A Date with the Genius, Billoinare, Playboy, Philantropist

Well, if you're a fan of the Avengers... you know by now that I am talking about Tony Stark - aka Iron Man. :) The Philippines was one of the few (if not the only one) that first showed Iron Man 3 last 24 April 2013. I was very eager to watch it as soon as possible, and I was a little bit devastated that I couldn't join Nuffnang's special screening (because I am not a Sun Cell subscriber), but I told myself that I would watch it at the cinema, not only because Iron Man is favorite super hero (since I watched the first movie), but also because I have always had this huge crush on Robert Downey, Jr. since I was in college.


Last Saturday, I was happy to finally watch it. I really wanted it to be us three girls (mom, sis, and I), but sister was at work and would stay at her college friend for the weekend. I wasn't sure until when the cinema would show the movie, so I asked mom if she would like to watch with me. My mom didn't know any of the Iron Man movies, but because I told her we would watch it on 3D, she decided to come with me.

Of course it was a great cinematic experience. I laughed, and there were a little tears shed, too (especially towards the end)... but as always, I stayed until the very, very end... because I knew there will still be a little snippet after the credits have been rolled out. If you still haven't watched the movie, please... don't leave the cinema until the very end, because not only was this very last scene funny, it was such a relief as well.

I thought my mom didn't like it because yes, the movie was a little slow at first and my mom was yawning loud, but I was still happy that she laughed at the certain scenes - like the Dora the Explorer watch and the Tony Stark tattoo. In the end, she was okay about it...even telling brother about certain things about the movie.

images taken from Google Images - credits to the rightful owners

I couldn't find any images and movie scenes (edit: found this video on YouTube)... but I just wanna say that Tony Stark's Audi R8 was such a drool-worthy car! I think this car Robert Downey, Jr. drove at the premier was the Audi R8 Spyder, but the one in the movie was the Audi R8 E-Tron. Well, if James Bond has the Aston Martin, Tony Stark has the Audi. Too bad the car wasn't used that much in the movie (unlike how he used another Audi R8 at the Iron Man 2).

I unlocked my GetGlue sticker by watching this movie... and this crossed off my list, I am now looking forward to watching Despicable Me 2...also in 3D.


Also last Saturday, I had a little pampering time - I had my eyebrows shaped and my upper lip hair removed using the newest tend - sugaring. My eyebrows aren't virgins anymore, and I liked that the sugarer (the salon staff) didn't take too much of my eyebrows. She understood that it was my first time to have my eyebrows trimmed and shaped... so she just made a clean arch. After a month, if I still want to, I will just have it trimmed more.The upper lip hair thing, I didn't really plan to do... but while shaping my eyebrows the sugarer told me about my upper lip hair, so in the end I just had it removed, too.

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Next week, I am hoping to visit a gym. I am practically begging my brother to come with me at the gym (even for just one week) just to help me get familiarized with the machines. I know this sounds very dependent, and I know I can just go to gym if I really want to, but like a lot of things, going to the gym was a big leap of faith for me - kinda like a child going to the school for the first time. I really do hope that he will join me just until I can familiarize myself with how each of the machines work, but if he really doesn't want to, then this week I will just continue with my scheduled workout.

A Happy Friday!

I was out all day yesterday, and got home pretty late... so I wasn't able to blog right away. Anyway, I had a very great Friday yesterday and here are the five reasons behind such happiness:


1. Books!
I finished reading "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer a little past 1am, and since I allowed myself to read books until 2am, I started reading "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins.


2. Spending time with a friend.
When I went to Makati last Tuesday (23 Apr), I wasn't able to message my friend SJ because I know he's only available during lunch break and when I told him about the footwear sale at Glorietta, he was a bit upset that I didn't tell him I was in the area. Since I had an event to attend to yesterday, I decided to tell him that I will be in Makati and because he has to go to the dentist in the morning, we agreed to meet for lunch.

Good thing I arrived in Makati early, because the dentist in the first clinic he went to wasn't available. When he went to the next clinic, he said he was given #16 card, so he went to meet with me first. We had a quick lunch at the food court of SM Makati, then he asked me to accompany him at the Medicard Lifestyle Center for his dentist appointment. Well, we stayed at the lobby for more than three hours, but it was a great thing that we could share jokes and that the building has a free WiFi connection. We also shared a piece of Blueberry Cheese Muffin while he made a little boy happy by giving him origami - a little box and a boat.

He still has to go back to work, so he suggested scenarios. Either we take the cab and ask the driver to drop us off Glorietta (where he could walk back to his office, and I walk to my sister's workplace) or we ask the cab driver to drop him off first before taking me to sister's workplace, but he later realized that even if he give me money to pay the fare, it would still feel awkward, so in the end he told the driver to take me to sister's workplace first before dropping him off at his office building.


3. Hanson app on my phone. 
It was difficult to grasp WiFi signals from our neighbor's house, so even if I wanted to install the Hanson app the time it became available, it was just now that I was able to. I know this app is something I can't use much because it requires Internet connection, but still... being a fan, it's great to have them at the tip of my fingers, so to speak.


4. Dinner at Max's Restaurant
Since last month, I rarely attend food events because I want to help myself lose weight and going to food tasting events here and there was a big "sacrifice" I had to do. However, I have been a part of Max's Restaurant family for two years, so when I received an invitation from them, I didn't turn them down. This event was the awarding night for a contest they had for the Max's Restaurant bloggers... siblings and I didn't join, but I did win a GC for 1 whole fried chicken when they did a small trivia game. Happy I was to be seeing blogger friends, and happy that I was with my siblings and cousins (Marge and husband Jonel were there, too).


5. Sticker Happy!
When I decided to do the "Movie a Day" 365 Challenge, my friend Jessica (she's a Hanson fan, too) suggested I join GetGlue because whenever I watch a TV Show or a movie, I can check-in and might be rewarded with stickers. Not all check-ins meant 1 sticker, but... should there are movies and TV Shows with corresponding stickers. It was last 16 Mar that I completed 20 stickers, which meant I could order real copies of the stickers. Waiting time would last up to 8 weeks, and Jessica and I had some concerns that maybe they won't really send the stickers because not only does GetGlue have a lot of members, we also live outside of USA. For us, the real stickers are just cherry on top of the cake; that checking in and unlocking stickers are enough to make the GetGlue experience fun, but a few days ago, she posted pictures of her stickers, which got me excited for my copy. I knew she ordered her stickers long before I did, so imagine my surprise when siblings and I got home last night and brother handed me the envelope! For sure I won't really use the stickers, I will keep it for sentimental reasons. Thank you, GetGlue!

Of course, it's not really just a fun, fun, time for me... I also had some low moments -
1. While I was waiting for sister to time out from work, I received a text message from my high school friend Liza saying she's in Mindanao going to Bukidnon to meet another one of our friends. I was happy that they goet to see again after more than a decade, but I also felt sad that I wasn't with them. :(

2. After the Max's Restaurant event, us siblings walked from Greenbelt crossing three malls - Landmark, Glorietta, and SM - and when we got to Glorietta, we caught a glimpse of the Brazilian Madness Sale and sister and I were a little upset that they further reduced the price of some of the footwear.

3. While traveling home, the bus stopped at the corner of EDSA and East Avenue, and even if there were a lot of people waiting for their rides, my eyes caught the eyes of Angelo, one of my high school classmates. There was the initial surprise look followed by a hand wave... but I felt bad that he didn't hop in the bus (it wasn't that full) so we could chat. Well, he isn't a stranger (I mean, we talk every now and then thanks to Facebook), it was just sad that we had a chance to catch up on life and it didn't happen.

4. I couldn't register for Kindle... so I might take the app off my phablet. Just fine, I guess... Aldiko's a very great eBook app, and because most of the books I have are epub, I think I will stick to Aldiko for now.

5. I was browsing on EBay UK and checking on the Fifty Shades Trilogy books for sale, I saw one being sold for about £5. That got me super excited because each of the Fifty Shades book cost about 450 pesos here in the Philippines - nearly the same amount of the set of books sold on EBay. Next, I checked out the Harry Potter books, and saw several "all 7 books collection" for sale for about £20 (or below). Between the two collections, I prefer to own the Harry Potter books more (as I only got to read one book from the collection - "The Prisoner of Azkaban"). I quickly told K about it, requesting for him to purchase either one of the two collections (I forwarded $20 to him a month ago, will just pay for the rest when he comes here). Well, as much as he wanted to buy it, the problem would be its weight. He is only allowed check-in a luggage within the allowed limit, and should his luggage go beyond that, he will be asked to pay $50 per kilo. He told me that the last time he came here, his luggage was super close to the limit, and since he will stay longer when he comes here later this year, he was afraid taking the books with him will definitely blow his luggage allowance, and paying $50 would mean us paying more for the books than what they appeared to be. I do understand his explanation, but of course, I can't help but feel down. Well, I will snap out of it in time... hopefully I can find the Harry Potter books here in the Philippines (even second hand books).

Happy weekends, everyone!

12 - 18 April 2013

I love summer, but this year has got to be the hottest one yet! It made me uncomfortable to the point that I have had a few heart palpitations during lunch time, and the heat made me irritated quite easily.

Still, there are things that made me happy and thankful.


1) Dry cuticles no more! I have to thank the cuticle oil I have in the tray, and I am glad it did its wonder to restore my bad looking cuticles. This week, I got to paint my nails twice... and I will change my nail polish later this afternoon.


2) Giving "Twilight" a chance. I do have friends who raved about this... my mom even watched "Breaking Dawn" at the cinema (even if she had no clue about the whole story) and said it was nice... but I truly can't relate to any of it, because I don't know the story at all! Now that I can read eBooks using my phablet, I decided to give "Twilight" a chance. I finished reading the book last night, and although I won't rave about it like some of my friends did, I think it was okay. I will start reading "New Moon" before I call it a night.


3) Gifts from Moonleaf Tea Shop. I haven't tried Moonleaf Tea Shop drinks and pastries, so this one came as a very sweet surprise. My sister and I will visit the shop next week - she's more into Milk Tea and other tea drinks than I am, I definitely need her input as we sip our drinks. By the way, to clarify something - those were not syringes... but ballpoint pens.


4) Movie marathon. I started missing watching movies since I once set myself to watch at least one movie a day. Well, it was quite a difficult task, but calling it off doesn't mean I don't have to watch movies anymore. I do love psychology-related movies, and these three movies - watched in one day - just satisfied my movie fix.


5) Macaron de Paris!!! I love, love, love French Macarons, and Bizu Patisserie sent some Macaron de Paris for me in time for the annual Macaron Day tomorrow - 20 April 2013. Well, I'd share this pack to my family, of course... as much as I wanted to hog all the macarons for myself (it just taste sooooooo good), I gotta watch the calories and sugar intake. A taste (meaning a bite) of each is okay with me.

Five downers for this week?
1) My bed fell apart, I still don't have enough money to buy a new bed - so I have to sleep on the living room floor again.

2) I was a little upset at my mom's colleague... one time this week, mom brought home a big pack of ham - which looks like beef jerky, but pork. At first she told someone came over from Singapore, so I assumed it was given to her as a present, then the other night, when I cut some bits of this ham on my salad for dinner, I asked the story (again) behind the ham and I found out that one of her colleagues asked someone who traveled to Singapore to buy her the ham, and when the ham was delivered and the colleague had to pay (converting Singaporean Dollars to Philippine Pesos), the colleague was overwhelmed at how expensive it was and begged mom to buy it instead. The way mom told the story to me, there were hints of regrets in her voice (she refuses to tell me how much it was because the ham is not exceptionally delicious - just plain tasting sweet ham), which got me upset. Upset because my mom was put on the spot making a decision right there and then, and afraid to turn down the colleague, she paid for it instead. If only I can raise my eyebrow...

3) I wasn't able to exercise this week, at all! I actually feel better now - no more dizziness... but because I had the sleeping mat on the living room floor, my sister decided to sleep on the mat because it was freaking hot inside her room. Simply put, I couldn't exercise because I didn't have the space, and I didn't want to disturb sister's sleep (she's on the night shift this week - not only was it difficult to sleep in broad daylight, it was also difficult to sleep with this high heat). The good news about this is that I was able to maintain my weight.

4) Complications of summer - headache, tummy ache, heart palpitations. Nothing serious, though. I am still fine. :)

5) Hearing the Korean song "Gwiyomi" (or is it "Kwiyomi"?) over and over. Well, it is a catchy tune... cute, too, but hearing it over and over?!? Ermahgerd!!!

Happy weekends, people!