Dear Diary: December

The Decem-blur cliche never really meant much to me, not until this year happened. I noticed how un-updated I was for the past weeks, except for my Taiwan and Boracay trips, and it made me realize how on-the-go the days were to even have the time to connect my phones in my laptop and clean them from all the collected events and happenings photos. In short, I am living my life so I can blog something interesting at the end of all these.

Today is my legit free day since I vowed to stay at home with the family till Christmas, so I found the tiny OC in me importing photos and spinning kwentos from the past weeks or so that I missed out on telling you guys in this blog. Anyway, here goes!

November was the "warm up" for all the holiday rush. I went to a series of pre-Bloggers United meetings, ocular, etc, and one of my favorites most prob was when I had 2 "assess the new interns" days. I feel proud whenever I create a great team. Hi Alex, Monica, and Chelsi!

I haven't seen my college barkada for a long time, so for my friend Zsa's pre-wedding dinner we went all-out by dining in good ol' Mister Kabab in West Avenue (restaurant filled with college memories). Missed seeing them and laughing with them everyday, and namiss ko din ang giant hashbrown! Hehe! We also received Zsa's wedding invites that night.

Supporting our very own BU8 sponsor, we went to the first Closeup Quiz Night in Relik Tapas Bar. Though our group did not win the P100,000, we still had lots of fun dahil benta ang mga tanong from White Chicks to Joyce Bernal's "lucky charm" to 90s pop songs! It was also a great night to meet new people, I was even teammates with Ina Ongsiaco and LA Aguinaldo, who are both funny and crazy IRL. :)

Dito na siguro ako mabibilib samin ni Pax, at nakuha pa naming makapag Boracay a week before BU! Haha! A relaxing break, more on this beach trip here: 1 | 2 | 3.

Sayang I don't have a photo with him, but I am grateful to have a generous bff who always tags me along to good plays and shows. I was able to watch the coolest Chicago Broadway Musical on its opening night no-less, with good seats, and even met some of the cast members after, all thanks to Paul who is a Smart Infinity blogger. Thank you bff! Super had fun!

I also started going to YSA Skin and Body Experts a few weeks ago to try their different slimming and toning procedures (RF, CaviSlim, CryoSlim). Excited to explain more about these services on a separate post, but for now here's a photo with Pax nung nakuha pa namin magpa beauty sa Ysa Greenfield District the night before BU (hehe).

But that's not all! LOL. Ang galing coz hindi natuloy ang Dishwalla Concert in La Union because of the heavy rains last October, thus the organizers brought them back in Manila to compensate for those we went all the way to LU to catch the band. Yun nga lang, night before BU ginanap ang concert, HAHA. Thank you Niche for the tickets / early Christmas gift! Kahit haggard, I CAN'T miss hearing my anthem Angels or Devils live!

Pax and I went to her house so she can pack her things while I instagram Dishwalla concert videos (hehe), and before we knew it asa Whitespace na kami to welcome early ingress-ers (mostly mga sponsors). We were tired but restless, and we even (tried to) sleep in Pax's car dahil bawal pa buksan ang aircon sa venue. But every time may naririnig kaming new car, we can't help but gumising to check out who's there na so eventually bumangon nadin kami and naligo. Yep dun na kami naligo, hoho.

Dinner-slash-breakfast before the storm. Love you partner! Nakakatawa coz we were also monitoring the weather as in PAGASA levels, we were praying na wag lang talaga pumatak ang ulan ng umaga palang para din walang scare for the goers! Sobrang nerbyos kami niyan coz there was a bagyo threat that day. Trivia lang, alam niyo bang may naka prepare na talagang POSTPONED announcement POSTER in case umulan nun umagang yan!??? I am so glad we never had to release that! Lahat ng weather apps nadownload na namin, lahat ng positivity nabili na ata namin! Lol. Grabe the Lord is good to us padin talaga and ang ganda ganda the whole day.

ALL WORTH IT. Thank you to all the bloggers, celebs, readers, media, sponsors, friends and families who supported BU8! Special thanks also to Sapphirine Blue (hehe) who gave me Ferrero in between the day, instant energy slash lunch! Hehe!

Thank you and congrats Bloggers United team, our partners OLX with Nuffnang Philippines, for another successful event! One of the best teams I've worked with in the whole 8 installations of BU!

Another highlight for me this month was my first Christmas celebration with my Sun Cellular / Smart family. We had a posting contest, charades, met fellow ambassadors, they also gave away phones, and I even received an award for best embodying Sun Prepaid. Nakakakilig, thank you!

In between all the work and social-life related hullaballoos, I also celebrated my parents' 31st wedding anniversary last December 10 through a simple dinner in Rockwell. Family is complete, and, as I always say, my dad and mom's love still continues to inspire me.

Speaking of love, last 12.13.14 was Zsa's Wedding Day na talaga! It was a beautiful day, and umulan (which I believe means good fortune and abundance). I had that "butterflies in my stomach" moment when they opened the huge church doors, enchanting grand entrance song, and there I saw at the far end of the aisle is my beautiful friend in her white gown. Weddings and happy families melt my heart.

Another night with my Smart / Sun Cellular family, and this time for the first Spinnr Hitlist Awards. Held in Valkyrie (my first time there), with "red carpet" as the event's theme, I watched as Smart's homegrown music app recognized artists last December 17. 

Winners for this year's Spinnr Hitlist Awards:

Song of the Year: All of Me by John Legend

Album of the Year: Big Hero 6 OST

Best Indie Artist of 2014: Julie Ann San Jose

OPM Artist of 2014: Nikki Gil (Babalikan Mo Rin Ako)

Artist of the Year: Taylor Swift

Pinoy Swifties, who were also present in the event, received the award for their idol. I am also currently IN LOVE with Taylor Swift and addicted to her songs, and so happy din ako that she won the major award that night!

  

Series of Christmas dinners and parties here and there, but one of my favorites was our Best Western Antel staycation! The Clingies and the Boracay Crew were all there kaya riot, and we even had Secret Santa and charades! More kwentos, so this deserves a next post! :)

And just last night, I had my final get-together before Christmas day and this time with my blog babies Arnie, Christine, and Ava. We had dinner in Manam (forever-favorite Gising Gising and Sinigang!), before we exchanged gifts and continued our talks over coffee. It was simple, light, and good vibes, which made me feel so grateful at the end of the day how God sent me different sets of friends, and these kids here are the ones sent to make me feel loved and special. 

And so as we wait for a day and a few more hours till Christmas, allow me to share to you a lesson I've learned over the years of waiting -- which was best worded by Fr. James Donelan, S.J. in his article The Sacrament of Waiting.

The English poet John Milton once wrote that those who serve stand and wait. I think I would go further and say that those who wait render the highest form of service. Waiting requires more discipline, more self-control and emotional maturity, more unshakeable faith in our cause, more unwavering hope in the future, more sustaining love in our hearts than all the great deeds of derring-do that go by the name of action.

Waiting is a mystery—a natural sacrament of life. There is a meaning hidden in all the times we have to wait. It must be an important mystery because there is so much waiting in our lives. {read more here}

To a work, a love, a result worth all our waits--and even an enjoyable time while in the process!

Enjoy your Christmas Eve guys, and have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Love, Anagon :)