SUNDATE

November 28, 2010, Sunday

Never fail to Thank the Lord Almighty for everything that you have. Count the blessings and find no fault or flaws on what you can't have.

It's Sunday, it's rest day, it's Family Day! and Tomorrow is holiday! Mark goes online for his "kalakal" well, pareho kameng online dapat everyday otherwise wala kameng benta..hehe...

Nag-kik sa akin pinsan ko si Renee, we planned on seeing and meeting. We(cousins: Renee and Kara) were designated Program Committee's for the Big Surprise Birthday Party next year(walang kaso i-announce ko to, di naman nag-internet yung birthday celebrant, besides, dapat di ako dapat magexplain sa inyo, kasi nakikibasa na nga lang kayo---hehe). Kara, Renee and I will meet at 9pm over coffee... So since matagal pa yun, kain muna kami ni Mark, he is craving for Pizza daw, so pagbigayan, madalas kami mag-date dati dito nung nagbobolahan kame, si Mark may way dati to impress me by going to places where the crew knows him, kung baga sa sari-sari store "suki" siya. I suggested for Napoli's. Jo, favorite din natin to diba?!...

Cheeseburger Pizza

Oil and Garlic with Hungarian Sausage

Naiinip? may bottomless naman, naka ilang diet coke kana?

Sarap????

Theynkyah! bwahaha

We went to mass after eating, nakaka-antok naman, kaka-kain lang. Pero di pwedeng di mag thank you kay Lord, ano ba, one hour lang naman ang mass. Pag nanalo ako ng lotto which i doubt, magdodonate ako ng Speakers sa St. Paul Apostle Parish, nanawagan ako sa mga mayayaman and blessed with money, donate kayo sa church namin. After hearing mass, i visited our house in Scout, nag internet sandali, may kanya-kanyang lakad mga kapatid ko. Aj and Gaeb went to a party, Mike my brother just got home 30 mins after we arrived, he heard mass din. 

9pm na, meeting na with my cousins, Bubble Tea is puno! lahat ng coffee shops na may wifi puno sobra. So convoy kame, we stayed at Wheatberry. Brainstorming and all that, chika chika! I told the girls they have 30% off pag malapit na closing, naku ang mga bruha dami binili, masarap kasi their pandesals, loaves, mahu, croissant, cream puffs. We ended our meeting well, super excited! :) all we have to do is wait for feedback's from the adults (our moms and aunt's from the States- oo cool ako,may mga kamag-anak ako sa states, hindi 2nd cousin lang, as in immediate, kayo, cool din ba? kase konting cool lang ako dahil, di pa ko nagpupunta ng States-so mga friends kong nasa States, Jen, Kahlil, Jow,ang cool niyo! hahahaha) 

SATURDATE

November 27, 2010 Saturday


It's time for a relaxing  night for me and Mark. Because Marks' too busy, we haven't had time to go for a Nail Spa, 1 month na ata. It's a Saturdate tonight.
Mark set an appointment at 6pm, uhm dapat kagabi pero tinatamad ako lumabas ng 6pm. 
were off to our favorite Nail Salon at Nail Loft, San Juan, J. Abad Ave., we kind of arrived early, that's why we ate muna.
We tried every nearby restaurant's na House of Lasagna, NY pizza, Northpark, Everything at Steak and Ristras, and there's this one Chinese restaurant there, it was Beijing Hand-pulled Noodle House. but you know what's odd? we didn't order the noodles. I ate kase a hand-pulled noodles at Banawe, i didn't like it. We ordered the following:

Beef Topping at 130 php
i had the sauce separated because it might be spicy, but its not!, This one's really good

Mark's order: Fried Siopao at 80php, comes in 5 pieces

we also ordered Coke in can at 30php each, all that for only 270php :)
After eating, Nail Loft na kami, i always had package 2 ata yun, basta when we get there, they know na what to do, footspa with mask, mani, pedi, GM nail polish(i always had Orly, Essie, China Glaze), Mani- french tip, Pedi-any color that suits the mood and suits the season i would always use red, but i changed it to green, if there was dark blue i'd have that. Mark is more sikat there than i am because he makes the appointment, and would used to go alone before when i was busy at work, He would usually get Footspa and Pedi and his okay with that na. Mark slept immediately after his feet were soaked for scrubbing. After 2 hours...nagutom kame..Sabi niya Tiananmen, i said Northpack is just a walk away. He said "Makati na tayo, maiba naman ambiance natin, new faces". natuwa ako, then he bribes me with "Your Favorite BBQ! asado rice". Makati, here we go! we passed by Mandaluyong shortcut this is what we saw...

Arrived at Northpark, di na kame umakyat sa Tiananmen, so, we ordered:

I'll have to ask Mark the name, serves 2-3, dito palang nakakabusog na because it has chorizo, and lechon kawali, its binagoongan with anchovies, its really masarap, we didn't finish it, sobrang dami

My pick: Salt and Pepper Spareribs with vinegar sauce

Mark after dinner, went for a yosi bresk outside, so i joined him outside, but i didn't smoke(smoke free for 11 months going 1 year-yahoo!). Mark saw this sticker, and i felt this was so Sick!

I'm sorry, but this one is not funny! Sino man may-ari ng shop na to--Baliw ka!!!! Sira Ulo pa!!!

Mark and I are not starbucks fan, but we want to see and try the new Starbucks Drive-thru at Fort,parang namang may pagkakaiba naman sa lasa, wala naman, haha,  it's bigger, not the usual Starbucks interior. I took few pictures.. Maganda dito, guy's try it here sometime. walang jologs dito :)

We ended a wonderful night together. a much deserved break.

Fridate

November 26, 2010, Friday


woke up passed lunchtime. Checked on my messages, and there it was. Another customer confirmed for delivery for the Sophie The Giraffe.
Asked for my clients schedule, she's Dr. Meryl, my classmate in high school. She has a clinic in Proj 6, Visayas Avenue, she's a dentist and she's pregnant. She ordered two Sophie's. Contacted my supplier, and said she could deliver since she's on her way to that area.


So, i stayed home, reheated my Buffalo wings from last night!.


Mark and I are probably the very unlikely couple who does not cook at home. So if you notice my blogs mostly are about places and foods because, were out most of the time. I can only count on my fingers the number of times we had a home cooked meal if not eating at Talayan(where my in-laws lives) or at Scout(where my family lives) or at the Family house at (Ricardo), it's Chow time in the streets of Morato or Timog.


I would love to cook, we tried that on the first year of our marriage, we went to groceries, bought meat, veggie's i can cook. But it didn't turned out to be long term. We enjoyed and I'd like to believe we pretty much enjoyed the food I cooked, Mark even bought me a cookbook. But the grocery stopped. We thought it would be easier and mas tipid if we just ate out, we don't have a helper at home, and were okay with that. We compared our expenses before when we piled our pantry/kitchen with all the stuff or food we needed, turns out were saving so much from stocking the kitchen to just buy what's needed. Some ended just frozen on the fridge. so nasasayang lang. Kaya were okay and sanay na to eat out.


I am surprised to learn from my good friend, one of my best friend's Lenis was requesting me to blog more, for she enjoys my blogs...it's been a while since I blogged and i'am doing 5 posts tonight hehe..I think i have a sharp and good memory. I've had good feedback's from friends who read my blogs, and they ended up laughing, its funny daw. But honestly, I am not a blogger and I don't intend to make my blogs funny. Kase likas lang makwento talaga ako, and the way I write is the same way I talk, 2 mediums, Tagalog English and Beckimon sometimes haha... babaeng bakla ako eh haha. My good friends Lenis and Rocel told me it's nice if I blogged about my food, date adventures. Ann, Gemma and Belle said my blog was funny! So if your names were mentioned here and you're reading this: "Maraming Salamat sa pagtangkilik at pag appreciate ng pagkwento ko" Feeling ko tuloy nadagdagan na pagka-Cool ko! ahahahaha


Mark and I ate at Baang Coffee, Tomas Morato Avenue, Q.C., why do we like Baang Coffee? 


1st: because at any moment you feel hungry, food and i mean may Rice ah, is available and that's what we did, Coffee Date plus midnight snack--"uhm midnight snack ba ang rice?" haha


2nd: kapehan ito mga teh, eh kame ni Mark umusbong ang pagmamahalan dahil sa Kape, mahilig kameng magkape, kahit hindi naman kape inoorder ko kundi Mocha ice blended with whipped cream, si Mark talaga brewed coffee eto!


3rd: may Free wifi sila, wala nga lang saksakan, meron sa loob free 1st hour lang, may bayad na pag lumagpas


4th: walang arte, kahit naka tsinelas ka lang or nakashorts, walang kaso


5th: mura lang, importante sa amin yun


6th: masarap yung food nila


7th: malapit lang sa amin


8th: dahil kakilala ng mga kapatid ko and daddy ko yung isang owner na tinatawag ng mga kapatid kong Boss Chris. Pero di niya ako kilala...ewan ko ba, di naman ako nag name drop and di naman ako magiging cool if kilala siya ng asawa ko or ng pamilya ko, eh wala naman akong nakukuhang discount...hahaha, pero duon sa di pa nakakatry, try it there, masarap dun :)


To Lenis my friend, here's your request, this is what we ate:

Spareribs: Hawaiian Spareribs ata ito, and this is my favorite there, less than 200 php, comes with the veggies, corn, and rice garnished with herbs

oh this one is also one of my favorite, Mark ordered this one its there Adobo, mixed pork and chicken less than 200php garnished with garlic topped on rice. yum ito promise!

Having said and posted that, bigla akong ginutom! now I understand why our friends in Facebook makes abang on the food we post,not only it's masarap, its affordable pa. 

(everytime we see friends or get to chat with some friends, sasabihin agad, grabe naman yung pinopost  ninyong mag-asawa sa facebook nakakagutom, duon naman sa mga nasa ibang bansa, namimiss daw nila ang Filipino dishes)

Yay! Tomorrow, i'll be having this!

Iam posting this at 5:21 am, di pa natutulog! itutulog ko ang gutom ko, haha!

Productive Thursday

November 25, 2010 Thursday


Woke up early, sinabayan ko ang asawa kong gumising ng maaga. Inuna ko ang dasal, at as usual ang phone ko ay lowbatt ulet sa magdamag ay may mga messages na pala ako, email, fb notifications, bbm, ym etc. lahat na ata ng notifications-na importante ay nasa mahal kong telepono.


so, i charged it first. switched off notifications except for the push email's, opened my laptop, and did business. My supplier sent me a message that the item were selling arrived.. it's Sophie the Giraffe teether toy, i'll tell you more about it later after this kwento.

I text'd, left messages on FB for those who reserved the teether.


So tonight, its delivery time: Mark met with ate Mariz to get the items. Ate Mariz is the sister of one of my best friend's in h.s. Tina. According to Mark, She was with her cute babies achie "Beatrice"and shoti "David" and yaya.


Mark comes home with those pretty teether's and it looks so much prettier when you see it compared to the pictures i posted online. Mamahalin siya kaya maganda rin ang packaging, it was French all over and can only see few English words, but its the cutest, i swear.


Deliveries were just in Quezon City. Left one in our house in Scout, so my brother can bring it to my client who happens to be a good friend, my younger brother's classmate in Angelicum and the sister of my brothers girlfriend, sold it to sexy mommy,Jhoanna. Next, delivered at a condo at Valencia, well close enough to greenhills, parang boarder of QC and Greenhills. She's my former big boss in my first job in Epldt Parlance now Ventus. Who looks like the ever beautiful and my favorite agent in Law & Order SVU, Mariska Hargitay, she's Ms. Christine.


And since it's dinner time we decided to eat at Charlie's! parang favorite na namin si Charlie's! same order, except that we ordered two orders of buffalo wings, one sweet, one nuclear, which i had to take home some because i can't finish it anymore.


Lastly, delivered at the TAG office in Timog for my sexy preg friend Jenny to which she'll be giving to Princeton.


So, that's how the day was. My husband was happy to inform me how productive his day was, many sales on his car parts items, and i was happy as well to have a very productive day for my deliveries. We thank God for all these blessings. He's the Best!


About Sophie the Giraffe, it is THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS BABY TEETHING TOY!

It's made from the French Alps, SOPHIE is still "traditionally" produced to this day, a process that involves more than 14 manual operations...
Made in France.....

Awarded one of the 2009 Best Toys For Kids by the American Specialty Toy Retailing Company
Bought by Celebrities for their Babies (Kate Hudson, Nicole Richie, Naomi Watts, Isla Fisher, etc.)
Featured in several US parenting magazines like Parents, Fit Pregnancy, Mothering, Cookie

WHY IT'S SAFE Even for Newborns?
Pthalates and BPA Free
Made from soft natural rubber
Colors are made from food-grade paint

WHY IT'S GOOD FOR BABIES?
Sight: The dark and contrasting spots all over Sophie the Giraffe's body provide visual stimulation and make her easily recognizable to baby. She soon becomes a familiar and reassuring object.

Hearing: Her squeaker keeps baby amused, stimulates his hearings, and helps him to understand the link between cause and effect.

Taste: Sophie the Giraffe is very flexible and has lots of parts for baby to chew like ears, horns, legs. She is perfect for soothing baby's sore gums when teething and is completely safe.

Touch: Sophie the Giraffe is perfect for baby's small hands. She is very light and her long legs and neck are easy for baby to grip. She is very soft to touch, just like baby's mummy, stimulating soothing physiological and emotional responses.

Smell: The singular scent of natural rubber from Have tree makes Sophie the Giraffe very special and easy for your child to identify amid all his other toys.

only 950 php!

if you wanna be as cool as Nicole and the rest of the celebrities, beyond being cool, grab one now for your babies :), need i say more?

Dampa Birthday Dinner

November 23, 2010 Tuesday


It's Tuesday, and my cousin Kara's birthday. Kara is not just my cousin, she's also a best friend, she knows everything about my love life, in fact, she was also close with  the boy's I dated, and she and her friend Nixie pushed me to date again after my break up with my College boyfriend. They were the girls who saw the text message Mark sent me, and they were like kilig and said, it's about time, they dressed me up, that time, i dunnow if i was stupid or what but I didn't take that message seriously for I knew Mark in UST as just being friendly. That time, we dated at Racks Makati, where at night they convert it as a party place or something...and saw Kara and her friends there too :)


Anyway, about Kara. She's like a sister to me, we grew up having paired dress, shoes and all that, she was my first bestfriend! but she was more doll than me because I was the skinny dark babalu, and she was the super cute, rosey chubby chinita always mabango and had a yaya that wore white yaya suit. hehe. She was always sharing her stuff, she was talagang mabait and soshal! haha, specially when she and Markee got back from the States. Basta I have kind words for her, she was always everybody's favorite. 


I received a text message from my aunt, Auntie Carol is Kara's mom and My mom's sister. She said its Kara's bday. I replied by saying, "yes Auntie, i greeted her already" , she text'd back and said, we'll have a Dampa family dinner at MOA and asked me to invite my brother's Aj and Mike,Mark,Rica(Aj's girlfriend). Forwarded message to them.


Family affairs like this excites me, i'm a very outgoing person, parties, get together's, weddings, birthday's makes me happy. Every event I attend,I always feel relaxed and happy. Otherwise, I won't be in that party if I wasn't. My reason's (for real, if i text you with one of these reasons, its true)for not attending a great party/gathering/event: 1st: if im sick or Mark is sick(mahirap pumunta ng party na masakit ang ulo mo, at suminga ng suminga, bahing ng bahing or may lagnat) 2nd: I must've had work and the office did not grant me the leave(dati yun, wala nako work so, di ko na pwede gamitin yang excuse na yan) 3rd: i was not informed ahead of time, 4th: i'm away--in Ilocos, 5th: there are some reasons din na i choose not to attend kasi for a simple reason that: tinatamad ako, okay? bad mood, may sapak! haha


napaka dami kong segue...hay naku, kaya di ko na mashado inuupdate ang status ko sa Facebook kase di na nakakatuwa! di nako natutuwa! haha


What makes mo more excited is to see my family: what i am to my friends is the same way i am with my family, no masks! so to my friends who knows me, you can imagine how kulet i am when iam with my very Conservative, Poised Family :)


Mark and I loves Dampa, fresh seafoods, hay ang Sarap!


Early Birds were : Uncle Floyd, Aj, Rica, Leonard, Luis, Auntie Carol, Auntie's helpers. Followed by Grandma, Auntie Beth and Tito Bong. Then Me and Mark and lastly, the Chua Siblings: Markee and Birthday Girl: Kara!
Mike couldn't attend because of work, Renee was in UST(she just passed the Licensure Exams, congrats ulet!),Mom,Dad and Migi were in Ilocos, even IV and Philip who was awarded in school.


So what else is next, eh di eating time na :)

Collage of my Family

Mga pagkaing di pwedeng mawala pag kumain sa Dampa/ di ko na nakuhanan yung iba kasi gutom nako hehe, the food's were in i think 3-4 sections each sections had all of these, daming tinake-out!

Sugpo/Shrimp! 

Di Pwedeng mawala ang Pancit sa Birthday..

Liempo

Crab's/Alimango

Tempura

Fish

Birthday Girl: Kara with Rocco

Mi Familia:
Luis, Mark, Leonard, Uncle Floyd, Auntie Beth, Grandma,Markee, Auntie Carol, Rica, Aj, Kara and Rocco

Mi Familia with moi!: grabe ang tatangkad nila, di ko nakuha ang genes, tsk!

si Mr. & Mrs. Ng, ayoko mag contacts ayoko ko ring mag lipstick, promise?!
bwahahahahahaha

DFA (DISASTER FOR A--MONDAY)

November 22, 2010 Monday
WOKE up at 6am, for our passport renewal appointment in DFA. Parang naalala ko tuloy pag may interview ako dati for work, dahil naka Polo with collar ako!


Actually 11:30am pa, pero kabilang dulo kase and lugar namin sa DFA, so we anticipated the traffic and all that in Edsa. 8am na, grabe traffic ang Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue Cubao Southbound! matutuwa kaba if you saw this???



Sabi ko kay Mark baka we can find another way to get out of EDSA, but there was no other way because when your stuck in EDSA on a Monday morning, there's no other way but stay stuck...parusa talaga! Ako nga nasa passenger seat lang napapagod na, what else si Mark?...lumagpas na kami ng Cubao...Greenhills na, eto tumambang sa amin, kung di ka ba naman mainis, eto lang pala besides Cubao ang traffic....



I feel so hungry already, we arrived at Macapagal Avenue at around 10am, for whatever reason, na dapat relieved na kame ni Mark, may pinag-awayan kame, di ko maalala, ang babaw. Basta I remember when we entered S&R parking and parked our car, mejo sarcastic na kami magusap, pag nagaaway pa naman kami di kami sumisigaw, di lang kami nagpapansinan, basta I remembered binato ko yung parking ticket sa kanya(sa lap niya di sa mukha, tsaka di mabigat yun haha) binara ata niya ko di pa ko tapos magsalita, eh pikon ako, so binato ko haha.... Ok, eto na S&R na buti nalang member ako ng S&R, kundi, san pa kami magpapark...there's a long line dun na nadaanan namin eh, sabi namin siguro di naman tayo jan, bahala na, check namin later, chow muna!

Roasted Chicken with rice at 99php

10mins to 11:00 am (since we were adviced to come to the DFA office 30 minutes before your scheduled appointment), we walked through the office na...there's this long line outside(Mark and I were wishing na di naman sana yun yung line kase its so hot), I went to the guard asked where's the 11:30am appointment line, he points on gate 2, ay buti nalang walang pila-->1st counter, have your applications assessed and marked by the officers, sabi ko kay Mark "yes,aga natin walang pila", i asked next procedure to the guard and points to the tents with monobloc seats, pila daw dun...yikes nasa dulo na kami malapit sa entrance gate--ganon na kahaba! di pa natapos yung 11am appt. nagpictorial nalang kami haha








Asar na talaga kami, pero wala naman kami choice, but we were close to giving up and leave, knowing were not okay bec we had this asaran thing, no choice but talk nalang talaga... nagpustahan pa kami ni Mark sabi ko "bet we'll be done by 3?" sabi niya di pwede may kausap ako ng 4pm...tignan mo 3 talaga, and i could see in his eyes na naiinis na siya! but between us two, he's the more patient one! after the never ending movement of the line,"tayo-upo" as we get to the 2nd counter, super bilis na, got to the 2nd floor, paid then had our data capturing (pics)taken. That must've been the longest day of our life, after the Edsa ordeal, its dfa ordeal, sabi ko siguro pag uwi namin ok na kame. I am so lucky to enjoy the services of my blackberry data, i've been tweeting and on ym with my dad, take care ko daw si Migi. Sabi ko di pa kame natapos. He ym'd again at 3pm super lakas daw rain at QC, sabi ko wala dito! We ate again at S&R and had this...

Beef Baked-roll and a soda(just share, di naman nila sinisita haha)

As we leave, i could see the clouds are getting really darker. So we hurried to the car and left immediately. At EDSA taft until Ayala tunnel, its another traffic ordeal..In twitter, everybody was talking about how traffic it is everywhere, flooded areas etc., so its not just us but almost everyone in the streets because of the heavy rain. Passed Buendia, Mark needs to go in the loo , he said he'll stop over the next gasoline station, and I said "don't na, sabi na nga its traffic all over eh, let's stop muna at Fort"(i again wanted a Sonja's hazelnut tart hehe kaya todo pilit na we stop over Fort). Of course napilitan siya. So, I showed him the pics from MMDA, so he believed me. We stopped at Shell, sabi ko "i'll wait in the car" he comes back kinakatok ako, sabi ko ayoko nga bumaba. yun pala he was pointing on someone, i couldn't see kse it was raining, then i took a closer look, it was Antonio. I went down, he was going to fetch Tins,he was also tired from North driving towards South. After a while we decide to meet with Tina at Italianni's High Street and ate dinner there, that was 6-7pm. After a long stay at Italianni's i made them yaya at Sonja's...





and we all decided to leave high street at 11pm, ready for Edsa,AAntonio and Tina took the c5 route. We decide to go EDSA, but we saw it was still traffic, Mark takes a u-turn and took Buendia-Mandaluyong shortcut. and at last, we got home!


That was a very,very, very tiring day...So here are my tips when you go to DFA to renew your passports like we did:


1. Leave home early, specially if you're coming from the North! we did that but i guess we chose a wrong route. So try Roxas Blvd, instead.


2. Wear something with collar and not blazer, believe me it's hot outside, though seats are provided and there are tents and fan, its still very hot there. If you're lucky enough, you can sometimes feel the wind of Manila Bay pati amoy niya haha. Wear something comfortable, cotton siguro, magugusot lang damit niyo because of the upo-tayo system. Don't use earrings and necklace, they had mine removed, because they have to capture your pic with the ears showing. Also, don't use colored contacts, because they will ask you to remove it as well.


3. Before you enter the DFA office, bring something to drink or bring crackers, its pretty exhausting to be in line for long. Water not softdrinks, Gatorade not any other juice. must be thirst quenching drink.


4. Dala kayo ng pamypay


5. if you have an ipad, itouch, psp, ds, books, dalhin niyo na dahil sa pila, aantukin kayo.


6. Pls wag kayo magdala ng tinapay na Gardenia na ang palaman ay mayonaisse at ham or egg, kase naamoy agad, yung katabi ni Mark, yung buong loaf ng Gardenia na wheat bread nilabas from her bag., I find it annoying na naghalo na lahat ng maamoy dun. tapos they're munching pa chips shempre pag natabig yung juice malas mo naman diba?


7. Gate 2 pag renewal and for tour purposes ata, may other line dun pang agency ata eh, ang haba sobra eh.


8. Swerte mo if member ka ng S&R kase you can park your car there and eat.