Photo Hunt 15: Shiny

I missed last weeks' photo hunt for hair. I was supposed to post the different "hair styles" my daughter since she was a year old up to the present. But I was out of town last week. I'm supposed to be in a mini-vacation right now with my family in a hotel somewhere in the metropolis but I squeezed in a few minutes to post. :)

Here's my share for this week's theme on Shiny. My daughter's got a lovely, shiny hair. She got it from her father. My hair is so hard to maintain whereas my daughter's, it's a breeze. Normally, Filipinos have black hair but my daughter and her father has brown-black. Well, that saves her from hair highlights when she reaches the age when beauty salon beckons. :)

Lakbayan

My Lakbayan grade is C!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out atLakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

Got this Lakbayan survey from various blogs. I took the survey four times, weeded out most "just passing through" answers. It's till A+. With Mr. Eugene's comment below, I checked and my booboo, I got them in reverse. Now I'm at ease with my score. Mostly I've been in Northern Luzon and the Visayas. A few places in the south and Bukidnon and Davao in Mindanao. I am in love with the Philippines. Why not? I may not love everything about this country but this is a beautiful place. There are lots of places to see and admire. My trips are both work-related and family vacations. If I may say, it's invigorating to get out of the metropolis once in a while and breathe a different air and see the greeneries.

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I was in the far north last week. It was my first time to try a grill house for lunch somewhere along the highway of Nueva Ecija. I always check out whatever local place we can try whether it's famous or not, both for dining and recreation. If my husband's main goal in going out of town is to rest, for me it's it's the excitement of discovering and exploring the places we go to.

My colleagues and I had lunch at Magellan's Grill before leaving N.E. and head to Isabela via the steep and zigzaggy road of Dalton Pass. The road here is referred to as "bituka ng manok" (chicken intestines) since it is shaped like that. That's how curved the pass is.

The eating place is simple, clean enough for our appreciation. The native motif looks nice too. The food is better than in fast foods. I like their pinaputok na plapla. Delicious. I don't know how to prepare this one. Think popcorn...that's how the plapla is served - inside a bloated aluminum foil placed in a sizzling plate. The novelty of it is in the opening of the foil using a knife. The smell of a well-cooked fish with onions, tomatoes, spices gets out of the foil which makes you salivate and devour the plapla at once.

Some pictures of the grill house. They can do away with the plastic cover which serves as table mats.

Six Weird Things and an Interview

The first meme was a tag from Salen. Here are some "unique" things about me. :)

Six Weird Things About Me

1. I keep the DVD of Prison Break in my laptop's disc drive all the time. Anytime that I want to take a peek of any of the episodes (or should I say Wentworth Miller), I can. Anytime. I guess this is not weirdness but an obsession. Haha!

2. I love chocolate cake but I have to have something salty with it. Like potato chips or fries. Here's a proof. Had some snack at Chocolat. Since there are no chips sold at the said restaurant, I asked my husband if he can buy me some chips or fries from any of the stores nearby.



3. Listening to music is quite an extreme activity for me. There are times I don't finish a whole song. I go to the next song even before it's finished. I can't even stay put on a radio station. I keep on station surfing until I find a song that I like. And if there's nothing that I like, I play a cd but then I skip songs and listen only to the songs that I like, sometimes over and over. I guess my daughter Andz got this habit. :) This goes on usually in the car on the way to work. The hubby gave up asking me to stop this.

4. I love the smell of new books, notebooks and magazines. I go to my favorite bookstore to take time to browse on the pages of a particular book before I buy it. As I browse, I can't help but smell the pages also, well discreetly. Hehe.

5. I love watching horror movies but it gets into me. I can't sleep properly for a few days.

6. I text someone and right after sending it, I find myself calling the person to get a faster response. This is being impatient I guess. Guilty as charged.

I will be tagging some bloggers after checking if they haven't done this yet. :)

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The interview of one blogger to another has been going on in blogs. I wanted to join the fun so I asked Julie to send me questions. Here they are:

1. If you were to choose your fate, would you choose the life you have now or would have rather have a different life? Please explain.
I would still choose my life now mainly because I would like to have the same family. They're the best. My life too is generally good, great even throughout the years. With setbacks, yes, but nothing that God cannot handle for me. :) But to be realistic about it, I will edit the things that I should have not done in the first place especially when I was still a teenager and choose do the right and sensible things.

2. I know that you treasure your only daughter. What if one day she tells you that someone from school is bullying her, teasing and calling her names. What would you do?
*I will not go on a rampage but I will empathize with my daughter.
*I will get all the details so I can have a good reading of what is happening.
*I will also tell her bullying is not right but definitely, retaliation is out of the question.
*I will tell her I am going to do something about it. I believe it is important that a child knows you are listening to what he/she is telling and if there is something that needs to be done, he/she has to know one way or another. Like adults, I believe children also don't want to be kept in the dark. The assurance should always be there that whatever they are saying are important.
*Definitely I will inform the teacher so he/she will be extra observant of the students' behavior.
*I will teach or help my daughter how to "counter" bullying. I will tell her to seek help from her teacher or an adult when someone is bullying her.
*But the best "shield" I believe is to support my daughter's confidence level so she can face up with the bullying in school. This is not about hitting back or doing the same thing, definitely not. But having that confidence even as a child will definitely serve her as bully-proof. :)

Let me also say that when our child is bullied, we should also check why they are being bullied. Is it lack of social skills? Is it being poor academically? We just have to get to it further to correct them the soonest possible time.

3. If you were to choose a "perfect vacation" for your family, where and what would it be?
The U.S., either in California or Las Vegas. My whole family is there, my parents and my sister and brother. I just want us all to be together again. That would be a great vacation!

4. What charity or community or organization would you be willing to support? Why?
In my own little way, I have supported several organizations that take care of our old, our young, our single mothers. Participated even in Gawad Kalinga. But there are these organizations I have been looking at and wanting to be a part of actively but one at a time. What's the most doable for me is to get involved in Children's Hour (which is affiliated I believe with UNICEF).

5. If you were to put up your own restaurant, what kind of cuisine would you be serving? Why?
I used to be in the Food Industry. The most lucrative really is the fastfood - burgers, quick fix value meals, the like. But personally, I will go for Italian cuisine and a cake shop. I love pasta and I love baking! :)

Photo Hunt 14: Shoes

It's photo hunt time. I thought I wouldn't make it. Had a lot of errands to do today and the past days. But will I ever miss my weekly photo posting? Nope. :)

Shoes is the theme. I love shoes. I have so many shoes, and it follows that it's the same thing with my only daughter. I love buying her shoes, all kinds. And I am a pack rat kind of mom when it comes to my daughter's things. I kept almost everything she used when she was a baby.

Like this one...presenting the shoes she used on her first birthday, a yellow Sesame Street shoes featuring Big Bird. Her first stuffed toy was also Big Bird. :)




Not even the toes fit now. Of course, my daughter's going nine years old already this year. :)

Dona Nobis Pacem

A Tale For All Seasons
by Kurt Kauter

"Tell me the weight of a snowflake," a cola-mouse asked a wild dove.

"Nothing more than nothing," was the answer.

"In that case, I must tell you a marvelous story," the coal-mouse said.

"I sat on the branch of a fir, close to its trunk, when it began to snow-not heavily, not in a raging blizzard-no, just like a dream, without a sound and without any violence. Since I did not have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,741,952. When the 3,741,953rd dropped onto the branch, nothing more than nothing, as you say-the branch broke off."

Having said that, the coal-mouse flew away.

The dove, since Noah's time an authority on the matter, thought about the story for awhile, and finally said to herself, "Perhaps there is only one person's voice lacking for peace to come to the world."

*****This is Mimi's site for Peace.

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Be the change you want to see in the world so goes my favorite quote. Tough, idealistic, eyebrow-raising...maybe. But have great faith and a great deal of conviction, it can be done. Little things that matter, little things that can help our house, our office, our school, our community become a better place to live in will surely inspire others to do the same things. What goes around, comes around. Let's take this positively too. :)

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I love this song, All You Need is Love. When love abounds, peace reigns.

Photo Hunt 13: Art

Dos Palmas by night. This is such a wonderful place. It's as if you don't want to leave the place. Nature is God's work of art. And the talents He gave to the brilliant architects and engineers of this place are obviously put into good use.


Inside the island. They peppered the place with glaring lights. This is one of my unforgettable trips. I mentioned in my Water Photo Hunt entry that this is where I experienced our boat stopped in the middle of the deep blue sea for ten minutes. It felt like forever. But the island is just gorgeous. The island resort is located in Palawan, northwest of its capital, Puerto Princesa. It is one of the sixteen islands nestled in the waters of Honda Bay. If you are into diving, this place is great for you. One can do a lot of sporting activities here or just sit back and marvel at the place with its breathtaking view.

*I did not take this picture but a friend of mine did. I just asked for a copy because I couldn't resist the beautiful shots he did. Please click the pictures if you may for better appreciation. :)