Dec 30, 2007

Get Hosted


I have been contemplating on getting my own domain and getting a web host. I spend some minutes going around sites which offer web hosting. Sometimes it gets too tiring to search especially when one, like me, maximizes time while online. It helps to have a directory of web hosts one can choose from.

It's a good thing there is a a guide to web hosting that in one click one can have a list of hosts to choose from. Explore http://www.webhostingchoice.com to experience the ease of choosing what web host will suit you. It is very convenient to see all the significant details of the different web hosts in a very organized manner. There is also a plans directory where one can check provisions for specific features. Another plus point is the Learning Center navigation where one can learn the basics of web hosting. Great for newbies like me.

Going to http://www.webhostingchoice.com makes your time more productive while in deep thought of what web host to finally sign up.

This is a sponsored post.

Dec 29, 2007

A Fun Mess


My parents and the rest of my family living in another country love sending us packages of just about anything every now and then, mostly gifts for my daughter. One of the holiday presents my mom gave to my daughter is a scrapbook set. My daughter excitedly opened them upon receiving them. She eagerly cut, pasted, designed, stamped and what-have-you the pages of the scrapbook. It was a little messy on the table but it's fine with me. She's enjoying these kinds of activities and I encourage it. It helps bring out her creativity. :)




See more messy stuff here. Happy photo hunting! :)
I'm off for some groceries and meeting some friends after. I'll continue going around the messy photos later tonight. :) Have fun!

Dec 28, 2007

I Belong!


And so now I am counted as one of the bloggers who wants to grab opportunities while enjoying blogging. Why not? I have been contemplating on this since last year but it's only now that I have finally sit down and understand all the guidelines that require to sign up at PayPerPost.

I often see PayPerPost badges in most blogs. This partly encouraged me to try it. And as I read the guidelines, I see clearly that PayPerPost is committed to both their advertisers and the bloggers that sign up. To immerse myself more, I also went through the site's word of mouth ethics. As it points out, "it aims to protect both the blogger and the company from giving anyone the impression of a conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety." It is a win-win situation!

I have made a pact with myself not to make monetizing my blog a burden nor feel the pressure of posting. I want to enjoy what I post. Signing up at PayPerPost gives me this confindence of choosing from the opportunities I feel I can very well relate to. Thus writing and posting about them comes off as a fun activity. At the same time I am able to give good information to my readers about a certain product or service.

Now what am I going to do with the money that I am going to earn from PayPerPost? Extra money is always welcome. They can either add to my monthly savings or I can use them for some shopping money or unexpected expenses like projects my daughter suddenly asks for school. I am pretty excited about all the opportunities that I can get from PayPerPost. I bet you would want to try this too after reading this. :)


Dec 24, 2007

Far from the Madding Crowd


We went to Olongapo last Friday and had an overnight stay at Subic. Subic is a forested area where monkeys are free to roam around the stretch of the road. Warning signs are up so that motorists are aware to give way to the monkeys when they cross the road. Also, monkeys are not to be fed by passersby.

The monkeys are cute actually. Most of the people slow down to take their pictures. The monkeys tend to show off and some go even near the cars. I don't want them jumping on me so I took their pictures from afar and with our car windows up. :)



A break from the city traffic.


See the monkeys along the road.


Sitting pretty. :)

I do not observe Christmas but boy I have been busy since the start of the holidays, how much more those who are all agog for the Christmas eve. :) If you need to relax from all the hustle and bustle, you can check out Weekend Snapshot participants.

Happy Holidays! :)

Dec 21, 2007

Merry Lights


I was out of town and got back a few hours ago. I've to run to another activity after arriving home. Would I miss photo hunt? No, especially I like the theme for this week - Lights. So many lights wherever I go. It's the holidays. I took light here as brightness or illumination. Oh so many of them. :)

Oh, it's a humungous tree! I'm not sure how tall it is but it seems like as high as a five story building.


Even the road leading to the tree is well-lit. The trees are screaming with beautiful lights.



You may visit other photo hunters if you want to see more light.

Dec 19, 2007

Movie Talk


I have been meaning to catch up with the movies I have missed since God knows when. My top of mind movies I've watched this year(no editing, just what comes to mind as I post this) which I'd like to share in my Thursday Thirteen community.


Some are new, a few are old, some I have recently watched, some I have watched several times.

1. Ratatouille. So far the most enjoyable movie I have watched this year. I thought it will be just one of those movies only children as young as my daughter could enjoy. I specifically love the scenes in the kitchen.

2. 1408. It stars John Cusack. It stops there. He is the only saving grace of this movie. Weirdness beckons so one night I asked hubby to watch 1408 before we sleep. I'd like a little scare. Duh. Major disappointment. It's supposed to be a psychological thriller. It dragged and dragged until I gave up waiting what is going to happen next.

3. Disturbia. Now that's one good movie. It gave enough suspense to keep me at the edge of my seat. Shia Lebouf is a refreshing sight on the big screen. He carries the role of a goofy but well-meaning young man very well in most of his movies. This movie, though under the suspense genre, is actually light. It could have been one of those Disney movies that can be finished in 30 minutes.

4. Bratz. We were supposed to watch Nancy Drew but it was not anymore showing in Trinoma. We opted for Bratz. I didn't want to watch this thinking it will all be about gadgets, make-up and boys. Not good for my daughter's young mind. Haha. But since I am with my daughter anyway, why not. I can just butt in when a scene needs some parental guidance. Surprisingly, the Bratz' talents were highlighted and not just their different fashion sense and their girly-girl antics.

5. Hair Spray. I love, love Nikki Blonski! She's so alive! John Travolta, as usual, is at his best though too much prosthetics kind of mutated his facial expressions. But for a straight man to act a woman's role convincingly is one great accomplishment.

I have no idea until this move that X-men's Cyclops, James Marsden is such a good singer and dancer. Christopher Walken danced in this movie. Michelle Pfeiffer is still gorgeous at 52. And of course, there is Zac Efron. The boy is growing up to be a fine, young man.

6. Transformers. I am not fond of robotics. My husband has to drag me to the theatre to watch I, Robot. It wasn't bad. I have to say the same thing about Transformers. The trailer of the movie was enough to excite me. The movie did not disappoint me as it gave excitement scene after scene. I specially like the scene where the Ottobots were trying to hide from the bushes and walls of Shia's house. As if they can hide.

7. Snatch. Snatch is one demented movie that I like. Guy Ritchie. I like it when characters interconnect and the story unfolds with each one having to do with another until the story ends.

8. Super Bad. This is like watching Saturday Night Live with the two cops around. If you want some funny movie on teens' escapades, you can grab a copy and laugh your heart out.

9. Spider Man 3. I liked 1 and 2 but I was a little bored with 3. This movie dragged a bit and reminded me more of Fantastic Four what with the Sandman as the antagonist.

10. Zodiac. A lot of people warned me this movie is very disappointing. But did I let them stop me from watching this? No. I actually liked it. I love how a man got so obssesed with identifying who the Zodiac is. I love how the suspense everytime a suspect floats. It's both interesting and disappointing to note that the identity of the Zodiac remained a mystery.

11. High School Musical 2. I like the first one better.

12. Fantastic Four, Rise of the Silver Surfer. Unlike Spider Man, I enjoyed this movie. Maybe because there are no expectations. The movie is short, fast-paced. I know that it's going to be like eating popcorn, there's nothing much to it but it's fun to just munch it.


13. A Street Car Named Desire. I know Marlon Brando from The Godfather. I know him because of all the accolades given to him. But watching this circa 1950 movie convinced me all the more Marlon Brando is such a class act. Brad Pitt can very well take a back seat had Marlon Brando been born in Brad's generation. Oh yes, I talked about Marlon Brando and not the movie. I was so impressed with him in this movie.

To visit other Thursday Thirteen participants, click here. It's the midweek and the holiday rush is so much felt. Enjoy your shopping! :)

Dec 15, 2007

Small


What are small, red and oval, some are seedless, some are not. They have this crunchy texture, a little sweet and a good substitute for chips and fries to indulge while deep in work or having your movie marathon.

Of course, no brainer, grapes they are. :)



I want some more so I opened another pack. Delicious.


The picture below is berry-like. My hubby took a shot of this from my Aunt's collection of plants. I'm not really sure what they are called but they look cute in their bright red color. They are small but really eye-catching.


Hope you enjoyed these pretty little things. I'm out the whole morning for a church activity. I'll go around photo hunters later. Enjoy the photo hunt! :)

Dec 14, 2007

More Blog Badges


They say what goes around comes around. Look here, I've got badges once again. Blog awards have been going on in the blogosphere and I'm glad to say I've been getting some of them. Thank you very much. :)

This is long overdue but I'd like to thank Julie for giving me my second I Love Your Blog Award. She said "you may not post that much but I can sense you would, when given more time. It is nice to wait for your posts." That felt good. :)


Liza handed me this award.


Bodacious. Iluvet! It's the first time that I encountered this badge. I want to blurt out, "Cowabunga!". Thanks, Liza!

And the next badge I got from Jessie because I commented on one of her posts. Thank you, you're such an appreciative person. A welcome surprise too because Mayi gave me the same Friendship Award.


I'll spread the love and give away these awards too. There are a number of blogs that I love. More often than not I am a silent lurker. I guess I need to comment more. I'd be more open in appreciating posts which I truly like.

I fancy food blogs. I love going to blogs with loads of photos and information about food. Some of the food blogs I frequent are Eating Asia, 80 Breakfasts, Market Manila, Baking Bites, The Girl Who Ate Everything, Chocolate & Zucchini and The Traveler's Lunchbox.

And for the Bodacious blogs, I'd like to give this to Toni. Hers is one of the remarkable blogs that I read. One thing that makes Toni stand out is her sincerity in relating with the visitors in her blog. She's one blogger whose posts radiates positivity. She's a natural.

I'd like to hand this award too to Manilenya. I love her posts for their honesty. Astig! :D From her posts, I could feel she is a very down to earth person with a great sense of humor.

This blog award is perfect for ECL, Eastcoastlife. ECL's posts tells me love life and laugh more. She's a good storyteller and one bubbly person. :)

For the Friendship Badge, let me hand this to Rachel, Feng, Julie, Chats, Salen, Cess. I've met them personally and I could say I feel really comfortable with them. They are nice people and no hang-ups or pretensions. Cowgirls if I may say. Is that word still being used? Haha. One thing we have in common, we are great Pinoy Mommies! :)

I'd like to give the Friendship Badge also to some of my peers in our usual photo hunts and weekend snapshots - Natalie, Carver, Sandy, Gbex, Tricotine and **"Liza"**. I thought memes are just memes, you do them for fun. That's fine, great in fact. But as I continue doing the usual photo hunts, I get to discover new people and I learn interesting snippets of things about them through these weekend staple of mine - going through blogs for photo sharing.

I have to say I get inspired even with the simplest post of how a person's day was or how they had bonding time with their family. Or how the night out with friends went through. Some blogs just make me smile. I love blogging and the bloggers which make blogging worthwhile! :)

I still have tags to do. I'll do them after the weekend memes. :D

Dec 8, 2007

Long Walk, Long Strand


All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go. I'm standin' here outside your door...If I may borrow these lines from Jewel's song, Leaving on a Jet Plane. We're not leaving here through a jet plane but through the resort's service vehicle.

This was taken from Dos Palmas, the beautiful resort in Palawan. It's early in the morning on our fourth and last day of stay. Baggages were positioned in front of the beach villas so the drivers can pick them up and send them ahead to Puerto Princesa where we are booked in another hotel for the Underground River trip (more on that in another post).


It's a long road from the beach villas going to the resort's reception area. Plus the fact that baggages are heavy with all the souvenirs we bought from the island, I wouldn't want that long walk.

In an unrelated story, fettucinne noodles are somewhat long which makes it a mess sometimes to eat it. I'm teaching my daughter to cut them first and twirl the fork so the noodles won't slide in her fork.



I'll be out after this post. I'll be going around long posts later. :) Happy weekend! :)

Dec 3, 2007

Messy Mesa


We had dinner tonight at SumoSam after going around Power Plant to buy my daughter something she needs for school tomorrow. We were so hungry that we finished off our food hardly talking to each other. And what a mess the table is after.