Embrace The Camera - The Father Of All Bunnies

Pssst! Pssst! MOMMEEEE!

Look who I just found, sleeping on our couch. Come quick and take a picture!



The father of all bunnies with his pink ears, sleeping like a baby.

Girls Talk - Girlishly Pink!



Pink is the absolute favourite colour of my youngest. Or at least I think it is. Her wardrobe mostly consist of clothes with several hues of pink because she just adores the colour.

Last week, we did the rounds through my collection. So this week, we are raiding the closet of my little princess.

Starting to love this "all pink"
outfits

Youngest started with pink when
she was still very young. We loved
dressing her in pink, that's why.

Youngest with her pink bunny ears

at a concert

With her mixed winter warmer

With her blown up pink poodle

So happy that I got a pink dress
for a birthday gift!

For more pink stuff, check out Girls Talk this week.

Novice Blogging - Note #7

As mentioned in the previous week, I was trying to schedule my posts on Blogger. Or to better rephrase, pre-determine when the posts publish. This is especially ideal for me as I just found out that creative juices don’t necessarily flow 8 to 5 around here.

To pre-post, create your post under New Post. And then, underneath the text box, click on Post Options. On the right hand side of the dropped down box, where it has a choice of Post Date and Time – Automatic or Scheduled At, select the second option and input the date and time you want the post to publish. (Don’t you feel somewhat like Doc and Marty McFly having a bit of your Back to the Future?)

This should give you a bit more planning with regards your posts.

And The Versatile Blogger Award Goes To.....

I am sitting in anticipation, like a face in the crowd. And then Mommy Chris of The Mommy Journey announces: "And the versatile blogger award goes to.....mjrodriguez of mj dot com!"

And the crowd goes wild.....well, this is all in my head of course.

I am truly honoured to receive this blog award, my first ever in the blogosphere. Cool! A big, warm, heartfelt thank you to my friend, Chris, for this honour.


Having been awarded as a versatile blogger means you have the ability and skills of embracing variety of subjects which is useful and interesting to read.

So I am now passing this award to blogs I love visiting...
Day By Day With Divine
Fabbielous Momma
Imriz
Jennyholic, Confession Of An Addict
Just About Anything
Keeping Up With Me
luckyzoan
Mom's Ups And Downs
My Little Angels
Pensive Thoughts
Smart Mommy
The Anderson Crew
The Lowe Family News
The Mess That Is My Life
To Be, To Be. Tutubi.

For those I have passed on this award, here's what you should do next:
- Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
- Share 7 THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF
- PASS Along to 15 Bloggers who you recently discovered and think are fabulous.
- Contact the bloggers you chose and let them know about the award.

And the 7 things about myself:
1. I love singing
2. I have been in South Africa for more than half my life
3. I love to travel to new places and am planning an overseas trip this December
4. I rarely cook home meals because I don't do it well (I'm a better dishwasher, lol!)
5. I spend at least 2 hours on the road everyday to go to work and back (and love the solitude!)
6. I put myself through university and only finished my studies when I was 27
7. I am an only child

So be versatile like us, if you dare.

Moviegoer's Review on The Last Airbender

Disclaimer: Read at own risk. This might contain spoilers. No other benefits were gained by the blogger for this review except for entertainment brought on by blogger’s initiative to watch the movie.

There are no other words to say it; the whole family is definite avid fans of the Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender. We’ve watched the animated series from Book 1 to 3 over and over again.

So being true Aang enthusiasts, I recently took my kids to watch the live action adaptation of The Last Airbender 3D at the cinema.

Although most critics have slammed the movie as being boring and drawn out, I found it good (but then I am no proper critic). It might not have been as great as it should have been but nevertheless the adaptation, most of the time, stayed true to the basic story. My youngest voiced out some differences between the adaptation movie and the animated series. Her most favourite was when Yue (pronounced Yu-wei) decided to give her life back to the spirits. The character, Yue, floated herself in the water and when her spirit left her body, her hair turned black. My youngest is quick to point out that the character is not supposed to do it this way. In the cartoon, the character held the two fish (representing the spirits) and then the character’s spirit left her body and floated to the sky towards the moon. And then she disappeared.

Bringing the kids along, the verdict is:

6¾ year old – good movie but she got a bit restless towards the end. I suppose it was just long for her and it was time for a bathroom break. She is just turning 7 and the movie was a PG10. She did remind us of all the characters’ names when they appeared on the screen so she was attentive enough throughout the story.

14¾ year old – also good but she felt that the story moved a bit too fast. This is of course a natural feeling with adaptations. You can’t cram a whole 10 hours of cartoon series into 2 hours of movie time without doing a fast turn. So yes, the movie did move fast. She was also a bit irritated that they called some of the characters wrong (Aang was introducing himself as a sorta “Ong”, Sokka was called “Soh-Ka”, and Iroh was “E-roh”).

34½ year old (who is acting a bit like a 10 year old) – also good but felt the end part of the movie could have been shot at better lighting. Really, it was just too dark. I actually felt funny inside the moviehouse. Here I am, watching this movie which I felt did not have enough light….and I’m wearing glasses??? I really digged Aang’s eyebrows. He was always shot with one half of his face on the screen and the other half off and so the eyebrows were prominent….to me anyway. I also like the character Yue. So sad her part was so short. She reminded me of a young Denise Richards with white hair.

So, all in all, it was a good outing to a good movie, for kids and kids-who-never-grow-old alike.

Mommy Moments - Snack Time!

One super-size McRodriguez meal with Coke Light and barbecue sauce please!

You guessed it right! And the great thing about it is that our snack can also double up as breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and even midnight snack. At least once every fortnight, we visit the big M...or drive-thru it anyway.

In the city of Johannesburg, it is hard to miss a McDonalds' as they could be likened to mushrooms sprung up at every corner of the city. The one we have within our neighbourhood even operates on a 24-hour basis. (This is just in case you suddenly craved for McFlurrys in the middle of the night and can't recreate them on your own, which usually happens to me, lol.)

Last week we had our usual order for the whole family. Am not really sure if this was dinner or afternoon snack???

So I'm calling on Ronald McDonald! I want a McRodriguez on the menu next time please!

For other healthier alternatives on snacks, click on the badge! 

Embrace The Camera - Daddy-Daughter Memories

Thursday again. Embrace The Camera day.

Taking from our host Emily's example last week about "then and now" photos, today I share pictures of my hubby and eldest - then and now.



Then - when eldest was still in diapers

Halfway years - Out of diapers and into ball gowns

As now as we can get......

For more entries into Embrace The Camera, check out The Anderson Crew.

Girls Talk - Back to Basic Black

Today's GT topic is the colour Black.

And because I have heard a long time ago that black makes you look thinner and sexier, since then, my fashion collection (and sense) has been black, blacker and blackest!

Wouldn't it be just wonderful if wearing black could somehow help me lose weight too? As if!?! Come to think of it, I wear more black nowadays to hide my weight gain. And now, my wardrobe is open for all to see......
 

2010 - Sportswear in gear while

preparing to run the JP Morgan.

  

2008 - Casual wear of choice while standing around

waiting for the fishes to come take their pictures

with us

   

Eyewear for uber seriousness as a

celebrity.....lol! The bigger and darker,

the more infamous the look becomes.

And for footwear, my weapons in

disguise.....pamatay (to die for)

platform boots with matching
black leggings

1994 -Formal wear preference while competing

at a pageant....oh, those were the days! So

wish I could still fit into this gown!

   

2010 - Office wear selection while sitting in the office,

posing with the telephone and the computer keyboard.

Hey! Looks like the "head-tilting" moves my daughter

taught me are paying off! (Interested to know how?

See blog Embrace The Camera - ETC Goes HTC).
This is definitely my new profile pic!



Join us on Girls Talk today.

   





Novice Blogging - Note #6

Maybe it was just me who thought it funny or read it wrong. I noticed something quite odd while going through the Blogger settings of my blog. Under the heading Settings and where it notes Global Settings, there was a choice to select post editor.

Now here I thought the editor was me. Couldn’t really quite grasp what it meant by

updated editor – check latest features (who the heck was this?)

and old editor – going away soon (who, me? who said so?)

Incidentally I was looking to schedule my posts and stumbled upon the explanation behind the updated and old editor through Google Help. Updated meant that it was the newer version with a whole lot of different features. And old meant, exactly that, the older version of Blogger. I didn’t quite realise that Blogger was in transition mode.

And so now I know. I have set the thing to updated editor.

Note to self: Stop acting so dim.

Hey There, Great Day! Remember Me?

Spring has officially sprung in our house.

Although spring started at least about 3 weeks ago, I have been putting off spring cleaning all our closets for a while now. Our wardrobes still keep our winter clothes and our summer attires are neatly tucked away in some obscure hiding place. But change is becoming a necessity. Each day it is becoming harder to wear anything thick when the sun is shining so bright and vibrant, as if laughing at me for wearing such an out-of-season outfit.

So this past weekend, I dedicated some time to open the big black luggage, where our summer wear has called home for the past 5 months, to unpack them.

Found that the winter wear did not necessarily fit into the luggage the summer clothes were in. Maybe they were bulkier than normal. I was only able to organize my husband’s winter outfits. What a bummer! I needed to find some more luggages to put my other winter wear.

After more than an hour of unpacking and packing, the room was neat. All summer clothes neatly on the shelves. All winter clothes crammed into the luggages.

So hey there, great day! Tomorrow, I will be stepping out with my best spring foot (er, dress?) forward. No reason to be laughing at me now, sun. I’ve got with the program. I am officially on spring season mode.

Mommy Moments - Grandparents

Much as I'd like to say that my kids are close to their grandparents, we don't see them very often. That is, of course, natural when you are overseas. You miss being with your family and relatives a lot.

South Africa is also very far from the Philippines and it takes at least 12 hours of flight time to get from point A to B. Plus, not to mention, the airfare is a bit expensive when you are travelling as a family of four. So our holiday visits have been few and far between.

The last visit to the Philippines was made by my hubby and eldest way back in December 2004. Herewith some pictures of their trip to (grandma) lola's house:
 

Eldest with Inang Irene and a cousin

  

Eldest with Granny Helen



Belated Happy Grandparents Day to all!

For more "gran"-moments, check out The Mommy Moments.

Embrace The Camera - ETC Goes HTC



1 - Ok, let's start, ma. Tilt your
head and pout a bit like so.


I recently upgraded my cellphone contract and got a new phone - the HTC Wildfire. It came with a 5MP camera so me and my eldest decided to test it out.

My eldest complained that my profile picture is a bit ho-hum and so wants to teach me some pointers on how to pose for a cellphone shoot. It supposedly works wonders if you know just which angle of your face is your best profile, she says. 



2 - Ma! You must stop smiling and
breathe so you can tilt your head!
Do the other way!

 She tilts her head to the left and then to the right, pouts a bit, smiles a little, looks up, sideways, and on and on........alas, poor Mommy looks the same in the first few photographs as I didn't really know which side is my best. Almost looked like my face was photoshopped the same on every photo. I was starting to feel like an obtuse angle.....

Until finally, after 20 or so odd takes.....I did start to get the hang of it. Am not a fully-pledged profile-picture-taker as yet, but hopefully will get better in time.

P.S. Didn't really wanna fill up the whole blog with my learning to do the "Tilt Ya Head" move, so I have chosen the 4 pics that best express the shoot.

             Visit The Anderson Crew for more Embrace The Camera.

 


4 - This is better, ma. Although now we look like a "before and after"
picture side by side, LOL!

 

3 - Ok, that's more like it.