made december a summer holiday

what's so good living in a tropical country, where seas are abound is that, one can always turn any day into a summer day. any occasion we have, from birthdays to family reunions, we go to the beach! we fortunately have a lot of sunshine all year round. well, except those rainy and typhoon days, which we also get quite a lot since we bravely face the pacific ocean.

just yesterday, we went to a beach resort to celebrate christmas. yet again today, we headed to the beach! this time, it's durhan's beach resort in tabuelan.

Durhan's Beach Resort, Tabuelan

Durhan's Beach

the sea, the sun, and christmas

i'm home during this short holiday vacation, i now have. yeah, one of the trade-offs of transferring to another company. i no longer have that almost 2-week christmas vacation. back in my previous company, they exchange saturdays in order to have a longer vacation. i never heard of any other company that does that.

anyway, i'm just as happy that i'm home for christmas. for the nth time around, it's christmas at the beach!

Lingay Beach Resort, San Remegio

Lingay at Low Tide

Lingay at High Tide

shakeys that christmas rush!

i had been raiding the mall thrice in 2 days now. talk about beating that christmas rush. ;) well, i'm not really keen on that. i know i should learn making a list way beforehand but i just ended up making a lot of lists and lost each one every time.

after buying the final things i need for breinn's gift, i suggested that we would have dinner and take a break from the chaos even for a while. yeah, he's with me all the time and empathizes me so well with my christmas panic. carrying stuff and all that...

Shakey's

Salad, Chicken n' Pizza

hello again moroccan!

i did not want to go home right after red kimono. everyone was out back home. my sister went out with her friends for their christmas get-together and partied the night away. while me, trying to create a fun life of my own. darn it. it's a friday!

while my sister was having the time of her life, i ogled breinn to tea. isn't that amazing? tea over a night life? =))

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

My Chai Latte

incidentally in red kimono

while the rest of the world had their christmas parties, breinn and i just went on search for good food to satisfy our insatiable appetites. he suggested mooon in it park but i insisted in ayala instead. i just hate/don't like it park on fridays. whichever is less harsh. everybody seems to converge here!

due to the highly festive season, mooon in ayala was in full house. we then retraced our steps and finally heeded the waiter's invite for red kimono.

Red Kimono

Red Kimono Chopsticks

christmas dinner @ stk ta bay!

finally after an email flood, the christmas dinner with my friends pushed through.

this was done like a martial law declaration. edam and i decided on the date and the place. the only choice everyone had to make was whether to go or not.

STK Ta Bay @ Capitol Site

Our Little Feast

the comfort of greenwich

a monday! no work for me since i was on a vacation leave! ;) i needed to rest because of how busy i was in manila. hehe

i flew back to cebu, late sunday evening already. :(

Greenwich Pizza

Greenwich Special Pizza

manila is for?

manila is for shopping! haha though, people may say the night life. but i'm not really into that. i'm more of a sunshine person. ^__^

My List for Manila

(1) Zara

manila day 2: pepper lunch

my japan days were long over and forever gone. oh how i loved that time in my life! being carefree and everything. anyway, i would try to remember japan by devouring japanese food as much as i can and delight on every franchise of a japanese shop.

and here comes pepper lunch!

Pepper Lunch in Shangrila Plaza Mall

Eva's Chicken Pepper Rice

manila day 2: eva got us starbucks

my last day here in the capital. enchanted kingdom was definitely out of the story. i texted my former officemate that i could no longer go with them to enchanted kingdom. santa rosa is way far already and i couldn't afford to miss my plane later that evening.

because my friends and i slept really late, we slept almost half of the day and we were only able to see the sunshine past noon.

good thing, eva got us starbucks. ;)

manila day 1: feona's birthday

after i bid goodbye to my ex-officemates, i met up with feona in sm megamall. things didn't go as planned since i arrived in megamall at 8pm already. so, a little late for shopping. hehe

though, i told feona to meet me in forever 21. and there, i bought my very first item. ;)

manila day 1: going back to manila

it was already past 4 in the afternoon when we headed back to manila. i just had no idea how far we were when i told my friend over the phone that i would be in manila around 6. she just laughed at me, knowing that it was just so impossible. haha!

Manila

The Setting Sun

manilay day 1: paradizoo in tagaytay

on my 3rd post for tagaytay and still not on manila. hehe

from tagaytay, manila seemed to be far away with a lot of places worthy for visits. we were supposed to be conscious of our time for manila ocean park was planned after tagaytay but we were taking it nice and slow. we blamed it on the cameras!

Paradizoo, Tagaytay

The Milky White Lion in Paradizoo

manila day 1: hot bulalo in cold tagaytay

after the forever camwhoring of everyone and experiencing the chill in tagaytay, we went on search for our lunch. though, we might not have the perfect driver, at least he knows the way around.

we opted not to go to expensive and overrated? restaurants in tagaytay and told the driver that we want an affordable place to eat. he then brought us to these carinderias lined up in tagaytay's market.

these food stalls seemed to be famous to locals and tourists alike. you can choose from a hefty number of stalls (i don't know which one is the best.) and better ask for some discounts. the staff in each of the food stall are too eager to welcome you. they holler you to each of their designated parking spot and greet you as their prospective customer. more of like larsian in cebu.

Bulalo in Tagaytay

The Famous Bulalo

manila day 1: tagaytay on wedges

i know. the title is just a bit confusing. tagaytay is not in manila but in cavite. but i just leave it as is since i consider this entire get-away as generally going to manila. ^^

manila had come about while i was still with my previous company and during the seat sale promos of cebu pacific and air philippines. so, the outsider me got tagged along with my ex-officemates.

after playing hide and seek with the driver of our hired van in the huge naia terminal 3, we headed straight to tagaytay. luckily, we were able to avoid the infamous traffic and reached tagaytay around 10am. we had just the most incredible driver! the driver was half asleep while we were going up! he even intermittently drove in the wrong lane. gosh! o_o

People's Park, Tagaytay

People's Park

DESSERTS!! in bigby's

one working day, breinn and i went to sm in search for his superhero costume for his company christmas party. we first tried in toy kingdom but sadly, they don't sell such costumes. i was not really sure though if they really don't or breinn just told me that they don't because i think he's not really up to the superhero idea. guys just lack effort in dressing up. tsk tsk...

actually, i left him in toy kingdom for a while to go somewhere since i'm currently cooking on his christmas present. when i got back, he then told me that toy kingdom does not have superhero costumes. so, we left toy kingdom and never again tried any other store for his costume. it was an epic fail.

after he eagerly bought his keyboard protector in cdr king, we decided to go for desserts since we were not really hungry at that time. we could still last till tomorrow without rice.

Bigby's

fudgy sensation