All the Lovers

Nope, this isn't a post about Kylie Minogue's song.

But you know me, I'm a huge Kylie fan.

What this post is about is XTine's pasalubong.

She brought me this bag of Cherry Lovers jelly beans from Jelly Belly.

They're heart shaped jellies in different cherry flavours like black cherry, cherry cheesecake, cherry cola, bing cherry, sour cherry and wild cherry. And as a cherry fan, this is just divine!

It's so, so, SO good, that I've already finished the bag.

Now, where to find this in MNL.

From Republic Glass to Batangas

This is a friendship that was born at the 4th floor, Republic Glass Building, 196 Salcedo Street, Legaspi Village, Makati.

Or, Adformatix.

First, there was Fiesta, Shash and myself. We knew each other from college, and were thrilled when we found ourselves working in the same advertising agency.

Then, Xtine came along. She was the new writer in the Optima creative team. And the moment she came in, we hit it off immediately.

The friendship stayed and grew even after we all left Adformatix. Heck, it stayed and grew even if some of us left the country.

It's been 20 years since that day, and we're still together, crazier than ever. And we owe this reunion to Xtine's wedding to Eric in Batangas.

Congratulations Xtine and Eric! We're both ecstatic and honored to be part of this beautifully happy celebration!

(On a side note, I've had 2 weddings on 2 consecutive Saturdays, these 2 are destination weddings, and there are 2 Christines as brides. How awesome is that!)

FMM: Cinnamon girl

First things first.

Happy Birthday Mom! Here's to more happy and healthy years ahead!

Now, on to Friday Magic Madness.

And today's song is inspired by a dear, dear, dear friend who's going to get married tomorrow.



Christine - or X'tine - is one of my best friends in Advertising. But unlike the song where Christine is a strawberry girl, our Christine is more of a cinnamon kind of gal. My first memory of her was during her first day at work, she had a box of cinnamon candies which I could smell from a mile away. And because I love cinnamon, this spice scent kick started our friendship.

It's a friendship that now spans more than 20 years. That's more than 2 decades of meandering and foraging, trying out new culinary adventures, thrift store shopping, apartelle partying, beach bumming, and so many things in between. And we did all these both here in Manila and in California where she's currently based.

Can't wait to be part of her special day tomorrow!