Ugly Betty

I just finished watching Season 3 of Ugly Betty. As always, there were plenty of crazy fighting between the Meads and Wilhelmina Slater.

But with all the fighting aside, they actually managed to tone Willie down a bit, especially with her doomed relationship with Conner–then again, we just might see him again next season. Hehe

The finale was tragic…but expected. Hay. Daniel’s just not lucky when it comes to women. But I’m glad he finally got to marry Molly and how it happened spontaneously. They ended up being married by an alien model slash minister at the Planetarium. Cute!

To uncle jesse with love

Haha our dear old Uncle Jesse sent over some Minnie Mouse headbands for Mina and me. Yup, it definitely adds color to our usual everyday wear. I shall wear it every day before I go to work. lol

After 48 years!

The rich bitch wins! Poor Betty. It’s not like Archie’s quite the stud anyway. hahaha

Tax on book imports lifted!

Because I am too weary to write an entry (it’s the weather), I’m lifting from Leah’s blog. Hehehe

We won!  President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has already lifted the tax on imported books, and Finance Secretary Gary Teves promised to comply with the order immediately.  All’s well that ends well.  I hope…

Now the booksellers can claim the books still held by Customs, tax-free.  I just hope that they don’t get astronomical storage fee bills.  That might be where Customs would try to release bile and  get the last say.  Also, we must keep our guards up to make sure that they don’t sneak in something to circumvent the lift order or as a revenge on us.

But right now, this is a good day for all of us, especially those who did their part in fighting the book blockade.  Big thanks to Robin Hemley, Manolo Quezon, Louie Aguinaldo and the Facebook group, and the major contributors to the fight.  The pen is still mightier than the sword (literally and figuratively) even – or should I say, especially – in this digital age.

Free stuff is <3

The moment we finished the magazine’s last batch of colored proofs, I stood up, tripped, and broke my last pair of Havaianas. What was worse was that I didn’t have a spare pair with me so I ended up taping the straps while I waited until it was time to go home. And I did it around five to seven times because it kept detaching itself. Anyway, guess it was a blessing in disguise because I ended up invited to the press launch of Havaianas’ MYOH series. Got to customize my own pair of Havs! It doesn’t look as intricate as the photo below (I just wanted to post this because it looks cool hehe) because they just made us choose the colors of the sole and straps, and had us pick Pinoy Pride and Lifestyle Pins as embellishments. Not complaining because, well, it’s free and it spares me the time and effort to go buy another pair. Hehehe.

Speaking of freebies, I also got to attend the launch of Neutrogena’s new SPF line. This one’s called Neutrogena Water Light SPF lotion and it’s supposed to be a good makeup base. Got to expand my knowledge of sun protection and I was actually surprised to learn that tanning, apparently, isn’t healthy at all. Especially for people with fairer skin. So, it’s all about vanity, tanning? I thought a little sun was good for you! Kinda like plants, they need a little sunlight to grow. I thought the same applied to humans. hahaha. Anyway, thank god for my morena genes! I have less risk of getting skin cancer than Nicole Kidman. Or Conan O’Brien. And the rest of the pale brigade.

So I’m back at the office and now it’s time to work but I’m just not really feeling up to it. It’s that time of the month where everything is just moving at a snail’s pace and nothing I do (like I even want to make an effort) can stop it.

Yun lang. Might watch IMAX later but still not sure.

Ciao!

Oh, and is it just me or is May taking its sweet time? I can’t wait for this month to be over!

Great Book Blockade part 2

Check out the link below:

http://www.thepoc.net/index.php/Booklat/Booklat-News/Sound-and-fury-over-book-blockade.html

Leah sent me the link just now. It’s about the Philippine Online Chronicles’ take on the so-called Great Book Blockade of 2009. Turns out, both our blogs got quoted.

Also, this post by Manolo Quezon has the links of our blogs too.

No wonder my site has been picking up traffic.

On a related note, RockEd will hold a “book bigayan” as a sign of protest. Do try to drop by this Sunday, 3 p.m. at Baywalk Roxas Boulevard.

Power rangers

Zeph: Bakit may Power Rangers sa dream mo?

Me: May pinuntahan tayo na party tapos biglang may guy na sumigaw, parang napunit ang panga niya (cringe). Tapos inisip ko na okay lang kasi kilala mo ang Power Rangers.

…

Zeph: Weird ka! Hahahaha!

Here comes the sun

I came home from work yesterday, ah wait, today I mean, and the sun was already slowly making its way up the sky.

This is a photo taken by the river near where my house is. I had the taxi drop me off here—the driver drove like a lunatic. And he looked like one too, so I didn’t really like the idea of him knowing my exact address. And besides, when I saw this view, I couldn’t resist. I had to get out and take a picture. I rarely get to see the sun rise and while it’s not even halfway up here, it succeeded in making this usually unattractive river pleasing to look at. Of course, the smell is still another story. But you don’t see that in the picture anyway. hehe

For some reason, seeing this gave me the sense of peace I needed after all the stress last night at the office. And I felt totally safe walking the short distance toward the house, mainly because residents were already on their early morning jog. No chance of getting mugged at this time of day—too many witnesses. haha.

I couldn’t sleep right away. I had to finish a crossword puzzle before I decided it was time to give my bone-tired self a rest. When I woke up around noon, that was when the tiredness set in. But it’s not an emotional kind of tired, just physical. I think that spontaneous, early morning walk gave me enough motivation to go through another hellish work night. You know you’re in a happy space when, despite all the late work nights, you can still find it in you to appreciate something as simple as watching the sun rise.

The Garden of Eatin’

Snacking on organic food isn’t so bad, after all. Before, every time I’d hear the word ‘organic’, I’d immediately think uh-oh, rabbit food. But apparently, organic simply means using the most natural ingredients. So that totally redefined the way I viewed going organic.

Anyway, I decided to drop by Healthy Options the other day and decided to buy myself healthy snacks for our all-nighters. And I came across this brand of organic tortilla chips called ‘Garden of Eatin”. I love it.

I got the Guacamole-flavored one. Spicy with a hint of lime. Yum yum.

It’s kinda expensive though. At P165 a pack. Huhu. Not gonna be buying this one a lot. It’ll be my monthly hell-week organic treat.

Lemon Verbena Panna Cotta

I just had to share this. Got it from the website of Discovery Country Suites. A recipe of their Lemon Verbena Panna Cotta. This was one of the best panna cottas I’ve tasted and I swear, one of these days, I’m making an attempt to cook one of these on my own!

Ingredients

• 3 1/3 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 1 cup whole milk
• 50 grams fresh lemon verbena leaves (lemon balm may be used as substitute)

1. Combine the cream, sugar, milk and lemon zest. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring lightly.
2. Gently bruise the verbena leaves in your hands and add them to the milk. Cover the pot to infuse the flavors and aromas. Allow to sit covered for 10 minutes.
3. Stir the gelatin into the infused warm milk until it dissolves. Strain through a fine-meshed sieve.
4. Pour the mixture into chilled dessert cups or wine glasses. Chill overnight.

The Panna Cotta can also be served unmolded, by running the tip of a knife around the edge of the cup, dipping the cup very briefly into hot water and gently releasing the custard onto a plate. Sprinkle pistachio brittle on top.