Making My Own

I was having a chat with my good ol' friend Rizza. Her mom is a dressmaker and she reminded me of my late aunt. She was a dressmaker too. A good one I would say. She used to make dresses for us every Christmas, repairs our uniforms and made our flower girl gowns. She even made our Prom dress! I miss her so much... One thing I regret was not asking her to teach me, even just simple sewing. I never learned it, it wasn't included in our curriculum back in high school.

It's never too late to learn how. I've been browsing for tutorials on dressmaking. My sisters and I are planning to start an online clothing business. We're just starting. I've requested for a quotation on sewing machines online. Hope I could receive their reply soon so we could buy it right away.

My sister also searched for someone to teach us the basics. There are times when you need an actual tutor and not rely on tutorials.

I'm excited and I really want to pursue this. It would minimize costs on clothes and would give me a feeling of accomplishment because I am wearing something of my own...

Watch out for my future posts on this endeavor. Wish me luck!

Desserts!

Huey Ying Restaurant is opening a new extension in their Macapagal Branch soon. And with this extension they are going to open a desserts bar, a joint venture of BF's sister and her BF. They requested that I take photos for their menu and banner. I was surprised and hesitant at first. Food photography is already in the advance photography class, which I didn't take. Anyway, I couldn't refuse. I browsed through the net and found these very helpful tips. I also visited a bookstore and checked out a few books on baking.

I was expecting that we will do the photoshoot (kuno) at their restaurant in MOA. But it seemed inconvenient for them to bring all the cakes so they decided to do it at home instead. I was picked up by Kaling at MOA then off we went to their house.

I chose to set it up on the back of their house where there is natural light instead of inside where most of their light is incandescent (it would be harder for me to control the lighting). I wish BF was there as he is very artistic when it comes to presentation. Me? I have no talent in that area.

I was having difficulty taking shots of the whole cake but was loving the sliced one.

Well, here are the final outcome of my shots on their desserts. These will still be edited and I hope the outcome will be great.

Moist Chocolate Cake

Mango Cheesecake

Blueberry Cheesecake


Almond Jelly w/ Lychee

They also have mango sago which they haven't perfected yet so I had to skip posting that one.

I hope they could use some of the photos, if not, no biggy. I enjoyed the shoot and it introduced me to the world of food photography.

Enlarging photos at blogger

I've been having this dilemma about the photos I'm uploading at blogger. It's too small for my eyes! I wanted to enlarge it but it gets pixelated. So I did a little research on google and I have found the easiest way to enlarge my photos.

If you too want to enlarge your photos the easiest way, check it out here.

Summer in SG

I've been wanting to revive my interest in digital scrapbooking. I have downloaded a few new kits but couldn't find the time to use them yet. So for now I resort to using Quickpages and I found a cute one here. It's a bragbook freebie and it contains lots of quickpages for boys and girls.

I've chosen one and dig up some photos from our Singapore trip last summer.



Credits:

Quickpage from hawtmamas using Traci Reed's summer kits.
Alpha - created using paper from YOU+ME kit by kitty designs.

Hope to create more digiscrap LOs.

Not liking regulatory job

I've been asked to facilitate notification of our products since our regulatory officer resigned. Nobody seems to want her job. Now I know why.

I went to FDA, Alabang yesterday to notify 4 products and have some layouts reviewed. I've waited for 2 hours only to find out that the FDA logo on the notification forms is incorrect. The culprit would be my old computer in the office where I downloaded the form on the website. I couldn't seem to view logos on that computer, ggrrrhh. Anyhow, my trip there wasn't wasted because I was able to have 2 layouts reviewed. There was only one correction on one layout but the other one have major issues because the claims doesn't seem to fall in to cosmetics but as a drug already.

I had no choice but to go home and correct the mistake on the notification form the following morning.

After I downloaded and filled up the correct notification form, I was having second thoughts on the balm and ointment part that we declared. It was intended for drugs and not for cosmetics. My boss insisted on those terms so I went to FDA and filed it.

My hunch is correct, those products were rejected again! The regulatory officer at FDA told me what to write but my boss said that before I change anything, marketing needs to be informed first.

Well, there goes my second day at FDA. One product was approved but I couldn't notify it because the cheque I have is intended for all those products that I was supposed to notify.

Now, I'm hungry and tired. Hope BF relieves my stress, because I'm going to meet him later.

Change Shift

It's a start of a new week and I am back to my regular 7-4 shift. For the past two weeks, I was assigned to an 8-6 shift to assist with in-line QC. Our production is at its peak and they needed extra help so I rendered my service. When we were told of the overlapped QC schedule I had a little objection. Even though I am a trained In-Line QC it's not my main job. I have been asked to assist before but they never changed my schedule. The 8-6 schedule does have its perks. I am never late and I have a 1 hour overtime. But then, I have lots of things to do in documentation and now that our Regulatory Officer resigned, I had to step up and do some of her job.

Despite the work overload because of the people leaving. I am happy now that I'm back on a regular schedule. This means that I could go home early and just have my OT whenever I want to.

Wham vs Army Navy

I like burgers. It's not a favorite but I would want to eat it occasionally. Other than burgers found at a regular fastfood like Jollibee and McDo, I have also tried burgers at Brother's Burgerand Wham!. So far Wham burger is on the top of my list. An officemate of mine has been raving about the burger at Army Navy so I've been meaning to try it since then.

Last night, while waiting for the rain to stop and the flood to subside I went to Glorietta 5 where there is a branch of Army Navy. I was so excited that I'm finally gonna get to try their burger. I ordered a single patty burger, freedom fries and the LIBERTea Iced Tea.

So what is their rating?

They FLUNKED! Totally failed my taste test...

The burger patty is dry. The fries is very thinly sliced (I like thick fries), a little bit spicy and tastes like KFC fries. Their LIBERTea Iced Tea? Very bitter. I thought the dark sesame seeds on the burger bun was the culprit for the bitterness but as I sip the Iced tea the bitterness intensifies. It's also too pricey for me, maybe because I wasn't satisfied with their food?

These are what I ordered

The following day, I told my officemate about my experience at Army Navy. He couldn't believe it. He was at two of its branches at Greenhills and SM North and everytime he was very satisfied. So I was wondering, was it just that particular branch at Glorietta? Well, one thing's for sure, I won't be eating at their branch in Glorietta again. Or maybe not eat at Army Navy at all... :(

Wham burger, you're still the no. 1 burger for me....

Quarterly Product Use

One of the things or should I say the only thing I like working at a cosmetics company is we can purchase our products for FREE! Every quarter we are allowed to buy products worth 6500 and since we have a new line of make-up out in the market that's where most of the 6500 went.

Here are my purchases for the second quarter QPU:

Skintificates for me and my sisters

Best for insect bites as well as chapped, dry lips like mine

Something I can't leave without. Sun protection for my face.

Lip Gloss in Smack! and Subtle Shine Lipstick in Alizarin

Skin Bloom Blush in Pant

Got this on sale. Eye Oh My Eyeshadow Trio in Cocktail Hour.

All of My QPU purchases. Some were from 1st Quarter.

Another favorite product of mine is the Illuminants+ Antiperspirant. It's always in my list. It lightens underarms and prevents sweating.

Other products without individual photo are:

Id Lotion - Great for calluses.

Fine Finish Pore Minimiser - You can feel your skin tightens even on the first use.

Superskin Line for Combination Skin - Includes a cleanser, scrub and moisturizer. (I got these for my sister)

Glow Lip and Cheek Tint in Morning Sunshine - A brown with an orangey tint lip gloss. It gives just enough color on your lips. It's sticky to use on the cheeks though.

Next month will be having our third quarter QPU and I'm already planning what to get next... :)

Singapore Day 1

We left our house in Manila at around 11:15 AM. When we arrived at the airport we immediately fall in line at PR 501 bound for Singapore so our luggages could be checked in. It seemed that the line wasn't moving so one of the airport supervisors pointed us to the line bound for Vancouver. My aunt handled our passports and took care of the transactions at the airport. We had to pay the travel tax and terminal fee then off we go to the immigration. We were advised by a family member not to go to a woman who wears eyeglasses and looked surly. Luckily, the immigration officer that interviewed us was very kind and jolly. We waited for a while at the boarding area then off we go to the Airbus flight PR 501.

Waiting for our flight

This was the first time I traveled by plane and BF gave me a few tips. When the plane took off I got really scared and was very thankful that I wasn't seated by the window. When the we reached the right altitude, the ride became very smooth and I became relaxed. Food was included in our package and I thought it was just snacks but was suprised that it was a full meal. We were ask our choice of main dish if fish or chicken (I chose chicken) and drinks. Bread and butter, salad and dessert were also included. I was very satisfied with the meal, I ate everything! Since it was a 3 hour flight they featured a movie so we wouldn't get bored. They showed Big Momma 2. It was very funny and we were laughing while the rest of the passengers were sleeping. We arrived at Singapore at around 7:15 PM. So muhc for the 7:00 PM arrival that the Pilot announced. Oh well, at least we landed safe and sound.

Upon entry to Singapore we went straight to the immigration (no questions asked), waited for our luggage then went out. We were welcomed by my cousin's cousin because she was expecting a pasalubong from her. We also had to wait for our sundo. When my aunt arrived had our dinner first at Mc Donald's. They were discussing what mode of transportation to take. Bus or MRT. We decided to take the MRT route because it's faster just less than an hour to Bukit Batok

Cravings

I'm on a roll here. Three posts in one day...

It's the time of the month, and usually I don't want to eat anything as I have no taste. But this month is different. It surprised me that I am craving for something. Wham Burger and their french fries! It's been a while since I've tasted their huge and juicy burger and their fries cut into thick slices (taob ang Brother's Burger! *lol*).

Isn't this mouth watering?

Yum Yum Fries!

Cravings seem to intensify as I write....

Since I'm thinking food, what is a complete meal without dessert? I received my credit card bill today (with a huge amount to pay!) and there was a leaflet on the real thrills. Guess what, free food! When you spend at least 1.5k on your credit card. What caught my eye is the Dilly Bar of Dairy Queen. What better dessert than ice cream?! The promo is until the 7th of May and since I'm planning to spend for the things I need on our Singapore trip, might as well spend 1.5k so I could get my hands on that dilly bar.

Now I'm really hungry I should stop writing.

DQ's Dilly Bar

Tata for now... Watch post for my post on these cravings... :)