Free Krispy Kreme Doughnuts for Your Mom!

Here are the two winners for the Krispy Kreme promo.

From Krispy Kreme

Edward Donato
"Next to diamonds, the shoe is a woman's best friend, and what a great way to celebrate Mother's Day than to pose with a giant topiary shaped like a heel. Mom and i sure had fun, and it would be even better to win that DOZEN DOUGHNUTS for her!"

From Krispy Kreme

Andrea Macachor
"This photo was taken two years ago at Space Mountain at the most magical place on earth, Disneyland, when I took my mother to Hong Kong. At that very moment, for a little while, she was not a wife and mother managing a household with five kids while studying for her doctorate degree, she was a little girl without a care in the world just enjoying a roller coaster ride."

Congratulations! Please wait for Chloe's email on how to claim your prize.

Why I Blog

I have been terribly busy the past few weeks and my blogs have suffered because I just haven't had the time to sit down and write. I'm writing this post while waiting to board a plane.

I have been maintaining my blog for about 5 years now. I started off blogging on my Friendster account and then eventually moved to Blogger. I just want to journal my activities and some things that interest me and not really bother with the techie side of blogging that's why I've been loyal to Blogger. Some friends have attempted to teach me how to use other blogging platforms, but despite their efforts it just didn't suit me. I guess I am already an old dog.

So why do I blog? I always ask myself this question when I get stressed out from blogging. I get stressed out when I have backlog. And that's the time I ask myself, why do I blog? Why do I go through all the trouble? Why do I force myself to sit down in front of my PC a few nights a week to write. I don't get paid for it, nor do I earn much from it. So why do I do it?

Because I have to.
Because if I don't my writing muse is going to bug me to write even when I sleep.
I blog because I need to write.

That may sound strange to some (or many) people, but for me (and my college friends from Malate Literary Folio) it's normal. It would be more painful not to let it out through writing. I know I'm still a long way from how I used to write (or I have had any improvement at all). I know that what I write may not be relevant to others (or anyone for that matter), but I blog because I do it for myself.

And I am in blog nirvana when I write about the stuff that are relevant to me. I know that is so selfish, but this (writing) is for me and I will do it whether or not is published online. Providing relevance or being able to inspire others would just be icing on the cake.

Signs of Old Age (Part 2)

So I made an earlier post about this topic last year and I'm making another one now because I think I aged quite a bit in the past few months. Hopefully not because I got married, but because of a project I did that caused me a lot of stress. And that's the reason why I took a short break after visiting Cebu.

High Cholesterol Level


Imagine my surprise when we got our blood chemistry results. I had a full blood chem last January and everything was quite normal. I was confident that I was going to pass the regular stuff with flying colors.

I failed.

For the first time in my entire life my total cholesterol and LDL was beyond the normal range. Bad. Bad. Bad. So that was the reason why I felt dizzy at times. I was certainly busy weeks and days before I went with Sweetie and Miguel for a blood test. I ate out most of the time and was really stressed out. Anyway, I'm seeing my doc next week. I'm sure I'm going to get an earful from him.

White Hair


Argggghhh! They've just been mysteriously appearing!

Cranky Much?

Who doesn't get cranky when in pain? I was totally annoyed last weekend because some water got stuck in my ear. Thank God we managed to find an EENT last night in Cebu. I noticed though that my tolerance level for long lines, annoying neighbors and what-not have lessened. I should learn how to be "zen" as Juned puts it. Don't want premature lines on my forehead.

It took me a couple of days to accept the fact that my body is definitely getting older and that it needs more care. I used to gobble down a Big Mac+McSpaghetti+Large Fries+Large Coke for lunch everyday with no complain years ago. I also didn't gain any weight from it. If I do that now I'll probably feel woozy from too much bad cholesterol. Oh well, I do hope though that wisdom does come with age. That's a comforting thought (less stupid mistakes as one grows older).

Happy thoughts upcoming in the next few days. I'm definitely blog-logged (blog backlog, whatever).

Sunsilk Bloggers Event at Taste Asia

Well it's been awhile since we had a bloggers party at Taste Asia. My friend Richie called me up the other night and said that Unilever's hosting an event for beauty and lifestyle bloggers next week! So, save the date and sign up for the event!

Here are the details:

Save the Date!
Sunsilk Event for Beauty and Lifestyle Bloggers
May 26, 2010, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Taste Asia, Mall of Asia

(Slots limited to 100 bloggers only)

Sign-up here. Please spread the word!

Get Some Free Krispy Kreme Doughnuts for Mom

We were all so busy because of the elections and a number of you probably missed doing something special for your Mom (I almost did). I only managed to deliver my Mom our gift, I know though that she would've loved to sample Krispy Kreme's Mango Kreme Cake (my Mom is bananas over mango, pun intended).

Hopefully when my crazy schedule eases up I hope I can spend a lazy afternoon with my Mom with some Mango Kreme Chiller. Correction, I'll make the time when I get back from Cebu.

Well here's a chance to get your Mom a dozen doughnuts! Just do the following:

1. Add Chloe, the official Krispy Kreme girl on Facebook (just search for "Chloe Krispy Kreme").
2. Email Chloe a photo of you and your Mom having a magical moment with a brief description (2-3 sentences) on why it's magical. When emailing Chloe (hotlightgirl.chloe@gmail.com) please include the following:

Name:
Facebook name:
Age:
Blog where you saw the promo: An Apple a Day (http://aileenapolo.blogspot.com)
Date of submission:

I will be posting your photo here in my blog once Chloe sends it. The best photo will get a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts! There will be 2 winners: (1) May 17-21, 2010 and (2) May 24-28. If you win you can claim your doughnuts from May 24-31, 2010.

Here's my magical moment with my Mom:

One of the most important moments in our life is our wedding day. The moment you wear your wedding gown is a rite of passage which becomes complete when your Mom helps you wear your gown. This is a magical moment that you should pass through with your Mom.

===============
Update: Here are the photos from those who joined the promo. Enjoy!



May 24, Update: Sorry I haven't announced the winner for week 1 yet. Please bear with me, I am currently in the Visayas Region. Please tell your friends to submit their entries for week 2!

Happy 25th Birthday SM Supermarket!

I remember going to SM Makati when I was a kid. It's where my Mom bought all of my school shoes and I remember once she had to return and exchange the Gregg shoes she bought for me because I wanted Kung Fu shoes (if you remember that you're probably my age). I also remember the carabao statues that littered the park.

I remember SM did some renovations and then SM Supermarket in Makati was opened. I always went with my Mom whenever she went grocery shopping and I'd always get some additional stuff when she was busy completing her list (Miguel inherited this trait too...karma!). Throughout the years I've just been coming back especially when I started working since I always took my ride home at the terminal beside SM Makati.

How time flies. I was pleasantly surprised when I was invited to attend SM Supermarket's 25th anniversary a few weeks ago and I'm glad I found the time to attend since SM has been part of my life since I was a kid. The years I spent tagging along my Mom whenever she went grocery shopping paid off since that's how I learned how to shop for a household. I can say that since I got married my shopping behavior has drastically changed. And now I can cook!

Thank you SM Supermarket for recognizing my new-found passion for cooking and including me as one of SM's Food Council. I was definitely surprised that I was included in the council since I'm just a newbie to cooking and some of the other members are veteran chefs! I just hope I won't be asked to have a cook off with them or even do a cooking demo since I'm sure I'll just mess up. Haha! Happy birthday!

The Right to Suffrage

You know that people want change when you see them endure 2-3 hour lines just to vote. That is my story today and the story of millions of other Filipinos.

Long Lines due to Clustered Precincts

I was voter #489 in my precinct and that accomplishment took 3 hours under the scorching heat and I only got to sit down 15 minutes before I casted my vote. The only thing automated in this election is the counting. The long lines was caused by the clustering of 333K precincts to 76K precincts, thereby increasing the number of voters per precinct by 400-500%.

Confusion in Clustering of Precincts


And as expected the clustering of precincts caused a lot of confusion. There were a couple of people who went to the polling center, lined up for hours only to find out that there precinct was re-located to another polling center. There was also a number of people who were surprised that they were unlisted so they were not able to vote.

No Privacy

Even with the ballot secrecy folders there was no such thing as keeping your vote secret since those lining up and those seated beside you can see who you are voting for. We all saw this on national TV when media took shots of former President Erap while he was feeding his ballot to the PCOS machine. When are we going to move away from ballot secrecy folders?

There has been a lot of talk about disenfranchisement of voters because of these problems. These problems could have been easily avoided with proper definition of the process flow and use of technology (that works). Plus I hope next time the groups involved in hosting the elections should be more open to the help being offered by citizens. After all we all want this to work.

It is heartening though to see how my fellow voters endured the heat and the long line just to vote. So was it worth it? All the confusion, the inis, the hilo, the craziness was worth it because I am proud to say that I exercised my right to vote. Next time though I hope they can make the "bilog na hugis itlog" a bit bigger since I had a hard time shading it.

Someone took a video of me when I was waiting for the confirmation message of the PCOS machine. Congratulations to all those who voted!



P.S. For those who want to follow election results, here's the link to the Comelec Election Results site.