A heroic team up

The first time I saw this photo, my immediate thought was: "Daenerys and Finnick are getting together!"

Yes, the hero of Game of Thrones and the hero of Hunger Games actually have a soft side. Maybe these are their alter egos.

Celebrating the Kin-dom

Today is the birthday of one of the kindest and most gracious people I know. And I'm extremely happy and proud to call my friend.

Happy Birthday Kin!

Color story: It's all white

When you and your officemates suddenly show up at the office wearing the same hue, it's a photo worthy moment.

White was definitely the color of the day.

Dany's da bomb!

Of course everyone at work was talking about the season finale of Game of Thrones! It was nothing short of "explosive."

One thing's for sure. I'm Team Dany all the way. Heck, I even wore my Daenerys shirt to work!

Dany rules!!!

Missed hymns

Whenever I hear mass, I'd hear all these new church hymns and new arrangements of classic ones.

While it's great that they're making the hymns dynamic for the younger parishoners, I can't help but miss the old hymns that we'd sing as kids.

Such as this classic:



We'd always sing "Spirit of God" when I was in the church choir. And it always gave me goosebumps when we sang it.

It still does.

Well-bread

Occasionally, I declare "foodie Friday" at the office and whip something up for the creative folks.

It can be as simple as ice cream, or chips and dips, or Lola-bought churros.

Yesterday, I decided to put on my chef's hat and make sandwiches for the team. We had a variety of fillings - pulled chicken bbq, assorted cold cuts, and Aysee's sisig!

Needless to say, we had a lot of happy stomachs at work.

FMM: This space reserved

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon this youtube page that featured duets from different decades.

One of the songs they featured was this classic Dionne Warwick duet from the 80s.



I haven't heard this song in a while. It's such a romantic song, and the voices of Dionne and Kashif blend together so seamlessly. Plus, you can feel their chemistry in the song. Just by listening to it, you can almost feel how they can't live without each other.

This song is now reserved as a Friday Magic Madness ditty.

Sale-a-brate

It's that time of the year again.

Time to steer clear of H&M, lest you want to come home with bags and bags of clothes and shoes at awesome prices!

Must. Steer. Clear.

Oh, samosas!

Three cheers for food discoveries!

I discovered a place that sells really good veggie samosas for only P25 a pop!

Looks like this is my new favorite snack.

Because everyone misses the 90s

As I wrote a few weeks ago, the 90s cult classic - Whammos - made a comeback.

It seems like a lot of people missed it, because everytime I go to buy it at the 7-11 near the office, this is what I see.

Good thing the branches near the house are stocked better.

Full Disclosure: The box above was full when I got there. I was the one who bought everything.

Luk, it's Foo-ther's day!

Chinese food was the theme for our Father's Day lunch. And it was at Luk Foo, an often overlooked restaurant which serves really good Cantonese cuisine.

It's been many, many, many years since I last ate at Luk Foo. Rediscovering it with family made the food even better.

Pop goes the world

This is the man who I inherited my looks, demeanor, generosity and heart from. And that was most obvious this year - a surprising and delightful discovery, actually.

Happy Father's Day!

Saturday Flashback Machine

Growing up, Saturday meant cartoons. It was that day of the week when you can just sit in front of the TV, veg, and enjoy all your favorite superhero shows. Heck, that's why they had Saturday Fun Machine.

Now, thanks to channels like Nick and Cartoon Network, kids can enjoy cartoons everyday, 24/7. 

That makes me miss the concept of Saturday = Cartoon Day even more. And because I miss it so much, I decided to go to youtube and check out the opening credits of some of my favorite shows.

Inhumanoids. Aside from the TV show, I also collected all the comics.

Visionaries. This show is a favorite of Mark's, too.

Silverhawks. Yup, I'd scrimp my allowance to buy Silverhawk toys at Nova Fontana.

Mask. Gosh! I had so many Mask toys growing up.

Centurions. I had all the toys of this show.

Okay, I'm officially missing my childhood now.

FMM: Hide(away) and Seek

Thanks to today's shoot, I recalled this very old song from a 1950s film entitled "Pajama Game."

The song is called "Hernando's Hideaway."



It's a song that a lot of people know, but most likely, they don't know the title. All they know is it's the "tango song."

Well folks, here's the actual title and the actual song. Now, you know.

And we have Friday Magic Madness to thank for.

Constant Craving

Thanks to a friend who posts his homecooking on facebook, I suddenly have the urge to eat ginataang halo-halo!

This dessert/merienda reminds me so much of my childhood. On weekends, Mom would make ginataan and we'd be in the kitchen rolling the galapong until it becomes bilo-bilo. And because I was an odd kid, I'd make cubes instead of round balls.

Gosh! I should stop talking about this. It's intensifying my craving.

Oh, Olympia!

Still on the subject of Uniqlo...

While checking out their Megamall branch for the batik collection, I found out that they have another designer collaboration that went under my radar. And this collaboration is awesome!

It's Olympia Le Tan! Yup, she of the storybook clutch fame of 2009, until today.

Apparently, she has a designer collection with Uniqlo. She designed some t-shirts and a few bags, which are now on-sale in Manila. And they're all gorgeous!

This Olympia deserves a gold medal!

Chic Batik

The first time I took notice of authentic Indonesian Batik was when I was assigned in Jakarta for work. My Indonesian officemates would wear them on a daily basis, and I'd admire the complexity and artistry of the fabrics.

Eventually, I would by batik fabrics whenever my travels would take me to Surabaya, Bali and Jakarta. Some were made into shirts, others became my sisters dresses. But eventually, we grew out of it and forgotten all about batik.

That was until today when I saw that Uniqlo has a special batik collection.

Looking at the items brought me back to the time when I was in awe about the workmanship. And it made me miss my batik shirts.

Maybe I'll buy one for old time's sake.

Pool boy

One of my colleagues called me and showed this photo.

I remember the locale of the photo. This was in Thunderbird Poro Point - the resort where we had our summer outing. But I didn't know why she was showing me this photo.

It turns out, I'm the one at the center of the shot.

Now, I'm wondering what I was doing or thinking at that time.

Freedom!

As we celebrate Philippine Independence Day, we celebrate our country's freedom.

And to celebrate freedom, I was able to benefit from a freebie!

The MRT was free from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. Which meant my trip to and from Makati was absolutely free!

Happy Independence Day indeed!

Fresh Prints

Since I'm a huge fan of prints, I'm always on the lookout for designers with a strong print aesthetic. So far, my list has Suno, Mary Katrantzou, and Etro.

While browsing through Vogue, I found a fresh, new name to add to the list.

Stella Jean!

Nope, she's not related to Billie Jean, and she's not anyone's lover.

Stella Jean is an Italian-Haitian designer. And looking at her work, the Haitian influence is very pronounced.

I'm keeping an eye on her.

FMM: Time for a revue

For a change, today's Friday Magic Madness song isn't a pop song.

It's a opening song of one of my favorite childhood shows: "New Zoo Revue!"



Even without this video, I can still sing the entire song from memory. I'm a nerd that way.

It's the New Zoo Review... coming right at you!!!

The wrong piece

Seriously. Is "piece" such a difficult word to spell?

P-I-E-C-E. Piece.

Proofreader please.

Oh, Donna!

Admit it. If you're a 90s kid, you know Donna Cruz.

Chances are, you also sang "Kapag Tumibok ang Puso." You also saw "Do-Re-Mi" and your heart melted when Donna-Regine-Mikee sang "I can."

And admit it, you still get giddy whenever you see Donna on TV, looking like she hasn't aged, and sounding as beautiful as ever.

Heck, I know I did!

Double trouble

After our client meeting, we did a quick S&R swing to buy pizza and clam chowder.

While everyone was checking out the menu, I ducked into the supermarket to find some new snackers. That's when I found this delightful duo of goodies:

Goody # 1: Chocodile Twinkies!

 Talk about 2 times the goodness! It's my favorite Twinkies cake, smothered in chocolate! How awesome is that!

Goody # 2: Double Stuf Heads or Tails Oreo!

Double Stuf filling is enough to get my heart racing. But what they did was to place it in between 2 different cookie flavors! Sold!

Of course, I ended up buying these goodies and snacking on them at home.

And I must say that it's doubly delightful!

Childhood chow

So, the rumors are true! Whammo's is back!

I remember being a fan of this brand during my younger days. Back then, this was the closest thing we got to Hostess Twinkies. Their vanilla variant did a good job in replicating the feel of Hostess, but they didn't quite get the sponginess of the cake right.

Just like a lot of 90s kids, I'm glad that this snack is back.

And judging by how quickly it's disappearing from the shelves, a lot of people agree.

Soon, Sutra, Soon

Here's proof that Makansutra is finally opening in Megamall!

I can't wait until they open!

View-tiful!

When they first built Thunderbird Poro Point a decade ago, they wanted it to be the Santorini of Northern Philippines. The first time I saw this place, I knew they were able to achieve what they set out to do. It really had that Santorini vibe to it.

Good thing they were able to maintain it - and improve it - after all these years.

This is the type of view you'll never get tired of.

FMM: Not heavy at all

It's a Friday! And we're by the beach!

Yup, today is our company summer outing, and they brought us to the very scenic Thunderbird Resort in La Union.

This place is so scenic and picturesque, that my Friday Magic Madness song is inspired by our location. Because it looks like an oasis of calm, here's one of my favorite songs from Brand New Heavies.



An apt song since it's almost midnight at this oasis.

Another reason to smile!

Another commercial produced and approved!

And this one will definitely make people smile.

It made me smile each step of the way. So I think that energy will translate to other people, too.

Here's the bug!

The June bug, that is!

Because just like that, it's already June!

Time flies when you're busy.