Two weeks ago, I joined a bazaar in Eastwood. It was an 8PM to 3AM bazaar because it is in a call center. The next day, I caught a cold, maybe because of tiredness or something. My colds lasted for two days or so.


A week later, I started making grallows to give away for Christmas. These are graham crusted marshmallows that I make into balls. Jeff gave them to his coworkers in Alveo, and my mother-in-law gave them to their village friends. The next day, I baked calamansi cupcakes which we gave to our ninongs and ninangs. I knew I was falling sick, but I never thought it was going to be that bad.

August of last year, I was also brought to the ER. The right side of my cheek was painful and I assumed it was just toothache. Jeff and I went to Chili's in Greenbelt and we both ordered a liter mug of beer. The moment I took a sip of the beer, my entire right cheek felt like it was exploding in pain. Jeff brought me to the MakatiMed ER. The initial findings was sinusitis. So it was not my tooth, it was my sinus. I was given oral pain relievers and antibiotics in the ER.

After two years, I am back to my curly hair! Last Friday, Jeff asked me if I want to go to the salon and have my hair permed again. It was a day after my birthday and I was in a really bad mood. He knew how to cheer me up!

I've always been fascinated with tattoos. Back in college, I thought yeah, I'll have a tattoo one day. The plan got shelved when I got old and priorities started piling up. It was only recently when I found time to write my bucketlist again.

We met through a common friend, Shiela, when we joined the Ondoy No More Run in Thunderbird Resorts.

She only has this tattoo on her leg when we met. Now, her whole lower right leg is full of tattoo!

Forgive my ugly and sore back.

Friends, I got tapis! This is me with the Myke Sambajon.

Thank you, Jeff for allowing me to do this. To Carol for being the biggest kunsintidor ever. To Myke for helping me cross this out of my bucketlist! Should I say, see you again soon? :P

With all the support and monetary help that we are getting from other countries, let us not think that our help are not needed anymore in Visayas. We all have that responsibility to extend a hand to our countrymen.


Let me just say that we are so used to giving old clothes whenever there are relief operations like this, but please let's not limit ourselves to old clothes. They also need a few things that you might be forgetting. Here's a list that you can include to your donations.

Photo from www.dietplusnutrition.com

Photo from www.blankets4u.net

I have stopped watching the news three days ago because I cry uncontrollably everytime I see how bad the situation is. Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) pounded Visayas really bad. I cry everytime I read personal accounts of people. I cry everytime I read news about millions of dollars being sent by foreign countries. I cry when I read that there are foreigners coming over to help. I cry because my heart is so broken.

I decided to stop crying (although I still cry most of the time) and start acting. Back in 2011, my sisters and I had a donation drive for the victims of Sendong in Cagayan de Oro. This year, we're doing it again! It is now bigger (naks!) as we are working with my Tita Pilar and my cousins. We are calling this OPERATION SUNSHINE! Yay!

My friend, Farah who has a printing business, pledged to print tarpaulins for the drive so we can put it up our stores in Antipolo. Yay ulet! I have the photo at the bottom of this post so you can save it and post it you your walls if you want to. We are working with our ninang, Tita Beth Angsioco and DSWP to bring your donations to Visayas.

You can drop off your donations at my mother's store in the Antipolo Public Market (Jun and Fe Store) or at my Tita Pilar's textile shop (Pilar's Telamart). They're both along F. Manalo Street, near Iglesia ni Cristo. If you can't find it, don't hesitate to message me!

Maraming salamat po!

November 9, 2013 was a very sad day for the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan also known as Yolanda hit the central part of the Philippines and it did hit hard. So hard. The typhoon made a landfall at 4AM of Friday and left the Philippines on Saturday afternoon. It was the worst 24 hours that I know. I sat in front of the TV and my laptop. I kept on checking the news for updates, and checking live satellite views of the typhoon's movement. It was unbelievable. I felt so bad sitting inside the house and sitting on a comfortable couch while a lot of people are fighting for their lives.

November 7, 2013. 12:11 PM.

November 8, 2013. 12:21 PM.

November 8, 2013. 4:08 PM. Where's the Philippines?!?

I'm pretty sure only a few people have heard about Lily Pond in Tagaytay. This is because they just recently changed their name. It used to be Moon Garden. It is located along SVD Road, Tagaytay City. It's right before Alveo Land's Kasa Luntian and very near Estancia Hotel.

El Nido town is not like Boracay where you can walk to Station 1 and swim, or dress up at night and go partying. It is a simple town with a very friendly neighborhood.

Since I have already shown my left and right ovaries, I might as well share this little secret that I did. I did a Boudoir Doll shoot in 2011.

Yep, that's right. I was a few pounds lighter at that time. Jeff and I just got engaged and I wanted to give him something in return for the ring that he gave me. Haha!

The Boudoir Dolls is a group of women photographers of Imagine Nation Photography. They do shoots like Boudoir Bride, Boudoir You, and Boudoir Bump. It started when my friend Ria, who used to work for Imagine Nation Photography told me about the shoot that she did. So when they had a promo with Ensogo, I bought it right away.

Ten years ago if I hear the word hashtag, maybe I imagined hash browns with tags. But today, hashtag is a very powerful social media tool which is normally misused by misguided people.

Photo from www.brandwatch.com

In our life, we'll only have one mother. The one who you will stay with for about 20 to 25 years. If you get married, you get to acquire another mother -- your mother-in-law. My mother, who never had a mother-in-law because my father's mom died when he was just four years old, once told me that if I ever get married, I should love my husband's mother the way I love her. She told me that having a good mother-in-law is one of the best gifts that a woman can have.

When Jeff and I got married, we moved in their loft. It is a 25sqm (or so) bedroom above their garage. It has its own toilet and bathroom and my father-in-law also installed a split type air condition before we even moved.

I came across this list back in August and I thought of sharing it here. I totally forgot about it, but you know, it's better late than never. These things mentioned totally make sense. Share it of you agree!

Photo from http://thefacultylounge.edublogs.org/

A few weeks after I received Jeff and I's engagement photos from Framed-Up Production in 2011, I emailed a certain wedding blog/website if I can send them the photos and if they can feature it. I have adored our prenup photos. I have never seen a basketball prenup ever. So I thought, maybe this will be interesting enough for them.

Photos by Mot Rasay of Framed-Up Production

"Wala pa ba?"

"Hindi ka pa ba buntis?"

"Kelan kayo magbe-baby?"

These are few of the questions that I still get until now, until after I wrote about my condition. I have read somewhere that September is the National PCOS Awareness Month. Wow, I didn't know we actually have a month for us! I feel like it's the perfect time to write about this.

PCOS or Polycystic Ovary Syndorme is one of the most common female endocrine problem. In layman's term, it is hormonal imbalance. It affects a woman's body -- she gains weight, have acne breakouts, more hair in the body, and no ovulation. There are also more male hormones in the body than female hormones. It is said that 1 out of 15 women has it. I'm quite confused because I think 1/3 of all my female friends have PCOS. Has the number gone up since I don't know when? Has stress taken it's toll to our kind?

I'm not sure if you are interested to know what our ovary looks like, but for your reference, here's a photo from http://womenshealth.gov

I always look forward to eating whenever Jeff and I travel. Knowing that El Nido is surrounded with water, I expected to indulge myself with a lot of seafood. True enough, El Nido did not disappoint us. Here are our Top 5 favorite places to eat in town.

Hello from me and Bea!

So maybe all of you are wondering, "What is this Strappit thing that Jeff and Joy have been posting the past weeks?" Well, here's what it is. ;)

Oye that's my logo. I made it myself! ;)

It all started with the then-Airphil-Express-now-PAL-Express seal sale in January 2013. It was the start of the year and the official holidays for 2013 are already out. I have my heart on booking a flight to Puerto Princesa because I learned that you can go to El Nido from there. So I booked. And I realized that I clicked July 4 to 8, 2013 which would fall under Jump and Lora's wedding. And I paid for it. Damn credit card. I don't know if Jeff got angry, but I'm pretty sure he's upset. So I said I'm gonna pay for the fare. The next day, I booked another Puerto Princesa flight. This time I clicked the correct dates -- August 21 to 27, 2013.

Antipolo, as we all know, is on top of the mountain located in the east of Manila. Growing up there, I only saw the beach twice when I was in gradeschool-- during excursions in my mom's company. She used to work for a textile factory and every year, they schedule trips to Matabungkay or Quezon beaches. My next few trips would be with my family in Pangasinan and Quezon.

So my friend, Addie is that one person who blogs a lot. I love what she writes and follows her posts. She has this one section in her blog BETWIXT AND BETWEEN called Thought Questions. Today, I am picking it up from her and answering my first ever question.

Cryptic is defined by the dictionary as something having a secret meaning. It's like saying something indirectly.

Kare-kare is Jeff's favorite food. It's been my problem since we became a couple because I don't know how to cook it. One morning, I was out buying something and I had a light bulb moment -- I will cook kare-kare today. I called my mom and asked her the recipe. Again, she doesn't cook well, she's just good with all the pachams. Hehe. We have a store in Antipolo Public Market so she kinda asks her suki who has carenderias. I used pork chops the first time I cooked it, but unfortunately, I didn't have pictures. This is my second try in cooking kare-kare and I tried a healthier version. Here's my fish kare-kare.

This has been a long overdue post. I've been meaning to write about this but I kept forgetting. Signs of aging I guess. So anyway, my mother-in-law had a planning session for PICPA (Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants) Southern Manila Region last June 8, 2013 in Hamilo Coast in Nasugbu, Batangas. She tagged all of us along, except of Ate who had something up that weekend.

I am a self-confessed probinsyana. And even though I didn't like eating vegetable when I was young, I knew how to cook them (and eventually ate what I cooked) by the help of my mom. She's not really a good cook, but we love her pacham recipes. Pacham as in pachambachamba lang haha.

So his birthday is coming up. You think of something to give him, like a pair of dress shoes from Cole Haan, or a new pair of Jordans, or a Swiss watch, or an out of town trip. But have you thought that it would be cheaper to throw him a surprise party?