up North circa 2004

april 2004 - i called myself a first timer to Ilocos when by chance Gem & I was invited by our associate lawyer Atty. Malou Cortez to join her group in a convoy up north. the invitation was actually made at Prof. Calica's ancentral house in La Union...we were supposed to spend the weekend at the bayside but happily we ended with a very exciting tour and the most part was everything was paid by Atty. Malou's mother :)

let me go a bit detailed about my initial trip; i have no idea of our travel time and destination so i was very focused on the road, trying to remember all the landmarks and markings. our first stop was at Narvacan where we had lunch --you see this is the common stop over of those who are travelling with private cars, across the line up of eatery was the perfect view of the coral reefs.

right after lunch we went straight to Vigan (it's roughly 3 hours drive), our booking was at Gordion Inn Bed and Breakfast and all of us (6 people) shared the biggest room that was available. after an hour, we started touring the city via calesa (P150/hr) and the package includes:

Villa Angelina - this is also a hotel inn, old and creepy but well-maintained

Crisologo Musuem - houses the memorabilia of the Crisologos and original furnishings of a typical Vigan ancestral house

Burnai Pottery Making - manual pottery making and Atty. Cortez tried making one while singing oh, my love my darling :)

Syquia Mansion - partly closed for renovation that time

then off to Calle Crisologo and Plaza Burgos where we had late snacks, my first empanda encounter! so so love how this foodie was made by locals, we had inasal at Cafe Leona also and ended our day at Plaza Maestro where we had few bottles of alcohol and some wild singing over a videoke machine :)


slightly posing at Gordion Inn and at Calle Crisologo...

the following day, we enjoyed breakfast back at the hotel --Vigan longanisa of course! and went back to Rowilda's in Calle Crisologo to buy pasalubongs. we were scheduled to leave Vigan that same day and Gem and I asked Babu (our driver and good friend also) to drop us at La Union so we can take the bus ride to Baguio City while Atty. Cortez and group will be going straight to Fontana Resort in Pampanga...

so we did! hit Baguio City before 7pm and met our colleague Mike Perez to help us find a decent transient house. fortunately we got a room at Quezon Hill (thru Noel, also a friend from Baguio) and charge was P500.00/night. we spend the whole night at Chill (dunno if i got the name right), Mike and Noel joined us initially and later on was very surprised to receive Jojo's call about their sudden change of plan...Atty. Cortez's group moved to Baguio as well. so in no time, Babu and Jojo were already at Chill and we had alcohol the whole night :)

the last day of our tour, we had plenty of time now to wander along the city proper --went up to Lourdes Grotto, tried an hour boating at Burnham's Park, side visit Mine's View, Botanical Gardens, City Market and the newly built SM Baguio...all in 6 hours! before 5pm we were already at Victory Liner and bid our good byes to Mike (thanks for the wonderful time bro and see you in Manila!).

at Burnham Park with Mike (my first boat ride in Baguio) and Lourdes Grotto with Gem.

we made home safely except that Gem was very sick when we arrived Manila...nonetheless, i enjoyed the splendid weekend i had with friends, my best buddies to say...for sometime, i forgot about Manila, about what freshly happened, about my solo status, about my anguish --God was so good to bless me with wonderful people during those gloomy days :)

if you think this is the last, had two more trips back to Ilocos (hopefully will come up with a more detailed entry)...

christmas red this time :)

so it's final i will wearing this piece on December 5, for our companywide's Christmas party at Crowne Plaza...

red ruffled dress from Debenhams - sale at P1,100.00
black bolero from The Landmark - regular price at P895.00
will be looking for a black stilletto probably at Schu or Rusty Lopez
eyeing a black purse at Debenhams also


i was really fascinated with all the ruffles over this dress :)

chilly Sunday at Starbucks (Fully Booked, BHS)

we were supposed to walk Bea and Shen Sunday afternoon but earlier it was drizzly so we decided to leave them home...Oliver and I went to Ayala Center first because i was looking for a bolero to pair my ruffled dress (decided to wear this na lang on our Masquarade Party), happily it took me less time to find a black bolero at The Landmark :)

right after, we went to Boni High Street to catch All Flip-Flops last day of sale and have coffee of course! i can't wait to sip Starbucks holiday featured beverages and get a promo card as well...so we did! we ended up at Starbucks located inside Fully-Booked and i had this new blend ---Dark Cherry Mocha and Oliver had the old Praline Mocha. well, i'm missing the Peppermint Mocha this time and wondering why Starbucks decided not to offer it this year....

this is what i got from our Sunday engagement --

Oliver's 3rd pair, 20% off the price...not bad at all. Havaianas Trend Vermelho.

tall Dark Cherry Mocha, my promo card and cinnammon roll...

and ending our awesome Sunday with a smile of contentment :)

friday night with Bea & Shen...

went home around 9pm last friday, Oliver will be home late again because he will be attending his boss' despedida thus my two babies welcome me home :)

after our dinner (the three of us ate adobo rice), we settled down for some comic Animal Planet's specials...at around 11pm Shen was already sleepy but my big girl was still on a extremely playful mood so i got the cam and took photos of them while we all waited for daddy!

let the camera roll and let them move their way :)

Shen, sleepy ka na? --says Bei; Di pa, antay ko pa uwi ni Daddy na McDo. --says Shen

i'm missing home :( --says Shen Shen

Mommy, sleep na si Shen..and i still want to play! --says Bei

past 12midnight, they both decided to take a nap...tired of woofing and goofing --at last!

Oliver came past 1am and we all enjoyed a McDonald's meal :)

my chiffon party dress would be like this...

been browsing designs from NexTag, Nordstrom and Edressme since September but until now i haven't settled for a decent and elegant one... i somehow like something in the shade of blue and green paired with a nicely silver stilettos...i captured one of the many designs i was considering anyway...

oh, will be using this dress for our company's Masquerade Christmas Party on Dec 5 at Crowne Plaza or maybe will gonna wear this at Gerald's wedding on Dec 17 --very undecided!

front detail, i love how the sleeves and the hem band was perfectly placed...

back detail, di ba ang sexy! lol...

channel surfing while i'm sick :|

i was sick so i opt to stay home last tuesday, i'm planning to get more sleep since i still have some hang over during our HK trip but Bea would often wake me up..oh dear! she likes to watch tv...hehehe, and no wonder her choice would always be The Animal Planet :)

you see, i don't watch a lot...i channel surf more often, but if there's one thing that would keep me stay tuned it's the Living Asia Channel and their segment On-Foot --i love the humor of Tim Tayag! hello, i'm a big, big fan! he is on my friendster account too...i love his wit, his style --actually my friend J look so much of him, and i can't help but took some photo while the show was rolling...

the entire episode was shot in Iloilo during the Dinagyang Festival... One Foot in Iloilo, for the reason that Tim had a broken leg which according to him was due to a basketball game :

and this is my TIM! hehehe...lol, the guy is getting married na on dec 8 at Kota Kinabalu Malaysia with long time gf Anna Cruz :

i finished the show missing my Tim...and luckily catched Anton Diaz at QTV11 on Katoque. to those who do not know Anton --he is the guy behind Our Awesome Planet and i am a big fan of his blog...i'm a regular reader and follower of his awesome family adventures (with his wife Rache and sons Aidan and Josh).

Anton Diaz, author of Our Awesome Planet judges the culinary expertise of young chefs at Katoque...

well, next time i hope to catch Ely Buendia on a Ricky Lo exclusive! yeah :)

i'm not a plastic bag...

i need this one to complement my HK trip on Friday, and i'm going around Greenhillls today after work to find and buy a replica of this fab bag --can't wait for 6:30pm, oopps! i almost forgot i need to have a haircut too...


this is the original Anya Hindmarch collection...

Trick or Treat? Glorietta and Bonifacio High...

whoa! Sam and Paolo enjoyed last Friday's Trick or Treat at Glorietta and Bonifacio High, yes we attended at both venue one after the other...it was so tiring but so rewarding after seeing their Jack O' Lantern filled with goodies :)

Trick or Treat? Happy Holloween everyone and enjoy the pics...



entirely from Glorietta where we first registered the kids...it was a bit disappointing that only few merchant joined the event, nonetheless Sam enjoyed the Halloween Fun Craze :)



...and this time from Bonifacio High Street, where we mostly enjoyed the Spooktacular Holloween. The event was organized and was literally store-after-store candies galore.

well, i have a lot of Sam's pic because it was very hard to make Paolo smile at the cam, his attention was taken away by other kids and with the goodies he got on his pumpkin....