Take Me to Bohol!

Panglao Beach (Photo by Alan David)

To         :  Colleague
Cc         :  The Boss
Re         :   Pasuyo (Special Requests please)

(Insert body of an extremely long email of bilin's and reminders written in the only lighted cubicle on a late evening in that real estate office somewhere over the rainbow)...

...because I am going to Bohol!!!

Sincerely,
Tina

Always, the eve of  a vacation is the most stressful of all. Endless paper works, a long list of bilin's, rushed to do's - but you welcome them all because tomorrow will be a happy day. Happiness has another spelling, v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n and I have spelled it out that way for four days and three nights in the famous Bohol - the home of the Chocoloate Hills, Loboc River, Panglao and many more beautiful islands, Baclayon Church, and my sistah's from another motha' - the pretty tarsiers (family reunion 'to!!=))

Dian, one of my favorite people in the world and who is responsible for this blog's refreshing layout (clap! clap!), wanted to celebrate her birthday out-of-town, bullied us into celebrating her birthday with her, we gave in and so Bohol happened. So snaps for Di for teaching us the value of being a bully!

Many have been written and said about the place and again narration only works when I am the reader because of my sweet, husky and sensual voice (nung bata ako pangarap kong maging taga announce sa mga malls, "paging customer tina, please proceed to the prestigious - come on, prestigious talaga - lounge area where you will be treated with a free back massage and an hour of reflexology. You have earned the reward through your purchase of one million worth of goods because you're just that way - rich, very rich!!!!) but it's a completely different and BORING story when I write the script down for the narration so I'll just enumerate.

I hope to zero in on a theme.

Top ten reasons why one should visit Bohol. (Over used)
Top ten things I love about Bohol. (But I loved everything and everyone!)
Top ten must-see and must-do in Bohol. (Lonely Planet can do better!)

I can do it, oh here's one, Top Ten Things Bohol Taught Me.
O di ba, so origina! wahaha! And pangarap ko kasing maging teacher and I like it when I say the word "teach". Wala lang.

So here we go:

Children, attention please, because you will be treated with (drum roll) the...

Top Ten Things Bohol Taught Me (round of applause and party poppers!)

Di's birthday cake transformation

Picture with the birthday girl

ONE: Bohol taught me that cheap cupcakes and macaroons can easily turn into a grand slam birthday cake if you put so much candles on them (colorful ones at that), light them all together, sprinkle them with your love and surprise a friend with them. Only I doubt if Di was ever surprised but I realized though I am the laziest in terms of planning events and all, it is a lovely feeling to be able to do things for somebody you care for. =)

TWO: Bohol reminded me of God's artistry through the Chocolate Hills. How did that happen?? God said "Let there be hills" and there was/were the Chocolate Hills. Napasobra ng kumpas ng kamay si Papa God, dumami tuloy but He saw that it was good so He let it be.

For my appetizer: mwahahaha!

Dinner by the beach

THREE:  Bohol reminded me of my never-say-die belly-capacity. Isang bandehado ng kung anu-ano. The Loboc River cruise is a must in every Bohol trip. There's a lot of singing, nature, festivity - and siyempre pa, food, glorious Filipino food made even more glorious because you're eating them in a cruise. I died and have gone to heaven when I ate the crabs, sweet and spicy, melts in my mouth and not anywhere else. I died and have gone back to heaven one more time with the shrimps, grilled fish, fried chicken (yung mas masarap pa sa Jollibee, KFC, Savory, Maxx's!!), barbecue and unidentified oh-my-gulay's which I ate just the same because every bite is a taste of heaven. Naks.

Also, I can't get-over DBR grill's candlelit tables and romantic tents - perfect for isaw and laman-loob barbecue (nyahaha!). sosi? saucy!

FOUR: Bohol taught me that there are two ways of being a child:

*Get involved early on with the community like how the kids in Brgy. Gotozon are doing. They dress themselves up in pink dresses with flowery patadyong's and sing and dance endlessly. In the middle of our buffet cruise, the raft paused for a few minutes to witness the dancing and the singing of these kids on a makeshift stage by the river - part of their community's livelihood program.

*Just be a child and let the world be damned. Climb trees. Swing on their branches. Let go and make a splash into the river. Do it to impress your friends. Do it to impress the tourists who most likely are from the city and are so captivated by trees and bodies of water. Do it because you like the high of swinging in the air and diving into the river. Do it because you like to do it. And it makes you happy.

Butterfly Sanctuary

FIVE: Bohol taught me this butterfly trivia: It takes 37 days for an egg (larva) to become a butterfly yet butterflies are only given 21 days to live. That's their life span. 21 days. These beautiful and colorful creatures have very fleeting existence on earth yet they bring so much joy and color.

Hello there, sister.=)

SIX: Bohol made me realize that I may be a tarsier. The big eyes are a given. And the cuteness too. And the adorable factor, yes, that too. But did you know that these fragile little and endangered creatures are easily stressed. That's why there are a lot of "Silence Please" signs and camera flash is not allowed in the Tarsier sanctuary- tarsiers get disturbed and get stressed easily. And stress may even drive them to committing suicide. While suicide is far and not even on my mind and I can not even bear writing the word down here -  I have big eyes. And I get stressed easily. I am a Tarsier. Bow. (And I am cute and one-of-a-kind, aka endangered, haha!)

SEVEN: Bohol taught me the ways of the sea: the presence of dolphins may mean the absence of sharks. Dolphins travel in "packs" (ano ba ang collective term for dolphin??=p) and they are so clique-ish that they drive sharks away. Why so? Sharks travel solo and they are intimidated by the multitude of cute dolphins who these paranoid sharks think will attack them, little do they know that these cute not-so-little fellows form a band of sea-good-doers who always burst into a medley of "Under the Sea".....

Dolphins are best seen at the crack of dawn - they are sensitive to light and heat.

I am so smart, I know these stuff!! Haha!

Wishing Wells: Baclayon Church (top),
Chocolate Hills (bottom)

EIGHT: Bohol taught me that one of the many ways of making one's wish come true (other than working hard for it) is through a wishing well. Here are the steps:

First, close your eyes and make a wish.

Second, throw a coin into the well.

Third, ring the bell (because there is always a bell on the top of a legit wishing well).

Last and most important, keep the faith.

Sunrise Panglao

NINE: Bohol taught me that really, sunrise is most beautiful while on the beach.

TEN: Bohol is a beautiful reminder that we are so blessed and life is good.

Thanks to Alan, Dian, Joicee, Yabi and Lance for my beautiful Bohol experience!

Bohol entry: the 4th out of the promised 12 stories for 2012

Bee Farm

Words of Wisdom from Bohol Bee Farm (Loboc River Cafe Branch)

Live Well.

Laugh Often.

Love Much.

With sunflowers in between.=p

Move..

I just need to post this.
Words of wisdom grabbed from Nancy Siy's wall.=)
Happy Weekend!=)

Happy Monday!

Because Monday is just around the corner, let's pump in some of those inspiring words, shall we??
A toast to a productive and more so, a happy week!!=)

photos from wordsoverpixel

Oh Mommy!

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam Bratney. My favorite children's story.

I write this because I am scared.

To my future kids:

Before I even begin, I want to say I love you. When I was a kid myself, I cringe whenever I had to say these words to my nanay and tatay and I feel the awkwardness my parents might have felt too when required to say them. Back then, we were never really the affectionate family who are demonstrative and showy of our feelings. We just stood by each other’s side. And that was enough. That was our silent “I love you’s”.

It may seem impossible to fall in love with somebody whom you haven’t met yet but when I imagine myself having kids I feel protective of them already. I feel that there is nothing that I will want most in the world but to see them happy and make the most out of their lives. I just know that I will do everything within my power and even beyond to give them what they need and what they want. Being a mother requires so much but as in with all mommy stories, they say it is worth it. The heart automatically expands a hundredfold and it accommodates all the required “mommy love”.

And while I look forward to this “mommy life” full of “mommy love”, will you forgive me, if I say that I am not ready to have you? Will it diminish your love for me if your experience to living gets delayed a bit because of my current state of selfishness?

Sweetheart, I want to share with you my dreams and I’ll do it with utmost giddiness similar to having seen Piolo Pascual and Xian Lim in person. For your information, Piolo and Xian are the hottest actors in the Philippines today (year 2012) that even with rumours on their being gay, their hotness are well preserved like the wax remains of President Marcos – him (Marcos), you will be taught in your history subject.

I dream of teaching or taking part in an organization with an advocacy. I dream of embracing a vocation far from what I am doing at the present. I dream of spending a year in a foreign land – for a short term work or a scholarship about art and literature, or about how private enterprise can contribute to a far bigger cause than its ballooning profits. I dream of spending a year travelling, backpacking, and waking up each day with the sole agenda of exploring and breathing in different cultures. I dream of going to Tibet, Myanmar and Nepal. I dream of riding in the European trains. I dream of being rich and being able to lift the burden of responsibility off your grandparents’ shoulders. I dream of bringing your tita’s (they are all still very young now) to Disneyland and hell, even just to the Mind Museum at the Fort in Taguig without getting broke. I dream of having enough resources to afford a little luxury for your lolo and lola and my siblings. I dream of still being able to fulfil my responsibilities as one of the eldest without necessarily giving up so much of my personal goals. I dream about things far different from my present surroundings because, though it’s an admission of weakness and I feel ungrateful that I am even putting these into words, I feel some emptiness and heaviness in my heart – that gnawing discontent that I want and need something more than what I have today. I do not want you to find me in this state, love, and neither do I want you to feel what I am feeling now, ever. Life is beautiful and all the things that you see are gifts from the Universe – there are no other rightful feelings but gratitude and awe of all the wonders in the world. I feel ashamed of what I just wrote and I feel tempted to erase the words – but I wish to be honest.

No, love, please do not mistake it as me seeing you as a hindrance towards achieving all of my dreams. I hope that when you are in my arms, you have 100% of me. You have a complete mommy – a mommy ready to share herself with God’s greatest gifts in the entire world – children. I want to be prepared for you, for your future and more than being prepared with your needs, I want to be able to give you the best there is in the world. Because, sweetheart, you deserve nothing less than that.

I wish to be able to offer all that I am capable of giving similar to what my mother is doing for me. I am tremendously fortunate for having your lola as my mother. She never basked in the corniness of quarter life drama the same way I shamefully did because she willingly and successfully embraced motherhood even at a young age of nineteen. My mother is a happy person and light to be with – well, her age has made her a little more sensitive and clingy of her children but that is understandable considering that she is a mother of seven kids, all almost-grown up and are away from her. If you want to know the definition of selflessness, you do not need to look it up in the dictionary. All you have to do is hear/listen to her stories. I love her so. Always and forever.

And I love you too, my little one, but please wait.
Mommy is not yet ready.
But when I am, I will make sure that I will love you in the same way my mother loves me.
And that, my child, is the most beautiful and most magical feeling in the world – my nanay yayang’s love.

Your Sexy Momma,
Tina


Note to self this May 2012: I cannot believe I am calling myself a mommy! Darn, Mother's Day!

Theo

I wore braces for most of my adolescent years. If people were to describe me to another, I am used to the description: "yung mapayat na may braces".

Who wrote this article? "Yung mapayat na may braces."
Who gave this to you? "Yung mapayat na may braces."
Who rocked and changed the world? "Yung mapayat na may braces."
Who is your dream girl? "Yung mapayat na may braces."

When my orthodontist finally freed my abused teeth several years back, naturally, I graduated from the simplistic description of the thin one with the braces. So it became a challenge to describe me to people who are interested to know me (because I'm super interesting - wahahaha!!) or who may simply one to know my name because I did something good OR something really bad. Come on people, I am not that difficult to describe. Just say "sexy hot chick" and all fingers will automatically point to me so don't stress much. Really. Haha!

Now. now.
See this clay I molded myself one afternoon out of boredom?

It was not intentional but it turned out looking like my human stress buster - our dear little Theo (my brother's youngest son). How easy is it to describe him? Big ears. Big eyes. Big smile. Big circles - meaning, lahat sa kanya malalaking bilog.=)

The Clay Model

Future Matinee Idol. Big Eyes. Big Ears.

Theo will someday be as old as the man on the background. But for

now and for many years still, he is our little baby boy. 

Big Eyes. Big Ears. Big Smile. Those descriptions are reserved for Theo.
Hot, Sexy Chick - reserved for Tina.

End of story.=)

Cocina Juan

I am a Maginhawa street fan. If I become rich enough and have saved enough for a house and lot, I will turn my back away from the posh Forbes, Bel-air and Dasma villages in the south and will build my dream home in Maginhawa street. I cannot live anywhere else in Metro Manila other than Quezon City. And there is no other home for me in Quezon City than the UP Village.

My province-based cousins and sister Patis are here in Metro Manila for some back-to-school shopping spree and one rainy Saturday, after an afternoon of bag and school-shoe hunting (I miss my St. Paul days! Uniforms. Black leather shoes. White socks. Backpack. And my favorite - notebooks!), we trooped over Moonleaf in Maginhawa street and then Cocina Juan for a sumptuous Tex-Mex merienda of burrito, pita pizza (my favorite topping is Tuna), quesadilla and tortilla ensalada with Chimichurri sauce.

I forgot that I have claimed the said restaurant as my "date place" - all cozy and colorful and with oh-so romantic dim lights.=) But Mr. Cocina Juan Date is not available, good thing, these five kids are worthy substitutes. Haha!

Siblings Date

Tortilla Ensalada. Quesadilla. Burrito.Pita Pizza

Cocina Juan Interiors

Who wore the wall better? Haha! I love love this red wall.=)

I love Doors. Cocina Juan Door. My flabby tummy tells me I need to 

workout asap!

Street Art

First, the invitation.
To artists and to those interested in and appreciative of the arts, please drop by Reposo street (N.Garcia) in Bel-Air, Makati City for the annual arts festival (Likha Ng Sining) spearheaded by the Grupo Reposo artists next week, May 12 and 13, 2012. I am lucky to have been a part of an organization which partners with the group year after year to dedicate one whole day (this year, two whole days!) to celebrate art.

Arts Festival 2012 Invite

These pictures were taken in last year's arts festival. As early as 8:00 in the morning, the entire stretch of Reposo street was bursting with energy, passion and color as artists, young and old, came full force not to really showcase their talents but more than that, to celebrate art and all things beautiful related to it. It's magical to be surrounded with people doing that one thing they love and they are most passionate about.

street art

For lovers of street art, check out streetartutopia - it's worthy of your late nights and one of the reasons which make insomnia tolerable.

Happy art.=)
Life is colorful.

Robin Lim

Baguio, 2010.

Her stories were simple, and at that time, were not really the type of stories which interest me: natural birthing, midwifery and care for mothers and babies. I have no idea who she was but I stayed to listen because, one, it was my first time to attend a book launch (Butterfly People) and second, she talked about Indonesia and travels and uprooting of oneself from ones comforts and staying in an otherwise foreign community out of service and out of love.

One November afternoon in Baguio, I found myself in Upper Session Road to give in to my curiosity about this charming little bookshop in Casa Vallejo, Mt. Cloud Bookshop. I came for the book store. Nothing more. Nothing less. Little did I know that I will be meeting the future CNN Hero of the Year.

with Robin Lim at Mt. Cloud Bookshop, Baguio City, November 2010

Sail Away

Twice I've come across these beautiful words today.
Words of wisdom from pareng Mark:

Door to Door

Take me to Valloria, Italy!

I have a thing for doors.  Doors are magical. Doors have characters – distinct ones that impress. My “thing” for doors started two years ago in Sagada, after having visited St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and fell in love with its blue, ala shabby chic door. I thought then, I don’t mind NOT getting married in the church as long as I get married IN THIS DOOR!! Haha!!=) I cannot find a close up shot of my charming Sagada door and because I want to share with you my appreciation, I encourage you, dear friend, to go to Sagada. Now. Urgent. Asap. Love my door as I have loved it. Kung may cloud appreciation society where die-hard cloud “appreciators” pool themselves together to ,uhm, appreciate clouds (yes, how so straightforward, ano pa nga ba?), I will be the founder of the DOOR APPRECIATION SOCIETY - we promote happiness door-to-door!! Haha!!

St Mary's Episcopal Church. On the left side is view of the chapel from one of the doors "patterns". 

Pictures from leavethecube.

 Now, my kilig-meter reached its peak when I came across an article about this dreamy Italian town,Valloria, where doors are transformed as canvasses of artists, making the town one big, romantic and interactive museum where life actually happens. Their doors are made such, in an effort to draw not just tourists to the town but to bring back home residents of Valloria who left in pursuit of finding means of living in other Italian towns.

all photos via tumblr and villoria.it

And so I say it again. Take me to Valloria!!

A-DOOR-E me because I'm so a-DOOR-able!!

Haha!=)

There are just so many beautiful places in the world.

Thank you Universe!

Not This

I concede to being selfish and today, I fear this the most.

via tumblr

Pretty Poster

Sabi ni pareng Steve Jobs:

via etsy

Paperback

When the year started, I committed to reading one book per month and surprise, surprise, I am still on track!!

Books read since January 2012:

1) The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

2) The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

3) The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

4) When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

5) Naked by David Sedaris

6) The Crazy Planets by Lourd De Veyra

Six books read and we're still on the 5th month of the year...oh happiness!!=) I started to really LOVE reading this year. I started picking up books to keep my sanity - I need something to keep my mind off work and what started as a tool to fulfill a need turned out to be one true love. I love the feeling of getting lost in the pages of my current reads. I love how books paint images and project scenes in my thoughts. I love the way they transform my mind into a colorful stage. I love how they make me "FEEL" smart and then I love how they make me actually smart - a little. haha!=) I love how books are among the few things which keep me still and how reading (leisure reading) makes me so FOCUSED. I am rarely focused. 

And there are so much more on deck to read - I keep on buying books, more than what I can accommodate with my very scarce free time - but I can't help it. And I think you will agree that among the many things that one can get addicted to - books are (probably) the safest and most recommended. 

I am currently in the "travel literature" phase so I bought one book each by Pico Iyer, Frances Mayes, the legendary Jack Kerouac, a collection of essays by Lonely Planet contributors and many more. Last Sunday, I dropped by Fully Booked in Gateway and they have this entire shelf of books dedicated to "food literature" and I can see myself diving into that anytime now. Maybe tomorrow. No, maybe tonight!

My Beautiful Homework: Books waiting to be read!!

...and anything book-related is just as wonderful!

The Kansas Library. How cool is its design??

via tumblr

PRETTY BOOKMARKS. Drool-worthy.=)

vintage comic bookmarks via etsy

paper doll bookmarks via etsy

Happy Reading!!=)