what's for today

this is what I am having for breakfast

I have noticed that my weight is like a pendulum, only it doesn't swing that much. I don't exercise even if I promise myself every night to treat her with a Kinect routine the next day. I am just tooo lazy. hay! Now the price is I never lose those stubborn pounds jiggling around my waist.

So now I am going back to oatmeal as my main food and yogurt as my extender for three days. Three days lang ang kaya ng powers ko :( Adios to berry strawberry ice cream for the meantime but I'm gonna miss you. I'll see you in November.

Oh wait, but I am planning to change my eating lifestyle after our vacation. I like to buy that juicer (finally); I told my kids we will teach ourselves to drink fresh juice at dinner time. They were excited but they clamored for a blender instead (banana shake! banana shake!). Let's see.

But seriously I want to be healthier now that I am not so young anymore. Now that we have easy access to a lot of healthy foods there is no more excuse not to shift to a more natural lifestyle. Supermarkets in Dubai have a lot of fresh salad mix, cheeses, yogurt, fruits, milk and organic rice, meat and fish. Almost everything is here. 

So wish me luck this November. It's my birthmonth too and I hope I can give this as a gift to myself.
:)

move it here, move it there

One great advantage of having a big space and few furniture is having the flexibility to re arrange your your stuff every now and then. The only frustrating thing is I have limited furniture and resulting changes may not be that much. 

This morning I suddenly had the energy to make little changes in my living room. My main motive actually is to remind my husband that I still have few more items in my (household) wishlist and here I am hoping that he will grant it soon (wishing).

I first moved our coffee table. I placed it near our dining. Now, no more space for badminton. Sorry guys.

Anyway kids, winter is coming. You can play in our grassland :)

The space it vacated is for my cart which has been overstaying in my wishlist for quite sometime now.

Oh please come to our house now.

(www.jenniepperson.com)

Next, I moved hubby's lazyboy (recliner) to the other side of the sala, beside the wall. I think he would like it there, warmer and quieter (no A/C vent on the ceiling)

Well, the sala has changed a bit.

I am kinda bored with our drapes. I am making parinig for a red curtain for the holiday season. Here it's easy. Just call your mananahi and presto, in two or three days, it's ready for delivery. Well, let's see.

Anyway, last weekend, one of my "wishes" came true ---- shiny shimmering and ma detalyeng place mats. tadannnnnnnnn!!!!

but there is something that I still want to have in my dining --- food warmers (maybe next year?) can be? can be?

thank you internet for the pictures.

 don't remember anymore where I copied these awesome photos

 sorry :(

if others enjoy going to Zara, Forever 21, Top Shop, LV, etc etc, I am at my happiest when I am in Lifestyle. It's my happy place here in Dubai (aside from Cheesecake Factory and Book World)

This is heaven. They have everything that I want except food. and they go on sale too. This is just one corner of their store. Here, they have colognes, lotions, air freshener, linen spray, super decorative tissue boxes, nice decors, make up and other cool stuff. Even Anjo enjoys coming here. Hubby is always reluctant to go inside because he knows 100% he will have to pay for something. :)

It's Wednesday and I am already looking forward to Friday (our Saturday here in the ME). For you guys in the Philippines, it's still a stretch to TGIF. :)

Enjoy the rest of the week! Stay happy!

things i'm loving now

It's a Sunday and the start of a long week for me here in the UAE. To combat my looming sadness I decided to cheer myself up and just count what is making me happy the past couple of months/weeks. Just bear with me, sometimes we need to re focus and decide to be happy.

My Givenchy Tinted moisturizer

I used this in Singapore where the sun was cruel to the face. It has SPF and the coverage lasts until you retire for the night. I rarely use this nowadays because I am so loving my old Mac liquid foundation. 

Mac is very light on the face and doesn't really make me shine :)


YoungBlood Face Powder

Still, nothing beats this old and reliable YoungBlood face powder. I bought this in Beauty Bar back in Pinas and I swear to its beauty (feeling beautiful lang naman ako). This October, Beauty Bar is one of my "must go" places.

Givenchy bronzer

I still have to learn the trick of the trade. But no regret shelling out my moolah here.

Estee Lauder

When I ran out of my moisturizer (which I brought from Philippines pa) a week ago, I decided to try Estee Lauder.
When Ombusman Carpio Morales was asked on TV by Ces Drilon about her secret of looking young despite her age, she unselfishly and proudly announced that Estee Lauder  was her secret (haha, now no longer a secret). The small one on top is eye cream, given to me by my cousin in law. So thoughtful. And so far, hindi naman pinapahiya ni estee lauder si Ombudsman. I wake up with smooth skin in the morning.

Aloe Vera shampoo

I got this from Holland & Barret store which we are fortunate enough to have in our village community center (pavilion). I am happy that I am slowly influencing my husband to patronize Holland and Barret. Last night, he was asking the Filipino staff in H&B if they have loyalty card. Hmmmmnnn, good sign. I am their tweeter follower since I tried their Acai juice back in the Philippines. I will post our H&B food supplement in my next blogs. But for the meantime, let's see which is more effective my Philippine made Gugo shampoo or Aloe Vera. Labanan na yan!

Braving the cold weather
Knit wear
Cold season is set to start next month... hmmmnnnn ... ganda ng mga naka display. :) sarap mag shopping dine sa Dubai. Seriously.
But you know, I am already done with clothes so I am just buying what I actually need.
Cardigans

Sweater

I will just be buying a few more pieces and I am ok, plus a couple of scarves/scarfs (whatever).

Paulo Coelho
 Books will never be out of my list. It gives a certain adrenaline that nothing can match up.

 Happy reading to me!

Chocolates

Oh Patchi! Am I loving these chocolates? Not really.

I remember when it first came out in the Philippines and everyone was so into it. Lucy Torres was raving about it and Jenni Epperson was so ecstatic to visit Patchi in High Street. And I was just, "ok, wala naman pala sa SM, so wag na lang :)

Everyone in the family is in the same opinion that Godiva chocolate is more "chocolate" and a lot more heavenly than Patchi and yes almost double of Patchi's price. Kaya no choice kami.

But seriously, parang ordinaryong tsokolate lang sya. Natutuwa lang ang mga bata na pumunta sa Patchi coz it's usually our last stop on our weekend day out and they can sit and read their book while we are in their store. Ambiance lang ba?! 

(small box has dark chocolate and with nuts. bigger box is for baon to school. 

it has no dark chocolate and no nuts. School has "no nuts" policy strictly implemented)

So this is it pancit! I hope to lessen my lungkot today by tiring myself with the endless household chores.
Byers!

home alone

For five months me and the kids were inseparable --- at home. Them doing their own business with their ipad and xbox and me with the chores, books or just inside my room "sleeping". Or sometimes we'd just goof around.

But a week ago, the inevitable had to happen --- school!

So nowadays at around 7:30 the house is in dead silence.
The family room which used to be the busiest and the messiest room has become the quietest and neatest space for several days now. Everyone is holed in their own room after school.

After everyone is gone, these are my companions :)

and this is when I miss this lovely creature. Seriously.

As of now, temperature in Dubai still hits 40 degrees C. Yessss, it's still hot! At night, it's usually 38. I am waiting until I can start planting some flowers and vegetables. The gardener said he will start next month.  Ok then. But shhhhh, he is soooo lazy. grrrrrrr. 

Look at my flowers --- a lot of them gave in to the heat. At least that's what I was made to believe. But when I looked at the villa next to us, their plants look healthy and their flowers are blooming. grrrrrr again. 

My bougainvillea plants have yet to bear flowers. Oh boy!

I am giving this lazy gardener a second chance this cold season. The problem is I hate talking to him because he barely understands English. He just kept on repeating what I was saying. What the heck!!! 

Anyway, i better go back to my regular programming before the pump repairman comes. He needs to check if there is a leak somewhere because our attention was called recently by the office of hubby, asking us if we have a pool.  Our water consumption according to them is unbelievably high. Not that they care but they just couldn't believe that a family of five with just three kids and without a pool could consume that much. For the past four or five months they are paying 7,000 dhs for our water bill (Php84,000?) combine with the electricity, it's around 12,000dhs monthly. See how expensive to live here? Tsk... tsk... tsk... It's more fun in the Philippines, really. 

Gotta go.  God bless everyone. 

on our desks and others

At this time of the day, our study table is like this, just my laptop and our  e tickets on it.

but it's a different story when my roommate comes in the evening :)

But can you see how plain our table is? In fact only tables are allowed inside our room. Even if we have a space for a TV set, we preferred not to have one. Bedroom is for quieting your soul and your mind.

Our side tables.
Dar's side.

Mine.

I don't know with my "bedmate", but these two books are taking me forever to finish. 

Our other space.

This is a walk in closet right? The reason why our bedroom looks neat is because of this space. Inside these cabinets are the files, documents and books of my husband. 

This also serves as the extension of my shoe cabinet. I hate this place, though. It reminds me of something I hate to do - diet. 

It's a different mood in our children's rooms.

Just like in Laguna, Abi and DJ share one bedroom.

This is Abi's study table

Our bookshelf in the family room is already full so I told them to take out their most favorite books and use the space in their study table. These are Abi's "favorites" with an unwritten rule "Do not touch". 

Abi and Anjo don't have school books, that's what we were told. No notebooks too. And we were not even required to buy writing instruments. When I look into their bags, it's only their sweater and their baseball caps. I wonder what they do in school. 

That's why their study table looks organized until they go to bed :)

 This is DJ's.

 At night, it's just his laptop and nothing else. In their school, a lot of activities and assignments happen in their laptop. We didn't buy notebook and there were no books too. Only ballpens/pencils were asked from the parents. 

This space belongs to Anjo. Obviously.

A sucker for anything pink and purple. In her drawers are her art materials for her hobby. She is the very opposite of me - she is artsy, crafty and everything that is not me. Except reading. 

We warned her we couldn't put a lot of stuff on the wall because it will be doubly hard for us to clean the house when the time comes. That explains why her wall is almost bare. Actually, only this room has something on the wall. The rest of the house are just walls, no pictures, no painting or whatsoever.

I am glad I am raising a "reading generation". Although Anjo is more into the creative side, she has her own book collection and she is keeping some of them in her closet. She didn't like to crowd her study, that's what she told me. 

We are blessed to have been given this chance to live in a house with  some space for our "little comfort and enjoyment", although I still love to imagine how it is to live in "huge villas" that look like an office building already. Whenever I am on the road, I am always in awe because of the sight of those magnificent villas. I never get tired staring at them. And I am just so happy that way.

Till next post! 

what i'm missin

1. It's been more than a year, yes. and I'm secretly yearning to be tall again

If not wearing sandals, it's just flats or espadrille now. but no worries. i'm giving my varicose veins great favor.


2. My skinny tops and blouses. Actually, I miss being on the properly curved" side. Oh well...
(images from www.pinterest.com)

a happy thing of the past :)

nowadays it's all loose fitting blouses (preggy look) and cardigans.

3.  my chunky necklaces which were all left at home. There is a lottttt here. everywhere. from kiosk to boutique.

(images from www.moolanstyle.com & www.yabuss.com)

but again, it's really not my everyday look. It's just not me anymore. If God willing, I plan to invest on precious stones this time.

4. Oh! and Socials.

(www.splatter.com)

Oh yes, there is nothing like talking with an old friend, a cousin, or former office mates who take their time to say hello to you (it means a lot to a person who lives so far from the rest of the "world"). Until now, I smile everytime I'd remember chatting with Pritz ( a former officemate) a couple of weeks ago. He reminded me about that Christmas Party where I had icing all over my face and hair (strands standing up). Thank you Mark Christian Cusi. That was so thoughtful of you to put those icing to me. Until now, Naughty Pritz could still vividly describe how awful I looked like that night.

uhmmmm, what about ****Work pressures? Somehow. but not so. It makes you old and wrinkled :)

But then again, as they say, Go where life takes you. and be thankful. always. 

my bag journey

I am sharing this so called "bag journey" for no particular reasons. I just thought maybe I could inspire someone who are into bags also and give her an idea on how to start and end that journey with a happy and contented heart.

Not to sound defensive, but this is the truth. I am not bragging my bags (and this is not a collection, it's my journey) because compared to the people I know, these are nothing compared with what they have in their closets.Also, I have friends who are far more moneyed than I am but they choose to live their life as basic and simple, and they are genuinely happy. 

I was not really into bags. i remembered my first "branded" bag, it's a maroon Messenger bag by Lacoste, followed by red Lacoste back pack which I happily parted ways with in 2013. It was only when I began living alone in Batangas that loneliness started to kick in and suddenly I found myself "loving bags" as a way of making myself happy. I started buying coach bags, michael kors, nine west, charles and keith, mango, esprit, anne klein and a few of butterfly by debenhams. Prior to relocating to Dubai, I sold most of them because certainly humidity will just break them into pieces.  I gave away the rest to my mother, aunt and cousin. I was left with just two coach bags and one MK. 

But you know in my heart, I was not yet done with bags. So I set my "list of wants" but with an "end" as well.

In January, hubby got me my Louis Vuitton during our short visit here in Dubai, a Never Full bag which has become my everyday bag. I love this bag, roomy and light.

Paper bag & dust bag were left behind in the Philippines.

Last May, I got my wish for Mother's Day. A Prada. I like Prada because of Anne Hathaway's movie, "The devil wears Prada". It's a reminder of how I was perceived in the past by a lot of people, haha. Until now that impression amuses me rather than offends/affects me.

 This is Prada's dust bag.

The bag

 I chose the classic Saffiano leather bag over the more trendy and fashionable Prada. If you dont have plan of buying a lot of luxury bags like me, it's safer to go for classic bags like this Saffiano. Anjo says it's more of an office bag, but when you are in Dubai, you would see this being paraded casually in the mall.

 It's paper bag is quite sturdy compared to the LV and looks immaculate. and I love it.

Chanel
I said, Chanel will be my ultimate bag, the end of it all. But you may say, "Wait, there is still a Birkin Bag or a Kelly Bag." But as I have said to my friend, "at some point, you have to stop and see what is enough and what is too much". Happiness lies somewhere else too.

 This is the dust bag of Chanel. Classy.

Again, I chose the "classic". This is the timeless flap bag, in caviar and in gold hardware. Actually, there is a lambskin flap bag which looks more classy than the caviar. But upon checking in the internet, the lambskin is more prone to scratches which was also confirmed to me by Chanel staff. I found it hard to decide because basically they cost the same (at least here in Dubai Mall of the Emirates),but in the end, I became practical - more durable, less maintenance and less heartache. I gave in to the burning desire for caviar.

See their packaging? It gives you the feeling that you are special :) and they also the Chanel manual. Mine is still sealed. Never bothered to read it. haha

So this is it. I reached the finish line. I am grateful for my husband for "tolerating" me. :) and for making me really really happy."Happy wife, happy life?"

Oh, a word of advice for those who plan to buy luxury bags - keep all related documents (ORs, authenticity cards) and if possible dust bags. You will need it in case you may want to sell those precious possession of yours.

Till next post.
Stay happy.