Day 31 - Dog Lies Sleeping

My dad who is in New Zealand at the moment asked me to take a picture of our puppy (now looking more and more like a dog). I said I couldn't because he was sleeping. So he said I should take a photo of him sleeping. Ta-da!

J likes sleeping in this exact spot, just by the door. (He kicks the welcome mat away like that, too.) I think it's because this place is shaded, hence, cooler, and also because he wants to know when people are leaving. We can only speculate.

Day 28 - Too Many Feelings, Not Enough Chairs (Part 2)

So after the gig, we all went to Z&K's place as it's near DITO. There were so many of us, the only way we could fit in their house was by sitting on the floor. And nobody complained.

This is one of the things I love about Philippine culture--that camaraderie is more important than most other things. Z&K knew perfectly well that their house wasn't built to accommodate such big groups, but they welcomed us all the same. And they were such great hosts, too, letting everyone know where the restroom was and offering us all water and other things they could find in their fridge. I had a really nice time. :)

Also: The blog title is something my friend C said when she and some friends were at my house and some of us had to sit on the porch the chairs outside were too few. It seems no house ever has enough chairs for when a lot of people come to visit. And feelings are always too many. :P

Day 25 - Hand Drip Coffee

I managed to score some coffee from South Korea and the coffee bags inside the packets look like this. You pour the hot water into the bag and it works like a tea bag. The cardboard stuff on the side is for practical purposes, but also, coolness. And the coffee is super amazing.

When are these going to be available in my country?!

Day 24 - Old and New

The title of this post is Old and New as in this photo, I'm with new friends (and one old one), but we are hanging out in my house, which is something I usually do with old friends.

Then again, everyone here has been in my house at least twice already, so...

Day 9 - Pot Luck + Cooking in Our Kitchen

Yum! Don't they all look yummy? They all were. :)

So, technically, this was our dinner for Saturday night, but eating these extended until the wee hours of Sunday morning so I think it's fine to use this pic as my January 24 picture.

I hosted a farewell party for a dear, dear work acquaintance who will be returning to his hometown (forever!) in a few days. Since he's been our personal chef for the past four years we've known each other, we requested that he cook us something on his farewell party. He decided to make a chicken dish (it's the one on the lower right of the photo). He deboned it and everything. It's chicken stuffed with feta cheese, spinach and pâté de campagne, whatever that is. The sauce is a combination of orange and mango juice + my grandfather's Martini and chicken bone er, essence, I don't know what I'm talking about. Anyway, it was really, really good.

So that he wouldn't have to cook so much stuff, I decided it would be a pot luck event so our friends brought the other dishes. X brought the macaroni salad, which she made herself, too. The liempo on the upper right of the photo was brought by B. And the creamy garlic potato dish was made by me. All dishes received good reviews. Hooray! We are successful foodies!

R brought red and white wine and our desserts, from C and M, were J.Co donuts and Frozen Brazo de Mercedes.

Day 364 - Paellyeah!

New friends = new activities!

Today we had a paella party because we're now friends with K and his hobby, apparently, is cooking for others. Talk about a great hobby! :D

So this is me and a few of my new officemates in the dining room of my house, because we live in the middle of the Muntiparlas area and I guess that makes it the most ideal place for a party that involves people from those places. And, my parents are fine with having people over anyway. They even played Flamenco music because it suddenly became a Spanish-themed party with the paella and all.

BTW, crazy eyes expression on my face is due to my dad's corny jokes (that I've heard way too many times before!) during the taking of this picture.

---
Ako nang umabot ng 2 years sa 365 days project. Sorry na! Ang hirap mamili ng pictures and... I only have 1 more to go! How do you choose a picture that's good enough to be the last one?

Day 360 - A Fan! Finally!

After some years (Yes, years. Plural.), I finally have enough money to buy myself a new electric fan. You see, a few years ago, the electric fan in my room broke, and my mom bought a new one, but instead of putting the new one in my room, she put it in my brother's room instead, and put the old fan in my brother's room into my room, claiming it was because the new fan she bought was black, and therefore did not go with my room's "blue theme". I didn't buy that reason, but of course, she defended herself by saying that it's my responsibility anyway to buy an electric fan for my own room because I'm the one who uses it. Conveniently, she doesn't mention at all why my brother doesn't need to buy his own electric fan. I only complain because the old fan that she put in my room was broken, too, and the only reason it worked was because our housekeeper is married to an electrician who repaired it. But because it's also an old fan, it breaks down every 4 months or so, and needs to be repaired again.

Anyway, yesterday it broke again and so I thought I should just buy a darn electric fan once and for all. Luckily, I finally have some money saved up, and so off I went to SM and bought myself this fan. And it's blue so it goes with my "blue themed room". So there.

P.S. Aside from food stuff and the blouse I bought last Saturday, which was necessary for the Christmas party I attended, this fan is the first thing I bought for myself with my salary from my new job. Hooray!

Day 352 - Delivery for Dinner

Last October 28th was my parents' 32nd wedding anniversary. But because life gets in the way of things, we weren't able to celebrate it then. Fortunately, today, only a few days later, is a holiday, and we all happened to be at home. So I had the idea of celebrating their anniversary today instead. But my brother, who is the sponsor for tonight's dinner ;) didn't feel like leaving the house, so we had dinner delivered instead.

This is from North Park Restaurant. Yang Chow Fried Rice, Honey Garlic Pork Spare Ribs, Beef with Broccoli Flower, Sweet and Sour Lapu-Lapu, and Honey Lemon Chicken. Yummy yummy yummy. It would've been yummier if the Salt and Pepper Squid was available, but I guess you can't have everything. Maybe next time. :)

Day 319 - Shoe Disaster Area

Today is the 2nd day of celebration for the Penafrancia Fiesta, which means, lots of people in one place. Which I guess also means, lots of shoes near your front door. Can you tell how many people are in the house just by counting the pairs of footwear here?

Day 306 - The Coldest Day

Apparently, 6-degrees is a new record for Wellington, New Zealand. I still don't know whether I'm lucky to be here during this historic moment, or unlucky because you know, 6-degrees is just a difficult temperature to feel. :P

This is the clock/calendar/thermometer in the living room of my sister's house, in case you wanted to know.

Day 299 - Dairy

I don't know why, but they call convenient stores "Dairy" here. Anyway, this is the one across the bus stop nearest my sister's house. Although I wait for the bus often, I've only been inside it once. I bought a cookie. :)

Day 298 - Photo Subject

One of the best uses for pets, I have found, is that they are neutral topics of conversation, or that no one will think too much about your being anti-social when you're playing with them, and that they're the easiest to convince to be a subject for your photos. I don't mean that they're easy to take a photo of, but at least when you take photos of them sleeping and post it on the internet, you're not a bad person for doing so, and they're not going to complain about it. ;)

So this is Gianni, my sister's parents-in-law's dog. He's very nice and easy to take care of. He's trained and everything. Also, very cute, as you can see.

Day 297 - Laptop on Loan

Because I am poor, I have to borrow my sister's fiance E's laptop while I'm here. Lucky for me, he's got laptops coming out of his ears, so lending me this one for a few months doesn't interrupt his computer needs. At least, I hope not. Points if you can tell what movie is currently playing (not many points though because it's kind of obvious).

P.S. I think the red wall background is quite good for photo shoots. Maybe.

Day 293 - D.I.Y. Invitations

Why pay when you can do it yourself, or better, get someone to do it for you for free? Right? It's enjoyable for me to layout words and cut up paper anyway. :)

Day 280 - Out of Post-Its

How to make sure a message is read: Write it in big letters on a white board.

Or maybe my sister was just out of post-its. :P

Day 278 - Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, E cooked roast pork, so that his mother wouldn't have to cook dinner. Here he is slicing up the meat. Doesn't it look delicious? My sister Z thinks so, hence her smile in this photo.

Day 277 - Assembly

After lunch with my sister's friend A, we went furniture shopping. My sister and E finally found a wooden coat rack that they'd been looking for for a long time. Apparently, only one store in the entirety of Wellington has it (maybe this is an exagerration, but my sister did say that they've looked everywhere else). Anyway, this is my sister and her fiance E, assembling said coat rack in the living room.

Day 274 - I can see it, too!

So, I dare you to look at that view from the same window I'm looking at it and not want to take its photo. :P

For those of you who don't know, this is the view from my sister's house, which she also has taken pictures of before, so actually I've already seen it a lot of times, but I still think it's beautiful. It's the kind of view that you think you could only see in resorts and stuff, but here in New Zealand, it's the view of a residential area! Awesome!

Day 266 - Requisite Group Shot

So, I don't know how it is for other cultures and why it's like this in the Philippines, but nearly all gatherings, formal or otherwise, and it doesn't matter how long/short the duration of the event is, end in taking a group photo.

My cousin said that we should all go out again before my sister left for New Zealand, and during said "night out" (we just had coffee in Seattle's Best Coffee at Bonifacio High Street), she also suggested that we should go and check out our other cousin's new house, which they'd moved into only yesterday.

After giving us some sort of a tour of the house, we all went back to the living room and took this photo. I don't think it's strange at all because I'm so used to it, but I think maybe people from other countries (like my sister's fiance) found it weird.

Day 262 - And Happy Birthday Again!

And finally, the joint celebration of my mom and my brother's birthdays and the fact that my sister who is usually in New Zealand is here in the Philippines. Definitely enough cause to have lechon in the house. Yehey!

Though to be completely honest, I'm not a big fan of lechon, and would've preferred Inihaw na Liempo. But celebration is all about giving people what they want, and this happens to be the celebratory food of choice for most Filipinos. Right?