Paper toy! ^_^

Break muna sa pag-aaral ng Tax! So stressed out sa last exam na to. I wanna blog about something cheesy, hehe. A couple of weeks ago my boyfriend surprised me with this paper toy after I finished my Nego exam:

 He's been making paper toys lately. He made me a Garfield paper toy because I think he looks like Garfield :D. The other day after finishing my PIL exam, I came home and felt like smoke was coming out of the top of my head. So, to relieve my stress, I decided to make a paper toy of my own. Making crafts has a calming effect on me. I decided to give Garfield a partner, heehee..

I decided to make it a surprise gift for my boyfriend so I put it on the shelf beside where I put the Garfield paper toy.

I think he liked it naman :)

Okay. back to Tax. @_@

My 23rd Birthday :)

I have tons to do (it's finals season!!!) but I just have to post my birthday blog before my "birthday month"(as my Kuya calls it) ends.

First of all, I have to say that this is one of the happiest birthdays I've had. Happy.. not in a sense that I partied the whole day, or got a bunch of gifts, but happy in the sense that on my birthday, I felt that I was in a good place, because I was surrounded by the people I love, and because I felt that I had so many things in life that I I'm thankful for. :) So, to all of you who are part of my life, THANK YOU! :)

What made my birthday extra happy was that I got to spend time with my family. I thought at the start of this semester that I would be able to go home to Laguna more often because I managed to clear my weekend of any classes. Sadly, my super combination of professors has prevented me from doing so. As for my other relatives here in QC, well, our schedules just don't match so we don't really get to spend quality time together, even if we live in the same house. (HAY. For that, after finals, I promise to exert more effort to spend more time with them) Anyway.. this is how I celebrated my 23rd birthday:

The weekend before my birthday, I went home to Laguna. This meant that I wouldn't be able to attend the last weekend of Barops, but I thought it would be sad if I wouldn't be able to spend time with my Mama and celebrate my birthday somehow with her. She has work and I have school during weekdays, and the following weekend is crunch-time for me, since my dreaded Nego exam is scheduled early on Monday. I just had to go home. Thankfully, my Kuya made it easier since he went to QC before going home that weekend :)

Mama, Kuya and I went to church on Sunday, 2 days before my actual birthday. The homily was about sharing one's blessings. When I go to mass, I usually do a lot of thinking and contemplating about my life. I usually try to picture how I could fit a certain gospel or homily into how I live. As to this one.. well, maybe I'll write about it later. I have my issues about being helpful vs. being tolerant of laziness. Anyway, during that mass, I also gave my thanks to Him, for blessing me with my family, my friends, loved ones, law school, opportunities, etc. I also of course asked for guidance and enlightenment.

After that, we had lunch at home, and then we went to Southmall, and then to ATC. We bought my birthday present: a pink ipod nano multi touch! :) AYLAVET!!! I asked for an ipod because the one my Mama made pamana to me had an "unknown error" and I couldn't put songs in it anymore :( This one is so much better! It's like ipod shuffle wit a screen, and far less complicated than the usual nano. (Yes, it's complicated for me. Don't judge me!)

My new ipod :)

We then watched Legend of the Guardians, while munching on some Taters snacks.I loved the movie! :) Nice story and nice effects. It's one of the few movies that didn't disappoint me this year. Before leaving ATC, I had my ipod Gmasked. I just don't want to worry about scratching it and then scratch it anyway and then obsess over the itty-bitty scratch mark. Hehe.

We went back to Laguna, where we had dinner at Conti's Nuvali

 With Mama

Kuya: "Ang onti ng rice.."

What can I say about Conti's Nuvali? MEH. They were not accommodating, and the food was so-so. I had the crab salad, watermelon shake, and tsokolate ga. Ayaw pa maniwala nina Kuya na yun lang. Ang hindi nila alam, nabusog ako sa onion rings na kinain ko nung movie :D I didn't feel bad about not ordering more since Mama and Kuya didn't enjoy their food that much. I still enjoyed myself, though. I always love it when I get to eat with my Mama and Kuya. :) I love getting to chat with them, and really, just getting the feeling that I have my family, even if we don't get to spend much time together.

Fast forward to Tuesday, my birthday itself. :) There were the usual text and Facebook greetings, thank you to everyone who greeted me! :) I ate my packed lunch with Doron and he gave me a gift : A stuffed cat toy :) When he asked me the day before what I wanted as a gift, I told him anything that would remind me of him and would make me smile. I'm looking at it now and.. yes, I'm smiling :) CHEESY. Thank you sa gift Doron! :)

After lunch I had to go to PIL class. In the middle of it, I got a surprise from Harmy :) He gave me a birthday cake, and even sang for me :) AWWW.. Harmy, thank you! Wag ka mag alala, tama yung flavor na nabili mo :)

Doron's gift and Harmy's cake :)

Later that night, my Ninang treated me to a birthday dinner at Chili's :). It was just supposed to be Me, Ninang, Alvianne,my Kuya and Doron, so I was extra happy when I found out my two cousins, Alvin and Arwin were coming too. :) I waited for Doron, Alvianne and Alvin in UP. We met with my Ninang, Kuya and Arwin at Chili's, Tomas Morato.

 Taking pictures while waiting for the others.. Alvianne

 Alvin

 Doron

 Me!

Doron and myself

 They're here!

 Boy talk

 Alvianne, Ninang

 The girls

 The boys

 What to order?

Waiting for our food..

I like it at Chili's. The staff was very friendly, and I like the overall look of the restaurant. It's like I'm in the HIMYM set. :) As for the food, I loved their appetizers, but their burger was quite hard to finish. The patty was a little dry, but the toppings were yummy :)

 Mozzarella sticks

 Burger

  Ultimate mushroom burger

Bacon burger

Appetizer platter

We had a great time :)..

..even if most of us had a hard time finishing our burgers :D Si Kuya,nag steak, at walang kahirap-hirap niya yung inubos. :D

 Lamon shot

 Ninang sliced her burger in half to make it easier to eat

 Lamon shot sana pero ambilis pumose ni Albian :))

 Canned lamon shot

 Kaya mo yan Doron! :)

 The burger is so big!

 Time out muna

 Kaya pa!

Kakayanin pa..

To top things off, I finally got my long-time wish to have restaurant staff sing to me on my birthday :)

They also gave me a birthday.. uh.. dessert! :D

 It's not a cake

 It's ice cream on top of some pastry. It was delicious :)

Fun fact: "Doron" means "gift" in Greek. :)

 Some pictures before we go

Again, thank you everyone for giving me the happiest birthday so far :) In particular:
Mama for bringing me to this world, raising me well, and supporting me in whatever endeavor I undertake.. and for the ipod :)
Kuya for.. being my Kuya :D
Ninong and Ninang for being my second parents and for spoiling me :D and of course for the dinner
Alvianne, Alvin and Arwin, my quasi-cousin and cousins, for being there on my birthday dinner
Doron for the gift, and for being my "gift" :)
Harmy for the birthday cake :)
Everyone who greeted me! :D

Happy birthday to me! :)

Caramel Apples

It all started when Doron told me about the time his friend Dondon treated him and some other friends to an apple from a stall in The Block. We were then in that mall, and he was sad because the stall was gone already. At that time, I didn't put much thought on the topic.

A few days after we were chatting and he told me he was researching on how to make some. He was again sad because the thing was quite difficult to make. As I knew he wasn't that into sweets, I thought caramel apples must be pretty good. I also recalled my Mom saying how good they were. I remembered when I was about ten and we were in Enchanted Kingdom she offered to buy me one but I refused. I then imagined, what if?. So from that moment I also wanted one, and as those close to me know, once I start wanting something, I don't stop until I get it. :D

I searched the net for an easy recipe, and I found out it was easier to make them if I use pre-made caramel. Sadly, after a few trips to different grocery and baking goods shops, I discovered caramel wasn't readily available.

Doron and I then started looking for another shop that sells caramel apples. We asked our friends, and they said that there was one in Trinoma. We searched and searched, but to no avail (again, thanks Kit Lim and Mae Palgan). I made a search in the net and found a blog about it. Two stores were mentioned, Sanfo Treats and Czarina's. I was kind of discouraged, however because of the negative comments about both stores. Also, I was pretty sure that Czarina's, which is supposedly located in Festival Mall,  is closed already. Moreover, I didn't remember seeing any Sanfo Treats stalls in any of the malls where they were supposedly located. The latest posts about the stores were in 2007. :(

Imagine how happy I was when I accompanied my Ninang to Cherry Foodarama and found a pack of Kraft Caramels! :) It even had free popsicle sticks to stick in the apples. The day after that, I went to Doron's and we made some. It wasn't difficult at all. We just melted the caramels in a pot with some milk and dipped the apples in it. The ones  we made weren't as pretty as the pictures I saw in the net, but they were delicious :) I plan to make some more by the end of the week.

Doron with the apples

We dipped some in chocolate too :)

Yay! Obsession over :)

Thank you Tita Delia for letting us use your kitchen :)