I just love my notebook planner and my desktop planner!  Because I took time to buy both last year, I am now able to keep track of my activities, appointments, tasks, errands, and even my expenses.

I scanned the entries in my planners earlier and I was all smiles because I was reminded of all the things I did in the past 20 days- the movies I watched, the places I’ve been to, the books I read, and even my mood when I wrote the entries.  It’s like reliving the experiences all over again.

Here are the highlights of  my life for the first 20 days of 2010:

• Blog Updates.  I have updates at Han Mania, this blog (obviously!), Losing 30 Pounds, and Ward Class.  I also wrote a couple of articles for Lyle’s nursing blog,  Pinoy R.N.
• New Blogs. Finally, the blogging projects have materialized.  I have added Asian Fashion Trends and Get Prettified! to my growing list of blogs.
• Blogging-related meetings.  Davao Bloggers and Avatar Media have started the ball rolling.  2010 will definitely be a fun year.
• Failed Purchase. I purchased the Torque DL85, something I regret doing.
• New pet.  I will never forget the day Babbit, my dwaejji-tokki (Pig Rabbit) finally arrived.  But I wonder if my pet rock, Peeball,  is the least bit happy.
• Movie marathons.  Thanks to Lyle, I watched Bride Wars, Frequency, Rounders, and 17 again.  At home, I watched He’s Just Not That Into You and Spread and have replayed a couple of scenes more than twenty times.  I really need more of Justin Long, Matt Damon, and Ashton Kutcher!  Also, throw in Zac Efron…wait, is he even  legal?
• American Idol Season 9.  Finally, the show’s on again.  I love the fact that I’ll have my weekly dose of Simon Cowell.
• Ebooks and Audiobooks.  I finished reading Harvard Lampoon’s Nightlight and found it quite entertaining.  It is a parody of Meyer’s Twilight so I don’t think you’ll enjoy the read if you haven’t read the cheesiest vampire novel ever written. I also started on Skinny Bitch but for some reason, I fall asleep after a few pages.
• Health & Fitness pact.  A couple of days ago, I forged a badminton pact with blogger friends.  We promised to play badminton 1 to 2 times per week.  We already had our first 2-hour badminton session last January 19 and so far, we are loving it.  I am also sticking to a personal No Red Meat policy because I really want to be healthier this year.

In a nutshell, it has been a good start for me.  There were significant lows these past 20 days but I refuse to mope or wallow in dejection.  I know there are times when people thrive on drama and all the emo stuff and I have done that. But for this year, I choose to be happy, proactive, and optimistic despite the setbacks.

The First 20 Days of 2010 is an article originally published at Blogging Frenzy. For news and updates on fashion, beauty and lifestyle visit Get Prettified!.

I signed up with audible.com and was given a free book credit. And since I had the opportunity to download an audiobook for free (limited to 1 credit only), I immediately searched the site for familiar book titles from familiar authors.

I thought of audiobooks included in the Malory Saga by Johanna Lindsey. Although I have read the paperbacks years ago and I do have the ebooks in my Stanza library, listening to audiobooks is a different, better experience. Why Johanna Lindsey? Well, every female in my age bracket must’ve read at least one of Johanna Lindsey’s Malory novels. Johanna Lindsey is a really good storyteller, if you dig historical romance, that is.

I had to consult an online Malory family tree to help me decide which Malory novel audiobook to download. It was a choice between The Present and A Loving Scoundrel. The Present is the story of Jason Malory, the eldest of the Malory siblings; A Loving Scoundrel is about Jeremy, the son of James Malory. Alas, a tough decision had to be made so I went for A Loving Scoundrel for two reasons: the book cover is prettier, and Jeremy Malory is the most lovable among the Malory men.

I listened to A Loving Scoundrel and finished the first chapter before I drifted off to sleep. I think Laura Merlington did a good job as the narrator but Ilyana Kadushin is still my favorite narrator. I always listen to Ilyana Kadushin’s narration of the Twilight audiobooks and it has become a bedtime habit. I can’t explain it but something in her raspy voice lulls me to sleep. I know, I Know. It’s a very weird choce for a lullabye. And more than that, I am too old to even need one.

Audiobook: A Loving Scoundrel by Johanna Lindsey is an article originally published at Blogging Frenzy. For news and updates on fashion, beauty and lifestyle visit Get Prettified!.

Stanza

I have Stanza on my iPod Touch and for the past few days, I have been expanding my Stanza library. And this experience of building, organizing, and accessing a growing electronic book library is pure bliss for a quasi-bibliophile like me.

For those who haven’t heard about this wonderful, wonderful application for the iPhone/iPod Touch, Stanza is a revolutionary ebook reader that allows users to customize font sizes and colors, background colors, hyphenation, page orientation, line spacing, justification, and even page turn effects. Customizing Stanza for a hassle-free eading experience is so easy, imagine changing your reader’s settings by simply tapping the Settings icon. I have tried experimenting with different fonts, font sizes, and font and background colors and it was fun.

Since Stanza has cover flow, browsing through my ebook library is like browsing through songs in my music library. And adding/editing a cover image is as no-sweat as adding album art. I also love the fact that it allows sorting of books according to author, title, date added, and subject and lets me build collections within my library and create reading lists. It also allows bookmarking and automatically loads the last book I read each time I launch the app. Intuitive, huh?

This app allows users to download ebooks from a built-in online catalog. While not all downloads are free, I can still choose from a vast collection of free ebooks from Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks, Munseys, Harlequin, and Random House Free Library. I have downloaded a number of classics and collections for free– complete with book covers!

Furthermore, since I have an existing collection of ebooks in my laptop, I can share them with my iPod Touch library using a free application called Stanza Desktop. However, I need to have wireless connection to enable sharing but once the ebooks are in my iPod Touch Stanza library, I can access them wirelessly 24/7.

Stanza Desktop supports most file formats and allows users to export ebooks to a range of formats. Most of my ebooks are in PDF format so what I do is export them to eReader format before adding them to my Stanza library. Stanza supports PDF but I prefer the “look and feel” of eReader.

I now have 28 book titles in my Stanza library and although I can add dozens more, I have decided to take it slow lest I be overhelmed. I will be adding more books by Jude Deveraux, Julie Garwood, and Johanna Lindsey but in the meantime, it will be a collection of Nancy Drew Mystery Stories for me.

Expanding My Ebook Library with Stanza is an article originally published at Blogging Frenzy. For news and updates on fashion, beauty and lifestyle visit Get Prettified!.

I have a copy of the first two volumes of the Hana Yori Dango manga because its strong cult following really heightened my curiosity. I am not really into this manga thing so after downloading it, I didn’t really know what to do with it.

I learned from the site where I downloaded the manga that I need to have a manga reader  to be able to read the comics so I installed a comic book reader . And then I decided that I didn’t really want to read comics on my laptop so I uninstalled the manga reader altogether (might have changed my mind if it’s a netbook I had).

I searched for an iPhone/iPod manga converter and I found a couple of converters with good reviews but I didn’t want to install another application on my iPod Touch. And then, in one of the manga forums I joined somebody mentioned that you can actually read manga on an iPhone or iPod Touch by simply adding the manga as pictures.

And it worked. That simple. I can now read the Hana Yori Dango manga on my iPod Touch. Sure, the screen is small but with Apple’s pinch technology, that’s not much of a problem.

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of my iPod Touch. It has become a very reliable source of entertainment for me. It recues me from the most boring and most unbearable situations. It lulls me to sleep and I don’t leave the house without it. It has become a security blanket. Almost a sanctuary, really.

Hana Yori Dango Manga on my iPod Touch is an article originally published at Blogging Frenzy. For news and updates on fashion, beauty and lifestyle visit Get Prettified!.