mini things ive been doing

tonight i get to breathe.

the rain is worrying me. i dont want another repeat of last year's flooding here in cdo. but aside from this, there are a lot of things to be happy about.

first, my oil and sugar business seem to be picking up! oh yeah, i do sell oil and sugar. i know im fitting right into the teacher-turned-businesswoman mold that most people snicker at but i am enjoying it a lot! there's not much in it. i buy carboys of oil and sacks of sugar, charlie repacks it, i get orders, i bring orders to school. in a day, i get 10 or more orders. its a nice, simple, uncomplicated way to make money on the side. what's funny is that people have begun asking for milk, eggs, biscuits, coffee. haha! you can breathe, i wont sell that. for now.

second, my crazy gwapo husband has been such a totally awesome partner. he wakes up early in the morning and makes me oatmeal, washes my clothes, brings me some orders i cant carry, buys stuff for our little store, makes a fence for my parents, shops for our food, carries my water when we're biking, and totally makes me laugh everyday.

third, our little sari-sari store is not anymore on the verge of becoming a sira-sira store. december was quiet good to us and since then business has been picking up in spite of two other stores right in front of our green one. it helps pay for my cousin's tuition and our electric bills.

fourth, i'm quite enjoying my ch classes now. we're talking of "social responsibility" and its amazing how much sense the kids make even at fourteen and fifteen. i see the love for the country but i also see much disillusionment. and its scary because i see a lot of confusion and kids on the verge of apathy. most of the time i do not think i deserved to be on that platform guiding them towards a compassionate and intelligent view of our situation. i strive to make them "see" and i pray that when the school year is over, they would have greater, practical understanding of what we are going through.

fifth, im getting a dealership in humanheartnature products. i heard about it last year and only gotten up to the inquiry stage. but today, i finally got the courage to get a sample kit. before i sat down in front of the computer tonight, i cleaned up my face with the Tomato and Lemongrass Facial Wash and Toner and Super-Fruits & Black Rice Facial Scrub and finally massaged some Royal Jelly & Aloe Vera Night Moisturizer on my face. i think i over-applied the moisturizer though. haha! my face feels alright. the products smell like you're smearing fruits all over your face. it felt weird. i love the toner coz it does not sting. i will have to try this out for a week and see how my skin responds. gotta try everything before selling it!

sixth, i am finally done with graduate school classes! i completed my academic course requirements and only has to submit some subject requirements which i haven't started work on yet. next in line is Comprehensive Exam and finally Thesis Writing. Hopefully, i can march next March. Charlie has been super supportive and everything in this graduate school hassle i was able to endure has been because of his inspiration. i will surely miss the reporting and laughter and the cool professors. i did learn a lot. i'm far from being a "master" of education but learning everything from the law on the philippine flag to making a 3 year development plan have broadened my perspective and has certainly perked me up from a 7-year stagnation.

seventh, biking has helped me to shape up! charlie bought me a red mountain bike for christmas and we have been biking around the city since then. it was scary at first. it was difficult to make turns and cross streets with all the crazy traffic. but after several days, i've learned to make hand signals and i think other vehicles generally avoid bikes so its quite safe. its really the freedom that makes me like biking as well as going down a hill and coasting. its really "weeeeeeeh!".

so this saturday night is just a great night to breathe and be grateful. whew!

Just About Anything

Been blog hopping over at my favorite blogs and found this tag from Ana Karenina. It's just cute and I happened to glance over my husband who was fast asleep with his fist on his cheek like a baby. Hahahaha!

I haven't blogged for a long time so I'll just answer this as a filler. Hehe. I'll write about something more serious soon when I get my camera going again.

What are your middle names?
~Charlie claims that his middle name is Michael because he was christined Charles Michael Klarsfeld. He finds it interesting that in the Philippines, our middle name is the maiden name of our mother. When I got hold of his birth certificate, his mom's maiden name is Behr. Anyway, mine is Jamay.

How long have you been together?
~We were together a year before we got married. We six months strong and happy as a married couple.:)

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
~A month I guess. There was no choice, I happen to feel that he's the one and I had no intention of keeping him waiting. What for? Hahaha!

Who asked whom out?
~He did. He asekd if we could meet for a cup of coffee days after he landed in PH.

How old are each of you?
~Uh-oh. Im 31 and he says he is 45 forever. Let him be. Hahahaha!

Whose siblings do you see the most?
~Mine of course. We are now living in the Philippines.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
~The pollution in CDO. He couldn't take it and I have tolerated it for years. It's the cause of the Klarsfeld Wars most of the time.

Did you go to the same school?
~ I was born when he was out of school already. Hahahhaha!!!

Are you from the same home town?
~Nope. He is from Albany, NY. I am from Madrid, Surigao del Sure. Amo gajud!

Who is smarter?
~He claims that I am smarter than he was at my age. Hehe. I guess he is smarter now coz he has been schooled by the big University of Life.

Who is the more sensitive?
~Both of us are.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
~We dont eat out.

Who has the crazier exes?
~He does. Hahahahaha! I dont have an official ex and they are crazy only because they like me a little.

Who has the worse temper?
~He does! He could go ballistic and his eyes would go big and brown and he would be talking a mile a minute.

Who does the cooking?
~If its eggs and oatmeal, he does. He cooks the perfect soft boiled egg while Im the chicken expert.

Who is the neat-freak?
~Depends. In terms of order in the house, I am. When it comes to food and general environmental cleanliness, its him.

Who is more stubborn?
~Both of us but saying sorry is never a problem.

Who hogs the bed?
~Depends on the weather. If its hot, he lies spread eagled and I am pushed to the edge. When its cold, I snuggle where he is until he couldn't breath. hehe

Who wakes up earlier?
~Charlie does. I always cheat.

Who is more jealous?
~No one.

How long did it take to get serious?
~After he left.

Who eats more?
~I do.

Who does the laundry?
~He does. But nowadays, somebody else does.

Who’s better with the computer?
~Meeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Who drives when you are together?
~The multicab driver. Hahhahhaa!!!!

san ignacio

I thought long and hard on how to give justice to the Sesquicentennial logo of the Jesuits which I used as backdrop for the Ignatian Mass. I thought of a stained glass effect which was fine for the logo's background. But the logo itself was a challenge. I cant find paper that matches the color's. Obviously since its supposed to be painted on, not cut out of paper. So I just cut 2 inch squares of japanese paper and made a pathetic mosaic. Hahaha! Worse, since the whole thing was huge, it was not properly installed. Klaro nga tabingi?

Photos grabbed from Pag-asa's Multiply.:)

art therapy

I've been assigned to do the bakdrop for covered court events in school. I missed doing this, specially with Ana Karenina who now opted to plant daisies in Germany. It's a bit time-consuming and tedious but there is a mindlessness in cutting paper and tracing drawings that soothes away the stress in my life( Unsa nga stress?Hehehe!). I'm glad that people like it coz I really needed to breathe art for now.

Here are some of my work. I am not very original coz I can't make up my mind what to do unless I get inspired by other artists. So I usually spend a lot of time in research more than in actually making the art. So if you run accross work similar to mine, that could be where I got the inspiration. Hahaha!

Red Mass. I made 5 panels on the symbols of the Holy Spirit: wind, water, fire, oil and dove. Took me one whole day with the help of Vest and Jenny.

July First Friday Mass (Sacred Heart of Jesus). I originally thought of stained glass effects but decided to make a huge burning heart coz of time-constraint. Got this done in two hours with the help of Mamita and Ma'am Nery.

2009 Activities Rally. It's not what I had in mind at all although I conceptualized and made all the patterns. But I was so busy with graduate school that I left the installation with Mamita nad the LCLC. The silhouettes and the blue rays should have been closer together. Plus the blue is the wrong color. Hahaha!