Lollilop Online Fashion Store and a Giveaway!

Hello everyone! It's the holidays-- my favorite time of the year. And finally I'm having some free time to blog. To celebrate this wonderful season, I'm very grateful to announce that we'd all be ending this year with my FIRST EVER blog giveaway sponsored by our friends from Lollilop Online Fashion Store.

Lollipop is an online closet that offers all-girl clothing apparel. It is owned by four fashionable ladies -- Eda Li, Lovelle, Armi and Paula. Lollipop will cover your body with the sweetest and latest fashion trends these days. They offer chic and stylish blouses, dresses, long sleeves, sleeveless, jumpsuits, pants, skirts and shorts are some of our products that will definitely entice your sense of fashion. Aside from those, they also sell cute and elegant accessories.

Soon, Lollipop will also cater your desire for fashionably gorgeous foot wears!

So onto our little giveaway, one very lucky winner will take home ALL these lovely items:

But wait, there's more. The lucky winner will also receive a SPECIAL GIFT from ME!

To join this giveaway, just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter below.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway ends on January 1, 2013. The winner will be announced on Facebook and will be notified through his/her twitter account. Please be also reminded that we will verify the entry just to be fair to all who joined. Prizes will be shipped to the winner.

Season greetings and good luck, everyone! =)

P.S. I just changed the settings for posting comments. You may now post comments even without a blog. So sorry for that.

Our Boracay Summer in November

A few months ago, the contest addict in me instinctively joined this twitter contest by Boracay Rum. The rules are simple: Simply tell why you love Boracay Rum and tweet your answer using their hashtag #BoracayCalling. Easy peasy! Here was my entry:

Several weeks later, I unexpectedly received a tweet telling me I won their contest together with two others. I was so ecstatic. Why? Because the prize was too generous to believe in: a 3D2N stay in the beautiful island of Boracay plus airfare and pocket money and I get to tag along 2 friends with me.

Since I can’t go anytime between June-October, we decided to schedule it on November 1-3. School schedule was really tight, we don’t even have a sem break. So I resolved to spending the 4-day long weekend aka pseudo-sembreak in the gorgeous island of Boracay.

Enough with this very long prologue. Here are some deets from our Boracay trip:

We left on the early morning of November and flee to Boracay island via AirPhil Express carrier. Our flight got delayed but thank God the flight was quite short.

We stayed in Shore Time Hotel-- the room was really nice and the staffs were really kind and accommodating. They even arranged to have us transferred to and fro the hotel, airport and port. We stayed in one of their twin pads. It was like a loft good for 4 persons. The one thing I loved in this hotel was that our room was made daily without fail. =) Sad thing is that I fail to take good pictures of the place.

Upon arrival, we just decided to walk the streets that night and ate dinner at D'Mall.

The following day was a bunch of activities in store for us!

First stop: A trip to the aviary. Kel and I rode the buggy car instead of the ATV. Loser us!

Fly fish adventure: Cried for dear life! (cue: 3rd pic)

Helmet diving: A 15- minute bonding with fishes. You had to look at my face, I was almost crying inside that helmet 'cause I can't seem to counter the pressure under the sea. =( But sure did enjoy!

Look! This one's a good shot! Lol

Day 2 dinner by the beach at Paradiso Grill and night stroll

And as promised, we ended the night with a bottle of Boracay Rum- Cappuccino!

Before and after. Hahaha!

Our last day in the island, was spent on picture taking and just chilling by the beach. We woke up really early just so we can swim without getting our skin too tanned.

We left the island at noon. And was really sad about leaving. I had to admit, I fell in love with the Island. I promised myself we'll soon be back.

Thank you so much, Ms. Bea of Boracay Rum and the rest of the team! This experience couldn't have been possible without all your efforts. My words would not suffice to express the gratitude I feel for this memorable trip. We undeniably enjoyed our stay. =)

https://www.facebook.com/BoracayRum
https://twitter.com/BoracayRumPH
http://www.shoretimehotelboracay.com

Always Something To Be Thankful For

Just this morning, I woke up to a text message from a friend. It's a congratulatory message for being in the list of top students in our batch. I knew I had spoiled that surprise a few weeks back when a friend told me the inside news. Yet, I still got excited and opened our Facebook page right away. And there it was, my name on the list.

In my two years in medical school, I have proven myself I could always do be better in my studies. I was a little dilly-dallier back in my undergraduate days but I never did regret it. As I always tell Kel, it was a part of my life that I never will want to redo. In my life now as a med student, however, I had a different perspective. Maybe it was because I had never been in-love this way with medicine than I had with Educ or Human Eco. Or maybe because I can never risk my scholarship for indolence. 

Yes! To tell honestly, the only reason people find me GC (grade conscious) is due to the fact that I had to secure myself the partial scholarship that the PLM College of Medicine grants me. I had been blessed to have been supported financially for two years now. Instead of the almost 60k I used to pay in my Freshman year, I pay only half of it now (and on an installment basis, lol). It truly had helped my family a lot in providing for my other school needs.

So tomorrow, my mom and youngest brother will come with me to the College's Recognition Day. The happier thought is that it was my second time to get invited. I was also on the Dean's list last year! Teehee! I do hope I'd still be able to manage my Junior year the way I did with the previous ones.

"Love what you do. Believe in your instincts. And you'd better be able to pick yourself up and brush yourself off every day." -- Anonymous

P.S.

Hooray! and Congratulations to everyone who worked hard for their grades. Keep it up guys!

Puerto Galera Staycation

It's our third wedding anniversary today and me and my husband had to celebrate on an earlier date due to work constraints. We had first planned on going back to Subic because we went there last December but we were not able to try out the beach since we brought Nathan to Ocean Adventure.

I had a hard time looking for a location to spend our day but after I landed upon Coco Beach Island Resort's website, I knew it was the perfect place. So why I am writing about this place? Only one good reason there is -- because it left a mark. 

We had to use the public transportation from Cavite to Batangas which took us 2 hours. From Batangas port, we rode on a large boat for an hour or so to Muelle pier and from there, we had to ride another small boat to the island that took a good 10 minutes. By the time we got there, we were already quite exhausted from the long trip and the heavy baggage. But upon seeing where we were heading too, our senses have been awakened. So here, I'd like to share with you some photos of our 2-day adventure.

Coco Beach is a 10-hectare beach resort where every facilities is made from all natural materials. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get you a good picture of our cozy room. We were lucky to have been given a Deluxe room while paying for a Standard room fee. I'm guessing they had forgotten about our reservation but nevertheless, it's in the cards. Aside from this, we are provided with a service family who took care of all our needs in the room.

That's me by the beach!

Their silent pool is only open until 6pm and it offers a great scene of the beach because it's on top of the hill. Plus, it has a small jacuzzi that we never managed to use because it jam-packed with people. 

 

Happy hour at 4:00-5:00 pm! Buy one take one on mixed drinks. We tried Pina Colada and Gypsy. Gypsy is a mix of vodka, orange and lime juice while Pina Colada is made from gold rhum, coco cream and pineapple juice. The latter tastes horrible to me.

They have a bigger pool near the beach. But a lot of foreigners are there during our stay so we made use of the Silent pool instead.

Dinner. The menu's a little expensive but truly mouthwatering. We tried their Chicken Cordon Bleu, Lechon Kawali on Steamed Kangkong and Baked Mussels. The nice part is you can order any seafood and ask for it to be cooked the way you want.

Buffet breakfast. We tried almost everything -- from rice meal to bread. They have a great array of food waiting for you in the morning. Their home-made bacon strips is a must-try (not in the photo). Truly scrumptious, I finished a plateful. :( You also get to enjoy the scenery because the buffet is just in front of the beach!

 Spending time in vain

 Beach hopping

 Snorkeling at Kiliman Island. It was my first try. My body had to ache the following day. But truly it was all worth the money and the pain because the underwater boasts an unsparing collection of coral reefs and sea creatures that are truly admirable.

Our two days of stay is truly not enough to visit all the islands and engage in all the 101 activities Coco Beach has to offer (I tell you they really have a list!). I have yet to try their signature massage in their own spa, weaving lessons, banana boat ride, water skiing and the trips and excursions.

Coco Beach, we'll be back! Probably in a year or two. =)

P.S. Happy 3rd anniversary, ga! Cheers to more years of <3. 

Marjs Hotel: My Worst Hotel Experience

Last week, my husband and I decided that I come with him on one of his routine land trips to North Luzon. I was ecstatic because this time, it will be in Nueva Ecija and Isabela (a few weeks ago, I came with him to Pampanga). 

On our first night, we stayed at Hotel Francesko in San Jose, Nueva Ecija. It was a newly built hotel just a few meters away from town. Our room was a small, airconditioned one. It has a nice, cozy bed for two. The hotel room surely caters to just everything you'll need in your stay -- hot and cold shower, cable TV, table and chair and hangers (they're a must!).

The cafe served us with complimentary breakfast of your choice. And mind you, the servings are hearty and full. I ordered ham and cheese omelet and I was not disappointed. Would you even believe we only spent a thousand bucks for this very comfortable stay. I'll surely be back!

On our second night, we were very unfortunate to come across this small, creepy hotel in Ilagan, Isabela. Quite absurd is the fact that their 'centro' only has three (3) hotels available to accommodate travelers. And this hotel is just about the most decent of the least ones. We stayed in Marjs Hotel, which is just a few yards away from the town's marketplace. 

As I entered the place, I was to be surprised with what I am about to see. What I can't even believe is the fact that they charge quite the amount of what we paid for in our delightful stay in Hotel Francesko.

First, the hotel room was unkept. I can see it as the wall paint chips off. The door of our supposedly comfort room was completely uncomfortable to see as there were rusting all around. When I took a bath, I was even too reluctant to close the door since I was upset at how crummy it looked.

Second, you wouldn't dare lie on those bed linens if you weren't really tired. During that night, all I felt was a creeping sensation as if ants were crawling on my body. And to add to our misery, the bath towels given to us were like used ages ago-- there were even holes on them.

Third, they have no electricity generator. I almost cried that morning when I was taking a bath with my son, Nathan when suddenly, the lights went off and we were left chilling inside the bathroom because the hot shower went cold. 

Lastly, the food was unsavory and distasteful! I can't even eat with the smell of rust on their utensils. 
 

Luckily, we only have to stay there for a night because my husband agreed with me right away that we leave the place immediately. We moved to Japi Traveller's Inn in Cauayan, Isabela as soon as we checked-out and swore to myself to never to get back to that place ever again!