My Christmas 2006 Wish List

I believe I've been nice the past year so I reckon it's fair enough to post my Christmas Wish List for this year. So to all my generous Santas, here you go:

$30 & below

1) a very nice ice cream scoop
2) a new pair of dressy white havaianas (my black havaianas is 1 year old!)
3) pinoy DVDs
4) home or showbiz magazine subscriptions
5) car accessories
6) a nice Nude lipstick
7) an eski
8) a traveller's road guide/map of Australia
9) scented candles for home

over and above the budget!
1) a beauty & leisure package
2) a new iPod
3) a Digital SLR camera
4) a new Powerbook - that can play abs-cbn now (hehe?)
5) a personal coffee table book with our travel pictures collection
6) an outdoor barbecue & barbie tools
7) golf set
8) subsidized tennis lessons
9) gym membership

And the list goes on ... how about you, have you got your wish list yet?

Wet & Wild at the City

Below are some snaps from my nurse cousin, who is visiting from England, A's idea of Sydney adventure.



The harbour jet experience was so fun! We went on a 50-minute jet ride with more than 10 270-deg spins from 75km/hr jet speed. I think these photos don't justify the enjoyment we felt, specially since we looked horrible. Lesson learned, to be prepared for this ride of your life, make sure you tie your hair, wear a tight cap, wear your sunnies and put some sunscreen!

I felt like I was in a resort island when we boarded this jet, complete with holiday music, and yet I realized when we were passing by one of the bays, which we frequent during lunch-break-walks from the office, that this was actually in the city! Who can have the luxury of having fun like this while in your home city? Not everyone I bet.

Farewell, Team

About 10 months ago, I posted about securing my first job ever in the land down under.

Today, I bade goodbye to that job and to the people that had the pleasure of working with me (hehe). I plan to stop for 2 months or so until I find something new to learn. I have been excited knowing that December is generally a happy month where everyone is in festive-mood and I've been looking forward to this time.

However, it was weird today as I actually felt a little sad. I realized I've earned some friends along the journey and saying goodbye was a bit heavy for me (as always is). I was so flattered by the well-wishes everyone gave me but was most touched by the people who told me I'd be truly missed, my Business contacts included.

My team and my extended team prepared a little afternoon tea carrot-cake to send me off and handed me their token. Too bad I didn't bring my camera but this is a recent picture of the team.



I will forever remember the fun I had with this team, treasure the friendships I have earned and bring the lessons I have learned wherever God leads me. Bye guys, our paths may cross again but until then good luck and take care!

We have moved!

We have finally moved to a new apartment!

This move had been occupying a lot of our weekends since we had to search apartments in the local real estate websites, short list them then schedule for inspections. The Saturdays during the month of October had been mostly spent inspecting apartments. It's not easy specially if you have 15-minute open houses scheduled one after another and at different streets - or worse at different suburbs in which case you just have to prioritize and pick one. Finally, before the month ended, we agreed on getting one that is still close to where we used to live -- about 500meters.

And the BIG MOVE was completed over the weekend, with a spill-over on Monday. I thought the apartment search was the difficult part, I was so wrong! We had to pack our stuff (kitchen was the most time consuming) and sort out a lot of papers and trinkets - and for someone who just loves to keep everything thinking I might find use for that sometime in the future - that was chaos!

But the good news is, all of that is now in the past. And now we're on to the next phase - UNPACKING. Our living, dining, kitchen, master's bedroom, toilets and baths are all doing good -- BUT our extra bedroom is still full of boxes, some of them still in their original packing from Manila. I promised myself to unpack at least one box a day. Hopefully by the end of the month they're all done so I can finally tell our friends and relatives, you are now very much welcome to visit and sleep over! HAHA

PS. If you haven't received our new address, please do not hesitate to let me know and I'd make sure you get it. We certainly need that Christmas present you are planning to send us :)