who slew the minotaur?

Phillip (not his real name) is a charming nine-year old, the nephew of some friends of ours.  The Hubby and I met him at a wake and he kept us entertained for a good number of minutes.  What was so interesting is that he wasn't interested in the usual kiddie chit-chat about favorite colors or best friends or what teacher said at school.  He quizzed us with several questions on ancient civilizations, the answers to all of which he was impressively able to provide when we said we couldn't.  Questions like:

Which two Roman emperors built the Colosseum?
Which emperor burned down Rome?
Who slew the Minotaur?
Who is the Egyptian god of the moon?

If you think about it, trivia like that are easily absorbed by a nine-year old, but he had a British accent that made him sound so erudite, and you can't not fall in love with a kid like that.  =D

For a brief moment I thought about being a jerk and quizzing him about the Second World War and Chemistry, and whatever else I thought he wouldn't be able to answer - but why be so pedantic, right?  Instead I gave him a small bit of trivia to take home:  I taught him the French pronunciation of Tintin (as in, The Adventures of Tintin) and the fact that the movie was based on comics that were originally in French (Les Aventures de Tintin).

I drifted off after The Hubby began asking him about Cricket (the game), and the boy gave detailed answers to every question, which would certainly help The Hubby appreciate the game more when he watches it on Cable.  

As for my take-home from Phillip (not his real name), I have a desire to review old school notes and refresh my wealth of useless trivia.

bunny likes tv too

girls talk: purple

Being a non-fan of purple, I always thought I didn't have any purple things -but when I went around the house to look for one I realized I had quite a few. I picked the most interesting one for this week's Girls Talk.

This here is a stuffed animal with a bit of sentimental value. It was given to my by the Hubby ten years ago when he was courting (in his words "trying to get to know me better").

It's a Snoopy doll that was distributed at McDonalds to commemorate Peanuts' 50th anniversary. We and a bunch of friends used to have weekly after-church dinners at McDonald's, and the Hubby (formerly known as the Boyfriend) would get me the promo toy if I thought it was cute.

It was very slightly annoying that he kept giving me all these cute-but-useless things, but I thought it was really, awesomely sweet of him.

It's faded a bit and caught a lot of dust, but couldn't get myself to get rid of it yet. I've already thrown away or sold a lot of our unwanted stuff, but Snoopy stays. It's been with me for a decade now, so it might as well stay forever. ^_^

i won a bunny photo contest :)

Been busy for some time so I wasn't able to do much updating. But I make my comeback to the blogospere with today's cute, happy thawt.

A few weeks ago, I entered my favorite picture of my rabbit, Pepper in this photo contest in BunSpace.com. BunSpace is a site for bunny parents / bunny owners; I've been subscribing to it since Pepper and Davey were a few months old and I've picked up a lot of useful rabbit-care info from it as well as interacted with other bunny-parents. Anyway, there are around two themed photo contests each month. There isn't any cash prize or anything like that, but they give away cool, bunny-related stuff that aren't available locally, like chew toys (for rabbits - to prevent them from destorying my house) or collectibles (for humans) . Since I lose nothing and gain the possibility of winning something nice, I enter photos every now and then.

This particular contest had the theme of Close Up. I happen to have a really stunning photo of Pepper taken some time ago:


I submitted it and let the site-members' votes decide, and tah-daaaah! Pepper won Second Place!

The prize isn't any nifty bunny-stuff though. But I get three months of free upgraded membership at BunSpace - which is pretty cool too! That upgrade will allow me access to special features and more interaction.

I think I'd like to take more cute photos of Davey and Pepper in the hopes of winning again. And maybe next time I could get to take home some stuff.

i am his north star ^_^

Time-lapse photo of the North Star, nicked from ScienceBlogs.

The Hubby told me that I am his North Star. ^_^ And that is definitely a happy thought.

The North Star for centuries now has been Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor. It's the one at the tip of the handle of the Little Dipper. It is the only star in the sky that stays in a (relative) constant position since it is fixed directly on top of the Earth's North Pole (there is a South Star too, but it is too faint so it is hardly considered). The North Star since time immemorial has been used by mariners and explorers as a reference point to aid them in their journeys.

To be told by the Hubby that i am his North Star - particularly after a trying time, and especially from a guy who isn't very poetic - is not just a sweet thing; it's an honor to know that in his life, I am his constant, his reference point. And of course, it tickles me extra because I'm a geek over stars and deep space objects. ^_^

photo mosaic meme (really cute!)

Photo Credits: 1. Another world / Otro mundo, 2. happy valentines day - pink gerbera with a heart of chocolate!, 3. Waiting for the wind, 4. Orchid Shake, 5. Raindrops with the Refraction of a Green Jungle - Nature in my Garden, 6. alone in a crowd II, 7. Footbridge over Nam Khan river, 8. Bedruthan sunset, 9. Walking On a Dream

Directions:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search (http://www.flickr.com/).
b. Using ONLY the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Mosaic Maker ( http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php). Change rows to 3 and columns to 3.
d. Save the image and post it here.

Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What is your favorite color?
4. Favorite drink?
5. Dream vacation?
6. Favorite hobby?
7. What you want to be when you grow up?
8. What/who do you love most in life?
9. One word to describe you?

girls talk: my comfort food

Yumyum :) What a delicious topic for this week's Girls Talk.

Ice cream and chocolate are probably the easiest choices for most ladies (including myself!) so I won't be sharing about my fondness for them right now. I will instead share about my two other go-to foods for comfort.

(1) dried mangoes

Dried mangoes are slices of heaven on earth! I like eating fresh mangoes too, but there's just something extremely enjoyable about the chewy, bite-sized, textured and sugar-added sweetness of dried mangoes.

We Pinoys ought to be really proud of this product, I hear westerners go crazy about them.

(2) cute cupcakes

Not just ordinary cupcakes, mind you; they have to be the cute, iced kind with sprinkly bits. They're not just yummy to eat but lovely to look at too, so they really make me happeeee. Forget about using a fork - I'd much rather sink my teeth into them!

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Another loverly entry for

Brought to us by the enjoyment of life in

delightfully lovely blog things at shabby blogs

I went on a random blog-hop yesterday while waiting for the Hubby to get ready, and in one crafter-lady's site I chanced upon a badge to shabbyblogs.com

Shabby Blogs has a lot of charming stuff for bloggers - backgrounds, headers, dividers, badges. I was so amused by the cuteness that I just had to give the designs a try that night (You could ask the Hubby - I was gushing in excitement). I ended up refurnishing my happy thawts blog entirely(the previous template was kinda wonky anyway).

The designs are delightfully shabby-chic, perfect for my happy thawts. Now that I found that treasury, I won't have to go through the (often disappointing) task of hunting for the perfect Blogger template. Elements can even be mixed and matched to customize - and installing is simple, I wouldn't have to do a massive HTML overhaul the next time I want a costume change for my site.

I especially love the buttons and blinkies portion - they're not only sweet, they're witty too. As I was viewing the page, I kept going, "I'll take this ... and this ... and this ... and ..." I'd use them all if it wouldn't clutter my layout so much! I'm thinking maybe I should change buttons every month. Or week.

And a bonus: At the bottom of the home page is a link to the blog, where the blogger, Megan, presents some simple, not-necessarily-blog-related creative ideas.

It was such a happy find, I'd love to share Shabby Blogs with my girl-friends. ^_^

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EDIT: March 15

After chancing upon Shabby Blogs, i seem to have bumped into a series of sites of cute blog things one after the other:

The Cutest Blog on the Block has a gallery of cutiful backgrounds, banners, blinkees and extras.

The Background Fairy has a collection of free girly backgrounds.

She has another site where she shares images and crafting ideas:




And speaking of fairies, here's another one:



:* :* :*

this song is SOOO cute

This Mighty Heart Attack
Us-2 Evil-0

The video is cute too. It's really, really simple but it's just so ... like cotton candy. ^_^

The Lyrics:

When I saw your eyes
My heart capsized
You were a vision

Then I came to know
You also starred in television

How the hell am I supposed
To ignore the facts and act so fast?
How the hell am I supposed
To contain this mighty heart attack?

Because I realized
We can’t disguise
You’re more than human
Now it won’t suffice
Can’t compromise to
A lesser woman
Can’t apologize
Or tell you twice
Cos I’m not handsome
I can just surmise
That you’re content with
Your brand new boyfriend

How the hell am I supposed
To ignore the facts and act so fast?
How the hell am I supposed
To contain this mighty heart attack?

You know by now
It’s over, don’t you?
You know by now
It’s over, don’t you?

Now’s the painful part
But it’s a start
And yes I did try
I liked you a lot
But all for nought
I guess it’s goodbye

How the hell am I supposed
To ignore the facts and act so fast?
How the hell am I supposed
To contain this mighty heart attack?

cute blog: fifi lapin

I've been following Fifi Lapin's blog for some time. Her ultra-cute site combines some of my likes: art, fashion and bunnies.

Image property of Fifi Lapin.

Fifi is an heiress with long, silky ears and a fashion icon. According to Elle Magazine, she is "the world's most stylish bunny". She posts charming fashion reviews and runway photos, but the most attractive part of her site (in my opinion) are those sketches of herself wearing designer clothing - with posh accessories to match!

Image property of Fifi Lapin.

Her flair for fashion has made her so famous, that lately there have been Fifi Lapin lines of postcards, T-Shirts, greeting cards and LeSportSac bags (I received a Fifi Lapin print purse or case of sorts for Christmas from my friend L. I was so thrilled!)

Fifi has a shop where you can purchase her prints. She also hosts contests every once in a while with cute Fifi stuff up for grabs.

bunny apartment

Pepper (foreground) and Davey (background) checking out the new bunny apartment.

I just assembled a new cage for my bunnies out of interlocking grid panels - it's a simple, see-through, 2 x 2 x 3 bunny-apartment with a small second floor. I furnished it with a toilet (i.e., a litterbox in a carboard hidey-hole), newspaper, a small towel, a plushie, a drinking bottle and some food. I asked Davey to try it out - he's liking it, so far. He just marked the four corners with his pee - that's a rabbit's way of saying "This is my space." He kept us up last night making a racket with his redecorating (i.e.,throwing and ripping the newspaper)

Our bunnies actually started out as free-roamers (i.e., not caged - because caged bunnies are unhappy and sickly) but ever since they reached adolescence, those boys have become too aggressive toward each other so we've had to keep them separated. Two big cages are out of our budget - as well as out of our floor area - so we made do with their taking turns in the 1 x 1.5 x 2 cage that we bought for them when they were babies. Eventually of course they've gotten too big for that tiny space, so we've had to acquire a bigger one. Luckily the Hubby saw those grid panels on sale - we've seen some BunSpace pictures of bunny apartments improvised from those grid panels, so we thought we'd give it a try.

So there, the bunnies have been upgraded from a tiny studio flat to a split-level loft. Since Davey isn't complaining, I thought of leaving him in there for a few more days while Pepper roams free. When the Hubby and I find a new, more spacious residence, we'll get another cage so they can both have their own apartments.