Sunset at Aninuan Beach Resort

Spent my labor day weekend (actually I took a leave haha) at Puerto Galera with my family. It was my first time to actually go to White Beach (the party and drinking place daw) and yep, my sis was right, there were so many people they looked like ants. Yes. Ants. First I went to Galera we stayed at Coco Beach, then last year with Jaybs we stayed at Oceana, and then this year, we stayed at Aninuan beach (you have to cross the huge boulders to get to White Beach). The resort was nice. Very mediterranean looking... plus they had tons of lounge chairs to roast on (I believe we were the only filipino's in the resort until our last day, everybody checked-in were europeans), plus there are numerous "duyans" around the area and and and, they had a ping-pong table, canoes and paddleboats to be used for free! Finally tasted the original Mindoro Sling at White beach (with my sibs), while some local was braiding a part of my hair, I was tempted to get my whole head done, but I figured theymight not let me in at work, hahaha!

Ima just post pics so check em out!

Design your own Havis!

It's that time of the year when you get to spruce up your favorite pair of Havis to make them even more fab! Unfortunately it's on May 2-4 (mall hours) at Rockwell. I am not going to be here=( Out of town with the family. So this message is for my friends who are going: *cough cough cough* *hint hint hint*

hahaha

I lost my E61i

A friend of mine once said that if you lose something valuable, it means that something possibly bad was supposed to happen to you, but that valuable something took the fall for you, which is why it got lost/stolen. Another comforting thought shared by an officemate of mine was that, since I lost my phone, there's something better coming my way, or, that I am meant for better things. True enough, the US embassy granted my Dad, Karlo and I a 10 year multiple entry visa. But I still lost my phone. Okay. Am trying not to be so negative.

But, really, woe is me. I think I needn't say much, the title of this blog says it all. Somebody stole my phone inside the front office, would you believe? It has been 3 days since I saw my beautiful red phone, and I'm still bummed out about it. 50% about where it got lost, and 50% because of the phone, it was new! It actually got lost in a restricted area so you can imagine my disbelief, since only the guest service associates are present in that area, and me of course, since they were checking in my guests. I was there to help facilitate the changes in the rooming list. Sucks. I trusted those people, they were my friends... that place was my second home! We even called it the "Sales Extension Office".

I have never in my life woken up with puffy eyes! Up until this incident. And though I have received a lot of sympathetic words from co-workers (in disbelief as well), it still bums me out that the person who stole it must have been a co-worker. I am just hoping that better things are yet to come (aside from my 10year us visa).

To whoever stole it: $&#(&)@)!!!!!

Amici

I went to work 7 days last week. Oh wait, 7 days= 1 week! No rest day for me. Imagine that haha. I think I want to start looking for a Monday to Friday job now. Had a function yesterday, a debut for 150 pax. But anyhoot, enough about work! Had a very fun and fulfilling weekend, most of it spent with-- Jed! Finally tried out Amici along Tomas Morato on a lazy sunday afternoon just before I went to work. Call it late lunch. The pasta's very good. Their gelato? Even better! First flavor you have to try is of course the nioccolato (I wonder if I spelled it right?) and then you can go haywire with the rest of the flavors. Blueberry. Coconut. Sansrival. Strawberry. Stratciatella (Okay, did I spell that right again?) Coffee. And other flavors. I think I'd like to go back there since am such a pasta freak and I like the taste of their gelatos. Downside... no smoking area. Hahaha.

I just realized I haven't posted new pictures for the longest time. Hmm. I'll start posting pictures after I come back from my beach trip and bangkok trip. Wee. I can't wait to take my leave! I have been so looking forward to the beach this summer. No summer of mine is complete without a trip to the beach! I'm just glad that my May sched is a bit more loose. Since I purposely requested not to be given a lot of functions this May to be able to take a leave.

Am off to lunch with the girls. Double thinking whether to get a gelato after or a big ass chowking halo-halo. Hehe.

Bottomless Cocktails

Back to back functions at the hotel. It was heck of a long saturday night. But then like I said, you work hard, you party harder. Apparently, I think I just drank "harder" hahaha. Started with beers at Marina with the Brewery boys. I call them that because they work for San Miguel. Actually, this night was Genee's night, I was there merely to accompany her. But apparently, now I can understand why people get drunk at bars, they must have been a wee bit bored. Hahaha. With no eye-candy (he was in the other table) and potential sights, I guzzled my margaritas and vodka-sprites like a serena va der woodsen before her abrupt exit from high society. Haha. "Free flowing" drinks care of the boys. I couldn't wait for r&b to start playing, literally couldn' wait because I was drunk. But not piss drunk. Asked Jed to pick me up, and voila, I got home in one piece. Hehe. My hero.

The other whammy I created was that I left Genee alone in the hotel room which I was suppose to sleep in together with her. Anyhoot, I went back to the hotel the following morning to make ammends after abandoning her. I brought her a Krispy Kreme donut. And true enough, aside from swapping stories about what went on after we parted ways, we ate from the breakfast buffet, and all was fine again. Hehe.

What happens when you finish your work in advance?

There are just days that you really cannot help but get bored and sleepy at work. This day was that day for me. Since I had finished majority of my work during the previous days, I wasn't left with that much to do. So I "busied" myself by tinkering with my phone, surfing the net and playing some online games. Haha. Then I decided to do the additional "assignments" my boss gave me (and to my officemates too). And then I had the banquet contract signed by the San Miguel Brewery Manager. I guess I just had to look for work, more work, to prevent me from falling asleep. Hahaha.

I don't really know what to write this very moment, as my life revolves much around work, friends and my sweetiepie (hahahahahaha).

Older

I can't believe it. 2 people have told me that I am starting to look older. Crap. I haven't been blogging for the longest time. I think work is eating up most of my time, especially my functions and added responsibilities at work. And the fact that I drink and smoke a lot. Hahaha. Time for a lifestyle change. Sleep more, eat less, drink less and smoke less.

Jumper Premiere

I thought I was late. Jed said the screening time for Jumper at Greenbelt 3 was 7pm. 7:30pm pala! Haha. Rushed all the way to Makati just to be with Jed and watch the premiere of Jumper. Nice. You gotta watch Jumper. If I had that power, deng! I'd forget about work and live in bliss. Hehe. I'm not telling the story here, just watch it.

After the movie, jed took me to Bubba Gump's... and he was right, the food was delish. Must be the cajun style of cooking that made it so good. Rawr.

Thanks Jed=) Mwah.

Surprise!!

Whoever said that Lechon was an appetizer must have been somebody called Tita Lorna. Haha. Since my date was running a bit late due to all that Vday traffic, I decided to join the Patajo clan at my granma's first. Since Choi didn't order the food asap, Tita Lorna told us to eat the appetizers first.. Lechon, tikoy and peanuts!! Haha! Then all the food started arriving, man, I thought they were feeding an army! Boxes of pizza, buckets of kfc chicken, mounds of home cooked spag... nevermind if you didn't have a date on Vday... screw the date! Joke! Jed picked me up from there and he said we would head south. Hmm. South pala yung Galleria Suites.. wait, I thnk they're Holiday Inn na ata now, hahaha! Had dinner at the Hotel Resto, FAB (Jed said it was short for Food and Beverage... haha, ewan ko lang if he was joking me..). Had somekind of Indonesian Satay Beef which was really good, and he had some pasta... plus... plus!!!! He ordered french fries! Which definitely made me smile... what a sweet gesture... he knows me well!

We had gone out the night before, and since we slept late, I went to work late (hehe). I was still in bed when my mom entered the room asking if I had work... since she knows I was supposed to be at work by 9:00am, and it was already 8:30am... then I just said yes I have work, I'm coming in late. Then she left the room. And then a few seconds she re-entered the room and asked my sis and I whose flowers were the ones outside the room. I said I didn't have flowers (knowing that Jed and I went out last night, how on earth would the flowers get there in the morning???). But no! She left the room and upon entering again, she had the bouquet of flowers with her and said that it was mine haha. That pretty much woke me up already! What a way to start the day!!!

I was kidnapped... sorta

I was kidnapped by the birthday girl. I had just opened my eyes to look at the time. For sure it was morning, the sun was shining bright upon my face. The heat was starting to get a little bit bothersome that I had decided to get out of bed and go to work. Half-day that is. I figured I'd file an emergency half-day leave. Then, my bff texted me, about our waxing appointment scheduled at 12noon. Crap. Memory gap. Aside from that she was asking me to accompany her to gh. I was like noooo, I have to work... hahaha, but no, I eventually was kidnapped from my house, but I was the one who gave her the surprise! I spent most part of the day with her on her birthday day. We shopped, ate chinese food, talked, walked... giggled, laughed, everything bestfriend's do when they get together. Gawd, it was such a fun but exhausting day that I almost forgot I had to attend a friend's surprise despedida party at UP.

Such an exhausting monday. Monday palang yun. Haha. You can imagine how the rest of my week went...

Gossip Girl

Still at the office. Wow. Decided to make in THE hang-out place to be. How so? Well, I brought my i-pod and speakers, and played some funky music! Yun lang. Haha. Wanted to watch the gossip girls dvd but alas, function inquiries are left and right, I hardly had time to sit and blog until now. I have a function at 8pm, I just want to make sure that everything goes well and not be bothered late at night to ask what the client and I agreed upon. Rawr.

So far, things are starting to look rosy again for me. Aside from the fact that I finished another set of meds, love life is starting to pick up again once more. Phew! Haha. Plus, I have found another interesting thing to watch! GG for Gossip girls. I barely finished the first episode and then I knew, I was hooked. Haha. Can't wait to start watching it again!

Man, it's like ice age here. Brrrr. Haha. As I was saying, GG was first introduced to me when I chanced upon it at Powerbooks. I was like, oooh, gossip girl! I mean, whether we like it or not, your bound to gossip at one point or another. It's kinda like a vice. So I read a bit of it, and when I found out it was going to be a series, I was like OMG! Hahaha. Ew. Omigawd. So thanks to Ry for my increased interest in the gossip girl series. Addict ka talaga pare! Haha! Okay, so xoxo is soooo not just a clothes brand, Gossip Girl uses it as the chic-uppercrust-manhattanlifestyle was of saying toodles. Nice. Haha. Anyway, dang, just watch it. Then tell me if you become a convert.

Friday

Yesterday was the first friday night I spent at home. So what am I complaining about? Nothing. I'm just not used to it. Haha. I guess being a tad bit sick does make you not in the mood for a lot of things. Bummer. Plus I can't drink booze, which pisses me off. But I'd rather not start a whole week of meds again. No way. The meds make me sleepy and lazy.

I won the Grand Prize

After a humiliating but very fun newbie intitiation (dancing infront of the GM, the owners of the hotel and everyone else), we finally were able to relax and enjoy the party. Free flowing beer, some tequila and various wines were staring me and my tablemates straight in the face. So naturally, we consumed it. Haha. I'm glad the the dancing part is done. Why? The theme was BAGETS. Growing Up by Gary V. Then Take On Me by AHA. Then Rico Mambo. And last but not the least, Careless Whisper. Those were the songs we danced to. Now, everybody knows the newbies. Haha. Fame is good, but when Ate Guard tells you "Uy, ang galing galing mo gumiling ha! Tapos may mga kasayaw pa kayong mga lalaki!", you know that's not the kind of thing you really want to be known for. Haha!

Although I didn't win the best dancer award (criteria: the sluttier the better!), I won in the raffle draw! I won a... STAND FAN! Weee! At least I won something! Oh, and my crush from the Hotel asked me to dance with him. And we did dance through 3 consecutive slow songs. Before, during and after the whole slow dance thing (dance nanaman!), there were quite a number of people staring. Aside from the fact that I was one of the newbies who danced, the guy I was dancing with was one of the most crushable guys in the hotel, if not, the only one. Hahaha! Apparently, a lot of people were counting how many slow songs we'd dance through

So... who's next?

Yesterday, together with my family, I attended my cousin Paolo's wedding. He married Anna (who is now our cousin-in-law), his bestfriend from Ateneo Law School. He's actually the first one in my mother's side to get married, and well, it was a wonderful thing for all of us. Now the next question would be... who's next? Haha. I guess that is one question that is perpetually wedding staple. So we started pointing to one another and laughing. And then the question came, are Kaye ad Cris getting married? I smiled. I don't normally tell people my sister's engaged (like a privacy policy hahaha), but they were my cousins, so I did tell them that Kaye and Cris were engaged since june. They were like, are you joking me? I said no. They are. But of course, Cris is in the states pursuing his MBA, and Kaye is here. So maybe next year? Or when Cris finishes. Back to Paolo and Anna, they had their reception at Mango Farm in Antipolo, and it was a very beautiful place. Of course, there were a lot of well placed mango trees, and they were draped with lights and it just made the whole ambiance of the place romantic.

Ironically, I found myself, extremely happy about the marriage of my cousin, and at the same time a bit confused about my own lovelife, so to speak. I wasn't feeling it anymore. Either that or am being a drama queen again. Haha. I'm not really used to being extremely patient regarding certain things, but this one, the more I am becoming patient, the more I am losing whatever is in me. It's unlike me. It feels a bit weird. Anyhoot, we'll just how this part of the story goes.

And another bit, after watching the golden compass with him and getting something to eat (again!), and while waiting to get home, I actually mentioned that it was going to be the start of simbang gabi tomorrow to him. I don't think I saw or heard any meaningful reaction from him. Ohhhkay. Gawd, unromantic. Doogsh. But anyhoot, ditch that idea I guess. Wait, am guessing that is what is triggering this. Possibly. But for the mean time, I think I'd just want to let things be for now.

Montecristo

I think, if you're a drinker, you're bound to gravitate (even if you don't know it) to other drinkers. It's amazing really, what alcohol does to people. First, the interest in drinking sparks instant bonding. Then when drinkydrinky time comes, I mean, beer to me is almost like coffee, you can talk about your whole life, your past, your present, shitty times, interesting moments, while drinking it. (But of course, coffee is coffee... and I still love my coffee)

Last night, Andrea and I drank at Don at Tebans, my favorite drinking place (location, location, location!). Andrea's from the front office, and the only reason I got to drink with her one on one was because Genee apparently couldn't make it yesterday, since it was of course a spur of the moment thing. What can I say, drinking knows no time and date. It just happens. Like spontaneous combustion. Haha. So, we bonded, we talked about ourselves, and I guess it's always a lot of fun when you get to know somebody new. The night proved to be an interesting one, as I was just doing away with my beers, quicker than usual, in fact, I was about 1 or 2 beers ahead of Andrea. Weeee. Jedhonx joined us for dinner, couldn't drink beer because he was sick, so he stuck to dinner instead. Oh, and iced tea. Hehe. I had been eyeing that montecristo sandwhich for awhile and finally decided to order it. Visually, on the menu, it looked great. And infront of us, it was mighty fine! Haha. We thought the sauce that accompanied it was catsup, but no! It was something sweet... and when I dipped my french fry in it, I was like, bleh. Andrea said it was strawberry jam. And it was. I just realized that the strawberry jam and montecristo sandwhich complement one another, the french fries though will still be better off paired with catsup. Hehe.

Even after we exited Don and Teban's, our conversation continued until Andrea got a ride home, haha. I think I shall drink with her again! Hehe. She has so many stories, and it's pretty interesting. We didn't like go like, so, what's your fave color? How many siblings do you have? What do your parents do? We just exchanged stories and we picked up bits and pieces about one another, which was so much easier and less awkward actually. =)

Now, I am craving a montecristo with strawberry jam, and of course, a bottle of beer.

Frosh day high!

I have to say, my La Salle days were fun. All I remember doing, aside from either cutting class, staring into space during lectures, and drinking right before PE class (haiya!), well, was just... having fun. Having the time of my frosh life. So I learned the DLSU hymn on my first day, yep first day of orientation at the Benilde Auditorium, and then walked through the campus with those upper batch volunteers who guide you by holding up your freakin' section (LR27) sign for the whole world to see. Okay, I get it, Frosh ako. Haha.

So I timed out at 6:15pm on a saturday night (4 hour shift on saturdays, argh!). Waited for a few minutes for Nuel to come pick me up. And voila, I spot his new car. Spiffy new car, pare. Haha. And then I open the door, not really knowing what to expect, but... I see Nuel. Bello. Mr. Lanto. Oh and the latest update, Nuel is now Noel. He was sporting longer hair, and I think he got a bit chubbier, heehee (peace Nuel). Instead of coffee, we were to have dinner at Teriyaki Boy (originally) but decided on UCC upon his recommendation. Even before ordering our food we had already started reminscing about our first year days at DLSU. And now we're like what? 23? It has been so long.

Memories can elicit a lot of emotions when recalled, and thankfully ours was one of happiness. We may have been a crazy bunch (may have been) but who cares? We were all crazy together anyway, and we still are the same kick-ass group, now with grown-up issues such as work, running the family business, getting a promotion, pursuing further studies... however, we just got a lot better, and smarter, and we got a lot more perspective now. How things change. *sigh*

I have yet to meet up and reminsce with the other people from the frosh 'kada, but I think, when we do meet up, it will just as fun as like our frosh days.

Hindy Claro

BER months suck unless you have somebody to keep you warm. Either that or you have a cup of toffee nut latte to keep you warm. So anyway, I have both so am not really ranting about anything. Haha. I committed my second office blooper this morning. I blame it on the fact that I had ZERO caffeine in my system, and it was deng cold in the office. So somebody calls and asks to speak to Liz, naturally I asked who the caller was, I heard Hindy Claro. SO I was like, "Please hold on," then I press on the plunger lightly and say to Liz, "Hindy Claro, from DILG". She was like, "Huh? Are you serious?", I was like , "shet, oo nga noh, was I duped? Haha", so I transferred the call to her and after her conversation with HINDY CLARO, she said, "Kara, Lyn de Claro". Hahaha! As Genee says, "Litse naman."

Anyhoot, for the past few days, my officemates Liz, Genee, and Ms. Jas (the boss) have been taking advantage of the starbucks anniv promo, 2 stickers for your promo card for every drink purchased. Lisette, with my help, already claimed her planner (and I was the official photog for that exciting moment)and Genee has like 5 more stickers to go. Ms. Jas just started last tuesday. So she has 6 stickers so far. When we got back from Starbucks, and we already mixed our coffees to suit our taste, Genee made an observation. She was like, "You know Kara, this is how you drink your coffee." And I was like, huh? Really? Di kaya. And then I took a sip of my coffee and lo and behold, Genee was right. Haha! And then we started observing each other and how we drank our coffee, but naturally it stopped with Lisette because we didn't really want to go up to Ms. Jas and observe her way of drinking coffee up-close. Genee was like, "why do you drink your coffee that way?", I paused for a bit and thought, well, I like the taste of coffee. I like the taste of toffee nut, and I'd just like to see if anything has changed since the last time I tasted it, of course, nothng should, but am just really keen on the way my coffee tastes. Oh, and we decided to go to starbucks at Imperial Palace Suites since I get my coffee from there most of the time, and of course, one of the baristas there knows me. I should ask his name though, kinda seems impolite not to know right? And it's been like three weeks already. Hmm. Who knows, maybe I'll get discounts or something hahaha.

I'm going back to work, that is if I have any left. My hands are already numb from the cold, so I will get back to my toffee nut latte, since the other one isn't here to do the same thing. Hehe.

Starbucks 2008

My monday wasn't so pleasant. I was sick, I was moody, I was... I was just not my usual self. I guess once the magic of the whole fun-filled weekend faded away (read: My parents vacationed in Macau without us kids... hahah), I was doomed. Back to the reality of work life, which I wasn't really up for. Thank gawd I took a half-day to go with the driver to pick my 'rents up at the airport, okay, okay, I'm after the duty-free bit, sorta. So before that, while at work, I convinced Lisette that we shold go to Starbucks because I needed coffee, and she mentioned that she needed to go to Metrobank, which is conveniently located beside starbucks. So, after gloating about the one sticker I needed to get my planner, we finally went to starbucks. Ahh. The taste of toffee nut is just bliss. Plus the fact that I got my planner. Ohoh, and also, I got a machine-generated complimentary drink from Starbucks too! I was sensing that my day was getting better already.

Okay, so this week, I took two half-day leaves... it was a bit of a crappy monday to thursday because I was sick, as in sick. Hmm.. and Jed didn't bring me starbucks. Haha. Kidding.

Fiamma

Hair check. Face check. No one. Ugly. Allowed. Welcome to Fiamma!

Bottom's Up '07 hosted by the UP Travel Society was last saturday. It was a reunion of sorts, reunion with the org, orgmates, ait friends, and of course, the party scene. Free flowing beer and unlimited alcopop's. Ohohoh! And some side drinks (parang side dish!), was that pineapple juice and gin? Haha. Am not entirely sure where they got it (c/o of the alumni of course, alam mo naman sila, pag-inom, very resourceful!). Am really glad that Martha dragged me onto the dance floor, just to get me into the groove. I couldn't stand the sight of countless couples grooving (and I mean GROOVING!) on the dancefloor. But since I was there anyway, instead of looking at other couples, okay go! Martha! Let's dance! They played a mix of girls just wanna have fun and I wanna dance with somebody! And a lot of r and b, hiphop songs which I really couldn't dance to heehee. Drewlie just accompanied us to the dance floor but refused to dance (more beer for you!), I think he tiptoed back to the VIP room upstairs with the other alumni. Retouch, btw, is a bit of beesh in the bathroom, their sink is slanted and I witnessed an alumna's (super upper batch I forgot her name) eyeliner just roll down and then poof! Goner! And I think like opaque glass is in, because apparently martha can see like a blurred version of my dress rom outside the cubicle ahahaha!

Oh, and of course, Karamiaw's great escape! I kinda changed my mind about the body shots. One was because I hadn't drank enough, two was because there were a lot of OFFICIAL photogs... and three... (dotdotdot)

So Martha and I just watched the body shots competition, well, first couple palang, wala na! Winner si mother! Hahahaha! Drew and Jane were the first couple... and when they did what they did, I knew they were going to win! I mean, who can beat a lesbian and a gay guy? I mean really? Hehe. Love you guys!!

Ohoh and oh! I got stuck in the freaking parking lot! Somebody parked at my back, and that place was a tow-away zone. So I was like, I can't fucking get out. That place where that car is parked is tow-away zone. Would you happen to have the number of whoever tows away cars in makati??? After my 15 minute bitch fit, the guy finally appeared. And I was like, your car should be towed for parking there. *rawr* I mean, if I had just gotten out a wee bit earlier, maybe somebody wouldn't have slept on me.. hahaha.

Martha slept over and we called it a night. 3.30am.

Loving Long Weekends (Most of the time)

When you start working, long weekends are very much appreciated. You get to party and drink, bum around for a day catching up on sleep from the drinking spree the night before, do errands and shop, then the last day, family day. I think weekends should be made 4 days a week. Okay fine, 3 days at least. I mean really, 2 days aren't enough. You drink, then the next day just bum, and you practically get nothing much done hahaha.

So lately, given the fact that there is much time to waste, I seem to have a penchant for sudden realizations in the shower. (Is this normal?) It started when I was thinking about my parents 32nd anniv last Oct. 25. I was trying to compute how old they would be when their 50th anniversary comes. So I was like Pop's 58 (Oh gawd! My Pop's is 58!!!!) and then Mom's 57 (Oh gawd! My Mom's 57!!!). So it was then and there I started to panic. A bit. So add 18 years to 58 years, that'd make my Pop 76 years old. (Oh gawd.) So I became more afraid. Being the youngest, I've always been half- dependent on my Parents. And, being the youngest, I am the one most attached to them. So, imagine my horror when I was computing their respective ages by the time their 50th anniv arrives. (Oh gawd.) Time does fly so fast. It's cliche I know but really, 10 years ago I was grade 7. Now, I am freakin' working already. Everything just sorta dawned on me. I started thinking about my life. Maybe I'd quit smoking when I turn 25 years old. I'd turn into a half- vegetarian (can still eat meat once in awhile haha). I'd switch to drinking wine instead of beer. So many things popped into my head. Normally, I wouldn't be afraid of the future. I actually am not. What I'm afraid of is imagining my Parents aging and you know. There. I guess people don't really talk about stuff like that much, but really. Sh!t like that is a bit... oh gawd. Yah. So by the time I got out of the shower, I had freakin' wrinkly granma-ish skin, which made me gasp. Okay Kara, chill pill.