Russell Stover

Leo just gave us a belated Valentine gift. His dad just got back to Philippines from his work abroad and Leo delightedly shared some of his dad's pasalubong for him to us, chocolates! Such a sweet friend! Aside from the one in the photo, we received an additional box of Russell Stover chocolates from him that shaped like shells and we loved it!

Once Upon an Ocean

Last EDSA 25, we spent the holiday in Manila Ocean Park. It was an opportunity for me to have a break from school works for a while so I was very inclined to come visit the place. Together with my Aunt, Uncle, and two cousins, Joy and Li-ann, I watched the Sea Lion Show. Perfect to begin the tootle.

This is the only picture I got from the show. The sea lions were very adorable and deft, can't help myself from clapping out of happiness. Oh! Say weirdo. Also, we were seated almost at the back row so I wouldn't be able capture a neat, clear photo if I were to do so. 

Next stop, Dancing with the Sea Fairies! Aptly, it was sort of a Jellyfish exhibit. With Cannon in D minor playing as an accompaniment, the ambience of the place made me feel like my feet were no longer on the ground! I felt like I was floating. I do not mind staying there longer than we did.

Moon Jellyfish. They look so graceful and stylish while swimming, just like real pixie! 

Upside down jellyfish. It's true, they look like pancakes! They stick more than they swim. Amazing still. But when people stick their faces in glass doors like that, they would look funny.

Jelly Bubbler. Its hood flutters as it swims, without a fizz, and its tentacles sprouts like a pale broccolo! :D

Her name's Li-ann. She's my closest young cousin whom I had as a companion when I was younger. Well, I am a lady now and she's almost there. Still I enjoy having her around. I took this photo because the the mirror illusion is cool! 

I forgot what this specie is, but it appears to be very common and its tentacles are so slender and elegant. I love it!

Before proceeding to the oceanarium, we roam around the marine life exhibit. This is my Aunt and Uncle at the forested entrance.

I forgot what this specie is, but I suppose it belongs to the family of Siluriformes, a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Only, it was an enormous one. I love eating roasted catfishes back when I was 9 or 10 years old. They taste really good!

Cowfish. I think they appear more like a toro. Hmm...

Manila Puffer. Effortless shocked facial expression. Hurrah!

Yellow and black fish. I like how their zebra-textured heads contrast with their yellow bodies perfectly! They're so posh!

Yellow Boxfish easting green mussel. It's actually colored yellow. I just edited the photo to grayscale because the water made the photo look shaky.

Blue water. Very relaxing to gaze upon.

Starfish. It's been so long since I saw one in person. 

The lovely Koi fishes. I took lots of shots of them fighting over for food. The pictures were funny and cute! But I do not have enough time to post it all in here.

Tadaaa!! Asia's largest tunnel exhibit! We didn't get a high quality picture though because flashes weren't allowed inside. But yeah, it was cool. 

On our way out, we happened to pass this section, All About Penguins.

My feet hurt and I was feeling groggy already when we got home. But the exciting experience was worth it! In fact, being inspired by all these wonderful underwater creatures, I made a short video right after. Click here!

By grace alone

Romans 11:6. I took this from my first and only Bible. It is a bit old now but I cherish it so much coz this was a gift from my sister last Christmas, two years ago. And this was the best gift to be given to me by someone. The gift that introduced me to God's wonderful plans for my life and to have an incomparable relationship with Him. 

Last Sunday, I woke up 30 minutes passed 5 o' clock in the morning. Our Sunday service at church starts at 6:30 am and my travel takes almost 1 hour for me to get there. I hurriedly took a shower and got dressed. My fingers were crossed, praying I would be able to arrive at church exactly before the sermon begins since I was assigned to operate the powerpoint presentation. I knew I was already behind the time to possibly reach the praise and worship part. So, I prayed and prayed that I would not be late for the sermon at least, though seemed to be very much not happening.

Believe and you will receive. Very true! My prayer was answered right away! I have learned my lesson and I am very thankful for a God who lets me get through. By grace alone.

Speaking of grace, the message for this week was 'We are commanded to do it God's Way'. We were already on the third week of the series, The Shadow of the Almighty: Living under God's authority. On point number one, our pastor mentioned a run down of the different concepts of salvation from various Christian religions existing. He had came up to these three: salvation by works, salvation by grace plus works and salvation by grace alone through faith.

The foundation of our salvation as a church is salvation by grace alone through faith. It was actually mentioned a lot of times in the Bible. Martin Luther often taught that salvation was based on faith alone and no amount of work (referring to good deeds) can bring you salvation. We are saved to work for God, not work to be saved.

Our pastor uttered something that caught my heart indeed. He said that many people would say, "That's it? We just have to believe and we're saved?" out of disbelief. Some would insist, "Can we not do anything or contribute just a part for our salvation?" Salvation was made easy and free by God, that it seems to be so good to be true. We do not have to labor for our salvation anymore because the difficult part was already done by Jesus Christ the day He died on the cross. That is why it's called a gift. All you need to do is to receive it. And what do we say after that? We say thank you. And saying thank you to God would be how we live our lives for Him. Since this life is all we got, every thing belongs to Him. There's nothing else we can offer except every second of our breaths, every beat of our hearts.

This is the very reason why when I think of grace, it often brings me to tears. It is so amazing, you can't help yourself but to kneel down and praise God's name.

Arch-Des Fashion Show

For these past few days, I have not been out of the house except when I go to school or when I attend church. I am not that much of an outdoor person so it was not an insane kind of idea for me.

My best friend, Leo, invited me to an event at their school for their Arch-Des Week. It was a mini runway fashion show designed and arranged by BS Architecture students which sounded very interesting to me. I was hesitant to say yes at first since I am not good in socializing with new crowds but he assured me it will be fine so I said yes.

Before the actual show started, a DJ mixer introduced an original composition of his to unwind the audience from the wait. The music soothed my ears to the beat.

Most of my catwalk shots were blurry because of my lack of skill in photography. Ha ha! But then I managed to take a few decent ones.

Have you ever of heard a siren that rather than alerting you, it de-stresses you? Well, I am actually referring to this lady here. Her voice is as chic as her Bohemian getup.

Next, the architectural exhibit! I took lots of pictures while roaming around the place and found some indeed amazing forms of art by hand. 

Leo then toured me around his college: the library, the cafeteria, the classrooms (which seemed like conference rooms). The hallways were spacey and everywhere I glimpse, every corner has a different structural design that forms a unique silhouette.

Tadaa! I feel like I'm sitting on a Cobonque-made furniture. (~￣▽￣)~ 

There were also fashionable mannequins displayed along corridors. 

This one's made up of Asian green mussels' shells. Pretty exotic, eh? 

Two words: puffy and edgy.

Leo took this shot of me before we left the place. He is getting better in focusing the camera. Just a little bit more practice.

Before ending the night and returning to our own cribs, we stopped over to the nearest coffee shop. I felt like I needed milligrams of caffeine to keep me awake until dawn since I still had to work on an assignment and to study for a quiz the next day. Also, it is Leo's favorite spot to hang-out.

We would always order with our names disguised as colors. I'm red and he's blue. Well, my friends in school really call me Red as my nickname. Leo just copied me! Ha ha!

There's a really funny story behind this picture of sliced honey glazed doughnut. So, as I was slicing the doughnut, I asked Leo if he wanted to have some. He gratefully nodded at me, smiling. Afterwards, I ate the piece I sliced. He pouted and said that he thought I was slicing it for him. I laughed after hearing him said those.

Til next time! 

Let us jumpstart new year

"God won't allow us to succeed at anything unless we're leaning and relying on Him. But when we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, in due time, He will exalt us (see 1 Peter 5:6). "due time" is God's time, when God knows we're ready, not when we think we're ready. The sooner we understand and accept that, the sooner God can work His plan in our lives.", from Joyce Meyer

So, what's your plan for this year?

Departing Roxas

Holiday is over! Sad to say but we have to bid to our hometown goodbye. Anyways, I had so much fun during my stay there. The people, the place, the gifts! Back to missing mode again. Ha ha!

As we arrived in Manila, my sister insisted to have a picture with this giant Christmas tree. She is that appreciative always. That is why a lot of people appreciate her. Hihee.

By the way, a very thoughtful friend of mine dropped by at our house yesterday to deliver this yummy treat. I did not have the time to taste it back there so I brought it with me here in Manila. I am no expert when it comes to desserts, so I am not sure what this is called. I think she calls this chocolate mousse cake. Anyways, it was muy delicioso!