When it rain, it pours...

What is with today? It seems that everything that are happening today are not in my favor... :(. This is not my first time going out of the country but it seems it really is and I am so helpless.

Going to the airport this morning, i met a heavy traffic because of the water pipes that are damaged somewhere in pasay-airport road.  Aside from the long queue going inside the airport and the boarding area, i thought everything will be fine.  

Touched down Changi Airport at 11:30am and i thought I will be resting in my hotel in the next hour.  Then the mishaps started... I did not bring any cash aside from the P1000 in my wallet, I did not anticipate that the corporate credit card will fail me big time.  I couldn't do Cash Advance because the pin was not activated by the bank.  I did not worry much because I have my personal credit card and I thought I can do cash advance from it, but I couldn't because I forgot the pin number and the bpi customer service couldn't help me and the only thing they suggested is to recall my pin... Ggggrrrr!

And so I thought I have my ATM card, it is a BPI express teller INTERNATIONAL card and i am stressing the international coz it is supposed to work outside the Philippines, right? But to my dismay, I also couldn't do any transaction.  I then again called the customer service and I was informed that the ATM is not enrolled for international use... WHAT???!!!  Pag minamalas ka nga naman...  I was so frustrated and was about to cry then the customer service agreed to activate it up to the length of my stay here in SG.  It was past 2PM and I was still in the airport, I needed to wait for another hour before I can use my ATM.  i was already hungry but I had no appetite to eat... And finally, I was so relieved when I was able to withdraw 200 SGD.  #tumatalonSaTuwa.

I grabbed my lunch in Toast Box... Di ko masyado gusto food dito because I have tried it in BGC before but because I don't want to think of anything anymore, I forced myself to fill my stomach with this, a chicken floss toast bread for 1.80 SGD and a lemon iced tea for 2.30 SGD.

And finally took a cab going to the hotel... On my way to the hotel, a heavy rain and a heavy traffic welcomed me, these things don't usually happen in SG as per the taxi driver. #TalagaNamanOh!

And finally, I reached the hotel at 5PM... Then I received the worst news of all the bad news I had today.  My corporate credit card was declined, my personal credit card was also declined... Syempre tawag na naman ulet ako sa BPI... And confirmed my credit cards have been blocked because of the few attempts of Cash Advance and will be reactivated on Tuesday.... Nnnnnoooooooooo!!!!!

Para akong binagsakan ng langit at lupa, sobrang nakakapanhina... seriously I cried at the lobby calling boyfie.  I kept on updating him on what is happening to me since I arrived here in SG and he already asked help sa friends namin... They are coming over the hotel to rescue me... #nakaabala pa

Pero I remember calling my pinoy officemate, I only met him once but we are communicating in email.  He came to the hotel in no time and took all the charges for my expenses in the hotel, treated me for dinner and gave me a little tour to the MRT stations...sobrang hulog ng langit!

Seriously, I am thanking God for sending in help when I needed it the most.  Hence, the saying is really true that there's always a rainbow after the rain.  Hope tomorrow will be better.  Good night everyone!

Farewell baby RR

It is Saturday morning today and I woke up quite early, I suddenly start browsing and clearing my photos in ipad and I see a lot of pictures that are still not published.  There are several pictures that caught my eyes and one of them is a collage picture of our baby brother RR.  I suddenly I felt so sad thinking that this little angel will be just with us until end of this month.

Here's his story:

My parents brought in a few weeks old baby last year to our house.  It broke my heart knowing the reason why they got the baby but I will not elaborate the story of the real parents, I was kind of angry with them being so irresponsible to this little child.   The poor baby was so thin and smelly, and my mom said the mother couldn't even take care of herself that is why the baby is not receiving the right nutrition and not being fed on time... hello? a breatfeeding mother should just let his son feed anytime, right?  Our judgemental neighbors call him a smelly baby and won't even look at him, mukha daw alien kasi.

Baby RR is now 8 months old and he is growing healthy and so handsome.  He's now the source of joy to my parents since we are all so grown ups now and are seldom seen at home because of work.  He became part of our everyday lives, his giggles and cries and his pa-cute smiles and everything makes our stress go away.  My dad who did not experience much taking care of us when we were babies because of work is just like a first time dad and it's really cute seeing them play together.  Everyone is so fond of him now.

Anyway, we talked about adopting this baby and make him a legal part of our family... But the real father plead to my father that he is willing to sign any papers but let the child use his surname and let him see the baby anytime.  I don't understand why my parents allowed this but they just signed papers in barangay, I am nagging my parents about that decision because I know without the legal process, the real parents can just take away the baby from us anytime.  

And now, my fear is becoming a reality.  Just this election day, the real father told my parents that he is getting baby RR back and he is giving us to be with the baby until end of this month.  He is so absurd! We know that he is not capable of raising this baby because he is even struggling raising his 2 kids and the real wife is so angry of this baby.  We fear that baby RR will not be well taken care of and the worst, he might receive maltreatment from his madrasta and his 2 half brothers.  

I am again nagging my parents to seek help from DSWD or anyone who can help to let the baby stay with us.  Baby RR will have a bright future with us, how can the father not understand this?  But I again don't understand my parents decision... I can't really understand the parent thing that they are saying at all.... Gggrrr!  

I am leaving for my trip tomorrow morning and when I go back the week after, I know baby RR will no longer be there. I don't know if I can even recognize him when I see him again all grown up in the future or if we can even still see him.  I just hope and wish that baby RR will receive the love and the care like my parents are giving him, that is what every child deserves.

Quiznos, mmm....toasty!

I shared to you earlier this month that boyfie and I enrolled in the Milo Apex Running Clinic in BGC and it is still ongoing every Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays until July.  Eversince it started, yesterday was the only time I attended in my training, 2nd time actually but I wasn't able to finish the first one because of my dysmenorrhea.

After every training, the next question is always, "where do you want to eat?"... During the last season of the running clinic, we normally take lighter food and go to Quiznos.  It is a sandwich or should I say SUB restaurant that offers a healthier options of a fast food.  The large sub sandwich is almost a foot long and a typical Filipino can't finish it all.  So what we are doing is just to order 1 large sub and cut it into 2.  #tipid

The prices are just fare, 1 large sub is P225, regular sub is P175 and small sub is P125.  We have almost tried everything in this restaurant but still go back here everytime.  Di naman nakakasawa because they have a lot of options to choose from plus they also offer fresh salads, flat breads and soup to add on to your sub meal.  You can find Quiznos in the 7th street corner 28th street in Bonifacio Global City just across the new building of Maybank.

Breakfast at Antonio's

After the tiring ocular activities, we considered checking in to a hotel in Tagaytay but since my period was so strong and we did not bring any extra clothes with us, I asked boyfie to just grab our dinner somewhere and go straight home.

From Calaruega, we met heavy traffic going back.  The traffic was slow as snail and it made us more tired and sleepy.  We were stopped for several minutes and saw the sign board of Breakfast at Antonio's and decided to grab our dinner there and let the traffic pass.

The place is an extension of the restaurant Antonio's in which we know is very expensive.  We dined in anyway to treat ourselves after the very tiring day and this we thought to be our ultimate date for our anniversary.

The prices are not that too expensive as I thought... Or maybe we just ordered light food because we were still full from the buko pie that we ate before going to Calaruega.  We ordered spaghetti bolognaise (P400) , pork sausages (P350) and iced tea (P100 each).  The serving is good for single serving only.  Next visit I want to try their pizza (P600).

                    

                    

                    

                                 

 

Calaruega

Yesterday was our 12th Anniversary and we did church hopping to thank God for keeping our relationship tight over the years.  Yesterday was the only time we made an effort looking for a church for our upcoming wedding and to tell you the truth, it was tiring.  We started looking some place near my boyfie's area in Antipolo all the way to Tagaytay, we were half hearted that we can find a church on that day and I remember the 2 churches that were suggested to me before in Nasugbu Batangas.  It was 4:30pm then and we were exhausted, boyfie was so tired driving and I thought he wouldn't agree on me to visit these last 2 churches: Chapel on the Hill and Calaruega.

Chapel on the Hill - there was an ongoing wedding on that date and have observed that the chapel is quite small, the guests were overflowing and some guests were just even waiting outside... I said No-no.

                  

There's only 1 church left which is Calaruega... I was kind of frustrated already driving to this last church, it was a rough road and when we parked outside (parking fee: P30), we were not allowed to use the stairs for it was reserved to the wedding guests.  So we needed to go back to the car and drive farther down because we need to walk all the way up before reaching the church itself.  Entrance fee: P30.  Though we were both exhausted and tired, we still found our strength to get out of the car and started the journey of walking since we were already there (isang paguran na lang).

I didn't expect that Calaruega will capture my heart when we started walking on its breezy garden, I already loved the place but didn't tell boyfie yet.  When we reached the church, there were some men arranging flowers for the next wedding and we asked if we can go inside, they let us pass thru and true enough, I felt the solemnity of the place and started praying to God.  I was surprised when my boyfie said: "this is it".  He loved the place too and we both agreed that this is where we want to exchange our vows, vows that will bind us together, forever in this lifetime.  Parang nawala pagod namin bigla...

                    

                    

                    

                    

                    

We wanted to reserve the church but the office is only up to 5pm.  We need to go back soon to secure the date for our wedding, I really hope that our chosen date is still available.  Next step: checkout places for the reception, this will surely be an exhausting activity again. May God give us again the patience to find the best place for our wedding.

 
  

The ORIGINAL Buko Pie

On our way to Tagaytay yesterday, we noticed that the famous The ORIGINAL buko pie bakeshop has opened a new branch along Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay road in Caltex Gas Station.  If you are not familiar with this bakeshop, its main branch is in Los Banos Laguna.  We are a fan of their buko pies and other pies and breads eversince we discovered it several years ago.  But because Los Banos is quite far from Manila, we can only buy from there everytime we have a family outing in one of the resorts in Los Banos.  Apparently, the dilemma on buying in Los Banos is the ever long queue of the customers, sometimes it even take us an hour or more before we are able to buy from this store.

                       

Anyway, Boyfie was so excited when we saw this new branch because he was craving for the buko pie since April, he even wanted to drive one time just to buy one from Los Banos.  As expected, there's still a queue in the store when we arrived but not that long yet compared to Los Banos. 

                       

They only have buko pie (P170), pineapple pie (P 170) and silvanas (P200) here, all other pies and breads like banana bread, tropical pie, etc are only available in Los Banos.  But I noticed that they have more offerrings here of their other products aside from the pies like the yema, pastillas and other sweets and kutkutin.

                       

We bought 1 box of freshly baked buko pie (P170), barquillos (P80), yema (P65) and pastillas (P65), and we couldn't wait to taste this yummy buko pie again.  It was still freaking hot but boyfie already had his first bite.  #sarap

                       

12 years

Good morning everyone!  This is another special day for me because today is the 12th year when I said YES to my boyfriend... May 18 is our anniversary as boyfriend and girlfriend.  12 long years and finally next year it will be reset to zero... If you have been following my blog in a while, you will know our love story.

He bought me flowers yesterday and a coloud headset since I again lost my mobile headset recently, he set it up in the couch with a happy anniv art in my ipad... My baby is always so sweet... 

                             

Anyway, we don't have a grand plan for today because we will be having an out of a country trip soon.    Tagaytay is the easiest escape so we checked out the accuweather to ensure our trip will be worth while since last night had been raining cats and dogs, we don't want to be soaked in the rain and catch colds again.  

                                            

We are about to leave, Boyfie is already calling me for the nth time.... Hope I can share more later... Stay tuned. Bye for now ^_^

Happy birthday to me!

Today, I am officially 29 years old. I have nothing planned for my birthday this year but I know I have everything and I couldn't ask for more.

I have nothing to write about today but would just like to thank God for all the blessings and thank everyone who never fail to love and care for me: my loving parents, my siblings, my nephew and niece, boyfie and his family, my friends and my super friend.

Boyfie as usual never fails to surprise me with his gifts, he got me a dulce de leche cake, a cute happy birthday balloon and a bubble head betty boop... Weird?... Yeah, it is weird... because I love betty boop, boyfie kept on buying me things with betty boop in it, so for my latest betty boop bubble head, it is a collectors item as per boyfie but I still took it off from the box, hahaha! Bakit ba, it is already mine. :P.

And a week before my birthday he gave me another Charles and Keith bag. This time, it is an ipad bag.

... Today, I woke up in a flood of text messages and facebook messages of greetings and i thank them for remembering my special day. What more special today is receiving this very sweet message from my sister, she is now in Australia and I miss her.

Parokya ni Edgar in Cebu

I don't normally care if I see famous people like politicians, artists, actors and actresses. I don't know what strucked me last Thursday that made me decide to ask personally Chito Miranda of Parokya ni Edgar if I can take picture with him.

It happened Thursday morning in the buffet breakfast of Parklane Hotel in Cebu. I saw Dindin first, and I think there's already a facial recognition that he was really Dindin and the next thing I did was to search for Chito without noticing that the man beside me was already him... Unconsciously, the next thing I know I was already pulling out my Ipad and started asking him for a picture, where did that courage came from?!!! I also saw Vinci and the rest of the band members in their breakfast table but I no longer had the courage to ask for another one. #nakakahiya

This is my very first time that I ask an artist for a picture, and I will be a hypocrate if i'll say that I would never ask another famous person for a picture again, pano na kung si John Lloyd Cruz na nakita ko? i'll even ask Angelica to take my picture with lloydie...hahaha! #SuperFanMode

Anyway, I have always been a fan of Parokya ni Edgar since elementary days... Guess it was not really a bad desicion afterall, wala naman nawala :)

I'm Single!

When you become used to being with someone in doing everything, you'll feel so alone when that someone is not around. Yes, I am single starting today and it kills me to think on what to do without him.

Waking up this morning, I know he'll not be around so I drove myself to the office to get a shot for my flu vaccine. Afterwards, I decided to go to the mall to buy my mom a present for the mother's day tomorrow and the emptiness lingers in me when I entered the mall door. How alone I feel walking around the stores and suddenly I felt my tummy grumbling.

I grabbed my brunch at Worlds Chicken which serves huge meals with freshly grilled quarter chicken, a choice of 1 world sauce and 2 big servings of sidings. I chose the Teriyaki sauce, pesto pasta and potato salad for Php172 only, isn't it a great deal? .... I also had a treat for myself with a Winter Melon Milk Tea in Gong Cha, my boyfie's favorite and this made me miss him more today. Eating a huge meal alone is not really a good idea, I can't even finish my meal and just ate the chicken and left the pasta and the potato salad untouched... #melodramatic

Anyway, it is also nice to be alone sometimes, though I miss him, it is also fun being single again. I can do a lot of girl stuffs in the mall like shopping without thinking of him being bored waiting for me to choose for everything and of course the side comments of a boyfriend for the clothes I choose, girls know exactly what I mean. Hahaha!

FYI, i will only be single until Monday, boyfie just left to exercise his right to vote and support his relatives running for government office in Mindoro. #dramalang.

Mangoes in Cebu

I am a mango lover and I know that Guimaras has the sweetest mango in the whole world... I am not sure if I already tried the Mangoes from Guimaras so I can't really tell if the sweet mangoes I have tried my entire life is from there.

But oh boy, the Mangoes here in Cebu may qualify in the sweetest mango contest too (worldwide edition), if there is any. Hahaha! I love them so much so even if I am sufferring from soar throat, I did order for a Mango shake over lunch in El Salvador Resort. And during breakfast at Parklane Hotel where I spent my night here in Cebu, the ever friendly hotel crew named Edilberto suggested for me to try the fresh ripe mango, they especially delivered the freshly cut mango in my table. #specialservice

When you visit Cebu, do try their Mango... Sarap!

CNT vs ZUBOCHON

This is my second time in Cebu (currently waiting for boarding bound to Manila) but this is actually the first time that I have tried buying Lechon... I remember reading about CNT Lechon and Zubu Chon from michi the last time so I suggested my officemate here to drive me to either of the two lechon stores. My officemate drove me to CNT instead of Zubochon. I bought several kilos for pasalubong in CNT Lechon but I haven't tried eating it yet. So I guess this is the only lechon that I will try for now until I checked-in at the airport this afternoon. There's already a stall/mini restaurant of Zubu Chon inside the waiting lounge of the departure area. #Swerte!

I have no appetite yet to eat because I am still full from my Lunch but I think I want to try the Zubu Chon... Will dine here for dinner before boarding. ^_^

By the way, I saw Ayer's Lechon outside the departure area, so if you have really no time to go to these restaurants, they made the famous Cebu Lechon available for travellers in the airport.

Nike SALE!!!

There's an on-going sale of Nike apparels, shoes, bags and accessories up to 70% off and we were able to catch it last Saturday. I was able to get a Jacket/wind breaker for only 1800 pesos(original price 4950) and a running singlet for women for only 700 pesos (original price 1125). Boyfie got 2 running shorts for only 800 pesos each (original price 2200).

The sales is ongoing until May 12, 2013. Catch it at:
AGILITY CENTER, NiNOY AQUINO AVE., PARANAQUE
Entrance at Gate 3 Multinational Village
Operating hours: 10am - 7pm (Mondays to Sundays)
All major credit card accepted.

Milo Apex Running Clinic Season 7

It's summer again and it's time to do some exercise. I literally stopped running and any other form of exercise for the past months, the last run that I joined was last January in Subic, after that I am back to the eating marathon. No wonder it is summer and my tummy is again so proud peeking above my pants, so no sexy Mel this time. Hahaha!

Because of the very hot weather, I bet you are just like me, so tamad to do anything because I feel like sweating already even with just very little movements. But sweating alone will not get you thinner if that is what you are thinking. You need to move your muscles, exercise your heart and do some deep breathing.

Good thing, the Milo running clinic is back and I can again stretch some muscles and loosen up some fats. The program now costs quite higher than the previous season from 1800 pesos to 2400 for 12 sessions. It started last Tuesday, but because I am still recovering from the recent Asthma attack, I already missed 2 sessions (today is in fact the 2nd day). I am looking forward for next week and start my training.

Milo Apex running clinic still have several categories: 5Km for beginners, 10km, 21k and 42km. And I am forever in 10km category. I have no plans in levelling up anytime soon...although most of my running friends already are in 21 and 42km.

Onsite registration is still ongoing, find them in these locations:

BGC
Tuesdays and Thursdays - 6:30 to 8:30pm
Saturdays - 5:00am

Quezon City Circle and MOA
Mondays and Wednesdays - 6:30 to 8:30pm
Saturdays - 5:00am