Lumix

Having a DSLR is great but let's face it: do you really want to carry that heavy thing around in case a Kodak moment hits you?  While it can fit inside most of my bags, it's still heavy and bulky...definitely not my idea of an everyday camera.  Richard gave me a camera phone, but with 2 megapixels?  You can't really expect much.  Plus, it sucked in low light conditions.  

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Since our last camera purchase was two years ago, I think it's time to get another one.  I want something that I can put in my bag, doesn't weigh a ton, not necessarily super high tech (I can use my DSLR if I want to be more artsy), but can take blog/brag worthy photos.  I originally wanted another Canon, but the model that I want is waay out of my budget.  My cousin Koy convinced me to look into other brands.  So thanks to Koy, I found the One.

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Say hello to my new friend: the Panasonic Lumix F3.

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This 5,000baht beauty is a steal for 12 megapixels.  It came with a free 2gb memory card, a card reader and a protective sheet for the screen.  The best thing about this is it costs half of the Canon cameras that I was looking at -- the cheaper ones at least.  Plus, thanks to my 1Card, I got a 5% discount aside from the freebies. I'm happy, Richard's happy and so is Aly (she likes it better now than our old Sony).

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Let's see what this baby can do, shall we?

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First photo ever taken by my new baby, thanks to the sales guy.

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Taken by Aly at MBK, right outside Powerbuy.

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Thanks for my new camera babe!  I love it!

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The camera has different settings i.e sunset, portrait, action shots, etc.  This is on food setting.

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Candlelight setting.

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Normal picture mode.  And yes, we like to take self portraits now.

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Aly, smile for mommy!

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Glad that she knows how to operate this...so she can take mommy's picture too!  Heehee!

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Banana nutella bread.

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Smile, Koy!  I love this pic.  Koy is so cute!

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Ice cream cake.

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She loves the new camera too :)

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We love you, tita Angel!

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Aly interviewing tito Jof.

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Speaking of interview, my Lumix can take videos too!  Yipee!

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My 32nd Birthday

My birthdays are always special because of Richard and Aly.  This year, though, was extra special because Angel, Jof and Kokoy were here to celebrate it with me.

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First gift of the day: roses from Aly.

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She told her dad to buy these for me.

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Party decor. 

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Richard told me to relax and take things easy on my birthday so he suggested that we should just eat out.  But I chose to cook instead.  Do I like to torture myself?  Not really,  I guess it's just not the same when everything's home made :)

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Lechon.

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Mang Tomas and Hoisin sauce.

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With the exception of the store-bought lechon, I prepared the easiest dishes that I can think of: roast chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, potatoes with cheese, spicy bacon pasta...

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...and lasagna.  Most of these dishes were prepared/marinated the night before so I only had to bake/roast them the next morning.

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The ate cake: a gift from Angel, Jof and Kokoy.  I was super kilig when they brought this home.  Though the cake has long been finished, I will treasure this forever :)

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Another "present" from Aly: my birthday tower, made from stuff that she found in her room.

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She moved it to the dessert table for decoration.  Btw,  I also made brownies using Jamie Oliver's recipe -- sinfully delicious!

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The other goodies that we had were: chocolates, almond chocolate cookies and my favorite strawberry caplico :)

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Ofcourse, no birthday will be complete without the hubby's present!

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According to my Designer Handbag Wishlist, (yes, much to my husband's horror, such a list does exist.  He doesn't want to see it, though.  Haha!) this year is Gucci :)

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Since I've been a good girl, I got another gift -- a new digicam!  Yay!  Even manong in the background is happy.  Heehee!

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Opening my present at home.

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Gucci ladies web hobo.

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My three birthday cakes:

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The ate cake...

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Swensen's Ultimate Choc ice cream cake -- layers of vanilla and sticky chocolate ice cream!

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And the orange marmalade glazed butter cake from Chatrium, which was waiting on the dining table for us when we arrived from our gift shopping.

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It was a great birthday!

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Thank you, Richard, Aly, Angel, Jof and Kokoy for making it a great one!  I love you!

July Vacation

As you all know, Aly and I flew to Manila for a three-week vacay.  Let me share with you some of the photos that I took:

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Believe it or not, we only brought two pieces of luggage for a three-week stay. Yay!  But I ended up going home with three bags because I couldn't resist the cute trolley that I saw in Kamiseta.  Heehee!

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Our first visitor was my best cousin's new baby, Maia.  They flew in from Australia.

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Aly was thrilled to meet her baby cousin for the first time.

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Maia with ninang Kris and ate Aly.

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Aly with her cousins.  It was a happy day for Aly and me :)

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Dinner with my family at Gerry's Grill Tagaytay to satisfy my craving for sisig.  Aly was sleeping over at my brother-in-law's house. 

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After dinner, we also hung out at Starbucks for coffee and cake.

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Dinner at Iago's BF to celebrate Pat's and my birthday with our AC Friends.

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We ate: crispy tokwa't baboy.  Oh gosh...

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I also had a big glass of sago't gulaman.

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And that evening's star, Estrel's Caramel Cake.  This was one of my requests from Pat.  We had one cake each.  Hehe!

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Great times!

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Dinner with the family at Gusto Italiano, Paseo Sta. Rosa.  The food here is good!  It's now a new family favorite :)

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With tita Eya.  She took care of my mom and my tita Papot when they were young; she took care of me and my cousin Chig when we were babies.  The kids adore her.  We all love her!

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Playing dress up with my bestfriends at Onin's shop.

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Aly definitely enjoyed her vacation -- playing with her cousins, being spoiled to the max by her grandparents (from both sides!), watching Playhouse Disney all day, trips to the mall, eating Sbarro and Jollibee...pero bitin pa rin ang three weeks!  I wish we stayed longer because we miss everyone already.

I'm still here...

After our three-week long vacay, having my siblings and cousin over for my birthday and Aly going back to school, I'm still recovering from the busyness.  I've been in Bangkok for two weeks already, but I still need to get my groove back.  Sigh...  I also realized that I haven't had a massage in a month!  Gasp!  In spite of being home where a Php300 home service massage is just a text away, I didn't have the time for it.  Plus, I also had a mani-pedi once during my entire stay.  Yes, just once when I can have it every week since it's way cheaper back home than here.  Like a one-time mani-pedi here costs as much as three mani-pedis back home.  Don't worry, I'm not going crazy just yet.  I was just busy.  Anyhoo, I just want y'all to know that I'm still here and I will be posting stuff on this blog soon.

Tinda Ni Krisan

Dear family and friends,

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The Tindera From Bangkok is baack!!

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Here is a preview of the items that I'm selling:

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For more details, check out my site.

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Proceeds of the sale will go to the KIMValdez New Digicam Fund.  Just kidding!

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Bili na!

Food Eraser Collection

I wanted to have something that I can share with Aly.  Since we can't share clothes and shoes yet (although she sequestered some of my smaller bags already!), we started a food eraser collection instead.  

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The fast food trio: burger, fries and hotdog sandwich.

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The fruits and veggies group: squash, green apple, pineapple, tomato, red bell pepper and turnip.

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My favorite, the dessert group: strawberry tart, ice cream on a stick, cupcake, banana and strawberry crepe.

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Our food eraser collection :)

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A gift from tita Angel.  Thanks, Ange!

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This is where we keep our collection.

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It's funny how we sometimes argue about how to arrange our collection in the acrylic box, where we're supposed to keep them, etc.  Siguro, kung tao lang yang mga eraser na yan, nahilo na sila sa kakaayos ng dalawang may ari.  Haha!

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I love having something to share with my daughter: hunting for new ones at the mall, the thrill of getting more erasers as gifts (she recently won a pack of those at her year-end party in school)...but more than that, I love how Aly learns how to identify fruits and veggies.  Plus, a pack of these babies don't cost too much so it's pretty much a low maintenance collection.  Now, how cool is that?

Better Than Chocolate

I've been feeling kinda blah lately.  Chocolates used to be my default pick-me-upper, but I don't want to gain back those precious pounds that I lost.  Luckily, I always have Plan B.

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Today, I went to the one place that never fails to make me happy :)

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And look at what I brought home with me today...

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With 0 calories, it's waaayy better than chocolate!

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I feel a lot better now!  Can't wait to take this baby out for a spin :)