Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

Stopping by to say 

Spirit of Christmas

"The Spirit of Christmas 

is in its beautiful traditions 

and thoughtful customs"

Five days to go and its Christmas time. Whew, time flies so fast and I do miss a lot of things I used to do.

First is the "Simbang Gabi" or Misa de Gallo (nine days of dawn masses). The Misa de Gallo starts as early as 4am. It commences on 16^th of December and ends on a Midnight Mass on the 24^th of December. I always tried my best to complete these nine (9) masses because my mom would always tells us that if we complete the nine masses, our wishes will come true. I don’t really remember the wishes I had but as far as I am now, I am thankful and blessed for some of them came true. 

Second is right after the mass is the traditional delicacies await the churchgoers. Food stalls were right outside the church and two of my favorites are bibingka and puto bungbong.

 Third is the caroling. This is the singing of Christmas Carols from one house to another, which we were using our homemade musical instruments like tambourine made of bottle caps, drums made our of cans.

Merry Christmas to all.

Tabidatsu Kimi E - My Brother's First Collaboration Project

Guest Post: Yume no Kitsune

http://napnayra.blogspot.com/2012/12/tabidatsu-kimi-e-my-first-collaboration.html

I got so excited when a very talented singer actually considered to record a collaboration cover with me via YouTube, since I'm only new to this business of covering songs, and admittedly not the talented one. Yes, I do have some recorded covers in my YouTube channel, but those are all demo covers. My intention was for real singers to actually remake them.

So when this girl, TheShinminhyun , invited me to sing a duet with her, I was very hesitant because she's really good (and promise, this is not an overstatement), and I don't feel talented enough to sing with her; When I listened to her cover of Utada Hikaru's First Love, I was so impressed because she sang it with such emotion that I was at point of tears. This was the start of our collaboration [and hopefully, she would also consider me as one of her friends : )].

The song we worked on is RSP's Tabidatsu Kimi E, which was very memorable to me because I was in the hospital due to a minor surgery when I first heard it - that was on 02Dec2011. From then on, I fell in love with the song and even planned to make a sing-along English version but wasn't able to come up with one yet. 

But now, about a year later, I got to sing this song and this time, with a very talented girl from Indonesia. Her real name is Shintia, and she went through a lot of troubles while working on this project, so it took a while before she was finally able to finish producing the track.

Finally, on 09Dec2012, she messaged me with the link of our collab in MP3 format, and I was in awe when I heard her voice because she sounded almost like the real singer (even my niece, Molly Mae, said the same upon hearing her voice). Immediately, I worked on producing the first version of the video, because the official one will show us singing the song. The video quality here is a little off when I converted the format to WMV, but I'll see to it that our official video will be way much better (I'll do my best to produce an HD video of us).

For the meantime, here's my first collab project. "Hope you all like it.

Pass the WORD: Plant Today and Wait for Many Tomorrows

 “ If you plant today, it doesn’t mean you’ll harvest tomorrow. You’ll have to wait for many tomorrows  before you harvest” – Bo Sanchez

        There are times that after all the hardworking we did; we would still end up to disappointment. We were neither getting any credit at all nor any reward back. Then anytime we would surpass a trial, another will come right after and this time a heavier challenge. We are somehow like Pacman who needs to face a rematch every time we won. It seems that we need to prove that we are really the strongest one in this battle.

 Yet God has His own way of communicating to His people. God is good and he listens when we prayed. When He answered, He uses somebody to speak for Him.

 Bo Sanchez Practical Soulfood for Successful People’s article for today entitled How The Law of Farm Can Change your Life shares the real virtue of waiting, being patient and expecting that God’s reward will come in ways that will surprise us.

It may be true that most of the people around us may fail to acknowledge what we did for them. We may not be given credit nor we may not get what we expect things to happen right away. There may be thousands of reasons to lose hope but the good news is there are billions of reasons not to give up as well. So, just keep on doing what we have to do today. Keep on moving forward. Never focus on how rough life would be or painful. Just keep on planting and reap the best in God’s special time. Believe with God all things are possible. May our dreams come true.

 If you want more inspirational blogs from Bo Sanchez feel free to visit http://bosanchez.ph/

Repost:Yume no Kitsune YouTube Cover Artists Series -

Hi everyone. 'saw my brother working on a series of blogs right now, and I felt the urge to re-blog them here. 'thought you'd find them interesting, as I did...

Presenting Delusionaal

           And so I'm back for my second feature of my favorite Youtube cover artists. If you'd like to check out my previous article, click here: Sings "Closer" by Kim Tae-yeon on Yume No Kitsune.           
                       http://napnayra.blogspot.com/2012/11/closer-english-cover-from-to-beautiful.html

       Youtube username, Delusionaal, caught my attention, first, because she's sooo cute, and also because she does wonderful covers. You'll find her video posted on this blog if you just read on. 

       I originally plan to release this next Sunday (11Nov2012) because I can only work on my remake of her cover on a weekend, but as of the writing of this article, she's currently in need of 30 more subscribers to hit 400 subs before she goes on a hiatus. So I'll publish it now even without my remake (I'll just update it this weekend), and  if you're reading this, go visit her channel very quick by clicking this: -Cute YT Cover Artist-, hit "subscribe" even if she's already got more than 400 subs by the time you get there, and then listen to her covers as you continue to read this write up.

          Delusionaal is making the most out of her stay in YT, since as I've said, she'll be taking a break from making covers (find out why by reading on). So let's all cherish this moment, and get to know her a little more.

             Channel Name: Vivian's Off YT!~ (Not permanent) aka Delusionaal

How are you? What was your first take on this invitation?-Haha I'm fine :) My first take? I was shocked I guess haha 'cause I've never done anything like this before!

Can you tell us your real name, or at least tell us how your friends call you? And where are you from?-My real name is Vivian Yu, my friends call me Vivi but I have other nicknames made by my precious friends that I would rather keep secret (: I'm from Indonesia, but I'm Chinese

What academic level are you in now? (HS, College?)-I'm still in High School, (15 years old?) and going to College soon!

What else do you do when not working on song covers? Any other hobby or hobbies you'd like to share with us?-I study haha and I dance. I guess that's it. And chatting with my friends of course!

Did you realize that you're quite popular now in the world of song covers? How does it feel?
-Mmm I don't really think I'm popular x) I feel honoured and loved and I'll definitely miss covering songs when I leave Youtube at the end of December 2012.

Leave YT? Why? Your fans will miss you (first of that would be me T_T)...-I'm focusing on my studies now haha. I really hope my time away from Youtube would let me improve my studies since I'm aiming for Yale! I had a vlog of it but I privated it now.

How many subscribers and views do you have so far?-They vary everyday, but as I'm sending this I have 367 subscribers and 56,936 views.

When did you start doing covers, and what was your first work?-I started just about a year ago, and my first cover was Shinee's Graze which I did because someone requested it :p


When did you start singing?-4 years old.

Who are your favorite singers, and what genre of music do you prefer?-Taylor Swift and Taeyeon from SNSD, I like ballad a lot 'cause my voice is more to the soft and smooth section but I like listening to Pop too!

What makes a delusionaal cover unique among all other covers?-I like to twist the songs and not sing exactly like how the artist sings, and I guess another one is that I don't have much vibrato :p Other than that, I'll say my voice is unique and I'm happy to have such a voice :)

Any message to our readers? (you can also include here the links where your fans can catch you - facebook, twitter, etc)-Hi reader! Thank you for reading this and I had fun answering the questions. You can contact me in @vivianyyu at twitters and instagram ^^

AND NOW... HERE'S ANOTHER MESSAGE FROM DELUSIONAAL PLUS HER COVER OF MAMA DO BY TTS....(Applause!!! Applause!!!)

Headphones AND HD please!! (:
Skip to 1:22 for my cover :D

         I heard Mama Do the first time when Megan Lee sang it and I think the song's superb catchy, I decided to do it and found out TTS did it, so I basically placed my vocals only w/out instrumental instead since it's really short and I'm L A Z Y to mix them xD

        THANK YOU TO KELSEY LOADSSS for making this adorable video for me :3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLlOZphVbsI

           I forgot to add in that I would be really busy for tests, and all those stuff that I want to kill T__T So yeah, I'm on SEMI-HIATUS!

            The cover was rushed actually~ I tried my best but it was yeah.. it was just yeah LOL

My friends laughed at me today D: I stalked the handsome teacher in school again and they were like 'OMG he's here *nudge nudge*' or 'Vivian~ Your favourite teacher~' or something around that corner LOL it's freaking embarrassing! I found out his form class, what classes he thought, and his wife! (LOLOLOL) okay guys, I don't like him, it's just rare to see a handsome teacher in my school. Period.

Muacks! I love you guys lots and lots. 

                     Thanks for the support and love from all of you out there~

✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹

I only own my voice~~

✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹✹

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/vivianyyuTumblr:
http://kaixingg.tumblr.comhttp://fyeahlukai.tumblr.com ← check it out!
Facebook:
http://facebook.com/vivianleesThank you for listening!!
Subscribe lovelies c:
Posted by Nap Nayra at 5:51 AM



Published on Jul 31, 2012 by delusionaal 

Fall Inspiration and How-Tos with Miracle-Gro® and the Gardenieres

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Are you trying to Find beauty in the Fall? 

           Well, let me share how with you how a group of hand-picked green thumbs called the Gardenieres, which is spearheaded by William Moss, inspired my family. They are real-life gardening enthusiasts with real world experience when it comes to growing anything. One of their videos motivated us to go for the products that they use.

           A couple of months ago, I have spent a lot of time at my grandma’s house helping her working with the yard. We took all the grasses and some plants that were starting to dry. She used a lot of red wood chips and other colors for the and since she have started using Miracle-Gro Garden Soil for flowers and vegetables I did notice how brighter and larger the plants and veggies were in her yard. 

That alone made me go out and buy the Miracle-Gro Potting Mix for my indoor plants I have at my apartment.

When I got my plants I didn’t figure it would matter as long as I water them like I was supposed to but they were still dying. Leaves were turning dark and falling off faster than they were supposed to but the potting mix did a miracle. Now, I’m pretty sure that when winter comes, the potting mix will keep working and will keep feeding my plant for six months. So, in between the new seasons when I can’t be there to start the work myself,  Miracle-Gro is making sure that my plants are nice and healthy.

Make your growing season most enjoyable and most conversational by using the product and check out more Miracle-Gro Facebook page to see more of Gardenieres unique growing challenges and other shared stories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Choose Tuesday's Question;)

Hi Folks I'm presenting new feature in my blog which is "Choose Tuesday's Question". Here's my first two questions of the week:

1. Will I still feel this way when everything changes?

2. What's the best thing to think about before bed to make my day brighter tomorrow?

 Please feel free to make comments and express your feelings.

MYM: Day is Almost Done

Really love taking a snap shot of the sky most specially when the sun is setting down on a night ride going home.

BOGO Back-to-School

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Famous Footwear for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Whoa! Times go so fast! It is August already and school will start soon. For sure, mom and their kids are ready for their back to school shopping list. Yes, back to school shopping means getting new shoes.  Just like my kids, I always love to have new shoes.

Famous footwear has large selections of brands at a great price. This footwear store really makes my savings great. They have a BOGO + 15% off Famous Footwear Coupon that I can redeem anytime Aug 2 – Aug 18.  This coupon adds more excitement to shoe shopping because Famous Footwear has thousands of styles to choose from. Shopping at this store is a winner. I can even buy three pairs of shoes in 20 minutes. Aside from the great price Famous Footwear offers, the store layout is easy to shop in. In 20 minutes, customers can get in and get out quickly of store having bought three pairs of shoes. Isn’t it a Victory?

To celebrate that victory, Famous Footwear also offers 15% off (20% off if the customer is a Rewards member or signs up to become a Rewards member) + BOGO ( Buy One, Get One Half Off).

Famous footwear will even get the shoe for you through home delivery if in case the shoe you want is not available at the store. You can also order shoes online www.famous.com  and have then delivered to your favorite store for pick up at no charge.

So, here is the deal. If you want to:

• Earn 1 point for every $ 1 you spend in-store or online.
• Accumulate points to earn certificates up to $100 a year.
• Receive discount offer just for signing up.
• Have other special inside discounts and perk.

Then, join Famous Footwear’s FREE Rewards Program and do not forget to click this hyperlinked and print it out, BOGO + 15% off Famous Footwear Coupon

Ninatot Meme 101: Snooty

Howdy folks. I am introducing a new weekly meme for my blog. She is an addition to the greatest family  I have in this world. My brother brought an idea to me that I thought was great. It was on one of his picture comments on my Facebook profile.
                             Kitsune Minamino Wahaha... Galeeng... I want more memes from nina..

ttyl folks;)

Bundle of Joy in a Picture Reading Session

Howdy  folks.  I am so excited sharing this picture with you today. Our little Todd bundle of joy, my granddaughter.  My four-month old granddaughter starting to enjoy looking at simple board books with pictures and labels.  Her mom, my daughter would read stories with her at night. Whew! Hope she will consistently do this. Anyway, hope you would like this picture of my granddaughter.

CAKE BOSS

Guest post of the week by Deangelo Spencer

I have never been one who is able to bake! Every time that I try to bake a cake, it comes out as a flop. It is either leaning or concaves in the middle because I didn’t let the layers cook long enough. While I am pretty good at actually cooking, baking straight up baffles me. That is one reason why I love to watch “Cake Boss” onDIRECTV. I am just totally in awe of the creations that they make. It is not just that baking is tough and that the cakes always seem to come out beautifully, but it is the creative aspect of cake making that amazes me. I have never been a creative person per se. Don’t get me wrong, there are many things that I am good at, but things in the area of decorating, art, and clothing I usually fall pretty flat. I amazed by some of the creations that they come up with at the “Cake Boss” factory and how they actually execute them. No wonder cakes end up being so expensive because they turn out really awesome! If I was throwing a real party, I would love to have a great cake. It doubles as the center piece and décor at a party!

Meaningful Purpose of our Senses

It's April Fools' Day but I am sharing with you a general truth on a deeper and meaningful purpose of our senses.

Hiccup Day

It must have been a hiccup day for me today. I hiccup from the time I clock in to work. Unfortunately, there is no surefire to stop hiccups. So what I did was a home remedies that provide relief for my hiccups that last longer for few minutes.

I kept drinking water to stop it and sometimes would hold my breath. It worked but after like 4 hours, I am hiccupping again, oh em gee!!! It is difficult for me because I am dealing with customers. I just have to laugh and make a little sense of humor from it. So, I did the same thing, hold my breath, and drink water. Thank God, it worked.

I thought I will not have the hiccup anymore but then again before closing, hiccup did it again. Waaaahhh…..I ran to get my water but all I have is two tablespoons left in my bottle so I slowly sipped the small amount of water, hold my breath and swallow the water. After that, I did my last technique. I hold my breath, put my fingers on my diaphragm, and press it hard then and try to release air. It just like trying to burp and thanks goodness it works.

Big News for Small Business, The New 1099k Tax Form

Check this out fellas, especially those engaged in online selling. To help you situate your finances visit www.outright.com for online accounting and small business bookkeeping accounting.

Brought To By Outright.com

Babysitting Job

I appreciate the guest post, Ignacio Phillips

I’m so excited! I just landed a regular babysitting gig for my daughter’s old teacher that she had in second grade. The lady called me yesterday and asked me if I would be willing to watch her daughter during the school year while she works. She knew I was a stay-at-home mom, and I must have made a good impression on her when I taught her daughter. She was one of my daughter’s favorite teachers ever, so she is just thrilled that I will be keeping her baby. I’m also really looking forward to the extra money. We usually just have enough to cover all the bills, and there is little leftover for the “wants” in life. One of the first things I’m going to do with the extra money is sign us up for Concord Direct tv. I’ve wanted that for a long time. Also, I think I’d like to make sure to save enough every month so that maybe we can take a beach vacation with the kids this summer for fun.

Music Monday:WishCraft

Here is another original composition of my kid entitled “Wish craft” (obviously I am a proud mama). What you will hear in this video is a one man band. My kid did it all; the intruments, the second voice, and the lead vocal.

Wish Craft is the official theme song of Cavite Institute Fund Raising Project to support the schools scholarship program. Transforming garbage into gold: 1. collecting and selling all recyclable materials like plastic bottles, cans, and newspapers; 2. The students make or create new useful objects from old newspapers or cans and make profit.

I.

minsan ba'y inyong pinoproblema

kung san ka kukuha ng pambayad sa eskwela

hindi batid ng iba,

na kahit sa basura ay pwedeng makamtan ang diploma.

Refrain.

Minsan ba'y nakikita nyo?

nag titinda ng bote't dyaryo?

dating bale wala sayo tumbas ngayo'y edukasyon mo.

Chorus.

Marami nang natulungan,

WISHCRAFT ang kasagutanwalang pambayad sa eskwela

WISHCRAFT ang kasagutan

Polusyon sa kapaligiran,

WISHCRAFT ang kasagutan.

dahil sa lahat ng problema mo.

WISHCRAFT ang kasagutan

II.

Magulang, Ay nanganagmba

sa kinabukasan ng anak niya.

handog ng WISHCRAFT ay ligaya

solusyon sa iyong problema.

(Repeat Refrain) (Repeat Chorus2x)

WISHCRAFT ang kasagutan 3x

German Boyfriend

Thanks for the guest post by Jo Levy

My boyfriend is coming to visit from Germany soon. It feels hilarious to call him a “boyfriend,” since I am 52 years old! Lol. Anyway, my boyfriend lives in Germany, and I live here in the U.S. and he is coming to visit. He is coming to stay for 6 weeks in March. He only speaks German (I am bilingual). I’m hoping that my television package can getinternational cable channels because he is probably going to need something to do all day while I am away at work. He is a handy-man type, so I know he will find little things here and there to keep him busy, but I’m sure he’d like to be able to watch some shows in German. I’ve never noticed any German-speaking channels before, though, so I may have to call and look into it. I know when I have gone to visit him before, I really appreciate having an opportunity to hear English speech. It just feels good to hear your home language. It’s comforting, I suppose.

Show your Support for Walgreens

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

I have not been counting but I have noticed that many times I was in Walgreens having things done I saved a lot of money and learned more than I know. Like one time not too long ago, I needed picture develop off a memory card. I have always paid a lot to have someone do it for me but I decided to try it myself but as I sat down the clerk noticed that I was lost so she came over to help me out and made it clear and sat with me till I could do it by myself.  When I was done she handed me 100 photos, I figured it would cost a lot but it was lowest price I have seen. I have always believed that when people help me I should return the favor. Now is the chance to show support back to Walgreens.

I do feel bad about hearing that Walgreens is no longer part of Express Scripts’ pharmacy provider network. Yet, Walgreens consistently do good business so to minimize any disruption; Walgreens launched a special discount on annual membership called Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens  Family membership is only 10$ a year, this includes a spouse, dependents 22 and younger and pets and $5 for individual membership. Members could save more than $8,000 brand name and all generic medications. Likewise,  discounts on flu shots, pet prescriptions, nebulizers, diabetic supplies and bonuses from buying Walgreens brand products for photo services and more can be benefited be a member.

Help support Walgreens to provide customers like me and you with a more convenient and cost effective way of availing pharmacy services by following Walgreens on Twitter and visit Walgreens on Facebook.

 

 

Want Coffee...

To cute not to share . . . .

INDIAN WANT COFFEE.

This pretty much sums it up.

An Indian walks into a cafe with a shotgun in one hand and pulling a malebuffalowith the other. He says to the waiter:





"Want coffee."

The waiter says, "Sure Chief. Coming right up."

He gets the Indian a tall mug of coffee.....




The Indian drinks the coffee down in one gulp, turns and blasts the buffalo with the shotgun, causing parts of the animal to splatter everywhere and then just walks out.

The next morning the Indian returns.
He has his shotgun in one hand, pulling
another male buffalo with the other.
He walks up to the counter and says to
the waiter:





"Want coffee."

The waiter says, "Whoa, Tonto!
We're still cleaning up your mess from yesterday. What was all that about, anyway?"

The Indian smiles and proudly says,



"Training for position in United States Congress.
Come in, drink coffee, shoot the bull, leave mess for others to clean up,
Disappear for rest of day."


NOVEMBER 2012 VOTE WISELY!

Pexagon Technology

Leaving the Nest

Thanks for the post from Barney Crosby

When your children grow up you are kind of excited about the fact that they have graduated from college and are ready to move on to the next stage of their lives. It is hard for a parent to see all that happen, but it also makes you proud at what all they have accomplished. Well my twin daughters graduated from college and both have very promising jobs and careers ahead of them. Neither one of them is ready to settle down and get married, but they did decide to buy a small house together in Connecticut so at least they wouldn’t be throwing their money away on rent. I was really nervous at first because I was hoping for maybe a gated apartment community that would make me feel like they were safe. But they insisted they had found exactly what they wanted in this little house in an urban area near downtown. After much debate I convinced them to get a security system through home security systems Connecticut. At least now I won’t worry as much about them. They believe this, but you never stop worrying about your kids no matter what.