knowing what you want is just the beginning

i'm moving!

2010-12-31T11:32:00.000-08:00

oh heck no, not at a new residential address this time :p i moved at least twice the past 2 years so i'm staying put... for now :D

what's going to move though is my blog - not really a big surprise as i suppose that tends to be the trend when a new year begins

i used to occasionally update this site which was supposedly an extension of the online store i previously managed. then it slowly became a venue for me to talk about anything and everything, then i eventually lost interest. mostly because i kept the title even though it's not related anymore to the online store.

it was indeed time for a change and so i welcome you to my new home :)

mycupofhotjava

doors are open and you are welcome to visit!

happy new year everyone!!!

Garnier - a PSD sent right to my mailbox

2010-05-17T06:44:00.000-07:00

i follow PhotoShopDisasters and i have seen Garnier featured in more than just one entry. so i'm guessing no one in a beauty company reviews any of these before it gets out?

but lookie what i found, the lady in the photo above used to have a left shoulder!

photo source: here

so what the neck happened? :p

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mother's day gift ideas

2010-05-06T15:45:00.000-07:00

[ x] prefers a good romance comedy movie over a horror or action flick?
[ x] does she love Meryl Streep's movies?
[ x] is she a fan of ABBA?
[ x] does she like to watch musical plays?

if at least two of above conditions are true, then i would recommend this dvd-pack for a mother's day gift :)

It's Complicated and Mamma Mia dvd pack was on sale price of around $25 for a limited time only at Target.

I also got her the shirt below cause this one holds true for my family ;p and it cracked me up the moment i saw it.

MOMS: They're Better Than Dads shirt from Walmart. Only $5 ;)

btw, my mom has zero idea about this site so this post won't spoil the surprise :D

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My submitted photo for the JPG Challenge: Inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson

2010-05-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

link here: http://www.jpgmag.com/photos/2441378

i openly welcome comments, props or make it your fave :)

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Genesis Technologies - careers for kids?

2010-04-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

"Careers

Do you enjoy helping clients integrate the latest technologies to improve their businesses? Do you like helping people save money?"

using istock preview images instead of paying for them does save money but...? oh so many questions, so little time.

original site is here!

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fun dining! - chipotle mexican grill

2010-04-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

H and I are very wary of dining at restaurants which claim to serve mexican food since he is very critical when it comes to its authenticity :p

and there were basically two reasons why we went to chipotle:

(1) i saw it featured in Oprah

(2) received a buy one, get one coupon in the mail

what I saw on tv was confirmed, they do serve fresh ingredients.

i also like the open kitchen concept that displays their squeaky clean kitchen.

H wanted to get the burrito but I opted for the burrito bowl to steer clear of more carbo from tortilla mwehehe.

and since it was buy1, get1, he had no choice but to get the same :p

the only difference though is he chose pinto beans while i had the black vegetarian beans :)

i didn't get to finish mine :p

me: so did chipotle pass your authentic mexican food test?

H: yes and i wanna go back and try their burrito *huge grin*

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can we have this kind of weather everyday till summer arrives

2010-04-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

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happy easter!

2010-04-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

and here's my fair share of easter candies care of my sweetest husband :)

[ m&m's strawberried peanut butter - yum! never though that strawberry and peanut butter can be such a perfect match :) ]

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read between the lines

2010-04-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

[ striped dress from arden b, jacket from forever21, shoes from bakers, gold vintage necklace ]

and yes that's a bruise on my inner right thigh, just don't know how i got it ;p

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happy happy birthday to my cutest niece :)

2010-03-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

a cake of cupcakes for ellie!

[ sept 2009 ]

[ nov 2009 - bwahaha i taught her that ;p ]

[ dec 2009 - she already have a penchant for huge rings ;p she was playing with my VS Love Rocks ring when she fell asleep on me :) ]

[ feb 2010 ]

[ taken at her bday party - she's crazy about spongebob ]

Happy Happy Birthday Ellie!
Your whole family adores you so much :)
You had one heck of a party with tons of gifts and
guess what? You get one of these every year!

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thanks starbucks, i appreciate the gesture

2010-03-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

Due to the unfortunate inconvenience caused by one of their branches, Starbucks sent this to my mail.

It came with a well-written letter of apology and *drum roll*

a free-beverage coupon of any choice with no expiration date! so thanks starbucks, it's nice to be reminded that you do value customer satisfaction.

it was just funny though how i turned the envelope upside-down after seeing there was just one coupon inside. cause you did say "coupons" in the letter, you know? :p just sayin' :)

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when two become one

2010-03-03T16:30:00.000-08:00

my fascination with huge rings has definitely evolved

and these multi-finger rings just fueled that even more

whut?! haha

there's something about multi-finger rings that makes you feel a little gangsta (lol)

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sonia rykiel pour h&m

2010-02-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

as announced last year, sonia rykiel was going to be the next guest designer for h&m. the collection was finally available last feb20(sat) at selected stores so there i was saturday morning right after having french toast for breakfast ;p and came home with these

striped cardigan

love the way it fits and can be worn with leggings, pants, skirts or shorts :)

one-shoulder dress with rosette applique

the material is really nice and thick enough that when i tried it on, i didn't have to worry about panty lines. it's always good to find a dress that gives you zero stress on what undergarment to use it with.

to show you how it fits, here is lola rykiel

leighton meester, kelly rutherford, nathalie rykiel and lola rykiel

photo credit: nitrolicious dot com

to check out the other items in the collection, click here: http://www.hm.com/us/#/sonia_rykiel/

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starbucks, why you makin' up transactions girl?

2010-02-18T19:51:00.000-08:00

about more than a week ago, i thought of registering my starbucks card which has been with me for over a year

when i saw the rewards, i was excited about using it on my next visit and earn more points (i only got the welcome level rewards cause though i had the card for a long time, it was never registered. so my past purchases did not earn points)

but because of this little incident that happened just this past weekend, am not so sure about using my sbux card again nor visiting any of their branches.

as it was my turn to order, i told the cashier that i wanted to add money in my starbucks card by taking $10 off my chase card. after-which, we proceeded with our order that had a total of around $7. i told the guy to use my starbucks card and he did. so what am i whining about? they charged me for another $13. and for what? i have no idea and i only found out cause i checked my chase account.

thank goodness it was a pending transaction! so i called up the branch responsible for this booboo and the lady i talked to said "there is nothing we can do ma'm. there's no way we can move your money from here or cancel that transaction. you may call our starbucks office instead". so i did and got the response, "there's nothing we can do. we have no access to your account. pls call your bank instead". it really disappointed me that starbucks was no help at all after causing me this much hassle. they didn't even bother to at least TRY and check what they can do to assist. i know it's just $13 but hey that's a good amount of coffee money that i could enjoy.

but anyway, huge thanks to the bank teller i talked to from chase. she was able to cancel the transaction and credited the $13 back to my account. whew!

thank you chase! :)

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from ash wednesday to black saturday

2010-02-17T18:57:00.000-08:00

a lot of people have been abstaining on certain things because it's lent. but am goin the opposite direction. i will try to do more :)

i will try to go to church more often and do my best not to miss sunday mass

(photo taken at an old church in the Philippines)

prepare a good breakfast (and maybe dinner) as often as i can

and spend more time with loved ones than in front of the computer ;p

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had a rockin' good valentine's day :)

2010-02-15T16:31:00.000-08:00

woke up to this sweet surprise...

that's a rose made of chocolate cause he knows i don't like flowers :p

inside the bag

found it so amusing to spray perfume with that little tassel :)

watched this movie Valentine's Day

(only the brave watches a cheesy movie on a generally recognized as the cheesiest day :p )

then had dinner at Chama Gaucha

first round: passion fruit caipirinha and regular caipirinha

second round: strawberry caipirinha and pineapple caipirinha

[keepin' a happy heart]

I hope all of you had as wonderful a Valentine's day as I did :)

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My submitted photo for the JPG Challenge: Reflections

2010-02-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

link here: http://jpgmag.com/photos/2282443

feel free to comment, give props or make it your fave :)

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Hearts' Day Date Idea involves Victoria's Secret and Godiva

2010-02-10T18:19:00.000-08:00

SPECIAL OFFER DETAILS: FREE GODIVA CHOCOLATES WITH $60 PURCHASE
One per customer. Select stores only. While chocolates last

Lingerie and Chocolates. Perfect :)

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(30) Days of SmartFTP

2010-02-04T17:22:00.000-08:00

i definitely enjoyed the 30days of our time together when your app was still free. i would surely miss the convenience of having not to worry about losing my connection when idle. not to mention the transfer queue that never fails to provide me with detailed information of every ftp process. but most of all, i'll miss the ease of having multiple remote connections in one go.

if i didn't have the web ftp as a no-cost option, i would've went ahead and purchased you. it surely doesn't have your perks but hey it's free. so for now, bye smartftp! it has been swell :)

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My submitted photo for the JPG Challenge: Frozen

2010-01-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

link here: http://www.jpgmag.com/photos/2204284

in less than a minute after uploading it, it already got one fave! :D

more votes would be nice but one is better than nothing :p

J and H silly talk

2010-01-04T16:01:00.000-08:00

J: whoah!

H: what happened?

J: (amused) i just swallowed and then burped almost at the same time. do you realize how weird is that?

ActivePerl or Strawberry Perl

2009-12-29T20:52:00.000-08:00

Till I get a spare computer to play around with Linux, I would have to settle with scripting Perl in Win32. Now the question is, ActivePerl or StrawberryPerl? I never had to choose before since I've always been using Linux. Though I did attempt to use ActivePerl some years ago but never got comfortable with it. Plus, the developers I know who tried to use it has encountered several problems that just kept on piling. And so I think I'm gonna give StrawberryPerl a try ;o)

It helps to know too that the creator of Perl himself uses Strawberry Perl :D

Talong Chips (Eggplant Chips)

2009-12-02T16:05:00.000-08:00

What you need:
Talong (Eggplant)
Egg, beaten
Breadcrumbs
Dip (ketchup/ranch/thousand island/mayo - depends on you)

Here it goes:
1) Slice the talong(eggplant) into chips then soak them in water with salt to keep them fresh.

2) Drain the water and coat each chip with egg then with breadcrumbs. I used Italian breadcrumbs for taste.

3) Pan fry or deep fry the chips till the breadcrumbs turn golden brown.

4) Since it's fried, put the chips on a paper towel to remove the excess oil.

5) Serve with your choice of dip and enjoy :)

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so what's inside the Victoria's Secret Runway Bag

2009-11-30T21:08:00.000-08:00

Saw the ads for this bag pretty much everywhere and had no intention of getting it since I was shopping on a budget. But the hubby was with me who got me more than what I planned and so we exceeded the minimum purchase required ;p

The tag says it has a comparable value of $65.00. They do not sell the bags and were only available last Black Friday. Since they were out for a limited time, some people are now selling it off at ebay - no big surprise there.

Other than the Cherry Bomb Lip Gloss, Dream Angels Heavenly Eau de Parfum and Love Spell® Splash, it also came with a Secret Reward Card and a $10 off coupon.

The Secret Reward is worth $10 or $50 or $100 or $500 off the next purchase. Each card is worth at least $10. Thousands are worth $100 or more. But it's not revealed until December 1 when presented at checkout. (Cross my fingers and hope mine is one of the thousands worth $100 or more ;D )

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Goodnews from Threadless this Holiday! :)

2009-11-25T15:01:00.000-08:00

$9 Sale this Friday! (You're among the first to know!)

All tees will be $9 for 24 hours only (Starts 11/27 12:01 am CT, ends 11/27 11:59 pm CT)*! So make sure you've got all your holiday gift choices all lined up and ready to go, fire up the Internet early in the mornin', and let the deals begin!

All tees will be $9, woohoo! So whether you are in Manila or US, you can avail this awesome offer since the sale applies to online orders ;o)

Back in Manila, I would order several shirts online (only when on sale haha), pay with Amex then send it to a friend or relative in the US hehe ;p Then from there I'll just figure out a way to pick up the shirts when I go to the US or just wait till a friend or relative goes back to Manila :D

Their shirts/longsleeves/onesies are perfect gifts for yourself, family, friends and relatives :)

Don't forget the shirt designed by our fellow pinoy, Aj Dimarucot in your checkout cart:

When Pandas Attack!

And as for the rest of my threadless wishlist:

Rock Out With Your Cock Out

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