Happy Holidays

I have been out for a vacation and will soon blog about the Boracay trip, the wedding and other Holiday shenanigans me and the crazy friends have been upto the last two weeks...but for now I just wanted to wish everyone a...

Happy Holidays!!!

Must Try: Food Tripping, Japanese Style

The fiancé and I have decided to try all the Japanese restos near our place and rank them accordingly. Of course dear Best friend wanted in on the challenge when she found out.

Hence, for the past few night outs we have been chowing down on Japanese dishes. Not complaining here!

1.) Zensho – Love the place. They serve some of the freshest sashimis this side of Quezon City. Ambiance-wise – it’s just ok. I’m not such a huge fan of the white fluorescent lights but if you’re not planning to go on your first date night here, you should be safe.

$$$: Relatively affordable. Will cost you about Php 1500 – 2000 for 2

2.) Terriyaki Boy – It had recently undergone a renovation. And while the ambiance looks much much better from before I cannot say the same for the food. I hope it was only because fiancé and I ate there when it was about closing time. The salmon sashimi was a bit frozen and hard. Their chawan mushi was cold and service was twice as bad.

Dear fiance at the newly renovated T-Boy

$$$: Affordable. Sashimis cost about 150 bucks a plate

3.) Tempura – This is just the exact replica of Terriyaki Boy. They even had their restaurant renovation at about the same time

4.) Kimono Ken – I love this place. Perfect place to have dinner with the family. And I usually eat here during Sundays with my siblings. No chawan mushi though (sad face for my fiancé – it’s his favorite) But the rest of their food selection are a must-try. Their Unagi is one of the best I have tasted so far

$$$: Relatively Affordable. Dinner for two will cost anywhere from Php 1000 to Php 1500

5.) Omakase – Hmm.. this is somewhat like Kimono Ken only a bit pricier. But just like Zensho - it has uber fresh sashimi's.

6.) Josu – Ooooh this is the newest Japanese resto on the block. I am sooo loving this place. Ambiance is perfect for date night it’s also perfect for hanging out with friends and just relaxing. Their salmon sashimi platter is just delish!

I love their salmon selections

$$$: Quite Affordable. Small servings but won’t break the bank.

Next on our list: Nippon

Where: all restaurants are along Tomas Morato Street

December 14: Oldies Gone Wild?!?

The fiance tinkering with his laptop just before the guests arrive

Last Tuesday I had to perform future wifely duties. Attended the Christmas party of Rotary Club of Chinatown.

Thought it was going to be boring as hell. Until Pete started with his parlor games. Hmm imagine 40 something women – playing the boat is sinking.

Rock and Roll Christmas

Now this is my kind of party. Cool music from the 90s! Definitely my generation! From Nirvana to GnR - the band played some really rocked out tunes that made everyone jumped up and danced.

The theme was rock and roll but unfortunately I was unprepared for it hence i was dubbed as the band manager

Where: Rockpoint, San Pablo Laguna

When: December 15, 2008

It's Party Time...

Sigh... I finally found time to do some blogging. The whole week has been crazy. The craziness of which will probably echo throughout this week from the looks of it..

Nestle Christmas Part at Sofitel

Fantabulous time. A night filled with music and so much more. Everyone was glammed up as usual. Loving what Pones was wearing! Rocker Chick talaga!

The night ends at Cuisine with lucky Casino winner Nikki treating us for a round of drinks.

Event Hopping: Citizen Watch

When: December 2, 2008

What: Citizen Event

Where: Cav/The Spa Hi Street Fort Bonifacio

Dear Fiance's Birthday

Paintball Wars...

Fiance together with his friends threw a party a few weeks back to celebrate their birthdays. Being the overly mushy girlfriend that i am, i decided on a whim to threw him a surprise on his actual birthday. So asides for the sneaky gift i have been planning for months now with his friend Tisoy, days before his birthday - decided to call Global Gutz to reserved some slots for a paintball game. The fiance has been wanting to do that for awhile now.

The plan was to have around 8 of his friends plus the 2 of us to have 5 vs 5 teams, unfortunately my favorite guy friend (of his) couldnt make it. So decided to invite some of my girlfriends, hey what's better than girls sceaming crazily inside a field right?!

Mark ruined the surprise haha - just kidding. The jist was, we were supposed to go to Fort Boni to get some mysterious thing from one of my suppliers before we head to our day. On the way to the parking lot Dear Fiance spotted Mark loitering around. The surprise still hasn't sanked in until he saw Jody's car. hehe (later the fiance would tell me he thought i was going to meet Mark for our 'proposal' CD.)

Anyway - we had to wait for the late comers...yes, that would be my friends plus Jax. But well worth it. I was trash talking the entire time even as i know i would be one of the ultimate scaredy cat inside the field.

First Round. Got hit straight on the hand. Thanks a lot Vince. Ouch. Second Round. Was too blinded by the fog and the light, i stayed behind the bridges all throughout.

Dear Fiance's team won. Which was how it should be.

Happy Birthday Bear!

Facts that will get you no where...

I just found out, Multiply is the fastest growing social network here in the Philippines. In fact 60% of the entire database users of Multiply are from this side of the planet. So that leaves just about 40% for the rest of the world. Moreover, 1,000,000 pictures are being uploaded on a daily basis. With 30% of the Multiply traffic originating, whereelse?!? from the Philippines.

Whatdoyouknow!! And what did lil 'ol me do soon after?! Start posting pictures on my multiply site. Hehe... Trying to keep my part of the 30% baby!


Source: Meeting with MRM Worldwide this morning hehe

Happy Birthday Dear Fiance!!

December 1 - Together with his and myfamily we had dinner at Zensho.

Wedding 101: The Search for the Right Photographer

Amongst all my wedding to do list, nothing comes close to the amount of solicited and unsolicited advice the fiance and I get than which photographer to choose.

Some of the top choices from friends:

1.) Lito Sy – of course his entire package cost about an arm and leg….yes that’s 263,000 bucks for you and me (ouch ouch!).

- 120 pictures lay-outed in 40 pages 11x14 SOHO -US made album
- 1,000 plus images using NIKON Digital Cameras (10.2 mega pixels)
- 1 pc. 16x20 blow-up canvass
- all shots stored in CD as proofs
- with studio set-up for formal portraits
- 2 photographers
- 2 videographers with 2 units of 3CCD DVcam Cameras
- SHURE Wireless UHF transmitter & receiver for audio recording
- 2 units of ARRI professional lighting system
- 2 pcs. edited DVD copy
- Pre nuptial pictorials
- album
- on-site video editing
- AVP
- Projector

2.) Pat Dy – Surprising Pat Dy, though famous, is quite affordable. His rates start at 80,000 and it includes pre-nuptial pictorial. Videos not included.

3.) Wally Gonzales – He did Claudine Barretto’s wedding and some other celebrities… (or wannabe celebrities hehe)

Package that seems ok would cost around 143,000, which would include the following:
- 2 Photographers
- Unlimited shots
- 40 pages 10x10
- Digital Storybook Layout
- Imported Magnetic Album
- 1 16x20 blow-up canvass w/ frame
- 2 Parent's book
- Proofs in Photo CD/DVD
- Videographer
- On-site video editing

We were able to choose our photog, but he didn’t rank among the top 3 most mentioned. However he does have an immense talent at a very reasonable package. Best tip for would be brides and groom – book your photographers on site – they will throw in a lot of freebies such as on-site editing, AVP slideshow. But of course - don't go on booking without any background. Best to research their shots beforehand and wait for wedding expos to come around! :)

Wedding 101: Wedding Expos and More...

Busy little bee. So much stuff has been happening the last couple of days. Will be posting about the surprise I pulled for Dear Fiancés birthday yesterday, the Saturday “gimmick” with the guys and much more but first off, I’m happy to report that as of last Saturday the fiancé and I had finally had officially secured our stylist/florist plus lucked out and found a photographer/videographer that suits our tastes.

Themes and Motifs hosted a wedding expo at Shangri La Hotel. Since we were planning to get Tropical Blooms already as our stylist/florist we decided to sign the contract there – you know try our luck to win the raffle promo (which we missed out on – 15 minutes late damnit!) Anyway as I said in the previous post, I’m loving Tropical Blooms because Angel is so easy to talk to. (hmm with the new changes in the contract I want to implement I hope he is still as accommodating) He even created a “sample” for the dance floor designs we were talking about when we first met. So we forked over the downpayment already (ouch!) And plan to crash his client’s December 20 wedding at One Esplanade (ok, so he invited us) to check out what can or can’t be accomplished there.

(never mind the green stuff, it's from a different booth hehe - i love hanging topiaries!!!)

Arrangement by Robert Blancafor

Arrangement by Shangri La Hotel Stylist

The Fiancé and I have been encountering some church dilemmas as of late. Everything is booked!!! So we found a neat trick to discover other churches that would look as aesthetically pleasing. At the expo – we checked tons and tons of portfolio by the photographers and would ask about the church instead of their rates. Hee. Keeping my fingers crossed that St. Pancratius is the church to beat for now! Loving the ambiance – it seems so romantic and intimate. I’m a bit worried though that it can only fit 150 people…Most likely this would be vetoed afterall how do you tell guests to just come to the reception instead? Hehe

They don't accomodate reservations through phone - personal appearance is a must apparently hehe and hey it's air conditioned!!