Sophie Kinsella – The Undomestic Goddess

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I finished a book on my one day off – Kinsella’s The Undomestic Goddess. 


Samantha Sweeting is really something. She was at the top of her game and then the whole world crashes down on her. She makes rash decisions, but those eventually lead to her happiness. 

I want to be like her. 🙂

No, not to become a housekeeper, but to learn all that stuff and actually enjoy it – cooking, and cleaning. I’ve never been much of a domestic myself. I know how to clean up around the house and I can find my way in the kitchen (I bake, don’t I?) but to do them really really well and to enjoy it too? Hmm…

Nah, that’s not really it. I want to be free like her, to finally find the life she can be truly happy with. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy as it is. But sometimes, I still think about leaving my job behind and doing something completely different. Work isn’t as stressful as Sam’s lawyering, but it is busy. And lately, there’s absolutely no “just be” time at work. No one’s imposing that I don’t take my breaks, but with the volume of things that need to be done – I can’t help but forget to go on break. Haha.

Anyway, if you enjoyed Kinsella’s writing in the Shopaholic series, then you’ll like this one too. It’s very easy and light reading (specially compared to Les Miz – which I still haven’t finished). It’s a bit too good to be true, like would things like this happen in real life? But that’s the wonder of books – anything can happen. 

The book had a very light approach to the debate on where women belong – at work or at home. It wasn’t imposing for either side. I guess what it did was come across to let women know that ultimately, it is their choice. Samantha was brought up to look forward to just one goal – to build a career at law and be the best in that field. She owned that dream and her whole life revolved in making it happen.

An unfortunate event yanked her out from that life. She went into shockand acted in panic. And though there could have been so many bad situations she could have found herself in as a result, it was the Geigers and Lower Ebury that actually saved her.

She really did sound like a woman coming out from a bad relationship – someone who needed healing. And what a great rehab she found! Iris, who was like a mom to her, did not just teach her to cook, but taught her how to taste, and feel.

Sometimes I feel like novels like this shouldn’t include a hunk of a man, so that there’s no confusion about what drives the heroine to the choice she makes. Would she really have chosen her new life had there been no Nathaniel?

Snippets

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Wow. I went without checking my blog and my mails (except my work email) for close to three days! I haven’t been browsing my usual digs either.

Not surprising since:

  1. I’ve been busy (with nothing specific!)
  2. My PC had OS issues since Sunday and Alfred only found time to work on it this afternoon.
  3. My ISP has been soooo slow.
Okay, so of all three reasons, it’s really #3 that kept me away without ripping my heart apart. I could have used either Alfred’s or mom’s laptops to logon and live on as usual on my web home. But the thought of how slow the real download speed is, completely turns me off.
Tuesday-Wednesday: The New Weekend

Saturdays are tight in the office, and our management team has decided to tweak TM schedules so that there are more of us available to support our agents during the weekends. I’ve had Fridays and Saturdays off since I joined the account and it really is the RDs I prefer. But my boss asked for volunteers for weekdays off, and since Alfred and I have not shared the same offs in a long time… I volunteered for the Tue-Wed rest days. It’s supposed to start next week but since they’d already be needing help this Saturday, I agreed to be there. I took tonight off so  I could catch up on sleep I didn’t get yesterday. I’d be back at work Thursday night though, then off again for Friday. Crazy, ain’t it? My choice though.

Frankie’s down again

I seem to have broken Frankie. I used up the 36-shot roll while at the Fiesta on Saturday and was going to rewind and reload with a fresh roll. But it wouldn’t wind properly. Then suddenly, the winder broke. 

Frankie’s taking a trip back to her doctor tomorrow. 

I seriously feel like it was my error that caused it to break. I feel so dumb sometimes. I’ve had Frankie for two weeks but I still haven’t seen any results – something always goes wrong with the film!

Fiesta. Greenhills. Twilight. etc.

Fiesta day was a fun day, clouded only by the Frankie incident. I have thoughts about fiesta, and the YAM festivities that I’d very much love to share. I’ll dedicate a whole post for that though. 

We went to the Seminary in the afternoon, but Alfred didn’t find the basketball games particularly interesting. There were no games for the kids, so there wasn’t really much else for us to do – specially since Frankie was not up to shooting anymore. We decided to head to Greenhills and finally see Twilight. 

Alfred had to work that night though, so we had very limited options in terms of which showing we could see. It so happened that the one we needed, was already sold out. Bummer. We ended up doing a bit of shoppping.

Greenhills at night at December, is still a nightmare when it comes to hailing a cab to get you home. It takes forever. We made good time though, Alfred was able to take a shower before heading to the office. I took a ride back to the Seminary with my brother and his girlfriend, for the YAM night.

These are just snippets of stuff I would have written about had I been online in the past three days. I’ll be back in a few hours with more!

Happy SATS Fiesta!

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I grew up in a Seminary – the St. Andrew’s Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. Every year at November 30th, we celebrate the feast of St. Andrew.

It was always a happy time for kids, teens, and the adults too. There was always something for everyone.

The significance of the event did not diminish or change when the Lord chose to take my aunt’s life on Fiesta day four years ago. In fact, I think it gave it more meaning. The SATS Fiesta was always a reason to come home for many of us who grew up and/or lived in the compound at one time or another. Being my aunt’s heaven date, I think this has assured that she will always be in her friend’s hearts and thoughts on Fiesta day.

This year, Fiesta is being celebrated a day early. And I hope to be out there with the rest of the community as they celebrate.

You see, I have not always been around during fiesta in the past ten years. The last one I remember being really visible at, was before Auntie and Lola died. It was probably in 2002 or 2003. That was a time when my baking business was hyperactive, and my Mom, Aunt and I were beading. We put up a stall at the court grounds and had our products on display the whole day, even until the evening program. Our cookies and brownies were a big hit. We sold some pieces of beaded jewelry too.

Today, I am taking Alfred and Frankie out there with me. And we’ll hopefully have a blast!

Thursday Thirteen #18: My New Team

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Thirteen Thoughts on my new Team 🙂

1 It’s a crazy world that I am currently in. Perhaps it really is all just about timing. But many things are done differently, it confused me for awhile.

2 I have had no alone time so far in the recent two weeks. I have spent most of my day going to and fro just to meet with my agents, or attending meetings left and right.

3 I can get used to it. And the work really is doable. It just seems daunting at first but when you get right down to it, you can actually finish the stuff in no time. I may change my mind about this though. After all, I haven’t really had to do ALL that has to be done yet.

4 My new kids are a fun bunch. They have already developed bad habits, but because they’re mostly non-tenured, it can still be fixed. I have the impression that they just need TLC, with a sprinkling of nagging 🙂

5 Our stats for the first week I’ve been with the team are looking good. I hope it’s just the beginning of a winning streak.

6 The management team is a fun bunch. Hardly ever 100% serious. 🙂

7 The schedules are CRAZY! But hopefully it will get better in the coming weeks.

8 I’m not sure when I will actually know each TM by name, much less befriend each one. There’s just too many!

9 My Inbox gets filled a LOT faster than it used to. The volume of mail doesn’t seem to be that much, but there are just a lot of big attachments maybe? I keep on archiving on a DAILY basis versus a weekly thing.

10 We have daily pre-shift huddles. It’s become more like an hourly huddle for me because my agents come in at different times throughout my day. It’s okay really.

11 I have the best rest days! Back to the Friday-Saturday offs of my OL days 🙂

12 It’s supposed to be a high energy environment, but some of my agents aren’t hyped. I hope to change that real soon. Go team spirit! 🙂

13 I really hope we reach the goal this quarter. It won’t just mean job security, but pride. 🙂

Perfume Sale at ELJ

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Since I rendered some overtime at work today, I decided to visit the bazaar space in our office building to find out what is featured there this week. Several weeks ago, they housed the Havaianas mega sale, then an Adidas sale. Last week there was an Appliance showcase there. This week it’s all about luxury fragrance. When I went inside the big room, it smelled really nice. Better than the perfume stations at the mall. Haha 🙂

There were Mariah Carey perfume and lotion sets, ones from J.Lo too. CK and Estee Lauder were there too. I saw many of the known perfume brands. There were makeups too.

It was still quite early but there were already a lot of folks in going through the merchandise and making purchases. The prizes are comparable to those in the Duty Free shops.

I’ve just recently bought two Body and Bath bottles and my mom got a David Beckham Women and Esprit scents. I still have some left on my Esprit and Body Shop bottles, so I really wasn’t interested in getting another even with the sale and all. I didn’t stay too long in there.

Somehow I couldn’t bring myself to inquire.

At the smaller stalls in the hallway, I saw the kimono style dresses and blouses. I really like how they look. I wonder if any of them would fit me? I’m also not too sure if it will fit, you know? In the sense that it will look good?

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