I just turned 24!

This has to be one of my most memorable birthday! It got me stuck at that age! And for those wondering when this was, it was not this year! Haha! This birthday was memorable because it's also the most expensive birthday ever! I'm grateful for the blessings, my friends, and this special day.

It started with a Pizza Hut treat... 

and it's not complete without the Pizza Hut crew singing you a Happy Birthday song, with a cupcake.

Che also gave me a Dora balloon. Haha!

Then, Che and Mark treated me to a tour around Tagaytay.

First, we went to Sonja's Garden where we bought some bread from the Panaderia and took lots of pictures.

... then we went for some coffee in Bag of Beans.

           

... the place was so cozy, and I love their blueberry cheesecake.

Usually the coffee shop is the last destination. In our case, it's more like the appetizer part. After enjoying the  coffee, we went to the famous Hawaiian Bar-B-Que.

We only tried their best seller, Hawaiian Baby Back rib, since we already planned to visit yet another restaurant after. We went to Pamana Restaurant. The place looked more like a typical Filipino house filled with family portraits from their downstairs reception, up to the stairs, and even in the dining area. Since we ate before we went there, we just ordered some soup. 

 

We went back to Pamana and tried out their three-way adobo with Tyler, Karla's then fiance' and now husband, and soon-to-be dad of Misha. 

I enjoyed my festive birthday!

Confirmation

God has a way of confirming His message to us; primarily through His Word, through His children, other people, our present life situations, and even in ways we never think He would use.

My last entry about Mike, the e-trainer, is not simply a reminder and encouragement. I was surprised how God reminded me of the same message about perseverance in today's preaching of His Word. Ending the series on Let Us in VCF-Alabang, the message was clear, and it hit home.

Hebrews 12:1-2
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Despite difficulties, we should be steadfast in doing what God has called us to do. Difficulties, like the testing of our faith, are for our own good and benefit. God wants us to level up in our faith, and grow and mature in our relationship with Him, with the chief end of becoming more like Jesus Christ.

There are, and will be, a lot of things that will hinder us from reaching that goal of bearing the character of Jesus: our past, fears, anxieties, disappointments, unforgiveness, and sin. But we must "throw off" all of it. We can't run the race with all the baggages and burdens on our backs. Let go, and run light...

Run with endurance. Each of us have individual races marked out for us. I thank God that I'm not alone in this run towards the finish line. He has set me in a family who constantly encourage and support me by godly counsel, gentle rebuke, and sincere love. We may be facing different testings, but we have a common goal.

Another big hindrance is our lack of, or wrong, focus. If we let ourselves be distracted with our surroundings, discouragements, problems, and other storms in life, we will lose our focus and have a difficult race. Matthew 14: 27-31. The enemy will give his all to distract us but, we must fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. We may have been afflicted by the enemy and made mistakes in the past, but God can use that for His glory. For when we are weak, then we are strong. He will reveal His power and amaze people. That is a powerful testimony, showing how imperfect we are, yet by the grace of God we can be mighty tools for the advancement of His kingdom.

This video was shown before the worship service ended.

It wasn't the first time I watched the video, but it I was brought to tears realizing how easily I give up and how God always is willing and able to enable me to finish the race He has marked out. If we focus on ourselves, our unmet needs, problems, and inadequacies, we will get easily discouraged and lose hope. But, as we hold on to God's Word, His promises, His will, the Perfecter, the Beginning and the End, fixing our gaze upon Jesus, we will persevere and look forward to reaching the goal.

If you never quit, you will achieve your goal. It's just a matter of time.

From Mike... the e-trainer

I opened my e-mail today and got a personal message from Mike. He's an e-trainer. I downloaded free workout apps in my iTouch, registered online, but never really used it that much (yes, I used it for a while then went looking for other apps). So I received an e-mail from Mike, which most probably is automatically sent to those who did sign up, but seemed to be discouraged by their giving in to the temptations of cupcakes and chocolates. It was encouraging, and applies not just in FITNESS, but in LIFE as well. Here are some of  it:

When life knocks you down, do you stay down or do you rise to fight again?

Success in fitness, and life is dependent on persistence, tenacity and determination.

If you never quit, you will achieve your goal. It's just a matter of time

Failure is never permanent... when you get back up.

These are not new words of advice, but it never gets old. And from time to time, we need these reminders.

P.S. Today was a "mommy-me" day.

Hobbyist

I love trying out new things and I like solitary hobbies. Here are some of the things I do in my wee time (which I have a lot of recently):

I knit. This is one of those I finished making. I learned how to knit through watching youtube videos and following free patterns from Red Heart. That's where I got the pattern I used to make a scarf I gave Karla, my bestfriend, before she left for the USA. It wasn't perfect, but I'm glad she liked it. Failed to take a picture of her wearing it though.

I crochet, too, but I haven't perfected the art. The booklet of crochet pattern I bought is in Japanese, so I'm finding it hard to finish one pattern. Why a book I won't be able to read? Well, it has cute patterns, cheap, and my cousins and auntie can translate if the pictures aren't enough. The only problem is they're not around. haha!

I also learned how to bake! Mama bought me an electric oven and electric mixer, and here are the products of it. Not my own recipe though. 

Blueberry muffin.

(not real blueberries)

 Hazelnut brownie

(topped with condensed milk, for extra sweetness)

This is the cake I made for Marielle. Topped with vanilla frosting and gummy strawberry candy. Well, I still don't know how to make a cake, and this actually is:

... this chocolate chunk brownie mix. I added egg in the mixture to somehow make it cake-like. I was close, but not really. Hehe!

I made cupcakes, too!

And this oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, which Che, my bestfriend, liked.

I will be taking some baking lessons soon, and hopefully create my own recipe I can share.

I also know how to play the guitar.

I took piano lessons during primary school, but only for a while. I never really got the hang of it even after Mama bought me a piano/organ.

I became interested in learning to play the guitar when I was in highschool.

My youngest brother knows how to play it well and has bought a lot of "Song Hits" magazines. In the centerpage of each magazine are chord patterns. I started trying out the chords of songs I liked, followed the strum as I heard it was played, and I learned a few notes! I liked playing the guitar better than the piano. It has made my fingertips calloused and sore, but I never stopped playing. I'm not a pro though. I only know how to strum, and still find it so hard to pluck strings.

I also don't have my own guitar and would love one! Maybe then I'll try and learn more.

Back to Anime

I have always been an anime fan. I was sidetracked watching Koreanovelas but my love for anime never faded. This is what I am currently watching:

My brothers made me watch it. They, too, love anime! After watching a few episodes, I can tell why they liked Bakuman. The plot of the story revolve around two highschool students dreaming of becoming "mangakas." Moritaka, nephew of a manga artist, is the animator, and Shujin makes the story. They both have different inspirations and motivations in their quest to become recognized Manga artists. My brothers are good at drawing, too; and they love the humor as well. I took note of some of my favorite lines in the first few episodes:

"I don't think studying equals being smart." - Shujin, a top student

"Just talking about dreams won't make them a reality." - Moritaka

What started my love for anime is this:

I remember sporting SailorMoon paraphernalias during elementary days. Handkerchief, bags, socks, pens, erasers, stickers, band-aids, puzzles, stationaries, paperdolls. Name it! I am Sailor Venus, and my sister is Sailor Jupiter. A lot of other animes came out after this.

 There's Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT by Akira Toriyama. Son Goku trained hard to look for the 7 dragon balls also seek by so many others for different reasons. Collecting it altogether can summon a wish-granting dragon. I am not a fan, but I did enjoy watching Goku as a young boy, growing up, having a wife and Gohan, battling against countless villains, dying, running the long dragon in the heavens to be resurrected only to battle villains again, turning into a giant monkey and a super Saiyan, doing the fusion with Vegeta, and turning into a child in GT. It was broadcasted in Japan from 1986 to 1996! Wow.


There's also Ghost Fighter by Yoshihiro Togashi. Eugene's RayGun, Alfred's strength and sword, Dennis' transformation to a "beautiful" wolf and his rose thorns whip, and Vincent's third eye, Master Jeremiah and "her" young version, and Jericho. Of all the characters I liked Vincent. He's the mysterious, "kakkoii" guy, kinda like Sasuke.

 Hajime no Ippo by Joji "George" Morikawa. I have never liked boxing until this one. I was a wrestling fan, though. (My lolo and I used to watch late night boxing). What I love about the story is Ippo's perseverance and the comedy in every episode. Ippo also remained humble even after winning against more experienced boxers.

Rurouni Kenshin by Nobuhiro Watsuki. Samurai X. I so loved the movie! Love really can change a person. I did not watch much of the anime series because I liked Tomoe and Kenshin's love team more than with Kaoru. But I liked how Kenshin looks so normal and even peaceful on the series, and look so cool with his samurai fighting the villains. He is, after all, Hitokiri Battosai, the assassin.

 

Card Captor Sakura. The first Sakura I adored. Sakura Kinimoto. I had a huge crush on her brother, Toya! Hehe. I loved the anime series and watched the movies too. Tomoyo and Sakura are just so cute. Her unique outfits catching each Clow Cards and the video coverage c/o Tomoyo are simply adorable. Syaoran Li just made the story even more exciting, with their arguments and disagreements, and his discovery of her feelings for Sakura. Yukito, whose true form is Yue, made the two young loves' feelings even more complicated as they somehow felt "something" for him. The connection they felt was, as they found out later on, related to the cards. And of course, there's Keruberos or Cerberus. His true form is so cool.

 Rukawa! Rukawa! L-O-V-E Rukawa!
Slam Dunk! by Takehiko Inoue. Everyone loved this anime! No matter how long the run seemed, as Hanamichi Sakuragi tries to make his slam dunk, (almost like a football field) we loved how he tried hard to be recognized by the people and his ultimate crush, Haruko. Each character has a distinct personality. Kaede Rukawa, the team's star player and Sakuragi's rival; Hisashi Mitsui, the MVP 3-point player; Ryota Miyagi; and Takenori Akagi, the team captain who is also Haruko's brother; make up Shohoku's team.

 Mido Ban's Evil Eyes, and Ginji Amano's Lightning power like Thors, make up Get Backers by Tadashi Agi and Rando Ayamine. They recover lost items like stolen artworks for a price. Ginji was once the leader of "The Volts" and is known as "Thunder Emperor," but his partner, Ban, kept him from his destructive nature. That is, until they went to Babylon City and met the previous group of Ginji. I don't remember the ending of the series, making me want to watch it after Bakuman. Argh!!

I even watched Claymore by Norihiro Yagi. Mark made me watch this. The story is not for the faint-hearted. Even my uncle read the manga, so we have a collection of the manga series in Nihonggo. We can't read it, but since we watched the anime series, we can only imagine what the characters were talking about.
The Claymores are female warriors who were trained to kill Yomas (male Claymores who became awakened beings after excessive use and quest for power). Claire and Teresa are the main characters.

Chobits. I learned a lot of Japanese phrases watching this anime. Itekimasu... Itterashai... Okairi... Tadaima... Phrases we use at home whenever my Japanese cousins and uncle are around. 

Chi, a persocom (personal computer) in human form, is so kawaii! How she calls Hideki is just so cute. If this age of Chobits will ever come, I would love a small one just like Sumomo.

and of course...

The all-time favorite. Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto

There are a lot of other anime series I've watched, but these are some of my favorites. 

What's your favorite Anime?

Who's your favorite character?

Magnum Proxy

So I still haven't gotten my hands (and my mouth) on a Magnum Chocolate Truffle... Big Deal! It's just nowhere to be found! And I found an alternative. This Selecta Chocolate Truffle! This would do for now... I bet the Belgian chocolate coat tastes just like the Classic's. Yum!

Tea Fit for Royalty

I am a princess and this tea is definitely for me!
Gong Cha! Tea fit for royalty.

And I am with the Tea Queen Che. She started this milk tea craze.

She first made me try Quickly's Super Milk Tea, and I loved it!
Since then, she's been making me try other milk teas.
I loved Serenitea's Okinawa and Hokkaido Milk Tea, and now these:

 The BestSeller: Gong Cha Pearl Milk Tea
and

 Milk Wintermelon Tea
(which I find too sweet. the sweetness was set, and if i were asked 50% is better)

Back to Banapple

So, we ate at Banapple Kitchen again. We did not have to wait long to get a seat. There were people lining up outside the restaurant awaiting their turn with the tables as there were less than 20.

Here are the treats we tried out::

from top to bottom

Crunchy Chicken Sandwich
Pasta Verde
and for dessert
Banana Starry-Berry Custard Cheesecake

Guess who i was with this time...

 My BFFs! Che and Karla (the cake version). hehe.
We were planning to celebrate our birthdays together. Che's February, Karla and I are March celebrants.
But Karla left for the U.S. last January to exchange vows with Tyler in marriage. We're so happy for her!
 Still, we're celebrating with her, hoping next year we'll get to celebrate together.
We would definitely be back for more Banapple Kitchen treats!

Magnum Madness!!!

This past weeks I've been seeing pictures and comments about Magnum... what's all the fuss about? It's just another chocolate-coated ice cream bar! Well, I guess I have to try for myself to know... Here goes...

There are three flavors:

Classic, Almond and Chocolate Truffles

I got just these two. I guess Chocolate truffles was sold out.

60 Php each.

Trying out Almond... I loved it! I also loved the Classic flavor. The chocolate coat was just divine.

I would definitely get my hands on the Chocolate truffle flavored Magnum!

Try it! YUM!

BanApple Kitchen

Visited Che at work for a Date at Ayala Triangle, Bannaple Kitchen.

Tried out the Best Sellers

Banofee Pie

and Creamy Chicken Pie

We'll definitely be back to try out their cheesecakes!