Custom Wine Gift Basket

Do you often give wine to your friend? Giving wine has been customary to people around the world. And what best accompanies the wine-- is the custom wine gift basket perfect for the occasion. As we know, wine offers a lot of benefits towards our health. It is also best to drink it with your favorite steak.

People give custom wine gift basket to their friends, family members, or business partners because it can add to ones appetite. In addition, Europeans consider wine as food itself. European meal often consists of cheese, bread, and crackers plus a bottle of wine. Dining will never be complete without a bottle of red or white wine to compliment the meal.

Making the Occasion Special through the Wine Gift Basket

On special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, or holidays, people always consider having a wine basket. This will eventually turn a normal gathering into a very special one. It is also best to include a nice bottle of champagne and a set of champagne glasses to married couple who are celebrating their anniversary.

Giving Personal Touch to a Custom Gift Wine

People, these days, are very busy working or studying. Receiving a personalized gift is something to be cherished. So why not personalized your wine basket?


The custom wine gift basket merchants offer a wide array of items that you can pick and choose the ones you would like to include in the basket. A little time spent in picking the items that your recipient wants to receive will make that person happy. If your child would like to give her teacher a gift on Christmas day, you can choose items that the teachers need. Examples of these items are pen, make-up kit, lipstick, etc.

Writing the name of the receiver on the gift basket is another personal touch that you would like to include. This will allow the person to enjoy the wine gift basket more. On some special occasions, adding the name, logo or the picture of the company can make it more personalized. It could be very expensive, but it can also be reduced when choosing small bottle quantities.

Giving a Wine Gift That Will Be Remembered

It is very important that people would know the likes and dislikes of the recipient of the custom wine gift basket. Knowing their hobbies or interests will help you personalized the wine gifts items. It will also be easier to ask a mutual friend to know the interests of the recipient. So, what are you waiting for? Show your care by giving a personalized wine gift basket.

Technology... a social transformation

Technology has primarily been one of the agents of social transformation in the Filipino society. Without it, life will not be as easy as we have right now. We will be able to know people around the globe in just one click. It encourages people to be more interactive and pro-active. With technology, Philippines will be transformed into a first world country.

The government should help the society become a computer literate. Seminars and workshops should be organized to help achieve the goal. Each LGU or Local Government Unit should group the best IT practitioners in their city. Then, they will organize computer literacy workshops for the young people and the out-of-school youth (OSY). As a result, these young people will use their knowledge in managing the technology.


After the workshop, the government will encourage the out-of-school youth to create their own blog account. They should write articles about the Philippines. These articles will be based on the the culture of the country. They will also talk about the lifestyle they practiced in their own city or town. Some of them can also write about the history, legend, and myths of their places. Eventually, the people around the country or world will be able to read how people from Visayas or Mindanao live. While reading the articles posted in the blog, people from the different parts of the country will be able to see and experience events such as the Dinagyang Festival, Ati-atihan, or Sinulog Festival.


The government will then challenge the people to spread their blog in the different sites of the world wide web. They can post their blog sites in Twitter, Multiply, Facebook, Myspace, etc. The government can also help them by hosting a site where they can promote their blog. Eventually, they will be able to gain rewards from their labor. Without going to a formal school, they can earn money from the internet. Some youth who have gone through a formal IT schooling can propagate their skills, they can earn a huge amount of money without leaving the comforts of their home by creating websites, designing webs, or making a blogger account.


Lastly, through these innovations, the Filipino people will be well-known around the world. Since they saw articles and pictures of the Dinagyang festival on the internet, they could not help, but go to Iloilo to experience the festival first hand. They will also realize that Philippines is not a dangerous country to live in and invest their money with. They will also see how happy, kind, generous, and hospitable Filipinos are.


In conclusion, the technology will help our country lead a road to success.

Cruising in the Manila Bay

Are you looking for a romantic place to bring your wife/husband or your best pal? Why don't you bring her/him to a cruising in the Manila Bay? Check out the picture below:





How to get there?

The Metro Star Ferry is located on the left side of Mall of Asia. It's right beside a church.

How much is it?

You can have a one hour ride for only Php 120.00 per person. It also includes a 5-10 minutes fireworks display.

When and what time should I go there?

To enjoy the fireworks display, you should go there on Friday or Saturday night. At least be there by 6pm even if the ferry leaves at 7pm. Since Friday is a "gimik" day and Saturday is a family day, we can expect many people who would like to experience the same scenery as above.


Perks

I think the best experience I had was watching the enormous fireworks. It was life in heaven for me. I couldn't just sit quietly, but I kept on saying WOW!! for about 5 minutes or so. It will really be romantic if you're with a special someone. As I see the couples riding with us, they were so happy looking at the glimmering stars and showers of fireworks on top of us.

Disadvantages

Hmmm...it's not really a disadvantage, but I think after watching the fireworks for 5-10 minutes, you'll find yourself tongue-tied. It was like the series of events have ended without even feeling it. Are you getting me? xoxo


Conclusion

I would like to rate this cruising 8/10. I think the management should try to think of some ways to improve the cruise. I mean, they could organize some activities, because I really felt dizzy doing nothing. Besides cam-whoring, we can only sing with the music aired. In fairness, the collection of songs were my favorite. XOXO

Congratulations Vs Best Wishes

Recently, I have several friends who were getting married, so I have this dilemma of how to greet them properly. Should I say CONGRATULATIONS to both of them, or BEST WISHES? The customary form we were used to use in the Filipino culture was saying BEST WISHES to a couple who have just gotten married. However, we may find a difference between them.

Saying BEST WISHES should only be used for the BRIDE while CONGRATULATIONS should be used for the GROOM. We often use CONGRATULATIONS to someone who just won something or was presented an award. Therefore, we say CONGRATULATIONS to the GROOM for winning the BRIDE'S heart. Thus, the wedding happened.

Anyway, this idea has been used by old English. To avoid the confusion, we could just greet the newly wed... BEST WISHES!

Hope you were able to get it. :-P

EFL games

Having taught English for 7 years enabled me to be a hyperactive individual. I often like to use varied exercises to help my students learn English in a fun and effective way. From now on, I will be introducing some games that I have been using in my EFL/ESL classes.

The Boat is Sinking
Objective: To encourage the students to move and explore the room. To make the students feel at ease.

Procedure: T will announce the rules of the game. T says: "If I say, the boat is sinking, group yourselves according to your birth month, you should move around and search for this person of the same birth month."
Game starts: T says: The boat is sinking, group yourselves according to your favorite color. (other options: favorite dish, actress/actor, etc).


Show and Tell
Objective: To encourage the students to speak freely.

Procedure: Teacher will pick an item from her bag. Whatever it is that she will pick, she has to describe herself in 2-3 sentences. She has to use adjectives, nouns, etc to describe herself using the item. She will also ask the students to follow.


NB: You may revise these games to suit your students' needs. Feel free to PM me or send a comment. Happy teaching! :)

60% of Twitter Users Quit Within the First Month

60% of Twitter Users Quit Within the First Month

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California Maki

I love eating, so cooking is my forte. Since I became so engrossed about the Japanese culture, it lead me also to love Japanese food. Because delicious Japanese foods are very expensive, I tried to learn making some. One of them is California Maki. How to make it? It's as easy as 1-2-3! Here's how~~

Ingredients:
10 sheets Nori or Dried Seaweed (choose the not toasted and unsalted one)
Cucumber (cut into strips)
2 eggs (beaten)
1 can Century Tuna
3 slices of cooked Hawaiian Ham (cut into strips)
3 cups Japanese Rice
a pc of mango (cut into strips)
a half bar of cheese (cut into strips)
Sesame oil
salt
pepper
Japanese Mayonnaise (you can buy this in the imported section of the supermarket)
Kikoman


Procedure:
1. Cook the 3 cups of rice in a rice cooker.
2. While cooking the rice, beat the egg in a separate bowl, add seasoning to taste.
Heat the Teflon pan, pour the mixed egg. Fold the egg twice to create an elongated shape. Cut into strips and set aside.
3. When the rice has cooked, pour 2-3 tbsp of sesame oil to assure its stickiness. Let it warm for while.
4. Next, toast the dried seaweed for a few second in a low heat. You may use the open stove to do this. Make sure that the dried seaweed is crisp, but not brown.
5. Set the sushi rolling mat on a flat table, place the toasted dried seaweed on top and put 2 servings of rice, flatten the rice on the toasted dried seaweed.
6. Put your desired combination e.g. tuna + cucumber + cheese / mango; ham + cucumber + cheese / mango; egg + cucumber + cheese / mango.
7. Roll them using the sushi rolling mat. Make sure that you won't tear the roll apart.
8. Repeat the same procedure. After, cut the roll and you will have your instant California Maki. :)
9. Serve it in a serving dish together with the mayonnaise and kikoman.


---please don't forget to leave your comments! :) goodluck!

Bible Relfection: April 29, 2009

Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. – Acts 8:4

When Margaret first came to the U. S., she didn’t speak English well. She needed money so she went out looking for a job. She lied about her age so she could be hired as a waitress. After going through several jobs, she became the head waitress at a vegetarian hotel in New York.

She took up law and after graduating in 1976, she found it difficult to find a good job. She was Asian and there were very few Asian women practicing law. She got fired several times but each time she learned something. Now, she is a successful immigration lawyer and has her own law firm.

In today’s first reading, a severe persecution of the church broke out in Jerusalem. The Christians were scattered “throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.” But their sufferings brought about the spreading of the Gospel.

We may not understand why things happen. They may appear to be tragedies or misfortunes but God can bring good out of it in order to fulfill His purposes. We just have to trust His heart for He knows what’s best. Judith Concepcion

REFLECTION:
Are you suffering right now? Maybe God is working something in you. He will bring great results out of your suffering.
Lord, help me to trust in You even if I do not see what lies ahead.

Free Sample Tests for the IELTS Speaking

Part 1
Are you living in a flat or a house?
What does your house look like?
What can you see on the wall of your room?
How often do you use the internet?

Part 2
Describe an old person that you know.
You should say:
Who is he or she?
What do you know about the person’s life?
When did you first see the old person?

Part 3
Nowadays our life span is getting longer. What makes it longer?
Do you think elderly is afraid to become old?
Why do you think people want to live longer?


Part 1
What do you usually do on weekends?
How often do you write a handwritten letter?

Part 2
Describe an admirable person that you know.
You should say:
Who he or she is?
How did he or she influence you?
How did you meet him or her?

Part 3
Have you ever met a celebrity?
What type of person gets respect from others?
Who is the most respected young adult in your country these days?



Good luck! If you need a coach, please contact me in SKYPE: kristine886

How to defeat the time constraints in IELTS test!

In the IELTS test, time is your enemy. Candidates who have taken the test and did not perform as well as they had hoped often complain that they were unable to give all the answers in the Listening Test because the tape was too fast, and that they ran out of time in the Reading Test.

To begin with, do not worry if you do not finish the tests. Remember, the test is designed to measure candidates over a range of scores from 0 to 9 (0 indicates the test was not attempted). Candidates whose English is near perfect can expect to score 9, but even native English-speaking people would be unlikely to complete every Listening Test answer perfectly or finish the Reading Test a long time before the examination ends. Remember, the test is meant to be challenging.

The IELTS test measures many aspects of your English ability including the speed at which you listen, read, write, speak, and think in English. Your personal speed is not something which changes a great deal from day to day, but does change considerably over a longer period of time, as a direct result of practice in working with the English language.

Your personal speed and ability in the 5 areas previously mentioned is pretty well fixed at any given time. The official IELTS Band Scores you receive are extremely accurate, since each test is trialled extensively to achieve standardized results for candidates at all English levels. Nonetheless, there are certainly many things you can do, before and on the day of the test, to help maximize the use of your time and give yourself the best chance of success.

Consider the following situation: although a racing car cannot go faster than its maximum speed, the race can still be won, and its maximum speed maintained for longer, if an expert driver is at the wheel. An expert racing car driver will:

• … spend a great deal of time practicing at the wheel before race day
• … visit the track so that he or she knows where to go and what to expect
• … get enough sleep before the day of the big race
• … eat a good breakfast on race day morning;
• … check his or her watch constantly to monitor the car’s progress
• … keep moving along the track and not get stuck on a bad corner
• … breathe long and deeply to relax and keep the oxygen going to the brain
• … drink water (but not too much!) when the car is at the pit-stop.

The Listening, Reading, and Writing Tests are given in that order, and are usually held on a single morning. The combined length of those three tests is 2 hours and 30 minutes. (The Speaking Test is conducted at an appointed time in the afternoon.) Only one short break is given between the Reading and Writing Tests, so you need to be at your best for a long period of time, which is why you must sleep and eat well before the test. The hints and guidelines in this book should help you achieve your “maximum speed”. The more effort you put in, the faster your personal speed will be on the day. INCREASE YOUR SENTENCE READING SPEED
The faster and more accurately you read, the more questions you will be able to answer. In all the tests, the instructions, the example, and the questions themselves need to be read quickly, and must be well understood in order for you to have more time to find the answers. It pays to increase your overall reading speed.

To increase your reading speed, you must learn to read in groups of words that form logical units of thought within sentences. Look at the following sentence:

Britain has been a popular choice for thousands of international students over many years

Notice how you can think of the sentence as being made up of 3 main parts:

1. Britain has been a popular choice (What and where?)

2. … for thousands of international students (Who for?)

3. … over many years. (When?)

Note also, that in this case (and many others) all the phrases answer wh/how questions. It may be helpful at first to think of wh/how questions when trying to read in phrases.

If you read each word in a sentence one at a time, you will read very slowly and most likely misunderstand the meaning of much of what you read. So read your sentences in phrases by considering all the words of a phrase as a single unit.

Notice how much quicker it is to read the sentence, and how the meaning of what you say is more clear. Practice reading in phrases everyday. Look ahead on the page as you read, and always aim to find logical places in the sentences where phrases begin and end. Note also that there is often more than one solution as to where the logical breaks between phrases occur within sentences.

Read faster by reading words in groups that form logical units of thought

DEVELOP A MEMORY FOR ENGLISH
In the Reading Test, it pays to remember as much as you can of what you have just read, but at least the words can be read again. However, in the Listening Test you cannot go back, and the tape is only played once. If the answer comes before the keyword/phrase, your memory of what you have just heard is even more important. Nevertheless, the answer usually follows the keywords/phrases that you hear, and is close in time to the main keyword/phrase you are listening for.

To improve your “English memory”, try the following exercise. Using the pause button on the tape recorder, repeat the sentences spoken in the passages on the audio cassette tape that comes with this book, gradually increasing the length of what you repeat. Do not worry about repeating the exact words. Simply aim to remember more of what you have heard.

I agree that time constraint is a big problem. I think one can handle listening test if they can hear without any tension. Even If you miss one or two points, keep listening without getting distracted. Because once you think about something else, you will miss out everything that comes behind it. So you will end up loosing may be 10 answers for missing only 2 answers.
So stay cool while listening.

How Overall IELTS Band Score is calculated

How Overall IELTS Band Score is calculated

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IELTS Writing - half-band scores

IELTS Writing - half-band scores

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"James Mark Salarda's Mind Series"

Let me share these art collection of my friend, James Mark Salarda. It was supposed to be posted long long time ago, but I didn't have time to do it. Please feel free to comment if you like the pieces. Have known this artist for a long time, so I can say that he is such a genius! ^_^

"Mindful"

"Mind Set"

"Mind scape"

"Mind's Eye"

On losing something I behold

Yesterday, amidst the help we extended at the Sapang Palay in Bulacan, I was slowly losing my precious voice. Imagine hearing the croak of a frog, that's how I sounded. This event in my life must be avoided. As much as possible, I should not let myself be succumbed by lost of voice. I am a teacher by profession. Even on vacation time like this, I still have tutorial classes. I am also teaching English online. Basically, my voice is my bread and butter. If not for my precious voice, I will not be able to live accordingly. I will not be able to provide food on my family's table nor enjoy the luxury of talking. Moreover, it's a great challenge for me to become mute all day. You can never see me quiet unless I opt not to talk. You can seldom see me sitting on the side rails and contemplate on whatever people are doing around me. Well, talking is my passion. It will never be a luxury to me. Now that I lost it, I seemed to lose something very very important and dear to me. How can I meet friends today without talking to them? How can I teach my students online if their teacher is croaking like a frog? Teaching online can never be like teaching students face to face. You cannot use actions. Students rely on my voice to hear the correct sound of /f/, /v/, /r/,/l/. See? It's quite complicated if I will just let them talk and won't be correcting their mistakes. How can learning occur in that regard? Since they paid me to teach them one of the most difficult macro skills in the communicative approach, the payment will just be in futile. In addition, I am also teaching a student one on one. Having a voice is more convenient for both of us because I am teaching her Speech. It will be very difficult for her to understand the correct sound of /th/. /sh/, and /ch/ if she cannot hear it correctly from me. Even if I use actions to send my message to her, she could not understand it because she's an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) student. I wonder how it will be, so I have to cancel it.

In conclusion, I felt immobile. I cannot meet my appointment today. I cannot hold classes online or offline. I cannot speak for the whole day.

Welcome!

It's been a while since I've written something here. Kinda missed it.
Had been very busy for the past few days that my heart aches every time I hear people talking about writing and blogging.
Now, will my heart bleed? Nah~ :D

Oh, I'll be in Sapang Palay, Bulacan tomorrow to have a medical mission together with my brothers and sisters in Ang Lingkod ng Panginoon.

Here's our invitation:
I pray that we will be able to have a good weather tomorrow. May the good Lord in His goodness bless us a sunny weather and a beautiful day as we serve our deprived brothers and sisters in Sapang Palay. To God be the glory!

On LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA

Loving someone-- a complex thing to do. A mixture of feeling that one has to endure. Whether it can be intoxicating, joyful, melancholic, or a little of everything.


The book reminded me of the time I began to feel a foreign emotion clinging in my innermost being... unexplainable and profound. An inspiration that brought so much joy in my life.


How I dealt with it, like any girls of my age, I embraced it lightly~ until I almost suffocated myself with intoxication. A love that was never returned. Like a letter brought back to its sender. A nauseating feeling that made me vomit bucketful of tears.




My experience of love was like the three characters that Gabriel Garcia Marquez created in his novel. My first encounter of love was like Florentino Ariza. Loving someone like there's no end-- forever faithful, everlasting. When I love, I gave my all. I've exhausted everything to this single person, expecting similar feeling from him. In end, it was all futile, unfulfilled. The second time love knocked, it was like Dr. Juvenal Urbino. A person who will give all the material things he have, just to let the person feel how he loved her. Despite all these, his love was not satiated. Lastly, loving like Fermina Daza. To love someone who can give her security; love that will become her shield, armor, and protector; and love that will give her peace, calmness, and a taste of heaven.


All of these experiences in love, I had put them in an open case. I might need one of them again someday, but I hope it won't happen. I would like to love purely, behold it tightly, and live with it until my last breath.

How to Cut your own hair

I always feel lazy going to the salon to have my hair cut. Recently, the classes have just ended and I need to get a hair cut. However, due to financial and time constraint, I decided to cut my own hair. Here's how it looked like.

FROM THIS...

TO THIS....



How to get this bangs? Here are the tips:

First, get a sharp pair of scissors and a thin comb. Second, comb your hair exposing the part that you desire to cut. Third, raise your hair up using the thin comb. Fourth, cut the desired part from above. If you want to get the "Asian look" like Geum Jandi of Boys over flowers drama, comb your hair side ways and put some hair cream.

Okay, just email me so that I can give you a more profound description. :D