At Home With MrsC

Proud Pre-shooler’s Mama

November 15, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 1 Comment

Proud pre-shooler’s mama.That would be me. Nothing makes me happier than the fact that my five-year old is doing well in class and enjoying school. I’m so proud of him for being well-rounded, friendly, quick to learn and eager to participate.

Homework has become a daily family activity, and MrC and I enjoy looking through the seatworks, projects, activity sheets and exam papers that the teachers send us. Yesterday’s batch of accomplished school works included this:

I love how he tried to spell out the words, writing them out based on how the strewn together letters sound to him. We made sure to let him know that we are proud of his effort, and that he should always keep trying because that is the best way to learn.

I’m so proud of my kiddo, and I’m glad we decided to really invest in his schooling. I always tell soon to be parents, and soon to be parents of preschoolers that this is one thing they should really consider spending on. Education should be a priority, and I’m happy that we made it one of ours.

Letter To No One

November 14, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

Namimiss kita…

Yun bang pag gising ko sa umaga, alam ko naman na di ka nag text kasi tulog ka pa nun, pero uunahan na kita ng bati ng good morning. Alam kong nakarating ka na sa opisina pag isa isa ko na natatanggap yung mga sagot mo sa mga pinadala kong email na hindi mo na nabasa noong nakaraang araw dahil nakaalis ka na papunta sa client mo. Pag natanggap ko na yun, alam ko na sa ilang sandali nalang tatawag ka para batiin ako ng good morning at sabihin na nananaginip ka pa kasi nung nag text ako kaya hindi ka nakasagot.

Namimiss kita…

Yun bang pag patak ng tanghali, tatawag ka para tanungin kung anong kakainin ko sa pananghalian, at ipapaalala mo sakin na huwag akong magpapalipas ng gutom. Ikukuwento mo ang mga pinag usapan ninyo noong umaga habang nagkakape kayo ng mga kasama mo sa trabaho, at kung pano ka nila inaasar tungkol sa pagtawag mo sakin bawat umaga bago kayo mag almusal. Saglit lang naman tayo mag usap, at tungkol pa sa mga bagay na hindi naman mahalaga. Pero ok na rin sa akin yun.

Namimiss kita…

Yun bang kahit magkahiwalay tayo ng pinapasukan, tatawag ka sakin pag uwian na para mag babay at sabihing mag ingat ako sa byahe pauwi. Ikukuwento mo sakin kung saan ka nakarataing maghapon at kung saan ka kasalukuyang patungo. Pagtatawanan moko dahil nakikipagsiksikan ako sa bus at pipilitin mokong patawanin para mag mukha akong baliw na tumatawa mag isa habang bumabyahe. Sisiguraduhin mo na nakauwi ako ng maayos at kukulitin mo ako na huwag na magtrabaho pagdating sa bahay at sa halip ay kumain at matulog nalang.

Namimiss kita…

Yun bang magtetext ka na nakauwi ka na at matutulog ka na. Good night lang naman ang message, pero tuwang tuwa na ako. Lolokohin moko na magpapakita ka sa akin sa panaginip. At alam ko na sa kinabukasan tatanungin mo ako kung napanaginipan nga kita.

Namimiss kita, at minsan iniisip ko na sana hindi ka nalang nawala, na sana hindi nalang ako umalis. Pero maigi na yung namimiss kita kaysa nagaabang ako ng tawag o text mula sa taong hindi naman ako ang priority. Maigi na yung namimiss kita kaysa nakakasagasa ako ng relasyon, buhay at pamilya ng iba. Maigi na yung namimiss kita kaysa nararamdaman kong pangalawa lang ako sa taong una para sa akin.

Maigi na yung namimiss kita dahil sa ganito, ako lang naman ang nasasaktan.

ChurpChurp!

November 13, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

A friend of mine has been Tweeting about this, and I just thought I’d give it a try too. Worth a shot hehe.

How does getting rewarded through sharing sounds like to you? Join #phchurpchurp today and bring more friends to the community!

xo Chumsy

Zonta Muntinlupa’s Moroccan Bazaar

November 13, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

It’s bazaar season again in Ayala Alabang! Every year I look forward to weekend after weekend of bazaars at the Cuenca Community Center, and I try to check out as many of them as I can. This year’s series of bazaars kicked off with the Zonta Club of Muntinlupa’s Moroccan Bazaar held last October 22-23. So far this has been the only bazaar for the year that I’ve visited. It’s a good thing I stumbled upon some nice finds when I was there.

Notable Stall #1: Aklateklat / Local Loco Deli
09189193913 / palabrasletras@yahoo.com / ilovelocalloco@yahoo.com
www.aklateklat.com

The Aklateklat brand is actually something I discovered a few years back in Powerbooks. I love their leather book jackets and unique bookmarks. This is really something for the bookworms. I was looking at buying a pink jacket for my pocketbook sized paperbacks, but they didn’t have it on hand. This was probably a good thing, since theirs was the first stall I visited, and it would have been a bad thing to wipe out my budget right at the start.

The stall was shared with Local Loco Deli, which featured assorted locally made and grown food products. They sold coffee beans from different provinces, bottled longganisa bits, tapa and tinapa flakes, and different kinds of vinegar and other sauces. Everything they sold was 100% Pinoy.

Notable Stall #2: Z.E.N. All Organic
09178360403 / zenallorganic@gmail.com
#/zenallorganic

I have extremely sensitive, high maintenance skin, and the sudden emergence of all of these locally made, all natural and organic products has made my life so much simpler. Z.E.N. All Organic has the nicest smelling soaps and an assortment of other personal care and beauty products which are all 100% organic.

Notable Stall #3: Gia Narciso’s Note Pads

Call 09175793535 to order

I love to write, and I actually have a small collection of notepads, stationery and sticky notes. I would love to receive everything from this stall as a Christmas gift. The designs are all original, and the pads and notebooks are all made with high quality paper. I’m actually considering buying my Christmas gifts for my son’s teachers from them. For those who are interested, they will be back in Cuenca for the St. James Bazaar on November 26-30.

Notepads with matching notebooks in original designs

Notable Stall #4: Quazar Electronics & Gadgets

Call Majeid at 09228122587 to order.

www.tipidpc.com (User: quazar_10)

I love it when techie things come in pretty packages. Quazar’s stall was home to some of the cutest thumbdrives I have ever seen. They have all sorts of thumbdrives, from Angry Birds to cans of beer, car alarms, fastfood items, balls and cameras. My favorite would have to be their SLR designs. They come in 2GB and 4GB storage capacities.

Perfect gift for photographers and photo enthusiasts

Notable Stall #5: Japanese Salad Dressing

09178137462

My dad is addicted to Japanese salad dressing, particularly the sesame flavored ones. He has them bought somewhere in Makati, which makes it a little inconvenient when we suddenly run out. Fortunately I discovered that they already sell the stuff here in Alabang. Aside from the bazaars, you can also find them at the village Saturday Market. It’s nice to know as well that the dressing comes in many other flavors. Personally, while I do think the sesame variant is good, I think it might be time to explore the other flavors as well.

Notable Stall #6: Artwine Home of Adorable Felt Products

09174292684

http://shopartwine.com/

The handmade felt pouches on display were so cute that I just had to approach this stall and take a closer look. They had all sorts of designs in bright, fun colors. Going through their website, I discovered that these are also available at Fully Booked.

While I was busy looking around, my two boys decided to try some of the food that was being sold at the bazaar.

I was kind of expecting that there would at least be Moroccan food being sold, but I was told by a friend that the Moroccan theme was only adapted for the decor. One design element I really liked were the little trivia boards scattered around the area. It was actually pretty fun reading them and learning a little more about Moroccan culture.

He enjoyed looking for all of these trivia signs

At the end of my bazaar shopping spree, I ended up taking home these neat goodies:

Notepad + Notebook Set from Gia Narcisso

Vigan and Cabanatuan Longganisa Bits and Monk’s Blend Bukidnon Coffee from Local Loco Deli

Young Bamboo and Pink Guava Bath Soap and Strawberry Lip Butter from Z.E.N. All Organic

It’s too bad that I’ve already missed two bazaar weekends, no thanks to my erratic schedule. I’m hoping I’ll be able to visit the upcoming ones, specially the biggest annual bazaar held in Ayala Alabang, the St. James Bazaar. It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Cuenca.

Southbound: Cliffhouse Tagaytay

November 12, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

One day, Mr C, Ate B, the Kiddo and I took off on a roadtrip to Tagaytay. We wanted to make the most out of the long weekend, and so we decided to head somewhere we could just relax and spend quality time together. One thing I really appreciate about living in Alabang is that we are just a few hours away from great vacation spots. Even a simple day trip up to Tagaytay, Batangas or Laguna is enough to wash away day to day stress, and some much needed R&R is exactly what we got on this trip.

We were really lucky that we didn’t hit any traffic on our way, although I was really anticipating clear roads since most vacationers had already left for their respective destinations a few days earlier.

Passing thru Nuvali en route to Tagaytay!

First stop was Cliffhouse for brunch. I had been to Cliffhouse before on an impromptu Tagaytay dinner roadtrip with my family. Of course, in the evening, you don’t get to appreciate the view, so I was really loving the ambiance that morning, even though the skies were gloomy and grey.

Of course, the first thing we did when we got there was take pictures so we’d have a lot of them to share with our relatives abroad. Warning: Photo dump coming up!

We eventually got hungry, as expected. Since Ate Baban hadn’t tried the food at Firelake yet, we decided to eat there.

Braised Australian lamb shank served with saffron-herb risotto, whole roasted garlic and lamb stock reduction (PHP740)

Asparagus and mushroom risotto with home-made sweet fennel sausages (PHP310)

Grilled Norwegian salmon fillet with butter-glazed vegetables, warm couscous salad and Dalandan butter sauce (PHP470)

We were all stuffed after that super yummy meal, but of course, there’s always room for dessert! While the others got scoops of ice cream from FIC, I decided to try Mochiko for the first time. I chose the green tea flavored ball, and while I really enjoyed the ice cream inside, i wasn’t too fond of the sticky rice coating, and I found it pretty difficult to eat.

They look so cute when they’re next to each other like this

Brunch was only the beginning of our Southbound Day Trip. Read part 2 here!

= = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Firelake Grill Tagaytay
Unit 3 Cliffhouse Tagaytay, Aguinaldo Highway
Lungsod ng Tagaytay 4120
(046) 483 2069 / (0927) 914 4604
http://www.firelakegrill.com

Mochiko
Unit 3 Cliffhouse Tagaytay
Tent 2 Mercato Centrale at Bonifacio Global City
(0999) 884 0624
#/mochikomochi

Fat Mom On The Go

November 11, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

About a month ago, I blogged about my challenge to myself lose weight. Today’s progress report shows that I’ve not lost any weight. The good news is I haven’t gained weight either, and this is always a good thing. I spent the day thinking about why I had failed to take off on the whole healthy lifestyle thing I promised myself I would enter into. One very obvious and simple reason is the fact that I have yet to really commit myself to exercise. I honestly don’t understand why people enjoy it so much, like my sister who thrives on exercise, and chooses to jog to release stress. Maybe I’ve never committed to a workout routine long enough for me to feel the happy hormone effect of it all. I mean, even my mother-in-law who has recently turned into a Zumbaholic is now more radiant and glowing and slimmer than I’ve ever seen her, and I’m guessing it’s basically because she gets her blood pumping every day. Of course, my eternal excuse is that I’m a very busy person, and I can’t figure out how to squeeze exercise into my already full schedule. I know, it’s the oldest excuse in the book, and many others have already found a way around it, so why can’t I, right?

The good news is, I’ve managed to keep my eating in check, for the most part at least. My newfound friend is My Fitness Pal, which allows me to easily track my calorie intake, and eventually my exercise progress as well, once I get started. I like how it inputs your calories burned and subtracts them from your calories taken in, so you really feel that the effort is all worth it. It also let’s you make a nice weight tracker badge that you can add to your website. Here’s mine!

Created by MyFitnessPal – Nutrition Facts For Foods

Like I said in my post before, I have about 50lbs to go until my ideal weight. And my bet with Mr C still stands – by the time I lose the weight, he should already have quit smoking. So there.

I figure that I need a tangible exercise goal to get me started, ideally something with a concrete deadline. As fate would have it, 11.11.11 brought me just that. An opportunity arose today that will allow me to take on my first 5k with adequate time to condition myself. This is reminiscent of my Subic 3k stint a few years ago when I was still with Smart. That time however, laziness got the better of me and I put off training for the run so many times that i found myself totally unprepared on the morning of the event, and I ended up walking the whole 3k leisurely with my sister. And to think, that was only a 3k fun run. While I thoroughly enjoyed the view and the sunrise that morning, I refuse to cheat myself that way again. If my knees will let me, I plan to run at least half of that 5k next year. That means I need to start getting my legs used to it. That means I should start soon.

I have an optimistic outlook as far as this health and wellness endeavor is concerned, and for the first time in a long time, I really want to see this through. I want to succeed. This is a long overdue effort that I’m delving into not just for aesthetic reasons, but more importantly to be fit and well. That makes for a good start, as far as I’m concerned. I’m looking forward to sharing the journey, and I hope to give and receive inspiration as I go along. Wish me luck, yeah? 52lbs to go!