My girl turns 18 years old already!

Today is my daughter's birthday! wow... time passes so quickly! She's 18 years old now... she's a full grown up and I can't tell how proud I am with my lovely Sachan! Oooppsss... 'better not to mention more flattery words about her coz she'll probably kill me if she'll find out I publish those to this blog!

Anyway... I better hold on tight and make every moment with her count...times really flies pass and before I knew it... she might be on her 20's already... probably on her college or starting her future already... the worst part is... if she move far away from us! To Sachan... all I can say is that being your mother has truly been the most wonderful gift that ever happened to me... Happy birthday with love, Mama

Autumn scene at Sumpu Park vicinity

We are almost in the end of autumn season. In autumn, most of the trees turns to yellow, red and gold... it's really beautiful! Here are some of the photos I took while passing by at Sumpu Park area. These places mean much to me!

Shizuoka Jonai Catholic Church, Shizuoka CitySto. Nino inside Jonai Catholic Church.

Sto. Nino Festival helds every year during autumn.

The fest this year is on November 26, Sunday. Futaba School besides the Church.Futaba School main gateFutaba School site from Sumpu Park gateNorth gate of Sumpu Park... let's take a look inside...Autumn colors in autumn seasonInside Sumpu Park... Quiz: Can you recognize the Mt Fuji's head with snow on it?

Hint: It's behind the trees? An art of nature in autumn!

Along the way to Shizuoka Prefecture Office.Falling leavesShizuoka City Hall

Voile d'ete

I have been going with friends to Voile d'ete from time to time. This English-style restaurant opened this spring.
I like Voile d'ete's cozy atmosphere and I feel at home everytime I visit the place. The service is good and of course the whole staff are friendly!
They serve lunch and dinner but the specialty of this place is tea. Yeah... great teas... from traditional tea choices such as classic Earl Grey, Darjeeling, Royal Milk Tea, herb teas and many varieties of flavored teas.
One of my favorite menu here is the Afternoon Tea plate includes a pot of your choice tea... plus a choice of your favorite tea cup and saucer to use... and a three-storey plates of little sandwiches, tart, pastries, mini-cup cakes and mini fresh fruits.

The Voile d'ete is located in 2F of La Parelle Bldg.,
6-10 Gofuku-cho 2 chome, Aoi District, Shizuoka City.

Voile d'ete is owned and managed by Takeda sensei- our friend from SAME and "Take Five" radio program- and her son- the tea master! They always on hand to make sure you're happy with your meal and of course... your tea!
One of my favorite lunch set menu!
... with a cup of tea and dessert!

I would definetely recommend Voile d'ete to anyone who is looking for a relaxing and luxurious treat!

Sit warm under the kotatsu

It's getting cold everyday so we decided to buy a new hot carpet and a coverlet for kotatsu-- a small table with an electric heater underneath and covered by a quilt. During cold season... snuggling under the kotatsu is really great!

Introducing Kricel Angela!

I would like to extend my tnx to my sis Emily for sending a package of bday gift and card for Sachan. Inclosed the package are also photos of her new born baby girl... Kriscel Angela! Ahaha... she really looks like her brother Emil... female version of Emil!!!

Here are some of the photos... paging all ninang and ninong... here's your awaited inaanak!!!

KRICEL ANGELA... isn't she cute?!

In this photo, she was just one day old... She was born last October 27.

... with happy mom-Emily and brod Emil at the hospital!

...with proud dad--Sonny and brod Emil!

Christmas Decorations

Christmas is just around the corner! Did you start decorating your home for Christmas? Well... I am starting already! It's getting colder everyday so I thought it is wise to start decorating early!
Yesterday, I already decorated our veranda with Christmas lights while today, I arranged the little Christmas tree downstairs. I'll continue the other stuffs 'til Sunday.
I still need to climb on the trees in our yard to put up the remaining lights. Still there are some Christmas lanterns and big Christmas tree upstairs waiting! Ohhhh... I missed Emily! Last year, she was here in Japan with Emil and she was a great helped! She managed our Christmas decorations! That was pretty cool coz Emily was very creative.
We are scheduled to turn on the Christmas lights on December 1. Watch for it!

Help! My computer is dying!

My personal computer is not working since last Monday! The mouse never work and the screen display is not in order! I tried everything I could think of... but nothing works! It really drives me nuts... it's almost end of the month and I have so many work to meet the deadline!
Almost all of my files are still in the hard drive... uncopied documents and mostly pictures too!
My hubs checked my pc too... he said it's really a broken computer already! He will try to fix it but he told me he needs to bring my computer back to "0" mode... meaning, all my important documents, files and everything can't be recover anymore! Do I have any choice?! I think I need to give up...

It's stuck!

Don't tell me to get rid of it and buy a new one! Well... the truth is I love to... but I'm broke lately! Anyway... that pc have a sentimental value to me. I bought that from my salary at SAME... that was about 6 years ago! All I hope for the moment is to fix it... if possible!
I wish my hubs can fix it ... tomorrow... maybe he'll starts to fix it...
For a while... I am using Sachan's pc. She always keep on reminding me to be careful if i'm using her pc. I understand... she just don't want to have same experience that will drive her crazy!

ps: It's my late mother's bday today. Imagine... if she's still alive, she's 70 already. How times passed by?! She was only 45 when she was gone. In memory of you... happy birthday 'nay!!!

Tiny origami crane

Receipt from a restaurant can be recycled like origami!!! Mother and child crane

(made by Sachan!)

Japanese lunch set

My lunch today!... bowl of rice topped with slices of raw tuna, and other sea foods ... with a bowl of soba!

Philippine Fiesta 2006

Tokyo...here we come!!!

With some of our friends from Philippine NAKAMA, we drove to Tokyo to attend the Philippine Fiesta event of the Pinoy communities in Japan and the Philippine Embassy. Actually, it's a two-day live event--Nov.11-12 in Hibiya Park. We regret we never won any raffle prices but we did enjoy the stage shows, the great Pinoy foods and the friendly atmosphere of our kababayans!

Ohh geeeeeee... we had a great time and a great day!!!
http://www.geocities.com/philippinenakama/philfiesta2006.html.

Mt. Fuji scene from Tomei Highway... on the way to Tokyo...

To SIDE A Band!!! Thanks to the wonderful memories! You are all fabulous! I luv your music!!!

Some of the Philippine NAKAMA group with soul singer... JAY Vergara. At the back guy is our shiriai--Manong from Philippine Embassy.

Next year... the Philippine Fiesta will be held on summer in Yayogi Park, Tokyo. I wish we can go there again...

p.s... In behalf of the group, we would like to greet our friend... Amie... a belated happy birthday (Nov. 9). Our trip was also a part of tita Amie's birthday celebration. As a compliment... she brought us some drinks and snacks ... although we expected for Mc Donald morning set! Anyway... that was better than nothing... Cheers!!!

Nao Chan's 4th Birthday Gathering

It's raining today but it never hinder us to attend the bday celebration of Nao chan. Thanks to Sarah and family for picking me up at home and we drove to Analyn's (Nao chan's mom) home.

As usual... old faces of friends attended the gathering... most of them were with their kids... not to mention that it was a children's party!

Here's Nao chan who turned 4! Would u believe... she can already fix her hairdo alone! Very amazing!

Some of the kids who partied!

The barako kid-- Masaru kun! I luv this kid too!!!

A souvenir pose with my inaanak, Nao chan with her mom--Analyn! Waaaaait ... who's that in the back?!

We had a blast!

We are full enough... time for chatting!

Hey guys! Wake uuuuup!

She can't wait to open her bday gifts... well... it's her day!

Beauty Tips!

Below is a wonderful poem Audrey Hepburn wrote when asked to share her "beauty tips." It was read at her funeral years later.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness...

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people...

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry...

For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day...

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone...

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.

Sachan and Lucky

Today is a fine day! I took my daughters-- Sachan and Lucky (yap... i also consider her as my daughter!) pictures for my NENGAJO, a special postcards that are delivered on New Year's day as one form of greetings here in Japan. Here are some of the samples of the pictorial taken from our veranda...

too bad... lucky was not in the mood for pictorials... grrrrrrr!

Shizuoka Daidogei World Cup 2006

Today is the second day of the four days event of Daidogei World Cup here in Shizuoka City.
Since Liza and I had nothing to do this day... we decided to go to the event. Our meeting place was in front of Isetan Department Store. It was before noontime but downtown streets were busy with many people watching Daidogei performances.
We went to Sumpu Park wherein the main performances of Daidogei took place. We're supposed to watch the performances at the Premium Stage but unfortunately, the tickets for day time show were all sold-out! Liza and I just decided to stroll around the park. It was too crowded! We can't even watch the streets or sidewalks performances not unless if we are going to wait for at least one hour before the show starts in order to get a nice seat in front. Too bad, we don't have the patience to wait that long... how we wish we also had a step ladder or stool like some viewers brought with them so that they can see the show from the back row.
Still we enjoyed taking photos of clowns and other funny and unusual characters roaming around the park.

We also enjoyed window shopping at various stalls...and yes, the different food stalls. There was an international food stall corner too. Russians, Turkeys, Mexicans, Thai, Chinese, Korean foods and many more were really mouth watering! We were wondering why there wasn't any Philippine food stall at the scene... we missed our very own Pinoy foods!Liza and I walked a lot! We met so many shiriai, kababayans ... and lots of friends like Chat with her hubby and cuttie Yu-chan, also Nerissa with her barako kid-- Masaru kun!
Before 5pm, Liza and I decided to part our ways... Liza phoned to her daughter Tabby and we asked her to pick up her mom in Aoba Road as a chance for Tabby to practice her driving downtown. Actually, Tabby's first and new car have just arrived last night! It's a silver Pitz car! Tabby arrived from Miyatake's home to our meeting place in Aoba... she did made her debut driving in downtown of Shizuoka City and the most ever happy about it was her mom...cno pa kundi c Liza! Well... congrats Tabby!

Pitz! (^-^)v