gratitude list 11.01

1 - family reunion <3
2 - our elementary class reunion, which i co-organized with jeanne, was a success!
3 - i was able to book promo tickets to davao for september via zest airways. now i don't feel that bad about our piso-promo davao tickets with cebu pacific that will go to waste this february.
4 - kim got employed again.
13 - i sold the ipod shuffle i got as freebie from canon to kate for P2k.
14 - kim and i turned 115 months <3 i finally had kim try pasto cafe & bar.

20 - i saw my gs gehls again. i also received belated christmas gifts from ching, gerlie and karen.
25 - for the first time in my five-year working girl status, i received a tax refund.

30 - sacrificing 12.5 hours of my day-off for a seminar allowed me to spend this sunday celebrating my birthday with family. my sister gave me a pair of xoxo slippers and a handmade bayong beach bag from egg, which i both loved.
31 - my inventory shows that i sold 12 jewelry pieces this month.

pre-birthday celeb with family

just like last year, my birthday was celebrated at my big bro's house at campo verde.

here's my pretty niece, the newest addition to my guest list. she looks bored here, though! :))

 kim brought pizza hut for merienda (coke zero courtesy of my sis) and then we (kim and i) cooked carbonara for dinner. my bro-in-law and nephew also worked on the barbecue in time for dinner.

after our failed attempt on swimming at the clubhouse's pool (don't ask), we had marshmallows.

and then of course there was inuman, over jamming session with guitarist kyle (my cousin) and then magic sing. we had the bar orange vodka mixed with royal and for pulutan were sour cream french fries and chips.

i just realized my elder sister was not present during photo ops because she was watching mischievous kiss the whole day. (>,<)

armin's birthday party

january 26, 2011. pizza, chips, booze, pulutan and videoke = party-partyyy!!!

birthday boy

camwhoring with my research girls. (l-r: enjoying armin's blue drink with schatzi, plus kate, vodka-allergic eliza, eliza bullying me over chocolate)

[click to enlarge]

thank you for the food, your special concoction and the entertainment, armin! i obviously enjoyed your party, lookie here:

all pictures were taken with eliza's new olympus tough 3000 digicam. thanks, teh!

monday sickness

maybe yesterday was all but a dream, a bad bad dream.

how i endured that toothache overnight and had to call in sick for work yesterday morning when i was greeted by the toothache (as though it just slept and woke up with me) accompanied with a headache (maybe the toothache dreamed the headache into life). and that i only had P80 left in my wallet discouraged me to go to the dentist because that money would not be enough even just for fare (i have also foreseen getting hungry while i wait for my turn at the clinic so yes P80 just won't do).

so i just stayed in with the boyfriend (designated doctor/nurse). i carefully brushed my teeth after meals and gargled listerine every so often and took dolfenal (good thing i always keep a jar of medicines at home) every six hours.

things were looking up until i ate fruits for dinner and for unknown reasons my nose, throat and ears started to itch and the boyfriend pointed out that my cheeks were swelling. because the boyfriend had been sick the previous week, i discovered i had given him all my antihistamine except for a benadryl. so i had to take the benadryl in lieu of virlix (my most trusted antihistamine).

and then my eyes also begun to itch and swell. i was panicking already so the boyfriend decided now there's no reason not to go to the hospital. we were already out walking and debating whether we should take a taxi or the jeepney when i thought about the P80 in my wallet and then suddenly i stopped panicking (funny but true!).

and as i begun to relax, i felt the warm sensation around my eyes to fade. so i told the boyfriend that i am feeling better already and there's no need to go to the doctor. for now. we agreed to head to the hospital if my eyes' condition worsen within an hour. thankfully, things turned better, save for a tummyache during bedtime (which i think was due to all the stress the whole day).

oh to be poor and sickly. i can just imagine the less fortunates and i feel lucky that was all i had to endure yesterday. and today is pay day so yes, indeed, i am feeling even better now.

also, i was able to watch charlie st. cloud (what a tearjeaker!) and do a smallville season 10 marathon with the boyfriend yesterday. he also taught me his patty recipe. now that's the happy side of it all. let's focus on that, almi.

tuesday, please be kinder. ktnxbye.

first monthsary of the year

january 14, 2011 marked our 115th month as boyfriend-girlfriend. kim had only three hours of sleep that day, coming from a night shift at work, but that did not stop him from celebrating with me.

we watched little fockers at eastwood mall's ultra 7 cinema. the theater has purple lazy boy seats and the P400-ticket includes popcorn and drinks. once seated, a personnel will ask you to choose what popcorn flavor (plain, cheese or barbecue) and drinks (pepsi products) you'd like. overall, the experience was very comfortable and also much enjoyable because we watched a funny film.

after that, we went window shopping at eastwood mall and city walk until dinnertime. i think we toured the place a couple of times and we both think it wouldn't be much fun shopping there due to the size and number of stores.

we ate at pasto cafe & bar because i've always wanted to have kim try the food there. a former boss introduced me to the pasto branch at paseo center along paseo de roxas in makati. i forgot what we ordered then which i also planned on introducing to kim. anyway, we just had these equally delicious food that kim picked from the menu:

romano

spinaci e feta

we dined in early so we had more time to think about our props for this month's 7:38 p.m. photo:

math is love :))

in july 2010, kim promised to get me one set of stick-on notes each month once he gets a new job when he saw how i loved the ones in fully booked. last friday night, he started fulfilling that promise and made me sooo happy with this domo stick-on note set.

<<<333

we parted ways around 9:30 p.m., after having vanilla ice cream at a nearby mini-stop. i headed home to the province while kim went to work again (10 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, poor boy).

trying to save P9,600

i just computed and found out i am paying P9,600 *per year* for my once a week pilates session at the office. it's really cheaper than rates elsewhere but the kuripot in me has spoken. so yesterday i decided to stop attending our pilates class and just do it at home twice a week.

i started last night and i just have to take a picture of my sweaty self after 30 minutes of floor exercises. i will be buying my own ball so that i can do exercises with it next time for another 30 minutes.

aja!!!

irresistible cuteness (part 1)

warning pic spam of stuff i bought on impulse: stick-on notes, labels, stickers, bookmarks, notepads, etc. (click the photos to enlarge.)

i bought these animal paper clips and small notepad during my trips to malaysia and brunei, respectively. when i got back in the philippines, i found out these clips can also be found in landmark at a lower price. the notepad reminds me of myself.

these mtr stick-on notes are from hong kong. they come with a holder, which i posted here.

these matchstickies are among my favorites. very unique, don't you think?

i got these stick-on notes from landmark. i used them as gift tags last christmas.

these stick-on sets are from fully booked. i'm sure they are available elsewhere at a cheaper price but i just had to buy them the moment i saw them.

i bought these ones a long time ago. i just love printed stick-on notes and i definitely can't resist travel-themed ones.

one of the most expensive stick-on note sets i bought. also from fully booked.

if i remember it right, these are my first batch of printed stick-on notes from landmark.

i love mushroom designs because they remind me of my childhood's super mario days.

stickers/labels with the themes travel, everyday life, and bruce lee/zorro/tranformers.

my most expensive labels set. again, from fully booked.

this little notepad's pages have cute designs that i fantasize i drew myself, ha-ha-ha!

i bought this little planner for 2011 but because my sister got me a belle de jour planner last christmas, i had to keep this in the closet for now.

a notepad i fantasize doodling on while in paris someday.

i find this bookmark so cute. makes me think about me, kim and our future baby boy. ayiii... <3

these magnetic bookmarks are just so adorable, right? rainbows, clouds, rain, storks and babies. <<<3

novel-shaped bookmarks, also from landmark.

i got these bookmark calendars from fully booked. each set has 11 bookmarks, including the cover, that feature books and mythical creatures (i think, or whatever, they're cute).

i am currently using this to-do list from saizen.

from muji. i don't know for what purpose/s this was made but i find it cute and simple so i got one.

some company lovin' over here. stick-on notes and gift tags.

an eraser from my nephew.

a weekend of a pesoless girl

i spent my days off practically inside our makati unit to save money (i.e. no temptations to eat out or buy unnecessary stuff). i just went out on friday night for a short meet with a friend at cash & carry (after dropping by my neighbor kate's doorstep, which earned me this.)

for two days, i cooked all my meals and washed the dishes. i have experimented on different ways of cooking spaghetti noodles, making do with the available ingredients in the refrigerator and kitchen cabinets. all recipes turned out yummy.

i did the laundry and folded and organized them inside the cabinet as soon as they were all dry. i have to reorganize again and again because i wash my clothes by batch according to color, and arrange them in the cabinet by sleeve type and then by color.

i swept the floor every now and them. i just realized how much dust and how many fallen hair strands accumulate in our unit every hour.

i changed the sheets. made some jewelry pieces for selling. repaired my badge ring, yay! kept the tamagotchi full and happy. exercised (just some stretching). and read a few chapters of the wind-up bird chronicle by haruki murakami.

without a doubt, i had a very productive *and cheap* weekend.

a midnight package

before going to bed at around two this morning, i checked my phone and found an unread message from kate sent shortly pass midnight--DOOORRR!!!! :) and so i excitedly ran to my door and found this:

on the paper bag: from the gangsters of love :))

take a peek...

tsarannnn!!! stick-on notes galore from drea :D

as of writing, i just finished placing them in one of my unused scrapbooks for safekeeping:

if you are wondering, the context of this is that i left engagement gifts for kate and drea at their doorstep yesterday around 6 p.m. nothing fancy really. i was just bored from my self-imposed house arrest (while waiting for news about our salary, haha) and thought of making a little surprise for them. i've been meaning to give kate the gilbey's green tea inside my refrigerator and i found an excuse (engagement celebration = alcohol). i was also organizing my scraps yesterday and thought of giving drea a stick-on notes sampler as a belated birthday gift.

and next thing i knew i have a thank you gift plastered to my door. sweet!

badge ring project

badge + ring + glue gun... et voila!

after three days, however, the badge fell off while i was frantically shaking my hand. if you have any remedy suggestions (i.e. know a stronger metal-to-metal adhesive), i'm just here waiting...

ktnxbye! :)

an elem reunion

it's been 14 years since we parted ways but my elementary classmates are still as crazy as i remember them to be!

see? :))

we had a potluck party at jeanne's place. and there's videoke (thanks, may!).

the venue

nomnomnom: carbonara, pizza, hotdogs/mallows on stick
ice cream, cakes, chips, sodas, tequila and vodka! :9 

more photos here (for facebook friends only)

 also, in the spirit of reunions, let me leave this here... :))

the yearbook write-up on me: almi is a sports lover. she loves to play basketball,

volleyball, badminton and tennis. she's a multi-talented girl in her own craft.

she tops her class.

how i spent my new year 2011

as usual, we had our media noche 30 minutes before midnight so we can do the countdown and jump and watch the fireworks outside.

mom and i did all the preps this year :)

it has also been a tradition in our family to at least light some sparklers.

you just gotta ignite the light and let it shine :P

new year's day is also reserved for the annual mercado clan reunion. this year, we gathered at my grandmother's house. i can't remember the last time we held our reunion there. the house got lonely, and almost abandoned, since our nanay (what we call our grandmom) died in 1994.

my relatives started coming in around 10 in the morning. everyone expected to attend have all arrived by noon. the eating, singing and stories started almost instantly and at the same time and did not stop until it was time for each family to head back to their own homes (which made me miss those times when we were younger and nanay is still alive and all of us sleep over during holidays.)

we held a videoke group competition for the first time (in lieu of our tradition of shooting hoops for aguinaldo). we also revived our tradition of watching a metro manila film fest entry together. my cousins and i watched ang tanging ina.

after the movie, we gathered in one corner of the mall and made an on-the-spot bunutan for our 30-minute gift-shopping challenge. we exchanged gifts back at our nanay's house (well, after stuffing ourselves with leftovers for the last time, hehe).

family is <3

more photos here (for facebook friends only).