There were lots going on this week. A wedding, reunion, conference, speech aside from the usual hustle and bustle of each day. I’m surprised that I survived it all in one piece. And I’m equally surprised that I didn’t contract Bell’s Palsy again. That normally happens when I’m feeling all stressed out and I couldn’t even have time to just sit still and relax.

I’m just glad it’s over. Now comes Christmas shopping and braving the whole of Metro to find the best gifts for my loved ones. It’s a good thing school is over, at least, till the end of this year. I can just sleep the whole morning if I want to. And maybe through the afternoon if I really really need to.

Are you done with your shopping?

I am a stay-at-home mom and I mean that in the true sense of the phrase. I don’t have a nanny and I don’t send my little girl to day care. But people have this notion that I’m a responsible parent, that I slave in the kitchen all day making the perfect nutritious meal or even baking the perfect chocolate chip cookies.

The truth is, I often don’t. The truth is I feed my kids instant noodles with egg, microwave dinners, tocino and I even buy rice from the nearby mini-restaurant near us. It’s that bad. Of course, I do not share this info to most people.

But don’t get me wrong. I don’t have anything against mothers who serve these kinds of food to their children. In fact, I’m a sucker for hot instant noodles with egg. I love the stuff. It’s just that my mother always prepared meals from scratch. The first thing she always did when we were younger was to prepare breakfast and lunch the whole morning. If my mother ever found out about my secret, she’d be furious.

Do I do this everyday? No. Only on days when I’m rushing to meet deadlines or running errands. So, I open the package, boil water and wait for the noodles to cook before dropping the egg. And for health purposes, I put a tablespoon of olive oil. They say it’s good for the heart. See, I’m not such a bad parent after all. And besides, my little girl likes it, too. What could be so bad about something that makes everyone happy?

But I still have this nagging feeling that I’m a bad parent.

It’s always nice to receive awards especially coming from great friends. Like this one which Ria so lovingly gave me. Thanks again, girl! See you soon.

Here are the rules for the award:

1. Please put the logo on your blog.

2. Place a link to the person from whom you received the award.

3. Nominate at least 7 or more blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on your blog.

5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them.

Now, I’m giving this award to the following blogger friends: Tina, Toni, PieBuko, Papams, Manilenya, Lotus Flower, and KCat.

Guess what? I’m planning to have another blog. If it pushes through, it would be my third. I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time now. Even dreaming about it.

What would it be about? Like it says in my header, I have an eye for beautiful things. And my future blog won’t be about men. It’s a design blog and it would be about pretty things and the occasional not so pretty ones. Because that’s what I love. I love being in someone else’s home and seeing how she has put together her things, her rooms, her closets…

And I’m going to show you what I’ve put together in my own home as well.

I live in the Philippines and I wish to discover our local and independent artists here. And you know what, I think they’re cool.

So watch out for my new blog.

artworks: souther salazar

I’m not feeling all too well. My throat and back ache. I think I have flu or something. And guess what, I have errands waiting. Of all days, why do I have to be sick today? It was so cold last night that I forgot to turn off the airconditioning because I was so tired even to stand up. Now my little kid has colds, too.

Pagasa recorded Metro Manila’s lowest temperature for this year last night. 22 degree Celsius, if I heard it right. It’s the start of a cold spell and even warned us to expect colder nights ahead. So, we’ll be expecting colds, cough and flu this Christmas. Be prepared if you don’t want to get sick. Take extra Vitamin C. Eat healthy. Don’t stay up too late at night. And turn off the airconditioning…

I grew up in the city. Half of it was spent happily in an apartment somewhere in Quezon City. I was in the fifth grade when we finally moved to our own house in Fairview. Some would even call it FARview because it was really far. Sta. Rosa, Laguna and Cavite housing communities were non-existent at that time.

I would not have expected ever to live there. I was still a ‘city’ kid, with less sympathy for other parts of the metro. When we finally settled there, I was disappointed by the scarcity of food outlets and neighbors. But it was not too long when people started moving, followed by a few more, then dozens of people, then a whole lotta people–people coming from different parts of Metro Manila. And just like us, they were moving to their new house from their old apartments. New homeowners.

My stern judgment of Fairview started to melt. I became more tolerant of the place. I started making friends and every weekend, my family would visit the ‘city’ to have lunch or dinner in our favorite restaurants. Cubao was the Greenbelt of that era. So we frequented that commercial part of Metro Manila for any urban needs we might have.

I visited Fairview last year and everything, it seems, changed. You would no longer see vacant lots and the streets were filled of playing kids. I even needed to honk my horn for them to move so I could pass. And would you believe there is traffic going there now. Even local taxis now go there when just years ago, they wouldn’t even accept passengers once they knew that the destination was Fairview. I passed my street again and the park near our house teemed with sound—kids playing and screaming, and teenagers were playing their loud music. So many changes.

I left the place feeling nostalgic. And wanting to relive my earlier life there.

Christmas came early this week. I got accepted at an online writing school after failing to the first time. It’s one of the few writing schools that that gives an aptitude test and lets you know from the start if you have writing potential. I tried to flunk the first time around just to see if they would accept me based on the crap material I gave them. I got a letter informing me that I didn’t qualify. No surprise there. So, that’s the reason I tried again with my real name this time, and submitted one of my short stories. I admit I was a bit apprehensive if I would qualify but I did. And that’s just one of the good news.

Two days ago, I got an email from a popular product. They wanted me to be part of the product’s video campaign and were willing to pay a hefty amount for a feature. Isn’t that great? Lastly, I had a haircut the other day and this is the first time I literally had no regrets about the outcome. I’ve found my hairstylist. So goodbye to searching high and low for a good one. I’ve found the best.