can't help it!

Plans with no guarantee..

I felt tired of waiting at the moment that I need to break from it for a bit. Looking forward is nice but sometimes when things just don't go the way you like it, it just feels unfortunately disappointing to self. I am far from depress I just long to go and see the world! As much as I love to see the future, I also love to feel the now and take a few steps back to rest from pursuing. I still have the plans to chase after my dreams, always have, I guess a few times out of it won't hurt. ^__^ 

And just like that, I have my lovely girl friends planning trips and tempting me relentlessly to join them. Answered prayer! I have my soul mates in them! We may not be all alike in all ways, but we do share the same thoughts! Siem Reap - Bangkok was the talk for months now where they keep on pushing it to me. It is only recently we felt the impulse to go to Coron. God is so tempting! and one can only take so much! And at last I booked with them. I'll see my favorite paradise again! Palawan baby! And only weeks after booking Coron, I then now booked for Siem Reap to join them! In an impulse, mom will kill me! and I can't wait to be out of town for a few days!! 

I shared them the news just now.. and I can hear the scoring in my head playing! 

♫♪ I wanna rock with you... all night!! Dance you into day...sunlight! ♪♫♫♪ 

Break from work and break from reality. Only me, my girls and the places to go to! ♥

counting the dragging days starts NOW!

tryinggg.. to be healthy! lol

Mom bought some lovely cherry tomatoes and there goes the idea for some salad!

Really?! I said salad! Salad with vegetables. I'm trying here you know. I am all meat and grease not healthy at all. Just don't hate me from trying! lol (I still pick out most of it.) Truthfully, I can live with lettuce and tomatoes but others.. hmm... I have second thoughts! I don't know. I just can't.

Anyway, because we have this pretty little things, I urged Aya to go with me and buy some balsamic vinegar for the vinaigrette. (er. FYI I don't do mayonnaise too!) While browsing the shelves in the grocery we saw some feta cheese! Okay.. add one in the basket! then off we go. It'll add up if we checked out the other rows! Maybe add some wine and another kind of cheese! toink! so we're better off away from here! :-)

And the advantage of preparing the food yourself? You get to lessen somethings you bet to pick out later on your food! lol. So what I had mixed in the salad was just the lettuce and tomatoes and a bit of cucumber! *evil laugh* Sorry family! It goes my way this time! I don't eat cucumbers too by the way, that's why I only added a bit. If I were the only one to eat this, I'll just have the lettuce and tomatoes period! =P

I guess this isn't so bad. I tried you know. And as far as trying goes.... this is it! Little steps at a time. hehe

movie alone again =)

Nobody to be with so I went all by myself. yay! Today's line up, Les Miserables and Hansel and Gretel. I went alone in the nearest cinema. *Me Time*

I enjoyed Les Miserables, though I felt tired after all the singing in the movie! It wears me out that the actors were struggling to sing for their parts the whole time. Now, I'd love to see the real musical. If there'll be a remake here I'll make sure to reserve a ticket regardless of how much it is! ^_^

Then I made a quick errand for Mom to pay her bill. It was exhilarating! The adrenaline rush! I only have 15 minutes to do it in between, Hansel and Gretel is about to start by then and I made it! I didn't know I can move that fast and boy I was lucky there were no pending lines! hihi I made it just in time.

This movie, though I adore Jeremy Renner, this is not his most impressive movie for me. Anyway, it's not that bad either, maybe I expected more from it.

I yearn to have another movie but then it's getting late and I still need to fix the salad when I get home. So home I went after making time in the restroom then I saw this. ugh! Women! Is it really that difficult to pick up after yourselves in public? tsss....

Really, that crumpled tissue paper bothered me.. Why the need to leave it there when the rubbish bin is just around the corner?? *annoying*

Lindt is L-O-V-E

oh it's the chocolate that I love. the coffee that I long for always and the tea that comforts.
*just lucky*

and we're back!

I didn't expect that just after a few days we'll be back here! Korean dinner again with Tito August and Tita Aida, my lola's sister and brother-in-law, which makes us family. :-) They are here for the length of the holidays and will be back to Switzerland in a few days, I think. Not quite sure though. It is the same as last year's I think, unfortunately I was in Seoul at the time of their visit that I wasn't able to join them for dinner, only for lunch by then after I came back from the trip.

We went there to spend some time together and treat them as well.

side dishes (kimchi, egg, macaroni salad)

Samgyupsal

beef stew

Ddokbokki

Bulgogi

Kimbap

complementary Bibimbap

Spicy Chicken

Eureka!!

Today, I have a couple of personal meetings planned out.
> Lunch with Ate Heidz and Ralei
> Dinner with Aya at Happy 6 days Korean Restaurant

Ok. second day in the morning shift and I am starting to dread it. Being too early at work then rushing off to end my shift on time. er. Thinking about it on a daily basis? hmm.. I don't know.

Anyway, I started again my day early. Did my morning deliverable before the training, then the training.. then lunch. I felt bad to decline my team mates invitation for lunch today but then I have committed already with my friends. We meet up in Sbarro, had a slice of pizza, half servings of ravioli and a dash of soda! lol. Tell me who's hungry? haha

After lunch was uneventful. Already I wanted to finish everything and leave. I am excited for dinner. I am craving some Korean cooking for some time now and I heard from my KCC friends this was one of the good place for Korean food. This is the restaurant I've been looking for the last time to meet them. Where I failed, lost the choice and just head to the office. This time I will surely find it with Aya! We set to meet at Rustan's in Shang ri-la. I waited for her a bit because I ran off early. lol.

We took the cab and we found it. But still, I don't know the way. All I knew is that it is adjacent to the NEDA office.

We ordered a couple of things.

Bibimbap Special

Complimentary Bibimbap

Kimchijjigae

Spicy Chicken

I must say, the taste of their food is the closest thing next to the one I had back in Korea. Sajangnim daebak! ^__^

Normal for a day or two

This Monday and Tuesday, after years of being on the all nighters, I am on the morning shift today to participate in a training for two days. It's not that I don't like a normal day, starting at sun up to sun down. It's just that working in the center of a business district, you have to battle the stresses of traffic early in the morning, the crowded places with people hurrying to find a ride, and the efforts to avoid the rush hours before and after work, plus the heat of the day's warm weather. ugh! I just don't like being confined in a crowded place, an overly crowded place I might say. I can endure a little of the crowd, but the rush-hour crowd? Huge NO!

So Hello Monday and it went on as normal as I'd hoped for. I arrived too early in the office. In fact, I was the first one to punch in on a Monday morning aside from the guards in the building. I don't like being late and I don't like starting a day on the wrong foot.

I spend the day in front of my computer before and after the training. Taking short breaks from it to join the other girls in my team for a little chat and to have lunch. And being me, I finish my work as early as possible and took off the work place on the dot! woot! woot! hehe.

So here is what happened with my 'not used to morning shift'. I am to meet Aya so we can go home together. I'll took the train and meet her in Gateway mall. I went my way to the loading area on the other side of the street. Quite a lot of people were already there trying to snatch a ride to wherever they'll go. And then I ignorantly walk straight to one of the public utility jeep not knowing about the line behind me were people waiting for their turn. Oh my.. I didn't mean it but then nobody stopped me. I only realized there was a line when suddenly the people in it rushed towards where I rode. I felt guilty on sneaking my way accidentally yet I don't want to get off cause it'll take me all eternity to wait in the line with all the people I saw. I am really sorry!

I waited for Aya in Gateway with my sore feet and tired eyes. I felt beaten to the whole day's affair.

Family pig out day

Gosh! Talk about hefty meals!

Ate Hercy and Ate Lexcy have set the day to treat us over a meal together as a holiday present. We then settled on a Sunday to pursue our love for food! Seriously, we really enjoy good food! Isn't it obvious yet?

Hi Rice Grill, well, what can I say about it? The place is not a glamorous one, it is a typical place for a fast meal. They offered bowls of rice or noodles depending on your choice. It is a Mongolian restaurant by the way. We did the buffet-eat-all-you-can thing. It was exciting and fun to go over it and do your own mix. From vegetables to meats, from sweet to spicy, from noodles to rice. We loved the treat and we enjoyed taking photos while waiting for our food to be cooked.

I enjoyed watching them before I took off and get my own bowl. ;-) Their backs were quite a sight! Too busy to notice the audience in me! =D

This is what happened when we're together. Some of my cousins were missing this momentous event but then we can't just sulk! So we enjoy every second of it! Family it is! We may have conflicts at one time but we know we have each other's back when the need come by.

After filling our stomachs with bowls and bowls of goodness... we ran to SM mall and stroll then another round of food-tripping! Time for desserts~ we tried TCB's unlimited cup of coffee and cakes! another bottomless eat for the day.

fancy rocks

Tita Julie has sent a huge box of goods for everybody to share. And we had a fair share of it. She specifically named our little packages for us. It was a number of necklaces and chocolates and a few more things for mom and dad. I have such thoughtful aunties and uncle from different places! lol.

So I played with the necklaces. I just wished I am really into accessories! This pretty little things was so nice! Thank you Tita Julie! sending our love over ~ ♥ hoping for a lovely date with you again! xxoo

missing

How frustrating! Today, I would have dined with my KCC classmates. And my missing sense of direction hindered once again. It is really quite frustrating when you are already in the area yet can't find the place. What's more annoying is I don't have the time to get lost and find my way back. It's a Friday and I need to be early for work. I left home earlier then than usual yet disaster has donned on me. The rain is pouring, I have no umbrella and I am running searching for the right way to this Korean restaurant in Ortigas. I did my best searching and it just i waste of time I realized. I am a little soaked from the rain and getting tired of walking back and forth asking the guards, yet the guards did not know it too! Er. How unfortunate! Then they decided for me to just pass on and just set for another date next time. :-(

And this is what happened while waiting for the train. I hope to capture my haggard look but I don't think this qualify as such. hehe. I love the lighting though. ^_^

I just walked my way back to the train station and rode my way to Ayala as I thought but then another unmeasured event happened. There was a fire-scare in the train and people were rushing out of it in Boni station, three more station before my supposed stop. Oh what now? I am running late and having this luckless events of my life! Good thing I am safe and very much alive :) I envied my friends dinner together but I am ok with the thought of looking forward to the next date!

catching the sun at bay

From Eastwood to Church.... Such a juxtaposition! I sat at the farthest back with Aya to chase the sun at dawn. =) It was quite a sight! as always the magic in it doesn't fade a bit!

Then after mass, starved from all night's drinking lol. Aya and I ate in my bed! =)

Old Love is still LOVE

* Winkaye, Stella, Do-anne, Kim, 'Me', Heidi, Kristine *

I was sleeping the day off and just woke up when I saw Heidi-unni's messages and missed calls. Last minute notice on a night's date at Eastwood it is. Ate Ueno, a friend for years, was on her way back to Japan at least for a lengthy time. So it is only now that we have the chance to meet her before leaving off again. There was supposed to be a date last Thursday, but then I am caught up with work that I can't commit my time to meeting them. It was a second chance sprung to have the last minute date!

Er. only an hour left before the meeting time! I need to do fast shower! No indulging bath today. T.T Good thing I move fast, except for the time-slowing of warming my bath water. I grab anything I can wear. Dress, powder, heels is all I need and Voila! I'm ready to go! And most people of my acquaintance wouldn't even believe for a second that I can do that! (Is it that hard to believe I am not vain?? and Vanity is not my middle name? hahaha) Anyway, I took a cab to Eastwood. It's a weekend I thought so. And thought I'll be the latest one to arrive because of the non-cooperating traffic! Alas! I was the third one. I came to meet Heidi-unni and Stella sitting in the corner of Gaffitti having their way on a bucket of sorts of beers and bottled alcohol mixes. We started the night with ourselves and let the others know where to meet us including Ate Ueno. ^__^ and by the way, we thought it was an all girls night out we forgot she has a boyfriend always leashed by her side. (no offense to him but we three, Heidi-unni, Stella and I, thought at least a night with just the girls would be nice).

with Ate Winks, Kim, Ate Ueno and Ate Heidi

It was a fun night too. Non-stop reminiscing (though I don't know some of the names being mentioned since I had departed our common school when we were in sixth grade), Non-stop laughing and sharing. I was friends with them when we were in our elementary years in Stella Maris College. We were tight friends by then, drifted a bit after we parted in the sixth grade. It is when I transferred school, the graduating year it is. Quite a leap for me to suddenly adjust to a COED school. Anyway, we found our way back and get even closer in Highschool, with Ate Winkaye and Ate Ueno, through endless phone calls at day to the next day! Imagine us three not getting off the phone for hours and still we had something to talk about the next day! It was incredulous at it's best but it did happen. We drifted a bit when we went off to college yet we still find time to catch up or meet once in eons. Same goes until now.

On the other hand, I get to be closer with Ate Heidi when we found each other again back in College. It was really amazing seeing her in a distant that time, it was years ago since I last saw her then and I am not sure if she even remembers me. Remembering the first time I saw her again in line in UST while we wait for our turn in registration I don't know if I should say hello, yet I decided better not to. Months after it was a huge shock to see her on the first day of school in the same classroom as I was. We were block mates! Awesome fate! And when we first talked we then realized we did saw each other in that line and the truth is, we unknowingly both decided not to say hello fearing the small talks and awkward silence after the initial 'Hello'. and just like that we started anew. =D and until now we still have our time together, travel together and dreams.

It was a long history of friendship! And I am glad we still remember each other every now and then. And yes it is! OLD LOVE IS STILL LOVE!

 We ended the night after grabbing something warm at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Sobered, we left and end the night with more laughs and another memories to be kept together. Cheers! ♥

first day of 2013

I don't do diet so why bother checking out what I eat! I eat and indulge. I enjoy and love!

First day of the year, and food is overflowing! Really, all day eating nonstop?
I was ecstatic to see our relatives. Recently it has been reduced to less than a few times a year after Lola died (Dad's mom). We missed this cousin of ours alot! And finally, we'll be able to date! Same drill as last year's at Eastwood.

We had lunch and doze off a bit before going off on our secretly planned date. Our excuse was to bring food over to Ate's office. We took the cab going there and waited ages! kidding aside, Ate is always like that. *sigh* Anyway, we went our way to the mall first and just meet her there instead of waiting in the building's lobby where we can do nothing but stare at the elevator to see if she's on it by then.

We stroll and dropped by a toy shop. It really made me feel like a kid walking around the rows and rows of toys! It was really tempting to buy much everything you set your eyes on it. Thank goodness I am not in love with card games, board games and animal stuffed toys. I just fancy them. But the Ate Didith can't help herself and bought a few stuff. and being just me, I am the devil in her shoulder whispering 'go ahead and buy!' And then met Ate in the entrance of the mall. (The photo was taken without them noticing it! Candid! I just love doing that. It's just... so real what you caught unguarded!) We then headed next to Caffe Bene to grab some coffee and pastries! We are expecting so much with this coffee shop and we hope not to be disappointed. It's the first branch of this Korean coffee shop here in Manila. I long to try Holly's coffee but it's too out of my way. Maybe next time then.

We walked our way to Caffe Bene and I instantly loved the place! It's spacious and not cramped at all. People fit in as they stay and just go for a cup. It is the place I would have loved to do people watching, some place you can read a book and be on your own for a while. Maybe it's just new in the place and not yet that popular that people isn't seeing it like Starbuck's.

The staffs were really accommodating and friendly. We placed our orders and waited a bit. While waiting we had our way with the camera!

Coffee was nice as always. Caffeine always gives me the kick! I can't even differentiate the difference. I only knew, Good coffee and Bad coffee. One, I love to drink. Two, I might want to drink. And Three, I won't dare to try again! But one of my dreams is to learn more about coffee.

Anyway, food servings were gigantic! And lovely presentation, you'll be enticed to dig in and not just stare at it! It is better to share than to be selfish! It'll be truly a gluttony if you'll not share.

And it's as if we are walking backwards, we decided to have a meal together! Undecided, we stroll and thought of where to eat again. Then Ate suggested Uncle Cheffy's. Salad, Pizza and Ribs! Crap! I thought we can't hold anymore food in our tummy yet we still ate our way to happiness! The salad I like given that all I can see is lettuce and it's all I can eat in a vegetable salad! XD Pizza... well I expected more I guess and while the ribs was prettily made I looking for something more.

The house is full just in time for dinner and we had to look for a better spot. What's really nice was eating together and catching up and talking endlessly, it's only a bonus that the food is fabulous! :-)