My Cup of Tea

It’s Christmas season! Christmas eve with Archel and Lea in Makati City How's everyone doing after the celebration? It's always nice to hear beautiful stories about holiday's fun and how others celebrated their Christmas with their loved ones. Always inspiring and a little bit... well, nostalgic.  It's a bit distressing when the whole world is swathed in excitement and family reunions are happening everywhere, yet you're alone in a strange place, feeling empty and just wrapping thoughts with warm memories.  I lived in the bustling metropolis away from my family so the celebration was not quite awesome. Excitement had gone totally.  With no particular way to go, I went to my former boardmate (back in Davao), Lea Maika Bulfango, in Makati City on the 23rd to spend Christmas.  On the 24th we agreed to visit Luneta Park and Intramuros, not that we wanted to forget the joy of preparing foods and other stuff for Christmas eve, but we just felt it was the

Despite the brutality of the world and all those catastrophes that hammered many parts of the universe, I still believe God has never abandoned people, His love for humankind is eternal,  we only need to recognize the beautiful things we see in the environment to feel His presence.   I felt God's presence in so many ways, in the morning when I wake up and see the beautiful horizon, in the afternoon after work when I feel the soft tang of the air, in the evening when I drift to sleep and feel the stillness of the surrounding and when I go outside and come home very safe. It's amazing how I feel so at peace and calm despite the chaotic life in the Metropolis and that's grace which only God can provide. And with that, I am truly grateful. As the year 2013 prepares to bid goodbye, I want to reminisce all the heavenly gifts I'd received this year and how each blessing inspired me to carry on amidst occasional blues. I thoroughly found my balance in life.  You see, e

Tied in compassion and wrapped in the warmth of sweet-scented memories, a poignant recollection of generosity sometimes is the best comfort to cling to this Christmas. Have you ever thought of remembering people in your circle at Christmastime whom you no longer see because of distance? How about the people who have been so generous to you down through all these years? Are you still relishing those heartwarming gestures? Well, I am... Despite my unsuccessful attempt to reconnect with the missing dot, so to speak, I am nevertheless very grateful that at one point in my life, there was a very generous person allowed by God to cross my path, who never failed to delight me comes the holiday season. Though what is left now is just an obscure puzzle of what ifs and buts , and none of those ifs could possibly turn into an extraordinary sparkle....still I am very thankful to be blessed with such kind of encounter. Since some people often associate Christmastime with the excitement a

One of my dearest best friends in life is celebrating her birthday today, August 1, and since I cannot give her a present due to distance (she is currently based in UAE) I'll just post one special entry for her birthday as a gift (it's the thought that counts haha!). To the readers of my blog, let me introduce to you my super generous and truest friend in life, Helen Montero. She's my former colleague in the University, we've been friends since the 1990s and had been sharing sooo many secrets in life, hehe! I'd shared some of the most delicate issues of my existence, happy moments, painful encounters, prospect for the future, plans, everything. She is such an incredible person you know, that someone you've been dreaming to become your friend in life: Generous, deeply religious, reserve, extremely modest, loyal, understanding and thoughtful, yeah that's Helen, no exact amount of words to say how lucky I am to be her friend. She is more like a s

Before things get really serious with my new life path I want to make the best out of my free time first, enjoying the view in the metropolis, visiting beautiful places and going out with friends :-) Since our arrival in Manila last June 29, I rarely sleep early. We frequently went out at night and never got home until early dawn, my gosh I never did this stuff in my life before so this is some kind of a change routine, but love it so much, exploring the other side of life is always fascinating anyway. @ BGC felt like we're in another country hehe, stunning architectural design of the buildings and highly modernized place I'm lucky to be surrounded with very good friends and generous people, very supportive, sparing their free time to allow us (me and Evan) to enjoy the metropolis. I was able to see the beautiful landmarks in the city. Last June 30, Jerome took us to Global City then to Villamor Airbase where he worked as member of the PAF, I was able

Got to see Helen and Pinky last Monday, it's been a long time since our last meeting so I was very excited to be with them once again. It felt great!You know the feeling when you're able to see good old friends and had this really nice, comfortable conversation over food, relaxing, laughing and giggling, talking with what happened in the past, it's really relieving and liberating! Some of my closest colleagues back then, Helen and Pinky. Photo by Kathy Dacanay Had a good time one cozy evening at Sushi Dito. Photo by Kathy Dacanay Pinky and Helen are my former colleagues in the university, but unlike Helen whom I have a constant communication and whom I regularly meet when she takes a vacation from UAE, Pinky is some sort of a missing buddy hehe! I did not see her in over six years, so last Monday was a huge bonding, catching up with the lost time. Pinky is one of my closest colleagues in the late 1990s and early 2000s, we would go out frequently with other

Lately, I've been thinking so hard ( really, really hard :-P) how to express my heartfelt thank in a unique way to the people who made a great impact in my life last year, well, not just last year, but (some of them)  for the past years too. Aside from my family, they are the people who understand and know me better. So I thought of creating a list of PEOPLE OF MY YEAR 2012 just like TIME magazine hehe! I am also  Yeah, the idea is somewhat perfect because this would give me a chance to tell the readers how each person became a huge influence in my life. I've been reading TIME magazine since I was 12 (my father had some copies of it in his table aside from Philippine Free Press mag) and the first issue I'd read was the one where former President Cory Aquino was named Woman of the Year after EDSA revolution. TIME'S Man/Woman/People of the Year are chosen based on how someone created a powerful impact and history to the world. The stories behind the recipients

I rarely wrote entries in my weekend diary category because there's nothing extraordinary to talk about every week, I hate raking my brain with something not worthy to share anyway. I got so tired spurting my distress and discomfort all over again, in fact I get used to it that I am no longer surprise why my weekend is painfully exhausting, mentally. But this week is slightly different, well, not that I suddenly realized I should update my blog, but there's something into it that I want to share, it's all about surprises and inspiration. It's the last week of November and I am always excited when December comes. N ovember 27, Tuesday . We attended a birthday party in honor of Dr. Amy Gravino who turned 50, her children and husband surprised her with a kiddie birthday party at Jollibee. It was so funny and very unique, all of us became young again, traveling back in time when nothing matters in the world except fun, laughter and foods!  I joined others in a

On the night of August 20, I and Juvy went to North Zen Hotel to meet our friend and former colleague, Joice Lagat, who is permanently residing in Cagayan de oro city and just came to Davao to attend the wedding. Last night of Juvy's single life That night, Juvy will supposed to stay with us in the hotel, we took some pictures to mark her last night as a single lady, but around 10:30 PM she left the hotel to conform with her mother who was frantically texting her to come home. I left there to spend the night and just went home on the following morning. At 2:00 PM on August 21, I and Kathy were supposed to take snaps on Juvy’s wedding preparation at the North Palm Hotel but we overestimated the time and we went to the hotel super late, what we found was just an apologizing security guard who told us the bride had just left earlier, oohhch! Good that Kathy’s older sister was so kind and supportive, and conveniently dropped us to Sta. Ana church. Kathy was clearly disap