A beautiful poem

A friend shared a part of this poem to me.I googled it and found the complete version.

Echoes of our Heart 

Sometimes we close our eyes and just listen to the echoes to our hearts.

We all fall in love and there are times when we love so much

that we lose ourselves in our own emotions. More often than not

we wonder why they are love that grows and love that grows cold.

We would start to search for answers and try to find where love has gone wrong.

But in the end we find ourselves, where we started for we cannot question

love when it has its own reasons. Love will always be as it always has been ..

silent, mysterious and deeply profound.

Many of us believe that love is forever, that love never dies,

only to be disillusioned in the end when we find our hands empty,

and our hearts longing. We mistakenly have looked at love as a need to be

fulfilled. But love is only a gift given to us. We should not hold it in our hands

for we may never find the strength to let it go when it decides to leave.

We should only embrace its warmth and glow while it last

and then freely open our arms when its time to say good bye.

When we fall in love with someone, we dont want that feeling to end for it is

everything we are, everything that we wanted to be. We pray that

love will stay and grow in our hearts. But, if it doesn't then we should

never let our lives be taken by it, for life should not end where heartaches

begin.

There is always a reason why we have to move on. When we have to say

goodbye to the feelings we wanted to stay forever, let us not wave

our hands with a heavy heart. For love will have to set it wings

free and find the place where it belongs. We may have lost

it but then again, when we close our eyes and listen to the echoes

of our hearts, we will hear that feeling resounding silently forever.

Then we'll know that it has never left us, for the good that we

have become because of love will always stay. It will always

be there reminding us that we should be thankful and happy, not

because we have lost love, but because, for once in our

lives, that feeling lived in our hearts  and made us happy.

reunion

This is the most memorable reunion we've ever had so far. We call our group the Dredd Limited :) We're not just a "usual" barkada because we're a mix of magkakapatid, magkakapitbahay, magkakamukha, magkakaklase, magkakabatch, etc...in short, halos dikit-dikit na mga pusod namin :)

kikay version of our high school uniform :) 

Kiddos wore uniform too!

arti!

15 years of friendship and still counting  :) riot pa din sa picture taking!

Batch 1995

Batch 1996

Batch 1998

We had so much fun I couldn't help but look forward to our next get together :) Sana next time kasama na si Junitty and Maricel! :)

retrieved blog

I accidentally deleted my other blog account when I cancelled my google account. long story. Luckily I was able to find my back up file and retrieve my old blog entries, hindi nga lang updated. Anyhow, I will just sum up everything significant that happened from June 2010 onwards based on what I remember knowing that I'm forgetful.

Looking back,  I can say that my 2010 was fruitful naman. I'd like to repost what I've written in my not-so-active-other-blog-account:

Memories and learnings from 2010:


1.  I lost 20 lbs (never mind that I gained it all back towards the end of the year! hehe)
2.  I became a devotee of St. Pio
3.  I finally got to visit Baguio! twice pa!
4. Went backpacking in Bicol, Tagaytay and Boracay with family and friends
5.  Got a new phone with wifi! woot!
6.  Attended a balloon seminar

7.  New and renewed friendships

8. Started a business with my sis
9.  Learned to say NO
10.  Realized what I really want to do...
And as I move forward, I'm hopeful that 2011 will be a better year for me. I can feel it :) I also pray that this year will be a good one for my loved ones.

National Elections

I wouldn't miss it for the world!

It's the first time for our country to use the automated election and everyone is getting worried because some precints in different parts of the country are getting long lines due to delay in verification and defective counting machines. Some have to wait for 3-5 hours to vote and endure the hot weather. Hay, what's new sa Pinas! Ang labo ng sistema!

Luckily for me, there was no que in the precint where I was assigned to vote. There were no nuances in the whole process so it only took me a few minutes to vote and have my voting ballot registered.

So who's going to be the next president? We'll find out in a few days! :-)

UNFOCUSED

Recognize your limitations and know your priorities.

It may be a cliche but some people tend to forget what matters most because of useless external factors that tend to sway their focus.

If you have nothing to gain from it, why devote your precious time? I'm sure you got better things to do... After all, you can't turn back time.

The Secret Paradise

I never considered Bicol Region for a summer vacation. I thought that the only tourist spot they have is the perfect cone Mayon volcano which I've already seen when I was young.

When I heard about the Caramoan Island that boasts of its fine white sand beaches, I got curious and decided to go there with my equally adventurous friend Leah and cousin Coco.

From Naga, we rode a van going to Sabang port. And from there, we took a 2-hr boat ride to Caramoan Island (We were carried to the boat so we won't get wet). The boat ride ain't that bad 'cause we chatted with two friendly Caramoan residents Ate Carmen and Ate Ellen who answered all our queries regarding Caramoan. We were also busy staring at the cute guy sitting in front of us hehe:) super cutie!



When we reached the Guijalo port, we had to ride a smaller boat to reach the shore. We were scared at first, but what the heck! we were looking for an adventure and God is giving it to us! Woot! :)



Transportation available are motorcycles and tricycles. But the cute guy was fetched by a Montero! (hey! can we share a ride with you! joke! haha!) We took the tricycle and asked the driver to help us scout for possible places to stay in. A man in a motorcycle convoyed us and offered us hotel inns that didn't look too good so we decided to look for ourselves with the help of the tricycle driver hehe :)

To make the long story short, we took the long and less traveled road. A 6-kilometer ride ain't that bad 'cause we're loving every minute of our adventure :)



We didn't have a place to stay yet because we wanted it to be part of our adventure aside from the fact that we couldn't find a decent one in the internet. The well-developed Gota Village and the other island beside it were closed for Survivor Island-Israel. So we thought, why get scared? where's the adventure when you try to plan everything? :-)

Luckily, we found an available room previously occupied by a foreigner who had to go back home upon hearing news that a volcano erupted in Iceland, her homeland.



I fell in love with Caramoan during our island hopping. It was indeed a secret paradise.









We didn't want to leave the following day but we had to go back to Naga because we already made a reservation at Camsur Water Complex for wakeboarding. I didn't get to try it though because my period came the morning I was scheduled for it :(




We also tried the Bicolano pizza. Delicious :)



Wakeboarding!!! Leah tried it and enjoyed a lot! Coco didn't attempt to try it 'cause she's the clumsy, accident-prone type of person, just kidding! hehe!





And to top it all off, we only spent around P6500 for this trip. Very affordable compared to a Boracay trip :-)

My gosh, I love Bicol now! I'm definitely going back there ;)

Boracay for the 3rd time

I thought I won't be coming back to Boracay this soon but I found myself booking my plane ticket again for the summer. I couldn't resist Boracay. I love the comfort of being in that beach while getting everything that I need like I never left Manila. Yellow cab, grocery, Mang Inasal, tiangges, drugstore, bars, massage... name it they got it. The only difference is that you're stepping on a fine, powder-like white sand and smelling the sea breeze.

I got more excited when my sister, Let and her family decided to join me and my friends. Since it was already one and a half month away from my scheduled trip, I wasn't able to get them a cheap airfare and the same schedule as mine. They both came and left one day ahead of us which wasn't that bad anyway 'cause we still got the time to bond and enjoy the beach together. Plus they also got to mingle and enjoy the company of my friends (Marge and Teena) who were really easy to get along with.

Day 1. Lasingan time! (hehe!) Let and Ernest treated us to a lunch at Yellow cab. We didn't get the chance to freshen up and change 'cause Ernest already invited us for a drink at their place right after. My friends couldn't refuse! hahha! Aw!



Day 2. Island hopping. We went to Crystal Cove and Puca beach. Had brunch at the Puca beach and swam for a few minutes. Atleast in Puca beach, there were no algaes. Hay sarap!






We went strolling...




Had buffet dinner. Unlimited shrimps+crabs+talaba=allergy




Day 3. Let and family already left for Manila. Me and my friends swam and drank the day and night away. We agreed to go bar hopping in the evening but we only managed to visit two bars! must be the age! hehe!







Visit to Boracay won't be complete without watching the fire dance! galing nila!





Day 4. Time to leave Boracay :( sniff :(



I'd like to believe that Boracay will remain the no. 1 getaway beach resort in the Philippines. For how long I'm not sure. I hope that the future generation will still get to see and enjoy its beauty. If not, there are still many beaches in the Philippines that are yet to be discovered, developed and explored (hopefully not exploited, hehe!)

My family is planning to go there in October so I'm gonna see you again soon Boracay! :-)