1 Year Ago

Exactly one year ago, I met my (future) husband R. :)

March 29, 2011. Bayanihan Center, Unilab, Ortigas.

AMDG

The Happiness Project

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. - Buddhist Proverb

Today I learned lots of valuable and very timely lessons. I am fascinated with what's happening with my life right now. I feel like I am exactly where I should be, and that God is teaching me to be patient, to be more observant, to listen more, to suspend (ie 'bracket' as they call it in Landmark) my opinions and judgments and consider different views -- the views of others and the different angles. I also learned practical stuff, like I don't have to learn everything to make a good decision (ie most decisions don't require extensive research), that I must not let the Perfect be the enemy of the Good and I must not be reactive and emotional, while also letting the emotions flow. Just go with the flow, just go with God's Flow. I am getting all these from this new book I am reading, from observing and listening more (I lost my voice recently which forced me to listen more and not speak up) and from my new mentor Sir Ed.

I am currently reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Thanks to my good friend Bernicci who gave me this book last Christmas! It is the perfect book for me. I feel like it's like The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho, even if I read it several times in my lifetime, I will always pick up a new lesson from it which will be relevant with my life's different seasons. I can relate to the author Gretchen so much. I am going to embark on my own Happiness Project ASAP! I am so excited with my life! :)

Source: http://www.happiness-project.com/

Oh, I've been eating different recently. Yesterday I had rice and pinangat (leaves with roasted ground pork, cooked in yummy coconut sauce), this morning I had white bread toast with condensed milk (yumm!) and a slice of pizza with ground pork and pepperoni. Ooohhhh, I can feel that my tummy's rejoicing as it experienced different things finally! I love this life. :)

Happiness Project here we go!

AMDG.

Next Chapter

Today, I read an article re Partners and Marriage by R's Uncle, who is a very popular and a notorious Theology teacher in ADMU. R's Uncle even got an A+ for this article. WOW. It's a beautiful masterpiece indeed, one which deserves an A++ on my book.

After reading it, I finally know deep in my heart that God gave me a thumbs up already with regards to moving on to the next chapter (ie levelling up) of my life: I am finally ready for Marriage. I am ready to marry the God-sent man of my dreams, who fortunately (and with a dose of serendipity), shared with me this same article. God is already blessing our marriage and our future family.

I am excited. :)

PS: I've heard about this article back in college. I believe someone sent me this article a long time ago but I never really got the chance to read it. Tonight I finally read it, AND the timing was perfect. Thanks to my partner and future husband R. :)

On baking and pink things

Chocolate walnut brownies by yours truly. A bestseller among my family members, my loved ones (particularly my biggest cheerleader and bestest support person R), co-workers, people I don't know...ehem. :)) Thanks to my brother's girlfriend who gave me the recipe. She's really an angel. :D

Orange chocolate muffin by yours truly again. This is actually my personal favorite out of all the goodies I bake. My dad loves this too.

One of the coolest trivia (yesss coolest talaga!) about me, aside from the fact that I love dancing (Yes I looove dancing since I was 3, my first memory, as in literally. I remember I would dance and dance and dance. I just stopped when I started caring about what other people were saying...Sad! But I started going back to dancing again. Now I would dance an average of once a month, whenever I would have the time to go to the dance classes of gold's gym)....Ohhh where was I? Oh yeah, a trivia about me is that I love baking.

YES yes yes. ME. YES, ME! Haha! I love baking so much. For me, it's the absolute stress buster! As in there was a time when I baked until 4 am because I was sorting out some emotional confusion in my heart about a past relationship. But that was a long time ago. AND because of that experience (yes may point itong post nato), I realized that one of my outlets (aside from dancing) is BAKING.

source: http://www.squidoo.com/hot-pink-kitchenaid-mixer

I would love to have this baby soon! Ahhh, it's a dream come true to have a Kitchenaid. It's a super double dream come true if it's color PINK! Not just any kind of pink, it must be HOT PINK. :))

Wow. I wish I could bake everyday. :)

Another peg shot

source: pinterest.com

I absolutely LOVE and ADORE EVERYTHING about this photo!

1. The PINK shoes. Need I say more? My life's details are screaming PINK since college years.

2. Under the rain.

3. The big umbrella. Reminds me of that song, "it's a big enough umbrella....every little thing he does is magic..."

4. The perfect dress.

5. The perfect man.

6. The perfect woman beside the perfect man hiking up her long skirt not caring if it's white and it's raining. All she cares about is that she wants to show everyone, especially the man of her dreams, how much she loves her.

Perfect.

I must recreate this moment of LOVE on my own wedding. Except, the color of the umbrella must be blue and white (our school colors), and the man beside me can opt to wear a barong. :)

AMDG.

Bitten by the travel bug

Turista Pic # 1. San Francisco Bridge. Taken by Lorenzo. Spring 2011.

Turista Pic #2. Brooklyn Bridge, NYC. Taken by a stranger. Spring 2011.

I cannot wait for SPRING. :)

What happens when I rest. :)

Staycation for two days. Musings. Resting my body. Chocolate extravaganza. One fine day with R. pancit canton with R. madrid. ina garten's barefoot contessa. fat witch by patricia. From Spain with Love by Annie Sibboney. Magnum. cokelight. okinawa 25% sugar hot. glucose salts. royal treatment from our new helpers. chops. mary. josh. work while resting. food trip in my head. food network. lifestyle network. asian food channel. giada. one more chance. pinoy commercials. eat bulaga. market research. bo sanchez's simplify. churros in chocolateria san gines. convento de Corpus Cristi, Madrid, Spain. Wishing for travel at least once a year. Forever and ever with R. eat. pray. love.

I think I'm getting closer to figuring out what I really want to do with my life. :)

My Inspired Life

My new dream: A lovely destination wedding.

Santorini, Greece. Perfect place for the honeymoon.

Cool baby shower idea right? Lovely couple / future parents :)

I dream to have a Family Room like this.

I love the color, the space, the furniture pieces, the view by the window, everything!

I will have this kind of beautiful family portrait soon. They look so happy.:)

Practical tips for the 'kids at heart' :)

From Spain with Love

I woke up today feeling under the weather. This is my second day of resting (I cannot stand it anymore haha! I so wanna go back to being productive again). Nothing to do so I decided to watch TV and check out my favorite channels! Travel, food, lifestyle channels. Wow. Topics on chocolates and Madrid, Spain overwhelmed my senses. Hmm... I remember having this conversation with R a few weeks ago when we were stuck in the Bangkok Airport on our way home to Manila. Thanks to PAL who was so not on time and to the Bangkok Customs who gave us a hard time lining up. This was a creative strategy to kill time (and to get to know your partner) don't you think? :)

Q: What is your top 5 travel destinations for food trip?

R's Answers:

1. Japan

2. Italy

3. Spain

4. Vietnam

5. Oops...I forgot. I'm not even sure if it's in this order. I'll ask him again and get back to you soon :p

My Answers:

1. Italy

2. Spain

3. France

4. Mediterranean / Persian / Middle Eastern Cuisine --> I remember R made a comment that this was an entire REGION and not a country. But to me, this counts as ONE. Haha! :))

5. North America --> a continent again. Oops!

So today, I was really overwhelmed. WHY? The channels (2 different shows) featured Madrid, Spain. The other show focused on one of my favorite things: CHOCOLATES!

Chocolateria San Gines. Famous for its CHURROS! Yumm yum yum.

Since we're into the topic of Chocolates, let me share with you what made me ponder yesterday:

Fat Witch Bakery in Chelsea Market, NYC.

The owner Patricia Helding is My Inspiration. She used to be a Wall Street trader in New York before launching her Fat Witch bakery in 1991. She had the courage to leave her Wall Street career and to pursue her passion: baking brownies! She got her FLOW (high skills, high challenge) and is now being paid for it. Her famous WITCHES (ie SUPER YUMMY brownies) are now part of Oprah's favorite things! I had the privilege to visit her store back in 2009. I don't remember sampling her brownies back then but I remembered admiring her store. It's very homey, very welcoming, and her brownies are so adorably packaged with this witch on the label.

I pray that God blesses me with the same wisdom, the same energy/passion/zest for life! and the same courage to pursue and to celebrate my PASSION --whatever that is. I pray that it comes to me soon.:)

Our family will be travelling to the West Coast this April. I pray that God open the eyes of my heart and let me figure out what I WANT to do with my career, and my life. I want to bless more people. I want to celebrate life. Like these girls Patricia Helding and Annie Sibboney (chef and foodie who hosts From Spain with Love in AFC). They're doing what they really WANT, they're celebrating life, they're being paid for doing what they love, they're inspiring people like me to be the same bold person who goes for their dreams and blessing more people in the process. They are so beautiful, I love them. :)

You are what you read by Fancis Kong

Sharing with you a very practical message by one of my business gurus Mr. Francis Kong:

Somebody says, “If we are what we eat" then most of us would become french fries by now. The truth is we are what we read. Jim Rohn says, "5 years from now, you and I will be exactly the same people today except for two things: the books we read and the friends we meet". Read good books and cultivate honest and good friends by being one yourself.

Posted: 16 Mar 2012 03:38 PM PDT. Share and enjoy! Check out his blog: http://bit.ly/zvJzuJ

A great day

Our family's celebrating some milestones!

1. My Kuya Jack passed the bar. He's now officially an ATTORNEY!

2. My Kuya Jack and Nadia (who also just passed the bar) are now engaged! They're getting married next year. This is the first marriage in our family and I'm so excited!

3. Mary got the TOP 3 slot in her graduating batch. She's a bronze medalist! My parents will, for the first time, go up the stage.

Woohoo! I'm so proud of my siblings!

***

On a more personal note, Authenticity rocks! I shared with R that I, now more than ever, realized how much I value our relationship. I would not do anything reckless to compromise US. :)

Thank YOU God for the grace and the courage.

Also, I'm so happy I'm now close to the girls (ie the girlfriends of R's south barkada)! I am grateful that I met such wonderful new friends.

I am so blessed! We are so blessed by God. ;)

No day but today

Today I got a surprise. I was in EDSA Shang manning our booth with my team when suddenly, I got a text from Rocky to meet up after work. We had dinner in one of those restaurants in the Metro which serves my favorite cuisine: Persian/Middle eastern/Mediterranean ish food (ie kebabs, shawarmas, hummus, yogurt etc).

Out of sharing with Rocky, I also realized that I do not have real concerns (just those which I created). I am responsible for my concerns. I am the one who created them. I am not at the mercy of them.

WOW. Now it's very lite. Where I am right now is EXACTLY where I am meant to be. Where I am is perfect. I know that God has a reason for bringing me here, and for allowing me to feel these feelings and to go through whatever it is I am going through.

Today is a gift. :)

My Prayer:

Thank YOU GOD for all my blessings, for my relationships, for my work and for my life. Despite the negative feelings, You reminded me that I am being blessed abundantly every single day. Father, I am taking charge of my future, please direct my life. I am offering to You my life --my past, my present and my future. I am offering to You my discernment, as my lenten sacrifice. Please give me clarity. Please grant me the courage to make important choices without doubting myself. Please grant me Your Amazing Grace.

Lord, Thank YOU for being there for me, and for reminding me that I am Your Child. Thank You for loving me so much. I am sorry for thinking only of myself most of the time. Please always remind me that You call me to BE MORE for others. I love YOU very much -- all these for Your Greater Glory. I pray with a grateful, trusting and a hopeful heart. In Jesus' Mighty Name, AMEN.

***

Christmas Dinner 2011

We met last March 29, 2011. :D I cannot believe I've known this beautiful man for just a year! God INDEED is the greatest matchmaker. Ah yes, with a little help from His guardian angels here on earth (shoutout to Tisha!) :)

Sharing a beautiful message

Today, I emailed my colleagues regarding Efficiency. I rarely share emails like this nowadays, but I think this is a very important reminder. Very timely (I can so relate!).

Dear Team,

Sharing with you this beautiful message:

There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing. There are no limitations to what you can do, have or be. Except the limitations you place on yourself by your own thinking.

By Brian Tracy. Read more about Efficiency http://www.briantracy.com/blog/business-success/the-law-of-forced-efficiency/

God bless.

Regards,
Len

My Life :)

My Life :)

After the defense

Cinque Terre, Italy

Leonid Afremov

Gorgeous! :) Cheers to beauty!

Thank you GOD for creating beautiful things and beautiful people. AMEN.

On giving back

Because I wanted to give back to my Alma Mater, I volunteered to panel for the Marketing 102 students of the Ateneo later. Best of luck to all the Junior year students who will present in a few hours! I cannot believe how time flew so fast. It felt like only yesterday when I was in the exact same shoes, experiencing the same nervousness and going through the sleepless nights of brainstorming, typing, researching, more typing, editing, printing, photocopying, ringbinding ha! Tedious AND worth it. I was reading this marketing plan earlier by a group of students and I MUST SAY, it's very well thought of. Good job to these students! Pwede na kayo mag apply sa akin! I will give you a chance. :D

TGIF - 2

Random pictures - Hot air balloon fiesta (Pre Valentine's Day weekend), Shep Anne's Wedding, Mind Museum with Josh, peg garden, perfect quote of the day. :)

TGIF

Cool idea :)

What do you think of this dress? I love it. :) Found this on this website http://pinterest.com/

Welcome Back!

609 Connection - Rica, Des and Len (minus Loudette)

With Rocky aboard the Ferry in HK, October 2011.

The past few days I've been thinking about creating a new blog again. I miss blogging. I miss writing my thoughts down and sharing bits and pieces of my life to friends and random strangers in the blogging world. I miss documenting ramblings, food posts, trips and just about anything that has been happening lately in my life. I MISS THIS. And much to my surprise, when I searched my blog in the internet, voila! Circa 2007-2009 blogpost just popped right back into existence, ang galing!

So eto na, I am reviving my blog! Wooohooo! For the first real post (yung kanina medyo wala lang post yun hehe, just a rave post), I'll share with you some documented moments for the past years. Of course 609 connection has been solid as ever. :) Then meet Rocky! How we got together is a story that's best shared personally. Thanks to Tisha (my guardian angel here on earth) who introduced us together last March 2011!

To be continued... (I need to leave for dinner with my high school girlfriends!)

AMDG

2012

Hooray for 2012! :D