allowed me to form a much better relationship with my own mother because now I "understand" as one day you will understand.

Your birth was nothing short of amazing, your Daddy and I decided to move up your entry into the world by a week because we were both very afraid that because of Daddy's job he may not be there to welcome you into the world. I remember leaving the house thinking wow.... when I come back I will have a baby! Labor was 7 hours and really a piece of cake. , Daddy kept asking what was taking so long since he had no clue about the labor process. As you will learn Daddy doesn't do well with hospital stuff so on the 1st night of Lamaze class your Dad was so uncomfortable he asked me "are we going to have a Dr. there when you give birth" of course I say "Well then why do we have to be here?" See they kept talking about what could go wrong that really scared Daddy, we left Lamaze class that night never to come back. Do to his lack of Lamaze training he felt the "process was taking long time" so he stepped out several times for a quick bite to eat in the hospital cafeteria giving me the full report of what he had just eaten when he got back. Feeling like I was going to be there forever, at one point I joked with the nurses and my Doctor that you must be born by 6pm because the Maryland Terps Basketball team was in the final 4 and they were to play at 6pm. Thankfully you honored my request, but I would have been ok if you hadn't :)

When Dad and I took you home for the first time we were both so nervous, we didn't have a clue about the car seat and Daddy drove like he had an egg on the hood of the car that he was afraid to break the whole way home. I remember him saying that people were driving crazy that day when it reality it was him. I on the other hand just wanted to get home and take a shower so I could snuggle with you in bed.

You have given me so much in 6 short years and I look forward to a lifetime of memories to come.

Happy 6th Birthday my sweet girl!

Lauren's Birthday Pool Party

The pool party was great she had a blast with her girlfriends and made it clear the only reason there was a boy there was because he was her bother.

Tomorrow will be dinner at Lauren's favorite restaurant Mama Mia pizza! Go figure! But hey I gave her the choice, a little cake with the family then it is back to school and work for everyone!

Enjoy the pictures

work at expo!

ohlah! $180 for worin at expo scoopin ice-cream eaitin lots of FREE snacks and FREE beer not to mention FREE ICE CREAM. woots! slacked so mush there too! for like 3 days from 10-6 XD nice.

finally bought my mascara! =_=! FINALLY. hahaa

see de last pic? Vinod's super hilarious and very random. very. there was once when he asked me to take his pic wif de company's camera. and so i took. den i show him his pic. and he went like "oh, i look like an islam" WHAT!?! LOL!! NO LINK! XDD~

yea. Honey's fren Alicia and Claudia worked wif me 2nd and 3rd day. Tama worked only de 1st day. yep guess dat's all. rushin out all entries cuz i'm freakin bored! wanna slackkkk nyeh.

.

yume yume yume~

Mizu and Rika singing at plaza sing! haha. =D~ *envy them* so cooooll~~ XD

Suki and Farhana's prezzie to us XD! (btw thks Elie and pancake for de lovely bday cake!)

aft kohaku ate at azabu sabo! *looks at brandon's shiny head*

BLAH LAZY TYPE. BYE

PAH!

MY GOD! LOL. i didn't blog like 9 days nyahhaha. busy going out and workin XD~
[bored at home 1 day]





















Shiroi's being all sad cuz i've injured him~(see de way he looks at de cam) my poor homosexual bunny boy.

we went to science center LOL stupid mummy exibition so disappointing!

AHHH. lazy to upload de pics! LOL. bye.

Friday Hodge Podge

I am thinking of making this a regular post but I am not sure, so bare with me as I experiment.

This week has flown by, it was great to have Daddyo home for the whole week, and I realize how much the kids and I miss him when he is gone. So welcome back to the circus honey, it's just not the same without you here.

Wednesday Lauren was a bit under the weather; she had a fever of 103 and stayed home with me. Some how I think she knew that I needed a mental health day, because the next morning she was fine not a fever to be had.

Several weeks ago I blogged about my blogarithm issues, many of you suggested google reader, some of you to my surprise were still going to each and every blog daily from your web favorites list. Well I have now jumped on the Google Reader bandwagon! I love love love it!!!! It allows me to read blogs easily and I now have time to find more blogging buddies because it so streamlined. I have also added an RSS reader button on my side bar so you will never again miss another Daily Grind post. Go on subscribe you know you want to!

Last night I baked cupcakes for Lauren's class birthday party which is today (her birthday is Sunday more to come on that) She helped by icing the cupcakes and putting the sprinkles on. Funny thing though she loves to help out when it comes to baking but she won't eat a thing! That's right my soon to be 6 year old will not touch anything that has sugar in it no pies, no cakes no cookies, no candy, nothing!!!! Her idea of a dessert is fruit. Don’t get me wrong I think it is great that I don’t have to tell her to put down the sugar but I am not sure where she gets this from because I do have a sweet tooth as does her daddy and her brother. She will actually go to birthday parties and not have a piece of cake including her own! So today as all her friends gobble up their cupcakes she will sit and smile, happy that they are enjoying her handy work and eat her fresh strawberries and drink her juice box!

On the Birthday topic we are having a pool party for her at a local indoor pool she only wanted to invite girls; she invited a total of 6, 5 of which are coming. This kid sure knows how to make it easy on me. I will be sure to post birthday pictures Monday. Also be on the look out for my birthday post to Lauren on Sunday!

Finally, if you haven't already leave a comment for the Pasta Pot Giveaway. This Pot is "Hot" as OhMommy said! So tell your friends and make this giveaway interesting! Have a great weekend I will be back sometime Sunday!

Contemplating Christian

it's friday evening and i've been zonked out the whole day. having a zonked-out, sick husband at home the whole day gives me an excuse to do this.

i had two interviews scheduled this week and i'm tamad to blog about them. they were both really interesting, to say the least, and i just don't have the mental stamina at the moment.

all i am capable of doing now is contemplating a christian bale-a-thon.

the thought was born a few days ago when marlon and i were discussing our celebrity crushes. (brief digression: i actually have a married friend who is shocked that i "allow" marlon to have crushes on other people, and that he and i are so open about each other's celebrity crushes. heller. we're married but not dead.) i named all of his correctly: anne hathaway, natalie portman, keira knightley and scarlett johanssen. he asked me to name mine, for the record: jamie oliver, dingdong dantes, brad pitt only in meet joe black, jude law only in enemy at the gates, and (what a motley crew!) christian bale.

then i realized i have seen a sh*itload, if not all, of christian bale's movies. yes, even newsies. inulit-ulit ko pa yan. so i decided to look up his filmography and check out which ones (at least within a 10-year cutoff, oa na yung mga prince of jutland era) i haven't seen. i realized that with the exception of american psycho and i'm not there (which is coming to town next week as part of the singapore international film fest), watching all the movies on this list will be a major test of the limits of my love for christian bale.

• american psycho -- the ever-elusive holy grail of christian bale dvds. where does one find a copy of this in asia??? i am almost tempted to buy this off amazon!
• i'm not there -- heath ledger (RIP) as bob dylan is a major, major plus. must see next week!
  
• 3:10 to yuma -- a western? errrr...
  
• rescue dawn
• the new world
• harsh times
  
• equilibrium -- though this looked like a cheaply produced movie from the trailers, muntik ko nang patulan when it first came out.
• laurel canyon -- sounds cheesy. sounds like a girly movie.
  
• shaft -- okay, at least i can get marlon to watch this with me.
• all the little animals -- ano kaya ito?
• velvet goldmine
  

in fairness what an extensive filmography ha. he played jesus christ in a tv movie. interesting.

oh my god wait! he's going to play john connor in terminator 4? *squeals* that's going to be soooo hot. casting coup ito! if there's anyone who can revive the terminator franchise after that last red-leather-jacketed monstrosity and claire danes killed it, it's definitely christian bale.

hmmm. i wonder if the local dvd rental has any of these movies. and i wonder when we'll finally have the spare cash for a dvd player!

Read the ............

So as I have bloged before my son is not easy to put to bed although he has gotten better. I have a routine down with him that I do not deviate from eat dinner, bath, brush teeth, 1 TV show, read one book in his sisters room (he loves to sit next to her on her bed) , then one book in his room, lights off and mom lays there for a few minutes for some mom son time. Not to complicated right?

So last night, I do all of this but as I go to leave my son asks for one more book, he turns on the light and reaches for his children's bible. I say "no, you have had your story we can read that tomorrow before we go to bed." Then I start to think I bet God is wagging his finger at me for that, so I say OK one story then it is off to bed. I read the story tuck him in and lay there for a few minutes then give hugs and kisses and say good night.

Now we have had many talks with Jackson about staying in his room once mommy or daddy says good night, he is well aware that bathroom issues, or not feeling well should be the only reason he gets out of his bed. So 10 minutes after I put him down I hear him on the steps, he comes into the family room with his children's bible in tow. Now I know it is great my son loves this book but I can not keep giving in I need to stay strong~~ Sorry God!

I say "no" and send him up to his room, 15 minutes goes by and I think ok he is on his way to slumber land, then all of a sudden I hear banging, loud loud banging, I head up stairs and I can hear Jackson screaming/crying, but I can't quite make it out, I stand there for a minute and finally figure out what he is saying

"Read the Bible Mommy!"
"Read the Bible Mommy!"
"Read the Bible Mommy!"

I couldn't help but laugh and if I could have I would have gotten the video camera to record the event, nothing like having your son call you out for not reading the bible! And yes he did get another story!

OK it is Giveaway Time!!!

I love this Pot! Many a great pasta meal has been made in my own pot. This NEW pot is left over from my husbands Embay days! Yes he was a huge Ebayer before it was really cool. He remembers the days that Overstock was run out of a little warehouse and he knew all of the folks there by first name, my how things change. If you read my post about cleaning out the utility room you will see where I found this gem, who knew good stuff was buried in that mess!

Anyway here is what you have to do to enter leave a comment about this blog, Yup that's it! If you would like to be entered twice blog about this giveaway on your blog and I will put your name in the fish bowl twice.

The contest will run until April 4th so hurry up and enter!!!!

Missing bading

if you are what you are nostalgic for, then this speaks volumes about me.



i miss gma! i miss michael v and my other favorite artistas! i miss my beloved badings! i miss being babaeng bakla!

on that note, thank goodness bitchik will be here next week. haha!

Home improvement

talk about cause and effect. the following photos, i realized, aren't just the effects of the latest round of home improvement chez plazo. they also contain the cause of our severe end-of-the-month penny-pinching!

note to self: whenever you wonder all the money went for march, open your eyes and look around the house, won't you?

anyway.

one of the first things marlon and i did when i got back from manila some time ago was nurse my segunda mano hangover. i love, love, love vintage clothes and furniture. my mom and i had spent an afternoon poking around second-hand haven evangelista street in makati, alongside a surprising number of very handsome, very well-dressed, very buff and very gay couples. it was all i could do to not cart back any antique glassware -- imagine the potential mess in my handcarry!

back in lah-lah land, my little hands itched to get on some pre-owned furniture. and with a little scouring on the net, i discovered hock siong waste dealers. ignore the, er, unprepossessing name for a sec and get a load of this -- they have a warehouse full of furniture from hotels and model flats. it sounded great on the screen, but going to the actual warehouse on kampong ampat road totally blew me out of my socks, as the unfortunate kristy lee cook would say.

imagine a really good piece of furniture or painting -- then imagine a hundred more just like it. marlon and i had no trouble getting a pair of bedside lamps, or replacing the shade of one when it tore. of course, you can also imagine a hundred pieces of hideous faux french or overblown oriental furniture. there were pieces that just screamed HOTEL too much to ever be put in any other setting.

so, speaking of other settings, i now segue into the pictures of our hotel finds. out of the hotel and into the bedroom!


our little hotel-ish reading corner in the bedroom. the chair and bamboo floor lamp together cost less than a hundred dollars. after throwing a scarf from chatuchak over the lampshade, it is now dim enough to be a nice nightlight. the scrappy little rug was left behind by the previous tenant, and i wonder why i haven't thrown it out yet!

i can totally imagine this white and chrome lamp on a hotel bedside table.


the flowers are part of a spur-of-the-moment bouquet marlon got me one sunday afternoon. we don't have vases at home, so i stole one of the jars we use to store sugar and salad dressing.

marlon and i never had bedside tables, so now that we do, we have to cure ourselves of odd before-bed habits (i stick things under my pillow while he puts them on the floor). it's great having bedside tables. we now have someplace to put before-bed treats like good books, hot chocolate and freshly toasted coffee buns from bread talk. let me tell you, these things totally make our day.


i think marlon particularly loves evenings like this at the end of a grueling day at the office. here he is in "contented studmuffin at home" mode (pre-highlights, of course).


one of his nicest surprises for me when i got home from manila was a new lamp. he actually devised a whole wiring system for the two glass lamps we carted home from jaipur, and fixed them to a wrought-iron stand we bought specifically for this purpose. i swear i learned about circuits in high school just like he did, but i never would have pulled this off! it must be a boy thing.

he painted the whole thing silver and used a lot of chrome wire, which gave it a nice artsy look. it now stands in a corner of our living room and casts pretty patterned shadows on the wall.


the condo happens to have a special lighting fixture in the living room, the type that paintings are displayed under. it seemed only fitting that the first pieces of art that marlon and i ever bought together be hung there. we bought a pair of miniature paintings in udaipur, the first stop on our honeymoon in rajasthan. these paintings are gorgeously detailed beyond belief and i love that they now have a place of honor in our home.

finally, we dressed up the daybed with some ikea cushions, and bought an ikea paper lamp for some mood lighting.


the daybed will probably need another set of big pillows to get the sinfully stuffed look we want, but it's starting to look quite homey, don't you think?

To paint or not to paint!

When we first moved into our house 5 + years ago I was very excited about decorating and had visions of what a model home would look like and the desire to do some daring stuff with color. I think this comes from an upbringing in apartments where we weren't allowed to paint the walls so everything was always white. So I set out room by room to create color and warmth in my home. I have received many complements and I have been asked if I had an designer ...nope just little ole me! However the time has come to make a change I have grown tired of my kitchen and I am in need of a kitchen face lift albeit on the cheap's. Hubby is not going to go for new cabinets (I hate the light color but I have learned to live with it) So here is my kitchen at the time I thought the color was really cool and hip and maybe it still is and I have just become un cool. So I am thinking of a smokey gray blue, I think it would look nice with the light wood and the dark counters and will also blen with the green I have in the sun room but I am not completely sold on it so I am taking suggestions! Comment away!

2 days seems like a long time ......but it isn't

On the weekends I tend not to blog or read blogs because I want give that time to my family, that being said when I log on Monday morning it feels as though I have been missing for much longer then 2 days, inevitably I have over 100 blog postings to read. So while I complain silently that the weekends are 2 short I also complain silently that they are to long when it comes to my blog time. I can't win!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hopefully everyone had a lovely Easter, we spent it trying to get back on track after a long week. For Easter dinner I made lamb along with green beans and potatoes. I did both in the crock pot, I must pat myself on the back and say that it was a wonderful meal. I decided on Lamb after reading Stephanie's blog A year of crockpotting she gave me the courage to try to cook lamb again after one to many dry lamb meals and it was excellent, since i have 2 crock pots I thought i would also do my green beans too, again yummy! Go check our her block you won't be disappointed there is something there for everyone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This weekend I tackled my fish tank, this tank was given to us by our dear neighbors and I love it as do the kids but I am the one stuck cleaning it (like I don't have enough to do) so Saturday I cleaned the tank then Sunday (yes Sunday! can you believe that Petsmart was open on Easter?) I got a couple of new friends for the tank. Pretty neat huh??
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over the weekend we were also battling allergies and momma may have strep throat. I woke up this morning at 3:30 and my throat was on fire, but I don't have any other symptoms so I am in a wait and see pattern.


Well here is to a good week, keep your eyes open for my second giveaway it is coming soon!

Point of no return

i truly thought my inner cheapskate would never give in. or that it would at least hold out for much longer.

i honestly believed i would have my salon services -- haircut, color, mani-pedi, waxing -- done in manila forever. i have seen local salon prices. i have converted them to pesos in my head and wept. i have heard the stories of women who saved up their salon must-dos for weeks (possibly months). until their next trip home. i really thought it could be done!

maybe it was the euphoria of finally getting my dependent's pass, or boredom with my perpetual ponytail, or a wildly hopeful belief in creating hireability via haircut. whatever it was, i crossed the dotted line, my own personal point of no return, and finally got my hair cut in a singaporean salon.

and i must say...


i quite love it.

the experience was great -- the stylist was unfazed by my wavy hair. he just knew what to do, and i heard nary a whimper about getting my hair relaxed or whatever (although he did sell me a root retouch). it all felt very expert.

it's day three of the new 'do, and even with the blowdry gone and the natural curl kicking in, it's holding up quite, quite well. it just looks a little more george fayne-ish now. if you've ever read the old hardbound nancy drew books and seen the illustrations of nancy's tomboy-ish friend george, you'll know what i mean.

marlon also had his own personal first that afternoon: highlights!

i've seen that hat somewhere before. tee hee.

very sci-fi.

the process was quite interesting. the colorist started out with highlights (what i personally refer to as the jologs phase of the color job) then did a flat color to tone them down.

voila! highlighted hubby!

as you can see, marlon is quite happy with his new look -- about as happy as i was with mine.

we immediately hied off to adrian's farewell dinner to test our new hairdos' performance in a social setting. shrenik was gracious enough to document our experiment with his camera phone.

we tried to go out and party to celebrate our new looks, but the vodka at adrian's just made us too sleepy. yes, i do believe we're getting on in years. so we just sat by the river at clarke quay with cones of hokkaido soft ice cream (one of my new singapore favorites!) before heading home.