What's cookin'?

It's a Sunday. A beautiful day. Sunny and Summer. I was inspired to cook today for one because of you tube, i watched a few tutorials and two because the guy that cooks for us took a vacation hence, I am the cook today. ^_^ I don't mind it really. It's been a while since the last time I cooked. I cooked 2 dishes, Chicken Curry and Binagoan Pork (sauted pork with shrimp paste). It was not bad actually, I was afraid I lost my cooking skills. haha.

Finished!

Ok now this 4th one it took me a long time to finish. About a week. I've been busy with work, I work at night and it has been crazy busy this week. I can't believe I'm done. I will surely miss reading. I will not try to give anything away to not ruin those who haven't read these Saga. I recommend for those who just watched the movie to read it. It's a must read. I'm in love with it. ^_^ Oh excuse my teal nails. I just thought it's pretty, so summery. ^_^

My Quick Fix

I have a sweet tooth I admit but I am not a fan of desserts or drinks that are too sweet, too sweet that it will make me feel dizzy. I was feeling tired and stressed the other day, and so I wanted to have something to pick me up. A little cheer me up type of food. Of course there's nothing like putting sugar in your body to cheer you up. I thought hard what I wanted and so I remember I recently discovered Starbucks brownie somethin' cheesecake (believe me the name is like 5 words long). My sister and I went to Starbucks immediately. Don't get me wrong I am not a big Starbucks fan. Believe it or not my sister worked for Starbucks for about 9yrs and so I should already know every product that they have but no. I don't know why. Whenever I go there I will have to look at the menu board and when I order, when they ask the size I'll be like I want the smallest size though they have names for that. Sometimes I feel stupid and ignorant when I go there knowing that my sister worked for them for a long time. Hahaha. Enough babbling. About the cheesecake, it's not your ordinary cheesecake. Usually when you eat a regular cheesecake, it will feel smooth and just melts in your mouth. This one has textures in it. The cheesecake itself is smooth and will melt in your mouth but wait till you get a bite of the cookie on top, the cubed brownies in the middle and the chocolate chips. Every bite of it just makes me feel good that when I finished it, when you look at my plate and fork, there's not even a sign of the cheesecake there. Literally gone, wiped out. I just love love love it. I wish it will be a permanent in their menu. ^_^

The barista suggested iced latte to balance the sweetness.

Addiction

I just finished New Moon in 2 days. Crazy right? I am so excited to start with Eclipse because since I already watched the first two before reading the book, I already know what to expect. Since Eclipse is coming out in June and I am positive I'll be done reading in two days, I don't know what to expect after Edward's proposal and if Bella will be one of them. Super excited. ^_^

Mindscape

Would you believe I finished Twilight in two days? Oh yeah I did. My day off was consumed by it and now I couldn't help myself but to start New Moon. Sleepless days for me I guess. I'm just a sucker for romance. It's like my mindscape from reality. The reality that I am missing my husband. Every time I read and learn more about the unconditional love of Edward and Bella (corny oh yes), it just blows me away. It makes me appreciate more of what I and my husband have. Unconditional love. Sigh....

Just want to share... I was surprised when the author included this to the story (Twilight). This is the part where Bella was researching about the cold ones. It's just a big thing for a Filipino like me. ^_^

Laid back Saturday

Spent my Saturday with my son and the Ates (as usual). We went to Eastwood just because I am feeling really tired but I want to be fair to my son not to sleep on my day off. Eastwood is not crowded and so I can just sit somewhere near Timezone and read my book(of course my son is addicted to this place). I have been caught up with reading the infamous Twilight. I know I may sound like a looser (haha) because I know the movie and the book has been out for a long time. When it first came out no matter the hype is I wasn't really like dying to see it though I have seen how long the lines where when it came out. Maybe because when my husband and I are not together, I don't really go watch movies that often. He's like my movie buddy. Well, every couple loves to go the movies together, right? Before my interest on the book, I bought the first 2 installments first in DVD. I was like so intrigued with the details of it because a lot of people would say the book is always better than the movie. And after watching New Moon, I was like whatta f***. That's it? Finish. And then my sister told me that Eclipse is coming out on June and she told me she has all four books and so I could borrow it. How lucky can I be? ^_^
Back to Eastwood sorry, we ate at Stalkers Burgers (forgot to take pictures of the food sorry) and I find that the price is fair enough it's not too expensive though it's not super cheap but the food was great. I love the ambiance and the music. I love that they have updated magazines that's free to for you to read. Don't you just hate it when you like go to a place with free read magazines and the dates where like a year or two ago? Well, that's just me. It was a great day though. =)

Khalel turns 3

My son turned 3 last friday, my husband and I threw a party for him. Though my husband was not able to come home (sadly) , I still have to make it work. So I had a lot of DIY ideas for this party. I did not want to hire a party planner because 1, it will be expensive, 2, I'm a hands on mom I want to make sure everything works perfect even though I'm so busy with work. My research on parties started out on his 2nd bday. My husband did not want the usual bday party, where here in the Philippines, most children's party are celebrated at fast foods (McDonalds, Jollibee, etc) because I guess how busy life is right now, it's more convenient. We do not want that type of party anymore because you we feel that we throw our money on an hour and half of party and that's it. I think because of our bad experience on my son's 1st bday where we celebrated it at Shakey's ( I don't want to go into much details, hahaha). The venue was the same one last year. It's called Keyrose Catering Services. It's just near our place. We just rented the place because my mom cooked some of the food and some where ordered outside. Before anything else, the theme of my son's party was all of his favorites. I guess I wanted to share bit of my son with the guests so it was easy for me planning it mainly because he's my son and I know what he loves. wink*

Start off with the cake. 

My first idea was to order at http://frupcakes.multiply.com/photos where I ordered cupcakes last year. I was thinking of a cupcake tower and the theme was Backyardigans. Sadly, because they offer the best and unique fruppies (as they call it) they are mostly fully booked. I wanted to stick with the "tower" idea. Here's why, it looks expensive because of the idea of a tower but really not, it's just the effect of it (smarty eigh?). I learned my lesson because last year we bought a three-tier cake for my son which cost us around P9000($1 x P45). I searched at eBay and luckily I found a DIY cupcake tower and it's reusable and you can make it 3 or 5 tiers and I only bought it for P500. Next off is the cake, I was happy that http://www.redribbonbakeshop.com.ph/shop/products.asp?categ_id=50&product_id=728 offered Backyardigans cake for only P750 for 8"cake and the I ordered 30pcs cupcakes from http://www.brownies.com.ph/brownies/index.html at P29 each. 

Banner

This was custom-made for only P300 (dirt cheap) ^_^

Party favors:

The goody bags where filled with my son's sweet treats, crayons and bench cologne. The bags I bought it from Divisoria for only P12/each and some goodies inside, it's a place here where you buy dirt cheap products. It's better to go there if you buy stuff in bulk because the place is mostly packed especially on weekends and holidays.

These hand sanitizers I bought from bench at P28/each and I just had custom-made stickers on them.  Pretty neat right? Oh by the way, the blue and yellow was not the color theme, we did not plan it that way. After we put everything together, it just came out that way. ^_^

Prizes:

Stuff that I bought from Toy Kingdom and some from Divisoria. 

Pabitin and Pinata: I didn't have pictures of them because I forgot and I had them on videos so that's that.

Decorations:

My sister took care of the balloon decor and I am so impressed. She's really good at it. Don't be alarmed it's not all pink for my son. She used different color combinations. We just bought balloons stuff from Divisoria again. So big savings for me there. Thanks to my sister. ^_^

I added a personal touch to the decors. I included all of my son's favorite knick knacks. So the guests will also get the chance toenjoy what my son enjoys eating.

I added my son's favorite bed time stories. Actually it's just Curious George but in different series. He loves being read to every night. I find myself enjoying it too. ^_^

Food:

My mom cooked spaghetti (my son's favorite) and mixed vegetables for the adults. She's the best cook. All six of us grew up on her cooking. We love to eat at home more than takeout food. That's how great she cooks. ^_^

My son's favorites BBQ and fried chicken. Some not included in the picture where of course hotdog (every kid loves it) and shanghai.

Lastly, my son's favorite pizza from Angel's Pizza or better known as Domino's pizza. Same company only recently they switched names, I don't know why but the pizza is still great. My son always request for Pe-pe-oh-nee as he say it. ^_^

Entertainment:

I hired these clowns last year and this year too. I know my son is afraid of them but later on enjoys them. These guys are so good. For only P2,500, the do the hosting, games, magic and balloon twisting. And fairly enough they give guests a good laugh. So love them though I am scared of clowns. haha. ^_^

Ah, would you believe I planned the whole thing in a week before the party? Oh yeah! With the help of course from my family. My bestfriend told me she enjoyed the party because it was well organized and the details and stuff. She said I could make a good event organizer. I have to think about that first. haha. Would believe all these great stuff there's a sad part of the story? Yes.... I invited around a 100 guests but only like 40 came. I guess because of the short notice and some said yes but did not make it to the party for some reason... The most important thing is my son enjoyed the party. He was super happy. I love my son soooo much. I will always give him the best but will never spoil him.  Oh yeah, us moms can do it.

The celebrant:

My Favorite You Tube Make-Up Gurus

I recently got hooked on watching these You Tube beauty gurus and influenced me on my interest on make up. I dream of having my own channel but I have a long way to go. Practice practice practice. I know for some people make up stuff only means spending money, splurging , but I found out you can make money out of it. I believe that when you love what you're doing, you can be the best out of it, and it can translate to earning something. So I gotta practice practice practice....

The first Filipina guru that I truly adore is Aubrey aka faffinettex3. Unfortunately, her You Tube account was hacked twice so all of her videos has been deleted but because of her positive attitude, she still made new videos. I wish she will make more videos because she haven't been making lots of vids.

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The next is Jen aka JLovesMac1, I know at first you will think she's a crazy girl like an OA type because that's what I thought of her at first but after watching all her vids, I love her bubbly personality and how crazy she is. Not boring to watch and you get good make up techniques.

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Michelle Phan, oh how I love her voice. It's like music to my ears. When I watch her videos, it relaxes me. She recently got her dream job with Lancome. She really give great beauty tips.

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My last but of course not the least make up guru or she's more like a review guru (?) Irene aka pinkiecharm. This woman has got great and honest reviews on beauty products. I love how funny she gets and how true she is. Recently I requested her to do a review on MAC Fix+ vs Evian Face Spray. And guess what? She was kind enough to reply and she said she will. You can  ask her to review on a product before you purchase them. She's such a nice person. Saving other girls from wasting hard earned cash, before buying something you end up not liking, she will save you from that. At the economy's state right now, she's a go to review guru. 

    http://www.youtube.com/user/pinkiecharm        

My First Blog...blog...blaagag!

Oh my! Finally getting myself into blogging as my dear husband has been and always been bugging me to. I guess this is a good way of sharing a piece of me and my life. I hope to post stuff that make sense....haha!