of little sacrifices and granting wishes

I have been reading www.kellyaustria.com and learned that she and her group visited Mapedya Elementary School in Nueva Ecija to see if the place is in need of aid and also to deliver a water hose and a solar panel. It was during this trip that they were able to collect the Christmas wishes of the kids enrolled in the said school. You can read the full story of their visit to Mapedya here. 

Have a look at what the kids of Mapedya want for Christmas:

and this one wish simply broke my heart:

Payong (an umbrella). That's it. Nothing fancy. So I checked their facebook page and learned that they are looking for generous hearts to be ninongs and ninangs (sponsors) to grant the wishes of the kids of Mapedya. I volunteered to be the ninang of Tiny Joy. 

And that same day I committed to being her ninang, off I went to shop for the things on the list. Hope this brings great joy to a little girl named Tiny Joy. 

pink pink and more pink! I hope she is as girly as her name!

I skipped a venti frap and got myself the pink bag. I did not take a taxi on my way home and was able to buy the umbrella and the dress. I will not have my "spa day" this weekend because I spent the money meant for my 1 hour swedish massage to buy the slippers, shoes and school stuff. 

These kids don't want much. What they would want to have are the basic things they can use daily. Footwear, umbrellas and raincoats to protect them as they walk for 4 hours to get to school. Paper, pens, ruler and a bag to keep their stuff.

I am pretty sure some of you still have a few umbrella corporate give-aways from previous years that are just gathering dust. I will be more than glad to pick them up. Or hopefully some will be more willing to skip the nail art, the usual "2bottles" during fridays or the milk tea and instead buy a raincoat or an umbrella. 

"you have never really lived until you've done something for somebody who can never repay you".

26 days and 5 pounds later

So I filed for an 18-day leave and packed my bags to go to" the land of the free and the home of the brave " for 24 days. Some would expect me to post something really detailed about my recent adventure. Well, prepare to be disappointed because I do personally feel that this post won't be anything like that. Why? Because first, I am a very lazy blogger. Isn't it obvious? 1 blog post every month, sometimes none at all! and second, Because I am very busy.Believe it or not but I did do some work while I was a couple of timezones away from the Philippines.   I tried my best to stay connected, responded to emails and requests for proposals and planned my night-outs on manila weekends.

But since my primary reason for this blog is to keep an online journal; here's a quick peek at what happened during my US-trip... a.k.a. "operation blue eyes".

1st stop: the city of angels. Took a 12-hour flight from Manila to Los Angeles. Spent 3 of my most jet-lagged days there. Got to walk on the biggest stars at the Hollywood Walk of Fame and took the chance to have my picture taken with the" Victoria's Secret Angel" star.  Also had the chance for the inner child in me to enjoy Universal Studios. And I know you can see that little minion that tagged along with me! 

Spent 6 hours on board the Mega Bus and travelled to San Francisco where I stayed for 2 weeks. So aside from being invited for buffet after buffet after buffet, I also did the following:

Spent an afternoon in sunny but very windy downtown San Francisco.  Rode the Bart and the world famous Cable Car. I really wanted to but I did not get the chance to have my photo taken at the world's crookedest street.

A friend of my mom was kind enough to invite us to invade their pretty pretty Las Vegas home. So off we went for a 12 hour ride to the entertainment Capital of the world.  All dolled up for Halloween, I saw the largest pumpkins. Walked through rows and rows of slot machines.Too bad I did not have my jumpshot photographer with me as I hopped and skipped to my heart's delight in front of the Welcome to Vegas sign. Our visit to Vegas coincided with iHeart radio's music festival... Since we were not aware of this event, I wasn't able to attend.. but just the thought that Justin Timberlake is within a mile radius is good enough. 

Returned to San Francisco and met with some college friends. We had a blast! I can say it was one of the highlights of my trip. It was so nice catching up with them. They took me to Stanford University and to the very posh Stanford Shopping Center. We feasted on crabs at the Backyard Boiler and had Sprinkles Cupcakes for dessert. We were all laughing and talking at the same time... It was like the movie "The Hangover"... female version! We got quite a few unsolicited stares, primarily because we looked like a dance group as all four of us showed up wearing a certain shade of blue!

Before I took my bus ride back to Los Angeles, I was invited to visit the Facebook Headquarters! For that I will make a separate post because my experience inside 1 Hacker Way was really something nice. Truth is I have already started thinking about working for Facebook! Who wouldn't? Your boss can not say you are procrastinating when he sees that you are checking your Facebook account. 

Back in Los Angeles on the day prior to my trip back to Manila, I visited the Griffith Observatory, kept my eyes open for possible celebrity sighting as I strolled along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and had a great dinner by the beach in Sta. Monica. Oh did some last minute shopping too at the promenade. Seemed like by this time the tourist factor has already rubbed off because I was no longer in the mood to take photos. Or maybe I did take photos, I probably did, but lazy lazy me has not yet uploaded any!