random WHITE weekend

On days filled with swirls and twirls, I choose WHITE for its pureness and gentleness.

Relaxing long weekend with J. Bond.

Flora beaded necklace (2009) which I thought of wearing over the weekend.

My Aunt and her assistants arranging white flowers for Uncle Bob on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Seemingly imagining that the flowers were for a wedding :)

How I want food served these days. In white.

An image I came across at Maryridge, Tagaytay.

How about you?  What is your color these days?

Wood Carving at SM Makati

Last destination of my long day route yesterday was SM Makati (again) for a quick scout on possible birthday gift ideas. At the middle of the mall, I bumped into him.

Let's get this clear, this ain't me despite the connection I instantly felt upon first sight. Lol!  But he does remind me of me when I bead.  Yup, this is how I look -- all that you see in this photo, including the hand and FEET "gesture", spells M-E.   Oh, and the mess too.  Explains why the back pops after the beading.

Amazing!  The last time I witnessed such activity was more than 5? years ago from a place better known as Paete, the home of wood carvings in the Philippines.  But to get there would roughly take 3-4 hours land travel from Manila. So I give my "kudos" to SM for making such activities accessible to folks (who refuse to drive far) like me. 

Shut the TV off. PRAY. Then, SUSAN BOYLE.

Can't get myself to bead this week.  From the day this happened ....



 to the talked about question and answer portion....

Haayyyy!!!  There's too much negativity and criticisms going on. At times I wonder if all the bashing can help solve issues.  Maybe yes. Maybe no.  Or just simply,  Maybe. 

I may be a bit idealistic here.  But I do wish for once I hear someone say on-air (including national dailies and social networking sites) simple yet meaningful words like "Thank you" or "Good Job" before going head-on with the issue.  A boost in the morale is what I think is most  needed especially right after stressful situations like these.  Wishful thinking. 

The news is still too fresh and  irresistible to talk about.   But after the 2007 firsthand experience I went through, I will once again take my usual route ... Shut the TV off .  PRAY. Then,  watch this special clip on SUSAN BOYLE.

Bullseye!!!

Crossing The Bar

I first came across this poem when LOLA LILING passed away.  Decades after, I am reminded of this poem as the family is faced with another departure. 

Crossing The Bar by Lord Alfred Tennyson

Sunset and evening star,

And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar,

When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,

And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell,

When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place

The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have crost the bar.

It was 10:57 pm of  August 22, 2010 when I received the call.

We will miss you terribly, Uncle Bob. Thank you for all the good times ... for the witty remarks that made me laugh behind the scenes ... for taking good care of each one's health in the family, especially mine ... and for having stood in as my father during that pre-wedding "pamamanhikan" moment.

Have a safe journey.  Send my hugs and kisses to Dad, Lola Liling, Lolo Buddy and the rest of the gang :)

See right top black and white photo of my uncles and aunts at the prime of their lives.

Standing on the right are Uncle Bob and Dad (in black rimmed glasses).

***Dr. Roberto M. Zaide, September 13, 1936 to August 22, 2010.

Note to non-Filipino readers:  Lolo is grandfather.  Lola is grandmother.

Boy Oh Boy

Teenage talk:
Boys. Thesis. Crushes. Parties. Flings. MUs (get it?).  UAAP!!! h.h.w.w. (holding hands while walking! eek!!!). Sleepovers. ... (and Onin ---  the famous ensaymada!  peace mac!).

US three in our teens with the rest of the gang. Scroll down to know which three I'm talking about.  

In our 20s, the talk evolved to: 
Work hard, Play HARDER!   Relationships.    "What's up tonight?"    Engagements.    "Makati, Malate"   Love Love Love!   "Party-hopping here, there, everywhere"   Spur of the moment travels.    "Booze night!"    Diet!    "The world is mine mine mine!"    Trends.   Bands!   In a nutshell, let's Parteeeeeeyyyyyyyy!!!!

US three in our 20s. The rest of the gang, M-I-A!

Fastforward to present times...the 30s, chika-talk last Friday (8.20.10):

Lunch or Afternoon coffee dates.  Less! on the evening get-togethers.

What's for dessert?   Kids. Cribs. Good schools. Vaccinations. Yoga. Wellness. Home renovations. In-laws :) Travel. Finances. And a teeny-weeny bit on our "forever and ever flings" Chuck, Myke and James (lol!).

US three in our 30s. From left:  meet Mac the teacher and storyteller, Ric the Mommy and Ms. Pic-a-Pizza (yup, pizza is her specialty) and Me the beader in a Flora (dancin in the moonlight) arrangement!  The rest of the gang??? ..... They are now living their lives elsewhere :)

BOY OH BOY!!!  Time does fly so fast. The chika  says it all.  Makes me wonder what the talk will be all about in our 40s. 50s. 60s....  Looking forward!

Dum de dum dum DUM@@@!!!!

Ring Bonding

My niece's ring.  Sweet and Yummy!

My ring.  From Mommy :)

Us and our rings ...

Shopping Notes
Niece's ring -- available here. 
My ring --  2009 birthday gift from Mom, found from a stall in Bryant Park, NY. Vendor said that he'll be back Christmas this year. I hope!

Happy Weekend everyone!

Always Christmas

See!!! Here's another reason why I think Christmas is declared early this year ...

Bumped into this hole-in-the-wall shop in BF Homes Paranaque before lunch today.  Note to self: MUST check it out one of these days.

By the way, I love the store name -- ALWAYS CHRISTMAS. Yeah, days will surely be brighter if always spent with lots of loving and jolly HO HO HOs.  Cheers!

Christmas na?

Shocked (but smiling) right this moment.  This came on while waiting for my fave teleserye hit the TV screen ....

I'm not the only one thinking Christmas in August after all.  Haha.  Now the bad news, my fave teleserye is on its last three weeks.  Boo Hoo Hoo!

I'll truly miss the belyas .... aka-BENDITA ....

Ciao!!! It's on.

CHALK is BACK!

If you haven't noticed yet, posted on the right are a few photos of the latest bead works of By Beaded Story.  Last week was about the new TALA Drop, and this week is all about CHALK bead necklaces. 

It's been two years (or more?) since I last made a Chalk necklace (click here to see the chalk of yesteryears).  I never thought I'd get back the knack for CHALK, especially with my obvious preference for these 4 out of 6 By Beaded Story collections:  (arranged according to preference)   TALA (glass collection) , BEADED CLOTH (cloth necklaces), FLORA (nature-inspired) and LASO (ribbons).  The last collection, BUTONES (buttons), entails a separate feature.  Unfortunately, this I have not talked about yet except for a photo posted in this blog.

As mentioned in By Beaded Story's multiply site, I have chosen to go slow with my bead works this year ... which has proven to be a worthwhile strategy to keep that fire-in-the-belly burning. So far so good and I'm proud of myself for keeping up with the promise.  Believe me, I've learned my lesson.  Stress equates to a grim dead end.  Thus, "having fun" with beading remains to hold that top spot in my list.

Anyway, I am ecstatic and without further ado, CHALK is BACK .....

Chalk A (ribbon):  Brown

Chalk A (ribbon): Black

Chalk B:  Brown and Mustard

Chalk B:  Grey

Chalk B:  White

Chalk B: White and Grey

More CHALK coming soon .....

Living Childhood

My last UNICEF card ....

...meant for this day's frolicking  with three happy kids and a baby.  Meet my nephews and nieces ....

But before the happy affair started, I came across them ....

Young boys with their trash-filled pedicab struggling their way up the slopes of Antipolo. I assume trash meant for selling to help feed their parents and siblings for a day or so.  Two without footwear, and all three with no shirts on. This is so wrong.  Cruelty is what it is all about.

Even if faced with  poverty,  ALL CHILDREN deserve and have the right to live their childhood!!!  Not this way! =(

Calling on P-Noy, VP-Nay, DSWD!!!

finding YOGI

It was only while enduring the long 3 hours wait at my doctor's clinic yesterday that I found time to get going with this book.

After 4 long years of remaining untouched, off I began traversing the self-exploration of the writer Elizabeth Gilbert during her early 30s.  I thought, finally!  In fact, looking at its cover was good enough considering the years of  neglect and the hint of yellowness its pages have turned into.   Haha.  That's how I am with books.  Buy now. Read years after.

When I earlier said "began", I literally began with page 1 (the introduction) and ended at page 3 (the end of the introduction).  Only a meager number of three pages vis-a-vis a long wait of three hours. One page per hour.  Absurd right?  Even if faced with a book, I was more consumed with --

Popping mental reminders of unaccomplished things to do for the remaining days of  this week like household chores, pharmacy concerns, my bead production, hourly monitoring of health matters, my neverending weekly visits to the doctor .....

The ongoing game over Kris Aquino's newest TV show, Win na Win. Yes, a wall-mounted TV boomed wildly at the waiting area.  Probably meant to shield doctor's assistants from IM-patient complaints. Yesterday's Open-Susi-Me contestant won a million bucks!!! Click HERE to watch. So just imagine the excited screams of my co-patients-in-waiting.  I was shocked. I wanted a million bucks too!!! The TV strategy works!!!

And that obnoxious dennis the menace (though cute) who broke my eardrums from his shrieking  screams, running/jumping/hopping/rolling all around and pulling window blinds up and down at the waiting area. The "crooked brow look" I gave was useless!

ERGO, I went home more NUTS than ever (and with a stern mandate by the doc to return for another check-up asap). Let's just say test results backslid a bit.  Ayayay!   For the meantime, I already know what needs to be done on top of the drastic turnaround of eating habits.  This one, I have  deliberately turned on a deaf ear for a long time despite the frequent nagging by my dear-ies.  But thanks to Ms. Gilbert, I am inclined to think that I am destined for this .....

Photo by http://www.yogabasics.com/

In Eat Pray Love's introduction, Ms. Gilbert shares with  readers The Japa Malas ...

When traveling in India - especially through holy sites and Ashrams - you see a lot of people wearing beads around their necks.  You also see lot of old photographs of naked,  skinny and intimidating YOGIS (or sometimes even plump, kindly and radiant Yogis) wearing beads, too.  These strings of beads are called japa malas.  They have been used in India for centuries to assist devout Hindus and Buddhists in staying focused during prayerful meditation.  The necklace is held in one hand and fingered in a circle - one bead touched for every repetition of mantra.

The CONCLUSION:   It is a must that I weed the stressful elements out of my system (and eardrums) at the soonest possible time.  Therefore,  shop (lol but tried and tested) and find myself an authentic YOGI are the 2 probable solutions :)

Know of one?

Photo by http://www.religionfacts.com/

As seen thru a RED RING

I'm a confused nut.  When J. Bond hits the trail, my heart pumps wild!  Ergo, I pray HARD! 

But when J. Bond .....

and B=RAVE dude friend .....

..... hit the driving range, I face BOREDOM!  There you go, my "bold" statement on golf.  

Except for last Saturday's session, there was no backing off since I already needed to settle a looooooong overdue IOweU with B=RAVE Dude friend for the recycled packaging he has been supplying me with.  Plus to mention the fact that I needed to order more for the WOODROSE FAMILY BAZAAR I am gearing up for.  The latest boxes entail a separate blog since the look have absolutely progressed.   Beautiful is all I can say.  In fact, I've kept a lot some for my own personal use.  Click HERE to see its origins.

Back to golf. Obviously, I faced boredom.  But I was ready to watch, be involved and be entertained this time.  

Madam Imelda and the screaming RED ring.

Step 1:  Peep through the hole.  J. Bond gets ready for the shot.

Step 2:  Full shot.  See the difference. 

If not, see the "club" marker on the ground.

Step 3:  J. Bond hits the ball.  No idea where it landed???

Step 4:  The "goof" golf power pose!!!

Who am I kidding?  I'm bored!!!

3 WEEKS

Three weeks ago ..........

Three weeks AFTER ..........

The latest from By Beaded Story, the TALA-DROP. Click HERE to view the arrangements in detail.

See! It's not all about the therapeutic sweet kiss of shopping. Beads have healed me in a way too. Haha. Yeah right.

Have a good week everyone :)  Cheers!