Very wise marriage (or any relationship) advice

Rule #3

Don't take it personally.

Rule #2

Don't Panic.

Rule #1

I am responsible for my own happiness, just as everyone around me is responsible for his/her own, too.

It's about setting appropriate boundaries and not taking responsibility for other people's happiness, even when it's with the Most Important Person In The World to you. Some people are able to work through this process on their own, some with help from their support network, and others with the help of a therapist. But it requires a lot of self-confidence, self-worth, and perseverence to take this course of action. There's no guarantee that your other is going to come around. But you will have preserved your sanity and dignity with the knowledge that you can handle whatever comes next. Finally, this approach can be beneficial in all relationships you have with others: children, parents, friends, boss, etc.
*Credits to the comments on this article. I didn't like the article all that much but I'm glad to have picked out a few gems of advice from the comments.


P.S. And that is why I love The Hitchhiker's Guide all the more.
P.P.S. I think Rule #3 is the hardest to do.

Beautiful People

This is dedicated to Jersey Shore

Made me raff.

When in Japan...

The Generous Roll
Umewaka Restaurant, Aichi Prefecture
(source)

Let's have a sushi party!

Youtube feature here.

I just died from all the cuteness.

Photo by Reuters/China Daily

Panda cubs at Chengdu, China

Unconventional Floor Accents

Here's a round-up of unique floor accessories I came across on the web. Definitely made me look!

Pancake floor pillows

with pats of butter!

by Todd von Bastiaans
available here

La Luna rug

by nanimarquina
design by Oscar Tusquets

These next two items come from the Etsy shop Chic Sin Design Co.  All their items are pretty cool but these two are my favorite.

Topiary ball beanbag

.

Would be nice to have these in the office!
I can picture this in the waiting room.

Grizzly bear beanbag

How realistic looking is this?!

For Alma...

and something to think about in the future for Che. 

Birthwares poster

This is awe-inspiring. (Helen Keller & Anne Sullivan)

THE real Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan in this video. Wow.

I cannot comprehend being blind, deaf and mute. 

All those hurdles they've accomplished. 

Just wow.

And if you happen to watch the video over on YouTube, just save yourself a few seconds wasting your life and skip the comments. As usual, the YouTube comments are embarrassingly stupid. Way to go humanity. We are moving backwards.

Via Open Culture

Life

It's the little moments.

<3

Addicted to teeny Japanese rings

These are all so pretty! (Warning: Picture spam ahead.)

I'm not a jewelry type of person. In fact, I've never worn a ring in my life so I tend to favor discreet and very simple-looking rings like these.

Meteor Ring from Ahkah boutique

Sierra Nevada 2 from Aurora Gran

Ring round the moon drops from Aurora Gran

Claire cut ring from ete

Isola Square Ring 2 from Aurora Gran

Matte brown diamond ring from Aurora Gran

Yellow gold ball chain ring from nano.universe

They've got shitloads of other cute chain rings too, both on nano.universe and Aurora Gran. I never even knew those existed.

Petite diamond ring nebula 3 from Aurora Gran

Pinky ring from nano.universe

Lilith ring from Aurora Gran

Canopus MQ ring from Aurora Gran

Canopus MQ ring worn on hand ^^
So tiny and cute!

So the first time that I'll be wearing a ring is when Brian and I are engaged. How nifty is that! :)

Will have to re-watch this movie soon :)

Pretty funny.

On being child-free

I was quite absorbed in reading this Huffington Post article about childless couples as Brian and I are set on being child-free. It was truly a breath of fresh air to see in the comments that there are indeed lots of people who share our decision and it makes me feel less of a freak. 

In a lot of places all over the world, majority of the people want kids. It's also been practiced in culture that most marriages have offsprings. So it's understandable that a lot of people think and assume that for everyone it is marriage = babies, like what this one commenter said:

Generally the creation of children is the main reason people get married. If you're not planning on having kids, then why not just live together?

To which Brian responded:

A couple can "just live together" and still have children, too. The uterus does not require legal documentat­ion to ship its product.

As far as legal benefits go, both couples with and without children can legally benefit from being married - so I don't understand the idea of getting married if you plan to have children, and just living together if you don't.

It depends on how you regard the meaning of marriage. I believe a marriage is a formal commitment between two people to love each other, exclusivel­y, until death do them part. Not a formal commitment to make babies.

Indeed.

Here in the Philippines, even if you're single, heck, even if you're not in a relationship, people persuade you to have babies na! (Does this give away my age? Hehe.) They would push the idea on you that a) you should get married so you can have kids and/or b) it's your life dream to have babies. I'm already bracing myself for more comments like those once Brian and I are married.

People need to be more broad-minded about this stuff. That there are people who choose to be child-free. It's a preference. It's a life decision. It's our life decision, not theirs. For some couples, children are just not essential. 

Awww doggies!

Photo credits: Carli Davidson

Photographer Carli Davidson did a fantastic series of photos of dogs shaking off water. The result is adorable with a little bit of creepiness mixed in. I highly approve! I looove dogs. 

Don't miss out on the rest of the shaky dog pics and view them here. :)

Raining

Cinemagraph by Jamie @ From Me To You

Kinda how Metro Manila is this past week. Kinda.

More about Jamie Beck here. 

Another Year

This movie sucks you in. We have recently watched this and I can say I wholeheartedly recommend it. It's weird because the story is nothing more than a snapshot of a year in the life of an old couple and their friends and relatives. Sounds boring really but it sucks you in and keeps you interested from beginning to end. The storytelling was really good and all of the actors were seriously good.

OK so we can't keep up a blog...

Blogging fail! I've decided to take over this blog and just post whatever I want. It's about time to accept that we can't put in the effort and time in upkeeping a themed blog. So from now on this blog is going to be random.

Hi Ivy!!! You are our only reader. Hehehe. I am going to apologize to you now that the quality of the blog goes downhill from here. Sori. But then again, I don't think there was quality to begin with. Ha.

A picture says a lot

Something that is reeeeally hard not to do.

But in the end, it's very much worth it.

The Sanctity of Marriage

I stumbled upon this thought-provoking blog post in my Google Reader the other day. It presented the idea of people in a marriage having an agreement that the man gets to sleep with a woman other than the wife provided that he pays the wife a million dollars.

That is just absurd. What is the whole point of marriage for them? It sounds like it was one big business transaction from the start. It's insulting the way he uses words like "marriage", "in love", and "wife". That is not a marriage. That's not being in love. I guess that's how he views wives. It's truly disheartening.

This video clip of him guesting on Jimmy Kimmel caught my attention. His being "in love" with his "wife" is not laudable. Neither is his 50-year "marriage". It's not something to be proud of. I just don't get it.

I really think people should start fussing over heterosexual unions more rather than getting their panties in a bunch over gay marriage.This world is just twisted.

 

How to Care for Introverts

I found this list floating around the internet and it was an interesting read for me. I can relate because I consider myself an introvert. I am sure Brian is an introvert too. Some of these points sound like they’re geared towards raising kids but most of them apply to the general introvert populace. 

The title is a bit weird to me like introverts are some kind of pet or special people. It makes me think about things like “How to care for your indoor plant”. That’s just probably me. Being an introvert is perfectly normal, as being an extrovert is too. It just comes down to being aware that there are different kinds of people and respecting those differences.

The Good Kind of Clingy

Arlene and I have been together for 4 years and I enjoy doing everything with her—eating, sleeping, scratching my itchy sphincter—everything! We both do. We try our best to spend all of our free time together. Some people call couples like us “clingy”—and they say it like it's a bad thing. But we love it.

We think the word “clingy” deserves a second chance; a rebirth, in a positive light, so mutually needy people like us can describe our relationship with accuracy and pride: hell yeah we're clingy! But, you know, clingy in a good way.

What is the good kind of clingy?

• Never wanting to be apart because being together is just too much fun.
• Never needing space because there's always room for two.
• Wanting to share everything, no matter how boring or trivial.
• Feeling comfortable enough that you never need alone time, because you never feel awkward, self-conscious, or embarrassed around your partner and you never want to hide things from them.

Being clingy is not for everyone but hopefully your level of desired clinginess will match your partner's. Otherwise, problems could arise. If that happens just remember: it's no one's fault. You're just different people with different personalities.