teach them to fish

It is cliche to say "Give a man a fish and he'll have food for a day, teach him how to fish and he'll have food for a lifetime"... But that is exactly what I did to make my sister realize the value of working for money. See my sister has not been working for quite a few months now a ( since mamu is away), my sister gets to keep the household running. Making sure that meals are cooked, clothes are washed. It is with high hopes that I am thinking that she will find a job as soon as my mom returns, but that is still a couple of weeks from now. And Christmas time is just around the corner. That time of the year when everyone, and I mean everyone needs money. 

With that in mind, I thought of having my sister do something to ensure that she will at least have money to buy presents for her inaanaks, or better yet, buy herself something nice. I thought that if I give her 1,000 pesos, the probability of her spending it all on foodtrips is very likely. So instead of giving her the money, I purchased milk, colorful candy sprinkles and declared that we are making pastillas. 

I had everything planned out, I wanted the pastillas to have fillings, so we made pastillas with strawberry, caramel, nutella and chocolate fillings and had them rolled in colorful sugar. We called it sweet surprise. they look something like this:

The first batch we made was given out for free. All I wanted was for my sister to have at least 5,000.00 profit. But my sister-in-law proved to be the "bestseller"! I sometimes think she can sell even ampalaya -flavored chewing gum! Orders started pouring in. From making 6 dozens every night, a day came when my sister had to produce 50 dozens! I urged my sister to not decline any orders, to strike while the iron is hot.

A month into our operation and my sister has already reached my 5,000.00 peso target. 

I feel good about it. My sister has her own money, my nephews have extra allowance, (they sell them to their friends), they all learn that  making money requires a lot of hardwork... but the most priceless benefit we all get from this pastillas-making activity... is the chance to bond! 

Got to go.. I think my sister needs help in boxing those sweet little milk balls! 

HI DUBAI!

No... I am not going to Dubai, well not that I do not want to, I'd love to! It is just that I am still technically broke after spending my hard - earned and bank-loaned funds a few weeks ago in the US. But now that I have the attention of my friends who are now currently in Dubai, I would like to ask for a little favor. 

Please do not make plans on the 22nd and please go to this event:

You have probably been living under a huge rock if you have not heard about how typhoon Yolanda violently devastated most parts of the Visayas. And I know most of you are wondering how you can help. So here is your chance. 

I know most of you are in Dubai to earn a living. I am not sure how the AED60 will affect your budget. But you can also help by giving in-kind donations. I heard that aside from ready-to-eat food stuff, blankets, footwear and toiletries are also badly needed.

I think my friend's post on her blog, which you can read here can give you more information on this very meaningful Fiesta. 

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill

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!