Eat, Pray, Love & the Assumptionists

RANDOM MUSING:
Can I just share? Here's a pic of me and my mini-me...

Belly and I are wearing my old Assumption neckties on our heads. I really can't wait until she starts school.. not because I want the kids out (haha), but because I am just so excited to see my little mini-me look just like how I was when I was young. Well, of course all our girls will be Assumptionistas! As for the boys.. uh, well that is still up for debate... I think. ha ha. Can't help but think back to my Assumption days (Grade school and High school), and there was nothing but really fun and great memories there... a lot of long lasting friendships. I am truly blessed to have such great friends around me.

Okay, enough of that random thought. ha ha.


MOVIE REVIEW: EAT, PRAY, LOVE

So I just finished watching the much publicized movie of Julia Roberts, Eat. Pray. Love. I guess this was based on the book of the same title, but can't compare since I have not read the book yet. As for the movie... it felt like a B movie with A-list actors... very disappointing since the movie had great PR, Oscar winning actors and produced by Brad Pitt's production outlet (Plan B). I guess I was just expecting a bit more... more depth in the story since I didn't really get the whole process Julia Roberts' character was going through... the stories were not 'smooth' and complimentary. Characters were not built up well enough for me.. even Julia Roberts' character was blah. The countries featured was a saving grace since you'd tend to focus more on the scenery and the richness of the cultures rather than the story line. I would love to try Pizza in Naples, have a cappuccino in Italy, roam the temples in India and just relax and revel in the beauty of Bali. I'd surmise that those 3 countries represent feature the title, Eat (Italy), Pray (India), Love (Bali).  I'd much rather Eat, Pray and Love than watch this movie.

Sursi takes over the bazaar scene!

It was such an exhausting but very fulfilling weekend for me and for Sursi. I joined my first bazaar!! It cost an arm and a leg (on my money terms.. haha) for that slot in Cuenca, Alabang but it was well worth it. I got a booth with my friend Denice, and boy was it an experience! We were not 100% prepared but everything worked itself out, thank God! First off, we did not anticipate the long walk from the parking area to the booth area... thank God that our plastic boxes had wheels!! And also for good Samaritans who helped us get over the rough road. haha... then another surprise was that the spot assigned to us was in the covered area and along the main aisle!! PLUS the booth behind us brought their own rack/grill, so we were able to hang all our items!! PRAISE GOD talaga, this was the biggest blessing for us.

Mompreneurs :-) Sursi & Lilymoms

All in all, it was an awesome experience. Two whole days from 9am - 9pm. SOOO tiring but well worth it. And we are doing it again!! haha..

Catch us at our next bazaars:
November 21 @ Bel-Air Bazaar
December 4 @ Dasma Bazaar.

Here's a closer look at my Sursi products...

SURSI products

And a little pretty baby who came to visit and model for Lilymoms.. :) In fairness, she was able to effectively sell a few headbands just by being there. :)

Flower Baby Belly :)

Bazaar Fever

Will finally be joining the bazaar rush! I am sooo nervous. My first time to be face-to-face with potential clients/ buyers of my products! Thank God I won't be doing this alone. My good friend Denice, fellow mompreneur and owner of Lilymoms will be braving the two days of bazaar with me. Going to have to be there SUPER early to set up, so definitely a toffee nut frap is in order!! For those wondering, my products are basically uniforms for yayas or nannies, born out of my own need to find stylish, affordable and quality uniforms for my own nannies... and that's how Sursi came about. Here's a quick peek of my 2nd collection of Nanny Uniforms:

You can catch us this weekend, November 13 & 14 at the Cuenca Community Center in Ayala Alabang Village. We will be there from 9am-9pm!! Please come and support me!! :-) Will also be selling some other small stuff, like Bath & Body sprays, etc. Great for Christmas presents!! SEE YOU THERE!

Discovering my life verse

"I have the strength for everything through Him who empowers me."         Phil 4:13

Dress Makeover Attempt #1

I wonder if anyone has been monitoring this blog.. checking in from time to time if I already uploaded before and after pics of my attempt at re-vamping a piece of clothing... hmm... no one? anybody? anybody at all??

SO anyway, since you promised not to laugh, I am posting the before and after photos of the revamped clothing my friend and I did...

Blousy and matronly

Short and fab!

Duster-y and drab

Modern and fab!

Not bad for first timers, eh?
Remember though, we did all of these alterations BY HAND. Sigh. This will have to do for now.. rummaging through our existing clothes and picking out items which we can turn from drab to FAB!  Will post more once we find the time to make some more... we're busy moms ya know... oopss gave out part of my friends identity... haha :) I will just be content in dreaming of a portable sewing machine... then maybe I won't have to buy any new clothes for a year! yeah right... but then, who knows? Christmas gift, anyone?

Be Transformed with this cost-saving idea!

My friend came across this amazing website called New Dress A Day. Basically it chronicles a young woman (she is 31) who spends $1 a day on a dress (either bought at a thrift store or garage sale, etc) and then using just her scissors and sewing machine, makes it into a totally new and very hip outfit. She started November or 2009 and will end this month (November 2010). So that's 365 dresses for $365. One fab formerly old and now new dress for each day of the year! She is amazing!! To see what I'm talking about, here are just some of what she's done...

BEFORE: Unflattering frocks                       AFTER: Amazing Dresses/Tops!

                    

 Aren't all those transformations super inspiring??
So anyway, my friend and I decided to give this idea a try. But instead of immediately heading to the ukay-ukay store, we decided to check out first what items we have in our own closets which we can revamp... after all we are also newbies and can't even stitch straight! (yes we will be doing our adjustments manually since we do not own any sewing machines... yet!)

But our love for fashion prevails, and since this endeavor won't cost us anything (but our pride? ha ha), we decided to give it a go! I have already picked my item of choice... a dress that I will not miss, even if I do mess this up, haha. Hoping for amazing results!! Keep you guys posted.... promise me though, no laughing OK? :)

The Right to Live

Abortion saddens me so much. As a mom of 2, wife and as a woman. I can't even imagine how a woman can come to the decision to abort a baby. I truly believe that, no matter what the circumstance of the pregnancy, every child deserves a right to live. There are a lot of other options out there (such as adoption) that women in a difficult situation can turn to. So many child-less couples are willing and very much able to welcome a child into their homes... to be given the love and care that they deserve.

Just want to share this link with you. It's written by a former abortion doctor, and is what inspired me to write this post. She describes (in detail) the procedure of abortion. Heart wrenching article that will surely bring tears to your eyes, as it did to mine.

Photo of a baby fetus at 8 weeks.

The battle of pro-life is far from over, with the media brainwashing young minds by distorting and redefining what is moral and good, disguising murder as freedom of choice. It sickens me. It offends me. It saddens me.

Another blow, but still strong... and fashionable :)

GREAT NEWS :)

We finally got the results from Belly's DMSA scan and everything is GOOD! PRAISE GOD!!!! There are no visible scarring and her kidneys are working fine and in the normal range. PRAISE GOD!!!! We just continue to pray that her Reflux will be healed entirely. According to our Pedia, the BEST ever Dra. Roxana Sison (who's dad, incidentally, was also my pedia! :)), kids with this condition usually outgrow it... she might have to have another VCUG procedure in a year or so though, to see if the reflux has healed.

ANOTHER BLOW, BUT STILL STRONG!

It's funny how you know when something unfortunate or something not great happens, and then it's as if everything else that can go wrong follow suit? It's quite funny actually. A day after Belly's DMSA scan, she started to get a low-grade fever. I was so worried that her UTI might be back or that it was a reaction from the scan. After 3 days of fever, rashes started to show. It started on her face, and eventually moved to her body. OMG so worried that I thought she had measles!! My poor baby.. or worse, Foot and Mouth disease!.. which is such a gross disease to have, if you ask me. I put our family on lock down for the whole day (Nov.1), praying that it was not measles.. since Belly had not yet been vaccinated for it and there are known to be complications or side effects to measles in babies, such as pneumonia. :((

Belly proved to be the strongest among all of us. Dada was so worried, and so was I of course. But Belly still managed a few of her sweet smiles for us. She was EMO and a bit cranky the rest of the time, but who could blame her? She probably was itching all over, poor baby. Yet GOD IS SO GOOD because it turns out that it's just a viral infection that caused the rashes and NOT Measles. THANK YOU GOD.

Here's my (currently) EMO but still fashionable daughter in her Pedia visit look. Trying to be incognito with her "I'm not feeling well so please leave me alone" stare:

Hat: Gap kids

Sweater: Gingersnaps

Top and bottom: SM dept. store

Photo credit: Mom :)