Chill, it's Christmas

A yellow, loungey, chill-out Christmas brunch with the family at Dempsey's P.S. Cafe.

A Unique Christmas Story

I came across a truly unique and touching Christmas story about the most unlikely character in the Nativity scene. Read The Lion, The Unicorn and Me by English writer Jeanette Winterson and come to understand the spirit of joy, awe and gratitude that Christmas brings.

Allow me to repurpose some of her Advent musings for my Christmas message to all of you:

So for all of you, in love, or in loss, in hope or in what feels like the absence of hope, may this Christmas time bring a chance of peace, and a new story, because that is what the Christmas story is – a new story from an old world. The known that becomes the unexpected, the miracle that happens.

Here's to miracles – because they happen.

Live Your Dreams

I've always been a big dreamer and have always enjoyed the company of fellow dreamers. The illustrator of The Yellow Paperclip with Bright Purple Spots, May Ann Licudine, is definitely one of my favorites.

She shared with me a recent dream-come-true: the latest campaign of the Philippines' Department of Tourism features her work in print (including a full-color page in Forbes magazine), on their website (visit www.liveyourdreams.ph now!) and best of all, in an animated commercial. I saw the commercial here in Singapore and thought: Wow, that's great! It looks so familiar... :-) Congratulations, May Ann! I'm sooooo proud of you! And I'm so honored to have you, one of the Philippines' top creative minds of 2008, as a friend and fellow dreamer!

Simple Pleasures

I saw this cute ad for Mr. Bean (the soya drink stall, not the comedian) at the MRT station and I just had to take a picture of it. The text above reads: Life unfolds at its own rhythm with miracles happening every single day. Here, in our own lives. They are called Life's Simple Pleasures.

I also experienced this today - being jam-packed in the train... as well as simple pleasures and daily miracles. Chatting with Papa. Chatting with an old friend. Seeing an old friend. A sleeping baby. A new belt. Seeing someone give up a seat for a grandfather. Seeing the surprised yet grateful smile of the grandfather. A couple smiling warmly at each other. Check marks on my To-Do List. Green tea latte.

Life is good and I am grateful.

A CloudMan for Me

My friend Carlo gave me the nickname CloudWoman in college and it has stuck with me ever since. I was happy to see this Gingerbread Man at the Kids' Biennale in City Hall yesterday. Now if only I could meet a CloudMan in real life...

Yellow and Purple at The Kids' Biennale

A pinwheel and Gingerbread friends! More photos (in other colors) to follow when I have more time to send photos via Bluetooth and upload. I really should get a proper camera.

Purple Spots in My Kitchen

Can you spot the purple spots?

Long Live Purple

My good friend and fellow writer Don sent me this email today. It definitely put a smile to my face. It gives me yet another reason to love the color purple. Salamat, Don!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Fernando Gonzalez
Date: Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 2:36 PM
Subject: hi nikki, just thought about you when i read this....:-)

It's weird but when I read this from this link http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/4-surprising-signs-you-ll-live-a-long-time-290919, I thought about you...hehe.

YOU EAT AND DRINK PURPLE THINGS
Red wine, concord grapes, blueberries (okay, not quite purple, but close enough) all get that deep rich color from polyphenols- compounds that reduce heart disease risk and may even protect against Alzheimer's disease, according to new research. So crack open a bottle of Pinot (don't overdo it), snack on some grapes, or make a blueberry pie and ponder all the years that lie ahead. Talk about happy and healthy! Get healthy with these great recipes.

:-)

A Red Paperclip in Singapore!

It wasn't traveling or lost... it was on a billboard. Does that count?

A Silver Paperclip

I had a paperclip sighting today at the bank in Tampines. It was silver again. Hmmm. I hope the next time I see a paperclip, it won't be a silver one. Where did all the colored ones go?

Penjepit Kertas Berwarna Kuning Berbintik Ungu

That's "The Yellow Paperclip with Bright Purple Spots" translated into Bahasa Indonesia! It was great to see an old friend Dwiputri and make a new friend Piping - two Indonesian ladies who have been best of friends since their university days. No, they didn't buy my book at Borders, but we had dinner at the bistro outside the bookstore and just had to pose next to the sign. Terima kasih, Dwi dan Piping! Sampai jumpa!

Four Years Later and as Purple as Ever

I celebrated Becca's 14th birthday last night and it was a good evening with old and new friends. It's also a great event to capture in my blog (read: I don't have an excuse NOT to blog.) as I realize it has been two years since her last birthday blogpost.

Purple was, and will forever be, our favorite color. Here's my little gift for Becca, wrapped in a purple envelope with my birthday greeting scribbled in purple ink. (And yes, she painted her nails yellow. Way cool!)



Look at how grown up she is! I can't believe it has been four years since we sat and brainstormed together for the Yellow Paperclip. (Yes, Becca is the Becca in my book! Read more here.)



I saw this at NaRaYa in Bangkok last week and thought it was oh-so-perfect! A purple+pink kikay kit for a purple-loving kikay girl! (I'm so glad you like it, Becca!)



Best of all, we were BOTH in purple last night! Happy, happy birthday, Becca! I'm so happy that you and your mom are here in Singapore too. I look forward to more adventures with you here!

A Silver Paperclip in Singapore

It has been exactly a month since I moved to Singapore... and many months since I last blogged. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now that I have had enough 'nesting time' to settle in, I need to get out of my home-office-home routine. The move is definitely a bright spot for 2008 (among many) so I also need to start blogging again.

One evening last week, I saw my first paperclip here on the MRT and yes, it was silver and shiny. It looked like it needed some bright purple spots. Let the adventures begin...

Third Time Lucky

I spent an hour or so browsing around Fully Booked yesterday. Whenever I am at a bookstore, I can't help but check if they have still have copies of The Yellow Paperclip with Bright Purple Spots. (When they don't, I make sure I text or call Adarna House. Hee-hee. It's the marketing person in me.) I was happy to find one of those revolving Adarna book displays with four copies of my book on display. I noticed that the colors of the cover seemed a little different so I picked one up and checked the pages too... and guess what I just found out? We're on our third printing!

As always, I am thankful. It's not actually third time "lucky" - more like third time BLESSED. We're on our third year and I'm thrilled that the book continues to sell.

Dreams, Deadlines and Dreamlines

Dreams mean work. I've posted a couple of stories on my all-time favorite Coelho quote, particularly when I worked on my last PBBY-Salanga and Palanca entries. Now, I have the perfect line to complete this quote and I see it every morning as I drive to work. An RCBC billboard screams out in bright blue and white: Dreams should have a deadline. I completely agree. Dreams without a deadline will be nothing more than wishful thinking. Deadlines push me to work harder, yet nothing beats the sweet satisfaction of ticking things off my Life's To-Do List.

Yesterday I had coffee (well, pink guava juice really) and dinner with an old friend from college. What started out as a let's-catch-up-on-the-last-six-months-of-our-lives turned out to be a brainstorming and project planning meeting for the next big dream (and yes, potential bestseller!). Our project plan includes a detailed timetable (in an outline form though, not a Gantt chart just yet) and a deadline: a book launch by February 2009.

Today was my deadline for the first draft of Part 2 of Jollitown's Season Finale and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Episode 2 was on GMA7 this morning and I found myself with happy goosebumps as I listened to the song on imagination. (Shameless plug: Watch Jollitown on Channel 7 at 9:30 AM on May 4, June 15, July 6 and 13 for the episodes I wrote!)

Tomorrow marks the 30-day countdown to my 30th birthday. I promised myself that I'd come up with a list of 30 things I want to do to celebrate the last three decades. Tomorrow will be my deadline.

As I log off to work on an article for work (admittedly, I'm late for this deadline - I was supposed to submit it last Wednesday! - but they were kind enough to extend until the weekend), I remember the term dreamlines from The 4-Hour Workweek. I have yet to set a deadline to plot out my life's dreamline in detail. Let me put that on my to-do list...

Beyond Borders... and Beyond My Wildest Dreams

Just a little over a year ago, I was surprised to see my second book on the shelves of a bookstore. Khan: A Teacher of Everything, a book about a Pakistani community developer who won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, was launched in August 2007. I remember signing a book for a gentleman from the Pakistani Embassy, happy that he bought my story celebrating one of his country's modern heroes.

Today I received an email from Bookmark that caught me completely by surprise. They will be printing 100,000 copies of the book in English, Urdu and other Pakistani languages!!! WOW!!! That's 100,000 more children who will read about the story of Shoaib Sultan Khan! I can't even imagine how high a stack of 100,000 books are, and I also can't imagine seeing the story translated. I am thrilled beyond imagination - and I can't say thank you enough for yet another blessing. And with this unexpected dream comes a seed for another possibility: What if I were to fuse my love for travel and my passion for writing children's stories? Hmmm. Now there's an interesting idea... I'll keep you posted.

To the gentleman from the Pakistani Embassy: If you had anything to do with this wonderful surprise, I thank you from the bottom of my overwhelmed heart.

Jollibee and Friends Make Their TV Debut

Jollitown, the new kids' show on GMA7 featuring the fun and insightful adventures of Jollibee, Yum, Hetty, Popo and Twirlie. Each week, the five friends interact with the children who live with them in Jollitown through stories and music... Click here to read more and see the mascots.

The pilot episode is tomorrow, Sunday, April 13 at 9:30 AM on GMA7.

Some of you may remember that in late February, I posted about my "best" Jollibee experience. It wasn't their peach mango pie (yummy!) or their longganisa breakfast (sarap!), but that "special spot" meant a very special TV spot! It was the day I watched a few hours of a Jollitown shoot for Episode #4... because I wrote the script for it! It was so cool to see the mascots acting out what I had imagined. I wrote a second script (not sure which Episode yet) and I'll be working on the season finale this weekend. Wooohooo! How fun!

It has been such a joy to write for this show (and I'm so happy I can actually share the great news about Jollitown with friends now!) - it's about time Filipino kids have something worthwhile to watch on local television.

Three Scripts and a Dream

I learned something new this year: I can write scripts! I'm sure there are still a lot of technical terms to learn aside from the few that I've learned to use (ie. SFX, dissolve to, on cam, etc.) but essentially, scriptwriting is a form of storytelling too.

I recently wrote scripts for two 20-minute episodes for a children's TV show: one about throwing trash out properly and the other about getting to know your friendly neighbors. I think it's great that the producers purposely chose new people to be part of the show. I insisted from the very beginning that 1) I've never written a script before, and 2) I don't have any formal background for film or television. All the better, they said. They really wanted a completely fresh perspective. I'm so excited to see the show really, really soon. I will definitely announce and blog about when to expect it on GMA7.

Now I'm being asked to write a third - and it's for the two-part finale episode! I shouldn't even think about it, right? I should just write for the love of storytelling... and the extra cash it will give me to take a vacation this summer. Hee-hee. Besides, it will become part of my "dreamline" (a great term I picked up from the book I'm currently reading, The 4-Hour Workweek) as I work towards the ultimate dream: to retire on royalties, travel the world, write and blog all I want, and of course, I can still do part-time consulting projects.

Be careful what you wish for, Nikki...

One Spot at a Time

Okay, so I found out about my skin condition last November 2006 but I was still stubborn about it. I got frustrated with that last derma (I thought she was an angel, but I guess not. Hmph.) and went on a bahala-na, sort of self-medication bout: wrong move. My rosacea only worsened. It got so bad last week - I was tomato-red, triggered by a bad cold! - that I knew I really had to ask for help. I swallowed my pride and finally got the guts up to look up a new doctor at the nearby Asian Hospital. I found the only doctor who specialized in immunodermatology with a Saturday schedule and prayed that she be friendly lest I get frustrated and cynical again.

Dr. Nicolas turned out to be a blessing! I have seen several dermatologists and most have misdiagnosed my rosacea for acne, dermatitis, eczema, etc. She was the very first one who actually touched my face... and noticed that it was indeed warm, a sure sign of rosacea. She was practical and straightforward, but warm and sincere. I saw her again yesterday after a week and my face is noticeably less inflamed and much smoother than I've seen it in months (years?). I'm still pinkish and it still acts up because of the heat.

If I'm serious about looking fabulous for my upcoming 30th birthday (!) then I do have to take microsteps, such as:

• No more coffee. I have to switch to green tea. (It's a good thing I actually like the Green Tea Latte at Starbucks!)
  
• No more alcohol. Drinks lots and lots of water instead.
• Eat a lot of salmon and flaxseed with Omega-3 to decrease inflammation.
• No strenuous exercise. Bye-bye, boxing. Hello Yoga, you're here to stay.
• Avoid extreme temperatures. Hot/humid and cold/dry weather are both triggers for flare-ups. I've noticed my face gets all flushed and warm whenever I get out of the car (cold with the aircon) in the parking lot (hot and humid) and into the office (super cold with the aircon again). I need to figure out how to manage this.
  
• Avoid stress. Yikes. Ommmm...

As if that's not enough. She linked my rosacea-aggravating acne with high testosterone levels which we confirmed through a blood test I did last week. The normal female range is between 0.1 and 0.75... my testosterone count is 0.88! She requested that I get an ultrasound to zero in on the problem which unfortunately, we confirmed again: polycystic ovaries. Eeeep.

It's frustrating; my out-of-whack hormones get me moody and bad flare-up days make me even more cranky. But with the medications, proper diet and exercise, and management of my triggers, I will get better - one spot at a time!

Easter Stories

I spent the Holy Week at my favorite sacred space, the Sacred Heart Retreat Center in Novaliches. This is my second silent retreat here and I am convinced that I must go back at least once a year. In 2006, I saw paperclips; this time, it was all about stories.

Jesus has got to be one of the best storytellers of all time. His parables are simple stories but because he had such an intimate understanding of His audience, the message came across loud and clear. God moves in mysterious yet very personal ways and I believe He speaks to me best in the ideas and metaphors that I find swirling in my head. Life's blessings come endlessly like the falling leaves. Our prayers and wishes are like the stepping stones by which He builds The Way. Why tire yourself out with building a bridge when you can just hold My hand?

Here's my favorite bench. I sat here and watched leaves, clouds, and the birds fly from one tree to the next. I slept here and enjoyed the wind on my face. I prayed here and relished in my Easter stories.
Let the writing begin...