3 days to go!!

Dumaguete check list:

1. Bikinis - check!

2. Tanning lotion - check!

3. Sun dresses - check!

4. Sunnies - check!

5. On vacation mode - double (even triple) check!

These aren't the only items on my checklist :p I have yet to buy the goody bags I'll be giving to the kids and teens at the shelter where I'll be holding a party in. Yes, I decided to spend my special day with very special people. I asked my aunt who's based in Dumaguete to help me look for a community where I could spread a bit of cheer. She suggested I host a party at a shelter that was home to abused kids and teens. I have about 2 1/2 days to prepare everything. My aunt, who is also a theater professor in the prestigious Silliman University, and her class will be hosting a small workshop at the shelter so I'm sure that day will be awesome. I am so excited already! My birthday's about a week away but I feel like I'll be celebrating beginning Friday.

For my birthday this year, I'm also sponsoring the school supplies of five kids in Marinduque through the Big Brother Big Sister Foundation. I started sponsoring just last year and I plan on doing this for a long time. I love that this organization aims to provide school supplies to kids that will last for a year. I'm thinking of doing the same thing for next year, but more focused in Bukidnon. My grandmother suggested this, actually.

I love birthdays. I don't really have a problem getting older. I know it sounds cliche, but age really is just a number. I won't say I may be (turning) 24, but I'll always be 18. Nope. I'm owning the age! Being (almost) 24 means being a year wiser, happier, and hotter hahahaha! Kidding aside, I think we should all be proud of how old (or young) we are. Like the rings inside a tree's trunk, each year we experience adds and enriches who we are now.

untitled

I'm sleepy, but I can't get myself to go to bed. I feel like there are still tons of things to do and I haven't started on anything yet. Aaaack I'm stressing out on something that's not even supposed to be stressful...at all. I can't elaborate further and as I mentioned in my previous entry, I can explain everything after the 15th....and that's 5 days from now.

Anyway, to brighten the mood a bit I'd like to share with you a picture of me that my friend Val took while we were in my family's rubber tree farm in Bukidnon. As usual, I have backlog entries and the Bukidnon 2011 trip is one of those posts.

still alive

Hallooooo everyone! Been MIA for almost a month but am back :) So many things have happened and I'm super duper excited to share everything with y'all but I can't, well, at least not until after March 15 :) Any guesses?

I miss my blog and I'm dying to write again but I have so many things to do in the next few weeks so hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a bit of blogging time.

Summer's almost here and I'm excited to hit the beach soon! My second vaca for the year will be to Dumaguete, a province in the southern part of the country. I have an aunt based there so my cousin and I will be staying with her. I'm so excited to go snorkeling, island hopping, touring the province, etc. CAN'T WAIT!!!

My entry, unfortunately, ends here. I have to get back to work (yes, am still at the office) :|

re-energized

Hi everyone, am back from Bacolod :) Busy two weeks for me. Last week, I was at Cebu for work. Thank God I had a couple of hours to spare on my last day to tour the city a bit. Just got a cab and asked the driver to take me around. Took a few photos, then off I went to the airport and worked a bit from there. When I got back to Manila, my high school BFF Val and I had our nails done in time for our Bacolod trip the next day. Our flight was so early, 4:15 a.m! We didn't sleep anymore which was why we were so exhausted when we arrived at Bacolod. Will be devoting an entire post about Cebu and another one for Bacolod, maybe tonight or tomorrow :)

Sneak preview of Cebu...

...and of Bacolod/Negros Occidental

Off to the mountains once again!

Hi everyone, I'm actually with my family now in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon. If you've read my previous posts about it (here and here), you'd know it's a city literally hidden in the mountains of Northern Mindanao. Anyway, I'm here again because it's my mom's birthday tomorrow--yes, June 12...The Philippines' Independence Day! It's been 3 years since I was able to spend my mom's birthday with her because my family would be here in Malaybalay and I'd be in Manila. It's going to be a long weekend because the holiday was 'moved' to Monday (since June 12 this year conveniently falls on a weekend). I am just really happy to be here right now and far from stressful Manila...just for the weekend.

One thing I'm excited about with me being here is that I'll be able to post all my backlog entries! While browsing through my blog, I realized that I haven't finished or even started writing about my Bukidnon trip this April, my English Tea Birthday Party, my recent Pahiyas trip, and other stuff that went on in my life the past 2-3 months. I've been so distracted with my current dilemma concerning my career that I was somewhat uninspired to write. At least now I have the luxury of time to blog, and the whole provincial vibe is helping my creative juices to start flowing. I brought three of my lomo cameras so I'm definitely taking lots of pictures this weekend. Which reminds me...I already have a pile of films at home that I haven't had processed yet. Will have to prioritize doing that when I get back.

Anyway, I have to go and rest now because it's been a long day. My flight got delayed by two hours, and when we arrived at Cagayan de Oro we didn't leave right away so we got home less than an hour ago.

I hope y'all have a great weekend!

Malaybalay preview...

Am still too tired to post my entry about my recent vacation in Malaybalay...so here's a glimpse at the beautiful things I saw there...

will be back Monday

Just so y'all know, I'm in Malaybalay, a city in the mountains here in Southern Philippines. My parents moved here about 9 years ago from Manila because they'd already gotten tired of all the stress of the Metropolis. Can't blame them, really. Anyway, I arrived here yesterday afternoon first via my flight to Cagayan de Oro then land trip--about 2 hours.

It's so relaxing here and you really don't notice the time. I haven't even checked my phone yet! I was also just able to check my email and facebook tonight because we had guests for lunch today. After lunch here at our house, we brought them to the Monastery of the Benedictine monks then to our farm. And I also cooked almost the entire afternoon because my parents had some friends over. My mom was raving to them last night about my lasagna and my baked orange herbed chicken so of course I was slaving away in our kitchen today.

Okay, I'll post about my Holy Week vacation maybe next Monday or Tuesday when I get back. I don't think I'll be able to post another entry until next week. I hope y'alll enjoy the weekend! :)

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone, I'm back from Hong Kong! I arrived yesterday afternoon. I haven't really recovered from my trip yet because right after eating late lunch I went straight to the grocery to buy ingredients for Noche Buena. We all slept around 1 a.m, and I had to get up at 7 this morning to prepare the lasagna for Christmas lunch (father side). I am still uploading pictures from the HK trip on my facebook, and I think it'll take me forever haha! We took a total of 700++ pictures in 4 days. My goodness! My brother and I were very happy with the weather because we were able to take out our coats, scarves, and boots. Unfortunately, I don't have any money anymore because of all the shopping we did. Hahaha! We never really left Tsim Sha Tsui (in Kowloon) except when we went to HK Disneyland on the 22nd. We didn't even go to Macau! My mom decided we'd have more fun shopping anyway, so we postponed our Macau day trip (supposedly on the 23rd) and opted to explore Tsim Sha Tsui a bit more and do more shopping. I will share a few pictures when I'm done picking my favorites. And yes, I still have to upload the Sitio de Amor pictures so I'll get to that first.

Okay, here's one of my fave shots taken in HK...I think my brother took it.

Dress (worn inside my sweater): vintage
Long sweater: Promod
Scarf: Gift from my Ninang Ella, Tito Noel, Tippy, and Lean
Leggings: Ever-reliable SM :)
Boots: Zara
Leather bag: vintage
Men's watch: Fossil (I ♥ big watches!)
Shades: I bought it at a bazaar a couple of years ago
Picture taken at the Park Hotel lobby while we were waiting to be checked in

By the way...Merry Christmas, everyone! Spread the love not only during the holidays but all year-round :)

after 10 years...

My family's finally going on a trip outside the country. Yes, it's been THAT long since our last trip oustide the Philippines. We're going to Hong Kong and Macau. Well, we're going to Macau just for a day and spend the rest of the trip in HK. I'm sure my little brother's excited to go to HK Disneyland. I'm more excited about the shopping my mom and I are going to do. Hahaha!

We'll be leaving on December 21st and we'll be back by the 24th...just in time for Christmas Eve :)

photo credit: http://richeyxx.hkbloggers.org

Ilocos, when will I ever visit you again? part2

Day 2--August 30, 2009.

This will probably be more of a photo album entry than a written post. I took more than 300 pictures this day, but don't worry I'm not posting everything...just my favorites :)

Let's start!

We first went to Fort Ilocandia, a really nice hotel/resort in Ilocos Norte. I don't have a nice picture of it, though, so I won't be posting a shot of it :p Our next stop was the Malacanang of the North. Just a bit of a background...The Malacanang Palace is the Philippines' equivalent to the White House. Our presidential house is in Manila (for obvious reasons..it's the capital of the country, duh). The reason why there's a "Malacanang" in Ilocos is because Imelda Marcos had it built for her husband. Our tour guide actually told us that Madame had a thing for houses overlooking bodies of water which is why the Malacanang of the North has a lake behind it. By the way, Imelda's room is bigger than Ferdinand's. Hahahaha as in waaaaay bigger.



Our next stop was the Paoay Church. My gosh...It's so beautiful! The structure was just so amazing. It's been around since the 1500s and the binding material for the stones was made from a mixture of egg whites, lime, and something (I forgot :p). The style's quite unique compared to a lot of colonial churches here in the Philippines because it's Moorish, not so much Gothic or Baroque.

I fell in love with the wall :p

My favorite shot for the entire 3-day trip :)

We then went to Batac, where Ferdinand Marcos' mausoleum is...honestly, I was a bit creeped out with...Taking pictures inside isn't allowed...and I didn't really want to take pictures :p The mausoleum is actually beside the Marcoses' house which also had a mini museum of the late President's things from his political days..After we checked out the museum, we bought a few things we could take home as pasalubong.

Marcos' notes from exile

On our way to Vigan, Ilocos Sur, we bought lots and lots of garlic. Ilocos is well-known to produce really good garlic..so my mom and grandmother practically horded bundles of garlic. Imagine how weird it was for us to stuff our bags with garlic just so we could bring them back to Manila...must've looked strange when our bags went through the machine at the airport :p

When we arrived at Vigan, the first place we went to was the pottery shop of Fidel Go, a National Artist (I think...don't take my word for it...I just remember our tour guide telling us that Mr. Go's a National Artist for something..or National Folk Artist? hahaha). It was sooo hot inside the shop but all the pots and large vases were so nice. My mom wanted to buy 2 large pots but each one weighed 30 kilos.

My mom and grandmother talking to Fidel Go

We then headed to Grandpa's Inn for lunch. The place is actually also a hotel, with all the rooms being on the upper floors and the restaurant on the ground floor. The restaurant had a lot of cool paintings and antiques. Our guide told us that it's haunted, though. Well, a lot of the houses in Vigan are haunted (supposedly). It's an old, old city, what did we expect? Hahaha

I like brick walls :)

After lunch, we bought Abel Iloco blankets. We were also toured in the shop where they would make the textile. Abel Iloco products are made using the traditional weaving loom. I think my grandmother was interested to take one home. Hahahaha!


After going crazy over blankets, we went to Baluarte--the home of Ilocos Sur's famous/infamous (?) Governor Chavit Singson. I wasn't able to take decent pictures because there were a lot of people. What I can say about it is that: a. It's like you're in a zoo...I mean, literally there are exotic animals there! b. I don't know how many tigers a person needs...there were more than 10 tigers, my gosh! c. The good thing about the place is that it's open to the public so you can check out all the animals, the governor's submarine (yes, he has one..it's displayed I think beside the Llama pens..).

We then headed to the Hidden Garden. And yes, it is a hidden garden. Hahaha! My mom and grandmother, who're both in love with plants and flowers, were giddy when we went there. I think they also wanted to buy a few plants but decided not to since we had no idea how we'd be able to bring them back to Manila.





After the Hidden Garden, we checked out two family museums. The first one we went to was the Crisologo Family Museum. The second one was the Syquia family museum. Both families were strong political families in Ilocos Sur before. Actually, what made the entire thing interesting for me was that the reason why the name Crisologo's so familiar is because here in my district (in Quezon City), our congressman is Bingbong Crisologo. Lo and behold, the museum we went to was his family's!! I mean, that's the house where he grew up in. Just amazing. The Syquia house, other than being so huge, was actually the ancestral home of Elpidio Quirino's (a former president) wife. Aaaand, his grandson actually lives in the house! We were able to meet him (I couldn't speak because I was just in shock that I was just a few inches away from someone related to one of the former presidents of the country..haha!).

I was surprised to find out that the museums were maintained using donations from tourists! There's a donation box by the entrance and you can just drop any amount.

Gov. Carmeling was pregnant when she was ambushed...when she had her forced delivery, she aptly named the baby Bullet :)

Our last stop for the day was the Vigan Heritage Village. My gosh...It was so picturesque! I wish I had a better camera. Hahaha! Oh well, I had to make do with my mom's digicam...pictures would've turned out better if I was using a dslr.


My last entry on our Ilocos trip will be...I dunno when :) Hahahaha! It's taking me a lot of time to make an entry on each day of our trip...I took a total of more than 500 pictures for just a 3-day trip so I have to choose the shots that are nice or decent enough to post :)