crossover brunch

Last sunday, October 21, my mum, bro and I went back to Dusit Thani in Makati to try their crossover brunch. The week before that we tried the Basix buffet for dinner and we enjoyed very much that we really look forward to coming back.

 

The mechanics of this crossover brunch is to select a "basecamp" out of the 4 restaurants of the hotel. We decided to stay in Tosca, their italian restaurant. Then you can just "crossover" to the other restaurants and try their specialties. Benjarong serves Thai food, Umu serves Japanese food and Basix has Filipino, American, Mexican, Italian, Indian, Chinese and Spanish food. Logically, Basix would be an instant choice since it has more variety, but I think Tosca being more concentrated on Italian definitely served better pasta and meat dishes.

biggest plus plus: Included in the buffet is unlimited sparkling wine. I chugged 4 glasses like water which made me a little dizzy at once, but i loved it since it wasn't heavy on the tummy.

 

crossover brunch dinners were given a wrist band to wear, just like in theme parks :P

 

the desserts not only looked good, tastes superb!

side note: my mum has been much into these Hotel deals and memberships and she has always given it to me as a birthday gift. Some deals though has more than just a free overnight but also food discounts, so I have decided to become the willing victim hehe. Although this may not be a good idea since I've also decided to really stick to my diet. We can just have a cheat day right? :))

take home: birthday cake. it was yummy!!

So far my experience with Dusit Thani dining has been consistently 4 stars for me! maybe if the crepe station at Basix would have nutella and almond in their filling choices and whip cream, I would add a fifth star in there, lol. but really, the food choices were great and staff was really nice. I'm excited for our overnight stay this Decemeber. :)

OOTD (outfit of the day):



cute "oxford style" shoes from So Fab

peacock earrings from H&M :)

mum said my top was too bright, but i love it! :P

major life essential :D

LAoAve. in Love with Laoag.

a recent conversation with an officemate made me reminisce about my trips to Laoag City. well entirely of Ilocos. plus, to appreciate my blessngs more, i want to spend time to recap my travels.

it takes only less than an hour via plane from Manila, but almost 12 hours if you will bring your car. but the trip which ever way is truly worth it.

My experiences to this city has truly been "magical" :P and I feel like I just wanna keep coming back.

In 2010, I went to Ilocos with 9 lovely girls. so imagine, 10 girls running around taking pictures, non-stop stories, non-stop fun!

first stop: Paoay Church

We stayed in Batac, which is where you will find the waxed corpse of former president Ferdinand Marcos. We also tried the beaches of Currimao and Pagudpud. We had a very "mysterious/strange" incident. But I'd rather share that in person :P

During this trip I met my now, very good friend, Chin. She's a cousin of Tini but we've become very close that it's like we're cousins as well. :P Plus, I love looking and shopping! from her "Royalty Heels" collection. I remember when we went to visit their house, I almost fainted because of all the lovely shoes she was selling. I haven't been in her store / showroom, so maybe that is a good reason to go back :)

oh gosh, it sure is "MORANTIC"
 

 

all of us with Chin :)

ATVs at Fort Ilocandia ;) 

But the reason why I was back in Ilocos by January this year was for Chin's wedding! :)

 

 

Though this time it was only me, tini and eloisa because others had work. We stayed at Fort Ilocandia Resort where Chin's reception was held too. We planned to go to places which we haven't seen yet, however, the hotel sheets were just too good to pass up. So we just stayed in our room and enjoyed the long hours of sleep and tv.

fort ilocandia grounds :)

It was only hours before our flight back to Manila, that we were able to roam around Laoag and buy pasalubong straight from the market.



                                                    Hole in a wall: Empanadahan

Oh, I remember, after the wedding, we were so upbeat that we made a dance video with "Moves Like Jagger" as our song. And with that, I end this entry :P <3 p="p">

keeping up

there's just so much happening on-line nowadays, you can just go cray cray with all the beautiful things you can find.

i recently downloaded / put up my pinterest account. just when i thought facebook, twitter and instagram was all i'll ever need. it took a while for me to fully utilize this blogger app, but it has become so easy to use that i just couldn't resist it :))

i wish i could do a certain topic that i could concentrate on and personally post and not only repin / repost.

truly, i'm this great power of potentiality hihi :P

busy bee

it's gonna be almost a month since our conference was done, but i feel / think / believe i've just finished half of the work needed. submitted my "notes of experience" last week and was happy to be able to say exactly what happened and what we need for next year's conference.

yep, it's true. we will have a conference each year until 2016. whew! i can't even imagine how / where i'm gonna be next year and we are already scheduling this for 4 years from now?!

anyway, this kept me uber occupied / stressed / worried the past months but i'm really happy i was given the opportunity and was able to do it. yep, that's another feather in my cap. though i know i have a lot of things to work on and i'm not even sure if the conference next year is even good news. but i can say: BRING IT ON!! :D

*p.s. this is my first post using the blogger app, let's see how it will look :P

i know it looks like i was bored, but really my stress level was off the hook when this shot was taken :O

we had to do manual registration coz our papers got late. ugh, lesson learned :S

this was during the 2nd day already. registration went a lot smoother.

Our guest speaker: Prof. Thomas Lickona, PhD.

spiritual journey

In  line with my eagerness to keep this blog updated, I had to look back at my previous posts. I noticed that I haven't shared anything regarding my line of work. Actually, even in my other social media accounts, I don't spell it out bluntly. It has actually been a conscious effort to keep a low key where I work, not for anything drastic really, but I enjoy sharing it more personally.

On my next post, I will post one of our biggest "projects". For now, let me share my spiritual journey.

I have been with the institution for more than a year and one of the biggest benefit it has given me was to awaken my spirituality, more importantly my Catholicism. I will not discuss any specific belief or opinion here, just sharing some nice "trips" we have been to.

Last year we went to Regina Rica in Tanay, Rizal.

                                                           during my kulot kid days haha

Notice how the hand of the Virgin is flicked? There was a story shared, that when St. Dominic went to heaven and saw Mary, he asked where his brothers and sisters (meaning the people) were. Mary raised her veil and showed that they were there under her protection. That is the reason why the "silong" / passage way to the  chapel is under this huge statue of Mother Mary. It was literally being inside the belly of Mama Mary.

The place was very well maintained and you could really feel your spirit soar up as the climp up, even way back to the guest hut was not an easy feat. This place was also kind of far, so better gear up on food should you decide to visit as well.

This year, we went to Palace in the Sky in Tagaytay City. This trip was truly the opposite of last year, as it is (1) nearer to Alabang. So we left the office at around 11am and was at the shrine of Our Lady Mother of Fair Love by 12 nn. (2) The shrine wasn't maintained, at all. Although they charged us Php30 each for entrance fee.

                                     the sacred heart statue even looked like it had "black eyes"

Over the past year, I have learned so much about the different Saints. Growing up, I felt like Saints were extra-ordinary people that lived their life for God and we or if I may say, "I can never be like them". In this new chapter of my life, I've learned that I can pray through them for certain petitions and most especially we can be holy in our daily life. I know it may sound like a direct rip off from St. Josemaria Escriva, but I truly believe in this now. Through St. Josemaria, God has blessed and surprised me in more ways and more days than ever.

Before we went home from Tagaytay, I decided to hear mass, since it was first friday. We decided to drop by the Lourdes Chapel to check if there was Mass. When we got there a wedding ceremony was just started so we just joined in even though we were so out of place because the wedding was super formal. Look who decided to say hi that day. :)

                      after over a year of knowing and learning about St. Josemaria Escriva, this was the first time I saw a figure of him.