Today marked a first in the history of my existence. I joined a 5k run! 👏🏼 Never thought it was possible, since I despise running or any sporty activity of sorts. It was difficult not having any practice or exercise for the past 3 years or so. It was more of a walking than running, since my goal is to just finish, whatever means it maybe. 😁 But its difficult just the same. I finished in an hour and I was satisfied with myself, I was tired and sweaty but I did not regret it. 💪🏼
I hope I can join more runs in the future. Thumbs up to my sister’s friend Cy for staying behind to accompany me throughout the run.
I came across these coloring sheets called Color Me Doodle in Instagram and decided to try it out. I was never fond of coloring or any artsy stuff in my childhood years, but somehow now I’m beginning to (talk about late bloomer). Anyways, these 10 sheets are designed for adults and will really bring out the creativity of colors in you. A lot would say that coloring relieves stress, but personally, I just enjoy doing it. Also, it was fun picking out color pens in a bookstore and after a couple of sets (Maped and Stabilo), I settled for Faber Castell with its variety of colors (60 colors) for just 699 (I think).
Some of the sheets that I finished coloring (my favorite is the cat). I guess I have a flair for coloring, after all. 😁
Color Me Doodle (for shipping only); contact Mark Dean Lim – colormedoodle@gmail.com / @colormedoodle
I know I have expressed my love for BSB several times in this blog, and waaay more in the past, and going to one of their concerts is an ultimate goal of a fangirl like me. I may not be as diehard as I was in highschool, or I may not have their latest album, or I may not even afford their meet & greet, BSB will always hold a special place in my heart and memory that nothing and no one can ever take away.
Soo, drama aside, the only thing that stressed me out in this concert is the will call process. As excited as I was to be able to grab good seats, I purchased the vip tickets on their website during presale. It was stated there that I will be charged but the tickets will be picked up at the event box office. I was to receive an email on how to claim the tickets 4 days before the concert. 2 days before the event I still haven’t got any email, and I only got a reply when I emailed them one day before, a generic reply with no specific place to claim the tickets. I was desperate because I was charged $353 for 2 tickets already. Anyways, good thing I updated myself with the PH fanclub so I was able to get info that there’s a window in the Arena ticket sales that were for will calls. It was my first time to experience the will call setup, since its not common in PH. Turned out that those who received emails 4 days before the concert were the upgrades, meaning they have meet & greet / soundcheck. The platinum upgrade is $599 where fans go up the stage, excluding the concert ticket itself. It was amazing how fans would go lengths to be closer to their idols.
Well, I still got premium seats, 4 rows from the stage. Maybe I was too close, that my neck ache from looking up the whole time. But who am I to complain, of course. It was not every year that I get to see these boys, still outdoing themselves with their performances. They sang most of their hits from the past, and maybe 4 songs from their new album that I regret that I haven’t listen to yet. It was not yet in Spotify.
In 2012 NKOTBSB concert, they were just 4. Now Kevin has rejoined once more. They were getting old, lines show from their faces, their moves lessen a bit (except Nick who was crazy as always), and their voices more mature and different like Brian’s (who I think wasn’t too well). But whatever it was, it never mattered. They were the best boyband to ever grace this generation, they are brothers and family, and they make good music from 20 years to who knows how long, for us to enjoy and make witness for the years to come. Its like paying homage to a legacy today. ®
Every Holy Week the Agcaoilis make it a point to travel to a different country. For this year we travelled to Hanoi, Vietnam; just 6 days after wrapping up our Holy Land tour. Sophie is surely fast becoming a jetsetter, having travelled to 11 countries in just her 17 months of existence.
Well, I wasn’t really keen on doing this tour. Maybe because South East Asian countries never really interest me. One, because I find PH far more interesting than the nearby countries in terms of natural wonders, and two, because of the hot weather. I tire easily and lose interest when its too hot while touring. And this was what happened in Hanoi when we had our city tour. It was just too hot, that even Sophie was sweating like crazy it looked like she just came from shower everytime we walk.
Anyway, what I find interesting in Hanoi were the foods. I was not normally adventurous when it comes to international cuisine, and having just finished our Holy Land tour where I realized how much I hated (as in totally) Mediterranean food, I wasn’t ready for another food adventure. So, it came as a surprise that I like it. Well, some of it at least. Vietnamese food weren’t so bad after all, maybe remove the cilantro (they put tons of it) and they taste good, even for a picky eater like me.
Some of the foods we had during our 4 day stay.
street fruitsI think the one that looked like mango was the only edible here. The other two, esp. the red one that looked like sineguelas, were absolute no-no. It was too sour. These were sprinkled with sugar and chili and cost 50k vnd or approx. 100 php.
We also had our lunch at the supposed most famous restaurant in Hanoi.
Hanoi’s most famousWe walked from Hotel de L’opera (where we stayed) to here which was like 2 km under the scorching heat. The place looked like a small filthy carinderia which goes up to fifth floor. It was packed with foreigners and locals alike, and we finally settled to 4th flr. They only served 2 kinds of foods from which they are famous of, the grilled pork with rice noodles and crab spring rolls.
grilled pork crab rolls rice noodlesIt was delicious of course, like my mother in law says, “mura na, madumi pa” (cheap and filthy). She was so grossed out by the place that even though the food tasted great, she only ate a little. Funny thing was, it blacked out the moment we started eating. It was so hot and dirty and packed with people and even though its the most famous here I’m never eating here again. Ever.
By dinner time we just ate inside the hotel’s Vietnamese restaurant, Satine. We wanted to be sure the quality of the foods we’re eating, I guess. I must commend their spring rolls, they tasted great. The others were blah. I wished that I ordered for a clubhouse instead.
breakfast chicken phoWe stayed in Hotel de L’opera for 3 nights, and good thing that they have an acceptable array of foods during breakfast, continental buffet. Sophie somehow loved their chicken congee, which is a good thing. I was thinking that she wouldn’t eat Vietnamese food and I brought several cup noodles along with us.
On our city tour the next day, we were brought to a nice European style restaurant during lunch called La Tonkin. We were served with Vietnamese food again, but all were good. Again, Sophie had her chicken congee which tasted so good that I ate over half of it.
Now this is the more interesting part. There was an ice cream shop near the hotel called Kem Trang Tien since 1958. We think its very famous because we passed by a couple of times and it was packed with people and motorcycles going in and out of the area. So after the tour we walked and gave it a try. It was located in a small complex, with 3 stores selling the ice cream and parking lot for the motocycles. We were all excited to try because all people inside were happily chitchatting and eating their ice cream. It has only one flavor (vanilla) in sugar cone.
Kem Trang Tien famous vanilla ice creamHow I wish that the ice cream tasted as good as it looked. It was awful. I didn’t know the exact ingredients for an ice cream but this one clearly lacked sufficient milk and loaded with sugar. It also has a bitter aftertaste, even the sugar cone. I guess I was waiting for the taste to get better, but it didn’t, so after eating some, I unceremoniously threw it away. Really, what a waste of effort and excitement. The locals have an out-of-this-world standard of a good ice cream. I would prefer our dirty ice cream any time of the day.
Some of the foods at Bhaya Cruises
shrimp roll and breaded squid chicken and mushroom egg soup mango salad grilled shrimp with tartar sauce opera cake fresh oysters and shrimps sea bass curry light breakfast 😉 seafood pasta and fried squidOn our last night, we went to the famous Halong Bay. We boarded the Bhaya Cruises for our overnight cruise. In fairness, almost all foods were great, the taste somewhat caters to the foreigners, which was all the better for me.
famous beef phoI’m not a fan of noodles, and I couldn’t really say whether I like their Pho or not. I think its acceptable enough. Maybe remove some of the cilantro, or better yet, nothing at all, then it’ll be okay. Here, pho’s are everywhere, even on breakfast. Cilantros are everywhere on their food, too. On our four days here, one food that stood out is their spring rolls. They make really good ones. So in my short experience of Vietnam, Vietnamese food is all about spring rolls and not pho.
Our Holy Land Tour concluded last week, we arrived in Manila on March 24, having been gone for more than 2 weeks, since March 8. We covered 4 countries in all, Egypt, Israel and Jordan, with an extension in Dubai. It was a bittersweet trip for me, sweet that I got to witness the land of the Lord, which some people only dream about. And bitter because Sophie and I got ill for several days on that trip with Sophie losing a lot of weight because she didn’t eat for a week.
Anyway, one of the highlights of the trip is our renewal of vows in Cana. There were 4 couples in our group, and just like the marriage in Cana of Galilee, we also had our wedding ceremony officiated by our priest, Fr. Jobert Villacorta. It was supposed to be done inside the Cana church, but our tour leader Ms. Rose wanted it done inside the cave below. Wow, it was the most perfect place! It was a small and beautiful cave perfect for the intimate ceremony. All of us couples wore white, and the ladies were given bouquet of roses. Two of the older ladies wore simple veils, while I had crown of artificial flowers, as well as Sophie’s, the flower girl. (I also dressed her in white)
our flower crowns
It was a real wedding, because we all have certificates from Cana church signed by Fr. Jobert. Roxy even sang a beautiful wedding song called “Ikaw”, as requested by Ms. Rose. After the ceremony, we were all congratulated by our groupmates! Tabs and I were very fortunate to experience this. It is once in a lifetime. It really felt just like my wedding day. ❤️
wedding at Cana with our flower girl
After we’re done, we even had to taste the wine sold in a souvenir shop outside. I didn’t pass on the opportunity to buy wines for us, and for my parents, since this would be the wine from Cana of Galilee, just like in the bible. What an unforgettable experience indeed.
It was all over the news yesterday, that Backstreet Boys will be having another concert in Manila on May 5, 2015!
I was fortunate enough to see them the last time they were here, in 2012. I bought the tickets in Metrodeal that time (and blogged about it too). It was an amazing concert, and now I’m totally excited for their return, that I signed up for a fanclub membership for $20 😁. The members have the privilege of buying VIPs on presale, meaning I have an edge over the non-fanclub of course hahaha! I will splurge this time (no more Metrodeals this time), and for sure this is going to be awesome! ☺️
Darren Espanto is such a talented young boy. I knew theres a big future in store for him when I first watched him on last season’s The Voice Kids. True enough, he may not have won the title (he placed second to 9 year old Lyca Gairanoid), but he became more popular than Lyca as he already staged his first major concert and released an album.
Had I known his concert 2 months ago, I would surely attend, no questions asked. So when I learned about The Voice Kids concert in PICC, I did not hesitate to go. I wanted to experience myself what this child has to offer. As expected, he did not disappoint. He’s a total performer, a total package, thats for sure. From the looks of it, he doesn’t belong there. His talent is on a different level, not “the kids” type. He has also developed a fanbase who went crazy in that concert. I can now understand how or why, at the age of 13, he has managed to pull off a major concert.
I really liked this kid, not only because he’s very talented, but also because he’s very humble and good natured. He looked like such a good boy you can tell he was raised well. His parents must be so proud of him. Also, I can see a lot of Seunggi in him. Maybe for a parent, it would be so fulfilling to have a child like Darren, or Seunggi, for that matter. ☺️
leerenah 
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