One of my favorite movies, "The Sound of Music", shows a scene where Maria, the governess, (played by the ever talented Julie Andrews) comforts the Von Trapp children during a thunderstorm with a song called "My Favorite Things". The song claims that when feeling sad, simply remembering one's favorite things makes one feel glad.
Well, I'm having one of "those days" right now and maybe it'll help if I list my favorite things ...
Family and friends; classic pearl jewelry; scented bath gels; crisp and clean sheets; Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea Cologne; good books; feel-good movies; yard sales and Farmer's markets; Asian art; Fall foliage; scenic drives; slingback shoes; flipflops; Crate and Barrel decor; entertaining at home; scented candles; decorating our home; channel surfing; weekend trips; satchel-style bags; going out for dinner; rainy days; manicures; massages; sleeping in; Friday nights; blogging; chandelier earrings; crystal and bead jewelry; browsing at bookstores; sleepovers; store sales; spicy food; iced lattes, chai tea; dimsum; Jack & Jill BBQ Chippy; pesto pasta; Thai and Indian curries; my mom's homecooking; French onion soup. . . . .
I guess it does sort of work.
"When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad. I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel so bad."
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Wish List
One of my favorite things to do is to go over store catalogues and pick out things I’d like to some day buy. I spend long hours pouring over catalogues from Crate and Barrel, Ikea, Kohls, Best Buy, Walmart, Robinsons-May, JC Penney and everything else that ends up in our mailbox. Of course, inevitably, I take mental notes of what things I’d get if and when I have the time and luxury to indulge myself.
Last night before going to bed, my hubby asked me to list my top gift choices to give him an idea of what I want for my upcoming birthday. Naturally my mental wish list is perfect for times like these.
Here is a partial list of the things I told him I wouldn’t mind getting.
Below $20.00
Bath and Body Works Wallflower Refills – (Preferred scents: Mango Mandarin, Coconut Lime and Verbena, French Lavender).
Books from Amazon (Autobiography of a Geisha by Sayo Masuda; Red Azalea by Anchee Min; The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi).
Three-tier wrought iron plate racks from Crate and Barrel (preferably with the plates please, although they cost extra).
Below $50.00
Griffin and Sabine boxed Trilogy set by Nick Bantoch (if you are feeling extra generous I’d like the 6-volume version).
Tabletop Chocolate Fondue Fountain.
Pink leather Leanback moccasins with rhinestone buckles from Nine West (size 7).
Below $70.00
SmartSet Alarm Clock / Radio from Brookstone.
Shell stripe 400-thread count sheet set from Target.
“Shu by Ai’ – Shu Uemura Limited Edition Cleansing Oils set.
And if feeling extra generous:
Signature style, Large pocket satchel Coach bag in silver, khaki and gold.
Knowing my hubby’s gift-giving tendencies, I probably will not end up with any of these. Sometimes he purposely asks me these things to throw me off. But whatever the gift may be, I am sure that it will be something he has taken the time to carefully think about and that it is something he knows I will love. Right, Joj??? :)
Last night before going to bed, my hubby asked me to list my top gift choices to give him an idea of what I want for my upcoming birthday. Naturally my mental wish list is perfect for times like these.
Here is a partial list of the things I told him I wouldn’t mind getting.
Below $20.00
Bath and Body Works Wallflower Refills – (Preferred scents: Mango Mandarin, Coconut Lime and Verbena, French Lavender).
Books from Amazon (Autobiography of a Geisha by Sayo Masuda; Red Azalea by Anchee Min; The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi).
Three-tier wrought iron plate racks from Crate and Barrel (preferably with the plates please, although they cost extra).
Below $50.00
Griffin and Sabine boxed Trilogy set by Nick Bantoch (if you are feeling extra generous I’d like the 6-volume version).
Tabletop Chocolate Fondue Fountain.
Pink leather Leanback moccasins with rhinestone buckles from Nine West (size 7).
Below $70.00
SmartSet Alarm Clock / Radio from Brookstone.
Shell stripe 400-thread count sheet set from Target.
“Shu by Ai’ – Shu Uemura Limited Edition Cleansing Oils set.
And if feeling extra generous:
Signature style, Large pocket satchel Coach bag in silver, khaki and gold.
Knowing my hubby’s gift-giving tendencies, I probably will not end up with any of these. Sometimes he purposely asks me these things to throw me off. But whatever the gift may be, I am sure that it will be something he has taken the time to carefully think about and that it is something he knows I will love. Right, Joj??? :)
Friday, January 06, 2006
Who knew?
This is what happens when you have too much time on your hands:
I entered my birthdate (1/21/1975) on this website (http://www.paulsadowski.com/birthday.asp ) and this is what came up about me:
Your date of conception was on or about 30 April 1974 which was a Tuesday.
(Now it's no longer a coincidence as to why my second name is April!).
You were born on a Tuesday under the astrological sign Aquarius. Your life path number is 8.
(Lucky 8!)
The year 1975 was not a leap year.
The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 30 March 1975.
The date of Ash Wednesday on your birth year was Wednesday 12 February 1975.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 18 May 1975.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 25 May 1975.
As of 1/6/2006 4:58:47 PM EST
You are 30 years old.
You are 372 months old.
You are 1,615 weeks old.
You are 11,308 days old.
You are 271,408 hours old.
You are 16,284,538 minutes old.
You are 977,072,327 seconds old.
Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 4.42583170254403 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)
(Whew! That makes me feel much better!)
There are 15 days till your next birthday on which your cake will have 31 candles. Those 31 candles produce 31 BTUs,or 7,812 calories of heat (that's only 7.8120 food Calories!) . You can boil 3.54 US ounces of water with that many candles.
Your birthstone is Garnet
The Mystical properties of Garnet. Garnet is used as a power stone
Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources) Emerald, Rose Quartz
Your birth tree is Elm Tree.
Noble-mindedness, pleasant, tasteful clothes, modest demands, tends not forgive mistakes, cheerful, likes to lead but not to obey, honest and faithful partner, tends to a know-all-attitude and making decisions for others, noble-minded, generous, good sense of humour, practical.
(Amazingly, this does sound like me.)
There are 353 days till Christmas 2006!
There are 1 days till Orthodox Christmas!
The moon's phase on the day you wereborn was waxing gibbous.
(Someone must have an amazing amount of time on his hands!)
I entered my birthdate (1/21/1975) on this website (http://www.paulsadowski.com/birthday.asp ) and this is what came up about me:
Your date of conception was on or about 30 April 1974 which was a Tuesday.
(Now it's no longer a coincidence as to why my second name is April!).
You were born on a Tuesday under the astrological sign Aquarius. Your life path number is 8.
(Lucky 8!)
The year 1975 was not a leap year.
The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 30 March 1975.
The date of Ash Wednesday on your birth year was Wednesday 12 February 1975.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 18 May 1975.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 25 May 1975.
As of 1/6/2006 4:58:47 PM EST
You are 30 years old.
You are 372 months old.
You are 1,615 weeks old.
You are 11,308 days old.
You are 271,408 hours old.
You are 16,284,538 minutes old.
You are 977,072,327 seconds old.
Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 4.42583170254403 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)
(Whew! That makes me feel much better!)
There are 15 days till your next birthday on which your cake will have 31 candles. Those 31 candles produce 31 BTUs,or 7,812 calories of heat (that's only 7.8120 food Calories!) . You can boil 3.54 US ounces of water with that many candles.
Your birthstone is Garnet
The Mystical properties of Garnet. Garnet is used as a power stone
Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources) Emerald, Rose Quartz
Your birth tree is Elm Tree.
Noble-mindedness, pleasant, tasteful clothes, modest demands, tends not forgive mistakes, cheerful, likes to lead but not to obey, honest and faithful partner, tends to a know-all-attitude and making decisions for others, noble-minded, generous, good sense of humour, practical.
(Amazingly, this does sound like me.)
There are 353 days till Christmas 2006!
There are 1 days till Orthodox Christmas!
The moon's phase on the day you wereborn was waxing gibbous.
(Someone must have an amazing amount of time on his hands!)
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Happy New Year!
Again, it’s been a while since my last blog entry. I wish I had some fabulous excuse as to why I’ve been so lax in writing. It would sound so glamorous to say we’ve spent our Xmas holidays skiing in Aspen. Or maybe that my hubby and I went on some exotic cruise to usher in the new year.
But truth be told, it’s nothing more than being extremely busy with all the end of the year things (work – seminars right and left; last minute shopping that just never seemed to end; gatherings with family, friends and neighbors; decorating the home; cooking; weeding out my closet; etc, etc). Oh yeah, and the highlight of my Yuletide season – coming down with a nasty, nasty cold/flu virus that took me 7 days to get over. 7 days! My gad, I’m getting old!
But despite that – we did have a wonderful holiday season. This year we took turns hosting the “three main holidays”. Marik (Jojo’s sister) and Roy (her husband) hosted Thanksgiving, Tracy (Jojo’s other sister) and Jojo (her husband) were our Xmas Eve hosts, while Jojo and I had a New Year’s Eve party at our place.
As can be expected (with Jojo’s large family), Xmas Eve was a rambunctious and lively event. There was dinner, followed by Xmas Eve mass at St. Maria Goretti, Bingo games, exchanging Secret Santa presents, Noche Buena (traditional midnight meal), and finally the opening of Xmas gifts (you should have seen the kids – they were opening up gifts right and left!). We ended up with wrapping paper everywhere, good presents, happy faces, and four (5 counting our new born niece) tired but excited kids.
New Year’s Eve was the same – dinner, games of Win, Lose or Draw; Charades; and a version of a married couples game (“how well do you know your spouse”). My hubby and I lost the first round (we came in 4th place – there were 4 couples playing). Lots of good natured teasing and us justifying that we lost because we were the couple that was most recently married (of course that came in handy!). But we made up for it in the second round where we tied with Tracy and Jojo for first place. We ended the night with the traditional midnight meal to welcome in 2006.
Spending Xmas away from home, away from my family, is something I claim I am getting used to (this is my 5th one so far). But in all honesty, it does not get any easier. It's still tough esepcially since the holidays were always a huge part of my growing up and since my family always made a major production of celebrating the season. Lavish Xmas and New Year's Eve dinners at our place where everyone would get dressed up, extra-special homecooked food, wonderful presents under a splendid tree my mom would decorate herself, stockings filled with goodies from Santa every Xmas morning, driving around the subdivision giving Xmas presents to the security guards, going to my grandparents place in San Lorenzo for Xmas Day and New Year's Day lunch, going to mass at Mary the Queen dressed in our new clothes, listening to the choir sing Xmas carols, my friends stopping by in the afternoon, having leftovers for the next few days ... the memories are endless. The one blessing I am grateful for is knowing that everyone is well even if we are apart. It helps too that my hubby has a warm and very close-knit family here and celebrating with them makes my holiday almost complete.
I guess the bottomline is wherever you are and whatever you end up doing over the holidays – it helps to be with the people you love and doing things that you enjoy.
(Belated) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!
But truth be told, it’s nothing more than being extremely busy with all the end of the year things (work – seminars right and left; last minute shopping that just never seemed to end; gatherings with family, friends and neighbors; decorating the home; cooking; weeding out my closet; etc, etc). Oh yeah, and the highlight of my Yuletide season – coming down with a nasty, nasty cold/flu virus that took me 7 days to get over. 7 days! My gad, I’m getting old!
But despite that – we did have a wonderful holiday season. This year we took turns hosting the “three main holidays”. Marik (Jojo’s sister) and Roy (her husband) hosted Thanksgiving, Tracy (Jojo’s other sister) and Jojo (her husband) were our Xmas Eve hosts, while Jojo and I had a New Year’s Eve party at our place.
As can be expected (with Jojo’s large family), Xmas Eve was a rambunctious and lively event. There was dinner, followed by Xmas Eve mass at St. Maria Goretti, Bingo games, exchanging Secret Santa presents, Noche Buena (traditional midnight meal), and finally the opening of Xmas gifts (you should have seen the kids – they were opening up gifts right and left!). We ended up with wrapping paper everywhere, good presents, happy faces, and four (5 counting our new born niece) tired but excited kids.
New Year’s Eve was the same – dinner, games of Win, Lose or Draw; Charades; and a version of a married couples game (“how well do you know your spouse”). My hubby and I lost the first round (we came in 4th place – there were 4 couples playing). Lots of good natured teasing and us justifying that we lost because we were the couple that was most recently married (of course that came in handy!). But we made up for it in the second round where we tied with Tracy and Jojo for first place. We ended the night with the traditional midnight meal to welcome in 2006.
Spending Xmas away from home, away from my family, is something I claim I am getting used to (this is my 5th one so far). But in all honesty, it does not get any easier. It's still tough esepcially since the holidays were always a huge part of my growing up and since my family always made a major production of celebrating the season. Lavish Xmas and New Year's Eve dinners at our place where everyone would get dressed up, extra-special homecooked food, wonderful presents under a splendid tree my mom would decorate herself, stockings filled with goodies from Santa every Xmas morning, driving around the subdivision giving Xmas presents to the security guards, going to my grandparents place in San Lorenzo for Xmas Day and New Year's Day lunch, going to mass at Mary the Queen dressed in our new clothes, listening to the choir sing Xmas carols, my friends stopping by in the afternoon, having leftovers for the next few days ... the memories are endless. The one blessing I am grateful for is knowing that everyone is well even if we are apart. It helps too that my hubby has a warm and very close-knit family here and celebrating with them makes my holiday almost complete.
I guess the bottomline is wherever you are and whatever you end up doing over the holidays – it helps to be with the people you love and doing things that you enjoy.
(Belated) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!
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