Marriage and Beyond

posted by Jennie on Dec 11

First off, thanks to all who joined Marriage and Beyond’s 4th Anniversary Giveaway. As promised, here are the winners! Congratulations to all four of you!

Winner #1 is Ma. Kristina Rodriguez

Winner #2 is Mys Laguitao

Winner #3 is Divine Caraecle

Winner #4 is Dinah Ladao

Kindly email us via jenaspacio@facebook.com your scanned ID, Full Name, Shipping Address and Mobile Number.  Please email us soon so I can send your prizes within the week. As for Winner #3, please include your PayPal ID so I can send your $50 the soonest. Congratulations to you all! Our prayer is that all your respective prize will be a blessing to you one way or another. We have another giveaway coming up just in time for Christmas.

posted by Jennie on Oct 18

It is not unbeknownst to our dear readers that we, from time to time attend blogger events, launches and the like. While we know that there are some people who are absolutely appalled at the idea of brands taking advantage of the online media (and vice versa), we figured that it really is just a matter of filtering through the invites.  For one, there are a handful of innovative brands and services that we came to know via this avenue.

So when I learned about Blogapalooza holding its very first event last month, well, let’s just say, I was curious to check it out. Aside from being able to catch up with blogger friends, I also got to hear from brands (most of which we already patronize) and got acquainted with an interesting few that we only heard about at the event.  It was all in all a very good avenue that WhenInManila came up with that allowed for brands to be introduced to the online community. And what savvy and catchy name, at that.

Marikenya.com, MarriageAndBeyond.com and PinayAds.com

Did I mention that I also scored a huge Carlton luggage at the event when I helped solve a fellow blogger’s dilemma of having to commute the enormous hard case luggage home? At a price that she could have refused but chose not to.  Thanks again, Nicely! It will be perfect for my next getaway with my boys. Thanks to Tripologie too! They have branches in Eastwood and Alabang. It was my first to hear about Tripologie. We only go to one travel bag shop before. Now, there’s another travel stuff store we can check out that also carries the quality brands we love – Tripologie!

And here is when I launch another blog contest. I’m raffling off 5 of the Gift Certificates I received during the Blogapalooza event and 1 Phiten Rakuwa Bracelet.

5 Gift Certificates:

1. Galileo Free 2 Week Scholarship –> Here’s an article I wrote about Galileo Enrichment Learning Program.

2. Sparkle Gift Certificate –> Check out their website www.sparkle.ph

3. Jap-Ok! Resto and KTV GC –> complimentary use of KTV room for two hours with complimentary Golden Chicken Shots. (good for 4 persons).

4. CreatiVoices Productions GC –> 1 Hour recording time worth P3,500

5. 360º Fitness Club Free 7 Day Pass GC –> www.completethecircuit.com

Phiten Rakuwa Aqua Tita Bracelet in Maroon

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posted by Jennie on Oct 11

If there is one thing we cannot ignore in our monthly roster of bills, it is the electricity bill — Meralco bill, for us who are based in Manila. Trying to ignore it is really not an option. Else you will find your family literally walk in the dark. I have mentioned in a few of my previous posts that I have a mom who is very prudent. I would like to think that this is one of  the few values I acquired from her through my growing years.

Meralco AppCal (Meralco Appliance Calculator)

I grew up being conscious of our Meralco bill/electricity consumption. Hence, it is a default for me to not just turn off but unplug appliances that are not in use. My 6 year old son is benefiting as well even as I see him doing the same. It was during an event by Meralco last week that I learned that the Meralco AppCal is now available for download via our gadgets - iPhone, Blackberry and Android. Talk about giving us zero excuse to not be informed when it comes to us being able to take control of our electricity consumption. Thank you, Meralco! My mom will really love this App! I will have to get her an Android unit though. Wait, did I mention that one of her routines during the day (aside from blogging and her soap operas) is checking the electric meters and jotting the readings on her notebook? It used to really annoy me. But then again, it’s the OC in her that we all can actually learn from. Maybe to help us become better stewards of things that are given us.  :-)

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posted by Jennie on Aug 1

As promised, I raffled off the winner of the BabyBond Couture Giveaway first thing today!

For my sanity’s sake, I used the comments section and assigned the number IDs following the contest joiners and entered the numbers 1 to 59 and clicked the generate button. As opposed to  having to jot down all names and use the list randomizer.

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posted by Jennie on Apr 21

The iRig that the hubby ordered through Amazon arrived via Johnny Air last week. He has been on it every single night fiddling with its effects, settings and whatever other things I probably might never get myself to figure out. There are just so many buttons! He also downloaded different applications he will need as he goes about his brand new music recording hobby.

Here are few of the apps that he downloaded from iTunes: (got the list from the email from iTunes ). But I’m not really sure what he used for this particular music.

1. GarageBand, v1.0, Developer: iTunes S.a.r.l. (4+) $4.99
2. AmpliTube FREE for iPad, Complete Fender Bundle, Developer: IK Multimedia US, LLC $14.99
3. AmpliTube FREE for iPad, Flanger, Developer: IK Multimedia US, LLC $2.99
4. AmpliTube FREE for iPad, Chorus, Developer: IK Multimedia US, LLC $2.99
5. AmpliTube FREE for iPad, Wah, Developer: IK Multimedia US, LLC $2.99
6. AmpliTube FREE for iPad, Clean Amp, Developer: IK Multimedia US, LLC $4.99

As soon as we got back from the the dentist’s office this morning, the hubby sat down and recorded the different instruments for the music. The song he chose to record was Hillsong Australia’s “Here in My Life.” Read the rest of this entry »

posted by Jennie on Mar 20

With over a hundred applications installed on my iPhone and the hubby’s iPad, one of the more interesting ones that I have recently discovered is the KinKast iPhone Video Sharing Application. For one, I have never found any other video application that processes just as fast. Second and more importantly is the option of privately sharing the videos.

There are YouTube and Facebook video sharing options all right. But all of them are all out in the open, unlike KinKast. Parents like us take videos of our child every so often. Those who have been regular followers of my blogs, inluding ChristianHomeschooler.info know that for a fact. We can’t miss out on all those milestones, right?

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posted by Jennie on Mar 15

Today I received this pack of Hawaiian Luau party ideas. With the school year about to end, this is something we can make use of in parties during the vacation. I downloaded the games straight from the internet – easy and no fuss.

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posted by Jennie on Feb 25

If there is anything a work from home mom (with being a virtual assistant as a part time job) needs, it is a decent internet connection. Our home is currently wired with two postpaid subscription via PLDT myDSL and another broadband provider. The other two that we make use of are prepaid lines. All of which cannot compare to PLDT myDSL.

fresh speedtest report

It was in January 2009, when I blogged about dropping a broadband subscription for PLDT myDSL Bundle Plan 1299. The package that came with the plan was the telephone line and an internet speed (DSL) originally with up to 512Kbps. The speed has since upgraded from 512Kbps to 768Kbps around September last year without hike on my monthly bill. Sweet! We are past our second year with PLDT myDSL and I cannot be more satisfied. One of the few times I had trouble with my internet speed was when our place got flooded with Ondoy, which was only but understandable. They were able to fix the problem in no time. Turned out that a wire from the box where we are connected is grounded of sorts. If there were other issues with my connection, I got their technical team on it in no time.

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posted by Jennie on Dec 21

It was exactly a month before our 9th anniversary when the hubby got me my spanking, brand new Lenovo G460.  It was not a spur of the moment kind of thing. Because as affordable as a Lenovo laptop is, we cannot just splurge on anything in haste. But with my 3 year old, overused MSI laptop which has been screaming for retirement, conked on its final lap – the hubby decided to get me a new laptop for advanced anniversary gift.

Here is why I decided on getting a G Series Lenovo laptop. One of the many benefits of being in Social Networks around the web is you get recommendations for just about anything.  It was when Arpee Lazaro plurked about his Lenovo laptop that I decided on which brand to go for my laptop replacement. Here is the url of the plurk thread: http://www.plurk.com/p/8qjs0p. Now, I don’t have plans of getting my own laptop tested for durability that way. But a real user vouching for a brand the way he did is enough for me to be sold out to a product.

And for someone who works on the computer with an average of 16 hours per day, I cannot settle for anything less. So I didn’t waste a day and headed over to the mall and got myself a Lenovo G460. What is more sweet about it is I won’t get billed for the purchase until February 2011. I bought via BDO’s buy now pay later promo. Here’s one from the unboxing photos:

Lenovo G460

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posted by Jennie on Nov 27

Marriage and Beyond turns 3 years old today! From that fateful wee hour of November 27, 2007, when I finally had peace with the domain name to this post, being the 1, 466th. It took me from 9pm of Nov. 26 to 4am of Nov 27 when I claimed it as ours. All the good “family oriented” domain names must have been all taken and I wasn’t just about to settle for second best.

We originally planned to hold an anniversary contest just like last year’s. With one of our local Christian bookstore pledging their support of giving away good books about marriage and parenting. But because there are just too many things on our plate, I never got around to doing it.

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posted by Jennie on Oct 22

We have had this food blog for sometime now. The original plan is for our (authors) identity to remain anonymous. Hence, our pen names Adam & Eve. We love exploring food places and good eats and with my dear husband’s knack for smart names, we gave birth to the quirky titled food blog – My Tummy is Full.

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posted by Jennie on Oct 20

For some reason, Akismet seems to be not working so well. Spammers are able to get through it and I still get tons of “spam” comments in my inbox. Here is a word to our regular spam commenters who think their spam comments will get through – don’t count on it.

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posted by Jennie on Oct 9

For a laptop that is as beat as my 3 year old MSI Megabook is, I know I should not be so surprised that it calls for retirement anytime soon. The last couple of weeks it bogged down on me in the middle of a very important task I was to send my client. In the end, I had to start from scratch.

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posted by Jennie on Sep 26

One of the disadvantages of working from home is the fact that I alone are responsible for whatever equipment I use for work. It has been a week now since my laptop died on me four times a day. This despite my getting a dedicate a small fan for it to quit overheating on me. This was very inconvenient because I lost a huge portion of my unsaved work when it happened the first time.

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posted by Jennie on Sep 15

For those of you who do not yet now, I also have a beauty blog – KikayCorner.net. It has been screaming for a revamp for a while now. My online work as a virtual assistant has taken a great deal of my time, which explains the lack of updates. Read the rest of this entry »