Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Travel Tuesday: Hong Kong Arrival and Ocean Park

0
OFunny how it took me a year to write about the first out-of-the-country experience with my boss amo! Hahaha! I haven’t even compiled the videos yet, after a year! Anyway this will always be a memorable travel. We flew out of the country right after the storm Yolanda’s devastation in the country. With somehow a guilty feeling, we still feel blessed pushing through with this trip last 2013.

It was an early flight from Clark International airport! We left the city at around 3AM to catch the 6AM flight to Hong Kong. This trip was composed of a lot of first-time’s, like my first time to step inside this International airport. I found it clean and organized.
As my usual self during travels, I have my last minute checklists haha! I always opt for a DIY for our itineraries, I always believe that I can always save time and money managing it. Traveling does not necessarily be that expensive and glamorous. And of course, a "selfie" with my boss amo for our first out-of-the-country together!

And here we go.... We finally landed!! I was like WOOOWWWWWW with Hong Kong's Airport. Sorry for the terms but ang bulok lang ng airport ng Pilipinas hahaha! Kanina lang sabi ko clean and organized. Well, it's just that this airport is huge, very well organized, clean and hi-tech! Sabi ko talaga ang cool, train transfers within the airport! Same with the first bus ride, I found it cool as well! Right from the airport, the transportation system is evidently great!

We headed first to our hotel to drop off our baggage. It was too early for our hotel check-in, the good thing is we were allowed to check-in our stuff first. And off we went to explore this country. Our first stop was Ocean Park! The effects of Yolanda can still be felt. It was sort of gloomy that morning, well that day.

What else to do but explore the fishes and the sea creatures. May Ocean Park naman dito sa Manila pero syempre mas iba tong so Hong Kong. 
And then of course my first time to see a panda!!
And penguins!!
Just roaming around and taking photos here and there.
Tried a few rides since most of the "extreme" rides were closed due to the not-so-good weather.
I guess this is the most extreme ride we had tried. Well, that rhymes haha!
More photos...
And here's Luke. May meaning daw tong photo na 'to. To all his former teachers daw haha!

Sadly, we were not able to maximize our trip to Ocean Park but still was worth the while. Some day I might be back here but I am not pretty sure if I would try the extreme rides still. Haha! It was a good and tiring first part of our Hong Kong trip. I vow to post the next Hong Kong posts soon! Haha!

Read More »

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Book Comment: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbrath

0
Title: The Cuckoo's Calling
Author: Robert Galbraith
No. of pages:455
Published: 30th April, 2013
Read: October 24, 2014
★★★
A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide.

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.


You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this. 

Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
As I began reading it I already had the idea who the real antagonist is and DISAPPOINTEDLY found out at the end of the book that I WAS RIGHT! It was a good feeling but I was looking for a real twist making me comment that the plot is somehow predictable. It is a book that made me interested on how the author would expound on the plot but it did not really have me hooked. There were parts that were dragging and I feel like there were loopholes. I was hoping for more gravity on the different characters of the book. I was expecting a better ending – one that has more impact. I didn’t even feel the climax of the book but I must say this will again be one of those that would be adapted in movies or TV series.
Bought this upon reading the back of the book review. To be honest, I wasn’t aware that it was J.K Rowling in pseudonym who wrote this. Her writing is still commendable coming from children to young adult genre. This book series, Cormoran Strike, looks promising. BUT Rowling has a really long way to go in this category.
Overall, it was still a good read. It is worth buying because it is still J.K Rowling and who knows when she will also be able to penetrate this genre, with this novel as her starting point.
Read More »

Friday, October 24, 2014

Fashion Friday: The LAST Oscar Dela Renta Spring RTW

0
Funny how I was thinking of posting my favorites of his latest runway show and then I read the sad news. I like Oscar Dela Renta for his dainty and feminine, polished and youthful designs. It is just saddening that this world lost another creative soul.  
 
His Spring 2015 RTW collection is to my liking because of the simple silhouettes and yet combined with the right pop of colors and patterns, they were joyous to the eyes. Below are some of the pieces and my favorites.




I'll miss his works definitely. :(
 
Read More »

Sunday, October 12, 2014

SAVED Festival 2014

0
October 11, 2014
Smart Araneta Coliseum

My third time to attend Saved Festival and finally with my churchmates!! :) 

Booked our tix as early as its first day of release! And not to be dismayed it was an awesome worship night!!! It's the only Christian event I've been to that noone screamed "mooore moooore" towards the end, not because people are bored or bitin but because this event gave us a glimpse of how worshipping in heaven would be like - non-stop!! Victory Worship and Esterlyn bands lead the first part of the worship. A short message was delivered by Francis Chan. Finally, Israel Houghton lead the worship for the rest of the night. Waaahhhh gave me the same feeling of hearing them on my player. Such an anointed band! Blessed to have experienced this night.

With this pretty bunch! Wasn't able to see the rest of my churchmates!
Read More »

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

With Andrea

0
Back when we were taking photos of these I was already composing in my mind a journal entry like "who says one can't enjoy summer in the city??" And who am I kidding now it's almost the end of the year but my blogging motto says "Better late than never." Haha!

After our learning experience at the Mind Museum, a hearty lunch at Elias followed through. We indulged ourselves on some Filipino dishes. 


Again, meet Andrea, Luke's pretty niece. It was her first time at BGC and what to do but stroll her around. It was a good thing that High Street had these stuff that made the place feel summery. We ended up abusing them and taking photos. 

We also did a lot of shopping all because of those back-to-school stuff. It was fun and tiring, oh you know how shopping goes. Thanks Boss Amo Luke for our treats!!

Our last stop during that day was in Cafe Pascucci. It's becoming a favorite coffee place for Luke and I. My favorite is their cream cheese pan de sal and I still ca't decide on what my favorite drink of theirs would be. Haha! We just had this time to relax ourselves from all those standing and strolling and walking yada yada yada...

It was a fun experience spending the day with Luke and Andrea. Looking forward to our next. 
Read More »

Monday, October 6, 2014

September Lunch and Coffee Dates

0
Okay so I ran out of excuses for all the backlogs in my blog hahaha! Sometimes I still wish I could have the luxury of time I used to have on those active blogging days. Oh those were the days indeed. Moving on to what this post is about...

A compilation of my eat-out's with the people that matter last September! Ever since I started working in Alabang, spontaneous coffee and lunch dates declined significantly and so each time I had the chance to meet and eat with people I feel giddied. Haha!

September 20 - Cafe Adriatico and CBTL date after Manila Book Fair slash client meet-up with Arianne and Sy (who is not in the picture). It's an in-between book club session! We had fun (of course) at the MIBF2014 and the catching up too! 
 

September 26 - Yabu with the parents, my Fridates that night. It was their first time and they enjoyed it!! I like it when they enjoy restaurants other than those that offer Filipino dishes. My parents are typical. They especially enjoyed the unli cabbage and fruits hahaha! That night I felt like an only child! Hihihi. 

September 28 - The night prior to this, I already had steak but still craved for something meaty and so ta-daaaa! Racks!!! Happy tummy!! And the Coldstone dessert right after. Made sweeter having it with boss amo Luke. :)

September 30 - What a way to end September --  with my lovelies. A night of catching up as it's been a while. Hmmmm we should plan our next travel already. We tried Teddy's Bigger Burgers at Greenbelt, and we all got disappointed. Too pricey for a burger that was not really that big, too salty patty and dry buns. To compensate our dismayed taste buds, we had Gelatissimo gelato!  So blessed with this bunch of ladies. I will forever be grateful for having them.

And there goes some eat-outs, as I may have missed some eat-out, for September. 
Read More »

Alive at 45 ❤

0
 

Our monthsary fell on a Saturday and with him working in Makati and I started working in Alabang, we seldom do this mini celebration. It was pure quality time spent with my boss amo on this monthsary. We indulged on food, dessert, a movie, and coffee.

45 months. I once read that why do we still need to count when it’s bound to forever? In my opinion now there’s joy in counting when you know it won’t end. 
 

Mad Marks for early lunch! We were the first customers!!
Caught the first full show of The Maze Runner which was really good! Hopefully I could find time to read this book series.
Cafe Pascucci is becoming a favorite.
 
Read More »

Friday, October 3, 2014

Fashion Friday: Some Picks on Spring 2015 RTW

0
With the fashion calendar just beginning, and the just ended series of fashion weeks (NY, London, Milan, Paris) it was so hard to catch up on them all. Ya know stuck up in my corporate workstation for eight hours a day Haha! Anyways, here are my top picks on just a few collections. Ah not really top as I always find it hard to trim down my choices to a few. Haha! Starting from the latest fashion shows. Hayyyy I wish I have an extra 24 hours just to catch up, something like October 3.5 but it still has 24 hours in it, an invisible day between Friday and Saturday sort of. 

Hermes
Paul & Joe
Paule Ka
Valentina Yudashkin
Chanel
Alexander McQueen
Valentino
Emanuel Ungaro
Leonard
Elie Saab


Read More »