GRILLED TOMATOES

IVF BABY NUMBER 3 and 4? I'm nearing 40 years of age and I still have frozen eggs in Singapore. Part of me wants to go ahead and have a couple more babies. But it's just so expensive. I wish to have a baby boy for the next round. Will my body be able to handle it? My biological clock is ticking but I know it is still do-able. But I need to check our finances first. IVF is expensive and raising children too. My twins are the product of science. And I love how it succeeded at the first try. It was an awesome experience, not for the weak of heart. I'm happy how my husband was very supportive throughout the... "assembly" process (haha!). In the Philippines, years back I only knew two centres that does In Vitro Fertilisation. But now when I checked online there's already a handful in Manila. The most popular is the one in St. Luke's Hospital, they call it CARMI or Centre for Advanced Reproductive Medicine and Infertility. But I went to CARE in Singa...

Now that I have my new laptop with me, I am twice excited to start my projects to get to my goals for the coming years.  My new MacBook Pro is my new best friend and this will be one of my primary tools in writing, selling and so on. It’s super sleek and super fast. Unfortunately, I had to type this blog entry using Pages because our internet connection is super slow and super stupid. Haha Pardon the word. We’re paying around 2500Php every month for a speed that’s supposed to be higher than 3 or 5Gig but we’re getting the speed of a snail or slower than that.  We moved to our new home last June and we have been waiting for  the availability of PLDT’s internet connection. Globe Tattoo has been terrible and all these months it tested our patience.  And we have been patient and we need to remain so until PLDT becomes available. We just don’t have any choice, so it will have to do for now. Tomorrow will be a busy day. I have errands and payroll to do, a littl...

Yesterday we celebrated my 39th year of existence with a couple of friends from Singapore. Oh boy I missed them! My hubby bought food, my mom and bros took care of the desserts. And I can't help but feel soooo loved! I loved the food except for the Cebu Boneless Lechon. There wasn't really anything exceptional that would make me come back for some more. Next time I'd still opt for the traditional lechon pork.  I still have the hangover from the past couple of days. My brain is still not working at all. My body is telling to me to rest and stop moving for a couple of days more but I sooo want to exercise and burn all the food I ate. I have been bad in terms of diet, I ate lots and lots of carbs and now I feel comatosed. I better get back in shape asap.

I am taking a break for a couple of days frrom working on the ultimate goal. It's my birthday tomorrow and we have guests. Our beloved friends (more like family) are coming over to visit hence we have housecleaning and shopping to do. Mg hubby and I already had a quick start cleaning our room and trimming plants. But we still have about 6 rooms to clean.  For some reason, I find housecleaning quite satisfying.  I'll keep this post really short, at 5:30am I already have a log of things going on and I am hoping I'd be done with the house before dinner today.  Laters baby! 💋

Yesterday I sat down with my hubby to discuss what needs to be done in 2016. And an hour is not enough to plan the year ahead. I strongly suggest to anyone to do this. Make it a practice. Write down your goals for 2016. Whether it's travel, weight loss, studies, or anything about finances... Write it down. Try to be specific. Put in details and target dates.  You'll be surprised at the end of the year when you go back to see what you have accomplished. If you're a wife, have your hubby sit down with you and ask him what you want to accomplish as a couple for next year. And... Write it down. If you're single, you can do the goal setting for yourself.  Then at the end of the year, check your list. And give yourself a pat on the back when you accomplish your goals.  But right now my brain is about to burst.  We are now at the part wherein we have to set the budget for the coming year.  Soooo... Tuition fees, more car tires, renovations, insurance are new on the lis...

This 3-day weekend left me exhausted!  We had three parties, customer service training for the staff and a movie. It is waaay too much for me to keep up. #notgettinganyyounger

Yesterday we were 90% out of the house doing what we have to do and attending a couple of parties. I didn't want to put so much energy into cooking and cleaning up after so we decided to eat at McDonald's for breakfast. It was my first time to try their sausage McGriddle and i absolutely LOOOOVED it! It's quite filling having it with OJ, good thing I opted for the meal without the hash brown beacuse I don't think I could finish one serving. The twins had pancakes and we were delighted to see them finish what they had on their plates. After breakfast and still no shower (ha!) we went to have Lana's (our beloved Mitsubishi Outlander) tires replaced. And yay for promos! Payless Tires along Quezon Ave have 3+1 for Federal Tires.  It was 1pm when we got home and we had to prel right away for our godson's 1st Birthday Party in Pampanga. We were just in time but we had to leave for the Starbucks Party here in Quezon City. We got our invitation Sunday last week from our...

The three day weekend has begun! We're a bit fully booked for the next three days with 3 parties and a movie. :) My mind is still running, still working on the business plans and coming up with ideas and I'm not even done with the SEO's of www.twinelephants.net.  And the free adwords will expire on the 30th, that means I have until Sunday to put more pics of pre-loved baby items for sale. :) I'm keeping this entry short, just wanted to clear my head before I sign off for the day.

When the "ber" months started we were swamped with events and it won't stop until early next year. Because of these feasting, I was unable to follow my low-carb diet: the Whole30 Program. I felt really great when I was on that program, my chest pains disappeared and the palpitations went away too. I still don't eat a lot of carbs, I try not to, even if my kids constantly ask for carrot and chocolate cakes, I am able to avoid the temptation that stares at me from the fork that I hold to feed the twinnies. After I got better, I slowly went back into cardio exercises using the elliptical instead of running. And I really miss running. I'm so out of shape and I don't think I won't be able to go back until next year. Anywhooo, I have added Barre3 into my daily routine, doing 10 mins a day of this wonderful exercises. I have been an online member and I do see results. It makes me feel amazing whenever I do this at the start of the day and more relaxed when ...

From the time that we got back from Singapore 3 years ago, we were able to open 3 business establishments all of them are still in the process of expansion. I can't believe that it has been over three years now since I retired from the corporate world.  Working and having your own business is so different from each other. One might think that running your own business is easier. Let me tell you one thing... it is not. The success of your company deeply relies on you, the time you spend managing it, marketing your products and services and so on. When you decide to put up a business, choose something that you are deeply passionate on. Choose something that you like and have extensive knowledge on. Don't dive into something that you don't have any idea what's it's all about.  For example, if you love food, put up a business that's about your specialty, not just food in general. I'll write a series of blogs about this topic. I have decided to put ...

I was reading Forbe's article 14 Things to Do Before Leaving Your Day Work and unfortunately for me, I don't leave my Day Work because I work at home. Work at home Moms and Dads do not have the strict 8 hour work schedule which sometimes makes it impossible to stop at a certain time. Pros: 1. No heavy traffic and no transportation costs. Saves a lot of time and money. And most especially spares you the stress of dealing with insensitive motorists and being stuck in traffic for hours. 2. You get to be with your child. Even if you have a nanny, you being at home gets to supervise your nanny. It's also calming to know how accessible you are to your child whenever she needs you.  3. You have the option to eat what's in your fridge. And that saves you money and putting on more calories from eating fast food. You're in control of the menu at home. 4. The Liberty to Schedule Your Time There is flexibility on your hands to schedule wh...

      Welcome to the inside of my brain. 

Yay! It's here! And I'm not even a coffee lover. Thanks to my hubby who shared the yummy calories with me for a couple of weeks I was able to get one as early as now. But I was kind of disappointed it didn't have the last weeks of 2015 and I wanted it to have that. I got the small red one since I find the smaller planners more suited to my needs. I like how one page is for one day for each year compared to the bigger ones with limited spaces to write on. Plus it's compact, it fits my bags just fine. It came with the usual monthly freebies too. Now since this planner starts exactly on the 1st of January, I'll put it aside for now. Hopefully I don't forget I have it. For now I came back to using my 2015 planner and it did help me set my priorities for the day. There's a bunch of things happening in my head and I definitely need to declutter.

So I have this on and off relationship with my blog. Now it's back on. Why? Because I need an avenue to put my thoughts into. As the year ends, I need to recall the important points of 2015 and move on to bigger things in 2016. I hope I can at least focus on my goals as this year went by so quickly as the girls started schooling in June and us moving to a new house in April. After that everything went by so fast... Really, really fast. Time to focus. Time to make history.

It's still a rainy Friday and we're still putting off running/walking because of the weather. In the meantime, I'm halfway through my Barre3: 7 Day Body Blast. I have never felt muscle pain in these parts of my body before. My body was so sore last night that I couldn't sleep. But you know what they say, no pain no gain! And gauging from the pain that I have, I hope to get really good results at the end of 7 days. Barre3 is difficult, it looks easy but it is difficult. The exercises are really do-able but it challenges yourself to push farther - mind over body (at least for me). That's why it trains you to have clearer minds and concentrate on the task - and finish the set of exercises. I REALLY REALLY LOVE THAT! Never mind if I'm a walking pain. :) The pain sort of tells me that I did a good job. And if I skip the exercise, I'll be in more pain, so I have to keep moving. The weather is so conducive to sleep. And I feel disappointed that my kids didn'...

I'm putting on one of my favourite recipes: Squash with Long Beans in Coconut Milk. My mom and grandparents never made it when I was a kid but when I came to live in Singapore my co-workers introduced it to me and it has been on my monthly menu very often. It's easy to make and my husband and twins love it too. For those of you who want to try it you can get the recipe here . Another reason why I love this Filipino vegetable recipe is the calorie content. It's so low on calorie (depending on how much you eat of course), and it's high in Vitamin C. Sometimes, I substitute shrimps with pork too. :)I have included here it's nutrition facts, check it out.

More than a year later, I am back! :) A lot of things have happened in the past year and unfortunately I didn't have the time to write about it. Anywhooooo, here I am again, blogging about the usual stuff that interests... well... me! :D Where do I begin? Oh well, I've started Barre3 again! Online. What made me comeback? Well, I've always loved Barre3 and how it targets the entire body. Every workout is a challenge and I love the results. I love how it makes me stronger, physically and mentally. To jumpstart this habit, I've signed up for the 7 Day Body Blast. Now I didn't take any measurements (as I was scared of the numbers), but I have taken a couple of pictures of myself. I'll do my best to finish this program and I can't wait for the results. What made me start all over again? I had a dream the other day of myself and I was fat and unhealthy. No clothes would fit me, and in my dream I had to wear blankets and curtains! Oh my! When I woke up that d...