Chinese New Year Traditions

Kung Hei Fat Choi or Happy Chinese New Year! As the clock hits midnight colorful dragon dancers in red, yellow and other festive colors welcome the Year of the Ox with some street dancing. Chinese New year is a time for family get togethers.

After a long day at work it was really nice to come home to the noise of my little cousins playing and the aroma of Chinese food. My mouth watered at the sight of dimsum dumplings, spring rolls, huge succulent prawns that glistened in orange Chinese sauce. Yum!

After the sumptuous meal, the kids would line up in front of the adults. Each child would bow three times to the adult and say "kung hei fat choi". Then the grown up would give red envelopes filled with money. I was really looking forward to the red envelopes this year, but sadly, I will no longer be given a red envelope. Since I am already working, I am now part of the grow ups and am tasked to fill the red envelope with money to give to the little ones. Boohoo! Well I guess, giving is better than receiving.

Stress Buster

I've been stressed the past couple days. Been working super hard. All work and no fun. Mommy said I should do something for me. So we went shopping together. I'm not sure if what I'm wearing is supposed to be a green dress or a green top, but whatever I find it cute. Yellow is supposed to be in this season, so what better way to perk up the outfit than to top it off with a yellow bag and green flip flops.
Green dress/shirt = Php120 = $2.61 (USD)
Yellow bag= Php140= $3.04 (USD)
a couple cocktail rings for my friends @ Php25/each= .50cents (USD)

Good deal huh? I found the same dress in pink being sold at the mall for around Php500! I'm so proud of myself for being such a bargain hunter.

Desk Tag

I'm tagged by Andhari in this desk tag which was invented by Sheri. You can check her post here.

What you need to do:
1. Post a picture of your desk.
2. Link to the person who tagged you.
3. Write a little bit about the things on your desk or even about the desk itself.
4. Tag as many or as few people as you’d like.
5. Go to Sheri's blog here and leave a comment on the original “Desk Tag” post.

Description of my Desk...
Well as you can see on the picture located above, that is a picture of my ever so boring office desk. Here's a list of items found on my desk:
1.) my computer of course (with a wallpaper of me and a couple friends from a wedding)
2.) my phone ( so i can call 911 or security if someone is bugging me. hahahaha.just kidding)
3.) pens and highlighter
4.) 2009 daily planner
5.) calculator
6.) business cards
7.) magazine
8.) coffee mug (i'm drinking 4 or 5 cups of coffee per day, i'm such a coffee addict!)
9.) calendar
10.) a couple post-its

So that's about it. I'm so embarrassed of my desk, I wish it could be something fun. But anyways.. Now...who's desk do I wanna see... Well if you're reading this post I'd like to see your desk too. Other people in particular whose desk I would like to see:
1.) Quarter-life Lady
2.) Demigoddess
3.) Krissy

So now I'm off to dreamland everyone! Till my next post. Mwah

Please Don't Get Married...Not To HiM!

I do’s and from now until forever is always sweet. Forever is the beginning of something beautiful. I should know, I’ve been to numerous weddings and have been part of the entourage a couple times already. I can’t help but cry in every wedding. These tears of course are happy tears for my friends who’ve gotten married. By the 31^st of this January I will again be going to another wedding. Crying? Yes definitely. But no, I don’t think these will be tears of joy…

My best friend is going to tie the knot. I can’t say I’m thrilled for her because I’m not. She’s a wonderful person, so thoughtful, and so full of love. The guy on the other hand is really not deserving of someone as wonderful as my best friend. He’s cheated on her time and time again and has slept around with other girls. She knows this but yet she sticks around. I never imagined they would last this long, much less tie the knots….There are a lot of things I want to say to her but don’t know how. She knows I’m not happy about their wedding. But I just need to support her, after all I am her best friend.

And so here I am writing a letter to her, though I know I’ll never give her the chance to read it.

Hi Bessy,

You know how much I love you and I want so much for you to be happy. It scares me to think of what your life might be when you two are finally husband and wife. I’ve just always wanted someone better for you, someone who could treat you with respect and so much love. Someone who could treat you like the princess you so deserve to be.

I know how you said that you’re doing this for the baby and that your happiness is something you need to sacrifice. But Bes, what if…what if you and your baby’s life end up being miserable? What if your baby grows up in a sad environment? I’m sure the baby wouldn’t want to see mama miserable… I’m just saying, maybe you and the baby would be happy without him.

He was a great guy when you first met. He was a great guy for the first couple of years. And I know deep down you’re trying to find the man you fell in love with, the man he used to be. But maybe the person he is now is really the person he has always been. Maybe the man you fell in love with long ago was all just an act. I really don’t know Bessy. But one thing I do know is that I just want to see you happy.

I want to see you with someone who would treat you right and who would love you with all his heart and all of him. Bes, you’re hard headed and I can’t tell you what do but I just want you to know that whatever you decide, I’m just here for you. I’ll always be here for you no matter what, whether you like it or not, I’ll always be here. Love you lots bes!

Always,
Mel

"Love could be set in motion quickly, but true love needs time to grow into something strong and enduring, love is above all, about COMMITMENT, DEDICATION, and a belief that spending your lifetime with your partner would create something greater than the sum of what the two of you could accomplish separately"

Grendha Contest

Enjoying the afternoon breeze by the sea. I can’t help but smile as I bring fashion the classy way with my golden Camelia Grendha’s. I never thought it would be possible to bring such chic fashion to such a place. But hey, with Grendha anything is possible. It’s fashion and comfort at the very tip of my toes.

Sometime October last year, my brother and I joined a contest. The picture and the description above was the our entry for the Grendha contest. My brother is the one responsible for the great shots and all I had to do was smile and try to look cute. Hehehe. Last December the ELRO Commercial Company sent me a Gift Certificate worth Php1,000.00 of Grendha products. Sweeeeeet!

Another Rainy Day

It's been raining hard these past few days. It seems like the sky is not running out of tears to shed. The breeze outside is a bit cold and numbing, considering that I am on a tropical island. There's something about rainy days that seems to make me feel depressed and lonely.

Is it because of the dark gray sky? The cold breeze that makes me shiver? the lonely song the raindrops seems to sing? or maybe it's something else...

I used to love rainy days. Sleeping in and waking to the sound of raindrops crashing down my window. Back when we were still in California I can recall cuddling with my parents as they told me stories and I colored my coloring book near the fire place. Rainy days used to be my favorite days. It was the perfect time to cuddle with my boyfriend as we watched chick flicks. It was the perfect time to hug, to talk, the perfect time to toast to a cup of hot choco. But what happened?

Rainy days just seems so lonely and cold. The streets are busy and traffic is congested. The pavement is slippery and cold. And everyone just seems to be in a hurry. My rainy days are no longer the same. Dad is no longer around, my brother is back in California, and my boyfriend...well I hardly ever see him anymore since he is out of town most of the time.

Now it's just me and my mom. As each raindrop hits the group I can't help but recall our sweet rainy days.

"Everyone wants to be happy, nobody wants to be in pain, but you can't have a rainbow without any rain."

Best In Me

This morning as I was browsing through glitter-graphics.com, I came upon a message which says, "The greatest challenge in life is to find someone who knows all your flaws, differences, mistakes and yet still sees the best in you." Indeed it is hard to find someone who sees the best in you.Accepting a person for who they are despite their flaws is hard, but when you love someone you love them as a whole package, the good, the bad, and the ugly. People come and go because of their differences and lack of acceptance. In such a huge world the chance of finding true love is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. And once it is found it should be handled with care, love, and most of all acceptance.

My boyfriend and I have been a couple for 3 years and 8 months. We’ve been together for soo sooo long now. Way back when we were still new to each other people constantly told us we’d never last long. But hey, look at us now…I can't help but recall one of Shania Twain's song that goes something like this "Ain't nothin better, we beat the odds together. Im glad we didn’t listen, look at what we would be missin. They said I bet, they’ll never make it. But just look at us holding on,still together, still going strong."

I'm happy to have someone who loves me so much. Someone I could share myself with. He’s seen me at my worst and he’s seen the bad side of me…But despite that he sees only the best in me…gosh… I'm just sooo lucky. This is the secret to why we last so long. We see the best in each other…

To everyone who is single… I hope u find someone you can share yourself with… Despite the ugly flaws, somehow that someone still sees only the best in you.

Slow Down

Everything seems to be going by so fast. We're all too busy now-a-days. There are times when 24 hours is just not enough to fit all the agendas we have planned out. Tomorrow what are your plans? To work, to go to school, to do this and to do that... It's ok to work for the goals we would like to achieve but let us not have these goals work us. Life passes by before our eyes. Every minute is a blink of the past. Let's all stop and enjoy life. Let's take a moment of silence to breathe the fresh air, or to enjoy the morning sun. Let's take a moment to share a smile and laughter with people around us. Let's slow down and enjoy the gift of life. Let us celebrate each moment of everyday.

"Let us make every moment so beautiful that it will be worth remembering forever"