Filipina Out and About in PANDA EXPRESS!!!

Laziness ladeeeeddeeeee laddeeeedddaaa J  my hands were full and still are full.  ***sigh***  But I love this very occupied life that I have right now rather than being not being ingenious.   I would rather be busy than to be bored.  I have a new job that I really love to begin with…it is very rewarding and yes, I get tired and busy but at the end of the day, what matters most is that I was able to give a little piece of my life to my patients.  

Pate Rehabilitation Center specializes with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury (from strokes, head injuries related to vehicular accidents and something like accidents that led them to lose their speech,  mobility and ability to reason  and it is my daily prayer and goal that my patients can all go back to their independent life after the therapy.  I am so much in a good place and I thank God for this blessing.  If only I am a teenager trying to figure out what would I be when I grow up, I would decide to be a Physical Therapist in a heartbeat! <3 And now, I am looking into the area of Rehabilitation Nursing! It is very rewarding to see your teenage patient would walk for the first time after their accidents from 16months ago! And it also makes you teary eye when a high school football varsity would finally look at me in the eye and track the direction of my hand when I say look to the right or look to the left after the motorcycle accident that made him paralyzed for 3months now.  The best things in life aren’t things…

If you have lovedones needing physical therapy, visit the webpage Pate Rehab, Pateway, Anna, TX

 Life has been in so much frazzle for the last 4 weeks.   It was indeed an Enormous Change. And yeah, though the busy-city-life we are into right now is making us bushed up at the end of our shifts, we still find time to find comfort.  In foods!!! There is no way I can cook since most of the kitchen stuff are still yet to be packed this next Monday when we are off.  So when I want to be Asian…or let’s put it this way…when you want to be very Filipino and cant find a way to cook yet because you are so busy working here in Texas?!

 COMFORT FOOD?!! Try this…

fried rice or rice noodles (pansit canton) with 2 sides $7.99
Shaylin's favorite:  crispy fried beef & beef on mushroom + fried rice
Joy's order (not my favorite coz everytime i come visit Panda Express my order varies. lol
                               orange chicken + sauteed vegetables + rice
                               PLUS EXTRA RICE FOR AVA & AVERY

and ohhh!!!  our usual drink when its Panda Express! 
MOUNTAIN DEW Yeah!!!
One for all...All for One - FAMILY SIZE! 

and we ordered total of...





 

OOPppssss i'm not done yet! PANDA EXPRESS experience isn't (in my own opinion) if u wont grab their FREE TERIYAKI sauce.

 

and Shaylin doesn't really care for my teriyaki sauce. this is what he wants!

  

 

and if you decide to take it home for appetizers in your table :) they sell it in a bottle! 

 

 

and if u wanna be discounted for an extra siders on the menu next time u come, answer this suvery online!

panda express FREE entree' survey!

i just did mine! *** winks***  ^_^

 

and ohhh!!! the fortune cookies!!!

 

 

We have 4 but we actually only opened 3.  Avery's fortune cookie is somewhere in on of my purses! LOL (no reason why...but just lazy to open it...but here is our fortune cookies' content.

 

Shaylin...

 

 here is mine...

 

Ava

 



here is our happy driver!

 

Now i feel like i want to go to Panda Express and use my FREE Entree!  hmmm...Bye ya'll!!!  Its DINNER!!!!

Enormous Switch

Before anything else, lemme say my apologies for not being able to update this bloggie for a couple of weeks!  I dunno if you find this unacceptable but most of the time for me, the reason behind not being able to do something right on time is the reason that I actually cannot decide which topic to blog first! For the past few weeks I wasn’t able to put an entry in this blog, believe me, every morning I wake up, I would pick up a certain time out of my sooo-busy-city-life-now to blog! But I actually dunno why I would always end up not able to do it! I don’t think I am lazy! (Am i?) Yeah, that’s right! Coz I have been busy since the big move!

Oh yes, we finally left the small city of Gorman.  It is goodnews for everybody!  I am happy to finally move back to the city life…But a little piece of my heart is forlorn.  But for the most part, I am really happy to leave.  Is that some kind of a bipolar talking there!? Hahaha!  But seriously, 25% of me is sad.  Maybe because I will really miss a laidback kind of life that Gorman gave us since we came home from the Philippines.  It is the kind of place that you wake up every morning with a lot of little butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers and birds doing their ‘morning rounds’ in the green meadows before the hot Texas sun shines through the day in the beautiful summer & fresh grassy smell of the after-mowed field!  And comes the late noon time when the soft summer breeze swish the leaves of the trees joined by the crickets singing in harmony and birds fly home to their trees for their slumber - introducing the mood of the evening whether we be sleeping through the sprinkles of rain that brings about cool breeze from the screened windowsill in the kitchen or just one of those laidback summer nights that makes me think about random wee hour snacks at McDonalds or Starbuck’s in Stephenville with the two toddlers especially during the weekends! 

Here is one of my favorite snaps from Gorman, Texas one spring morning!

More memories from Gorman...

With the Monk’s Adventure in this lifetime, I tell yah! I really have this feeling everytime we are leaving a place where there were so much memories are made.  I will never forget the 513 house of Love Acres in Gorman! It is the first place where I was able to successfully raise ‘ampalaya’,  ‘sitaw’ ‘calamansi’ and ‘tanglad’ (bitter gourd, long string beans, Philippine lemon and lemon grass) and had several harvests for Filipino dishes eventhough there is no single Asian Market in the nearby cities.  Life is good in this countryside but our life is here in the city.  So long Gorman! 

Moving to McKinney was so far the best!

 Where the city of Frisco, Plano and Allen are just a 5-15minutes drive around (depends on the traffic since there are so much constructions going on in the Highway 75.  But that is fine!  The second week we were moved here, I got the chance to see and had a long day out with Garry all around the city up to the far downtown Dallas before I am to start my new job! Garry is my nephew by a first cousin – but since he is way older (winks lol) than me, we rather prefer say WE ARE COUSINS when people ask!  Haha! He just arrived from the Philippines last September 2 and so this is the perfect day to show him where I was and how I lived for the last five years I was not in the Philippines!  We had no plans, just being random going places! That’s one thing I like about Garry, he can go random with me.  Like this randomness in the Twisted Root Burger Co in Plano.  

 BUILD YOUR OWN BURGER!!!  Hmmmm!!! Yes! Custom made by you!!!  
Here is how we made ours:
--->Angus Beef (other choices: rabbit, deer, goat, buffalo, turkey etc...(i am not a very brave person to try new meats but my husband Shaylin is always Game On with trying out anything new!)
--->American cheese, 
--->guacamole 
and a --->fried egg on top of a 
--->Sesame Bun 
sided with Onion Rings!
TOTAL: 14.25/burger (tax included)

Click here Twisted Root Burger Co. to learn more about this company!

 Game on KeeKai girl!

 Ava is just happy to see ToGayeee! (thats how she calls Garry) 

 I remember the good old days we had at Coffee Dream in KCC Mall Gensan!  Those are one of the best days of my life! We can sit almost all day in the coffee shop and just hang in there studying for my board exam in Nursing or the NLE.  And who would have thought, we are both here now in the United States!  Coffee Dream Café’ won't be here, but yes!  We are both here!  HOOORRRAAAAYYY!!!  Isn’t that awesome!  Texas isn’t that far of a drive to and fro the state of Arkansas!  

Right this week, I am into this big transition!  Oh really big transition! You have no idea how tired, sored and little sleep I get from the already-not-so-normal sleepless nights I usually had from the countryside!  But I am happy to be productive again and be able to pull in more money for the family!  I am ecstatic! I am so motivated and always on the go!   And I feel beautiful too! (ehemmm).

Man! Where have I been these almost 4 long years!??? I miss putting make up on but I am so glad I never forgotten how to do it! Lol.  One thing I really dread being back, is waking up early in the morning, prepare the kids for daycare, have their daddy drop them off to Inchworm Daycare down the street in the University Drive before he gets to enjoy his whole day of slumber after having to combat for $$$ at nighttime, and me of course run to my own and do my share of combat for $$$ during daytime!  I think that sounds funny desperate! Hahaha! J  I’m silly! And yes!  Presenting at a Personality Development Class is fun and be able to encounter people from different walks of life and be a shining light for them on day to day basis is truly fulfilling. 

Here is a snap of me doing a so-far-my-most-decent make up for such a long time after quitting to buy 'kikay' kits (girlie stuff).

Eversince, whenever i do my make up, i always want it to look like, "Early Morning Glow Look" :) or what they call, NO MAKE UP LOOK!
And what I do right now is a place that gives me purpose and selfworth!  I will be talking about that on my next bloggie! 

So Long, 
Lj

5 Days – 3 PRAISE REPORT CHALLENGE

 

I am supposed to blog about ‘something else’ this time but it came to my mind…this one first!  After all, the blessing I am receiving from God for all the years of my life, have never been procrastinated - there may have been some attitude of being impatient in my part, but they always come in perfect time.  The other blog which is currently archived in my drafts folder is supposed to be the entry I am going to post today. 

I was apprehensive when I got tagged in facebook by my ‘lola’ – THOUGHT IT WAS AN ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE!!! Hahaha! I was already preparing to head for bed and was drunk drowsy when my phone gave a very loud alert (blame my toddlers!) and the only word that registered in my sleep head was “challenge”! I was like, ‘Oh my! Not me Lola Jhoana, not me’ – before I have to have nightmares before even getting sleep, I sat up and curiously read ‘my challenge’ – 5 Days Praise Report Challenge.  I may not be blogging about my Day 2 PRC and so on but I want to take the challenge from my sissee in Christ Ptr. Jhoana Uy to publicly declare my gratefulness to my ever good and faithful Father in Heaven!

Day 1

1.       This is not the first time I am being thankful of this because everyday of my life, I can’t get over being grateful that God brought me where I am right now – here in the USA.  Life here isn’t perfect.   There are glitches and hitches here and there every now and then…but that only reminds me that the God of this universe who may be invisible to the eye, can be visible in the way I live my life and His goodness can be seen with the people that is around me – my husband and my 2 girls Ava Louise and Avery Laverne.

2.       If God’s love can be measured through the friends that I have already in my life, then I am so loved!  I praise and thank God for giving me friends who were like my sisters from another mother.  We don’t talk very often, but in spite the thousands of miles between us and the gap in years to have a chance to reunite and catch up, I still feel their love and it is something that is really hard to explain right now.  But there is only one concrete definition that is constant with my friendship with them – it is that we are bonded by the love of Jesus J.  ***sigh*** I miss them!    

3.       I praise God for the random people that he brings into my life this year who are no longer just “random” people now.  They are the people that hold a special place in my heart so much like the ones I already have in many years.  The best thing ever that ever happened to me coming home to Philippines last year was meeting  Dr. Wilma Heramil – si Dok Mokai and Toto Irvin .  Yes, we randomly meet people in our daily walks, but it is a lot different when God presents you with something you never worked for…yet He brought you a special person in a very random circumstances and you don’t need years or to know the biographic information about the person…you just simply know that they are “A GOOD HEART”.  And I always pray every day that   He will enable me to do something BIG for this people.  It is my heart’s desire that I can do something great for them in my lifetime – because during my lowest point, they gave me their all yet I WAS JUST A RANDOM PERSON!

 

Need I say more? That’s my Big Day 1 of Praise Challenge!

I dedicate this music video to all my friends all over the globe! 

Proud to be Filipino-American

 

 

It’s been 2 days ago I have started my new blog and just thought of updating it today with this new entry.  J    How have you been?  How have I been?  It is 6:09Pm and I am really thinking where the heck Garry (my cousin) is right now.  I know he is in DFW (Dallas-Fortworth Airport) waiting for his next flight going to Fort Wayne Indiana from his long flight from the Philippines. I wished I had the chance to greet him with all banners and balloons and dining out tonight around downtown Dallas but unfortunately, he only have a few hours to stay in DFW airport before he needs to be checking in again for another flight…and needless to say the long line of the arrivals in the immigration makes it impossible for us to see each other before he heads to Indiana.  But with this blog entry, I want to welcome him to ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’ – THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

 When I first came here, it was a stage of my life where I was thinking, this is where God is leading me to…it was full of the unknown but I am so glad looking back that I was also full of optimism that time.  Leaving Philippines, was also like leaving my comfort zone – it is leaving everything behind that you will only realize the reality of it the moment you wake up the next day in a very different environment and having a feeling that you must be speaking a different language 95% of the time and reserve the 5% for the Filipinos whom you meet along the way! I didn’t have any problem adjusting from my native tongue to speaking English.  Working in a few call centers helped me a lot.  But honestly, it took me a little while to be able to adjust my ears to the ‘slang’ and it is sometimes funny how I can misinterpret/ mishear what my husband is saying.  Food is the next thing that comes to mind when you aren’t in your own country.  You begin to wander around looking for food that you used to unlike way back when you were still in your own country.  I still can remember the first time I saw Silver Swan soy sauce & Vinegar in the Asian market how I thanked God! It was priceless! I felt like I found a treasure that day!  And the rest of it followed…and later, I began to discover a lot of sources of my “own” food.

 

For many years here now in the United States  I got spoiled to so much things…like  hot and cold shower, cheaper groceries, freebies, coupons, free refills of drinks in almost every restaurant, reliable mailing system, unlimited call & text in all networks in the 50 states, return policies in all the stores – those are just a few.

 Coming back to the Philippines for the first time in 2011 with my then 6months old Ava, for the first 2 hours I was falling in line at NAIA immigration I suddenly turned like a ‘sweat machine’ all of a sudden.  People falling in line waiting for passport stamping were like in a contest like ‘who would finish first’ without consideration of mothers like me who have infants.  It is always fun to come back to Philippines.  I may not come home very often; Philippines will always be a part of me especially with my food choices. I may have a different definition now of comfort, fashion, and ideas BUT I the cravings of Filipino dishes and the love for Filipino arts and music will always be in my veins!

 And right now, I want to share for those who don’t know yet about this FREE app for android.  If you miss Philippines FM stations and Filipino drama,

Search and download.   Manila Love Radio 90.7 in your Playstore

If you only have laptop/desktop you can still listen online Love Radio Manila 90.7

And here is my favorite for my browser, no need to log in and register.  Just Click Love Radio for Filipinos Abroad

FIRST...

Hello everyone!  Apparently, this is my first blog.  Been a newsletter writer, had a career/hobby blogging in the past and now, I AM BACK with this new blog page.  I thought about going back to my old blog and just go ahead continue blogging in there but I was like, "Oh forget it - lemme start a new one!" winks*** ;) Man where have I been? Hahaha J  I feel right now I came from a very very long journey.  Thinking about it, YES I BEEN gone in the world of writing for so long! As I go on board with this new blog, I am keeping my fingers crossed that my past readers and followers back in time will find this blog more exciting!   When I opened my old blog today, my last post was dated November 17, 2008 at 10:27AM.  And reading through, I can’t help but smile and say “Well Done Joy”.  I have gone too far.  The journey from the past to now were not easy, but looking back, I can say, I grew up a lot in most aspects – and yes, my weight as well! J Between that year and now, I became a mommy of 2 girls, migrated here in the USA from Philippines and most of all – it took me this long to claim again – that I am a blogger LOST AND FOUND!

And I am excited to share my stories and my daily walks, though this will be a lot different from my old blog as in that old one I was always talking about matters of the heart! And please don’t dare ask me how to get to my old blog! Please!!! I don’t need readers there, I need you here guys!  ^_^ I will not leave you behind, so when I say I will be levelling up – you are coming with me. J J J

Why “The Cookie Jar Tales?” Discover it!

Join me in this blog as we discover, learn and share our thoughts about everything under the sun! I am very optimistic to start anew, share my life, tell my stories, mentor and intermingle with just anyone! With this FIRST entry, I sure hope you too will be my inspiration.