Sink or Swim

Someone’s enjoying too much Internet these days. So much that she has been hogging the laptop in the hallway but since she’s a relative, my husband couldn’t complain. I understand her because Internet makes everything convenient for you. Whether you’re looking for cheap airfare, free insurance quotes, real estate listings or researching, you can do all that without leaving your home. So now that my aunt-in-law has somehow conquered the Internet, I am gonna drop hints that she should consider getting herself a new laptop and a wireless connection so she can do all these in her own house. Not that we don’t want her visiting all the time but I’m sure my husband will be relieved to know that he can use his laptop when he wants to.

A photo of my daughter trying her luck in the giant slides. I really love the colors of these slides and was glad I took photos. Which is also now my entry for this week’s Ruby Tuesday.

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I’m going ga-ga over Forever 21 accessories. I was supposed to be researching for cat supplies but I got distracted with these beauties.

My mom told me she can be me most of them when she visits a local tiangge near our old house so I’m listing down the items that I wanted her to check out for me.  I could probably just order them online now but  just in case they are cheaper here, I don’t want to miss out on saving some cash so I can hoard some more. See below.

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I accidentally came across a site selling furnace filters and was happy that I did. I found ultra allergen air filters, the one that I’ve been looking for so long in our local malls for only $15. With my husband and daughter’s seasonal allergies, you can never have too many filters in the house. Our water filter type doesn’t seem to be working anymore so it’s also time to purchase a new one. I’m thinking of buying three for two of our rooms and give the other one to my sister-in-law. I learned just now that my niece also acquired the ‘family sickness’ so they are doing a general house cleaning and removing all curtains and dust-friendly toys.

Had enough of twitter or simply want to try something new? See below for a list of online tools that can help you send updates about yourself via brief text messages, photos or audio clips. I got this from this post and got immediately excited. I am lazy when it comes to blogging that I prefer short messages for simple daily updates.

Dailybooth – Take and upload a photo of yourself everyday. Very nice especially for cam-addicts such as moi.

MySay – Different in such a way that you update by calling MySay and well, say how you are doing today. Then your friends and family can listen via phone, email or web.

Hictu – you need a webcam for this one. This is the twitter equivalent for vloggers. read more »

From last weekend’s party

It’s almost a year now since I treated myself to a nice day on the beach. And since I feel that deprived, allow me to make a post of my dream destination as soon as I acquire a budget that will let me and my family vacation in style.

Azul Sensatori – the first boutique all-inclusive resort located in Riviera Maya and one of the hotels from Karisma.

I always value the importance of booking a friendly-family resort because not only it would mean that my child will be welcome but will also be assured that she’ll have the time of her life. All inclusive family vacations with Karisma Hotels are designed to give your family a fun-filled trip regardless of age. It’s main goal is to give a hassle free, zero planning vacation on part of the parents while coming up with various kinds of activities to entertain everyone in the family. Best of all, they have so many opportunities so parents can have time alone while their kids aged 4 and up hang out either at the Kid’s Club (toys, equipments, programs by Fisher-Price and My Gym®) or at the Breeze Teen Club (interactive games like Wii, CD mixing classes, beach tournaments and tennis clinics).

To me it’s a dream when you can spend a whole hour on the beach without being interrupted. And I haven’t even mentioned the beautiful stretch of white sand, gourmet-inclusive dining, spanish classes, tequila tastings and non-motorized water sports.

1. In what way this week were you reckless?
   My health. I don’t really care as long as my husband and daughter are fine. But I know I should take care of myself too.
   
2. In what way this week were you shameless?
   Oggling hot men on TV while my husband is watching beside me.
   
3. In what way this week were you fearless?
   You could say I’m a bit of a scaredy cat but lately I’ve been working late at night because of too much work. I don’t really care about the dark anymore and the thought of being alone in the hallway doesn’t scare me as it used to. I’m sure it will come back some other day when I’m not so busy.
   
4. In what way this week were you thoughtless?
   I accepted several design jobs without thinking how it will affect my schedule.
   
5. In what way this week were you doubtless?
   I didn’t doubt for one minute that I won’t be able to pay the loan that we acquired before the year ends. Or at least half of it.

We are seriously considering getting home alarm systems now that Christmas is just around the corner. Robbery incidents increase at that time of the year and they target empty houses all the time. Think Home Alone I if you must. We don’t have a lot of important items except for the electronics that have taken us 1 or two years to pay with the help of 0% interests on credit card deals. So yes, we’ll definitely feel it if we lose our appliances. The cheapest that I found was still expensive for us at $130 so I’m still searching.

We’re fortunate to have guards in our village so I’m more confident that our home will be protected whenever we go out of town. Our community is not that big too so the guards only take 10-15 minutes to circle an entire block.

Working out, eating healthy, jogging in treadmills are now a thing of the past ever since I discovered that I could lose weight simply by:*

- Skipping breakfast and sometimes dinner

- Not sleeping at all. 3-4 hours should be enough.

- Working overtime, watching TV the whole night and reading books when not working

- Drinking lots of coffee to fill the hunger

- If you smoke, better do that too.

Of course, you’d probably end up in a hospital sooner or later but still, you can happily say that your clothes fit you again.

*Please don’t take this seriously. It’s just a rambling of someone who rarely eats on time, let alone squeeze in some exercise because of too much work.

How does one burn fat when all she does is sit in front of the computer the whole day? I used to have a schedule wherein I’ll work from 7am-3pm with breaks and then hit the treadmill around 4-5PM. But ever since I landed a couple of big projects, I’ve been putting off exercise because face it, I only have 24 hours a day and I need at least 8 hours to sleep. Which leaves me 16 hours to meet the deadline that I’ve stupidly accepted because of the money involved.

Anyway, I really hope I can get back to my old schedule because I don’t think I can afford to buy a whole wardrobe just because I’m too lazy to work out.

This is hard because I just love to travel. I’m willing to take the minor discomforts as long as I’m assured that the destination is paradise.

Here’s my list though even if they are not enough to make me HATE traveling.

1. Expensive airfare

2. Bad weather ruining your much needed vacation

3. Lost luggage – though this never happened to us yet

4. Limited Internet (not a big deal once you reach paradise though)

5. Late morning / afternoon trips when the sun is at its warmest and traffic at its worst.

6. Smelly bathrooms (during the trip)

7. Kids throwing tantrums (mine included).

8. Not too many dining options. Eating is what we look forward to whenever we go on a trip aside from relaxing on the beach.

9. Loud, noisy, drunk people beside your hotel room.

10. Delayed flights