Parking Ticket

My team and I are spending almost the whole week in Manila. The other day, lunchtime caught us up in Ermita area and we ended up eating at McDonalds in one of those busy streets near Kalaw. 

An older woman assisted us in parking our service vehicle in front of the fastfood building, and as we went back to it after eating, we were surprised to be handed with this:

It’s a Parking Receipt with Parking Agreement. We were charged Php30 for staying less than 3hours. 

I was personally surprised and reluctant to receive (and pay for) it. Maybe I wasn’t expecting it really and it was my first time to be in the area. You rarely really pay in front of an eating establishment, like you normally just park in front of Jollibee or KFC. And besides we are not in the mall where there’s really a parking fee. 

So, is this another means of regulation that leads to the pockets of the corrupt? Or a documented/formalized version of those parking assistants that we pay with some coins? 

Chades Lunch

Today we have our task carried out in the City of Manila area and lunchtime called for a tummy and pocket-friendly meal. 

We found this Chades Tapsilog Restaurant in a very average setting along Remigio Street near corner Felix Huertas.

How you’ll see the restaurant along the street.

We arrived at around 11:30am and there were already a lot of customers. We were able to park along the street with the help of some men who assisted us. 

We were lucky to be seated right away since the customers seem to be just starting to come by. We were immediately given free soup and kalamansi for the condiments. They offer silog meals. Silog stands for sinangag (fried rice) and itlog (fried egg). This duo comes with a meat dish of your choice. 

The available meals are posted on the Bilaos

I ordered tapsilog (tapa is marinated beef) and it’s so yummy and tender. 

Their yummy Tapsilog

The size of the fried rice is just right for a small cup that my male companions needed an extra serving each. I also find the rice a little bit dry and hard, but overall the meal is good for the amazing cheap price! 

Here’s what my colleagues ordered (lechonsilog and bangusilog):

Lechon-kawali with sinangag and itlog.

Fried bangus and silog. 

For just Php 356, five tummies were filled up to carry out the afternoon tasks. Will definitely drop by again when in the area!

Our meal amounts to this. Affordable, right?

We Found Dory!

It’s undoubtedly the rainy season and with it comes this transportation woe that people who dwell in Metro Manila face… TRAFFIC!

The rains add to the already burdensome travel.

For a year I had the benefit of carpooling with someone who works in the same compound as the company I work for. I get picked up at Shell Station at the same time each day and I will be dropped off at the office entrance. In the same way at exactly 5pm I ride the van to be dropped off at Novaliches Bayan at almost the same time everyday. From there it’s just a tricycle ride to our house.

There are several other carpoolers, and their daily routine had been going on like this for nearly thirty years, back to the time when the Fairview-Commonwealth roads were still uncemented. I hear their experiences from time to time and I’m just amazed at how they’ve stuck together all those years, through all that happened in each other’s lives.

And as the saying goes, every good thing must come to an end, the owner of the van is retiring from her 30 years of working as a government employee.

We knew this would come. We’re even lucky to have her spend the remaining months of her 65th year when she could retire the moment she turned 65. Next month she’ll be 66, and this is it.

Just this afternoon as we rode home we stopped by Dory’s Restaurant to treat her with an early dinner as our tribute to her.

I can’t help but become a little sentimental. Of course there would be other means of transportation after carpooling with her. It’s just that I wish I had been with them for a longer time, especially as they reminisce their get-togethers and all.

I’m just so blessed to have joined them and this July 15th, we are invited to the retiree’s birthday celebration at their residence. And I’m definitelly gonna look forward to that!

When Did I Bare My Legs?

Would you believe that I never exposed my legs when I get out of the house from the time I chose what I wore until when I was 24? All those years I went to church in jeans and tops and went to the proms in long gowns. The only time that I remember wearing above-the-knee attires were when required in school or in my early corporate life and for those instances there would always be pantyhose stockings. 

So what’s the reason behind this? I’ve been bitten by my favorite cat’s fleas when I was young and that left a lot of black scars on my legs that I was too cautious not to let anyone see. Even when those marks are gone I still had the feeling of shame that I’ve got legs that aren’t perfect.

Until when I was 24 years old. It was a fine sunny day when I was dressing up. I couldn’t remember now how I finally decided to have that piece of shorts and wear it that day. But I remember the feeling of liberating myself from the shackles that I created for me. I was hesitant for some moments, too conscious for the most hours outside, but came home later triumphant and inspired to wear all those whole new world of shorts and dresses.

Half decade have passed since then and I now have a vast collection of shorts and dresses, and to mention that I no longer need those stockings to cover my legs. Yes my legs have been exposed and it brought me only good feels, memories and experiences.

What other areas do we limit ourselves with? We could be missing a lot and we’re just letting our chances slip away.

Come on, let’s celebrate womanhood!

Olay One Wash Wonder

I’m ready to experience the #onewashwonder with @olayphilippines and @bdjbuzz!  Complete your profile at ilovebdj.com to get yours too!

This afternoon a lovely package was delivered to me as a Bella.

In it is a box of the New Olay Skin Whitening Bar and three cards explaining about the new product and how I may join #onewashwonder and #BellaBeautiful promos to get a chance to win exciting prices.

I’m so happy to have received this and am planning to join all promos.

To all Bellas out there you might want to receive this too by completing your profile at ilovebdj.com.

Advertisement Matters

It’s been almost a month since I discovered coins.ph, an app that lets me pay bills and a lot more.

To date, I have made the following transactions:

• 5 money orders to fill my coins.ph wallet (thru 7,Eleven, DragonPay – SM Bills Payment Center and PNB Online Banking)
• 12 mobile phone reloads (9 of which to my colleagues and 3 for me – all for Globe Telecom!)
• 4 personal money-transfers (thru Cebuana Lhuillier and Landbank Deposit)

I haven’t done much, have I? Since I enjoyed all the transactions and hope to have more in the future, I guess I need to put some more effort in letting more people know that they can process their bills payment and more by transacting with me. Because the farthest that I ever went for this is tell my office teammates (group of seven) that I do this. I also printed a simple ad that I hang on our gate at home during the times when I am there – an ad which returned zero customer up to now.

I plan to earn an additional income from this aside from just wanting to do it. I’d probably post an update when I make any progress. For now I have to think about advertising it strategically to return a significant number of customers.

 

Crispy Langka Chips

In my almost 30 years of existence, today is the first time that I get to know and see and eat Langka Chips! Langka is the Tagalog term for jackfruit.

It’s the 3PM breaktime and my colleague began passing this new and rare goodness. It’s from Vietnam and I’m really glad that I encountered this.

I’ve always loved jackfruit among other fruits that grow in the tropics. It follows that I also love their chip forms, most famous of which is the banana chips. Never had I imagined that jackfruit can come in chips, too!

It retained its shape and size but lost its moisture, leaving a very crispy but super tasty snack! It’s like I can’t get enough. Unfortunately  it was just being passed around so I couldn’t get so much.

I’d be hunting for this in the grocery. I hope to find some!

 

 

Where I Buy My Dresses

I’m an intense lover of dresses that I have to control it or my budget will suffer.

I never buy my dresses in boutiques or department stores, which sell a piece starting at around Php 500. Although it has always been my desire to make my own (I have a sewing machine at home!), I still opt to buy to save time and effort for now.

My shopping haven for the longest time since I wore dresses or anything that showed my legs is any Ukay Ukay Store. Those are stores that import slightly-used clothings (and at times even pre-loved toys and home items) and sell them here in the Philippines. There are a lot of great finds of high quality clothes at unbelieveably cheap prices. I can buy a nice H&M dress for just Php 70! But being a family woman, time has become so scarce for me to dwell on a store and find something out of the voluminous clothings on display. The location of the stores also add to the time that I have to dedicate for the activity (the best stores are miles away from my home or office).

Same is true with my next dress shopping haven: Divisoria. It’s a place in the City of Manila where China-made and other cheaply-produced goods are sold firsthand from the manufacturer/importer. One can find almost anything in that place at the cheapest price. But shopping there would require a whole day’s worth of my time and energy, so I reserve those pilgrimages during the holiday season, if not at all.

That’s why when I came across this online shop, the Virtual Divisoria, it has become my third option.

I have those pretty dresses on hand for amazingly just Php 150 each!

Dresses are displayed in their website. I just had to create an account and begin adding items to my virtual cart, check out, and pay through any of the options stated in the instructions then after a few days I have what i ordered delivered at my doorstep.

The transaction procedures are smoothly carried out all the time and I’m happy about that. The quality of the dresses is also impressive that I even got to buy a dress for my mother as a gift for her birthday.

Still, the cheap Php 150 is not so cheap when spent several times that’s why it’s still relevant to overcome shopaholic tendencies and to check that budget for impulsive buying in order to maintain control over my expenses. After all, we work to earn money not only so we can deal with the important things in life, but to enjoy the things that matter as well.

Let’s enjoy womanhood!

Make-up Mid-Year Review

We’re almost done with the first half of the year and I’m just a little amazed to realize that I really need not splurge on make-up if I knew what I need and just what would I be really using.

Currently, this is what my make-up bag contains. Most of them stay in my office cabinet since I do my make-up upon reaching my cubicle.

I bought all of them during the holiday season (except for the Maybelline foundation and pressed powder which I purchased some time in April) and it looks like they are all going to last until the end of the year or for some it’s even beyond.

These ones come with me wherever I go with my bag.

They are basic like I can live with just these. The powder to instantly kill the shine, the Human Heart Nature lip balm to keep my lips healthy, and the Ever Bilena Lip and Cheek Tint to make me look alive.

Looking at my make-ups gives me a sound basis on which among them are the ones that I really use and which among them seem to have been bought out of my wants.

Notice the almost-unused lipsticks over there, and the equally seemingly unused eyeshadow pallets on the other side? That’s right I bought them all just to add to the holiday shopping spree back then only to realize now that i’m using only one shade of lipstick for most days, and I only color my eyelids when I feel like it, which is about 2 out of 10 Fridays!

I really love makeup and hoarding makeup as well. There had been many times when I end up with tubes of expired lipstick and unfinished bottles of liquid foundation. No matter how my husband would let me use them for their price’s sake, they would bring me no good since they’ve reached the end of their shelf life so they end up in the trash bin.

There was a time when I even attended a make-up class where my passion for enhancing my own (and others’ beauty) was intensified.

But as I realized what i’ve been losing with all those that i had but never really used or used up, it was time for me to think twice before grabbing that 20% OFF or Buy 1 Take 1 offer. The discipline in buying something if and only if the one you have had run out – that’s what I need to consistently impose upon myself.

That way I can save a lot of money and I will end up with clean pans of cake powder and empty bottles and tubes. Maybe by then the feels of opening a fresh new lipstick would be more especial, maybe triumphant even.

That Which Comes with Sleeveless Tops

In a hot and humid weather, a sleeveless top is a girl’s best friend. It’s always been my favorite ever since that’s why I can relate to two particular women wearing sleeveless tops this morning. I was riding a jeepney and they were my co-passengers.

Admit it, most of the complexion-conscious Filipinos almost automatically takes a look at the armpit area whenever there is that chance, even though it’s just a nano second. This is especially true to women who wear non-sleeve fashion. Some views of that mysterious area complement the dress, some destroy the entire get-up.

Like this morning, I really was envious about their pretty tops while I was wearing my collared uniform. But as I had that glimpse of what came with their sleeveless tops, can I go on describing?

We know that nobody’s perfect except for the photoshopped models in magazines. Well that still depends on how each of us define perfection. For the sake of this post let’s assume that perfect armpits are those that are free of hair,  sweat and chicken-skin bumps, and are the same or lighter color with one’s general skintone.

I think each of us were given with perfectly-colored armpits. It’s just because of the chemicals that we expose them to and the overall care that we give that alter the color and texture. For the hair, well up to this point I couldn’t see a reason why they grow there. I’ve known ladies with no hair in there and genetics must have favored them. As for ladies like me, maybe it’s an ovedose of masculine traits and I guess it must be controlled.

We shave, pluck, have them removed at the spa. We maintain them for our own good. It’s up to us on how we are comfortable with our own armpits. That’s why I salute the two ladies that I just saw for their confidence even though their armpits were not perfect. Because as for me, I didn’t wear sleeveless tops outside the house until I got the confidence.

That confidence came after I had all my armpit hair removed by several sessions of Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Treatment. I also geared towards kinder deodorants until I met Lady Speed Stick.

The limit on what tops can I wear, as far as does it show my armpit or not is concerned, is gone! I can just wear anything, and I actually have a large collection of sleeveless tops and dresses. What comes with those everytime I wear them? Confidence and comfort, for me and anyone who’d see.