Did you know that there is a song entitled "EMELIE"? I'm so happy about it because that is my precious first name haha! Plus, the spelling is just so the same. I am usually a victim of name-murdering because it gets misspelled almost all of the time but this singer is just soo cool for me. I got vanity level 999! I'm now smiling from ear to ear :D

“Emelie” by Filous & MOUNT feat. Buster Moe is a beautiful, heart-wrenching song featuring vocals alongside a knee-slapping beat and tons of harmonica. It kind of sounds like the great open country, but it packs a big synthetic kick, and therefore dutifully club ready.

Filous says, "Every once in a while, you start working on a song where everything just seems to come together in the most natural way possible. Every time that happens, it feels incredibly exciting and special! That's exactly what happened with this song.”

"Emelie" gets official release on Ultra records last Friday, Aug. 19, 2016.




Shout out to Angelyn aka "Gelai" (from thetangledangel.wordpress.com) for letting me know this song on one calm midnight. I so love it!

Sinulog Festival 2017 is indeed my most unforgettable sinulog event ever!

Cebu City is known for its grandest festival every January of the year known as Sinulog.  Sinulog is the traditional and ritual celebration in honor of baby Jesus called Santo Niño. It is associated with religious activities, street dance, colorful costumes, fireworks shows, happiness and  party-rockin' (for some young-blood-youth). Everybody is excited about it. But as for me, way back when I was still in college and just newly working in the corporate world, when I heard it, there seemed to be nothing that I feel - no excitement, no adrenaline rush in me, just nothing. I guess because I am not originally from Cebu, or I am not just that much of an outgoing person before. Huhu, now I feel sorry for myself.

Luckily, that changes this year because in general, although there are little not so good happenings too, I have a very happy and memorable Sinulog together with my sister and friends.

The following are the stuff I did:

1. Henna tattoo on my arms.
I know some people got an eww reaction towards this because it is dirty, well sort of. But for me, I opted to have it on my arms because I just want to have a little taste of the tribal tradition we had before. Plus, it is better to have this fake tattoo rather than the permanent one because this will just fade and gone after 2 weeks. So, yeah I flaunt my feather fake tatoo, haha!

My henna for this year is gonna be about feathers because HOPE is a thing associated with it. #Sinulog2017

2. Tour at Colon Street.
Most roads at colon were closed so it’s a good time to walk with my sister and taste popular street foods that Colon is famous of.

Same face (sort of) with my sister. She's the one holding the camera.

Ice cream is life!

3. Wanderlust at Cebu City’s Fuente and Jones streets.
There were several small stalls in these streets selling stuff (related to Sinulog and Cebu itself) in a very affordable price. Who wouldn’t want that?

Fashion ring for only 50 pesos each!

4. Paintensity party fever.
Though I was not able to party inside the venue because it was full of party people already, I still managed to sort of blend with the crowd and enjoyed the party at the 3rd floor of the Greenery building. Guess what, I had a 360 degree view of the event! Awesome! (This is before the stampede . Story here.)

Party people wanna do some party rockin'!

5. Fireworks show at SM City Cebu and Ayala Center Cebu.
Fireworks competition and Pyrospectacular fireworks display in SM City were overwhelming. Plus the Dragon fireworks display at Ayala literally took my breath away! I wish life could be this colorful and joyful all year round!

6. Immersed myself with E-commerce summit.
Super thankful to sir Ruben Liceria for inviting us to the said event. This was supposed to be with fee, but since I was one of the lucky bloggers who got invited, it was given to me free of charge. Details of the event can be found here.
This event happened last January 14, 2017 8AM to 5PM. I’m so thankful because I learned a lot  during this.

Now,  tell me who is productive during this very busy sinulog week? - ME!

7. Sinulog T-Shirt with pride.
Your sinulog will not be complete if you cannot wear sinulog T-shirt. Come on, it is just once in a year. Go get yourself one ;) As for me, I bought my super cute t-shirt at Island Souvenirs  in Ayala at a very affordable price of Php199 pesos. It was a struggle buying it as there were also lots of people doing the same, but it was also very fun. I saw happy faces everywhere.



8. Put on fancy head dress.
Because who wouldn’t want some fancy decors in the head during this colorful festival?



9. Survived the paint war at the Baseline.
This was the most fun experience I had. Random strangers putting face paints all over myself- my body, my tshirt, my neck, everywhere! Worst was my sister’s face was slapped with thick blue paints. She almost couldn’t see and she looked so ugly. We both laughed so hard and nevermind it because we may look like chaka or wasted what’s important was we enjoyed.
I was also wearing my sparkling white t-shirt during this and I ended up looking very dirty with paints everywhere. It was so fun. Every memory I had during this experience was really worth it not to mention this was my FIRST time doing this!

The survivors, yeah!

10. Kasadya sa SRP with my sister.
My sister and I almost lost our hearts, our voices and our lungs in Kasadya sa SRP's rides! Whoah so fun and nerve-wrecking!

My sister is happy because she gets libre from ate haha!

11. I prayed wholeheartedly.
Last but not the least, Sinulog is time for our devotion to the baby Jesus. I may not able to go to church due to some personal issues, but I was able to pray wholeheartedly and talk to God solemnly. And for me, that is precious. (By the way, I pray everyday :) )

Aja!

That is my Sinulog story, what’s yours? ;)

"Kinsa ang ganahan mokaon ug pochero? I-isa ang kamot!".
Cebuano people are known to be pochero lovers. I said that because almost all of my officemates and friends love this kind of food. When you mention this, everybody wants to taste it.

As for me, at first, I honestly don't know that much about what pochero is. I just remember eating it many times but I just forget its name. Don't get me wrong, I have no care of food names because I just eat them anyway and I am happy, haha! I guess I should change that behavior this year.

So much for that, my friends invited me to join them while they plan to try out this newly opened pocherohan in Mabolo, Cebu City. My experience was very good and therefore, I will recommend it to you, too.

If you are in Cebu City, you should definitely try Pochero Kinaraan located at F.Gochan Street, Mabolo, near Sol Cafe and Cebu Indian Hindu Temple. They opened last January 19, 2017 and since then, they started serving mouth-watering pochero and other foods such as scallops, shrimp, tinolang manok bisaya, crabs, buntog, and many more!
I love the "lutong-bahay" and super-busog feels they offer to their customers. Plus, while they cook, you can smell the lafangan spirit. Two-thumbs up!

Pochero Kinaraan front view.

Pochero	Crabs
Shrimps	Scallops

Menu and prices. They have rice and corn as well!

Trivia: Pochero or Puchero is a Filipino dish which can be beef meat or chicken meat and different varieties of vegetable cooked in a stew. This was originally from Spain that means "stewpot".

Bon appetit!

"Happiness is morning and evening, daytime and night-time too. Happiness is anyone, and anything at all, that's loved by you."
To those of you who are great fans of Snoopy and Charlie Brown in the comic strip Peanuts, make sure to block your calendars in either of these dates, February 17 - 18 - 19, 2017, because these beloved and adorable characters, together with the whole squad, are coming to life in SM City Cebu, Cinema 1!



The Vaudeville Theatre Company, one of the newest musical theatre companies in Cebu Philippines,  and Create Cebu are proud to present to each of us "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown". This is a 2- hour broadway musical based on the popular comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schultz, with book, music and lyrics by Clark Gesner. In this musical theater play, bossy Lucy is hopelessly in love with a piano prodigy Schroeder who doesn't give her the time of the day, perfectionist Sally is still mocking blanket-toting Linus, Snoopy is in the doghouse, and "blockhead" himself Charlie Brown, is in rare form.

The script features new songs, particularly funny dialogue, and new catchy orchestrations.

Take a look at these teasers:

The cute tickets :)

1. Vaudeville Theatre Company office
- located at Ground Floor, Tango Plaza Bldg. (in front of Redemptorist Church), Queens Road, Cebu City. Mondays to Saturdays 10:00 am until 7:00 pm only.

2. Shakey's Pizza Branches - ( For Matinee Free Seating Tickets ).
IT Park • SM City Cebu • Ayala Center Cebu • Robinsons Cyber Gate Cebu

I am the Blue alien among the Yellow cast! :D

Proudly presented in cooperation with OurOku Corporation, Chevrolet, Island Premium Paints, West Palawan Premiere and Premiere Horizon Alliance.

Sponsored by Asaka Geosolutions Inc. and Shakey's Pizza with the help of A Space Cebu, Heislord, Pacific Traders, Sun Star, Magic 92.3 and Selecta. With special thanks to Freshco, Hesreal, Nonki, Zero Three Two, Colours, Jcentre Mall and Haiper Apps Corporation.



See you and don't miss out the fun!

ETCPaintensity2017, a free dance concert that was held  last January 14, 2017 at The Greenery, Juan Luna Avenue, Kasambagan, Cebu City was flooded with thousand of people willing to party  their hearts out. Before the said event, it was really obvious that their social media presence was very popular. There were really lots of people interested to join the free event. Kudos to their social media and marketing teams for doing a great job!

The event started around 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon at the said place. It was just awesome and perfect (that's according to my sister who headed there early to avail the freebies). People were falling in line carefully and the crowd was just manageable. During that time, lots of freebies were given to the early comers - Sinulog T-Shirts, Sharpie caps, water-resistant cellphone cases, Oppo monopods, Kitkat snacks, Tanduay drinks and more. Thanks to their generous sponsors! The early birds caught these fantastic freebies!

Around 5-6pm, few people and calm place.

I headed to The Greenery at around 8:00 o'clock in the evening in the hope to party, too! I was late because I attended an E-Commerce entrepreneurs summit earlier that day. I also witnessed the Sinulog 2017 Fireworks competition at  SM City Cebu around 7:00 o'clock in the evening. When I arrived in The Greenery, the place was jam-packed with party people already mostly young ones. Honestly, I was happy to see the crowd outside the venue but somehow speechless because I could not enter already - it was impossible for me to enter! Since it was not my luck to party inside, I just went upstairs on the 2nd floor to just watch the event. There were very few people in the second floor (less than 10 only and mostly were workers of establishments inside the building) because everybody were falling in line downstairs.

Hands up in the air, water showers, dancing on mud, headbang everywhere!

The DJ's and the crowd were enjoying their "moment-of-truth" inside. Hands up in the air, water showers, dancing on mud and headbang party yeah yeah everywhere. I enjoyed watching them. I also captured pictures and videos about it so that I could have something to blog about the dance concert. Together with few ladies upstairs, we were also raising our hands whenever the beat drops. It was fun and a little bit crazy. (Please don't judge us :D )


After couple of minutes watching the party from above, we noticed that the entrance was really full of people hungry for party. Sadly, I witnessed the stampede that happened around 9:30pm - 9:50pm. It was very worst! I almost cried. There were lots of people that passed out. The registration team, that was in the entrance area, was ignored. The crowd was running over some of them. I saw the happening from the second floor.

During that time, the music was stopped. I guess one of the DJ's announced that if the stampede in the registration area would not clear out, they would not continue the party.


At 10:30 in the evening, the crowd was still unmanageable. The management of the event officially stopped the party because safety and security of the people were at risk. "It is better safe than sorry." The crowd was still waiting for the party to continue even if there was an official announcement already. (Facepalm). After that, I went home already.
I saw my sister in our house. She told me she left etcpaintensity2017 party around 6pm. She shopped at Ayala. We were not able to communicate because there was no cellular signal.

After the stampede. The place was too crowded already.

Morning of January 15, 2017, I read Mayor Tommy Osmeña's facebook post that police and SWAT team were dispatched in the area around midnight because the crowd was going wild. Fortunately, silence and calmness were achieved around 2-3 o'clock (dawn). That's based on what I read.

Things that people should be thankful for ETCPaintensity2017 party:

1. The event was free.
2. Lots of freebies.
3. Awesome DJ's.


Party people should:

1. Follow the rules. This is a free event. Everybody is invited. Everybody is lucky!
2. First come, first serve and fall in line properly. Please.


Thank you ETCPaintensity2017 for holding such awesome event! You are very popular due to your fantastic concerts. Please continue doing such! Just please consider the venue and the large number of people on your next  free event. Again, we thank you! See you when we see you around.

Attention to all Cebu café lovers, here is another great place you can add to the list of your next café destination - MILKCOW! Yes, you read it right! Milkcow is finally here in Cebu, Philippines ready to serve you ice cream, coffee, macaroons and food you will greatly love.

What is Milkcow?
Milkcow is a fast-growing ice cream parlor and ice cream café brand in Korea widely known for serving high-end desserts, food and coffee. It has 50 branches and has expanded to other countries such as Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, China, the US and the Philippines.

Where is it particularly located in Cebu?
It is located in  Groung Floor, Filinvest Cyberzone Cebu Tower 1, IT Park, Lahug, Cebu City

Time:
10:00 AM to 12:00 AM Midnight

Here is my first time experience in the café .
My friends and I are eager to taste the ice cream in here because a lot of people are talking about it. It is "sikat" or "known" in our ears. It is 9:55 AM when we visit the place. Since, their opening time is 10:00 AM, it is clearly obvious that we are not so excited, haha! We wait for 5-7 minutes outside and voila, we are the first customers! We get in. The place is cold, cozy and clean.

Look at those patterns in the ceiling. Captivating!

It is still very early and the in-charge personnel are still baking macaroons, brewing coffee and cooking foods. These are the available items for the meantime. It looks sad hihi!

Delicious honey.

We are not sure what to order because all items in the menu looks delicious in our eyes. So, we ask for the best-sellers. The best sellers are The Anatomy of Milky Honey, The Anatomy of Milky Cube, The Anatomy of Macao Dream and The Anatomy of Milky Crisp.
We choose the Anatomy of Macao Dream because among four, this looks fancy! Price is Php 170.00 pesos.

The macaroon is not red; it is white. Maybe because we do not specify the color upon order.

List of best-sellers in a separate menu list.

For those who love taking pictures like me, there is a perfect spot for us. Look at that neat corner near the entrance door with props you can choose.

You can't by happiness but you can buy ice cream and that's kind of the same thing!

Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos. Char!

Complete list of menu.




Facts You need to know about Milkcow:
1. It is such a hit in Korea.
2. It came up with many interesting toppings and ice cream designs, which, due to their taste, cuteness and creativity, fascinated Koreans. For example, putting cotton candy on top of the ice cream looks really pretty but it also makes the taste unique.
3. It uses organic milk. Milk comes from cow that are not given growth hormones or antibiotics to enhance their milk yield.
4. Ice cream is soft served, pure and not diluted. Every order is handmade to ensure that they stay true to their artisan roots and that quality is not compromised.
5. Ice cream with honey is a must-try. So I'm gonna try it next time.
6. For some, Milkcow is a bit pricey. Well, I guess the quality of the food justifies it.

Visit http://www.milkcow.ph for more information. Like their Facebook page and follow on Instagram.