What's your Cravings?

Have you had one? I don't think cravings are only related to pregnant women. I mean anyone can have one right?

I think whenever I'm about to get my monthly flow, I always crave for something sweet and salty (weird right?).

Well, Chrissy Teigen, the beautiful wife of the famous singer John Legend has authored a book to satisfy the cravings that you might want to satisfy.

Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat

I have been a follower of her Instagram account and I can see that she really loves to cook. I know she is still human after all but a model who can cook? That's a keeper right? :) 

I have seen videos of her and her mom or her and John preparing meals for their friends or family. I think there's a recipe or two that she has posted on her website that I want to create on my own kitchen. 

There was a video or a photo post in her IG feed that she is testing recipes with her mom for this cookbook. Thanks to Amazon, I am able to browse a few pages of Chrissy's cookbook and I am intrigued to cook these dishes myself. 

Amazon have both the Kindle and hardbound edition. 

I will save up for this but will most probably get the Kindle edition because I am not sure Chrissy will have a worldwide signing tour for her cookbook. What do you think?

Blogopolis 4D

My name is on the list! My name is on the list! *dancing*

Can you see me? I'm rach_alarcon :) 

I am psyched because I got picked to have a chance to get invites for the upcoming Blogopolis 4D which will be held this Saturday, Feb 27 2016 at Green Sun, Makati.

I am taking the hubby with me... I hope this will also interest him because I think we can pick up a few ideas if we intend to have a business right?

So psyched! I hope that I will be able to document and blog about the event tomorrow! :)


**photo grabbed from Nuffnang (http://blog.nuffnang.com.ph/2016/02/19/blogopolis4d-ticket-giveaway-winners/)

Which team are you?

R and I have been coffee lovers ever since. The weather in Dubai gave us the opportunity to enjoy a cup or two, most especially when the winter season comes. There is no doubt as to why cafes in Dubai are a hit (even during summer)! 

Here in the Philippines, though we are a tropical country, I have seen a lot of people hang at coffeeshops for most of the day - rain or shine. This actually kind of surprised me because I can see that most of the people head to coffeeshops more than the restaurants! Anyways, I digress. 

A cuppa with my then fave pastry, apple fritter

I stumbled upon this post from Rowena's blog regarding Starbucks creating an online buzz by making their customers vote which flavour of macchiato do they prefer - Team Roasted Caramel or Team Chocolate Hazelnut. 

According to Starbuck's website, their roasted caramel macchiato has a rich caramel taste and its of course topped with roasted caramel drizzle as for their chocolate hazelnut macchiato, the drink is incorporated with a delicious hazelnut flavour with a chocolatey nutty drizzle. Both drinks have the top quality espresso from the Starbucks brand with velvety steamed milk to complete the drink. 

They are letting their patrons vote till the 4th of March. After tabulating which is the coveted drink of their customers, the coffee franchise will celebrate this by introducing a buy 1 take 1 offer on the 7th of March for all their customers in the Philippines. 

I am not going to mention what drink I voted for but I know it will go well with Starbuck's cinnamon sticky bun (heaven for me) and my latest discovery (thanks to my good friend, Carlo), their calamansi cheesecake. 

Go and vote! :)  

Image from http://www.starbuckspromotions.ph

No movements at all

I think ever since I have started with this blog, I have linked it to my Google Adsense account. I remember when I was personalising the blog, I was asked if I want to have it linked so that I can earn a profit by blogging (why not right? It felt like hitting two birds with one stone at that time).

Completely ignored the fact that the blog was not earning because I wasn't writing then. Work took over and of course the "intend move" also preoccupied my time so I was not that bothered about it. Last year, I made a conscious effort to keep on checking my Adsense account so that I can make sense if I was earning anything or not.

Checked it out and I think from $0.03 it went up to $1.00. I gave myself a pat on the shoulder and said that this might be a good sign because it also means, I will slowly gain revenue with the blog. I also changed the layout so that whenever I end a post, an ad will be there for people who visits my blog to click and explore.

Since I was not that busy, I kept checking my Adsense account. Lo and behold, the earnings were as slow as the turtle (or even more). I have earned $2.57 for two years!

Not that I am super proud of it but just to give you an idea :p 

This cannot be true....!

I was searching and checking online on how to boost my Adsense earnings but some articles were a bit technical for me that I dropped the idea of looking. One night, I stumbled upon the Freelance Blend Facebook page and joined the group. They had a webinar last week and I joined them (first because it was free of charge - Thanks Marv! and secondly, I want to understand the online world when it comes to earning).

During the webinar, one of the insights provided by Marv de Leon was that Google Adsense does not do a website any good. There's no benefit to it anymore and at times, can be the cause of distraction on your blog or website.

With this information at hand, I am now considering to remove Google Adsense on my blog... though I am challenged if I can make it reach $100 so as to be able to cash out. Also, this kind of challenges me to push myself more to write and see which topics of mine click with Adsense.

My fellow bloggers, do you have Adsense too? Any tips for me? :p

I just have to blog about this....

I am soooo p*ssed and soooo want to bang my head right now.

Yes, bang it. Because I have been so relaxed thinking that after my good friend repaired and resuscitated my laptop to life that I have tucked my files safely in one of my hard drives. How poor of me to not even check on of them or at least do a back up for safety purposes.

I was too proud to even do it.

Now, I am knocked out of my head because I can finally confirmed that I have lost them. The important files that I have been keeping on my laptop. I was able to save my pictures (I would really cry if these too were lost), my music, movies and books but not those files.

What the heck happened to me?!

*chill* *chill* *chill*

Aaaaarrgggghhhh!!!!

Badtrip talaga :,(

How do you Read?

This question crop up in my head literally a few seconds ago.

Why?

I was reading an article online and when I got kind of bored reading, my mind suddenly made a switch and decided to just scan through the article. Yes, I do this most of the time and when my interest is re-grabbed by the article, I go back to the top and read it properly.

Do you the same?

Tips on Moving on after Losing or Leaving your Job

I knew back reading would make sense! :p

A few minutes ago, I have been reading an email that I have received last 2008! Imagine, I still have an unread message from 2008. Either I was really busy or I have completely ignored my email because of my love life (hahaha!).

Anyways, when I opened this email (unfortunately, I cannot provide the link because when I tried opening it from the website, it gave me the error 'page cannot be found' anymore so I will just give you the gist and in case...just in case, you want to have a copy of this email, I can forward it to you - just drop me an email about it).

The article was from Colleen Eddy regarding moving on after being laid off. In my opinion, her notes and comments about moving on can also be applied for people who left their jobs without any replacement as of yet.

Colleen on Careers from Poynter.org

I was reading this and thought if I do start looking for a job again this can be a good basis on how I should approach potential employers about what I can offer. 

The question that stuck with me is this :- What work would you be happy doing?

I would definitely be happy working as a novelist if I can and be a baker on the side (yes, that will definitely be ideal for me). 

More from the email article is this:- 

Ask yourself what you have to offer: 

• What are your accomplishments? 
• What strengths have you developed as you met challenges that seemed overwhelming? 
• How have you survived in such a changing world? 
• What technology has become part of your repertoire? 
• How have you cultivated teamwork, leadership skills, learning on the fly? 
• What were some of the results of your work and how did they help the company? 
• Who at your company would speak well of you? 
• What would your bosses say?

I know that it is very hard to find a job and just like me, when I was still in Dubai, I would rather apply internally for any new opening than venture out of the company. I guess one of the reasons was the hassle of having to submit requirements for a new working visa. This task is something that I am not very happy about (yes, so that is the reason why I stayed xx amount of years in my company... Kidding aside, I did like where my career path led me). Another reason, I think, more than the job were about the people that I have met and worked with on my tenure in the company. 

Hopefully, this will be helpful to people who scan through my blog :) I plan to keep this email as it has great insights and questions which can be of use when you are on a lookout for a job. 

Happy reading!