weekend roundup

my office gave us free passes (thank you!) to the ferrari world theme park, days before its official opening on 27 october.

mr t and i went there last thursday night.it's located at yas island in abu dhabi and it's the largest indoor theme park in the world and the first ever ferrari theme park.now, i'm not a fan of cars so i was basically clueless when we went there.it was all so, uh, red.duh, ferrari color kaya.

the best things in life are free: family outings!

it was a very good family weekend for our li'l family.we went out for our usual friday breakfast brunch, and passed by a closed ice cream shop.look at the reason why they're closed:





lol.

10/10/10

such an auspicious date.i tried to capture the perfect time on the web (with me bugging my husband pa to look for websites showing world clocks), but i was too early to click the camera! 10/10/2010 and 10:10:01 lang tuloy.pwede na :-)



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things i'm grateful for: together during oktoberfest!

the best time ever!

i read somewhere that oktoberfest is the world's largest fair.true enough, everyone seemed to be like kids set loose in the largest fairground ever.

thankfully, we stayed at my in-laws' house.they were gracious enough to accommodate us and to tolerate our high school excitedness.heehee...

prost! (cheers!)

we're off to munich for the annual oktoberfest! :-) boy, oh boy, i'm glad my husband is from bavaria.weeheehee.this will be my second oktoberfest.let's see what's in store for us this year.

meanwhile, i'm leaving you with our 2008 memories:

my husband is working in abu dhabi today (on a saturday!) i admire hardworking people.i do admire mr t's dedication to his job.for one thing, this is the job that puts food on our table and a a roof over our heads so i don't really want to complain.my poor husband deserves to get proper massages though, but silly ol' me cannot properly do one! ugh.i just wish i know how to properly do these reflexology massages, you know? it's actually a part of my mental bucket list - to properly learn how to give good massages.someday!

baby was in a bad mood yesterday.she would not eat properly.mr t and i were actually thinking of going to a proper friday brunch in one of the hotels here, but baby was just not in the mood.so we settled at cafe o for lunch.usually, we have our breakfast there.it was our first time to try their lunch.it was great! they had a set menu.i had mango and crab salad, stir-fry vegetables and fried vanilla ice cream.mr t had tom yam soup, pepper steak and tiramisu.their mocktails are oh-so refreshing!





i had my balikbayan box (care package) delivered to the philippines.i played lots with baby.she can do a bit of hide-and-seek now.she also knows now how to give-and-take stuff.and she understands it when you say "no!" to her.and oh, she can do high-five, too! adorable!

So, how are you?

from tumblr

nice, baby!

my husband and i are still gushing on how well-behaved baby was today.we went to our usual friday breakfast brunch and met baby's friend a together with her parents.she was smiling all throughout, and was sleeping on cue.she also made us laugh so much with her antics.hay naku, nakakatuwa.i just wish she would behave like that everyday!

we went to yo!sushi for dinner last night.i would not ever, ever get tired of sushi.love it! from nobu to yo! sushi, go! and... mr t even gave me a bouquet of flowers out of the blue.*sweet*



ok, enough eye-rolling.

:-p

mag-exercise tayo!

we caved in.we enrolled baby in the big muscles for little babies class.i wanted the other class (wee wiggle giggle), but their available class falls on baby's naptime which is at 1 pm.today was her first day.nanny said she liked the exercises, especially when they let her sit on the swing! i can imagine.she did not like the push-ups though.i wouldn't like it either! but we really want her to have all these exercises 'cos she cannot yet crawl :-( she cannot support her fat tummy... she can basically do everything that a baby her age is supposed to do, except crawling! so i hope this class can help!

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we can learn a lot from children:

A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires.
— Paulo Coelho

things i'm grateful for: 5 years!

so our four-day public holiday is about to end.it was fun and oh-so relaxing! on friday, we finally went to il caffe di roma where we had our usual breakfast brunch.ramadan is over, so cafes and restaurants are open once again during the day.yay.

eid mubarak

since it's eid (end of Ramadan) tomorrow, we don't have work starting today until sunday.my husband needs to go to work though.

if i were single, i would have hopped on a plane and go somewhere in southeast asia.really, i used to do this a million years ago.the cities in southeast asia are the easiest choice 'cos i don't require a visa.

things i'm grateful for: together in athens

day 4: bye-bye, athens

wow.time flew fast.

we woke up quite early and proceeded to the plaka again for our food and charm fix.

things i'm grateful for: together in athens

day 3: exploring the city

so on the next day, we went to the plaka again, to where our ascent to the acropolis would commence.




we passed by a church


and this artist

things i'm grateful for: together in athens

day 2: exploring the city

thank god our hotel was located near a tram station.me and public transport, we're not exactly the best of friends.i don't think you can blame me.we don't exactly have the best transport system in the philippines.i only know how to ride jeepneys, buses and tricycles.systems that don't follow any specified schedule.you just wait in a "kanto" (street corner) and pray that a tricycle would come.i didn't take the lrt in manila 'cos it was notorious for pickpockets and smelly cabins.i had to rely on friends who had their own cars to pick me up.a habit which followed me until dubai.

things i'm grateful for: together in athens

around this time last year my husband and i went on a long weekend trip to athens.we were quite so excited about it.who wouldn't be? this was where democracy was born, where gods and mortals interacted and where my good friend n lives. n is a local,a true-blooded greek.when he was in abu dhabi he would tell me glorious tales of his city, and of his glorious beach house in one of the islands.too bad we did not have enought time to go island-hopping.i'm wishing for that in the near future!

day one: arriving in athens

it's the start of the -ber months!

oh hello september! and a merry christmas to you, too!
(for those who don't get this greeting, please allow me to tell you that as soon as september rolls in, filipinos start getting ready for the christmas season.yes, it's the time to be merry and bright!)

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i went to virgin music store just to browse around (yeah, right) and i went out with a board book for baby and a cd of nursery rhymes.

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i've been watching this german show called "x-diaries: love, sun and fun."it's so trashy.i love eeet! it's like a documentary following different groups of people on their holidays.each one always has an issue or another.of course they're all talking in german, but you don't really need to understand german to follow the show.the body language of the "characters" can give you enough hints to understand what's going on. sometimes i had to ask mr t too translate as the dialogue seemed to be juicy to ignore.this week, they are in ibiza having fun.

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our cable provider has a summer promotion on which you can watch some videos on demand for free.mr t and i watched this horror flick "stir of echoes." now let me tell you about this movie.i initially watched this one years ago in a cinema in manila.i found it so scary that i walked out of the movie house.it's the only movie that ever made me walk out of a theatre.so i kept on telling my husband how scary this movie is, and when we finally watched it together on tv, he didn't find it scary at all.whyyyy??? and yes, i was still scared out of my wits.

31 Photos in 31 Days: Day 31

my nails were done by a girl called jiopai at nail spa in ibn battuta mall:-)

i can't believe that it's already the end of august! in short, mag chchristmas na sa 'pinas! BER months na kasi!

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baby has finished her baby class today.we still don't know if we would enroll her in another class (uh,it's pricey)...there are two options for her age.one class is called wee wiggle giggle and the other one is called big muscles for little babies.i'm more inclined to go for wee wiggle giggle 'cos the name itself makes me want to wiggle and giggle.not make wee-wee, though!

31 Photos in 31 Days: Day 30

we placed these small balls infront of baby to see which one she's going to pick up first.i was hoping she would pick the tennis ball.she did not.she picked the basketball!

31 Photos in 31 Days: Day 29

har har har

disclaimer: this photo is not mine.i found it on 9gag.com.if you are the owner of this photo, please let me know so you can be properly credited.ta!

31 Photos in 31 Days: Day 28

some weeks ago, my husband and i went to the newly-opened mirdif city centre mall.it was good.they have all these american brands that you don't normally find in other malls, and...they have pottery barn! yessir.the store of my dreams.before i would just browse online and salivate and wish, now i can salivate and wish inside the store in person! haha.i was kinda disappointed that i did not see their children's section.maybe it was still under construction as the shop was huge.



sometimes (like today) when i'm in a nesting mood, i browse through their catalog (and ikea's too).

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baby's friend a came by for a visit with her parents.they were looking at each other quietly.they're almost like twin sisters 'cos they're only a month apart and they're both half-filipinos, only a is fairer than my baby.baby's skin is like a mixture of my skin and mr t's.it's not white, it's not brown.it's like honey :-)sometimes i get amazed when we go out under the sun and she immediately gets a tan.after sometime, she gets back to her old color.as for me, as soon as i'm under the sun, i immediately get the color of a talong (eggplant).ayaw.