"Me" Time Can Sometimes Be Sushi Time

I've been known to spending "Me" times with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate and a cake to go with it. But there are "Me" times of mine, I spend it with Sushi.

The Husband is out with friends tonight and so I went to the mall to see an Optometrist. Before I went home, I dropped by the sushi place and bought myself dinner.

Last night, I teased the Husband: "Yay! You're going out, I don't have to cook dinner and I'll have the house to myself!!!" Hehe. I don't mind cooking for us, but I have to admit that preparing dinner after arriving from work takes a lot of effort sometimes especially when I had a long day at the office. The Husband doesn't pressure me to cook all the time, he actually eats anything I lay on the table. But I can't bear not cooking and just buy take-away food. Once in a while I make an exception, but I really prefer that meals at home are freshly cooked and I know where the ingredients come from.

Anyway, since it's only me tonight, I decided to buy sushi for my dinner as I enjoyed watching "Glee" on TV. It was the episode where they sang "Defying Gravity", my favorite song from one of my favorite musicals "Wicked". I'm one happy camper.

I had a productive "Me" time at the mall after work today. Pag may gimik si Husband, natataranta ako dahil parang ang dami kong gustong gawin o puntahan---hindi ko malaman kung saang mall ako susuot hehe.

This afternoon, instead of window shopping (that sometimes results to buying stuff I don't need), I decided to finally see an Optometrist. I was due for a check-up in September but I've been putting it off (I have my eyes check once a year).

The main reason why I needed to see him, other than have my eyes checked, was because I broke my eyeglasses yesterday. So I brought it there to get it fixed and at the same time buy a new 2nd pair of glasses so I'll have one for the office and one for the home or at least if something happens to either one of them, I'll have a back-up. The bad news is the glasses I broke had to be shipped to some woop woop place because they don't have a certain part for the glasses in stock, so that will take a few days to be repaired. The good new is they have put my new glasses in the "rush" list so that I can pick it up in a few days. They asked me if I can survive without glasses and I said "I think I can". I'm just going to take it easy and give my eyes lots of rest so it can function normally for the next couple of days.

On my way home, I realized that I will be watching a musical tomorrow night and I need glasses when I watch stuff like that. Ayayay! Tomorrow, I'll just drop by the chemist and buy temporary prescription glasses (the cheap ones). Hope that helps.

Other than buy new glasses, I had my eyes checked and the verdict was it is generally healthy. I was a bit worried because two weeks ago, I had an eye infection that lasted for almost a week (didn't go to work for two days). I told the Optometrist what happened and he gave me eyepad cleansers for cleaning my eyelids. He asked me what activities I do that involves the eyes. When I mentioned to him about photography, he gave me this optical lens cleaner that he said might help in cleaning the viewfinder of my camera. He said hopefully it disinfects my viewfinder so the germs won't get transported to my eyes. That was very nice of him.

What about you? Have you had your eyes checked lately? According to the Optometrist, our eyes should be checked at least once a year.

BananaQ "Me" Time

Because I had so many things to do today (even if I was on a day-off), I spent my "me" time during lunch over a cup of Camomile Tea and BananaQ.

I attended an appointment and some errands in the morning and as I was on my way home, I passed by the Filo resto and saw that they were selling BananaQs today. I bought two sticks (one for me and one for the Husby) and was surprised to know that it cost AUD$3.00 per stick--mahal!!!!! If I convert that to PHPeso, that'll be approximately P120+. Mygulay! Magkano na ba ang BananaQ sa Pinas ngayon???? I seriously wanna know.

Oh well, I bought it anyway and savored it to the last bit while I drank a cup of Camomile Tea.

My "me" time today was very unusual as I spent it having lunch, watching "Ellen" and doing a batch of laundry. Usually, my "me" times are very sacred, as in no TV, no electronic machines buzzing on the background and most importantly, no household chores involved.

I had to bend the rule a bit and be more flexible today as I really have my hands full at the moment. October is just so so so busy for me and the Husband both at work and in the household.

I've been working on a big project at work as my team and I are about to launch a new training program next week (D day is 2nd November). I'm excited and I'm all wired up about it--some days I'm exhausted but I can't sleep much because I can't stop thinking about it. For the past week, I've been spending more time at the office or I bring home work with me just to beat deadlines--which is another rule I'm not following right now.

Husband, on the other hand, has been blessed with so much work as well. He has a project involving their company's branch in the UK. The past weekend was crazy as he was on-call from Friday night until Sunday. Some days, he works on UK time too, hence, he sometimes finish work at home by 2AM and then he still has to attend work in Sydney. Crazzyyyy.

As for the household, we've been juggling managing the home and attending parties :). This month, our weekends were spent mostly partying with friends and relatives--we attended housewarming parties, birthday parties, a welcome party, a debut and a wedding. Quota na kami!!! hehe. We're really grateful for the invites we received--for us, those were all blessings. We're sorry for the ones we weren't able to attend (yes, sa lagay na yan, hindi pa namin lahat napuntahan. Sorry talaga). And one more thing, we also hosted dinner for a friend who visited from Manila.

So there, a little update from our little world out here. That's why I'm sometimes delayed with articles and photo uploads. I'm sorry if I haven't been visiting blogs. I will surely bloghop as soon as things get back to normal.

Sending out positive vibes to you. Have a great and productive week!

Affirmation: Live in the Moment and Enjoy Being

I will

live in

the moment

and enjoy being.

photo from vulcan75

Tips on How to Enjoy "Being":

(these are advices I give myself whenever I forget to just enjoy my here and now. I hope these will help you too)

Be always in the present. Wherever you are and whatever circumstance you are in, enjoy it, savor it...cherish it.

Count your blessings. While it is okay to dream or want something in life, it is never healthy to obsess too much for things you know you can't have at the moment.

Be grateful for your NOW. Remember two things: (1) Each moment passes by quickly--it may be over before your know it and (2) your next moment may not be as great or as happy, so live each moment as if it's the best moment of your life.

Keep in mind that challenges are a part of life and that it is meant to teach a lesson. Embrace it the way you cherish your joys in life and always find the lesson each challenge conveys.

Never take shortcuts. An unhappy moment is part of life and the only way to live fully is to manage feelings such as fear, grief, frustration, disappointments, etc. Give yourself time to heal. Cry and wallow if you must, but don't be a slave to your unhappiness. Being able to rise up and learn from an unhappy moment is a sign of growth (take note: there must be LEARNING as without it, growth will be futile).

I've shared this before and I will share it once again.

"My concept of 'Being' means embracing whatever life brings you...it may be joy, sorrow, pain, hardships---the key is to cherish it (even if its painful) and learn from it. We honor our joy, we might as well honor our pain too. Life is so much sweeter when you know you're able to go thru happy or sad moments with no shortcuts."

- an ibyangism i learned when i moved in Sydney and found out that life is more beautiful when you have gone thru cherished tears

Here's wishing everyone a happy week ahead!

Recipe: Fat Burning Soup

What you need:
6 large onions
2 medium-sized green bell peppers or 1 large green bell pepper
6 large ripe tomatoes
1 bunch of celery with leaves
1/2 head white cabbage
4 carrots
1 litre Tomato Juice
Salt, Pepper to taste

What you need to do:

1. Chop vegetables and place inside a pot.

2. Pour in water and tomato juice. Add salt and pepper.

3. Boil for 10-15 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Notes/Tips:

1. For those wanting to lose weight, the diet calls to eat only this soup for seven days.

2. The recipe above is good for 20 servings. You can put smaller portions in containers and store them in your freezer.

3. A caution of warning: this soup makes one gassy.

4. Diet or not, this is a great tasting soup. I've never really went on a diet with just this--and I never really go on a diet per se (I think I'd really die if I only eat this or go on a diet hehe). But I love having this soup because of the yummy veggies in it and I've always been fond of eating tomato-based soups. I eat this together with any daily meal: as a compliment to our main dish during lunch or dinner. Or I sometimes have this soup during afternoon snack.

5. This is a very healthy soup as the veggies in it are good sources of antioxidants which aids in getting rid of toxins in the body. This is also good if you want to burn calories, hence the name "fat burning soup."

6. One of the things I notice whenever I eat this is that my skin has a healthy, rosy glow.

Thank you to Toni of Wifely Steps for sharing her Fat Burning Soup recipe and for letting me publish it here in my blog.

Organic Choices For The Home (Part 2)

My new organic finds for the home: Quick Oats and Yogurt.

Quick Oats can be cooked the normal way (with boiled water) or with use of a microwave.

I love yogurt!!!---especially now that it's organic.

Some things I need to clarify:

I'm sharing my organic finds for the home for the simple reason that I want people to be aware that organic choices are easily available to everyone nowadays. The key word here is AWARENESS.

In my first entry about Organic Choices for the Home, I veered away from the word "healthy" as I didn't want readers to have the notion that the only way to be healthy is to use organic products. If you read my entry again, I didn't refer organic food to "being solely healthy" but instead regard it as one of the several healthy options.

May I quote again the second to the last sentence that I wrote: "People are lucky nowadays to find several healthy options (one of which is organic) available to them in the market."

Thank you!

Badminton Night

Yesterday, we just stayed home and rest.

At home, I cleaned house, did laundry, mopped floors and watched lots of Pinoy movies in Dibidi. ;)

After dinner, the Bakasyonistas, Balilos, Mendozas and Sanchezes trooped down to Bernie Mullane to play Badminton. After all the eating for the past days, it was good to sweat out and burn some calories.

Who do I love????

I'm making my I Boy Bawang shirt one of my official Badminton shirts hehe. It's so cute! :)

A short nightcap at the Mendozas place where we had Ensaymada, biscuits, cheese and sausages with coffee and tea. Ngek! After playing Badminton, we ate din naman hehe.

Organic Choices For The Home

I'm not entirely buying everything organic for the home but there are a few items in the pantry that has turned organic. I figured that I may not be able to control what we eat outside all the time but at least, I can make healthy choices for our home.

Breakfast nowadays are Organic Cornflkes and Organic Milk. In making coffee and cooking, we use Organic Raw Sugar.

When we need to add flavor during meals, we now use Organic Tomato Ketchup. For cooking, I now use Organic Flour.

I still use non-organic pasta from time to time, but if I can, I try to find organic pasta like this Penne pasta I found.

And for my everyday tea at work, I've switched to organic two years ago.

Due to some health scare that happened to me when I was still single, I vowed that I will try my best to control the food we buy for the home when I get married. We still buy certain junk foods from time to time but we have a schedule on when we can eat junk foods. An example would be sharing a bag of chips only on Saturday nights, but for the rest of the week, we don't. As I always say, as long as everything is in moderation and controlled, that is fine.

People are lucky nowadays to find several healthy options (one of which is organic) available to them in the market. It is a bit more expensive than the normal products but for me, it is worth it.

Sunday Badminton

After a long break from playing badminton (due to my wrist tendonitis) I finally went back to the court to play again. And boy, it felt really really good to be playing a sport I've loved all my life.

Warmed-up as soon as we arrived. As much as I wanted to play a lot in the two hours that we were there, I psyched myself up to take it easy and spend lots of breaks in between playing. It's been awhile since I've played and I don't want my muscles to get very shocked, plus I didn't want to hurt my wrist again.

And then the games began. It felt good to be sweating again. And it felt good to feel those muscles flex and stretch, i love it!

We rented the court for two hours and when the time was up, Evan suddenly hurt his ankle which signalled that playing is indeed over. We hovered around him asking him how he is, when Hilda answered "malayo sa bituka", we all laughed.

The happy badminton crew...group photo before we left.

The husband took lots of photos of me while playing and when I looked at them, I realized some things:
(a) Na serious din naman pala ako pag pumapalo ng shuttlecock. I laugh and I'm very playful inside the court even when competing pero pala pag game na talaga, serious pala ang face ko haha. I found out (thru the photos) that I have a certain pout when I play.

(b) That sometimes I close my eyes when I smash.
(c) That I move and stretch like a dancer when I try to hit the shuttlecock. I have to thank my training in dancing for that, I never really noticed how I moved inside the court until yesterday.
(d) That there's a part of me that will once in a while miss competing. I miss wearing my trainers, my Nikes, my racket--holding it and playing with it, bringing tons of water, drinking Gatorade, running towards the game venue from the time I got off my ride as a part of my warm-up, doing warm-ups, late night trainings after school and work (kasi hanggang sa work naglaro ako), being inside the court with nothing on mind but the game and only the game and hanging out with players who eventually became my friends. Lots of good memories and learnings I've gained thru this sport.
Now that I'm playing (for recreation only) again, I hope my wrist tendonitis doesn't come back coz if it does, I would have to put my racket back into storage--which I would'nt want to happen. We'll see how it goes. For now, I'm just happy that I'm back doing one of the things I love.

When Was The Last Time You Did Something For Yourself?

Yesterday, I decided not to go to work.

I woke up a little late than usual. The alarm went off at 5:30am, touched the snooze button...alarm went off again after five minutes, I didn't get up still. After a few more minutes (that's an understatement), I realized it was already 6am! Immediately, I prepared to go to work. While Husband and I had breakast, I told him, "I don't want to go to work today, I want to go back to bed and sleep." The ever-loving husband replied, "Then stay home, what have you got to lose?"

My husband has never been a big talker but once he says something, more often than not, it is logical and will make you stop and realize, "Oo nga no?"

So I asked myself, "When was the last time I did something like this?"

"When was the last time I threw all my caution to the wind and just do what I want and not care about what will happen next?"

"When did I last rewarded myself with a day of sleeping?"

"When was the last time I gave myself something intagible?"

The answer to all those questions was "I don't know." With that kind of answer, I think that says a lot, doesn't it?

And so I stayed home and slept...and watched TV...and read a book...and just relaxed! It was a glorious day for me. I made up for lost sleep and at the same time, it not only rejuvenated my body, but my mind and soul as well.

Nowadays, it's so easy to get caught up in the web-like array of our day-to-day activities--work, responsibilities, bills to pay, parties to attend, a household to manage, kids to take care of, family and friends to be there for...and the list goes on and on.

These days, we only get to take a day-off when we're feeling really really sick---and more often than not, we even feel guilty for not going to work!

These days, it's just so easy to be an adult because we are faced with obligations. that we sometimes forget the child in us.

But once in a while, no matter how difficult or impossible we think it is, doing something for yourself can be the most rewarding thing. It is healthier too.

So be a kid sometimes and ask yourself, "When was the last time I did something for myself?"

Coffee That Has More Antioxidants

Coffee discovery alert!

When I saw Nescafe GREENBLEND Coffee in the supermarket, I can't help but buy it. Imagine, I would be drinking coffee but have more than what I get from Green Tea (has 70% more antioxidants than green tea). And one of the best things about it is the aroma--it got me at hello! :) I love love the smell of this coffee.

A must-try for coffee lovers like me.