All wrapped up

Finally, the Christmas bug has bit me. I’m still way behind on my shopping but at least I’m getting somewhere! I decided to do away with the usual holiday wrappers and go for another look — Manila paper with red and green ribbons! Not only is it more cost-efficient, it looks cute too! I had fun wrapping the red and green cords round and round each present.

To those I sent out Christmas snail mail to last year, it looks like I won’t be able to do so this year. I will make up for it with e-cards, dear friends! The charm isn’t the same I know. But rest assured you are in my thoughts and prayers!

Only a dozen days to go till Christmas Eve. I still don’t know what to contribute to our Noche Buena. I haven’t bought gifts for most of my family and relatives yet. But I DID change my ringback tone to White Christmas. I did buy presents for my dearest friends yesterday. I did change the theme of my cellphone to something Christmas-y (a little angel spreading glitter against a pink background). I’ve started listening to Christmas carols. And I’m starting to feel the LOVE!!! I was acting like a lovesick loony yesterday when I was telling H about the wonderful presents I bought for my friends. I’m getting somewhere. Are you?

P.S. I’ve finally put together my 100 Things. It took me two weeks to complete this! Ack!

1. I keep a box of Pictionary cards near my work desk to help with writer’s block.
2. I don’t own a computer because I am 100% sure I will be addicted to playing Sims 2 and spend less time with H.
3. I’m growing my hair long because I’ve had short hair for the past eight years.
4. If I had the opportunity, I would go to Disneyworld and Universal Studios with H.
5. I wish I could learn how to speak and write Italian at the snap of my fingers!
6. When I was a kid, I believed that every bit of rice left on my plate after a meal equated to one day in Purgatory.
7. If I could afford it, I’d buy a 3-bedroom garden view condo unit at Serendra…
8. Or a house in Ferndale.
9. Growing up, my Dad called me “Ambo.” I think it means little boy.
10. There were days in grade school and high school when I would spend a whole lunch hour in the library because I didn’t have anyone to spend lunch with.
11. My favorite Disney character is Donald Duck.
12. For one of my first job interviews, I had a schedule conflict– an interview with a bank versus an interview with an ad agency. I chose the latter and have not left the ad industry since then.
13. I am online too much.
14. To cheer myself up, I get a Starbucks Green Tea Frappuccino with whipped cream.
15. I like green M&M’s. Sometimes I save them for last.
16. I don’t wear a watch because looking at the time stresses me out.
17. My class number was always in the 30s.
18. I prefer red wine to white or to any other liquor for that matter.
19. My favorite cereal as a kid was the Smurfs cereal.
20. I’ve always wanted to be a cheerleader but have no coordination so I’ve scrapped that dream.
21. Sometimes I’m too compassionate for my own good.
22. One of my favorite afternoons is eating fishballs and green mangoes with bagoong in the local university with my college friends.
23. I suck at sports.
24. But I’ll play Scrabble, Pictionary and Word Factory anytime.
25. I like my lotion, body wash and candles to be apple-scented.
26. I like my peanut butter crunchy.
27. The first grown-up book I read was Nancy Drew (Secret of the Old Clock Tower). After that, I was hooked on reading.
28. I dress for comfort, not style.
29. I keep toys on my work desk to remind myself that I should take it easy.
30. Astrud Gilberto’s songs take me back to when I was a kid half-asleep at the back seat of the family car, on a long drive home from the province with my folks.
31. When we had our first air-conditioned car, my Dad teased me that it would be so cold inside the car I had to bring a blanket. I believed him! I did grab my favorite pink and white blanket as soon as the car pulled up in the driveway!
32. I find Disney’s Chicken Little suuuper adorable.
33. My closest friends and I are sort-of passive-aggressive. We love each other anyway.
34. I love anchovies.
35. I think I read too much Sweet Valley High as a teen.
36. I skipped seventh grade.
37. I enjoy going to Booksale and buying old issues of O, Real Simple, Glamour and Country Living.
38. One of the best gifts I can get is a shopping spree at Fully Booked.
39. I work best in the late afternoon.
40. I’m very particular about who I watch movies with and which cinemas to watch in.
41. That’s because I don’t like being asked questions or hearing cell phones go off in the middle of a movie.
42. I don’t like crowds.
43. Bossa Nova music soothes me.
44. My husband thinks I should indulge myself more.
45. Every month I tell myself “I won’t buy Cosmo!” but every month I buy it anyway.
46. I accept leaflets/flyers being given out in malls because I take pity on the people who hand them out (other people keep rejecting them!).
47. I use Bloglines to keep myself updated with others’ blogs.
48. My longest relationship (before I got married) lasted five years.
49. I was in a Science Quiz Bee once.
50. I was on the Forensics Guild in high school but the truth is I hate debating.
51. I knew my husband for only three months when I said YES to his marriage proposal.
52. I want Lasik surgery but don’t have the guts to do it.
53. When I was in high school, I’d still cross over to the grade school part of the library because I liked the books better there (Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, etc.).
54. When I heard Andrea Bocelli & Celine Dion’s version of “The Prayer,” I told myself “That will be the song when I walk down the aisle on my wedding day.” It happened.
55. I have a gym membership but haven’t used it in months.
56. Hanging out in the kids’ section of bookstores calms me down.
57. My first crush was on a boy named Russell.
58. My favorite reality show is “The Apprentice.”
59. I don’t know how to ride a bicycle.
60. I learned this the hard way: Never eat spicy food when you have a runny nose.
61. I wish someone would turn Dragonlance’s The Chronicles into a movie.
62. I’ve seen a shooting star when it mattered. 
63. No matter how many times I gripe about it, I love my job.
64. Hanging around with my family in the kitchen is one of the most peaceful and happiest moments in my life.
65. If I were single, I would be living on my own.
66. The book “A Different View of Life” is on my bedside table now.
67. My write-up in our college yearbook was written by my best friend E.
68. I believe in Feng Shui but I don’t practice it.
69. I prefer being driven than driving.
70. I can’t imagine residing outside of the Philippines.
71. When I was a kid, I once told my Mom I’d rather stand in the corner than drink my medicine.
72. I said this during my angst years: “The Christmas season has a way of amplifying infatuations and magnifying melancholy.”
73. The worst pain I’ve experienced was that spinal tap when I was 8 years old.
74. I don’t have a middle name.
75. I love my sisters more than they think.
76. My favorite part about highschool was hanging out with my friends in the parking lot at the end of the day.
77. The color pink makes me think of my sweet cousin Maxine.
78. I also think she’s the funniest member of our family.
79. I’m not fond of wearing perfume.
80. I have a crush on the lead actor of the TV show “Scrubs” but I don’t know what his name is (though I do know he was the voice of Chicken Little).
81. My sleepwear is a pair of pajamas and one of my husband’s t-shirts.
82. A lot of people think I look like Janice de Belen.
83. If I could have a free subscription to any magazine, I’d choose Oprah’s O.
84. I think I don’t want to learn how to bake because it’s my sister’s territory.
85. I want to own a wok.
86. If I could cook with a celebrity chef, I’d choose two: Tyler Florence because I have a crush on him and Rachael Ray because she seems to be like everyone’s best friend.
87. I love the poem “I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud” because I’m a constant daydreamer.
88. I don’t like politics.
89. I used to collect bookmarks.
90. I prefer silver to gold.
91. “Before Sunrise” is one of my favorite movies of all time.
92. I was disappointed when I found out that “The Bridges of Madison County” was fiction.
93. I have witnessed that “there is truth in the wine.”
94. I discontinued pursuing an MA degree only two months after I started because I couldn’t balance school and work. I could only choose one. Work won.
95. While I fantasize about finishing that degree, I doubt I ever will.
96. When I was a kid, I imagined that jumping into a puddle would transport me into another world.
97. In college, my barkada voted me as “most likely to marry someone she met on a blind date.”
98. I will be friends with LHC (my college barkada) forever.
99. If I were to write my autobiography, it would be entitled “Streams of Solace.”
100. Cheetos is my favorite junkfood.

Hi! I'm Toni Tiu, and I've been blogging at at Wifely Steps since 2003. This started as a blog to help newly weds adjust to married life. It has evolved into a home and parenting blog. I write about things close to my heart -- good eats, good reads, family, marriage, and the little things that make everyday happy.