A tea party

"What tea would you like to have? We have oolong, English breakfast, Darjeeling and jasmine," asked the lady serving us at Makati Shangri-La's Lobby Lounge. "English breakfast," I replied, as I was looking forward to having scones as well. It's time for afternoon tea, and time to celebrate my birthday, too. :-)

This was my dad's idea, that instead of the usual birthday dinner, the family will have afternoon tea and listen to live orchestra music. The idea appealed to me, since, after all the eating and merrymaking during the holidays, a "quiet" event would be like a breather.

And so, that afternoon of January 4, pots of tea were placed on our table and trays of scones, too, as well as Filipino snacks like bibingka and ginataan. And while we daintily held our teacups, an all-female orchestra performed lovely melodies from kundiman music to standards and movie themes. And just as I thought no one else in the room aside from those in our two tables knew it was my birthday, the orchestra started playing "Happy birthday" as a chocolate cake was brought in, complete with candle. Perfect!

BOOK OF THE WEEK: I'm rereading The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian. It's a good reminder to pray for your child's safety, relationships, career choice, and even future spouse.

VERSE OF THE WEEK: "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face towards you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26

Photo by my brother-in-law Joel Pastor

Looking for Smart Parenting

I can't believe it. I just bidded P150 today on ebay.ph for Smart Parenting magazine's maiden issue (March-April 2003), an issue which I edited way back in 2003. I also just bought a copy of Smart Parenting's March 2004 issue for P55, also on ebay.ph, and am just waiting word from the seller on how I can pay and get my hands on that issue.

After Typhoon Ondoy flooded our house, part of my portfolio of works got damaged. For days, I hardly touched those bookbound copies of Smart Parenting magazines (the complete set!) because just looking at the sorry wet heap depressed me. Producing one issue alone cost so many man-hours. My friend Salve once asked me what it's like to edit a magazine and after I ran through the process (brainstorm, finalize lineup, assign stories, interview, write, shoot, edit, layout, approve layouts, proofread), I think she just said, "wow."

So there, these days I am trying to get my hands on vintage Smart Parenting issues I edited and wrote for. Earlier today, while sifting through moldy SP issues with pages stuck together, I asked myself why bother, then threw another hopeless copy away. Well the truth is, I'd like to pass them on to my son someday.

So if you have a copy somewhere, do PM me please? Thanks!

BOOK OF THE WEEK: For Christmas, my friend Joy gave me Refreshing Words for Busy Women by Darlene Sala. It's a daily devotional and a delightful read, something you'd want to look into daily on slow quiet afternoons.

VERSE OF THE WEEK: The LORD watches over you—the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. Psalm 121:5-8