Christmas Countdown

Is obviously going to be late as me and the family has been so busy running around and to summarize it all:

• The Christmas party thrown by Ambassador Endaya of Philippine Embassy Kuwait was fun and the food was truly Filipino style. 5 stars to the chefs at SAS Radisson.

• Early Christmas party at the house was a success! Everyone had a good time and nothing stupid happened. It's what party is all about.

• At the same party we made a donation box, passed it around the guests and got a total of 40 KD for our Pay It Forward GenSan feeding program =)

• Received a total of approx 32 Thousand Pesos as donations for our Pay It Forward Gensan. We are now planning to do 2 activities; the feeding of street children and then going to the orphanage/ DSWD and give out goodies or food there too!
  

• Cooked spaghetti worthy of 300 people and spent a day at the Philippine Embassy of Kuwait for a Christmas party with the sheltered Overseas Filipino Workers.
  

• Wrapped almost 2 dozen gifts and I still haven't finished crossing out names.

• Currently sitting on the floor in my cousins bedroom, listening to the laughter and chatter by friends and family downstairs, waiting for Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS WORLD! Let us all give thanks and appreciate the blessings that the Lord our God has given.


Merry Christmas Papa. I miss you a whole lotta lot =) I love you.

7 Days Before Christmas

The family threw a fabulous Christmas party.

A party so awesome it lasted almost at 3 a.m. We had quite a shock as we didn't expect that much number of people. So unexpected that we ran out of plates and spoons.

As I was at work the whole day, I pre-cooked the lasagna the night before but most of the spread was prepared by the gorgeous mother.The Turkey was a hit last Thanksgiving that we had to give it a repeat performance on the table and it's better than ever!
Same with the Deviled Eggs for appetizer but this time it's the regular ones, not the green veggie version.
Macaroni and cheese is a staple =)
In Filipino we call it "Nilasing na Pato" or Drunken Duck!
Another Filipino specialty is the Pancit Bihon!
Ohhhh the sinful crabs =| it looks so good that I couldn't resist despite my allergy! =p
Finger foods! Lumpia is another Filipino delicacy and a best seller, fish and shrimp fries and of course the cheese sticks!
The Lasagna almost didn't make it as the night before I had to improvise on the bechamel sauce and the next day when Mama asked the help to put more, they poured not bechamel on it but BOLOGNAISE sauce! *Faints* Good thing I had time to repair it and well let's just say there was none left before the night is over =)
My mama's bread pudding specialty.
Macaroni salad in every Filipino Christmas party
The same with fruit salad
Can't forget our vegetarian friends! =)
Most of the desserts was pot lucked by guests.

I especially love this Christmas wonderland cake. It looks so good nobody, until now, had the heart to cut and eat it. We just kept taking photos of this pretty thing.
Gotta love these!

Chocolate cake by Sable
Assorted arabic sweets =)and many more unmentionable foods =D

The gorgeous mother did a great job. Everyone had fun eating, dancing, talking and cheering the night away.

Additional reason why the party is fabulous was because of this

I tried our luck from our guests and told them about Pay It Forward feeding program and GenSan and what do you know? Even before we finish the story they eagerly put their donation in our make shift box! Huge thanks to Big J for getting us our first donation of the night.

Total donation was 40 KD! Everyone was so eager to put in their money unfortunately knowing they're going into a party they didn't bring much. Hehehe.

The blister sister deserves a praise for going around with the box.

Christmas is still 7 days away but I truly believe that Christmas day begins when you start feeling it in the air, religious facts aside =)

8 days before Christmas

On the 8th day of Christmas we got 3 great news for our food drive.

• The Old People donated 10,000 PHP
• Mother dearest donated 100 shirts for the volunteers and for give aways
• My Tita M and Big J donated another 10,000 PHP

Doesn't my family rock? =) thank you!

To update, we have so far pledges that amounts to 24,600 PHP and counting. Tonight I will go around in our Christmas party and ask for more donations.

The organizers have agreed that if we accumulate more than enough for the food drive on the street, we might go to the orphanages or home for the aged. All details are still subject for discussion once the volunteers meet up.

I'll end this post with a poster made by my best friend and co-organizer as a thank you for last years event.

sometimes the simplest idea can make the biggest d...


Click to enlarge.

9 Days Before Christmas

Today (Philippine time 4 a.m.) is the start of Misa de Gallo and I really want to attend and complete all 9 days. Unfortunately, I can't find anyone who knows if such service is being held in the 2 Catholic Church here in Kuwait.

Our Pay It Forward GenSan '09 got it's first two donations from our benefactors in Dubai
and from the Old People here in Kuwait.

Yey! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Pay It Forwarders are planning to have a 2 and 1 program. The feeding of the street children and a orphanage/ home for the aged visit. This is a whole new level and we need to close some details but will update you for sure!

Still 9 days to go but it feels like Christmas day already =)

Pay It Forward Gensan '09

Hello Folks!

As Christmas day nears and everyone gets busy with shopping and preparations, we would like to request an hour or two of your Christmas day , a can of food or a small peso amount, or invite your friends to join the food caravan on the 25th =)

Most of us has participated for the past 2 years so you know the drill and to those who doesn't, on the 25th early evening, a car full of Pay It Forwarders and friends goes around our beloved General Santos City to distribute food to the street children/ homeless.

For the past 2 years our target was 100+ food packages. Food consists of the usual Christmas menu; Spaghetti, Bihon, Macaroni/ fruit salad, bread, cake, juice etc - all of which can be changed of course if our volunteers prefers.

For more information, kindly contact me here or Joy in this number +639095089279.

For my fellow OFW's, we have a BDO and Metro bank account where you can send your donations. The account numbers will be given through private message only.

Thank you for extending love and blessings on Christmas day =) Kindly spread the word.

For more information, kindly click the links below:

Photos From Pay It Forward GenSan 2008

COMPLETE PHOTOS IN MY SPANKING NEW FLICKR!

Pay it forward, GenSan! – A Christmas Day Food Caravan for Streetkids | GenSan News Online Mag

PAY IT FORWARD GENSAN!!!

Paying It Forward - 2007

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Day 5

On the 5th day we were good girls.

After staying right in front of the Menara tower, we finally decided to visit it .

From the bottom of the hill, a shuttle will take you up to the visitor center

Your entrance fee will earn you a bottle of water =))

The ceiling at the main entrance.

Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Kuala Lumpur

After marveling at the view of downtown KL through the telescope we went down to use the complimentary pass to their mini zoo.

I swear I've seen birds and snakes to last me a lifetime in this trip.

The whole place is small and not that appealing so when we saw a sketch/ caricature artist we browsed and eventually caved in to curiosity on what we'll look like as Winnie the Pooh and Hello Kitty.

The artist and his finishing touches for my friend's caricature.

After the KL Tower we went back again to Bukit Bintang for more shopping. We eventually got worried on how we're going to fit all our buys into our luggages that we grudgingly stopped and called it a day as we have to wrestle with our bags and pack for our next destination.

My last night in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia was spent staring out on the KL sky and it's skyscrapers from the comfort of my bed. It was the perfect way to fall asleep and a perfect end of the frenzied and fun KL trip.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Day 4

On the 4th day, we scheduled another touristy sight seeing tour at Sunway Lagoon and of course, another shopping trip at Kuala Lumpur Central Market.

Sunway Lagoon power up =)

They have a mall where we did a little bit of shopping and book buying again but mostly Sunway Lagoon is a theme park for the young and the young at hearts.

They got rides, water parks and many more.

We opted for the wildlife park coz we're geeks like dut.

and somebody has to test her new D90 so the wildlife park is the perfect place to get instant models =))

I've no idea what it's called but I like it =)

My heart breaks for this white monkey who have a stuffed toy monkey for company. See? =|

More Sunway Lagoon stuff.

As I've said, after this trip, I've been overcompensated for all those wildlife field trips that I missed during school days.

After the wildlife park, we went to Pancake House inside their mall. I was quite surprised actually as I thought, this particular Pancake House is only available in the Philippines.

A friend ordered the spaghetti and clubhouse sandwich and I ordered TapSiLog.

All of us shared this waffle ice cream dessert.

It was raining when we got out of there but that did not stop us from checking out the Central Market. I'm actually the only one who's new in Malaysia as my other friends has been there a year ago so this is like going back to their old haunts.

Accessories aplenty for souvenirs =)

Tourist stuffs

This is also the place where I went crazy in buying eggs for my mother. It has been a 5 year tradition for us to buy these kind of eggs whenever we travel.

Our house is laden with these in different style and make as we believe that it brings us good luck. We have crystal eggs, tic wood eggs, hand painted eggs, marble eggs, metallic eggs, etc.

On the 4th night, I got drunk. Seriously drunk no thanks to this

and these