Girls and Dresses

One of the things I love most about having a daughter is dressing her up. It gives me pure pleasure shopping for clothes for my little darling, and even more happiness putting the clothes on her. It somehow brings me back to my younger years of dressing up my Barbie dolls. Oh, what simple joy! =)

When I was a young child, I remember I used to really love wearing dresses. I guess I was really the girly-type. I look forward to occasions when I could wear my beautiful clothes. I remember looking forward to Sunday Masses, as they were opportunities for me to wear my nice dresses. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of my younger years with me now, so I couldn't post pictures of how I looked when I was a little girl.

Anyway, I came upon this Children's Clothing Timeline.



How informative! I enjoyed looking at how children's fashion has changed throughout the years. Or maybe, it's more proper to use the term "evolve" instead of "change", as I've noticed how fashion from past decades are just revived with a slight revision on style or colors. I especially liked the 50's look, very feminine and oh-so-pretty! :)

With all these beautiful dresses in the market today, don't you just love being a girl? :)

Today is NOT YET Father's Day...

... But no worries! Anyway, any day of the year can be a special day for Dad, but just to correct the misconception, the Philippines celebrates Father's Day this year on June 21.

My tita texted my husband early this morning to greet him "Happy Father's Day". I replied to correct her that Father's Day is still next week, but thanked her nonetheless for the early greeting. :)

Maybe a lot of people thought that today was Father's Day because of all the hype in TV, plus the fact that June 1, 2009 fell on a Monday (not a Sunday), making June 14 (today) just the second Sunday of June. Father's Day have always been celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of June, which falls on June 21 this year. :)

When is Father's Day in the Philippines?

Lately I've been noticing TV programs advertising about Father's Day, which made me worry if it's going to be this Sunday already!

Waaah... I still don't have anything planned out for this special day! So to keep my sanity, the first thing I did was to search Google to check the exact date of Father's Day in the Philippines this year, and to my delight, I learned that I still have some time to prepare a special activity for Father's Day.

So, for all of you wondering when Father's Day is, it'll be on June 21, 2009 -- the 3rd Sunday of June. Yey! Now we all can start thinking about what to do then. Happy planning! :)

May 10 is Mother's Day: Who started this tradition of honoring moms?

With just a week before Mother's day, I'm thinking of writing several articles this week in preparation for this very special day. As for my first entry on this topic, I am writing about the history of Mother's day.

The modern Mother's day holiday was created by Anna Jarvis in 1912. She also trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day". Note the position of the apostrophe: it's meant to be a singular possessive, for each family to honor their mother, and not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world.

Jarvis, however, was against the commercialization of this holiday and used all her inheritance and the rest of her life fighting it. She criticized the practice of sending printed greeting cards on Mother's Day, and said that it just shows how lazy people are to write personal letters to their mothers. Jarvis died in poverty, and ironically was never married, nor had any children.

I think however commercialized Mother's Day has become now, almost a century after, it is a day to pay tribute to our mothers. Whether it is a personal letter or a greeting card, a breakfast in bed or a special meal at the restaurant, a store-bought cake or a home-made cookie, a box of chocolates or a hot cup of coffee, a bouquet of roses or a bunch of garden flowers, what's important is making your mother feel loved and special on her day! You can spend a fortune on this day, or a simple "I Love You, Mom" to make her smile...At the end of the day, when you really think about it, "no gift to your mother could ever equal her gift to you - Life!"

Coffee Filters

I received this interesting email from a friend and I'd like to share it with all of you! =)

Coffee filters ..who knew! And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar store for almost nothing. 1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave.
Coffee filters make excellent covers.



2. Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China.

Separate your good dishes by putting a coffee filter between each dish.


4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.


5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.


6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.


7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.


8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.


9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.


10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent
the soil from going through the drainage holes.


11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.


12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters.


13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them.
Soaks out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."

OH YEAH THEY ARE GREAT TO USE IN YOUR COFFEE MAKERS TOO

Friday the 13th... Unlucky?

Today is Friday the 13th...again. Just last month (February 13, 2009), it fell on a Friday, too. And did you know that this year, there are actually three Friday the 13ths? The third one will come on November. So, does this mean that this year is also three times unlucky?!

Here are some trivia on the number 13:
1. The fear of the number 13 is called Triskaidekaphobia.
2. The fear of Friday the 13th is called Paraskevidekatriaphobia.
3. Many tall buildings omit the 13th floor (and so it follows that elevators also do not have the button for the number 13). Hospitals, as well, do not have room number 13 (if there was, patients would surely wish to NOT be placed in that room, for fear that they might not get well from their sickness!).
4. Numerologists consider 12 to be a complete number, having a number of things by the dozen: 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 days of Christmas. So, if 12 is already complete, what do we need 13 for??!

There's a nice article about Friday the 13th in yahoo's news today. Check it out here.

Friday the 13th will come and go, but I hope yours, like mine, wouldn't be unlucky!

Have a great weekend! :)

10 Romantic Movies For Valentine's Day

Everything planned out for Valentine's day tomorrow?

Well, whether you'll be out on a dinner date or preparing a special meal at home, what better way to cap this hearts' day than to watch a romantic movie while cuddling up on the sofa with the love of your life. :)

So, here's my top 10 list of romantic movies. Hurry, there's still time to rent one at your favorite video store!

Top 10 Best Romantic Movie: The Wedding Singer (1998)
Starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, this romantic comedy film will make you love each other more, especially when your hubby sings along as Adam Sandler sings the movie's famous song, "Grow Old With You".
Famous line: "If you find somebody you can love, you can't let that get away!"

Top 9 Best Romantic Movie: Titanic (1997)
Set amidst one of the world's most tragic maritime disasters, the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet gives a lovely twist to the common rich girl-poor man love affair.
Famous line: "Jack, I want you to draw me like one of your French girls. Wearing this...Wearing 'only' this."

Top 8 Best Romantic Movie: Casablanca (1942)
Winner of 3 Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay) in 1944, this classic film is set in Africa in the early days of World War II. It stars Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine, who sacrifices to keep his love, Ilsa Lund (played by Ingrid Bergman), safe. Fall in love all over again as you hear the song "As Time Goes By" being played in the film.
Famous line: "Everything she knew or ever became was because of him."

Top 7 Best Romantic Movie: Gone With The Wind (1941)
Though a very long movie (almost 4 hours running time), I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss a scene of this Clark Gable (Rhett Butler) and Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O'Hara) classic film set during the American civil war.
Famous line: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!"

Top 6 Best Romantic Movie: When Harry Met Sally (1989)
"Can two friends sleep together and still love each other in the morning?" This is the movie's tagline. Find out the answer and be captivated by this lovely romance-comedy film starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan as Harry and Sally.
Famous line: "When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

Top 5 Best Romantic Movie: Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Let Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard captivate you in this very entertaining delight!
Famous line: "Okay, life's a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness."

Top 4 Best Romantic Movie: Notting Hill (1999)
The movie's tagline says it all, "Can the most famous film star in the world fall for just an ordinary guy?" Feel good and as beautiful as Julia Roberts, or as handsome as Hugh Grant, in this charming romance movie!
Famous line: "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her."

Top 3 Best Romantic Movie: Jerry Maguire (1996)
It is said that this is the movie that made Renee Zellweger popular. This favorite romance movie made everyone love Jerry Maguire (played by Tom Cruise). As its tagline goes, "Everybody loved him... Everybody disappeared."
Famous lines: "You complete me."
"You had me at 'hello'."

Top 2 Best Romantic Movie: 50 First Dates (2004)
Reminisce your most memorable dates as you watch Henry Roth woo Lucy Whitmore by asking her for 50 first dates in this other Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore hit movie! I have to add, too, the soundtrack's full of happy and delightful songs!
Famous line: "Can I have one last first kiss?"

Top 1 Best Romantic Movie: Love Affair (1994)
A remake of "Love Affair" (1939) and "An Affair to Remember" (1957), this is a love-at-first-sight story of two people falling in love when they have given up looking for it. They promised to meet again three months later (to affirm their attraction or love for each other) atop the Empire State Building, and if ever one of them does not show up, then they should just forget about each other with no questions asked. Starring real-life couple Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, this movie will make you fall in love all over again.
Famous line: "I guess I'm happy when I don't want to be anywhere else but where I am."

Unique Valentine's Day Traditions

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I thought it would be nice to compile a list of some fun and unique ways that V-day is celebrated all over the world. Enjoy reading! :)


Let's start off with our very own country, the Philippines. Here, Valentine's Day is celebrated not just by couples, but by thousands of lovers gathered together in one place to claim the world record for the Most Number of Simultaneously Kissing Couples. Started in 2004 and termed Lovapalooza, the country got the record high of 6,124 Filipino couples kissing simultaneously for 10 seconds. However, this record was beaten by Bosnia, with a current record of 6,980 couples (13,960 participants).

Another famous V-day tradition is that of Japan's. On February 14th, women are required to give chocolates (termed as "Giri-choko" meaning "obligatory chocolate") to their male colleagues and/or bosses. They give their partners (boyfriend or husband) special gifts plus chocolates called "Honmei-choko" meaning "prospective chocolate".

A follow-up to Valentine's Day is Japan's White Day, celebrated on March 14th. In return, men show their gratitude to their women colleagues by giving them white chocolates. And for the special women in their lives, men give them gifts such as lingerie and jewelry.

Korea's V-day tradition is much like that of Japan's. Women also give chocolates to men on February 14, and men give gifts on March 14. The only difference is that in Korea, they have a third celebration on April 14, known as the Black Day, where men who have no romantic partners get together and partake of black noodles called Jajang noodles.

In Thailand, weddings have been uniquely celebrated on Valentine's day, such as having the world's largest bride and groom (two elephants), the world's largest mass wedding, and the world's largest underwater wedding.

Taiwan celebrates V-day on two dates, February 14 and July 7. On these dates, men express their love for the women in their lives by giving them roses, the number of which is significant. One rose means "only love". Eleven means "a favorite", ninety-nine means "forever", and 108 roses means "marry me".

In China, V-day is normally celebrated on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. Lovers (and even singles) crowd the Temple of Matchmaker to pray for love and happiness. Also, this day is set aside for girls to make any wish at all. Modern tradition puts a new twist to this holiday when hotels give discounts for couples. Not only is the room discounted, but also only on this day, the hotels will not check for marriage certificates (on any other day, Chinese law requires hotels to verify marriage certificates before allowing couples to check in).

In Italy, women do not only get roses and/or chocolates on Valentine's Day. If they're lucky, they can also get a marriage proposal and an engagement ring, as it is customary in this country to get engaged on this special holiday.

Such is the case in Israel, where V-Day is also a popular time for marriage proposals to be made.

Wherever in the world you are, make Valentine's Day extra special. This is just one day of the year when the whole world celebrates the joy of being loved and having someone to love. Whether you are single, married, or in a complicated relationship, V-Day should be a day of celebration and happy memories.

Click here for wonderful Valentine's Day gift ideas that will surely make your loved-ones smile! :)

Send flowers to your loved-ones

Stroke Indicator

I got this e-mail from a friend.
I thought it would be good to share it here so that more people will be aware of how to recognize a stroke, and hopefully, more people will be saved from it.

Blood Clots/Stroke - They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, theTongue.



I will continue to forward
this every time it comes around!


STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters.... S.T.R.


My nurse friend sent this and encouraged me to post it and spread the word. I agree.

If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. Seriously..

Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) ....she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening

Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die.... they end up in a helpless,
hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally . He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting
the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke
.
Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE.

T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(i.e. It is sunny out today)

R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911 immediately and describe the
symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

History of Halloween

Like many other holidays, Halloween has evolved and changed throughout history. Over 2,000 years ago people called the Celts lived in what is now Ireland, the UK, and parts of Northern France. November 1 was their New Year's Day. They believed that the night before the New Year (October 31) was a time when the living and the dead came together.

More than a thousand years ago the Christian church named November 1 All Saints Day (also called All Hallows.) This was a special holy day to honor the saints and other people who died for their religion. The night before All Hallows was called Hallows Eve. Later the name was changed to Halloween.

Like the Celts, the Europeans of that time also believed that the spirits of the dead would visit the earth on Halloween. They worried that evil spirits would cause problems or hurt them. So on that night people wore costumes that looked like ghosts or other evil creatures. They thought if they dressed like that, the spirits would think they were also dead and not harm them.

The tradition of Halloween was carried to America by the immigrating Europeans. Some of the traditions changed a little, though. For example, on Halloween in Europe some people would carry lanterns made from turnips. In America, pumpkins were more common. So people began putting candles inside them and using them as lanterns. That is why you see Jack 'o lanterns today.

These days Halloween is not usually considered a religious holiday. It is primarily a fun day for children. Children dress up in costumes like people did a thousand years ago. But instead of worrying about evil spirits, they go from house to house. They knock on doors and say "trick or treat." The owner of each house gives candy or something special to each trick or treater.

* Source: http://www.5minuteenglish.com/oct29.htm
5 Minute English (www.5minuteenglish.com)
Copyright © 2003-2005 Oakseed Enterprises. All rights reserved.

Teething Myths

It is NOT TRUE that teething causes fever, diarrhea, rashes, or vomiting.

I learned this recently from my child's pediatrician.

My daughter ran an on & off fever for 3 days. At first we thought it was because she was growing a new tooth, so we brushed it off and just gave her some paracetamol both for her fever and probably the pain she was experiencing with the new tooth coming out. But when her fever went to as high as 40 degrees celsius, off we rushed to her pediatrician for some advice. And we were surprised to learn that teething actually DOES NOT cause fever! Oh, no!!! Nor does it cause diarrhea, rashes, or vomiting. We learned that our child actually had some viral infection.

So, I hope you learn from my experience. Never brush off a symptom such as fever, especially when it goes beyond 38 degrees celsius. Consult your doctor immediately.