Another year...

Turning 31 is nowhere near as exciting as turning 30. (Especially if work takes you to another island on your special day...) No jokes about entering a "new decade", no play of words with the "big 3".

Thanks to Facebook more than 60 friends remembered my birthday and painted my wall with warm wishes and "thumbs ups" because they... liked me getting older?! Ehm, wiser, I suppose.

Gifts, of course, are always exciting! It seems they get more exciting the older I get. Definitely more unique and tailored to my personality (which I find charming since it's a sign of a) having a personality and b) people really knowing me).

Let's start with the sugar-less apple pie Glenn made for me! He's been bragging about his perfect apple pie crust for the longest time. I finally got the chance to try and... confirm! More than the crust I appreciated the time and effort he put into making it (given we have a sub-standard oven and baking utensils of even lesser standard).


His creativity didn't end with pie making. What started as a joke became a beautiful and very unique... wind chime! Readers who follow my blog are familiar with the odyssey of my broken arm. Once my beautiful blue "cobra" fixator was removed we were pondering what to do with its remains. (Don't get me wrong, I don't plan to use it again but since I paid for the surgical steel, I might as well keep it!)
Ideas ranged from key chain to wind chime but for the longest time the parts and pieces were collecting dust on the shelf. Not anymore! Let the wind sing through my metal friends! A piece of art, indeed!



That I'm a coffee addict is no secret. And, I'm a tree-hugger when it comes to disposable coffee cups. I guess this is known, too. Adding the two together my friends Boy Garrovillo and Uli came up with this unique re-usable coffee mug. Unique, since Boy designed and painted the face of the mug to personalize it. More, he researched old Tagalog script which now spells "cup of Jana" on the cover.
What a great gift! The "Kalinga Blend" (whole beans for extended freshness) came along with the cup. What else would have?!



With age comes wisdom or in my case more thoughtfulness of what I'm eating. For almost four years now I'm a fish-eating "vegetarian". What some might call a "difficult personality" others accept as the "complex nature" of mine. Serving Bratwurst and Hamburgers during our spontaneous birthday dinner, Dondi and Esmi had prepared vegetable paddies made of kidney beans! It's
not to imitate the taste of meat but for me to enjoy condiments such as mustard!

Unique because it's mine is my new bike!!! Now that I'm headed for 40 I should take care of this body of mine. I can't do much about the wrinkles around my eyes but at least about my physical condition. So I can spend many more "31st" birthdays in the years to come, to get to know more interesting people while bonding the ones already in my life closer to me, to explore life to the fullest with Glenn and only stop to get my cup of coffee!