In my travel blog - Jenn Was Here - I received an invitation for a new meme about footwear. I thought it was a very cute meme, that although I am not really into shoes, I still would give it a try. After all, it's not really confined to just shoes in my feet. Only that, I decided to do it here and not on the travel blog because I think footwear shots were more of a personal thing than a traveling thing.

This photo was originally for my Project 365 (day 17). On that day, my sister came home with a new pair of shoes and since it was size 9, she said that it might fit me. I tried it on and true enough, it fitted me, but if I was to have these shoes, I would go for something bigger, because my feet weren't comfortable inside. I liked the shoes because of the belt-thingy around my ankles, and I loved it more because of the heels! The shoes don't really have some embellishments, but the heels took care of it. My sister has just had a fab find.

I was lying on the mattress rolled out in the living room while watching TV when she arrived, and I was feeling lazy to get up just to fit the shoes, so I shot this one while lying. Not really a good sight considering how big I am, but what the heck, I want to shot a picture of the shoes from this perspective. ;-)

*** Jenn ***

Two weeks of absence from toy hunting and I am back again. So sorry if I am not always around - sometimes it was just quite difficult to find toys. =)

Anyway, my first thoughts when I found out that this week's theme was farm animals was to take a picture of a chicken toy. Whenever I go to the nearby market I always see these ambulant vendors selling chicken toys, yet when I went one day last week, I was surprised to see that parts of the market has been cleared out by the barangay officials. I was sad, but happy, too, that the roads will not be congested anymore.

While thinking what sort of animals are present in a farm, I realized that the thing I need was just "under my nose!" This piggy toy was sitting in our computer table, and upon seeing it, I just went outside to take pictures of it. This pig toy was given to my sister by her college friends when she celebrated her 20th birthday last December. My sister wasn't really fat (just chubby), but standing next to her friends, it would seem as if she's the biggest in the group. I don't know who thought of giving her this, but of course, the gift was a tease. My sister liked it because it was wearing pink diapers and it has actually a tail. Hmm... could be that the diaper has a hole so the tail can come out? Heheheh...

*** Jenn ***

So many things to be thankful for this week - one was being able to chat with my dear friend DeeJay whom I miss so much! It was a very short chat, but I loved that we were able to talk again. Hopefully, we could chat again.

As what I have told in my early posts, I went out with friends last Sunday, and it was indeed a very great time. One of my SFC friends Andre is hoping to have a girls' day out next Friday, and I am totally looking forward to that. We will watch movie - either "Yes Man" or "Australia," and Andre said she would treat us to dinner, and I hope we will be complete. I miss our dear friend Bhie who has been very busy with school that she has no time to meet us.

Speaking of movies, I finally found a way to watch "City of God." Just this morning, I checked out You Tube and there were uploads of the movie. I am not sure if it's a good or bad thing that I could watch it for free there, but as I am concerned, I will go grab it because I cannot really find a copy of that movie here. One movie I hope to watch is "Slumdog Millionaire," some loved it, some said it was overrated... I am building up an interest if it would be either or both.

I am currently reading "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne, and it was such a great book. I am learning a lot from it, and I have just finished a chapter for I only read up to three pages per sitting because I want my head to absorb the teachings rather than clog up my brain with many information. I am so thankful to Ela for lending me her book. If I can finish it until the weekend, I will return it to her on Sunday, if not, I will just ask for an extension. =)

Last thing to be thankful for -- big, big thanks to Goody for sending me a text message about the SFC Team Building this weekend. He's not from my unit, but he took the time to send me the information. Thanks a lot, my friend! See you on Sunday.

Of course, I am also thankful for the everyday essentials - life, food, shelther, clothing, family, health, friendships...

*** Jenn ***

Imagine yourself waking up at 3AM and you went to the bathroom to pee and see a frog sitting pretty in your toilet bowl. What would you do?

That scenario happened to me yesterday morning. At first I wasn't sure if it's a frog (because I didn't wear my eyeglasses), but when I get back to my bedside to wear my eyeglasses, I was surprised to see this frog in our toilet bowl - on the rim (where you sit down down). I took my cell phone to take a shot of it, but because our bathroom had this orange-y colored bulb, the xenon flash of my cell phone hit the frog first and it was disturbed. He jumped and jumped - and I for one screamed and jumped with surprise as well! Oh dear... it was an embarrassing sight, and good thing my mom and bro were asleep.

Mom woke up about 15 minutes after that incident - I cannot go back to sleep anymore because the frog already woke me up - so I told mom that there's a frog inside the bathroom and asked her to close the door for it might come out. Mom said there was no frog inside. Hmmm.. for once I doubted myself if I was still dreaming or maybe I was sleepwalking when I saw the frog! =)

Normally, the cats enter the house as soon as I open the front door, and our two cats (Lilith and Pogi) entered the house. I noticed them in the back area of our entertainment set and saw that they were playing with the frog. So at least it was a relief to know I wasn't dreaming and sleepwalking! Hahahaha!

Pogi took out the frog and planned to eat it, but when I aired out my freshly washed clothes, I saw the frog near the plant pots my mom put on the side area of our house. I sprinkled it with some water and saw that it was still alive. Because it was sitting still and the lighting was okay, I was able to take a picture of it. I just used the sepia tone in my cell phone because if I put it on color, the image my gross some people out.

Oh well, thanks for the scare, frog!

*** Jenn ***

Afternoon yesterday, I went to my co-SFC member Arnel's house, because they sent an invitation for some CSCs (constructive self criticisms). It would be a great time for us to assess ourselves and to be with each other. When I hosted the prayer meeting here, I opened it up to my leader Teacher Rhona, and she said it would be a risky move for us to do, but everyone being open minded (I hope), I am sure it would be just fine.

I arrived in Arnel's house around 2PM, and they just finished their prayer meeting. They were currently having lunch, and it was nice seeing them again... I love this group - they're always present during prayer meetings, and they seem to get so restless if we all don't see each other every other week! =) In between eating - I was just there watching them - I opened about this certain "problem" about a forum I joined at, and telling them the story from start 'til the end, they just gave me some motivation about it. Ecko said, "just be like Spongebob." Being Spongebob in the sense that I should absorb what other people say and at the same time remaining optimistic even during the low moments. I admit I am very quick to react, but I am not the only person who agree about the point of view I had. Recalling a line from a book I read, "forget insults." In the end, it's still I, who will choose how I will feel about it, and I decided to just remain quiet. I know that person (whoever he/she is) just wanted to convey a point and I do get what the point is. And to those people to directly or indirectly defended me in the forum, a massive thank you to all. I know I still have a long way to go...

There will be some changes in our team, which will be announced next week. This coming weekend, we will be having a team building, in preparation for the International Conference in Cebu City next month. It will be held in Sta. Maria, Bulacan. I hope there will be a vehicle for us so I could get some road shots.

Arnel did prepare some siopao, but it seemed he added too much yeast to the dough, making it a little sour/bitter - like wine or beer. It was delicious, yes, but the sour/bitter taste really overpowered the food.

After our tummies were filled up and when Jacque arrived, we started airing our points of view about each other. Actually, we would need another round of CSCs because it seemed all of us were still a little shy to say some criticism about each other. But it wasn't a failure in the sense that we were still able to say something about someone, which will be helpful for our growth as individuals. We also get to say who our crush is (in the community), but sadly I don't have one. I think I am quite old to develop crushes. Hehehe.. Honestly, I do have a crush in the community, but he's not from our group - he's from the East side (we're from the North side).

Past 7PM, we called it a night. We were in the jeep when Ecko asked if I am willing to walk from the Saint Joseph Parish to our house. Ecko will walk me home so he could also drop by Ela's house (Ela was absent) to return the book and disc he borrowed. Since Marvin lives in the subdivision, too, the three of us walked together. It was the first time I walked on that road - one more reason to be thankful about these friends I have. Anyway, Ecko and I went to Ela's house together and we had another round of chit-chats - epistaxis talks - as how we call it. I borrowed Ela's "The Secret" book so the next time we see each other I could also give my views about it. Walking to our house, Ecko told me that no one is really voicing it out, but he's sure some were alienated whenever the epistaxis talks comes. Ela and Ecko being wide read and highly intellectual individuals, sometimes when the round of talks about books and films come, it was really intimidating, but I told Ecko that it could also be a positive thing in the sense that it would be a great motivation for all of us to start reading books and watch films of any kinds.

Actually, at first I was quite intimidated, too, because I am not really a book reader and I don't really watch films that much, but when they started airing views about certain things, I developed a liking to watch movies, too. Truly, a criticism can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how one will view it.

*** Jenn ***

PS - I shot this picture of the Saint Joseph the Worker Parish after we got off the jeep to walk along a different route entering our subdivision.

Since sister left, things are like slow for me. The change of weather didn't help to make me feel better either, but on top of most things I was happy to be able to chat with Dee Jay again. I miss that friend of mine. Blame his 21 units for this semester - which makes him stressed out for most days, but of course I didn't forget to tell him what being stressed is just "desserts" spelled backwards. Hopefully we could get to chat again.

I received a call from Ahdz asking me not to bother with the gown for the wedding anymore - she called it off already. Details were very personal, and I for one don't have the right to tell it here, but hearing all those reasons she had to say, I totally agree that a wedding is not a solution for her in any way. I hope God will give her strength and courage to move on with life - may she handle it all.

*** Jenn ***

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Last week, I saw a bulletin posted by my former college classmate about a sale her boyfriend is having. I was very happy to see two CDs on the list that I really wanted to own, so right there and then, I wrote a response asking her to reserve the CDs for me. Well, these are original CDs, copyrighted in the USA, and for 100 pesos (2+USD) each album, it's like opening the fridge and suddenly there's the most decadent cake waiting for you to eat. =)

I met up with Venus and her bf Monday afternoon to pick up the CDs, and when I checked each disc, it was immaculate! No scratches whatsoever! Venus said that her boyfriend is doing some spring cleaning and all the things for sale are already in their stock room. Wow... looks like I really fished in a big treasure here!

I got the Beatles Anthology 1 and Elvis Presley's Greatest Hits albums, each has two CDs. I have the cassette of the Beatles Anthology 2, and now that I have the Anthology 1, the only missing is the third Anthology. I didn't really really like the Anthology 1 (compared to 2 and 3), but having it is a treasure for me. As for the Elvis CD, no more talk about that... I LOVE IT!!! Now I am missing daddy... if he's still here, we would listen to the CD, and he would probably bribe me lots just so he could own the CD. =) Well, when it comes to music, he and I really get along well. I grew up listening and loving classic music, and now I don't have anyone to share it with.

Anyway, another thing to be thankful for was that brother and I are now 50% geared up for the Singles For Christ ICon (International Conference) happening on February in Cebu City. He called it divine intervention, when the e-mail for the hotel he is just drafting was sent "accidentally." Now, room has been reserved and it was a great blessing at that because now we don't have to worry about accomodations.

Another intervention on my part happened when I immediately posted a message on our SFC Yahoo! Group's page telling about it and now it seems our group mates are going to book in the same hotel, too. That would be great if they would stay in the same hotel, too, because it would be nice if we all could stick together. Thank God for that!

*** Jenn ***