Frannywanny

I know it's kinda late to talk about the New Year as in fact we're just a week away from February. I guess this is what first time parenthood is all about. Your days will just roll by so quickly as you busily deal with endless changes of dirty diapers, frequent cries for milk and basically trying to keep your baby (or in our case, our babies) healthy, happy and simply alive every single day. However, as I watch my twins sleep soundly right now I can't help but feel an immense amount of gratitude and happiness. Just a year ago, I made a wish that hopefully on 2017, we will finally have the answer to our prayers. I prayed that we will be blessed with a baby...regardless if it's a boy or a girl, I promise to be the best Mom that I could possibly be and I'll bring him or her closer to God too. Just three months after, our prayers were answered and shortly after that, we found out that we were expecting not only one but two beautiful babies. More blessings and su...

Father's Day is happening this Sunday and I'm so happy that I was able to pre-celebrate it with Papa a few days ago. It's hard being away from the family most especially during occasions such as these. This year, we celebrated it a few days earlier to coincide with my family's visit here in the Lion City. Of course, my Papa loves steak so we took him out for a delicious steak dinner! Oh, the smile on his face as he enjoyed his big piece of ribeye was priceless. It's no big secret that I am indeed a Daddy's Girl. I'm lucky to have a loving dad who would go the distance just to make me and Pan happy. I guess, I'm blessed because aside from having an amazing Dad, I also have the best Kongkong (grandfather) and the coolest Father in Law too! :) While I believe that we have to show our loved ones how special they are to us not only for a day but for all 365 (or 366) days in a year, Father's Day is one occasion where we treat them like kings and give...

A mother holds her children’s hands for a while, but their hearts forever  - Unknown While doing my research for work a couple of days ago, I chanced upon this quote and I liked it. For one, I think it's so true by just looking at how my own mommy cares for us. I've mentioned before that despite being an adult myself, I still do get my Mommy's weekly reminders -- eat well, exercise often, get enough sleep, don't stress yourself out so much, take vitamins, don't eat too many fatty/oily food, cook more veggies...and the list goes on and on. I live thousands of miles away from home and this doesn't stop my mom in sending me her daily sms to check whether I've had dinner, if I'm home and what am I doing up so late. Surprisingly, I do appreciate all these messages and nothing brightens my day than hearing from my family. Theater lovers -- Me and Mommy During one of my long walks home, I was able to think. Not about what I have to do at work, not abou...

A year ago, I blogged about this genius creation called Fruits in Bloom -- Gourmet Arrangements . Indeed they say, the way to ones stomach is through his or her stomach! After exhausting all of the delicious chocolate brands in the market and instead of joining 90% of the population that gives cookies and brownies for Christmas, why not say Merry Christmas with fruits! Fruits in Bloom is back this Christmas with more fruity arrangements. What I love about each and every arrangement is how they manage to make it look so colorful, festive and truly mouthwatering. It helps that even if you're able to consume half of the bouquet, you're assured of not gaining so much unwanted fats and calories as fruits are very healthy and nutritious. They're high in vitamins too! This year, they have the Christmas Blooms (Php. 850) which is a yummy arrangement of pineapple flowers, grapes, orange slices, green apples and banana covered in white chocolate. I love the mug that holds the ...

On June 17, 2012 -- the world celebrates Father's Day . Similar to Mother's Day, my family also makes it a point to go out on this day dedicated to my dad, kongkong and uncles. I've received a number of text messages and emails from friends asking for recommendations on where they can take their dads and husbands out on this special day. Here are some of my recommendations, majority of which are my Dad and Paul's personal favorites too: For Dads who take his MEAT seriously.... 1) Elbert's Steak Room   For me, Elbert's is truly the king of all steak places. Whenever someone would ask me where to have the best steak, I'd always say Elbert's in a heartbeat. I'll never forget the night when Paul and I shared a huge Ribeye steak complete with all the sidings, the delicious Fantan bread and desserts to cap our delicious meal off. Elbert's Steak Room is located at the 3/F Sagittarius Building III, 111 H. V. de la Costa Street, Salcedo Village...

It's common practice to shower your loved one with a huge bouquet of flowers or at least a dozen long-stemmed roses. Believe me, we've had our share of garden-like bouquets here at home given by Paul and my sister's special someone. What normally happens is that our talented househelp would carefully remove them from the plastic wrapper and transfer each piece of flower into my mom's pretty vase, she'd even water them regularly until they wilt and give a really nasty odor that even my dog Scottie wouldn't even dare go near to. Sadly, I have zero talent when it comes to flower preservation so for the past 8 years, I wasn't able to keep a single bud or even a leaf from all those bouquets that Paul has gifted me with. *sigh* If only I can eat the bouquet then none of it would go waste! ;o) Then we came across Fruits in Bloom -- a company that specializes in fruity arrangements. No thorny roses, no wilting flowers instead they make use of the freshest, j...