Daddy's Day

Just days before Father's Day (celebrated first sunday of September here in NZ) I was handed "golden tickets" to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory! It's a long story how this happened but to put it simply, it was a case of blessing in disguise as well as being in the right place at the right time. I was flabbergasted!


No.1
Tickets were for the PREMIERE showing of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". My first premiere movie in New Zealand! Geez, it's taken me this long to go to one of these again! Back in Manila I went from one premiere to another so you can imagine how huge this was for me.

No.2
Perfect timing! It was Father's Day but all I had planned til then was to take the family to Prego, an Italian restaurant. I had not even organised myself to even think about a gift for Edwin. But suddenly, I had a plan! The movie premiere would just about make father's day a little more eventful than initially thought.

No.3
Tickets were free! I'm not really sure how much movie premiere tickets cost here but I wasn't gonna worry about that.

No.4
Ooooohhh the anticipation! I thought, "Imagine what it would be like! Cerise will have a blast!" But that exhilaration was short lived after a colleague warned me that movie premieres here are not as glamorous as I was probably imagining.

So okay, we went. I must say I was not THAT disappointed. I guess I can even say I was impressed. Not sure if it was because I no longer made huge expectations but anyhow, it was great fun. There was a beautiful set up of the factory...

ooompa loompa picture taking...

LIVE oompa loompas (who scared the hell out of Cerise!),...

goodie bags...

and lots of celebrities whose names escape me but one... Shayne Cortez whom I actually voted and cheered on in Dancing with the Stars (NZ version).... uh, yup, I was actually texting like crazy to vote for him... guilty of succumbing to insane reality tv shows . He was sitting two rows in front of us and the girl from Footballers Wives was with him but for the life of me I just couldn't remember her name...still don't.

Oh and the movie? Notice that I haven't said a word about it. No reason for me to rave about it really. It didn't quite entertain me as much as the original movie did. In fact, we still watch the original version at home, like, over and over again and the three of us are still fascinated by it. Don't think this remake will find its way to our DVD shelves though.

I have a new fix.

It's THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY by Marian Keyes.

On Friday there was no stopping me from buying a much-needed warm, snappy and feel-good book. That meant browsing through the fiction shelves. A daunting thought (I'm a non-fiction reader). Normally, I'd rely heavily on the popularity of the author or book reviews. But seeing that I don't really know anymore who writes these days and haven't had the time for book reviews nor am I updated with Oprah's Book Club since Sex & The City wrapped up, I had to trust my gut instincts. And to make life easier, I narrowed down my choices by only considering those with the "Top 100" sticker.

Marian Keyes. Never heard of her. Maybe I should have but oh well.

Even when I've succeeded to focus on one author only, the task at hand remained to be herculian. Plenty to choose from, all seemingly capable of rescuing me from my "lifeless" state.

My gust instincts did not let me down. The book is so good and funny I've traded my sunday retail and manicure therapy for it! I haven't finished it yet. And it's funny how I can't wait to get to the end and yet I worry that I'm half way through already.

Banana Guard

An auction site offers entertainment.

Hilarious Q & As!

Trade Me is New Zealand's eBay.

Click on the title and have fun!

ASIAN CUISINE

14th september

It's been ages since I last heard from Angeline, a good friend who left New Zealand for love. Well, it's only been less than a month but to friends, that's a century. I kinda miss her right now so I'm inspired to write about another circle of friends who I call "Asian Cuisine".

Yvonne who is Malaysian; Opal who is Thai; Angeline who is half Japanese - half Samoan; and yours truly a Filipino. Unlike me, they've all practically grew up here - having studied, worked, found love (or still finding one) and given birth.

I met them back in 2002. This lot is probably the closest I can compare to the friends I left in Manila. Perhaps because of our asian connection but I think it's more to do with these girls being as carefree and funny when it's time to chill out but who also mean business when they need to. In the span of three years, we really didn't call each other or hang out a lot but when we did, it was always a blast. By that I mean, crazy and wacky and dangerously silly.

When Angeline announced her decision to live in Samoa (until further notice), it hit me real hard. She is one of very few girlfriends here in NZ I can really count on and with whom I can totally be myself without a care in the world. We've shared plenty of girl talks and have been each other's consultants for any aspect in our lives - may it be fashion, health & beauty, shopping, relationships.... okay well, those are the only things that really make up "girl talks".

All she had to do was fly to Samoa for a quick christmas holiday but when she came back, she couldn't pack and ship her stuff fast enough to be with THE ONE...

I thought to myself "I wish I'd hung out with her more often". But it was too late. She had fallen in love and had been swept away by her knight in shining armour, like, literally! My second thought was shock and disbelief that she was going to drop off everything... for love. Quickly followed by a third thought, "of course you are! You're in love! Yup, been there, done that! So off you go!"

Still, it wasn't easy counting the days to her departure. It was the first time it dawned on me how very very few friends I have here despite embracing NZ for nearly 6 years now. That thought was horrifying, almost to the point that I resented having gotten a little too attached to this person.

But what do you do? You snap out of it, grow up and move on. C'est la vie!