Whereabouts: April 2012

April has been a very good month for me. It's pretty amazing how wonderful things happened in one month. From family matters to the undisputed friendship I have with Monthly Period and to my ever glowing career path and love life, I must say the things I'm constantly praying for are blessed upon me.

I shall continue sharing my blessings while counting them. Thank you, Jesus! I couldn't ask for more. 0:)

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April happenings, here ya go!

1. HTC event at the Sky Lounge. I went there with Paolo, Tin, and Don to support Kuya Carlo. I'm a big iPhone fan but let me tell you that getting an HTC phone unit is almost the same as getting an iPhone. Trust me!

Tin and I chilling, literally. It's so windy atop but good thing I've got my trusty black blazers with me. I claim I can't live without blazers now. They add oomph and IQ into any outfit (smart-looking girls get longer attention!).

2. Kittycat's rainbow birthday required girls to wear orange or yellow. The other thing I looked for next to this celebration is seeing our baby Nei-Nei! She's one cutie patootie but was a sleeping beauty when we went up to the family's place. Next time, Ninang Yannie's gonna play with you, honey! Plus I've got something stylish for you!

3. Bon voyage, Baj! Our kuya CJ aka Baj (the one being lifted) left for LA last week. We had a simple farewell party for him on a weekday and munched on his ever favorite Jollibee Spaghetti! See you in December, kuya!

4. GUESS WHO'S BACK. My forever seatmate is now back after her maternity leave. Time zooms, as in! She didn't even look like giving birth at all. She's slimmer than ever, even slimmer than I am! I adore your fab pregnancy! No stretchmarks and everythang! You got that, girl! Oh btw, with us is our other officemate, Kim.

5. The undisputed Monthly Period. Period. We're back! And we're almost complete! It's always awesome how unplanned events turn into the best ones, ever! A simple conversation via SMS without even trying to match our busy schedules led the way for us to have a dinner, a booze and a coffee together. All in one, impulsive night!

It's the coffee/birthday treat of our beloved Toto! We had our group's name written on the cups! Thanks for the coffee, girl. I love you soooo much! How can I ever live without you? :)

6. Then came my blocked screening ticket for The Avengers care of my boss. Since Paolo's in Batangas for work, I knew it's only Toto who can qualify as my bf for a day. We watched it together in SM Mall of Asia and had our late lunch at Bistro Ravioli.

7. Baby Kalyx in our arms. Yes! One hot, sunny, Saturday late afternoon we, again, "unplanningly" planned visiting the newest baby of our barkada, Kalyx. :)

Iba talaga kapag biglaan! Other April whereabouts include my zumba and no-rice, only greens and peas diet, and moooore.

And another highlight this April is getting a domain. Forget about the DASH, my blog can now be easily accessed via www.mariannemarcial.com. Thanks, Bimbs! You really surprised me!

Hope you're all having a good time like me!

♥,

Marianne

A Night To Remember

As promised, I'll be sharing you another set of my favorite photos from PMI's birthday last week at Opus. These are so fun to look at, especially if you know these people personally. My new beki friends' many faces were captured. All the expressions are so cool it makes me forget about summer (lolwhuuut.)!

The non-humans which kept us full and dancing: cupcakes and Belvedere ~

Dancing emoticons ~

The "Hugger" Games ~

Celebrities and friends ~

Nothing could ever top Aids' facial expressions! So funny and good to look at, it even relieves my stress!

This night will forever be a night to remember. :)

♥,

Marianne

Baby Bee Beau Bu

Five women close to my heart gave birth to five equally beautiful babies in a span of two months. Almost a month ago, my Facebook home page was flooded with graduation photos but now, it turned out to be a nursery section with photos and tags of sweet, angelic captured moments. The innocent smiles of these babies light up the world of my dearest friends and family!

I grabbed these photos from their moms' Facebook accounts. Meet baby boys Kyle and Kalyx and baby girls Nei-Nei, Naomi and Lilly. Happy cuddling!

Name: Mikyle Kendric

Nickname: Kyle

Mommy: Kristine Lim, friend/colleague

Name: Daenerys Zarya

Nickname: Nei-Nei

Mommy: Kim Inciong, friend

Name: Naomi Kourtney

Nickname: Naomi

Mommy: Ann Quong-Sapla, family friend

Name: Jalson Kalyx Simeon

Nickname: Kalyx

Mommy: Kristel Tan, friend

Name: Samantha Lilly

Nickname: Lilly

Mommy: Nice Marcial-Cortez, cousin

It's so heartwarming to stare at their photos. I wish they'll grow up according to what their parents pray for. Asleep or awake, these babies take my breath away and melt my heart in an instant. I salute the moms of these lovely creatures for braving the delivery! I treasure my mom EVEN MORE because of you!

♥,

Marianne

When Perci Turned 40

TV5 Executive Mr. Perci Intalan celebrated his 40th birthday last Thursday night at Opus in Resorts World Manila. It was a sweet surprise to see his invitation sent in my email. I could not believe it at first but remembering that I'm in good hands with my TV5 big bosses, I know he really meant to welcome me in his celebration. :)

Still, I planned not to go. I knew it's gonna be a big birthday bash with VIPs, superstars and celebrities. But on the day itself, everything's changed. We all have that one person we couldn't say no to. A friend who'd also do the same thing if the tables were turned. I said yes and the rest, I say, is epic. 

What I wore: Red Head body con dress, Janylyn platforms.

The tough decision on what to wear was just made two hours before the party started. And so were my shoes. We all say we can never go wrong with black but I don't want to skip colors since I didn't have any accessories to support my outfit. Good thing I got this LBD with patches of my favorite colors: blue green and purple and my newest craze, color orange. The shoes were a big bonus, too! When attending parties, I don't want to treat my feet cruelly by wearing heels. I will never enjoy a party with my heels on! Wedges or platforms are the best alternatives. This pair was made for my dress! I bought it right away and went to Ate Badeth's place to dress up and put on some orangey-nudey smackers!

Oh by the way, please forgive my awkward smile. Seconds before this photo was taken, I found out that MVP's behind me. I'm too shy to pose in front and behind BIG people.

Some of TV5's cream of the crop! TV5 Heads and managers! <3

L-R (standing): Paul Mata and Peachy Guioguio, Bernadeth Chio and Jeff Remigio. (Sitting): Emmanuel Faraon, me, Ana Perez, Perci Intalan, Joy Aquino, Manny Martinez, Atty. Christine Ona and Chiqui Trivino.

As I've said earlier, this party was epic. And when I say epic, you should know what I mean: I got drunk. My officemates are kind of blackmailing me in a good way, haha, by sending me photos of myself dancing and hugged by my beki friends pretending to be real men! It's an inside joke to call the photos scandalous, but those aren't. Only we couldn't imagine we had captures like that! ODK! 

I got these photos from our official photographer. As much as I'd like to share you my favorites regardless on how shameless the photos are and how funny and appalling (yet appealing) we looked like, I decided not to. :D

With the birthday boy, PMI!

Cathy, Peachy and I.

With my favorite girl, Reich Santos. <3

My dance mates: Ate Badeth, Adrian, Myk, PMI, Cathy and Chuck.

We got Paparazzi-d! 

Tim Yap surprised PMI with a grand entrance. Happy birthday with cake and champagnes!

That's it for now. More photos and longer story to come. I'll save my words while waiting for the other photos from Paul and Cathy (especially my photos with Anabelle Rama and BB Gandanghari)! And yeah, this party has been PEP-ed! 

♥,

Marianne 

My Sister's Graduation

My parents had never been this happy. The youngest in our family has finally finished her degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management just a couple of days ago. The long years of my dad and mom working for our bright future has paid of. My sisters and I finished school and painted the smile on their faces. It was so precious.

It was a perfect day in PICC, the exact same hall where I received my diploma. Sunny yet windy, blue clouds, trees swaying with the breeze and birds chirping--a wonderful setting.

I styled my sister and let her put on a dress that reflects her personality. Simple. We're completely opposite, but on that day I saw myself in her. She's nervous and couldn't even look straight into my parents' eyes but I know deep inside she was also reading and trying to know what's inside Mom and Dad's mind.
 

Proud parents!

The stage ate that I am.

It was darn nostalgic when we entered the lobby. All the memories when I was in my sister's shoes flashed back. Much more memories even filled my mind when we went to our seats inside the plenary hall. I still couldn't believe I graduated three years ago. 

Alma mater.

It was great seeing familiar faces, too like my favorite professors Mr. Joey Tem (Marketing Management) and Ms. Mylene Claudio (Tourism). My friend Doms is also wearing a toga, wow! He'll soon become a professional lecturer!

 Checkered and floral!

My Ate also followed right after work. I was surprised to see her this swag! Haha!!! The Vince Uy of the family! :D

I just read The Secret Garden on iBooks and played Draw Something while the ceremony's going on but I stopped when the guest of honor gave his speech. SGV, House Of Investors and RCBC's Mr. Medel Nera, who finished his degree in FEU, shared his story of success. It's pleasing to hear words of wisdom from someone who's already on top yet his feet are still kept on the ground. I paid attention to all the words he uttered. My friend Doms was standing meters away from me, asking me to stand up but I didn't. Hehe. What I heard from Mr. Nera are so inspiring. He noted six important things every person must remember. These six are simple yet striking. Let me share it with you:

1. Continuous learning. Learning doesn't stop when you finish school. Always keep in mind the importance of reading books. And according to him, if you can teach, teach. Enroll in classes. Find time to learn new things. What we learned from school is only the tip of the iceberg and corporate life is entirely different. To be motivated, remember your terror professors. It does help.

2. Adherence to quality. Cliche? No. "Hindi pwede ang pwede na." and "Bahala na." are two things we often hear or say. BAWAL ITO. Do what is expected and do beyond what you're expected to do.

3. Integrity and honesty. Prove others how invaluable you are. Success is sweet only if you're free of guilt.

4. EQ is as important sa IQ. Sure, theories, logical reasoning and scientific and math skills are useful but don't forget that confidence and self-esteem will also take you to places. IQ and EQ are completely different but we need both to keep us going in life.

5. Look at the challenges as opportunities. When you're given a tough situation, the best thing to get out of it is to solve it. Strike while the iron is hot. Get noticed. Be impressive and always look back at number 1.

6. Love what you do. I already said this in my High Five! blog post. Love what you do and it will love you back in return. Eveyday you'd be shuffling and would be compensated twice a month. Isn't it sweet? :)

As soon as Mr. Nera finished his speech and received the appreciation from Mrs. Montinola and Dr. Echaus, they closed the ceremony with pledge and played the FEU Hymn. It's finally over and my sister's now an official college graduate!

We gave Miming time to take photos with her friends. And we also did the same thing!

 MaMai

My former professor Ms. Mylene Claudio and my friend Doms.

It's a windy day.

Please don't mind the body bag and paper bag I was carrying because it was so windy, the wind blows my skirt up and please don't mind my mom wearing flipflops her feet were in pain and please don't mind the car behind us coz that isn't ours. :D

We left PICC with empty stomach at around 4 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, my favorite Chinese restaurant Emerald Garden was still closed for dinner. We had no breakfast and lunch, imagine our knees were already shaking. We ended eating at Mc Donald's and tried its summer Floats. Blueberry yum yum!

Then we went to Manila Doctor's to visit my cousin who gave birth to her first baby and spent time with my other cousins. We didn't notice the time and found out that it's already dark outside. Dad's already tired he didn't want to drive back to Emerald Garden soooooo, we tried Cafe Bocobo! Haha!

Cafe Bocobo, where no good food is served.

We ended the night here. Twas a memorable night especially to my parents and to my sister. :) Congratulations, Miming! My message for you is written here.

♥,

Marianne