Twenty-seven

Last year, one of my friends went camping with friends to celebrate her birthday. Ron and I enjoyed so much that we decided to go camping for my birthday. Although a few people backed out, I'd still say it's quite a success, and with that, here are some pictures. :)

Friday.
We got to the campsite at around 5pm. Ron and our two friends were too busy unpacking, setting up, and other things I would rather have them do so I took advantage of my 5-minute alone time and took a few pictures. Of course that would not have been possible if my mom was not taking care of the little doggy. :) My sister, her fiance and a couple of our other friends arrived later that night. :)

Saturday.
I was woken up by a little dog staring at me and trying to give me doggy kisses--it's safe to say that it worked. Three of our friends got to the site that morning, finally making the group complete! We all hiked to the beach and did our own stuff there; surf, stare, sit, talk, and take pictures.

Quiet growling.

Barking.

Beach first-timer.

I love this picture. Too bad Ryan and I are not in it...he was surfing and I was [well] taking the picture.

To all my friends, who came through, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I really appreciate you guys making it. :)

What Makes A Friend Burnout?

Oh hey, look! I found this gem of a post that I wrote back in September, 2013! Well, enjoy the 4 months younger me. :)

Growing up, I was never the one that my friends would run to when they have problems. I'd be the one they'd call when they're bored and need someone to tell them jokes and stories and cheer them up. I'm also the one who would choose to stay away from the source of the drama especially when I am starting to get dragged in the situation. So when friendship related drama is right in front of me, it's always a fight or flight situation. As a young person who needs to vocalize everything I needed to let out, would always fight, try to get everything fixed, smooth everything out.

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Then I became an adult. Still the one who's there to listen when people need to let stuff out of their systems. Friend A talks about Friend B while Friend B talks about Friend A. This thing becomes a cycle and I start to do the same thing myself (ya know what they say, you are who you hangout with). During this time, my ears burst with stories after stories after stories than do not involve me but I am somewhat involved now because I know both sides and am now in the middle. My mouth dries up from saying my own piece. Do you know how that feels like? To know things you don't necessarily have to know about and to talk about how tired you are of hearing the same thing? It makes you feel powerful but at the same time, lost. What do you do with all these explanations? Does it do you any good? Then I started to question what people say about me, my boyfriend (at the time) and my family. In the end, I chose to be in the company of people I think I can trust. Closing the door to all possible sources of drama and headache. You may say I have low EQ, I say I would just like my world to be happy, bright and drama-free.

I don't know why I thought of this today. Maybe as a reminder to keep my guard up or maybe it's my subconscious telling me I need to socialize more. Either way, my guards will remain up and know that I'm lucky that I have my husband, my family and my closest friends to vent out to and tell me if I'm being silly or too serious.

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Down by the Lake

After spending so much time in the cabin, the parents decided to take [us] kids to Lake Arrowhead. The kids had a deal with one of the adults that if little J finished his food, everyone will get ice cream. That was some good motivation and they all got a treat! The kids also had a great time walking [and sometimes running] on the dock while feeding the ducks and the geese. It was a happy day.

Simple joys.

Lone duck.

Lake Arrowhead.

Sup dad? Sup dog?

It was a beautiful afternoon.

Fox is floating. And that's me pretending I'm not scared to fall into the water.
Sweater and bag: Forever21. Pants: H&M. Scarf: Cotton On. Boots: Urban Outfitters.

Our colors match!
PS, Fox got his legs back and this is the only smiling photo in this bunch.

Teasing the goose.

I am more concerned about him losing his balance. The docks were too narrow for my own comfort. LOL

Losing the sun.

Bye, bye.

A Lovely Weekend

Running Springs is such a pretty place. I really have a thing for living in the mountains, hell I chose to study college a mountainous region back in the Philippines! There was no snow though. As in ZERO. So we stayed in the cabin for the most part and just relaxed and ate. I think I got the most sleep (as usual). Also, we went to Lake Arrowhead on Saturday afternoon but I'll share pictures from there next time. :)

Photo dump starts now:

This cutie and I were super friends this weekend. And that made Fox a lot jealous.

Fox made a bigger mess than the kids. Oh jeez.

"Dooough."

Oh hello.

From where I was standing.

Laughing faces. Fox was smiling too. ;)

Cardinal red on distressed red. Tieks.

Rugged.

This house was good to us.

A Christmas Surprise

In 2008, I met Y through her best friend (who is now my husband). It was that time after I moved here where I was starting to need a girl friend who I can meet up with and she was I guess the person God sent. We have been through a lot of things together, there was a time when our interests, priorities and even the people we hang out with changed but that did not stop us from making our friendship a lot stronger.

She is currently studying abroad but last week, we got a huge surprise from her--she flew to LA for Christmas!!! She stayed at our house Sunday night and that night was spent shopping, chatting and drinking pink moscato until 4:30am. It was nostalgic, fun and every time we talk about something again, I realize new things.


I don't know if she knows but she is one of the people I'm thankful for. The random calls I get from her because I never call due to the fear of waking her up from sleep that was a result of exhaustion from her 16-hour internship. I know, it's intense! I cannot wait until she is back in LA for good so I can bug her, text her, and call her anytime. Love you, Y! :)

Valentine's Weekend + Addictions

Valentine's Weekend
I am currently amazed by the hype being brought by this "Hallmark Holiday" and fortunately, I'm one of the people who has someone to take out or take me out... either is fine, we try to keep our relationship balanced. ;)

Last Saturday, our friends invited us to dinner at this Brazilian place I could not pronounce. Ron initially said yes but after we both learned that it would cost $60 per person (while we were getting haircuts) and it was a buffet, I had to tell Ron to back out for us. We ended up eating dinner at this Korean chicken place, KyoChon (I heard it's like BonChon), we watched The Vow and had Thai Iced Tea afterwards. We met up with our friends afterwards to have drinks and only 5 of us showed up. Half of the people who went to the buffet backed out! Anyway, we went home at 5am after a 6 hour drinking session where I just hung out without drinking (someone's gotta drive us home!). I loved this day. :)

Watching the game before leaving and our snacks before drinking.

 Sunday was another happy day. We went to the mall, to church and this quaint amazing restaurant across the street, The Rustic Spoon. I had to trick Ron to get him to try the place and made him get my favorite. He now wants to eat there every after we go to Church - and of course I cheered upon hearing him say that. :)

My date and my favorite: Warm House Noodle with Steak.

Addictions
I am currently addicted to...

Get Glue - an app that lets you check in on what you're watching, reading, playing, etc. It gives you special edition stickers which I think is amazing because I love watching so MANY things! I requested my 1st batch of stickers - you can only order once every month.

Learn more about GetGlue HERE.

My Pressure Cooker - Ron got me one for Valentine's day. I love him and how he knows what else I would love.

Sunbeam 6Qt Pressure Cooker

Shopping - AGAIN.  I cannot stop raiding the sale racks for end of season sales! I just need want more clothes, that's all ;)

Clockwise from Top Left: Foreign Exchange, Foreign Exchange, ClikB, Zara.

Working out - I got a stepper and it comes with a DVD! I'm excited to do this everyday. They say it takes 2 weeks for something to become a habit and I'm going to make sure this becomes a habit. I REALLY need want to lose 10 pounds.

Got this from Amazon.

My Person

He's the nice one I'm the bitchy one.
He cracks jokes, I laugh. I complain, he does something about it.
We balance each other out. That's love. ;)

Here are pictures of me and my person (aka best friend), JM. We met each other during the 4th of July weekend in 2008. I loved how down to earth and funny he is and he can relate to everything jologs (ghetto) that I do. We used to pig out a lot, we both gained a lot of weight, we were dumped, we were bullies when we were kids and we've done very many things that make us best friends. ;)

Christmas [Late Post]

Just had my 5th Christmas here in the US last week. My family promised that we were only going to buy one present for each one but since my sister and I are giving gifts with our lovers ;) this year, we couldn't help but buy more. Also, my mom and I just keep on saying random wishes from our wish list and my sister and I just kept on buying more. My sister is not the type who says what she wants...maybe because she's not a big shopper and we know what she needs! :)

I got quite a lot of gifts last Christmas and I am extremely thankful. I am ultimately thankful for the food we have as well, my sister, mom, Ron and I went to the Filipino market and just got whatever we can and I cooked maybe 3 entrees? My mom and Ron bought an entree from the local Filipino restaurant and my sister made buttered veggies. There was so much food that it made me realize how much we have compared to the people who are in the middle of hard times because of the economy. The best part of the holidays though was that I got to spend it with the people I LOVE. My family, Ron and our friends. I was the prouf designated driver when we stopped by my friends' apartment at 130am so my mom, Ron and sister can drink. After two hours of shotgun drinking, we had to go because we need to go on a 2hour drive to San Jacinto, my sister's GF's family's house. They were all drunk at the time and were all exhausted - they all fell asleep in the 15 minute drive home. ;)

Up The Mountain We Go

At one of our stops on our way to Mammoth.

I became extremely giddy when I saw these signs!

The drinking sesh started at 2:30PM and ended at 8PM. We just had to prepare our bodies for our snowboarding adventure the next day.

It was his birthday. Happy birthday best friend.. Ulul!

During a break.

For my last run, I got lost. I got myself and 3 other people lost. A little later, my boyfriend got our other friends lost as well. Hahaha!

When we got back to LA, we ate at the Boiling Crab after watching New Year's Eve (which is a cute movie) to celebrate our anniversary.

Fried oysters, clams and shrimp.

We took 12/19 off to celebrate our anniversary more. We went to the Farmer's market in LA and ate a bunch of stuff. Farmers Market is back on my favorite places list!

Here's a lamp I got from out White Elephant gift giving. I LOVE IT!