Google Images

Stole this from Pepper

google image search your answers to the ff:
(remember, get from the first page only)

1. the age you will be next year
2. place you'd like to travel
3. favorite place
4. favourite object
5. favorite food
6. favorite animal
7. favorite color
8. town in which you were born
9. town in which you live
10. name of a past pet
11. first name of a past love
13. your screen name
14. your first name
15. your middle name
16. your last name
17. bad habit of yours
18. first job

Yikes! I'll be 41 next year!

I would love to travel to the Bahamas

My favorite place - the beach

Favorite object...SHOES

I can eat Seafood (cooked in whatever way) every single day

Not an animal lover but I would choose dogs if I had to

My all-time favorite color since childhood is PALE YELLOW

I was born in Sta. Ana, City of Manila

But been a resident of Mandaluyong since 1996

My dog's name when I was in college

He was my first real boyfriend before he passed away in a car accident

This is what came out when I Googled "Pattybee" Hahaha!
That's me and my "pakner", Smile

NIckname

Apparently, this girl and I share the same complicated surname (Balquiedra)

My baaaad habit!

First job : Marketing Officer in a bank

Up ahead : major rant

It's official. I am the mother of a teenager. She won't be 13 until next year but it's now more than obvious to me that she's no longer a little girl. While enjoying her Tita Sandy's birthday cupcakes earlier tonight, we were talking about school and she casually blurted out, "Mom, you know some of the girls in my group slash their wrists." I had just taken a bite of the cupcake and had to quickly grab my glass of Coke to down it with because I almost choked on the cake. WHAAAT??? Slash their wrists? She said it in the present tense. And what did she mean by "some of the girls in my group"? She said around 6 or 7 did it --- or still do on occasion. At first I thought it was just one girl and I surmised that this kid must have such a complicated home life for her to be driven to do something as drastic as attempt to end her life. But 6 or 7 of them??? It then dawned on me that this was some kind of trip. Maybe they dared each other to do it, I don't know. Anissa couldn't explain it to me either. All she said was that they would do it in school and a girl from the group (one of the smartest ones and an academic awardee of the class) decided to speak up and tell their adviser about it (needless to say, this girl has been banned from the group for being a "traitor"). I tried hard to conceal the panic I felt but I guess I wasn't successful. Soon, my girl was sobbing and begging me not to say anything to her Class Adviser or her Guidance Counselor. The girl is clearly under a lot of pressure to keep her mouth shut. Whether a warning was issued to her or not by someone in her group is beside the point. Fact is, she is scared out of her wits and doesn't want to have to explain to any of her groupmates why she squealed on them. Anissa declared that the adviser had already called the attention of these girls and this is why they decided to dismantle the group by re-sectioning the girls, Anissa included. I know my daughter would never resort to such a daredevil act. Anissa, although headstrong and always vocal about her feelings, isn't as brave as these other girls are. But that's just it...she's more of a follower than a leader (atleast in this group) so the possibility of being pressured to do something foolish and against her will is not entirely far-fetched.

What truly pisses me off is the fact that I've been clueless about it all this time. I'm so thankful that Anissa is open with me and feels there's no need to keep things like this a secret. What if that weren't the case? Shouldn't the school have exerted some effort in reaching out to the parents about this issue? Maybe not ALL the parents, but just those whose girls are in this particular group. I have not heard from the adviser or any school official about this at all. It's possible that they've called the attention of the parents of the guilty parties but what about the rest of us whose girls are also part of the same group? Someone should have atleast raised the flag so that we can keep a more watchful eye on our daughters. A simple warning via a one-on-one would have sufficed, if they wanted to protect those involved.

I swear I am going to pull Anissa out of this school if I don't get a proper explanation from school officials as to why they are sitting comfortably on their asses about this. Am I over-reacting? I know I usually do but this time I'm confident I'm not. This is something no parent should take sitting down. It's not like these kids were caught doing the normal things would-be teenagers like to experiment in. Slashing their wrists??? Come on!

I've been asked by other parents whose kids go to the same school if I'm happy with the way the school is being run in general. I always say not entirely. There are many things they can do so much better to make our lives as parents much, much easier. But those previous concerns were all tolerable, not enough reason for me to seriously consider another institution to provide my daughter's education. There's no such thing as a perfect school but this one is just absolutely inexcusable.

I'm sure you all are dying to know what school I'm talking about. I won't rush into things by carelessly mentioning it here as I want to be able to talk to someone from there first. However, if I'm not happy with the way they handle my concerns, they can be absolutely sure I'll tell the world what a lousy excuse of a school they run.

Let's see what happens when I give them a call tomorrow.

My almost perfect pick me upper

I've been in a rotten mood since last night and even when I woke up this morning and left for work, I was still in "warfreak" mode. If it weren't for the morning rush hour traffic, I probably would've been the driver from hell and made it to the office in record time.

I'm still feeling rotten but not as much. Just look at what the shoe fairy delivered to my office today --- Steve Madden Tinah Pumps in black patent. I ordered these from Madame Sorel who is actually bad for shoe addicts like myself. Just check out what she has in her Multiply site and at winner prices at that!

What could be better than this on a bad day? Just the sight of my two girls, definitely. Can't wait for the work day to end.

Blast from the past

Do you remember who your ultimate crush was in high school? Mine was Rob Lowe. I watched almost all of his movies : Class, Oxford Blues, St. Elmo's Fire, About Last Night (one of my favorites). But for a time, he kinda lost his schoolboy charm and didn't have any good movies or TV shows and so I forgot all about him. Until now! DH and I recently began following the TV series Brothers and Sisters, starring to name a few, Sally Field and Calista Flockhart. Rob Lowe plays Calista's character's husband, Senator Robert McAllister. I have to say...he is just like wine and has aged so wonderfully! In fact, I think he looks ten times better today than he did when I first fell in love with him! That's it...I'm officially head over heels in love with Rob Lowe all over again. Look at those blue eyes...who wouldn't be?

P.S. Those of you who haven't seen Brothers and Sisters should seriously start watching it. I cry a little bit everytime hehehe.

Sunday mass for JLo

Nope, not Jennifer Lopez. DH and I went to La Salle Greenhills this morning (along with hoardes of other people) to hear mass at 10am for the now very famous Probinsyanong Chinoy, Jun Lozada. Some very enterprising Pinoys were selling shirts that said "JLo, hindi ka nag-iisa!". Trust a Filipino to come up with something like that.

Anyhoo, I don't mean for this post to sound so political simply because I've never really been into politics. In fact, I always used to tell myself and everyone else that I can never be a politician's wife because I AM NOT cut out for the job. In fact, although I am confrontational by nature, there are two things I don't like to argue with others about and that's politics and religion. The past few weeks though, DH and I have been following Jun Lozada's story, both on TV and in the papers and I've been reminded once again of why I loathe politics. I am, however, all for this guy's cause and in my heart I know and believe that he is telling the absolute truth. Don't let me go on with my views about this whole ZTE-NBN brouhaha because I just have too much to say about it and I don't even want to start.

I heard mass in La Salle today because I wanted to show my support for this brave man who stepped up, risked his and his loved ones' lives and gave up his privacy to get his message across. I watched him in the senate hearing, last night on TV vs Abalos (oh brother...he's another story and I don't even want to talk about him!) and listened to his brief but moving speech after the mass today and I only have one thing to say : God bless him. I was touched to the core by someone I don't even know and whose name and face had been alien to me until now. I take my hat off to him and will continue to pray that he's able to overcome all the seemingly insurmountable odds that face him.

~~The essence of humanity is the capacity to sacrifice
for the sake of the truth~~

My V-day surprise

I swear I was just about to blog about Valentine's Day being overrated. Some of you have to admit, it really is. But girls will always be girls and at the end of the day, all we want is to be made to feel special and important.

I got one of the biggest shocks of my life when I went downstairs at past midnight to check the locks on our front door and saw this

The sight of it was enough to make me cry
In our almost 8 yrs as a couple, I can count the times DH has given me flowers
The last time was around 2 years ago because I was fuming mad at him about something
Hahahaha!
But he knows I'm not the type to demand or even expect anything grand even on special occasions like my birthday or Christmas. I'm really easy to please and even the tiniest gesture (gift or no gift) can make me the happiest person on earth.

No wonder when he went downstairs earlier and I asked if he needed some company while he smoked outside, his reply was so abrupt --- no, it's okay. It didn't get me thinking at all that he might be up to something because this was the very last thing I expected him to do.

Thank you...Hon, Anissa and Sabine --- for making me believe in Valentine's Day again


Happy Valentine's Day to all!

More LV Damier *sighhhhhhhh*

This is sheer torture! I should stop lurking in other people's blogs

LV Damier Lune Trotteur

LV Damier Lune Sac Sport


LV Damier Lune Cabas

Totally drooooooool worthy!

These photos are making me wish DH was a brand wh*re. He used to be one until I taught him to be more practical (next time I should just stick my foot in my big mouth, right?). For now all I can do is stare at these beauties...

Friendship WHEN it counts

In a previous entry, I wrote about one of my BFFs going through a crisis in her life and how a few of us ran to be by her side in this most trying of times. I had the chance to listen to her and for the first time in a very long time, I could not get a word in right away. You see, despite our very close relationship, she and I are opposites in many, many ways. She's patient, quiet, non-confrontational and will hold everything in. In other words, you won't hear a peep from her. I, on the other hand, can be terribly impatient, very vocal and extremely confrontational especially when I feel I have a point and I need to get a message across. Hold everything in? I've done that many times but not in the same way that she would. But this time, I was totally shocked at what I saw and heard. It was like seeing a side of her that none of us ever knew existed. She was angry, visibly hurt, vengeful to a point and very open about it. The three of us who sat down with her that day had no choice but to eat everything that was on the table because there was nothing else we could do while we were listening to BFF's rants. In fact, I didn't have the appetite for dinner that night because I wolfed down so much during our talk. It was all very new to me, seeing her that way. And silently as I listened to her that afternoon, I prayed in my heart that this experience of hers doesn't turn her into a mad and bitter b*tch for the rest of our lives. Not that I would mind having her that way, because I honestly have told her so many times in the past how she has to stand up for herself sometimes. In college, I literally had to fight some of her battles for her because she just sat there and did nothing to defend herself. A part of me is thankful that it seems no one will have to do that for her from now on. I'm just hoping this painful experience doesn't completely change her.

This weekend is going to be a huge turning point for her. We talked for almost 2 hours on the phone the other night (and realized how much I missed making telebabad), about things she wasn't able to tell me last Monday when I went to see her. Last night, we were texting each other and I wished her good luck for this weekend. I'm genuinely concerned for how things will turn out for her but reassured her that no matter what happens, right or wrong (but she knows if she's wrong I'll also be the first to say so), I'll stand by her because I know that's when my friendship will count the most.

Friendship is not about being around only when times are good. It matters a lot more when you're down in the dumps. I've been in this world long enough to know that people do bail out on you when you're at your lowest. It could be the most painful thing to experience but later on you realize how grateful you are that it happened, because the other side of it is, it's also the time when REAL friendships are reinforced. You win some, you lose some. You may lose more than you can keep but what's important is you get to prove who's in it for the long haul with you. THAT is what should count.

And my dear, dear BFF...you can be 101% sure I'll be here longer than you'd ever expect. We'll still be sitting in Starbucks years and years from now with our Iced Cafe Mochas (err...decaf non-fat for you) and our kids will be making fun of us just like we did with our own Moms. We'll be laughing hard when we try to recall all the things we've been through and thank each other (and the rest of the group) for sticking it out. I am so glad that my daughters are witnesses to the kind of friendship we all have because if there is one thing I want them to learn, it's that friends and family are more valuable than any material thing they can afford to buy later on. I know for a fact that my Anissa is amazed at how long we all have been together. I showed her photos of us in our school uniforms and she was shocked when it dawned on her that we've been friends this long.

I know you don't even have a Multiply site and are one of the laziest people I know when it comes to using the PC but I'm writing it all down here anyway...because I want the whole world to know how fortunate I am to be able to say that at the very ripe age of (almost) 40, I've managed to keep the same group of friends and will go through the rest of my life knowing that we'll always have one another.

I'll be thinking of you while you're away and praying for what's best for all. Good luck and I can't wait to hear from you when you get back!!!

That scary letter C

Unlike DH who had to take care of his DF when the latter got sick of liver cancer and later on of my MIL who passed away just almost 2 yrs ago, I've never had to deal with a very sick loved one. So I really don't know how physically and emotionally draining it is to have to do so.

The Big C runs on my DM's side of the family. A lot of female relatives (older ones) on my grandmother's side had breast cancer. DM's youngest sis has been battling with it for years now. Her other sister, the one who came right after her (and may I say, one of my all-time favorite Aunts whom I miss terribly), passed away a few years ago in the US after a very short fight with Non-Hodgekins Lymphoma. So when I heard that another aunt, DM's older sister and the 2nd child in a family of 9, my dear Tita Marita was scheduled for a biopsy, that seriously got me thinking. Thankfully, the biopsy results (although not what we were all hoping for) didn't tell us she has the Big C, too. But the findings are enough to warrant another surgery and 6 radiation sessions after that, just to make sure they clean everything out.

You hear and read about young women (and I mean in their late 20s or early 30s) battling with and having survived cancer and you think --- wow, they're so young, how can they deal with something as drastic as cancer? But that's the reality of it. The Big C can hit just about anyone : young or old, rich or poor. Scary because I have this thing against doctors and check-ups. I only go whenever I'm pregnant because I know I have to. Otherwise, I simply don't. Friends keep telling me that at my age I should already get a mammogram. Mammo what??? But this is not about me or my stubborn streak.

It's about the Big C's obvious presence in my family. Don't really want to dwell much on it right now. I've been praying really really hard...for Tita Marita, for my Mom and for all the women in my family.

Kuya Rick...keep me posted k? Love and big hugs to all.

Thank you, I'm FLUTTERed!

Proof of my kakikayan-filled afternoon (gimme a break, it was my day off from work!) Sorry, I failed to take "before" photos hehehe



I've never had my eyes shut for 2 hours straight other than when I'm sleeping haha!
It was so hard to keep still, I attempted to open my eyes several times but the aesthetician warned me not to because it would hurt (and it did sting a bit the first time I opened them when she was done). Very tolerable though, as the pain was immediately washed away by the eye drops that she used. Now do I say goodbye to my Shu Uemura eyelash curler? Let's see how long this'll last and if I can restrain myself from rubbing my eyes. It'll take a while to get used to the extensions but I am really loving the effect. I found a friend in I-Lash Salon!
P.S. I chose the NATURAL look in medium length. There are 4 kinds : fine, natural, mascara effect and full thick. Then you choose from 3 lengths : short, medium and long.

FLUTTERy will get you everywhere

I can just hear Miss B shouting GO GO GO!!! I asked her a few weeks ago (and Jin, too) if she thinks Eyelash Extensions are worth it. Of course she said yes haha! But I got derailed by work and didn't think about it again until today. I'm SERIOUSLY considering getting them. There's a place in Greenhills called I-Lash Salon and I've heard good things about them.

Found these before and after pics and now I'm even more inspired to get them done!