Carols. As in Christmas Carols.

It's now the ninth month of the year and the advent of the "BER" months. As expected Christmas Carols are already being played on the radio, at the malls, and even the recessional hymn at Church tonight was "O Holy Night". We are now in the midst of ushering the most magical time of the year - Christmas (here in the Philippines, anyway)!

I had a fairly good and less strenuous week compared to last week. I was dead tired the week before since we were on Strategic Planning session for two whole days and I was the one who compiled and made our presentation. It turned out fairly well. I am really proud of what we did.

The highlight of my week was the issuance of two checks that served as my last pay from my previous company. Whew! I was not expecting it so it was truly a welcome surprise. Since there were a lot of pains and hurts associated with them, I decided to invest most of the money rather than spend it. The long nights, the lost friendships and relationships, the chaotic life, my absence in family and friends' get-together, the work stress, and the more than 10 lbs. I gained from the experience can never be returned back to me (well, I can lose the weight!) so I feel that there will be no fulfillment or gratification in spending them. It was a very very hard and challenging two years and I can fully say that I am indeed in a better place now. My deposition, my outlook in life, and the even the relationship I am having with my friends and family now is truly way way better. When I look back at the time spent there I cannot help but ask myself: "what was I thinking?". I am not bitter and I definitely moved on from it already. It was just a very disappointing phase in my life which is hard to forget.

Moving on to lighter topics, my teammates and I celebrated our groupmate's Maffin's birthday last Wednesday. We had lunch at Recipe's in Greenbelt 3 (always a yummy!) and had some cakes in the afternoon. Here are some snaps:

Speaking of desserts, I spent a good quality of my time last Friday at the lounge of the Smart Bro Internet Zone which is at the Ground Floor of our building to wait for the rain to stop. I read some magazines, updated my calendar with meeting schedules next week, and had a taste of Nescafe Point's winning chocolate cake called Chocolate Café Single. It's oh-so rich and sinful! The caramel glazed on top of the cake is the best!

My week ended with a stroll at the nearby mall where I had my nails done at Laxare Nail Spa for two friggin' hours. I almost fell asleep in the comfortable lounge chair with the length of the service (which is actually good). It was truly a money well spent. I would've probably stayed longer if I opted for the Foot Spa. Laxare is really a good place for pampering services. They also offer superb Thai/Swedish Massages which is not as expensive like the ones offered at The Spa or Urban Spa. Laxare Nail Spa is located at the 3rd Level of Festival Mall in Filinvest.

I also went to Powerbooks and contemplated on buying three books. I have this crazy rule that I will not buy any book if I still have unread books at home. I also make it a point to buy just one book at a time. I had this "gluttony book" thing since I can remember so I imposed book rules upon myself to save my bank account. The three books I grabbed were The Apple Way and two chick-lits. I forgot the title of the other chick lit but the other one is The Blonde Theory by Kristin Harmel which I ended buying.

The Apple Way was written by Jeffrey Cruikshank and it discussed the management lessons of the world's most innovative company today. I am interested in reading the book since I know that I would learn a lot from it which I can readily apply to my work – since my company is also at the forefront of innovations. I browsed the first few pages of the book and its an interesting read. I'll probably get a copy next week. Here are some of the wonderful insights which we can get from it: make the customer and the product king, balance manufacturing with delivery logistics, motivate and inspire people outside the company to do your marketing and PR (blog I say more?), invent new distribution channels, decide on your company image and stick to your guns, leapfrog the competition and learn from both success and missteps.

The book which I actually bought, The Blonde Theory, is your usual chick-lit. I finished it in two sittings. It basically told the story of Harper Roberts, a 30-something lawyer who cannot keep a relationship because men are intimidated by her intelligence and success in her career. To prove that it's not really her but her career that drives men out, she went out with different males and pretended that she's a dumb blonde instead of the hotshot attorney that she is. The men all fell for it/her. Duh! It's actually a silly book but it entertained me for some hours so no complaints here.

Have a good week ahead!