Owning your own!

Guest written by our friend Gladys Fuentes

Being a small business owner has been hard in this economy, that’s for sure. I know it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal but for me, being part of a team is more fulfilling than earning a lot of money and sitting in a cubicle all day which is why I sprung off and started my own business last year. I’ve loved every minute of it and I’ve learned so much about things like smallbusiness.xo.com and dealing with customers and all of it comes together to make me a pretty effective boss, if you ask me. I guess I just didn’t have any idea before now how hard it actually was to get stuff done in a work environment but I’m learning and that’s the best I can do. I just don’t know why anyone in their right mind would want to stay at a menial job answering to some big boss their whole life – that just wasn’t for me and as hard as this is, I’m much happier being a part of a team here.

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Happy Halloween Highlights!

Oh boy! Another month just flew by… how fast, wasn’t it? I could say that last month was full of activities for my girls and I. I’m not really a fan of holidays cos sometimes it makes me have an anxiety attack for just being too excited. I’m only partaking most of the holidays cos I want my kids to experience it so they won’t shower me with so many WHYs. Month of October is one of my favorite because it’s mostly about Halloween. I like to see people dress up. I like to see people’s faces excited about the preparation of Halloween. Putting a lot of effort to their front yard decorations. I just like to see people happy cos it makes me happy too. Don’t you guys love to see smiling faces rather than stressed and tired? Everytime there’s an occasion, I don’t panic at all even though I’m a kind of a last-minute person. I always try to relax and just go by the flow. Well, it’s just me.  :wink:

These are my girls highlights from last month but before anything else, their costume first. I know all of you mostly like handmade costumes but unfortunately, my girls were wearing costumes bought at the store. I’m practical, I don’t want to stress out myself about what costume would be impressive. This year my girls were Pink Princess and Princess Belle. I got Yuna’s costume at Party City for only 5 bucks. I’m lucky that she picked that costume. It saved me a lot of money. And Freya was wearing a hand-me-down costume from her big sister. But before that, when we were at Party City, Freya changed her mind when she found out that her big sister was going to buy a new costume. She wanted me to buy her a Fairy costume too but good thing we couldn’t find one so I ended up telling her to wear the Princess Belle and that I’ll just buy her a princess crown to go with it. She was reluctant and thought deeply while I crossed my fingers. At last, I found a Princess Belle wig and that made her say, “OK! I like that wig”.  She was so happy and had a big smile on her way out of the store. At that time, I was like “Goshh, thank you Lord!”. I thought I couldn’t get out from that store until we can find a costume similar to a Fairy. Freya is so hard to please, I’m telling you but at least we have an understanding eldest. When I say understanding, I mean she never feels compromised. Whatever you give her she will accept it happily. Well, that shows that siblings are totally different.

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The photo above was taken at Franken Plaza in downtown Chicago. It took me forever to get a decent photo because everyone in there was trying to take photos of them. My girls didn’t know where to look. Anyway, let’s go through their Halloween Highlights.

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Our 4-day summer getaway plus Yuna’s 8th!!

Finally able to finish this entry. It’s been on my draft since the 1st week of September. Well anyway, as I was saying here, I’m so thankful that we had a chance to take a vacation this last summer. This is our first time and for sure it won’t be the last. This will probably be the beginning of our travel tradition as long we have extra budget. Thank you to my hubby for making it possible. He’s thankful though that I planned this trip. Traveling to different places is actually one of our dream ever since when we were still dating. Money is always one of the reason why sometimes we are hesitant to go on a trip like this cos for us it is luxury. But later on, we realize that it is somehow important for the kids. Most of the family here in the states, they always bring their kids to trips during their summer vacation. So we thought why not? It would be nice for them to have something to write about on their journal. You don’t really need to overspend just to have a lovely family trip. The important reason for going on a trip is so you could spend quality time with your family. Our children are thankful too. Yuna said, “This is the best birthday I’ve ever had.

BTW, this is not a travel entry. If you wanna know more about the place that we’ve been to just head on to Mt. Olympus’s website. Loads of photos below and please hover images for caption :-)

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I need REAL movitation!

I’ve been struggling to do my exercises and diet routine because of no self discipline. In fairness to myself, I’m a busy mom as well. As you notice in my FB that I keep posting all my kids daily activities. It’s not to brag or show off how busy am I but to just post it there and let my family and friends know what I’ve been doing at that day. You know that feeling when the internet is being a part of your life and unconsciously you keep posting everything you do? That’s what I’ve been feeling every day. Those netizen people surely will understand what I’m trying to say here. Just to let you know, I’ve been online since 1998. Some of you also know that I met my husband through an online chat program. So there…

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Third World Millionaire!

A really interesting thing that I pondered upon the other night: The Richest People in The World. I think that it is very interesting that the richest people come from different parts of the world. Some from America and also some from the many third world countries in the world. Alright, so if you’re from America and you’re one of the richest in the world, I can totally understand that. America is a very strong country. The economy is better than most and the government takes care of its people (at least more than other countries would). But if you’re from a third world country and one of the richest in the world, the question is How? How did that happen? So I came to conclude that to be rich while it depends on where you reside it’s also more on the individual. It takes having many of the good qualities man struggle to have to be financially successful like dedication, patience and the will to sacrifice.

I guess if you’re goal is to be financially successful then you have to start in little ways like saving extra money when ever you can. Ohh I know, it is really hard to do. Every time I have extra money I tend to think that I’m a millionaire and I can spend my extra $65 on anything I want. Very wrong! That is not the way to go. So, little things like saving little by little will make a difference in the long run. I guess that’s also why some companies decided to side with automation rather than manual labor to save labor cost. So again that’s the little things we can do to save money.

Just think about it. There are so many things in life that we purchase everyday that we don’t really need. It might be worth a dollar or two but they all add up in the end.  One day just sit down and think hard. Think if you really need to get that Starbucks coffee and shell out the last $3 in your wallet.

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Book Beats – 2011 Summer Reading Program

mommy momentsAfter I saw Rcel’s entry for Mommy Moment’s. I decided to edit this entry so I can submit it to MM. It’s been very long time that I haven’t posted anything for MM. I was ON and OFF blogging… too many words to reason out, the thing is… it doesn’t matter. Well, anyway, parenting advice is a lot common now a days. You can easily find something really good to read about parenting. A lot of mommy bloggers like to talk about parenting. And here’s my little contribution: I like to bring my girls to the library especially during summer cos there so much activities for them to do. My kids love it so much. Even my eldest told me once that they like me because I bring them anywhere. Just the thought of it, knowing that your children really appreciate you is enough for you to keep doing this kind of good work. :wink: For more really awesome parenting advice head on to Mommy Moments website just click the icon on the right side of your screen.

It was held summer of this year from June 13 – August 6 at Bezazian Library. Every year the Chicago Public Library has a different theme for their summer reading program and this year it’s called Book Beats — Picture book readers and pre-readers who complete 25 pictures books will earn a Very Important Reader’s T-shirt. Children who read chapter books will earn a T-shirt when they complete 10 chapter books. Weekly book raffles, author visits, performers and presenters are just some of the activities that are featured throughout the summer in this drop-in program that helps motivate kids to read for fun.

My girls got two t-shirts from them now and they’re planning to collect them. In fact, they’re kind of excited of what would be the t-shirt design for next year. It’s becoming a part of our tradition every summer now.

Making their own bookmark

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Putting some personality back in my wardrobe with thrifted clothes

I remember years ago when I would go shopping all the time and buy clothes that I was really excited about. Well it seems like now I really just buy clothes that I know I can wear to the office and not anything specifically for me to wear because I love it. Well, I’m sick of having all of those boring, office-safe clothes taking over my office. So instead I’m just going to go on a mini shopping spree in local thrift shops.

I’ve found that shops like that are really great for more exciting pieces, so I used my wireless internet Chicago to find some new thrift shops that I’ve never visited before.

It was kind of an adventure going to these shops that I’d never been to before and I found some really great things. I found this cute floral dress that can go to fall if I put on some tights and boots. I also found a few pieces that are more stylish, but still will be okay to wear at the office so I’m going to try those out too. Sometimes it just takes a bright color to get you going on a work day.

Guest post written by Michelle Wallace

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Freya said something really mean!

Freya finally told me the real reason why she sometimes cry at school. Why she kept telling me that she wants a  different teacher. Why she said that she doesn’t like Ms Lopez. I thought her teacher isn’t nice enough for her. I thought her teacher would sometimes lose her patience cos Freya is really hard to please. It will take a very long time for her to get used to everything new to her.

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Video: Successful Piano Recital 2011!

I feel so delighted to reminisce about all the events with my family this year. Not perfect and fancy but I’m happy that we did a lot of new things. We went to several places that we’ve never been before. Illinois like any other state is a big place so every new place we went to is something to get excited about. I met new people and built new friendships. So all in all our 2011 is pretty productive. That’s what I’ve always been imagining. You know…every year you get to do things you don’t usually do and go to different places. My most fave is planning our first summer getaway which is also on my list to write about. I want to make a separate entry for that since there’s a lot of happy thoughts to share about it.

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So Happy Right Now… Finally!!!

My employment authorization card is here… awesome!! I can finally start applying for jobs now. Thank you Lord for this recent blessing I received and for the blessings yet to come because I know you are not done with me yet. Amen!

Just sharing the good news cos most of you know I only share positive thoughts. Photo is blurred not only to hide my unflattering face but for security purposes. Hope all of you have something to be happy too.

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