habemus papam!

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the cardinal from Argentina, was elected yesterday as the new pontiff to lead the Roman Catholic Church. Like other Filipinos around the world, a part of me was rooting for Archbishop Tagle...but honestly, I didn’t really think he would be chosen because of his young age and experience compared to the others.

reading "the richest man in babylon"

I haven’t been able to read much of The Richest Man in Babylon (I only get to read it on the bus in the mornings going to work), but from what I’ve read so far, there’s a whole lot of information and learnings you can get from it. Contrary to most financial self-help books, this is more like a novel with stories that you can learn from...a bit like parables or Aesop’s fables. It’s mostly about Arkad, and he teaches his fellow Babylonians the things he did to be able to become the richest man in Babylon.  The language used is a bit weird because it takes place during the ancient period, but it’s still pretty easy to understand.

Until now, I’ve only been able to read less than 60 pages, but this has already covered the lessons “A part of all you earn is yours to keep” and the “Seven Cures for a Lean Purse.”  These are explained in detail very simply throughout the stories, and when you read them, it’s like an eye-opener because you’ll realize that if you only had discipline, they’d be easy to follow. But of course, discipline is not enough. You need to know what you’re doing and where to keep your hard-earned money.

Just to give you an idea, the Seven Cures for a Lean Purse are:
   • Start thy purse to fattening
   • Control thy expenditures
   • Make thy gold multiply
   • Guard thy treasure from loss
   • Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment
   • Insure a future income
   • Increase thy ability to earn

Although I haven't read the entire book yet, I still highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be financially independent. Seriously, it’s really good. And if you would like to win a copy, just join my birthday giveaway. Now na! =)

dubai international boat show

It isn’t every day that we get the chance to visit exhibitions or shows in Dubai for free, so when one of our friends who works at DWTC said that she could give us passes to enter the International Boat Show, Hubby immediately told her to reserve tickets for us. 

We opted to visit last Saturday, and since it was the last day of the show, traffic was heavy going there and there were lots of visitors looking around. The public parking area near the venue was already full by the time we arrived at 5pm, so we had to park all the way at the other public parking area which was near Skydive Dubai. We didn’t mind much, though. The weather was cool and we enjoyed the views of the hotels and buildings we passed by on the way to the Dubai International Marine Club.

that's the famous Infinity Tower at the back

jellies and the jigsaw

The other evening, Hubby and I were invited to try the buffet dinner at Jigsaw Restaurant in Movenpick Hotel Deira. Since we didn’t want to go home after work and then leave the kids again, we decided to pass away the time at Deira City Centre.

As we were strolling around, we came upon Shoe Mart and I suddenly remembered that I needed a new pair of sandals, so into the shop we went. I saw a nice pair of jewelled Fit Flops, but they were out of my budget. Then I saw some jelly sandals that were studded with Swarovski-like crystals, and I instantly knew I had to buy a pair. I remember wearing jellies when I was a kid, and they were so comfortable! It was good to see them back in fashion again. Anyway, it took me some time to buy the sandals that night because I was stuck in choosing which color to get. Finally, I decided to go for the safest option: black.

gratitude

Several times during the day, I have to provide reports, information or documents to colleagues and bosses who require them from time to time, and I’ve long accepted that it’s part of my job as an HR and Administration Coordinator. Usually, after giving them whatever they requested, I often hear a simple “Thank you” or “Thanks.” Of course, I’m glad that they appreciate what I did for them (whether it took me lots of effort or not), because it’s definitely better than receiving no acknowledgement at all (which, unfortunately, happens).

the nihao kai-lan party she wanted

As planned, Caila celebrated her 4th birthday at school last Wednesday...and fortunately, she was happy. Well, she should be. My fingers hurt from cutting the toppers, bottle labels, and container labels, and my arms hurt from mixing and stirring the batter for the cupcakes because I still haven’t been able to convince Hubby to get me an electric mixer. I had been up late the night before baking the cupcakes, and I had to wake up early the next day for the nuggets and frosting of the cupcakes. But of course, all these aches and pains weren’t much and I forgot about how tired I was when I saw how cute the little table in the classroom looked with everything we had prepared and how happy our daughter was on her special day. Allow me to share my first semi-DIY birthday project.

birthday giveaway: the richest man in babylon

After work yesterday, Hubby and I, along with some of our friends, attended a seminar on Wealth Management. For someone who has absolutely no knowledge about investments, it was very interesting and gave me lots to think about the way we handle money and where we put it. The latter part of the seminar was a bit boring though, because of the terms that were being used which seemed like a foreign language, but at least Hubby understood what the speaker was saying.

Anyway, aside from the loads of helpful information we were able to take away from that seminar, we each received a goody bag containing a pretty notebook and pen, and a copy of George S. Clason’s book “The Richest Man in Babylon.”