Hidden Treasure

This morning I grabbed a purse that I hadn't used since early December and threw my stuff into it before heading to work. Later, at the office as I dug around for my cell phone, I found this:

What a sweet girlie! Later when I asked her about this sweet love note, she said she had put it in my purse while I was in the shower a couple of months ago.... I feel bad now that I chewed her out for wasting paper and envelopes....

Fancy That

Finally had lunch with a great friend who lives so close by and we NEVER get to see each other! Was not nearly enough time to catch up so we will have to schedule more frequent follow up lunches soon...

Phil "Fest" 2009

We had a very full day at our house today as we hosted a troop meeting to help the girls earn their cooking badges. For 2 hours we went over the Philippine culture - complete with a slide show of pics from my sister's trip to PI last year, authentic Filipiana and Barong clothing, artwork, music (Jazzapino by Charmaine Clamor) and lots of good food! The girls sampled some fried lumpia and made Chicken Adobo for the main course and Halo-Halo for dessert. They played Sungka (just like Mancala) and learned a few phrases in Tagalog. Was a very educational meeting for all (including me) and our house only smelled like lumpia and adobo for a FEW days after...

Eating Halo-Halo (which means "mix-mix" in tagalog)

New Year, Ushered In

We spent the evening at our cool neighbors' home brewing beer and playing Apples to Apples with the children. Apparently the game is supposed to take 30 minutes, but I guess when you add in a 6 year old and wine, homebrew and banana splits, the playing time can get extended (distended?). Was a very nice time staying close to home with a great family...

This time last year we prayed for a cool family to move in next door and our prayers were answered (above and beyond). Here's to a wonderful 2009! Cheers!

Merry Merry and Happy Happy

This holiday season has been very enjoyable for me this year...mainly because I have been counting my blessings all year long. So happy to have a wonderful, sessy husband and a beautiful, talented, smart, funny, compassionate daughter also. They are dear people who forgive me when I am cranky in the mornings (and the afternoons and in the evenings)...

This year we hung a stocking for the pets and the jolly guy actually gave the naughty beasts some treats! Santa filled the rest of our stockings with oranges, pears, chocolates, candy canes and small toys...and he even left me an iPod Touch. He really shouldn't have...but I will let it slide this one time...

Santa also brought me a wonderful Filipino cookbook that was on my Amazon Wishlist - Memories of Philippine Kitchens. I have only scanned through Chapter 1 and I am looking forward to testing out each and every recipe with my sous chef over the next year. Would be really cool to check out the authors' restaurant, Cendrillon, in SoHo someday...

As a nice surprise I found Sugar Plums at a very cool local candy store. So we finally KNOW what the children who were nestled all snug in their beds were dreaming about! I have to say that this "discovery" was a little anti-climactic in that they were just jellied plum candies rolled in sugar and not the dried plums rolled in sugar that I had envisioned... but they were still enjoyable. In fact, I discovered quite a few other surprises for family and friends at the Candy Basket and they even had spices for hot cider!

Perhaps the best thing I found [out] this year is that I actually enjoyed hanging out with the family (extended and then some) without feeling all caged and trapped and like I needed to Get Out Now! It may sound odd to some of you who know me (or maybe you already knew this about me) but sometimes it's hard for me to relax and enjoy being around family for extended periods of time. This year was different though, I was all "Bring it on!". I'm not saying this came without any challenges... there were casualties!

While it was not a perfect holiday season, I would say we made some great strides in Being Flexible and Not Being In Control...

The year is almost up and I wouldn't trade this one for anything! I look forward to chillaxin' with the family at home and ushering in the new year...