My Hair

Some people love their hair.  I have a hate-hate relationship.  Seriously, I have ZERO love for my hair. 

Growing in patches

Yumemiya Japanese Cafe

So the weather did not cooperate...

I was crossing my fingers and toes that the sun would shine but it did not so we opted to stay in the city for the long weekend.

Last night, I requested Karl to take the "dogs" out (That's me and Mia).  Since it was raining, I was craving for some soup, like ramen.  I did not want to go to Ukkokei since that's our default ramen place and I just wanted to try something new.  We have a bad habit of not trying new things that includes restaurants.  Karl and I were trying to ask Mia where she wanted to eat (Yes, we make a 4 year old decide our schedule) and she kept on saying Cibo.  I didn't want to eat there because I knew Mia only wanted to eat there because of her Ahia's new free Cibo umbrella that she wanted to get.

I knew there was a ramen place that opened in Northeast Square, Connecticut but I couldn't put my finger on the name of the restaurant but we went to that compound anyways.  Since that was the first Japanese restaurant I spotted, not counting the Japanese Supermarket/Grocery in the same building, we went inside the restaurant.  Haha. Wrong move.

Did you really want to eat here, mom?

Go away Mina!

If the weather cooperates, we're heading here this Monday.



Keeping our fingers crossed!

Jujucleanse: Juju-me, Juju-fail, Juju-good!

I discovered Jujucleanse from reading several blogs.  I found out one of my friends have done it and I was quite curious what it could do to my body.  I have not been fat for awhile (Feeling! Me already!) but I have been always conscious about my body.  Sometimes it can swing up and down a couple of pounds but best effort it swings down more than up.  Hehehe....

Jujucleanse is a no fuss, all benefits approach to juice fasting.  You can choose from an introductory 1 day cleanse or the hard core 3 day cleanse.  Me being me, I chose hard core.  I honestly don't know when I will learn that I.AM.NOT.HARD.CORE in anything.

Fish Feeding at Solenad, Nuvali

One of my frustrations with this country is the lack of kid friendly places to go to.  There are a bajillion malls but not a lot of sanitary places for kids to enjoy.  Here is what else we did last weekend:

Mia and the Nuvali Map!

Army Navy at Nuvali

I had an errand to do in Nuvali.  Since it was my family's first time there, we decided to go around and see what we can do there.

We left Manila late so we got there just in time for brunch.  Okay, so we weren't late, we were just hungry.  Karl and I have been thinking of trying Army Navy, since they had one here, might as well.

They had Fearless Fried Chicken in their menu.  Kids + Fried Chicken = No brainer.  I don't know anyone who doesn't like fried chicken (Unless you're allergic, and you know who you are! Hehe...).  Unfortunately, while we were ordering, we found out they didn't have fried chicken. Mia doesn't really like anything that requires ALOT of chewing e.g. pork and beef.  They had egg for additional toppings for their burger.  We improvised.  Mia ate egg and rice.  Don't judge.  That's seriously her favorite food.  Who would have thought she was going to eat that in Army Navy?  Hehe...

Mia's party in school

Mia had her birthday party in school on her real birthday.  She was SO excited to turn 4 years old just for this.  I actually had some thing to use for bribing her if she did not want to listen.  "You don't want to do drink milk? Okay no party." Yes, yes, bad mother, I know.

In school: on the Birthday wall

Behind the scenes, crazy mother was figuring out how to get the cake from the bakeshop and fix the food in tupperwares for the kids to bring home just in case they didn't finish it (which was usually always the case).

Thrilled to have both her lolas there

Cheap thrills: Pintoora

Mia just recently learned how to chew gum.  I told her about this gum I used to chew when I was younger.  It colors your mouth depending on what color you eat.

Filipinos being Filipinos, there is a copycat version aptly called Pintoora.  We found it in the grocery.

Excited to try it out!

 

Just to prove that my daughter's tongue isn't naturally orange



Orange!

This is more obvious! Purple!

It's less than P1 per gum.  Colors available: Bright red, dark red, orange and purple.  I don't know why they didn't make blue and green.  Those would've been cooler colors than bright red and dark red.  Zzzz....  25 pieces in a pack.  The same manufacturers made something similar to Cry Baby too, they called it Yakee.  I haven't told Mia about that.  I don't think she'll appreciate it at her age.

Cheap thrill! Mia was so amazed her mouth was changing into different colors.

We've got mail!

We got unexpected mail today.  Well, I did get the heads up that something was going to be sent over but I didn't know exactly when it was getting here.  With how reliable the Philippine Postal Service is, you can never really can tell when mail will show up.

Disney princess birthday card! Wahooo!

Thank you Ninang Perky for the back to back Disney princess cards.  We have followed the instructions and used the cards already.  Mia loves playing memory game with cards, so this is just perfect.

See what's inside! Memory game cards

Come home soon! We miss you.

Walang nang atrasan

Fully paid for a level 1, 3 day Jujucleanse diet.

Keep you posted on how it goes.  Wish me luck!

Sexy Saturdays: Pole Dancing and Zumba

I have always wanted to try pole dancing.  I have seen advertisements about Polecats Manila.  I ended up trying Movement Dance Studio.  Why?  Because I'm jologs and Ciara Sotto is the teacher in Movement Because the trial for pole is P400 and if you do other classes for trial, they're for free.  Ding ding ding!  We've got a winner right there.  Free trial again! I know, I know, someday soon, these freebies will bite my behind.

I am trying to look as undistorted as possible

After the Crossfit experience, I realized a. I shouldn't do things on a full stomach b. I should be more open-minded that I will probably suck doing something for the first time.  So I was right on both things.  Good thing I did not overeat my eat-all-you-can Mongolian.  Meme and I looked like monkeys in a tree in our attempt to do pole.

Ahoy Matey!

I am one of those mothers who hate people who impose themed parties on their guests (Please still invite my daughter to your parties).  I mean, unless it's a luau which is really the most no-brainer theme to dress up to, put a flower in your hair and you're set to go.

My brother invited Mia and Caleb to a kiddie party which he was invited to.  It was a pirate party.  Since my child is a girl, I kind of had an excuse not to oblige.  I remembered Karl's cousin's son to have a pirate theme before so I asked if I could borrow costumes and accessories if there were any left.  We were lucky that they were still there!  Yey! We will follow the theme after all.

Arrrr... Fiercest pirate poses!

Mia gave the celebrant an Angry Birds Live set.  I hope Liam enjoys it!

Obviously this was before the party before she got ALOT of stains from the chocolate fondue

I heard from Tita Rio, the host kept on ignoring Mia at the tail end of the party to give chance to the other kids who haven't won prizes yet.  No fair!

Sweet Inspirations

Once in awhile, I get cravings for specific food. Mongolian stir fry holds a special place in my heart. I don't know if it's because it reminds me of my college years or I really just like the combination of butter, soy sauce and all the vegetables to make it pass as a healthy meal.

Mongolian food used to be so accessible from my office. It was a stone's throw away and I could just get it when I wanted. Now, I have to go to our Makati office to get some from our canteen there.

Last week, I saw one of my friends on Facebook post a Mongolian meal she was having. My jaw automatically dropped and I couldn't help ask where she was getting her fix. She said it was in the Glorietta foodcourt but she also mentioned I could try Sweet Inspirations. Since the family was going to be in the Katipunan area anyways, we decided to go there and make mommy a happy and satisfied bunny! (Yes, me!)



That's not my head!

Up!

I just realized I didn't post a picture where we were actually inside the hot air balloon and flying.

For proof purposes, here you go.

Down...

Up...

Up...

 and Away!!!

Guess what I'm doing this Saturday?

A little bit of this...

Maybe not upside down...

And a little bit of that...

Maybe not with Blondies...

I can't wait to tell you guys about it.

How to not think like an owner

I had to ride a taxi today from U.N. Avenue to Eastwood. I hailed 4 taxis before I found my soulmate(the one who'd take me to where I wanted). Here are my conversations with each driver.

Taxi #1
Me: Kuya, Eastwood po.
Driver: Ma'am, malayo. Dagdag P50 sa metro.
Me: Nye! Huwag na.

Taxi #2
Me: Kuya, Eastwood po.
Driver: MagMRT nalang kayo ma'am.

Taxi #3
Me: Kuya, Eastwood po.
Driver: Ayoko.

Taxi #4
Me: Kuya, Eastwood po.
Driver: Magkano ibabayad mo?
Me: Kung ano nasa metro.

I don't understand why they said no to me. If I were a driver, I would try to do as much trips as I can. Considering the size of competition, shouldn't you just take any opportunity(unless the customer looks like a thug)? If those drivers were the owners of their taxi, they might have exerted more effort to make more money. Just saying...

Mia's Birthday Weekend Salubong

One of the things Mia requested for her birthday were sky lanterns.  Sky lanterns are believed to be your guide to ancestral spirits.  This was how common folk conveyed their wishes to heaven.  In Mia's world, she saw this in Tangled, and since Rapunzel had them for her birthday, she wanted them too.

Before the sky lantern lighting ceremony, this is what happened during the day:

Yes, nakapose kahit sa carseat. We buckled her after this shot. Relak!

We left Manila around 8am for Clark.  We had breakfast in one of the gas stations in NLEX.  We had to go to a tree planting but since the road was bumpy, I decided to stop in Zoocobia which was the same area as the tree planting and wait for the rest of the group to finish.

Nayong Pilipino sa Clark

This weekend was about celebrating Mia’s birthday salubong.  Since we were in Clark, we decided on dropping by Nayong Pilipino Clark to explore.  I have not been to Nayong Pilipino in Clark ever as far as I know/ remember because I have Alzheimer's I'm not so credible with these things.  The last time I was in Nayong Pilipino, Pasay was when I was in 1^st grade.   Yes, so many eventful field trip sites then (Luneta Park and Nayong Pilipino...).



Welcome to Nayong Pilipino Mowdel Pose




The Map!



Tan - Worak Nuptials Part II

More pictures from the wedding:

In the parlor- Mia's bigote (a.k.a her tita's hair extensions)



We always have mowdel sessions



Giveaway Idea

I saw this idea from Karl’s officemate’s son’s birthday party. I thought it was a cute giveaway so I decided I should do this for Mia’s birthday.

Check out the lower left picture. Sample lang. Mia's friend is not Blake!

  

As usual, as the Queen of Malas, I couldn’t find any free printables with a decent design! This was the best I could do with Google.  Yes, it’s for weddings, but if you squint at the design I chose, the sample says 12^th birthday! A birthday is a happy day after all.

My peg



Tan - Worak Nuptials

Two weeks ago, one of my cousins got married. He was the reason why we planned this. His wedding was a long time coming.  So of course, we were very happy it happened.  Sandee, welcome to the family!



The wedding was held in Mary the Queen.  The reception followed at Makati Shangri-la.

 

Some pictures from the reception.  

This is where I forced Karl and Mia to have a family picture. Am I a mother or what?