She was the featured guest on Oprah today. I absolutely love this lady to bits. Her book, “The Courage to be Rich,” was my first ever financial book that I’d bought back in college — and I still have it. It’s somewhere in the garage in one of my storage boxes but I’m determined to get it out again as I can’t tell you what a helpful book it is (better yet, it’s one of my favorite books ever). Suze is so upfront and honest — that’s why I love her. She talks at a kindergarten level that I can understand and you don’t get the feeling she’s trying to bullcrap you. She’s been there, done that so she knows what I’m struggling with. This might sound silly, but she had such a profound impact on me that she was the reason why I stopped buying white chocolate mochas everyday in college. Why? Simple: I started thinking like Suze. Buying a white chocolate mocha everyday at my favorite coffee shop was costing me close to $3.00 everyday (sometimes twice!). Fine, that’s still a small amount, right? But take that $3.00 and multiply it by 5 days (Monday through Friday school schedule) = $15. Okay fine, still a small amount, you say. But take that $15 and multiply that by 4 weeks = $60 a month spent on mochas alone (remember, sometimes more). For the mocha fanatic, that’s not really a big amount to fuss over, right? Then take that $60 and multiply it by 12 months. In a year, I was willing to spend $720 on white chocolate mochas. NO WAY! But you’re probably thinking that amount is still no big deal. But it is! Especially to Suze because it’s those little steps that count. Why not take that $720 a year and put it in something where you can get a return in the long run?

I’m not perfect with money now, I’ll admit that but I’m a lot wiser, that’s for sure. Bottomline: love, love, love Suze. And as always, I learned so much about mortgages on Oprah this afternoon. Honestly, if Suze had a cult, I’d be her first member. I watch her on TV (whether on Oprah or her own TV show) and I swear I could listen to her all day. She is filled with so much information! I bought David Bach’s book, “Smart Couples Finish Rich” last year. I’ll choose Suze as my financial adviser anyday. She cuts to the chase and I love her roughness. I can’t recommend her enough.

It makes me sad when I hear about people addicted to drugs. It saddens me even more when that person is family. Such is the case with my cousin. I’ve blogged about this before and here I am, talking about it again. Fortunately, I’ve heard he’s already gone into rehab. You don’t know how much this thrills me – especially since his daughter is such a beautiful 2yo that still has a long life ahead of her. I’d like to see her enjoy her daddy as long as she can because it’s evident when you see the two of them together how they’re each other’s worlds. I really hope he’s doing better and that rehab did in fact help him find a new life. I won’t deny my family went through some tough times as a result of my cousin’s addiction. It was both frustrating and sad; frustrating because the denial (on my cousin’s part) was a constant thing, and sad because as a family, we didn’t seem strong enough to combat his problem – together. Addiction is a disease. And like any sickness, treatment is needed. Much as we wanted my cousin to stop doing drugs, some of us realized it was already beyond his control and seeking the help of professionals was the only way to go. I could see the drugs were there for him to function in the outside world for without it, he was nothing. And this is what tugged at my heart each time – that he no longer had control of his life.

Thankfully, he’s on the road to recovery. I haven’t touched based with him since but I’m sure the temptation to use again is always there. One day at a time, I say. Afterall, he didn’t become a drug addict overnight. We’re all in it together.

Here in the Bay Area, last night. Scary. First one we’ve experienced since we’ve moved here — E, Erynne and I. I was getting ready to watch “The Biggest Loser” when it happened and suddenly, I felt the couch shaking. I’m sure if I wasn’t sitting on it, it probably would have shook harder hahahaha! It stopped for probably a second only to shake some more. I remember yelling for hubby, telling him, “We’re having an earthquake!” My mom had just walked out of our home and was walking home to her place when E told her we were having an earthquake — she didn’t feel a thing because all she said was, “Oh really?” In the meantime, deep down, I was feeling scared. As I type this, I’m still scared. The news people were talking about aftershocks in the next 72 hours. Grrrrrreat. Can hubby stay home please? LOL. I’m feeling that uncomfortable. So I might be overreacting but come on guys, I.just.don’t.do.earthquakes. But then again, who does? And this is sad, but I don’t know what I would do with Erynne and myself were we to have a stronger earthquake (God please, no!). Do people still get underneath tables or should we run outside of our home? Sigh.

On a happier note, Happy Halloween everyone! Erynne will be trick or treating later this evening in our neighborhood. I don’t want her out for too long because it is freezing outside during the evenings and plus, I want her to answer the door and distribute candies to the other kids who’ll come knocking on our door. Last year, she couldn’t participate in trick or treating because she fell asleep and barely got the chance to distribute the candies (she had a Minnie Mouse outfit with matching shoes and headband, how cute is that?!). This year, she’s an Autumn Witch. I realized now, after I couldn’t locate a proper Snow White outfit, that her witch outfit is a lot more hilarious. Her hat has orange hair attached so it makes her look like she has long hair — aylabit, aylabit, aylabit! Unfortunately, I don’t have batteries for our digi cam so I haven’t posted pics yet. Later this evening, I’ll have photos to show. And best of all, I got her outfit for only 7 buckaroos. Hubby saw it and first impression was, “Ang pangit naman nyan.” The nerve. I felt the same too, but what else was she going to be? Afterall, I only got her outfit on Sunday. Shame on you mommy for not putting more of an effort! *spank hands* LOL.

I just got this message from my friend M and I was laughing so hard:

“Look what me & M found…why didn’t you tell me you were cutting hair now!”

She is sooooooooo hilarious. She’s in Washington right now, visiting her sister. The things she comes up with — I could honestly sit there and pee my pants from laughing sometimes. Always good times!

I hopped on over to Jody’s blog just a little bit ago. She finally has her damier, yayy! And I have to agree with her — the handles of the damier are a lot easier to care for than the handles of my monogram Speedy. I’m always checking for stains or making sure my hands aren’t dirty. It gets annoying, if you really want to know. And if you recall, I just gifted my sister with a damier when she was here last. I should have traded with her! Hahaha, though I doubt she would have as hers was already growing on her minutes after I’d given it to her (she had originally wanted a monogram Speedy). I really wish I had the damier. Oh no, does this mean I’m going to buy another LV bag? God please, no. Nothing against Louis Vuitton (peace my sisters!), but there are so many other great bags out there too — like the mouth-watering Ferragamo I saw a few weeks ago. And what about my past obsession with Chloe? I don’t know, Greenhills is sounding pretty yum right about now. LOL.

Question for all you “baghags”: how do you properly store your bags? Besides the LV ones, I mean?

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? Erynne

2. What were you doing at 0800? Sleeping

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Writing a paid entry

4. What happened to you in 2006? I gained an additional 20 pounds

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? WTF

6. How many beverages did you have today? Water and calamansi juice

7. What color is your hairbrush? I don’t comb my hair

8. What was the last thing you paid for? Groceries yesterday

9. Where were you last night? Home

10. What color is your front door? Black

11. Where do you keep your change? Erynne’s piggy bank

12. What’s the weather like today? Cold

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? Chocolate

14. What excites you? Food, duh!

15. Do you want to cut your hair? Always

16. Are you over the age of 25? Yes

17. Do you talk a lot? Yes Not really

18. Do you watch the O.C.? No

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? Yes

20. Do you make up your own words? Yes

21. Are you a jealous person? I think I used to be – now I just get even!

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. April

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Kat

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? Obut

25. What does the last text message you received say? “:-)”

26. Do you chew on your straw? No

27. Do you have curly hair? Few waves, does that count?

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? I should live at the gym.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? ME!

30. What was the last thing you ate? Fried tilapia

31. Will you get married in the future? Yes – to my husband. I want to get married every 5 years!

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? I don’t know about it being the best but “A Love Story” with Aga Muhlach and Maricel Soriano is the only one I can remember.

33. Is there anyone you like right now? No

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? We use the dishwasher.

35. Are you currently depressed? When I look at my fat @ss, I am.

36. Did you cry today? No

37. Why did you answer and post this? 1. Apols and Kelly tagged me., 2. I need a filler in between my paid posts.

Remember this post? Ahhhh, I’m so happy! I just spoke to A this morning and she’s now going into her 5th month of pregnancy. How time flies! She says she’s over the morning sickness but now, she just gets so lazy to even wash her face. Shoot, at one point in my pregnancy, I didn’t even want to shower hahahhaha — so been there, done that honey! A and T have started to create a pink and brown nursery for little Belle — this baby is going to be so chic and she hasn’t even come out yet! But I’m excited now that I know for sure it’s going to be a girl because this means I can start buying newborn baby clothes for girls! I’ve been holding off for some time just waiting for confirmation and now I’ve got it. This is going to be too much fun.

This is going to be more hungry wolf talk, if you will. I’m so overwhelmed. I’ve been so lazy with taking opps these past few weeks and now, with a new page rank, everywhere I seem to turn, there’s something available. It’s insane! I just wish my fingers and brain could cooperate because I often find myself sitting in the front of the computer, jumpy and hyper because I know time is of the essence hahahaha. It’s that silly. And then I realize that tomorrow is always a new day, there will continue to be opps available to me — afterall, all the other hungry wolves have to sleep so that should free up some opportunities — so I say.

I find it so funny that one minute, there’s 40 opps available to me in PPP — next thing you know, I’m down to 26. Can we say hungry? Daaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmn. You go wolves, you go.

According to E, we have life insurance through his company.  I don’t know what that really means and it makes me uncomfortable that he hasn’t brought anything home for me to read or look at.  What are we covered for?  Life insurance, though I know nothing about it, is something I’m really starting to take seriously.  We just never know what’s going to happen tomorrow and God forbid *knock on wood*, something should happen to E and I, I want to be absolutely positive Erynne will be okay.   I’m determined to sit down asap to make sure we’ve got our bases covered in terms of life insurance for kids.  Every kid should have life insurance — thinking back now, I wonder if my sister and I were covered back then?

I’ve been listening to this song over and over again for the past hour. It was the song that was used for our wedding avp at our wedding reception last January.

I was chatting with Liv and telling her how I was looking for this one song that went something like, “The first time I laid my eyes..” (so I thought) and all I could tell her next was that it was about staying together forever to which she replied that most songs say that. Hahahaha, so true! How dumb of me. In the end, like the true superstar she is, she asked me if it wasn’t the song by Eric Benet, “Last Time.” I searched for it on youtube.com and sure enough, IT WAS!

I’d never heard of this song up until our avp was shown at the reception. And let me just tell you, my heart was melting in places I didn’t even know could melt. The song was perfect — the piano in the background as well…. I cried buckets, to say the least. And it all started when there was a clip of hubby and Erynne posing together for a kiss. At that point, I wasn’t just trying to cry in a fashionable way, I let loose and just started crying. I was overwhelmed, happy, sad (that I hadn’t seen Erynne for what seemed like hours and I didn’t even know where she was at that moment), in love all over again as all the memories of how far we’d come in such a short period of time came running back to me. Add to that, we were a little family — E, Erynne and I. It was a beautiful moment indeed.

And you know how I rediscovered this song? I was surfing through youtube.com when I saw clips of Claudine Barretto’s wedding video this weekend and I heard a little bit of “Last Time.” Hubby was telling me Keith Martin was the singer but God knows I searched high and low but couldn’t come up with anything.

Sigh. Love, love, love this song. I’m so determined to find piano music to “Last Time” so I can play it for hubby over and over again. That way, maybe he’ll fall in love with me time and again just as I’m falling in love with him again now. Awww, it’s nice to be the corny one for once .