Diary of a Surprise (with post scripts)

August 18, 2010

FB Status: Genefel Ober my day is almost done :)

August 18 at 8:33pm via Mobile Web

At around 10:30 in the evening, I was already into my last task for the day – a conference call with our Ernst & Young contact in New York. All went well and good. By a few minutes past 11:00 pm, my workday was done!

I went to my favorite chill-out place: The Old Manila Coffeehouse (Dela Rosa St., at the back of the SGV office), and had my very late dinner. I wanted to reward myself so I acceded to the friendly waiter’s suggestion and ordered their specialty for the month: Beef Caldereta, paired with a healthy fruit shake.

It was almost midnight when I got back to the SGV office. I’ve decided to stay over instead of go home since (a) I would be less tempted to oversleep and risk missing my flight, and (b) it’s more convenient and safe to get a cab to the airport from SGV because the cab’s plate number is logged by the SGV guard.

I went to my desk and worked on getting my forty winks.

August 19, 2010

At 12 midnight, I sent my SMS to Mama greeting her a “Happy 65^th birthday!”. Of course, I thought that she’d be asleep by then (but later learned that the blinking light of her cellphone for new messages woke her up early in the morning).

I posted my Out of Office message in my SGV email and my cork board.

That’s Marlin, the blue fish that traveled all the way from Oman to Makati, 
courtesy of my best friend Shirley…

and my SGV anniversary balloons (which I incidentally left at the after-party; fortunately, the staff were kind enough to bring them over to my desk).

I love posting “OUT”, especially if it goes with something like “Vacation Leave”.

By 2:30 AM, I double-checked my stuff (I didn’t bring much – just my birthday gift bag for Mama, my office bag and the Vietnam paintings inside the tube). I’d already changed into jeans and red shirt, and had my infinity wrap (i.e., a very versatile wrap which can be styled in infinite ways; the nice girl from Memo showed me at least eight ways to twist and tie it; I got the one in black)

…Ready for my Mission: Surprise!!!

Our kindly kuya guard helped me get a cab to the airport. I was there in no time at the NAIA Terminal III. I got the Cebu Pacific promo fare and booked this as early as May 29. (Mission: Surprise was a ‘leap of faith’ three months ago.)  

FB Status: Genefel Ober is going home to Iloilo (in a few hours) to surprise her mom on her 65th birthday...Happy birthday Mama!

For the rest of the surprise, please click 'Read more'.

Cupcakes to Try and/or Love (Cupcakes by Sonja)

Cupcakes by Sonja
...it's a different take from the usual mini-cakes: smaller than usual, sweeter than usual, and ofcourse  more expensive than usual (most probably due to its 'pioneer' advantage in Manila --- though there are some who would refute this)...

If you're more on the sweet once-in-a-while-sinful-treat-side, try these out.
(Cupcakes by Sonja is located at 1st Level Serendra Retail Area in The Fort)


With all the hype (you know us Filipinos -- with that "I want to be in" mentality --- I advise the curious ones to level your expectations. There may be some form of "brand" factor contributing to all this hype which may not necessarily translate to "amazing" quality or your "bowled-over"version of perfection...Also, consider that since the bakeshop is starting up and batches are baked from scratch, cupcakes may not taste the same every time; in short, you could be unlucky trying it out in a 'bad cupcake day'...


So just chill and enjoy the mini-cake as it is. If you can, try to be oblivious to what you've heard and read about it. Then probably, you can appreciate it more. Even probably say, 'it's worth every penny'. (But don't push it alright? Just enjoy...)

(Red Velvet Vixen)

"A traditional southern cupcake made with Belgian cocoa and cream cheese icing"

A part of the proceeds will go to the Philippine National Red Cross

(Vanilla Sunshine)

“A Classic and Fluffy Yellow Cake topped with Blue Buttercream icing.” 

...my favorite of the four I've tried so far simple because it's blue!

Which part of your life did you dream into being real?

If I can extract a secret from your dreams, can I steal it forever? Or just because it's yours, I only get to share it with you?

Which dream do you want implanted to be part of your reality forever? Do some dreams seem real just because you've chosen to believe that they are?

You have a choice to forget a dream or a reality, but can you choose your reality when you failed to live out your dream? 

When you cannot remember the inception of your dream, can you remember its ending? Or did you make it up when the reality of waking up settled in?

If the meaning of this life is in how we live out our dreams,  then why are some things or someone only really alive in our dreams?

Which dream are you in? The second level down? The third? The real one up there?

My two cents on the Inception movie: 

In the same way that not all will fully understand and appreciate it in its entirety, one can watch this movie over and over again and come out feeling worked out in different depths. 

There is no one way to re-tell the Inception story just because there are infinite ways to pick out the threads of dreams and realities each time.

Sweet dreams...

Juliette Has A Gun's Lady Vengeance

I love my new perfume!

While it can't be helped that our preference for classic perfumes would make us smell like every Jane (i.e., more appreciation of standards over pop, even in scents), I prefer to smell "unique" on some days. 

I did some research on new entrants and close-to-niche scents and found "Juliette Has A Gun" (JHAG).  It has five interesting variations: Miss Charming, Lady Vengeance, Citizen Queen. Midnight Oud and Calamity J (There's even the Purse Bullet - the "rechargeable" vial version of the perfumes). Unfortunately, only the first two are available in Rustan's Makati. (Check out the website - http://www.juliettehasagun.com - for more information and updates.

When my friend Lovella and I went grocery shopping last weekend (July 25), we dropped by Rustan's to road-test Miss Charming and Lady Vengeance. I decided I like the strong curious twist of the latter. Lady Vengeance started with a quite intimidating punch; after a few minutes, this turned powdery and smelled just right enough to wear everyday and yet still spelling out E-M-P-O-W-E-R-E-D. I fell in love with it! 

On the other hand, Miss Charming smelled sweet and innocent like freshly picked roses from the movie-perfect English garden, and with more of the fruity juicy spritz. While that would represent my "nice" side, I thought that I have enough colognes and EDTs in my stash to answer that.

The Lady Vengeance scent lingered for the next four hours or so (after grocery and right before dinner). Since I believed that I've done enough homework about JHAG and the scent-test proved the good reviews right and the not-so-good reviews good enough to pass, I decided to purchase my very own bottle that day.

I love how JHAG romanticized the rose from Romeo and Juliette's tragic love story into perfume versions. Indeed, this is Juliette with a gun! … Obviously, this associates more with the modern movie version which starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, rather than the classic original. And that adds more kick to this perfume's charm.

 "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

The bottle is packaged in a cylindrical gift box topped with a black bow (with JHAG inscriptions). I did some cutting and re-tying in my own bottle to highlight its black bow. 

From the JHAG website for "Lady Vengeance": 

A perfume with a rich and sophisticated trail. The expression of undeniable femininity, confident and divinely sensual. The fragrance of a Lady for whom the art of seduction bares no secret. He can smell...he can dream...but the decision lies in her hand. The very elegant but thorny Bulgarian Roe marries patchouli and vanilla to draw a fine elegance, both contemporary and inevitable. 

The Lady Vengeance bottle is black with silver white and pink inscriptions (perfect gun-inspired for the vengeful Juliette).

Love it! Love it!