Grimace and me

Grimace partied with us for Tinette’s despedida de soltera.

Are you afraid of the dark?

I bought this book because of Daily New’s (New York) comment: “When you want a novel you simple cannot put down, go to Sheldon.” True enough for “Are you afraid of the dark?” I finished reading it in a record-breaking speed. I usually finish a book in a month, but this Sheldon novel, I was done by the first week. The excitement and suspense really gets your attention and thus can’t wait to finish the book. Partly also because the 2 heroine of the book. I guess I’m more incline in reading novels where the women are characterized as the hero and not the damsel in distress waiting to be rescued by some handsome hero. Girl power ito!

Highly recommended to all Sheldon fan but (on a personal note) I don’t like the ending… I was expecting it to be more cleverly unique and not so predictable.

Here is an inside look of the book courtesy of Amazon.com

a polka dot summer

End of April is here, it means summer is about to end in this part of the earth and about to begin on the other side of the world. And I’m not wasting any more time in searching for my perfect swimsuit for the forthcoming company outing at La Luz beach resort in San Juan, Batangas. I’ve finally found the one at folded and hung which fits my budget (hehehe!). It’s a 2 piece polka dot bandeau type swimsuit in white and fuchsia. (Gosh, why am I into fuchsia these days? What is it about this color anyway?) I’m so excited! I can't wait for next Friday. The beach is calling me already!

Makes You Think

We moved to our new office space last February and today Father Jason blessed the office. For us Catholics, we usually have our new home, office, even our new vehicles bless by a priest to drive away evil spirits and also protection from danger. We also do this so that people inside the said home or office will live harmoniously. But I guess our office will need more than a blessing and a pray over to become harmonious. But nevertheless, the office blessing went well. We also had a ribbon cutting ceremony where our VP - S.T. and the PH partner, Lisa G. did the honors. Father Jason also gave a very inspiring message based on the company’s vision. He said “we should see our work not just a mere job, occupation or career but a vocation. A vocation that is according to God’s purpose for us”. A message that made us think twice on our so-called “Vocation”.

Our OJTs prepared some icebraker games while we wait for the food to arrive (objective of the game is to keep the balloon off the ground by tossing it using only the part of the body that is mentioned by the games master.) In this picture, we are keeping the balloon off the ground using our head.. of course we lost the game 3-0 hheheh! Nevertheless, it was a fun game.

waiting for the blessing ceremony to start, L-R: Carol, Kim, Baet, Winnie and Shiena.

Out of office

I was out of office today and what a relief it is. No calls from clients, no presentations, no appointments, and most especially no boss. I was nice to get out of the office on a weekday. Our team had a planning session today, re-assessed our c-base, analyzed things that we still need to do to improve our KPIs, shared some sales practices etc. We also had the chance to bond over dips and chips and over lunch at HUE [a Vietnamese restaurant]. In the afternoon, we continued to do more of the planning session at a cafe inside PowerBooks. And Kim treated us for some coffee and desserts.

Afterwards, we went window-shopping and fitted some swimsuits. Good thing the swimsuit I like was expensive, so I wasn’t tempted to by it. But still I was not spared of my Shopaholic instincts because I bought a CD of Smooth Escapes [The Very Best of D’Sound]. It includes my favorite songs of the band: Talkin’ Talk, Tattooed on my Mind, Do I Need A Reason and People are People. I’m actually listening to it as I write this post... and its pretty cool. A relaxing jazz sound at the end of the day is always such a pleasure.

Meet up with Adrian early in the evening and we watched Wedding Date with Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney. It was an ok movie not as funny as I was expecting it to be. Debra's acting is not also that amusing either. She acts better as "Grace" in Will & Grace than in this movie. Though I should say the soundtrack is pretty good since they featured, The Corrs "Breathless" at the beginning of the film and "Home" by Michael Buble near the end of the film. A must see if you're a Will and Grace fan.

stuff and you shall gain

Stuffing myself with sumptuous food is not really a good practice for bride to be isn’t it? But what can I do? Rose invited me to her house blessing and her baby, Ella’s 1st birthday. Before I can stop myself, I was already filling my plate with Kare-kare, beef with broccoli, lumpiang shanghai, fried chicken and rice... not to mention the irresistible maja blanca for dessert made by her husband.

Afterwards, I met with Adrian and hear mass with him at Greenbelt Chapel. And had dinner at Teriyaki Boy...I still have an aftertaste of the food I ate at Rose’s but who can resist Teriyaki Boy’s Tempura, Gyoza and Ika Teppanyaki? I just said to myself ... I got to go to the gym tomorrow! Seriously, I can feel I’m gaining back all the weight that I lost last year.

weekend with sydney

After all the out of towns every weekend (and the wedding preps) for almost 4 weeks, I finally stayed home this time (well, not exactly the whole day). Adrian went to Batangas for the weekend while I satisfied myself by watching ALIAS’ new season episodes 10-15. I miss watching my alter ego... really. It has been almost a month since I last saw Sydney Bristow. With my microwave popcorn on my lap and savoring fresh coconut water in my favorite mug, this is a perfect time alone, by myself. Started watching around 11am and finished around 4pm. My butt started to ache and so I head to the den to rest and take a short nap.

I woke up an hour later and dashed to take a bath and went to Dapitan to pick up our souvenirs for the wedding. My brother drove and my mom at the backseat... who was very eager to get to Dapitan so she can buy new items for the house. I was worried that we’ll get lost since its getting dark by the time we reached the area... and we indeed got lost. My brother was starting to get irritated; we are starting to get annoyed with mom’s speech on asking for directions (blah, blah, blah!). I called Adrian and called my contact in the store to give us directions.

In the end, we successfully found our way to Dapitan Arcade and picked up the souvenirs, and mom got a good deal for the 5 pots that she purchased.

flirting or betrayal?

Flirt /verb – a: to behave amorously without serious intent b: to show superficial or casual interest or liking.

When does a cyber-flirting becomes cyber-betrayal? A rapidly growing phenomenon: cyber-affairs, romantic liaisons conducted via computer. Although a majority of such encounters never lead to a physical relationship - causing some observers to dub them "safe infidelity" - cyber-betrayals can seriously damage a relationship and even destroy the marriages of those involved, according to experts.

Even when no physical contact has occurred, these relationships can be "extraordinarily hurtful," says John Mayoue, a family law attorney in Atlanta. "Let's not overreact. Something has gone wrong. Let's address that. But let's not act as though this is a full-on, in-the-flesh affair."

That advice is often easier to accept in theory than in practice.

P.S. I'm just trying to make a point here.




Courtesy of The Christian Science Monitor

BOSO

I really have nothing interesting to write about. That’s why I haven’t posted anything for the past few days. Good to note that the atmosphere in the office is very relax because our boss is out of town since Monday. A bit of a tension on the other side because of some power-hungry bitch in the office is making a big deal out of a small thing. [She’s even considering bringing it to court!] Anyway, don’t want to waste my time writing about her so don’t ask about it… it’s a long story. We are just enjoying the little time left before our boss comes back to work tomorrow.

I’m just looking forward for tonight’s gimmick. Just for fun, my friends from the office and I agreed to watch this R-18 movie entitled “BOSO” (Peep). This all started one lunchtime when out of the blue, we started talking about sex. We laughed and joked about it and it was really fun how girls do the talk about this topic.

So I’m just waiting for 7:00pm so we can have dinner before hitting the theaters.

4 birds with one stone

What a day this was! Hitting 4 birds with one stone ... No, we didn't kill any of them...I mean,we have accomplished 4 major wedding particulars today. My wedding gown, the invites, principal sponsors’ giveaways and guests’ giveaways. Ezra, together with hubby Butch accompanied Adrian and I to a wedding dressmaker in DV. Yup that’s right, Divisoria. I trust Ezra’s judgment that Aling Ning is quite good in her craft and very affordable too [which is very good for weddings on a budget]. I was so excited when it was time for my measurements to be taken. Reality check: I really am getting married. We also chose the entourage’s fabric, baby pink star satin and glittered fuchsia chiffon silk for the details. I can't wait to bring my entourage for their measurements too. I know they’ll love the colors ... so pink peach is out ... its baby pink-fuchsia for my motif ... its every girl's right to be fickle.. right Kim? I also bought a fabric for my mom’s gown. And I’m so glad she liked it :)

Anyway, lets back track a little earlier in the morning. When Ezra and Butch picked us up at Adrian’s place, Ez, showed me the prototype of the wedding invitation that she made. And it’s an absolute beauty. With touches of femininity because of the flower and pearl. And also a touch of masculinity because of the bark of tree. And what’s cool is that the invitation’s envelope is exactly the color of the entourages’ dress. [Click image to see full size image.]

our invitation

Moving forward, after a bit of shopping in DV. We went to Dapitan, which is famous for its array of house ornaments and decors. Adrian and I went around and took some pictures of them.. and they are so cheap ...and export quality as well ... we saw a lantern (which Ezra bought 9 pieces of different designs) with a price tag of US$18.99 and they only selling it for PhP 200! (peso-dollar conversion is P54 =$1) When these items are sold in department stores, it already costs 1000-1500 pesos. I’m definitely going back here if we get to have our own house. Anyway, were already on our way to the parking lot when Ezra decided to stop by another shop. And guess what? We found our giveaways! And that’s not all, it cost less than our estimated cost and the design matches our theme... Nature! Yippee! But sorry, won't be posting the picture here.

items for sale at Dapitan

As tired as a carabao, who worked all day, we went for a relaxing massage, of course the loving husband and fiancé paid for our massages. We actually went in around 3:30 pm and left the day spa around 7:30 pm ... and to think the massage package was just for an hour ... so we actually slept for 3 hours ... but why did it just seemed like for 5 minutes. Waaaah! I want some more of those Swedish-Shiatsu massage!!!

We ended the day with dinner at Gerry’s Grill. What a tiring, fulfilling and relaxing day!

Spell it Uniquely

I saw this post from echa’s site and thought it was cool to try it out...What do you think? want some flickr on your blog?

Weekend at the Summer Capital

at Burnham Park

Some are called jet setter but me; I’m ok with being a bus setter. After a relaxing weekend by the beach last week ...This time, Adrian and I headed to the cool mountainside of Baguio, last weekend. A great relief from the heat of summer sunshine of Manila. We were invited by Erwin, [Adrian’s former pad mate] who’s now living in Denver, to visit their newly renovated house. His sister also recently graduated from high school and the family is having a party for her. We arrived around 6 a.m. in Baguio, which is a 6 hours drive from Manila. I was so sleepy to get out of the bus, so we stayed for a while in the bus terminal, puffed some cigs and drank a cup of coffee to wake me up a bit. Afterwards, we took the taxi to go to Hillside, trying to recall where Erwin’s house was [last time we went up there was February 2002 during the Panagbenga Festival]. Good thing we still remembered that their house is near a basketball court and the taxi driver immediately recognized the place. We were greeted by Yammy and Sasa, then Ate Rheema and Tita Thelma. After breakfast, Ate Rheema gave us Erwin's gifts, and gave her the Buddha that I bought in Thailand for Erwin. [Erwin got me a Couch wristlet and a kenneth cole cologne for adrian].They were busy preparing the food for the party and we also learned that aside from Yammy’s graduation party, it’s also their house blessing.

bed time: trying out Adrian's bonnet

After some of the guest left, stuffed with delicious food, Adrian and I decided to go to Burnham Park to burn those fatty and oily food that we ate during lunch. We took pictures of ourselves with the man-made lagoon as our backdrop. [Additional collection of pictures for our pre-nup photo album]. We walked around the park with the camera at hand, ate grilled corn and puffed some more cigs. We walked from the park to SM Baguio [SM is a chain of Mall here in PH] and drank latte at Starbucks. Adrian bought 2 dri-tech shirts from Giordano and had dinner at Don Henrico’s. We were supposed to indulge to some Thai Massage but we were advised that having a massage after meal is discouraged. So I guess we have to get that massage here in Manila. We just decided to have a few drinks [when I say few, I mean 1 bottle of Vodka ice each] at Padis Point. The slightly hot feeling [due to alcohol] was so much welcome since the night breeze is stating to get chilly.

at the view deck of Mines View Park

The next day, we went to hear mass at St. Joseph’s Church and headed to Mines View Park where we bought our pasalubongs. Baguio is also famous for its silver works, so we bought an identical ring so Adrian could practice and get used to wearing a ring on his finger. We also went to Good Shepherd Convent where they make delicious Ube jam and Strawberry Jam. Adrian also bought a bonsai for his pad [He named it Woogy]. Then we headed to the Market to buy some lettuces and walis and some strawberries and crinkles cookies. So exhausted with the heavy load of pasalubongs, we stop by at McDonald's to eat lunch [it was around 3 p.m.] before going back to Hillside.We rested for a while and watched the qualifying race of F1 in Bahrain and left for the bus terminal around 4:30 pm. I actually slept quite well while we were passing the newly renovated North Luzon expressway. Adrian had to wake me up when we were in Ayala and about to disembark around 11:00 p.m.

Good Bye

Please give a moment of silence for our beloved Pope John Paul II, who passed away today (Manila Time). May the angels and saints guide you to your journey to heaven, Father. We will never forget you.

Pope John Paul II arrives for World Youth Day festivities at St. Peter's Square April 1 in Vatican City.

photo courtesy of MSNBC.