Weekend

I See RED

, , 2 Comments

This is the phone I am gushing over:

nokia-e63-1

It is priced at 12,500 PhP (around 14k at the Automatic Center where it’s available at 0% interest for 12 months intallment). It is not too far from the range of prices of previuos phone I’ve had save this current Sony Ericsson W360i. 

I almost gave in and bought it (on installment) yesterday. But I don’t really want to be spending all my money away when I’m supposed to be saving instead. 24 hours later, I still find myself lusting after it although I must admit, reading the reviews while hunting for this photo has almost got me to think twice, thrice, about this phone.

I’ve withdrawn some money from my Paypal account and that is due to be transferred to my account any time now. I’m also expecting payment for the PDA we sold to Alfred’s cousin really soon. With that money, I have more than enough for an E63 and considering that I can sell my current phone, there’d be enough money to keep. Still, I can keep that money to eventually buy a new oven (that has been pending since end of 2007!) or a DSLR even.

SAN BENISSA UPDATE

Kuya went to San Benissa on Monday morning to bring the lighthing fixtures and locksets for our units and he saw them already starting with the partition. Yay! They should be done by the end of next week. I can’t wait!

Because I have Sundays off again, I got to watch the show Urban Zone again. Watching that show is kind of a bittersweet experience. You get to see all the beautiful spaces they create, be it in a townhouse, a condo unit, or a big big house. But you also realize how much money they have, and how much you don’t. So last Sunday, they featured the house of a couple whose kids already have families of their own. There are 3 or 4 levels to that house which overlooks a golf course.

There is so much space in that house for entertaining. Their foyer? It can actually be used for a dance floor or they can put tables and chairs there already to serve food! There’s a lounge just for listening to music, and there’s a separate entertainment center/home theater! I didn’t count how many rooms they actually have, or how many LCD TVs, but the TV wall mount they have in the master’s suite swivels so that you can watch from bed, but also turn it 180 degrees and watch from a lounge/sitting area inside the suite!

Anyway, the furnishings aren’t very intricate but the house itself is quite state-of-the-art, with everything being controlled through the main panel as the security system. You don’t see a lot of those in homes in this country.

Our first fun weekend of 2009

, , 0 Comments

Note: Long post ahead. Rather than dwell on the fact that my site is still down and I have been asked to disable my redirect before they can fix it, I’ll just talk about the weekend I just had.

It feels like I just had a long weekend. On Tuesday evening, Alfred and I went to Greenhills, believing that it was the last day for their Night Market, as posted on their website (okay, this is really embarrassing because I just checked out the link now, and we actually looked at an archived page, and the dates were for last year’s nightmarket!). When we got there at 8pm, the regular shops were already closing and the parking lot where the night market stood in December, was already cleared out.

 

We just decided to have dinner because I hadn’t even had lunch. Our final choice was a filling meal at Max’s. After the sumptuous meal, we checked out the section of Greenhills that was still open at that hour: the Promenade. We checked out Gourdo’s and I admired all the baking and cake decorating stuff they had there. The only thing I picked up to take home though, was an oven thermometer.

We spent some time at Fully Booked too. There were so many interesting titles, but I restrained myself from making any purchase, there are still several books left on my to-be-read pile from months ago, plus books I got in November and December. I also figured I’d checkout my favorite second-hand bookshop before I buy never-been-owned books.

We were supposed to head home after leaving Fully Booked, in fact, we were already on our way down the escalator. Then I remembered that Iskul Bukol’s LFS was supposed to start 10:35, and that was a little more than just 5 minutes away. The boyfriend is a big TVJ fan (hehe) and he really wanted to see it, so I asked him why not go see it now? We sure weren’t sleepy yet anyway. 

It wasn’t as funny a movie as I expected it would be. But it wasn’t too bad either. There were inconsistencies too. Like the kid being able to speak Tagalog. I mean, by the time they were looking for the Peseta, the kid was already talking comfortably in Tagalog, but when they first found him in the hotel room, he couldn’t understand Vic.

Anyway, after the movie, we braced ourselves for a difficult time finding a cab. Good thing was, there were several taxis lined up near the Music Museum entrance. Since it was already midnight, it was a nice quick ride home. 

Before leaving for Greenhills the other night, I took this photo of Esban, for my Project 365 Day 6 post:


That’s Esban showing me what they did with this makeshift rooftop I took home with me from work the other day. It’s a rooftop we used for bay decoration for Christmas. I took it home because they would be thrown out anyway. And what a waste that would be. Just as I predicted, the kids loved it! Since there were three more of this in the office, I took them home too so each of them would have one to play with.

The next day was almost spent just sleeping. But we didn’t even let the rains stop us. We went to Quiapo to have Frankie’s lens fixed (finally!), and to check out some iPhone clones. Alfred got Mang Romy to put in the missing screw on his PDA too. 

We had a nice walk (eventhough it was drizzling, and it was muddy) from Hidalgo to Raon, to Isetann. Then after walking around and having a snack of shrimp and pork siomai, plus two pieces each of mini bibingka from Bibingkinitan, we took a motorized pedicab from Isetann back to Hidalgo. Because it had been raining, it wasn’t hot at all, and you couldn’t smell pollution. Yes, you could smell the common street smells of Quiapo, but it wasn’t really all that bad. 

As in our previous visits to Quiapo, we went into the church to pray a bit. We were surprised that there were a lot of people, because we knew that the feast of the Nazarene wasn’t until Friday, the 9th. As it happens, there are pre-event programs ongoing already. 

Because there was already a crowd at the back of the Church. The image of the Black Nazarene was being returned to it’s storage after what I assumed was a short parade/program at the plaza. Everywhere you look, there were devotees waving their handkerchiefs, and cloths
 that bear an image of Christ, and some prayers. I’ll share those photos too, but first up, here’s the photo I took from when were at Plaza Miranda, right in front of Quiapo Church (click the photo for a larger view):

Thankfully, it was a cloudy and rainy day. Had it not been so, I’m sure I would’ve developed a migraine because of the heat and the crowd. Hidalgo street wasn’t as crowded as in our previous visits. Seems like they cleaned out the road for the event, there wasn’t as many vendors out as there used to be. 

From Hidalgo, we took another motorized pedicab to the 168 Mall.  We ended up buying new curtains for the room (love it!), plus curtains for my brother’s room too. Alfred already put them up, and they look wonderful! I also got three pairs of jean for 730 pesos (less than 20 dollars!), while Alfred got himself a pair of shorts. We also ended up buying a few DVDs of movies and TV series.

I expected a difficult time hailing a cab home, but it wasn’t too bad. Traffic wasn’t very cooperative though. I ended up sleeping on the way and waking up with a headache. But even that didn’t ruin my day. We ended the day by watching a movie when everyone was already asleep. It was a local movie starring Toni Gonzaga and Vhong Navarro – My only you. Rock n’ Roll! 🙂

Oh well, why couldn’t we just have regular days like these all the time? 😉
This post reposted from my blogger blog.

Weekends at Mid-Week

, , , , 1 Comment

I am determined to make all my weekends count. Specially now that weekend for me actually happens midweek, having Tuesdays-Wednesdays off work.

This morning, I met up with the boyfried at Fully Booked in Gateway. Went there straight from work and I actually lasted until about three in the afternoon. Not bad. I was sleepy by the time I left my desk, but all the energy came back once I stepped foot in the mall. Haha.

Problem is, instead of getting any Christmas shopping done, I bought a couple more things for myself. A Jennifer Weiner title from the second-hand book shop, a top from SM, and chocolates and candies from Marks & Spencers. I also decided on what to put on my wishlist for the exchange gift we’re having at work (tough choice!). To be honest, I didn’t really put much effort into finding stuff to give. I’m not sure why. I also don’t know if I’ll be trying again tomorrow. I do know that we’re going back to San Benissa for the presentation, and I’m really looking forward to that (but I’ve mentioned that before, haven’t I?) 🙂

It’s nighttime now but I have a several things I want to do before going back to bed. Alfred mentioned that he was going to fix our closet and stow away the jackets that are not being used anymore. Having slept on the couch this afternoon, I don’t know if he has actually managed to do that before he left to meet up with his friends tonight. Whether he did or not, I’d like to contribute to that effort so I’ll arrange our other clothes and not all mixed up all over the place like they are now 🙂

I’d also like to leaf through my baking book tonight. Perhaps that will inspire me to bake through this holiday season, like Decembers past. I am still thinking which of these two interesting books I’d order online, maybe you can help me? The images are linked to a review page.

tack_cupcake cookies

Twilight, the movie version

, , , 2 Comments

On Tuesday, we finally saw the movie that both Alfred and I have been waiting for. We had a nice, filling  lunch at House of Minis, also in Greenhills, right before the screening.

I felt that there are many aspects in which it could have been improved, but as it is, it wasn’t all that bad. In fact, I wouldn’t mind watching it again, and again. And again.

First, I didn’t really like the makeup. They’re all supposed to look gorgeous, perfect, god-like. Instead, they looked like hell. Except Emmet, and Victoria (didn’t she look prettier than Rosalie?). Jasper and Alice were a bit of a disappointment, not to mention Rosalie who was supposed to be the yardstick for beauty herself. But as the movie progressed, they did grow on me and I was able to get past the bad makeup.

Bellas’s voice. Okay, I had seen the trailer before so I was prepared to see the movie Bella and reconciled her to a smaller version I had seen in my mind while reading the books. But when I heard her speak, she felt more different to me. She looked and sounded stronger than the Bella in Twilight, the book. She was the inner Bella, you know what I mean? Meyer made her look fragile at first, one who needed protection – there was none of that in the movie version. It was like Edward’s need to protect her was unfounded. Hehe.

And where was Edward’s confidence and air? He looked the opposite of the confident young man I pictured him to be. He was always hunched over, even while walking.

They did an awesome job with the sunny sparkly scene. I think that was what I wanted to see the most. Hehe. 

The movie was too short, in my opinion. Too short to really show the rest of the world who didn’t read the book, why millions have been hooked to the saga.

Anyway… We caught an early screening on a weekday so there weren’t a lot of people in the cinema. There was a group of elderly ladies who sat beside us. There were about four of them. Alfred and I looked at each other as they entered. We were wondering whether they had read the books, or had daughters/granddaughters who did. They quietly watched; in fact, I think Alfred and I were the noisiest in there.

So have you seen it? What do you think of it?

So is 2009 the year we spend our anniversary out of town?

Two years ago I told Alfred I wanted to spend a weekend out of town – Tagaytay specifically. He didn’t want to go because – ahh I don’t know why.

Last year, we were supposed to spend our anniversary weekend at this quaint resort in Laguna. It didn’t push through. 

Last week we were talking about where we wanted to go. It has to be somewhere just near, and we wouldn’t need to spend too much money (because we don’t have much to spend). Tagaytay cropped up in the conversation again. Alfred mentioned that it would be so much easier if I could drive, then we’d have no problem with transportation. How true!

Me, drive? I don’t know much about cars, don’t know shit about suspension and steering rack. I watch Overhaulin, American Hot Rod, Top Gear, and all those other car shows on cable, but I cannot really drive. I know all about the theory, from tagging along and being at the backseat when my mom was taking her driving lessons from A1 more than a decade ago. But I cannot actually drive. I long for that freedom. The places we’d go see if only I could drive. Sigh. 

But back to what I was saying… I really hope we do get to spend a weekend in Tagaytay in January. I can already sense busy weeks ahead of me. If the last week I had at work were any indication, I’ll be back to my long hours at work on a regular basis. In times like these, it would help keep me going if I had a weekend getaway to look forward to. 🙂

Snippets

, , 7 Comments

Wow. I went without checking my blog and my mails (except my work email) for close to three days! I haven’t been browsing my usual digs either.

Not surprising since:

  1. I’ve been busy (with nothing specific!)
  2. My PC had OS issues since Sunday and Alfred only found time to work on it this afternoon.
  3. My ISP has been soooo slow.
Okay, so of all three reasons, it’s really #3 that kept me away without ripping my heart apart. I could have used either Alfred’s or mom’s laptops to logon and live on as usual on my web home. But the thought of how slow the real download speed is, completely turns me off.
Tuesday-Wednesday: The New Weekend

Saturdays are tight in the office, and our management team has decided to tweak TM schedules so that there are more of us available to support our agents during the weekends. I’ve had Fridays and Saturdays off since I joined the account and it really is the RDs I prefer. But my boss asked for volunteers for weekdays off, and since Alfred and I have not shared the same offs in a long time… I volunteered for the Tue-Wed rest days. It’s supposed to start next week but since they’d already be needing help this Saturday, I agreed to be there. I took tonight off so  I could catch up on sleep I didn’t get yesterday. I’d be back at work Thursday night though, then off again for Friday. Crazy, ain’t it? My choice though.

Frankie’s down again

I seem to have broken Frankie. I used up the 36-shot roll while at the Fiesta on Saturday and was going to rewind and reload with a fresh roll. But it wouldn’t wind properly. Then suddenly, the winder broke. 

Frankie’s taking a trip back to her doctor tomorrow. 

I seriously feel like it was my error that caused it to break. I feel so dumb sometimes. I’ve had Frankie for two weeks but I still haven’t seen any results – something always goes wrong with the film!

Fiesta. Greenhills. Twilight. etc.

Fiesta day was a fun day, clouded only by the Frankie incident. I have thoughts about fiesta, and the YAM festivities that I’d very much love to share. I’ll dedicate a whole post for that though. 

We went to the Seminary in the afternoon, but Alfred didn’t find the basketball games particularly interesting. There were no games for the kids, so there wasn’t really much else for us to do – specially since Frankie was not up to shooting anymore. We decided to head to Greenhills and finally see Twilight. 

Alfred had to work that night though, so we had very limited options in terms of which showing we could see. It so happened that the one we needed, was already sold out. Bummer. We ended up doing a bit of shoppping.

Greenhills at night at December, is still a nightmare when it comes to hailing a cab to get you home. It takes forever. We made good time though, Alfred was able to take a shower before heading to the office. I took a ride back to the Seminary with my brother and his girlfriend, for the YAM night.

These are just snippets of stuff I would have written about had I been online in the past three days. I’ll be back in a few hours with more!

«< 11 12 13 14 15 >»

ARCHIVES

© Stitches & Words 2025
Powered by WordPress • Themify WordPress Themes
%d bloggers like this: