Happy Thanksgiving

It's not only today that we should be thankful for all the good things and the not so good things that come our way. Everyday should be thanksgiving (like how everyday should be Christmas). Personally, God has been so good to me. This year brought about so many changes in my life but it has all been good. God has thrown some curve balls my way but He has also helped me and has taught me how to move ahead. God has given us things we didn't expect that made us worry but He has taught me that instead of worrying to just trust in Him for He will never forsake us. Everyday He has been faithful. He has been my light and my guide. I have learned along the way to be thankful for even the littlest things that happen or I receive.

God is good and forever I will be thankful.

Stressed

The waiting is killing me. I took the NCLEX 10 days ago and Im still waiting for the results. No news yet although a part of me thinks I didn't pass but an itsy-bitsy part of me hopes I did. I think the local boards is more difficult than the NCLEX but that does not mean I have more chances of passing the NCLEX. I remember how confused I was on answering the question about colon cleanse. I think I will need to wait atleast a week more.

BINDI

We had a business meeting last week at megamall to finalize the details of our new business ( to blog about this soon!) and get the Medicare supplement insurance of my dad. My cousins brought their little girl with them and I was happy they did. Bindi is such a darling. She was waving at everyone and gives them a flying kiss.

Like her Lola she loves shopping and trying on clothes. She is only 14 months old but already wears dresses for 2 year old kids. Last halloween, she was dressed as a nun and she was such a hit! Everyone at the mall was calling her sister baby.

Sorry for the picture overload. Just can't get over how cute and darling our little Bindi is.

SB planner

After 17 cups of coffee, I was finally able to complete the stickers last Sunday for my Starbucks planner. The timing was perfect as I would usually go to my favorite Starbucks branch to study. It's not only the time of the year to collect the stickers for the planner but also I look forward to the red cups because of Toffee Nut. The Dark Cherry Mocha is really good too. I used to like the Peppermint Mocha but not anymore.
I don't want to think of all the calories and all the weight I gained with drinking coffee just to complete the stickers. Also the money I could have saved and used to buy myself a BCBG Max Azria bag. Then again, this happens only during the Christmas season and the planner was just to nice to resist.

Mango Panna Cotta

Let me share a really easy but yummy receipe of Mango Panna Cotta.

1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon gelatin
1 cup cream
*1/4 pc vanilla pod, seeds scraped
3 tablespoons sugar
1 pc. mango, diced

Pour milk into a small bowl and stir the gelatin powder. Set aside. In a saucepan, stir together the cream, vanilla seeds, vanilla pod and sugar, and set over medium heat. Bring to simmering. Pour the gelatin and milk into the cream, stirring until completely dissolved. Remove from heat, and let steep for a while before lifting out the vanilla pod. Pour in serving glasses and let set in the fridge. When set, top with diced mango.

I use vanilla flavoring instead of the vanilla pod. This recipe is also good for 3-4 persons so just double the ingredients if you need to make more. I like this recipe because it's not too sweet. You also have the option to substitute the mangoes to any other fruit like peaches or blueberries. It's a perfect dessert for your Christmas parties because it's so easy to do.

Now off to look for Christmas party invitations for my mom.

Burglar Breaks Into Diaz Home

My title looks like I copied it from a newspaper but that's what really happened last night or must I say early this morning. Everything still feels surreal. This was one of those mornings wherein I wish I could just go back to sleep and wake up to a different scenario. You know how sometimes you have a bad dream and you just think that if I wake up this will all end and everything will just go back to "normal". I was waiting for someone to shout "cut" or for someone to say they were just playing a joke on me but it was for real

My room has a passage to the house next to ours and is connected to Borgy's room. You can consider me a light sleeper as I almost always wake up to Tito Hermie going inside Borgy's room or to Borgy going inside his room. I slept at past 2am last night as I was trying to finish some practice exam for my NCLEX. Borgy has been in Cebu for the past month so I'm pretty much alone in both rooms.

I was awoken around 6am with my mom calling my name and asking on where I was. I even raised my hand as it was still quite dark inside the room and told her I was right by the wall. She said that someone broke-in the other house. I then immediately noticed the laptop was not on the table anymore. I immediately grabbed the jewelry box and thank God my engagement ring and wedding ring was still there. I then checked on another box to check if the other jewelries I had was still inside the box and it was still there. I then looked for my bag and checked if my wallet was still inside it but wallet was missing so I called the bank immediately to have my ATM cards cancelled. While I was on the phone I woke up Ate Peachy to have her check her things. But I guess the burglar didn't know that they could go through our house from my room. Probably they did not see the door. We were just talking inside the room when I realized my IPOD was no longer on the bed. I remember waking up with the earphones in my ears but no more IPOD. My cousin Mac who was staying in the other house with Tito Hermie was then telling us of what he initially saw when he got out of their room and we then checked on the first floor to look at what was missing and then to also check if the other neighbors were okay. I then realized that my phone was missing too and it was just right about the same time Ate Peachy asked me about my phone. My phone and IPOD were right beside me as I was sleeping and the thought of how near they got to me just scares me! We then went back upstairs to check on what else could be missing and saw a green box on top of Borgy's bed. That green box was inside my cabinet. He was probably looking for other valuables inside my cabinet but inside the green box was just 3 packs of Yogos that I was trying to save. They didn't get the yogos but they were able to get 3 watches. This bad people knew what to get since they made sure they also got the power cable of my laptop and IPOD. They also managed to get the old mobile phones in Borgy's room and 2 old laptops.

I feel bad that I left my camera's memory card inside the laptop so I lost the day 2 Bacolod pictures I have. I lost access to other pictures I didn't get to post online or save on a CD. I lost copies of the US TV series and movies I downloaded online. I have to go through the hassle of getting new ID's but atleast I still have my passport which I would badly need next week. I lost a lot of files and reviewers I need.

I lost all this but I know that I am blessed. Who knows what those bad guys could have done. If they sprayed anything to make me stay asleep, I thank them for doing so because I sure would have shouted had I seen them inside the room. And only God knows what could have happened next.

What I have lost God can replace in tenfold. I am alive, shaken but unharmed. God is good!

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

This is one TV show that never fails to make me close to crying and often times cry. I love how they help other people with doing makeovers of their homes but ultimately changing their lives. I'm always at awe of how the houses turn out. They are always beautiful and I end up dreaming of owning a house like those they build too. What's amazing is they finish the house in one week! Building a house in a week is no joke so you can only imagine the sacrifice the workers go through just to finish the project for the week. I love how they carefully plan every detail of the house from the living room, bedrooms, backyards and bathrooms. I can't wait to furnish our own home soon and I have been looking at Grohe faucets already for the bathroom to use. Just a few more months to wait!

Bacolod

After 4 long years of not being able to go to Bacolod, Im finally going this weekend! It would only be a 3 day visit but still something to look forward too. Im already dreaming of inasal! It was a good thing we were able to buy cheap tickets about 3 months ago from cebu pacific. Roundtrip ticket was for only a little over Php800.
I will be packing my things tomorrow and will do a few errands in the morning. I totally forgot about my cousins request that I buy him a digital frame so I have to go to the mall tomorrow and buy that plus my dad's medicine. Im so looking forward to seeing my relatives and visiting my aunt who's sick. Im pretty sure she's excited to see us too.
Pictures and stories next week!

Mental

Is a new store with branches at Trinoma, MarketMarket and SM Annex. The clothes are really cute and funky. This store caught my attention because of how their window looked...

I liked a few of their tops and would have wanted to try them on but my friends were already waiting for me so I just ended up with buying an orange headband. I do want to go back to purchase some cute bag tags that they've got which is a perfect gift idea this Christmas.

I was thinking of buying 3 of the POS systems for my shopaholic friends.

Cooking

I have been doing some cooking for the past few days and I'm running out of reciepe's. My dad being hypertensive is currently under a strict low fat low salt diet. With him being restrained to eat only such, we too would also have to follow the diet. I'm totally for it as it could answer my needs of losing weight without having to use any weight loss product but it gives me a major headache to actually come up with a dish that would still be yummy. Cooking is totally hard! I know I should get used to this set up as I would be doing a lot more cooking in the future but any suggestions on easy to do meal that are low fat and low on salt?

Help!

I need to buy a steam cleaner but I don't know where. Anyone who could help? I'm thinking of going to the mall next week, probably on monday to look for one but to whoever is hitting the mall this weekend and finds one please message me so as I'ld know where to go already by next week. I totally forgot about the need for this not until my cousin texted me checking if I was able to buy one already. argh! major memory lapse on my part.

Bacolod

In a few weeks, we are off to Bacolod for 3 days! It's been years since I went to visit relatives so I'm pretty excited with this trip. It'll be a little different as the main reason for this trip is to visit my mom's sister who had a stroke a couple of months back. The stroke has caused the left side of her body to be paralyzed. We are not sure if she'll still be able to fully recover as we are given little hope by the doctors but atleast she is doing good right now other than her being paralyzed. I need to look for bed wedges as that is something that she really needs. Hopefully I get to find one before our trip.
Can't wait to spend time with my relatives and eat authentic Inasal!

Glee!

I love Glee!

I actually love it that September has come (and gone) and that means new season for my favorite US TV shows. I usually follow Grey's Anatomy, House, Private Practice and Gossip Girl. Add to this are Hell's kitchen, Top Chef and Project Runway. Two new shows has been added to the list and that's FlashForward (will blog about this show next time) and Glee.

Glee is like High School Musical but way better. It's something I look forward too every week. I was lucky to squeeze in time to watch the new episode while I was waiting for the industrial safety supplies my Uncle ordered that i had to pick up from the warehouse.

I have to admit it that I'm a GLEEK!

Busy

And bored. That's me. I have things to do every day and have even skipped on studying for the past days but it seems like my days have always been full. Im doing more house chores right now while we look for another helper. We do have one right now but we need another one. It might take a few more days before my Aunt finds one or before our current house help finds one that could help her around. I've been looking at the free directories for agencies but then again we are not really too keen on getting one from an agency. till we find one, I would have my hands full of doing things around the house.

So yeah, its chores and errands that take up the most of my time. Oh and not to forget is making sure my dad is drinking his meds, BP is ok, and visits to the hospital for his check-up. Im hoping things go back to "normal" soon. That I find time to study again and finally take the NCLEX. I had to reschedule my exam as I don't think I have had enough preparation to take the exam. I know I have been studying for months but I have planned a last week hard core review that Im not able to do because of my dad's hospitalization. Atleast my dad's doing ok now and I guess that's all that matters.

After The Typhoon

After Ondoy and Pepeng, obviously a lot of work is to be done. It's not the time to point to our government officials on what to do and on what they didn't do. It's not the time to be lazy and just wait for relief goods or help to come our way. It's not the time for self-pity.

It's the time to get our acts together and to work and to make sure we recover from what hit us. It's the time to think and contemplate on the lesson we need to learn from all of this. It's the time to work together and help each other.

A lot more has to be done. A lot of people would need to build their homes again, A lot lost family members and they would need all the support to recover from the tragedy. Schools has been damaged and one I saw on the newspaper would need new preschool furniture as they lost everything.

I just pray and hope that people would not take advantage of the situation. Help could only be given up to a certain extent. After all the help, they'ld need to work too. You can't just go depending on other people for your food and shelter. The community and the government could only help but you could not expect for them to give you everything.