Cutty

If you fly Philippine Airlines most of the time, you must have earned some mileage from your flights.  I have been flying PAL ever since I can remember, but I haven't redeemed any miles from those flights.  There was always some reason not to.  I never had enough for my desired destination or I found out too late that 7000 miles have expired. Now, it seems that PAL is making it easier for us to avail of these "rewards."  Just recently, the came out with Great Miles Getaway where you can redeem flights for less mileage requirements. Case in point:  Domestic flights may be redeemed for 3200 miles or less.  Regional flights (Asia) may be availed for 10,000 Mabuhay Miles, down from the usual 20,000 miles for a round-trip ticket. Here is screen capture of their email blast Don't expect to get everything for free.  The passenger still has to cover taxes and other fees which are still quite substantial.  Expect to wait long when making reservat...

Preparing for a trip as big as what we had a couple of months ago, entailed putting our lives on hold.  What little time I had left was spent with family, sleep and errands.  So, when I got back from our month-long trip, I immersed myself on things that I put on hold:  housework, spa business, school involvement and pampering myself. It seemed that the time away from everything brought me back the focus I needed.  It was quite a refresher.   At home,  I was left with one househelp to deal with 3 kids and 1 infant, chores and cooking.  At work, I was bombarded with personnel and financial issues.  I had to deal with theft, firing an employee and hiring a replacement.  In between all those, I had to juggle chauffering the kids to school, nursing asthmatic kids and training the kids to be self-reliant individuals.  They had to help with chores, keeping the house clean, preparing their clothes and stuff for school.  We were all mult...

I've been singing almost all my life.  I've been part of the Glee Club ever since I can remember.  The only times I spent away from singing were times when work didn't allow me to attend rehearsals and when I was pregnant with my first-born, Johann. Though I didn't make a career out of singing, it consumed most of my time.  It was my 2nd highest priority, right next to my family.  I belong to a group of friends who would give up our jobs for singing.  That's how important this craft is to us.  We plan our lives around our singing engagements.  Yes, minsan sagabal ang pag-aaral at trabaho sa pagkanta. Being a chorister gave me an exposure to the world that I couldn't get anywhere else.  I've been lucky to be part of a singing group that had good conductors.  It helped me hone my craft. Just recently, singing took me away from my loved ones. It whisked me to Europe once again, to see how our musicality fared against the greatest from all ...

                                  This big baby is now 7 months old.  He is still a happy baby with the usual tantrums.  We've started giving him solids several weeks ago.  He enjoys eating rice cereal with mashed banana.  The more he fills up, the more he resembles his first Kuya.  He can now do pull-ups and stand on his own.  He loves playing in his tub during bath time, having his hair brushed and hearing people sneeze. Joaquin can also imitate some sounds.  He calls everyone but Mama.  He used to call me “Dede” when he wants to nurse.  But now that I’ve had that one month hiatus from breastfeeding, he won’t latch anymore.  He just screams "dede" when he is sleepy and hungry. Being the youngest, we've given in to most of his whims.  He likes to be carried a lot.  Unlike his older siblings who can b...