My 30th Birthday!

No matter how I wanted to freeze time, I just couldn't. Before I can even stop it, I turned 1 year old again yesterday, May 18.

The week before my birthday, I was in panic. I was trying to remember the article I read years ago on 'things you must do before you turn 30'. I tried searching for it in Google and find out how I fared. But i couldn't seem to find it. The only thing I could remember was to live alone, which I haven't done yet. Gosh, I felt I haven't achieved anything yet. I was in crisis and was even irascible at times that lead to some squabbles with Dom. Shocks, I did not want to age and with nothing. I don't know how to drive yet, haven't earned my first million and am not even married when I told myself that I would be married by 27/28ish. Oh no!

Then, Dom tried to talk some sense in to me. He told me that one achievement I can consider is being an officer in a good multinational company. That was when I realized that I had an achievement after all and then I counted my abundant blessings. Life must go on and there are still so many things to accomplish. It was time to re-think my life and put it in a different perspective. That is what I really like about my honey; he knows how to make me sane.

Eve of my birthday

It was just a regular work day for me. I even went to the gym for my last workout as a 29-year old. I felt that can help me feel better. I went home and spent my night on the phone with Rhea (my cousin) breathing all my worries and troubles away. As midnight was approaching, I got a call from Dom on my mobile. He was outside and wanted to wait for my birthday with me. He sang me a birthday song and made me blow my first candle. He gave me several gifts; a stretching Yoga set, badminton racket
and a tulip.(He said there were more to come, 30 things) Gosh, he forgot that I loved carnations but anyway I also like tulips.

The day

As usual, I came early for work dressed with my new white blouse and sandals from my mom. I was surprised to see my decorated workstation, a 'Happy Birthday' banner with white and violet flower-shaped balloons hanging from the ceiling, a big fuchsia ribbon made of unrolled paper twine, draped on my cubicle and scattered happy birthday plastics on my desk. It was super nice and I hated myself to have not captured it in my Sony Digicam. Grrr!

As their gift, my officemates treated me for lunch to a restaurant of my choice. Guess what! I chose Italiannis for the yummy stuffed mushrooms. I received a birthday song from the waiters, ice cream with a candle and dance from Vin to the tune of 'Di ako bakla'. It was a fun lunch.

I would have been happy and contented with those surprises. But that was not all, they even ordered in a cake from Gateau 'd Manila and palabok from Red Ribbon and sang for me. To top it all, they gave me a little Mango lavender bag. It was so cute but that means I have to buy either a lavender top or pants. Oh well.

Given it was just middle of the week, I worked up to almost 7PM, finishing some urgent MOAs. Then I went straight to Megamall to meet up with Dom. He got tied with work so I just roamed around the shops until my feet were killing me. I felt a little bad for waiting up on him and not have had our dinner, that I did not want to talk to him when he arrived in time for the premier of Star Wars at 10PM.

Good thing Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith was superb and it drowned my bad mood. We were in speaking terms before the movie ended. Yoda was so cute and I have always loved him. I told Dom that I wanted a Yoda toy and when we went to Jollibee for our midnight dinner, they were offering Star Wars' toys in their meals. Yuppie! I got a Yoda and Darth Vader.

Talk about 24 hours full of surprises.

Busy Saturday

I love the feeling of being able to do several things in one day. Well, my Saturday was filled with experiences worth sharing:

Divi in the morning

I was up and about by 6:20 AM to get ready to meet with Shiena in McDonald's Q. Ave MRT Station. I am so not used to waking up early on Saturdays but I had to since we were be going to Divisoria to get measured for our gowns for Shiena's Wedding on September. I was so excited to see the Shopaholics again and update each other on our lives.

Shiena and I were literally talking non-stop during our breakfast in McDo that we delayed the schedule a bit. Well, we were both late to begin with. After breakfast we met up with Maya and Nancy (Sheina's bestfriend) at the Ayala Station then took the bus straight to Adrian's pad. All 7 of us tried to fit ourselves in Varian's car: 2 boys in front and 5 sexy girls at the back (hehe). We reached the bustling streets of Divisoria a little after 9AM. The girls went straight to Pasilyo R while the boys were to meet with the others including Baet in 168 Mall.

After having our mesurements taken, we roamed around the area to look for cloth and then took a pit stop in Jollibee for some quick refreshments. While Jan and Varian had to leave, the rest of us decided to check out the stuff in 168 Mall. After approximately 2 hours inside, I was able to buy 1 bottle of salt with milk scrub(recommended by Baet), a pink dog tag for my new ID, 2 plastic soap dishes with shells and starfish for my bathroom and powder room, a fan for summer and a half eternity silver ring. Haay! I wanted to buy more but my wallet would not permit anymore.

Pizza and pasta for late lunch

We reached Evangelista St. by past 2 and had our late lunch at Pizza Hut. We loaded ourselves with carbo: Spaghetti with meatballs, Carbonara and New York Pizza. I was stuffed to the brim, same feeling I had yesterday when my officemates and I had lunch at Yellow Cab. It was just so delicious, nevertheless. After, we went straight to Adrian's pad to get quick baths to temporarily cool us from the summer heat.

My free haircut at Propaganda

I went straight to Propaganda in Greenbelt 1 to claim my free haircut ahead of my birthday on May 18. I was so glad to have the chance finally to claim this. I kept on forgeting for the past 2 years, only to realize it after the big day. However, I decided to try their hot oil treatment and ended up paying P1,850 for a dry hair treatment. Oh what the heck! It was so relaxing anyway. I just hope it gave my hair the repair and moisture it needed.

Memories of Love Concert as my second advance birthday gift

I met up with Dom as soon as I was done in the parlor. We hurriedly headed back to his flat to dress up for the "Memories of Love" Concert in Araneta Coliseum at 8 PM, featuring Kevyn Lettau, Lou Pardini and Joe Pizzulo. It was his first gift for me on my bithday.(I wonder what are the others.)

I really wanted to watch this concert so much that I wouldn't mind staying in the cheapest section. Good thing Dom remembered and heeded my call. He got the lower box B tickets and realizing that the sections were not fully occupied, I tried my luck by texting my friend, Vic who works for Araneta to upgrage us to a better seat. He was kind enough to put us in the far back of the Orchestra section. It was perfect! We had a good view of the performers and the seat was comfortable too.

The concert was superb, with a total of 20+ songs all in all.Lou Pardini sang my fave song, "What might have been" and his other beautiful songs, Kevyn sang "Faraway" and Joe sang Sergio Mendez songs. It brought me back memory lane since most of the songs were classics.

We ended our night with a quick drink with Vic, his wife and their friends at Oyter Boy. At least I also got the chance to spend time with him after like ages.

My Horoscope for Today!

Oh gosh, look at my Horoscope for Today. It says exactly what's on my mind - shopping!!!

Dear Kristine,
Here is your horoscope
for Monday, May 9:

"The new person you've created needs some new clothes, and you're entirely ready to make that person happy. It's you, of course -- the new you -- and it's time to do some shopping."

*courtesy of www.astrology.com

My First Day

Today was my first day in my new work. I arrived at 8:00 AM and went straight to HR to get the Company manual and others. I went straight to my floor after but to my surprise, my boss was not yet around so I had to wait in the lobby of our floor. Turns out he comes in at about 9AM everyday.

Below are some of my good news:

- I received a Welcome Lunch Treat from my boss. We ate at Super Bowl with my other officemates. I made him decide since I was still shy to exert what I wanted even up to ordering the food. He also insisted to pay for my coffee at Seattle’s Best after lunch.
- There are abundant tissue and soap in a well maintained CR in our floor plus a hand dryer too.
- My officemates seem to be good people although dominated by males, mostly married (too bad for my single girlfriends)

My day consisted mostly of reading the company manual, meeting with my immediate boss to brief me on some policies and backend reports and going around other floors to be introduced to some key people in support departments.I also had a meeting with the Unit head towards the end of the day about the overview of our Department, goals for the year and some of his general expectations.

I left the office with an unbearable headache, partly due to hunger and information overload.

Do I like the work? Well, I feel overwhelmed but as I said to our Unit Head, 'I feel challenged'.