TILS: Thanksgiving Edition
Belated happy thanksgiving!
As we all lounge around or shop to death this Saturday, folks at the other side of the world are probably recuperating from Black Friday, which makes me green with envy but oh well. :D
I realized I haven't been made my usual Things I Love posts the past two weeks. It can get tiring to say that things get crazier and crazier but they do. For the past two weeks, I hadn't been in one place for one straight day, it makes my boring days seem like ages ago, sometimes I miss them.
This year's Thanksgiving Day, even if it's not really a Philippine tradition, brings me to an unsurmountable level of gratitude. Despite still not completing the list of things I have vowed to do, I am filled with this warm surge of happiness from being in the presence of people I care for the most, words I can say and kindness that stems from also being kind to others. I am thankful for being alive, for having the time, the air to breathe and the will to do what my heart calls for.
25 years on Earth and a New Layout
If you're reading this on my site and not on Google Reader, you'd notice that I've changed my layout! I swiped a bunch of codes off the net and tweaked it to my own liking. I had been lusting over white spaces and Arial font for the main content, and a more 'serious' font for my header since before I turned 25. Maybe it comes with age? I have no idea. I'm still getting used to reading my own thoughts in Arial, but I love how un-cluttered my current layout is. Took me a whole night, too but it was worth the effort.
Parts Three and Four of a Twenty Fifth
This is probably the longest birthday celebration I have had, starting with a Gin Blossoms concert and a birthday eve ruckus, continuing with a very chill dinner, iPhone pictorials and chika with Shen and Jheng at Jupiter St., yet again and another round of wings and things at Casa Nami with bestfriends both from high school and from work.
Team iPhone / Team Hipstamatic / Team Adobo Flakes
Then and Now: K, The Neurochiq, Me, Y and Tiny, who are, apparently, childhood friends. Awards, Rewards or Validation, if you'd like.
Just this past two weeks, our team was awarded for four things {three from IABC}for our financial literacy advocacy. I guess those thesis-like nights that ran on passion, more than anything are beginning to pay off.
Plus: It's so worth it to be on the same frame of the company president. Another award we were given was the Best Insurance website from the Digital Filipino for www.sunlife.com.ph, of which I work as the managing editor for. Before the awards ceremonies, Janette Toral, Ms. Digital Filipino herself, gave a talk on how the websites who won were adjudged. "When your site is beautiful, or aesthetic, it doesn't mean people visit it. We award sites that are sticky, user-friendly, SEO competitive and engaging. " I am honored {and surprised, might I add}.
Birthday Gifts I never asked for anything. All I wanted and still want is lots of quiet moments, alone time with my books and peppermint tea. Still, my friends and family managed to surprise me and get the better of me by surprising me with the best things I could want {no one gave me a box of silence, of course.} I have never felt so loved.
A Sony W330 from my mother. She had asked me what model I wanted and knowing her, I am very spoiled {a necessity when you're growing up miles away from them}, she would've given me an SLR if I wanted. But I wanted a small, pink Sony because it eliminates the need for Photoshop because I'm always glowing in any Sony camera. Oh and it's very inexpensive, too.
New Books. And not just new books. Books that have been buried in the recesses of my book wishlist. From T: Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter | Women, Work and The Art of Savoir Faire by Mireille Guiliano | From M: The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton | From Jennie: I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris | From my mom, not in photo: On Love by Alain de Botton | Love is a Mixtape by Rob Sheffield
DVDs at such low prices.
I was on my way to Red Mango Greenbelt when I stopped dead on my tracks and saw some interesting titles at the Astro Vision store at GB 3. I picked up a total of six and they just amounted to a total of Php 1,300!
Coming across candid photos. A colleague uploaded photos from a mini fashion show we did at work and I can't get over at my facial expression. Bitchera!
I've no idea why my face is like that | Photo credit: DR Norwegian Wood, the movie
One of my favorite books ever, probably the most, in Asian lit, is Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood. I don't care if it's not exactly like the book. I want to see this film.
Signs of Life
Just recently, a very good friend suddenly suffered from aneurysm and is now undergoing several brain surgeries. She had been unconscious for some days but when we came to visit her last night, I saw signs of life already. While I am already thankful for this, I am also a firm believer that the more people pray, the more that hope and answers will prevail. I'd like to ask you to include my friend in your prayers, that she may overcome this in the best and soonest possible time.
Those are the things I'm thankful for this week. What are yours?