One of Shonda's Many Great Creations: Owen and Cristina

My favorite GA couple!

*Phone rings
    

Cristina: Hey! So I was thinking about this whole internet dating thing. It takes five minutes..
    

Owen: Wait! That's why you paged me? You said this was urgent.
     

Cristina: It is. I'm about to get busy with this trial and you need someone to snow with on a rainy Seattle night. Ooh. Say that in your profile.

   
Owen: I, I.. I gotta go.

    

    

*While looking at some scans

   
Cristina: Did you do? The profile?
       

Owen: What, the dating thing? No.
    
   

*Cristina turns to the computer
      

Owen: Cristina I've spent all morning trying to figure out a way to fix this thing between Torres and Shepherd. I haven't had time.
    

Cristina: Sit. I'll do it for you. (typing) Describe yourself.
   

Owen: No.
    

Cristina: Stubborn. (Typing..)
     

Owen: I'm not being stubborn, I just..
   

Cristina: (still typing) Smart. Athletic..
   

Owen: Listen, I'm too busy to..
   

Cristina: A busy professional, seeks.. what?
    

Owen: Nothing! I seek nothing.
    

Cristina: Ah, seeks same, someone who's passionate about the work, someone who's.. come'on what
   
   

Owen in defeat looks at Cristina:
      

Fine, fine. Someone who doesn't care to cook or get out of bed when she's got a work day. Someone who sleeps so soundly and peacefully that I have to check her pulse sometimes. Someone who suffered and understands suffering.

   

Cristina: I'd keep it more up beat.

   
    

Owen continues:

..To the point that I don't have to say a word she just, she just looks at me and sees who I am and how I feel. Accepts it. She doesn't try to change, she doesn't want to change it. That person. There's a billion people out there but I imagine there's only one of her.

♥♥♥♥

Me: Make up already! LOL

Sweet Deals: 1837 TWG Tea Salon & Boutique Promo: 50% off on French Macaron

It's almost tea time. If you love pairing pastry with your tea, try the tea infused French Macarons in 1837 TWG Tea Salon & Boutique that some foodies has been raving about. So delish with a good amount of warm "Weekend in Shanghai" tea. Good news is they are selling it at 50% off, instead of P 60.00 per piece get your choice of Macaron at P 30.00 only. The bad news is the promo has been running for several days now and it ends today. They offer new flavors that are exclusive for this particular promo. I got some tea infused goodies last night, box of 12 for only P 360.00 instead of P 720.00 . Good buy, eh?

12 pieces of happiness in a box

Singapore Surprise-Promo Exclusive

Bain de Roses

Hazelnut Macaron

Sakura Macaron

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
Shangri-La Plaza East Wing, Unit 2340
Mid-level 02-03, EDSA corner Shaw Boulevard,
Mandaluyong City, Philippines
Tel: +632 654 1421, +632 654 2557

Opening Hours:
Monday to Sunday 10am - 12am

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
R2, 2nd Floor, Archaeology Gallery
Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Center,
Makati City, 1200 Philippines
Tel: +632 478 6136, +632 478 2782

Opening Hours:
Monday to Thursday 11am to 9pm
Friday and Saturday 11am to 10pm
Sunday 10am to 9pm

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
Greenbelt 5 Mall, Level 1-049, Level 1
Legaspi Village, Makati City 1226
Philippines
Tel: +632 720 8665, +632 720 8667

Operating Hours:
Monday to Thursday 11am - 9pm
Friday and Saturday 11am - 10pm
Sunday 10 am - 9pm

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
Century City Mall, L119B1-L119B2 & L127,
Kalayaan Avenue, Barangay Poblacion
Makati City, Philippines
Tel: +63 2 403 7776 (Salon) or
+63 2 403 9821 (Boutique)

Opening Hours:
Monday to Sunday: 10am - 9pm

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
Resorts World Manila,
Ground Floor, Shop 17B Newport Mall, 100 Andrews Avenue, Newport Cyber Tourism Zone,
Pasay City, Philippines
Tel: +632 551 0696, +632 551 0925

Operating Hours:
Monday to Thursday 11am to 12am
Friday to Sunday 11am to 1am

 Source: http://www.twgtea.com/ourlocations.html

Caffeine Talk: Starbucks Macchiato Monday

Hey! Today is Macchiato Monday! Starbucks is treating everyone with a 'Buy one Caramel Macchiato, Get one free' promo.

source: https://www.facebook.com/StarbucksPhilippines

Apparently, Team Caramel won in the coffee competition against Team Hazelnut with a whopping 2,800+ difference in number of votes. Personally, I love the new Hazelnut infused espresso drink in their core line up. The nuttiness compliments the richness and aroma of their Espresso Roast. I always find Caramel Macchiato sweet (but you know all their drinks are exceptionally sweet that's why I get mine in non-fat. Ha!).

It's only for today, March 17, 2014 so get your Caramel Macchiato now and enjoy it warm or iced with a friend. :)

Today, I Celebrate..

LOVE. ❤

Love and dessert go really well together, so I must celebrate with Coco Lime Cupcake. Oozing.

Ours is not the most ideal kind. As most of my closest friends know, we have been apart for more than three years now. Both of us could not believe how far we have come from day 1. Just like normal relationships, we fight on silly things, we disagree at times, we get angry with each other, but the difference is, the emotional battle between keeping and going becomes harder when we fight. We are not exactly in the situation where he can just step into my home anytime of the day (or the other way around) and make up, plus having different time zones suck. It becomes even more harder when all your friends incidentally happen to be unavailable. 

I always say "Sometimes, Love is not enough" (don't sing it!) when we fight, and I was right every single time. Love needs commitment as a driving force for it to go a long way. And I must be a lucky girl for having found a man who fully commits himself to what we have just as I do. It got us by some real trying times in the past and I would not want to go through them any other way. We treat every day apart as a blessing, we can grow individually as a person and get stronger together. Because we both know that when it passes, we are a day closer to the time that we can finally be together again. 

Happy 6th Anniversary Sweetie! ❤

Jogging Tayo!

Have you ever felt that your body has yet to move on from the unwanted inches brought about by the holidays? My childhood friend, Mae thinks these extra figures are taking its toll on her. My mom and her mom are both health conscious housewives and are always active in fitness activities like badminton, gym exercises, zumba, yoga, you name it. With their kids, it's a different story. I can only love Yoga. I love it because it focuses more on meditation and channeling inner zen, but most of all the effort it requires is far less tedious and in a slow, calm pace. I jog with friends but not in a regular basis like most fitness enthusiasts do. And we often reward ourselves with good breakfast food after having what we thought was a good, stinking, calorie-burning sweat. (how convincing huh?)

With Arel and Cathy (high school chums) at UP Oval

When we finish jogging like a veteran, we eat like it's the end of the most sacred meal (yes, yes, to me), breakfast.

Reward

My friend Mae exerted effort more than me. She ran marathons and did fun runs too with her mom back when she cared less for sleep. But now that she's gotten so busy with school work (she's a Multimedia Arts student and is soon graduating) and stuff, sleep and some other things (ehem!) are a notch higher in priority. And so in the middle of our dessert on one fine cheat day in Bizu Patisserie, Greenhills she said:

Mae: Gusto ko na pumayat.

*while munching on a slice of Bizu Strawberry Shortcake. She continued..

Mae: Tols! Gusto ko na ulit magjogging.

Me: Oh, eh bakit di ka sumama sa jog nila Ninang Odette tuwing umaga? (Pertaining to her mom, as I sip on a cup of hot Cherry Fireworks tea)

Mae: E di ako nagigising. Tayo na lang kasi magjog sa Park sa likod ng SM.

Me: Sige!

We plotted dates and we compromised. As the conversation rolled up until we head home, she finally said:

Mae: Naku, kailangan ko maghanap ng maraming Jogging Pants nito.

Me: Huh? Bakit? 'Di ba nagshoshorts ka naman pag nagjojog?

Mae: Eh kasi nangangati ako pag nakashort.

Me: Pano? Bakit?

Mae: Ewan ko, nagrarashes, para bang allergic yung legs ko sa jogging.

We both laughed. You tell yourself one thing, a moment later your body will betray you just like that. Well, I say prove your body wrong, tols! :D Mehe. Let's see how these attempts will turn out. 

Mi Amiga at Bizu Patisserie, Greenhills (Cellphone shot)

All of Me by John Legend

Drove home last night worrying how to crawl my car out if I ever get caught in traffic due to Valentine's day rush, it was all over social media. Miraculously, I got through C5 north bound like a breeze. And John Legend was my BG music. Meehehe <3 Perfect song to cap the night.

Valentine's Day!

I kind of envisioned my Valentine's day to be something like this..

Engaging in a solemn tranquility and enjoying a premature summer beach view with someone very dear to me..

Feeling the fine white sea salt underneath our subtle skin.. (sabe?)

Noticing how the skimpy clothing distort our deep dark secret flabs and all would burst into laughter..

*Sigh. It was a wonderful thought I pondered and day dreamed while at work.

But I did not worry. Few weeks before Valentines I received a date invite in my work mail.

The subject reads: Date with C&T Team: A date to remember.

Haaa! I.am.saved! Saved from doomsday! XD I wasn't really planning on spending it somewhere else if not with friends or Kevin. Valentine's day fell on a Friday so I thought to myself, 'why not?'. After work on February 14, C&T team (of more than 50 heads normally) shared a feast of sweet meals/desserts: Sweet Style Spaghetti, Putchinta (Puto and Cuchinta in one), Jco Donuts, Egg Pie, Buko Pandan, Sorbetes and the not too sweet Beef Tacos. The program included a team activity wherein the guys must deliver a rose and pick-up line to the girls they drew in random.

Instead of the beach vibe Valentine's Day on my mind, I got numb from finishing a full plate (my guess it's glucose shock) and a pick-up line from one of the guys from C&T Night Team, Christopher Bungubung:

CB: May Facebook ka ba?

Me: Bakit? (Gusto ko talagang sumagot ng tama, Meron. But just for team cooperation lol.)

CB: Kasi gusto kitang i-add sa puso ko.

Winning Pick-up line of the night is from our team, Day 1. Delivered by Richard Barizo to Hazel Sarmiento:

RB: Chicharon ka ba?

HS: Bakit?

RB: Ang laki mo kasing bara sa puso ko.

HAHAHA! Thank goodness I have these uber kaduper funny colleagues. Happy Valentine's Day! <3

PS: The photos above were taken on Valentine's Day last year, 2013 in Panglao Island Nature Resort and Spa, Bohol.
PPS: I wanted to post pictures to highlight last night's event, but due to Data Privacy issues of my company, we were not allowed to take one. Boo.

Starbucks Downhill

My mom has been frequenting Tagaytay the past year, well, technically it's Batangas she's after, but she drops by Tagaytay often to shop and eat whenever she brings us or her friends. These are all because my father, decided after a long term devotion to his career as a Seaman, to now command a vessel that only sails within Asia. Mama visits him during their scheduled route to Philippines which means he does not have to wait long to see Mama, or me, or ate or his apos (he loves his apos too much you know), he just have to order his crew to sail to the Philippines and duct in Batangas shores (if that's how it works, lol). Anyway, back to our past trips, I somehow witnessed the construction progress of the new Starbucks along Calamba road. It looked really big and conveniently positioned to have the best view of Taal Volcano, or so I thought. 

Last weekend, we went to visit Tagaytay to give a mini tour to our guest, ate Yonyon. She is our relative from Canada who came home to Bohol for a vacation and squeezed in a quick sojourn with us in Manila before flying back to Canada. By afternoon it was coffee time! Mama was convinced that we should try out this new branch downhill.

 Starbucks Facade facing Calamba Road

The Parking lot is impressive, it has a very steep entrance though.

Parking Lot

It was a little cloudy when we got there but a nice calm weather kind of cloudy. The interior could probably accommodate an entire village, but the design is consistent with all other SB stores in the Philippines; variety of comfy couches in different sizes, wooden chairs and tables under hanging dappled lights (nice for studying), floor to ceiling glass windows, etc,. I thought it was passe so I took a shot of the back facade of the building leading to a viewing deck instead.

Back view

I love the idea of a viewing area apart from the ones at the balcony, and the little extra details that came with it like the lights between steps considering the guests going in and out of the viewing area at night time. 

We snatched my uber kaduper childhood friend, Mae on the way. Hehe! You can see her admiring the obstructed view of Taal Volcano. Seriously, there is no sign of the volcano anywhere you turn. There are two or three story town houses standing a little lower, adjacent to the viewing deck. Perhaps the location was not elevated enough, but the entire scenery is not that bad. If  you really want to hang out, get coffee or tea in Tagaytay and enjoy a good view of Taal Volcano, I suggest you go to the old branch near Rotunda or get a nice seat in the second floor balcony of this branch (that we were not able to take a good look at the time), you might get lucky.

Uber Kaduper Childhood Friend and the not-so-bad scenery

The feeling and looking touristas: Mama and ate Yonyon so busy tabiing (talking) with each other. We got a pretty large table at the far end of the outdoor patio, and enjoyed a little privacy in a busy coffee shop.

Mama and ate Yonton, Outdoor Patio Seat

You think my young at heart mother would take a rain check on the opportunity to get a jump shot beside the largest Starbucks signage in the Philippines yet? Nevaaaah. It might always look like she is standing in one foot in all her jump shots but she will not let anything pass. XD

Lookie: ate Yonyon and Mama's Jump shot. Oha! Oha!

You want to see it for yourself?

Starbucks Calamba Road, Tagaytay         

Barangay San Jose, Calamba Road

Tagaytay, Cavite                        

(046)512-0124
Operating hours:

Monday to Thurday    8:00am - 1:00am

Friday                      8:00am - 2:00am

Saturday                  6:30am - 2:30am

Sunday                    6:30am - 1:30am

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

The shortest tearjerker video ever and probably my personal favorite, most awaited movie for 2014.

Gus (played by Ansel Elgort) is just as I imagined him to be when I was reading the book back in December 2012. But I always thought of Hazel (played by Shailene Woodley) as thin, frail and perhaps a little smaller. I knew the actress from George Clooney's movie "The Descendants" and turns out Shailene Woodley was also Amy Juergens in "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" (2008). But she was smaller and younger back then. She grew taller I guess (or my judgment is playing tricks on me?) and looked a little different with short hair, in a good and mature way.

I really look forward to watching this movie because I cried a river while reading the book. It's a fact that a motion picture can't possibly capture all the readers' favorite parts and highlight everything at the level of their sky rocket high expectations, (because I have not seen one so far) but I definitely think this movie will not disappoint. Let's cross our fingers, Okay? 'kay. 

Favorites:

"No matter how hard you kick, no matter how high you get, you can't go all the way around." - Swing set ad by Augustus and Hazel

*  *  *  *

“May I see you again?" he asked. There was an endearing nervousness in his voice.

I smiled. "Sure."

"Tomorrow?" he asked.

"Patience, grasshopper," I counseled. "You don't want to seem overeager. 

"Right, that's why I said tomorrow," he said. "I want to see you again tonight. But I'm willing to wait all night and much of tomorrow." I rolled my eyes. "I'm serious," he said. 

"You don't even know me," I said. I grabbed the book from the center console. "How about I call you when I finish this?"

"But you don't even have my phone number," he said.

"I strongly suspect you wrote it in this book." 

He broke out into that goofy smile. "And you say we don't know each other.” 

*  *  *  *

“Some people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them," I said.

"Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway.” 

*  *  *  *

“there is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars”. 

New Face

Hello! It's been a long time. Oh, how I missed blogging. I know, I was out for quite a while but let me tell you, I've been itching --like a crazy woman with severe Psoriasis, to write something, I just didn't have the time. So now that I could spare some gold, I decided to change the face of my blog. Tadaaah! From the oldy old "Epiphany" which was the original title of my microblog in Multiply (back when it was hot as Global Warming) to "Epiphany and Whatnot" (first blogger title page) and eventually this:

GellyBelly's: Silly Giggles

I added "Gelly Belly's" and got my sister to create some sort of logo out of it just to highlight my new blog address. The battle between "Gellyshoso's" and "GellyBelly's" for my blog address was a blood bath, well, in my head that is. I was not sure if changing my signature ID is a smart thing to do, since almost all of my social networking accounts have the same ID -- Gellyshoso. I am still unsure, but I went with it anyway. The outcome is pretty much to my liking. :) I might change it back in the future though (I knoooooww, damn you womanhood!). 

My sister, Ate Ann, was generous to design a couple more logos.

Thank you Ate Ann! Kiss! :-x

I took careful considerations to all these, but I decided to keep 'Silly Giggles' simple and monochromatic, which brings me to the creation of my social networking icons. I took sample icons from google and tweaked it a little in photoshop to give each a touch of the theme I was aiming for. 

Facebook, Twitter & Instagram Icons

I am overjoyed to see them all come together. The entirety of the page is still bare but it's ought to grow. Hence, the birth of 'Silly Giggles'. ;)