1st Blogniversary

I almost forgot! It was my 1st year of blogging yesterday, February 16. No wonder I'm posting more frequently this month. I'm growing up.

So what are my milestones in my first year? Two of the more important ones are having a range of topics to blog about and of course, being accepted as a contributor to Pinoy Moms Network Parenting Blog. Well, I have also given birth to another blog but that is closely related to my quest to become part of PMN.

What I want for my next blogniversary?

I still need to hone my technical skills to place more widgets in my blog: placing maps, visitor tracker and ranking trackers. Anybody can please refer me some easy to use sites. I need to work on my photography subjects and skills. Lastly, friends are urging me to get a paid webhost... but if I do, then I should stop using the title Free Coupons, shouldn't I?

Blogging has given me a level of satisfaction and, of course, some self-criticisms everytime I re-read my entries. Grammar and writing styles need to be polished but at the moment, it is more important to know that friends (old and cyber new), acquaintances and (perhaps) even lurkers appreciate the ideas and stories that fuel my blog life.

To everyone, thanks and keep on visiting.

Define Love

Remember when we were in elementary grades (grades 5-6) and we were swapping slam notebooks with our girl classmates? In that age of raging pubescent hormones, we were asked about our ambitions, motto, chums, favorite color, tv shows, songs, etc. But of course, one of the most interesting information in those pretty and scented notepads are the questions, “Define Love” and “Who is your crush/love?”

Hard as I tried, I no longer remember what my definition of love was then. I am not one to quote from the bible, books or songhits. I often write a definition of my own. So while everyone say “Love is patient and kind”, I’ll write something like “Love is a wonderful feeling for somebody special.” Many years and subjects of affections later, I have grown and learned to accept that we can not and must not define love. If we do, that wonderful feeling gets boxed in a statement of must’s and must not’s and that is totally contrary to everything that is love.

Now that I am a wife, I’ve felt and seen love so overwhelming that no amount of definition can define. I saw love in the eyes of my husband that day in SM North EDSA during one of our earlier dates. He (and probably me too) had that look that separated us from the rest of the crowd as if there were only the two of us there. I felt love during our most intimate nights together, the kinds of nights that bore us three kids. I felt love when he tried to be the romantic that he is not, buying me a bouquet of white roses. He originally planned to buy three roses only but because he pitied the salesgirl, he decided to buy the whole bunch.

I also learned that love is not defined by just the good and happy times that I share with my man. Ugly situations do happen like freaking out at each other and saying words or doing things one of us will later regret. That makes the difference between a love defined by a girl and by a woman. The strength of a woman’s love goes beyond pretty cards and stuff toys. It lies in the amount of sacrifice and careful thought that she gives to make herself, her marriage and her family whole. Perhaps it is called a matured love or perhaps, it is just that, the essence of love. Sacrificing oneself to make a whole.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day and in remembrance of the days when I still define love, let me share a definition from Howard Clinebell, author of Well Being: A Personal Plan for Exploring and Enriching the Seven Dimensions of Life: Mind, Body, Spirit, Love, Work, Play, Earth.

“ Love is caring about and commitment to one’s own and the other’s continuing growth, empowerment and self-esteem…Your love is health giving to the degree that it involves ongoing commitment to and joy in helping each other develop your fullest self-esteem, dreams, and gifts at each stage on your journeys together, in spite of the conflicts and limitations in any close relationship.”

Happy Love Day To All!

In That Room: A Lovestruck Entry

When I first read Noemi’s Lovestruck Writing Contest, memories of my first love struck moment came flooding back. I felt like Harry Potter falling into Dumbledore’s pensieve, landing into a room of a men’s dormitory in a state university.

It was a holiday, 18 years ago. For lack of better and cheaper things to do (besides studying that is), me, my sisses and some brods decided to celebrate Gat Andres Bonifacio’s birthday. We bought some beer and pulutan and camped inside a dormitory room. Three of its four occupants were my brods and their beds were placed side by side. The fourth bed was located in the other side of the room. So the three beds became our papag, a table-chair-bed rolled into one. We sat there forming a circle and in the middle was our feast. I was seated cross-legged near the foot of the middle bed. I was facing one of the brods who had the wall against his back. To my left is a sis and if I face her, I get a clean view of the door opening if somebody enters. And someone did enter! There was no knocking. Only a clicking of keys and turning of the doorknob. When I heard the sound, I quickly looked up to see came in and lo and behold, it was the most handsome guy I ever saw!

He saw me too and I felt like I was having a heart attack. You know those stupid commercials or cartoons that show imaginary arrows hitting a couple’s hearts as their eyes locked together while everything around them blurs? Well, that’s how my lovestruck moment was. It was as stupid as the cartoons but it was so true. It was love at first sight. He was so handsome that I can’t take my eyes off him even as we broke our gazes from each other. As he moved towards his bed, a brod introduced us to him and he acknowledged us one by one. I turned around to look at him and he smiled at me. It was a beautiful smile coming from his lips so kissable it reminded me of freshly-washed, succulent, red grapes. I was wondering how tender and sweet it must be if those lips touched mine.

“O beer mo.” One of my brods offered me a bottle and its ice-coldness broke the spell. One thing one learns from having brods is that they always, always pull you down to earth when you’re reaching the stratosphere. I looked back and offered him a beer. He declined and smiled again. I must have been wearing a stupid smile in my face but I only found out when he left the room.

“Putang-ina ka Ami. Na in love ka ano?” One of the brods exclaimed. There was hooting and a whole lotta teasing. I don’t clearly remember now, but I think somebody threw something at me. I don’t recall if it was pillow or a bottle cap. I also think I pushed my other brod away because he was playfully slapping my back. I retorted, “Gago ka. Hindi a.” Another round of hooting and teasing. When the noise died down, everyone went on drinking beer and partaking the pulutan. I was joining in the fun but half of mind was occupied by the guy’s face. Then everyone became silent and there was something that suddenly formed in my mind. It came rushing out of my heart and zoomed up my throat and before I can swallow it back, I heard myself ask

“Me girlfriend na ba yun?!”

The room erupted with laughter. I got another volley of curses and pulutan instead of receiving a yes or a no. Everyone was laughing so hard that I also found it very funny. If it was because of the beer of because of love I never knew. I just laughed and laughed.

The answer to my question came the following day. At that time the guy didn’t have a girlfriend but there were a lot of girls visiting him in the dorm. Later I also found out from my brods that two girls fought in the dorm over him. No wonder they kept on bursting my bubbles. A fraternal batchmate didn’t really like him for me that he did everything in his power to get the guy to transfer to another room.

So there it is, my lovestruck story. In fairness, it was not totally an unrequited love for me. He liked me too but I guess not enough to become his girlfriend. We dated once or twice and we talked with each other a lot but it didn’t bloom into something more meaningful. We lost contact when I went on my academic fieldwork. The last time I saw him was in a restaurant inside the university. I was with my future husband then and even if it was a pleasant surprise to see him again, I was already into another lovestruck moment but this time, it was meant for a lifetime.

Wonder Woman and That 70's Show

My daughter is a member of their school’s Kiddie Dance Troupe. They performed an intermission number for the streetdance during the parish’ celebration of the Feast of Sto. Nino last January 20. No, they did not perform an ati-atihan or a folk dance. Participants to the contests from each barangay did that. Their dance may seem out of place for the occassion, but it was entertaining and had most of the adults of my age nodding their heads and tapping their feet. It was a 70s dance medley to the tune of The Twist, theme songs from the movie Grease, and Peaches and Herb’s Shake Your Groove Thing.

I didn’t know what their costume would be but when I went to their school and check, voila!



I told her and the rest of the girls, “Ay! Ang gaganda nyo naman. You all look like your lolas in the 70s. They all wear those clothes. Puro mini-skirt!”. They giggled. I realized, maybe they can’t imagine lola wearing shorty short skirts like their costume. The school directress backed me up and said, “That’s true and they don’t even wear shorts like you do now. Panty lang.” That brought the house down. The room erupted with the girls' laughter.

Now this photo is a shot that I took of my daughter while waiting for their turn to dance.



Doesn’t she remind you of someone very popular in the 1970s? Who else, but Linda Carter… the WONDER WOMAN. Check it out...