silver lining amidst the hassles of today....

Today was indeed a sad day for Philippine politics. I seriously don't know what Trillanes was trying to accomplish by doing what he did. I mean, I get it, he wants her out of office. He wants her to account for all the anomalies she's been involved in so far. He wants things to change in this country and he wants change to start asap as he (and the people, allegedly) "have had enough." I get it, really. But I don't understand how he could've thought what he tried to do today would result to the things he wanted to happen. I don't see how taking a private business hostage, inconveniencing guests and diners, inconveniencing office people and scaring the shit out of this investor-courting economy would make things better. I really don't get it. If you're one of the few who actually sees the logic in all this, please explain it to me. How disappointing. He's a senator, for heaven's sake. And to think he's supposed to be this smart military man set to effect change. E, judging from today, he's just as clueless as the rest of them.

In any case, given the hoolabaloo of today, we were sent home early by our employer. Good thing, since if you add the rain and the little puddles of flood across the city, it would've been a nightmare going through Manila's roads if we didn't leave Makati before 2pm. And since I couldn't very well go out with friends and kick off this long weekend, I had no choice but to sit at home so early in the afternoon and aimlessly eat junk food while watching the news with my two just-as-helpless siblings. Then, I realized, I can make good use of this unexpected gift of free time by starting my Christmas gift-wrapping! So, I took out all the presents I've bought thus far and wrapped them in pretty paper and ribbon. Such joy! I loooooove gift wrapping!

And so, tadaaa, the 60% of my gift list has been prettily and neatly wrapped! Now tucked in a corner of my room, the presents happily await the upcoming holiday month 'til they fulfill their reasons for being by landing on the arms of their intended recipients. Such a great use of time. So there, at least there was a benefit to today's dramatics.

Wow, it'll be December already on Saturday. How time flies. Which reminds me, I should finish my list (the remaining 40%) within the next few days to avoid the holiday rush and panic purchases. :)

Have a good long weekend, guys! :)

that's love...

You know someone really loves you when they do something they otherwise wouldn't do just because they know how much it means to you and how happy it makes you. You know someone really loves you when they sit through this while listening to you oooh and aaah---



I love you, darling beau! Thanks for watching this with me :-p

skype heaven!

Tried out Skype-to-Skype for the first time last night with my good friend Baby Bay. I've used Skype a couple of times before to call friends on their mobiles, but have never used it for Skype-to-Skype calls since my friends abroad and I usually find it hard to be in front of the computer at the same time (hehe, blame the time zone diff plus semi-active social lives). But last night, by some stroke of luck, Baby Bay and I found ourselves logged on to Skype at the same time. And so she called me, and the rest, they say, is.... a 5-hour FREE conversation over internet protocol (sorry, my job entails me to refer to this technology in the real scientific term.. I can't seem to shake it...)

I loved it! I loved how, since my macbook has built in microphone and speakers, I could just lounge around, fix stuff around my room and even put on moisturizer and brush my hair while talking to my friend. It's the coolest! Technology really makes distance disappear and can even enable you to stay closer to someone abroad than someone in the same town/city/country as you. We're really a global village and with things like Skype, a difference in location is just that, a difference in location. There's no excuse not to stay in touch now :)

yay!

My best friend is engaged! :)

Congrats, Lianne & Sterling!!

weekend to weekend update

Haven't blogged a bit because I've been saving up all the tidbits of update til this very minute--

My birthday weekend last week went so well. Had a little celebration with my best girls (and our boys) on Friday at TRIO at the Fort and then at PIEDRA afterwards for some drinks. Then, had a separate celebration with my darling beau on Saturday night at Chef Laudico's. Yum yum yum. Just remembering what we ate is enough to make my mouth water. On Sunday, not only did Lianne and Sterling arrive in Manila, I had my own little celebration with my family.

Glad this past week was a really short work week because I really really loved the rest days. On Monday, Dennis and I hiked off to Tagaytay to show Lianne and Sterling around in Sonya's Garden. Oh, and we used my new car, which was super cool. I loved seeing him drive my car and get all awed by the transmission, suspension, whatever you call those car things :p Hehehe, spoken like a true girly girl :p

We had a lovely little lunch in Sonya's... actually, it wasn't exactly little, as we had mega tons of food for the P560 per person I paid. We had all you can eat salad, pasta and drinks. My gosh.

Then the boys had a little casino fun, where they won more than 3k bucks between the two of them.. Not a bad haul, for a 40-minute stay in Casino Filipino Tagaytay :p Then we checked out some real estate stuff on Sterling's behalf, bought some classic buko pies and then came back to Manila where we had dinner with our high school barkada. 'Twas a great day. It was nice to relax and unwind, and see old friends :) Dennis really made an impression with Sterling, who later on kept raving about what a darn decent guy my boyfriend is and asking when we're gonna meet up again. Hahaha!

Then Tuesday and Wednesday were really really really light work days. Took half of Wednesday off to take Li and Sterling shopping at, where else, SM! Sterling loved SM's prices, hahahahaha, he bought like 24 items for 5k! Not bad! We also took them to McDo for a snack and it was a riot hearing his reactions to "Wow, they have Chicken with rice here... Eeeew... and Chicken Nuggets with rice... why?!?"

Then Thursday was a total rest day where I did nothing but lounge around and pigged out with my brothers. Friday was me and Dennis having a really lazy day (read: WIFI and Youtube day) with coffee sessions at Coffee Bean and a really long dinner date at Bubba Gump. I love lazy days!

Then today, my parents came home from Germany and Paris, so we all stayed home... and tadaaa... presenting my two new babies, aka the reasons why I'll be destitute for the next few months----


It's my much anticipated LV Epi Speedy in black and Goyard Fidgi in black. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM! I got them both at bargain prices (again, a very relative term, as "bargain" just means cheaper, not cheap) and they are beautiful beautiful beautiful! The leather of the speedy is just exquisite and the Goyard is, as promised, light as a feather. I love the handpainted little chevrons too, and I love love love the texture of it. Such a steal! I love love love love my new babies!

My mom had a pretty good haul too. Esp considering she has way more money than me, hehehe. Note to self: Only buy luxury goods in Europe. Anywhere else is just a ripoff, plain and simple.

Hahahahaha, well, that's to hoping that there will be a next time. It sure won't happening in the near near future... :p

So that pretty much wraps up the past week. Sunday (tomorrow) is the usual family day, then another (full) work week starts yet again. But it's okay. This past week has been so awesome, that the thrill of it will last way until December. Which is when my favorite holiday comes along.

:)

excitement!

I'm so psyched! For the following reasons:
1. My birthday is coming up this Sunday. Celebrations will be held for it on Friday with my FILC girls and our boys, on Saturday with my darling beau, on Sunday with my brothers and grandma (my parents are in Europe), and on Monday with my best friend who's visiting from Canada. Love it! Back to back to back celebrations :)

2. As mentioned above, my best friend will be visiting from Canada. She's bringing her boyfriend with her too, and we've planned out some exciting trips and tours to take them on. Should be pretty exciting, especially for Sterling since it's his first time ever in Manila.

3. All the holidays coming up are just so so so timely! We'll have a 3-day weekend this weekend and a 4-day weekend the next. I can't wait to relax, unwind and recharge. Been a hectic couple of days at work...

4. An upcoming trip to either Rome or Madrid for work (read: FREE). Hopefully everything goes as planned and I get to haggle with my teammate to get the Rome leg instead of the Madrid. Can't wait!

5. I'll be finalizing my application to DLSU Graduate School within the next few weeks, then will take the test on Dec 1. To be honest, I'm quite apprehensive about the exam (read: WHAT IF I FAIL IT?) but hey, let's cross the bridge when we get there. Lest you think I'm some sort of freak plagued with fake-humility or, worse, a pathetic loser fishing for compliments, you should know that I do very badly on aptitude tests. I have records to prove it. Especially when they're about abstract reasoning. They're really abstract to me. I'm soooo not a visual reasoning type of person.

6. CHRISTMAS! About 8 weeks to go nalang before the holidays roll around. Can't wait because not only is it my favorite holiday of all time, it also marks.. you've guessed it, bonus time :p Well, this time around, being a manager, I won't get to receive the bonus at year-end like before but it gets announced then anyway at the Christmas party, which is always a happy factor of the event. :)

PSYCHED PSYCHED PSYCHED!

.....

You make life worth living.

yay!

Congratulations to my darling beau for being invited to teach in law school! He's one of the youngest lawyers to get a teaching post. I'm so proud! :-) So now, all his Wednesday evenings will be occupied... reserved for the learning minds in his legal forms class.

Congrats, Prof Chan :p

*In other news... Can I just say... LV's Spring/Summer 2008 line is just plain ugly. I don't care what "fashionistas" say about it but I think it's just plain hideous. As in hideous! I don't know why one would even want to carry those kinds of bags. Ugly ugly ugly. Please. Let's call a spade a spade.

shopped again!

Wasn't supposed to shop anymore, given my recent splurges, but as I was hanging out in Loraine's store today, I just couldn't resist getting this pair of Melissa Campana Zigzag III in gold--



Love it! It's super comfy (even more comfy that Crocs) and just as light. Oh, and prettier too :-) I highly recommend them :-)

grateful

Someone reminded me today just how lucky I am to have him in my life. Someone who loves me more than he does himself, someone who'll put me ahead of anything and anyone in his life, and someone who makes me the center of his every decision and his every day.

Someone reminded me today that though the frills may not be there and that some things I would want are not currently available, I'm still better off because, in all areas that matter, I've hit the jackpot.

Thanks, L.

new gadgets!

I've never been a gadget fiend or a hard-core techie, which is ironic given my tech-heavy profession. Which is why it may be a little uncharacteristic for me to be over the moon over my latest purchases:



and



I've also never been a mac user until now and have never really been much of an ipod person. So, let's see how this goes.. It should be fun :-)

This habit can really get very expensive though. Tsk tsk tsk.. My wallet is bleeding again. Account is fully depleted :-( Thank God for gas allowances...

weekend recap

This weekend started either early or late for me, depending on how you look at it. My family thinks it started early because I went out of town on Thursday morning. It's not what you think though. It's not for fun. I went to Antipolo for work (haha, is Antipolo even considered out of town? It did to me.. It was just soooooo far!!). We had our team-building there for all managers in my division. The thing was supposed to be until Saturday morning, but I managed to get myself out of there legitimately on Friday mid-afternoon.

Anyway, even if I didn't get to finish the entire session, I believe it went really well. For the ff reasons:

1. It made me get to know better the ones I already kinda knew and always admired. I loved the first break-out session we had, because I was grouped with people I've always admired and always wanted to know more about. True enough, the discussion covered so many things, from work to personal to family to interpersonal relationships that it gave me a whole new look into the lives of my officemates. I truly felt honored to be in their midst-- all of these people went through a much tougher childhood and life than me and survived so much. In comparison, I felt like such a pampered, naive little child who only knows the tip of the iceberg when it comes to surviving and triumphing past life's worst blows. It also gave me a lot of realizations and lessons on the things that are truly important.

2. It affirmed certain suspicions I had about some people and their motivations. It also gave me a look into the psyche of certain people and why they behave the way they do.

3. It taught me so much about trust, about good faith, and about what "quality people" really are. It pointed out to me just how much fakeness there is in this world, and in contrast, the people who remain pure and true to themselves and their pure intentions must always be appreciated.

4. No matter what the company, at the end of the day, you work for a boss. And I'm so mega grateful to have such a wonderful boss.

5. No matter what our differences about work style may be, my teammates are just some of the safest, best people to work with. I'm so grateful to be surrounded by people I can trust... people who have more dignity and integrity in the hairs on their heads than some people have in their bodies.

6. Its in moments of crisis when one lets his or her true colors come out. And some people's true colors are about as bad as colors can ever be.

7. For all its faults, this company does make it worthwhile for you to stay. If you don't need its rewards, then well and good. But I doubt one can find it so easy to just let "it" go and not miss it :P

So there was my teambuilding. After coming home from Antipolo, Dennis picked me up on Saturday for Karen's despedida de soltera. I've never been to one til that day, so it was refreshing to see what went on in such an occasion. Karen was radiant and beautiful in her Joji Lloren pink gown. I was so happy to see her so happy.

Today was family day, where apart from spending time with my family and Dennis, I also spent a ton of money. Hahaha! Not that those two things necessarily follow, but I just couldn't pass up a good deal when I see it. I bought myself a designer leather bag, with the justification that it was secondhand and therefore at a good good good price. I also told myself that since it's leather, it's bound to last long and really, for the price, what else is there to consider? Dennis was right beside me as I went through this internal debate. He just looked at me strangely and said, "well, if you like it, get it. That's how simple it is, if you ask me!" Haha, my darling boyfriend, if I followed that rule everytime I saw something I liked, I'd probably be starving from sheer poverty now. :) Hehehe. Still, it's so cute to hear something so simplistic :p

Today was also when I got two super cute summer dresses made by Dennis' mom especially for me. I loved how cute they are and the care that went into making them. For all their faults, this family of his has always made me feel welcome and special.

Oh, and we also watched No Reservations today too, which is your typical chick-flick except the little girl is just sooo adorable. You gotta hand it to Dennis-- it's not usual to have a guy who doesn't mind catching chick flicks with ya. :p

So that was my weekend. Very fun, very interesting and very expensive ;p Hehehe.. It's bound to get more expensive though, as there's something really big I plan to buy on Wednesday evening... Hay, will this cycle of purchase ever end?! (That's a rhetorical question..)

back!

I'm back! Finally, the series of back-to-back overseas trips have ended. As much fun as the trips have been (and they're super fun, especially this last trip to China where my family bonded like there's no tomorrow! Hehehe!), I must admit I feel really tired. I really need a massage, after all the walking and the not-sleeping-enough we did in our trips.

The China trip was great, as usual. We went first on our pilgrimage to the temple that's about 2 hours away from the city. We also went on a side trip to my lolo's old hometown, where he was born and where he spent the first few years of his life. My dad was especially wistful in this trip, I don't know why, but he kept bringing up old stories about my lolo and kept saying just how happy my lolo's soul must be just knowing that his grandchildren were stepping on the very same ground that he once did. Awww... I just knew how much my dad appreciated that the three of us agree to go on this trip year after year, no matter what our schedules were like and no matter how tiring and taxing the trip gets. He even made a comment that such trips may even include Dennis in the future. Hehehe :)

My gosh, it's almost October! (what an abrupt change in topic, hahaha!) I can't believe how fast this year has gone. It all just went by in a blur. I can hardly remember things that happened in Q1, Q2, Q3... Hehehe. Also, since October is almost here, so is my birthday. And then in just a few short weeks, the Madrid trip. Then finally Christmas! I'm so excited. This year has been sooooo good to me. I really love 2007.

off to china!

Going on our annual family pilgrimage to China! Wish us luck :)

grrrr...

I really really hate stupid, slow people. People who just ask for answers instead of taking time to think about their questions first to see if they can arrive at the answer themselves or realize that their question is plain dumb and doesn't deserve the light of day.

I also hate really slow people who need to be told a simple thing over and over for them to get it through their thick skulls. Some of these people are actually nice and don't mean to be slow, but still... Just because you're a good person doesn't mean that I have the patience to say something about 4 or 5 times to you just for you to understand it. Sorry, but stupid, nice people are still stupid.

GRRRRR!!!!

Hay, all the stress yesterday and today just erased all the relaxation I achieved in HK. Hay....

HK!

Off to HK tomorrow! Goodbye, work. Hello, family time, lots of dimsum and hopefully a bit of shopping! :)

it's here!

Tadaaaa! My brand new, almost free car is here!

I've never had a gwapo car before.. Scrap that, I've never bought a car before. So, I must say, it feels so damn good :P

current obsessions

1. Avenue Q


Can't wait to catch the Philippine staging of Avenue Q on Friday. I watched this in NYC with my good friend Karen and we loooved it! It's such a happy play and everyone who ever went through college will be able to relate with all its messages. I even bought the soundtrack in NYC and I listen to it every so often especially when I need a pick-me-up. Go watch it! You won't regret it.

2. Brothers and Sisters

Thanks to Guia, I got acquainted with the new series Brothers and Sisters, and I'm sooo obsessed with it now. Bought the 1st season DVD and I've been watching it til the wee hours every night ever since. Love it! Go watch it! You'll love it too! :)

OK enough plugging. Back to work :P

milan or madrid....

This company and this job has certainly spoiled me to bits, sending me to different places in the world for absolutely free (in fact, with pay pa if you count the per diem) Just heard that the next destination will either be Milan or Madrid.

OH MY GOSH! Lord, please make it come true! Please make everything fall into place so I can set foot in either one of those countries for FREE! Please!!!

:-)

looks like an exciting september...

September has me going on two definitely-going-to-push-through trips to HK and China, and one not-sure-yet-but-I-hope-it-does trip to Madrid. If all goes well, these three trips would happen one weekend after the other, with my 2nd to 4th weekends of September all booked up.

Also lined up for September is the despedida de soltera of K, my very good friend. It also marks the 2007 bar examinations, and I have two very close friends taking the bar this year. So, aside from the usual rounds done by D for his brods, I also want to drop by my friends' review rooms before the exams to wish them good luck.

September is also when I finalize my decision to take up further studies and hopefully make it to the upcoming exam schedule so I can start immediately this coming semester. I've come up with a pro and con list and it looks like the pros are winning... Hehehe...

An exciting September talaga!