My best friend, who's a caterer, never gets to relax throughout the Christmas holidays as its the busiest time of the year for her. So last weekend (Jan 19 to 22), we went on a post-Christmas vacation to the city of Dumaguete for some much deserved R & R. It turned out to be a really really wonderful, laid back weekend (except for that hike we took!) and it was a great way to the start the year.
-- Watch out for my TRAVEL BLOG (under construction), where I'll write more about this trip and a retrospect of some favorite trips over the past few years! --
Aside from swimming, snorkeling, lounging, watching the ocean, eating, and sightseeing, we took the opportunity of being right by the ocean to do a simple ritual that we'd been wanting to do since 2007 kicked in: write down on little pieces of paper, all the negative things that we wanted to get rid of this year - and toss them out into the waters... hopefully banishing them forever. We didn't expect the little sail boats to actually drift out into the big blue sea... so we settled for having them crushed by the strong waves!
And so we wrote... "Away with impatience!"... "Away with anxiety!"... "Away with... etc. etc. etc."
And then we threw them into the water, watched the waves eat them up one by one, until we could see them no more. Here's to a better year for all of us!
I just realized that I didn't mention anything about the actual Pyro Olympics in my previous post. Well, all I could say is... it was worth the long wait!!! Each show was a magical and awesome 30-minute display of lights, blasts, colors, and resounding "BANGS!" :-)
The huge crowd present that night went "ooooohhhh" and "aaaaaahhhh" in a chorus. Children (and adults alike) squealed in delight. And there was the occasional "whhhhooooaaaa!" when a particularly impressive firework lit up the sky. WWHHHHHEEEEE!!! Hope there's another one next year! :-)
P.P.S. - Thank goodness we were smart enough to have our driver park far far away. I think it was a good 15-20 minute walk to the car, but at least we didn't get stuck in the traffic which could have easily taken anywhere between 2-4 hours!
Last Saturday, my friend, her daughter and I, bravely went to the Mall of Asia to join thousands of people to watch the last day of the 2nd World Pyro Olympics. We seemed crazy to push through with our plans, considering the horror stories of traffic from the previous year, but we really wanted to see the fireworks, so we said, "What the heck, let's go!"
We went as early as 4:30 pm, in order to secure our reservations at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf restaurant. Knowing that we would be in for a long wait, I brought with me some books, sheets of paper and my newly discovered Schneider sign pen (sorry, I'm such an office supplies geek!). While my friend and her daughter went into the mall to shop, I stayed behind at our table that had an excellent view of the bay and the slowly setting sun! I found myself in a brainstorming mood and scribbled page after page of ideas for various projects I am currently working on! :-) In other words, the view totally inspired me!!!
I realized that maybe all I need to finally write that dream book is to make the effort to go to Tagaytay or a nearby beach with a laptop and write, write, write! For that matter, I should spend more time writing or working in my lanai or garden for some sense of nature. :-)
Well, at least I finally got this blog "journle" going! Hehehe.
This is one of my new year's resolutions - creating and pursuing a blog! :-) Wish me luck.
And then we threw them into the water, watched the waves eat them up one by one, until we could see them no more. Here's to a better year for all of us!
