10 Sunglasses from Firmoo Optical Store for Giveaway

I was personally invited by Balut to join this giveaway contest.  Never won any raffle my entire life and here I am trying again my luck.  I have a feeling I might be winning this giveaway! hehehe! (very positive outlook in life)

Click Here to enter the 10 Sunglasses from Firmoo Optical Store for Giveaway.


Summer or not we definitely need that daily eye protection.  I’m sure everyone is continuously looking for that comfortable, fashionable but affordable pair of sunglasses.  You need not look further because right here is your chance to win that perfect sunglasses you are looking for!

The world’s most popular online eyeglass store, Firmoo.com together with my two blogs, Balut Manila and Run! and Keep on Running is giving away TEN (10) eyeglasses! Yep you read it right TEN it is!

Golden Love

Last Saturday, we drove for 2.5 hours to reach San Pascual Batangas (taking SLEX, ACTEX and Star Tollways and Balagtas Exit)  for the 50th Wedding Anniversary of the eldest sister of my dad and her husband.  Actually, the invitations were just sent out Thursday, a few days back before the big day so we were not able to prepare for it.  I forgot to grab on my bag with my extra clothes and camera, so the pictures were just taken using my iphone.

The renewal of vows was held in San Pascual Baylon Parish Church, the same church where they were married 50 years ago.

San Pascual Baylon Parish

Getting married is another stage of the couples lives but keeping the marriage is another thing.  I dream to also have the same kind of marriage and I may not reach the 50th Anniversary but at least we will die loving and keeping our vows together.  As I shared to you on my previous post, I am always emotional when I am in wedding ceremonies, good thing we were late and I wasn't able to see the bride walking the isle.

Tita Edita was so emotional from the start up to the end of the ceremony.

Upper:  The grandchildren and the great grand children, Lower: the kids and their better halves.

So I told you we were all not prepared, look at our clothes! hahaha!
Upper:  Siblings of the bride, Lower: relatives of the bride.

Not to bore you so much on the ceremony pictures, let me jump into the reception.  The reception was held in a Gymnasium of a school with around 65 tables with 10 seats each.  I was surprised seeing lots of people coming in in which we didn't see in the Church earlier.  I have known that it's typical in Batangas that all neighbors are invited during this kind of occasions and some even brought along all their family members and friends and friends of friends.  The 65 tables were not enough to accommodate all the guests, but the food was overflowing, the other guests found their own place to eat.  Good thing there were reserved seats for us relatives so we didn't have to take the long queue of the guests.    If this will be the setup when I get marry, I will just ask my future hubby to just runaway with me... hahaha!

The presidential table was decorated with golden balloons instead of flowers like in the normal weddings, well, I just can say that the design was grand.

The presidential table

One of Tita Edita and Tito Remy's businesses is the dirty ice cream here in Sta Ana, Manila.  It's the line of business of Tito Remy's family in Batangas, most of his siblings also have the same business in different places.  So one of the cake's design was the dirty ice cream carts. Cute!

The cake

No one left without taking their desserts plus the famous Ilagan Ice Cream.  I remember this lovely couple gave us all 2 sets during our graduation days and all the guests went gaga over the ice cream.

Dirty Ice Cream

 If I were to choose between the Magnum Ice cream and this dirty ice cream, I will definitely choose the dirty ice cream. :)

Anvaya Bread and Deli

We recently discovered this bakeshop in Marikina for we were so hungry one night coming from somewhere far.  We were looking for a 24 hours store but we always had no choice but to grab something from the usual fast food chains within the Marcos Highway: McDonald's, Jollibee and Burger King.

While searching for something different to eat, we spotted this bakeshop along Fernando Avenue, Marikina City located just behind the McDonald's and the famous Tapsi ni Vivian Carinderia.  We stopped by and tried their Anvaya Big Burger for only 85 pesos.  We were surprised how different the burgers tasted. The grilled burger patties were juicy and oozing, the bread is tasty and I think there's a milky taste on it which blended to the cheese and veggies.  Pardon me for not posting the burgers since we were like Pacman's eating the delicious burgers in no time.  We haven't tried the other burgers but I bet they will taste as good as the Anvaya Burgers.

They have other breads as well, as usual no pictures, and I have tried some of them, here are my favorites:  Cheesy bread, Mongo Bread, Kababayan or also known as the Pan de Regla and as far as I can recall, they only cost only 5 pesos each. Maybe all the breads are all delicious and they have made them with a milky taste, yum!

They also are selling their own made sausages, ham and bacons, and I heard they are also best sellers.

Delicious and Affordable

Big Anvaya Burger, a must try!

Their Menu

And a few days ago, we found their 2nd store along the Marcos Highway behind Shakey's but is not operating 24 hours.  I don't know if they have other stores in other places but if you happen to see one, try it, you'll definitely have a different experience on burgers and breads.

Love and Hate

There are so much topics I am thinking to share but I would write this first as I think I still have hang-over for my birthday.  I shared the surprise birthday and post birthday celebrations a few days back and now it's time to share my pre-birthday celebration.

Tuesday, May 15, my boyfriend and I had a scheduled circuit training for the Milo running clinic and the activities that night were really exhausting.  Since I was on vacation leave on the 16th, I was scheduled to stay at my boyfriend's house since we'll be going to Pink Sister's early in the morning the next day.  On our way to his house, we were talking about the family outing, I told him not to talk about it just for that night since it's already stressing me, then suddenly, for no reason at all, we were arguing and then became silent until we reached home.  I was so sad and disappointed because he was really not talking to me, so I had to give him a silent treatment as well.  For 11 years, we don't argue much so I was really sad thinking, it's almost my birthday and we should be happy and celebrating, but here we were not even talking.

I was crying while taking a bath and when I went out of the rest room, there he was holding a cake and a balloon singing a happy birthday song and got me a Charles and Keith bag.  It's the first surprise for my birthday and there was so much drama acting that night but we ended up happy sharing the dulce de leche cake.

My eyes were still swollen from crying... but my smiles won't hide the happiness on his surprise.

Dulce de Leche, yummy!

So there, I must say I hate and love surprises. :)

The Average Jane: Giveaway

Checking over twitter, I saw the post of Michi of My other nook about the The Average Jane: Giveaway.
I've been meaning to join the giveaways posted by Michi but couldn't find time.

This is actually my second time to join a contest and it's fun!

Crazy over the Wake Up Show

There came a time when I was so outdated on the new songs, maybe 3 years or more and I was just learning them through my siblings and boyfriend for I didn't have the chance to listen to the radio because I was always out for work from dawn to dusk... most of those times I was on the road (shuttle service) getting a nap to fill the number of hours lost for sleep and to fuel me up for the next 8 hours of purely working.   Workaholic you may say, but that was my life before.  

Transferring to my new company last year changed my life.  The best change was the TIME where I can do the things I couldn't do when I was in my previous jobs.  In this new company, I own my time, I have so much spare time especially during the first months like the following: I've got to see the sun when I go home, get to see movies even on last full shows, tire my legs for strolling the mall and different places for 4 to 5 hours more before they close.  In this new company, I also learned how to drive and is actually spending 60% of my time driving from one customer to the other.  

What's keeping the fun during driving is the Wake Up Show of Mellow 94.7.  Hosted by the super kulit  DJs Tracy Abad and Vince Golango together with Mr. Ching from 6am to 10am.  When I'm tuned in, I can feel as if I'm always part of the show.  They have the following in their program:  

(1) Wake up Call - you'll have a chance to have 3 minutes of fame by dialing in the numbers: 6329470 and greet everyone you want to greet. They have the traditional "Good Morning, I'm awake Becheez!" when you are to answer after they pick up the line.  

(2) What the Fact! - get to know the facts all over the world.

Example: 

• #WTFact Beijing Toilets Now Have A Two-Fly Rule 

(3) Birthday Call and On this day in history - sending in the birthday greetings from the callers, facebook, twitter and the text lines; learn celebrities with the same birthday as today, special events and the #1 hit songs from the history.

Examples:

• #daytoday May25 Towel Day: In honor of author Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, carry a towel & make sure it's conspicuous
• #daytoday #1songtoday May25 "Burn" by Usher was the number 1 Billboard song on this day in history.

(4) Topics for each day - the topics are always so interesting, sometimes I am sending out my responses over twitter.  

Example of Topics for this week:

• Monday Madness Topic: What are you protesting?
• Topless Tuesday Topic: What are those song lyrics you can really relate to?! What songs sound like they're about your life?!
• Wake Up Wednesday Topic: Not to be rude, but __________.
• Throbbing Thursday: Who do you wanna vote for Jessica Sanchez or Philip Philips?
• Commando Friday: Girl Guy Decoders - give us the real meaning of things girls and guys say or do.

(5) News of the Hour - live updates from the local and international news

(6) Dirty Minds - a contest where everyone can join in.  With lots of prizes!!!

(7) Moment of Zen - some words just before ending the show.

Example:

• #momentofzen If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.

And now, I sent my car for preventive maintenance and decided to wait until it finish, while waiting, I am tuned the Wake Up Show Online while publishing this blog.

... by tuning in to the show, i'm getting up to date information, music and fun... hope I did not bore you with this post, but if you have the time, try tuning in to this show, you'll definitely like it.... :)

The Wooden Bridge - Tagaytay

Instead of spending our anniversary in a travel, we opted to spend it with my family since this is the first time my dad is here for my birthday.  We discovered The Wooden Bridge located in Vinarao St. Tagaytay, a street just opposite of the way going to Pink Sisters, when we're doing the ocular visits looking for a place to spend this Christmas... I know it's too soon, but my boyfriend's family started this tradition last year, and they had difficulty looking for a place to stay then, so for this year, they wanted to reserve early.

Anyway, I really had no plan on spending a family outing at first but when I saw this place, it's just like there's a force that made me say the words "I'll get it for my birthday" without even thinking.  I tried to reserve for Saturday (May 19) but there's already someone who booked on the dates of all weekends of May.  I had no choice but to reserve it on Friday (May 18), spending my 2nd VL for the year but it's worth it since it's just in time for our 11th year anniversary.  Poor boyfriend had no choice but to agree with me. :)

I was in love at first sight and I felt the relaxing setting of the place.  The Wooden Bridge was designed by Architech Mavick D. Gabriel, she's also the one who's coordinating those who want to rent the place to the owner.  I never met her but she's so organized sending me some forms to fill-up and agreement form prior the reserved date, she also called for our whereabouts before the check-in time.

The wooden bridge...Every corner, every sides have some earthly ornaments which made a very relaxing feel on the place.  It has 5 rooms enough to house 15-20 guests, clean restrooms with heaters on the shower, the kitchen where all your needs are there so you'll only need to bring your food, a sound-proof recreation room/videoke room, Balcony? where the sungka area is located, the pool and of course the wooden bridge.

Here are some pictures I took, hope you'll also feel what I felt when I was with the place.

Seashells and native beads curtains

The white curtains create a beach feel all over the place

A classic touch on the furniture on the "balcony?"

The last time I saw this Filipino toy was ages ago, it was really fun playing again Sungka with my siblings and the little ones.

The size of the pool is just right and what made it special is the bridge on top of it.

Of course, the kids playing the mini-bangka.

And then, it's swimming time!!!!

My family... just don't compare... i know... that's why I'm kinda hesitant to join them in pictures

Kids enjoyed the cold jacuzzi

I was freezing but look at the kids... super enjoy!

The sound-proof videoke room

My mom and my dad

My sister and I

With my sister and her better half  and my half (not yet better)... hahaha!

It was indeed another memorable birthday for me... a memory that I will treasure in my heart forever.