Happy 2010!!!

 

My Personal Random Thanks from 2009 (not in any particular order):

• Hubby


• My preggo sistah and the baby girl arriving in a few days!


• My mom and dad’s steady health


• My writing side jobs, however teensy (woohoo!!!) —and the income that afforded us some caprices


• A full-time job that I love and loves me back, I hope (I love it, luvet-luvetttttt!!!)


• Dancing in the hula show on May ‘09 (Halau Makana’s Annual Ho’ike — I miss you guys!!!)


• Dancing hula at the 4th of July Parade in Alameda. Mahalo, Kumu Lani!


• Manny Pacquiao winning over Cotto (I still can’t get over it!)


• My two CHANEL bags (yeah yeah, my only expensive whim! Lil miss Chanelophile fever — every woman’s gotta have somethin’, right?)


• The joys of painting with coffee and wine, will I ever be THE ORGANIC ARTIST? http://bistrodelarte.wordpress.com (In my dreams…)


• New found friends and newly made friends through the convenience of Facebook (seriously…)


• The 60 million parties that wore me down, but scored high on joy points!!!


• My crazy-as-me co-workers especially Monica who feeds me like there’s no tomorrow.  No, she deserves her own bullet, so here…


• Monica (HAHAHA)


• and all the Friday ham or sausage and cheese muffins and everything-in-there low sugar smoothies she’s made for me


• A mini-reunion seeing my dad’s brothers who visited from PI and the rest of the clan at cousin Joel’s place at Rancho Palos Verdes in November


• Amazon.com (just because!)


• Christmas Eve in our house with the family


• Thanksgiving at The Party Central


• My Crayola Glow Station!!!


• losing 2 pounds (yeah, that MUST count!)


• My parents’ Vonage phone


• My parents’ household staff


• Our trips to LA to visit my stepdaughter


• and the food trips on the side


• The Food Network


• Criminal Minds (CBS and re-runs at A&E)


• Michael Jackson, but I didn’t want him to die =(


• bowls of Chicken Macaroni soup on cold nights


• Bellagio Cherry Sipping Chocolate


• Kikkoman Soy Sauce (for my sushi) and the Kikkoman Company (because it’s a hand that feeds me)


• Walgreens


• Walmart


• A fab (eureka!) haircut chopping my unruly lengths off sometime in October — which reminds me, I need to go back to the salon already, like, yesterday.


• visits to the city (gotta luv SF!)


• My Kindle 2 (ooops, just practicing! I don’t have one yet hahaha) I wish, I wish…creating a vision of me holding one, using one and thanking for one! LOL


• Okay, the Kindle app on my iPhone


• and okay, my iPhone


• Hubby and his friend catering at their company picnic, barbecue galore


• and me winning the raffle at the picnic— iPod Nano!!!


• celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary


• celebrating it with Janice and John after bumping into them at church in Pinole (what joy!)


• some fun time with nephews and nieces


• SUMMER — all of it!!!


• Seeing my cousins who visited from PI, Spring of 09 — and them spending the night at our house


• Seeing my cousins who visited from LA, — and them spending the night at our house. Joy and fam from Sesame St.


• planning out my stepdaughter’s college plans with her mom and stepdad


• Rosales Cousins, Inc. and Party Central peeps


• our fresh Christmas tree and the photocards we received this year


• Milo, for keeping my parents company and watching over them (oh, he’s a dog, but he thinks he’s human)


• For the lives of the precious people who passed on in our family/families. I wish they could stay with us longer, but I’m grateful that they have lived good meaningful and beautiful lives


• being able to wean and pull away from coffee (not necessarily all things caffeinated, but yes, coffee!) at long last!!!


• Problem-free mammogram results sometime in July? (you have no idea what terrible things the anxiety did to me)


• my EeePC though it’s not necessarily the most perfect thing


• phone conversations with Daddy


• phone conversations with Mommy


• phone conversations with my stepdaughter Alyssa


• My sister being able to travel and visit my folks all the time


• Her loving and understanding hubby, RJ


• My other bro-in-law Roy who’s being such a good brother and buddy to hubby


• The joys of blogging


• Baby Amelia Grace


• Oil of Olay


• my everyday ocean views of the sunset


• my water jug at work


• the dental floss


• seeing my friend Reagan sing in a concert


• hubby’s cousin Peewee, the commercial flight pilot who brought things back and forth PI for me


• seeing my friends’ News Feed on Facebook and resting in the thought that they are doing well in their own lives


• Hubby, oh I said that already.

PLUS 60 MILLION OTHER THINGS I CAN THANK GOD FOR (GIVEN MORE TIME TO WRITE THIS).

LIFE IS GOOD, NO MATTER WHAT TRIALS WE GO THROUGH.

LIFE IS GOOD. PERIOD.

HAVE A GREAT 2010, Y’ALL. I WISH YOU GOOD THINGS. ONLY GOOD THINGS.

 

Pre-New Year's Eve Thoughts

 

Two days to go and I’m feeling a little blue. Don’t get me wrong! I’m excited for the coming year. But I think I’m having a little separation anxiety with 2009. Not that I’m not willing to move on. There are just some unfinished business which I feel should have been drawn to a close in 2009 at least and never to be carried through the coming of the new year. Hubby’s been having sleepless nights of late. And I mean, waking up in the middle of the night then dozing off only to be roused again at 1 or 2-ish by pained thoughts stirred by the wicked, nosy and malicious beeyatches going so cheap and low, exerting all efforts unearthing skeletons and what nots in order to obliterate blood ties on his side while grooming avaricious morons to further feed the vicious cycle of moronic tendencies vis-a-vis avarice and indolence.  Oops, I said the B and M words. I do not ever want to use those in my whole life because I’m a firm believer that they are very harsh words to brand some co-earthlings with. But apparently, these have risen from being just literary labels and mere products of my hyperactive imagination to real life characters owning up to the title. With bad taste seeping through every pore of their being. Well. I feel sorry for my amore. A few more miles and I’ll sue for mental anguish. Just kidding. I just want peace, period. Peace of mind. Peace for all. Tell me if I’m wrong, but I know for sure this peace I’m talking about doesn’t require straight A’s to pull off, eh?

Wisdom, please don’t skitter away into the cracks? Wisdom, please show yourself to those who need you most?

I remember promising I’ll never mention this ever again. But alas, the plot thickens! New things just keep sprouting like random bubbles in a swamp. Alligators and crocodiles under the deep murky waters. Boohoo!

Why…can’t…some…people…just…be…content…with…the…simple…joys…in…life?

So then we don’t end up stepping on each other’s toes or eating each other’s Trapezius fibers? I’m not a perfect soul and the last thing I want is to sound righteous. But it is ONLY common sense, right?

Getting that out before the New Year is good for me. And I am thankful for this opportunity to be able to do so. Har! Har! Probably about how low I must go. That way, I’m welcoming 2010 without the gnashing of teeth and a stomach feeling all knotted up. I wish the same for my beloved, and las antagonistas of the world...

On the bright side…

DO YOU REALIZE THAT IT’S GONNA BE A DECADE SINCE “Y2K”? Ten years since we feared the worst…computers crashing and the whole world crumbling down?

BUT 2010…WE’RE ALIVE! And Facebooking, Tweeting, blogging, iPoding, Kindling, PSPing, DSing, Wii-ing, PS3ing, blogging…facebooking (again)….

Nothing can put my good God down.  And to Thee I trust…

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO Y’ALL!

 

Holiday Rush...and the un...

I was thinking about it on my way to work.

This holiday season isn’t really as stressful and nerve-wracking as it had been for me the past recent years. Is it really less stressful? Or is it…as my dad told me once, that whenever I find myself treating every little difficult thing with ease, it’s not life getting easier, it is me that’s changing, evolving to a higher form and finally adapting. Because anything is possible, so he says, especially when it comes to cruising through and learning how to cope with the intricacies of life. Usually, it is one’s frame of mind that makes things difficult. When you open yourself up to the challenge and tackle it upclose, you master its weakness and then you emerge victorious. Maybe that’s the reason why this holiday rush is so easy peasy lemon squeezy for me this year. I think so.Compared to so many things that transpired this year, I tell you, the holiday rush is NOTHING. 2009: I've seen fire and I've seen rain (as the song goes). I’ve seen crazy, I’ve seen grief. I’ve seen disastrous, I’ve seen bleak. I’ve seen malevolent symphonies of figures dishing out more mental anguish than one could ever handle gracefully —and leaving you bald patches from a syndrome induced by your own understandable inability to tolerate some people’s IQ and EQ — or extreme lack thereof.

“Quod me non necat me fortiorem facit.”

That which does not kill me makes me stronger.

And that which doesn’t stress me out, makes EVERYONE happy! A-huh-ha, huh-ha!!! I just remembered two posts I wrote last year. From “Out of Whack” to “Whoosh!” if I can only find time to dig the individual links for these. The feelings are so different!!! I don’t see me writing about something “Out of Whack” anymore and I’m definitely trekking on cruise speed on the Un-whoosh!

Suffice it to say, I’m on top of things this year. I just got a final word that Christmas Eve dinner will be in our house, and instead of being rattled, we will be whistling through getting the China out (though I hope hubby washes them first), and putting the menu together. Hubby and I are always over the moon everytime his or my family gathers in our humble home. I hope to be able to fit everyone in our house since we are getting bigger in number — and individual sizes too?

What to serve? What to serve?

I’ll keep you posted!



I found the links to the stuff I wrote last year and in 2006/2007! I can't find "Out of Whack" -- maybe it was some other occasion, perhaps? But here are some. Just click on the titles. And 2007. I was straight up in Pluto back in 2007 -- so I had a post-Christmas one!

Whoosh! (12/22/08)

Holiday Stress (12/10/08)

Manigong Bagong Taon (12/28/07)

Holiday Rush (12/24/06)

I'm just glad things seem better this time!!!

28 in my heart...

I just celebrated my birthday. Here's a photo from my birthday dinner with hubby:


Almost a decade ago, I promised myself that I'll be 28 in my heart forever (a decade ago, *hint* *hint*) and I've been able to sail with it for a long time. Somehow, this year, as I evaluate my life, 28 just doesn't cut it anymore. Physically, I've noticed that I've become way older in the past couple of years. Is it my busy life that did it, or is it really just the biological clock hitting me on the face? I see the beginning traces of crow's feet, darker circles around my eyes, cellulite build-up here and there that screams sono bello services, hands which are....just not the hands I used to know. Throw in the intermittent health issues I've faced. Suddenly, I feel like I'm 37!

And it's because I am.

But with all the physical changes, I must say, comes the wisdom from experience. I wouldn't exchange that for anything. I'd like to believe that my soul has grown too. And I'm proud of that aspect of the maturity process.

Do I want to feel 28 (with that fresh outlook and youthful exuberance) in my heart still? Yes. A wise, seasoned, with a soul-beyond-her-years 28-year old. I'll wait til I'm 50. Then I'll refreeze at 35. Then at 70, I'll be 55. As long as I can act...and look the part.

Christmas Shopping - Part Deux

 

If you still don’t believe that heaven answers prayers, then can you explain why on my last three trips to the post office, the rude lady behind the middle counter who I always try to avoid — and seriously hope and pray that my turn doesn’t fall on her lap — hasn’t been there. And those weren’t consecutive days!  Pure luck, perhaps? As if by some cosmic phenomenon influenced by my supersonic allergic reaction to la rude, I had directly caused her disappearance. I can do that to you if you’re bad too, y’know. Just kidding. Is she sick? Not that I miss her. But I hope she’s okay…and has a job. Though I’m thankful that my past three trips had been a breeze. I’m done with all my Christmas mailings. Woot woot!

Next mission: Food.  Check. I enjoyed some nice quality time…a quiet date…with myself, at Burger King, where I stopped to collect myself, sasiate my hunger (of course, you’ll encounter a lot of these in my journal) with a 3-buck meal, and stare at my Christmas list rethinking my game plan. It wasn’t that profound really…I just had to figure out where to go next. And yes, thanks for the little window of quiet time. That made an ocean of difference in my current affairs.

Shopping for presents.  Check.  Now, I’m 98% done with my list. And I’m thankful for Tylenol, which was fundamental in tiding me over the entire shopping trip. I strutted around as if I wasn’t suffering from stiff neck, muscle spasms nor nerves that were going bonkers with a passion.  Hubby even visited me at the store on his way to an errand (he said he wanted to see me and eat with me perhaps but I’ve already eaten, oops too late) but he eventually got bored realizing his obvious lack of purpose and decided to go home — after I insinuated several times that he needed some rest too hahaha, I mean, I really felt so sorry seeing him pretend like a rock perched on a bench in the middle of the women’s section, but yes, I’m very thankful for the gesture!

My parents called to wish me happy birthday too (my birthday - Pinoy time). I’m really touched. I was passed on between mom-dad-mom-dad-mom-dad until they probably got bored with me. Just kidding. I really enjoyed talking to them. My shopping trip was put in pause mode, freezing the whole world if you know what I mean. I sat down — where hubby was pretending to be a rock earlier — with my shopping bags between my knees, next to my butt, strewn on the floor next to my worn-out go-go boots, with my humongous work purse hanging half-heartedly from my left shoulder, holding the phone to my ear with my left hand, clutching my shopping list and a fat pen with my right and tilting my head for no reason…and then, focused on my parents.  My blessings! Having them is the world’s greatest present in the world and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Have a different set, I mean.  My mom reminded me to thank God for my life and told me that they will be holding a simple yet special birthday lunch for me over there as they always do every year — PANCIIIIIT, yeah babeh… My dad, on the other hand, reminded me to have fun and keep the stress down, especially this holiday season. He specifically told me to sit down at Starbucks and just watch people, exactly like how he does it. Yes, Daddy, don’t worry. I’m a lot like you and I just did…at Burger King.

I wasn’t sure if the Tylenol started fizzling out or weariness from lugging those shopping bags around was just getting the better of me so I had to call it a night. 

I’m thankful that I was able to scratch off a lot of stuff from my TO DO list though.

Even if by the last hour, you could have caught me at my all-time-best spaced-out moment: I absent-mindedly lined up for the check-out counter of Old Navy behind three “what-the-heck-is-this-live-person-doing-next-to-us” immobile mannequins. No wonder “my” line wouldn’t budge for a while — duh!

My Gratitude Journal

 

 

I just started a Gratitude Journal.

You may check it out at http://marieclarisse.tumblr.com

I’m only on Day 4 and there isn’t much yet. But it’s amazing how by having a Gratitude Journal, you wake up in the morning and start your day already expecting good things to happen. It’s like you’re launched into the day with a mission to spot and recognize what’s good, no matter how stressful some days could be.

With last night’s Christmas shopping, I am thankful that I can finally feel the spirit of Christmas after being caught up in a flux of ultra-lows caused by I call them two-faced monsters posing as “good” and “wise” but are really out to breed “rapacious imbeciles” out of others…poor thang - pun unintended, and instigate the destruction of yet again, some others. And if that doesn’t sound grim enough, try that with the presence of a two-three-four-faced kiss-toosh whose loyalty is worse than any known polygon in the universe. Poor hubby. But I was raised not to wash dirty linen in public so that’s about everything I’m going to say. I’ll spare you the meandering gory and horrid, nerve-wracking and gut-wrenching details. There’s always a lot of reasons why people do things anyway. Maybe there are some reasons and information that I am just not aware of (so that makes me totally wrong about my feelings on this), OR maybe there are people who are really born that way, with murky souls meant to challenge peace at all times (then with that, I’ll be right about my feelings on this). Well, can’t choose familial affinities (to put that lightly). 

Story of our lives. This is the last time you’ll find me mentioning that.

I just needed that tiny dose of therapy which is a catalyst that brings me to this moment…thank you very much…where I’m officially upping my “gaming skills” to a higher level, and where I, as the main protagonist will be so over the Mushroom Kingdom, leaving flattened Goombas and Koopa Troopas retracting into their shells, surviving the main antagonist Bowser’s forces and so close to rescuing Princess Toadstool (Or Princess Peach — if you still don’t know what I ‘m talking about, then you haven’t played a single Super Mario game in your life, have you?). Despite the advent of PS3s and what nots, I’m still stuck to Mario and Luigi. I digress.

Hubby and I are floating along merrily down river bliss, minding our own affairs and celebrating joy in every little thing that happens.

Like being able to put up our own t-shirt business online — with a promise of more colorful designs and gizmos to come (I’m waiting for Santa Claus to give me that design software I’m wishing for), 

having my writing side job/s — the therapy that pays me (and buys my whims) hahaha,

that pair of tall salt and pepper grinder/shakers that hubby picked instead when I took him out shopping after I received my Christmas bonus and where I had actually expected him to go after outrageously pricey gun parts or some gizmos pertaining to a stereo surround sound system however the geek squad calls it…

Aaron, my co-worker who madly waves goodbye at me every afternoon at the parking lot, with a big smile on his face, and more than half of his huge body sticking out of his tiny car’s window (what a joy to see),

Monica making me a ham, cheese and egg muffin for breakfast this morning as she usually does on Fridays (even if the ham tasted kind of iffy today hahaha),

then my sister soon to give birth in less than a month,

and knowing that my parents are coming over for a visit in a few months! It’s about time to breathe some fresh air — pure, kind, selfless and loving souls, I mean.

I just want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas, holidays filled with love and cheer,

and peace, happiness and gratitude all throughout the coming year.

A Streak of Pleasant Surprises

Hubby and I bumped into one of my old friends from DLSU last night at St. Joseph's Church in Pinole.  We had a long day celebrating our anniversary.  We woke up late for the mass at our parish so we headed straight to Napa Valley to pick up our quarterly rare bottles from the Wine Society in Napa, then proceeded to the Vacaville outlets and I really didn't buy anything. I just wanted to take hubby shopping since I had my Christmas bonus from work last week -- where he ended up, of course, picking only a pair of tall Salt and Pepper Grinder/Shakers from Le Gourmet following a a short stay at Gucci.  Cute, isn't it.  Salt and Pepper from his wish list over a nice leather Gucci wallet. I'm still smiling. Then we didn't want to miss church altogether so we managed to Google a 5:30 pm mass in Pinole on our way back.  Hubby was expecting to bump into old friends from like the 80s who he believes still live in Pinole. Lo and behold, I was the one who bumped into an old friend from the Philippines, from the 90s! I'm just happy to see Janice and her hubby John, who ended up taking us out to a Japanese dinner for our anniversary. And then over at their place for some coffee, Tira Misu, some Christmas music, a warm fireplace, good conversations and a lot of laughter! They made us so happy indeed!

And today, I got a surprise Christmas/Thank you present from a co-worker I least expect anything from.  She said I was a joy to work with!  Thanks, Bobbie! Thanks for appreciating me! You made me so happy about what I do.

When I got home from work, I was able to view the video that my cousin in LA made for all of us cousins who are away from home -- the ancestral house that has witnessed our childhood, and contained the love that nurtured us through the years even until now despite the distance. I wish I can figure out how to share the video here from Facebook.

Such wonderful, big-hearted souls!

This streak of pleasant surprises now leave me with a streak of my own thanks....and thoughts...

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I MADE

SOMEONE HAPPY?

 

 

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU MADE

SOMEONE HAPPY?

How Not to Burn A Building

NOTE(S) TO SELF:

Remember to unplug that Christmas LED lights series that you have pinned to the highly flammable material of your cubicle wall and strangled your cubicle plant on the other end with -- so you don't end up stressing on the second week to date everytime you reach home and onwards, wondering if your forgetfulness was going to make you end up an arsonist of some sort, setting your entire workplace on fire (all because you want your cube to twinkle in blue, green and purple during the holiday season) and then losing sleep because of an obssessive compulsive desire to dial your own extension at work every hour with the insanity peaking at around 3ish or 4ish in the morning just to check if it still rings (meaning there's a big chance that the building isn't in ashes just yet) and then rising too early to check on the news to make sure that they haven't done a feature on a big Christmaslights-related office fire where you work just yet, and then finally driving to work (too sleepy you'd start another day of forgetting to unplug the lights *and yes,the cycle feeds on itself*) while calling all the saints in heaven hoping NOT to find firetrucks with cute hot men hosing down your workplace when you pull up to the parking lot and praying hard that you won't get in trouble with the boss, the HR or your co-workers who arrive before you do, and who know you enough to religiously remind you every friggin' day to unplug the Christmas LED lights before you go home, which you end up forgetting anyway.

Now they will start wondering why your mobile will set off in a loud "old church bells alarm tone" inappropriately everyday at 4pm.

And don't forget to do the same to your own Christmas tree at home, so you don't end up displaying bizaare trance-like hypnotized behavior in a really super casual conversation all because you are stressing about the same thing -- but this time over your one and only home -- while visiting your in-laws (who, for all you know may have been just polite enough not to say a word about your empty stares nor pry further to find out that it only actually boils down to Christmas light issues). Like last night.

Just a lil note for myself.

'Nuff said.