Quezon City Road Trip

I am self-confess picnic addict, how about you? Well, I grew up on the community where Sunday means “kainan sa tabing ilog!!!” Bacoor is known for fishing ponds and salt beds (“banigan”). And there are a lot of good picnicking spots to choose from even until now.

Basta may bingwit ka, bulate at maayos na pagpaalam sa care taker ng palaisadaan, magsawa ka nang mamingwit sa buong maghapon ^_^v Pag sinuwerte, may alimasag pa at hipon! Ihaw lang ang katapat.

My brother and sisters grew up this way. Kapag walang pasok, magkakasama silang magbabarkada para mag piknik!

And that is how I started loving picnics!

In just one day, I was able to convince Sheh, Khen and Jo for some road trip with a twist! Sheh suggested La Mesa Eco Park in QC and I got very excited, very exciteeeeed! Hahahaha!

Game Plan:

Barbeque/Talong/Kanin – c/o Meeyeow
Hotdogs – c/o Sheh and Mae
Drinks – c/o Khen and Jo

I picked up Guerreros at 9AM. Nanay Josie gave us suman for dessert. ^_^v Then we picked up Sheh at MOA since it was the same day the Greentennial Fun Run happened. Hahaha! Ganyan kataas ang energy ko para sa road trip na to! Mae was not able to join kasi super pagod na daw after ng run. Aaaaw sayang.

And the road trip had begun. We passed EDSA so quick as it was a Sunday morning. I was such a stranger in QC… and I was able to pass by the killer roads! Ang lapad naman kasi! And dami pang tumatawid??? Ano ba yan.

And then something came up, I thought I left the eggplants at home! So we looked for the market place along QC. Well, something bad came out… nahuli si Joseph – beating the red lights! Traffic violation ticket for us! AAwwwww! T_T and by the way, I was able to pick up the talong pala! Hindi ko naiwan. Yay!

And so we continue to traverse the seemingly endless Commonwealth Avenue until we reaches our destination – La Mesa Eco Park! It was unbelievable that such place is situated in the middle of a city! Amazing! It was a Sunday so families were coming-in in clans! Ang dami talagang tao! Swimming pools were also full.

But nevertheless, we found our perfect spot under the tree ^_^v

 

 

Jo and Sheh grilled everything - hotdogs, pork chops and eggplants.

 

 

I also brought some mangos I got from the tree early that morning.

 

We were supposed to look around the park but the rain did not allow us. So we hit the road and went to UP Diliman. The last time I was there when I took UPCAT exam for college :-D but I was not able to pass for the quoata course of medicine :-)) I guess it was not my destiny.

I happened to see Raymond Marasigan of Sandwich band while biking with a friend. Ang pugi sa personal hehhee! Then after getting lost inside hahahha! We went back to Cavite as the rain won’t stop following us! Malakas talaga.

It was getting dark, and we headed straight to Anabu for some Shakey’s dinner!

 

 

Sheh went south to Dasma. I dropped Jo and Khen at their place and I went home happy for another day.

 

Antipolo Team Outing

Last April 30, we had our team’s summer outing for this year at Antipolo, Rizal. It was just an overnight party overlooking Metro Manila! The view was awesome. Kahit na umulan ng kaunti at nagkandaligaw ligaw kami sa bayan, hahaha! …we still made to the top of Cattleya Resort by 8PM.
Ricky, Maqui and Red took care of the foodies, while I got in-charge of the awards ^_^v

Here are the winners of the cool awards:

Diligence Award – Meeyeow
Look-A-Like Award – Ed(Ely Buendia/Dennis Trillo/Ramon Zamora) & Rudy(Rudy Fernandez)
Smiley Face Award – Julius
Mister DotNet Award – Ed
Miss DotNet Award – Shiela
MR/MS Congeniality – John/Meeyeow/Gems
The Rookie – Rjay/Teng
The Veteran – Migs
DotNet Got Talent Award – Julius
Momerable Ticket Handled - Julius

Clearly, Julius bagged the most awards! Next year daw wakeboarding naman :-))

Greentennial Fun Run 2011

 

The Practice

My sister was very excited about her first run. I could remember mine so I really understood her! Hahaha! She even had her singlet stitched the night before the fun run because I got her a medium sized-singlet and I did not notice she was getting slimmer already :-)

For our last practice, we went to Island Cove, our usual running field, the day before for some jogs and breakfast! Tatay was invited, too. Still wearing maong pants this time, he really just not used to wearing shorts or jogging pants! Hahaha! At 6AM, we were already on our feet, together with the rest of Caviteños at the Cove, jogging too and greeting each other!

 

 

Now here’s the best part… again Tatay with his rusty stories :-D

Three rounds this time and we headed straight to DCMV for some breakfast! We had our 30-year old recipe of Tapa and Sinangag with bulalo soup. Yum! Yum!

 

Some Side Excitement

Mangos are reeeeeaaady! After the practice, it was time for another action – mango picking!!!!!! Which gave me these allergies :-( Huhuhu.

The mangos were reallycalling me, “Hinog na kami!” Hehehe. Jelly and I wasted no time :-D one bag-full of mangos! Yahoooooo!

 

The Fun Run Day

Both of them woke up very early and in no time, we were at Macapagal Avenue. Amazingly, we were able to find a decent spot to park White! Weeee ^_^v We headed straight to the start line, had some few shots with the big crowd. Greentennial team did a great job in organizing this event!

 

 

… And there was gun start!

…And my sister’s very first fun run. :-) Aaaaw

Jelly finished just a few minutes after me. Then there was Ate Doll after. Unfortunately I did not beat my last time. I finished 1 minute behind but it was okay, the most important thing was I have shared a good hobby to my sister which she really appreciated.

 

 

At the finish line, it was so good to see familiarfaces. There was my ex-officemates - Ate Jing & Sheh and a college classmate – Ann!

The medal was a plus. All finishers got one! Weeeeee!

 

 

I will continue to spread the word – running is fun! I owe this experience to an officemate who was the very first one to encourage me and I will encourage others to have time for some real healthy fun. ;-)

Next is the MILO Marathon 2011 on July 31, 2011!!! See yah!

 

Getting A Year Older Is Awesome

 

 

The month of May is a magical month for me. My birthday month always makes me feel awesome, pretty, wealthy :-D, and perfect! It is certainly because of being around with the people who celebrate with me. This year, I turned 31! Oh my! ^_^v I still feel I am only 24!

12^th May

It was Thursday and my birthday planning kicks off when Khen emailed me and jokingly asked where we suppose celebrate it. I said I really have no plans, “hahaha, magpapaka buro sa bahay. :-))” I filed a birthday leave and I was actually preparing to sleep the whole day for being stressed out at work that week.  And if not she insisted I could have ended up a loser the next day! Hahaha! Then I realized how sad that would be. :-/

Khen: “Gusto mo po tom dinner? till 430 lang ako. Sabay na kayo ni Jd punta makati? Para kami ang ka date mo kaysa magkulong ka sa house. Hehe”

And the table turned around…

Before I went to the office that Thursday, I excitedly asked Jelly and Tatay to join me to jog around Island Cove the next morning after my work. Birthday ko kaya hindi sila nakatanggi Hahaha! :-D I asked jelly to wake me up kasi baka paghiga ko, tanghali na ako magising!

 

At the office, around 12 midnight, Jason handed me this plastic bag with present inside. I was on UK shift the day before my big day so my last working hour was already 13^th of May. Greetings from my colleagues alone made me feel happier! It’s indeed my special day!

And when I opened the gift, it was an organizer and made special because of the design – Kitty! Thanks Jason!

 

13^th May 

I arrived at home around 2AM. Time for me to catch some sleep because I was going to have a birthday jog with Tatay and Jelly! After 3 hours of sleep, I put my running gears on and drove 10 minutes to Island Cove.

 

 

It was summer so morning is up as early as 5:30AM.

 

It was fun and funny because Tatay was wearing maong pants :-D Unfortunately, we just had 2 laps around the resort’s running/biking area because the three of us were already hungry. Hahaha! Nagsama-sama ba naman kaming madadaling magutom!

 

After we rested at the Fishing Village for about 30 minutes (well, after hearing all of Tatay’s old stories about Bacoor) we headed straight to Sangley Point Restaurant for some breakfast. We feasted Filipino breakfast but I did not like the tapa because it was not tender enough. I love the hot chocolate though.

 

When I arrived home, a traditional birthday banner was posted on the wall courtesy of the kids! It says, “Happy Birthday, Tita Meeyeow”

 

At miryenda time, Ate Doll cooked my favorite arrozcaldo and tokwa!

Joseph picked me up at my house around 3PM heading to Makati and met Khen at Unilab office. It was Friday the 13^th and traffic did not discourage us for a dinner date at Korean Garden Restaurant along Jupiter St in Makati. Joy was supposed to join us but she got stuck at the office mayhem. The three of us feasted their specialty!!! Sobrang busog ako. And I really love their side dishes! And the rice! And the stew! Hahaha everything! By the way, it was a birthday treat for me from them. Aaaw sweet talaga nung dalawa…

Have you ever felt you really want to get drunk? Hahaha, I did! that night! Tamang tama, hindi ko dala si White, may maghahatid sa akin sa bahay. Hahaha ^_^v After the dinner, we went to KTV at the next resto – we had a blast! Blast kasi ang lakas ng tunong ng videoke! I belted my all time faves and both of them too! I ordered margarita (my first time by the way) and had 3 Tanduay Ice and a Vodka Cruzer. Toink! The rest is history.

Khen and Jo, thanks for the time!

 

14^th May

My birthday celebration did not stop right there. The next day, I asked the little kids (4 nieces) – Jelly, Jaimie, Nene and Bibi – to join me for a pajama party! Kids arrived with their PJ’s on. ^_^v and I did too. We grilled mashmallow, hotdogs, corns, and barbeques under the moonlight. It was fun, fun, fun! We had games and picture taking.

And I blew my birthday cake.

 

Putol celebrated with me! Aaaaww…

 

15^th May

The next day, perhaps the most memorable one, we went to Sta. Rosa, Laguna to celebrate Jaimie’s 9^th birthday and mine too! It was my first time to drive along SLEX! Masaya talaga! We got lost twice hahaha! But we made it to Paseo De Sta. Rosa just after lunch time.

 

Kanin Club was the place. I really wanted take them there since last year and this was the right time for us to appreciate this place. We really loved the meals we ordered. Everything had a twist!

 

Nuvali was our second stop and the most enjoyable of the day. We loved the boat ride very much that we paid two round trips :-)

 

Kois are amazing too! But do not visit around 3-4pm during summer time – kasi sobrang ineeeet!

 

Since my first time at SLEX, I failed to exit at Alabang to we turned around Paranaque instead. Whew, round trip talaga! Hahaha. We arrived Cavite at around 530PM so we had our dinner  stop at Balsahan.

 

19^th May

After a week, my colleague, Julius and I threw another double birthday party at the office with our Kforce family. ^_^v

 

As a said, getting older is awesome especially celebrating it with the people you LOVE. Thank you , Lord for another amazing yeeearrr!!!