Amazing Flicks- Fantastic Year- Ender

2012 has been a year for a bunch of good movies. Aside from summer, December is also a much-awaited month for awesome flicks. For December 2012, I had 3 on my list. It's such a big deal, because it's my first time to have 3 movies I looked forward to as a year- ender.

 

1. Rurouni Kenshin/ Samurai X

I am a very big fan... I used to watch the cartoon series on a local channel. Aside from the awesome fight scenes, the cartoon had a little twist of humor in it. Well, it was made for the kids. When I met my husband, he lent me a copy of the anime movie... (Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal and Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection) The story was far better than the cartoon series and it was nice to be able to watch and embrace the meaning of Kenshin's story. The people he met along his journey... same people who loved him and who took care of him. It was an emotional thing for me... It actually made me cry.

So when I saw the preview of the live- action film, I got very excited and immediately bought tickets. It was exclusive for SM Cinemas and shown for a limited period of time.

 

Here's my say about the movie. I love it! It's like watching the anime but in a live -action setting. From how Kenshin draws his Sakabatō ( a reverse-blade sword), the speed and moves... as if the anime was literally brought to life. Takeru Satoh gave justice to his role as Rurouni Kenshin.

 

You know what's crazy? My husband and I took our baby with us. We're very short of time with work and in preparation for the holidays, so we had no choice but to bring our little one. It was amazing how Mikee slept through the whole movie. I guess, some time- off with a good movie was meant to be given to us.

 

2. The Hobbit- An Unexpected Journey

Ahhh... yes it's actually one of the most awaited flick for 2012. Again beating some time, especially with  the holidays coming, we had no choice but to take our baby with us. And again, he slept almost entire movie.

 

I am sure glad that Peter Jackson connected this movie with the Lord of The Rings. I once watched the animated film, I enjoyed it. But it is different and more exciting when The Hobbit was brought to the big screen. Finally, I get to grasp the story of the Dwarves. The Hobbit is an adventurous film.  I can't wait for part 2 and 3. I know that it is going to be more colorful with more characters, adventures and even misadventures.  There's not a dull moment in The Hobbit, I didn't even notice the time.

The soundtrack is amazing too. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Special Edition) for $17.99 on iTunes. Most of the songs sound so cool and relaxing... my children would go to sleep listening to it. Of course, my favorite Misty Mountains.

Lastly, I prayed that Les Miserables is going to be released before Christmas. You know what, I've been reading bad reviews about the whole live singing thing... But hell with that, there will always be haters. I love the whole idea when the actors sang live for the movie. The preview alone gave me goosebumps. Anne Hathaway, you're the best! and it's really nice that Anne looked up to our very own Ms. Lea Salonga.

Unfortunately, Les Miserables is scheduled to be shown here in the Philippines January 2013 giving way for the MMFF 2012 movies. Few more days of waiting...

By the way, I am really sorry for not touching so much on reviewing the movies. It's best to see these flicks for yourself and see why I'm liking them so much :D Anyway, I'm still happy that I was able to watch 2 from my list of movies for December 2012.

It's Mikee's 1st Birthday!

Happy, happy Birthday to our little munchkin!

 

The moment you came out of this world 122111, we knew that 122112 is not going to be "the end". But  it is going to be a day filled with life and more love. We can't wait for Christmas as we celebrate your 1st year with the birth of our Christ The Savior.

Christmas Rush

It's that time of the month when I have to finish everything before hitting the eve of Christmas. Apparently, my son's school decided to stretch the number of school days for this month making December 21 as their last day before going on vacation. That gives me 2 days to finalize things such as gifts, food for our pot luck both with families and friends and even materials needed for wrapping gifts and printing greeting cards. A discount toner would come in handy.

Hopefully, this is going to be the last update I'm going to make simply thinking that everything is all set for the Holidays. In addition, we considered giving away wine and chocolates.

This was very sudden. Good thing my husband knew the pressure getting everything labeled, he  included paper bags for each. We have already given out some and these are the stuff left for us.

Preparing for the Holidays can be tiresome and exhausting at times... but it sure is fun and worth it just thinking about the happy faces of those close to hearts.

My Love For Preparing Gifts for Christmas

One of the best part that I enjoy as I prepare our gifts for our loved ones this for the upcoming holidays is wrapping gifts. I'm not really good at it, but I really, really love it. Especially when it comes to choosing wrappers and color motifs. I made this post because my gift wrapping experience this year turned out differently. Geez... I don't know what's happening to me. For some reason, I lost my knowledge on how to make paper bags and I bought gifts that were all meant to be wrapped in paper bags. So I went online and searched for videos on paper bag making.  Even if my finished product didn't turn out as nice, well, at least it's still something presentable, the paper bag tutorial helped.

Anyway, this year for my theme, instead of limiting our motif with one or two colors,  I thought of mixing most shades of Christmas. Red, Green, White, Silver and wrappers that has cute Christmas designs, from gift wrappers to Christmas tags.

I used to add ribbons and even use metallic wrappers for my gifts. But with what I've come up with this year, I loved the combination of colors. It's very simple, yet it brings joy just by looking at it. By the way,  my son Frankie helped me with most of them :D  When a gift is wrapped with something colorful and vibrant, kids love it, makes gift- giving more fun and exciting.

For our giveaways, aside from homemade dark chocolate- coated walnuts (which I'm bound to make next week), my husband and I agreed to give out something useful for the home. We used native bags from Kultura to pack the goods together and silver tags for our sweet messages. I won't tell what's inside the bags because some of our friends pay this blog a visit, we don't wanna spoil the surprise you guys ;D

We Rode The Giant Wheel!

We had fun with our friends over at Star City this weekend. It has been years since my last visit to Star City. With my family's recent visit, we were surprised by the changes Star City prepared for their patrons. One of the highlights of our visit was to ride the highest ferris wheel in the Philippines.  Star City's ferris wheel holds the record for it. At first, we didn't really know that it is the highest ferris wheel in the country. Along the way, we saw the ferris wheel from afar, thought it's something new--- so hey, let's ride that one!

Once we were in front, under and at the side of this amazing ferris wheel... we were blown away by its size. It's humongous!

It was a very relaxing experience. The wheel continuously turns but the speed is just enough for the people to go in and out of the gondolas safely. 

There are 32 air-conditioned gondolas. So when I mentioned relaxing, riding The Giant Wheel sure is perfect to take some time- off from the rest of the heart-pounding rides in the amusement park.

The height of The Giant Wheel is 60 meters equivalent to a 16- story building.  One of the things that scares me with ferris wheels is when it reaches the top part and with a tiny move, the gondola starts swinging... I hate that. But with Star City's Giant Wheel, it's high, but you will not feel the gondola move, swing or shake once on top.

View from our gondola--- a busy Star City.

It's Beginning To Look & Feel A Lot Like Christmas

Aside from the fresh pine tree, the house is sparkling with Christmas lights and decorations... The Holy Family has always been the center of our celebration...

Gift wrapping is almost done. Most of the presents are for the kids, our relatives and close friends. This year, I had most toys wrapped ahead in the toy store. We're very lucky that the toys in our list went on sale.

And someone got an early Christmas present...

The new iPod Touch!

 Some people think there's not much difference, I say, there is, especially if you're a photo enthusiast. We have a 4th generation iPod Touch we've clearly noticed the difference between the 2 and it's worth it.

 

*Need time to make a review though, because an iPad mini might join the club too =D

 

0o0o

This year, I noticed that we have been giving out Christmas presents in advance ;) or maybe it's just the thought that, personally, when the cool mornings, afternoon and evenings started, I know Christmas is just around the corner. Even as a child, Christmas has always been about presents, cool weather, Christmas carols and lots of happy faces.