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Yes, I love you. Flaws and all.

Turning 26

Birthday celebrations are my favorite. This is because of the fact that you get to be the star of the day! My birthday is an extension to the many holidays/events in our family. The fact that it's the 2nd day of the year also means that there's still lots of leftover foods from new years and people are still full. But that definitely was not a hindrance from spending my 26th with a bang! It's definitely my best birthday yet!

We spent January 1 and welcomed by birthday at Sea Residences. Things were really going well for me since the day before my birthday, my family was able to meet Paul's family. My mom was very happy she got to meet baby Abbie - you probably have seen her in my previous posts. It wasn't formal at all but it was such an unforgettable event.







At 12 midnight, my family and I ate pizza and pasta while doing video calls from our close relatives back in Mindanao. I missed everyone so dearly! And the fact that they stayed up so late just to greet me is very much appreciated.

The next day, the entire bunch + Paul and my other relatives had lunch in Dampa. Again, it was very near Sea plus there's really no traffic that day so it was pretty awesome.

Paul and I had our "birth-date" which we do during my birthday or his birthday. For 3 consecutive years, we watch MMFF during my birthday and I would have to say that the movie we watched this year is by far the best! We watched Seklusyon. I will not talk about the movie but it's soooo great and mind-boggling that you might find yourselves hooked and googling for answers. I saw some really nice reviews on Facebook. I don't know if it's still showing but it's definitely worth every penny.
Going back, Paul got me a very nice bouquet of roses plus two of my favorite perfumes as a gift. My love is such a generous one, I'm so blessed. He even brought me to a planetarium wherein we watched stuff about space! It was a very cool date!



For dinner, we had a reservation at Yurakuen in Diamond Hotel. I like the Teppanyaki setup and I do think it's perfect for a dinner birth-date, hehe. Well, I was definitely not mistaken. One word, wow!


It was an unlimited buffet of Japanese goodness. Ranging from sushi buffet to seafood to steaks cooked right infront of you by your own personal chef! They even have the most delicious ice creams too! How cool is that?







Paul and I definitely enjoyed the nice experience. We were so full afterwards that we lingered a little bit in Diamond Hotel's lobby to play Mobile Legends - cause we're cool like that. ;)

And of course a date wouldn't end withou a good cup of coffee. We went to Starbucks Harbour Square to cap off the day. This specific coffee house is also very special for us. Apart from it's nice view of yachts, we went to this place 2 years ago before going to Tagaytay for iur 2nd anniversary. It's always a delight going back.

It was such a wonderful day and I've got such a big smile reminiscing it.
2016 has been very big for me, it opened me to soo many opportunities, stretched me to become the best version of me yet, and gave me so much happy thoughts to remember. For 2017, I declare that this will be even better! Family, friends, love, career and life-wise, everything will be nothing but amazing! Let's keep the positive attitude and live each day as if it's your last.. live it well, live it full.

Happy new year everyone! God bless us all. :)

Xoxo,
Ellie

India 2016

So this is a long overdue post regarding my India business trip last year and I'll try my best to be very detailed because I'm kinda missing the 'suite life' right now, hehe. But nothing beats my room and nothing beats home! :)

The trip was unplanned. It was so unplanned that I was informed about it just 2 weeks prior flying - and I had to take care of my visa! Good thing there's this thing called e-TV visa which allows 1 month travel to India including the purpose of casual business visit. Getting my visa wasn't hard at all. I was able to manage it in one day (yes! that fast!) which made me prepare for the other important stuff (like my clothes etc.) If you want to know more about it though, please visit their site.

It was my first business travel out of the country and I'm not really the heavy packer so I kinda tend to pack really light (and incomplete!). Thankfully, I have an OC (haha!) boyfriend who helped me pack. Like he literally got me my luggage and business backpack + helped me with my 2-week supply of groceries. He even got me some cutesy stuff that though I consider unnecessary at first, I figured out to be really helpful in the end. Sadly, he wasn't able to bring me to the airport since he had to work on a Sunday. But instead, my ever supportive family made sure I got there on time (early if I must say).

 I was with a colleague, Carmel, and we boarded through Singapore Airlines. The whole trip was a total of 9 hours (with a 2-hour layover in SG). I didn't mind the long hours though. SIA made sure we enjoyed every minute of flying. 'Friends' kept me busy the entire time I was awake.

We arrived in Bangalore at around 11:30pm (India time), but if converted to Philippine time, it was already around 1:00am. I remember being very very tired, but the sight of our hotel definitely did not disappoint! As a matter of fact, it was pretty amazing! My room let alone made me feel like a princess! Plus the staff, they are super nice! Of course I know they are trained to act that way, but I really think they are going the extra mile most of the time. It shows.

And although most of the time we had here was work-related, we definitely did made sure to enjoy the opportunity and taste local Indian food! Luckily, we had the best counterparts who were so accommodating and really made sure that our trip will be an unforgettable one.

India was amazing! It has such a rich culture that's so diverse! It's very interesting to learn that whatever their ancestors have started decades back, they are still doing up until today. If given a chance, I would want to go back again - perhaps not a business thing anymore but more of a personal travel to see more of what India can offer.

After my 2-week trip, I was welcomed warmly by Paul who picked me up at the airport. It was so sweet of him since he had to work early just to ensure he'd be able to pick me up on time.

I surely missed him and my family as this trip was the longest I've been away from them ever. :p

Surely Paul kept calling me Stephen Curry the whole time that day, he's just so funny! 

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo,

Ellie