happy birthday, spike

dear spikey,

three words:

you.are.loved.

xoxo,

your beloved driver ☺☺☺

my own leather satchel

because of thebaghag's mulberry alexa + frances' post about her own desire to own one, i likewise wanted my own satchel.

of course, it didn't help that emily loves her own alexa so much that she uses it enough to remind me to be on the lookout for a version that my taongbayan budget can actually afford.

at the forever 21 sale, i found a pewter satchel, and since the price was perfect, i snagged it up without thinking. it's great -- i actually love the color pewter -- but it's not exactly the easiest bag to use. so when frances asked her readers if they'd be interested in an affordable handmade leather satchel, i immediately fired off an email and hoped that i could get my hands on one.

as i was tidying up my room, i realized that long before i lusted after the mulberry alexa, my dad had already given me a satchel.

{my reward for winning my first case as a lawyer}

after graduating from law school, and with zero plans and zero prospects, i jumped at the chance to clerk for my former student's mom who had just been recently appointed to the court of appeals. the money wasn't bad, and at that time, i was a law graduate who had just spent the past five years (i was working + was in the evening class, so i needed an extra year to finish) earning a degree. i was so focused on graduating that i realized i didn't even know what i was going to do with my degree after i had earned it!

after almost three years, the "itch" to be a real lawyer (translation: abogado de campanilla) bit me, so i left my cushy government job and moved to a firm. one of the first original (in the beginning, all of my cases were passed on to me by the lawyer who had just resigned) cases was a labor case that i had actually prayed would be assigned to me. less than a year later, the labor arbiter came out with a decision in favor of my client.

i had just won my first case.

i was so excited that i immediately sent my parents as text message about the win. days later, i received an email from my mom -- apparently, my dad was so excited for me that he got me what he deemed a "lawyer's bag" from coach.

{my dad isn't a big fan of coach, but i am.}

side note: both of my parents aren't fans of the brand, and couldn't exactly understand why i liked the overpriced leather goods, so i was actually more than surprised that my dad got me this beautiful handsome leather satchel.

*sigh* while i totally love my new job, and while i don't miss the stress that comes from being a litigation lawyer, i truly wish that one day, i'd get the opportunity to use this bag on a regular basis once more.

my weekend

{this weather}*

plus

{these new pillows}

equals

{christmas snoopy shirt from mama}

girl in an off-season christmas shirt.

i had a list of errands to run saturday, including a trip to SM to buy wooden hangers using the GC i won from the ascof super mom contest (papa - i'm not the super mom, i just wrote this essay for a contest at work) but i ended up staying at home (save to make a trip to baliwag to buy liempo for dinner. i hadn't eaten anything the entire day!) because of the rain. the weather was crazy -- it was super sunshiny in the morning, prompting me to tackle the mountains of laundry that had accumulated over the weeks cause of the weather, but i was only a load and a half into my wash when it started raining.

and raining.

and raining some more.

so i ended up going online, catching up on FB stuff, writing future blog posts, and cleaning the house.

i know it's more than half a year away from christmas, but when the weather's this gorgeous (i love the rain, just like my dad) and new pillows are on the bed, a girl can't help but think happy thoughts. and, if you know me well enough, you'd know that for me, happy thoughts = christmas.

*weather map image from here

happy happy joy joy

it was an innocent enough text. would i be able to be at alabang by 7pm?

i said, yep, 645 even.

so theo replied, okay meet me at switch near the spa. may bibilhin daw siya.

i thought he'd be buying headphones, or something innocuous like that. and then we entered the store and he told the salesperson who greeted us, i'd want the macbook pro. do you have it in stock?

oh-kay ... i think i must've choked on my own saliva. i don't think i've ever entered a store in my life and offered to buy something in a snap. then again, we're talking about theo here. and he's able to shock me just like that.

the salesperson rung up the purchase and theo asked, can i test it? and so she volunteered to set it up for him.

during the unboxing, i was surprised at how un-excited he was over the entire thing. so i interfered and said, wait, this deserve pictures! it's the unboxing of a major gadget (at least, major to me).

so i whipped out my camera and forced him to pose:

{theo holding the plastic-wrapped macbook pro}

i couldn't actually believe he allowed the salesperson to rip the security sticker and un-pack the entire thing. but then, that's him and his kayamanan. i am, after all, taongbayan lamang.

{username and password please!}

theo kept laughing at me cause i was more excited than him. he said that the only reason he purchased it was that he couldn't be the society blogger he wants to be (seriously!) unless he has a working pc. and since nahamugan the one-and-a-half year old laptop he's been using, he needed one asap.

gosh, my friends are so alta.

pasalubong

i think i've mentioned it here before: i am a major sucker for presents. thus, when i first started working for the government, my brother teased me and said, "oh no, ate, you might end up being horribly corrupt."

i didn't.

it didn't change the fact, however, that my undying love and loyalty can be had with presents (and boys with mazda 3 vehicles, but that's another story entirely). so imagine my utter joy when i met up with tito gil + the entire baltazar clan once more and was given lovely, lovely presents.

like this bag.

and this perfume. (incidentally, it's the same perfume as last year's. wonder what's the fascination with carolina herera. do i tell him i'm partial to elizabeth arden fragrances?)

and these chocolates.

*sigh* i'm feeling the love.

incidentally, i'm so blessed with good friends cause theo, after learning my fascination with wooden hangers, ordered a bunch for me from ikea. happiness!!!

thanks for the lovely pasalubong!!!

26 years ago ... or thereabouts

thanks to GB who alerted me that this pic has been uploaded on facebook.

i'd had a horrible day - not really horrible horrible but just one of those days where you're pretty much beat and unhappy and not really motivated -- so seeing this picture made me realize a couple of things ...

1. my super achiever cousins are clearly achievers even in pics. note the stoic faces.

2. my payat cousins are, well, payat from childhood.

3. i've always been rounder than my relatives, with "big" hair.

but, please note that i think i've got a really sweet smile and funny how while it was my cousin nadia's birthday (she's the one wearing aqua and white stripes), i'm sorta edging her out to take center stage. bata pa lang, epal na!

p.s. points to those who can identify (1) my mom and (2) my brother in the pic.

sunday, bloody sunday

it's been a while since i blogged from my bed. ever since i got the desk in my room organized, i've been pretty disciplined about sitting on a chair, at my desk, whenever i'd use jackson wagner (uhm, that's the name of my laptop, yes, i'm not embarrassed that it has a name!). but things are, unfortunately, crazy at home last night. after yesterday's "choose your own adventure" activity which ann and i organized, we all hied off to my house for a late dinner + movie. it was soooooo fun cause we turned my living/dining areas into a movie theater with the lcd projector + screen. and we had ice cream and cake and popcorn and everything else in between so it was all decadent and fun.

so, as you can imagine, even with the slight clean-up after the activity (which involved throwing everything inside garbage bags), the house needs a major do-over: mop the floors, polish table tops, return furniture to their proper places. i've gotten started on some of the things, already - the throw pillows on the couch are in their proper places already - but it's just tooooo hot right now to contemplate on doing more.

right outside my window, three men are going at it with my - as one of them aptly described it - masukal garden (if you could still call it that). i gave them free reign to just hack everything off (there's too much going on inside the house as it is ... i can't be bothered with outside stuff anymore) and to take everything they can sell (wait -- don't take my jeans off the clothesline!!!). i'm praying that after cutting off giant mango branches overhanging my property, taking away all the bushes that are -- for lack of a better word -- scary already, and cleaning my roof, that i'll have less problems in the next couple of days.

of course, i'd much rather be at the magarbo sale right now, perusing clothes inside an airconditioned room, but i have to do this. this - house cleaning, ordering men to fix the outside of my house, budgeting the imaginary quarterly bonus i received to pay for everything i need to get done this weekend (and then some. that's how "imaginary" it is -- mauubos siya in one weekend to pay for the workers, the truck that'll haul the branches away, and my lunch) -- is apparently what being an adult means, and while i understand it, i don't exactly cherish it.

sigh, thank goodness for dinner with kit's girlfriend to look forward to. dinner = free, and in my book, that's a great way to cap off sunday, bloody sunday.

*p.s. of course a mass should be included in the mix, it being a holy day of obligation. yesterday, the last pit stop of the urban adventure was anticipated mass in bf and going to mass with the lingkod brothers and sisters is one of the best ways to spend time with God.

the courtesy of a reply

there's a couple of things that i dislike.

chipped nail polish.

ampalaya.

an empty train that i fail to catch.

people who don't reply to text messages.

so i might be one of the reasons why the philippines is the text capital of the world, and yes, one of the happiest things in my life is the fact that my phone plan provides for unlimited globe-to-globe and globe-to-TM text messages. i admit that i'm that friend who sends a crazy number of text messages in a single day, especially to good friends. believe me - i understand that you cannot reply to every single text message i send, especially if the only reply you'll be sending is a half-hearted HA!HA!

but once in a blue moon, i do send text messages that require a reply.

like when i'm asking you to confirm your attendance in an activity.

or when i'm waiting somewhere for you and don't know where you are.

or when i'm picking you up and i'm double-parked, the hazard lights are on, and the security guard is telling me to get the hell out of there and you're not there.

so if i might seem kulit about my stories or my anecdotes or i'm ranting about something. but if the text message clearly requires a reply, please do. that's the polite thing to do.

and, oh, i also dislike the reply "k" ... but that's an entirely separate post. ☺

faux-ella

i love paella.

but i can't really afford it all the time.

so thank goodness for clara ole ora mix mo -- because it allows me to have paella any day i wish.

just like last sunday.

brown rice + the ora mix mo + left over squid from the previous night's dinner at gilligan's = faux-ella.

in the mummy, rachel weisz repeatedly utters, "patience is a virtue." and while it may be true, tell that to my rumbling tummy craving for a paella. it (my rumbling tummy, that is) believes that patience isn't always a virtue, and because of clara ole ora mix mo, it isn't so. ☺

p.s. god forbid that you should think this is a paid post cause (1) i'm not a food blogger and (2) only five people read this blog. so there.

on splurging on real designer bags and scrimping on fake dvds

my brother, he's a purist.

he doesn't download music. he doesn't buy rubbershoes from greenhills. and he doesn't buy pirated DVDs. he believes that notwithstanding our third world status, we should buy deserve nothing but the originals. so you can just imagine what he spends his hard-earned money on and what our balikbayan boxes from our parents look like.

me - who happens to be the lawyer in the family - i'm not as virtuous. i buy bootleg DVDs (almost got caught in a raid once!), the 40 newest songs on my ipod have been downloaded from 4shared, and got a major virus attack cause of the number of games i got online. but - and this is a major but, at least as far as my wallet is concerned - i believe that if i were going to buy a bag and it's going to have some designer's logo stamped all over it, well, it's going to have to be the real thing.

ironic, isn't it?

now, given my clearly less-than-honorable position on intellectual property rights, i've abstained from making any sort of judgment when it comes to other people's choices. so what if that girl beside me is lugging what is an obviously fake burberry -- her choice, her price points. if she believes that the greenhills version is as good as the real thing, then i won't be mocking her. if you don't judge me for spending my 13th month pay (and then some!) on what used to be the outer covering of an animal, i won't judge you if yours was manufactured somewhere in china.

why the rant?

the other day, someone asked that i scrap the idea of including as a task (in an activity we were planning) the purchase of pirated dvds. while i was wasn't happy about it, i said, okay, the task can be easily changed. after all, he may be a purist like my brother. what got me upset though was when someone who i know actually purchases fake DVDs and not-real bags (and proud about it too -- she mentioned that people spend way too much on designer bags and she couldn't justify the purchase to herself, hence the buying of non-originals) commented insinuated that i was so wrong in including that activity as it clearly promotes piracy which - for all intents and purposes - is stealing (and therefore a sin).

my first reaction? i wanted to point out each and every single faux designer bag in her closet. i wanted to list all the times we bought fake DVDs together. i wanted to express how plastic she was for citing my intellectual property violations when she herself is oh-so-guilty of the same thing herself. i was UPSET ... wait, upset doesn't even begin to cover it.

after i'd calmed down, i realized that more than the fake/real bags, and beyond the authentic/pirated DVDs, what got me upset was my pride. she had pointed out a flaw, and i was upset that i wasn't perfect. i wanted to be praised for my brilliance, not to be dressed down for my lack of foresight. ah, pride. and even if i had all the pretty bags in the universe (including the coveted hermes birkin) none of them will get me into heaven, and none of them will change the fact that i -- a child of God -- was too proud to admit a fault.

my girls

five years ago, i didn't think i was capable of female friendships. oh i could count the number of female friends i had with the fingers on my hand.

and then i joined lingkod. this pic ... it isn't even complete. some of my closest female friends from lingkod aren't even here.

lingkod has brought me closer to god, has brought me immense grace especially when i had to go through a lot of tough times in my life. i've found prayer partners, shopping partners, movie partners, and, gasp, videoke partners.

and if you've ever heard me sing, you'd know how major that is.

won't be downloading this one ...

it's been a while since i paid for songs. i either download it, or ask for the song from a friend. when it comes to our k pop addiction, anto takes care of buying the cd and i rip it from there and upload it to my trusty ipod.

after all -- i realized yesterday -- i don't have a cd player at home, except for the one that comes with the laptop.

but then, the essentials album launch happened.

and i fell in love with "love story" after watching the mtv at anto's ipad when i rode with her once.

and i'm in love with this boy ...

so now i'm the proud owner of not one, but two bigbang CDs.

guess who'd be eating gulay + half rice the rest of the month ... ☺

belated happy mother's day, mama!

this is my mom ...

she's in the business of fulfilling our wishes.

when we were kids, my brother and i went to my cousins' paternal grandmother where there was a huge box of toys from hong kong. since my mom wasn't there with us, we could only look at the stuff we wanted: a macross figure for my brother, and a row of tiny dolls for me. lo and behold, when we woke up the following day, there it was -- the toys we wanted -- and it wasn't even christmas!

on my 18th birthday, my mom not only gave me an all-out shopping spree, that summer, she took us all to hong kong where i got to go to ocean park for the first time. you see, my mom, my brother, and i have a thing for amusement parks. we used to make the rounds every christmas, so imagine the sheer joy of being able to go to ocean park.

last year, she took us to disneyland. that was a major wish granted.

i remember there was a time we were chatting and she said she felt so little compared to my former boss who graduated from UP at the same time she did. my boss was an associate justice of the court of appeals; she's a nurse's aide in the US. my boss has people at her beck and call; my mom makes a living by being at other people's beck and call. my boss has so much; my mom has so little. i was at a loss for words then, but i wish i could've told her stuff like my boss wouldn't have sacrificed time with her husband just so that i could go to the best school that their meager savings could afford. i wish i could've told her that no matter what she does for a living, it doesn't make her any less of a mother. she's our mama, the mama who raised us well, raised us the best way she knew how. she's our mama who never missed an activity in school, the one who took all of our pictures in school programs and in recognition ceremonies. she was the one who stayed up late with us at night to memorize the multiplication table and to ensure that i learned the spelling of "beautiful". our dreams were her dreams: not once did she question my decision to take up molecular biology and biotechnology in UP and while she was sad when i decided to shift to education, she supported every single piece of cartolina and pentel pen i bought for my numerous teaching demonstrations.

my mom taught me how to make lists and wash the car. my mom taught me how to save money and how to get pedicures if i'll be wearing sandals. when we stopped having a maid at home, my mom ironed all my school uniforms and all our sheets and kept the house clean -- a major feat that i didn't appreciate until i was all alone at home and found out that open windows deposit a huge amount of dust on top of everything on a regular basis.

you see me now and say, wow, her mom must be blessed to have a daughter who's a lawyer and is independent and is a good kid. let me tell you that this lawyer who is independent and is a good kid is more blessed to have been born to a mom like her.

if all days were weekends ...

... i'd probably be deathly bored by now. hahaha.

{by the way, here's a pic of me wearing the look-alike blouse}

but since they aren't, i can't wait till this saturday ☺

last weekend was the company outing at las casas filipinas. i'd been there before and while i liked the place, i didn't exactly love it. so i wasn't terribly excited about going to the outing, but my boss said that she'd go if one of us went and i didn't want to be a killjoy. i figured, i'd probably rack up model employee points (my ultimate goal, wait, my penultimate goal. taking over a particular department happens to be the ultimate, haha!) if i did. of course, there was major regret when i realized that it would be the same day as the lingkod alabang outing (at splash island, where i'd never been and always wanted to go!) but i thought, maybe it's time to widen my horizon a bit.

i did enjoy the outing, and las casas too, if only cause it's soooo much bigger now and there's a number of things that weren't there before. i got to sleep after lunch and read a book and eat lotsa food and pose in pictures (clearly i indulged in the most important things in my life, hahahaha!). being the admin-minded person that i was, i wasn't so happy with how things didn't seem so organized and how the outing, despite months of planning, seemed so haphazardly put together. then again, maybe this would further bolster my take-over bid in that department. mwahahaha!

this coming weekend, i've a date with the sabado girls to go to the big bang album launch, and there's a videoke + laser tag activity in the evening. so much for my plan to load up the car with gas and just hie off somewhere. then again, sunday's free. maybe i can still do my one-person-getaway then ☺

is that you, arnel pineda?

i've seen the sign often enough -- they were offering volume straight for an amount that wouldn't make me flinch.

now, while i want desire straight hair, i've always hated stick straight hair. i want blow-dried goddess locks. i want my hair to bounce. i want my hair to have body. i want my hair to be pretty and to my mind, stick striaght hair isn't exactly pretty. so when i saw the streamer gaily proclaiming promising volume straight, i knew that one day, i was going to have to plunk my ass in that salon.

so after much saving of money + sidelining + contemplating, one day, i decided to pass by the salon again and get the details. apparently volume straight is one thing, but they'll offer me volume rebond + treatment + permanent cellophane for a reasonable price. since my hair was giving me major woes, i said okay and set a date.

bright and early holy wednesday, i was there. the gay who was supposed to do my hair, however, wasn't.

another gay was there though, and he said he could do it for me. but since my other friend was going to come in a bit to have hers done as well, and since she has to be at work by 3 p.m., i said, let her go first.

eventually it was my turn. (my gay arrived at 11ish)

most of us know how the process goes: wash hair, dry hair, add chemicals, wash hair, dry hair, iron hair, put more chemicals.

it was a loooong time before we got to the "put more chemicals part"

by this time, i was bored. and stiff from sitting. plus i wasn't so sure they were doing the right thing. after all, most volume rebond treatments i saw (i am a huge fan of googling stuff for additional information) involves rollers at this part of the treatment ... to ensure that the ends would flip inside. so far, the rebonding process has been exactly the same process i'd been through in the past.

let's say i wasn't too happy with the outcome that i didn't exactly take an after pic. i offer you, however, a pic of whose hair my stylist might have wanted to emulate:

now, i don't really have anything against arnel pineda, i just wasn't a fan of his hair. translation: i wasn't a fan of my hair either. (and if you're like unsure whether i'm kidding or not, just show up at my house when i haven't bothered with the "solution")

being the resourceful girl that i am, i came up with a solution:

old school rollers.

while i love the results (see here for one of the few times i got it right), it's mostly hit or miss. sometimes i end up with super big hair, and sometime the ends (for some reason) get really kinky (which they aren't on other days). sometimes the ends refuse to curl in, and sometimes, it's perfect on one side, and totally weird on the other side. plus, and this is the hateful part, i now have to add an additional hour or so to my morning routine to dry my hair then allow it to set for the day.

on a good day, people compliment me on my hair. on a bad day, they look at me from the corner of their eye and they're like, what happened to her hair. me, i'm just growing it and praying that one day, it'll be normal again. does this mean i'll give up on the quest for straight her -- hell no. ☺☺☺

while bebeng was raging outside my window ...

considering that (1) i was crazy tired from the previous day's outing and (2) there was a storm raging outside, my best option would've been to stay beneath the blankets and devour the pile of books on my bedside table.

but maybe cause i was sick and tired of losing my place on my book, and maybe cause i had these leather strips i bought from national bookstore that i don't know what to do with, i came up with the *brilliant* (if i may say so myself) of creating bookmarks.

{prepped and packaged to be given as gifts to friends}

a bit of a backstory --

a couple of christmasses ago, i fell in love with these charm bracelets from rustan's. i can't remember what exactly it is they're called but each bracelet had a theme and the charms all related to that theme. being the wonderful friend that he is, the martian got me two: the "i wish i had more shoes" and the "i wish i had more bags". fast forward to a couple of months ago when i was cleaning up - it could be the heat, or the fact that they bracelets weren't exactly new anymore, but the elastic that was holding the various elements of the bracelet gave, and then all the charms, links, and what-nots were all over the place. i gathered them in a box, not really knowing what to do with them, and whether i would actually do anything with them at all, and figured that one day, i'll deal with them.

call it divine inspiration, but that rainy sunday morning, i figured out what to do with the loose charms and the leather strips from national bookstore:

bookmarks.

{this slipper charm happens to be my favorite of the bunch,

so this stays with me}

i'd like to think they're better than the usual strips of cardboard one slips in between the pages, and waaaaaaaaaaaay better than the bus tickets i use to mark my place most of the time these days. plus, i'd like to think that the fact i had repurposed my beloved charm bracelet into something not only useful but very pretty is a big deal, at least for me. of course, i may just be biased -- much the same way i'm biased with my cooking, and i'm biased with my taste in stuff.

but if you agree, it wouldn't hurt if you could boost my ego and leave a comment below ☺

edit: good thing i took a pic of the slipper charm ... i lost it on my way to work this morning. sadness.

same shirt, different girl

i can still remember the last time it happened. i had picked out a lovely oath-taking dress from plains and prints and thought that in a sea of a 1,893 future lawyers, what are the chances that someone would pick out the same dress? or, if someone were to pick out the same outfit, what are the chances that i'd bump into her?

apparently, 100%. as i was waiting for my grandmother, there was this girl, in the same outfit, albeit different shoes. i immediately changed course -- or i probably hid behind a tree -- lest i totally bump into someone who felt as pretty as i did in the frilly white dress.

fast forward to our company outing. there were about a hundred of us. me, i was happy i found this shirt:

it was everything i wanted - white (i happen to love white tops), with frilly sleeves (i love frilly details), and fit me nicely. it was comfy, and it was cheap enough that i wouldn't mind should anything happen to it during the outing. when i got the shirt, i was like, "what are the chances that someone would end up with the same shirt as myself?"

same way the it was a little more than four years ago when i took the lawyer's oath, 100%.

what's worse, she was wearing - as i was - black shorts. what hurts though was that she was thinner, waaaaaaaaaaaaay thinner. it was like we were tweedledee and tweedledum, except that unlike the alice in wonderland pair, only one of us was fat.

i wanted to wilt in my cute (ha! ha!) rubbershoes. i wanted to hide (as much as someone my size could hide). i wanted to melt into a puddle and just slither around till it was time to go home. in the end, though, i paraded in my frilly white t-shirt (well, paraded as much as i could - i couldn't go to the washroom when we were all in the function room since i'd have to pass in front of the emcee and everyone would see me and they probably had seen her and they'd be like - hey, same outfit!). i must admit, though, that my eyes darted left and right the entire day -- making sure i wasn't anywhere near her and she wasn't anywhere near me.

did anyone notice? well, no one had the guts to come up to me and say, "hey you have the same shirt as xxxxxx!" maybe i was just in polite company, or maybe no one was really paying attention to what people were wearing. then again, pics are being uploaded on FB and on the company shared folders. i'm sure one of these days, someone will have the panache to tease me about being twins with the other girl on the company outing. but until that day comes, i'll be glad to pretend that no one noticed.

as for that frilly white shirt ... it might not see the light of day, not for a looooooong while.

easter has come

i can still remember how i felt early january when i learned that i needed a root canal. i though that my bad luck streak had run out -- after all, i had just gone through spending a lot on plumbing repairs, being locked out of the house, replacing my front door knobs, getting an uber-tiny gown after waiting for more than a month, the car battery dying on me, and various plumbing problems. but with the news that i would have to spend a small fortune on my teeth, well that was the last straw.

it felt like i was on extended lent.

and then blessings started coming bit by bit. a two-day seminar + another two-day seminar (one that i asked for and they gave me) + the kate spade BB pouch arriving + the check finally being released + being able to score really cheap tickets + being able to book using really cheap tickets on a 3-day long weekend for those who work in qc meaning i don't have to go on an additional leave.

yesterday, the box arrived. and since my brother picked it up from tita mayu's house, i asked him if he would kindly drop it off here at work and he did ☺ shared some of the bounty (loot!) with the people at work. happiness, right?

have a blessed friday, everyone. and Lord, thank you for this respite. this child is finally truly celebrating her easter.

p.s. i noted that most of my blessings came in the form of material things. maybe God just knows me (and my love language) so well. ha ha.


*image from here

more shopping loot

{i made sure to cover "that" part of the shirt in order to keep

this blog strictly PG. here's an image of the actual painting.}

i'm not exactly sure if i read it here first or if he told me about it (or it could've actually been the giant poster over at EDSA), but i've wanted to get a piece of the freeway art collection for the longest time. but sometimes their stuff don't fit me, and freeway isn't exactly one of my "top of mind" stores, so i keep neglecting to get a piece.

and then the megamall 3-day sale happened. and we stumbled onto freeway where i saw the shirt theo had been wanting for the longest time. better yet, it was on MAJOR sale - only P299.

as i always tell gay when we find items we love on sale, it's virtually a sin to pass it up. so, without really thinking, and knowing that the places i can actually wear this shirt is quite limited, i got it.

happiness!

(side note: as i said, i knew that the times i could wear this shirt out would be few and far in between, owing to the "controversial" message of the shirt -- if you know what i mean. since i was just going to run errands on saturday, and totally didn't anticipate running into anyone, i gladly donned the shirt and proudly walked out of my home. of course, it had to be the day i bump into someone -- actually two soneones -- from my catholic singles community. i think i must've fidgeted so much (out of fear) that i ended up doing what i wanted to prevent, that is, to draw attention to my shirt. in any case, now i know better. maybe next time i should just wear it when i go to the province. it's not like my lola would actually comment on what i'm wearing, right?)

cafe mary grace is ♥

i am by no means a foodie, unlike my friend, the pickiest eater in the world. in fact, if you've ever had a meal with me, you'll know that my descriptions are limited to "happy" and "sad". as in, "hey, i want happy food," or "this food is sad!" thus, i have absolutely no authority to be writing about food i've eaten and places i've visited.

oh wait, i did this. but, we all know that junk food, such as ice cream, doesn't count, right?

in any case, i had a LOT of time to burn after i brought spike to have his aircon fixed. so first i ate lunch (BK! happy food!!!). and then i went around the mall. since (1) it wasn't sale and (2) my body (and budget) still hurts from last friday's jaunt at sm megamall, that soon got really boring. since i had my book with me, i thought, "coffee shop!"

figaro doesn't have the most comfy seats. and i'm not a huge fan of starbucks. so i though, why not cafe mary grace?

we all know about the amazing ensaymadas, the zesty lemon squares, and the to-die-for cheese rolls. so i'm not going to write about that. what i am going to write about is the AMAZING service i experienced while killing time.

it was a hot afternoon (as all afternoons are these days) and while i wanted the hot chocolate valencia, i wasn't about to order something warm. so i asked the server if it would be okay to have it on ice. without any hesitation, she said "yes." just like that, my wish was immediately granted.

i sat there (and oggled at phil and james younghusband. turns out the cute guys i was eying were the popular siblings.), read a book, availed of the free wifi in relative peace. cafe mary grace has all the charm of papemelroti (one of my favorite places growing up) and none of the noise of the starbucks. it was like figaro (which i absolute loved), but better (better food, better service, better seats). the next couple of hours crawled (always is when you're waiting for something), but i was in mary grace heaven. who am i to complain, right?

when i had digested the enormous lunch i had at BK, i ordered lemon squares. the attendant asked, "how many?" and i replied, "four, cause that's the minimum, right?" probably the girl knew i wanted less, or probably she knew that i would need to eat less to actually lose weight, so she informed me that i could order fewer slices if i wanted. niiiiiiiccccceeee, right? so i got two ☺

and while comfort rooms are usually the waterloo of any establishment, i noted that their washroom is cleaned every fifteen minutes. not only that, it has a sign that informs the customers that should they need more supplies or feel that the washroom needs attention, to just inform the manager on duty and they'll be glad to take care of what needs to be taken care of. fantabulous, right?

more often than not, we tend to take customer service for granted. and, more often than not, you read blog posts complaining about a place's service, or shoddy performance by the wait staff. i should know, i've written a number of those as well. glad to know that there's a business owner that still takes time to train her staff, and ensures that the service is as amazing as her food.

i am reminded of last christmas when i had to order a box of their famous ensaymadas to bring home to the province. when we arrived at their trinoma branch, they didn't have stocks yet but they informed us that (1) stocks were arriving and (2) we can reserve boxes as long as we pay for them in advance. so we did, and it wasn't long before they texted us to inform us that our ensaymadas had arrived and were ready for pick-up. uber convenient, right?

thanks cafe mary grace for allowing me to kill time at your atc store. but more importantly, thank you for making me feel "loved" last saturday afternoon.

the ubiquitous yellow shopping bag

i was an ortigas girl when forever 21 first opened. i must've been part of the .001% who wasn't terribly excited.

oh, i read all the blog posts raving about its opening. and i saw all those shoppers with yellow bags milling about. i think i must've gone in once, or twice, but i never really saw anything i wanted to buy.

yesterday was the megamall three-day sale. being the obedient underling that i am (ha!ha! as if i needed any form of encouragement.) i accompanied my boss to megamall after our seminar. first stop: forever 21.

the crowds, long lines, dearth of dressing rooms, and heavy bag (i had just come from a seminar, remember?) notwithstanding, i scrounged with the best of them. and i fell in line. and i swiped that debit card (no credit card for me ... it's toooo tempting!). no worries -- i was prudent: i started the line with 6 items and ended up getting only 3, every single piece intended to be used for work, hence an "investment." (i am so a lawyer that i can actually justify purchases!)

after a year + another branch later, i have finally been converted.

on a side note, we passed by bayo and kamiseta and my boss was like, "where are all the people." simple, i replied, they were at forever 21. told her that if we had P10 for every forever 21 bag we saw, we could've paid for everything we bought between the two of us. and you know what, we probably would've had some left over.