Thank you to everyone that attended RISE AGAIN. If you missed it and would still like donate to help the typhoon victims in the Philippines, you can send check donations via snail mail.

ALL CHECKS MUST BE PAYABLE TO: “Ayala Foundation USA”

Please indicate in the note part that the donation is “for the Victims of Typhoon Ondoy” and mail it to AF-USA office at 255 Shoreline Drive, Suite 428, Redwood City, CA 94065.

Please let us know that you donated so that we can track how much we raised. Email. marciemarketing[at]gmail.com or jbonoan[at]peddlerscmg.com

Acknowledgements:

Photo by Leonardo Arnacibia Photography

Paradise Perks Cafe

Etnies

Goldilocks

Laguna Playhouse

Peddlers CMG

Marcie Taylor Photography

Kababayan at University of California Irvine

FilAmNation

Ayala Foundation USA

My latest project.

Yes October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month – in case you haven’t noticed all the pink ribbons on EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE. I do not begrudge the cause, but I think all the pink merchandise is now bordering on overkill. I mean I, of all people. (and I’ll explain in a bit) appreciate that people want to find a cure. But sometimes I wonder how much of the “proceeds that go from buying such and such item” really does go to breast cancer research.

The thing about BC is that it ain’t pretty. And it certainly ain’t cute and pink. I should know. My mother died of it, her mother before her. I am high-risk and my younger sister had a scare before she was 30 and several cousins have had either lumps, cysts, even breasts removed! It’s a DISEASE, it hurts those that are afflicted and their families. When my family was living with the disease, there were no support groups or races or pink ribbons. It was a noose hanging over all our heads, and despite the best care, cancer took my mother. My siblings and I were in our teens and our lives were never the same. There were dark times but as they say, time heals all wounds… and so we live with the memory, the memory of pain and suffering. I haven’t ran the race (for a cure), I’ve never purchased a product JUST because it had a PINK ribbon on it. When breast cancer research has all beautiful people (celebrities) singing, dancing parading for “awareness,” and companies jumping on the bandwagon turning their products PINK for a month — you start to wonder if these people aren’t exploiting others’ misfortune. I FEEL NUMB.

When you THINK PINK, everyone is chipper and smiling – but come on people, it is an UGLY disease. Ask anyone who’s gone through chemo if they feel like wearing that shirt with a PINK PONY or buying a pink can of soup. I believe that some companies are only put ting out pink products without actually donating any money to research and are just taking advantage of people’s innate desire to do good – or put another away, they are cashing in on a “trend.” That being said, I still do support people and organizations that really do what they say and give to the charities they claim to support.

A couple of weekends ago, I attended a breast cancer awareness fundraiser organized by my friends from a team of women who are doing the 3-day walk in San Diego. Their team is called Boobs on the Move – according to the website : a grassroots effort to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research (And have fun while we’re doing it). That night, they were having a pub crawl in downtown Huntington Beach. Booze, boobs and cancer awareness made for an interesting night. The idea was to go from one pub to another to schmooze and get people to buy these $20 tickets that entitled them to prizes and special drink offers. I didn’t win but I had fun watching. Some people mistook me for one of the organizers so I helped out, answered questions and listened to their stories. One man, came in oblivious to the event – but when he saw it was for cancer, he gave us a crisp $20 saying his wife had died of cancer. What do you say to that??? Then came a tipsy woman who gave me a hug—told me her lifestory practically: ”I’m a survivor she said,” and I looked , gave her a hug. She partied on into the night and it was good to see her living it up.  The Boobs on the Move gals accomplished their goals: raised some money for breast cancer research and had some fun.  I’ll drink to that.  But please – don’t make me wear pink!

PS. If you share these sentiments, you should check out   Think Before You Pink™, a project of Breast Cancer Action, launched in 2002 in response to the growing concern about the number of pink ribbon products on the market.

Donations welcome.

I remember rainy days in the Philippines. We stayed home and traffic would get crazy.  We were never allowed to play in the rain when we were kids, my grandmother thought it would make us sick. It usually rained on my birthday in July. This was the rainy season after all, July and August. But we got used to it… as school children we delighted in those signal number 3 typhoons that meant classes would be suspended.  (There are many shanties in the City and I often wondered how these little shacks made of thin plywood of cardboard and  galvanized iron roofs held down by an old tire survived the monsoons. But they did. My people are a tough lot and we manage to survive – earthquakes, volcano eruptions and corrupt politicians.

By August the rains would’ve died down and we entered the joyful “BER” months – joyful because September meant Christmas was just 3 months away, October even better because that meant Christmas was around the corner (Yes, Filipinos are said to celebrate Christmas the longest).  So when Typhoon Ondoy hit last Friday, it was a surprise.  People were ready for rain – but not the torrential downpour and flooding that followed. And now over 300,000 families have been displaced, the death toll is rising.

Over here, I feel helpless.  I cannot volunteer to pack food items or join a rescue team. Never have I felt so far away and yet so close to the Motherland. So I tweet, email and blog – trying to see how I can get people to make a difference.

I am in awe of the great spirit that is now filling the city – people offering their time, services, whatever they can – the spirit of volunteerism,  and  heroism are an inspiration.

So what can one do being so far away?  Pray, send some money — every little bit helps.

Ayala Foundation

Philippine Aid

Internation Federation of RED CROSS and Red Crescent Societies

WE International

Remember the shoeboxes stuffed with snapshots that you promised you’d put in a scrapbook or album? I think the cellphone is the 21st century equivalent of that. I mean, how many of you have snapped some precious “caught in the moment” pix with your cellphone camera? How many of you have downloaded those photos onto your computer or even printed them? Uh-huh. That’s what I thought.

Of course, if you had an iPhone and a MAC this wouldn’t be much of an issue because when you update your itunes library iPhoto automatically downloads your iPhone pictures. But then I use a regular phone, it’s a SAMSUNG PROPEL and I love it. It’s great for people who text a lot and has a decent camera too.

Propelling

I took the time to download some pix via email — because I do not have an SD memory card in my phone (geez, another accessory??), I do it old school by emailing the photos to myself. From there I open the files and save onto my hard drive. Still wondering how to download pix from your phone- check this out.

So what did I find? Scenes of a life. Lots of pictures of my kids of course – my kids at the beach, at the park, on a tree, after their haircuts, after their accidents… and then there are the random-oh-so-cool-I-gotta-take-a-photo-of-this scenes: a sunset, a weird tree, a duck… well here take a look….

WHAT’S in YOUR cellphone?

Nature’s wonders

Naturally it was more breathtaking in real life, also it's hard to take a picture while driving.

This was a funky bumpy tree at the Butterfly park.

I thought this was funny- a duck in our pool

HAVE TREE, WILL CLIMB seems to be my kids’ motto.

Milo up a tree on his 4th birthday

...another day, another tree.

And finally, even when it hurts…

A whack on the head with a nerf gun brought us to the ER. My poor baby in pain.

Our first broken bone - the clavicle.

Okay 75 more images to download… ahhh…feels like the shoebox all over again.

The Lunch Calendar Menu is tacked on the fridge. It stares at me with chicken nuggets and its variations (fingers, o’s, patties), hotdogs, burgers and the weekly pizza treat. No wonder my son prefers the homemade lunches I pack for him.

When I was a kid in the Philippines, lunch meant rice and a hot viand, which was usually whatever was left over from dinner the night before. We couldn’t complain because we didn’t have a choice nor were we given any. (Is it just me or does it seem like we sometimes give our kids too many options?)

Our food was kept warm in TIGER brand thermal lunch boxes, which came in one color – black. (Curiously we all knew whose lunchbox was whose even if they all looked the same.) In each lunch box (bag, really) there were a number of plastic bowls and jars and the distinctive combination fork-spoon we call a SPORK. Read more.

Listen. Can you hear it? Exactly. Nothing. Silence. No fighting. No giggling. No video games or Cartoon Network. Just the sound of quiet.

Ah yeas, the kids are back in school and for many SAHMS and WAHMS like me, it means a return to normal. And by normal I mean more regimented, more scheduled. As much as we love our children, aren’t those 2-3 hours they are away in preschool precious? It is during this time that we can work, breathe, get things done.

Anxious Mamas peer through the windows - and this is third grade!

More than the actual new year, for many moms, the new year begins when school starts. There is a flurry of activity leading up to that day in September. There are things to get rid off, new things to buy. It is an exciting time not just for our little ones – but for us! At least that’s the way it feels for me.

Even when I was in school, I always gelt that the TRUE NEW YEAR didn’t start on the 1st of January but rather on the first day of school. There was the anticipation. The excitement. (What teacher will I get? Who will my classmates be?) Reflecting on the past year (or summer for school kids), and looking forward to new things, new people. And of course, making new year’s resolutions.

And so, with this in mind, I share some of my family’s resolutions.

For my kids:

I promise to wake up on time.
I promise not to complain too much.
I promise to concentrate in class, do my homework on time and eat my lunch

For me:
I promise to wake up on time.
I promise not to complain too much.
I promise to concentrate on my job — that is my real job and my real real job (which is taking care of the family).
I promise to help my kids do their homework without doing too much.
I promise to make nutritious lunches for my kids.

What are YOUR new school year resolutions?

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