Awhile back in early 2011, my office wanted to interview people that had bizarre or unusual pets for an article in our campuses monthly newsletter. I contacted them, but the idea got put on hold because our campus relocated to Center City Philadelphia.

So, in February I was contacted again by one of the reporters that work's on the newsletter. He really wanted to do the story, but use my pet rats (I had 12 when the article was written, I now own 10 rats) as the feature story. What really intrigued them, was that I had adopted 7 rats from Star's Rat Rescue in South Dakota and that the rats had traveled 1,500 miles.

I was interviewed about my own pet rats and about rat rescues in general. 5,000 employees at our Philadelphia Campus will be able to read the article. It just came out in our April newsletter & I scanned in a copy to share with you all. I was super happy to get Star's Rat Rescue & our local rat rescue in Philadelphia, (Rat Chick Rescue) mentioned in the article! This was a great opportunity to share about pet rats & pet rat adoption in a positive light!

I got my Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W570 last July. I've only had it 8 months. My flash hasn't been working for a week. No matter what setting, no matter what light condition, even if I have the flash setting permanently on. Nothing. If I try taking a picture with all the lights off, no flash then either. Not even resetting the camera back to the factory settings worked. I just didn't have a flash... arrgh. It's frustrating because this camera isn't even a year old yet. I've never really had a bad experience with Sony cameras, until now.

I contacted Sony support and luckily my camera is still under warranty. So I packed it up and sent it off all insured to be repaired, no cost. (Thank goodness I still had my original box & proof of purchase from Amazon). Hopefully it doesn't take too long to get it back. And hopefully whatever is wrong with my flash can be fixed.

Pandora Radio has been bad for me. I'll get a song stuck in my head and I then I have to go looking on Amazon.com for the song so I can buy it, (because of course Pandora won't play it again right away!) So I've accumulated a mix called my 'Train Commute Mix', that I listen to sometimes during my one hour commute to work, when I'm not listening to Pandora.

I thought I'd share my playlist and what I'm listening to lately. It's got a little of everything. Some are older songs and some are new. (You can click the links to preview the songs on Amazon).

1. I Don't Wanna Be In Love (Dance Floor Anthem)- Good Charlotte  

2. Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)- Kelly Clarkson   

3. Part Of Me- Katy Perry

4. Blow- Ke$ha   

5. I Kissed A Girl- Katy Perry

6. Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)- Katy Perry

7. Teenage Dream- Katy Perry   

8. Firework- Katy Perry

9. Hey, Soul Sister- Train   

10. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

11. Here Is Gone - Goo Goo Dolls   

12. Jumper- Third Eye Blind   

13. Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind   

14. Never Let You Go - Third Eye Blind

15. Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)- Nine Days

16. Buddy Holly- Weezer   

17. Island In The Sun- Weezer   

18. Faint- Linkin Park

19. Shadow Of The Day- Linkin Park   

20. Leave Out All The Rest- Linkin Park   

(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!) 

P.S. I'm still on bedrest, but I'm feeling much better than I did last week. Last Fri-Mon I was in horrible pain with my back and I needed help from my husband just to get out of bed to use the bathroom. I'm still sore, but the steroids are definitely working and I should be back at work on Monday. I need to get a little pillow from Walmart so I can put it behind my back. Our office chairs are uncomfortable.

I hurt my lower back again end of the last week. :-( Ever since I hurt my back in November/December 2010, I've had issues with it. My back is always sore at the end of my work day and commute home. And now I've re-injured it...

I was lucky to get into my doctor this morning around 10:30am. He has me on methylprednisolone & extra strength Tylenol. I took the same medicine when I injured my back before and I remember the steroids were like a magic drug and that the pain went away pretty fast. Right now it's really painful for me to sit/stand/walk, etc. I have horrible pain when I have to roll over or get out of bed too. Ugh. Hoping I feel better soon!

My doctor wants me on light bed rest all week. (I can only get up to shower/bathroom or get a meal). I really didn't have a lot of leave left at work, so it looks like a few of the days I will have to use leave without pay... which really really sucks.

I never took pictures of the floral Target placemats I ordered. When they arrived, instead of being black & white... they turned out to be black and frosted clear; (That was not mentioned on Target's website) Clear did not work with our dark wood dining room table. The design did not show up well at all...

I didn't want to return them because I really liked the design, so I've been trying to find something to go underneath them. We finally found white contact paper at Dollar Tree. So I sat down and put contact paper onto the back of each placemat. (Was that ever tedious, lol!) Now the color is showing up how I wanted it to. Black & White. Plus the contact paper can be cleaned with soap & water. :-)

The lamps I ordered from Target arrived the other day. Only when I opened the box. Instead of two of the same exact lamp. I had two very different damask lampshades. One was smaller and more narrow, the other was like the picture on Target's website, bigger & rounder with gray around the damask pattern. They looked pretty stupid standing next to each other when I wanted two matching lamps.

I took the lamps to our Target to exchange, but they had to do them as a return. They gave me a Target giftcard with my refunded balance. Luckily they had the same lamps in stock so I was able to pick out two matching shades this time. And I did see that more narrow damask shade there. So to anyone buying two of these damask lamps online- just be aware you may get two different style shades and you may have to return them! (The model number for both of the lamps with different lampshades were exactly the same too!)






I got some really cute aqua & black & white baskets at Dollar Tree. I put them on our entertainment stand to organize things.


 I also found these really gorgeous turquoise pillows at Target. They weren't on sale, but I really loved them and there were just 2 left. I got both of them to put on our black & white chairs in the living room.


I looked all over Target's website. But apparently they aren't selling this pillow anymore. The turquoise damask is a velvet material. (The UPC is: 065153726 18x18).

I made Pancit Canton tonight with some of the goodies I bought from Phil-Am Foods. (Pancit in the Philippines, reminds me of American/Chinese lo mein in the USA.) 

No carrots in our version though, they aren't my husband's favorite, hehe. Instead we had, chicken, shrimp, quail eggs, cabbage, onions & baby corn pieces. We still have leftovers. :-)


Things I purchased from Phil-Am Foods to make the Pansit:

Pancit Canton Seasoning

Pancit Canton Noodles

Quail Eggs

I have an obsession with damask patterns. Especially white & black damask. I think it's elegant & regal. (My Tudor Dynasty obsession probably fuels that). 

I ordered damask patterned dishes from Target not that long ago. (I still want to order 1 more set of those when we have a little extra $$$).

I've had these damask lamps from Target on my wish list for awhile. They were originally $19.99, but they went on sale for $15.99 so I ordered two. :-) I'm not sure if we'll put them in the living room or our bedroom. We only have one table lamp in our bedroom at the moment.


As you can see from my Pinterest boards: Home Decor & Kitchen Decor. (I have pinned & notated items we own). We've got a black & white and aqua theme going on in our house. (See: Ikea loot post).

I also recently got these cute aqua owls on Etsy. They are in our living room.

Today is my 4 year anniversary of blogging! I started 'Tunay Na Mahal' back on March 17th, 2008! It's been a space for me to share my long distance relationship, our immigration process, life in Philadelphia, travels to the Philippines; my pets & things I love!


P.S. Please check out these items I'm selling on Ebay!

We ordered some more Philippine goodies from Phil-Am Food the other day. They are always super quick with shipping... (but then again New Jersey is pretty close to Philadelphia). ;-) I put in our order on Sunday and our items arrived this morning. I always loved shopping in the supermarkets in the Philippines, and I'm always excited to try foreign foods. Hubby & I ordered lot's of goodies! It was like Christmas today!

All our goodies!

THE BEST coffee EVER!

Salted eggs are soooo good!