Insights of Over 30-something mom

anywhere but here

cherry — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:42:27 +0000

So we’re off to somewhere touristy. I’ve been waiting for this moment for moths now and I can’t believe we’re just hours away from getting on that plane that would take us there. I don’t know what to expect. Perhaps hot, humid weather, great food, and even greater beaches. No noisy neighbor whose buses wake me every single morning. No ekg but I promise to deal with that as soon as we’re back. No TV. So it would be 6 days of bliss. I swear to take take full advantage of every single day as it would be months before anything like this happens again. Not to mention, school is just less than a month away.

wednesday quote

cherry — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:16:51 +0000

What about you?

homeschooling conference 2012

cherry — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:03:45 +0000

The country’s 4th Homeschooling Conference organized by The Homeschooling Association of the Philippine Islands (HAPI) is scheduled to happen on May 19, 2012 at St. Francis Square Ortigas Center in Mandaluyong. This year’s theme’s, “Laying a Strong Foundation” will feature lectures from esteemed homeschooling authorities both here and abroad including: noted inspirational speaker, best-selling author and homeschool parent, Bo Sanchez; and former high school and college educator and best-selling author of award-winning books like “Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling,” “Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens,” and “Ultimate Planners for Moms, Teens and Students,” Debra Bell.

Homeschooling is a practice that, over the years, has rapidly gained popularity in the Philippines. If you’re interested in homeschooling your child but don’t know how to go about, please visit www.hapihomeschooler.com and/or email hapihomeschooler@gmail.com.

The event is supported by the 3,000-strong force of Filipino families, who are currently homeschooling by choice and discovering its priceless benefits.

About HAPI

The conference is organized by the Homeschooling Association of the Philippine Islands (HAPI), an organization that has dedicated itself as a catalyst for nation-building by advancing home education and unifying home educators in the country.

concerts season

cherry — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:54:53 +0000

It’s concert season. Lady Gaga, Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block, and just recently Vertical Horizon and Sergio Mendes. Isn’t it amazing that these foreign artists now choose to include Manila in their concert tours?!! Whereas in the olden days (my time), we rarely had concerts to watch. But look at the concert scene now, it’s stuffed “cover to cover” with big name artists. Although this is good but it overlooks one possibility – concert fanatics would be broke faster than one can imagine. With these back to back concerts (sometimes only a week apart), one doesn’t get the chance to breathe or in the case of money, time to save. Tickets are ridiculously expensive with general admission ticket (a mile away from the concert stage) costing around $25 to 30 bucks. It’s crazy. So I want to watch Back Street Boys but I’m having second thoughts now. One ticket can already buy air fare for one (regular fare) or two (seat sale) to Vietnam or Indonesia or even 1 or 2 pool heat pumps. But it’s Backstreet Boys and I love them. So do you get my dilemma?

Anyway, here’s a video of BSB’s most popular song.

it’s weekend

cherry — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:14:51 +0000

This week was exhausting and the hot summer weather surely didn’t help. And so I’m so over and done with these last five days. I’m so ready for the weekend. But what’s up with the weather? It gets hotter each day. I thought yesterday’s weather was the hottest now comes today which is even more hot. And I thought only Garrett Hedlund was hot. And where can you encounter every adjective form of the word HOT?! Hot, hotter, hottest.

Rain, I miss you. Please show up right this instant. We could surely use some drizzle. In any case, happy weekend to you all. Stay out of the sun. And don’t go out of the house. Only go out when you can look as happy and carefree as this girl in the photo.

photo courtesy of Mark Segal for LV Cruise 2012 catalogue

wednesday quote

cherry — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 05:50:49 +0000

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home office

cherry — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:11:37 +0000

I’ve been itching to do something with the humble abode again. I don’t know why but I always get a natural high whenever I do renovations or makeovers. Or perhaps I’m just bored. But on the other hand, home renovations, transformations, interior designing, home styling or whatever else you call it…these are all my passions. I feel fulfilled and overjoyed after every home project. While this should be posted on my home blog, I believe I can also post it here since this is a bit personal. The details such as getting contractors, plasterers in manchester, painters, plumbers and even an electrician in birmingham would be found there. But that’s not going to happen anytime soon because I haven’t even finalized the area’s layout and look.

So what part of the house? If you’ve been following my home blog, I’ve written quite a few times there about my desire to have a home office. I have this area in the house just outside our bedroom that can be converted into an office. While I don’t have the exact look I want, I have some stuff that is quite in the works now (but only in my head):

The walls would be painted over with a stark white finish similar to the villas in Santorini.
I need a long narrow table. Hard wood is preferred.
I want one mirrored wall and another wall would be an art wall with black and white photographs with black frames.
And finally, I need the most comfortable chair.

While there seems to be a lot of stuff to do for the home office and everything else, I’d like to share some home office photos I found online. They serve as inspirations for now.

I love the alphabet wall.

I want a similar table only if a hard wood table would make me broke.

And of course, I love the stark white wall finish.

So what do you think?

my mix

cherry — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 10:53:40 +0000

So let’s do music this weekend. Happy or not, Aguilar bass amp or not, slow or fast, you’d have to agree that nothing beats listening to good music. It makes a whole lotta difference especially when you’re having a bad day. What I do is put on the ones that I play over and over, ones that do it. So here goes my top ten for now.

1. Dogs Days Are Over — Florence + The Machine

2. Settle Down — Kimbra

3. Forever — Haim

4. Oblivion — Grimes

5. Eyeoneye — Andrew Bird

6. Solsbury Hill — Peter Gabriel

7. Business Relations — Warms Ones

8. Take Care — Beach House

9. Wolf Girl — Simian Ghost

10. Dancing On My Own — Robyn

twenty-something

cherry — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:00:43 +0000

For someone who hates the weekend traffic, you would never catch me on the road going somewhere south even if there’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to buy gold bullion at a cheap price. The traffic is just too much. I’d rather stay inside my room with the TV on, air-conditioning in full blast while I tap tap away the keyboard. That’s more fun, right? Well, not for my son though. He’d rather go out with the heat of the sun bearing down upon his neck than be caught dead inside the house with nothing to do. Kids or in this case, twenty-somethings. They feel they’re wasting their life away if for one second they find themselves with nothing — nothing to do, nothing to say, nothing to make. But I can’t blame him. I was that way too during my twenties. But the only difference is the traffic was not this bad.

15 minutes

cherry — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:27:45 +0000

Ok, 15 minutes may not seem like a lot of time for most people, but for a mom every minute counts. That’s one shower. One bowl of pasta cooked. One article written. You would be surprised at the ton of things one can do in a quarter of an hour. So now I’m obsessed with this 15-minute thing. I want to use every fifteen minutes to my advantage. And to top that obsession, I’m making a list of things I can do if I have 15 minutes to spare. And here I’ve come up with an initial list:

Fix the closet or de-clutter whatever’s messy.
Make a weekly to-do list.
Clean out my bag. Throw out misplaced receipts, candy wrappers, tissue etcetera.
Decide on what to have for dinner and prepare grocery list.
Call and talk to friends but I doubt one conversation would only take 15 minutes so be prepared to spare a bit more time for this.
Take a quick shower.

I’ll add more in the coming days. And just so you know, this post only took 15 minutes to finish.