Ermalyn is not Jessa Zaragoza!

Ok. I admit. Holiday mood is creeping all over my system and I am just literally waiting for the sun to set and leave the office (forgive me, boss!). So now that I am useless in my job, the least that I can do is to be useful in other fields like my hobby - and that is writing. :)

Apart from my blog, Twitter is one of my daily dose these days and today a friend of mine had given me a ROFL moment! This gave me an idea to scribe a piece dedicated solely for the long-time name bearer "baby_posh57.

Ermz is a certified trendsetter. Ermalyn is equated to fashion for SGV people. She loves to dress up and so I love her back! Lol! She loves to mix match things - wear a long skirt as a tube dress, hug her hips/waist/breast with an oversized belt, or overlaps one top with another and still looks sane! Not only she has a knack for dressing up, but she too is very creative in terms of coming up with superb group events! I may say, that is one of her many legacies in SGV. =) 

she spearheaded one of the most successful cluster events!

This petite Batangena lass also has a gift that's useful to both paper and pen. She can write well. Entertaining as it can be! And oh, photography as well? :D

I love poetry. I am her fan!

Photography. Okay, she likes photography and photography loves her face. She is way too captivating in those lense's end products. No comment on a face to face encounter. Lol!

This explains her magnanimous cyber fans! :p

I am saving the best for last. My dod is someone who can think out of the box. As I said, she sets a trend and her latest victim is the twitter world - the sane world of microblogging. For people who are into chirping right now, you would know that the trending user names starts either with "iam" or "itsme" then their names. Erma wants the other way around, and so she came up with something unique!

she sets this trend, but I don't say it will be a hit. bwahaha!

Why in the world she chose Jessa Zaragoza? I, too, cannot comprehend. But too many things to worry now, I'll leave it to her. Haha! So, will you guys join Ermalyn's  twitter bandwagon? Lol!

Holy Week 2007 - 2009

UPDATED: Now, I remember what I did in 2008. :)

Holy Thursday and Good Friday are the longest legal holidays in the Philippines. Holidays would then mean a vacation and a break free for all of us, well, at least for me. :)

Year 2007 was a Boracay holiday with my All Star friends. Ah, that was one of the BEST escapades that I had in my life! You bet, Boracay was painted red all over when the All Star set foot on that paradise!

 :)

yes, I miss this body!

beach babes!

 with the All Star Cast!

Year 2008 was my first Holy Week with Levy. I do not know why we ended up looking for a place in Cavite (I personally does not like Cavite for some unknown reasons. :P) Befor we head out to that resort (which I already forgot the name!), we stopped and checked out Island Cove. 

 the BIG and WIDE fishpond. :P

 

the life-sized chess board!

The whole place was not appealing to us so we opted to head to the swimming pool resort we saw at the net. It was equally frustrating for us as we are not a big fan of man-made bodies of water. So there, we went home sad. :D

In year 2009, the year when Levy and I were so much into out of towns, grabbed a last minute roadtrip going to Munting Buhangin at Nasugbu, Batangas. Why there? Since it was a clock-beating decision, we can no longer find a resort who could accomodate us - only Munting Buhangin, in a tent!!! Gah, in that humble cove, with powdery sand, and abundant tents at the shore, it really was a sweet vacation!

 my green and blue mix-match!

 oh, did I say lobsters? Yum!

sunset watching by the beach, what a great way to end the afternoon!

and waking up with the beach just right in front of you!

glorious waves...

The best thing of going back to Manila on a Good Friday is the no-traffic drama of the wide roads! It was a relaxing comeback to the metro. And oh, seeing those colorful flowers and ornamental plants along the side streets of Tagaytay makes the experience even better!!!

 We are the king and queen of the road!

lovely, lovely flowers from Tagaytay!

 Don't judge me folks, it's just that I'm not too religious to strictly observe the traditional way of celebrating Holy Week. I need not to fast because I can do all away with those meats everyday!

I have my own faith. :)

My Childhood Indigenous Toys

My niece, Alsace have been bugging me to buy her those speed stacks. Gah, those plastic cups look-alike cost a thousand bucks! I wonder why this toy is a hit to the small ones nowadays. I can't help but compare my childhood days with the generation now, approximately a twenty year gap. Hmmm, sceneries of me playinjg piko, chinese garter, and jackstone are playing in my mind right now!

photo credits from http://www.kidology.org/

the speed stacks, errr, cups I may say?! LOL!

This thought led me to jot down some of my and my friends' toys during our tender years. Can you guys relate? :D

1. Santan flowers as juice

I want a juice! These small flowers have the sweetest nectar I may say. But be careful though, sometimes ants are your competitors on these tiny blossoms!

photo credits from www.brianandlaureen.com

2. Papaya stems as bubble straw
Get a laundry soap from your Manang's pile of laundry works, mix it with water, ask your Kuya or Dad to tear out a papaya stem, do away with the leaves...and viola! you got your bubbles! Now go around the neighborhood and spill out those home-made bubbles right into your playmates' faces!

photo credit from www.bambooaz.com

3. Gumamela leaves as cooking oil

Everboday can relate to a bahay-bahayan game, well, at least mostly for the girls! As a doting housewife, you need to have your kitchen fully equipped with basic needs, cooking oil is one.

My friends and I would normally sneak at a neighbor's backyard and pick up those red and lovely flowers with their leaves. Flowers serve as a content in a home-made vase and the leaves are squeezed heavily with its juice mixed in water. Now, we have this colorless, greasy liquid we call "oil". let the frying time begin!!!

photo credits from www.ehow.com

4. Alugbati seeds as "toyo"

These herbal medicine and a default vegetable leaves everytime my Mom cooks an all-vegetable viand called "las-wa" has cute seeds sprouting everywhere in its stems. They are violet colored seeds perfect in creating a dark liquid seasoning known as "toyo".

These grows everywhere and so my friends and I do not find it hard to harvest them!

photo credits from www.stuartxchange.com

5. Cigarette pack wrappers as money

How can you bet or buy things if you don't have money? So here goes these cigarette packs which we designate as our money. The higher the price of the cigarette, the higher its pack's value!

photo credits from www.photobucket.com

this is a LOL moment by the way! good job!

6. Aratilis as apple

We call these tiny circles as apples, not cherries! It is usually the task of the boys to climb up the tree and pick these sweet fruits. The girls, on the other hand, would sport on with a "panungkit", a long bamboo stick with a tin can (usually that of Alaska condensed milk) at the tip that serves as the "catcher" of the fruits.

photo credits from www.backpackingphilippines.com

Now, who says I need Toy Kingdom?!

Candid Travel Moments!

I was browsing my stored albums in my laptop as I am feeling so depressed for not having any escapades these past few months. I don't know, but at one point, I got tired of going out every weekend during the summer of 2009. I promised myself that I'll tone down my out of town and country trips this year as I want to focus on my new job and manage my finances too well for major investment purchases.

But then again, I know I can't take the traveler in me. =) So while I am searching through airfares, I am candidly posting some of my unforgettable/ dare-to-pose moments I had during my past trips! Scroll down!

 seiko films presents... ang Babae sa Bato! lol!

with my leading man! 

location: puerto galera

 a sequel to: Ang Babae sa Bato :D

Location: Anawangin, Zambales

location: Eagle Point Resort, Anilao, Batangas

Gumapang Ka Sa Kadiliman: a fourth movie installation

LOL!

Ulan... akin ka lang! 

Location: Bato Spring Resort, San Pablo, Laguna

Ikaw at Ako... Buko!

Location: Boracay Island, Caticlan

Bato... babalik pa din ako sayo!

Location: Dasol, Pangasinan

Okay. Enough of dragging myself to walk of shame. Lol!

I miss my travel escapades. :(

ATTY. Hope Marey "Bambi" Depasucat, CPA!

Admit it, having successful friends boosts your soul!

I got lots of friends. But in my long list, there are fewest names which I strike in bold letters. These are my fewest, best-est friends. I can't help but feel proud for the recent success of my Masters' co-member - Hope Marey Depasucat! Oh, I am disrespectful. It should be ATTY. HOPE MAREY DEPASUCAT, CPA. Geesh, goosebumps! Hopia (what i fondly called her), is my closest friend in college. We are two of the four-member elite club called "Masters". Why? It is because we are good in everything, but we are experts of nothing. Haha!

 the Jacks! lol!

taken during one of our rigor days in CPA review.

And yeah, our one and only photo complete!

Time really slips so fast. In these six years that we have been sharing curses, stupid jokes, and playing tactics with our classmates, here she is now - a full-fledge lawyer where her ultimate goal is to serve the people in its truest essence.

I am one of her confidante when it comes to her frustrations in the field of dirty politics. I would often receive SMS, calls, YM and FB messages about how their session in the council went during that day. She is an ideal politician and to this date, I am proud that she never gave in to that so-called "dirtiest world".

...CPA board exam - check!
...First term Councilor for EB Magalona - check!
...Law school - check!
...Bar exam - check!

Next in line? Re-election!!!

 acting as her virtual campaign manager:

my masterpiece! lol!

Yes, this humble friend of mine is a public servant. A public servant who does not have the luxuries of all those nasty politicians. She works in the real essence of the word. She has a very promising career in Manila but she chose to remain in the quite province of Negros to pursue her passion in life - serve the community. I can't imagine, or at least comprehend why in the world would she devote her time trying to save this society from evil people. It was until I receive a text message from her a few months ago telling me that she feels it is her role to serve the people and she accepted her fate that she won't be rich in her chosen field, but SHE IS HAPPY. Ah, why can't you be a little materialistic at times, pe?! Haha!

I love my friend, and so I am with her in her advocate - go for clean politics. I know, I know it's a punch in the moon (suntok sa buwan, right? lol!), but who knows?

it's a tradition. December is Bacolod homecoming!

ok. for you pe, ill post this unflattering photo of mine... urgh, ours? haha!

December 2009 batch dinner!

And oh yeah, she is celebrating her 27th birthday today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ATTY!!!

For a complete list of September 2009 bar exam passers, please see the link!

Three Bombs In One Day

Today is the day full of BIG office announcements. Two core people from our organization were formally tagged as "resigned" as of today - our President and our VP for HR. Yes, I typed it right. Two people from our senior management. The unprecedented news does not stop there, our Chairman expresses his plan to move us from Quezon City Head office to Sta. Maria Bulacan. Again, yes, I typed it right - from urban to rural workplace. WHo would have thought that my innocent and unsolicited question on my previous blog would actually require me an answer? It was really weird!

A lot of people in the auditorium shed tears when our President, after a long pause and held back of tears, uttered the words - "today is my last day". I am new to the organization but I felt how sincere his goodbye was. I felt how he was saddened by the thought that he will be leaving his second family for twelve long years. I admired how he took a long bow while we all rose up to our feet to gave him our respect and gratitude. It was one of the fewest, most personal goodbyes I felt in the corporate world.

The equally surprising news to us was the plan of moving out from Quezon City to Bulacan. All of our speculations were gone when our boss told us the news. It was more or less be materialized within the year. I personally haven't heard, or refused to hear other options or whereabouts of the plan. My shoulders just fell and my face just displayed a blank face. My colleagues were sharing the same sentiments.

We are all young. Young enough to have all the opportunities in the world to spread our wings. It is not all about work, rather it is about something outside of work. Family, boyfriends, friends, personal and social lives, everything...

I am honestly disoriented. I am battling with the thought that I made the wrong choice of organization. But, some forces are just pulling me towards that thought. I can't help it.

Realities of a private, corporate life are slowly kicking in. It is just but a reminder for me that life is indeed not a bed of roses. Life always gives out something that would test your decisiveness and your choices. This is really the real world.

And now, I am still haunted by the question of living my office life up there in the rural area. I know this will come to me over and over again in teh next days. Decision time once again.

Morning Rise

It was an early, no, earliest time for me to rise and go to work today. Oh yeah, it's one of my firsts in my Ramcar job. This morning, I need to go to our plant at Sta. Maria, Bulacan to conduct some sort of business there. At 6 AM, Levy and I were already going out of the Metro and glued on the sketch that was given to me. As expected, we did a lot of detours after realizing that we are on the wrong way!

I was amazed as to how clean our plant is! It is surrounded by trees which were purposely planted by the organization. It is a workplace where you can both work and relax - well, that was my first impression. :D

a view from outside the workplace

The roads are just too wide that you can roll over and over again!

see how the posts at the fence are well dressed by those green vines!

It's a quite place to work - with least hustle bustle of cars and buses, and with no magnanimous buildings surrounding the area. As I was looking at the whole place, I asked myself:

Can I possibly live here all my office life? Hmmmm....

What do you think? :D

Niece Tricks

Nieces are closest to your heart if you are still unmarried. I have two beautiful and smart little toddles now, and another niece-or-nephew is on the way! Yahoo!
Sace and Clesh have the same passion in life - and that is to emulate whatever I am doing. They want to fit my clothes, grab my shoes, and put on my make ups! Last weekend during my short visit to Bacolod, Clesh has been robbing my vanity kit whenever I got my eyes off my bag. After her rarest quite moments, she went out of my room and greeted me with her widest smile and... with my make ups all over her body and face!

she gave me her sweet innocent smile before I can scold her!

and she feels she has the best make up in the world!

and she poses like a ramp model!

I can't help but laugh as to how she was so happy to try out those powders and shades. And what made it funnier? She does not want anyone to hold her because her make up might be messed up!

These little angel has been a light in our lives. She's too playful that sometimes you want to throw your fists on her but she's also too sweet that your heart will easily melt when she throws her arms up in the air and tells you to carry her. Ah, sweet, sweet little devil!

Please Take Out The Other "L"!

Oh sheesh, I have been wondering and is in a state of uncomfortable zone everytime I open my blog and see the description.

I am not comfortable with the word "travelling". I did not know why it asted for several months before I finally press the "edit" sign and deleted the one "l". Now, it should be "traveling", right? :D

Uh oh, I think I should hang out in my blogs more often to practice my spelling and grammar once again. LOL! Now I remember one of our non-work email threads a few weeks ago. We called it our "favorite' words. Here are some of them:

• Orientate
• Irregardless
• Interpretate
• Conversate
• Not unless

How about you guys? What are your so-called "boo-boo" moments? :D

Reckoning Our Graduation Day

March 14, 2004 - when we were in our toga with yellow accent silently shouting that we're part of the College of Business and Accountancy. It was our graduation day! Six years had eaten up our life away from school!

Six years had passed. Now the once professional-wannabees now turned into responsible citizens and are constantly molding our niches in the corporate world. The Ilonggos, who lived for twenty years in a small and quite spot in Visayas are now invading the highest highs of Manila, and the vast places in Asia, America, and Europe! And the people who chose to enjoy the sweet life in Bacolod? They are equally sharing a hand for responsible citizenship and economic growth!

We are unquestionably RICH. In whatever aspect of "richness" each of us fits in, I am very much in awe of the success we are ALL enjoying now! We jumped off from the same boat, but the waves and sands of time brought us to different destinations. The journey has been worthwhile, and I hope God will give us continued passion and enthusiasm to reach theother desires of our hearts. More gold, eh? :p

But amidst all this, let us remember also that we are entering the more important phase of our lives - the marriage and the mother/fatherhood lives. With this, I am praying that each of us will find happines in the world of love! To those who have tied the knots, congratulations and always remember to be the best parent to your fruits of love and the sweetest partner to your other half. To those whose Facebook status is "in a relationship", enjoy every moment you have with your gfs/bfs and use this time to assess whether he or she is up for a lifetime companionship. To those who are undergoing a sort of rocky road relationship, just remember there is always a double dutch path that is smooth and equally heavenly. :) And, to my SINGLE friends, take time to find lust within yourself. It might be the turning point of your choice! Bwahaha! Kidding aside, as the cliche line says, being single is the best time to mingle!

We are truly a pride to our school, to our friends, to our family, and most of all - To Him!

 photo from Ching Tuale's FB account

PAL PAL away!

I am a sucker for airline promos eversince I called Manila my second home. I am thankful for the fruit of competition as today, going home to my original nest does not entail an overly expensive cash outlay. And yes, online booking makes my life a whole lot easier!

I am always booking with Cebu Pacific as I find their website easier to surf and yeah, this yellow-dominated trademark has the mos frequent promo. These past few months though, I refrain from gettling my e-ticket from them as I got rid of my credit card for, uhm, self-imposed disciplinary action purposes. 

Little did I know that PAL has the most convenient way of booking online. With only an ATM at hand and entering only two information (card number and pin), you are good to go! No need of any online registration nor filling out so many information, just your ATM. How cool is that?

I personally prefer online purchases via ATM and not CC as this means I am buying something in which I have money to spend on. Talk about cash purchases. :)

And now, as PAL celebrates its 70th year anniversary, they offer a wide array of promo for as low as Php700 domestic one way! And yes, it's a 15-day promo!!! Now guys, I need to get out of here and point my cursor on the PAL tab and have other flights book for me!

Enjoy yours!

NHI should sing in the next Paquiao's fight

Paquiao-Clottey fight is over. Enter the i-dont-even-know-there-exist-such-govt-org.

The show stealer? It's the filing of the case against Arnel Pineda for "twisting" the tune of our beloved Lupang Hinirang. Seriously, do you find this issue worth ou second amidst the chaotic country that we are into right now? I find this plain stupid.

I you-tubed the two-minute performance and.... I can't see the point of bashing it just to let the people know that:

"hey, we exist! our main job is to guard the artists when they sing Lupang Hinirang in public events. that's it. that's what we do all year long."

If they pointlessly find this FILIPINO pride's piece in the ring worth a shot in the court, then they should file a case to all of us for not wearing Barong Tagalog and Baro't Saya. I wonder, how many of us will be persecuted?!

This is such a pain in the as*. Seriously.