Jose Rizal and Mr. Jones

 

Happy 150th birthday, Jose Rizal!

Erman and I chanced upon Team Manila's wonderful Rizal installation in front of the Ayala museum last Sunday.  The work is comprised of 80 boxes decorated with words and images depicting our national hero's life.

Modern portrait

Names, places he's been to, dates and excerpts from his books

We had lunch at Mr. Jones.  Lots of good reviews from our friends so we were quite excited eat here.

First up: "Tater Tots 3000 to the Max!" (p275).  Fancy deep fried mashed potatoes with either broccoli, walnuts, jamon Serrano and Gorgonzola inside.  Served with sour cream and cheddar dip.  Found this dish yummy but a bit expensive.  Not a lot of filling inside either.

Erman ordered "Two dogs in bed" (p220).  This one was reasonably priced :)  Yummy fries, jalapeno, pickle and coleslaw on the side.

For meow: "Wicked Truffled Mac n' Cheese" (p395).  This was just okay for me.  I loved the taste of the truffle oil in the sauce but somehow there was something lacking...  Maybe because I had the bacon removed? Haha!  Dish is good for 2-3 people.

Mr. Jones

1/Lvl. Greenbelt 5, Legaspi St., Legaspi Vill.

Makati City, Metro Manila

Philippines

(02) 501-3111

Rainy days

It was raining a lot last week...

In fact, it looked like this almost everyday!

As expected, the cats did nothing but sleep :)

But when they were awake I'd often find them looking out

There was so much water that the construction site dig turned into an instant pool :D

Thankfully, all our plants survived (even the succulents)

My tea cups were filled to the brim...

Kumo was pleased though since he loves drinking from cups!

Sitting is killing you!

How many hours a day do you spend sitting down?  This infographic really got to me because I spend most of my day sitting down!  Now I'm seriously thinking of getting a standing desk...

Lotsa Owls!

I'm not really a die hard Harry Potter fan but this Youtube page is so intriguing!

Just look at all those owls!

I wonder what it could be about!  Good thing we'll find out in a couple of hours :)  Hoot!

Project Aral and KaEskwela

"Project Aral is an initiative of the National Bookstore Foundation. Through their bookstores, customers donate school kits for public schools. The Foundation then works with other like-minded organizations to distribute these kits to public schoolchildren.  One of these organizations is KaEskwela."  Thank you National Bookstore and generous customers! :)

Last week, KaEskwela visited 8 schools and delivered 10,783 kits :)  I joined the last 2 deliveries in Montalban and Laguna.

Our delivery to Macabud Elementary school in Montalban was extra exciting (or should I say stressful?) because our truck was towed by the "MMDA".  Thankfully, we were able to avoid extortion and things worked out well in the end.

 

Happy kids...

and yummy sopas for merienda.  Thank you, teachers :)

The next day we headed to Buhay Elementary School in Siniloan, Laguna.  The teachers welcomed us with a nice home cooked lunch :)

More happy kids...

and also happy volunteers.  Thanks to the teachers for the ice cream and chips :)

Things that make me happy

My orange leg warmer (Please don't mind the thunder thighs on the side)

Winning a set of organic make up from Human Heart after answering a survey.  I don't really use make up, but this might be a good reason to try :D

My funny cats.  Kumo: Hmm, smells good!

Cat print pajamas I bought in Divisoria for only P100!

Thoughts of Batanes.  I wish I can go back :)

Yummy Pancake House fried chicken!

Don't forget your Umbrella

Is it going to be a hot sunny day or a wet rainy one?

It's always better to be prepared no matter what.  Isn't that right, Nugget? :D

Finally Married

Meow is finally married!  Yes, it's been over 2 weeks since we exchanged vows but I still can't get over how wonderfully everything fell into place.  Sorry, this is going to be a long and photo heavy post... but I'm quite excited to share everything :)

We had a very simple, DIY wedding.  Nothing fancy but we put a lot of effort in making the wedding very personalized.

 It took us almost 3 months to pick out the plants.  I didn't mind this task so much because I loved going to Manila Seedling.  It was also fun arranging and re-potting the plants.  I guess the most challenging part was when we had to transport them all to Tagaytay.  Thankfully everything remained intact during the trip up... All 300+ plants!

I carved out a book to hold our rings.  I remember making one just like this to hold my valentine's day gift for Erman many years ago.

Mini pineapples and acrylic emulsion transfers of our initials on the cups.   I'm so glad I paid attention during materials class in college :D

My mom arranged all our bouquets :)

Cakes!