R E A D I N G  Gideon Lasco‘s “Day Hikes and Nature Walks from Manila“. I couldn’t stop thinking about this book ever since I saw it on Sir (or should I say, Doc) Gideon’s instagram account (actually, I might have seen it on someone else’s ig account). Anyway, he’s the man behind Pinoy Mountaineer, which I find the most helpful and most organized site, where one can see uber detailed guides in climbing most if not all of PH mountains. They even indicate which ones are limatik, lipa and rattan free and which ones are not! My brother and sister, being the more experienced climbers among us, insisted that we go to ROX today where my sister bought the book!

W R I T I N G  a more personal entry on my Journey app. If you haven’t heard of it yet, try it! It’s a free Chrome and Android app with a very simple and neat interface where you can pour your hearts out without having to worry about privacy. I’ve been writing on my journal too, but typing really saves so much time! haha

L I S T E N I N G  to the sound of our electric fans and to the light-buzzing sound of my sister’s air-con unit.

T H I N K I N G  of convincing my father to put up a small design business once he retires (just like what their brand managers suggested). Of course, I’d be very much happy to help out. It would be a dream come true for me–being your own boss (I mean, having your dad as your boss eerrrr), doing what we both love doing! I mean, c’mon I would love to study over and over again if it’s going to be all about art & design!

S M E L L I N G  nothing last night, but banana fritters this morning!

W I S H I N G  for more free/sponsored workshops on photography, graphic design, or anything artsy fartsy and more DAYHIKES and probably a PULAG climb this year!

W E A R I N G  my lime green GH shorts and my “spread the love” shirt

L O V I N G  these android games, “Good Pizza” and this  old school game turned android game, “Bomberman 2016“. Also loving the apps, “Vocabulary Builder“, “Our Daily Bread“, “Bitmoji” and these collages I made for my friend’s birthday yesterday. I’ve delayed making this for about a week, but the good thing is, I did manage to make 2 in time for her birthday!

W A N T I N G  to finish our trip itinerary and to have our visas processed this week! Please pray for us!

N E E D I N G  some peace of mind still, and a whole lot of inspiration!

F E E L I N G  blessed that we got to spend time together as a whole family again! My brother went home for the weekend before he goes to a conference tomorrow and leaves for Boracay on Tuesday. While it’s obvious how fleeting time was for us, I’m happy we went to Church as a complete family again, held hands, hugged, had lunch, got stuck in traffic before finally having dinner at one of our favorite restos, Cafe Lidia. It makes me want to say that truly, the best things in life are free and the gift of family is one of God’s greatest.

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I've been living here in Marikina since birth and this is my first time to eat at Cafe Lidia. I never heard about it before and I was so happy because my friend introduced this cafe to me.

Last week, I posted in FB that I'm craving for cake. My best friend commented that she wanted to eat too. So, we decided to go this place since we had time. In the end, we ordered nachos, pasta and an appetizer and mocha sansrival.

Yesterday was my tita Jenny’s birthday.

It’s that time of the year where the family likely goes out for a little treat from my tita. Well, maybe “little” is a wrong word since my tita always goes all-out when it’s her birthday. Like last year, we celebrated my tita’s birthday at this hidden Italian restaurant at Marikina City called Café Lidia.

Café Lidia used to be a mini restaurant concealed at the confines of Marikina City. The vibe at Café Lidia was very relaxed, dim, and mellow. Café Lidia still had that chill ambience when we got there yesterday. But to our surprise, the place was suddenly bigger. Oh, what a year could make! The restaurant, I thought, was overextended so it could accommodate huge group of diners and more families because they are the usual customers at the resto. The inner part of the restaurant could hold up to 15 people per table. So it’s safe to say that it’s really built for huge gatherings and feasting. 

Because Halloween is fast-approaching, the place is also decorated with typical Halloween stuff such as pumpkins and cobwebs.

My tita immediately made a banquet of an order when we were settled at our table because the foods at Café Lidia take time to serve. While waiting for our orders, we used the time to roam around the newly improved part of the eatery. We were delighted to see a landscape of mini waterfalls beside our area. It was beautiful because since it’s new, the rocks and the water were very clean. We took the time to have photo ops there and rode the swing.

(This is part two 'cause this time I went there with Carlo Miguel. Read the part one here.)