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16MarPapi’s 50th
I’d like to remember my dad’s 50th birthday in (food) pictures. 
The night of his birthday, we had our family dinner at Emerald Garden in Roxas Boulevard which is one of his favorite restaurants. No meat for us since it was a Friday. Although I think we defeated the purpose of abstinence, that is to have some form of sacrifice, because the food was just delicious. lol.
Some food shots below. (Thanks pictobrowser for this nifty slideshow application. 
) Go ahead and click on the picture to see the next one.
The following night we had another family dinner - this time in our home with our relatives. My mom cooked her specialty, Kare-kare, which I think is the best version ever. My brother also whipped up his version of Baked Chicken with Tomato and Basil that turned out really good.
It was an amazing week for him. I think he had 5 birthday parties that week - 2 with the family and 3 from his friends and colleagues. All these people wanting to celebrate his birthday - this just shows how loved he is by people whose lives he had touched. I’m truly blessed to have him as my dad. Happy birthday Papi! Love you! (xoxo from your favorite daughter )
07MarColour like.no.other
I was randomly searching for more info about Jose Gonzalez’ Heartbeats (my current LSS. see the post before this) when I stumbled upon this amazing and colourful Sony Bravia ad in youtube. I didn’t know about this until today. I know! I’ve been living under a rock. I’m not quite sure if this was shown here in the Philippines, but if it was, I don’t think I’ll be able to watch it anyway because I barely watch TV. lol
I could watch this video forever. I like that after the clip, you get to see the behind-the-scenes of making the commercial. The soothing and calming scenes of tiny colourful (haha I’m spelling like the Brits now ) balls bouncing slowly down the streets of San Francisco, is very different from the noisy and not to mention, potentially damaging actual shoot. You could hear that ‘thud’ as the balls hit the parked cars and also the car alarms as they go off. Yikes! One of my favorite parts would be that frog jumping out of a pipe. I like noticing tiny details.
Click here to be directed to the official Sony Bravia site.
Play doh!
Wow! So the creative geniuses in Sony produced a follow-up commercial. This time they used colourful play-doh molded bunnies and stop-motion. Again, it blew me away! Imagine the effort they all put in making the ad (they didn’t use CG!).
I’m pretty sure that Sony Bravia sales shoot up, thanks to these ads. They’re pretty effective, imho. And if only I have the means, I’d probably buy an LCD TV. (I wish! lol)
[EDIT] The Pyramid Ad [/EDIT]
Thanks Way and Maws for letting me know about this Asian Bravia ad.
Brilliant beyond words!
* * *
50!
To the sweetest dad in the world, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We have a surprise for you this evening (part of which, I’m making right now) but you wouldn’t know because you don’t read my blog. lol. Love you! xoxo.
06MarLive and Let Rock
I’m a little late in joining the Guitar Hero bandwagon. I only started playing about two weeks ago, when a colleague of mine lent me his guitar. It turned out to be so much fun! I never had the opportunity of trying the game out because first, I don’t own a guitar and second, I have no guts to play those music games in the arcade (the guitars, the drums, and ok, let’s include the dance revo) . I’m just too easily embarrassed! The only music game I’ve tried and enjoyed until now is O2Jam only because it’s free and you play it in private. I don’t know, but I don’t feel comfortable with people around watching. Though I’m growing to love Timezone because of their videoke rooms but that’s another story.
So far I’ve pretty much survived and 5-stared most of the songs in medium but I have yet to learn how to play the songs in hard mode. I can’t seem to figure out how to place my fingers on the fret buttons. But I guess I’ll learn this eventually. At the moment, I can only finish [barely] 4 songs in hard. Argh!
This new pastime prompted me to buy my own guitar. I immediately got one in Greenhills for P1400. And then the following day, after realizing that it’s more fun playing with another person, I bought another guitar but this time from a different store (costs only P1,350) so that my brothers could join me. So last weekend, my brothers and I bonded over GH.
* * *
Geek Night
Speaking of bonding sessions over GH, I and the boys of our team had a little bonding session over at our Team Lead’s place. I dubbed it our team’s Geek Night. Basically, the plan was to geek out and play video games. I brought our PS2 (my brothers’ actually, since I haven’t played in what, 10 million years? well not until GH anyway haha!) and my two guitars so we could have Guitar Hero matches. Someone also brought his DS Lite in case anyone would want to play.
That’s that plan anyway. Apart from indulging ourselves with fish fillet and spaghetti. (yumyum~) Food, even if it’s sans meat (since it’s Friday) was delicious as always. Thanks Mommy Chen (that’s how I call our Lead’s mom ) for preparing the lovely dinner (AND for getting me my own 1 Litter bottle of Vidalia Onion woot!). You’re the best! I had quite a few servings but did not stuff myself too much so I’ll still be able to stand up and play GH. lol.
Food Pictures! (because I love taking them )
Istapegi! Yum! (This is just how I like to call spaghetti hihi)
Fish fillet.
On the background was what we used as dip, which is my fave dressing so far. Vidalia Onion Dressing.
my first serving (followed by my 2nd, 3rd, 4th…)
And the following are pictures of us playing GH.
Haven’t uploaded them in my multiply yet. I’ll try to squeeze that in one of these days.
***
Catchy
I’m in emo mode and my current LSS are:
1. Dashboard Confessional - Stolen (I like this slower version better, though.)
2. Jose Gonzalez - Heartbeats (I find this song very calming and soothing. )
18FebAI 7 Crush!
I caught up on American Idol 7 yesterday and watched the remaining Hollywood audition episodes. I have a crush on someone ohmygad!
It’s David Archuleta ♥ (!!!). (Haha! Until now, I can’t seem to remember his surname.. Had to copy-and-paste it from a site. What kind of a crush-er am I?!?!)
Loved him the minute he sang at his audition in San Diego. He had vocal chord paralysis but still sings well. He sang Waiting On The World To Change by John Mayer, by the way. Plus points for singing a John Mayer song. ;)
Here’s David in Hollywood, singing Heaven by Bryan Adams. (Aayyy Kilig! ♥)
And as our beloved Simon Cowell puts it, “You’re young, you’re likable, and you’ve got a great voice. Not a bad place to be, right?”. Couldn’t agree more. 
I was doing a bit of searching in youtube and found a clip of him singing AND playing the piano. This kid is uber talented, I tell you.
I’m in laaav! So what if he’s only 16. lol (I’m such a teenybopper! Teehee!)
I so hope he does well in the succeeding rounds *crossesfingers*.
17FebWeekend Post
From everyone’s blog.
Creepy that quizzes like this one, which really doesn’t have any scientific basis, would actually produce a result that has some truth to it. I will highlight what’s applicable to me.
You are 2:11 a.m. (Yep, I’m quite nocturnal. I’m currently writing this entry at 2:08 AM..)
Your time of day has a split personality — sometimes it’s sweat-streaked and loud, and you’re on the dance floor, getting your third wind, and shouting lyrics like you’ll never run out of energy. You are the time of night that carves itself into your memory forever, because you’ll never forget how much you love these people and this moment and this song. It’s not always about unforgettable parties, though. Sometimes your late night (err… early morning) burst of energy happens when you’re home alone. Those are the times when you say, “I flat out refuse to go to sleep until I finish reading this book, or typing this page, or reorganizing my entire closet.” In either case, you are the time of night when it feels sort of forbidden to be awake, but you love accomplishing something special long after everyone else went to bed. And hey — you can always catch up on sleep tomorrow, right?
10% of the people who took this quiz got the same evaluation. (I’m unique haha!)
***
Random events for the past 2 days
- Met up with a good friend of mine back in college - Tanya, who like me is a closet kikay. We talked about work, make up and skincare. Sooo not like us. Nonetheless, it was a very fun and informative conversation. Can’t wait to try your make-up recommendations. lol. We should have this more often.
- Watched the anti-Arroyo protesters march along the streets of Ayala Avenue from my window.
***
Catchy
My current LSS (Last Song Syndrome) includes:
- Matchbook Romance - Monster
- Good Charlotte - I Don’t Wanna Be In Love (Dance Floor Anthem)
- I’ve also been listening to Amy Winehouse’s album a lot. My favorite track is Back to Black. Love her voice. ♥
***
Movie to Recommend
I watched Juno last night. Loved everything about it. From the intro, to the plot, to the script, the soundtrack, the retorts, the characters, everything. I found myself literally laughing out loud at Juno’s witty lines. And Michael Cera’s dorkiness is adorable, just like in Superbad. I crush him! ♥ lol
The 2-minute opening to Juno:
***
3-day Sale
There’s a 3-day sale at SM Centerpoint (which is just a few steps away from our house). I just found out when I dropped by a while ago to get my hair trimmed. I decided to look around and see if there’s anything worth buying. And I think luck was on my side today because I kept on getting good deals. 1) P30 off from the original price of my haircut+eyebrow threading 2) VMV superskin2 toner, moisturizer and cleanser - all gotten at a discounted price. As in 100/150-peso off from the original price. And as if the discounts weren’t enough, I got another 10% discount because I exceeded P1000. after all the maths, I ended up paying only P972 for all 3 products. So happy! 3) New shoes from Celine. no discounts here, but i’m very happy to have found a pair that fits well, and for only P599. Lately I’ve been having a hard time finding shoes my size. Don’t know if my feet had shrunk or size 5 got bigger 
. So thank God for this pair.
Overall, I’m happy with my purchases. Yehey!
14FebHappy Puso!
“Look, in my opinion the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what-have-you, the right person is still going to think the sun shines out of your ass.”
— from the movie, Juno.
Happy Valentine’s/Single Awareness/Whatever day
***
Yay Sango day!
We had our team valentine’s day thingy a while ago. This time, we had burgers at Sango. Due to an unforeseeable event, I wasn’t able to bring Helga (my camera) along. I was able to take pictures using Suzy’s camera though, but I have no copy of the pictures yet, so I guess words will do for now.
The ambiance was quite nice. Clean, well-lit and cozy. I say cozy because they have couches. I like sitting on couches in restaurants. There’s an ionizer at my left and some cute animal origami. The munkee origami is the cutest.. I want to take it home! Japanese pop music videos were being played in the flat screen TV and at the furthest right of the room are stacks of Japanese books and magazines (If you can’t read Japanese, there’s Time). Food-wise, the burger was really good. The best part of my Master Burger (yup, that’s what they call their best-seller. ) aside from the patty that’s cooked well (not oily nor too dry) and the soft burger bun, would definitely be the caramelized onions. Loved it! They should put more of that vs. the mustard-covered onions. Imho, the latter makes the burger taste a little bit bitter. Other than that teeny tiny minor comment, it was delicious. I enjoyed it. Enjoyed so much that I didn’t mind that it was kinda messy to eat. Prepare to bring mint though, because your breath would smell like onions afterwards. Enough to ward off vampires. (or was that garlic? haha!) I know mine did. Eww me. Good thing Bigi gave everyone Moo ice cream sandwiches when we returned to the office. (Thanks Bigi!) It sorta helped neutralize that onion-y smell. Oh, and the Sango crew also gave flower origamis to the ladies. So they get plus points from me.
When I get back, I’ll try their rice burger.
Though the balloons weren’t only in red but in yellow, green, blue and even in rainbow colors. I’m talking about the recently held 12th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Festival at Clark Field, Pampanga which I attended last Sunday. It was my first time to be part of such event. I tell you, the experience was surreal.. riding one of ‘em balloons. I want to do it again.
My favorite among the bunch:
The Octopus balloon is too cute! Too bad I wasn’t able to take a front shot. I also like the rainbow balloon because rainbow colors make me happy.
More pictures in my multiply.
Special thanks and shout-outs go to: Nhatz for letting me know about this event. My family of course, for giving in to my pangungulit request of driving all the way to Pampanga to attend the balloon festival. Tito Manny and his family for accommodating and feeding us heftily. Food was AWESOME! We were stuffed to the brim.
We had Shrimp with chopped beans in gata (on the left) and Crispy Pata (on the right). There’s also Steak and Ripe Mangoes which I wasn’t able to take pictures of because I was too busy eating haha!
Last but certainly not least, Tita Beth THANK YOU for the passes. Without which, we won’t be able to go “backstage” and ride the balloon (Gulfair balloon FTW!).
I rode that balloon!
‘Til next year! Hopefully by then, my lenses would have improved lol.
X’s: This is me, looking badass hah!
Last Friday, I received this:
Thank you so much Cynthia for the box of Tikoy! Please send my thanks to your mom too! Hope your computer’s working well now.
Today’s merienda. ^-^
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