I Built This Garden For Us

It's Official

2006-07-17T04:48:00.000+02:00

I have moved! ...to my new cyber crib. Won't be posting here anymore so bookmark the new addy: http://www.angelbq.com (photoblog, blog on photography, scrapbboking and wifery under one roof). And I must say, I love using wordpress and livingdot. More about that on my welcome entry. See yah over there blog comrades.

One of the few

2006-07-12T03:08:00.000+02:00

Ok guys here are one of the few entries you will be sing from me for the next 3 weeks. We have family over so as I said I won't be that privileged with my computer time as before. Even now at 3 am sneaking here, I feel shame for being up so late. Anyway, we're happy to have them over and the little rascal Alexander really challenges me photography wise. He has got a new and bigger space to roam, so he is always running around back and forth, and exploring. I really want some good light with slow shutter speed, but his movement makes it hard to get stable shots. As much as possible, i want to avoid flash. I am already longing for an advanced lens for portraits and one with shallower depth of field. One with stabilizer, telezoom lens and a fast one. It was so much fun when he took a little shower. My sis snapped away while I was holding the shower. We haven't started yet and the shower was at neck level with him, and he took his head down below the shower, really eager for splash of water. He was frolicking so much and just having a blast feeling the water run down. We were all laughing and amused by the whole thing. I even rested a little and took the shower down, and he pulled my hand to put the shower back on him. What a cutey.

We got the lensbabies (lensbabies.com) the other day. It's been fun playing around with them. Hard in the beginning, but started slowly to get the hang of it. Bizzi, the last couple of days is snapping away. Going to all corners of the house and taking pictures of interesting details. i am glad he has started taking interest. Such a delight to watch him getting his artistic side.

Thanks to Liv, I have now been able to get a cyber glimpse of our one page ad for Interplay. Cool stuff, and I sent you a reply Liv, but just have to say thanks again. And thanks to wanda too for offering the same. You gals are the best. I'll try to post when I have the chance to. I am crazy speeding my entry while trying not to make so much noice.

I managed to finish cleaning, and didn't sleep a whole day. I was at one point extremely exhausted, and just ready to crash to bed, but managed to fight it till it completely disappeared. Our only problem now is our small freezer and tomorrow if Jiar, my bro in law, doesn't have OT, he will drive me to buy a small stand alone freezer. As of now, we just have a combi ref and freezer thing. That led my auntie to make 3 dish in a day when my uncle brought a whole load of frozen meat and fish.

I am getting a new place. At the web, I mean. My new space will be at angelbq.com. I am waiting for it to propagate which they said could take 3 days. I got both movable type and wordpress with the hosting as well as their photoblog application. I will be using wordpress because of a.) design, lots of great designs available b.) categories and c.) pages d.) easy to import from other blogs and d.) ability to password protect. I am using livingdot.com. Actually, my real intention is to get a photoblog. My research led me to their site, and I liked their photoblog. The photoblog is part of their packages. Wordpress is a little different than what I am used to with blogger. Especially with hosting and the use of cpanel. But I am trying to read a bit to familiarize myself. Although I must say that reading wordpress' knowledgebase can be a little overwhelming at first. Especially the topic not included in the basic. I am kind of uncertain though as to keep this blog or not, because I worked so hard with customizing this, and I love how it turned out. Hmmm, choices choices again... next up is to get a flickr account as my public album in addition to my photoblog.

Italy won the world championships. I was cheering for France and the gang of Thierre Henry. Oh well, no damage done. It was fun though.

A commercial running this season is the pepsi commercial with the song dadada. Bizzi and I fancy it and find it hillarious. Same with this annoying ad at MTV that amuses us in a weird way. Weather has been up and down, but amazingly, weather forecasts has been predictible, and if it stays that way, there will be good times this weekend.

Gotta go amigas. Wish I could chat much longer. I miss scrapping and blogging :(

RAK

2006-07-07T04:24:00.000+02:00

Random act of kindness. I knew what that meant before, but I am usually one of the last to know. Either that or I get it instantly by guessing. I had to pull help with ROFL which Weng provided me with. And I think there is even a longer version of that ROFLMAO, what is the last 3? and then I managed to guess KWIM just recently by guessing. It annoyed not knowing, and without even seing it used in context, I managed to come with Know What I Mean.

Back to RAK. How generous of you Liv dahling. Mom told me that it will come out late and that she won't be able to send it off with uncle who will come on monday, but now I can see it faster. Thanks, thanks and lots of cyberhugs to yah. Your such a toughtful sweetie.

And last, usually I don't look back once I post to correct typos, but I scanned quickly over the last post, and I am just disgusted. So. cleaner version coming soon for the sake of pleasing myself. You are probably finish reading the post when I have edited it :) For I am off to bed... And since I didn't manage to scrap anything as planned, I am sure cleaning schedule will be edited tomorrow ;) Procrastination is a disease I tell you!

So we reached another blog milestone of a super short entry per angie's definition adn even a double post for today (check below for another new one from today).

Pardon me again

2006-07-07T00:13:00.000+02:00

..for I have been away so long again. Ok I won't be blogging so much also the next couple of days since we are having guests here for a week or two, and showing off my computer stamina isn't excactly on top of my agenda.

So i will try to squeeze in as much in this entry till you get all dizzy for days that you won't visit my blog again for a long time, LOL.

Before I forget, let me answer some stuff here:

Faith: Read below (btw, I need some high resolution pictures, your faves from the wedding. you know where to send them right)

Alynn: I love it when you leave caring notes like that. Now you get me senti, LOL. I haven't been very good at reciprocating, but believe me with bloglines I always drop by and read what's up with you guys. The thing with bloglines is that I can't comment from there. But I always get the news first! I love wood parquet since it is more modern looking. I think it depends on the look you're going for. Anyway, set aside some few change everyday for the next ten years, and the maintenance won't be a problem :)

Cheche: Thanks sweetie, and mighty sweet as well with the exchange gifts. How thoughtful arrangement.

Jean: Ofcourse I don't mind. Me be flattered. I have so many to link, but haven't found the time yet. So hop you don't mind me linking you up later :) You're a surfergirl. How awesome!'

Liv, Wanda and Dionne: Thank you for the lovin'. I was rught to post it while it was clean though. Or otherwise it would be the dumpster instead of the hotel, LOL. Anyway, Dionne, the dream story cracked me up. I always laugh at dream stories. I catch Bizzi lauging in his sleep, and I won't give him a break when he wakes up by repeatedly pointing out my funny night observation. And Liv you always make me laugh girl, and ypu know it. And may I say you look so pretty and funky with the bangs and the makeup. You know how to work those brushes dahling. Wanda, good luck with the cherry blossom thingie. I just luuuv cherry blossoms.

Amor: You know I love yah mother-to-be. Take care sweetie and stay positive. Mwah!

Litzie: Have you got it yet sis. Photoblog a little extended. Not sure, but I might buy an account for a photoblog. Decisions, decisions :)

Ok, here's a LO to share. Man am I a slow scrapper. I shop rapid though and has began to chat in turbo since I discovered the wonderful community of digishoptalk. I wish I could scrpa just as quick as I hit the checkout button.

Credits: Papers and belt from All American kit by Nancie and Michelle, overlay recolored from Joshua's day in the sun from Dianne and Michelle, stitching by Christine Nash, tie fasteners by katie Pertiet. sparkling brads by Gina Miller, glitter swirls and alpha from Jen Wilson. Fonts: Depot and Destroy. Illustration action and romance full plus blending modes for photo. TFL!

I was meaning to post something last time, but just forgot to. I just had to say congratulations to my very good friend faith and hanzel. She sent me links to pictures and video, and I lvoed her look for her day. Loved the white flowers in the hair and the makeup and the gown was exquisite and so stylish, and da man was rocking the place. What a cool couple. Faith you were beaming and so beautiful. And knowing me you rocked some tears out of me too.

And more weddings have taken place in the community, and I am just going shucks, how nice, how sweet and how beautiful, shucks, sighs coupled with tears and badly missing the preps. I need to bid waw farewell with 12000 unread in my inbox, it will still take awhile just erasing and not reading. But ofcourse I need to congratulate the newlyweds first, and make a formal adieu to the community where I gathered so many friends and inspiration. Bitter since it also means paritng with the dream of being in the wedding biz. I loved to get tips and opinions ther, and filter my mail religiusly according to categories. I wished I have time to squeeze ot help and contribute, but I feel already like my tasks is drowning me already.

Btw, got this cool email from Erika. Our pics appeared at wedding essentials as part of Lala's advertisment. Boy am I just dying to see that. No matter how small the picture, I would still be jumping and pointing, look it's me and Bizzi, yooohooo. It's on print and that is all that matters. And wedding essentials is my fave pinas wedding mag. Not so many choices, but better than metro. Love how they package the whole thing with its graphic design. It's a class above the rest.

So I am battered, bruised, soar and scratched right now. And the reason being, shopping. Obviously not the cyberway since I am feeling these bruises. In womanhood, there's only one reason to subject yourself through pain (besides from that, ehm, cough cough), and that's shopping. We endure that our arms get a tad longer and that the edges hits our legs repeatedly just for some retail therapy (which might need to be followed up with a little physiscal therapy). I never thought that the distance to our house could ever seem to be this long. And I was catching my breath in the heat (man do I need to workout or get used to doing more physical activity than slightly rotating my butt in my computer chair). I already bough a long package containing a shoerack, tucked underneath my underarms when I entered the electronic department (as well as a tupperware bowl, handy for throwing peels and stuff so yu don't have to open the bin all the time). My main purpose was to get a copy of a recipt of our washing machine purchase to present to the service man the day before. But I couldn't resist buyong the electric grill (we already have a huge gassgrill and a standing electronic grill, but I think I am obsessed with grills). I was just supposed to buy the type that makes you grilled sandwiches, but I find them a little too small and prejudiced to other breadtype than toast. What if I wanted a panini grill or a ciabatta?

The one I bought was medium sized with enough space to grill steaks and vegetable (mmm...love grilled vegetables, tomatoes, zuchini, aubergine and bell pepper). So, versatility there. And it was a huge package and empty, so I was crazy to snag an electronic toothbrush, electronic beard trimmer and lavarocks for the gass grill. I declare myself insane. And to think I had ambitions to even include an external harddisk. And got to talk with boconcept where we bought that troubled chair. Apparently, they started producing that chair with another legs. I assume many had the same problem. So I am expecting a call anytime soon. 3 cheers for me for all the accomplishments.

Before i carried the load, I was free to roam and observe and feel fabrics and check details. I loved this place with all the lovely pillows, with lovely colors and prints. Summer is so cool with all the vibrabt colors and prints. Seems like a little shaaby, traditional and still baroque patterns is still in. Sweet colors, like a candied aqua and candied bright pinks and fuschia's. I headed to another interior decor place where they had some really cool details and their arrangements was assorted in colors. My passion for interior is once again aroused. But, darn, there's no point till we get our place of our own. This time, I will approcah designing our place little by little. Adding one detail at a time, so I can invest in som really nice eyecatching pieces. I want to be a little more playful. I still want stuff tucked in frosted glass or wood, but the details will be more bold in colors, a little more shabby, romantic, elegant and traditional, but still would be kid friendly. Want it to be more homey, casual and not so stiff and too contemporary (believe me, although that rectangular sharp edged table look oh so clean in lines, you wouldn't want your children's head going for that direction). we still need to buy big pieces. I want to get rid of our old fixtures like the coach and the table. And we need a bigger bed. I just am so excited to get a spacious bedroom. I managed to make our room have the illusion of appearing bigger, but it still feel cramped. And please grant me a brushed steel side by side ref and freezer with icemaker on the door.

I did wish at one point I was a digi designer, becasue that day I was really inspired by all the nice stuff. I am going back though for a closet since we have way too many jackets we use for each season, and it's all packed in the hanger in the entrance.

It's a weird thing though to have a shoe rack on our terrace. Had this been the Philippines, I wouldn't need any meditation on the issue, it would be straight no, as opposed to here where I don't need to worry that someone might take our shoes away in the middle of night. Theft here happens usually in the garage, not on the terrace or breaking in. In our 3 years of living here, it never happened that someone stole our shoes or other stuff in the terrace.

It's tropical hot today (no not that hot, but we are in Norway. Our standard of hot isn't excactly a high one). I have the terrace door open and it's completely silent. No breeze, no activity and even the silent cpu fan is louder. The only thing is that those darn long legged mosquitos comes in. Have I told you what I hate by summer, bees. I panick when I hear it buzz. And it doesnæt comfort me that it dies after stinging someone and you cna get instant gratification of revenge. It still scares am and have me running or getting stiff neck from standing still. and as I was sleeping in the afternoon I was steaming in the bedroom. I just felt like i had to ventilate and blow some steam. I was wanting a peach icetea with loads of ice.

So, the friendly repair man dropped over earlier today and not so long ago while i was writing in this blog, I went to take out the finished laundry that finished in the natural way, without me having to force finish it. I was delighted when I checked on it earlier than that to see the dry program blinking, meaning it was about to finish. It was scorching hot and crisp dry. And the smell was good (not better than when you dry it naturally in the sun, but close). I am one happy washing machine owner. Seems like we didn't use a rinsing program. He was such a ncie man, and he didn't scold us at all for our negligence like grumpy servicemen do, but he said it's so tactful in a way that I wouldn't disappointe about myself and feel bad that I treated it bad. Oh sure, I only encountered him briefly, but I am a psychologist by nature, reading people constantly. Sometimes I am wrong, this time I am right. I pledge to be careful from now on. Like right now, I wait till it gets a chance to cool off. I don't want to overwork it.

Can I just say that it smells absolutley lovely in the house right now. We have this plug in we put in the outlet in the wall and just buy refills. The concentrated oil just evaporates the house and the scent travels around the house. I bought the citrus one which was a hit with sis and everyone that walks in basically. I am a smell addict. If you market me with a description of ingredients that makes up a smell filled with exotic and eccentric stuff, I am off running to buy. I love scented candles, those stuff you have votive underneath and upstairs you fill with a drop of concentrated oils and water (it might be called oil diffuser), exotic shampoo, colognes like cucumber melon. That's beside my passion for good tasting food and looking at nice stuff. You can say that I love to please my senses. We sure have a creative God to fill the earth with wonderful stuff despite the rate we destroy it.

I am a little behind my cleaning sched, but everyday I have been doing something at the least. I only lack the terrace, kitchen, our bedroom and the toilet. Bathroom and living room check and rough cleaning all spaces check. Atleast all areas are clean on the surface. No stuff lying around where it should not be. And i just have to share that my spine shivers whenever I hear the vacuum catch a hard and a little bigger thing. I get all paranoid and think, maybe it's something precious it sucked in.

I got a call from our friend Arin today. She was with us to the Philippines. Apparently her sister wanted to go to Thailand next year, but her hubby Wisam rather go to Boracay with us instead. Although we will be skipping next year to pave way for buying a house and getting preggy.

Our lensbaies has not yet arrived. I am beginning to be a little too itchy to play around with it. I ven was unorthodox to open the mail at 3am just to see if they arrived (I suddnly remembered we ordered the babies at 3 am in the morning. Not that our mailman comes that time.)

I talked to mommy dearest today. She always has the habit of making me cry. Not because she is a bad mom, but because she is an excellent mom. I love talking to her. I should be taking the initiative to call a little more. My mom and dad is the cutest now that dad decided to join in and be active devoting to God (I am holding my tears back. Talk of God always makes my heart soft.). They pray together at night holding hands and ddad leading the prayer. I really heart what they are doing. I wish we could be spiritually compatible, me and Bizzi, to be able to have these activities together. Bizzi is tolerant though, and I am glad for that, and he is no less in my eyes because we are not bound by the excact same faith and teachings. He does good to his fellowbeing, is a good husband, compassionate and not parttaking in immorality. He errs once in awhile, but minor stuff, and it just shows he is human. But he has utter respect and fear for his God, even if he doesn't pray regularly or got to a house of prayer, and that's totally admirable.

I am missing my coffee right now. I have been so addicted to the frothe nescafe. It really isn't that good compared to coffee outside (but it's comfy and cozy), but if I had an espresso machine (which I wish I really had), I would make a coffee mocha myself with frothed fresh milk.

I am seriously considering temp as an option to getting a job. It ain't working well this way. Hopefully, someone can offer me something permanent eventually. Itæs important to atleast enter the firm at some level.

Germany is out of world championship. Bizzi took it farely well. I think France will sweep the title. I always admired Henry's unstoppable agressive play.

I have been diligent using the cam for 3 days, but had to pave way for other important stuff. I haven't had the chance to share yet, but here is a little peak now. Nothing spectacular, and I do need a lot of practice. But that's the greta thing. When sis and her learned photography, they had to use trial and error. But it was much more expensive method if you wer using film in that time. Atleast now I have the liberty to snap to my snapping delight. Leave you with these images:

Moodswings

2006-07-03T23:58:00.000+02:00

This day started a little grumpy. I feel so unproductive when I just sit and surf and surf and surf...get the ideas. Which resulted in postponment of washing machine repair, LO of continuation of the cleaning and getting an appointment from the doctor (among other things).

So I detoxed with getting a refreshing shower, changing to fresh smelling clothes, a little clearing off some areas and go out grocery (fresh air and do something useful). And ofcourse a little Ibux to clear my minor headache.

Let me brief you on the last days. I had a horrendous day right after I wrote the last entry. I felt all cluttered in my head and pressure mounting in. My cousin was supposed to come on sunday so I felt I had so little time to get all the corners of our house squeeky clean and then I had so much other stuff on my mind. Come to think of it, it's only small stuff, but many small stuff can wear you down. My washing machine again wouldn't stop even if it exceeded the drying minutes I set it to. It was still going the following day after I put it on before going to sleep at night. Other stuff are the 2 added blogs I want to make, unfinished stuff on my to do list and bundled thoughts that i want to blog about but never had the time. The next day proved to be so positively different. I managed to pop myself out of the puter, and I did a lot of household chores concentrated on the living room as a part of my new cleaning schedule till cousin, nephew, auntie and uncle arrives (I found out this day that they won't be coming this sunday as scheduled, but rather next week which means more time for me and less pressure). That way I can fully pay attention to verey spot and really make it shine. So a clean home makes a clean mind so much as clutter spaces clogs my mind.

Sharing some pics here now of the clean and organized part:

I put out the rattan comfy chair again after the red one matching the coach broke down. Darn that thing. The metal got all soft and broke. Also another headache of mine.

Ok, so what else is up. We had fried salmon the other day. It's boring just fried and with rice, but I whipped up a cold sauce with sour cream, dried dill and salt. The only thing missing was a squirt of lemon. All these things blends so well with the rich flavor of the salmon. I also like what dad used to accompany it with. Thinly sliced cucumber in vinegar brine with sugar, pepper and fresh dill. Mmmm. I love salmon. And I love it smoked for a sandwich with herb cream cheese with fresh chives.

Bizzi brought home some take away the other day from Spice. I usually don't like take away except for their chicken creole, but the thai food Bizzi got was very exotic and packed with flavor. It was a big portion to and served me up for two days of meals. It had galangal (almost like ginger. I chewed on it. It's milder and has a rounder flavor than ginger. Also it had lemongrass and a boat of lemon. Love all the exotic flavors.

I love new ingredients, fancy gourmet words and the likes. That is why when sis brought a gourmet version pringles with greek cheese flavor and avocado oil, my eyes just lighted up. It tasted lie a cross between feta cheese and goatcheese.

I had an indulgence moment at the grocery store today. Bought the two types of gourmet pringles. The other being red bell pepper with olive extract. I never step in the forbidden zone, the potato chips and chocolate section, but I stepped on both today. I feel that junkfood can be mentally unhealthy too, and since I had a clutter mind at the beginning of the day, it wasn't actually a good idea. But I also bought a lot of greens. I wanted Bizzi to have an interesting lunch pack for a change. Bought fresh herbs; parsley and dill and a salad mix. And since I became fascinated with sea salt after i tasted the bread at this italian dining place with sea salt, I bought some now. It's not the gourmet type which I heard is more expensive, but I just wanted to test it. The mango from pakistan squeezed in between the freezers just sends me right back to my sweet homeland, Philippines. I can infuse myself with that stuff in hhours just for the sake of the sentimental journey.

I hate the selection on our local grocery store. We had an inventory count the other day at my cousin's grocery store which is the same chain as this one, and there they had pepper makrell on can. Here they didn't even have a single brand of makrell in cans. I wanted some with bread and mustard sauce.

We rented movie sunday. One of them as I requested was pride and prejudice. Ofcourse it makes me think of sense and sensibility with the time and age as well as the title. I like Keira Knightley. She's a no frill gal and cool looking to. She reminds me of Winona Ryder. The story revolves around the sisters being pimped by the matchmaker ambitious mother. The eloquent and complicated words in the lines is so me. I am so serious in my speech sometimes that it seems like this era suits me better speechwise. I like this line though where he calls himself a comprehensive arse. That got me thinking and made my imagining powers spin.

My sister noticed me always putting on the subtitle. I guess this has been a habit of mine evr since. I feel something is missing without a subtitle, and I can't concentrate that much and pay attention to what they are saying, and the odd thing is that I don't even read it. The other movie by the way is from Charlize Theron, a sci fi action movie named aeon flux.

I am considering buying an account at Flickr. The services isn't too bad and I need more space and new sets. I also considered buying an account at livingdot.com to host my photoblog. I like its simplicity after having scouted other alternatives. Besides, I am really hating Photosite after I have reached so many pics. Its software for editing, arranging and uploading is so slow and non existent now that I have 2ooo plus pictures. It has a good interface and possibility for photoblog and flexible in design, but my golly I can't even upload one single picture as of this date.

More on mango. I have subscribed to their newsletter long before and gets the latest, and my poor heart when I heard that their mangooutlet.com has reduced their prices. Mango outlet is a webstore where they sell items from previous seasons already reduced greatky and now even reduced more. Oh my all that reductions is making me faint. But I kept away, there are tother stuff I want to budget for, and I did enough damage. And by the way, the teaser that I am, the regular mangoshop.com has sale for as high as 70% now from previously 50%.

Me and Bizzi still groovy and enjoying married life in each other's company. Lately I have been annoyed slightly that frdays, saturdays and sundays he is out cruising around with his buddy. I can't blame him though as I am alway preoccupied in the computer and don't want to go out despite the wonderful weather. I do tease him with constantly insiniuating that he is scouting for girls while he is out. And always call him when he is out. Usually guys get annoyed of this, but he is so tactful, and one night he suddenly said things without me asking anything. I will never leave you and I will never exchange you for any other girl. Now that's mushy overload for yah, LOL. I love it when he surprise me with sweet thoughts like that. I think he is so cute also when he mispronounces things. That's so typical him which makes him so clumsy and cute.

Since I have no more stuff on my notebook to put on my blog and I forgot the rest, I bid you adieu.

One happy triggerhappy mother of a d-slr

2006-06-29T22:06:00.000+02:00

Don't even know where to start. I am just so excited about my new toy that I am just beaming of joy. So Bizzi was having a match and decided to wake up earlier and go with me to shop for the goodies. We bought out subway tickets, but later found out that Bizzi's younger brother could pick us up. We first went to his bank to withdraw since his atm visa just expired and the other is not working (maybe demagnetized). Closed. So since the majority of our cash is bundled up in his account, we were worried we didn't have enough in my account to buy all the stuff. Second stop was this small shop who has relatively low prices and specializes in photo equipment. Small space indeed, but many employees and buyers. Seems like a busy place. Ok so we got our external flash SB 600 compatible with Nikon (heavy stuff), a lowepro stealth reporter 200 bag (with space for a camerahouse, 3 lenses and other small items in the front. It had like a baby pouch for additional equipment detachable from the main bag and a memorycard holder with slot for 12 memory card that could also be detached) and an extra battery. Then off we went to this foreign exchange branch of Bizzi's bank which was opened a little bit longer. Sometimes they didn't allow withdrawal or only limited amount. This time luck was on our side and we withdrew sufficent funding for the slr. We could have bought the camera in the same place, but this other store was a tad cheaper plus 100 prints included in the price, so we would save like 200-300 kroner. The first branch I went to was sold out. They just sold their last stock the same day, and referred me to a nearby branch. This one had 2 more left. I had analyzed this buy for so long, so when the employee asked me if I already had a lens, I said no, and he said that canon eos 350d (rebel) had a better lens. I debated my research, but was a little disappointed that he mentioned it. First of all, I already bought a flash compatible with Nikon and battery and 2nd I was so excited already and I didn't want something like this to kill my excitement-especially because I am so perfectionist and overprepared. But I was deadset and just told him that I would invest in a 18-200 NIkkor objective later with the VG stabilizator, in which he said good choice. I took everything out of the box and put it in the bag, and it was a bit heavy. It wouldn't be something I would unhesitantly bring everywhere and everytime, so the compact camera is still good to have (bizzi suggested we give the coolpix to mom, but I argued that we will still need it, but very kind of him to suggest it. Bless his good heart). And oh by the way we ordered from lensbabies.com and we bought the nikon version 2.0 coming to the mail pretty soon. When me and Bizzi parted, he said something I seldom hear. In Philippines it's common to part with ingat ka or take care in english. Bizzi said that in Norwegian which is not so usual here, and certainly not for him. I am sure it was because I had valuable stuff with me, but neverthless I had to ask him to repeat it becasue it sounded good.

I started playing around with it once I got home, shooting while reading the manual and other websites for tips and info. Also reviewed the reviews of the cam I researched on to just comfort me from the previous statement of the clerk. I must say that in my 2 days of having it, I already learned a lot. I had no idea about SLR and its settings previously, but is a big step ahead now in the last 2 days. There's lot to learn. Lots of combination. Endless types of situation, lighting and actions and artistic preference. I also teted the flash a bit and it had some settings on its own. But I feel I need to learn more about the camera and learn about the flash last. Besides I think we will only use the flash indoors in bad lighting conditions.

I made a strategy in learning about slr and taking picture as a self course, and I need to buy that book Understanding Exposure as a supplement:

1. Familiarize with using the camera. Different parts and functions, buttons and reading the displays and indicators. Terminology in slr.
2. More indepth knowledge with how it functions. Especially the mechanic of a lens. Understanding behavior. Cause and Effect.
3. Experiment each setting. Like for example shutter speed with other things constant. Shoot in different setting. Rename the image and put in my camera experimenting folder. For example put it in the shutter speed, white balance, ISO or aperture. Learn about the different modes-manual, programmed auto, aperture priority and shutter speed priority.
4. Experiment by combining settings. Take note and rename image depending on the setting.
5. Then learn about the external flash, functions and settings and what would be appropriate for each situation and lighting conditions.
6. Participate in challenges and prompts. Try different
7. More on rules, tips and tricks to improve photography. Compositon and different styles.

And since I am always very happy to share info I accumulate I will be posting stuff about photography in my scrappy blog or maybe even make one more blog dedicated to photography so that I can follow up development and take notes. Just a quick summary on important things I've learned so far; changing the focus area, the four different modes besides from the auto modes and the differnece between the four, exposure (iso, shutter speed and aperture seperately) and how to check the correct exposure from the viewfinder through a scale), white balance, operating the camera, a bit on reading the control panel and depth of field.

Other practical things I also learned so far, you can only view pictures taken in the lcd. So with some practice I unlearned using the lcd to shoot. Also the weight of the camera really gives stability. I just love how flexible it is and all the possibilities and how you can control your shots as opposed to the compact camera. Significant difference, athough I know there are some really nice quality compact camera nowadays, like the powershot G6.

So we opted for the nikon d50 instead of the d70 because of the price difference which paved way for a fancy flash and other additional equipment and also for the fact that it uses sd card like our compact cam. I like NIkon's interface. I might not have been so satisfied with my coolpix, but it was easy to use. Same with this. It takes a little getting used to in the beginning. Especially if your new to slr.

I really am digging to use manual modes and understanding rather than have it in automode. But I am sure that some situation I can settle for the automode. I been testing a lot with still subjects and indoors. I would need to do some movement or action photos to see the difference in settings. My cousin is soon coming over (sunday) and I will be chasing their cutey son Alexander all around the house to practice on moving subjects, hehe. I am really looking forward to see them again, but also a little anxious when her mom and dad comes from Philippines on tuesday and have them observe the lousy cook I am. In anticipation of them coming here, I set up a cleaning scheme in these next days paired up with camera learning and squeezing in some LO's since late nights and overstay in the computer is nothing I don't want them to see. I did some work today. Supposedly it was to be a superficial cleaning of the living room. Fast vacuum, arranging papers and stuff all around and some dusting. I managed to only do the workarea or the computer lounge, whichever you please, but I guess it was the only spot that craved that much attention. The rest would be easy peasy.

By the way, this site helps me in my learning process: http://2peasinapicture.blogspot.com/

I am more concerned about the kitchen, the bathroom and cr and the laundry (wahs of sheets and clothes).

And tuesday I got my mango stuff. I actually liked the color of the bag available on their branch better, but the pumpkin color was interesting too. The jumper/sweater was thin but really nice when put on. It snugged well to the body. This was too comfortable of a shopping. I was called by the deliverer on the cellphone to confirm I was home and he came on the door with an oversized package with a small mango shopping bag inside. Shopping at home sitting down (no cramped testing room and hot spotlights) and delivered to your doorstep with no extra charges.

The day I bought the slr, I met up with sis, and the weather was fab after days of rains and greay weather. It was sunny and decided to eat out. We went to this really nice place with brick walls and brickroad. It was very french countryside like. We ate at a mediterranean place. I simply loved the bread with herbs and seasalt flakes. The 2 different bread was soft and moist just right and so fresh. Yummy, dipped in olive oil that tasted like banana (same as the other place we dined in not so long ago). I had pasta with basil sauce and topped with a juicy chicken piece. It was only me and my sis and although I am with her all the time at home, it's such a big difference to be outdoors. I talked constantly and just so much to say. I also met some of our friends, a kurdish girl which is the wife of Bizzi's captain of the soccerteam and my turkish friend who used to be my colleague at Burger KIng.

In one shoeshop that was discounted, there was a funny sign; don't think just buy. How biased of the signmaker and/or owner.

Baby came home with a fractured arm from the match. Poor thing. He got sickleave for 2 days. So I got him here with me now. And they even lost the match, but he did manage to put in 2 goals which made his status most goals as of now. He has gotten it for the last 2 seasons, so hope he gets it this time around too.

My friend from highschool called from Italy. What a pleasant surprise. Last time she called, she was in Sweden. I never got to hook up with her despite that we were so near each other. I almost did get to meet her when we went to Sweden for a kurdish election, but time wasn't on our side, so we didn't manage to arrange it.

Watched smallville today. Clark and Lana is too dramatic, but the girls surely is a stunner.

And last a rant. I had an argument with sis yesterday. I was the bad tempered, she was all mild about it, but neverthelss I was provoked. I shouldn't be because her intentions is well I know. And I hate it. I hate how I feel about myself afterwards and I hate that it brings out some not so good sides from me, but I hate being pushed to a corner. Oh well, we're all good now without actually resolving it completely. I just didn't want to talk more about it. I still feel lousy snapping at a preganant woman particualrly my sister, period. But I do have my own feeligns, and sometimes they are a little hard to control. It makes you lose your cool, your logic and consideration. I just hope no more episodes like that in the future. It's the last thing I need now with all the issues of not nailing a job and some minor seasonal self esteem issues.

Enough ranting and raving for this time. Watch out for my photography adventure blog and pictures in the near future for those interested in learning photgraphy as much as I do. Might have a seerate photoblog to post my fave pics. Might need to buy an unlimited account at flickr to host my pics, esecially if I am to post high resolutioned images.

Ok peeps. See you pretty soon.

Welcome Back Absentee

2006-06-27T15:01:00.000+02:00

Yes that would be me. I have however made some LO during my absence. Share these first before the catching up talk:

Credits: Almost everything from Michelle Coleman's Chelsey's dream except for dark brown paper by Dianne Rigdon from Joshua's day in the sun, imperfectly frame stitches by Cristine Nash, Double stitch from Sara Carling's authentic kit, straight stitches from Gina Miller, burlap heart by Gina Cabrera at DDE. hand stamped brush from Michelle Coleman and denim alpha from Katie Pertiet. Fonts used: Book Antiqua, Pretext and Carpenter ICG. TFL

Credits: Brickwall background from Jennifer Tripetti's Play Hard kit, Alpha freebie from Carrie Stephens, Funky flowers from Gypsy chick at ACOT, ricrac from Gina Miller's finishing touches, Antiquefinds card from Michelle Underwood, tag from Summer Whimsy kit here at Scrapartist, Freebie pink flower from Kim Christensen, eyelet from rough n tumble kit by Eve Recinella, acrylic stapled heart from Michelle Coleman's tutti frutti elements pack, staples from Girls Lie too kit by Kim Christensen, picture blended with free paper from Kristy Ann Nerness (free from newsletter) stamped crown and metalcrown accent from Michelle Underwood's crownstamp pack, letter p from Michelle Coleman's new handstamped brush alpha and swirly doodles by Ida (freebie from catscrap.com). Fonts: Rebekah's Birthday and Oedipa.

Credits: IOD wicked garden papers, staples, inked edge overlay, tag, tape and paper clip form IOD's essential kit, crochet from Dianne Rigdon's sweet abandon kit, criss cross stitches from Micheel Coleman's tutti frutti pack, ribbon and lopoey trim from Gina MIller's finishing touches, aged notebook paper from Gina MIller, alpha from Mindy Terawasa's treasured kit, and Michelle Pearson's floral brushes as clipping mask for paper. Atomic cupcake crumble and tear action. Free Dagerre action on photo lightened with blending modes. Fonts: Broken 15, Jefferson and Bulky Refuse type.

Well, 3 LO as opposed to one by one, but nevertheless I struggled getting this finished, erasing, removing, never satisfied. It's the same ole battle crativity versus perfectionism and just feel inadequate and all that insecurities talk. I know what's causing this. Not being outside, socializing, face to face contact, peers, colleagues, expanding horizons. Well, that, and I haven't heard from those I applied for and the house not looking squeeky clean as I hoped it would be. For one moment, as corny as she is, I wished I was Sabrina with her magic and make all the clutter disappear with a wave of the hand (is that what she does, told you she was corny, I don't pay attention).

Oh well with all the dreaded stuff, I remain alive and in good condition and emotionally healthy surprising enough.

Weather is not so pleasant either, riding on my mood. Sappy, grey and rainy weather. Darn! How in the world can I show off my shopping conquest, ROFL (thanks Weng, now there's meaning behind the abbreviation). I want to go out buy rice cause I feel a hungerpang and we're out of our rice, and if the weather was nice, I would go out in a jiffy with my home clothes and sandals, but now I gotta get dressed and protect myself from the darn wetness outside.

Is it obvious that I am cranky right now. It doesn't help that I nowadays rediscovered winamp radio and listens to a pop top 40 station. Not actually the relaxing music. Weird for me to be tuning into this. I have so varied musictaste that even I confuse myself.

Liv pointed out my astig side. OMG girl, you can't imagine me when I went from Norway to 3rd year high school in Philippines. They had to unprogram my siga walk and make me comb my hair and dress me up like I was a doll. And at college, I was the grunge hippychick girl (at one point digging Slayer and deathmetal. That's sick when I think of it now. Shiver.) who used to drink one on one with my buddy Rap (R.I.P) emptying a bottle of whisky without chaser and in a snap (I shouldn't start with the drinking stories. Now the smell of liquor makes my stomach turn upside down). I was skipping class and missing on finals on my first year, and flunking grades, and the later years I was dean's lister for 3 semesters. The in between is a long journey. Don't want to bore you, hehe. Anyway, I think I am a very versatile person and I am very girl with my style in my mind, but I like to be comfy in real life. I prefer sandal over stiletto, but I love dressing up occasionally and just use so much time getting myself foxy. But in the daily life I prefer to not wear makeup (ofcourse, I am always at home) and be really comfy with jeans or sweats and a tshirt and my glasses. Maybe it's because the image of the teacher with her hair up, glasses and transform to the godess in the music videos and the cheesy 80's movie appeals to me, hehe.

Ok so there you have me in a nutshell. My interests is also in celeb gossips nowadays which my older me could kill me for. I never imagined to be digging in such shallow stuff like this, but it's kinda fun. But to save my reputation, the best part is look at what makeup and dress they wear, not their private life (...NOT, no seriously I swear I have no interest in whose house they came out from the night before, hehe).

I am just fooling around a lot, stretching space so this can be dubbed a normal blogentry in my case which is the trademark looong and winding.... I forgot to take notes, silly me. Now I have to concentrate really hard to bring out the details....

Oh yes how can I forget the day I was super cranky. Mess, no cooperation, you get the drift, and the struggle of letting go since I am supposed to be a good sister and be supportive in a difficult time. Oh forgive me for even saying this loud. I am a jerk for thinking and hang up in these things, but I am just a humanbeing, and I am really setting aside these selfish feelings for I feel guilty just feeling this. I love her to death, and it's been difficult to deal with it because she has such enthusiasm for her upcoming bundle of joy, but I can't always ride on her good mood, and it makes me feel guilty for not expressing excitement all the time in her rate and her intensity, but still I am really excited. I have never felt this personally and I can't relate to that extent. But as soon as I snap to my angelic side and feel the guilt, I go to her and just gives her a kiss on the cheek. Ok, I am rambling now, does this even make sense.

And the pc got me cranky too. Solved it after hours, but I feel we so need more protection. I managed to solve an issue again. A virus had planted a fake file to resemble the exe files that runs when you do start-run. And with the help of a toll that I googled, it detected it and made it disappear. Also cleaned the registry some more by manually removing PS 7 files since my unistall was interrupted.

Let's go to happy news. This entry is so somber. Ok, tax money is here. SLR here we come. I am so excited, and Bizzi asked me to buy it already, but I want him to be there, so I am delaying it till his dayoff. I can jump for joy, but can still imagine being really bored with no subject and cloudy weathers.

So what else has happened. Talked to mom. Been a long time since I heard her voice. Miss her so much. She's bugging me about stuff like going to the long delayed doctortrip, and other stuff. But I kept cool. She only wants my best, and she says it so nicely. Still nice to talk to her. Love my parents so much. They have been busy with gardening now and want to start a bakery. Wish them the best, because they deserve the best.

We follow football and scream and shout like mad. Man that nederland versus portugal was wild. So many yellow card and 4 red cards. Lots of heat on that match. Important is that Germany and England advances. With Sweden out of the competition I am cheering for Mr. Beckham and

Funny stuff. Watched a little afternoon tv and stumbles upon bold and beautiful which we watched religiously back in the days when the whole family was here. Hahaha. That's all I can say. And theya re finally showing a newer version of 7th heaven. The Camden are really the idyllic family. Can't believe how they've grown, and how two of them are not there. And Lucy is preggy and married to this Brad Pitt like figure. Picture-perfect, aaah...

Sleep is normal as off now. Suddenly got sleepy in front of the pc around 1 am, and laid myself to sleep. Eventhough I woke up pretty late.

I discovered this new product at our local grocery. It's a refreshing yoghurt drink. I am loving these type of drinks. It is in two flavors. Raspberry with Lemon and Strawberry. And I bought a bag of ice. I want to satrt making ice coffee's again, and now I just need a sunny weather to match my chilled and refreshing drinks.

Before I forget, I got my LO draft of our wedding album. I am already working on the alterations. Best way is to make suggestions by coorecting the layouts with my CS2 and I am also complimetning it with some written description. It was ok, but maybe a little too plain. But love the choices of pics (which I never came around to pick), and some I really loved. It landed on my spam actually, so I have had it for 4 days actually.

Ok I am off to buy the rice now. Can't stand the loud rumble of my tummy. It interrupts my thinking ;)

Shopping hormones and pocket casualty

2006-06-23T17:50:00.000+02:00

Ok I need to dump my piling thoughts on this blog before they explode on me. Ok as the title implies, this is gonna be mostly about my shopping spree. And no, this is not scrapsupplies which I also went shopping for today. If I am deadly shoppping for kits while sitting home, I wreck more damage going out and visiting shops like Mango and Morgan Toi while they have sale.

But let's get chronological shall we and start with older news.

I sent my application through internet for the foreign exchange position and I am so glad to have that out of the way. Yesterday I interpreted for the hospital and since I am under a confidentiality clause I can't reveal the details, but I can say that I learnt that heart attack is actually a wound in the heart that needs to be healed. And I must say that doctors they see illness and deaths and is part of their routine. I am sure they are saddened and some ways affected but due to the nature of their job they have to block away the emotions to persevere in their profession and not get a breakdown or loss of concentration. But I decided not to make it my job and routine to interpret, and even if the patient was mumbling and rambling and his speech wasn't straight because of the attack, I looked at him and paid attention to him ad looked interested. After all this might as well have been my dad. My dad was seriously ill at one point and I knew it frightened me a lot back then. I remember how sad I was and how filled with tears I was when he did no longer recognize us. Anyways, thank God for letting him be with us longer.

Btw, Liv just reminded me of how mushy I was at my previous entry. I had to read it all over again. I never do that. Because my diary is mostly just a vent forum till I feel the need to reminisce a certain day ( which got me thinking now, will I in my older age and shaking hands still be typing away. Hmmm). Anyways, back to the issue, damn was I mushy. It makes me shiver a bit, just a bit.

When we talk about romantic, looking back at my wedding we were never that romantic. I used to cry (still do) of weddings and seeing the couples so sweet. Maybe it is because we lived together already, but the important thing for us was that we could share it with our loved ones, thus we had it two places. But surprisingly I didn't cry looking at him. It was the other folks that made me cry. Like for example my bestfriend who made me cry a flood of tears. We felt more like a host of a party than the main event. I cried in our first rite at the mosque. What was supposed to be just a briefing by their priest on their religion suddenly became a marriage rite. And I cried because it came so sudden and unexpected. i wasn't prepared for it, and I cried for noone was there from the family. And at the same time I cried of joy. It was very mixed emotions that day, and I was confused and din't know whteher to rejoice or be mad being the always have to be prepared miss.

Back to today. Imagine we haven't even began the shopping stories. So let's have that over with. The day when I interpreted, I went to Mango to submit my application and shopped for some stuff. A coat, a sweater and a printed t-shirt. Some stuff definitely caught my eye. The white tshirt I liked they had none in my size. The white bag with red accents in my collage I picked it up and later put it back. It was the type that would go dirty pretty fast with its color and material. I saw some of the stuff on their netshop and some not there but which I loved. A green leather jacket with frayed accents, and a big cream colored bag. I love those big leather bags with nice handles and buckles. It's so trendy with the celebs and I often see them featured in the magazines with celebs wearing them, although these are not designers like them. The price for those two were a little stiff so I said to myself I better think it over and also discuss with hubby.

I showed him the stuff at home. He smiles, and said if it was him I would go mad. And that is so true. But with him he asks first, and I don't let him (though he got his laptop lately which he have been bugging me for so long now). His remark wasn't a bitter one. In fact he likes it whne I buy stuff and get dressed. I love parading for hime when I am all dressed up and he nods for his approval. He likes it when I make an effort to look good once in a while, although he never imposed it on me. I said to him feeling all guilty that I didn't have sweater and shoes and stuff. And guess what he does, he opens a browser and finds a shoeshop to look for shoes that he would like me to have, or atleast a style that I could buy. yes he is a keeper for supporting the woman urges of shopping. In fairness, I get him always nice and expensive bday presents while I always insist year after year not to buy anything for me. So to relieve my guilt, I asked that if the stuff I bought could be named my belated bday gift. And also when we go to Pinas he always gets 50 tshirts and lots of other stuff and shoes while I hold myself back (I bought a little, but then again each item was pricey)

I have two guilty feelings after this shopping

1. Guilty for burning 4 grand (24k php) in clothing as total damage including todays catch
2. Guilty for not buying at the net earlier so I got my faves, or stopping by the shop earlier. Man my faves ran out fast. Now I know what to do next time. Shop online once the newsletter comes with the sale warning.
3. Gulity for not getting anything for Bizzi (Although I asked him and he said he didn't want anything at this point)

I browsed the internet and the stuff on my faves were mostly gone, had no size or no more of the color I liked.

So that brings us to today. Placed an order of two items at the shop. I put on stuff and delete them. Was so fickle minded. In one point I had 10 items in my shopping chart. But I was so set to getting that jacket that I just had to fight the temptation.

Sorry, I gotta go back to yesterday and just tell you how awful I felt right before coming home. I had woken up 10 pm and was up till the following day, went and interpreted and then to mango. I was yawning constantly, heart palpitations, short of breath and dizzy for lack of sleep. I got home and then my tummy went bad. I crashed to bed right after being on the pc a bit. I felt like ont he verge to collapse, but that didn't stop me from doing a little shopping (I swear we girls must have had a shopping cart inside our mother's womb).

"Astig" LOL

Today again. I was really sporty dressed today with my puma gear. A little boyish and endorsing puma with puma caps, tshirt and bag, but rubber from Adidas. For shopping, one must wear comfy shoes. It's a must. Very lucky today, cause I finally got to catch some sun. It came out and the city was bustling and cafe life was present in the streets. I see people and I miss interactions. Seing this now after having isolated myself and gone hiatus (but now that will change with all my new stuff to show off, so I can be a little trendy and not seem like coming from a time capsule. Yes my wardrobe is filled to the rim, but I see all these trendy people outside and I feel a little left out). First stop Mango. I went up and down and up again and asked for the jacket and they said down, and then I discovered a new section. The thing with Mango is that not only do they have nice clothing but their collection is massive. So much to pick from. The other day, I had to go over the racks twice. this day twice as well. I went to the other outlet today, and saw some of the stuff from the net, and some didn't have my size. Bummer. I was just going to buy that lather jacket, but just before going to the cashier I picked up some stuff near the cashier. Todays Mango Purchase was charged to Mastercard. Instead I thought of just adding extra amount to our monthly regular installments so it would be like I would partially pay for it in monthly installments. That way it wouldn't be so heavy on the wallet. In the testing room, I almost got claustrophobic. It was a cramped space and I had picked up one of those complicated criss crossed tops. With the spotlight dead on me with its scorching heat, I struggled to put it on. What girls go through... I also discovered that the bags I saw on the net were smaller than I imagined. I also discovered that the stuff I bought they had it on the store. But it's better to be safe cause I didn't see the bag I wanted on the outlet yesterday. I am glad though that the big leather bag I saw yesterday wasn't there. Saved a few bucks. And I am usually an exclusive Mango girl, but had to snag some stuff at H&M. My main purpose was to find a white sleevelss top to have under my sheer seethrough and knits, but picked up more stuff. Knitted armygreen sweater with a hood and a butooned tshirt-love those fit t-shirt. It's so Winona Ryderish-Reality bites(I observed that knitted was the prevalent accent of their last collection as well as raffles. And also the knickers with some bucles and other accents and puffy details. I see lots of girls wearing these knickers with heeld shoes. And also shorts a little above the knee looked to be trendy. Actually these are the things I should be buying because I am so obsessed with tops and blouses that I have too many of them. Although my principle is that with one jeans, and changing tops and accesories you can always achieve different look. So one doen't need too many jeans and pants actually.). I also bought shoes from a store who always has reasonable prices (pang masa ika nga). I peeked in at Bianco (bianco.com), but a little over budget. And yes I do have budgets even when I impulse shop. I also had this "no blouse or tops for more than 200" policy. I wanted some wool sweater, but I am so darn lazy to handwash.

See how chatty I am when it comes to shopping. I am just typing like mad here that I could get an overspeed ticket if there was such a thing.

More news for today. I went to sis in law's office since they wanted to discuss something with me. They apparently needed me to work there and develop and follow up on the bid they won. It was a form of expansion with that contract and they needed an extra hand to make it all happen and so they can improve and win it again after 2 years. To be honest, I am a little hesitant. I worked there before a bit, and for many reasons I find it a bit difficult to work for family. Let's just see first if I get any response from my applications. Anyway I had one cig today with cafe mocha. Couldn't resist with the company and being outdoors in the sun. Lethal combination.

Some visuals first. Thought I brag about my conquest for a while, hehe.

From my camera, my shopping bag contents. I really heart that frayed edges on the green jacket and how it is shaped to the body. And that printed tshirt rocks. It has japanese culture prints on it and geisha's. I love oriental flare and besides I just loved the length of it. It's slightly longer than the ordinary tshirt.

From the netshop. Items 1 & 2 I ordered from the internet (but white sweater). I bought items 3-7, but the raffled in yellowish beige and the last one in white. Item 8 they didn't have my size on the net an was empty at the outlet, but I loved the details in this. There is a flower detail below which can hardly be seem from here. The raffled last one is from the newere collection. I love it. Look at the sleeves. It's all about the details...

And I bragged so much about Mango, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I love all their clothes. The 3 above are pieces that I wouldn't be caught dead wearing. I understand the trend of ballerina shoes, but ballerina tops? The bikini would loke more decent if you removed the middle part and made it a 2 piece. This comes off a little slutty. Detailwise it is ok. It just seem to be more bare than a twopiece. Now the third one I don't even know where to begin with this hideous stuff. It takes me back to a certain era; I don't know, maybe 80's early 90's, hmm. My spine is shivering when I think of myself and my hairsprayed bangs and puffy sleeves, but somehow these sleeves is worse than the 80's. and midrib, come on, who are we trying to fool here. Enough dissing. Just having a little fun.

Che, heard you shopped at the net. be warned my child, it could be addicting. maybe you'll turn triggerhappy on that checkout button, LOL :D

Sunny lovely weather as I said so had to buy something cold to drink on my way home. Iwas longing for fruitshake and frapuccino, but Norway doesn't have so many options so it was a slush in the convenience store and peach icetea.

Btw, can someone tell me what ROFL is. I am not updated with this.

Leave you with a pic of my baby last weekend. I almost forgot that it was friday and that Bizzi didn't have work. Must be all the shopping clouding my thoughts, LOL.

Rants and Raves of a geek

2006-06-21T06:37:00.000+02:00

Ok before I rant and rave, here is another one of my LO's:

Daughter of a good friend.

Credits: Background from Meredith Fenwick and pink fiber from Kim Christensen, both from Sundress kit (part of -her cd- collection), Paisley and letter "l" by Kim Christensen from Girls Lie too (also part of her cd) Felt frame, heart, and crochet flower from Gina Cabrerera at DDE, felt flower used as frame is a freebie from Holly McCaig, Patchlike flower and funky flower from Gina Miller and the pink stone is from her byobb kit, polkadot ribbon from Amber Clegg's neopolitan summer kit, pink plain ribbon from Fee Jardine's Appleberry pie kit, lace from Nancie Rowe Janitz' Bleached Linen kit, stitched up button from Jen Wilson, kinda sweet alpha from Gina Miller and vintage girl alpha from Lori Barnhurst. Font is Carpenter ICG.
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Warning: This is as the title of this post suggest, a geeky rant and rave, so if techie stuff gives you the headache, then refrain from reading this, hehe. But this is what mostly consumed my whole night so thus a need to blog about it. And if your Photoshop is acting weird on you, this may be the solution.

I had signed up for a norwegian site (datascrapping.no) and was eager to create a LO to share and besides, so many LO's to make including one to celebrate my bestfriend's news (check the tagboard and you'lll see what I mean. Then, something happened with CS2 while I was in the middle of the LO. It just shut down by itself without me saving it. Stubborn me who alreaady knew that LO by heart, redid it, and it shut down. And again, and again, and again... It seemed like it did that everytime I typed. So, first I deleted some fonts since I have over the recommended of 500 fonts. I made it go down from 570 to 520. So problem not fixed. I removed and reinstalled, but no luck there too. I googled and googled and it was difficult to find a hit that matched my problem as precise and concise as I was. And also had problem with my task manager not showing up (I am beginning to love taskmanager to analyze the performances and processes-what eats up my resources, and what program might cause my problems). For the task manager problem I found out that downloading a free virus scan named and avg would detect and remove the problem. And so I did. Apparently something I downloaded planted a virus. Luckily when that virus disguised as an outlook program tried to access the net, Norton Antivirus popped up and asked if I was to allow it, but I blocked it. Anyway, I started scanning the pc. All 3 harddrives (and one of them partitioned), and it used 3 hours to scan the 300000 files in my pc. I also turned off the internet since I don't want any virus access my pc if it was that type of virus. The scanning removed 22 virus in the system. I think 4 of them was very hazardous. The outlook virus. I restarted and task manager was up again. But still my CS2 was shutting itself when I was typing. Googled some more, and came to a digi scrapbook forum with someone having a problem that looked similar. She was suggested to reassign scratchdisk (which I have done before), disk fragment and disk cleanup. I did the latter two. That again took the time, especially the disk defrag. Disk cleanup went fast since I earlier deleted the compress old files in the system registry when I encountered a problem (see previous posts) with cleanmanager getting stuck and keeping my CPU at 100% which overworked it and made it temperature overheat constantly, despite rebooting. In the end it didn't help. Then I finally found 2 solutions, one said that it mught be faulty font. I have done this process before. Uninstalling and reinstalling my fonts to check if there's any faulty font, so I skipped that solution. And then another one, it suggested that I delete the photoshop preference file and redirected to a link with a tutorial on how to locate and more explanation. Halleluja. It removed the problem. Time 6:30, problem started 11 pm. That's how persistent I am at troublehooting, and it never failed till now. And I was so happy to succeed and be able to use CS2 again that I was on the verge of crying. Imagine my hellish looong and wasted night. I tried everything and thought of everything, even rewinding the happenings to trace what I have done that might have caused it. Oh man, I am happy that was over with. Honestly, I am such a big geek that my beloved computer for me is like cars is for the boys. When they hear a new sound, they notice immediatley. Same with me, I am very sensitive detecting abnormal behaviors and sounds. And good that I am a mechanic too that manages to solve it. So, despite my backaches now, I am just so darn happy to get it fixed.
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Happy news: Bestfriend Amor is having a baby. I am so happy for her. LO to follow. Certainly there is baby boom nowadays! The question is when will I contribute to the growth of population.
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Relationship: I known Bizzi now for more than 5 years, and I am not getting tired of my man a bit. I really have no complaints. If we have any issues, it is so minor and easily resolved. Now with my distorted sleep, I try as much as I can to sleep at the same time as him when he comes from the graveyard shift. We usually lie in the bed with cartoon network on, and he enjoys the show much more than me, but what I likes the most with this is snuggling up and hear him childishly laughing and chuckling over his fave shows. I am smitten and it makes me feel young at heart. We joke a lot with each other before we sleep, asaran ika nga and lambingan. lately I have been so busy with the computer when he is out of working that I sometimes forget to anticipate his homecoming (but when he comes home, I always greet him with a tight hug and he always happy, but struggling to get out of my grips to take of his shoes). The other day, I missed him like crazy. I was texting him sweet messages 5 in the morning, and he sent me back an mms with a picture of himself in his work uniform with the ff words: you don't love me (in norwegian, except for the love, that's how we make lambing; pretending to be sad and say that the partener don't love us, so that the partner will try to convince that it's not true. Well it sounds scripted and so unsweet when I tell you about this, but believe me it is for us). I was giggling at his mms like a girl with a puppy love. I just love that we still feel so freshly in love when we have been together for a long time already. These feelings I feel is really genuine since I have felt the opposite in pasts relationship. I see how they lose the glow with the years and I feel so unreciprocated or treated badly. I see the great difference with Bizzi, and I appreciate it everytime. Now somebody shows me love the same way that I do. Someone thinks I am worthy of attention, someone is valuing my opinions and listens to it and someone respect me. I feel so blessed to find one that never seem to stop to amaze me and to humour me. Bless his kind soul.

The other night it felt good to open to him some stuff that I am bearing inside. He is not the phenomenal psychologist that has all the answers to anyone's problem, but his compassion and listening skills helps me a lot. To know he understands, do not judge and supports. I had to let some steam off and open up how lousy I felt as a wife not getting stuff done and not being able to make him food and not doing enough for my sister (there was a 2 day period where I felt like I was so unhelpful in housework. I often feel this, but these 2 days it was enhanced). And when I ask him if he feels that I am a bad neglecting wife, he laughs and says sarcastically that I am. And I know he is sincere when he says that this has not bothered him at all. That is the great thing with Bizzi. He is not complex and very straightforward. He says it like it is. He might not be this deep and analytical person with insecurites and clogged head, but that's the great thing. He gives me balance, and puts me back on the ground. I am secured and with him I know (and I am aware that some couple who has experienced adultery never expected it or got shocked) that he will stick loyally to my side.

I confess, I am happily married.
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The funny thing with sis' seperation is that just right after she received the edited dvd, they were history as couple. I think videographers must speed up their editing in this day of age with constant divorce. It went so fast that my sister didn't even gete a chance to change her surname which turned out for the better.
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Sunday was movie night once again. This time Bizzi gave up dragging me to the rental shop with him. He called me and asked me what I wanted. I said I wanted any icecream with chocolate (having drumstick in mind, he said horsehoe which I forgot what it was), while sis' wanted those long "icecandy" bars. He came home with 3 for each of us of those icesticks. each 3 in different flavors. And a bag of candy, one type for each of us. And exclusively for me he got a whole icecream cake. It was big, not as I expected. What a sweetie.

He rented a movie by Nicolas Cage called the weatherman and then the animation little chicken. The first one proved to be a black comedy which I discovered in the first minutes of the movies. I told him he rented a black comedy (which I know he don't appreciate, but he just kept it cool since he did the pick. So he didn't go ranting constantly that the movie sucked which would have been another case if I had rented it), and started teasing hime with asking how the preview is and what enticed him to rent it and why he was fooled to think it was a movie he would like. He was smiling when I was teasing him; like man I screwed it up. We did enjoy little chicken. This one we saw in the bedroom since sister was already taking a nappy at this time in her livingroom bedroom.
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"It's just the cutest thing
When you get to fussing (fussing)
Yelling and throwing things
I just wanna eat you up
I don't mean no disrespect
When I start staring
Knowing that it makes you mad
I'm sorry that seeing you mad is so sexy
Could it be the little wrinkle over your nose
When you make your angry face
That makes me wanna just take off all your clothes
And sex you all over the place
Could it be the lil' way that you storm around
That makes me wanna tear you down
Baby, I ain't sure, but one thing that I do know is
Every time you scream at me
I wanna kiss you
When you put your hands on me I wanna touch you
When we get to arguing
Just gotta kiss you
Baby, I don't know why it's like that
But you're so damn sexy
When you're mad
Baby, don't think I don't take you seriously
But I just can't help the fact that your attitude excites me (so exciting)
And you know ain't nothing better
Then when we get Mad together and have angry sex (I'll blow you out)
Then we forget what we were mad about..."

That's Ne-yo's new song. I like the message in the lyrics. Not necessarily the erotic part, but it's just that this reminds me so much of Bizzi who always tries to make me mad for so to tickle me pink later.
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Random and/or trivial stuff: Changed my bloglines alert sound which managed to annoy the whole household including yours truly. Now it has this funny comedy sound that is lower and more pleasant to hear.

Sweden tied with England (to Cheche's dismay, LOL). Ofcourse I am for Sweden. It is after all our neighboring country. I like the swedes and I like Zlatan & Co. They are meeting next my baby's team, Germany. He says if they win over Germany, they better win the whole championship, or he'll get mad. My baby is as I told you a real sweetie. He loves Germany, but since he knows I am on the Swede's side, he even considered that they might win with some conditions.

What's up with Paris Hilton and her singing. Have you seen her new video. She is so trying hard, and wiggling and moving like crazy. Overly done! Like someone said it was like a long CK commercial, but a boring one. Her video is what actually started my celeb gossip craze the other day.

And what's up with a threadless keyboard with the ability to reach meters. Hello, is it so that I can type while I am eating dinner or watching tv. Can I even read the screen from a 7 meter distance.

The other day I spilled at myself twice in a day while sitting on the computer, coffee first and second whole opening a sparkling water that turned out to have been shaking through the carjourney. Hate sticky stuff. You should have seen the look in my face. Funny, the first i attended to is the keyboard and the pc instead of myself (It wasn't like it had gone inside and had possibilty to short circuit the whole thing).

As I was eating the other day, with the viand not being so much, I had four spoons of rice to each spoon of viand. It gave me dejavu of my ex with his eating habits, with all his rice follow up. No wonder he fears acquiring diabetese (his dad has too so he is very concious of softdrinks, etc. but obviously not with rice).

Raining nowadays. Not pouring like mad actually, but it's grey and so different from the past weeks with lots of sun. It saddens me a little. I am definitely a sun and summer person although I hold myself indoors and remain unexposed to the rays. The only downer on the sunny days is that sis bought really sheer curtains and I can't see a damn thing.

Old colleague texts me and says she opened her own parlor. She was dreaming of this when we were working together. So nice to hear from peeps I haven't heard from in a long time.
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Budgeting: yes it's a word that the shopaholic wrote (just in digi kits though). We were talking about vaccationing. then I thought about the camera, and future stuff, like getting house and furnitures and investing for kids. We definitely need to make a forecast and set priorities. I do want to be able to travel a bit before we have kids and enjoy each other. I suggested to go to California. I like that there's a lot things to see and do in the states, cheaper than europe and lots of food tripping. Reading dessertcomesfirst Lori's trip to the States left my mouth watering. And I also want to go to Greece or another mediterranean country, or maybe a quick european tour. But one's thing is more certain, a trip to Gothenburg in Sweden with friends for a weekend when weather gets better and everyone's free. It'll be fun.
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That's it. I have to scrap to catch up with lost time fixing the damn software. Bye for now

Punched soul, troubleshooting and mango in cotton.

2006-06-17T00:04:00.000+02:00

I am a little down today, and feeling very unproductive. Well, I have been feeling unproductive for the longest time, but somehow enhanced today and last night. This procrastination thing is such a big burden. Seing the tons of work and chores I could have done while I was out of job. It's just so hard to resist the computer. It's like it's calling me towards it. Freaky to be so attached to a thing that it's affecting my personal life and environment to such a big degree. I have a LO to share. I spent the longest time finishing it. In fact after hours playing around with it, I had to let go and sleep with unsatisfaction. After waking up, I still used hours on it, and in the end still not too comfy with the end result. Welcome to my perfectionist world. What ever happened to having fun in the process. But I did get some love for it, and it's alway a boost to get comments from the designers you admire *blush*.

Journaling is mostly about the time dad contracted meningitis, and was near death. He returned to a child, lost his memories and got super thin. So I am glad God was merciful and let him stay with us longer.

Credits: Photoalbum, albumpages and alpha from Jen Wilson's Genuine Swing. Papers from jen Wilson's Grandad's lap, cut with Miss Mint's decorative edges, vellum mat vellum from Jen Wilson's everyday bliss kit, Beaded wire from Chelsey's dream kit by Michelle Coleman, Buttons and bookplate from Jen Wilson's latest element packs, vintagepaper paraphernalia from Kathryn Balint's My old Office, frame corners and Inked overlay from IOD essentials kit, Burnt edge Overlay from Michelle Coleman, stitches from Gina Miller and tripleframe from Eve Recinella's Rough n Tumble kit. Fonts are Beccaria, Carpenter ICG and Saeculum.
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And beside from the creative downer within me, the computer also has been guilty on frustrating me and affecting my flow. This is my second baby so my spiderman's senses are tingling when something is wrong. Also, I was to uninstall photoshop 7.0 when it all hang up and I didn't get to finish the uninstall. When I restarted it was unable to uninstall since it was missing a logfile that was vanished through the interrupted uninstall prior to rebooting. And deleting the folder manually in the program files doesn't remove the registry files and other photoshop 7 associated files spread a round. Headache after headache. But the biggest problem is lately, it has been slow, gettig stuck and for example when I type a text at Photoshop, there is delay before it appears. Another thing that has been happening is that when I do disk cleanup it never finishes. I didn't tie it to the slow performance, but later discovered that this was causing it. Also bloglines was a little cuckoo last night, I emailed support and got fixed.

So I opened the task manager and saw that it was 100% all the time, and I didn't have much program on. I had tons of stuff running simultaneously before, but still having it down to 40-70%. This was definitely abnormal. I opened the processes and discovered that the biggest percent of 99% was going to cleanmngr.exe. So I googled my situation which suggested I edit an entry in the registry. I am always a little hesitant touching the registry. I killed the process in the task manager, also edited the registry and last I scanned for spyware with Adware. I read a lot to see what can be causing this and especially if there was a virus in the system (I am currently running an antivirus scan, but not sure if it will be able to detect it). The steps I tok helped, but a probable virus and possibility for a backdoor in my computer which hackers can access is not a happy thought, and the more I am feeling the urgency of having a backup disk for pictures and other important documents. I felt it was so weird to just install new additional ram, but still get poorer performance. Now I get why the computer always told me computer over temperature. The poor thing was overworked by a malfunction.

Anyways, I am bit back on track computerwise. Just need to some clearing and cleaning. Wish I could also get myself to do some cleaning outside the monitor.

Supposedly (there I go again with my supposedly), I was going to a kurdish wedding with Bizzi. With limited transpo, my baby asked me if I still wanted to go. Learning that sis in law wasn't coming, I wasn't so thrilled to sitting with the elders for I would certainly not dance without my usual companions. I get to do ther stuff then, like scrapping *wink*. was relieved to be relieved of the event.

I managed to finish my application for the foreign exchange bank, but will submit it by sunday when sleep is adjusted hopefully. Another job opening that appealed to me is at Mango. Head of their biggest branch in Oslo, assistant chief and visual achuchu. I want to apply as the assistant chief. I love Mango clothing and it would be a treat to work in their firm. Sp since we are talking about Mango. Look at this.

And I went through over 1000 apparels on their norwegian website and here are my faves:

And unless I was a millionaire, I would get the whole bunch, but since I am a far cry from one with my bum ass, here is my narrowed choice. I am a mad shopper I tell you to go through this tedious process before heading to their store.

And to show you excactly how tedious the process was look at the other that didn't fall into my faves, but which I still loved.

and on the topic of fashion, I scanned this from the brochure of one of the nearby malls. I just love the white trend. It's so summery. With hint of browns also. And I loved the color of that bikini. So sweet.

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I was having a sappy attack the other day. Well why you might ask. It's all about the weddings. saw Dionne's AVP at Threelogy and another wawie's as well and Nikki's prenups at Ilocos. Also Ade's pics too. Sigh, I miss my wedding preps. I am just so happy for these cyberpals of mine. I know how extatic they must feel. Sigh, again. Another reason I have been having sappy attacks is because of all the sad stuff happening around the world. Some afghan men is hungerstriking downtown because they fear to be sent back to their country in fear of prosecution. They have been doing this for 3 weeks now poor guys. The governement means it's safe for them now, but apparently they disagree, or maybe it's becasue they've got a ataste of a better life in which case why should they be deprived of the opprtunity of that. Then again, there are policies and complex structures of rules that needs to be folowed in order to have equality and order. For while I pity these guys, I am also apalled by the crimes some refugees commit while they are here, and ruining the chances of other who are genuine and noble. And then again, these same criminal offenders have seen and witnessed brutality in their daily life while I sit here sheltered from harm. I also wept for the 2 muslims who were set free after they were shot at being mistaken for terrorists. He was talking about his fear of dying and how he felt at the moment they were shot at. I see how difficult it must have been for him with the look in his eyes.

And last night I also spent most of my time browsing on celeb gossips in the States. At TMZ and at this place called superficial. Some were really funny to read. All the dissing and sarcasm.

By the way a warning to messenger users (yahoo and msn and the likes). If someone on your list (even if it's a friend you trust) suddenly appears and sends you a link just like that, don't click on the link. It's a virus. It's not harmful, but it will in turn do the same to your contacts. I was a vcitim, but managed to remove it. Twice I have gotten messages now even if I was on invisible mode, but I fortunately know better now. So don't fall for that. Who knows, maybe it's a harmful one that has been developed.

I leave you with that for now, although there are some small stuff I haven't gotten to. But it's in my notes. So till next time...

Exciting News and more Creative Juiceflows

2006-06-14T22:23:00.000+02:00

I got an exciting sms from my bespren Amor. Will share all the details ovnce it is confirmed.

But first up would like to share 2 LO's I made just recently.

Credits: Everything from Lie Fhung's Soul Searching Sampler Kit given out during NSD, except for half bow ribbon which is a freebie at scrapsupply from Lie Fhung, ribbon from Jen Wilson's enlighten and, letter "M" from Lori Barnhurst's Flower Alphabet, freebie lace from Bannerwoman and a little magic brush from Dianne Rigdon. Font: 4 Magic DNA. Most of the items recolored. Midnight Gold action on photo from atncentral.

Yet another one of my hubby's nephew. I like scraping kids, and have no kids of my own, so luckily hubby has lots of niece and nephews.

Credits: Everything from Andrea Burns' Playtime kit at ACOT, except for Cardboard tag and felt arrow from Gina Cabrera at DDE (Book Bag Essentials and Snippet Essentials), acrylic brush strokes by Michelle Coleman, Photo prong from Eve Recinella's Rough n tumble, notepad from Jan Crowley's Little Black Dress and Flower doodle by Fee Jardine. Fonts: FG-Matilda and 39 smooth. Ittybitty actions used as well as VP filter. Free Sketch action used on the lower image from adobe studio exchange.

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Tuesday went and I heard no icecream car. The week went and I am still sitiing on my computer chair like I did from the beginning. Boy am I monotonous.

The computer was weird the other day, or maybe I am the one abusive. On the whole day without restarts. Several programs on simultaneously. I am putting so much load to it, so when I opened it said (literally it said with its computer voice) CPU! over temperature. I think it's the second time it did that. I always get startled everytime I hear that voice. Also I am now on the phase of music tripping. Just checking if it will inspire and increase creativity. Consider it an experiment or a survey if you will. I have my earphones plugged to the pc and humming away the whole day in rock, alternative, reggae and r&b beats.

By the way, at bro in law's house during the weekends, I discovered that msn toolbar has this tab function browsing with the internet explorer. I installed it. It just f*cked up twice when i was posting an entry at the other blog. It's really not that fab, and lacks functionality, so steer away. It just use resources.

I forgot to tell about the day we went to the show and was audience and drove Bizzi to work. we stopped over the gas station for he wanted a bite. I didn't know he ordered a burger roll, so when he asked what I wanted I didn't want them to wait for me waiting for my order to finish. Suddenly, the guy calls him and his burger roller was finished. I then became childish with a slight tantrum and said why he didn't tell me. He started pointing out to the rolls and wienerbreads and said why don't you just order one of those and have tea with it at home. I found it sweet and smiled immediately. It was not the suggestion for the food to buy, but the suggestion of the complimentary beverage. And I must tell you by the way that wienerpecan is one of my fave treats. Love the nuts and the pecansyrup and the pastry itself. Yummy.

I am back to computer coffee again. i forgot it for a while, but after our cinema trip where I got the java kick it all came back to me.

The other day I fell in the couch with sis. Bizzi comes home kissing me, and I am happy and annoyed at the same time. A little break and then he comes back again with kisses annoying me and pleasing me again and askingme to come to the bedroom and sleep beside him. I'll never grow tired of my guy.

Being a little more accustomed to my cellphone, these are the minuses. No seperate back button that can get you back one screen at the time. Doesn't back up themes. The good side is its batterytime. Longer than its Sony Ericson predecessor. I am actually charging my phone, and having it on. That's what new cp does.

World Championship Football is like peanuts to me. Peanuts for me is boring at first glance, but hard to stop when you got a taste for it. I am not particularly passionate about the sport, but I get really excited when I have started watching it. Like when we went to visit the kurdish family this weekend, we were jumping, screaming and cursing. I remember watching European championship. We were wild.

Very excited about the job I am applying for. If I just stop procrastinating, and actually put my creative powers in making the application. It's at my sis work in foreign exchange. It's not wow, but I can't be picky. I hope I'll bag this one.

I have 3 subscriber on this blog. How cool is that. Somebody's actually interested in my dull life, hehe.

My paypal limit is down to 250 meaning I spent a lot already. Embarassed to even say it. I still have plenty stuff to do. i am slowly but surely organizing our room. Throwing old stuff. Moving them on different places. Making use of boxes. Sis bought some new stuff at Ikea the other day. So new curtains (very light and see throuish which makes it a pain on the midday, can't see anything on the monitor) and new bathroom rug. She also moved around some of our stuff. Auntie's coming over tomorrow. Must pimp up the place. And next week or so, my uncle from the Philippines will come here to Norway and fix his pension. he is now eligible. He is coming with my auntie, and my cousin will be coming with here husband and baby and they will all sleepover at our place. Thsi cause for a general cleaning. Howell, gotta get out of my chair now, and be of use. Byee.

Back Bloggin'

2006-06-12T23:59:00.000+02:00

So as I said lots of happenings. Nothing speatacular, but with my boring everyday, any developments is speactacular...at least for me.

So Liv, my excuses being:

1.) I feel inferior when I read the humour in your blog, and my complexes of boredom gets to me
2.) The blogging crown is already placed in your pretty head. Girl, you are blogging like crazy
3.) As I said before, what shall I blog, if I spend half the day blogging...hehe

I tried my best, was it good enough, hehe.

Ok, over to the tales of the weekend. Quality time with hubby on a summer sunday. He woke up pretty late, but we did manage to catch some sun newertheless. I had a terrible headache, but with a samosa and paracet to start the day, I got rid of it. From the house to downtown, I was constantly asking him; sushi or arabic/mediterranean (I forgot tapas as alternative, I was to excited by the thought of eating out). I had my period, and usually I don't like to go out, but I couldn't miss yet another sunfilled day. I just love it when my hubby strokes my back when he knows I have the period. Even at his own initiative. It never fails to please me. I know he would be a good caretaker of me when I get preggy someday. The choice fell on sushi. I was trying to find East Sushi, but ended with Benny's which is 2 restauant in one. Angelo's Italian and Benny's Sushi. The interior is nothing fancy. I wished I could have decorated this place to give it some flair. It was badly in need of it. But then again, it made our dining experience a little more casual, and not so stiff.

The soy sauce was a little too salty. We had 34 pieces, and I was still yearning for more when I took my last bite. I can't have neough of this fishy dish. Ofcourse tempura maki is on our menu, and no mercy on the pickled ginger.

Could have been better, but good enough. We decided to go to the cinema and watch x-men. Before that, I had a sudden craving for sweets and went over to the nearest convenience store where I used to work. Italian gelatto icecream for us, him melon and I Nocciola (nutty). Felt like snacking and bought some Friday's potatos skin chilli and cheddar potato chip bag, Hershey's almond swoops (thick chocolate in the shape of Pringles) and lastly some tangy childish candy name Wonka's nerds. I loved this in my teens. We also got self-service coffee for both of us. usually I mix the dark chocolate and white chocolate, but they were out of the dark. I sipped this coffee throughout the movie, even when it was already cold. I missed the taste of cafe coffee. Holding the take out coffe cup makes me feel like a yuppy and on the go. So not me, the unoccupied brat that I am.

I was taken by x-men. I began to have fantasies and started wishing for powers and just so involved. Some downers on the movie, but it left me yearning for more adventures. While credits were rolling, we were wondering why it took them so long to open the lights. When I read a forum back home, I saw that there is a scene after the credits that most people miss because they were rushing to go. And I am sure the one controlling the lights and the clip is always hesitant to open the lights for this reason, but are pressured by the rushing audience. I got more thrilled by this than the last movie we watched, Mission Impossible. Powerful women and mutants appeal to me more. Girlpower baby.

I couldn't help but feel the reaction of my seatmate as she was startled by a scene. I think that's why they have dolby surround system at the movies. Anyway, I also re discovered the embarassment of watching a movie when you are me. I had 3 teary moments which I just had to lean on hubby to hide myself and so that the tear would decently be absorbed by his t-shirt. Those moments, I wish the cinema is darker than normal.

Bizzi suggested we walked along the mainstreet and bypass the subway stations in between so that we could suck in the ambience. When we passed by the first I had asked why we didn't go there, so I was liking his idea to make me come down to earth and stop always being on a hurry. For he meant we should just take it easy, and breathe in the outside life. So we went walking hand in hand along Karl Johan and just being sweet and observant. While we were talking about stuff, I mentioned that I was so looking forward to have a baby, and he says always the same thing; and when will that be, you don't want one. it's now or never. Its' not that I don't want one, but I tend to think and plan too much,and I just want everything to be prepared. He knows that, but we like to tease each other. I said after one year, and he says well after one year he wants the BOY to be walking already. So he is revealed, he wants a boy! haha. He smiled and laughed when I accused him of such.

On the other end of mainstreet we bumped to brother in law who hitched us a ride home. They have been watching soccer since it's the world championship being held in Germany nowadays. I conclude that we had yet a nice day and a nice date! No picture to show, but Bizzi's embarassed to take pics downtown and so was I. I said what if he had the D50, and he said well that would be another thing. He would be snapping away.

Rewind to Friday. We slept at Bizzi's elder brother. We were supposed to sleep at his parents, but they were at his brother's place. His brother's wife is one month pregnant and that's good new. Vara is going to be a big brother. Since Bizzi has 3 nephews here in Norway and the nieces are in canada and england, it would be nice to have a girl. we'll see...

They had one bedroom and they gave it to us, while they all slept in the living room. I was embarassed to be given such special treatment. The bed was big and nice to sleep in. I fell asleep at once. Bizzi, on the other hand, slep 3 to 6 am only. I think it was because of the lights outside. He found out only later that there was something you could pull to shut off the light outside (sort of like blinds, but just don't know the name for it). I was last one out of the bed, and i was ashemd to be the lazy wife, hehe. We sat outside chatting, sitting on the ground and absorbing the heat.

We later headed to a kurdish family who invited us. I must say I missed the kurdish food, and the table was loaded. Good stuff. God bless my contented stomach. They were serving food and drinks constantly. The lasy of the house never got her butt warmed up to sit long enough before she headed to the kitchen and fetched more stuff. My tummy have never been so bloated for the longest time. Their flat had almost the same plan as our flat when we were small. The placement of the rooms and the 2 balconies at the opposite ends. So I knew where to find the cr and the other rooms. We had a few hearty laughs. The host was very funny with his stories. The whole family was laughing in duet and I missed this type of social connection.

We went home late, and I was embarassed to be driven home so late. Actually, it's a longer story, but another time.

Friday before we went to brother in law, we stopped by at sisi in law, where we used to live for a little while I missed the place. I found out there on teh internet that I won runner up on Jen Wilson's name that kit contest. Check it out:

Today I also found out that I won Ange Dawn's what's your number and also that Sally of IOD liked my entry at their name that kit contest, and she might use it for a future kit wherein I will get a copy. Yohoo, I am on a winning streak. Name that kit contests are so much fun. Ongoing is Holly's mom's purse shop and Michelle Coleman's newest kit, and a new one from Jen, I am struggling with 4 alternatives.

Anyway, back to my story. I found out that the album I was looking for is at sis' Helan's office. The one of my childhood memories and baby pics. I suddenly remembered I had lots of stuff there. By the way, yahoo she passed the 3rd semester in law. I aslo got a new cellphone which Jiar, Bizzi's younger brother gave me. It's a sleek Samsung, the one that you slide down. It reads Mp3, has bluetooth, supports MMS, calendar, alarm clock and a camera, and that covers my basics.

Friday, Tonje, the good friend I bumped into the other weekend, called me. just a friendly chit chat, and we both agreed that we need to set aside a day to go out with the gang (the Burger King gang that is).

A little further back, I have to tell you about our day being the audience of Do you want to be a millionaire. So surreal, but fun. Liked to see the staff working, and the crowdpleasing man in charge of leading the audience. He was funny. We were sat just on the spot captured by camera. We were not initially seated there, but they transfered us for some reason.

We were in a hurry getting there because we were alreday late. Bizzi's friend Alex was driving like crazy. I was scared in the backseat. I am so freakin' nervous around cars and any vehicle moving for that sake. I can genuinely understand now the people who have phobia's for thing that makes us go; how come, it's just this or that. But it's the feeling that you don't control the situation that eats you up alive. I feel like I am swaying, That an armor of metal is not surrounding me, that the driver does not have control, and flashes of worst scenario keeps flicking my mind. Right now, I don't think I can even ride a rollercoaster. I think I need to do some serious facing of my fear. I am too young to be scared of these things. How in the world will I ever get a license later.

That day I also was in the mood for make up and contact lenses, and so I did. The thing I hate about that though is removing part in the evening. Usually I just want to go to bed right away and not spend so much time removing residues. I also wore sandals. I love sandals It's so comfy. I am just a hater of heels. The catch was that since I haven't worn sandals in a while I forgot that my toenails was uncut and not such a pretty sight. Oh well, hopefully noone got their eyes pinned to the ground long enough to discover it.

Oh lookie here, got to share this. It's Faith and Hanzel. They also had their prenups. Check out their weddingannouncer photo album!

Supposedly, there was going to be a strike this monday woth the banks, but it was averted. People were taking out money from ATM like mad. the lines were long and most ATM machine was emptied. People have become so dependent on technology, that stuff like these seems to cripple the society. Go figure. It wasn't like these in the old days. Definitely technology has both perks and downsides.

Tomorrow, the icecream car is scheduled to drop by at our street. I'll be on the look out for that, I have been waiting a week to taste some icecream. Nothing beats that on a summerday. Can't wait to hear its merry bell.

Hate not being able to capture the moments in photo's despite how "busy" I have been. That has to change. We only walk that path once in our life.

I am sure there are stuff that I forgot to write, but hopefully it'll pop up on the next posts.

Got some prospective job to apply for. Hope I can bag one of them. In the meantime, I have to make the best out of my freetime, and scrap. I am off to do just that!

Sort of Back

2006-06-11T02:15:00.000+02:00

...at least for a short while. We came in pretty late, not my own desires though, but it's not like we have easy access to our own car to decide when to leave. We are just hitching a ride to and from. So sleepover is finished. I am back, checked out bloglines with 65 new entries. My golly. Checked mail. I won a little sumthang at the digiworld again. More about that later. We are going out tomorrow too. The weather is rising for everyday as according to the weather forecast. Football fever with the worldcup ongoing will definitely fill the bars and resto which I guess all have acquired widescreen tv's. Gotta catch some sleep. Baby went ahead long before since he surprisingly just managed to squeeze in 3 hours of sleep last night. For sure, my next entry will be filled to the rim. Nightie y'all.

BRB, Pramis!

2006-06-09T20:37:00.000+02:00

I am rushing it dearies. We will sleepover at inlaws. I am sure we will be scolded for our long absence. I need to pack and get ready till baby comes back from soccer training. Lots of rambling pretty soon! Lovely weather today. We going out strolling tomorrow downtown! Yipee, me going out, sight for sore eyes. Got a call from a friend today, very happy. Oh people, gotta say this: Dionne and Joven to get wed pretty soon, in some hours, go head to their blog and greet them! So excited on their behalf. Leave you with this LO. (Liv uber demanding ha, my excuses to come in next post okay, ahem, ahem, LOL. Your last posts cracked me up. How's your phonepal dear, hehe). Wanda, sent you my reply. Sorry for the delay. Tossed you a little bonus with it. Have fun prepping dahling.

This is hubby's nephew from England. They were here summer of 2005 for our wedding. I was trying to get a decent picture of him, but he just didn't want to pose and smile, but I guess it captured the real goofball that he is.

Credits: Corrugated paper, black tag and ink splatter from Gina Cabrera's Book Bag Essentials. Feltarrow also from Gina Cabrera from snippet essentials line at DDE, cut green paper from Eve Recinella's rough n tumble, Silver clip alpha from Ashley Olsen, twill ribbon from Kim Christensen's his cd; swimtrunks (collaborative kit with Meredith Fenwick) at SBB, twill words from Jasbeanie's boys will be boys element pack, stitches from Gina Miller's revamped stitch essentials, beaded circle from Summer Simmon's Citrus Grove (recolored) and acrylic brush strokes from Michelle Coleman. Fonts are: Rub it and Freeze.

Have a nice weekend. Be back Tomorrow evening, Norwegian time wit a long entry to bounce back with.

Spacious Dining and layouts to share

2006-06-06T12:22:00.000+02:00

Damn damn blogger and Internet Explorer. I already came far writing an entry when suddenly things got stuck. I couldn't even right click to save the stuff I wrote down. Double grr! I just hate it when that happens!

So let's try it again, might have to do some shortcuts. Btw, changed my playlist. Hope you liked it. I am hosting those mp3's at my weddingannouncer, so if you like you can get them there. I was supposed to upload Damien Rice's Blower's Daughter from the Closer soundtrack. His voice is so damn sexy!
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First up, sorry for being a slacker in the blogfront, it's not because I swore to stay away from the computer this weekend (because I didn't), I just made LO's instead. Sharing the 5 latest LO's, first one is not so fresh, but never shared it in my blog

Credits: Papers, alpha and fiber from Merdith Fenwicks and Kim Christensen's Sundress and Girls lie too kit (her cd), Floral brush from Michelle Coleman, acrylic paint brush from Nancie Rowe Janitz' Digital Distressing Kit, Tag from Summer Whimsy kit here at Scrapartist, Shabby rose by Gina Cabrera of DDE and template over picture from Christine Nash's Simply Stitching and fonts used are Orator Standard, Porcelain and Prestige Elite Standard.

Credits: Papers, cornerstamp and alpha's from Meredith Fenwick's Urban Colour Rave, Frame and label from Lie Fhung's Soul Searching Sample kit, phototurns from Holly McCaig's NSD, Round tacks from IOD Essentials, flower crochet from Gina's Cabrera's Snippet essential at DDE, Miss Mint decorative edges used on red paper as clipping mask and monogram ornament used on our wedding invites turned to a brush and used as clipping mask for one of the paper's in Meredith's kit. Fonts: Jane Austen and Cotillon. Actions used: Ittybitty Actions cross processing.

Credits:Sea grass Kacki paper from Michelle Colema's Good Karma pp (freebie on her blog), Meredith Fenwick's paper and dot from Swimtrunks kit (his cd by Kim Christensen and Meredith Fenwick), Christine Nash's template on the circled paper, twill jumpring from Holly McCaig's NSD accent pack, tag by Kime Christensen from his cd's Overall kit (collaboration with Meredith F.), shmootzy alpha from Nancie Rowe janitz, string from Jan Crowley's downtown kit and frame from Kim Crother's sloppy borders gallery collection. Font: Dear Joe. Actions: Light b&w conversion with ittybitty actions.

Credits: Papers from Katie Pertiet's Tapestry, Jackie Eckles' altered kit and folksy paper pack, speech bubble from Kristy Ann Nerness' Noteworthy, Window frame in the background from Katie Pertiet, ink spatter and artist "bra" wordart from Gina Cabrera's Book bag essentials, Alpha's from Holly and Kristy Ann's Create collaborative kit, crown from Kristy Ann's collage combo, tapes from IOD essentials and Katie Pertiet, images from stock exchange and adobe bridge (utensils, paintbrush and torso), buckle from Michelle Coleman, "belt" and frame on chest from Holly McCaig's NSD, acrylic brush strokes from Michelle Coleman and twill used to hang fram by Kathryn Balint's my old office. Made a brush and used as clipping mask by an image silhouette bought from Stock expert (swirls in hair too used as brush from stock expert). Fonts are disgusting behavior, broken 15, xerox malfunction and plastique.

Credits: Paper, tag on picture, lace and stitch from Nancie Rowe Janitz' Bleached linens, vellum tag from Miss Mint, masking tape from Katie Pertiet, Wordart from Jen Wilson's You Name it Indviduality, ornate frame from shabyy princess' studio chic and sanded chipboard alpha from Jan Crowley. Fonts used are: mom's typewriter, pristina,teletype and vtsmith upright

I had been stuck in making Lo's for the last couple of days for being intimidated, insecurities, lack of inspiration and lots of other excuses. One day I suddenly and accidentally created an effect on one of our wedding pictures when I crossprocessed the image with ittybitty actions and then suddenly it reminded me of Meredith's rave kit. Thus the adventure started.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Saturday, me, sis and hubby went out on our planned date. Bay worked long overtime hours with very little sleep so we were all basically sleepyheads, but the movietickets were already ordered from the internet.

Some pictures are from googled images, and some personal. Some of the personal was processed with ittybitty actions.

We dined at this trendy place with grilled items as specialty. It was big and spacious indoors as well as their outdoors dining area. Despite that, we decided to sit on the small mezannine area where noone was dining. It was great for privacy and we could enjoy the view from our "indoors balcony"area.

The large rotisserie was very noticeable on the other end of the entrance, while on the entrance you are greeted by a small shop (colonial) with fresh breads and sauces. The ceiling is so highThe open bar vis a vis the kitchen also is a sight to behold. The fixtures and the interior design was classic and clean. Large, very old books was in vintage bookshelves hang high up. Leather upholstery on the chairs in dark brown. Wooden tables, and other cute details. The pouch where they served the bread was so cute.

The apetizer I had was so small, but it was fresh and left a nice taste in the mouth with the belnds of ingredients. It was a herb salad with flat leaf parsley and dill, marinated scallop, whole pecan nuts and a frothy basil leaf sauce served in a shooter glass. I loved the herb sauce, but it was much too expensive for the price. It was so small that when I remembered I should have taken picture of it, it was already taken with the wind (that's why the picture shows only some poor leaves and remains of the sauce.

My baby had mussels in red wine and curry. I didn't get to taste, but it looked delicious. For main course me and sis both had the spring grilled chicken with sweet potato cake, pistachio, white wine sauce and portobello mushrooms. Bizzi had striploin with roquefort potato, parsnip, red wine sauce and spinach. For me, the chicken was too dry. I have tasted better in the local grocery store for merely 30 kroner finished grilled. The sauce was good, but scarce. The nuts are so uncreative, both the pecan nuts and the pistachio in the apetizer and the main course. They were just scattered in whole bits. I could have brought nuts from a 7eleven and just have it as snack while i eat my meal. It could have been chopped in the salad or omething like that. Bizzi's potato looked like an ordinary baked potato, but he said it didn't taste good. He sad he'd rather eat potato at the baked potato spread around downtown. We were criticizing a lot, because when the price is so stiff, it should be nothing short of fabolous. This is not a case where we got what we paid for. And we seldom dine at exclusive place, so this was a little disappointing. But ambience was great. The bread was good and tasted banana. The virgin olive oil dip had a very nice taste unlike other virgin olive oil I tasted.

We watched Mission Impossible, and Bizzi's friend Alex joined us. It was ok. But I am so sensitive to loud noises, like the blasts and stuff, and when thing goes fast I have hard time following. I am growing old, LOL.

Since billiards was right outside the cinema, and we had a car with us (we took care of sis in law's ride since they went out of town this holiday), we decided to stay a little for a game of pool. Stars and stripes. It was such a long time. On our way to the car, I met a dear old friend, Tonje. She was the asst. restaurant chief of Burger King where we worked before. She is the coolest gal, and she has such a big heart! Very happy to see her again!
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Friday, I interpreted. Had some fresh air, and the weather was nice and hot. But the busride was way too long. Almost one hour. And I don't like the air in the bus. So cramped and closed.
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It has been long since I took pictures with the camera since I started scrapping. So our small pictorial while dining, got me a little geared. I am definitely more motivated at taking shots. It was just that I felt embarassed to do it there and then.
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We are going to be audience at do you want to be millionaire (norwegian version) with the Bizzi's football tem later. They are getting paid to be audience. This is my first time to be a teleaudience, so sure it will be fun. Better charge my battery for the camera.

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Sis claimed the coach in the living room as her bedroom. Now that she is alone, her big bed must seem too big for her. I joined her last night. I just suddenly fall asleep sometimes, and then the other day I woke up after 3 hours of sleep and slept again in the afternoon. My sleep is getting weirder.

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Funny thing, because I haven't used my organizer yet, and had to write a code on it the other day when I discovered that it starts at July. I knew it was a school diary/planner, but I haven't used this type school diary since my high school days here in Norway. How could I possibly remember that. But atleast I will get to use all of it by July, and not have missed the first months this year.

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Been long time since wedding scouting days, but lookee what I have found in Manda's blog. Isn't this awesome:

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Litzie: Oh goodie, that's great to hear. Have fun clicking and shooting! I still owe you the bloglines explanation. Just have to catch up with my 2 blogs. Be right back with if you haven't already discovered it.

Che: It's so easy with the actions. Just download free from Adobe studio exchange (have to register first though) or at atncentral.com. Open an image, load the actions and press play. That's it. Nakakaaliw nga, baka ma addict ka, hehe

Wanda: my pleasure. Glad it made you happy. Me too gets happy by the smallest comments. It's nice to know someone appreciates and/or cares.

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Action gaga and organizing freak part 2

2006-06-02T01:46:00.000+02:00

I found a new love on Photoshot actions (more explanation on how it functons at my other blog). I purchased a real cool set with 40 actions at ittybittyactions.com for 99 dollar. It really does wonder. This was recommended by photgrapher TaraWhitney and the color effects are wow. It usually is priced at 139, so when I saw it was reduced I had to go get it. Been playing around with it, and here are some of the results (Most if not all actions are customable to your liking and preference with layers representing different things, like for example contrast. Just use the opacity slider to adjust). The first one is the original (not so satisfied with the outcome of the prenups in color, so this action was the perfect boost to it)

and here's one more

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I have an interpretation job tomorrow so I'll try to keep this short so I can sleep at around 3 am. I know my attempt always fail, but let's just see this time.

I went out the other day, picked up my package of ram, memory card reader and another set of SD card (1 gb). I also went to a mall not so far (4 stations by subway) to buy an organizer/filofax. I loved to go round the bookstore. I craved for the small mini cooking books on sale. I don't use my cooking books so much, been kinda intimidated, but a blogger comment from an unknown guy here said that just having ccokingbooks around is already like food to the soul. I wanted the book on salad, the one on chicken, another one on tapas, bowlfood (easy to cook meals), household meals, fingerfoods and seafood. maybe next time. been doing some scrapshopping lately, and gadget stuffs, so have to sacrifice the other goodies. I also liked the expecting mom journal books and the own recipes folder which have tabs for different categories. The memory card reader works just fine, and I used it already. Very convenient and compact as well. I found a cheap organizer, but haven't written on it yet. been busy with so many computer stuff. Cleaning the pc and organizing it, and then learning about other stuff. Thank goodness bloglines have cut my bloghopping time (Litzie, I already made some screenshots on how bloglines work, but I'll write it tomorrow. Kinda rushing today). I also got a cheap softbound book in Norwegian at the post office on the basics of Photoshop 7 (I am using CS2, but just need the basics which are not very far from each other). Here was my buy for that day. And also at the post office I bought a notepad somewhat like the one's press use. I always take note underways when I am on the computer, tips and things from my blogentry so it's useful).

On purchases we decided to go for D50 after all, and just set aside the 2000 difference in buying D70. Maybe get a better lens later when we become efficient in using the camera.

I ahd a nice day being outside that day, and bought some chinese food to take home. I ate it in a jiffy. I wonder how they get the meat so soft, hmmm?! The only thing that bothered me were the drunkards that rode the subway being obnoxiously loud. On the seats beside me were kids and they shouldn't be exposed to that attitude, swearing and cursing and just being impolite. Surprisingly, noone seemed to mind, like it was already normal in their system.

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I have so many stuff to answer, so many blogs I wish to comment on (mah sisters I am updated and want to give a shoutout to for example wanda and her TMU, gorgeous, Liv's coming Baguio trip, Nette's unfortunate incident-don't worry honey, there's always a next time-don't give up hope, Che's new weddingannouncer, and so forth) and then a nowie with a reply to my scrapbook entry. I hate it when everything becomes a juggle act. I have yet to clean intensely, make some LO of the tons of supplies I bought, be a wife and supportive sister, apply on 3 jobs I found (service branch again, but I am not too picky anymore) and fix my sleep. If my blog entries always have so many typos, maybe the rushing thing is the factor behind it.
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I thought the other day about my sister. How hard it would be to be a single mother. Doing household chores and take care of the baby simultaneously. Giving birth (painful stuff) without your man by your side is tough enough, but I guess God will always find a way, and besides when means and time allows, I will be there to help.
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Bestfriend texted Bizzi yesterday. Mom and them went to a fashion show of kuya Jorge. And now mom is a ninang. That's fun to hear. She bought a cabinet for our gift. Wish I could give more, maybe later when sis heads off to Philippines where she will give birth. Hope Amor and me can have babies at the same time, so our kids would be pals, and beside I plan to gove birth in the Philippines to eventually, and then we can support each other.
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Final note: That song Pump it of Black Eyed Peas elevates the mood for sure. I am in the mood for dancing, and on entertainment agin, prisonbreak today drove me crazy. This is too much. That series really enhances the emotions.

Memorial Day Shopping and Great Blogtip

2006-05-30T03:24:00.000+02:00

Hi y'all. I'm here again, and yes I feel so guilty from the long interval of blogging. But worry not, I always list things as it happens or as I think of something.

So what excactly is up in my part of the world. Nothing much actually. The usual actually. erratic sleeps, long hours at the computer, bloghopping...speaking of bloghopping, I have a wonderful tip. A free service called bloglines has come to my attention. It's a genious invention. For me who has so many links I stalk, what it does is tell me when someone makes a new entry so I don't need to go through each one and return disappointed. It saves lots of time! What I did is first put a link to the favorites that says sub with bloglines (I got this from bloglines' pages). When I open up a blog in a browser and want to subscribe to it, I just click on that in my favorites. Then ofcourse when you first subscribe, many entries will be listed as new, so I just click on the subscribed blog so that it resets to 0. Then I installed a tool that will run on my sytem tray. It checks at your given interval for new entries and with a sound will notify if a new entry has been made among your subscription. You can customize the sound alert, and I used a wav sound from the sound effects folder of pinnacle studio 9 video editing software. So now a door bell sound will ring for every time there is an update. Check it out at bloglines.com. I haven't yet explored all the possibilities. You can also folder the different blog categories. My next up will be the wawies link.

And when we are on the topic of wawies, I saw Data posting her supplier rating. This girl is so classy and intellectual and socially aware. They are a cool couple and really goofy. Check out her pictures here from Rene Gaviola (Hope you don't mind Data!). I love her priority on flower and how she wanted them to look like freshly picked from a meadow. Love it!:

My bloglines just doorbelled for the first time. Tia Bennett's blog just got a new entry. I am loving this blogline already.

I slept 11 am yesterday hungry, so after waking 10 pm my legs were so weak and shaking from the hunger. Easy eggs to the rescue. I needed something quick. I just made an omelette with mozarella cheese and mushroom, and paired with the rice and ketchup it was delicious for hungry me. I ate fast, and I think my tummy got a shock. I was waiting for the food to function so that I won't be a veggie anymore. I drank a biola (good for the tummy drink) for safety. The water did wonder as well. I wanted something sweet actually for energy, but i think the rice already has that. In my hunger, I couldn't help but think of those who are in even worst condition. The hungry people that experience this daily, around the clock. And here I am complaining.

The washing machine is driving me bananas. As I said before, it doesn't dry as well now. But the other day, I put on some laundry at around 4 pm. At 1 am it was still doing its thing. I didn't discover it before that time. it slipped my mind. It also smelled a little burnt rubber, and I had to do something to force it to stop. Otherwise the door wouldn't open. I definitely need to get it serviced. We are still paying credit for that thing, and it's already bailing on us.

Sunday, everyone was home. My baby finally said to me that we should rent a movie so that we all could be together and I would leave the computer. So he also forced me to go out to pick the movie. We went the 3 of us to find a movie. We were acting very silly, and my sister was alughing at the goofy couple walking with her (that would be us). We got Rumor has it and Seven Swords. Rumor has it is a movie with Jennifer Aniston. Our other choice was Just like Heaven. I just love the hair of that girl. If hair was the only thing guys drool over in a girl, Jennifer wouldn't have been replaced with Angelina.

I won in a contest by the way at the digital scrapbooking world. It was nothing creative really. Just posting as much as you can. I posted 879 entries. That's wild. Even I am in shock. So that started another wave of shopping. I got a 20 dollar GC at Digichick that was consumed in an instant. More tales of that in my other scrappy blog. Memorial day also was the cause of a lot of sale and the emptying of my pockets.

I am really fed up of some bugs lately. My Internet Exploreer have been freaking out a bit with weird fonts on some pages. And then blogger has difficulty publishing. It is stuck on 0%, and then Flickr also had a bug. I have Opera Explorer and even Netscape as back up, but when you have been accutomed to one thing, it's hard to transfer.

Are you guys fed up of the song here. Weng said she loves the playlist, but I am considering making a new one, so you won't get bored with the same song selection all the time. And of songs...I listened to an old cd of mine. Do you remember the duo of the Murmurs. the one who sang the enraged song; you suck. Their voice harmony and the strumming of their guitar is so relaxing. The other tracks from their cd is really not like you suck. They are more peaceful and friendlier. I think I need to make LO's with inspiring music. Maybe that will help it improve.

I am saddened by the events in Indonesia. I cry when I see the poor people. We helped out a little on tsunami, and i think we should contribute a little for this tragedy too. The news is sometims hard to digest. Like this father who threw his 2 sons from the balcony and himself after. A succesful doctor who have had marital problems in 6 months, but was in that hotel to celebrate their wedding anniversary. I can't even start to imagine the agony of the mother.

Let's go to something not so somber. Just please include all our unfortunate fellowman in your prayers, and be grateful evryday for what we have. Someone said

Thanks for the tip Litzie, I forgot that I heard also in a cooking show that lemon is also an effective tool to remove garlic and onion smell. We were out of lemons that day. Maybe the principle is something sour.

Ok, so over to this comment from Yen. That hubby looks like this guy. Wat do you think? I am thinking it's better tah the Sean Penn resemblance he keeps hearing. He aslo gets the look like Jesus a lot when we are in the Philippines. Bu t I do see some of his nose in this guy:

Poor baby, his back aches and his legs. I rubbed on some of those pain relieving cream. He played football yesterday and went to work after that. He scored a goal though. Yipee.

Checked the tracking of my netshop order of RAM and memory card reader. It has arrived in the post office. I am sure the notice will come in my mail today. Yahoo. I wonder if there is a need for antistatic gloves when baby opens the cabinet to insert it. Hope everything goes weel. When we had the HP cheap computer before, we opened it up and put a part inside, and it got ruined. But the cabinet is too compact and crowded that it was easy to bump into other stuff. I am sure now that we have a huge cabinet that won't happen. That's why I don't like the shuttle computers. They are too small. Will fill you in later if there is a significant boost to performance. Gotta go now. And do get a blogline, I tell you it's wonderful. And ofcourse subscribe here ;)

Still here

2006-05-26T07:05:00.000+02:00

Just being 2 days away from blogging here seems like eternity. Been busy updating and decorating the other site. So many news. So for those who love scrapbooking, please hop over and visit my other site. Link on the entry below (will update links later on the sidebar).

So what's up in my world.

Quick summary of highlights, otherwise this post would be too long (some stuff described at scrapture, like recent pruchase and purchase plan)

Ordered additional 1024 mb ram (was supposed to get 512 only since we have 512 from before, but added a little extra for double upgrade) and also bought a pack with memorycard reader and 1024 mb sd card for our compact cam
We are going to buy SLR this summer (either nikon d70, nikon d50 and canon eos 350d aka Rebel) when taxmoney and 13th month pay arrives. I am so uber happy, and must learn more of photography because of this investment.
Done some more scrapbook shopping because of freaking sale, not fair too be so tempting with us weak consumers, LOL
Finally got to handwash our wired bras. Handwash is a first for me, since the last time was technically too long ago to count
Done some superficial cleaning, not the heavy type, but that's next
Hang up our canvas printed pictures from Ikea with the help of double sided velcro sis bought. They are expensive though at 30o kroner a roll. See to it that you clean the wall first with a damp cloth and after it has dried, hang the wall decor. Press firmly on all sides to secure. My sis meant that a double sided tape would have done the job, but I meant that since an artist recommende it, then it must makes sense. When we removed one of the painting since it wasn't straight, the painting didn't chip off unlike those claylike playdoh that did. But chipped paint is better than hole in walls from the nails. Atleast one can just paint over.
Bugs, bugs, bugs annoying me. Flickr is ging a little cocoo. My image is intact, but one particular doesn't show in my blog. If I click on it and it supposedly should lead me to the flickr page, it says it is not my page. Wtf? Weird fonts popping up on some websites for some reason. In some sites, only a portion, while in Wikipiedia, the whole stuff has non viewable fonts (these fonts are among my list of fonts, first it was caffe latte, I deleted the font, and then the site showed another font. So weird), although at opera browser this is not the case. Also, for a while my referrer from blogtricks disappeared, and the other day I keep getting script errors in my blog, and then it later disappeared. Weird.
Prisonbreak episode, my heart is up my neck. Good golly miss molly.
I am getting to accustomed to netshopping, even passed the border to international netshopping (I must shut my eye to ebay and amazon, or I am doomed. The convenience to click and be sitting while shopping is too hard to resist. I...must...fight...this...)
Stll has time management problems and sleep distortion, nothing but the norm in my case.
Hubby's dayoff on wednesday night. We snuggled once in a while during the few pcbreak. He is definitely my baby. Like my babyish friend tells me, if they had a hidden camera on their apartment, and broadcasted it, the people who watched it would think they're weird. Not us, we can relate, LOL
Our economy is thriving at this moment, so I was happy to inform mom upon her request that we could send money monthly to my uncle who have had stroke during his 20's and is since then till now half paralyzed and unable to speak and move properly. Just love my uncle, and I am so sad that these was what happened to him. I just hope he feel that love many people have for him, including my love.
Besides from getting my RAM next week, I did some stuff to improve the performance of my pc when I am using photoediting software like CS2. Check the other blog for all details.
My sister got the result from her bloodtest. Rubella igg positive. She started searching the net and found out that rubella is measles and she saw some horrific pictures of infants whose mother passd them the measles. Big sister to the resacue. Being google search master, I found out that Igg indicates that she has had vacination against measles earlier. The bloodtest checked this since measles is potentially dangerous to the fetus, they checked if she had means to fight it off. She later confirmed with my cousin who was also shocked when she saw that letter she got from her bloodtest. I think it's wrong to send off medical reports like that. Not all people are informed on these medical terms and cause unnecessary worrying. They should only be sent to the doctor, and the doctor would be the one to explain. Or, before getting the test, they should brief the pasient like in one case where I interpreted.
I have not drank coffee and tea for a while, but lately I feel like it's so cozy to sit in the computer with a coffee and a small piece of cake. I got a surge of missing the cig today because of this.
Wayne came over to get some of the other stuff he left behind. It so akward for me to face him, but I still act polite and diplomatic, although one can trace a change and falseness. I have pity and disgust and confusion at the same time.
Interesting stuff at bloghop; example che and her swatches, finally wedding stuff. Nice choice by the way. And Liv at her witty best as always with an issue of a white wall. By the way sis congrats for the house. I am so looking forward to the moment we'll have ours. Is such a great feeling.
I caught one of the very rare chatter friend of mine Felix, online. He was waiting for his gf to be online. His gf just travelled to Italy petitioned by her parents the day after Amor's wedding. It was nice to talk to him again. Miss that guy! We talked about my sis' situation since both him and I was pals with my brother in law. Had tears in my eyes when he told me that he cried after she left and in moments where he missed her. Felix was our best man in our Philippine wedding.
I had the worst onion smell stuck on my hands for a long time. I got it while cutting onion for my baby's breakfast which was a failure. I used too much onion and not chopped it finely enough.It's a typical kurdish breakfast using roughly chopped tomaties in can, flat leaf parsley and onion to dip bread in. Mine was a sweetened version, since the onion was not fried enough.
Answers to tagboard; I love it when my sisters find me here. Sorry for not being able to post on your sites, and for updating u guys, I wish I had the time to do so many stuff. So hi Anna, nice to see you here. Weng you're so active here, So happy to see your posts. Sure I scrap for yah. Just give me a picture, color prefernce if any or theme and perhaps a story I can write in the Layout or a date. Hi Marie, hope you can give your link to your site if you have so I can see your longhaired guy. Kaye: Goodie, keep us updated!

What's cooking in Angie's kitchen

2006-05-23T08:19:00.000+02:00

Oh my am I excited to share this with you. Some of you might know me as the frustrated cook. I made a dish today..and succesfully if I may I add. Finally a new addition to my limited list of food I can cook. The thing with this dish is that I have never watched someone make it or seen over a recipe. I have just eaten it, and just used some intuition on making it. It's nilaga. Some might laugh, since it is a relatively easy dish to do (which I only found out now), but for a kitchen clumsy like me this is a conquest. I love how mom makes it with corn on the cob and saba (cooking banana). I used corn on the cob today along with carrot, potato, cabbage and onion. I think it took me 3 hours to make this. It would have been shorter with a pressure cooker which we don't have. The meat got really tender, which is one of the things I fear in cooking (overcooked and too hard, or raw, or chewy for any reason). I just noticed that you have to put a lot of water since it evaporates. I had to boil with the watercooker several time and pour it in. I was afraid it would taste bland in this process, but it turned out tasty. I must admit I went one too many time to have alook at it. I was a proud mother of this caserole of broth and veggies.

Speaking of corn on the cob, I discovered a new way to eat it courtesy of my baby. Lemon, and plenty of salt. I can almost taste the lemon and I shiver.
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My site at http://scrapture.blogspot.com is overfilled with blinkies now, and it might take time to load all the images in the page. I can't believe I inserted each of those link without the blogrolling. I am really enjoying this html thing.
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My sleep as you guessed it is once again distorted, and I wonder when it will be straightened again, but this time for good. I can't keep doing this to my body. Can you believe it, 4 am it was already light outside. Well, that's Norway for you.
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I did some groceries today. Went out bra-less. What a totally feeling of relief and freedom. Although, I did have 2 layers of clothes on top. A sweater and a top. I wore 3/4th comfy cotton pants in white when everybody is still wearing pants(refreshingly see-trouighsh-I am not being a blotter, it's just so comfy), and new rubbershoes without the socks. Left the house through the porch unlock. Felt totally carefree with that groceries trip today. Had this been Philippines, would never left the house like that, unlocked and with no people. I remember my previous bro in law had their shoes stolen with his dad living there and is a cop.
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My sis and I talked about delivering a baby. O my gosh, I am terrified. I have low pain tolerance. I so want a baby, and I know that in the end it will be worth it. But I can't help but think of the pain. Imagine our little hole expanding to 10 cm before you can start pushing it out. And if you want to be relieved from pain through epidural, you have to have this big long needle through your spine, through your bones which is painful by itself. Pain to relieve pain, go figure...
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Gotta make this short, I am uber tired and dying to rest my brain. See yah later peeps.

Jacq: Thanks girl. Let us know how effective it is for you. I think many became interested in using it. Keep on scrapping. Lots of great LO, seem slike your inspired ;)

Litzie: Hope to see some Lo from you again. Just pm me if you need any help on the blinkies or html. I try to help if I know.

Gracita: Your welcome. Hope you'll be a satisfied cocoa butter user. Nice whees you got pala. Saw it on your blog ;) I am so envious.

Jannah: Good luck din to you on the cocoa butter. Fill us in please. Thanks for dropping by.

Weng: So glad you are still sane. Congrats with Gianna Mei.

A New Home on the Web; Scrapture and Classic Tv

2006-05-21T20:51:00.000+02:00

Boy have I been busy. When haven't I been that you may ask, LOL. Click on the banner below and it will bring you to my new site. I did finish my new blog dedicated solely on Digiscrapping, so no more lengthy posts of my digiscrapping adventure here. From now on all posts will be there. So y'all who is interested in digiscrapping please change or add your bookmarks, thanks!

I will be leaving the scraplinks here, as I would like to continue promoting this artform.

I am so proud of the new site. I am beginning to be more and more comfy with css and html. Not so many trial and errors anymore. It's all about measurements and designing. I managed to make an extra navigation bar and utilize the most of the spaces. See the original design here. And the orginal design of this site you are on is here. This template was actually meant for a food blog. How ironic it should be used by me, LOL. Caz who makes this template has easy scripts to edit and here are link to other nice templates; romance, diet, grey cloud, romance2, black grey, and coffee time (Check out all the templates on the link on credits, the template can be found inside the previews since Caz has no hosts anymore for the zip files).
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As always, I am always puzzled how I tend to be on the computer the whole day, everyday, uninterrupted. Now if all that time would have gone to doing my chores, this house would be beyond recognition and so polished that you could see your reflection on all surfaces.
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I am such a crybaby, always. We had a classic on tv tonight. Titanic. I remember watching this on cinema twice. Both times my hankie dripping wet. I still cried this time, as expected. Although not too the extent of bulging eyes.

There was a stupid line here though. Jack and Rose storms a door and ruins it, and a crew says you'd have to pay for that, it's the property of white star line. Who the hell is bothered by a ruined door, when the whole vessel is sinking. No one cares. Even if Rose flashed her 2 boobs, no one would bother.

The time we saw it in the movies, it was so thrilling. The surround sound of the water flowing in made it so exciting. Now in the living room, seeing it for more than 3 times or more, it was more subtle. I wish I could say the same about my crying.
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Another classic hitting the tv 2 days ago is Police Academy. It was even number 1 of the series. Every friday they will air one episode, and my baby swears to religiously follow each sequel just like ood old days. Never knew how much my baby loved this series. He was so excited, and almost knew the lines and scenes. I thought it was hillarious watching him laugh so heartily.

I noticed Kim Cathrall in it too. The vixen in sex in the city. She looked so young and innocent here. Who would have thought...

I am so familiar with what the ticklepoint is with my baby. What things would make him laugh. One day we were watching tv. Fanta commercial came on. I knew he haven't seen it yet, and I knew he would laugh in the punchline. So secretly I anticipated the ned to see his reaction. And I am so right. I also know for exapmle what my sister would laugh off. Sarcastic gayish comments on celebrity shows. The one criticizing celebs with a humorous twist. Same with dad. He is always laughing of the poor guy who always gets it by the main rascal character in comedies. I remember Hogan's heroes in particular with a general he would always laugh of (in Pinoy term , he always laugh of the one na asar talo).
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I think I would have to write down to do list from now on. I am too lazy to check previous posts. I want to have a good old fashioned notebook. Everyone tends to use the pc, but I miss the traditional notebook, plain and simple. I often write on loose notes everywher thoughts that i ahve to blog about.
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I saw this music video of E-V-E; Love is Blind. It's very powerful. I had some teary moments listening to it. Told yah I wasnæt normal. I used to like rap and hip hop too. It was when I arrived here in Norway and was 23 and had friends that was 16, and mostly african, mainly Eritreans. We used to go to disco and grind and bump. Oh my, I can't believe that was some years ago. I even bought 2 books with Tupac's poetry. I did like his melodies. Mostly I was obsessed with Aaaliyah.
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Norway on wintertime gets dark as early as 5 to 6pm. Now that it's summer, I saw outside at 10pm. It was still light. People will develop insomnia like this. Its' great though as you can be outside and enjoy the summerdays longer.
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Frame from Tia Bennett; Font: Addict, Vp filter on Photo

And ofcourse, how can I forget to mention this. My bestfriend got married saturday. I heard from my mom who was ninang (dad was ninong) that she was crying even before the ceremony. When Amor saw my mom crying she remebered my wedding. I feel sad not being able to be there. We live one lifetime on earth and she will only (hopefully) be wed once. And i only have one single bestfriend. I didn't reach her on the phone, but I would still feel far away. I know that distance shouldn't matter. But being there physically is different. Much more different. I am just so happy for her, and can't wait for kids to come. I love her so much! Here's to happiness in the company of each other.
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My sis finally got some velcro for the walldecor. I was taking a shower while she was putting them on. She wasn't aware of how sticky the adhesives were, so even if I commented it was too high, it was difficult to remove them now. Her purpose was to cover the holes on the wal where nails had been. The rule on hanging painting and wall decor is that it has to be eyelevel. I don't think she was aware of that.
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We had pizza and burritos today. Ordered to our doorstep. Shame on us. That's so unnecessary cost, but I thought since it was sunday and we are all home together, we could have this treat. As long as we don't get used to it. It wasn't much of a treat actually. It was a greay treat if you can call it that. I am turned off to junkfood nowadays. I see the fat clearer now compared to my nonchalant days.
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Meet the Barkers is yet another reality show from MTV, but in contrast to the Newlyweds with Jessica & Nick and The Osbournes show, I find this family a little cuter and nicer to look at. Reminds me a little of that other reality show documenting Carmen Electra's wedding to Dave Navarro. The Barkers does not have that over phony, overacting and obviously scripted feel to it like the rest of the bunch. Their kids are adorable, and he, despite the intimidating exterior is such a hopeless romantic.
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Watched Monster Garage the other day with the fab skaterboy Tony Hawk. He is far from a boy now, but he does seem young at heart. Anyway, I couldn't help but notice how shows ahve to have that Don't do this at home (example 2: Jackass). Don't they know that this will even more motivate the young of today. They live in backwards land don't you know. They will think, oh man that is so dangerous and cool that they even have the warning on, now let's go try it. Hello...

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By the way on cocoa butter. Haven't used it myself, and haven't seen the result myself, but it was recommended by a preganant user to my pregnanat sister. I searched more about it on the internet and have read nothing but testimonials from satisfied customer. This product really boosted the sale of Body Shop according to an article. But ofcourse, be consistent in applying. If you already have the stretchmark, I don'æt think it will disappear in the blink of an eye. I am sure it needs you to be diligent in applying it too. But as I said I have heard of many people vouvhing for it's effectiveness.
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Been tagged by Litzie so here it is:

Instructions: Name ten of life’s simple pleasures that you like the most, then pick ten people to do the same. Try to be original and creative and not to use things that someone else has already used.

When my husband comes home, and we always do the same stuff. I greet him smiling on the door. Hug him to death while he says; let me take of my shoes while he has a halfway hidden smile that he loves the attention I am giving him.
Watching my baby watch Cartoon Network every morning.
Hearing from friends, email, texts, calls and tagboards.
Barbeque parties on our terrace with friends and good food.
Receiving handwritten letters from my mom filled with so much love and advices and written in deep tagalog.
How baby always asks me to take breaks from the computer to be with him. Shows that he is in need of my attention.
The smell of summer.
Starbucks (we don't have it in Norway), and cold drinks in general.
Doing something creatively.
Anticipating my first niece/nephew.

I am really not a good tagger, so just tag yourself. If we have reached ten people, stop, hehe.

Celebrity crushes, camtalk and stretch mark remedies

2006-05-19T09:10:00.000+02:00

It's 9am and just woke up an hour ago. Meaning I slep early and regulated it again. Feels good. My baby is waiting for me to make him sleep so this entry won't be super long. I'll try my best to keep it short and sweet, although knowing me I have a hard task ahead :)
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I slept in the coach today. Didn't bother to move to our bedroom. With the heater on here, it was cozy, but I did have nightmares. The thing I remember in my dream is murder and conspiracy. Gotta brush it off. In my adolescence, I was listening to gloomy songs and heavy metal and alternatives (can you believe I knew Metallica's songs by heart) and was dark and morbid, but now I can't stand thoughts like that. Gives me the goosebumps reminiscing the heavy metal, but still I love alternative.
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I have long wanted to do this celebrity crush ranking. Ever since me and Bizzi had a conversation of our celebrity crushes. Guys are boring to speak about. My crushes are Keanu Reeves and Michael Scofield guy in Prisonbreak. His eyes and that look are melting me like a snowman on a hot summerday.

I think it's more interesting to talk about the girls. They are so dolly and classy and has more character. That's just my opinion. On top of my list would be The front girl in pussycat dolls (exoticness and nice tan. also cool in my book) and jessica alba (her smile and charm is her best trait, otherwise she would just be another sexy gal for me). Lower down my list are older generation like Charlize Theron (her face is so beautiful, sweet and classic), Halle Berry (stunning and stylish) and Nicole Kidman (loves how she carries herself, dresses and she just looks so elegant and classic with her height and poise). Others are Michelle Pfeifer, Keira Knightley and Winona Ryder (even if she was caught stealing. I still heart her for her her role in Reality Bites. She rocks with those grungy looking semi fit plain tshirts and her short hair. I will always associate My Sharona with her. Also love her in Little Women, How to make an american quilt and Edward Scissorhands). And then I adore Jodie Foster, because not only is she good in acting, but she is one of the smartest & brainiest in showbiz. Angelina Jolie, that's a vamp right there. Coming on a little strong, but likes how she involves herself in worthy causes and adopts needy children. Her pouting lips is always a thrill to look at, although I wouldn't wanna wish one for myself. I used to like Catherine Zeta Jones but she doesn't look so young anymore just like she did in Zorro. Michael Douglas must be zipping her youth. And JLO is beautiful & stylish, but hate her atttitude. Oh, how could I forget Kate Hudson, she is so sweet, cool and down to earth and married to a great vocalist to one of my alltime favorite band, the black crowes (chris robinson). And another cool chic is Drew Barrymore. Can't forget her on Mad Love. Her costar in Charlie's Angel, Cameron Diaz has a certain appeal on me, maybe her humour and laughter. I'm about done here. Told you girls are so much more fun. My baby's top list is Jessica Alba (he loves her smile as well), Scarlett Johansson (for her role in the Island, she looked fine there) and JLo (his old bedroom was filled of posters of Bruce Lee, BMW and JLO) Now, who's on your list???
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There was a period in time I loved shopping for lingerie. I loved shopping at H&M because it's cheap, but they have a wide variety and their style, fabric and colors are wonderful. I love the silky feel, the laces and the color combinations and the sexiness. It was one of the many things that emptied my wallet in my single days. I remember hating the fact that there was too few choices and designs in the Philippines. We would even order at the agent scheme (classmates informal agents for avon or triumph) and look at brochures to place orders. Gone are those days. Also I love their swimwear and cotton summerdresses, but the best part still is the price friendly for the masses. The pictures above doesn't have the dark colors which I love.
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My baby got a red card at his soccer game. They were furious at the judge. Glad I am not there. I would have prevented him and corrected him. I always pity the judge when everybody is talking shit to him, and he just have to smile and take it all and be professional. baby asked when I will be watching him play.
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I have been smokefree in around 2 months now. One of the things that I certainly won't miss is the scent it leaves in the clothes and on the furnittures. Without exbroinlaw our household smells fresh everyday. When I quit before, I sometimes got constiapted, for smoking gives you that push towards the cr. Now, it's all functioning well, and I haven't gained weight like some do. I am amazed at how the craving stopped just like that. I am sure somebody is watching over me and leading me to Godness. The higher force.
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Now I ain't preganant or dealing with stretch mark issues, but for those of you who do not know this, the cocoa butter series from Body Shop does wonder in removing stretchmarks. My sister bought it after being adviced and later confirmed in many reviews in the internet. She bought the stick version. The sound of the word cocoa butter sounds delisyoso. I always loved cosmetics wit interesting scents. Shampoos, lotion, shower creams, colognes and the whole shabang. There was a time I collected perfumes as well, but too expensive. I have a thing for sweet, fresh and fruty scents. Gucci Rush is delectably sweet.
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I didn't follow my schedule yesterday. No new Lo or finish folded laundry, but at least sleep is regular which is more important.
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One of the things that makes me and my sister very sisterly and alike is that our taste is very similar. We also both love details, me a little more extreme than her though. And besides I express it more by talking about specific details and have what i call adjectiveporn. I just love describing.

She was getting dressed for work this morning. I noticed she was wearing her orange offshouldered mango top with black graphic flowerprints. She was also wearing a preggy jogging pants she just bought on her last trip to Philippines. This had some floral graphic prints in yellow-orangey on the upper side. And then she began showing the point to me wherein I said, my thoughts excactly.
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There is a cool commercial on tv. This lady sees her crush coming while holding a vegetable at a grocery store , she unzips her sweater and tries to look good. they converse and she acts the part so well, being like a teenager with a crush. He says long time since we talked. And then she says the excact weeks and months, but later said cirka since she felt it would be obvious. Then the guys gf comes and ask about a product. The lady obviously shrinks her act a bit by disappointment and smiles falsely. He leaves, she slams the veggie back and then we see her pulling junk foods and icecreams angrily on her cart. Message being, that it's good they have low prices, one can just binge in times like these. The best part though was her acting. You have to symphatize for her.
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More on visions for our next home. On this house now, we have a wall in an unexplored area outside our bedrooms. We have put lots of square frames here that forms a big single square. I love displaying pictures of friends and families being the sentimental type that I am. I am not so fund of clutter, that's why it lies on a wall that is not often seen and that's why we didn't just place them haphazardly, but formed a perfect square. I must admit that I have a thing for piano's filled with frames on top or fireplace filled with frames. It has a cozy feel. But I would never do it myself. One thing I know is I must have a place in our new home to show off pictures and have my own little gallery.
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At E entertainment they have certain programs with sarcastic fast talking hosts which only act as background. They're never seen. Maybe it's because people would take back the sarcastic remarks to them if we see the real them. They always do the context thing, but this time on purpose and obvious, not like with that interview with Michael jackson. They ask a silly question they invent themselves and then show a clip of the celebrity answering to another question, and makes a funny connection to the invented question.
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my CS2 is eating up resources. It slows the whole thing bigtime. It doesn't help that I have like 8-10 other internet and windows explorer open, but I always thought that 512 could do that job. Next month the digiscrapping kits have to pave way for more RAM (and possibly Photoblast /and hopefully sneak in a USB penlike memory reader, it is cheap for a price of 300 kroner).
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Silent Hill is a movie now. This PS game scared the hell of me while I rented a condo during the time I read for the board exams (actually I didn't read that much, we played Playstation, billiard and everything else but reading. Living in Vito Cruz does that to you). The rustic and spooky environment in Silent Hill looks like the artsy side of digiscrapping (see the paper pack of Iron Orchid Designs-IOD below. Striking similarities). I love these papers. Would be perfect for blending.

I liked this game because it's an RPG. It's fun playing with more people and solving the puzzles. That's why Resident Evil also was a hit with us. I lack coordination and guts to play games , but at least I was solving the puzzles to take us out of places.
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Quickbrowsed Dino Lara's blog. do hop there from time to time, and there was this new gadget that amazed me. Lensbaby. It makes the lens moveable and bendable. It is so cool. I wonder how much a baby costs. Look what it did to the pictures taken by pro photographers below. Don't you just love the selective focusing and the movements. It can be done on Photoshop as well, but this is something else. Check out their homepage lensbabies.com for more exaples and how it works.

Back on camera and blog, I just love the pics by Lori and Anton as seen below. Lori uses a Powershot G2 from 2001 and sometimes attach an external super macro lens. I am inspired to get that camera because of her. If I could have one more compact didgicam, I would trade my old Nicon Colpix 3700 for an even older Powershot G2. I am so discontented with my Nikon even though it had rave reviews on the time of its release. Most often my subjects have to stand still, because I hate scandalously flashed up pictures. I wish I had those motorized flash to bounce off the flash. But there is only 2 other flashmodes, half flash and no flash. Sometimes the no flash makes the picture too orangey in semidark places. The half flash creates unpleasant movement tracks if the subject is not still. As mush as possible I want colors to be warm or natural. Outoors picture with nice lighting conditions usually turns satisfactory. The gadget freak that I am, when I get my SLR I know it won't stop there. I would have to get extra CF memory card, more lenses, motorized flash, filters, camera bag, extra batteries, cleaning equipment, new tripod (come to think of it, where is the tripod I brought to Philippines, hmmm?) and extra accesories like lensbabies and fisheyes. That would inturn mean serious learning.

Not certain though what camera Anton used, but the colors are so crisp and vivid and the sharpness is oh so nice. :

by Anton @ anton.blogs.com

by Lori @ dessertcomesfirst.blogspot.com

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Scraps in the end. Saw this cool link on one of the threads in Scrapartist. This page is about the different extraction methods in Photoshop In Photoshop you will soon find out that there are more than one way to get things done, and that's the best part of it. Photoshop is so perfectly designed for scrappers even though it was formulated before digital scrapping became a hit. This is especially on making natural looking pages. It has all the tools to make one.

Anyway, the extraction tutorial is laid out perfectly with summaries, great and easy to get explanations and visual references. Will be posting links later.

One of the blogs I religiously read in the scrapping world is Gina Miller. This foxy designer lady cracks me up. She has long posts on her everyday life written in such a witty way. Do check her out. There are also so many episodes and thoughts in her life that I can totally relate to. Like one rememebrs small things in moments like taking a shower or the love for the Clairol herbal Essences and products in general. I also like when she posts her old and first LO's pointing to all the things she didn't like about them. In times of inferiority when a newbie, one doesn't feel hopeless when you see one who designs gorgeous kit and Lo's with not so perfect firsts.

At Jen Wilson's blog there is a video of a new song from Jewel. It's been a while since she surfaced from her hiatus. It's different and popish which is so unlike her during who will save my soul era (doesn't this gal resemble Renee Zellwegger). She looks prettier but mainstreamish. Same with her style. Haven't heard the rest of her new cd, but this song may be sarcastically meant. It's called Intuition which is the same as Jen Wilson's new line Fresh Intuition, thus the video on her blog.

Discovered Dianne Rigdon of Scrapartist also has another site with even more kits. She likes shabby style so her site is appropriately called shabby elements. I found it because of a LO using Little Man kit with wonderful leather accents and couldn't find the kit at scrapartist. Check out her store at shabbyelements.com.
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So much for making it short. Completely failed. I look at the clock and I already spent like 4 hours for a post. Holy schmowly, I blog more than I scrap. I think it's because I have always loved writing since I was small. Now gotta go to my baby. Can't keep him waiting forever.

Cheesedogs and accomplishments

2006-05-18T19:06:00.000+02:00

Eureka, I reached the end of the dirty laundry pile. Well, at least for the machine part. The handwash is left for things I am afraid the machine will devour and destroy. Things like wired bra (the wire might get deformed), wool sweaters and gloves (I have had several unfortunate shrinkups on these. Guess I just have to pass it to younger generations) and dual colored stuff, especially red with white. Example my beloved and sentimental sweat suit from Baby Phat which Faith called me JLo for during wedding preps. There is no Baby Phat outlet here, it' sentimental value and it rocks in my view. And ofcourse it's comfy which is on the top list of priority in my apparells and it's also pricey. So no trip to the washing machine for you deary.

Now it's easy to fold and assort in the closet since the natural drying made it straighter and softer and besides our closets are organized now. So that's on my to do list; fold, put in closet and handwash (also mix and match so many socks). And I would have to wash the dirty laundry hamper now that I finally reached its bottom.

Next chore I want to use a lot of time with is the refrigerator and inside the cupboards. Organize and wipe clean, and clean means disinfect and not just a quick surface swipe. Moving on, the next would be the bathroom and toilet. Moist places is always important to maintain. They are a haven for bacteria.
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Ate me some hotdogs for breakfast. Not excactly the ideal breakfast, but it's what I had and it was what was quick. It is a turkey and chicken hotdog with cheese inside. Topped it with fried and dry onion prepacked, ketchup and mustard in a plain small bun (I did the shopping on 17th May and this being the day of hotdog and sundae icecream, it was totally empty for the large hotdog bread with sesame seeds). Other toppings the norwegian likes are potato salad, pickle relish, raw onion and/or shrimp salad.

Since me and Bizzi hooked up, I have refrained from eating pork. I kept my Christain beliefs (although there was a stage of pretending and exploring), but kept away from pork. Since we no doubt kiss, I couldn't have pork leftovers in my mouth. He didn't oblige me, but I preferred it that way out of respect. Besides, pork is not the healthiest meat around. I am better off without.

Back to hotdogs, I do miss smokey's in the good ole days. I don't remember precisely what it was, but there was a particular topping I always ordered on it. Also in movies from NY and the metroplitan areas in the US, the hotdog stands intrigue me. It seems sloppy, but intriguing, much like the sloppy joe I also am intrigued off. Sloppy, messy food sounds good to me.

I do miss the places I used to eat before. I am a gourmet lover, but I do enjoy a Pares foodtrip. We had Mikees pares on the side of Letran and I miss their rice with fried garlic topping, the pares and the chopped chilli sauce. Usually, I just take the tip of my spoon on the chilli for each bite. I wouldn't stand more than that. I miss familiar flavors. Nowadays, the options are vasts. Always new places and foodtrips. Classier and sassier, and some not so classy, but one always look back to the classics. Bizzi is pretty picky, so my trips to Pinas doesn't include foodtripping in the classic places as I have other people to consider. Bizzi is not so good at tackling exotic flavors he is not accustomed to.
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Today, is Thursday. I thught about Prisonbreak and said to myself that I have to wait for tomorrow, only to find out later that it is thursday. I just don't know how Scofield and the gang can get away with that bad ass officer discovering the tunnel. It remains to be seen. Earlier experience with this series has led me to surprisingly and pleasantly awed by their escape from danger. Let's see how they'll get out of this jam which was caused by the squealing of the annoying trying hard to be black sticky fingers. On the other hand, maybe it's not squealing, but a plot. This much I know...answer to be revealed in less than one hour.
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I received lotta loving from my last LO at Scrapartist. From people not usually commenting and people that usually do comment on my LO's. I am even more touched that the list of commenters are from women whose work I totally admire. I think I'll never get used to getting those comments from these people I look up to. Every time will be as exciting as the first time. This further enhances my scrap mojo as Aggie so fondly calls it, and it gives me warm fuzziness which Tin (mrs. Schmuck) so appropriately captured that feeling. I am off to scrap some more today after prisonbreak and laundry work. Though this can't be an excuse of prolonged awake condition. I managed to keep myself awake again till the wee hour in the morning making the last LO among other things, and thus ruining my normalized sleep. We were still out visiting friends with sis in law at 10pm which vanished the sleepy feel. Normally, I would drop dead in the coach at 8 pm. So finally, I get to socialize at the price of tuined sleeping habits. When can I have it all, hmmmph...
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I am considering creating a new blog focusing on scraps. I have another cool template from the same maker of this blogtemplate, Caza, and I want to copy all the recent talks on scrapping there. That way my posts won't be too long. Also I know not all who reads this interests for scrapping and it might sound pure babbling. And it also makes it easier to keep track of developments and tips/tutorials. I know I am inflicting on myself more time consuming tasks as if I don't already have enough time balance issues to deal with, but I think it's better that way. I will, however, continue posting my LO here for the purpose of promoting the hobby. What yah think guys. Another html project and challenge. I also love to design blogs, focusing on both functionality and aesthetics. I am sure I would in the end have a food blog, a scrap blog, a wife blog, kid blog and pregnancy blog, LOL.
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Baby has a football match. I pity him when he have a match midweek. His much needed sleep is shortened, he goes straight from a tiring match to work and he don't even get to shower and be refrehed. Upto now, I still haven't cheered him in one of his matches this season. I am having a guitly moment here obviously. Still, I am his number one fan. He just rock my undies by his aggresive plays on the field.
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I forgot to mention that things are looking bright for my brother in law and his norwegian gf. Mom and dad in law went to their place (8 hours drive from here) and celebrated national day there. They were all there including the mom and dad of Siyars gf (they were with me in Philippines) and I even heard that Hilde's dad and Bizzi's dad was talking a lot. We were all excited here (me and my sister in laws) while we were talking with them on the phone and then later on the msn messenger with webcam on. Hilde showed me a frame with 3 slots where the coules on the Philippine trip was inserted. Oh, how sweet. I also conveyed to them the good news that dad had mentioned (in his clumsy but cute Norwegian) that for them they don't mind him marrying as long as its' done properly (no live ins or prior bf/gf relationship as it increase the chance for premarital sex). This whole episode reminds me of our own situation before.
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I mentioned before that I dragged the heater back to the storage room. Never thought cold days would be upon us again after a wonderful summery week. As I sat making my Lo last night, my hands was so cold. I had to rub it several times as it was almost not moveable. That didn't help much either. I had a thin blanket to no avail. So, today in my permanent corner of the computer (like the diligent student I am), I placed the heater from our bedroom to thaw me. It's so comfy and cozy almost to the point of dehydration.
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I just wrote about the brush strokes from Michelle Coleman. How I was wanting that. Yesterday, I remembered the digital distressing kit I had bought from Nancie Rowe Janitz at Scrapartist. True enough it had a set of acrylic brush strokes. Today at Traci Murphy's gallery I saw one of her Lo using the strokes. A very nice touch.

I found a great thread at The Digichick. How to make pages look "natural" (paperscrap like and not to appear digital or computer enhanced). Lots of great tips. I said before how I wanted to not memorize things I learn about Photoshop or other things in general so I am not limited, and so that I could use logic in applying it on other stuff. One of the things to make a page natural is when you insert a pin, the paper would bulge. I tried this yesterday prior to reading the thread. I tried filter>distort>pinch in an area marked with the marquee selection tool. The problem is that I selected the wrong layer and didn't see any change, so I didn't explore it further. When it comes to settings, like presetting on a certain amount, like 50% opacity, I usually don't memorize the figures (I am already fed up of numbers from my accounting degree, hehe). I use the preview and my eyes to evaluate what looks natural. Trial and error and just fooling around with the settings till it sits fine with me. Useful tip on that thread is about the see through/vellums and the need to lower opacity in certain stuff like text, etc, and the drop shadows visible through the whole see through object. Will definitely post this thread on my links for later reference when I clean up and update this blog.

As I learn about these things not previously applied to earlier LO, I sometimes open my old files to polish. Although I won't edit my entries anymore. This way I can track my progress if any. I only change it for the purpose of the photobook I will be making when I compiled enough LO.

I think I have to learn to let go of a project and continue later. Like in my younger days, I would continue reading an exciting book despite being tired, I will finish LO's same day I scrapped with no breaks from it longer than 10 minutes. Ofcourse when tired, concentration wears down and brain is not functioning so well. That leads me to another point, I should think less in making a LO. I have so many worries, not organized enough, not enough knowledge, etc. I should just let it flow and not be restricted by the intellect in a creative process.
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By this time Prisonbreak has already finished. OMG, words can not explain what this episode did for me. Me and my sister had a pulling our hair experience. This series is certainly not good for the fainthearted. I am lost for words... (just please let Sucre, Scofield, the black guy and the old guy live. Let the kind and just head of the prison facility still be in good terms with Scofield. Let the beautiful doctor see the truth, the father of Licoln survive and be reunited with his sons and forgiven for his past mistakes. Let Lincoln's ex and his son be freed from the deceipt and lies surrounding them. Now, the rest, I don't care. They can rot for all I care. Especially, the vp, Bellick and Steadman...See how this series get to me.)
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Talked to my tita who called to ask how it is faring with my very much pregnant sister. We started discussing lot of stuff, mostly about general health. She works in a medical laboratory and lnows a lot about health in general. We aslo started talking about the bread factory just a stonethrow away from us (she works near that, so she works near us). I love that smell of freshly baked that the wind sometimes carry over to us. They also sell there, and she recommended which bread to buy and that it's cheaper when they are one day old. Definitely stop buying in the grocery store. I don't like their dry bread there, and it lacks taste and character.
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Let's talk about products now, shall we. They think of everything nowadays. Our ketchup in the fridge is sugar free. It is still the mainstream brand, but sugar free version. My grandma was diabetic, so I want to be watching my sugar intake. The other product was something I saw at one of the reruns of the fab 5. They showed this folder for clothes. You just fold the edges while having the clothes on the center and voila perfect fold in no time. Although, I am skeptical that everything has to be machine generated. It sort of got methinking on job layoffs so machine can overtake their job. It has a matrix storyline to it. So I am sticking to manual folding, get my hands involved and feel the fabrics and softness of newly washed and fresh scented clothes.

Still on the issue of development, before we used to sleep to Texas Ranger because it was the only program on the late hours so we basically had no option. It was funny to see how that series evolved in time. First it was just the martial arts that defeated the enemies, suddenly there was magic involved in the later episodes. Not that I think that this was a good way to increase viewers as they only gained me as viewer because we had no better alternative.
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As a final note, I would like to answer comments here

Liv: You are so informative. I still haven't gone to a doctor yet. I keep on delaying the trip, but thanks for the info. How patient you were to monitor an count your hairloss.

Sue: As much as I still wanted to keep up and still post sa waw, I couldn't keep up with the phase. And I am the type who filters and classify each mail, so it would take me too long to go through it all. I might drop by someday, because I miss it too.

Weng: Howdee. Long time na. Good you have a blog. Will link you up as soon as I update my links. Hope evrything is ok with the wedding preps.

Wanda: My pleasure. Fun to see you LO'ing. Hopefully you will be posting soon in a public album so others can comment you. It's very motivating, and it's a friendly helpful community.
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Presenting

2006-05-18T06:48:00.000+02:00

....I braved the intimidation and scrapped a LO. Happy with this one. Almost all my favorites is in this LO. Gina Miller, Jen Wilson, Michelle Coleman, Holly Mc Caig and ofcourse Katie Pertiet.

I like scrapping bout the issues we have been dealing with my sister and my ex bro in law. This one is one of them. It's nice to express it in my scrap.

Credits: Craftpaper BG from Krafty Guy paper pack, window frame and journaling stamp all from Katie Pertiet at DD; Stitched circular cardboard & pink stone from Build your own Bulletin board add-on and revamped stitch essentials from Gina Miller at SBB; Patterned and textured papers from Jen Wilson's laundry Basket PP from worn comfort collection at SBB; Flourish brush (used as template over Jen W's paper) and Distressed Alpha brush from Michelle Coleman at Scrapartist; Letter E from Dani B's messy chipboard alpha set at SBB, 2006 pindate by Holly Mc Caig, sloppy border on small picture by Kim Crothers at SBB; template used on Pink Patterned paper is a freebie from Atomic Cupcake and added sparkle on candle from escrappers. Fonts: Addict and Depot.

Soaking National Day

2006-05-17T08:29:00.000+02:00

It's 17th of May, Noray's National Day. One of, if not, the most anticipated day here. They are very conscious of the weather forecast on this day. Usually they parade their national costumes or their newly bought attires and drink and join the big crowd downtown where 75% of the population is, and another 25% of those are already drunk from early on, and another 25% drunk in the evening and the remaining 25% are non-drinkers or is kids. Well, it is exaggerated, but it's just to show how big an event this is and the festivities that goes with it. I am among the 25% with the whole household within the stats as well. It's raining at last which lessens my guilt of keeping myself indoors. I just love a rainy day, staying in and zipping hot chocolate. Now I never do zip hot chocolate, but it's what I always see for me on a rainy day or a snowy day for that matter. It must have been a tvshow or a commercial I've seen when i was small, because I keep seeing this image of a child by the window staring at the bad weather outside wrapped up in blanket and drinking cocoa. Funny how stuff like this sits in your head.

It's kinda cold, but I already brought the heather to our storage room. Though this creates a perfect excuse to snuggle underneath the covers with your beloved. Ocassionally (he has graveyard shifts so he sleeps in the morning), I drop by our room for some ultimate snuggling. It's one of those routines that there is so much joy with that it doesn't feel like a routine.
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I made some good grub yesterday. never handled a recipe so well. Hate having to peek in so often. I think my short term memory is on the wear and tear section, slowly depreciating. Anyways, I went with my guts and made a concoction I was very happy with. I have yearned for a good sandwhich in a while now. Particularly a chicken sandwhich. So I stormed the grocery store and just put in the cart loads of stuff that I thought would fit together. Also had to buy food for today since 17th of may is an official holiday, and the stores are closed.

This is waht I came up with. Chicken breast filet marinated with lemon, presed garlic, crushed pepper mixture, salt, sesame oil-love the smell of this, and I heard before that it's very powerful so one shouldn't use too much, but I just can't get enough of it and last a hint of soy sauce. I used the new pan from Ikea, and I just love new pans. There's no need for much oil (which is excellent for your health) and it doesn't stick. It just slides through the pan. I put some sunflower oil (this is the best oil for cooking in my opinion. It is even fit for a salad) and again mixed it with some sesame oil, and fried them till they had dark stripes.

I then made a wild rocket salad (my sister usually don't like veggies and fruits, but this she liked, so I didn't stir in too many other things so this would be a sister-friendly salad, when I woke up this morning most of it was gone, so I am guessing this was a success) and roughly chopped some pecan and walnut and threw it in. The dressing was balsamic wine vinegar (by the way, I am really dying to try strawberries in balsamic vinegar. I heard lots of raves on it) and olive oil and then in the end I added herb croutons. You can't taste the nut so much, but it's great for added crunch and texture, besides the rocket salad has a nutty flavor on its own. I also boiled some asparagus till it became really soft and added salt and then sprinkled some grated parmesan on top of that.

Next, I made the sauce. I used those powders that are meant to be stirred in with either oil or sour cream to make a dressing. I used the potato salad dressing powder and stirred it in sour cream and creme fraiche, and tossed some more chopped nuts. I think I went a little nuts this day ;) I was thinking that maybe adding some Philadelphia cream cheeese with herbs and garlic would be a good idea, but I felt that it would be too rich and mighty (nakakaumay), so i dropped it. Besides, I think I would use cream cheese for a hot sauce instead, not for a chilled one like this.

Our grocery store has limited bread supply, but I did find some ciabatta, the half baked ones. I like it because I don't have to do it from the scratch, but it would come out of the oven like freshly baked bread. I love that smell. So I composed my sandwhich of all these stuff, and squeezed a few drops of fresh lemon to it. I almost went all the way with this sandwhich project and was supposed to make roasted bell pepper and red onions and sauteed mushroom. Glad I didn't since there was so much going on already.
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I am a little (who am I kidding, I mean a lot) behind cleaning schedule. I have no LO to show as excuse. I am not sure where time is flying. I managed to bring all the stuff that stood in the way and which we didn't need to the storage room. Our storage room was like a puzzle. When I put in the heater, it was the last piece. There is no room for more.

I have done three rounds of laundry (the program use so much time, ca. 4 hours). Before, I would dry it twice with maximum time 150 minutes times two, but this time, I just pulled out the hanger and let it dry naturally. I don't like to pull out the hanger since it's so space consuming. It's even placed with half of it protruding in the living room. But since it has undergone one round of the dryer, it doesn't take long to dry. I don't know what causes the dryer to be acting like that. In the beginning the laundry was crisp dry with just one round (and it wasn't even set to minimum time), now with two maximum rounds they still are moist. It bugs the hell out of me. I hate when things malfunctions especially if it's my computer). Although it brought something good. It smells like fresh laundry. The comforter works better when it's dried naturally. The scent usually disappears when it's dried in the machine. Now we have a new deodorizer in the living room.
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I was ordered for a telephone interpretation. It was the first time. It went well, and it's a plus that I can do it at home. It was from the health sector. I learned some new stuff like it's recommende to have a gynecologist test every 3 years and one should check the breast for lumps once a month and have a mamograph as well. Things I should know as a woman. Boy, it is difficult to be a woman sometimes. I bloghopped and found more cases of polycistic ovaries and the loss of potential life. But on the other hand, I believe women are better equipped emotionally to brave storms since they are better at ventilating their feelings. So cheers to womanhood and strength. I like the bloggong community since it creates bonds between us women/men and we can join the ride with other people's life (and believe me it's a rollercoaster ride, with sudden ups an sudden downs, that's how much I can tell of my bloghopping) and be there for each other...much like a marriage vow...for sickness and health, for better or worse.
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This whole seperation thing with my sister and her ex husband has been a long and exhausting ride. Also with ups and downs. Still adjusting and recuperating. In fact, I think my sister handled this better than I did. I think (know!) it's her close relationship to God that pulled her through so elegantly and gracefully. Sometimes, I am thinking of my role as my sister. Am I doing enough for her in times like these. Yes, I do go to the trouble of planning meals and making food like I never did before. Although this might sound like a small sacrifice for some, I think comparing with what you are accustomed to, it's still a big leap for me. Even with my husband, I haven't soaked enough motivation to kill my kitchen inferiority complex. It's my niece/nephew who challenges me everyday. The new life.

As for my role. Do I cuddle her enough. Since with her husband she had intimacy, and attention, should I assume that role to fill her void. For my part I feel I am lacking in this area. I should also challenge myself to give her more warmth. I feel I've been there and backed her up much already but I should strain myself to make her forget the void. I can't even start to grasp how it must have felt for her to open her eyes to such realities. I have never claimed to understand since I haven't felt it like that.
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I was looking for my baby pics the other day. I found my 5 and up album, but not the years before that album. I saw the mom and daughter avatars of the digichicks, and had the urge to look for my own mom and daughter picture. I hate it as I said before to not have control over where my stuff are. It's seldom, but I can be quite a control freak sometimes. Luckily, I don't practice that quality with my baby, ok...sometimes (but I do give in easily to his prowess, LOL). back to the album, I would be the happiest girl if I recovered it. Oh photoalbum where art thou....
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This is my 61st entry. I have almost one entry for everyday. Some would call me loser for not having a life, but I call it diligent and mind and emotions therapy.
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As I earlier pointed, me and baby has interchangeable sleeps with his graveyard shift and my now normal sleep. This also means interchangeable cuddles, especially on his dayoffs. He finds me sleeping in the sofa when he comes home after being with friends. He watch some tv while stroking me, and then he drags me to the bedroom to watch more tv there and more stroking and kissing while I sleep. I then wake up when he feel sleepy, and he always asks me to stay with him till he falls asleep. He is like a cat who loves to be stroked on the tummy. Purrr. And when I leave, he noticed it and says hmph. Which means no (lambing mode) don't go. I fell in love with him when he was a bad boy hard ass tough guy (but still possessing a kindness that captivated me. I suddenly feel the urge to tell our lovestory, but in a seperate post I guess), but now I am even falling more when he babies me. I love his soft side.
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Today, as I was lulling him to dreamland, I watched travel channel for a glimpse of Turkey. I loved the tilework of the blue mosque. I love the mediterranean countries, and definitely will have a 3 week tour to Greece, Turkey and maybe Spain in exchange of sacrificing a year without going to Philippines. There are so many places I would love to go, but being away for more than one year from my parents is not a pleasing thought. I feel the need to visit them yearly.
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(Pictures are not from the outlet. Don't you that love that first and last picture. i have a thing for dresses)

I got an interesting newsletter from mango yesterday. They had a mango outlet with cheaper clothes from earlier season collections. I loove Mango and earlier collection doesn't bother me. That's why I have so many clothes in my closets, sicnce I don't like throwing. There's no such thing as off season for me. If I love something from a season, I would still love it in the seasons to come, and if I hate something I would still hate it next seasons. Like when the 80's style was revived with the neon color leggings with interchanging black stripes, oh my. I hated that era, and it still sickens me. My pictures from that time is in the hall of shame.
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I want to write small things and observations of myself. This is after all a journal which is the main objective of me having a blog. I found one of my fears. I really fear losing our wedding ring, and I think it's a legit fear. The ring has grown in me. What it stands for, not just its face value.

Sometimes when I do the dishes or I make food, I put it away. Sometimes, I can't find it when I don't put it in the usual spot by the ricecooker. I get all weak in my knees and a sudden surge of panick. And not to mention the relief I feel when I get it back. Like a heavy stone has been lifted from me.

They are a half size too big for us. I had it resized, but has found out that it was still too small, but didn't bother to make further adjustments. One time, it slipped from my finger in my sleep and looked for it frantically when I woke up, and I fear it happening again. just slipping from my finger in an off guard moment. Even if we had the same deisgn made, it would still not be the same. I remember when we had to remove it for resizing. I always grabbed our ringfinger only to discover that it is not there to toy with. When I was to wash my hands, I always lookewd for it to remove, since I always remove them when I wash my hand. Anyways, I know, so much fuzz for a ring, but still one of my fears.
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Baby's got his laptop. But still lots of stuff that bothers me. When our friend configured the network and router, I forgot the webencrypted code to enter the network. Then I tried to enter the router by typing the ip adress to the browser so I could chnege the code, but you have to enter password and username. The username is admin, but both me and my friend don't remember both passwords. Then they installed Norton antivirus and internet security, performed a scan and there seems to be a trojan in the computer. I found a removal tool in the symantec site, but I hate not having a mouse to work with. Besides, I would have to access and download the removal tool from my pc and burn it to cd so we can use it at his laptop. Oh man, I just don't have the patience to troubleshoot these days. My poor baby. I can be so selfish and unhelpful at times. He did give it to a pc expert to try fix it. Still we need to acces the internet and I don't think that guy can crack the code.
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Ok so let's get scrappy now. I find myself writing more on scraps than actually creating one. I think my perfectionist quality is catching up on me. When I finish a Lo, there is a slight feeling of not being 100% happy about it. It might be just 99%, but still the feeling lingers. So I feel I have to organize all my stuff completely to first make all the items visible and easy to find and make the most of my LO, and then I have to explore what style I really prefer or I am good at or what I am comfortable with. I am itching to itch my kits and pictures, but something is holding me back. On the other hand, I find scrapping such a healthy challenge. One of the challenges being to balance time. But, today I think I will make one LO, that's my goal for today besides from my chores ofcourse.

So, I changed my entry for why I scrap, and will post it today. I am crossing my fingers becasue I already spent so much at scrapartist, but still there are so many more things I like there. What i want the most is the acrylic brush strokes, it would be nice to erase the edges with it or just write something on top of it. And I so love the color of Michelle Coleman's Emma's sundress which has a cool transparent acrylic alpha. It's so warm and rich in color. And from Nancy Rowie Janitz I am loving The Good Life. From Dianne Rigdon I like her Happy go lucky kit and her speech bubbles. Ofcourse IOD has the most beautiful artistic and textured paper packs. I love it all, but most especially The Wicked Garden, Carriage House and Plantation. I will post the link to my entry when I have posted it.

Let's go to my Photoshop CS2 exploration. With elements I had downloaded the font viewer which is still helpful. In CS2 when you use the pull down menu for the font, there is a sample beside it. It's still small, but viewable.

In the community I discovered some things about the digiscrapping world. I have since I discovered digiscrapping, thought that this is a place without controversy. So I was shocked to discover that there is. Contests that brings out the bad side of people, and then recently a discussion on treasurehunts. I won't mention the specific details, but this made me see the other side. There is no ideal venue. Although in conclusion, the majority, 85% or maybe more, is in the friendly form. (sidenote: can you believe I have spent 4 hours for this entry on and off).

Meredith Fenwick has a creative team call. I almost want to join if I have the balls to promote a newbie like me. The due date is 18th. I could give it a shot. I won't lose anything. If I don't try, I'll lose the chance, even if it's just an inch of a chance.

There are still some abbreviation that I am not sure of. So veteran scrapper can you fill me in what ROFL is or TFS. Thanks ;)
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Economy is ok. Funds coming from tax returns. My mind spinning. Hmmm, Digital SLR. What to do, what to do. We are deciding on doing small purchases every month, or save it up for large items. Our wishlist is growing, and I have the spending urge. But somehow I want to save to go travel or things for our next home and our future. I think insurance would be a good idea as well.
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This was supposed to be posted long ago, but something unexpected came up. We went out. While the rest of the household was sleeping, my 2 sister in law came over with a friend. We made some food. Hot potato salad. Slightly fried potatoes, parsley and red onion. Sauteed mushroom with shallot onion, a household favorite. Last was the kurdish hamburger rahik which I made and they loved. I was so happy because these guys really know how to make food and it's a kurdish meal and they were praising me the filipina handicap in the kitchen. Rahik is of ground meat, curry, onion, garlic, pepper and tomato paste. Also with some flour so it will not stick to the hand when you flatten it with the palm. We didn't have celery but it's good with it. Come to think of it I forgot to add parsley which is part of the ingredient. Sis in law suggested to skip the salt since the ground meat is usually presalted. I often make them too salty, but this time it was perfect. We drove to a friend and spent time with her family with tea and coffee. Usually when I am with them I give in for some social smoking comeback, but this time it was totally smoke-free and I am proud to not fall to the pressure and temptation.

By the way my entry is now posted at scrapartist. Just follow this link: http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=13107&limit=recent . I am feeling the pressure of being jobless and people asking me about where I applied. I do hope I find a job soon that I will be motivated to apply to, but I also need to move myself and intensify my search. Hoping and praying. I want to first and foremost please myself, and then please the others who are anticipating in the sideline. No one is affected by this more than I. My performance in my recent jobs was great if I might say so. I love being productive and excelling and get praises, respected and motivated. I love the feeling of my parents being proud of me and all those around me. It's just that I have been burned and I don't want to fly in and out of a job. I need something permanent.

Ok this is way long. Gotta quit it.

Quick answers before I leave:

Liv: Thanks for the tip. It's a relief that a 3 figured amount isn't so scary after all. Just don't think I can count though as I leave my hair all over the place and can't distinguish if the hair in the floor is from monday or tuesday. How do you keep track? Anyways, it's not noticeably thinner and your assurance vanished my worries. So thanks. I am a normal hairlosing being.

Jazz: You found me. Nice new site you have. Now go showcase me and my purplish makeup. Keep it rolling girl. You are so talented.

Wanda: Been a busy bee, but saw your LO. Nice debut to the scrapping world. Now go create some more, don't be like the slow scrapper me. Practice makes perfect. Comment already left by the time you read this;)
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Follow-up post

2006-05-15T14:02:00.000+02:00

Ok so have done nothing much since last post. Only showered myself and cuddled up with my sleepyhead baby. But in the silence, I can't help but have thoughts popping on me all the time, in the shower, everywhere.
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A daydream caught me. I was thinking of the time we will get our own place. How we will decorate it and even lifestyle we will be leading as a couple for themself at last. I think it's not before this phase I will really feel my newly established little unit or family. I want us to enjoy each day by coming home, having big l-shaped comfy couch (the one where the short end does not have backsupport, almost like a divan) and then just chill back with some healthy appetizer and one glass of sparkle wine to kick back and relax with (after all, a glass of wine a day keeps the doctors away). watch some tv till I make food (hopefully a great cook by that time-hey it's my blog, I can dream ;) and then take a walk once a week, exercise and dine out twice a month, visit people and just live normal, but still sipping through life's blessings.

I really want to have a new place to decorate. A new canvas. Very peaceful tranquile home to come to with light colors and clutters inside covered closets or at the minimum frosted, just not see through glass. Might have a section to showcase some nice contemporary frames with pour best pics and some sculptures/statues and books. Lots of textures, fabrics, neutral colors and eyecandy paintings or framed photos. Our priority buy would be a bed and a long closet. I love the Pax series which you can put the pieces together to satisfy your taste and needs. Ikea's homepage allows you through an interactive program to compose one and then you can bring the output to your nearest Ikea so they can set it up for you. I like the pant hanger sytem and their wide pull drawer where one style has small compartments you can roll belts and other small stuffs. I am a sucker for frosted glass so we might have a hint of frosted doors or dark wood (a little retroish) or those doors you pull to the side which is very convenient. Next on the list would be a side by side standing ref and freezer in brushed stainless steel. usually I like the aplliances tucked in behind the closet (integrated), but the stainless steel looks very clean and contemporary. We will look for a house where the rest of the stuff is integrated like dishwasher, and so on so we don't need to buy a new dishwasher. I would also like to buy a new washing machine and this time with seperate dryer. A big tumbler that can handle a load of clothes. Hopefully space won't be a problem since I am eyeing for a place with a laundryroom. In that case, I might not use the dryer much as I have space to hang the clothes and let them dry naturally, cut electricity bill and make the laundry smell fresher. then we would need to buy a dining set since the one we have is my sister's. In the beginning, we can eat in the living room and sleep in our old medium sized bed so that we can save and invest for relaly great pieces. Our last agenda would be a new couch and other decorations.

On our trip yesterday, we should have picked up a knifesharpening machine, some teaspoons which we have too few of and I loved this canvas printed Audrey Hepburn. Audrey looks so sweet and innocent, but still sophisticated and sassy at the same time. She is so elegant. her picture was black and white, with the black outlining her face, just like that godfather poster (threshold effect on adobe). And I also wished I got the herb chopper. I also got a wooden soapholder for the bathroom, because the steel rusts. The only thing is that moist and wood isn't a very good combination either. Oh well.
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I bloghopped some more. I bookmarked those sites that have a top food blog list or just list of foodblogs in general. Looking through the different blogs, left me with a pang of hunger. I am inspired to create. I saw something on brussel sprout and wondered what that was. it was those small looking cabbages called rosenkål here in Norway. My sister in law boils them with lemon tuz (lemon in crystal form looking like rock salt). It's so good. i have to learn some recipes. I had the sudden urge to make a fancy sandwich instead of the usual rice dinner. Chickenbreast marinated and fried with asparagus and some other good stuff. I wished we had that panini toaster, then I might have sandwhiches everyday.

I wished we had a deli here. We have the practical and cheap grocery store, but with no options. And then we have a foreigner store with more exotic ingredients and large variety of veggies and other stuff, but I wished they had a real deli with great cheese and meats and breads like foccacia, ciabatta and the likes. You can't have it all.
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Bizzi's dad came unexpectedly, and since I am doing the spring cleaning things was spread everywhere. I was so embarassed that I wanted to sink in the ground there and then. He didn't mind he said when I excused myself, but I felt awful. I am so scared of them to think I am a bad wife, and besides I already screwed it up by not coming over often enough. This was his first time to visit here, and what a first impression I gave.
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I used a dandruff shampoo today we bought in the pharmacy. I actually don't like dandruff shampoo although I have the need for one. The thing is that I have a preconception that anything that is strong enough to remove dandruff, is strong enough to ruin my hair. Probably one of those things mom instilled on us and just glued to our head ever since. I am losong so much hair that the haircatcher on the bathtub seemed like taken from that horror movie, The Ring. Yiekst. My hair is all over our place, I just hope they grow as fast back. Speaking of hair, I miss my long and semilayered hair.
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Digiscrap thingy now. I looked at atomic cupcake's page and now I have more things for my wishlist. I like their papertear actions. It's different from Steph's since you just select with the marquee tool over the area to rip and just apply the action. I downloaded some free stuff to try out and see how good they are. There are 3 different tear actions for 4 dollars a piece and also some other cool actions like the crumbled paper action. Baby I'm a wanting this. That and Steph's papertears as well.

There was this template for edges I saw at Designer Digitals which was quite cool. It would make your LO seem that they were cut manually with scissor, but I am glad I saw Atomic cupcakes page since they offer this for free as a sampler of their work. It pays to be resourceful ;)

I found out I have 3 crafty papers now. the one I bought at DD for the purpose of having one. Then DDE's Book Bag Essentials also have one and Jan Crowley's Little Black dress as well. they are slightly different in texture and color though. One can't have enough of craftpapers in the digitalworld ;) For the record, i like Katie's the best.
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I am a little confused of my style preference. I like the quirky style and the other style inspires me when I look at the galleries. I am trying to find me in my LO's. And the journaliing serious, humour. This scrapping thing makes me explore myself as well. I like it.
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Probably by friday, I will polish this blog and the computer and get up some foodblog liks and digiscrapping links. I just need to get them fixed, so i have an overview. This is it for today I think. 3 entries would be exaggerated or what do yah think.
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Some replies to end:

Che: Thanks for your long reply. Just enjoy the summer fun. Don't be like me sitting inside. Wedding preps can wait a little, and since zen is your theme, you might get more inspiration outdoors. You have so much time. The wedding mojo will come back in good time ;) if tumatanda ka, mas lalo na ako, not going out and socializing. I do miss being young at heart and hanging out with friends. We just drifted nga lang after we all quit our job, and being jobless don't help my social situation.

Yenny: I had a hunch, but had to make sure. I think when I saw kikay on your blog it made me certain unless kikay is used is adapted in other countires now;)

Kaye: Just ask if you get stuck. Trial and error is what I do and scout tutorials. Check out my links and digiscrapping with Jenn is a great site for newbies.

Faithy: Love yah too. Keep me updated.

Sue: Hope to see the rest of your works. Take Care.

Happy happy joy joy, and so the song goes

2006-05-15T08:14:00.000+02:00

You feel so revitalized waking up early in the morning. 6:30in my case. Now if I had that perfect breakfast boost to go with that, I could wrestle the next man I saw. Instead I wind up eating the dish I made yesterday. I think I overdid the salt. I always put too little or too much as fear of landing on any of those sides which I always do anyway. It was a simple dish, but it just made it exciting with the finely chopped ginger, lemon peel and lemonjuice. Other ingredients is the beef, safran (now this is the most expensive spice. The funny thing is I went looking for it because my sister bought it. I saw a spicejar with a small nail sized container inside. I thought she picked the wrong pack, an empty pack. That's ridicoluos to use such a big jar to produce to house a small content like that.), parsley, black olives and carrots. It was a very aromatic dish which I guess comes from north africa since originally this was made in tagine (terracotta steamer) and served with couscous. We opted to serve it with bulghur instead. It's made out of wheat and has bigger grains, and we put tomato paste for added color and flavor. Baby is not so fond of ginger so this was not a homerun for him. Gosh it's so difficult to make food for him cause he is so picky, but he always deny he is one. Either he don't know the meaning of the word or he is having major denial issues.
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Speaking of food, I bloghopped foodblogs today. It ofcourse started with Lori's infamous dessertcomesfirst blog. Now who haven't heard of her and her foodporn. I jumped over to Anton's blog who had this amazing beach picture which intrigued me as to what camera he used or if the picture was tinkered with. Then I went over to 80's breakfast who had a tagged entry which led me to a foodblog here in Oslo. This foodblog in Oslo has gone hiatus and on his last post a quuer guy commented and said he started a foodblog because of oslofoodie's blog. I hopped over to queer guy's blog which turns out to be a Filipina living in Bergen here in Norway. Funny how the world is interconnected via web. I also came across a list of foodblogs maintained by Pinoys/pinays and ofcourse had to bookmark that. It's so much more fun to go to foodblogs for recipes than at recipe sites. There's the added entertainment value ofcourse and delectable visuals to make your mouth water. I could have been full now of pictures could take away your hunger.

I can't wait for the real hot summerday when we finished cleaning our gas barbeque and have guest over. I decided to make a big meeal with appetizer, fresh salad and spinach salad, grilled meat and veggies, other sidings and chocolate fondue and homemade raspberry icecream with toasted almond. I am going to start early to prepare so I won't stress out. Talk about planning ahead. But there's nothing more I like than have friends over, hanging out on our backyard in the midst of the heat, with good food and chilled drinks.
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Tracked my AVP package to bestfriend. It said as of 7:38 am it was in manila out for delivery. Wasn't sure it was Norwegian time or Philippine time, but either way, it would mean that it has passed. So I opened the chikka messenger and updated my bestfriend who just received it when I texted her. Talk about coincidence. It was just a little complicated (it was in a non transcoded formats, one wmv format and one avi format in a dvd rom. First of all to play it she needs a computer with a dvd rom. Then when she will play it through projector, which I adviced her to use the avi file having the best resolution, she must either have a laptop with a player that reads avi file or get the avi converted to dvd so that she might use a dvd player instead of laptop. Told you it was a little complicated. Now I would have converted it myself had it not been for my dvd burner to bail out on me for some reason), so she wasn't able to play it at first. But when she did get to see it, she liked it, which ofcourse made me happy. It saddens me though that I am not able to be there personally.
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Yesterday we fixed our wardrobe. It was a painstaking process which isn't finished yet. I winded up having 2 large piles of clotehs to wash. One pile of clothes to give away or stack in our cellar, and one pile belonging to Wayne for delivery Oh my, enough to drive me crazy. it would take me atleast a week to finish the laundry.

The day before, we went to IKEA (ikea.no) wher we grabbeda bite and decided to use our GC we got for our wedding. Our original plan was to buy an extra closet since our wardrobe is expanding despite the loss of a domestic partner here. I thought it was a hassle, since we just borrowed a car from a friend. Although Ikea's stuff is folded and one would need to assemble it ourself, the door is still not folded obviously. So we got some small items. Mostly kitchen items. We also bought a desk organizer in rattan for our computer table, a series of pictures printed in canvas (the most expensive item for 645 kroner for the whole set), and a bed side table (but we were to use it for our tv. We had a table for our tv, but since we lent our tv to Bizzi's younger brother for his playstation we didn't have use for it. My sister took our sidetable, put the tvtable to be our sidetable instead since she bought this big japanese paper standing lantern in our room so it needed a low table like our tvtable. And then suddenly Bizzi got a flatscreen tv from his buddy, so thus we bought the inexpensive sidetable for 95 kroner. The materials and the finishing is the cheap class. In fact it is in the same product series as our bed, the one on the upper left which we bought long time ago. Can you believe our bed was only 245 kroner, excluding the mattress of course. It was perfect though. Our room is quite small, so the low bed creates an airy space above it, and the size of the bed is in the medium size.) The drawer in the tvtable will also serve as extra space for me to fill things which I am badly in need of now. We have so much stuff. Thta's why I also bought the wardrobe add in which is attached with velcro to have extra space to put my bags and belts and stuff.

The kitchen stuff we bought was a large turner for perfect eggs, saute pan (but would have preffered a straight corner instead of a curved one so it would have a bigger base, I want to invest in a more expensive type of sautepan later. It's such a versatile pan), an inexpensive knife (my sis in law has this at her place. Tomatoes is usually hard to cut, but this does its job), and a steel colander. I love colander, especially big ones. Perfect to drain the boiled veggies or the pasta withot overflowing to the sink.

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I did manage to stay from the computer (although not uninterruptedly), and it was a great feeling to let go. the thing is when I wake up early, I will fall asleep in the couch at around 8pm. I would be so dead tired, that I don't even make it to my room. Then my baby will come (he have been out with his buddy all three days of this weekend, not good) and pamper me and cuddle with me while I am half conscious in the couch. I made food yesterday, but didn't even get to eat. I had pancakes for the whole day. My baby been so sweet to me..good. He would watch tv while I sleep, and then he woke me up because of a tvshop ad. The juicer. I had seen that commercial so many times now, but still it was a sweet gesture of hime to wake me up because he knows I like that machine. Fresh juice in a jiffy. I so long for that healthy lifestyle so I can grow old with my baby.
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Me and sis watched a baby development documentary yesterday at National Geographic. She mentioned the cutting, and the pain that will make you not feel the cutting. I stormed to my sleeping baby and said, damn you must love me to endure that pain to bring your baby to this world. I am excited to have a little one, but not thrilled of the process to have one. Labor is a word that scares me.
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Found my visacard. Been searching high and low to end up finding it in a very obvious place. Atleast it's a relief for me. The non-relief would be the many visits I owe to my inlaws and friends. I am so getting some scolding. That's not what i dread though. I dread what they might think of me. That I don't care. That I am now married and has my baby, what do I need them for. After all the help, the love, the support. I am in deep shit. But deep inside I know they wouldn't hold it against me. There's just so many things going on in my head, so many chores left behind and I just don't have the time. I do miss their company though, and I can't help feel guilty for not even sending as much as a text or an email, and the countless times I say I'll be there, but don't show up. I need to plan my getting even day.
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So I have scheduled the whole week. Today is finish the closet and our bedroom. Tuesday, the hallway, bathroom and toilet, wednesday is the living room and terrace, thursday is the kitchen and friday is go over the entire house and organize papers and computer and fold and store the finish laundry. Saturday is visit time, might even sleep over some place, probably at ma and pa in law. Sunday is a reward for myself to digiscrap. Monday is doctor (countless attempt) and unsolicited and solicited applications. Just hope I accomplish all this stuff. Cross your fingers.

Now, better start cracking...
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Saturday am, new day, new chance

2006-05-13T09:16:00.000+02:00

So here we go again. Slept 2 pm yesterday and then didn't wake up till 5 in the morning. Hopefully this will straighten me out (emphasis on hopefully). I've been in the computer since I woke up, but that's nothing new to my everyday routine. I tried mother's day contest at Jen Wilson, and even used print screen to make it easier, but I couldn't fulfill it. Also checked out my shopping cart at digichick which now was updated with NSD's 50%. Just wished that when kits are purchased, the alphas would be cut already, and when you unzip it will be in a folder already. Oh well, I got my piece and I am a happy shopper again. Just have to organize the kits' elements again. I bought something unexpected again. I have long wanted brown crafty paper (much like a shopping bag or so). I find the krafty paper packs in Designer Digitals to have the best texture. I grabbed a krafty guy, and was a smile richer. Craftpaper is such a wonderful canvas to LO.

I can't find my visacrad. Last used it on shopping last saturday at NSD. Haven't taken it with me out. Hate it when I can't keep me track of things. That's why today I have dedicated this day to cleaning and cooking day. This is a constant struggle on my side. To balance time. To be the queen of the household. So after this entry I am gonnqa detach myself from the computer, plus my wrist is a-hurting.
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Learned some other cool stuff. Giving picture a pastel tint. I learned to appreciate the unsharp mask. Escrappers has cool tutorials as well. I found even more ways to convert to b&w. there are so many possibilities. Although I like the easy virtual photographer. I learned to use the canvas size to make even corners, instead of the brush and shift which I used to do (a very complicated way as opposed to the canvas). I found the usefulness of the navigator palette. I discovered the extract filter. Some sketch techniques. Another way to make round edges which is rounder. To make a face outline with texts. There's so much more. There's a whole world to learn about. I have to quench my thirst to learn a little bit, because I have tons of unfinished business ;)
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Watched a Bob marley documentary. He used to be an idol of mine. Didn't realize he was such a chicboy. So many "queens". His songs always makes me miss the beach.
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Ok more updates later. Its' not so hot outside. I have bypassed the heat, buhuhu.

Before I leave, I was tagged by Litzie. A little difficult for me to analyze small details about me. That's why I like scrapping. Tag yourself guys if you wish:

6 weird things about me:

I used too much time on making time-cutting measurements. I organize too much.
I spend the whole day in the computer, but ends the day with still tons of things I missed (that's 2 month consecutive mind you)
I complain about the norwegian winter, but stay indoors now that it's so hot this early on spring.
I am obsessed by menu's. I collect take away menus at home, and review them thoroughly. When we are going out to dine, if that restaurant has an online menu, I will read beforehand. I get so much pleasure from food reviews and fancy foodwords.
I am contented with egg, ketchup and rice for breakfast. Now for some it ain't weird, especially for pinoys, but for my hubby he can't understand the ff.) egg and ketchup, breakfast and rice and egg and rice. That's a weird overload for my baby.
I know so much about food and kitchenwares, but can't cook.

That's it. I must have some more weird points, but never been good at questions like this. happy weekend peeps.

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UPDATE: Just couldn't contain myself and bought Gina Cabrera's mega kit; Book Bag Essentials. I have so many journalling stuff and kits. Jan Crowley's little black dress at digichick, Gina Miller's Build your own Bulletin Board including add-ons and her note this, Kimberly Giarusso's Just the Basics at Digichick, the new Noteworthy from Katie Nerness at Holly McCaig designs and various journalling from Katie Pertiet. Can't get enough of journals and papers. By the way, DDE didn't require registration. That's a first.

Friendly Lo number 2

2006-05-12T13:30:00.000+02:00

Another requested Lo for friend coming up. Hope it suits your taste Faithy. Yna yours is a little further down. I am drowning this blog with posts and you might not catch it.

Just a quick drop by post. Have stuff to tell as always. I never seem to stop babbling. Soon I will have no memories to scrap. But have to wait till I get a fast break before soccer time which I doubt I will be awake to see.

Credits: Michelle Coleman's spring mini kit freebie from scrapartist for the ribbon and papers, lace from Lisa Carter's old world charm freebie, inked edge overlay from Nancie Rowe Janitz, Dani Mogstad basic chipoard alpha for the & and the shape of F, H (while the pattern is from MCO's paper) and floral patterned brush from spy-glass.net. VP filter on photo. Font: Jane Austen.

Journaling reads: To our new chapter in life, may we continue to treat each other with respect & love, then pass it on to the piece of us who's growing bit by bit inside of me. Now that we will be one family, I'm whole.

Self Diagnosed Insanity and New Territories

2006-05-12T01:03:00.000+02:00

I kept myself awake for so long that when I went out I felt like the biggest sleepy head. That's complete with all the symptoms. Murmuring, lack of concentration and heavy eyes. I haven't eaten much as well so I was drained. It cost almost 5k (php) to just deliver the express cd. The one attending to me had a difficult time to process it as they seldom get the request for this (no wonder with the price, they use an external company for rush mails outside Norway). First there was the classification of the cd as document or non document, then there was a lot of procedures like declaring value, and other stuff. I still can't track my package which makes me nervous. Imagine the cost, then it should be there on time! I am a little frustrated at cost for the reason that I could have just given that amount with my gift to her and she could use it to her other expense. Oh well, nothing more to do about that, just hope they'll like it.

Also in the post office, I saw some cheap softbound books on basic skills in technology. One of them was on adobe photoshop 7.0. If I were to find a book on CS, I know it would be more expensive. My goal is just to get the logic on the different functions, so I can work out how to apply it in different situations and projects. i don't like memorizing. Understanding gives you versatility and options. So told you my wishkit is growing. Now I want a book (value 200-500 kroner, around 2000+ php). I want one that focus on the photoshop and not on the entire suite. And I want it to include basic, easy to understand, and with colored illustrations. Actually the interent offers a lot of info already, but I have to get out of the net (more on things I learned below). I have found one author with good reviews which appeals and is useful to both newbies and experts. His name is Deke McClelland. he has 2 releases at 200 kroner+. One is the adobe photoshop cs2 one in one and the other thicker book is the adobe photoshop cs2 bible. There is also a cheaper photoshop for dummies. Maybe I should start with that.
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I didn't realize how little I have been outside. Not even a 10 minute to get a breather. I noticed that in the path I used to go to the grocery store, some bulks of snow is away. It's not that time goes so fast, it's a sign of how long I really been out. Think about it, when was the last time I told you about me going out. Boy was this a refreshing change of environment. I even took a jacket with me and removed it as I realized that it really has gotten hot. I love the sight of skirts and sandals. I have to snap out of the losyang mode and get my freak on. It's summer, I am loving it and I am insane. Insane to keep myself indoors.

Tomorrow, I have a translating job. So definitely gotta get out of here whether I want ot not. (Couldn't I be interested in digiscrapping on winter time, sigh!). Also, I will be at my baby's thrid football game. I think he misses me being on the sideline and cheering him on. I remember when I bugged him on kissing our ring when he scores (he's the attacker and highest scorer 2 season now...proud soccerwife speaking. Don't know why, but I have always fallen for athletic guys. Not necessarily what I fell for or what I discover from the beginning, but all of them has exceled in sports, mind you they er not jocks. The thing is most athletes actually turns me off because of how they use their status to catch girl(s) in their yarn). Saturday we have been invited to Bizzi's younger sisters and brothers (they are 4 living there and we used to bunk their cellar). Helan will have finished law exams. She's such a great multitasker, handling her business and school at the same time. I came to think of it now that it's NSD on digichick, but I seriously need to socialize, and might pass on that for the sake of getting balance in my life (which I desperately need right now).

Now with the AVP off the sched, I have to continue battling to make my days productive in all aspects of my life.
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Watching CNN or other makes my heart sink. Seeing all the despairs in the world, gruesome killings, unfortunate people in unfortunate parts of the world just saddens my heart. It just brings tears to my eyes of what humanity has diminished to. Ok new technologies have added comfort to some people, but the revolutionary changes has brought so much bad stuff as well. Lack of morality among others, loss of conscience and cruelty. I really believe God is the only one who can restore order, mankind certainly has done a bad job at it. They just mess it all up.
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I was thinking more on the pervo incident the other day. It must have been someone I know since he asked if I knew who he was. If I didn't know him then why worry, I wouldn't know him no matter what he said. Playing detective here.
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Prisonbreak today. Oh my, the plot thickens. I can't stand it. I am going bananas. Michael Scofield is too yummy. I've been bitten by Prisonbreak bug. There has never been an episode that didn't intrigue me. Too bad I lost Lost. I like that series as well, but missed too much now.
Again, a reason to look forward to Thursday. Bizzi's nephew had his bday the other day, but we were sleeping so we didn't get to visit them at their granny's place. Now I owe him a present.
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Got to organize finances. Costs pending, A/P to Bizzi's mom for the resizing of jewelry, dues to mom for some other bling blings, consider buying that closet from Ikea using half GC from wedding and half cash, present to Dana, food budget, bills, downpayment on laptop, doctor and several personal stuffs. I am saving for several things like photoblast actions, memorycard reader, cellphone, book on photoshop, upgrades of pc (atleast that 512 Ram for now), external disk, slr (long term plan), food processor, fondue and that deep pot thingy.

So frustrated on the things falling apart in our house. The mirror on the medicin cabinet feel apart. Glad I discovered that before it ever smashed to the floor. Then we have the spotlights and the old problem of my washing machine.
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So off to some better news. Acquired CS 2. I am on an adjusting period and in the beginning, it's a little overwhelming, but I feel like my learning progress is going fast. It takes a little time getting used to a new interface. What I miss in adobe elements are the functional icons on the toolbar. The undo button and the save button. That means I must remember some keyboard shortcuts. Have had a little problem with the move functon. It does not move a new elemnts to your layer that you are working on as easily as in elements. I don't know if I am doing it wrong. Another thing is that each object has this crosshair thingy which is movable as well. Not sure what this is, but by accident I spun the alpha and it went around the crosshair. Other tools in CS2 that elements 2 didn't have is the pen tool (for accurate selection), spot healing brush tool and slice tool. Elements also have the very easy to use effects palette (where you put actions although elements isn't designed for actions), while CS 2 has actions. CS 2 has also a more complicated blending mode which you can control a lot of aspects also drop shadows (instead of preset dropshadows in elements, you're more in cotrol and can finetune more).

Things I want to learn is quick mask, more on blending, adjustment layers, what is actually rasterizing, curves, paths and other more basic stuff. Good tutorial is a wonderful site. It has a list of different tutorials that they do not host. They just have the links which were submitted to them. So huge database. There is a seperate category for basics which I checked out yesterday. Learned quite a lot. I experimented with the path especially for text purposes. The warp, anti aliasing corner for a more smoother rounded edge, the benefits of a note tool, benefits of a history as opposed to the undo, the benefits of histogram, applying layer style in other and some other goodies. Today I got some lessons on using paper patterns for your brushes which I learned at scrapartist. There are actually two method for this. I think there are many ways to do things in Photoshop, just you get the logic, you can figure out a way to do things yourself. Just familiarize yourself first. When I have the time I will organize my favorite links in the internet exporer window and make a seperate folder for favorite tutorials. I will post some links to specific tutorials later. Just need some time, and my hand is basically hurting now for over writing. Isn't it obvious with my over babbling in this blog.

I have been receiving some pm's by Filipina who scraps. That's always pleasant. The latest being in ACOT, my newest community. I wonder if I can ever keep up with so many community.
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Here's a little something something. A quickie. Just to show my friend how happy I am on her and her mate's behalf. By the way. Amor, my bestfriend's wedding is just a week away. So happy for her and Ronan too. Many wonderful news! Added a little to do list there as well for me. Almost like a bulletin board, hehe. All things used is freebies. So get 'em now.

Credits: Papers from Heather Milano's Icecream bar paper pack, blue and silver alpha from Susan Long, arrow doodles from Shawna Clingerman and the rest of the doodles are from Angie Briggs, To do list stamp from Gina Cabrera at Digital Design Essentials, Jeweled petals from Mrs. Schmuck, beads from Corren Silke (NSD freebie) and fonts used are Times new Roman, Timtastic! and Brandy's Hand. VP filter on photo. My to do list: *Get a life, socialize, smell the air, feel the sun on the face *pc radiation is not a cure for irregular periods, go to the dr! *scrap, scrap, learn, learn, pc, pc, pc, neglect chores (crossed out) *pick up the phone and call mom, waaaah, I miss them! *Organize economy, my computer, my house and my BRAIN!........What Ileft out was get a freaking job, be useful to society...

Have a nice and sunny weekend everyone!

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Tales of pervos and cherry treats on top

2006-05-11T03:30:00.000+02:00

Yesterday a.m. before actually hitting the bunkers, I received a call. When there is no number appearing in the screen, I usually hesistate. But I grabbed it. Voice and accent was familiar. He heard like Bizzi's longtime friend. And the flow of the conversation was casual and normal, till he popped up the freaky q'n; if I am horny. I think a shock surged in my body. Especially because my state of mind made me think it was Bizzi's friend. I answered stupid me, not yet coming to the terms that this is another pervo. I said, no why should I be. Then he said we could have sex, and then click, he slammed the phone on me. Grrrr...shameless sickos!!!
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Finished the AVP today. Didn't get to send it because I had trouble converting it to DVD. So I burned it as a data dvd, non transcoded in avi file and wmv. Pardon me while I murmur some tech stuff. In short, it turned out ok, and am sending it first thing tomorrow.
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Got to organize the freebies halfway last night as well. Still plenty of kits left. I still have to copy elements to kits. Now that I have finished the AVP, I feel that i don't have so much pressure on time.
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So, got some LO finished. Both of these are 100% circle of friends. I used nothing but the kits I bought from ACOT, "circle of friends" which is a huge special collaboration kit in honor of NSD. Procedds will go to a good cause. The other one is a request from Yna. Hope you like it. Check out my gallery at Flickr (click on the LO thumbnail animation in the right) because I have 2 versions of it. I loved the theme of circle of friends, and the first picture we are in a circle dancing with friends in a parking lot of a partyhall. Perfect for the kit. I gave the pics a diffused glow in the hues of the kit. It seems like I can't get out of these very busy LO. I want to have a simple LO for once. I use to many things, doncha think.

Credits: ACOT's circle of friends collaborative kit on both LO, colorized alphas and heart below

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So Da Vinci is out. It certainly tickles my curiosity, but I feel it's not right to watch it in respect of my faith. These are things that diverts people from the faith, and I don't want to glorify it. I might be a passive watcher of the movie, but in a way it's like supporting it. Oh well, just my two cents.
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I have strived to be economical, and I felt that this hobby is not that expensive, but then again my wishlist is expanding. I now want to upgrade the pc, get a digital slr, lenses and motorflash, upgrade photoediting softwares (love the imagewarp function on CS2 and path for text, compatibility with all brushes and much more. In Elements 4.0 you can use the brush for selections and then one can also correct skincolor), get photoblast actions, elements & kits and studiopictures among the many things. I also have to print them out in a book eventually.

Here is my option in printing them out and preserving them. There are 4 different sizes and the perfect squared book above is the one best for 12x12. I'll save on that rather than printing them out in their size and preserving them in expensive albums with refillable slips.:

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Will reply to some of the stuff in the cbox. Otherwise I will be filling the chatbox.

Litzie: check out one of the links to the right at scraptools. It's steph's digitalpapertearing.com. There is a free sample there which you can practice on. The instructions are very easy to follow. It has even screenshots, so you can't miss. When it comes to shaping the text, well I just had to fickle around with my elements 2.0. It's quite limited there, but if you have a higher version, you can use paths. Just google search it because I can't remember the site I read it. If you want to shape your text to a circle, there is a tutorial on scrapbook-bytes. Check scraptools to the right again. There are plenty of sites I put up there with several tutorials. I recommend you also get the virtual photographer plugin. I wrote about it last blogentry. It's also among my links. Like the LO you did for your daddy. Keep it flowing.

Alynn: Salamat! Saw your bunnies. They are so adorable ;)

Liv: It seems I can't escape the shopping instinct. I am after all born with female hormones, how irregular they now might be.

Nette: Hope you're holding in there. Keep us updated! and if you need someone to talk to I am just a buzzer away.

Kaye: It's really easy. Just imagine the photoediting to be your hand. You cut, you make patong (taglish muna) and you can do almost what y0u want. Learn little by little. I still have much to learn myself. Just download some freebie and just experiment and play around for fun. You'll eventually get the hang of it.

Cheche: Thank you (bow!), but why don't you scrap anymore. I was waiting for your next LO. Eh di ba medyo relaxed ka ngayon sa preps. Anyways cute ng AVP niyo . Have you taken new pictures again. Ganda ng shots. How romantic. And love the song too. Really sets the mood. Pero sabihin mo muna iyong to be or not to be, sige na.

Wanda: nakakaloka, ang dami no. Pero organize mo na while you download. i got overly eager too, and ngayon hirap ayusin sa dami. Enjoy the goods! Still waiting for your gallery, nasan na!

Kukote: And welcome you shall be....

from haloscan comments:

Yen: thanks! love your blog too. You're a filipina right?

Yna: Hope you like them. I used the latest kit and colorized some items. i have three versions, check out my flickr on the right. tell me if you want some changes because I saved the PSD file and can still change.

Aggie: Would be better though to be part of CT's like you, these sales are killing my weakened pockets. Looking forward to Martha. Kaaliw talaga ng NSD. I missed out on chats sa shabby and DD. Inaabangan ko iyon kaso I had so many things to do. Pati iyon Gina Miller namiss ko. Oh well, in one year time.
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On scraps and then some...

2006-05-09T21:31:00.000+02:00

Well I am still pretty much into scrapping, but with no Lo's yet. I have a tendency to find activitities that takes me the whole day. It's as I almost have a full time job. Mostly it goes to organizing. I want to have my folder of kits as organized as possible to find things easier. That way I can make most of my scraps . I usually don't want to stick to one single kit. So what streainous work did I actually do. Well first I put the different new purchases to their repective folders (kit, paper or elements), then put them in their appropriate subfolder (flower, feminine colored kits, fasteners, journals, etc.). Then I went to the kits folder. Copied the elements and alphas of each kits to the elements folder and renamed some for proper credits. I made a collage of this months purchase to have an overview of what I have. When I transferred a whole folder (for example alphas that usually have their own folder), I just copied the shortcut instead of the file. That way I saved space.

I now have to go through the freebies section. I already deleted those I know I won't use, but I also want to have a seperate favorite freebie folder for those I would use frequently and then arrange it in the same manner like the purchased. And yes...I am obsessive compulsive.

I noticed the amount of typos I have in the post of NSD. Talk about being eagerly excited. And now, when i see a LO, I can recognize the kits used or who designed them. definitely a sign of addiction.
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I checked my bank account and it's been updateed already with my shopping spree. Since I last bought the dollar went down .5 so I used a little less than I computed. I only saw Holly's newsletter now, and didn't understand the code she had. All I read in the forum is that she had 25% sale. The code gave 40% so I could have bought more stuff. Well, next time. I don't think NSD is the only time for sale, but I sure am glad that it isn't NSD every month ;) I shopped a lot already, but I forgot to shop some papertears by Steph. It's much easier to use than what I anticipated. The great thing is that she sells it in packs and it's not so expensive actually. These tears really makes it closer to paper scrapping. Do you know what I discovered. There is discrimination of digiscrappers. Some paper scrapper feels it's not really scrapping. Oh well, what about each his own.

Another thing I like to have is photoshop actions (tou can find actons at the effect palette) . Atomic cupcake has some, but I like the Photoblast (ezactions, check the link on the left). I read the tutorial on about on actions, and it seemed very difficult, but Photoblast it seems has the difficult last part removed. It costs 75 USD for the whole set, both b&w and color (which is my monthly allocated budget for scrap items). The effect as per website is really amazing. Another option is a free (yes, no cost involved) plugin. This on the other hand is found in the filter of Adobe. You can download it in my scraptools link. It's called virtual photographer developed by optikverve labs. It's a one click process that is too good to be free.
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I think I mentioned about template before, but the thing is you can work with them in 2 ways. The easy one is to use ctrl+g after you laid the paper above the template. Another tips for Adobe I like is to use shift to make things straight. When your drawing a line (like a white stripe for frame in pictures) hold shift continuously. Also when you use the move tool and want to rotate a 90% or 180% or 360% use shift as well. By the way be careful not to save changes when you crop. For example you have a whole sheet of alphas in png, and want to use only A, when you crop and then will close that window, be careful not to save it or you lose the rest. Another thing is working with brushes or .abr. These brushes are not always compatible with all adobe versions. But .abr can be concverted to png and vice versa. Usually when you get a brush set it comes with both .png and .abr. The great thing with .png is that it can be treated as a layer, delete it anytime, move it around. The great thing with brush is that it seems more flat and incorporated and easier to colorize. Check out Michelle scrapability's blog for tips on conversion. Also digiscrapping with Jen is also a great place for newbies as well as this link on digital scrapbook place.

Got lots of new links, and might clean the scrapblog links, so i end up with those I visit the most, or divide into frequent and not so frequent. Among my new links is digitalquirks.com. Most of the awesome people from scrapartist is there. Like Happyrobyn, Debra (Stenways' mom), Mishou and Fiddlette. Maya from
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Didn't win any random blog comments or the name contest. The names were so great. The winner was urban bohemian. Bohemian is perfect for that kit. I also liked two of the runners up; urban tango and gypsy mango. Boy are they clever. Tough competition. The entry I had was seaside terracotta. I loved that line so far, and will definitely get those kits later.
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There are certain things that irritates me with the pc. Whenever I bloghop too much, I get a portscan warning from my internet security, and my ip gets blocked for 30 minutes where I can't access the internet unless I restart. Talk about overprotective. My virus definitions aren't updated since I haven't renewed subscriptions, so I have to be extra cautious not to let any new virus in. I can't understand why people get off making and using those virus to destroy other's pc. I do believe however that one day, they will get it back. Bwahahaha. Another thing is the getting stuck and having to restart.

I have been doing Amor's AVP, and the further I go, the more time to open the project. And then it use so much resources of the pc, that I would need to restart since it keeps getting stuck if I do too much. I am especially proud of the timing with the music. Since we are alternative people, I put such classics as my all time fave Black Crowes, and their song hard to handle. There is an awesome fast drum in some parts of the song. This gave me the opprtunity to put pictures that are very similar. I had so many pictures to work with in my pc and the ones I scanned. We had taken so many pictures in Sonya's garden, but they are really nice so it would be a shame to throw them away. Also I didn't want to bore the audience with too many pics of one place. I also used a song from Nette's picture slideshow. Bubbly toes. It's such a wonderful song for picture AVP. There's a fast phase in this song as well. All I need know is polish with effects and text overlays. I'll try to upload it here later so I can show you the works.

I have until today to finish it. Hoping on getting a LO done and finish organizing halfways. Need to clean the pc soem more, delete and move things around. Transfer several things from c to the other harddisk. needs C for my kits and stuff. It's getting smaller and smaller, especially after that last purchase. I think I have 15 gb to boot.
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I have to remind myself to get new celebrity gossip mag for the comfort room. I am tired of hearing how Jake Gyllenhaal loves that people talks is curious about his sexlife or that Jessica and Nick's home is for sale. I know the mag by heart soon as in verbatim, hehe.
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My sister is naglilihi (for lack of knowing what that is in english, please enlighten me someone). It's so difficult for her to find what she like. Although she knows what she don't want immediately. I made her that tuna salad, she hated the smell and couldn't eat. Today we had broccoli which is very good for her, but she also didn't like the smell. Again, my limited cooking skills isn't helping much here. I have to think outside the frying emporium and give my niece/nephew and his/her mother some more healthy greaseless options.
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Saw a Jackie Chan movie the other day. Never seen a movie in such a lame degree. The scripts is pukeable and the punchline can cause mental disorder. Undeniably the stunts and fight coreography is awesome as ever, but it drowned in the sloppy lines. And it's no excuse that it's from the late 90's. And I thought the newer movie of him; the Tuxedo was lame; but this is an alltime lame winner. And his costars should be banned from the movie industry...seriously.
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I've mentioned earlier that I don't like to rub anything on my face, except for water, but I am considering a sunblock. This way it's not about a cream that has special somethings to dow onders for your skin, but just merely something to block off external factors like the sun. Now, if mankind wouldn't have casued the ozone layer to develop a hole, then I wouldn't have these issues would I. Then I'd have natural protection like God intended it to be. My mom didn't want us to start removing hairs before. Her reasonbeing that God had intentions in all his creations, and to think about it, it does filter. Now that doesn't mean I wanna look like King Kong.
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I've been really pre-occupied. My baby's working. With my sleep turned upside down, I get to sleep with him. My mind have wandered a little from him with all these tasks, and then boom despite being pre-occupied, I started to miss him. Have real quality time with him I mean. Have talks and cuddles, and just being sweet to each other. He gave me a good bye kiss, and I said I couldn't feel his lips, sice it barely landed on mine. he was on his way out. Then suddenly, he stormed back and just kissed me so hard and full of gigilness (Trivia: gigil and chane is one of the few words he knows in tagalog, besides from sige and kumusta). I called him now since I know he just finished from work, and I am excited for his arrival. This cause for a big bearhug!
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I thought of putting a hometip. I don't know if this is common knowledge and that I am late in discovering this. When I have trouble opening a bottle (the glass bottle you put for example olives in), i would usually pass it to a man. My baby told me to just pierce a hole on the lid, and I should manage to open it. And I opened it like Zena after that. It's getting long now, which has been my signature. So let's end this post now, shall we.
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Scrap Overload

2006-05-08T06:25:00.000+02:00

...and I couldn't contain myself. The shopping madness just continued the day thereafter, that is today after NSD. I had considered the collaborative kit in ACOT and also SP's lovely Moroccan sunset in its pale and rustic glory, but had decided to put it on hold because of the unplanned Jen Wilson stampede sale. But the shopping hungry me got the better hand on the budgeteer side. So now I have this big kit with colors in raspberry, yellow and orange. Very bright and weathered and worn textured papers. Huge paper pack. Now I can sign me up for that contest at ACOT. Just have to find a great friend picture to scrap to get the creative juices flowing.

The total shopping madness went overboard with a damage of 231.50 bucks, when I only budgetted for 75. Oh well, just have to extend next monthly shopping to 2 months from now. Then I'll make sure to get some of Ali Folendore at SBB, Stuff from Jen Wilson's own store (especially the signatures, layers upon layers, stories and individual spring decor series. In SBB she has the worn comfort, living, layers and illumination. Fresh Intuition is her new line in her own store. She has a cool name that kit contest with that on her blog. Can't believe the size of this ladies collection. So much to feast on.) and I also want some of Fhung Lie's work. I have been interested to try do some more vintage and heritage LO's, and more graphic design like with use of blending. The girls in scrapartist are so inspiring. IOD, Fhung Lie, Maya of scrapbookgraphics and Kathryn Balint in SBB have nice stuff for this style.

Signed up for some newsletters to get updated. I have already a very nicely organized wishkit folder, and new stuffs could mess it up with me looking for all the new constantly in each website.

I finished my entry in why I scrap contest over at Scrapartist, but will wait in case I might think of more reason. I like the image I chose for this and even signed me up for a stock exchange to get some royalty free image with no restrictions in license to use. Google searching can lead you to licensed images which is not ok to post publicly.

I also joined Designer Digitals. They have some cool challenges. I want to have some fixed challenges to join. These challenges really makes one think. I have already my LO's up at 2peas, partly at digichick and scrapartist, but would very much like to be active in ACOT, DD, SBB and SP.

I am looking forward to monday in US time for results of name contest of Jen W., random blog and winner comments of Holly & Gina as well. Also on Friday they will announce the winner in Why I scrap. I also have the goal to make 2 contest LO with Jasbeanie and Circle of Friends, both at ACOT. May 12 there is also a contest at Jen W's place. Contests makes it all very exciting. Digiscrapping is so much fun. Remember Digichick has 50% off on this coming Saturday.

No I am not bisexual, but there are some beauties I really admire in the digiscrapping community. Andrea Burns, Gina Miller and CD Muckosky are some of those pretty mothers. They really know how to take care of themselves. I haven't even got a kid yet and is already losyang, hehe.

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Had my cousins over today. Very glad to see them again. Bizzi also had 2 of his friends drop by and he got some new games to be occupied with. No more shoulder tapping for me in a while. Buzz by the way from PS2 has a new quiz game out. That sounds fun to check out, but then again no, because I already overspent. We ordered out today which should definitely not became a habit.

Had some problems playing DVD on the pc. I have 2 dvd rom on it and both bailed out one me. It didn't autoplay. I hate it when things like this happens. I checked Adobe CS2 here in Norway. Can you imagine a whopping 6000+ kroner (900 dollar or 40000 pesos plus). No freaking way. I could get major upgrades on my computer for that amount, and I could also get closer to owning a digital SLR.

Got to bloghop a little more today. I wish I had the time to comment to evryone. Babynews for Gracita. It's really babyboom in the community. Cheche got her new bed. Some concerns for Nette, hang in there. Interesting stories from Data on her UK trip. Picture of Liv's recent roadtrip. Mec and Jojo's baby pondering. Photomagnets, sleepless nights and mosaics over at Dionne's place. Wanda's to do list and Kaye's STD. No news however from Glo and Layah. I Miss those girls. Aggie and her faulty internet connection, ultimate scrapper entry and her son Matthew getting involved in her scrapping world. Jacq and her new baby photo's whichgot her startled at first. I am sure I am leaving out someone, not intentionaly though. Bit tired and sleepy already. Yesterday at NSD I was up 20 hours, but then again I am a disillusioned abnormal sleep freak. New week people and new blessings, leave yah here.

More scrapalicious..

2006-05-06T23:20:00.000+02:00

I was wondering why Digichick was a little quiet on NSD, and just read that they will have 50% off sale on all store items as well as events next week. Yipee, one more NSD to look forward to and besides more shopping. I have my eyes on things from Jan Crowler, Ange Dawn (her stitched alphas and maybe a kit), Fee Jardine, Heather Roselli, Kelly Schultz, Kimberly Giarrusso, Tracey Lee (Love some of her papers), Valery Fowler-Valgal (her life recorded stamps) and Marsha Zepeda. Will try to shop and check out next week just to get an estimate. That was a tip I read prior to NSD. Since it would get busy in the different sites, she adviced to go shopping and just check out when the sales price is updated when it's actully NSD on local time. I registered on all the shops last night and also signed me up for the newsletter on each. My organizing really paid off. I have all the preview image in a wishlist folder. I saved everything I like by shops, then by designers. Then I copied the faves to the favorites folder which is again organized by type of item (almost 80% got transferred). The fave helped me prioritize, while the by designer folders helped me be thrifty in picking out stuff from a designer having sale. The renaming also helped me minimize time by just putting the kit name on the search. Now that I've done the initial shopping (besides from my Sarimarket kit), I must start organizing them really well, before they stack up and give me a hard time again.

I must say that I love SBB and their designers, but it's a little frustrating with the loading time and not to be able to pick a designer, and then a specific product of that designer (ex. alpha's). Off I am to go window shopping, will pick up the bill next week for an extended NSD.

Here is a sneak peak of the top of my shopping bag:

*UPDATES* I couldn't resist two more awesome sales. SBB's Kim Christensen and Meredith Fenwick's line of his and her cd is irresistable at 35% off. i bought 4 kits in the collection. 2 his and 2 her. These have awesome paper, accents and alpha's. So worth it. Correction also; just discovered that Kelly Shultz has her line over at scrapix.design.com now, and no longer at digichick(her ohboy kit and fairy blossom paper pack is really eyecandy). I also took advantage of Jasbeanie's 40% off NSD sale at her shop (I spent 3 bucks for an element set and a paper pack-pp has 16 papers with 8 different patterns in 2 different textures. I also downloaded the freebies on her shop, a kit and 2 paper packs. Good deal for 3 bucks). Might join the contest with her on ACOT-where her mummydearest acot exclusive kit is also adorable (but with no markdown, so next time I guess. Too bad they don't sell this at her store). Her pieces are priced fairly. I already thought it was cheap at first sight, but discovered that prices was in Sing. dollar which made it lower with USD. On the other hand, I discovered how pricey the digikits are at 2peas. They are nice, but with a few items in each kit for 10 dollars or so leaves you with better alternatives. Although she has plenty of great freebies on her site. I planned on cooling it down on the digichick sale with a maximum of 30 bucks to use. Then we are up to a total of 190 bucks for a roughly estimated 270 worth, and that ain't bad in my (scrap)book. Have to do a lot of organizing again, man...need to fix the scrapable image folder and add some more pics and also make a favorite freebies folder so that I don't need to track so many well used freebies. Here is my second shopping bag with the freebies snagged and after the estimated buy in digichick next week. I am really feeling the shopping womanhood on this point. So this day has been mainly shopping, and not scrapping and layouting, but I had fun surfing then scrapnet and stalking the event.

*MORE UPDATE* Joined my first online chat with Jen Wilson. It was a stampede. At first I thought I was the unlucky one when the whole thing crashed. Well it seemed everyone was booted off a little while. So many chatters came in and the chat went so fast it was hard to keep up. I thought that had been lik that the hole day, but it seems Jen had the charisma, because later it slowed down a bit. The 30 minutes went fast and some of it went to crahed time. BUT I got a 50% coupon on Jen Wilson's stuff which is bittersweet since I already shopped so much. Oh well, just have to drop the Moroccan sunset which I was going to add since digichick's bill got to 20 only (including lots of freebies). Just have to sacrifice some digichick maybe and skip the moroccan sunset and then get me a JOB, LOL. Ia m very satsified also with a link to Fhung Lie's mini kit Soul Searching. She is a perfect touch to vintagey feel pages. She is wonderful and artistic. Got some other freebie collaborative kit links from 7-10. Imagine I missed 1-6, but number 9 was the best. This one was the one they had previewed and made helen o' daniel. What more if I'd join whole day and in othr places, I would have gone mad...

Joined Jen's name that kit. Hope I can grab that kit. It's so nice. Wonderful colors. I had a new name after I sent the entry, but unfortunately I can only send once. Can't wait till Monday. She has actually a big bonus for the winner, but that kit is a great prize in itself. Wonder what she meant with the one on the chat. It was related to the name the kit.

OMG, so many shopping her stuff, it takes forever (I winded up with 28, discount included). I didn't manage to make any LO's done for the crop, but it was hard enough keeping up with the rest of things. I always had atleast 8 windows open since start of day . It was difficult to pick among the many kits of hers. Some of her greats are still on her own shop like the signature series. There was one big pack of spring decor collection where the individuals are only available at her own shop, and not at SBB. Here is my shopping bag from Jen:

Btw, first post on NSD below, it's been a long day.

Holy Scrap

2006-05-06T18:58:00.000+02:00

Mr. Marley is singing to me; Sun is shining, the weather is sweet, Make you want to move your dancing feet..but what do I do...I stay at home with minimal sun exposure. Why you might ask. Norway has so few summerdays that when summer comes we all tend to suck out the summerdays like blood hungry vampires. It's so few that we are all extatic that as early as May it has reached our shores. Last year was cold and rainy with maybe 10 or so accumulated hot days where you didn't need to bring a light sweater in case the shadows hit you in the evening. But I stay home silly me because it's National Scrapbooking Day, and I seriously filled my shopping bags to the rim. I spent a little above 140 dollars on kits, misc. elements and paper packs. I have had a blast. There is sale in most of my favorite shops and merchandises. The question is where didn't I buy (Jen Wilson-SBB and own store, ACOT-Moroccan Sunset kit, Circle of Friends kit, Ali Folendore-SBB, Gina Cabrera-DDE and Digichick-esp. Jan Crowley, and too few green and blue hues and unisex neutral papers).

I spent most at SBB who has a poll of talented and varied designers. I used my paypal in all transactions, except for 2 where I opted my visa account. This is my shopping experience; Holly McCaig had 25% off (bought 3 items here, 2 of them in the top 2 bestselling items and one new accent pack), SBB (Gina Miller had 35% off-bought 7 items including one kit, one of these items from her new stitching essentials, a little like Fhung Lie's which I need to have next month, Fhung's Artistitches collection is great, 20% off on Tracy Robinson's and 50% off on Dani B. Many sales here, but these are the ones I took the opportunity to grab. Then I bought edges and borders at normal price from Kim Crothers-2 sets and messy edges from Jen Wilson-as the only thing I bought from her, next month is definitely Jen Wilson month), Shabby Princess has 25% sale off-some items even more (bought 3 kits and one stitch set), Sweet Shoppe Designs had a free kit for shopping over 10 dollars, and yes I exceeded (bought 2 kits, both are collaborative kits, one of those kits are a megakit-like 2 kit in one, great value, while the other had a mark down price. I also bought a cool alpha from Mandabean. the free kit is really nice. There was so many kits I wanted here, especially from Sweet Mindy, transfer to next month budget I guess), Scrap Outside the Box (I shop here mainly because of Christine Nash's wonderful collection of stitches, bought 2 sets, one frame stitches and one big set with templates-just learned a new trick on working on template and making perfect shapes and cut-outs, one of the best things that i've learned, Designer Digitals had a 25% sale on this day only(My obvious choice. Ofcourse I couldn't resist Katie Pertiet and the crew. I love the papers and especially the finishing touches of a page-the elements and journaling items. Most are from Katie, but am very excited with a kit I bought from Jackie Eckles) and last Scrapartist had a free kit regardless of purchase, so I bagged that one too (Love the stuff from Michelle Coleman, Nancy Rowe Janitz, the sister team and vintage burnt look of IOD, the shabby Dianne Rigdon and collage items of Hope Wallace. Especially love their alpha and decorative brushes. Bought the distressing kit-big kit from Nancy, Stamped Alphas from both NRJ and MCO and some other items. Spendingwise this was a 3rd placer right after Designer Digitals-Designer Digitals had a last minute add ons that made the shopping bag double. I still am a spontaneous shopper in the end as much as I planned this purchase frenzy so well.). So total value saved must be 60 dollars or so including the free kits. Can't wait to start scrapping bigtime. I am 60 folders richer, yipee.

And then there are the activities. There are crop (online activities) all day. Interesting ones to note is SBB, ACOT and Shabby Princess. Lots of giveaways and fun with fellow scrappers. I missed Gina Miller's which had an attendance of 140+ in the wee early morning. I could have slept 5 hours for this, but my period came which made me heavy in the bed, and I just sunk in. But I will make sure to join Jen Wilson's at 930 pm at SBB and scrapartist in the same place and Shabby Princess right before that in her own domain0. Great contests in several places as well. ACOT has a huge collaborative kit out (Circle of Friends). They have a contest related to this with a HUGE price of so many kits from ACOT's designers. I might get me a kit. It's great value as well. For 10 dollar only with that volume of items in it. Another contest I want to join is from Scrapartist. Why I scrap contest. With all the yummy purchases I made, I am already oozing with idea. Also there are some blog treats and ideas. I found a blog who summarized a lot of the interesating things and sales for this day. Some blogs has freebies, while some gives out giftcards to those randomnly selected among the comments. I left already my comments at Holly's and Gina's webspace. I am so amazed at for the multitasking scrappers like Gina where she can blog, answer all her comments- I got startled to see her reply in my inbox, design, be a mom and a wife, work, chat and crop, comment on galleries, make LO's and join contests and challenges like the big one at digiscrappin.biz, and then everything in between. Jen Wilson has a name that kit contest. I was going to join. I was ginna give the name raspberry lemonade or sunkissed on the first one. I hope the next kit resembles that, hehe. Stupid me, I could have tried so atleast I had a first contest joined to give me a confidence boost (still scawrd of applying for CT/creative team and/or join contests). I also missed a contest with Gina Cabrera where the gallery for that contest was hosted at SBB. I had the opportunity to win a kit (other combinations also as alternatives) like the Book Bag Essentials-loved this, should have actually bought it this month if not for my last minute shopping frenzies. I might shop some more items to round it off to 150. One potential is the Book Bag essentials.

I missed another day. It was Majorstua day. It's one of the posh street downtown where they close the street, have stalls and madness sale. My sister was there. She saw the booth of the official photographer of ours here in Norway (studiovest.no), and he had our picture displayed. He is such a talented goofy guy.

Tell you more on this day later...

Howdee doodle doo

2006-05-05T22:02:00.000+02:00

First off, thanks to everyone who keeps peeking in my blog and giving such motivations to keep me scrapping some more or just cheering up with weekend greetings an what not. Trust me, each words are cherished and each referrals of your presence makes me smile. Thing's are going fine. Sleep distorted and upside down again, but I will correct it again pretty soon. I can smell summer and besides the shouting and yelling from the kids outside our porch is undeniably another summer sign. Another thing is the crave for ice cream getting more intense (kind sis' sponsored our ice cream trip recently today), and then the wanna dress up and look all summery notion. The temperature got as high as 20 degree C the other day, so much so that we kept the door open. A not so good thing is the invasion of bumble bees and bees in general. One snuck in at our place, and boy was it big. It sent me to hysteria which my sister had a good laugh about. It was so big that I didn't need to see up close the detail of it's ready to aim and sting bum.
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What else is new? hmmmm... Made a dish yesterday 4 am in the morning. Sicillian spaghetti. A lot of work for something so simple as spaghetti. It's baked surrounded by prefried aubergine/eggplant which is one of my favorite veggie. The other day, I made gratinated salmon filet and whipped up a smoothie to go with the dinner. Frozen strawberry, banana and vanillayoghurt thrown in one of our 3 blender (no, I am not passionate with blender, but 2 of them are gifts. I would gladly trade 2 of them for a food processor. I am a self confessed gadget freak, and even set up my wishlist on another entry. The other day, it irritated me that we haven't bought a new turner utensil for frying since we last burned the plastic one (that's a long time ago). Ever since I've struggled with making perfect omelettes. So, I bought a cheap one in our local grocery store to save us from some struggles. One of my fave utensil that we have now is the tweezer-like tongs. It's so easy to turn stuff with those. When it comes to utensils, I suggest you use wood or plastic so that you won't harm your teflons and so that the teflon don't peel of and mixes with the food (teflon is definitely bad for your health). I saw an episode from Oprah the other day where they featured this chef. She had some good advice on what you should have in the kitchen. One big wooden cuttingboard for cutting veggies and other stuff (I know what she mean with big: In our small kitchen, I hate and gets stressed by onion and garlic flying everywhere. I am far from master cutter too. I just don't have the skills...yet.), plastic cutting board for raw meat (always be careful in handling raw food and cross-contamination. They have these type with a stabilizing bottom so that it won't move while you cut), a set of handy dandy wooden kitchen utensils (they have this one that has a slot on the end, so you can let it rest on the edge of the pan when you don't use it, simply genious), a good knife (don't buy those set. Just invest in one good knife), a deep frying pan (I have loved this since I first laid eyes in one of them. they look so fancy fine and can be used for both frying and caseroles, lots of space), a big bowl to for peels and other trash and some more things I don't remember.
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In the scrapping world, I've joined some more communities. 2 peas in a bucket headed by the talented Rhonna Farrer. This place has photograph, digiscrap and non-digi scrap. Just had some troubles with the functions like signatures/siggies and some other stuff. I also uploaded in the wrong gallery at first (in the non digi), so had to delete, re-upload. Still if you delete your number of layout stays the same. One can't see the views or get email notification (or is it me who can't find how) if one has received comments. Also when you upload, you fill in info, upload, and then image don't show. The upload of picture option, don't come till the second time. The great thing though is that if you upload in one album, it still displays along with the all uploads section gallery in the bottom. You can also upload in several albums if there are more than one compatible album. Nice community nevertheless with many talented people and kind souls.

Then I joined the digichick. I even introduced myself in the forum, and have gotten a warm welcome. I couldn't upload the first day. I kept getting error, but I managed in the end. I already received so much love on the first LO's I posted, and given so much love already. What a warm and creative group.

Have trouble uploading in SBB. I have registered long time ago, since I already bought my first kit there. I resized my pics to their limit, but no luck. Oh well, another time. I would love to post in other places like designer digitals (awesome shop, my fave things are mostly from here. Just adooore Katie Pertiet's work.). Their featured artist this month is norwegian. Just love all her work. It's so inspiring. Go check out their site.
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It's national scrapbooking day tomorrow. It seems there's one special day for everyday (just the other day it was commuter's day). Do check the different websites and stores as they may have sales or freebies for that day. I sure will. I still haven't made my monthly buy yet. I am a little over budget with what I am planning to buy. I want some cool alpha's I can use repeatedly, some journalling things, datestamps and pins, stitches, overlays/frames and some flowers. As for kits and papers, there are just too many choices. I need a journaling basic kit. I have my eyes set on one from Digital Designs Essentials by Gina Cabrera. I just have to wait for the Bulletin board kit from Gina Miller and the little black dress from Jan Crowley at Digichick. There are so may kits I love especially from Jen Wilson, Katie Pertiet, Scrapartist, Shabby Princess and Sweet shoppe Design. It's too get mad about. Too many kits, too little time, too little resources, too little pictures.
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There's one thing that have irritated me today. Several days ago, I managed to find an alpha freebie from somewhere. I downloaded it, and also tested it out. It's almost the same as Ashley Olson's silver paper clip, but not precut in individual .png files. I can't seem to find it now, and with the way I surf the net it will be too difficult to trace. Oh well, I just have to buy the one buy Ashley. She has the golden version in her shop as well.
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My pc has been getting stuck and i have to reboot. This happens when I am looking through my digiscrapping folder (so many subfolders). My pc can't catch up with my clicking. First, I deleted and cleaned my freebies. There's many things that I don't think I will use. Then I was thinking since I moved the folders to another harddisk, it may be that it was the harddisk that was slow, or the having to process outside the local disk. I felt like a pc investigator. Just moving the files back to C:, made it stuck, even if I just rebooted. So I opened the task manager, and looked at the performance tab while processes was going on. Seems like working with that harddisk made the CPU work harder. Taking away the thumbnail view for the folder, also helped a lot. I also went scouting for 512 RAM for 1024 total, and a new CPU to go from AMD Athlon 3000+ to 4200+. Then I was also scouting for an external harddisk. I just realized that I have too many improtant things in my harddisk. I need a backup just in case. The ram and the external is at 1000 kroner each, while the CPU is a little above 3000. That would be 5000+ total. I would just have to set aside every month. I looked at Adobe softwares, and can't believe it's 6000+ for an adobe CS2. I am sticking to my PSE 2 which covers my needs. Some brushes, don't work in PSE2, but usually packs come with seperate PNG files that is compatible with all adobe.
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Here's my new LO which I spent half of today making. It contains new stuffs and styles I've learned since the last LO. The paper tear, the warped text, copying layer for a picture pile look. and rounded edges. I also kept some white spaces. All things used are freebies.

Credits: Papers and ribbon from Robin Carlton's she teaser kit, Alpha from St. Paddy's day mini kit by Keely Simpson, papertear by Stephanie Krush (steph730) at Digital Paper Tearing, quote and paper clip colorized from Andrea Burns' mothers miracle kit, twill tape stitched by Carrie Stephen, spring doodle flower on upper left corner by Shannon Carlson, font: susie's hand and moms typewriter.

Not perfect on the text wrap, especially on the right side, but I am satisfied. Journalling will be updated later.

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Cleaned the washing machine yesterday. Super shined it. I found pesos and stuff in the filter. Thought it would make the drying perform better. Found out today, that it didn't help. Atleast it's shiny now. I still need to finish the AVP by this weekend, send it on Monday to be on time for her May 20 wedding. Monday I need to make job applications and submit plus seek the doctor, period. No more excuse, and oh by the way cleaning week next week.

Gosh, prisonbreak yesterday made me lift my seat. I am hooked. Need to see next episode. Round it off here. It's getting long again, I am getting a headache...babayou.

It's all about me

2006-05-02T19:29:00.000+02:00

My first attempt at blending and making postage stamp. I learned the postage stamp technique at a video tutorial, but everything else is my trial and error and toying around with Adobe PSE 2. That's why the blending isn't that intricate and is basically a shortcut compared to Debra's work. I made this in the first ever challenge I joined. It's a scraplift challenge of Debra (Steinway's mom), which is a very intimidating challenge for a rookie like me to join. Why do I say so? Head over to scrapartist and see her gallery. She is like my favorite scrapper with all her unique ideas and blending. I tell you that her artwork is fit for your wall. She takes scrapping at a greater level. I have long wanted to make a postage stamp of one of my picture, so this scraplift was a kick to get me started. Journaling is about me and my passion for life and learning new stuff evryday. It's about me constantly evolving through the experiences that graces my daily life, and my flexibility to adapt and adjust to my environment and phase in life.

Credits: Nancie Rowe Janitz' bleached floral paper, behind the postage is paper from spaceraven.net, flower from younique photos, postage and lace border brushes from spy-glass.net, postage alpha, paper and overlay from vintage artistry collaboration kit of SBB (made by Lyndsay Riches, Dani B, Trish Jones and Carries Stephens for simple scrapbook mag.). Font: mom's typewriter.

2 digit LO and 2 consecutives

2006-05-02T03:18:00.000+02:00

Usually I just make one at a time, but I have so many nice new freeebi kits and there's so many more waiting. I reached the 1-0 mark, and hope that I improved and learned since the first one's. Although there's always so much more to learn. Here are my LO's. Had a cozy sunday and monday lounging at home and just snuggling up, but man have i craved sushi even more since saturday.

First LO is a wonderful freebie from one of my fave shops at designer digitals headed by Katie Pertiet. This one though is from Tia Bennett and is made for simple scrapbook magazine. Imagine the excitement when I saw a kit from Tia Bennett as coming soon, so I constantly checked the site when a link would be updated. Just loved this kit.

Journaling reads: Everyday is a new day for discovery and learning new things about each other. One would think that in the span of time we have been together, there would be no more things left to find out. In fact, I am always anticipating a new sunrise to observe and enjoy you, and a new sunset to absorb and apply these things to our growing relationship. I'll never grow tired of this process, and when time catches up us, and we've reached the end of God's gift of life, I want you to know that I've enjoyed every twists and turns of our journey and constantly soaring new heights with you...your lifetime student & partner, Angie

Credits: Tia Bennett's New growth kit freebie for simple scrabook mag., screws from escrappers, font: accoustic bass and PT script (unreg.) lightning

Next up is from an image I have waited a long time to scrap (my first cousin's firstborn). I got the idea to make it a collage like by some wavy stitches and him being in the toy basket. He is so adorable. I had fun making this. I almost used all my babies and boys kit (only freebies) for this.

Credits: stitches from sandra boddington, water created from sarah batford's colby justin kit, B alpha, pockettag, ribbon on sail and sparkle alphas from boy oh boy kit from Valeri Brumfield, yellow crossgrain ribbon and small staples from Melany Violette's shining star kit, thick staples from Shabby Princess' fall kit, Sail and hat from Andrea Burns' Mothers Miracle, Fishes from Atomic Kitten, Kids drawing brush from spy-glass.net, shabby boy alpha from Angela and Emily Powers from sweet dream shoppe and lastly skies, sun, sunrays &amp;amp;amp; edged frame (used on sail) from Gina Cabrera's Lucky star kit for simple scrapbook magazine. Font: Adler

Tinted face, primitive times and raw pleasures

2006-04-29T23:08:00.000+02:00

Finally a date with my dear husband and quality time. Finally getting out, dressed up and with make up. And when I wear my contact lens, it must be a special occasion. Either it's a wedding or a long awaited date like this one. After getting my glasses, I barely opt for the lenses. I hate it when I am going to sleep and must remove them. Sometimes I slept with them on when i was super tired.

Before we left home, I cleaned the house and took a long shower. My baby asked me for help in music file conversion and transferring to cellphone. After countless problems bumped in the process, my fuse started to ignite. Poor guy, not his fault. So after some minutes I said that I am sorry for the attacks, and poor him to have to put up with this at times. If it is indeed my hormones, damn them for lashing at him. From that point though, it was all good. A clean, non cluttered house always make my mind more clearer and relaxed. The opposite wrecks havock with me. If the house is a mess, almost always my mind is a tangled up mess as well. Happy and holding hands we paved our way out in a slightly rainy outdoors. Having one umbrella doubles the closeness of snuggling. I took advantage of that ofcourse.

Beforehand, we ordered our movie tickets for Ice Age 2. I love animations and cartoons from the big company's and the humour that goes with it (we got exited by a trailer from dreamworks maker of shrek, adn another animation of an alternative version to little red riding hood). Although I am not in the same degree as my baby. No wonder I call him baby when the first thing he does when he comes home is turn n cartoon network. I laughed at him the other day when he started singing with a children commercial. I said that if you know commercial by heart then it must be a severe case. Anyway, the choice was ice age and scary movie 4, and ice age won marginally.

We shoved some burgers and other junkfoods in burger king before we headed to the cinema. We saw one of our former colleague and friend from our burger king branch before and chat a little. We stopped over my sister's work. She was delighted to see me glowing, happy and dressed up.

The movie was fun, and the whole experience would be all pleasant if not for these youngsters in the back row who thinks they are alone in the cinema. I said to myself oh why didn't they prefer the norwegian audio of ice age. The impoliteness of these guys and non consideration of children and adults in the cinema is just so alarming. Kids are getting worse and worse. I was outright annoyed and just controlled myself from telling on them or start scolding them.

Check out alexsushi.no. They have a menu which is also translated in english. If you are sushi fan and will visit Norway, this is a highly recommended place to binge.

Next stop was the long awaited sushi experience. This place has so great rave reviews. One sushi connoiseur even said that this was the best sushi place outside Japan, and another said that it changes the way you see sushi. This place is the place for the top elite of Norway for sushi dining. The big business tycoons are often spotted here.

It was our first time there, but I have long savored their online menu and all the praises and raves I keep hearing. We went to the opposite direction, but finally found it. I made sure to reserve which was wise. From 8 pm onwards it was full. I already studied the menu at home to get a notion of what to order (I am a menu freak. I love taking time to read a menu). We had to go through 2 massive steeldoors before we came in. The very first one was heavy and I even had to have help. I wished I didn't chomp that burger because I was really feelin the sushi tingle even though my tummy have only digested 75% of the first meal, and that was like barely 4 hours ago.

Most of the seating place is in an elliptical bar like setup with the ingredients and the chefs in the middle working and giving out the food to costumer. A little akward at first for the deduction of privacy in this manner. You can see everyone eat and everyone can see you. You get a little concious much like a first date with your crush. also this is a reason why I never got to pull out my camera. There are 2 groups of tables further away and a secluded room for business or private functions. I ordered right away, no time to waste. I waited for this in 2 months now. Our last sushi experience in Hongkong was so bad that I just wanted to taste the better versions, and may I say much much better.

We ordered mostly maki which was a very wimpy order. Next time I have to explore the more challenging and new flavors. The only thing i don't want to taste is squid and eel. We got a complimentary salmon sashimi as starter surrounded by Alex' special sashimi sauce. And it was indeed special. The salmon tasted so much better. It lost some of the rawness in flavor, while the consistency and texture remained very much raw. This was a great sauce, and i can't quite point to what ingredience was used, but this is a thing you should taste for yourself and not be described to. The salmon was topped with salmon roe. salmon Roe is very malansa (fishy), but I just love how I burst that in my mouth. I usually eat them one by one which takes time since they are so small. The chopstick can barely pick up one for their size and slipperiness. The sashimi was topped with chopped leeks, coriander and other fresh herbs. I still can't believe that this was free and so good (for me this was my fave among what we ate, since I usually don't order sashimi).

The next was 2 salmon nigiri and 2 bluefin tuna nigiri. One futomaki order of deep fried scampi and one maxi maki of crunchy king crab maki (one of their specials). 1 Uramaki order of spicy tuna with just a small rush of hotness that stays with you just enough without discomforts and wanting to swallow tons of your water instantly. This hotness was a ride you wanted to stick around for (I am usually a wimp when it comes to hotness, and that's why i don't even use wasabi on my soya, but this was a good bite). Then last we had the salmon skin uramaki type. The last one was what i was looking most forward to. I have read about this recently as something that is offered in Philippine sushibars in Pinoy fod review blogs. Some place even have cream cheese on their maki. This was the first place I saw they offered it in Norway. It was really good. It was placed in a small dam of a sweet sauce (based on soya I guess, but thickened and sweetened) and it was very good. I wasn' dissapointed. I had green tea on the side which was quite different from the ones I've tasted. This seems more authentic. It weirdly reminded me of burnt flour, but it was refreshing nevertheless. I drank up the whole humongous cup.

The thing I guess that makes this place more appealing than the rest is the overall experience. Oftentimes the other places would mess up on the rice. Their rice was done just right. It was cooked just long enough and marinated just right with the sushi vinegar mix. I have eaten many good suhiplaces, but this has the added extra. The sashimi is so far from any place I have eaten. Somehow the salmom was tastier here and more slippery. The sauce is the most perfect touch. The service is impecable. They were just so corteous (all of them. They were plenty for a small place, but we soon saw how busy this place was), but not intrusive. We felt taken care of. The water was filled in time. The chefs in the middle brings in the humour and somehow ties all the guest up like if we were all in a party where we all knew each other (but still akward). They have such a variety in their menu, and there is definitely something there for everybody (they have tis concept reflected on 4 different sets where you let your chef choose teh content. This set change from day to day). Their paraphernalia's as well as their sushi containers are so contemporary and practical. They have this thin elongated porcelain ware that fits just right on the 2nd level (the bar like structure in dark wood is like a stair. The table proper on ground level, a tiny 2nd level and the 3rd level where the chefs place the finished orders. You get a sturdy set of chopsticks with a white porcelain holder. A plain black napkin. A small wooden bowl with 2 dampened towels. You get a brochure type menu which you can select to take home. Plenty of pickled ginger (my favorite which the Hongkong place didn't have), and you don't even have to ask for 2nd serving. The other sushi places is very sparing on this. We had so much excess and besides bizzi don't like the ginger. So I had plenty to savor on. The soya containers weren't soiled and full of fingerprints. There was water everywhere by the window in case the waiter wasn't there when your glass got empty. And I've never seen a restroom in their standard. I loved all the nice touches and the big space. The last time I was impressed by a public restroom was in Antonio's in Tagaytay. This restroom had a sink made of concrete. It was very refined industry look. It was smoothly shaped, but the finishing and color was very rough. On the wall, there was a rectangular vertical slot with 3 shelfs. All shelfs contained white nicely folded white towels. It was secured by a brown leather strap. The continuity of those towels looked so nice as a background to the straps. There was a white cluster of tall phalaenopsis (I love this in interiors) in a vase in the corner. The part nearest to the mirror was several glassplates stacked on top of each other. It was nice offset to the concrete. The whole place smelled nice and looked very clean and nicely maintained. I even wished I had a cp camera to snap away the details. Total damage was 570 kroner (4k plus in pesos) and it was fair enough considering the place, the value for the experience and flavors, the service and that we live in Norway.

We were kissing and being very sweet. No arguments, not even minor. I was smiling all the way. We saw Linda working in Burger King and chatted with her. Bought some breads and other groceries whrere we met a kurdish family friend of ours. We rented 2 movies on the way home, but Bizzi felt asleep (and I am off to do the same right after this. Sleeping beside him is the perfect ending to this day. I am a little fed of having to sleep with the big long throwpillow as my huggable object). I managed to come a long way in the AVP, and the computer didn't bail out of me (I have top get 1024 mb ram for video editing. The 512 mb won't do anymore. It's frustrating to constantly get stuck. It was a wonder it cooperated today with no need for restart). In conclusion, I had a wonderful day, and this is healthy for our relationship. We have been living together (the before marriage being unofficial) for 3 years now in our 4 year relationship and we still feel newly in love. That's a good sign. Any which way, I am looking forward for our anniversary on 26th of December for teh next Alex Sushi visit (and yes Bizzi laughed at me when i said that).

Finally an output

2006-04-28T23:11:00.000+02:00

I started doing the AVP for Amor and it has this sickness agin to get stuck. Luckily it autosaves, but it irritates. After using the computer a little more, it got totally stuck and had to be restarted. Then my computer spoke to me during booting which I never heard it do before. It said the CPU was too hot. I maybe pushed the computer to the rims with my non stop use of it. This was a first time though, and I am not sure what caused it. The computer to me is like a car for others. I really handle it with care and hears when something is wrong. After next restart and turning off the heater some which is located one meter from the cabinet, it started out normally. For some reason I started scrapping. Looking at my archives to find an image to scrap and digged up a picture of Bizzi's niece whose mother is his twin. They lived in Canada, but we got to see her on our wedding, and she was just so kind, sweet and oh so cute. We miss her so dearly. Still using freebies and experimenting on different techniques like using selections adn brushes as well. My latest femi LO have been so pink, and I will try to break from it. I did manage to not be so cluttered and bring so many elements to a layout. I fought against using alpha, fasteners or staples and ribbons. but the urge was there. So this was the outcome.

Credits: Papers from Nancy Rowe Janitz' Sanded Florals, Splendid kit from Shabby princess, Katie Pertiet's pretty paisley paper, Amy Jo Smith's Flora, Pink dot choc paper from Heather Milano's ice cream bar papers, Nany Rowe janitz' inked edge overlay on the image, rosebrush from spy-glass.net. Stitches from Atomic Cupcake. Stitching holes from Fhung Lie (they are designed for her Artistitches # 2, but I used it as an ornament for my LO). Fonts are Acoustic bass and BlackJack and used VP filter; Glamour on the image.

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I amde sis a tuna salad she could spread in her bread for her lunch. It was tuna with sweet corn kernels, lemon, pepper, rocket salad/arrugula, a pinch of salt and lots of pepper. The problem is she got sensitive to the flavor and thus couldn't eat it. So I munched away.

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Baby have been sleeping all day. Anytime soon, he'll sleep and then it's my turn. Have a great weekend everyone. Thanks for greeting me one as well.

On a roll

2006-04-28T15:04:00.000+02:00

Maybe you've noticed how I write like crazy nowadays, and maybe the clutter of words is intimidating to read. I have always loved writing. I am a frustrated journalist and when younger a frustrated poet. In grade school I made a book with 400 poems in 3 languages. Haikus, rhyme, no rhyme and what have you. Then I lost it. I had applied for journalism in Lyceum, but ended up with Mass comm. in Letran with my bestfriend till we found out the theatre and the other stuff that went with it.

Ideas and thoughts keep popping up in my head I even need to jot it down even if I blog in short intervals. To my regret there is an envelope I used to write on which I lost.
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I forgot to tell something from my interpretation job. I learned that there is a new rule where patients get nurse at their house to ensure that you take your medicines and that you are not bothered by sideeffects. It's in conformity with the standards of WHO. It seemed so luxurious and so caring for the population, but just the other day there was a feature on the corridor patients. Imagine having to ask to borrow toilets from the other room patients, not having privacy, doctors announcing confidential things among in the open and much more. It just strips you from dignity in a country which has such high taxes and fees. In some areas they are really great, but there is a budget issue always. They have so much money from the oil, but choose to save it for later generation and the surplus always goes to a fond for later generation and in case the oil runs out. I assume that fond is huge now.
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I went to a magazine store yesterday to see if they had digital scrapbooking mag. They have the non digital. I guess it's not yet a hit here. I wanted to bring a huge mass of interior magazines with me on the way out. It just seem to be so enticing. When young I read too many books (I even joined a book club that sends me books every month) which caused my eyes to be at a 3,75 on my weakest eyes. Now I prefer eyecandies and visual pleasures.
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I loved what I saw outside and what a motivation and challenge it would be to make a photoblog and snap a picture everyday with scenes outside. I saw this idea at Anne Motilla's blog and she was inspired by another blog. I am not such a fan of my digicam, but it's just something that can kick my butt out of the domestic territory.
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I should have written this before, but let me just say how proffesionally heavyweight losyang (that's those veteran wifey who stopped caring about themselves-roughly translated) I looked. I was bra less (with that layer of clothing it's not even noticeable). My hair pulled back by my bare hands for that grungy oh so dirty look. I wore my daddy's still looking new 30 year old Levi's sweater in red and grey(which is worn by most his freinds and relatives as evidenced in old pictures), while having my Idol commercial tshirt I got while working in Burger King in neon green underneath and peeking a little by the neck. I looked dreadful. It's just the jacket and pants that looked good. Thank goodness it's the only thing visible.
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Sometimes I am sucker for celeb gossips and buys the norwegian D! magazine whenever it comes out. It's cheap, but I guess they used the market skimming method. get as many customer first and raise the price little by little and nobody notices the small raise since they are already obsessed by the mag. My fave sections are the gowns they wear and copy the look of celeb spot. There was a small bridal mag inside as well. Made me miss my bride planning days.

That leads me to another thing; my dream, ambition and visions as wedding planner. I have 3000 unread from the waw yahoo community. I always get nice ideas and tips there and always filtered the mails. The most important is the helpful waw, supplier ratings and to answer waw. I wished I was still as active, but it proved to hard to keep up with the volume. They just piled up. I wish to share the lessons learned and ideas (see on the right to links to our wedding pages). I wished to do for a living something I thrive to do. I guess everyone has the same dream. I have to brush the dream away for a while. One is thoughts of stability in Philippines. Bizzi who is not from there should be doing something useful as well so he won't feel like a stranger there. He loves Philippines, but vaccations is something different. Businesses are always risky, and we don't know if it's worth losing savings for. The salary is so high here, but life is one big routine. I guess there are many things to weigh. If I become wedding planner her, the establishing and organizational cost are skyhigh so one have to be certain it's gonna be a hit. Wedding is not given so much attention to details here as in the wedding industry in the Philippines, but that gives opportunity to be a pioneer. Oh well, I guess we're still short of savings to think so much of this.
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Nowadays I see scrap in everything. Textiles, fashion and everything in between. I am drowning and I haven't even started my hobby big time. Paisley's is very attractive pattern for me as of the moment, shabby and distressed.

More shortcuts; TFL (thanks for looking). other things they do in the community is photoswap and scraplift. I love all these ideas to make the community interact.
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More nutrient news. I love a good java kick. Coffee mocha is my favorite, especially during the days I used to puff. We don't have starbucks here, and it's a big void. I splurge big time on fraps whenever I have the chance to. Our route to Philippines start in London and then Hongkong, then final destination is Philippines (with Cathay). I am always excited to land in London territory for that airport starbuck adventure. I also make sure to get some in Hongkong airport. On our way back, I almost came too late for boarding when I insisted to find Starbucks on the far end. Other than that I try to keep away. Coffee is dehydrating and effects our skin as well as stain our teeth. I already drink too littel amount of water and liquid in general. Me and sis discussed this and she said that coffee on the other hand has also been proven to fight cancer. So some java doesn't hurt after all. Maybe one cup a week. Tea is god for digestion, but for the same reason as dehydration I stay away.
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Another hometip I am practicing is rinsing onion in cold water reduce teary eyes. I find it help. When cutting, put a wet rag underneath the cuttingboard to stabilize it. Boxes with a small slot to put labels on are nice way to stack things. You can put pictures on that slot instead of what is inside to find your things quickly. Boxes minimize the clutter. Pictures from our house.
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I did my grocery downtown. This chain is a little more deli with more options. It's a huge store with the regular and imported stuff. I bought some minitoast and butterdeig cups to make cocktail one of these days. When summer comes, we are going to really clean our porch and our barbeque and invite our friends of the families who have been with us since we were small. These are elder people, aunts and friends who really is there for us after this incident with my sister and her soon to be ex husband. One thing I learned from this experience is to treasure the other persons around us and see them more often or just get in touch and the other thing is that never fall blindly. There's is nothing constant in life than change. I watched prisonbreak. The episode ended so thrilling that I ended up laughing and saying that the producers are so inhumane to torture us with such endings. it shouldn't be allowed.
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Talking about friend and acquaintances. While riding the train on the job yesterday I saw one of my freinds from burger king. Since our friend who was our boss(even joined us to Philippines at one time) changed, all of us who had been good friends there quit our job. I do miss these friends of mine. Sibel which I saw had sent me an sms about her birthday that was held this saturday. I forgot all about it and didn't even send an sms to greet her on her bday. I want to invite them over one day for a barbeque as well. Now I have to do some intense work on an AVP due in 3 days for my bestfriend. I will take a small breather from posting.
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Not so bad after all

2006-04-28T09:14:00.000+02:00

So off I went to my interpretation job. I searched and searched for id picture to no avail and had to print out one instead. It messed my sked a bit, but I could still be in time...or so I thought. Never been out much lately since I've got a new cellphone, atleast not with an appointment. Therefore I bitterly discovered it was 2 minutes late and so I mised my subway. Since next wouldn't come till another 15 minutes, I had no choice but to take a cab. My heart was thumping of anger. I initially didn't want to go as I mentioned in my earlier post, and now I won't earn even enough for the cab ride. Cabs is a luxury here with around 1600 pesos for a 10-15 minute ride. I was repeating in my mind what a bad day this was and I started to expect the worse.

I went straight to their office to get my id done. I had to write what an interpreter was in my language. Wasn't sure, but wrote tagapagsalin ng lengwahe. If you know of another term please enlighten me. It's weird because the norwegian word is tolk which is a relatively short one compared to the long 3 worded filipino version.

Hawin, my sis in law, asked me how I was. I told her not so good and told her about the taxi episode. To my surprise, she asked for the receipt, which I ofcourse didn't ask for. She said I could get a refund since this was considered a rush job because they ordered so late. The thing is I have been awake since 6:30, I was informed bout the job around 7-8 so I thought that was considered ample time. This sucked. I lost money twice.

It was nice to see Hawin again. She always hug me, makes "gigil" and piches me in the cheeks while saying how much she miss me. Poor thing had a cold though. Helan was in the university busy with her upcoming exam in law. She's studying law you see, while she is handling and administering the firm. She's such a strong woman. Totally admirable.

I have a confidentiality clause so I can't reveal certain aspects of the meeting I interpreted for. I think though that I can share knowledges i learn that are generally available for the public as long as I on't describe the clients involved. The job was in a hospital. It was the panel type with

the pasient and 4 other specialists. I felt that I did the job very well. Translated correctly and complete. Followed the rules and ethiquettes (translate in I form, can't say she said, you have to take the role of the one you are interpreting for). After the session which came to one hour (supposedly they ordered half an hour. Initially I did expect one hour since this was the usual minimum time, but since this was the client which they bid on, they had different conditions in the contract), we shook hands and one of them told me what a great job I did. This was the turning point of the day. This made the difference. I said it over and over again how my unemployed situation bugged the hell of me and really affected my self esteem and disposition. With that comment, I got a kick, a motivation to find work and excel. I have always been ambitious, but been unfortunate with my employers and work situations. Despite from this I know I always perform well and contributes a lot to the company's growth. My "career" so far has consisted of customer service, restaurants and grocery stores. I haven't been able to break free from this, since my accounting degree was only credited for 2 years. I am rejuvenated to feel useful for that tiny fraction of time. Work here I come.

Also in my visit there, I saw sick and unfortunate people, and started thinking how much I actually whine. I am so fortunate to be healthy and able. These people are incapacitated to work even if they wanted to, and I being able do so little to be a productive unit in the society. In contrast to the misery of other people, I also observed the happy faces of people carrying flowers and balloons probably on their way to visit a newborn and a newbaked mom. I just absorbed so much emtotions form my hospital encounter. I finally felt alive. It did me good to get out, period. Even small things like an informal communication with the lady across my table holding the cute silly baby was meaningful to me. I looked at her cute baby making all these faces and sounds, she noticed and smiled and without words saying to me, ain't she silly. Even the wexchange of smiles between the lady behind the cashier. I was socializing, making contact, influencing and breaking barriers in communication (interpreting). It made me hungry for life. Being held back by isolating myself, have definitely made me appreciate everyday scenarios, even the small things and gestures. Before I would be ignoring this, but not today. Today I was sucking life to me. I know this sounds melodramatic, but this is just my exepriences and emotions.

I started observing fashion again. Norwegian is so fashionable. I started reminiscing my fashion conscious days with the coordinationg attires and accesories and mix match processes. I saw this really cool vintage like coat. A dark hued coat with snug fit and softened dark rich hues. I love describing textures, eyecandies and flavors. I like being observant.

I ate delicious duck. It wasn' sensational and delicious as the name implied, but it was ok. I like duck. But with a pricetag equivalent of 800 pesos in a cafe like place, is a very stiff price for the dish. But then again, I live in the very expensive country of Norway which on the balanced side give very good income (my baby's salary came today for one month wage converted to pesos was around 160k pesos. So the price is not that bad actually. A gourmet restaurant bill on the other hand for two can fast come up to 3500 pesos. Therefore I postponed our sushi experience for a while.).

I mentioned how summer is so great in Norway. The refreshing change of streets filled with people. The seldom sun on your face and the greens around. I love the cafe lifestyle. Hanging with friends with java and chit chatting about nothing and everything (before accompanied with sigs, but not anymore :D ). Eating great sandwhiches, salads with a summer burst and delectable cakes. Ofcourse I am really loving mussels too this time of the year. On the very first picture on the collage, is our favorite place to eat mussels. Reason being more on the ambience than an exceptionall good mussel. The mussels comes in large pots stemed in olive oil, herbs, lemon, white wine and other stuff. The best mussel dish I tasted though in Norway was in an italian resto with pasta as specialty. They have 2 variants. In a thick tomato based hot sauce or a creamy white version. I like them both, but the red one stands a little above the other for a little biting hot and spicy aftertaste. The 2nd picture is Aker Brygge, a small pier in the center of the city with the city hall right above it. The condos in that area are owned by high profiled pictures. This is a popular place to dine in the summer, take a bear in the resto boats or just promenade with the family and eat icecream. Picture number 4 is the botanical garden downtown. Picture 5 & 8 is farther away. Picture 5 is an example of one thing Norway is famous for. It's small narrow body of water surrounded with mountains on both sides. I haven't sailed across since I was a little girl. Number 6 is the main street, Karl Johan, which is quite long with the royal castle in one side and the main train station on the other (Picture 3 is near the other end. You can barely see aburger king flag on the left side of the picture. I used to work there. It has plenty of stores, resto and cafes. A carfree stret promenade. It takes about 10 minutes to walk across it in normal pace. It's the busiest street. 17th of May is Norway's national day. It's just one big party outdoors with the whole nation invited. Everybody gets dressed and 70-80% of those who touch alcohol is drunk from early on. The children marches in a parade with their schools and kindergarten led by their school banner and waiving their flags. The parade ends in the castle where they wave to the monarchy in the balcony. Imagine the sales revenue by having almost the whole population outdoors. Picture 6 is from this day, collage below picture number 2 is from that day also. I am with my younger friends. The red uniform is for "russ". In their 3rd year in college (graduating year, and then university is next), they have a party period before the finals where they are at their wildest. They have buses designed and painted by them with loud speakers to sound their presence. They always carry whistles to blow and be annoying. They actually have rights to be loud and obnoxious. They hold many outdoor parties. They have this merit system wherein they get knots on their hat if they accomplish one of the things in the merit list, like have sex in the forest with a witness watching or do tumbling acrobats through the mainstreet naked. Some are more laid back. They don't participate, but still I can't get this phase. Especially since this is the time before finals. Last picture is from the famous park filled with sculptures made by Vigeland. Pictures 12, 13 and 14 below are from the same place.

Pictures above shows more summerscene from our own camera and picture archives. Pictures 2 & 3 is from the same place we eat mussels and drink ice tea. It's so cozy with surrounding art bazaars and a fountain. The brick pavement reminisce of Intremuros where I did my schooling. It's dab right in the center of town, but still isolated from the noise and magnitude of people. Summer favorite activities is volleyball, barbeque in the porch with friends (picture 8). Pictures 10 & 11 is from the days leading to our wedding. It's just the beginning of september, so it was still a little hot. We were always with Bizzi's big family who came all the way from England, Canada (where Bizzi's twin sister lives), Sweden and Ålesund (8 hours drive from Oslo). Picture 10 is from Aker Brygge, same as picture 2 in collage 1, while picture 11 is from Bygdøy where there are plenty of museums like Kon Tiki. One can get there by taking a ferry from picture 10. These are the things I am looking forward to. I also love to see how people dress in the summer, which is so much more alive than the winter look.

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I also went to 2 photostores to find solution for my LO's. At Fotoknudsen I had 2 choice. A hardbound book like the one from the american mypublisher.com. Me and my sister already ordered 2 from my publisher when the concept wasn't introduced yet to Norway. The great thing is that they have in different sizes and the newest size is in a squareformat in 31x31 (cm). I opened Adobe and opened new, then put 12x12 inches (which the most common scrap paper is), and then pulled down cm which converted it to cm. The result was 30,48x30,48. So I have a slight allowance even. These photobooks works pretty easily. You download their software in their website. You can customize pages and edit the pictures in this software. Minimum pages is 30 pages and you can add more for a little extra cost. I will use a full bleed page, meaning one image stretched till the edges to get the LO size. The cost of a 30 page book is 500 kroner. They also have a wide range of albums, some of which are refillable. The albums are from 199 up. The slipins are 59 per set of 5 which you can use both sides for a total layout of 10. The worst is the printing of each LO which in this store was 60 per enlargement. the size closest is a 30x45 which means you have to make a white edge for the excess and cut it manually later. 30 LO would mean 1800 kroner for just the prints. The other photostore has a much lower cost of 40 kroner, but still 1200 is big bucks. The albums are better for the non digital versions with the plastic slip in as protection. The sample album had non digital in 12x12.

Digital is so much cheaper and less work. You can use the things over and over again. It's easy to move items around. The kits are affordable. One doesn't need to wait for it ship if you want to shop online for variety. The only challenge is to get the full use of the photoediting software for no boundary creations.

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Image taken by my cp in august when purple is in. Which was lucky for me who had this as motiff for our wedding. Store is Indiska which is mentioned below.

I couldn't help bend my necks to the shops display windows. I noticed pastel pink and grey as the color of now. reminds me of the college sweater and jackets day. I was more interested in the interior shop like one of my favorite Indiska. Oriental and middle east shop with both clothes, accesories, furnitures and homedecors. This is a concept and store founded by westeners. Also i can't help but remember the article I read the other day of the revelation of the working condtions of suppliers of accesories, bangles and clothes from china and other places that still exploit employees. For the sake of fashion and income. Anyhoo the colors I noticed in interior are turquoise, green, aqua, white and really calming colors.

Talking about the wickedness of this world. I am apalled by the websites that glorifies go(w)re. How people get off by other miseries and grotes(ss)que scenaries ( I misspelled it intentionally so per(rr)verted and cyni(ii)cal heads won't wind up with this page in their search. They are definitely not welcomed here!).

More random thoughts on next entry...

Early start are best

2006-04-27T09:44:00.000+02:00

This is my ideal place for breakfast. Doncha think.

Woke up 6:30 am. Far more better than the 12-2 pm wake up time prior to having sleep disorder. I had bought frozen rolls or miniflutes so that we could have hot bread for breakfast. I bought the whole grain type considering my sister's preggy condition. I sauteed some spinach with curry and salt, but forgot to sautee onion first, added an egg to give it a little texture for a rich iron and vitamin meal. Heated up the boiled baby carrots from the day before, made some suny side up eggs and slightly fried some turkey hams. haven't had a decent breakfast in a long time. My baby called around 7 to order breakfast to be ready for his 7:45 arrival. He was used to not get any hot foods for breakfast and that's why he called. Little did he know that I already had planned this simce yesterday. My sis has very low apetite nowadays. She can't seem to know what she craves and have tried different foods to no avail. She knows what she don't like though, dry food and oily food, and eggs. That's why I had some hot food so that her breakfast wouldn't be that dry, but told her to stay away from the eggs. She already had some this week and that's enough cholesterol for the week. Egg is also needed in her diet, but onece a week is enough.

So we had a joint breakfast, and it was very cozy. Some earl grey tea and conversation to match and that made it a perfect way to start the day. I always encourage my sister to eat even she has no apetite. I always remind her that even if she is not hungry, the baby might be.
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I want to have a resolution day. A turning point for some really big changes. More housework, cooking, health concious and responsible stuff. I have been small cleaning everyday or what we call imis, but I need to take it to a higher level.

I remember at college. Everyday I was makulit and felt like I needed to stop being makulit one day, grow up and be a little more serious. It never worked when I premeditated on it. I always fell back to my makulit form that I don't even remember when my turning point was.

When it comes to health. I've been improving. I do need to increase my daily intake of water and other liquids and sketch out meals for a week to make sure I have balance in all the nutrition, vitamins and minerals my body needs. I have never been a lover of softdrink. I always drink water so sugar I guess is not a major issue. It's just something my mom instilled in us among other things. I want to drink that iron thing and take omega 3 capsules since I don't eat enough fish and seafood, and some other multi vitamin tablets. I am not packing myself with chocolate and potato chips anymore and prefer wholegrain to white bread now. I usually use olive oil to fry or sunflower oil and try to limit the amount. I try to stay away from butter in my bread and puts pesto in it instead to not make it so dry and tasteless. Then I have beef (pastrami or roastbeef) or turkey meats on my bread for protein. I aslo try to include vegetable on the side (as salad or boiled veggies, definitely not buttered) or in the dish for added sustenance. I am keen on hooking up with a juice machine I see in tv shop. I like fruits but to lazy to buy and eat it. Been drinking milks with Lactobacillus Rhamnosus GG for healthier stomach and digestive system. They have run out of the type I like and so I had to buy one that is more milk like in cosistency rather than the thick sweet delicious one I first bought in that line. When I treat myself some times I go for cookies instead.

When it comes to household chores, I am really glad I lived with my sis in law for a little while. They put some routines in me I normally don't do. Like heating some water on pots and pans to make the burnt stains on the bottom disappear faster. Another is to soak the sponges and rags in chlorine regularly to disinfect rather than just throwing it away or allow it to accumulate to many germs while using it. I also learned a different way to fold towels to make it look like hotel folded towels. My sis in law told me that she was pondering on how to fold towels properly for a long time when sudenly in a step by step series (the comedy from the 90's or 80's), they showed it. I also learnt that curry is such a versatile spice and can be added to almost anything (especially veggies) for a touch of spice. Limon Tuz is a wonderful crustal like substance that gives your salads or food for that zingy quality of a lemon without it being to lemony in flavor, and also when cooking tea or using water to boil something use the water heated in the water heater to cut time. Sometime in my younger years I remember being told that hot water from the tap is not good for you.

My mom instilled many things in us that up to now we practice it since we are accustomed to it and her warning would always ring a bell in our subconsciousness. One thing is to use creams and tonics and other stuff on the face. My daily regimen consists of a facial wash with just water. Not even soap. The only ime I use cream is before I apply makeup which is once in ablue moon.
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Tolekenett, my sis in laws translation firm, called me today. There was an order on tagalog translator for an hospital. One of the hospitals that is included in the bid they won (and I am proud to say that I made that bid proposal myself in just one whole day, and we won over bigger an more established translation bureaus. Even the one who held the contract before which is the biggest player in this market..a proud moment, bear with my ego boost). Anyway, I am not so fond of working there even at freelance mode. I have to go the distance just to translate for an hour or so (especially in the health and welfare sector) The business usually hold longer seminars and court translations, and hourly pay is much better. The lawyer sessions with clients are usually short, but has higher hourly pay. The trip from when you leave home till arrval is also included in the hours, but nevertheless it' not worth getting dressed and travel for just that one hour job. My stopver at their office is not even included. They have to make an id card which the contract obliges them to do. I need a passport photo and I need to search for it in the pile of ruins and clutter in my room as of this moment. I don't want to take a picture on those booth that meake me so darn ugly and emphasizes the eyebugs because of lousy lighting and equipment. And why spend when I ain't even earning that much. I have to pay for my fare as well.Iit's hard to say no to family, so the no choice situation suck. It was with bitterness I said yes to this. If not only to help them then it's really not worth it. It's just that my inlaws have been there for us and ben so generous to us and so I feel obliged to be there for them as well. And then there is the fact that I love and care for them.
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I am utterly convinced that my hormones have gone haywire. I cry over the smallest things and the otherwise non-sappy really tacky scenes of a tv series or movie. When one cry at a stupid and so obviously scripted tv show like date my mom, then something is seriously wrong. I hate the whole fake made up concept of that show, but nevertheless it made me shed a tear or two. Wo, that's like not normal at all if you ask me.
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Just waiting out baby's salary before I take the trip to my general practitioner for recommendation of an OB gyne. I am slowly discovering that this is a very normal and not so frightful condition and that many has this among my wawie friends. So many plans for the coming salary. I have to start making our excel budget thing.
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I have a friendster account, but who hasn't nowadays. The funny thing is when I was viewing the slideshow of newly uploaded pics, 2 consecutive pictures was a picture where friend sits in the bed with teddybears in their grips. How weird is that, or maybe it's a new picture pose trend again. Gotta get dressed and find my picture. Boy is it heavy to lift your ass especially when you're not enthusiastic on the tasks ahead. Be back in a while. Gotta get lost in translation.

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First portrait; Recycled gown and more..

2006-04-26T23:25:00.000+02:00

So another long post right at yah. I am often by myself as my co habitat is busy working, and therefore tend to ponder more than normal. Before we go to the pondering, let me share the firts portrait of my niece/nephew:

Sis took her ultrasound in Pinas while she was there on her short dropby type trip. Just had to scan this and share this with you guys. So excited for it to grow.
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I received my wedding gown after it has been used for the 3rd time in less than a year (twice by me, and once rented. Extra bucks for us which we do need at this point. She gave me a picture of her wedding and I like the simplicity of her makeup. Emphasis on the cheeks, but still sweet and subtle.

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I had a weird sleep pattern the other day and screwed up my adjustment. I fell asleep at a normal time, but I woke up in about 2-3 hours later and didn't manage to doze off again. So I was awake organizing some more. I decided to fight sleep again for almost a whole day to normalize. I took out the beef to thaw that i was to marinate and fry later. Then my baby asked me to lie beside him a little while, and I fell asleep. Sister thought I was gonna wake up again and therefore no one took the beef back to the freezer or fridge. I had a record long sleep again till 6 am. So today I woke up with the beef in the same place I'd left it, but a thousand bacteria richer. That was an expensive beef dad bought before he left (he jampacked the freezer before he left), but health first. So down in the bin with the beefy. Another thing is I left a pan in lowest heat just to remove the burnt bottom (tip to get rid of the bottom scraps from a caserole, put some water and put in low heat. When you brush it later, it'll just go off easily). I am glad someone noticed this part. Seriously, my sleeping disorder is dangerous.

Saw a sleep deprivation documentary in national geographic. Basically it was about the loss of concentration when deprived of sleep.

So I woke up grumpy and started bugging Bizzi with his untimely decision to get a used laptop from our friend. yes it's cheeap, but it just isn't the right time. I got fast irritated for every comment. I went to do the groceries, bickered some more when I came back and munched on the baguette. Bizzi went to sleep, and I sat on the computer. Later I couldn't resist to go to the room and cuddle some. Talk about moodswings.
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I have been organizing some more. I formatted one of the harddisk containing the old pc games to pave way for my digiscrap. So I transferred it from C to F (Angiesbundle). I also managed to free a lot of space by scanning all folders that isn't requisite for old and unused file (music, images). My harddisks are now Local disk (Master & Documents), Videos, Photo and music and the recent Angiesbundle. New files haven't been sorted out, so I put them in their respective folder and/or harddisk to get a better overview and make it easier to find things.

I also deleted hundreds of fonts since our collection has grown to be too big. The recommended number is 500, otherwise it can cause computer to hang. I used both my font viewers and it's weird that they give different amounts of fonts. The folder itself has a different number and photoshop show some others too. It's really weird. Important thing is that the excessive is gone so I don't have to browse fonts I barely or never use.

I also cleaned the disk and deframented it for faster performance. Just the basic maintenance I am too lazy to do regularly. I think I freed 20 gb that day or something like that. The total free space now is 90 GB, but I am still concerned that I have only 24 gb left in the digiscrapping folder. I still don't have so many layouts and most of my kits are freebies except for one. When I started purchasing and layouting more often, then I am sure to fill up that free space very fast.
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I made my siggies and avatars today. Now my posting of comments isn't as dull anymore. Found one more great place for free brushes. I dig brushes. I'll be updating my links pretty soon.

One thing about digiscrapping is that it's such a friendly marketing area. The designers market their products by having freebies in their blogs or sites. They have creative teams to show off their creations and they have cool contest and crop sessions. This is an interactive, fun and involving marketing.

I like to learn more about blending method. This is really cool. The greats of scrapartists are very good at this, like siteowner Michelle Coleman and Debra.
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There are some fringe benefits my wedding suppliers are offering now after my wedding. Online hosting of video and cool slideshow. Too bad this came too late. This is really in tune with today. Instead of using time to upload or buy a domain or photo/videosite service, this is a much better alternative. They generally don't ask for more money as I believe this is an advantage for them to market and showcase their works.
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Getting sleepy already, so I just have to blabber some more tomorrow and take advantage of my sleepiness. See yah!

Digiscrapping; an OC revived; windowshopping

2006-04-25T00:56:00.000+02:00

(sidenote: blogger been acting weird most of this day and been annoyed bigtime by the inconvenience, which is not the first time, so now am catching up and is posting like madly, hope you can keep up;) )

So you may or may not wonder why there are such long interval between my layouts (for me it is long interval considering the amount of freebie kits I have - 9 gb, and handfuls of wedding, prenups pics and old pics that is scrappable. The reason is simple, I am too OC.

For the past 3 days, I have been windowshopping. I didn't have to go to the fitting room, go my custommade shopping route for the town of Oslo and mingle around even more shopping frenzy gals. In fact I just sat prim and proper in my computerchair with limited use of body muscles. This was a different shopping experience less the hassle, but with the same thrills. I even get to take home with me a preview of the items without payment. Too good to be true, well that's my cyber shopping. I just went to all my favorite digistores and went through all the products one by one for each designers, copies the image for those I liked and put it in organized folders:

Wishkits>By Store>By designers;

then in the same wishkit folder, there is a favorite folder:

!Favorites>Elements>AddOns, borders, brushes, brushes, buttons-studs-circled items, collage items, doodles, element kits, etcetera, fasteners, flowers, glitters, journals, ribbons-fibers, stamps-brushes, stamps-postage, stitches, tags and wordart
Kits>boys, girls, feminine, masculine, season, theme (will make subcategories for this), cultural (I am digging some chinese inspired kits and papers) and vaccation (might add more folders if I think of anything, my freebies have another folder system mostly by color, by pastels, by bright, by blues, by earthtones, etc.)
Papers>baby boy. baby girl, masculine, feminine, mixed or unisex, distressed-vintagey (will probably come up with more subfolders for the mixed or unisex folder).
Alpha>no subfolders

I also made a scrapable image folder to put pictures I would want to scrap with.

The shopping experience and all this organizing is just a confirmation of my OC (obssesive-compulsive) qualities. To prove this even more (as if the shopping thing wasn't enough), there was this site with wonderful products called designer digitals headed by the talented designer Katie Pertiet. Her site unlike the others can't be right clicked. I finished all the other shops first, and saved her for the last. I would cache the whole screen when I liked a product, open the clipboard in Adobe, crop the image and save with a name I gave for the kit (initials of designer, store and kit name, the latter for easily searching the product when i decide to purchase it, ex. kp_dd_sunburst.jpg). As a cache hold just one picture at a time, this was without a doubt very tiring, considering Katie has 400 products and not to mention the rest of the designer team.

The purpose of this web window shopping (from hereafter called wws) is to find the best kit for a particular image and maximize purchases. I really want to save the best pictures to purchased kits. The freebies are amazing, but good pictures is so worth investing much more in. This process is again maximized with the favorites folder.

As of now my main cravings lies in some great alphas, brushes/swirls, flowers/collagey things, stamps (postage and datestamps), journalling options, fasteners (tapes and pins), stitches (major crave here, I am drooling over some), must have papers from Katie P. and overlays.

I was a very OC bride as many can testify, but actually I have been an OC my whole life. There are many advantages, but there is also disadvantages. I tend to focus on one process too long, perfecting it to the point of it seeming stupidly timeconsuming. I am not so good on partitioning my day to different things. This would mean for me to be more thorough in setting priorities and having an overview of the days to come. Meticolously planning way in advance with other words. I have had this notion to invest really great amount of time to organize to save time (and/or agony and unforessen events) later. That could be translate as control freak in some parts of the world.

Anyways, advice to brides is to look at digiscrapping stores for inspiration of color motif. usually when you buy fabrics outside, you can only get one at a time, but here they come in combinations to see what matches. I should have known about this before, because there are so many color combinations I discovered that I wouldn't have thought of it before.
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All I need now is to improve my skills and techniques by getting inspiration from browsing public galleries and reading more tutorials. There's tons of great eyepopping ideas. A lot of talents out there I tell you. Go ahead and see for yourself and if you are not digiscrapping, you might be inspired to start. Currently I am part of Scrapartist. They are more known for their heritage/altered collage. Stenways mom, happyrobyn (Robynengland.com) and Michelle Coleman oozes with talent. Being the newbeginner I am, I time to time have complexes on joining scrapartist because I am not an artist yet as opposed to these great talents in my midst.

Other galleries I would like to post my works in is in digichick, 2 peas in a bucket, and scrapbook-bytes (SBB) among some. It's a fuel to energy and creativity to get some love (comments) from fellow scrappers. At first one feels that you are not worthy of getting such praises from so talented peeps, but I guess it wills ettle in when one gains confidence in their LO's. I still ain't comfortable with my LO's as of now. I wished I could have more time to comment for others layouts and leave comments of thanks for downlaoding freebies, because these scrapping girls are just the bestest with big hearts. They are sticking out for each other and giving sincere words of encouragements. These girls further amaze me for their succesful balancing of things. Some work, look after their kids, scraps, designs kits etc., forums, comments, blogs, make LO's, busy being pregnant and normal everyday things. Talk about multitasking.

Btw, sorry peeps for not leaving comments more often on your blogs (my wawies friends). I have been visiting your blogs everyday, but just haven't had the time to comment (with the volume of work I am doing). Thanks to all those who comments here. I am always so thrilled and appreciative reading all your replies.

Next would be working with my avatars and siggies/blinkies.
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I learned some new cool techniques through ordinary and videotutorials in the net (you can find some good links on tutorials at the right side. Most digiscrap website offers tutorials in the forums or in a seperate link on their site.. Selective colorization and layer mask/adjustment layer. When I learn new things I insist to know the why's and not just the how. This way I can apply these things to other situations and/or scenarios. I am not contented to memorize the step by step. Understanding the process als skips the memorizing process. Things will come automatically with logic and not with concentration. That's my opinion and that's what works for me at least (it may vary from one person to another). The use of adjustment layer was a new thing and intimidated me at first, but once I understood the explanation, it felt more comfortable to work with it. Also by leaving behind intellectual issues, my creativeness can grow more.
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There are plenty of cool contest. I really want to join the shabby princess challenge at ACOT with a very cool prize. I would love to enter with her moroccan sunset kit. Then there is Michelle Coleman's color challenge. Love a contest or challenge with a theme. The last contest is finished though. Gina Miller has one also due wednesday. It's the use of her flower thingy collection. I am missing in on a lot of action. Then there is this cool idea of tagging in the forum. You tag a LO you like, and then the creator must do the same. It will be easier to explore the really good LO and definitely increase views.

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Been downloading some fonts today as well. Not some, but many. Mostly handwriting. Also downlaoded some stamped and caligraphy. Links to the right. I found these really nice fonts in the LO of digiscrapaholicmom Yen (carpenter font) and then Gina Millers recent layout where she used socially akward font (happyrobyn also juts posted a LO using dear joe, but I already downloaded this before. I can see how pretty it is by her LO and look forwards to use it) . I can't believe some sites actually sell these at 42-60 dollars per set. Wow. Thank goodness I am a constant google user and some scrap forums led me to links where one can download it free. Digiscrappers sometimes offers fonts, but as low as 2 dollars or so. Check the price difference.

I am falling for brushes. watching a layout who credited some free brushes, I hopped my way to that site to download. The link is on scraptools on the right (spaceraven on essential scraplinks also have some free brushes). It's really fun and it looks very pretty when applied in photoshop.
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I want to share my favorite designers and shops and a short description of their style. Btw, I made this list on my earlier post on some things I learned. I forgot to include the following terminologies and tips:

LO=layout; BOS=book of scraps/favorites, SAHM=stay at home, distressed and grunge, soft, weathered and worn, textures, stamped, brushes, shabby, photostock, heritage and altered collage. I know a little bit more what a crop is. It's an online event with lots of activities. files are usually made with 300 dpi so that you can resize without being pixelated. Don't buy paper packs where there are several alike patterns in different colors. It's easy to colorize. Remember a rule in layering. Always work on a layer copy and not on the original. Using an adjutment layer makes it easier to finetune. If you erase and haven't let go of the brush for a while and then amke a mistake, push the undo, all your works since you last let go of brush will get lost. Layer mask allows more control. Add a sitemeter to your site (free service you can monitor visitors and get details like site, if searched what words, ip number, internet provider and location). There are in fact people who google search certain kid pics and gets off at this. Be cautious at your wordings. If your blog allows, use password if privacy is important for you.

So to shopping again;

Fave shopping places

Designer Digitals (with Katie Pertiet and Tia Bennett among others-known for distresed style, wonderful stamps and brushes)
Scrapbook-bytes (with Gina Miller, Jen Wilson, Ali Folendore, Ashley Olsen, Kim Christensen, Tracy Ann Robinson and Dawn Stocstill among a whole lot other talented designers. The style here is varied, you'll find a mix of styles here like a one stop shop.)
Jen Wilson (she has her own site besides from her store at Scrapbook-bytes, can't believe the volume of her work. I love her color combinations and her element kits)
Sweet Shoppe Designs (name says it all, sweet. Fave designers here are Mindy Terawasa aka Sweetmindy, Robin Carlton, Sara Carling, Manda Bean and collaborations.)
Shabby Princess (Kristie aka shabby miss jen, studio chic and moroccan sunset is one of my must haves)
Scrapartist (IOD is in the house, very distressed and grunged, a specialty in scrapartist. Micheele Coleman, Nany Rowe Janitz and Dianne Rigdon to name some.) and The Digichick (great kits. sweet designs. home of andrea burns and jan rowley among others).
Digital Design Essentials (Gina Cabrera)
Holly Mc Caig designs
Simply clean and Peppermint Creative
Heather Ann designs, Modscraps and A cherry on Top (ACOT)

Favorite papers are from Katie Pertiet, Jen Wilson, IOD, Michelle Coleman and Ali Folendore.

Favorite kits are from Gina Miller, Jen Wilson, SweetMindy and Shabby princess. There are 2 types I don't prefer in styles. These are the neony colored kit and dark and dull shades untextured (red, green and brown especially).

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Hopefully I can whip up some LO's pretty soon. I set a budget for scraps already, so will purchase very soon. Can't wait to get cracking LO and be active in the forums, BOS some LO and galleries. In the meantime I Hope you can digest all my thoughts on digiscrapping ;)

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This was me then; this is me now

2006-04-24T23:10:00.000+02:00

I take these tests for fun after usually seing them in the blog of others. Don't rely on the correctness, but it's funny when the results is nearer to the truth than expected. Drew is like one of the coolest star ever with this laid back style. her Mad love was huge for me before, back in the grungy days of mine. I adored her rocking style and her plain beauty. I digged her attitude. I kept listening to the soundtrack of this movie and it got stuck in my head.

The thing that really hit the nail is the comparison of what I used to be in high school to what I am now. It's so dead on. I can't really believe how I could dig Slayer and other really heavy bands (now I would have covered my ears for all that noise and garble). I knew Metallica's songs by heart, but the alternative/ grunge was really great. Like Live, Black Crowes, PJ Harvey, Smashing Pumpkins, Toria Amos, Faith no More, Nine Inch Nails, Alice in Chains, Breeders, Sonic Youth and Eddie Brickell were really great. Then there was the 70's greats Jim, Janis and Jimmi and also reggae great Bob Marley (which still is my fave beach music). Talk about flashbacks.

A free spirit like you needs to be played by someone who knows what it's like to carve out her own niche. That's why Drew Barrymore would be great for the part. Whether she's starring in unique films like Riding in Cars With Boys and Ever After, or heading out into town with daring dates, Drew refuses to conform to Hollywood's mold for leading ladies. Like Drew, you have a unique outlook and passion that shines through everything you do. And if you're truly like Drew, you're not afraid to show everyone who you are.Back in high school, were you the one listening to bands that others hadn't discovered yet, or branching out with political or fashion statements of your own? How about raising quirky questions that stumped your teachers? But now that you've grown up some, people are starting to value your individuality and your creative way of looking at the world. Or at least, they will soon. So who better to play you in the role of your life than Drew? Doesn't it seem she was made for the part?

Your movie star double is Drew Barrymore

Who's Your Movie Star Double?

Brought to you by Tickle

Fears, tears and joys

2006-04-24T13:06:00.000+02:00

Ever since I never had an irregular period. In my teens there was one time I had it for 2 months, and we had to artificially stop it with pills. The doctor said I had hormonal imbalance. I don't know how long it would have gone on, cause at my last day before taking the pill it was like a waterfall, and I was leaking since start. After that it got regular 2-3 months, and then I would get it at intervals of 1 and 1/2 to 3 months. Now it's 1 & 1/2 to 2 months. I never really paid much attention. I was acustomed it. Although subconciously I was worried that this had an effect on my fertility. I would tell myself to check it out with the doctor, but would always postponed it. Maybe it was a surpressed fear of finally confirming the much dreaded thought of infertility. I occasionally ask my baby the hypothetical question; what if...and he'd always answer, I still have you (pardon the mushiness). I am so wanting a kid of my own, but I don't think it will mean the end of my world if we are not able to. I think I would accept it though. It's just the feeling of not knowing that is worse.

Anyway, I googled it the other day. What irregular period would imply. Then there was this awful word, polycistic ovaries. I don't know the degree of seriousness, but you can say that cyst isn't excactly a cherished word. I will set an appointment today to rule out this, and hopefully we can move on with this issue.
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Dad left yesterday. Me and sis woke up to say farewell and we both gave him several bearhugs. He has done nothing but cooked and taken care of us. In his last days, he whipped up a full caserole of menudo that we could freeze and so my sister could bring it to work as her lunchpack. He is such a wonderful dad, just oozing with TLC. It's out now, so I might as well say it here. Some instances led to the seperation of my sister and my bro in law, and this is one of the issues I had to deal with lately. On the other side, her having a baby is what we focuses on. So the sadness of the seperation after one year of marriage was put aside. She is concentrating on making the baby feel loved, and always speaks to her tummy saying; love ka angie, love ka bizzi, love ka lola, love ka lolo. Given the circumstances, my parents has taken it well. Thanks to the guidance of God almighty. We never was as religious as we are now, and blessings have poured ever since. Now we see the matter as a blessing in disguise. My parents have stood by her through it all, and I am so touched by the support and comfort they are giving her. I will be there for her and the baby in whichever way I can. She is my one and only beloved sister.

So some tears flowed when dad walked out that door. My sister was in the Philippines for 1 week. She got her first ultrasound there. There was plenty of stuff I wanted her to bring which I forgot. Including Dino Lara's slip in album (not the digital but the 500 3R) which they forgot to fix and bring. She was so apolegetic, and said; anak pasensya na ha. She was such a darling before and is even more of a darling now. Threre was occasions were I was very irritated at her when we travelled last time to Pinas for our wedding. She didn't do me wrong, just advicing and being overcaring, and I had this butt out attitude, I am grown up, not even thinking of her sincere intentions. Looking back I feel that was so bitchy and unthankful of me. Specially since we never get to see them. Recently with all these thoughts of hormonal imbalance, I suddenly started to put things together. Because there are times I am feeling really moody and cranky even if it's not my period. Bizzi, my sister, my mom and my dad has witnessed and felt that. Hormones are often blamed for moodswings. Maybe my hormonal imbalances is causing this.
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Bizzi is back from Sweden. It was nice sleeping by his side, and hugging his tiny tummyarea and shoulders. I slept really early for a change after having modified my sleeping habits the other day (stayed awake till 2:30 pm-usually I sleep around 9-10am, and then had the longest sleep till 5am). It's so much better to wake up early. This way I can plan to do things in office hours like looking for a job and getting my doctor's appointment. Also my food intake is more regular. Staying awake in the night, I just eat when I am hungry. There is no standard night eating time, and I didn't have time to whip up and convert one.

I woke up around 4 am. In my sweet and happy moments, my realizations tend to come and regrets for that matter. I have been bugging my baby when he was in Sweden. Calling him constantly, nagging and scolding; why aren't you sleeping at auntie's house, why haven't you called to say you have arrived, why are you coming sunday; I thought it was saturday, why don't you know your travelling plans, etc. I think now that this was part of my hormones things. Anyway fast forward to now, I asked him if he found me being a nagger and if he ws offended or hurt by my attitude. Half asleep he tapped my legs and said no, don't think about it. I apologized, and he again did the same gesture and answered the same. I am so fortunate that I have him to be able to be myself, to err and to be understood. His patience is really remarkable. No wonder we don't have those really big and long lasting arguments with plenty of screaming, cursing, and so on. My mom is just so proud of him. She started crying on the phone when he talked to him because ang bait daw ni Bizzi (long story). Siyempre me in the sideline wept some more. Aren't we full of drama?

Pics and videos from his sweden trip and the ones from our trip 2 weekends ago coming later.
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Spring has come to the Norwegian shores. Thank goodness. Somehow the air smell different, the sun shines better and warmer and the landscape is turning from an ugly duckling to a swan. Furry buds are springing forth in the twigs right outside our porch. I always welcome this transformation after a long and boring wintertime. This winter was filled with snow. The cars was literally covered in the parking spots. It's amazing how fast that volume of snow melted. Luckily for Norway it is soaring higher than the other european countries who are experiencing massive flooding due to the melting of the unusually large volume of snow.

Well, anyways spring is here, and I am so looking forward to summer. Lately the summers have been short, breezy and rainy, so I am hoping that this year is promising. It's a wonder how Norway is so dead in the winter and so full of life, people and activity in the summer. It's like people here is hibernating in wintertime.
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Saturday we went to my auntie's house where she held a despedida for dad. He made so many good food and even 2 cakes. A refreshing melon drink, scooped round balls of melon, tenderloin roated in the oven and garnishings. Bearnaise sauce to go with that as well. As appetizer or cocktail food we got this shrimp salad tucked in ready butterdeig pastry which can be bought in the grocery (nice idea).

We watched our cousin's wedding on video. She is half german, and had her wedding in Boracay. Really simple gown with no embellishments. No makeup and just everything in white. White calla lilly for her boquet and white flowers on the aisle. It was a small intimate wedding with around 30 people and cultural dances and live band at Friday's. The sunset was perfect backdrop to the whole ceremony. They also had 2 weddings where the first was in a castle in Germany. They had a civil ceremony proceeded with the reception. Her groom was in a band and they played for him. I heard it was really a touching wedding. We also showed her our video from the Philippines.

Her bathroom was really nice, but it shoulde be. She spent more money on it than the value of her house. It's just a small space, but due to extensive labor for being so old, she had to cough up with a whopping 6 digit number.

Tita wrapped us cakes to take home which I am feating on ever since. The crumbled cookie bun tasted so good with an extra hint of nutflavor.

I learned that dad won at horseracing. Hiniritan ko ng balato just to joke with him, and when he left on sunday, my uncle (who had driven him to the airport) with auntie delivered some money to us. We got 1000 kroner each, me and my sis, plus payment on a loan my sis took for him.
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Nowadays with me sitting at home most of the time, it's still a wonder why I have still so much to blog about. I feel like nothing is ever happening and I am just on the computer, but my long and constant entries suggest otherwise. Bloggin is really a therapy for me. It helps me vent out and also it serves as my diary and biograph which i can look back to. Actually my journal is more for myself, but it's published and I have made a lot of bloogerfriends as a wawie who reads, and I am thankful that you guys are interested in how it is faring with me. Mwah! With that in mind I am a little ticked at blogger and it's photoupload as previously expressed. Was it not for this I would post a picture on each entry, even just google up something related to the entry. Something bout a picture that draws one to read, even more than a catchy title. Parang all text, and especially if my entries are as long as this, it seems very boring. Friendster blog is really nice with the image coming in a pop up window. In my first blog, I would insert html for every image just to have that feature. Discovered one more thing when blogging. I am also annoyed that when I justify the laignment the paragraph spacing disappears. I have discovered that when you justify when the entry is already finished, this doesn't occur. Howell, trivial thoughts.
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Been meaning to blog this a long time now. It's actually a picture of how I used Glo's wonderful wedding gift. It blends right in with our interior. (It's the runner we got).

And then a picture of our bedroom when we came back. my sister had redesigned it slightly and added that big lamp.

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Things I learned on scrapping

2006-04-21T11:28:00.000+02:00

Ok last entry before I lay my head to rest. The past 3 days or so I have been intensively scrap researching. I downloaded freebies, made my blog look more scrappy. Researched links, blogs and shopping stores (and added these to my sidebar), and just now downloaded fonts great for journalling, 2 type of free font viewer to make it easier to have overview of the fonts and uninstall old fonts never used, also downloaded a real handy plugin for my adobe elements from optikverve labs (also considering to purchase ezactions later, these sites I discovered through Gina Miller's blog, a highly creative scrapper with gorgeous kits), and browsed for tutorials on utilizing adobe fully. I learned 2 great things just these last hour. Making your images look like a postage stamp or create one of my own and journalling in circle. There's so many possibilities enough to drive one insane. There are so many shortcuts in Adobe, but it's a little too much for me to learn right now (there's just so many other things to learn), but it would make things faster once you mastered the shortcuts. I know I am just using 30% of the full use of Adobe (and I even have an old version 2.0, imagine what 4.0 could do) . I need to learn more advanced skills.

I have just recovered from the bride bug, and the wonderful community that taught me things like what a TMU is and the likes, and now I already need to learn so many new terms (I am now overwhelmed with the rush of emails coming from both waw and naw. It's 2000 something. It went too fast for me to filter and sort). I still don't know what a crop is in the forum (haven't had time to read. I just know how to crop using photoeditors, but I don't think that's the meaning.). So here's a list of things I explored as of now.

There are so many players out there and stores. Didn't know this was so huge. Just check how many blogs I have linked, and this is far from complete.
This is a place for new communities and friends. It's so amazing how helpful they are and even how supportive they are.
Moms goes digitals. Most are selflearnt in editing.
many scrappers have killer cameras to compliment their scrapping frenzy.
Siggies are signatures, many have the blinkie type
There's also a thing called avatar which is a small thumbnail that represent you, mostly in cartoon form
Many are designing for many, many has gallery on plenty of places. It's just one big bundle of network.
Contests is another motivation to scrap
Freebies is is out of goodness and/or advertising. They really take time to make these so we should be grateful and respect their works;
Leading to this point that there is such a thing as digital piracy:
and there is a blog dedicated entirely to inform about this, let's respect this otherwise the freebies may shrink
One link leads to another. There is no end.
Beisdes from composing a layout, it's also nice to tweak on the photo itself
There exists maps/sketches for guideline in making layout
Organize your items. The digiscrapping is overwhelming on its own, so it helps to have them organized. (I organized by alpha, elements - subdivided to ribbons, buttons, fasteners, etc., full kits -subdivided to colors, themes, paper packs - subdivided to color. I have a main folder for purchased kit and a seperate main folder for freebies).
In some pages and some blogs there are small banners of website that ranks websites. Click on these to lead to the best sites to check out.
Freebies is in different forms (some are in blogs in direct link or sharing sites, some are in gallery, some are in forum as links to blogs with freebies or there itself, some have an own section on a site for freebies, some give each friday, some give samples for coming design, some can be received in newsletter, some needs registration, some needs not while som even required that you register as customer.)
Kits are usually downloadable instantly. Some can be received in cd (especially if one has dial up connection and wants a big kit)
One must credit the creator by indicating which kit was used and who created the kit, and even the font; if you are using from different kits take notes along the way (that is if you have a short memory and in addition hasn't organized your file). Read their TOU (terms of use) through the notepad/word or document that comes in the same folder as the kit so you know how to credit the kit properly and so you know the limitation on usage. r-e-s-p-e-c-t.
Digiscrapping is for personal use
There are many challenges out there on themes or sketch layout
Some sites offer tutorials as well as shopping, gallery, forum, own blog, etc. It's all under one webby roof.
Shadow makes a LO realistic, the lower the better
Scraplifting is nothing negative like digital piracy. There is even a whole blog dedicated on scraplifting.
Get rid of the zip file once extracted. It just takes space and besides it's not allowed to pass the files to someone else.
Shabby Princess' monthly kits rocks. Many of the first LO's of rookie digiscrappers has used her kit. Perfect for newbeginner.
Almost all scrap blogs has scrappy banners, and many uses gina's bulletin board kit for their banner. Typepad is a favorite.
I've discovered 2 sites that has a scheme on pay a one time sum to download everything that is and will come on their site.
Some scraps is for good causes. Scrappers have a big heart.
It helps to have blogroller beacuse of the vast amount of sites on digiscrapping.
A great layout for me is a good picture (especially if taken with a good camera) with the perfect title to describe picture and great journalling, balance in the postitioning of things, wonderful colors and blending, nice combinations and that extra something that make the LO pop out.
Digiscrapping is something we can pass on to future generations and it's a great memory keeper.
If I understand it correctly if one is designing for a kit designer, you are entitled to scrap with their kits for free. This is good marketing as well to showcase the kit. Now I have never applied or picked so I don't know this for sure;
you apply first then they screen your works before choosing their creative team
There are some really great collaboration kits where some designer get together to design one huge kit.
People who scrap comes in different forms and shapes. From the old to the young, from dark kinned to light skinned, from north to south, majority have kids
Kids is a favorite subject to scrap
Having kids intensifies the scrapping experience. Can't wait to change my status to scrapping mom.
Quickpages are almost completed pages, just add your finishing touches
Overlay
Elements is in PNG format, so that the white edges is not visible. It's cropped to the actual shape
There are veariety of software out there, photoshop I guess is the popular one. definitely a need for a software with layering
Overlay is another term and inclusion in some kits
Grunge in scrapping is not Pearl Jam.
Some have a certain style to their layouts. Some prefer distressed grunge LO, some like it vintagey, some like pastells, some like bright vivid colors, some like simple, but with something striking ... What's your style?
Almost all user surface in scrappy webistes is alike
One can buy paper tears.
There is this site where you can download a form, have your handwriting in it and submit it to their site so they can make a font out of it. One can do this by themself actually with the right tools.
One can also purchase brushes or download for free for photoediting software.
It's cool to scrap. I never imagined myself to be this girly girl and cutey cute.

On Shopping

2006-04-21T05:13:00.000+02:00

I stashed away my videocamera. It's a 3 ccd compact videocam which feels top brand new for its lifespan with us. Meaning we used it too seldom. At first I was really eager. I videoedited the output and turned it to dvd's fully authored. Then the bulk just made me lazy at it. I ven have a tripod with me sometimes to ake the shots steady. I did make good use of it on one of Bizzi's season in soccer and made an editewd video of it that i am really proud of.

I had found this videocam, very new model at the time of purchase and best in test, in an ad in the newspaper on sale. At that time we were short of cash, but was pressured by the limited time offer. So I did something stupid which is not the first time; took it on credit. Threw in a firewire and bag with that as well. Thinking about it now while I still am paying the loan I really am feeling my impracticallity. Yes, we got it cheaper, but with the interest through the years it was much more expensive. How unthrifty am I. I used to be such an impulse buyer, especially at sale. And I go for the Mango and Morgan Toi, and even if it's 50% off it still is too much, especially if I buy 10 items at a time. I have this really cute Morgan corsett like top with some ruffled off shoulder. It's one of my finest top, but still haven't used it. One word: Impulse.

So as of today I am not yearning for fashion items as I can't get enough of it. Female and shopping is a lethal combination. There is a need for serious control and restraining abilities. Mags doesn't make it easier with the latest trends and picture of celebrities with their nicest ensemble and their day and evening makeup variety. Then there is the nice window displays which are designed with the intention of enticing you to come in and make that impulse buy.

I have learned over the years to control my shopping urges. I usually look at 10 or more similar stores first, then make a decision to where I wish to go back for the best buy. And now I ain't craving for fashion items, makeup and other luxuries anymore. I want to put money away to invest for the thing's in the future you'll find that thing you can't be without (and I do mean you can't be without, the most sassiest and sexiest handbag is not one of them). And ofcourse to future kids' best as well. To provide for them a haven, a a home, and to be real we never know our lifespan. It's better to be secured. Ofcourse for me the best investment is the even farther future. The eternal life one. That's a totally different story though.

Still on the same subject of shopping, I did some groceries the other day. It's very trivial I know, but I found happiness in buying a Clairol herbal Essence shampoo. I haven't bought this shampoo for the longest time. New thing's and scents are always coming up so I got off the Clairol track. Anyway, it made me reminisce Philippines days when I used to live there still. It's weird how certain scents make you walk the memory lane and transport you to an event or even a phase in your earlier times. My hair smelled really fruity with this fruity fusion. It had this raspberry color, but it was composed of pomegranade and lychees. I could eat my hair that instant, and I tell you my hair hasn't been edible lately. I told you I was neglecting myself, but don't worry I snapped out of it, and I am ok to sit beside with now, hehe.

Speaking of fashion items, there is some things I would really love. It's not shoes, top or pants or any of the usual kaboodle. I wore my sisters flannel pj's, and I wished I have several of these. They are so ultra comfy. I want them in white for added comfort.

I am still gonna do some shopping once in a blue moon, or maybe I'll wind up with abstinence. It will be digiscrap kits, softwares (elements 4.0) and plugins/actions and home items (but this will be more intensive when we get our own crib. The only luxury would be a slr camera. Most scrappers are killer behind lenses and not just in making the layouts. They have wonderful and vivid sharp camera's. I love the images in Lori's dessertcomesfirst blog. Check her link on the right side.

I wish I could dare to leap over to regular Adobe Photoshop, but it's a little intimidating when i have gotten used to the easy to use elements 2.0 of Adobe. I have 3 cd's of elements as bundle with the different gadgets we bought previously like camera and so on. The thing with the regular photoshop like my sister demonstrated earlier is things like more options and adjustments of shadows. You can right click the layer and more options come out like a blending option. You can adjust the shadow there to customize directions and more, while elements only have preset drop shadows. Shadows is important to give LO's that 3d feel, and more realistic scraps as if it was not digital.

Now to shopping and scraps. I've been eyeing for some kits now since my first purchase a while ago. I have been waiting for our salary although one kit is very cheap to the norwegian currency. And besides I now have 9 gb of digiscrap items. I just bloghop and go from one link to the other and find so many in the process. There are really many nice freebie's out there. I want some from the shabby shoppe, some from Gina Miller (specially the bulletin board), sweet Mindy, Iron Orchid Design, Michelle Coleman. Robin Carlton and from the sweet shoppe and the digi chick. I also like some of Mrs' Scmucks work. She is not actually selling her kit yet, but I like the colors of her Citrus Berries and Cool Melon. She really packages her kits nicely.

Bytes-wise

2006-04-21T03:43:00.000+02:00

I have been a consistent computer addict since I started tapping on the keyboard of our computer. If it was not about scraps, then it was fickling with videoediting softwares like pinnacle and windows moviemaker (never really got to explore Adobe premiere), surfing to find best buys of equipment, photoediting, friendster, computer improvement, other softwares, gadgets, blogging, wedding or something else.

For some reason I started to see the screen upclose today and noticed that flickering. You won't notice it if you don't look really good. Then I started thinking about the cases where people got epileptical because of the pc. Believe me I am spending too much time that I need to worry about that, and besides my sleep is upside down now. Partly becasue if my babay's graveyard shift and partly because of my addicting habit. I am proud to get rid of a vice already, proud of abstaining from junk food, but this is like another vice all in itself. Sure it expands your horizons and knowledge and even your circle of friends, but ultimately it's hazardous. It's like wolf dressed in sheep's clothing. Being out there in the world definitely has its perks, but I think the downside will hit smack on your face when you least expect it, and being a computer geek won't be that fun anymore. I am speaking of neglecting time for chores, other priorities in life (in my case looking for a job), time with your loved ones and then there are the physical disadvantages like that epileptic thing I mentioned, bladder problems (from holding it in), weakened sight, body aches and much more.

The internet can be quite overwhelming, the tons of bytes that it holds, the information it contains and the users who are out there. No wonder it can be addictive. There's just too much to explore.

So with that I am now working on having a healthier relationship to my computer and I need some bytes detox. Going to the computer is the first thing I do when I wake up at 7 pm and the last thing before I go to sleep between 10-12 am. And in between I am in the computer. Today, maybe 5 hours accumulated in my awake hours was spent to something else like eating, watching Prisonbreak (Today's episode was flashback from the past, man I almost missed it was it not for a phonecall for dad where they talked about what they were watching in the telly, I missed 10 minutes, but I got the essence of this episode). talking with my sister who arrived today (saw her ultrasound, will scan it later to make a LO), taking a bath and actually cleaning. That was gratifying. The most productive and useful thing I did in days. Clutter makes me crazy. Still there is some few tasks left).

I have been taking care of my computer so well. It's very organized. I have 3 harddisks in my large cabinet and one of the hardisk is even partitioned in 2 parts. There is a total space of 230 GB. Ram could be better with just 512 MB. The booting is quite slow for some reason that even my programmer cosuin in law couldn't understand why. It's a powerful piece equipped with plenty of softwares for fighting virus and adwares and whatnots. My Norton has expired and thus virus definitions can't be updated in cases where new virus' attack or enter somehow in my pc. Once my buddy sent a file tthrough MSN messenger, and completely trusting I accepted it. It turns out to be a virus. He had a virus that sent the virus to the contacts in MSN. So beware it's not just in spam mails from strangers, it can be mails from people you know or it can even go through messengers. Luckily I deleted it. I mastered troubleshooting for my pc already, and it's in tip top shape.

Enough geeky stuff. My sister came today. She had the flu. Not good for the preggy lady. Dad's leaving soon. We are going to 2 dinners in hs honor. Today aafternoon and tomorrow the day before he leaves. Supposedly I had plans to go to Sweden for this weekend for a kurdish wedding with Bizzi and his family. It will be too hectic in my opinion and besides I want to be with my dad before he leaves. We were at my inlaws 2 days consecutive some days ago. One of those days with my dad. Bizzi's mom even handed a gift to my mom. Really sweet of her. Plenty of food. Too much in fact for the 4 of us. Anyways I never got to the last weekends part 2 post. I'll just post a collage and a video on it later. Till next entry in a short while...

Happy endings

2006-04-19T08:17:00.000+02:00

Nowadays me and my pards discuss our differences. The greatest one being religion. I slipped a little out of my faith right before we got married, and therefore things we should have discussed then was never discussed. Either that or I sacrificed and gave in with him being the head of the family. Now we are dealing with how we are to bring up our future kids, in what faith that is. It's not easy, in fact it's a very difficult issue, and I have one added reason for postponing being preggy. Like I didn't have enough worries from before. Anyways, there are no outrageous discussions and we do this civilized, but I am getting a little frustrated. In the end though in every discussion he reaffirms how much he loves me despite our differences.

I used a lot of time organizing my kits today. As of now I have 8 GB of freebies. Before I just have split them into the folders of full kits, elements, papers only and alphas. Now they are further subdivided into themes and colors and then type of elements in the elements folders. It was as a matter of fact easier to scrap this next layout that I made after organizing. Also easier to make the credits even if I haven't noted them down in the process of making it (Aggie's tip).

Credits: Papers from Angie Briggs' Chocmint, more papers, inner tag, ribbon from Lisa Cohen's Majestic Night, Gold Disc Alpha by Lauren Bavin, Wet tiles Alpha by Antuanette, Apostrophe from Christie Putz' Casula Collection, Jewel studs from Mrs. Schmucks' Jeweled petals, Stapler from Crimson minikit by Victoria, paperclip from the basics set by Valerie Brumfield, Beadwireheart freebie, Outer tag from freedigitalscrapbooking.com, Font: Amazone BT, pics by Dino Lara

Atlast a scrappy output

2006-04-18T05:33:00.000+02:00

What an interval. With all the kits and unscrapped pictures I got, I should scrap like mad, but there's just too many task to juggle. Anyways, subject is my dearest mother. I have long wanted to scrap about her. She is my inspiration and guiding light. The picture by the way is from the wedding of ours.

Besides from having too many other stuff to do, other factors that keep me from scrapping is too many kits (esp. minikits) that the thought of going through each one is intimidating, lack of ideas and my own need to extend my photoshop knowledge (need to see tutorials of photoshop and check out more layouts for inspiration and new ideas) and then there are some other minor stuff. I really feel like my layouts lack a certain pizaz (an 80's term I think) for that perfect wording or that unique positioning of things and elements. I find them quite dull at some times. There are so many nice layouts out there that mine seem to be pale in comparison. I do find mine a little monotonous.

When I scrap I usually pick the subject/piture first. Find a theme and color that would fit the picture. Add paper, then elements and then effects and/or journalling in the end (like shading, etc.). My goal is to achieve balance and consistency in a layout. Man what have i become; adding philosophy to digiscrapping. Good gracious...

Credits: Pink background paper from Amy Tanabe's Homespun, Circled (edited to circles) papers from Stacy Stehley's freebie, Boquet by Debbie Fisher's Boquets kit, Inked overlay by Nancie Rowe Janitz, Like a Mom wordart by Tina Chambers, stapler from Crimson minikit by Victoria, Pink flower from amoopoint kit, yellow paper from Gina Cabrera's November kit, font: Beautiful, Alpha from Debbie Fisher's My Candy kit.

On a lighter note

2006-04-17T22:33:00.000+02:00

Most of my days is spent contemplating. Thinking of ways to help myself and help the new unit we formed as husband and wife. It's a little heavy so let's get a dash of non seriousness shall we.
This dude or chick is a little scary. A morbid version of men in black. I am not so fond of this color, but the analysis is kind of close.

Your true color is Black!

Your color is black. The color of night. Serene and mysterious, black conjures up images of elegant evening gowns, dashing tuxedos, and gleaming limousines. Traditionally a symbol of success, black also represents power and an uncompromising demand for perfection. Not surprisingly, you tend to set challenging goals for yourself and do whatever it takes to achieve them — your strength of character is second to none. This unfaltering determination, along with your natural elegance, impresses people. But keep in mind that your personality might be intimidating to some. Try to temper your demanding side with a little softness — trust us, it won't kill you. Overall, though, black is the color of professionalism and achievement, which means it's clearly the color for you.

What's Your True Color?

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