A is for apple pie, C for crumbly crust and coffee

It isn't Baguio's best kept secret yet. The best apple pie is on the dessert menu of O'Mai Khan, the Mongolian buffet place on Upper Session Road. I thank Mitos Benitez of Hill Station for sharing this long-ago discovery of hers. Even if her restaurant in Casa Vallejo offers the same dessert, with at least 12 sliced apples in each pie, she takes a hike to nearby O'Mai Khan when she has a certain craving. Pair this with brewed coffee and request a scoop of vanilla ice cream to make pie a la mode. Instant heaven! Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Time to be silly happy

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

"This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."

What's your greatest regret so far, and what will you set out to achieve or change before you die?
- from Susie Steiner's article "Top five regrets of the dying" from www.theguardian.com

It's one of those things to remember as I respond to hillside family duties--to allow room for joy apart from fulfilling a list of must-do's.

I only have to look at the youngest family member's great attitude towards each morning she wakes to. Then I realize how curiosity about the world and an attitude of openness to whatever often lead to most welcome silliness, quickly followed by laughing times. Refreshing breaks, indeed. Leaves me sufficiently recharged. Meanwhile, the storage space in that inner room expands.

Welcome, Weekend! You're better than five working days of shoulda, coulda, woulda. Butones and I decided to advance you by a day.

It's a gift, a grace just to waken to another morning like this with the button of my life for company. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Happy talk on last day of 2013

"It's time
to be happy
again."
- From http://vuible.com/

How many times have I preached on this personal pulpit that happiness is a decision? Today, the last day of a terrible year, let's pack up all our cares and woes, and welcome 2014 with hope, with love, despite the holes in our pockets and our grieving souls. We can do it (this is written more to assure myself). Worse state is to be poor in spirit.

Is this the dollar plant? I'm not sure anymore, I'm not the family gardener. Just the picture taker who takes away with her the image that will perfectly be in tandem with today's short quote. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Addition to stash of Audrey Hepburn quotes

“I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.”

-Audrey Hepburn

Although this second quotation is not attributed to Ms. Hepburn, it's within the subject of contagious happiness. It's simple but hard to do.

Courtesy of Blissful Quotes