Catchin' up!

The late part of 2010 and the early part of 2011 has been a roller coaster ride for me and Iris. Lemme start with the unexpected operation that Iris had. A simple laparoscospy (or so we thought) that turned to a 9-hour special procedure and required her to stay in the hospital for almost 2 weeks plus an off from work for a month. clearly, that changed alot.

We ended up spending both Christmas and New Year in the hospital, lessen our trips, cancel alot of things, prioritized eating healthy meals, postponed my readings, spending more time at home. Added to that, a new job description was given to me. Which means I have to handle more stress than usual. I have to say it wasnt easy at all. Coming home to the hospital on a holiday season seeing the person you love lying in the hospital bed plus having to deal with other twenty strangers at work coupled with some personal and family issues, at one point I thought it was all a dream. That this would soon be over but it didnt end.

Luckily things have start to change by the time Sinulog came. Got the chance to go out and we even dared going to the mall a week before that. Thank God wheelchairs were invented!

Of course, we have to thank her generous mom for the stay in Crown Regency during Sinulog.

 
 

 
And I, even got the chance to join the photo contest though I didnt manage to pass any entry.

Iris even made it to the streets last Sinulog. Thanks to her cane and our friend Alex who helped us thru the rowdy crowd.

Left Iris on this bleachers intended for our company's employees.







After our lunch. We managed to eat or take-out meal on the curb.



The rain started to pur after lunch. Iris, with Alex, is on her way back to the hotel.

And before I knew it, Iris could then manage to drive after checking out in Crown Regency.

So to celebrate her new found "freedom", we tried this new restaurant at The Walk. Its called Blue Elephant.

Three weeks after she got out from the hospital friends came in and we huddled for a little potluck dinner that served as a Thanksgiving party. It was a night of great food, great talk and amazing people.



We all shared a toast.



And I am hoping to send these Christmas gifts back home by next week.

Iris will be back to work 2 days from now. We would soon be back to our normal life and I hope I no longer have to make another catch-up entry in the future. ;D

things to look back..and be thankful for

Few hours from now we would all say goodbye to 2010 and before that happens I would like to look back and thank the person above for the great and fruitful year that was.A few highlights for 2010

1. Another year added to my 20-something-year life (not to mention to our relatioship.

2. My family. Though we don't talk and see each other that often I know they always have my back.

3. My partner. The year will end with the bond between us stronger than ever. We might have took a topsy turvy ride but as they say all is well that ends well.

4. The land, sea and air trips--Baguio, Palawan, Manila, Siquijor, Dumaguete,almost half of Cebu and of course a trip back to my hometown in Pagadian not just once but twice ;D

5. The nicest things I had this year--pink lappy, red BB, green Chucks, gray hoodie, colorfull buff, striped espadrilles,blue-green havs, green scarf, back-up phone that I only have to charge only once a week, a pair of glasses that helped me most of the time, a pair of running shoes, an outdoor watch, a Starbucks planner to welcome the next year and a few things I cannot recall as of now (since I am blogging in the Hospital)

6. My job else I won't be able to sustain this high maintenance life (not to mention the new job function I just got recently).

7. Friends--without them it'll be impossible to make it thru the rough and ,of course, good times.

8. Coffee--who have always been there during those sleepless nights at work where I need to think and be alert.

I won't be having new year's resolution for I know I can always change when the need arises. I love the person that I am right now. I have peace. Happy New Year everyone! ;)

A Longer Weekend

We actually had a 3-day weekend. We were both on leave Thursday so got an extra day. Sampled the newly-opened  Tutti Frutti yogurt store at SM's ground floor.

Enjoyed filling my cup with flavored yogurt that you can mix and match. You can even combine the toppings you wanted or put everything in it.

I opted for the strawberry-banana and chocolate yogurt topped with almonds and mango.

And oh, did I mention you can even add syrup? So I finished it with choco syrup. The cost? It weighed 7 point something oz. at 20php/oz. I ended up paying around 140php++ for this. Costs like SB's grande frap but who cares if it has lesser fat on it? Perfect excuse to indulge!

Took a detour on the way home due to the heavy traffic in Salinas Drive only to meet a heavier traffic at Veterans Drive due to an accident.

All we know at that time is that this huge truck is already on its side and that the traffic was heavy. The picture was blurry as we were moving when I took this. My real weekend started with an afternoon picnic at CemPark on Saturday with Iris and later on with her mom. Had so much chika that we didn't mind even the black out.



 Thank God the moon was full then and the sky was clear. Only saw Venus and the moon in the sky.

 

Iris and I enjoyed a slab of Balamban Liempo and puso (hanging rice) which took us as far as Larsian's in Fuente to have one. We actually went to Fuente O twice -- first is to buy liempo and second is to drop some used clothing for the Typhoon Juan victims.

Got at Cempark just as the sun is about to sit. Enjoyed the afternoon breeze at the park and the feeling of lying on the mat next to the grass (nevermind the dead bodies beneath).

Played with our digicam and took advantage of the darkness and the cemetery setting. Afterwhich, we went to BTC (Banilad Town Square) after to kill time and for the nth time Iris went on an impulsive shopping. Scored some great toys for Christmas giving that sells at 70% off its orginal price! I forgot the name of the store though but you can't miss it as its the only store in there that sells kid's toys located at the ground floor. I must thank Iris' fond for cheap buys especially for household cleaners. She scored this La's Totally Awesome Spray and Mop Floor Cleaner for only 99php at Chains.

The next day she got so excited that before I can even do the laundry she's done mopping the floor and I tell you, she seldom does that. If I am not mistaken the last time she did was when she got to buy Mr. Muscle Bathroom Cleaner. And of course, being a supportive partner that I am, I made breakfast for both of us. We enjoyed Pan de Manila's whole wheat bread and Cafe con Leche we bought the night before at the eBloc Building in IT Park.

I spent the entire morning reading 5001 Amazing Facts from my BB. Of course, I only got as far as the 400th plus fact while Iris downloaded all the current top 100 Billboard songs after the countless times of telling her to change songs on the playlist of her phone. We finally decided to go out after getting hungry around 1pm. Drop off some used clothing at Fuento O for the typhoon vistims and headed to SM.

Late lunch at Mang Inasal. It's been awhile since we had this and I am glad I managed to eat only a cup of rice. No refills!

Frogurt for dessert and this time its at White Hat. Window shopping at Toy Kingdom and at Powerbooks where I found a travel journal I am planning to buy for myself this payday. Else, I am just gonna use an ordinary notebook in case they ran out of it by then (but I am hoping not!)

I can't help myself from laughing when I saw Iris wearing this..I dont know this looks so funny and weird and no way! I am not letting her have this curly hair. ROFL!

We headed to Paseo for some "dibidi" and its utterly strange for the place to be almost desserted--no party peeps and G-mik is closed. We realize that liqour ban is already in effect. Tomorrow will be the barangay and SK election. We dropped by the convenient store beside Harubang along Salinas Drive and tried some Korean food. Iris has been bugging me about this a few weeks ago.

This is Hudok. I thought this would taste like Penne in tomato sauce. No! Its so spicy I can't stand it.

They call this hotdog but the hotdog is inside. Its more like waffle but tastes like "binangkal".

The pancake lookalike is Dukbokki aka rice cake.  So no beer tonight no matter how spicy that food is.

Liqour ban is in effect no wonder this convenience store that's always full of people drinking is empty.

This is is how it looks as of 7pm earlier. No gimikeros and gimikeras around. Thank God they sell cold bottled water and I werent craving alcohol. My weekend will officially end tomorrow at 12noon when I go to sleep. So I am expecting another event tomorrow when I accompany Iris for the Barangay Elections.

Of breads and the Maskara

Its 4am and I am wide awake on a Sunday considering I just slept 4 hours ago. Iris and I didn't make it to this year's Maskara Festival in Bacolod. After months of planning and talking it over coffee, we realized we were too late to book a room days before the festivity. So here I am curling up in bed and blogging thru my phone while Iris is busy with her Nth phone. Did I mention she recently lost her barely 2-months old phone? I am not gonna mention the details for she'll kill me if I will. Haha. I am thinking of standing up and rummaging the fridge for those cream puffs Iris had bought this afternoon but then the laziness creeps in. I think it would taste better if its chilled. I can feel the cold filling thru my mouth ala Oishi Manju bread (but a lot better!). I am such a sucker for breads, pastries, cookies and the likes. Anything made of flour I can get by from those weird looking breads & pastries at Breadtalk, to the traditional breads at Pan de Manila (I love that pesto cheese sticks I had last week!), to the fancy cakes at Red Ribbon or Leona's down to Anita's scorching hot Spanish Bread or even Julie's "pizza" bread (I forgot the name but it does look like pizza!). And by the way, did I mentioned Gardenia loaves, the Quake cake that usually serves as my refuge when I am hungry at work or yet the Inipit bar when I want variety! I remember eating pies way back when I was a kid - Red pie, yellow pie and my fav Choco pie! I also love those 'bagumbayan'. My mother used to bring that as a pasalubong to us after she got off from work. Its like a hard cookie that once gets into your mouth softens (you have to mix it with your saliva of course!). And how can I ever forget 'binangkal'? The deep-fried pastry with sesame seeds! Haha! Ok that's enough.

The Great Bodega Sale @ Mango

It all started when I got a message from Primer about a Bodega Sale up to 80% off on Selected Delsey, The North Face, Sanuk, Kickers, Jansport, Samsonite , World Traveller,Columbia , etc. on Sept 17 -19, 2010 at Mango Square Mall. Being occassional shop-a-holics, Iris and I didn't think twice to check it.

Got there around 7pm. The parking attendant must have smelled us, as before he handed us the parking ticket, he already guessed we heading to the Bodega Sale.

I almost sprint my way to the mall. For the moment I felt like Rebecca Bloomwood. Haha.

Anyways, I rummaged through the racks hoping to get a good bargain for a pair of Sanuk. I've been dying to own one since the first time I saw it but I cant get enough courage to splurge almost 3k for a pair (I know! I'm such a cheapstake!). I look through and all I can find are DC skater shoes (not my type), black Kickers shoes, some North Face and Sanuk flip flops. I was lucky as Iris found me 2 pairs of Sanuk only to find out its 2 sizes smaller for me and the other one is one size bigger I'd look like Ronald McDonald.

Shirts, pants, jackets ans shorts from Columbia and The North Face looked like ukay-ukay laid on open boxes and some scattered on the floor.

Iris and I went through all the other stuffs and ended up taking home one Jansport bag each. A blue one for her and a pink one for me only at 776php and 973php respectively. I knew it was worth it. I eyed on some The North Face bags too but they're just too expensive still. Anyway, I still have my Habagat bag that I can take anywhere during our travels.

I smell a party tonight. Mango Square is packed.

So for those who are interested, you still have a chance tomorrow! They are located on the 3rd level of Mango Square Mall Unit 305-306 and they're open 2pm-10pm. Just get your card ready for swiping. ;)