siquijor

i love love Siquijor!

so much so, there's a part two post (less touristy, more personal). :-)
a photo essay

This trip is my "rise above the drama" getaway. I needed this trip like how my lungs need oxygen to function. So thank you fate, destiny, will and the universe for the gift of experience and an indulgent escape. :)

After visiting Siquijor's tourist attractions, we spent the rest of our days in the island the way we want it - breathing, chilling, napping, barefoot on the sand and witnessing how the sun wakes up and sleeps. :-) Whenever I close my eyes and remember those moments, these are what my memory bank projects.

One: Different shades of sunset 
- fiery pink and mellow yellow.

 

siquijor sites

i love love Siquijor!

a photo essay

The grand summer plan was to spend the whole of Friday, Saturday and the morning of Sunday on the first weekend of April in the enchanting island of Siquijor. But we were just so beach hungry, we ended up extending our stay until Monday! Here is Siquijor in the eyes of a giddy tourist. It is such a small island, you can practically complete the must-see tourist attractions in one day. The rest of the days, we lulled ourselves to sleep in a hammock by the beach! Oh summer love! ♥

The Pier

Clear water and white sand make a perfect welcome. They make me want to jump right in and swim right there and then. :)  If you did not make any pick-up arrangement with your resort, Plan B is to take a tricycle ride and you do not have to worry about over charging because drivers observe a standard tourist-friendly rate.

what do you desire?

i love love the process of getting to know thyself.

text via satori

What do you desire?

What makes you itch? What sort of a situation would you like?

Let’s suppose – I do this often in vocational guidance of students. They come to me and say, “Well, uh, we’re getting out of college, and we haven’t the faintest idea of what we want to do.”

So I always ask the question, “What would you like to do if money were no object? How would you really enjoy spending your life?”

Well, it’s so amazing. As a result of our kind of educational system, crowds of students say, “Well, we’d like to be painters, we’d like to be poets, we’d like to be writers. But as everybody knows you can’t earn any money that way.”
Or another person says, “I’d like to live an out-of-doors life and ride horses.”

I said, “Do you want to teach at a riding school? Let’s go through with it. What do you want to do?”

When we finally got down to something which the individual says he really wants to do. I will say to him,

“You do that, and forget the money. Because if you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time. You will be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing. Which is STUPID!"

Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.

And after all, if you do really like what you're doing, it doesn’t matter what it is, you can eventually become a master of it. It’s the only way to become a master of something, to be really with it. And then you’ll be able to get a good fee for whatever it is.

So don’t worry too much. Somebody’s interested in everything. And anything you can be interested in, you’ll find others who are.
But it’s absolutely stupid to spend your time doing things you don’t like in order to go on doing things you don’t like and to teach your children to follow in the same track. See, what we’re doing is we’re bringing up children, and educating them to live the same sort of lives we’re living in order that they may justify themselves and find satisfaction in life by bringing up their children to bring up their children to do the same thing. It’s all wretch and no vomit. It never gets there!

And so therefore it’s so important to consider this question. “What do I desire?”

-Alan Watts

 

Sexy Brains

i love love books!

...and since love is intensified when shared, I am so happy that my friends are just as crazy with reading as I am! :) A long time ago, Bes initiated for our barkada to start a book club and the first ever book for discussion was Love in Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The date was set, the venue was set - for some reason, it never pushed through. And honestly, I never got through the table of contents of the book, with all due respect to the great Mister Marquez. Then careers happened. School happened. Each of us had our own "thing" to do, interests to dedicate our time to and completely forgot about the book club. But what is meant to happen will happen, so on the second week of April 2013, we had our first official meet up. 

designed by Alan David

wednesday sermon

with all my heart

with all you heart

via Travel Magazine

charlie does.

i love love the beach!

I love love the beach and I have professed this love a million times over but has to be told over and over again just because there is nothing like being one with the sun, sky, sand, the sea and all beautiful creations that sprung forth from God's brilliant concept of an infinite pool of water, sprinkles of gazillion fine sand and wonderful people lumped together under one big sky, which man randomly called as the beach.

I love love the beach and everyone else who does - most especially those whose love spawns the most beautiful ideas inspired by the waves and the promise of eternal sunshine.

Last weekend, my only intention was to get my balancing-on-the-surfing-board-groove back (I was supposed to write surfing skills, but for now, the only thing I know is standing on the board and letting the waves take me to the shore or colliding with another surfer-wannabe), that, and of course, getting the to-die-for-surfer abs. :-) So, I found myself in Baler, yet again (my fourth visit to the place) and I am pretty sure I will be frequenting this lovely town after getting to know Charlie Does.

First, the obvious.  Charlie Does marries many of my interests: beach, surfing, the arts, books and yoga. Surfing and yoga, I have yet to dive deeply into, neither am I an artist but when I do a word cloud of the the things which ignite me, these three things will surely appear most frequently: surf, yoga and art. Books are given, I love love books (I am a proud member of the Veetee Book Club!) and the beach, no explanation needed here.

The place has still ongoing works and the owner mentioned that they may be completing by June this year. Can't wait! Last Sunday, they have been operational for merely three weeks.  The ground floor houses the shop, cafe, art gallery, reading nooks and the books. On the second floor is a yoga studio.
  
exterior.

all the pretty things ♥

i love love things of beauty!

so romantic!

via fresh gypsy

monday dreams

i love love pauses! 

(in other words, vacation!!! who doesn't??)

what works for me? i want to answer: read, write and fly a kite so I can cap this entry with a sweet rhyme (haha!) but really, it is, read, write and take a nap!

via Miranda Clothing

beach-ed

i love love the beach!

...and how it teaches us to master the art of doing nothing, just breathing, appreciating, soaking in the beauty this universe has cradled for us...

 

...all those and reading a book... :)

These pictures were taken in our recent Siquijor trip. Will write about it really soon. :)

silliman

i love love schools!

"What is a university?", asked Dean Fab, our History of Economic Thought professor and the dean of UPSE. My grade one eager beaver mind wanted to volunteer and impress the professor with, "uhhrm, a university is an academic institution which grants learners degrees so they can work and establish their own businesses in the future". His idea is different. A university is a venue for debate of ideas; it is where personal beliefs and opinions are challenged. He had more fancy and philosophical ideas to say about the university worth noting but my ADHD thoughts brought me to the breeziness of Acad Oval and the 10 sticks of isaw I will be consuming after the lecture that I missed a speck of his genius. I miss being a student and I love being one. 

In our Dumaguete trip, we skipped the beach and spent an early morning of picture taking in Silliman University. While UP Diliman remains my first love, Silliman University charmed and wooed me. A university by the harbor, overlooking the ocean, expansive open areas, beautiful trees and flowers and grass and the impressive architecture - oh! It is the perfect academic environment, conducive for learning and brimming with inspiration. Its landscape is most ideal for the artists and the romantic. (My observations are based primarily on the aesthetics as I have not researched on the university's curriculum).

At the Side of the Church. This has got to be my favorite spot. White bench under a big acacia (?) tree. Fallen leaves and flowers on the ground.

Golden Carpet. Silliman University has lots of these at this time of the year (summer). Ground carpeted with flowers and leaves and seeds and tiny twigs. So real and lovely.

Oh House! I forgot to check what this house is for, but I really do not care, it is too lovely, I literally paused and stared at it for minutes! It is within a compound of more houses (I am betting they are dormitories or faculty houses) and there were birds (lots of them) chirping and chanting, I regret not having sat down and took the chance to meditate.

Gateway. Don't you just the love the flowers that dangle and charm you as you seek entry to the hall? So beautiful!

Mr. Silliman

Beyond Beautiful!

All Photos are by Alan David (except for those with the following captions: 

a) At the Side of the Church| b) Golden Carpet| c) Oh House| d) Gateway 

- all four photos, I amateur-ly took.;p)

street party

i love love my friends!

Right after the successful first ever meeting of our book club (yes, my friends and I have recently started a book club, to exercise our sexy brains - I love love my girlfriends!♥), we headed straight to Travel Factor's Summer Block Party for the launching of their semi-annual magazine. It was in 2010 when I first joined their trip to Sagada and the experience sparked my love affair with packing my bag and hopping on planes or buses or boats to bring me to the most amazing places in the country! While I am not as active in participating in trips now than how I was in the past years, I owe to TF the following:

a) my wanderlust ignition

b) beautiful friendship with other kindred souls who have deep-rooted affairs with beautiful places and experiences most especially with Aica and Dian 

c) joining TF trips together brought Alan and me closer :p

The party was held in Manila Boutique Hostel, a haven for backpackers and the first of its kind in Metro Manila (I think). I hope to try backpacking in the near future - I am a little splurg-y when it comes to accommodation because I like being treated like a princess (who doesn't??) - but the backpacking vibe and energy is so beautiful, it would be fab to dive right in it.

The party was a great venue for chilling with friends and meeting new friends!:) I am so happy I got to practice my already rusty Deutsch - I was peppering my sentences with: Danke Schon! Bitte! (Haha!:) My German 10 professor will be proud!!

L-R: Paolo, Malaya, Me and Aica

I met Malaya in a TF Surfvivor trip in La Union in 2011. We've become friends since then. :)

My love mantra:

Take me anywhere.

I'm yours.

sea foam green door

i love love doors!

After a sumptuous breakfast at Dumaguete public market's painitan (I just came back from an amazing long weekend from Siquijor and Dumaguete - will write about this beautiful beautiful experience soon!!), we walked without any agenda to any direction our feet may take us. One of my self-imposed travel rules is to allot at least a day to freedom and serendipity, to act like a local - no itinerary, no plans, just a little bit of spontaneity and being all au naturel. 

Just a few minutes of aimless walking led us to this old, dusty, imposing but undeniably beautiful and screaming with character sea foam green door. I strongly believe in love at first sight. :)

summer-y sermon

always.

always.

via pinterest

tuesday sermon

i love love satori.

and just now, my heart yearns to be as free.

via satori