This is an old (2008) Pulitzer Prize winner. It took me until nearly the end of the story before finally understanding that there really is no connection among all the 13 stories that make up this novel save for the fact that Olive Kitteridge lives among them. Truth is, I questioned the relevance of the stories to the novel. And the bigger truth is, there is none.

In real life, we live each of our lives differently from each other… we meet along the way, sometimes in the most trivial of association to each others lives and sometimes we see ourselves bonded because of some experiences and thoughts that we happen to share. In whichever cases that we do, we look at others and we see them with our biases and appreciations. This is what the novel projects… and after reading the book, it would take us little time to contemplate that indeed, the book’s reality is our reality. It does not matter that the book’s setting is almost provincial.

As a mother of two young boys, I was almost scared. Scared of what the future will unfold… scared of the physical and (fervently hoping not) emotional distance with them. As a wife, I wouldn’t want to ever face infidelity issues. Must all couples go through this issue?

Right, I am not talking about the book.I am lost between life as we live it and the lives of the people in this book.

But then again, I am actually talking about the book. Because this book tells of stories of 13 lives with cruel honesty. They happen and they are confronted and presented by the author with forthrightness that we would want to deny. There is nothing extraordinarily tragic here. There is no one episode that would shock you while reading. It’s the overall impact of the unfairness of life in general… the unpredictability. You could only wish for constant happiness.

Oh! Why oh why do I find this book so gloomy?

What do we do with these coffee ground leftovers?

There are several uses for the coffee ground left-overs and you can check My Hotta Cuppa Coffee’s post on Effective Use of Coffee Ground Leftover.

In my case, I just put them in two separate containers for the toilet and the refrigerator. I use them as deodorizers. Sometimes, I just throw them all over the sink and scrub them to make the sink shinier.

Yesterday, I read a post by Spanish Pinay and she uses her coffee ground leftovers as body scrubs! Don’t you just love what these leftovers could do for you?

I suddenly remembered a skin care package I availed from Skinetics in Iloilo where coffee ground beans was used for the body scrub. I remembered feeling clean after:-).

And there’s more… we got the opportunity to check the other side of the huge airport when Firstborn had his last shooting day. Beside the area where the shoot was done was a skating rink.

As a reward, Firstborn and his reel Nuna got to play in the rink:

skating rink at the Incheon International Airport

That served as their playtime after a job well done:-).

Just near the skating rink are shopping stalls and coffee shops. There is a CVG too where you could watch the latest movies.

Staying in the airport makes me feel like I am in a big city covered by one big roof. There are so many things to do and places to go to. And if you have elite membership with the airlines, you could avail of the exclusive lounges they offer and some perks, too (that’s why I prefer traveling with hubby!).

Oh well, it isn’t The Best Airport for nothing…

various Korean skincare products

Just LIKE My Rocking Cradle in Facebook and leave a message in this post. That should qualify you in this giveaway contest. No double entries, please! Just click the badge below or click the badge on my sidebar. Either way, you will be redirected to MyRockingCradle’s FB page and you can click the LIKE button there. Don’t forget to leave a note for me that you did:-).

This giveaway runs until February 12 midnight (my Dad’s birthday).

I would be glad to hear (read) from you…

We were in Serye Cafe Filipino when Firstborn excitedly barged into the coffee shop asking for money… so that he could ride a COW!

Apparently, there is a Rodeo Ride for kids there:

Firstborn fell twice but his cousin was steady all throughout. You could ask the operator to adjust the speed… big cousins asked the operator to make it faster for Firstborn! and he had a good laugh over it. How he enjoyed it!

But , nah! they were still too young for that… next time…

But it was interesting to see this kiosk offering this bungee fun activity that kids could engage in right in the middle of Eastwood:

If you are after your family’s over-all well-being and want to secure your medical needs, there is one way to maximize your savings and that is by joining the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club. You could opt for two ways. One is to enroll your family for an annual membership of $10 and this benefit extends to your spouse, dependents who are 22 years old and younger and this benefit even extends to your pet. That is a very good deal for this coverage. However, if you are an independent who lives on your own and doesn’t have to worry about others medical needs, then you can further have a smaller amount to pay for your annual membership by just paying $5. If you register, you get to have discounts on your prescription needs.

This membership will also allow you to have savings on more than 8,000 brand name and generic prescriptions. This is something that no one should overlook as nobody really knows when we need all these kinds of medicines. If you have special needs for yourself, your family or even your pets, your annual membership will entitle you to have discounts on flu shots, pet prescriptions, nebulizers and diabetic supplies. Walgreens also offer bonuses when you purchase their brand products and photofinishing services.

Aside from your annual membership, be updated with Walgrees on twitter and facebook. Like Walgreens on Facebook and follow Walgreens on Twitter like I do!

Just how do you do this?

Simple! Enter all those beauty stores and they will give you sample packs the moment you step in. Most promo girls would tell you to just enter so they could hand you some of those freebies… even when you buy nothing! And if you do buy something, you’ll get more freebies from the counter! How’s that?

Here are my Myeongdong Loot when I went out with a friend two weekends ago:

And I learned that these sample packs are being sold in the Philippines.

Wow!

If you want something from here, give me a message and we’ll see how we can go about it with all your freebies sent to you as they are… freebies!

Our favorite Filipina here in Seoul has just added more awards to her name… and more reasons to inspire other women living here in South Korea. Jasmine Lee ended 2011 with 1 award to her name and started 2012 with 2 awards recognizing her brilliant effort for the multicultural community.

She got an award from KBS December last year from the viewing public as one of the personalities who touched the hearts of many KBS viewers:

taken from Jaz FB page (with permission)

On her birthday this year, January 6, she was one of the awardees for the 2012 MIZI Future Women Leaders Awards:

Jasmine Lee third from left (report from Naver)

Last January 17, she received recognition for her contribution to multiculturalism in Korea and received the Korea Image Millstone Award from Corea Image Communication Institute.

Jasmine Lee second from right (report from Korea Times)

Kudos! We’ll see more of her, definitely!

Aside from UCC, I found another coffee shop serving brewed coffee using a Vacuum Coffee Maker in the Philippines. It’s Serye Cafe Filipino in Eastwood.

The Syphon coffee maker they are using is customized (I think!) as the gas container for its 4 units of Syphon Coffee makers is set on a long rectangular metallic stand:

one unit missing in the picture is being prepared for my coffee

The coffee shop is also selling various coffee makers, some of which we already have, and Philippine-grown coffee beans:

Of course, we bought some for our own personal use:-).