My Ayala A-card should be expiring this month, & I'm actually happy for the easy renewal requirements. Application should be easier this time around, so you folks should go for of it ASAP.



I guess I should take advantage of my discounts while I still can from The Spa (10% for every cash & card purchases on services & memberships; P200 off for every service worth P1000 & above), Fully Booked (10% for every cash purchase of regular items), Nike Park & Nike Women (10% on regular items only), Strip & Browhaus (10% off on cash purchases on products & a la carte services), Timezone (P160 for every P200 Powercard load, hehe, I'm such a kid), to name a few. Since I'm either at Greenbelt or Bonifacio High Street more often, yay. I hope when I drop by later today such offers still apply.

not another shop-til-you-drop summer bazaar

Ohayo again! I'm sorry for being gone for a very long time (for the nth time) — I am that swamped with work & it was only last week that I was able to finally slow down & take a break, but not before I had to reunite with my high school best friends, with matching sleepover, even if I really didn't get any shut-eye. But I'll be posting all my overdue reviews this week, & I'm excited. This summer's the most promising, so far. & to prove that point, look at what I found out at the last minute:

So one of my most ardent clients Jenny Lee just texted me a couple of hours ago saying that she joined this huge bazaar this weekend at the Rockwell Tent, & today's the LAST day. I'll be scoring a complimentary pair of shoes from their line Prêt-à-Porter, & I'm happy for their big launch! We were talking about it a few months ago, & she even remembers my size! I've got huge feet now, & depending on the brand I shuffle from 9" to 10". & to double-check, because I'm just about to get cool Iron Fist flats locally, my silly feet should be about 25 cm., hehe. (HINT, HINT.) I'm glad that Jenny's line can cater to plus sizes, yay. I hope her gift fits me! ♥

Aside from my gladiator flats, strappy sandals, & old Nikes, I basically live & breathe in flip-flops, because I like comfort above everything else & I'm still bordering on androgynous like that, though I saved myself the agony of going to the Make Your Own Havaianas event this year. I hope I won't get claustrophobic later at the SuperSale Bazaar, but let's see. Since I desperately need a wardrobe update, I can't wait to check out more girly shoes & swimwear there even if I'm not yet in shape for that (who cares? I'm swimming alone in a secluded beach!) & I can't wait to check out Jenny's footwear brand because I remember her saying comfort was also what they so had in mind when they developed their styles. Hooray.

Now this SuperSale Bazaar at the Rockwell Tent looks pretty interesting because not only credit cards will be accepted, but also proceeds of the tickets will go to the ICanServe Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides hope, help, & information to women (& men? *gasp*) diagnosed with breast cancer. So, yay, shop for a cause. There are supposedly over 100 brands to choose from, discounted up to 90% even on selected items. & don't worry about missing Sunday Mass later, as there will be one held at 3pm at the Annex.

If you print that online poster/flier, you might get 20% off the ticket price. But you (oh, we!) can also get in for free by presenting either a Xend waybill from anytime this month or a Fitness First membership card (haha, this might just work for me!) or by wearing an ICan Serve t-shirt. But the ticket price is only P100 anyway.

I hope that when I get there, they're still giving away eco-bags, & that I can snag a PicturePerfect photo booth souvenir, & maybe I can win something from their raffle draws (which will be thrown, like, every half an hour).

Maybe I'll just devote the rest of the day to myself. Get pampered, mosey along MUJI & Fully Booked then proceed there, then resume my writeups, then collapse at tonight's Irie Sunday gig at B-SIDE at The Collective. Lessee if I survive the abominable summer heat outdoors.

one-stop noodle houses are love

Happy New Year! I know, I've been gone for so long & I have a very serious blogging backlog for my other space, too, but here I am again. I've so much to tell you over the coming weeks & I'm really happy about a lot of things. ♥

But first, let me tell you about my new super-awesome happy place, & I'm not kidding. I can go back there every single day of my life from now on, but since I need some time out for myself at least every other day of the week, I can only go back just as much. But it's the place to be, especially on a quiet weeknight, & I knew I should've posted this bit much, much earlier. Anyway, the secret's out, & let me count the ways why I so love Wabi-Sabi Noodle House & Vegetarian Grocery in The Collective in Malugay St., Makati City. ♥

When I first walked into this quaint, quirky little restaurant sometime November, during a Taurus Full Moon, I was already full from my tuna pasta dinner in Serendra after picking up my new Legacy of the Divine Tarot deck. But to my surprise, I found out I could actually enjoy both ramen & pho in this joint whenever I wanted to! This was quite a big deal for me, considering I have to go to certain noodle houses for either my ramen or pho fix, especially when it's that time of the month again & emotional eating can't be helped, ugh. I even splurge for those (think Umu & Aquaknox) IKR. But yay, everything's reasonably priced here! Plus the fact that everything they served was vegetarian made it all the more delightful. I eat vegetarian or seafood pasta & salad every chance I get when I'm out, even if I still enjoy meat dishes at home & gorge on food in general just the same! So I went back after a week with my brother in tow, then another week with one of my best friends, & then practically dragged one of my tarot pals back to the place shortly after that before the holidays ensued (& they were closed anyway for a long time until after New Year's), & we couldn't stop hanging out ever since. It was truly love at first sight then first bite, to be cliche about it, haha.

I've tried almost everything in the menu except for their banh mi sandwich & lemongrass iced tea, & I seriously love everything I've tasted! Their shoyu ramen & pho are priced at PhP95, & their new addition to the menu, miso ramen, should be around PhP105. A friend of mine loves their miso ramen best, probably mainly because of the buttered sweet corn in it, while I'd have any of them soup bowls everytime. I also love their gyoza & steamed buns (PhP45 & PhP25, respectively) for that distinctive mushroom taste (if you order the asado variety, & I'm a shiitake junkie like that) & their Thai milk tea (PhP45, too, if I remember correctly).

To cap off the vegetarian theme, Plants VS Zombies fans can buy miniatures as inspired by the game, made locally. There are also magazines from PETA that customers can leaf through, & a mini-grocery is by the counter. Try also their yummy bottled drinks from Bundaberg, P65 each. The brand's ginger beer, sarsaparilla, & peachee are bestsellers. Wabi-Sabi also sells eco-bags (& more people should use less plastic bags, seriously) & I totally like what I got recently from them.

I'll always recommend this place because not only is the fare superb & the very staff friendly, especially Ms. Tess (though please bear with them if the service is slow, especially on a packed weekend night), but also the background music is my kinda thing (either you get Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californation — though I'm really more of a Blood Sugar Sex Magik fan — or Cibo Matto's Stereo Type A or Pearl Jam's Ten, if not reggae or ska samples playing). I can always be myself here, no holds barred, & I'll always feel so much better everytime, especially after a hectic afternoon or so. & yeah, this is another affirmation that vegetarianism can be really fun & easy (READ: nonthreatening), to begin with.