I Heart Cebu

What is there not to like about Cebu?

There are beautiful sandy white beaches everywhere.

Camotes Island

It has plenty of great shops.

There’s great food in every corner.

There are interesting sights to see.

Basilica Minore del Santo Niño

Taoist Temple

Overlooking the city @ TOPS

Mountain View Park

So there’s simply no reason not to be smitten with this dainty old city It has been my adopted home for the past three years and I have no intention of leaving. Well, at least, not just yet!

Summer Twilight

take 1

A Birthday Surprise From Nippon

pastel colored bouquet

Would you believe they’re actually made of soaps? Uh-ha, those gorgeous flowers are in fact carved soaps. The bouquet was a product of my student’s creativity.

As an aficionado of anything artistic and cute,  I was awestruck when I got the photos.

another bunch of beautiful flowers

They’re pretty amazing, aren’t they? Such talent can’t simply be ignored.

Arigatou gozaimashita, Kinuko-san

Red

Sorry for the lack of creativity, but I was so happy how the nail polish turned out. You’d probably find this post too shallow. I know! But I’m just so delighted to have my nails pampered yesterday.

Honestly, red isn’t my favorite color. I’m more of a nature person so I love green the best. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t experiment on colors. I think that’s obvious, huh! Plus, I don’t get my nails done often these days so it’s kinda amazing and a wonderful treat.

And just because it’s February, which happens to be associated with the color red, I  just wanted to go with this month’s motif. I jest!

Gone Bald

BEFORE

AFTER

My Current Addiction

My extremely demanding work schedule afford me less time to go Christmas shopping. Well, thanks to the mighty Internet, I can still shop without even hauling myself to the malls.

And this came just yesterday.
It’s a package full of pretty dresses I ordered from this shop. I basically bought a lot. But definitely, I’m not going to keep all of them. Maybe out of six, I’ll give one to my sister, Chat

My routine is quite maddening so that’s why I’m resorting to shopping on-line. Quite convenient I must say The shop will be opening soon here in Cebu. I’m getting really excited to pay them a visit

Holiday Equals Pampering

All Souls Day, November 2, is one of the most observed holidays in the Philippines. It is the time when Filipinos get to pay their dearly departed a visit to the cemeteries. Every year, when I was still under the roof of my parents, it’s a must to go to my grandparents’ graveyard to say a prayer and to check if their resting places were properly maintained. But since I’m residing an island away from where my ancestors were buried, I’ve kinda excused myself from such tradition.

So instead of spending my time at the cemetery, I’ve decided to give myself some pampering – massage

And I must say every cent I’ve spent was all worth it. My masseuse was top-notch. She did a wonderful job kneading every inch of my body. It was so so relaxing

moi @ the spa's waiting lounge

Burnt, But Happy

More than 4 hours of sun exposure, this what I got: crisp and bronzed. Yay! It’s was too late when I realized I had too much sun yesterday during our company outing. Nonetheless, I’m happy with my new tan as it’s not every day we get to chill out without having to think of our workloads. But what worries me though is my travel next week, which is less than four days from today. Beach activities are a definite part of the itinerary. Nay! It only means before my skin gets the taste of normalcy it’ll have to go through another tanning.

In that case, better find the best sunscreen lotion fast!

In Full Bloom

The majestic beauty of the cherry trees is a major attraction in Japan especially this time of the year. Though I don’t get to experience their magnificence nor touch or smell them, I always get the pleasure of hearing picnic stories under a blossoming cherry tree.  And every now and then, I receive spectacular images of the Cherry Blossom from my students, who are generous enough to share their takes while lazing under the dazzling cherry trees.

Below are the photos which were taken by my Japanese students. Hope you’ll also enjoy them as much I did

Cherry Blossom (Saitama prefecture) by: Y.O.

This is my favorite so far

Pink Cloud (Saitama prefecture) by: Y.O.

Up Close (Kunitachi prefecture) by: Y.K.

Cherry Trees by the Road (Kunitachi prefecture) by: Y.K.

Standing Tall (Kyushu prefecture) by: K.O.

Lone Cherry (Kyushu prefecture) by: K.O.

Peach Trees by: T.O.

These aren’t actually Cherry trees but Peach trees. Don’t you just love the colors?

Weekend Act

Great company/crowd (yay!). Great booze. Great place (hmmm???).

This is how I should spend my weekends. Nah, maybe not! But perhaps, if I’ll be partying and smacking with friends while guzzling beers four times a week, my tolerance for alcohol will probably improve. On a negative note, I’ll likely run out of cash by the end of each week. Which is, by the way,  not a practical idea! So I’ll be wise and stick to the “once in a blue moon partying” for now.

Here’s a quick view of my eventful Saturday evening.

outpost gimmick

Mark, the guy in black who literally breathes on music, was the reason why we decided to party that night. Although rarely do I join any gatherings outside the office, I made an exemption that night because it’ll be our final hoorah to Markie. It’s somewhat like a farewell party for him

On a side note, since Saturday was Earth Hour, Outpost exaggeratedly participated the event We drunk, chatted, and laughed for more than an hour with only candles illuminating the entire place.Arrggghhh!!! Good thing our spirits were high at that time that neither the black out nor the scorching temperature kept us from having fun.

Fast forward to 2 am.

B and I had a past midnight snack at Mr. D before heading home. It was kinda nice strolling along the almost empty street of Gorordo, although we were very mindful of a couple of guys standing in one corner. To our relief, they were totally harmless. Thank God!

something to counter our intoxication

Sunday was spent with the sister since she was in town. Finishing my morning class around 12:30 p.m., I hurriedly picked her up in Marriott Hotel, where they were housed for two nights.

hotel's lobby

And because I skipped breakfast, we first went to MoonCafe to fill my starving tummy.

lunch @ Moon

The food was great, but not totally impressive.

And whenever I’m with the sister, shopping is really a must. Good thing I’m wearing my ballet flats or else I wouldn’t have survived checking almost all the shops in Ayala.*whewww*

My sister is somewhat a shopaholic so I’m kinda prepared to what she’s up to that day. As usual, she bought a lot of stuffs for herself and worst she also tempted me to do some purchases. And did I mention that she’s really good at persuading people? Yeah, she’s really convincing to the point that I was lured into buying things that I could have done without   I would’ve been extremely happy if she offered to pay for them, but I had to shell out a hefty amount of money for these loots.*sigh*

So I’ll just consider these purchases as another belated birthday presents to myself   Which reminds me, how many times do I have to buy birthday gifts to myself?