Strolling @ Manila

This trip was all because of never ending promo fare of Cebu Pacific.. When I found out that they had again the piso fare...without any second thought, there we click that "Book" button.. haha.. I decided that we will try out a whole day tour to Manila. Literally "wholeday", we arrived at manila almost 6AM then departed at 5PM on the same day (damn! I will never ever do this again, you'll fine out later). Because of that tight schedule, we only visited Ayala Ave, Mall of Asia and Manila Ocean Park. I've been to Manila maybe around 5 to 6 times that's why I know some of the places there so I was the "tour guide" of my boyfriend. Since MOA opens at 10AM and we arrived at 6, we went to Ayala Ave. to grab some coffee and for my boyfriend to be able to see enormous buildings. It was also his first time to ride an MRT. ;)) Anyways, here some of the pics we got during the trip. :)


Ayala Ave

Coffee addict

Mall of Asia

Wendy's!!!!!

the famous ice skating ring at MOA

Manila Ocean Park

Oceanarium

my bf is too big for the raincoat. haha

lots and lots of colorful jellyfish

If you're curious on why I will never do the sameday RT, it is because we arrive at the airport very late. Super traffic and all. I will not just go into details on what had happen.. hehe

Boracay Adventures

Aside from the white sand, blue wide beach, fire dance, nightlife and beautiful sunset, Boracay also has lot of activities whether it would be water or land adventures. On 2nd day of our boracay trip, we spent the whole day on these adventures. Don't worry, there are lots of them offering you on reasonable prices. At morning we had Island hopping and Helmet Dive and on afternoon, Zorb and ATV. Below are the prices for the four said activities:
       Island Hopping - 1,200 per ride
       Helmet Dive - 350 each (it includes CD with pictures and videos)
       Zorb - 350 each*luckily we were able to avail the promo, 2 rides for a price of one. Hyrdo and Harnes*
       ATV - 350 each

We really had soooo much fun.. Here are some of the pics:

Island Hopping

crocodile island

snorkeling

turtle island

Helmet Diving

Zorb

ATV

view of the whole boracay

Life is a beach @ Boracay

Our Boracay trip last October 14 was one of the most unforgettable moment of my life. We've waited months for this trip for us to have enough time to prepare. For sure you'll ask on why October? Yeah, I prefer off peak because aside from the rooms are cheap, bora is not too crowded that time(but i was wrong, there are still many tourists that time both local and foreign.. haha). During the last few days before our bora trip, I really thought the trip won't push through because of the typhoon "Ramon" that hits central part of the Philippines. To tell you honestly, I totally panicked.LOL. But thank God, typhoon hits boracay 2 days before our trip.

Enough of that drama.. haha.. I'll give you the details on our tickets(plane), accomodation, fees, etc. to give you some idea if you're planning for a vacation at Boracay. Approximately, you can prepare prolly more or less 10K for 3days/2nyts stay. That already includes the plane ticket RT, accommodation, adventures and the meals. But if your budget is tight, you can stay at Station 3 where in there are cheaper accommodations. I believe it's i think around 800-1K pesos /nyt. And as for the transportation, you can ride a plane via Ilo-ilo, then another bus ride going to caticlan which I think it will take around 5-6 hrs.

For us, we prefer a plane ride both arriving and departing boracay simply because of the convenience. It took us only 45mins - 1hr ride from Cebu. From airport, you need to ride a tricycle(P50/pax) going to the jetty port. Upon reaching the jetty port, you need to pay the following fees:
                P25 - boat fare
                P75 - environmental fee
                P50 - terminal fee

It will only take 15-20 mins bangka ride from port to boracay island. And another tricycle ride to the boracay island proper.. and wahhhlaaahhh.. you're at the paradise.
With regards to our accommodation, we stayed at La Fiesta, a small resort located at Station 1. We only paid 1500/nyt (off peak rate). For more information, you can visit  myboracayguide.com


Here are some of the pics during the trip :)

     

view from our room.. beach front :)

Next blog... Boracay Adventures.

Goodbye wavy hair!

After a thousand attempts, FINALLY, I was able to have a time for a hair rebonding. At first, I was so discouraged to have my hair done because of that too long hours of just sitting at the salon. 887, Coco and Victor Ortega was my top 3 choices of salons. I did some research between the 3 and was decided to go to V/O because it's so cheap and also was recommended by my colleague.

Last July 9, I had my hair done at Victor Ortega. V/O is located near CIC, right side of Jollibee Gorordo. Hair rebonding is only Php1,000 in any length. But of course, if you want treatment or cellophane, you need to add up prolly around 500-800 pesos. (but still, it's cheap right? :D) All you just need to do is to have patience during the rebond session. I advice to bring something like game gadgets, phones or books to fight over boredom. For me, it took almost 5 hrs to finish it up including the cellophane.

Please click this link if you want to see V/O's pricelist.

June: Wedding month

As we all know, the month of June is popularly known as the wedding month. On my curiosity, I've researched on why June is so popular as the wedding month. Couples have some unique reasons on exchanging wedding vows during the month.

Juno, the Roman Goddess of Marriage

June was named after Juno, the Roman Goddess of Marriage. Couples chose to honour this goddess by marrying in June. It was also believed that Juno will bring them happiness and prosperity if they wed in her month.

Annual Bath

In medieval times, people bathed only once a year. Bathing was not considered a necessity. The annual bathing was done during the last part of May or early part of June. Immediately after, many couples chose to wed while they were still clean and presentable.

Harvest Time

If couples wed in June, a summer pregnancy was possible for the women. This meant they can still help in the harvest period before fall time since they wouldn’t be too far along in their pregnancy.

Fine Weather

June brings in warmer weather for an outdoor wedding. Everyone is also on vacation so it would be more convenient for guests to partake of the celebration.

Bridal Flowers

A wide array of flowers is available in June. Flowers give off enough scent for the occasion and are sold cheaper in June.

Source: click here

Now, that we all know the reason behind why June is considered as the wedding month, it's time to know the things that needs to prepare. Below are the general list to consider on weddings (in Filipino way)

The color or motif.

Ladies are particular with color combinations. They will see to it that the ribbons and flowers will perfectly match with the dresses of the bride's maids and the flower girls. The corsage of the principal sponsors and the bouquets of the maids and bride are in perfect combination with the motif. Friends who have contacts with flower shop owners or with flower gardens help facilitate for a good price.

The give aways or souvenirs.

Most Filipino brides made their own wedding souvenirs to be given away to their guests. They are very creative in making their souvenirs unique and attractive. What they will do is buy the accessories whole sale and assemble it themselves. They will spend their precious time putting it all together to make it very attractive and captivating to their guests. They will be satisfied when their guests would say, " wow I like it". To them, it is worth the hard work.

The wedding invitations.

Preparing the invitation is a stressful job for the bride and groom. They will usually start with the listings of all possible guests. Family , relatives and close friends will be on top priority. Neighbors and distant friends will be at the last. Stressful it maybe, because if their budget is good only for 50 people and their expected guests on the list are100, it is a problem. It's in the Filipino mentality that friends and relatives will feel bad if they will not receive an invitation whether they can attend or not, they are expecting an invitation. Usually, the couple will stretch their budget for the extras just not to disappoint friends or relatives.

The program.

The wedding coordinator will help in planning the program. The couple could make any suggestion for the style of the ceremony, the sequence of the program and the music to be played. The coordinator will be the in charged of the rehearsal of participants and their placements of where they will stay during the ceremony.

The entourage attire.

This thing varies. Some will buy the whole entourage attire if the groom can afford to finance it. Others will request their participants to buy their own attire. Most often, the couple will rent the whole entourage attire from a rental store. They would prefer to rent because it is cheaper than buying, and they all come in the same shade. color and style. Anyway, they will just use it in few hours.

The participants.

In choosing of participants most couple want to have the well known and influential people in their community be on their list of principal sponsors. They usually have 10-15 pairs of principal sponsors, 4 pairs of secondary sponsors ( the bride's maids and the groom's men) 4 flower girls, 3 little boys as covenant bearer, ring bearer and Bible bearer. Sometimes there's little groom and little bride. They will have ushers and usherettes maximum of 4, there is a guest book attendant and gift attendant. singers and camera man, artists and decorators. The bride will be given priority to choose the secondary sponsors from her family or relatives. Relatives and friends want to be a part of this special occasion. You can just imagine. for the participants only, there will be a big crowd already not counting the other guests.

The reception.

The reception is the most crucial part of the wedding. Most couple prefer to hold their reception in a hotel or restaurant where they could have control of the number of guests. But sometimes, unexpected guests come and it is the Filipino custom to let them join even if they are not on the list. The couple must be prepared for the extras. Filipinos are very hospitable that even if they don't know the people who are coming to their party, they welcome them. The common scenario is this. The host will invite a friend, and the invited friend will invite another friend and that friend invite another one, so instead of one guest, they will have 3 or 4 guests that even the host don't know who are those people coming to their party but no body will be left out because the host will entertain and serve them even to the last of what they have in their kitchen. The worst thing is when the reception will be held in an open area where everybody is free to join. Too much closeness and familiarity is common to Filipinos the reason why neighbors and friends feel free to join the party of any.

Source: please click here

To all engaged couples, best wishes!! :)

what's keepin' me busy

here i go again. it took me a while to blog again. been busy because of the things that's been happening to me lately.

Last May,we went to Bogo for Mom's burial (her hometown), celebrated our 1st year anniversary with dood and the day after that, my wallet, camera and havs was stolen.. huhuhu... i was soooo sad because the camera was a birthday gift from my boyfriend last year. :( (tnx dood for understanding). And because of mom's death, we cancelled our anniversary tour to bohol. We only had a dinner date at La Tegola Ayala but we had sooo much fun.. it was still worth-it.

May 2011, was a lil' bit a curse month for me. (aside from our anniversary). And by the way, was not able to upload our anniversary pics.. :( I was just sooo thankful that my boyfriend was so supportive. He was always there for me when I was down.

So much on May, now, we'll focus on the "subject".. hahaha...

What's keepin' me busy? Well, June was a blast. We celebrated Haley's (dood's niece) birthday at McDonalds Ayala last June 5, celebrated dood's birthday last June 9 and finally we had our (late) summer outing last June 11 (with dood).

Here are some of the pics: (thanks Laiza for lending me your cam) hehe :)

Dood's birthday:

dinner with Camomots

with the birthday boy

melona with TeamBati

Summer Outing 2011:

:P

kiddie pool.. haha

summer with love

It's not yet end of June, so we'll wait and see what will happen next.. for now, let's just keep movin' and enjoy life.

PS: i'm excited to post our Boracay trip pics.. coming soon.. :P

Saying Images

Every morning at office, before starting to work, I always spent time on browsing some inspirational and beautiful images on net (well, aside from lookbook and forever21.com, hahaha).

Here are some of my favorites:

Source:

http://vi.sualize.us/popular/

http://truquotes.tumblr.com/

http://sayingimages.info/

Cinemagraph

Was really amazed, can't help but to reblog..

Cinemagraph - "beautiful images that are more than a photo, but not quite a video"

Jamie Beck, a New York city based fashion photographer and Kevin Burg, a master in animations worked together to create some amazing animated Gif photographs. Animated Gif Photography is a source of adding life to photography.

To see more pics, please click this link