Shell Gas Station

Shell Gas Station

Gas stations in Florida are self-service. Unlike in the Philippines where a gas attendant fills up your tank, in Florida you have to do everything by yourself from swiping your card to pumping the gas.

I actually have a funny story about this and it happened when we first migrated in the US. One day my Dad's car needed gas so he stopped by the nearest gas station and waited for someone to assist him. He was sitting in his car for several minutes when he realized that he actually has to do it himself. :D

this is where you swipe your card to pay for gas 
or you can go inside the store to pay cash

gas pump

That must be the beauty of moving to a new area, you get to learn new things and eventually you become accustomed to their norm.

gas prices as of May 28, 2011

A Little Friday Fun

I was enthusiastic to go to work this morning because a colleague of mine bought freshly baked bagels from Panera Bread...looking forward to my chocolate chip bagel, my favorite! (The day before, my colleagues and I contributed $1 each to buy a box of bagels for breakfast today...sort of an early small celebration for Mother's Day).

Panera Bread in Blanding

When I got to work, it was chaotic (I wonder what is going on?). Here's what happened: Thursday night after everyone left the office, a colleague of mine sprinkled chocolate sprinkles on the desk of selected ladies. When these ladies saw it the next morning they freaked out because they thought it was mouse droppings. Apparently, our office building is so old that rats used to live in it. Eeww...Gross!

I personally don't think it looks like mouse turds.
What do you think?

These agitated ladies ganged up to take revenge on the culprit. They knew exactly who it was and she happens to be off today (great opportunity for payback time).

the proof — found in the culprit's drawer

Their idea was to wrap everything on her desk, from her computer monitor, keyboard, CPU, mouse and printer, to her chairs, trash can, picture frames, calendar, note pad, letter opener, stapler and even her pens and pencils were wrapped individually. Check out the pictures and a video of what her cubicle looked like at the end of the day. I'm curious to see her reaction Monday morning.

so messy

Enter If You Dare!

What a fun day at work, hysterical even. A week from today is my last working with these awesome ladies and I will truly miss occasions like this. :(

Month Long Celebrations

Image via Wikipedia

a birthday cake for all the May celebrants

Today is the beginning of another month. Wow! One-third of the year has already passed by (time has flown by so quickly). Lots of birthdays to celebrate this month... tomorrow my sister-in-law in the Philippines will be celebrating her birthday (a big shout-out to sis Joan "HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!"). On the 14th my sister will be celebrating her 30th birthday (party! party!). On the 22nd my brother, who currently lives in Dubai, will be turning 37, plus my nephew and godson in the Philippines will be turning one on the same day (two celebrations, one big party...if only they both live in one place). Lastly, on the 25th my niece is turning 12 (aww! she's now a young lady).

Next week is another special occasion, it's Mother's Day (I love you my dearest Mama!). On the 16th I will be starting on my new job (I am excited for the new opportunity and and sad at the same time because I will be leaving behind old colleagues who have been like a family to me). And on the 30th is a holiday (Memorial Day)...a long weekend that we will be spending in Orlando to support my 16-month old niece on her Sunburst Pageant.

Go Norielle!

I am looking forward to all the celebrations this month has to offer. Do you have any special occasion you'll be celebrating this May? Feel free to share it here.

A Devastating Fire on Pearl Street

I was on my way to work this morning when I heard through the radio that there is a huge fire on Pearl Street. As I get closer to my workplace, I saw a thick black smoke. At first I thought my office building was on fire but it was actually the Job Corps building, an old abandoned building about half a mile away from our building. I actually took a picture of the Job Corps building two weeks ago and posted here.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- About 75 firefighters battled a large fire for 2 ½ hours Monday morning as the fire burned through the third floor of an abandoned three-story building in Springfield. The fire was reported about 6:30 a.m. in the former Job Corps building on West Third Street, across from Klutho Park. By the time the first firefighters arrived, heavy smoke was coming from the building and flames were beginning to burn through the roof. The Jacksonville Fire-Rescue Division called a second alarm to get more units to the scene. Firefighters entered the building but quickly evacuated due to concern the building could collapse.
Source: http://www.news4jax.com/news/27657524/detail.html

I'm pretty sure someone, who couldn't think of anything better to do, intentionally set the building on fire. It's just sad because it is a historical building that has been up for years and is now scheduled to be demolished for safety purposes. It is made up of all brick, which will now go to waste. My co-workers think that it was probably some homeless guy or some bored teenagers who light the building on fire. Good thing though that no one was hurt.

Happy Easter!

I had another early day today. After taking my Mom to work this morning, I decided not to go back to bed and went out for a run instead. After my morning jog, I got ready for the 9:30 AM mass (my sister and I agreed last night that we will attend the 9:30 mass today). At around 9:15 I was all set but everyone else in our house is still asleep (I wonder why?). A few minutes later, I saw my sister coming out of her room and she told me that we will just attend the 11:30 mass. I was upset at first because I could have gone back to bed and catch a couple more hours of sleep. Then I thought, instead of sulking, I'll just prepare lunch for Easter. :P

cheesy lasagna — I like it a bit burnt (,")

double chocolate chip bread

Easter is one of the few times that the church gets crammed, even the parking lot is full (the other two is Thanksgiving and Christmas). Since today is a special occasion, I wore a dress to church today. I hardly ever wear dresses; I am more of a t-shirt and jeans girl...haha. I have plenty of dresses and some of them even have tags on but all they do is collect dust from my closet...lol. I do love dresses but I find t-shirt and jeans more convenient (I know some girls out there can relate, right?).

After the mass, my sister and brother-in-law bought shrimp lo mein and beef fried rice from Ying's Chinese Takee Outee and chicken from Popeye's, which we ate for lunch.

Ying's Takee Outee at 103rd

Popeye's chicken

The food that I prepared for lunch ended up as our dinner. I made fruit salad, baked chocolate chip bread and lasagna (I made the lasagna extra cheesy).

lasagna and chocolate chip bread

fruit salad

Oh no today is the end of lent that means my sister is allowed to eat chocolates again. She's on to her addiction now... she even bought an Easter bunny chocolate. I better hide the rest of the chocolates. ;)

Russell Stover

Happy Easter to all and may God bless us always!

Good Friday

Last night after work I went to Tampa with my Dad, sister, brother-in-law, and two friends (Cliff and Kristina). We went to Hard Rock Casino. I forgot to bring my camera so I wasn't able to take pictures (no worries though because we are already scheduled to come back by the end of May and I'll make sure to bring my camera with me).

We left our house at around 6:00 PM. The drive from Jacksonville to Tampa is three and a half hours so my sister rented two movies from Rentbox. We watched "Bride Wars" on our way to Tampa. I've already seen the movie before so I feel like sleeping to have some energy once we arrive at the casino but I could not sleep so I ended up watching the movie again...hahaha. I did have some laughs and it kept me occupied.

When we arrived in the casino, my brother-in-law and Cliff went to the poker room while my Dad went into the Baccarat table to play his usual game (lucky 9 in layman's term). Kristina, my sister and I went to the front desk to sign up for the Player's Club Wild Card. The guest service rep asked me if I like red, blue or green for my card tag... I chose the green tag because to me it symbolizes the color of money. ;)

my "Wild Card"

After getting our "Wild Card," my sister followed my Dad to make sure he is not gambling all his fortune (she's my Dad's guard for the night). Me and Kristina played the slot machine. After thirty minutes in the slot machine (I already lost $20..waah!), Kristina and I went to the Baccarat table to check on my Dad. He's actually winning...yahoo!

About an hour more, my Dad suggested that we eat dinner in the casino food court. Since my Dad won 600 bucks, he treated us to dinner. I ordered sweet and sour chicken with fried rice; however, it was only 11:40 PM and technically I'm still not allowed to eat meat but I couldn't wait any longer, my tummy were already growling (I felt bad though afterwards). Just when we were about finish eating, my brother-in-law and Cliff came out of the poker room (they both lost)...to cheer them up, my Dad treat them to dinner too. :D

At around 1:00 AM we left the casino and head back home. On our way home, we watched the other movie "Hereafter" starring Matt Damon. I've only watched the first 10 minutes of the movie because I was so sleepy, I couldn't keep my eyes open. When I woke up it was past 4 AM and we were almost home plus I have a stiffed neck....youch!

Dinner and a Movie

I went out on a date today. I had dinner and a movie with my Mom, Dad, sister and 16-month old niece. Yes, it was a family date and my Dad’s treat. :)

We had dinner at an all-you-can-eat restaurant called Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet. It is a fairly new restaurant in the Southside area and there weren't too many people when we were there.

They have all sorts of food from Mexican to Chinese to Japanese and American. I was so stuffed after trying a little bit of everything. They do need to refill most of the dishes though since they are almost empty.

After dinner, we watched Gerald Anderson and Sarah Geronimo's latest movie "Catch Me... I'm In Love."

Credit: ABSstarcinema

Synopsis:
A young girl with high ideals about romance is assigned to accompany the spoiled son of the president as he goes on an immersion trip. Coming from different worlds, the two find much to fight about. But an attraction soon grows between them.

via: http://www.clickthecity.com/movies/movie.php?id=13173

Cinemark Tinseltown

our ticket stub

It is a light and humorous drama with a happy ending (a romantic comedy movie). Sarah’s acting was good, she’s a natural and Gerald has improved his acting skills a lot. I especially like the hanging bridge scene (reminded me of my visit to La Trinidad, Benguet two months ago). It was also funny how the crowd shrieks when Eric [played by Gerald] held Roane’s hand [played by Sarah] then ask “Anong oras na?” ["What time is it?"] and she replied “May relo ka naman eh” ["You have a watch"]...so cheesy!

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. It was a cute, feel-good movie with nice scenery. I would recommend it to young and old alike (everybody could use a good laugh, right?).

Today I had a pleasurable time with my family. It was a laid-back and stress-free day (I wish it's like this every day). I better go to bed now since I have an early day tomorrow... looking forward to another fun day at work...hahaha.

A Detoxifying Morning

For months now I have been telling myself that I will go out and have a morning jog over the weekend.  Today I finally did.

My day started rather early. My Mom woke me up at 6:35 in the morning to take her to work. My Dad together with my sister and her family went to Tampa last night and will not be back until late this afternoon so I’ll be my Mom’s driver for the day. After driving my Mom to work, I went back to bed and tried to go back to sleep; however, my mind kept on wandering so after a few minutes of tossing and turning I decided to just get up and do what I have been planning to do…go out for a jog. 

After some warm-up exercises and stretching, I went out to go for a jog but ended up doing brisk walking because I brought my camera with me and took pictures of houses in our neighborhood that I find striking. Can you guess which one is ours? 

I don't know why but for some reason I fancy two-story houses, perhaps because I grew up in one.

such a big house

very nice brick house

this house is so plain on the outside, I wonder how it
looks like inside (",)

this house is for sale...interested?

Did you guessed right? I bet you didn't huh?... Because I did not put a picture of our house up there, it deserves a special place down here. ;)

our humble abode

After my morning workout and a few minutes of rest, it's finally time for my breakfast. I just finished reading the book "Awaken the Healer in You" by Bo Sanchez and he mentioned in his book that he only eat fruits for breakfast so I thought to myself I should eat fruits for breakfast too.

However, when I checked our fridge, the only fruits we had is green grapes so I ate 30 pieces of grapes for breakfast but an hour later I was starving...aahhh! I need to stop by the Flea Market tomorrow after the morning mass to buy more fruits such as bananas, apples, grapes and cantaloupe (I so love cantaloupes...yummy!).

Flea Market in Blanding

I feel good today. The breath of fresh air and the peaceful atmosphere made my day perfect. I must do this again next weekend.