Want some?  It’s sitting in our frig as I type this because God knows I’d need diet pills to get all that lard off my hips and rear.  Still, I appreciate hubby’s kind gesture but wouldn’t mind the least bit if this cake happens to be gone tomorrow morning and finds itself at his office instead.  But good Lord, the cake IS good, I’ll give it that much (did you really think I wouldn’t take a bite few bites?).

And I know, I know, I know (I really do know!) - I’ve got (more) pictures to post.  All you people need to jump on a plane and head out to Boracay if you know what’s good for you.  Hehe!

That’s how I’d sum up our latest trip to Manila.  I don’t know what we were thinking when we decided we’d only go for 2 weeks.  What a mistake that was, pssh!  In fact, when we were checking in for our flight back to SFO, I told the airline agent we’d happily volunteer our seats if the flight was overbooked and people needed extra seats — anything for an extra day in Manila, I thought.  We waited and waited for our names to be called so we could eagerly run up to the counter (well, no need to run as we situated ourselves practically in front of the gate counter) but sadly, no one needed our seats.  I was already getting excited at the thought that we could get free hotel accomodation (of course, I’m thinking best case scenario so Makati Shang came to mind, LOL!) AND free round-trip airline tickets (imagine the savings the next time around!) - oooooooooooooh well.  Really, if your schedule can afford it, giving up your seats just to stay at a free hotel plus free round-trip airline tickets (back to Manila) is such a sweet, sweet deal.  But hey, that’s because I don’t have a life.  I simply work and play at home.

Anyways, the Philippines, as I said, was a blast.  We didn’t get to do much (no Tagaytay, no Ocean Park for the kids, no Mall of Asia, no corny Pinoy movies, what else?????) but it was time well-spent with the inlaws.  Boracay was such a great bonding time for everyone and I’m beyond pleased that everyone had a great time even though it wasn’t everyone’s first choice in the beginning.  Two Seasons was absolutely fabulous and there is no doubt in my mind that we’ll return in the future (I’d like to, however, try Discovery Shores as well).  The pool access rooms were nothing to scream about and I don’t know why anyone would want to be bothered with people staring into their windows (even if there are shades).  The Family Grand Suites with Verandahs seriously rock — love the spaciousness of their rooms and their bathrooms!  Oh gawd, how I love their bathrooms.  Might as well have been another bed in there, it was that spacious.  Yes, there are ghosts running around the resort but hey, the Philippines is one haunted country, what can I say?

Don’t even ask about my weight-loss goals.  I actually brought 3 workout outfits because I was told the Joya condo we stayed at had an excellent gym but what do you know?  I didn’t even once check out the gym nor did I even attempt to put on my tennies.  Ha, what a waste of space in my luggage!  Oh well, so much for even thinking I could walk for 20 minutes a day on the treadmill for all the food I was ready and knowingly going to consume on the trip.  Stufid.

I was, however, able to meet up with Liv over lunch one day in Eastwood.  It was to be followed by another meeting, this time with the inaanak I’ve never met yet, Andrea, as well as with Van and little Eanna but damn that traffic in Manila — on the 15th of the month, on a Friday at that, just what were we thinking?  What made it even more pathetic was the meeting place was to take place in “Shang.”  Now if you’re not a local like myself, how the hell are you supposed to know this meant Shangrila MALL?  But wait, before you think I’m really dumb, the last text I’d ever received from Liv (before she lost her phone) was when I asked for clarification — “Shang where?”  Her response:  “Makati,” then followed by, “Are you okay with Makati?”  So clearly, how could you possibly screw up the meeting place, yes?  Off we go to Makati Shang–on the 15th of the month, on a Friday and in the middle of hard, nasty rain and it doesn’t help that we’re already running late.  Meeting place was specifically the first floor Starbucks, according to Van.  I’ve never had reason to walk into Makati Shang except that night of our meeting so imagine my surprise when there was no “first floor Starbucks.”  Van, I thought, must have been out of her mind.  But hey, no worries.  Maybe there was some secret passageway hahaha!  I went ahead and asked the girl opening and closing the doors of the hotel if Edsa Shang had a “first floor Starbucks.”  Bet she wanted to laugh in my face but she politely said no.  That’s when I get a phone call from a frantic Van that we’re supposed to meet at SHANGRILA MALL.  Complete and utter chaos, to say the least.

More to tell and even more pictures to show.  For now, I leave you with this:

Because she thinks I’m hardcore like that.  Taken at the Centennial Airport, on our way to Boracay (can I just say how nice it is to travel Bob stroller-free?).  Saw these at Old Navy for literally pennies the night before we flew to Manila, thought of Van and thought how brilliant it’d be for everyone to wear matching t-shirts on our flight to Boracay.  Not that we’re overly suspicious people, hubby and I thought maybe getting on an airplane with our shirts wasn’t exactly the funniest thing (especially when one airline agent looked at us and said our shirts were, “nakakatakot”) but hey, if you go down, might as well go down in style.  Bwahahahaha.  So Van, thank you for the inspiration.  LOL.

Watch the video carefully as soon as it hits the pool area. This clip was taken on our friend Mark’s cell phone (he’s the one singing :D) and the guy in front is my BIL. And to think this video was taken a few hours AFTER I was walking around at night BY MYSELF to our 2nd floor room. I had to pass the pool area and the whole time I just prayed I wouldn’t see some crazy white lady or little kid roaming the grounds. I.would.have.died.

Our first floor room on our first night — Mark took a picture of the beds while only he and hubby were inside the room. When he (Mark) went back to look at the photos on his cell phone, guess what he saw? The head of a little boy! Granted we had 2 male toddlers with us, none of the boys were in the room when the picture was taken. How freaky is that? Will post that pic soon. In the meantime, enjoy this:

Sorry, no pics yet.  I’m not quite there yet.  Lazy mode — you understand, yes?

I’m back.  But I don’t want to be.  I heart the Philippines.  I really do.  How did I ever hate it before?  I mean, what was I thinking in coming back to the States in 2005?  Ugh.  I don’t care that traffic is terrible, I don’t care that the rules and regulations are all so dumb in Manila, I don’t care that stupid salesclerks at the currency places can’t take ripped US bills, I don’t care that every crevice of my body sweats when I’m not in an airconditioned room, I don’t care that *gulp* that I might see cockroaches and ants playing with each other, I don’t care that I could never survive in the Philippines with my attitude — I don’t care.  I heart the Philippines!

Didn’t get to accomplish all the things that I wanted to do *sob sob* and one thing that I was absolutely looking forward to doing–a facial– didn’t happen at all.  As a result, my skin is even nastier than you last saw it (best acne product, anyone?).

And don’t let me get started on Boracay.  DAAAAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAM.  Who would ever think something so beautiful could exist in the Philippines?  *cackle*.  Nice comment there eh?  After all this, “I heart heart heart…”  LOL.  Seryus.  Boracay was so fabulous.  Despite it being my 2nd time (first time was our honeymoon but the experience was nothing to shout about), it was like I was seeing Boracay for the first time.  God decided to bless ME with good weather for 2 days of the 4 we were there.  Result?  Theeee most gorgeous beach I’ve seen next to Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.  It was out of this world.  It helps, of course, that we were in Station 1 where the beach was at its widest.  I tell no lies — wait til you see pics (and a video of ghosts at Two Seasons!).  Yes, there are spooky things happening at Two Seasons.  But I’ll save that for another post — you understand, yes?  Hehe.

…away from losing a total of 40 pounds.

40 pounds!  If you’d told me on January 17, 2008 that I would ever reach my 40-pound mark, I’d have just laughed in your face and said, “Whatever dude.”  As much as I was determined to lose my supposed 96 pounds this year and as much as I planned to work out 3-4x a week, it wasn’t far from my mind that, like everything else in my life, I’d give up and move on to something else (read: quitting the “lifestyle change” and just stuffing myself all over again with endless foods and vowing we’d start again the next day, next week, next month or next year).  Being overweight all my life, what was another pound anyways?  I could still find clothes to fit me (albeit not as cute) and I could still walk properly — these were my thought processes back in the days when I was still living in denial.  There was absolutely nothing that laughter could not hide and as long as I kept up the charade of making people laugh, being fat felt almost as normal as being skinny.

That is, of course, until you’re naked and you come face to face with a full-length mirror.  (Or you get inside a room with a bunch of Filipinos and they want to understand why you’re so fat and they tell you if you were skinnier, you’d be prettier!).  Whatever the case, I’m done, done, done with all this obesity crap.  I want to be a skinny bitch for once.

So what else is there to do?  Kick some more @ss!

O’s wedding

There’s a reason why this picture is small. I didn’t want to make it so obvious that the hubby and I need acne cream. I can’t wait to get a facial in Manila (it’s so expensive here!). My face is aching for a facial, I can’t express it enough. I used to be really paranoid about my skin back when I was younger (you know how it is when you’re in highschool, even younger than that) but now? Whatever. So I’ve got pimples, don’t stare at me if it hurts you so much. Life goes on.

Still, I had to make the picture small. LOL.

The wretched King Minos has decided your fate. His tale wraps around his body 2 times.

The sweet light no longer strikes against your eyes. Your shade has been banished to… the Second Level of Hell!

Second Level of Hell

---

You have come to a place mute of all light, where the wind bellows as the sea does in a tempest. This is the realm where the lustful spend eternity. Here, sinners are blown around endlessly by the unforgiving winds of unquenchable desire as punishment for their transgressions. The infernal hurricane that never rests hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine, whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. You have betrayed reason at the behest of your appetite for pleasure, and so here you are doomed to remain. Cleopatra and Helen of Troy are two that share in your fate.

The Dante’s Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Very High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Moderate

Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test

Your Love Life is Like The Princess Bride

“Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.”For you, love is like a fairy tale - albeit a fairly twisted one. You believe romance is all about loyalty, fate, and a good big of goofy fun. Your love style: Idealistic yet quirky Your Hollywood Ending Will Be: Perfectly romantic

What Movie Is Your Love Life Like?

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Still have to download more cruise pictures to my compact flash card. Our cruise was ages ago and I still haven’t organized our photos. The same can be said about San Diego. And speaking of pictures, I don’t even have an album fixed up for Erynne since birth. Isn’t that so sad? My mom was so diligent with things like this when my sister and I were little. We had dozens of photo albums documenting everything.

Someday.

And if you think I’m going to show you my body in what is supposed to be a bathing suit, NO.  Why do you think I was hiding behind the hubby?  Hahahahaha.  And you want to know something hilarious?  Some lady from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania had my swimming outfit.  We were on the same excursion (swimming and feeding the stingrays!) and there were only about 20 of us — you think anyone noticed?  HA!