Run BGC Urban Adventure 2014

Pinoy Fitness opened a sign up form last week that will allow us to join Run BGC Urban Adventure for FREE if we were among the first 500 to sign up. so right there and then, i filled out the form, submitted it, and invited jeckie, and also some of my college friends to join! it was exciting! FREE SHIRT EH ANO BA. lol. chos

joma, jec, and i :)

anyway, in the end i came with jeckie and joma (his officemate), and together we went to BGC on Saturday (November 29) to collect our kits. chos.

the mechanics says to form a group of 10 people max. we were only 3 but we didn't care cos we thought we could handle all the puzzles and activities naman. sos. haha

but then, while claiming our shirts. they wouldn't let us form a group of just 3. aw. so we had to team up with other people looking to complete their groups. that's where i met kuya Jesus, who was looking for 3 more to complete his team. Amen!

with our team mates!

when all 10 of us huddled up, i was looking at my team and thought, hindi naman kami competitive so it's okay that our group is composed of a bunch of middle aged men who looked like they were only in it for the run. they looked like they could run. and we 3 looked like we could solve puzzles. and that's about what we need in a team right? haha honestly, i was a bit disappointed and thought for a while if we actually have a chance of winning with this team. ang sama ko. sorry po.

QC MARSians spotted!

before the race started, i spotted some QC Marsians and asked them how come they're all here! apparently, the event was also offered for free for MARS (Milo Apex Running School) students and i didn't know because i was absent when it was announced. part of me died and wished i was in their team instead. ang sama sama ko talaga.

but then, SURPRISE SURPRISE! when i got the chance to chat with kuya Jesus, i learned that he and all his companions were BGC GUARDS!!!! OMG! HAHAHAHA i felt like we hit the jackpot! Amen! i just had to highlight that cos i was so shocked and happy! hahaha

i mentally confessed at my prior thoughts. we finally have a chance at winning. HAHAHA #chos

How the game works

Each team will be given a small envelope with puzzle cards that they have to solve. each puzzle will reveal a location in BGC that they have to seek out. on each location, they have to perform a challenge. and on every challenge they complete, they will be awarded stars (3,2,1 stars in order of performance) that will be stamped (well, stickered) on their score cards.

teams will have to perform as much challenges as they can, and earn as much stars as they could. after 3 hours, they must surrender their scorecards back to the commencement area for evaluation.

the winning team will get 50,000 pesos! i don't remember what the other prizes were hahaha!

The first puzzle card we solved led us to 9th Avenue at Bonifacio High Street. i don't know where the hell that was but i thank God our team is composed BGC Guards lang naman *ehem* *ehem* who knew every nook and cranny in BGC. we just had to tell them and they will lead us to the place!

WE WERE NEVER LOST!!!

it fascinates me to no end how they knew every single place in BGC. as in! as we were solving puzzles, we would consult them again and again if any of the words we're forming is making any sense.

"kuya, ano yung market? market market ba yun?"
"ah hindi ibang market yan. dun yun!"

"kuya, ano yung may kalikasan something?"
"kasalikasan yan, dun yan!"

"turf? turfgc?"
"Turf BGC po, dun!"

etc. etc. etc.

HOW COULD IT GET ANY MORE CONVENIENT THAT THAT?! hahaha

we didn't win but we enjoyed a lot! the first activity we did, the one with the BINGO cards was exhausting and at the same time super enjoy! we were tasked to take group pictures with all the items listed in the BINGO card. i could imagine doing this with my college barkada! sobrang saya sana! haha

Pic spam!

drones watching over us

that's a drone up there surveilling the place for cheaters. lol. we were actually called out for opening the envelopes before the announcement to begin took off, but that's because we thought it was already announced. we were just so atat. sorry. the event staff was kind naman not to disqualify us so thank you!

Robot pose at Burgos Circle

Thumbs up with a store employee

With a pet dog or pet cat

Finally

When the game ended we were so exhausted. my knees were so tired, and my tummy was voilently growling for food already. what with all the running, going back and forth to places, and literally dancing in the rain? haha we decided to eat at Murray and D'Vine -- burgers, ribs, and damn good wine! haha

Here's a shot of my food. Heart shaped buns kamown!

According to one staff, some valentines ago they made their buns and patties heart shaped, and the customers liked it and requested not to change it. and that's what they did. i wonder what they would do if we suggested we liked round buns better, or star shaped ones. lol

my Juicy Lucy. 425 pesos. ouch

deeeeym that thick beef patty stuffed with caramelized onions and cheddar cheese. reminds me of Stuff Over at Maginhawa, only waaaaay more affordable. didn't quite enjoy this honestly. Big B parin the best!

going home was terrible cos no taxi would accommodate us. i always understand naman cos makati to fairview is a pain in the gas. i had to add an extra fee para lang makasakay. buti na lang hindi traffic sa EDSA! yeyy!!

cheers to a happy day! >XD

[GIVEAWAY] Win GCs from Franck Provost Paris, Status Hair Salon, The Zen Institute, and I Do Nails! [CLOSED]

I mentioned some entries back that i was planning on giving away a couple of gift certificates that i won't be able to use because of their locations. Dahil dyan, eto na! I'm giving away some 3k worth of GCs to two lucky winners.

The mechanics are super simple as usual: like, follow, share, comment, repost, retweet, regram... you know the drill! i always try to make it easy for you to earn entries so make sure that you do them all! Who knows if i throw in a couple more gifts hehe

Here are the prizes and essential GC details as well:

Prize #1:

1. Franck Provost Paris 
- Php 1,500 worth of GCs from Franck Provost Paris
- Valid at Franck Provost branches at Jupiter Makati, Molito Alabang, and Manila Peninsula (Makati).
- Valid from November 2014 to November 2015. GC value must be used in 1 visit, and is not valid for cash back. GC value is not convertible to cash. Only 1 GC per person will be honored per redemption.

2. The Zen Institute (A Medical Spa)
- 15 minutes complimentary Ultralipo (Body Sculpting) or Resolift (Facial Contouring) treatment worth Php 5,000, and a promo rate of Php 1,000 for Diamond Peel and Facial Spa (regular).
- Valid at the follow branches (and by appointment only): Tomas Morato and Sto. Tomas Batangas

Prize #2:

1. Status Hair Salon
- Php 1,000 worth of GC from Status Hair Salon
- Valid until December 31 2014 at the following branches: Robinsons Galleria, Katipunan, Tomas Morato, Eastwood, and Greenhills

2. I Do Nails
- Php 500 worth of GC from I Do Nails
- Valid at the following branches: Eastwood Mall, and Tuscany Mckinley Hill

Mechanics:

1. Open to everyone who has a Metro Manila mailing address

2. Contest will run from December 2 - 10, 2014

3. Winner will be announced within the week of closing date, and will receive a confirmation message via email

4. Prizes will be shipped to the winner's Metro Manila address

5. If you win, all of your entries will be validated for completeness. 

Alright, off you go to the Rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveawayIf you're having trouble loading the Rafflecopter widget, you may also access it here!

We have our winners!

Congrats to the following people! Email sent!

Lastly, thank you to everyone who joined my second giveaway! I pray that each and everyone of us will enjoy the merry season in perfect health! God bless you all and stay tuned for more giveaways! :)

[FIXED] Have you been getting this sorry message from Google?

For a while, every time I access my Google Analytics and Adsense pages, I get this error page: 

Source: http://www.southbourne.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Google-Block.jpg

It says:

We're sorry... 

 ... but your computer or network has been sending automated queries. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

See Google Help for more information.

I searched around did all of the suggested solutions, i scanned for mal/ad/spywares, cleared the cache, cleaned up temp files, etc. i basically cleaned up my browser. BUT NOTHING WORKED...

except for one:

one forum post suggested to disable some page ranking plugins, cos they might be the one causing the automated queries.

in my case, i have Alexa toolbar installed but it was disabled. the only enabled plugin i have is McAfee Site Advisor, so i deleted that. i also deleted Alexa to be sure. in fact, i deleted all of the plugins i'm using at chrome! there's not much anyway haha take note that i deleted them, and not simply disabled them.

then, i restarted the browser and boom! i was finally able to access analytics and adsense! yeyy! :D

let me know if it works for you! :D

the week that was

haller! how was your week goys? mine was crazy! i'm between meeting two deadlines simultaneously, work and more work... as i put it HAHAHA. the first being Super Labandera, and the latter being my regular 9-5. hahaha

okay so this will be quite an update on what's up, esp my birthday last week HAHA

Super Labandera

i'm 100% done on every page i needed to illustrate! YAHOOO!!! this is really iiiiit!!! best birthday gift ever!

i'm sharing with you the inside cover because i've shared the cover too much already haha, plus one of my favorite pages too! hope you like it! <3

this is such a dream come true for me! this is validation that i still haven't lost my mojo as an artist. i know there's still a lot to learn but as long as i keep taking opportunities like this i'm sure i'll be able to improve a hell lot (and lose a hell lot of sleep too, but that's a different story. read: time management).

it's only a matter of time (and funds!) before the book gets published and i'm very happy to be able serve as an instrument to help TSP in its vision of raising a nation of learners by inculcating the habit of reading to young minds in remote communities. education is a cause that's closest to my heart, it's what i think the country needs the most.

Carbtrim galore

last saturday, the day before my birthday, something came in the mail for me! guess what, 10 packs of Carbtrim from Unilab! i'm totally devouring this! bwahaha i shared the boxes with my mom and my sister cos we all want see how it works.

as per the label, it works like a carb blocker and has white kidney bean extract as its primary ingredient. based on research studies, it helps reduce the absorption of dietary carbohydrates. by how much? I DON'T KNOW and it's good that they didn't put any % claims on their label like most weight loss products do. :)

a single sachet can be added to a glass of hot or cold water, and is preferably taken before meals.

in my opinion, i can't say it works just yet cos i'm only taking it once a day, before breakfast, and most of the time during breakfast na. hahaha i take it hot cos i'm avoiding cold drinks and i'm taking it on a 16oz mug. IT'S STRONG, by the way. i mean, i can't believe a single sachet which has so little powder inside could give off so much flavor. IT TASTES SO GOOD i wouldn't care if i didn't lose weight. it's like warm lipton iced tea which is more sour. i love the lemon flavor!

it sells for around 25pesos per sachet and 150pesos per box of 6. it also comes in apple flavor! not a cheap treat i might say, if you're aiming for 3 glasses a day, but it tastes so good kasi eh try nyo na rin! hehe

Salad love

if you follow me on social media you would know i love salads a loooot. last week i ordered from Salad Mamas (will talk about them in a separate post! watch out!) just to try how it tastes and see how i could replicate some at home. i tried all their variants and loved everything, and after devouring five tubs of salad in one day, i figured i still wanted more! they're aaaall so good!

so voila, my inspired version of their best sellers... taco salad, and tinapa salad!
nope! i'm not posting the recipe just yet haha but i plan to :D just wait for it hihi

this should intrigue you! and all the ingredients are cheap!

not the healthiest of salads honestly, what with the ginormous amounts of cheese, sour cream, and chips i threw in. BUT DEFINITELY MY FAVORITE!!! <3 <3 <3

my team mates birthday surprise!

it's a tradition in our team to surprise a birthday celebrant with a cake at least, and for my birthday, they gave me this!

a sad red ribbon ensaimada with a sad candle on top. can you feel my sadness? haha chos

but i knew this can't be it. hard as they try to pull off the joke, they eventually gave in and took out the reaaal thing!

yeheeeyyy! lol as if papayag ako na walang cake diba? hahaha

we sure have been in a lot of pressure lately so it's kinda cool how we can still laugh w/ each other at the pantry. tapos pag-balik sa work area, galit galit na ulit. choooss. hahaha <3

GIVEAWAY soon?

earlier this day i received these bunch of GCs from NEW Phils. for becoming a media sponsor on their recently concluded Fashion and Beauty Fair Year 2, thank you soooo much!!!!

the GCs are from Franck Provost Paris, Status Hair Salon, I Do Nails, and The Zen Institute. All very high end, and all very far from me. hahaha

i'm planning on giving these away since i'm nowhere near the places where i can use them (most are in Makati, Taguig, and Eastwood). so what do you think? i'm actually kindof wary of asking people to share my blog because FB still hates me. i'm still being asked for a captcha everytime i post my site, so thaaaat sucks big time.

anyway. haha

that's probably it. will try to work on my backlog tomorrow! 

happy weekend and God bless you goys! <3 

[Call for Sponsors] The Storytelling Project BOOK LAUNCH!

this month has been one of my busiest ever, the project we're working on at the office is under debug fixing so our hours have been very much in demand lately, including the weekends (which i sooo hate haha). then last month i got a wake up call from kuya rey and ate grace about my pending commitment to Super Labandera, they're targeting to launch the book this december so i was alarmed that i got less than a month left to finish the project. looking back, i wasn't so diligent with my tasks. the last time we talked about the project was March pa and i kindof forgot about it over the months even though i promised myself to work on it every weekend. sad.

anyway, guess what! i just finished the book! well not reallyyyyy since i still have a couple of pages to fill, but the entire story pages are now complete, CAN I CRY?! i'm just soooo happy that it turned out cute! and i'm also so thrilled that kuya rey and ate grace liked how it came out!

now i know how frkn hard it is to become an illustrator. emegeeeesh i can finally call myself an illustrator!!! best title evaaarrr! <3

now what? we have the soft copy but that's ours to keep, sorry. WHAT WE WANT YOU TO HAVE is the hard copy of course, tangible spreads of colors and stories bursting with values and culture and loooove. don't we all love that?

TSP is looking to launch two books by December, Uligmaya (retold by Aprille Joy of Mt. Province) and Super Labandera (by Jim Mark of Dagupan). They are products of our Litle Helpers from the story writing workshops with Ate Grace!

So, when there's a book launch, there has to be books, right??? That's where we need you guys!

TSP is looking for sponsors who can help make this event a reality! See poster for more details!

Help my friend win a Colgate Optic White Dream Wedding!

My friend is getting married soon and would love it if you could help her win her dream wedding! Please help me gather votes for her by doing the following:

1. Go to https://apps.facebook.com/dream-wedding/

2. Click on 'Top 10 Videos'

3. Look for Inez Celestino and click 'View'

4. Then click 'Vote'

That's it! You don't have to watch the video, or even share that you voted, but of course it would be very much appreciated it you do!

Do this daily until November 26 and help her realize her dream wedding! A prenup photoshoot by Pat Dy and a SDE from Jason Magbanua lang naman ang prize! bongga!

We still need some major ass kicking to do with the votes, they're currently on second but we're very very near that #1 spot.

So, help us please? :D

Trivia: they're getting wed on March 14, 2015 and are both Math teachers! that's kind of a Pi wedding you knoooow! hahaha cool no? osya let's vote in and make this epic wedding epicer (ano raw)!

Thank youuuu!

We are #TeamChocolateMousse!

the Christian life is a daily struggle, which is why i always turn to these beautiful ladies to affirm my resolve whenever i feel like the week has taken its toll on my good side. i thank God that i was given a wonderful victory group who has been very supportive of everything i do, who always keeps me in their prayers, and looks out after my spiritual life. :) 

among the many things i learned from them is the value of giving time to God every waking day.

every solitary minute you spend with God is priceless, and He values our time because it's a strong expression of our love. you'll never know what he wants to reveal to you through his word, and just the thought of realizing something from the Bible and channeling it out to the world already makes my day!

every saturday afternoon, we sit to gather in fellowship, catch up, and exchange thoughts about love, life, and everything. nothing really escapes us when it comes to being updated with everything! that's my kind of sweet ending to cap off the week that has been!

and speaking of sweet endings, here's another thing that will definitely add life to your day!

Cadbury Milk Chocolate is launching two exciting new flavors for us that will definitely give a sweeter cap off our busy days!

French Vanilla

Enjoy the light exquisite taste of Vanilla cream-filled chocolate with the new Cadbury. Dairy Milk French Vanilla. You can just imagine sitting in view of the Eiffel Tower while savoring this delicious treat! Try siting in a quaint café while enjoying the sites and this new flavor.

Chocolate Mousse

Then there’s Cadbury Dairy Milk’s Chocolate Mousse. Did you know that the word mousse in French means “foam?” Hear the strains of “La Vie en Rose” as you bite into the light and airy taste of chocolate-flavored cream covered in delicious milk chocolate. Watch the beautiful Manila sunset while on a Balcony and the experience of eating this chocolate will be just as romantic.


Guess which team we're in? haha if it's not too obvious from the picture yet, we're all rooting for Team Chocolate Mousse!

Traditionally, chocolate mousse is made by whisking egg whites and chocolate together to create that light and airy mixture that sits atop a chewy brownie.

And that's how we are together, light, fun, and a perfect cap off to a very busy weekend!

Cadbury Dairy Milk French Vanilla and Chocolate Mousse are available beginning November 2014 in the big and satisfying 180g pack for an SRP of only P180.00.

Hurry because they're only out for a LIMITED TIME ONLY! 

Which team are you in?