Noel & Via

Noel and I had a wonderful mini vacation to celebrate our 5th year of marriage. Thanks to airasia, we were able to fly to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia from the Clark International Airport for only 6,000.00! (for two people) Thanks to Mommy Vic for a very wonderful stay in Shangri-la's Tanjung Aru Resort .

outside Ocean Seafood Restaurant (which we had some trouble finding in the dark, on foot) It's like our "dampa type" restaurants here where you choose the food and say how you want it cooked except this doesn't apply just to seafood but fresh veggies as well.

Our main activities were eating and swimming which were so enjoyable, it was so hard to go back to reality! We got to island hop to two different islands (the 5-in-1 island tour sounded like too much) namely Manukan and Sapi. Manukan had the whitest sand Kota Kinabalu could boast of, according to our friendly Malaysian guide, Konrad. Then we went on to Sapi Island for our barbecue lunch with about 5 or 6 monitaur lizards a few feet away from our table. (What we call bayawak here at home) It's amazing how these creatures seemingly moved slowly, but could whip out their amazing speed when hungry. We kept our distance as they are known to bite or whiplash you with their long tails, while some crazy Russian foreigners all but kissed them!

The people were so warm and friendly from the cabbies to the airport folk. We can't wait to go back when all the big malls open! Hehehe! Hopefully our whole family can come along as well.

Thank you for our five amazing years, dear husbend and for taking me to so many beautiful places! It still feels like we are dating. With you, I am so blessed! :)

Posted by Via at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Good grief! It sounds ridiculous, but I feel in distress right now- having started my weeding healing for 2007. (This is what I like to fondly call- cleaning up one's junk hehehe) This is why I needed to take this break to blog. It's not as difficult for me to do when it comes to clothes as this is usually a result of weight gain/loss (usually the former hahaha!). But it's pretty challenging for me when it comes to cosmetics, not just because I'm a cosmetics junkie, but also because I remember more often than not exactly where I purchased that item, how I was feeling or who bought/gave it to me. Sigh. Is it strange that my cosmetics hold so much sentimental value that they are so hard to get rid of? The other thing that bugs me is that colors as well as products also get discontinued. I guess it's a strange way of grappling with change. Or maybe I'm just freaking out because I know I can't indulge as I used to in my early twenties as there are lots of other pressing things that need to be prioritized. Or maybe I take comfort in the fact that I I have my overflowing make-up stash to cheer me up when I'm low. But paring down is something that takes this away and is a very good exercise in letting go. Which I'm not very good at and still need to master. For now, I must return to my weeding healing.

Posted by Via at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Just got back from a nice, short get-away to Tagaytay with Noel, Gretch and Jay. This was our first time out of town together ever! We stayed at Taal Vista Hotel. It's been renovated, and though the rooms aren't great, our deluxe rooms had a very comfortable king-sized bed plus a single bed and a little verandah. We had a wonderful time at the Ylang-Ylang Spa! Service was great and the therapists were very friendly and patient as we couldn't understand the package options- so they had to repeat it to us a gazillion times. We finally opted for the massage & body scrub combo. (Gretch and I had the Barako Coffee with Milk mixture while Jay had the Sea Salt and Aloe) Buffet breakfast was also quite nice as there were many options to choose from.

On the way to Taal Vista, we stopped for lunch at The Grill by Antonio's- an unassuming Pinoy resto along the highway. Their food was excellent! We kept drooling over the Chicken Inasal and Bangus stuffed with tomatoes.

Posted by Via at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)