Grandmothers Know Best

By She Said

My daughter and I live down south while the rest of our relatives reside on the opposite end, north of the metro. We make it a point to visit them at least twice a month because we do get lonely sometimes and crave some good old family bonding.

On the day of my daughter's birthday, we went to visit  my maternal grandmother. She makes sure to prepare lunch for us whenever we visit. She knows all of our favorite dishes so we tend to overeat a little when we're at her place plus not only that, there's always a care package sent home with us- cooked food to be reheated for those days we don't have time to cook, mangoes, jack fruit & plantain bananas from her backyard when in season, rice cakes, and sometimes even some fresh frozen prawns from the Sunday market nearby. Aren't grandmothers just amazing? She lives with my aunt, who takes care of her and they are both the sweetest and two of our most favorite people in the world!

My daughter requested for lumpia shanghai (spring rolls) for her birthday lunch and so lumpia shanghai it was...

Sapin Sapin birthday cake!

Frozen Fruit Salad.

My beautiful grandmother. She always gets compliments on her soft, smooth skin and often gets asked what her beauty regimen is.  #olaybeauty

Although she's turning 94 in a few months, she has excellent memory and she remembers everyone's birthdays. She goes to church every Sunday and spends her time puttering and tinkering around in her garden. When I grow up, I want to be just like her : )

Thank you, Lola Mama and Tita Rose for Bianca's birthday lunch! It was by far the best birthday lunch only great/grandmothers know how to prepare. We love you and we cherish every moment spent with you.

Blog Page Critique by Momcomm

By She Said

I haven't fully recovered from winning the Sugar and Spice Candy Buffets Anniversary Blow Out yet. I've been on an all time high for the past two days, floating in and out and around the house and everywhere I go. Then comes another set of good news, and I'm literally just flying!

I just received an email from Melissa Culbertson of Momcomm that I got 1 out of the 26 much coveted spots for a free Blog Page Critique! Melissa has over 11 years experience in marketing communications. She is an accomplished writer who specializes in graphic design, and is currently in the works on her new book, Blog Design for Dummies. She is the founder of Momcomm, a site that provides bloggers practical writing and blogging tips.

Women bloggers out there would know what a privilege it is to be critiqued by one of the most experienced, widely read blogs out there. Most especially for a new blog such as ours- my daughter and I just started blogging this January 2013, so we've been at this for only 3 months. It is so important for us to learn and make improvements and corrections early on so we can begin to take our blog to higher heights. Thank you to Momcomm for this opportunity and for sharing your time and talent. It means so much to us.

Special thanks goes out to Frances Amper Sales of Topaz Mommy & Topaz Horizon and Martine Cosio De Luna of Dainty Mom, my first ever online friends. Thanks for all your words of encouragement, support, much needed advice and all your lovely comments. We haven't even met you both in person, but you made me and my daughter feel so welcome in this yet unknown, uncharted world of blogging. We are looking forward to meeting you real soon. 

Thank you to our readers (a small group of  our dear family and friends) for patiently reading our stories despite it not being as well written as it should be. We will continue to strive to do our best. Okay, so this is beginning to sound like the speech that you make after winning a beauty contest or something so I'd better stop here :D

I can't wait for Momcomm to critique our blog. We'll keep you posted. Happiness :)

Easter Bunnies

by she said

After mom and I made our fun Easter Centerpiece, we started on making Easter Bunny Cupcake toppers. We got the instructions from this post.

Materials we used:
pompoms
toothpicks
white  & pink vellum board paper for the bunny ears
blue & yellow construction paper for the bowties
glue

Mom had already bought the mini pompoms in National Bookstore beforehand, so when we were in the mall we just made a quick stop to get toothpicks. We already had construction paper and glue at home. That was basically all we needed.

We were super excited to start on the bunnies because they are just so adorable! Making them is a fun Easter project, and they're useful too.

First we inserted the toothpicks in to the pompoms with a little dab of glue.

Next, we used different colors of construction paper to cut out little bunny ears and bowties to attach to the topper. It may look super easy, but it actually requires a lot of patience and precision in cutting the tiny shapes and also lots of willingness to get glue on your hands.

We glued the bunny ears to the top of the pompoms and attached the bowties to the toothpicks. This was the easy part :)

They ended up looking great, and I'm excited to put them on the cupcakes we hopefully end up buying on Easter Sunday! Let us know if you try this out! :)

Easter Memories & A DIY Easter Centerpiece

By She Said

Easter morning always brings back memories of my childhood, living in the province. I grew up in a small residential compound near the beach and every Easter morning an egg hunt was prepared for the me and my siblings and the other kids in our neighborhood. Prettily painted hard boiled eggs were hidden in the playground in front of our house where we literally had do a little digging to find them. I wasn't really too keen on finding those cute pink, yellow, and blue eggs because, a little girl can only eat so much hard boiled eggs in one day. I'd much rather have candy.

What the other kids and I were on a mission to find was the much coveted golden egg. A singular egg wrapped in gold foil, well hidden and not in plain sight. The lucky finder gets the best prize of all. A real, live, Easter bunny! I remember waking up at the crack of dawn to peek out of our living room window just so I could get a glimpse of where the eggs were hidden. I never woke up early enough to catch the gardeners planting the eggs in the ground, though. But I did find the golden egg once, and brought home the bunny rabbit to the envy of everyone :)

When I became a mom, I wanted to recreate the same experience for my daughter. This time without the hard boiled eggs, but with the now more popular, different colored plastic eggs filled with either candies or small toys.

My daughter at two years old, egg hunting in our front yard. I think she did this until she was eleven years old, and then the novelty just seemed to fade away.

My little bunny, four years old. Easter 2002.

Here she is, eleven years old, at one of her last Easter egg hunts in 2010 with neighbors at the park. She's the girl holding up her bag to catch the candies:) She's turning fifteen in a few months. Where did time go?

We were doing some spring cleaning earlier this month and guess what we found in the storage room? All the plastic eggs she's accumulated through the years! Those cute pink and yellow baskets were a gift from her Ninang Les.They're more than ten years old and still in good condition.

 Maybe we'll put these eggs to good use this coming Easter and prepare an egg hunt for my ten month old nephew.  He can't walk yet, but he sure can crawl! haha! We'll see about that :)

 We also found an old box of craft foam in the storage so, we got a little crafty today.

 Pre-Cut foam pieces...

 that you glue together...

 to make cute little creatures...

 and pretty flower shapes :)

We attached the shapes on to paper straws...

Inserted bamboo sticks in a styrofoam ball.

Our Easter Centerpiece!

We used paper confetti that came with gifts we received last Christmas plus some green Japanese paper passed through a paper shredder. I got the paper straws from Metro Supermarket in Alabang, about P50 per pack. They're not good quality drinking straws but they are good to use  for arts & crafts. The terracotta pots are from an old Bake In A Flower Pot Set. I'm glad I kept them, they sure came in handy :)

Real People - Dennis & Sarah Decena

By She Said

On the 20th of November 1996, Mr. & Mrs. Dennis and Sarah Decena received heartbreaking news any parent would never want to receive. Their daughter, Debbie, then a fourth grade student at the De La Salle Santiago Zobel School in Muntinlupa was involved in an accident while on an amusement park ride during the School Fair. Debbie did not survive the accident. She was only nine years old.

One cannot begin to imagine the pain and the agony of losing a child, especially one so young.  Mrs. Decena recounts how she struggled with the loss of her daughter and the unspeakable pain-  "After Debbie was laid to rest, everyone was back to school and work. I remember the deafening silence and loneliness I felt while I was left alone at home. I would burst into tears. I wanted to skip all the holidays and birthdays." 

But God always has a way of turning things around, transforming their grief and sorrow into something beautiful. In 2002, Mr. & Mrs. Decena, in a admirable act of forgiveness and acceptance, formed the Debbie Decena Memorial Scholarship Foundation in cooperation with De La Salle Zobel.

The Debbie Decena Memorial Foundation grants full scholarships to deserving incoming and current high school students of DLSZ in need of financial assistance. They have since granted over 20 scholarships and have also grown to provide college scholarships in STI Colleges in Muntinlupa and Las Pinas.

 

 Auditorium at the De La Salle Santiago Zobel dedicated in honor of Debbie Decena

The Debbie Decena Memorial Foundation is a family initiative, with Mr. Decena as the President and ably supported by his wife and children Kate, Denise & Kim.  They are all closely involved in the screening and selection process of applicants.

Mr. Decena, an accomplished business executive, has held notable positions in companies such as Urban Bank, Roxaco Land, and New San Jose Builders. He currently serves as an Independent Director for several companies. Together with  Mrs. Decena, he is involved in various civic organizations. Mrs. Decena has actively participated in feeding programs and conducted values formation seminars for the Rotary Club of Makati West.

Not new to scholarships, he himself being the recipient of academic scholarships all throughout his high school and college education at the Ateneo de Manila University and extending even to his masters degree at the University of the Philippines, Mr. Decena is a firm believer in paying it forward. He continues to inspire his wife and daughters to spread love and kindness despite their tragic experience.

{I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. & Mrs. Decena for trusting me enough to share their story. My daughter is a proud recipient of the Debbie Decena Scholarship and we are forever indebted to their generosity and kindness and grateful for all the lessons learned.}

Lomography 101

by she said

I usually do workshops or take up some lessons during my summer vacation which starts in a few weeks, but I started earlier than usual this year. 

My mom found out about a Lomography Workshop happening at the new Trilogy Boutique in Alabang Town Center, a place my classmates often refer to as 'the swag shop', because apparently it has swag. (I don't know what that really means aside from the fact that Justin Bieber says it a lot.)

Trilogy is a store that houses some of the most exclusive local and international street wear brands like Miss Sixty, Vans, 7 For All Mankind and Team Manila.

What is Lomography? 

It is a new style of artistic, experimental photography that started in the early nineties in Vienna, Austria. Characterized by vibrant colors, deep saturation and creative visual expression, Lomography is now considered an art movement.

Registration is only P100, how cool is that? :)

The workshop covered the basics that you need to know to begin taking photos with an analogue film camera. I am a total control freak with photography. I want my photos to be perfect ALL THE TIME. That's why I've always loved the idea of not knowing how pictures will turn out until after finishing an entire film roll, because I think lomography helps you to think less, and appreciate great images more.

The two speakers from Lomography Embassy Manila- the official distributor of  lomography products here in the Philippines, also discussed fun techniques and experiments with film cameras, like creating vignetting on a photo, how to put tiny little action figures to create silhouettes against images, and double exposures, all of which I want to try when I get my first lomography camera. (which is hopefully soon. HI MOM)

There is something about Lomography that I have always found interesting, mainly because I think I've always had a penchant for old-looking things, and also because of the sheer amount of time I spent* on Tumblr (*past tense! my account is now sad and inactive) scrolling through thousands of grainy vintage images of the sea and ice cream and girls with beach waves.

I've always wanted to make an analogue photo diary, go on photo walks and do general geeky lomography stuff with generally geeky lomographers.  I hope that's something I get to work on this summer!

Definitely Not Small Talk

by she said
 

I'm not really that good at small talk. I like conversations where I can really voice an opinion, learn something new or pick up something different. 

I go to a Catholic school and every year I go on either a retreat or recollection with my class, and that's when I get to do just that. I get to have an in-depth conversation, understand people I never thought I would, and pray like a family with people who I'm not related to.

They always teach us in our recollections that we should never judge people by how they act or how we see them, which is sometimes difficult for me to do. I judge people way too easily - by how noisy they are in class, the shoes they wear, or how they do their hair, but I seldom get to understand why they are the way they are. So I'm thankful to get this opportunity to get to know my classmates better. 

We openly shared our thoughts and feelings to each other during the recollection. And after hearing their stories of the challenges they face and what they've been through, I saw them in a different light and it has inspired me to become a stronger person and to always look at what I have in a more positive light.

We were all in tears after, and I am moved that my own story has touched them somehow. 

I always feel renewed after recollections. I still get to go home and have the same life, but I will live it differently.

Weekend Love

By She Said

My daughter and I rarely spend our weekends or even summer holidays outdoors. We prefer to stay in controlled temperature, air conditioned places. I guess the punishing heat of the sun is just something unbearable for us and being outdoors is something we really don't enjoy.

This is really a far cry from my childhood. I grew up in a beach front house where I spent most of my days under the sun, submerged in sand & salt water. I moved to Manila only when I was about to enter College, and I have been so caught up with city life that I've only gone back to my childhood home twice in a span of 28 years. 

We now live in a community that has a lot of parks, open spaces, bike trails and sports facilities that are all very accessible to us but seldom use and often take for granted. So, I had this brilliant idea to spend the Valentine weekend differently this year and take advantage of the still somewhat unpolluted air in our village in the south of Manila.

It took some time to convince my daughter about my plans because she was already planning to spend the weekend in bed glued to her iTouch and our internet connection. But with much cajoling and pretty pleases and promises that she will have a good time and good food to eat, she finally agreed! 

We woke up early Saturday morning and trooped to the Saturday Market nearby.

                      So much fresh, organic produce and seafood. I am quietly asking myself- why am I not shopping here every weekend???

                                                                      Potted herbs

 Fresh cherries

Suman

What we ate for breakfast- oven baked pork belly. Notice the morning sun shining down on our food? It's been awhile since we've eaten outdoors!

Puto Bumbong- I can eat this all year round.

Red Velvet Cupcakes from a neighbor / homebaker

Croissants

Kids with bicycles, enjoying the outdoors.

After breakfast, we visited one of the parks that has an ongoing exhibit by the village's Garden Club. They do this every year but we hardly go. This year's theme was all about "Verandas".

Spotted these plants for sale- Scented Malvarosa (used as a mosquito repellant) and Dwarfed Philodendron (Hope plant). Wanted to buy but I found them overpriced at Php600 and Php1200!

We capped off our Valentine Weekend at the nearby Alabang Town Center for a Helicopter Flower Drop on Sunday. This mall is like a second home to us. My daughter practically grew up here :)

  Blizzard of rose petals!

I think this weekend was the most time we have spent outdoors. We had so much fun that I think we are now converts and we're already planning our next outdoor adventure!