Another Baguio Trip

I wasn't able to go to the gym this week for a lot of reasons - too much assignments, too much house chores, brother not anymore willing to join me, and I am having another menstrual period. Yeah...wasn't just the other week that I had my period? Awful.

Anyway, this is the last day of February, and my weight is still the same - 214lbs. Given the lots of food events I attended (plus the side food trips with the family and friends), I was glad that I maintained my weight. Tomorrow, I will try my hardest to walk around even for just 30 minutes, but my serious workout (will force brother to join me at the gym or I will let Jillian Michaels torture me) will start on 07 March, because tomorrow night the family are set to travel to Baguio City.

Dad's death anniversary is on 05 March, and since there is a full weekend before that, mom thought it would be nice for us to travel to Baguio City (possibly because my stories about my recent trip there made mom want to experience it, too) before going to La Union.

Baguio City Cathedral at Dawn (27 Feb 2010)

I have been to Baguio several times, but this would be the first time the family would travel there together. Sister won't travel with us tomorrow night, but she will travel afternoon of Saturday, giving us a full day to roam around on Sunday before going to La Union.

So...where do I want to go this time?

Strawberry Farms - La Trinidad, Benguet (04 March 2011)

There are five places in and near Baguio City that I wanted to see: The Laperal Mansion, BenCab Museum, Philippine Military Academy, the Cemetery of Negativism, and the old Diplomat Hotel. Food wise, I just wanted to eat something (or somewhere) new to me, and I also want to go thrift shopping.

For sure, my sister wants to see several places new to my list, so planning it, I broke it down into two lists:

Day 1 - Saturday

• Baguio Cathedral
• Cemetery of Negativism
• Philippine Military Academy
• Lunch at Zens Restaurant - Mines View Hotel
• Mines View Park
• The Mansion | Wright Park
• Laperal Mansion
• The Old Diplomat Hotel
• Burnham Park
• Dinner (still undecided where)
• Night Shopping along Session Road

Day 2 - Sunday

• BenCab Museum
• Strawberry Farms
• Lunch at Oh My Gulay!
• Tam-Awan Village
• Pasalubong Shopping

Visiting daddy's grave - October 2007

In La Union, the family will go to the cemetery to visit dad's grave first as sister has to travel back to Manila that same morning. This will be the first time the whole family will visit dad's grave since October 2007. After that, it's usually sister and I, or brother and I, or brother, sis, and mom, or just me alone. After paying him a short visit, we will roam around La Union, but I don't have specific places to go to... I might just let them eat lunch at Halo Halo de Iloko, then go to Thunderbird Resorts.

We will be traveling back to Manila the day after, but we will go back to the cemetery as that would be dad's death anniversary. I still don't know whether mom wants to travel back in the morning or afternoon or maybe late at night... all we know is that mom has to go to the main office on the 6th, and that brother and I have an event to attend to that night time.

I don't have that much expectations... for sure this plan of mine is bound to change as the days unfold; I just hope that I could get to visit these five particular places in Baguio City, and I am a happy travel junkie.

The Sweetest Thing (A Valentine's Day Picnic Dinner)

I do have someone special in my life, but we don't really celebrate big occasions like Christmas and Valentine's Day together because our jobs don't often permits us, as we were both in the Food and Beverage Industry, and we all know how hectic these occasions could be.


This year, my work schedule allowed me to celebrate Valentine's Day, not with the someone special, but with my dear sister, through "The Sweetest Thing" (A Valentine's Day Picnic Dinner) held at the Rockwell Tent. As soon as we found our seats, there were already a basket of goodies waiting for us. I have been craving for Red Velvet cupcakes and seeing this one by Cukay's wowed me big time!

Couples came in the venue one by one... but staff started serving the guests as soon as they were ready to eat. Catering was by Bizu Patisserie and here's what we had:


Just like the basket of goodies, this small plate of Focaccine and Sesame Seed Roll with butter was already on the table waiting for us. I only ate half of each bread as I don't want to make my tummy feel full immediately.


The salad is called - Oriental Salad with Grilled Zucchini, Carrots, Pineapples, and Aubergines tossed with Mesclun and Special Oriental Dressing topped with Crisp Vermicelli and Black Sesame - very long name for a dish, but I didn't mind it as this was amazingly delicious! Well, I am not a big vegetable person so some of the ingredients I didn't eat, but just eating the lettuce, eggplants, peanuts and the vermicelli was enough to make me say this was good. I super loved the interesting flavor of the dressing.


Main course consisted of 10-Hour US Roast Beef Belly with Demiglace Sauce and Cobbler Fish with Mushroom and Spinach Cream with Grilled Vegetable Brochettes and Mashed Potatoes. I only gave the fish a taste as I am not much into fish (yeah, I guess I am a difficult person to feed), so let me just talk about the beef more. It was tender, not fatty at all... and mixing the mashed potatoes with the horseradish dressing (served at the side) made a good combination. The spiciness of the horseradish umped the taste of the beef, while the potatoes subdued the sharp flavors of the horseradish.


The desserts consisted of Opera Cake, Calamansi and Raspberry Mousse Trifle, and Fresh Fruits with Syrup. The very first time I tasted Bizu Patisserie's cakes, I already loved it, so I am sure I'd love these, too, and I did. The Opera Cake was so divine, and the Calamansi and Raspberry Mousse Trifle was such a surprise. Well, the Calamansi flavor was strong yet it wasn't too sour.

Throughout the dinner, we were served wine (I chose white over red), peach flavored iced tea (super good), and when the desserts were served, we were asked if we wanted coffee or tea. I chose coffee because I will be on a graveyard shift and I needed a strong cup of coffee to keep me awake.

The Manila String Machine performed during dinner, and right after, guests were treated to the movie screening of "Valentine's Day," something that we weren't able to watch anymore because I had to be at work at 9pm.

This was the second year The Rockwell Tent hosted "The Sweetest Thing," and this tradition is now going to be an annual event. It was a good way to celebrate the day of hearts and love... and I am so thankful to my sister for inviting me.

Baguio City Trip, Day 2

I was ready to sleep by 11:30pm, but my phone rang. It was my dear friend DeeJay who shared stories about the Fun Run activities he has done. He told me he's joining a Fun Run this March and would like me to join, too. He's aiming for 21K (as he successfully finished 10K on his last run), but he said he would be happy if I could join even if I'd run the 5K. That means I have to start training.


I called it a night at 1am, and because I was lacking sleep the last few days, I only turned off the alarm at 6am and went back to bed. I regret not taking a peek out of my window - I missed a great sunrise view, which Iris and Jen managed to capture.

Anyway, our day started at 8:30am when we had breakfast at the hotel. by 9:30am, we were already at SM City Baguio for the Ceremonial Tree Planting. SM City Baguio through SM Cares is currently doing the "Green Road to 50,000 Trees" and marked the planting of 30,000th tree a milestone in their three year period project. This was the main purpose of us traveling to Baguio City, and I was very blessed to be asked to attend this. I wasn't actually the one invited...but the the one who got invited couldn't attend and planned to pass this to my cousin Marge, who passed it to me.


Celebrities present at the event were Cosplay Sisters - Alodia and Ashley Gosiengfiao, Ms. Earth (Air) Stefany Stefanowitz, and Sam Concepcion. After the tree planting, there were a few minutes break and seeing my chance, I asked the Gosiengfiao sisters for a photo-op.


One funny, but nice blessing came after...I admit my camera's shutter is proving to be difficult to use. Iris was asking us to hold for more pictures, when Ms. Earth (Air) came to us, asking Iris for one more picture because she wanted to join in. Somehow in that particular instance, I felt I was a celebrity. Hahahaha.


The program was short, but fun filled. Right after, we all went to Good Shepherd Convent to buy pasalubong, and while waiting for our companions, Iris, Jen, and I went back to Session Road to find this particular signage. Jen spotted this the night before and we found "Taiyaki" funny. We wanted to buy some, but there were a lot of orders and we were rushing, so we could only imagine how it taste like.

It was 9pm when I finally reached home. It was indeed a very short trip, but very memorable. It was a pleasure spending time with Iris and Jen... and even if I used up all my 1000 pesos pocket money for this trip (I bought quite a lot of goodies to take home), I am considering this one of the most memorable trips I've had.

- * - * - * -

Going back to DeeJay's invitation to do the Fun Run...

I am now set to prepare for it, and will go to the gym tomorrow to learn the basics of using the treadmill. Of course, I'd still do the things I have to do for Monday (using the dumbbells). Wish me luck!

Caronia Nail Polish | Lounge

As promised... here's the second part of the 4-part series on Caronia Bright Nights Collection:


I bought this a few days after I bought Gold Rush, because I instantly loved Gold Rush and thought this would look as equally good. I loved the foil look of this nail polish, but the shade doesn't seem to love my skin tone as it made my skin appear darker.

Formula-wise, this was a little liquidy, but two medium coats were already enough. Echoing what I shared about Gold Rush... I bought this last December and used it once, but after nearly two months of not using it, it still has the same formula like the time I bought it. What I loved the most about this nail polish was its durability. I initially applied 2 coats of Lounge (without top coat) in the morning and went ahead to do house chores come lunch time onwards and two days after it still looked great (no kidding)!


For these pictures, I applied another coat of Lounge plus top coat because it's already the third day and there were signs of wear (not really chipping) on the tips of my nails.

As of this writing, I am still wearing this nail polish. I will take it out tomorrow and will apply Trance, which I will share next Saturday.

Caronia Nail Polish | Gold Rush

This post I was supposed to share last week, but like I said, I finally was able to complete the Caronia "Bright Nights" Collection, so I can now share the four awesome shades to this collection one by one.


Gold Rush was the first one I bought from the collection, which I got to buy last December. I was frequenting the nearby small grocery store just outside our neighborhood and when I saw that the store was selling Caronia nail polishes (8ml) for only 27.75 and 29.75 pesos per bottle depending on the kind, I started buying one after another, because I know the mall sells this for more than 30 pesos.

It was a few weeks since I last saw the OPI Skyfall Collection featuring a gold nail polish. When I saw it, I told myself I'd find myself a gold nail polish, too, and seeing this at the grocery store made me really happy. It wasn't the typical yellow gold, and I think this kind of gold (brownish) goes well with my skin's complexion.



Typical to the Caronia nail polishes I own, this one has a thin brush that doesn't spread that much, but applying this nail polish was easy-breezy because it has a good formula. Opacity was okay, too, and for my nails, I used two medium coats (no top coat).

The richness of the color depends on the silvery speckles, so I used the help of our desk lamp as I did my manicure to ensure even coverage. This dries fast, but because of the silver particles, clean up wasn't that easy (but wasn't that difficult, either).

Normally, I'd complain about Caronia nail polishes thickening a month after I start using the product, but I was pleased that even if I already used up half of the bottle prior to this manicure (I used this for several nail art attempts, including water marbling), it still has an awesome formula.

As is, it looks great, and it looks even better with a glossy top coat. The day after I had this manicure, I topped it with a Matte Top Coat and I am pleased to say it looked good, too.

Tomorrow, I will share to you swatches of "Lounge."

18 to 21 February 2013

I still haven't finished sharing the Baguio City trip, but I will go ahead and post this one, because I have already told myself Fridays will be a day to recap the week that just passed.


The happie bits:

♥ Attending two events in one day. Lunch time, I was at the Bonifacio Global City (Taguig) to attend the opening of Figaro Fort Pointe... then dinnertime I was at Greenbelt 3 for the movie screening of "A Moment in Time," sponsored by Max's Restaurant. Both events I was with my brother.
♥ The whole family spending the whole morning at Sidcor Weekend Market. We go to that market every now and then, but it was the first time that the whole family went there. At times it's just sister and I, sometimes I'd be with mom and sis.
♥ Travel to Baguio City. About a few years ago, I would go to Baguio City (alone at times) to watch the Grand Street Parade of the Panagbenga Festival, happening every last weekend of February. Last year, I wasn't able to travel there, and this year, I didn't make any plans as I would be traveling to La Union early March. Imagine my surprise when I was asked for an overnight trip to the City of Pines to attend an event! Well, I wasn't the first choice... I was there to represent someone, but still... traveling out of town just to attend an event? Of course, that also meant bonding with blogger pals, eat out, and enjoy the sceneries! (A more detailed list of the things I loved about this particular trip will be shared tomorrow)
♥ Photo Ops with beautiful ladies. For the event I attended at SM City Baguio, celebrity guests included Ms. Earth (Air) Stefany Stefanowitz as well as Cosplay sisters Alodia and Ashley Gosiengfiao. I am not really the type of a person who poses for pictures with celebrities, but I just couldn't resist not asking them for a picture.
♥ Missing my cat. I was away for basically two days, and when I got home my cat immediately ran to me and started playing with me. Quite a very naughty cat for he would chase me and bite me on my legs and arms... and my brother told me he probably missed me because it would meow loud while I was away and suddenly became quiet when I got home. Awwww....
♥ Sweetness overload! Aside from the cakes I ate at Figaro, brother and I also took home sweet treats from Max's Corner Bakery. In Baguio, I bought 2 kinds of jams (ube and orange) and 2 kinds of pastries (alfajor and snowballs); and part of my goodie bag for covering the event included a box of Lindt chocolates and a tin of Danish butter cookies. Oh em gee!
♥ An unexpected $20 on my account. Well, when I started blogging, I got to learn about this website that caters to blog advertising of sorts. In 2009, I decided not to check the site anymore for tasks (I stopped bidding, too), so I was truly surprised to receive an offer. The assignment was $40, but the website takes half of it, so I only got $20. Still... it's money, and I already sent it to K so he could purchase me some W7 nail polishes, which cost so cheapy at 1.99£ each.
♥ Holiday with K taking more shape. Most things are still undecided... but it's very certain that we will be traveling to Iloilo, Guimaras, and Corregidor. Surprisingly, he expressed his willingness to travel to Boracay as well as travel back to Puerto Galera. I told him I am willing to let go of Puerto Galera as we traveled there in 2010 and would take Boracay instead, but he told me, "We have time for both." I will be checking some swimsuits next week!
♥ A very long phone call with DeeJay. He surprised me by telling he's going to run 21K at the next fun run he will attend and would like me to join him...even if I would just run 5K. Hmmm... let's see. :)
♥ More event invitations! Tomorrow I will be attending a culinary class, and this week I received two more invitations - one for a food tasting event, the other - a launch of a smartphone. Excited much!

The crappie bits:
♥ I ate too much this week.
♥ I just hated Globe's service! For the Baguio trip, I was asked to get a Globe sim card so I can communicate with the person who invited me. I loaded it with 30 pesos...used 25 pesos to unlimited on texts, but I was surprised that even with the confirmation message stating I am enrolled at the unlitxt service, it still ate up my remaining 5 pesos. I was left with no choice but to load it with 30 pesos again. All throughout the day,  I was able to text leaving the 30 pesos untouched...but didn't use it come night time as I was already talking to DeeJay. The next morning, I received a message saying my unlitxt just expired, but when I tried to enrolled for another day of unlitxt, I received a message saying I don't have enough load. Inquiring about it, I found out I only have 15 pesos load left. How the fark did that happen when I didn't use it to text or call anybody the night before the service expired?!? Sheesh!
♥ Not taking enough pictures. I don't know why...I truly felt I took way too much images, and when I got home I realized I didn't have that much images to choose from. Sigh.