Phil. Embassy Call!

Today, I got a call from the Philippine embassy in Washington D.C. informing me that my passport is now available for pick up....sweet! In fairness, I didn't experience any horrible delay. It was exactly like a month, just what they told me last month when I applied for passport renewal.

Now, I can say, I am now officially confirming that I am a dual citizen, and ready for my trip :). Wohooo!

Fun Ways to Get Your Family Moving

Both kids and adults need exercise daily and 60 minutes is ideal. Physical activity is a big part of a healthy lifestyle, but you don't need to go to the gym to be active.

The following can be of help to you and your family wherein you can exercise all together.

Instead of going to the movies, try walking around the zoo, go swimming or invite few friends for a party and dance night away.

Schedule your regular family outings such as walks or bike rides around the neighborhood or at a park.

Try signing up the family for a charity walk and train for it together.

Play sports together as a family. Make video games active like choosing games that make you and the kids get up and dance or do sports moves.

Assign a few active chores, such as washing the car or vacuuming. Your family can burn calories - and get a few things done around the house.

Get Rid of Dark Circles

Are your eyes starting to develop annoying dark circles around them? There are a lot of easy and quick cures but most of them don't actually treat them but conceal or hide them instead. But don't lose hope because there are still some treatments that will get you rid of your dark circles. Check on them from the given link and you will be able to compare and save! So, keep reading ;).

Fall is Here!

Today is the first day of Fall season. Although nature hasn't started showing their colorful tones yet, the temperature is starting to get cooler. I love the fall for the foliage and love to take photos of it ;). Although am not fond of temperature going down as low as in the 50's, I still love the Fall per se, lol! That's how Mother Nature works....take it or leave it! :)

Vital Information About Weight Loss

Are you one of those that's working on weight loss, on diet regimen, or currently on diet pills? Although pills and diets also work, losing weight the healthy way is still the best as many health experts would say. Here is one site worth recommending to read more about weight loss information. You will learn a lot of tips on how you cans still lose weight the healthy way. So, keep reading!

Family Dinners and the Health Benefits

A time spent around the dinner table with your family not only gives you the chance to strengthen bonds but also creates stronger family, plus it has big pay offs for children's and teen's health.

It can increase their intake of fruits and veggies so that they get the vitamins and minerals their growing bodies need, reduce the risk for eating disorders, especially among adolescent girls, lead to better grades in school and make them less likely to smoke, drink, use drugs or get into trouble.

Getting Sleep Aids That Work

Having trouble sleeping at night? That's horrible! There is one site worth recommending for you to check on the best sleeping pills basing on comprehensive reviews according to their ingredients, effectiveness, long-term, safety and overall value. This would ultimately help you find the best sleep aids right for you. You can as well get vital information from sleep articles and the consumers and experts picks. So, keep reading ;).

Tips for Writing Wedding Thank-You Notes

Use a divide-and-conquer strategy. Each of you should plan to write your own notes to your respective families and friends.

Prompt and politeness are the key. Gifts received before your wedding should be acknowledged within 2 weeks; for those that come after, send notes within a month.

Thank the sender for the "generous gift" and mention your plans for it. Never mention the amount.

If an item arrives damaged, notify the store immediately; it can probably be replaced without involving the giver.

As with a cash gift, explain how you plan to use a present.

None of the following should replace a mailed paper note: a phone call, email, text, facebook status update or twitter.

Tell the giver that you're excited to see her at the wedding, or after the wedding, that you enjoyed spending time with her on your big day.

If a group of friends pitched in for a gift, write each person your own note, acknowledging how lucky you are to have them.

Send notes that match with your theme; send photos later.

Whoever writes the note should sign the note, but feel free to use language like "Josh and I adore the crepe pan."

Which Cut for What?

Breasts, boneless, skinless:

This cut is ideal for quick cooking. Don't overcook it to avoid getting the meat firm and dry. A boneless breast can be prepared in many ways; - stir fried, sauteed, poached, deep-fried, steamed, grilled or broiled, -the reason why it's a staple for every household.

Breasts, bone in, skin on:

This cut tends to be tastier than boneless breasts or cutlets because the skin and bones help retain moisture and flavor. Bone-in breasts are great pan-sauteed, oven-roasted, broiled, grilled or fried.

Legs: They have more meaty taste and firm texture, plus they retain their juicyness better than breasts do. They can handle long cooking techniques such as braising or roasting but also can be broiled or deep-fried. They are excellent when grilled, marinated.

Thighs: This can be prepared the same way with breasts, - but just allow more cooking time. Bone-in, skin-on thighs are perfect in slow simmer dishes such as chicken tangine, or chicken cacciatore.

Wings: Although they don't have a lot of meat, the meat is tender and juicy. They can be pan-fried, deep-fried or grilled. The crispy skin helps make them delicious when heavily seasoned-whether Buffalo, barbecue or teriyaki spices.

Got Forehead Wrinkles?

Let's face it, we can't control getting old, but we can do something about being old...at least in a positive way, don't you agree? Forehead wrinkles for example is a sign of aging, but we don't need to live with them. We can at least treat or reduce forehead wrinkles by choosing and getting the best treatment that really works. There are so many wrinkle treatments out there but many don't work, but don't lose hope because there are still effective treatments and you can actually check on the ones that really works. Check forehead-wrinkles.net.

Getting Married? Know Your Officiants!

First things first, - ask the question; - religious or secular? (or "church or state?"). If you're going secular, choose a judge, justice of the peace or civil celebrant. Religious couples should start with their current houses of worship.

The church won't sanction marriage unless a Catholic priest gets permission to marry you outside of the church or chapel.

Consider interfaith weddings if your two religions have similar elements such as a Christian and a Jewish. In this case, you may want one ceremony with two officiants. If they're wildly different, - like Hindu marrying a Greek orthodox for instance, it makes more sense to plan two shorter, back-to-back services.

A ship's captain can't legally marry you except for Princess Cruise captains, who can perform weddings at sea in international waters.

In the US, in some states, you can have a friend obtain - usually from a county clerk, - the-one-time right to officiate. In others, he can be ordained through a ministry like the Universal Life Church or Universal Ministries.

For destination weddings, phone calls is the best option for searching for someone to officiate. Before planning on to have a face-to-face meeting, make a phone chat to check if your personalities and expectations mesh.

If you're highly considering a certain officiant, make sure to ask for references. Ask him to put you in touch with other couples he's married. This way, you can be alerted to any potential pitfalls.

Their fees vary. Some asks for donation to their house of worship; other have their rates and charge extra if they travel far.

You may consider inviting your officiant to your reception depending on how well you know him/her. It's always polite to give her invitation for the rehearsal dinner as well.

If you want a custom ceremony, some officiants will work with couples to write the entire service from scratch. They usually draft a basic outline, then ask the two of you to tweak it until everyone's satisfied with the result.

Free Car Insurance Quotes

Needing an insurance for your car? Then, you don't need to search further. Just visit car insurance list online to check which car insurance company would be best for you.You can get your instant free insurance quotes in minutes by providing your zip code area on the box located at their homepage. Finding the right car insurance at an affordable price is worth doing and is like finding the best doctor for you, right? With just the help of a free insurance quotes, you will be able to compare prices, check consumer reviews, get some tips, etc. What more can you ask for? It's all done for you conveniently and hassle-free!

Dress Like a Woman in Charge

Get over your fear of investing. Signatures like chanel bags and shoes are expensive but you can wear them as classics over and over again without replacing them.

If you want to feel powerful, it's nice to compliment it with structured jackets. Power comes from confidence, so you can wear any old thing if you're confident when you deliver your message.

Shopping online is more efficient. Try it with everything you own and figure out how to make it work. You don't need to wear formal clothes to prove your intelligence. Even jeans can work when everything is polished.

Go visit your tailor. Well fitting clothes can hide or show off anything.

Boost Your Mobile

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.

Sky rocketing phone bills are disgusting. They can be financial burdens at times and can hurt and dry your wallet, and yet you seem to have no choice because you can't live normally without phones! But here's the good news.

Boost Mobile is a wireless company that offers no long-term contract services with a straight forward pricing and a full suite of high-quality phones. With its flexible payment options, it feels more convenient to pay with a hassle-free feeling too. You either choose to pay online, in person or pay by phone.

You can further check Boost Mobile's Re-Boost method of payment. You can even make payments for another Boost Mobile customer, adding money to their Boost Mobile account using your credit/debit card. How cool is that?

Wireless phones can really do many wonderful things to people extending their acessibilities to connect to the internet. And so with phones, you can connect to your favorite social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and can directly give updates to your friends right from your phone. People do a lot of multi-tasking these days, so that connecting directly to the internet from their PC would be so limited. The convenient solution?...do it all with your wireless phone.

Did you know that Boost Mobile devices offer unlimited connectivity with your Facebook for one price per month?

Some of their popular phones like Blackberry offer easy payment options with unlimited plan package. If you don't want to be tied down by a contract, this is your ultimate option if you want all the features of Blackberry Curve 8330 smartphone. Check the complete details for more options.

California Trip

Almost done with the packing and we are ending up with 2 big luggages for our trip. It's a 10-day trip plus most of hubby's teaching stuff is inside the other luggage. I hope eache doesn't exceed the 50 lbs. weight limit. I don't know how everything works with US Airways, but so far they charge luggage fees..yikes!

We'll leave very early tomorrow, another challenge for me to wake up so early (leaving at 4am)...and just imagine usually that's my sleeping time, lol!

Few more toiletries to complete the luggage before I finally close them :). Whew! 

Unique Custom Gifts

Here's one good site to shop for your personalized gift, for all types of occasions and for anyone on your list, whether it would be for your friend, mom, dad, sisters, brothers, grandparents, in-laws, etc...name it and they got them all!
There are a lot of options to choose from, so you don't need to roam around the entire malls around your area to look for one. The only thing you have to do is go online and start clicking on your mouse :).

I voted!

Today, I exercised my right as a citizen of the US of A :). It was my first time to vote and it was done successfully and in a breeze :).

The primary election is scheduled on September 14, but since I wouldn't be around that day, I opted to vote early. They scheduled early voters to vote from September 3 - 9 (except Sunday), and it was a good thing they are open today which is a holiday (Labor Day).

The voting place isn't even crowded and it was I and my husband who was there that time. It's also much more convenient to vote early to avoid the crowd on the actual election day, so I and my husband were glad we did it today! :)

Back To School Deals!

Yes! Buy.com is offering great savings on back to school deals on netbooks. Students would love to grab the chance to avail this offer while it is still on sale. So, parents who have kids at home that constantly bug them for a laptop...perhaps, you may want to consider their pleas this time :). It's not a bad deal after all, plus many students nowadays need personal computers in school especially if they are in high schools or colleges.
Go check buy.com site, and avail their free shipping as well.

Geek Squad Visit!

So, the geek guy came home today to check our main PC downstairs which has been acting strange lately. It's actually hubby's work computer, so he said it's becoming too slow!

The geek guy said that it is running well, and the reason why it's slow is because it's running low on memory. He then recommended us to install a new one and he thought he could do it for us today, but he didn't have any extra at hand. So, he will just order one for us and he'll just come back couple weeks from now to install it.

It's a good thing to have 4 laptops running inside the house for back ups, LOL! So, hubby can still work temporarily in any of those ;).

Where to Buy Your Surplus Items

Even the world's largest retailers are selling their surplus inventory items online. They got wide variety of product categories such as computers, electronics, apparels, housewares, industrial equipments and even vehicles. It's a leading online auction marketplace that offers the best deals.
This is a site where professional buyers can buy wholesale surplus and salvage assets. Just check on the link provided above. Great deals!

Super Busy as Ever!

Of all my trips I had so far, this upcoming trip would be the longest. The preparations is also the toughest so far because I have to help my husband prepare his brochures and hand outs for his teaching. He will be teaching 5 classes in California couple of weeks from now, and he has 8 sets of handouts! I had to do the segregating, grouping, stapling, organizing, and arranging.
This was just another long extra hours that I did (thank God, it's all done and packed in boxes).
I still have to go back and focus on the packing, and this time, I am packing with 2 big luggages! Agh! Can you imagine, just one luggage would be for hubby's teaching materials. Oh well!

I got 8 days to go before our departure. Whew!