Food Friday - Suppe

Sopas, as we would call this chicken soup...I never really liked this as a kid maybe because we always have it so I got tired of its taste. So after about 7 years I made this for the kids, I think I'd enjoy it now....but without the milk. ;)

Happy Weekend!

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Webhosting Reviews that help

Sometime ago I posted about how I told hubby I want a private webhosting for "Mirage." Then I wrote about Webhostinggeeks, a site that provides a comprehensive review of the best hosting services, written both by webmasters and customers alike. Each review is defined in different categories and awards are given in each of this . It was certainly a big help for me as they detailed one by one the importance of picking a host that best fits your need.

Their service helped me a lot, sorting out the best sites that boasts of unlimited space, user friendly panel, an affordable price. The website pointed out certain other details to better help consumers. Those tips are readily available at the front page and further discussed on their blog, which helped me understood a lot of other technical stuff. My other blog now runs smoothly on a host that I picked out after heeding the tips at their page.

If you want to learn more about web site hosting, see which hosts has been positively reviewed by users, which gives out freebies, e.g. free themes, domain names, scripts, discount coupons, free adword credits and more, just visit their page. Since its 2009 I believe they will have more to offer.

Unique Exposures - Urban Landscape

The nearby buildings at the Danube always makes for fun night shots!

A post for Unique Exposures.

Photohunt - Warm

Looking at my son's warm smile, makes me forget winter blues. Once in a while I browse through our archives to remind myself how my kids looked as babies. It warms my heart to remember the days when there was nothing I could do but hold them in my arms. I just can't seem to let go.

A moment of the sun peeking gives a little warmth too in this cold season. Sorry about posting a photo from my other blog.

Happy weekend!

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Share Stuff

As if the social networking sites I am a member of aren't enough, I joined another one..Acobay, it is the newest interactive site for people who shares the same interest.

You can blog, share and review stuff you own, and upload photos for your reviews. The site is easy to navigate and doesn't have complicated buttons and all those.

Acobay is relatively new, they are still building it up but having experienced firsthand the 'share my stuff' part, I guess this site will buzz up soon. It provides user insights on products written about by members, this reviews would surely help someone who is deciding on what to buy as they are written by consumers as well.

At this moment there are about 12,000 stuff in various categories as a result of users writing down their opinion, recommendations and reviews. From cars to toy cars, audio to movies, computers to musical intruments, home stuff to travel its all there, and yes, even your pets has a place there too.

This is also a great place to promote your blog, I left my link under the Anything category...am now counting how much visitors came over to visit.

Toilet Trained!

Some weeks ago I shared how my little boy is not yet clean, from diapers that is. It took him more time than I expected to finally go through a day without wetting his underpants!

Today, he went alone by himself to the toilet to do his thing. He would only approach me to say that he was finished, had made lulu and had washed his hands.

It is an exciting milestone so to say, but a part of me keeps saying that my little boy is growing up and I would surely miss the baby in him...awww.

My little boy grew up a bit today!

Proud!

Customized Home Office

When hubby started being self-employed, our bedroom suddenly became cramped. Considering the size and plan of our apartment, a home office isn't really doable. Hubby's computer table is relatively big, well for 2 monitors and other stuff. We have tried planning other ways of arranging the furnitures but I don't think it would work out.

We will soon be looking for a bigger place and there, perhaps custom home office furniture might be a good solution. Imagine an alloted 10 sq.mtrs room customized with cabinetry of your chosen wood for a home office. A table for your pc and gadgets; thin, organized bookshelves; a small sofa and coffeetable for your visitors would complete the picture. Certainly, work would be more organized in a good environment as such in the photo!

Litratong Pinoy - Tipanan

Tipanan - tagpuan (meeting), kasunduan (covenant)...ngunit sa iba ito ay mangangahulugang 'date.'

Nais kong magbahagi ng tungkol sa tipanan na nagmula sa Bibliya, sa Diyos at sa kanyang kaibigang si Abraham pero hindi na lang, dahil ngayon ay taglamig nais kung tumingin sa isang larawan ng tag-araw. =)

Dito ang isang magandang tipanan, sa tabi ng dagat sana, kaso paano naman iyan walang dagat dito! (Kuha sa Italya noong nakaraang Agosto.)

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DATING TIPANAN
Lyrics by Vim Nadera
Music by Paul V. Pena

Halina’t ating pagsaluhan
Ang panahong pangako’y buhay.

TULAY:
Ikaw at ako
Ay naging tayo

Ngayon at dito

Hanggang sa dulo.
Huwag nating isanagdaan
Kasalukuyang ating tulay.
(Ulitin ang TULAY)

KORO:
Kalimutan na natin ang lahat ng kaguluhan;
At kapayaaan ang sundan sa dating tipanan.
Hayan, damhin ang kasiyahan
Samahan ay gawing makulay.

Makipagtipan sa ibang lahok dito.

Happy LP!

WebHostingGeeks

I told hubby that I want a private web site hosting for "Mirage." He suggested I acquire service from his hosting as well. Since I am not 'techie' with this stuff I looked around for other options. I wanted service that I can afford and is easy to handle because as I have said I am not so techie with this.

Then there's Webhostinggeeks, a site that provides a comprehensive review of the best hosting services defined in different categories. This is certainly a big help for me in picking out the best.

Of course I would vie for something that boasts of unlimited space, user friendly panel, an affordable price but there's more to that, the website pointed out certain other details one by one to better help consumers. Tips are readily available at the front page and further discussed on their blog, which also explains a lot of other technical stuff, a noob like me should know.

Learn more about web site hosting, see which hosts has been positively reviewed by users, which gives out freebies, e.g. free themes, scripts, discount coupons, free adword credits and more.

Silver Buffalo Berry

The toughest berries around...Ideal cover and nesting site for many birds. Preferred food source of many songbirds and sharptail grouse. Good late winter food source for birds.

I miss macrography so much...I haven't done in much this winter and also not when I got a new apparat, it was easier to take shots with point and shoot camera I say. This is one of the very few shots I took with the new cam.

Here's hoping for spring and all the blossoms to come, although I know allergies would be inevitable too!

Enjoy the coming week!

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Your Best Eyeglasses

I have been seeing a lot written about Zenni Optical Eyeglasses, there were so much buzz about it that even the New York Times recommended it to readers in a recent article about contact lenses and prescription glasses.

Zenni Optical offers 8$ complete prescription glasses, a steal from the usual fare of 118$. Each frame comes in stylish designs and colors.

My personal favorite would be this one blue half-rim frames with acetate templates. Unfortunately, my eyes are perfectly ok, so if there are just designer frames for a cooler look, I'd definitely take one.

Though priced lower, these eyeglasses boast of anti-scratch coating feature and full UV protection. Each also comes with quality hard eyeglass case and microfiber lens cleaning cloth. Take a look at their wide selection and order yours now!

Airbed for the little boy

I had always wanted to try one of those air beds I often see on tv. I particularly wanted one for my little boy. We had recently removed his bed because of 'night leaks' and he is sleeping at the moment with us.

Since air matresses are waterproof, I am guessing the accidental leaks would not leave a stinky smell. However, there are still so many features of this bed that made me compare over at Air Mattress Guide. The page reviews different types of air mattreses, you'll surely find one that is fit for bringing out when camping, one for regular use or maybe one to pull out when friends stay over night. As I mentioned, mine would be for the little boy.

Scenic Sunday - Somewhere in Paris

I have always been vocal on my views of the City of romance as a not-so-clean city. It is not really a minus factor for us to enjoy the city and take photos or just stroll down through its historic streets.

Paris boasts of a rich cultural and artistic heritage, no contest to that! I wouldn't mind coming back to enjoy the works of Rodin (in a museum named after him) and other known artists at the Louvre. Or I'd simply walk under a beautiful blue sky like the one below.

Happy Sunday!

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Handy HDs

How small could portable hard drives get? As big as your cellphone!

IDrive Online backup service developed a usb-powered portable drive that is the thinnest (10mm) and smallest (0.3lb) in the market. With a capacity of 320gb and running 24% faster than 4200 rpm drives, this baby is unbelievably priced at 69.95$ (roughly 55euros).

This 120mm x 74 mm piece of genius is compatible with Windows 2000 and above as well as Mac OS X and Time Machine. Backing up files has never been this fast and easy (to carry anywhere) I guess.

Hubby would definitely get one of these. He is such a fan of gadgets and has been storing our files on portable hard drives that are sometimes haphazardly and accidentally dropped down by the little ones. Hopefully this one fits his pocket enough to protect it from fallin down the floor.

Photohunt - Nautical

Funny, I didn't wrote much about our trip to Paris, glad that today's theme is nautical. I dug into this particular disneyland folder and saw lots for today's theme.

First photo you'll see The Jolly Roger without Captain Hook and Peter Pan instead my older son waiting by the cave's window. Second photo you'll see a closer look of the Jolly Roger and all the ropes in it.

Below you'd see the mast of the Jolly Roger, of black with skull and crossbones, being a flag consisting of a skull above two long bones set in an x-mark arrangement on a black field. Despite its appearance in popular culture, plain black flags were often employed by most pirates in the 17th-18th century. Historically, the flag was flown to frighten pirates' victims into surrendering without a fight, since it conveyed the message that the attackers were outlaws who would not consider themselves bound by the usual rules of engagement -- and might, therefore, slaughter those they defeated. (Since captured pirates were usually hanged, they didn't have much to gain by asking quarter if defeated.) The same message was sometimes conveyed by a red flag, as discussed below.

Since the decline of piracy, various military units have used the Jolly Roger, usually in skull-and-crossbones design, as a unit identification insignia or a victory flag to ascribe to themselves the proverbial ferocity and toughness of pirates.

We also rode a bigger ship that circled a small creek. It was more or less a 15 minute ride from and back to the dock, so here you'd see the kiddos posing before going up the top deck of the ship.

There was a smaller boat below us, the Coyote, though smaller was unfortunately not faster!

Happy weekend!

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Litratong Pinoy - Hugis Puso, saan ka nagmula?

Isa sa mga pinakakilalang simbulo sa marami ng taon ang puso. Kinalakihan na natin na ang ibig sabihin nito ay pag-ibig, iyan ay tanggap ng sangkatauhan.

Pero saan nga ba nagmula ang simbolong ito? Hindi ko nais na sirain ang paniniwala ninyo, isa lang po akong matanong na tao na mahilig maghalungkat ng mga pinagmulan ng mga bagay-bagay lalo na kung may kinalaman ba sa mga unang relihiyon at pagsamba.

Totoong ang hugis puso ay kahawig ng totoong puso na lamang loob ng isang tao (napakahirap naman ipaliwanag nito lol), lingid sa ating kaalaman ito ay may konotasyon na iba ang kahulugan sa ating kinagisnan. Dito mababasa ang tungkol sa puso.

Isang magandang gabi po sa inyong lahat, happy LP!

Bisitahin ang ating mga ka-litratista dito.

Weekend Snapshot - Rails

These were taken at the U6 train station Gumpendorferstrasse, 15th district of Vienna.

This is one of the older stations that were built in Vienna dating as far back as 1898. The structure and architecture does spell ancient but this does add to the character of this train stop.

Last year, it underwent renovation as some of the stations too, the newly painted walls unfortunately became target for shoe graffiti.

Enjoy the coming week!

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Design versus SEO

There's been much debate on this, and I see lots of bloggers changing their layouts optimizing it for search engines. The little home I have is no exception. If you have noticed I have changed layouts 3 times just last month. I wanted a simple, clean layout that is easy to navigate but the husband, a web designer, doesn't approve of this.

However, being the busy bee that he is, he can't sit on this and make a decent one. He did gave me a tip: black background with white fonts is easier to read. His programmer friend seemed to disagree though; "white background, black fonts!" was the strict answer.

Aesthetic or Traffic? Well, why not both? *sigh* I noticed that the page loads slower but I'm anyway sticking to this layout for now...unless I see another one that interests me more. Well, there are always free web directories to submit my blog to...or for paid listing, Free web directories offers that too (they also gives out SEO optimization secrets there!)

Scenic Sunday - Dry

Winter brought about a contrast of colors in nature...one that looks so dry. Well, still looks picture perfect for me though. :-)

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Unique Exposures - Boats

Coincidentally, today's theme over at Unique's Photo Challenge is boat, goes well with yesterday's bridges in Venice. Gondolas and boats are the unique way of travelling the sunken city. There are no cars that would tour you around, so be ready to go on foot or by these boats, hopefully you aren't seasick!

Join the Challenge at Unique Exposures.

Photohunt - Bridge

(All photos taken in Venice, 2008)

The City of Bridges is not given its name for nothing...approximately 400 bridges connects Venice. Big, small, high and low bridges over the canals are an everyday walkway for the people.

The bridges are an additional attraction to the tourists, different rail designs and an elevated view of the water allowing for a good view of the gondolas that threads the waterways.

That's hubby taking photos of a pair of tourists on a bridge.

View of a traffic jam from a bridge, and I thought it was a smooth sail all day through.

Tourists aboard a gondola as seen from the Rialto bridge, the most famous of all the bridges there. Unfortunately, I cannot find my photo of it...hmmm. I guess I need to dig deeper into my archives lol. Happy Weekend!

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Litratong Pinoy - Tsokolate

(Kinder) Überraschungsei --- Sorpresang itlog (literal) - mula sa Ferrero ang mga tsokolateng itlog na ito. Nakakatuwa ang mga ito dahil hindi lamang masarap ang brown at white tsokolate kundi dahil may sorpresang naghihintay sa bawat isa.

Sa pagbukas ng itlog ay mayroong eggyolk. Makikita nyo din ang manipis na puting tsokolate sa loob nito.

Pagbukas ng 'eggyolk' ay mayroong maliit na laruan o di kaya ay maliliit na bahagi ng laruan, na binubuo ng mga bata. Mayroong maliit na papel na nagsasaad ng instruksyon kung paano ito ginagawa. Natutuwa akong nakikita ang aking mga anak na binubuo ang mga laruan nito kaya ako napapabili, ayan tuloy nakaipon na sila ng iba't ibang pigurin.


Ang itlog ay may lamang kahel na isda, ang iba pa ay elepante at dragon(na hindi na kailangang buuin). :D

Happy LP! Tingnan ang iba pang katakamtakam na tsokolate dito: Litratong Pinoy.

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Auch bekannt als Ü-Ei und unter dem eigentlichen Produktnamen Kinder-Überraschung sowie als Kinder-Surprise im Ausland (dort umgangssprachlich auch Kinder Egg oder Sorpresa), ist ein Produkt der italienischen Firma Ferrero. Besonders die Figuren der Überraschungseier sind bei Sammlern begehrt.

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Also known as as Ü-Ei (Ü - egg) and actually under the product name Kids Surprise egg or Kids Surprise in other countries (sometimes also referred to as kids egg or sorpresa), is a product of the italian chocolate company, Ferrero. The figurines in the eggs are or could be (a) collector's items.

Pahabol:

Weekend Snapshot(s) - Snow Fun

It snowed but the sun was shining so its the perfect time for snow fun! The playground opposite our building was the perfect spot to 'sled' or 'snowboard' lol.

That's little boy waiting for his stomach-turning slide down the slope.



Going up! To slide down again.

Also the best time to build a snowman!

Enjoy the coming week!

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