Happy new year everyone! NY 2012 kicked off a little too early for my family. We had our first reunion yesterday at my aunt’s (Mother Goose’s sister) house/club house/basketball court (LOL). We usually hold our celebration during NYE but my family of four will be counting down early today with the other side of the fambam.

Incomplete yet oh-so giddy!

I got more presents yesterday but what’s awesome’s that I received both wishlist wishes:

Everyone thinks I’m hard to please. In some ways yes (definitely) but if you know me too well, you know that simple yet very useful things make me ecstatic. These gifts for instance are two gifts that everyone frowns on. Me? I LOVE THEM! :D If you workout 5x a week you need fresh and cushy socks (else you’ll get blisters). Lately I’m in love with these socks from BioFresh — they’re not only lint free but they’ve outlast some of my more expensive socks.

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From my rather silly family to yours — Merry Christmas!

Last night was super fun ( x9999999999999 )! We literally hammed up to bits except for this person cat:

WHAT?!? No gift??? >:(

I was knocked off by the stuff I received esp. the one from Twin:

The icing on the cake? My best friend Hazey is home for the holidays! :)

Which simply means her gift’s delivered in person and not c/o :)

Giddy over my YSL double wrap bracelet! Perfect for preppy 2012!

Have a very merry Christmas everyone! For just one day — kiss your diet goodbye! :)

Since pre and initial diagnosis, I’ve been praying quite hard for one thing: that my endocrinologist could be wrong. In 2005, I was diagnosed and treated for hyperthyroidism. At 5 feet flat, I went from 100lbs to 80lbs in two weeks without changing my diet nor workout. Turns out, my mom’s mom also has hyperthyroidism and it’s well, one of my prized inheritance. :) Fast forward to 2011, things backfired and I can’t stop gaining weight. My muscle and fat mass are both normal but I’m starting to gain too much weight too soon. I went to my endocrinologist for a consult and the initial diagnosis was hypothyroidism and diabetes (not surprised since both sides of the family has it).

I can’t imagine myself getting nicked for the latter. That would mean giving up laying low on my love affair for lavender cuppycakes, Godiva and Royce dark chocolates, and penne. NOOOOOOOO. :(((((

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You heard us gush about it over and over. Let me share some of my fave and what I think are rather epic snaps from our UBE (I think this is best coined as “ultimate bundat experience”) weekend:

We heard it’s mandatory to take a snap in this spot:

Really — we don’t know what we’re doing here although this comes naturally to me because when I play with Junkie I do this pose (and no, she doesn’t like it):

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It’s been four days since I heard one of the most shocking and gut-wrenching news from S. Our dear friend AJ Matela, the pioneer of local LGBT blogging, has passed away.

AJ asking us the lies our yayas told us
07 February 2008

I tried and tried to put something here but I end up sobbing like a four year old. :( If you’ve been lucky to have had the chance to be friends or even have met AJ, you’d know exactly how I feel. AJ’s one of the smartest and most vibrant bloggers I’ve ever met. He’s so easy to get along with and quite literally, he makes everything seem so easy breezy. Three summers ago, thanks to Columbia, I was sent to hike Mt. Daguldul with him and a couple more bloggers. For crying out loud, I’m very athletic, yes but climbing a mountain isn’t my cup of tea. See how AJ made it seem enjoyable:

A month later, we partied like high school kids who were on a curfew:

INDIEvidiuality: The Royal Elastics Road Tour

AJ, being oh so fasyon and vain, was naturally spotted at the opening night of the Philippine Fashion Week 2008:

with Juned and their kikoy kits

…and the Belo open house at the Belo Med Tomas Morato clinic:

Apart from fashion and beauty, we’re also big geeks. At the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards, we’re actually hoping to take home a Nokia N95. Then again, we won these 4GB Toshiba USB thumb drives (mine’s still working, btw). See the delight on our faces LOL

We also LOVE LOVE LOVE to eat! Cheers to noshing with equally hungry individuals at the opening month of Pepper Lunch (Power Plant):

When S and I decided to sketch up our fate in Singapore and Dubai respectively, AJ was also there to bid us goodbye and wish us luck.

After that despedida slash new year dinner, I believe I only saw him again twice but still exchange SMS messages about our jobs (we work in the same industry and I ask for professional tips from him every so often). The screen cap queen in me’s compelled to immortalize AJ’s sweetness:

Soon AJ but please, wag mo kong dalawin. Super takot ako sa mumu! :) Ang daya mo, you left us two days before your 29th birthday kaya you’re forever 2X!

WE DO — LOTS!

After posting all the photos above, somehow, I feel better. I still have tears welling up on my lids but as how AJ would put it, “keri lang” and “must move on friend”. I will totally, eventually. For now, I still want to celebrate the beauty of our short-lived friendship both online and offline.

Au Revoir, AJ! Thank you for all the beautiful and funny memories! I will never forget our kwentuhans esp. when we’re both heartbroken. :)

–o–

The Matela family’s in need of 1000 volunteers to help out defray the costs of the medical expenses AJ’s incurred overtime. If AJ, baklaako.com, or Ernie has made you smile at least once, please join the 1000 Volunteers for AJ Matela community and spread the word.

I go NUTS whenever my birthday’s just around the corner. You see, when all your life bumabagyo on your birthday, you’d be so blessed to even be able to go out. To go out safe is one thing and well, to get to spend the day with your loved ones and receive presents even is a little too grand. That’s just what happened last Friday. I was not only able to brave the rain but my friends did so too! :)

my birthday cuppycake from the big bosses

My birthday Friday started with some gifts from our friends from DKNY, Bobbi Brown, Estee Lauder, and Good Skin Labs (watch out for their gifts for you too):

all of them (lippie included) smell SO GOOD

After a sweet power nap and one last event for the day, I had dinner at Pepper Lunch GB5 with my loves. Checkout my gorgeous beef pepper rice with cheese and egg:

One of the best surprises of my birthday — remember my former boss M who gave me the Zara purse (if you’re a long time reader, you would probably remember that rocky purse)? He met us up real quick in GB5 to give me one of my fave chocolates.

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No offense Ms. Poo but really, you should consider putting yourself on a diet. :)

snapped on 08.08.11

They say that when life is great, you have no choice but to pay it forward. I just came home from an unwanted weekend at the hospital and I’m just so happy to report that I’m alive, safe, and kicking.

*BOOHOO*

I’d love to say that it’s nothing serious but you see, I have the weakest stomach. Yes, for a big eater, I have a really bad tolerance for ill-prepared food. In fact, true story — I’ve even been hit by helicobacter pylori (a bacteria so rare it’s been “diagnosed” by Gregory House) 4 years ago and I was confined in the hospital for 3 months. Two months into confinement and the doctors do not have a diagnosis (I was btw confined at one of the country’s best private hospitals). As the 65th day trickled in, the right side of my body’s been paralyzed for nearly 8 hours. No exag but really, I thought and everyone around me thought I was going to die that at some point, my loved ones have surrendered my life to my Maker.

Alas, I’m still blogging today. A quarter of a decade after that dreadful incident, I’ve been blessed in many unfathomable ways! I should tell you though that whenever my stomach hurts, I discreetly panic out of trauma. I don’t want anymore needles sticking into my veins and having a reason to be apart from my training kicks.

BEHOLD: my very exciting diet

Going back to my intro: they say that when life is great, you have no choice but to pay it forward. This contest couldn’t be more appropriate because I’ve been well, dehydrated so bad for 48hours and what we have at stake addresses the same concern for our facial skin. :)

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Week after week, my friends would kid na nauubusan kami ng dasal sa bahay (we would run out of prayers at home). Apart from the overflowing blessings, it’s because my brother flies to far flung places here in the Philippines. You see, everyone says that I have the best job on top of my day job (which by the way ROCKS). Being invited to events, getting samples before it hits the stores, and the like. What you don’t know is that my brother’s got my dream job. Imagine traveling the Philippines for free while doing what you do best and being paid to do it!

Twin too cute light years ago

You see, Twin got (VERY) lucky on his first full-time job. He’s the multimedia specialist of this TV show (2 words, one starts with G and the other with an N). I asked him to describe his day to day tasks and he said “anything that goes to the TV show or website that’s video and photo related goes to me.” For a guy under his mid-20s, I feel that he’s so accomplished and we couldn’t be more proud of him! :)

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Just before I announce the Nike and Listerine contest winners, I’d like to share with you why I’m dying to get a massage as I type this post in. Here’s how I manic panicked the entire week last week:

Monday: Dinner with the girls plus (wait for it) Aileen aka. Shades Of U! :)

GT vets reprezent LOL

Apart from the massively filling dinner at Sumosam, these goodies brightened up my day:

I got my signature pressed oil zapper from MAC in Medium Dark (Php 1350), Smile gave me the best smelling (White Tea brought me to bliss and back!) reed diffuser from Amber Lights Laguna, and Aileen gifted me this super pretty, sheer nude pink lippie called Water Pink from Awake. <333

Tuesday – Wednesday – Thursday: work, work, work.

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