Xerdan's Balikbayan Party/College Barkada Reunion

My college days are so far, the best years of my life. Thanks to twelve great friends who made those years memorable and special. If not for my college barkada, I wouldn't have been able to go through the hardships a U.P. education entails - the endless sleepless nights cramming for exams, doing tons of lab reports, rushing from Pedro Gil to Padre Faura to attend classes, recitations in Juris, problem sets in Phy Chem, defense in Pharm Chem 27, product presentation in IP (best in product presentation, ahem ahem), extended hours in the lab, removals, finishing our thesis . . . and the list goes on.

And worth mentioning of course is the fun that comes with all of it - coffee at Starbucks and San Francisco Coffee, malling at Robinson's Manila, drinking sprees at New York Shop and Surf's Up (kahit may klase a few hours after), more drinking at our condo (na ang pulutan ay Argentina corned beef hot and spicy at R.Lapid's chicharon), late-night kwentuhan at the balcony of our condo while gazing at the numerous buildings of Manila and eating pancit canton, tambay sa secret society (don't ask where and why it is called as such, mahabang storya) at marami pang iba.

As we graduated from College and entered the world of office attires, neck ties and high heels, we saw less and less of each other. Meeting up became difficult, as some had 8-5 jobs, while others worked the graveyard shifts. Some migrated to different provinces and countries for greener pasture, while the rest stayed here in Manila.

So when I learned that Xerdan, our friend who migrated to the U.S., will be coming home for a visit, I was super excited for two reasons: 1) will be seeing Xerdan again after 5 long years and 2) it was the perfect opportunity for the whole barkada to meet up again. :-)

And I wasn't disappointed. The night that we all met up again was filled with fun, booze and laughter. Just like the good ol' days. *smiles*

We all met up at Coffee Bean in Greenbelt 3. Xerdan was 1 hour and 45 minutes late! Hindi na yata sanay sa traffic sa Pinas. Halos himatayin na kami sa gutom. Pero siyempre smile pa rin sa picture. Hehe.

Xerdan being a Kapampangan, we thought Ebun would be a nice choice for dinner. We ordered plates of crispy pata, ox tail kare-kare, sizzling tofu, lechon manok and pinakbet kapampangan. Yum, yum!


After dinner, we headed to Absinth for some more bonding (and pictures!) amidst rounds of lanffreys, San Mig Lights and hookah.


Thanks Xerdan, Rach, Ja, Miel, Chit, Gail, Tet, Hubert, Oliver and Susan for a super fun-filled night that we had! Hope we can do this again soon! Muah!

For more pictures, click here.

How Happy Are You, Really?

I took this quiz at www.blogthings.com and I couldn't be happier with the results. Hehe.

You Are Very Happy

Your life is totally together, and you enjoy every day. And you don't need a quiz to tell you that! You know how to find pleasure in the little things... And even when life isn't so great, you have a good sense of perspective.

Crazy Jumping Pictures

Our family, aside from being food lovers, also love taking pictures. Family gatherings and vacations are never the same without the traditional "picture picture" or "kodakan", as my lola would say.

So as expected, during my cousins' stay here in Manila, we took over a hundred crazy photos. And of all the photo shoots that we did, we had a lot of fun doing the "jumping series". It basically consisted of us jumping and trying to be air-borne as the camera clicked. Every shot was always followed with shrieks of laughter, teasing and shouts of "isa pa!". Never mind if we were in the middle of Enchanted Kingdom or at the viewing deck of Leslie's. Kiber. We were having the time of our lives as we jumped and jumped to our heart's content. *smiles*

Jumping at Enchanted Kingdom...

Jumping at Leslie's, Tagaytay...

Adventures with my Cousins - Part I

My cousins from Cebu, Fritz and Nicole, and her boyfriend Eric are in Manila right now for a two-week vacation. And this means only one thing: non-stop gimiks and fun! When I first learned that they were coming for a visit, I was uber excited. I haven't seen Nicole for two years, while my last encounter with Fritz was eight years ago! He was barely in his teens then, and now he's 20! How time flies. . . tumatanda na ako. Haha.

So now that the cousins are reunited (and finally met Eric, who is a nice guy and perfect for my cousin), we made a mad dash to the "tourist spots" of Manila, Cavite and Laguna for that perfect cousin bonding.

First stop: Rizal Park, Rajah Sulayman Park and Baywalk. What better way to start our sight-seeing by paying a visit to our national hero, Jose Rizal? I know, you may think na ang corny ko naman para dalhinsila sa Luneta. But since they haven't been to Luneta and it was Eric's first time to visit Manila, I couldn't pass up the chance to let them experience the real feel of the city. Jologs na kung jologs. Hehe. So, there we had our first photo op with Rizal at the background.

Before going to Baywalk, we made a detour to Rajah Sulayman Park in Remedios St. Took more photos there with Rajah Sulayman's monument in the background.

Finally, we went to Baywalk for some rounds of beer, pulutan and kwentuhan. We stayed at the Anthology Bar area. They had cool native beds, instead of tables and chairs. Very similar to Fuzion in Greenbelt. While drinking beer and eating cheese sticks and nachos, we were able to catch up on each others' lives and reminisce about the times when we would all spend summer together in Cebu or here in Manila. Sigh, it was just great to spend time with them again.






Second stop: Enchanted Kingdom. The next day, we went to Enchanted Kingdom in Sta. Rosa, Laguna (see, we didn't waste any time. ) After weeks of pressure and tons of workload in the office, I was just too happy to kick back, relax and have some kiddie fun for a change. =)

Third stop: Tagaytay. The whole family went to Tagaytay to treat our cousins and Eric to some more sight-seeing (and more photo shoots). It was the perfect afternoon to go to Tagaytay as it was sunny but not too hot at the same time. During the trip, we were all in high spirits. Maybe because it was nice to spend some quality time with the family. Even the grueling Tagaytay traffic could not dampen our mood. Finally arriving in Tagaytay, we decided to go to Leslie's for good food and a good view of the Taal. And us being an "eating family", we ordered their lunch feast for ten persons. . . never mind that it was 4:00 in the afternoon or that we just had lunch before leaving the house. Lafang kung lafang. Haha. So for me, goodbye to my no-rice diet, as we ate crispy pata, calamares, pinakbet, chicken barbecue and of course, Leslie's specialty, bulalo. Take note, I couldn't resist the bone marrow, and had to even ask Jerome for more!Argh!

Fourth stop: Glorietta, Landmark, Greenbelt and Greenhills. Yan ang tinatawag na mall tour. Hehe. Since my tito and tita needed to look at some paintings in Makati for their new home, we decided to go with them. We just walked through the malls of Makati, then after that, headed to Greenhills for some real shopping. We poured over rows and rows of bags, shoes, t-shirts, blouses, jeans, skirts, accessories and other kikay stuff. After hours of walking through the stalls of Greenhills, I only went home with one kikay necklace. Ang hirap talaga ng walang pera. Haha.

To be continued...