Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.
We had an incredibly fun whole-day tour around the Art Capital of the Philippines early last February, which just happened to be National Arts Month!
My officemate, Billi, who lives in Rizal, thought it would be a good idea if we all went on this little artsy trip. She set the whole thing up ('coz she's awesome like that). :) Kuya Lito, our tour guide, brought us to the best places, and we are so grateful.
Aside from E and I, the group included our highschool classmate - Gia, Billi, her friends - Estee and Monch, our SSI friend - Nikki, and a couple of UP tourism students who were there to "observe" us for their thesis. Such a diverse group. :)
We went around national artists' houses, museums, art galleries, a life-size-sculpture factory, had lunch at an exotic restaurant and looked at ancient rock carvings. All that, plus, we were extra lucky because we got a rare chance to meet some of the very talented artists living in the area.
It was a very visual day for us - one of those days that made me extra grateful for the gift of sight. A whole day of immersing yourself in beauty does wonders to the soul. And the passion that these artists have for what they do is just so inspiring.
We have stayed in Manila for almost 8 years now and we have always been hospitable when friends / highschool batchmates from Cebu visit Manila. Last February 26, Rej Cabanilla (together with the Cabanilla clan – yes, including baby Yana) was in Manila for 2 events: her NCLEX exam (which she passed.. congrats Rej!) and to support her brother and the CCNSHS delegates (our high school alma mater) in a Rube Goldberg contest.
The 17th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta this year was held during my birthday weekend (February 9-12, 2012) at Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga. Last year, we weren’t able to catch the hot air balloons since the morning flight was too early (or we were too lazy.hehe) and it was too windy during the afternoon/night flight (read about it here). This year, we promised ourselves to go back early morning just for the hot air balloons and go home right after to catch up with sleep. So that was the plan, to go there on Sunday, which perfectly fell on my birthday.
On Eliel's birthday, I thought it would be fun to post something different. So I browsed through his photos and came up with this little survey about his hair. You see, I've been with this guy for 4 years now and he can't seem to stop messing around with his hair. He's actually more adventurous than I am in terms of hairstyling. He's been encouraging me to cut my hair short, but I can't. Not yet, anyway.
If you haven't seen my Facebook post, here it is. Ta daaaa.
Our new home in cyberspace, that is. :) We are happy to announce that you can now find us here:
www.thestoryofus.com.ph
This is such a huge milestone for us and we are so excited for what's ahead. Yey for having our own .com.ph domain! It looks so cool, we can't get over it. It's so easy to remember now. Yahoo!
We've also done a little bit of tweaking in terms of layout. Hope you like it just as much as we do. Our new banner photo was taken at the La Paz Sand Dunes in Ilocos Norte. It's not the most perfect photo because we didn't expect it to be windy. Hopefully we get to shoot a better one soon. :)
For now, please save our new online address and do visit us once in a while! See you around!
Much love,
&
With our birthdays just a month apart, Yza and I decided to do a joint celebration this year on the weekend midway both dates. Amongst the normal celebrations (e.g. lunch/dinner treats) for different groups of people, the one for the high school batchmates here in Manila was something different. It was the perfect opportunity to finally push through with the Enchanted Kingdom plans since this has been pending for quite some time (not that long ago, just 8 years).
Last January 29, the 8-year plan was finally realized. With two cars and eight people, we headed to the place where the magic lives on.
Lady, Chai, Sir Tabat, Rach, Gia, Ness, Yza, Eliel
