Really, Tupperware has Hello Kitty?!

That was actually my husband R's reaction. He didn't know that Tupperware, the brand he knew only as food containers when we were kids, now has other products. He's lucky he has a blogger wife to inform him of these changes, no? Hehe. 

Anyway, apologies for the super short notice my fellow Hello Kitty fanatics but you guys have to look for a Tupperware branch near you immediately! Like after you finish reading this post. 'Cause this paw-retty kitty has a lot of cute items to offer her millions of followers here in the country! 

Few weeks ago, Tupperware Brands Philippines sent us a box of Hello Kitty goodies. 

Father's Day Videos

I like that with the advent of social media, Facebook most especially, we can celebrate Fathers' Day with touching videos. Alam mo na, palagi na lang tayong mga mommies ang mas special, mas magaling, mas busy at mas commendable in the parenting department. Here in our humble kingdom, though, it's my husband who gets the royal treatment from our daughter. Eh kasi minsan lang silang magkita. So habang ako ang default niyang basurahan, cook, fashion consultant at entertainer, it is her father who rules her world. Minsan nagseselos ako, hehe. But ang totoo niyan, natutuwa ako because I strongly believe that a girl who has a good relationship with her father will be an amazing woman when she grows up! Kaya ngayon na malapit na ang Fathers' Day, marami na tayong makikitang videos on Facebook that show what real good fatherhood is.

Here are some of what I've watched with my girl.

4th Impact Obsessed!

I'm a late bloomer when it comes to music news here and abroad. I only start to appreciate *popular stuff* when the hype has calmed down. True enough, I only started watching 4th Impact videos on YouTube when they already ended their X-Factor UK journey last year.

Of course, I started with their audition piece. I felt like I'm their eldest sister as I watch them make the snob Simon Cowell stood up from his seat to applause!

The Day My Daughter Knew That Life Isn't Perfect

We all know that by now - life isn't perfect. It is easier for us adults to face the struggles and trials that come our everyday. We have already explored all the possible emotions that any human being possesses. Experience is the best teacher, they said. Truth, indeed. Sometimes, you wouldn't know how happy you can be with someone until you have lost him. You wouldn't know the importance of something until it was taken away from you. You wouldn't know if you can win or lose until you tried. Life is like that for us adults who have tried, made mistakes, regretted and learned.

What if, all of a sudden, in the midst of your daily mundane house manager activities, your 7-year-old child came to you with tears in her eyes? Mine did yesterday. I allowed her to surf YouTube. Her 4th examinations ended on Wednesday and I knew how bored she can be.

I asked her why. She said, in between sobs, "I feel sad." I probed. "Why does life have to be so sad?" My forehead wrinkled. She continued, "I don't want to lose you and Tatay." Without even thinking where she was coming from, I said, "but you will lose us soon. All of us will die eventually." She cried harder. How stupid can I get? I forgot I was talking to a first grader! I hugged her quickly and figured out it must be a video she watched on YouTube. She showed it to me, sat on my lap and clicked the replay button.

A Dose of Daniela

It was a breezy morning here at the side of my world. The girl doesn't have classes due to Typhoon Lando. We weren't snarling at each other, not in a hurry. We had pancakes and hot chocolate for breakfast, her ultimate pick-me-uppers. She was still in her pyjamas (but at some point was a vampire using my black shawl) and doodled her time away while she waited for my work to finish. My last three hours weren't that good. The couch, which is just a few meters away from my table, was calling my aching back and shoulders. Oh, how I wanted to give in to that craving. But you know, I'm okay with my work. It pays okay so I had to feel okay about it. Okay = not so bad, not so great. Anyway, while I was swamped and drowning with the kind of job that I have, I didn't allow it to leave a painful emotional scar on my being. I did all my best to do it the Royal Domesticity way: I played some Daniela Andrade on Spotify. And poof! I'm automatically more than okay. Here's what I had on loop for four times. She's just making me emotionally confused right now, haha. Please watch it and let me know how you felt after.

To watch her covers and more, subscribe on her YouTube channel. ♥

Different Times, Same Love

We have a different kind of relationship, my mom and I. One day, we can be the best chismisan partners, the next day, we'll ignore each other. In fact, as of writing this, we haven't talked for almost a month already. I assume that she has not talked to her mom, too; our Lola Mommy. As for me and my 6-year-old, so far, we are best buddies. However, despite the silence between us, I know that she loves me, I know that she cares.

Perhaps, she's just waiting for me to get in touch first. It's Mama's nature to be ma-pride and mataray, haha. So when Pia and I saw the new commercial of Nido Fortified, we were both broken by our emotions. After watching it, we literally said "awww" and she said that the grandma there was like her Lola, my mom. True. Mama can be stern and square whenever Pia gets kulit but she never fails to recognize that her only granddaughter is generally a sweet, amazing girl. ♥

Like the Cool Kids

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R and I are into Spotify. I Spotify when I cook or clean. He Spotifies when he drives. OK, I used the proper noun as a verb. English teachers, this is my blog. Shoo! Anyway, because of Spotify, we discovered a few new songs that these kids (naks, feeling matured and all grown up na talaga) are listening. Eh siyempre, medyo stuck ako kay Kitchie Nadal at Imago. Sige, let's include Solid Harmonie na din. LOL. Thanks to Spotify, I knew about Echosmith's Cool Kids. So nice this song ha. Super LSS-worthy. And uhm, napapamove ako ng slight. What do the kids now call it ba? Yung dance a la Valkyrie, yung ganern? Well, in fact, Pia knows the chorus and she even sang it to her Ninang V on Viber. 

Gary Valenciano Hijacked a Plane

Yes, he did... with a song number minus all the "hataw na" moves and beats! It was a simple in-flight feel-good entertainment for our kababayans from Los Angeles who were coming home to Manila. If you know someone close to you who works abroad, please share this video with them. Sending virtual hugs to my two best girls, S who works as a video editor in Singapore and C who works as a physiotherapist in Florida. I miss you both! ♡

Stay Alive

Taking a break from my 52-week project posts.

Have you seen The Secret Life of Walter Mitty? I did on Friday. Like most of Ben Stiller's movies (not that I've seen a lot), I loved it. That kind of movie's my most favorite (aside from what Marvel does hihi). I'll try to write about what I personally think about it for those who haven't seen it. Soon!

A Disney Princess Medley by Kevin Redrico Featuring Gabriella Marchion

I don't know why there are moms who don't like Disney princesses for their little girls. I've read from their comments and blog posts (yes, they were so not busy they had time to ridicule and go against Disney) that it somehow gives these innocent bubbas a twisted hope on marriage and happily ever after. They also said that these beautiful Disney princesses define beauty in such a shallow way... that success and happiness and love can easily be attained if you are wearing a stunning ballgown. It's funny, really funny. I'm wondering... do these moms know that THEY are the ones raising their girls and not these Disney movies? I have nothing for that. I enjoyed and will continue to enjoy watching these princesses, especially now that I have a preschool diva, who loves them to bits.

Somebody wants to join The Voice Kids Philippines!

My little girl has been singing ever since she knew what her throat and tongue and mouth can do. I think she actually learned how to hum first before she said her first word. Music runs in the family, my family. I got my love for singing from my father. He has this Rey Valera going on in his voice when he used to do some karaoke with us. As for me, I can hold a tune but I know I tend to get flat or sharp or off-key. Sometimes, I have too much of the vibrato, all depends on the song. LOL. 

I'm proud to have the world's toughest job!

It's almost 5am but I still don't want to sleep yet as I miss blogging and blog-hopping soooo much! I saw this video in Mommy Shorts (if you don't read her, I suggest you to 'cause she's the awesomest!) and it welled my eyes while watching it. It's just so timely that I've been having that urge to go back to the corporate arena because I want to help my husband in our finances, especially now that we're planning to buy a house. Being at home is great than being stuck in traffic, being with the kid 24/7 keeps me sane than having to call home from work almost every freaking hour; but being those means not being of any help with regard to the financial matters of the family. That makes me feel useless at times but after watching this video, I kinda felt like it pat my shoulder for having the world's toughest job. Ever. 

Sniff-sniff... Makes me miss Mama, too. Cheers to us, my fellow hardworking mommas! ♥

By the way single royalties, these are the requirements should you want to apply:

The Many Voices of Meryl Streep

OK. I got hungry I can't sleep, it's 2:45 am now. I went down, got myself two dinner rolls and a slice of sweet ham. I smothered mayonnaise and mustard in my rolls and never cared that I tried to eat less the past dinner. So while I munch the fattening friends I made, I watched some Julia Child videos on YouTube. I like Julia primarily because she taught French cuisine to servantless Americans (that we Filipinos eventually learned, too); secondarily, because she started culinary school at the age of 38. The latter made me still believe I can study culinary arts and be a chef and/or write an extraordinary cookbook for y'all. Anyway, in the movie Julie/Julia, which is one of my favorite movies of all time, Julia Child was played by Meryl Streep. Streep really copied Child's mannerisms, accent and tone of voice. And while watching Julia's omelette video, one of the suggested clips on the sidebar was this video below. Watch as Meryl Streep mastered many accents for the roles she portrayed in her movies. Superb. Amazing. Wow. 

My most favorite accent she did was Polish for the movie Sophie's Choice. She sounded so different that she actually looked like she's a different person! Guess what? She was praised for that role that it actually won her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1982. So... what was yours? 

Barbie: The Mommy

Pia now drinks fresh milk; two times a day, once in the morning and another at night before bedtime. Before that though, she used to take formula milk. When she turned 3, from her pricey brand, I switched her to Nido 3+. So yes, I love the brand. I can proudly say that. Anyway, this is Nido's new campaign for its 3+ category featuring Barbie Almalbis and Sharon Cuneta singing the refreshed version of the commercial jingle, "You're My Number One". I like Barbie's musicality ever since... ever since her Torpe days in 1998. Yup, aside from BSB and Moffatts, I listened to someone like her. It's thrilling to now see her as a doting mom, she makes motherhood ultra cool. As for Ms. Sharon, well... there's so much air, so much air in her voice! And it's vibrating, as always. Hahaha. But hey, she has four awesome children. I think she's a megamom. But sorry, not sorry — Barbie nailed this song and video. Do you agree? Please say you do. Oh well, let's sing along. ♡

*nope, this is not a sponsored post.

Do you want to build a snowman?

I haven't seen a post on Facebook, Twitter or blogs that said something against the movie Frozen. It's that good! No, it is superbly amazing! To be honest, at first, I didn't like the "texture" of the movie. It's kinda dark and dreary and cold. But hey, it's supposed to be like that 'cause it is frozen. Right? What I like most about it though are the story and music. The music, the songs ― it were all awesome! Actually, one LSS-worthy song from the movie is Princess Ana's Do You Want to Build a Snowman. So much so that there were approximately more than 50 videos (covers and lyrics) of it on YouTube! One video stood out with over 500k plus hits. Watch this incredible cover by AJ Rafael, Jadyn, Justin and Marilu Bustamante. Btw, they are Filipinos.

AJ Rafael is an American musician of Filipino descent and Internet celebrity. Originating from Moreno Valley, California, United States he is best known for his original songs such as "When We Say" and "We Could Happen". (source: Wikipedia) You can subscribe to his channel here.

My Silly Girl's Friends

I bought my little achiever some new pre-owned books for getting good grades in her 2nd trimester assessment checklist (more on that on a separate post) and we read it just before we hit the snooze box. She talks a lot lately. Well, uhm... since she learned how to talk, she maximizes her gift of gab every chance she gets. She's the heiress of my being a gabfest guru, after all. Hehe. Watch how she gamely introduces her friends to us while she picks her nose and being silly by the last few frames. I'm lucky to be this girl's momma, really. 
Sorry for the poor quality of the video but I still hope you'd enjoy watching. ♡

More home videos in my YouTube channel: click here to subscribe! 

I Love the New Coca-Cola Ad

I'm taking a break from my domestic queen duties because I believe that "all work and no blog makes this mama a very dumb girl". Hihi. 

Okay, let's get it on.

I'm sure many of you have seen this new funny family ad by Coca-Cola already. It's trending! It's been shared by many of my mom friends on Facebook. I clicked it, watched it for like more than three times and was smiling with tears at the last part of the vid. I super duper love the dad's reaction towards the end. It'll definitely be my R's reaction if I'd show him a pregnancy kit with a positive sign!

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Yup, we want another of Sophia's kind. Maybe, three more? Ooh, that would be so chaotic to have four active, noisy, rowdy kids! But it'll be soooooo much fun, I'm very sure of that. Our house would be filled with love, sweetness and cuteness. I bet Rayala Dialogues will be loaded with stories if that happens. Oh well, perhaps God's plans are better than ours so we just have to wait for His timing. But Lord, I have a deadline po, can we like have kahit one more before I hit 30 next year? Please? Hihi. 

So yes, I love my daughter and I really, really, really want to have more... even if she's messy and whiny, even if I can't poop peacefully, even if my bag's too heavy with her cookie crumbs and complete cast of My Little Pony, even if making love with her father is like being a mistress to my own husband (always sneaking!), and even if I have to stay at home just so I know she is always safe.

Kudos to Santos Buenos Aires in making this new Coke ad. It's just so true for me; when parenting makes my nape ache, I drink Coke (or the local cheaper counterpart hehe).

*For Jeff Beer's article about the ad, click here.

The Kid President

I first learned about the adorable and smart 10-year-old Robby Novak when Thammie Sy posted one of his videos on her blog. It's entitled "An Open Letter to Moms from Kid President". Robby Novak, as from what I have Googled, is an American comedian, motivational speaker, TED speaker, and a YouTube sensation, interviewing Beyoncé, Andrew WK, Pen Ward, Rainn Wilson, Ban Ki-Moon, and others. 

Five Years of Royalty

ONE YEAR. You started to walk and was the cutest ball of energy alive in this planet.

TWO YEARS. We both learned what the word patience means. Your endearing bulol words melted me and your tatay. I adored how rectangle was tengtanggauhl to you. 

THREE YEARS. This was when the word patience had to be stretched a bit longer. You just didn't walk, you ran and ran and ran until my legs ache; but yours, never. Your energy doubled. No, tripled at this stage. But the cuteness factor you delivered was unlimited.

FOUR YEARS. You have tested my patience with your talk-backs, choice of toys and clothes, picky eating and kickass attitude towards other kids your age. But there's no denying that despite your "fierceness", you were one awesome preschooler. 

Happy Birthday to Me

There. Instrument or tool? 'Di ba pareho lang yun? Hahaha! Apologies if I pronounced some words wrongly and if there were grammar lapses; perstaym, muthers eh. Kaloka, nag-emote pa. Bwahahaha! I'm really like that in person; ask my husband, family and close friends. Well, I just realized... Ang arte ko pala magsalita. Hihi. Anyway, when I opened my Google today, this is what I saw ---