Happy Friday: My new hello!!!

While everybody else is switching to smart phones, I decided to go back to basics and asked my Santa (Sweets) to get me this baby! :D

More than the touch screen, wifi and games, I like elegance and this baby will give me the elegance I need without compromising my communication! 

I had this phone (the black one) many years back and I felt I wanted to have another one.  This time, with this color!

It arrived here in the office just this morning and I literally felt like a 10 year old girl opening her gift from Santa Clause!

In my tender age now, I am glad to have felt the same level excitement when I was in elementary!

Thank you Sweets for your gift, most especially for your gift of love, patience and understanding! Much love from Mrs Santa! :D

Xoxo

20 Principles of Success Not Taught in School

photo from kimgarst.com

I was blessed to receive this message from my very dear friend, Ochen.  She shared with me this "20 Principles of Success Not Taught in School".

I searched and it was from Jen Groover, who happens to be one of the contributors in "Positively Positive" where I am also an avid follower.



I would like to share this to all of you! :)

1. The only thing in life you have control over is your perspective. No matter what happens, YOU control what the meaning is, and what to do with the meaning you give to the circumstance.

2. Have more fear of regret than failure.

3. Failure is only part of the journey to success. There is not one success story out there that hasn’t experienced failure. The reason you are hearing about it as a success story is because those people saw failure as a tool to get it right.

4. It’s not about what you want to do for a living, it’s about you who want to be. What is your purpose and legacy? I believe the age-old question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is wrong. We need to be asking, “Who do you want to be? What footprint do you want to leave in this world?” From there, you will have your answer as to what you should “do.”

5. Stay focused on your race within. When you are too busy looking behind and around you, people are passing you by.

6. True leadership comes from good energy. Worry more about what your energy is like than the firmness your handshake.

7. Life will give you the same challenges/problems over and over again until you learn your lesson.

8. Until you jump over your inner roadblocks, your outer ones will stay firmly in place. We spend so much time focused on all the exterior obstacles around us, letting them be our excuses. But the more clear and aware we are of our internal roadblocks, and dissolve them, the external roadblocks will begin to disappear, too.

9. The most successful people are the ones that work on themselves first.

10. Do not judge — be inspired. If you are too busy judging everyone and everything around you, you are not remaining open to find inspiration in everyone and everything around you.

11. You are not allowed to complain about something unless you are going to do something about it.

12. Surround yourself with people you want to be like.

13. Learn to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. The more fears you face, the more you will grow.

14. Always ask, “What if?” and, “Why Not?” Instead of thinking, “What if I fail?” ask, “What if I succeed?”

15. Creativity is your unlimited capital. Understand and harness its power.

16. “I only have good days.” If you start off everyday with this mindset, even when challenges emerge, your positive mindset will help you overcome them more readily.

17. Create your own footprint. You do not need to do what others have done before you.

18. Hit the “mental reset button.” When you are thinking negative thoughts, envision hitting the “delete” button in your mind and begin to rewrite a better story.

19. Abundance is everywhere. You must choose to see it and believe it in order to fully experience it.

20. There is a lesson in everything that happens to us — wisdom to be gained and gratitude to be given. Begin with gratitude and everything else will reveal itself.

The beauty of success is that it can have many layers. Success doesn’t need to be limited to one aspect of life — but as many aspects as we desire to succeed in. The critical part of being successful is to be aware of what you want. Define it, write it down, and reflect, every day, on which steps are necessary to write your own story of success.

I hope to share more of these inspiration as we go along!

Happy reading!

Xoxo 

Madam Tussauds - Hongkong

Marie Tussaud (born Marie Grosholtz), was instructed in the art of wax portraiture by her adopted uncle Dr Philippe Curtius. On his death she inherited his exhibition of wax figures in Paris. In 1802, after surviving the French Revolution where she made death masks of executed nobles, she brought her exhibition to England and spent the next 33 years touring the British Isles before finally establishing a permanent exhibition in London in 1835.

If you want to learn more about the history of Madam Tussauds - Watch this! 

We have already researched about this place and I got excited about what was in store for us at Madam Tussauds.   Even before you enter there, a wax figure of Bruce Lee was already there.  For those who opt not to enter Madam Tussauds, they can have a picture with him instead.

Even before you enter MT (Madam Tussauds) you will see in a not so far area, Jackie Chan's wax figure.  You cannot have your shot with Jackie unless you will use their camera (then you will be given a stub to pick up your photo for HKD100). Well for me it's worth it as long as we have a shot with Jackie.

He was a bit oily and young looking but at first glance you will think that we bumped into him in China! :)

Moving on with MT, the first batch of wax figures were all Hollywood celebrities.  At first glance (even on the second and third glance), they really look like the real deal.  From the tip of their hairs to eye color up to their teeth and tattoo, it looked very real. 

It was a good thing to have this exhibit, at least we are able to take a snapshot together with our favorite celebrities without having the fuss of banging with other fans!

Next part of MT was for royalties and state leaders.

Thank you for the I-Technology!

Sweets' intelligence was inspired by this person.

There were also a lot of celebrities and pop stars but I do not intend to post all of them.  You might be wondering how these beautiful wax figures were made, please see video below.

Then here is my picture with her!

Finally, this was one of our most enjoyable shot!
Sweet's being able to block Yau Ming's shot!

We stayed there for around less than one hour as I would like to make the most of our visit there.  There were a lot of Madam Tussauds (in other countries), but according to MT's staff, the one in Hongkong was the cheapest one! :)

Xoxo

A Morning in Hongkong

Initially, as what I have mentioned in my other post, my husband and I created our own itinerary. However, with much research, my husband read about the "Big Bus Tours" and decided to take this one instead of following our own itinerary and having to commute all by ourselves.

Big Bus Tours is like a Hop On-Hop Off bus that gives the opportunity to tour the important tourists spots both in Hongkong and Kowloon Islands.  They give the flexibility to stay longer in any tourist spot because their tours have break points where tourists can drop off and spend longer time in one spot.

The bus arrives every other 30 - 45 minutes and thus you can just wait for the next bus to arrive to continue with your tour.  They also have the night tour.

There are "Green", "Red", "Blue" and "Night" Tours.  This gives you the option to choose which tour you would like to focus on.  We chose to have the "Green Tour" first because it is in Hongkong Island and at the same time its route will direct us to the places that we want to visit first.

To start the tour in Hongkong Island, we had a 10 minute ferry ride (since we are coming from Kowloon) from Kowloon to Hongkong. 

Before this ferry ride, we stopped at the famous "Clock Tower".

Going back to the ferry ride - since our first day in HK was a Friday, almost all of the people that were with us in the Ferry were all going to work in Hongkong Island. 

Hongkong Island is the southern part of HK's business district, this is where all of their multi national companies and offices are situated. From the tour, we were able to see their large offices and buildings which included Bank of China, Standard Chartered Bank, AIA, Lippo Center, Legislative Council, Revenue Tower.

You will also notice that there were a lot of apartment buildings in Hongkong.  I think they wanted to utilize the land space that they have and thus the buildings were so tall and slim.

Following the "Green bus" route, one of the best stops that we had was at the "Stanley Market". Stanley Market is a street in Stanley.

This was initially part of my itinerary. :)


The street is a typical example of a traditional old open-air market in Hong Kong and has since become a major tourist attraction, well known for its bargains. Many of the stalls or shops in Stanley Market sell Hong Kong souvenirs as well as clothing - particularly silk garments and traditional Chinese dress - toys, ornaments, luggage, souvenirs, paintings, and Chinese arts and crafts. (Wikipedia)

This is where I got my cream fur coat.

We also passed by Stanley Village and Stanley Beach road.
Another area that we passed by was the Repulse Bay.  We saw people having their barbecue and it smelled so nice.  The best thing about it was that the barbecue area was for free. ^_^

Along the way, we passed by Ocean Park.  We never went there because our schedule in HK was full packed and to enjoy Ocean Park at its fullest, we have to stay there at least one day. :D

After this one, we had the Sampan Tour point at the Aberdeen Harbour.


 
After the ride, our next stop was at "The Peak Tram".  

This is the transportation going to "The Peak" and "Madam Tussauds".
-click the link to be directed to another story.

More to come, talk to you soon!

Xoxo

Why Hongkong?

Several reasons why we chose HK.

1. Disneyland (yes there is this kid in me, just hiding)
2. Cold weather (no need to apply for any VISA)
3. We can also visit Macau (one hour ferry ride from HK)
4. Shopping

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My husband and I planned for this for almost one year.  
It's our fifth anniversary (bf-gf) so it needs to be special.

Another thing, we want to make sure that we have enough money to spend while we were there.  My mantra in life is that "Save first, then spend".  I am not a strong believer of using my credit card. :D

Anyways, HK is very near the Philippines, thus, there are a lot of Overseas Filipino worker there.  Across the street, you will hear people speaking in "tagalog" and sometimes I talk to them or just smile at them. It's always good to be with kababayan if you are in a foreign land. :D

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A lot has happened in HK and I will share it to you all one by one.

Talk to you later!
Xoxo

Happy Friday: Who is not Happy during Fridays?

I think everybody is happy during Fridays because this is the last working day and last school day of the week.  People are happy to look forward to weekend and usually there are planned activities during weekends!  Yahoo!

We are lucky if it will be a loong weekend! :D

   

Here is "Blinking Fridays" to say how Happy I am for Fridays.

I know you are too! :D

Xoxo

 

HK Preparation: My own Gloves!

 




If you are my office buddy then you should know that I "love" turtle neck. 

Just so you know, my love story with turtle neck started last 2005 when I watched Mr and Mrs Smith (Angelina and Brad).


Anyways, I have this favorite turtle neck and I do not want to put it to waste and thus I created something out of it.

Since I know that we are going to Hongkong and they say that HK at this time of the year is quite cold, I figured that the best thing to do for this turtle neck is to create a DIY gloves. :D

Why not right!!? Besides, it would be a lot of fun to do!

Things needed:
1. Old knitted blouse
2. Scissors
3. Needle and Thread
4. Newspaper / magazine

Steps:

1. Measure your hands in a magazine or newspaper, put some allowance in it.
Remember that you have to sew its side.
 

 2. Use the cut hands as pattern and draw it into your knitted cloth.
You have to make 4 pieces of this hand pattern

3. Cut accordingly and pair them, you will have two pairs.

4. Sew it, then turn it back and you will have your very own gloves!

Happy me with my happy gloves!
Love it!

Xoxo
 

Itinerary: His and Hers

Every time we (Sweets and I) are planning to go somewhere we always plan for our itinerary! (Usually it's Sweets :D)  It is just right to be prepared in a place that you want to visit right?! 

This way, you know what to expect, what to see and how to spend your money.  For in that manner, your money will be spent wisely as you have already researched for the best place to buy things and eat.

Sweets told me to take care of my own Hongkong itinerary as he does his Hongkong itinerary as well.  We spent at least an hour to do our own research and itinerary preparation.  Then after that we discussed.

Sweets told me that we will cross-check each of our itineraries to make sure that we will not miss any place and to see if we wanted to visit the same tourist spots in Hongkong.

Moment of truth:

When we did our cross checks, majority of the tourist spots that Sweets specified was not on my list and then I said "Okie we can go there".  Only to find out that the reason I do not have much tourists spot in my list is that my list contained a lot of "market places" in Hongkong! Well, this just proved that I want to shop (aside from visiting historical places).

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In the end, we were able to visit the places on our list and we enjoyed our vacation! :D

Kudos to me and Sweets because we relied on our own research and interest to make ourselves around HK and Macau (Macau solely was c/o Sweets).

Xoxo
 

Wednesday Wreath

Hmmm.. can you smell that Christmas air?  Well if you are in the Philippines you will definitely feel that Christmas is coming!  You can feel it from:

1. Christmas Lights along Ayala Avenue
2. Christmas Lanterns outside building offices
3. Christmas Carols being played in the mall 
4. People buzzing in to divisoria / greenbelt / malls to buy Christmas gifts
5. Christmas delicacies like puto bumbong and bibingka

A lot more about Christmas when you are in the Philippines. :D

Since we are not going back soon, I thought of making a simple Star Wreath to have a Christmas feel in our condo.

I chose a star as our decoration because in Christian Tradition, the Star of Betlehem, also called the Christmas Star, revealed the birth of Jesus.  Many Christians see the star as a miraculous sign to mark the birth of Christ.
  
I watched this simple video:

 

Then decided to make a wreath out of it.  I thought it would be more cute to hung into our door.

What you will need:
1. Colorful paper (should not be light as a bond paper so that it is sturdy)
2. Scissors and cutter
3. Paste
4. Glitters
5. Newspaper
6. White string

Steps:

1. Create your stars - you can either create it in one size, or multiple sizes.  You can create one color or multiple colors.  I decided to make one size with three different colors (red, green, orange)
2. Make it look like 3D by putting some paper under your star.
3. Put glitters at each of the corner of the star - it will create a more 3D effect
4. Crumple your newspaper and form a circle
5. Paste your stars in your crumpled newspaper, you can tie the stars together to make it even more together.

Now you have a simple wreath star!

Aside from the wreath, I also used the stars as a wand!  We will use these for future events! I used old carton box as sticks!

Like these!! Cute right! :D

In my own simple ways, I still would like to have a spirit of Pinas Christmas even if we are here in MY!

Xoxo

Tuesday Tip Day!

If you have been reading my thoughts and sharing then by now you should be
familiar that I am always doing my "Happy Friday" blogs.  I write anything under the sun as long as it inspires me and I can inspire people.

Last Friday was a lot of inspiration, happy thoughts and activities and thus I was not able to write my "Happy Friday" thought.  With all that happened last five days ago I cannot even think of where to start!

To give some tip, last November 15 was our Anniversary (bf-gf) and my husband and I planned to go to Hongkong-Macau to spend this special event! At the same time, we also planned it to be our honeymoon (yes 2 1/2 years in the making).

This is a tip to all of you that you can expect a number of entries from me.  There are a lot to share and I would like to share the happiness to all of you!

Talk to you all soon!

Xoxo

Yesterday and Today! How do you value time?

When I was 4-years old, this was how I looked like.  Full bangs, chubby chicks, small nose (well until now) and cute little smile.

How time really fly so fast that for my parents, it felt like this photograph was just a couple of years back.

During that time the only thing that worried me was about not having a delicious lunch pack or not having a nice and fancy pencil case.  

I only cared about the small things that will make me happy. I can still remember when I asked my mother to create a very nice magic wand for me (for our school play), that for me was enough.

What seemed to be very simple before is not that simple anymore.
A lot of things changed, even the things that I like and the things that I think about.

This is me now! 

Yes, still with the bangs, with my chubby chicks, small nose and cute little smile!  

I can say that the little girl who made Mama and Papa smile, is still that little girl who is making Mama and Papa smile! Even making them proud!

I no longer worry if I do not have the perfect magic wand, I now worry about my family and how I can make them happy!

Overtime, I can say that I learned a lot!  Thanks to those people who have been instrumental to my growth.  My teachers, family, friends, office mates, parents and especially to my husband. 

I will not be who I am right now if not for all of you!  I would like to say "Thank You" to you all!

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No, I am not saying good bye to this world.
I just would like to emphasize the importance of giving value to time.

Time flies very fast!  Parents should know where I am coming from.
Thus, the best way to make each moment count is to:

1. Appreciate the things you have in life (God, Family, Friends, Career, Love) - then say how much you appreciate them!
2. Share the goodness in you to others (helping someone in need, doing volunteer work for charity / NGO)
3. Do your life journals - it's always a good thing to look back from your previous experiences. Take a lot of pictures and post them where you can find them.

These three things are very simple to say and yet so hard to do.
Start by saying the word "Thank You" to each person who has been instrumental to your growth.  Then "bring back" to the society what you received. 

Count your blessings not by centavo but by how it made you "Happy"!
A lot of things are not bought but felt, what can only be felt can be the best gift that you can receive from anyone.

So what are you waiting for?? Do not waste your time by just watching TV or doing FB (I am not in any way against these activities) but use these precious time by saying "Thank You" and "I Love You" to people that matters most!  Say "Sorry" to those people whom one way or the other you might have hurt.

These are the things that money cannot buy.
These are the statement that if you are unable to say, it might be too late as  time passed you by! :D

Xoxo

Anniversary Gift!

 








I was just talking about happiness! 

While I was taking my lunch here at the office, a delivery came in for me!
I was expecting for a delivery from Sweets but I did not expect that it will come too soon!

It was even wrapped in a small gift box which made me even more excited.

For some who are not aware, our 5th Anniversary is coming up (This is BF-GF). Yes we still celebrate it!  We even celebrate it on a monthly basis.

We always remember the first time we held hands, the first time we hugged and we kissed. :D

Yiheee!  Yes, I still have that kilig moment every time I think about it.

Hypotenuse Romantic Style Silver Plated Bangle.

More than any gift that Sweets will / can give, he will always be the BEST gift a woman can have!

I am indeed so blessed to have him with me and I hope that he feels the same way! :p

Looking forward to more adventures together!

Xoxo