Mambukal Falls Videos

Since the new year, I've been very busy delving into new and old things. There's my freelance virtual assistant work, my vegetable garden, my herbal jelly soap business which I am incorporating into my course on Artist's Way, quiet time, tarot cards and meditation, my interest in feng shui, and now I've enrolled myself into an unlimited type of gym membership at Gold's Gym for one month. It was my second time today and I've already spent about 8 hours at the gym in total. Yep, I plan to go there everyday if possible to maximize the membership, plus to also prepare myself for surfing some more, both in La Union and Siargao's Cloud Nine.

Jayme Timbol, Yoga and Creative Dreams

It's almost the new year and I'm glad that I spent Dec. 29-30 with my friend, Jem, who came home from Utah, U.S.A. We've been friends since our Etelecare days back in 2001, meaning we've maintained our awesome friendship for a decade now! I may have very few NEW friends these days, but those I keep, I do intend to keep them for eternity. (^_^)

Joel Disini says i.ph is shutting down soon

Peter and I were enjoying our time together one afternoon. While window shopping for kayaks and hobie cats somewhere here in Alabang, we saw Mr. Joel Disini, the man behind i.ph, shopping for a two-seater kayak.

This was the second time I met him in person. The first time was last year in Enchanted Kingdom. 

Peter and Mr. Joel Disini

My Visit to Cagayan de Oro, City of Golden Friendship

My First Night in Cagayan de Oro

The moment my parents and I touched down CDO airport, I wanted to see my best friend. It's just that I dunno how I was going to excuse myself since the main reason why we visited CDO was to be with my grandpa. We arrived at 4pm not knowing if someone from my granny's household would pick us up. The oldies are not that good at communicating important things like this so we were prepared to take a cab and just check-in at some hotel in the city.

Luckily, my mom recognized one of my step grandma's teachers who came with their driver (my grandparents are educators and as much as possible they take in servants while helping them get an education degree. In fact, our former tutors/yayas/maids now have PhDs and I find that amazing.)

So anyway, we headed straight to Apovel Subdivision where my grannies live. Going back there is like a trip back to memory lane. How many times have I told myself before that I will never go back yet there I was eating (again) every word of my promise.

Caleruega Wedding, Thoughts and Other Things

I usually stop myself from writing about sad things in my life. If I can handle it by just being quiet about it, offering it during my meditations and tarot card readings, then that's what I do. I originally intended to just write about a wonderful wedding we attended at Caleruega last month...

Me and February

It's my all-time favorite month! After all, aside from celebrating LOVE on the 14th, I'll also be turning 33 on the 18th. Seven more years to go before I reach my much awaited 40th... the age I am expecting to have reached many of my major personal goals. ^_^

Anyhoo, as a gift to myself this month (I think), I have a couple of weird birthday wishes I want materialized:

Talk, Listen and Bond

Spending time with our friends rarely happens these days. Blame it on marriage, kids, work, conflicts in schedules, moods and what-nots. But on those occasions when our friends do take the time out of their busy lives to bond with either me or Peter, we really do appreciate it. After all, the effort and sacrifice go both ways and what can we do is to make the most of the time spent together.


Koryn is one of those people in our lives who really make it a point to bond with us. We've been friends since 2005 but I never really told her about my past, my deep dark thoughts and my secrets. Come to think of it, I don't think many of my friends know a lot about me. Most of the time, I just keep it all inside, write it on my diary or blogs, and whatever personal dilemma I have, I just solve them all in my head. This is why I have tons of self-help books, why I took up Psychology in the first place, and why I have always been mature for my age. As a consequence, I tend to be the go-to person of my friends and rarely do I go to them for advice. Even my guidance counselor before applauded me for being self-sufficient, independent and for basically doing her job coz when it's my time to get counseled, I just sit there, talk to her and give her the solutions to my problems which I've come up with all on my own.


However, on those rare moments that I did try to bring up my issues to my friends, they unknowingly just brushed me aside and made the conversation all about them again. No wonder I like writing about me on my blogs because truth be told, I feel like I never really got the chance to talk about ME. They always do all the talking while I do all the listening and advising. Don't get me wrong though. I love my friends and I always give them what I can. But there are just moments, like lately, when I wish they'd listen to me for a change. Sometimes I think it's already too late.

Virtual Assistants Featured on ABS-CBN's Bandila

I'm still waiting for the original copy of the segment Bandila did on me and other VAs last Monday night. But then one of my bosses was able to find a copy on youtube and I'd like to share it with you here, especially for those who missed it and who are thinking of pursuing some freelance work online.

Bandila didn't anymore include the part where you can look for these kinds of freelance work so I'll just post it here.

• Register and post your resume at http://va4u.com and wait for interested clients to get in touch with you.
• To browse available freelance jobs online, go to http://getafreelancer.com and http://craigslist.org.

These are the usual sites I visit whenever I need to look for online work.

If you want to know more how it all happened for me, please visit this link below:
Virtual assistant

I hope this helps. ^_^

Bandila's 2nd Visit & My New Hair

that's me and Mau with ABS-CBN's Bandila Cameraman behind us

I had my Saturday scheduled perfectly. But then Mau, the segment producer of ABS-CBN's Bandila, texted me and asked if they could shoot more videos of me while working. At first, I declined coz I had a lot of work to do, Peter and I had tons of errands to run, the house was looking like a mess, and basically, I was just not in the mood. I was looking like a piece of trash, for crying out loud! I was doing some general cleaning around the house and Peter was doing a mountain of laundry. But since it will just take about 20 minutes, I finally obliged. I just made sure I can have a quick shower first before they even get here. Hehe, nagpakipot pa. ^_^

Below is one of the videos Peter took while Bandila was doing its thing...

No More Resolutions for 2011

Another year has just passed. In fact, another decade has just flown by so quickly that it amazes me I'm no longer that 21 year old gal I know, who's fresh out of college, full of hopes and dreams for her future. In reality though, I still feel like that 21 year old girl. I am still filled with hopes and dreams waiting to be conquered and fulfilled, only this time, I am living in my first dream house, I am about to learn to drive my first dream car, I have money in the bank, I have traveled to so many places and I'd like to think that I have already accomplished a lot. Heck, I have even retired from corporate world at the age of 30!

I won't go into much detail about these things now. And like I said before, no more New Year's resolutions for me. So many resolutions have passed me in my lifetime and not one of them darn lists has ever entirely been resolved. So I just simply stopped making them. My new mantra for this year would be to JUST DO IT! Whatever it is that I want, I will just do it. No more intricate planning, procrastination, over analysis and rationalization. I am given 24 hours a day, hence I must make them count.


To help remind me of some of the things I want to get into this year, I made a simple colored reminder which I posted on that part of the bookshelf in my office that I always look at.


It's the same wall where I posted my 12 year old mantra. This way, when I get too focused and concentrated at work, I'll be reminded that there are other fun stuff to do for me, just waiting around the corner. ^_^


And no, they're not resolutions... just stuff which I am looking forward to doing. They may sound mundane to most people, but for someone like me who tends to work 15 hours a day, to be able to accomplish them would feel like a feat.

Happy 2011! May the new year bring you closer to your dreams!

No More Resolutions for 2011

Another year has just passed. In fact, another decade has just flown by so quickly. It amazes me how I'm no longer that 21 year old gal I used to know, fresh out of college, full of hopes and dreams for her future. In reality though, I do still feel like that 21 year old girl. I am still filled with hopes and dreams waiting to be conquered and fulfilled, only this time, I am living in my first dream house, I am about to learn to drive my first dream car, I have money in the bank, I have traveled to so many places and I'd like to think that I have already accomplished a lot. Heck, I have even retired from the corporate world at the age of 30!


I won't go into much detail about these things now. And like I said before, no more New Year's resolutions for me. So many resolutions have passed me in my lifetime and not one of them darn lists has ever entirely been resolved. So I just simply stopped making them. My new mantra for this year would be to JUST DO IT! Whatever it is that I want, I will just do it. No more intricate planning, procrastination, over analysis and rationalization. I am given 24 hours a day, hence I must make them count.

The Sameness of New Year for Me

Each time a new year comes, I am always filled with hopes and dreams of having a better one, of being able to do the things I still haven't done, and hopefully come out better than my old self. I started my 2010 by traveling in Asia (Vietnam-Kuala Lumpur-Singapore) and I am ending it with my 2 weeks vacation in Negros Oriental and Cebu. In between, I've accomplished a lot in terms of work, paid my debts, earned something extra, traveled some more and overcame my repressed neuroses in a matter of a few days (thanks to the Kicking Pinay in me!).

I've come to a point when I stopped over analyzing the things that have happened and just feel grateful for all the blessings that have come and are still coming my way.

I also always find myself hooked to a song that always proves to be the anthem of my life for each particular year.

For instance, in 2008-09, Gyskard's PINK LIFE was what my whole life was about. Then the latter part of 2009 til the rest of 2010, I was motivated by Natasha Bedingfield's UNWRITTEN. For the coming new year, 2011, I am making Katy Perry's FIREWORK my life's anthem. And with this new song, I am welcoming my 2011. I am igniting my light and letting it shine. Here's to a more colorful, productive, better and meaningful New Year!

Happy 2011 everyone! Cheers!

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?

Do you ever feel already buried deep?
Six feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there's still a chance for you
'Cause there's a spark in you?

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause baby, you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go, oh
You're gonna leave 'em falling down

You don't have to feel like a waste of space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe you're reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow
And when it's time, you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go, oh
You're gonna leave 'em falling down

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It's always been inside of you, you, you
And now it's time to let it through

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go, oh
You're gonna leave 'em falling down

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

It's all coming back, it's all coming back to me now...

I just spent 30 minutes crying inside our bedroom while Peter watches Friends reruns downstairs. He doesn't know... yet.

A heavy feeling descended on my chest right after our village utility guy paid us a visit at home to announce about this village Christmas party that we'll be having tomorrow. My first thought was "Oh no..."

Then I went upstairs, told Peter about it, told him to give the guy some sort of donation that the village is asking for and just tell him we won't be home tomorrow. Then I went to the bathroom, washed my face, went to bed and just started crying. I mean, when and how did I become like this?! I used to love Christmas and I used to throw Christmas parties when I was a kid!

I remember as early as eight years old, I would organize a Christmas party in our village, I'd wrap gifts for my neighbors and even buy food and prepare sandwiches and juice. I did this until summer of my freshman year in high school. What happened to me? How did I become this jaded and screwed?

Oh.... oh.... then I began remembering.

Mental Babble

It gets harder before it gets easier.

I'm talking about life in general... well, at least the one that's in my head.

You see, things are actually great. My 8-year marriage with Peter has been sailing smoothly and it continues to do so (well, unless he's cheating behind my back which should not be the case coz I'd let him if he really wants to), our finances are in order, we're healthy (at least as far as I know), we have a couple of trips planned in the near future, my personal projects are slowly taking off, and everything just seems calm. But then there are moments

Work from Home, Fun and Relaxation

It was a long weekend alright, I was planning to do some windsurfing but because I was not feeling physically up to it, we made other plans instead. See, this is what happens when I am lacking Vita Plus in my life. It's been a month since I last had a glass of my favorite vegetable juice and not only am I gaining weight (see my fatty photos taken yesterday), I am not feeling like my usual superwoman self too. I just keep forgetting to buy and thank God for my group leader's reminders, a new pack was delivered at Peter's office yesterday afternoon. I can't wait to drink a glass! I expect to lose weight soon and be able to multitask again like before. I got some projects up my sleeve and I don't want to lose time oversleeping just coz I feel lethargic and overfatigue. I don't want to give up my chocolates, chips and ice cream too! ^_^

So anyway, since my Saturday was spent working for 14 hours straight, the rest of my leisure was done last Sunday. Peter cooked some really nice dish --- Baked Salmon, Eggplant Tzatiki and Japanese Rice.


The rest of the day, we had Greenwich Pizza --- Pepperoni Overload and Philly Cheesesteak. It's their buy one take one promo as long as you order a family size of any of the pizza overloads. ^_^ We also got to watch two of the DVDs we bought before --- Furry Vengeance starring Brendan Fraser and After Life starring Christina Ricci. Unfortunately, I didn't find them good.

Furry Vengeance, for me, was not well-made. I find the characters a bit annoying that I didn't finish the movie anymore.

As for After Life, it seemed interesting at first but it all got me so confused towards the end. So, was she really dead or alive?! I wasn't happy with the DVD movies that I ended up just hanging out at different parts of the house reading Deathly Hallows and finishing Paolo Coelho's Brida.


I can never stress this enough... I love our house. It's not that big but big enough for the both of us.


It has a lot of cozy nooks and crannies that we can hang out at, and even if I'm just by myself, with my books, magazines, beads, music or what-not, I never get bored.


We designed it in such a way that every corner contains some memento from some of our travels. Even the wooden furniture were bought from Antipolo and Tagaytay.

House of Dreams - Living In My Childhood Dream Home

I grew up living a simple life. There were times I felt extremely lucky (thanks to my grandfather who is rich enough to help out my parents financially) and there were times I felt extremely hungry and sad (coz my dad didn't really have any stable job and my mom is working for the government until now). All I wanted was to finish my studies (thank God to my scholarships) so I can live the life I've always wanted, which means, have a place I can call my own, decorate it any way I want to, and be able to do what I want (like walk naked if I want to... which I used to do a lot of times even as a young kid inside my own room. Teehee. I remember one summer, I was 15, my cousins and I took a photo of ourselves naked. My dad was the one who developed the film and he went ballistic on us! Teehee. ^_^ Those were priceless times!).

Anyhoo, I've always wanted to live in a nice, cozy house with glass doors, and surrounded by beautiful things... my beautiful things. I'm fortunate enough to say that I've been living my childhood dream for a few years now. Thanks to Popsy, to Peter, and to God's infinite blessings! And recently, my hubby and I had some parts of my childhood dream home renovated --- I had the front yard fenced to stop the kids from turning it into their afternoon playground, I had the plants taken out since I don't know how to take care of them anyway, I had my bathroom tiles changed coz they were breaking away due to the extreme heat, and all those extra white rocks that were left, I decorated the balcony with. Now I realize that all the things I could ever need are just here at home. So don't blame me if I'm always lazy to leave the house (except when we go on out of town trips). Hihihi.

GMA 7 Unang Hirit Interview, Vita Plus, etc.

Yeah, after only 6 weeks of doing one of my passions, I wasn’t only successful in spreading health, wellness and extra energy among  some people in my social network, friends and family but I’ve also earned Php50, 175.00 total. WOW!!! That is some serious money. And I haven’t even really worked hard for it yet. All I did was just share my experiences the way I know how — through blogging, microblogging and chatting most of the time. I figured, since I blog about so many other things, places, products and services, why not share about the most influential thing in my life right now,  which is First Vita Plus, right? So that’s just what I did.

For someone like me, who until now, still don’t know the name of my neighbors and who is so busy with other things (I have 2 VA jobs… I let go of my 3rd one just so I can still do VTRs, acting, my nail art and lingerie biz on the side, plus do household chores and sleep!), the Vita Plus Biz is really the way to go if you want to earn some real money while advocating health at the same time. Their products, especially the vegetable juice drinks that taste like dalandan, melon, pineapple and mango are indeed miracle drinks!  Especially these days when all of us eat THE TOP 5 CANCER-CAUSING FOODS — hotdogs, french fries, doughnuts, chips/crackers/cookies and processed meats/bacons.Thanks to Vita Plus juice drink, Peter and I haven’t been sick since we started drinking it last July 28. And we don’t anymore  take our other multivitamins and supplements. Plus, we’re always bursting with energy so we can do more of the things we love to do! Like later, Sunday morning, after having been awake for 33 hours now as of writing this blog post, we’ll be heading to Batangas for somekayaking and snorkeling activity. It’s been so long since we last hit the beach! No thanks to the crazy weather we’ve been having for several months now. 

With the Unang Hirit Segment Producer (girl beside me) and the camera crew

Anyhoo, the week passed like a blur. Tuesday afternoon, when I was supposed to be already sleeping, the segment producer and camera crew of GMA 7’s Unang Hirit dropped by the house to interview me regarding my Mobile Digital Nail Art Biz. I wasn’t able to catch when it was shown coz like I said, I was busy with work. And when Unang Hirit airs every morning from 6-9am, that is usually  my crunch time at work. Anyway, I did get calls from people inquiring about my nail art biz so I guess it already got aired.

Kuta Beach and Nusa Dua Hotel Hopping

 For those who would like to read my Indonesia travelogue from the start, click these:

Indonesia

~~~oOo~~~

Sunbathing Galore

My third day in Bali was the only time I enjoyed swimming at Harris’ pool while waiting for Jowi to finish breakfast.  It was also the only time I got to take advantage of  their public beach which was just right across our resort. Lora prepared such a tight schedule full of activities for us and hopefully, next time, when I visit this place again, with Peter in tow, we can fully relax at this beach and even take surfing lessons. ^_^

GMA 7 Imbestigador Interview - VA

After I got my retainers from my orthodontist last Saturday, we dropped by Metrowalk to buy some more DVDs. We of course wanted to get Supernatural Season 4! Unfortunately, the season isn't finished yet. Since we were so excited to find out what happened to Dean Winchester's soul in hell, we bought it nonetheless. Hehehe.  By the time we got home, it was already late. I was in time to watch Peter on TV though. At last, his interview got aired. But even before Peter was able to watch it, he already fell asleep due to fatigue and lack of sleep.  The show was about the pros and cons of the US crisis. There were a lot of depressing matters at first like our fellowmen losing their jobs overseas. It really made me feel a lot more guilty for quitting my job. I felt like I wanted to go back to the workforce right then and there. Good thing they also showed the positive side of the situation. To those who missed it, here's your chance to watch it...

VA interview by Imbestigador, Etc.

TV CREW IN THE HOUSE

Our long weekend started last Friday when GMA7’s IMBESTIGADOR  crew visited us at home to interview Peter regarding his work. Two weeks ago, our friend, Angel Directo, who is the overall head (Associate Producer) of the show called me to ask if they can interview me regarding my job. They’re pitching an  episode regarding the pros and cons of the US crisis and my being a virtual assistant seemed to fit the pro side of the issue. However, a week after she called me, I suddenly resigned from my job. So when they called me again just last week, I have already forgotten about it. Since Peter is in the same line of work (working from home), I referred him to them and the rest is history. The show is tentatively set to air on December 6 at 10:00 p.m.