A Spa-bulous Saturday

Almost a week of popping online contacts messages telling them to vote for our entry to the Toblerone Epic Friend Promo was very much worth it as the Toblerone Piipinas team awarded us the gift packs and 2 PhP2000 The Spa Gift Cards last Saturday, September 4th. I and Ate Pants (my Epic Friend) went all the way to The Spa at Bonifacio Global City for the awarding ceremony along with the other winners. It was fun to meet the cool (and generous) people behind the contest especially the Brand Ambassador for Toblerone Pilipinas, Ian, who gave a very heart-warming opening speech in his slang Tag-lish :-)

The Spa @ Global City

With Ian of the Toblerone Team.

Our prizes.

5 pairs were chosen to read their winning piece to the group. Good thing Ate Pants and I were not picked because we are both very emotional we might be crying even before reaching halfway.

Us with the other Epic Friends Promo winners.

After the photo opps, we hurried to The Spa Bel-Air branch for our Refreshing Start session at 3:30pm (The Fort's fully-booked, that's why). 

 We chose Swedish body massage, Peppermint Foot Rub and

Aroma Scalp and Shoulder massage, all for Php 1950.

The Fort branch was modern and more of black and white while Bel-Air has an Oriental feel - very cozy and homey with stylish wooden pieces all over. We got there earlier than our appointment but when I asked if we can already be accommodated, they happily obliged :-) We presented our Gift Cards and were given the keys to our locker with corresponding numbers. Then they asked us to proceed to the 4th floor where the Female Spa is located. 

I just love the dainty little details :D

As soon as we stepped off the elevator, we were welcomed by the friendly crew as she handed us our spa kit.

Then we went to the locker room which is by the way very impressive in terms of aesthetics (Oh my, why did I forget to take a picture of that?!). We left our things, quickly changed into our robes then headed to the wet floor to take a shower before the pampering activities. We could have gone skinny dipping in the mini pool have we known early on that we could use all the wet floor amenities. Oh well, better luck next time, ladies. :P

 (L) The locker. (R) Ate Pants posing by the vanity counter.

Refreshed and ready, we were led to the lounge and were offered the complimentary ginger tea. I'm not very much into teas so I just sipped from Ate Pants' cup and it wasn't bad at all :-) We waited for like 10 minutes till our Peppermint Foot Rub therapists arrived. And then the blissful two-hour session started.

  

A year ago when Ate Pants treated me to a full-body massage at a spa near our place, she said "Aaahh... This is life..." but as we seated in the Foot Spa's uber comfy recliners while our feet were soaked in warm water, she can't help but exclaim, "This is heaven!"

In the middle of the foot treatment, 2 more therapists came in to do the Aroma Scalp and Shoulder massage simultaneously. And boy, the two treatments combined was divine!

After an hour of head and foot massage.

After the session, we were asked to go to the room where our Swedish massage will be done. We took a few photos again while waiting for the new set of therapists.

At 4:45pm, the full-body massage commenced. It was an hour packed with soothing kneads from head to toe, with the scent of eucalyptus in the room completing the relaxing experience. How I loved the moderate pressure done by my therapist! It was just how I wanted it as I don't like aching muscles afterwards.

Exactly an hour later, we're done. We took one last shot and promptly went off because other clients are having their session in the same room (Deluxe services are done in rooms with around 5 beds in them, but we had no issues on privacy naman)

Invigorated, we went back to the locker room. We posed by the mirrors for some more photos with our robes on.

We kept raving about the entire Spa Service as we changed into our clothes. Two thumbs up for The Spa Bel-Air. We got treatments fit for a queen, even just for a day :-) This is a pampering that we deserve, and at the same time a bonding moment that I and Ate Pants haven't done in years.

All dressed up and ready to go (hurry Em, Jhay is waiting for hours already!)

Ate Pants with another cup of ginger tea. Like it much, cuz? :)

By the wooden staircase.

So from the bottom of our hearts, a big thank you to Toblerone team! It was truly a Spa-bulous Saturday!

Two super satisfied customers of The Spa.

Wanna experience it too? Book your appointment here! :)

4Ts and an S

The past few days I’ve been staying late in the office. Workload’s kinda tough so I go home somewhere between 12MN and 3AM. I guess my body clock had adjusted pretty well so I’m still up and about at 1 in the morning. I really really wanted to rest but sleep just won’t come knocking at my door so I thought I might as well make the “puyat” worth it.

So here’s my agenda for the night… err, morning..

 
I wanted to share 4 things that I am thankful for today – 4 very little things that gave me a few seconds of happiness:

 
* I have finally added the LinkWithin gadget here. So what the hell is LinkWithin? It’s that portion at the bottom of my posts (come on, scroll down for a while) that links 3 related stories so that visitors can easily hop from one post to another. Really nice, isn’t it? Get yours here. :D

 
* Toblerone Pilipinas just sent a message saying that instead of the previously announced prize of Php 2000 worth of The Spa GCs which I and my Epic friend will share, they’re giving us PhP 2000 each to avail full pampering packages! Awesome!

 
* I had some quality time with my two darling babies, Kurt (my favorite inaanak who lives with us now) and Haley. It was super amusing to play with them and sing A-B-C and take pictures. Here are a few shots:

 

Please excuse my baby hair strands all around :P

 
And last but not the least…

 
* It’s Friday already! I don’t know if it’s because of the Monday holiday or I was just too busy that I hardly noticed the days pass. It’s weekend once again and this weekend is a really exciting one because it’s the awarding of the Toblerone Epic Friend Promo (that means chocolates and spa and girl bonding) and Jhay and I will be turning 63 months! He said he’s cooking up something special for our monthsary so I’m really looking forward to that.

 
Oh speaking of my Jhay, the S that I am talking about is a Sorry.

*mellow music in 3, 2, 1...*

Since I got home early today, Jhay and I intended to catch up on our how’s-your-day session and eat-at-the-same-time-even-if-we're-kilometers-apart habit every night. But my mood swings and short temper got the better of me. Yes, we fought. They say girls rarely admit it when they’re wrong but here I am saying it was my bad. And I’m sorry. So please honey, when you wake up, bati na tayo ha? :D

There you have it. It's 2AM in my clock and I was able to spend my one hour well. Now let's all have a great night and a beautiful Friday ahead :-)

Cheers,

The Week That Was

I haven't written anything since Tuesday because it's so busy at work but tonight since I just ate (poor eating habit, I know), I need to be awake for a few more minutes so I'll make the most out of it by sharing the week's highlights.

Last weekend, I've been engrossed with downloading all Glee, The Music albums. I spent the first day of the work week e-mailing my girlfriends how amazing the singles are and volunteering to burn CDs for them. Thus, we had the perfect excuse for a Tuesday get-together: handing them their copies ^_^

We had dinner at Chowking Alphaland Mall (that's in Magallanes MRT Station) and I have to say I didn't enjoy my food :( I ordered the Orange Chicken Lauriat and I got 4 tiny pieces of chicken. The pansit canton was very disappointing too because it tasted like garlic. Good thing there was Chicharap, it helped me finish my meal.

Funny how our seating arrangement didn't change (see previous pic)

We stayed there until around 9:30 and was forced to leave because the crew were already turning off the lights and the aircon. But since we aren't even halfway done with our chikahan session, we've decided to stay at a nearby Starbucks, in Waltermart Makati that is. We had our beloved frappuccinos and some slices of pastry (c/o Jaq) and indulged in 3 solid hours of girl talk. Like tomorrow is a weekend, around 12:30AM we called it a night. Oh, an awesome night! :)

The next day, August 18th, was as great. I got in the office at 7:30 and was greeted by a personal message via Facebook from Toblerone Pilipinas. Yes, we won in the Toblerone Epic Friend Promo! Hurray! The awarding of Toblerone gift packs and The Spa GCs will be on September 4th. I and Ate Pants are so looking forward to it already :)

By lunch time I sneaked out to go to Robinson's Ermita to get a gift for my dear Tita Antin on her 51st birthday. I got back at 2pm, ate a quick lunch and an hour and a half later, my friends at work were already asking me to go have snacks. Gosh, my tummy is still so full but I went with them to Jollibee anyway. That time, Jhay was texting me saying sorry because he can't come to Tita's surprise birthday bash at home. Of course it got me down-hearted because we haven't seen each other for 2 long weeks but when we got inside Jollibee, Jhay was already there waiting for me! ^_^ I used to tease him because I always get his surprises busted but this time he was super successful! He and my friends were laughing at how shocked I was to see him there. Congrats honey!

We got home at around 6pm and they're all waiting for us because we have the cakes! And the celebration can't start without it! LOL. Everyone enjoyed the small salo-salo and Tita Antin enjoyed her day. Before bedtime I heard her crying while thanking Nanay Letty. Great job for me, my other two titas and Nanay, we were the people behind it! :)

My co-masterminds Tita Net (in fuchsia) and Tita A (in pink) with the birthday celebrant.

 
And just this morning, well yesterday technically, we got some good news from the company's top management. I want to remain hushed about it, but to give you an idea, it's coming this 25th. My oh my, what a great way to end a busy week! :)

What's a week full of kwento without pictures? I'll be adding them as soon as I get my camera back. (Update: 8/21, 7pm - Pictures added! :D) I lent it to a friend by the name of Jaquiline Badeo. And what's with the mention of her full name? It's because I wanted you to help me in welcoming her to the wonderful world of blogging! Visit her here, now na!

It's 1:35am in my clock and I think my midnight snack is down there already. Haha. Be back blogging when I wake up. Have a great weekend everyone! :D