Mayon Resthouse or Mayon Skyline

The sun came out today… but only sparingly. It was after lunch when I finally was able to convince hubby to get up the bed and do some driving. We went to Mayon Resthouse. We took the route from Tabaco City and then making a right to Sabluyon Road. This is the road that connects Tabaco to Ligao. It’s like climbing half of the Mayon Volcano. Our hearts sank when there were rains on the way to the place. We thought, it if was still raining we won’t push through. The winding road climb may be dangerous. But it stopped raining when we reached the road that led up to the volcano. There were a lot of kids waving on the road. I guess it wasn’t often that they see cars coming up. My mom said they were begging. We thought it was dangerous to stop and give them money what with us facing a climb. The road was a bit rough and there were a lot of vegetation. I guess it’ll be real scary if you find yourself there at night time. It was a surprise when we got there. There were already a lot of cars parked there. I guess the tourists had the same thought as we had – to grab the opportunity and take our chances. It was windy up there. I felt my ears up on the way up. The air was cold. My daughter caught a cold there. The view was fantastic. We saw Mt. Malinao, another active volcano in the area and saw the whole city of Tabaco. When we looked up we actually saw that we were so near the top of the volcano. At long last I saw it free of clouds. The tip was black as if burned by the many times it erupted. There was a planetarium and a café there but they were all closed. Next time we go there I do hope they’re open. The first time we went there was when hubby took his family here for the pamanhikan. We went there but there was a storm. We couldn’t see a thing. The building was really dilapidated but today, 4 years later and with a toddler in tow, there is a planetarium there already. We took photos which I will post soon. I found myself staring at the tip of Mt. Mayon and thought about the lives it has taken because of its numerous eruptions but I still can’t help but wonder how it can stay so serene… so peaceful. After an hour, we went down the slope. My companions were getting cold. I was so glad we took the chance and went there even if it was raining when we left.

Oh by the way, there were kids selling camote there and also bonsai plants. My mom didn't want to buy what they were selling and I made a comment that this was a way to help the kids. We ended up giving each of them peso coins. Apparently, word gets around past. Before we knew it there were a lot of kids lining up for their 5 peso coins.

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

This vacation has been feeding my lazy bones… making it stronger. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to go back to my own busy self. Majority of my day is spent sleeping and when I’m not sleeping, I’m eating. When I’m in my full conscious self, I am most likely watching TV. The days here in Bicol are rainy and the nights are cold. The weather is a bit like in Tagaytay. But the sun came out today. We’re planning to go to Mayon Resthouse after lunch. First day I ever saw the sun come out. The days here have been like in the Twilight book… always raining… always gloomy. Great place for vampires. I think I really need to go out. I am starting to think vampires are real. I’m almost done with the fourth book, Breaking dawn, by Stephenie Mayer.

My friend stopped by to give me her wedding invite. I am so happy for her. She’s one of my bestfriends. We have the same birthday. Zoie will be one of her flower girls at the wedding.

We have two pups here. Yesterday, one of them fell asleep in my arms… like a baby.

It’s Monday. I now have no concept of time.

Merry Christmas!

It’s been a while since I was able to post in this blog. The past weeks have been chaotic. Our trips to the hospital because Zoie was sick and I almost lost my mind because she had on and off high fever. Then there’s my infamous booty shaking at our Christmas party. Thank goodness, hubby wasn’t there or else… Our party was okay only that the boys messed up their presentation and our officemate dislocated a knee bone practicing a dance step. Before that happened I never knew anyone could dislocate a bone doing a fairly simple step. Oh oh one wrong step and ooopps… better be careful. There are also things that I can’t blog about or I’ll be cold turkey or lechon for that matter. Bwahahahha. And now… oh it feels sooo good to be home. The last time I was in Bicol was when I had a shoot last July and wasn’t even able to sleep or get a glimpse of our house. I only saw my parents at the airport. Here we are… at home. Although I didn’t drive the car, I had the gall to sleep and rest the day out. Hahaha! Happiness! I saw my pets plus two new puppies. I ate jackfruit. Every ulam is sooo tasty. Even my daughter had this glow on my face. Although I do have this annoying thought in my head that pops up every now and then, I’m sure this will disappear soon enough. Tomorrow is another day and I wonder what we’ll do. There’s cable here and even our Smartbro broadband is fast because of 3g. I know it’s weird. We don’t have cable in Manila because we’re parents. We’d like to filter what our daughter’s watching. There’s no 3g at our area. Our TV zonked out before we left. It doesn’t have sound. Our microwave just gave up so we’re looking at buying a new one soon. Hubby got new mags for his car though and that made him very happy. I only gave him skull candy earphones. I got this notebook, don’t forget. So far, Christmas had been great.

lookie here! unlimited kisses!

Gumbo

Wow, again I found myself eating at Gumbo, the restaurant that serves "African American" food. This was where my friends and I wore those goofy hats. Here's the food that i ate and didn't eat.

The big brown one is fish. I liked the ribs. The rice had parsley on top so it was "delish" also. The honey chicken was okay. Roasted zucchini i didn't like. Lasang lupa. It's not as if I eat soil ha. The roasted mushroom looked scary but I ate it anyway. There were shrimps on skewers also in this platter but there's no way anyone can make me taste it. I heard it was superb though.

Stuffed crab. This one i didn't touch. I don't want a slow and painful death. But they said it was delicious.

We also had fish and chips... on the house! The chips were actually tasty french fries and the fish was enormous. It looks the same as the one on the picture - that big brown thing at the center of the platter. We had soup or they had soup. It was served inside a bread just like at French Baker. Good thing it didn't appeal to me. It was crab chowder!

High Heels... High Hopes

Last night I bought the tallest platform heels that I could find. This is for our Christmas party. When I wore it, I became almost 4 inches taller. Whoa! People here at the office were laughing as I walked around wearing those heels.

I am excited about our Christmas party. We have another major production. Our theme is "Bling"! Let's hope that I have enough guts to execute everything that I've been planning.

Tomorrow, I am going to take Zoie to CCP to watch Ballet Philippines perform. She is very excited. I am also excited that she'll get to watch real ballet dancers onstage.

The Guilt Trip Was Not Worth It

What a world we have here! a few months back (or was it a month ago?), i encountered this lola who cried her eyes out to me saying that she was left there (near Ayala) by some relative and that she needed to go home to Nueva Ecija. I felt so guilty then because I just gave her some money and I left. I was pretty scared of the empty parking lot and office space behind her. Well, I saw her again... walking along Ayala with a cigarette in her hand... not a care in the world. To think that I was deeply bothered by the past experience because I am normally a very helpful individual. I am so repulsed. So, all the drama was just some sort of scheme? Haay. I should've taken her picture!

Weird things you see in the morning... I saw a woman climb up a bus and noticed that, yes, she was wearing a Roxy jacket, but please, can't she handle a needle and thread? A little yank would've removed the sleeves right off her jacket.

I was so in need to go to a bathroom so I stopped by RCBC plaza and on my way down after my cr break, i forgot where the G button at the elevator was. This very "helpful" manong pressed something for me and I found myself at the parking basement. Oh well. Thanks, anyway.

I stopped by Delifrance and got my secret santa treat! Yahoo! It was an almond biscotti something i think.

Oh, did I mention that I fell down the stairs on the way to our car this morning?

The Loft at Manansala

This is the magnificent view from The Loft at Manansala. We were on the 38th floor I think during the Olay Regenerist Launch. The pics are a bit crappy but then the weather was also gloomy. How I wish I have an SLR. Can't push my luck though after the laptop, hubby's face darkens at the thought of me buying a new celphone. Har! Har!

Bench Warehouse Sale

it was my first time to go to a warehouse sale. i've been on a lot of sale events when i was still single but i never went to a warehouse just to buy stuff. bench was one of my favorite brands in the past especially when i was still in highschool up until college but was replaced by guess. when i got married and had a child and grew this big i felt that the sizes sold at bench don't really fit me well. so i gave up on the brand and settled on international brands whose shirt sizes were friendlier. anyways, weeks ago i went inside super bench at market! market! and saw that they have bigger sizes. i immediately went underwear shopping and bought myself a shirt. i like the items sold at bench. my eyes popped out when a sis in my e-group, newlyweds@work, shared that bench was having a warehouse sale at tanyag, taguig. i haven't been to inner taguig. i do live in taguig but got as fas as c5 and the fort, that's my idea of taguig. we were supposed to go to baguio but i told hubby that if we don't push through, i will definitely go to the bench warehouse sale. so i did.

yesterday, i rode a jeep to fti. i asked the driver how to get to tanyag. he said he'll drop me off at the jeep terminal going to tanyag. when i rode the jeep to tanyag, the driver said he'll drop me off at the street going to the warehouse. i was kind of getting nervous because the jeep was nearing alabang already and the driver suddenly had this epiphany and realized that he should have dropped me off at tanyag. tsk! he gave a barker some money to take me to another jeep going back. this was actually fortunate because a lady in the jeep was also going to the sale. so i walked with her. she saw someone and i had to ge to the warehouse on my own.

the warehouse was enormous. i just went in half expecting the guards to catch me for trespassing. i was a bit dismayed because i thought the empty tent there was the sale already but i saw an entrance and found myself inside what may be described as a shopaholic heaven. the enormous space was divided into underwear, accessories, clothes, furniture and cosmetics section. you really have to be very careful because a lot of the stuff for sale are damaged already. i should've made hubby take me there so i could buy the computer table which was sold for 500 pesos only. the items were very, very cheap. a bench personnel told me that the ladies undies were gone by 6am that morning. oh my gulay! i should've been there earlier. anyway, my 2k got me a lot and i mean, a looot of stuff. i've a few not so great buys. the jeans i bought for myself was a hipster pala. grrr. it only covered half my butt. that's the disadvantage of not being able to fit anything. but i got pretty nice shirts and bingo! the slippers i got for hubby were the correct size. hahaha! i am so glad that i haven't gone a few inches higher in cup size so the 36C bra was still a great buy. i am so going back there. they have another sale on the 13th and i heard that there were new items that they'll be putting out. i saw that there were a lot of C cups that weren't selling but i got tired of going through the undies. i got belts, caps, shorts and a whole lot of stuff. too bad i didn't find anything for my little girl. i am so going back there on saturday.

Tagaytay, we missed you

I've always thought of this view as a big bowl of Bulalo.


First stop. Breakfast at Pancake House.
The Peach waffle was good. Eating at Tagaytay makes it a whole lot better. See the forks? Zoie and Adrian wanted my waffle.
Quick Starbucks fix.
Mass at Lourdes Church - where my wishes come true.
Bubbles outside the church.
Of course, we all know our lunch at Diner's. See photos on the entry before this.

A quick stop for jackfruit and buko pie. Zoie was fast asleep so we weren't able to go to Palace in the Sky, Mushroom Burger and have ice cream at FIC.

Diner's Restaurant - Best Bulalo in Tagaytay

This is our favorite in Tagaytay. This is also the reason why every time we go to Tagaytay, I have second thoughts in trying other restaurants. Their bulalo is super. This is actually my father-in-law's favorite restaurant. They offer seafood also - large shrimps that can kill me in an instant. Hahaha! But my number 1 choice here aside from the sumptuous looking inihaw na tilapia is the bulalo. We ate there last Sunday. I must have eaten a meal good for 2 people with large appetites. Sad that the marrow has fallen from the bone and it cannot be found even in the soup. But it was very delicious. The meat was tender. Bulalo pa lang, sulit na!
Hope we'll get lucky next time.

We had hilaw na mangga. Super sarap ng bagoong. I never itched.

The name of the restaurant actually strikes me funny. Diner na nga, restaurant pa. It's kinda like my favorite in Subic, The Coffeeshop Restaurant. Giant tacos, remember? Anyways, Diner's is located at Mendez Crossing, Tagaytay. Medyo dulo na siya and bayan area na.

full-time mom and housewife

today, i made macaroni salad for merienda and oh wait, wait, lechon kawali and stir-fried broccoli/ cauliflower and some bell pepper for lunch. hubby's teasing me. i mean, i do know that making lechon kawali is a tedious process. i had to boil that slab of meat in water with salt and garlic then put it in the freezer before frying it. oh and don't forget the macaroni salad. it's not that simple either. except for the fact that i forgot to out chicken so had to settle for spam - hickory smoked flavor at that!. hubs has this conclusion as to why i was doing this. he said that i was preparing myself for the weeklong break where i was to play the role of housewife and full time mom and he can't wait to see me in that situation. we will be home after xmas pa. oh well, maybe that's the time i'll get to see some friends.

tagaytay with my family

hubby woke me up at 6 yesterday. in my semi-conscious state, he said that we should go to tagaytay. we've been going to tagaytay on a whim before gas prices went over the roof and now that gas price is already reasonable, it's time again for out of town trips. yahoo! calet couldn't join us because she has other plans. so, the three of us went to tagaytay. we had breakfast at pancake house overlooking taal volcano. we had pancakes and waffles - obviously! hubby had 3 pancakes - most ordinary and i had peach waffle. well, a quarter of it since zoie ate most of mine. their house blend iced tea was okay. what i didn't like about that place was they never seem to hurry to bill out despite the fact that the place was brimming with tourists. hubby and zoie were already exploring the area and i was left at the table waiting for my bill and i've asked it from 3 waiters already and i think there were only 4 of them. when i was finally able to pay for our food, we transferred to starbucks and had hot choco with a shot of mint and mocha frappe for hubs. i remembered the first time we took zoie to starbucks. she was all bundled up in pink and so much a baby. yesterday, i had to hold her dress so she won't fall over. yes, you read it right. she was wearing a dress and won't leave the house if she wasn't wearing a dress. i used to condemn parents who go out with kids who aren't color-coordinated. although zoie is color-coordinated most of the time. man, she's got taste. but she's a fashion faux pas sometimes. hey, don't blame me. she chooses her own clothes. i'll buy her more dresses. after that we went to church. the Lourdes church is special to me. that is where i wished for zoie, wished for her illness to go away and wished for two friends to hook up. i kind of wished something again there but it's very private so i won't tell. zoie was wearing diapers but in the middle of the mass, she wanted to go to the CR! before the mass she was blowing bubbles outside the church. she blew her whistle inside the church and i was red with embarrassment. after that we had lunch at Diner's Restaurant, our favorite. we had bulalo and i ate a meal good for two people. i really should research about tagaytay. we've been going to the same places every time. on the way home (we had to coz zoie's already asleep) we bought buko pie and my favorite fruit, langka or jackfruit. we didn't go home directly, by the way, we went straight to the mall. pics to follow!