Latest Posts

Manila Weekend Recap, Part 1

Published by Justine

Prelude:

When Bianca told me she needed help in planning her wedding, I gladly obliged, despite being a plane ride away. Whatever I could do, I tried to help. Fortunately and to our pleasant surprise, the church she chose had very limited slots and her chosen date was May 20 at 9am. I didn’t expect to be spending my birthday in Manila this year, but I was glad! It meant I would be spending it with the Jakarta famkada again, just like 2014 and a bit of last year.

We (Mom, Jana, me) left on the 18th, taking the last flight out by PAL. It was an early night for us because we wanted to avoid traffic, and we did. What I hated the most was that our flight was delayed by 2+ hours, so it was quite a bitch waiting in the airport. The only thing that consoled me was PAL planes are better, so it was a very comfortable trip. I joked to Jana that we spend more hours waiting in the airport than being on the flight itself.

It was such a great coincidence that the condo that Ate Checoi & Kuya Boboy kindly let us borrow for the weekend was just around the vicinity of the bridal hotel, the church, and the reception venue. This is the first time I’ve ever been in Quezon City and I was a little bit disoriented at first but it turned out alright. By the time we arrived QC, it was past 2am already. I fell asleep excited for the weekend’s festivities.

The Day Before the Wedding (Preparation & Bachelorette Sparty)

Friday was our planned “bachelorette” for Bianca. The ladies of the entourage—Abby the MOH, me, Noemi, Gia, Sally (Bianca’s close college friend), Carissa, and Patty—decided that we were going to plan a Sparty where we would do our nails, have foot and/or body massages, and just relax. Initially it was supposed to be in a salon within the area but I foresaw the day to be extremely hectic and crazy that I figured nobody would have time for logistics and going out of the hotel so Abby arranged the spa to come to us instead. Later on we would really be thankful of that arrangement. The sparty was set for 4 in the afternoon, after Abby accompanies Bianca to do her last minute fitting, and other bridal errands.

B Hotel in QC was Bianca’s choice so that’s where we booked a room prior to the wedding day for 4 of the girls too. In the morning, I met many of the Jakarta Titas during breakfast and then the Core girls for brunch. It was so good to see Noemi again after a year, Carissa, and although I have seen Patty and Gee for the past year, it was so good to be with the girls again–sans Bianca for the moment. After lunch, Carissa did some visa errands, and so did Gee and Patty in Novotel (where they were booked), so I went ahead and did an early check in and so did Noemi & Norvin and we spent the early afternoon just talking and catching up. Many stories to be had and many lazing arounds to be done. Always one of my favorite things to do with them.

Also I must note, for the whole duration of our stay and thereafter, B Hotel provided the best possible service. One of the best I have received, so to say. The staff were so nice, so courteous, so patient, and attended to our every need. I requested to change rooms THRICE during a one night stay, and they did not bat a single eyelash to it and to our other requests. Thank you very much for dealing with a bridesmaid-zilla!

To cut a long story short, the Sparty was a success, but the surprise wasn’t. It seemed like everybody arrived at the same time! I kept the sparty attendants in our room hoping that Bianca’s room would only be across ours and our surprise would be flawless, only to find out it was floors down below. So I had to bring the attendants to the right floor and lo and behold, we bumped into Bianca in the corridor towards the room after a failed stalling by the groom and me yelling, “Surprise???” in the hotel corridors while we were all on the way to the room. All of this while Abby the MOH was frantically blowing up the bride & groom balloons for the decorations. Thank goodness Sally brought enough cookies for everyone to satisfy our sugar rush!

After that everything went into place. We had our manicures and foot spas and pedicures and full body massages and head massages and everything was so good. I got to have some quality time with Bianca when we had our massage together. So happy we got to talk for a bit and catch up.

Time flew by so fast that afternoon and the next thing we knew it was nighttime and time to have dinner before we prepare for bed! Bianca was supposed to be asleep by 7pm because she had to be awake and prepare by 1am, but by 8-9pm we were still having dinner at the hotel restaurant. Pre bedtime preparations were done (like ironing our dresses–thanks Noemi for your expertise!!) and by 11pm we were all in bed. Bianca gets ready by 1am, and we had to start getting ready by 3am which we were wrong about.

Wedding Day

A little before 2am, Abby rang our doorbell because it was time to prepare. So early! I was glad I had a deep sleep despite the short time. Everyone was up and we had to call the Novotel girls Patty and Gee to come over to the hotel. By 6am we weren’t all ready yet–crazy right? Even though we all woke up so early we still underestimated the time it would take to glam up. The bridesmaids had a pre-shoot with the videographer and I hadn’t even done my hair yet so in that footage my hair is all messy and everything and it was just my makeup that was done. Haaaa.

We all went to the church a little before 8am for the 9am ceremony and after photos and greetings, we all walked down the aisle before the bride. My partner, one of the groomsmen and Chooch’s best friend told me right before we walked, “I still can’t believe this is happening!” and because it is summer in the Philippines we had already started sweating before the bride’s march. Also partly due to nervousness. The ceremony ended, and the entourage had a little photo shoot post-ceremony before we proceeded to the reception area. I had to give a speech that I was going to prepare the night before and totally failed because of all the busy-ness! What’s worse, I also went right after my partner who was such a natural in giving speeches. He delivered his so greatly and I couldn’t believe I went after him. I managed to create a small bullet point of what I was going to mention and even though that part (giving the speech) was such a blur to me, I’d like to think I did a good job because Bianca cried. I didn’t want to cry! So I didn’t look at her much.

Everyone had a good time during the reception and it was a chance for us to bond even though it was just for a short while and so many things were happening in between. I cried during Tito Ric’s speech (gaaaah T____T), and when the videographers showed their super well-made SDE (same day edit).. I burst into tears as well.

So there’s that. One of my best friends is now married and we were all there to witness it!

A Post Birthday Listicle

Published by Justine

I may not blog as often, but I always make sure to have a blog up at the time of my birthday, whether a reflection, a recap, or just something to remember. No excuses!

  1. My birthday weekend was jampacked to say the least because I was in Manila for one of my best friend’s wedding on Saturday the 20th, and my birthday was on the 21st. That meant friends from Jakarta flew home to Manila. Double happies.
  2. I didn’t really have anything planned in terms of a celebration and just went with the waves. I had so much fun because I didn’t expect anything. I always have to remember that.
  3. My birthday was a celebration in itself because a good friend whom I met through twitter years ago got me tickets to ABS-CBN’s noontime show ASAP but even grander as it was Star Magic’s 25th Anniversary! Needless to say, I saw most of the local celebrities. Giddy and totally fangirl-ed!
  4. The weekend felt long and that was a great feeling because it meant I could treasure time with friends but at the same time when it was over it felt too short. Nevertheless whatever time we can get when we’re complete is a blessing in itself.
  5. Do I feel any different turning a year older? Definitely not. Whoever said that age is just a number needs to get a Pulitzer Award for phrases, if there was any.
  6. It’s my last year as a 20-something! I don’t feel any different. Maybe 30 finally will? We’ll have to see next year.

There it is, short and sweet. What will my 29th year bring in store for me? Will things be different next year or more or less the same? This year started on a good note with a new and a much more disciplined job which meant a bigger professional responsibility. I promise to learn and to always try my best to be happy, regardless of how old I am.

Terrace House: Boys & Girls in the City – A Subjective Ranking

Published by Justine

I finally, finally, finally finished Terrace House: Boys & Girls in the City. I say finally because I didn’t choose the most favorable time to binge-watch it, with all the travel and wedding (and birthday, probs), and work-related things I had to attend to. But I just. Could not. Stop. I spent a good amount of weekend time for it and the minute I got home from work, it would be the first thing I do. This resulted to finishing all 46 episodes in a span of 10 days. That may not seem like binge-watching but I HAD SO MUCH TO DO AND WORK IN BETWEEN ALDFJA;SDLJFA;F. ANYWAY!

(Fair warning: this post may contain spoilers for those who have not watched and are planning to.)

A little side note: I started with Aloha State when it first came out because it was more “real-time” and shorter. This made me develop a softer spot for the Aloha State cast. I feel like if I watched B&GITC first, Aloha State cast wouldn’t matter as much to me.

Inspired by this entry, I decided to make one of my own. My background based on this ranking is purely based on personal preference and entertainment value from being on the show and possibly who I see myself being friends or close with. Of course, I will provide a little insight into my choices but that’s pretty much it. Feel free to disagree.

Here goes!

Read More

The Failed Trek That Was

Published by Justine

So today, we went up up and away to Osmeña Peak in the South of Cebu. Summertime dates should mean summer weather, right? Well we were wrong. In defense of that short but gruesome trek, now that I’m at home it wasn’t pretty bad. But this morning while I was struggling through the muddy trek soaking wet in rain, it was pretty damn bad.

We left the house a little after 4am and arrived Dalaguete around 7 after a pit stop at Jollibee Carcar for breakfast. Weather was still bright and sunny and because it was summer, I had thought it was going to be all clear skies. I’ve been dying to go to Osmeña Peak for ages but just never found the perfect time, and I thought (we all thought) that today would be it. Mother Nature did not agree. Once we left Carcar and proceeded to Sibonga all the way to Argao and Dalaguete, rains had already started to pour—not much, but consistent enough to keep the grounds wet and for sure soften the soil.

The ride up from Mantalongon Market to the entrance of Osmeña Peak was fairly easy because we had family cars and the roads were nice and very accessible for any 4×4’s. I was already starting to get wary because on the way up I could already see lots of fog encompassing the surrounding mountains, not letting us see the full view of the surrounding hills. My wariness was confirmed when we reached the top and the view above me was full of fog. It reminded me of the time we weren’t allowed to go up the One World Observatory and Empire State Building in NYC because there was no view due to the fog. Sigh. We soldiered on anyway! Locals around us urged us to switch from our shoes to rain boots and while others happily obliged, I wanted to keep my own because they were incredibly comfy. Once we started the trek, I saw the soil was completely wet and runny I decided to finally just rent those boots—this proved to be the best decision made today.

We hadn’t even reached the entrance yet and it was already a struggle because of the muddy soil and completely wet ground. The boots provided good grip, but it didn’t help that at every step of the way you had to make sure you didn’t slip and fall on your ass, or worse, your face. We took our own sweet time and probably honestly cursed the world for deciding to go on this trip that we knew wouldn’t give us stellar results. When we reached the top, there was no view but fog, we could hardly see anything except the rocks of the peak we were standing on and other people doing the same trek. Even coming back down was much worse because the rain started to get stronger and we were all dripping from hair to clothes. But with every travel near or far, it’s always an experience worth taking. Today’s experience didn’t completely swear me off Osmeña Peak, I will definitely come back at a dryer day because I already how it is and I’m sure it will be a much kinder trek the next time.

Looking back at it now, the short trek would have been really friendly without the wet land. It was less than 1km! It can be done by anyone. It was just a shame we went under less than favorable circumstances.

A Recap of My Week

Published by Justine

It’s Friday (DUH)! This week really passed by like a breeze. I guess it helped that Monday was a holiday (yayy Labor Day) and there were a series of events this week that made it all the more faster. They say time flies when you’re having fun, right?

On Tuesday, the Philippine Bar Results came out after a grueling 6 months of waiting. I can’t imagine having to take an exam and not knowing the results almost half a year later, especially one that will determine my future. How do y’all do it? Anyway, my closest friend from childhood and my neighbor across the street, Hazel, is now a full-fledged lawyer! It was so funny because I had been patiently waiting for the results to come out the whole day, camping out on twitter search results (my preference of news release) to find out if she had made the cut. Series of updates stated that it would be out before at 11:30.

For some weird reason, a little before 11, the school’s fire alarm rang and prompted us to evacuate the building, having to leave my belongings behind. It wasn’t an alarming issue, but the school always takes these precautions seriously. We stood in the blistering heat for a good half hour and I thought I had missed the results. The minute I got back, I saw the flurry of realtime updates from Supreme Court results and saw a tweet that said, “Check if your beshies are included..” with an accompanying link to a dubious site that produced a PDF download of the supposed List of Successful Examinees.

I hurriedly called Hazel and after a few rings, I considered dropping the call because I thought she would be busy with already receiving congratulatory messages. Little did I know, I was the first one to break the news to her. She screamed at me, screamed at the phone asking me if I was lying to her, then Tita Esther took the phone and asked me if I was right, and gave them her no. on the list. There was also crying involved, to be honest. It was nerve wracking, and after the call I was so nervous about giving the wrong information, that maybe I had gone to a fake news site or that I had referred to the list of takers and not the successful examinees. Got through that hurdle and to cap off this story, Hazel is a lawyer!

We had late dinner that night with Junalyn, Lymboy, Hazel’s parents and recalled the day’s events of freaking out but all in all proud of what Hazel accomplished.

The same afternoon, I met up with Dannie to give her a brow product I bought for her when I was at Seaside on Monday. I realized how much I missed my girlfriends, althroughout April we didn’t get to meet up.

I have also decided to switch to contacts!!! Wearing glasses is okay, but at some point it gives me a bad headache so I decided to make the slow switch to wearing contact lenses. The initial ones I bought had color (grey) but quickly realized and upon my colleagues feedback that it was a tad bit distracting. So I bought clear ones that are so much lighter on the eyes and don’t make me look like some weird cat.

Thanks to Tita In-in, we’re going to Boracay on July! There is going to be a major family reunion happening again on July with the East Coast family members flying back to the Philippines. I’m excited and this is another travel plan to my 2017 list!