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.

at the end of the day

There is nothing more delighful than to end a day with amusing thoughts and anecdotes. Today, I got a couple of hilarious tale. Last night, my Mom sent me a text message telling me about a funny thing that happened to my dog. Bub got hit on the head by a guyabano fruit at the back of our house. I couldn't stop laughing thinking about my poor tiny dog, being knocked over by a guyabano and getting green stains on her head!

And then at the lunch table today, a new staff asked me and David if we were brother and sister! Because we look alike, she said. Imagine that. It definitely made the other lunchers guffaw. We laughed so hard about it. Sometimes, we're mistaken as brother and sister. Hilarious.

What better way to wrap up a particularly stressful week? Tonight, smoking shisha with friends. Tomorrow, the cherry blossoms in DC.

Life As A Volunteer

For the last ten months, I had been doing volunteer job. It had been quite entertaining and I have learned lots of things. Sometimes, it can be very frustrating, only in the sense that I am not being paid for my efforts. However, that's another story and I am not in the best position to complain. Being a volunteer has taught me many different things, and has given me opportunities to experience things I would probably miss had I opted to just stay home or wander elsewhere. For a newcomer like me, this is best place to learn.

My work in the psychological testing field before was challenging. Everyday was a test of patience and judgment. I’ve encountered varying personalities in the past. My current volunteer job is at the information and referral at a mental health agency. Basically, my tasks include processing voicemail messages and directing them to the appropriate program, attending to walk-in clients needing services, processing referrals from other agencies, contacting possible clients on the phone, and sometimes, answering calls at the referral line.

It’s a LOT of work, I only realized it now. I used to be so confused on my first months here. And most of the process and system is fairly new to me, and I needed a lot of time adjusting to it. Insurances, self-pays, sliding scales, DFS, CPS, counties, grants, policies, etc. were all new to me. But I soon became familiar to it, and making referrals and forwarding cases to different programs within the agency became quick and easier.

And working in a multicultural place is such a joy and it is so exciting to meet people from different corners of the world. Most of those who work here are immigrants, and it’s exciting to know different cultures. All the clients who come for services are mostly immigrants, and most of them don’t speak English at all. It’s a scary thought to come to America and not be able to speak the language. It makes me think that Pinoys are luckier because even though some don’t speak the perfect English, we still have more than a handful of English to survive. Most of the clients speak Spanish, Farsi, French, Arabic, Amharic, Vietnamese, among other languages.

The most challenging part of the job is the walk-in clients. They come in seeking services, sometimes accompanied by interpreters, sometimes they can fairly converse in English and some would need a staff to interpret for them. Having met them, I feel so thankful that even though Filipinos have a very chaotic and rough life, we didn’t have to experience what those people had been through. Filipinos still have a lot of things to be thankful about. It’s so sad to hear their stories about civil wars and all other difficulties they’ve been through. The agency offer many different programs for them- like counseling, legal services, social services and life skills programs. And having met these people from places like Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Congo, Iran, Egypt, Afghanistan, Morocco, etc. has made me appreciate more the distinctness of world cultures. Also meeting people from Latin America has made me understand more contrasting personalities and cultural variety.

I love to be here. Friends teach you words and customs from their own countries. People share about their peculiar eating habits, or about food, marriage, raising children, unusual customs and practices. It’s always fascinating to hear those exchanges of interesting tales. The staff is a mélange of people from different cultures- Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Germany, Hungary, Ethiopia, Bosnia, Iran, Kenya, etc. etc. They blend well with the American staff. Well, there are those who are easy to get along with, and there are those who are such pain in the neck. Like I said, this place is a hodgepodge of different cultures and personalities. And in general, this is a great place to be.

I never thought I’d be able to meet people whose cultures I only read about in books. But I’m here, and it is a great experience. Being a volunteer here is such tremendous adventure. Doors and windows for greater opportunities and discernment has been opened for me…

recipe no.2!

I'm in a cooking frenzy! This time, I made omelettes and I'm dubbing it as "MHO"- My Humble Omelette. This is fairly simple to make. You just need:

4 beaten eggs, seasoned with salt

3 hotdogs, cubed

1/4 cup carrots, diced

1/4 cup onions, chopped

dried basil

dried oregano

dash of pepper

1 tbsp. oil

Then: Saute onions, carrots and hotdogs in oil. Season with pepper. Add basil and oregano. Set aside. Then pour beaten eggs into the pan, then add the hotdog mixture. Wait until the eggs are set. Fold the omelette and serve!

I hope this won't become a cooking blog ;)

recipe no.1

I like experimenting with new recipes. It's a newfound joy and hobby :) After perusing over numerous cookbooks and watching too many cooking shows, I learned that following word for word any recipe is not a good idea. All you need to do is follow your instinct and have good judgment. And the best lesson of all- don't hesitate to experiment.

I started to try my hand around the kitchen in 1999. And I could proudly say, my relationship with cooking have grown steadily and progressively over the years. I had too many trials-and-errors over my cooking. I used to be the kind of girl who vowed never to cook, or at least learn how to cook. However, David changed my mind about cooking, and I have been happier ever since. Now, I am a happy cook! Sometimes when I'm stressed out about something, I try to whip something up to 'keep my mind preoccupied'.

The more fun way of cooking is to use whatever is in hand, and create something from it. So let me share a recipe I made recently:

*ingredients*
1 cup pork strips (thinly sliced)
1 cup Chinese mushroom (soaked in water, sliced)
minced ginger (around 1 tbsp)
broccoli florets (around 1 cup)
soy sauce (3 tbsp), mixed with
1 tbsp light brown sugar
garlic powder and ground pepper to taste
1 tbsp. canola oil
sesame oil

*cooking directions*
saute minced ginger in 1 tbsp canola oil
add pork strips, stir fry for around 3 mins (or until meat is done)
add mushroom
add soy sauce with brown sugar
simmer for around 4 mins, or until liquid is almost dried up.
while it's simmering,
add broccoli florets (cover while it is simmering)
add a dash of garlic powder and pepper to season
add a few drops of sesame oil just when you're about to
turn the heat off, be sure to mix well.
serve with rice

Carrie and Big

It was only this year that I was able to see the last two episodes of the Sex and the City, season six. I was religiously following the show until a more important event in my life came up, which explains why I missed the exciting last episodes.

Anyway, I was not disappointed. I am glad Carrie and Big ended up together. Got me thinking about an old Filipino adage -"Pagkahaba-haba man ng prusisyon, sa simbahan din ang tuloy". All's well that ends well. Although at some point, I had wished Carrie and Aidan would marry eventually. However, Aidan is not meant for Carrie.

I remember that episode when Carrie saw Aidan on the street and when he turned, there was a baby. It was a nice scene. It was a closure for Carrie, she could never have Aidan ever again. But I'm the biggest Big fan. I know he and Carrie belong together. Although it took them a long time to realize that.

Recently, I've been watching reruns of the show. I'm still excited over each episode, although I've seen them many times before. It's nice to reminisce, and to remember the days when me and my friends would talk about the latest episodes. We had a great time.

My favorite character is Charlotte. She's too neurotic and obsessive, however she has the most endearing personality of them all. It's her fashion style also that I like. Carrie is fun, she's stubborn and very independent. Miranda is ultra cynical. Samantha...hmm. She does what she had to do ;)

Skip to Happiness

"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now.
Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future.Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family.
Every minute should be enjoyed and savored."

Oftentimes we are caught in the frenzy of daily rigors that we turn into grumbling machines and forget to relax, and we become so uptight and can't seem to find joy in things.

Little things can bring joy in life. You don't have to do grand things to be able to find joy. There are so many things in life to be happy about. A favorite song played on the radio, a quick coffee break, a nice meal, the chance of catching up with your loved one while being stalled in traffic, a wonderful sight along the way... The list goes on and on.

Life is what we make it. And we should make it as happy as we can. Life should not be wasted in a pit of unhappiness. Life is short, we should not waste time making ourselves and other people miserable.

Let's all be happy and celebrate life!