depressing

This made me cry.

Sad noh?

"You're the one I want to grow old with."

How will you ever go through life without the person who thinks/wants that of you?

Note to self: I should read happier articles/news!

So yes Be, where's my Gossip Girl series? :P

reminder :)

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Thanks SOURCE

tell her.

I know I'm supposed to be sleeping, but I just have to share this, Beautiful.

Someone calls me beautiful. He calls me that so naturally it feels like I've been baptised with it. See, I've always known I'm not ugly. After all, I was the muse of my class ever since I started attending school. That's something, right? But to have someone tell you you're beautiful, more so call you beautiful as if it's your given name is something else.

So thank you. For finding me beautiful. And for being man enough to say it every so often. Beauty begets beauty, you know. ;)

And yes, please tell your lady/wife/mother/friend that she is beautiful. It does matter. And as how Megan would put it, it matters like breath.

---

I'm supposed to be writing about our trip but I bet anyone who's been to Malaysia and Singapore can tell you that, and more. So I'll just share one important lesson I've learned while I was on that trip.

To be a mother is to not be afraid to look like an idiot. You should not be afraid to make a scene or to serve as an entertainment to the other 50+ bored, waiting passengers at the airport's departure lounge. Not to mention the foreign people at the train! Or those watching Songs of the Sea!

So yeah, I am a mother and I am not afraid. :)

For photos of the trip (because pictures speak of a thousand words! :P) go to my multiply. Y'all know the drill. ;)

Also, I just wanna say that that trip with my family is the best! And that I have the best family in the world. ♥

Good night!

xoxo

a soulful relationship

I found this somewhere (yes, I forgot exactly where and when). It's a good read. :)

An African proverb states, "Before you get married, keep both eyes open, and after you marry, close one eye."

Before you get involved and make a commitment to someone, don't let lust, desperation, immaturity, ignorance, pressure from others or a low self-esteem, make you blind to warning signs. Keep your eyes open, and don't fool yourself that you can change someone or that what you see as faults aren't really important.

Once you decide to commit to someone, over time his or her flaws, vulnerabilities, pet peeves, and differences will become more obvious. If you love your mate and want the relationship to grow and evolve, you've got to learn to close one eye and not let every little thing bother you. You and your mate have many different expectations, emotional needs, values, dreams, weaknesses, and strengths. You are two unique individual children of God who have decided to share a life together.

Neither of you are perfect, but are you perfect for each other? Do you bring out the best in each other?

Do you compliment and compromise with each other, or do you compete, compare, and control? What do you bring to the relationship? Do you bring past relationships, past hurt, past mistrust, past pain? You can't take someone to the altar to alter him or her. You can't make someone love you or make someone stay.

If you develop self-esteem, spiritual discernment, and "a life", you won't find yourself making someone else responsible for your happiness or responsible for your pain.

Manipulation, control, jealousy, neediness, and selfishness are not the ingredients of a thriving, healthy, loving and lasting relationship! Seeking status, sex, wealth, and security are the wrong reasons to be in a relationship.

What keeps a relationship strong?

Communication, intimacy, trust, a sense of humor, sharing household tasks, some getaway time without business or children and daily exchanges (a meal, shared activity, a hug, a call, a touch, a note).

Leave a nice message on the voicemail or send a nice email.

Sharing common goals and interests. Growth is important. Grow together, not away from each other, giving each other space to grow without feeling insecure. Allow your mate to have outside interest. You can't always be together. Give each other a sense of belonging and assurances of commitment. Don't try to control one another. Learn each other's family situation. Respect his or her parents regardless.

Don't put pressure on each other for material goods. Remember for richer or for poorer. If these qualities are missing, the relationship will erode as resentment, withdrawal, abuse, neglect, dishonesty, and pain replace the passion.

The difference between 'United' and 'Untied' is where you put the i.

--

I like the first and the last parts most. ;)

P.S. I'm happy! ♥

xoxo

WoW made me "wow!"

I didn't know there's such a thing as World of Warcraft Visa until now. It even made it to the list of Top Ten Consumer-Friendly Credit Cards. Wow. Go go World of Warcraft! :P

And yeah, I want this Gap Visa thing! Go go Baby Gap! Haha.

xoxo

of relationships

One of Yahoos!'s feature articles of the day is entitled "Are "Should" and "Ought" Blocking Your Path to Love?" So of course I quickly clicked on the link and read through it. :P Not that I have lots of shoulds and oughts; just that anything about love interests me . And I have to admit that in the past, I've had lots of relationship mistakes brought by "shoulding" and "oughting." Yeah, I was young once thankyouverymuch.

Here are some of the things the author talked about:

1. "I should be thinking about my Sweetheart 24/7 or I must not be in love." Odd as it may sound, some people never feel the intoxicating sensations we think of as "being in love." The ability to fall in love is on a continuum: Some people fall in and out of love very easily, some people never do.

I don't know about some people but I wouldn't want to be thinking about the one I love 24/7. Or at least not consciously. I mean, when you really love someone, why do you even have to make an effort to put them in your mind? When you really love someone, you can go out and do other things - study, work, play, have fun with friends while still "thinking" about the one you love. Because see, how can you love someone who distracts you from doing other important things? The point is, when you really love someone, they just won't leave you alone. Haha. They're always on your mind, not to distract you but to inspire you - to always remind you that you should always do your best in everything you do. And, if you're really in-love with someone, you'd never have to force yourself to feel as the author calls them, intoxicating sensations for that someone.

2. "I should know if he (or she) is the right one for me." Of course there are better or worse choices, but assuming that your date meets your criteria of "good person" and the two of you enjoy each other, seem compatible, and don't irritate the heck out of each other, what more do you need?

Plain and simple: how do you even know if he's the right one? Until now, I don't know how to answer this (or if I even should). Someone once told me that in this world you'd meet lots of Mr. Rights. Yes, Mr. Right is not just one. You can have 5 Mr. Rights, 7 or even 10. It is up to you to determine which Mr. Right you'd rather be with - which Mr. Right is worth it all.

3. "We should share the same ... (fill in the blank)." One of the wonderful parts about finding a life partner is all the things that he or she knows and you don't, or is and you are not. Think of what you can learn from the differences. Or what you won't have to learn because your partner already knows. Yes, some similarity is good, but why would you want someone just like you?

I just couldn't agree more with this last one. I read it and was like A-M-E-N. Haha. Seriously, although it would be nice to share the same passion, I believe having differences makes the relationship, well, less boring. How boring your life would be if you're with someone whom you can never learn anything from. Imagine if there's nothing in life your partner can share to you because "duh, I know what you know. I want what you want." I am not saying it's bad to share the same passion with your partner. Of course it would be best to be enjoying the same thing every now and then. Just that, differences can make the flame of your relationship last longer. You just have to know how to work them out. ;)

I've said it one too many times, I am not a relationship guru. I am not a romance coach and I definitely am not a love expert. But I've had my share of failed relationships and lessons learned when it comes to matters of the heart so I am very opinionated about it. Well, I guess I am about a lot of things. :P

You can read the rest of Kathryn Lord's article here.

xoxo