dot com

image from berkely.edu

the world wide web has become such a dependable place for doing just about anything. one of the best things to be done in it is shopping. i can say that my life has never been easier because of it. i mean, i can do what i love in the comforts of my own home. i love amazon.com it's a treasure trove for just about anything. you name it, they've got it. i used to mainly just buy books on this website but now, anything from toys to kitchen items, i now get there. for clothes and shoes, littlewoods.com, asos.com and kurtgeiger.com are my "go to" websites. they deliver goods in no time. with littlewoods, shipping and returns are free of charge so i order what i want in two sizes, fit them in my own time at home and what i don't like, they pick up from my address free of charge. i have also done my share of online shopping from john lewis, next, marks and spencer, cath kidston and of course, ebay. i also rent my dvd's online from lovefilm.com. i am on a lower tariff which is £5.99 for 3 dvd's a month. they also have higher tariffs with as much as 2-3 dvd's at a time in your possession up to unlimited number of dvd's a  month. but 3 a month suits me as i don't have much time to spare. the nice thing is they send the dvd through post. you can keep it with you as long as you want and then send it back to them using the pre paid envelope. it's so handy.

lately, my weekly food shopping has become really time consuming with a toddler in tow. so i have been doing my food shopping online as well. i started using asda.com but has since moved to tesco.com .it saves me so much time. it saves us two to three hours on the weekend. instead of trolling around the supermarket,  we can spend it doing something in the house or just being around ava while waiting for the groceries to be delivered.

the internet can be a boon or a bane, depending on how you use it. definitely for me, it's a boon,

A Match Made In Heaven

cinderella found her shoes...then married her prince.

...and here's wishing they will live happily ever after.

What's in my Longchamp?

i have been looking for a perfect diaper bag for ava eversince she was born. most of the diaper bags in the market are either too bulky with too many pockets or too small and not very nice to carry around. i have also been looking for a nice handbag for myself that is big which i can fit the kitchen sink in but not bulky to carry. then came my friend anita who introduced me to Longchamp. now i'm hooked. i don't even have to carry a separate diaper bag for ava.i can fit everything in it from my cosmetics,mobile,camera,wallet,sanitary napkin case,envelope for receipts,ava's diaper kit with nappies and wipes in it,her sippy cup,feeding bottle,container for formula,her cardigan/bibs and some snacks. this for me is the perfect handbag for moms like me. it's very durable and doesn't get dirty because the material is wipe clean. i even bought a bigger one for overnights.love,love love this bag...doesn't look swell even if i carry my kitchen sink in it.

another year

                        viewing the party venue 3 months before ava's 1st birthday party


Four months from now, Ava will be turning 2. Around this time last year, I was already busy preparing for Ava's first birthday party.i have been dreaming of my baby daughter's first birthday party before she was even conceived, way before i got pregnant, I already knew then what kind of party i wanted for her first birthday. Five months before her birthday, i already contacted suppliers for the invites and giveaways. They were the same suppliers i had when she had her christening. I was happy with their services. The cd invites were from Business Shoppe, the backpack souvenir giveaways and tarp were from Flair Party Supplies and the prizes for the games, I ordered from ebay.
the box arrived around 4 weeks before the party which was really good. i had the suppliers send them to our home address in cebu and some were picked up my brother then they put them in one box and was sent to us about 6 weeks before the party.

i have loads of ideas in my head for her second birthday party but the thing is we don't want it to be as big as her first birthday party. we want it to be low key. just a handful of kids and parents.

shall we hold it at home, or at a restaurant or in a hall again? i'm still undecided. probably it will just be us three spending the day somewhere where we can just have ava to ourselves on her special day.

goodbye,baby food

i used to slave in the kitchen. i chopped.steamed
pureedportioned and then freezed so i don't have to do it everyday. i wanted ava to have fresh food but i wasn't too obsessive about it. i gave her the odd jar of shop bought baby food every now and then and everytime we go out. good thing i had the best piece of baby equipment which is the beaba babycook which is a steamer and blender all in one. it was expensive but worth every penny.
now, she's eating what we are eating that i don't have to cook especially for her and it is such a welcome change.

project organize

for a 17 month old little girl,ava's got too much stuff. most of the stuff she's got are gifts and i think, that made us both lucky in the sense that she gets mostly everything she needs and that i don't need to buy them for her because people have been so generous. i need more space for her stuff though because everytime i open her closet, things just come falling down on me. so many clothes,toys,books and shoes. i've decided to make our third bedroom her playroom slash store room.so,i started to sort through her things.
first stop is her closet.this is how it looked like.
and i found 26 pairs of shoes...

26,000 soft toys

2 big bags of unworn clothes that are still too big for her

and this is how our third bedroom looks like now...

we are still in the planning stage.i'll post pics once our project for our little girl is all done.watch this space.

ava's christening preps

i thank the heavens for multiply. i was able to prepare baby ava's christening party despite the fact that i'm miles away from cebu. because of multiply's online sellers and suppliers, i was able to organize everything with just a click of the mouse. all we had to do when we arrived in cebu was to follow up and make sure everything is in place. here is a list of my party suppliers and my feedback  on their service.
 http://businessshoppe.multiply.com/ - this is where i ordered the 5 page scrapbook type invitations, the personalized alarm clock giveaways and the personalized candles. the items were delivered on time and they came in perfect condition. the only problem was with the invites. they printed the unedited layout. they know it was their mistake so they sent us another set of invitations, all 60 of them printed with the edited layout. lhoelit, one of the owners and the artist was very accommodating despite me not being there. we coordinated through email and i approved and  i edited including the alarm clock and candle layout all through email. i highly recommend this site.
 http://flairpartysupplies.multiply.com/ - this i can say has got 5 star customer service. cheryl, the very young owner, is so accomodating with regards to almost everything. i didn't have a hard time at all. she patiently answered all my queries through email before we came to cebu and when we finally met in her shop, i felt so comfortable with her and i was so confident, everything will turn out right. she even had an ocular inspection of the party venue to make sure that the size of the tarpaulin is not too big or too small. i got her services for the balloon decor. she also provided the cupcake tower and the services of a professional photographer. hers is a one stop shop. i'm so satisfied with the great customer service and affordable prices that i'd definitely get her services again in the future.
 http://ralynsdesign.multiply.com/ for the chocolate fountain - what i didn't like here is that you have to pay the full payment before the day of the party. i mean, most food services would let you pay the full payment on the day itself. like the catering from maria lina's. we only have to pay a deposit and the rest we paid after the party. we did go to their shop the day before the party and still we were able to hire a chocolate fountain considering it was very last  minute. the presentation was very nice. there were two attendants who made sure there were enough dippings on the table. the chocolate didn't last very long though.