Swept Away.

Great!

XX number of posts done, 0 to go. Woohoo zero work backlog. (Naka ng toots!)

Now I’m so ready to begin my internet fasting in a few hours. May we all take time and have this opportunity to reflect and internalize the true meaning of the Lenten season…more than the vacation and relaxation we’re all excited about.

See you on…Wednesday next week, perhaps. I’ll be back with lots of stories and pictures about our Easter Monday vacation in Laiya.

Note to my “online bosses”: Please feel free to leave assignments in my online work tray. Rest assured that I’ll do them upon my return.

Today’s my last day of work for this week. Before I start my internet fasting tomorrow, I wish to need to finish all of my pending online assignments so I can go on with my lenten sacrifice with zero backlogs. Half of my pending now are Odesk tasks and as it has been due for quite a few days now, it’s really important that I can submit them before the end of the day.

Aside from that, I’ll also be doing some online errands like pay bills and look for discount auto insurance on the web. Wish me luck and I hope that I’ll be able to finish all these commitments within the day.

Note to Asher: My baby, please bear with Mommy for today. I promise to attend to your demands full time starting tomorrow. Take it easy, ha? “Wag munang masyadong maka-Mommy today”. I love you, anak!

Two things that I look forward to in the next coming days are 1.) my sister’s family’s arrival this Friday and 2.) our Acuatico family getaway next Monday. Woot! *Doing a kilig-kilig dance over here*

I’m readying myself for yet again another series of balikbayan box diving and delving. But more than that, seriously, the whole family’s anxiously waiting for their homecoming as it’ll be Lauren Leela’s first ever vacation here in the country. It’ll also be the first time that the two grand kids in my side of family to meet and be together that will surely swell the grandparents’ hearts with so much love and joy. I just hope that Asher will be less possessive by then and that he’ll allow me to carry and cuddle his cousin even for just a short time.

I’m feeling so summer-y already with our upcoming Acuatico trip. I have all our swimming essentials checked: rash guards, swimming diapers and beach toys for the little one; new boardshorts for the husband and a new tankini for me! (Special thanks to my Mareng Ena for the gift). I’ve also double checked the van’s mechanical breakdown insurance as Laiya is quite far and a safe and comfortable road trip is what any traveler would want. I can’t wait to have a dip in the infinity pool, play with Asher in the sand, stroll along the beach and relax in the cozy and elegant rooms of the resort.

Despite my piling online writing assignments, I had a very laid back weekend recently. I initially scheduled and even conditioned my mind that I’d be having a hectic online weekend hours but miraculously I managed to mellow it out and busied myself bonding with my boys, just lounging and napping our Sunday noon away. It feels great and rejuvenating and even though I’m practically huffing and puffing now as it’s already crunch time with nearing deadlines and all, nothing beats the relaxation that the weekend brought me. It was also a sort of preparation for my self as I’ll be totally going offline this coming Holy Thursday until Black Saturday for my Lenten sacrifice. It’ll not be just internet-less days but I will be totally staying away from my laptop on those days. For a person who can’t go on a day without opening the laptop, checking the online world for money earning opportunities, this is a huge challenge. But in the spirit of Lent, I am heeding the Church’s call to do technology fasting (give up the internet, in my case) and spend more time in finding my self and reflect.

So there keber muna sa opps..anyway, it’s just three days and I know that the fruits of my sacrifice will be more worthwhile and rewarding.

If you’ve been frequenting my Parrot on a Porch blog, then you would have known already that our dear Little Mansion is nearing its completion stage. And because of that, I’ve never been more excited about the big move, shopping home stuffs and the idea of having our own home than now. The excitement has also influenced my routines and interests now as I more likely read sites having to do with home and living, interior design and inspirations and even home maintenance topics. I’ve also just bought a book about good housekeeping tips. This interest has also made me familiarized with certain home cleaning techniques and services like what a Seattle pressure washing company provides. We surely have known about the “Mr. Eletrolux guy” who would knock our doors decades ago and offer their vacuum cleaning services. But this pressure washing company is entirely different as they employ a different kind of cleaning technology, an Eco-friendly one. For actual pictures of how they do it, click here. They use a specialized equipment that enables them to recycle and reuse water thus, saving huge amounts of it. Their special cleaning formula do not also involve any harsh chemicals that are harmful to the environment but leaves your property so squeaky clean.

Should you wish to know more about this pressure washing technology, read more here.

What a sweet surprise..I just found out through the Alexa widget on the side bar that the Alexa rank of this online abode of mine just got lowered. As opposed to Google’s Page Ranking where a higher page rank means a better blogosphere standing, Alexa’s quite the opposite. So a low Alexa rank is what bloggers, who monetize their sites like me, desire. My analysis on the improvement of my blog ranking is that it’s summer time and people are searching most likely about domestic travel packages. Two years ago, I posted about a friend’s travel agency’s tours and packages on this blog and it’s quite surprising that those entries still get plenty of google hits. Now, how I wish my blog visitors read and comprehend the notes because I still get a lot of direct inquiries and even booking requests. So please direct all your concerns, questions, inquiries and clarifications to the website I’ve linked up. I just posted those to help out my friend advertise her travel agency (sort of for online lead generation purposes only) and that I’m not, in any way, working for her.

Anyway, isn’t it amazing how the internet provides a great venue to market one’s business so easily with just one click? As opposed to the costly traditional advertising in print, audio or visual, the internet is one of the easiest and cost-effective means of advertising these days. But having a lavishly designed website to expose one’s business and attract clients isn’t just enough. Driving site traffic to it should be one of the main focus to effectively convert those leads to sales. Boosting one’s site traffic need not be a grueling task since there are online advertising specialists out there like Status Media who works on the online lead generation of one’s site. Their CPA Networks extensively connects their clients to the rest of the web making their online presence tremendously felt. They have also link building agency specialists who expertly manage websites’ SEO through ethical link building campaigns. For some, such terms may quite be tough to comprehend but in a nutshell, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) simply refers to boosting the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines (such as Google, Yahoo, Technorati) via natural search results. Basically it aims to increase the highest rank so it would appear on top of the search engine’s list and will consequently mean that the more researchers will visit the top listed sites.

So if you have a business and wish to advertise it on the world wide web, check out the services of search engine marketing specialists for aggressive link building strategies.

On to my third backlog (sheesh…i just abhor the word backlog).

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I turned 29 two weeks ago. There’s not much difference; looks, height and body physique wise (teen looking still LOL). But I could say that I’ve grown wiser and more mature over the past year. I didn’t wish for anything fancy for my birthday. No iPhone, no Wii and wii games, no shopping spree, no vacation. There was even no birthday wish list drafted. I’ve learned so much from the past year and the greatest of which is to live in sobriety. I’ve learned to live simpler, contented and grateful for whatever that I have. And I have to thank the husband for instilling this in me, helping me every time I struggle and is caught in a temptation.

I celebrated my birthday with a simple merienda: Amber’s pansit malabon and pichi-pichi. Sorry no pics to share as we were too hungry that time to take pictures. And as the husband’s just the sweetest, he treated me the next day to a Conti’s lunch and a slice of Mango Bravo cake which I’ve been craving for badly these past few weeks. He also got me a new nice top. And I’m more than thankful for all these “extras”. I’ve been continuously getting HUGE wonderful blessings one after the another since the start of this year and for me, those are birthday gifts enough to be grateful for the entire year.

Second backlog.

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Saturday of Asher’s birthday week, we went to Manila Ocean Park for a so-called “meet and greet” session with the colorful and wonderful fauna species of the ocean. Truly, he enjoyed this birthday trip as he saw “bik ish” (big fish) the blinking of eyes and gobbling of mouth of which, he fondly imitates. The three of us had an intimate lunch at Pancake House afterward.

And here’s a couple of the husband’s magnificent shots of the sea creatures in the Oceanarium. There’s more in my Flickr Gallery.

I love getting swamped with my online writing gigs because they mean more moolah. What I don’t want is that I tend to delay most of the time and sometimes totally forget life’s happenings and things that I should be blogging.

Here’s the first in my backlog list.

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I have blogged here what transpired during the little one’s 2nd birthday on his exact natal day. As simple as it was (since we didn’t hold a grand party this year), we made sure that he’ll enjoy his birthday by celebrating it with the persons who love him so dearly. The night before, the whole Danganan clan trooped to Gerry’s Grill to celebrate and feast on a pre-birthday dinner consisting of sizzling sisig, calamares, mango salad with bagoong, chicken lollipop, laing and sizzling balut with tofu. It really was a happy burp-day that night.

I have to make a list just so I won’t forget next week:

1. Asher’s pre-birthday dinner at Gerry’s Grill
2. Asher’s birthday trip to Manila Ocean Park
3. My simple Amber’s birthday celebration at home
4. My post birthday lunch at Conti’s
5. Hubby’s mango bravo cake (1 whole) post birthday gift