We had another Balikbayan visitor last month. She is the cousin of my best friend whom we met when we went to the US. She was touring the US with her cousin and so we were able to spend a few days with her in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

She was here for a month for temporary work and glad that we were able to go out with her while she was here in Manila.

She sponsored one Saturday feeding first in Ulingan so I accompanied her there and I am thankful that she spent some time and shared her blessings with our kids from Ulingan. After the outreach, we went home to freshen up and then went to Casa Roces for lunch.

After lunch, we took her to Manila Ocean Park as per her request because she wanted to try the foot spa. My kids and hubby joined her and from the looks of it, they enjoyed the experience.

After Manila Ocean Park, we parted ways as they had to go home for their family dinner.

It was nice seeing you in Manila, Milette. Looking forward to seeing you if not in August, then maybe in October.

Our family friend from Canada together with his family came to Manila last March for a short vacation. It has been years since he last set foot in the Philippines and it is actually the first time for his wife and kids. So they really had a busy schedule going to the different places here in the Philippines as well as visiting relatives whom they haven’t seen in a long time.

That is why I am very glad that they were able to spend one whole day with us. My husband and I were choosing between Subic and Tagaytay for our quick getaway with them but Tagaytay won as we figured they might find it too hot and uncomfortable if we go to Ocean Adventure or Zoobic Safari in Subic.

We just wanted a relaxing afternoon since they are still battling jet lag plus they just got back from Boracay. So we fetched them at their hotel and we drive to Tagaytay. We first went to Pamana restaurant for an early lunch and we took them to Picnic Grove after since we wanted them to try out the Zipline.

After our thrilling zipline ride, the kids went horseback riding so they can go around and have a good view of the Taal Lake and volcano.

Then we went to Cliffhouse and had our afternoon snack at Café Breton. After eating merienda, they are still in the move for another adventure and so we brought them to Nuvali where the kids feed the kois and then we went shopping after at Paseo de Sta Rosa. We ended the night with a dinner at Racks and then we brought them to their hotel afterwards.

I hope that they can come and visit us more often and we are looking forward to our next getaway with you guys.

When you invite guests into your home, you want them to feel as welcome as possible. Having a messy bathroom is a sure way to make your guests feel uncomfortable. Before anyone comes to visit, do a few simple things to straighten up your bathroom so that it is clean and inviting. Clean the tub and the sinks, put out fresh towels, put the bathroom scale away and use a scented candle to clear the air of any unwanted odors.

If you have porcelain sinks, scrub them thoroughly until they are as clean as they were when first installed. Get rid of any unsightly stains in the tub, and give the toilet a good cleaning. Do not forget to wipe any smudges off of the mirror. If you are all out of clean sheets or towels, do some laundry before your guests arrive so that you have enough linens for them. Make sure that you tell your guests which towels they should use to avoid any confusion. Whether you have a bathroom digital scale or a bathroom analog scale, you should put it away before your guests arrive so that it is not in the way. 

Whether your guests are just visiting for an afternoon or are staying with you for several weeks, it is important to make them feel welcome in your home. By taking the time to clean your bathroom, you can ensure that your visitors do not feel awkward when they are using it. With the right touches, you can make sure that your guests leave with nothing but good memories.

On November 4, we will be attending our first Christmas Party. This will be for my Bebots/Twitter friends.

We usually have our parties early, as we are all busy especially during the Christmas season. And we made sure that we will be having an early Christmas party again this year as one of our friends from the US, Trin and her family, is here in the US to celebrate with us.

It will also double as a Trick or Treat event for the kids as the kids will come in costume and we will setup a Candy Buffet station, courtesy of Sweet Royals and as gift from our friend Apols, Ems and Faye (thank you girls).

As for the mommies and daddies, we are asked to come in our funny hat or fancy headdress for I am already looking for Women's Dress Hats at hat country so I will have something to wear for the party.

I am so excited already and I can’t wait to meet up again with all my online friends.

One of the reasons why I enjoy my Saturdays in Ulingan aside from the time that I get to spend with our children there is the company of good friends.

I have been joining the Saturday feeding program of Project PEARLS in Ulingan for almost three months now and I have come to know a lot of wonderful people who are Project Pearls’ dedicated volunteers.

Last Saturday after our Outreach mission, we had an impromptu trip to Binondo and Escolta for some photo op, food tripping and shopping with Ethyl, Rita and Maosi. We had early lunch first in Ersao along Abad Santos then hubby took us to Escolta for a photo walk. Then we went to Binondo and did some shopping in Eng Bee Tin.

It was a short but fun filled morning. We all went home with a full stomach, lots of stories and plenty of Binondo loots. Thanks for the company guys and hope we can do this more often.

We have hosted two Christmas parties at our house already. The first one was last December 10 with my embassy friends and former colleagues.

We have long been planning for a get together but since everybody is busy, we can’t seem to find one date where everybody will be free. Thankfully, we were finally able to agree on December 10 and since they haven’t been to our new house yet, we all decided to have the party at our place so it turned out to be a house warming cum Christmas party.

We just ordered food from CCME (we ordered Beef Roast, Baked macaroni, and Buco Pandan) and I asked my aunt, as per Dennis’ reques, to cook Crispy Pata.

They arrived a few hours late than what we agreed upon because of the Saturday holiday traffic but I am glad that they were still able to make it despite all the hurdles.

We had dinner as soon as they arrived and we have a good chat to catch up with the old times, especially with Timmy whom we haven’t seen for a year already. We had our exchange gifts after and a little boost.

It was a fun party and I am glad that the long-standing Christmas party of our group finally pushed through.

Instagram is the new Flickr, at least for my group on online friends. We love Instagram and if you want to get the latest buzz about each other, Instagram is our best bet. From rant, to personal problems, shopping, bags and of course our most favorite topic, our loving family.

And our latest topic, our need for weight loss pills as we made a confession about our weight. LOL. Oh well, we know we are pretty and sexy mommies inside and out and we all agreed that weight is just a number. The way we look is on how well we project ourselves.

But it wouldn’t hurt also if we inspire each other to lose weight. In fact a number of my friends already started going on a diet and hitting the gym again.

Well at least, we just don’t influence each other on shopping but we also give inspiration to each other when it comes to healthy living.

I can't believe it is August already and after this month will be the start of the busy "BER" months which signals the start of the Christmas season.

Every Christmas, a good friend of mine organizes fund raising projects to help the Cancer victims of PGH. Last year, she solicited donations and she organized a party for the kids where she treated the kids like prince and princesses as they watch the play Cinderella before the party. The proceeds of the donations too was used to fund medicines and chemotherapy sessions for the kids who have cancer.

I always like to help my friend for her project because I know that it is for a good cause and so I have been doing some research and I stumbled upon the site of Natures Vision Fundraising.

Since we are all concern about global warming, then organizing a nature fundraiser would be a great idea to help us raise funds that will widened the awareness of people about caring for the environment and at the same time, we will be able to raise funds for the cause that my friend is promoting.

Natures Vision Fundraising has a lot of items that are saleable so we can generate funds for our cause. By tapping their services, they will handle all the ordering and delivery for us so we can just concentrate on our nature fundraising campaign.

I am so excited as I love doing charity work especially if it will benefit a lot of kids who really need our help.

A friend of mine will be migrating to the US soon and so she needs to sell some of their stuff that they have no plans to bring with them when they move like big furniture, jewelries, her husband's various collections and more.

She is so busy preparing for the big move and so she doesn't want to deal anymore with the selling of their things. That is why I suggested to her that she contact military surplus auctions, Affiliated Auctions & Realty.

Affiliated Auctions & Realty can help my friend sell her stuff by including all her things in their regular gun auction and other product auction. What is nice about Affiliated Auctions & Realty is that their auctions are published in Trade publications and in the Internet so they have a wide buyers base. They even can deliver payments from the sales of my friend's stuff in less than 30 days.
Another option that they can offer is direct sale so my friend can sell coins and her jewelries with them so she can collect the money right away instead of putting her stuff in a consignment.

I am sure Affiliated Auctions & Realty can help my friend to sell all her priced and valued possessions.

Our last stop during our vacation was Washington DC and one of the reasons why I am so excited to visit this city is because I will have a chance to meet up with my kumareng Em and her family and Glo.

We were late at our meeting area so it was already lunch time when I get to see Em, Titan, Ethan and Glo. We spent our day at the Museum of Natural History. It was just a short get together and I was really in tears when it is time for us to part ways. How I wish we can spend more time to make chika and share stories and just catch up with each other's lives (though we get to do this often in Twitter, it is still different when you get to do this while you are face-to-face with the person.)

Next time, I will really make sure that I will allot more than two days if ever we will go back to Washington DC so I can spend more time with Em and Glo. I might just skip New York and just head to DC.

Experiencing an accident or an injury can be a very traumatic experience for a family. This is the case that my friend is experiencing now with her mother. My friend was in tears upon learning of her mother’s heart attack. I know no matter how much I sympathize with her, there is really no way for me to take away her pain.

They confirmed from their doctor that her mother’s heart attack could have been brought by the medicine called Crestor. Crestor is a medicine use to cure high cholesterol, which her mother was taking.

I did some research and I found out that they can file for a Crestor lawsuit for the personal injury that Crestor has brought to my friend’s mom. The lawyers of O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath can definitely help them with their case, as they are the experts when it comes to personal injury cases.

I hope and pray that my friend and her family will get justice soon.

Nothing is more important to my husband and me than our kids. They are our source of joy and inspiration. They are the reason why my husband and I have been working really hard so we will be able to give them all the best this world has to offer.

Every time they are sick and in pain, we as their parents, are the first one to get hurt seeing them suffer. If only we can take all the pain away, we will whole-heartedly do it for our kids.

That is why I can feel the pain that my friend is experiencing now after seeing her child suffer from cleft lip. My friend is actually blaming herself for what happened because her doctor suspects that it could be caused by the medicine that she took for her migraine while she was pregnant. But it could also be the fault of the doctor who prescribed the medicine.

These are just some of the common medical mistakes that could have easily been avoided if physicians have a way of communicating amongst each other faster and easily. This is the aim of Doximity.

Doximity is an application that doctors can use to communicate and exchange ideas with their colleagues to improve patient care. With this application, they can easily check the profile of a particular doctor, let say of Peter Youssef MD, if one doctor needs to consult on something that is the specialty of Youssef.

This application also allows instant sharing of files, images and text messages as it provides tool for doctors to efficiently exchange ideas.

With Doximity, patient care can definitely improve a lot.

My husband and I went on a Europe vacation last year and one of the highlights of our trip was meeting a group of tourists who became our friends up to now. Sometimes you really never know where you can find true friends. My husband and I were just passing time as we are just waiting for our late evening train ride going to Rome. We have done the Gondola ride, had our picture taken at Plaza de San Marco, had a tour at the Dodge Palace and checked out the wood cupola, tried Venice’s pizza and gelato, and even checked out the souvenir shops located in the small streets of Venice. So we have done everything that we can in Venice and so we just sit in one of the benches facing the Grand Canal as we watch the gondoliers had fun while waiting for tourists to take a ride when we bumped into a group of tourists and we soon found out that we all came from the same country.

We hit it off right then and there. We decided to have coffee in one of the coffee shops near the Grand Canal with a beautiful view of the garden filled with garden finial and there we talk for hours. I don’t know but for some reasons, it is like we knew each other for a long time already. We laugh like there is no tomorrow and chat and chat for hours.

Then the coffee extended until dinner where we moved to a restaurant near the train station so we won’t miss our ride going to Rome and looks like our garden weathervanes are all pointing us in the same direction as they are heading to Rome too the following day. This means we can have more time to get to know each other.

It was just a short time that we spent together when we were all tourist in Europe but I am really glad that up to now, we still keep in touch and they are one of our very true friends.

Last Sunday, we attended our first Christmas party for this year, the Twitter Christmas party. Every time I tell my friends and family that we are having our Christmas party already, they all say that it is still too early. But you know how busy the Bebots/MBAPS/Tweeps are and so we really have to schedule our Christmas party before our busy December.

The party was held at Shakeys Blue Wave Macapagal. They said that their party area can accommodate up to 80 guests but with just 65 people (adult and kids), there is really not much space to move. But despite the limited area that we have, we still managed to have fun.

The party started with the games for the kids (and I must say for the mommies too as they are all fighting to win a prize for their kids) and then we had lunch. After eating, we proceeded with the blowing of the birthday candle of Bianca to celebrate her 4th birthday and they served the 32” pizza courtesy of Jody for Bianca’s birthday. Then we went straight to the Kids exchange gift, raffle for the kids and the daddies and the much awaited activity, the White Elephant game.

Just like last year, the white elephant game was really a blast and the favourite gift for this year, the radio with CD player from Jane and the jewelry box with P1000 Starbucks gift certificate from Jody. LOL. Everybody was really eyeing for this gift but the rule is we can only steal it thrice. But that is where the fun begins, when we try to steal the gift that has been opened already and wait for the reaction of the victim. LOL.

Jacqui told us that for next year, the new rule is we should not bring gifts that have been given already in the previous years so we can be more creative with the gifts that we will bring. Maybe I should start buying for jewelry making supplies so I can start making jewelries as my gift for the white elephant game next year.

We only have 2 hours of party time in Shakeys and with all the activities lined up for the programs, and all the chika, that two hours is really not enough. But as always we really had a wonderful and fun party. Everybody was really happy, especially the kids and the mommies. Our group of friends is really growing and for sure next year we will even be bigger. So we really need to look for a bigger venue.

It was nice seeing you all again guys. Howell, Bela, Cobi and I really had fun. Thanks for all the loots and for great company. Let’s make sure that we will do this again next year.

I was chatting with my friend last night and he is experiencing so much stress now at work as he needs to look for a store where he can order Hydraulic rams and other industrial supply.

The good thing about being at home while I am on my maternity is I can always go online to browse the net. So while Cobi is sleeping, I was able to do some research to help my friend look for Hydraulic valve and rams and other industrial supplies and that is when I discovered Fremont Industrial Supply.

Fremont Industrial Supply have been in the business for more than forty years now and they sell only high quality Electric motors and other industrial supply from more than 50 manufacturers so my friend can surely find what he is looking for from Fremont. They even offer various shipping options to save on shipping fees.

My friend can just send Fremont an email for any product inquiry and request for product quote for the product that he is looking. Alternatively, he can also call them so their customer service agents can quickly handle and answer my friend’s inquiry.

My friend is really thankful that I was able to give him the site of Fremont Industrial Supply as it surely solved his problems at work.

My friend is not in the mood today when we met up with him and the reason behind is that he was not able to get his supply of Padron cigars. You see, he only buys his cigars from local stores here and so he is dependent on the stocks of the store. So if the store runs out of stocks of his favorite cigar, then he has no choice but to wait for the stocks to come so he can have his cigar supply.

He only cheered up when hubby and I gave him the site of Cigar Place where he can order his stocks of cheap cigars. Cigar Place ships internationally so our friend can order his stocks of cigar and even cigar accessories like cigar humidifier anytime he wants.

Cigar Place sells all brands of cigar like Black Pearl Cobre, Graycliff G2, Ramon Allones, CAO Cigars and Acid cigars to name just a few. Aside from premium cigars, Cigar Place also sells cheap cigars and other cigar accessories so even if you are on a budget or not, you can definitely find your brand of cigar from Cigar Place. One of the best things about Cigar Place is that they have a 24 hour turnaround so your orders can be ship right away. They even offer promos like First of the month $1 shipping or Early Bird Special to give their clients more discounts.

My friend got really excited as now he has found an online store where he can regularly order his supply of his favorite cigars.

I was chatting with my friend from Los Angeles this morning. It was just a short chat as it is almost 5 PM already from her side of the world and it is time for her to go home. But I am glad that we were still able to catch up with each other’s lives even if we just chatted for just a couple of minutes. She has been very busy lately that I rarely catch her online especially she is busy taking care of her now one year daughter, Audrey.

It has been almost six years already since I last saw her. I had training in Canada back in 2004 and on our way back to Manila, Howell and I visited her in Los Angeles where we stayed there for more than a week. She was so glad that finally, a friend gets to visit her that is why she and her now husband even took a leave so they can take us to places in Los Angeles like the Universal Studios and my favorite of all, they treated us for a three days stay in Las Vegas.

It was my first time in Las Vegas and since we are both single then, Las Vegas was really the ultimate place where we can party and just be free and have fun. We stayed at Circus Circus hotel where we enjoyed their buffet breakfast everyday, we stroll along the Las Vegas strip, tried our luck in the Casino, did some shopping in the various Outlet stores along the Vegas strip, did some window shopping at the high end stores inside the casinos, and just have fun, fun, fun.

Gosh I miss those days. How I wish I can just pack my bags and head to Las Vegas again. Right now, the closest thing that I can get in having a taste of Las Vegas is playing some Online Roulette and trying my luck in playing Blackjack Online. I am seven months pregnant now and I am sure that we won’t be able to travel in the next one to two years so I guess this is all that I can do to bring back good memories when we were at Las Vegas.

But hubby is saving up for a US trip for our family. We are just waiting for another training of Howell and if baby boy is already old enough to travel, we will surely pack our bags and head to Las Vegas and Los Angeles again.

You can view more pictures of our Las Vegas adventure here.

My friend is already bored with her current job right now. She feels that she needs a new environment and a new adventure so she will get the inspiration again to go to work.

Our common friend recently enrolled in one of Regency Beauty Institute’s schools and so she is suggesting that my other friend enrolled here too so she can get the best training in beauty and fashion which can help her get a job in the beauty industry. Our common friend mentioned also that Regency Beauty Institute is a very affordable cosmetology school so my friend doesn’t have to worry about the tuition fee. Regency Beauty Institute also has the best facilities so my friend will be guaranteed to get the best beauty and cosmetology training. They are even connected to salon and spa owners so they can help their students after graduating to get a job. They even set up an online job seeking site so their students can search for jobs even at the comfort of their own home.

My friend was really happy when she heard about Regency Beauty Institute because it finally gave her hope in finding a new career.

My good friend Bo got inspired to scan and post in Facebook some of our group’s pictures some decades ago. LOL. Really a blast from the past. Just look at the pictures:

And look at us now.

Notice how big we have grown? LOL. Do you think we all need diets for quick weight loss? But did you know that one reason that we lasted this long as friends is that we all have something in common – we all love to eat. Be it at a small carenderia eating tapsilog with five cups of extra rice (paging Bo. LOL) or in a nice cozy restaurant eating ox tongue, or just home cooked sinampalukan manok at Dante’s house. Gosh, I miss those days. We are planning to go out of town this summer and food tripping, swimming and just having some crazy fun. Hope it will push through because one of our friends, Aubrey, is already busy with the election campaign.

I miss you all guys! Hope to see you all soon!

I had lunch with one of my friends and we talked about our jobs. I told her that I am already contented with my current job and admitted that I am already considering retiring here.

On the other hand, my friend told me that she feels unhappy with her work because she feels that there is no growth. I remembered some of my colleagues who are in the same boat as she is but instead of resigning, they just decided to enroll in graduate business school.

My friend like the idea as she wanted to have a graduate degree too and she is really that serious that she already found a school where she can take GMAT prep courses to prepare her for the admissions exams. Since she can’t quit her job while reviewing, enrolling in the GMAT prep courses of Knewton is her best option to prepare for the exam as she can review online. This means that she can view live GMAT courses or watch the video wherever she is and whenever she likes. And even though it is online, she will be guaranteed the best prep courses as Knewton only hires experienced teachers in the industry.

My friend is so excited with this new adventure. Who knows, if she pass the admission exams for her MBA, and if she finish her graduate degree she might be able to get a new job that will finally make her happy and contented.