Another Visitor from the Philippines

Apart from Halloween preps, we were also busy entertaining one of Richard's colleagues from Toyota Philippines, Alvin, who was in Bangkok for a business trip. He arrived on Sunday afternoon so from Platinum Mall, we picked him up from his hotel and took him to MBK for pasalubong shopping and dinner.

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Richard and Alvin

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Richard, Alvin, Alyannah + Chelsea the bear

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Then we had dinner at home on Wednesday.

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I prepared...

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Baked Ribs with barbecue sauce...

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...baked penne with three kinds of cheese -- mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan.

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And for dessert, I prepared white chocolate cheesecake...

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...and carrot cake.

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I didn't do all of this in one day. I made the dessert a day before and the ribs were marinated two days before Wednesday. So I was practically slaving in the kitchen for three days. But you know what the best part is? Alvin loved the food that I prepared! Naubos nya yung ribs. As in! Sabi ko nga kay Richard, ganyan ang gusto kong bisita! If all our guests were like him, then I wouldn't mind working hard in the kitchen because Alvin showed that he really liked my cooking!

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To Alvin, we hope you enjoyed your stay in Bangkok! See you in the Philippines!

The Last Woman Standing

Tita Dionne's flight was on Sunday night so she still had one more day to go around Bangkok. But before doing any lakwatsa, we went to church for the 11am mass. Then, we had lunch at Secret Garden. From there, we went to the dentist at BNH hospital to have Aly's lower front teeth removed. I know...the hospital is not tops on the sightseeing list, but we had to go before Aly starts school on Monday.

Tita Di took a photo of Aly. Naka-smile pa sya jan but later on she started crying and she never does that! She didn't cry during our last visit. Palibhasa may audience kasi. Stariray talaga!

After Aly's drama show at the dentist, we headed to MBK to buy school shoes and for Dionne's pasalubong shopping. They didn't have Aly's shoe size there, so Richard suggested that we go to Central World Mall.

Before doing any shoe shopping -- more like shoe hunting that is! It was difficult to find the right school shoes and the right size for Aly! -- we went straight to Swensen's for an ice cream fix.

Dionne loved her Strawberry Stripes Ice Cream!

Tita Di, halos kasing laki mo na yung ice cream :)

Still high from the sugar rush, we took more pics around the mall. Pose lang ng pose!

Tita Di also watched over Aly while she played at the Isetan play area. O dba, may instant nanny pa kami. Thanks, Dionne!

It was a fun Sunday afternoon! Thanks for being so patient with the visit to the dentist, looking after Aly, shoe hunting, and all. We will miss you Tita Di!

Photos grabbed from Dionne's Picasaweb page.

Catching Up With An Old Friend

Last Friday we met with Mike Bayot, an ex-Highlands colleague and husband of my good friend Janet. He used to be the MIS Manager of Tagaytay Highlands and now he's with The Four Seasons at Maldives. He's in town for a weeklong IT convention at The Four Seasons Bangkok. We took him to MBK for pasalubong shopping, trying our best to complete the list that Janet sent to me via email, then we capped the night off with dinner and chit chat.

It was a short meeting, but we enjoyed sir Mike's company very much. He had a lot of stories to share and the best part is, he gave us a couple of budget-saving tips on how to use the internet (wink, wink).

Sir Mike, we hope you enjoyed your stay! Let's do this again with your family. You are welcome to stay with us anytime :) Right, Alyannah?

You betcha!

Our Camera Upgrade

During our last beach trip, Richard and I noticed that most of the guests who were staying at the resort were using a digital slr (dslr). Then, when we went to the Snake Farm, we noticed that a lot of people were using dslr too. Nagmumukha tuloy kawawa yung Sony Cybershot camera namin. Hehe! We decided that it will be a good idea to invest in a dslr camera since we will be taking lots of photos anyway. So after saving enough money, an extensive online research, and with a little help (or was it a nudge?) from my buddy Marc, we finally replaced our old point-and-shoot camera with a new Canon EOS400D dslr! Yey!

Last Thursday, we went to Fotofile at MBK to buy the camera.

A couple of test shots before the purchase.

That's Richard signing the receipt. Ginagamit ko na yung camera pero hindi pa bayad! Haha!

Is that a look of relief or worry? Parang pinagpawisan sya ng malamig sa shot na to. Hehe!

I was super excited to use our new camera, and my first subject was none other than Alyannah, who gamely posed for mommy.

Yes, she was wearing a tiara (I wore that to an event once) when we went to MBK. Walang nakapigil sa kanya.

Richard took a couple of shots too.

More shots...parang nag-photo shoot na kami sa shop. Haha!

That's me registering our camera online.

Aside from Canon products, the shop was also selling ipods and imacs. While we were talking to the SA about our camera, mom and dad looked around the store. Then they were drawn to this ipod speaker. Maganda daw kasi tumunog (mom has a great ear for music talaga and she can tell a good speaker from a bad one). So they bought the Harman Kardon speakers and a new ipod nano.

They asked the SA to upload new songs on their ipod so they can use it right away.

Looks like mom and dad are happy with their new gagdet!

Napagod yata si Yan sa kaka-pose so we stopped by a coffee shop for a brownie. Richard took these shots while she was eating.

No trip will be complete without ice cream so we went to Dairy Queen before heading to the parking lot.

Shopping + new gadget + ice cream = a great day :)