day 1: zipline and pineapples.

For the first leg of our field trip, we headed straight to Bukidnon, a 2-hour drive from the CDO Airport.

We squeezed our 13 butts to Kuya Jeje's van. Jejeje.

After 2 hours of sleeping ang eating chips, we finally arrived here:

The Dahilayan Adventure Park is known for having the "Longest Dual Zipline in Asia", boasting its 840-m ride while 47,000 feet above sea level.

We opted for the All Ride Package para sulit.

Since the line was long, we went to a nearby resto to have lunch.

The gang at Cowboy's Grill

And we had this:

Pork steak
My verdict: 4 out of 5 stars

Then, we walked back to Zip Zone with our stomachs full and ready for adventure. Oh, did I mention that it was soo cold in there? We loved the cool breeze and the pine trees reminded us of...

...Twilight! Haha! Pwedeee.

Now, let the flying begin!

The 350-m zipline

Tuwang-tuwa lang, oh! :D

Then here's the exciting part--the 840-m zipline.
Watch this!

FUN, FUN, FUN!

After that, we made a short stop at the pineapple plantation for a quick photo-op.
Pinya kayo jannnn!


Mga babae sa pinyahan. Hehehe.

Last on the Bukidon itenerary was to eat steak at the Del Monte Golf and Country Club. Dubbed as the best steakhouse in the region, we were so excited to try it out until we discovered that it closes at 3PM during Sundays!
Major fail.

So we ended up taking a photo here instead:

Mga babae sa pekeng pinya.
Ay may dalawang lalaki pala! :P

And that concludes our Bukidnon trip!
BOW.

the 100-peso trip.

Hanggang saan ang 100 Pesos mo? Well, thanks to my travelholic friends, our P100 brought us to Cagayan de Oro City, Northern Mindanao!

The Full Cast.

With a budget of P5,000 each, we were able to conquer land, air, and water in a 4-day jampacked itenerary courtesy of JeTah Tours.

Jego and Tetah
These two arranged everything! Good job, guys!

I'll blog about each day separately. In the meantime, enjoy a few random photos!

Welcome to the City of Golden Friendship!
The gang just landed.


Twins?
Mitor and Chip, Me and Binder
in our matchy-matchy outfits

Eto ang tunay na kambal.
Julio at Julia

Conquer fear of heights: CHECK!
Deb and Chip enjoying the breeze up in the air

Conquer fear of water: DOUBLE CHECK!
Ligster and Naika, you did it!

Visit places written in our HEKASI books: CHECK!
The Ma. Christina Falls
photo taken by Ma. Christina Cordeta. Haha!

Take cheesy photos with your significant other: CHECK!

Lose a few pounds by climbing 400+ steps...

...but never hold back when the food is sooo good!: CHECK!


And just like any other trip with my forever girls,

Always LAUGH like there's no tomorrow!: CHECK, CHECK, CHECK!

stress buster.

I got home from work super annoyed with work-related stuff. Whenever I'm stressed, the very first thing I look at is our refrigerator. May hiwaga ang ref namen eh. All you gotta do is open the door, and voila! Loads of knick knacks available for consumption. Good thing I was able to drop by the supermarket yesterday so I had this in our freezer:

The very ancient Fibisco Choco Mallows!

This tiny yellow box of goodness brings back a lot of childhood memories. When we were kids, mom would buy us one box each and super tinitipid namen yun to last us the whole week. But most of the time 3 days max lang siya tumatagal saken (kay kuya nga 1 day lang eh) so I always end up getting secretly from my sister's box. Haha, madaya! Seriously though, you can't just have 1 piece per day! It's sooo good you can finish the whole thing in one seating!

Each box contains 6 pieces. The first piece went straight to my mouth before I even remembered to take a photo. I told you it was my favorite!

Say hello to my comfort food!

Haaaaay. Love.
It only took one bite, and my stress went away that fast.

Yes, just one bite, and I found myself smiling again. :)

*Fibisco Choco Mallows are sold for P26.50 in all leading supermarkets nationwide.

5:30 a.m.

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day


Finally done with my deadlines. Phew. A new day has begun, and now's my turn to close my eyes and dream.

See ya later, alligator.

Raket Science: Eclipse shoot.

I think this is my first time to talk about my styling adventures. I always tend to postpone writing about my styling gigs because most of them are done 2 months prior to the release (so we can't post behind-the-scenes and everything is hush-hush) and by the time it gets out I already forgot what's blog-worthy about it. But this one's an exception from that just-another-styling-gig-pile, because out of all the shoots I've done, this is, by far, the most memorable. Thing is, most people think that being a stylist is such a glamorous job. Well let me tell you this--it's NOT. But I love my job, still. So there. :)

I was asked to produce the fashion editorial for Candy Magazine's Eclipse Special. The goal was to recreate scenes from the book (which I haven't read, please don't kill me) and that meant booking a forest-y location, three models, a creative team (makeup artist, hairstylist, photographer), plus handling logistics (transpo, food) on top of pulling out clothes. Phew. Since I shoot mostly products--my usual workmates are just the mannequin and the photographer--producing a major fashion editorial with real people is unfamiliar territory. But of course, I was more than excited to do it.

I'd rather not go into details re the major bwiset moment during this project, particularly that model/artista-wannabe who canceled on me the last minute. He is actually the reason why the shoot is so unforgettable. But for the love of good vibes, I wont rant about it anymore. Hehehe. So anyway, our shoot was rescheduled a week after and boy oh boy, we didn't expect that it'll be super HOT in there!

Here are behind-the-scenes!

Ian as Edward and Lovely as Bella with super photog Ocs Alvarez on the side

Take note, before we asked them to lie on the grass...

...we had to do it first!
Guinea pig mode with Ramona, our Art Director

The team at work at La Mesa Nature Reserve (not Eco Park)

Layout #2 was at the farther side of the dam so we packed and drove about 30 minutes going here:

The camping scene
Ramona, Me, Maggie (EIC), Tatin (Makeup)

Our Edward and Jacob (John James) chatting up

The team reviewing the shots

Then Layout #3 and #4 was at the farthest side of the place. The difference is, the only way to get there was to walk. How far? 1 kilometer. At 12 noon. Remember I told you it was so hot?

Well, here's proof.
That's Lovely, carrying her next outfit, followed by me, carrying tons of stuff.

I think I asked "Are we there yet?" a couple of times before we finally got there.
It was seriously a long walk!

We had lunch on the ground then we shot the last two layouts with our dirty and icky and smelly selves and then finally, that's the wrap.

Happy team, still!
We were all tempted to jump in that dam, as in.

When I got home, I hurried to the shower, had the most refreshing bath ever, and then I saw this:

Toasted, much?
It's not even a tan line, it's a tan mark! Hahaha!

And now, presenting...the published photos!

The Cover

Now the question is, was the whole thing worth it?

Well of course, it is. :)

Twi-hards, grab your copy while supplies last!

*BTS photos courtesy of Lovely and Ocs Alvarez

goodbye, lola cion.

Lola and Me
Christmas 2007

We all know it's inevitable, but it still hurts until now.

For 89 long years, I can happily say that I had my own share of fond memories with my dear Lola Cion. 89 may seem a really long time, but you know what? It still seems not enough.

I want more of her tender touch.
I want more of her sweet smiles.
I want more of our laid-back conversations.
I just want more time with her.

Time. That's something that we take for granted every day. I am guilty, for sure. But I take comfort in the fact that my dear Lola is now having the time of her life with Lolo in heaven. She lived a remarkable life, and I am beyond grateful that I was able to experience her love while growing up.

I will always remember how thoughtful you were, Lola. I cherish all the birthday cards you sent every year. Thank you for never forgetting. You are the sweetest Lola any grandchild can ever wish for. Now that you're up there, I know that every time I'd miss you, I'd just have to look up the sky and stare at you--the brightest star, our eternal sunshine. Please don't stop shining for us, Lola. Your light will keep us going and inspire us to celebrate life the way you did.

Happy Lola on her 89th birthday, 2009

So today, I'm making a promise. I'll start writing again. I've put off blogging for a long time but now I'll try my best to keep up. I'm sure you'd still want to hear my stories, Lola. I'll always remember how your face lights up every time we talk about anything under the sun. You've always been proud of me and that is something that I'll take with me every day.

Life is full of suprises, indeed. I still can't believe you went away that fast, without saying goodbye. Yes, it hurts, until now.

But today, I am ready...

...to finally set you free.

Rest in peace, Ma. Asuncion T. Ayson.
August 11, 1920 - June 25, 2010.

I love you, forever and always.

26th birthday bonanza.

June is my month because of obvious reasons--my birthday. I had a great time turning 26, by the way. Had a total of four celebrations, although one was actually to celebrate something else, but still, I got to hang out and party with those set of friends. More on that later. :)

June 3 was a Thursday and I was supposed to do makeup for an engagement shoot. Lucky for me, the bride-to-be got sick so I had an instant free day to spend. Called mi amiga Deb and we spent the afternoon at the movies; drooling over clothes in Sex and the City 2. Really awesome stuff, I must say. Then Mitor picked us up and we had pizza and pasta with the fam at home. A totally laid back birthday, indeed. Forgot to take photos again though! Geez. I should really start a camwhoring habit, don't you think?

June 4 was Frances's surprise baby shower. This was the celebration that I was talking about earlier. Hehehe. It's really her party but since I plan to treat my OK! fam anyway, I just brought the yummiest-dessert-ever-ever to add on the food table. And boy, everyone loved it!

Mango Torte from Cuerva!

Photo grabbed from Tisha

The bday girl with the gorgeous mom-to-be!

Say cheese, Summiteers!
Read more about the fun, fab games here.
It's the best baby shower ever!

June 6 was Tiktilaok Night with my college friends. Ever heard of Tiktilaok?

Well oh well, say "hello" to the yummiest and juiciest roasted chicken in the world!
It's legendary, really!

Posing with the food.
Tiktilaok, Yellow Cab, and Conti's Mango Torte!
No wonder I'm gaining too much weight!

The gang with the very preggers Nix. Can't wait to see Skylar!

As usual, we played charades and "hinoy penyo" and made a fool of ourselves. Good stuff, good stuff. Hahaha! :)

And last but not the least, another birthday bash at Centerstage, Makati on June 13. This time around, my gradeschool-highschool buddies came out to parteyyy.

My forever girls plus mi amor Mitor. LOL

Figuring out the very hi-tech songlist. Paperless, in fairness!

Mr. Discoman, anyone? Shabada!

The Birit Queen having her moment.

Phew. Four celebrations, eh? After the rockeoke, I was so broke but nevertheless, very HAPPY. After all, June is my month so it's all about spending it with the people close to my heart. :)


* Tiktilaok Night photos grabbed from Tin Zablan
* Centerstage photos grabbed from Binder Nastor, Tetah Cordeta