Worthy Cause

STOP. RACISM.

I am supporting my friend's cause. Please pass on and keep spreading the word.

I've called Australia my home for the last decade and wouldn't wish to have my sons experience the same cruelty. As a parent, I know I can only do so much to shield my children from such attacks. I want them to grow up - proud of their heritage but without feeling that they should be treated like second class citizens in their own country of birth. Let us continue raising them to have a solid character so in any case that we will not be around to protect them, they will always be able to stand up for who they are.

More importantly, let us practice what we preach. Let no one or any similar bad experience transform us to become "racists".

N@W-OZ Christmas EB

Calling all OZ N@Wies!!!

Let us celebrate the holidays with cheers and welcome the new year ahead.

WHEN: Dec 20 (Saturday), 12 noon for a 12:30 pm start.
WHERE: Castle Hill, NSW, 2154

If you're not a Sydney sider and would like to visit around this time, we have two spare rooms available for you to stay ...

Please email me if you haven't subscribed to mailto:n@w OZ so you can get the full details of this get-together.

Would love to meet you in person!!!

More on cupcakes...

I got to spend a Saturday doing what I (lately) love doing most. And that is making cupcakes!!! I went home with new stuff to show off my fans - (who are my kids and my husband!).

I think I am on a roll now. Ready and pumped to deliver my cupcake orders in the coming weeks. Just this week I received another order with five (5) dozens of cupcakes. Most orders are due just before we leave for Manila. Whoah!!!


As I get busy making more cupcakes, fingers crossed, I hope not to forget packing all the essentials before our trip!!! Wish me luck (on both)!

A Bowl of Coffee

Yesterday, I chanced upon this newly opened cafe in Crows Nest. The whole setup is so inviting - from the layout to the colours to the music - up to the macho barista. (That's just my humour! DH is still my numero uno hunk!). In short, it felt too good to pass up on the oppurtunity.
Anyway, from the menu, I ordered a bagel with chicken and cranberry sauce filling and a white coffee. But as soon as I said, "Coffee", the white guy asked me back, "You mean, Choffee?". So, I checked the board menu again. Aaahhh, it is indeed called a "Choffee". It's signature name for a double espresso with a blend of white chocolate. But I got discombobulated all over again when the menu indicated prices for "Large" and "Bowl" sizes. So I asked again if what I was ordering was really a drink. LOL! Anyway, I picked the bowl just for fun.

This was the BOWL of my white CHOFEEE as good as a soup bowl. Its size belittles my bagel. I am really no heavy coffee drinker but I was able to finish it! I even snacked on two of chocolate coated coffee beans that came with it on the side.

When I got home, I started to feel distension in my abdomen. Then I burped and expelled gas from-you-know-what-hole and burped all over again. I became dizzy that I just wanted to lie flat on my back. I became too bloated that belching (((Burp))) was the first thing I did when I woke up the next day.

I don't think I will be having coffee for the next two weeks. The supposed relaxing experience became traumatic.

Seventeen, so it is!

DH and I just started this routine of having "sweet seventeen" minutes with each other whenever we get home from work.

Two days ago, he moved to the "bank's" head office located at Sydney Olympic Park. So now we drive in separate cars. When, for many years as far as I can remember, we would pretty much always share the pain of rush hour traffic.

So what's in the sweet seventeen? It's approximately 17 uninterrupted (ideally!!!) minutes of sharing hugs, kisses, sweet nothings of how we missed each other throughout the day and briefly sharing our "highs" for the day. (But because our sons are equally excited to see us home as well, I think we will play around this number as we go along.) But that's the plan and we hope to make it a habit...

So where did we get this tip? From Ed and Lisa Young - couple pastors from US who recently gave an inspiring talk on "Sex, Love, and Relationships" last month. But with them - it was sixteen minutes, as in "Sweet sixteen".

So why seventeen? Well, its significance lies on the age we met and became steady. He was 17 and I was two weeks shy of my 17th birthday when we became bf-gf...

Remembering two mothers whose light brightens up their son's "worlds".

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Meet my new blogmate Joanne whom I have known for the last eight years through w@w and has been back in Australia with her family for a year now.

I am just happy that despite the situation she is forced to face lately, she remains to be in high spirits. I am not really good at giving comforting words - at least that's what I think of myself - but I know for sure that when one receives encouraging and uplifting messages, it is good enough to get him/her through the next minute or even hour.

So to my friend Joanne, God has prepared you and Pat well enough for this challenge. His providence and guidance will be with you I believe. Be brave and be strong. I know your love for Jorel is enough to provide him the best in this world. Everything you need is within you. You'll get through this, I'm sure you will.

Why do I know? Because my cousin is a testimony to that! Just now I have finished watching the very touching video her eldest son, my nephew Alex, has made for Alphonse's 14th birthday last week. And I also know that if my cousin was asked by God when she was still pregnant with Alphonse how she would want Alphonse to be, I am guessing she'd be happy to have him "just the way he is right now". (Right AteP?)

There's No Stopping Us

As hinted in my previous post the family holiday overseas will push through. I have been keeping it low for a while so as not to "jinx" it. (I probably saw that big "bubble" bursting prior to last month - which made us stop, pause, and rethink if it's worth going on holidays during these times that most people tend to cash up.)

Anyway, as per Yoyon's naughty expression, "what the heck!". Soon, my little lion will be roaring in the land where his mum and dad were born and raised. And Wiji, even though has got little memory of his last visits, is already ecstatic to be seeing his Lolo and teasing his Tito again.