This Side of Heaven... where angels love to tread!

New Zealander speaking Tagalog

This one can also be a classic video done by a New Zealander who lived in the Philippines for sometime. Crank up the volume for he sometimes speaks so low, 'kala mo tuloy parang nanliligaw....hahahaha!

I'm filipino, are you?

Found this in youtube.com and thought that this was a brilliant idea for a show & tell by a young Fil-Am girl to showcase what most Filipinos are...

This slideshow was created by my daughter Karrol from photos taken by Dominique & Karrol at the Boado's residence on a nice summer night. Great food, good company, nice weather and happy little boys without a care in the world...what more can you ask!

These are pretty exciting times for me and my husband. Last weekend, we received a call from a close friend's sister, Ruby Arico, who now lives in Vancouver, B.C. and she is visiting the northeastern part of the USA and wishes to visit with us during the latter part of August. Of course, my husband and I would welcome the visit since we haven't seen each other for years. These are the kind of friends whom though you may not have been in close contact with for a long, long time but you just pick up where you left off.

Today, another friend of ours, Nazie Besana, just called us out of the blue and I couldn't believe my ears when my husband mentioned his name for this is someone who promise not to set foot here in the US of A. But I guess that things change and life happens. I was so happy to hear news of how his life has turned around and most importantly the happiness that he shares with his own family.

Late this evening, as I managed to catch up with my emails, I got another set of photographs from a former student, Jun Soriano, and now also a good friend of mine who never forgets to send me short messages just to say hi or hello every now and then.

These people are connected to us thru the place where my husband and I used to work, EARIST (Eulogio "Amang" Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology). EARIST holds a special place in our hearts for this is where both my husband and I had our very first jobs, met and got married, developed strong and hopefully lasting friendships and found our opportunities for the outside world.

I am hoping that we would be able to reconnect with these close friends just to be able to experience the good old days which we need once in awhile to reminisce those wondrous times of shared fun, laughter, tears and kinship.

... found the site to add more frills to my blog courtesy of sayote queen. Thanks Queenie!

I've been wanting to change my blog template for weeks now and today I decided to do some experimenting. I went to wannabegirl's site to start my own template and I was successful in my attempt to do so but I need to do some more minor and not so major tweakings on my part. However, I started feeling like a headache is coming so I just decided to postpone this major task for another day.....sigh! Been with the computer since 9 this morning and although I took like an hour's break to eat breakfast, it is almost 3 PM. Too much energy from all over the place bombarding me directly and my body is at the moment very much vulnerable to it. Sleep/nap might be the best remedy for me as it has worked for me more times than I can even remember.

It's that time again that I have to change my music pick and for this week I chose Spandau Ballet. They came to my awareness in the early 1980's thru one of their big hits entitled "True". This song was even included in one of the classic teen movies of that time "Pretty in Pink" starring Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Jon Cryer and Annie Potts. I chose 11 of their songs and I hope you'd stay long enough on this site to listen to all of them. Here's the playlist:

1. True
2. Lifeline
3. Gold
4. Highly Strung
5. I'll Fly for You
6. Round and Round
7. Through the Barricades
8. To Cut a Long Story Short
9. Fight for Ourselves
10. Communication

By the way, let me link you to this site, rustybrain.com that I found while searching for images about Spandau Ballet. The writer, Matt Farr, wrote this article in 2000 but it seems that it was only like yesterday. His very vivid memory and the feeling that his writing evokes makes this article worth the read.

This was a post that can be found on this link The Composed Gentleman: Sex Education, Anyone? and I thought that I just had to have my say on the subject matter at hand. This has something to do with the decision of the Department of Education in the Philippines to scrap the "Sex Education" program primarily due to the strong opposition of the Catholic church. You may read the whole story from talksmart's blog with my own comments on the issue.


*Found this cute cartoon from London's Times Cartoons .

I am adding more photos to share with you my visitors. This first one are pictures from the Pucovsky family:Dennis, Malou & Athena (of Vancouver, BC) taken on Athena's kindergarten nursery graduation, my niece Bea's prom photo (in the Philippines), Dominique's prom photos and Karrol with friend Tim.




The next set of photos are graduation pictures of Dominique last June 2, 2006.



The last group of photos consist of after graduation snapshots.



I just hope that this post won't be too busy for you. I wanted to put them all together but it seems that I can only have certain number of photos per photobucket feature. Oh well, what can you do.

The coastal town of Newburyport, Massachusetts is one place that I always love to visit. This place is so lively and bustling with visitors especially during the summer months. It is also teeming with restaurants (ummm... seafood) and quaint little shops offering anything and everything you could imagine. It never fails that I would always discover something new in the shops which you won't be able to find in big malls and I guess this is where the appeal lies. Also, a walk thru the boardwalk overlooking the Atlantic ocean is something that you can enjoy if you get tired of shopping and just want to get away from all the crowd.

Last Saturday, the 8th of July, the town had a free concert headlined by Sonya Kitchell, the Subdudes and Shawn Mullins.



The very first performer is a young lady named Sonya Kitchell, who is at the age of seventeen already an accomplished musician and singer. She has been compared to Joni Mitchell and Norah Jones but her rich voice is all her own. Her songs speak of maturity beyond her age. If you haven't had the chance to hear her yet, visit her website at http://www.sonya.kitchell.com/
and listen to her song "Let Me Go" and you'll know what I meant by her having a rich voice.



"The Subdudes" followed Sonya and they did bring the house down with their funky music. I first heard them thru our morning commute radio listening singing their latest song called "Papa Dukie and the Mud People". My husband and I got hooked and when we learned that they were playing at Newburyport months ago, we made sure that we were gonna be there to see them sing live. We weren't disappointed for they brought the house down with their soulful, groovy and melodious type of music. Another song that I like is "Social Aid & Pleasure Club". You can also listen to some of their music at http://www.subdudes.com/ . My husband, Doms, was surprise to know that the 'dudes were actually old dudes. He said that he thought that they were young. Well, hey! they were still good and can give any other dudes a run for their money.



The last performer, Shawn Mullins, has a voice that can melt your heart. I love his latest song "Beautiful Wreck" and another one called "Lullaby". What more can I say but you can find out more about him at http://www.shawnmullins.com/.


This was an afternoon well spent with families, friends and pets. The place was jampacked and judging from the reaction of the crowd, there was something for everybody to enjoy; music, food, shopping and a nice sea breeze. My husband and I hope to come back again next year or maybe even make a yearly trip for us.

WEBLOG wannabe 2006weblog award awarded to this-side-of-heaven.blogspot.com in the category of "Most Improved Self-Taught Blogger"

I wanted to contribute this simple and easy wrap sandwich which I learned from my officemate, Mimoza, who is from Albania. This is such a simple meal that you will be eating in no time at all. And best of all, you don't have to cook, fry or bake anything except for slicing the vegetables.

Ingredients: cucumber, tomato, feta cheese (crumbled) & olives (optional)







You can choose any kind of wrap that you like with this.








Lay wrap on a flat surface and spread the feta cheese on it. Feta cheese is goat cheese and this is the ingredient that makes the sandwich tasty. As we all know cucumber in itself is bland so that you need to add something to it to make it palatable.









Add the sliced cucumbers, tomatoes and olives.








Add more veggies or according to your preference.







Roll the wrap.










This is how it will look like after you have rolled the wrap.








Looking good and yummy!





This is the finished product.




I hope that you will find this recipe to your liking. Also, this is my friend's take on the Greek salad wrap wherein there are lots of variations. One can add more vegetables like lettuce and other dressings to spice it up.

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Special thanks goes to my daughters, Karrol for her camera, taking the photos while I did the food preparation and uploading the photos and Dominique, for helping me with the images. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why I am only coming up with 4 instead of the 9 photos that I want published. Huggs & kisses for your help, my bebes!!! And last but not the least to my hubby, Doms, for all his encouragement and not saying anything about the books that I just bought recently about my latest obsession, "blogging."