Noel & Via

It's been about six years since my feet were on the courts- that was my first tennis lesson. Last week, I decided to finally take it up again, fearful that I'd probably unlearned everything already. Somehow, my body still knew what to do, although my form was far from perfect.

Someone even ran to the courts (from her car)in the middle of our lesson, running up to my instructor thinking he belonged to our community's association. The taray (is nasty a close enough translation for this?) bitch inside me came alive: "Can you please talk to him after my lesson? He's my personal instructor." The woman apologized and let us get back to our lesson. (Can you say queen bitch? Well, lessons are by the hour and time is money isn't it?)

I was lobster-red by the time our first lesson ended and panting like Cosi (our Jack) on a scorching summer day. But it felt great!! Now if only I can get get my husband to play against me. (He's pretty good so I'd be not much of a challenge for him) Tennis anyone? :)

Posted by Via at 02:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As you can see, I'm trying to revamp the look of the site. This is our 2nd year to be online (first post was june 10 2003. Wow.) And I wanted to change the look of the site, and hopefully add more sections. Aside from having a little time to fix the code, I am also still trying to learn new web trends like web standards (CSS, XHTML). I have made a fully compliant page before, but Internet Explorer isn't displaying it properly. I tried to tweak it a bit but still no success. Now I am left with the page you are currently viewing. That's it for now, hopefully things will change and I will have some time to fix it.. (strong doubt that my schedule will free up soon). Hold on, our loyal readers, it will take shape.. slowly.

But what I would like to ask you: Do you do see the links above properly? Which one? What browser are you using (Internet Explorer or Firefox)? How do you like it? Please click on the comment below to answer. Thanks so much.

Posted by Noel at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last night was Cosi's last night with her new love, Pepito. A very frisky and cute rough-coated Jack Russell Terrier. We're relieved as it was quite tiring to take her there at night after a long day- especially for Noel. Hopefully, she'll have puppies in a months' time.

The breeder took us out back to check out his Jack pen- home to 80 Jacks!!! They lived in these 2-floor cages covered with a blue blanket- to which we later on found outthe reason why. The minute the blanket went up, a whole blast of yelps, woofs, yips and yaps of varying pitches went off. They were all so cute though. How the owner keeps up with all their "H" names is beyond me though. But he knew them all.

Our tour ended in the trophy den where all colors of ribbons and sizes of trophies decorated the room. The rest had to be moved to another room upstairs, there were so many. "I just really love dogs." The breeder said, when our eyes popped out at the number of prizes. What a classic example of doing what you love.

Posted by Via at 06:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It was funny to see this family in Starbucks: Mom, dad, sister, little sister, little brother. 4 out of 5 of them were wearing iPods. (Poor little brother always gets none.) I could see the Dad's silver iPod Mini and the little sister's iPod Shuffle. But all had those signature white earbuds hanging out of their ears. (except for the little brother who was just fiddling with his cellphone)

The funny thing is that they were all seated in one table, and none of them were interacting with one another. They were transported in their own little worlds, spending their Father's day with their little gadgets and not really with their family.

On the same note, I remember seeing two sisters wearing iPods as well. They didn't seem like the rich type who could really afford such a luxury. But still they had it. I imagine their parents having to really save up just to buy this status symbol.

Posted by Noel at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Especially since this was the first one I ever got- or won rather! (having never won anything previously) It was so cool because it happened on the same day as my bummed out entry. I got a text message from Metro magazine saying because I was one of the lucky survey respondents, I won a gift pack from Comfort Zone which was a travel nail kit and from T. LeClerc liquid eyeliner in Violet Magique and lip pencil in Passion. Being the beauty junkie that I am, this was such a nice treat! Thanks Metro! :)

Posted by Via at 03:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Traffic to Ateneo was horrific today! Also due to some miscommunication about who was driving today and some outfit changes... Had to grab the one of the car stickers (one more to do tomorrow) to be able to enter the University. For those of you wondering, it's my sister who's gone off to college- not me. Hehehe.

I was so stressed what with having to pass by a pitstop for my very panicked passenger who was already 30mins. late for her first class and weaving through the bottlenecks. Traffic was an intricate macrame' project at 8am. I held my cool up until parking back home... I didn't realize that I caught my tail end in one of the posts- scratching it up kind of badly. :( A nice man who was waiting for me to finish (as I was blocking their way) offered to park for me. Bless his soul.

When I got to our front door, I bawled to Noel how I had hurt the car. My kind husband proclaimed the damage to be quite small... All this drama by 9am!

Posted by Via at 03:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

For Via's Birthday, we set out on a resort that we have been eyeing to go to eversince. I have been there before. I think it was way back in 1994. This resort is called El nido. When I was there, Lagen Island was not even built yet. We stayed in Miniloc Island, which still looked like how it was 11 years ago.

What sets El Nido resort apart from the rest is its great service. They go the extra mile to bring you wherever you want to go and do whatever you want to do as best as they can. You always have people handing you towels anywhere you go like the boat ride from the airport to the island. Of course most of the travelling happens on water, so you do tend to get wet and towels are a great comfort.

And all of these things are done with a smile. Once we arrived in Miniloc, there was a group of people welcoming us with a song and a drink. lovely. And the same group sang to us when we left.
As our boat pulled away from the dock, it was sad seeing them as they waved goodbye, still singing, smiling and strumming the guitar.

Maybe one day again we shall come back to lovely El nido. Happy Birthday my love. It sure was memorable.

Posted by Noel at 06:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You are really made to feel like you own tha place. The island is at your disposal- with boatmen, guides and instructors at your beck and call. Gourmet buffet meals that vary each time make you want to burst at the seams. The endless stretch of turquoise and sapphire waters that are home to feisty fish (especially during feeding time where they jostle with one another for morsels of bread) is really food for the soul more than just eye candy. Never mind the slight rains we had and the pains it took to get there- an hour-long flight in a 12-seater plane plus an hour-long boat ride. (With frightening turbulence on the way back guaranteed to make one's cookies fly)

One of the most enjoyable things we did was snorkelling and windsurfing! It was my very first time, and I was able to go quite a distance. Major accomplishment for someone very un-sporty like me. Of course we had a really cool instructor. Noel also had a much better time compared to his first time which was just pretty exhausting. The other guests were not spared of my shrieks each time I hit the water though. But the equipment was intact, thank God! Noel had a pretty bad scratch that turned into a bruise from colliding into some rocks. Owwww. But he's ok.

To my wonderful husband, it was such a memorable birthday gift!!! I was spoiled rotten! :)Thank you so much for that indulgence!

Posted by Via at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Finally we'll get to go to one of our dream destinations, El Nido Resort in Palawan. YAY! This is Noel's gift to me for my 28th birthday. :) It really is more rewarding once you've waited for some time to get something. Thank God for the Globe promo which gave us one free trip and for our friend Padu who sold us his voucher so we could upgrade our Bohol trip to El Nido. Even if my ticket excludes meals apart from breakfast, Noel assures me that this is definitely worth our wait. :) Thank you for a wonderful treat my Noely!!!

Please help us pray for sunny weather and a safe trip. I'm a little uneasy about riding a teeny plane- good for just 15 people!

Posted by Via at 06:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)