Valentine's Getaway in Manila

Me and my BF went to Manila for our Valentine weekend trip through the Cebu Pacific pisofare promo. I bought our roundtrip plane tickets last August 2011 for a total of PhP1548 only.  Our Cebu Pacific flights going to Manila and coming back to Iloilo were delayed (as usual) though.

To save on this trip, I frequently looked for promos from deal sites like CashCashPinoy and Ensogo. I was able to get a deal from CashCashPinoy for our hotel room at Gran Prix Hotel worth PhP1500/night. Then I also booked an Aqua Room at Hotel H20 via Ensogo for PhP5,850 including a set breakfast for 2 at Makan Makan Asian Food Village and Zenyu Eco Spa treatment for 2. 

Spend our first day at SM Mall of Asia

 We coincidentally saw his HS friends

 Had breakfast with my friend Michelle and his BF Clarence at Global City

 Back at MOA before going to Ocean Park. I love the Dark Chocolate with Almonds from Cacao.

 Aqua Room at Hotel H2O

 Oceanarium

 Jellies!

The foods are expensive but totally worth the price!

I honestly did not enjoy the Ocean Park attractions that much. The entrance fees are expensive but the attractions are not that fun. The penguin arctic tour-something was the most boring. You just enter an icy room, watch some penguins swim, and ride in a not-so-thrilling slide. The Marine Life Show with the sea lions were a bit entertaining though. 

The Hotel H2O experience, on the other hand, was amazing. We were awed with the room's interior design and features. It was very modern and sophisticated for ordinary people like us.lol The food at Makan Makan Asian Food Village were fantastic that we just set aside our diet plans that day and enjoyed the delectable foods on their menu. The hotbed treatment that was included on our Ensogo deal was, well, really HOT but very stress-relieving. According to the people from Zenyu Eco Spa, the hotbed treatment room was made of materials that emit negative ions helpful in promoting good health. After the hotbed, SWEATY treatment, we just added PhP600 each for a full body massage to have a very relaxing sleep on the last night of our trip. :)

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Girls' (Over)Night Out!

It was during college days when F4 was a phenomenal hit in the Philippines. So me and my other 3 closest friends called ourselves F4 just for the fun of it. The last time we had a get-together was more than 4 years ago. Michelle, went to Manila to find a job after that get-together and Shella went to Abu Dhabi almost 2 years ago. So it's just me and Grace who are left here in Iloilo.

Last February, it was a coincidence that Shella and Michelle went home for a vacation. So we had a chance to catch up after 4 years. Grace and I came earlier than the agreed time because we did a "baby bump photoshoot". It don't really want to call it a photoshoot because I'm not a pro photographer.lol I just got my DSLR last December and I have a lot to learn about it. We chose the carnival which was temporarily located at the back of SM City Iloilo.

   

I'm not proud of my shots there but I just thought I'd include a sample here. Not satisfied with the shots at the carnival, we headed to Plazuela de Iloilo for more cam whoring and just waited Shella and Michelle there.

Gracey with all the props ^^

Then Shella and Michelle joined us and we started our cam-whoring session!

     

We had our dinner at Red Corner restaurant located at Plazuela de Iloilo courtesy of Shella ;)

     

     

     

Eating is something that we enjoy together back in the days. Some fun memories we shared were:

1. Go out from class to have lunch at JD Infante. After enjoying our lunch, we just go back to class. There was even a time when we were going back to the room, our classmates were already at the lobby, some carrying our bags, because our professor dismissed the class early. ^^

2. Bring a KFC Bucket Meal at Mang Inasal Mandurriao where Michelle used to work. LOL

3. Pig out on a Saturday morning after our night shift. Usually at JD Roadhouse, General Luna St. Iloilo City.

Anyway, after dinner, we went to Smallville Complex for some dessert at Nothing But Dessert:

          

     

     

As we were talking/gossiping, Shella suggested that we go on a videoke. Since it was getting late already, it will not be a safe idea for Michelle and Shella to go home so we decided to check in on a hotel and spend the night together. lol The unplanned always turns out to be more fun! We first checked the room rates at Smallville 21. Then we went to Westown Hotel and it seemed that they have lower room rates so we proceeded to check in immediately. As we got to our room, we felt tired and just decided not to go on a videoke and just talk/gossip all night. lol And our winning topic for the night was AIKO MELENDEZ! I won't go into details why Aiko was our winning topic because it will be another long story to tell.lol

It was really fun and it wasn't so obvious that we missed each other so much that we had to check in on a hotel just to continue catching up. I don't know when the 4 of us will get to meet again. Perhaps on another coincidence? ^^

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Boracay Despedida

2012 started as a busy year for me. I had to cope with my "vacation hangover" when I started my first days of work for this year. Then I attended several despidida parties for sun2 as he was about to leave for Canada. By end of January, we had our last memorable trip to Boracay before he left:

Camwhoring at the beautiful Boracay sunset!

Boracay SUNSUNset ^^

Dinner! (forgot the name of the place)

Getting ready for a banana boat ride under the scorching heat of the sun...

We were shouting "Boring!" because of the boring and not-so-bumpy ride until...

all of those who were in the right side of the banana boat fell! LOL

and there was me laughing out loud despite my sore throat.lol

trying the trampoline at PhP200 per person for 5mins (hmm I'm not actually sure if it was 5mins or just 3, I forgot :D )

had a few drinks at Guilly's on our last night at Boracay... body-aching, almost voiceless, and less energy to enjoy the night.

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UPDATES

So it's been months since I last posted here.lol Life has been quite busy for me this past few months that I felt like I didn't have time to post here. So before I post some significant and insignificant happenings, here are a few updates first:

1. Camwhoring Got Better

I gifted myself a Nikon D5100 last Christmas. I have always loved taking pictures so I thought this was a good investment. I bought it from DB Gadgets. I have bought a memory card from this online store before so I was not hesitant to buy a DSLR from them. I wasn't even expecting to receive the package in less than 24 hrs! Needless to say, I was satisfied with their service. :)

2. Healthy Living

I had a one week Christmas vacation at home which meant that I gained some pounds! So to shred it off, I decided to take "healthy living" more seriously. I jog at least twice a week since January and I no longer eat rice on a daily basis. I only eat rice occasionally (what an achievement!). This is not only for the purpose of losing weight but also to hopefully get rid of the cysts (take note its in plural form) in my breasts. Since they are too small, they are inoperable thus they cannot be removed yet. So exercise and healthy eating is my best option to get rid of them.

3. Four Years of Love

Well, me and my beau celebrated our fourth year anniversary last January 02. Hoping for a more fruitful relationship this year. :D

4. Year 2012

According to Chinese horoscope, my lucky colors this 2012 is yellow and blue. Well blue is already my fave color and I love yellow as well. So it won't be too hard for me to use something yellow from time to time. :)

5. Travel

I love to travel. But I cannot do it every so often because of lack of resources and time.lol It's kind of impractical at times. But I've been to Boracay last January and spent my Valentine's date in Manila. lol I'll be writing separate posts for those trips.

6. Friends

Its been years since me and my college buddies had time together. It was a great coincidence that Shella and Michelle went home for a vacation at the same time. So our dinner date lasted till the next day. We decided to check in a hotel because we felt like we aren't finished chatting yet.lol

I think that would be all for now. I really hope I could catch up with all the posts that I want to share in here. :)

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No Other Woman Review

I've watched the talk-of-the-town movie yesterday and I just thought I'd share some insights. I think its a bit (just a bit) overrated. The cast was really good, their acting was very effective and could even score some award, I like how Anne handled her character, Carmi Martin's lines are worth a tweet, the whole story was also good BUT... the ending was very typical!

This will be a spoiler for those who haven't watched it yet. The story ended with a car accident. How many (pinoy) movies ended with a car accident just for the characters to reconcile and solve their problems? Ok I cannot really count how many there were but the most recent that I can recall is My Amnesia Girl. It also ended with John Loyd's car accident. 

Anyway, back to No Other Woman. I had an impression that the car accident was their (producer,scriptwriter,or whoever responsible) way to easily end the story and the movie. The car accident was the answer for the mistress to stop chasing the husband and for the wife to get back with him. Yeah right. Sound easy enough.

This may be the reason why I have always liked One More Chance because it didn't have a happy-ending-story. Well the two main characters did meet again and we can assume they got back together but it didn't end the typical way.

So as a conclusion to this post, No Other Woman is a high caliber movie. I just don't like the way it ended. :D

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Questions Lyrics by Bamboo Mañalac

So Bamboo is back with a new single titled, Questions. Bamboo says that this song is something personal but somehow speaks of human experience. True enough. You can listen to the single at his website, http://www.bamboomusiclive.com/questions.php. And thanks to Bamboo for posting the lyrics! :)

Questions by Bamboo Manalac Lyrics

It’s a lonely road out there we’re all just waiting

For these answers that may never come our way

So we hold on to each other

Hoping to find what’s missing

A million more questions by the end of the day

We’ve been getting all this inside information

Are you as confused as me it’s all just driving you insane

Throw some money at the problem

Lose your inhibitions go talk to someone

A million more questions by the end of the day

It’s who we are

It’s who we are

We try to get away – hide- pray for shade

Follow

What will we find

A return to sacred ground or the memory of one

Strange

Is it a new day?

Bored? Sounds.. all too familiar

A Good excuse for change in pace

Go forth be a happy clone

questions by the end of the day

It’s who we are

It’s who we are

Running in circles

In this once in a lifetime

I got this

One last chance

To ditch this borderline life

My place in this world

This Last day I draw breath

I’m about to collide

With myself

It’ll all get better all you need is time

Drag yourself out of bed

Waiting for that change in season

Praying for a line

Living in a rainbow

Or drowning in the gray

You’ve filled in all the blanks

It ain’t all that bad

Questions by the end of the day

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Bamboo Is Back!

What a great news to start the week! Bamboo is back. Not the band though, just Bamboo Mañalac. Hear it straight from him:

He is currently in the US for a tour with Gloc 9. Rumors say that he will be part of the Tanduay First Five finale but there's no confirmation to that yet. Hopefully we'll get to catch him here in the Philippines soon. (♥,♥)

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Google Plus has been buzzing up the cyberspace ever since it was launched. I myself wasn't able to join the first time they allowed an invitation-only registration. On the second time, I grabbed the chance. Google+ is a social network but different from Facebook. I like the "circles" feature because its easier to set your privacy by just selecting which circle your post will be visible. Anyway, its a pity that only a few of my friends and colleagues are on Google+. I'd really love to have more friends here so that I can invite more allies in City of Wonder. LOL

City of Wonder Allies

I love playing online games. I've played Facebook apps like Restaurant City, Farmville, Farmtown, Zuma, Bejeweled, and Cityville. So a game was one of the first things I checked in Google+ and I've been addicted to City of Wonder ever since. It also has a Facebook app but I've already started it in Google+. Besides, I can add more allies without adding them as friends. So who wants an ally in Google+ City of Wonder? Please add me to your circle and send me an invite - https://plus.google.com/105810477128691301220

Looking forward for some new allies. Thanks!!!

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