4th Installment of my Birthday Celebration

I never expected for a treat from the office for my birthday. But Tom and Sheena was persistent. For the Brittish, birthdays are meant to be celebrated. So Sheena, Tom and I had lunch at the Chocolate Kiss. I wished Frank was with us but then...

It was also saying goodbye to Sheena who will be leaving the company in a few days time. She just needs to finish with Frank's papers so she was extended a month more.

It felt happy and sad at the same time since Frank has gone and now Sheena. But amidst that, Tom made sure I still would have my birthday treat... Yikes! I'm reminded that I'm old again!

Today, I'm 27

I'm 27 today.  Seems really old but it doesn't matter because I am at the point where I could say I have enough.  I have my family.  I have a lot of friends.  I have work and I go to school.  I am fulfilling my dreams.  But among other things, this year I risked it in love.

Birthday Roadtrip
Today, I met up with Ron to go to Guintubdan at his hometown in La Carlota. Yikes!  I know, it is my day and he should be doing the effort to visit me.  But I didn't really plan on anything for today.  All I wanted was to spend time with family and with Ron.  I have planned to go to Mambukal and just laze around but my family is busy with business that I could not drag them to the resort.  So it was Ron who persuaded me to go to La Carlota instead.

Loaded his motorbike, we drove about 30 minutes from his house to have a nature trip and have relaxing dip in the cold waters from the falls of Guintubdan which is located in the mountain area of the city of La Carlota.  Sad about the place though is that it was not maintained very well by the government.  Picnic tables are dilapidated and the rooms are not available for rent because it was not cleaned, no beds available and it is used as a storage area.  The falls in the middle of the mountains is the majestic scenery that would just capture you.  It would take about 10 minutes to hike down towards the falls but it was worth all the wait.  Cold waters enveloped my being when i took the dip.  When we were there, the place was empty.  All the more that I got excited because I could strut my bikini without  having the whole town scandalized and the people talking and staring at me. I just don't want to be stared at.  The place is not Boracay that people are used to people in Bikinis. It was awesome!  After about 20 minutes, we were joined by a group of teeners so Ron and I decided to leave... hahahaha!!!

We then took our lunch at a Chicken place where we had loads of food with a bill so small.  Waaaaahhh!!!  I love the life at the province.  Cheap but tasty food....the life!

Before going back to Bacolod, we went back to his place to just pay courtesy to his mom and sister.  Just spent time at their place, with a good massage from Ron.  :)  So that is my day with Ron and how we spent my birthday together.

Birthday Dinner
Spent the night with my family at a sumptuous dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Bacolod, Apollo.  I miss all the good recipes like Ox Tongue, Sepo, and Fried Chicken with chicharon.  So following tradition, I urged the whole family to celebrate with me at Apollo.  We went to the branch at 888 when the main branch doesn't have my usual favorites.  We have requeste the main branch to call up 888 to check availability of our order and we were assured that they would be able to prepare all of them.  When we arrived at the 888 branch, the food was prepared and we have all the place to ourselves.  It was like the place was reserved for me!  The waiters are accomodating and they were willing to take our picture... it was a good night.

After that more pictures were taken at the big Christmas tree of 888.

So today, I am a year older.  I have aged but I know I am very much loved and blessed!

Sheena's Birthday Surprise

Tom and I (and with the help of Frank) gave Sheena a birthday lunch. Yesterday, I told Tom that we have to give Sheena a treat. The question is how to to ensure that she would be coming in. So I emailed and texted the boss at UK to text Sheena that someone will be coming over to get some important documents and thus she needs to come to work.

I got worried that she didn't came in in the morning. So I emailed her my greeting and reminded her of "Frank's Concern".

It was around 12NN when Sheena came in frantic because she thought she was late of a supposedly meet-up with a visitor. So when she arrived, I went to Tom and we are on our way to pull up the surprise.

Tom said to Sheena, "Cmon, lets go!"

Looking flustered, she was at a loss for words when Tom repeated the same invite.  I think that was the only time Sheen felt silent after so being talkative since I got to know her.  And then, I approached the two and told her the same thing and that's when she got the idea that there was no meet-up. It was all just a plan.

So we took her to Chateau Verde in UP but found the place closed. So we decided to take the 2nd option which was Dolcelatte.

Nice food, nice desserts, nice ambiance... everything nice!!! and oh! a whole lot of stories from Tom... that is Sheen's 24th Birthday...

Happy Birthday Sheen!!!


-o-
Poor us, we have to settle with my phone camera because we forgot to bring our cameras.

Cupcakes Heaven

It was planned for 2 days.  The deliberation as to whether to push it was more than the time spent for planning.  But the ultimate factor is that we don’t want the old man to feel that people has changed.  That people doesn’t want him anymore.  And I don’t want him to feel that the new man is more important than him.  Nothing beats the greatness and the wisdom of the old guy.

So just when we decided on putting it off and pretend that we had nothing for the old man, they gave the surprise for the new man’s birthday. So it was a emergency.  I was already in a panic texting and emailing Sheena and Tom of how we could do it in less than 2 days.

The Plan

            A lot of ideas came up until we decided on the seemingly easiest and less expensive.  The Cupcakes.  The plan was to give Frank 62 cupcakes from 8 till 5.  And we are to build a cupcake tower to symbolize his cake made of the 62 cupcakes he would receive.  So at every hour or so, groups of people per department come in at Frank office to greet him and give him a cupcake...courtesy of Sheena and I who were decorating cheap cupcakes at his pantry.

So at the end of it, we requested his wife to give the final cake which was a 6 in chiffon cake that we ordered and placed at the topmost part of the tower.  When his wife came it was when we started singing the Happy birthday song and the floor joined us like it was a natural thing.  Then we loaded the presentation we made and it was a sure hit. We had asked the Department Managers to use Frank in a sentence (regardless of meaning) and a lot of it were so funny... and the ending was a parade of Frank's pictures and how he has contributed to the company.

I don't know if he was teary eyed or if he cried at all but I for one got up in the middle of the presentation because I was welling up.  Then we feasted over the pancit which magnificently arrived just in time... ah.. it was really in the nick of time... so as the forks and plates that we requested Tom to bring.

It was a blast and it surely made Frank's day... mission accomplished!!!