Fashion Confession

I have a confession to make, I usually borrow dresses from friends for me to wear when I attend weddings. I don't have a lot of formal dresses, well I don't have a lot dresses period, so I usually just borrow when I need to. I don't want to spend so much on clothes I'll only use once. So anyway, this coming May and June I will be attending 3 weddings and since I know I've gained a few pounds here and there, this early I've already asked a friend if I can borrow dresses from her. That way I can fit them and see how many pounds I need to lose by May. I was so depressed after trying on her clothes because only 1 fit me and I look fat in it. The other dresses were too tight! I can barely zip the dress up, I've asked the help of my husband to help me zip up but our efforts are fruitless. And then another dress I was able to fit into but when it was time to remove it I can barely get out of it. I was almost in tears after my husband helped me get out of the dress. Imagine that, when I really used to borrow dresses from her and they fit me perfectly. This is one of the dresses I borrowed from a friend and I wore to Penny and Pao's wedding.




Now I'm trying to watch what I eat and lessen my food intake. I don't think I can go back to the gym and work out. I don't have the time and the determination to go back. Although I would have love to go and try boxing again, if only to punch somebody else to let out my frustrations each and every day at work haha! I envy those Hollywood stars and other mega-rich people who can afford Beverly hills cosmetic surgery or Los Angeles tummy tuck, some even opt for beverly hills breast augmentation. There are a lot of plastic surgeons in Hollywood but Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery is one of the best, if not the best. They have fully trained medical doctors and they always put the needs of the clients first. So if you're from that part of the world and want to look better and feel better, you might want to schedule a consultation with them. If I had the money and that's my last resort, I probably would hehe.



*I'm sorry to have posted such a vain blogpost on Holy Week hehehe.

Two in a Row

Yes, two! Count them - one, two! Two races when Vettel got the pole position during the qualifying race but ended up with no podium finish during the race. Argh! I wasn't able to watch the live telecast of the Australian GP which was 2pm Manila time earlier today. We were out of the house because the electricity was down in our neighborhood. But when we got home we were just in time for the last 8 laps. Star Sports was showing Kubica, Massa, Alonso, Hamilton and Webber catching up on each other and placed 2nd to 6th respectively so I thought maybe Vettel has left them all behind him at first place. Turned out he was already out of the race because of another car problem. Yikes! And that Jenson Button was the one leading the pack - double yikes! Ahahaha I don't really like that guy, I'm not impressed with all his wins. I just had to read about the race online (after researching about US Navy SEALs Store) and read about what happened to Vettel. I found out it was some brake failure that made Vettel lose the race. Tsk! The good news is I won't be so nervous watching the replay later tonight because I already know what wil happen hahaha! I hope they figure out what's really wrong with the car and make up for it next week at the Malaysian Grand Prix. I want to see him back at the podium ASAP and want to see him really having a shot at the driver's championship!


Bahrain GP - P1 qualifying, 4th place race day
Australian GP - P1 qualifying, DNF race day

Grace's Birthday at Kota

Our second whole day (technically, third day) in Kota Kinabalu was Grace's birthday - 9th March. I was the first one to wake up so I was able to greet her immediately when she opened her eyes. We again hit the buffet at Cafe Tatu for breakfast and had pansit for for long life.

After breakfast we tried hitting the beach but there's a huge sign that there might be jellyfish plus the water's a bit too deep for us so we went back to the pool.

We met this little boy who is so talkative and so adorable. He'd tell his father, "Papi please help me, I can't do that because I'm so small." We later found out he was only 3 and a half years old but he swam cautiously by himself.

We had our lunch in our room, Grace and I split an order of duck curry because we didn't want to eat too much. The original plan was to eat dinner buffet at Cafe Tatu so we didn't want to be too full for that hehehe - preparing our stomach for the really big meal ahead of us. Then it was "lazying around" time again. We took a nap and then headed out to take photos in the resort.

This is at the courtyard on our wing.

This is where we whiled away the afternoon waiting for sunset.

The view from where we were seated...the Chi Spa on the right...

and the sunset on our left.

When we got back to our room a birthday cake was waiting for Grace. And soon after we arrived I heard a knock on our door - a hotel staff brining in more gifts for Grace, bath therapy from the Chi Spa with instructions on how to use them. The Spa also offered a 20% discount but unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to make the appointment and actually go there for the massage.

For dinner we changed our minds, so instead of pigging out at the buffet we tried fine dining at Peppino. I don't think I'll get used to this kind of eating..everything's so formal. I'm pretty sure they didn't get those lights in some sale lighting.

We again went to Happy Hour but this time at the Borneo Lounge which is just outside Peppino. It was totally a coincidence that our clothes were matching that night.

We ordered mai thais but after three rounds we were both tipsy ahaha. I wasn't even able to finish my third glass, Grace had to finish it for me.


Happy birthday, Gracia! I wish you all the best beacuse you deserve it! I hope next time we can have our dream cruise with our respective partners *wink, wink*

New Header Again

Yep, changed the photo of my header again. The previous one, I think, was just to blah! This was taken by our wedding photographer during our prenup. Nice eh?

Vodka + RockBand = FUN

I had so much fun last weekend. We went on an impromptu drinking session with some friends. And to think the husband initially didn't want to go to because he just wanted to stay in and relax the entire night. I met up with him after his work and we went grocery shopping. Our original plan was to meet up and then watch Alice in Wonderland and then do some grocery shopping. So I did meet up with him after his work and then we watched Alice in Wonderland. I was almost panicking because we agreed on the 4:10pm screening but he wasn't out of the office yet by 3:45pm. But as luck would have it, we were in the theater just in the nick of time. Just before the movie ended, our friend J called up my husband which I thought was because she wanted to ask if we were going to our friend T's place. Anyways, after the movie we proceeded to shop for groceries and then our friend T texted that he's just by himself in their house and that we can come by any time we want. We thought the text message was so desperate (hehe sorry T!) that my husband decided we should go there after doing the groceries. He called up our friend J (turned out she was asking something about downloading iTunes on her iPhone) and confirmed with them that we were going to T's place after doing the groceries. By 8pm, we were done with groceries, got home, rested for a while and where out of the house again to go to our friend's house.

It was only the five of us that night (too bad we didn't do this when we were complete) but we had so much fun, especially us two girls, drinking and playing Rock Band (no serious talk about work or finances like advantages and disadvantages of credit cards). As my friend said, it's fun to let loose once in a while.

We rock!!!

Serious lead and bass guitarists


No, they're not drunk...

...we were hehehe

Me and my honey

Spending the Nights (and Day) in KK

On our first night at Kota Kinabalu, after checking-in, we immediately had to take a bath because it was so humid and we just had to freshen up. We just ordered room service.


After eating, we decided to go down to the beach and Grace ordered us a bottle of Chardonnay.


The plan was to to drink by the beach but the mosquitos were killing us so we took the bottle up to our room and continued drinking there while watching Australia. I love Hugh but Australia is such a bore. Just when I thought it was ending, the movie just continues on and on....Let's just say that Grace fell asleep while watching it, here she is still with her eyeglasses on but already asleep haha! She will definitely kill me if she knew I posted this one.


After a few more minutes I decided to sleep as well. Okay, we can blame that one on the wine and not on Hugh. The next day, we had buffet breakfast at Shang's Café Tatu.


We then went for a swim. Do you see that lone person in the pool? That's Grace who missed the waters in NY. It's her first swim after almost two years.


But I was feeling a bit woozy, still because of the wine the night before, so I just decided to sit back and relax by the pool. It was only then that I realized how fun it was to just sit by the pool haha. I always thought of why other people just lounge by the pool and don't take a swim, but that time I found it so fun and at the same time peaceful just sitting there, listening to my Ipod and watching people. Grace went up to our room to wash up but I decided to stay. And then I saw this..



The hotel provides different activities for their guests, and on our first day they had water exercise in the morning. Grace and I signed up for the cooking demonstration in the afternoon but we weren't able to come back for that since we went to the city center (but I'm getting ahead of my story). Anyway, after I washed up, Grace and I decided to go to the city center because I told her we can eat in Sedco Complex where they serve fresh seafood, the one where we ate in the last time I went there. The cab from Shangrila to the city center is fixed at RM15. Unfortunately, the place was closed during lunch hours. So we rode another cab to the Waterfront (good thing I still remember some of the places in KK) and had our lunch there.


Shout out to Anna, I wore the gift that you gave me. :)

As in my first trip there, we met a lot of Filipinos. One of them is the server in the restaurant at the Waterfront Esplanade. Funny 'cause when he found out we were Filipinos he gave us that kind of "Why am I trying so hard to speak in English when you are Pinoys" face haha. Most of the other patrons that were eating were Caucasians and they all ordered beers in the middle of a hot day. I can't imagine drinking beer and then feeling hot because of the alcohol in that humid weather. After eating, we crossed the street to Warisan Mall and did a little bit of shopping. I scored a pair of Vincci shoes for just RM42 so that's just less than 600 pesos! Test rode it yesterday at work and got a lot of compliments.

We got back to the hotel a little after 4pm, so late for the 3pm cooking demo we signed for. So we tried to take a nap before heading out for happy hour at the hotel's Sunset Bar. We watched the sunset during happy hour and ordered a bucket of Stella Artois (4 cans) and some chicken wings.




It was already dark when we left Sunset Bar. We had a long conversation about work and career choices. I must have blabbed on and on to Grace about my frustrations while she also blabbed on and on about her frustrations. This vacation was really about us reconnecting again and be able to rant and rant about everything haha.

Start of the Race

The Formula 1 season officially started over the weekend at Bahrain. We weren't able to watch the live telecast of the qualifying session at 7pm Saturday night because we went to our friend's birthday dinner. But we were just in time for the 3am replay on Star Sports when we got home. Was tired from the long night but totally ecstatic when Vettel got P1. First pole for the first qualifying round, not bad at all!

I was so excited for day's race and so was the husband because Massa was 2nd on the grid for race day. Vettel got a good start and maintained his lead but unfortunately during lap 33 due e to some mechanical problems he was overlapped by Alonso, Massa and Hamilton. I wanted to just stop watching the race and surf the net to do some MP3 Search but I was so worried Rosberg who's in 5th place might overtake Vettel again. Although Vettel defended his 4th place, he failed to get a podium finish. He could have won that race. It was so frustrating. But we have 18 races to go so hopefully this is just a one-time thing for their car. Hopefully, they'll fix everything in time for the Australia GP by the last week of March.

Other happenings on the Bahrain GP:

• first leg of the season, new scoring, new rules - no more refuelling and pit stops where done for changing of wheels
• of the new teams - HRT, Lotus and Virgin - only Lotus drivers (Heikki and Trulli) finished the race
• Schumy returns to F1 although it wasn't a BIG comeback because he didn't get to the podium, he finished 6th
• 2009 champion Button finished 7th behind Schumy, another 2 - 3 races like this and Button will be forgotten, a lot of people will be convinced he didn't deserve to win last year's championship
• Hulkenberg is a cutie hehehe

Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort

And I'm back! Went to Kota Kinabalu on a 4 day/3 night vacation with my friend, Grace. On her insistence, we stayed at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru resort. At first, I didn't want to stay there although I was the one who suggested the resort. It's just that I found the price a bit too steep for my budget. But she convinced me since we haven't travelled for a few years now and I really need this vacation away from work, I thought I deserved it. And I'm so glad I relented because the hotel was fabulous!


We were picked up from the aiport by a hotel staff. Here's Grace posing outside the airport.



Check-in was a breeze! When we went out of the aiport car, the staff directed us to the lobby and we were asked to seat and wait for a couple of minutes. Then I was asked to fill-in some forms, while they gave us cold towels and welcome drinks.





I originally booked us a superior Kinabalu mountain view room but upon check-in we were upgraded to a deluxe room at the Tanjung wing. Look at those beds! They're so soft and comfy, although I didn't get to sleep that well because I missed the husband.




And the view from the balcony of our room. We had a view of the swimming pools and the beach. It was always so tempting to go for a swim when we look out our balcony.



Our balcony has its own seating area. It can get a little hot outside but there's a ceiling fan in the balcony so it's still a nice place to hang out.


But we also have a seating area inside the room.


The bathroom is very nice as well, the countertop is full with toiletries.





Up next, more photos of our trip. I wish I could have eaten low carb bars before the trip so that I looked more fit. Grace and I were always taking a couple of photos of each other before we got the perfect one (the one where we don't look so fat hahaha).

Got Sick

I cant' believe I got sick a few days before the trip. I was feeling terrible after lunch yesterday and by the time I got home I just wanted to curl up in bed and sleep. I'm still not feeling 100% okay now but I'm getting there. I don't think anything's gonna stop me to go on our trip. Please pray for me that I'll be totally well by tomorrow.

New Header

Do you like the photo in my new header? Just thought it was high time I change the photo because we're not exactly newly weds anymore, although it still feels like we are.



I wanted the photo to still have some greens because I immediately think of greens for my blog title. I initially wanted to upload a photo of us from Bohol but the photo had too much more face (ours) than the Chocolate Hills behind us. This photo was taken by my cousin on March 2009 in Pangasinan when we went there for our Lolo's wake and burial. I don't know what the heck I'm doing there with that pose, but I'm definitely not dancing. We were there in the bukid because my cousin wanted to take our jump shots but they were a total disaster hehe. So there, just a photo of us not looking at the camera but with a beautiful, beautiful landscape behind us. Don't you think nature is so amazing?

Amanpulo

I haven't been able to share with you the photos my cousin Adam took when he went to Amanpulo. He's so lucky because he went there for free. He's part of the Manila Philharmonics Orchestra, and they were the ones tapped to perform during the New Year's Eve celebration of the resort. They stayed there for five days but only had to work for one night.

It was a blue moon when they went there. The light in the middle of the water was entirely illuminated by the moon. Do you know what a blue moon is? According to Wikipedia, a blue moon is a second full moon in a month. This phenomenon is also where the phrase "once in a blue moon" comes from.

Don't you just want to lie there all day, read a book and not worry about a thing (not even HVG insurance)? I can just imagine myself relaxing all day long. And then a butler will come and serve drinks to quench my thirst and keep my cool.

The one night that they had to work was only on the eve of New Year's celebration. What a way to usher in the new year, right? If they say that what you do on the eve of the new year is what you'll do the whole year long is true, then my cousin is definitely in for a great 2010. He's getting married by the way this year.

Can I cry while looking at this? As I said in my earlier post, if I die in an island, I'll die a happy woman.

I hope to one day be able to have enough money to go there. Universe, are you listening? I will be there someday, and swim in that perfect emerald seawater, lounge in that what seems an ultra soft lounge chair, dine beside that gorgeous, gorgeous pool, and hopefully see the blue moon when I go there.

On the Work Front

I am counting down the days when I will be able to see this place. I've been miserable at work for the last few days. I'm still learning the ropes. So whenever I encounter terms like maturity mismatch or options trading, I google it and try to learn what I can. It's just sometimes I don't really have time to read and absorb what I have to so in the end I do things mechanically and hope that next time I will truly understand what I just did. It's sometimes frustrating that I wish I was back in my old work but there are days that everything is all quiet (like today) and I have time to research and go deep into what I am doing. And I feel a certain pride whenever I do accomplish some things and in the process learn something new. It doesn't hurt either to be acknowledged by my supervisor that I did a good job. Based on my latest annual performance evaluation, my supervisors are happy with what I've contributed to the team so far and that they got good feedbacks from the other specialists I'm working with so that's a good sign. I'm glad it's not all bad things. But there are days (like yesterday) when I tell myself, I don't want any more challenges and I just want to work mindlessly. It's just that sometimes I feel so tired at the end of the day and think to myself if this is all worth it. Just this morning I hoped that I'll soon see the light at the end of the tunnel, because at this point I feel that I'm in the middle of the tunnel where everything's dark and scary. I hope to really find in myself what I really want.

The certain thing right now is that I can't wait for my vacation to start. To sleep the night before and wake up the following morning knowing that I don't have to go to work will be total bliss. I miss the beach! If I had to live in an island for the rest of my life, I will probably die happy - sunburnt, definitely - but still happy.

Celebrity Magazines

What's up with local celebrities publishing their own magazines?

First, there's Kris Aquino who always looks picture perfect on the cover, it's obviously photoshopped or she always has Liposuction done before each photoshoot. I had a chance to see one of the issues of her magazine where there's an article on her travels with her kids and husband. And in those photos, accompanying that article, she looks totally different thatn the one on the cover.



A few weeks back while walking inside the mall with some officemates, they pointed Jolina Magdangal's magazine - Jolie. Angelina Jolie might hear of this and tell Jolina she got the name from Angie. Remember that rumor when Mariah Carey supposedly called Regine Velasquez "monkey" when she learned that Regine was copying her style? But I think that never happened in real life, just a rumor. Anyways, did you know that Jolie is actually Angelina's middle name but then she dropped her real surname and changed her full name to Angelina Jolie? I think this was the time that she and her father had some misunderstanding. Saw this on E True Hollywood stories.



Then this afternoon I saw that Sharon Cuneta has her own magazine too. From the cover of the magazine, I think the contents are pretty nice kind of like Martha Stewart magazine going on in there.

So, which of the three will you buy?

Valentine's Day

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was finally able to watch Valentine's Day last Saturday with the girls. My friend downloaded it but got a not so clear copy of the movie (Do you like downloading too - movie torrents, music torrents, game torrents?). So many people said it's like Love Actually because it's an all star cast movie. And like Love Actually, I didn't really love Valentine's Day. I don't know if it's just because the copy was not clear or it's the story that I didn't like. I think the problem with this kind of movie is that there so many things that are happening, so many storyline to follow (yeah, it must be that I'm just slow). Like the storyline of Taylor and Taylor, you can just edit that out if it was a usual romantic movie but they had to put it there for all the fans of these two. No, I'm not hating them because I actually think Taylor Swift was really convincing in her role; unless, she's like that in real life. Now, I do love Anne Hathaway's character moonlighting as an adult phone entertainer. Her different accents are hilarious. And Topher Grace is such a charming, adorable man. I still think of him more of Eric in That 70's Show than Venom in Spiderman. Well, all in all it was a nice chick flick that you can watch with your best girlfriends. But I'm so glad we didn't watch this on Valentine's Day. Now, what I wanted to watch was Couples Retreat. Although this movie didn't receive good reviews either, I just wanted to see Bora Bora on the big screen.

Policies

I still have some insurance policies in my parents house that were flooded by Ondoy. And I haven't been diligent in inquiring on how to get hold of new copies of these. It was only this morning that I got to email the insurance company to inquire about what I need to be able to get a copy of the policy. My premium was due already so that would be my cue to communicate with the insurance company. I have a question though, what email host do you use when you send personal but formal emails? I usually use my office email for these because although my yahoo email address bears my name, I feel that the @xxx.org at the end of my email address has a bearing to the formality of my email. Does that sound logical to you? Anyways, they replied within the day and told me all the different forms that I need to accomplish and all other documents that I need to submit. Good thing I still have a friend working in that company so I just instructed them to send all the blank forms to her and I'll get them from her soon. I can't afford to take a leave from work just to get the forms and submit them plus all the other documents to their office. They told me I can also give back the forms to my friend and she can submit the papers to them on my behalf, I just need to give an authorization letter. Now I need to get more NSO certified copies of our marriage certificate for me to able to update my married name on their records.

Can't Wait To Be With You

Photo from here.

Saturday

Last Saturday was spent with the girls and Joema hehe. We started our Saturday afternoon with a movie – Miss You Like Crazy. I only get to watch these kind of movies with them. My husband usually won't watch this kind of movie with me, but this time I was able to persuade him to come with us hahaha. I was disappointed with the movie, the story was a bit blah. I think One More Chance is still better than this latest John Lloyd+Bea vehicle. After the movies, we went to buy some things in the grocery – chips, booze and cups. That's when C received a text message that the Philippines is under a tsunami warning. We were itching to get to R's place to watch CNN by then. So after paying for the groceries and picking up our food at Goldilock's we headed on to R's unit. It was all our first time to visit her bachelorette pad. We're really all grown up now. We watched CNN while stuffing ourselves with pansit and lumpia.



Then we watched Valentine's Day while drinking. We were all amazed at how the mountain in the Coors bottle turns blue when it's cold enough to drink. Childish, I know haha! I miss these kind of nights spent with them. During college, we have these sleepovers and we rent movies (uso pa ang Video City non!) and watch them all night long. We'll sleep around 4 or 5am then sleep until lunch time, then stuff ourselves silly during lunch and then talk all afternoon before we realize we have to go back home to our families. Now we have our own places, we don't have to rent movies – we now download from the net, but we still spend all night long watching movies and talking about everything and anything.