advanced birthday gift

I know I told myself I won't buy a new one anytime soon after my major purchase just last month, but I can't help it...it's in pink and it's so pretty! Thanks to Cristy, I'll soon have the new Mia Signature Embroidered Scarf Print Maggie...just in time for my birthday! :)

ice cream

Ooohhh...I likey especially the Peppermint Mocha one! I wonder if S&R has these. I saw some other flavors last week but not these ones yet. Better check it out tomorrow :)

Christmas Wish

It's during the holidays that being apart really sucks big time...but we just have to make do for now. Miss you so much, dear! I really wish you're here...Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. Our tradition is to prepare a big feast for Noche Buena on the eve of the 24th, open the gifts on the morning of the 25th, have Christmas breakfast with the entire family then head off to our family reunions - lunch with the Viloria's, hear mass, then dinner with the Hizon's.

As usual, we were still shopping and wrapping up gifts at the last minute, while preparing for the evening's Noche Buena in between - good thing all of us are very good at multi-tasking! Hahaha. I'm again in charge of setting the table, and putting out all the holiday plates and sprucing up the table for a festive meal adds more to the excitement that Christmas is just a couple of hours away.

This time around, we decided to have a full menu again...forget about the diet!

We had Mushroom Duxelle Vol-au-vent, Creamy Chicken Vol-au-Vent, and Salmon with Dill Pistachio Mousseline with Caviar for appetizers:

Cranberry salad with Chicken, Grapes, Walnuts and Cheese:

Roast Stuffed chicken (we originally wanted turkey but given that there were only 5 of us, it might take us 'til the New Year to finish it!) with Mashed Potatoes as the main course:

And for dessert, we had mini Mango Chiboust, mini Samba cake and the Ultimate Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake:

It was a very delicious and filling meal that it took us a couple of hours more before we finally headed to bed. Tomorrow's gonna be a busy day, but before we get lost in all the holiday festivities, let's not forget the real reason for this season...Happy Birthday, Jesus! Here's wishing a very Merry Christmas to everyone :)

lasik

I lost one of my contacts again! Aarrghh. I was shopping earlier at Fullybooked when my left eye got a bit irritated and I knew that my contact lens was acting up again. However, I had several heavy books at hand so it was quite difficult to fix it. It took me a couple of minutes more before I was able to hand the books to my mom and head to the restroom. But as I tried to remove my contacts, it wasn't coming out...until I realized that it wasn't in my eye anymore! Kainis talaga! As a consolation, it's easy to get a new pair and good thing my opthalmologist is just a text away but with the holidays coming up, the earliest I could get it is not until Tuesday! :(

I have to bear the next days with just one lens (I still don't wanna go out with my glasses on!), and thinking about the hassle of it all, I'm now seriously thinking of getting lasik eye surgery. My mom had hers done more than a decade ago and she's still seeing 20/20 'til now. Ooohh, the comfort of not putting on contacts each morning and taking them off before heading to bed, and having clear vision 24/7 is just so tempting! But a big part of me is scared coz what if something goes wrong? My eyes are the ones at stake! Oh well. Let's see...that's something worth considering though.

But for now, I just have to wait for a few more days to get my new pair of contacts and I'll just be extra careful not to lose them again!

another Viloria ties the knot!

My holiday vacation started off with the wedding of Kuya Derick and Yanie. Gabby was the ring and coinbearer and he did such a good job of walking down the aisle all by himself! It was a night full of love and happiness shared with family and loved ones :)

Congratulations Kuya Derick and Yanie! Here's to forever :)

my year in status

Travel, work, friends, love life...all these made 2010 another memorable year :)

best find of the day

I've been looking for some good red velvet cake for the longest time now and my craving for it hasn't been satisfied yet. Those that I've tried doesn't even come close to Cheesecake Factory's or Coral Tree's.

So when I saw this earlier at S&R, my eyes literally lit up and I was like a kid in a candy store:

With no second thoughts, straight to the cart it went. Finally, I'll have my fix of red-velvet-cream-cheese goodness!

christmas wishlist

Dear Santa,

My wishlist for this Christmas is:

1. Louis Vuitton Speedy 30 in Damier Azur

2. Tag Heuer Aquaracer in pink

3. Macbook Air

But I'd give up all these if you could bring my boyfriend home for the holidays. That would be the best Christmas gift ever. Pretty please?

Love,

Nikka

busy

With Christmas just about a week away and with 2 work days left for 2010 (yey!), I'm just so busy these past days. This is the first time that I just started my christmas shopping 2 weeks before Christmas and obviously, I'm still not done. I'm just halfway through my list! And since I'll be on holiday vacation already by the 22nd, there's so much to finish before going on a long break. Sigh. But despite all the things that still need to be done, I won't let it dampen my holiday spirit. I just have to get through the remaining days in the office and then I can be on full holiday mode already. I better get back to completing my list...my shopping days are numbered!

challenge

The 30-day blog challenge is indeed a challenge! I should be done with it by now but it ain't as easy as I thought it would be! If I strictly followed that my next 30 posts from the time I started will just be all about the challenge, then I would have been done. But there are just other things I wanted to write about instead! I still have about 11 posts to go and I'm determined to complete it even if it takes me 'til the new year to do so. Hahaha. Goodluck to me!

don't give up

With a little time and lots of faith, all is well again. Sometimes you need to go through some rough patches, but with patience and understanding, everything will fall into place and make you stronger. It won't be a 'cold' Christmas after all :)

Hongkong Vacay Recap: Day 4

It's our last day in Hongkong and we have a full day ahead of us. First agenda of the day is to go to Lantau. Since Ochie had to go to church early in the afternoon, we had to have an early start. Thanks to our ever efficient alarm clock, Roland was already knocking on our door at 8am sharp. So much for hitting the snooze button! After a quick breakfast at McDonald's (our default breakfast place), we were aboard the trains by 9am to take us to our first destination of the day.

We took the 25-minute cable car ride to take us to the Ngong Ping Village. We chose the Crystal Cabin with the glass bottom going to the island, and the regular one going back. It was really cool to see all the way down as we were hundreds of feet above!

A few minutes later, we found ourselves at the Ngong Ping Village...

The main attraction is the giant buddha. Joel and Sharon went all the way up to have a closer look but Ochie, Roland and I decided to just stay behind since we already had a pretty good view of the buddha from where we were. I don't think it will look different if you get closer. Hahaha!

After a quick lunch of yummy Beef Brisket Noodle Soup, it was back to the city for us. As we were exiting the cable car station, we were surprised with how many people were already there lining up for the ride! The line was just insanely long, reaching all the way to the back of the station. Good thing we went really early! There was no line yet when we got there earlier and we didn't even have to wait at all.

We got back to the hotel at around 2pm. I took a nap while Ochie went to church. As soon as she got back, we were off to the harbour again to see the Avenue of the Stars. I wasn't really able to relate much to to stars since they were all chinese. I only knew 3 of them - Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee! Hahaha!

Our last agenda for the day is to see the Symphony of Lights by the harbour. We went to the nearby mall first to kill time and have dinner at KFC (the corn on the cob with butter was really good!) then by 7pm, we went out back to the harbour and chose a good spot to see the light show.

With still some time to spare, we did some last minute shopping for souvenirs and treats before heading back to the hotel to pack up.

4 days surely passed by quickly but we had loads of fun. It was indeed a short but sweet vacation and we're all looking forward to our next trip :)