On My First Online Contest Win

Last week, I was doing my blogwalking and I stumbled on Edelweiza's early Christmas Nivea Giveaway. I'm not really into joining online giveaways and contests but I simply cannot resist the idea of receiving free skin care goodies, especially that these are Nivea products. I have come across a lot of contests in the blogosphere but sometimes I'm discouraged from actually taking part mostly because the instructions are just too complicated for Ina-Tay. I read the rest of her post for the mechanics and to my relief were fairly easy to follow and submitted my entry. I was not really expecting to be among the three winners since she had a total of 491 entries. I reckon there was just a slim chance for me.

Better OA Than Sorry

I came home to Davao last Friday from my out-of-town work looking forward to a relaxing weekend with the heir to my stilettos Leia.

When I got home nobody was there to welcome me. I immediately sent a text to Mum to ask about their whereabouts and she replied that they were in a lab to have my daughter tested for dengue fever. My Ina-Tay heart went tachycardic so I decided to call her. According to Mum, rashes started to appear on Leia's face after she woke up from her afternoon nap. I was relieved when she told me that her platelet count was normal.



Photo from the web

Let's Talk Breast, Shall We?

Hi everyone! Ina-Tay is so back! I apologize for the silence as my new work took me to Gen. Santos City for five days. I am home for the weekend and after putting my little one to sleep, I immediately grabbed my laptop and wore my blogger hat.

Image from Touch, Look, Check UK

As I have mentioned in my previous post, Mum and I attended the 3rd Silver Linings event here in Davao City last weekend. Among the activities for the day was a free breast clinic. I never passed on the chance to have my "lemons" (apparently I was under a beach umbrella when God gave the gift of "melons" to human female species thus I only got the lemons) checked. ICanServe Foundation, aside from providing hope to women with breast cancer and their families, also puts on top of their list the promotion of early detection by providing women across all demographics information and guidelines on Breast Self Exam (BSE). More than a hundred women signed up for the breast clinic who were checked by resident doctors from Davao Doctors Hospital. If my memory serves me right, it was a Dr. Lu who did my exam after a short interview. I was asked to remove my top and my bra then I had to lie down before she proceeded. By the way, these were all done behind curtains! I was so nervous while she was feeling my breasts. I silently prayed that my exam would give a negative result. I was also embarrased because milk started to flow from my right breast while she was checking my nipple. :) After what felt like eternity, I finally heard the best words that day "You're okay." I gave a sigh of relief but she told me to have an ultrasound just to double check given my family history of breast cancer.

Beyond Breast Cancer - A Silver Lining

"Every person is a cancer survivor from day one!"

Yesterday, September 17, 2011, Mum and Ina-Tay attended the 3rd Silver Linings at Grand Regal Hotel, Davao City. Silver Linings is the educational forum slash homecoming for breast cancer survivors and the people who care about them. It is held every three years and organized by the ICanServe Foundation, an organization that "provides hope and help to women with breast cancer. It promotes early breast cancer detection through high impact information campaigns and community based screening programs. Its network of cancer survivors light the path for women with cancer towards total healing."




WeCanServe: Mother and daughter "banding."



Feeding my Inner Geek

I'm a closet geek. I'm a geek in stilettos. People more often than not associate the term "geek" to a person who wears dark-rimmed glasses, considers his/her laptop as bestfriend and associates him/herself with a character from Star Wars, Star Trek or other outerspace-themed shows. However, geeks nowadays have evolved and definitely improved their social skills. Gone are the days when they are made fun of or riduculed for being different. Who would dare make a joke out of movie genius Steven Spielberg, Microsoft's Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Facebook god Mark Zuckerberg, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin? All these people have one thing in common -they were all considered geeks by their peers before hitting it bigtime! Geeks really do deliver!

I'm not as brilliant as these guys but I would like to think that my affinity for what's dubbed as geeky shows bring me a tad closer to what they have achieved (fingers crossed, knock on wood). In a heartbeat, I would choose to watch the following shows over the orange-y cast of Jersey Shore.

Educating the Head, Heart and Hands

Image courtesy of Gamot Cogon Inst. (Ilo-Ilo's Steiner school)

The renowned Waldorf Steiner education approach will soon be available in Davao City by June 2012 through the Tuburan Institute. Steiner education was founded in 1919 by Austrian Rudolf Steiner in Stuttgart, Germany. Currently, there are more than 900 Steiner-inspired schools in 60 countries.Once opened, Tuburan Institute will be fifth of its kind in the Philippines. Last Saturday, I was invited by a friend to attend Tuburan Institute's parents' orientation on Steiner education. I was hesitant at first but my curiosity got the better of me. And I'm glad I went. It was an intimate gathering of like-minded parents curious like me to understand Steiner education. Most if not all were friends of Maya and Kate or friend of friends of friends.

Please spread the word - Silver Linings on September 17th!

By now you must have become acquainted with my Mum and her battle with Breast Cancer. I've made it a point to talk about it here in my blog since it has been one of my advocacies (breastfeeding is the other) and I'm hoping to help raise awareness among women out there. After Mum completed her chemo cycle of six sessions, she is back to her old self - almost sans her right breast which was removed through mastectomy. I even envy her Halle Berry do and wished I can cut my tresses that short.



Image from ICanServe Foundation website