back to TO!

We're back in Toronto! Posting random thoughts while sitting on the plane, but mostly, just thinking of ways to amuse myself while waiting for Facebook to finish uploading. Tons of pictures from our trip...lots of memories, laughters and tears. Missing my family already. Here's a picture of a popular Filipino dessert --- the Halo Halo =)

random airplane thoughts

The only thing permanent in life is family - Eat, Pray, Love

Jan 9, 2011

05:27 HK time 

- had chicken with soysauce and mushrooms, salmon sashimi and potato salad, chocolate brownie cake with raspberry coulis (such fancy name, not so fancy taste)

- Cathay Pacific has such cute utensils and serving dishes and I am easily amused :P

- A's watching Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Currently watching Eat, Pray, Love which has occasional good lines and beautiful cinematography. Amusing for the world travellers, but I still don't get why Liz Gilbert was so unhappy. 

- my happy toes in my comfy socks. love them! (thanks, joy!)

12:48 am Toronto time

- 5 more hours before HK. had beef with oyster sauce and vegetables for dinner, fresh fruits and rhubarb crumble.

- so far, I've seen, "Eat, Pray, Love", "Life as we know it", and "Megamind" (again! saw this at the theatre before leaving Toronto). 

- trying to sleep....Cathay has pretty decent selection of music. Currently listening to Freestyle's "This Time"

- had a stomach ache from the coffee earlier

- airplane bathrooms are gross

- can't sleep!!!

- listening to "Before I Let You Go" by Freestyle. It's 2002 all over again....

almost in Manila =)

need coffee!

attempting to randomly blog while waiting for the doctor's office to open (using my mobile phone!) got up really early this morning... hoping to get all my errands done so can finish packing!

Almost halfway done, but there seems to be not enough luggage for all my stuff! by the way, now sitting at second cup, cannot upload picture of my coffee, although it's not that interesting. you might be wondering why I'm talking this way. mobile phone would not let me type "I" on it's own. weird.

Doctor's office open now! See you later!

Update -------

Still waiting! Can't believe how incompetent these people are. Yesterday, tried to call them to see if the results are in and they put me on hold and hung up on me. Nice. Guess not much can be expected from a walk-in clinic.

Hope everything's ok. Can't worry about health when on a trip :p

Hey, there's my coffee! haha, so i can upload a picture after all. and hey, i can type i! it wasn't working before!

p.s. mobile blogging is pretty cool!

craving Filipino food??

I remember Max's Restaurant as a kid. I remember their cheesy commercial tag line "sarap to the bones" so yes, when we heard they're opening a branch in Toronto, we were more than excited. I think we were more thrilled about the idea of having something so similar to what we were used to back then. We were one of the many Filipinos who came to visit their restaurant on opening day. Anyway, I cannot tell you if their Toronto branch is up to par with the original Max's restaurant since I honestly don't remember what they used to taste like. But don't worry, in a few more days, I'll be able to compare haha ;) Anyway, try the nilagang baka. It's quite tasty =)

taken from a random site through Google images.
1520 Steeles Avenue West Vaughan, ON L4K 3B9

Here's A. Telling people to come and eat at Max's haha. Babe, the food is here =P

Don't forget the Calamansi Juice =)

blah blah

I guess I'm supposed to be packing, and folding these....

But instead I'm doing this....

Okay, fine fine! Enough procrastination! I can't help it if the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear "day off" is watch movies!

How's your afternoon?

By the way, remember this?? Redpath Sugar is giving away a signed copy of Bakerella's Cake Pops book. Wouldn't that be awesome??? If you're interested in joining this contest, click on this link to visit their Facebook page for the details. 

Photo from Redpath Sugar's Facebook Page

time machine

I may already have a post with the same title, but what the hey =) I am still up after finishing my last night shift for January (Mind you, I did six nights in a row and I survived!). Yup, lucky me, no work until February! If you haven't already heard, we will be away the whole month of January as we will be visiting the beautiful islands of the Philippines! (I suddenly felt like a contestant in a beauty contest hehe) It's been almost ten years since my last visit, and A hasn't been for about eleven years as well so no doubt,  it will be a very interesting trip. 

The idea of going back has been on my mind for awhile. The last time I was there, I didn't get to see  many of my classmates and friends even though I was there for almost 10 weeks. I was 19 and was in a completely different state of mind. I was lonely and heartbroken. I remember thinking, how different it would be had I been in a different situation, older and travelling with someone I love and care about. Who knew that this day would come?

So, I'm sort of planning to reunite with these people. This picture was taken in 1996 I believe, back when we were 13 or 14 years old. So it will be almost 14 years since I saw some of them. Yikes haha. I only say this because, though I'm so excited to see them all again, I feel much older and not at all like my old self =P My school years in the Philippines were among the best and most significant years of my life.  I think if I didn't have that to compare it to, I wouldn't appreciate the things I went through as much as I do now. I remember having a hard time adjusting to high school life here. I would eat my lunch in the library to avoid social interaction. I was quite anti-social and felt very much like an outcast. But these people were there for me in many ways and were like my own brothers and sisters. They made me feel like I belonged. And for that, they would always hold a special place in my heart. 

I guess I better start packing. I'm trying very hard not to bring so much stuff, as I know, everything back there will be so much cheaper. We might not bring along our tech toys so although, there's plenty of wifi and internet, I may not be able to update for awhile (since I'd rather spend time on the beach than attempt to find an internet cafe of some sort). We will be taking tons of pictures I'm sure, and hopefully do some island hopping at some point. I can hardly contain my excitement!

By the way, if you can guess where I am in this picture, I might bring you a very special prize all the way from the Philippines! I don't know what it is yet, but it will be something cute and amazing. Oh and those of you who already know the answer is automatically disqualified, so don't even try cause I know who you are =P hehehe. Guess away! Keep joining these contests because we're feeling very generous this year. I have a hunch it will be a great year for all of us =)

happy new year!

The holidays, just like any get together, were eventful and a little crazy. I'm sure you all have pretty similar experiences. Although the events of weeks past made me appreciate even more the importance of living the moment. The significance of now. 

Sometimes, we get to caught up in planning ahead and thinking about how happy we can get (how beautiful the future looks) that we forget about how we feel right at this moment, this second -- which could all be gone before you know it. More than ever, I feel grateful for what I have and don't have. Because the things I don't have, makes me appreciate the things I do have even more.  

I am afraid though, that in time, instead of appreciating, I might learn to forget. And that's why photographs of memories are so significant. I always tell A how we should take more pictures of everyday things, because sometimes, these are the moments that count. These are the moments we'd love to go back to every now and again, just as much as we'd love remembering specific details of our travels here and there. That was the main idea when I started photographing the food I made at home, and all the crafts I do, the successes and the failures. I often wish I was better though, at putting things together, the way I used to before. This is the same reason I still keep the journals of my past. They remind me of those significant moments and milestones. The ones I hold in my heart so dearly. The heartaches I've survived. The scars that made me who I am. 

So in light of reflection, this year, I'd like to take more photos of everyday things. A has an eye for seeing the beauty of things in so many different perspectives and angles. And so, just like everything else, we will be doing this together as well. We'll take more photowalks. We'll plan more picnics. Hopefully we'll capture more moments worth remembering, the good or the bad. 

I'm ending this post with this photograph because it was, and will always be, one of my favorite memories.

Happy New Year. From my family to yours, may you have a prosperous and blissful year.