We Love Wii

My Mom's "No special occasion" gift for our family is the Wii, and the whole family loves it! It's fun, very competitive, and a big PLUS: it's exercise...


Here's a picture of Hubby playing:




And I couldn't resist taking this picture: Hubby and Dad bonding over Wii. I love this picture!

Easter Sunday at Island Cove

My family spent Easter Sunday at Island Cove, a nice resort in Kawit, Cavite, just 45 minutes from Coastal Road or Roxas Boulevard. To give you an idea how huge this place is and their facilities, click here.

Kids would definitely have the time of their lives here. There's swimming, an adventure and activity zone where they could go biking, there's a paintball facility, plus, it would be highly educational too with a visit to the animal wildlife sanctuary. We had the chance to drive around the island and have a good Mongolian grill buffet at the Sangley Point. From Sangley Point we had a very good view of the Oceania Water Park, a huge pool with several slides of varying heights. A big thumbs up to Island Cove is that there are several FREE WiFi zones.

Sorry, no pictures again:-( But my sister says we will be back, so I hope to show pictures next time.

For more information on the resort, visit their website.

Clark, Pampanga

The Plaza at night, Hotel Stotsenberg

Hotel Stotsenberg's Lobby (pardon the 'bagong paligo' look)

My family spent a night at Clark one weekend and stayed at the Hotel Stotsenberg. The hotel has a nice plaza especially at night. It also has a casino. It was a moderately priced hotel and had modest accommodations. But I didn't like it that they didn't allow their guests to bring in food items bought from the duty-free shops. What kind of non-sense is that? I would assume that a lot of the guests would like to eat their junk food in their rooms. Isn't that part of the fun??? This is why I still prefer to stay in houses, where we will be free to do whatever we want.

An Evening of Classical Music

In true "Reinventing Date Nights" fashion, E and I, together with my family spent an evening watching the performance of a world renowned pianist (a.k.a my BIL). It was a new experience for us. And I must say, exciting, because it was a heart-stopping performance and the performer is a part of our family. Another notable part of the performance, John-Em spoke to the audience before every piece to give a background of the composers and how the composition came about, and he was funny! It was truly a lesson in music and history. We hope to learn more in his next performances...

Holy Tuesday at Fabella Medical Center

The highlight of my Holy Week is a visit to the Dr. Jose Fabella Medical Center with the Employees Charity Fund Board of Trustees. Fabella Medical Center is a government hospital specializing in maternity concerns, infants and children. The Fund donated nebulizers for the infant and children wards. Before the donation, Fabella had only one nebulizer for all its children patients. And yes, the stories are true that sometimes, 2-3 mothers share one bed in this hospital.

Personal Finance

I must admit, I haven't paid much attention to this. I started a few months back when I wrote about Budgeting and Financial Planning at Home, but that was about it. But I realized that being on my 18th year of working, I have to take a serious look at my financial status just to make sure that our future is secure.

Here's a very helpful article on Yahoo Finance, complete with calculators and sample worksheets that we can use: Eight Smart Personal Finance Moves

My realizations:

1. Define or refine your life goals - Yes, definitely DOING IT right now. It just so happens that I am exactly in this stage of my life that I am refining my life goals. It's exciting yet scary.
2. Put together a spending plan - DONE
3. Establish an emergency plan - TO DO, gosh I think I'm going into panic mode right now:-)
4. Manage your credit - TO DO, another thing that I have not really paid attention to. We do have some cleaning up to do!
5. Review and rebalance your portfolio - Hmm, not that we have a lot to review and rebalance, but hey, this is another TO DO
6. Know your net worth - TO DO
7. List your accounts - TO DO
8. Estimate your retirement nest egg needs - TO DO
9. Be a part of your community (bonus item) - Have started, but will DO MORE

When I'm through with this, I can probably plan my life better.

"Spring Cleaning" My Career

I found this interesting article on MSN CareerBuilder:

Eight Tips for Spring Cleaning your Career

My Thoughts:

1. Update your resume - I haven't updated my resume for so long. I should do this more often...
2. Sort through your inbox - I need to sort through my Inboxes, whether it is my cellphone, my office email or my personal email. They're always full!
3. Tidy up your desk -For a few weeks, I made it a point to go through the files on my table and classify these as for trash, filing or delegating. But I've lagged behind and my desk is full of paper again! It is so hard to work with all those paper around me, but haven't had the chance to clear my desk yet.
4. Clean your closet - Nope, have not cleaned my closet in months. I wonder when I'll have the time...
5. Get schooled - I'm forced to "get schooled" so I can do my work well, especially with all the changes in my profession as an accountant and a finance person. Thankfully, I love learning and I believe in continuous education and development. "Studying" also helps me a lot in my teaching. I have more things to share and I get to observe other teachers as well.
6. Meet your neighbors - Something I think I've done well! I'm in constant bonding with my staff, my colleagues especially people I often interact with and my dear friends at work. Being at work is social activity in itself=)
7. Schedule some interviews - Unthinkable as of now...
8. Evaluate your situation - Something I've seriously done in the past few weeks.

Now I have a new list of things to do...

Tokyo Through Hubby's Eyes

The busy streets of Shinjuku
The view from Hilton Tokyo
Sushi Meal with business associates
Shibuya at night
Hubby took this picture especially for me:-)

Hubby in Tokyo

Pictures sent by Hubby through cellphone (Nokia N95 borrowed from sister-in-law P)

Ang galing na talaga ng technology! By the way, the N-series phone can already be used for roaming in Japan.

Recent Food Adventures

At Gaudi, E cooking our steak (picture taken with my 3 yr. old Nokia 9500)

Oh, before I forget, just wanted to share the places I've been to the past few weeks:

Gaudi (Serendra) - E had a craving for good steak, and so we had the Angus steak that you cook yourself on a hot plate. Costs P2,400 per kg, but of course we had less than a kilo.

Good Earth (Metrowalk) - Saw my good friend JP from high school. We had a long lunch just updating each other. We had the Popoy's Delight (steamed lapu-lapu fillet) and the Sweet Sour Pork.

Misato (Metrowalk) - One of Hubby's and my favorite Japanese restaurants. Of course we had the Crazy Maki, along with the Green Maki, Cold Noodles and Chicken Yakiniku

Teriyaki Boy (The Strip at Medical City) - Probably my most favorite fast food place, because it's Japanese and it's cheap! I had my favorite dish, Tempura Tuna Sashimi and Hubby had their Yaki Soba.

Next Door (Ortigas Home Depot) - My officemate treated our team. We had the Squid with Salt and Pepper, Fried Noodles, Wok-fried Fish Fillet and the Broccoli with Mushrooms.

Home Alone Again

Hubby left this morning for Tokyo and will be away until Saturday night. This is his second business trip for the year, and it's only March! Good thing I have all these lined up for 3 nights:

1. Brothers and Sisters - Season 2 episodes
2. Ugly Betty - Season 2 episodes
3. Friday Night Lights - Season 2 episodes
4. Gossip Girl

Now, all I need is to open my bag of Lay's potato chips, and let the show begin...

To Hubby, I hope you're enjoying Tokyo! I miss you...

Subic vs. Tagaytay

My family is planning to take an out of town trip on the weekend of April 5-7, a long weekend in the Philippines, to celebrate our parents' 39th wedding anniversary. We originally planned on Tagaytay and I've actually canvassed several places already. What we really wanted was to rent a 4-5 bedroom house for 2 nights. If this is not workable, then we can stay at a hotel and book 4 rooms. Our ideal scenario was to be able to stay at Tagaytay Highlands or Midlands. We're not members but my sister has friends who are members and we have actually stayed there twice. However, the cost to rent a house was not really within our budget (a one bedroom unit cost P17,000 per night 3 years ago). I also looked at the following hotels:

1. Hotel Kimberly - USD80++ per room per night
2. T House - min of P8,029 net per room per night
3. Boutique Hotel - min of USD140++ per room per night
4. Taal Vista Hotel- min of P6,500 net per room per night

The family wasn't satisfied with the choices because we really wanted a house, and the boutique hotels didn't look like they welcomed families, just couples. Besides, if we needed 4 rooms, we were way off our budget. We were close to deciding on Hotel Kimberly, but one comment was that it was a bit far from the Rotonda, where most of the restaurants and must see places were.

And then we had this bright idea. We liked Subic so much when we went a few weeks ago and we were so bitin with the stay, why don't we try booking a house there? I came across this site and was amazed at the range of accommodations in Subic: Where to stay in Subic.

The most expensive 4-bedroom house would be P9,500 per night and it could be as low as P7,500. The house would also have a kitchen so we can cook! And Subic's biggest edge over Tagaytay? Duty-free shopping! I hope the houses are not yet fully booked by now. Abangan!

"Dampa" Dining at Seaside Macapagal Blvd

One evening, we decided to try out this highly recommended place for cheap and delicious seafood at Seaside Macapagal Blvd., the new "dampa" at the Manila Bay reclaimed area very near Mall of Asia. The place is ideal for family and barkada gatherings especially if you have foreigners and balikbayans with you. There are a lot of the "paluto" restaurants in that compound, but the highly recommended place is "Igmaan". That particular evening, we were craving for the Prawns cooked in a butter- chili-garlic sauce. We also had clam (halaan) soup, kinilaw na oysters and tanguigue, and inihaw na liempo. Approximate cost per person including drinks, around P200. I loved the atmosphere, they even had an outdoor area where an acoustic band was playing.

The next time you have a balikbayan or a foreign visitor, try this place. I think it would be something they would remember about their stay in the Philippines.