The House

Yay! It's almost a year already, and I haven't posted our new home yet. Lol.

Ok here it is for those na nangungulit. Some pics:

Our kitchen. I opted to have a dirty kitchen just so this part will be much pleasant to our eyes since this is jsut across the dining area.

Dining area. Free flow from the living room for more space.
Love this mirror. Got it from Divisoria.
Another steal from an antique shop.





Pics of the bedrooms soon.

Compelling Reason

I've heard and read over a hundred times already. That success always starts with a compelling reason- the DREAM. It is the driving force that will kick you out of your comfort zone and do what needs to be done. It is the secret to the undying commitment of finishing the race even though you meet obstacle along the way.

My dream is so simple yet it requires a lot. The freedom of time and money.

My dream is to be able to take care of husband and son and to give them the best in this world! I want us to have a great life and not a good life. I want to travel the world with them. I want to have the time to be able to be the best wife to my husband and the best mom to my son.

They are the very reason why I am working so hard that I cannot stop until I fulfill the dream.

And I know I will.

FUEL: Attitude

I am currently reading our latest book program FUEL The Energy You Need To Succeed by Wes Beavis. I haven't gotten halfway through the book but I am definitely learning a lot already. The books talks about the "fuels" that we need in order to have the energy needed as we travel our way to success. Let me share some lines that I highlighted as I go along and maybe share some thoughts and experiences.

You see, I always thought before that I already got what it takes to succeed in life. And I always believed I was taking the right path. Until halfway through it, I realized how sick and tired and unhappy I was. I knew right there and then that something was wrong. I was looking. I knew deep inside that life is much more than working your way up in your career and sacrificing time for your self, family, your passion and the things that you most care about.

Something came that opened my eyes to a whole new definition of life and success. And it was a confirmation of what I was feeling that something was wrong. I was put into a new perspective and it got me really excited and looking forward to every day.

Success for me is being able to get or reach all your dreams... the things that you ache about... those burning desires. But success, as most always tell me, is not an immediate realization of the dream... it is a progressive realization of the dream. There is a journey involve, and in it comes bumpy rides. Now, what you need to prepare for the journey is "fuel" that you will use to be able to travel your way to success.

A positive ATTITUDE can change your circumstances to be more favorable for you.

Attitude is our emotional response on situations and circumstances. We can either respond positively or negatively. However we choose, it creates a change in the atmosphere. But positive attitude creates a favorable outcome for us. Before I committed myself on personal growth, I got the worst attitude. Short tempered, whiner,impatient... I can hurl criticisms anytime, anywhere. I was a perfectionist and I always thought that no once can do better than me. My ego.. my pride was so high that I needed no one. I thought I was just being strong and independent. Until I started to build myself, I realized I was nowhere near the qualities of a great person!

Fine tuning my attitude was a bumpy ride for me. Until now, I am still a work in progress. There are still times when I am faced with difficult situations or people that I am tempted to respond negatively: like hurl back negative words, criticize, bring down the person or get defensive and never admit that I did wrong too. But I am learning to become positive. When I feel like going to the other side of the fence, I read books on attitude, listen to empowering CD's or just think of good things. And now I practice to see the other side of whatever situation I am in. I learn to get out of myself and put it in the other person's shoes. Then I ask myself, will I react the way he did I am in the same shoes? At times, I look at the brighter side of things. I try to see the positive things that came out from the bad situation. It helps also to be counting the things I should be grateful for. Like the other day when I was stuck in the rain and I was running late because of our shuttle driver's dilly dallying. I can choose to pour out my anger to the person but I thought, will it make any difference at all? And what good will that make? I just might be actually hurting the person and in turn lose his respect. And i just decided, I'd better be giving time allowance for such incident next time so I won't run late again.

You see, we have a choice on how we react to situations. It is just a matter of posing for a while and checking if it will do any good if I do this or do the other way.

If you have hot buttons which "set you off" work out a mental strategy ahead of time for how to maintain calmness when one of those buttons is pushed.

One of my hot buttons is CRITICISM. I don't take criticism positively. It sets me off so much that I react negatively in an instant! But I am doing a mental strategy now wherein I pose... then reassure myself that such criticism will not make me less of a person I am now. That I should treat those words as a way for me to identify things that I should be working on within me that will make me a better person.

Bottomline is, we can choose our ATTITUDE. And with it comes our action to know what is a good attitude and what is a bad attitude.

:-)

Don't Kill The Messenger

While we were on our way to a business convention last Saturday, a John Maxwell audio cd was playing in the background. I was not intently listening to it although I was catching some important points along the way. There was one point though that stucked to me and made me realize how odd it is that most managers or bosses do such and never realize that it gives them minus point on their leadership effectiveness.

"Do not kill the messenger of the bad news."

Most often than not, bosses tends to bite at their staff whenever bad news is being delivered to them. They do not realize that the bad thing is the news itself and not the person. But their negative reactions, their anger and frustration, makes them go on and lash at the person who delivered the news. So how would they expect the staff to to act on a problem that the boss should be aware about the next time?

Separate the problem from the messenger. Focus on the problem itself. You not only gain your staff's respect and trust, but the ability to act positively on the problem.

Miggy's Back at Lil' Fun Ranch

He surely enjoyed it! All the smiles, laugh and squeals.

Ilocos Trip July 2009 2

Ilocos Trip July 2009 1

Here are some pics from our recent visit in Ilocos. We did not really drove around because of limited time and the weather was not all good at all because of typhoon Isang who left the place the day we arrived in Laoag. We actually spent overnight in Vigan because of the heavy rains.

These are random pics. Don't have time to arrange and organize them:


Bangui Windmills



Blue Lagoon Beach, Maira-ira, Pagudpod

The place is truly amazing, especially the view on top of the mountain where you have to pass going to the place. I regret not asking Vergil to stop so I could take a picture of the view.

Cape Bojeador (Burgos Lighthouse)

View is really magnificent on top. The crystal blue waters of China Sea.

Miggy riding a Calesa in Laoag City

Laoag City Bridge entrance

Stop over in Batac City for their famous empanada and miki.

Batac miki (forgot to take a picture of their empanada)

At Amway, Urdaneta, Pangasinan

Jomari Ann

We fondly call her Maan when we were in high school. She and Cathy are my bestfriends. Met Cathy, though, when we were already in college and Maan was my bestfriend throughout high school.

She left for Cayman Islands few years ago. I was supposed to be with her in 2005 when she made a job offer but I was already engaged then and I supposed I was not really into leaving Vergil and postponing the wedding plans. I knew she understood. I did not really thank her for coming to my wedding and did not have time to apologize for not being able to entertain her that day. But I really really appreciated the fact that she flew in, in time for my wedding. For many years now, we hardly talk. But when we do, we knew deep inside how much we understood each others thoughts and feelings. Our talks were always deep and inspiring. We haven't seen each other for long now, but deep in our hearts, we know how much we love each other. We haven't forgotten all the good times we had and the strength we put into each other during the bad times.

She's in Canada now. Studying. Enjoying life.

And she'll be coming home this December!

How I miss her! I can't wait!

MJ

Was not able to stay up for MJ's memorial service. Saw in the news about the 20 second heartbreaking moment c/o Paris Jackson. And for once, I saw Michael not the king of pop but the DADDY.

***
Got a copy of this...

Miggy

There is so much to talk about my son. Well, bear with me but I am just a mom...

He had grown so fast... and I regret every minute of those times when I am not with him. I still want to be a full time mom... with the money to spend, of course. We are working hard on it.

Soon...