funfeistyfemale

Amazing List 3

2012-02-15T23:41:00.005+08:00

1. Surprise weekend visits from friends who come bearing gifts, like Robby who brought us Moleskine planners

2. A sister who is not only breaking her back fixing our itinerary, making hotel reservations, buying groceries, and planning breakfasts for the boys, but also lining up all the outfits she’s going to lend to me when we visit her. My Ate is love.

3. A boss who takes all of us to Cafe (formerly Chateau) 1771 to give us a taste of power lunches

4. Occasional crazy splurges, like a foot spa and hair spa at Philippe’s Salon in Sofitel. This French guy with the predictably nosebleed surname is apparently world famous and does the hair of hotshots like Hillary Clinton. Not that Hillary is known for having enviable hair, right? Hahaha.

5. More crazy splurges, like the Sofitel sunset buffet. How lovely is Sofitel? It’s like a small-scale Mactan Shangri-La. And the food – too yummy. I was happy with the prawns, chicken, sausages, and lechon alone, but there was bibingka, puto bumbong, and halo-halo, too. I’ve done this dinner buffet before with my SM friends (yes, when I was rich and could afford to be crazy on a regular basis), but needless to say, it’s a lot more fun with Ches.

6. Burgers and bottomless French fries at Johnny Rockets

7. Great movies. New ones like The Help, Moneyball, The Iron Lady, and Horrible Bosses (surprisingly really funny). Indies like Greenberg and The Guard (too quirky and hilarious despite the thick Irish accents). Old ones like My Sister’s Keeper, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (the original Swedish version), and Hang-over. And having the time to watch all of these films in a span of two weeks! I actually saw a few more, but they’re not in this list bcoz they’re not amazing. (Ah, the bright side of insomnia.)

8. Pasalubong from jetsetting friends, like the cashews from Thom from his Vietnam trip

9. A baby who is not only a certified heartthrob but also already knows how to read barely two months after his fourth birthday. (This is earlier than Yoshi, too. Which is a surprise bcoz Yosh loves books more than Boots, whose face is buried in the iPad half the time. Go, Bootsie! Nobody’s stopping you from being gwapo and smart at the same time.)

10. A Kuya who gets all the high grades and whose teacher reports to us that he is so responsible and always, always looks out for his little brother in school. (Sob. Thank you, Yoshi. I’m so not worthy of you.)

11. A pediatric dentist who has the patience of a saint and stays warm and soothing long after you would have strangled your own kids who just refuse to cooperate in all things related to dental health

12. The log cabin feel of our little country home on rainy days

13. Lunch treats from the staff. I think it’s sweet when they include you in their treats even if they know you earn more than them.

14. Kiddie parties!!! Our kids have fun and make fun of us adults in the games. Best of all, I get to catch up with all my favorite MWC friends.

Everyday Love Day

2012-02-13T22:49:00.001+08:00

Ches and I, cheesy as we are, we don’t do Valentine. I’ve always thought it a phony occasion, just another excuse to go out and spend and pull off a date that’s more expensive than what other people are having. There’s also something that disturbs me about seeing all these couples stuck in the horrendous traffic together, jostling for parking spaces, all to get to some fancy candlelit dinner with mushy music playing in the background, grandly celebrating love - when a lot of them give love a bad name the rest of the year.

My suggestion is, only couples who are truly admirable and inspiring should be allowed to celebrate Valentine – couples who’ve been married for decades and go around acting more like siblings than lovers, those who stick together after going thru difficult times, those who make the effort to stay romantic and passionate after years of being together, those who are unfailingly loyal and honest to each other when it’s so easy to cheat and lie. Valentine should be limited to those couples we all envy bcoz we can tell they have a good love going, and when we see them together we know we want exactly what they’re having.

I’m a self-righteous bitch, I know. Haha.

So, anyway, Ches is only too happy to not have to line up and buy me flowers and gifts and make pricey dinner reservations with the rest of the masses on this one cheesy day. My aversion to Valentine is probably one of the few things he genuinely likes about me without me having to force him to. I guess it’s the one time when I turn into The Low-Maintenance Girl of His Dreams. Hahaha.

My husband, tho, is one of those guys who just happen to be true romantics and who never need to wait for a stupid day like Valentine to show some love. He’s the guy who, for no particular reason, surprised me with a huge bouquet of mums that could hardly fit in the door of the UP Law library where I was pretending to study. He located me in Pangasinan where I was spending Christmas with my Lola, knowing only the city we were in and trusting that enough people knew my grandparents to point him to the right direction. When we go on road trips and are in a deserted road somewhere, he rolls down the car windows and shouts at the top of his lungs, ‘I love you, Jewel!!!’ The boys and I simultaneously roll our eyes and call him crazy, but I think inwardly we are all screaming happy. Hahaha.

I think it’s infinitely more touching when people do sweet things for you not bcoz it’s Valentine, or Christmas, or your birthday, but on any old day, just bcoz they feel like making you happy, bcoz they love you in that way. And Ches – he’s like that to me all the time, all heart, without fail. So, yes – he definitely deserves a break on Valentine.

Dear Boss

2012-02-10T22:32:00.003+08:00

So you’re moving to that other office and no longer my boss effective immediately. I know we would still work together – like you told me before, executives come and go, but the owners are here to stay – but it won’t be like before when I reported to you directly and we were thick as thieves (or so I’d like to believe).

I’ll let you in on a secret. I was actually nursing an angst against you the past few weeks. I didn’t agree with some of the recent moves you were taking, and everyone was nagging me to tell you bcoz they believed if there was anyone who could give it to you like that, it was me. While I didn’t nurture the same illusions about my own worth, I knew it was just a matter of time before I gave you a piece of my mind, me being me. I was also trying to be kind and biting my tongue bcoz I knew you had a lot on your plate. And while I was biding my time like that, what did you do? You went and promoted me as your replacement.

You don’t know it, Boss, but you break my heart all the time. Sob.

Thank you for giving me a way out of that conglomerate just when I badly needed it and hiring me even after you’ve already chosen someone else for the post. Thank you for being so supportive and open to my ideas. It’s bcoz you listened to me over and over and over again that I got to be my feistiest ever in any office I’ve worked in. You gave me the gall to stand by my own values and take anyone on – including you. Thank you for building me up to anyone who would listen and giving me more credit than I deserved. I have never felt more appreciated and valued in my career. You always rave about how I lead and manage our staff, as if you are not yourself the best boss I've ever had. Thank you for constantly looking out for me, right up to that call you made just to reassure me that you will still be watching over me even after your move.

We all love you more than you know, Boss. We’re all extremely loyal to you and would fight for you to the end. We’re so proud of all your hard work and brilliance, and we feel eternally lucky to have you as our boss bcoz you’re so warm and kind and generous. You willingly let us into your life outside the office and made the effort to get to know us even if we know how painfully shy you are. We’re the envy of the other departments bcoz of you. We just know that you’re going to show them all and be so good in your new role. We're sure of it.

I know that things are just not the same anymore, but I hope we will still get to talk about our perennial office issues and make jokes about them if there’s nothing else we can do. I hope we can still chat about good restos, promo flights, our families, all the usual non-work-related stuff we talk about. I hope you don’t just forget us and still take us to Circles like you promised. Oh, and I hope you still feel free to borrow money from me on the days you forget to bring your wallet.

In all honesty, I would’ve much rather stayed in my old post if it meant we get to keep you as our boss. I was quite happy right where I was, I was in no hurry to move up. But I guess that’s not the way things were meant to be. Sigh. I just hope your huge sacrifice is worth it, that it all works out for the best.

Thank you, Boss. It’s been an unbelievable ride.

Rainbow

2012-02-03T23:05:00.004+08:00

Lest you get the impression that I don’t patronize OPM, I’m also listing down my favorite Pinoy songs.

1. Tuwing Umuulan At Kapiling Ka. Still My Favorite Pinoy Song. It’s just so happy that my favorite band, Eraserheads, also did their version of it, so I could love song and singer together. Haha. It’s a screaming happy song, an ode to both love and the rain, and the lyrics are a testament to the Pinoy’s poetic genius (specifically Ryan Cayabyab’s). I love this song SO MUCH I insisted it be played in church at our wedding, rain or shine. Haha.

2. Umagang Kay Ganda. This song is so bright and uplifting, you can almost feel the morning sunshine filtering thru the windows. Wait, that’s so not typical of me, right? I’m more angry Goth Evanescence kind of thing. Haha. Whadahell, don’t put me in a box. I love this song, bright, happy people vibe notwithstanding. We played it at my wedding, too, of course.

3. Rainbow. Whatever to happened to South Border? They used to come up with amazing songs like Rainbow and Kahit Kailan. Rainbow was what Paula, Thom, Beavis, and I used to sing to make ourselves feel a little bit better, that year in MWC when not one of us was promoted - and this girl we didn’t like was. Haha. It takes a true singer to pull off a decent rendition of Rainbow, which I have no illusion of being, but never mind - I majorly love Rainbow, anyway.

4. Salamat. This song speaks for itself. It’s brilliant and heartfelt, it rocks and soars. If it’s the only song The Dawn ever did, it would’ve been enough. Nothing I write can do justice to the greatness that is this song.

5. Tulog Na. It was Beavis who introduced me to Sugarfree. He also gave me CDs of Hale, Soapdish, Sponge Cola, Kitchie Nadal. (Beavis is so young, I swear. Generation gap. Haha.) My favorite of all the songs from him is this. It’s a lullaby and love song at the same time. You can sing it to your hubby or kids or both. I love that it’s so sweet and gentle, and suddenly turns rock in the chorus. Haha.

6. Harana. Ches loves Parokya ni Edgar more than I do, but I also like them, especially bcoz Chito Miranda looks SO MUCH like Nico. Haha. This is my favorite of their songs. My QT gang sang it for me at my surprise bridal shower, and Donemark our resident crooner even phoned in from Davao where he had a trial to sing the chorus. Owww. Ches and I also both like Silver Toes – it’s too mean. We used to call a girl in law school Silver Toes. Haha. Rino and I also like Gising Na – the melody and lyrics are just amazing.

7. Wala Nang Hahanapin Pa, Pag-ibig, Tuyo Nang Damdamin. My favorite of the APO songs. Wala Nang Hahanapin Pa is like the Pinoy equivalent of Billy Joel’s She’s Always A Woman To Me, which was part of our wedding music bcoz Ches loves Billy Joel and chose this song for me. Both songs are so honest, right? I love them. My boys have memorized Pag-Ibig bcoz of the Nestle commercial last year. We sang it over and over with Pops in Baguio and Balai Isabel. Tuyo Nang Damdamin is one of those songs I love bcoz they’re poetic and too sad.

And here we go with the Eraserheads songs. It’s hard to choose one over the other – I love almost all of their songs – but just off the top of my head, these are my favorites:

8. Shake Yer Head. Still my favorite Eraserheads song. It’s so in-your-face and so UP.

9. Alapaap. Ode to youth, dreams, and joy. The opening song at the first Eheads reunion concert in the Fort. Ely sang this like a dirge in The Final Set. Perfect in every way.

10. Magasin. If you ask me what I really, really want, it’s not world peace, or social justice, or an end to hunger - all I really, really want is to make Ely ‘napatingin, natulala sa iyong kagandahan’ like the centerfold girl. HAHAHA.

11. Fill Her. It’s a testament to the genius of the Eheads that they can come up with a quiet, little song, lovely and heartbreaking in its simplicity, when it’s supposed to be just a filler in the album. This is epic Ely.

12. Lightyears (yes, written as one word like this in the album). Probably the saddest Eheads song, followed by Buddy’s Tama Ka. ‘Doesn’t really matter where you are, it always seems so very far. It’s like you’re light years away. You’re light years away … from me.’ It’s also what Ely sang right before he collapsed at that fateful reunion concert. Sigh.

13. Spolarium. Full of images and details yet cryptic and ever more profound than what it seems. So typical Eheads. When they sang it at The Final Set, it sounded a lot like Strawberry Fields Forever. Endlessly amazing.

14. Tikman. Forget that they used it for a Burger Machine commercial. This is one of those love songs that are just too perfect in their simplicity and poetry. This would’ve made it to our wedding music, too, if it weren’t too irreverent for church. Hahaha.

15. Balikbayan Box. This song is about nothing, really. I like it just bcoz somehow it was perfect when it played while the credits were rolling in Rakenrol. And bcoz Regie likes it and reminds him of his Ateneo college days. Haha.

16. HA HA HA. Typical witty but nonsensical Eheads song. The boys and I love playing with this song and changing the lyrics to whatever. And yet underneath all the shallow chatter is a gem: ‘Di maaaring ariin ang pag-aari ng nagmamay-ari.’ Makes sense finally, huh.

Brighter Than Sunshine

2012-02-02T22:56:00.008+08:00

I’m a good listener … of music.

I love it when we have downtime in the office and I can listen to my music properly. Work is such a distraction from good music. Haha.

You already know that I love The Beatles, Eraserheads, Infant Sorrow, and the 80s. I’m also updated on new, brainless pop stuff like Move Like Jagger, Price Tag, Born This Way, The Lazy Song, all for the love of my little boys. These are the other songs I listen to over and over:

1. Viva La Vida, Yellow, The Scientist, In My Place. I love Coldplay. Their songs are so varied, all in singable tunes, and with haunting lyrics. Viva La Vida is one of my favorite songs ever, but I don’t really understand what it means (haha). All I know is that it’s obviously biblical. But who cares, right? I’m not one of those people who have this compulsion to know and understand everything. I’m happy just singing along. Yellow is another Chris Martin epic. How perfect is this line – ‘for you I bleed myself dry’? Too perfect. Qualifies as a six-word memoir, too. Haha.

2. Dreams and Linger. My favorite Cranberries songs. Dreams is so upbeat and screaming happy. It’s one of those songs you can’t sing without doing a little bit of headbanging. Haha. I loved that it was used at the start of You’ve Got Mail. Linger is mushy but in a poetic way, angry and desperate at the same time. It reminds me of Shenzhen bcoz of all the ‘No Lingering’ signs there. Haha.

3. Wherever You Will Go. I’ve loved this since I heard it in Smallville. It was in that scene when Clark had just defeated the spider monster or something who was the guy Lana loved at the time, and she thought Clark was the bad guy, so he had to stay by the sidelines and watch her walk away from him, and then this song came on. Fantastic. Beavis does a mean version of this song. I bug him all the time to sing it for me. I told him he’ll sing it if Ches and I ever do a renewal of wedding vows. Haha.

4. The Man Who Can’t Be Moved. I love The Script (I’m still not over how Rino and I missed their concert here last year), and this is my favorite of their songs. It’s just so insanely gallant and romantic. The whole story sounds like something my Chester is perfectly capable of pulling off. Haha. It actually reminds me of that guy in Love, Actually, the best friend of Keira Knightley’s husband who’s secretly in love with her. He knocks on her door, asks her to pretend it’s Christmas carolers, and shows her placards where he wrote stuff like, ‘To me you are perfect everyday’. Owww. One of My Favorite Movie Scenes Ever.

5. Brick. I know, I know, it’s a song about abortion, but for some strange reason I really love it. I guess I’m just really a sucker for tragic stuff. I love that it’s so cryptic – I had no idea what it was all about until I Googled it up – and that it speaks in metaphors. It makes me happy when songs or books or movies give you a little credit and do not spell everything out for you. And the lines are just so sad. ‘She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly. Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere’. ‘Driving back to her apartment. For the moment we're alone. She's alone. I'm alone. Now I know it.’ Heartbreaking.

6. How To Save A Life. I love this for the same reason as Brick – too tragic. I don’t get, tho, why it’s used in shows like Grey’s Anatomy when someone is dying. I don’t think it’s about death literally or saving someone you love from dying, but more about trying to stop him from spiraling out of control. Oh well. That’s just me. I’m also in love with The Fray’s vocalist, Isaac Slade. He looks like Lex Luthor in Smallville. So hot. I have this thing for bald, bad boy types. Haha. I love how he drawls his words, too, rather than pronouncing them.

7. 100 Years. I’ve liked Five For Fighting since Superman, but I think 100 Years is way better than Superman. Beavis thinks Five For Fighting sounds the same in every song, but I don’t care. I so don’t have high standards like that. Haha. 100 years sounds like a love song for life itself. “15 … There's never a wish better than this … when you only got 100 years to live.” Nice.

8. Hey, Soul Sister. Another screaming happy song. When I hear this in a store, I don’t go out until it’s finished, even if I don’t have any intention of buying anything. Haha. Another Train song, Marry Me, is also nice, but knowing humans, I’m just so sure it is now the national anthem of guys who propose to their girlfriends. They’re in a resto, and he whips out the ring, and this song plays on cue. Aaargh. Obvious is so boring.

9. Lucky, Brighter Than Sunshine, Two Is Better Than One, Collide, The Only Exception, Passenger Seat, Lost In Space. My love songs for Ches. These are what we will play if and when we have the renewal of wedding vows. Haha. In addition to our favorite Beatles love songs, of course. ‘Let the rain fall, I don't care. I'm yours and suddenly you're mine. And it's brighter than sunshine’. Happiness.

10. Iris, How’s It Gonna Be, Closing Time, As Long As It Matters, Basketcase, Bring Me to Life. These are my brother’s music that I piggy-backed on all thru-out college and to this day. His favorites were Incubus, Oasis, Nirvana, Third Eye Blind, Greenday, Sugar Ray, Maroon 5, Alanis. The first thing I do when we go on road trips is borrow his iPod to check out what he’s been listening to lately. It’s always something good. So we missed The Script last year, but this year we already have tickets to see Evanescence and Bush. So cool. I’m so looking forward.

More Six-Word Memoirs

2012-02-01T00:18:00.005+08:00

1. Living up to my name, hopefully.

2. Wanna-be stand-up comic. Certified drama queen.

3. Frustrated ballerina. One-time fencer. Consummate mother.

4. Patient only with my two kids.

5. Proud of UP, my public school.

6. Ditched conglomerate to work for underdog.

7. Formerly known as good middle child.

8. Still waiting for my inner adult.

9. Whatever happened to my innate goodness?

10. I don't have to like everybody.

11. Picky with friends, not with food.

12. Rich with friends - who needs money?

13. Bad in math. First in recess.

14. Can’t drive. Can’t cook. Cleans closets.

15. Fun is overrated. I’d rather sleep.

16. Didn’t talk till three. Like Einstein.

17. Like Ursula - good at being bad.

18. Vada is Beauty. I am Maleficent.

Amazing List 2

2012-01-28T23:03:00.005+08:00

1. Kiddie parties!!! It’s hitting two birds with one stone – our kids have fun, and Ches and I get to catch up with our friends.

2. Popcorn!!! (And sometimes I actually luck out and not burn the entire pack. And that, dear friends, is the full extent of my cooking skills. Haha.)

3. Michelle Obama. I started reading her biography after Yoshi and I saw her at iCarly, being both regal and silly. Did you know that she is descended from slaves, her father worked as a janitor, and she did ballet in high school? How eternally cool is this woman?

4. Pinoy goodies, like inasal chicken tail and liver, and The Most Winner Item on The Menu – the bottomless tsokolate – at Chicken Bacolod Inasal

5. Being able to buy stuff for people you love, and them loving what you give

6. Old-time home favorites, like the Vigan-style longganiza from my Lola Donnie

7. Winging it thru toxic meetings where the big bosses somehow expect you to solve all of the company’s problems. (Last time I checked, I was just a lawyer, not a goddess. Duh.)

8. A reliable pedia who doesn’t mind dispensing emergency (not to mention free) medical advice over SMS. (You won’t get how amazing this truly is unless you’re a mommy.)

9. Friends who from out of the blue send you a text just to thank you for being a good friend. (Thank you, too, Robby. We love you.)

10. Free laughs from the prosecution’s endless legal blunders in the impeachment proceedings. (Far be it from me to claim to be a brilliant lawyer, much less a seasoned litigator, but I’d like to believe I don’t give UP Law a bad name. Or at least not publicly like that. Haha. It’s a good thing we have the brilliance of UP Law alumni Cuevas and Enrile to be the saving grace for our beloved law school, lest people think everyone from Diliman is a bumbling idiot. I don’t agree with their politics, but even I am amazed how these two men know their law in their ripe old age of 80+.)

11. Finding something new and unexpectedly good in an old resto – like Sancho’s chocolate in Dulcinea. (I’m so having this all the time now.)

12. Being small enough to fit in clothes from the kids’ section. The prices are lower there, and the designs often funkier, too. (I lucked out on these lovely tops and belts from Zara Kids. The Zara belts are actually for boys! Yoshi and I share them. So cool. I don’t have illusions of being petite – I myself prefer big women – but somehow I fit into clothes for nine-year-olds. Seriously. Even Ate gets most of the stuff she gives me from the kids’ section.)

13. Squeezing in a date with your husband at least once a week despite the 60 million things at home and at work

14. A staff that is comfortable enough with you to tease you about all your bloopers and vices. It says something about the kind of boss you are if your staff jokes with you to your face than behind your back, right? (It all started last month when I felt bad about how one of my favorite executives was treated, so off I went to get me a polka dot Hello Kitty bag. They were all like, I’m sure Favorite Executive feels so much better now that you have a new Hello Kitty bag. So now every time I lament about how I pity someone or the other in the office, they make bets that I will show up in a new dress or new shoes the next day, to show my support to Pitiful Officemate. Hahaha. Crazy girls.)

15. UCC fudge brownie sundae. Still hands down The Best Brownie Ever, since the time the Fort branch opened many years back when I was still in QT, and I would go there all the time and blow my salary on the blessed brownies. Groan.

16. Enduring friendships with old college friends. (Ches and I marveled at how, after all these years, Nico is still the only one who says stuff like, ‘In the past month, I’ve been to three weddings in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao’, and ‘It’s the first time since 1983 that I don’t have a US visa bcoz it’s expired’. He also buys tickets for him and Lei to travel abroad on 12/12/2012. These are so Nico. Ches and I call them Nico’s Book of World Records. Haha.)

17. The famous sansrival from Dumaguete, a giant slab of which Nico and Lei gave to us. Winner.

18. Movies that are so well-made and perfect in every way that you remember all over again why you’re such a movie fanatic. (The Descendants is so worth the hype. I wanna go to Hawaii bcoz of it.)

Mary Janes

2012-01-27T22:57:00.005+08:00

I just found The Most Perfect Mary Janes at Dorothy Perkins today. That makes them the Dorothy Perkins Mary Janes. If you were a pair of shoes and you had a grand total of four proper names, how can you ever go wrong? Haha.

I’d like to believe this pair is good karma for the Mary Janes I gave to Rosa bcoz they were a half size bigger for me and fit her well. I loved that pair – it was Randy who convinced me to get it when we saw it at Debenhams. It turned out to be one of those shoes, tho, that are just a little bit smaller or bigger than how you want it to fit.

This pair is also a fitting replacement to the made-in-Italy Mary Janes that I lucked out on at an ukay-ukay in Baguio. That pair was so fabulous yet so comfy and I wore it all the time in SM. (I was so corporate in SM. Part of my pretense of being a VP. Haha.) I wore it forever and ever until it was beyond repair. Sigh.

I love Mary Janes bcoz they’re classic and funky both. They go well with everything, too – dresses, skirts,pants, shorts (altho that last bit would probably look good only on Forever 21 kid types, and will not be age-appropriate for me haha). I have visions of bad old me conquering the world in my Dorothy Perkins Mary Janes.

So there may be no such thing as a perfect life, but it’s entirely possible to have the perfect shoes. And for the likes of me that is always enough.

Hugs

2012-01-23T23:00:00.001+08:00

Here’s what I learned about hugging, from The Little Book of Hugs by Kathleen Keating:

1. Huggers stay younger longer. Hugging slows down aging. Seriously.

2. Hugging helps curb appetite. We eat less when we are nourished by hugs – and when our arms are busy wrapped around others. This is an entirely novel and cool way to diet. Haha.

3. Hugging provides stretching exercise if you are short, and stooping exercise if you are tall. Not rocket science. Haha.

4. Better hugs than drugs! Hugging offers a wholesome alternative to drugs, alcohol, and promiscuity. Makes sense, right?

5. Hugging is ecologically sound, energy-efficient, portable, and democratic. Anyone is eligible for a hug =)

6. Hugging makes happy days happier, and impossible days possible.

7. A hug transforms a bleak setting into a lovely place.

8. Hugging fills up empty places in our lives.

9. Hugging prevents war.

From now on, I’m so hugging often, and hugging well. If you need a good hug, you know where to find me =)

The Amazing List

2012-01-21T23:49:00.001+08:00

In honor of Garci The Amazing Comeback Dog, I’m changing my happy lists into amazing lists. Only time will tell if they turn out any different from the same old ones. I highly doubt it. Haha.

1. An office that lets you watch Episodes 4 to 6 of the old Star Wars movies for three straight days in the first week of work, as a prelude to the Star Wars-themed 2012 kick-off party. We not only got to watch the fun movies during working hours; we also got bottomless chips and drinks while at it. If that isn’t worthy to start off an amazing list, I don’t know what is.

2. Business meetings in Makati where I get to eat at yummy places like M Café and can wait for Ches in Greenbelt where we pretend to be rich and eat somewhere swanky like Felix.

3. An always available hot date who oh so willingly goes with me to all my jaunts in Galleria or Greenhills or wherever, and all the bribe he needs is a lot of food and anything dinosaurs.

4. Kate Torralba’s clothes. So funky. I just LOVE them.

5. Pinoy humor. And it’s brilliantly captured in The Best of Chico’s and Delamar’s The Morning Rush Top 10. (This book is so funny I just had to go and buy three more, for my siblings and Kaye.) I think, more than anything, it’s Pinoy humor that makes it More Fun in The Philippines.

6. Imported goods that actually add value to our dreary Pinoy lives. (And by that I’m referring to milk teas in general, and Gong Cha’s wintermelon milk tea in particular. Hahaha.)

7. Officemates who treat you out, with or without an occasion

8. A big sister who knows exactly what to say to cheer you up when you’re having your sad days. (Thank you, Ate. I love you =)

9. Sweets that are so, so blessedly good and instantly make your day, like the pastillas from Chocful of Nuts.

10. Lucking out on promo fares you badly need. (Cape Cod, we are so coming!)

11. Bosses who thank you ‘for fighting the good fight’ with a Le Pliage. So EDC gifts Paula with iPads and iPods and moolah that she uses for travel - I get fabulous bags. Happiness.

12. BlackBerry Messenger, which makes it so easy to stay in touch with old friends like Jon and Rosa.

13. A niece passing the UPCAT on a snooty course like Bio. Woohoo!

14. Being able to regularly hang out with old friends from your previous jobs, and having so much fun with them like you never even left.

15. Low-maintenance friendships, like with the PMS kids who spend their long weekend just chilling out at our home.

16. Cheap thrills like Grill Queen and massage at your neighborhood spa. Again, It’s More Fun In The Philippines bcoz everything is cheap here if you’re not too picky.

17. Unconventional films that make you cry, laugh, or wonder, like 50/50, 30 Minutes or Less, and The Invention of Lying.

18. A husband who still romances you with a bouquet of gerberas on a regular workday, for no reason at all other than maybe he’s still in love with you. (Haha. I love you, too, Chestnuts.)

19. Round-the-clock, live, free entertainment from two little boys. (Bootsie calls my and Ches’ legs not just ‘pata’ the way I refer to big legs, but ‘garapata’. As in, ‘Wow, Mommy, your garapata looks nice in your flower shorts!’ Plus, Yoshi’s Maldita Comment of The Week: If you were a dinosaur, you’d be known in Bootsie's books as Malditasaurus. HAHAHA.)

Pretend

2012-01-17T22:01:00.000+08:00

You can pretend to be all serious and dignified and lawyerly in the office bcoz your job calls for it.

But only for so long.

Pauline

2012-01-16T22:47:00.006+08:00

Guess who's back with our little family after over two weeks?

Garci, no less.

It was pure serendipity how it all worked out. Ate Ann is friends with the Ilonggo manong who mans a nearby sari-sari store. She just happened to mention to him that Garci ran away on New Year's Eve. It turns out his boss, also a lawyer, came across Garci in the streets and brought him home. So the manong actually took care of Garci for two days! He fought with their dogs, tho, so he was given away to another neighbor. (This is so typical maaway Garci. Hahaha.) This other neighbor complained coz he barked too much (yup, that's our Garci, all right), so he was again given to another neighbor. This neighbor is also a dog lover, and a good man, it seems, bcoz Ate Ann said he wouldn't accept the reward we wanted to give him. Ate Ann gave it to his daughter instead.

Ate Ann said Garci made a ruckus when she called him. Like a little lost child seeing his mommy again. Hahaha. The really funny thing was, the daughter (whom Ate said is about the same age as Vada) told her, Ate, hindi Garci ang name nya - Pauline!

Hahaha. Now that's just crazy. Randy said, no wonder Garci was throwing a hissy fit all around - imagine being called Pauline when you're a boy dog! HAHAHA.

To think that Garci was just living four doors down this whole time that we've been going around and around calling his name out. (Well, Vada and Boots actually called out 'Garcia Jr.!' instead of 'Garci'. Crazy kids.) But I guess he couldn't possibly have said 'I'm here!' even if he heard us calling him, right? Hahaha.

All of us were overjoyed at his homecoming - including Mama, Rino, Ate, Randy, Thom, and Pie. The boys, too, of course. Yosh has been bugging us to get another pet for some time bcoz he missed Garci, while Boots has been putting on this routine since the start of the year, of barking when our car entered the garage so that it's as if Garci is still around and we wouldn't be so sad, he said. Owww. He's so sweet and cute, right? Ate was heartened that there were still good people who loved dogs and didn't see them merely as pulutan. I so agree.

Thank you, Garci, for coming back and giving us another chance to take better care of you. Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with yet another miracle and bringing Garci back to us.

Lunch With Ate Ann

2012-01-12T23:15:00.001+08:00

As if it weren't enough to work so close to home, my office location also allows me to play hooky and join my MWC friends for lunches, especially when we have balikbayan friends around. Last year it was Didoy, this time it's Ate Ann. Paula was envious bcoz she works way over in Ortigas and hence not as free as me to be so into these social events. Hahaha.

It was so fun to catch up with everyone, especially Ate Ann. I love her. I was telling Thom around Christmas I missed her bcoz it's the first year she and her daughter Therese are not part of my gift list. I'm so glad she and her family are doing so well in Canada. She deserves no less bcoz she's one of the kindest persons I know. Two words: good karma =)

It was just like the old times, too, when we'd have lunches with our more senior friends who have all been together since MWSS. Paula is proud of the fact that we - with Thom, Regie, Liz, and Didoy - were probably the only group of young people in MWC who counted the oldies as part of our gang. I agree - it is something to be proud of. It's a lot like being barkada with your own parents. Hahaha.

After a super heavy lunch in Le Ching, Thom our resident photographer got us to do all sorts of crazy poses around Technohub.

Paula comments on the pix: Hindi ba sumakit yung tiyan nyo? (referring, of course, to the jump shots right after lunch)

Thom: Why, do you have a bad experience with Le Ching? We eat there all the time, ok naman.

Me: So slow, Thom.

Hahaha.

My Six-Word Memoirs

2012-01-10T23:00:00.003+08:00

I read about the six-word memoirs craze when I was still in SM, but it was only last year when I saw the book in Powerbooks. Since I finished reading the book that Karen got for me for our Secret Santa, I’ve been hooked and been coming up with my own crazy six words. It’s easy peasy – just put together six words to describe your life or yourself or something you believe in. Or whatever at all. Haha.

1. Fun, feisty female. Vicious when provoked.

2. A little sweet. Lots of bite.

3. Didn’t talk till 3. Overcompensating since.

4. Married my college sweetheart. Epic bliss.

5. Happiness is marrying your best friend.

6. Thrives under my boys’ tight hugs.

7. Sleeps with dinos, zombies, three boys.

8. Claim to fame: two Lamaze births.

9. People amass wealth. I collect friends.

10. Defined by the friends I keep.

11. Blogging and bitching are my hobbies.

12. Lawyer by profession, maldita by choice.

13. Home early always trumps hefty salary.

14. Dogs can still break my heart.

15. Still looking for my inner chef.

16. Endless, passionate love affair with books.

17. Prefers to watch movies than move.

18. Saves to travel and see world.

19. Dreams of living in sunflower field.

20. Will work for new Cath Kidstons.

21. People care. People share. I shop.

22. Forever Hello Kitty. Down to undies.

23. Ches adores me. I adore shoes.

24. Moon Leaf. Bon Chon. Happy meals.

25. Still XS despite buffets. Epic metabolism.

26. Chocolates work when human beings fail.

27. If nothing else, Best in Smile.

28. No to Photoshop, warts and all.

29. (Mommies/lawyers) don’t have to be ugly.

30. Do good, or else look good.

31. Why live when I can sleep?

32. Sometimes good, often nasty, always real.

33. Pretends to be cool. Secretly OC.

34. Believes in power of holding hands.

35. Still blindly waiting for Eraserheads reunion.

36. Still a crybaby at age 36.

37. Aspires to be well-read, well-bred, well-scrubbed.

And this is Ches’ own chosen six-word memoir: Hot, rich, bitchy wife. Lucky bastard.

HAHAHA.

The Best of 2011

2012-01-09T23:50:00.006+08:00

2011 was the year Bootsie started going to school, Jon and Donemark were promoted as partners, and we got our US visas. It was the year I learned to wear flats, kept my hair super short, and won as Ascof Natural Super Mom (hahaha). It was the year Ann introduced us to group buying sites, and all of us in Legal promptly got hooked. It was the year I fell in love all over again – with Cath Kidston, Moon Leaf milk teas, and Jake Gyllenhaal. Hahaha.

1. The year of the great travels. Omigosh, we went everywhere last year. Singapore, Cambodia, and Vietnam with QT friends, La Luz with just us, Baguio, Tagaytay, and Balai Isabel with my side of the family, Boracay with my in-laws, Coron with Robert and Eycee. I also had that business trip to Singapore that I turned into the One-Woman Historical Walking Tour. It was definitely a winner year for travel.

2. Favorite movies. Rakenrol, Zombadings, Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank. I would have watched more indies if they were shown in the mall theaters. For the foreign films, I liked The Station Agent, Let The Right One In, Things We Lost In The Fire, Three Idiots, Burn After Reading, and Same Time Next Year.

3. Favorite books. One Day, Room, The Art of Racing in The Rain, Norwegian Wood, Life of Pi, The Shack, Then We Came To The End. I don't get new year's resolutions that involve reading two books a month. What's so difficult with that? I easily do two in a week. Haha. Modesty is so dead. My Top 2 favorites for 2011: Six-Word Memoirs and This is A Crazy Planets (yes, with an ‘s’). I followed Lourd De Veyra after I read Umasal Lamang Nang Ayon Sa Ganda. It became like my mantra for 2011.

4. Best old friend: Kaye. She deserves special mention bcoz we really got to re-connect last year, thanks to her regular, kilometric emails, and the Skype with Phoebe after Christmas. And as if I could forget – she pulled off one of the biggest surprises of the year by sending me the lovely pink Coach bag and Ann Taylor dresses. (Thank you, Kaye. I love you =)

5. Bonding with the Legal girls (and Ardo). I got really close to my girls last year. We'd troop to Ann's car Liit and go everywhere together. There were the Tower Club planning sessions, Redbox videoke night, Bulacan road trip, raffle and midnight buffet at Diamond Hotel, Circles party, our surprise birthday party for our boss, and theirs for me. It was also the year we got their promotions and service awards. Happiness.

6. Most yummy discoveries. There were the Hainanese chicken and laksa in Tao Yuan, foie gras burger and spinach pasta in Lusso, Robby's Zensho buffet treat, Toast Box Hainanese chicken and noodle soup, Hero sausages, pasta, pizza, and salads at Chelsea, Florabel’s award-winning adobo, Dali’s Spanish goodies, Claw Daddy clam chowder, Hyphy’s tuyo pasta, Kanzhu pulled noodles, Sambokojin (less chaotic than Yakimix), DiMark’s Italian fare, Dome, Friulli, the Dusit buffet, our last date at La Scala, my birthday dinner with the PMS kids in Mercato. Manila Pen is not new, but we loved the shublig and halo-halo anniv promo. Bon Chon is our favorite new fried chicken. Ardo’s MBA friends apparently did a study and they found that Bon Chon will not make it good in the Philippines. Obviously, those guys did not interview me and my boys, us fried chicken monsters. Haha. (I know, I know - I eat way too much year after year. Groan.)

7. Most yummy sweets. Moon Leaf, Gong Cha, Cha Time, and Happy Lemon milk teas, the custaroons, pistachio sansrival, and chocolate cake from Parvati, Classic Confections cupcakes, Friulli gelato cakes, Figaro sansrival, Florabel’s walnut balls, Five Cows’ marble slabs, Chocolat Death by Tablea cake, and the calamansi muffins in Boracay. My epitaph would probably read: death by sweetness. Haha.

8. Most fabulous shopping finds. Freeway national artist shirts, Promod dresses and bling, Michelle Lim dresses, Debenhams pretend rich sprees, the F&H and CD outlet sales near the office, and major, major wedges from Zara and CMG. I loaded up on Hello Kitty goodness, too, as usual. With all the retail therapy I did, Ches is incredulous that I met my savings target for last year. He's convinced I did some dirty lawyer deed with our household budget. Hahaha.

9. Our choice spas. Organic Rituals in Greenhills, Toccare in Makati, and the major production number that was my birthday treat at Neo Day Spa. Ches also likes Shui in Eastwood. We vowed to continue with our monthly spa visits this year, and do away with too many buffets and eat-outs. I have no doubt Ches can give up good food just like that, but major good luck to me. Haha.

10. Favorite moments with the boys. All our trips to Fun Ranch, Active Fun, the beach and pool, where they’re happiest. When Yoshi dishes out his maldita wisecracks, and Bootsie gets obsessed with PvZ and dinosaurs. When Yoshi looks out for his little brother and Bootsie lets him. When I get insomnia and one of the boys is still up and we can just cuddle and be sweet together. Weekend mornings when we all just stay in bed and chat forever before getting up. Long, quiet dinners with Ches, and holding hands wherever we go. My boys always top everything that is good and happy in the world. (Thank you, Lord.)

Cath Kidston Christmas

2012-01-05T00:03:00.005+08:00

Ches got me Cath Kidston bags for Christmas. I chose the bags, but he paid for all of them. He gave me a budget - and I ordered away. Woohoo! On top of everything, my husband is also perfect. Owww.

This was the first thing on my order list. I’ve had my eyes set on this birds design since the new collection came out. It’s just so Audubon. And omigosh it is even more beautiful in person. One word: stunning. Of course, I also love that it came as a day bag, my favourite out of all the Cath Kidston styles bcoz the size is perfect for daily use – neither too small nor too big. Even the inside of it is lovely.

I also love the design and shape of this bag, called the park rose handbag. The huge, bright flowers are just so striking against the chocolate brown background. You can also button the sides to make it into an entire new shape. This bag is enough to contain all my office paraphernalia, and I can even throw in a shawl and a pair of flats - since I'm always cold and always out malling, respectively. Hahaha. I love.

I finally have the iconic shooting stars design in blue. I already have a shooting stars gadget case but it’s in cream. Now this blue one is just so Cath Kidston. If you see it, you know it’s Cath Kidston. I also love that the book bag is a lot bigger than I thought. It’s perfect for all my lawyer documents in long folders and envelopes. This bag is definitely gonna add a lot of beauty to my otherwise dull lawyer life. I have visions of my lawyer self going a long, long way with this bag, right up to the time I get disbarred. Hahaha.

I couldn’t have enough of the blue shooting stars so I also ordered the box bag. It was smaller than I thought but that’s fine bcoz I have a lot of big bags as it is. I can use this as a baon bag for the office, or a weekend bag. (The website puts in the dimensions of the bags and everything, but I can never estimate their actual size. I guess I’m so bad in math that when I see numbers my brain just automatically shuts off. Haha.)

This country rose design is my second favourite from the new collection, next to the British birds. It’s just so loud and screaming happy and too perfect. I got it as a carry-all bag again, bcoz I’ve been using up my first carry-all for our travels to Boracay and Coron and the boys’ field trip, and I love it. The size is just right for when I have to bring a lot of my mommy stuff like the boys' eternal gadgets and change of clothes and food. This new carry-all even comes with a pocket now. Sigh. Happiness.

All of these beauties came in a vintage design Cath Kidston Christmas packaging. And all these styles are so new I don't think anyone has had a chance to fake them yet, for selling in Greenhills. Haha.

Thank you, Chestnuts. I love you. You definitely made my Christmas.

(Babette said I should also have ordered this - the horns are perfect for me. She’s so right, of course. Hahaha.)

Disney on Ice

2012-01-03T23:41:00.004+08:00

Ches took us to Disney on Ice as a new year treat. I was admittedly more excited than the boys bcoz Disney can be such girly-girl stuff while my boys are tough all the way. Hence, next year, I’m taking Vada and Rain instead. Haha.

Bootsie did like the more recent characters from Playhouse Disney/Disney Jr./Disney Channel, like Rex the dino, the Toy Story peeps, and Goofy. He cheered for Goofy whenever he came onstage. He got scared of this part tho when Mickey was making magic and out came people dressed up as brooms and with their entire body covered in black. Haha.

My favourite part was the villains number. I LOVE the female Disney villains – Maleficent, Cruella, Ursula, The Queen. They’re fabulous, powerful, and oh so fierce. I bought an Ursula shirt from Mango for Bootsie’s Superheroes party in Fun Ranch (of course, I just had to dress up as a villain! hahaha), and have my eyes set on this new Maleficent shirt again from Mango. (How cool is Mango that it puts the villains rather than the usual princesses on its clothes? Mango is LOVE.)

Maleficent is my absolute favourite among all these villains. She’s gorgeous and unforgiving. If you didn't know - she cursed the baby Princess Aurora bcoz she wasn’t invited to the baby's christening, and that was how Princess Aurora became Sleeping Beauty. (See, the eternally useful stuff you learn from my blog. Hahaha.) I definitely already have the unforgiving part; I just have to work on the gorgeous part next. Hahaha. (Ate, now you know why I’ve been bugging you to get me a Maleficent full-fledged costume =)

Of course I love my seven Disney princess dolls from Ate. As characters, tho, I think they’re so blah. What spectacular thing have they done to deserve little girls’ adulations, other than be born rich and pretty and wait for some prince to rescue them? Out of all them, I think only Cinderella and Belle ever had to do any work. I do like Belle bcoz she read a lot and took care of her father. I like Ariel, too, mainly bcoz of the funky songs Under the Sea and Kiss the Girl (haha). Mulan is my favourite bcoz she’s Asian and Reflection was sung by Lea Salonga. But like I said, I like my villains a lot more than the princesses. Hahaha.

For his part, Ches really liked the Princess Jasmine in this show – she was so hot in her bustier costume and daring moves on the ice. Hahaha.

Waiting for Garci

2012-01-02T23:38:00.003+08:00

We lost Garci on New Year’s Eve. We were gone for only a couple of hours for dinner till midnight at my parents’ house, and when we got back home he was gone with his leash and all. Ches went looking all over for him, and all of us including the boys and Vada did the same the following morning. Ches and I also went jogging around the neighbourhood at night, taking turns in calling his name out in every street. All to no avail.

It’s a sad way to start 2012, definitely. We love Garci. He has been a part of our family since Yoshi was a baby. He has outlived Heaven and Hunter and is the last of Dharma’s babies (that she gave birth to by caesarean section). Mom was especially sad bcoz Garci was all we had left of the legacy of Dharma and Ally, our favourite pets who were with us for decades, our babies before Yoshi came along, who slept with us in our beds, and whom we brought to Tagaytay and Manaoag and the beaches and all our other road trips, before they both passed away last year. Even Ate follows up on whether we’ve found Garci.

I told Randy and Thom bcoz they are my dog lover friends, and they both tried to cheer me up by saying he could still come back. I know for a fact that dogs do that, bcoz Mom’s and my other favourite dog, Babba, ran away for a few days and came back home just like that. I told them I just hope nothing bad happened to Garci, and if anyone tried to hurt him I hope he cut their fingers off like a firecracker would.

Garci was perfect for us bcoz he’s so low maintenance, small but oh so fierce. He never got sick, too. We all remember how he used to scare away Hunter, who was a Labrador and easily double his size. We also remember how he fought with this much bigger dog when my dad-in-law took him out for a walk, and the vet had to stitch up like his entire thigh which was skinned. He lived thru that without too much drama, like he carried his wound as a badge of courage rather than a serious injury. That's Garci for you. Daddy is also sad that Garci’s gone, bcoz he knows how well he has guarded our home thru all these years.

He has been with us thru so much. We were still in our old bungalow when he came to us, even before Boots was born. He had all the qualities that make dogs so perfect - he guarded our home loyally and was always so happy to see us when we got back home, and he never asked for anything much. He was just there to greet us heartily everyday when we got back from work, or from our travels. It’s true what they say – with a pet, you never have to feel unloved.

I’m definitely thankful for all the years he spent with us and completed our family, but somehow I’m not prepared to say goodbye to him just yet. We move on, but without Garci life is a little less happy, a little incomplete.

Come back home, Garci. We’re all waiting for you.

After Christmas

2011-12-31T17:46:00.006+08:00

One other good thing about my office – as if there weren’t enough good things about it already – is that we don’t have work after Christmas. We just don’t. The happiness never ends. Haha.

And so I have spent the past week in grand vacation mode, playing mommy and housewife for the most part. Yoshi mostly keeps busy with his iCarlys and Spongebobs and gadgets, and I just let him be. Like I blogged previously, Boots is back to the Jurassic age and obsessed once again with dinosaurs. So we read his dino books day and night. It’s a lot like tutoring Yosh for his lessons (groan) albeit a lot more fun bcoz we get to see four-year-old Bootsie transform into Our Resident Paleontologist. Haha.

I also went insane cleaning up our 60 million closets and drawers at home. It’s something I took after Mom. I put up this pretense of being cool and unaffected by stuff, but I’m actually secretly OC. As in the same level as that guy Julia Roberts married in Sleeping With The Enemy, who wanted all the canned goods and bathroom towels facing the exact same way. Yes, I’m psychotic like that. Haha. One thing I’m always teaching my boys is to clean up after themselves. Sometimes, Yoshi beats me to it and declares before I do: I know, I know – you’re allergic to mess. Hahaha.

I covered my 60 million new books. Covering my books is always in my to-do list. I love my books and am not the type to just leave them lying around. I cover them and painstakingly arrange them in our bookshelf which I regularly clean. I still feel bad over the various books I've lost bcoz of people who borrowed and never returned them. Sigh.

I went out to shop, of course. The post-Christmas sales have been disappointing compared to the previous years. But I’m actually glad coz I’m saving up for our US trip next year. Haha. I got just one dress and two tops from Mango, plus Jose Garcia Villa clothes from Freeway for me and Kaye (in honor of our favorite high school teacher Mrs. Corpuz who taught us all about Doveglion). I’m such a good girl, right? This is so not me at all. Hahaha.

I actually did what I call Revenge Shopping with accessories. Revenge Shopping is when you can't have something you like, bcoz it's out of stock or not in your size or whatever, so then you go and splurge on something else entirely. Haha. Since I couldn’t find any good buys in clothes, I let it all go on the accessories in Forever 21, Parfois, and Promod. Hahaha. I’m seriously hooked on these so funky yet oh so cheap bling. I have the good sense to sell all the gold and diamonds and pearls I’ve accumulated thru the years. I now think they’re highly overrated. Haha. That was me pretending to be rich again and buying the real deal, I guess. Haha. (Rhoel is so on to something when he calls me 'mahilig magpanggap na mayaman'. Dang.)

Ches and I also went on our last date of the year. We chose La Scala bcoz I read that the food was good and the ambience unique. ‘Unique’ does not quite do justice to the place. It was a sensory overload of memorabilia of everything from music to the arts to history to pop culture. It was an absolute blast from the past. All thruout dinner they played songs I grew up listening to from my parents’ tapes. And yes, the adobo, fish, and strawberry milkshake were good. The service was impressive, too. Definitely a fitting date to end another year of married bliss and cheesiness. Haha.

I also got to see my MWC friends, albeit at a sad event – the wake of Ate Ann’s father. It was good to see Ate Ann, tho, and hear all about her life in Canada. I also managed to catch up with Paula. I miss and love her dearly. I’m so glad she’s doing really well in EDC after the trauma that we both had to go thru in our previous company.

Phoebe and family also came over to visit, and we got to Skype with Kaye for a full two hours! We were all screaming when we saw and heard each other, even if it was only thru the computer. Hahaha. We chatted about everything from high school classmates and teachers long forgotten, to love and career dramas. We teased Kaye that she can’t be too choosy anymore at the ripe old age of 36. Hahaha! And we asked her to show us around her California home, as well as her Chanels and Manolo Blahniks and Legos. Phoebe and I were both blown away by her collection of LVs, Hermes, and 60 million Chanel bags. Omigosh, this girl is a walking Chanel catalogue! She’d introduce each bag as she pulled them out of their wrappers, with the specific name and year it came out. Amazing. I wanted Ches to see bcoz this puts my Cath Kidston obsession in an entirely new perspective. Hahaha.

Seriously, tho, Phoebe and I feel truly happy that Kaye has always made the effort to stay in touch with us even after almost two decades of being abroad. She has also remained so humble despite all that she has achieved. Our other friends have come and gone, and Phoebe and I were like, they're so not worth it. Hahaha. Kaye, on the other hand, is a keeper.

Before the new year, Ches and I also managed to squeeze in some time for a scrub and massage that we both so crave for. He bought me Moon Leaf milk tea after. Owww. Ches knows exactly how to end the year perfectly.

Jurassic

2011-12-28T22:30:00.003+08:00

Bootsie is back to the Jurassic age. They visited Lolo the other day and according to Ches, his first words to him were: 'Lolo, I’m addicted to dinosaurs!' Hahaha.

It was so perfect that he got several dino gifts from Tita Eycee, Tito Robert, and Tita Paula for Christmas. He loves his dino shirts and PJs and always chooses them from his closet. He also has old dino toys, but this time he’s more interested in dino books. While Kuya watched his annual Shake Rattle and Roll fest with Ate Ann, Boots and I scoured the bookstores for dino books.

He knows all their nosebleed names and even their characteristics. He calls me Triceratops after Sera in Land Before Time, Kuya is Tyrannosaurus Rex, Ate Ann is Troodon (bet you didn’t know this), Daddy is Diplodocus, and he is Ultrasaurus (the biggest of the plant-eating dinos). When we wake up, he’d greet me, ‘Good morning, Triceratops!’ Thruout the day he’d call Ate, ‘Troodon!’ and sometimes it would take her a while to realize he’s referring to her, and it would frustrate him to no end. Hahaha.

I took a video of him breezily reciting stuff like Brachiosaurus, Coelophysis, Kannemeyeria, Megaraptor, Pteranodon, Pterodactyl, Riojasaurus, Tanystropheus, Velociraptor. Seriously! I didn’t even know there were that many kinds. I’ve been subsisting on T-Rex my whole life. Hahaha. The stuff I learn from my kids.

He also knows which ones have long necks or horns and how many, which ones eat plants and those that are cannibals. He knows which ones swim like fishes and those that fly like birds. He knows which kind the dinosaurs in Land Before Time fall under. It’s amazing, really.

Now if only we could cash in on this talent, Bootsie. Let's cultivate a marketable skill next time, why don't we. Hahaha.

Happy List 41

2011-12-27T23:05:00.000+08:00

1. Lunches with Karen at JT’s and Pancake House, then drinks at Moon Leaf and Happy Lemon. We were the last two girls standing in the last week of work (all the others have gone on leave), and it became our habit to go out for lunch and drinks. Yummy. (One time we were still inTrinoma at 2pmish, and our boss texted to ask if I’m still going back to the office. I told him we were just out for lunch, and he even had the graciousness to say, take your time. Hahaha. Such a winner boss.)

2. A few hours of me time with mani-peds and the works at Spa 101. A necessity to stay lucid in the crazy season that is December.

3. Our office 80s themed Christmas party, which we spent pigging out and dissing everyone. Hahaha. We were so proud of Karen and Ardo who played Michael Jackson and Bon Jovi in the dance number, and they were, hands down, the best performers in the group. Karen also won one of the grand prizes, a travel package we were all coveting. Winner.

4. Bottomless cakes and coffee in Cravings, my birthday treat for Anji.

5. Dex’s lunch treat with Beavis in Yang Chow. We exchanged gifts, too. These boys are like little brothers to me.

6. Visit and gifts from Thom and Joy. It was great to catch up with Joy. She’s one of those girls with whom I never run out of things to talk about bcoz she’s just so open and warm. There’s also the UP Law and pharma connection. I have to behave and remember not to bully Thom when she’s around, tho. Hahaha.

7. Team Zaccheus putting its foot down and not caving in to the demands of a bully MNC. I was glad to be of help and give my fearless legal advice that we won’t get sent to jail for this. Haha. Go, Team Zaccheus.

8. An epic email from Kaye, about everything from her toxic legal career to buying the California house of her dreams to being told by a psychic that she was run over by a horse by her husband in her past life. Hahaha. I love Kaye.

9. Ang Ladlad Book 3, edited by Neil Garcia and Danton Remoto. I’m forever getting my hands on gay literature. I voted for Remoto as senator – not only bcoz he’s gay but also bcoz he’s brilliant. I will vote for him again until he wins, or even if he never wins. I was so gay in my past life, I just know it.

10. Six-Word Memoirs. Highly addictive. Ches and I have started our own lists. Will post them soon.

11. Sipping Starbucks Christmas flavors while we travel to and from Tarlac, thanks to the GCs from Robby. Noche buena and sleep-over at Tita Jaja’s house. Annual reunion on Christmas day with Ches’ clan. It was great to see all my in-laws again, especially Ches' niece Jana and nephew Julian, the newest addition to our family. Jana is so pretty and has this snooty British twang (her family lives in London). When I see her or Vada or Rain, I just wanna go home and start making baby girls with Ches. HAHAHA. Bootsie's favorite part of the trip as usual was visiting the pigs. Haha.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-26T23:49:00.000+08:00

More than any other time of the year, Christmas is when I count my blessings.

Thank you, Lord, that all my loved ones are healthy and safe. No serious illnesses for us this year, no one close died or had any major problems. I have this morbid fear of losing the people I love, or me dying young. So I just pray.

Thank you for my boys who are perfect in every way – Ches who remains my very best friend after all these years, Yoshi who embodies everything that is good in the world, and Boots who shadows me in whatever I do and lets us baby him still. I can take on whatever the world dishes out, bcoz at the end of the day, I get to come home to my three boys who smother me with their unwavering love.

Thank you for my family and all the trips we took together this year. Thank you that, after all these years of their paying for my tuition and giving me baon, I can now afford to take my parents out and buy them stuff. Thank you for Vada and Rain who are both growing up to be so sweet and pretty. Thank you for my Ate who looks out for me even if she’s far away, and loves my boys like her own. Thank you for Lola who’s strong and independent despite her years. Thank you for my in-laws who share so much with us.

Thank you for all my good friends and their great, enduring love. With them, I don’t have to pretend to be anything I’m not – I know they accept me, horns and all. They touch me with their affection and loyalty, and inspire me with their strength and success. Thank you that I’ve managed to nurture my friendship with Kaye and Phoebe who’ve known me since high school, Randy, Nico, and Gay from UP, Jon, Rhoel, Donemark, and my QT batch, Thom, Paula, Regie, Liz, Didoy, Ate Ann, Beavis, Dex, the IT girls, and Babette from MWC, my PMS friends, my Legal girls who bring me joy everyday. Thank you for my new friends Karen and Ardo. My life is full and fantastic bcoz of all my wonderful friends.

Thank you for my fulfilling, gratifying job. I learn new things everyday, and am continuously challenged by new issues. Thank you for the trust and confidence of the people I work with. In this office, I feel truly affirmed and appreciated. Thank you for my perfect boss whom I love, respect, and admire dearly. Thank you that I work so close to home and can be with my kids whenever they need me. Thank you that this office treats family time as sacred and nobody bothers me outside of working hours.

Thank you for giving us the visas to visit Ate next year, all our travels this year, our beloved country home, Piolo our trusty car, good books, great films, yummy food, fabulous clothes, shoes, bags and bling.

Thank you, Lord, for providing all our needs, and blessing us with so much more than we could ever want.

Happy List 40

2011-12-24T00:15:00.000+08:00

1. Folded and Hung outlet sale right behind the office. It became an almost daily habit for all of us to go and hoard after having lunch. We would tease Karen that she shouldn’t be caught dead buying in an outlet store, coming from Brent and Poveda and all. Haha. She actually often out-bought me. Haha. She's cool and game like that.

2. Being let home early on a board meeting day, and Ann and I having the yummy lunch buffet to ourselves while the board is on executive session. Double happiness.

3. A fabulously wrapped gift of several bottles of Dior perfume from my favorite diva owner. It even came with a note from her that I’m ‘deeply appreciated and valued’, written in a novena Mass card that said I will be 'remembered in a Christmas novena of masses at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC'. Unbelievable. It’s my first time to ever receive a Mass card and I joked with the Legal girls that now I knew how it felt to be a departed soul (coz all along I thought only dead people got Mass cards haha). But seriously, this was too much. I'm not worthy.

4. Custaroons from Parvati from Karen. Heaven in an exquisite box.

5. A favorite executive dishing his trademark comic relief even at a board meeting, and another favorite executive standing up for him and going against an overwhelming majority. It is always heartening to witness acts of integrity.

6. Ann’s lunch treat at Bon Chon. No occasion or reason – she’s just a good, generous girl.

7. Legal party for our internal clients. There was lechon and overflowing food and drinks. We went insane giving away all the left-overs after. The highlight of the night was my favorite diva owner joining us as we sang Dancing Queen in the videoke. So now I use it as another ticket to snootiness – before I used to say, hindi ka invited sa piano recital, now I can also say, hindi ka naka-duet ng Dancing Queen. Mwa ha ha.

8. Dinner with Ches at Agave, and lunch with the family in Mandarin Sky, bcoz Ches was craving for crabs. The crab fooyong was really good, and I loved the spinach soup, too.

9. 60 million Hello Kitty gifts from Anji and Thina, and from myself, too. Haha. Thank you, Hello Kitty. You fill my little heart with so much joy.

10. Receiving gifts and notes from people in the office whom I had good reason to believe hated me. Hahaha. They are themselves not in my gift list and I’m not in the habit of giving gifts to people just bcoz I receive something from them. (I think gift-giving should, first of all, be genuine. So if you're not in my list to begin with, you don't magically get included just bcoz you give me something. Better luck next year. Haha.) But I welcome their thoughtfulness and generosity, and I promise to try and be kinder to them next year. Haha. Ches was surprised whenever he picked me up and I’d be overloaded with gifts, and this went on until the very last day of work. I guess it’s not something he expected from The Most Maaway Girl In The Office. Hahaha.

A Barnyard Party

2011-12-20T00:58:00.001+08:00

And so we were invited to a barnyard party by Tanya, Ches’ old friend. We were happy and excited bcoz we’re a family who loves to dress up and clown around for pictures. Or maybe it’s just Boots and me. Hahaha.

Bootsie’s Woody costume that I got him for his birthday was perfect. For Yoshi I got a plaid polo. I also asked around for some cowboy hats, and Ardo and my boss gamely lent us theirs. (My boys get to use a hat of my boss of all people for a silly kiddie party. Haha.) So cool. Bootsie got a scooter for being Best in Costume. Was there ever any doubt that our little heartthrob would win? Haha.

From her wedding to baby shower to baptism to this first birthday, Tanya sure knows how to throw a party. It’s the kind of party where you go in and know right away that Money Is No Object Here. Haha. The boys loved all the usual - inflatable slide, food carts, face paint, games, buffet, magic, puppet, and bubble shows, prizes, loot bags.

These kiddie parties are always such big riots where Ches and I hardly have time to eat or chat up with our friends bcoz we have our hands full watching over the boys. Not to mention, Yoshi expects me to pay attention to the games and be ever ready with every friggin thing that the host asks for Bring Me, or Longest Object, or some other crazy game. Groan.

But Ches and I love taking our boys to these things, anyway, bcoz they always end up having so much fun, and they can’t stop blabbering about the party for hours after, no matter what the food or prizes are. I’m telling you – our family so needs to upgrade our happiness threshold, we’re too darned easy to please. Haha.

Yoshi and Boots laughing out loud and having the time of their lives like this …

- is what makes Ches’ and my Christmas truly happy.

Chocolate Kiss

2011-12-19T02:10:00.002+08:00

Our PMS friends and Ches and I love Chocolate Kiss. The food is good, the price reasonable, and the ambience just the right mix of loud and snooty. I guess we’re also loyal to it bcoz we’re all from UP. Haha.

So for our Christmas gimmick this year, I suggested the brunch buffet in CK. Omigosh, it was so good. What took us so long to try this? There was adobo (not the adobo flakes which is my staple order here but still yummy), danggit, bangus, the salty/spicy kind of short longganiza that I like (I can’t stand the fat, red, sweet ones), several kinds of sausages, and of course, garlic rice. There were egg, pancake and cereal stations, free-flowing brewed coffee and fresh fruit juices. (Fresh, take note. I hate it when restos serve powdered juices or Nestea iced tea. My view is, if you’re going to serve me a drink that my kids can easily make for me at home, then you have no right to be in the resto business.)

As with any true friendship, tho, the food - no matter how yummy - can never trump the conversation. We laughed and laughed over Robby’s latest stunt – coming in a white tux and hiring real security guards to act as his bodyguards and talking friends into carrying placards and screaming his name like rabid fans, all part of his grand costume for the office Hollywood-themed party. So crazy the way only Robby could ever be. Hence, he was awarded Darling of The Night. I think he spent more for the whole thing than what he won, tho. Hahaha.

Ches got busy teasing Eycee nonstop as usual. We like to torment her the way we would a younger sister. Haha. I bitched about politics with Robert. I can always count on Robert to be more worked up than I could ever be over serious (boring) matters like this. And this is a guy who actually knows what he’s talking about. Me, I just pretend to know it all as usual. Haha.

We also exchanged gifts and I’m glad they liked what I chose for them in the same way the boys and I liked what they gave us. It’s happiness when you pick gifts that are successes in terms of pleasing the recipients. Haha. Robby was especially profuse about the wooden book stand that I got him from Gourdo’s. He was thanking Ches and me for it way into the week. It’s perfect for law school, I guess. Haha. And he was actually giving me a Kindle Fire. As in seriously. Crazy, huh. I had to decline it, tho. I don’t take advantage like that. I told him to just get me a good book instead. Haha.

I’m so glad the brunch gimmick worked out, coz it was my idea. Haha. It was like when Eycee volunteered to do all the work for our Coron trip, and we happily let her so then we could blame her for anything that goes wrong. Haha. We all managed to wake up early even if we’re more used to staying up late at night, the buffet didn’t disappoint, the chatter and gifts were fun. Best of all, the friendship endures.

A Christmas Program

2011-12-18T00:45:00.001+08:00

We were up early last weekend to attend little Bootsie’s Christmas program in UP. Ches and I teased Bootsie and asked him in the days leading up to the event: are you really going to do something worth waking up early for on a weekend? You’re sure it’s something other than the song and dance we see from you every day at home? Haha.

Bootsie is in the middle level of pre-school, and the quality of their production number was also in that range. Haha. The seniors did great in Jingle Bell Rock and Twelve Days of Christmas, while the toddlers – well, I can’t even remember what song they performed, all I can recall is that a lot of them just stood there on the stage or played around or outright bawled. Haha. Teacher Liway quipped, ‘We’ve actually been practicing for two weeks – it just looks like the first day of practice.’ HAHAHA. The little boy who was bawling would scream even louder right when they came to the ‘You better not pout, you better not cry’ part. (Oh, there. They were singing Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.) Teacher Liway said it was actually part of the presentation. HAHAHA. We’ve always liked Teacher Liway.

Bootsie’s juniors class performed The Christmas Alphabet and All I Want For Christmas. It wasn’t spectacular like the seniors’ number, but at least it also wasn’t plain hilarious like the toddlers’ one. Haha. It was cute. And Bootsie knew all the moves! Now that is news for my kids who always do their own thing onstage. (Good job, Bootsie!)

There was even an intermission number by no less than the multi-awarded UP Pep Squad. Woohoo! It turns out one of the practicum teachers in the school is a member of the group. They dazzled everyone with their flips and cartwheels and pyramids and stuff. So cool. It’s hard to imagine these kids have a life like teaching outside of practicing their moves. They do their thing so perfectly and easily you’d think it’s all they ever do.

It was also heartening to see Bootsie being so behaved in school. He’d just Indian sit there until Teacher Mae tells him otherwise. He ate his snacks when I gave it to him, and shared with his classmates without any issue. Ches and I also loved how Yoshi played such the Kuya as usual. He would hoot and applaud whenever his brother was onstage, and rush to him and give him a hug after his numbers. Owww.

Ches and I told them, you guys are so good and kind to each other in school. Let’s just stay here and not go home anymore where all you do is fight. Hahaha.

Happy List 39

2011-12-16T23:51:00.004+08:00

1. CD sale near the office. They’re all original and going for the price of pirated ones. Haha. I hoarded all the foreign and local indies I could get my hands on. From my loot I’ve already seen Adam and The Savages. The first one was about this brilliant guy with Asperger’s syndrome (brilliantly played by Hugh Dancy) and the beautiful girl (Rose Byrne) who falls in love with him. The Savages is the story of how two siblings (Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman) deal with their father’s deteriorating health and putting him in a home. They’re exactly my kind of small, quiet films where nothing much happens but they end up being so moving, anyway, and they give you credit by not spelling everything out and neatly tying up the ends.

2. Jake Gyllenhaal. I saw him again in Proof, which was one of my CD finds. I can never spell this guy’s name without checking with IMDb, but I’m so majorly crushing on him despite the nosebleed. Swoon.

3. Finding a Zombie and Chomper in the Claret bazaar, to complete a foursome with Bootsie’s Cherry Bomb. We sleep with these scary creatures at night. Aaargh. The things I do for Bootsie. (In the end, I hope to be judged not by how much money I was able to bring into the companies I worked in, or how consistently I observed my religious obligations, but by how I always tried to do good by my children.)

4. The Height of MIB’s Cuteness: he borrowed money from me bcoz he forgot his wallet at home. Hahaha. He’s funny like that. He can be so hardworking and serious and shy, but he has a lot of bloopers, too. It’s not everyday you get a chance to lend money to someone who owns the company you work for, right? Haha.

5. Hello Kitties in Forever 21! I went insane buying for me and Ate, as usual. (Goodbye, Christmas bonus …)

6. Lunch at Shakey’s with Ardo after our meeting outside the office. He reminds me of Didoy in that they’ve both had privilege lives but they’re both so humble and hardworking and instead of acting all entitled they actually end up being tormented by the likes of me. Haha.

7. Lunch with Lala and her daughter/BFF Yana and Babette at Italianni’s. It was Lala’s treat for her Major Super Winner Job that my headhunter found for her. Haha. It was great to see The Mean Girls of MWC again. Haha. And they gave me and my boys tons of gifts, too. Oww.

8. Free bag and Christmas pin if you buy clothes at Kamiseta. (Goodbye, Christmas bonus. Oh, wait, you were all gone already in Forever 21. Groan.)

9. Popsy’s pancit, Mom’s fried chicken, double dutch ice cream, and Conti’s tiramisu for Mom’s birthday dinner at home.

10. Sincere ‘I love yous’ from family and friends. It’s easy enough to say ‘luv ya!’ or ‘lab u’ or variations of the phrase in every text or note, but to say it completely and properly with the three letters takes guts and a little more seriousness, I think. And somehow you know when someone’s just saying it, and when the person actually means it.

M and J

2011-12-15T23:15:00.000+08:00

(This is from Babette's blog. M is her friend who ran the Singapore marathon for Jack, and who writes like a dream. To be written about by Babs is honor enough, but to be held in the same category as M is difficult to top as the year's Best Christmas Gift.

Thank you, Babs. I love you. My boys love you. You are not only one of my favorite friends - you are also one of my favorite humans. Like I said, you get by not bcoz of other people, but bcoz you're so you - so giving despite all you've lost.)

There are two people who constantly look out for me and who I know pray for me and keep me in their thoughts. They became family to me because of Jack. I see them once in a while and write emails to them on occasions.

When I’m too quiet, they know that things are not too good and respect my silence. They ask me to be brave when it gets hard. They understand that it will be awhile before things will get better. They write beautiful notes to cheer me up. Somehow, I get by because I know that they are there for me. How wonderful to know that I have them.

I can never fully explain to them my struggles. The sadness of returning to an empty home at the end of the day; the fearfulness and cynicism; the fear of growing old alone and the struggle to nurture my relationships. But I do not need to explain anything. They embrace me still.

As Christmas is a time for thanksgiving, I thank God for their presence in my life. Their friendships are a balm to my grief. I know that Jack will keep us friends for life.

Yoshisms

2011-12-15T01:03:00.004+08:00

And so our man Yoshi was checking out the pantry again barely a few minutes after he finished a full dinner. Ate Ann asks him if he’s hungry and eating again so soon after his meal. He rolls his eyes and says, ‘Si ate naman, nagtatanong pa, e dati pa naman ako matakaw’.

Hahaha. Voracious, self-aware, and honest is our Yoshi. Kind of like me, huh.

He plays Family Feud with Tito Aaron and Bootsie, and the question is: what does a wife usually nag her husband about? His answer: shoes. Tito Aaron laughs and laughs. We all know exactly who gave Yoshi the idea.

(Shoes is a wrong answer, by the way. It’s apparently not on the top list of things wives nag their husbands about. Obviously I was not part of that survey. Haha. Yosh may have lost that point in the game, but he won a Happy Meal from me bcoz I was just so pleased with him right then. Hahaha.)

We were studying pang-abay na pamaraan, and one question in his homework was, paano maglakad ang mga matatanda? So he asked me to help bcoz I guess he couldn’t get it. I told him: mabagal. And he asks all innocently: e bakit kayo ni Daddy mabilis naman maglakad?

HAHAHA. Gee, thanks, Yosh. Last time I checked, Dad and I were just middle-aged, it was your grandparents who were old.

I wanted to blog thru the iPad, but Bootsie wouldn’t let go of it, wouldn’t stop his friggin games. So I go into my usual tirade, mumble about how I bought the friggin iPad to begin with, and it’s the first time I’m ever using it, etc etc. The boys don't mind me as usual.

Or so I think.

The next day I call from the office, and as I chat with Yosh I hear some strange tinkling sound in the background. I ask him what it is.

His answer: It’s your friggin iPad.

You're the man, Yoshi.

Vomit

2011-12-14T23:11:00.001+08:00

As a matter of principle I don’t blog about politics bcoz it’s (1) boring, and (2) hopeless. Besides, why would I want to pollute my blog with such filth, right?

It just happened to be an exceptionally infuriating day to be reading the Inquirer, so allow me to vent.

On the front page, the President seated among allies in Congress, all of them with big, fat smiles, at what turned out to be an appreciation lunch of sorts for those responsible for summoning the numbers to complete the impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice. Something’s just so wrong with this picture. I am by no means pro-Corona, and I’m all for enforcing accountability in government, especially those in the highest levels, but an impeachment that is so clearly politically motivated and has all the signs of high-handed maneuvering – oh, please, give me more credit than that. But maybe it’s just me, bcoz the President says the move is widely supported by the people. Hmmm. Last time I checked, no one was standing up to applaud.

And then you have one of the leaders of the admin’s prosecution team (somebody who was maybe four or so years my senior in UP Law), bragging about not sleeping three whole days to rush the complaint. Wait, that is a source of pride for you? If you truly believed in the merits of the complaint, shouldn’t you have worked on it nonstop and pursued it right at the first instance it was brought to your committee eons ago, and not be rushing it now all bcoz the President gives you a friggin deadline?

The Bayan Muna rep himself admitting he, along with majority of the signatories, signed the 57-page complaint without reading it, bcoz the admin bigwigs wouldn’t even give them copies of the thing. Oh wow. And your signature is supposed to certify that you believe the complaint is sufficient in form and substance? Without reading a single word of it?

There’s the Act Teachers party-list rep, another signatory, also admitting that the strategy of the admin reps is to meet with them discreetly and give them ‘very vague’ ideas of a move for which their vote is needed, but that they ‘support the cause’, anyway. Huh? How can you support a cause that is not even clear to you?

Nice going, you guys. Your sheer brilliance is blinding me. I would have thought you would be the voice of independence if not wisdom in Congress. But I guess I should have kept my expectations low from a party-list system where the only authentic marginalized sector I could find out of the long list in my ballot – and to whom I gave my vote, naturally, and without any regret to this day – was Ang Ladlad.

There’s also the Supreme Court spokesperson so passionately defending the Chief Justice he got my addled brain all confused. You’d think he was the spokesperson of the Chief Justice himself rather than of the Supreme Court.

Even the ads offended me. There was a full-page one of this GOCC who is now headed by someone who again was a couple of years my senior in UP Law. Right in the first part of the ad, she said her thrust upon assuming office was to not do anything that will taint the family name. Smacks of P-Noy’s ‘hindi ako magnanakaw’, right? That seems to be the standard of good leadership now – as long as you promise to not steal, then you’re ok, even if you don’t do a single thing to improve people’s lives.

These government ads infuriate me, to begin with, especially if they come from agencies where part of my salary goes every pay day. Is it too much to ask that my money should go to improving your services rather than to pay for stupid ads that trumpet your achievements? If you’re so damned good in what you do like you claim to be, then I already know and you don’t have to pay for a full-page ad to tell me, with my very own hard-earned friggin money! Grrr.

All of the above makes me do The Very One Thing that Yoshi’s classmate JM did, right when the bus stopped for the first leg of the field trip:

Vomit.

Circles

2011-12-10T23:50:00.004+08:00

One of Our Most-Awaited Events in the office is the Circles Christmas treat of our beloved boss. Circles is part of our claim to fame in Legal - all the other departments go to some resto or do videoke or something for Christmas, but we Legal peeps get to spend practically a whole day pigging out in Circles. Haha.

I was lucky enough to have been treated to Circles four or so times this year, largely courtesy of The Doomed Project. Unlike other buffets that are hit-and-miss, Circles never fails. At our Christmas lunch, we all had our favorites - sushi and sashimi, steaks and salmon, prawns and ramen, all the glorious desserts. On top of those, I also found new joys in the buffet, some of my old favorites - macadamias, anchovies, French macaroons, and baked salmon. (I would have macadamias everyday if they weren't so expensive. Macadamias always remind me of our honeymoon. We had a big can from Ches' cousin from abroad that we munched on from Sulo Hotel to Holiday Inn in Clark to Boracay. Anchovies are glamorized tuyo, and you know about My Love Affair With Tuyo. French macaroons were one of my favorite desserts in MoA - I bought them all the time from DeliFrance. And salmon - I don't even have to say any more about how much I love salmon. Haha.)

We also played Secret Santa this year, and it was loads of fun. Thina has been tormenting Karen and me for several weeks leading up to Circles, pretending to be our Santa and getting us No. 4 out of the three in our wish lists. Haha. It turned out Karen was my Santa, and I was so, so happy bcoz she got me my No. 1, Six Word Memoirs, as well as my No. 3, M&S chocolate chip cookies, plus a Kamiseta Christmas pin, too. Owww. I love Karen. I'm a lucky, lucky girl. All of us were so happy with our loot, actually.

As expected, it was Anji who was The Star of The Show, with the way she teased Ardo first with a pirated DVD of the Pacquiao fight he wanted, until she brought out the original DVD, and each one of the GCs he also wished for. Ardo's reaction when he opened the gift box and saw the pirated DVD was classic. Hahaha. Even our boss and his wife could not stop laughing.

On top of all the good things that they already are, our boss's wife and daughters also have this habit of giving away handmade Christmas gifts. They could easily buy something from the mall, but no, they make the effort to personally bake or cook something, wrap it up in a lovely container, and attach a card of their own creation. This year, they gave us a buri box with sinamay wrapping,inside of which was a mug, home-baked brownies, and Starbucks coffee sachets. The wife whispered to me that my box also contained a GC. So I looked and it was another spa package in Neo Day Spa. Oww. They're so sweet.

I emailed my boss a short note to thank him for the lunch, the gift, and the spa. He replied with what Ches called a novel bcoz it was so long, thanking me for my hard work the past year, for being a pro despite all the stress I often find myself in working in a family business, and how excited he is for me to be part of 'a legacy of principled governance and personal and professional fulfillment'. Etc, etc.

Needless to say, I cried and cried. That novel from my boss easily trumped all the food in the buffet and all the gifts I got. It was, hands down, The Best Part of My Circles Day.

Old Married Couple

2011-12-07T23:30:00.001+08:00

Ches was on Pasay Day holiday last week. So he took me to work, then on my lunch break we went to Cravings to have chicken and pasta and the cake-and-coffee-all-you-can. The carrot cake was good, and the rest of the four or so other flavors were also ok, but I was disappointed that they didn’t have the chocolate caramel cake. Cravings’ chocolate caramel cake is My Favorite Cake In The Whole World. I remember when I was pregnant with Bootsie, I would always buy two slices – one for me and one for Thom, bcoz I didn’t want him dipping his fingers into mine. I threw a major tantrum whenever he did that. Haha. He always made up for it tho by buying me the whole box – I only had to say the word. Oww. Bootsie is pinaglihi sa Cravings chocolate caramel cake. Hence, borderline gestational diabetes. Haha.

Anyways. After work Ches and I went malling to get some gifts for relatives and friends. And then I realized we had been together the whole day except for the hours I was in the office, and that we’re always like this whenever we get some time off from work. We sneak around like illicit lovers, all excited and happy to be alone with each other, as if we don’t spend enough time living together under the same roof. Haha. We’ve been known to take leaves just so we can have our ‘we’ time like this.

Much as we love our kids and enjoy smothering them with all our parenthood dramas, we also treasure the moments when it can just be the two of us, without having to feel guilty about leaving the kids at home or with their grandparents. This usually happens only when we don’t have work while the kids are off to school. Which was why our Manila Pen cheap date when we went on leave for the US visa interview was too perfect. And which was why I was ever so happy when I was still with SM and we could meet up for lunch everyday in MoA. My SM friends used to tease me about being hung up on my husband, but I knew they were also seriously baffled why I wanted to spend all my time with him when I could very well spend it with other people. Haha.

I couldn’t understand them, either, actually. Why was it even an issue that I wanted to be with Ches all the time? Isn’t that the whole reason why I married him – bcoz I love him more than anyone and there’s no one else in the world I’d rather be with? If he wasn’t My Favorite Person On The Planet, then what’s the whole point of ever marrying him, right?

I remember when we were in college, our friends used to tease us about being like ‘an old married couple’. I think that was a good thing back then. I took it to mean that they saw how we were so comfortable and genuine with each other – no secrets, no pretenses, finishing each other’s sentences, looking out for the other. But I know that the phrase could also have a negative connotation. ‘Old married couple’ can also conjure images of getting on each other’s nerves for every little thing, stony silences between two people with nothing more to say to each other, a relationship running out of all semblance of passion and romance.

It doesn’t have to be like that. Just look at Ches and me. We’ve been married close to ten years, a couple for 16 years, and best friends for a grand total of 19 years. We’re an old married couple in every sense of the word – and it has been epic bliss.

We are The Height of Cheesy, I know. We are too cheesy we have to invent a new word for cheesy. Haha.

December Weekends

2011-12-05T22:46:00.001+08:00

Our December weekends started with a lunch buffet at Imperial Palace Suites for Mom's birthday. The kids enjoyed eating by the pool, but that was the extent of our happiness there. Haha. The food was so blah - we have to invent a new word for blah. Hahaha. What made it worse was that all four adults in my family cook well - Pops especially, but also Mom and even Rino and Grace. (Ate is an excellent cook, too. I'm the lone aberration, I know.) So when I take them out I have to make sure the food is not only good but also better than what we usually have at home. That lunch buffet - was so not. Haha. It was a good thing they all still ate a lot, anyway. I promised Pops our next buffet will be at his beloved Chinatown.

To try and make up for the buffet fiasco, we all proceed to the Moon Leaf branch near my office. And Moon Leaf saves the day. Even Pops loves it. Thank you, Moon Leaf. I love you. I like Cha Time and Gong Cha, too, but you, Moon Leaf, are love.

We head straight to Podium after for The Partners' Most-Awaited Blowout in Gloria Maris. Our December weekends are toxic like this - we usually run from one event to another. We're not complaining, tho, bcoz at least it means we have a lot of family and friends who invite us and hence probably wanna spend time with us. Haha.

It was great to see everyone in my QT gang again. We need to start referring to us as The QT Clan, actually, bcoz we always lug around all our kids with us to these events. We're all parenthood suckers, except for Rhoel who remains blissfully single. Haha. There were 11 of us who started in QT 11 years ago, only Jon and Andrea were married, and the only kids we had were Vesta, May, Alex, and Elise. If my math is right, we now have 15 kids among us, and we have another baby on the way, too. You add up the spouses, besides, and there's always too many of us we don't even fit in a single picture frame. It's truly a reunion when we get together. As Boots likes to say - it's so fun!

And the partners didn't disappoint us with their treat - it was a major, major feast of dish upon dish of yummy Chinese goodness that seemed like they would never stop coming. Imagine my boundless joy. Haha. (Too bad you couldn't make it, Chuchi and Loudette. I brought a lot of free drugs! Haha.)

Our December weekends are so off to a good start.

Cherry Bomb Days

2011-12-03T00:14:00.005+08:00

Bootsie has been obsessed with video games since I got them the iPad. He likes squashing bugs in Bug Rush, chopping up fruits and seafoods in Fruit Ninja and Sushi Chop, tickling Talking Tom till he gets knocked out, shooting at cages to set free those little Angry Birds. So much action for a little baby. Oh, he also likes Family Feud, and plays painting and puzzle things with Vada, but that's few and far between. What he truly likes are games that involve a lot of explosions. If you must know, Bootsie is also known at home as Our Little Bundle of Violence. Haha. Just kidding.

I'm not a fan of video games myself. It's just not me, I guess. I play Bookworm in Ches' iPhone sometimes when the two of us are out and waiting to see my OB or something, but that's the extent of my skills in this department. I'm such a nerd, I know.

Bcoz of Bootsie, tho, I've recently learned to play PvZ. He insisted I play with him. He refused to play it with Kuya or Daddy - it had to be me. And so, on top of the 60 million things I have to be doing on an hourly basis in the blessed name of motherhood, I now also have to be planting friggin sunflowers and peashooters, promptly collecting suns, and figuring out which weapons to use to kill those darned zombies. Aaargh.

Strangely enough, all that Bootsie ever wants to do is pop the cherry bomb. He waits till we have enough money, and as soon as the cherry appears, he's so there dragging it to bomb the nearest zombie. Ches and Yosh have explained to him over and over that he should use it to kill groups of zombies bcoz it's capable of doing so with its huge explosion. But he doesn't care. The minute he sees the cherry, it's bombs away.

Imagine the little boy's joy when we found cherry bomb itself in the Claret tiangge. It's his newest favorite toy. He calls the bigger one Cherry, the smaller one Bomb. He sleeps with it. And when he's awake he's hugging it all the time. He even called Ate Ann while we were out on the field trip, to make sure that Cherry Bomb was ok at home.

There is no end to our crazy, wacky days.

Happy List 38

2011-12-02T23:25:00.001+08:00

1. Chicharon bulaklak cooked by Pops especially for moi when we visit on weekends. Yummy badness.

2. Yellow Cab four cheese and shrimp and garlic, which we order for snacks bcoz Vada asks for them as Bootsie’s belated birthday treat. Vada is turning out to be a pizza monster just like Tito Rino.

3. The annual tiangge in Claret Church during Christmas season. The boys and I love going around and rummaging thru CDs, toys, trinkets, not to mention sampling all the glorious home-cooked food at the canteen part.

4. Major, major cashews from Thom from his Palawan trip

5. Lindt truffles from Ate Gina, pasalubong from her US vacation. One of the best things about having a lot of friends is getting a lot of pasalubong. Haha.

6. Twisted Peppermint Bath and Body Works lotion from Ate. Boots and I just love the smell of it. Good enough to eat. Haha.

7. A touching email from my old friends/clients in the farm business, thanking me for my legal assistance to them all these years. Oww. They’re so sweet. They joined me when I left QT, and have been farming out bits of work to me this whole time. I don’t even bother to charge them but they insist on paying me. They’re so The Ideal Clients.

8. He Will Find A Way, which was played as invocation in the training that Ann, Karen, and I went to. I love this song. I used to sing it all the time in law school. It’s one of those songs that give you an instant lift. Like Anima Christi, too.

9. Learning new things everyday at work, brushing up on my IP and Labor practice, and being exposed to advertising, manufacturing, pharma issues the way I never had before. Jon was so right as usual when I talked to him before I took on this job, how I was worried bcoz I didn't have any pharma experience to speak of, and he said it was yet another chance for me to acquire new skills. (Hopefully I get to raise my market value, too, in the process. Haha.)

10. Winning our ASC cases against The Bully Conglomerate. Yes!!! Victory is sweet, especially when you manage to score it against Goliath. (Woohoo! Go, Team Zaccheus!)

11. Dinner with Rosa and Ches at Ba Noi. I miss being with Rosa everyday, being oh so girly girl or shamelessly snooty together, but I’m also happy for her bcoz I know she's happier now.

12. Christmas decors along Ayala Av. Karen and I just loved the real poinsettias that we saw on the streets on our way to Greenbelt. On our way home that night, Ches and I were fascinated with the lights and nativity scenes in the buildings. Karen says Ayala Av. does not look like any other place in Makati. I tell her, it does not feel like any other place in the whole country altogether. Haha.

13. Karen’s lunch treat at Banapple, bcoz she finally got her salary in full after tax adjustments and stuff. I’m so glad that on top of being bright, diligent, and feisty, she also gets on so well with everyone. That is often the most elusive trait to find in a new team member. She’s such a blessing to our little Legal group. (Ann told me, Rosa and Karen are miles away from P, their junior lawyer before I got on board, and I told Ann, three words: I hired them. Hahaha.)

14. A majorly discounted, thick travel guide on Cape Cod at Powerbooks. This book and I are so MFEO. Since I got it I’ve spent every day bugging Ate about all the lighthouses and old churches and restos we must go to when we visit. Haha.

15. Dinner with the PMS kids at Pino, then milk teas at Cha Dao after. I would have the bagnet kare-kare in Pino every week since it’s so near my house, if only my cholesterol level is not already sky-high as it is. Dang. Good food, great friends.

16. Lunch at Max’s with my in-laws, to celebrate Dad’s birthday. There are few better ways to end the week than sharing food and having fun with family.

Field Trip Two

2011-12-01T22:25:00.002+08:00

We were off to the boys’ field trip this week. It was Yoshi’s second and Bootsie’s first. To his credit, Ches volunteered to go on leave and take the boys this time, but I said I’d do it coz it’s been lean season in the office and it’s not like I have any life-and-death situation to work on. Haha.

First stop was Sand Magic at the Film Center. The homegrown artists were amazing, but Yoshi was more interested in the whole horror story that Ches told him, of the construction workers who were buried alive and still allegedly haunt the site to this day. Little Boots was scared of the sound effects for the part when an artist was sand painting a fight scene from Lion King. Oww. He’s still a baby for the most part.

Then there was Touch of Aura which the kids thoroughly enjoyed bcoz it involved shadow plays where they got to play the major roles, and they dodged laser lights and danced in this huge dark room with disco lights and blaring music. It was an absolute riot. Lunch was at Blue Wave where of course Ches could not miss the chance to see us since it was near his office.

We spent the entire afternoon at Ocean Park. Sigh. I feel like we’ve been to the place 60 million times. I almost didn’t want us to go anymore to the friggin sea lion show and dancing jellies and oceanarium. Just how many silly sea lions and jellies and fishes does a poor mommy have to put up with in a single lifetime? Aaargh.

At least the kids got to try something new this time. They loved the 3D dino show. They screamed for like the entire length of the short film. The Antarctica part has also opened since the last time we were there. Now this was fun even for me. It was our first time to see real, live penguins and up close, too. They looked more like overgrown mushrooms than Happy Feet to me. (Ches says: must you compare everything to food? HAHAHA.) We took the giant ice slide which is one of those rides that count as The Scariest Two Minutes of Your Life. Obviously I didn’t wanna do it but Boots insisted I go with him so I had no choice. Whaddahell – if I had died in the middle of the ride it would’ve been in the blessed name of motherhood, hence it qualifies as a noble death, right?

Our absolute favorite part of the trip was the Snow Village. The boys went crazy with the ice and snow and the sheer coldness of the room. All my three boys like it cold, while I use blankets even when I take afternoon naps in the summer. They always have to beg me first to let them turn the aircon on. Haha. I told them, maybe we can visit Ate during winter sometime, since you guys like Snow Village so much. Yosh was worried bcoz he thought our visa was good only for 18 months, and he didn’t know whether winter could already happen in that span of time. Haha.

Our last stop was at Crocodile Park, which was also part of Yoshi’s trip last time. Bootsie had great fun touching the baby crocodiles and pythons and stuff. Ugh. He’s such a boy. If I had two words to describe Boots, they would be: No Fear. Haha. Yosh was just happy capturing everything in his little Bloggie. This will be the story of their lives, I think – Yoshi will be The Introspective/Artistic One, while Bootsie will be so out there living The Life. Haha.

I was so touched watching the two of them holding hands the whole trip, tho. Busy with his Bloggie as he was, Yosh made sure to hold on to Boots with his other hand, while Boots for his part stayed put beside Kuya instead of running around as usual. Oww. It’s moments like this that affirm how Ches and I have probably not done such a bad job of parenthood, after all. Or at least so far.

Ches took us to President in MoA to cap the day off. President is Yoshi’s favorite resto. I was also craving for some good old Chinese comfort food after a whole day of playing mommy to the two boys, surrounded by their equally loud and hyper classmates. We were up at 6AM and didn’t finish till way past 7PM. (Waking up early is always The Most Major Sacrifice for me in any activity bcoz I’m so not a morning person.) It was a day where I felt like My Sole Purpose In The Universe was to lug around the boys’ gadgets, jackets, food and drinks, wipe their sweats and change their clothes, put on their caps and sunblock, feed them and follow them around, manage Bootsie’s Mother of All Tantrums. And you know what? I felt truly good and useful. Grateful, too, that I can spend time with my kids like this. For me, motherhood will be so wasted if you weren't hands-on.

Over dinner I regaled Ches with the boys’ antics the whole day, and complained about how totally poofed I was already. The two were still fully charged, tho, wreaking havoc in President, running around San Mig By The Bay. It’s a complete mystery to me where they get all their energy. Can’t be from all the fried rice they eat, bcoz I have a lot of that, too, and I’m so lazydoodles all the time. I’ve suggested to them several times to go to work while I stay home and hibernate, since they have a lot more drive than I ever will. Hahaha.

Yoshi asks: Mommy, were Bootsie and I riots today? And I told him: Oh, you and Bootsie were more than riots today - you guys were absolutely epic.

Bottomless Bricks

2011-11-22T22:46:00.001+08:00

One of the things I love most about my office is that we have a lot of CSR activities. I try to volunteer as often as I can. The last one this weekend was for Habitat for Humanity.

I've always admired the H4H principle way back when I was still with the Ayala group. Even back then I already made up my mind that I will spend the rest of my post-retirement life volunteering in H4H or some other similar organization. One of the MWC directors used to head it, and one of my friends in SM was also supposed to move there if not for some last-minute hitches. I like that the houses are not dole-outs - the recipients pay for it, and their payment is in turn used to build more houses for more people. Perfect execution of the whole concept of paying it forward, isn't it? I also like that H4H doesn't just build houses - it also tries to make the communities sustainable by giving the people sources of livelihood right in the area.

I just had to bring Ches along to the build. This is right up his alley. One of the things I love most about him is that he is absolutely The Most Giving Person I Know. In college he made sure to donate blood every three months or so, and would reply even to random requests for blood donation that he would see posted in waiting sheds or anywhere. Even in high school he was already spending days in Pampanga to help the Pinatubo victims, and volunteering with PPCRV in several elections. At the Ondoy drive in Malacanang, he was tireless carrying sacks upon sacks of relief goods to the trucks, that the bosses even had to tell him to rest up and take breaks. Bcoz of Ches, I learned to step up in my volunteer activities.

(And bcoz of me, Ches learned to ... wear funky clothes. HAHAHA. Yes, I thought long and hard about what good influence I could possibly have had on him, and unfortunately fashion seems to be the whole length and extent of it. Gee, a woman of so much depth and substance. Hahaha.)

The tasks assigned to us at the build were sandbagging and brick-hauling. Shoveling sand into sacks was easy enough, especially since they were short of sacks so we had to wait till the guys made a trip back from dumping the sand we packed on the other side of the construction area before we could shovel again. We had rest periods in between and had to contend only with the sun bearing down on us and the dust everywhere.

The brick-hauling, tho, was another matter altogether. We passed one concrete hollow block after another in a line until we finished what looked like an entire skyscraper when we started. I called it The Bottomless Bricks bcoz it was like we've spent hours lugging the things around without making any dent in the pile. The H4H engineer in charge at the site told us we hauled a total of 1,000 bricks which can build up to ten homes for ten families. Not bad, huh.

Suffice it to say that it was painful to even hold my arms up to wear a shirt the next day, until today. But I'm not complaining bcoz that goes against the whole essence of volunteerism, right? So, no, I'm not complaining. Note to self. Hahaha.

Besides, Ches and I were talking about how we had to do this only for a couple of hours, while construction workers have to be at it, literally breaking their backs, every single day. So we had no right to complain, really. None at all. We were also kind of sad bcoz we looked at the houses that were already built, and they were no bigger than our bedroom. Sigh.

And that is why we volunteer.

Mall Joys

2011-11-21T22:17:00.002+08:00

SM claims to have it all, but I found two things in Rustan's that are so not in SM.

Omigosh. It's Jared Leto, my crush since My So-Called Life in college. I went absolutely crazy for his character there - brooding, intense, and just a little bit heartless. Kind of like his character again in Requiem for a Dream. He is also the vocalist of 30 Seconds to Mars. How infinitely hot and cool is this guy? Sigh. Now you know after whom I named little Noah Jared.

(Noah was Ches' contribution, while I fought hard to have Jared in there, too. Haha. Same thing with Ethan Joshua. Ethan after Ethan Hawke. Ches gets our kids' names from the Bible, I get mine from ... Hollywood. Ominous, huh. Hahaha.)

Will you look at these beauties. Rustan's sells authentic Cath Kidston toiletries. Not quite the bags and accessories that I'm insane over, but it's still heartening to know that I now have authentic Cath Kidston stuff within reach. The bags and accessories couldn't be so far behind, right? Go get them already, Rustans! I have total faith in you. Spare me all the trouble of having to buy online all the way from the UK, and waiting for my goodies for a full month without any guarantee that the people in customs or post office or wherever will deliver them to me unmolested. Haha.

All Set for The Season

2011-11-20T23:32:00.007+08:00

I consider it part of my mommy duties to dress up our little home for Christmas. I feel that it's the least we can do to show Jesus we are grateful for all the blessings we receive, to welcome Him into our home and prepare it the best way we know how. It also makes us all so happy to see our house all lit up, merry and bright.

As in previous years I recycled our decor and just spiced things up with some additions. This is my favorite of my new buys from Dapitan. It's so pilgrims. If you were a country fanatic like me, you would know that there's an entire universe of loveliness to be found in all things pilgrims. I love that the dove symbolizes peace, too, which is surely more important than all the other shallow trappings of the holidays. Plus, Ches says it reminds him of Penelope, the dove that Randy, Kai, and I slaved over thru a whole night of sleep-over at my house, and which was APSM's lantern when we joined the Lantern Parade the following day. He is so right, as usual.

I also have two new Frosty, one from my friend N in SM and another from Dapitan. Kind of phony to have snowmen this side of the Third World, but I like them bcoz they look so happy. Haha.

Aren't these moose so quirky? They have long, satin pants that dangle in their sitting position. I like.

This is how our credenza and dining table look this year. Good enough for noche buena, right?

Another favorite new buy. This Christmas tree dress is so lovely. The applique is perfectly country, too. Sigh.

Yet another new favorite. Wooden decors are a lot more expensive than the usual stuff made of resin, but they look so much better and wear out so well after years and years. In the end they are so worth the higher price.

I couldn't resist buying another Christmas sock in Greenhills bcoz it made me think of pilgrims again. So simple and yet so exquisite.

This is how the stairs area ended up with the additions. Nice, huh.

I got another wooden Santa for the washroom door. I like that here he looks old and wise and poor, more like the saint he is rather than the symbol of gifts he has been distorted to be in the commercialized Christmas we have come to know. (Self-righteously says the girl who is not at all materialistic. HAHAHA.)

Of course, I wasn't about to forget to bring out my Hello Kitty tree. This year I added my Hello Kitty buttons and even the Kitty clips from Pie and some Kitty freebies from the boys' cereal boxes. Haha. I put bears all around the base. Happiness.

How lovely are these Christmas decor? I've actually had these from way back but I don't think I found a place for them last year. I lucked out on these babies in Greenhills. There's Beauty and The Beast, Ariel and Bambi, The Lady and The Tramp, Sylvester, Scooby Doo and Tazz. Coolness.

This part of our home is clearly dedicated to the child in each of us. Haha.

I also brought out some of my old poinsettias (pink, of course) and my collection of Christmas plates. The nice blue soup mugs and saucers are Randy's gifts to the two boys. So precious.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Happy birthday, Jesus!

Happy List 37

2011-11-19T23:53:00.004+08:00

1. Endless free delights from my boys – Yoshi and Bootsie singing all these songs from True Jackson VP, Victorious, Big Time Rush, and iCarly; Bootsie making up crazy words like ‘please-adadoo’; Ches bringing me yummy goodies like milk tea, nuts, and pastries every week without fail, something he’s been doing for me for close to 20 years already. I so lucked out on my three boys, didn’t I?

2. MIB’s Omakase treat to the whole gang for my birthday. It was supposed to be my treat, I was ordering all these food for everyone and stuff, but he literally snatched the bill from me. Aaargh. It was really embarrassing, but sweet, too. We love MIB. He also went out of his way to solve these issues that I raised about this project that I thought was being mismanaged, and to appreciate my work on these long-winded, controversial cases that has everyone up in arms as usual. MIB alone is already so worth giving up my SM hefty paycheck for.

3. A birthday gift from my favorite owner next to MIB – an extended battery for my BlackBerry that he said he even ordered online. Haha. Practical and techie, not my usual girly girl stuff, but it’s the thought, right?

4. Cleaning up the boys’ toy cabinet and coming up with bags of toys to give away to charity this Christmas. It is always so tiring to fix the thing – it is the most massive piece of furniture at home, and it doesn’t even fit all of the boys’ toys - but it is something that makes me happy to do on a regular basis bcoz I’m OC about keeping my home spotless and everything in its proper place, and I just have to know exactly what’s inside every darned drawer and cabinet in the entire house. I don’t give a hoot about the cooking and laundry and stuff and can leave all of that to Ate Ann, but the cleaning is something I have to do with my own bare hands. It’s a sickness, I know. Groan.

5. Board meetings of one of our subs whose CEO petrifies me bcoz he’s so fierce, but I’m happy attending the meetings bcoz he has all these brilliant ideas, like using real-life testimonies of window washers and a haleya mixer for a new TV commercial. It’s also amazing that his ethical standards have not wavered despite the competition, and to this day they still don’t send doctors to trips the way all other pharma companies do.

6. KFC Zinger Double Down fully loaded meal. Spicy crispy cheap fried chicken all you want goodness.

7. Hot Flops slippers with giant funky trinkets for all five of us at home. You can’t help but be happy when you wear something as wacky as these.

8. A new pair of pink-trimmed gray Adidas from Ches. It’s his way of getting me to run with him more often. Or so he thinks. Everyone is entitled to his own illusions, I guess. Haha. (I love you, Chestnuts!)

9. Dinner at Fish and Co. with Ches. This was one of my favorite places in MoA. T and I love the soft shell crab salad. The chowder and fish fillet are my other favorites, of course.

10. The award-winning supreme brazo bars by Ces Lopez. I like only the original version, tho, bcoz it’s the only sweet one. The other flavors with walnuts and pistachios and stuff are not sweet enough for me. (What’s the point of being a dessert if you’re not sweet? Kung hindi ka matamis, hindi ka tunay na dessert – isa kang mapagpanggap na ulam. Hahaha.)

11. My give-it-all-out, lung-busting duets with Yosh on songs like All I Want For Christmas Is You, Wherever You Will Go, How To Save A Life, Two Is Better Than One. Yoshi’s got all the talent – all I contribute is the theatrics. Haha.

12. Lunch at DiMark’s with the Legal girls and boy, then dessert of Amber’s pichi pichi after. We all laugh so hard about every little thing, we end up so late getting back to the office.

13. Prof. Pangalangan’s Inquirer column. He was my teacher in Consti Law 1 and he was good even then, but somehow I like him so much better as a columnist. Haha. His last piece about the GMA travel issue was brilliant. I so agree with him – it all boils down to common sense. (Come on, people! Until when are you going to let that family make fools of you?! And Mr. President, could you please for once do something fast and correctly the first time? Where is it written that you have to bungle everything first before you get it right? Aaargh.)

14. Debating the merits of the GMA travel issue with Rommel. He was one of my first friends in MWC and I’m glad we’re in touch until now. On top of being a dog lover, techie, and incurable romantic, that guy also always has something to say about all the burning issues of the day. We’re usually on different sides of the fence, but that’s ok coz that actually makes it more fun. Haha. (What I can’t stand are people who have no political convictions at all or, worse, do not even bother to read up on current events.)

15. Seeing the SM marching band and hearing them play the SM theme while Ches and I were in The Block. I dunno if it's the same band as the one in MoA, but I suddenly got all senti and actually ended up crying right there. Ches could not believe his eyes. Haha. Despite all my trauma from working there, I don't deny that I had a good life there before certain people got into the picture. I was able to put in place their whole corporate governance system that they use to this day and that was fulfilling, I made good friends there, and the big bosses, in all fairness, put up a fight for me till the end. I love my current job without qualification, but I do still miss MoA all the time.

16. Working so close to home, a blessing I appreciate even more around this time of the year before Christmas when there is massive traffic everywhere. I get stuck in traffic, too, in QC, but nothing compared to what I had to endure when I was still working in Makati, the Fort, and worst, MoA. (Thank you, Lord.)

17. Late dinner at Mexican Express with the boys. We all pig out on the yummy nachos, chimichanga, cheesedog wrap, raspberry iced teas. One of the things we love best about our home is its location – we can go out at any given time and find something good to eat somewhere near.

Brought To You By The Letter D

2011-11-18T22:59:00.002+08:00

This blog is inspired by Ches' birthday gift to me - a giant purple and white polka-dotted suitcase from Kamiseta. Isn't it such a winner? It's prettiness and practicality combined. It's exactly what I need, too, bcoz the size is perfect for short trips with our entire family, and we won't have to be lugging around two or more of my smaller Hello Kitty luggages anymore. And bcoz of the funky print and color, you so wouldn't miss it in the conveyor belt. Haha. (Thank you, Chestnuts. You are perfect everyday.)

I've always loved polka dots, even as a little girl. Fast forward to old age, and I now have literally 60 million polka dots in my closet. Haha.

You know what these lovely polka-dotted tops all have in common? They are all from Kamiseta. Ate and I are obsessed with Kamiseta. It's My Absolute Favorite Store. I've been a fan since high school. I would save up my allowance just to be able to buy the lovely clothes. Even now it's one of the stores I can always rely on for a quick happiness fix and where I would buy stuff on a regular basis even when they're not on sale. Sigh. Enduring love affairs.

I also have several polka-dotted dresses. The first is my favorite dress from Zara, the second is from Promod, the two in the middle are from Mango, and the last is from Apple and Eve.

More polka dot goodness. Tops from Forever 21 and Apple and Eve, skirts from Theme, leggings from Kids of Bayo. I love.

In addition to clothes, I also have 60 million polka dots in my undies drawer, but posting pictures of them would take 'oversharing' to a whole new level, right? Besides, Ches will kill me first before I can upload anything. Hahaha.

It's my beloved Cath Kidston polka dot bag, part of what Thom brought home for me from the US. I use it every weekend and it's like it doesn't get old. How lovely is this bag? The rolled up belt is one of my happiest finds from Rustan's kids' department. I use it with my oh so formal lawyer suits to add joy to my otherwise boring work life. Haha. The blue and pink combination is one of my favorite mixes in anything.

Another lovely polka-dotted gift from Chestnuts. He got it from Linea Italia. It looks all tough and fierce, but it's actually quite comfy and doesn't hurt at all even if I've worn it all day. I guess this is why we pay a premium for shoes made in Italy. (I had another pink and white polka dot pair from CMG, but I gave that away to Roxy, who choreographed our Lady Gaga stunt at the Christmas party, borrowed it for the dance, and loved it.)

Lovely polka dot cans from Hello Kitty and Barbie. And just in case you're wondering what's inside them, the Kitty contains - what else - my trove of Kitty treasures, while the Barbie contains my cosmetics.

I love this flannel blanket. It is not only so pretty, but also so soft and cozy. I love it almost as much as my Kitty blankies. Haha. (It kind of looks like the Theme polka dot skirt, right? Funny.)

I have polka dots even in the kitchen! And I don't even cook. My only role in the area is to eat. Haha.

The Latest Stunts

2011-11-16T23:37:00.001+08:00

I was emailing Ate about Yoshi's stunt at the UN program in school last month. All the rest of his Grade 2 class prepared a dance, but Yoshi was not about to join that. Instead, he volunteered to sing solo. Gasp.

Ches and I asked him, is this in front of the whole school? And he replied, calm as you please: yes. Unbelievable the things my kids set their minds to. He asked me to print the lyrics to this long song from Victorious and spent a few minutes that night memorizing the thing. It reminded me of that time when May was just a little girl and she volunteered to play the piano in a school program - and before that she has never even had a single piano lesson! Hahaha. Imagine the distress of Jon and Malen. Sigh, parenthood.

Yosh did not proceed with the solo song number tho. Ches and I were all excited to ask him how it went, but then he said he didn't do it, and when we asked why he simply said: I changed my mind. Just like that. This boy is a complete mystery to me, I swear. I don't know where he gets all his confidence and self-assurance. I'm just thankful he has it. And also a little bit scared. Haha.

The other night he asked me what 'matakaw' was in English. So I said all properly, 'voracious', and then he asked me how to spell it. After a while he showed me another of his artworks, something like a kite this time. On one side, he put 'Daddy' and a drawing of an iPad and the words 'good', 'strong', 'brave', and 'I'm not scared of' (hahaha). On the other side, he wrote 'Mommy', drew a PSP, and wrote maldita, 'pretty', 'rich', and 'voracious'. I told him: gee, thanks, Yosh, I teach you English and spelling and you use the exact word against me. I also asked him why he thinks I'm rich, and he said: Bcoz you buy us a lot of food all the time. HAHAHA.

Yoshi also has this habit of quietly listening in to my and Ches' conversations, and as soon as he gets an opening he joins in with the perfect punchline. Say I'm talking a mile a minute as usual, bitching to Ches about one thing or the other, and when I finish, Yosh would say, with hand gestures and everything: Tama! Magaling! Palakpak! HAHAHA. I told the Legal girls about it and they died laughing. It has become our little private joke in the office.

Bootsie has his own stunts, too. On our first night in Coron, he regaled us with bedtime stories about this little girl named Carrot and another one named Jewel, who in one version was 'killed by Tito Reggie'. Hahaha. He's such a riot. Infinitely more entertaining than the TV.

On our flight back, we sat beside each other in the plane and he asked me to help him with this silly game called Bug Rush or something in the iPad. After a while he said, 'Let me look for something easier for you.' And he proceeds to show me how to play Fruit Ninja or something, where the only point of the game as far as I could see was to slice as many fruits as fast as you can. Bootsie had to look for something easier for me?! Like I didn't even have the ability to squash stupid bugs by merely tapping on the screen?!

I told Ches, you need to start teaching your sons to respect me. He smirks and I know exactly what he's thinking: respect is earned, not taught.

Groan.

Noah Turns Four

2011-11-14T23:55:00.001+08:00

It was Bootsie's birthday today. I took a leave to make the most of the occasion. Ches, Yoshi, and I prepared some gifts for him that we gave the minute he woke up. We got him Megablocks (my kids are obsessed with these block things and take out their Legos like everyday), a huge doctor's kit (Boots has consistently maintained he wants to be a doctor, altho at Raffee's kiddie party he told the party host he wants to be a model hahaha), and a new Woody costume (which of course he promptly got into).

Ate Ann and I also went to his school to bring snacks for his class. His classmates sang for him and gave him gifts, and Teacher Mae prepared games and prizes for them. The little boy was so happy. He kept running to me and giving me tight hugs and telling me, 'This is the best party ever!', and announcing to his classmates, 'I love my Mommy!' Owww. One of my favorite things about my boys is that they are so grateful. Like Ches and me, they both have low thresholds for happiness, and all it takes is for you to show up and they are eternally thanking you.

Even Bootsie's classmates gave me group hugs. They also lined up to have their clothes changed by Ate Ann whom they've only ever met that day. Hahaha. They're so sweet. I don't remember Yoshi's pre-school class being so clingy.

In his report card, Teacher Mae wrote that Noah is the most well-adjusted student in class. She also told me that he is so well-behaved, obedient, giving to his classmates. My eyes grew as big as saucers. I had to ask her several times, you're talking about Noah, right? Hahaha. We love Bootsie exactly the way he is, but let's be honest here - behaved, obedient, and generous are not words that we use to describe him at home. Hahaha. Two areas that 'need follow up' in his report card are in coloring within the lines and singing nursery rhymes. Ches and I burst out laughing over that last bit. Well, clearly our son was not going to be caught dead singing nursery rhymes, bcoz, hello, he sings entire Beatles and Eraserheads songs. Hahaha.

At night, Lolo brought a huge birthday cake, Ches ordered Chicken Bon Chon, and Ate Ann made carbonara. The birthday boy clearly went to sleep happy. We all did. That's the whole essence of my and Ches' existence, after all - to make our babies happy.

The Signs

2011-11-13T23:10:00.001+08:00

As in any trip, I went around reading signs in Coron. I got some really good ones that deserve an entire blog altogether.

This was at an open space behind Kakawayanan Grill, with the ruins of what seemed like an old house. 'Intramuros Boy' had the right idea using the monicker in such a setting, but 'no gots, no glory'? Maybe he meant 'goats'. Or 'Goth'. Amazing how a lot of people go to the extent of painting entire walls without bothering to check the spelling. Haha.

At a souvenir shop in town. This is a common mistake I see even in high-end shops. Close tayo pag Sunday, pero the rest of the week galit galit. Haha.

On a trike parked at the foot of Mount Tapyas. I think these are witty names for two daughters. (Altho I took this pix just to be able to tease Robby, actually. Haha.)

I love this sign. Compliant with the Anti-Epal Bill before it is even passed into law. The name of the politician is still there, but at least no annoying smiling face, and it speaks the truth: the project is paid for by taxpayers. That's what these friggin politicians hide all the time, and make like they paid for the project with their own money. Grr.

(On our way to Park N Fly we saw a funeral procession with huge tarps on the jeeps carrying the mourners, with the names and faces of politicians and signs saying stuff like, 'Libreng damayan galing kay Councilor xxx'. Omigosh. Even at an event involving death? If that isn't The Height of Epal.)

What made the climb to Mount Tapyas a bit easier was all the signs engraved on the steps. This one is too funny. Bilib kame sa yo, Koya.

Somebody knew Jewel The Maldita was on her way to Mount Tapyas and had this sign put up to welcome me. Eycee said for me to cover the M but Ches and Yoshi said, no, it's perfect, bcoz the M stands for Maldita. HAHAHA.

I dunno if there is actually a lake in LA, but in Kayangan there sure is.

The happiest out of all the signs I saw. The whole of the mythical Kayangan Lake is owned by the Tagbanua tribe by virtue of the Indigenous People's Rights Law, which just happened to be one of the major laws being debated on while I was in law school. When someone asks me if the law ever works in the Philippines, finally, finally, I can point to this one case where it actually did.

On top of all its wondrous beauty and mystic charm, Coron is also breastfeeding-friendly. It's the only local airport I've seen with a breastfeeding station. How cool is this place? Ok, now I know exactly where to go for vacation after I give birth again and have to lug around my nursing baby. Haha.

\

Coron

2011-11-13T22:28:00.001+08:00

The best description of Coron came from Roy, our island tour guide: from afar it looks like nothing, just a bunch of trees and rock formations, but there is so much beauty within it when you get close. (Ok, he didn't say it quite like that, but that was the message. Haha.)

We all fell in love with the place the minute we saw the view from our hotel. We stayed at Coron Gateway Hotel, so aptly named bcoz it is literally on the doorstep of the port leading to the islands. Easily The Newest and Best Located among all the hotels we saw. We loved our suite bcoz it was big and clean, and the bathroom was almost as big as a small room in a three-star in HK or Sinagapore. The tub was big enough to fit all six of us! Haha.

We had lunch at Kakawayanan Grill first thing. Anji and Thina (who of course have been to Coron before) had recommended it, and Eycee also read good reviews about it. Eycee spent her entire sembreak arranging our trip - everything from the tours, restos, transpo. She regularly chatted up with this travel agent who spoke snooty English, and even became textmates with a trike driver before we even set foot in the island! Hahaha. We called her 'tripadvisor.com' during the entire trip. I told her the best thing about her offering her services for free to all of us like this is, if anything went wrong, we knew what to do: blame Eycee. Hahaha. I love this girl. She made sure to look for shallow, sandy beaches for my boys, too. Owww.

Kakawayanan reminded Ches and me of Ka Lui's in Puerto Princesa, altho lower-end. The food was good and cheap - we all loved the sizzling pork and seafoods, kangkong with bagoong, and for the boys, fish fillet and crispy kangkong.

Late afternoon we climbed Mount Tapyas. Yes, all 724 steps leading up to the top. Ches and I were like, this is like scaling The Great Wall all over again. Haha. And he was carrying Bootsie, too, on the last quarter of the way. The view was so worth it, tho. Actually it was already looking great from the first 100 steps alone and I so could've stopped there, I swear, me the Miss Lazy and Non-Achiever. But I've found that in the end it takes less effort to just go along with what everyone else wants than to have to explain all the time why I can't just be normal. Haha.

The best thing after Mount Tapyas is a dip in Maquinit Hot Springs. I heard everyone making A Big Deal out of it being too hot, and how you should dip your feet in first and work your way up and all that. Ches was like, this is nothing compared to the blistering showers you like to take everyday! I know. I'm The Queen of The Hot Bath. Hence, I was so there in the hot springs the minute I changed into my swim gear. Haha.

We went back to the hotel in time for dinner. They served crabs, chicken, pasta, soup, and pastries at the buffet. We almost didn't wanna get up anymore and slurped up all the yummy soup and crabs we could ever want. Haha.

The next day, our first stop for our island tour was Siete Pecados, so named after the seven small rock formations in the area. We spent about an hour there snorkeling. Or they snorkeled, while I took pictures. Haha. The boys had so much fun here feeding the fish. They went down the boat, too, and didn't wanna be left out of all the action. Good thing Ches is adventurous, bcoz I'm so not. Haha.

This was followed by my favorite out of all the sites we visited - Kayangan Lake. I think the way there is the most pictured site in Coron, in magazines, postcards and stuff - all huge limestones, trees, green waters. I love this picture that I took of Robert and Eycee as we were navigating our way to the lake. It's so perfect, isn't it?

It's one of those places where there are no words good enough to describe its beauty. To go to the lake itself you have to climb up a steep hill, and down again, but the sight that awaits you is just magical. And the best part - the whole area is owned by the Tagbanua tribe under the IPRA. Finally, a law that worked, or at least in this one instance.

On our way back, Roy showed us a cave that looked all creepy even in broad daylight. Of course, our resident Batman wasted no time going in for a pose.

Our next stop was the happiest, for me bcoz it was time for lunch, and for the boys bcoz we were finally in a shallow, sandy beach (it was called Banol Beach) where they could frolic all they want. Lunch was the catch of the day, freshly-cooked by Alvin the boat owner and captain - two big broiled fishes, prawns, and crabs. We also had ensaladang talong with itlog na maalat. So, so yummy, and for me the best meal of the trip. But I also missed our island hopping in Puerto Princesa bcoz there our tour guide barbecued liempo for us. Haha. I was just dying for liempo during this lunch. I was actually snooping at the picnic spreads in the other huts in search of liempo. I'm so PG, I know. I'm glad Yoshi, Robert, and Eycee are also carnivorous, bcoz I usually don't get any sympathy from Ches when it comes to bad food. Haha.

We went to CYC beach next, another favorite of the boys bcoz it was a lot like Boracay - still shallow even so far out into the water. There was also a mangrove in the area, and tall, thick trees. A monkey dropped by to say hello just as we were taking pictures. The whole place is wild and untouched like that.

The last part of our island tour was The Twin Lagoon, so-called bcoz the two bodies of water are separated by a massive wall of stone. One is totally encased and to get to it you have to swim under this small opening that disappears altogether during high tide, at which times you can climb up a small ladder and jump to the other side. Only Robert and Eycee were brave enough to go. Ches had to stay with the boys close to the boat, while I was happy just being surrounded by the massive limestones. They are so majestic, and at the same time so scary bcoz every little edge is sharp and jagged.

It was back to the hotel after that. The buffet had different dishes of pasta, chicken, and soup this time, plus fish and fruit salad. I loved the fish, but we also missed the soup and crabs of the night before. Haha. We walked around after, and ended up having pecan pie, sansrival, iced coffees, and fruit teas at this place called Coronyzy Coffee and Tea. The drinks were so-so (nothing compared to Moon Leaf haha), but the cakes were really good. I was eating them all the way to the airport on our flight back. Haha.

Our flight was moved up, so on our last day we had time just to go to the market and buy danggit and lamayo. JJ our land tour guide took us to a souvenir shop but there was nothing that caught our interest. The cashew was not a good buy like in Puerto Princesa (Ches said it's the same price in Antipolo) so we got just a bit to have a taste of Coron cashew.

We also got to try Coron Bistro, another must-go from Eycee's guru list. It's an artsy fartsy place owned by a foreigner and that served yummy food. We unanimously loved the French bread, and I loved the sausage, while Ches enjoyed the brewed coffee.

Coron was definitely The Biggest Adventure we had all year. If you're looking for a vacation where you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the view - this is so not it. Haha. Here you have to be climbing majorly steep steps, balancing on rickety wooden ledges lest you fall into the deep, dodging saltwater spraying hard on your face even when you're just riding the boat. Not an easy feat for my little family considering that only Ches is the daring and athletic one out of the four of us. Well, Bootsie, too, actually, but he's still a baby for the most part. It was Yoshi that surprised me bcoz now he dared to do everything where before he was just this scaredy cat. Me, I'm lazy and clumsy to begin with, but on top of that I also had a cut on my foot from the hot springs, plus I was having another major battle with skin asthma, and for three straight days leading up to the trip I had a horrible case of flu. I infected Bootsie, too, and he was feverish the day before. But the two of us got well on the day of our flight, we all had major, major fun, and I was so proud of all of us.

This was also our first time to travel with Robert and Eycee. Ches and I love these two like our own siblings. When Eycee issued the invite to us in July or so, I didn't hesitate bcoz we get along so well with them - no issues, no complications - and I knew they won't mind if we bring our kids. They are among our friends who are really good with the boys. (Like Randy, Nico, Babette, Thom, and Rosa too. You can tell if people genuinely love kids or if they're just faking it for the sake of the parents.) When they visit at home they are down on the floor playing board games or building Legos with our kids. When we don't see each other for weeks they'd text that they miss the kids. In Coron, Ches and I had like two extra nannies to babysit the boys.

They're so funny, too. They're not one of those sickeningly sweet couples and are more like bickering siblings half the time. We can talk to them and laugh with them about everything. They're fierce the way only UP peeps can truly be. We know they love us - tantrums, maldita hirit, and all - and we love them back.

They are living proof of why I stand by one principle when it comes to trips: I travel only with people I love.

Moderation Is For Monks

2011-11-08T00:31:00.003+08:00

I collect quotes the way my friends collect Goyards. I love quotes. When I come across ones I like I write them down and make sure to litter my blogs and daily conversation with them as part of my pretense of being The Smart One. Haha.

When I greeted Jon on his birthday and told him again how proud of and happy I am for him that he finally made partner this year, he thanked me and said: Success is more meaningful when the experience is shared with family and dear friends. Whoa. I tell him, ibang-iba ka na talaga, may time ka na mag-Google ng quotable quotes. Hahaha. But he's actually so right, as usual, isn't he?

My birthday cake from Xocolat had this to say in the box:

Don't you just love it? No more guilt about buying too much, eating too much, and all that stuff. Go out and live a lot and not just a little. Isn't that so depraved? Hahaha.

This one is more specific about what you can never have enough of: shoes and dessert.

Chestnuts says when he sees it: That is so you, Jewel.

I know. It's so me I could've written it myself. Hahaha.

Forever 36

2011-11-07T23:09:00.005+08:00

The best thing about having your birthday on a weekday in our office is, you are entitled to go on birthday leave. And so I did just that. The boys and I were still in bed when Dendee dropped by on her way to work to give me their birthday gift. Owww. So sweet. I love that we’re neighbors and can surprise each other with visits anytime.

Yoshi has been spending his whole sembreak hooked on his gadgets (he has a whole slew of laptop, iPad, iPod, PSP, Bloggie – while all I have is my old BlackBerry from the office), so it was Bootsie I played with all morning. He likes to pretend he’s my doctor (using Yoshi’s doctor kit from Ate) and sometimes my ‘killer husband’ (bcoz he ‘kills’ imaginary strangers to protect me). I prefer the latter bcoz I end up getting so many hugs and kisses from him, and he even says, ‘I love you, my gorgeous wife!’ Hahaha. Winner.

It’s always too hard to extricate myself away from my boys, and so even if my appointment at the spa was at 1 PM yet and I was just home all morning doing nothing productive, I was running late by the time I finally got out of the house. It was a lucky thing the cab driver was fast and traffic wasn’t that bad, so I got in The Fort just in time.

This was The Major Gift Certificate at the snooty Neo Day Spa from MIB that I thought I’d redeem and treat myself to on my birthday. It was a full three hours of bliss, all right, but it was also A Big Production Number that included soaking in a jacuzzi sprinkled with Dead Sea minerals, being scrubbed all over with Dead Sea salts, taking a shower, being caked in Dead Sea mud and wrapped in some plastic thing, taking yet another shower, and finally getting the blessed massage. I realized I’m glad I’m not Rich People so I don’t have money to squander on the whole works at my monthly spa visits. I’m just happy with my scrub and massage, thank you. Haha.

I go to MoA to meet up with Ches for our dinner date, but it was still early and he was still at work, and so I ask my former SM secretary Lani to take me out instead. Haha. She has long been bugging me to visit so she can buy me lunch as her promotion treat. I wanted to go to CW which was on the ground floor of OneEcom and where we used to go all the time for the omelette and bacon that was our comfort food. It’s all gone tho and replaced by this new resto I’ve never heard of, and so we go to good old reliable McDo instead.

I so missed Lani. She’s still as feisty and honest as ever. I’m so happy she’s doing even better now with her new boss. (M and I have a term for how everything worked out so well for all of us after our dark ages in SM. Two words: good karma. Haha.)

Ches and I head off to Barbara’s in Intramuros for dinner. He read from reviews that the buffet is good and he knows that the old world is my kind of ambience, and so this is where he took me for my birthday. And he was right – I loved the place. It was grand and ancient and right across San Agustin Church. They also had a cultural show with amazing stunts in the tinikling and pandanggo sa ilaw. The food was too healthy schmealthy for me, tho - i.e., nothing fried and crispy. Haha. I preferred our dinner at La Cocina de Tita Moning a few years back.

When we got home I was surprised by two kinds of cake from Fancy Cakes and three kinds of milk tea from Moon Leaf from Thom. I thank him and he says he’s glad that thru all these years I’ve remained the Jewel of old who is happy with food alone. Oww. Thom does this all the time. What’s there not to love about this guy?

I was in for another surprise in the office the following morning. We were supposed to go out for lunch but MIB was traveling so we moved that to when he gets back. Instead, the girls and Ardo ordered paella and chicken lollipops and Conti’s Mango Bravo - all my favorites.

They even gave me a big bag full of Lays, Ruffles, Doritos, Cheetos, and Snickers – again all my favorites. Of course, Hello Kitty couldn’t be far behind, and she came in the form of a big birthday card where they all wrote heartwarming messages (even Ardo, whom I didn’t expect to have the patience for this kind of thing bcoz he’s male haha), truly personal ones beyond the usual ‘Happy birthday! Take care!’ and stuff.

Omigosh. I didn’t expect this at all. I was gone all of one day and they pull off one of the biggest surprise parties for me in recent memory. Oww. I love my Legal family. All my mentoring and pushing them out into the limelight and fighting for their promotions and awards are so worth it.

The Chairman also gave me a birthday card and an exquisite crucifix that he told me he hand-picked at his family’s recent trip to the Holy Land. Can you believe the people in my office? FZA and JAZA used to email me and talk to me and ask Mon to make sure I was getting fed at board meetings, but the owners in my office now are a whole new level altogether.

In the afternoon we had Kuya MG’s yummy pancit with lechon, pugon pandesal, Amber’s spaghetti, and pichi pichi. It was more than enough to be shared by everyone in our floor, plus the HR girls, and the CFO who is now my favorite executive in the main office since the Chief Internal Auditor has migrated abroad.

Babette also treated me and Regie to brunch at Café Bola. Regie is the man of the hour bcoz he is leaving MWC to be a partner at the law firm of his college friends. At one point, Babette says, ‘So they were putting on the pressure’, at the same time that I say, ‘So kinuyog ka nila’. And I burst out laughing and tease her about speaking too much like the Atenean that she is, much to the humiliation of my UP pedestrian lingo. Hahaha. Babs and Reg are two of my favorite Ateneans and I love hanging out with them bcoz I learn so much from them. They know so much more than I ever bother to read. Hahaha.

Babs also gave me a Hello Kitty photo album, a Hello Kitty Maybelline mascara, and The Loveliest Shawl Ever in pink and with huge flowers. These all came with a card painted with colorful little bags and a long, touching note inside. Oww. I love Babette. On top of her unsinkable spirit, scathing wit, and trademark snootiness, and despite everything that she's going thru, Babs is also a generous and loving friend. She is always on the look-out for The Most Unique Hello Kittys to give to me. She was happy that I didn’t have the Kitty mascara yet and was surprised when I told her I don’t buy cosmetics. (I explained to her, with all the expensive, useless stuff that I buy, something’s gotta give, and one of it is cosmetics. Haha.)

She also used one of her Cath Kidstons (in the lovely English rose print, and she says her other one is the blue birds, one of my favorites in the latest collection) from her in-laws, and I promptly pose with it when we take pictures. Haha.

We also have dinner with our PMS friends at Mercato. Eycee and I have long wanted to go bcoz we’re both Big Foodies. Haha. She, Robert, and Chestnuts all have the famous Big Bob’s burger, Robby has two schubligs, while I have the wagyu paella from this stall manned by Spanish-looking staff, and JFK chicken wings. We also share takoyaki balls, tacos, and Hungarian sausages. Robert also treats us to isaw and a second round of fresh fruit drinks (I also have a giant glass of milk tea, of course), bcoz he found two P500 bills. (Lucky!) Robby buys us gelato in all sorts of glorious flavors – pistachio, Ferrero, Snickers, Reese’s (altho I’m not a peanut butter fan).

The isaw was no great shakes (I guess bcoz we are all from UP and loyal to the isaw there haha), but all the rest of the food was yumminess and happiness combined and this was definitely The Best Food Trip Dinner of The Year. Eycee and I (not to mention the anacondas in our tummies) were so happy that Mercato was not overrated at all. Even if the crowd was thick (despite the bad weather) and we had to wait a while before we could get seats, even if the place was loud like the market it is intended to be and we all smelled of smoke from all the cooking – we all loved the food and we are so going back.

Robert and Eycee also gave me a lovely, green wrap dress from Memo. I love the cut and color and the length (right below the knee) is perfect, too. This was also the first time that Robby has been able to re-join us after his foray into UP Law. I asked why he wasn’t in the Bar Ops and he said he couldn’t miss my birthday dinner. Oww. I love these kids.

Randy came over , too, coz I enticed him with my yummy birthday cake, the famous Oreo chocolate cheesecake from Xocolat. Haha. He said he hopes as we become ancient we also get the wisdom of the ages, like Yoda. And I replied: Yoda? My peg for old age is Madonna – well-preserved and forever slutty. HAHAHA.

This also happened to be the day I finally put up our Christmas décor, so he helped me fix up our home, as usual. Plus, he gave me this lovely necklace with a precious stone, contained in an equally exquisite jewelry case painted with flowers.

Omigosh. And he did all these, too, despite the fact that he’s going thru a bad time. Oww. Randy breaks my heart all the time.

If all birthdays are as happy as this, I so don’t mind getting older every year.

(Many thanks to all who remembered and greeted. Special mention to Jon and Malen who BBMed all the way from KL, Ate Eva and Paula who called, Ate, Bryan, Didoy, and Kaye who all sent long, chatty emails, my two daddies – biological and in-law – who both simply said, ‘Happy birthday! We love you.’ Oww. Surprisingly, The Most Laugh-Out-Loud Greeting came from MIB, who said, ‘Happy birthday! Don’t check your work email!’ HAHAHA.)

The Long-Awaited Long Weekend

2011-11-02T23:31:00.000+08:00

As with everyone else, the boys and I have long been looking forward to the four-day break. Ches and I promised to take the kids to Fun Ranch after school, and so that is the first place we go to on Saturday. Fun Ranch, Active Fun, Enchanted Kingdom, the beach, swimming pools - these are some of the boys' ideas of happiness. (And since I'm perennially vying for Coolest Mom Award I just go along with it and pretend to be having oh so much fun, when I'd really rather stay home curled up in bed with a book and potato chips. Haha.)

They tried all the rides and even rode twice or thrice in their favorites. They both loved the mini-version of the Viking boat from EK. My favorite part of the day was Boots saying over and over: I love this ride! It tickles my tummy and pututoy! Hahaha.

Ches also took us to Garage 88, which serves The Most Giant Burger Ever. It turned out to be a gimmick place that opened only at night, but that was ok bcoz we were there early for dinner, before the beer guzzlers and smokers and whatnot came. The burger was not only big – it was also good. Too much for just the four of us, tho. The boys loved the fish and chips, too.

After Mass on Sunday we have an advanced birthday lunch for me with the whole family (minus Grace who always works too hard) at Bacolod Inasal. Inasal, molo, and batchoy are some of my favorite Pinoy dishes. (I especially love the pwet and liver inasal.) It was Ches who told me all about the bottomless hot choco. Omigosh, it is probably The Best Bottomless Drink Deal Ever. He and Mom almost didn’t wanna get up anymore and just kept getting refills. Haha.

(I love Vada's front toothless smile. I think it gives her so much more character. She was too beautiful when she still had her perfect teeth, and a little bit hard to love. Hahaha. Joke.)

Since we were in QC Circle, we also take the kids to Circle of Fun. It was no great shakes as expected, but at least it was clean and much improved from the last time we were there, and not too crowded after lunch. (These kinds of places always remind me about what Nico, Ches, and I used to joke about in college, how you are not likely to run into Amor and Mina in them. Hahaha. They're filthy rich but we love them.)

The girls liked the ho-hum rides like the carousel and low-flying thingies, while my boys went at it on the bumper cars and tried this new craze where you enter this giant balloon and float on the water. Yoshi described the experience as ‘a dream turned into a nightmare’, bcoz he said he has long been looking forward to it but was scared when he finally got to try it. Haha. Funny Yosh. (Articulate, tho, you gotta admit.) Boots was just cool about it, as usual. About the only thing that Boots ever owned up to being scared of was the Night Safari in Singapore on Halloween. Haha.

(Which other 36-year old celebrates her birthday in a giant Hello Kitty shirt? Hahaha. Don't you just love it, Ate? This is the twin of what I got for you in Bugis.)

I also sweet-talked Ches into taking me to Greenhills, for some serious tiangge shopping for my birthday. Haha. My heart bled at all the fake Cath Kidstons and Hello Kittys that littered the place. I don't get it - how can anyone want to buy and own anything so tacky? They just scream fake fake fake.

Anyways, I got Angry Birds pens for the boys’ Christmas gifts for their classmates, and export overrun Zara shirts. I coveted these plaid polos from Hollister, but they were all in medium and I’m an extra small. Ches kept rolling his eyes and reminding me about his offer to get me the plaid polo from Topshop that I've been coveting. Haha.

Of course, a visit to Greenhills is not complete without the cassava and chocolate cake from A Chocful of Nuts. The boys also like the siopao and siomai from here. Don’t be deceived by the unassuming look of this small store – it sells seriously yummy stuff.

Vada slept over and we had breakfast at McDo. My boys and I are so glad that our neighborhood McDo has re-opened after its renovation. I love McDo. I love the sausage Mc muffin, caramel sundae, filet-o-fish, hash brown, apple pie, and the Happy Meals when the free toys are Hello Kitty (haha).

The whole reason for Vada sleeping over was that we were all going trick or treating at Trinoma. She and Yosh wore their old superhero costumes from Ate, from Bootsie’s superhero party on his second birthday. Bootsie chose his Barney costume over his Robin, tho, which is just as well since the latter is a little tight on him already.

Ches and I were just substantial compliance. He was a cross between Superman and The Man In the Iron Mask. Haha. I wore my Maldita shirt and my snooty skirt from Forever 21, and Yosh lent me his Batman wings. He called my look ‘Miss Maldita Manananggal’. Hahaha.

I was still ready for more action on the fourth day, but old age caught up with me and I had the beginnings of an asthma wheeze by Monday night. So we all stayed home Tuesday instead and I packed for our Coron trip, finished The God of Small Things, and worked on my Christmas gift list. At night we lit candles and said prayers for our departed loved ones.

I was going to put up our Christmas décor but I got lazy as usual and I figured I still have my birthday leave, plus another long weekend next week. And that is followed by more leaves from the office for our Coron junket. Woohoo!

Life is good. Thank you, Lord, for all these glorious vacations.

I Heart Ely

2011-11-01T23:19:00.008+08:00

You are here, there, and everywhere all of a sudden.

I first saw you in a magazine at the salon where I had my haircut. It was a full page ad for Fully Booked, with you strumming a guitar against the backdrop of what looks like someone’s library. Fully Booked + you = culture and art and happiness all rolled into one.

And then you were on a huge billboard in Katips on our way to Jon’s house. A few days after I saw the same billboard near Quezon Av. on my way to Trinoma. And again in the Bench store.

You look all plumped up, more like the Ely of our college years than the slimmed down version in the two reunion concerts. And your hair. In that 80s wave. You are and always were and forever will be coolness and hotness combined.

Just say the word, Ely. Just one word and I’m so leaving everything behind and following you everywhere, to make you coffee or wipe your shoes or draft your talent contracts. I'll do everything and anything at all, Ely. Just for you. Only you.

Happy List 36

2011-10-29T23:03:00.001+08:00

1. Moon Leaf madness. I’m seriously addicted to this milk tea. I need to have it everyday. It’s yet another place where my money goes when it should be headed to the bank. Aaargh. I even exchange jars of C-Lium from the office for tall glasses of Moon Leaf with Thom. Haha.

2. Kettle potato chips from Thina. Owww. I love Kettle potato chips.

3. Red Ribbon empanada and ensaymada from MIB, for our weekly meeting. I’m not exactly a fan of the things, but free food in meetings is always welcome. Haha.

4. Breakfast meeting at Dome, where I had the Croque Madame and giant raspberry iced tea. Yumminess. They also played the coolest songs like Soul Sister, You Gotta Be, and Ides of March that instantly perked me up for the long work day ahead.

5. Lunch meeting at Penang in Shang Mall. Malaysian cuisine is not among my favorites, but I loved the mango sago dessert.

6. The craziest names that Paula and I came up with for Thom’s realty firm. Thom is like our little brother whom we love to tease and boss around all the time. Haha.

7. Foot and hand spa, mani/pedi at Spa 101. The bliss that comes from having your nails soaked, scrubbed, trimmed, and polished is severely underrated.

8. Revel bars and food for the gods from Chestnuts

9. Lunch with Ann at Pancake House. When we have meetings at Eton that last till lunch, Pancake House is our default lunch place. We both love the pan chicken. It’s my favorite fried chicken, I think. And Ann is my favorite lunch mate out of everyone in the office bcoz she’s constantly kind, so stable and reliable. She listens to me and I feel I can trust her with everything. She always acts the adult between the two of us when I’m actually several years older.

10. Hanging out with marketing and advertising peeps when we all troop together to the ASC hearings. I always look forward to gaining new perspectives from colleagues in other areas of the business. Their work is so much more exciting than Legal will ever be. Haha.

11. Lunch meetings at Bon Chon and Ba Noi, this Vietnamese place that served even better pomelo salad and fresh spring rolls than Pho Bac. I also loved the chicken curry dish and the pork chop even if it tasted like your regular Pinoy home-cooked pork chop than anything Vietnamese.

12. Hello Kitty slippers for Ate and me. I got me a Kitty CD case, too. Just bcoz. There never has to be a reason to buy a Kitty.

13. Thom doing all the work in getting me an iPad, my advance Christmas gift for the boys. All I had to do was pay up and hand the gift to the boys. I thank him and tell him he is hands down My Most Reliable Friend Ever and he says: basta ikaw and basta kaya. Owww. I love Thom forever.

14. MIB opening up to me about his disappointments at work, how one owner told him I’m so easy to work with and not at all abrasive (he so doesn’t know me, right? Hahaha), and making this joke about ‘sampalok at yakap’. I almost didn’t have the heart to explain that sampalok is tamarind and the correct word is sampal. HAHAHA. Too cute. The girls died laughing when I told them.

15. Bootsie going around the house singing It’s A Small World, which he learned from school for the UN program. He’s too cute everyday.

16. Yoshi’s exams are finally over!!!

17. The boys teasing me that I’m The Opposite of Annie. Annie is this character in Dibo (the gift dragon) whose traits are best summed up in her little song: I’m Annie, I’m kind, I love to cook. I don’t know who between the boys started the joke that I’m exactly the opposite of Annie. HAHAHA. Riot. I’ve got to admit, tho – they do have a point.

18. Meeting with Top People at Manila Pen, where I didn’t have to talk too much and could quietly enjoy my bagel with salmon and cream cheese, and grapefruit juice. Haha.

19. Yoshi singing stuff from iCarly, Victorious, and Big Time Rush all day. These are his latest obsessions, and they’re all tween shows. While I’m happy that he’s happy, I’m also worried that his tastes have evolved so fast. I kind of want him to stay a little boy and loyal to Justice League and Marvel Heroes forever. Haha.

20. Fishball soup at Toast Box, followed by chocolate cake and pistachio sansrival from Parvati. It was Karen who told me all about Parvati. I never went in before bcoz it just had this small glass case from the outside, and I thought that was all they sold. It turns out they have all kinds of award-winning homemade desserts. Omigosh, it’s sugar heaven. I’m so buying from this place every week now.

21. Karen managing a toxic project and holding her own against Difficult People In The Office while I’m away in my 60 million meetings last week. She’s quiet but tough, confident without being arrogant, and knows how to impose a professional distance while still being warm to the staff. Even Ann and MIB like her. She has exceeded our expectations in the short time she’s been with us. (Go, UP girls! Haha.)

22. A fierce email that I sent to MIB right before the long weekend: I do not appreciate working late and alone on these contracts that they needed to be signed urgently. I tell Ches about these snootiness that I spread all the time in the office and show him the emails to prove my point. He scratches his head and double checks whether I addressed them to the bosses and owners. I think he’s torn between giving me a standing ovation for my sheer audacity, and worrying that I will soon get fired for being way too much. Hahaha. I love me.

With A Little Help From My Friends

2011-10-28T22:01:00.007+08:00

Between Yoshi's nosebleed quarterly exams, Ches and I coming to the difficult decision to let Ate Rhea go bcoz of her family problems, the myriad of office issues that take up all my super snooty powers to resolve - I've been staying sane with a little help from my friends.

I had dinner with Thom, Regie, and Liz. (Too bad Paula couldn't make it, bcoz it was also Ice's exams. Sigh, motherhood.) We had The Most Giant Bento Box Ever at Sumo Sam. Thom was teasing me that the bento box was so meant for me. Haha. Good food, but somehow nothing comes close to Omakase. (Maybe Furusato, Sugi, and Kamameshi, but still not quite.) Reg also brought me two big packs of whole cashews from a recent trip to Vietnam, and Thom gave me Hello Kitty earrings. Owww. I love my MWC friends. Liz tells me about this girl in the office that she's hating, and I ask if she wears colored contacts. She does! Unbelievable. Hahaha.

Ann also got me this fierce wooden bracelet from Boracay, in black, beige, and chocolate brown. I absolutely love it. If I were to go in a store and choose from an array of bracelets, I would get exactly this one.

Rosa emailed me when she found Hello Kitty's long-lost father in the Internet. HAHAHA. Too funny.

Pie also emailed me this:

OMIGOSH. Cath Kidston is opening a store in Bangkok in December. This is absolutely The Best News All Year. Hahaha. I'm so going to Bangkok for the third time just to see Cath Kidston. Within minutes from getting the email from Pie, I was searching for flights and hotels and bugging Eycee to go with me. Hahaha. I'm so there, mark my word.

M and I also got to chat a lot about SM and our new jobs, our old friends and enemies. We lose touch sometimes when things get too busy, but all it takes is one text and we are so back to how we were when we were like The Last Two Friends Standing in SM. I will never forget how she helped me during those dark days when I was flip-flopping between leaving and staying in SM, not only as The Eminent HR Head but more as a friend and elder sister. She is still, hands down, The Most Vicious Friend I Have Ever Had, and I will be the first to admit that I'm scared of her (along with probably the entire population of SM except for the owners hahaha), but I also love her. And I know she loves me back.

Ches and I also had dinner with Robert and Eycee at Friuli Tratoria. This place has been in our neighborhood for the longest time, but we never got around to trying it. The pizza was so good, but the real discovery was the gelato cakes. We are definitely bringing our kids here.

Eycee and I spent the night being obscene and laughing away as usual, while Robert gave us his trademark evil eye. I'm sure I would hear and see a lot more from him if I didn't happen to be nearly as old as his mom. Hahaha. He's so strict, whereas Eycee and I are just so lawless. These two are definitely among Ches' and my favorite friends and couples. They are also so easy to talk to, so not complicated, so devoid of issues -if they wanna see us, they just show up, no questions, no excuses, just there present.

Jon also invited us over for lunch, to celebrate his birthday and brand new Montero (haha). The boys and I loved all of Malen's home-cooked dishes, from the crabs, prawns, rellenong bangus, embotido. If I were a domestic goddess like Malen, I would stop bothering to talk to anyone, I swear. Haha.

Jon also gave me matryoshka dolls from his latest junket (his and Donemark's first as partners) in Russia. Owww. I love dolls. And the ones he gave me are so fabulous and authentic. The boys couldn't get over how the biggest one actually contained six others inside it. Haha.

I love Jon. And Malen, too. And their unfairly good-looking kids. And their lovely house, Zen and minimalist but all warm and homey the way their family is, with the fabulous high ceiling, snooty artwork, and the vast backyard that is the envy of my kids.

Chuchi also texted to say she hates me bcoz I look so sexy in the wedding pix. She's crazy. Hahaha. I tell her, she's still and always will be our Resident Babe Lawyer. I kid you not. She was everyone's crush from APSM to QT. She's the kind of girl you don't wanna be friends with if you're single bcoz she gets all the guys. Haha.

Another friend also exchanged long texts with me over her love dramas. This was a pleasant surprise bcoz I'm not exactly The Love Guru. I can understand why friends would want my advice on career changes - after all, I'm the girl who's already on her fourth job after only a decade of working. Now love on the other hand - Ches is my first and last (but not necessarily only, I like to joke haha), and we've always had it so easy, so I don't really have much to bank on. Anyway, it's always happy when friends trust you with their secrets and dramas, bcoz it affirms that you might have some value added yet left in you, no matter how shallow and selfish you usually are. Haha.

Friends are definitely God's way of saying everything is all good, and life is still too happy to be wasted being tragic. Thank you, Lord, for all my wonderful friends.

The Week That Was

2011-10-24T23:17:00.002+08:00

There was too much drama in the office last week, even by my drama queen standards.

The Major Project that I have been working on since I got there was called off. This time for good, it looks like. Sigh.

I came up with yet another controversial document against Somebody Powerful, and as expected, was called in by the bosses and owners right the following day. No matter - I'm standing by the integrity of my decision.

The niece of one of the drivers drowned in a resort pool where there was no lifeguard on duty. You know how much the resort owner paid up for that young girl's life? One thousand five hundred friggin pesos. I was so mad I was shaking while drafting the demand letter.

On the bright side, I found out that one of the owners called me 'so responsive and conscientious' in an email I wasn't even copied in. Which should mean she wasn't just being showbiz about it, right?

Another owner surprisingly agreed with me on these issues we're facing in Another Thorny Project. It is definitely An Event when this particular owner agrees with me.

Also, this executive who has been pissing me off big time for a couple of weeks now suddenly started behaving. I guess My Strong Allies put some sense and The Fear of Unemployment into her.

And The Kind Boss emailed me on his way to the airport to thank me 'for being so tremendously helpful and responsive since the day you set foot in the office'. Owww. (It's not that I've been working so hard and suddenly transformed into Miss Eager to Please. The only reason these people are being so generous with their praises is that the former GC had Major, Major Issues about turn-around time and the quality of her output. Anyone with half a brain would have smelled good after her.)

We also launched our Most Scathing Ads Ever against this conglomerate that has been bullying us all year. Team Zaccheus finally learns to fight back, tho it was still tame and not nearly feisty enough by my standards. As a result, I have two hearings at the Ad Standards Council this week. I'd normally rather stay in the office and pretend to be busy, but this time I'm actually all psyched up for a showdown.

Of course, MIB has remained my compass and the paragon of sense and ethics when everything else is descending into madness. He easily gets my point and nods within the first three sentences into my long-winded arguments. He listens to all my angst and goes out of his way to encourage me even if he must have a lot of disappointments on his own. He even admitted to making a bad call about this person, and I was like, you don't have to apologize to me, you only own this company. He is, over all, so easy to love.

It's still definitely a happy place, dramas and all.

Our Favorite Tito Weds

2011-10-23T23:05:00.008+08:00

Our favorite Tito Aaron got hitched over weekend. He is my best-loved and most popular in-law, not only to the two boys but to the rest of Chestnut's big clan, bcoz he's just too funny and crazy, definitely a stand-out in an otherwise normal and sensible family. Everybody, even my Mom, says when my kids are being too hyper: nagmana kay Tito Aaron.

He loves my kids, too. He gets down and rough with them, and has goodies for them every week from his trips all over the country for his job. For my kids, the highlight of our Sunday visits to my in-laws is when Tito Aaron finally makes an appearance. For all the rest of us, we look forward every year to Tito Aaron's and Tito Mark's program for the annual family reunion on Christmas Day, where we always end up laughing too hard. (There was even one year when all the grown male cousins, including my very own Chester, came up with this super hilarious dance number. That was The Best Ever. Haha.)

Even the wedding was typical Tito Aaron - unexpected and mind-blowing. He and Tita Jill have been together since their UP college days, and she is already a part of the family. Still, it was a surprise to everyone when he announced they were getting married barely three months before the date. What's more, it was going to be a triple wedding, bcoz Jill and her two sisters decided they wanted to take the plunge all together. They're all crazy, I know. Don't you just love them?

We were together last weekend and I was pestering Tita Jill about the logistics for the ceremony and all the boring details of married life like whether they're going to live in this property they bought in Batangas and all of that. She admitted that they haven't really figured out much beyond their honeymoon in Korea. Hahaha. I've always loved this girl since I first met her I think at my wedding almost ten years ago.

The best part was, Tito Aaron asked Vada to be a flower girl. Owww. I love Tito Aaron. Even Vada adores him and doesn't ever want to stop playing with him when we have family parties. (When Ate found out that Vada was going to be in the entourage, too, in addition to her two boys, she so badly wanted to come but couldn't bcoz of work. Just get a load of the pix, Ate =)

Vada came with Pops. I was so surprised that Pops could actually play the role of babysitter. I don't ever remember him watching over us when we were kids. It was Mom all the way. Hahaha. I guess it's true what they say - grandparenthood brings out a different instinct in you altogether, and gives you a second chance at whatever you may have missed the first time around with your own kids.

The kids were so well-behaved. We were so proud of them. They walked super slowly and wore solemn faces and really savored their time in the red carpet, to deafening applause from fans/relatives. (No, Ate, Boots didn't do The Nazi March. It was actually Tito Aaron who did a Nazi salute during his march with Lolo Ano and Lola Gaya. Unbelievable. Ches said, nagmana kay Bootsie. Hahaha.)

Yoshi had a grand time taking pix of everyone and everything in his Bloggie (as Ate asked him to). I asked Bootsie what his favorite part was and he said: 'eating the lechon skin'. Hahaha. He's my son, no doubt about it. My own favorite parts were the flowers - tulips and stargazers and mums - and the songs - not your traditional mushy ones but stuff like You and Me, Collide and even the strains of Viva La Vida. I also loved Daddy's speech where he said something like, 'You've been lovers for a long time, so Jill, I hope you don't change your mind and return Aaron to us tomorrow'. HAHAHA. I love Daddy. He's actually a lot more scathing in person. Ches is one of the saner members of that family, I tell you.

And now for the pix:

Could you have found better-looking kids for your wedding entourage? Haha.

The proud grandparents with their beloved apos. Yoshi went around calling his grandma 'Lola Imelda' the whole night. Hahaha.

Cousins-in-law and fellow stage moms, as we waited for our kids to march down the aisle. Don't you just love our color blocking?

More pretty cousins. Heidi, Portia, and Jaja are all grown-up. They were barely Bootsie's age when I first met them. (Ches and I are ancient, I know.) These girls (and Tita Kim, too) are obsessed with my kids. I love them.

Papa's favorite girls. (You should've been here, Ate =)

Bootsie loves his pillow.

Vada enjoyed the soup and fondue.

Our little family of love and joy. The boys were so sweet and kept complimenting me for my hair (super shorter than ever) and my dress. It's one of my favorite dresses and I've worn it several times, but this time its invisible zipper thing broke and worried me the whole night. Groan. (Like Ches likes to say: Only you, Jo. It could've happened only to you.) I had a stand-by extra Mango dress in the car just in case, but I really wanted to stick with this one bcoz it's a lot more fabulous. Haha.

With the radiant newly-weds who hopefully will soon be able to give us more little humans to love, made in Seoul and as crazy as our own babies.

This Is The Life

2011-10-19T23:03:00.005+08:00

It’s one of your favorite things to say. Usually uttered when you’re lying on your favorite chair, with your feet dangling on one side, and sucking on your milk bottle while tuned in to Tuff Puppy or some other crazy Nickelodeon show. Or when you’re pigging out on fried rice and some crispy fried fish. Or when we watch videos of your favorite songs on Youtube. It is The Life, indeed.

You also like to say, I’m stressed! And even, I need space! These you say normally when we’re all together in the room or downstairs, and all of us are talking at the same time or looking for some small thing for which we have to turn the place upside down, or you and Kuya are fighting it up, as usual. You would suddenly stand up, cover your ears with your hands, and shout at the top of your lungs: Quiet, you guys! I’m stressed! I need space!

One time I even caught you in the middle of delivering a lecture to Kuya when he was sulking after we scolded him. You were saying: Everyone makes mistakes, Kuya. Even I make mistakes. Yes, all articulate and sensible like that! Spoken like you’re The Wisest Three Year Old Ever (not). Or you tease him when we’re studying while you’re free to just play all day. You go around saying, Ethan has a lot of school projects. Ethan must study and can’t play. You also tease me and call me ‘Miss Kith Cadston’, deliberately mixing it up to get a rise out of me.

You’re A Character, no doubt.

You know all these Big Words, but you’re still a baby thru and thru. I pick you up and carry you all around every time you let me. I’m taking advantage while you’re still at a weight I can carry. I know that by next year or so, you’ll be too heavy for me and that will be The End of My Baby-Lugging Years. (Or at least until the next baby comes along.) I yearn to carry Kuya sometimes when I’m feeling particularly mommyish, but it has become impossible (at 8, he’s already at my shoulder level), and I have to be content pulling him to my lap or squeezing him tightly.

Already we miss how you used to say ‘inee’ for ‘ice cream’, ‘poopoo pie’ for ‘buko pie’, and ‘idea’ for curtain rod (what’s this one all about, Bootsie?). You have gone so fast from being a baby to a pre-schooler, with all your new songs from school, all your stories about Aidan, LJ, Yuri, Ishi, Marthina, and Teachers Mae, Gel and Jere, learning your alphabet and numbers, writing your name. We immensely enjoy all of your new tricks – your action songs that you are always willing to perform for everyone without even the shadow of a bribe, your Invisible Hula Hoop, the march that you have been preparing for Tito Aaron’s wedding that we call The Nazi March bcoz it involves exaggerated hand and leg movements and a salute accompanied by a loud Hel-lo! (Tito Aaron will so die if you actually do this at his wedding.)

You only know one prayer so far. So when I asked you to pray bcoz there was a typhoon, you readily recited: God is good, God is great. Thank you, Lord, for our food today. Amen. You said the same prayer when I got sick after our Bora trip. Or when we went to the US embassy. Haha.

You love being tickled. You don’t even pretend to not like it. You love watching - yes, just watching - this guy you call Bob Taba in Tekken in Kuya's PSP. You are so easy to please and a love whore like me –the two of us so easily LOVE EVERYTHING. One time you woke up on the right side of the bed and declared, I looove this Thomas pillow! And the rest of the morning was all about how you looove that silly pillow. Another time I was dusting off my little teapot set from Vietnam, and we decided to play with it and you kept saying, I looove this teapot toy! Even the funny names that we invent – Sleepadoodads for dad, Tamadoodles for me – never fail to make you dissolve into giggles, no matter how many times we’ve said them, no matter how old they get. (We so need to up our standards and threshold for amazement and joy, Bootsie, lest we betray our real social status. Being picky and hard to please are apparently marks of The Truly Rich.)

Oh but you also exasperate us. All the time. You refused to brush your teeth every friggin night until I Have Had It and locked you in your as yet unoccupied room for a minute or so, a minute you spent in a dark room not being scared as we expected, but kicking the door with all your little might and furiously shouting, Open the door! (One other name we call you by is Angry Bird.) You’re not as tough as you pretend to be tho, bcoz even now The Threat of the Dark Room is still our one effective way of ever making you do or stop doing something.

You were also born with a fierce fashion sense and you never go out of the house without your trademark shades, watch, and cap. They are as much a part of you as your beloved (old, stinky, utterly shameful) blue Hello Kitty pillow. You often insist on wearing your black school shoes or PE sneakers with your weekend attire of jeans and polo, and you know, between mismatched outfits and the 60 million things a poor, lone mommy has to be on top of – this is a battle I am so prepared to let you win, Bootsie. (When I’m too stressed out or lazy or just plain selfish, my default answer to you and Kuya is: Whatever Makes You Happy. I’m just thankful the ‘Whatever’ has never included burning the house down or something like that. Or at least not yet anyway. Groan.)

You are also infamous for throwing The Mother of All Tantrums. At the most perfect times like when we’re fielding questions from the American consul guy during our US visa interview. Plus pooping 9 out of 10 times when we're out of the house. And somehow everyday for you is Fight Kuya Day. Whatever it is that Kuya is playing with, you want for yourself. Whatever it is that Kuya wants to watch on TV, you will have none of it. Kuya could just be sitting there writing one of his stories and being His Good Self, and you would find some reason to fight him up. (We so lucked out on Kuya, Bootsie, bcoz he gives way to you. All the time.)

For the most part we just let you be, bcoz you’re only three, after all, and still in that level of cuteness that makes everything you do forgiveable. (When you’re a little bit older and no longer as cute, then we can send you to jail. Haha.) And in the end, it’s all these little things – your adult statements, song and dance routines, fierce independence, the hair that just refuses to be combed down, your 60 million unanswerable questions – that make you so perfect everyday.

Last weekend, I forgot to pretend that I was scared of the underpasses along EDSA (a game we’ve had since you were a baby), but you didn’t forget and you held my hand, anyway, bcoz it was always your job to protect me from what we called The Dark Tunnel. Before I went to Singapore, Daddy told you (only half-jokingly?) that with me gone, it was your perfect chance to look for another mommy. You followed me downstairs where I went to get water and solemnly told me, I don’t want another mommy. You’re the best mommy for me.

Owww.

Thank you, Bootsie, for loving me the way only you know how – loyally, fiercely, without judgment or question. I love you, too. I'm absolutely, insanely, boundlessly in love with you. You turn four in a couple of weeks, but be my baby for a little bit longer. Please.

Happy List 35

2011-10-17T23:00:00.002+08:00

1. A trip to National Bookstore on a rainy weekend, to buy stuff for Yoshi’s projects and school supplies for Bootsie. National Bookstore is one of the few remaining stores where your P100 still goes a long way. And it has branches in Katips and Q Av near home so we don’t even have to go in a mall. I hate going to malls on weekends and would rather spend the time with my kids somewhere more creative.

2. If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson. Heartbreaking in the way only teen romance novels can be. (Yes, I still read this genre. I gobble them up in one sitting.)

3. Lift by Kelly Corrigan. It’s a long letter from a mommy to her little girls, so they’ll remember how their childhood was when they’re all grown up. Poignant and funny in the way only motherhood can be. So good I finished it in one sleepless night.

4. Luminarc glasses from Gourdo’s, in the blue shade I JUST LOVE. I used to have this Breakfast at Tiffany’s kind of thing with all things homeware – I’d spend hour after hour looking at linen, plates, decor, furniture, at places like Gourdo’s, Living Well, Color and Life, Dimensione, and the home sections of Rustan’s and SM. (Two of my favourite gifts from Ches are the fondue set from Rustan’s and the cupcake set from Gourdo’s.) Of course, I often went beyond window-shopping and ended up actually buying a lot of things. Haha. I think I’ve kicked the habit for the most part, since we had our house renovated and I’ve seen for myself how all the stuff I’ve accumulated just don’t fit anymore in the kitchen cupboards. But I still can’t resist sometimes. Haha.

5. Krispy Kremes from MIB, that everyone but him munches on while we meet and discuss work updates. On hindsight, it was kind of embarrassing that I finished both the Snickers and Oreos donuts in the span of the meeting, in front of the boss who just sipped his tea as usual. Groan.

6. Sharing private jokes with MIB, as well as emails that are clearly not meant to be seen by anyone else in the office, and adjectives that my kids will easily censor as Bad Words. I was also close to my other favorite bosses, but they were more like mentors to me, whereas MIB is more like a friend. Imagine my surprise and joy. Haha. I guess it’s the fact that we’re the in same age bracket. Or maybe he’s just really a cool person. I love MIB. Have I already said that? I love MIB.

7. Another dear friend moving on from MWC. It’s a good company, no doubt, but I’m happy when my friends find something better and with the potential to make them happier. I was also touched that he sought my advice before he came up with The Decision. He’d call and we talked for hours. Owww. I love this guy. (The same thing happened with Lala altho our communication was by email and three-way with Babette. Thom is mad at me that I know about these major, major resignations months before he does and he’s the one in MWC. Haha.)

8. The famous sylvanas from Dumaguete from Karen. Not too sweet, just the right level of soft and crunchy, and over-all so yummy. Better than my favorites from Beard Papa.

9. Butterscotch and barquillos from Iloilo from Anji. I’ve never had staff who were so well-travelled, I’m telling you.

10. Quiet dinner, air time on work dramas, and a lot of hand-holding with my husband at Tokyo Cafe. All the stresses and sadness of life are manageable bcoz Ches is with me everyday.

11. Emailing Ate about every little thing, from Bambi biting Asians to seafood chowder to finding the perfect pair of polka dot tights from Kids of Bayo, to go with my Hello Kitty tutu. (I told you I get a lot of goodies from the kids’ section.) It turns out she has already made a list of all the restos she’s going to bring us to, including the best chowder place near Bryan’s place. Owww. My Ate is just like Ches – she knows exactly how to love me.

12. Amy Winehouse CD from Chestnuts. She was a real talent gone too soon. He also brings me and the boys revel bar, butterscotch, and chicharon from his office tiangge. (I miss the MWC tiangge all of a sudden.)

13. Pro bono and not to mention topnotch legal advice from Jon even if he is all tied up and all the way in KL, about this legal query that I’m working on for a friend. Jon has been ever reliable like this since law school. (I’m not going to say since PolSci bcoz he hardly showed up in class then. We called him The Absentee Heartthrob behind his back. Haha.)

14. Lunch with Karen at Kanin Club after a board meeting. I’ve already gotten a lot of positive feedback about her from the bosses this early in the relationship. To think I thought twice before hiring her bcoz she was from Poveda and I was worried she would be too rich for us. (Haha. Me and my prejudices.) She’s smart, quiet, and conscientious, and I’ve found we also have a lot of things in common – practical husbands who wear their old clothes till kingdom come, love for chunky, funky Nine West shoes and frequent mani-peds, preference for travel over designer bags. Ann et al have been warning us not to go malling together or we will both end up so maxed out. Haha. She’s a health buff tho and a regular gym-goer, so to tease her I order the aligue rice bcoz the menu says it is ‘so worth the extra hour in the gym later’. Hahaha.

15. A visit from Thom to catch up over dinner. He brought me Moon Leaf milk tea (my new obsession courtesy of him) in yet another yummy flavor – wintermelon. I’ve already tried his other recommendations like hakka and tiramisu but I still prefer the caramel bcoz it’s the sweetest. Haha. He brought me and Boots cashews, too. Where would Boots and I get our regular cashew supply when Tito Thom moves to the US? (Don’t go, Enteng ...)

16. Dinner with Ches at Eat and Go. It’s one of the new places in the Atrium. I wanted to try it bcoz their specialty was some English thing called salmon pie. It was no great shakes, tho. I ordered the parmesan-crusted salmon with pasta and veggies, while Ches had one of the pies. I guess I was turned off bcoz the owner furtively scolded his staff when he thought no one was looking. (Hello, Mr. Hotshot Chinese Owner! Even if your food was heavenly and cheap – which it was neither – but you were mean to your employees, I so would not go back to your resto.)

17. That it’s already the middle of October and I’m still filling up these Happy Lists week after week. Sometimes I’d get to Thursday already and would have only like three things listed in my Moleskine, but then one happy thing after another happens, and I end up with a long, long list, anyway. God is truly so generous and good.

TGIW

2011-10-16T23:26:00.003+08:00

Yoshi has this habit of greeting me every Thursday night, ‘TGIF!’ And we clap and squeal and dance around together. Lately tho, even Fridays have become toxic with dramas at work and in the home front. Somehow Fridays are just not enough anymore to cheer me up – I need the entire weekend to do that. So I told Yosh, it’s time to invent a new acronym: TGIW.

Saturday I coerce the boys into going with me to Galleria. I love Galleria bcoz it’s small and manageable, not daunting and overcrowded like the supermalls of that conglomerate. Since I was all stressed, I go on a binge again and buy an obscene number of stuff from Kamiseta, Plains and Prints, Maldita, CMG. I was also eyeing The Most Perfect Plaid Polo Ever from Topshop, as well as yet another vintage floral bag from Aldo. Ches wanted to get them for me for my birthday, but I told him to wait coz I might just find something even more expensive. Hahaha.

I was telling Ches about The Unfairness of It All – how you think bcoz you’ve been working hard then you’re entitled to a shopping spree that doesn’t trigger a guilt attack, but at the end of the month you don’t really get paid any additional moolah for all that extra stress, so you just end up maxed out, as usual. Aaargh. Some politician so needs to get the brilliant idea of requiring stress pay or something like that, similar to overtime pay, given to employees who have to face more than their fair share of work dramas. Sigh.

Anyways, happiness is always more important than money. And in this light I also go and buy cutesie outfits for my nieces at Kids of Bayo and Bayo shoes for my helpers, too. Haha. For the boys, we get shirts, pants, and sneakers, and Yoshi picks a Captain America pencil case while Bootsie refuses to let go of this scary-looking toy called Robot Hand. (Perfect for his violent tendencies. Groan.) For Ches, I buy shorts and shirts from Collezione (the brand that started the whole Philippine flag/map trend).

I started with my Christmas shopping, too, for the 60 million people in my and Ches’ list of people to give gifts to. If you think I start early, you should meet Babette. She is all done with her Christmas shopping by October. Yes, all done. If I were as organized as that I ... wouldn’t be me at all. Haha.

We have dinner at Hyphy’s, a new place in one of the new wings. Its theme is supposed to be San Francisco. Ches loves his steak sandwich, Yoshi gobbles up his fish and chips (one of his staple orders), Bootsie doesn’t like the meat loaf he orders and appropriates my clam chowder, and I end up having a taste of everything plus Bootsie’s meat loaf and the tuyo and calamansi pasta I chose from the menu. (They have tuyo and calamansi in San Francisco?) Omigosh, it is hands down The Best Pasta of The Year. (You so need to make it for us, Regina. Make yourself useful, why don’t you. Hahaha.) Hyphy’s is severely underrated, if you ask me. The food was great, and the price was not all that bad, either, considering. I’m so going back to this place, if only for that pasta.

Sunday we spend mostly studying pandiwa and pang-uri, calyx, pistil and stamen, use of me, mine, you, your, yours – All Majorly Boring Stuff. Ches saves me from slowly and totally dying of boredom by buying us Moon Leaf milk teas. Yum. We also have Haagen Dazs macadamia nut and dulce de leche, which we top with the caramel candies I got from Sugarhouse. We finish two pints in one sitting. They are Sooo Good (as MIB likes to say). No wonder they are Sooo Expensive. Hahaha.

We go to Mass in UP, and it’s all your usual stuff, until the end of the homily when the priest bursts into a complete and perfectly decent version of The Beatles' I Will. How cool was that priest? He so made my day. His surprise production number had the effect of God nudging me and saying: The world is a happy place! Stop wallowing in your little tragedies Right Now.

Ches brilliantly observed that even the priests in UP are progressive. No wonder Rhoel and Andrea love going to Mass there even if it’s not their parish. We usually go in Claret (which is our parish) but last summer we heard Mass in UP all the time coz we got into the habit of walking and running around the campus with the boys after.

This time, Ches’ ulterior motive for bringing me to UP was to get me to jog with him around the acad oval. Groan. It’s tough being married to a work-out junkie, I tell you. He’s always bugging me to do fitness schmitness stuff and I have to think of creative reasons to extricate myself all the time. (My favourite strategy is something entitled Why Can’t You Just Love Me For Who I Am, Secret Fats And All?! HAHAHA.) I agreed to go with him this time, only bcoz he promised to take us to the Chocolate Kiss brunch buffet. Winner. I know, I know - Buffet = Defeats The Whole Purpose of Working Out, but whadahell. Live a little.

Thank you, Lord, for weekends.

Bianca

2011-10-11T23:13:00.004+08:00

It was the Saturday night when we brought Bootsie to St. Luke’s ER bcoz he had on and off fever for a couple of days. (It turned out to be nothing serious, thank God.) There is always some drama that happens in the ER. And bcoz the place is cramped you usually get to hear the whole story in the span of time it takes you to await your turn. I remember the teenagers who had a motorcycle accident and were brought to the Capitol ER when Boots was there for a tummy ache. There was also the man who flat-lined just as the resident on duty was examining my big toe that swelled bcoz of an over-eager pedicurist (?) in House of Glitz. (Me and my big toe issues felt so puny then compared to that poor old man who flat-lined.)

This time, it was a youngish mommy and her little girl, followed by the lola and someone who was like the tito. The mommy’s nose was bleeding and she had gashes on her cheeks, while the little girl also had cuts on her arms. The mommy looked unstable on her feet and was sobbing hysterically. She was promptly put on a stretcher and wheeled away, with the tito following right behind. The little girl stayed with the lola, who was interviewed by the triage nurse. (Later that night, a man and two older girls, who looked like the daddy and sisters of the little girl, arrived. The girls were crying when they left.)

Everyone in the ER was riveted to the story of the lola. It was probably the most live drama each of us had seen in a while. Apparently, what happened was, the mom and girl were walking somewhere in QC, when a guy in a motorcycle ran over the two of them and sped away with the mom’s bag. The mom fainted, and it was a good thing a car was driving past and took her and the little girl in and called their family.

Unbelievable, right? You would think that snatcher would have a little heart in him and choose someone other than a mother and her daughter as his victims. What must that poor girl have thought when she saw her very own mother being violated like that by a stranger in a motorcycle? I just hope she was old enough to understand the concept of fainting, that she didn’t think her mom had gone and died when she lost consciousness. That would be too sad.

It turned out the sadness did not end there. The nurse was filling up the usual forms and asked the girl what her name was. She quietly said, ‘Bianca’. And then the nurse asked when her birthday was. Bianca answered: ‘September 18, 2004’. (Same birthday as my Ate, too.)

And this all happened on September 17. Day before her 7th birthday, a big event of sorts in our culture.

Owww.

My heart bled for that little girl. I couldn’t help thinking that from then on, she’ll remember the trauma of that night every time her birthday approaches, that what’s supposed to be a happy occasion will forever be marred by that tragic incident. The mere thought is unbearable.

I’m praying for you, little Bianca. I'm praying that you’re still young enough to forget this ever happened, that you’ll celebrate many happy birthdays with no memory of that heartless, violent criminal who hurt you and your mommy, and that you will grow safe and strong and still trusting of people.

Happy List 34

2011-10-11T00:33:00.007+08:00

1. Bootsie’s Maldita Comment of The Week, while I’m giving him and Yoshi a bath and I see a scab on Yoshi’s arm and tell him that if there’s anything I want in the whole world, it’s for him to stop scratching himself. Bootsie acts the lawyer again and says: If there’s anything I want in the whole world, it’s for you to stop being maldita. I tell him: You don’t even know what maldita means! And he retorts: Maldita means bad! (Groan. There’s two of them now, against just one little old me. Loser all the way.)

2. Purple Oven revel bars and food for the gods from Ches. Too bad they were all out of lemon bars. The lemon bars are my favorite.

3. Lunch at Pho Hoa in Trinoma where we escape to at the height of Pedring bcoz we had no food and electricity at home, and I needed to charge my celphone and buy my BreadTalk baon for Singapore (weird, huh, bringing BreadTalk in the country it came from). The hot pho with the yummy meatballs, spring rolls, chicken, and fried rice were exactly the comfort food we needed to get us thru the raging storm. We have Blizzards, too, for dessert.

4. Little Happy Things from my Singapore trip: The Script playing in the plane, catching a Glee episode where they sing Soul Sister, the lola who drove me to the airport, the Hello Kitty shirts I got for me and Ate from Bugis, being able to exchange my pesos into SGD right in Changi. (I totally forgot to bring USD and was worried coz we had this traumatic experience in Bangkok where Ches, Yoshi (barely a toddler then) and I had to walk all over in search of a money changer that would accept our pesos in exchange for baht. I should’ve known it would be easy in Singapore bcoz there are only about 60 million Filipinos there. Haha.)

5. A handmade, crayon-happy card from Bootsie, where he wrote ‘I love you, Mom’, waiting for me when I got back from my trip. Owww. My boys are too sweet.

6. Lunch at Kanzhu bcoz I had this craving for their hand-pulled noodles in hot, tangy soup that rainy weekend. Yummy comfort.

7. Moon Leaf milk tea that Ches has been supplying me with for several weeks now bcoz I’m always craving for them. It’s another one of those things that Thom has got me hooked on, like Melona, Gayuma, and Pino.

8. And in one of those Moon Leaf outings, Ches comes across some members of the UP Pep Squad, so then I found out from him that ‘we’ actually won the UAAP cheer dance competition a few weeks back. The boys and I watch them on Youtube and omigosh they are jaw-dropping. (Go, UP! Woohoo!)

9. The Princess and the Pea handmade book plates from Rosa (Thanks, Martha Stewart!). She also posted this blog entitled To The Best Boss I've Ever Had. Owww.

10. Karen, our new lawyer. I liked her best from the six or so applicants I interviewed bcoz she writes well, cited her attention to detail and organizational skills as her strengths, is young, newly-married, lives nearby and looks over-all like the best fit for our little company. MIB liked her bcoz she was from UP, period. (Haha. I love how he compliments me obliquely like that.) She’s actually cum laude, too. And so far, so good. She has been fast and conscientious, quiet and diligent. She’s a Strunk and White follower, not to mention a Bayo, Kamiseta, and Dorothy Perkins shopper. Haha. She reminds me of Robby's tito's criterion for his EA: di bale ng maganda basta matalino. HAHAHA. I tell MIB she’s like Ann and he is mightily pleased. (Ann is like The Benchmark for all good work ethics and ideal office behaviour. I told MIB the same thing about Ardo. If I tell him somebody is like Ann, that does it for him, he knows he no longer has to worry about that staff. Ann is that good. And she got to this position without ever hurting anyone. I love her. I’d so die without her to help me in the office.)

11. A deal going well and looking on its sweet way to finally pushing thru. The best part is the buffet lunch at Circles after gruelling negotiations that take all morning. Haha. I eat plate after plate of sushi, sashimi, steaks, ice cream, and chocolate macadamia cookies. MIB is training for his race in Nepal next month and is supposed to be on a diet, but couldn’t resist when I tell him the strawberry ice cream is Shangri-La’s homemade specialty. Haha.

12. Legal planning in Tower Club. It was good to know we’ve covered most of what we set out to do at the start of the year. MIB is also apparently happy with the team bcoz he orders an entire feast for us – burgers, sausages, risotto balls, fries, and bcoz I ask for desserts he gives us the works – chocolate mousse, crème brulee, soufflé, parfait. (I’m beginning to wonder who tipped him off that the surest way to keep me happy and loyal to the office is to overfeed me everyday. Haha.)

13. Dinner at John and Yoko with Ches. News flash: I actually preferred the wagyu beef he ordered over the salmon I ordered. Haha.

14. Training with Ann at Manila Pen. The speaker was blah and in fact I spent the whole morning dissing him with Jon and telling Jon he so could’ve done a better job (haha). But at least I did get my labor law updates, much-needed in my line of work, and I was happy to know that most of what I remembered from law school is still correct - and hence I’m doing ok and will probably not be thrown in jail anytime soon for dispensing legal advice in the office that I never bother to check first. Haha. Plus there was the Manila Pen snacks and lunch buffet that are always joys. And the pianist playing some of my favorite songs like A Certain Sadness and Tuwing Umuulan at Kapiling Ka. Happiness.

15. Catching up with Rosa over yogurt at Golden Spoon. It was nothing compared to White Hat or Red Mango, but the fun conversation made up for the drab food.

16. Dinner with Robert and Eycee at Roberta’s. I told Ches, we have to see these two already bcoz Eycee has been texting me almost everyday that she misses me. Haha. I know she misses my obscene and scathing humor. I love her. I was also happy that Robert shares my bigotry over this certain group in Philippine society (which I will not name for fear of being stoned). I should’ve known. That guy is so fierce and communist. Hahaha.

17. Gabe’s birthday and dedication. My boys had immense fun, as usual. And it was good to see all the MWC kids again. Dex even got me as ninang, considering I’ve been out of MWC for three years now. Owww. He’s so sweet. I love that he, Beavis, and I have stayed good friends and kept our little threesome.

18. Steve Jobs. Res ipsa loquitor.

Awestruck

2011-10-09T22:38:00.006+08:00

We had our farewell party for Rosa at MIB’s condo before I left for Singapore. Ann made kare-kare and I brought Purple Oven desserts. They served all these other yummy dishes, too, and wine that got me and Ardo all tipsy.

MIB gave me three choices for the party: lunch out, Red Box, or party at home. I chose the last bcoz I was eager to see the place that ‘we’ bought at xx million from my friend’s boss (haha). (I didn’t contribute a single centavo or anything; all I did was the documentation, advice, and stuff, which got me The Major Super Winner Spa Package from MIB.)

My, it was vast. It was like five times bigger than the xx million worth condo that my favorite tita-in-law bought in Grass. (I guess there's rich, and then there's Major Super Rich. Haha.) The whole place seemed encased in these floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a fantastic view of the city. Definitely not for acrophobics, but I can appreciate beauty when I see it.

What I loved best about it tho, was that it was homey - despite the snooty address, the more-expensive-than-your-life kind of furniture, their sand collection from all over the world. They put up their own pix and drawings all over the place. (One of their wedding pictures was against the backdrop of a lighthouse in Martha’s Vineyard. Omigosh. I love lighthouses. Ate promised me we are so going to this place. Woohoo!) No diploma wall for these double, triple major holders from Ivy Leagues. They had book shelves everywhere. (And I was happy to note that The Wife also read a lot of the same books I have. Haha.) It was one of those homes where it’s easy to see that the kids rule – with a piano and violin in a prominent spot in the living room, and a separate play room with dolls and other girly toys plus a majestic tepee in the middle. (In our home, meanwhile, the single biggest piece of furniture is the boys’ toy cabinet under the stairs. You've never seen a cabinet so massive.)

One of his girls also bugged MIB to play Here Comes The Sun. It turns out to be their wedding song. Omigosh. On top of everything, this golden couple are also Beatles fans? How much more perfect can you get?

I think I’ve blogged about it before, when MIB’s family and mine went out to lunch in Chelsea: the more we know them, the more we love them. They’re not like some people who are all sparkly and fascinating when you first meet them, but then turn out to be not all that nice and just downright disappointing once you really get to know them. MIB and family, tho – I think they’ll be one of my favorite people long after I stop working for their company.

Beyond the Merlion

2011-10-01T22:03:00.043+08:00

Part of the occupational hazards of an in-house counsel is being plucked out of your happy place and sent right abroad at a moment's notice. Normal people consider travel a job perk rather than a hazard, but as you know, (1) I am not normal people, and (2) I have Big Issues about traveling without my family.

I'm the girl who flat-out refused to go to Beijing for work and lied to no less than My Former Favorite Boss/Long-Time Crush about having mastitis so I could get out of the trip. I had the Chinese visa on my passport and everything - but between Beijing and then four-month-old Bootsie whom I was still exclusively breastfeeding, work NEVER even stood a chance. My decision then was, I knew they were going to take it against me that I was copping out of my responsibilities, but I had always been honest about my priorities, never once pretended that work came before family, and if they started hating me for that - well, there were 60 million other companies I could work in.

This time was not so bad, tho, bcoz I left Wednesday morning and was back Friday evening, and the boys did not get sick or anything in my absence, and our Singapore-based British consultant crammed all our four meetings on Thursday, so I had Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning to go around Singapore.

I emailed my boss to update him about the meetings, and he thanks me and says he hopes I would go out and enjoy myself. Owww. I forward it to Ches and tell him if I never leave this office it would be, without a doubt, bcoz of my boss. (And bcoz of Ann, Anji, and Thina, too, who were busy holding the fort for me back in the office, and who so willingly help me out with everything beyond the call of duty all the time.) My boss even offered to arrange a dinner for me at Kudeta bcoz he knew the chef there, and Kudeta is this posh resto beside the rooftop infinity pool in Marina Bay Sands, so I had to beg off and remind him about my acrophobia (groan).

I did enjoy myself as the boss ordered. I know that I'm a lot of bad things, but I don't think boring is one of them. I'm not the type to stay cooped up inside a hotel (no matter how luxurious) when there's a whole city waiting to be explored. The times I wasn't working, I was so out there having fun.

1. Rendezvous. I chose Rendezvous bcoz we had been there before when we walked around with Ate last year and it looked impressive from the outside and I knew it was in an ideal location. It turned out to be a great choice.

The first happy thing was, I was upgraded into a junior suite bcoz they were fully booked. Of course, the suite was too big for one girl. My bathroom looked out into the National Museum (I could even see Marina Bay Sands in the distance), I got a bowl of fruits and Wi-Fi, designer toiletries (FCUK!), day-long snacks at the lounge, and I could use all six fluffy pillows by mysef. (I'm a big pillow hoarder. Yoshi is always complaining about how even my feet get a pillow, and I tell him, get a job and buy your own pillows. Hahaha.)

The happiest thing, tho, was the fully automated toilet. It was the first of its kind I've seen. It looked like your normal toilet except that it's heated so it's glorious when you sit down, and you can actually make it clean you up the way you want it, like an automatic, hands-free bidet, with dryer, too. I found it absolutely hilarious. (Needless to say, The Tale of The Heated Toilet is the boys' favorite out of all the Sg stories I tell them. I could so see them fighting over who gets to sit on the toilet and play with the controls. Haha.)

Rendezvous is also home to the award-winning nonya laksa, but between the breakfast buffets and all-day lounge snacks, plus the hefty, heavenly Chinese and Singaporean meals D and G (our consultant and his wife, not Dolce and Gabbana haha) fed me, even I didn't have the tummy space anymore for this hotel specialty.

2. In Search of Spires. I had a few hours before my dinner meeting Wednesday, so what I did was to go out and walk around in search of the churches that I could see from my hotel room. As you know, I have a love affair with churches. The older, the better. I didn't use a map or anything - I just looked up and followed the spires. Haha.

The nearest one was the Church of the Good Shepherd. It was no great shakes from the outside, and it was closed, too, so I didn't get to see if the inside was any better.

I also found this quaint church along Orchard. Looked much better than the first one but also closed.

The nicest church I found turned out not to be a church at all. It's called Chijmes and if you go around the back you will find a vast and amazing courtyard with fountains, shops, and restos with the quirkiest names.

Who would wanna eat in a place called Hog's Breath? Not the most appealing of names, definitely.

I could so spend the night drinking away my sleeplessness here. (And hello there, San Miguel Beer! You make us proud everywhere you go =)

I admire people and things that are not pretentious. So I love the name of this resto bcoz it doesn't pretend to be vegan or any of that healthy schmealthy stuff, and when you go in you know exactly that it's going to be carnivorous all the way. Haha.

3. The Neighborhood. As I mentioned, Rendezvous is like in the center of everything. Everything is accessible from it. Across the road is Kopitiam, the exact same place that Ate and my boys had almost all our meals when we were there last time. I still have fond memories of all the Chinese, Japanese, Korean cuisines we had here, plus the bobochacha and mango sunrise.

On the other side of the street is the School of the Arts, that funky building with the wide staircase and plants creeping all over the walls. So cool. For me it's exactly how an arts school should look like.

Across Kopitiam is Singapore Management University. One of its buildings was right beside another one with this sign: Income. So it's like, after you graduate, you can move right next door and earn the big bucks. Haha. I'd send my kids to this school, too, if it can guarantee a return on my moolah like that.

The National Museum is right on the next block. It's an imposing, impressive building inside and out. When we were here last year, we saw someone who looked so like Michael Jackson and Ate stole some pictures of him (haha). This time, I saw this newly-wedded couple posing on the steps. How cool is that? If our museums in the Philippines were anywhere near as nice as this, I would have my wedding pix taken in them, too. Haha.

Well, hello there, Dome! My boys and I know and love you from back home.

Bras Basah Road where Rendezvous is located is apparently a historic area. There were lots of other great and ancient-looking buildings around the place, such as Vanguard Building, Stamford House, and this row closer to the busy part of Orchard.

Another lovely albeit newer building in the neighborhood.

4. Awards Night. And The Funkiest Washroom Award goes to ... this toilet in the mall adjoining D's and G's office building, where I go to meet them before we go out for dinner. It's not only clean but has also been made up to look like the famous night safari. How cool is this toilet?

In the same mall I also spotted Breadtalk and Toast Box, for me Singapore's Best Exports to the Philippines. Haha. BreadTalk was one of three things I had on an almost daily basis when I was still working beside MoA (Blizzard and White Hat being the other two). I bring BreadTalk goodies whenever we travel bcoz my boys love it, too, and I figure whatever kind of food awaits us where we're going, or the total absence of it, we can subsist on BreadTalk.

It is also in this mall where I have The Best Chinese Meal Since Beijing. D and G took me to their favorite resto, something called Imperial Treasure, and they load me up with dish upon heavenly dish of Chinese yumminess. We have the usual like duck (and G even gives me the drumstick to chew on), crispy prawns, the leafy veggies, noodles, but on top of all of that we also have a lot of new things for me like crab meat with egg white, soup with ripe papaya and fish, mango pudding with milk. Omigosh.

I've always liked D bcoz he's so practical and gracious despite his stature in the global pharma industry, but getting to know him like this with his Malaysian Chinese wife who's so warm, nurturing, and funny, too - I absolutely love the two of them already. G is this busy partner in a law firm, but she makes the time to take me to lunch the following day, of Hainanese chicken, laksa, sugar cane juice, and iced milk tea. We talk about everything from law to Korean dramas to marital woes. She tells me I'm a brave girl for travelling thru the storm raging in the Philippines, and I feel so touched I almost tear up right in front of her. (Sniff.)

After lunch, she takes me malling and insists on paying for 60 million goodies for me to bring home - jars of dried fruits, instant crab, chicken, prawn, and soup mixes (I did not have the heart to tell her I don't cook. I guess she just presumed I did bcoz I talked A LOT about food. Hahaha.), and all kinds of floss (as in the BreadTalk cheese floss) and glorious bakkwa (jerky for non-Asians) at this famous store called Bee Cheng Hiang. I take out my credit card to pay for everything but she just waves it away each time. Unbelievable.

I'm just so glad that D is coming over soon so I can send him something in return. I was not prepared and did not bring a single thing for them bcoz I thought it was going to be purely a business trip. I had no idea I was going to meet G and we were going to be fast friends. Travel may be a hazard, but friends that go with the job are definitely perks.

5. Internal Hemorrhage. Four back-to-back meetings in a span of one day makes Jewel a sleepy girl. I had no strenght left Thursday night and stayed in after I buy a little pasalubong from Bugis and a nearby mall. I had spent the entire day talking business with several people of at least six nationalities - British, Malaysian, Singaporean, European, Chinese and Filipino - and at the end of it all I had not only a nosebleed but a full-fledged internal hemorrhage. Haha.

I chatted with Ches and Ate and watched TV until I fell asleep. TV is one of the things I've had to give up for a long time now. Between being a full-time worker bee and queen mum 24/7/365, I just don't have the time for TV anymore (except 24 Oras which is on while we're having dinner, or sometimes Eat Bulaga on lazy Saturdays if our social calendar is not otherwise booked).

The one good channel in the hotel was Star World. It was showing some vampire show called The Gates, which looked promising but you'll never catch me watching horror when I'm alone. I liked the medical drama Off the Map (I used to follow Chicago Hope and the first season of Grey's Anatomy before I started not liking Meredith). America's Next Top Model was fun, too. I like that, unlike most other reality shows, it does not make any pretenses and the winner is chosen on the basis alone of whether or not she has the looks and skills to make it as a great model, and not bcoz she gets along well with everyone else, has a sob story back home, or same such drama.

I absolutely hated The Bachelorette. One word: contrived. It's shows like this that make you see why TV is called the idiot box. If The Bachelorette is what's lording it on TV since the last time I checked, then I'm so not missing out.

6. The Heritage Solitary Walking Tour. I had most of Friday as me time before my late afternoon flight, and I figured I could spend it either at the fabulous, humongous shops in Orchard, or looking for more churches and old buildings. And guess what? History trumped shopping this time around. (Yes, I like to remain unpredictable like that. Haha.)

I got one of the maps in the lobby and set out for St. Andrew's Cathedral. It took me almost an hour to find the thing when it was only like two blocks away (ditziness never dies), but it's all good bcoz along the way I got to see several lovely places. Like I said, Bras Basah is right in the historic heart of the city. (One other lesser-known fact about me is, I love to walk. One of the reasons I married Ches is that he was always willing to walk with me anywhere in college. Haha. Cheesy, as usual.)

The Armenian Church is the oldest in the island, having been built in 1835. Cool, huh. It looked really impressive on the outside but I didn't go in bcoz I have an old fear of going into non-Catholic churches, that I might not come out the same person. Or might not come out at all, period. Haha. It's crazy, I know.

Right across the Armenian Church is the fire station. Amazing architecture and lovely contrasting colors. Easily one of my favorite structures in the city.

This is the Gryffindor House. Just kidding. I had no idea what it is - there was no marker or anything - and I'm not that much of a history geek as to bother to find out. Haha. I'm such a phony, I know.

The Philatelic Museum. Too big a building to be housing little stamps, huh. There must be gazillions of them in there.

The majestic Peranakan Museum, built in 1910. Too bad I didn't have time to go in and check out what's inside.

Look, it's those guard dragons and reliefs, exposed graphic beams, and The Red Bolted Door That I'm In Love With from the Forbidden City. Owww. I love Beijing. Beijing and Siem Reap are my favorite cities, I think.

Finally, St. Andrew's. The outside is just as lovely as the inside. And there are stacks of Bibles in every pew. These guys mean business.

The Esplanade Theatre and Marina Bay Sands are visible from the church yard.

Right across the church yard is the site of the F1 big event that happened only the weekend before. There were still workers dismantling the structures and everything when I passed by. Everyone I met was like, oh, too bad you didn't get here in time for F1. And I would give them my Best In Smile but inwardly I'm thinking, oooh, F1, I'm so excited, I'm peeing in my pants. Hahaha. I liked fencing and still watch tennis when I can, but outside of that, I have got to be The Least Sports-Oriented Person in the Planet.

I walked farther out and saw the old Supreme Court building which was being renovated into another art center or the other. To its side is the new Supreme Court building. Operative word is 'new'. I don't like it at all. When I look at the old one I think imposing pillars, august halls of justice and all of that - the new one is ... just new, period.

Across the new court is the Parliament. It looked deserted and eerily quiet in the midday. I'm thinking everyone in government is probably busy catching smokers, jaywalkers, gum-chewers, and such in the streets. Haha.

(Actually, this time around, I saw a number of people crossing outside pedestrian lanes or when The Green Man is not yet on, or even smoking out on the streets. Locals, I guess. Me, I was Miss Obedient Tourist all the way. I have this old fear of being hauled to jail for something or the other, much worse in an authoritarian foreign place which goes by its other famous name, The 'Fine' City.)

The Parliament is the last building by the river, and it's where I stopped my grand little tour. I could've walked a few minutes more and gotten to the whole Esplanade, Merlion, and Fullerton strip. I was thinking I'd take a pix of the Merlion and MMS it to Jon and tease him about Photoshopping his face in it, since he so missed it the last time we were here (hahaha). But I've been there, done that, and besides, I've been walking for over an hour and was hungry already. (Sorry, Jon - food trumps friends all the time. Haha.)

Who would've thought Singapore had so much heritage to offer? Which is why it's always good to go back to a place at least a second time - the first to take the official tour and soak in all the usual spots and activities, the second to explore the place in your own pace and route and discover gems beyond the usual touristy things like the Merlion.

7. The Signs. I'm always reading and taking pix of signs when I travel bcoz I often luck out and find so much wisdom, beauty, or humor in them. This epitaph inside St. Andrew's has all three.

You know when you're not even looking for something and it appears right under your nose and it's just too perfect? Omigosh. This is exactly how I want my epitaph to read - with a reference to my humor and being nurturing and loving people especially children. It's perfect loveliness in a little sign. I'm so living my life from now on in such a way as to earn an epitaph like this. Haha.

I love this sign. Too funny. And so true, too. You can never go wrong with chili crab. Plus, it's sponsored by SingTel, Globe's foreign partner. I'm loyal to all things Ayala to this day - Globe, BPI, Trinoma, Manila Water. Ayala is love.

In all my walking around I've figured that it takes approximately 3 seconds for The Green Man to turn into The Flashing Green Man. The Flashing Green Man and the 20-second countdown that accompanies it scare me to no end. It always makes me think, omigosh, I'm 15 seconds away from a fine and a night in jail. Haha.

And you know, all that paranoia isn't too unfounded bcoz they have these signs all over the place. Scary, huh. Can you be any more graphic about shooting me?

I wonder what this means. Oh, well - Happy Whatever to you! Haha.

Now this word is something that does not require any explanation to anyone. Haha.

'S' is a universal problem, I think. Everywhere I've gone, I always see an S where there shouldn't be. I guess it's a human weakness - we never leave well enough alone. Haha.

8. Changi. I fell in love with Changi the first time I landed in it six or so years ago. I was in Terminal 2 then and was so amazed with the koi ponds, 60 million orchids all over the place, and the sunflower garden in the rooftop. My favorite tita-in-law who's married to a Singaporean had long been selling Changi to me before I even saw it, and I was so not disappointed when I finally did. Changi is more like Greenbelt than an airport with the whole nature ambience, tony shops and restos.

This time around I was in Terminal 1 so in lieu of the sunflower garden I saw the cactus garden. Cactus vs. sunflowers = no contest, but better than zero garden, right? Haha.

I didn't know that Hermione is also the face of Lancome. I knew she did Burberry. I love Hermione. She's brainy, pretty, and so fierce.

I get a pang when I see playgrounds and my kids are not with me. You can leave me alone to slug it out with the owners or the Chairman or CEO or whoever - I'll stand my ground and come out of the fight perfectly intact. But make me leave my kids for even a couple of days and I turn into a whimpering, slobbering mess. I just don't have it in me.

9. Miss Friendship. I make it a point to be friendly with people like the rank and file in the office, janitors, guards, waiters, and same such others (something I learned from my dad), but I don't think I'm particularly warm to all other people who seem to get along just fine without any extra kindness from me. Haha. In this trip, tho, I was suddenly Miss Friendship without meaning to.

When I set out for my walking tour, I was approached by this youngish Korean to take his pix in front of the Singapore Art Museum. His name was Tom and he was there interning in Carlton and on his day off he was walking around and exploring the city. He walked with me for a bit until he had to go and meet someone for brunch. He took this pix of me, too.

In Changi, I was approached by someone who looked exactly like a younger Ate Joy (Ches' family's helper for the longest time). Her name was Desiree and it was her first time to travel back to the Philippines after she started working as a helper in Singapore two years ago. She said she had no idea what to do in the airport so she asked me to help her out. So of course I took her in and saw her off until NAIA. (It made me think tho, did I mistakenly put on a sash this morning, the kind that the salesladies in Savemore wear which reads, I'm happy to serve you, or something? Hahaha.) Within minutes she was telling me about how much she was earning, how she had to save up to get back some land for her parents, etc. etc. Most Pinays are blabbermouths, I think. Haha.

In the plane, I was seated beside an elderly Singaporean who was busy with his netbook and 60 million documents the whole flight. We got to chatting and I learned that he's in the manpower business and he spends all his days traveling to the Philippines and China to recruit pharmacists, secretaries, and stuff. He showed me his passport and my, it was fully stamped. I told him he's just like George Clooney in Up In The Air, the way he spends all his time in airports and planes, except that he hires rather than fires people. (I'm brilliant, huh. Haha.) We exchanged cards and he promised to buy me and my family dinner the next time we're in Singapore.

And so just like that, I was effortlessly and surprisingly Miss Friendship. Next trip, I'm so going to the next level and vying for Best in Evening Gown. Haha.

Happy List 33

2011-09-27T23:39:00.004+08:00

1. My boys’ fevers and little body aches don’t turn out to be anything serious. Thank you, Lord. (That’s got to top any mommy’s happy list.)

2. Dinner at Little Quiapo with everyone at home and my in-laws

3. Lanzones season. Lanzones is My Favorite Fruit in the Whole World. I’ve been known to finish several kilos in one sitting. Seriously.

4. MIB’s back =) The first thing he says is that we should take as long as we like in the US. Owww. And he tells me this story about his wife and how she blew him away. They’re one of the sweetest couples I know. I think guys who hold their partners in such high esteem like that make the best husbands and daddies.

5. Apologies from my boss and the Chairman when they take a couple of days before they reply to my emails. They are The Most Humble and Most Gracious Owners Ever. Even my bosses in Ayala were not this nice.

6. Not fumbling major presentations before executives and bosses. I hate presenting as much as anyone, but it’s happy when you actually manage to pull it off, right? When I am faced with another presentation, I just think of that time I had to do it before no less than The Dragon Lady of that conglomerate, at a time when our entire group was under attack, and I managed to not only not make her angrier than she already was with everyone, but actually make her laugh. That’s the joy of going thru truly horrifying experiences like that – everything else that follows becomes chicken feed.

7. Rosa’s lunch treat at Banapple. I made her take us out before I accepted her resignation letter. Haha. Of course, I’m really sad she’s leaving, but this is all part of corporate life (I’m the girl who’s on my fourth job after only 11 years of working, after all), and we’ll still be friends even outside the office, anyway.

8. How To Save A Life playing when we go into Banapple. Last time I was here with Beavis, Viva La Vida came on, and the two of us take a break from our nonstop chatter and observe a moment of silence in honor of one of my favorite songs. Haha.

9. Kopi Roti coffee bun and choco milk toast. Yum.

10. We get 10-year multiple entry US visas! Woohoo! The Legal girls tease me about it so I promptly go and treat them to lunch at Yang Chow. Haha. We laugh and laugh over Miss Universe Q and As or some other stupid thing and end up with tummy aches and tears in our eyes. Lunch with the Legal girls is fun all the time.

11. A long drawn-out drama at work that frustrates me to no end, but Team Good Governance eventually wins out. Victory is sweet.

12. Dinner with Ches at Longganiza Sorpresa in Sky Garden, before we watch Rakenrol. I love longganiza. It’s one of my favorite food for breakfast. And I find out that the kind I like from Lola Donnie (short, fat, salty, and peppery, without any sugar or that red thing that I could never stand) is actually like the best-selling Vigan longganiza.

13. Texts with Lani, who keeps me updated on all the SM juicy news to this day. I love and miss Lani.

14. The new Cath Kidston ballerina collection. Cath Kidston + ballerinas = love and dreams. I’m so buying these babies as soon as I save up enough moolah. Haha.

15. Bootsie’s art exhibit in school. His artwork is too cute. And Teacher Mae tells us he’s actually behaved in school, and how she wishes all her students were like him. Owww. (Is that really you, Bootsie? We can hardly recognize you. Haha.) She also said all the teachers have crushes on him. Now that we can believe. Haha. (Get in line, teachers.)

16. Lunch with the boys at Tokyo Café, before their Active Fun weekend treat

17. Massage, foot spa, and mani-ped at Blue Elements with Ches. Heaven for three hours.

18. Yoshi’s Maldita Comment of The Week: Mom, if your life is made into movies, the titles would be Maldita and Her Son, Maldita and Her Son’s Brother, Maldita Fights The Driver (meaning Ches). Yoshi is too funny, I tell you.

Rakenrol

2011-09-24T23:25:00.002+08:00

I knew that it was an indie film and was invited in several film festivals abroad. I knew about the storyline and, it being indie, I expected that it was going to be quirky, hilarious, and irreverent.

It was all that, but I didn’t know that it was going to be so much more.

I didn’t know that the script was going to be so funny, spot-on, and obscene that Ches and I were practically beating each other up from laughing too hard. It's destined to be one of those cult classics where several years down the road you're still quoting lines and telling jokes from the film.

I didn’t know that the film starred hands down The Best Scene-Stealer of All Time, in the person of the artist roommate of one of the band members. He was so natural and effortless, and looked like your friendly Manong tricycle driver who just happened to pass by the location of the shoot. He’s like Rhys Ifans’ character in Notting Hill, tho loads more eccentric and scathing. He’s so lovable Ches and I almost wanted to give him a standing ovation when he finally redeemed himself with a successful art exhibit at the end.

I didn’t know that it was going to be a major nostalgic trip with video clips of all these notorious punk bands when we were in college – The Youth, The Teeth, The Dawn, and The Eraserheads, of course. The film also includes clips of more recent bands like Sandwich, Sugarfree, Urbandub. Many of Pinoy’s rock royalty make cameos, too, playing themselves (including my beloved Buddy Zabala).

I didn’t know that Ely Buendia (yes, The Ely Buendia) was going to play this crucial Yoda-like role, dispensing words of wisdom by quoting cheesy Jean Claude Van Damme lines, as he and the lead star sip drinks in a dimly-lit Mini Stop bench. Whaddawhack. This is Ely Buendia, only The Greatest Pinoy Rock Star Ever. Acting in a movie. And doing a good job of it, too.

I didn’t know that the credits song was going to be Balikbayan Box. Totally unrelated to the story and the only reason I can surmise why it's there is that Quark Henares is an Eheads fanboy. It's one of those Eheads songs that are so fun to listen to and sing along with, so typical Eheads in that it has all these details and all these little stories, but somehow the message is so elusive and you can never figure out what it truly means.

Well now I know. And Rakenrol is on its sweet way to being My Favorite Indie Film of The Year.

Book Therapy

2011-09-22T23:19:00.002+08:00

It’s been one toxic week after another, work-wise and life-wise. When the smart thing to do would be to work beyond 5PM or go home early to try and tick a few more items off my worker bee/queen mum to-do list, I choose to do the lazy, happy thing – I hie off to Trinoma and do book therapy in Fully Booked, Powerbooks, and National Bookstore.

My recent buys include these hard-bounds with lovely covers. Yes, I judge the book by its cover. I’m the type who would buy a book just bcoz I like the drawing or picture in the cover, even if I’ve never heard of the author and I’m not exactly fascinated by the story. Conversely, even if the author is a favorite or the book is critically-acclaimed, I won’t be caught dead buying it if the cover is ugly. It’s my hard-earned money, after all. I should be free to spend it as I wish. Haha.

(On top of the nice red pump and purple flowers in the cover of Twenty Questions, I also like that title bcoz Beavis sent me a copy of a Palanca awardee - it was a play, I think - of the same title and I so loved it and I'm hoping this book will also be a winner.)

I’m always buying books with these glossy medals on the cover. National Book Award, Carnegie Medal, Newberry Honor, Oprah’s Book Club, New York Times bestseller, international bestseller, stuff like that. I trust the people behind all these awards and lists who must be infinitely smarter than me to tell me what’s a good read. The books often live up to all the hype, but there have also been a number that have left me scratching my head and wondering what all the fuss was about and how come I totally did not get it. Haha.

One Day was the first book I fell in love with this year (I think). It was better left alone bcoz it’s perfect as it is, but as is usually the case with books this good, Hollywood had to get into the picture and totally mangle it with a film version. (I have zero plans of watching the movie, not even if it’s just a P12 pirated CD from Quiapo.) Anyway, David Nicholls is my new favorite British author (up there with Nick Hornby, Neil Gaiman, Roald Dahl, and J.K. Rowling), and I’m all excited to get my hands on Starter for Ten and The Understudy.

I’ve just finished By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham (of The Hours fame). He’s gay, I think, bcoz he dedicated his book to ‘his partner’. He writes really well. It’s one of those books that not only tell a great story but are also so beautifully written. (Anita Shreve and Elizabeth Berg have this same talent, being both great writers and storytellers.) One of the reviews says some parts are so lyrical and lovely it’s like they create a halo over the page. I so agree.

Showbiz Lengua is what’s currently on my bedside table. One, I’m fascinated by gayspeak, which is often equivalent to showbiz speak (it’s the showbiz peeps who copy from the gays, I’m sure). Two, I’m a fan of Pete Lacaba. Hello, he only wrote Tagubilin at Habilin, for me One of The Best Pinoy Poems of All Time. It’s turning out to be exactly the fun read I expected. My favorite so far is when he writes something like: Artistahin ka. Kamukha mo si Max Alvarado. HAHAHA. (I’m shallow, I know. I never denied it.)

I also bought a biography of Michelle Obama. I love her. She’s so thin, articulate, hands-on with her kids, and over all so fierce. Normal girls follow Will and Kate - me I stalk Michelle and Barrack (and Malia and Sasha). Haha. I cried in the office when Ate texted me that Mr. Obama has been elected US president. This is something I have in common with M (My Former Favorite Boss and Still My Long-Time Crush) – he also used to tear up when he’d talk to me about Mr. Obama’s speeches at the height of the campaign. I don’t even care if he doesn’t get re-elected anymore. I love him and his girls, anyway.

Now what did I go and buy a Stephenie Meyer book for, when I hate the whole Twilight craziness? I don’t know. I actually have Books One to Four, too. I even asked Beavis to watch out for me and let me know when the whole set is available in Fully Booked in the Fort, bcoz it was always running out in the MoA branch. And the same day he told me it was all available, I went straight to the Fort after the SM Christmas party. I think I finished all four books that same Christmas break. Not exactly the kind of behavior you expect from someone so vocally critical of the whole series, right? I guess the Twilight thing is for me something like a car accident in NLEX – I know that it’s going to be horrible and might even make me puke, but I just can’t help but look. So there.

These are not actually new buys and have been in my book shelf for some time but somehow I never got around to reading them. The God of Small Things and The Satanic Verses I just had to buy bcoz I didn’t want to be The Last Person On Earth Who Has Not Read The Masterpieces. Well, technically I still have not read them, but at least I’ve bought them. Haha.

Quentins brings together some of my favorite characters from Maeve Binchy’s vast collection of books. I discovered her and promptly got obsessed while I was in law school. I have all of her ten or so books from Light A Penny Candle to Tara Road. If I had read my SCRAs and codals instead of Maeve Binchy while I was in UP Law, I’d be an authentic lawyer now instead of having to be a pretend one all the time. Haha.

I bought Catching The Big Fish for only one reason: it was written by David Lynch, who made a cult classic surreal horror film called Eraserhead, which is the origin of the name of this famous Pinoy band which I can’t remember at the moment (haha). I’ve put off reading it out of fear that it’ll be one of those books that are just too profound for me to understand. And if you have a fear like that, you’d rather hold on to it for as long as you can, than to have your suspicions about your own intellectual limitations confirmed. Hahaha.

Randy is so going to kill me again when he sees just how many new books I've tried to squeeze into our already crowded bookshelf since the last time he checked.

Just the same - thank you, Lord, for all our good books.

Happy List 32

2011-09-20T23:09:00.003+08:00

1. Raffee’s birthday party in Shakey’s. My boys and I love kiddie parties – the magic show, the games, all the food (haha). Even little Bootsie joins the games now. Yosh was happy that we happened to have an ATM card, a new P20 bill, and a black pen, hence he hoarded prizes at the Bring Me game. (On our way to the party, he eyed my bag and sighed, Hay, Mommy, ang liit ng bag mo, matatalo tayo sa Bring Me. HAHAHA.)

2. Imported goodies on sale in Hi-Top. Thina goes every week and she texts me when she sees the usual potato chips, chocolates and pastries I buy so she can get them for me. I love Thina. She’s always looking after my happiness. Haha. (My running joke with Thina is, she doesn’t reply when I text her about work-related stuff, but when Forever 21 or Sanrio is on sale, she’s so there texting me away. Haha.)

3. Ardo’s birthday treat at JT’s. He’s the newest addition to our group doing strategy and acquisitions. He’s one of those guys who drive a BMW and got an MBA in the US but are so quiet, unassuming, and not at all snooty. In other words, the kind I torment all the time. Haha.

4. Meeting with my corporate governance circle, where I got to ride with Thom, see Paula (since the venue was the EDC office), and chat with Regina. This group is fun and rowdy and the meetings are not your usual oh so formal, stuffy ones even if the people in attendance hold some of the highest positions in the country’s biggest corporations. Plus, the advocacy is corporate governance, the one work-related thing – after environment law which I didn’t get to practise anymore since QT eons ago – that I could get passionate about.

5. Dinner with Ches at Sweet Bella, since I was in the Fort for the meeting in EDC. Loved the seafood pasta where the quantity of seafood almost equaled the pasta (I hate it when it’s all pasta and you have to scrape to get any sahog), the four-mushroom pizza (yes, four-mushroom instead of the usual four-cheese), the butterscotch frappe and the award-winning chocolate ganache where the chocolate filling is like more than half the whole thing (and it even came in an exquisite chocolate brown and magenta box for take-out). Yumminess.

6. Victoria Casal Hello Kitty store. Omigosh. This store is my new idea of heaven. It has The Most Exquisite Hello Kitty Goodies I have ever seen anywhere, including all the Kitty stores I go to when I travel abroad. Too bad it’s the priciest, too. Hahaha. If you think the prices of original Kitty stuff in Sanrio or Gift Gate are obscene, the prices in Victoria Casal are ten times as much and absolutely sky-high. Yes, even by Kitty addict standards. If I suddenly receive a ton of moolah from heaven, I’m so rushing to this store first thing. Hahaha.

7. Walking around the Fort with Ches. It has majorly changed in recent years. When QT moved there eons ago, there was just Mc Do, The Fort, Shell stop-over, UCC, and they played movies in the vacant lot beside Net One on some Fridays or had concerts there that we could watch from our huge glass windows, and Richard Gomez and family even flew kites in the area. It used to be just this vast expanse of cement and dried grass, and now it’s littered with tall buildings and funky restos, and there’s a huge hospital and they’re even building a hotel. You so made the right move, QT. Haha.

8. Weekend lunch at Dome with the boys. Ches and I loved the Vigan longganiza pasta, while the boys preferred the cheese pizza and chicken fingers, and we all dug into the chocolate waffles topped with vanilla ice cream. I ordered the seafood chowder, too. (I have it whenever it’s on the menu, even if the resto is not exactly a seafood place. I love seafood chowder. It’s my favorite kind of soup.) I love Dome - the place is big and the decor classy, the food is good and reasonably priced considering the ambience. Ches and I bring our kids to these snooty places sometimes in the hope that they will imbibe some table manners. Haha.

9. A custard cake from Symphony of Flavors, bought by the boys for me while I go to a salon and they walk around Eastwood. So good and sweet. Yoshi and I love custard.

10. Yoshi overheard me bitching about someone in the office as usual, and he told me not to leave the office yet bcoz we need money for our US trip (haha), and I reassured him that I had no plans of leaving my office for the next 60 million years bcoz I love it there even if some people annoy me to bits. Which was the perfect opening for him to come up with his Maldita Comment of the Week: Mom, you won’t be around in 60 million years. Maybe your kamalditahan will, but not you. HAHAHA.