Sunday with the Martelinos...

Another highlight of the weekend was dinner with UP friends Ella and Gino and their little ball of sunshine, Soleil.

Ella messaged me on Facebook last Friday to say that the fam was in town for holiday and because Gino was going to watch the Metallica concert.

Ella told me they were at W and we can meet up there.

I replied, "Ella, that's already another country. Haha!"

The good thing was they moved to Mandarin Orchard last Sunday so we got to arrange a dinner. Hehe! (But even if they stayed at W, I would still make the trip just to see the couple and cutesy Soleil.)

We met up at Mandarin Gallery around 6. They wanted to have ramen so we queued at Ippudo. Unfortunately, the queue was taking so long so we moved to Jones. Hehe!

It wasn't really a dinner place. The dinner menu was very limited. No wonder there were a lot of vacant tables. Haha!

It wasn't so good for dinner. It was very, very good for catching up.

Though it was a short get-together, I'm still very glad to see Mr. and Mrs and baby. I didn't get to see them at all when I was in Manila since most of my activities were either in Makati or Manila (City) and the fam stayed in Quezon City.

For a lot (?) of people, their lifelong friendships were formed when they were in high school. Not for me. A lot of my long-time friends are from uni. That is why the uni days at Padre Faura have a special place in my heart.

Happy weekend, despite not doing the SCMS 2011...

Last Sunday was the much-awaited Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon.

I signed up for the half-marathon, but I ended up staying at home because of some injury.

Uhm, I did think of still doing the run because I've been prepping for it. However, I chose to be smarter and decide to stay home to further recover.

Still, it turned out to be a great weekend because several friends from Manila flew in for the run.

Last Friday, Jamie and Rosvie arrived. Jamie was doing the half-marathon with Ian, while Ros signed up for the 10K.

I wish I could have spent more time with Jamie and Ros, but due to you know what already, I had very limited time with them. Boo!

Of all the weekends to get sick. :-/

Also in town were friends from uni Ella and Gino. Gino did the full marathon. Woohoo! Way to go, Gino.

Ella and I were supposed to meet up Sunday night, but she got stuck somewhere so we had to cancel.

Good thing I was able to see her and Gino on Monday. There was even a bonus. Another friend from uni, Sam, joined us. Apparently, she moved here from Australia with her hubby and kids January this year.

So, even if I didn't get to do the half-mary, it was still an awesome weekend thanks to dear friends.

It's always, always nice to see friends from home.

Congrats, Len...

The card from Len, one of my good friends from college, made this week end on a high note.

Yesterday, her greeting card from Oz finally arrived but it was only this morning that I opened it. (I have to find the right moment for opening personal letters, greeting cards, presents, whatsoever. By "right moment," I mean no distractions whatsoever. I want to give the card or whatever it is my full attention when I open/read it. Yeah, I'm weird that way. Haha!)

Anyway, I read the really, really NICE surprise when I took the card out of the envelope.

On the cover was a beautiful baby girl that was being embraced by a humongous teddy bear. I thought, "Oh, how cute!"

When I opened the card and started reading, that's when I went "Oh my gad! Oh my gad! Oh my gad!" LOL! OA ba?! But really, in my head, I was going "Oh my gad!" more than three times.

The cute baby on the cover of the card is Len's. Reading the short but sweet message, I learned that Len did not only become a mom, she also became a wifey.

I was totally not expecting that kind of news, but I'm definitely happy for her.

Galing mo, Len, for keeping things under wraps for a loong time, ah. I didn't have the slightest clue even if we have constant communication via FB.

Congrats and super happy for you!!! And thanks for making me a Ninong. Awww!!!

Dindin with the Inocians...

I swear I love Facebook. I love the Internet. I love Facebook.

Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and his team of geniuses, I was able to reconnect with classmates from grade school, my altar boy days barkada, and my college friends.

Not to be mushy, but most of the friends I have made in UP are the most important people in my life, or at least people I really care about. Usually, we hear people say that friends for life are found during high school. Not for me. It was during college. It was at the University I will always love.

And thanks to Facebook, I was able to find treasured friends.

Last night, Tey and I met up with a blockmate whom we haven't seen for the longest time - Tsin. She was our classmate for only a semester, but that one semester was more than enough to cement our friendship for a lifetime. Haha! Mushy!

Anyway, the reason why Tey and I met up with Tsin was because another classmate (and another friend I love to death), Charmy, saw some of the dresses Tsin is selling and wanted to buy a few pieces. Thanks to Facebook (again!), Charmy, who is now based in the US, was able to easily contact me and ask me to get the dresses for her from Tsin. A couple of phone calls, mouse clicks, and taps on my phone keypad, the meetup was scheduled.

I can't remember the last time I saw Tsin. My last recollection of seeing her was at the College of Fine Arts canteen a million years ago. So again, thank you, Facebook, for reconnecting UP Manila’s Orcom Block 11 Batch 2000 once again.

We met up at BHS, and headed to Friday's. Her husband, JC, joined us for dindin. I thought they’d bring the adorable kiddies with them. Saw some of pics of the kids and they’re really adorable!

For a couple of hours, we just talked about college and our classmates, and what's been happening with each other's lives. Definitely good dindin time.

Later tonight, I have to bring the dresses to Charmy's house. Her Dad and sister fly to the US tomorrow. I have to pass by Via to get one of the dresses, since Tsin wasn’t able to bring it with her.

Lagare ito. Haha! But I’m really happy because I get to keep in touch with my UP gang.

Energizer bunny weekend... Part 2

From a night of partying in Malate to a 10K run + breakfast at the Fort to a couple of hours of sleep, I headed to Gateway on Sunday afternoon to get some items for the Christmas dinner with UP friends Ella, Gino, Tey, John and Ela.

Gateway was crowded with shoppers. I didn't like the crowd at all but I had to go there to buy gifts for the gang for me and Tey. Plus roasted chicken for the Christmas potluck. I headed to Rustan's to get gifts for the gang. I didn't bother to ask for the nice Rustan's wrapper because I knew how long the giftwrapping line gets around this time.

Then I went to the supermarket to get the roasted chicken of Rustan's. When I got there, surprise, surprise. No chicken. There was one left but it was the saddest looking. So I leave Gateway and head to the nearby Shopwise. That's where I found my newly roasted chicken.

There was another customer who was also getting roasted chicken. I let the person order first. I was so wrong to have done that. The person started asking all these stupid questions to the guy behind the counter, "Which chicken is bigger?" "Are those newly cooked?" Hello! Teh, magbebenta ba sila ng hindi sariwa? Kainis! Hehe! Thankfully, the guy replied in the most boring manner. Haha!

When I'm finally done with my errands, I waited for Tey to pass by for me and then we headed to Ella and Gino's house near ABS-CBN.

It's always a joy to see this group of friends. We always have a good time reminiscing about our college days, talking about work, issues in life. Hehe! That night, the topics ranged from the presidentiables to work stuff to Kuya Ef to Ondoy experiences to Ela's access to fantastic SSI sales. As in super fantastic.

The food was super. Roasted chicken from Shopwise. There was frozen brazo which John and Ela got from a store I forget. Hehe! Gino cooked a super yum mechado. There was nachos with good salsa and spicy cheese dip. Ella did a really cute table setting. The choco balls on shotglasses were nice.

After stuffing ourselves (eeep!), we just spent the next few hours chatting. Mel was supposed to join us but she got stuck at a family reunion. Tsin, on the other hand, had a very hectic sched. Oh well, next time.

We bid each other goodbye a little before midnight. From QC, I hitched a ride with Tey to Makati. Jimmy was leaving for Ilocos and I had to give him his gift and my gift for Noel. We just hung out at the hotel lobby talking about vaca plans and looking for flight and bus schedules to Ilocos. Hehehe!

I went home around 2AM. Had to get up for work in a couple of hours.

It was a really tiring weekend, but I didn't feel the fatigue because I had such a good time with people I love.

Good news and good laughs for Tuesday night...

The other night was filled with lots of laughter and some really good news.

Let's start with the good news. Good college friends Ella and Gino are finally on their way to becoming Mom and Pop come June 2010. Wooohooo! During Gino's birthday dinner, Ella mentioned that she might be preggy already but she had to wait for two more weeks before it is confirmed. So when she shared the super good news the other night, I was just really, really happy for the two. We've all been praying for a baby Evangelista-Martelino, and this is it! Woohoo!

On the other hand, the huge amount of laughter came from the surprise birthday party for another college friend John.

Since John was planning to go on leave on the day of his birthday, his girlfriend Ela texted us about her plan to surprise John the night before.

Along with their friends and John's UP Manila friends (me, Ella and Gino... Tey was still on leave), we headed to John's office bringing cake from Classic Confections, pancit from Buddy's, confetti from Toy Kingdom, drinks from 7-11, and a lot of cheerfulness and birthday greetings.

When John opened the door to his office, there was a burst of confetti and Ela held the cake with a lit candle, and everyone just went, "Surprise! Happy birthday!"

John seemed genuinely surprise by the gesture, so that was really great.

The other highlight of the surprise party that made (almost) everyone burst into laughter was when one of John's dude pare tsong said while we were talking about Glee, "Yeah, it's super good. I thought it was just for gay guys and women, but no..."

I was going to let it pass, but I couldn't help but react. Hehe! So in a really modulated and ultra-butch tone, I jokingly said, "Dude, pare. Preno ka naman."

And that started a series of "Dude, pare" jokes. I went "Pare, I'm not gay. Tripper lang ako." And the other one that cracked up some of the girls was when I said to the guy, "Pare, ingat naman. Halikan kita diyan."

While Ella joined in the banter by saying, "Okay, because of that Anj, pwede mo ng iuwi ang bilao ng Buddy's and the cake."

John's dude pare tsong friend just turned and was mortified and started to apologize over and over again. Hahaha! It was no big deal for me, and I was just really teasing him with all the "hurt" remarks that I made. Hehe!

So that was it, really. Everyone got a good laugh out of the whole situation, and I tremendously enjoyed the playing-straight act. Hehehe!

I was supposed to gym that night, but after all the fun and laughter from the good news and hanging out with friends, missing spinning and Reagan's class and yoga weren't that bad anymore. Haha!

Happy weekend with Faura friends...

The demise of a former president had to happen for us to find the time to actually meet up and hang out again.

Okay, that's being OA.

Actually, it is John who should be thanked for doing a text brigade for us to have a get-together. We've been planning to meet up for the longest time to celebrate Ella's and Tey's birthday, as well as Trengie's, oh and also Mel's, but we were all just so busy with work and all.

But last weekend, all the forces of the universe seem to have conspired for our get-together to push through. Hehe! So despite the typhoon and despite the sad news of the passing away of PCCA, the afternoon meriendacena with Tey, Ella the wife, Gino, John and Ella the girlfriend finally took place. Unfortunately, Tsin wasn't able to go. Her hubby and one of the kids were sick and needed her TLC. So did Mel, who just messaged us that she was already at LSGH waiting for PCCA. We didn't catch Trengie online either.

Still, it turned out to be a really fun and nice afternoon tambay. It was our first time to meet Ella the girlfriend. She's really nice and cute, and I love her job!!! Haha! And then it was great catching up with the rest of the gang. Ella and Gino are both doing well - really well - with their careers, so that's great. John's career is also great, but he and I share some the same thoughts on certain things. Haha! Tey and I see each other everyday at work.

Everyone brought food. Ella and Gino prepared puto pao, siomai and buco pandan from Nathaniel's. They also ordered pizza from Napoli. John and Ella brought ensaymada and ice cream. Tey and I ordered the really, really delicious apple turon from Cow King (P40 for three pieces.... super sulit na, right?!).

The hours passed by with us just talking about the death of PCCA, fraternities, fights, careers, chismax on our classmates, and so on. Hehe!

It's always great to see classmates from college. Before, I still got to hang out with Kendi, Leah, Eden and Charmy quite regularly and that was good. But then Eden left the country. Charmy left the country. And most recently, Kendi left the country. Leah is in Manila, but we hardly see each other. Thank heavens and Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook! I found my classmates again. Haha!

Most people say that high school was the best years of their lives. Not for me. For me, it is college. So much of who I am now is a result of the experiences I've had and the people I met during those four years in Padre Faura.

Anyway, really great weekend afternoon.