motivation one more time

i'm barely two days away from the conference I am not yet done with my paper. I am getting really really tired. So let's round up a motivation list ONE MORE TIME. After this damn conference I will:

1. go tripping in the thrift shop to find treasures that I could use for decorating the apt.
2. do that - decorate the apartment
3. finally try the sauna in the nearby recreation center
4. call up my good friend N whom I haven't had the chance to talk to for a year now
5. have dinner with my other N friend and catch up with all the gossip we missed telling each other
6. invite tita A to come over and cook and dine with us (promise, Mare, mas masarap to kaysa mahal na dinner sa labas).
7. have a free FREEEEE weekend to go to the park and take pictures with lakay and my little one.
8. finally understand how to personalize my blog template
9. Read the novels waiting in my shelf
10. watch a movie with Lakay, and then watch a moview with Lakay and the little one.

...ok it worked. I'm getting back to work.

summer surprises

Summer is about to end. Before the winds of autumn blow its memories away, I'd like to list down the new things I experienced this summer(with a promise of writing more about each item in the future--I'm crossing my fingers here!)

1.that the cold air in Manchester has the scent of Manila on a stormy night
2. that the rush hour in London train station can almost make a "provincial" girl like me drop dead out of stress
3. paris -- simply that. I experienced Paris. Was telling my papa and lakay on our way down from the Eifel Tower: If Germany boasts of precision, Paris embodies symmetry and beauty.
4. that the people in Rome are as warm as their weather--notably different from the colder and northern parts of Europe. (my second time in this place and it still captivated my heart.No wonder I'm a sucker for Italian cuisine.)
5. that Germans are often more than willing to help you out when you're lost or when you look like it (this one I learned from lakay's account)
6. that my sister lives 20 minutes away from a theme park that is so un-disney yet has its own sense of fun
7. that my sister lives 20 minutes away from a shoe haven, and a house ware paradise
8. that summer in Belgium can be extreeeeeemely unbearably hot
9.that guacamole goes well with roasted porkchops (thanks to Ven and Ellen)
10. that lakay can cook (real surprise for me here)
11. that friendships grow deeper due to crisis (and intervention) ahem-ahem. Anne and Tita C

My wishlist September 2009

This is another way of making me smile when I'm overwhelmed by tons of things to do, and by the pressure to deliver well. Someone once said: the self that has no past to remember nor a future to hope for is a self that stands in peril.

So when I'm caught within the demands of the day, I just grab my notebook and list down all the things that I'd look forward to. Some maybe too ambitious, some too mundane. It doesn't matter. Writing down your wish list is an enjoyable kind of play. :)

Here's my partial wishlist for this year.


My wish list (September 2009)

1. get published in an international journal
2. lose weight
3. finally find my “it” jeans and afford 3 of it
4. shop with my sisters this Christmas
5. a red watch
6. Geox snickers
7. find an old bracelet and necklace that I can retoke
8. have an album of the best of Queen
9. copy the recipe of Amici Mei’s Frutti de Mare
10. finally perfect my pancit
11. to be freed from Medrol
12. get healthy
13. to wake up at 5 am EVERYDAY –just like my mama
14. to be able to cook well just like Ate Lou
15. a lomo cam
16. Canon G9

my innocent pleasures

What better way to keep your enthusiasm alive everyday than to list the simple things that make you smile.

1. a good heavy breakfast
2. peppermint tea
3. my morning muray-muray moment with the little one
4. meal conversations with lakay
5. looking out the window while having breakfast
6. a good massage
7. making accessories
8. having someone wear them
9. cleaning the little one's ears
10. trimming the little one's nails
11. smelling the little one's stinky feet (ok i'll stop)
12. hearing the little one's laughter
13. lakay making me laugh
14. comfortable, intelligently made stylish shoes
15. sleeping on a cold day
16. hot choco on a cold day
17. lakay's senseo coffee (even if i get hyper acidic after)
18. vinaigrette
19. clover
20. the blue European sky