and i thought panties with pockets are weird

prayer

dear Lord,

sana po magkaroon na ng bally (nude) medium tan stockings sa sm department store. tatlong branch na po kasi ang napuntahan ko, out-of-stock sa lahat. hindi po kasi talaga ako natutuwa sa ibang kulay o ibang brand. hindi po tuloy ako makapag-skirt ngayon.

promise ko po na iingatan ko ang mga iyon kapag may nabili na ako. makikinig na po ako kay nel at ilalagay ko na sa freezer bago ko isuot, para lalong tumibay. bibili na rin po ako ng surgical gloves para hindi sumabit sa kuko ko kapag sinusuot o tinatanggal ko.

amen.

; )

vigan na!

grabe, tingi-tingi ang pag-post ko! wehehe!

pahabol lang sa laoag:



nakuhaan pala ako ni ma'am maggie. wala lang. : )

after laoag, two-hour trip naman to vigan. nakakahiya nga sa mga taga-vigan, 5:30 na kasi kami nakarating. buti, malapit lang ang vigan branch namin sa tricycle terminal. hindi kami nahirapan pumunta.

nalungkot nga lang ako nung nakita ko yung branch. luma na kasi yun, eh. matagal nang for renovation, pero hindi namin mapa-renovate kasi hindi ata na-a-approve ng vigan council yung design. sa historical area kasi kami located.



good thing, tomorrow na ang start ng construction ng bagong branch. lilipat na kami! mas maganda ang magiging location kasi nasa sentro mismo ng vigan. parang gusto ko tuloy bumalik para tingnan ang branch pag gawa na. hehe!

though medyo late na, maliwanag pa naman. i decided to go exploring on my own. na-excite ako dahil hindi pa ako nakakalayo, nakita ko na ito:




shopping time na! : ) bought these:

big vigan mug for P180, abel iloco bag for P120, vigan shirt for P130 & cellphone bag for P20. also bought a massager for P70, & 3 hand towels shaped like dresses for P100.

dahil nga sobrang excited ako makita yung mga lumang bahay, i couldn't get enough of them when i was already there.








nakakalungkot lang kasi some are in dire need of repair already. actually, kahit repainting nga lang. sana i-restore, para mas maganda.



sakto kasi when i got back to the branch, paalis na sila for dinner. sir mon, our vigan branch head, drove us to alad, a nearby resort own by the family of his wife's sister. kasama rin namin si raizen, one of our vigan branch personnel.

they served us bagnet, fish, red chopsuey (as in red talaga, parang may ketchup, weird at first pero masarap) & rice. may nagsiyasiyam (not sure of the spelling) din - sabi ni sir mon at ni raizen, basically pritong balat daw yun ng longganisa. masarap din! meron ding malalaking chicharon na coquillas daw ang tawag. ayos ang dinner namin, marami akong bagong natikman. : )

after dinner, walang kamatayang videoke. as in. baka hindi lang P150 ang naubos namin sa machine.



oo nga pala, naka-100 ako! lost in your eyes ni debbie gibson. akalain mo! ; )

i think it was almost 10 already when we left. hinatid kami ni sir mon sa gordion inn, where he booked us for the night. kahit gabi na, hindi pa rin namin pinatawad ang camera.





naks, makaluma ang itsura ng pics! in keeping with the look of the place. : )

i think 11 na nung naka-settle down kami. the room was okay - malaki naman. a movie of ann curtis was showing on cinema one. hindi ko alam yung title - basta yung anak pala siya ng demonyo. grabe, tinapos ko talaga yun. tinapos ko rin yung isa sa mga librong dala ko - crazy as chocolate by elisabeth lowell. kaya 2 na ako nakatulog.

ma'am maggie woke up nel & me before 6. gusto kasi namin habulin yung biyahe ng partas to baguio, eh 7:30 raw ang alis. kaya dali-dali ang pagligo at pag-aayos.

we had our breakfast in what they call, "the ruins". in fairness to gordion inn, maganda ang ambiance. good thing, the weather cooperated. hindi muna umulan. : )





i had tapa & pomelo juice. masarap naman.



weird lang kasi basil leaves ang kasama ng juice at gulay. basil?!

all in all, okay naman sa gordion. i paid only P400 for my extra bed & breakfast. pwede na, no?



on the way to the main road, photo ops na naman ulit:







babay, vigan!

sa kasamaang-palad, naiwan kami ng bus papuntang baguio. hindi pala 7:30 ang alis, 7! kaaalis pa lang daw pagdating namin, as in 1 minute pa lang. hay...

we just decided to take the bus to manila, then bababa kami sa san fernando, la union station ng partas. baka maabutan pa kasi namin ang bus papuntang baguio. kaya hintay muna.



sa susunod na ulit. : )

the idiot's guide to using a flash drive

after ten million years, i have decided to junk my floppies in favor of a two-gigabyte toshiba transmemory. hurrah to me! HURRAH!!!

you may ask, what prompted the ever-kuripot grace to buy a Php 1400 flash drive? well, i'm moving to a different department (more on this some other time), & my new position would involve doing some presentations. nahihiya naman ako sa boss ko kung forever ko na lang ipapa-email sa kanya yung mga powerpoint, kasi wala akong flash drive. ayun.

here's how the newest addition to my office stuff looks like:


at dahil medyo nakakaloka ang presyo ng device na ito, binasa ko ang manual. marami akong natutunang mga importanteng bagay tulad ng:

* accidental swallowing may cause suffocation or injury. contact a doctor immediately if you suspect a child has swallowed the product.

* the product shall not be used with equipment (including but not limited to atomic energy control, airplane or spaceship, transportation, traffic signal, combustion control, or medical instruments, as well as all types of safety devices) that requires extraordinarily high quality and/or reliability, or equipment a malfunction or failure of which may cause loss of human life or bodily injury.

* toshiba assumes no liability for damage or losses due to fire, earthquake, natural disaster, accidents, acts of third parties, or negligent or intentional misuse.

buti na lang, may manual. hahaha! :D

back, after a two-week hiatus

holler!

natawa ako, may comment na si chi na "update!" sa chatbox ko. first time ko atang nakatanggap ng ganoong comment. busy kasi ako during the past two weeks, kaya hindi na ako nakapag-update. tinatamad din. hehe! ; )

i went to a retreat last last week (feb. 23-25). buti na lang talaga, nakapunta ako. it was sponsored by the family renewal movement, a community that deirdre belongs to. actually, siya ang nag-invite sa amin. i went there with rica and rocel, two embryo classmates. there, i met jacqui & em, two of deirdre's college friends. we hit it right off. as in. we got to the BLD covenant house at 4:42 (sakto ang estimate ni manong driver!) but were already laughing our heads off at each other's stories before sunset. grabe kasi ang kwentong fitness first nina em at rica! i bet nagsisi si deirdre na kami ang pingsabay niya sa isang batch. hehe!

at some points, ang hirap ngang tandaan na retreat pala iyon. ang kulit kasi namin! 2 o'clock na kami natulog nung friday night (este, saturday morning) kasi puro kwentuhan. ang hirap tumahimik! pero kailangan, baka magising ang mga kasama namin sa "morgue" (mukhang morgue kasi ang kwarto namin, puro nakatalukbong ng puting kumot ang mga kasama namin).

kaya ayun, inaantok ako nang todo habang may nagsasalita. buti na lang, may kape.

nung saturday night (actually, sunday morning), 2 ulit ang tulog. ang masaya nito, ginising pa kami ng 5! as in! hinarana kasi kami ng sponsoring class. in fairness, na-enjoy ko yung songs kahit na single na ako. : )

buti na lang, balik sa tulog afterwards. then gising ulit ng 7.

teka, retreat nga pala iyon. haha!

maganda naman ang talks. i appreciated the one given by tita rose & tito paulo pabalan most. it was about traditional versus progressive beliefs. napaisip talaga ako sa discussion. a couple of times, napaiyak din ako sa reflections (as expected). natuwa rin ako nung nakita ko yung envelope na puro palanca letters from my family & friends. thank you. : ) & in fairness, i left BLD feeling a lot lighter & more optimistic. thank you, Lord. : )

kagagaling ko nga lang pala sa southmall dahil may 3-day sale. i was able to buy a bag, & two blouses today. nung friday naman, 1 business attire (na kailangan ko pang ipa-alter!) at amy tan's "the bonesetter's daughter". tapos ko na, kanina pa. bumili nga rin pala ako ng desk organizer nung friday. kung nakita mo na ang mesa ko sa office, obvious na kailangan ko. hehe! well, sobrang nice nung organizer! ican't wait to bring it to the office! yay! : )

oo nga pala, bumili rin ako ng walang-kamatayang stockings. : )

o siya, eto lang muna. may pasok pa ako bukas. balak ko pang pumasok nang maaga para ayusin yung mesa ko. career! : )

sweet dreams, friends. : )

will buy: digicam, & all HP books

the past week went by slowly. as in. i was out of the office on official business (to participate in job fairs) from tuesday afternoon to friday afternoon. hence, the pile i saw on my table come friday afternoon was more than enough to make me wish that there is more than one of me to process all of those papers.

needless to say, i am quite tired. i was supposed to drop by the office yesterday, but i decided against it. my soft bed & blanket got the better of me. i woke up at around 3 pm, contented with all the sleep that i got. haha...

= = = = = = = = = =

okay, i have now decided to buy a digicam. any suggestions? :)

= = = = = = = = = =

the hp 5 movie will be shown on july 13. yay! nag-schedule na ng leave si kacey at nel para dito. gusto ko na rin tuloy mag-leave. hehe! tapos, the 7th book, harry potter & the deathly hallows, will be out on july 21. shocks, gastos na naman. major expense ito, since i already intend to buy the whole set of 7 hardbound books in a box. mababa na siguro ang 10k. grabe...

i'm thinking of...

...buying a digicam in time for the HR outing in subic on feb. 9. kaso, ang mahal. parang sayang ang pera...

tsk, tsk. eto na naman ang kakuriputan ko. ; )

in cooking heaven

i think that all of my high school friends know that i love to cook, & that i'm good at it. during our Christmas party in third year high school, i offered to bring lasagna, which turned out to be a hit with my classmates. the same was the fate of the mango cheesecake that i made for dianne's birthday a couple of years ago (nahuli ko pang sinisimot ni pat at tenten yung container na nasa sink na).

give me a recipe, ingredients & equipment, & more likely than not, i will be able to cook whatever is in the recipe. there goes the reason i was touted as "housewife material".

my major cooking frustration was that i couldn't learn baking because we didn't have an oven. but now, we have one!

last tuesday, i bought an elba gas range with oven as a gift for my family. it looks like this:



it was delivered yesterday afternoon. i already tried baking a dish of brownies this afternoon, & they turned out great! okay, i cheated because i used a brownie mix, but still! :)

i sure hope that i'll have enough time (& patience!) to practice baking in the next few weeks. i want to learn how to make brownies, pies, cookies, even cakes! who knows, i might be able to whip something yummy in time for Christmas. can't wait! :)

flip-flops get into stingy little me

elcie: parang hindi ko mapagtugma, e. si grace, bibili ng havaianas? magugunaw na ba ang mundo? baka dapat bumili na rin ako, para masubukan ko.

opo, bumili po ako ng havaianas. eto po siya:

natawa naman ako dun sa sinabi ni elcie. legendary na ata ang kakuriputan ko. hehe... : )