I've been addicted to MAC for the past few years but have never really hit the pan in terms of the eyeshadows or blushes that I own. I've been wanting to get a free lipstick, courtesy of Back 2 MAC. This is a short description as to what Back 2 MAC is all about, as per the MAC website:

Because we share your commitment to the environment, M·A·C accepts returns of its primary packaging through the Back to M·A·C Program. By returning six [6] M·A·C primary packaging containers to a M·A·C counter or M·A·C Cosmetics online, you’ll receive a free M·A·C lipstick of your choice as our thanks to you.

I currently have some empty MAC containers and I'm looking forward B2Ming! I hope I really get to choose a lipstick of my choice here. Otherwise, I'm gonna wait for my trip to Singapore on November and do a B2M there! Any suggestions on what to get? Russian Red, anyone? :)

I've lived in UP Village all my life but never really tried out some of the foodie places in the area as mentioned in a lot of blogs. Today, I decided to give the Burger Project a try.


We were greeted by the bright interior and clipboards were handed so could proceed to creating our very own burgers, which is the concept behind the Burger Project.



I chose the beef burger, poppy seed bun, caramelized onions, bacon, gruyere cheese, lettuce, tomato and the buffalo wing sauce. Nips thought the prices were expensive since everything that you put into the burger has a corresponding price. Upon seeing the huge burger though, we both agreed that it was worth the price (Php230 for each burger). We literally had a hard time taking the first bite due to the size of the thing and had a laugh about it. I loved the sweetness of the caramelized onions combined with the spicy buffalo wing sauce. I'm such a sucker for anything spicy.



They have a chalkboard that contains combinations that diners could try out.



I had fries to go with the burger. I liked the fries, again, because it was a bit spicy. I figured they sprinkled some paprika on the fries.



We were really satisfied with our meal at the Burger Project. I guess the only complaint that I have is that they didn't have gruyere cheese available so I had to settle for mozzarella while my eating partner had to choose bacon instead of pepperoni as they ran out of it as well. We'll be back though. :)



The Burger Project
122 Maginhawa Street,
Teachers Village,
Quezon City

I haven't written in a while though I have lots of time in my hands. Partly because I may have been too lazy to think of something to write about. Another may have been the guilt I've been feeling.

Life hasn't been perfect the past 2 years. I have become what I dreaded of becoming and have been avoiding in my life.

To my dearest, I'm sorry for everything. I'm just happy that you're still here. I love you.

I was super looking forward to my trip to Bangkok until all these violence took place. Yesterday, the red shirt protesters set the Central World mall on fire. It's so sad. I was just there a few months ago. At the rate things are going in Bangkok, I might not even get to go next month. Sayang ang ticket and hotel reservation since fully paid na. :( Please let this violence and misunderstanding end.

I've been trying to get decent food shots for the past week or so. We have to submit an 8R photo of food. It sounds easy but it's really not. I have to think of ways to make food look more appetizing. I bought pancit canton from Eng Bee Tin earlier and let me tell you, it didn't look like this earlier. I had to sprinkle oil over it to get what they refer to as "specular highlights". Tomorrow, I'll be shooting mochi balls. :D

This was written by a friend. I was with him when everything happened.

NEW BOMBAY CANTEEN – GLORIETTA 3
March 1, 2009

Order:
Samosa
Chicken TikKa Masala
Palak Paneer
Naan with Cheese
Chapati
Sweet Lasi
Coke

This would have been a lovely dinner with a friend but rather it became an infuriatingly horrifying experience, way beyond the opposite of what it was originally meant to be.

We know that Indian food is more of an acquired taste and the same goes for the way it looks. It’s all saucy filled with spices, herbs and aromatics that look like seeds, leaves or twigs. It was growing on me, until this day.

I have a habit of trying to identify the ingredients of what I’m eating. Thanks to my braces, I had to slice the samosa because I cannot bite into it. So as I slice my samosa, I was checking the seed-like things and saw an oddly larger and lighter one. I flipped it over, and to my greatest unpleasant surprise, it had LEGS, and WINGS!!! Put@#ng I#@!!! It was a small COCKROACH…LEGS and WINGS all intact!!! With all the different ingredients in the food, if that F**k!nG INSECT had mixed with the saucier food, I wouldn’t have seen it even if I were trying to find a name for all those twigs, leaves and seeds in our food!!!

I was in shock for like a minute or so. I was even half laughing in my mind that this could just be a weird kind of flower they put in the samosa. But the WINGS…and the LEGS!!! Apart from being filthy, these are not solitary creatures! They come in mass and multiply fast!!!

While still in shock and trying to be mild-mannered, I called the waitress. I did not know what or how to say that my food had a F**k!nG COCKROACH! So she asks me, “Was it in the food already or did it just land there?” As if it mattered! I said, “It was INSIDE the samosa!” The lady says “I will just replace your food.” What the F?!!! Did I hear her right?? She wanted to just replace it??? I had a baby cockroach in my food!!! Its clan is definitely in the kitchen. Is she nuts???

My imagination was going crazy. This is the first time I’ve seen the insect I hate passionately INSIDE my appetizer or any food for that matter. We can only think of what else could have been spicing our meal. I asked the waitress to get me her supervisor, manager or whoever who can make a decision on this because all she offered was to replace the filthy food and her blank face. And guess what, NO ONE was available to address my escalating distress. How ridiculous!!! No decision maker on the restaurant???

I made sure the other customers heard what I had to say if no one was going to listen. I asked for my receipt and upon receiving it, very audibly blurted, “Have you taken out the price of the COCKROACH from this bill??? My GOODNESS! An insect is in my food! Who would pay for my hospital bill if I get sick?”

I had a few more lines, but I had to control my outrage because I could be embarrassing my friend. We paid the bill because I did not want the waitresses to be the ones whose salaries will get deducted if we just walked out—it’s not their fault after all. But I am making sure that this event does not go unnoticed.

FRIENDS, please STRONGLY discourage anyone you know from eating at NEW BOMBAY CANTEEN.

Below are some pictures that we took.

In a couple of weeks, I'll be 26. I think that the first 25 years of my life has pretty much been about learning. Learning how to walk, run, read and of course, love. I met a lot of people, some I still talk to, but most of them I no longer keep in touch with. As I move to a completely different phase of my life, I often wonder how I'm going to tell the people that I'm about to meet about the old me and how I became that way. Should I be proud of how I've lived my life so far? Or should I just forget about the past and start fresh?

Truthfully, I am looking forward to 2009 and how I'm going to live my life with my partner beside me. Finally, we're going to be together. :)

It's been a while since I've last visited the blogs and forums about makeup. About 2 weeks ago, I got jealous of one of my co-workers' palettes from Coastal Scents and eventually gave in, buying 2 palettes. This got me started on reading on makeup, again. Anyways, I just love MAC's holiday collection and how everything is red!

MAC palettes

Due to my lack of MAC brushes, I decided to go ahead and purchase the basic brush set from the Adoring Carmine collection, mainly because of the good reviews on the 219 and 239 brushes, which are both part of the set. I'm so excited!!! I was wondering why there is a price difference though for the same set between Nordstrom and MAC's website. It is priced at $49.50 at MAC, while it's only at $35 at Nordstrom's site.

Basic Brush Set of 5: 129 SE, 219 SE, 239 SE, 266 SE and the 316 SE

My brother's going to send this along with some of his padala from the states. Can't wait until December so I can start using my shiny, red brushes!

As bad as it sounds, I don't give as much attention to local bands as I do to foreign ones. Not so much because some are baduy, but probably because songs from mainstream bands are played again and again on the radio. Those can give you an ear sore after listening to the song for a few hundred times.

I started appreciating local bands because of a particular co-worker who happens to be really good in playing the drums. I was able to watch one of his gigs and found a deeper appreciation for those who are in the music business. It really made me wonder if I would have become a good piano player, should I have continued all the piano lessons that my mom and dad would pay for when I was younger.

What I'm getting at really is how much I like the song 'Migraine' by Moonstar88, especially the music video. I like it so much that we're considering doing a 'music video' style AVP to be played on our wedding. That would mean, though, that we would have to do away with the photo slideshow that we were planning to have for our AVP. That's a whole different story though.

Only 4 more days before the first episode of the second season of Gossip Girl will be aired. Here's a sneak peek from season premiere. Chace Crawford! I have missed you so!

I can't believe that I'm getting married in 4 months. I will finally have to learn to be responsible. Hehe. Anyways, I got a copy of Instyle Weddings yesterday and I found a gown that I really like. Now if only I can lose a couple of inches off my arms... I go to the gym regularly but I realized today that starvation is the only way to go. I will start my starvation diet tomorrow and hopefully be able to see results. *crossing fingers*

So my boyfriend and I have started looking at furniture this week and I didn't really expect it to be this exhausting. Don't get me wrong, I'm really looking forward to planning everything, but there are just so many choices and so many things to consider. One thing I'm sure of though, is this bed we saw at Mo's Design at Bonifacio High Street. I could be sleeping on this bed one day.


I'm feeling very happy right about now. :)

I was trying to look for a cheap, yet effective makeup primer on Girltalk. I read about Monistat and became very curious about this so-called primer. Turns out, it wasn't meant to be used as a primer. It's actually a chafing gel, which a lot of erm, overweight people use to prevent their legs or pits from chafing and getting irritated.



I wonder who it was who had the idea to use a chafing gel as primer? Did that person just say to herself, "I wonder if this thing that I put in between my thighs would help my makeup stay on a lot longer?" Just a thought to ponder on, I guess.

I'm getting my Monistat loot next month from my brother. :)

I've been seeing the book The Kite Runner on amazon.com a lot and had wanted to buy the book. I realized that I don't really have time to read a book (I have about 5 books that I haven't finished reading) and decided to watch the film instead.

The Kite Runner is about Amir, a boy living in Kabul, and Hassan, who is the son of Amir's family's servant and is often referred to as a Hazarra. Amir grows up in Kabul but together with his father, they are forced to leave Afghanistan because of the Soviet Union's invasion and find themselves in the US a few years later. Prior to the father and son leaving Kabul, Amir witnesses his best friend Hassan being raped by a bully. Hassan is raped because he wouldn't give them the kite that he had gotten for Amir.

I cried while watching this mainly out of disbelief that a bully in Afghanistan would do this to another boy. Although I live in a country that is very far from perfect, I doubt that this would happen here, which is why I am glad that I live in the Philippines in a way.

I recommend this film to anyone who would like to take glimpse into Afghanistan and their culture way before the Taliban rule. It's mostly in Dari though, so you would need to do a lot of reading.

P.S. I think Soraya (Amir's wife) looks a lot like Alma Moreno.

I downloaded 'Lars and the Real Girl' because its high ratings on Amazon. It's about Lars, portrayed by Ryan Gosling , who happens to be an extremely shy. He lives in his brother's garage and likes to do everything by himself. Anyways, he comes to his brother's house one day and introduces 'Bianca', who happens to be a life-sized doll.


His brother and sister-in-law freak out but decide to go along with it after talking to a doctor, who says that Lars has a delusion, which will only disappear when he no longer needs it. Soon, the whole town hears about 'Bianca' and everybody is eager to meet her and make her feel at home.

Overall, I really liked the film because it felt very real. I don't personally know anyone who may have a mental illness but I feel that I would do the same thing that Lars' town did for him for someone that I love.

If you want to see a drama, that shows how people do a lot of things for someone they love, watch Lars and the Real Girl. I personally recommend it.

I remember back when I was in high school and IRC was the "in" thing. Most people were using dial-up internet then and would constantly get disconnected for a number of reasons such as using someone else's account, having caller ID or a modem acting up. Anyways, where I'm getting at is that we say, "weebee!" when a person comes back into the chatroom after having been disconnected.

In some way, I feel that I got disconnected for a while and was not able to write anything. I don't know if it's because of work, or just sheer katamaran but the important thing is, I'm back! So, I guess, "weebee!" to me. Hopefully, I don't get lazy again to update this blog (or any of my other blogs for that matter) since I now have a laptop! Yippee!

I've been very, very busy lately, which is mainly why I haven't updated this blog for a while. It's just that things get so crazy at work sometimes. Our manager required us to work 12 hours a day this week. Though I wouldn't agree to such an arrangement under normal circumstances, I also realize that this is our last week for the project that we've been working our asses off for. I'm really proud of the work that I've put into this project and though I don't expect to be given a Nobel prize for it, I think we deserve a bit of recognition. I'm also very happy due to the fact that this project would certainly look good in my resume. hehe.

Work aside, my life is pretty good. I realize that I find joy in the simplest things in life. Last Sunday, my boyfriend and I went to the gym. We spent a good 2 hours just making "landi". It was fun. ^_^ I know that he would not admit that it was nice, I know that he had as much fun as I did. Ü This brings me to the question, what really makes a person happy? I've been reading The Zahir by Paulo Coelho, which was mainly about freedom and happiness. Now that I ask myself if what makes me happy, I think it's just being with the people you love, whom you know love you back. Well, about freedom, I honestly have never felt that I was being supressed of my freedom. I've always felt free to do things I wanna do. Though I consult a lot of people before making any major decision, it's still my decision to make. And at the end of the day, I still have the final say.

Stress. What I hate most is how people underestimate me. Yes, I am a bit on the introverted side, but you know what? I have my moments. And though I don't speak out my thoughts (yeah, yeah I know it's something I should work on), it doesn't mean that I'm an airhead. Hey, I graduated with a degree in Economics. And though I didn't exactly graduate Cum Laude, I still made it. I passed my comprehensive exams in Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Economic Development and International Economics. Not to mention our thesis. Academics is not everything, I know. But because of my education, I am a lot of things. What can you say about yourself?

I'd rather be green than be blue

One of the funniest videos! Animo La Salle! =)

When I look around the office, I find myself wondering why some of my co-supervisors are still sitting in front of their computers, when they should have gone home 2 or 3 hours earlier. The longest that I've stayed in the office after my shift...probably an hour. Am I such a slacker for leaving the office on time? Are these people doing this because they feel that they have to finish everything before they head home? Or perhaps a force of habit?

Most of the workers here in our country are overworked and underpaid. That's not surprising, considering the fact that we are in the Philippines and it is a third world country after all. Despite the bad things we often hear about this country, I have no desire of leaving it to pursue a better life in another country to earn those green bucks that many Filipinos are dreaming of. I love it here. This is my home.

This precisely why I refuse to stay in the office after hours. I do care for my agents but if I don't think about myself, who will? Definitely not my boss. I have to look out for myself somehow. I don't want to stay in the office for long hours and end up whining about it. When it's 4AM, that means my shift is over and I have to go home. After all, I'm not getting paid for extending. Come to think of it though, it is not about the money. I just feel like I deserve to go home when my job is done. Perhaps a supervisor's job is never over, but so is everyone else's. A doctor's job is never over because people will keep on getting sick. A lawyer's job is never over because there will always be conflict that need to resolved. A magtataho's job is never over because whatever he's earning will never be enough to sustain his family's needs. It's such a sad fact of life. If I had known that life as a grown-up would be this complicated, I would've stayed a kid like the little prince.

It's funny how you think you know someone realllllyyy well and then you find out some freaky stuff about that person which totally makes you think differently of that person...like you don't know that person at all. Being the person that I am, too trusting, gullible...ok, I have what I call "moments", when I just can't seem to get anything that another person would say. Oo, slow ako.

I thank God that I still have close friends. (You guys are still there, aren't you?) They are not perfect, but who is?? But I love them dearly. They have been with me through my ups and downs. We don't talk or get to see each other as much. The thing is, we would always have so, so much to talk about by the time we meet up. Everyone has their own quirky personalities and it's funny. ^_^

Anyways, I don't have much friends. Perhaps because I've been in a relationship for the longest time and that fact does not really give me a lot of chance to mingle or get to know a lot people. Of course, officemates are exceptions. Although I don't have a gazillion friends, the chosen few that I have, I trust with my life. We don't exactly have an agenda when we got out, we usually meet up on a whim and out of nowhere but whenever we do, we talk about stuff. As in really talk. And you know what, most times, they make a lot of sense. I sometimes ask myself why I didn't think of what they were saying. It's always nice to get some sort of a wake-up call from your friends. I miss them a lot. Although we don't text, talk or see each other on a daily...wait, make that a weekly or monthly basis, I'm just glad to know that they're always there.