Lazy Sunday...but not for long! :)

Sundays used to be family day, or at least that was the whole concept growing up. I remember when we were kids we would have lunch with my dad's family sometimes, and dinner with my mom's family at my great-grandparents house ALL THE TIME. It was sooo much fun because the whole clan would be there. Yup, I grew up seeing my cousins all the time. I guess that's the main reason why it's not so bad that I don't have sisters cause I kinda still do. 

my awesome family having a Benjamin Button New Year.

My great-grandparents have a huge house with a garden and really big Macopa tree in the back. There would be times when we would pick the low hanging fruit and munch on them. Ok, maybe just take a bite from them then give them to yaya. We were more into picking the fruit than eating it. I also remember how when we were young there were geese in the backyard. Yup, it was a fun house and there are a lot of memories there. Maybe when we have kids of our own we'll bring them to my grandparents house every Sunday so that they could spend time with their cousins too. :)

Recently though, since I started working Sundays has been more of a rest day. Time to stay home, relax, sleep and just be lazy. Props to my parents for always having the energy to take us around and spend time with us when I can imagine all they wanted to do was stay home, put their feet up and take a breather from their hectic lives at work.

So right now, here I am being lazy, lying in bed not really wanting to move I thought it would be an awesome time for me to think of other things I could be doing to make my Sundays more productive. Starting next week!

I've always wanted to learn how to cook and I've had a go at a few recipes but because I want to someday be able to cook without having to refer to a cookbook all the time I guess I need to practice. So maybe I'll cook Sunday dinners for the family. That way I get an excuse to cook and at least my Sunday isn't wasted. 

***photo from the internet

I've also been wanting to learn how to paint. But since that's probably still a long time coming, maybe I'll figure out how to sketch first. :) I remember one random time in my life when I decided I would make oil-pastel drawings because I had fun memories of a project we did in grade school. I attempted to do it. I initially wanted to do pointilism but the oil pastel would just NOT cooperate so I did what I could. And here's what happened.

Iris on Oil Pastel

It's not exactly Monet but I must say it didn't turn out so bad. now I just need to keep practicing I believe. Ahahaha...another one of my projects. When I'm older and I won't be working anymore this is what I will be doing. Aside from ballet that is. :D

That's a couple of this that I could spend my time doing instead of just lying down and watching videos being a complete sloth. But for now I'm going to will myself to start moving and get ready so I can get a foot massage while I kill time before dinner. Tonight I'm seeing my baby boy! :) I caaaan't wait!

So how do you spend your Sundays?

Friends who work...

I have moved jobs quite a lot. Let's just say I started out a bit confused and not knowing what I wanted to do with my life.

I was a BS Psych major. I decided on taking that because as a child I was brainwashed into thinking I wanted to become a doctor when I grow up.

***photo from the internet

My dad would tell me on a regular basis that I would become a doctor when I grow up so that I could take care of him when he gets old. My dad has all these complicated medical problems so I really took this seriously. Sadly though, I do not like touching or being around dead things. That whole dissect a frog on your own task was a bit much for me and I realized, medicine was not for me.

Lucky enough for me, BS Psych allows you three options. :D The medical route where you go on to med school which was definitely not for me. The industrial route where you go into the HR industry which was something that would not work for me.  And the educational route which would lead to becoming a guidance counselor or a preschool teacher which I totally loved. Yes, I was once a preschool teacher but that's for another blogpost. :)

So one must be wondering, from all that how did I end up where I am right now. Sometimes I wonder the same thing too. But then I realize, maybe this is where God intended me to be since it worked out after all.

The whole reason why I wrote this post is cause in every job that I have been in I have managed to make meaningful friendships and I thought it would be awesome for them to read about how much I love them! :)

My first real job was teaching preschool at a school I don't want to name anymore. :) But it was in this school that I met these people...

saying goodbye to Ms. Ty as she heads to the US

celebrating Ivana before she was born

Fra and I were the preschool teachers. KM, Arnel, Liza (Ms. Ty) were the grade school teachers. Manang and Manang Lindy were the people who took care of us and fed us in school. Ms. Lia was our mentor so to speak. In most ways she still is. Sadly Ms. Ty and Ms. Lia left the country to see what the world has in store for them. Sadder that they have not sent us money. Hahaha

I rarely see them anymore most of the time because KM is too busy being all cheesy with Angelo but we still keep in touch. Partner Fra and I talk all the time though and we try to keep up with each others' lives. When Ms. Lia was still in the country I would text her at random times to ask about the most random things. I really love these people because they were a part of my life when I was a teacher and I honestly believe that it was the happiest time of my life! :) This only means we have to meet up soon.

After my year as a preschool teacher I went into events. Here's the background, the bu and I used to staff for events when we were still in college.

how cute does the bu look? So young and fresh. :)

Such hard workers assembling slippers.

His sister-in-law owns the company that runs the Make Your Own Havaianas event and that's where it all started. I think. It was God's timing that I was working for an event when I decided I was going to resign from my teaching job and they needed a new full time staff. So I moved to Creative Juice Communications. Nope, it's not the agency in Makati, it's a Filipino owned and operated events company. :)

It was there that I met these people! :)

With Jo. I taught her to be more like me, maarte. 

With Jayla and Micky all cooked from a day under the sun.

The new team before I left.

Guest appearances by Jay and Tita Arvick

We have a lot of shared memories of travelling, sleep overs, ingresses, egresses, staffing, laughing, running around and just being all-around. I have to admit that much of what I am now as a person has been because of the time I spent with them. I grew up and became more responsible not only for myself but for my family as well. 

I miss this group. I miss Jayla my boyfriend and Tita Arvick who have left the Philippines as well. Like my other friends they have not sent any money as well despite the fact that is was an agreement. hahaha...I miss Micky who I would carpool with to work. :) I miss the rides when we would just talk about the most random of things. I miss the beach trips, which we always plan but never get to go on. And I miss the pamper-me-Sundays that we take in place of the supposed beach trip. 

After resigning from CJ I spent a couple of months at home on a break. Then things started to get boring. From a life that used to be fast-paced I was completely relaxed. I woke up any time I wanted, I went anywhere I wanted whenever I wanted. But if you're like me and you can't stay still for longer than a minute that kind of life gets old. So I moved to another events company. One that would expose me to a whole different kind of event industry. :) I moved to Eventscape Manila. 

Supporting Jenjeniffer at her Khiels event

Drinking away the night, I was drunk after a glass

Some of my favorite people

My stay in EM was short lived,  I had personal reasons for leaving. But despite that I have still managed to build friendships with the most awesome, colorful cast of characters ever. Every time we're together it will be endless banter and laughter. I want to go on another road trip to just drink Absolut in a different setting. Although we never really got to the drinking part. I miss hanging out in the pantry after lunch talking and laughing about the stupidest things or people. hehe...

I'm not the friendliest person. In fact I'm a bit of a snob when you first meet me, you can ask my good friend Thei she'll tell you all about the first few weeks we met. But once I get to know someone I'm friends with them forever. :))

Right now I work in Nuffnang Philippines and it's quite an adventure as well. I never really saw myself as the sales type of person. But once you get the hang of it, things get simpler. It works for me. :)

Welcoming Thei's birthday with a karaoke party!

I love the Nuffies. We're a bunch of people who love going on milk tea runs. :) There's so much more to write and maybe I'll post about my life as a Nuffie soon. But for now. I miss my friends. I hope we see each other soon. :)

As the bu commented last night, this post seem to have ended abruptly. So let me try that again...

Let me share with you a few words of wisdom from my dad. When he heard about someone who moved jobs quite often, he said..."A rolling stone gathers no moss." I guess he just wanted to remind me that when you don't invest time and effort in a company then you don't really progress in your career. Makes sense.

But as they say, every dark cloud has a silver lining and I guess my silver lining is that in every job I've been in I have made friends that I can keep for life. People who have made my life better. :) So this rolling stone has lots of multicolored, high spirited, happy moss to call her friends. I love my friends. Please don't kill me for calling you moss. haha...

Cheers to friendship! :D

Singapore Diaries: Universal Studios Part II

It totally slipped my mind that I haven't finished talking about our Universal Studios Singapore trip. So let me just tell you what I liked about USS. :)

The night before we were scheduled to go to USS we met up with the bu's friends who were staying in SG. 

It turned out to be awesome timing because we found out that Anna and Chip were going to Universal the next day too! :) So we decided we would meet up there and go around the park together. That and Anna already gave Chip the "I will not ride any rollercoasters" speech. At least now he could ride with us. 

The next day, since the bu and I were early birds we still got to take photos with the mascots. The first one we ran into were the woodpeckers. :) I didn't even know that there was a girl woodpecker in the cartoon.

We actually saw Frankenstein when we were on the train and ran into him at the park. Yay! 

After a few rides and a show the bu and I had lunch first to take a break from the heat. It was impeccable timing that right after lunch the show in the theater across the street was starting so we text Anna and Chip that we would meet them there and off we go. The show was called Monster Rock and let me warn you, it was a horrible high school presentation. Comparable to an variety show Halloween special. I wouldn't recommend you see it unless you were bored and killing time. Even then I'd say do something else with your time. Haha...I guess when you compare it to shows in HK Disney you'd realize that it's not what Universal Studios is known for. It explains a lot.

When we were finally through with that experience we decided we would go towards the Transformers ride. It was getting great reviews from everyone and it was high on our list of rides to do. The Battlestar Galactica dueling coasters.

photo from universalstudiosingapore.org

I must say, the Transformers ride was awesmazing. It was sooo good that you couldn't tell the ride prop from the screen. Intense.

Chip and Anna with a piece of the Cube

We loved the ride so much we did it twice! :) Yup,, that was the only ride we did twice. If you're in USS this should be the ride you have to make time to see. 

What I realized about Universal Studios in general is they don't have the Princesses like Disney. So their characters aren't the usual and you would have to be really into old movies/shows to know who they are. Here are some of our photos with a few of the characters.

Here's Rick O'Connel from the mummy. This guy is a dead-ringer for Brendan Fraser the bu and I kept discussing how fun it must be for him to make money off the fact that he looks exactly like the Hollywood actor and when he realized this is something he could cash in on. :)

Rick O'Connel

Betty Boop has been an icon for centuries and when I saw she was there we just had to take a photo with her for my dad. We've had a few conversations where he would mention Betty Boop cartoons. I myself have not been able to watch them but he really seemed to have enjoyed them when he was younger, so this photo is for him.

Betty Boop

And then there are these other people. They were just random Egyptian guys but they were fun to take photos with. They kept changing their poses every shot. :) Talk about in character.

I wouldn't really say Universal Studios Singapore was better than Hong Kong Disneyland. I would say they each have their own strengths. Disney was fun because I grew with those films, the shows were awesome and well because it's Disney. I liked USS because the rides were fun well most of them were just skip the theater show, and because it was a different experience. 

If you were in SG and you had a day free I'd say go to Universal Studios. It would be an awesome investment in memories. 

Whirlwind Cebu weekend!

I went to Cebu for the weekend. Actually, I literally just went to spend the night there because I had a few errands to run and because it was a good enough excuse to buy all the yummy food that I wanted. Yup! You should see the loot I brought in! Yummy!

The next paragraph is a rant, you have been warned!

I think what made this trip most memorable was the fact that I had the worst airline experience EVER!!!

                                                             Worst decision EVER!!!

I booked Airphilippines because I didn't want to be late and since Cebu Pacific was well known for delayed flights I thought this would be the better choice. I had agreed to meet my friend at 10 AM because she was going to have a long work day and I was supposed to be in Cebu by 8. Loads of time to prepare and head on over to our breakfast date. However 7:35 came and went and there I was still sitting in the airport in Manila without any advice from the smart Airphilippines crew.

After about half an hour I give up on being patient and head on over to the counter to ask them what time they expected the Cebu flight to leave Manila. They told me it would take another 45 mins for the plane to arrive and another 45 mins after that for it to actually board, she further explained that the plane that we were taking was coming from Beijing then going to Kalibo then going to Cebu then coming to Manila. Hmmm...I wasn't to happy about the fact that it meant I was already 2 hours delayed! Add to that the fact that they didn't even bother to apologize. Where's the service in that? Adding insult to injury, I asked what caused the delay and with a shrug of her shoulders she said, "Ma'am kasi late" Whats? I could obviously see they were late thank you Captain Obvious but why were they late, and don't give me that plane came from China crap cause you should have planned it better. Gah! How annoying!

As the saga of my very difficult flight to Cebu drags on, we finally get instructed to board the plane by 9 AM which I thought was a good thing. Until they let us sit on the plane for another hour and a half. Yup, we were left stewing in that plane for an hour and a half. I didn't feel to bad for myself since I fell asleep quite quickly, but I felt sad for the older people on the flight. Since we were supposed to leave at 7:35 that meant we were there by 6 am at the latest with check-in and all and well, not everyone has the option to buy food at the airport, which means some of them were probably starving and this extremely SUCKY airline didn't even feed anyone. In my book, Airphilippines has the worst service EVER! and I'm telling everyone I meet not to book from them.

So, after I got that rant out of my system my trip went awesome...until my fight home the next day, but wait until the end of the post to find out more about it! :))

My trip to Cebu wasn't a total waste. Want to know why? Because I got to buy everything I wanted to eat and more! :) Yup, that's right. It was a food trip binge. Lovely!

Every time I hear someone is in Cebu there is only 1 thing I want. Leona's Carrot Cake. I am not a carrot cake fan, there was a time when I was in High School that I honestly believed that I got sick cause I ate a carrot cupcake. Yup, I have always been a high-maintenance eater! But when I tried Leona's I fell in love. I will only eat carrot cake if it's from Leona's. And because I have been kept away from this cake for way too long I couldn't help myself...

Leona's carrot cake to me is synonymous to Cebu.

I bought a whole cake! Yup, I HAD to.

A few years back the bu and I went on a long weekend trip with friends to Bohol and Cebu. It was an awesome trip only made better by the fact that when we got back to Cebu we were able to go on a date night. :) A trip out of town with friends is great and all but sometimes you just want a night alone with your significant other. So for our date night we asked our friends where it would be good to eat and they all recommended Casa Verde for the ribs!

photo from cebuanddavao.com

At that time I was still a Vegetarian so I didn't have any but the bu did. The portions are HUGE and the prices are very reasonable. So now that I was back in Cebu I thought it would be the perfect time for me to try this out. So I made my friends have dinner with me and we all had the ribs. The ribs were ginormous, the plate was filled up. Taste wasn't bad either but I'm not really a sweet barbecue sauce kind of person so I'm just glad I did this and now I can say I have. Hehe...

But the food binge didn't stop there. When a friend found out I was going to Cebu he made sure I tried Zubuchon. I'm not a lechon lover but the bu was so I thought I might as well bring him some. I've heard great reviews for Zubuchon and they actually have loads of signs that say "Best pig...EVER!" apparently Anthony Bourdain was the one who said so. And if Anthony says so then it must be true!

photo from baktincorporation.com

Ok, I have to admit, the pig in the glass case freaked me out. I don't think I'm eating Zubuchon anytime soon. But I brought home for my parents, my brother and the bu. What I like about Zubuchon is the fact that they thought everything through. From product to packaging and presentation. The other famous Cebu lechon place, CNT, sadly hasn't gotten into this trend. They just place your food in a plastic bag, place it in a box and hand it to you. Not something you want to give away. So if you're in Cebu and looking for the perfect lechon to take home, Zubuchon is the way to go.

Oh, but I mustn't forget, before we went to Zubuchon we had lunch at Dong Juan. It's a local burger joint that's been getting great reviews. My friends insisted it was something I had to try. So it was inserted into an already extremely full schedule. :)

photo from stolenwanders.blogspot.com

And Dong Juan did not disappoint. I loved the burger so much I brought home one for the bu too! :) See, the goal is to make sure that during this food binge I wasn't going to get fat alone. I was taking the bu down with me! :))

The binge-ing didn't stop there either. Since I love finding new things, I researched and found this awesome chocolate cafe. Yup, you read that right, chocolate cafe. Yum!

photo from tablea.com.ph

Tablea Chocolate Cake was soooo good I will definitely be back for more. But since I am in the business of sharing, I brought this home for the bu!

I am the best girlfriend ever! I am fattening him up! The best part of all this, I'm scheduled to go back to Cebu next month. I can't wait! I will not binge eat until then!

Oh, and before I end this post, let me share with you what happened to me on the way home. As luck would have it, I had problems with my flight again. But this time I had no one to blame but myself!

See, what happened is I had always assumed my flight was at 3:45 PM so I was taking my sweet time buying all the food I wanted to bring home. I got to the airport a good hour and fifteen minutes before my flight. I was safe. But as cranky as I was (having to carry a backpack, laptop bag, handbag, lechon and cake all by myself) I tried to be as pleasant as possible to the check-in counter clerk so she'd give me a good seat. I hand her my ID and politely ask for a seat in front only to be met with a questioning look. She asked for my flight details, my flight time, my reservation code and all that. Peculiar as it may seem I hand everything to her only for her to smile at me politely and say..."Ma'am your flight was at 3:45 this morning" Imagine the embarrassed look on my face. It was horrible. I tried to ask her to put me on the flight but she said I had to go to the ticketing office to get myself a brand-spanking-new ticket!

So off I go to the Cebu Pacific office only for them to tell me a new ticket would cost 4,400++. What a joke! My whole round trip ticket was a little over 3,000. So I suck it up and head on over to Zest Air since their ticketing office is right across the CebPac office. And that's where I book my ticket and homebound I was. Happy.

Until I get to Manila and call the bu who's at the wrong airport. Hehe...oh the saga continues. But everything worked out fine from there. :) I was home, I was happy and that night, I was drunk. See, everything worked out well.

Today marks a decade.

A decade. 10 years. That's a whole lot of time.

A lot of things can happen in 10 years. Isn't it one of those staple interview questions, "How do you see yourself in 10 years?" Well, in all the interviews I've been in I always get asked that question, and I always say in 10 years I will be FABULOUS! Ok, so I admit I might not be that crazy during interviews, but in my head that's what I was saying!

***photo from lifeinaventicup.com

You might be curious as to why I all of a sudden decide to write about a decade. Well, as I previously stated in the beginning of this post, a lot can happen in 10 years. And for me, the past 10 years have been a h*ll of a ride. Yup, it's official, the bu and I have been together for a decade. We started dating when we were 12, do the math! :P haha.

at our College baccalaureate mass

That was us graduating from college, back then we were just 2 years together. Yes, we went to college that early, he always insisted he was Doogie Howser anyway! :P It's always nice to look at old photos of us together. It makes me realize I look like I never aged a day. ahahahaha...I kid. It makes me realize I am still head over heals in love with this guy. Uh-mazeballs.

So since this post is obviously going to be cheesy, I won't hold back. After all, 10 years is a lot of time and there are a lot of things to say. But since I don't want to bore you let me keep it in theme and share with you the Top 10 Reasons why I know my guy is THE guy for me.

10. He compliments my insanity. Let's all start with the obvious. I admit it, I am insaaaaaane! But there is system to this madness. Or is there? Hehe.

photo credit: Rina  Vivencio del Rosario

There are just times when you don't care what other people might say, you just want to do things because they're fun. Crazy Fun! It's even more fun when there's someone always there willing to be just as crazy as you. Although I would still argue he's crazier than me. With the bu, we like to act silly just because it's more fun that way.

9. He spoils me. The bu takes me and picks me up from work EVERYDAY. You don't think that's a big deal but if you take into account the fact that he works everyday as well as goes on duty at night, yup, that's spoilage. But that's not all, I have never gone to work hungry. He always makes sure I have something to eat. Not impressed yet, when I feel like being a brat and crave for crazy stuff, he agrees to drive to wherever just to satisfy my insane milk tea addiction, random chicken skin chicharon craving or give me my after drinking french fries fix even when I'm passed out on the passenger side.

But that's not all! I am a big baby, and this is where my cousins say I am a big cry baby. I don't like seeing, smelling, touching, or being near anything yucky. And the list of things that are yucky are as weird as cracks on the sidewalk to gross patterns on random objects. Ugh, just typing this makes my hair stand on end. So you can imagine how high maintenance a girl like me can be. Extremely. But the bu knows exactly how to deal with me. He knows when to mock me or make me feel better and he knows better than to tease me when I'm in a mood, most of the time.

The bu is a spoiler but he's also spoiled. It's all about finding the right balance and knowing when to give in or keep on pushing.

8. He always knows what to say to make me feel better. With him I am always safe. I have a weird quirk. Whenever I read something or watch something before I sleep I always get nightmares about it. It has happened for the Hunger Games, Percy Jackson and the scariest of them all The Walking Dead. It is not fun to wake up in the middle of the night to a dark room fearing the zombies have finally come to attack. :/ It's a good thing there's always someone to tell me that I'm being ridiculous and snaps me back to reality.

7. He makes me laugh. All the time. Random conversations with the bu will never be boring. He always has new material that never cease to crack me up. Sometimes I wish I had a camera running all the time just to catch him doing the silliest things. Whenever people meet him for the first time they always think he's this serious cause he gives off this serious-I-will-only-participate-in-intelligent-conversations vibe. But our good enough friends have seem glimpses of the crazy bu. Trust me, if you want to see the person I love spending time with, load him up with scotch and watch the magic happen. :D

Taken at the Evenstcape XV party where the bu decided he could down a whole bottle of Chivas. 

And here are a couple of photos we took at a wedding we went to in Boracay. Obviously we love to dance when we're drunk. But we love to make fun of ourselves even more. Jazz hands!

I believe that the key to a successful relationship is laughter. If you know how to make fun of yourself as much as you make fun of other people, hehe then nothing can keep you down. I can never stay mad at the bu because when he does something stupid, he knows ways to make me laugh. And when you're laughing you can never stay mad.

6. He calls me out when I am out of line. Growing up a middle-child-only-girl has both it's perks and drawbacks. The drawback, I don't have anyone to share clothes and shoes with. The perk, I was NEVER at fault. Yes, my childhood was crazy but it was always happy. So one can imagine the pressure of having to deal with a person who NEVER thinks she's wrong. There are times when I can be the most unreasonable person, there are times lang naman, not naman ALL the time. and the bu always knows when to tell me off and when to just ride it out.

I believe a good partner is someone who knows when to listen to you b*tch and whine but will be brave enough to tell you to your face that what just happened is your fault and that you should just suck it up!

5. He supports me in everything that I do. I've always been fickle. I'm a girl like that. It's a good thing I always have a sounding board with whom I can always bounce my ideas off of. He balances me out, gives me different perspectives to a certain situation.

What I love the most about our relationship is that there are times when we talk like adults, and there are times when at the end of the day, we can be the big kids that we are inside.

4. My friends think he's awesome and I think his friends are awesome. I love my friends and I cannot imagine being without them. They know every dirty little secret of mine and I feel safe enough to know that they will never sell me out. So how awesome is it that my friends get along with him and he can totally be himself when we're all together. They know how cooky-crazy he is. :)

with some of my friends in SG

with the bu's barkada last Christmas 

at one of the Zetan parties.

 3. He loves my family and my family loves him. I grew up in a clannish Filipino-Chinese family. That should be enough explanation of how important my family's approval is to me and how important getting along with them should be to the person I'm with. How awesome is it that every time I'm with family they always look for him. :D

2. With him, I am a better version of me. I can be cranky, bitchy, noisy and downright annoying when I want to be. There have been times when I'm too high strung I get ticked off at the smallest most idiotic things. It helps a lot when there's always someone there to remind you that at the end of the day we all should respect one another because we're all equal. :)

I don't take to alcohol well. At all. Obviously.

 The bu has always known what he's wanted in life and he's continuously working hard to get to his goal. It's admirable because there's really nothing that can stand in the way of him achieving his goal. When I was younger I really wasn't a good student. I took things for granted and only made up for it at the end of the quarter. Looking back I always wish I could have realized what a waste of time and talent that was. But things definitely changed when I met the bu. He was a nerd in the fullest sense of the word. :P But together we learned that a healthy balance is best. :) We strive to be better people not for each other but for ourselves. :)

right before getting drunk. what a fun night!

1. Being with him, I know I am always loved.

Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.- Captain Corelli's Mandolin

So thanks bu, for a wonderful decade. :D I love you!