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While the whole family is preparing for our trip for the New Year. I’m still online doing some research about home insurance quotes for my Dad. I would say that I missed being online for the whole day. Being on Holidays is quite relaxing that you tend to forget your tasks.

Oh well. Now here’s a little bit of fun before I proceed on my tasks.

Thanks to Dez for letting me grab this Meme.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

~ I shopped until I’m broke! LOL!

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

~ Yes, I was healthy this year and will vow to be healthy again in 2010

3. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve?

~ We will be just at home with the in laws

4. Did anyone close to you die?

~ My Mom’s close friend passed away, A dad of my friend, and our neighbor

5. What countries did you visit?

~ I went to Jakarta and Bali with my Mom and sister

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

~ Savings!

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

~ November 21, 2009 – AA’s first birthday celebration

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

~ A survived the Junior Nursery. AA turns One!

9. What was your biggest failure?

~ I don’t want to talk about it.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

~ Me and the rest of the family had flu, cough and colds right before Christmas and up to now

11. What was the best thing you bought?

~ My coach wallet

12. Where did most of your money go?

~ Shopping! (BAD!)

13. What song will always remind you of 2009?

~ Same with Dez – NOBODY!

14. What do you wish you’d done more of?

~ I wish I could have rested more before the Holidays and read more books

15. What do you wish you’d done less of?

~ Nothing

16. What was your favourite TV program?

~ None. I don’t watch TV at all.

17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

~ No I don’t hate anyone

18. What was the best book you read?

~ The Hunger Games and The Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

19. What was your greatest musical discovery?

~ None

20. What was your favorite film of this year?

~ Time Traveller’s Wife and New Moon

21. What did you do on your birthday?

~ We went to beach

22. What kept you sane?

~ Blogging and internet

23. Who did you miss?

~ Surprisingly, I miss my parents and so are my brothers and sister

24. Who was the best new person you met?

~ I’m not sure

25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:

~ Life is short so tell your loved ones that you love them. Be Grateful with what you have. Have Faith and keep in mind that God will always provide.

Happy New Year everyone!

This is Hubby’s official favorite book now. I gave this to him for Christmas along with some Ferrero chocolates and surprisingly, he loved it to bits! You see, Hubby is not a book lover so it is a surprise to see him reading a “real” book. LOL! Since he loved this, I’m planning to give him another one – The Hunger Games after he is done reading it.

Of course, I would want to read it to after he’s done. It seems like it is a very nice book after Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. I cannot even talk to him anymore! Blame it on the book. And when I try to ask him to find some Mopar performance parts he wouldn’t dare put down the book. Oh well, he’s halfway and almost done anyway so I will just let him enjoy my gift.

A day or two before the 24th, Hubby got sick. Then I followed. We were down with a flu. After half a day, the kids were down with fever and cough too. We had very tough nights monitoring the kids’ temperature and making sure they get allergy relief. The weather sucks really. It is cold at night but during the day it gets very hot.

So there goes our Noche Buena. We were supposed to have our own Noche Buena for the first time in our house. But since everyone is down with a flu, we opted to sleep after having Christmas dinner at the in laws. Well, at least we were able to open some gifts from them before we went home. And then the kids opened more gifts in the Christmas morning. Santa Clause was still able to come too. (*wink*)

I was planning on serving hot chocolate, bread and ham, fruitcake, grapes, and pasta but oh well, we didn’t have energy anymore since we will still go out for our Christmas lunch with the in laws again.

At least the Hubby and the kids are well now. I am a bit well too but still having headaches every now and then and still wouldn’t want to eat home cooked meals. I’m craving for burgers and chips these days that I’m sick. And this is not really helping!

I noticed the people are already in the “Holiday mood” these days. 7 days to go and it is going to be Christmas already so I’m sure people are already looking forward to the Holidays. As for me, I’m finishing up tasks online and offline because I want to enjoy the Holidays after Christmas. I’m sure people are not looking for jobs at this time of the year too. So no employee screening would happen until the first Monday of January.

People are everywhere! To shop, eat out with friends, meet up for get together. Everybody is in festive mood. This is what I love about Manila and the Philippines. We celebrate Christmas for more than a day. We celebrate it for the whole of December!

Our eldest daughter had her first birthday party at Valle Verde 6 Clubhouse. We wanted to have a different venue this time but we felt really comfortable with VV 6 already. We knew the rules of the clubhouse, especially the staff. We tried to check out BOUNCE in Ortigas Extension but the venue was too small.

I don’t have negative words against VV 6 clubhouse. I only noticed that they are stricter now. You need to submit the list of suppliers and their contact details before the party. Of course, you still need to pay for the bond which you will get after the party.

What I love about VV6 is that the ceiling is high. Although it looks really bare when you don’t put balloons on the ceiling, but for me, it looks spacious and refreshing.

Check out a few photos of the venue.

If we will host another party for the kids, we will definitely consider VV6 again! This is highly recommended!

Valle Verde 6 Clubhouse
#12 Beetle St.
Greenmeadows Cor Ortigas Ave.
Pasig City

I’m contemplating on going to Sonya’s Spa before the New Year. The day would start with a sumptuous breakfast of course. Then after an hour of rest, we will have our much awaited treatment or massage. I’m sure Hubby will like this after a year of stress at work.

Here are a couple of our options grabbed from Sonya’s website:

Pamper yourself from head to toe.

Lilac Package 2.5 hours PhP 2580
Your choice of rose, banana, green tea, or olive grove body scrub, Sonya’s Signature massage, facial and hair spa.

Magnolia Package 2 hours PhP 1680
Lemongrass or rose-scented aromatherapy steam bath, foot spa, manicure and pedicure, Sonya’s Signature Massage

Lady Slipper Package 1.5 hours PhP 1680
Rose scented or mint scented foot scrub indulgence, pedicure, back chair massage

Oh, I can’t wait!!!

Photo Grabbed from Jared’s Multiply Site.

I was supposed to do a bit of reading about stainless steel drums but decided to post this first. I’m sure I will have lots of time later and look for the drums that Hubby was eyeing for Christmas.

Our first option for a venue is BOUNCE in Ortigas extension. Because we wanted the kids to REALLY have fun. But BOUNCE was too small and a bit suffocating (they didn’t have windows) for me so we decided to just rent an inflatable.

I had a couple of options but Jared Inflatables was the cheapest. I texted the owner right away. She said that I can give her my downpayment a week before the party. I just need to fill-up the booking form. I did that. When a month (or maybe 2 months?) before the party, I tried to remind her that I have a reservation and I can pay her downpayment already. She completely forgot about my reservation. Good thing I reminded her!

She promised for her crew to arrive at the venue by 130PM (the party starts at 3PM). But when we arrived there, I didn’t see the inflatable nor the staff. They were so late!!! I was trying to call the owner but she was not answering. After two calls, her cellphone was turned off already. I was so stressed out. You see, this is the only activity that I prepared for the kids and if they didn’t arrive, the kids will be so bored! Anyway, they arrived at the venue at 3PM already! Good thing the inflatable was very easy to setup.

The staff were polite and very sorry that they were late. They made sure that they stayed up until 8PM. With that, our little girls were able to enjoy it after the guests went home. They had the inflatable for themselves.

I guess with that they were able to make up for the stress they have caused me. They were also attentive to the kids who are playing. They really keep an eye on the kids if they are in danger or not. They stayed at the dangerous part of the inflatable making sure that kids are safe. The inflatable’s size was perfect for the venue too. What I like about them is that they put off the float when there was a magic show or when the program started. So the kids were really able to join most of the games.

Well if they were on time I think I would highly recommend them because of their services. Maybe if you are in Cavite area, that would be ok. But if you are too far from Cavite, I would rather rent a different supplier.

Jared Inflatable and Party Shoppe
http://jaredinflatableslide.multiply.com/

Inspite of the very cold weather lately, I still want to go the beach! I woke up this morning and wished that I woke up hearing the sound of the waves, watching the water while eating a sumptuous breakfast. Of course I had to go back to reality and face it. Go back to Mommy duties. Go back to work. And somehow forget about this dream for now. But when I saw the paradise island hotels ads, I can’t help but remember this ultimate wish again. (*sigh*)

When I saw Picture Me Portrait Studio in Greenhills I wasn’t impressed with the studio since it was a bit small compared to Child’s Play in SM. But I still inquired with their rates and check out their stuff. When I saw their sunflower/garden setup, I fell in love with it immediately so I decided to get them for AA’s invite. You see, I planned to have AA’s photo taken in a studio and then just add the party details in the photo. I was too lazy to make her an invite! BAD!

The studio is very simple actually. If not for their sunflower setup, I wouldn’t get them. They didn’t even have a modern furniture but who would need that anyway? I called to reserve a slot on the day itself and we got there right on time. But the cameras were not yet available, so we had to wait for 30minutes. When it finally arrived, we started immediately.

I also planned to have family photos taken so they took photos of us a family. Then the hard part started, we changed AA to a ladybug costume and she started getting fussy. We tried to make her smile but to no avail. She cried and cried and doesn’t want us to leave her alone in the set. She was not really in the mood. The photographer couldn’t get her nice photos with the costume. We were so tired after the shoot knowing that we failed.

Anyway, we decided to get photos of her from one family photo where she smiled. And then I gave them the party details and have them incorporate in the invite. Here’s the result.

Not bad. We got the designing part for FREE already since it’s just simple adding of text. Anyone can do this. They were also true to their word that they finished lay-outing and printing after a week. So I was able to give out the invites right on time!

The only down side about them is that they were expensive. Well, a bit cheaper to the ones in the malls though. We paid for p500 for 4 4R photos. They also have a rule that if you don’t have it printed, you cannot re-copy the photos anymore. That is why I was forced to get the photos I like. SO I ended up paying more!

But the photos were nice. They edited all of them! I couldn’t see my eyebags in those photos! HA! Will probably post those photos one of these days.

For me, they are ok. I think their photographer should be more friendly to kids so that kids will want to smile at the camera. Their studio is a bit small too so I guess there are other studios out there that I would recommend instead of Picture Me Studio.

Picture Me Portrait Studio
V215A 2F V-Mall, Greenhills Shopping Centre
San Juan, Metro Manila
http://www.fansdigital.com

Our next family vacation is not this month unfortunately. We were planning to spend the New Year in Baguio but since we are saving up for our big trip next year, we postponed it for now. We plan to stay home for the Christmas eve and spend our first Christmas as a family. We used to spend our Christmas eve with the in laws, so it’s time we spend it by ourselves.

But it’s ok since we are going to have a big trip by January! The kids are really excited about it. Well, for one, they will be meeting Mickey Mouse in person! This is totally a different trip from our beach trips because it is going to sooo cold in Hongkong by then. Of course I still wanted to go to one of those Karisma Hotels and enjoy the crystal clear waters and the powder-like beaches there, but for now, we gave the kids priority. So who knows, maybe within the year next year, we might pull out a quick trip to Riviera Maya? We’ll see! (*wink*)