A Weekend of Some Firsts

Alas... I was too busy last weekend to blog. Haha. Imagine that. The weekend was good. Action packed. Some firsts and some seconds...

Weekend Firsts...

Encounters with Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd! I am now joining the Grey's Anatomy band wagon. But I am waay wayyy behind. I'm on my seventh episode of Season 1, I think. Patrick Dempsey... Oh my. What a dream boat. Now I know why they call him "McDreamy"!

My first Sudoku Puzzle!! Finally! I was able to complete my first ever Sudoku puzzle. It feels deng good! Haha! Although, it's a puzzle I got from Thursday's newspaper. It wasn't was hard as the Sudoku puzzles we have at home. But it feels nice to finally accomplish something (Sudoku-wise).

Inside the Manila Polo Club ... My first time inside the Polo club. I met up with Jason and Cathy to talk about their wedding this Friday. Yours truly will be in charge of the activity area (pre-cocktails). I won't be able to go to the ceremony to see Cathy walk down the aisle. This will be the first CafPpl wedding. Wow. We're old.

Making a speech for Camille... I spent most of Saturday evening hanging out at Camille and Ina's house. Ina was glued to the TV watching Princess Hours, while Camille and I had a lot of quality time making her speech and taking wacky pictures with my laptop's photo booth. The speech can still be improved. Hehe. How do you infuse humor and politics in a speech for a Grade 6 audience?? Tis quite a challenge.

Weekend in Paranaque with now Makati girl, Karina... Oh yes. My very first weekend in Paranaque without Karina in her Barcelona street home. :( It kinda makes me sad that those spur-of-the-moment gimiks in the south will cease to be. Well, we can extend "the south" to include Makati.

TSI Accenture Saturday... I'm afraid I'm turning into an Accenture geek. I spent the entire Saturday in Libran, doing TSIs. Haha! Good fun though. Sandy, Beege, Mowie, Barre, Mel, and Dan were there. The hours flew by rather quickly. Quite a productive day, I'd say.

Weekend Seconds...

Lunch at Heat with El Pamilya...Mama and Papa's 28th wedding anniversary and we all had lunch at Heat (Edsa Shangri-La). My second time in this establishment! Tonton's "sira ulo" comments while he was wolfing down the peking duck and the cold rock ice cream were golden! Rommel joined us and asked for more allowance. Haha! It was nice to have everyone together.

License Renewal on my own... I had my new license for a split second before the police took it again. Deng. It hasn't even cooled from the lamination! Entirely my fault and I am so so so so thankful for my super understanding parents. Sowee 'bout your X-Trail pops!

My second and third Paulo Coehlo books... I was in Powerplant with Tonton and Mark yesterday and I couldn't decide which Paulo Coehlo book I wanted to read next. It was a toss between "Veronika Decides to Die" and "By the River Piedra..." Of course, if you know me well enough, you'd be able to predict what I did when I couldn't decide. Get both! Haha! I started reading "By the River Piedra..." last night. Dozed off (because I was tired). But I do recall a lot of very great words from Mr. Coehlo.

Shuffle Music Survey

1.) Put your music player on shuffle
2.) Press forward for each question.
3.) Use the song title as the answer
to the question.
4.) NO CHEATING!!!

1.) How am I feeling today?
Maybe (By Up Dharma Down)

2.) How will I feel getting married?
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (by the Beatles)... Awww...Actually, the version on my iPod is Spanish.

3.) What is my best friend's theme
song?
Broken Mirrors and Sleeping Turtles (By Up Dharma Down)... Haha! I wonder why?!

4.) Highschool is?
The Boogie that Be (By Black Eyed Peas)

5.) I am...
Fast Cars (by Tracy Chapman)... Fast nga ba talaga?!

6.) How is today?
Never Let you Go (by Third Eye Blind. Hahahaha! Pede! Pede!)

7.) What is in store for this week?
Somebody Kill Me Please (from the soundtrack of The Wedding singer. So it's a bad week then?! Haha!)

8.) What song best describes my parents?
Speed of Sound (by Coldplay)

9.) How is my life going?
Absolute Reality (by The Alarm)

10.) What song will they play at my funeral?
Tao (by Sugarfree)... So I guess naging rockista ako

11.) Is this going to be a good year?
Mission Impossible Theme (Hahahhaha! Ganun?!)

12.) What's your love life like?
Exploration of Space (by Ministry of Sound)... Techno music pa. Lang lyrics!

13.) What's your favorite?
This is the last time (by Keane) ... Owws?

14.) Best bored activity?
Sexy Ladies/Let me talk to you (By Justin Timberlake)..

15.) Favorite quote?
Fallen (live) (By Sarah McLachlan)

16.) Song played in your wedding?
Fo'-Hop (Por Tras De Bras De Pina) (By Sergio Mendes featuring Guinga & Marcelo D2)... Haha! Mejo carribean sounding! Haha! Happy event ito!

17.) What is your boyfriend/girlfriend's theme song?
I Hate everything about you (by Three Days Grace )... Hahahahahahaah! Champion! Di naman!

18.) The song that best described your childhood days...
Walking on the Moon (by the Police) Ye... it seemed rather slow.

19. The song that keeps playing in your mind...
Feeling Good (by Michael Buble)... Who doesn't want to feel good anyway?

20. The song that will make me happy.
One Temptation (By Mica Paris) ... Hehehe! I don't even know this song well.

********

Pucha... My boredom is becoming more apparent each day. See how updated my blog is?! AND! Pumapatol na ako sa mga surveys! Haha! Imacheen!

Random thoughts for the day...

Cupcakes = Happy Thoughts... Deng cupcakes by Sonja. Yummy! I had a carrot cake cupcake (that sounded redundant!) yesterday and a lemon cupcake today. I'm probably kinda relaxed and happy because of all the sugar. Papa liked the cupcakes (he finished two the other night!).

Something Missing... I was talking to Karina today before lunch. We had common sentiments about things becoming a little routinary. A craving for something more. I rationaled, "Gutom lang siguro to." True enough, a Jamaican pattie and an iced tall white chocolate drink later, I was feeling better. Haha. Nga naman... Common Tenten fact. Di pedeng magutom!

Love for movies and music... I just love chatting up a storm about music and movies. I'm happy to have found music and movie afficionados in my friends. Pesem loves movies, and Nelson and Angelo love music.

Love for blogging... Sipag ni Schments lately. The Tanquilut Family Blog is super updated. Today, Tito Mar, Edward, and Ate Gret, left several messages on the Chat Box. I'm pretty happy that a simple blog keeps everyone close!

Speaking of good deeds... I've been thinking about my good deeds list for the year. Donate blood? Visit an orphanage? Arrange a wedding/party for free? Haha.

Movies! Movies!

Thanks to http://trailers.apple.com/, I've been able to view a couple of cool movies which I look forward to seeing!!!

Numero uno on my list is "Children of Men". The movie's tagline/s being, "Women are infertile. No Children. No Future. No Hope. But all that can change in a heartbeat." Homaygaleee... And guess who's directing?! Mexican genuis, Alfonso Cuaron. Dude who brought us "A Little Princess", "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and "Harry Potter, Prisoner of Azkaban". Wow.

Next is "Music and Lyrics". Drew Barrymore. Hugh Grant. 80s! Haha. What's not to love?!

Then there's Dianne Keaton's "Because I Said So." Mandy Moore is in it... so I have my reservations. Hehe!

Bollywood Day!

Last Friday, Keysi and I went to Bollywood for almost three hours of Indian experience!!

We had dinner first and well... We thought we ordered too much food. After forty five minutes... "What food?!" Haha! We enjoyed the Lasi (yummy drink), Chicken Tandoor, and curried mutton. Tsalap!





We then tried the hookah. Apple flavor! Oks din. It's like smoking... minus the cancer.




I love those laid back Fridays. Keyce and I just chatted and chatted. She was relishing the relaxing moments before her first week in "h.e. . . ." Haha. Hoy babae! Dapat magkita pa rin tayo ha!

Simple Pleasures

I know it's a Monday today. I've been trying to fight being sleepy for the last two hours. Oh well. At least this week promises to be a four-day work week! Aussie national holiday this Friday!

The weekend was good. I had a good dose of friends and family time! Karina and I had a spur-of-the-moment gimik with a few of our high school friends from St. Scho. It was pure fun! And then I had a filling late night snack at Jack's. Yummeee! Sunday was family day. Fiesta ng Tondo and a mini-168 shopping spree.

A few simple pleasures I enjoyed over the weekend...

Back to the Future III on HBO - Hahaha! I couldn't help but send Keysi an SMS when I saw that BTTF III was on TV. I've been telling my friends all week that the Saturday before, I wasn't able to do some of my errands because Back to the Future I was on the tube. Good fun!

Laughing with people you've known a really long time - Although Karina and I didn't belong to Nina, Chiara, Triza, and Thea's barkada, it was quite nice to hang out with them. Reminscin' 'bout our high school teachers and batchmates. I liked their jokes about "torrid holding hands". These girls are soooo funny!

Messages from friends - Karina and Irving sent me really nice personal messages last Saturday. Sana nga, Figgy, "the luckiest" :)

Earrings and more earrings - Yesterday, I got myself an earring carousel. Haha! Milet sort of was in disbelief that I wanted to get one (seriously). When I got home, I took out all my earrings and put them on the carousel one by one. It was nice! Seeing all of them lined up. Haha! I don't fancy jewelry at all. I am a fan of earrings though!

Lounging around the house - I guess one can consider this relaxing. The weekends see me usually in my jammies until late afternoon, tiring my eyes out with tv and movies. Sarap lang...

*****

Mental note to self... Upload Bollywood pics and Fiesta ng Tondo pics!

Friday Magic

Hoooray for Friday!

This day of the week seems magical. Everyone's in a slightly better mood. Prolly because of the anticipation of the two work-less days ahead. Or a Friday night out!

A.I. Season 6, Episode 2 was on last night. I think there were more bad performances than good ones! I've been visiting www.rickey.org and the comments from fellow A.I. followers are hilarious!!

Here are some of them...

"Were they in Seattle or Chernobyl?"


"Kuya Rickey hawig kayo ni Sanjaya promise"


"Simon’s “lemur” comment to the guy who was admittedly unusual looking was out of line. It’s bad enough that he’s so tactless when it comes to evaluating people’s talent or clothing, but to say something like that about the guy’s face was pretty low."

*****

Plans for the weekend... Ate Love texted me that Camille will be running for Batch Rep at DLSZ! She has asked me to help her write her speech. Naks! My baby is an aspiring politician! Hehe.
I had a vanity chore last weekend which I wasn't able to attend do. Might try to do it this weekend... as long as Back to Future isn't on! Haha!

Fiesta ng Tondo this Sunday! One more reason to stuff my face with food! Haha! That means more updates on the Tanquilut Family blogger. Fiesta's always fun! Two years ago, we bought Tequilla and finished a bottle. Jose Cuervo has been the guest of honor many times in our gatherings.

Random thoughts of the day... laughter is such a blessing. And so are funny people who make you laugh. I know I have this big, booming laugh. Can you really blame me? Sarap tumawa eh!

I've been exchanging emails with Marchae for the past... two or three weeks?! Hehe! Reminiscing about ERP5, old Friends jokes ("...In prison!"), and dinners we used to have (where Chae swears she will not eat but ends up eating more than I do). I miss having a seatmate (Sad face icon here). My pseudo-seatmate is sometimes amused when I suddenly burst into laughter while facing the computer.

Change is so constant. I think I've been having praning thoughts. I dread the day when my usual gimik buds will be out of the country, with their respective families and hubbies (domestic duties), and I will be left with... my Sudoku puzzles! Haha! I still haven't finished a single puzzle. Is this such a selfish thought?

Mike and Pia's Wedding (Jan's Camera)

Jan sent us pics she took from Mike and Pia's wedding! Unlike the pics I took, Jan is ever present and there's a shot of the beautiful bride, Pia!

Mid-week Flurry

I've been slacking the last two weeks. My team has not been in the vicinity of "busy" since the year started... Until yesterday! Which I think is a good thing. I miss being "busy", and I like the excitement. Going in and out of meetings, replying to emails, getting things done before a seemingly impossible deadline. Ironically, I have ten minutes to spare to blog. Haha.

American Idol started yesterday! I swear, I was super excited about it! I left the office in a hurry, overtook several motorists on my way home, and parked the car in record time. I missed the first minute, but it was ok. Jewel was the guest judge (The girl's pretty, but I wish she had nicer teeth), and she was objective with the wannabes. Simon was funny as usual. I didn't feel Paula much. Hehe. I'm waiting for the next Paula-Simon squabble!

I used to love watching AI auditions. But believe it or not, during commercial breaks, and for some of the latter part of the show, I was doing Sudoku! Haha. Deng that game. One mistake and you ruin the entire puzzle. I honestly thought I was finally going to finish one puzzle. I wonder if they have a super easy Sudoku puzzle book for beginners.

I met with Suzie the other day and we spent four hours talking! Oh my. Girls love to talk. We had early dinner at Fish and Company (yummmeeee), where I ordered 'The Best Fish and Chips in Town'. It's actually just as good as the New York Fish and Chips.

Despite splurging sa Fish and Co, I'm on tipid mode (naks!). It feels awesome to be "paid"sa Citibank. Phew! But then, I still have my insurance, Amex Card, and Globe Bill, to think of. Kailangang bumalik sa simple living. Hehe. Schmenten should stay focused for October 2007.

Okeh... Ten minutes up. Back to the grindstone...

Favorite Food...

1.fave street foods?
- Squid balls dipped in spicy sauce. Yum!

2.fave pasta?
- Carbonara sa Pazzo, and the best pesto with breaded chicken and cream cheese cubes (home made!)

3.fave food pag summer?
- Mangoes

4.fave food pag umuulan?
- Ginataan!

5.fave food pag nanonood ng sine?
- White Cheddar popcorn & Sliders na mini cheeseburgers

6.fave shake?
- Mango Banana shake

7.fave night-out drink?
- Red wine! Or a Cosmopolitan

8.favorite softdrinks?
- Rootbeer or Coke Light

9.fave food pag nasa beach?
- Anything grilled!

10.fave drink/food pag galit?
- Chocolate

11.fave cuisine?
- Hmm... This is a tough one. Japanese, Italian, Indian, Thai

12.fave dessert?
- Cheesecake... and Molten Chocolate Lava Cake sa Chili's

13.fave breakfast?
- Haha! Kahit ano! Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.

14.fave kind of chocolate?
- Milk Chocolate. Or dark mint chocolate. Or kahit anong chocolate na may caramel!

15.fave food na inihaw?
- BBQ

16. fave food na may sabaw?
- Tom Yam Goong

17.gusto mong handa sa birthday mo?
- Lengua!

18.best place to have coffee?
- Starbucks Baguio or Tagaytay

19.saan sulit kumain pag gutom?
- Triple V (Crossover buffet or kahit yung Kamayan lang champion na!)

20.best palaman sa tinapay?
- Cheese pimiento

21.favorite ice cream flavor?
- Mint Chocolate Chip

22.milo or ovaltine?
- Ovaltine

23.pagkain na hindi mo kakainin?
- Hahaha... so far wala.

24.lagi ka bang gutom/uhaw?
- Uhaw madalas.

25.san ka willing mag spend para samasarap na pagkain?
- Spiral sa Sofitel (Dating Westin Philippine Plaza)

26.anong pagkain ang gusto mo iuwi from lamay pero hindi pwede?
- Wala. Sad kasi sa lamay

27.anong gusto mong pagkain sa lamay mo?
- Shucks. The usual. Goldilocks goodies at Sunkist juice

28.anong food ang ipagdadamot mo?
- Foie Gras!

29.sinong kilala mong kain ng kain pero hindi tumataba?
- Lery Berry at si Yssang.

30.eh diet ng diet pero hind ipumapayat?
- Haha! Marami to!

31.Anong sikat na pagkain sa lugar nyo?
- Conti's

32. Anong pagkain lagi mong pinupuslit?
- Snacks sa ref sa bahay

33. Lagi mong hinihingi sa kaklase mo?
- Don't go to school anymore.

34. Gusto mong kainin ngayon na?
- Haaay... Gusto kong magbreakfast buffet sa kahit anong 5-star hotel!

35. Kung isa na lang kakainin mo sabuong buhay ano to?
- Lengua!

36. Ano ang pinaka-memorable na pagkain sayo at bakit?-
- Hmm... Couldn't think of one right now.

Night Out with Nikki

The first Friday of the year 2007 (January 5), we all took balikbayan Nikki out for a Friday night gimik in Manila. Nikki is my niece! But she's almost a foot taller than I am! Haha! She spent her first five years in the Philippines (mostly in Davao) before moving to the US. This girl is super talented! She's in her senior year in college, majoring in Music.

Anyway! 'Nuff of the 411. We started the evening with a yummy and filling dinner at Bollywood. Indian cuisine is prolly in my top 3 favorite cuisines. So sue me if I like 'em hot and spicy! Hehe. Nikki and the rest of the gimik crew enjoyed the dinner, too!

Noteworthy dishes... Mutton in curry and these yogurt shakes.

We've been teasing Gelo (my oldest god son) and MM forever. Match made in La Salle. Haha. Obvious naman here na kilig na kilig si Gelo diba?! This picture was taken when we had one round of drinks at Cuisine.
Still in Cuisine. Nikki surely stood out! She's the tallest sa group!
We transferred to Embassy after Cuisine. We certainly weren't shutter-shy. We had a record four digital cameras, all flashing away.Twas a good thing we had the boys to ward off scary people.

The DJ was playing House music that night. I admittedly wanted to dance to some Hip Hop music (Schmenten, is this you?!). MM found out from her DJ friend that they switched the schedule of House and Hiphop night. Oh well. We danced anyway!
Here's me taking a break.And here's Mark after a day of work and an evening of party-ing... I can hear The Killers in the background, "... when we were young..."

Till your next trip in Manila, Nikki!

Pasto with Karina and Irene

Irene, Karina, and I met last January 3 to share the JB love this 2007! It was an evening of insightful conversations and laughter. *Sigh* We miss these bonding moments. And we hope Irene returns to Manila for good this June!





Of course, kailangang merong lighting effect ang picture namin ni Figgy!

Blogging on a Saturday

Oh yes. It's 5:39pm and I am still in my jammies, blogging. I had big plans today! Spa, salon, and a movie. I think I will be settling for salon and a massage. Hehe.

Yesterday was quite a day! Keysi and I had dinner at Mezzaluna in Serendra. Wow. Twas a five course dinner! It was a splurge. This will be our last one, as we plan to save up this year! Haha. I wish I had noted what we had exactly. Of couse, what's a five course dinner without a glass of red wine?! The Merlot was pretty good. God, I miss those dinners in Sydney!

Anyway, after dinner, we went to Greenbelt and caught the last full show of Blood Diamond. Leo's looking pretty sexy, with his Southern African accent and all. Stressful as the movie was, being set in war-stricken Sierra Leone, it was good! We liked Jennifer Connelly in that film.

I think I slept at around 5am earlier today! I chatted with Roch when I got home. Hehe.

I have a new favorite website! Haha! www.jasonmagbanua.com. This guy is pure genius! Mike and Pia's on-site AVPs there, and so is Lex and Lynn's ultra cool AVP. 'Course, I couldn't resist looking at the other AVPs.

I did say I supposedly have a big day of activities today. What kept me from taking a bath and hauling ass to Makati was the TV! I am such a movie-addict. I saw Contact the other day, and it was on again this afternoon. Guess who watched it until the very end, yet again?! After that, Back to the Future was on! My brothers and I love the movie trilogy. We can watch it over and over again.

Tonton was super nice today (as he always is). He made us merienda! Pancakes, omelette, and chicken hotdogs. Plated pa ha. Hehe. I might take him to the massage place with me tonight.

Looks like this'll be a lazy Saturday for moi.

Mike and Pia's Wedding

(Finally figured out how to post pics again!)

Our very good friend Mike Panganiban and Pia Tan tied the knot last December 29, 2006. First wedding in D'Gang history (we have not yet dis-Ganged). The ceremony was held at the Guadalupe Viejo Church and the reception was at the Wack Wack Country club.

I have to say that this is one of the best weddings I've ever attended. Props to Pia, Mike, and all their suppliers. Bravo! Anyway, this wedding supports my belief that the magic and beauty of a wedding is 75% the couple's love for each other. 25% for the suppliers and the execution. As cheesy as that sounds. Mike and Pia are one of my favorite couples. I love their love story (Met waaay back in college. Have been together for 8 years! They're both super funny!).

Anyway, I know it was Mike and Pia's day, but I unfortunately was unable to get any decent pics of the couple. Haha! I did take, however, a lot of pictures of D' Gang! Haha!

This is Marian, Keysi, and me during the cocktail hour! Cheers to my favorite beverage of all time! Red Wine!



Happy couple Boom and Marian! Hmm... Kayo? Kelan kaya? :-D



Waiting to be part of two happy couples, Keysi and Me! ("Two Less Lonely People in the World" swelling in the background)



Here's us with Namee and PJ. Donde esta Jan Sy?!



The color theme of Mike and Pia's wedding was a rich symphony of red, purple, and green. My favorite beverage of all them makes another appearance on our table.



Here's one pic I did take of the couple:



They danced to "The First Time" by Eric Benet (I think that was the song). Looks like they practiced! Haha! It was lovely.

We also loved loved loved the on-site AVP Jason Magbanua's team prepared. Wow. Tear. In. My. Eye. Haha! That's me being overly dramatic. "Book of Love" by Peter Gabriel was the song they used. A major "aawwwwww" moment when we saw Mike on the screen, crying.

Random Thoughts...
My oh my. I have selected my on-site AVP song! I would like "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds (I'll post the lyrics on my next entry). And I would like the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows". And Andy Williams' "Moon River". Hehe. See how eclectic my musical taste is.

Congratulations, Mike and Pia!!

Zinger Happy

Blogger has been acting pretty strange lately. I think it's because of the upgrade and everything. I can't see the button for the Upload Photos anymore. Hence, I am unable to post new entries for my backlog entries. I still have... Mike and Pia's Wedding, Pasto with Irene and Karina, Angeli's Beeday, and Zhaira's Baptism. I'm crossing my fingers that our DSL connection at home has improved.

Highlight of my day so far... The Zinger sandwich I'm currently eating for lunch. It ain't the best Zinger I've ever had, but this one's pretty darn good. For some unknown reason, I have an abundant supply of happy hormones today. Hehe.

This week has been an ok work week. Not a lot of tasks on my team's plate, but we're trying to still be productive. I had a good talk with Yas yesterday, while we were buying lunch. Lotsa discussion around staying and leaving. Hehe. Short term and long term plans. I hope the universe continues to reveal what I want for the future.

Yesterday, I ventured the badminton courts! After being MIA for almost a year. Tammy, Sanny, Linor, Ceasar, and I played with and against each other for an hour. Ceasar was hilarious with his serious badminton stance. After playing, we had dinner at the nearby Tapa King and just chatted. It was an evening of reminiscing. We looked back to our days in Sydney, first impressions and what nots. We all missed Sydney. Tammy told me last week that our stay in Sydney now seemed like a dream, as if it never really took place. I kind of feel the same. Just like how Uh_huh2004 now seems so far away.

I also spoke with Maan yesterday! I gave her a call and we just chatted and chatted. I super duper miss her. Karina and I both do. Maan sent pics today of her Christmas and New Year adventures.

Weekend's here!! On my agenda tomorrow... See some Spa and parlor action. I dunno what I'd like to do with my hair though. I like it long. Sometimes they tend to have waves, which I don't mind. Lea and I might see KKK tomorrow. Haha!

Random thoughts for the day...

Pesem copied two Sugarfree albums on my iPod and I've been listening to some of their songs, shaking my head with a smile. Those guys are pretty talented. I saw them perform at Saguijo just before Christmas (with the great Up Dharma Down).

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. Goes pretty well with the "steady lamig" philosophy. I was telling Karina this in our convo this morning. Although... can you truly control yourself from being upset? To some extent, I think you can. Again, it all boils down to perspective. How you look at things/the situation. Prayers help a lot. Hehe.

Still have a lot of 2007 musings. So many "I wish"es and "I hope"s. Trying to cut back on "I expect"s. The truth is, nobody knows for sure this year's going to turn out. The unknown is pretty exciting and scary. I just hope this year will be a plesant surprise me. I have very little expectations of 2007. I have drafted a couple of "plans" for the last quarter of the year. Haha. I hope that pushes through! It will all depend on my self-control and discipline (like hell it does!).

I've decided to resurrect my gratitude journal... on my new Starbucks 2007 planner! So that should keep me optimistic for all those difficult times ahead. I can't sweat the small stuff, but it would be nice to appreciate the little things.

40 Year-End Questions

1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Got so drunk that I got thrown out of a bar! Hahaha!

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Nope! It's the same resolution year after year! Save (hahaha! Patawa at wala talaga akong datung!), Lose ten pounds (in fairness, ito mejo nagawa ko), and be less tardy (isa pang patawang resolution).

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousin Sheryl. Her third baby! And my cousin Judy. Her first.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope. Thank God. Everyone's healthy.

5. What countries did you visit?
Bangkok and Australia!!

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
Peace of mind, self-control, and a steady lamig attitude all throughout!

7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
November 6, 2006 - Nice beeday, although it was a huge reality check that I am 27!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Promotion to STL. =)

9. What was your biggest failure?
Di masyadong nakapagpakitang gilas sa Sydney (work-wise), and stopped my GMAT review.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Hmm... bad na skin asthma? My perennial polycystic ovaries?

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Hahahaha! I BOUGHT? =) My Gucci bag. Smells so nice! Haha!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Irving! For being super nice and super patient.
And my parents. For being understanding, loving, and generous.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Haha. Not worth mentioning.

14. Where did most of your money go?
ZARA.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Bangkok 2006! And Christmas 2006!

16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
"Warning Sign" by Coldplay and "Be My World" by Milky.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
More ready.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Work harder

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Cram and procrastinate

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it with friends and family!

22. Did you fall in love in 2006?
I'd hoped.

23. How many one-night stands?
Sana!

24. What was your favourite TV program?
Project Runway and American Idol!

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Thieves from BF Homes who stole MacMac I

26. What was the best book you read?
"He's just not into you". Every girl should read this book.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Stop this Train by John Mayer (from the Continuum album). Made me think about my parents.
And Oo by Up Dharma Down. Macky and I can sing this together!

28. What did you want and get?
Macbook (I and II)!

29. What did you want and not get?
A lot of things. Hehe.

30. favorite film of this year?
Pride and Prejudice and The Prestige.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Dinner with my family (pre and post beeday) and dinner/lunch with closest friends. I'm 27. Dengit.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A Christmas unlike any other.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
Layering, lotsa earrings, lotsa Zara!

34. What kept you sane?
MY FRIENDS (Karina, Maan, Macky, Keysi, Chae, Irene, Sam) ! My beloved friends who tire not of listening to me. And my family, and my girls (Ina, Iris, and Yssa)!

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Syet... Derek Ramsey.
Justin Timberlake! Raaaar! He's sexy!

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Social issue pede? Yung Da Vinci code controversy.

37. Who did you miss?
MAAN!

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Angelo, my new guy friend dito sa Optus. Super funny. =)

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.
Mikey should take credit for this: Steady Lamig.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"So scared at being older, I'm only good at being young."

MIS Block Christmas Dinner

My third and last gimik on that fateful December 23rd day was our MIS Block Christmas Dinner! It's been a while since I last saw my blockmates. I think it was Tere's birthday last March!

We all met up in Zong, the Fort, for dinner. I was still stuffed from Alexi's First Beeday that I just had a glass of iced tea. The peeps had quite an appetite though. Hehe.

Here's Sid and Lery. Nakksss... Bagay ba?



Here's me with Lery. I love this girl to pieces! It's amazing how even though we haven't been regularly seeing each other, one coffee break is all it takes. We filled each other in with the latest in our lives when Mikey arrived a few weeks back. Lery is the quintessential career woman. She hasn't changed one bit though. She's still the same old Lery Berry!



Sid also invited our blockmate, Gec Gec to join the festivities. I made the mistake of asking him what company he works for. Hehe. Seeing Gec makes us smile. We remember him best for that 2003 UAAP winning shot. Haha!



The great organizers, Fara and Tere, were late! Tere couldn't stress enough that we had to be there on time. Lo and behold, the two got caught up in their boxing class, hence arriving an hour and a half late. But it's all good! :) The fabulous and sexy Cathi was there, too. She had some time for us. Super busy girl din kasi sya.



The evening was filled with a lot of reminiscing. "Where have all the peeps gone?" "Is Mel Llesol still single?" "Who just got married?" "And do you remember when...?" We should've brought our year books along. It's been ten years since we all first met!

Also present that evening were best pals Sandy and Lisa, and the engaged couple Jason and Kathy. I was pleasantly surprised that Ry showed up! Tsismoso pa rin. Hindi nauubusan ng mga hirit.






After dinner, it was just us girls (Tere, Fara, Lery, Cathi). So we decided to go to Serendra. I've never been and everyone's been saying great things about it. We had coffee and drinks at Larry's Bar. Miko followed! Tere candidly shared her pseudo-love problem and Miko gave very "manly" advice. I guess with guys, there is rarely a gray area. Most of the time, it's just either black or white. We enjoyed his insights. And it was a treat seeing how different guys and girls view things.



I wish Khalid had gone. He's a big family man now. Hehe. And we're quite happy for him.

Till next time!

Alexi's First Birthday

On a roll with my backlog blogs...

Last December 23, Maila and Tom invited their friends and family to the Elgar residence, in celebration of their little princess's first birthday! Alexi Manning is beginning to look like her Dad!



Proud mommy Maila made sure Alexi was pretty in pink!



Maila had a face painting lady present, and she was busy busy busy. Nica and I got identical lady bugs painted on our hands.



Awww... former seatmates and noise pollution advocates. Haha! We all agree the work we did for our previous project sucked most of the time. But what made things a little more bearable were the people. The laughing. And the constant kulitan. I particularly miss Maila's very green mind and her never ending stories of her nephews and nieces. Alexi most certainly as a wealth of cousins/playmates.



I fought the urge to kidnap the very cute Akemi! She was sooo adorable.



Marchae and I agree that the Elgar house was super homey. I could really imagine myself growing up there. Maila's parents were so warm and pleasant ("You have a lovely home" Haha!). But most unforgettable and most noteworthy was the picture on the hallway... of Maila (some ten years back) and her very big eighties hair!

Happy first beeday, Princess Alexi!

People's Palace with Irene

More backlog blog...

December 23 was a crazy day for moi. I was out of the house the entire day! First on the agenda was to meet Irene. We had lunch at People's Palace in Greenbelt. I think People's Palace is without a doubt one of my more favorite restos in the metro. It's admittedly pretty pricey, but the food is fantabulous. We ordered the best selling pomelo and prawn salad.

Irene and I just chatted and chatted the entire afternoon. We caught a glimpse of the Cojuangco family (they were seated on the nearby table). Beauties!

Anyway, I can't believe it's been a year since I last saw this girl. But we've kept close contact through emails and the occasional phone calls. She's definitely one of the funniest people I know. Ibang klaseng humirit talaga tong si Miss Bausas. One of a kind!



That afternoon, Irene said something to me which got me thinking (up to this day). "We're turning 30 in a couple of years. We should start thinking about the future." Dengit. Made me realize what a slacker I've been in the long term life plan department the latter part of the year. I guess being caught up with work makes you lose track of certain things. Although... we can make plans. To some extent. There are things and happenings beyond our control.

I'm amazed at how much my friend Irene has achieved in the past four years. She's been able to live independently in Jakarta; travel to Europe, the US, Asia; learn to be fluent in a different language; save; and! live healthy. Wow. She has a lot of discipline (Always has anyway. High school pa.).

2006 in Review: Highlights of 2006

2006. What a year it has been. I've been trying to look at previous blog entries for clues about how I thought this year was going to turn out. Keysi did mention that I said "this is going to be our year". And by "our year", I think we were indirectly referring to what remains to elude us up to this day.

Highlights of 2006...

January-February 2006, November 2006 - Four Weddings and a Debut - The Palomeras, the Eusebios, the Favises, the Castros, and Mau Mina - My wedding business did ok this year. Mostly referrals and friends. I remember the Favis-Torres wedding the best. The groom with his tear-stained cheeks and that touching speech from his mom. I did attend a couple of weddings too! Latter part of the year... Mike and Pia's wedding (beautiful wedding, and they're one of my favorite couples), Beegee and Shierwin's wedding (d best bridal shower by of course, d best maid of honor! The couple's love story... ahhh... all about certainty). A major wedding I missed - Paragua-Puno. Poo... I will miss Ate My and Erick. Now for the debut... 18th and Manhattan! Macky pulled it off! And Mau was just beaming. What a fun audience, those Assumptionistas.

Feb 2006, Welcome to the JB club, Irving! - Karina finally found her beau in the very sweet, ultra nice guy, Irving. Or as we fondly call him, P.I. (for Papa Irving). Clarity and certainty finally set in. It's nice that Maan got to meet this dude before she left. Syempre, with the Mina seal of approval. Irving and I have had several animated conversations ourselves. We both adore The Killers and Coldplay. And our baby Karina! Haha!

March 2006, Goodbye Dow, Hello MTS - After five years of project work, I was finally rolled off! Of course, there was the matter of saying goodbye, tear drop after tear drop. My new home was with MTS, a guild of Testers. I was with my peeps. I transfered to UBP in Ortigas. This gave Kars and I the chance to hang out some more. Starbucks was a 15 minute walk (quite a big diff from the usual elevator ride in 6750). The first few weeks were difficult. I was missing my old teammates and the magic that was ERP5. Life in MTS slowly became routine. And I was meeting so many new people, teaching testing concepts. I think I relived my dream of becoming a teacher.

April - June 2006 - Fontana, Bohol, Cebu, Baguio adventures with the family - Wow Philippines! It was a jam-packed villa in Fontana. All 21 of in a two bedroom villa! Wahaha! Sounds impossible? I recall playing poker, all the food we ate, and the pseudo-tan I got. Bohol and Cebu... This vacay we had with special guests Lola Juling, Tita Myrna, Nanay, and Tita Marison. I recall the very laid back 15 minutes we spent on the hammocks in front of the Bohol Beach Club. Baguio was super fun too! The road trip was a dramedy of errors! Weather was perfect. In a nutshell, time with the family is always a fabulous time.

June 2006, MBA Dreams - It was probably because of bench, the subtle cajoling of my cousin and friends, my dormant Marketing spirit, and the promise of a great change, that convinced me of my long term goal to pursue further studies. After five years in IT, I was still not completely convinced that I made the right career decision. My parents supported my new goal (a major plus), and I was pretty excited about the life which could be. I enrolled in Kaplan, but unfortunately did not finish. The months which followed tested my personal conviction. And the results of that test? Haha. Still unknown.

August 2006- Sydney, Australia - Finally, after five years of an on-shore-less track, I catch a break. We all left for Sydney July 31st and returned the 13th of September. I knew so little of the folks I went o Australia with, and that six-week-period was a bonding experience like no other. My best of Sydney blog entry summarizes my trip highlights. Off the top of my head: Ben Folds Concert, Hunter Valley, rediscovering my love for cooking, laughing till my sides hurt, magic tricks, long distance phone conversations, being thrown out of a bar! I wouldn't mind returning to Sydney for second servings. Not. At. All.



September 2006- Promotion- Being promoted is always a blessing. I had my own doubts of the career move. It was a nice way of acknowledging the efforts and time I spent working my a** off. Haha.

December 2006, Bangkok - Trip tres to the land of shopping and the best cuisine in all of Asia! Haha! My partner in crime, Keysi and I flew to Thailand the first week of December. It was surreal, because both of us were super busy with work, and we could hardly believe we were going to BKK again. Everything was super familiar! And it was amazing how we still remembered the nooks and crannies, ins and outs, of the shopping districts. Things we did differently... Visit Khao San Road (hello hotties!), the Grand Palace (Oh. It was quite a hot day then!), and finally get an authentic Thai massage.




December 2006 - Christmas - Christmas is always a fun time! I look forward to Christmas every year. Meeting up with old friends, going out with new ones. Eating until the pants' buttons pop out. Giving gifts. Family games and pictorials. I think Christmas 2006 might have been one of the more hectic Christmases in more recent personal history. I wish I had more time to relax. Hehe. I had a blast hanging out at Ate Love's newly renovated Casa Marias home. The Tanquilut Family reunion at home was a hoot. MIS Block Dinner! Old friends. What a hoot.



I think I said this in one of my previous entries. Life doesn' turn out the way you think it would. Not exactly. Sometimes that's not such a good thing, and other times, it is. 2006 surprised me in a lot of ways. It was year of change and progression. Some digression. But progression as a whole. I think I ended the year with a lot to think about. A couple more things still hanging. I do hope to resolve my uncertainties as 2007 progresses. Made a lot of new friends. Got to know some awesome people better. Kept my old friends close.

I did pray for a better year (2006). It was. Most definitely. As compared to 2005. I continue to pray that 2007 will be an even better year. I hope it surprises me with a few fast balls. I hope I surprise myself!

**I'll post more pics soon**