Fiesta Time!

Look who made it in time for her birthday!

It's Fiesta!

She surprised Melrose by coming home this December. We were already planning to spend her birthday via Zoom, but in true Fiesta fashion, she found a way to come home and celebrate with us IRL.

It's definitely a Fiesta when she's around.

Melrose in Myeongdong

In 2021, the Melrose gang planned an Anniversary trip to Seoul in 2022.

Due to scheduling concerns and life changes, that trip didn’t push through. Even though we still talked about it, there were no concrete plans when it would happen.

But sometimes, things happen when they aren’t; planned. And last week, 3 of the Melrose members - Rommel, Bong & me - found ourselves meeting is Seoul.

The funny thing about this meet up is that Rommel reminded me that it was around the same time - 5 years ago - that the 3 of us met up in JKT!

We’re really living up to our name as Melrose International.

All Claire!

It may be a few months late, but it doesn’t make it less fun!

Finally, we had our Zoom Birthday celebration for Claire! The theme was “Claire Appreciation Day” which is super apt because she’s really a blessing to Melrose!

From all of us here - Belated Happy B, Claire!

FMM: Going Loco

I’ve said this before, i’ll say it again: “Sometimes, the best plan is to have no plan at all.”

The past 2 years, there were plans to personally meet-up with some of the Melrose folks, but while most of them have been able to see each other, I'd always be busy or absent. Thus, I haven't seen them since January 2020!

Today, while doing a quick mall run at SM Megamall to buy a gift for Baby Kai, lo and behold, Fiesta and LG were also there!

And because the 3 of us were there already, we naturally went to eat at the place we were talking about last week during Patis' birthday.

El Pollo Loco!

In honour of this fun and unexpected meeting at El Pollo Loco, today's Friday Magic Madness is a 1987 classic - and the first major international hit of Kylie Minogue:

Yes, let's do the Loco-motion since we're in El Pollo Loco!

Here's the the next - and planned - meet up.

At ease, Patis!

It’s a few weeks late, but tonight, we finally got together for the virtual Birthday celebration of Patis!

Just like our Birthday girl, the get together had an ease and relaxed vibe to it. Peppered with excitement from Kahoot and the “Name that Tune” game.

Hopefully, our next Birthday get together will still have the same ease, but in person.

Happy Birthday Patis!

Rache-Ing out

As Claire announced, time to Party like an Aussie for Rache’s virtual celebration!

Because it’s a Melrose celebration, it’s expected to have a lot of stories, a lot of laughs, and a lot of games!

Rache’s Birthday kicks-off our celebrations for the year. So, we’re expecting more gatherings like this very soon!

Happy Birthday Rache! 

Golden Fiesta

Nope, this post isn’t about cooking oil.

It’s about Fiesta’s birthday celebration which we had yesterday!

As expected, Melrose made sure that there are a lot of golden moments during our Zoom get together. And she definitely enjoyed our virtual party.

Happy Birthday Fiesta Girl!

A (Scorpio) Night to Remember

No, this is not a post about Shalamar.

This is about last night’s get together for the Melrose Scorpions. Which includes me!

Since there were 3 celebrators (Lisa Girl, Cutie and myself), the background was apt because the online meet went on 'til late at night.

As the meeting was wrapping up, everyone agreed that a face-to-face meeting is long overdue.

That should happen soon.

Virtually Physical

Inspired by Rikki's Wellness conversations during our last few Melrose get-together, the group decided that her post-birthday get together should align with that theme.

So yesterday, we decided to get physical!

Yes, the headbands and caps were our attempt at "gym wear."

Even if the celebration was virtual, we were still able to pull-off a lot of "exercise" activities. 

It's so Melrose to find ways of making these virtual meet-ups in-theme and fun!

That’s a stretch

This is another example of how fast time flies.

It’s been a year since Melrose had a virtual meet-up to talk about passion projects and stretching our imagination. (And our arms.)

I guess it’s true that time flies when you’re having fun.

Seoul Mates

It's always been the plan of Melrose to travel as a big group.

The past few years, some of us have traveled together. But those groups were smaller ones and the trips ranged from domestic ones like Cebu, to regional destinations like HKG and JKT..

But the past few months, talks of traveling as a complete group has been actively discussed, and it's the group's goal once this pandemic is over and we are all free to travel again.

And the group's target? Seoul!

We're hoping that we can do it next year when Melrose celebrates our 25th year of friendship.

And for that trip, our theme song would most likely be:

Hey, Silver, Seoul, Silver, Seoul, Silver, Seoul, Silver!

(Now, I can't stop singing this song in my head.)

Sketchy Stories: Claire Bear

For Claire's birthday, Melrose decided to go a little crafty.

Claire is and has always been known for her creativity in crafts. When we were colleagues in Adformatix, I'd always marvel at the creations that were often on her cubicle. Whether it was a handmade paper creation or her wonderful handwriting, it was always a joy to see. 

When she left agency life and applied at Kamiseta, she showed me some of the handmade bags she created and was simply floored! There was one particular bag - made of silk and with chopsticks as handle - that was super memorable. After finding something similar in HKG, it became part of one of my sister's ensembles when she attended a wedding.

And last year, she shared with me her blog about her crafting projects. Since then, I've been a regular reader and can't help but be inspired by Claire's creativity and joie-de-vivre.

So, for her birthday, I decided to go back to traditional sketching using a pen and paper, then used my Kurecolor pens to add some life into the drawing. And here's the result of the quick 10-minute sketch.

The choice of what I'd sketch - a bear - is actually an inside joke that Claire and I had back in Adformatix, particularly the word "oso." So, it was fitting that this was my crafty project for her on her birthday.

I wish you an OSO wonderful birthday, Claire! We'll celebrate it together soon!

Triple Treat!

November is a big, birthday month for Melrose since there are 3 of us celebrating our birthdays - 2 days apart.

First, there’s Lisa, then me, then Rommel.

And this weekend, we had a triple celebration!

Anything with Melrose is fun, so this event was 3 times the fun!

Golden Hour!

It's Bong's Golden Year! 

Of course, Melrose had to get together in our yellow-gold finery and greet him a Happy Birthday!

It was a Golden hour fitting of a Golden boy!

Harvest Buddies

It was a belated birthday virtual celebration for Irene!

Since she's Melrose's resident vegan, our celebration was veggie themed. Everyone harvested vegetable-based snacks and decided to wear veggie colours.

Needless to say, it was a very healthy celebration.

Happy Birthday Irene!

I de-Claire

Whenever Claire is in town from NYC, we always make sure to meet up and catch up over good food and even greater laughs.

And it was the same thing that happened tonight.

Claire! We should have this more often! (Meaning you should come home more often.)

Scorpion Nights, the sequel!

In the Melrose group, there are 4 of us celebrating our birthdays in November, and just a few days apart. For example, LG is November 4, I'm November 6, Rommel is November 8, and so forth.

That's why we make it a point to get together for our version of Scorpion Nights. And that's what we did tonight.

I must say, Scorpions are really a fun bunch!

Oz-stentatious!

This sudden Melrose get together is courtesy of Rache and Jeepoy who are visiting from Australia!

It was too short a get together, but any amount of time with this crazy group is time well spent.

See you again before you leave, Rache! (And mucho thanks for the Tim Tam!)

From MNL to JKT

It's hard to believe that this time last week, I was in JKT enjoying the local cuisine, and reconnecting with old friends.

Last Sunday, I met up with Rommel and Bong for lunch at a nice restaurant called Benedict's at Grand Indonesia. After all the nasi-permutations I ate the past few days, something western was welcome.

The funny thing with this meet up is that we all just met up in MNL a few weeks ago. In fact, I was just with Bong that same week. And suddenly, here we are, meeting up again. But in a different country this time.

I wonder where we'll meet up next?

Celebration continuation

For someone who doesn't like to celebrate birthdays, (I still don't,) there has been quite a number of celebrations going around.

From the family gathering last Sunday, to the production houses' surprise last Monday, to an ADB lunch last Tuesday - it's going all Energizer bunny and keeps going and going.

Yesterday, the celebration continued. And it wasn't just one celebration - but two!

First, the SMC gang! Gosh! We've been friends for 20 years now. And everytime we get together, it still feels like our first year in CAO.

Second, Melrose! Now, these folks I've known for more than 20 years! We were together in the first advertising agency I worked for, and we've been friends ever since.

Yes, I still don't like to celebrate my birthday.

But for these crazy folks, I'll make an exception.