Cebu's Finest Hotels

I had a glimpse of some of Cebu's first class hotels. And this is a big thing for me! I've never stayed in a 5-star hotel before because... 1) I don't have to and 2) I don't need to. And though, I'd love to, I can't due to financial constraints :) Thus, a tour on these hotels is truly special!

I felt and breathed every moment knowing that I was on the same room as someone I admire who stayed in that hotel, sitting on the same chair, climbing the same stair, cooking in the same kitchen, reading the same magazine, opening the same door, riding on the same elevator, seeing the same stars, being under the same moon, and existing in the same world. Haha! Talk about exaggeration.

I may not have stayed over night but it was still a night :) We should have toured during the day because the sun gives a better view than the moon does. I'm talking about the outside view. But the lights are magnificent at night. (Of course, Ems! Why do you have to turn on the lights during the day. -Save Mother Earth Movement)..Ooops! Nevertheless, it was such a..... uhhhmmm... experience! :) Thank you Kuya Bong for taking us there!

1) Shangrila's Mactan Resort and Spa

2) Plantation Bay

3) Movenpick Resort and Spa

4) Marco Polo

Desiderata

One of my favorite poems of all time. Desiderata means "desired things", plural of desideratum, by American writer Max Ehrmann.

It's so inspiring! It's so timeless!





Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be
cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

Valentine's Day Wishlist

This is such a joyous month of the year - next to December and April, which is my birth month :) It's the LOVE month! And I'm loving everyday of it :) Just feeling so good about how much love is coming in my life and how this teaches me to give back even more.

Now let's go to the big day that everyone's excited about. How am I celebrating it? Hmmmm....

I remember that when I was in grade school, we were asked to make cards with hand-painted hearts to give to our parents. In high school, we just make a handful on our own even it wasn't required so we can distribute to friends. In college, I was still giving to friends. And as time passed, we make special surprises, not just cards, for the ones we love.

And on the other hand, I'm also always excited to receive something special because I'm soooo an occasion person. Though I believe that everyday is an opportunity to show and express love, there still should be special days for celebrations. I call these celebrations MILESTONES :) Because I can't remember everyday! I can only remember the remarkable ones. May this milestone be remarkable. :)

This again is another daydreaming. But oh! There's still a difference. Today is not yet a Saturday. It's still a Friday but let me have my daydreams listed already so I could sleep soundly later. :) I just can't get these out of my head. I had to release them or I'd burst. (Images from the web.)

1) I want a super overly sweet, love-filled, genuinely written love letter. I melt with words. :)



2) A long-stemmed red rose. Take note, it's just "A" rose. I can be happy with one. :) If there'll be three or a dozen, I'll be the happiest!!!



3) A chocolate cupcake with a heart :) I love sweets and I love hearts. :)



See? I only desire simple things. These are already milestones for me. What's important is the time and the presence. :)

But wait, there's more! I also have wildest dreams.

What about mountain climbing and singing love songs until we reach the top?




Or sky diving while holding hands?



Or cruising in the Pacific ocean with just a kayak?



Or lying on the sand and counting the stars? And not stopping until we've counted them all :P



Extremely wild! But in whatever way we celebrate it or with whomever, have a heart filled with love everyone! :) Cheers to the happiest love month ever! :)

Now I can sleep... May my dreams come true. And yours, too :)

First Ever Out-of-town Trip

I started working in Mindanao State University in June 2007. I'm very happy to be part of a very happy family. This department, as I see it, is the most joyful in the whole university (biased. Hehe..) We like having fun. Celebrations happen every now and then. Of course, we celebrate birthdays. We have bountiful food during exams. People with something new give blow-outs. Someone who arrives from a vacation gives treats. We eat ice cream on Fridays because we worked hard the whole week or just because it's so hot outside. We want to have pizzas and burgers for even the simplest things or even having no reason at all. The office is always a joyful place. But we're just in the office. We haven't really got out except for Christmas parties.

One day, as a semester was about to end, a voice popped up, "We need a break! Let's go out and have some fun!" Everyone who was there highly agreed, "Yes! We deserve it!" And the long time plans of going out from the four corners of MSU to breathe some fresh air came to reality.

Lake Sebu! Here we come!

Food!




Zipline!



Boating!



Fun!



Family!



I love the fun of being with my once admired professors and now also my fun-loving colleagues.

More of these in the coming months and years!

Cuteness

The days are so quiet and incomplete without my adorable and super over of cuteness niece, Caela. They visited her other Grandpa and Grandma. They'll be gone for few days.

So here I am going through her pics because I miss her so much - her laughters, her dances, her hops, toothless smiles, screams, and even her cries. She seldom cries and when she does, we let her because she's so cute when she cries especially when she just tries to. It's very obvious from her voice and her face that she just wants to be outside her crib and be carried. I miss her hugs, too. Her hugs are very sweet especially when she's so sleepy and sick. Maybe she wants to feel loved.




And I also found this. I love this very contrasting expressions stolen pic. Her mother, my sister, was taking pictures of us while we were playing and sun-bathing one early morning. Maybe I was kissing her so much that she just frowned trying to say stop.



Do you also have nieces and nephews? Don't they just give you so much joy? :)

Daydreaming Saturday: My Favorites

I'm not going out today and so I lazily crawled out of bed and blogged! It's a daydreaming morning. :) These are the things I'd love to see and experience on a beautiful Saturday. But since I opted to stay at home, I'll just feel the goodness of them as if they're running through my veins. :)

(All images are from Google)

No.1 Sunsets



I'm not a beach buddy but I love the beach at sunset. It's where the best views of sunsets are. Sunsets give me the feeling of being reflective, of being amazed of the beauty of the earth, of being grateful for what the day has brought me, and of being hopeful for the yet wonderful things to happen the next day.

No.2 The Rain




My super favorite time in the world is when it rains (not the heavy rains but the sweet and gentle ones). I just love the feel of the drizzles on my face, my toes, my skin. It's like blessings pouring out from above and it's like washing all the impurities out from me and making me a new (and wet) creation. Hehe...

People rush to go home or find a place where they can hide from the rain but I'd rather bring out my umbrella and sing with the raindrops as my music. Isn't it great to see the trees dancing with the cold wind. The flowers smiling because they're refreshed and the streets bouncing for joy because they're out of dusts.

I love the rain!

No.3 Journals

I love writing! I take notes of inspiring words that I've read and listened to, my to-do list, important occasions, things that I learned everyday, and those which made me happy for the day. Before, I keep four journals(including a planner) a year - my diary, my book of prayers, my happy journal, my planner. But I learned that it's practical to just have one so I can carry it always and have my notes written in no time. Now, I have one notebook for actually 5 purposes. It's my budget notebook as well. Haha! Did it sound like a mess? But I have everything in it and it's what I really wanted. It's like every minute of my day is in it. Hehe..

I take time to pick the perfect journal for me because I'll be using it for a year and so it shouldn't go out of my "like zone". And yey! I found the one from sterling!

And these are adorable, too!




Now I have to get some breakfast. Happy Saturday blogging world! And to those who are not going out like me, happy daydreaming! :)

Architect Champoy

Congratulations to my dear friend, the new architect Charmenne Diane Odan!



You deserve all your blessings Champoy! I'm so proud of you. A big hug from me here in Gensan to you there in Manila :)

Go City Highian!

And congratulations also to the the University of the Philippines for a 100% passing rate in the Architecture Board Exam.

Favorite Friends

Do you have favorite friends? Because I do! These are the people who have created special memories with me and amidst time and distance, they remain special. It's seldom that we see each other anymore. Maybe, once or twice in a year but when we do, all the fun just come in just like what we had before.

We graduated from high school exactly 10 years this year. It's been a decade guys! I have three barkada groups in high school. Yes I was that friendly. One was with cutie cutie gals. The other was with beautiful gals and a guy. And one was with those who became the valedictorian, the salutatorian, the honorable mentions, and the artists. I had to be part of that group so I could copy assignments and share answers during quizzes. (No I don't cheat I just receive answers from the generous :) Oooppss. ) Thanks to them I wasn't really that near to the last rank. Maybe that's also why they're one of my favorites. They inspire me to achieve! :)

Here's with the third group.



Look at us here. We're so toddlers. But these are the most memorable years of my life.

I spent the first day of the year with them fooling around the camera after availing of the unlimited shots for 10 minutes in a photo studio. Here are some of our crazy poses.










I really had good genuine laughters guys! See you again next time! :)

Daydreaming Saturday

It's a cold Saturday here in General Santos City. It has actually been raining the past days. And I love the rain! It's like super overflowing blessings from above. But though there's no sign of any raindrops outside, it's still so cold even though it's 10:30 am already.

I just got up from a morning nap. Hehe. Weird. I woke up at 8am earlier to have my breakfast and was immediately back to bed. How I love Saturdays especially when I don't have any plans of going out. I love being at home. I have all the time in the world. Just feeling so laid back today.

I've mentioned three love's already. 1) the rain 2) Saturdays 3) Being at home. The fourth love for today is daydreaming! I was still hesitant to get up because of my daydreams about flower gardens, snowglobes, dresses, and foot soaks! But I ran out of pictures in my head so I decided to see more from Google.

So here are what I can add up to my stored images :)

Flower Gardens

Flowers inspire to me to have a colorful life. They are very soothing to the heart. Not much of flower gardens on this part of the world so these are like super amazing. Are these really existing? Wanna be here!!!

Snowglobes

Snowglobes are my only addiction. It's like when I see one, I wanna jump like a kangaroo because of its cuteness. But I don't buy one. I request (and sometimes beg) people to give me one. :) It's so stress-relieving because it's so calm. The world in it is so perfect. I wish someone would give a musical one, half the diameter of a basketball. :)






Dresses

Super fan of dresses especially Korean's. Will be making my own soon! Dressmaking classes for summer! Yey!







Foot Soak


Because I work in a quite not so cool place on earth, (No, I'm not a merchant riding on a camel. But our university is tagged to be close to a desert school) there's a need to take extra care of my feet. My greatest nightmare is to have cracked heels. :)

Turning One

My super adorable niece, Caela, is turning one! Yey! ...on June 12, 2012. Ooopss. Am I overly excited?! I actually am! It will be the first baby party in the family so I'm super excited... even more excited than the mother because I was the one who brought up the idea to start preparing by now. Exaggeration? I guess not. I'm just excited. Hehe. (Redundant?)

As the first stage of planning, we browsed for ideas from the most reliable world wide web and found cutie pieces of just about anything for a first birthday party. (Images from Google.)



There are lots of party ideas! Loving party preparations! :)

Ang Pag-iisang Dibdib (The Wedding)

I'm such a die hard fan of weddings! Because I'm a true believer of destiny and that one true love :) And today, I've witnessed another seal of promises of forever. :)

The long sought-after bachelor of IT department of MSU-Gensan is a bachelor no more! Goodbye to singlehood Sir Jose and cheers to a happy marriage! Everyone, meet Mr. and Mrs. Jose II and Lucky Leah Trillo! (Applause!)

(Pic courtesy of John Ray Balayon)

It wasn't love at first sight but it became a story of a One TRUE LOVE :)

And since weddings happen just once in a lifetime (Well, at least in this side of the world), people in the department also prepared for this special day of our colleague. Modern filipiana was the motif and Sir Jose warned us that we couldn't enter if not in the proper attire. So there we went to the malls and the dress shops to look for a dress.

On the day, we were teasing each other because we looked like part of the entourage.

My dress was close to that of a bridesmaid. Haha!



Oh! Weddings! I love being part of you. But more than the joy of celebrating this special occasion with these two friends, I wish you a more joyful marriage! And lots of children! :)

I love you both! Congratulations!

Welcome to MSU Family Ley!