One hundred and one reasons

...for not posting, all of which spell the four-letter word: BUSY.

But it's good to be home. Although I forget how excruciatingly hot it is here. Someone has GOT to invent a portable airconditioner. Like one of those gigantic anti-freon cooling contraptions they have at those al fresco restaurants in Greenbelt. Only much smaller. Something you can attach to your phone maybe and packs a good two horsepower charge. And lasts the whole day. I'd definitely buy that over the iPhone. That, or my friend Kira says global warming might actually cause the Philippines to snow one day. I'll take either one.

But yes, all in all it's good to be home. Check out our recent Holy Week beach trip with JJ and Raffy to Subic and Batangas, summed up in our weekend's toys: a 115-ft yacht & her seven-man crew, a chopper, a speedboat and a suburban. Surreal.

Thanks to JAC's good graces for the lovely weekend.
And J for coming home with a bang.
Click on photo to view album, Holy Week 2007.

Never use your cellphone in the shower.

...Yup. that's pretty much the short of it.

So now I've a new phone with zero contacts.
Please be a dear and email (or text) me your contact number/s.

Thanks, loveys. Highly appreciate it :)

Two truths and a lie:

1. I enjoy meeting different kinds of people.
2. My eyefolds are fake.
3. I love wild rides.

So, wanna give it a shot? :)

Happy 2nd Birthday, South City!

About a thousand people showed up at Bellevue last Sunday.
How awesome is that...

My ever so handsome husband and his Alembic

Grooving during rehearsal with Bebs and Dani.
(Note to self: buy a VISIBLE shaker next time!) If you can't find it, it proves my point..

More photos HERE, care of Jamie.

Happy New Year!

Wow, this is a personal record. Two months of silence, how about that? Not that it was intentional--you know I would have kept in touch if this internet situation wasn't so sucky. But great news! We (accidentally) discovered this cute cafe near the house that offers FREE WIFI, baby!!! Woohoo!

Just for this reason, I will wholeheartedly plug our amazing find:

If you're in the South, check out Bona Coffee; they've got great service, place is very well designed (warm and cozy, and quite rustic in appeal), and the homemade muffins! Those things are well worth their 50bucks (there's an oven tucked on one side of the cafe where all the baking goodness happens). Check out some of their sandwiches too: Tuna Wasabi, Spanish Sardine and Onion, Crabstick Mango and Cilantro... Yum. For post-dinner fun, you can also try their Drunken Desserts: low calorie ice cream with your choice of liqueur. Ayayay. My ultimate fave though--what keeps me coming back, besides the free wifi (naturally), is their mango juice. Quite like a shake, and no sugar added. Perfect for the sweltering heat of Manila. And, not as fattening (or atleast I'd like to believe).

Ok, enough of all things caloric.

I still can't believe I'm back home. Manila has been fun the past two months--save for my wallet having been stolen while Christmas shopping. That was a bummer. All my IDs, credit cards, Singapore & US Dollars, gone. Pesos too. Some pictures which I treasured: a 1x1 ID photo of my grandmother, another 1x1 of Bebs (when he still had hair), and another (bigger) photo of Bebs with our friends Jan and Pebs during his first year in Frisco. That was the first pic he sent me when he left the country six years ago. My beloved Body Shop card is also gone. I got to use it once here, but there goes all my points. Sigh. Sad that some of our kababayans have to resort to stealing to enjoy Christmas. My sis also lost her wallet while Christmas shopping two years ago. She had to bid her year-end bonus adieu. Ouch.

I'm praying for a miracle, though. Realistically, I know the money won't likely be returned, but I do hope my cards and wallet are found. I actually dreamt I received an overseas call informing me that someone had found my wallet. He shipped it to the States since it was the address on my ID, and get this: all contents were intact! Moolah, cards, everything! Wouldn't that be nice...

Anyway, my apologies to my dear Manila friends if we haven't hooked up yet, or we've seen each other less than we should. You can imagine how hectic it is being home after four years. I'll be here maybe till March though, so there should be enough time to squeeze something in.

Time to sign off, my slice of chocolate chip banana bread was just pulled out of the microwave, and you dont want to keep that waiting.

Love to the San Fran peeps! Miss you guys oh so much!

Manila, baby!

We're in Manila! After four looooong years (six for Bebs) of absence, I'm finally back in my homeland :)

The downside is, we have no internet access where we're staying. So apologies if I haven't kept in touch. I'll definitely try to keep in touch as much as I can (hello internet cafes!), so for those in Manila, email me!

Vancouver Favorites

I know, I know.. I've used the excuse one too many times, but I really have been busy. Really. And I miss you too ;)

I should be a little more free this week, so I'll post a more decent entry very soon. So much to tell! Meanwhile, I've compiled some of my recent favorite shots of Vancouver, which I hope you'll like. I'm buying time, can you tell? HA!

Enjoy! I'll catch you all later. Promise.

Click on photo to view entire album, aptly titled,
"Vancouver Favorites".

p.s. It's better to not watch the show and just click the photos one at a time. I find the show Dotphoto sets up to be very distracting.

Btw, friends in Manila, look out for me in November. We MAY be going home end of the month. Woohoo! Can't wait. :)

The Grouse Mountain Experience

One month and still checking out sights! This place never ceases to amaze me.

Click on photo above to view
The Grouse Mountain Experience

And yes, those are real live bears, not some calendar cutout.


One final update before I call it a night: a day after our unforgettable "Peppy" experience (hehe), we found ourselves a new home. Whoopee!

A cozy fully-furnished new basement suite with a wonderful British mid-50s couple as our landlord. Every now and then the wife asks me, So ah you se-UH-led awlright?
(In English: So are you settled alright?) Hehe. Absolutely adorable.

Come back soon, I've got a lot more photos to post. ;) Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Just when you've seen it all...

Funny story.

The background: Seeing that we are extending another month here in VanCity, my husband and I start to scour the internet for short-term budget rentals with immediate availability. Challenging task, but I go ahead and dutifully put out my inquiries on Craigslist, making sure to emphasize that we "are a young couple from San Francisco... church workers, and very responsible, friendly, peaceful and tidy." The goal was to gain from the landlord a liking and semblance of credibility to us, their future tenants, and FAST.

So I get a reply today in response to one of the inquiries I placed: It's shared accommodation (meaning landlord still has a room in the house), but all utilities are included and the backyard is huge and lined with apple and plum trees. More importantly, rental price is WAY CHEAP: half price from the going rate--the lowest among the "millions" I've checked.

At this point I'm thinking, Sweet deal! This is too good to be true.

Boy was I right.

Landlord: So you mentioned you were church workers?

Me: Yes, my husband headed the music department for our church in SF, and we're currently in town helping another church here... blah blah blah. (Building our credibility and trustworthy points here).

Landlord: Well, I'm a photographer, and I do different kinds of projects--

Me: That's Great! I do photography myself, although I don't really do it professionally yet. I'd love to see some of your work! Do you have a website up?

I'm kissing butt at this point, can you tell? But I really should have let him finish.

Landlord mumbles something about his stuff still stored in some server, ergo no website. Then the clincher: Yeah, well, as I was saying, I do different kinds of projects. A lot of glamour stuff, y'know... and I do erotica.

Erk.

Landlord continues: So... I don't know how you guys feel about that, being church workers and all.

I wasn't prepared for that. At all. Landlord must have sensed my hesitation.

Landlord: But hey, it's not like my stuff is displayed in the house or anything.

A little iffy, but hey, I honestly had no problem with it. That's his life; if we didn't have to see it, then he can leave that in his server, right? I look over to Bebs, but he's busy minding the road. I make a quick judgment call.

Me: Well, we might as well take a look at it. We're on the road now, maybe we can come over and see the place?

He gives his address, and fifteen minutes later we're in front of the house. Humble. The backyard was refreshing though. Fruit trees, just like his ad promised. We approach the back door.

Me: Hello?

Landlord comes out, and I finally put a face to the voice.

For discretion's sake, tatagalugin ko na from here on:

Dude (and I mean duuuuuuude), yung mama... mukha talaga siyang pang-erotica. Complete with bigote! Kulang na lang leopard prints! Ang bahay pa may amoy. Ang labo. I couldn't quite put my finger to it, parang it was a mixture of yosi, incense, and days-old body smells. Ayayay. Yung kwarto pa na dapat sa amin, may naka-hanger sa cabinet na chipipay faux fur coat na pambabae (complete with frill trimmings!) At ang bedsheet! Mukhang kaka-photo shoot lang dun sa kwarto. My oh my oh my, kill me now... as in KEEEELL MEE NOWWW!!

So the short of it is, we are still on the hunt for a place. Hahaha. Duh.

If you've got downtime at work, help me search the web for rentals: Short-term (1-2 months), available now, double occupancy, all utilities included. Preferably downtown.

And yes, I'll pay a premium for CLEAN. And privacy. And fresh air.

More of Vancouver

Second week and counting!

Here are more photos of Jericho Beach, Lynn Canyon, Lighthouse Park, and breathtaking Vancouver sunsets:

Click on photo above to view gallery

We miss you guys! :)

Vancouver in pictures

After hours and hours and loooong hours of upload time (I currently don't have internet of my own, so am only stealing bandwidth from the neighbors. hehe), I finally got my photos up!

This is a week's worth of Vancouver sightseeing, so my apologies if the order's a little messed. I must say though that this temporary home of ours is undeniably one beautiful place. Painfully expensive (13% tax! Are you kidding me?!), but pretty nonetheless. Not to mention the Asian food here is saraaaaaaap!

Anyway, without further ado, I present Vancouver:

Click on photo to view entire album.

Feel free to comment :)

Waxing sentimental.

Finally! My first blog entry in Vancouver. :)

It's officially our first week here in Canada. I have to apologize, it's been terribly hectic since our arrival. We've been running back and forth, I haven't really had the time to sit and write something decent. I do have TONS of photos to share, though. Every day we get to see a little more of this place and I must say the rumors are true: Vancouver truly is beautiful. There's a lot about it that reminds me of San Fo. But no matter how pretty it is here, I have to admit my heart is still missing home:

My favorite workmates who made the daily grind bearable

Our kooky Bridgepoint family. No more Sundays with you guys...


Church isn't the same without the Macs and the Mics: Our two favorite families

The inseparable duo Maria and Ria. We miss your laughter :(


Our SF family who took time out of work to send us off on D-day

Our surrogate mom. Visit us here SOON!

My Guingona sisters and our dear Tita Dina

Sigh.. the next time I'll see these kids I hope they'll still remember me

And our beloved kolokoy barkada:

Sigh.. no more Mendo, Shasta and Vegas gimmicks. Sniff :(

This was taken at our last night in SF (after all the crying, that is)
I miss you guys!

My dearest sisters. I wish you were here :(

No more kikay days with you Pebs...

And the inner circle.
It's not the same without you guys.

Great, now I'm all sentimental. I'll get to the Vancouver pics in my next post, I promise. I just wanted to let you all know how Bebs and I truly treasure your friendship. You guys are family to us and it was extremely difficult to leave you all. I know we'll see each other again, when, I'm not sure. Nevertheless, thanks for the memories. You guys made our SF stay the best it could have been. Kampai, dudes.

Leaving my heart in San Fran soon...

Our coolest godfather hosted an intimate, unofficial going away dinner for us the other day. T'was also my first time at his new Eichler home, and I was extremely impressed at how they had dressed up the place. Beautiful. Very contemporary and zen-ish.

Someday we'll have one of our own :)

Appetizers and drinkies with Tita Dina, Ninang Bids, Ninong Buds, Bebs,
Carol and J. Don't worry, no one got drunk that night.

Bharwanis with our coolest ninong sa kasal.

Check out the Sanchez' Eichler home. Beautiful.

Love the wooden beams and the color scheme.

Enjoying a bit of downtime under the stars.

The only things lighting our dinner table

Ria, Jackie, and our charming host.

Tita Dins, my photography tutor Jopet, and Maria

Nikki G and singkit Bebs

Ninong Buds test tasting one of his exotic beers.

The rest of our beverages. We barely touched these though.

Sigh. I'll miss you guys...

So. If you haven't heard yet, we are moving to Vancouver in August. It's Canada or bust this time around, but we may be seeing you Manila folks sometime soon as well. Not sure, but yeah, possible.

Keep us in prayer :) This ride is gonna be a long one...

The Official Moving Away Garage Sale

This is it, folks. The Official Moving Away Garage Sale.

All GREAT CONDITION items.

Various household items, computer accessories, smaller furniture, appliances, pillowtop bed w/ boxspring, 47" widescreen projection TV, kitchen items, even canned goods, and lots of good quality clothing and shoes.

Only this Saturday, from 10am to 1pm.
Great Prices. EVERYTHING MUST GO.

(For security purposes, I will not be posting my home address here,
but message me if you want to come by and I'll send it to you).

NOTE: Those who've called dibs on some items, we need you to come pick up your stuff before Saturday so it doesnt get mixed up with the rest. We don't want to accidentally sell them to someone else, so best to get them ASAP. Call bebs or me to schedule the pickup :)

p.s. I've got new photos. I'll post them this week for your viewing pleasure.

Garage Sale!

Hola peeps.

The short of it is, we're moving (sniff, sniff), so we're selling 90% of our stuff.

If you are looking for awesome bargains on good condition house items (most of which are in GREAT condition, btw--We take good care of our stuff), click on photo below for a look at some of our wares.

Please note, this is just the first batch of pics, so there are tons more for sale. I'll schedule an official garage sale so that people can come by and pick stuff out.

Also note that some of our friends have already called dibs on some stuff. If you find something you're interested in, email me and I'll let you know if it's available.

Click on photo above to view items for sale.