Better Late than Never

I came home tonight and was pleasantly surprised with what's sitting in my bed:

Yay! ^_^

If you still remember, I posted about me winning this from Aryanna Epperson back in July. It took 2 months for it to arrive because apparently there have been problems with former couriers. Anyway, thanks to Aryanna and kudos to Paulo of Samsung PR dept. for getting in touch and constantly e-mailing to update me of the status. The best thing about it is that I know I was supposed to get only one USB bracelet but as their way compensating the delay, they sent me two! Awesome! :D

Sunday Lunch at YakiMIX

I loooooove weekends. I can list down lots of reasons to support that statement but perhaps there is one thing I don’t like about it – during weekends, it’s a struggle keeping up with the diet. Well, I admit that 4-letter word and I have a love-hate relationship but on Saturdays and Sundays, we are always always on the verge of breaking up. Hahaha.

Last Sunday was no exception. I was invited by tita-in-law for lunch to celebrate the 20th birthday of their unica hija.

Meet Mariz. I like her because she’s blessed but she stays simple and down-to-earth. I love her fashion sense too! We jive because we are both into all things girly – Forever21 and bottles of nail polish included :P

We ate at YakiMIX in Trinoma. I’ve been hearing good things about the buffet resto so I was really looking forward to trying it out.

It's located at the 4th level, near the cinema.

The queue was cuh-ray-zee! J and family arrived before 11 am but they we’re already 19th (yes, 19th!) on the waiting list. We were seated almost 1:30. Kaloka di ba? Lesson learned: Be there waaaaaay ahead of time to be able to eat lunch on time. Haha.

The interiors and overall feel of the place is very sosyal :-)

The down side is that since it's jampacked, it's gets a little noisy.

As soon as we’re settled, J went to the buffet table to get us some (raw) food. I’m a first timer in a resto with a grill-your-own-food setup so I had fun cooking some bacon, beef and chicken right at our table. BTW, the rolled bacon is delish!

Then J and I went to get cooked dishes. I must say the buffet area was huge and filled with an array of viands, different kinds of sushi, cold cuts and sinful desserts. I wanted to take pictures of each section but I was too hungry to bother. Hehe.

I was never a fan of Japanese cuisine (except tonkatsu and tempura) so my first set was a little boring. Oh speaking of tempura, I still think the one we had at a seaside resto is the best -- fresh, hot, crispy and the prawns are just soooo yummy! The one I had at YakiMIX wasn't as impressive to me (or maybe the ones that I got has been on the table for some time, I dunno).

My second set was mostly fatty food – chopped crispy pata (or a Japanese version of it which I enjoyed), more bacon, crabsticks, 1 little serving of pastry and a slice of cake – so I didn’t take a picture of it anymore.

I finished the meal with a bowl full of ice cream.

I told you, diet is completely forgotten that day.

Now on to some group shots :-)

When J saw this picture, he couldn't believe how much he's grown (weight-wise). Haha. Sorry babe, reality bites.

With the celebrant! I intended to post this on Sept. 12 (her real birthday) but it's past 12mn already so belated happy birthday, pretty girl!
And good luck on the upcoming CPA board! ^_^

I know I just said that I don't like blurred pictures but I just had to post this.

See how close I and MIL2B were?! It's one for the books! :P

 Mariz with her parents and some close family friends.

Bro-in-law, his wife and TJ (I owe that little guy a lot! Find out why here.)

I could've eaten more had MIL2B not been seated at the edge of the couch. It's dyahe to ask her to stand up just so that we can go for another round. Hahaha.

And here are some must-knows about the restaurant, should you wish to give it a try :-)

Overall, YakiMIX still gets my thumbs up (the tummy couldn't agree more). I'd love to be back, probably when it's just the two of us so that I can take a trip to the buffet table as often as I want. Hahaha ;-P

Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist

photo source

Usher Raymond & Alicia Keys

  

You can't deny it, these two are really talented individuals.

So when they create music together, I'm in la-la-love! ^^,

Hope they do more collabs.

Oh and how about a concert together in Manila?

Sweet Jesus, I am so not letting that pass!

Dear Universe, please let that happen,

and please let me have enough moolah by then :)

Fanatically yours,

Day 11 and 12 ^_^

 Day 11 - A picture of something you hate

It's actually more of a pet peeve, blurred pictures. The photo above is an exaggeration, of course *wink*

What I mean is that there are just moments that you wanna capture in crisp images and sometimes you wanna be in THAT image so you hand over the camera to another person. When he/she gives the camera back to you, you view the photos and boom -- the photo falls short of your expectations.

Not that I'm not grateful (to the one who took it. I am. Really.) But let's just say I'm nit-picky. Exactly the reason my friends are scared to take a picture of me. Hahaha.

Day 12 - A picture of something you love

photo source

If the previous photo is a pet peeve, this one's a guilty pleasure: S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G!!!

I know I'm being shallow but putting one stuff after another in the cart and taking them home and admiring all those beautiful items and getting excited to use them -- oh how I love that happy feeling! I may not have much to spend at the moment (hence, the guilt) but I find comfort in knowing that someday I will have enough to buy whatever my heart desires :-)

Keeping the faith,

Day 10 - A picture of someone you do the craziest things with

Dear girlfriends,

I terribly miss you.

Hoping to get crazy with you again soon.

XOXO,

Heart Kristel's E.L.F. Collection Giveaway

Who can say no to this 85-piece Complete The Look Palette?

Definitely not me!

I am so joining this giveaway!

Click on the photo to find out how you too can join :-)

If I have cosmetics as plenty and pretty as this set,

I'd probably allot an hour everyday just to make myself up ;-)

My Weekend Equation

Celeb with friends + QT with Jhay + a little Me Time

= a happy long weekend!!! :D

This is a little late but allow me to still share with you my version of last week's 4-day vacation...

I was invited by my college friend-slash-officemate to his son's dedication on Saturday but since it's been raining all day, I was too lazy to get up and out of the house. After thinking a hundred times, the responsible godmother in me prevailed so I dressed up in 30 minutes and dashed to the venue. I was an hour late but good thing the ceremony hasn't started yet. When I saw the charming little guy, in my thoughts I gave myself a pat on the back for choosing to be present.

Meet my 8th inaanak, Kim Summer.
God knows I tried to convince his dad that it's a baby girl's name but he won't listen.
Oh well, let's just call him Sam :)

See how much I enjoyed carrying him?
His cute smile made me wanna text J and tell him that we make our own. Hahaha.

I'm a proud Catholic but I admire how solemn and personal Christian ceremonies are.
Here are Sam's parents praying for their kid.

My fellow-COEs who are ninongs and ninangs as well.
There were a lot of catching up about work, travels, love life even!
I really missed these guys.

With the heartfelt ceremony and bonding with friends,
the yummy food served was just icing on the cake :-)

We left at around 9pm. The rain's still pouring hard but nothing can stop me from being with my J. From the Makati venue, I traveled all the way to Fairview, QC to sleepover at Tita Meg's house (where J lives now). When I got there, we're already both sleepy so we hit the sack. Nothing beats cuddling on rainy evening! ^_^

The next day was badminton day with the family! Time to burn some calories, baby!

I'm not in the pictures because as usual, I'm the photog. In the first picture are J and his cousin Spencer, in the second are his aunt and uncle, Tita Meg and Tito Bobby.
They're one sporty family, I tell you!

I got to play with all of them and I was so embarrassed because even the 10-year old Bob beat me. Well what do you expect from someone who last played a sport 4 years back?! Haha. I was sweating like crazy but I loved it because it made me feel a wee bit healthier. Maybe I should do it more often. Yeah, I really should.

After around 2 hours of slicin' and smashin', we drove to Quezon Memorial Circle for late lunch. Looks like the fats burned are gonna get back to my system sooner than expected :P

The family's go-to resto.
We had the good old grilled chicken breast, crispy crablets, KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, Langka -- a soup dish) and the crowd favorite Chikyninees (Pinoy slang for fried chicken skin). Then the sinful leche flan for dessert. Tsk tsk. Cholesterol overload.

Since we're already at the park, we decided to take a leisurely stroll after eating. Walking around made me realize that the last time I was there was during an educational trip back in First Grade. Wow, that was almost 2 decades ago!

Jump shots may already be stereotypical but it still is F.U.N! Agree? =)

 Please excuse me wearing pambahay.
I didn't know we'll go somewhere else after badminton. Haha.

Since we have kids with us, we went inside the museum as well. It houses late President Quezon's memorabilia -- clothes, furniture, paintings of him,  lots of framed photos, his hand's imprint even...

...and serves as his and his wife's mausoleum too.

After the museum tour, there's more picture-taking outside...

Jhay = trying-hard; Spencer = effortless. Hahaha.

Would you believe that that tall guy is just 12 years old?

I love how candid and happy this shot is =)

The Paulino family and their adopted son. Hehe.

And of course, US! ^_^

Friends, say hi to the world's best aunt-in-law :D

We went home soon and since were all tired, Tita Meg asked me to stay another night. Yay! That meant more kwentuhan, more hugs, more quality time with J!

After the next day's lunch, it's time to head back to our humble abode. While on the road, I decided to sidetrip to a nearby mall to buy some stuff (I'm on a tight budget so my loot only consist of the "needs".. promise! :D) By the time I got home, I'm sooooo longing for some snooze already.

And then Tuesday came too soon. To make the most out of the last day of vacation, I stayed in bed until around 11AM. I got up to grab a quick bite, saw a book lying on the table, took it with me back to the room and finished it in one seating. I didn't really like the storyline because I'm a fan of happy endings (and it obviously didn't end happily) but I loved the fact that I was able to curl up in bed and just while away the time reading -- something that I haven't done for ages.

I spent the rest of the day enjoying the pleasure of doing nothing. Indeed, thank heavens for long weekends. And I'm sure you're with me when I say that I hope there's more of this to come. Once every quarter, maybe? Haha.

And that, folks, is my formula for an awesome weekend. Care to share yours? :D