Archive for July, 2008

Ballet and Pilates

Saturday, July 12th, 2008

I remember many pounds ago when I did a little ballet, we attended a summer dance workshop held in Baguio and one of the classes that was taught was basic Pilates. Did you know that one of the forms of therapy for injured dancers is to do Pilates? 

Pilates trainer Sarah Aimsworth, a Pilates instructor at the Joffrey Ballet School, has tried various therapeutic systems and concluded that Pilates, with its stress on minimal repetitions, is right for her dancers, and not just physically. Pilates, she believes, is designed to keep the mind active while activating muscles without injuring them.

“You do something three times and you do it right. Repetition is mindless and goes against ballet, which is so mindful.” She also says that she finds that Pilates irons out her dancers’ physical problems.

Now, I’m no longer in dancing form, mind you, but I’m slowly trying to make up for lost time ( I wish it were pounds :P ) not really to dance again but for the long haul. I want to enjoy my kids for as long as I can and still have the endurance that Joseph Pilates had even when he was already in his eighties. Having said that I need to stretch my “pakpak” again. 

Pilates, Plates, Plato…aguy!

Saturday, July 12th, 2008

I woke up this morning with a sort of “stiff” arm. I think I had ignored my not so ergonomic computer workspace for so long and now my joints are giving me away (take note: i didn’t say age LOL). So I asked hubby if he could give me his own version of Thai massage mixed in with a little bit of Pilates to relieve my aching “pakpak”. Who would have thought that exercising with your spouse could be fun, eh? I was trying to do a little bit of rowing exercises on my own but when hubby helped me do it (well, he was kinda pulling my arms out of the sockets for a while… aguy!) and we did it together using the other one’s weight as resistance, it was surprisingly effective. I had my very own “human” exercise equipment for free – with free massage to boot right in my own home! Isn’t that a bargain? Cheap ko noh? lol

Paper, Digi and Hybrid

Friday, July 11th, 2008

I started out as a traditional or paper scrapbooker years ago until I switched to digiscrapping when the kids came along. It was difficult to do paper scrapping while the kids  were still toddling around because we have a tiny house and the chances that I would find them swimming in a pile full of scrapping what-nots and tools was 100%. I usually scrapped on the sofa or on the bed and it was a bit tiring to put them away everytime someone wants to use it. Now that they are a little older I think I can finally catch up on my years of scrapping backlog. I know I won’t stop digiscrapping because it’s so much easier but I think I’m leaning on trying to do a bit of hybrid so I won’t waste all the stuff I accumulated years before. I’ve ordered a few tools already and I’m just waiting for them to arrive. I’ve seen a lot of tutorials on personalized pens, journals, minibooks, etc. I can’t wait to try them. I think I can even get the kids to do it as their art project as well.  I think I wouldn’t mind them swimming through my stuff this time. LOL

LP#15-Balingkinitan

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

Sa linggong ito ang aking lahok ay may kasamang kwentong walang kwenta kasi kalokohan lang. Ito ay isang maikling kwento sa isang araw sa buhay ni TingTing.

Ito si Tingting. Pangarap niyang maging isang sikat na ballerina balang araw kaya’t pilit nyang pinapanatili na magaang ang kanyang timbang. Kahit sya ay nasa handaan namimili sya ng kanyang kinakain para lang hindi sya tumaba kaya hayan ang mga braso tuloy nya parang alambre at ang kanyang mga binti ay parang lapis.

Isang araw naimbitahan si Tingting sa isang handaan at sya’y pinalibutan ng sangkatutak na pagkain. Sa sobrang tagal na nyang pagtitipid sa pagkain di na nya napigilan ang kanyang sarili at inubos nya ang mga banyera ng pagkaing nakapalibot sa kanya. Palihim lang sya ngumuya para hindi sya mahalata at mahuli. Madalas na nyang istilo ito pag sya’y naiimbitahan sa handaan pero sa pagkakataong ito nahuli sya sa akto. Di nya kasi alam may paparazzo sa tabi nya at huling-huli syang may hawak na pagkain. 

 

Mula noon, nagpagawa sya ng paldang malapad na may mga bulsa sa ilalim na may mga maliliit na supot sa bawat bulsa. Doon ay pasimple nyang sinisilid ang mga handang hindi nya mapagpiyestahan ng lantaran at inuuwi na lang nya sa bahay para doon kainin. Take-out na lang di ba?

WAKAS.

Marami pang nakakaaliw na lahok dito. Iklik mo lang ang kamera sa ibaba at makipaparazzi ka na din!

 

 

The cost of education

Monday, July 7th, 2008

Last summer, I got the chance to chat with a few mommies while we were waiting for our kids at Kumon and we got to talk about the cost of sending kids to school. I had a little bit of an idea on how much sending kids to school costs nowadays but I didn’t realize that even preschool, kinder or even daycare would cost as much sometimes more (gasp!) than the older kids. One mom was sending her little girl to an authentic Japanese school at the Fort in Taguig even if they lived in Sta. Rosa because the father who was Japanese wanted his daughter to grow up knowing Japanese traditions. As far as I remember the tuition was really quite expensive not to mention the gasoline expense as well. Of course, as parents we want to give our kids the best opportunity to equip and enable them to be useful citizens when they grow up so no amount is too high as long as we have the means to do it. Sometimes even if we do not have the means we still try to do what we can to give them that opportunity. Fortunately for us, since we homeschool, no school girl costumes for our little girl is needed and no long commuting hours to and from school is required. No uniforms and no traffic jams in our school. LOL

Ack! Losing my memory…

Monday, July 7th, 2008

… well not in my brain actually but in my PC. I’ve been having frequent memory problems because of all the apps I use at the same time and they are all memory hogs and it is sloooowing my computer down. I’m seriously considering getting something to augment my RAM although I hesitate to buy another EHD because the last one we bought was a Maxtor and it crashed on me – I really felt bad because all of my kids’ earlier photos were stored there and now pffft. Nada. We’ll probably scout around for something because the kids are also going to need a computer for school work soon. So next time we go to the malls we’ll do a bit of window shopping for something to fit my non-existent budget . For now I have to be content with one or two apps at a time… (sigh)

What I love most about being married

Saturday, July 5th, 2008

coffee break ver. 1.25      What do you love most about being married?

First of all, happy anniversary Jan! Now on to your coffee break question…. hmm. Hubby and I have been married for almost ten years already. Yeah, that long and I guess like any other couple we’ve had our bad hair days and our salad days. We didn’t get married saying to each other “Ga, I don’t fix my bed when I wake up” or “Ga, I don’t do toilets, ha”. I realized that what you know about each other from the moment you are presented as husband and wife is so minute compared to the endless unveiling of your spouse each day you live together. Everything gets magnified tenfold – the good and unfortunately, the bad as well.

What do I love most about being married for almost ten years? I wouldn’t exactly say love but maybe what am I most thankful for — if that were the question then I would answer I am thankful for EVERYTHING. Although I cannot say I am happy about everything because there will always be ups and downs in any relationship, nor will I say I like everything about married life. I do know that at the end of the day I can say I am THANKFUL for everything – both good and bad. Simply because I believe everything has a purpose and that there is always a higher reason that doesn’t reveal itself until the appropriate moment set for it. It quietly demands that you simply trust the One who put you together to LIVE each day beside each other even if the road ahead is not so clear.

I am thankful that my life is richer – that although the pains sometimes have been unbearable, yet the unexpected joys are unspeakable and incomparable. I am thankful that I am loved and accepted no matter how I look or how I feel any given time of the day. I am thankful that I can speak my mind freely – to argue and disagree, to banter and to rant at (whether dh deserves it or not lol) and still be treated with respect. I am thankful that I am cherished and deemed precious by two little souls who think I am the best in the whole wide world even when I doubt myself and think otherwise. I am thankful to hubby for all his efforts in trying to be the best husband he could ever be to me. Salamat ‘ga sa Thai massage :) Most of all, I am thankful to God for helping me realize that marriage is a good thing even for someone like me.

LP#14 – Tatak Pinoy

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

TATAK – simbolo ng pagkakakilanlan; tanda; marka; nagpapakita ng mga katangiang natatangi at naaangkop sa isang partikular na tao, bagay, lugar o pangyayari.

Isa sa masasabi kong TATAK ng isang Pilipino ay ang pagiging MASAYAHIN. Kahit anong bagyo, kahit anong unos, kahit anong pagsubok, kahit anong hirap na dinadanas sa buhay, lagi tayong may nakikitang bagay na nakakatawa at nakakaaliw, hindi ba? 

Masdan nyo sila, bukod sa pagiging isa sa masasabing may tunay na tatak na Pinoy – ang ating mga katutubo, masayahin sila di ba?

(ang mga nasa larawan ay ang mga katutubo nating Dumagat na

naninirahan sa Angat Watershed.)

happy to be Litratistang Pinoy!

I-klik mo ang kamera para makakita pa ng iba pang lahok!