No matter how hard you plan, predict what’s going to happen by considering every possibility, there will always be something that goes awry in your life. That’s how life is, we can never be fully in control of anything that goes on. We can roll with the punches as best we could, but sometimes there are game changers that will shake you to the core, and these are the times we have to sit, think, and decide what path we want to take from that moment on. Because there are some things that you can’t just let flow, you take one direction or the other, but you do have to…

So maybe it doesn’t count because my date was my amazing friend/uber talented makeup artist Anna Angeles (she blogs here ), but Lola Cafe + Bar was built for the chill date. I only read about the place when I was looking for a place to meet Anna, and I really like meeting her in nice places. So we met at Lola cafe (Anton Diaz blogged about it here) for an afternoon session of girl talk, food and drinks, what we usually do every few months (or if we’re lucky, more often than that). I found the place very pretty. Not in a girly, explosion of pink way, but clean,…

They say a person is the entirety of the choices they make. We get to where we are based on the combination of the big and small things we decide to do. So the question that may be itching at you right now, at any age, is are you happy with who or where you are now? Do you wish you did something differently or went on another path? Are you still waiting for things to happen? I guess all I’m asking now is: Are you able to look at the person you’ve become and be pleased with what you’ve accomplished? If you’re not, what are you doing about it? Do…

In college, we had a subject called Art Appreciation. See, I am not one to understand art much. I look, and I like what strikes me. Too much symbolism, I will admit I won’t understand it. However, when we talked about Pre-Raphaelite artists, this painting really spoke to me. John Everett Millais’ Ophelia. They say it depicts the scene in Hamlet when Ophelia is driven insane when her lover Hamlet murders her father. To me, the woman in this painting has haunted me since I saw it in 2006. So it may look a bit macabre, and really, Ophelia does eventually drown in the river. But in this scene, she…

Share happiness by sharing ice cream with a loved one today. I’m sure it’ll make your day better. Have a great weekend eight readers!

We’ve shared so many memories. You’ve been with me to so many events. We’ve gone through so much. We’ve biked. Gone to the beach. Gone to gigs. Been to family dinners. Shared amazing meals. Life has been amazing with you. But now we have to say goodbye, and I don’t really want to. I’ve grown used to you being with me. We fit. But you left me. Without a warning, you just went. I’ll miss you, but life needs for us to move on.

I am not, in any way a daddy’s girl, but I can safely say I am my father’s daughter. First off, we look alike. When I was growing up, people told me I looked like both my parents, but more my dad. I was annoyed because people kept remarking at my mother’s beauty, and did not praise my father at all, thus giving me the conclusion that I had the “ugly gene”. However growing up, I’ve gotten used to what we look like, and actually have some things that I got from my dad that I like, for one, the round eyes that can give away so much, which is…

I admit it, I do have the sappy gene. Last Wednesday, my mom, sister and I went to an absolutely knee weakening concert in the most unusual of places, the parking lot in Promenade at Greenhills. It was a free concert by the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, and for a few hours, we just lost ourselves in the notes. I cannot presume to know the pieces that were played as I am not a devotee, but what I heard, I liked. We giggled when the orchestra played a few songs from The Sound of Music because we were desperately trying to keep our mom from singing along. When they played a…

Lately I’ve been thinking about what you want versus what you have. People keep saying that as long as you can dream it, you can have it, and there is no limit to what you can dream. There have been billionaires starting off from the bottom, working their way to the top. There are people who dreamed of marrying the world’s most famous movie star and ended up marrying them twenty years later (Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, never mind how that turns out). There are diseases that killed millions in the past that people now have a cure for. There are miracles and stories that seem hard to believe,…

I have heard of Rent for a long time. I know the songs, I’ve watched clips, I’ve discussed it with friends, but mostly song wise. It has taken me almost a decade to watch the movie, and I’ve not caught the play when there are runs in Manila. I could almost kick myself for waiting this long to watch it. It was every bit as exciting as I thought, and the singing amazing. I was so happy to see Jesse L. Martin (doctor Greg Butters from Ally McBeal that I’ve thought sexy since I saw him sing for Calista Flockhart on said show) and Idina Menzel, (the original Elphaba from…