fried egg friday

This, is one bizarre title for a blog entry like this! It's totally unrelated to my story this Friday. (Though I had thought of having fried egg+toast for breakfast this morning). But it seems like a kooky idea ;)

Anyway, I attended the panel interview for a job candidate this afternoon for the first time. (I was invited to come yesterday to the other candidates' interview, however, I chose to take my time at lunch, hence, I missed it). It went well, and I guess the girl's gonna be hired.

It has been a busy week. And tiring. And not to mention frustrating. I felt it was just like a series of waking up late, rushing for work, eating lunches, going home, and then the day is over. And I even felt there's no enough time to do my chores at night. After dinner, it feels like there's no downtime, and before I know it, it's time to go to bed. Where are those days when I anxiously wait for the day to end because it seems to streeeeeeeeeeetch forever? Has my world changed?

Well, I guess the most logical explanation is that I lead a very different life now. Aside from wondering (with a tiny little bit of complaining) how time goes really fast, I guess life is good for me since I enjoy the responsibilities. I like doing chores and keeping our household in order. And I like the peace and quiet, the predictability, the unhurried life David and I share.

But we still get to enjoy beautiful moments together, sharing a snack when we get home, fixing dinner, prodding each other who should take out the trash, watching tons of shows on TV. Our nights at home are full. Plus- we get excited what to do over the weekend. And lately, our gauge on how time flies is Big Love. Big Love na naman! It always feels like we've only watched the show the night before, and yet we're about to see a new episode on Sunday.

Our plan for the coming weekend is to jog at 7am. This, still remains to be seen, since both of us aren't exactly the people who get up before 10 am on weekends (except if we're going away on a trip). However, I hope the weather would be good tomorrow, the past Saturdays had been chilly, rainy, if not, windy. Not an ideal day (for us, hehehe) to go jogging. We could only admire people we pass by jogging under a drizzle or a gusty day. As much as we want to jog religiously (!), it seems we're always circumvented by weather reasons, hehehe.

Friday nights used to be take-out nights, however, I have a strong feeling he's not up for it tonight. For several nights now, I've been hinting take-outs to him (BK, Taco Bell, Baja Fresh, Super Pollo, etc.) to no avail ;) I'm such a lousy negotiator!

If I cannot persuade him tonight to get takeout then it's gonna be a pasta friday night. :) I could make some chicken rotini with bell pepper. Or maybe I could just make the Spanish rice he had been mentioning the other day. We'll see tonight.

I hope it's gonna be a great weekend! We have plans to meet a friend on Saturday afternoon. I hope it's gonna be warm, warm, warm. Can't take the chilly air anymore!

if i were a time of the day

You Are Sunrise!
You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary.You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward. Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You're often cooking for friends or buying them gifts.All in all, you know how to love life for what it is - not for how it should be.

http://www.blogthings.com/whattimeofdayareyouquiz/

I had always thought I was sunset. Sunset for me means relaxation, a thrill, a triumph that the day is over and that you've accomplished something. Sunset signifies a promise of a better day ahead of me....

But I think sunrise better describes me now. I WANT to be always an optimist, assured and unconstrained with imaginary woes and uncertainties. I WANT to love life more and I want to make it better each day!

The Gift Outright

On January 20, 1961 poet Robert Frost was about to read the poem "Dedication" which he wrote especially for JFK's inauguration. However, blinded by the sun's glare, he was unable to read the words. And so he recited, from memory, his poem The Gift Outright....

The land was ours before we were the land's.

She was our land more than a hundred years

Before we were her people.

She was ours

In Massachusetts, in Virginia.

But we were England's, still colonials,

Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,

Possessed by what we now no more possessed.

Something we were withholding made us weak.

Until we found out that it was ourselves

We were withholding from our land of living,

And forthwith found salvation in surrender.

Such as we were we gave ourselves outright

(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)

To the land vaguely realizing westward,

But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,

Such as she was, such as she would become.

~ Robert Frost; 1874-1963 ~

what to do with leftover roast chicken

Sometimes, one falls into a quandary- what to prepare for dinner, when you are in a rush to whip something nice and tasty. It happened to me last night. Normally, I would have planned our meals ahead, but it's ever so often inevitable that one simply fails to come up with a planned meal (this happens towards weekends when one is tired and too eager for the week to end).

So last night, I found there was still the leftover whole roast chicken in the ref, I decided to create something from it. I fileted the meat (around 1 cup), prepared green beans (cut into half, around 1/2 cup), sliced carrots (1/2 cup), opened a small can of sliced mushrooms, and prepared to make a yummy meal out of it.

I sauteed onion slices in 1 tbsp. olive oil, added the green beans, carrots and mushroom. I stir-fried the stuff for around 3 minutes, and left it covered to further cook (under medium heat). Afterwards, I added the chicken filet, mixed everything, added a generous sprinkle of seasoned salt (and dash of black pepper). I added a few drops of sesame oil, and voila! A delightful dinner recipe. It serves two (for one hungry hubby and one happy wifey).

It is such a glee to chance upon great ways to touch up and invigorate simple, quiet Thursday dinners at home...

we walked the line

Last night, we watched the movie Walk The Line on DVD with our Kong-sized pizza, ginseng-honey iced tea, plus two dogs hovering around (trying to beg for a bit of pizza). It was our third night of housesitting and doggysitting, and we were havin' a lot of fun. The dogs were adorable, and we were trying so hard not to give in to their 'begging puppy' looks.

Well, a little 'accident' happened the other night- we made lumpia and David got burned by the hot oil from the frying pan, and so after eating, we left to buy some burn ointment. We just left the leftover lumpia at the table thinking the dogs won't be able to reach it. However, when we got back, a mi horror, all the lumpia are gone! Jake (the Springer spaniel) ate it all and left no trace (clever dog!). We knew it was him, since the other (old) dog Thea can't possibly get up and reach the table because of her arthritis, hehehe. Anyway, and he's not supposed to eat human food! But he was okay in the morning. No harm done, so this story is something I'd rather forget.

Anyway, back to the movie :) It was good and enjoyable. Reese was good on it, and she thoroughly deserves her Oscar. Joaquin was very, very good and passionate as Johnny Cash, too bad he did not win. We enjoyed their costumes and it was fun listening to their Southern drawl. The story is quite good and I always love a beautiful, not the overwrought, schmaltzy, demented kind of love- I like the passion, despair and hopefulness displayed in unrequited love. I'm an unrequited-love-story junkie, hehehe. Although I can't say theirs was an unrequited love. But I think it's remarkable how June Carter gave her support to Johnny Cash during his most difficult times.

I think the film ended a bit too suddenly. However, it's still a beautiful story. I love Reese and Joaquin.

It will be our last night housesitting tonight, and surely we're gonna miss the dogs. But I'm more than happy to be back to our warm, more comfy bed.

eeyore's thistley patch

I had thought about Eeyore yesterday........

Eeyore, a very gloomy, sawdust-stuffed, blue-gray donkey. He who spells his name "eoR". He who, despite this, is a very intelligent animal, although he keeps most of his knowledge to himself. That's why he is very quiet most of the time and a bit depressed.

Eeyore, who lives at the 100 Acre Wood Southeast, in his 'Gloomy Place'. His favourite food is thistles. Eeyore, who loves being remembered on his birthday and hates being bounced.Eeyore, whose biggest problem is that his tail keeps coming off (he has lost it many times). His other concern is that his house keeps falling down (he has to rebuild it again, and again, and again.....).

Nevertheless, he seems always appreciative of the efforts of his friends (Pooh and Piglet) to cheer him up....

Here are some of the famous (and cutest) lines from Pooh (and Eeyore), all of them are my favorites:

How sweet to be a cloud

Floating in the blue!

Every little cloud

Always sings aloud.

How sweet to be a cloud

Floating in the Blue!

It makes him very proud

To be a little cloud.

“You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”

“If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.”

“A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.”

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

“When late morning rolls around and you're feeling a bit out of sorts, don't worry; you're probably just a little eleven o'clockish.”

“People who don't Think probably don't have Brains; rather, they have grey fluff that's blown into their heads by mistake.”

“Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon”

"They're funny things, Accidents. You never have them till you're having them."

"The nicest thing about the rain is that it always stops. Eventually."

I was feeling a little bit Eeyor-ish yesterday......

Hook!

I am alone at home on this lovely Saturday, trying to prep things up around the house, trying so hard to concentrate on housework and not get distracted by TV or anything else. However, since I started around 9am, I managed to get myself distracted with three old episodes of sex and the city on HBO ;) It's already 1pm, and I haven't made major progress on housework yet. Well, at least I had loaded the kitchen linens on the washer/dryer. But that's it. I haven't even eaten lunch yet.

And then... on TBS- along came Hook! Who could ever not love this movie?! For those who loved the Peter Pan cartoon movie would looove Hook. I haven't seen this movie for a long, long time. And what a delight to watch it on TV again! It is the absolute kid movie, but I believe it's for grown ups, too. Everyone of us have our happy thoughts :)

So I allowed myself to get distracted again. My favorite part of the movie is when the Lost Boys had a hard time recognizing Peter Pan (who's all grown up in the movie), and then one little lost boy came forward and pinched Peter's face, and exclaimed, "there you are Peter!" And I guess I could add the part when Maggie sang the song their mom used to sing to them so that she could never forget. And one more- when Peter divulged to Wendy, why he left his home to never grow up. Wendy told him, the reason why he couldn't remember his happy thought may be because there are far too many bad memories.

This is a delightful, romantic fanstasy movie. Young and old alike, I believe, can relate to this. It speaks about about the extraordinary relationship between Peter and Wendy, Peter and his kids, Peter and the Lost Boys... And all in all, I guess it tells about our personal relationships with ourselves... We have a choice whether to grow up or not, to stay or not to stay, to forget or never to forget.

So I recommend to watch this movie again. It's good for the heart and soul :) It reminds us never to forget. Many years may be added to our age, heaps of successes and failures may pass, however, one should never forget the essence, the happiness, the irrepressible joy that is called childhood.

What's your happy thought?

first!

I attended my first official Administrative meeting today! It was not bad at all. I was introduced to everyone, and since I have been a familiar fixture in the office, there was no need for extra introductions :) What was announced was just my new position and my new duties. Everyone congratulated me, and I was excited as ever with this new job.

There will be more big tasks coming and I'm sure it will be one hefty job for me. I guess my newest virtues would be: patience and calmness.

Big on Love

For the last five Sunday nights, David and I have been tuned in to HBO's Big Love. It is an interesting story- three homes, three wives, seven children, a crazy father-in-law, the usual "not-so-usual" family. Bill is the polygamist extraordinaire :) Anybody who thinks having three wives is heaven on earth must be deluded. In Bill's case, three wives plus three homes equals triple bills to pay, triple headaches and triple trouble.

I find it amusing to find the characters respond to different situations. Barb is the martyr/motherly-like, Nicki is jealous, demanding and a big-spender, and Margene is the clueless one. They act like normal big, happy family despite the fact that they share the same husband. They say the worse punishment of having three wives is having three in-laws! Bill's just got one on the show, his father in-law (Nicki's dad), a real menace.

Big Love is very entertaining. It gives the viewers a glimpse of the life of a non-convential family which is not usually portrayed on TV. And human nature is characterized well. No one's perfect, what may be unperceivable for some might be palpable for a few. There's a clear struggle there for what is right, what's lawful, what's plausible, and what's reality.

Other critics say it's nowhere near the cachet of Sex and the City, or Six Feet Under or the Sopranos. I think the show offers a different flavor. It might not be spectacularly huge, however, it has an engaging quality to it. And you can't help it to get curious and immersed. I am excited to know what will happen next. Will Bill get another wife? Well, if he's crazy enough to get another rock to strike his head. :)

throw your hat over the fence

"the" Truth in the Way of Life:

If you cannot figure out a way to climb over a fence, throw your hat over the fence, and then you WILL find a way to climb it.

Throw you hat over the fence has become my silent motto in life. Essentially, it means whenever facing difficult tasks, throw your hat over the fence, and make that commitment.

Being motivated to do a certain thing sometimes take more than a nudge. Sometimes you need to push yourself into a situation, where turning your back on it is unacceptable, and you have to deal with it. Taking a risk is more beneficial, rather than spending the rest of your life wondering 'what could have been?'

How many times have we pushed aside an opportunity or shelved a chance to say something, just because we thought it was hard? And were afraid to know the consequences? Many of us, including myself, would always veer away from any sticky wicket as much as possible. However, chances are, there will be an unending barrage of 'what ifs' and at the end, we will never know. Bailing out on Research Methodology class, forsaking a qualifying exam, refusing to start a new, promising career because you're afraid to leave your present job (even though how unhappy it makes you), rotting away in a pointless relationship just because you're too chicken to know what will happen next if you walk out of it - these are the circumstances when it's best to throw your hat over the fence.

I've learned through life experiences that when facing monumental tasks, it is best to face it and deal with it. Fleeing is out of the question. Swallow the pill, throw your hat over the fence! I used to have a lot of uncertainties before, lots of what ifs, however, throwing my hat over the fence has taught me to take a chance on eventuality.

Right now, I am taking a step further. I've thrown my hat over the fence. Now I'm climbing over, and I hope I'd get there unscathed. I really wanted this job, and it has been a long, arduous (and sometimes frustrating) process. However, I've committed myself to it, and I intend to make it. No regrets, I did it because I want no room for what if? I'm a little scared, but I'm hopeful. Whatever happens, this is still better than wondering all my life what could've happened if only.

Apple and Cherry Weekend

I'm always looking forward to weekends. Weekend means relaxing, waking up late and not sticking to schedules. Although there are chores I 'need' to do on weekend, I always have the option to delay it, or skip it altogether. David and I always have 'something in mind' for the weekends. Last weekend was supposed to be jogging, carwash, then cherry blossom. However, a slight drizzle and a gloomy sky suddenly altered our plans. We decided to do it the next day. However, we woke up a bit late the following day. Since it's back to Daylight Saving Time, we missed a full hour. So we had to change all the plans. :)

But it was still a wonderul weekend. On Friday night, we went out for shisha with Darko and Derek. We tried double apple. It was great. I enjoyed smoking it, though I am not supposed to smoke (bad, bad me). Just imagine me and David smoking flavored tobacco with hookah. It was exhilirating. However, the guys just talked about cars! And (gasp!) girls. Next time, we're gonna try caramel, or even coffee! We also met Derek's friends, two very nice Egyptian ladies. It was a wonderful night to be out, we sat on the chairs outside the hookah bar, and the night breeze was cool.

Saturday, since our plans had changed, I suggested that we go 'look' at shoes. 'Look', could mean, maybe just browse over an aisle or two of shoes, then go back home. But I meant to shop for a pair of shoes. Shop is a scary word for David. Because to shop for me means looking through ALL the shoes in all the stores in the mall before I make the ultimate decision. But I am not a hoard-girl, I am a one-at-a-time girl when it comes to shoes. I don't pile up in one go. And though we only went to a couple of stores, David grew restless right away! So I picked a pair of black thin-strapped sandals. Plus- a black tote (on sale!) which I eyed upon entering the store. David may always be annoyed with me when we go shop, but he is still very considerate. ¡Soy la chica más afortunada!

On Sunday we went to see the cherry blossoms in Washington, DC. It was a wonderful sight! It was a little bit crowded that day, but I still enjoyed my first encounter with the cherry blossoms. We walked along the tidal basin and enjoyed the scenery, and David took a lot of pictures along the way. And we were parked blocks and blocks away, so we did a lot of walking that day! Although we missed our jogging, we felt we still accomplished something.

We can't wait for another weekend! Since it's getting warmer and days are getting longer, so it means more exciting things to do, places to go and wonderful weekends to look forward to. I love that the sun sets at almost 9:00pm.

*A hookah is a traditional Middle Eastern or Asian device for smoking. It is also known as a water pipe, nargeela/arghileh/nargile, shisha, kalyan, ghelyoon or Ghalyan, or hubble-bubble. The hookah operates by water-filtration and indirect heat.

**The most commonly-used hookah tobaccos (known as tobamel or maassel) are produced using a 1:2 mixture of shredded tobacco leaf mixed in with a sweetener such as honey, molasses or semi-dried fruit. Originally, tobacco was mixed with one of these sweeteners to form jurâk (e.g. Zhaghoul brand), a flavorless, moistened tobacco. The now-popular, fruit-flavored hookah tobaccos got their start in the late 1980s when Egyptian tobacco companies began experimenting with flavored tobacco as a way to sell more of their products to women. Due to the popularity of flavored hookah tobaccos, many modern manufacturers have begun to use glycerin as the primary sweetener in hookah tobaccos because of its humectant qualities and subtle sweetening properties that accentuate the various tobacco flavorings. Today, shisha tobacco is often mixed with dried fruit, natural extracts and artificial flavorings to produce a varying assortment of tobacco flavors, such as apple, strawberry, mango, cappuccino, vanilla, coconut, cherry, grape, banana, mixed fruit, cola, and mint, which has a cooling effect on the throat. This proliferation of flavors is rather new, starting perhaps in the mid-1990s.