Noel <3 Via

This is Ana

(fondy called Ana-chan- attaching chan to the end of a child’s name is a way of expressing affection in
Japanese), my only non-adult English pupil. Here we are having fun after our lesson. She really does love the camera:


She showed me her revolving sushi train. It was the cutest toy I’d ever seen and accurate to boot! It even came with wasabi and a little plate with paper soy sauce. And in true revolving sushi resto fashion, there were different colored plates which we assigned as the cheapest and most expensive. You could order temaki and all types of sushi (uni included!)

Ana demonstrating how green tea is drank.

We celebrated our 7th year anniversary early this year. And it was even more special because a dear old friend came to visit Manila for the first time!
We went to Puerto Galera for the first time and stayed at a beautiful, beautiful resort called Buri.

We went around Greenbelt, had our nails done at Nail Tropics in Serendra

then ended with dinner at Kabisera (a higher-end version of Dencio’s) at High Street.

The next day we set off very early for Puerto Galera not knowing what and eventful boat ride it would be! Total travel time was about 1 hr. and we had 30minutes of strong waves! So strong our boat had to stop 3x to ride out some. When water started entering our boat and the Korean kid got wet, I started to get quite nervous. Out came my trusty bohrer ding menthol stick. Patray (our visiting friend) who was beside me said: “What’s that old lady smell?” My nerves didn’t get any less bothered when the Korean kids started bringing out plastic bags to puke in and some people started to put on their life jackets. But we made it to the Muelle port and boarded our speed boat.

We all but collapsed in relief when we were greeted by this:

Since it was our 7th year anniversary and it was a lean season, we were upgraded to the best villa (the Buri Villa). This meant climbing to almost the very top of the hill that the resort was built on. (maybe 200 steps or so?)

But our final destination did not disappoint:

The resort food was quite nice, just the comfort food we needed! Patray and I had a coffee scrub and aloe vera facial before bedtime as we were too exhausted to do anything else. The next day we did a bit of exploring around the islands and rented a pedicab to take us around. We visited White Beach for lunch at Tia Maria’s and met Patray at Sabang for early dinner. Sabang reminded us very much of Camogli in Italia. It had its own charm. All too soon it was time to say good-bye, but we promised to meet again for our promised Mamma Mia trip! Maybe in Greece?

 

This was a generally good year with a lot to be thankful for and was also marked with a lot of firsts:

1. Noel and my first time to take ballroom lessons which started in January- I never used to have a love for dance before.  Rhumba and tango are my faves.

2. Our first time to take my family to La Luz for our 6th year anniv. in January and it was our treat. 

3. Our first time to go to Boracay with my family in April (it was the 2nd time for Noel and me) We stayed at SeaWind

4. Our first time to travel to Bali in May.  And we did it 2x! (For 2 different weddings)  The first time we stayed at Aston Bali for Mikka and Padu’s then at The Laguna Resort for Tovi and Maui’s.

5. We hired two new very capable helpers.  Thank God for them! 

6. I had my first party in a really long time. And it was themed Havana Nights where everyone came and danced the night away with the 2 dance instructors and I even had a tango number. Hahaha! 

7. The Tech Tote became available in a total of 11 stores! Major growth since starting out with just Powerbooks Greenbelt in 2007. (We launched three new lines this year: the Tech Tote Xtra, Mini and Ultra)

 

8. In September, Noel and I had our first surprise dance number for his Mom’s 60th bday. 

9. Noel made it to the top 10 finalists for the MMDA Landmark contest for Terminal 3.

We have sooo much to be thankful for! May this New Year be brighter and healthier for us all!