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7 Red Things

Yey! Meream tagged me again! And this was a particularly fun one, too. (Did I ever tell you that I love, love, LOVE tags?)

So here are the rules:

  1. Post photos of 7 red things in your home.
  2. Tag 7 people to do the tag.

My jewelry box, a Christmas present from mum

Octavian's Case Logic sleeve

My M&M candy dispenser, a first date present from The Husband

(which may be yellow, if you wish to argue, but what the hell)

My favorite (and only) pair of Havaianas

(It's quite grubby because I wore it to the bazaar.)

I actually have quite a lot of red shoes, but do not have a single red dress to go with them - just one of my life's biggest mysteries.

My Sephora sleep mask (from eBay)

A stuffed rat dressed as Cupid, which I named Emile

I named him after the fat rat from Ratatouille, and he's a Valentine's Day present from The Husband.

Rose trinkets that a lovely girl named Kathy made for me

The clasp on the bracelet is broken, though. I dropped it in one of my clumsier moments.

Goodness, finding red stuff around the house was harder than I thought! And no, my current icky breakout of acne on neck (well, behind the ears, more like) do NOT count.

I love these photo tags because they give me an excuse to get Caesar out of his case and take photos, which I don't - no, can't - do often enough. Like Meream, I kinda want to do this again in other colors. Maybe I will.

I tag Chin, Maris, Kaye, Jen, Kaith, Kessa, and Maria. I hope these gals will enjoy this as much as I did.

Note: I now know how to make frames for my photos. Whoop-dee-doo!

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Photo Party!

I love tags. Unfortunately, I don't get tagged enough; that's why I never pass up the chance to answer tags whenever people do find it in their hearts to tag me (hint, hint).

It is, therefore, with a great deal of enthusiasm that I am answering the second tag I have ever received in my entire life as a blogger. (Did I mention I don't get tagged enough?) Thanks to Meream for sending this my way.

And now, the rules:

1. Open your first photo folder.
2. Scroll down to the 10th photo.
3. Post that photo and story on your blog.
4. Tag five {or more} friends to do the same.

Luckily, my first photo folder (which is called 'A Dream') does contain photos taken with my new camera. This was during our second Corona del Mar site tour back on the 20th of September, which was also the first time I got to take my camera out on a photowalk. This is the 10th photo:

This was taken inside one of the model houses. The house we're buying, which should be built in a year or two (hopefully), would be fairly similar, but with some embellishments, such as a cinema room for The Husband, a study-slash-library for myself, and a huge bathroom with a bathtub.

I do love the staircase, though, and the little nook beneath it. And boy oh boy, do I have great plans for those walls!

Now, wasn't that a fun tag to do? Well, it was - for me, at least. Hopefully, these ladies will find it just as fun:

1. Chin: Because I can never get enough of her family's pictures. They're a fun bunch, the Kongs.

2. Maris: I've been getting to know her through her words, but I would also LOVE to get to know her visually, too.

3. Kaye: She moved to the Netherlands about 3 years ago, but I just don't see enough images of her life there. And to think I'm her best friend.

4. Kessa: With her new weight loss regimen in full swing, I'm dying to see her progress. Hopefully, her first photo folder has pictures of her and her steadily increasing fabulousness.

5. Jen: A camwhore like no other, I know that whatever picture she ends up sharing is something worth seeing!

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Iris Wants a Moleskine!

I have tons of stuff to blog about. But, as always, there are a gazillion other things that need my focus right now, so the blogging will have to wait until I tick a few things off this week's to-do list.

I can't resist posting about the Moleskine contest over at Topaz Horizon's, however. I love, love, loooove Moleskines, though I haven't had one in years since my entire life now revolves around computers. It would be nice to own one again. Who knows? I might somehow find myself writing creatively again - something I haven't done in a while. (This is what happens when you're writing about mind-numbing stuff like microscopes and CPAP masks and a Frisco Dentist for a living.)

But I digress. Topaz Horizon and Avalon.ph are jointly giving away an extremely cool Moleskine Large Cahier Ruled Black Set of 3 AND an even cooler Php500 online gift certificate for the Avalon.ph site. I've got my eye on a couple of rare books on the site, so I hope I'll win!

The contest ends tonight. By this time tomorrow, I will - hopefully - be shopping for a new book or two and confusing myself in the process.

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Winning Streak

Winning is something that doesn't happen to me very often. I've never won the lottery (but I once dated a guy who has, believe it or not), grocery raffles, or even The Statue Dance. The only things I ever win are arguments, and even those don't really count because The Husband never admits I'm right anyway.

Now, I don't mind losing, as long as I'm losing pounds (as you can probably tell from my numerous almost-diet pill reviews) and not my dignity. But it does feel good to win once in a while - something that I've started to discover as of late.

It all started on the flight to Caticlan. When the flight crew started their silly "show me" game, I was only half paying attention. In fact, so immersed was I in reading The Grass Crown that it was almost complete instinct that made me lift the book up when I heard the word "novel". I was rewarded with a Centrum bag that contained 2 pieces of Centrum, 2 pieces of Advil, and a lemon-flavored Chapstick for my troubles - I say 'troubles' because the book weighs about a kilo, so lifting it above my head was no mean feat!

Boracay 328

Six days later, on the flight back to Cebu, I won the same prize, thanks to the same book. This time, I was ready and hell-bent on winning The Husband a Chapstick.

Strangely enough, as I was blog hopping the next day, I found out that I won something again - this time, from Kessa's birthday giveaway. I am currently waiting for a full set of Twilight books and some L'Occitane goodies (if the latter fits the package, according to Kessa) to be delivered from Manila. How cool is that? And how cool is Kessa for giving these away?

And it doesn't end there, mind you. I went to the Sky Cable office to pay our cable bill, and before I knew it, I was the proud (haha) winner of a Sky ZPDee t-shirt.

I am now seriously considering buying a lottery ticket. Before I do that, however, I'm definitely joining this beauty giveaway. The oh-so fabulous Frances is giving away Maybelline products aplenty, and I can't possibly NOT join!

Aaahhhh... Contests are definitely growing on me. Maybe I should do one of my own to celebrate Goddess, I Am.'s first anniversary, albeit belatedly (the anniversary was back on the 16th). I have to put my thinking cap on and figure out what to give away. Who knows? Maybe my little contest will become the start of someone else's winning streak.

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Life is Good!

No, once again, I have not donned my riding breeches and ridden off into the sunset, nor am I letting this blog die like so many others in the past. I simply have much of my time taken over by work - and life, in general - once again, so writing has been out of the question.

I won't regale you with details of what I've been up to these past few weeks or so because I'm writing on borrowed time at the moment, so anyone who might be interested will have to make do with this very quick update.

1. I've quit my shitty job because I realized that I get paid for freelance work a lot better than writing a crummy book about government grants. My bosses weren't too happy, and it was a mess for a while. Now that I think about, it still is a bit of a mess, but at least they're not threatening to sue me anymore. Now, if only they'll pay me my money really soon so we can all call it a day. . .

2. My sister, mum, and I have a new online venture. I did mention before that she (my sister) makes clothes, but now she has started to focus on swimwear. Her first few pieces are nothing short of fabulous (and I should know because I am quite partial to everything "beach-y"), and should be ready for sale any day now. That's one of the great things about the Philippines - summer never ends, even in the middle of the typhoon season.

But I digress. Right now, we have a pretty impressive collection of gorgeous sandals, so pay us a visit at The Innuendo Shop and maybe pick up a pair - or two!

3. Alright, shameless plugging done. Moving on, May is an awesome month for movies, and I'm proud to say that I haven't missed any of the blockbusters this month. I can't help it!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was pretty cool. I's not my favorite, but it was extremely entertaining, especially Ryan Reynolds. And I love, love, LOVED the new Star Trek! One of my best friends is a certified Trekkie (she has the uniforms, wore Klingon ears, and even went to that sci-fi convention thingy in Germany last month), and I always poked fun at her. Though I probably won't be joining her frenzy anytime soon (sorry, Kaye), I still think the J.J. Abrams "reboot" is the most entertaining film I've seen this year - so far! Let's see if next week's Terminator Salvation will surpass it. The critics have been mean, but I never listen to them, anyway. Besides, it's Christian Bale, people!

I will probably get a lot of criticism for saying this, but I think the Angels and Demons movie was better than the book, ending-wise. Mind you, this isn't something that I say very often because I LIVE for books! I love reading Dan Brown, but I did think the book was a bit over-the-top around the ending when the Camerlengo torched himself in front of all and sundry and people were all atwitter over such a "divine" phenomenon (can anyone say, "overkill"?). I'm so glad the movie made that whole bit more low-key. Most of the stuff in the book, particularly some of the history, were missing from the film, though, but that's understandable and almost negligible.

I also loved that they made Langdon's new adventure a sequel, instead of a prequel (unlike the book). Did anyone notice that he was no longer claustrophobic in the film? That's a great touch - Sophie Christ (for lack of a better moniker) actually did successfully cure him (in the Da Vinci Code)! Another thing that I loved was how they kept the same haunting music by Hans Zimmer. It made this skeptic want to go back to church. Okay, not really. Oh, and it was filmed in Rome. I want to go to Rome so bad!!!

4. Speaking of Rome, I now have all seven books of Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series! Weeeeeee! I had to order the missing second and third (The Grass Crown and Fortune's Favorites, respectively) from a UK bookstore back in April, but thankfully, it made it here in good time AND I didn't have to pay for stupid import taxes. Besides, I'm still in the middle of The First Man in Rome (the first book) - slow going because of all the stuff that I have to do. But I'm not complaining. The longer I can stay in Ancient Rome, the better.

caesar

5. In 20 days, we're off to Boracay for our late honeymoon. I am absolutely giddy with excitement! Little sister is making my fabulous monokinis and bikinis as we speak! I am, after all, the (shamelessly) self-proclaimed image model for Innuendo. You hear that, little sister?

6. And another thing that's getting me excited: I am this close to getting my 13-inch Macbook Aluminum! Yey! I intend to get it within the next couple of weeks or so. My mind's all made up, yes, but I am still looking for the best deal possible. Being the skinflint that I am, I can't help it!

7. Kris Allen won American Idol, just like I said he would. It just proves that the judges and producers could try to blatantly manipulate people to vote for overrated Adam Lambert with their simpering comments and lavish (over)productions for his performances all they want, but the best man will still win. I feel vindicated.

8. We're doing great on the home front. We're settled, comfortable, and very married. As always, we have our little dramas every now and again, but things get too boring otherwise! I am about to buy a cookbook and attempt to cook for my man beyond the usual fry-ups - a prospect that he dreads, and one that I am very much looking forward to, just to see the look on his face.

So that's life for the new Mrs. Young. I hope to get back to my regular writing schedule within the next few days. Please, oh please, just let me survive this week without drowning in articles!

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