Clown Cake

This guy was wiped out shortly after dinner thanks to my cousins

Getting up on Sunday is supposed to be one of the pleasant feelings all week. However, yesterday was my birthday and I greeted my new age with contentment and pride knowing that I still have a home with a family and a bed to return to at the end of the day. 

It took that clown cake to be finished four hours after it was baked. Mommy really put in some effort just to celebrate my birthday with butter cake base and fluffy icing. And it made me feel like I was seven years old again. What a delight! 

Sometimes, I want to crawl back in bed and not just step outside. That's how pitiful life has turned out to be for me. But still, I manage to get up. 

I also discovered something really interesting in the Blogosphere. If you're tired of ads being placed irrelevantly in blogs, this awesome lady can help. I love the fact that she is not afraid to use teal in her color palette and she knows how to redesign using minimalist themes. Hmm, perhaps a commission to redo my current theme? Nothing beats a clean layout really.

To add, she has a very generous giveaway, and one of the prizes is a blog makeover. Isn't that just generous of her? I'm joining, just in case I get to snag that giveaway. 

Have a good Monday everybody! 

Doodles for Invites

My twin and I will be celebrating our birthday this Sunday and decided to host a Bookworm Party. So here are just some doodles we managed to make due to really short notice.

D.Steine Design and Concepts

This is J's design, which makes use of a vintage Chinese newsprint as background, and the ever-famous Bookworm character hailing from the computer game. The Chinese characters translate to (top) friend, and (middle) dragon because twin and I both attended the same Chinese Catholic school and were born in the Year of the Dragon. 

My own doodle, did some playing around with the popular phrase "What to expect when you're expecting", and made a cloud list of things to look forward to. 

Kai is giving away a tote bag for her readers and follow instructions via the Rafflecopter app in her blog!

That's all for this Friday and have a great weekend!

Movie Review: One For The Money

~Contains spoilers~

Movie Poster One For The Money

I didn't really realize that the movie was another chick flick until my movie companion lightly commented on it. I didn't know what to expect since it's a movie based on a book written by Janet Evanovich. Now let's see, I haven't really read any Evanovich books, so maybe I could give this movie a chance. 

Heigl goes brunette in One For The  Money

Stephanie Plum (Katherine Heigl) is a smart brunette and a former lingerie sales representative from a department store who finds herself deep in bills to pay and yes, quite jobless. She hears about a job during dinner with her family and heads on to her cousins' retrieving agency only to find out that the filing job is no longer available and the only job there is (and with good pay too), is that of retrieving suspects and those who have skipped bail. It's not an easy job but she works hard and depends on her logic, common sense and connects with people from her community to see herself through. She also acquires impressive skills like picking a lock, shooting a gun, and arguing with a former cop known as Morelli she is now after who is also a prime suspect. With continued encounters, she also tries to determine whether he is innocent. 

Dialogue

Most of the characters have an accent to show their Jersey roots, in the part of town showing diverse mixture of Italian, Afro and Mexican-American. Heigl here develops a way of speaking that only Italian-Americans do. Pay attention to the street lingo...

Inexperienced Plum gets intimidated by Morelli

What could they be looking at?

Characters

Standout characters are the hookers, Ranger, and of course, Morelli. Stephanie's character development is evident from the beginning of the movie where she is a clueless, desperate sales lady who is out of a job, to a streetwise, novice bounty hunter in the end. 

Plot

I found the plot interesting for a chick flick, and I found it admirable that a woman like Stephanie Plum keeps focus on her job, turning her prime suspect in while scoring some much needed reward on the side. 

There were sexy, steamy scenes and the viewer could tell there was tension building up between Plum and Morelli. However, it's managed to be a wholesome story. 

The Verdict 3/5

It's a chick flick with some detective thrill in it. 

It was a funny movie, but Plum maintains a sweetheart aura about her until the end, and I was honestly hoping for a more badass, sexy Plum. It's an okay movie all in all. 

 Plum with a smaller bang-bang, listen to Ranger drool over a bigger, more powerful bang-bang

Heigl as streetwise and smart ass bounty hunter Plum 

Plum after the car she was supposed to drive blew up with Police in her parking lot. 

Mothers In Literature

Have you ever encountered that term The Mother Figure in Literature? It's actually one of the pillar characteristics of women in the feminist movement, and of course, there are other characterizations like the mother, the tramp, the goddess, the gold digger, and all other stereotypical figures that can be applied to women in literature.

But since Mother's Day is due next Sunday, here are just some inspiring reads, with strong mother characters in each. There might be mothers who will stop at nothing to protect their children, there might be selfless mothers, and there might be mothers who will murder their babies to escape a life of slavery. Read on for moving, heart-breaking mothers and if you know of which books might be added to this list, do leave a comment below by suggesting it.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

In Stockett's book, the maids Minny, Constantine and Aibileen are all mothers, stuck in their day jobs as maids, raising white people's children and being paid measly wages a dime a day while they are forced to leave their own children behind. Not until Skeeter decides and asks their stories to be told for a writing project and her ticket to the Big Apple does the whole town of Jaskson, Mississippi turn upside down. 

The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan

Mothers have their own pasts and stories. Before growing resentment towards your own mother, learn of LuLing's sacrifices and pains before leaving China and leading a life in San Francisco. This is the story of the shocking chain of events, of a young Chinese girl's childhood and the woman who tried her best to raise her, and the circumstances which led her to bearing and rearing her own daughter Ruth.

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Having an artist for a mother may sound thrilling, especially if you are descendants of Vikings, with tough blood in your veins. But what happens when your mother commits murder and you are thrown in a series of foster homes, with a new set of mothers. How will you live in the present when you slowly learn of your past, and what was once believed to be love, turns out to be a protective shell of hiding the truth from you. 

 

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

A novel with monthly installments of recipes, here is a love story told with one mother who forbids it. What will you do if your very own mother prohibits the love that you so much desire? Tita takes matters into her own hands and plots and plans to get her beloved to return her affection. The question is, what will her mother do about it?

I'm currently reading Like Water for Chocolate. What will you be reading? 

Koppiccino Satisfaction and at Less Than Php10!

Each pack comes with a small bag of choco granules to put on top your drink

In the era of instants- instant makeup (cosmetic tattoo), instant food (instant noodles), instant credit card (okay, I'm not being paid to advertise here so no special mention), everybody can now get a taste of instant kopiccino (Kopiko and cappuccino). 

Kopiko has spread its Kopiccino across the nation, giving opportunity for the ordinary Juan to try the traditional Italian drink. Here's my thoughts on the now accessible cappuccino version by Kopiko.

Taste (4/5)

It's too sweet for my liking, and as far as I know, cappuccino should be topped with cinnamon or nutmeg. However, I am aware that most people do not have a liking to these garnishes and so choose to top off their coffee with chocolate granules instead, thanks to their naturally sweet tooth. It's also a plus for Kopiko to attach a small bag of chocolate granules at the back of every kopiccino pack, simply decide whether or not you want to add them in. I have already accumulated a lot of extra chocolate granules bags in the kitchen for some "future" use.

When mixed in either hot water in a mug or in cold water for iced coffee, the top develops a foam and it's very creamy. 

Cinnamon and nutmeg on top when served with ice in a tall glass

Packaging (5/5)


I like no fuss, simple packaging. It comes with a separate pack of chocolate granules attached at the back of every regular pack of Kopiccino in red, green and white, colors of the Italian flag. It's quite a standout from the different variations of Kopiko (brown and black) so Kopiko consumers can immediately distinguish it from other instant coffee brands. It also looks like an imported brand.

Price (5/5)

At only SRP Php 8.00, you can have an instant coffee mix that's tasteful. Where else can you get a cup of cappuccino at that price? Most cafes offer that at Php 60 and up. It's also a way for the ordinary coffee lover to wake up to cappuccino in the morning, even just at home.

The Verdict


I've already made Kopiccino a part of my morning habit, because I've been consuming Kopiko since my college days and the brand still gives me the right taste I look for over other leading coffee names. Although on some mornings I still take a stronger brew, luckily there's Kopiko's original blend coffee in black just within reach. But I do reach out for the Kopiccino in the coffee lane when I go to the grocery.

Have you tried the Kopiccino yet?