I can’t believe that it’s May already. My birthday is just around the corner

You might be wondering… what’s with the image on top? Well this has been my motivation since the year started. I actually did not make a New Year’s resolution but this is my goal for the year = to lose weight. My boyfriend and I started a “Biggest Loser” challenge mid-November of last year. That was the time that both of us wanted to return to doing regular gym workouts. But for me it was really just cardio, I never liked lifting weights. Still my boyfriend insisted that I lift weights so he made a program that both of us could do Since it was a “Biggest Loser” challenge, we would have weekly weigh-ins. Seeing that I did not lose any weight despite the workouts was frustrating. I even gained 2lbs!! December came and I was a bit worried because of all the Christmas parties and dinners lined up! Luckily (or unluckily), I had to undergo 2 teeth extraction surgeries. I wasn’t able to workout because of the surgery but at the same time I was only allowed to eat soft foods plus ice cream to ease the pain. When I returned back to work, we had our first weigh-in for the year and I lost 4lbs! I was ecstatic! This was also the time when I realized that I really can control my food intake if I wanted to. Fast forward to February and I was able to maintain the weight. My weight loss progress might be too slow but for me it was ok as long as I did not gain any weight.

March came and I’m in a different country. I arrived here at Lyon, France last March 3. My work assignment is for 7 months = 7 months of no gym I still brought with me my running shoes and some workout clothes in case the weather gets warmer and I decide to jog around. But for now, I need to control my cravings and food intake. I thought it would be hard since according to Wikipedia: “Lyon has developed a reputation as the capital of gastronomy in France.” YIKES! Fortunately, it was the opposite for me. It wasn’t hard because I get to prepare my meal. I never liked feeling heavy/full before going to bed so there are times at night that I eat very little or none at all because there’s nothing else to do after but to sleep. I don’t get to sit in front of the TV and eat while watching because majority of the shows on TV are in French (even Glee is dubbed!). To make the long story short since I arrived last March I lost 11 lbs.!! I hope the weighing scale in my bathroom doesn’t lie. 11 more lbs. and I’ve achieved my desired weight! I hope I do reach my goal before my stay here ends.

5 more months! Let’s do this!

Most of you might know that Christmas is my favorite season/holiday and although we are months away from Christmas I just wanted to share this video I saw on Youtube.

Props to the airlines for their kind gesture!

I seldom read books. The only time I remembered reading a book was back when I was still studying and we were REQUIRED to read and do a review/reaction paper on a certain book. With that said, I do not read the Bible either. I know some stories from the Bible because of school^* and from the readings every Sunday mass. And then there are certain events in your life when God sends an angel to share His Words…

I was running for student council EVP and the most dreaded part/day of the election campaign period has arrived – Miting de Avance. This is where all students running for a position in the student council had to speak in front of the entire student body. This also served as a platform for the student body to throw out questions or air out their concerns to each candidate. Of course, the entire school population (students & teachers) were all expecting the best answers from the candidates. I was really nervous but I had to do it, not just for me but for the whole team party that I was a part of^*. Hours before the Miting de Avance started one of our “supporters” approached us and shared a verse from the Bible. I guess he knew that I feared going up on stage… he knew that when the spotlight is on me my face turns red… And then I become conscious when I feel that my face is becoming warm which means that it’s slowly turning red… And in an effort to end my part quickly I tend to forget to pause between words to catch my breath which makes my voice sound as if I’m about to cry. I always contemplate whether my “stage fright” is normal or should I consider it as a serious problem? Anyways, after he read the verse to us I felt a bit at ease. Don’t get me wrong… I still felt nervous but somehow felt assured that everything was going to be all right.

But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
- Exodus 4:10-12 English Standard Version (ESV)

See what I mean? Who wouldn’t feel better after hearing/reading that verse?

For a couple of days weeks my boyfriend kept on telling me about this outlet center in Bicutan that he read about in a blog. It’s his subtle way of saying that he wanted to visit and check out the place. So last Saturday, we finally went to MJ46 Center. The place was easy to find since they have provided directions and a map on their website. When we arrived I was already expecting that the place would be full of people and that it would be hard to find a parking space but it was not. There was only 1 car ahead of us and when we got in the store there were about 2-6 other people checking out their products. I headed to where the bags were because I was planning to buy a laptop bag but unfortunately they didn’t have any laptop bag available. Next on my list was some jogging pants and sports bra for when I go to the gym but they had limited styles and I didn’t like what they had. I was also hoping to buy a Nike+ sportband but they did not have the yellow/black one that I like. So I ended up just checking out the shoes they have on display. As usual, there were more shoes for men’s and there were limited/broken sizes for women’s shoes. I happen to find something I like but it was the last pair and they didn’t have a bigger size. The retail price for the shoes was about 8K but this outlet center gives out a minimum discount of 30% on ALL Nike products so more or less I would be getting Php2,400 off the original price!! Not bad, no? But then again, my old shoes are still ok so I really didn’t have any need to buy a new one.

I was a bit disappointed on our trip since I wasn’t able to buy anything. I was really hoping to purchase my very first Nike laptop bag that weekend. My boyfriend on the other hand was happy because I got him his birthday gift. He now has a new Nike Cortez to add to his collection^*.

Anyways, I leave you with the only two pictures that I was able to take inside the store before they told us that picture taking wasn’t allowed. Haha! And oh… just thought it is worth mentioning that MJ46 Center is a FREE WiFi Zone^*.

While we’re on a “sporty” topic… its a pity that we don’t have any hockey team here in the Philippines. I find the game interesting especially Ice Hockey. Did you know that there are other forms of hockey? I didn’t knew about it either until tonight! Anyways, for those overseas especially in America or if you know someone in America who is interested to watch NHL. If you’re/they’re looking for new york rangers tickets or madison square garden tickets you may want to consider Ticketamerica. Ticketamerica.com has tickets for the new york rangers and madison square garden and all NHL tickets. Enjoy!

It’s Valentines day today, a day that kind of feels like its Christmas all over again. There’s extra love and happiness in the air today. A day when almost everywhere you look at you can see flowers, cupids & hearts. Do you have any plans today? As for me, I had lunch with my boyfriend awhile ago. He treated me out for lunch at Sizzling Pepper Steak and bought some donuts from Dunkin Cafe. When I got back to my desk, there were 3 red/pinkish roses and a card waiting for me

I was teasing him for a couple of days because he kept on asking me if he ever gave me roses on Valentines day and I told him no because it wasn’t his thing. Although, every year I always expect to receive one from him. He told me its true and that I shouldn’t expect anything this year. Turns out he was already planning for something and didn’t want me to have a hunch.

Tonight, I’ll be having dinner with my sister and our parents. It has been a tradition that we’ll be our Valentines dates. Haha! We’ll be having dinner at an Irish pub near our village. My sister and I love their nachos!! It’s a bit spicy (I don’t usually like spicy food) but this would be my second favorite nachos. My favorite would have to be Iceberg‘s Cheesy Nachos! Ok… this is turning out to be a very random post haha! From Valentines day to nachos I think I have to end this now. Have to prepare for our dinner

First giveaway for the year! I was really planning to do the giveaway last year as a New Year’s giveaway but there was a delay with the items I ordered because the supplier ran out of stocks due to the high demand during the holidays. Anyways, the items are now with me and are ready to be given away! Up for grabs are two (2) Cambridge-inspired satchel bags!!! Since this will be a Valentine’s giveaway, there will only be one (1) winner. The winner will receive two bags (RED @ 11″ + LIGHT BROWN @ 13″): one (1) for him/her and one (1) for his/her loved one.

Thank God for Rafflecopter! I won’t need to collate the entries since Rafflecopter already does that, plus it will also choose the winner at the end of the giveaway period (via Random.org). That’s less worries and tasks for me! The only thing I need to do is to verify each entry. Validating each entry could give me a bit of headache and sometimes dizziness! Haha! But I’ve learned from my past giveaway and this time I would be more strict with the rules. If you can’t follow my rules, then I’m really sorry but your entry will not be included.

Please notice the emphasis on the words “PUBLICLY” below. If I can’t see your tweets or posts then I will 1) contact you so we can sort out the issue 2) remove your entry if no response/action has been taken.

To join, you need to do the following mandatory tasks:

1. Follow @julesstore on Twitter (1 point)
2. Tweet this PUBLICLY: (1 point)
   

   I’d like to have a Cambridge-inspired satchel bag for me & my friend** – http://goo.gl/QhvGU. Want one too? Check out @julesstore!

   **Replace with who you’d like to give the bag to (friend/sister/mother/father/brother/boyfriend/girlfriend etc.)

3. Like Jules Store‘s Facebook page (1 point)
4. Post this PUBLICLY on your wall (ensure that Jules Store is tagged properly): (1 point)
   

   I’d like to have a Cambridge inspired satchel bag for me & my friend** – http://goo.gl/QhvGU. Want one too? Check out Jules Store!

   **Replace with who you’d like to give the bag to (friend/sister/mother/father/brother/boyfriend/girlfriend etc.)

That’s all you need to do! Do all 4 and you get 4 raffle entries! If you would like to gain more entries you may blog about this giveaway. Take note that blogging about this is purely optional, its up to you if you would like to do a blog post solely about this giveaway or just plug the giveaway. Either way you will earn an additional four (4) raffle entries!

This giveaway is open to Philippine-residents ONLY and must have a Philippine address. Giveaway is from January 20, 2012 (12:01AM EST) to February 10, 2012 (12:01AM EST).

All set? Head on to the Rafflecopter widget below and submit your entries. Good luck!

UPDATE: The essence of the giveaway is to share with your loved ones since this is a Valentine’s giveaway. So please do tag your loved one in your tweets/Facebook post. Sample tweet:

I’d like to have a Cambridge-inspired satchel bag for me & my sister @juliesprudence – http://goo.gl/QhvGU. Want one too? Check out @julesstore!

To those who have submitted their entry already but failed to tag their loved ones, kindly do so but there’s no need to resubmit. Just let me know in the comments and I’ll accept your entry.

I finally got my prizes today! I was hoping to get it sooner (excited much?) but since it was the holidays I did not mind. So what did I actually get? I got a pink CLiPtec Silicone Optical Mouse Pad (Opti-Pad) and a white CLiPtec Magic-Mate Portable Multimedia Speaker. I’ll post pictures of the actual items soon I was hoping to get a headset w/ mic or a multi-card reader (The two multi-card reader I bought from CD-R King is not working anymore :() since I really need (want) one but undecided if I should get one from CD-R King or from Octagon/Asianic. I want a quality purchase, one that would not easily break but at the same time not expensive. But who am I to complain, right? A freebie is a freebie. I’m currently using my mouse pad while my boyfriend asked for the portable speakers as soon as he saw it.

Thanks again Abe for the prizes and for bringing it to my office. It was nice meeting you too even for just a couple of seconds

As promised, here’s the photos of the items I’ve won.

Everybody always tells you ‘be humble’. But when’s the last time somebody told you ‘be AWESOME’? Or be GREAT? Be AMAZING.
-Kanye West

Testing out the post via e-Mail feature of WordPress.

I say goodbye to this chapter of my life… And I look forward to what comes next.

~Brooke Davis

This is a bit too late I know. I’ve constantly seen this year-end meme floating around blogs for as long as I can remember and I always wanted to do this on my blog but never had the time to do it until now. I had to chose the questions because there were just too many that had one-word answers (No or None) or I’d rather not answer

1. Where were you when 2011 began and who were you with?

I was in Melbourne, in Federation Square to be exact. I waited for the fireworks display with my officemates and my sister who was visiting me for the holidays.

2. Where were you when 2011 ended and who were you with?

I was back home with my parents & sister in Manila. The usual: preparing for Media Noche, arranging the 13 round fruits, round chocolates, gold coin chocolates, salt, cotton, ginger & garlic (Mom and her “feng shui” beliefs)

3. Did you go abroad in 2011?

Yes, I arrived in Melbourne in 2010. My initial assignment was for 2 months only but for some unforeseen circumstances in the project, I stayed until end of October of this year.

4. How many different states did you travel to in 2011?

In Australia, I’ve been to 2 states: Melbourne which is in Victoria and Sydney which is in New South Wales. In the Philippines, I’ve been to 2 different provinces as well: Subic & Puerto Princesa.

5. What was your most embarrassing moment of 2011?

Not sure if this is embarrassing, but for me it was. Finally, going back home with a whopping 34Kgs in excess baggage. Can’t imagine how much stuff I had accumulated for my one year stay in Melbourne. Haha! I guess I miscalculated how many souvenirs/chocolates I had to bring back home. Or I was wrong for not bringing home some of my clothes when I had a fly back in April and August. Good thing though this was reimbursable or else I’d have to say goodbye to 1,224 AUD or roughly 55,000 PHP. Ack!

6. What is one thing you did in 2011 that you’d never done before?

It was my first time to ride an interstate train. In January, one of my colleagues and I decided to go to Sydney for the weekend. It was so last minute that we didn’t have any other cheaper alternative but to catch the Friday train after work. I think the train ride was about 8 hours and then had to take a bus (since there was ongoing track works) for another hour. We arrived the next day at around 8AM with no clue where we were and where we’d go. Haha! Stayed at the train station for about 30 minutes until we were brave enough to leave and start exploring the CBD. Overall, I enjoyed the trip but at about midday I was already tired and sick of seeing Sydney. I wanted to go back home when I saw the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the Apple Store Sydney is a nice place for a holiday/vacation but I love living in Melbourne. Melbourne CBD had a more casual & relaxed vibe than Sydney CBD.

7. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

I’d like to be more decisive and stand by with my decisions. I’m known to be the one who goes with the flow and I guess although I gained more because of this attitude I also felt at the same time that I lost who I really am and what I really want.

8. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Holy Week 2011: My mom spent her Holy Week with me in Melbourne. I then came back with her to Manila to spend my 2 weeks vacation.


April 30, 2011: My parents wedding anniversary. This is the first time that I would be paying for our accommodations since I started working. We stayed at The Boutique. After dinner there was my surprise waiting for them! The room was dark and was only lit by candles, it was filled by rose petals & balloons. We got to share the chocolates and cakes, while my dad took home the wine and my mom got a bouquet of roses and one big heart pillow. I can’t describe the look on my mom’s face when she opened the door to their room, it was priceless!


May 1, 2011: My Dad’s birthday. Woke up and had breakfast in bed while enjoying the Taal Lake/Volcano view. Feels good to spend time with the family on this setting.


May 5-7, 2011: Went to Subic with my boyfriend, my sister & her boyfriend.



August 7, 2011: My family decided to throw a surprise “belated” birthday party after my surprise last April. I actually teared up when I saw my friends, even my college friends who I haven’t seen for the longest time. I felt so special that day, and was surprised indeed!


August 9-11, 2011: Went to Puerto Princesa with my boyfriend & officemates.


October 21, 2011: My last work day at Melbourne.


October 22, 2011: My last morning in Australia. My flight was at 9AM with a 1-hour stopover at Sydney. Arrived at around 5:30PM in Manila and I suddenly missed the cold weather in Melbourne! Haha!


9. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nothing major, just the usual flu, colds & cough. I also had two tooth extractions done last December. The first one wasn’t major and didn’t hurt much but the second one was really painful and my right cheek/jaw got swollen right after the surgery. I also couldn’t hear well from my right ear because of the swelling.

10. Where did most of your money go?

Food! I always thought that when I live alone that I would lose weight since I do not know how to cook. Well, I was wrong! I learned how to cook and half of the time I was searching for recipes online.

11. Compared to this time last year, are you:

Happier or hardened? Happier because I’m back home with friends & family


Thinner or fatter? I’ve been getting comments that I’ve lost some weight but I feel that I’m much fatter because there was more food for Christmas Eve & New Year’s Eve than when I was in Melbourne



Richer or poorer? Richer because I saved most of my allowance from my 1-year onshore assignment


12. What did you wish you’d done more of?

More exercise. We were lucky that our accommodations had a gym, pool & sauna but I barely went to the gym. I did however, walked more. I would walk from our apartment to the office and vice-versa. Walk from the apartment to the market; walk from the apartment to the malls. How I wish our environment & weather here in Manila is just the same than that in Melbourne CBD.

13. What did you wish you’d done less of?

Lazy days. I didn’t get to explore other sights in the CBD because of my lazy days spell. I would rather stay in my apartment and browse the Internet.

14. How did you spend Christmas?

Spent it with my family at home like we would normally do but it was a bit different since I only had surgery so I wasn’t allowed to eat much. The family was supportive and Mom only cooked soup for our Noche Buena. They did get to enjoy ice cream though

15. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

This was my first birthday away from my family. No gifts, no cards, no candles to blow. But there were cakes My mom & sister contacted my colleague and asked if he could get me some cakes for my birthday. I went to mass in the morning and when I got to work the cakes was on my desk. I turned 26.

16. What kept you sane?

The Internet, Skype & Facetime with my family and friends. Imagine going home to an empty apartment after a long day at work and there’s no one to talk to.

17. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I guess it would have to be the Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine Middleton. Yes, I love how an ordinary woman would become a princess or a queen in the future. I’m also waiting for the day that she would also be involved in several charities or advocacies just like Princess Diana.

18. What song will always remind you of 2011?

Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5.

19. Was 2011 a good year for you?

Looking back to my answers, I can definitely say YES! 2011 was a good year for me. Lots of experiences, lessons learned, places seen, met new people & created new friendships.

20. What does 2012 hold for me?

I’m hoping for more opportunity (and money) to travel locally and internationally. Learn and try new things like doing crafts. Since I returned from Melbourne, I haven’t cooked for my family except for one time I cooked hotcakes for breakfast. Hopefully, I get to cook one of my “specialties” back when I was in Melbourne.

Its sad that while most of us were out partying (guilty! Our company’s Christmas party was last Saturday) or out buying Christmas presents our fellow countrymen down south is struggling to save their lives. A colleague from our office sent us an e-mail this morning saying that in Cagayan De Oro alone, the recovered bodies have almost reached 500 and there are over 500 more people missing. The death toll will most probably be more than Peping and Ondoy’s toll combined. That is just heartbreaking and to think that its only 6 days before Christmas. With that being said, I hope that people find it in their hearts to help in any way they can. Here are a number of ways on how to help:

1. Donate through Red Cross
1. Thru Credit Card
2. Thru Online Banking
3. Thru SMS & G-Cash
• SMS: Text REDAMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4143 (Smart)
• G-Cash: Text DONATEAMOUNT4-digit M-PINREDCROSS to 2882
• You can donate the following denominations:
  Globe: 5, 25, 100, 300, 500 or 1000
  Smart: 10, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500 or 1000
2. Donate through One For Iligan
3. Donate through LBC
1. Hotline: (632) 8585 – 999
2. LBC will deliver your donated goods for free
3. Find your nearest LBC branch here

There are 25 million Filipinos on Facebook. If each one donates 5 pesos to Red Cross we could raise 125 million for Sendong victims. Let’s do this!