Cut and Paste Scrapper

I'm a big lurker when it comes to scrappers' blogs or any blog for that matter since every person is interesting in his or her own way but I digress. One thing I notice about scrappers is that they would usually blog about what type of scrapper they are... eclectic, classical, simple, freestyle or whatever other adjective is floating around there. And it got me to thinking (which i try to avoid doing as much as possible on account of laziness, hahaha!), what kind of a scrapper am I? When I look at my pages, I noticed that they are not too complicated to make (considering I can make a layout in less than an hour if really pressed or when I'm really sleepy and just want to finish the darn thing!), but they're not really the clean, classical type either. I think I'm more the cut and paster type of scrapbooker (okay, okay! I admit there really isn't a category like this, I just invented it myself, so sue me! lol). When I say cut and paste, I literally mean that. I have no concept of pre planning a page (however much I pretend to). Unlike some other scrapper who have visions of how a paper or a picture or an embellishment will be used or those that can follow a sketch or even make their own sketch, I can't do any of that. I usually start by positioning my pictures (I'm a multiphoto scrapper) on a patterned paper (randomly chosen, usually just by matching colors of the shirts in the photos with some color on the pp, hahaha!). I reposition and reposition but I just can't visualize the whole thing. So, enter the "cut" part! I just cut off the top, the bottom or the sides of the photos. Usually this works out for the best but there are times when I cut off too much so I end up including the cut off part by repasting it beside the photo (I know I can actually reprint the photo, but, that's gonna take way too long, and if I think I have the patience to do that, I'm just deluding myself! hahahaha). Next I try to reposition the cut photos on the pp but its so darn hard to find the correct position. Now, we enter "paste" phase (hey, that rhymes!) where I just paste the photos at whatever position it's at (when my patience has come to an end, hahaha). Often, with some additional tweaking here and there, I'm pretty please with what I have. There ya go...the cut and paster :) Happy scrapping!

Lovers - Korean Telenovela

I am so addicted to watching Lovers (this Korean telenovela) right now for some weird reason. I think I have rewatched the entire series more than 10 times? (Kenn would disagree, he would say MORE! but with a caveat that I only rewatch those scenes I like and fast forward the rest! lol) I know it's a very strange thing to do, but I can't help myself. Whenever I get home, I turn on the DVD and immediately play it. I am actually watching it in Korean now just for variety, hahaha! I'm beginning to treat it as my security blanket. Whenever I feel low or just have a plain bad day, it somehow lifts my spirit. I get engrossed in the story over and over again that I forget whatever it is that is bugging me. I know its weird but there you go!!! Anyway, I guess it's the romantic in me that has fallen totally in love with the story and the characters (okay, I admit, I've been googling them! lol!) but the story line is absolutely fantastic. There are scenes that make you laugh, scenes that make you cry and scenes that will make the hopeless romantic in anyone just sigh and smile. Anyway, I've been blogging to long. I think I would like to go home now to rewatch the series. I'm just kidding. That would take too long, I'll just watch it online!!!

Flight Connections

Just came back from a two week cruise of South America. Boy am I beat. I know, I know cruising is the ultimate relaxation since you do nothing on board but eat and sleep, but, the plane ride to get back home was absolute torture. I'm not sure why we had to transfer 4 times to get from Brazil back to Manila (okay, so I know that we were on the other side of the planet, but still I blame Ahya Jo (our travel agent) for this, lol!), but it was a looong loooong flight.

We got to Sao Paolo airport around 1:30 pm for a 9:30 pm flight to Miami Florida (we had no choice because the connecting flights of our parents was at 2:00pm), we were VERY early. So early that there was no one at the American Airlines counter (this has not happened to me before, in the past, there have been times when we got to the airport and there was no one at the counter but that's because we were so late, they had already closed! hehehe). Needless to say, we were forced to leave our bags in a locker (cost about $40...bummer) since we could not check in yet. Since we had a long wait ahead of us, we decided to check out a nearby mall thinking that when we got back around 5:30, we would probably be the first in line. Lo and behold, when we got back to the airport around 5 pm, we were surprised to see that the line to the check in counter is about half a mile long weaving across the entire length of that building (what the heck??? it's 4 1/2 hours before the flight!) I guess a lot of the royal caribbean people have also been at the airport for a long time so they started queuing at 3??? I had no idea what was happening but it took us almost 2 hours to get to the check in counter (what I wouldn't give for a business class ticket so I don't have to queue like this!)

Finally, at 9:15, we boarded our American Airlines plane for a 12 hour trip to Miami. The first thing I wanted to see was if we had entertainment of demand (as opposed to one wherein the shows just loops from start to finish over and over again...which means that if you miss the start of a movie, you would have to wait until it ends to repeat it) Imagine my shock when I realized that we did not even have personal TV sets! I mean, come on, it's a 12 hour flight! After I got over my shock, I decided that I'll just watch whatever is showing on the big screen. Of course, I ended up not doing that, either, because they wanted us to pay to rent the earphones ( I don't think so!!!) I didn't even know what movie they were showing. So i ended up sleeping uncomfortably the entire trip (only getting up to grab something to eat) Again, I'm back to my eat and sleep mode (hahahaha!).

We landed in Miami around 5 am fully expecting that all the stores (except for the newspaper stand) will be closed. So it was a pleasant surprise when we saw that a lot of the stores were already open (there was even a Barnes and Nobles inside the airport! :)) Anyway, our arrival there was a little bit delayed so we had only a few minutes to look around before we had to board our flight to San Francisco. We did not realize that the walk to our gate was so long that by the time we got there, they were about to close the doors of the plane (now, this is more like us...always arriving in the nick of time, never early, never late, just exactly on time!!! lol) It was another 6 hour flight to San Francisco. Again, since this is American Airlines...no personal TV, no earphones and also, this time, not even free food service (food must be paid for...again, I don't think so!!!). At the end of this flight my back was sooooooooo sore.

Part two will come soon...

Negative Result

I took the test yesterday...yes...the big test which involves both urine and blood (yuck!) and it turned out NEGATIVE. I can't explain how bad i felt when I found out the result. Although I didn't want to expect anything prior to that test, in my heart of hearts, I really wanted to believe that I am now pregnant. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be the case. I started crying the minute I walked out of the clinic that morning clutching the negative pregnancy test in my hands. I didn't want to cry but I felt so bad when I found out the results of my urine test, that even though the nurse was trying to comfort me by saying that sometimes, the blood test comes up positive even if the urine test reads negative, I knew that the chances of that happening was almost nil. I've never been the exception to the rule. Kenn tried his best to comfort me, but there's just somethings in life that need to be mourned, even for just a short while.

Saved by Scrapbooking

On a happier note, a little of my boredom is being alleviated by my scrapbook hobby. I really can't sit for long periods of time, but for some reason, the time limit has allowed me to create quick pages that are simple yet beautiful, at least thru my drug induced haze (lol!) I've been able to create at least 10 pages this past weekend alone, each taking only about 30 minutes that I've started to call myself the "lean mean scrapping machine". Okay, okay, I'm not lean but I tell ya, I'm now officially a scrapping machine! I can't prove it coz I can't go down to scan my pictures since I'm stuck in my room for all eternity (if eternity last only until this thursday!) But if someone visits me, I'll show ya!! Seriously, scrapbooking is a great hobby. More than the papers and the embellishment and the tools, my creativity (which frankly I didn't have before this hobby) has been unleashed. I can't wait to be up and about so I can do more scrapshopping. Just kidding Kenn (if ever you are reading this)!

The Wait is Killing Me

Okay, so I exaggerate a little. It's not really killing me...more of torturing me. Two more days to go before I find out the result. Two more days to go crazy over worrying. I've become so emotional lately, what with the hormone drugs that I am taking and/or injecting (I sound like a drug addict) that Kenn actually told me this morning that he was afraid to go into our room because I might start crying. I really really don't like this waiting period especially since I have nothing to keep myself occupied with that all I can think about is "What if I'm not pregnant?" I just think that this is my last chance to have a baby, which to be honest is not that far off the mark. Let's face it, my biological clock is ticking and I'm not getting younger. Okay, I'm not really over the hill yet but still IVF has always been my back up plan. So now, since I've already decided to utilize my back up, what if it still doesn't work? I don't have a back up to my back up!!! Well, alright, I do still have that two frozen embryos at the clinic but I don't know if I can go through with this again. I'm so tired from all this waiting. Ironic, isn't it? Since waiting is all i have now until that proverbial stick turns blue.

House Arrest

I've been trying to have a baby for a while now and early this month, my hubby and I finally decided to go for IVF (well, actually, we had no choice because my ovaries were highly stimulated from too much hormonal injections) Anyway, before i digress further, I was advised by my doctor that I needed to go on complete bed rest for two weeks after the procedure until I find out whether or not I did get pregnant. What this means is that I can't go up and down the stairs, I can't go out of the house, I can't leave my room and I'm supposed to be lying in bed as much as possible and I have to have injections every single day for 14 days. Now, the first two days were okay, I got to loll around in bed and watch DVD from sun up to sun down. My food was brought up to me and I didn't have to do anything at all. But after one week, I think I'm going a little insane from sheer boredom. I've managed to finish all my DVDs, I've scrapped a little, I've read a little, been solving a lot of puzzles, surfed a little but now I am going a little crazy. Now, this was supposed to be my dream life before, sit around the house and do nothing the whole day but I find that I'm really not cut out for this type of life. Maybe one or two days is fine but more than that...argghhh I cannot take this anymore. And to think that I'm not even sure that I'm pregnant yet. So essentially, what this means is that if I don't get pregnant, I did this all for nothing! So I really really hope that I am preggy already but so far I don't have any of the symptoms (I know this sounds weird but when i wake up in the mornings, sometimes, I wished that I had morning sickness). I can't wait for that stick to turn blue and I can't wait to see the downstairs of the house again. I'm even looking forward to going back to work. Anyway, I've been blogging for more than 30 minutes already, which means???? I need to get back in bed and stare at the ceiling some more. tata...

Resolutions

It's that time of the year again when we make plenty of resolutions to change somethings in our lives to make it better. I'm not good with the resolution thing. Well, I'm okay with making them but its the follow through that really stumps me for some reason (lol!) I guess I'm really a procrastinator at heart so by the time I'm ready to implement one of my resolutions, a half year has passed and I decide to just start the whole thing next year :) Case in point: at the end of 2007, I decided that I would need to write down or at least mentally list down all the things that I would like to change or improve on in the new year. I can now see February rolling in and still, NADA!!! Not a piece of paper, not even a mental image of anything. Now, I'm not saying that there's nothing about me I would like to change. On the contrary, there's plenty about me I would like to change.

For one thing, it might be a good idea for me to dress up more and spend more time on my physical appearance. I'm just so used to a ten minute shower that it usually doesn't take me more than a half hour to get ready in the morning to go to work. Now, this quickie thing is good on so many levels, like the fact that I can sleep more and still be ready in no time. But, it's really not a good idea to get out of the house with wet hair because by the middle of the day, my hair has gone so messy that people actually think it was deliberately styled that way. I don't wear make up either. Man, those lipstick and blush ons in my closet have been feeling so lonely and so useless from about the time I purchased them or got them from my mom's vanity table, as the case may be up until this very day. I think hubby would appreciate it if i made more of an effort because it's really not a good thing that he spends more time getting ready than I do. It takes him sooo long to finish grooming in the morning that I could have showered twice and no one would be the wiser. No hair out of place, please.

Another thing that I may have to improve upon is my office organization skills. I try to be organize so I create so many different files of things that in the end, I might as well have none for all the confusion it ends up causing me. I have a medium size table in the office but I work in a teeny tiny space because documents and papers are strewn all over the other parts of it. Sometimes, I even work on top of piles of documents. This can make me really crazy, but what can I do, every time I turn around, there's another "to do" thing on my table begging for attention. I tried to list down things that I should be doing and but the irony is that, I ended up with a list of my lists and still nothing gets done!!!!

A third thing that should really be placed first in my lists of things to improve upon is the regularity of my visits to my OB-GYN for my fertility. I should be going to my doctor monthly but I don't. I go for three straight months and then I get tired of going so i stop and rest for a couple of months (well, all right, more than a couple of months, more like 4 months). Honestly, it's very depressing to go to the doctor on such a regular basis when nothing really happens. I know patience is a virtue, but I have that in short supply. I think only women in the same boat as me would understand how frustrating it is to spend so much time, effort and money, all for naught. However, having said that, I know of a lot of women who have religiously done as their doctors have instructed and have gotten pregnant. I suppose that if I'm really serious about having a baby, I should really learn to acquire the virtue of patience and buck up and visit my doctor whenever so instructed. And I really should monitor my monthly cycle.

Those are the major ones so far. Hey, what do you know, I do have a list after all.

A View from the Top - Montmarte, Paris

Paris, during the winter months, is magical. Our last stop on our tour was Paris and what a way to cap off a fabulous vacation. True, it did get a little cold and there was a little rain, but still nothing can take away the magic of the place. On our first night there, we were still with the insight group but as usual, we wanted to do things on our own (plus we didn't want to spend extra on the optional tour), so we went by ourselves up Montmarte (an artist colony) where the Sacre Coeur Church can be found, we rode the funicular up (we could have walked, but really, who would want to in the freezing condition but we did walk down (hey, money still doesn't grow on trees :))



The place was different from what I remembered when I was there 7 years ago. Honestly, all I could remember from the last time I was there was that little French bistro we ate at and some artists painting. This time up, I had a whole new appreciation of the place. Although, I thought that the place has become more touristy than the last time. Nevertheless, I thought the place was exactly what an artist colony should look like.



The first thing we did when we got up was take pictures, of course. This time, we had the tripod with us so we wanted to get really excellent shots. Unfortunately, the freezing weather and our hungry stomachs refused to cooperate with us, so we ended up taking a few shots only before we slipped into the Sacre Coeur. There were so many people inside so it was hard to move around but the church was gorgeous so that more than made up for it.



We had some crepe along the way while looking for a restaurant we can eat at. Wasn't that good, actually, but we were tricked into buying by long lines of people ordering that stuff (lol!) And I thought the French were gourmets (well, I guess most of those lining up were tourists like us, haha!) Anyway, we had dinner at this nice restaurant but the place was so full that in order for half of our group to get into our seats, they had to move the entire table. What this means is that once you are on the other side of the table, you cannot get out, unless the entire table is moved again. So much for bathroom breaks. The food was so-so so no need to recap the meal here. Still, we were hungry so it tasted pretty good.

J'aime le Paris!!! :)