One of my favorite restaurants in Makati is Conti's no doubt. I first heard of this restaurant when we surprised my former boss with a gigantic Mango Bravo cake at work. I got intrigued by the cake so I hunted a branch that's near my apartment and so the love affair with Conti's began. I would usually come to Conti's when I want to eat some comfort food or when I want to indulge in the sweet embrace of its varied dessert or when I celebrate something special like a birthday or something.  

Inspiration board is a simple way to gather your ideas about a project together in one space like a corkboard, a wallboard and the like. By pinning items of inspiration to a board, you're able to see at a glance the direction you want your project to take (more like Pinterest). Inspiration boards are common among creative professionals, including artists and designers and now it's common to everyone who have been using the online tool mentioned.

Here are a few inspiration boards I made using my WeddingWire account:

Photos by:

Photos by:

Photos by:

Photos by:

Photos by:

What do you think of my inspiration boards? Please do share what websites you use to create interesting inspirations boards. Yes, you guessed it right, I am starting to look for inspiration now. Only because, I am a planner and I think planning way too early is better than being stressed bigtime. Have a great day!

And oh, let me leave you with the wedding video of the famous Matt and Ginny: 

Singapore will always be one of my favorite place to visit. Here are some more of the pictures I took when I was there last month with my Danish boyfriend, Christian. Yes, we both love to travel!

What's your favorite place in Singapore? Have you walked around and found interesting places and streets you never thought you'll see? Please share so we can explore them when we go back. 

Just thought I'd share this interesting video I saw a couple of days ago. In late 2011, Rick Genest became part of a campaign entitled "Go Beyond the Cover", promoting Dermablend professional makeup products, appearing in a video where a makeup team covered all the tattoos on his head, torso, arms, and part of his back in its concealer product, with the cover-up process video documentation played in reverse to show the concealer's effectiveness.

By the way, in case the guy looks familiar to you and if you are wondering who he is, he's the famous Zombie Boy (Rick Genest) who starred in Lady Gaga's Born This Way video. He is a Canadian artist and fashion model born in Montreal. He's got interesting body art which I don't dream of getting but I like the power of the concealer used.

Where can I get Dermablend products here in the Philippines?

Part of my Sunday routine is to visit the Legaspi Village Organic Market. I would go there to buy fruits, fresh produce, cut flowers or just about anything and eat a hearty lunch. I always go for the native delicacies and the grilled fish.

Yesterday, I went there after breakfast and so the various food on display although looked and smelled delicious weren't really attractive to me at all. I was there to just buy some flowers for the vase. I picked up some orange and pink gerberas and a bunch of red peruvian lilies. I didn't buy roses because the stems were cut too short for my tall vase. I then bought some asparagus (I was imagining asparagus wrapped in bacon or prosciutto di parma at the back of my head). Anyway, I'll just probably blanch it and enjoy it just as it is (no oil this week).

I decided to go around one last time and saw two blenders whirling with green juice/smoothies. I have been wanting to start cleansing for a little while now. I am not ready for the whole Juju cleanse thingy yet so I said to myself this is a good way to start. I approached the Rawlicious  stall and checked out the flyers and got so interested. They offered free taste so I tried one of their bestsellers, Green Monster Xavier. It tasted so good that I immediately ordered four 500ml bottles. I was kinda wishing they sell it using glass bottles (it will be more expensive maybe but then again it would be more Earth-friendly). Anyway, the smoothies were made fresh and so I just had to wait for a couple of minutes so they can pack my order. The Green Monster Xavier I ordered was made of organic greens (spinach), pineapple, banana and ginger. And oh did I mention that there's no weird aftertaste? Each 500ml bottled smoothie costs Php105 (around US$2.45). 

They have other concoctions and some of the interesting ones are: Hella Green, Joe's Green Mind, Green Dream Casanova, Green Lover Luna, Bitter Sweet Xavier, Seriously Green Federico, Green Peace Pedro, and a lot more. Pretty unique sounding green smoothie names yeah? I am sticking to the Green Monster Xavier this week which aids in digestion and also acts as anti-inflammatory as well.

I'm not one to shy away from vegetables or green juices. In fact, one of my favorite juice is a combination of celery and carrot (tart, tangy, sweet). While writing this blog post, I managed to drink 2 of the bottles I bought. Is there such a thing as green smoothie overload? I have listed down my orders for delivery on Tuesday and Friday already.

If you want to try some green juice, you may visit Rawlicious Green Smoothies at the Legaspi Organic Market every Sundays at the Legaspi Park in Makati. They are near the park gate in Salcedo Street across the Renaissance Building. I've linked their website on top. They also deliver in the following areas every Tuesday and Friday: Makati, The Fort, Rockwell, Pasig, Greenhills, Ortigas, Mandaluyong and part of Quezon City. Minimum order is 1 pure liter of green goodness. You may also text 09178301RAW or email rawliciousplanet@yahoo.com for more information. Visit their Facebook Page to interact with other green smoothie drinkers and the owners.

Cheers!

Last month, I traveled to Southern Mindanao to introduce Christian to my family. As soon as we arrived, we had dinner: 60kg roast pork, dinuguan, grilled milkfish, seaweed salad and mango float for dessert. He enjoyed his first ever Filipino spread. I took a picture of him beside the "lechon" but it was blurry. After that, the kids took the camera away from me and they were the ones snapping pictures of the people who were there and needless to say, I don't have any decent picture to post here.

The next morning, we went to church and then went home to change right after and prepared to go to Lake Sebu in South Cotabato. Here are the pictures:

Last Tuesday, I went out to dinner with my coworkers and some colleagues from Boston (Abby and Tim). We met around 6PM at the Venice Piazza in McKinley Hill (very close to where we hold office).My boss chose Sweet Pea to be the venue of our dinner. Sweet Pea "A Chef's Kitchen" is an unassuming cozy restaurant that serves American comfort food among others. You know, the kind of dining place that is painted in mute yellow, with quirky pieces in open cupboards, designed like a 70's diner with some modern touches here and there.  Vintage frames adorn one side of the wall and chairs were old school designed too. 

I bought my copy of Cosmo Magazine and there were a ton of swimwear in different cuts, colors, styles and design as part of their annual swimwear special. One of the featured brands is Soak Swimwear.  I have seen Soak before and their current designs now are motivating me to shed a few more pounds so I can don one or two or three of the designs available now.

Anyway, you may check some designs here:

They have nice collections. To see more colors and design and for pricing, please click the links I provided above for the Multiply and Facebook sites. Happy summer! 

Christian brought different sorts of chocolates for me when he came to visit and the only one I have finished eating as of now is the Anthon Berg Gold Box Edition. There are 34 chocolate pieces in every layer and there are two layers in this box. Anthon Berg is one of the oldest chocolate manufacturers in Denmark by the way. 

I was browsing through our pictures of our last full day in Singapore and realized that I held on to the camera for the entire day because I only have a handful of pictures (maybe about 5 the most). The Sentosa Island day was all about Christian and me behind the camera. I wish I took some videos but I guess I was just too shaken by the Mummy Ride that all I could muster after were a few clicks and flashes.

We started the day early, we did not even eat any food. After Christian's morning coffee, we went to the Raffles Station to transit to the Outram Park Station and then head to HarbourFront Station. There were still so many people even if it was a Tuesday. We decided to avoid the throngs of people going to Sentosa Island aboard the Sentosa Express and opted to use the Boardwalk. We had a leisurely walk although it was a very humid morning. It was just a little disappointing that not all travelators are working. Anyway, we got to enjoy the Boardwalk view and we only paid S$1 to get to the island.

The first order of the day was to go and enjoy Universal Studios as much as we can. There were no lines as we got to the place a little over 10AM already. Christian wasn't game to take pictures with Frankenstein and Kung Fu Panda with me so we hurriedly passed by the Hollywood area and went to experience the Crate Adventure.

The Crate Adventure is a river-boat ride inside a big make-shift ship with the characters of the movie Madagascar. In the same area, there is King Julien’s Beach Party-Go-Round (carousel). If you would like to buy souvenir items aside from the photos during the meet and greet, you can check the Penguins Mercantile wherein they sell keepsakes inspired by Madagascar characters. We had a picture with the Penguins but I didn't like it so I am not posting it. Themed restaurants are Marty’s Casa Del Wild (serves Southeast Asian favorites) and Gloria’s Snack Shack (serves Japanese rice bowls and seafood).

Probably the most popular among the visitors is the Far Far Away, not only because of the Far Far Away-kingdomlike atmosphere but due to the several attractions in the area. They have the Shrek 4-D adventure (which we enjoyed so much), Donkey Live (sing along with donkey in an interactive live show), Enchanted Airways (a roller coaster which we did not ride) and Magic Potion Spin (kiddie ferris wheel which we big people are not allowed). Inside the Shrek 4-D cinema you will see, hear and feel (spiders, mists, water and of course Donkey's sneeze). The story revolves around the revengeful ghost of Lord Farquaad. I enjoyed it just the same when I and Olive watched the show last year.

The Lost World houses the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, Canopy Flyer (inverted roller coaster, I was scared that my shoe will fall off), Dino Soarin' (kiddie ride on a Pteranodon), Amber Rock Climb (you get to scale the walls and explore), and Waterworld (one of the BEST live shows I have ever seen in my whole life - it's like seeing the Kevin Costner movie in real life). We had our lunch at the Discovery Food Court. There was a giant Dino in the middle of the restaurant. Food was not cheap but the Chicken Rice was a hit for me. I am now craving for the soya milk I tasted there. Does anyone know where I can buy it here in the Philippines?

The Ancient Egypt has the Revenge of the Mummy Ride as it's frontrunner (you face warrior mummies in an indoor thriller roller coaster ride, fire bursts, crawling digital roaches and mists). I shouted in fear so much that Christian was all too worried I might just keel over and die on my seat. We did not try Treasure Hunters anymore because I was too shaken up by the previous ride. I felt like throwing up but I managed to hold it in and keep my poise. It was crazy seeing my picture with fear all written over my face. Hahaha! I just laugh about it now. By the way, because of the nature of the ride, everyone was required to leave any bag and camera in a free locker. It is available for 30 minutes. I am not kidding but I almost forgot my locker number after the ride (Christian had to remind me). In the same area, a souvenir shop and restaurant are available, kookily named as Carter’s Curiousities and Oasis Spice Cafe.

We only decided to ride the Transformers Ride at the SciFi City. Christian said I might finally die if we ride the huge-ass rollercoasters. It was our favorite ride amongst all the rides. I thought to myself we better not ride the Battlestar Galactica (Cyclon and Human) anymore as I might just finally give in to my tummy. We then headed to the New York Area to take in some sights and watch the Lights, Camera Action hosted by Steven Spielberg.

We then decided to take the Sentosa Express so we could go to Imbiah and take the Cable Car Ride to go back to HarbourFront Station. We were set to meet Amayah and Eddene at the Esplanade. We got back to our hotel and I had a warm bath to calm my still scared nerves. We really enjoyed our day. we had so much fun!

Have you been to the Universal Studios Singapore? What is your favorite ride?