Category: Be Inspired

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Happy Palm Sunday and the San Miguel Community Procession

We started our Sunday morning earlier than usual today. I, along with the boyfriend’s family, joined in the community procession for Palm Sunday. We walked from the plaza all the way to San Miguel Shrine (our church). We passed thru several streets and alleys on our way to the church. Each of us were holding our blessed palaspas (decorative palm fronds). We enjoyed walking while chanting out the Osana song. The community procession was actually a reenactment of a scene in the holy bible where Jesus Christ, the son of God, walked down from the Mount of Olives and were welcomed by the people.

As we passed thru the houses, people looked out their windows and joined us in the singing. It was my first time to passed thru those alleys and I couldn’t help but admire the beautiful houses nestled in there. Most of them had lovely terraces and cool home address signs. They even had plenty of potted plants outside that added aesthetic appeal to their places of residence.

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10 Things I am Thankful for

Every day is a blessing. The moment we wake up is a blessing as it means we are still breathing and yes, very much alive. At times when I feel blue, I think of the many things that I should be thankful for. Today is a great day for me. I’m definitely not feeling blue. But somehow, I feel like thinking about a lot of things that I’m grateful for. There are so many of them so I’ll just stick with the things that I’m really very thankful for this week. Ten things.

1. a new job for my brother (he had his first day at work last Monday)
2. a new refrigerator for mom, for our Cavite home (purchased yesterday)
3. a full version of Fruit Ninja for my iPod Touch 4G (purchased last Tuesday)
3. several fun blog events that I had the pleasure of attending this week
4. a generally healthy body
5. having spent some quality time with the boyfriend and his family
6. having seen my parents last Friday
7. lotsa food to eat and enjoy
8. productive blogging
9. priceless bonding time with my two siblings nightly
10. love from people around me
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The Spiritual Eyes

Last Sunday during the morning mass in our subdivision, the lay minister who gave the sermon talked about giving and vigilance. He started by saying that we actually have two pairs of eyes. The first pair is our physical eyes; the second our spiritual eyes. (I’m sure you know the difference between the two pairs.) He expounded on how we, as human beings, choose to be blind spiritually. We only see ourselves and our needs. Oftentimes, we choose to not see the needs of the less-fortunate. We also choose to ignore the wrongdoings that surround us. We choose to protect only ourselves and because of this selfishness, many are suffering. To everything that he said, I can’t agree more.

God does not want our spiritual eyes to be blind; he wants us to help and reach out to those in need. And it doesn’t have to be just our excesses that we should share with the needy, but also those that are supposed to be for our personal consumption, for our own need. That’s where the essence of giving lies. And that’s the kind of giving and reaching out that only matters to the one above.

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Living the Life of a Superwoman

Time really flies. I just realized I’ve been serving as the breadwinner in our six-member family for eight years now. It all started in 2003 when I began earning money from a part-time job. I was still a student then, two years away from graduation. Thinking about it now, I can’t help but be overwhelmed by the herculean task I placed in my shoulders then. But I did it, man. And I continue to do it to this day. You’re a superwoman, I remember that was the exact phrase a friend of mine once said to me. Now I believe there’s some truth to it.

From sending my siblings to college and handling the family’s finances (how I wished with the help of an executive dashboard) to juggling two jobs and running a household, I’ve done and accomplished so much more as a breadwinner. I’m glad I had the determination and discipline to do anything and everything without succumbing to all kinds of temptation (e.g. drug dependency, unwanted pregnancy, early marriage, etc.). I’m happy I have managed to preserve my sanity and keep myself free these life-altering circumstances all these years.

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Whatta Saturday

I’m glad to have accomplished a lot last Saturday. It pays to wake up early. It pays more when you take your daily schedule seriously. As early as 6:00 a.m. Saturday, the boyfriend and I were already on the road and Cavite-bound with our backseat passengers: Dad, Mom and my sister N. We sent them to my parent’s place in Cavite. Dad and Mom had been with us here in Manila since end of February and it was time for them to go back to their permanent abode. My sister N, on the other hand, joined them to spend her semestral break there.

The trip was in great timing because the boyfriend and I were also attending a tourism seminar and food tasting at Republic of Cavite in Trece Martires City. The program there would start at 9:00 a.m. After arriving at our Cavite home and unloading the car trunk’s contents, we immediately left for our next activity for the day. We were the first participants to arrive in the venue. Cool. We killed time by taking photos of our surroundings. Soon after, my fellow bloggers started coming in.

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Dinner-less Tuesday

I was supposed to not have dinner last Tuesday but I ended up having a delicious plate of Tuscan Chicken meal (P199) from Figaro-Robinson’s Ermita Branch. It had a small serving of pasta in red sauce, chicken fillets with herbs and spices and some salad. It was light and flavorful and I loved it. I didn’t touch the iced tea that came with it, though, because I was limiting my caffeine intake. I was with Edwin and he gladly drank it instead.

figaro dinner
Figaro’s Tuscan Chicken meal

So, why dinner-less Tuesday still? Well, I actually want to try doing it for a month. Like how I wanted to have a meatless day, a no-sweets day and a no-caffeine day before. This is my way of disciplining myself when it comes to food. I am a voracious eater, you know. Pigging out used to be my pastime until I learned to value my health. Now I watch what I eat and strive to balance the variety of food I consume.

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