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

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'. ;)

UAAP Season 75 Cheerdance Competition, Painted Maroon!

A big fuss has been spreading around about the winners of the UAAP Season 75 Cheer Dance Competition. Different arguments ran around UP's unconventional dance routines with a slight slip-up at the end, and FEU's unparalleled cleanly performed piece.

Cheerdance champs for the last three years and owning their 8th title from this season, is the University of the Philippines Pep Squad. The UP dancers' shaved heads embodied their bold theme for this year's routine, "Freedom and Equality". My personal favorite was when they represented each emblem of all the UAAP participating colleges as they danced through their performance.

Even though the final stunt was tainted with a premature fall, I think the confidence in standing tall after that and the offbeat dance routines made up for it. 

To show you more about it, here's a video of UP's performance at the Mall Of Asia Arena last September 22, 2012 linked from Youtube. 

Roaring at second place is the Far Eastern University Pep Squad that has executed an intensely clean moves and pretty interesting theme, something that has to do with the wild or the jungle. Every step, throw, pyramid, back-flip and all-kinds-of-flip were finely coordinated. I can't point my fingers on what my favorite part of their routine is, because basically, their feet are just shaking in harmony. It's crazy, wild, and fierce all at once! 

If these tickles your curiosity, Here's a video of the FEU Pep Squad's performance.

Beating UST on 3rd place, National University Pep Squad dancing with Disney Classics theme. Few trips and falls did not stop these first time top 3 winner  to showcase what bulldogs are made of. 

University of Santo Tomas Salinggawi Dance Troupe comes in 4th again like last season, performing in fiery costumes and theme inspired by Brazilian celebrations and festivities. De La Salle University Animo Squad landing in 5th place for their physically challenging routines that is boxing. 6th and 7th place came the Ateneo Blue Babble Battalion and Adamson Pep Squad, both unwavering with their funky themes: Voltes V and K-pop. UE coming in last, performed as blonde warriors, which might have been more criticized especially by people that are still sentimental on UP's swift win last season with the same hair do. 

This year's Cheer Dance Competition was undoubtedly neck-and-neck, hard fought battle. But the squabble is really all about fresh ideas and clever strokes versus clean fine maneuver and intensity. I don't know, I think they both did great and I'm sure the judges had a hard time deciding. All I know is that when it's this time of the year, I miss college. :)

Say, the UP pep squad's final stunt went on spotless, would we all be so psyche to argue who should or should not win? Would there be a fine line between the Champ and the First-Runner Up title? Just a thought.

Rear View Mirror

Let your mistakes be in your rear view mirror - Far enough to forget, but close enough to guide. -Adapted

So I have been a little under the weather these past few days, and my motivation was no better. Last Monday, for some uncanny reason, my colleagues and I were throwing inspirational phrases, talks and whatnot that one of my seniors finally asked, 

"Nasan ba ako ngayon? Nasa simbahan ba ako? Wednesday bible sharing?" (Where am I? Church?)  

"No sir, nasa mga recovering addicts and alcoholics talk ka." (you're in the middle of a recovering addicts and alcoholics talk),  I replied laughing.

I'm not sure what it is, maybe we all need a little something to animate us while we stumble upon work, catastrophes, stress or LIFE itself every now and then. Who doesn't? ☺

Cake of Opportunity: Cake2go!

It's my sister's birthday! (the eldest: Ate Ann) Went out for lunch and she's paying! But mom and I decided we can't just go empty handed so a newly opened branch of Cake2Go in Pearl Drive, North Fairview (in the internet it says Don Antonio branch for whatever reason) saved us. I have heard about the pastry shop, their mini cakes, delivery services and how they are expanding but I have not tried it once. Their branches before were far and I have so many pastry shops in mind to explore. But hey, it's a cake of opportunity!

Few cake selections but I was not surprised. The space in the shop is a little narrow and manned by a single courteous employee. They could have been more artistic with the cake but they have sugar-free selections (bottom row), that's a big YES!

I might try their cookies next time. Partially empty humongous jars convinced me! 

In search for the cake of opportunity for my thoughtful sister, I drooled over these:

But their featured cake won us over, the Mango Meringue Cake. The taste quite frankly, reminds me of Mango Bravo of Conti's in a homey and petite style. 

My sister and the folks seemed to enjoy it after a sumptuous meal. Happy birthday ate Ann!

Cake2Go is gradually expanding, going big on delivery services as their road to the market, a certain factor that consumers in this generation consider and some pastry shops oftentimes ignore. Way to go!

Sucky camera settings. Sorry. Not sorry. :) Toodles!