Leighton Meester in Manila

Five days have passed yet the feeling of seeing someone you adore so much is still new and fresh, it's still alive. It was so surreal for me! May 26, 2012 is one of the many dates in my life that I will forever and will always remember.

You know how much I love the fictional character Blair Waldorf. I can pass as one of the biggest and diehard fan of Gossip Girl in the country, ditching all other series only for this. Try Googling my Multiply blog. If we're contacts, you will know how much I pegged her wavy hair topped with a colorful headband. Whatever Blair says, I quote. I even incorporated her in my everyday life... well except for her love-hate relationship with her best friend, Serena. I know you got me. Whoever Blair loves, I love them for her too--be it Nate, Dan or Chuck. But of course it's only Chuck that she loves, therefore it's only Chuck that I also love! Even the French macaron craze, I had a box of Laduree delivered straight from France! All these and more, oh dear you know how much I love Blair!

But there goes this girl who made me love Blair Waldorf. And we all know who she is. Her name is Leighton, but she's not the crazy bitch we have all heard. She may be the good girl who gone bad, but when I saw her, she's the Leighton Meester I idolize. Simple, humble and even more beautiful than Blair Waldorf.

I wouldn't love the character of B if not for her. And even if she played the role of Vanessa or Jenny or Georgina, I would still vie for Leighton Meester.

And so!!!! Thank you, Penshoppe for bringing all stars in the Philippines, especially the biggest star of my life! I have never fangirl-ed before, I screamed like who-cares-if-someone-hears-me-scream-like-this! I shouted her name for countless times, told her "I love you" that even Mario Maurer couldn't understand why I was the only girl who did not go gaga over him.

I was seated in the front row of the runway and right in front of the stage. I was so blessed! The opportunity of seeing not just your girl-crush or whatever but seeing someone you never thought you would be seeing. It was like that. On the day Penshoppe confirmed that the Queen B was coming, I was thinking of going to NYC only to look for her. Then the radio played her song with Cobra Starship. I thought it's just a coincidence. But on that very same day, I was given the word not to lose hope of seeing her in person.

It may sound shallow, but trust me, I've gone sleepless nights! It's like a grade two student who can't sleep a night before his educational trip. And on the very same day I couldn't eat, I skipped breakfast and lunch and only realized I needed a meal two hours before the show.

The moment I arrived at SMX, I was surprised to see my media pass rated VIP. Taking a photo right beside her is more than enough, but what's important for me is to see her in person. We were not asked to fall in line, luckily. I seated on the section where fan girls like me would die for. Again, it was surreal. It was perfect. And God, she's so beautiful.

All photos (c) Marianne Marcial. Indulge in the beauty of the great Queen B with cutesy Mario Maurer! Xo Xo

Digicam on my left hand and iPhone on my right hand, both in action capturing the moments I will endlessly long for.

I looove this photo of her and Mario ♡ --

Leighton on the runway --

iPhone photos --

I love you, Leighton Meester!

Sorry to bombard you with photos, these are also 30% of what I have taken. I swear it was insane seeing her! She's so pretty, slim and so cute to say, "Thank you" to all her fans! Ahhhhh! I was out of my mind and didn't think of taking a photo of myself with her behind me. :D

 My seatmates Dale, who gave me passes, and Marj.

The entire Penshoppe fashion show will be posted in another entry together with the other shows I watched with my Aikabee. It's all because I want to dedicate this purely to me seeing Leighton Meester, living my dream for an hour or two and her noticing me.

Xo Xo ♡

♥,

Marianne

Birthday Boy

Today is my boyfriend's 26th birthday.

We got together when he was 17 (...going on 18).

My Monday went on so fast and I was frustrated over a little but many things. But at the end of the day, I came to realize that tomorrow's another day and there are more than those little but many things that will make me happy. It's all about positivity, and faith, and love.

To the man who brings out nothing but happiness and contentment in my life, I wish you a happy, happy birthday! I am a big cheese, especially when it comes to you... and Leighton Meester. But for today I promise I'll stop thinking about her and how I captured the video of her waving and smiling back at me. Nyayahaha!

By this time I know you don't want me to look at you reading this. You hate it when I catch you smiling. You hate it when I demand you to read my blog. You hate it when I ask you how my writing was. And you hate it when I write all the mushy things about you *with pompoms*. But I know deep inside how kilig and how proud you are that someone like me write things about you.

Happy birthday and ily! :*

♥,

Marianne 

 

P.S.: Leighton Meester story will be posted very soon! Promise. Stay tuned. <3

Nars and J

Rustan's Makati invited me to a special makeup event of Nars with international makeup artist and Nars' head makeup artist for Asia, J.

I brought my future sister-in-law, Patricia, with me since she's a makeup junk-er than me. Ladies of all ages came to see the beautiful and soft-spoken J as she gave tips and shared tricks of the trade of cosmetology and beauty, including Heart Evangelista and Lovi Poe (Monthly Period!!!).

I'm so glad I was able to meet Rustan's marketing, events and PR people. I'm so looking forward to work and to collaborate with them. Thank you so much, Denise Roco! :)

As usual, I forgot to bring a camera with me so all these photos from my iPhone and most of them are blurred! 

Patricia and I showing Nars some love! 

With Nars international makeup artist, J.

With Heart and Lovi who also graced the special beauty event.

We didn't stay for so long since we arrived halftime. Pat helped me search Rustan's for a tote bag I badly need and I'm torn between getting a Tory Burch or a Kate Spade. #girlproblems

What I wore: From work to Rustan's! Haha!

A product of different iPhone photo apps! Cool!

Collage cutiepie with Pachichay!

 Kiwi <3

Paolo also went to Makati to visit his former coworkers from Lolo Dad's! (Please excuse my bad posture.) We chilled at UCC for a while before we all left for home and enjoyed the Edsa traffic by watching and listening to my music videos! Let me know if you wanna see the vids, I will upload them here! Hahaha!

Now I must get up and make myself ready for Veejay, Sassa and... XOXO! 

♥,

Marianne

Half Of May

This blog post has been buried alive, blame it to Google's Picasa blah blah which stopped me from uploading photos because according to it, I already reached my 1GB quota.

I badly wanted to show you the highlights of May since weekend. It was the only time I had a breath of life from all the momentous, spontaneous and bonggacious happenings in my life. Who am I to complain when I'm slowly seeing the rest of the metro right before my eyes on weekdays? :)

Still, at the end of the day, I'm the same Superloved my readers know--bubbly, simple, and sees the good things in shallow things.

I also caught a low fever last Wednesday and only found relief yesterday. My voice is back, I can sing again on the top of my lungs. The weather's real crazy that my daily dose of multivitamins isn't enough. How much more if I didn't quit smoking and/or I don't eat a lot of fruits and veggies?

And now that I'm starting to say a lot, here are the eight photos Google Picasa blah blah forbid me to upload. Naisahan ko pa din sya, kahit paano! Hahahaha!

MAY 4

An impromptu dinner was served one rainy Friday. Mia, Toto and I decided to spend a night while waiting for the heavy rain to calm down. We had noodles and lugaw and good talks at North Park. I'm saying this for a gazillion times: unplanned ones always happen to be the best!

I brought my iPad with me so we took a lot of photos while sipping our hot cup of house tea. iPad’s Photo Booth is such a cutiepie! Too much wacky photos we had including Mia’s boob enhancement! Haha!

After an hour of carefree talks and overshared storytelling with each other, Paolo’s mom arrived at North Park with Miguel, Paolo’s youngest brother, and his cousins’ children. I didn’t know they were coming and I was laughing hardcore when I found out they were all looking at me! I took photos with the kids after. Oh, I also finally introduced Mia to Julianna! Julianna’s the daughter of Paolo’s cousin and we swore they really resemble each other. Mia can even qualify as our little girl’s sister or mother! 

MAY 10

Everytime I go to Paolo’s house in Novaliches, I pass by a learning center fenced in a colorful wall. I call this “the happy wall” for it always brighten my mood up and looking at it distresses me. I love colors! I think it’s somehow related to me being cheerful and in good spirits most of the time.

 I see colors!

MAY 12

Sandwiched between Miguel’s birthday celebration (he turned 15 last May 10), we ended his birthday treats with a dinner at Max’s together with the Musketeers Ken, Paching and Kyle and watched the last full show of Johnny Depp’s The Dark Shadows. While waiting for the movie to start, Pat accompanied me to buy cake for Mother’s Day. I was supposed to order from Starbucks since I’m very clueless on where to buy and time constraint, I wasn’t able to place my orders at Purple Oven. Good thing, I asked the right person to help me, she suggested Tour Les Jours—a bread house located at the ground floor of The Block. Foodie alert! We also got to try Octoboy the night before with the entire family. 

With Patricia.

 MAY 16

You shall meet them soon. But of course you know Ate Badeth! 

 Clockwise from left: Iya, Ate Badeth, me, Minna at Kabisera.

Other highlights include Mother’s Day last May 13 and my parents’ 31^st anniversary as husband and wife. I’m thinking if I shall blog about the latter separately but I have no photo to support the entry. Hehe.

Enjoy your Monday and the rest of the week! :)

♥,

Marianne

Busyness Is Next To Success

Being employed for two years in TV5, this week so far is the busiest of all. I never even had the chance to stay in front of my desktop for five long days.

New exciting things are happening in my career now yet I can't share them for now. I'm itching to tell even a hint but I'm too scared to have it jinxed again. Patience, patience! All I know is my busyness is leading me to the right-er path. Oh gosh I am so lucky and thankful to be surrounded only by the best and the brightest in the industry.

While running on the streets with my high heels on and with a kiss of Morange lipstick on my smackers, I realized that new lessons in life, too girly or not, are learned everyday, everywhere.

Some of them, let me share with you.

1. Never buy shoes when you aren't going to use them. Two pairs of shoes are worn this week after finding out that they are starting to peel off. 

2. Related to number 1, I shall practice walking (and running) in heels again. I thought running a la Ashley in Just My Luck is so AHA days. Ever since I became a Kapatid, I have loved flats and wedges like I have never loved them before. It's time to rekindle my love for temporary heights.

3. Writing is smarter than talking... always. But isn't it lovely to sound smart every time you utter a word? I hate conyo like I'm asar talaga when I hear people speak that way. Hahaha. But seriously, it's time for me to practice my speech and sound like a real professional does and not the pa-sosyal way. Peace! :)

4. Never compare. When you start comparing, you start losing yourself. When you think someone is a threat, you're losing the game. Love yourself, be yourself! 

5. Be thankful to those who know your worth. Like I've said many times, I'm so lucky to be a baby of such a powerful group. I reach for my dreams with my feet (in heels) glued on the ground. 

6. Always smile. It brightens up the mood of others and boozes up the confidence in you. And who knows, your smile can save a life. Yes it does! 

7. Surround yourself with true friends. And stay away to those you know who will only do you harm. Thank you, Monthly Period. 

Have a great weekend! :)

♥,

Marianne

Ten Reasons Why I Love My Mom

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy! This one's for you. :)

1. 

2.

3.

4.

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Seriously. Mom, there are countless reasons why I love you. I can't think of any good reason to start to tell the world why you're a cool, very loving and why you're the best mother for me and for my sisters. I stared at nothingness for nearly two minutes and I realized that five is not enough, and one thing topping the another is quite impossible.

Our relationship is far from what people watch in soap operas, in movies. It's not what I even read in books and heard from others. Your motherhood is different. It is unique. And like the rest, your love, it's unconditional. 

I may not tell you everything that happens in every single day of my life, but when I speak, I listen.

You may not always say how much you love us, but all your actions show how much you're willing to do anything for us.

Above all, I truly admire how much you take care of your Nanay, my Lola. Please know that I will do the same for you and I will give you all the best in life. Hanggang sa abot ng aking makakaya, Mommy! Promise!

Always take care of yourself, Mommy. I love you.

And from this day onward, I vow to live everyday of my life loving you, making you feel beyond special, as if everyday is Mother's Day.

♥,

Marianne

Throwback Thursday: Summer Class

Thinking of gimmicks to make my blog more interesting, I came up with the idea of taking strolls down memory lane every Thursday with the help of my forever favorite social networking site, Multiply.

You remember the days when we all dump and upload our photos, whether flop or not, and still receive over a hundred comments from our contacts per album? I dearly miss those days.

++

For my first Throwback Thursday post, here's a blast from (the past) our second summer class in college, circa 2008!

Familiar faces? Yes.

With the tisays--my Triplet, Claris and my Kambal, Bianca.

We had no wash days in college but we wanted to "feel" co-ed so during summer classes, we ditched our uniforms on some days. Some of our professors did not mind, though one took it up to the next level. We found out that she's also the Prefect of Discipline! Haha!

Girls: me, Anne, Cheenee, Maan, Kim and Jovy.

Birds of the same feather... wear stripes together! We were surprised to see 4/6 girls wore stripes on the very same day hence a mini-photoshoot! Good thing I always bought my camera with me.

The photos are also proofs that I have loved animal prints since I don't know when. I wish Cha and Phoebe were here, too! 

My boyfriend seemed to enjoy his summer class, too! At LOGBI. ♥

To beat the heat away, we also spent time in malls, specifically the ones nearest to us like TriNoma and The Block, which by the way until now, are our usual go-to places. :)

We had no Instagram then but we got loads of photos! Oh, look at how curvy Susie was, look at Kim's collar bone and my... bangs!

In 2008, frapuccino > milk tea!

We did not also let our second and last summer class end without photos to show how clean and green our FEU campus is! Even in our first few years as friends, we camwhored like yeah!

Peak of the Havaianas trend. Kahit bawal sa school sige pa din!

Kim, Jovy and I dancing to the extremes! (See how beautiful FEU is, too!)

One of my most popular photos in Multiply!

Now there you go. Four years might have passed but I think nothing's changed. Oops, I'm taking it back--there are a few changes but if you know where you stand and when you know how your friends value you and your friendship, you're on the right path. Keep going!

Lalala I just said too much. Seriously, Kim's now a happy wife and mom and Jovy's got shorter and browner hair now. Susie's slimmer than ever and I rarely see Anne, Cheenee and Miles. Also Cha and Phoebe. Those are the changes I'm talking about!

Hope you enjoyed the trip like I do. Until next Throwback Thursday!

♥,

Marianne

Love-y Poe-m

I called myself a writer when I was seven, back to when I discovered my love for words. Whenever our teachers asked our class to get a piece of pad paper and write something for our parents, I write poems. During art classes where we were required to make greeting cards and stuff, I didn't make mine as the young artists would do. A simple scribble worked for me, but the content, I wrote straight from the heart.

I was a poet.

On the same day I saw my slam books, I came across a piece of paper which happened to be a homework from one of my many Filipino classes. I had the chance to read it again and I realized it was the last poem I have written. Although I kept a journal of all the poems I wrote in the past, I no longer have an access to it.

I'm sharing it now, just in case I lose this piece of paper again.

Caution: Emo alert.

LUHA SA KABILA NG NGITI

Sa iyong paningin, kaibigan sa akin ay turing;

Sa ating mga usapan ay lagi kang pinakikinggan,

Ang iyong mga problema't kaligayahan, sa akin ay iyong pinapaalam,

Dahil sa iyong paningin, ako ay isang kaibigan.

Sa matagal na pinagsamahan ay lumipas ang mga araw,

Ang puso ko'y pangalan mo ang tanging sinisigaw.

Ako'y iyong inalagaan at kailanma'y hindi pinabayaan,

Dahil sa iyong paningin ako'y isang mahalagang kaibigan--

Kaibigang kasama mo magpakailanman.

 Ang pag-ibig ko ay hindi kasalanan,

Alam kong mahal mo siya higit pa sa isang kaibigan.

Siya lamang ang lahat sa iyong paningin na kailanma'y hindi maaangkin.

Hindi na kailangang umasa dahil para sa akin ay sapat na,

Ang iyong turing sa akin ay tama na.

Salamat sa iyo dahil ang kabutihan ko'y sinuklian.

Sapat na sa akin na ako na lamang ang masaktan.

Ipinangako ko sa aking sarili na hindi na ako iiyak,

Dahil para sa akin, ikaw ay nagsisilbing luha--

Luha na hindi ko hahayaang sa aking pisngi ay papatak.

Ano pa ang silbi ng buhay kung ikaw ay mawawala?

Ikaw lamang ang papawi sa aking mga kabiguan na hindi makalaya...

Sapagka't siya lamang ang ngiti sa iyong labi,

Pero sa ating pagkakaibigan, ako ay kumpleto na.

Marianne Joyce Marcial

August 15, 2001

2001. Ah, that 13-year old me was so emotional! Teenage years are made of drama, right? I hope the kids of the same age now are still exposed to writing, poetry and reading. 

This poem's for my puppy love, I guess! Not bad, you think? Now I wanna go back to poetry writing. :)

♥,

Marianne

P.S. - Please ask my Monthly Period friends re: title. :)

The Avengers: The Superhero Movie Like No Other

No superhero movie can ever top Marvel's The Avengers. None.

I've seen Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and more. I've seen the gods fight like Achilles and Perseus, too. I thank them for saving the people's lives. They're really heroes but they are not The Avengers.

It's the only movie I've watched in cinema four times. Of course you know how many n times I played The Sound Of Music and One More Chance at home but you know, being in the movie house is far different from "home theater". I watched The Avengers with the people closest to me--my bff Toto, my cousins, friends and Paolo. Surprisingly, every time always felt like the first time! No joke! 

I still clap my hands in the scene where they all assembled on the ground, in a round formation seconds before Captain America gave instructions.

My super, superloved scene! Ask the people I watched it with, they will tell you I looked like a girl meeting Barbie.

There was never a dull moment watching this film. It's action-packed yet very humorous--a perfect combination of how a movie/ENTERTAINMENT must be. I swear every time I see Batman's trailer, I can't help but to be frightened (plus Heath Ledger's face as The Joker always pops in my mind). 

"Are we done here?"

"Why should I take orders from you?"

I used to ask my boyfriend, why can't they join The Avengers and X-Men together? They're all from Marvel! How about Peter Parker, why did Nick Fury not invite Spiderman? Hahaha. A girl can never have too many qs in life!

If asked about my most favorite Avenger, ladies and gentlemen...

IRON MAN. Probably the busiest Avenger for me. Admit it, he always steals the show! Tony Stark, you da man!!!

But Thor, you tore me and Iron Man apart. How can you ignore those big muscles and charming eyes? <3 

Three points for The Hulk. Remember these three super funny scenes: 1. His raaaawr brought Iron Man back to life. Haha. 2. He smashed Thor sidewards after saving NY people. Haha. And lastly, 3. He did not care whether Loki's a god or what. Hulk smashed him like crazy like a crazy puppy!

Captain America fans, please don't hate me. I like him, too, for being a leader and a goodhearted man and we all know the fact that he's handsome. I still have to give him, Black Widow and Hawkeye credits because if not for them, there'll be no Avengers!

Mr. Captain America, next time, don't be too serious. Smile!!! :)

You already, girl. Your buns are tdf!

I love how you "prep" your bow. 

I never thought I'd be hooked into something heroic and fantastic! Now I know I was not born to only watch Gossip Girl and to mush over Blair Waldorf! Hayayay! I'm pretty sure isn't only a fad, it's gonna be a lifetime addiction!

Oops, before I end this post, can someone answer this question for me?

Why is Samuel L. Jackson always introduced as "as Nick Fury"?

The closing credits introduced Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner without their character roles except for Samuel L. Jackson. From Iron Man and Iron Man 2, The Hulk to Captain America: The First Avenger, he was introduced that way. It makes me so curious! I swear there must be something about him (and his eyepatch)! But whatever, I'm very willing to wait. I'm standing by. <3

Lastly...

THE AVENGERS IN THEIR USUAL STATE! 

♥,

Marianne