Thursday, February 28, 2013

Youtube-ing

Hi there!


I know you're very familiar with "youtube". I have been a member since 2010 and it was only last year that I uploaded a video of my cousin singing "Betty Davis Eyes"! LOL I just use my account just to subscribe to channels that I think would inspire me to be creative just when I think I'm having that "Oh-my-gosh-I'm-so-bored-my-brain's-not-working" moment. Youtube is where most people show their talents and they get famous for it!

I, however, do not want to get famous for anything really. It's where I can just let loose, methinks. Anyway, most people close to me know that I LOVE MAKE-UP! Any brand, any color, as long as it doesn't have lead content then I will use it! I have a small collection here at home and every time I get that paycheck, better be sure I have a little something to take home from the beauty counter: make-up, nail polish, etc! One attendant even told me once that I never leave the counter without buying anything! Haha! Oh well! Moving on, I recently made a video "tutorial". It's funny really, I was too early at work and filmed and edited it just using my iPhone!

Check it out and let me know what you think!

P.S.:
Go easy on me, I'm a neophyte! ;)


Now Playing: Pitch Perfect

I know I may be late on this, but I have already seen this movie 5 times in 2 days! 2 days! I can only tolerate a few so-so movies and there's only a handful of movies I love to watch countless of times (like Enemy at the Gates, 50 First Dates, The Devil Wears Prada, Sex and the City 1&2, Titanic and very few Filipino movies). I allow myself to drown in chick flicks especially when I'm PMS-ing and looking for something to comfort me. When I can't find that comfort in food, I watch movies.


The first time I saw this movie was with my siblings and I was not in the mood so I didn't really see the whole movie. The second time was at the office, when my office-mate told me she's already seen it. Since then, I have been watching it until Sunday when I let my boyfriend see the movie after we had breakfast. Right now, I'm itching to watch it again!


Sure, there's GLEE that we can compare it with (although I'm so bored with Glee right now, no offense). However, I don't think they're both even the same (well, except for their Broadway-experienced stars). There's something inviting about this movie that it immerses you into the story. The movie has attitude, aside from the comical antics of Rebel Wilson (who plays "Fat Amy") who is SUPER HILARIOUS! I think she made the movie super funny in a way. I also love (SURPRISE, SURPRISE!) Beca's character! I love her. She's spunky and so cool. Anna Kendrick is a surprise to me because well,  I just saw her in Twilight. I was so shocked that she sings REALLY WELL! Of course, add that to the fact that I did not know that she used to do Broadway. Amazing voice! Can I just also say that even though the story is just light, no heavy dramas (despite the early resentment Beca has for her dad on his divorce to her mom, thank goodness!), it's very appealing and it made sense. I love that even the story is just light, they do not make it feel nor look like the movie's dull or the excitement you get when watching is just fleeting.

To get a grasp on what I'm talking about (if you guys haven't seen the movie yet) please check out the videos below. :)



Sunday, February 17, 2013

First-Timer

Early this morning, I had to experience something new. Something I have been preparing for a bit in the past two weeks. I'm not really a health buff or a "runner" so to speak. Last year, my boyfriend joined a lot of "fun runs". He'd usually ask me to join but I begged off since I really hate waking up very early and I do not like to jog/run alone. I know we'll be going together to the event but his pacing is much faster than mine so I'd still be left out.

A few weeks ago, my office-mate encouraged us to join this local fun run by LGUs (Philhealth and DOH). I signed up for it because most of my workmates were signing up so I thought It'd be fun if all of us went. Since I do not really know what to expect, I had to train myself to run long distance few weeks before the event. I used to practice jog/run but I usually have problems in keeping up with everyone else's pace and I do not really push myself harder. If I felt like I was a little tired, I'd give up. I had to train my endurance and strength for this event. I actually had no plans of winning, all I wanted to do was to finish it.


My race bib which I instagrammed. 
Everyday or thrice a week, our site engineer and I would practice running/jogging after work. The construction site is a good place to practice since there are slopes and your limits would be tested in terms of body strength and endurance. We'd usually go for a few rounds. I'd complete from 1,500km to 3, 500km, depending on my condition, as well as the weather. Last week, I had to inject a few body conditioning just so I know until when I can push myself. I added skipping rope, crunches, and a few stretching here and there as well as weights exercises. I get to sweat so much more and feel great after.

Come race time, I still do not feel 100% ready but I just told myself that I'm there for the experience and nothing else. I had fun. Maybe that's why it's called a "fun run" because you get to have a lot of fun along the way. You get to see older men and women with their friends, a group of college students, little kids, couples and their kids, some professional runners, etc.

Me and my workmate Rose (Treasury Dept) before take off


3k crowd



Going back to the finish line
After completing the 3k leg, I was so proud of myself after getting that finisher's certificate! It was my first, and I finished it! I conquered not exactly a fear but doubts I had for myself. We plan on doing it again but for the mean time, we'd just practice on site. :)

We made it! With my boyfriend PJ and our site engineer, Lowie 
They both ran 5k!
Holding my finisher's certificate! ;)







Happy Sunday, loves!

xoxo,
L









Friday, February 8, 2013

Se7en

Today is my 7th year anniversary with my boyfriend/fiancé, PJ. Since I have work and he has a business to take care of, we wanted to just have a quiet time. We wanted to just do the usual dinner and movie date.

We decided to have dinner at my recent favorite Chinese restaurant, Mandarin Tea Garden. My boyfriend is Chinese but doesn't really eat Chinese food but I'm so happy that he liked the food there, plus food is affordable too so double Yay! :)

I know he wanted to somehow watch a movie but I was hesitant and I had desserts instead at Maridel's and we get to talk about things, mostly random things. We took a stroll on Plazuela before going back to the mall.

Our "date" as I will call it went actually pretty well and I can somehow see how we are growing up. However, we chanced upon an almost empty arcade since the mall was 30 minutes away from closing. We both played "Rambo" and I surprisingly enjoyed it! It was a little tiring because the gun was a little too heavy for me. I think he was even surprised that I actually agreed on playing! It was super fun!

I love how random we are together. It's what makes our relationship so interesting and we never get bored with each other! Of course, like normal couples, we have arguments or misunderstandings but we resolve them right away.

Cheers to seven years and to even more! ❤

Here are photos from today.

Xx,
L









Thursday, February 7, 2013

Fruit of your Passion

I am close to working for 10 months in my current company. I have not stayed this long in any other job, except the one I got when I was working three times a week for a Church as their bookkeeper. There have been offers for me lately but I do not seem to be interested in them, even if they're offering me a higher salary and a regular post. You see, I am only a project hire employee which means that when this project ends so does my employment. I have had a renewal of four months and that contract is expiring by the end of next month.

I know I will be given another contract since I was the one who started or piloted  under the VisMin operation. I don't know if that will earn merit in terms of changing my status into a "regular" employee and that remains to be seen. I was just confident that I will be renewed for an extension/ another contract since I have fared well, based on my KRA.

Today, I was not expecting any good news at all. We had a meeting at around 10AM and ended up at around 2PM. We were not able to have lunch up until we finished with the meeting. Meetings are draining but the upside is that you learn and things get resolved. After lunch I was back to my laptop, checking e-mails and updating my monitoring list when my boss called me up. I was thinking "Oh great! There might be a problem..." since we just parted after meeting and lunch now she's calling!

To my surprise, she just called me to inform me that she has all the materials I need, my payslips, and I have a letter. I realized then that I was not able to inform her about my expiring contract. I then told her about my status and she assured me that a new contract is on it's way. I was so happy to hear that! I love working for this company and I have not had major problems since I started. And I love my boss. I have developed a closer relationship with her that she really looks out for me and takes good care of me. She's a great boss- encouraging, helpful and insightful. I wish I could be like her if in case I stay for even longer.

I am just ecstatic that I'm still here and I have a job to keep me happy. It truly is great if you do things with passion because it becomes fruitful. It makes sense to you, and does not make you feel like you are burdened or bombarded with senseless information and work. Construction, operation and customer relations may not have been my strengths but I acquired a certain respect for it and for people who make things/systems work. Passion fuels us to become better and in return we reap rewards. I have learned that whatever you may be doing, be it your strength or not, as long as you have passion, you will excel.

How about you, what's your passion?

xx,
L

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

"I Have Been There"

This is a very delayed and long overdue post but it's just now that I found the time to "write" about it. I had  a  very quick vacation in Singapore with my sister and my guy friend, JV. We were there for just about 3 days (including travel)- super quick trip but a very memorable one since it was a first time for me and my sister to go out of the country!

I have been wanting to go outside of the country and to finally be able to do it was super special to me albeit it may be short. My desire to travel have been fueled by many travel posts on the web, especially my friends on facebook who have been posting travel photos (local or abroad) that makes me itch to just go somewhere foreign! LOL Don't get me wrong, I love living here in the Philippines especially in my hometown Iloilo City. There is just something about traveling that is so appealing to me. It's not something to boast about, no. Although it's uplifting or it might give you confidence to say "I've been there". Traveling offers you lessons. You get to immerse yourself in to the culture of that tow, city, state, whatever it may be. You get to understand why they do what they do and how they're doing it.

For some, traveling is expensive and exhausting- i agree. But that is already given. As they say, travel is the only thing you pay for to get richer. You get richer by witnessing a new culture, lifestyle and understanding; plus points also if you gain new friends along the way! I promised myself to travel more this year- locally or internationally.

Since I am not a daughter of a wealthy businessman, I always choose to travel cheap. I wait for good airline deals and I find hotels/inns/bed and breakfasts that are budget friendly. I have been working for a total of around 4 years with different employers (and going for 1 for Avida) and I know how hard it is to earn money! That's why when traveling, find a place that is worth your hard earned money. Just because you're on a budget, it doesn't mean you'll settle in a filthy hotel room!

For our trip to Singapore, I was blessed with a lot of help from my dad and my not so big savings. My sister and I booked our trip 5 months before our travel date hence the cheap round-trip fare. We got a little help from her close friend who works for a travel agency to secure our tickets. I also had one of my closest friends, who is a resident in Singapore help me with my letter for the immigration. I booked our hotel 2 to 3 months before our departure. Months before our trip, I was not getting "butterflies in my stomach" yet since I was thinking that it was a long way to go. On the day of our departure though, I was so excited and was inexplicably happy. To me, it was a realization of a dream. It was just a motivation/mantra to myself that "I will travel. I will go places." The flight was awesome and I super enjoyed it because my guy friend, JV, kept on entertaining me with music and we even got to act crazy on the plane with our cheesy dance moves which I think embarrassed my sister! Haha!  Touchdown, Singapore! I seriously wanted to kiss the ground but I begged off- I might have people think I'm a lunatic or something! Hehe  Good thing my dad was also in Singapore that day, he picked us up at the airport with his friend and they drove us to our hotel.

Upon our arrival at the hotel, we were all so tired that we just had to change clothes and go to sleep. We woke up around 8 or 9 the following morning. We bought breakfast at the Cheers store, which is like 7eleven or mini stop here in the Philippines. Our agenda for the day? Shopping at Orchard, of course! Well, not the high end stuff. Just a few affordable thingamajigs at Takashimaya mall, which is located at Orchard Street. After the tiring day, we went back to the hotel and rested for a while since my sister had planned for us to go see Marina Bay Sands and she was insisting on seeing the "Merlion" which I agree since it's an iconic symbol for Singapore. Only thing wrong about it was it was drizzling! We were not able to bring umbrellas! So we had to brave the "rain" so we could just go and sight see the bay at night. We met up with my friend and had dinner at Marina Bay Sands. The structure alone is gorgeous as it is but the inside is much better and they have a variety of shops and restaurants. After dinner, we went to Sephora because I really really wanted to buy a few beauty loot but I begged off and we bought perfumes instead. After our stroll along Marina Bay Sands, we finally decided to go back to the hotel at around 10PM or 11PM so we could rest.

The following morning, my sister and I woke up earlier to buy "pasalubongs" (treats/gifts) for our loved ones at home. We came back to the hotel before 10AM and packed our stuff to check out. We went straight to the airport after check out so we could have our things checked-in at the baggage drop in or something. It's actually a cool way so if you still have a few hours to spare, you can just leave your luggage there, pay for it and claim it when you get back before you check in. We looked around the airport and found a stall selling tickets to Universal Studios which we got at a cheaper price! After buying the tickets, we headed straight to the Universal Studios and it was the best experience ever! It was a great way to end my Singapore trip. I really had a lot of fun. I did not expect to really have fun in the Transformers ride but it was THE BEST RIDE EVER! We also tried Madagascar, we got in the Steven Spielberg sound studio, we saw the Monster Rock, got to see the Jurassic Park set up as well as the lost world; we also witnessed the drama/play/excerpt of the movie water world by Kevin Costner;  we even got to see Shrek 4D! Too cool! BEST EXPERIENCE EVER. The kid in me was super rejoicing, I'm sure of that. The whole day we got to roam around Resorts World Sentosa, unfortunately we weren't able to see the whole of Sentosa. Maybe in the future, when I go back there. ;) We left around 8 or 9PM and went straight to the airport and waited for our early morning flight. I guess the whole day we spent on USS took a toll on us that we slept all throughout the three-hour flight! LOL 

It has been a dream of mine to visit and see Singapore now I can cross it off my bucket list, but I will definitely come back. It is such a livable place and the people are so well-disciplined! I wish to experience Sentosa more and of course, more shopping! It's the best there. I can now officially say "I have been there" or "I have been to Singapore!". Now thinking of which place to visit next...


How about you, where are you headed to next? :)

P.S.
Will post photos soon! xx

Monday, February 4, 2013

Mauve-y Monday

So lazy to work today, I managed to squeeze in this post! LOL

Just yesterday, I went through my make up kit and I realized that I've amassed a number of lipsticks! So today, I'm going to post one of the many pinkish/rose shades I own. I've had this for a while now but I have stopped wearing pinks in favor of scarlet hues, just because I think it compliments my skin tone.

Today's lipstick is Mauve (sheer) by CoverGirl. This was given to me by my sister as a gift. It's not that dark as suggested on the bottom of the bottle but it's a little more lighter, rose-like.



Mauve by CoverGirl


Obviously has been used a lot! :)
It's a little sheer so you'd need to apply twice or thrice to get the color/shade of your preference. I like how it compliments my morena skin tone but for me, I think it would best suit fair skin tones.
How it looks on my lips.




A little bright pink rather than old rose.


So what's your lip shade today? :)

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Love Month

Wow. Time's going by so fast and we're on the second month of 2013 already! Golly! It's as if we're all on fast forward.

February. Love month, as they call it. Most anticipated month for young lovers, I suppose. I think when you get old, Valentine's day becomes a routine already. Well, that's just me. So let's pause for a while since V-day is still a couple of weeks away.

I started this love month by going on a date with my cousin, Charo. She's older than I am but I kind of got closer to her when I started working. She's a very accomplished woman and she's very young-looking and young at heart. Maybe that's the reason why I'm so fascinated with her. Haha!

Photos coming up!