Everyday Life

Challenge Accepted.

October 19, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 2 Comments

I’m going on a diet and my target weight loss is 50lbs. Frank and straightforward – I believe that is the only way to say it. I wish I were more excited about this, but maybe that will come when I start to see results.

To keep myself motivated, I have enlisted the support of my husband. The deal is that by the time I hit the 50lb weight loss mark, he should have already quit smoking. He accepted after I reminded him that he has A LOT of time to work on it.

How do I plan on doing this? The right way, of course. Time to develop better eating habits. More fruits and vegetables, less sweets and refined carbs. Time to kick the soda habit and to save fastfood for cheat days. Time to go back to that good old calorie counting and food journal habit. Lucky for me there are now apps that serve as both a calorie counter and food diary. Don’t you just love technology?

And of course, since misery loves company, I have every intention of blogging about my 50lb challenge. And maybe eventually I’ll post my real weight. Maybe.

*Chumsy*

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Another Super Saturday

October 15, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

Because I have every intention of resting early so I can finally fix my sleeping habits, I decided have my Saturday treat a little earlier today. Although my day was spent at work, I allowed myself to take some time off for leisurely activities in between tasks. Spent a good hour or so making my first ever papercraft toy while chatting with our sounds and lights guy this afternoon. He is now stationed on a shelf at the office, standing guard.

Aren’t you a little short for a Storm Trooper?

We left the mall for a bit to take a quick peek at our setup at Westgate for the BFF Pet Event tomorrow. Our Creatives Department really did a great job on our Halloween centerpiece, a magical castle with a life-sized wizard. Will be posting photos of our BFF and Halloween setup after tomorrow’s event. Praying for good weather and lots of attendees. I also hope a lot of people come over to have their pictures taken at the castle while it’s up. While at Westgate, Mica and I stopped by UCC for some cake and coffee. I ordered my favorite Red Velvet Cake to share and a Hot Caramel Macchiato. Mica had an Iced White Chocolate Mocha.

Mica already took a spoonful off the whipped cream on top before I got to snap a photo.

My favorite drink in any coffee shop – Caramel Macchiato!

I also got myself a little something on impulse today. I’m really happy about it and I’ve no regrets. Although, I really need to stop buying things out of the blue, especially things that cost 4-digits and above. Oh well. I’ll just have to pack lunch for the next month or so to make up for this one.

Hope you’re all having a fabulous weekend!

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UCC Coffee Café, Westgate
Unit C 801-802 Westgate, Filinvest Alabang
Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila Philippines
(02) 771-1550 (02) 771-1549

Go Green!

October 13, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 2 Comments

My green tea chocolate obsession started when my former boss made me take that first bite of Green Tea Kit Kat. It’s too bad she got me hooked with just one taste, because these are only available in Japan and Hong Kong. I actually found some a few months ago in a Japanese restaurant in BF, but a small pack there costs 300Pesos, which is beyond ridiculous if you ask me. Still, I’d been thinking about the stuff so much that I almost gave in to that expensive pack of green tea goodness. Luckily, my better judgement prevailed.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and you can imagine my excitement when I discovered that Royce had just opened in Town Center. Finally, green tea chocolate within walking distance from home! I excitedly rushed to the counter and asked the guy for a box of Macha Nama Chocolates. My heart broke when he told me that they didn’t have any in stock yet, but he said I should come back in a few days. Weeks passed and every attempt I have made since then to get that one box of green tea chocolates turned out to be failure after disappointing failure.

Tonight, I was greeted by a pleasant surprise – Mr. C came home with a box of Macha Nama Chocolates just for me! I finally got my fix of the melt in your mouth green tea chocolate goodness I had long been craving for. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I really am lucky to have a husband who tolerates my snooty food preferences.

If you haven’t tried Royce chocolates yet, I suggest you get your hands on some real soon. These Japanese confections are just too yummy for words. Apart from the Macha, the Champagne Nama Chocolates are to die for as well. You should also try their the chocolate covered potato chips. So addicting! And yes, all this drama over chocolate. That’s me!

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ROYCE’ Power Plant Mall Shop
Stall 318A R3 Powerplant Mall,
Rockwell Center, Makati City,
TEL: +63-2-492-5051

ROYCE’ Greenbelt 5 Shop
Level 1 Greenbelt 5,
Ayala Greenbelt Complex, Makati City,
TEL: +63-2-489-6946

ROYCE’ Trinoma Shop
Third Level (Mindanao Side),
Trinoma, Quezon City
TEL: +63-2-394-5242

ROYCE’ Eastwood Mall Shop
Level 1, Eastwood Mall,
Quezon City,
TEL: +63-2-409-1354

Super Saturday Nights

October 9, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

When you work in events management, weekends are usually nonexistent. I think this is a happy problem, because too much work is better than no work in this industry. It all boils down to how you can make your schedule work for you, and how you manage to de-stress. After all, there’s nothing worse than seeing a stressed out, overworked, tired, cranky person standing in the middle of a supposedly fun activity. Now that I’m working in a mall we actually only get one day off in a week, but we’re lucky that our rest day falls on a Sunday. Thing is, most of the time we have activities on Sundays so my weekends, or rather, my rest days have become fewer and further between.

I’ve been doing events for about 7 years now and have tried everything from corporate events, social functions, concerts, seminars, awards ceremonies, weddings, birthdays, name it. I’ve been through many levels of sleeplessness, and at one point, I actually had to work 21 days straight. Things are getting even busier now as the holidays are fast approaching. The funny thing is I really love the job and everything that comes with it, including the stress and the erratic schedule.

Since I don’t want to burn out too quickly like I did in my previous job, I decided last night to follow one very basic rule – I MUST HAVE MY SATURDAY NIGHT. Meaning, whether or not I have work on Sunday, I should make sure that I spend my Saturday night doing something I like. There will be Saturdays when I’ll need to stay late at the office or at an event, and owning my Saturday could mean having anything I want for dinner, or treating myself to a good cup of coffee or a nice drink after work.

I unknowingly started this Saturday night thing last weekend, when my boys and I had dinner at Mona Lisa. Had a glass of wine with dinner, which is not something I usually do when we go out with Tristan. But that one glass of wine really helped me relax, and I actually slept like a baby that night. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to stop by Santi’s before heading home after work yesterday to get a bottle of wine and some cheese and cold cuts. Like I said before, I’m lucky to have a husband who gives in to my snooty food preferences.

I ended up taking home a bottle of Sangiovese, some Brie and Dutch Edam, Salami Milano and Parma Ham. Yum! When I arrived home, mom had a pot of awesome Oso Buco on the stove, so I had my DIY deli platter and a glass of wine as a happy appetizer. Then I treated myself to some coffee crumble ice cream for dessert, to cap off my high fat, high calorie weekend treat. And yes, I slept like a baby again last night.

Even if I had to work today, I still feel like I got my weekend’s worth of R&R. And I am so looking forward to next Saturday.

What do you guys do to unwind on weekends?

Wanderlust

September 15, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

If there’s one thing I miss about my previous jobs, it would have to be all the wonderful travelling. I’ve been to many great places around the Philippines for work over the years – Cebu, Davao, Baguio, Boracay, El Nido, Cagayan de Oro, Linggayen, Puerto Prinsesa, Clark, Subic, Batangas… And the list goes on.

It’s been nearly six months now since I started my new job, and looking at it on a day-to-day perspective, the location and the fact that I’m now based in one fixed area is ever so convenient. I seriously miss travelling and staying at nice hotels and all that, though. My wanderlust has been activated, and I think this was brought about by our wedding weekend hotel hopping experience, which I completely enjoyed.

Over the past couple of days, I’ve been going through photos of nice vacation spots and bed and breakfasts and hotels in Manila and nearby provinces, looking for nice little getaway spots that the Hubs and I can easily sneak away to. I’m also looking for a great deal on a honeymoon vacation destination that we hopefully will get to go to by next year, around the time of my birthday. Am thinking maybe somewhere in Bohol, since I’ve never been there before? Bellarocca looks pretty too, but I’m worried there might not be much to do once were there already.

For a quick getaway, Tagaytay is always top of mind since it’s so close to home. I’ve always wanted to stay at Discovery Country Suites, but the price is pretty steep. We’ve already tried Boutique Bed and Breakfast, which was pretty ok. There are a lot of B&B’s sprouting in Tagaytay actually, and I’m pretty intrigued by T House and Lee Boutique Hotel. Of course, there’s always that option for a quick overnight getaway at one of the nice hotels in the city.

Oh how I wish we could plan a monthly escape. Then again, that might be a bit too much.

*Cue daydreaming*

And So Begins My Sugarcoated Life

September 14, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 2 Comments

For some reason, I can’t keep to one blog for a long period of time. I’ve been through maybe four or five already over the last 10 years, jumping from Geocities to Blogspot to Tumblr to my latest effort on WordPress.com. It took some time for me to get used to WordPress’ interface, and just when I was finally happy with how my blog looked, my site got suspended due to a supposed violation of the terms of service. Ironically, I discovered that the site was blocked after not being able to log on for about a month or so. It’s so disappointing, and I feel kind of rejected.

Ironically, my blog prior to my move to WordPress, “Hooked” powered by Blogger is just sitting on my dashboard, waiting to be un-deleted. Because of this discovery, I tried to access my old blogs, both of which are on Blogger. Lo and behold, they are all still up and running, although I can’t log on to update them anymore since I’ve long forgotten the username and password for both.

Brainfarting (Last post was in 2005)

Mommy In Training (Last post was in 2006)

Blogger has never failed me, and so I’ve decided to come back. I thought the grass might be greener on the other side, and I decided to try it out. But my best blogging experience is still right here.

So, Blogger friends, you guys can start following me again! And this time maybe I’ll keep this blog going longer. Or at least I’ll try.

EDIT: I moved to WordPress.org in 2012, and I have no regrets! 😀