Thursday, June 12, 2008
the dash
| a message forwarded by a friend. sharing with you this beautiful 3-minute poem movie. click the link at the bottom :). have may you a great "dash" ahead! God bless! --- The Dash In July 2006, a short 3-minute movie was launched on the Internet called The Dash. Since then, over 40 million people from around the world have watched it and over 20,000 a day continue to watch it as a result of people passing it along. The movie has been more successful than we could have ever imagined. More importantly, however, it has inspired many people to reflect on their lives and ask that all important question: "Are my priorities where they should be?" I hope you enjoy this movie and share it with those who are near and dear to you. Click here: www.dashpoemmovie.com Labels: at home, friends, inspirational, life |
Monday, June 2, 2008
my creations :)
| next week, simon is turning (terrible) two, but we had a party last saturday with other friends for a grand celebration. click here for photos of the octuple birthday celebration. i happily made cakes for the two little celebrants who both celebrated their 2nd birthday. i also threw in some cupcakes. it was a lot of work for a day, but i'm loving it! :) and since i keep missing opportunities in paid blogging, i'll just have to earn the hard way :p ... here are my creations... will these layouts do for a flyer? i also got to practice my photoshop skills (he-he-he). i'm still waiting for my tools, which explains why the decors are quite the same... hopefully they arrive soon so i won't have any more excuse! :p yes, this one below is from the last entry :)  my sinful chocolate cakes... :) the new batch: i'm really enjoying doing this craft! :)Labels: birthdays, friends, in the kitchen, party, sideline, simon |
Monday, May 26, 2008
y is for yanina
this is what i am up to lately. and i've just ordered two books and cookie cutters with the thought of doing this for a long time from now on... :)  made these today as a mini birthday treat. i hope she likes it! been practicing for a couple of days now in time for the little boy's 2nd birthday :) Labels: at home, friends, in the kitchen |
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
6 Quirky Things about Me
I've Been Tagged ... 6 Quirky Things about me 6 Quirky Things about me ..thanks Jigi, this is a bit of a challenge! :) The rules: Link to the person that tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Share six unimportant things/habits/quirks about your self. Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. Let these random people know that they are tagged by leaving comments in their blog.Let your tagger know when your entry is up. Six Unimportant things/habits/quirks about my self: 1. I love starting new (extra-curricular :p) projects (like scrapbooking, knitting, etc.) but more often than not, I fail to finish it. I get impatient at times, plus the fact that I've two little boys who are always tailing on me! 2. I am so bad at remembering names, it takes me probably 3x before it sinks in! (I will need to keep in mind that it helps to say the name of the person once they are introduced). 3. I'm a big bargain hunter and impulse buyer (especially where there are sales!), and then, there would be times that once I get home, I'll need go back to the shop to return the item I bought, because I realize that I really don't like it... it's just that it was on sale at a very good price! But most of the time, the item would just sit somewhere in the house, still in it's original packaging :p 4. I am right now self-studying piano for about a week... and I tell you, it's not easy and I'm not good at it! :p 5. Yesterday, I was front of the PC for a whole three hours (while the kuya was at school and the little one was sleeping) without getting up, because I wanted to finish season 2 of Amazing Race Asia... but I don't think I'd do or have the chance to do it again! :) 6. I've watched The Notebook (my favorite serious love story movie so far) for the nth time already last night but it still made me cry, but I try not to show hubby! I'm a brave woman! :p Now, I'd like to get to know new blog buddies quirky-ness 1. Haydee 2. Francine 3. Farah 4. Garf 5. Amor 6. Rika |
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Friendship Chain
Thanks to dear Haydee for the thout! :) This is long overdue, can't believe I did not post it! :) ~~Begin Here~~ This is the easy way and the fastest way to : 1. Make your Authority Technoraty explode. 2. Increase your Google Page Rank. 3. Get more traffic to your blog. 4. Makes more new friends. Rules : 1. Start copy from “Begin Copy” until “End Copy” to your blog. 2. Put your own blog name and link. 3. Tag your friends as much as you can. 1. La Place de Cherie 2. Chez Francine 3. Le bric à brac de Cherie 4. Haydee Etcetera 5. The Ansermet's 6. A Sneak Peek 7. Frapr 8. Add yourself here ~~END HERE~~ Now, I am extending the invite to preggy Jigi. If any of you are interested to this "Friendship Chain", please go ahead and join. |
Monday, February 11, 2008
francis' birthday
 a sort-of last minute decision birthday party... thanks to the el bimbo for the photos since we were just really busy to think about taking photos during that day!  to a dear husband and father, francis, happy, happy birthday! we  love you so much!   hoping you enjoyed your kare-kare, roast chicken, palabok, bbq spare ribs, veggies and prawns, buco pandan, leche flan and of course the cake (buti nagkasya pa lahat ng candles! hehehe) ... i didn't realize how tired i was with all the preparation until i was able to have dessert and sit down! the effort was all worth it! :) Labels: at home, family, friends, holidays, swiss life |
Thursday, November 1, 2007
birthday cake number three
  , i was requested to do two more birthday cakes, the second one i made was another chocolate cake but was a round one, i wasn't able to take a picture, i forgot about that! and the latest is this one, a vanilla and chocolate layered cake. i managed to take photos of the cake sans the decors yet, while it was sitting on the fridge. i made the cake from flour to icing, but i can't take credit for the decor because i was not really confident on doing that yet. the finishing touches were done by calvin's big sis and her friends... so here's my latest masterpiece, for calvin's 2nd birthday!  ... despite the challenge of having almost zero sense of taste due to bad colds, i was able to pull it off! hubby had to be my taste tester (which wasn't very reassuring, actually! :p) here's the finished product:  and the verdict? - parang propeyshunal (daw)!!! yahoo! :p - of course that was hubby's opinion, but that's the most honest (or biased ba?) one i can get! hehehehe  Labels: friends, in the kitchen, swiss life |
Friday, October 26, 2007
an open air museum
 sometimes, last minute trips are the best way to go. last friday, friends who had nothing planned on the weekend gamely agreed to join us on a day trip to ballenberg - an open air museum that featured switzerland as it once was, more than 100 years ago - the houses, mostly. it's amazing how different the architecture of buildings each canton had. it also featured "men at work", making lumber - trimming the trunks to make planks, among others. the day was great except for one factor - it was freezing cold and we were not-so dressed up for the occasion. i think temperature was around 3 degrees, it would have been fine if it wasn't so windy! but all in all, it was fun! we spent the whole day at the exhibit and took shelter inside the charming houses. we then capped the day with a very hot and spicy indian dinner in Interlaken. you can check out our photos here  the whole day was not enough for a by-foot expedition and freezing weather, so by 4pm we decided to leave - the place was just huge at 660,000sqm, we missed the alpine region of the exposition, which i think is really nice. maybe we can go there another day, but that will probably be next year already since the museum is closed from 1st november until 31st of march every year - necessarily, at wintertime. here's the map of the place, so the next time we come there we will be going thru the East Entrance Brienzwiler to see the Alpine, The Valais, Bernese Oberland and Ticino regions.   Labels: friends, swiss life, trips |
Saturday, July 21, 2007
pasta, pizza and fresh seafood!!!!
| all those things we had during a 3-day holiday at the italian riviera! last weekend, we, together with the Ansermets' had a spur-of-the moment decision to take a beach holiday at the Liguria region of the Italian riviera... and boy did our cravings for great pasta, pizza and really fresh seafood got satisfied! it all started on monday of that week, J, a friend of ours told me they were planning to go to San Remo, Italy. it wasn't a nice week here in Switzerland - weather wise - it was raining, most of the time and was chilly. so when J told me they were going on Thursday of that week, I told hubby about it and I asked if him if we could join them. it was just a 5-hour trip and we badly miss the beach and the sun... problem was just that hubby went on SL that week and it wouldn't really be good to have another day of VL. so he told me, we can just do it on our own another time. so the days went by, and came wednesday, i heard from another friend (H) that J won't be going anymore this week, they moved their trip to next week because J's hubby was swamped with work. i told H, wow! i was really longing for that trip, for them.. and now they're moving it! we could really use some sun and sea breeze right now. and then, out of the blue, H said, do you really want to go? why don't we do it? i said, ok, i'll ask hubby again! and that i did! we initially planned to go from friday until monday, but H's hubby said it's not possible coz he, too, was on leave the monday of that week. so we settled to have a saturday-to-monday-at-least-5-hour-drive to the Ligurian region of the Italian Riviera! and then it was crunch time! we had to make bookings for the hotels, and plan an itinerary. both our families have little kids, so we were really keeping our fingers crossed that the long drive will not be too stressful. and it was not that difficult, actually. yes, the drive took a lot longer than 5 hrs... 5 hrs is when you do not do any pitstops - and that was just impossible for us! we left Vevey at 8:30, and we got to our hotels before 3pm, traffic was bad when it was about 120kms away from our destination and we had two pitstops. but, we got there safe and sound, thank God! so we got to our hotels (we took different hotels), rested a bit and changed to be ready to swim. when we got to the beach, we were really disappointed. we said is this all we get after a 6-hr trip??? the beach was crowded, typical mediterranean, the sand looks like sand used in constructing buildings (i.e. gravel and sand), there were lots of stones, there were long seaweeds in the water and the water was not clear! we were really disapointed, but we put on our happy hats and just enjoyed the sea breeze and relaxed on the beds cum parasol. we just had high expectations - having experienced the beaches of Boracay, Palawan and Bohol back in the Philippines - their coast was no match to our beaches! and their beaches close at 7pm, even when the sun was still up at 10pm. we stayed at the beach, water temperature was ok but it was a bit cold when you first get in. and at around 6:30 pm, we decided to go back to our hotels and prepare ourselves for dinner, this was when all the oohhhs and aahhs came! we went around the city, admired what felt like manila bay atmosphere (which is good, since we do miss the philippines! ) and went restaurant hopping. most of the restaurants were fully booked! and the all served SEAFOOD!!! and yummy really fresh seafood at that! the capped the night with good italian espresso (they only serve cappuccino for breakfast, did you know that?), and off we went back to our hotels at around 11pm.the next day, we decided to go to look for nicer beaches, and the road took us to Bordighera, the town next to San Remo. we weren't sure what we will see there but this time, we've lowered our expectations. we couldn't find the road to the beach so when we felt we were almost going out of the town, we went back and just followed where everybody seemed to be going, parked the cars and checked out the restaurants. and we felt we hit jackpot when the first seaside restaurant we went to was really impressive! water was clear, they had a very nice little beach below the restaurant when you can rent the parasol and bed, they even had a small pile of rocks, which served like a breakwater structure. we asked if they still have available parasols in front, and they did! it's just that there was another couple who reserved the other two slots in front, so we had to share the little beach, but they were still not around so we felt the beach was all to ourselves. oh, and guess what? i think they got turned off by our noise that they decided to move to another part of the beach... giving the entire, i think 6 meters of beach all to ourselves! (hey, i tell you, that's really a big deal, considering seeing all those parasols lined up in the big beaches!). that's when we really felt we were on holidays, we stayed on that exact same spot from 11am until 6pm. we didn't care about our complexion anymore (but we did put on a lot of sunblock :D), we were just so happy about the spot and the food, and the breeze, and the water and everything! nothing will spoil that now! plus, we reserved for a restaurant for that evening already so we were basically all set for that day! so after the beach and a really tasty dinner, we headed back to our hotels at 11:30pm. the kids were all so tired... and so were we, but we had big smiles on our faces as we called it a (really great) day. :) the next day, we checked out after breakfast (oh, did i mention they served great breakfast, too?!). we decided to do a coastal drive, but traffic was horrible! so we went to the motorway, and just took the exit to that town that looked like the Greek beaches - Imperia. we went around town, walked in the old town, you can really see those italian-style eskinitas and the clothes drying out the windows. it was really a nice treat! then we decided to have lunch there, wanted some pizza but we discovered that Italians serve pizza only in the evening! so, so much for that, so we just went back to the port where we had some more seafood - nobody's complaining! :) after lunch, off we went again to continue our journey home the kids were all full and tired, so we took a long leg of the drive (i think the speedometer went up to 165kph!) and decided to have another try at pizza since it was already dinnertime and we still have one italian town we can visit before we cross the border. and was it a really charming town - Aosta, we had great gelato and pizza! finally, our italian food trip was satisfied - very satisfied, indeed! we left the town past 9pm, it was a longer drive crossing the border because of some construction... but we survived it! we got home at around 11pm and were all just tired but very happy with the impromptu trip. perhaps we should do it more ofter! :p it felt like ages since we've tasted really great seafood, we can't praise italian cuisine more! looking forward to another trip to Italy where we can eat our hearts out! check out some pics here  it's not much, because i haven't picked out photos yet, but i will post more pictures (hopefully) soon! ciao! |