NAGALAND (of paper charmers & italian sodas)

Rarely a sip of soda (softdrinks as we Filipinos call it) in this English-themed diner and bar at the ground floor of Nagaland, one of Camarines Sur's many-a-thriving hotels located at the heart of Naga City.

The diner will not satisfy your whim for a soda. Not your ordinary canned sugary favorite anyway. It has better in mind. An array of original concoctions of fruity-flavored Italian soda mixes that you'd surely drown to the last drop. It's a bit pricier but who cares, it's new, it's fresh and tastefully done. A way lot better than your fave one..

And the food, not on your ordinary run of the mill menu too. It comes with poached salmons and cream dories smothered with buttery strawberry sauce. Madness at its best. 

Quaint, unassuming but at the same time a world of its own. Just sitting and killing time at the corner table, you'd be transported to another plane of existence not of your own. For a moment, you feel you're somewhere in the English countryside doing what they (the English) do best, enjoying the food and everything around with an attitude, 'proper' attitude.

And did I say that every table is adorned with paper charmer centerpieces? Shaped in hearts and  'not moving' pinwheels of different colors, they're bunched together in a bottle half-full of sand and stones. 

Cheesy but very well thought of.  

                                                                           

                                                                               

                                                      

The good man suffers but to gain

And every virtue springs from pain

As aromatic plants bestow

No spicy fragrance while they grow

But crushed or trodden to the ground

Diffuse their balmy sweets around

-Oliver Goldsmith

 

HEART to HEART

Blessed are those who have loved and are loved back for theirs is today. The passion, feelings and whatever they feel good to one another would be profounded with unspoken words, bunches of flowers, endless traffic of sweet text messages and of course, boxes of chocolates for the uber cheesy and  believers of love.

Blessed are they who have  hands to hold, shoulder to lean on, lips to kiss, someone to cuddle with and share a glass of wine after a romantic dinner or date. They are what this day is all about.

But more blessed are those who have loved and lost for whatever the reason was and for whatever it was worth. Blessed more are those who broke their hearts and got rained on with so much pain and hurting that came with love. 

Today more than ever, is theirs to celebrate and remember the past with a lighter heart and saying out loud 'I survived and ready to take a chance on love again'.

For today is not solely for those in love as of this moment but for those who have loved, lost and ready to fall in love and get hurt all over again.

Because if you did not get hurt in the past, you have not loved. And if you don't want to get hurt in this lifetime, then, never ever love at all.

'In the end, we only regret the chances we did not take, relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited to long make'

-unknown

PUSO-PUSUAN

"Di ba ga't maraming puso sa sagingan

May pusong saba, may pusong latundan

May pusong  tapat, may puso-pusuan

May pusong wagas, may pusong salawahan.

Ngunit ang puso ng magulang,

Ang syang tunay na nagmamahal"

I grew up listening to this song. Every February, the classroom is filled with this beautiful, melancholic melody. Our way of honoring the month of love and remembering our dearest ones with a song and doodles of hearts on paper. 

Now, I'm singing it again like a love song.

'We loved with a love that was more than love'

-Edgar Allan Poe

Photo Credits: 

www.loveqoutepicture.com

www.vectorss.com

www.santabanta.com

www.moderatefashion.com

VIVA REVIVA! (salubong sa bagong taon) ONLY IN NATIVIDAD

Viva! Viva! Reviva

An kaudgananan nira 

Nira Mr and Mrs ________

Nga nagpapasalamat

Nga hin-abutan pa

han tuig dos mil katorse

VIVA!!!!

Eto na naman ang aalingawngaw sa tahimik na baryo ng Natividad sa bayan ng San Policarpo, lalawigan ng Silangang Samar.

Eksaktong alas-dose ng hatinggabi, sa pagpapaalam ng kasalukuyang taon at pagdating ng panibago, ang katahimikan ng gabi ay pinupunit ng sigaw at ingay ng mga bata at matatandang lalaki na nagpapanatili ng tradisyon ng VIVA REVIVA na nakagisnan na maging ng mga kanunu-nunuan ng Natividad.

Dala-dala ang mga kaldero, hila-hila ang mga pinagtali-taling lata ng sardinas, ihip ang mga torotot, bitbit ang mga niyupi-yuping yero, mga boteng may lamang bato at iba pang bagay na maingay, nililibot ng grupo ang buong baryo simula sa bahay kung saan naninirahan ang pinakamatanda sa lugar at nagtatapos sa tahanan ng pinakamusmos sa barangay.

Ang aking tiyuhing si Kuya Andres ang nakagisnan ko nang pasimuno ng VIVA REVIVA. Kasama ang iba pang mga taga baryo na hanggang ngayon ay patuloy na bumubuhay sa tradisyon na tanging ang Natividad lang ang mayroon. Sama-sama, sabay-sabay na bigkas. Ito ang bersyon ng pamamaskong pagsalubong sa bagong taon. 

Tuloy-tuloy, walang pahinga, walang humpay ang VIVA REVIVA hangga't maubos nang 'pag-ingayan' ang lahat ng bahay, maliit man o malaki, nasa may dagat man, sa maybukid o sa sentro. Kaya naman ang bawat tahanan ay naghahanda ng kahit anong makayanan gaya ng kakanin, inumin, pulutan o pera  para maibigay sa grupo nina Kuya Andres na halos mawalan na ng boses sa unang araw ng bawat bagong taon.

At dahil bawat taon ay nadadagdagan ang kabahayan, halos pasikat na ang araw kung magtapos ang VIVA at saka paghahati-hatian ng mga sumama sa pag-iingay ang saku-sakong napag-vivahan sa buong barangay.

Walang makapagsabi sa aking mga ninuno kung kailan eksaktong nag-umpisa ang tradisyon ng VIVA. Mula sa aking pagkabata, namulat na ako sa kakaibang ingay ng pagsalubong sa bagong taon. Sa ngayon, may manaka-naka nang putukan ng kwitis at makukulay na pailaw dahil sa epekto na dala ng modernong panahon, ngunit tumitigil ang mundo ng mga residente kapag sasapit na ang bagong taon. Ang lahat ay nagbibigay-pugay sa kulturang hindi mamatay-matay hanggang sa ngayon.

Simple lang ang mensahe ng VIVA REVIVA. ito ay pagpapasalamat sa Diyos sa lahat ng mga biyayang  natamo sa paalis na taon. Ito din ay pagpapasalamat sa pagkakataong muling masalubong  ang pagdating ng bagong taon na may galak sa puso at walang hanggang pag-asa.

Ngayon higit kailanman, mas magiging makahulugan ang VIVA REVIVA dahil nalagpasan at napagtagumpayan ng mga taga Natividad ang bangis at dilubyo na hatid ng bagyong Yolanda. 

Ayon sa diksyunaryo ang ibig sabihin ng VIVA na salitang kastila at Italyano ay 'pagsaludo' at 'masigabong palakpak'. Ang REVIVA naman ay salitang Hebrew na ang ibig sabihin ay 'dew', 'mist' o 'hamog' sa wikang Pilipino.

Akmang-akma. Saktong-sakto. Ang VIVA REVIVA ay pagsaludo at pagbibigay ng masigabong palakpak sa pagdating ng hamog ng bukang-liwayway ng isang masaganang bagong taon. 

The best is yet to be

- Robert Browning

Photo credits: 

Top picks & Best bargains/ viewsfromaseafrontbeachhut/ 1234newyear.com/hhdwallpapers.com

WATERFRONT (lahug) INDULGENCE

 WATERFRONT Hotel and Casino (Lahug, Cebu)

It is expensive, and I don't want to know. It could make me penniless in no time. I am just lucky enough that all my stays here are FREE. Comes with the job.

The rooms are superbly appointed. The service, impeccable. And there's UNO, the ultimate buffet dining experience. The food, oh the food...it is what the likes of Chef Extraordinaire, food critic and internationally known author Anthony Bourdain could die for. 

It is luxury at its best. Just lounging in one of the lobby tables sipping a cup of coffee or Waterfront's bestseller watermelon smoothie will give you the feeling of being 'in' it.

And if you want to indulge and throw in some money, you can head to the casino or have your cash stripped at the duty free shop. Just remember to present your passport before paying for the Lacoste purses and shirts, Marc Jacobs perfumes and luxuriously sinful wide array of dark chocolates the hotel has to offer.

So, indulge while you still can.
 

'I always thought I could be treated like a star'

-Madonna

Photo credits: flickr.com

christmasing in DAGUPAN

Dagupan's Star Plaza Hotel @ Christmas time. 

Be a child once more.

He who has not Christmas in his heart 

will never find it under a tree. 

 ~Roy L. Smith

 

AHEAD OF TIME

I am not an urban rat. Never have been. Never will be. I’m a country girl at heart. To survive the city life and the dog-eat-dog world that comes with it for so long now is still a mystery, until now. I don't know how I did it and why.

It could be that I have to make a living so I have to sacrifice the very soul of me- my peace and quiet, my own paradise.

Few years ago, in a quaint countryside, I found my home and  found serenity in a place stripped with the comfort and glaring lights of city life. In a place where I wake up every morning to the chirping of the birds and the beauty of sunrise peeking through the imperfection of my window sill.

There, where the way of living is unhurried, laidback, calm, and free of the alarmist nature of mankind. For a moment, the world shuts down on me and my work and whatever I do that stresses me out take a backseat. My angry nerves surrender to the world around me. The place does me real good. Always.

There, in a house we lovingly built. All seven hundred bamboo poles of it, surrounded by 'kalipayan plants', fire trees and a century old Narra tree. 

I am not an urban rat. I am an artist. A lover of nature and the beauty that this world has yet to offer. I am a realist, but I find time to satisfy the yearning of my heart for poetry, inspiration and life.

I  am living a LIFE, but I can live without it. What I cannot do is live without my HEART.

I’m older, tired and sometimes, wasted. I’m tired biting other dogs’ tail but I could still be some local politicians feline. I’m ready to retire and be tucked away in that place i dreamed to be.

ANYTIME…

 'Home is the place you grow up wanting to leave 
and grow old wanting to go back to'

-John Ed Pearce