Pending Excitements

It's hard to be excited about something you can't really prepare for yet! Lou and I booked 3 trips in advance: Batanes, Boracay, and Coron, for mid August, late September and mid October this year, respectively. Obviously, they're months away and it's still too early to book for hotels or to plan out the day-to-day itinerary -- also considering the weather conditions in those months (but I'm really praying none gets canceled!), and the budget which we haven't set aside yet. Oh well. At least it's already June 1, I can now say "the next trip is 2 months away!". well, technically. hehe!

Another thing I'm looking forward to is another deal we got from www.cashcashpinoy.com ("another", because this is actually where we got the Coron trip) -- Only P250 for P500 worth of food and drinks at National Sports Grill!!! Since I promised Lou that I'll treat him to a birthday date worth P1000, and since - for some reasons - more than a month has already passed, we decided to divide it into 3 different feasible dates instead: Kung Fu Panda 2 - check!, inuman date - check! and dinner at NSG, where we'll use up this cashcash deal. We actually got two P250 deals, or P500 for P1000 worth of food and drinks!

(quoting Lou's line: ganon talaga ang birthday ko, matagal ang celebration. parang Ramadan!)

In case you're wondering when we'll use them.... well, it's not yet set. Coz I promised myself that I should first make 10 gym visits before having another pigout date. well well well! Tomorrow night is my 9th! :)
 

I. AM. FATTEY.

The free gym offer from Lou was the last straw (oh wow, this is my first time to mention "Lou" in this blog!). My Fatness finally sunk in - not when my cousins were telling me so, not when my officemates were joking that I may be pregnant (haha!), not when I myself felt that my pants are getting tighter and tighter (and my loose shirts are becoming baby tees). It was this - when just one morning, Lou said he's enrolling me in the gym. And it wasn't even an option. It was a statement. Gee, it felt like someone gave me a deo. haha!

As my friend's theory goes - if the term Fatness can possibly be involved, there's no way can you win an argument with a girl . funny how I used to disagree on this theory, but now, it makes sense. haha! I really am a girly girl after all! Anyway, I stopped whining and accepted his treat. It's - after all - FREE!

So there. I got up early morning then went to Gold's Gym glorietta. It's my 2nd comeback, and as expected, it was enlightening. I realized how much I missed the place, the contagious aura of active yuppies, the group exercises, the machines, THE SAUNA, EVERYTHING. well, except for the old cardio machines, and the smelly lockers (SORRY, GOLD'S GYM ALABANG BABY HERE! HAHA!). But, who am I to rant now right. I said I have no budget for this, then here comes a guy who can treat me to this awesome place. haha! All in all, it was fun and refreshing! It jump-started my work day as early as 8am! This is exactly what I needed! (Last rant promise: no more free towels! huhu!)

Anyway, Lou said that simply, he wants to enjoy the gym ...with me. Okay, I'll start believing that. working out together is sweet, fun and MOST IMPORTANTLY - HEALTHY! Or. no. wait a minute. I'm fattey. LOU ENROLLED ME IN THE GYM BECAUSE HE THINKS I'M FATTEY! (really, guys, there's no good escape from this argument)

...but it doesn't matter now. I'm looking forward to my next visit! hehe!

"Ha? Hindi naman a..."

Last night, I had my first workout of the year, the first workout after a month-long pigout! I noticed that the gym's a bit more crowded than usual — everyone wants to get their shape back, apparently. And in the locker room I overheard lines like:

girl 1: happy new year! you look great!
girl 2: hay nako, ndi nga e, 2 weeks ako kain ng kain! tumaba ako!
girl 1: ha? ndi naman a...

girl 3: Uy long time no see! san ka galing?
girl 4: nag pasko ako sa Japan e, ang dami ko nakain, kaya ang laki ng tinaba ko!
girl 3: ha? ndi naman a...

I'd roll my eyes normally (ano ba yan. handicapping, bola, fishing??!), but last night I was just so glad that I'm not the only one who feasted carelessly. LOL.
 

street dancing, revived!

I'm so happy that my fave dance instructor is back, now I'm into street dancing again! last night, after my street dance class (after more than a month!!!), I realized that indeed, street dancing helps me burn more, compared to cardio exercises using the usual machines. that, or I'm lazy with the machines... really, they can't let me stay for more than 20 mins! with dancing, I have no choice but to exercise for 1 hour straight! and, that's an hour of fun too! that alone makes street dancing better! I'm so glad it's back in my wed/fri sched! :)
 

4th of july weekend

last friday,our street dance teacher made a sweet tribute to Michael Jackson, by coming in wearing an MJ hat, AND by introducing MJ steps for ...Billy Jean! steps were harder tho, I had a hard time following them! and yeah there was a moonwalk part! really funny! hehe

After spending the night at the gym, I had a yet-another-solo-date at Misato, a jap resto somewhere between the gym and our office. I noticed I'm doing this almost every friday, and so I decided to setup a new blog that will be solely for my friday pigouts! you can now visit it here(misato post is already there)

*edit - I'll republish my food blog after I gather about 10 posts (OC-attack!)

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Saturday morning, I had brunch with mela and abby at Dulcinea, Casa Susana. then spent the whole morning bonding and chatting, coping up with so many kwentos! some pix:

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abby, me and mela


our continental breakfast

after our brunch, I went to makati to open up a BDO account to somehow "enforce" saving during payday weekends (I pass by BDO prior to splurging AND it's open during mall hours. perfect isn't it?) let's see if it'll work. hehe.

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tomorrow's monday again (how depressing. huhu)
anyway. thank God for a fun weekend!!!
 

weekend workout combo!

I had a vibrant weekend, ironically after dealing with friday's long travel, stress and vagaries aka client meeting: saturday - I played tennis after 8 years ÜÜÜ sunday - I did Bump and Burn for 1 hour (workout dvd of anne curtis and luis manzano. bwahahaha!) then sunday night - I managed to de-clutter my room again, by putting 3 huge bags of personal-sentimental-valued stuff trash straight to the bin! hehe. I wish I have this kind of energy EVERY weekend!

cardio striptease

yesterday I got to try cardio striptease for the first time! it was fun! and... to better describe it, I'll quote jemjem's line - "ah strip tease? so parang sayaw ng pokpok!" HAHAHA!

bhangra boogie - jai ho!

yesterday, Women's Health magazine temporarily held a bollywood dance class at gold's gym -bhangra boogie! can you imagine?? if you've watched at least one bollywood movie, of course you could imagine! and can you imagine ME doing it?? hahaha! YEAH I did try it, which was really funny! I can't help smiling big at first, as I recalled my just so recent indian-culture encounters --one, I just watched Americanizing Shelly. two, I just ate in New Bombay. three, my sister just got back from India, along with her travel stories. In each event, at least once I said "Indians always have this dancing portion in their movies, similar to pinoy movies except that their steps are repetitive, easy to remember, sooo distinctly indian just like this" then I'd wave my hands sideways just like in bollywood movies. hehe

the whole thing turned out to be a good exercise as it made me all sweaty. plus it really made me feel like I was a part of a bollywood movie, as the steps and music are so bollywood-y. Infact, the song we used is from Slumdog Millionaire's OST.

*edit - according to abby, the song's title is Jai Ho, you can view it here. Pussycat Doll's version (english remix) is here! click click! Opens in a new window!

And as the dance had more hand movements and kembots, I felt like I was able to give my arms and tummy some workout. and ironically, it eased my left arm from my terrible muscle pain previously caused by a vaccination. overall, it was really fun!

I think I'll appreciate the dance parts of bollywood movies from now on. Seriously, I can even dance with it. hahaha!
 

revisited lifestyle

 
yesterday I tried the Gold's Gym's Basic class for the first time. "Basic" -not an adjective, but "Basic" as in B-A-S-I-C.

prior to that I asked the girl at the towel counter what Basic's all about. simply, she said, it's the basic of everything --pilates, yoga, aerobics and street dancing. hmmm okay. since the whole day UAT assistance was sooo tiring, I decided to try this one thinking that it won't stretch my body to the limits.

but wowhoaa it soaked me wet! it was actually step aerobics, taebo, pilates, weight lifting and yoga --in that order. I wonder why it is categorized as L1 (low to medium intensity with easy to follow choreography) while street dancing is ML (multi-levels) ...when the former can make me sweat twice as much!!!? really, you shouldn't underestimate the word BASIC. or other words synonymous to that. hehe

anyways, this morning I felt *a little* of the muscles I used to have. or that "abs" and arm muscles I used to see under yellow light right after a good workout (gym buffs you should know what I'm talking about!), just means that this Basic thing is really something! from now on it will be under my must-attend class list!

really sounds good! this should be a good compensation for the 1 year baboyness! :)
 

hello again, gym!

I renewed my membership in Gold's Gym after a one year lapse --yeah I'm back to gym-ing again! I miss being health conscious, I miss the shape I used to have (not that I'm saying it's "wow" nice back then, but I can say that was sooo much better than what I have now!!!), I miss sweating a lot!!!

last monday when I entered Gold's Gym alabang, everything flashed back --the machines, the energy of the people, even the mood I used to have while working out. things before were really different, I was more optimistic, enthusiastic and motivated in life generally. see, having a regular excercise makes a lot of difference!

there were some things that changed though. good things :) like there are now more class exercises, conveniently scheduled for ppl like me who go out of work at around 6-6:15 pm. then there's now a sign near the weights area that says "Do not drop the dumbbells, it annoys everybody" hahahaha!

now there's also a shortcut from my office to the gym, as the driveway from madrigal to the gym's already done. It shortens my long walk by 50% -I prefer the warm up IN THE GYM, not in the long walk going there. and my rate changed too! from 33k per 14 months, it's now 31k. not bad (at least for me!)

I can't wait to checkout makati branch this saturday. I miss that branch too as much, that's part of my early yuppy life! I know it'll still be crowded compared to Alabang (and I know I'd say N times still that the locker room in Alabang's soooo much better) but for sure there'll be little things that will delight me.

I hope all goes well --BEFORE I START WITH MY SUMMER AGENDAS :>