February Flashbacks

February is a favorite month. And being the shortest month, I actually didn't notice how time flew by so fast! Up until now, I feel like it's only February 31. A lot of things happened during the love month, topping it is our 8th anniversary which we spent in Cebu and my Dad's happy birthday just a few days ago. I did not manage to update Superloved even if I wanted to. And if free time allows me to work on my writing mojos, I take the chance.

Aside from the two highlights I mentioned above, here are some days I'd like to get back with before I officially start my March, the summer starter.

 I barely see Toto these days so I was very happy to see him again when he asked me one biglaan day!

Watched Unofficially Yours with my sister Ming and Susie, whom I dearly missed!

Played with Reesha and Roddick at the mall when Susie left.

Dinner at City Best for Paula's 9th birthday and Paolo's Tita Anday's despedida. :)

Tin gave birth last February 29. Welcome, baby Kendrick!

Lastly, the milk tea craze got moooore crazier! Cha Dao fever!

The love month marked good and happy memories! It is a well-spent month with close friends and family. Our new tambayan called Silong de Garahe or Marcial Law Headquarters is a witness. That's where my cousins and I meet during weekends to catch up on each other and to play with the kids as well. And now that summer has officially started (yes, that's according to PAG-ASA), I can't wait to spend some time with them on the beach! Beach with my family and Paolo's family, beach with Monthly Period, beach with Tropang Logbi, beach with college friends, beach with Us-4 girls, beach all the time!

My summer game faceS are on, look!

Awesome photo by my sister Mamai :)

♥,

Marianne

Birthday Boy: Daddy

My father's birthday falls on the last day of February, but since 2012 is a leap year, we celebrated his birthday "longer" than the usual. Two days before his actual birthday, I invited them for a special dinner. We had a pre-birthday celebration for our number one man at City Best in Tomas Morato. I know my family would love this hotpot and smokeless grill restaurant so I took the lead.

Let me show you what kind of sisters I have through our choices of food:

Meat for my Ate Mai! Unfortunately, she's allergic to seafood!

Maki for Miming! Die hard rice-eater! Rar.

My plate: VEGETABLES. I can't live without veggies!

Our family spent a good evening with stories and discussed things we saw around while dining. We also talked about my youngest sister's graduation--what her plans are, what she plans to do, and Mom and Dad convincing her to apply for a job at... GMA. Yes, GMA Kapuso!

Sizzling. Now I want that squid.

We rarely go out on weekends because of conflicting schedules but we always make sure to at least see each other and spend time with each other at home. Breakfast at home on Saturdays and lunch on Sundays, are some of our weekly routines so whenever we go out, we thrive to make those rare moments super special no matter what.

I told you, we make it super special! ♥

 Me and my sisters!

We just stayed there for a while because Ming was dying to watch the pilot episode of Sarah G. Live. After a couple of rounds, we finished our meal with a cup of tea and photos. My family is my lucky charm!

 3M

Our styles also show how different my sisters and I are from each other. But if you'd notice, my animal prints addiction has gotten into them. Ming's wearing that animal print bottom and Ate Mai's shoe design is a tiger! And yes, that's me wearing a pair of sneakers!

With Mommy! ♥

With the birthday boy himself! We love you, Pop! Always and forever! <3

♥,

Marianne

Instant Instagram!

Apologies for the blog hiatus (I swear, I'm becoming busier and busier and busier each day!). For my dear followers and readers, worry not for I still try my best to give updates via Twitter and Instagram. :)

And to those who are using BlackBerry, etc and can't follow me on Instagram, here's Instagrid:

Just keep on refreshing it!

♥,

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! :*

A Baby Shower Story

We had a baby shower for my dear friend, colleague and seatmate Tin last Thursday. It wasn't a surprise bash, actually. We all thought of celebrating at Bigoli so I recommended the other branch in The Annex where there's no too much crowd compared to the one in TriNoma. Little did we know that the branch was already pulled out (maybe because there's no too much crowd?) and nobody ever thought of calling The Annex to have a table reserved for fifteen ladies. And since a pregnant woman is a pregnant woman, and most of the time, a pregnant woman should be obeyed most of the time, we went to Pizza Hut to fulfill her pizza and pasta craving. End of story.

Kidding!

Welcome to Pizza Hut, The Annex!

After minutes of walking around The Annex, Pizza Hut's probably the only place to offer good food and value for money for a group like ours. By the way, before I go on with my story, let me introduce you my TV5 Kapatids, majority from the Network Engineering department where the very-soon-to-be-mommy belongs.

Twas a rainy evening, hence a moist-y photo! =D

Now back to Tin's baby shower! We're all giddy about the venue's promo for a big group. And of course, very happy for Tin who's giving birth in two weeks. She's one of the few pregnant women I've seen without losing her aura and grace, and even glowed better than ever despite her baby bump growth.

"Tyang Yannie and Mommy Tin" a la Kumare Club!

The celebration also brought me and my other colleagues of the same department to bond with the ladies of Engineering. Everyone knows how cheerful I am even if I was still in school but... you know, you can't be friends with everyone so I'm happy to gain new friends after spending an unforgettable night with them.

 New friend: Brigitte!

My matagal nang friends: (Ate Virgie with Brigitte), Tin, Jen and Wheng.

The baby shower was close to perfection because of non-stop laughing and laughing hardcore about Wheng's bangs, Brigitte's craziness, Tin and Ate Virgie's curvaceous curls, our makeup, Kim's Mango Bravo treat fresh from Conti's and the opening of the gifts. Not to mention the foods served, the Pizza Hut way so the official photographer, Bunso, captured many moments of me busy eating.

I always tend to pout when I'm not picture-ready.

In brief explanation why my plate's super empty!

Then I realized we all had empty plates!

Before. After--above!

One of the highlights of the baby shower, is of course, the opening of the gifts to symbolize the baby boy's coming. My gift? None pa, but I already know what to give her because Tin personally requested for it.

Baby must-haves for mommies!

A fun night, indeed! Until we discovered an unwanted creature lying down on the serving plate of Pizza Hut's New Orleans chicken. I'd rather not talk about it anymore (but I tweeted about that on the same night we were engaged in this kind of unsanitary and awful incident). Still, I'm crossing my fingers for Pizza Hut to investigate on this matter.

Anyway, Tin's maternity leave will start on Monday. Meaning, she'll be back on track after two months. I'll be missing her and her jokes but I'm beyond excited to see her cuddling her little boy in her arms. I'll be praying for her safe delivery and all the best for her baby!

♥,

Marianne