Walking on Sunshine.

Apparently, fuzzy and cute stuff make my day.

Say hello to Jack. Wala lang. :-)

On The Rocks.

Dear Blog,

I'm sorry.

I know I should be writing more often. I don't know if it's because of the countless things I have to be doing these days, or *gulp* I'm just too lazy to squeeze out words I need to tell you. Either way, I know I've neglected you and I must make it up asap. I can't believe this is happening. Really. I hope you understand. It's not you, it's me; I'm not making that much effort to keep my word that I'll be telling you things everyday.

But I hope you'd still hear me out. I was not able to write to you these past few days because I was too hung up on shopping at Cuenca.Twice. With Monique.

*Oh please don't be jealous.* You see, this is the biggest bazaar in the south, and you know me, as an impulse buyer, this is like the Mecca of southern bazaaristas. 

Don't worry, I did not over spend, in fact, I stayed in the budget. *Aren't you proud of me?*

And speaking of spending, Monique and I decided to have the expenses challenge. 

Yes, blog, aside from my 28-day-rule (which is lifted up during bazaars), I accepted the expenses challenge. This will basically measure how much my lifestyle costs outside the daily allowance for food and transportation. *Can you imagine Monique branded my haircuts and mani-pedis as luxuries? I have yet to ask her if my bills are exempted too.* Which I think will keep me stuck in the house ergo hopefully give me more time to focus on us. *Unless she calls net connection, prepaid load, and phone bills as luxuries. :-(*


Oh. I also went to Nica's debut last Saturday night. 

The first one in like two or three years. Gahd, I'm getting old. *Is it too pathetic of me to be depressed of getting old?* Anyway, it was really fun. I got to hang out with my childhood friends. I taught them how to bartend, basically making Nica's flaming shots. It was the quickest lesson I taught (of which I am not really familiar with) because I have to do impromptu hosting. *Oh no, Blog, don't be mad or jealous. I'm not shifting from writing to talking...* Although I really want my own radio talkshow... AND! I didn't drink alcohol the whole night.

Promise. *Oh, I took the party pictures from Pao's FB.*


No you didn't just read that. I will keep on writing. And look, I've been really productive. I did the bridal fair last weekend 

*I owe you the details, don't I?*, then I dropped by my college to sponsor the college foundation day sometime this week too. 

And well, I am also stuck in the office doing my day job. *I will do some decorating next week for Christmas. :-)*

You know how important my job is to me, right?


I have a lot more to tell you. Please don't take this week against me. Let's just put it this way, shall we? The more that there's stuff going on in my life means me writing more to you. Fun, isn't it? You'll be hearing more from me soon. Even if it takes this long for me to tell you everything. Even if I have to write twice in a day. Just for you to be updated with my life, I will write.



Because that's really the reason why we're together right? *I hope you really understand, explaining to you is kind of hard, I didn't know where to start.*


Anyway, it's getting late. I got to get some sleep, and we'll catch up when I wake up. Ok? :-)




Love,


Patricia :-)






PS. Please don't be too overwhelmed when my entries pile on top of one another, and multiply or facebook will always be linked. I just have that much to tell you. :-)

Round Two.

I got my planner two days ago. Haha. With the help of Monique. Which is why she is holding my planner hostage lest I hand her her own This Journal Will Actually Change Someone's Life 2010 planner this Christmas. Haha.

Anyway, for the love of coffee, I am guilty of drowning in caffeine again and collecting the stickers. I don't know if I can still drink more than a dozen cups but I am definitely sure that I want coffee. Even if it will cost me 400 calories per drink. :-(

Oh well. Anyone who wants my stickers, or perhaps the new planner, drop me a line. :-)

Patty - 1, Starbucks - 0. :-D

Fotoefek

Remember those internet image generators some time last year or the previous year before that wherein you upload your picture then just like magic your face is up on a New York billboard or has replaced Mona Lisa's understanding of a smile?

Well they're back.

Fotoefek.com (although I'm not sure if it's maintained by the same web masters), works the same. Upload your picture and voila, your face is then plastered onto some New Moon movie poster. Way to go for catching up on the bandwagon.

Oh well. I was so curious how my vampire shot would go with the movie poster so I clicked away and made my own New Moon poster.

I choose Team Patty, which as of now, should be halfway through encoding. :-P

It's About Wanting What You've Got.

One quick post before bed.

I really really like it when a guy kisses me when I'm in the middle of stressing myself out just to make me stop and hopefully make things ok.

Even if he is the reason why I'm really really stressed at the moment. :-)

Choo.

Thanksgiving is not really celebrated locally, so I'll just find a way to celebrate on my own by going back to the university this afternoon to witness the 7th foundation day of the College of Management and Entrepreneurship. Wooot! Anyhow, looking back on what I've written/been through lately and for the rest of the year, I think I have a lot to be thankful for.

There's the good job experience I gained in the past six months, loving people around me, friends who care no matter what, the good times that liven up each day, and a lot of mistakes that taught me lessons. I'd probably be thankful for the Starbucks stranger last week, because I might get my planner later this afternoon. And oh, I'm also thankful because today, the sleepless nights I had designing and layouting our flyers and calling cards finally paid off. Someone actually called. And yes, I am also thankful for Monique reminding me to pay my cellphone bill yesterday to save my line from being disconnected.

I have a lot of other things to be thankful for. As I've said, I am blessed. And I still am being blessed. A lot. For reasons I don't know, in ways I never expected. I may not stop thanking my great Giver up there for everything I am getting right now, because I appreciate every single thing that came in my life no matter how small. But right now, I really have to put thanking on hold because I need to get going to arrive on time in school. :-)

What are you thankful for? :-)

20/20

Is it just me or is the whole world going blind?

I went to National Bookstore this evening to buy some supplies for this thing Monique and I have for tomorrow, or later, if you look at the time. Cost cutting much, I picked the cheapest whatever I could find. Basically my total shopping costs about a hundred pesos. Imagine how shocked I was to see my total bill at the cashier amounting to Php324.00. I think I stared at it for a minute before I told the saleslady that maybe she punched in the wrong item.

Which, to my relief, is true. She apologized and my bill was revised to a measly Php95.50. It was then I realized how important even one number is in a bar code. It just changes everything.

Anyhow, moving on, I met up with Monique after the National Bookstore incident. We are actually discussing plans for later. And somewhere towards the end of the discussion, Amber Pavillion came into the picture and blahblahblah, we had a lot of comments.

Now, as I was checking my Facebook account and playing with some applications, I thought for awhile there that I read "Amber" as one of the options. I looked again and saw that it was "Another." (Hindi ito kabitteran ha haha!)

Should I get my eyes checked?

Hello Baby.

I was supposed to write about a post-bridal fair experience on how my favorite wedding photographer won again the photo contest. But I guess sappy love songs playing over and over on my laptop is forcing my brain to conjure words that talks about giddy feelings and, well, sappy love songs.


To cut everything short, my ex-crush invited me for Saturday. To his son's baptism. Nice noh?


Oh well. Before I last saw him, he showed me his baby's pictures, and OMG (take note of the capitalized font) he was so adorable! Really. I wanted to see the baby since then. So now I don't know if I'm going on Saturday. Not that I'm bitter or anything, it's just that it will be held in Laguna, and I already have a commitment for Saturday night. Hmm...


Moving on, (which means I will think about that later seriously,) I am still on Melomanila hangover. Remember my Mio night last week? Their cd is still stuck in my player and still playing on and on and on. And just this weekend I met Jessica and TJ again, and for the nth time, I heard their songs again, and I got another cd. (Which is by the way packaged in a very nice cover. Will take a picture later. I'm quite busy now. Haha.)


Anyway, part of my job today includes informing our winners last weekend on how to claim their prizes. One couple actually won a personalized song to be composed and sung by Melomanila. (I so want that prize. Much more than the Pearl Farm thing. :-P How cool is it to have your very own personalized wedding theme song right?) So I informed the bride-to-be, who was quite hesitant on claiming her prize. An hour after she learned she won, she called me back.


Yung Melomanila ba talaga ang gagawa ng kanta? As in gagawan nila kami ng kanta? Sila din yung kakanta?


Oh yes, mam, they're dead serious that they will. :-)


So I explained who Melomanila is (and how great singers they are of course.) And I can imagine her jaw dropping when I told her the 411 on Melomanila. I guess she was still in shock because she repeated the same questions she asked earlier. And by this time I can actually hear a smile from her end of the line, because I think she finally absorbed that she was given one of the most beautiful wedding gifts ever. :-)




What song would you want for your wedding? :-)

Of Sleeping and Headaches.

I just had one of my most productive weekend in months and so I must say that the 6th bridal fair was a success. Immeasurable, yes, but in all fairness to everyone, it was better than the last, and I'm pretty much sure the next one will top this.


Anyhoo, I just woke up from a 13-hour sleep.

My head hurt so much yesterday for lack of sleep, and today ironically, it hurts again maybe from too much sleep. Either way, I had fun over the weekend and am definitely looking forward to the next one. :-)

Just My Luck.

I remember I was asked this question a few months ago:

"Do you consider yourself lucky?"

~~~

People I've met in the last twenty one years of my existence in this world may call me lucky but I think otherwise. Lucky, for me, is winning the hundred-million peso jackpot in the lottery, or even fifty pesos from the scratch card thingy of the PCSO. Lucky is getting invited by Oprah Winfrey to guest on her show because your underappreciated talent here was broadcasted on Youtube. Lucky is being the 1,364,915th caller on the radio and winning free VIP concert tickets. Lucky is getting to work for Google, Microsoft or Apple and earning a lot more than the average employee. Lucky is being born as a one in a million head conjoined twin, and then getting separated alive. Lucky is not me. Because basically, I don't have anything compared to those.

What I have here are bread boxes and small home appliances that I won from the annual fiesta bingo in our subdivision. My fame would probably be limited to a group picture of more than twenty five people cramped up in a four-column bottom corner of the broadsheet, without my name being mentioned. I only get free passes to concerts when the opening act is most likely someone I'm friends with, or one of my friends knows someone in the production who knows one of the band manager's friends. As for dream jobs, I got rejected to work for one of the biggest publishers in the country because I live far from the office, so I have to settle for other things that's not connected, however you look at it. And for the last twenty one years, I have never been confined in a hospital even if I walk everyday surrounded by pollution and with asthma residing in my system. I know what you're thinking, either I'm pathetic or my life is just plain boring.

But when I come to think of it, my life is on the better side of things. Those bingo consolation prizes I won would become either stuff to use for summer business with my friends or gifts to give away for Christmas. The reason I was on the business section of the leading newspapers is mainly because I am one of the twenty five students all over the country to get in on Amcham Philippines' Business Orientation Program, and bagged second runner-up for the group presentation thing. My first job was definitely a culture shock for me, but hey, how many 21-year-olds do you know work as a buyer, or in Rachel Green's words, "shopping for a living" and then walking away from it to work somewhere else because of passion? And my health is definitely great, according to some nurse who commented that I should be taking double the dose of my medications, which by the way should now be taken for maintenance.

I hear people insist calling me lucky. But really, I am not. I am just like the other normal six billion people breathing out there. I get stranded during tropical storms, I miss public transportations because I can't wake up on time, I burn dinners when I am glued to the tv, I can't find a guy who will be true to his word that I'm his only girl, I lost my phone because I was too drunk to remember the reason, I trip and fall down stairs at times.

But at the end of the day, I am reminded by random people that I am loved, I am showed a lot of things that tell me I did a good job, I am home safe, and just tonight, a stranger gave me his Starbucks sticker for free.

~~~

To which I answered;

"Nope. I am blessed."

Agree much?

Before I Do 6th Edition Press Release

"Seriously? :)"

That was basically my reaction when I saw Ms. Sam's blog containing my article. I can't accuse myself of plagiarizing my own work, right? :-P

VRC Creative Events Management together with Fuego Hotels, 7107 Islands Cruise, and Mybridalfair.com presents The 6th Before I Do Bridal Fair at Megatrade Hall 1, 5th floor, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City on November 21 to 22, 2009.

The two-day event will have more than eighty of the metro’s renowned and upcoming wedding suppliers to feature their products and services. There will also be an hourly raffle courtesy of the bridal fair exhibitors. Guests can also watch out for the Best Pre-nup Photo Contest and the Onsite Booker Raffle arranged by VRC Creative Events. Winning couple gets to win a a wedding tower cake and a 3-day/2-night stay at Pearl Farm Beach Resort respectively.

This event is also made possible by the following partners: Happy Events, Angel of Hearts, MSD Godspeed Exhibit Corp., Kasal.com, Megatrade Hall, Ariel Javelosa Photography, Juan Carlo the Caterer, New Horizon Hotel, SM Megamall, Redfox Photography, Metro Weddings Magazine, Business World, 88DB.com, Graphic, Philstar.com, Yehey.com, Lifestyle Network, Business Mirror, HerWord.com, 99.5RT, Jam 88.3, Wave 89.1, Magic 89.9, and 103.5 MaxFM.

Soon-to-wed couples, debutants and guests can get in for free when they pre-register through SMS by texting BID06 to +0918 996-76-76.

For more information, please log on to http://www.mybridalfair.com

My Love-Hate Relationship with Ronald.

While everyone else is in the hype of collecting those highly coveted stickers from Starbucks, I was up one night Facebook-ing and I saw this ad.

Cool.

But then, this would mean another full load of calorie intake for my body. The Starbucks coffee I drink basically reaches 500 calories. Imagine coupling that up with a McDonald's value meal. (Now I'm starting to crave fries. Haha!)

So ladidadida, I clicked the ad and look what I found:

Why hello there pretty glasses. :)

My jaw dropped while my heart jumped. The Coke contour glasses are back! Yay! These babies first appeared last year as clear glasses with the Olympic sports logo. There were actually five released in the Philippines, of which I only got three unfortunately. Anyway, I saw this ad on 6Nov, around midnight. I was actually tempted to dial the 8MCDO hotline to get all six. But I was too sleepy to do that so I put it to rest and decided to start collecting when I wake up.

It's been two weeks since the ad was launched. I actually have five now. The blue one is technically not mine because I gave it to Pao on his birthday, but we have it on display at the house beside my Olympic editions. :)

The lime, on the other hand, was bought for me by Monique. Yay!

So this morning, before heading to the office, I stopped by McDonald's to buy breakfast. To my shock, the branch I went in had ran out of the glasses. :( Actually, I just figured that out since I remember the ad said the promo will run til the 22nd. I have yet other branches to check out. Haha.

Oh well. It's just breakfast time. And I still have four days left til the end of the promo. I'm praying really hard to get all six. If I don't get all, will someone please sell me their GREEN contour glass? :)

Dream of Me.

While I am having this huge problem of not getting enough sleep and basically falling asleep on my office desk during the day, my cat apparently has been getting more than the average share of zzz's.

And while we're at it, he never ceases to amaze me at how he can sleep throughout the day in random pretzel-like positions.

 

And if you're wondering, that bear is his. He always sleeps with it.

I wonder when will I get to sleep like this one of these days...

Caffeine Overdose.

Studies show that when a person lacks sleep, they tend to be cranky, have poor concentration, and at most of the time, disoriented. I know so, because that's what I read in Reader's Digest (they had an article wherein the writer did not sleep and observed how he would cope up with the world,) and myself is a living proof to it, as what my boss has observed in the past week.

Basically I slept for less than four hours today. Not the night before, because I was wide awake, busy trying to get myself to sleep. As expected, I was cranky. Maybe not to everyone, but it is evident to the rest of the world. On top of that, I have to repeat things over to myself before I can finally understand what is going on. And as of this moment I think my eyesight is suffering from all this abuse that my body is getting.

Anyway, my rambling for tonight can be blamed on my coffee fix. Really. I have no intention to blog tonight but when my lips touched the oh-so-creamy bittersweet drink, my thoughts poured out. Imagine how I looked like walking around in the mall, drinking coffee, staring out into space and deep in thought. (Now I realize none of the salespeople in the mall approached me when I entered their boutiques.)

So tonight, I am sleepy, a bit hungry, cranky, disoriented, and caffeine-shocked, and I'm now wondering how I managed to type in four paragraphs of nonsense.

And I'm not yet done.

Because I think my memory is coming back as I remembered why I wanted to blog tonight. So while I was a caffeine zombie at the mall, I dropped by Shopwise. I was actually done with my groceries but my system is still absorbing caffeine and it has been telling me to absorb information, I stopped by the pets' aisle.

A few weeks ago, I had this dilemma of having to choose which brand should I buy for my pet, and tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I went there to see if I can resolve things. The caffeine was definitely kicking in as I found myself arguing with myself about the two brands. The case: one has this cute kitty picture, the other was in an environment-friendly packaging, not to mention cheaper.

Okay, this is one wordy rambling. I'm pretty sure when I wake up tomorrow and read what I posted tonight, I will ask myself again for the nth time, "what?"

Any idea how I can decaffeinate my system?

Sana.

Have you ever wondered how it feels not to be with the one you love, even if that person feels the same way, but for some reason you just can't be together?

Don't ask. It sucks. Really.

Sana naalala mo ako

Kahit di na tayo magtagpo

-Sana, Melomanila.

LSS mode.

Fulfilled.

My head has this huge hammering feeling in it and my vision keeps on getting blurry every minute, but I just have to let this out. It's been on my mind since I left Makati and I think I deserve to unload at least a serving of my thoughts tonight.

"I like her kick-ass attitude, but I know that she's a girl with a big heart."

Two years ago, I never understood what my friend meant when he commented that on me. And I put the thought to rest because I knew that I don't really have that big heart he's talking about. Until I realized that tonight, or maybe last night.

So last night, my mother asked me to clean up my shoe rack, and to my surprise, I have more than 3 dozen pairs, not counting those I put on the "let go" pile, and those formal strappy ones that don't go with anything except for one outfit. For a moment there I felt really guilty for having that many pair of shoes (and only one pair of feet), while others have none, specially after the catastrophic events that happened to our country in the last two months. And then this afternoon I realized that my new job makes me attend this random charity events all over the metro. (Of which I am enjoying. Really.)

So basically, I just got home from mio | mArt*.

mio | mArt is a one-stop shop + benefit concert showcasing Art Ko Art devoted to cancer survivor and aspiring artist Mio Mendiola. (Can I just say how much I love the flyer/poster/picture Jessica keeps on uploading and tagging people on? :-D)

It was overwhelming to see a lot of people drop by La Carmela tonight not just to be entertained by talented people and up and coming local artists but also to share their blessings to someone they don't know, or haven't even met. (Even if not everyone placed their bids, paying 500 pesos for dinner in the time of crisis is no joke to most average families I know.) And on top of that, some of the paintings of Teacher Aubrey's students were sold, some at almost double their original selling price. (World of Art was my first charity event. Will blog about that later. Haha!) Yay!

Before I went to La Carmela this afternoon, I was kind of feeling a little bad with my salary deduction due to my numerous tardiness incurred in the past half month. I think I kept on bugging my bosses all the way from Alabang to Jupiter about the whole salary circus, which they patiently explained to me. Anyway, that salary deduction will have its own entry, and fortunately I got over it when I reached Makati. And I, feeling a little guilty the night before and being overwhelmed by the number of people who are kind enough to show support to a 5 year old they don't even know, decided to donate money for Mio. :)

Now as I prepare myself for bed, I finally begin to understand what my friend said a couple of years ago. I may not look like I care but deep down, I know I will want to do something to help out, even if it is just small. So before I left, I handed Jessica money and without any hesitation, I let go more than my salary deduction. :)

Jessica, thanks for the CD. Keep believing for Mio and see you next weekend. :)

* mio | mArt is presented by notecracker music & cafe la carmela

in cooperation with vrc creative events management | tangerine skies

thecolorcure | chef2go | medique | jo lim photography

for more information about mio and how you can help, please visit

Mio Fights Cancer

The Story of Stuff.

Wheeee!


Nothing beats reconnecting with old friends that my pending posts were again postponed for publishing. :)



I was chatting with Helen this morning about random things in the world and somehow we managed to talk about the commercialization of things, which later went down to the commercialization of the whole world. Haha. Anyway, in between Goodyear's plant shut down and USB modems, she sent me this link which is a really good video. I so totally agree with the video.

And oh. I will lessen my shopping. Because Bush says "Go Shop." and it will make the world one trash less. :)

Proudly Pinay.

Ok. This would probably sound off as another Pacquiao fight plug but no, not really. :)

Even though Pacquiao will be facing off another match, which I probably think he will win again, there is so much more in the country that we Filipinos can be proud of. Like natural resources.

At this hour, I know I am not supposed to do anything but sleep the night, to avoid yet turning in late at work again for the nth time in the last four weeks. But could you blame me for watching the late night news? It's really nice to watch the news once in awhile (and I do mean once in awhile, and not everyday as some people do so), specially now, when pretty much the whole thirty to forty-five news air time consisted of the same subject for the last five days.

So while the reporters yapped about election stuff, I tried shaping my brows. I stopped when they showed that they will be showing the segment about giant tunas. At first I thought it would be one of those exposes about illegal fishing and other negative reports about the locals, but no. Not tonight.

The news anchor, of which I do not know his name, mentioned that "GenSan is the 'Tuna Capital of the World'". I usually don't care about trivial facts about our country but hearing that tonight, I could not give any other reaction than "WOW." And I'm serious, and now suddenly realizing that Manny Pacquiao is also from GenSan.

I didn't know that we have that much fish swimming in our local seas. (And just tonight, I was at Bio Research trying to fight the urge to buy those 3-peso fish as pet.) And the tuna isn't your regular tuna in the sea, tuna from our country are really huge. Dyan Castillejo mentioned the fishermen were carrying tuna that weighed around 50 or 58 kilos. That's practically as heavy as one human being!

Unfortunately, for every glory I can brag about our country comes a negative side. As Dyan said a lot of things about the tuna and the fishermen, she mentioned that "Triple A class were shipped and sold to Japan, while classes A, B and C are sold in the Philippines," and my reaction was "What? The I-don't-know-how-many-because-I-lost-count cans of tuna I ate last week was not the best tuna in the market?"

For a second there I felt bad that the Japanese are having better tuna than I am. But I guess that's what I get for not knowing that most tuna in the world come from our country. Fair enough. And right now, I think it's okay that the Japanese get better fish, because they eat theirs raw, right? :p

So the next time I eat tuna, I will always think of the huge ones caught in the Philippines and remember that GenSan is home not only to Manny Pacquiao but also to the world capital of tuna. :)

Hello Cookie :)

Finally, after I-don't-know-how-many-days I was not able to connect to the internet, I decided to reload my prepaid internet connection. Not that I miss the internet so much, but I really could not stand not checking my emails. For some unknown reason, my mobile phone won't allow me to connect even on mobile internet. *Am I being punished for abusing the internet in the last eight years?*

Anyway, I logged in and checked on my accounts and then I went to the Google homepage to look for stuff.

Why, hello there Cookie Monster. :)

As it turns out, when I rolled over my mouse to Cookie's image, it's Sesame Street's 40th anniversary today. I find that surprising. I don't know why. Haha.

Anyway, just sharing. :)