Throwback at my back problem

I have a love-hate relationship with my spine.

Today, I kinda hate my scoliosis. It woke me up with a burning sensation. It also woke up hubby too, even though I was just quietly massaging it.  The past few days, this curved bone has been trying to get my attention. 

Perhaps, SexyB (that's SexyBones or SexyBod, the pet name of my scoliosis) feels jealous.  For years, I've ignored SexyB. When SexyB made hubby feel that I should resign from the job that I love about 5 years ago, I decided to ignore it.  Back then, regular trips to best chiropractor in town plus checkups, were helping me sleep soundly, breathe better. 

Months passed, SexyB didn't bother lungs anymore. That's when I began to love SexyB. Even though docs advised I should get SexyB under the knife, I embraced SexyB. (It just didn't make sense to me anymore: Surgery to help me breathe normally when I feel so alive, breathing. Docs proposed a treatment to a century-old problem, but even today, science and doctors still don't know the primary cause of idiopathic scoliosis!). So I saved SexyB from titanium, nuts and bolts.

Then I introduced SexyB to God. They became friends. And SexyB was so quiet and cooperative with me, not until the past few days.  SexyB has been getting my attention with its jolting sensation in the morning. Hubby was driving when I exclaimed, "I hate my (SexyB) !" We were laughing actually because I felt I could have been that billboard model along Edsa had SexyB not interefered in my height (lost 2-3 inches from my teen height). 

So anyway, SexyB, here's my message for you:

Please don't be a brat. Don't act up anymore.

I know you're there. 

In fact, I'm thankful for you. 

Why?

I get tons of massage with love from hubby. 

You made me see things beyond career. 

You even reintroduced me to God (yes, you).

You know, you can keep me company until rapture. 

That's when you'll be straight and perfect. 

Just droppin' by...

I have tons of receipts lying on my bed right now. I feel overwhelmed I feel like a ball of receipts is going to wreck me. Now, that's just a wrecking-ball exaggeration. I need to go through each of them for our store inventory. And I just need to breathe... So here am I, posting. :)

To you who are reading this, hope you're not as overwhelmed as I am right now, but hope you're happy as I am. :)   Just smile, then back to work. 

See you all around! Will be bouncing back to do more posts soon, hopefully! 

Fastfood fix: Salted caramel @ Mcdo

Hubby and I just love this salted caramel from Mcdo. 

Leaves a divine mix of salt and sweetness in your tastebuds, just the right way to cap an oily meal.

Best for nonsense chats on a lazy afternoon.  ;)

Wifey fever: coffee addiction

Wow, i'm still awake at 3:20am! It's not becoz of coffee. In fact, I just had 2 cups for the entire day, one  for brekky, one when i met dear Julls about 12 hours ago. (By the way, thanks to her, I was reminded to revisit this blog.)

Anyway, about coffee. I just thought that my coffee addiction had been so inflicted on hubby that even if i give him a cup or two before we go to sleep, he'd still end up snoring in less than 10 minutes. (Yeah, snoring in less than 10! ) Coffee is like milk for us, we also drink it at night. Maybe not milk, coffee is more like chamomile tea to us; it relaxes our nerves instead of jolting our senses. Don't ask me why, dunno the scientific explanation for it, coffee just does that to us.

 Hubby used to only drink coffee for breakfast, but being with me for the last 10 years, he learned to drink it the way I do. When I was still working, I'd drink like 2 cups in the morning (one for brekky, one for morning break), 1 more after lunch, 1 while writing, 1 for PM break, 1 after dinner. That's an average of 5-6 cups a day, sometimes it could be more depending on the press event i'd attend or if i had to interview someone in a resto. Well, I've changed in the last decade. I'm down to only 2-3 cups a day. 

 But here's what I learned a li'l bit about coffee:

  (be warned: info based on silly addiction, not necessarily geeky data)

Black coffee/cafe americano/brewed:  

Will not make u feel funny (i.e. will not encourage you to see the toilet and 'detoxify').  This is the reason why it's the personal choice of hubby when we're drinking coffee outside.

Stains your teeth faster than 2- or 3-in-1 coffee mix.

Top picks:  For beans, Brazilian's arabica beans.  For 3-in-1, Blend 45 soluble coffee which is way better than Nescafe's decaf. For coffee shop, Dunkin Donut's brewed coffee, try espresso shots of Starbucks.

White coffee/latte/milk:  

Relaxes you in a short while but will make u feel funny. (refer to statement above to know what i mean)

Won't leave your mouth smelling funny. (but take note, some arabica beans tend to be strong, even the milk doesn't help in foiling the coffee scent)

Best mixed with brown or muscovado sugar.

Top picks: For 3-in-one, Malaysian's Super or Old Town white coffee.  For coffee shop, Seattle's caffe latte.

Three-in-one coffee/instant coffee:

Leaves a funny smell and aftertaste in your mouth. (Bring mints if you're drinking outside)

Can make others acidic. I'm not really acidic when it comes to coffee, but i think I did once, after drinking 2-3 cups straight.

Top picks: For 3-in-one, Jimm's, Kopiko L.A. 

Specialty coffee/flavored coffee:

Almost same effect as white and 3-in-1 coffee, only you get to enjoy the unique flavor.

Remarkable experiences with the ff:

Green tea coffee of Starbucks -- super 'detoxifying' for me, i need to go home, rush to toilet, even if i just met an old friend, making me a party pooper (almost literally, eooow!)

Chai tea vanilla latte of Cafe Breton -- very, very relaxing, sweet, best at night.

Peppermint coffee -- minty, toothpastey. But becoz i love mint, i'm biased to this hihi.

Toffee nut/caramel machiatto -- nutty, caramel. Need i say more?

Civet coffee -- what a hype! I tasted 1 from Baguio, 1 from Borneo, and I don't think i'm interested to try another one. The one from Baguio is like hmmm, feces-like (now i'm overreacting and overimagining things here), but there's just this scent that u wish u didn't smell. The one from Malaysia is actually waaay better but it tastes like any coffee, only the beans are tastier once you're almost half empty, but has a smoother taste.

Why we don't celebrate Valentines day

"Happy Valentines!" I chirped, flashing my pearly whites (they look white with the bright light of the webcam eh) last night to my husband. 
He gave me a quizzical look. And I asked, "Isn't it Valentines tomorrow?"
He nodded but said we never really celebrated it. I said, "well, I just feel like greeting you." And proceeded to tell him what happened to my humdrum day.  And got excited again when I heard his good news.

But anyway, why aren't we celebrating Valentines' day? Actually, we did. I think, once or twice, when we were not yet married. I think that was when were just starting out, first two years in the relationship, when you feel like being all the other couples out there. But when we got married, even if he was here in Manila, we won't go out, have a fancy dinner or something.

Well, here are some of our reasons:

1.  We don't want to be spotted celebrating on the 14th. We're not really Valentine haters, but it kinda gives us the creeps to join the love bandwagon. Uh sorry for those who are celebrating. It's our own problem that we can't really show in public our sweet side for each other. (But you know, when I was still fresh from college, I tell him to do sweet stuff to me in front of his ex-girlfriends. hehe. i kinda love my immature days...shows my raw side.)

2. Restos are too crowded, the city is jampacked with lovers.  I hate crowded places.  And we're not the type who will make early reservations.  The only reservation or booking we did was our wedding day. :)

3.  We usually stay late on the 13th because it's my sister's birthday.

4.  My hubby thinks it's a paganistic feast. I'll have to do my own research on this.

5.  Every day is Valentines' day...when he's here. * wink!  First few days of his arrival, we usually go out on date nights, sometimes as couple, sometimes with couple friends, sometimes with a couple of friends. 

6.  I'm not creative enough to make Valentine celebrations at home. I'm not really into cooking, crafts, and all. 

But maybe, we'll make an exception one Valentine day. :D