should it even be said out loud?

IDK

but....

aaaaaaargh this is so hard.

I want to. I really, really, really do.

Ilocos, when will I ever visit you again? part1

It's been 3 weeks since my Ilocos trip with my mom and grandmother. I know I was supposed to blog about it right away, but I didn't have the luxury of time to do so with work and all. Anyway, what can I say about that trip? It was great! It was the first time my mom, grandmother, and I went to Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur. I was really looking forward to going on this trip because my mom and I wanted to take my grandmother out so she could just get away from the city even if it was just for 3 days. She's been holing herself here at home, which is so unlike her--but understandable. Also, I needed to get away from work. A few of my friends know how much time I've been spending at the office I should practically pay rent already.

Our trip was from August 29 to the 31st. We woke up quite early since our flight to Laoag City (Ilocos Norte) was at 10 a.m. and we had to be at the airport at least 2 hours before to be able to get decent seats. The flight was okay, the landing wasn't. Hahahahaha! Anyway, I really felt like I was at Ilocos when we got out of the plane. The airport was made of bricks...had that old Spanish feel to it. And yeah, it was sunny. We were afraid that it was also raining at Ilocos since it was (and still is) raining a lot in Manila.


I had all the arrangements for the trip done, so we had someone pick us up at the airport and bring us to our hotel. It wasn't really a hotel...more of a tourist's inn. La Elliana isn't that fancy, but if you just need a place to sleep and take a bath in, then it'll do.


What's great about La Elliana is that directly across it is La Preciosa Cafe! So right after we settled in our room, we had lunch at La Preciosa. The food's soooo good! I fell in love with their pinakbet! Actually, my mom and lola were also raving about it. I think that's why for the entire 3 days we were at Ilocos we ALWAYS ate pinakbet--I'm serious!



After lunch we visited the Museo Ilocos Norte and Sinking Bell Tower (which sinks a quarter of an inch every year). We were supposed to ride a kalesa around the city but I really wasn't in the mood for it so I had to persuade my mom and grandmother that we should just ride a trike. We ended up taking a kalesa back to the hotel. Hahahahahaha!

Museo Ilocos Norte

The interesting artwork that greeted us when we entered the doorway

Very nice installation :)

Inside a typical colonial (Spanish occupation) Ilocano house

My mom with a traditional weaving loom to make cloth
I think this is how they traditionally dry tobacco leaves before they roll them to make cigars :)
A kalesa
I think this is the municipal hall of Laoag City..not sure though :)
The Sinking Bell Tower..not a good shot of it, though :p
View from our kalesa ride back to the hotel

After our mini-adventure after lunch, we opted to just rest in our hotel room before heading out for dinner. We saw Saramsam, a local restaurant, on our way back to the hotel that afternoon so we decided to try it out there. I loved the interiors of Saramsam, the servers were very nice and accommodating--even explaining to us every dish we ordered and the background of the restaurant. Again, we just had to have pinakbet.

Lovely interiors

Pinakbet (again)
Yes, those are chili peppers...BUT, they're not spicy at all! Quite expensive here in Manila...that's why I had my fill while I was at Ilocos :p
Basil Iced Tea :)

Our yummy dessert (though we couldn't finish it anymore because we were sooo full already!)

More interior shots..

My mom, grandmother, and I--3 generations of Ortega ladies :)

After dinner, my mom and grandmother decided to just rest already since we had a whole-day tour scheduled the following day. I, on the other hand, decided to get some coffee and a bit of me-time at La Preciosa. I was able to try their carrot cake (which is sooo good, by the way...it can rival mine! Hahaha!). I also had a latte (you can't imagine how happy I was when I saw that they had an espresso machine!). I basically just stayed there for a couple of hours and enjoyed being alone and doing nothing--not thinking about work. I was also able to talk to the owner of La Preciosa, Pam Aragoza. The restaurant was her mom's and was passed on to Ate Pam. She's such a very friendly lady, and we were actually able to talk about a lot of things other than La Preciosa! I'm blessed that everytime I visit a restaurant, the owners are so nice. I definitely recommend La Preciosa to anyone who plans to go to Ilocos. And when my friends and I do manage to go up North, I'll bring them to La Preciosa because I'm sure they'll also love the food and ambiance of the place.

La Preciosa's carrot cake

La Preciosa's interiors

Of course I had to get my picture taken with Pam :)

Whew! That was quite a long entry...and my next Ilocos entries will be longer! Hahahaha! This was just day 1, people :)

going gaga over boots

-Ber months are here!!! Now's the time to show off your boots/booties! I've been drooling over these pair of boots from Zara. I want to buy them already but I'm battling with myself if I should wait until they go on sale or if I should buy them now. The price isn't that bad. 2k for a pair of Zara boots?? That's a steal already!

photo from: zara.com's lookbook

Christmas is less than a hundred days away!!! Which reminds me...gifts for my godchildren. Hahahaha! Will splurge a bit more for my family, and with a new baby cousin by that time I'm sure I'll be buying lots of baby clothes and toys. My aunt's having another girl--her 4th actually. Too bad for my uncle...he'll be having lots of sleepless nights. Can you imagine have 4 teenage girls? It's worrying enough to have one girl, what more to have four! What's weird about this is that by the time my cousins are in their teens, I'd be more of a parent than a cousin. Hahaha! I'll be pre-menopausal already by the time they're in high school. Oh my.

Anyway, I know it's just September but I want to put up the Christmas tree already. I dunno...I just want our house to have a bit more of a festive feel to it. Ever since my grandfather died, it's been quite somber here. I've been having my friends come over more so that I wouldn't have to leave the house so often. Plus, having people around adds more life to the place :)

A random thought...I watched this movie last week on TV. I forgot the title but one line really had an impact on me because it made so much sense. I mean, in relation to work.

"...It's supposed to be hard, if it weren't it wouldn't be worth it."

I know I'm supposed to blog about something else...will post another entry later when (or if) I remember what it is :)

I.am.ALIVE

I can finally post a decent entry without having to delete it or changing my mind about writing one. Hello everyone, I'm back! I have been so busy with work. I mean I literally spent nights at the office for 3 weeks straight--weekends and holidays even. What's twisted about it is that I still somehow feel fulfilled with my job despite it being so hectic and toxic at times. Though there's a lot of work to be done in terms of management and professionalism (ugh...it's so hard to have a couple of unprofessional officemates that you just want to..), the job's not that bad.

Anyway, enough about work. My mom and I went on a bit of retail therapy (yet again) this weekend. Wasn't planning on buying anything, but my mom got me something from Mango...so yay for mom! Haha!

OKAY. Was about to blab on about more stuff then my boss just told me to do a few things now so I'll continue this entry later.

Before I go, though....How was this weekend for you guys? :)

just to get this off my chest

...Happy, relieved, and grateful for restored friendships :)

...Hopeful for something....rather take my time nurturing this. Substance first.

...To you, I just hope you wouldn't stop...whatever that means :))

...Especially that night, I really did feel like I was home. Deeper than the situation being very familiar, it really did feel like I was home.

Can anyone blame me for being happy right now?

the world today

I would think that France would be quite a liberal country, basing on it's influence on history specifically regarding liberalism. So imagine my surprise after reading an online news article about the issue of burgas being banned. I think the French government, and those who seem to think that burgas "make women prisoners" (President Nicolas Sarkozy), should just stop making excuses for their discrimination and covering it up by saying that to disallow wearing burqas would free Muslim women from whatever. Hello. There is such a thing as religious freedom. There is such a thing as freedom of choice.

First point: These women who wear burgas practice the Islamic faith. Part of their faith is to wear such clothing. Why stop them? Because it makes you uncomfortable? We should all look at where this discomfort stems from, and I don't think it's because you see someone garbed from head-to-toe. How can you teach your children to be open to the world when you're not even open to seeing Muslim women wear their burqas? Please let your actions be consistent with what you preach.

Second point: If you're not going to look at it from a religious standpoint, look at it as respecting their rights as citizens of the country--or even as human beings--to practice their freedom of choice. Not all Muslim women wear burqas. But there are those who choose to wear it. Operative word is CHOOSE. Where is freedom of choice when you are not going to allow someone to wear what she wants?

No wonder why there's STILL so much misunderstanding and hatred in this world. I want to go further with this but I'm just too pissed off right now to even continue writing. Ugh. Maybe later.

Could someone please enlighten me more about this issue of burqas in France? Is it just me who finds this issue disturbing, or are there those of you out there who disagree? Let me know what you think.

I just wish...

...you'd get over yourself :)

On a lighter not, hehehe, I'm inspired to do an outfit post tomorrow because the past couple of weeks have been shopping heaven for me. My mom's here, thus the frequent trips to the mall. I'm surprised how many times we've gone to the mall in the past week and a half that my mom's been here. Will have to keep in mind that I do have to save up for our Laoag-Vigan trip at the end of this month and for the gift sets (that I have yet to organize) I'll be selling this November and December. Watch out for my post on the beauty goodies :)