For the Love of Pinkness

Personal Notes: First Visayas Trip of 2012

Mon, 21 May 2012 09:51:44 +0800

You can always hear me babble about how nice the Visayas is and how I’ve always considered it my second home. This year, I get to see it for a measly three-days-and-two-nights worth of my summer vacation.

I have no better photo to show you one of my realization than this. How development has turned people into aircon-fanatics and Chowking-eaters. How when asked where to eat after that 1 hour ride from MLA, our relatives would answer with a name of the mall instead of the boulevard, to eat at Chowking inside the mall instead of that branch at the heart of town near Lee Plaza. Change happens. Filipino culture nga naman. Goodbye leisurely boulevard stroll.

This very random trip to the Visayas is for my cousin. We celebrated their renewal of vows this time with Him as a witness inside his abode of a Church. Shown above is a photo of the guests. This was actually a wedding-binyag celebration. The priest did not allow them to have their daughter’s baptism unless they get married in the church. That I still do not understand.

Notice the flower arrangement. Local flora and the color of love. The simple mix of green foliage and the white and red inflorescence. Classic play of contrast, plus this super red fabric that covers up the lengthy metal holder.

Aside from the celebration itself, this was my vacation highlight. I am sooooo in love with the watermelon carvings. The talented organizers shared a lot of their creative skills on this fruit table.

Photo of the newly weds. Congratulations to my dear cousins. Might go back to the Visayas end of this year or when I get that most needed mid-year vacation. I always go back.:)

Personal Notes: To the land of San Antonio

Sun, 13 May 2012 11:04:12 +0800

Sunrise are best spent with happy people and the beach. I had one of the best view aboard the boat near the land of… ( the spurs?:P)… San Antonio, Zambales. It was breathtaking, with the calm open sea greeting us with a good morning ride as we tour the islands and nestle at Nagsasa cove for almost 2 days.

Thesis Notes: I'm So Happy For This

Fri, 04 May 2012 12:00:00 +0800

Photo showing the interior of Santa Ana Church. Jan. 22, 2012.

The most random realization/reflection happened a few minutes ago:

I’m so happy that I am cool with thesis and I have a support team—super close friends (you know who you guys are), my adviser who reminds me all the time of the work i needed to do, extended-adviser somewhere Japan who sees to it that FB time is useless, and the research student assistants namely Fami who did the pretest survey, Zia and Pidz who i constantly make kulit, and KC and her team who i randomly text about stat jargon. They have constantly pampered me with small snippets of help of all forms (from doing the surveys and putting a bit of insanity to my life). Gipit times really makes you screen out all your friends. And sometimes it is heartbreaking that some cannot understand how hard it is for you, changing and leaving just because you are lost for a second.

Travel Notes: Off to Taguig for Mind Museum

Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:00 +0800

Some of the few things I did between thesis and vacation. A night visit to the Mind Museum just before the holiday break last April for Holy Week. We even went inside with a celebrity family (clue: the singer who has a Le Corbusier-inspired house and whose home was featured at Dwell Asia and UZ too). Several things that made the visit worth my time:

I paid something less than the rest of the crowd. 150php nga ba? Yay for teaching! CHEAP-IDITY.
I walked from Boni High Street to the museum and it’s def ++calories down the drain? HAHAHA. It was an instant exercise. THANK YOU HARABAS COMFY SHOES.
ARKITEKTURA. I love the built form. The whole complex was wieee!
It was a fairly new concept. Although i still have doubts on its carrying capacity AND safety (sharp edges, uh-oh. and the tv. uh-oh. a lot were already into the “fix me!!!” zone), I bow down to those who had new attractions for kids. MAIBA NAMAN FROM THE IPAD AND WII (did i spell that right?).
The whole complex was eye-candy. KAY TAMIS SA MATA.

Below are some of the good photos we took using the 50mm lens. Zoom in it is. I shall narrate to you what happened:

So we arrived and was greeted by the museum guide and this robot. We had to make sure the kid understood that we need a solo moment with the robot. they were all so into the robot I guess we need to bring out the bully image there but thank God they were cooperative. Kids nowadays.

My sister and I had a photo with this sign. But nevermind. And the journey began…

In a nutshell, the layout looked like this—the installations were everywhere. And with a 50mm, goodluck sa pagkuha ng litrato sa ubod ng layong lokasyon. The OC people might not like it, but this can actually work for a bibo-promil kid. Imagine the giddiness of a promil kid inside the complex. Hindi niya siguro alam anong uunahin (Disclaimer: I’m not a Promil kid).

One of the best ride inside. I was not even moving, the whole contraption above me in orange was. HILO AFTER.

This is a teletubby land. It reminded me of that old kids show (nagkakaintindihan ang kids of the late 90’s.:p) with flat screen tv’s in their tummies (flat screen nga ba yon?). This time, installations like flowers and everything else had a chance for a touchscreen. Tumeteletubbyland talaga.

And there you go the famous dinosaur—every young boy’s dream (i think?). I shall not dwell into that but I see happy guy faces as I walked near this humongous beast skeleton.

Up the second floor was a reminder that an architect’s design skill was behind the whole complex. As for me, it reminded me of my career and my backlogs and what I need to do after the tour. HAHA. But technically, this is the PAPER STATION.

The best part for us. THE SHADOW HALL. Fail photos inside though. We also loved that part where our hair went up like “bruha” but I’m not posting the photo. You would have seen a kid with super happiness at the background. Plus the planetarium. It was the best pampatulog. Try it for relaxation.

And the rest is history. Visit the Mind Museum for random happiness. Give up the movies, enjoy the installation.

Personal Notes: One Funny Shoe-day

Tue, 01 May 2012 20:45:00 +0800

Last Sunday, I decided to wear an old pair of flats just because it had the nicest brown color and it had been a reliable pair especially for long walks and site visits. Last Sunday, it failed me just as we were strolling the land of the splurgaholics aka Trinoma. Luckily, I was so near Aldo and Geleia, and although I promised to still continue my quest of buying the Melissa x Jean Paul Gaultier hot neon yellow rubber high heels (e.x.p.e.n.s.i.v.e.) and the Melissa x Alexander Herchcovitch Traupe brown lace up wedges (muntik na) and that other Melissa pair that were well, expensive but cute and good-smelling, I decided to settle for this pair of Melissa Enjoying nudes. Expecting to overuse it again, as my mom puts it, “suot mo nanaman lagi yan.” I tend to overuse shoes, by the way. Atleast this one pair is too good smelling to strut and wear everyday. No more shoe shopping.

Personal Notes: Funky Plastic

Tue, 01 May 2012 19:35:56 +0800

Image from http://optechusa.com/rainsleeve.html

I have the most funny-useless splurge of the day yesterday after stretching my EQ-patience-attention to an almost 2-hour long seminar on what is to be a soon-to-be investment. The OP/TECH USA Rainsleeve for my camera. And this is in lieu of the 5-6k worth waterproof case that I can’t seem to buy. Next thing i know, the camera straps became so enticing with items having the “sale” mark on almost all of them. And that’s a tralalalala.

Personal Notes: Our First Baby!

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 09:32:10 +0800

Yay!!! again for Amira’s Christening! Below are some photos of the April 15 get-together-slash-celebration of our kada’s first ever baby! All photos of the event are seen at this site:

http://eddpalapal.com/2012/04/15/amira-sophias-baptism/

Personal Notes: Faoey's Grad Celebration

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 09:19:00 +0800

Yesterday was one of the happiest days of our kada’s life. One of our dear friend finally graduated from medschool and we all celebrated this super fun event at Teriyaki Boy Eastwood. Today, she’s transferring near PGH where she’s heading next to conquer PGI!!!!:P Super fail focus as seen below but what-the-hell. Yaayyy!!! PGI graduation naman next year!:P

(from L-R): Doctora Faoey, Me, Joseph the Daddy, Nida the Mommy, Jaja our RN and Ate Kaye, our kada and sige na nga, faoey’s ate.:)

Personal Notes: Time To Sleep and Write

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:45:00 +0800

I want this vacation.

Being able to share everything the fast and furious way (thanks to twitter), i have totally forgotten how it was to devour in excessive words just so you know how totally ughhh my life was.

What I just wrote down is not really anything of utmost importance. I’ve been reading and writing down for a few hours now. And I need to sleep soon so I can write again tomorrow and the following day.

Which brings me to my third paragraph of nothingness—-a result of a slight insomnia attack from i-don’t-know-what and i-don’t-know-why.

Thank you to my ever reliable planner (the notebook of pinkness), I can totally cross out several dates of the month for special events—binyag, kasal, kasalo. This summer is taking its nerve wrecking toil of events that makes me just want to feel sober (haha)—- soon to be the godmother of aplenty, the photog of a sudden event, and part of the entourage for ok time to sleep.

Goodnight.:)

Personal Notes: Provincial Life

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:03:00 +0800

I always have this slight urge to live in the Visayas. When we were as young as the photos shown above, we frequent the province every summer just to have a morning swim and an afternoon mountain stroll with the family. My summerlovin’ was honed with this annual event of spending the summer at my parents’ hometown, Siquijor. Exactly the reason, too, why all the white beaches that are currently proliferating my FB timeline (budget sites!) are not really as enticing as it seems since Siquijor was just soo much more. We had morning swims near the “pantalan” (port) just to play with the seahorses (we ask it of funny directions and it points to where it was! North, South, etc. You name it). We had noon time breaks of eating good food cooked by our dear aunt (that i surely miss), and a mid-afternoon bonfire near our made-of-weird-dahon tents. In the late afternoon, when the sea seems too empty of water (lowtide), we go “pangin-has” searching for those cute shells under the corals (those big shells you use for sungka and for decoration) and eventually seeing more sea creatures in this whole new sea world. We collect some and sell whatever we can get. There was this one time when we had to play with this baby squid and we were almost stuck in the water searching for my lost-in-the-black-ink slippers.

Up in the mountains, we stroll and see random people we just say hi! at. No NPA fear, seeing empty houses at the mountain top, with my parents then discussing of herbal plants they see but i then failed to recognize (almost zero knowledge of plants before). Up in the mountains we talk about how helpful the mountain resources are for faith healers that the island is well known for, exactly why I was never afraid of them too. On our way home, I had no idea how my parents do it but without any trail left we can still go back to where we came from, perhaps their knowledge of the mountain is similar to that of Katniss (Hunger Games aftermath), no need to put marks whatsoever, they just know.

At home we talk about the most random mumu stories with my cousins, and walk a long path along an unpaved road—“maputik”, dirty, but exciting. We can walk a few meters and visit a nearby cave. We once swam inside eventually hearing my parents unhappy tone of risking our lives going down the bamboo ladder that was not even safe for kids like us. Otherwise, everything was smile material. No dull moment. It was just so much more.

Larch Notes: Boni High Street 2012

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:33:00 +0800

Haven’t had a good stroll lately (thesis + board exam reviews happened) so when I finally saw this portion of the BHS, imagine my smile—-hanggang tenga.

Few good places that I always fail to criticize. I believe in the positive effects of open space development especially in areas like this… always elated upon seeing more open parks-spaces-haven that may hopefully be spared from vertical massive structures. SANA NAMAN PO. (hashtag goes like this #hopeful #stopcuttingtrees #planttrees #outdoorsarelove)

Ok CHECKLIST TAYO.

You see seating areas. CHECK! you see newly planted trees. CHECK. You see new plant species used in landscape development. CHECK! CHECK! CHECK! You see pets + human friendly spaces. Ayyy super kadooper CHECK. And you see people walking. For the love of health and wellness, CHECK. Plus i was able to find that long walk from the BHS parking to the Mind Museum bearable (still waiting for the newly planted trees to grow though, but otherwise i find it walkable for a multiuse devt.). And more photos below. Pardon for the blur, i was walking. Literally smiling and happy without realizing that photos were wayyyy not cooperating with the AF function of the lenses.:P Or perhaps, it’s the giddy me to blame.

Now maintenance issues naman next! PUNCHLIST NAMAN?:P The mere fact that kids were enjoying the water jets, and I mean not just enjoying, but they found it too amusing, parang shower lang. Daming nagshoshower. Seriously? not KJ pero seriously? (wala ng masabi) And that’s not even a punchlist material. It adds more vibrant feel, targeting users of all ages and all social classes. Told you I was sooo hopeful for this open space.

And ohhhh…. zigzag paths to end the walk. (photo walk done last April 3, 2012)

Personal Notes: Live Fruitfully

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:13:00 +0800

The new portion of the Boni High Street is now home to this new craze. Crazy for something new and less boring than the usual store that proliferate (burger, steak, grill, and insert magastos-things-to-buy) the BHS, we tried it and yes, it was not bad for someone who is soo tamad to make her own juice, buy her own juicer, or is just in-your-face uhaw for some healthy shake. Not really in the right position to do a good review on it since I only tried the very safe flavor from the set (mango-a-go-go, tama ba?) and had the kakapalan to take a sip from the cup of those i was with that time but otherwise sige na nga, glorified fruit shake is here. Try it.:)

Larch Notes: Helianthus in Bloom

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:22:39 +0800

Aside from the Cassia fistula that i super love for it’s bouquet-like flora, I go to UP-D every summer (around 2nd-4th week of April) just to see these Helianthus in bloom! It’s too bright to miss. Plus, the yellow flowers add color to the annual most-important event for a student—-GRADUATION.:)

Zoom in.

Desktop wallpaper?

Tall stalks.:)

Personal Notes: Cafe Ysabel Birthday Dinner

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:43:00 +0800

“Always receiving the good reviews.” That perhaps was the main reason why I included this restaurant to the birthday surprise package I was planning a few weeks ago. Having read that one of the restaurant I wanted to add to the birthday celebration has gone down and moved all the way to Burgos Circle (away from its cozy home at Kapitolyo? Tunay ba ‘yon?), I decided to search for an alternative. And I never thought I’ll end up with one that was so… complete and perfect?

One of the few things i promised to give myself after graduation a few years ago was the chance to eat good food. I’m glad we had birthdays and special days of the year to celebrate and eat together. And thank you online top10lists, specifically SPOT.ph’s.

We’re not really “wine” people, and although most fine dining included that and uhmm… cheese (and reviews were all pertaining to that for something fine-dining), it was so hard to enjoy reading thoughts-slash-blog-posts on restaurants that boast of wine collections, etc. I mean, alcohol was never enticing for me (own opinion). Although I drink, I was not a fan.

So chances of eating at the top 10 lists of insert-book-here was kept to a minimal just because I am no wine connoisseur, baby. But yey for this list from Spot.ph that helped me decide to choose Cafe Ysabel among the rest of the restaurant on the list.:P (and i saw our 2011 valentines restaurant on the list too! a sign. this must be it.:P)

This old Spanish home was the perfect place for a romantic dinner. Although I was not really into the whole romance shizz, the microclimate that came with its vast collection of landscape features (softscapes, water jets, koi ponds, and tree cover) just made me smile the minute i saw it (ergo, instant photo op). The house details added more stellar-ness to the outdoor feel. Classic.

Spanish. Spot.ph describes it as period pieces. If you are a detail freak (as weird as I am), then you’ll probably enjoy the Spanish touch to the restaurant’s furniture collection.

Unfortunately, It was too noisy to enjoy the interiors of the restaurant. The day we went there was also the day for the wine seminar of the adjacent culinary school, ergo students were all over the place. But thank you to the very accommodating waiter, we were transferred to a private function room alongside another customer, so yey! dibs sa own private room for dinner. Less people is good.:)

The restaurant was older than us!:P

A simple floral arrangement to greet us.

Bread fro starters. With a special sweet sauce that is too tasty to miss.

Glassware.

Salad and soup. Our favorite appetizer.

Truffle pizza. Truffle shavings + white truffle oil + cheese!

For our meat dish, we tried the Filetto ala Gino.

And we took home a rockyroad cake for dessert.:) happy birthday!:)

Travel Notes: Nuvali 2012

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:22:00 +0800

Nuvali is one of the picturesque places in the South.

One of the few newly developed places that i can surely recommend to those visiting the PH. Especially during this season when everything’s in bloom.:)

Larch Notes: KATNISS and the Hunger Games Weekend

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:48:00 +0800

Can’t simply end the Hunger Games week without connecting the thematic Hunger Games weekend with something I just found out (thanks to Google).

So do you know that Katniss (that Hunger Games character) is named after the Sagittaria species also known as the Arrowhead?

(photo taken from http://www.swsbm.com/NGSImages/Index4.html)

Wala lang. Just a funny geeky research going on a laid back Saturday.:)

Personal Notes:Kadaldalan, Katakawan, and Hunger Games

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:27:00 +0800

Yesterday was a long, eventful day.

It was the official end of A.Y 2011-2012. Dreaded day for my students since this was officially the end of plate submissions. As for me, yesterday was the mark of 3 things in particular:

Kadaldalan: Batchmates came over! Long talk it is.
Katakawan: Foodfest and a full meal at Pho Hoa and MOMO Cafe
Hungergames: The morbid movie till 1am! HAHA.

Kadaldalan Muna

The end of the school year marked a day to meet up several people. Yesterday, we had friends over at the faculty room. Morning was spent with the Dubai couple and the afternoon was spent talking about thesis and everything in between with someone I haven’t had a long chitchat ever with for 3 freakin’ years (yes dear, we tried to get over the funny stuff. I moved on. Who doesn’t?)

So the morning was pretty highlighted over our urge to get the OCA people to have lunch with us somewhere farther. It was actually a random lunch at the place we always frequent during our undergrad years. I always get nostalgic about this place since this was slightly memorable to all of us circa UNDEFINED. I remembered visiting this place the week it opened with this people (exactly the end of our term, too! rushed to see what the fuss was) and we were all so larch’s that we were criticizing how cool and not-so-cool the exterior landscape was. With utilities not hidden blah-blah-blah. Geek talk, yes.

Afternoon, someone went to the faculty room, slightly hesitant with a weee-bit of clashing thing going on there (we had that fight, yes. kaso antagal na kasi ayoko na isipin. plus everyone’s really moving on). But then we managed to talk about things and we were back to our usual geekiness (Decode: geekiness=masters thesis talk. school stuff). And then we had Talia come over so we had him cornered for the research survey and we tried to update ourselves (3 of us) about each other’s lives and to what plans he had for his cute, little daughter that we’ve always talked about.

The last time i remembered speaking to him was during our board exam, the day i haggled a melon-scented hand spray just because it smelled pretty amazing. It was really weird having a convo with him again.

Katakawan It Is

So lunch was at Pho Hoa, that Vietnamese restaurant that was particularly memorable for three special dates:

random Sunday lunch sometime 2009 or 2010 when we finally had mother dearest try something beyond Filipino and Asian and she loved it!
random date lunch when someone dear to me arrived from his Viet-Cambodia trip. Good food while sharing and updating 9days worth of kwento with no text whatsoever! Haha. It was a thematic lunch to make me know how food tasted everyday there so we had to Pho Hoa.
and our Sunday market lunch at Centris. Ansarap ng food!

I had the chance to add another bullet on memorable dates at Pho. This time with the Dubai couple treating us with good Pho Hoa food. Thank you!

I have no photos of this day so I instead took loads (or lets say, atleast 3) photos of that evening dinner at MOMO Cafe.

We had the famous frozen iced tea (in strawberry and dalandan flavors), that sausage and beans meal, and that blue marlin in skewers. I have totally forgotten how it was written in the menu. But the instagram-taken photos showed how big a meal was, exactly the right proportion if one is hungry. Told my forever-date how this was thematic for one who is hungry before watching the Hungergames. To us who just had an evening jog, this was probably the weirdest full meal right after jogging. HANGDAMEH GOODLUCK SA FATS AND CALORIES. But we took our time savoring every bite because we had all the time in the world. Hungergames movie tix availability that weekend was blah. We had to buy tix for the 10:45pm show. Sakto lang, eat and eat till it’s almost ten pm. We had our dinner at past 7. HANGTAGAL SO BINGE KUNG BINGE.

HUNGERGAMES

So in the end, I never thought Hunger Games was THAT AMAZING MINUS THE GORE. I’ve never really opened the downloaded pdf that my sister gave me yearssss ago. I stopped reading fun fiction the day I started my masters so you see, Hunger Games (or is it written together like Hungergames, Hunger-games? ack.) was not really a “lets watch this movieee!!!!” thing to me compared to those Twilight and Harry Potter movie-shizz. But since this was an 86% at rottentomatoes and it was having good reviews, we had to watch it. Plus, we’ve never really had a good movie till last year. Board exams happened.

I only find the start as nakakahilo (the camera focus is lame. But probably it was “sinasadya”? to build up on how sad and “kawawa” the community was). To the theme though of having a glorified Roman arena, NAKAKATAKOT. Can’t imagine having that in real life. Why the hell do we apply the sacrificial lamb shizz that I only read in the bible to a technology-infested land of Panem? It makes me afraid of what may happen in the future. I fear not of how the kids may die, but of morality and how degrading the idea of life might be in the future. It’s an eye opener of some sort. But the concept of surviving it all, galing ni Katniss!:)

That and I had to sleep at 3am for you, Hungergames. Ikaw na ang paimportante sa weekend.:)

Thesis Notes: MLA and the APA

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:55:00 +0800

FYI.

We’re shifting everything to APA (tama ba?). Major editing and my brain cells are not working accordingly. Pardon for the “kabagalan”. It needs a jumpstart that needs major hiatus from the world and beyond.

And I have a screen shot of my prezi-“dapat” presentation for my thesis proposal just so you have an idea of where my life revolves around the past few days. Highlight on the coffee.

Personal Notes: Birthday Month!

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 08:13:19 +0800

Ending this month with a happy birthday to these girls!:)

Life was so much better having these 2 C’s around.:) Hope you both have a super happy birthday month. Mine was just fine.:) See you both soon!:) Swim ulit!:)

"As we grow up things change. We have a luggage of sad memories, broken promises, lost friendships,..."

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:59:22 +0800

“As we grow up things change. We have a luggage of sad memories, broken promises, lost friendships, missed opportunities. We know what it is like to believe, to hope, to dream. But we also know how it feels when every promise, every feeling, every dream would break into pieces. The pieces which even collected and put into the trunk of our experience are not the whole anymore.”

- http://www.thecolorsmagazine.com/2009/08/as-we-grow-up-things-change/