A few smilies from yesterday…
- Shopping at SM - Instead of going to a fiesta in the provinces my grandma opted to stay in the city and all she wanted to do was shop! Nanay is 83 and man when she knows what she wants to get there’s no stopping! We walked around the SM Department store (then later Hypermart) and I found it very amusing how Nanay kept asking for Tim’s advice on sizes and shirt patterns. No sitting down on the boy chair for Tim!
- Skyping with the baby - Just before heading to the airport to fly home, we got to chat with my sister and her brand new little baby boy on skype. The little darling has a way to make everyone around him go awww. We watched him pull faces and squint at the computer. He was oh so very cute with his little squishy face. Can’t wait to head back in July to give him (and his older bro) a nice big cuddle.
- Row 1 - The great thing about Cebu Pacific is that we always manage to score such great exit row seats! This was no exception. We settled down in Row 1 B and C as the flight took off. The trip was just over an hour but it gave us time to sit, read and chat. Hubby is the best travelling partner ever.
A few smilies from yesterday…
- To infinity and beyond - We hired a car, and my lovely hubby braved driving on the right/wrong side, the bustling traffic and the road to unknown, so we can go for a ride. We ended up going from an SUV to a family car (sedan myb?) and the hire a car dude asked me if it was okay that the car was an auto hehe. Anyways, we drove out of Bacolod on our way to Don Salvador Benedicto. It was a gorgeous and relaxing drive, we practically had the road to ourselves. We stopped here and there to take photos and I was just in awe with our surroundings. Even though I later realised that I had actually been there. Even still it was breath taking. Oh how I do love a good road trip.
- Under my umbrella - And so we headed to Don Salvador Benedicto, stopped by a giant lion statue then ate lunch at the most relaxed little village I’ve ever been too. We wandered up the street then hopped in the car and drove to Malatan-og waterfalls. We saw the falls from afar, bought some sugar free bananas and bacon tasting coconut worms. We walked down to the top of the trail and decided to go for it, despite the almost looking rain clouds. And so the walk/climb/fall began. Umbrella in tow, mainly because I was carrying it from the car to give me shade from the suns. We got maybe a third of the way down and this overly friendly French man and his partner greeted us all sweaty and pot belly like. He was pretty funny and said that yes it is doable to get to the waterfalls but it’s sad, very sad. We asked why and, according to him the water is too cold to swim, because it was “zero” degrees (it wasn’t, more like 15). Anyways, half way down it started to rain so we huddled under the umbrella. When it stopped we walked all the way to the falls, weaved through the rice fields, up the slippery slope, between the banana trees, picked up a young teenage girl who started following us all the way to the falls without saying a word. We got to the falls and it was pretty darn cool! Even when it started bucketing down with rain. The three (and sort of four) of us stood under the umbrella, watching the wrath of the waterfall and trying not to get wet. It was actually really fun, I forget how much I like adventure stuff. Though I vote climbing over rocks then walking/falling into muddy steep climbs. But made it through, exhausted, muddy but so worth it!
- Bah-by - This cute little girl kept coming up to us during dinner saying hi to hubby’s dad. She was the daughter of someone who worked at the Familia Grill (which btw has the best back ribs in Bacolod). She would wave and say bye then randomly carry serviettes or a dirty plate back to the kitchen. She was only 4 or 5 years old but loved hubby’s dad’s beard. She even went and showed him the birds in the back of the restaurants. Little kids like that are cute and make me smile. She wasn’t too bothersome (I hope!) and knew when to let us just eat. Very sweet.
A few smilies from yesterday…
- Meet the coworkers - We spent the morning wandering around Talisay, showing where my dad went to school, where he lived and where his parents worked. Then we visited my two offices, my bamboo hut office and my office next to the slaughterhouse office. First stop was at the Eco Center and I was so happy my two work “moms” were there. Then Angelo took as around the place, which was very lovely and I swear it’s the most I’ve seen him talk! Then we went to the Micro Lending Office where Ritchel chatted to us for awhile. It was great being able to show hubby’s dad where I work and who I work with.
- Caught in the rain - We headed into Bacolod and had some coffee at C’s, one of our local coffee joints. We hung about, wified it up then caught a cab to the Negros Museum, without realising it was actually closed doh! So we stood on the porch waiting it out, but it actually just got worse. In the end, hubby braved the rain and hailed down a second cab to take us to SM. I’m not a fan of SM, it doesn’t have a lot to offer and it’s always way too noisy. Or perhaps I’m just not that into malls. So we ended up walking up and down the aisle of the supermarket. Luckily, by the time we finished, it had stopped raining, the sun came out and we went and explored the lagoon, plaza and the funny looking church.
- Matt’s chocolate cake - Oh so yummy! We had the special cake from Kuppa, where you have to wait 20-25mins for it to cook. We shared it between the three of us, and although we probably could’ve had one each, it was better we shared. Because even my small third gave me sugar overload! But man, it was worth it. Also the name makes me smile because my soon to be nephew, Matt will be greeting us, oh so soon :)
What is the spelling of smilies? I don’t actually know. Or does the word even exist?
50 days ago, I started writing about three things that made me smile about that day, I’ve tweaked the layout, added pictures and now I write the smilies the day after it happened. Why? Because over 50 days ago I was struggling to find things to smile about. I read motivation blogs, talked to a counsellor, spoke to friends, took photos and still ended up in a cycle of “I know what used to make me smile”. I got a little sick of it, so I wrote a list.
It felt really good to write this fifteen list of things that make me happy, here and now. After that I felt a spark and decided to write three things every day. Now for most days there is more way more than three things to smile about, but I wanted to stick to three. Because some days it’s hard to find even one (usually I’m clouded by a sky of urkness that I can’t seem recall what happy thing happened that day, luckily I have my hubby, my light to help me remember).
So here I am, 50 days later and I want to keep going. It’s keeping me in the moment, it’s helping me write better (I hope!), it’s giving me a routine and a reason to smile when I wake up every day.
What’s something that made you smile today?
A few smilies from yesterday…
- Slow paced - Hubby’s dad came just as we arrived at the airport (he’s flight was super early), which meant we didn’t have to hurry through our list of touristy stuff straight away. We headed home first, had breakfast at I think 9:30 (none of us had eaten). We took it easy, got pressies from home, always super fun! Then we walked down to the highway, showed the sites and caught a jeep to Silay. Taking it easy, doing as the locals do and just doing everything in a slow and steady place. No rush whatsoever. Ah province life.
- Silay - We wandered around the streets of Silay, around the plaza, the church and Balay Negrense then headed to El Ideal and Cafe 1925 to eat drink and eat some more. Silay is a very cute City and oh so neat! It’s such a nice and relaxing place and the houses really do take you back into the history of the island.
- Sunset - We headed up home because a) we saw what we wanted to see in Silay b) it was hot and c) we weren’t “due” to our next destination until sunset. After we freshened up, got rehydrated and chatted a bit, being Rileys, we of course all took out our macs and interwebbed it up hehe. We then almost didn’t go to the Ruins because it started raining, but typical of here, it only rained for maybe 15 minutes and then it stopped. We caught a trike, yes all three of us, with me hanging on for dear life at the front (towards the end of the ride I realised I only had to sit at the very edge of the trike instead of trying to prevent myself from slipping). Anyway! We caught a jeep to North, walked a bit then caught a trike to the Ruins. It was post rain so there weren’t as many people around. We wandered a bit, took photos, copied a group next to us trying to jump then one of the staff folk (the same as what we had last time) came by and ended up taking not just one photo of us but what felt like 50. Not sure what we’ll do with all the photos. After all the jumping, smiling and posing, we sat at the cafe, facing the ruins and waited for sunset. Holidays rock!
 
A few smilies from yesterday…
- Cleaning - We spent the morning cleaning our house, getting ready for our VIP guest :) Team work goes a long way, we took turns taking breaks in between doing work. Okay, so in reality, I kept taking breaks and sitting down cause I kept getting hot and tired tired, also the curtain rod landed on my head so that hurt for awhile. But yes, it’s always nice cleaning with hubby, one dusted, the other swept all while playing Jay Sean on our jambox. Good fun.
- A good meal - After our cleaning frenzy, we headed to Cantina Mondo in Bacolod. We’ve walked past this cafe a lot but it always seemed way too expensive, considering the other eateries in the area. But, we (okay I) was hungry so we went in and tried it out and man their food is soo good! Probably more for a treat then a regular eating joint, but it’s worth checking out. If anything, the grape shake is oh so delicious. We shared an artichoke and spinach dip with crackers; I had the crab soup with salad (with real salad tasting goodness) and hubby had a burger. Mmm good food is well, so good.
- 50s shopping - We’ve been invited to go to a 50s themed wedding next week, and I love getting dressed up but hubby does not. For this wedding, it’ll only be him going for team Riley, so we had to find him something pretty to wear. Now, hubby is not big at all, but he’s tall, so finding a pair of fancy slacks was hard, in fact it was just not possible. And we had to get him some nice pants seeing as his work uniform is shorts. We decided to embrace the 50s theme and found these nice black pants that are so him and surprisingly a 50s shirt with this cardigan thing happening. He looks so darn cute! But then again I guess I’m biased, I did find the shirt.
A few smilies from yesterday…
- The body wants what it wants - Every other day for the past maybe six weeks I’ve woken up with some kind of aliment, whether it’s a migrane, a sore throat, a dry cough, the sniffles, slightly woozy or a combo. It doesn’t last very long, but I never feel like getting out of bed. So I caved in to what my body, head, nose and throat wanted and slept in. I still woke up feeling a bit drowsy and not 100% but I felt that my body thanked me for giving just a few extra moments in bed.
- Book skeleton - I was sitting in Starbucks going through the myriad of things I had to do. I worked a little, I studied a little, I read a little and I played (Kingdom Rush) a lot. But one thing I did start working on was the skeleton of this book I’m thinking of writing. I got it out of my head and onto my trusty little green apple notebook. I had chapter/post titles and I had a started to see a pattern, it was becoming a reflection of me as supposed to just my observations. See being here has be an eye opener for me, more of an insight to me then anything, and it’s something I want to share. So instead of letting the thoughts and ideas go around in my head I started formulating the thoughts to paper. And I want to use this blog as an outlet, as a draft and as place to experiment my book.
- Post massage - Hubby and I got massages after dinner and boy oh boy my “light” aromatherapy massage was the most painful massage I’ve ever had. It got to the point I was silently yelping and that it was just so comical. I had a good ol laugh in my head and just had to debrief post massage with Hubby. Ah good times. I smelt really nice though so that’s cool.
A few smilies from yesterday…
- Playing hostess - Hubby’s dad is coming to visit us next week and we’re so excited! And I do enjoy playing hostess and planning activities. So I texted a couple of my friends and said, this is where we’re going, what can we do there. After about two hours of going back and forth via text messages (yay for free texts), I had a list of places to explore. Which of course also meant I couldn’t sit still for the rest of the day because I was super close to being on holidays.
- Clicking - I have two offices, and in one of my workplaces, they are very shy towards me, I don’t really know why. But for some reason, there was just two of us in the office and I started asking her places where we can take my father in law. We ended up having a good long chat, full of girly giggles (who by the way is the only one close to my age, the other ladies are around 50 years old) It was so nice to have a conversation! I do love talking. I asked her about places to visit, things to do, and she kept showing me pictures, giving me ideas of where to go and it was just so nice!
- Kingdom Rush - Hubby introduced me to this super cute, well designed fighty fighty game on the iPad. It really is adorable, the sounds effects and the simplistic nature of playing makes for an enjoyable, slightly addictive experience. A few weeks ago, my brain was getting tired and I had about three hours to fill before hubby finished work, so I played this game. I managed to pass the level he was on then got stuck. Big time. Life happens and I forgot about the game. Then, before bed, I found myself with a tired brain and the iPad called to me. So I attempted this level again. And after what felt like many many tries, I was so tantalizingly close to finishing. Before I knew it, hubby stopped his blog writing and helped me kick butt on the final obstacle. Nothing like team work and me squealing every two seconds to get the job done. I’m actually no where near the end of the game, but it’s so satisfying being able to accomplish the level teehee.
A few smilies from yesterday…
- Flexibility - So, for like the fourth time this past fortnight, I’ve been suggested to work from home due to bad weather. And the weather has been bad, we’ve had glimpses of the sun that tease us for a few moments in the day then she decides to go laugh and hide behind the rain clouds. I was very grateful for this arrangement and I’m such a huge fan of flexibility.
- Sort of deadlines - Something that I’m slowly getting used to is the business of ”sort of deadlines”. For the past week I’ve been having to prepare everything for my launch proposal for the possibility of a meeting with the big bosses. I wasn’t sure what time the meeting was, whether or not they were meeting me or what “everything” actually meant. But I finished the proposal, the only way I know how, in writing down every micro detail, every task, every reason and every possibility. I was very proud of the proposal, it was structured, detailed and just plain awesome. In the end I didn’t meet with anyone, I didn’t hand in my proposal and I’m not really sure what’s happening. But that’s okay. It’s all finished now and I can on holidays knowing that my part {for now} is done.
- Good grub - It’s so nice that we can wander down Lacson St and find such yummy food. We {finally} tried Mu Shu, an Asian fusion type cusine. Man soo good! I had Beef Rendang and hubby had Pumpkin Stew and we both had orange Singapore Slings. All for the low price of around $13AUD. Good feed, good price.
A few smilies from yesterday…
- Finished {almost} - So I’ve been working on this proposal non stop since Thursday. I originally completed the proposal I’ve been working on all year but it got changed, not so much at the last minute but because there was a better approach. It was a pitty that there was very little time to write up this proposal as the deadline is sort of, maybe today. But I got it done {almost}. Just finalising the last bits this morning and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it gets vetted before being submitted. A part of me wishes I had more time, a part of me is thankful for the deadline. Because it seems that even though my deadlines work for me, other parties just don’t fall in line. But at least this way it’s finished {almost}.
- Quotes - One of the things I enjoy about events and launches are getting quotes. It’s been interesting having to actually go into a shop and see how much paint brushes cost! It’s funny how much I’m used to looking up quotes online for everything hehe.
- Pork - For dinner, we went a little bit pork crazy, we got three types of pork dishes with a side of eggplant. Mmm we do like pork.
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