Lifestyle Archives » Page 53 of 68

02Mar 2007

2007 Philippine Blog Awards

The 2007 Philippine Blog Awards nominations is still open. Nominate your favorite blogs!.

The proponents of this project namely Abe, Jayvee and Gail assigned me the wonderful task (again!) as Committee Head for Venue and Food . I had been stressing out over the venue for the past 3 days because of Jayvee’s entry

Our most urgent requirement is a venue. Not that there are no venues – but we really want to get that ““sweet spot” between elegance, space and location. We’d love to hear suggestions from the community on where we can hold the venue. We are currently thinking of the mini theatres in Ayala Greenbelt 3 or Shangri-La Mall. Other known venues would be The Events Place and Teatrino at the Greenhills Promenade.

Without a venue, it is difficult for us to plan the logistics, the budget and the overall project planning. Our first choice was the Mall of Asia Music Lounge but the desired dates were unavailable. Besides the rental was in the 6 figures during weekends. Greenbelt was fully booked and so was Music Museum. With a limited budget given to me, I bit the bullet and went for this really swanky theater only because the desired date was available. Placing trust in the thought that “this is a sign that this place is for us”, I took my chances. Since Abe already mentioned it in the vidcast interview with Inquirer.net as well as Jayvee, I might as well blow the trumpets too. Hear ye…

01Mar 2007

Beauty Sleep

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ 6 Comments

sleep I cannot live with less than 8 hours of [tag]sleep[/tag]. I get cranky and less productive with work. The problem with me is sometimes I get caught up with work that I forget the time. This happens whenever I develop a website. That’s why I don’t accept web development projects anymore

read more in this post Beauty over Fifty

25Feb 2007

Kris Aquino and Hope Centeno are not Victims

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ 23 Comments

The other woman, Hope Centeno wept and claimed she might be pregnant with James Yap’s kid . ““I also deserve the same sympathy as Kris” from the public. The 7 month pregnant [tag]Kris Aquino[/tag] just checked out of the hospital and minced no words. ““How dare you say sorry to me?” Kris scolded Hope. She then went on to blame Hope for her ““false labor” and subsequent hospitalization last Thursday.”

My jaw dropped as Kris lamented that “an innocent baby ” is at stake. “How dare you say sorry to me now after you endangered a defenseless child?” and added “You just want to ruin us,” “You attempted to steal my husband. You forgot I am seven months pregnant.”

and the other woman, [tag]Hope Centeno[/tag] “I don’t know if I can find another job. I am ruined. My only sin is that I loved James. I wish I was not judged,” she said, dabbing a piece of tissue paper at her eyes and nose.

24Feb 2007

Safeguard the Web for Children

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ 10 Comments

I came across Thinking Blog entry on “[tag]Safeguard the Web for Children[/tag]” which is originally a campaign from Blogger Power.

Basically, Blogger Power, is an open letter to all adult website owners:

“Please require a password-protected login before allowing even free access to explicit adult content. We understand that selling porn is your business and we respect your right to make a legal living. But understand our legitimate concerns and work with us. You already have the ““warning adult content” on your websites. Yet kids, who are not legal customers of your product, ignore the warning. So to prevent them from having direct access to explicit images, texts and sounds, the simplest way is to have a password-protected login. No more ‘free tours’ before a visitor supplies basic information.”

FACT: Children today are often left alone with a computer and sometimes visit pornographic sites accidentally. I truly support this move.

As a mother, I often monitored my children’s surfing activities until their high school years. In 1996, Lauren then a 10 year old often used my computer in my bedroom. One afternoon, I excused myself to get a phone call. Kids these days type really fast so by the time I returned to my room , I found Lauren with a puzzled look. Right in front of her, the images splashed across the screen was explicit sexual act with all genitals exposed. Mortified, I asked her why she was at that site. Seeing my horrified look, she meekly stammered that she typed the word “chat room” so she could chat with kids her age. The first link she clicked led her to that adult site. At that moment, I explained to her all about porn and the sexual act. Before this happened, I already educated her about sex through the CD “Adam’s body” but graphical images were never displayed. Sometimes I wonder if my dear daughter got traumatized at those porn images.

23Feb 2007

Advertise Here

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ Leave a Comment

Touched by an Angel or aboutmyrecovery.com has been online and running as a blog since February 24, 2006. In less than a year, this blog received the following awards:

Second time to win Winner, Best Website, Blogs Category of the 10th Philippine Web Awards held November 23, 2007
prestigious Best Website, Blog Category, 9th Philippine Web Awards on December 7, 2006
the Globelines Broadband Family Blog Award on March 31, 2007.
Blog- Personal Category DigitalFilipino.com Web Awards 2007 on April 27, 2007

This blog also got featured in Marie Claire’s February 2007 issue and Manila Bulletin’s April 10, 2006 Blog-o-rama. There are also TV appearances (Lifestyle Channel, Salamat Dok, Che Che Lazaro and Ali Sotto ) due to my advocacy in this blog.

Other blogs or sites that I own are Pinoy Food & Cooking Blog, Wedding Gowns, Pinoy Idol, Pinoy Real Esate Broker, Filipino Family Photo Gallery, Shopping Finds, The VOIP Resources and Entertainment Blog.

Blog Popularity & Reach

Age of Domain: almost two years old
PageRank: 3
Published Posts: 1487
Blog Comments: more than 1,000
Technorati Rank: 16,914 (663 links from 298 blogs )

Blog Growth– January 7, 2008
1. Alexa Traffic Rank for aboutmyrecovery.com: 178,102
2. Page Strength – 4.5/10
3. Blog Juice– 3.2
4. Blog worth – $209,444.34

aboutmyrecovery.com currently averages 9372.26 pageviews from 2318.94 visits per day (December 2007).

Advertising Opportunities in aboutmyrecovery.com , Pinoy Food & Cooking Blog, Wedding Gowns, Pinoy Idol, Pinoy Real Esate Broker, Filipino Family Photo Gallery, Shopping Finds, The VOIP Resources and Entertainment Blog. Rates will vary per blog.

There are several advertising campaigns to suit your needs:

125 x 125 Ad Banner at $50.00 a month (only 4 ads)
Link Advertising (with nofollow tag)
Blog Endorsement (with nofollow tag)

For more details and special ad rates, email noemidado@ gmail.com or contact me here

22Feb 2007

Thursday Thirteen:Number 2

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ 18 Comments

Thirteen Things to do before Moving to our New Home

I can’t believe it’s just 16 days before we move to our new home . My head reels of a thousand and one things to do. In fact, I carry a paper planner with me all the time. I take note of all my daily activities to keep me on track. In honor of [tag]Thursday Thirteen[/tag], allow me to list the top 13:

1. Order appliances like the refrigerator, gas stove, washing machine, water heaters and airconditioner. Why new ones? Well, our appliances are over 10 year old and almost dying. In fact, the airconditioner in our room conked out. Butch and I sleep in either L and M’s room if it’s vacant. If not, we sleep in the spare room just so we can enjoy the cool comfort of an airconditioned room.

2. Buy new beds for L and M. The girls want a new look in their respective rooms. “mom, our rooms are a 10 year old look”, they protest. I gave them the freedom to take ownership of their room design.

3. Prepare internet connection. I will have to cancel my internet service provider, Destiny Cable effective end of March. I’m sad to say goodbye to my trusty 8 year old provider. In 1999, they were the only cable or broadband provider and they have been really efficient and reliable. Unfortunately, Destiny Cable Internet is not yet covered in Pasig.

Since I need redundant internet connection, I will continue Smart Bro subscription since connection has been quite good the past few months. In place of Destiny Cable, I am choosing between PLDT and Globe Broadband. Any ideas?

Globe Broadband has this new promo that comes with free landline use and an internet connection for only 999 pesos a month. PLDT came out with the same promo at 888 pesos (?).

I might get Globe Visibility too.

4. Prepare for another garage sale on March 3. I think I have disposed about 1/4 of our junk but there are a few left. My husband surprised me by discarding his old clothes (oh joy!) and some of his books. Still, I am not satisfied. He needs to remove a lot of his stuff.

5. Finalize the design of custom made cabinets and tables. Thanks to Connie, I found Marlon, a talented carpenter totally dedicated to his craft. Right now, he is painting the work station I designed for my sooo disorganized husband. Other customized furniture in queue: bay window table for M, writing table for me and L. The problem is Marlon might need to leave for Australia anytime.

6. Finalize all documents for the sale. Our loan was just released last week so registration of title , and other papers need to be in place.

19Feb 2007

Ten Ways to Getting Through Hard Times

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ 12 Comments

A footage from “Joined for Life: Abby and Brittany Turn 16” via The Learning Channel can truly inspire us during our deepest darkest despair. “Abigail and Brittany Hensel (born 7 March 1990, United States), are dicephalic [tag]conjoined twins[/tag]. Brittany is the left twin, and Abigail is the right twin. They have two spines which join at the pelvis. They have two stomachs, three lungs, and two arms. ” They are intelligent, energetic, fun-loving girls who just happen to share one set of legs and one set of arms – each girl controlling one half of their conjoined body.

Abigail and Brittany narrate their top ten list of interests since they turned 11. Despite the obstacles , they are able to drive, shop, attend high school which any “normal” teenager would love to do. After watching their video, I am amazed to see their wonderful positive attitude and their ability to live a normal life. Of course, they are probably adapted to their bodies.

16Feb 2007

Real Estate Loans from the Country’s Top Banks

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ 8 Comments

Buying our new home was a little off our budget . I wasn’t too confident in getting another [tag]housing loan[/tag] as we had an existing housing loan for 6 years now. I have no idea how the banking sector works or how credit scores are attained. All I know is we have an excellent credit history as we never missed payments. Maybe , I thought, we might get a second housing loan. Who knows?

Credit Cards

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ 11 Comments

Financial institutions seem to be very liquid these days. They are giving out credit cards as if it is a bank brochure. The other day, BPI Express Credit sent me two [tag]credit cards[/tag]. I don’t understand why they have to send me a credit card when I already have a BPI Express Credit card since 1989. *snip* *snip* The lady at the Express Phone protested when I told her that I had no need for additional credit cards. A few weeks ago, Banco de Oro (BDO) also sent us credit cards. *snip* *snip* I believe in having a credit card but two are enough, thank you. I used to have a VISA card but I snipped that a year ago . It’s just so much easier to balance my budget. My husband has three credit cards and he plans to snip one card as soon as he pays off a “zero lite” plan.

Why would anyone need so many credit cards? It causes anyone to go into debt much faster, thinking of the additional cards as a standby.

The first credit card I ever had was Diner’s Club in the early 80’s. During those days, credit cards were very limited in the Philippines and often offered to businessmen or the “rich”. As a struggling career woman, I didn’t qualify for a credit card. Anyway, I got mine as supplementary card from my dad. After a few years of wise use, it paved the way for me to get a credit card on my own. Then credit cards became an “in thing” in the late eighties that more bank started on credit card operations.

Through the years, the advantages of credit cards outweighed the disadvantages.

15Feb 2007