Happy 2012!

Simple. Happy. Steady. Quiet. 

This was how I spent my New Year with the family. 

As I downloaded the Christmas revelry's photos while my fiance' is still fast asleep --- I cannot help but smile. I am happy and content. I am filled with joy. There was no need go out, party and get wasted. I am happy being still.

And yes, I have to get used to calling him the fiance' from now on. 

It's a brand new year. 

For the first time, I am not planning solely for my career - where my next country of assignment will be, how I will advance in the corporate ladder, how I will reach my KPIs.

For the first time in my entire existence, I am actually planning my life with someone. 

It's a scary change. I've never done this before.  

But as the cliche' goes, I just need to take that leap of faith. 

2012 will be a brand new year of faith, hope and love.

Cheers to a better year ahead --- to stillness, to a steady and happy life.

Happy New Year, everyone!!! 

Day before Christmas

Some folks are not "birthday people," aka one of my besties. They dread the coming of their birthdays and choose to celebrate quietly - or not celebrate at all.


I, on the other hand, am admittedly not a Christmas person. When I was a child, I had one lonely quiet Christmas that did it for me. After that, Christmas wasn't the same for me again. And year after year, there's something about December that makes me feel lonely. And something seems to happen during the season that reinforced how I felt about Christmas.

Delamar once said that it's the pressure of being cheerful and joyful during the season that puts more pressure into people, which makes them more depressed during the holidays. I was one of those people. 

Until I left the Philippines.

There is nothing like Filipino Christmas. That, I can truly say. That so-called Christmas spirit --- it's unexplainable but it's just in the air. It makes people kinder, nicer, more generous. The spirit allows us to be more gentle with each other. 

Outside my hotel room right now, I can hear the unrelenting honking of buses and jeepneys --- as early as 6am. People are rushing to go back home to their families in time for the Christmas Noche Buena tonight.

Manila is noisy. It's busy. It's traffic everywhere. Normally, I will be superbly annoyed. But not today. Not this season.

Because it's Christmas. And I finally felt it in my heart. 


Merry Christmas, everyone!Light and love this holiday season. And let's not forget why we are celebrating in the first place.

Finally...

Filipino food! 

Lechon kawali (don't forget the Mang Tomas lechon sauce!), pinakbet, sisig, chicken barbeque and  kilawin!

'Will definitely need to pound the pavement in January to burn calories!

 

Manila, my Manila

True enough, despite the miasma of traffic gridlock, the roundabout search for parking in malls and the seemingly incessant smog hovering over the city skyline: It's good to be home. There's no place like it. Na-miss kita, Manila.

Nothing beats...

Christmas in Pinas. 

Isang tulog na lang and I'm en route to the airport to fly back to Manila. 

I can feel and almost smell Christmas in Manila already. 

EXCITEEEEED!!!

To the Inner Circle: see you in a couple of days! 

Party na 'to!

Andrej Pejik: the epitome of androgyny

 

 

 
I am fascinated by androgynous people. Thus, my admiration for Katherine Moennig. 

Andrej Pejik, made banner headline this morning in fashion blogs as he fronts the campaign for Hema push-up bras. 

Yep. It's a HE. 

This male model, born in Bosnia and Herzegovina from a Serbian mother and a Croatian mother has the softest face and the most androgynous body form that he can model both male and female underwear.

But WOOOOOOOW! Talk about ultimate androgyny. This is it! 

I cannot believe his photos. Andrej is even prettier than the other female models and made it to the list of top 20 models worldwide. 


The push-up bra campaign is earning positive feedback so far... but there has always been a backlash to androgyny. 


Let's see how the campaign does in the coming days. 
 

Of choosing quality people in your life

"Stop spending time with the wrong people.

Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot.

Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends."

 Very true.

Missing one of Manila's finest

I know I need my dose of Manila when I start to miss one of it's finest : GREAT FOOD. 


I've been around Southeast Asia a lot, but I can really claim that Manila is the ultimate enclave for the foodies by heart. 


I'm not talking about Filipino food alone. It's not a very Filo thing to admit this, but I do know that compared to our other Southeast Asian counterparts, Filo food will pale in comparison to the melange of flavors of Thailand and Malaysia. Although our adobo and kare-kare will definitely give some of their dishes a run for their money.


Now that I'm in Indonesia though and I've been to neighboring Singapore and Malaysia several times, I do know that Manila is the melting pot of all kinds of restaurants - both boasting of local and international cuisines. 


I'm missing out on the Mercato and night food markets. I have not been to the new fusion restaurants dotting High Street and the nooks and crannies of residential Makati. 


I. cannot. wait! 


The first thing I do when I land in Manila is to ask for lechon kawali with the classic Mang Tomas sauce.  


7 more days to go.

HBD shoutout to my bestie

Mother, we've come a loooooong, loooooong way. 

A lot of history shared. Name it, we went through it: heartaches, happiness, frustrations, success, new lovers, new friends. 

The journey would not have been this fun without you. 

Cheers to you, Gemma! I wish you all the love that the Universe can give.

It's about time.

TGIF!

Rush-packing and rush-typing. 

The Boss is finally here. And I'm still stuck in the office replying to e-mails! 

Looking forward to a great, restful and stress-free weekend!

I heart December

First of December.

In Manila, Christmas songs would have been playing as early as September. In Indonesia, it's quite the contrary. 


But I love today! 


'Seems like December will be a great month for me. 
Time to feel the spirit, to hear Christmas songs. In 20 days, it's time for me to come home to the familiar, to the loving, to the comforting. 


It took me some time to realize it --- more than 3 decades at least --- but it's never too late.


I love December! 

It's time to be in Manila. 

Fast forward to weekend

Barely mid-week and I'm already looking forward to Friday. 

It's a pleasant surprise. A beautiful thing. 


I can't wait for you to be here again. 

I'm all for the weekends lately, I noticed. 

Dear Universe...

I think I deserve a great weekend.

The whole week has been tough.

Thanks to an inconsiderate, self-centered brat.

Yay to the weekend.

One of the times when I really mean TGIF!

These made me happy over the weekend

 

I'm glad they came over and visited.

See you again this Christmas break, Kids.

Big

Just an epiphany this evening before I close my lappy and call it a day: 

I love you. 

Through all this time and with all that we've been through, I realized how much I love you. 

It may be imperfect, it may be flawed...

But it is a love that endured. 

I'm grateful for you.

Lunching ladies

It's been a hectic week.

I was given 2 days to write my business plan. I have a presentation to the steering committee in a couple of days. My numbers are flat-lining. 

I'm stressing my team out and pounding on them to panic and do something about our numbers. 

My college friends are here in Jakarta. Whilst they gallivant around town and cuddle tamed tiger cubs in Taman Safari, I remain seated in my office typing away how I should be growing my business for 2012. 

In the middle of a hectic Friday, I decided to head out to Din Tai Fung and join the company of the lunching and brunching ladies: the Jakarta Bitches. 

I'm glad a did. Breath of fresh air. Made me feel more grounded. 

I'm the second to the youngest among all of them and it's nice to be the green one hearing wiser words.  For a change.

It's so true --- I need to be French every now and then - savor the joie' de vivre which I have been neglecting lately. 

And my ladies reminded me of the true path. Many thanks to the wiser ones. 

Now that I'm done with the bizplan, I still have Monday morning to panic and draft the steercomm slides. 

In the meantime, I shall enjoy a weekend of good Indonesian food, antiques, batik, Ramayana ballet at the Prambanan Temple and the view of Borobodur up close.

Yogyakarta - here I come!

Pulling through

You came when I needed you. 

Perhaps you didn't know how miserable I felt for days on end. 
Distance has a way of muffling anguish and desolation. 

Thank you for coming over. 

I needed you. 

And I need you to pull this one through for me. 

Just one of them days...

...when I want to be all alone and mope.

But at the same time reach out to someone who knows me so well.

That's what I don't have in Jakarta.


The ready 911 list when everything goes wrong and I want certain things to feel right.

I miss the Non-Judgmental Breakfast Club.


I miss my best friends - who will understand where I'm coming from. 

I need someone to tell me now that everything's gonna be alright. 

HBD2M

Holiday Inn Baruna, Bali Indonesia:

Approximately an hour and 20 minutes before I turn another year older. 

Yes --- another year older, but probably none the wiser.

Yet I cannot complain with all of God and life's blessings. Mine has been showered with a lot of love, loyal friendships and meaningful relationships. 

Thank you, God, for another year. 


Universe, thank you for granting my wish.


Finally.

This girl...

...is having too much fun.

It's probably a coping mechanism, what with all the stress that I'm going through at work. Suffice it to say that I love what I do, my new team is uber fantabulous --- but I hate --- HATE --- political machinations. I just want to bring it and nail it. 

Just so glad that my team is tight and that old friends visited Jakarta. 

Thank God for the joy of friendship.