Thankful Thursday 15

Thankful Thursday: What CHRIXEAN is thankful for this week The Lord's provisions for me and my family. He gave us the money we needed to enroll Nicky, to buy his school books, his supplies and his clothes for school. And He gave us extra for me to add a few more pieces to my maternity wardrobe! Whoopee! Thanks, Papa God! New projects for the company for the next 3 months, and more work coming our way (yes, we've declared it!). A great gift from my dear friend Ribbiticus! We didn't have the chance to meet up last Christmas so I just received her gift today. And what a great gift it was! I got 2 Beatles documentaries in DVD to add to my Beatles collection. Really, really cool! :-) Shopping day-offs with The White Rabbit. I really needed this week to just do what I had to do for my personal needs (and rest), because the next few weeks were surely going to be busy for me. It's the time of the year again where our company will need to lay-out an entire magazine for one of our regular clients, and based on how the past issue went, I'm looking at weeks of late nights and long days. I'm also thankful for the really lovely top she gave me (i look quite sexy in it, Jen!, LOL). It's perfect for meetings in the day time and dinner outs. Of course, it's perfect while it can still fit me, hehe. But at least it's still something I could wear even after I give birth. Thanks a million, Jen! :-) An exciting 3-day weekend to relax and enjoy with our family. May 1 is Labor Day in our country, which will fall on a Monday. Meaning no work for everyone! Allan and I plan to spend 2 days checked-in at our favorite hotel for some R&R together (in preparation for the gruelling work week ahead), then on Sunday we will be off to a resort with my family and my in-laws for some sun and swimming! Then Monday we will celebrate my dad's birthday and just spend the whole day enjoying the day off. Aaaahh... such grand plans :-) Links to other Thankful Thursdays --> A Child of God A Revision Anna's Place As My World Turns EPH2810 Friday's Child Imagine Bliss Journalling Through the Valley Momma's Life Mommy Does It All Mommy Needs To Vent Nightingale no_average_girl Show Them Through Me Uzi's Musings Blog Charm Russell And Aine's Haven

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Preggy Postings 5

Due to insistent public demand (actually, more like by Petite Queen's request, hehe), I am bringing back my Preggy Postings. Turns out that some people actually like reading about my preggy whinings and rants. Well, good news to most of you -- I am past my ranting trimester and have settled into the more calm and "normal" phase of my pregnancy. I'm currently in my 4th month, and apart for my protruding belly, I feel i've gotten back most of what i would consider my normal self.

So what's new with the preggy me?

• I went shopping (yet again) but this time for normal "non-pregnant" clothes (huh??). Yes, but pls understand, it's really a struggle to buy preggy clothes when most of the tops and bottoms were designed to already make way for the next 9 months. I've worn a few preggy clothes I bought from a cool maternity store called Gingersnaps. They've got gorgeous stuff which I drool over everytime I walk into their store. But their clothes are really quite steep, and I have a hard time reconciling in my mind how I can invest in clothes that I will most likely not wear after I give birth. Plus the fact that wearing full maternity clothes as early as now somehow gives people the impression that I'm already way into my 6th month -- not flattering to me at all! So what do I do when I fall in the "in-between" stages of the pregnancy look? I buy regular empire-cut tops (see sample photo. No, I didn't shop at Neiman Marcus!), which feel very comfortable for the protruding tummy, and I make sure I get the styles that I could still wear after I give birth :-)
  
  
• Would you believe I also still wear my regular jeans? Yup, I do! I use my old jeans and attach The Belly Belt unto it. Believe me, it's a money-saver indeed! If maternity tops are expensive, well maternity bottoms are twice the price! Ok, it may seem weird to wear your pants open and have a garter keep the opening together. But between feeling weird but being able to carry the look AND not spending too much on something to me is not weird at all! I have a few of my old maternity pants from my pregnancy 7 years ago. Think I'd want to wear them now? Uh...no! I'd like to think that being pregnant means looking your best even when you don't exactly feel it. I look at my old maternity stuff and wonder, "what was I thinking when I bought this?".
  
  
• I've been drinking LOTS of water lately. You cannot begin to imagine just how hot it is right now here in our country. Or maybe you can. But then, imagine feeling this hot AND being pregnant! Eh? Not a happy feeling...
  
  
• I've finally started feeling the baby's kicks! Yup, only four months into my pregnancy and I can already feels the waves of movements across my belly. It's a wonderful feeling because I am more and more reassured that "it" is doing fine, is active and is, well, alive! A small downer though is that "it" is awake and kicking at night. Which meant that last night, I had trouble falling asleep. Every so often as I would settle into my calm, relaxed state, it would suddenly jerk inside me. It was fun feeling the movements, feeling it swim from side to side, giving a mild kick every now and then. It wasn't so fun after an hour of the same thing. It kept me awake 2 hours last night. The realization that this would keep up in the remaining five months is suddenly sinking in....

So this is me right now as I move into the 2nd trimester. I'm feeling a mixture of relief that the 1st trimester is over, and fear of what the 3rd trimester will bring. But it really is too early to think about what to expect in the next months. So i try to keep focused on how I can make the present a more relaxed and enjoyable time for the baby, for Allan, for Nicky and I. Armed with a tall glass of iced watermelon shake and my trusty Mac computer, I excitedly await what the next few months has in store for me :-).

In My Stables: VOICING MY THOUGHTS

In my stables this week is a girl named Noi from Voicing My Thoughts. Please lift your hands off the keyboard and give her a warm welcome, will you? APPLAUSE! APPLAUSE!

Noi's blog has been in existence for almost 2 years already. Her posts are really interesting, especially one of her recent ones where she voices out just how she wishes to write her resignation letter for her boss. It is very honest, straightforward, and we can all definitely identify with this moment at one point of our working life. More about Noi: "I am just a simple person with BIG dreams! I believe in the law of sow and reap and whatever you do you will get it back. So if you do good, good will come to you if not..u know what will come to you. I believe in helping people, make a positive difference in people's life. Even if I only make a difference in 1 person in 10 years, its still worth it. There is power in people. There is truth all around us. When you realised and accept the truth abt life, it will set you free.". Great philosophy!

Please drop by the stable and check out her digs. Just trot over to my right sidebar, give it a click and let her know that Chrixean whispered her name to you. She has a comments section AND a tagboard so you may greet her in any which way :-)

Thankful Thursday 14

Thankful Thursday: What CHRIXEAN is thankful for this week I am thankful for the Lord's provisions for my family, especially because I was able to enroll Nicky into his "big school" where he will be starting 1st Grade. Same month last year, I was clueless where I would be transferring Nicky to and how I would be able to afford paying his tuition. Allan, Nicky and I prayed EVERY SINGLE DAY for the Lord to lead us to the school He wanted us to send Nicky to, and for Him to provide us the means to afford wherever it was He wanted Nicky to go. As it turns out, God led us to my old alma mater, San Beda Alabang. The benefits of this decision? -- 1) The tuition was not as "shockingly expensive" as I thought it might be. God made sure we had more than the amount we needed to pay for it. 2) My old prep school teacher who loved me growing up as a child, is the new Grade School Principal! 3) The school is just 15 minutes away from the house. 4) Nicky loves the new school and is excited to start :-) Praise God for his faithfulness and for his provisions! To Him be all the glory. Links to other Thankful Thursdays --> A Child of God A Revision Anna's Place As My World Turns EPH2810 Friday's Child Imagine Bliss Journalling Through the Valley Momma's Life Mommy Does It All Mommy Needs To Vent Nightingale no_average_girl Show Them Through Me Uzi's Musings

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A Tag A Day...

Another tag, another day. This time I was tagged by The White Rabbit. Here we go.....

Name ten of life's simple pleasures that you like 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.

In no particular order:

1. A tub of Ice Monster's Coffee Jelly on an extremely hot day.

2. Teaching Nicky how to paint on a cool Sunday morning.

3. Receiving "Good morning" and "have a nice day" text messages from really good friends.

4. Driving around with my hubby and looking at houses for sale, dreaming that someday we would be able to have one that we could call our own.

5. Taking Nicky to the park and watching him play and have fun.

6. Reading comments on my blog.

7. Being able to use my curling iron at a relaxed pace, and being impressed at the results (sometimes, I actually do look good with soft, big curls).

8. Spending time with my friends just laughing and laughing over silly things.

9. Shopping with my hubby. He's a great shopping companion!

10. The feeling of peace that covers you rigth after a long moment of prayer and worship.

Oh gee, who do I still have left to tag? For now, I'm thinking... Friday's Child, Petite Queen, Annemac, EPH2810, Viamarie, Annette and Barbie. I don't know who else might want to do this, so just feel free to swipe it off my post if the spirit moves you to. :-)

An Image Tag!

This is one of the latest and most unique tags that I've ever received so far. I thought it was really cute so I decided to go along with it. It was EPH2810 that tagged me and she did it quite awhile back, but because of schedules it's only now I'll be able to finally post it.

Here's how it goes:

1. Choose a search engine.
2. Pick 5 random blogfriends.
3. Think of a word or phrase that you describes each friend.
4. Do an image search of that word or phrase.
5. Pick an image to represent your friend - share it.

The image that Iris posted was of course, so me. Check it out here. For this tag, I'm choosing to post images for Friday's Child, Ribbiticus, White Rabbit, Viamarie and Bozette.

Here they are:

Friday's Child


Ribbiticus


White Rabbit


Viamarie


Bozette


For this, I’m not tagging anyone but if you want to pass it on, feel free to do so. :-D

Thankful Thursday 13

Thankful Thursday: What CHRIXEAN is thankful for this week 1) A friend of ours who owns a chain of boutiques all over the Metro has agreed to carry our T-shirt brand, BUBBLEWRAP (to the uninformed, I co-own a company that designs and produces vintage tees), in his stores and help sell them. It will be a great opportunity for us to get more exposure for the brand, and for us to create a following of loyal customers (his family been in the t-shirt business for 20 years!). 2) We were also offered a deal to design a totally unique brand and line-up of shirt designs (10 designs a month!!) exclusively for the #1 mall chain in the country! 3) Holy Week! In our country, Holy Week is equivalent to vacation week for most. Vacation starts on Holy Wednesday (for some) and ends on Easter Sunday. It gives most of us the opportunity to slow down, take time to re-charge, pray, and re-fresh before facing the gruelling months ahead. A lot of people go to the beach, go home to their toens and provinces, or take a trip to another country. We plan to participate in a few of our Christian community's activities and grab the chance to just kick back and rest. 4) Cable TV. During Holy Week, local programs switch off entirely to prevent people from being distracted. Thank God for cable TV! On with the shows! 5) Beef Sukiyaki. Strangely, I've been craving for this Japanese dish for the past week. I'm so glad that there are tons of Japanese restaurants nearby :-) Links to other Thankful Thursdays --> A Child of God A Revision Anna's Place As My World Turns EPH2810 Friday's Child Imagine Bliss Journalling Through the Valley Momma's Life Mommy Does It All Mommy Needs To Vent Nightingale no_average_girl Show Them Through Me Uzi's Musings

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Think! Share! Save!

I've been attending the Purpose Driven Life Bible Study Series for the past 4 weeks already, and have been pastoring a group of single women through the sharing sessions. This weekly gathering has proved to be a healthy exercise for me because I not only gave book reading a good workout, it also allowed me to connect with young women who are going through the difficulties and challenges I experienced at least once in my single life. I've read the PDL book as far already as the 28th chapter, but one line has so far struck me more than any other that I've read.

"You'll never know that God is all you need, until God is all you've got."

This is a very powerful sentence for me, and it hits home really hard because there are so many moments in my life that I can think of where God has led me through circumstances, and I had nothing else left to hold on to but Him. I have always been a woman of full control of my life and destiny. In the past, everything I set out to do I did and accomplished to the best I could. I never really took into account a God who was a major player in the scenes of my life.

Back then it was all about my life, my decisions, my consequences and my achievements. Glory and credit of course were entirely mine as well. I had full control of the steering wheel, or so I thought. It is only when you've gone completely off-course and ended up in unfamiliar or unwanted territory that you realize that you are not entirely in control. It is when you've been stripped off of all material possessions, all dignity, all confidence and self-worth, and when you've been completely exposed of your weaknesses, flaws and shortcomings, that you realize that it all boils down to you... and God. You may lose your dearest friends, you may be rejected by family, you may lose your job, your clients and everything you THOUGHT were valuable to you. But it is during these times when you realize, face pressed down on the dirt, that you have no one and nothing else -- except God. He is constant. He is consistent. He is immortal. He is all-powerful. He is all-knowing. He is all things people aren't. People who we prefer to call in times of trouble. People who we set out day in day out to please. People who we run after for business and money. People who we adore, idolize and mold ourselves to become. People who hurt us, disappoint us, leave us and die. Yes, we choose people over a God who even at our lowest and our worst moments, remains faithful to us by loving us, by comforting us, by healing us of our hurts, by forgiving us, by nursing us back to health and by blessing us far beyond what we could ever even hope to achieve on our own! Praise God for when we need Him the most, "Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear." Isaiah 59:1

This Holy Week, join me in reflecting on this phrase. Think about all the times in your life where you felt that the whole world has turned its back on you -- when you had no one to reach out to and nothing left to hold on to. Has there been any circumstance in your life that has left you to realize that God is all you've got? Share them and let others be blessed by your story of how God has been faithful to you in your life. Let this be our way to "save one more for God".

God bless you all today!

Winding Down

Saw this on Ribbiticus' site and thought I'd give it a shot. I tried the Yahoo version, but the colorful Google logo just seemed to fit my personality better. Just something I decided to do on the side to wind down another toxic Monday. Two more days till Holy Week vacation!

In My Stables: ADVENTURES IN PARENTING

This week, Valerie Winthrop of Adventures in Parenting is staying over at my stables. Please give her your warmest welcome! APPLAUSE! APPLAUSE!

Her blog is filled with her 3Ms -- motherhood, marriage and mayhem. Just by these threes, most of us can already easily relate to the contents of her site. She is a full time wife , mother and hotel clerk. She is married to Tony, and is mom to Terrell who is almost 3 years old. Terrel is in his potty training phase, and Valerie is currently helping her son with the transition from diapers to big boy pants. Ah, the joys of having a three-year old. :-)

Please drop by Valerie's by trotting over to my right side bar and letting her know that Chrixean whispered her name to you. :-D

~~o:o:>O<:o:o~~

Other bits I wanted to share....

Today is
Day!
Please don't forget to march over to Carol's of A Revision to find out what time our rehearsal schedules are and to get the marching route ahead of time to avoid traffic (it's especially harder for me to be lugging around my piano when there are other instruments being dragged ahead of me).

Also, my dear blogging pal, EPH2810 is in need of encouragement today. She's been feeling a bit unwell and so a visit and some words of encouragement from you may lift her spirits and bring a warm smile on her face. Will you do that for me?

Lastly, I am supposed to be posting my First Friday Blind Contour.... but my day was really crazy and I found out about the theme from Niff just this morning (Theme is Outside Your Window). Ergo, I have nothing to post....yet. Hopefully I can squeeze this in tomorrow... But in the meantime, please visit Inkfinger to see other marvelous Blind Contour Drawings!

Thanks, all! Have a happy weekend, folks!

Thankful Thursday 12

Thankful Thursday: What CHRIXEAN is thankful for this week I am thankful this week for the Lord's faithfulness in my life. 5 years ago, I made the decision to leave the corporate world to be full time with my son Nicky who was then only 2 years old. I was at first hesitant to leave my comfort zone of being a 9-to-9 employee, with a good paying job and position. But seeing that my son was delayed in a lot of his motor skills and in his speech development (it turned out that my nanny NEVER spoke to him nor even tried to teach him to do anything the whole day she was with him), it worried me deeply and moved me to make the decision to choose him over my job. It was a scary move since Allan and I were just starting out, and badly needed all the financial support we could get. But coming home late at night and waking up early without having the chance to spend the time with my baby boy was definitely not what he needed at that time. I prayed earnestly to God that He would honor my decision to be with my son full time, and asked that He provide for our needs. And He did honor my prayer. He gave me a design business which I could do while taking care of my son. It was a small graphic design company I put up on my own, which allowed me to work when my son was asleep, and allowed me to play with him or go to the mall with him when my schedule was lighter. In fact, the Lord God not only blessed me for my "leap of faith" by giving me a business, but He also made our business grow and prosper that it even allowed my husband Allan to leave his full time job as well to join me in my business. This gave both Allan and I the opportunity to raise Nicky together as full-time parents -- something that many parents, especially the working ones, are not privileged to do. We earned our keep during the day, and in between the day we get to spend time playing with Nicky, attending to all of his school activities, and being thoroughly involved in his lessons and study sessions. Nicky practically saw us 24/7, and it has been this way for the past 5 years. Praise God for his faithfulness! Today, Nicky is 7 years old, and his development mentally, emotionally and physically has far exceeded our expectations of him. We have been blessed with an exceptional child and we would like to attribute this to the fact that we chose our family over our career growth in the corporate world, and TRUSTED IN HIM entirely with our career and finances . We may not have "managerial" or VP positions in multinational corporations, but we are the presidents and general managers in the eyes of our son. And knowing that we gave our child ALL of us is more important to me than a 6-digit monthly paying job which will steal my time from my family. I will forever be thankful for the Lord God, for my answered prayer allowed me to have precious quality times with both Nicky and Allan. The bonus is that His faithfulness still rewarded us with a financially fulfilling business which has provided for both our needs and wants for the past 5 years. :-) Links to other Thankful Thursdays --> A Child of God A Revision Anna's Place As My World Turns EPH2810 Friday's Child Imagine Bliss Journalling Through the Valley Momma's Life Mommy Does It All Mommy Needs To Vent Nightingale no_average_girl Show Them Through Me Uzi's Musings

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A Shining Silver Moment

Last week, Nicky graduated from his preparatory level with a silver honor medal honor and 4 other academic awards. Allan and I are so proud to have such an industrious and intelligent child! I'd like to share some of our dear boy's shining "silver" moments as he says goodbye to prep school and takes his first big step into "big school" at the San Beda College Alabang this coming June.


Nicky addresses the crowd with his opening speech. We were so shocked to watch him because we didn't know he MEMORIZED his speech! We saw him go up the stage, let go of his cue card (which we thought all along he needed to read off from), and did the speech on his own. That was for us already a big achievement for that day! :-)

The proud parents of the Top 4 graduates with honors. We were surprised that Nicky (along with the 3 other graduates with honors) was featured in the city's monthly newsletter!

All smiles!

I've got five!

Nicky's farewell photo op with his "girl-friend" of 3 years, Bianca. Bianca and Nicky will be going to different schools for 1st grade, so i have no clue if they will ever see each other again. He begged to stay behind just so he could have his moment alone with her! Again, Nicky is only 7 years old... I have no idea what goes on in his head, but Bianca seems to feel the same. Her whole family jumped in to take photos of these two kids, and were waving sadly at us like it was a real "break-up" of some sort.

Hehehe...kids!!!