RnMDelights : The Preps

How do I even start this?

It started with a YES. And then paper lanterns were in the air. AND THEN TIME JUST FLEW. We were getting married!

I'd have to admit that I was one clueless bride. Hehe! I haven't been to a lot of weddings and when I do I really just eat and look at the couple and chat and enjoy the moment. I don't look at the details. I have never imagined what my dream wedding would be like, I've never thought of myself on a wedding gown. I really had to start from zero!

To cut the story short, Ray had a better vision of how he wanted the wedding more than I did. Haha! We actually started talking about it since 2013. By 2014 we spent months discussing the motif and going around bridal fairs. In fact I think it took us 3-4 months to finally agree on watercolor pastels! Man we were bridal fair warriors!!

For clueless brides like me, the bridal fairs really helped. I needed to be exposed to a lot of wedding pegs for me to visualize how I wanted ours to be. And that meant several weekends of booking a whole day just to walk around on fairs. For Ray, the purpose was to canvas. I'd call him a canvas-monster HAHA. I don't know where he gets all this energy to talk to every single person in every single booth, and do it all over again on the next fair. I tend to get overwhelmed by all the people and the noise. But this is very helpful in making sure that you get the best choice in terms of value for money and quality.

For those who haven't been to bridal fairs, you can imagine that it's like your wedding market. So many people, so many couples walking from one space to another, and booth attendants trying to outdo each other and compete for attention. But because this is a wedding fair, you can expect an overflow of creativity, music, and pretty things in every turn.

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Behold the Loomband Craze!

Don't you find it fascinating that in the era of smartphones and Facebook, tiny little rubberbands in different colors have suddenly become a huge hit?

Loombands are pieces of colorful rubber bands that one can 'weave' and turn into happy bracelets. Rainbow Loom, the company that popularized loombands as we know it, was started in 2011 by a Malaysian named Cheon Choon Ng, based in Michigan. With only a $10,000-investment, Rainbow Looms have taken numerous playgrounds, classrooms, and homes all over the world by storm.

I personally don't do loom bands but I'm really fascinated by all these Facebook posts I see from friends who have become addicted with these. One of them is ate Flec, almost every weekend she posts one or two "themed" loom bands and people rush to buy them hahah. I love how she's able to mix and match colors to come up with really cool representations of various themes. Here are some samples (all photos taken from their Facebook with permission):

Belgium Origami

Red Velvet

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Say Hello to Cebu's Napoletana Pizzeria!

Two weeks ago me and nanay made a weekend trip to Cebu. I thought it would be an uneventful  2-day visit but hah! I was wrong!  We had a grand time  during our short stay, it's just sad that we didn't get to see everyone but we can always come back next time!

What I'd really like to share here is our visit to my cousin Kuya Jeremy's brand new pizza place. Okay so who among you DOESN'T like pizza? BOO!! Hahah! I strongly feel that pizza is among the top ten gifts of God to mankind lol! It's  the favorite comfort food of many and a staple among lots and lots of group dates. So when I found that Kuya Ji now had a pizza place of his own, we just HAD to check it out!

Napoletana Pizzeria is a cozy hole-in-the-wall dining place that serves authentic wood fired brick oven Italian Pizza. Here in Manila, we have Gino's Brick Oven Pizza over at Makati and Katipunan and it's definitely a hit!

So what's the difference? Most pizzas use conventional ovens that take forever to cook and can either make your pizza too stiff or overcooked. You don't get these from brick oven pizzas.

Behold 'ze Brick Oven! (photo taken from the Napoletana FB page, click the photo!)

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Review: Ang Nawalang Kapatid - Finding Your Darma

Update: Proving just how AWESOME this show has been, Ang Nawalang Kapatid is having a re-run! They'll be staging benefit shows from July 4-6 and 11-13, Friday to Sunday only. Screening times will be 7pm for Friday and 3pm/8pm for Saturday and Sunday. You can get the tickets for only php500 but of course there's a discount if you're a UP student. If you missed the retelling of this Mahabharata classic, now is your chance! 

I actually just bought a ticket for my sis Unai yesterday. Heheh. So go catch it! You can also read below for your review :) :) 

***

To cap off a long series of Valentine dates, me and Ray took time off from our schedules to watch Dulaang UP's "Ang Nawalang Kapatid". It was my first time to step back into Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero theater ever since I finished my undergrad course, and it was Ray's second time to watch a full theater production and so we were very excited.

Time truly changes perspectives, I used to wonder how a theater like Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero could fit into the AS building (Palma Hall) because it seemed so huge back then. But now, more than 5 years after, and after also being able to watch stage plays in other venues, I realized that it's actually quite a small place. But the love from the UP crowd always makes it a great place to be in, and is enough to house one of the country's top collegiate theater houses- Dulaang UP.

Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero theater was packed!

"Ang Nawalang Kapatid" is a very fitting way to close DUP's 38th theater season. The group just went all out in the production, routines, scoring (more lively because of the live band), cast, props, and even in promotion. It was a grand spectacle to behold! Sadly we weren't take alot of photos because it was obviously forbidden inside the theater.

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The Mind Museum - Candy for the Brain!

Do you remember the time when science was exciting? It meant digging deep into nature and trying to figure out her secrets. One of the earliest memories I had of science was of my gradeschool teacher explaining to us what a "hypothesis" meant, and how the whole life of a scientist evolves around testing a hypothesis for truth and untruth.

Science started out really fun, but sometime in highschool it transformed into a total pain, i personally had a lot of trouble with Biology. Hehe! It's a sad thing, especially if we want a pool of students to reinforce our growing pool of R & D. Good news is, the Ayala group has found a way to bring the fun back to Science. Say hello to the Mind Museum!

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Are You Ready for Line?

Last Thursday, while everyone else rushed to their valentine dates, we drove through the heavy C5 traffic to check out the product launch of the latest messaging craze to hit the Philippines: Line.

Interestingly, Line was launched last 2011 after the Japan earthquake. Communication systems have been severely damaged and kept people from contacting each other, and data service was found to be more effective. So they came up with a messaging service that allows for messaging and calls using data connection. And because it's Japanese, you can count that they'd do it with their own sense of fun and style (Japan-japan characters, colors and all). Only two years after their launching, they already have 231 million users around the globe and counting, so I guess it just makes a lot of sense for them to launch the product in the text-crazy land of Pinoys. :)

The basic services of Line are free calls, free messaging, photo/location sharing and group messaging among peers. Now this is quite already available for other messaging services like Viber and such, so what makes Line different? I downloaded the app to find out. App size is 15mb so it's good enough for the average smartphone, it's available for iOS, Android, and Blackberry OS, it's also being developed for Windows.

So basically this is the homepage. It looks very much like Facebook, and it even has its own timeline.

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Jamming with the all new Jam Liner Buses

New Year, new beginnings. Everyone's busy travelling to and from their respective destinations for work, play, or just because. While people work on building the best start of the year, others are busying themselves in improving the kind of transpo services that we get to make sure we get there quick, safe, and convenient.

Being regular commuters, we know how important it is for people to have access to affordable, safe, and leisurely commuting experience. With the fast paced life that has taken over everyone in recent years, sometimes the only rest we get is that bus ride we take on the way home, to work, or to wherever our schedule takes us. Sometimes that 1 hour nap or muscle rest you get can make a huge difference to the rest of your day. Because of this, commuters are now taking into consideration the key facilities of the transport services that they subscribe to. Jam Liner, seems to have picked up and responded to the challenge with a grand makeover, so we came over to check it out.

The Terminal

The Buendia terminal is strategically located right below the Gil Puyat station of the LRT. I think the location in itself is a real plus because you’d want everything to just be within reach.

The Terminal (click for larger photos)

We were greeted with an airport-like lobby where passengers waited for their trip. It’s a fully air-conditioned waiting lounge, complete with clean chairs, flat screen televisions, and a restroom. There’s even a convenience store where you can stock up on pika-pika and other necessities while on the trip. Just like an actual airport, the seats are arranged in front of certain “gates” corresponding to the different routes that the Buendia Terminal caters to: Calabarzon, Luena, Cabuyao, Balibago, Batangas, and Lemery. Really cool, they're probably one of the first bus companies to adopt this type of setup.

The terminal (click for larger photo)

AND excuse me, the whole terminal is powered with WI-FI. And the wi-fi ACTUALLY WORKS. Hahah. Sosyal mehn!

              

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On With Belle de Jour for 2013 :)

Happy 2013 guys!! New Year new bloggie name! I've always loved the statement "Once We Hit The Top There's No Stopping Us", it's actually lifted from Jason Mraz's song and is one of my favorites. It feels empowering and is very positive. However the statement is waaay too long for a blog title. Hahah.

So for the start of the year, we're working with a brand new title: "Live with Delight!". I also changed the font a bit. Wee!

***

Anyhow, for a start, towards the end of last year i blogged about my planner dilemma. I've been thinking of going over Quezon City to check out the Moonleaf Planner already, but during the last week of December, I went to Powerbooks Festival Mall and got hold of the Matte Leather cover version of Belle de Jour and man I just DROOLED. It’s sexy sexy sexy! So I threw all my other qualms away and just grabbed one. Hehe!

(Heheh sorry for the photos, they're taken by my 5mp samsung wave 1 :p)

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The Ocean Adventure Experience :-)

For the past "n" years, me and my parents have always celebrated christmas just resting in our house and just waiting for the inaanaks to pickup their goodies. However, my mother was blessed with a brand new company car just in time for Christmas. So for a change, me and my parents celebrated christmas out of town and in the bustling town of subic to visit Ocean Adventure and to serve as a brake in of the new car. :)

First off, my parents marvelled at the beauty of the SCTEX (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway). It's one extremely long expressway stretching from along Star toll to Subic and Pampanga. The best thing about it would have to be the mountain's that were parted right in the middle to allow the vehicle to pass through instead of having to climb it. It was a beautiful sight though i couldn't help but wonder how the hell they did it, and how much damage it could have brought. On one hand, maybe this is better because it allowed the remainder of the mountain to be left untouched.

I didn't really have alot of expectations with Ocean Adventure because i thought it was just a simple theme park with a couple of fishies swimming around haha. Well it is a theme park, yes, but of a topnotch class i have to say.

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The Planner Dilemma: Belle de Jour or Moonleaf Planner?

My 2012 was indeed a packed year. And for a packed year, there's nothing like a handy planner to spill your thoughts on and keep you sane. Belle de Jour has been my planner for three years already, in fact i even tried to set at least one day every week so i could browse on the entries of the past week and keep things in check. It worked at the start at least...

Indeed the BDJ planner has done wonders for me. I was able to utilize almost all the sections like the Letter To Self, Vacation Planner, and Bills Tracker. I'm also a fan of their monthly features about topics that are relevant to all ladies. There were also times when I used this as an alternative to my notebook in class. And I just love how I am able to see the plan for my whole week in just one go, and yet still have ample space to write my rambles on. I also like the simple "pep quotes" at the top of every page. Seriously, my BDJ-sessions (30minutes - 1hour devoted to writing on my planner) was able to keep me sane on a lot of hectic periods as I was able to spill out the piled up need-to-do's in my cluttered head. It's an extra pack for the brain and a sort of extension, and for that I will always be thankful for those who came up with this.

my BDJ 2012

My use for coupons wasn't really maximized though and was only limited to SM coupons, Ace Water Spa, and a couple of times for Coffee Bean. I try to caution myself against purchasing items, specially the pricey ones, just to make use of the coupons since it beats the purpose of the discount heheh.

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Kopiccino Lovin!!

Who needs Starbucks when you can have it right at the comforts of your own home?

I just want to rave that Kopiko Kopiccino is my latest FAVORITE coffee. I've always loved Kopiko because its coffee the way i want it. I love the flavor, the aroma, and the rich coffee experience. Really wakes me up in the morning, but THIS KOPICCINO is pure LOVE.

Me and Papa Ray were working on some weekend projects, and part of the plan was to unwind afterwards at a coffee shop. However we lost hold of time and found ourselves rushing towards the evening so we decided to just have Kopiccino indoors instead. Indeed it was the best idea because we were just chilling in the comforts of our place, while the coffee peaked up our productivity. And it tastes reaaaally good. It's the same delicious coffee, with thick foam at the top plus the choco granules that add the extra sweetness and texture. As you can see on the photo above, we even had fun working out random figures using the granules. :p

I love simple joys. And a pack of deliciousness for only php8 is just perfect for me. I'm actually about to stock myself with lots of these for the coming days since this is the perfect companion for all-nighters. Yehmen! \m/

“The Book Thief”, Markus Zusak

(written june 24 2011)

When I read a book, the first few pagest are the hardest.

“Am I there yet? Am I there yet? Geez I haven’t even reached chapter 3.”

Afterwards it’s less of reading and more of experiencing.

Hearts break and flutter. Laughter emerges, suspense beckons.

I glide through the pages, I can’t even remember turning them anymore.

And then it’s over. I’m thoughtful. And somewhat tired.

Like you lived another life without even leaving your room.

Now if only things unfolded as fast in real life.

Oh God that book made me cry so hard 

***

When I was midway, I was almost comparing marcus zusak to palahniuk. The misery, the pain.

But the book was about strength of heart, strength of will, endurance.

Certainly not for the weak of heart like me. I was SOBBING for goodness sakes.

But now I realize a mistake. The Book Thief, deals with the strength of the human spirit.

Palahniuk magnifies the evil. While sprinkling it with underlying notions of strength and goodwill along the way and he’s twisted. Plain twisted. I’ll always dislike and like him. Dis/like. Lol.