YAY for awards!

This is a bit overdue...thank you Betz for this lovely award :)

Instructions are if you receive this, you should list down 10 things that make you happy and pass on the award to 10 other bloggers. First, my list of 10 things that make me happy...

1. Being with my crazy family. I'm blessed with a very humor-loving family (immediate and extended). I love spending time with them and I truly am grateful to have them. They're my support system and I love them very much.

(mother side)

(father side)

2. Crazy photoshoots with my cousins. My cousins in my mom's side are pretty young so we don't have a lot of crazy pictures together. But boy oh boy...with my cousins in my dad's side. Wow. We just go wild in front of the camera! I mean, we don't really mind if we look weird or stupid. We have a ball just having fun and we're not afraid of making fun of ourselves.

Our 'couture gone wrong' shot (haha!)

3. Going on out-of-town trips with my friends. My gradeschool friends and I try to go on out-of-town trips at least once a year. It started about 2 1/2 years ago when we started meeting up. It's either we go to Tagaytay for spontaneous getaways, or we go to places as far as San Pablo Laguna or Laiya Batangas.

(Laiya, Batangas--May 2008) (Mt. Pinatubo, Tarlac--March 2009) (Tagaytay--November 2009) (Sitio de Amor, San Pablo, Laguna--December 2009)

4. Food trips! I enjoy food. I don't just enjoy eating, I also love to cook! Whenever I have time, I cook for my family and friends. I started cooking at home about 2 years ago so that I could monitor what my (late) grandfather was eating. I realized shortly after I started cooking that I really enjoyed it and I'm passionate about food. I would sometimes experiment with recipes at home. If I don't have time to cook (which happens a lot now), I eat out with friends. We like trying different restaurants all over the Metro. We try not to eat in the same place everytime so for each month that we eat out, someone has to pick a restaurant beforehand. It's a fun thing to do, actually.

(Bellini's, Cubao Expo--February 2009) (Celebrating Esther's birthday at Cookbook Kitchen, hidden somewhere in Mandaluyong--June 2009) (yummy mushroom pasta at Isabelo Garden Restaurant, Marikina...I loved that I could still taste the white wine used! --July 2009) (Buon Giorno, Cliffside, Tagaytay--November 2009)

5. Traveling (semi-related to #3). I would want to travel as much as I can while I'm still young and have the time to do so. I believe that traveling isn't simply just for fun. You learn so many things when you travel, and it makes you appreciate the world we live in--be it local trips to different provinces so that you'd learn about the diverse cultures we have in our beautiful country, or international trips to open your eyes to how big our world is and to make you appreciate and hopeful about your country.

(Malaybalay, Bukidnon--2009)

(Casa San Pablo, San Pablo, Laguna--April 2009)

(Bangui Windmills, Ilocos Norte--August 2009)

(took a picture of the Paoay Church from a different perspective :), Paoay Church, Ilocos Norte--August 2009)

(Hong Kong, December 2009)

6. Hanging out with my girlfriends. I have a few, actually. Some I met in gradeschool, some I met in high school, some I met in college, some I met in church. I love them to death. They're really like my sisters. I don't have like hundreds of friends. The friends I have are really ones who I'm close to and we've shared a lot of laughters, tears, heartaches, and triumphs together. Yay to girlpower!

With my lovely cousins

College friends Kaye and Mishi. We were blockmates (beginning our junior year) but Mishi and I have been friends since freshman year.

With Val, one of my closest friends on this earth! We've been friends since high school. We were actually bestfriends in our senior year but some stuff happened (i.e. I had a boyfriend. hahaha!) and we got in a really bad fight but we made up after a few months.

With Peaj, my best friend in college. We've gone through a lot of ups and downs (A LOT of these). But we survived. We've seen each other in our worst and best. And I can honestly say she's one of the people I know who can kill for me. Not kidding.

With Raiz--another one of my closest friends ever. I don't know anyone as driven as her.

Of course, my Ang Apat girls Tin and Esther :)

7. Reading a good book. My mom taught me how to read when I was 3 years old. That time, I didn't like reading because I felt like I was being forced to do something that wasn't fun. Later on, I developed a love for reading. I started reading Nancy Drew books (the old ones with yellow hardbound covers) when I was in the 3rd grade, and by the time I was in the 5th grade I was reading classics like Little Women, Little Lord Fauntleroy, the Little Prince, Les Miserables, Jane Austen novels, etc. I'm more open to different types of literary genres now, after having been exposed to different kinds of literature in college (from the Iliad, to Shakespeare plays, to Dante Alighieri's great triad--Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, to modern literary works like Crime and Punishment). I also love reading historical accounts and books about current issues. And yes, I read the Twilight series as well. Haha! I don't think they're well-written, but as what one of my friends said 'They're like cocaine...they're bad for you, but you get addicted." And yes, I love the Harry Potter series.

8. Doing creative activities. I love drawing and doodling on my planner. I love taking pictures, be it using a digicam or a film camera. I love wrapping gifts! I sometimes go crazy wrapping stuff. I like decorating cupcakes. I enjoy conceptualizing how gift sets should look like, or party themes, or what not. My only frustration is that I still don't get photoshop.

Esther took this while we were in the Rizal Museum at Fort Santiago, Manila. On that day, we had a photo adventure of sorts. I will make an entry about that. We spent the entire day taking pictures of Intramuros and Manila Bay!

I like taking pictures of flowers. I took these when I was in our house at Malaybalay to visit my parents and youngest brother.

I like doodling :) My planner looks like a coloring book already. I doodle when I'm stressed, I doodle just because.

I love to bake! I made these coffee cupcakes as a sample batch for my friend to taste before her wedding. I was the one who made the souvenirs for her wedding--cupcake giveaways! :) I made hazelnut coffee cupcakes with coffee buttercream icing :)

I really have a thing for lomo shots. I love film cameras, actually. If I find the time, I will really go out and take pictures again. I miss going out and just taking photos...point and shoot lang :)

I went a bit overboard last Easter...I "glitterized" the Easter eggs!! Hahaha! My friend called them "Limited Edition" Easter eggs.

9. Singing. I was a member of my highschool's glee club. I regret not joining my university's chorale (ergs..they got to travel to Greece for a competition!). I sang with my mom's old college singing group (Patatag--a student activist singing group in UP during the Marcos years) for their fund-raising concert about a year and half ago. I sing in the shower. I sing at work. I sing in my room. I sing in the car. I sing with my friends. Yeah...I love singing. Haha!

During the recording of Awit ng Peti-B for Patatag's album (not yet out...and we're not done recording all the songs yet!). Another Patatag kid took this shot.

10. Shopping. Need I explain why? Hahaha!

...be it in thrift stores...

...or in HK! heehee

Now I'm passing on this cool award to...

1. Toxic Disco Boy
2. Vera of Deep In Vogue
3. Christine of Manila Fashion Observer
4. Gab of Gab Can Fly
5. Tippy of Penned Out Loud
6. Stephanie of le CHEAP c'est CHIC
7. Val of THE PENSIEVE, Valerie Style
8. Louise of Differently the Same
9. Darlyn of Thrifted Veil
10. Kirstyb of Fashion Champagne