What I Ate Wednesday

I love Anna Saccone's weekly "What I Ate Wednesday" posts and have been inspired to do them as well, but I always forget! I end up gobbling up my meals and by afternoon, I think "Shoot! I forgot to take pictures!" 

Today was my first success in remembering to take photos, HOWEVER, today was not an ordinary today. It was a crazy crazy day at work so I was unable to eat how I normally would. 

Oh well, it is what it is..just keeping it real ;)

BREAKFAST

Non-existent. I know. Not very good for you. I had a 9:30am appointment with my patient and pretty much just dashed out the door. My patient ended up flaking on me so I went to the hospital, which was nearby, and bought one of my fave $1 gourmet coffees. Today, I got a medium hazelnut latte.

I bought this coffee around 10am and because I am one of the world's slowest drinkers, I finished this bad boy at around 6pm. Embarrassing. It was delicious though! I just drink ridiculously slow and can make any drink last all day.

LUNCH

I had a late lunch today, but this is somewhat normal for me. My job entails me working in the field so lunch really depends on when I do not have appointments with my patients. Today, I had lunch around 2pm. 

One of my best friend's mom had taught how to make this. It's really easy. There's not much to learn. For me, it was just finding out that it existed! I would have never thought to put these foods together. 

It's 3/4 of those ready-to-go salad bags. I used an organic spring mix. I added tomatoes, onions, a green chili pepper, and pepper jack cheese. For extra flavor and kick, I added a few dashes of garlic salt and a whole bunch of cayenne pepper. I LOVE spicy! To hold it together, I put in two eggs. I put it in a frying pan, NO oil, and just poured the mixture in. It's basically a quiche I suppose. 

When my mom's friend made this for me, she used a whole bag of spinach, 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites. I just used what I had. It's healthy, it's delicious, and it's a new twist on salad.

Because I didn't have a proper breakfast, I was starving while this was cooking. I had a Filipino polvoron that I got in the Philippines. Polvoron is a Filipino delicacy made of powdered milk, toasted flour, sugar, and butter. They can be plain or have nuts, little rice crispies and more.

AFTERNOON SNACK

For my afternoon snack, I was craving something sweet. I grabbed a small packet of fruit snacks. I only ate about half. It was way too hard. It was getting stuck in my teeth. It was awful.

DINNER

I had a big piece of leftover BBQ chicken and some veggies. The picture doesn't do justice to this chicken. Don't you worry, I was satisfied. Also, I'm the type of person that likes to eat small meals throughout the day. I am a snacker. At work, I'm notoriously known for "always eating." I love food, what can I say? ;)

Along with my dinner, I had my first glass of water. I know this is awful. It's horrible. I'm just not a thirsty person. That's no excuse to not drinking, but I just forget about drinking. When it's really hot, I drink a lot of ice cold water. When it's really cold, I drink a lot tea. When the weather is anything in between, I forget. I know that's bad. I know, I know. I'm working on it...

EVENING SNACK

I had a slice of peanut butter and jelly on a slice of lightly toasted wheat bread, light on the jelly please.

EVENING SNACK #2

My favorite fruits come out in the summer. I'm enjoying a bowl of cherries and blueberries as I catch up on blogs and YouTube. Mmmm. I had planned to drink my second glass of water, but at this point (10:11pm), I'm not even done with my first. I fail. 

I hope you enjoyed my very first What I Ate Wednesday. I think it's a pretty cool to concept as I can learn the foods of different cultures. Overtime I also get to go back and see what I ate. I'm a lover of food so I love food in all forms, even pictures!

What was on your menu for Wednesday?

<3<3<3

Mini Philippines Haul

Aloha!

I am saddened that I walked (or flew?) away from the Philippines with very few items. I guess you know when you're getting older when the pasalubong you bring back home is mostly food and items for others. Pasalubong is somewhat like souvenirs? In Filipino culture, it is custom/tradition to bring back gifts to family and friends back home.

Here are the few items I bought for myself:

In America, shoe sizes mean "size 7" or "6 1/2" or whatever number. That's how we refer to shoe sizes. In the Philippines (and I'm sure other countries do this too), sizes are 26, 27, and so forth. I have no idea what size I am in that measurement so it was difficult for me to guess. I just had to pick a random number and go from there!

They are both size 38 (according to family, I have giant feet). Weird thing is that the silvery purple is longer than the nude shoes, but it's tighter. Maybe I haven't broken into them yet.

The silvery purple shoes are from the department store Landmark in TriNoma Mall, Quezon City, Manila. The nude shoes are my favorite because I love neutral colors and I love gold accents. It's a double win. I bought those in Lee Super Plaza in Downtown Dumaguete.

I know I'm getting older when these ballet flat socks are some of my favorite purchases. HAHA. They come 3 in a pack. One pack was 200 PHP (Philippine peso). That's about $4.54 US. That's so cheap! In the U.S., a good pack of 2 is $8...You see why I'm so excited about this? I've already tried them and I love them. I also love that they are low cut. Amazing.

So my next purchases are kind of embarrassing, but I have no shame!

In the Philippines, they played three commercials ALL the time. One was the summer music video which I did a post about. The other two were different (but very similar versions) of the Palmolive shampoo. 

In the U.S., Palmolive is a brand for dish soap so I was definitely intrigued.


This commercial was played over and over...and over and over again! It made me want to be a Palmolive girl! HAHA



This commercial was played over and over as well. This is a shorter version that showcases 10 Palmolive girls. I believe there was a contest and these are the winners.

If you got a chance to view the videos, you'd see that it's so cute and so catchy!

So look what I did...

I bought three different kinds! In my defense, the two bottles are travel size. They are about the size of my hand. 

Purple is for Frizzy/wavy hair
Pink is for Dry/coarse hair.
Red is for Color-treated hair. Sadly, there were not any travel size ones. They only had the red in large bottles and these small packets.

As you can probably guess, my hair is dry and frizzy. I'm using the pink one right now. I do like it! It smells good - fruity. What's weird is that it also smells like cherry cough syrup. If I smell it too long, it reminds of cough medicine and makes me cringe. Thankfully, that cough syrup smell does not stay on your hair. The fruity smell does linger! You're probably thinking "she does not make any sense." HAHA SORRY!

And that's it...see, it was mini. It makes me sad, but I have made a mental note to pick up some makeup when  I go next time. For fun, I swatched lipsticks on my hand from the brand Careline. It stained my hand! I definitely need to check that out next time.

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed!


<3<3<3

Song of The Moment: PINASmile

This song has captivated my heart. This song was played over and over and over during my stay in the Philippines.

It is the ABS-CBN Summer Station ID 2014 music video "PINASmile." ABS-CBN is a TV station in the Philippines. Pinas is a nickname for the Philippines. According to my cousin, the TV station makes a summer and Christmas music video each year.

How cute is that?!

The video highlights the beautiful smiles of the Filipino people. And now that summer is here, people are happy and smiling, rejoicing together in the beauty and love that is the Philippines and Filipino people. 

The main "cast" are celebrities in the Philippines, but it also showcases every day Filipinos in the Philippines. It makes my heart happy. 

It's a beautiful song and it makes me oh so proud to be Filipino. And of course, it makes me miss the Philippines a bajillion times more!!

<3<3<3

Lupus Awareness Month

Happy Lupus Awareness ACTION Month!

(credit: www.mdjunction.com)

Once again, May has been designated Lupus Awareness ACTION Month - a time to bring awareness to this horrible autoimmune disease that affects the lives of millions. Even with the growing Hollywood spotlight on Lupus (thanks to Snoop Dogg as his precious little girl has lupus), there are still millions of people out there who have never heard of lupus. And this is NOT okay.

Hopefully, this  month can produce the awareness and education, which produces support and donations, which funds research to find more effective medication at maintaining lupus, or even better, CURING lupus.

Sounds simple right? Kinda...Awareness only works if we actually start that discussion about lupus. 

How can we start that discussion? you might ask.

Simple! 

May 16 is "Put On Purple Day." I'll be wearing purple and so will my friends, my family, and my coworker who knows. They will tell their friends, their family, and their coworkers to wear purple on May 16. Their family, their friends, and their coworkers will ask "Why? What does purple mean?" And TA-DA! Discussion started.

Awareness doesn't mean expertise. I'm not asking a lot from you who may be reading this.
I just want you to know that lupus exists and oftentimes it hurts. Lupus is not typically something you can "see" in a lupus patient. Lupus patients are often told "you don't look sick" by those that don't understand. We need to stop this ignorance.

If this post is all you read then I'm okay with it. At least you know it exists. If you got this far into this blog post, thank you.

And if you want to be an even greater super star, check out the links below to learn more.

Lupus Awareness ACTION Month
What is lupus?
Frequently Asked Questions About Lupus


Lastly, please don't forget to PUT ON PURPLE on May 16. If that's all you can do, that'll make my heart happy.

<3<3<3

I'm Back From the Philippines!

Over 24 hours of travel time, over 5 hours of layover time, nearly 10 hours of waiting for boarding; after 5 trips to the airport, 6 boarding passes, 4 baggage claims, my vacation has come to an end.

Last week, I came back from vacationing in the Philippines! I had the bestest time and I really wish I was still on vacation, but back to reality I must go! Boo :(

I was there for nearly two weeks. I spent most of time in Dumaguete City which is in Negros Oriental, or the the Visayas. I spent about 3-4 days in Manila. As mentioned, there was a lot of travel time and airport time involved, but it was all so very worth it. And I would it again in a heartbeat.

In Dumaguete City is where my grandma (or Lola, which means grandma in Tagalog), my aunt and my cousin live. They are more homebody than me so we didn't go on extravagant adventures. It was also Holy Week when I was here. The majority of the Philippines are Catholic. It was crazy because the majority of shops closed on Thursday and Friday of Holy Week. It was so quiet!

W went to the mall, which is what many many people do in the Philippines to avail of the AC because of the hot hot heat and humidity. March is when summer begins. I was lucky because it was supposed to be dreadfully hot, but thankfully, summer started late this year! My first day in Dumaguete was pretty hot, but after the first day, it rained at night (and sometimes during the day) for 3 days straight. Rain brings cooler weather. It was pretty funny because the weather was in the 70s and my family were cold! It's usually in the 80s and 90s in the Philippines. Add on humidity and you have recipe for sweat central.  Funny thing is that when I left the Philippines, summer started full-fledged! Thank you mother nature for sparing me hot misery!

In Dumaguete, we also went to the Boulevard, my cousin's university, and downtown. I bought some shoes at Robinsons mall. I'll show my very few goodies that I bought (I totally wish I bought more) in an upcoming post. I really didn't do much in Dumaguete, but spending time with my family meant more to me than anything.

FAVORITE DUMAGUETE MOMENT: Sitting with my Lola on a bench at the ball. She was telling me about her life when she was younger. I just have to share that she uses the word "preggy" for pregnant. It is adorable. I love her!

After Dumaguete, I went back to Manila where I stayed with my aunt and two cousins in Cubao, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines. Yes, that was a long description. The Philippines have a long description of a location incorporating neighborhood, district and city! My aunt took me to the mall which I enjoy doing. We took many pictures. I saw my cousins. I met my nephew and niece for the firs time. It was adorable! The little girl is 5 years old. She loves the camera and knows how to work the camera. 

FAVORITE MOMENTS IN MANILA: 1) Easter lunch/despedida (going away party) with my family, 2) holding hands with my niece when we walked throughout the mall, and 3) when it was time for her to go home, she didn't want to go and said she wanted to stay with me. 

Here are some photos from my journey:

Manny Pacquiao was boxing this day! Filipinos at the mall had to stop and watch it!

I claim being Pacqiao's good luck charm because he won. The last time I was in the Philippines, he fought and won too. You'e welcome, Pacman! LOL

Dumaguete City

Beautiful view from a patio at Robinsons mall

Dumaguete City

Silliman University

Dumaguete City

Watermelon crush and brazo cupcake. AMAZING. I need to find this in Los Angeles!

Dumaguete City

The Boulevard. This sign is new and gorgeously lights up at night

Dumaguete City

I love going to and from Dumaguete. You board the plane this way. Makes me feel like a celebrity. 

Dumaguete City

Makati

Makita, Manila

 Some of the Easter decor at Sky Garden, a part of the mall (P.S. Filipino malls in Manila are every girl's dream! There's usually 2-3 HUGE malls that connect by a bridge. My poor wallet!!)

Quezon City, Manila

LOVE. She didn't want to let go

Mister Donut, my favorite donut spot. Mine was mango custard filled!

Quezon City, Manila

Random crosswalk

A super cute donut I purchased at Dunkin Donuts Incheon Airport in South Korea. I am obsessed with teddies so I couldn't resist. Too bad it wasn't good :(

That's it for now. Thank you for joining in on my journey. I hope it wasn't too boring :)
I will be posting a mini (literally mini since I bought more food than clothing items) haul soon. I'm still getting back into the swing of things. And my job just recently asked me to be part of a pilot program at the hospitals so I've been busy and exhausted!

Talk to you soon!

<3<3<3

Product Empties #1

Aloha!

This is my first Beauty Product Empties post. I probably shouldn't even be writing this post right now as I need to finish packing my luggage. I'm going to the Philippines in two days! My mom started packing things she wanted me to bring over to the Philippines. She took up one full large luggage and half of one smaller luggage. I feel so unmotivated to maneuver my stuff in. 

Procrastination is the name of the game so here I am!

I've been meaning to do this post for ages and I guess this is the "right" time to do it, in the midst of packing for a two week vacation... -__-

Here's my compilation of productions!

FACE: 

L'OREAL Revitalift Moisturizer (Repurchase? This is like my 5th tub!)

Revlon Color Stay Power in Light Medium (Repurchase? Probably...not?)

Milani Powder Blush in 06A Pink Craze (Repurchase? No)

EYES:

e.l.f. Eyebrow Kit in Medium (Repurchase? This is my 1st compact and I stocked up on 2 more!)

Sephora Liquid Liner in Black (Repurchase? If I was at Sephora and it was more convenient to buy liquid liner then and there)

Superlash by Apple (Repurchase? The results were great, but the brush was difficult to master)

Pink & Green by Apple (Repurchase? The results were great, but again, the brush was difficult to master)

EYES (in detail)

My sister gave me these mascaras that she found at the dollar store. They are made in Mexico. The smell was awful. One was an awful almond and 
the other was just awful! Either 1) I got used to the smell or 2) it faded in time.

Maybe I'm not great at putting on mascara, but these brushes where difficult to maneuver!  95% of the time, I got mascara all over my lids and lower lash line. It was a hassle to touch up eyeshadow if I wore any.
I must admit, the results were pretty great. Family, friends, and coworkers did comment on how curled, voluminous and long my lashes looked.

To me, it's just not worth the mess.

LIPS:

L'OREAL Infallible Lipstick in 512 Intensely Mauve (Repurchase? Undecided, but maybe?)

L'OREAL Infallible Lipstick in 227 Eternal Rose (Repurchase? Again, undecided)

I love the Infallible line by L'OREAL. The only hesitation for me to repurchase these colors is that I want to try other colors :D

I hope you enjoyed my spontaneous/procrastination post.

What are on your beauty empties list? 

<3<3<3

Three Year Purple Anniversary [Belated Post]

I am one nearly year behind in writing this post. Time just flies by! Sometimes I feel as though I cannot keep up with life. If you haven't read about my previous posts (Year One and Year Two) on my Purple Anniversaries, I'll give you a quick summary what a Purple Anniversary is:

I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (S.L.E.) or just simply Lupus for short. I was hospitalized from July 12 - 17 in 2010. Every year, I like to celebrate life in July as way of saying, "I conquered you, Lupus! I am alive and I am healthy as can be." It is merely a celebration of life. My case of Lupus is, thankfully, a mild one, but it can progress over the years without warning or cause. That's just what Lupus does. So whatever the case may be year after year, I would like to celebrate life and still being here.

Lupus patients are sensitive to the harmful sun's rays so we avoid the sun at its peak if possible. I love the ocean, I love the beach. I grew up going to the beach with my family. And I must admit, it makes me sad knowing I can't go to the beach midday and just stay there all day. 

Each year on my Purple Anniversary, which I usually hold in July if possible, I gather my friends together, make them all wear purple (Purple is one of the colors to commemorate Lupus), and enjoy some good food!

Since I cannot go to the beach the way I used to because of the sun, I do try to make it out to the beach during late afternoon just to be able to go to the beach. It's my way of saying, "Ha Lupus! You can't stop me from enjoying the beach."

For my three year Purple Anniversary, I had a bonfire with my closest friends who know that I have Lupus. We all wore purple. We cooked hot dogs over the fire pit, we had all kinds of beverages, and we made s'mores over the fire. 

It was a really great time. I was surrounded by an abundance of love, support, and positive energy. 

I am very grateful that I have the health that I have given the circumstances I am in. That is what my Purple Anniversaries are about.

<3<3<3