Funny posts!!!

With our internet age, I have seen a lot of funny posts all over and I just pass them by! I never imagined that funny posts can also be serious stuff! 

It has been two weeks since I last went back home here in Laguna! Last night I saw a lot of funny posts in our house!! 

When I was going up the stairs, I saw this! 

* Put up the slippers

Wow! I can't stop laughing!! As een tawa ako ng tawa! 

Then I went to the kitchen to eat! This is what was there! 

* Wash the dishes

OMG! I think Mama is tired of saying these words every hour of every day! Hahahha

Then when I turned to my right, this is what it says! 

* Throw the trash

Clearly, I can always hear Mama say this to Mika and Papa! Hahha 

Then finally this is the winner for me! 

When I was on my way out of the house.. 

* Turn of the Wifi before leaving

Dahil ba laging nakakalimutan? Hahaha!

This is super funny!!! 

I hope that these signs will "Really! Really!" help remind the people in this house to do the what's necessary! 

Good Job Mama! Ikaw na ang maabilidad na ayaw magsalita ng magsalita!! Hahahah ^_^

Xoxo

Happy Friday: Keep Calm &

Iv'e seen a lot of "Keep Calm" posters and I love them all! However, last night while I was browsing, I saw this one and made me smile! 

Wow! This is really me!!

If my mind is in chaos or I want to relax or I don't know how to begin or end my day, I just sit in front of my laptop / phone and start doing my blog.  If other people has what they call "retail therapy" mine is really writing. 

Iv'e always wanted to write but my work before didn't give me the opportunity. Now im enjoying writing as much as I am enjoying eating!

Writing gives me the opportunity to share  my thoughts, my inspiration, my source of strength! I hope that each story that I share will have some significance to the one reading it. Something that will give them inspiration on how to be happy and thankful!

More importantly, I hope that a simple post will make someone smile!

Xoxo

Core Milestone School

It was indeed a very productive day yesterday!

Not because I finished something but because I learned a lot from great leaders and mentors!

I had a pleasure to be invited at the yearly Core Milestone School.

We had the pleasure to have great speakers from Accenture and from their real life career experiences, it helped me relate even more on how I can perform at my best, how I can help my team and how I can move forward!

I would like to highlight some of the key take aways that I will always remember! 

I. Before the speakers talk about their part of the presentation, great introductions were given by them. It was categorized into two aspects: 

 - Me at Work

 - Me at Play

For me this is one important aspect of being an Accenture employee. That we are "still" able to do things based from what we like doing and not talk about work all the time! It's interesting to find out what our leaders' interests and past times are!

II. Road to Success - Pooja Sharma

The road to success is not a road of success stories and happy moments.  The road to success will entail failures, mistakes that will keep us up to speed on what we should do to make things better. 

We need to understand the business (easier said than done). We need to know how we can give value to them and how we can all be true Business Partners!

We need to "always" focus on results / performance and focus on how we can all be greater than.  

Leveraging on the strengths of our team in delivering high performance is also key to success.  As well as continuous learning and self development.  Always seek greater responsibilities because it is through this initiative that we can provide more value to our clients and more learning to ourselves.

III. Your role as a People Developer - Sheila Aguinaldo

You cannot buy a pill to make you a people developer overnight.  This is a behavior that takes a lot of time and effort to build.  Aspiring to to be a people developer means one is open for development, open to be mentored, open to recieve feedback.  

For me, there is no such thing as a perfect people developer, because as what was shared by Sheila - different strokes for different folks, thus, one leadership style may not be applicable to all employees.  As a people developer one must be "again" open for feedback and must know how to be flexible in a particular situation.

It is also important to build trust and relationship not only to the people you work with but specifically with your team.

IV. Year one with Accenture - Anna Medina

Inspiring to know that she has been with different roles within HR, giving her the opportunity to showcase her talents and strengths.  She left Accenture, then finally saw the light and came back to Accenture because she thought that the grass was greener on the other side but only to find out that there were no grass to begin with!

Her key take aways are (which i agree) 

 - Do not be afraid to go out of your comfort zones 

 - Find a mentor

 - Have that balance for work and life

V. Career advice countdown - Alex Gasmena

It was a very interesting discussion from Alex - it was after lunch (where everyone wants to sleep) but what happened to me was exactly the opposite. I had to listen to what he has to say because I know that it would be beneficial for me as I grow my career with Accenture! 

Key take away would be: 

 - Building Network - for me this is a pretty easy thing to do but building the "right" network is a whole different story all together.  He shared a lot of tips about banking on our network and it's something that inspired me to do as I go along with my career here at Accenture! 

 - Find a mentor and Be a mentor - 

Finding the perfect mentor for your style is not as easy as choosing a dip for your taco. It entails time and relationship building, thus it's important that we value the things that we learn from our leads, our role models. As we look at them as our inspiration, we can slowly look at them as our mentors!

Be a mentor - someone who can be asked for guidance and support. Someone whom people can look up to! 

 - Market yourself - know the perfect time to sell your achievements! No one will market yourself better than you. Ofcourse our managers can do it and it's a plus points for us but we can always do it at the right time!

After completing the day, it felt a lot easier to perform my role at this level and I am excited to do everything that I have learned on the job! 

What excites me more is I have my friends whom I know will help me with my journey in Accenture! 

My final take away with this fruitful event will be:
Being promoted to the next level is a great indication of performance, however, it is being relevant to the business that weighs more than anything else!  ^_^

Thanks Accenture for this opportunity!! 

Xoxo

 

Oh there you are Tuesday! Bye Monday!

When I was still studying, my classmates often tells me how they hate Mondays.

When I was working, my officemate often tells me how they hate Mondays.

From the post here -->
Maybe the problem is really not the day but the situation that is related to the day?

Sometimes we tend to relate Mondays to a bad situation or events that makes it hard for Mondays to make a good impression.

My solution: 
Put a different perspective to what was known to be a negative thing!

Like Mondays -- we often drag ourselves to work or school every Mondays, becuase we want to extend our weekend.

What if we look at great things and think of happy thoughts associated with Mondays? I think it's going to be a great idea so that Monday's can viewed as something that we will all look forward to:

~ You get to meet your officemates again! Talk about your latest weekend trip or your weekend shopping!
~ You get to have your allowance (for students)!
~ You get start the week to plan for your next weekend get away
~ You get to start a new task to show "high performance delivered"
~ You get to see your office / school crush again

Well this list is to help you get started on how to make your Mondays a day to look forward to! Note that it will always depend on your interests and what makes you happy!

At the end of the day - Monday will always be there no matter how much we want to avoid it.  The more that we dread Mondays, the more we are drowning ourselves into hating the day!

Why don't we embrace Mondays - anyways, if we do not count the hours it will pass by swiftly.  But not too quick - we might forget about Friday, Saturday and Sunday then it will be Monday again! Haha!

Again, it's not about Mondays that we should be worried about.
It's how we associate Mondays to a negative situation that will give us a wrinked face!

Xoxo

Always Thankful, always Am!

We've seen a lot!

We've experienced a lot!

We've been through a lot!

Life is a journey and whether we like it not we will all experience it's ups and downs! One thing that I admire about the Filipino spirit is that we all know how to dance with our lives journey!

I am always asked why I am always happy and engaged.. My only answer is simple.. I am always thankful with what I have no matter how small.  

My challenge to all of you is to be happy with what you have! Please read the quote again!! You will definitely have that smile on your face! ^_^

Xoxo

Viva San Clemente 2013

Since Sweets and I went to Malaysia, after two years, it's my first time again to spend Angono's town fiesta! 

We didn't have much on our table but Mama cooked some dishes for us to share for the weekend! 

We only had one great bunch of visitors. Nanette and family! :) thanks for bringing the maki and lumpia! 

Fun to do make up with this Kikay kid!

Meet jLo!! Super kikay! Suko ako!

See you all soon! 

I am looking forward to next town fiesta because it's going to be big! Yahoo!!!

Xoxo

Random Thought: Ikaw na ang napagkamalang..

More than three years ago I had my trial make up in preparation for our wedding! 

I thought about this because I remembered something! 

While Booba (May you always watch us from heaven) was busy doing my hair and make and Sweets was just sitting at the sofa.. 

Booba whispered to me.. Making sure that Sweets will not hear us: 

Booba: Ano yang jowa mo business man?

KL: Huh? Ka office mate ko yan noh!

Booba: Ano koreano ba yan?

KL: Hindi noh! Kausapin mo! Tagalog ang  isasagot sayo niyan! 

When I told Sweets, he was laughing all over!!

Sweets was always mistaken to be a Koreano! When we were in Malaysia, I remember one time when we were at the mall, this girl is not talking to us. Then when we (sweets and i) talked in tagalog, the girl talked to us.  She thought we were Chinese! Ahihi! 

Anyways! Enough about being kalokalike of other nationalities! Sweets and I are purely Pinoy!! Hahahah!! Halata naman eh!! Muah! 

Xoxo

Overdue Catch up with my HR Service Desk Team

It's already close to 6 months since I joined Accenture. Me and my previous team were discussing on when we can have our lunch. 

We had our last team meal before I left and it was like more then three years ago. We have lots of kwento therefore we really need to catch up! 

Well, i was based in gateway and they were based in CG and it's hard for me to just go to CG without any business.  Everytime I am at CG, i was very busy and had no time to meet. :(

One Monday, when I was walking to CG.. Someone called me.. "KL!" It was Wena and Tin!! I was in CG because I have a presentation for NJO and they told me "lunch?".

Then I said "my NJO timeslot is at 11:40am to 12:50pm, if okie lang kayo to have lunch at 1pm?"

"Okie daw" and so it's a date! Finally!

Right after my NJO, I immediately pinged Wens and Tin to meet at the lobby!! 

We never discussed anything about work. We talked about life, love, friends, plans and future meet up! Pag nasa CG ulit ako, this time kasama na si Ruby!!

Sad that Dalyn was not there because she was on night shift but I know that there will always be a next time!

The HR Service Desk Team was the first team that I handled and I owe a lot to them! I will never never experience the fun and fulfillment of being a lead if not for them!! Thanks team! Group hug!!

I will always be pakalat kalat in CG so we can always catch up again!! Muah!!

Xoxo

Miss Universe 3rd Runner Up - Ariella Arida

From the time that Ara won the Binibining Pilipinas - Universe, we all joined her as she journey through high and lows towards the Ms Universe coronation at the Crocus Hall, Moscow, Russia. 

From tarps, online voting, video support, fan page support - we all felt the love and support from our fellow Filipinos, whether in and out of the country!! 

We all waited for the event, hoping and wishing that Ara will take home the crown.  We all gathered together to wait for the live telecast of the Ms Universe at Velvet TV at 2am of November 10, 2013.

Ate Yyette, our cousin, even baught a new TV to watch the coronation. The night before the event, we gathered together for dinner (yes hindi ito madalas nangyayari) 

Then we all waited for the 2am airing! 

Now on to the thrills, at 1:30am, we were all seated, eating popcorn (yes parang sine lang) while waiting for the show to start!

The opening number was so fast that we didn't even notice it.. We were all anxious to find out if Ara will make it to the top16. 

Here it goes... OMG! The 15th slot was already filled up but Ms Philippines was still standing behind together with all of the candidates! Heart pumping silence - we were all waiting for Ara to be called! 

 

Yes! She made it to the Top 16!

Then off to the swim suit competition! She got a high score at the round and we can all see all her core hard work! It really paid off!

Now to the evening gown competition. Very stunning Ara in a bright yellow gown!

On to the top 10. Here we go again with the heart pumping silence! Alas! She made it through! 

I have never been so attached and excited to beauty pageants until now! Of course I can't help but support Ara in achieving her dreams! 

Then now! The final top calls - the sure win Top 5!! Waahh!!!

Yes! Sure win! She made it again! The only asian country who made it to top 5! We were all excited to hear her answer in the Q & A portion! 

Perfect answer our dear Ara! We are so happy with your answer!! Wohooo! And she was the only candidate who had no interpreter!! Winner Ara!!

The time that we were all anticipating, the announcement of the winners! We were all expecting that Ara will nail the Ms Universe title.. 

I must admit, when I heard that Ara was the 3rd runner up, I felt  was so sad! But I know that things happen for a reason! Even if she didn't get the title and the crown, in our hearts and with the support of the Filipinos, Ara is a beautiful, intelligent and fearless women who will fight until the end! She is still the Ms Universe for us! Big clap!! 

Our Prayer!

We have seen all the relief efforts of our fellow countrymen within and outside of the Philippines.  We even recieved the help from other countries and multi national companies.

I do not want to mention names, corporations, countries or companies as I may miss one of them but with all my heart and soul, I do thank all of them for being such an inspiration to billions of people who are watching the news about what Yolanda left in the Philippines.

All donations in kind, in cash.

All volunteers who are giving their time and energy.
All media covering the day to day events from the affected areas.

All government officials who are busy doing their best to help.

All of these people behind the relief operations, the volunteer work and the prayers means a lot to all the Yolanda Survivors.

My only prayer is that:

"I hope all of the help given will reach those that are affected"

I know you wanna help, here's how --> Working Together as One!

Xoxo

Working together as one!

These past few days, we have been and are still saddened with what's happening in our country.  I wrote something in my status last weekend..

I do not want to explain what happened to our brothers and sisters who got hit by Yolanda because it's all over the news.  It saddens me and I ask why these things has to happen.

A scientific explanation would say that it's all about climate change but in my mind none from these scientific explanations can really tell why it happened and why it has to be this bad and tragic.

Many lives were lost, many brothers and sisters are weeping.
They all need our help!

I have gathered some inforgraphics from IG and FB to share with all of you on how we can help. (I don't own any of the photos here)

It doesn't matter how big or small we've helped, what's more important is our reason behind it.  No small help cannot make a child, mother, father ~ SMILE!

I have seen our countrymen helped one another and it lifts my spirit to heights that we can all do this in His help!

I thank everyone who did their share in kind and in prayers. 
It will mean a lot to our brothers and sisters!

We are! We are!

It's not a secret that my husband and I are having a Long Distance Relationship (LDR).  If you take an initial look at it, for couples who are so inlove, i mean so so inlove, LDR is so easy!! 

But if you take a closer look and experience it first hand, you will find out that it's really not that easy! My best friends would know that I am the number 1 kontra bulate for LDRs. I have been there, done that and I know that it's really hard! 

So why have it now? You might ask me!

Well, I know for a fact that everything happens for a reason and that reason is why I am holding on.  I know that things will fall into place, in His own time and I know I have to trust Him when He said "wait!".

LDR is hard, especially for me, because I am a very affectionate person. I always want to cuddle, hug, kiss, make cheesy lines and a lot more sweetness! That's my personality and if I can't do that then what now? Do I feel frustrated? 

My answer is No! Simply because I have my two families where I can share my love and affection with. They are more than enough to cover the warmth everytime I miss Sweets! Besides, Sweets is just one ping away (of course with the help of technology!).

This is how I am coping! Yes, I will not deny that I am coping with this LDR and I am proud to say that I am successful! 

Here are some of my tips for those having an LDR: 

1. Love yourself - focus on being beautiful! That way, you will not long for the hug and kisses of your partner. 

2. Give more time to family - if you are in a relationship, more often than not, you lose time to be with your family. Now this is the time to bond more with them!

3. Learn a hobby - this will not only make you busy but will make you feel fulfilled once you finished something.

4. Plan for the ultimate meet up - now that you have an LDR, you have more time to plan for your date and this time it will be much more exciting because you do not have dates that often!

5. Pray - i mean always! To make sure that you will always be guided by Him and that you will continue to keep the fire burning! 

Yeah! That's all for now! If you want to learn more about my coping mechanism then just ping me! Wink! 

Final say: LDR is not a bad thing! It is actually a good thing!! It makes the couple stronger!

 

Xoxo

Happy Friday: Overdue Catch Up!

Finally the time came when, after 5 months of being in the Philippines, I can meet my dear friend KC! 

My husband is in town and thus it's the perfect time for me and K to have a couple date together with our husbands! That's how friends are, even husbands become friends. 

I know that Ian and Sweets will get along very well! Wink wink! 

It was my first time to dine there at Eastwood Mall and so K was the one who helped me find the place.  Our friend  Anna recommended the restaurant and as expected it was cozy, comfortable and a good eat.  

We ate at Momo! 

They have big servings that you can split into two, we did just that (thanks K for the tip). 

I got so excited I forgot to take a picture of the food! In summary we had pasta, cheese jalapeno, dessert! This was what's left! 

Wow! We had a lot of laughs and sharing about the future! It's true that as you mature, you talk about more informative, life changing experiences! And I loved each moment of it! 

Ian and KC are both so adorable! 

There is no such thing as a perfect couple, but if there is then it's made out of hard work, love and a lot more love! 

Ian and K are both my love and inspiration! Ofcourse with their little angel and myLove as well, Leila!  ❤

Thanks Ian and K for taking time to meet with us! Such a fun and serious night for young couples! 

Thanks K for the beautiful shot!! Muah! 

See you both again soon! 

Xoxo

Ninja and Water Themed Party!

I have not attended children's birthday parties for quite sometime now and so I was excited to attend this Birthday Party.  I am the game master and I am so ready to go!

It was also my first time to attend a water themed party and thus I had to do some research on which games to play.  



Before I move on to the games proper, let me share with you the highlights of the event.

Aaron is my inaanak and is the son of my fave cousin, Ate Ytche!
His birthday celebration was supposed to be last October 12, same time that I will be in Malaysia so I was not supposed to attend.  With His intervention, there was a typhoon at that time and the birthday celebrant was not feeling well, thus the event was postponed.

It was rescheduled for October 28 and the great news was that I will be able to attend now! Yey!

Aaron's hobby ever since was playing lego, but just recently he was very interested in completing the Ninja-Go Lego collection and thus the party was themed as such.  It was also a water themed party because the event was held at the Laya Private Resort (Antipolo City, Rizal).

Let's move on to the venue.  It was a very cozy, private and relaxing venue and thus I recommend it if you want to get away from the pollution, busy and noisy city!

So Ninja inspired, even the balloons and the loot bags.
I admired the creativity and that there were a lot DIYs here! I love DIY!!!!

Now up to the water games:

Game 1: Catch me, I'm falling

This was inspired from the "Egg game".  This time the object that the children needs to catch was a water balloon.  The water balloon should not burst or else the pair is out of the game:

Game 2: Fill me up

From the title itself, the goal was to fill up the bucket. 
The teams have 3 minutes to fill up the bucket, the most water wins.

- Get water from the pool
- Pass the filled up plastic cup over the head
- The next player will get it and repeat the action
- The last player will have to pour the water to the bucket backwards
- Repeat cycle until time is up

Surprise: The plastic cup has mini holes at the bottom. ^_^

Game 3: What's the word?

Letters (made up of styro - like scrabble) were thrown into the pool.
There are two groups on both sides of the pool.
The game master will ask questions and the answers are in the letters.
First team to complete the answer wins.

Look at how happy the birthday boy was! :p

Game 4: Race to Finish

You need 2 water guns and 2 race cars.
The goal is to squirt the race cars until it reaches the finish line
Pretty simple right!

There was also "Taho all you Can" and the children loved it!
Even the adults! hehe

The place was rented from 8:00 - 5:00 pm, not bad for a whole day fun filled celebration!  Per my assessment it was a whole lot of fun and I hope the kids (and young at heart) enjoyed!

More pictures at Mama's FB and Ate's FB. 
(Pictures can only be viewed if you are connected to them :D)

Xoxo