Blog Leave For A Few Days

Hi everyone!

I will be on blog leave from Feb. 11 until 22 due to my daughter's debut! Yey!

I will be busy with family stuff so I won't be posting much but I promise to keep up with the latest in deals and promos, health and wellness, business stuff and other topics you wish to talk about here.

For now, I'll just focus on my daughter's birthday party and the blogging activities will have to take a back seat momentarily.

I'll chat with you all on Feb. 23!

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Back To The Grind Again

And I'm baaaccckkk! Yup. Vacations are always short when you really, really need them. I'm glad I had this weeklong leave to spend with my daughter to bond while she is vacationing here in Dubai for her long summer transition break. It refreshed my spirit and soul. I always need vacations. I think everybody does no matter where you go or just intend to stay home. A vacation is a vacation.

I am back to the grind. It's back to facing the realities of my life, pending product reviews to complete, blog articles to post, dreams to catch, health issues to deal with, bills to pay, house to clean, clothes to wash and press and work to face come Sunday.

Ah, why are vacations such short lived? Anyway, I still had fun. It's the first time I've seen my daughter enjoying the trip so much that she was very proactive. I can't blame her. She was very young when we visited Europe and this time around, she's more mature and very eager to soak in the European culture, art, history and food.  I have to admit that I equally enjoyed her company now because she's older and wiser. There'll be more mom-daughter trip in the offing.

Well, so much for vacations. Hello reality!

Fun Celebrations of St. Patrick's Day For The Whole Family

** This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated when you click and make a purchase from any of the links. 


It is the Lenten Season and Catholics observe fasting and abstinence during this season. However, with St. Patrick's Day falling during the period of Lent, people who celebrate in honour of St. Patrick find that one day as a time for merriment.

Here are fun ways to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the whole family without getting inebriated and hanging out in pubs. Enjoy the festive moment with those you love in these surefire ways of family entertainment.

Play the bingo

B-I-N-G-O! It's nice to yell Bingo and get those wonderful prizes your family has set to make this game more enjoyable. You can do this at home or have a small family reunion at the nearby park, grab your cute bingo cards and start calling out numbers.  Maybe have a pot-luck with the prizes so even the small kids can enjoy shouting their first BINGO!

Get a free St. Patrick's Day BINGO cards theme here: http://familycrafts.about.com/od/stpatricksdayprintable/ss/St-Patricks-Day-Bingo-Game-Cards.htm

Photo credit: familycrafts.about.com

Watch the parade

Photo credit: redtri.com

Check your local community's listing for any events on St. Patrick's Day and be a part of it whether you are an spectator or a member of the parade or the band. Dress up in nice St. Patrick's Day costumes too if you want. Dress the entire family in lovely shades of green and frolic around town to enjoy the festivities.

You can buy cute and fun costumes and accessories at BuyCostumes for your St. Patrick's Day.





And please don't leave out the pooch in the fun! Even your dogs can join the St. Patrick's Day parade in fun costumes!

Leprechaun Pet Costume

Make crafty stuff

Arts and crafts are so much fun especially you can never go wrong with creativity! Make some cute Paddy's day crafts with the little ones and let them decorate with gusto!

Photo credit: fun.familyeducation.com

Prepare some "green" food for the party

Prepare "green" food to serve for your St. Patrick's Day party. Engage your whole family in the preparation and let each one have something to do as part of their contribution.

I have posted some easy to prepare green snack for St. Patrick's Day in my Home Is Where The Heart Is blog. Check it out for the recipes!

Picnic at the park

Spring is almost upon us and it will be a lovely day to soak up the sun with your family and friends at the park. Set up your nice tents or bring out the picnic table for everyone. Bring "green" foods that are St. Patrick's Day themed and just enjoy the simple pleasure of being with the people you love. Have some games too if you like and that will surely keep the little one active.



What ever it is you have decided to do this St. Patrick's Day, remember to capture those special moments with the people who truly matter. Have fun!

Enjoying Beautiful Tokyo

This is the first time we have visited Japan and we are so pleased to be in Tokyo right now to enjoy the sights, culture, food and the people's hospitality.

We have only been to Tokyo Disneyland and around Shinjuku, Harajuku and Omotesando areas. It's a bit tiring though to walk up and down the stairs in the train station to catch another train in a different line. We've already maxed out our energy reserves so did not manage to go to the Meiji Shrine and Shinjuku Gyoen National park which is close by to where we are staying.

We still have few days to go to explore and hopefully, we can manage to fit in time to visit more places. Today, we are off to Studio Ghibli and we're excited!

Weekend Activities and Good Weather

The weather is quite inviting these past few days. I think it signifies the coming of the cooler months. We are all enjoying the breezy weekend and the whole family has so many stuff to do. My daughter has her activities with friends, hubby with his guests and I with my blogging and business opp.

Our weekend has never been this manic before. We used to just stay home because the weather is uncooperative. However, October spells more activities for all of us and probably the coming months.

I do hope I will find the energy to do all that we have lined up for the month (not to mention a travel in the offing...hehehe)!

Vacation Is Over

I cannot believe how soon time flies. Few days ago, my daughter and I was packing our bags for our trip to Singapore and we came back last Sunday. The fun is ending for me today as I ready myself to go back to work.

The whole Singapore trip was fun; although there was rain here and there on most days. We managed to enjoy ourselves while enjoying the downpour at the same time. Thanks to the "raincoats" sold at Universal Studios. We still had fun and that was the crux of this trip.

9 days seem to be so short! It is back to reality again and looking forward to the next trip. We haven't decided where to go yet and that will certainly depend on the budget. My daughter's prodding us to go to Spain and Portugal. Let's see.

Family Bonding

A family could never be complete without having any family bonding. Most families have family bonding during weekends and some even have it everyday. Most of the families who have quality time together everyday are most likely the families who have daughters and sons who are still young. Their children don’t have any families yet so they have more time to spend with each other. For the families who already have in-laws, since they’re already staying in a different house, most of the time, they have a family reunion every weekend.

Family bonding sure is a very important factor in every family. Without having quality time with your family, there could be some problems that might occur. In order to avoid this, it would be best to spend time with your family whether it’s everyday or every weekend. By spending quality time with your loved ones, you’ll be able to make your relationship closer and stronger. Another good thing about spending quality time with your family members is, you could always give them the guidance they need upon growing up. Just think of a family who sticks together, isn’t it amazing?

I know some families who are really close with each other. Whenever I have the chance to spend time with them, I really can’t help but be happy for them and be amazed on how close their family is. It takes effort to create such a close family but if each member would exert some effort, it wouldn’t be impossible. A happy family starts with family bonding.

This is a guest post by Ciel. She is a photography enthusiast and is fascinated by how words can be expressed through images. She is now working as a writer for gulvsliber, which is about floor sander.