Levels of Discovery

I got this from my e-group. It came right on time because we are moving to our own place really soon. Our little boy is having his own room and I want to decorate them with furnitures not only for aesthetic purpose but also for his effective usage and some learning. Here is a website which offers furnitures for kids that combine its usage with learning and fun. Has anyone of you tried this? They're really cutesy stuff, look at the photos I snagged from their site. Oohlalala indeed. I think 3 years old is really the appropriate age for a kid to have his own independence by having his own room. Check out more in this site: http://www.levelsofdiscovery.com/catalog.php3.

Travel Destination #6-MILAN, VENICE, MADRID

We had a sleazy, lazy and boring weekend. Blame it on the very bad bed weather. It was raining for the whole weekend. I was once again glued to my laptop. I was too lazy to blog at that time so I travelled using google. Then I made a list of hotels I wanted to visit and stay, I was entertained. Here are my top 4: Milan Hotels, they say one of the most chic hotels in Europe. I would love to spend some time there while getting some rest after a visit to the Milan Cathedral and the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle II. Milan is renowned as one of the world capitals of designa and fashion. That would be a place for shopping havens!Next on my list are Hotels in Venice. Even though, I visited the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas and had a feel of what the gondola rides look like, I would love to ride the real and authentic thing in Venice. Palazzo Contarini del Bolvolo is also a pleasant stop to visit.
The 3rd and last on my list are Barcelona Hotels and Madrid Hotels. Of course, I do not want to miss Spain when I do get to visit Europe with hubby sometime someday. Madrid, being the capital of Spain is the center of culture and history of Spain. On the other hand, Barcelona is the political and economic center of Spain. So there you have it my top 4 hotels must stay in Europe.

world's most promising people

Do you know the big difference between being a Nouveau Riche (new rich) or the old riches? Old rich are people who are rich because of family inheritance and Nouveau Riche or new rich are people who got rich because of their own hardwork and rigid investments to be one. As I was doing my business report last weekend, I chanced upon this article from CNN money. The article talks about how it is to conquer the world of the Nouveau Riche. It also covers the most promising new ventures for determined American entrepreneurs and all those who wants to be rich by investing in businesses. This article talks about people who are now Nouveau Riche, how they get there and what are all their entrepreneurial ideas. They are people we can look up to because most of them came from a lower socioeconomic rank, and that such wealth has provided the means for the acquisition of goods or luxuries that were previously unobtainable.

Read the rest of the article and understand what I am talking about. If you want to expand the horizon of the opportunities of your business ventures it is wise to get ideas from the experienced and successful nouveau riche.

SO TRUE! -I AM A SUPPORTER

Tagged by Juliet and Abie, thank you girls!

Now, it's your turn: Val, Joy, Rafter!

About the ESFJ Expert Quotes & Links

"Guardians of birthdays, holidays and celebrations, ESFJs are entertainers. They enjoy and joyfully observe traditions and are liberal in giving, especially where custom prescribes."
- ESFJ Profile (TypeLogic)

"ESFJs are people persons - they love people. They are warmly interested in others. They use their Sensing and Judging characteristics to gather specific, detailed information about others, and turn this information into supportive judgments. They want to like people, and have a special skill at bringing out the best in others. They are extremely good at reading others, and understanding their point of view. The ESFJ's strong desire to be liked and for everything to be pleasant makes them highly supportive of others."
- Portrait of an ESFJ (The Personality Page)

"...values relationships and families over intellectual pursuits, group oriented, follows the rules..."
- Jung Type Descriptions (ESFJ) (similarminds.com) "...take it upon themselves to arrange for the health and welfare of those in their care, but they are also the most sociable of all the SJs, and thus are the great nurturers of established institutions such as schools, businesses, churches, social clubs, and civic groups."
- The Portrait of the Provider Guardian (Keirsey)

"At work, ESFJs contribute their ability to cooperate with others and to complete tasks in a timely and accurate way. They respect rules and authority, and handle daily operations efficiently. They tend to be well informed and up-to-date on organizational actions that matter to people. They do what they can to make sure that personal relationships are running smoothly. Because they pay close attention to people's needs and wants, they are often involved in work activities that meet people's practical, day-to-day desires."
- ESFJ - The Helper (Lifexplore)

Famous ESFJsReal ESFJ People
Danny Glover - actor
Desi Arnaz - actor, comedian, musician
Dixie Carter - actress
Don Knotts - comedian
Elvis Stojko - Canadian figure skater
Jack Benny - comedian, actor
John Connally - politician
Mary Tyler Moore - actress, comedian
Nancy Kerrigan - Olympic figure skater
Sally Field - actress
Sally Struthers - actress
Steve Spurrier - football player
Terry Bradshaw - football player
William McKinley - American President

Fictional ESFJs (Characters)
Donald Duck - Disney cartoon character
George Babbitt - Babbit (Sinclair Lewis)
Hoss Cartwright - Bonanza
Leonard "Bones" McCoy - Star Trek
Monica Gellar - Friends
Nurse Haleh Adams - ER
Rabbit - Winnie the Pooh

something to think about...

A friend was in shambles when she gave me a call yesterday. Too bad as she spent her Mother's day in the hospital. Her son was rushed in the emergency after several days of severe fever. So far, the son is in stable condition. However, my friend is more worried about the medical expenses incurred during their 3 days stay. She was devastated to find out that her husband was delinquent in paying their medical insurance thus as of yesterday, their son's medical insurance was declined by the hospital. It was really bad. She was asking me if I know of any insurance company that would somehow helped them by giving medical insurance while lowering their current rates. Good thing, I took note of the the online insurance company which I previously researched for my Aunt. I told her about advantagemedicalquotes.com which gave me an immediate quotations after I contacted an insurance agent online. So far, my Aunt like the offers they gave her and is thinking of availing their service. I really hope my friend does pay immediate attention to their medical insurance current standing so she won't be caught offguard with similar situations. I feel for her.

Travel Destination #5-GERMANY

At our Mother's day dinner today, I had a chat with hubby's doctors Aunt and Uncles who lived in Germany for more than 25 years. They were practicing surgeon and gynecologist in Germany and have recently moved here in Virginia to spend their retirement years. They have been telling me lots of stories on Germany. I have learned that people there especially the kids are very much disciplined. Hubby's Aunt told me that if we have accepted their offer to celebrate our honeymoon in Berlin Hotels or Frankfurt Hotels, they could have toured us to Berlin's Bradenburg gate or the Reichstag parliament building. She also mentioned that we could have swung by Munich and stayed in Munich Hotels which offer very affordable accommodations.

Also, hubby's Uncle mentioned that for the past years they spent in Cologne, Germany, they have almost stayed in half of the Köln Hotels because it offered the best facilities and relaxation they need. They were also frequent visitors of the Cologne Cathedral.

I wouldn't forget the way they describe the high-speed vehicular traffic in Germany which has a long tradition in Germany given that the first motorway (Autobahn) in the world, the AVUS, and the world's first automobile were developed and built in Germany. They said the Germany has one of the most dense road systems of the world. I used to think of Germany as an anti-tourist country until this very informative mother's day talk with hubby's ex-Germany residents relatives.

lovely small talk...

It's a lazy and gloomy mother's day here in this part of Virginia. It has been raining since this morning and all hubby, me and our toddler do is laze around in the Bed. I couldn't even put myself to blog, we are certified couch potatoes today. Before we go to a relative's house four our mother's day celebration, let me just share with you a lovely conversation hubby and I had while our toddler was taking his naptime. He kidded my by saying that we should be making our baby #2 this year. I was surprised because coming from him he doesn't want to rush baby #2. I told him though baby #2 will have to wait and should be done in Paris Hotels or London Hotels. I have been constantly reminding him that we should go visit Europe 2 years from now and that's where we are going to have our 2nd honeymoon aka project baby #2.

Then, he was arguing that Birmingham Hotels and Manchester Hotels is where he wants baby #2 to be made. Hahha it was really funny. Then we begun wikipedia-ing places to visit in Manchester and Paris. We came across these awesome photos in Paris the Eiffel tower of course and the must visit places in Manchester. I would really try to convince hubby with that goal of ours, I really need to go to Europe before baby #2 comes out because it will be so hard to live 2 energetic kids to our folks, right? For now, let me just greet every mommy out there a big Happy Mother's day! Hope you all had a great one!

red roses for THE special woman in our lives

ABIE, VAL, DEZ and KELLY showered me these red roses. Thank you girls!

>>>Red rose has number of thorns in it, when it pint your fingers it hurts. Everyday in my life is just like red roses. Sometimes life is not always bed of roses, but life is great with GOD. Now, it's my turn to share this red rose.

>>>A rose is a flowering shrub of the genus Rosa. It’s the classic expression of love because a rose flower pours forth your innermost feelings to your beloved in the most beautiful way. So give a rose to your loved ones and friends and make anyone’s heart bloom with joy!

I am sharing these red roses to all the mothers in my life and in my blogosphere. HAPPY HAPPY MOTHER's DAY TO ALL OF US! We all deserve some pampering tomorrow.

bubbly reads

I have always been vocal that as a child my love for books is very limited. I don't know why, Maybe, I was more oriented into the practical side of growing up. More toys and more play. In highschool, I begun to love reading love novels but still, I cannot consider myself as a bookworm. It is only now that I am catching up on my being a bookworm. I would love to spend more time in the bookstore and spend a big chunk of my shopping money for books. I just hope my son does not inherit this trait that is why as early as now, I am introducing and showering him with as many books as he can possibly have.

it is tough to be parents

Raising kids is no joke. Not only will you take care of the rearing side but it also entails a lot of financial responsibilities. Once you have a child, the expenses won't just stop, they are actually never-ending. There goes the education, the child insurance, the toys, clothes and other expenses that will really eat up a big chink in your budget. That's why I always tell my teenager cousins who are so weak when it comes to love that they should think of bigger responsibilities before jumping into the peer pressure of PMS as this may end up to teenage pregnancy. I tell you being a parent is toughest responsibility in the world. And the mom's tasks just never end.

glaze those windows

Have you heard of Double glazing? or have you actually seen Double glazed windows? Apparently, in London glazing your windows is really important. I happened to chance upon this website which is a Double glazing company UK. They have interesting services and quotations online. If you think you need to replace your windows at home and don't want to over-spend on double glazing them, you could contact http://www.national-double-glazing.co.uk/. They currently have special summer offers you could avail. I think I have to inform hubby's aunt about this, by the look of their windows, I think they need some double glazing or serious replacement. Windows to me are not to be ignored because they are equally important to house doors. If you do not make sure that you have efficient windows, the temperature inside the house is gravely affected. Also, I make sure that they always are very clean and neat. The windows in our room is my son's favorite resting place. The windows in our room is my son's favorite resting place. The 1st thing he does when he wakes up is pull the blinds and look out of the windows. So just imagine if I do not keep them clean and he would be able to inhale all the germs and dust. That’s why cleaning and maintaining windows are equally important to maintaining other parts of our household.

fickle layout

I usually get bored with my blogs' and other websites layout and web templates. I often change them every month or worst, every 2 weeks. I find themes that are suitable for my current mood but the bad thing is I often change my mood and always have a fickle-mind. Blame it on my woman DNA. However, no matter how internet savvy I am, I usually have a hard time changing into the more professional or really good web template and designs. I need to further my knowledge on CSS and html codes. What I usually do is choose and decide which one I like and asked my techie friends such as Abie, Mel and Tin to do the uploading for me. My Bad! If they are too busy to help me out, I would choose the most easy to upload layouts and designs and do it on my own. I would usually ask hubby's approval for every web template I choose, he is the most articulate critique I have met. He will really tell you if the web template is corny or will it attract a lot of readers in the blogosphere.

In E-commerce, choosing the best web template is important as it will help drive customers in or away from your site. One should always consider the theme of their e-shop or e-commerce websites. Either they want to project a professional theme or a creative and commercialized one. If you are starting to put up an online shop there are a lot of sites where you could get free and varied web templates design. Such as dreamtemplate.com. All of their designs are easy to upload and use. You can also opt to choose from their wide 300 web template selection or purchase one from their categories listed.

So, you know if you are trying to lure more readers or visitors which may turn potential clients in your website, the design of your site is really one of the main factors that would help you in meeting this goal. As for me, I am about to choose for a fresher and more attractive web template for this blog as my PR went down to 2 and I do not want to lose it. Hopefully with a newer template, I would lure more visitors and thus, increasing my PR again. So there you go, a little knowledge on web templates.

help me write

I never imagined graduate studies will be this taxing and overwhelming. It requires you to do a lot of formal case study write-ups. It is so much different with just writing in my blogs as other than the research part, you are required to follow a certain writing style. So, I really give kudos to those who passed or have completed their phd thesis writing. Because, I could certainly say that a dissertation phd writing or writing a phd dissertation is triple hardwork as compared to graduate and undergraduate studies. Bu then again, furthering one's education is a stepping stone to one's long-term success.

team HOYT (from rhea)

I saw this from Rhea's Blog. I was crying the entire time. I know, it's mother's day but this dad showed that a father is capable of the love that mothers give their children. Watch and prepare the kleenex.

my love for mailboxes

For some odd reasons, I am so fascinated with mailboxes particularly those whitehall mailboxes. I am so weird that I have taken a lot of photos with mailboxes as my subject. From the country where I came from, mailboxes are not really popular. Most of the houses do not have them, so imagine my delight when we had one here in America. My brother has very cool whitehall mailboxes in his house in California which my son never stops opening. My brother said the reason why he got a whitehall mailbox in particular is because of their beautiful designs as they are handcrafted very well.

Maybe, my fascination with mailboxes comes from my love of writing letters. I really love receiving and sending letters. I mean, I prefer them over electronic mails. Snail mails are still the most personal thing when writing is involved. I especially like it when the sender carefully choose the card and beautifully handwritten the letters. Another reason, would probably be because I love receiving various product promotional ads in the mail. I really love sorting them out and checking out what discounts and offers my favorite shops has.

What I love about Whitehall mailboxes are their Custom Mailboxes and Personalized Mailboxes. So, you could choose and customize the design with whatever way you wanted. They have everything from Wall Mounted Whitehall Mailboxes, Ultimate Whitehall Mailboxes, Superior Whitehall Mailboxes, and Premium Whitehall Mailboxes. Just choose your pick and they will deliver it to your doorstep. For now, let me check my mailbox if I got some neat mails from my friends back home.

tools for my mind bubbles

So far, I still have 10 tasks to accomplish, 14 chapters of book to read and 2 midterms exam to take before Thursday. I have been having a hardtime managing my time lately which makes me bump into my favorite site: http://ehow.com/. I was so good with time management before but I don't seem to know what is happening to me lately. Probably because, I have more activities than the available 24 hours per day. I always wish for many hands and 24 more hours a day but I know that is impossible. So here are the tips I snagged from ehow.com: (#8 is very applicable to me.) Hope this helps everyone who is struggling with time management.

Things You’ll Need:
Address Books
Palm Handheld Organizers
Wall Calendars
Personal Organizers
Schedule Management Software

Step1Create a schedule or to-do list. Write down deadlines for accomplishing certain tasks.

Step2Plan to tackle difficult projects at the times of day when you are most alert.

Step3Schedule time for people, including yourself. Create some personal time by waking up half an hour earlier or going to bed half an hour later than usual; plan a weekly date with your spouse, or arrange to have lunch with friends.

Step4Prioritize what you need to accomplish. "Pareto's principle" states that 80 percent of your accomplishments come from 20 percent of your efforts, so think strategically: Locate and isolate this valuable 20 percent, then focus your efforts on the tasks that promise the greatest rewards.

Step5Delegate as many chores as you can. Hand out projects to subordinates at work, recruit your children to help with household chores, hire a gardener to maintain your lawn.

Step6Learn to say no to nonessential demands on your time. Don't volunteer for a committee if you don't have time, and decline invitations to events you don't have time to attend.

Step7Overcome procrastination.

Step8Avoid perfectionism. Don't waste time obsessively perfecting a task when you could better spend the time on something else.

pestering ingrown

I am not posting any photos as I do not want to mess up with your meals haha.

Anyways, I am just bothered because my husband ingrown toe nail is not yet completely healed. Before he left the country, I treated him for a foot spa with foot massage and pedicure. He is not used to having one but I want to give him the pampering he needs. Anyways, he got infected there and to make the story short, he undergone an operation before he left. It has been more than a year now and the wound has not yet fully healed, worst it's sore still. Although, he doesn't complain of any pains, this fact makes me worry. I have ingrown toe nails and fingernails but I have learned to operated them with my own bare hands hahah. My mom has been having my nails pedicured and manicured as early as 10 years old, this might cause this ingrown nails. Another thing is my son also has ingrown nails as early as 3 years old!!! These facts make me really freaked out oh no!

I searched for useful information on ingrown nails and this site is what I found the most comprehensive: http://www.epodiatry.com/ingrown_nails.htm. I am snagging their recommendations on self treatment of ingrown nails:

The cornerstone of self treatment and prevention of ingrown toe nails involves cutting the nail straight across to allow the corners to protrude, so that they do not penetrate the skin. Cut the toe nails straight across without tapering the corners. However, this can be difficult if the nail is very curved down the side. In this case DO NOT 'dig' down the sides - seek professional help for this (see below).
It is a myth that a V should be cut in the end of the nail to treat an ingrown toe nail. The apparent reasoning behind this is that if you cut a V in the nail, the edge of the nail will grow together as the nail grows out. This does not happen - the shape of the nail is determined by the growing area at the base of the toe, not the end.
Avoid wearing shoes and socks that are too tight.
Keep feet clean to prevent the ingrown nail from becoming infected.
Those with poor circulation or diabetes should not do any self management of ingrown toenails but see a Podiatrist. See below to find a Podiatrist.

easy to book

My mom is going to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand next month with her bestfriend. She had a hard time booking for hotels and airfare packages. This is the very 1st time she has done all the bookings herself. She is used to us doing everything for her. But since, I am here, my other brother is in California and the ones staying with her is uberly busy with his work, she has no choice but to do everything on her own.

However, I was surprised that she has been doing well with online booking as she forwarded this site to me:http://www.easytobook.com/. She knows that me and my husband has plans for a European 2nd honeymoon and she said that whenever we plan to go to Barcelona, Prague or London, or just book Dublin Hotels, New York Hotels or plan a Rome Destination, easytobook.com is the most comprehensive site where we can do our online bookings. You see, my mom is becoming to be an internet savy huh. Her independence is teaching her a lot of things, after all she needs to be completely independent when my other brother moves out of the country too. Independence is the best form of teacher.

some corporate alternatives

My Aunt is asking my help in choosing the best promotional products and promotional items for her business. She needs to give some loyal clients corporate gifts on special occassions. She is doing this with the hope of giving her business a 2nd chance. You see, some of her branches were already closed and the main branch is not receiving much clients to sustain their everyday targetted income. I told her to give customized antibacterial tissue such as those on the picture. As a client, I would love to receive promotional products which I can use on a daily basis. My Aunt told me also that she doesn't want to spend so much for promotional products just to know that some clients wouldn't actually use them.As for the corporate gifts, she's getting this customized evolution jr. journal. I personally chose this as someone who loves to write, I would want to receive such item. Journals are a must these days for busy people. If the client did not like this item, she or he could always give it to someone. I just hope that through this, her business would go back to its old status. I really feel bad that she has to close some branches. Every small business is somewhat affected with the current economy letdown.

help each bubbles

I used to really really hate and despise addicts particularly those addicted to Drugs. I don't find any good reason that they should enter in this such ordeal. But when a friend confide in me about her husband being a drug addict and alcoholic, I can't help but sympathize. Their life has been in shambles and the head of the family was just too weak to take it anymore so he succumbed on drug addiction. My friend has always been telling me that despite what happened, he is proud about his husband as he was even the one who checked in himself in a Drug Rehab for an Addiction Treatment and Alcohol Treatment. I think in the end, all these people need is our support and understanding. Especially the addicts who are dying to have that second chance. Now, I know, I won't pre-judge anyone as they are in a completely circumstance as I am. But, nevertheless, try to avoid these addictive drugs and alcohol before you get yourself and your family in that deep shit hole.

additional learning

As you all know by now, I am a Public Administration graduate studies student. Obviously, there would be some business courses in my curriculum because part of the administration of government includes finance analysis and budgetting. I am good at business where selling and marketing are involve but other than that, I don't know anything about investments and business profitability analysis. Hubby bought me some books on online stock trading and stock trading programs and also a business dictionary. He said that I should be learning about these new business terms as early as now as I might want to be an online stock market trading broker in the future if I get tired with my dream development career. Hmmm. I am not really sure about that but come to think of it, I have a cousin who only does online stock trading and he's making a lot of money out of it. Would you believe that half of the year, he's travelling leisurely with his family. Yes, they can afford to be out of the country that long because they really are making good money and wise investment with stocks trading. Isn't that great? Hubby and I are planning to invest on stocks maybe next year when everything else gets settled down here.

bubbly gifts

Where do you usually buy Gifts? I need to know your thoughts because eversince I started school, I have been neglecting buying Birthday Gifts for important people in my life. I really feel bad about it. But, what can I do, I almost always lack the time to shop or no time at all. My son's birthday was last week and would you believe, we missed giving him a gift. We just brought him to the mall and he chose his own gift. I feel really bad about it. And now, I missed out buying my mom's mother's day gift. She lives far from me and it is impossible to buy her a gift now and mail it to her expecting it to arrive on Sunday, no way jose. I'm just gonna send her some cash or will probably give her a call. She's easy to please and a mother who is really not expecting to get a gift on any occassion of her life. But as early as now, I am looking for Fathers Day Gifts for my dad and all the other Uncles. I found a website which provides you with all the choices of gift for every occassion. It's nice because, they try to incorporate customization in every product they have and gift they ship so as to make the gift personable. Visit them at gettingpersonal.co.uk.

tennis what-have-yous

When I was in College, a lot of my female friends have spent most of their weekends playing tennis. They were all talking about Wilson tennis racquets, Wilson tennis, Wilson tennis rackets,
New balance tennis shoes, New Balance tennis or anything that relates to head racquets or head rackets. I am so amazed with how passionate they were on this sport. Maybe out of the 10 of us, only 2 of us, that including me who has no interest on playing tennis. I tried playing them but the rackets were too heavy for my fragile and small framed-body and thin arms. I would really wan to indulge in any kind of sport to help tone my body and also live a good lifestyle by indulging in sports.

I was reminded by this because one of my female friends in college is celebrating her birthday next weekend and I wanted to surprise her with a new set of rackets. I have no idea what and where to buy high quality products so I googled it and found a very comprehensive and complete tennis apparents at: http://tennisplaza.com/. Surprisingly, the prices are affordable. They even have free orders shipping for more than $75 worth of purchase. I know she'd be very happy with my chosen gift. I really love her to have them, she deserves it as she is now a fulltime and professional tennis player. I can’t wait for my orders to arrive and I took advantage of the free shipping, I bought some for myself too. Hee!

Project #1 - bubbly flabby (the alternatives)

How's my project bubbly flabby so far? Uhm not doing good. I am so close to taking diet pills as my friends have highly recommend them. After taking them for just barely 2-3 weeks, you are guaranteed of at least 10 lbs off that weighing scale. Are they safe? Basing from their recommendations, they seem to be safe and effective. Although, I still have some hesitations. I changed my diet from no rice to complete sandwich with either chicken or tuna spread ONLY. And lots and lost of grapefruit juice. I can't wait for this week to be over because starting next week, I would have some time to do my daily workout.

trying to live by it

BLOG came from the words: WEB LOG. Meaning to document or log on a daily basis. I am trying to live by this definition. If I do not blog everyday, at least I catch up and fill up the empty days. Look at my calendar to understand what I am saying ayee! This is a random entry. I hope everyone is having a good monday!