Events & Parties

Our Spiderman Movie Date with PLDT Home DSL

May 11, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 15 Comments

The boys and I rarely catch a movie on opening week because I don’t like crowds, and I’m not fond of crowded movie theaters. I was more than happy to make an exception for The Amazing Spiderman 2, though, when my friends Millie and Janice asked if the boys and I would like to attend a special screening that PLDT Home DSL was setting up. Of course our whole family said yes to that! I love family-oriented events like this one, and I love how PLDT Home DSL is an enabler of family-sized connections.

I was so happy about being invited to this event that I actually made the super mega effort of driving to Makati with the kiddo on a post-football afternoon, and with a fussy stomach, to pick up MrC from work so that we could make it to Eastwood Mall by 7pm. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we were really pooped because we had just arrived home from our Pico de Loro escapade the night before.

One of the highlights for me was seeing little Diego and his mom Lara, members of the Ledesma family who are featured in the PLDT Home DSL TVC. My son loves watching families and kids on TV, and I noticed that he really is influenced by them. He picks up jokes, shows an interest in things that they have and do, and even wants to try out the activities that he sees them engage in onscreen.

I like that Little MrC sees Diego interact with people online in these commercials through his Ask Diego Fan Page. See, we have a lot of family members who are abroad, and it’s only through the internet that they get to watch him grow. We’re on Skype often, and we make an effort to share photos and stories on Facebook also. I share stories here on the blog. MrC and the little boy like to shoot short videos that they share on a secret YouTube page that family members can access. Yep, we like to keep our kiddo’s videos private as a sort of protective measure.

Similarly, Daddy Paolo and Mommy Lara screen Diego’s page to be sure that the stuff he gets to see are all age-appropriate. Before he sees the questions, Paolo and Lara delete offensive content, and sometimes answer the more difficult questions themselves. Then they help him type out answers, especially when he asks about how to spell words. On occasion, Diego also gets ideas for answers from his Ate Trisha. I think that monitoring the age and answering the questions also provides their family with a fun bonding activity online.

In this sense, we can totally relate to the Ledesmas, who are a tight-knit family that enjoys doing things together online using multiple gadgets simultaneously to help one another out. And for us to be able to keep up with our online lives, we need limitless sharing with the strong reliable family-sized connection, exactly what PLDT Home DSL provides.

To sign up for your own strong, reliable family-sized connection of PLDT HOME DSL, visit pldthome.com.

Oh, and no, I’m not posting about the movie because I don’t want to be a spoiler in case any of you haven’t seen it yet. Just know that we LOVED it, and we are so glad we came to the event. Since you won’t get any movie info from me, #letsaskdiego about it on Facebook if you really wanna know!

Gourdo’s Scrapbooking Yard Sale

May 5, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

Wait, oh my gosh I should have posted this a week ago. Haynako, momnesia strikes again. Anyway…

Gourdo’s is inviting everyone to come and shop at their Scrapbooking Yard Sale, which actually started last May 1, and will go on until May 18. This is happening at the Gourdo’s Fort Bonifacio store. They’re offering a lot of great scrapbooking items at 50% off. Crafty friends, I think that you guys would totally go nuts here.

Gourdo's Scrapbooking Yard Sale — Gourdo’s Scrapbooking Yard Sale

Apart from great deals, there are also exciting activities lined up on the weekends. Bonus: There are gonna be lots of freebies, too! On Mother’s Day weekend, May 10-11, they will be having the I Love Mom Because… A Mother’s Day Craft Weekend. This is perfect for you guys who have no plans yet for mom’s day.

There’s going to be a mom and kid crafting activity, the Make n’ Take Activity by Mom and Me. The mom and me pair gets a free photo from Fuji Instax, which they can use to create a card or a scrapbook layout when they purchase a Make n’ Take kit.

If you do visit, don’t forget to check out the free demos from 1-5pm on May 10-11. There’s Calligraphy by Imma Frias, Punchers and Stamps by Ime Oranga, and other demos on Paper Flowers, Project Life and Smash Books.

Sounds like a lot of crafty fun!

For more details, visit the Gourdo’s website or Facebook Page.

Life Bliss Weekend

May 4, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 1 Comment

If you visit my blog regularly, you will notice that every once in a while I write about taking a break or going for a reset after a busy season. I find myself really lucky that I can afford to take breaks. I know that these are such luxuries for a lot of people, especially for a lot of moms. A timeout in whatever form is really essential in order for us to be able to continue functioning properly. I see the value in taking a breather so much more now, as compared to when I was younger and believed myself to be somehow related to the Energizer bunny.

Busy people tend to forget that they need to hit the pause button every once in a while. Most of the time it’s because they feel that they simply cannot afford to take a break. Maybe they can’t. Maybe YOU can’t. But you should. After you’ve hit reset, you may find that things are clearer and you may emerge with a stronger, more accurate focus. But you’ll never know unless you try, right?

The Life Bliss Weekend is actually the perfect opportunity for you to claim that much-needed me-time.

This creative-living weekend retreat for women is the first of its kind. This is a partnership between Martine de Luna of Make It Blissful and Apa Alviar of The Exuberant Life Consultancy. Both believe in leading a mission-minded lifestyle, and also in life-purpose integration in whatever it is that you do. Their goal is to provide the women in attendance with a meaningful break from their daily routines. As an attendee, you can expect exercises and activities that integrate your life-purpose setting, creativity and blogging all in one.

All women between the ages of 20 to 50, whether single or married, are invited to attend this life-changing retreat. It takes place in the beautiful Casa Luminaria in Lipa Batangas on May 24-25. For complete details including the schedule of activities for the two days, and to sign up for the Life Bliss Weekend, click here.

Relax. Connect. Create. Enliven. Go ahead and give yourself a break. You know you deserve it.

“Getting To Know WordPress” Goes South!

May 1, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 13 Comments

Do any of these describe you?

I am a blogger and I blog on Blogspot
I am a blogger and I blog on WordPress.COM
I am a blogger and I blog on WordPress.org BUT I don’t know what to do with all of these plugins
I am an online entrepreneur and my store is on Facebook
I am a stay-at-home mom or dad who wants to transition into becoming a work-at-home mom or dad
I am a work-at-home mom or dad and I want to learn about web administration so I can start offering that as a service

If you feel that you are one or more of the guys I mentioned up there, then this workshop is for you. VA Support Pro’s WordPress 101 Workshop is up for another run on May 10, and this time it’s gonna be in the south! Yay!

Join my amazing friends The Happy WAHM and The Techie Mom at Le Petit Cheri, Molito Alabang, and get to know more about WordPress. This is a great opportunity for you guys to ask the questions you’ve always wanted to ask about this platform. Trust me, these two are good. They’ve been helping me manage my site for almost 2 years now, and while I still feel clueless at times, it helps to know that there is always someone I can call who can help me out.

So, again, May 10, 2014, 10am-4pm at Le Petit Cheri, Molito Alabang. Click here to register.

Westgate Easter EGGventure

April 29, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 39 Comments

Like I said in yesterday’s post, the boys and I went to two Easter events this year. I really made an effort to make it to Westgate’s Easter celebration because I know that Little MrC enjoys attending events there. We’ve been to several of Westgate’s Easter and Halloween events from the time that I was working for Filinvest, and even afterwards.

Bonus: These events give me an opportunity to hang out with my former workmates.

Extra Bonus: These events also give me an excuse to invite the boys for dinner at Whistlestop, something that has become a post-event tradition for us from my mall events days.

We arrived just after 5pm, which really is the best time to come to Westgate because it isn’t too hot anymore. At the registration area, we were given a map for the stations that we needed to visit. There, we had to answer a question. The first letter of each correct answer would spell out the “secret word”, which participants needed to claim their prizes. Right off the bat, this guy knew which prize he wanted. Can you guess which one it is?

Armed with his party hat and map (and still wearing his bunny ears from Greenbelt)

The stations were spread out all across Westgate. In each one, there was a giant Easter egg, made by the very talented creatives people of Westgate and Festival Supermall. I’ve worked with these guys, and really, they are amazeballs.

After our really hot afternoon in Makati, the Alabang breeze was such a welcome relief. One of the best things about Westgate on a good weather day is that you can really dine alfresco without having to worry about melting from the heat. It’s especially lovely there at Christmas time.

I actually enjoyed answering the questions at all of the stops. The promo girls couldn’t help but laugh at all the answers that the boys and I threw around. One of the skills that I’ve had to master as a writer is how to say things in a different way, and this often involves the use of synonyms. So, yes, I could think of more than one way to answer the clues given. Good thing MrC was also there to choose the most logical and sound answer haha.

Station 4 and 5, and the creepy fake Komodo dragon outside Caviar restaurant

Caviar is one of the newer restaurants in Westgate that I really hope to try soon. I hear good things about it from my friend, Joei. Just thought I’d share that.

So anyway, after going around all of the stops, we guessed the secret word and Little MrC was rewarded with his prize of choice – an even bigger Finn the Human stuffed toy. He now has a big one and a small one who sleep on his bed and keep him safe at night.

Thanks very much to the Marketing team of Westgate for having us for yet another fun Easter celebration. We’re already excited for Halloween! 🙂

Greenbelt Easter Party

April 28, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 46 Comments

We missed out on all the Easter fun last year because the little boy was sick and in the hospital. This year, we decided we would make up for it by attending not just one, but two Easter events.

Our afternoon was spent on a really fun (despite it being really hot) Golden Egg Hunt all over Greenbelt with the boys, and some of my best WAHM friends and their families. I received an email invitation from the mall’s marketing people, and I love that they allowed me to bring three more families with me. Thank you, Greenbelt! This is why I really LOVE the Ayala Malls.

We arrived at the venue early, just as the exhibitors were finishing their booth setups. The first thing that I noticed was that the place was absolutely beautiful! This is exactly how I would imagine my baby shower would look if I ever have a baby girl. Husband, friends, family and suppliers, please take note.

I love the pink and white, and the wood and pastel design combos!

We registered and were each given a postcard, which our kids used to redeem freebies and activities, a map for the Golden Egg hunt, a wrist tag to identify the participating kids, and a cute tin bucket for the goodies that the kids would collect. Of course, we chose a green bucket – green for La Salle. I definitely passed some of my school spirit on to this little guy.

Our green bucket, postcard for freebies and Golden Egg Hunt map

We had five small boys with us, ranging from 8 to 3 years old, and I was a bit worried about how we would keep track of them. Obviously, I’m not used to having lots of kids in tow since I only have one child. But thanks to the bunny ears that were being given out at the activity area, our boys became pretty easy to spot.

We literally went from Greenbelt 1 to 5, visiting stores and stalls that were marked on our map. It was quite the sweaty workout, but we all stuck it out because we could clearly see that the kids were having a lot of fun. Most of the stores gave chocolates and candies. The best was Gelatissimo, who gave free mini ice cream cones to the kids. That was a great heat-beating snack break.

One of the stops was the Greenbelt chapel where they gave the kids nice scapulars with the image of the Sto Niño. We also stopped at a new chocolate stall in Greenbelt 1 near Watson’s, called Frey Chocolates. Oh my gosh so good. I tried their white, milk and dark chocolate variants, and I can’t decide which one I like best. They have little nougat bits in them, too, like the ones at the bottom of Toblerone triangles. Yum. Sorry, I don’t have any photos. We ate them all before I realized we never took a photo of the kiddo’s Easter loot.

Egg-hunters stopping by the chapel and one of the restaurants

After we finished visiting all of the stores, the little guy asked to get a cup of juice from the drinks booth. He was really thirsty from the heat, despite occasionally sipping water from his tumbler while we were walking. I actually asked MrC to get some water from the nearby restaurants for me. He also bought me a bottle of pink lemonade Snapple, one of my favorites, and still I chose to drink water over that. The sugary sweetness did nothing to quench my thirst. It was THAT hot.

Apparently, the cup of juice wasn’t enough to cool this guy down either. He went straight for his free cup of ice cream after finishing his drink. Oh my gosh, was I excited to see Baskin Robbins at the event! My childhood favorite is coming back to Manila real soon! I totally regret not getting a cup for myself during the event. The little boy enjoyed his scoop, though, down to the last lick.

Sweet treats, colorful crafts and my babies 🙂

After he got his ice cream fix,Little MrC decided to try the arts and crafts activities that were available for the kids. First, he visited the washi egg decorating booth, where you had to decorate a paper egg with washi tape. It was quite similar to the Easter egg banner activity we did at home. The pretty washi tapes were provided by Hey Kessy.

While the kiddo was busy doing crafts, someone decided to try on his bunny ears

After the washi activity, the little guy made a polymer clay bunny keychain at the Hobbes and Landes booth. Then, he also had a cute felt puppet made at the Plush Bunny Station by Ant’s Pocket. I love the crafty activities available to the kids at the event while we all waited for the awarding program to start. It was a great way to keep the kids entertained and occupied.

The cutest felt bunny puppet ever! It even has a tail.

The joy and excitement in all of our kids’ faces can definitely be seen in our photos from that day, and I’m really just so happy that our four families were able to celebrate Easter together. It just made the whole day a lot more fun for everyone.

Super duper thank you to the wonderful Marketing team of Greenbelt for the invite, and for assisting us during registration at the event. And congratulations on a super successful Greenbelt Easter Party! Even though we didn’t win at any of the activities, the whole experience and the smiles that it brought our kiddos was more than worth it.