Life, Day by Day

An Advent wreath is a wreath made up of various evergreen leaves with four candles that are lighted in the weeks of Advent to symbolize the light that the birth of Christ brought into the world. The four candles represent the four weeks of Advent.  Traditionally three of the candles are purple, the color of kings and symbolizes prayer, penance, preparatory sacrifices and good works undertaken at this time. A rose-colored candle is used to mark the Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) as a time to rejoice over the closeness of Christmas and the coming of Christ. The successive lighting of the candles symbolizes the expectation and hope surrounding our Lord’s first coming into the world and the anticipation of His second coming in the final judgment.

Finally after years of hoping and waiting, my favorite doughnut brand Krispy Kreme is coming to town just in time for Christmas!  Now I don't have to ask friends or family coming back to Bacolod from Manila to bring me my favorite glazed doughnut. The Bacolod shop will be their 60th store in the country and will open on December 6 at SM City Bacolod North Wing Expansion. The shop will be a hotlight store which means that once you see the hotlight sign come on, you’re sure that you will get that melt in your mouth doughnut freshness that Krispy Kreme is known for! 

Quan Delicacies has been my source of Ilonggo and other native Filipino food for the last twenty years or so. I can still remember the excitement I felt when they opened their first self-service restaurant besides the Bacolod Doctor's Hospital.  When I was taking my graduate studies in La Salle, I would take lunch there and later, they opened another restaurant in La Salle Avenue which was even more convenient because of the bigger parking space. And so when the Negrense Blogging Society, Inc was invited for food tasting of their newer products, I was happy to go.  

My love affair with ZALORA Philippines began one year and a month ago and it's been a joy shopping with them.  Since then, I have made numerous purchases from clothes to bags to accessories, and I have been a happy shopper ever since.  I think I now buy 60% of my clothes from them!

Finally, after months of waiting, the SM City Northwing expansion and SMX Convention Center are now open and with them, comes a new and improved SM Foodcourt .  As expected, the north wing expansion is huge, making the mall the biggest and largest of all SM Malls in the Visayas and Mindanao and the first SMX outside Metro Manila. Last Friday, October 17, just before Masskara weekend, members of the Negrense Blogging Society, Inc and Skyscraper City Bacolod were invited to view, taste and experience what the new foodcourt has to offer the people of Negros.

"Death comes like a thief in the night"..."we all live on borrowed time"..."it's the best way to go"..."she is in a better place"... "you now have another angel in heaven"..."life goes on". All those words are true, but they do not lessen the pain...they do not take away the grief...they do not make the tears stop...they cannot remove the sadness brought about by the sudden loss of a loved one.

Aging is an inevitable fact of life , but it does not have to be burdensome or problematic. Just because a person is aged does not make him or her useless. My mother turned 80 years old in May but she continues to live a purposeful life. She has been suffering from osteoarthritis for the last 8 years or so, but it was not until 3 years ago that she began using a walker due to my insistence, primarily for her safety and my peace of mind. Last year, she developed adverse drug reactions resulting in gastrointestinal complications and lately, she gets tired more easily.  And so, as much as she would like to remain as active as she used to be, it is no longer possible and she has "retired" from most of her parish volunteer work and advocacy.  And rightly so because I believe that our elderly parents and relatives deserve to be worry-free, to be taken cared of, and comfortable in the remaining years of their lives. In 2011 I wrote an essay for EzineArticles on how to ...