Mommy's PlayPEN: ramblings

Showing posts with label ramblings. Show all posts

10 things I love about living in NZ

Simple things, really. But these are the reasons that I'm starting to love moving here in New Zealand. :-)

1. The greenery. Lots and lots of it. It's always postcard-perfect!

Cows have plenty of grass to eat!

On the road going to Rotorua

View from the top of One Tree Hill

2. Playgrounds. They're everywhere! And the best part is that they're FREE! No entrance fees. Clean. Nice. Family-friendly.

Outside the mall

In parks

3. Parks. Every area has at least one. They're green. They're clean. They're free. :)

4. Museums. FREE entrance, too! Call me a cheapskate, but who doesn't like no-entrance-fees?! ;)

5. Bus schedules. Though sometimes late, I welcome this organized scheme of having specific bus stops and schedules. Makes life a little less complicated.

This has become my BFF since we got here ;)

6. Clean toilets. Yeah, they call it "toilet" here, as opposed to how we call it "CR" or "restroom" back in the Philippines. When you're busting, you'd appreciate how public toilets here (whether at the park, inside malls, or just by the side street) are clean, and equipped with lots of toilet paper and clean water. I've seen some that are automated, too, with robot-like voices greeting you as you enter the loo. Hehehe ;)

7. Now talking about toilets, this is another thing that's lovely here: Parents' room. See, there's a Ladies room for the females, a Men's room for the males, and a Parents' room for the, yes you got it, Parents! How cool is that! ;) It's a toilet ++. There's a cubicle with plenty of room for both parent and child, even a stroller could fit too! Then there's a play corner for kids. There are also curtained partitions for nursing moms. And guess what? Dads are welcome in this room too! :-) So moms don't have to worry about leaving our young children (even girls) with just Dad while we go on our shopping spree ;). When Dad's busting, he could just bring along all the kids inside the Parents' room, let them play by the corner, and have his time in the loo. :P

Play area for kids inside a Parents room

8. Foreigners. We all are. Well, most of us, that is. Asians, Indians, Persians, Europeans, British, Americans, Australians. Name it, they probably have at least one here. Makes it easier to be "one of them".

9. Cashless society. They call it EFTPOS. You have a card, swipe it, and you're ready to go. Everything's online. Even a dollar can be EFTPOSed.

10. Family time. Here, it's all about work-life balance. Family always comes first. You can file sick leave if your partner or child is sick. Malls close at 5 PM so that everyone's home by dinner time. Family bonding. Priceless!

Cute Crocs for the little lady

My daughter is really growing up. She's now more of a little lady than my baby. It's evident on her choices of clothes, bags, accessories, and shoes. She likes to wear pretty dresses (and hates it when I tell her to wear "just shorts" to the mall). She borrows my small handbags so she can have her own bag when we go out. One time, at the skin care station where I have my facials, the facialist mistook the bag that C was carrying to be MY bag! hahaha :) I told her in jest that my daughter is "kikay" and likes "lady" stuff instead of the kiddie-type bags. :-) Most of the time, strangers or people we just meet when we're at the mall or in a resto would comment how pretty and lady-like C is. That's probably because she's wearing a complete set of jewelry: earrings, necklace, bracelet, watch, and ring. But of course, they're just the fancy ones. ;) As for her shoes, she also likes wearing sandals (with heels!) and wedges. While checking the online store of Crocs, I asked her to pick what she wants. I thought she'd like those with cartoon characters like Disney princesses, Mickey mouse, or Hello Kitty. But no! Instead, she picked these. All in her favorite colors of purple and pink. :) Oh, I really have a little lady now!

This is her first choice. Dainty flats.

These are cute, I think. :)

Even the rubber shoes are dainty! ;-)

*Note: Photos captured from the Crocs website.

My daughter has always loved Crocs because they look and feel good, very comfortable to wear, plus really sturdy, too! Even if she wears her Crocs almost all the time, they still look good and can still be passed on to her younger cousins after she outgrows them. Well, you know how kids' feet really grow fast, and it's time to buy C her new pair of Crocs. :-)

Christmas Wish List

With less than 100 days till Christmas, I'm starting to prepare gifts for relatives and friends. I always make a list of all the people we want to give gifts to. It's our little way of saying "thanks" for their presence in our lives. Of course, at the top of my list are my hubby and our daughter!

So, I'm hoping to get some extra funds the next couple of months so I can buy these for them. :-)

C recently broke her tablet (buti na lang mura lang din yun! hehehe ;)), and she has been openly saying she wants to ask another one from Santa for Christmas. I saw this at Lazada, with good reviews, so I'm thinking maybe this could be the one for her!

Reward for hubby's hard work! :-)

Have you started your own Christmas lists?

Hello world! I'm back!

I've been busy, oh so busy over the past several months! Obvious, isn't it? It's almost the end of the year and I only have 3 entries for 2013! I can't believe it!!! Well, I hope to catch up in this last quarter.

So, again, Hello World! I'm still here, in case you've missed me. hehehe ;) I'm back!!! :-)

Christmas is definitely in the air!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

What with all the lovely Christmas lights and decorations everywhere! And the Christmas medleys being played in malls just make me wanna sing along! :)

Here's proof that everywhere we go, we're reminded that Christmas is definitely in the air! Happy holidays! =)

At a relative's home. The tree is up as early as November 3!

At Vikings... yes, we were back! hehehe ;)

At SM

At Serendra

At Bonifacio High Street

Uniqlo

I am loving the new designs of dresses from Uniqlo! I wish they were a bit cheaper, though. hehe.. ;)

Must go to MOA soon to check them out! =)

A pleasant surprise!

Look what came in the mail today!

Thanks, Firmoo, for the free sunglasses! 8-)

Happy Mother's Day!

Today I woke up to this: BIG effort from my two loves! A personalized card from little C, and a delicious breakfast from hubby! I'm one happy mommy!!! :-) Happy mom's day to all the wonderful moms in the world!!! :-)

Movie date: The Avengers

Hubby and I finally got our chance to watch the Avengers when little C went on vacation with the grannies last week. It was really my hubby who wanted to watch it so much. I only went because I wanted to take this opportunity to go on a date with him...hehehe... ;-). I'm glad I did, though! I really enjoyed this movie! I am leaving the details out for the sake of those who haven't seen the film. But take my word for it, it's worth the long queue! (We watched it on its second week, and there was still a long queue at the theater! We started to line up about an hour before the actual show time.)

Anyway, we also got these Avenger collectibles from Petron. :-)

The Avengers tumblers from Petron

Captain America

Iron Man

Happy weekend!

Back-to-school Shopping

While at the mall this weekend, I was surprised to see a lot of people already shopping for school stuffs like socks, camisoles, school bags, lunch boxes, and school shoes. I thought back-to-school shopping only starts mid-May! Then again, I realized, why wait for that time when everyone's rushing and lines get really long at the cashier? So, I decided to do some of the shopping now, along with the "early birds" ;-).

These are some of the things I got for C:

Dora school shoes at 50% off, got it for only P400! :)

Rubber shoes from Payless P700

Black school shoes and Rubber shoes

Barbie lunch kit, ~P300

White camisoles, 3 for P130

Hankies, 3 for P70

Happy Feet

Today I had the luxury of time to spend a couple of hours at the salon for some pampering. I declared it my "me" afternoon! ;)

Happy fingers, happy feet... happy me! :)

Hidden Mickeys

I'm still not over our Disneyland experience, so pardon me for these photo overload ;). Well, it isn't Disneyland without Disney's most famous character: Mickey Mouse!!! It was fun spotting the hidden and sometimes, not-so-hidden ;) Mickeys all over the place! Can you spot Mickey?

There's Mickey greeting us by the entrance!