Monday, April 16

I will be back!

I really miss blogging/writing! I will be back, I am declaring it now, that I will go back to writing thoughts, food adventures, travel (even just our local day trips), baby tips, etc. New post coming SOON!

Saturday, June 18

Next Stop: Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia




In lieu of my travel posts and my plan to conquer the world (well fine, at least Asia), this is an obligatory post for the blog for my Kota Kinabalu trip with Ian. It was a post birthday celebration, so yeah, I'm 5 months late for posting :p

First thing on my list, VNC shoes! If you've been to Malaysia (like KL), you'll know that VNC or Vincci shoes are made in Malaysia. As I've mentioned in my old blog post, Manila price is x2 or x3 the Malaysia price. Of course, we had to make a pitstop at Vincci.

The next one, the food! I love roti, curry and I love Nasi Lemak (not so much love on Beef Rendang). I even love the Megamall food stall fake-ish Nasi Lemak :p Oh and yeah, lots of love for both Singaporean and Malaysian version of Kaya Toast. And of course, a must on my list, try out a food in Mcdonald's that's not available in Manila, and they had the Prosperity Burger in KK! I was actually planning to hand carry some Prosperity Burger on the plane, but they did not have a Mcdonald's in the airport, I ended up bring KFC Zinger to Manila from KK (KK = Kota Kinabalu), explanation for this one on the last paragraph of this post (why would I bother bring a Zinger home right? It tastes the same thing here)

And then the highlight of our trip, we stayed in Shangri-la Rasa Ria Resort! And yes it did cost us a hole in our pocket but totally hands down to Shangri-la, you'd never want to leave the resort. They have all sorts of activities in the resort, very kid friendly too. Hopefully, when Aleksa's old enough to appreciate trips, I would definitely want to bring her there.


What resort offers Sumo Wrestling? Only Shangri-la! They had fire fly watching, some trekking around, biking, hmm what else, sunset in a yacht, oh and they had billiards, ping pong table, and Boogie boards available! There's a different activity every day and if you have the money in the world to stay for a week in Rasa Ria, you'd never run out of things to do (No, we did not stay for a week :p)


We tried the different restaurants in Rasa Ria, and everything was splendid :) They had Japanese, local Malysian, American, Indian cuisine.

If you're not into the whole beach thing, they have malls in Kota Kinabalu, and we did spend our first night at the city. There were a lot of Filipino staff in the city, and they are everywhere. I just want to give a warning/heads up, the malls in KK do not have the cleanest restrooms. They are paid restrooms but they are not really clean, so better do your thing at the hotel if you are planning to go to the city and do some shopping. But if you're planning to stay the whole time at let's say a resort like Rasa Ria, you don't have anything to worry about.

Like all good vacations, you come back to reality, you go back to Manila, go back to work. Unfortunately, we had a bad experience on our way back home. Our Cebu Pacific flight was delayed for hours because of a bomb threat :( Luckily, we made it back home safely. I know Cebu Pacific is 'notorious' for its delayed flights but this was not their fault since they just got a call (probably a prank call) that there was a bomb in the plane. Even though you're not supposed to say the word 'bomb' in the airport, we already had an inkling and we were scared when we boarded that there might really be a bomb. Anyway we were given food stubs in the airport and ended up consuming all the stubs in KFC, that's why we ended up bringing Zinger back home :p That part felt like a dream that you'd want to wake up from, but overall, we still had a pretty damn good vacation :) Good stuff trumps the bad stuff!

Tuesday, April 5

Bookstore Discount Cards

In my current work, I have become this pseudo writer as part of my "Initiative". Since I have been lazy updating this blog, I will now post the articles I have been making for that mini project. My outlet has become Twitter and that pseudo writing initiative stint, but yeah, I do miss blogging. And yes I want those hits back :p

Book lovers, pen and post-it junkies, scribblers, or those who just love the smell of books (old or new), here’s a quick guide on the 3 must have loyalty/discount cards from the major bookstores in the metro.

1. National Bookstore’s Laking National Card
-P100 outright payment or P5,000 worth of receipts for 1 year
-1 Point for every Peso spent, P10.00 ePurse for every 1,000 points. Basically,
for every P1,000 = P10.00

2. Fully Booked’s Discount Card
-P700 outright payment or P15,000 worth of receipts for 1 year
or P10,000 single receipt
-10% discount for cash purchases and 5% discount for credit card purchases

3. Powerbook’s Power Card & Power Card Plus
-Power Card: P100 outright payment or P5,000 worth of receipts for 1 year
- 1 Point for every Peso spent, P15.00 for every 1,000 points. Basically,
for every P1,000 = P15.00
-10% discount for cash purchases and 5% discount for credit card purchases *minimum
purchase of P2,000
-Power Card Plus: P15,000 worth of receipts for 1 year
- 1 Point for every Peso spent, P15.00 for every 1,000 points. Basically,
for every P1,000 = P15.00
-10% discount for cash purchases and 5% discount for credit card purchases

Sunday, January 23

First for 2011.

First post in 6 months, and first for 2011. I actually saved a lot of draft posts but I never really got to finish it. I will try to update my blog at least monthly, new personal goal for 2011. I actually miss writing!

2011 will be one hell of a year! :) And yes I mean that in a positive way.

Thursday, June 24

A Break.

Okay, I kind of took a break from blogging ever since I got into Twitter. But that wasn't the only break I took.

After more than 5 years of being with the same company, I finally resigned. Yes, you heard me right. Some people actually didn't expect it since I've been with the same company for an eternity already. In my first job, I stayed with the company for 5 months only, so it was actually my second job, but it seemed like the first one.

A lot of people asked me why I resigned, I actually have nothing against the company (omitting names so it doesn't show up in Google) I got a lot in terms of career, salary, perks (Japan trip, 2 Ipods, 2 promotions), but I needed growth. Growth in terms of learning, not necessarily moving up the ladder. After being with a company for 5 years or so, you eventually 'get' everything and there's really nothing left to learn. Well maybe there is, there are more to learn, but I'm already honed and ready to move on to the next chapter of my career. I am not closing my doors to mobile, but for now, I need a break from it. I need that fresh new start. I need to be shaken out of my comfort zone.

And I am finally getting it.

And I am actually loving it.

Welcome to corporate world, dressing up, wearing closed shoes *gasp*, wearing slacks *gasp*, trainings, knowing only a handful of people, adjusting to the company and work, adjusting to a new set of people and teammates. It's like being a newbie in a new school. Sort of what a freshman would probably feel (completely forgot about it, after 10 years ).

Thursday, April 22

Summer Ramblings.

I miss blogging! I'm currently into Twitter :) Easy to read, easy to update, 140 characters, that's it. I don't have enough time to read blogs, but I have time to read Twitter updates since again, well, it's limited to few sentences. Plus it's easier to be updated with news.

Ramblings:

-So what else is new? Hmmm, we're trying to get into the coffee business. So far I've accomplished one thing, getting a business permit in DTI. TIN from BIR, and Mayor's permit to go! Then some few more steps before we become an official coffee dealer/supplier.

-I booked a flight to Kota Kinabalu with Ian when Cebu Pac went on sale! But it's for Jan 2011 (Tagal pa!)

-I miss baking cookies and cupcakes! We don't have an oven yet in our place.

-I miss reading :( I am currently watching a LOT of tv series. I love having an Ipod so I can watch movies and series on the way to work, so I can do other stuff when I get home

-I don't have a beach trip this summer. Booooo.

-I usually love summer but I am not loving the scorching heat.

-I don't know what's the fuss with the iPad, it's a bigger version of the iPod Touch?

-I don't know who to vote for yet!

-I'm too sleepy to finish this entry. Please excuse my typos or grammatical errors since I don't have time to proof read my ramblings. I'll just publish this entry as it is.

-I wish I have more substantial stories/entries to write...

Tuesday, February 16

Labor and Babies.

Okay, so I'm still into the whole being-an-informative-blog-while-sharing-some-life-experiences :) I am so past the labor story already but here are some tidbits :D
-All I can say is, it's not painful as long as you have epidural. Epidural makes you feel nothing, or rather it won't make you feel anything. That's it. The recovery part is still needed though, around a week of 'slight pain', then that's it.
-The three signs of labor, pain (the poo poo feeling/dysmenorrhea feeling) - contractions or pain 5 minutes apart, bloody show, or water bag breaking. If you get one of those, go to the hospital right away.
-Eat and drink water before you go to the hospital. Once I set foot on the hospital, I wasn't able to drink or eat at all. Since medication will make you throw up later on. So imagine my last meal was dinner, the next meal I had the next day was at around 1ish PM. I was so cranky.
-I was planning to enrol to a prenatal class, but it was every Sat or Sun in the morning, and I'd rather sleep, so decided to skip it. I'm sure it's helpful, but I didn't attend one but I was able to give birth -normal delivery. So it's not really a must? But (I think) a 'nice to have'

Now we move on to the more important part :)

There was only one friend who was around 2 weeks or a month ahead of me, so I've been asking her questions and asking her about her baby, then the rest of the babies came/are coming after Aleksa. And I have been repeating the same stuff to friends, so while I'm at it, I'll blog about it. So future moms will just have to read my blog entry (the same way when friends ask about my suppliers, I usually just give my blog entry on the wedding)

Okay first one, breastfeeding. I've had my mind set on doing this :) My mom didn't breastfeed us because she said she didn't have milk. The thing is, the milk, actually comes not on the day you give birth, but on the 3rd or 4th or 5th day. So moms really have to wait for it. Some really don't feed the baby from the bottle until the milk 'comes', but you have to 'feed' your baby from you so it will stimulate the milk production whether the baby is getting milk or not. So how do you know if you have milk already? One day you wake up, then your breasts feel full, painful, and heavy. You'd really know :D

Next, the feeding part. Well at the start, even if I didn't have the abundant supply of milk or the actual supply of milk, I had to wake up Aleksa every 3 hours :) Eventually she wakes up on her own. There isn't much but there's colostrum produced on the first day . On the second day, since she was crying really hard, we fed her with the bottle, just 1 ounce of formula milk. Some moms really wait it out though. Anyway, we were ones of the lucky few, since on some babies once you feed them with a bottle, they'd have what they call 'nipple confusion' where they don't want to nurse on their moms anymore. Aleksa's versatile, she'd be okay with the bottle or me (which was good).

Breastmilk is easily digested by the baby, so for a while, I was feeding round the clock, every 2 hours. Formula fed babies get hungry every 3 hours. So after going back from the hospital, I was really tired and sleep deprived for a month. The technique is go to sleep when the baby is asleep. Oh, and you have to teach your baby the difference between night and day, since they have it mixed up. We usually don't talk to Aleksa at night when she's awake, then during the day we talk to her. She finally figured it out that nighttime is for sleeping and not for playing. I know someone whose baby wakes up at 3am to play until 7am, and her baby is almost a year old! It's been like that since her baby was small so it carried over. So babies can really get used to a schedule :)

Some milestones I want to blog about and remember, on Dec 31, New Year's Eve, she was almost 2 months, she slept for 6 hours straight. And then on Feb 14, 3 months or so she started sleeping for 8 hours straight before her next feeding at night. Well, the thing is, she sleeps at 8pm or 9pm, then still feeds at 4 or 5am. That's still a lot of sleep for me considering she used to feed every 2 hours round the clock!

I'm not sure if Aleksa had her real smile at 2 months and she started to really laugh/chuckle when you talk to her. Then now at 3 months, she can already hold her head without support :)

So there, I can only blog so little about it since I only have 3 months experience. Oh another thing I've learned, don't panic whenever there's something 'wrong', like Aleksa had cradle cap and baby acne, oh and the time her neck's red and has rashes. When we brought her to the doctor, the doctor said that there are no medication needed and it will eventually go away.

I just usually Google and there are really informative websites. I hope I can find a blog with entries for 4 month babies onwards :)

Here are some helpful articles in understanding babies:
Wonder Weeks - Fussy/Sunny Weeks
Cluster Feeding - When babies cry,feed,cry,feed for hour/s before sleeping

Our pediatrician is Dr. Suratos of Asian Hospital, he's really nice and he's a good doctor. (I'm including it in my blog so when other parents try to Google and research :p)

On losing weight, breastfeeding burns 500 calories a day. So I lost some of the weight easily, the thing is, I was 7 lbs away from my original weight when I went back to work. Since I only breastfeed nowadays only in the morning(the 4am/5am feeding), I actually gained weight. I gained 2-4 lbs. (Include the holiday indulgence here.)According to an article I read, moms are supposed to give it 6-8 months before you reach your original weight so you lose the extra lbs the healthy way, and not through a crash diet. So I'm planning to go back to the gym really soon :)

Friday, January 15

Canon G11.

Woohoo, guess what I got for my birthday? 5 days before my birthday, I got a Canon G11 camera from Ian! So here I am, blogging and trying the camera at 10:00ish PM trying the different features of my tantanananan brand new camera!

Before G11, I loved my Ixus 90, it produced really good pictures! It traveled with me :)

The photos above were taken by my trusty Ixus 90, really nice, right? :) Now for comparison at low light condition, look at the photos below! Photo on the left is my Ixus 90, then photo on the right is my G11. REALLY noticeable improvement on G11, both taken at manual setting ISO 800! Click on it, so you'll see the picture closely and see the 'noise' in my old camera.

Can't wait to take pictures and bring my new camera to another trip! :D Thanks Ian! :) And so looking forward to nice pictures of Aleksa! :D

Wednesday, January 6

Win a Free Boracay Vacation Package by WOW Philippines Travel Agency.

WOW Philippines Travel Agency, Inc. is celebrating it's 5th year in business during July of 2010, and we would like you to have a chance to celebrate with us, so we have decided to give-away a FREE Boracay Package complete with 5 Star accommodations at the luxurious Le Soleil de Boracay Hotel on Boracay Island. The lucky winner will win the following Boracay vacation package.
Vacation Package Inclusions:
- 5 Days / 4 Nights Luxury 5 Star Accommodations at the Le Soleil de Boracay Hotel

- Flights to Boracay from Manila to Caticlan Airport on Philippine Airlines

- Island Transfers - Door-to-Door from Manila to the resort and back to Manila Domestic Airport

- Three (3) Meals each day, Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

- Boracay Activities - Horseback Riding, Island Hopping, Glass Bottom Boat

- PLUS - 5,000 peso Spending Cash

Read More Information: http://www.boracay-packages.com

Monday, January 4

Real Leaf Contest.

Here's my entry to the "Spot a Real Leaf, Win a Nano"


Aleksa: My mom loves drinking Real Leaf Green Tea! I even posted it on my twitter (http://twitter.com/summeraleksa). Does your mom like Real Leaf Green Tea? :) Can you tweet about it too?

*read her onesie

Contest from the following blogs: Yugatech.com, Kubiertos.com, Aboutmyrecovery.com, Starmometer.com, Ourawesomeplanet.com

Saturday, January 2

Aleksa.

First entry of the year, I've been busy, and lately I've been reading and updating twitter more than I do with blogs. Micro blogging is actually fun :D Proofreading is easier :p Hahaha.

Same thing with relationships, marriage, I still want my private life not to be exposed that much on the Internet. I mean despite sharing some stuff openly on twitter and blogspot, I'd rather update my Facebook since that's where I'm sure my friends are the only ones reading :) Plus I still want my blog not to revolve on my family life, I still want to travel, write about my experiences, and opinions on mundane things. One of the places I can rant and rave about anything under the sun. Well, I'll try to keep my posts as diverse as possible. That's why I actually had a separate blog for Ian (an anonymous blog on our bf-gf relationship for a year), I actually have one for Aleksa (which I don't get to update anymore), I even have a blog for recipes! Anyway, moving on..

Labor story and details (from Ultrasound, to "THE Day", to Baptism) on the baby are on Facebook so no need to do the whole story in my blog :) One day, when I have time, I'll blog about labor, so it's Google-able. It wasn't as painful as I expected, so girls, don't be scared. Anyway, I'm 100% sure that my friends are updated, but in case you're not and you chanced upon my blog, meet our little bundle of joy, Summer Aleksa :D (no, not named after Summer of 500 Days of Summer)


Oh and gotta LOOVE Googoo&Gaga, the onesie she's wearing (from Jonah) If it doesn't cost P500ish a piece, I'd buy A LOT of these so she can wear it everyday. Love the prints! :)
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