cupcakes anyone?

the other night i asked Chiko to accompany me on my "last free day" as a social person (as i was expecting a lot of work that week). we binged on NY fries... ok, I binged on NY fries (Extra Large Grande size with extra garlic parmesan dip, if you please) with large lemonade at Market! Market! then we skipped over to Serendra for some cupcakes at Sonja's and...i was hooked! not with their cupcakes, although they were yummy. rather with the idea of cupcakes. it's so...uh...gloriumptious. hahaha.


:: for those who need to know...cupcakes are tiny cakes, therefore a dessert...while muffins aren't, therefore they are eaten at breakfast.

anyhoo...i'm on a cupcake rampage, so i went blog-hopping and look where my mouse took me! enjoy!


My kind of flowers
Baking is in the genes
Cupcakes for a birthday girl and an anxious mom
Cupcakes by Sonja

on foreign sites:

52cupcakes
Cupcake blog



Cupcake Workshop!

:: in pic... our cupcakes and nanos!

Ah, the day of hearts! Just want to greet everyone a Happy Valentines day. I thank God for blessing me with your love and friendship. ü let's not forget to greet Him as well, the One who blesses us, romances us, and loves us more than any bouquet of flowers or box of chocolates can ever express! ü

*hugz*


Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
~ 1 John 4:11-12

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
~ John 3:16

*in pic: heart-shaped tikoy! ü

"If men have compartments, women have tote bags..."

For you men out there who are not familiar with tote bags, a tote bag is a large "carry-all" bag similar to but just a tad smaller than a sports duffel bag. The whole point of a tote bag is you throw everything in it that you could ever possibly need and bring it with you wherever you go.

I have always wondered how men survive without carrying bags around (what do you do if your lips are chapped? what if you need a mint? where do you put your checkbook?) Women are always prepared. I am always amazed at women who can open their bag and produce snacks, books, an entire makeup kit, hairspray, and even flip-flops! (you know who you are...!)

Even more interesting, though, is that the compartment-tote bag dichotomy extends into our brains as well.

Link

a delightful entry by my friend and church-mate, lynn nawata hehehe! ^_^

when i grow up i want to be...

i'm bored. bored bored bored. in the middle of a chat conversation with neil the q, a thought entered my mind... my gosh, i'm an art director. but i'm bored right now. help. haha...then i tried to recall what were the professions i wanted to be in growing up... hmmm

:: a concert pianist
first one that came to mind. i would dream of being onstage, applauded by thousands of people, as i finished one of the most difficult pieces known to man - at the time, i think it was The Beautiful Blue Danube, Grade III

:: a comic strip artist
i love comics... it's such a unique form of art that is not just visually entertaining but also exposes human traits and culture or character. my favorites (and the only ones that really make me laugh out loud, or tug my heartstrings) are garfield, pugad baboy, gary larson's the far side, and calvin & hobbes. i actually invented quite a few characters, complete with biography and whatnot. one even resembled a cute spherical blob with arms and legs and not much else, who went around in a car made of popsicle sticks and peppermint candy. some of them actually progressed to a few storylines here and there, but i guess this phase of my life never quite caught on

:: a comic book artist
i totally idolize comic book artists, and my favorites were of course the great Jim Lee and J Scott Campbell. my cousin mike and i would spend hours drawing, mostly copying his collection of DC, Marvel and Image comic books and trading cards. we eventually came up with our own team of super heroes... 6 in all, he drew the guys, i took care of the girls... and would make up fantastical stories that usually involved my heroine having to be saved by one of his characters. harumph!

:: a figure skater
well, there goes THAT dream. haha. i did take a few lessons back in college, and i guess it's like riding a bike...you won't ever forget once you learn how to. owel. this came around the time i was staying in LA and my cousins and i were totally mesmerized by the Winter Olympics. go oksana!

:: a cook
i loved to read. it was my favorite pastime, and sometimes this would annoy my cousin (yes, mike) immensely, when i'd rather spend vacation time reading instead of playing...or rather watching him play...nintendo, go biking or build with tinkertoys. and some of the books i loved to browse through were cookbooks. i would go through my lola's cookbooks and baking books as if they Grimm's fairy tales, reading each step in detail and gazing at the photographs or illustrations. funny, i still don't know exactly how to, and i even love to watch cooking shows on tv and all. i think i'll have to learn eventually. neil would say.. "paano na when you're married?" hm... instant noodles for dinner, honey?

:: a singer for Disney's animated films
hahaha... specific ba? i have serious stage fright kasi... but i loved Disney songs and would belt out songs from the little mermaid, aladdin, and all the old classics. so i would dream of being chosen by Disney scouts to voice one of their lovely characters, and i'd have a lovely solo or a romantic duet...safely behind-the-scenes in a recording booth

more to come... i gotta go attend small group now :P

* cute photo from Getty Images

scattered thoughts

it's 9pm and my work for the day is pretty much done... much more tomorrow of course, but for now, i can't keep still. my mind's been on "turbo mode" since last week, and lately it's been quite taxing just to keep up with it. so if you catch me in a dazed or zoned-out mode, that's probably just me trying to get my brain to settle, or i'm having a meeting with myself. hahaha. sometimes the opposite would happen, that i have so much stuff inside my head, i end up just being bored coz i don't know where to begin. does that make sense?

lately, i'd have chats with a few online friends that kinda go like this...

yahoo friend: ei diane! (or poink, or yanee, depending on who it is) poink123: hey! :) yahoo friend: how are you? poink123: good good. you? yahoo friend: blah blah blah blah (here, a bit of chatter...again, depending on who it is) yahoo friend: so what have you been up to lately? anything new? poink123: nothing new...work, as usual :P hehe

...

*cricket cricket*

*sigh* there's a LOT of things new, actually. i guess it's just that i'd rather tell my story in person, over lunch or coffee... than tire myself out typing out everything that's been happening in my life, only to be interrupted by, wait brb, or ei gtg, til next time! bitin! o_O

tapos may hirit pa yung iba na "so, you have a boyfriend na ba?", like that's really all the update they need.

the people i do chat with online are usually those i already see everyday...sometimes my officemate across the room haha, because i don't need any "updating" for them. i do bug them whenever i can though.

so what HAS been keeping me busy? what's keeping my mind on hyper mode...thus making me even more absent-minded than usual? (to manny, who doesn't read blogs... i know my attention span of late is like that of a 3-year-old...sorreeeee!)

a lot!!! tapos sabay sabay pa! yaaaagh.

at home:
when typhoon milenyo hit, the windows in my room flew off, leaving it in a disastrous, muddy mess. but now, finally, renovations are underway, but lo! my mom and my lola decided not just to repair our windows but do a major overhaul on the house.. painting the walls, replacing the windows, re-cementing the garage. gaaaaaaah. lately we come home to the smell of fresh paint or sawdust, plus my sleeping habit's a bit off-kilter now that the living room sofa has been my bed the past, oh, 4 weeks or so. waaaaah. so anyway, since everything's being turned up, down and inside out here, it's added stress that i have to figure out where to put all the knick-knacks, photo albums, old "toys" and whatnots i've been ignoring since i started working...

work:
pitch, pitch, pitch. that is the word for the month. well, that and REVISIONS. hahaha. but don't get me wrong...work is still fun. i still love it here... yes, despite the overtime, (overnights!). nothing like brainstorming on skin-whitening lotion to really get the adrenaline going. *snicker* but for sure i know i'm still in the right place, with the right people. there IS one thing that does bother me though... it's SO COLD!!! huhuhuhu. it's like working in a refrigerator everyday. i have pics to prove it...with hats, gloves and even wraparound blankies we all look like we're tourists in Siberia or something. our recent Manila weather isn't helping either, brrrrrrrr. lamigin pa naman ako. *sniff*

[edit]
did i mention that it's Philippine Advertising Congress year? yup...so top of mind at work right now is metals! we need award-winning ideas! i feel the pressure now...o_O

church:
ay, where do i begin? hahahaha. basta madami! those on my multiply list are 80% from church anyway, so you know what i'm talking about, hehe. my schedule in the music ministry has been a bit more hectic of late, what with events happening and the kids musical just finishing last december. but it's actually what's been giving me my "break" between work. for KC naman...boy, i have my hands full now with the music team... changes are underway, you guys better keep your eyes and ears open, hehe! please pray all goes well :) (more on that in another entry siguro...er, soon)

and lastly, small group. barely a year ago, i attended my first small group meeting under Randee, and i can still recall how nervous i was to be with new people...opening up like that about God and family and church with strangers, who later on became invaluable friends of mine who'd guide me in my own journey with God. some of them have moved on with new groups, the others still there, every week ever faithful. i've been co-leading the last few months and now...NOW i'm leading my own small group, and it's inspiring to see the look of their earnest faces when we meet, seeing them eager to share their stories and insights on our discussions and excited to know more about God.

between the KC music team changes, helping to train and serving in Music Ministry, plus work, i know i'm up for a rather turbulent time ahead, but i know He's just there guiding me every step of the way. so what do i answer na when someone asks me "what's up?"

ayayay. O_O