Saturday, December 31, 2011

Buckle up, everyone! 2012 is just around the corner. Thank you, 2011, for all the wonderful opportunities that you brought! I welcome the new year with open arms, a renewed spirit and great anticipation.

Dear Lord, I am filled with thanks for all the abundant blessings of the year that's about to end. I pray that my loved ones and I continue to receive them in the days ahead.

To my dearest family and friends, here's wishing all of you the BEST of times ahead!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!


Sunday, December 18, 2011

Out with the old, in with the new


A few days ago, I made a difficult decision to let go of something I've gotten so used to and one of my favorite things to bring around. I've been a Blackberry user for a few years now and I've said again and again ... I wouldn't give it up for an iPhone because Blackberry Messenger is such a useful tool for me. Not to mention the fact that I'm so used to texting with a keyboard. N recently gifted me with a Blackberry 9900 for my birthday. He was secretly hoping I would ask for the iPhone 4 but I stood my ground. He gave me what I wanted despite his slight disappointment hehe. 

I used it with such ease and comfort. This was my favorite Blackberry model so far. But alas, all good things must come to an end. My love affair with Blackberry ended a few days ago. It was a really difficult choice, but my back was against the wall on this one. I had given up on my telco service provider's inability to explain to me why I was still getting GPRS charges despite the fact that I never use my phone to surf when I'm at home, which is like 80% of the time. Charges of Php 7,000 per billing cycle? It's totally ridiculous and I would never ever pay for it because I know they don't deserve my hard-earned money. After weeks of asking them to resolve this complaint, I'm still waiting and in fact, my postpaid line has died in the process (another story). 

Anyway, much to my extreme disappointment I had no choice but to switch phones. N was a Blackberry user for a little over a year and had the exact same issue I'm dealing with now. The minute he switched to an iPhone, the billing problems stopped. I get so stressed out everytime I talk to someone from the service provider so despite the heavy heart, I chose to solve my problem my way.


Enter my new friend
I was excited to see it when N surprised me on the same day I made the decision (that's how excited he is about me making the big switch!). In fact, he lied about sending the driver on an errand when in fact, the driver was picking up the phone from his contact in Greenhills. 

I've been using it for 5 days now and okay, I 'll admit ... it ain't so bad. I used to say I don't like touch screens because I text really fast and this feature would "cramp my style". But the people other than N who've been convincing me to get the iPhone were right. It just takes some getting used to. While I really, really miss my old friend (we sold it to its new owner last Friday - that was quick!), I'm slowly liking the iPhone 4s. Nope, I don't use Siri that much. I still think I can do without her. Sabine though, thinks of her as a playmate, especially when we're in the car and stuck in traffic LOL.

Just to clarify though ... I still think there's nothing like Blackberry Messenger. I keep waiting for my BBM alert to go off because I'm so used to chatting with friends there. Now I feel like an outcast. 

SIGH.
iPhone 4s ... you have a tough job ahead of you.
But thanks to my darling N as always for the early Christmas present.

iPhone 4/4s users ... what apps and accessories are "must haves"? 
Share!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Just like wine, ripened with age...



One of my BIGGEST blessings 
No doubt, no questions


We've been together for so long, even longer than our respective marriages!
In good times and bad (oh many many bad times in the past for sure)
In sickness (knock on wood!) and in health
To infinity and beyond!!!

20 plus Christmases together and still counting
And to quote Rick Astley, whose songs we danced a lot to when we were younger...

"Together forever and never to part..."

I wish for everyone to have solid friendships like ours!





Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Forever 21

I've only been to Forever 21 (Megamall) about 3-4x since it opened. All those times, I just happened to be in Megamall for something else but since I was already there and I don't frequent Megamall, I went. Today was probably the longest time I ever spent in the store. Anissa and I purposely went because our afternoon was spent shopping for holiday gifts. After getting a lot of stuff from the SM Department Store (I'm amazed at how much they've leveled up in terms of merchandise), we headed to Forever 21 to look for gifts for the girls in the family. We didn't have much time left though, so we were able to grab a lot less than we had hoped. Which means we need to go back, perhaps on a weekday again, so that we won't have to deal with a thick crowd.

While there, I decided to do a really thorough inspection of their Accessories section. I was on the lookout for some pieces that I intend to use to dress up a plain outfit that I'm planning to wear to a wedding in two weeks. I spent a good half an hour choosing because seriously, it's easy to get dizzy while going through all the stuff! I'm so happy with what I ended up with.


The bracelet is quite pricey at more than P800 but it's quite understandable because it's double the width of the others I saw, plus it had bling all over. I spent about P1,500 for all of these. Definitely a good deal. Other than this, I also scored a dress for just P665. I'll share it sometime soon, when I decide to wear it.

Forever 21 is undoubtedly the place to go for very affordable clothing, shoes, bags and accessories. Given the chance, my teenager would go there every weekend. My toddler though, thinks that the Kids Section could be bigger LOL!