Window Blinds

One thing I love about our home is the interior decor, we have lots of cabinets in the kitchen and all the windows have blinds. We love how they were installed on our windows and the styles. It's so easy to slide them to the end if we want to have sunlight rays inside to feel the sun. In our bedroom we close the blinds at night to keep us sleep in the next day during weekends. It keeps our room dim and make you wanted to sleep more.

It's my day off today and last night I fully closed the blinds, guess what? I woke up 8:30 in the morning. I did not know that the sun is already so bright and it was a beautiful morning, not an ordinary foggy and chilly morning at all. I got up right away, turn on the sprinkle to water the grass in the front and back yard.

The Major Major Answer

Our very own Miss Philippines Maria Venus Raj is being criticized by many people around the world with her answer during Miss Universe Top 5 Q&A portion. Many were thinking she was trying to say she's perfect, many articles tremendously multiplied all over the net be it's online news or blogs. What they don't understand about our culture and upbringing is the close family ties. We are even used to say repetitive words, be it a nick name or even when we are trying to emphasize our point of view.

So to those who do not understand what our candidate really meant with her answer, she is not trying to say she's perfect, it was actually misinterpreted by many of us. As I understood it, she's trying to point out that she did not make a biggest mistake because of the help and guidance of her family. She gather her thoughts in Filipino way and say it in literal translation in English which makes it a wrong grammar. So it is actually a wrong grammar deliberation not what many of us think that she is trying to say she's perfect.

Furthermore, to give my readers some insights how different the life in the Philippines from the US.

1. The poor people in Philippines live in a nipa hut, other live in a custom house made using a blanket or material to protect them from sun or rain which you can see in many squatters area in the city. We are accustomed to an extended family that is why in a small nipa hut as big as our bathroom here in the US there is a family of 10 living in such a tiny house. In the US our storage room in the backyard is even bigger and better than those nipa hut.

2. If you live in the farm, you have to walk miles to get to your school, in some cases you have to pass river, mountains and farms to get to school simply because we do not have some sort of transportation or we can't afford to ride a public transpo.

3. No matter how poor we are back home we are very optimistic, that maybe the reason why we are tough and can get through with many trials in life. We have a positive outlook in life, we learn to appreciate the little food serve on our table and everything that we have in life.

4. We Filipinos put our family first before ourselves that is why millions of OFW are leaving their home country to work and provide their family a better life in exchange to homesickness and extra bucks than what their making back home.

5. If you are poor and from a big family you are very scared to make big mistakes as there are extended family to nag you, be a granny, mom, aunt, siblings and everyone in the family will make you realize you've made a big mistake much worst you will be the favorite topic in your neighborhood.

When asked what is the biggest mistake, we think about major major one, we think it would be against our belief and religion. It might be crime, drugs, home wrecker, or whatever we think that can put us in shame, that's what we consider big mistake.

True Beauty of Venus

Beauty and brain that's how I will describe our very own Maria Venus Raj our country's representative for 2010 Miss Universe. She truly is a Filipina role model, a strong woman, a fighter and achiever. Knows how to fight for her rights were most born out of wedlock in the Philippines were not treated equally in the society, family, neighborhood and in school too. Sad but it's true, I'm glad that this time that old habit is changing.

Will she bring home the Miss Universe crown? Even if she's not, my respect and admiration for Venus will not be lessen. She was not born rich like most of the beauty queens in our country. but that is never a hindrance to reach her dreams. I can say that our nipa hut when I was young was just like theirs. She strive hard to finish her studies with flying colors. Well, let's cut the story short.... Two more days, this year's Miss Universe will be crowned at the Mandalay in Las Vegas, NV. Could it be our representative? I and my fellow Filipinos are hoping she will get it. I am so amazed how the Filipino community in Vegas showed support to her.

Outer Banks Funfilled Get Away

Our favorite getaway on the East Coast is at the Outer Banks. We have been to this place many times which around 6 hour drive from DC. We love spending our long weekends frolicking at beach and far away from the city noise. The clear water, big waves that will make you jump in with our wake board and just go with the flow to the shore. The Carolina Designs did a great job in making this place a paradise, rental houses are spacious and overlooking at the beach. Everybody in the family can join the fun, when I say everybody pet is included as part of the family. The beautiful houses at the Outer Banks rentals make you feel closer to home, yet having all the fun . It is very homey, quiet and there are a lot of things to do that you wanted to be here all the time.

In the afternoon, you can walk on the trail with your dog if you want as many people are doing that, or ride a bike and enjoy the refreshing air by the beach. As I said, you can bring all you want to the Outer Banks, so do not forget your bike. If you happen to forget those do not worry, you can rent a bike from the rentals or at the business center in the area. What we did? We packed our beach gadgets and chairs then hopped in the car on our way to our little paradise getaway which is Outer Banks in NC.

Our photos are just a proof that we are having a lot of fun when we are at the Outer Banks, aren’t we? If a picture paints a thousand words, what would you say about mine?

Let's all hop in the car!

Ohhh beach, here we come!

Beautiful Atlantic Ocean, we're lucky to see couple dolphins here

Nature lovers will enjoy this view out of your window, take a peek at turtles, I love sitting on the patio watching the nature and listening to the waves

Frolicking at the beach waves, can you handle that? Been gotten by big ones couple times but 'twas absolutely fun

Big waves getting me? Hmmpp I got a body board yay, surfing is now more fun. Don't let it go, tie it to your foot

Who says I can't catch a crab? I just did!

Outer Banks is not just about beach, food and dining, recreation and shopping. Our bonding time after lunch. This is where I had my first bumper cart outdoor ride too.

Beaches has designated lifeguards to keep everybody safe at the beach

Done? don't forget to pack up your bikes.

A must see in Outer banks, the historic lighthouse

It was such a fun filled time at this paradise. I love the fresh seafood serve on our table while watching the sunset at the shore. Are you hungry for barbecue? Oh, there are great bbq places here, just almost every dish you wanted to try. I would love to go back here, at that time I will try to do the parasailing. My goal is to overcome my fear in heights thousands feet above the sea. When we ride the jetski again, I will not forget to bring towels with me so we are not soaking wet and running to the store to buy one.

Outer Banks, wait for us! We will visit you again, very soon!

Industrial Tools

Last year, my sister requested from to get them a tool box for my BIL. He did not save his toolbox when their building was on fire. He’s a carpenter and really good in making home furniture too. In fact, he’s a big help in my mom’s house construction by which until now not done yet due to the budget. Whew! My goal is to get it done at least and make it the way how I wanted it, to finish the house completely, we need more industrial products and budget. With complete industrial tools the work will get done faster and less manpower.

It is nice if everything is built in, the closet, TV rack, and also they can make the bed frames easily. I do prefer that than buying one from the department store which is not as strong and good quality as the one that is custom made. But before that, we have to work on the yard first and make sure to order the gravel and sand for the yard so that the water will not get in the house when it rain hard. It’s all plan and the drainage has to get started now that the typhoon season is approaching.

Out of Ideas

The princess sutil has been procrastinating whether to update my blog template or not, change the title and layout or not, put more knick knacks or not. Those were the things that were bugging me since yesterday and so it ended up the same old blog lay out and nothing has changed except the additional entries. Seems like I totally ran out of ideas how to make my little web world looks new. With many updates from blog host that makes it easier to update still am out of thoughts.

I think I need to refresh my skills in programming, it's been gone for quite a while, is this a sign of getting older? Hope not, heck I do not want to yet but we are all going the same way nothing but getting older. Just last month I added one more year in my life and contemplating with what have I done so far and what do I want to do in the future. As my friend said, nobody gets out alive in life so enjoy the most of it. True!

Today is a cleaning house day and running errands my list is still empty but one thing for sure I am going to the oriental store and get my ingredients for pinoy recipes. We want to do all our errands today so that tomorrow will be a fun and relaxing Sunday. Oh by the way, I need to remind my BH (better half) to look for a swimming pool! My feet did not touch the pool water for ages now.

Fitness and Health

Staying fit is not hard at all, it all start from self-discipline, dedication and determination. We are going to start having a healthy living again. Our goal is to go back to the health club every weekend while hubby is working out I can go to the pool and do my swimming. I miss this routine as swimming makes me fit and strong. This used to be my regular exercise since I took my swimming class two years ago. We both had our personal trainer, hubby had elliptical trainer, cardio and couple more others according to his goal. While my program is more on muscle building and weight gain plus the swimming. What I love about our health club is the spa area with three big whirlpools, the steam room and the dry spa. I love it! It is very relaxing.