Meeting with the designer

After the few cancellation of appointments to my designer and bridal couture, our meeting finally happened yesterday. I still have 5 months before my big day so i did not worry much on my wedding dress, i thought it will be easy.  I needed to cancel my previous appointments because of the condition of my wedding coordinator who was then expecting a baby and gave birth last month.  We are almost at the end of July so I ask my wedding coordinator to meet with the designer even without her.  She advised me to prepare for the meeting, to show the look that I want, discuss my theme and the designs on my mind.  So I came prepared.

Few weeks back, I asked my colleague Jun Barnes to design a wedding gown for me, I let him work with his creative and artistic mind and design a gown which he thinks will suit my personality.  After a week of our chitchat, he came up with 3 designs.  I was fascinated with all his designs and the one that stole my heart is this:

I showed this to my designer and she thinks that this design will look good on me.  I also showed her some of my captured designs from the web and relay to her the vintage look that I like.  After our meeting, she returned the design to me as she will create another design to integrate all my ideas.  My designer made me promise not to show the design to my hubby-to-be, it should be a surprise for him.  

5 months is already very tight.  I am expecting to receive the new design today and next week will be my first fitting, will also choose the fabrics and the shades of my gown.  Wow! I can already feel the pressure, I still have my entourage and the dresses for our moms and sisters.  They are also already scheduled to choose their preferred designs and the measurement by next week.   

... I am feeling so excited for my first fitting, but I hope I will still lose some weight on the coming months... Need to control my diet, no sweets come August... A small sacrifice to look good on my big day.  :)

Mary's Fancy Chocolate

Few weeks ago, i had a visitor from Japan and as their custom, they normally give chocolates to women.  Lucky me, I always recieve gifts from my visitors... Hehehe!

The chocolate was gift wrapped so I had no idea what brand it was.  My colleague Carlo have been telling me about the Wasabe Chocolate from Mary's that he tried 8 years ago so he urged to let me open my gift and walah! It was indeed Mary's Fancy Chocolate.  There's description on each of the chocolate but there's no English translation so we had no idea where the wasabe chocolate was.

We tried the chocolates one by one but there's no luck, we let everyone try them too but no wasabe was found.  There were only 3 pieces left and we gave up.  I brought home the 3 pieces and gave them to my sister, she only got 2 pieces and gave back to me the last piece.

And, did you know that the last piece was the Wasabe Chocolate?  It was really good as Carlo described it. The wasabe chocolate was indeed really meant for me.  LOL!

 Lessons learned: 

1.  Don't easily give up ... :)

2.  The most ignored one might be the most precious one.

Jamba Juice

Jamba juice is the favorite dinner of our running friends and their always go to place after trainings and runs, but for no reason, i cannot recall going with them or tried even their juices.  

The only time I tried dining in here was last Thursday.  Boyfie and I were looking for merienda and since I was not feeling so well, I decided not to run and just fill my tummy with Jamba Juice.  

It is really nice to know that healthy food will be just this easy to get, they make fushions of fruits and all other healthy food like non-fat yogurts then add some boost on energy, daily vitamin needs, Vitamin C and zinc or anti-oxidant... Your choice.

They also have some pastries to match your jamba juice.  I was quite attracted to the huge pretzels and I was torn between the parmessan cheese and the cinnamon, P85 pesos each.

If only there's a Jamba Juice near the office, I will surely buy 1 everyday.

Anything goes to Burgoo

Today, I received 5000 worth of gift cheques from my company as an incentive for hitting the overall target for the first half of the year.  I always give all my GCs to my mom for grocery but this time, I am getting a small portion on the GCs.

It was our 151st monthsary yesterday and knowing my very busy schedule this month, we were not able to celebrate it.  My company still have a party tonight in Urbn Club but I opted not to go since I am again having dysmenorhea.  I told boyfie to just take our dinner then go straight home.  We decided to dine in Burgoo since it is one of the accredited restaurants of Sodexo Premium Pass.

We ordered a little too much, we thought regular size meals will be just for good for each of us but when the food arrived, woah!...they're huge.  Appetizer: Super platter Reg: P495, main dishes: Chicken Diane Reg: P395 and Jambalaya Reg: P395, Dessert: Brownie ala monde - P145.

The kids will surely love dining in at Burgoo since their tables have paper covers and they provide you crayons where you can play, write and draw with...

Lebron James is coming to the Philippines

Wonder what this line is for? 

This is the line for the issuance of ticket to personally meet and greet Lebron James of Miami Heat tomorrow, July 17 in Nike BGC.  The ticket is limited to 2500 pieces only.  Can you believe that these people already started the queue since yesterday?  Whooo! They must be really great fans of this hottie basketball player.  

If you want to still catch the line, better you bring your sleeping bag and camp around these people... And oh, don't forget your raincoat or umbrella, the fans are already pretty soaked right now. Goodluck!

Wedding Theme

It's been months since I was thinking of a theme for my wedding... my end in mind is 'simple elegant' but they are vague words...there are really  a lot of options and knowing myself I normally get mesmerized and get awed in everything I see. I can easily appeciate beauty, big or small and it is not possible to combine them all,  that is why it becomes really hard for me deciding which is which.

I was advised by my wedding coordinator not to rush because I need to know what I want and feel what my heart desires.  Can I phone a friend?  I need my sister... She's better than me in times like this...but she's not around so I have to do this on my own, I was asking boyfie and all he says was "whatever you want"... Yes, he's right, I am the star in our wedding and everything I want should be followed.  So, it took me several months to finally know what I want.

I haven't met with my designer yet for my gown because our scheduled meet-ups were always pushed out week per week.  I have no idea as well in what look I want to have so I have nothing to tell my designer.  So i browsed and browsed for wedding gown designs and capture those that I like.  After few months, i let my coordinator review them for me, and tsadahhh! we finally found the commonality on all the designs... VINTAGE....   It felt weird because I really have no idea about vintage but everytime I look at those dresses, they're the ones that stand out for me.  I will not share yet those that I think will use in my own dress but they will be something similar to these dresses below:

Ramona Keveza - Spring 2014 collections

We will add some modern touch on the vintage design to have some twist and finally, my wedding theme will then become MODERN VINTAGE, something that will meet my simple elegant desire for my look, not too grand like princesses or queens.  The challenge will be the look of the reception area, my wedding coordinator will surely have a hard job conceptualizing the look... But I trust we'll be able to think of something soon.  

One by one, piece by piece, we are starting to cross out our lists: 

Church... check!

Reception....check!

Photos and videos...check!

Wedding theme...check!

Wedding dress...soon

Invitation...soon

... And other little details... This is getting more and more exciting!

Kaloka or Kaloka-like?

There's an on-going segment in Showtime called KALOKA-LIKE, a noontime show in ABS-CBN and now they are in fact in the second season already.  The mechanics is just very simple, join the contest if you think you look like somebody famous or have resemblance to famous people.  If the audience think you look like that actor/actress they will vote KALOKA-LIKE, if not, they will raise the KALOKA signboard.

Previously, I've shared with you in one of my posts that there were some people commenting that I resemble Papa P, and can you believe me that some of them have already given me the code name: PIOLA... Waaah!

Anyhoo, before even receiving the comments for Papa P, I already received the comment that I sometimes look like Bea Alonzo (blushing here)... honestly, this is more believable than that of Piolo Pascual. I've seen some angles of Bea that I would say, "oo nga noh?" ... #buhatngsarilingbangko

Last Friday, I stopped over in Shell-SLEX North bound and this caught my eyes, I needed to have a second look because the picture in the magazine looks like me at the first glance.  Yes, it was Bea Alonzo in the latest issue of YES! magazine.  #feelingmaganda

Let's have a vote... who do you think I resemble the most?  Papa P or Bea?  Kaloka or Kaloka-like?

Monster University in Krispy Kreme

The monsters conquered the donuts and this made the kids looked forward going to the Krispy Kreme in BGC eventhough we were stuck in a heavy traffic yesterday.  The kids were able to watch Monster University in 3D and the stories went on and on in the car. 

 Anyway, the monster university is the most recent theme of Krispy Kreme.  You can only buy these donuts in box of 8 (minimum).  There's no special about the donuts but for the kids, they liked it.  There's also no special packaging or bag like in the Mickey Mouse's theme.

Tablea Chocolate Cafe

The first time I noticed this Tablea Chocolate Cafe was during my 2nd trip in Cebu inside the departure area of Cebu-Mactan International Airport.  I was kind of full that time because of the CNT loaded Lechon meal that I had for lunch so I did not mind getting another meal before my flight.



This May, I had the chance to go back to Cebu and in the departure area in the airport, I again noticed their spot.  Since I arrived in the airport quite late and I only had around 15 minutes before boarding, I just bought Sylvannas (210 pesos) to bring home as pasalubong.

My first bite on the Sylvannas brought back so many memories from childhood.  The bitter taste of the chocolate made me reminisce my grandma's china wares, white little tea cups where she pours the freshly made hot tablea chocolate drink, the tablea chocolate molded into small circles as "baon" in school during my elementary days, etc.



I loved to know another pinoy's best offering, making some chocolate inventions out from our local cacao nuts, preserving the local taste while making it a world class chocolate.  #proudpinoyagain.

For those who do not know what Tablea is, here's some description I got from their website:
Tablea Chocolate Cafe

Tabléa Chocolate Café was inspired by its principal ingredient. Tabléas (or tableyas) are pure cacao beans that are dried, roasted, ground and then formed into tablets traditionally used in the Philippines to make hot chocolate.  

Tabléa seeks to continue this Filipino tradition, while updating it by finding many new uses for tabléa, including unique hot chocolate variations; ice-blended Fríos; and a wide array of tabléa-based desserts and snacks.

Based in the island of Cebu, we are proud to use local cacao from various parts of the Philippines, and hope we can one day play a role in reinvigorating the Filipino cacao growing industry.

Happy Birthday, Deks!

Today, my only brother turns 25 years old... Wow! Time fly really fast, i didn't notice that my baby brother is no longer a baby... It seems he never grow old except that he grows taller and taller.

Among the 5 of us, he is the closest to my mom, he used to sleep beside my mom maybe until high school while we girls stay in our bedrooms.  He loves our cousins, so he always treat them when they are together, pagsamin kuripot, his reason is very simple, we can afford everything while our cousins cannot. #maypointnaman

I used to teach him how to read and write, do his projects and even his essays... Until now that he is already working, he still says... "Ate Lods, pagawa naman ako ng ganito".  He kind of get some of my mom's traits: senyorito and i don't need to elaborate further. 

He is NGSB if I'm not mistaken, he doesn't have any declared relationship so we really don't know if he has girlfriend or not, or those girls spotted in some malls are really his girlfriends.  Hehehe!  He is now working in an airline company and he has just been promoted to a higher position. #proudate

Anyway, enough for the pambubuking... Happy birthday my dear brother and you already know how much I love you :)

Kopi Roti

This simple coffee shop has been around for years and their best sellers are still the timeless favorite of everyone.  I specifically love Kaya Toasts and Kopi Buns so everytime we pass by Katipunan, often times we dine in Kopi Roti for a while.  And during travels, this is always my breakfast in the airport.

Prices are ranging from 35 to 60 pesos only, and they also made set meals so everyone can really enjoy their breads and coffee or tea.  Oh, i can now smell my tea and my kaya toasts, gotta grab them while they're hot... Kain tayo!