What Simply Works!

When I was deciding on the specs for “Makoy” (my imac), I promised myself that I will not upgrade the memory or hard disk. I didn’t plan on topping-up the husband’s gift budget. But lo and behold, we came out of the store with an extra 2GB memory and that entailed a slice off my p&S camera budget!

I have no regrets about my decision though. I know that having a 4GB memory will benefit me in the long run. It’s just that I now have to save up again for my p&s.

Have you ever tried looking for greeting cards for your staff or co-workers but find that the ones off the shelves have a “too personal” appeal?  Fret no more, business greeting cards are now available online.  This shop called The Gallery Collection offers a wide variety of greeting cards.  All of them come in beautiful and classy designs. Here are two of the business birthday cards I captured from the website, they are so pretty yet bearing that professional feel. Interestingly, the prices are highly competitive, too.

They have an ongoing promotion where you get as much as 40% (about 75usd) to 60% discount depending on the quantity of order.  I noticed that there are tons of different designers behind their huge collection.  No wonder that each of the cards is unique.  No two cards have a similar look or color scheme.

And, if you’re into more artistic stuff, you might want to check out their additional products page for greeting cards with museum art designs. They showcase the works of Monet, Van Gogh and Renoir.  Also on the same page are quality foil seals, gift bags and pens.  The store is indeed a one-stop shop for greeting cards and gift accessories.

There’s something wrong with Bloglines.  I cleared a number of blogs on my list this morning and was surprised to see random changes like 200 (or 30 or 350) unread entries on some of the links.  Weird!  Anyway,  I’m down to reading through my fave photographer’s blogs and I’ll see if this ‘glitch’ will continue.  I still heart Bloglines!

When we moved apartments and had to change residential lines, we didn’t think twice in choosing not to get our number listed.  I had many bad encounters with telemarketers in the past that I wished I knew about the site called Who Just Called Here.  The website lets you check the number and any feedback about the caller.  That’s a smart tool, isn’t it?

After a long time of not promptly approving/rejecting the Entrecard droppers on my accounts, I noticed that they are all automatically approved and are showing on all my blogs! How’s that? Hmm.

Edited:  The auto-approving thingy stopped.  I can finally approve/reject manually.  I still haven’t decided on what to do with my EC points though… Sigh.

The scorching heat this summer pushes people out of their homes into the beaches and malls. It is so hot that it topped the 40s (in degC) in the 2nd week of January! While we were at a shop the other day, I noticed that the hot buys are electric fans, portable air condition units, tank tops, shorts and sunglasses.  Although we came back to Sydney expecting this type of weather, we failed to get ourselves good sunglasses. What we have are good for driving but not for going to the beach or for other rugged outings.

While doing some online browsing, I discovered that one of the popular shopping websites has opened its doors to Australia. This is where I saw authentic Armani sunglasses on sale. I like this particular style with red tone and light black lenses color. Does it look cool or what? Now the only problem is whether it fits me or not.

I’m saving up for a point and shoot camera since last quarter of the year.  And now I think I found what I want to buy.  A Canon IXUS 80ISP!  It doesn’t have manual settings feature, which is okay since I have my dlsr for that.  I just need something compact and ready for use when we go to simple outings, dine-outs or a quick and light tag along when we go to the mall.

I missed a lot of opportunities during our vacation to take photos and video clips of my daughter because of the absence of a p&s.  I promised myself I’ll buy  one first thing when I get back.  Now that it’s on promotion, I’ll get some freebies from the shop, I better not slack on getting this pretty in pink camera!

If I have the resources and the skills needed to put up a business, I would consider getting into the jewelry business. Despite the current economic downturn, there are still people who are capable of investing their money to either real estate or jewelry. If you have good contacts for wholesale diamonds, the flair in designing custom made jewelry sets and the capital to boost marketing campaigns; for sure customers will come to you.

So long as there are year-round special occasions like Mother’s Day, engagements, weddings, wedding anniversaries and even Christmas holidays, this business will thrive. In Singapore, there are a lot of jewelry stores that continue to thrive these days. When we were there early this month, we went to our favorite shop for a quick look-see. And I noticed that they now offer a wider range of fancy jewels to reach a bigger market. I was so tempted to buy, especially when I saw those shimmering cut diamonds in beautiful fashionable designs.

It’s been a while since my husband played with his game consoles. We got really busy months leading to the holidays last year that playing computer games is the last thing on our minds. Just like most gaming gadgets, I’m sure the last one we bought eight months ago will soon be obsolete. I won’t be surprised if the husband will soon fancy to get a Playstation 3.

Just days after we arrived Sydney, I noticed my skin started to feel terribly dry again. It is summer here and the temperature peaked at 40degC just a few days ago. I managed to bring a small bottle of moisturizer from Manila, which I apply generously on my face at least twice a day. I’m a bit worried that if I slack off doing this regimen, I’d get breakouts and might need to go for acne treatments.

I have been neglecting my Entrecard accounts now and I feel guilty. I admit that EC has served its purpose well for all my sites. So, to be fair to the active EC droppers/members, I will soon remove my EC banners from all my “working” blogs. I can’t commit myself to returning the blog visits and the “drops” anymore. Heck, I can’t even come up with decent posts these days!

The only problem I have now is how to make use of the 8k points I have earned. They should be useful to somebody out there. Maybe I should hold a blog contest perhaps?

The parties and frequent dine-outs we had during the Christmas holidays helped me to gain a bit of weight. I am underweight by 10 pounds and it’s no fun. I would look at myself in the mirror and see a ‘depressed’ or problematic looking me. All because I’m that thin.

It helped of course that we almost always dined with our loved ones. It is the conversations and laughter that motivated me to eat more. Sigh. While others resort to diet pills, here I am, trying to stuff myself with food to gain weight.

It won’t be long and our current TV stand would need a good re-polishing. To date, marks of ‘abuse’ from our daughter are very evident as she hits the table with her toys especially when she gets excited with the show that she’s watching. When she’s much bigger or becomes more mature, we’ll be on a lookout for a good replacement. There are lots of sturdier, more practical TV stands that we can buy out there.

We went a few times to the new Greenbelt 5 in Makati City. Compared to the first four that were built, this latest structure boasts high-end stores and interesting restaurants. The design is so classy, with huge wall fountains and a chic staircase situated in one corner of the center. We dined at John and Yoko, which we find worth coming back for. I wished we had more time to try the other restaurants, if only we can extend our vacation time. Sigh.

Each time we fly back home for the holidays, I got into the habit of removing credit and membership cards that we can only use in Australia. I would then replace them with the ones I need like driver’s license and ATM card. I think it is safer to do that to minimize the possibility of losing the cards all together.

We’re expecting three boxes from Manila in the coming weeks. I packed a lot of gifts and other essentials (stuff that we can only buy there) that my family will help to ship out this weekend.  Now, I need to figure out where to put them. We don’t have a lot of storage space and I would have to resort to buying those collapsible plastic cabinets just so the rooms will still look presentable. There are discount furniture stores out there but we’re trying to do away buying heavy furnishings right now. It’s not practical to do so since we are still renting. Hmmm, this will challenge my organization skills once more.

I was finally able to log in to my pa!d advertising accounts the evening we arrived Sydney.  I am pleasantly surprised that I have quite a number of opportunities on queue despite my month-long absence.  Although I have a lot of things to clear up and clean up at home, I’m slowly picking-up each ad assignment and hopefully I’ll finish them all by this week.

And oh, thanks to the G0ogle angels, they gave back this site’s old ranking.  I don’t know how long I will have it but thanks anyway!  That’s a nice and unexpected New Year’s gift.

While window shopping for gifts last month, I chanced upon this watch store with a huge sign stating a 50% discount on popular brands. I immediately went in, in the hopes of finding a good buy. To my dismay, there were indeed branded items and all of them tagged half-price off, but the original prices are extremely expensive (at least for my budget) that the discount didn’t seem to matter. I went out of the store empty handed. I guess I was hoping to buy a Cartier for the price of Nixon watches.

My sister had her common bathroom renovated before the holidays. What I liked most from the fixtures are the sink, shower base and bath faucets which design I have seen from the Kohler Faucets and Fixtures series online. The whole bathroom had a blue motif and all the shades used blended well. I’m thinking of buying some accessories for her to add to her now beautiful bathroom.

A popular discount store, Daiso, has now made its way to Manila. I noticed at least two branches while I was doing my Christmas shopping. I didn’t get the chance to check the stores but I’m sure, just like the ones in Singapore, they have tons of household and lifestyle products available. With the current global economic situation, I won’t be surprised to see more of this dollar store franchise spread around the Philippines.