I walked down the aisle again :)

But of course not in my own wedding. I don't think Ane will marry me again right away (I don't think he has recovered from all the expenses in our wedding less than two years ago heheh). It was a good friend's church wedding on Friday, the 26th. My Ate Hilda (church friend) married Kuya Nelson and was blessed by Mons B. at the Manila Cathedral. Reception was at Villa Immaculada. I was a Bridesmaid :) We had a bridal shower for her the weekend before the wedding. I will share the shower story when I have the pictures already. Pictures from the wedding (Ane wasn't in the mood to take shots, hhhmmmmmm):

Mom and I while waiting for the ceremony to start. She was a Ninang.

My partner and I during the procession. Hehe. Forgot his name.

SNL with Mons.

The newlyweds.


The bride as my background, hehe.


One of the many group shots.

Photo ops with the newlyweds.

With the tarp. Guess who made it?

Hehe nasapawan ko yata yung bride!

It was really nice to be almost complete again (two of our boys are overseas). By the way, during the reception, I took off my shoes and wore a pair of this:

**Havaianas Top Crystal pictures from Shoes.com

Hehehe, I "convinced" Ane that I need a pair for the wedding so I won't hurt my feet too much. Finally got it after having to look around and waiting for stocks to arrive. Pretty!

Be vigilant.

In few hours, we are again exercising our right to vote. The Baranggay elections have become a serious subject especially in our community since some "upper forces" are working their way to eliminate the chances of winning of those who truly deserve to win. I do not understand why some people need to corrupt the minds, even of those who serve in the church. Why do they even try?!? This isn't about who's more popular but who is more qualified to serve the families/constituents. Please, this isn't the student council elections. You win by vote-buying and you will never deserve winning at all.

Voters! Open your minds and your eyes! Huwag magpadala sa pandaraya!

Anyway, we are behind one candidate only because we believe in what this person can do (not to mention that the person is a close family friend and business partner). Our area is being offered for their group's meetings and briefings of the volunteers. The past week has been a crazy one, feeding these people, and assigning tasks. We let them use our kitchen for their cooking and our office stuff (PC's, microphone, utility cart).

Before I went home tonight, I joined with them in prayer. They all plan to stay up all night and hold vigil. Hoping ang praying that we wil be given clean and fair elections.

PR

I was browsing my feeds just after lunch today and observed that a lot have posted about how their page ranks improved so I checked this blog's PR and got this:

That makes me happy since I've been a two/ten for some time and then it became an N/A which I seriously didn't know why. :)

This one is for the muscle builders...

Working out in the gym four hours a day, six times a week? Working out too much, carrying the weights more than you should? An upcoming cmpetition and you feel you are not ready, at least not yet? Or not getting the results you have always wanted? Perhaps gaining more fats and having a hard time losing it altogether? Maybe you need some nutritional supplements to help you. There are a wide variety of these supplements over at sportsnutrition. Find them and order online or try calling if you need help from experts so you'll know exactly what you need.

Never trust the husband with the map.

On Wednesday, Ane and I were out all day for errands. One of the things we should do is buy a new RAM for our desktop (spankin' 2gb upgrade from our existing 1gb) because the existing one has a buyer already. My dear husband knew the store's name and even realized that the store is just a few meters away from the brothers' apartment. The owner texted him that the store will close at 7pm. By the time we were ready to go there it was almost 6pm. We looked for the store along the supposed street and didn't find it. So we went back to the apartment to check the address and the phone number on the internet. I stayed in the truck while he checked and then came back saying..."Nasa tapat ng 7-Eleven! (it's in front of 7-11)". So we parked and didn't see any sign of the store in the area, not even the establishments around knew the store. He tried calling the mobile of the owner but could not reach him. We had another appointment at 7pm so we decided to go to Gilmore. Ane didn't find the exact brand so luckily, he was able to contact the original seller a bit later and asked for directions. We went back and found the store in a huff!

We were looking at the opposite side earlier. Ane was apparently reading the map upside down. Ugh!

Remembering Bangkok

The Glorietta blast on Friday had us thinking of the past negative incidents that happened in the the same shopping area. The Oakwood mutiny obviously came up. The time it happened in 2003, I was in Bangkok with one of mom's friend who imports wholesale clothing. I seriously thought our flights will be cancelled and we won't be able to go home for a while. That scared the h**l out of me. I was just too glad that it didn't last that long.

While on the subject, the four days that I spent in the Thai country was memorable. Although I would have love to explore the city more, we were limited to what my mom's friend wanted to do (hehehe shopping only). We had some authentic Thai massage sessions at the Wat Pho temple, phot ops at the Baiyouke Building (spell check!), experienced Thai street food, riding the Tuktuk and watching the famous Phat Pong "show".

You bet I'm gonna ask hubby to plan a vacation with Bangkok (and a side trip to Phuket, perhaps) when we're able :)

My blogging story

The other day, I received this comment on one of my posts:

"spunkovision has left a new comment on your post "Remember the days?": I'm not gonna comment about the content of your blogs. Just wanna say I got here coz of M****** from J******* who is a member of our RADIO- group. She mentioned something about you trying to increase traffic coz you need the revenue. This got me curious. I am compiling a list of sites (we already posted a partial list) in which Filipinos online can avail of any revenue or royalty-earning programs that some of them run. Do you know of any? And can you post something about the economic aspect of what you do (blogging) and how you started. It would help if you can give us a tutorial on how to start and how to enrol in such a program. Our thanks in advance. Any contribution to our efforts will be duly attributed to you and your link included in future writings related to this issue. Posted by spunkovision to Piece o' Kaje at 18 October, 2007 09:55"

I was bugging my friends some weeks ago to put my link in their blogs coz they knew I am into blogging-for-money. So when M was sick and stayed home, she decided to tell her e-group about what I do. Hence, the message from Mr. Spunk :)

I started blogging in April 2004 via Xanga. At that time, I wasn't really an internet junkie. I was a fresh Friendster-joinee when my brother said I can sign up in another community building site (Xanga). My hubby (then boyfriend) had a friend who wrote her thoughts and experiences in her website. I never knew that what she did and what I was getting into was actually called "blogging". I was that clueless. But realizing that I have found the right medium to practice my writing (or lack thereof), I was content.

Less than a year later, I transferred to Blogger because I just could not get around Xanga's limitations. Blogger has been my home since then (even putting up a wedding blog in the same platform, and this used to be my photoblog that I converted to my regular blog). But I do have a relatively new Wordpress blog with it's own domain (link found on the side). It is a totally different blog than this one.

During the times that I was also blogging for my wedding, I came across an e-group that helps Filipina Brides to prepare for the big day. This is also where I learned to Scrap digitally and found a Filipino Forum intended to help newbies become better at the craft. Almost all of the ladies from this forum had their own blogs (of course, to display their work!).

I don't remember how it happened but I slowly realized that some of their blog entries had links to websites I've never heard of. Checking out the forum, some shared the joy of making money while enjoying what they do best, blog! One of them shared that she earned about $3,000 in the first three months she was doing paid blogging and even told us that she was earning more from blogging than her regular job.

I was hesitant to try it as I have always been weary of internet stuff, too afraid to get scammed. But as the number of paid-bloggers (at least in my cyber-community) grew, I was assured of the authenticity of these schemes. The next few weeks, I found myself researching the net and following links so I could learn more. The following are the general criteria to have your blog approved (one must read the FAQs because each company is different):

1. Blog must be at least 90 days old.
2. Blog must have at least 30 posts (no posts more than 30 days apart).
3. Content must be in English.
4. Content must not contain adult material (porn, gambling etc. etc)
5. Must have Paypal to receive payments.

While on vacation, I started prepping my blog and fixed my Paypal. I signed up with Payu2blog, Smorty, Payperpost, Blogitive, Bloggerwave and Sponsoredreviews (add dot com and you will be led to the websites). These didn't happen all at the same time as I had to wait about a week or two before one application is approved before I moved on to the next. I started writing paid posts in June. The instruction is simple. The company will provide the blogger with the anchor links from the advertiser, they will say how many links and how many words are required. A little research would be helpful too. It doesn't matter how the entry is written as long as the tone is positive (or if it cannot be helped, not too negative). It could be a direct advertisement or the anchor text will just be mentioned. The advertisers pay the company and the company collects the payment in behalf of the blogger. Payouts are usually two weeks to a month from the time of the post.

The tricky part is this: the assignments and the amount of payout do come based on how popular your blog is (read: Page rank, etc). That one who earned $3000 in three months had a pretty popular blog having been known in the wedding blog circles as well as the digiscrapping world. People do visit her and a lot do put her link in their blogs. As for me, I only have a handful who check me out and very few friends who actually blog themselves. Assigments are scarce (oh I love Payu2blog, they never run out of assignments for me! And they also give the chance to send out $100 weekly to bloggers who put a Payu2blog logo in their sites). I haven't earned as much as my cyberfriend (only a tenth!) but I am happy to say that what I get, I can spend on myself. And besides, I do not plan to do this and turn this into my main source of income.

So there. I hope I satisfied Mr. Spunkovision's query :) I actually had fun writing this entry :)

Extra

The owner of the vacant lot beside our garden (where the coffee and pizza shop is located) is building a three-story house. Not only we are worried about the foundation of such construction (might collapse anytime because we are not too sure whether the foundation is strong enough for such a building), we are also thinking that the house is blocking the wind that keeps our area breezy. See, it is something our guests enjoy – an open area to laze around while enjoying good food and good company. If budget permits, we might go on with our plan of installing high fiber glass roofs and ceiling fans or misting fans just to keep the ambience. Sigh. That would be an unexpected cost on us since the plan of putting up the roofs should have come up in five years (we needed to save for that first!).

Happy Birthday!

It's my brother R's birthday today! I wish him happiness and everything his heart desires. God bless you! Kuya M and I love you, bro!

It is 140am and gotta go to bed now. Am quite sure we'll have a long day later (just like yesterday, at least for me. deserves another post). So,

TTFN!

I love coffee.

I am actually addicted to caffeine, I think. I do not go for the instant ones (well, I give in during those times that we need to save or if it is too late to grab some from Starbucks). I'd rather have coffee freshly dripped from freshly ground beans. And it is best if I get to have a dose from espresso machines. I simply love the aroma. And I get headaches everytime I miss my daily dose (or maybe it's just in the mind?!?) My mom and I share this love for coffee. Proof is the coffee shop we opened in our garden. Our place is situated in a sub-urban community, the residents of which are not really exposed to some things. We served a coffee latte to an elder and commented why his coffee had froth. Hehe. My point is, the machine is kinda expensive (we had to pay for it in installments) and the people don't really buy our coffee but I am loving every minute that I get to smell freshly ground beans. Heavenness! :)