A Very Fun Christmas Eve 2011

I never thought we could have this kind of family reunion slash Christmas celebration once again. It has been a long time since we celebrated Christmas eve wherein everyone is present. Thank God for making this possible. My aunt, her husband, and her son was able to come home from Saudi for Christmas. My cousins and their husbands were also able to book flights from Singapore to Manila. 

First activity for the night was hearing mass. This is already part of our family Christmas tradition. We all went to the church to listen to the word of God and to thank Him for all the blessings we received for the year. After mass, we had lots of "chikahan" while preparing food to be served for Noche Buena.  A little before 12MN, we had our Noche Buena which started with a thanksgiving prayer. Different kinds of foods were served. Everyone enjoyed the "kwentuhan" while eating.

Of course, Christmas isn't complete without gift giving! :)

My Lolo and Lola received a portrait of their younger years as gifts

How sweet! :) They look so happy :)

I love SG <3

My mom, sister Janet, nephew Clian, niece Hanna, and I with my aunt Sarry :)

Hurray for the grocery items! :)

The most enjoyed activity for this night was the family presentation portion. Days before Christmas, it was agreed by everyone that each family must do a presentation. It's our first time to have this, but it was super fun! :)

Song and dance number from Hanna, Gretel, and Clian

Song and dance number from Cuenca Family

Dance number from Tito Job and Tita Sarry

Dance number from Cerjohn and Claire

Before the night ended, we had our much awaited family picture taking.

Looking forward to another memorable Christmas Eve this 2012.

Road Trip and Food Trip @ Liliw, Laguna

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Are you fond of shoes, sandals, and slippers? Wishing to have lots of them at a very cheap price? The place to be aside from Marikina is at Liliw -- a town well-known to be the shoe capital of Laguna.

My family decided to go on a road trip and spend the long weekend at Liliw, Laguna. We left our house at 7:30AM and was on the road for about 4 hours. It was sort of a long drive going to Liliw since we were not familiar with the place, it was all our first time there. Since it was already 11:30AM when we arrived at Liliw we decided to have lunch first. We dined at Arabela, a famous restaurant for tourists who are visiting this town. Arabela is known for its delicious pasta and pizza. Food is definitely good, and it they are all affordable.

Based on research, this restaurant was named after Ara and Bela, daughters of Bobby and Tonet Camello :) My sister and her kids ordered for Marinara, Baked Macaroni, and Mashed Potato.

Mashed Potato

Marinara - Php85.00

Baked Macaroni - Php80.00

My mom, cousin, and I ordered for Baby Back Beef, T-bone Steak, Baked Lasagna, and Grilled Fish in Caponata Sauce.

Baby Back Beef - Php230.00

T-bone Steak - Php260.00

Baked Lasagna - Php95.00

Grilled Fish in Caponata Sauce - Php200.00

 For desert we had Strawberry Shake and Tiramisu Cake :) 

Tiramisu - Php85.00

Strawberry Shake

  

After eating lunch, we immediately went shoes/sandals/slippers shopping. Everyone was so amazed to see a number of stores selling cheap footwear. But of course, I wasn't able to buy any because none fitted my "taste" and style. Afterwards, we headed to Lilio Church now known as Liliw Church. 

Since I had a Katy Perry concert to attend, I had to drive back to Manila after visiting the church. It was a two and a half hours trip going back to Alabang. My trip to Liliw, Laguna was short but fun. Definitely, I'll be going back to see more of this place! :)

Other things to do when in this area: tour around Nagcarlan, try the famous pancit lucban, visit Pagsanjan Falls.

Arabela Cakes, Pastries, Pasta, Pizza and Coffee
503 Rizal Street, Liliw, Laguna
Mobile Number: +63 917 204 1447, +63 927 386 0639.
Telephone: +63 49 5632495

EDSAT Peeps, Thank You!

When I was transferred to this project 5 months ago, it was as if I had no choice. I was disappointed to find out that my original project assignment has been moved to the end of 2012 Q1. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't complain and I was left with no choice except to follow my Manager's directions.

First few weeks with this project was like hell. The application was new to me and it was a bit difficult to learn. I also didn't like the way we were managed. There were days when the tasks were overflowing and they seem endless. But there were also days when we had nothing to do (literally nothing). Days passed and the situation wasn't getting any better. Still, I had no choice but to endure everything.

A few weeks later, the QA peeps of the project were transferred to our Alabang office where I had been reporting for a few months already. According to the Management, this setup would allow us to work more closely with each other. Plus, the connection in our Alabang office is much faster than the connection in our Makati office. 

We started to have fun lunch and merienda breaks together. Each break was filled with jokes and happy stories. The office pantry was always filled with laughter when we're there. We always talk about out of town trips and food trips. And the best thing about our group is that we have one thing in common -- our love for good food. This, I think, is one of the reasons why we could get along really well with one another. We would go out of the office for lunch at days that we're craving for yummy lunch. Also, we would sometimes have food trips after office hours. The friendship that I was able to build with this group is really priceless. They were the ones who relieves my stressful mornings and afternoons at work. They were the reason why I always look forward to lunch and merienda breaks. Spending time with this group really makes me feel good all the time, simply because of the reason that they always make me happy. 

Now that I have been pulled out of the project, I fear that I might not be able to spend my lunch or merienda breaks with them anymore. But of course, this is not the end. We are still in the same company even if we already have different projects. So to my EDSAT teammates, I would like to thank you for making my stay in this project bearable. Thank you for being my stress relievers. Thank you for the exciting stories and amazing experiences you've shared. With my 2 years stay in this company, I can proudly say that your the best teammates I've had. I hope that we could still have more fun filled food trips in the future! :)

Jim, Peewee, Le, Dolly, Mike, and Edan... thank you! :)

First Saturday of 2012

January 07, 2012 -- First Saturday of year 2012. Unfortunately, we were asked to come to work today since our project is already behind schedule. My office mates and I went to Alabang Town Center to eat lunch. Before eating, we were already looking for deserts we could bring to the office and eat while we are working. Here's what we bought.

Chocolate Caramel Cake

We bought the cake for Php50.00 only. It was too sweet because of the caramel topping but we were still able to finish it. Yummy! :)

Simot sarap! :)

Best Christmas Gift

After I attended the B1G7 retreat, I became eager to have my own handy bible that I could bring anywhere. I thought it would be good to have one since I am attending a DGROUP session once a week in Makati. I am very happy to receive this as a Christmas present from a good friend of mine. This is indeed the best Christmas gift I received this 2011. Thank you Brian for giving me this very wonderful book. I will make time to read this! :)

Systematic Lupus Erythematosus

Systematic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) 

• SLE is an autoimmune disease, which means the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue. It may affect the skin, joints, kidneys, brain, and other organs.

Causes

• The underlying cause of autoimmune diseases is not fully known
• SLE is much more common in women that in men. It may occur at any age but appears most often in people between 10 and 50. African Americans and Asians are affected more often than people from other races
• SLE may also be caused by certain drugs

Symptoms

• Symptoms vary from person to person, and may come and go. Almost everyone with SLE has joint pain and swelling. Some develop arthritis. Frequently affected joints are fingers, hands, wrists and knees.
• Other common symptoms include:
1. Chest pain when taking a deep breath
2. Fatigue
3. Fever with no other cause
4. General discomfort, uneasiness, or ill feeling
5. Hair loss
6. Mouth sores
7. Sensitivity to sunlight
8. Skin rash -- a "butterfly" rash over the cheeks and bridge of the nose which can get worse in sunlight
9. Swollen lymph nodes

 Treatment

•  There is no cure for SLE. The goal of treatment is to control the symptoms
• Mild disease may be treated with:
1. Non steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) treat athritis and pleurisy
2. Corticosteroid creams to treat skin rashes
3. An anti-malaria drug (hydroxychloroquine) and low dose corticosteroids for skin and arthritis symptoms

• Wear protective clothing, sun glasses,  and sunscreen when in the sun

Prognosis

• How well a person does depends on the severity of the disease
• The outcome for people with SLE has improved in recent years. Many people with SLE have mild synptoms
• Women with SLE who become pregnant are often able to carry safely to tern and deliver a healthy infant, as long as they do not have severe kidney or heart disease and the SLE is being treated appropriately. However, the presence of SLE antibodies may increase the risk of pregnancy loss

Complications

• SLE causes damage to many different parts of the body, including:
1. Blood clots in the legs or lungs
2. Destruction of red blood cells or anemia
3. Fluid around the heart or inflammation of the heart
4. Fluid around the lungs and damage to the lung tissue
5. Pregnancy complications, including miscarriage
6. Stroke
7. Severely low blood platelets
8. Inflammation of the blood vessels

Source:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001471/

DLSU Christmas Dinner 2011

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It is a yearly tradition of my La Salle barkada to have a dinner get together before the year ends. We must admit that most of us are busy with our own lives but we still make it to a point that we have an activity like this every year. For me, this is one of the events I look forward to each year because this is usually the only time that I see my La Salle barkada and do all the catching ups that we have to do.

2011's dinner get together is a bit different since only a few could make it. Two of our friends are already working in Singapore. One was able to go home here in the Philippines but the other is celebrating both Christmas and New Year in SG. Others were not able to make it because they have other plans on this day.

This year, we decided to have dinner at Serendra, Bonifacio Global City. Our choice of restaurant was Zao which serves Vietnamese food. Even though we were few, we were still able to enjoy dinner! :)

My beloved La Salle friends :)

Richmond. Edan. Gretz. Francis. Grace. Dave. Donna. Karlo

After dinner at Zao, we decided to have coffee at Seattle's Best Coffee, Bonifacio High Street. This was indeed a very fun night with my La Salle friends. Cheers to our lifelong friendship! Hoping to spend more time with all of you! :)

Cheers to our lifelong friendship!

Pretty ladies with Dave

Karlo. Dave. Richmond

Dave. Donna. Richmond. Grace

Pretty ladies with Richmond

Donna. Edan. Grace. Gretz

 

Edan. Gretz. Francis. Karlo