i heart
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| via Pure Nourishment |
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Because I Love Mornings
I am starting a new blog!!
I am keeping Miss Universe for my personal and narcissistic chronicles and I am setting up another blog - Before Nine (because i love love mornings!)
Before Nine
Everything is beautiful with the
sunshine.
Like most people, I love mornings
and things associated with it. Where do I start? The sunrise. Breakfast. Sunny
Side-up’s. Coffee. The early morning jog. The extended sweet snuggle with a loved one before getting out
of bed. The good morning greeting and the good morning smile. Oh yes, there’s
the early morning rush on days when we have to go to school or work which can
get really stressful at times – but the beauty amidst the chaos in that is, the
morning rush and all just signify how we are so raring to deal with life’s
battles head on. Then there is the equally beautiful weekend morning when we
have all the time in the world to do our personal agenda. Go to a weekend
market or to the gym or wake up early to prepare for a weekend getaway. Then
there is that even more beautiful morning when you wake up and realize that you
are in a different place and remember you are traveling and you have to get up
early to catch the beautiful sunrise by the beach.
I love mornings. And my love
affair with mornings has two anniversaries:
one: I remember tossing and turning
one night, my heart beat racing for reasons I cannot identify. I was in tears,
anxious about the future, impatient and frustrated that things are not going my
way – and all I can remember was praying for the Universe to hasten the
sunrise. And then morning happened. And the sunrise ushered in a waterfall of
relief. And last night? God, how silly was I to even worry and what was that all
about? This is the morning magic working on me and its effect – the feeling of
invincibility.
two: It was one of those out-of-town
trips and I just know that I will maximize my stay on the place if I begin my
day the earliest time possible. It was one of those Saturdays or maybe Sundays
and I just know that I will maximize my free-time-me-time or
free-time-family/loved one(s)-time if I get up early. The early bird gets the
most out of its 24 hours in a day. J
And so, I start this little space
in the web, together with friends and people who believe and enjoy the magic of
a morning, chronicling just anything about our favourite time of the day,
before 9:00 am- the sunrise, breakfast hunts, activities and just about
anything as beautifully early as
milk/coffee-bacon-sunny side ups and a cup of coffee. Or tea or chocolate drink
if you are not a coffee drinker, like me.
Let’s make the most out of our
day.
Get your cute butt out of that
bed – no matter how difficult it is. You have all the time after life to lie
still – this is not the time (not unless you’re hung over or have stayed up
late due to a worthy cause, yes, there is a qualifier, “worthy”).
Good Morning Loves!
The site is still under construction with very few (only two actually as of this morning) but everybody is welcome to contribute stories about our morning magic/morning madness. I would love to hear from you!
Looking for Alaska
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| via goodreads |
Semi Spoilers
Words and Statements I love from Looking for Alaska
1. I go to seek a Great Perhaps – Francois Rabelais
2. Culinary Orgasm. Deep Friend Burrito. The Bufriedo.
3. High School.
4. You’ve got a lifetime to mull over the Buddhist
understanding of interconnectedness …but while you were looking out the window,
you missed the chance to explore the equally interesting Buddhist belief in
being present for every facet of your daily life…Be present in this class. And
then, when it’s over, be present out there. Page 50
5. Smoking Hole.
6. Maxx. Subverting the Patriarchal Paradigm.
7. Labyrinth.
8. Thomas Edison’s last words were: “It is very beautiful
over there.” I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I
hope it is beautiful. page 221
9. For she had embodied the Great Perhaps – she had proved
to me that it was worth t to leave behind my minor life for grander maybes…
10. Alaska
New Year's Eve
It was the 400 thread count, 100% Egyptian cotton bed linen and memory foam mattress which got me into the I’ve-got-to-try-this-or-else mode and the bath tub, oh yes, the bath tub.
The Christmas celebration back at
home in the province with my dearest family was crazy good and I think I gained
a few extra pounds by filling in my social calendar with a bridal shower, a
wedding, reunions, a christening and
random belly fests – this early, I am already dreaming and planning Christmas
2013. For the New Year, however, I thought of celebrating it in the city (Metro
Manila) as I intend to be well-rested (not all woozy from the 12-hour travel by
bus) the day before going back to the office. Knowing that I will be going home
to an empty apartment in Manila, I booked myself in a hotel I have been
planning to experience since that fateful day in November (or was it October last
year) when I read about in Chalk Magazine (March 2012 issue) as the only and the greenest boutique hotel in the country. Bonus fact: it
is in Quezon City, my home away from home.
So on the last day of 2012, after
having fulfilled a family-related obligation, I packed my gym bag with
overnight clothing, got waxed in Lay Bare in Eton Centris, got a trim, bought a
toothpaste then rushed to my New Year hideaway – the Cocoon Boutique Hotel.
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| image via hotel site |
I was told that the hotel was
fully booked for New Year’s Eve and a party will be held at the deck for the
countdown to 2013. The hotel lobby was a little dim for my taste when I
arrived, it might be the pending rain outside but whatever the hotel is lacking
in light that particular day, it made up with its sunshiny and efficient staff, ready to address
guests’ needs in a snap.
When I got to my room – oohhhh!
It was the nicest, cleanest, most mabango
room I have entered in years (haha!).
I wanted to jump on the oh-so-fluffy-oh-so-soft bed right away but kept
my composure. This is just a hotel room, Tina, not Disneyland. Do you still
remember The Suite of Life of Zack and
Cody in the Disney Channel? Or my personal favourite, Eloise, the famous Kay Thompson's character, a precocious and adorable little girl who lives in the penthouse
of The Plaza in New York? Made up characters or not, they are so lucky to live
in a hotel where everyone is extra friendly (everyone being 99% hotel staff, 1%
guests) and where guests are treated like royalty. I am sorry for gushing but I
can count with my fingers the number of times I have stayed in a hotel and I
admit to liking and loving the royal treatment. Who doesn’t?
I prepared for New Year’s Eve
like how a bride prepares for her wedding. Took pictures (to immortalize the
moment). Wrote down my vows in my yellow Seattle’s Best planner (expression of
thanksgiving for 2012 and expressions of hope and excitement for 2013). Took
deep breathes and embraced the present.
Thank you Universe!
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| My booked Room (Deluxe) |
I was assigned two beds, called
in housekeeping and within seconds, I had one big bed of fluffy heaven.
(1) My hotel-assigned slippers - they were size 9 though| (2) Bible inside the side table drawer - I felt even more safe| (3) New Year's Eve Prayer | (3) My New Year's Eve dress - no polka dots, just flowers, pretty flowers.
After an extremely short nap, I
went up the deck to witness and pay my respect to the last sunset of the
current year.
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| Quezon City Skyline |
(1) 'Read Looking for Alaska by the pool | (2) The hotel staff distributed noisemakers for the new year's eve event
My mayaman moment: comfortably warm water, bath tub, yellow lights while reading my book. I was desperately forcing bubbles to form to upgrade my mayaman moment to a gazillionaire-Forbes-richest in-the-world-FHM’s-sexiest-woman-in-the-world moment but I must have done something wrong. But still, getting soaked and marinated in Lavender and warm water was glorious!
... 3, 2, 1 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
In the midst of noise and
excitement and all the jumping and shouting – I closed my eyes in thanksgiving,
prayed for my family and the people I love and uttered my personal prayer: May we find ourselves to be the right
person, in the right place, at the right time. Amen.
Cheers to a promising, exciting,
most wonderful 2013!
Cocoon Boutique Hotel
61 Scout Tobias corner Scout Rallos Streets,
Bgy Laging Handa,
Quezon City 1103, Philippines
Trunklines: 632- 9212706 to 08
Fax Number: 632- 4137281
www.thecocoonhotel.com
Bgy Laging Handa,
Quezon City 1103, Philippines
Trunklines: 632- 9212706 to 08
Fax Number: 632- 4137281
www.thecocoonhotel.com
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