Quick Dinner Date at Italliani's

After Hubby and I watched a movie a couple of months ago, we decided to have a quick bite at Italliani's.


We were still full after our snacks at the movie house so we just had, salad, salpicao for appetizer and a big bowl of pasta. But the servings were TOO huge that we weren't able to finish ALL of it. But the kids happily ate our left overs as soon as we got home. Instant "pasalubong"!

The Little Girl's Ballet Class for 2013 Summer

Just like her Ate, she also had a summer class and for her, she tried Ballet for the first time.


She enjoyed it even if it was just 12 sessions. She is now looking forward to attend more classes soon.

Good job, little girl!

Wednesday Happy Thoughts

Happiness is...

1. Happy weekend
2. Surviving our daily challenges at home
3. Party for the little girls
4. Covenant Orientation
5. Gift of my family ♥
6. The little girls helping me out with house chores
7. Hubby
8. Simple things that make us happy
9. Strength to do all the things that I need to do
10. eBooks - Make me SANE!

To know how this started and credits of the header, click here.

The Ate's Hiphop Class for 2013 Summer

Summer is almost over but the Ate is still on a high with her recent hiphop class. She loves her class so much!


We'll see if she'll push through with this throughout the year. She's enjoying it and it looks like she is really good at it. I'm so proud of her!

Basic Thrift Guides for Moms

I noticed that budgeting has been hard these days. Prices have gone up, expenses doubled but salaries are still the same. So here's a nice basic thrift guide that I find helpful from Notepad Corner (http://www.notepadcorner.com/2012/02/basic-thrift-guide.html) that you might find it useful too...

- Unplug appliances when not in use
- Laptop usage for my online tasks, as it consumes less power than the desktop
- Buying kitchen and laundry supplies in bulk for a two-week replenishment.
- Schedule the laundry twice a week instead of every other day.
- Watering the plants with the used water in rinsing clothes
- Iron clothes in the morning
- Utilize the time feature of the air conditioning unit
- Turn off the lights if day lighting is sufficient
- Defrost the refrigerator weekly
- Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs as it only use about 25% of normal bulbs and would last ten times longer
- If there’s a call for a furniture or home appliance replacement, opt for a repair at the moment while waiting for discounted bargain sale.

These are indeed helpful especially if it's the time of the month to pay tuition fees, buy school books and school supplies. It's best to be wise and thrifty to have a great future for you and your family.

Sharing a Song this Sunday: Lord, I NEED YOU.

This is so timely since we've been having trials and challenges for the past few weeks now...


Lord, I definitely need YOU! Thank you for being there, ALWAYS.

Song was entitled Lord, I need You by Chris Tomlin.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

The Fault in the Stars by John Greene

If you want to cry, then this book is for you! After reading it, I was totally in tears because I was so touched by the book. I highly recommend it simply because it is very easy to read.


The Fault in Our Stars is the fourth solo novel by author John Green, published in January 2012. The story is narrated by a sixteen-year-old cancer patient named Hazel, who is forced by her parents to attend a support group, where she subsequently meets and falls in love with the seventeen-year-old Augustus Waters, an ex-basketball player and amputee. SOURCE.

I still can't forget how the story ended. I guess I will never forget it. The book is just touching. I can't wait to watch the movie.

Bonding with my Mom and Sister at Spaholics

Before my Mom went back to the States, I treated her and my sister to a mani/pedi at Spaholics. It was time for a girl bonding!


We all had a grand time, bonding while being pampered!


My Mom was so ready to go back to the States after our girl bonding at Spaholics. ♥

Wednesday Happy Thoughts

Happiness is...

1. Quick getaway with the whole family
2. Surviving the current trials and challenges
3. Coffee
4. Kids
5. Ebooks!
6. Chatting with Siblings everyday
7. Facebook and Instagram
8. Nap time with the little ones
9. Online shopping
10. God's L.O.V.E.

To know how this started and credits of the header, click here.

Flu Vaccine, DONE!

As part of our yearly to-do list, we are done with having our flu vaccine a couple of weeks ago.


Since we've been doing this every year, it helps us fight against flu and other diseases for the past few years now. Now I feel a little healthier!

How about you? Did you get a flu shot already?

Celebrated Easter Sunday at Boon Tong Kee

During the Easter Sunday a couple of months ago, we wanted to try something new to celebrate the occassion. We tried Boon Tong Kee at Rockwell since I was craving for Roasted Chicken from Singapore.


Oh, the food was so yummy.

We got the soup with egg and vegetables, roasted chicken of course, and shrimp in cereals. Yum, yum, yummmm! It was an unforgettable dinner, and we will surely go back to try their other dishes.

♥♥♥

Sharing a Song this Sunday: Always Enough

Today is a beautiful day simply because we are alive. Thank you God for the gift of life.

Here's a nice song for you today...Always Enough by Casting Crowns.


Your LOVE is definitely enough. Have a blessed Sunday, everyone!

Wonderful Thai Food at NAV.

One Saturday when my Mom was here, she wanted to eat dinner with us. So off we went to try NAV for the first time.



I'm glad we did because the food was great. The place was a little small but it was ok since we were able to get seats as soon as we got there. Yes, we were early!

So if you plan to eat at NAV, make sure that you call for reservation or be there as early as 6PM for dinner!

Guitar Session, On-going!

The little girl's grandparents gave her a nice, pink guitar on her birthday last March. So, the Dada promised to teach her lessons during the summer.


The Dada is having fun teaching her guitar lessons. It's a plus too that they have good quality guitars like the guitars from musicians friend I found online. It is sturdy and the nylon strings are really effective especially for a beginner like the little girl. The Dada believes that a nice guitar would help a student learn fast. I'm glad their guitars are really good! I'm hoping that she learns a chord or two this summer. She really is into music these days and would love to learn a whole song after a few months perhaps.

Wednesday Happy Thoughts

Happiness is...

1. Happy Weekend!
2. Mother's Day celebration
3. Yellow Cab's Dear Darla ♥♥♥
4. 30-Minutes Walk through the Treadmill
5. Households :)
6. New Bags. Woot!
7. Instagram
8. Coffee in the morning
9. Another party for the little girls last weekend
10. Online Sale

To know how this started and credits of the header, click here.

The Ate's Favorite Book these Days

...Dork Diaries by Renee Russell.


This one was a birthday gift from a good friend. She loves it to bits and has been reading it since March. There are also activity pages that she likes doing. Definitely perfect for the summer!

How about your kids? Do they have a favorite book for the summer?



My Hiphop Class

I wanted to try something new a couple of months ago, so I decided to buy a hiphop class voucher from a groupon and try it for an hour.


Surprisingly, I really had fun! The moves were easy enough for me to follow. I love that my little girl also love it and now she wants to join a hiphop class too! I should try it again one of these days!

This is all for good health in 2013!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the mothers, keep in mind that we have the MOST important jobs in the whole wide world. So we deserve to have fun and enjoy our day today...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!


Cheers!

Sharing a Song this Sunday: Alive

Since it's Mother's Day today, I wanted to share something that we, mothers can dance with!


It feels good to dance, isn't it?

Let us all enjoy our day today, Mommies! (*wink*)

Had the Best Paella for our Family Day

For our family day last January, we had this as the highlight of our lunch...


The best paella I've ever tasted! It was lovingly cooked by BIL for our balikbayan relatives. I probably had several servings of paella that day. Yum, yum, yum!

A Special Night at La Cocina de Tita Moning

It was one special night for Hubby and I. We celebrated our 8th anniversary and we decided to have dinner at La Cocina de Tita Moning.


I was really excited that particular night because I've read and heard a lot of good reviews about the restaurant. And look what we are having for the night...


As soon as we arrived the house turned into restaurant, we were ushered to the garden area to have very lights snacks of crackers with cheese and the very tasty pandan iced tea. We toured the house for a couple of minutes, then dinner finally started!

Tapas Sampler include: Pork Belly in Almond Pili Milk, Gazpacho Shot with Crab and Avocadoes and Gambaz with Chorizo.


I like everything except the pork belly which I found too fatty.

We also had roasted beet salad with organic greens, torched Davao goat cheese and caramelized walnuts.


Oh boy, it was the best!

For Hubby's main course, he chosed, beef osso buco which was so tender and tasty.


I, on the other hand had seafood potpourri with saffron nage, julianne of vegetables.


It was just ok for me and I didn't find anything special in this dish.

But the desserts, on the other hand was TDF!


Homemade Nut Cake with Citrus Ice Cream, Homemade Fritters, Tita Moning's Bread Pudding and Polvorones of Fresh Mango to go perfectly with your choice of coffee, tea or native hot chocolate.

Oh wow, I would say it was the best anniversary dinners we ever had, so far! I highly recommend this place!

La Cocina de Tita Moning is located at San Rafael St. Manila. For reservations call: (02) 734 2146 or visit their website at www.lacocinadetitamoning.com.

Wednesday Happy Thoughts

Happiness is...

1. Trip to Boracay with siblings!
2. "Me" time
3. Food trip - Bachoy, seafoods, unlimited shakes, bbq and more!
4. My Dear Hubby :)
5. Online shopping
6. Relaxing trip
7. The BEACH ♥♥♥
8. Bonding time
9. My little girls
10. Healthy Living

To know how this started and credits of the header, click here.

See you soon, Iron Man!

The whole family can't wait to see Iron Man...



Love, love the movie trailer. I really hope to see you soon, Iron Man!

LED/T5HO Lighting - The Most Advanced Technology so Far!

If you have a husband that keeps himself updated with all the advanced technology out there, you have no choice but to enjoy his ramblings about these too. So now, I really enjoy observing how much techonology has changed over the years. The development is rapid and fast, sometimes it changes in a blink of an eye.

I discovered a wonderful technology today called LED or T5HO Lighting. It helps plants grow healthy. You can Find the t5ho light at ACTechWI.com and you will see more details there. It is very advanced but you can be assured that it is safe. Because after 14+ combined months of beta testing they found the best propagation light available and it is the T5 HO fluorescent. You see, they've been studying this for months so you are assured that it pretty much works.

But it doesn't stop there, with this LED lighting for your plants, comes the GFI circuit breaker from ACTechWI.com. I know, I know, too technical! But if you read more about it in their website, you'll realized that it is pretty simple. It is a device that you keep your LED lighting safer. With these devices you are assured that your plants will grow in a safe environment.

Our Last Ride before Leaving EK

...and probably the highlight of our entire trip to Enchanted Kingdom is the Rialto.


Simply because the movie was our favorite - Journey 2 the Center of the Earth.


We were so glad we were able to make it to the last few shows. After the fireworks, we went to 4D which was not too good, then went straight to Rialto. It was simply the best!

Sharing a Song this Sunday: The Man who can't be Moved

Here's another song by The Script. I've been listening to their wonderful songs for the past few days now.


Have a good one, everyone! Enjoy your Sunday! (*wink*)

The Much Awaited Fireworks at EK!

Apart from our favorite rides in EK, one thing that we always look forward is the fireworks display. We weren't surprised that from 7PM they have moved it to 8PM. It was a perfect timing because we were almost done with dinner and fireworks were just above us.

It was magical, as always!




I swear, it was really beautiful, it's just that my photos didn't do justice to the fireworks display. (*grin*)

Does, this mean, it was time to go? Nope, we still had one more ride before we went home. Watch out for my last post soon!

The EKstreme Tower Ride

The EKstreme Tower, as it is called, is a sudden drop ride that sits 12 passengers and lifts you up at about 150 feet and then drops. Keeps you on a free fall for less than 2 seconds and then stops.

And yes. I did it! I tried it and it was G.R.E.A.T.!


I didn't plan on riding this scary ride. But after Hubby and my sister went to try it, they highly recommended it. So I did! And I never regretted it. The experience was definitely unforgettable. You should try it too!!! (*grin*)

The Kids' Favorite Rides at Enchanted Kingdom

The little girls had their own favorite rides ever since we discovered the EK's kids' area. But I was surprised that during our visit to EK last April, they discovered more rides that are now their favorites.

Here are those rides...

I guess the Grand Carousel will never be scratched off from their list of favorite rides!


Since this is the first ride that you see in EK, it's a must to try this!


Next favorite ride, the Bumbling Boulder.


Of course, they wouldn't want to miss the Dinosaur Ride!


The new ride that they tried this year is the Roller Skater.


At first I was hesitant to let them try it. It was too fast! But when they did try, they had the time of their lives! I'm so glad I let them try.

Lastly, Rialto.


And since the movie shown was from their favorite movie, Journey 2 the Center of the Earth, this is probably the highlight of our trip. They loved it so much and couldn't get over it even when we got home. ♥♥♥

Now we know which rides to try first if ever we will be back in EK!

It's Good to be Back at Enchanted Kingdom!

As our yearly tradition, we've been going to my sister's family day at work, for a couple of years now. This time, we went back to Enchanted Kingdom!



Since the weather is waaaay too hot these days, we opted to go in the afternoon. We arrived around 3:30PM and was able to enter the park around 4PM.



It was still hot but manageable and after a few minutes, there were lots of shaded area already. So I guess it was a perfect time to enjoy Enchanted Kingdom!

Watch out for more stories and photos in the next few days...(*wink*)


Wednesday Happy Thoughts

Happiness is...

1. Relaxing Weekend
2. Iron Man 3!
3. Gong Cha Milk Tea
4. Family Time
5. Hecky's Lechon
6. 2 Hour Nap
7. The little girls having fun this summer
8. Popcorn
9. My brother has arrived!
10. Labor Day Holiday!

To know how this started and credits of the header, click here.