I signed up for the “biggest loser” contest in our company. Unlike the TV show, this contest is a team effort with several members of the team adding up to the total weight loss.

Unfortunately, after our trip to Bohol, I have not been sticking to my diet. In fact, I have gained a total of 4 pounds since our last weigh in. Tsk, tsk. I’ve been thinking if I should take an appetite suppressant. Again, I didn’t want to shop for clothes ‘coz I want to lose some more weight before I do.

Sigh.

I am a member of a parents group in our company. I’ve been seeing teasers on this “bring your child to work” day. They were even asking for parent/s to volunteer to help on the event. I was simply brushing it off. But then yesterday, I was asked if I can volunteer. Honestly? I was reluctant. Friday is my work-from-home day and I don’t feel like bringing BG to the office while I check on the other kids too. (Note: I said “check” not “look after” so it wouldn’t be too hard, really)

But I gave in. I am curious how BG would roam around the office while I work. This is quite different from the office Trick-or-treat where mommy was roaming around with her. Will she be excited (as much as her dad’s excitement on getting New York Yankees tickets)? Or will she get bored? Let’s see.

It’s time every one/Juan flies.

Weee! We have availed of the Cebu Pacific promo that runs from March 25-31. The travel dates are from June 1 to Dec 31 this year. Hurry! You might want to get your seats at a discounted price just like we did.

This is for our planned Hong Kong trip in October. Believe it or not, the ticket only costs less than Php5000 per head. That’s with travel insurance and reserved seating!

So I’ve been busy browsing for affordable hotels and/or hostels. I’m also checking the most efficient itinerary that includes ferry cruises to and from Macau.

The key word here is AFFORDABLE.

It was late last year when Ate Jen twitted about light painting. I think it is really cool especially when you’re really good at it.

Then the other night, I wondered if I can do it even without any knowledge on how to do lightpainting on your own. All I know is it should be done in long exposure (still, I could be wrong).

I did a couple of trial and error. The first few settings, the shutter wouldn’t fire at all. So just want to share how I did it in case you want to try it too.

Equipment used: SLR on a tripod or you can place your camera on top of something stable like bed frames perhaps; light source such as a flashlight. Although I used my mobile phone ‘coz like I said earlier, I did this on a whim.

Steps that I did, some of which may not be necessary hehehe:
1. I set up the SLR on the tripod on a place where it was dark.
2. I set the lens into manual.
3. I set the camera to the Tv mode / speed priority, and the shutter speed to 1/8
4. I set the ISO to 1600.
5. I set the camera’s timer.
6. I waited in front of the camera and drew a heart using my lit-up mobile phone when I heard the shutter about to burst.

This was the first photo that the shutter, with the different settings I tried, actually clicked.

I would have wanted a darker background and a nicer light paint. But this one isn’t so bad as a first.

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There’s another upcoming earth hour on March 28, 8:30-9:30 pm local time. That’s 8:30-9:30 AM EST. I think it’s cool that everybody participates in conserving energy. I remember our entire street supporting the earth hour drive last time. I hope there will be more participants this time. And I’m glad to know that the company I’m working with will be participating too.

Read more about it here, while I continue my research on the most affordable means of rv camping. Hope you’ll participate too. Let’s turn the lights OFF for Earth Hour!

My sister has borrowed our Sony M1 digicam. Even if the videos taken from it are almost faultless, I have warned her that the photos can be disappointing most of the time. I told her she’d better be back before our Hongkong trip late this year or else, well, I have no point-and-shoot to use as a backup to our SLR. Hehehe.

Then I just thought I could buy a better model online and have it shipped to her. I will just have to wait for any digicam Sale while she’s on business trip. I want something that has a higher megapixel and can take videos. Like I said, I want something that could serve as a backup to our SLR. Plus, I like to start taking videos again and upload them to my YouTube account.

I read some reviews and I think I like either the Canon Powershot SD970 IS, or the SX200IS. (I had to blog this ‘coz I kept forgetting the models hahaha) There’s nothing wrong with some wishful thinking, right?

Earlier, I asked Peachy if we are buying some stuff over at ON. Then we started talking about some sales of dresses probably few weeks from now. So I changed my mind and decided to just wait for a sale.

As it turned out, it was a good decision ‘coz BG received several sets of clothes from hubby’s aunt from Dublin later today.

We’ll be calling her tonight toll free to thank her. Aside from the clothes, BG also received a musical night light. All these has saved me a whole lot of shopping!

There are plenty of investments around. Most parents I know made sure they have invested on bonds that would be very helpful in the future in time for their children’s college.

Some people I know, like my late grandfather invested on rare gold coins. According to him, when it comes to investing, quality is more important than quantity as it was with his collection. And so he was able to amass fortune in his time through wise investments and negotiating skills.

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This was what our Bohol day tour comprised of. Since it’s summer, it was hot. I strongly advise to wear comfortable clothes (I wore sleeveless blouse and shorts) and shoes/sandals/flipflops.

1. Blood compact – fortunately, there was a japanese couple with a tour guide when we arrived. We were eavesdropping on the history being shared by the tour guide. I forgot it anyway.

2. Baclayon Church – if you like old churches, this one’s for you. I love it. Plus a little “art” here:

There’s a museum but we opted not to check it.

3. Chocolate hills – don’t expect brown little hills like I did. hehehe. They are greenish.

4. Butterfly garden – this one’s really nice! the tour guide tells you of the butterfly life cycle, and types of butterflies among others. they’d let you hold of the butterflies (but they will die after you held them, we were told). BG fell in love with the place instantly coz she loves butterflies. If I visit Bohol again, I won’t mind visiting this place again.

5. Hanging bridge – I didn’t cross it. I was too afraid to cross it. Hubby was supposed to cross it while carrying BG who was sleeping at that time. I backed out after 5 steps and told hubby that BG and I will just wait inside the van.

6. Loboc lunch / floating resto – This is a buffet lunch at P250. Too pricey don’t you think? There was no need to pay for BG though.

7. Tarsier – again, don’t expect to enter a forest to find the tarsiers like I did. They are residing on trees that are inside a souvenir store.

8. Bohol Python / mini-zoo – hmmm, I disliked it mainly because there’s someone there who performed and made the place look like a carnival.

9. Hinagdan Cave – BG stayed with her godmother outside while hubby and I checked the cave. It was my first time to enter a cave so I found it so cool!!! I wanted to get a rock there to keep as a souvenir. I was thinking I could polish it with rock tumblers. Then I changed my mind. As they say, take nothing but pictures.

There were birds flying at the top part which I first thought were bats. But the tour guide, who’s good in camera settings by the way, told us that they are birds. Well, I didn’t like the smell of the water. And we had to step on the water (up to ankle only) to go to the other part of the cave. But overall, I like the cave.

I have planned to pack our things for our Bohol trip several times but I haven’t done anything even just to list down the needed items. All I know is that we need comfortable clothes and flip-flops. Too bad I still can’t use my UGG boots that a friend from Australia gave me. It would be inappropriate. I’d probably use it to one out-of-town trip this year.

Or maybe I’ll ask my sister if she wants to borrow it on her business trip to the US. Yes, finally I could blog about it. Even if her business trip to Belgium didn’t push through, she was scheduled for one to the US. When one door closes, another opens.

I was in Greenhills last Friday. I went inside this camera shop looking for the affordable Canon lens. I was informed that it is out of stock. No surprise there because aside from that lens being as the most inexpensive type, this particular store offers it at a lower price.

I went to our department offsite cum coffeetalk at Valle Verde clubhouse. Afterwhich, I headed to Megamall to visit the Canon store. I was informed that they ran out of the lens too. Again, no surprise there. I checked another store, and again, same results.

I panicked. I asked my sister to google the contact number of this Canon store in Trinoma. I called the store and told them to reserve me one lens till 10pm that day.

I went back to Greenhills to meet with friends. I just thought I could buy a remote control for the camera so we went back in to the camera shop, the first that I visited that day. While asking the saleslady, she gave me this I-have-seen-you-before look, so I sort of explained to her that “Oh, I went in here earlier looking for a lens”.

She told me “Ma’am, we now have 2 of that lens just delivered to us, are you still interested to buy one?”

Enough said. Well, let’s just say, I bought something from that store, and it isn’t the remote control.

Have you watched the Oscars? As much as I wanted to know the winners, I wanted to see what the stars were wearing. I always check, during any awards night, the gown works, designer shoes and of course, Designer Jewelry.

One can look as glamorous as the stars but at an affordable price. You can always copy the look! You can always glamorize a simple gown with jewelry. Check out the Red Carpet looks from the Holsted Jewelers offered at 25% off! Not only that, you can avail of their no shipping promo on orders over $85. Hurry! Promo runs till March 2.