I looove flowers! Gim knows it, too, which is why he gives me flowers on special days. Sometimes, he would even buy me flowers just because I want some! This is usually when we pass winter/spring/summer/Fall flower arrangements stalls. (In the Philippines we only have sunny/rainy but most flowers are imported so it’s like we have seasons too lol.)

I am a sucker for flowers. I love that they’re so pretty, colorful and delicate. And it’s a bonus if they give off a sweet fragrance! I do enjoy roses, but I also like Malaysian mums, and I do love calla lilies.

Around March, the day he left for Zamboanga, Gim left me three red roses in my room. Those were the most bittersweet roses I ever got, because though they were pretty and I wanted to love them, they also reminded me that Gim had left, and that I was all by my lonesome, again. :(

Thankfully, Gim couldn’t bear the loneliness either!! So, barely a week after he had gone back to Zamboanga, he decided to come back to me and stay for good. Hahaha! I had mixed feelings about that. Because my room is so small, and at the time, I had only one bed, he had to share with me. And trust me when I say I move a lot in my sleep. And whenever I sleep with Gim, I can’t, because obviously there isn’t any space. So… I end up not sleeping much. But of course I wanted Gim with me, first and foremost. So I bore with the limited space, and then we bought a sofa soon after to augment our sleeping area. Hehehe!

For our 9th anniversary a month later, Gim gave me some roses mixed in with carnations. (Yes, 9 years!) And it came with a cake (ok, shared resource!) and a cute little stuffed lion! (Because I’m a Leo!)

Pretty flowers!!

This was Belgian cheesecake from Cheesecake, etc. Sooo rich and creamy and yes, CHEESY! They have the yummiest cheesecakes ever!! Plus, they always cut and arrange the fruits in front of you, so you know they’re fresh – and did you know kiwi goes really well with cheesecake? I loved the combination!

Always happy to receive the pretty blooms!

With my new pet!

Don’t we look good together? Heheheh!

I’m not the type to wear hip hop clothes, but business formal isn’t my thing either. I’m my most comfortable in casual wear. Just a shirt and jeans, or shorts, is me.

So it was a lot of fun being able to go home last Holy Week and just spend leisurely days with my long-time boyfriend, whom I’ve missed so much.

One lazy afternoon we decided to hit the beach and watch the sunset. The tide was pretty low that afternoon, so we were able to sit on the exposed rocks lining the shore.

We drank some beer, sat, reminisced about the old times when we used to do the same thing almost every weekend, and just enjoyed each others presence.

Our main takeaway? We realized our happiest times were the simplest – just being together and enjoying nature. Be it the beach or the river or the mountains, it doesn’t take a whole lot of money to make us happy. For me, it’s just being with Gim. He lights me up, and I do the same for him.

I hope we can be together again really soon. And for good.

When I am in Zamboanga I always wish I’d remembered to bring sunglasses (or sun readers if I could). I forget how sunny a day can get especially when you’re driving around in a motorcycle.

On sunny days, Gim and I always go out for joyrides and eats. Lately I’ve been picking up a hobby. Like taking pictures of Gim with his hands like this.

Doesn’t he look sheepish? Haha. I’ve been getting Gim to show me some hearts everywhere we go. LOL. I can’t resist and he can’t resist ME!

Cute! ♥

How to treat acne fast? I don’t know, umm, why not live in Manila?!

Gim always tells me, whenever I leave him to go back to Makati, that he’s sending me over to “prettify”. Yeah, those are his words. :D

Why? Because ever since I came to live in Manila, my skin has gotten a lot fairer and I don’t break out into pimples so much. I attribute that to the chlorine in the water. I can literally feel the chlorine bleaching me everytime I take a bath. How can I tell? It’s the feel of the water, it’s kind of hard. Whereas when I bathe at home in Zamboanga, the water is really soft and just feels a lot less processed.

I don’t mind the chlorine, I just don’t like that I can’t drink from the tap here. I spend so much money on drinking water, it’s crazy!

Speaking of showers, I found a really big one and it’s in Fort Bonifacio! See!!! I want to shower under there! Hahaha! :)

Isn’t Gim cute? :)

She’s got a glam life. Fitness training in the morning, quick lunch with the husband, shopping in the afternoon, fine dining then late night talks mobile phone on one hand and red ecig holder on the other, blowing sexy smoke into the air…

Yeah, that’s not me right now. I’m more of: sleep in the morning, hearty lunch, work/blog/surf/dinner somewhere in there until very late into the evening, playtime with the bf, then sleep. Boring, huh? Don’t I know it. And so sedentary, it’s so depressing. Yeah, I just really have to ride a few more years and then maybe I can retire! Be a doctor’s wife! What do doctor’s wives do anyway? Anything they want to. Bwahahaha!

But that up there is me in the future! Yes! And do you see the word “work” in my first paragraph? NO! Ah, such is my sweet dreams. Haha. Just my crazy ramblings. Off to sleep now. :)

So, I finally got the crown today! And wouldn’t you know, it feels just like the real thing. And so white, my other teeth look stained in comparison. Ugh. When I get enough moolah, I might just porcelain all my teeth!!! So I’ll look like a celebrity like Beyonce of Dereon fame or Hillary Duff of the rabbit-like veneers. *Cue Evil Laughter*

Well that’s what I thought after I’d left the dentist’s office and surveyed my new tooth. When I was there, it was just gruesome. I kid you not. My dentist took off the temporary crown first. She kind of used a tool like a hammer for the mouth, hammering both sides of the tooth. Then tried to pick it off my gums multiple times, using her fingers, then a pick-ish tool. I think my gums had already started to grow over my temporary crown so they bled and bled. :( :( :(

Then she fit the porcelain crown over my tooth and it was too big, and she had to pick it off multiple times to shave some off the top and refit onto my gums. Really my gums bled and bled the entire time. :( It was NOT fun. And no anesthesia the WHOLE time.

And now my jaw feels very, very sore.

But the tooth looks nice.

And my boyfriend came by to pick me up and we drank some shakes and had a nice meal.

So everything is perfectly okay. :)

No, it’s not as pretty as it sounds.

It means that tomorrow I am going to be sitting in a dentist’s chair, with scary-sharp dental tools on medical carts beside me and my dentist hovering over my vulnerable, open mouth covering my broken molar with a porcelain crown.

From what I gather. ‘Cause my dentist just called me to say, “Come in tomorrow, I’ll give you a porcelain.” ‘Kay, doc.

In truth, if you’ve done a root canal, or a molar tooth extraction, (dunno what’s worse – I just know those were the most painful moments in my life), a simple porcelain crown ain’t nothin’ to worry about.

So. Wish me luck! And here’s to more good eating in 2011. Ha! :)

I met up with an old friend a few days ago, and he mentioned to me he was renting his own apartment. It means he has his own room, his own kitchen, and nobody shares his bathroom faucets, nor refrigerator space, nor living room couch… So happy for him, and so envious of him too!!

I am currently sharing one with my college friends. And I’m a very private person, so it’s a bit hard for me. But I enjoy the privacy of my own room – so that’s good enough, for now at least.

The last year has been a lot of fun building up my independence. I used to be a very sentimental person, I kept scrapbooks and photo albums and memorabilia and diaries! But living away from home, I’ve realized that all I really need is a suitcase – which contains my identity papers, a few clothes, some footwear, my toiletries, my data… it’s really all I need. And it feels good to not be attached to anything. Things aren’t important, what’s important are the people you love – and I’ve kept those people close.

And I’ve also realized that I don’t have the patience to play nice with people I don’t really give a damn about. I think it’s making me more antisocial but, really, why put effort into being close with people when you know you’re being fake the whole time. I could attend a party and chug down beer that makes me want to puke, and make fake small talk and play nice and all that. But it’s just too useless, and I could spend my time more fruitfully, and I’m getting too old to care really.

So I just put more effort into being with the people I do like. Some of them I’ve lost touch with across the years – so I am grateful for the holidays, for a little reunion dinner, for a short time to reminisce. (A friend of mine said a few days ago to another friend, “I am happy to see you.” Just like that, and there wasn’t really much they could say, chalk that up to the years in between and no longer having that much in common. But still, the joy was there, and he was just happy to see the other person, that’s all. I felt the same way. I just wanted to SEE these people I missed so much.) There are some people you just really want to see and spend time with, it doesn’t really matter what you talk about. These are the people I want to focus on. And there are some people I really wish I could spend more time with – but some of them are out of the country – I guess the least I can do is keep in touch via email or social networks, though I do wish there could be more.

I’m rambling. But I guess the point is – in 2010, I started to lose attachment to things and be more independent and I started to care less and less about my behavior or people’s feelings. 2010 was about me. And that’s a good thing. :) Here is to 2011 and getting to know myself even better.

Seriously. The holidays are so much fun. Since I came home, I’ve just been sleeping in, waking up whenever I want, eating all my mom’s homecooked meals, marathoning various shows that feature surgeries and ecg machines (they are so many of these doctor shows now, can’t keep count), going out with Gim in the evenings… ahhhh, this is the life!

I know I should be bored out of my mind, but gosh, the stress of the previous year just isn’t something I want to go back to. I just feel sad that I can’t find a job as industrially challenging or financially rewarding as the one I currently have, so I am grateful to be going back to Manila, but I definitely am not looking forward to the stress or the rat race. I just wish my Gim would be there with me, it would definitely lighten up my days.

This 2011, I wish for a reason to get up and get to work. Hope with me! ♥

If you lived in my hometown, you’d know the number of times it gets dark in a week! Yes, I am talking blackouts, in this day and age! Alas, our city had more than the share it deserved. You could expect that it would be lights out at least once a weekend – and during the El Niño, it grew to once every day!

Of course, it wasn’t all that bad. I remember those nights when the moon was bright my cousins and I would play Patintero by the light of the moon. We’d use water to draw the borders. And we’d shriek and run and dodge and and laugh maniacally, playing and dancing by the light of the moon. And it was as magical a childhood memory as you could get. :) So I’m thankful for those times. I wouldn’t trade my childhood for anyone’s.

Still, you needed the batteries. And it would be Eveready, no question! Oh, we would stock up, on candles and batteries! I think there was a way you could measure the amount of candles and batteries consumed by an entire city in the Philippines, ours would definitely make it on top! After all, they were the only things that saved us when we needed to bathe in the dark, cook in the dark, read in the dark, feel refreshed in the dark, and yes, even poop in the dark.

If I had to make a list of the top things we used Eveready batteries for, I would say:
1. Remote Control – we seemed to have a remote for every appliance!
2. Flashlight – never ever ever forget to refill the batteries!
3. Fans – you know, those portable ones that you turn on when there’s no electricity?
4. Massager – wasn’t there a time when these became really popular? I sure had fun with them! *wink wink*

So yeah, I have no idea how we could have survived without batteries! So, thanks, Eveready!!! And happy 110 years! :)