This is me in 1999. My love for Hanson actually started in 1997, but of course, it took a while before I was able to collect enough Hanson posters and magazine pictures to cover up one side of my room's wall.

In 2004, a prayer got answered when Hanson finally made their way here in the Philippines to perform for their Filipino fans (and some fans from overseas who traveled here just to watch them). It was a night to remember, but I only had it in my heart and memory as I didn't have a camera to capture it. This scrapbook layout I created had pictures from their last concert, which I grabbed online (big thanks to its owners). The newspaper cutout and the concert ticket are mine, of course.

I was only 17 when I became their fan. I am now about to turn 32, but I still love them just as much. Alongside a few Hansonites (a term we call a Hanson fan) who still kept "the Hanson pride alive," we never really lost our love for the brothers and their music, and now, seven years after their first concert here, Hanson will come back to perform live on Philippine shores once again.


It may be the song "MMMBop" that people would remember them by, but really, they have a whole lot of songs that are very well written. Hanson Live in Manila will be on:

• 30 March 2012 - Smart Araneta Coliseum
• 31 March 2012 - Waterfront Hotel and Casino Cebu City

A little over a month left before the concert and I still don't have a ticket for it. For someone who's loving the band since she first saw Hanson's music video and didn't stop loving the band, it pains me that I still don't have tickets for the show. It felt part of me is missing, that I am crippled, that I am missing out one of the good things in life. I do hope somehow, I can get to watch them perform live again, take their pictures, and sing along with them.

Crossing fingers.

Wow... has it been that long since I last posted here? Sheesh. Well, with a new blog I opened (Jenny and Jessie) - a collaborative blog I shared with my sister as well as lotsa pictures I need to resize, edit and upload on my Facebook page, I am now having a shorter time for my blogs. Well, I decided to drop my Project 366 blog (but I am glad I was able to secure the URL "The Point and Shooter"), but even if I wanted to drop this blog, too, I just couldn't find the courage to - maybe because I have had this blog since way back when.

I figured, to keep this blog running... I'd just go with the 30 Day Challenges floating around the net and move the fashion and everyday life stories over "Jenny and Jessie." I will also keep my Bucket List updates here, since importing the stories to the other blog would mean flooding the blog with posts.

Anyway, I already shared Prompt 2 of the Resound 11 Meme... let's just continue where I left off, and hopefully I could update it everyday until I finish it and find a new Meme to do.

Prompt #2:
Did you slip back into any old habits that you wish you hadn't? Did you gain any new habits that you wish you would have walked away from? Did you discover the evils of Nutella? 'Fess up ... we won't tell.

Since Resound 11 centers on 2011... I decided that all answers and images would be taken from 2011 as well. I don't have that much vices - I don't do drugs, I don't smoke, and I don't drink that much alcoholic beverages, but if there's one thing I got so crazy about for 2011... it would have to be nail polish!

Before, I only do my own pedicure... and I don't grow my fingernails because they easily crack and I don't know how to do my own manicure. November of 2010, I just got lazy cutting my nails, and since none of the nails cracked and I got to learn how to properly do my own manicure (thanks to many nail polish themed blogs), I just found myself buying bottle after bottle of nail polish.

It may be a vice, but I never really fell hard for it to actually buy those way too expensive brands. I just stick to the locally made ones - most expensive being p40. I am just thankful that this vice actually did good because it made me a little girly.

By 2012, my vice went on a pause as I decided to cut my nails real short (a new year, a new start). However, as I am writing this, my fingernails are once again back to its old shape, and maybe, I will paint my nails again.

I just hope I can learn how to properly do nail art on my own nails. :)

This was something I should've shared last January, but it took me time to learn how to do animated gif, so it was just now that I am updating my Bucket List.

I have been overweight for as long as I remember, and even if jumping up and down is something I have done when I was a kid, it became a dream thing to do as I grow up because I am too heavy to attempt something like that - I sure don't want to break the bed in half. Hahaha.


Last January, my first long road trip brought me to Hundred Islands in Pangasinan. Our island hopping finished earlier than expected, so we all just went back to the inn to take a nap or a little rest before we hit the road back to Manila. Seven of us shared one big room, and while waiting for Aunt Bing to finish taking a shower, I was with my two cousins watching TV.

The bed looked so sturdy, and because the room had four slightly bigger than single beds next to each other, I attempted to jump up and down. Three jumps and no creaks from the bed...it was my time to finally cross out an item off my list.

To take this shot, I set my cell phone's camera to "Best Shot" mode (which takes 9 images one after the other) and asked my cousin Jessica to click the shutter for me as I jump up and down. We tried it two times, and this set was much better.

To merge nine images, I created nine layers on GIMP- each with its own image and animated it. Before I found the short tutorial on You Tube a wee bit difficult to do, but this morning, I was able to give it my fullest attention, I was finally able to understand it.

Jump up and down on a bed? A fun, fun thing to do... a big check on My Bucket List.

When I discovered Lorrie's blog The Token Fat Girl, I got to read about Resound 11. Clicking on its source - Resound 11 - Reflect & Reinvent, I found it very interesting, so for me to post at least one article everyday here on my blog, I decided to go for it. This meme was supposed to be done last December, but it was (I think) mid December when I found it and I wasn't able to do it last January, so let me go for it this month.

Supposedly, I was to post this yesterday, but because of many reasons, I wasn't able to. Allow me now to start my Resound 11 journey now.

Prompt #1:
What is one word to describe your 2011?
Why does that word sum up your year?

For 2011, my word is ACCEPTANCE.

For the first half of the year, I think in a way I have accepted that I am obese - that I filled myself with lots of thoughts revolving around "I am good the way I am, and if people don't accept me, it's their problem." It was a good 2011...

...until July came. Earlier that month, I went to the Touch of Glory Prayer Mountain in Antipolo with mom and when I saw pictures of myself, I wasn't impressed at all, and for the first time I felt quite ashamed of sharing any of my pictures. Mid-July, I attended an event with my sister and cousin (left image), and our picture became an eye opener. It dawned on me that I am already way too big, and that I needed to do something about it.

At that point, I accepted that even if I am good the way I am, I needed to change for the better. Partly because of aesthetic reasons, but more on the healthy aspects of things. I am a person who's born in a family with a bad health track (hypertension and diabetes run in the family - both on mom and dad's sides), and if I don't do something, I might die anytime soon.

An out of town trip became my gauge to start losing weight and was able to lose 6lbs for the month of August. However, I wasn't much into it that I quickly gained back all the weight I lost come September. October, I told myself I needed to accept that I am a superwoman - that I can do things as long as I put my heart into it, and it didn't fail me. By the end of 2011, I lost 24lbs. I still have a lot to lose, but since I already accepted the new me - I know I can push forward 'til I reach my goals.

Also, 2011 was also the year that I met Mr. Pipoy, my fitness buddy who accepted me the way I am. Yes, I know, I have people around me who accept me just as I am, but I am just blown away at how this man accepted me. I can most certainly be myself - good and bad sides - and he is still there to accept me because I am worth it (he said so himself). Despite being 200+ lbs that time, he carried me (literally) - something nobody did to me.