Get-together with the -exes...

Saturday afternoon was spent with some of my -exes. Yeah, three pretty and smart girls. Could I get any luckier?! Haha!

Carol, Noreen and Bernice - my ex-work colleagues from Magsaysay.

During Bernice's last trip to Pinas, we planned to meet up with Carol and Noreen but that didn't push through. Carol had another engagement, while Noreen was busy finishing her script for one of the many shows she was doing last year.

The last time I saw Carol was back in 2006, when she resigned from Magsaysay. (Or was it during her super wedding?) Noreen, on the other hand, I used to see more often. We would go to Sunday Mass at the Greenbelt chapel. But then she got busy with work, I got busy with work and we spent less and less time together. But thanks to Twitter and Facebook, I'm somewhat updated with how the girls are doing.

While having lunch with Bernice last week, I tweeted about our get-together. Noreen saw the tweet and she "reminded" me that we should have our get-together.

We all agreed to meet up yesterday at Trinoma. But since Carol had another commitment (again) and Noreen had to finish writing a script (again) (haha!), Bernice and I decided to just meet Carol for late merienda and Noreen for dinner.

Our group date began and ended at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, the only area in Trinoma that I like. No offense to Trinoma fans. Hehehe! Bernice and I were already enjoying our usual drinks while waiting for Carol to arrive. When she came, the next few hours were spent catching up.

Carol had to leave around 7. Bernice and I left CBTL and went to Oki Oki, a Japanese restaurant where we were welcomed by a very tired food server. Hehe! She must have been standing the entire day. We got a table and waited for Noreen to arrive. We had almost decided on what to order when Noreen arrived. The next few hours were spent catching up.

After dindin, the three of us headed back to CBTL to do more catching up. Thanks for the free Wifi and thanks to Stefan, we were able to check out some Facebook photos, which added more color to the get-together. *wink wink* Haha!

It was an extra nice get-together, I have to say. I've missed them a lot. Although I have to say hindi pa complete ang group na iyan ng -exes. Wala pa the other Magsaysay girls I love. Hehe!

On the road with the Magsaysay girls...

Even with only a few hours of sleep, I was still able to drag myself out of bed and get ready to meet with the Magsaysay girls.

The last time I saw some of them was at May's house when she invited me and Shy for dindin. I was still selling my iBook to May, too. One more reason why I had to go to her house. Man, that was ages ago.

So when May emailed that we're going on a road trip, I immediately penciled it in my calendar. It's always, always fun to see the girls.

We met up at Times Plaza. May was the first to arrive. Our meetup time was 7:30. Since I saw that I still have a couple of minutes to spare, I dropped by the 7-11 store to get me a tall cup of French Vanilla (my absolute fave) for some caffeine fix. Cathy arrived a couple of minutes later. Shy, on the other hand, was the last to arrive. Hehe! In fuhr, consistent siya. Hehehe! We will just meet Lenly (along with hubby and kid) in Tagaytay.

It was a rather pleasant drive. There was hardly any traffic, and there weren't that many peoeple in Tagaytay either. I dunno if it's because of the Taal Volcano alert. Initially, there was concern whether we should push through with the trip because of the alert. I just told the girls, "Di naman siguro iyan puputok while we're there. And even if pumutok siya, we'll already be in Sta. Rosa by the time the lava or whatever reaches Tagaytay." Hehe!

Our first stop was Lourdes Church for Sunday Mass. The new church has a very nice altar, I have to say. I have childhood memories of the place because the annual sacristans gathering used to be held at the Capuchin seminary next door.

Anyway, after sanctifying ourselves, we went to the Greek restaurant along the highway to satisfy our hunger. Hehe! Because I didn't have proper breakfast, I was really hungry . When we got to the restau, Lenly and her boys were already seated and waiting for us. We ordered gyros, cheese and olives, moussaka and the yogurt drink.

The good lunch was made even better by the company I was with. Lenly and Ginny talked about the upcoming migration to faraway Canada. Huhu! Their 2 yo old kid JM entertained us all with his cute antics. Cathy was being cougar over JM. Hehe! Peace, Katya. Shy and Mayo jumped in the conversations. I listened. I watched. I talked. I ate. Hehehe!

Since it was Father's Day, Ginny and Lenly had to leave early. They probably had plans with the little one. After bidding them goodbye, May, Cathy, Shy and I headed back to Manila.

We had two stops though. First was to get a photo of the Taal Volcano and Lake. The skies that day were sooo clear and gave a fantastic, fantastic view of the small volcano and the lake. It was just too perfect to skip. So we stopped by the highway and took some photos of the panoramic scene.

Our second stop was at Paseo de Sta. Rosa. The plan was to just go cool ourselves at Starbucks. We ended up wandering around the place and checking out all the outlet stores. Wahahaha!

As for the dessert and cold drinks, that became a full meal at Sugarhouse. Harhar! We were too hungry after all the walking, and the meal we had at Mano's Greek Taverna was rather light. Hehe!

It was a very nice Sunday get-together with the girls. We had a very interesting and long conversation after one of the girls broke some news. I've yet to fully feel the impact of the news. Hehe!

The drive back to Manila was also free from heavy traffic. Yey! We got back early evening, so that gave me enough time to do a little work.

Nice, nice weekend!

Tambay time/despedida for Bernice...

I've been meaning to post some entries in this blog these past few days, but I've really been swamped with work.

This week is a little less stressful because (almost) everyone's just looking forward to having the four-day break, so I managed to find some time to squeeze in some updates.

Friday night was tambay time with Bernice and some of our friends from Magsaysay. Bernice flies back to the Netherlands this evening, and last Friday was the only time we can see her again. The original plan was for Mel, Noreen, Shy, Carol (who I haven't seen too for a long time) and I to meet Bernice at Trinoma for dinner and coffee.

Just a side note, I'm not a huge fan of Trinoma. I dunno why. It's the bad lighting, the flooring. Hehe! The only section I love there is the one where Powerbooks is.

Anyway, our meeting place was Powerbooks. By 8PM, it was still just me. I guess when one gets older, one's calendar becomes even more toxic. Hehehe! Only Shy and I showed up. Noreen dropped by , but she had to leave immediately to finish scripts for Rubi? Carol was stuck in Tagaytay for her mom's birthday dinner. Mel was drowning in papers at the office for an upcoming audit.

It was still a very fun get-together though. Bernice and I had a fantab dinner at Cyma. One of the nice things I love about hanging out with Bernice is we both want to eat healthy. Hehe! We had an eggplant moussaka and chicken gyro.

By the time we finished dindin, Shy was already in the area. We met up with her and headed to Bigoli for Shy's quick dindin. From Bigoli, we moved to CBTL and spent the next few hours just talking about all sorts of things. Hehe!

Just like our other get-togethers, we were having a really great time that we didn't notice it was already past twelve. We gave each other big hugs and made promises to keep in touch. Thanks to Facebook and email, it wouldn't be too difficult. Hehehe!

After a neverending buhbye, the three of us finally parted ways. I'm a bit sad that Bernice left again. At the same time, I'm extremely happy because her career is flourishing, and she's really going places (figuratively and literally).

Plus, the fact that she is living there is one reason for me to save up and visit Europe, right?

Happy 1st birthday, Phoenix...

I'm really starting to be forgetful. I dunno if 30 has got anything to do with it.

For one, I'm starting to be really bad with names. I meet someone. After a couple of days, we meet again. And I don't remember the person’s name. It's really bad, especially for work. Ugh!

Anyway, yesterday while I was still on a high watching James Jean do his thing at Fully Booked BHS, I get a call from colleague Weng. She goes, "Where are you?" I tell her where I was and what I was doing. And she goes, "Why aren't you here at GB3? Phoenix's birthday is tonight."

I go, "Ampf! That's tonight! I thought it was tomorrow. Shoot, shoot, shoot!" So I hurriedly leave FB and James Jean and rushed to GB3. Thankfully, it was easy to get a cab that night. And thankfully, GB3 was near. Andre and I were at Bubba Gump in about 15 minutes.

Former colleagues Cathy and Lenly were there too. Birthday girl Phoenix looked ultra cute in her dress. She was oblivious to all the celebration for her first birthday, but everyone had such a good time. Weng prepared the program and games that night. When you’re a CorpComm/HR person and you’re married to an ad agency person, you don’t need to get a party planner anymore, unless you're super toxic. Haha!

It was a beautiful celebration. I enjoyed the food. I think I enjoyed it too much that I had two Marta's cupcakes. Eeeep! Bad UP Boy! Haha!

I carried Phoenix for a good 20 to 30 minutes and I felt like I lifted weights. My forearms and what appears to be biceps were tired and sore. Haha! How’s this for a realization? Babies are a good substitute for free weights, ah. Hehehe! I think my Mom wouldn’t be too happy if I started talking babies. Hehe!

Moving on, Saturday turned out to be really good – hanging out with Andre’, Phoenix’s birthday, and James Jean!!! Woohoo! Couldn’t be more happier.

Happy birthday, my dear Phoenix.