My sister lives in Canada now and it was her birthday yesterday. Birthdays are huge celebrations in my family and even if she is so far away from us my parents made sure that we have to give her something special and it was a bit hard for my sister in law to find great gifts for birthdays that is celebrated a thousand miles away from us. Delivery was an issue, there are online stores that sends cakes and flowers but most of them don’t ship to her place. My sister in law ended up ordering a birthday basket filled with fruits. We were choosing between flowers and fruits and my parents wanted something that she can use or eat and since a birthday cake is not in the choices, we decided on fruits instead. As of this moment, I heard that she already received the basket. Well, Happy Birthday to my sister and I am psyched to see her this Holidays.

I met with my balikbayan friend who works in a center in the States and she was talking so much of her career that the nanny who was with us, it got her thinking of the course she will take in college. She first dreamt of any sales jobs that she can get because she said that she has rapport to different kinds of people and then she changed her mind and then she changed her mind and wanted to take up Culinary instead but since we heard that this course can be very expensive and since we will be financing her college fund, I asked her if she can changed to something related to culinary but not that pricey so she might want HRM but then just after meeting my friend, she is thinking of getting something related to being a therapist. I am a bit devastated because I know I can’t send her to college if she wants to be a therapist. Oh my! I hope I win the lottery!

We have two balikbayans in the family this coming March. Two of my brothers in law are coming home. Actually the eldest is already here and the other one is arriving tonight and both of them have so much errands to do here aside from coming for a vacation. The younger brother is actually looking for insurance that will be very helpful to him and to my parents in law, something that has life insurance return of premium which his previous insurance doesn’t offer. Anyways, thank goodness we are not tasked to help him look for that since both my husband and I have no clue about insurance, instead we are tasked to plan our Summer trips particularly in Subic and most probably we will be going to Tagaytay as well. I can sense that my husband is very excited, it is very rare that we go out of town with his whole family.

My Aunt will be going to New Zealand for a wedding. She will be coming with my Uncle and originally they planned on stopping by the Philippines for a visit but then their schedule went haywire when one of her husband’s relatives booked them to a discount cruise which is not really bad at all but then before the wedding she was hoping she can pay us a visit but they have to arrive early in New Zealand for the cruise and since it cannot be changed, she opted to go. I personally think that this is an experience and even if they’ve been to so many cruises, it’s their first time in New Zealand so this will be nice for them. We can see them maybe next year anyway when we visit the US for a vacation.

I am sending my son’s nanny to college and she will be going next school year. I promised her that I will send her to school just like a sister. I will be paying for her tuition plus will give her allowance. It’s a paying it forward for all the good things she is doing to us and since birth she is the one who is taking care of our son. I don’t know what I will do without her, I might quit work if she leaves but she told me that she will never leave our son until he needs her and I always thank the Lord for giving us a very loyal nanny. If I will win the lottery, I will send her to a good medical assistant school but my budget is limited plus I also have our son to send to school next year as well. Friends keep asking how will we keep up, I lift everything to God, I know He will never forsake us and that He will always provide especially that helping our son’s nanny is a great cause.

We recently had the house warming for my parents business in Mandaluyong. I wish we can have one of these successful home businesses in the future as well. I always think that real estate is the way to go. My parents apartment has 3 floors. On the first floor, they are planning to use it for a grilled chicken franchise business my dad and his best friend are planning to get. The second floor is nice for 2 people to rent, maybe a newlywed couple or 2 friends who are in College while the 3rd floor is nice for a small family of 3 to 4 since it has 2 small bedrooms and enough space for living and dining. Here is the picture of the apartment…

I admire my parents. They really think of the future and in God’s grace, may they feel the fruits of their hard labor for more years to come. Amen.

There will have no guilt for sleeping for hours and being just lazy all together. No guilt for eating too much food, I will have just have to consider taking diet pills after. It’s my birthday today and I will eat as much junk as I want, as much sweet my body can take and I will rest in the cold bed inside this hotel for 2 days! My Dad decided to celebrate my birthday in a hotel with the whole family. Since it’s on a weekend, he decided to check us all in here in Ortigas. Actually, I was the one who looked for a nice hotel, he wanted a 5-star hotel but I didn’t think it is so practical to spend 25K Php for an overnight stay, so I looked and looked and I just ended up booking at my favorite not so 5 Star hotel around the Metro, (since we – the husband and I, have nice memories of this hotel)…

So since it’s way a lot cheaper than Sofitel, we are booked for 2 days! I just love birthdays!