Yesterday's trip to the mall was anything but what I hoped it to be. It was supposed to be a time to relax and to break the monotony of my days. I didn't even plan on attempting to complete my "to buy" list as I'd like to be able to just hang around instead of running from shop to shop.

The only must-do item in my itinerary was to get BPA-free bottles for Miguel, and I got so frustrated to discover Rustans doesn't have the brands I've researched and listed except for the Bfree brand which is too complicated for me because of so many parts that need to be cleaned and assembled everytime.

So instead of hangin' around and relaxing at Shang, I transferred to Megamall after almost two hours. Luckily, parking was not a problem at the time. But unfortunately, even SM doesn't carry BPA-free bottles, hay! How come after so much talk about the possible dangers of BPA in plastic feeding bottles, the major establishments haven't gotten around to giving options to consumers?! Ang nakakaloka pa, when you ask the salespeople if they have bpa-free bottles, they would offer you the same old brands and would say "safe naman po yan." To which, I'd want to answer "e di hindi ko na papalitan yung bottles ko kung ganon" (pero syempre I didn't give this bitchy answer.)

Anyway, so the main purpose of my so-called break wasn't realized and I went home with nothing but a few scrapbooking materials and a gift for doc. At least now I can start scrapbooking.

...ours was tiring but fun.

On Saturday, after the drama at the doc's clinic, Miguel was rewarded with a thrilling carousel ride. In the afternoon, we let him play at Gymboree. He spent the entire hour running and jumping and climbing and rolling all over the place. Too bad we didn't have our cam. But I could tell he had a blast!

Sunday was rest day. We just stayed home after church.

Monday was field trip with grannies and cousins. First stop was at Manila Ocean Park. The place was packed with people. I didn't get to appreciate the fish! If you ever plan to visit, do it on a weekday.

Next was at Ark Avilon Zoo. Here, Miguel was amazed at all of the animals. He loved the monkey and the jaguar. He used to see them only on NatGeo :) He fed the rabbits kangkong :)

The trip was pleasant save for the fact that he threw up twice as he's not used to riding in a big car, hehe :) Will post pics soon. Got to sneak them from bil's site, first.

Hay...the excitement waned as soon as the photobook was handed to me. I was disappointed with how the printed book turned out. The photos weren't clear, they're too pixelized and there were some that appear to be too red. Ang sakit sa mata! When you scan the entire book the photos weren't sharp at all, parang medyo blurred lahat.

Initially I thought it might be the resolution of the photos I submitted, baka they're not high enough to make a nice full spread print, though at the back of my mind I knew each photo is at least 1mb in size. I did not claim the photobook and instead asked if they could reprint three specific pages which were really panget. Good thing, they accommodated my request to resend the book to the printer for revision.

When we got home I immediately reviewed the original photos I used and confirmed that they were high res photos. In fact, most of them I already printed with Kodak and they were okay. And on screen it was also okay. So I thought the problem must be with their printer. I immediately called the salesgirl who assisted me and explained that I should be getting clear, sharp prints and asked if she could have the entire book reprinted. She agreed without complaints.

As I was discussing this with Nico, we were thinking if it could be that they were scrimping on the printing cost that they chose "economy" instead of "best quality" during printing (if that is at all possible) thus the output isn't clear. Daya di ba?

Anyway, I have yet to make my final rating on their service once I got the revised copy. I hope it turns out nice, else, I don't think I'll ever have my other photos printed with them again.

Darn digital cameras! They made my life a bit more complicated especially since I've been having a really tough time choosing which photos to include in Miguel's first year book. I want them all in! It's impractical, surely. Finally, I'm able to narrow it down to a reasonable number. And it's just about time that I pursue this photo book project. Much as I'd like to diy this one--oh how I envy those who can really digiscrap!--unfortunately, I'm not one of those who are gifted with an artistic side. Anyway, I discovered a local printer of photo books and they make really nice picture books at a reasonable price. I'll be trying out their services this weekend and see what comes of my little boy's baby book. It has to be nice!

Since Nico and I are die-hard fans of Italian food, but neither can cook real Italian dishes, we end up drooling over pastas and pizzas and bruschettas and salads as we watch the cooking shows on Travel & Living and Lifestyle Channel. Last night, as we were watching Everyday Italian (and since I've watched this show many times in the past), I realized I could just make note of the ingredients and the general cooking process of each dish so I can practice my cooking skills. I could actually google-up recipes, but I'm not good at following written cooking instructions, hehehe; I think I can do it better if I've seen someone do it.

So, immediately I grabbed my notepad and started remembering every ingredient she's put on her "Linguini with Pancetta and Tomato Sauce" dish. It was a simple pasta recipe and I plan to experiment cooking it soon. The challenge, though, is finding pancetta, an Italian-style bacon, which I gather is not very common in local supermarkets. I think I'll just substitute with spanish sausage (the real thing), if ever pancetta's not available.

So there's my new hobby. I'll be taking down notes of simple dishes instead of drooling over them, hehe, so I can eventually know what they taste like... :)

Haay...my obsession over Harry Potter still isn't over! Would you believe I even dreamt about him last night?! hahaha :) After reading his adventures of six years at Hogwarts, I'm now determined to see it in action. I've only seen the movie of the Sorcerer's Stone years ago, and true to my expectations, the movie didn't justify the thrill derived from reading the book. Although that cute English accent is something you don't get from reading, unless you try very hard to sound British in your head, lol :).

So I'm off to the mall later this afternoon to get copies of the movies from year two to five! :) The sad part, and I really get upset when I think about this, is that I only have one more book to read, and I'll forever miss Harry. :(

I have just finished reading the sixth of the Harry Potter series (oh yeah, I am that late!) and I'm feeling too sad that the greatest wizard of all time-Dumbledore-is gone..sniff sniff. Now I'm missing those idle afternoons and evenings when I could just sit and immerse myself into the magical world of Harry Potter.

I have yet to get a copy of the seventh book and the last time I checked it still wasn't available in paperback. Is it, now? I hope to get a complete set soon so I can pass it on to Miguel when he's old enough to appreciate fiction. :)

here's another LO; photos taken during our wedding...
credits to Gina Cabrera, Digital Design Essentials

i am once again reminded of my attempt to scrapbook...and seeing all the wonderful layouts online, i am so tempted to indulge in some shopping! there is still some amount of discipline left in me though, that i haven't really given in to the lure. for now i content myself with the free kits i download online but they are so limited i crave for more of those accessories! here's one i did using a free kit from Shabby Princess-Kristie_SF:

Back during those months when I was doing our wedding preps, I had noticed that scrapbooking has taken formal launch as more and more of scrapbooking items were made available specifically at national bookstore. Gone are the days when a scrapbook could be made literally out of "scrap." The scrapbooking accessories I saw at the store had awakened this poorly developed artistic side of my brain and I had planned on starting this new hobby as soon as possible. Unfortunately though, something else had occupied my remaining few months in the Philippines that I wasn't even able to shop for all the needed accessories before I left for Dubai. I was hoping to be able to pursue scrapbooking here but to my dismay, the shops I have gone to don't have as much scrapbooking items as I had found at national bookstore and the few accessories available were not enough to inspire me to continue.

Due to the nature of my job back in manila and the fact that my beloved ex-employer has the strictest policy on internet access, I felt I was always lagging behind in terms of the newest trend on the net. In fact, I have known blogging since 2004 but was only able to start my own site this year! During the past 3 months, though, the net has been my most frequented place (oh the joy of having net connection at home!), and during one of those many afternoons I spent googling, I realized I could still pursue my scrapping plan through digi-scrapping! :) I got super excited and went on to research more about this new rave but was discouraged when I found out I would need to buy accessories online. I am never a fan of online shopping basically because my first ever experience wasn't reassuring at all—in 2002, I bought one year subscription to Harvard Business Review for my boss and ended up being charged twice! The double-charging was reversed after so many calls and emails and verification online (whew!). And that is why the first time I was introduced to digiscrapping I didn’t give it much thought.

Just recently I was organizing my files on the computer and realized that unprinted photos are piling up, taking too much space out of my C drive. This prompted me to revisit my interest on digiscrapping, besides, Nico was able to get us a copy of adobe photoshop. My first attempt was a bit discouraging as I was too intimidated by the many tools in photoshop. However, the free digital kits available online are simply enticing. I refused to allow the right side of my brain to be bequeathed to rust, thus, I carried on. My practice layout (below) is actually similar to the one I downloaded and this is because I chose to concentrate on learning how to use the photoshop tools rather than creating an original layout. The whole effort was exhausting especially when my PC runs too slow and since my wrist is oftentimes hurting. But the fact that I learned so much about photoshop by simply recreating this layout is enough to celebrate…there are tons of things to discover and I will carry on; I have only just begun.

CREDITS:
Fonts: Keyboard Plaque and Blue Vinyl's '60's Chic font
Brushes by:
Shabby Princess
Brushes downloaded from:
www.misprintedtype.com

PS. I am half-wishing now I didn't sign up for the job I recently took, hehehe :D

since weekend is the only time we get to spend the whole day together, we see to it that we visit different places within the city, it's our weekend escapade. and everytime we go out, we always make sure we bring our camera so we're ready to capture a nice view whenever and wherever it appears. few weeks back it was the creek park that we visited--photo of a lone bird taken by nico:

this weekend we went to the nearest beach park, about 15-min bus ride from our place. here's a photo of a kid which i captured after experimenting on the different scene modes-- nice sepia effect minus the editing... :)

two weeks ago nico & i went to creek park and immediately set to test our newly-bought toy-- an Olympus camera SP500UZ. good thing there were only a few people when we arrived so we had all the time to take photos of the place, syempre agawan pa kami kung sino unang gagamit ng camera hehe, but when we finally rode the cable car, he had the camera all to himself, takot kaya akong tumingin sa baba hehe :)