Olympic Friendlies

After following the Olympic opening and games last August, Nico & Julia were really bitten by the Olympic bug. DH and I found ourselves consuming "Happy Meals" from McDonalds's just to get those Olympic collectibles. Recently, a friend of mine had her mom buy these FuWa from Beijing for Nico & Julia. Nico super loves Jing Jing, who represents the panda. He's had this thing with stuff toys especially pandas. I think it started when we first went to Ocean Park when he was 4 and saw a real panda. The second time we were there, we bought him a cute panda stuff toy that he keeps with him while he sleeps. When Nico slept over at his cousin's house last weekend, he wanted to bring JingJing with him. I advised him to leave his stuff toy at home so he told Julia that she could sleep with JingJing for that night. I thought that it was really sweet of him :-)

A while ago, the kids asked for some paper and showed me these drawings. I just love them. What do you think of their drawings?

Julia's drawing of BeiBei




Nico's drawing of JingJing

Iba talaga pag babae...

This was what I found waiting for me on my desk after I came back from the grocery. I let out an "Aaawwww..." and showed DH what I found. She's just so sweet, don't you think? 

Aside from drawing and doodling, Julia loves to write small notes like the one above. She got some Lisa Frank sticky notes from her "koko" and gave me 2 sets because she knows I like using them. Last week, I was having a home service haircut in the living room when she brought out the electric fan all by herself. "Is this okey, mom?" she asked. And I was like, "Thanks so much, sweetie!", while I gushed at how thoughtful she is. Its times like this that remind me to be thankful for having a daughter. As they say in Filipino, "Iba talaga pag babae!"

To the crazy ones.

I was at a workshop a few months back when I found this posted on the wall. The title and the first few lines caught my attention. I want to share this to all the misfits, who sometimes feel like the odd in a group of even. A black in a group of white. Being a misfit isn't bad like other people would think. It doesn't mean that you are wrong and they are right. It just means that you think differently and see things in another perspective. It means that you found your true self and don't need to follow what others are doing to feel normal. Being "crazy" is sometimes a good thing...it sets you you free and leads you to being happy.

To the crazy ones.

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently.

They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them glorify them or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.

Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.
Because while some see them as crazy ones, we see genius.

And it's the people who are crazy enough to think they can
change the world, who actually do.

Julia's Scrap and Salon Party

Now that I've decided to blog about Julia's Scrap and Salon party, I realize that I didn't take as many pictures that I was suppose to. If you planned and prepared a party such as this one, you'd understand how taking pictures can conveniently be forgotten over other more pressing matters during the party. Lest you think that we had a hundred guests, it was just a small and intimate party held at our home. Julia's not one who enjoys big parties so it doesn't seem right to give her a big one even if this was her 7th birthday.

The idea for the Scrap and Salon party was conceptualized early summer. I was at the duty free shops and saw some "kikay" sleeping masks and thought it would be a good item for giveaways. To prepare for the 'Salon" part of the party, I bought the following:

1. iron curler
2. hair wax in colors pink, blue and golden yellow
3. nail polish
4. nail stickers
5. jewelled clamps, hair ties, colored clips

Since yaya is an expert at fixing hair, she took care of the parlor booth. The girls told yaya what hairstyle they wanted and chose the pins and accessories they preferred to be used on them. At first, none of the girls wanted to use the colored hair wax but when Mjane started to apply them on one of the girls, they welcomed the idea. Inasmuch as I want to show you guys how it looked like, I can't because I missed taking pictures of those. I was multi-tasking-photographer, party organizer, food coordinator kaya di nakayanan ng powers ko :-(

I also set up a nail polish area where the kids could chose their nail color and nail sticker designs. While the others were in the parlor, some were busy making scrap pages using the pictures I asked them to bring. I bought foam stickers, colored paper, boards for the scrap party. I also brought out all of my gel pens, markers, stencils etc for the kids to use. In the beginning, I tried explaining to them some techniques they can use and gave them some ideas on how to go about scrapping. But, they didn't seem too interested as they were too excited to start working. As in they looked like they were going to burst if I had to discuss some some. In the end, I gave up explaining and just let them have a good time. For most of the girls, it was their first time to scrap so they were focused on the stickers and other materials they could use.





After the girls had their hair fixed at the parlor, I took pictures of them using my camera and printed them on the spot using our newly purchased Canon Selphy printer. The girls enjoyed seeing their pictures being printed on the spot. I placed their picture in a photo slot on their canvas tote which was part of the giveaways. In the bag, I placed a set of poster colors, a giant scrap book, a 'kikay' pen with mirror, a personalized notepad and a girly sleeping mask. Of course, they also got to bring home the scrap book pages they created during the party which I bound using a single hole-fastener.




For the cake, I made around 2 dozens vanilla cupcakes and decorated it with pink and yellow icing. Using the same theme of fairy princess from the paper plates, cups and napkins, I also made some cupcake toppers to match. All these entailed several hours of planning and preparation but I was really satisfied with the outcome.



It was after the party that I realized I forgot to bring out the icecream! It totally slipped my mind. The next time I'm throwing Julia another party like this, I have to remind myself to come up with a checklist. It was tiring and busy planning and preparing for the party but I did enjoy myself in the process. It was enough for me that Julia had a great time. Maybe a sleepover party next year :-)

I'm Back!

After a long absence here, I'm back!

To say that the months of June and July was busy is an understatement. "Crazy" is the word more suitable to use. It started when I was preparing for Julia's SCRAP and SALON party and then got really busy with work and my thesis.

Each day, I would spend hours on the computer doing research, reading journals and writing the proposal. It was fine with me going through research and reading but the difficult part is how to conceptualize the problem. It didn't help when some people who don't really understand what the task of doing a thesis entails, gave some comments that make it sound easy and trivial. Just yesterday, I told my mentor that it was impossible for me to do this if I didn't take a leave from work. It was such a draining ordeal both physically and emotionally that I had to ask myself several times why I'm doing this. I almost gave up, too. Up until recently, I didn't realize I could be this persistent and persevering. It feels like a new self-discovery :-)

Not to sound too confident, I still have the actual proposal defense to prepare. I'm just savoring these few days to relax and refresh myself for more work in the next few months.

I really hope I'll have enough time to blog regularly. I miss blogging and have a handful of things to write about. Stay tuned!

Kung Fu Panda

We've been planning to watch this movie ever since we saw the trailer last April. Its the last hurrah for the kids before going back to school. We normally watch movies at Greenbelt 3 in Makati. The 'sureseats' online reservation is really convenient so we've grown accustomed of going there for movies. However, DH needed to buy something at MOA so we ended up going there instead. We were surprised with the lines that we saw there. We had around 25 minutes before showtime which we felt was long enough to buy tickets and popcorn, but with the line we saw, we won't be making it in time for sure. Then we thought of another option, which was to watch Kung Fu Panda at the IMAX theatre. The tickets there were pricey at P300 but we were already there so we might as well watch it. We were thinking that the IMAX would probably have lots of seats available since the ticket price was a bit steep. It was kinda surprising to find that it was full and the only tickets available for us were the ones on the first 3 rows. We watched it anyway.

Needless to say, the kids got the kicks from watching the movie. In between, I would look at both Nico and Julia laughing at the hilarious scenes from the movie. I was also entertained myself. There were slapstick sequences that were very similar to the "Jacky Chan" movies. It was also filled with funny and witty side comments by the characters that made it very entertaining. After the movie, Nico would talk about scenes that he was really fond of. "Mom, do you remember the scene where the panda sat on Thai Long? It was even in slow motion..." Yada yadayada, we would go on and on. Obvioulsly, he really enjoyed the movie. I greatly recommend this movie for kids and even those who are kids at heart like me :-) hehehe

Manual Enrollment

Today is the last day for thesis/dissertation writing enrollment at DLSU for the first term. I am happy to say that I did not enroll on the last minute. Instead, I took care of the enrollment process a few days earlier. The last time I enrolled, it took me hours to finish because of the long lines at the vice dean's office, at the registrar's and at the accounting office. It really is such a hassle especially since I've been accustomed to the convenience of online enrollment. I remember during my undergrad days when I even joined the EATF (Enrollment Assistance Task Force) just to get the privilege of early enrollment. We would help out in processing the forms at the registrar and in ushering during graduation rites in exchange for the opportunity to be advance enrollees. We were always able to get into our first choices of courses while the others in line lament at the hassles of regular enrollment.

I can't be sure, but I don't think the EATF exists anymore. Since online enrollment has taken away the queues, the need for the task force has been eliminated.  During today's enrollment, I suddenly miss going online. Thesis/dissertation enrollment requires manual or the special process  so I had to do it the "old" way.   It didn't help when a woman probably in her late forties or early fifties sneaked herself in the line. She had a visitors ID on her shirt and excused herself on the window to ask something then pushed her slip to make the payment. Hmmpph! If she slipped in the line in front of me, I would really make a comment to her about it. Being a visitor in the university doesn't exempt her from falling in line, which I know she is aware of. The guy in front of me was too surprised to even react.

oh well...I think it would really be great if they implement a numbering system at the accounting office. They already have this system at the registrar's so its just a matter of extending this service at the accounting. I hope that I won't have to endure going through the manual enrollment any longer. I still have a long way to go with my thesis. Unlike most of my classmates who have a lot of pressure and timetable to finish their thesis, I am fortunate enough to have the luxury of time to do it. Or not. That luxury may actually be hindering me from putting more effort to accomplish it ....hay!