Like A Rose

I was the only rose among the thorns yesterday and I felt that I was treated exactly like a rose--well taken care of! Thank you, Nico and Jay for a fun-filled day! I really enjoyed being your muse! Hahaha!

Jay and I went to our The Fort office together for an afternoon meeting while Nico sent me home after our chinner (lunch-dinner). They took pictures of me and had pictures with me, too! They bought me a refreshing drink at Seattle's Best and brought me to a super delightful steakhouse in Kapitolyo named Rub. Little did I know that it was also the same place Monica wanted to try with us after her birthday... I just realized that there's also Rub in Scout Rallos in Morato. Sadly, she weren't able to join us because she was admitted to the hospital. (Get well soon, BFF! Miss yaaa xx)

\m/

According to these two "hunks", this photo looked like a rockstar album. And I am the vocalist. Nico said he's the bassist and Jay, the drummer. It must be our aviators that brought us to this kind of imagination. Wish ko lang.

I asked the boys to take photos of me to capture the beauty of this park. We have parked around the area several times but it was only yesterday when I noticed this scene. I love the grass and the trees talaga! 

Green, green, green! <3

After a day's work, the three of us had dinner together and drove our way to Kapitolyo. Jay said he would bring Lilly and Chuchay, his wife and daughter respectively, but Chuchay had her tantrums. We had our two family-sized ribs all by ourselves and finished it in less than an hour. Woot!

I love Rub's vibe, its food and the quotable quotes of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Bob Marley, etc. on posters hanging on the wall.

One of our two family-sized rib order with fries and potato and bacon salad. YUMMM!

One of the boys!

Our total bill amounted to almost Php 2,000... a bit pricey but we think we deserved the treat! Thanks again, boys, for taking care of me for just a day! :)

After our dinner, my lovely best friend Toto and I had a Friday night date. He helped me look for swimsuits for my upcoming trip and we capped the night with some Libertea iced tea and burgers at Army Navy. I missed Toto Bee sooo much! <3

It's been one hell of a week but my Friday made some things better, clearer and calmer. I must say, keep calm and kebs lang! This, too, shall pass.

 ♥,

Marianne

da.u.de

Across our office building in The Fort is a new classy tea lounge named da.u.de [da-you-deh]. The facade is very inviting it will make you want to try it. Colorful jars give life to its black, white and silver interiors and tea leaves displayed by the window show they serve real tea. 

Despite my numerous attempts of going down during break time at work, I didn't get the chance to visit da.u.de until that Friday night when Toto decided to visit me. Finally I got to try our neighborhood tea! Mia came in a bit late, too, and enjoyed her berry beer! 

A beautiful scene and a courteous staff will welcome you at this not-so-secret hiding place.

YUM!

Well, Young, Spike -- that's how they define their teas. I love how brilliant the idea is. I actually want to try them all! But what makes da.u.de much more exciting is the fact that it's managed by a Filipino. Renee Sebastian is the country's first Certified Tea Master. Let's talk about professionalism despite the countless tea shops in and out the metro! 

With my dear Toto while waiting for our resident nocturnal, Mia. 

Mia finally arrived! And puyat si girl. Haha!

<3

It's a Monthly Period day tomorrow! I hope to see the rest of the group this week! I think it's a good idea to spend time together at da.u.de. Whatchuthink?

Know more about da.u.de by clicking this link. Follow them on Twitter, too: @lovedaude

Have a great week ahead!

♥,

Marianne

Spice Girls and Boy Bands

Happy birthday, Lottie! <3

One of the few best girl friends I adore and love for life celebrated her birthday with us, her equally adorable and lovable friends!

It was a spontaneous night because she just finalized celebrating her birthday after work hours but we did not mind the late notice. It's actually the exciting part of her birthday... at least for me! I was on my way to Tin's baby shower when Maro aka Lottie called and invited me and Paolo. I badly wanted to see her and the rest of the gang for I haven't seen them since the year started. I eagerly said yes, regardless of the place and time. There are risks I'm willing to take for my dear friendship (you must know I always make it a point to get a good sleep for at least eight hours)and this is one of those risks, all for the love of the birthday girl.

Happily, her night was spent in a not-so-far-away bistro called Cabizzera in Congressional Avenue. I immediately met Paolo after the baby shower, sent his mom home and headed straight to where they are. I'm surprised to see the girls complete! Mika, check! Ailyn, check! Johnson followed, check! Plus the ever humorous boyfriends Mark, Monte and our other friend, Raymund. They were singing their lungs out and even I did not miss the opportunity to have them hear my beautiful voice. Haha!

Spice Girls - Baby, Sporty, Posh, Scary and Ginger.

I wanted to call the girls Spice Girls that night. Let me explain: I'm Baby because I'm the youngest, Maro is Sporty because she's a varsity back in HS, Mika is Posh because she loves Victoria Beckham, Johnson is Scary because he's the fiercest(!!!) and Ailyn is Ginger because she's got a beautiful voice. Perfect? Perfect!

The boy band--from A1 to Westlife to NSYNC to Backstreet Boys!

The main reason why I called us girls Spice Girls is because of these men! They kept on singing the late 90s hits popularized by the boy bands and they were very serious about it! So adorable! The birthday girl's boyfriend sang A1's Like A Rose which perfectly fits for her name, Mary Rose. Aww!

MMM with lipsticks! ♥

Spice Girls and boy bands less Ailyn and Johnsy!

I hope I justified my blog post title well! But wait, there's more! We've only just begun. The group left Cabizzera past 12 midnight and wanted to spend the night longer. The best way? Coffee or tea! We couldn't decide on where to stay so we let Johnson take the lead. He's very concerned about Maro going back to her apartment in Makati so we drove our way to The Fort, thinking Serenitea's still open. We walked our way to Starbucks instead while the boys opted for a heavy meal called McDonald's!

An (almost) empty street.

I love this trio shot of us taken by Mikabee. I tried to edit this in black and white and I also find it cute:

I hope The Fort will look like this forever. No flyovers! Just a wide, open street with generous pedestrian lanes and modern buildings and establishments with obedient and well-disciplined people. In a place like this, you can bravely put your camera on timer mode and leave it somewhere to have a COMPLETE group shot. Well, we actually did this!

'Yun nga lang, malabo pa din!

Frap, iced or hot? : )

Thank you, Maro, for such a great night! As usual, I had fun being with you! Our rekindled friendship is one of the many, many, many best things I'm thankful for. Let me share your touching message for me on that same day, "Thank u mar! God knows how thankful and lucky I am to have u as my friend! Labuy! :*..." Well, girl, I feel the same way!

Happy birthday and I love you! :)

♥,

Marianne

P.S. Thanks, Mika, for emailing me the photos! :*

Vinyl + Splash

I was an ultimate stage girlfriend last Saturday when my boyfriend's ad agency handled the Vinyl + Splash: The Ultimate Collectible and Comic Convention presented by Fully Booked together with Comic Odyssey, Vinyl on Vinyl and Red Nimbus. Paolo was also one of the official photographers of the event so I went there to see the country's first ever comic exhibit which will now benefit the United Nation's World Food Program to fight hunger.

The exhibit showcased collectibles like comic books, graphic novels, vinyl toys, street art and other pop culture collectibles and illustrations by Sarah Gaugler, Nemo Aguila, Mico Suayan and more plus the legendary "Joana Hex" artist, Mr. Tony De Zuniga.

Being a super duper girly girly, I admit I'm not into comics except for WITCH and Archie (hahaha) but I loooove watching comic-turned-to-a-movie films especially if it's from Marvel.

I also came from a beauty workshop/session with my colleague from TV5, Erica, at the Fashion Institute of the Philippines so, yeah, my face's kind of glammed up when I arrived at the event.

Carrying a CBTL paperbag with me. That's Erica's pabaon for me!

I love Hellboy!

A single piece touched by all participating artists! One of a kind!

The SQUIK work!

My favorite: SUPERMAN. That face is Jesus'.

Fully Booked was fully booked!

Sanya Smith made me look shorter!

With Gaby!

Mas close sila! Hahaha :D

With 2011 Comic-Con International Inkpot Award recipient, Mr. Tony de Zuniga.

With Mr. Tony de Zuniga, Ms. Chaty Yu of Contact IMC and Gaby de la Merced.

♥

SWAG!

SWAGGER!

This event gathered a whopping P125,000.00! Congratulations to Fully Booked, Contact IMC, Vinyl on Vinyl, Comic Odyssey and Red Nimbus! Looking forward to the exhibit's second run next year! See more of the photos from Paolo's camera on Fully Booked's official Facebook account.

♥,