Fridays Feast #173

Appetizer: Name 2 things you would like to accomplish in 2008.
Attend my cousin's wedding in England this May, and win the lottery. I fear I'm not likely to accomplish either one.

Soup: With which cartoon character do you share personality traits?
I'm a flirt, just like Betty Boop.

Salad: What time of day (or night) were you born?
I was born at around 5AM.

Main Course: Tell us something special about your hometown.
My hometown, Metro Manila, has some of the worst traffic jams in the world. It can take 2 hrs. to travel just 12km -- I can run that distance in less time!

Dessert: If you could receive a letter from anyone in the world, who would you want to get one from?
Santa Claus.

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Photo Hunters: Light

This week I wanted to feature some of our vacation photos for this week's Photo Hunt:


We were taking a walk through the forest greens of Tagaytay last week when I took this photo. I love how the light shines on everything and makes it look so green and fresh.





We had a great time swimming with the dolphins at Ocean Adventure. The dolphin we met, Sito, carried us through the water as though we were as light as a feather!


For more light things, click here.

Why I haven't blogged in such a long time....

Apologies to the blogosphere! This is the longest stretch of time that I have gone without posting anything on this blog (at least in recent memory). We've been busy....





...hiking through forests....




...looking at ostriches...



...feeding dolphins...



...and playing with them!

More photos (and stories) to come at some point in time!

Fridays Feast #171

Appetizer: What was the last game you purchased?
An electronic Whack-A-Mole game for my son's Christmas present (he said he wants the "guacamole game", so hopefully I didn't misunderstand him!).

Soup: Name something in which you don’t believe.
I don't believe in fairies.

Salad: If you could choose a celebrity to be your boss, who would you pick?
Off the top of my head, I would say Martha Stewart. Yes, I hear she's a bee-yatch, but I respect her work ethic, her perfectionism and her style. I think I could learn a lot from her -- but I don't know how long I would last.

Main Course: What was a lesson you had to learn the hard way?
What goes past the lips ends up on your hips -- I'm still learning this the hard way.

Dessert: Describe your idea of the perfect relaxation room.
A spa.

T-Day has arrived


The passports have been found and the tickets have been printed. The camera has been packed and the luggage has been locked. The kids have their roll-on suitcases stuffed with toys and books (I have been surreptitiously removing one or two items every hour or so, and they have been refilling the suitcases with other toys just as quickly).

My roll-on handcarry is stuffed with extra clothes (what if they need to go potty when the "Fasten Seatbelts" sign is on?), the portable DVD (what if the inflight movie is too scary?) and Benadryl (just in case I decide to sedate the kids -- or myself). I've squeezed in one last visit to the gym and done all the laundry.

It's almost time to travel, and we are ready. And just in case my access to the internet in Manila turns out to be more sporadic than I thought, I'm sending early greetings to all the blogosphere -- HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Stress Test

Two more days till our big trip, and I'm starting to panic. I always know when I'm too stressed; all the signs are there:

10) I can't find my keys anywhere

9) I can't find my shoes anywhere

8) I stay awake at night reciting a mental list of things I need to do so that I can put it all down on paper the next day, only to forget the whole list when I wake up

7) The pile of clothing in the laundry rooms grows until I can no longer remember which piles are clean and which are dirty

6) My kids and husband avoid me

5) I painstakingly decorate our front porch with wreaths and garlands so it looks like someone is home while we're away, only to scream out loud to our neighbor when and where we're vacationing, so the whole neighborhood can hear.

4) I put the cereal box in the fridge and the milk in the cereal cabinet

3) I find myself obsessing about low-priority tasks such as looking up old friends on Facebook or taking my kids to a Christmas crafting event, anything to avoid the high-priority items like packing and cleaning the house before we leave.

2) I find myself going to Target every evening for something that I've forgotten, but must get immediately.

And the number-one sign that I am losing it....

1) I insist to my husband that we are prepared -- so prepared, in fact, that we have time to take my kids to ice-skating lessons three hours before our plane leaves the country

If you ever find yourself doing any of these things, take the advice of someone so stressed that she wishes she could use sedatives for the 14-hour plane ride -- on her, not her kids (surely a 4-year-old will not wander around the plane if you let him watch movies the whole time??) -- and Get Help!