Overjoyed. Overshopped.

Just got back from a wonderful, wonderful weekend in Manila. Short, but still wonderful.

It's the first time I've seen Mark since ASEAN night in Urasa and since he arrived in Manila. We were finally able to watch Harry Potter, although he wasn't as impressed as I was by the film. (He read the book, I didn't.) I think this film is way better than the last 2 installments, but as I asked Mark: "Why does Harry always have to be scarred and bloodied by the end of the film?" We also got to hang out and have dinner at Ate Bullet's house, as well as visit their exhibit at the Intercon. (Free cake!)

Another thing that we did that I haven't done in a long time was -- watch TV! Yup, it's been a while since I last lazed on the couch watching the telly. It was funny how we were shuttling between Heroes and The Tyra Banks Show. Then we watched the 2nd episode of ANTM cycle 8. That was loads of fun.

Cuisine-wise, we were able to eat at Jollibee (something we both haven't done in a while), Chef D' Angelo (the last time we ate there was February last year!) and Wok Inn. (Made him try the sipa and the stuffed tofu. Winner!)

Got to see Bonique and Vince during an impromptu meet-up at McDonald's. Finally, I've found funky shoesies for Bonique - and they fit her perfectly. It was truly a Cinderella moment! Then I ran into my former model - Joanna - and it was great to hear how she recently graduated from school. She put her modelling career on hold because she wanted to fill her brain before filling her pockets - and that's a very admirable trait indeed.

And as it turns out, Hong Kong isn't the only country on "sale mode." The Malls in Manila were all screaming SALE!!!. Shangri-La, Gateway, Robinson's Galleria... I was hoping to get a respite from shopping, but I was wrong. Very, very, very wrong! The shopping spree started out when we bought slippers for Mark and socks for me. The next day, I ended up buying 2 linen dresses and a maxi-dress at Mango.

Sunday night, my siblings and I dropped by Celine and found that the shoes were also on sale. They were unbeliveably cheap and my sisters were like the proverbial "kids in the candy store." They ended up buying 12 pairs of shoes! And they were just for 3 people. But really, that Celine deal is excellent. Their shoes are a great buy - both style wise and quality wise.

Then before I knew it, I was queueing up again at the Immigration line at the airport and was back in Hong Kong before 9am today. Yup, welcome back to reality.

It's amazing how much you can do in 2 days. And it's amazing how much fun 2 days can be.

If all weekends were like this, I'd wish it were a weekend every day.