I saw my girlfriends on Sunday just to catch up and to spend time with Mayeen before her special day. I finally published our photos on Facebook, and I hope that pacifies them for awhile. Although, I should probably dig up photos from Y’s wedding last year because they’re bound to remember that I never shared those to them. Lol 🙂 Di bale, I’ll post them on the couple’s one year wedding anniversary. Haha!
Before the bride and groom arrived though, it was just Arianne, Raech, me and Iskra. Okay, before I arrived, Yrish, her baby Sean and hubby Pao were there too. 🙂 Since I have no baby pics of Sean to show (because I didn’t get to see him in person :(), here are photos of our first baby. Iskra and Mommy Raech. 🙂
This kid has loads of energy! We were together the week before, for dinner at Max’s. She started out with a really bad mood, but then the playground fixed her up until very late that evening. Just when Max’s was about to close, she finally felt hungry. So napa-chocolate cake tuloy kami! 🙂
At Trinoma last Sunday, she was playing with some kid at the Activity Center when they arrived. We trooped to the paid lounge so her mom could try out a dress that Arianne had brought for her and you know what she did while waiting? Wash up! As in she washed her face and arms several times. It looked like she was trying to cool off 🙂 While there, I remembered how, as a kid, I was half scared, half fascinated by the hand dryers in strange big restrooms like that one. Play wasn’t getting myself wet. It was getting wet so I had an excuse to dry off. 🙂
Iskra’s all grown up. She’s in grade school now and I could hardly believe it. To me, she’ll always be this little girl from two years ago:
I just spent a looooong time going through the entries for this week’s You Capture.  Just like last week (or was that two weeks ago?) I am late again in posting for the challenge so there’s 94 others on the list ahead of me. Haha. My macro entry is not really a super close up shot, but I wanted to use it for my entry. It showcases the yummy calamansi muffin that Chini brought back for me from her Boracay trip the previous weekend.  It was fun going through the list, there were some gems there and photos that will really make you say WOW and then inspire you to take better photos next time. 🙂
For my Oh Shoot! class, this week’s focus was on Apertures. I almost always shoot on A mode but the lesson and discussion helped me more to understand what the closed versus open apertures were best used for.
But I also learned something else – always check on your camera settings before you snap away.
I had taken my camera to the office with me and someone else used it to snap photos. One of them who played around with the settings had the White Balance on Flash mode. I hardly ever use flash! So I was outside taking a photo of my project and got this weird looking color on your photo:
I tweaked the white balance a bit in Photoshop but kept pretty much everything else the way it was:
It still looks too yellowy but believe it or not, with the bright sunshine the day I took the photo, it really was quite a yellowy day. Haha 🙂
So what are these jars anyway? Remember how much I love the bottled Starbucks coffee you could buy at the grocery? Well, I used to buy them regularly last year and together with Ingrid, we accumulated a lot of these bottles. I brought them home from work (because they were such a clutter to have under your desk and we couldn’t bring ourselves to throw them in the bin) but I didn’t get around to using them for anything. Well a few days ago, the boyfriend and I were talking about savings and our lack of it, versus the bazillion things we want to acquire. He knew my view on unnecessary spending, and how much restraint I’ve also been exercising when it comes to shopping and other spending. So I told him that I don’t mind us buying stuff, sometimes we do deserve a splurge, but that we should only buy stuff we have money for. You know what I mean? No more swipe swipe swipe, as much as possible.
So we agreed to start saving up for the stuff we want to buy, hence these jars.
We have the d3000 jar for the Nikon D3000. It’s not an upgrade for Maxine the D60 but a second camera so we could each have one.
Then there’s the TV jar because that’s all that’s missing in the bedroom. I’m not very particular about that one though and it seems we won’t be needing the jar anyway. We’re getting one for free! Haha. Our old 21-inch TV that’s currently in my parents’ room will be moved to my room in October because they’re getting a new TV courtesy of the brother bear’s annual program at work (he’s already got one in his room).
The other jar is for a gaming console – either an Xbox 360 or a PS3. This one’s not high on my priority list but it would be wonderful to be able to play against each other rather than just the boyfriend playing on the PSP.
The jar which I focused on in this photo, is a wedding jar. I know. Even if we fill it up it won’t be enough to pay for a wedding. It’s a good symbolism for us saving up for it though. Plus there’s plenty more bottles to fill when this one can’t take any more of our bills and coins. 🙂
I’m hoping that having this jars around is just the start to really being financially wise, for both our sakes.
Yes, true to my promise, I have registered and will take part in next year’s presidential elections.  I will make my vote count 🙂
If you’re a first time voter, check this article on voter’s registration, although I can tell you now that all you really need is a photocopy of a valid ID. Â The COMELEC website has a downloadable form for first time voters but when I got to my district’s election office, I was asked to fill out their pre-stamped forms. Â Filling it out is easy, there are sample forms all over the place (at least there were in QC) but you can use the online copy to familiarize yourself with the information required.
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If you’re from Quezon City and you’re planning on registering, here are my tips:
Enter the City Hall compound from the East Avenue gate. The COMELEC offices are located past the construction site, SSDD and the Public Library. Be on the lookout because the signage is very small:
Registration is per Congressional district. Yesterday, Distric IV looked busiest.
The COMELEC team apparently goes mobile.  They setup sattelite registration centers in the different barangays. Each district has it’s own schedule.   It would be better to call COMELEC before your planned trip to City Hall so you’re sure that they will be there on that day. District II, for example, was closed at the City Hall for the day but only because they were busy at a specifc barangay (North Fairview if I remember correctly).  They will be in our barangay on June 18 and 19 so if you’re from Barangay Kalusugan and you need to register, clear those dates and troop to our Barangay Hall with a photocopy of your valid ID.Â
When you get there, give the personnel the papers required (if registrant is not yet 18, the birth certificate is needed). Â They will run your name on the COMELEC database and then give you the appropriate form. Â They should be able to determine if you’re a first time voter, or a transferee. Â First time voters need to fill out the white form.
After filling out the form in triplicate, submit it to the personnel and wait. And wait.  Apparently someone checks the form and will reject it if the wrong barangay is entered, or if the address doesn’t exist in their list. For example, I was called in because they said I may have made a mistake.  According to their list, there is no 19th Street in Kalusugan. Er, duh?  I had to tell them that we’ve lived in the area all my life, and that Papa (my grandfather) was the first chairman of our barangay so I couldn’t be wrong.  I said that there’s 16th, 17th, 18th, and then 19th Street.  They only had upto 18th Street. I described the map of the area for them. They took my word for it and approved my registration.  I asked the personnel, “what about the others in our street?” All he could say was “siguro okay na rin” Ugh. My cousins are all registered in this address, they voted last time.Â
I overheard that they don’t accept Barangay Clearance as a valid ID. Â The best ID would be a government issued one that shows your address too (like my TIN ID). Â Oh, that’s one loophole I noticed in the process – they don’t actually ask for the original ID, not even to just look at it. They were quite content with the photocopy I submitted.
They have the Biometrics thingy there so be ready for your picture to be taken (don’t expect to see it though).  There’s a finger print scanner too (thumb and index fingers only) and you give them a sample of your signature through a pen and a very small tablet.  You don’t see your signature though because you do this behind the monitor, so you have no idea if it was captured correctly.  You have no choice but to rely on your writing hand and trust that is having a good day and is signing your name properly. 😉
After the biometrics scan, you take your form to another table, fill out what looks like an acknowledgement form (that has your name, barangay, and precinct number). Then you have to place your thumbmarks on all three copies of the application form. You have to do this in the presence of COMELEC personnel. Then they give you a small slip of paper that serves as acknowledgment that you have successfully registered to vote.Â
I hope someone finds this post useful 🙂
Go out and register to vote!
Credits for my layout: June Schutrups/Cen’s Stuff for the paper (altered), Misty Cato Spotty Dotty Alpha (freebie), and FeiFei’s designs for the brush used for the photo.
I was browsing through links that I’ve saved on the Favorites bar of my browser, and one of those blogs happen to be a digital scrapbook designer’s blog: Summertime Designs.  I found her blog a few months ago, and was thrilled to see her give away fabulous kits, all for free. 🙂
She’s offering another kit on her blog, the wonderful Easy Breezy Kit. But it’s more than just another freebie kit. She made it to help Baby Bree and her family. Bree is a beautiful and cheerful baby battling neuroblastoma cancer. Â The donations that Summer receives will all go to Bree and her family. Â Check out the link to see what she got for them on the first round of donations they received in the past. Â I’ve already made my donation, I hope that you’d consider doing so too. Â I donated an amount that I would normally use to pay for a digital kit; it’s also equivalent to a few doses of the best diet pills, not that I buy any.
If you need to be convinced to donate too, then take a look at Baby Bree, isn’t she just cute?
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If you’re into digital scrapbooking, here’s a preview of the freebie kit.  The download links are available even without donating, but wouldn’t it be awesome if we’d donate before we download though? 🙂  Click on the image to get to the post:
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For non-digiscrappers, you get nothing for donating, but the wonderful feeling of helping another family 🙂
All of my Project Wonderful ads have been deleted. As in. In violation of their TOS.  I can’t argue against that, but I really wasn’t aware of the restriction agains sponsored posts. The thing is, sponsored posts have paid me twenty times more than I ever earned from PW so I don’t think I’m dropping that.  And I take pride in posting some blogs that are sponsored without my readers actually noticing it. There’s a lof of fun in writing those.  Haha 🙂
It takes awhile to earn from those anyway, but I still feel a little sad that that income stream is gone. Â Oh well.
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I subscribe to a newsletter from a business opportunities weblog and today, I read about how huddles or five-minute meetings are good in the workplace. Â I totally agree. Â I also don’t like meetings because some of them are just a waste of time, but preshift/start of shift huddles are good for making everyone aware of where we’re at and to drive stats or better productivity for the day. Â Conducting these pre shift huddles was something we were all doing at work upto maybe a month ago. Â Now, we have hour-long performance meetings for team managers, and though I appreciate the accountability it has developed in all of us, it’s not something any of us really look forward to. Â I think that we should go back to just having pre-shift huddles, and I’m all for the Tuesday shift knowledge sharing hour.
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While surfing through the Entrecard and Adgitize networks, I came acrosse this article about human foods that are deadly for dogs. Â It lists Macadamia nuts too. Are regular nuts okay though? My dog eats peanuts sometimes and I hope those are okay. Â The others on the list I’m pretty sure are out of reach for him and no one would ever give him chocolate. Â I’ve told my nieces and nephews about that too because they are always around here and sometimes with chocolate. I find that whenever Esban is unsure if something’s okay to give to Zune, he’ll stop and ask me first. Good.
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For digiscrapaholics, the site DigiscrapAddicts is hosting another round of their So You Think You Can Design contest and there are so many amazing freebie kits available to download in their members only gallery.  I don’t know how many entrants there are, but Flergs and Redju Scrap, whose newsletters I receive in my Inbox are part of the competition. 🙂  I’m trying to find an announcement to post here but can’t find any so far… but here’s a link to the Week 1 gallery, but you’ve got to be registered and signed in to view them (I think): http://digiscrapaddicts.com/products/showgallery.php?cat=556
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I have another idea for a blog and I really, really want to do it. BUT I haven’t had much success in my photo blog (I mean, when was the last time I updated?) so I’m not very confident I’d actually do it well if I set this new one up. I’ll keep it under wraps for now.  My blog development priorities should be in this order – redesign this blog, re-evaluate if I want a real gallery versus my photoblog, setup a new one. 🙂
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While at the mall on Sunday, I realized that I am not familiar with the Department Store inside the MegaMall at all.  I mean, I can navigate SM Cubao and SM North pretty well, but the department store at Megamall? Not so much.  I guess that whenever we go there (which isn’t a lot as it seems) we skip the SM part of the mall, if you know what I mean.  So there was a three-day (or was it four?) sale over the long weekend and we just had to checkout the racks for men’s pants.  It wasn’t as crowded as I expected, and the cashiers/counters are better structured than the regular ones at the other branches. Haha.
Anyway, there’s always got to be a Health and Beauty section at SM right? Â And now that they have Watson’s there, I always feel the need to pass through one when in the mall. Â I figured that then was as good a time as any to look for facial wash – I couldn’t find their Pond’s section! What the heck? Â I tried the Pond’s Age Miracle microdermabrasion kit and liked it. I wanted to get just a regular Age Miracle cleanser or something but since I couldn’t find any, I ended up making another Body Shop purchase. Â I ended up with a Tea Tree Oil with peppermint facial wash. It is so refreshing! I used this line before, because I wanted to get rid of bleshimes. Â I liked it. As soon as I used it though, I remembered why I wasn’t so keen on using it again – the tea tree oil smell can be overwhelming. Haha. But it is a wonderful product, so I don’t really mind.
My mom buys Garnier and I like the citrusy smell, and the facial scrub is also refreshing. Â Alfred likes it too. There was a Garnier booth at the mall and we approached it thinking we’d pick up a tube for him. Â As it turns out, they weren’t offering the facial wash tubes, they were eyebag roll-ons! Seriously! You know how we always think we have dark circles under our eyes and no amount of sleeping can get rid of? Well, Garnier has a new product that pledges to take care of that and instead of applying it on like regular eye cream, you roll it on. Hmm.
Anyway, I did not mean to sound like a promo girl for beauty products, but you should hear us at our room during the Youth Camp last month! Â I think it was Ate Chu and Ate Verns (both from PETA theater company) who commented about Joy’s Body Shop products, and then I chimed in because I had my rich pomegranate body butter with me there too. Â We sounded like we were trying to convert them to go for Body Shop! We talked about the membership card (which I have), and I even mentioned the company’s ties with NGOs and fair trade organizations. Haha.
Okay, I’ll stop now.
Whew, so much for a quick post. And I thought I had nothing to write about?
