Catching Up

It's kind of crazy how time speeds up and just like that, it's already the end of the first half of the year. How did that happen? Just six months ago, I was promising myself a lot of things: to always say yes, to try new things, and to be a little more adventurous in life. And here we are now: there are still things I will say no to, but I'm a little bit braver to do what's not expected.

This morning, I headed to the house of one of my oldest friends to help out her mom with some paper decor. It was a familiar place that my friends and I grew up in. We started out as babies in that place and now everyone is raising their own family, getting married, and flying out of the country. The house felt a little lonely, a lot empty, but still inviting.

I guess everyone has their own thing now. It hasn't been the easiest thing to get together—plans have to be made in advance to accommodate everyone's other concerns: attending weddings, feeding the babies, and doing what adults do I guess. But it's still comforting to know that there are still things that will remain the same. Like our favorite baked spaghetti and chicken lollipop, which tastes like childhood to me. And that even without my girls, somehow I've been able to catch up.

 

Future Lola

I still can't get my head around the fact that my friends are getting engaged, married, and having babies. But I suppose it's only inevitable since I am turning 30 in less than a month (30!). Just last Sunday, my best friend had a baby shower for her baby girl. We're all so excited to meet Mitos in a few weeks! (:

Since it was my first time to attend a baby shower, I had no idea what games to prepare. Good thing Laika's sister, Chinky, thought up some cool ones. We also got plain onesies and had the guests design them for baby girl Mitos. Above was inspired by the popular candy—which incidentally was the giveaway too. Chinky had labels customized to have the baby's name.

The boys were unfortunately subjected to drinking iced tea from a bottle. Haha! So glad they were all game, though!

Instead of pin the tail on the donkey, we had a round of pin the sperm on the egg. A grand total of 2 guys managed to aim correctly. Of course Marc, Laika's hubby and Mitos's soon-to-be dad, got it right smack in the middle!

Everyone did a great job on the onesies. Can't wait till Mitos actually wears them. Can't wait to meet her. (:

Ten Things I'm Grateful For Tuesdays: Love (In Photos)

Scenes from my best friend's wedding. No, not the movie. A real, actual wedding!

Hanging Out With My Girls

My family usually tags along with my dad's brother's family (that's a lot of apostrophes) on long weekends to Tagaytay, but this time we didn't have any plans. Most of our friends already had plans (or work, boo!) so it was just me, Laika, and Mikko. Fun times as always: painting our nails, our favorite crepes, a new resto, and impromptu "shopping" at Mix's igloo.








I think the next time we hang out, we should bring extra clothes so we can play Fruit Ninja or Dance Central. Haha! We always just end up sitting around and eating, which is totally fun but not good for our metabolism. :))

Hopefully the weather makes up its mind (woke up to a really sunny morning then the rain just came crashing down again) so we can visit Mommy today.

What are your plans for the long weekend?

Dinner with Friends

I really think this needs to be done once a week. You know, for sanity. Hehehe.

Thanks, Mikkomix!

My friend Mikko from Alaska has always been an enabler. She gave me a domain on my birthday and paintedcloud.com was born. When that expired, she hosted me under her domain that changed names over time. Whenever I'd want to order something online, she'd offer to get it for me and then I'd pay her when she'd come home to visit. We'd fuel each others' dreams of building a bake shop (mine) and a bookstore (hers) and promise that we'd build it someday.

When she told me that she and Tita Tocy (her mom who showers me with such generous baking presents) were putting together a small package for me, I got excited for cupcake liners. That's it. When her cousin told me that the package was ready to be picked up from their house, I asked the driver to drop by for it after he brought my brothers to work.

He arrived with a larger than normal shoebox plus a plastic bag of cupcake liners (so pretty!). I was wondering, what else could be inside the box? I had to go to work but I couldn't resist not peeking. I pulled out a dress, 2 skirts, plus a bunch of Ziploc-ed accessories. I was nowhere near unpacking even half of it. My dad was laughing at me because I couldn't contain my excitement. I put everything back and said, "I'm going to do this tonight so I can savor it!" Hahaha.

So I went to work, had yummy Chinese food, got a pretty surprise from my friend at the shoot, had my favorite milk tea from Serenitea, and COULD. NOT. WAIT. TO. GO. HOME.


I carefully unpacked each item and took a pic (haha). I wasn't going to post the pics but I had a hard time finding the stuff online, hehe. Can't wait to wear everything (I'd wear them all together if I could!). This should curb my shopping urges for a while, right? I should keep reminding myself. d:


Got some cute new spatulas plus pretty cupcakes liners, too! My dad had my oven checked out and sadly we have to wait for the service center to check if they've still got parts for it. Apparently, it's an old model that's already been phased out. Please cross your fingers, toes, and eyes that it can still be fixed. I want to bake again!

Anyway, you guys have an awesome weekend. (:

Two Nights in a Row

People are generally surprised when I'm out late at night because they know my bed time is actually 9pm (although these days I've been sleeping close to midnight and not too proud of it). But staying in an office building for more than 10 hours can really make your realize how much you've been just working. So whenever there's a chance to get out—an event, a premiere, a meeting(haha)—I try to go if time lets me.

So last Thursday after work, I headed to a 20-minute preview of Disney's Tron Legacy (which was AWESOME! Too bad we have to wait 'til December 17 to see the entire thing) and ETC's Vamped event. We're big fans of The Vampire Diaries so we figured, why not check out the party?


With Angela and Tessa of ETC, making chismis about TVD and other ETC shows.



We had our picture taken with "Damon" and "Katherine" at the photobooth, had TVD-inspired drinks, and had salty calamares before we called it a night. We also got news that ETC is showing Pretty Little Liars soon!

***

Last night, after a loooong day at work (that included a very satisfying meal at Recipes, another payday waldas that I don't even know how to justify, plus a record-breaking chat event that made our numbers soar to great heights haha), my friends picked me up so we could all go "par-tay." HAHA! It's been a running joke that whenever we decide to come out late at night, it's called a lolas night out. And by lola, I sure don't mean Madonna's kid.

Speaking of lolas, this year, my friends and I decided to semi-dress up for Halloween. Last year, we dressed up as Josie and the Pussycats and actually won a prize (that we never used, come to think of it). We decided to just do a '50s theme. And we don't know but pearls seemed to have tied all our outfits together.


Binky actually did a '50s DIY project but ended up not wearing her dress. She stitched a poodle cutout on it—complete with a leash! Super cute. Laika channeled her inner Audrey Hepburn. I tried to do a Betty Draper but my brother told me I was more a Peggy. Whatever that means, I haven't exactly caught up with Mad Men. It's funny, though, because this is actually something I'd wear on any other given day. Maybe I was born in the wrong era. IDK.


As you can see, not a lot of people really dressed up. But when this girl stepped in, we all had to turn and look in her direction. She had fiery orange hair sticking up from her head and she was in a flesh bodysuit. She came as a Troll! Hahaha! Best costume of the night, I think.


And well, look at me in a club, drinking... water. Hahaha! I woke up past 8 this morning, which is late in my book. I've spent all day on the computer, only taking breaks to go to the bathroom and eat. I don't think I'm going to be out like that any time soon. I've reached my quota, hehe.

Surf and Turf with the Girls

I've been dreading going home for a month now because as you may have noticed, I have no idea how to get home without a car. Cabbing is hardly considered "commuting," I know, but it's the closest I know how to.

This week has been incredibly good to me because I've been able to get a ride home all week. I didn't have to ride a cab by myself, praying the rosary for my safety (exag ba?).

Last night, I wasn't sure how I was going to get to dinner with my barkada (ended up riding with Nikki, who's my officemate who I never see because we're on separate floors, hehe) or go home (I was planning on taking a cab but it turned out my brother wasn't going to use his car so I could ask to be picked up). At the end of the day, though, everything just sort of fell into place and I had a great time with my friends after a long, tiring week of work.

Early birds Lani and Laika

Traffic was terrible along Libis (but then again, when is it not bumper-to-bumper along that road?). My best friend Laika was already done with work at 5:30pm but since everyone got stuck in traffic, she had to wait for us 'til around 8pm. Lani was the second early bird. Haven't seen her since she got back from Singapore!

(Clockwise from left) Justin, Nikki, Zsa, Fretz, Lani, Laika, and me

Take one with horns (or a peace sign!). Tsk, tsk!

Baguio-bound Justin ♥ Nikki, blushing Zarah, and Vegan Yogi Fretz

Worker-from-home (hehe) Lani, BB addict Laika, and window bangs Macy

Golda got to join us after a harrowing night of traffic.

After a fifteen-minute discussion on why we were P200 short (hahaha), we headed home. The food was yummy (We ordered the Surf and Turf platter, that comes with an assortment of barbecued chicken, lamb, beef & pork ribs, cream dory, salmon, tuna, rice, and a house salad. I loved the garlic sauce with the fish) and the company was great. I love Friday nights with friends!

Uncle Cheffy's Brick-Oven BBQ
Unit A216 & S201 Level 2, Eastwood Mall, Eastwood City Cyberpack, E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue(C5)
4702750 and 3837215

Turning point

From the looks of this grainy picture, you can tell this was a long time ago. d: More than a decade ago, to be exact. Freshman year. In the new high school building up in the mountains of Antipolo. I have in my hand a glass of what I'm assuming to be iced tea. My staple recess for all four years of high school. A glass of iced tea and two doughnuts—one Nutty Chocolate and one Chocolate Butternut (My all-time favorite doughnut. Dunkin Donuts the best! What Krispy Kreme?). I guess all that sugar is now manifesting itself by way of my jiggly stomach and thunder thighs. =))

I remember so many things when I look at this picture. My hairstyle: hair tied into a half-ponytail because my hair was buhaghag (still is). My too-big-for-me Tag Heuer watch that I forced my mom to give to me (she eventually got it back when they gave me another watch, which I thought was nicer—now I have three watches, but I still use that watch because I think it's the nicest). My standard pearl earrings, which I've contemplated on changing (just switched for slightly bigger ones in college) because some people have this superstition that you're going to stay single when you wear pearls (hello, saan nanggaling yon?), but 10 years down the line, I still wear pearls. Oh, and yeah, I'm still single. Haha. Money in my sailor blouse pocket, which was always filled with odds and ends. All of which would scatter to the floor when I was rushing to get to the line outside our classroom right after the bell rang.

"Best Days" was our high school anthem and to this day, I still think of those four years as the best. I met my lifelong friends and discovered my three loves in high school: baking, dancing, and writing. I used to sell my Maple Vermont Walnut bars at food sales (shortened periods! long recess!). Danced to Michael Jackson's "Rock with You" in my first year of high school for the high school dance. Got my poem published in a book before I graduated.

How nice it is to still get to live part of that life when I'm at work. (:

Feast

Assumption girls are like fragrant blossoms set out into the world to share its beauty and truth. —Sir Beni delos Reyes

Coming home

When you say homecoming, I immediately think Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. Haha! Minus the interpretative dancing, I guess. Oh, wait. Scratch that. I remember a year after we graduated, we attended the homecoming and danced to Christina Aguilera's "Come on Over" (the Spanish version). Hahaha!

I went to two homecomings already. The other one was the expensive dinner in the MPB (Multi-Purpose Building to you, non-Assumptionistas). I don't even remember if we got away with not paying. :P All I remember was that we were super shocked to see the baby sister of our batch mates with the hot brother of our former English teacher. HAHA! Everyone in our table was talking about it. :P Mga chismosa kami eh.

Tomorrow, I'll be seeing my old school up in the mountains.

I remember going back a couple of years ago and not recognizing the cafeteria. It looked like a makeshift jail with all the railings (to discourage singit when lining up for food daw). The students didn't look familiar at all and everything just seemed so detached from me.

I used to think I'd be super popular when I go back to my high school. (cue Romy and Michele: "I invented Post-Its!") That I'd go back and give career talks because I'm some successful product of my school. Haha! Or I used to imagine going to our high school fair with a super hot boyfriend. Hahaha! My God, ano ba `tong dreams ko?!

Fast forward to tonight. I'm actually happy where I am now. I may not be super popular, or I might not be asked to give "expert advice" to high schoolers applying for colleges (oh, and I don't have a super hot boyfriend—no not even a not-so-hot one :P), but I'm happy. (: Happy to know that I'm not perfect and that I am continually growing as a person. This is truly a year of trying things for the first time. And I'm glad I've become that kind of person and not just someone who sticks to the familiar. And I guess going back to my home for thirteen years would be a reminder of what I used to be and how much I've changed (for the better).

Reunions and old friends

So it's been two days of sleeplessness, but it doesn't matter. One of my good friends is back in Manila after three years! How awesome is that?

I'm just a little sad that she's only staying till Sunday morning. And that doesn't even count since she's leaving first thing that morning. Lani and I picked her up Sunday afternoon and spent the rest of the night with our high school friends. I always have fun with them no matter how long we haven't seen each other. Hello, I haven't seen Jenn since Mikko last visited—three years ago! To think we spent practically all of high school together because we were carpool mates!

Even if I look like crap after staying out late for the past two nights, I'm so happy that I'm getting to spend so much time with friends. And January hasn't even ended yet! I just hope we can all be together—complete!—before Mikko and Binky leave.

Last night, I got picked up super late so we ended up staying at my friend's house till 1 am after our first real poker night (haha! I won one round!). I'm amazed at my friend's super photographic memory. She recounted everything like high school was just yesterday. We couldn't stop laughing at all our kalokohan back then. :P

As if you can't tell yet, I am so happy with my high school memories. It really was the best four years of my life. (: And I'm glad I can still live in high school even for a while every so often. :P