Weekend Warrior

In my past life (meaning, pre-GH), I spent a lot of my weekends working on rakets. At Summit, we have what we call the Golden Rocket Awards, given to the top-performing magazines each year. Some people used to joke that I could win the Golden Raket Award. I would contrib to Candy, Seventeen, Yummy, Men's Health, Marie Claire, Cosmo, Total Girl, Martha Stewart Weddings, even GH. It was tiring, but I enjoyed it--boredom is not a great color on me. Plus, all the extra moolah paid for my trips (both in and out of the country) and my wedding. This, of course, was before I had to pay for things like rent, utilities, and my own toilet paper.

I don't raket as much as I used to (truth be told, I miss it), but after a looong while, I felt what it was like to have a packed weekend again! It started with Saturday. My first stop was a baptism, where I served as ninang to this little bundle of joy...

My goddaughter with her proud parents

After a quick lunch (I couldn't possibly say no to the Officers' Club fried chicken, so I really stayed to eat!), I had to rush to Timezone for another godkid's birthday. Here I am with my kumare, her second son, and my TF (true friend) Mona.

Former SGV co-workers, friends for life

And then, I had to make my way to Megamall for a GH event where I had to give the opening remarks. Horrors! You can make me dance in front of a crowd or teach a class, but I hate hate hate giving speeches.

With my no. 1 fan (it's a tossup between her and Hamil)

Afterwards, Mumsy was nice enough to give me a ride to disc training. And after that, my teammates and I hung out at a friend's new condo, where we loaded up on carbs.

I finished a 22-oz Big Gulp Gatorade from 7-Eleven before chowing down!

Not shown: The macadamia nut sansrival which was delish! But after two slices, my teeth started to hurt!

The following day was the start of the Malakas at Maganda league, which is the all-male/all-female league. Imagine the fun I had considering we only had a total of nine players, while our three opponents each had two lines. I didn't sub for back-to-back games.

Which brings us to Monday, when I could barely walk! Oh, to have more weekends like this. But with more QT with the hubby!

Excuses, Excuses

Yesterday, I had to work (sigh), went to disc training (gotta get out of my bano funk), and organized a baby shower (people seemed to enjoy it). Today, woke up late and nuked some leftover baked macaroni for brunch. Asked my masseuse if she could come over to relieve my post-training aches, but alas, she's not free. As I type, husband and I are enjoying day 1 of the NBA playoffs. (My Bulls gotta step it up. Indiana's got a lot of fight in them.) Am relishing my down time, aching muscles and all. Later, we have to go to a children's party and a family dinner.

Will do a proper post soon.

So I Didn't End Up Going to CDO...

...but I did end up here.

View from the entrance


Living area at our villa (yup, "our"--Hamil came with me, yay!). Not shown: 42-inch flat-screen TV.


Dining area. Not shown: Kitchen.


Bedroom with four-poster bed. Not shown: Another 42-inch flat-screen TV!


Bathroom


His and hers sinks in the bathroom. Check out the reflection--yet another flat-screen TV at the foot of the tub! I quite enjoyed watching 30 Rock while soaking in a bubble bath!


And a private plunge pool for good measure

All these were taken at the Crimson Resort and Spa in Mactan, Cebu.

Tomorrow: Back to reality.

How was your weekend?

Mini Santorini

We couldn't possibly fly to Greece over our anniversary weekend, so we settled for the next best thing...

These, my friends, were taken at Thunderbird Resort, La Union, about a five-hour drive up north from Manila. The structures (white with bits of blue, as in the dome over the lobby) stand on a cliff overlooking the sea--reminiscent of Santorini, one of the places on our must-visit list.

The room we were given had two queen-size beds, so it was big enough for a family of four.

But since we still didn't have little Hamils and Tishas with us, one of the beds remained unoccupied, except by this little fella...

My friends, after seeing this photo, debated over what animal this was supposed to be. Elephant, pig, dog were all mentioned. This remains to be one of life's great mysteries.

The room we booked had a jacuzzi but, alas, it wasn't working! Even if we had transferred to another room, the jacuzzi still wouldn't have worked; we were told that there was something wrong with the motor. At the whole resort! Boo. So much for jet streams of water pummeling my sore lower back. Luckily, we had a flat-screen TV, WiFi, our books, a pool, and each other to keep us occupied!

We had dinner at the in-house restaurant, Olives. The prices are typical of resorts (about P400, more or less, per dish), but the servings were hefty, and the food was yummers.

Fettuccine with prosciutto, mushrooms, and artichoke cream

Hamil's half (!) chicken was oh-so-flavorful and, he felt, so worth the price.

We visited the nearby casino after dinner, but the place kind of had a depressing vibe, so we just went back to our rooms to rest our expanded tummies. There really isn't a lot to do here, unless you play golf. (Hamil biked around for a bit; my protective husband refused to teach me how--I never learned how to ride a bike!--because I didn't have any kneepads!) There's a hint of a beach which I didn't get to check out, a basketball half court, a boardwalk. But I guess that's kind of the beauty of it: no crazy partying, no full day overloaded with activities. It was just pure relaxation.

Would I go back? Sure, but probably only if we had someone else to drive us. It's so unfair to Hamil that I get to sit back while he does all the driving. The ability to stay awake for over five hours straight in a comfortable car is just not in my skill set!

The Long Weekend

...kind of didn't feel like a weekend at all. I ended up working Friday and Sunday, so the three-day weekend turned into a one-day weekend for me. Oh well. I did get a lot of stuff done though. A rundown of my activities:

Bullet #7. My lace top from Forever21--yep, I succumbed to disposable fashion! Har. Photo from my SIL.

• Friday: A food shoot. I kind of had to tap into my dormant styling skills. It's been a while.
  
• An attempt at shopping. But Megamall + holiday = The Worst Idea Ever.
• Spirits 2010 meeting. For some reason, I ended up on the planning committee of the annual international tournament held in Manila. Although this time it'll be in Clark. And I'll be missing it! Sigh.
  
• Saturday: UP vs. AdU (women's). Finally got to see my niece Mix in action!
• Lunch at Ristras. All burrito-ed out.
  
• Disc training...where I rolled my other ankle! Ugh. It still hurts, but at least it didn't swell into epic chicken-lollipop proportions like the last time I sprained my ankle.
• Dinner with family at O Kitchen. I am kicking myself for forgetting my camera! We celebrated Mumsy's dinner, plus Mix's birthday, plus Grandparents' Day (did y'all greet your lolos and lolas?) at this hidden, elegant yet casual restaurant. The resto's Sisig Dinuguan is pretty awesome! Little-known fact: I am averse to black food. I don't eat adobong pusit, and up until a week ago, I had never tried dinuguan in my life.
  
• Resortsworld with family. Hamil won enough to fund our gift for Mumsy! Har. And I was IN AWE of those Russian/Ukranian performers! The female version of the Power Duo was ah-mazing, and that contortionist on the swinging ring was spineless! Not cowardly or wimpy or whatever--as in spineless, boneless, inhumanly flexible!
  
• Sunday: Radio guesting. Pia Magalona interviewed K-Zone's Lio and me back to back. It was my last time on U92--it's their last day on air on September 30! (P.S. Grab a copy of KZ's September ish--it's all about supervillains, with Gru on the cover! Pick up a copy of GH while you're at it!)
  
• Grocery shopping. I'm bad at the Price-Is-Right-like guessing of individual goods' prices, but I'm getting so good at estimating the total cost of the stuff in my basket. I normally go into the supermarket with a budget in mind, dump stuff in my basket, and at the cashier, find out that I'm just a few pesos below budget. Let's hope my streak continues!
• Late lunch with the girls at Fez. No husbands or kids in tow! It took weeks of planning, and people were late, but the girls and I were able to find a common sched! (Most of us anyway.) If only we could do this every month. Hanging out with people you grew up with is good for the heart.
• Cheerdance competition-viewing. Since I don't have a Twitter account, I ended up posting my stream of thoughts on FB. Congrats, UP! Well-deserved! Good job, ADMU kiddies. You've come a long way since the days when only one person on the squad could do an aerial! (Kids today are fearless, I tell ya.)
  
• Closet-clearing. Unsuccessful. I've still got an entire closet to clear--I only ended up dumping stuff from the half of Hamil's closet that I've taken over. I ditched some of my empire-cut dresses (my favorite cut)--the ones that kind of make me look preggers--and will be storing 'em in a "Break Open in Case of Pregnancy" box. Other things I discovered: Between the two of us, Hamil and I have six ankle braces (see bullet #6); and I have a grand total of 16 swimsuits!
• Dinner with Hamil's family. It was great seeing his family again. I didn't realize I hadn't seen them in such a long time til one of his brothers asked me about my trip to NY...four months ago!
  
• Despicable Me in 3D. Finally! Loved it! And I always enjoy hearing Hamil laugh.:)

AND I got enough sleep! Woohoo! This week looks promising too. Keep y'all posted!


O Kitchen is along E. Rodriguez Ave., Libis, QC (going north, turn right on the small street right after Honda, going to Padre Pio). Fez is at Serendra, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

The Doctor Is Out

This three-day weekend, I reeeally wanted to head on over to Cebu for Ultimo Abril, or to Bagasbas for the Summer Surf Festival. But given all the stuff I had to gather (plus my expenses!) for the upcoming New York trip and the packed week ahead of me, it just didn't make sense. I needed as much time and money as I could get to prepare for the trip, and to rest up before a grueling week ahead. (Neither of those local trips promised much sleep!) Instead, I spent the weekend cooking and baking, shopping for trip-related stuff, choreographing and teaching a dance, going to disc training, and participating in an ambush birthday party/despedida for our teammate, Doc Jerome.

That's the birthday boy, second from left.

Doc, the olde--er, wisest member of the Ultimate Warriors, is leaving the country in a few days. We expected to see him at training, and when he didn't show up, we figured that we didn't want to miss our chance to wish him a happy birthday and a safe trip. So we bought chicken and liempo from Andok's then headed over to his house! Thankfully, he was home! Haha.

After chowing down (we were all famished after training!), we settled into Doc's living room for a screening of...

...the original Clash of the Titans! The film was released in 1981, so you could imagine the effects were rather crude, at least compared to the 2010 version's. (I dare say the older one was better though.) But we joked that the effects of Titans 1981 are similar to those of Pinoy movies of today! "Okay Ka, Fairy Ko," as teammate/scoring machine Kring described it!

Afterwards, we played a bit of poker--I didn't win but I did clean out Enteng! Ha! No senti speeches for Doc...I think he was trying to avoid anything emotional so the whole evening was just light and fun, like a typical Warriors get-together. But really, Doc is worth getting emotional over. So I'm doin' it here!

The team, sadly, is losing one of its most rambunctious players. Doc brings a whole lot of fun wherever he goes because of his quick wit and loud hirits. The best thing about him? He doesn't BS anyone. And he can certainly back up his mouth--whatever he says behind someone's back, he can just as easily say to his or her face. That kind of honesty sometimes makes me anxious, but in some weird way, it's pretty refreshing. Between people like him and people who whisper rumors behind your back while being pretend-nice to your face, I would definitely take Doc! Er, just make sure you don't tell him who you have the hots for. He might just march right up to the object of your affections and tell that person, as another teammate discovered about a year and a half ago!

Doc, you will be missed--your medical advice (both solicited and unsolicited! Haha), your in-depth analysis of anything from disc to Everything Else, your boisterous laughter, your funny antics, your honesty. The Warriors will always, always have a place for you. And Mundz will always be ready to huck that disc to the endzone for ya. ALL THE WAY!