Thursday Thirteen : Recent Blogging Awards

Thirteen Blogging Awards I am grateful and overwhelmed by the generosity and thoughtfulness of my blogging friends. I would like to share these wonderful Blogging Awards that were given to me recently. 1. From Misty Dawn I would like to pass this to Wenchie, Vicki, Alice, Kay, and Nancze. 2. From Kailani I would like to pass this to Daphne, Tani, Sanni , Cess and Liz. 3. From Lalaine I would like to pass this to Sidney, Junnie, Photo Cache, Mary Jane and Raq. 4. From Janet and Amy I would like to pass this to EastCoastLife, Nina, Gattina, Sandy and Dragonheart and Merlin. *** Belated Happy Birthday to my dear Blog friend, Sandy. Wishing her joy, best of health and more inspiration in life. *** 5. From Jeanette I would like to pass this to Bang, Thess, Lynn, Cookie, and Princess. 6. From Jenny (This award came as a real surprise ... I was puzzled and asked Jenny if she made a mistake by any chance. ha! ha!) I would like to pass this to Girlie, Janice, Belle, Shawna, and Chesca. 7. From Rocks I would like to pass this to Toni, Tina (KK), Annamanila, Dine and Feng. 8. From Alice I would like to pass this to Jo, Evi, Tani, Maria Rachelle, Mitch and Leah. I would like to pass this to Pea, Susie, Pearl, Tisha, and Gracie. 9. From Arlene I would like to pass this to Julie, Christian, Hailey, Chats, and Napaboaniya . 10. to 13. Special award as a way of saying thanks to my blogging friends for their generosity and thoughtfulness. I would like to pass this to Misty Dawn, Kailani, Alice, Jeanette, Janet, Lalaine, Arlene, Rocks, Jenny and Amy.

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Thursday Thirteen : Kung Hei Fat Choi

Thirteen Things about THE YEAR OF THE RAT Sorry my TT is a day late. I was out yesterday with some friends. When I got home I was too tired to finish my post and decided to just post it today. Kung Hei Fat Choi (Happy Chinese Lunar New Year) to everyone! My husband and I have grown accustomed to celebrating Chinese New Year. Last Year we enjoyed celebrating the Year of the Pig. This year we didn't have time to prepare that much but we still made it a point to buy some fruits (symbols of prosperity) and tikoy (round sticky cake that symbolizes unity). Jules baked an apple pie (something sweet symbolizes harmonious relationship). On the eve of every Lunar Chinese New Year, my husband and I write our wishes on Wishing Paper and light some incense. After writing our wishes, we burn the Wishing Paper and pray that our wishes will come true. Here are some interesting things about the Year of the Rat that I read in various feng shui sites. 1.Year of the Earth Rat starts on February 7, 2008 and ends on January 25, 2009. 2. The Rat is the first sign of the Chinese zodiac and signifies new beginnings. 3. This year is thus an appropriate time to start new ventures, especially groundbreakings. 4. The Year of the Earth Rat is predicted to be an exciting year full of new beginnings and accomplishments as the elements of Earth and Water come together. 5. Prospects for businesses involving property development, real estate, jewelry, computers, restaurants and entertainment look good. 6. Chinese astrologers predict that the Year of the Rat is a good year to begin a new job, get married, launch a product, or make a fresh start. 7. The Rat tends to take a lot of risks, while Earth is associated with practicality and stability. This creates balance and can lead to good profits, increased productivity and all sorts of accomplishments. 8. The Rat year can bring a new beginning of international relationships and social order. 9. The rat is also considered as a "Flower of r0mance." 10. It is a relatively good time to begin a new romance. 11. Those in a relationship may want to consider raising it to the next level, to include marriage. 12. The following are born on the "Year of the Rat:" 1900, 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008 13. Wishing everyone good tidings on the Year of the Rat. May all of you have good health, success in career and wealth of happiness in your hearts. God bless.

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Thursday Thirteen : Environmental Care

Thirteen Things about Environmental Care 1. Practice proper garbage segregation at home. Start by segregating biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste. 2. Check out Waste Markets near your area where you can donate or sell recyclable items. 3. Recycle paper to save our trees. Many offices in the Philippines are now using recycled paper in printing office documents. If your office is not yet doing this, try to suggest this to your office admin. 4. Go paperless. If hard copies of reports and other documents are not necessary, save them on the computer instead of printing. 5. Avoid using plastic bags when going to the grocery. Bring your own non-plastic bags that you can re-use. Some supermarkets give you the option to avail of their non-plastic bags for a minimal fee. 6. To avoid adding to air pollution, have your vehicles go through emission test regularly. 7. Conserve electricity at home, in school, at the office ... wherever and whenever possible. 8. Conserve water in all places. For example if you see a faucet in the public bathroom that was left open, make it a point to close it. 9. Support the Clean Air Act. Do not burn garbage. 10. Plant trees. 11. Teach your own children about the importance of taking care of Mother Earth while they are young so they can grow up with a strong sense of caring for the environment. 12. Encourage others to do their share in taking care of the environment. Every small task counts. 13. Support organizations, foundations and projects dedicated to environmental care and conservation. My husband and I took part of Project E.A.R.T.H. last Jan. 26, 2008. E.A.R.T.H. stands for Environmental Awareness and Responsive Through Homebuilding. It was a project aimed to encourage residents to sustain the well being of village communities. Below are some photos taken during that day ... Motorcade around Avida Villages in Sto. Tomas, Batangas, Tree Planting activity and entertaining intermission number featuring puppet show and mascot dance number Me together with Mundo and Munda, mascots of Project E.A.R.T.H.


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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Thursday Thirteen : I Love You in Different Languages

Valentine's Day is just a few weeks ahead. Romance is in the air so I was inspired to do some research about different ways of saying I Love You. I found the following on the internet. Just in case you found one that is not correct, kindly let me know. If your country is not included, I'd love to know how you say I Love You in your country.

Thirteen Ways to Say I Love You I love You. - English Mahal Kita. – Filipino Je t'aime – French Ich liebe dich – German Aloha au ia'oe – Hawaiian Szeretlek – Hungarian Ngo oi ney or Wo ai ni – Chinese Ik hou van je – Dutch Saya cinta padamu – Indonesian Ai shite ru or Kimi o ai shiteru – Japanese Sarang hapnida – Korean Gwa ai lee – Taiwanese Seni seviyorum - Turkish

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Thursday Thirteen : Enrich Your Life

There are so many ways to enrich life. There is always something you can do each day to make life more meaningful and worth remembering. I realized over the years that simple things can be translated in a multitude of happiness.

Let me share a few things that I believe can make each day more worthwhile ...

Thirteen Things about Enriching Your Life Start each day with a prayer. Keep a positive disposition. Always be hopeful for a great day ahead. Do something nice for someone anonymously. Smile. Perhaps, someone out there needs a cheerful face to help ease the stress of the day. Be more understanding of the shortcoming of others. Try to give someone the benefit of the doubt. Express your gratitude to someone. Saying thank you can mean so much. Reward yourself after a period of hard work. Go shopping, watch a movie, eat in a fancy restaurant, go to the salon or the spa. Say "I love you" more often to the special people in your life. Don't wait for tomorrow. Say it now. Take care of yourself. Embrace healthy eating habits and regular exercise. Spend quality time with your family no matter how busy you are at work. Misunderstandings are normal but don't go to bed with a heavy heart. If possible, try to settle misunderstandings before going to bed. End each day with a prayer. Be thankful for your blessings.

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Thursday Thirteen : Favorite Desserts

Thirteen Favorite Deserts

1. Blueberry Cheesecake (Particularly from a local Bakeshop called Becky's Kitchen).
2. Carrot Cake
3. Food for the Gods
4. Oatmeal Cookies
5. White Chunk Macadamia Cookies (Mrs. Fields)
   
6. Buko pandan - coconut strips with pandan flavored gelatin and condense milk
   
7. Buchi - deep fried sweet-filled sesame-covered balls
   
8. Halo-Halo
   
9. Mango crepe
10. Fresh fruits
11. Mint Pistachio Ice-cream
    
12. Chocolate Fudge
13. Apple Pie ala mode
    

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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All About Labradors (Thursday Thirteen #3)

If Labs could place personal ads in newspapers looking for their owners, the ad might read something like this:

NYLP (nice yellow Lab pup) seeks owner with lots of free time who loves to hike, swim and play!

This happens to be the topic of my Thursday Thirteen #3 for this week. If you want to read about thirteen interesting things about the Labrador, you may read my post here.



My entry this week is based on a book called The Labrador Retriever, An Owner's Guide To A Happy Healthy Pet by Lisa Weiss Agresta.