Shopping till I dropped.....

Well, I came to visit my sister and I have had the best time so far. Second, I had started shopping but I only brought one big luggage and it is now full and I no space left for anymore. Next time, if there is a next time, I will have one luggage just for shoes/boots.

I hope I can still be able to lift my luggage but that will be only when I take it off the carousel. It had been fun and I will now enjoy the rest of the time visiting.

Sad to hear that we have relatives who spent Christmas day in the hospital. I hope they will be out to spend the New Year home with their families. 

Thanks to my BIL, as my sister would say, who took me shopping and even found a very nice pair of boots while we were at Kohl's. He also found a pair of jeggings we thought were priced ok but got a lecture from my sister that we paid too much.

Also, I have a new method of buying boots. I don't look around for the type or design I like, I first look for my size and then open the box and hope it is the pair I am looking for. My sister's MIL found me the other pair of boots. 

Next time I will take pics of my stash and I know I have had a good deal. Now my New Year's resolution is to finally lose the last few pounds and hopefully my doctor will take me off the medication. Another, would be to stop shopping....I know, I know, how many pairs of shoes does a person need?

If I don't get another chance to blog....I wish all of you a Happy New Year.....and may it be a start of something good. 

Merry Christmas......

I would like to greet everyone a very Merry Christmas!!! And since there are people from different parts of the world who read my blog whether it was intentionally or by accident, it would be nice to wish you all in your languages.

Joyeaux Noel                                                              Feliz Navidad

                                         Maligayang Pasko                                                  Mele Kalikimaka

               Buone Feste Natalizie                  Pace Salute                 Froliche Weinacht

            Meri Kerihimete          Feliz Natal                Nadolig Llawen             Sawadee Pee Mei

                   Kala Christouyenna               Milad Majid               Geseende Kersfees

 Glaedelig Jul                            Selamat Hari Natal                                       Chuc Mung Giang Sinh      

                        Felices Pasquas                                    Heristos Se Rodi

            Shub Naya Baras               Kurisumasu Omedeto                    Vesele Vianoce

                                                                  Happy Christmas



Sunny but cold San Jose!!!!

Well, I thought I would be in warm San Jose but at night it feels colder than Edmonton with the humidity and dampness. I arrived here Thursday night and we went to a Filipino restaurant close to the airport. 

Jeff and Luckie's home is really cute and today we were really busy. We started shopping for groceries for the 3 meals we have to get ready for the next three days. But of course we had our side trips to shop for clothes and shoes. Yes, I have started shopping and will tell you more about it later. We actually went two times for shoes and clothes. 


Tomorrow will be celebrated with a few relatives of Jeff's and Christmas, our cousin with her friend will be celebrating with us. I have not seen her for a long time.


We have been busy cooking and baking. We just finished making potato and macaroni salad, magic and lemon bars and filling for empanadas and chicken pot pies.


I still have not finished wrapping the presents I brought with me so I will be doing that later which would be early morning.


So here is my Christmas wish to everyone....that you will spend it with family and friends and just enjoy and give thanks that there are presents under the Christmas tree.

I hope everyone will have a great Christmas Eve.  

I hope  don't gain weight with all the eating and celebrating. I have to watch it seriously. I have a doctor's appointment a few days after I get back home.

I am enjoying my time visiting my sister and her hubby. I hope my niece and her hubby are having fun in New York.

What's baking/cooking......

Usually during the holidays, I do a lot of baking and give them away as presents. This year I did not do as much since I will be away. I have made shortbread because it does not feel like Christmas at all without it. I also made steamed rice cakes for our cookie exchange.

Here are some baked goodies I have done in the years past.

Classic spritz

Pineapple filled bars

Kisses thumb print cookies

Chocolate crinkles

Steamed rice cakes

It is fun when you see them all baked and wrapped ready to give as presents. But I must admit it is hard work.



Gifts, presents and cookie exchange....

It is nice to get something we don't expect. It is sign of thanks, appreciation and just plain spirit of giving.

At our office, I do a lot of the contracts and so I deal with a lot of trades and when I find that they do a good job and the price is right, I tend to give them a lot of business. And during this time, they show their thanks and appreciation.

So in the past few days, we were discussing in the office that it seems like the trades have been affected by the world's economic problem. We did not get any baskets or boxes of chocolates and it is almost the middle of December. But then the trades have started to come and it is nice to be thought of at Christmas.

This is the first basket I got and it is from our snow removal company.

This trio is from our eaves trough company

These two ginger bread houses from our real estate guy. He also gave each of us a bottle of wine.

This trio, that's Tim Horton's card from our flooring guys.

This is one of the cookie exchange, home made biscotti which is yummy and I don't know the name of the cookies, but very tasty as well.

This is made with dark and white chocolate, something different, from one of my resident managers.

I am sure there will be more this week but I will be away from the office starting Thursday and will also miss our Secret Santa but will open mine when I get back after the New Year.





Shopping and packing done....

It feels good to finally achieve a mission. I got up early today to finish these two jobs. And I did it!!! Not only have I done it, but I saved quite a bit because I got most of it on sale. There was only one present I had such a hard time buying but when I found it, it was such a relief.

I also manage to get something to add to my own little collection. And I only get them at this particular store.

Then I met a friend as we wanted to go out for our Christmas dinner and we decided to go to Moxie's.

But before we went there we passed by Target Canada. Yes, we have Target and what a disappointment.. It was a crappy store and I have heard or read that Michelle Obama sometimes buy at Target, I am glad she is not Canadian because there is nothing she can buy at the Target here. It is an insult to us Canadians. To prove my point, when we got to the store, there were 4 other shoppers there and it is close to Christmas. Gosh, do they send what they don't sell in the US here?  That was my first and last time at Target. Now, I have a mission when I get to San Jose....I will see what their Target store is like over there.

Yes, I have a small collection of margarita glasses. I got this pair at Pier One for $2.98 each. What a deal!!!



Freebies..........

I did not realize I have not posted in a while. It had been very busy at work since we will be closed from Dec 23 to Jan 3.

I can't think of anything interesting to post for now so I decided to show a few things I have received from friends and office mates.

My office mate was brought this to wear at our open house and when she put it on, she did not like it, it was not comfortable. So we exchaned shoes for the night. At the end of the open house, I got my shoes back and this one as well.

A pair of boots given by the same office mate. I think she buys shoes and does not try them or for whatever reason, it seems like she buys them because she likes it and realizes she does not like it.

One more week and I am still finishing my shopping and packing. I hope everyone gets it done soon and just enjoy the rest of the week.







Christmas memories.....

This was one of my Christmas memories, quite a long time ago. I think this happened when I was 8 or 9 years old. And yes, I do remember it vividy.

Back in the Philippines, we celebrated every Christmas at my grnadparents house. Our celebration was on Christmas Eve and we would have late supper called Noche Buena at around midnight or a bit after,

Presents were given but before you can receive yours, the children had to sing. I do not sing and this was just a pain in you know where for me. I literally hated this part of Christmas. At first I would start to sing and by the time I am on a second line of whatever Christmas carol I chose to sing, I would be in tears. Finally, I had enough of it. I did not care if I ever get any Christmas presents. I would just refuse to sing.

I know at one time everyone had their presents and they started opening them and I still did not have mine and I remember it well, it did not bother me that much. But somehow an aunt or someone else would give me all my presents.

I was relieved that when we got older and was receiving envelopes instead of presents and we did not have to sing anymore. I think this episode in my life somehow tarnished my enjoyment of this holiday. And I hated the relative who was responsibe for this. Thus....karma....I do not have any kind of relationship with this person now.

Today, I still don't sing even if my life depended on it. Sometimes, my sister would ask me to sing with her and that is the only time, usually when the two of us are drivng.

This wsa the song I remember singing and stopped when I was just on the holy night, so the third word of the song. Of course, it was the standard one, this was a different cover of the song.

Busy, busy, busy.....

It had been a busy Friday for me. I took my vehicle to the dealership to get winter tires installed and took the shuttle back downtown. I had asked the shuttle driver to pick me up at 2:00 pm so I could get home early but my vehicle was not ready and I had to wait for almost an hour. But I met the most wonderful couple who was also waiting for their vehicle to get ready. They had a longer wait so the service guy gave them a Vera Cruz so they could drive to the mall and shop. That is what I call service.

At work it was training day for new managers and helping get the financial statements out. I forgot  my lunch bag in my vehicle so one of the ladies picked up lasagna (again) at Timmy's and I guess when you are hungry, it tasted a bit better than the first time. This is what my niece commented as well.

We are preparing for manager's luncheon this Wednesday and I hope it will not be another one of those deli meat, cheeses, olives, etc. I am not a sandwich person so I do not enjoy this.

I am baking my contribution to the cookie exchange.

Friday night was my Christmas shopping day and a friend and I went to High Street which is 2 blocks away from my place. They have very nice and different stores there. Luckily, I got most of what I wanted to get. I have to pick up one little item which will come from another branch in the city. It was hard trying to get stuff made just in Canada so I was really careful to get just items made here.

I will start packing soon although I am not taking a lot of stuff with me as I am shopping when I get to San Jose. It would be fun.

I just realized that I have not seen my fave sister in over three years. That is a long time. I am sure we will have lots of fun.

My sister is right, this is the best version of this song, I used to like Johnny Matthis's version.

Finally.............

This morning I am on my way to my Hyundai dealership to get my winter tires installed. What is ironic about it, there is no snow and the forecast is no snow for the next two weeks. I guess I will be ready when that dreaded white stuff comes sometime in the near future.

The nice thing about it is, I will be gone for almost two weeks on holidays so I don't really care when it comes.

Yesterday, I got my first Christmas basket at work and the first installment of the cookie exchange I participated in. I will bring mine Monday. It is nice because you don't get all the cookies at once.

Tonight I will be doing my Christmas shopping and hopefully I will not be running around all over to find what I want to get.

Also, tonight is the start of the display at Candy Cane Lane. This is blocks of home on the west by Stony Plain road area all decorated with all kinds of Christmas decor and it being Candy Cane Lane, every home has candy cane decor as part of their theme. It is crowded and I will propbably go see it sometime. You can check on You Tube as I am sure they have some videos or photos there, until I visit the area, that will be the time I will post some.

Weekend, another two days to enjoy...have fun shopping.

Really balmy weather!!!!!

This morning we woke up to a really balmy weather +9 degrees. I could not believe it. I had to take a second look at the tv screen to confirm what I had just seen. That was a nice surprise. According to the weather people, the last time we had warm weather like this was in the 1920s.

At lunch, the staff at work was treated to lunch at the Edmonton Petroleum Club......a place where the who's who of the oil companies go for lunch. It was a nice spread with a nice buffet. The chocolate desserts were amazing. I was too embarrassed to take pictures of the food. The shrimp cocktail should have been called prawn cocktail, the shrimps were BIG!

We came out of the club and it was snowiing!!! What a surprise again! Only in Alberta.

Today I found out I was in the short list of applicants for a job I had applied for last week. And the other one I applied for, the recruiter is submitting my resume to a company I have heard good things about. I had my phone interview last night. I am hoping that I get one of these jobs, it would be nice way to start the new year.



What's cooking/baking.....

This weekend was kind of relaxing for me. I did a bit of this and that ....cleaning my home, cooking and baking. Since I have started baking bread again, I now get excited when I bake anything.

On Saturday morning I baked pan de sal which is a popular bun in the Philippines and I made jumbo ones. 

As you can see they are big but still tasted like our pan de sal back home.

As soon as it was out of the oven, I spread butter on one side and butter and jam on the other side. Yummy!

Sunday evening, I barbecued chicken and made the marinade from scratch and it tasted good.

Took 2 pieces to work for lunch with scalloped potatoes.







Christmas .....my home..

As I will be away for Christmas this year....I wil be visiting my sister in sunny (hopefully) San Jose, California, I am a bit lazy decorating my home.

Don't laugh when I show the extent of my Christmas decor at my place. I will not give anymore excuses just a picture to explain what I have just said.

There.....I have my table setting for Christmas. I might have to put a bit more today.

Oh, I forgot my entrance rug, if that counts at all. It should, it is about Christmas. So there..... I have two things Christmas at my home

One of my favourite Christmas songs....because of the message it gives.

I have a wonderful memory of this song. We lived in Yelowknife for more than two decades. My former husband was a teacher. Every Christmas, the school prepares for their Christmas concert.

Michael is not a singer and could not decide on what song the class would sing so my sister who plays the guitar suggested this song and had him play the cassette to the class and the lyrics typed and distributed. I believe my sister came on her lunch time and practiced with the class.

On concert day, it was one of the hits because the song did not seem to be popular with the crowd. But the nuns were praising it because of the wonderful message of the song.

Work stress......

Once in a while we get stressed at work and get so upset that we want to find another job. Well, the past week for me has been so stressful that last night I sent out resumes to see if I might get lucky and find an exciting and challenging job.

So I sent out 3 resumes and hoped for the best. At lunch time today, one company called and wanted to interview me tomorrow. So I was excited about that and put my cell phone back in my purse as I did not want staff to think I have been on my cell all the time.

Then we had our open house and I socialized with the guests but I  was not in a very good mood so I went home early. Just about half hour ago, I checked my cell and realized that I had missed a call from another company wanting to interview me. Unfortunately, she will not be at work tomorrow so I have to wait until Monday to find out when the interview will be.

I guess I have been lucky.....2 out of 3 is not so bad. I have just realized that when it comes to looking for a better job, I have always been that lucky. Prayers and keeping a positive attitude help.

We'll see what happens.....and it is the weekend, it would be a relaxing one knowing I could be going to a better place professionally. Wish me luck.....

Christmas at work.....

Ok, now for me it is the official start of the Christmas season. I know for the US, it starts on Black Friday and I know in the Philippines it usually start the first month that has a "ber" so it is September. And as they say the longest celebration.

Now I don't mind if I hear Christmas songs on the radio. I am not going to be home this Christmas so I will not put up a tree but will just make my place a bit Christmassy with a few things.

But at work it is all out but not like last year, this year there seems to be a common theme with the regular decor of the office.

main entrance to the office

in front of the reception area

     reception area

our Christmas tree

in the kitchen

more trees

another kind of tree

another tree in the accountant's office

Yes, the theme of the decor is trees.

My favourite Christmas song