Christmas and Birthday Wishlist

It's Christmas time once again apart from a wish list consisting of good health, more happiness and success for myself and my family, one can't seem to avoid to wish for material stuff needed and wanted.

I hope to buy mostly those in my list before Christmas but since we only have a few extra monies before the year ends and other financial obligations are of top priority, I need to delay my purchase probably early next year when we receive our perquisites. 

Suddenly, wishful thinking kicks in and I hope to receive a few in my list at Christmas time or as a birthday gift from my parents, relatives and closest friends. Since most of them don't have access and time to read my blog, this will be a game of mental telepathy for us or a situation of "ask and you shall receive" answer when they will inquire on what I want for Christmas:

1. Gym Clothes - sports bra, dri-fit top/bottoms and gym bag. I haven't invested much on gym clothes yet even if I wanted to. I have to sacrifice my vanity for proper gym attire with regular jogging pants, cotton and company shirts since I need to spend my money on other important stuff. Out of resourcefulness,  I am currently using my firstborn's big baby bag as my gym bag!
   
2. All around carry bag good for office and casual wear. The last time I bought a bag for myself was more than 2 years ago.. Most of my bags are relatively given to me by relatives. 3 of my bags already said goodbye to me. Another 2 are about to retire but I pleaded with them to stay with me a little longer (read: still continue to use despite their condition) until I find a good replacement. I've found a great red replacement thanks to my sister in law who gave me a bag for a souvenir. Still need to find a replacement for my black,cream and mustard/brownish one.
3. Comfortable High Heeled Shoes - I need to invest for more office appropriate shoes. What usually works best for me are those in bigger type of heels, wedge type and not much of the stiletto ones.  I wish I could have pairs of the following hues: silver, white, gold, brown/tan, black
4. Radio/CD Recorder/Player - My little daughter loves to hear songs from the player unfortunately she got so fond of the remote that volume of our CD player seem not to work anymore.  I hope I can find a good replacement for this to play her lovely nursery songs.
5. Oven Toaster - Our oven toaster recently malfunctioned and it is already beyond repair. We are tuna sandwich or cheese pimiento sandwich lovers in the family. We are toasting our bread currently at the teflon as we don't have time yet to buy a good oven toaster that will last for years. Hope we can find a good replacement soonest.
6. Bed Frames - Single Size and Double Size Bed Frames are needed soon in our house. I am currently seeking for a great and affordable bed frames for our extra room and the kid's bedroom. I hope I could find one that fits the budget
7. Table/Rack good for magazine and newspapers in wenge color.  We only place our magazines/old newspaper on the floor. Still hasn't found time to go out to home stores and buy a magazine stand/rack to our fancy and color requirement.After visiting my friend's lovely abode, I now started to become conscious of color coordinating the stuff  in our place. Most of my stuff in our place were purchased in my single years and majority were only hand-me-downs by relatives who already returned back in our province. Since their function was of a necessity, I did not mind initially that they don't mix and match. Nowadays, for additional household purchases, I try as much as possible to have the items mix the color scheme of our current house.
8. Condo Unit makeover. We bought our condo bare and simple. We just repainted the house and placed necessary fixtures given limited budget we had then. Imagine on the same year we got married, bought a condo and gave birth! Nowadays, I start to ask myself on when we could possibly have our unit renovated. Perhaps in the next 3-5 years once our little tots go to big school. Probably this makeover list will remain in my wish list for the next few years or so.  Or maybe there's any home makeover promo that we could participate nowadays? :)
9. Tops - casual shirts or office clothes. I think I need to upgrade my wardrobe. I hope to receive a few tops that I can use either for casual wear or for office wear.
10. Havaianas. My pair used at home just got destroyed from wear and tear for about 2 years. I have another pair but I normally use it for yoga classes and after gym wear. I currently settled with my crocs at home (used during my last pregnancy about 2 years ago) as havaianas replacement.

On Barbecue Marinade

I've tried to improve on my barbecue marinade for the past few months.. Here's my standard marinade ingredients that I want to share:

1 can Coca Cola Regular

2 tbsp Peanut Butter

few pcs of Calamansi

1 sachet Maggi Magic Sarap 

Garlic - minced and chopped

Ginger- chopped

Brown Sugar

Pork Spareribs - almost 1 K

I always boil the spareribs before I marinate it. I place salt and pepper prior to boiling to add some taste. After boiling the spareribs, I add the ingredients above. 

I welcome any suggestions you may have on how to prepare a great pork barbecue marinade! Suggestions on chicken barbecue marinade will be appreciated as well. :)

 

Great News at Work

How sweet it is to receive great unexpected news!I cannot contain my happiness when my boss announced the good news. 

I always marvel how God's hand work in our lives. Whenever we feel low, He always have His way of lifting us up. I've almost reached financial and career lowdown but I never stopped dreaming that someday, money will start pouring in and I will soon climb the senior management corporate ladder. 

It's been almost a month since I hoped and prayed for a promotion by next year to help augment our family income. I was relatively surprised and thankful that I got promoted earlier than expected. I thank our boss and the upper management who had us for exceptional promotion effective this month.

With higher position comes bigger responsibility. I am not afraid to fly and I know they will now grant me the opportunity to do so---- My wings are now ready and I am about to soar for my family, for myself and for the company I'm currently working with.

I look forward to spending more exciting years ahead. I wonder how I will look like when I receive my 40 years of service award in this company by 2040! 

Newspaper Ad Erratum: The Enfa Equation

9+5x2-(7x2)=14 

Right???? Absolutely wrong!!! 

Whoever got the same answer as the above has long forgotten the MDAS Principle (Remember My Dear Aunt Sally or My Dear Ateneo Students? )

I was embarrassed for Enfakid's latest broadsheet campaign printed in Inquirer today. I now question their credibility regarding their product claim on nourishing the brain to pursue excellence.

Would they issue an erratum? I don't think so but I dare them to do so.

Will they cancel their other placements on this particular material? I hope so!

Whoever proposed the ad and approved of the ad need a major and immediate math remedial class. 

Lessons Learned at Work

I had an unusual month at work. I look forward to better days... I've always chosen the less travelled path but I know in time my efforts will pay off. After eight years of working, I want to share with you my own random list of things learned at work: 

1. Always be a helping hand - in simple and complicated things. For you it may be nothing but for others it is a big thing. Be ready though as some may use you and some may abuse you. Take each situation as a preparatory to the next big thing to come at work or in life in general.
2. Politics is everywhere. It is present whatever position you are into. I've never been a fan of politics. Maybe that's why my growth is relatively slower than expected by others. I would rather do my best in the most sincere way possible even if decisions made will be quite unpopular or disliked by many.
3. If you've decided to stay longer and grow old in the company you are currently into, do not let someone take that away from you or alter your decision. Be strong enough and swallow few pride left. Try to stay away from that person in all ways that you can.
4. Don't lose hope. Always believe in the saying "there's a light at the end of the tunnel". Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down but never forget life's experiences and learnings along the way. Whatever worries you have at work, this too shall pass.
5. Be happy for others even if it means sacrificing your own happiness. There may be times that senior managers fail to see what you've done (or worst credit it to someone instead!). When this happens, give yourself an imaginary pat at the back.
6. Don't wait for the company or your boss to reward you for a great job done. Go ahead and treat yourself to a massage or buy that great pair of shoes you've always been eyeing for!
7. Be tenacious. It will help prepare you how to handle frustrations and hurdles in the future.
8. Some boss might fail to praise nor thank their coworkers. Never acquire this habit. Always appreciate everybody's worth. A simple thank you to colleagues inspires them to do more and hopefully would make you become a better leader someday. 
9. Share your glory. Give chance (a chance to be recognized) to others! Always remember, no man is an island  for every work you do, I'm sure others have helped you did a wonderful job. When your boss praise you for a great work done - be brave and generous enough to acknowledge in front of him who have helped you along the way. A true leader is never selfish enough to share his success!
10. Disagreements might come along the way. Choose your battles - small enough that you know you can win and big enough that matters. 
11. Champions and leaders are positioned not for others to serve them but for them to inspire others to do a fantastic job.
12. Trust your instinct - they are always right. In whatever situation you are in - be honest. This is relatively self-explanatory.

Although learned at work, lessons above largely helped me grow as a person.

TV Experience: On Milk Commercials

With the current issue on the safety of milk products due to adulteration of melamine, I was relatively surprised that no milk company has assured consumers of their product's safety on television except for one milk company. My assumption is that they wanted to detach any association consumers may have on the issue that its sister company face in China. My two other assumptions would be that it is quite expensive to advertise on tv and brands confirmed safe by the local regulatory are responsible enough that they don't need to take advantage of the situation to the detriment of their competitors.

Amongst the all the milk commercials in the market, I was relatively intrigued and a little bit frustrated when I saw Lactum's recent advertisement on television. Sometimes I feel Lactum is reacting to their major competitor's efforts - primarily that of NIDO. 

NIDO launched in succession its t.v. commercial featuring celebrity endorsers starting about 3 years ago with Carmina, then Marjorie, and lastly with Ruffa. Lactum did not hesitate to follow suit with their celebrity campaign this year and got Carmina as well. Objective for this marketing move might be to insinuate to consumers that Lactum is a better brand than NIDO? I wonder if this is so or would it be otherwise. 

I guess NIDO grew tired a bit of featuring celebrity endorsers about late last year and featured non-celebrity moms one after the other. Lactum followed suit with a lot of celebrity (Jodie, Claudine and Carmina) and non-celebrity moms alike about early this year. Perhaps this enabled them to gain a quick win as I believe celebrity endorsement if used properly will do wonders for the product.

NIDO went back to celebrity moms this year featuring the megastar promoting NIDO FORTIFIED as her one milk for her kids. Lactum countered (again!) this proposition saying that there is no such thing as a one-sized milk that fits all your kids. I was relatively frustrated by this proposition and even questioned if there really is no such thing.  I remember in previous years, there were no 1+ 3+ or 6+ type of milks and parents were able to raise kids then with proper nutrition. Ask your parents, your boss or your president if they were given a milk brand with any + or number in linked to their name when they were young. I used to remember when we were still in our early elementary years, my siblings and I used to share one milk - we drank Magnolia Fresh Milk in the glass bottle and NIDO during our younger years. 

I don't mind various milk products trying to own a perception in the consumers' mind as it is a primary need to succeed in marketing. I hope though that they would stop focusing their efforts to degrade competition in order to succeed. 

I fervently wish someday that instead of countering each others efforts on various product proposition, milk companies will help each other out and start promoting milk drinking altogether in the country to help improve children's nutrition in the Philippines.

Mission: Closet Clean Up

I wanted to upgrade my wardrobe for the past few months but since I'm stuck with my basic salary until November (read: no extra money for clothes shopping), I decided to rearrange my clothes hoping to rediscover great stuffs buried inside my closet.

I took out clothes not worn for 2 years and held a mini-garage sale with my house help's friends in the condominium as customers. I managed to sell my stuff for 10-50 pesos and earned almost a thousand pesos as a reward. I gave a few bucks to our house help as her sales commission. 

I then managed to rearrange and pile my clothes according to use: office wear, house wear, sleep wear, gym clothes, casual clothes, dresses and jackets. Afterwards, I grouped those with similar colors altogether for easy reference.

I realized that I do not need to buy new set of clothes yet. I've got office wear that could last me for almost 2 months without repeating them and about a year's worth of casual clothes.

I had a fun time realizing that most of my clothes withstood the trends and times. I still wear at home shirts from my university years. Majority of my casual clothes were purchased long before my husband and I were an item! My oldest shirt has been with me for about 12 years now while I've enjoyed occasionally on weekends wearing my Mango jeans (my oldest pair of pants) for 6 years.

The practical side rather than the fashionista side of me always kicks in. I've learned how to update my wardrobe recently by these 2 simple techniques: mix and match and bring back the basics.

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my site!=)  

I'm relatively a new user and still managing my way in. Albeit late, I am now ready and confident enough to communicate. 

From this day forward, I would like to share with you what I've experienced on motherhood, marriage, building a career, managing a household, products seen and tried, food tasted and places visited.