SM MOA & Bonifacio High Street

SM Mall of Asia & Bonifacio High Street - 2 of the places we like to go to these days, especially on weekends.

We like Bonifacio High Street because...
1. It's child friendly
2. It has a big area where Trisha can practice walking.
3. Lots of dogs. (Trisha is really fond of dogs)
4. Good restaurants and coffee shops.
5. And this Christmas season, they have light symphony show every night from 7PM to 12MN.

We like MOA because...
1. Cheaper parking compared to Ayala Malls. P40 flat rate everyday.
2. Gas at Petron station (Blue Wave/Macapagal Ave) is the cheapest (I think) in Metro Manila. They're always around P1-2 cheaper.
3. A lot of restaurants to choose from.
4. IMAX theater!
5. Science and Discovery Center.
6. SM Hypermarket.
7. It's not as crowded even if there are a lot of people.
8. And last but not the least, as SM puts it "We've got it all for you!" and they have indeed.

1 year 1 month and 4 days!

November 30, 2007 - Bonifacio Day! I'm blogging because we're celebrating. Celebrating not Bonifacio day but the day Trisha finally decided that she can walk on her own, without the need for us to hold her hand. We are so proud of her!

For the longest time now (actually eversince she turned 10 months old), we have been pressuring her to start walking on her own but she won't. She was afraid to let go. We could see in her face that she was scared to fall and her knees would tremble if we try to let go of our hand. We wondered why she was afraid of falling if she hasn't experienced falling at all. How could she have known the fear of falling? It came to a point where her mommy got concerned as to why she was so afraid of letting go. But we eventually agreed not to pressure her anymore and just let her walk on her own when she's ready.

And today was that day! She and her mommy was outside when she decided to let go of her mommy's hand and walk on her own. Mommy Tet was not prepared for it and as you can see in the pictures, she's still very cautious that her precious baby might fall. On the other hand, Trisha didn't care, she just wanted to walk. Look how happy she was!

Tet was so excited to see Trisha walk on her own that she called me immediately. And when I saw her walking on her own, I got all excited as well and ran to grab the camera so I could take her picture. Pictures that we could share with you and someday Trisha can see, the day she decides to walk on her own!

Urbanathlon Results are Out!

The result of the recent Men's Health Urbanathlon is out! (results can be found in this site - http://www.menshealth.com.ph/events/urbanathlon/index.html) My time was not bad considering that I do not run on a regular basis. But I know I can do better if only I have the dedication to go on regular runs.


Part of me wants to take running seriously but it's my laziness that overpowers me and the fact that I do not want to run alone. I'm doing something about this though. I've recently discovered from the bullrunner (visit her site - http://www.thebullrunner.com/) that there is a Mizuno run club. I want to join this running club so that I won't have to wait for my friends to run with me and it's a great way to meet new people while staying fit and having fun.

Anyway, I think the Urbanathlon was a hit! There were a lot of participants and the obstacle course was good. It was a chance for most participants and for me as well to rest especially on the parking lot part. It was a good run and I'll surely join again next year!

For the love of the game!

Today is the first time I played Badminton again after re-injuring my shoulder while practicing for ITAP a few weeks or months ago. Eversince I dislocated my shoulder, which was Feb of 2006, I never really regained back my game. Worst is, I repeatedly injured my shoulder several times more. I went to see a rehab doctor but he didn't want to operate. He just told me to go to the gym and strengthen the muscles around my shoulder. I did that for some time but work kinda got in the way and I got lazy.

Anyway, going back to my story, I stopped playing when I got injured again. But when Tina asked me how my shoulder was and if I wanted to participate in the HP-BPI dual meet, I said yes. I had no time to practice and I really did not want to practice since I was afraid I might get injured again and wouldn't be able to play on the actual game.

Today was game day. I arrived late because of a call that I need to finish but I was still able to play the 2 games scheduled for me. 1-1 was the score on both games. I was telling myself that if I got injured again today, it was a sign for me to stop playing Badminton and just focus on running. =) Good thing I did not injure my shoulder because I realized that I miss playing the game and I really enjoy playing Badminton. I simply love the sport!

My Time Was 1:01:32!

I'm disappointed! I went over the 60 minutes mark of my run last Sunday for the NB Powerrace. I can only blame myself for taking that long to finish the 10K run. I did not prepare at all which also led to aches all over my body. But thank God I was able to finish.

I still feel a little pain on my legs until now. =( I really should've prepared for it. I always say that I will do practice runs but I end up not doing it. I have to be more disciplined if I want to run my full marathon next year.

I want to share my time in the last three 10K runs that I participated in this year:
1. MH All-terrain race - 1:19:02:69
2. Adidas KOTR - 1:08:43 (I think this was a mistake. My time got mixed up with someone else. I know I finished earlier than what was on the list. hehe..)
3. Milo Marathon (Manila Leg) - 58:00

Come to think of it, my time for the NB race was not that bad but it's still 3:32 behind my best time. =) I hope I do better this Sunday for the MH Urbanathlon.

My Favorite Photos of Trisha

I just want to share some of my favorite photographs of my darling Trisha. I am really very proud of my daugther and I'm out of words to describe how much I love her.

She is...

my angel

my chef

my fairy

my cupcake

So I have to...

handle with care

Otherwise, mommy angel will kill me.. =)

And this is my favorite photo of Mommy Tet and Trisha so far. Don't they look so pretty?

An Ocean Park in Manila?

Did you know that they are building an Oceanarium here in Manila? And that it is targeted to open next month? I didn't but now I do!

It's called the Manila Ocean Park and according to the official site, it's the Philippines' first state-of-the-art Oceanarium, open water marine habitat, boutique mall, restaurant row and function facilities all located in one complex at the back of the Quirino Grandstand.

photo taken from http://manilaoceanpark.com

Here are some facts about the Manila Ocean Park:
1. It's a P1 billion project of Singaporean and Malaysian investors.
2. It will be the first and largest aquarium facility in the Philippines.
3. It's among the most advanced ocean parks in Asia and will be larger than the famous Sentosa oceanarium in Singapore.
4. The oceanarium and open water marine habitat will contain 12,000 cubic meters of seawater featuring 300 marine species.
5. There are 3 phases. Phase 1 is the oceanarium (opens in Dec 07); Phase 2 is the marine-themed mall and hotel; Phase 3 is the open water marine habitat. Phase 2 & 3 is set to open July 08.
6. Entrance fee will be around P350 to P400.

Visit this article from Inquirer for more information - http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view_article.php?article_id=95071

I am excited to see this place and go visit once it opens. I enjoy going to places like these because they're fun and educational. I am glad that we have more of this kinds of recreational facilities here in Manila (like the Science and Discovery Center in MOA) and not only shopping malls.

Trick or Treat?

Trisha participated in her first trick or treat today at the HP office. It's a bit late for trick or treating since it has been eight days after Halloween but it's better late than never.

HP has this annual trick or treat for the kids of HP employees. I'm not sure how long they have done this but this was our first time as well. There were a lot of kids that participated and they were all in their pretty costumes. Trisha was dressed as a Disney Fairy.

I'm pretty sure Trisha enjoyed trick or treating. She was all smiles, dancing ang playing with the other kids. But she fell asleep when we started going around the different floors to get the candies. She eventually woke up while we were doing the rounds so she was able to experience trick or treating. By the time we finished, we had two bags full of goodies.

We had fun doing that with Trisha and we'll definitely participate in more trick or treating next year. By then Trisha will be able to walk on her own and say "Trick or Treat?".

Not prepared to run

Remember my post recently about my need to train for the two running events I will be joining? Well, I haven't started training myself yet and it's only a few more days before the run. I'm not ready and I'm not prepared. What else is new? hehe... This is not the first time that I ran without training for it. So I hope I still finish my 10K and not get injured or something.

I hope I will have the discipline next year to train for my 42K marathon.

Pray for me. =)

C.R.I.B.S.

As I have mentioned in my previous blog entry about Trisha's 1st birthday, we asked our guests to bring as much teddy bears as they can, whether old or new, because we wanted to donate all those toys to CRIBS as part of Trisha's birthday.

We went to CRIBS the day after the party to bring all those teddy bears. And there we learned that they accept not only toys but other items as well (milk, diapers, clothes, strollers and a whole lot more).
The caretaker toured us around the place but informed us that we couldn't take any pictures of the children there.

Here are some facts about the place:
1. There are 23 children currently living at CRIBS. If I recall correctly, there are 6 babies, 8 crawlers and 9 toddlers.
2. Only 3 people are with the 23 children at night. One each for the babies, crawlers and toddlers.
3. Anyone can volunteer to visit and care for the children. There are visiting hours and you should coordinate with the administrator if you're interested to volunteer for a day. This is so that they can arrange a date and time and provide you a shirt and socks.
4. These children come from hospitals or from parents who can't take care of their own children. It can be temporary and parents could come back for them if they're ready to own the responsibility. These children are also up for adoption especially those that have been totally abandoned.

Upon seeing these children, we couldn't help but feel thankful that we are so blessed. And all we wanted to do was to give back and help in any way we can. We were telling Trisha how blessed she is that she has parents who loves her very much. Although we don't think she understands any of what we told her yet but it is something we want to instill in her. That's why we're planning of doing this every year so that she'll learn to share her blessings to the less fortunate ones.

And of course, we took pictures while we were there. Trisha was all smiles when she saw those children and she wanted to play with them but we were advised that those children just had sore eyes at that time so they advised us not to go in. Maybe next time.


We're planning to go back some time soon but this time we want to volunteer to take care of them even for just a short while. Will you join us?

I Won an NBx Shoes!!

I really did! I was one of the five winners of a pair of New Balance's NBx shoes. Below is a proof of that. I got that from the new balance website and also an email from New Balance congratulating me for winning. =)

I'm really happy to win the running shoes and it was not because of luck, well maybe partly, but it was not a simple raffle type contest where you just join and wait for your name to be chosen as the winner. I chanced upon this contest when I was searching the internet about the New Balance Powerrace.

To qualify for the contest, a player must be registered, visit the knowledge pavilions and play the runner's challenge.You then get points for visiting the knowledge pavilions and playing the challenge. The top 5 players with the highest points each gets a pair of shoes and if you bought a pair of NBx shoes and input the code in the website, you stand a chance to be the Philippine representative to the Shonan Marathon next year. I didn't buy an NBx shoes since I wasn't interested to go to Japan. My goal was to win a pair of NBx shoes only which I did. =)

The runner's challenge was the tough part. You have a virtual runner and you must choose the right shoes, provide the right stretching and the right amount of liquids and food for your runner to finish the marathon. The good thing here is you are allowed to try it for an unlimited number of times which I obviously did. It was really a fun game.

Anyway, I was able to get my gift voucher for the NBx shoes from the brand manager of New Balance and I went to get my pair at the New Balance Shangrila branch today. So I'm now the proud owner of an MR1223ST NBx shoes and I'm going to use it this coming Sunday when I participate in the New Balance Powerrace at Clark.

Thanks New Balance!

Trisha's 1st Birthday!

It's been weeks since I last wrote something on my blog. I've been busy with alot of stuff the past few weeks (preparing for Trisha's birthday and work) which left me too tired to do some bloggin'. And for the long vacation, I was too lazy to do anything. =)

If you'll notice, my blogs usually don't have pictures in them. I wanted to change that. I want to add more pictures in my blog to make it more interesting and a blog about Trisha's birthday is a good way to start.

So I want to share a few of the hundreds of photos taken during that super happy day!

A picture of our happy family. We're all smiles!

Trisha's birthday cake. Nice huh?

Everyone was singing the birthday song while we were blowing Trisha's cake.

The happy and proud grandparents. The 2 lolas outfits are color coordinated. hehe..

This smash cake was made especially for photo op but as you can see in Trisha's face, she is not enjoying this and she ended up crying.

Look at how pretty my 2 favorite girls in the world are. Picture perfect!

Trisha is really fond of bubbles so for her birthday, we had a bubble show for her and part of this was us being inside a big bubble!

We're really happy that our family and friends were there to celebrate with us Trisha's 1st birthday.

Thank you for coming! And we'd also like to thank all those who brought teddy bears for CRIBS. We already donated all those teddy bears and I'll make a separate post on our visit there.

We had so much fun. All the planning and preparation was well worth it!