After eating lunch to celebrate brother's birthday, we roamed around the mall for a while. I noticed the set up for a fashion show, and seeing that the show will be at 4PM, I told my family I wanted to watch it. Brother said we would wait quite a long time before it starts, but because he and I stayed, we decided to watch it.

It was a free event, and because it was a Friday, there were a lot of seats available inside. Brother said we should just stay outside because the barricade wasn't that high - we can take pictures better. He had a point - if we stayed inside, we might have a hard time standing up and take pictures because the people seated at the back might get angry.

The event started 30 minutes after the given time, and I could say it wasn't the kind of a fashion show I hoped to watch, but I understand - the models weren't really models... they were students of a particular school, and they weren't really trained to model the clothes. However, the show carries the name of the clothing line, I hoped they practiced harder, especially the older models - they knew better... yet some of them were walking as fast as they could so it will be done and over with.

There were two collections, but we only watched the first collection. Brother and I had a hard time taking pictures, we figured it would be best just to go home.

*** Jenn ***

Thirty one years ago on 27 November, my mom gave birth to her first child, a boy they named Jerry II because daddy didn't want him to be a JR, he just gave him his nickname.

It's a family tradition for the family to eat out during birthdays, and on this day, brother decided to eat at Sizzling Pepper Steak restaurant, one of the new food shops in SM Fairview. We each had our own sizzling meal (I had the creamy mayo hamburg - 185php), and we had 2 spaghetti dishes to share. It was a great meal, and I was really, really full!

Mom and sister went home right after the lunch, brother and I stayed in the mall because I was on a mission that day. Brother's girlfriend asked me to buy a cake for brother, but the problem was, I was with brother and I cannot think how to do the mission. Brother and I roamed around the mall - window shopping of sorts, and we even watched a fashion show (details tomorrow). In the end, I couldn't wait for him to go home, I just told him I will go somewhere else.

I bought him the Dulce de Leche cake at Red Ribbon. Not a great flavor in my opinion (I still love their rocky road cake), but it's delicious still. Brother brought home pizza - which covered our dinner. Very great way to celebrate his birthday.

Makes me wanna wish my birthday would be as great as my siblings'... seems whenever I celebrate my birthday it was just like a normal day. Anyway, happy birthday, brother.

*** Jenn ***

I have always been into paper stuffs ever since I could remember. Before, I would hog the planners given to my parents because I knew I could use it more than them, but it was only in 2007 that I was really able to say I put my planners to good use. Well, I do have a planner every year, but I guess because 2007 was the year that I started seeing places.

It has been two years now, and with me using digital cameras and doing blogging, not only do I have to make sure my pictures were organized, I also have to make sure that I was able to write down all the places and events I went to, so when a need for a particular picture arises, I don't have to search through each of my files (now that most of the old pictures were stored in CDs), I can just check my planner and flip through its pages for easy finding.

This system wasn't just helpful when it comes to locating pictures - it also helps me not to forget certain events I need to attend, not to mention the upcoming birthdays. And as a scrapbooker, I need to provide all the essential details of the pictures (date, place, mood, etc), so it would be more fun to look back as the years pass.

When it comes to planners, women just love to have the Belle de Jour planner. I first heard of it from my online friend Colleen, and every time a year would unfold, I would get to hop to different blogs just raving about their BDJ planner. Being a woman, I also want to have it, of course. But checking on the reality of life, I just can't afford it. It's not really that expensive - considering the quality of the planner - the problem really was with me and my wallet. =) It was really a blessing having to see Jenny giving out this planner in her blog. I want to win one for myself, just so to feel how does it feel to have her own BDJ planner.

Not only that, the perks inside the planner was a bottle-ful of cherries on top of a cake. But of course, the main reason why I wanted to own one was simply because I don't want to forget the memories. Yes, I do have the pictures, the blogs, and the scrapbooks.... but having the planner completes the set. I have kept most of my planners, hopefully for 2010, I could write my thoughts in the pages of the BDJ planner.

If you want to own a 2010 Belle de Jour power planner just like me, just head on to Jenny's Kikay Corner to read the details.

*** Jenn ***

Hopping through blogs yesterday, I came across a blog meme that I found really fascinating. Being a girl, of course I can relate to the topics posted, so I decided to join.

The topic for this week is "favorite birthday gift ever." Friends know that I am a big Hanson fan. Up until now, I am still one of the ever loyal Hansonite who just love the band, their music, their advocacy, their life. Sadly, after they released their third album "Underneath," their fame here in the Philippines slowly diminished, and only a few fans are left.

When they released their fourth studio album "The Walk," the album wasn't released in the country. Us Filipino fans can only get a copy of it if we would purchase it online, and it's something that I still haven't done, thus not making me go to that option.

One very boring day, I found myself in the chat rooms, when an American man pm'd me. We chatted about many things, and I don't know how, but the chat just led to me ranting about not being able to get myself a copy of the album. Days passed, we got to talk again and he said he found a copy on EBay, and it's the version that I wanted - the Japanese released album (with two free tracks). He said he would get it for me as a gift because I was friendly to him.

I received the CD days after my birthday, and even if I wasn't the one personally receiving it (I was in my dad's hometown, my sister received it for me), the happiness I felt was beyond words. Who knew a "stranger" would give me the CD? I guess I was just in the right place, at the right time.

*** Jenn ***

I have been single for the longest time now, and the time I was in a relationship, cameras weren't that popular as it is today. So, for the first week of With Love Wednesday, I think I failed. =(

But here's a picture depicting love... me with a bouquet of roses my online friend Stephen sent for me. Ours was a weird kind of story - having to meet online via Multiply. I admit I was instantly attracted to him - he was a very good looking American man, with a wit to boast, too! I started making friends with him in 2005, and although he was a very friendly man, he wasn't really attracted to me as he has his own standards. Still, we remained good friends, chatting everyday about technology, life, and family.

Something happened in 2006 - I guess cultural differences affected the friendship and he got angry at me, which ended the friendship. In 2008, I received an e-mail from him - a forwarded kind of e-mail, asking everyone not to add this so kind of person, blah blah... I replied to it, and it opened our friendship again. Over the course of our everyday chats, the tables have turned - he was more into me than I was to him.

Early 2009, he sent me a bouquet of roses. He just said he had a surprise for me, and it came by the box - something he ordered via the Internet. At age 28, it was the very first time I received flowers. It was very touching, and very sweet on his part. Sadly, our budding relationship has gone awry right before it started because none of us were willing to go beyond our way to be together. I don't want to go to Florida to live with him, and he didn't want to leave his place, too. It started another string of differences, until we decided it's better to just remain friends, even though we know deep in our hearts we care a lot for each other.

I will always be thankful to him for his love... and aside from the pictures taken, I also took a petal from each of the roses he sent, and kept it in my box - something to reminisce about.

*** Jenn ***

I was a big fan of the Cats Tuesdays meme, and for a while I am doing the posts in our family blog, but since I decided to close it, I decided to go back to doing the posts and do it here in my personal blog.

Not too long ago, Mommy Teddy gave birth to three kittens. She gave birth on our storage area, and because we didn't want her to move her kittens around, we decided to just let them be. Of course, I am a very naughty master that everytime the mother was out eating, I would check on the kittens and play with them for a while.

When the kittens opened their eyes and they started roaming around, I allowed them to play with my folding mattress, which I put in the living room. The kittens played and played - enjoying freedom - and when they asleep, I found it so cute that they slept next to each other. This picture was staged a bit - I arranged them to look like this so they would look aligned. =)

The black and white one we named Oreo (from the cookie), the orange and white one we named Kiat-Kiat (the little citrus fruit), and the deep orange one we called Ponkan (another citrus fruit). Since we already have the now big cat Orange-y, we decided to name the orange cats from the citrus fruits.

- * - * - * - * - * - * -

On a personal topic... the mis-labeled picture published in Manila Bulletin's "Picture Perfect" was corrected today. I am so happy that they ran an erratum and publish my picture again. Thanks a lot.

*** Jenn ***

Weekend was a bit lax for us - we just stayed at home and I pretty much found myself playing games on Facebook and resizing pictures for uploads. Yesterday, Charmy and her baby Jamy visited us just to sell some tickets for the upcoming fiesta. They're our next door neighbors, and we could see each other everyday, but having them coming here in the house was a breathe of fresh air. Her baby's one very sociable person - he allows anyone to carry him and baby him. Mom looks nice carrying a baby, but sorry - no babies in this household just yet. =) I don't think we (sibs and I) are not yet ready for that.

-*-*-*-

I am now drafting changes I will do in my blogs. I came across a problem with my travel blog, and I am thinking of getting a new domain since I basically hit the dead end on that one - not being able to save the FTP folder of the blog - but I still have until April of next year for that blog. I just hope my mind could think faster, so I could decided whether to open a new blog by December, or would just hold all entries until next year. I don't know the process in getting a domain and converting it to a blog.. so if you're knowledgeable about it, please help me out.

Hope everyone will have a great week ahead.

*** Jenn ***