Achievement Unlocked!

Finally, after 2 and a half years (5 semesters) in the postgraduate program, I finally got a master's degree! I have already completed all the requirements in graduate school last October 2013, but it was only on April 26 that we had the graduation ceremonies.

In the first 2 years of studying, I tried my best to balance full time work and school. However, I had to work part-time so I could focus on my review for our comprehensive exam and our final project (something like thesis).

since my family is abroad, I got my friend/classmate, Rona to go up the stage with me

Thank God, I survived! I'm now a Master of Technology Management from the University of the Philippines Technology Management Center (UP TMC), UP Diliman. I'm so thankful to my family for the support, and of course to my professors who have really taught me well. I can't imagine having paid for my own education. It felt so good! It's indeed one of my best investments.

my mentors: UP TMC Director Cruz, Dr. Posadas, Prof. Imbang

Dr. Roger Posadas - Philippine Father of Technology Management

My project adviser, Prof. Glen Imbang

I will surely miss graduate school, most especially my classmates who turned into good friends. Graduate school wouldn't have been the same without them.

batchmates :)

friends :)

my graduate school "barkada"

my closest girl friends in school, Mayette and Rona

Anyway, I really felt that this master's degree added value to me, most especially in the corporate world. It helped me land my current job as a full-time business consultant in one of the top technology companies in the world.

So if you guys are still deciding whether to take up masters (or MBA), don't think twice about it because besides the fact that it appraises your value, it's also very fulfilling personally. And if it's within the career that you wanna pursue, go for it because it is really applicable in the work environment, most especially when it comes to decision-making.

here comes the mandatory photo with the sunflowers

Jule, Leo, Me, and Mai (and I'm the youngest! haha #proud)

Just wanna share my post-graduation meal, which was treat to me by my friend, Irene from Iloilo City and her husband, Alex from London. It's my first time to try Todd English Food Hall at SM Aura, and I would say that it was a great experience! I love the food, the service, and the ambiance.

my fave: Crabonara

I forgot the name but it's a clam pasta and it's yummy!

S'mores :)

choco lava :)

me and Irene

It was really a celebratory weekend for me because my birthday and my graduation happened in two consecutive days!:)

xoxo,

city girl

Sponsor A Noche Buena for Typhoon Haiyan Victims

Please support our project for the victims of typhoon Haiyan. We are raising money so we can hold a Christmas party for the typhoon victims in one of the affected communities in Northern Iloilo in Panay Island, Philippines. We plan to have a simple yet meaningful Christmas feast for the victims to give them hope and make them happy, most especially because it will be hard for them to feel the spirit of Christmas with what happened to them. Besides having an early "Noche Buena", we'll be also giving away holiday baskets to the families and toys for the kids. We really hope you could support this cause.

For your donations, visit https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/2des6. Please also like and share our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SponsorANocheBuena.

Sponsor A Noche Buena initiative, a disaster relief project in partnership with Sigma Alpha Nu, a Sorority of University of the Philippines, aims to help provide holiday gift baskets to 1,000 families who are victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. 

Typhoon Haiyan is said to beone of the biggest and most destructive natural calamity that hit the Philippines in the recent years. This disaster is feared to have taken at least 2,000 lives (as of this writing), left thousands injured and missing, hundreds of thousands homeless and at least 2 million people in need of food, water, and medicine. These numbers are expected to soar as search and rescue continue.

This cause was started by a facebook group "Sponsor A Noche Buena" launched by Kei Obusan, who wondered how Christmas will be spent by these people in this very upsetting condition. In the Philippines, Noche Buena is a special Filipino tradition where families get together on Christmas eve to share food and gifts. Imagine being homeless at a time when the rest of the world are celebrating in fancy clothes giving grand gifts to each other. Imagine those children who are out in the cold desperately finding comfort in their temporary shelter. This project is for those people who deserve to be given a spark of hope. A little gift from us who are very fortunate to have Internet running and clean water to drink anytime we want. 

Each "basket of hope" will be filled with some typical noche buena items, some toys for the kids, a letter of kindness from the volunteers and donors, and other stuff that we can give to (hopefully) lighten the burden that the victims are going through. At $10, you can already sponsor a basket that can bring joy to these families.

This campaign will serve as a launchpad to invite partnerships, companies or individuals with the heart of gold who are willing to sacrifice their $10 for the affected families of this calamity. 

Your help is needed. Share your blessings! Thank you. 

Honor and Excellence

I am so proud to be one of her students way back in college. She's such a brilliant professor.:)

The UP Pep Squad is Back on Top!:)

Just to have something to post here (since I have very little time doing blog posts now), I wanna share how happy and proud I am for my Alma Mater for being this year's UAAP Cheerdance Competition CHAMPIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS UP PEP!:)



I actually didn't expect this to happen, because I was also impressed with what the FEU Pep Squad presented. But after a closer observation, I realized that what made FEU as champions last year was exactly what made UP this year's champions: synchronization & a very neat performance. Due to more complicated routine by FEU, they had a little trouble in synchronizing their moves, more especially in mounting and dismounting pyramids and executing tosses and other stunts. I think, their costume was quite distracting since it didn't look much of a cheerdance uniform anymore; but still, nice concept. For UP, they got a nice theme which actually showed that they were indeed students of the State University. It's very Pinoy, without making it into a Jejemon level.

I wasn't much convinced by UST's routine, but since other schools kinda messed up more than they did, I think they still deserved to be 2nd runner-up; and hopefully, they won't get dropped out of the top 3 again for the succeeding years (given that they'll improve or at least bring back the same skills/level which made them champs for multiple years in the past).

When I was in college, I made sure get to watch the competition live at the Big Dome every year. However, when I graduated, I got lazier in attending the live event due to a growing crowd each year. Good thing this year I only watched with my friends at home, because Araneta Coliseum was too crowded, having around 21,000 audience (a bit  fewer than the record-breaking 23,443 audience in 2008).

Here are this year's scores (out of 500 points):

UP (Hala Bira Fiesta Theme) - 440.9 points (88.18%)

FEU (Japanese Samurai Theme) - 421.4 points (84.28%)

UST (White Tiger Theme) - 407.5 points (81.50%)

Reference: Inquirer Sports, Twitter and Wikipedia 

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1.02.28

Spontaneous Saturday

March 13 - It's one of the most spontaneous days I ever had. haha! We we're able to go to a lot of places without having any plans at all.

We woke up late and had lunch at Cainta, then off to Rockwell to return the clothes we used at our photoshoot. Then we went home to get changed.

At 3:30pm, we were at Starbucks Katipunan for a meeting with our client.

i didn't look busy haha

Before 6pm, we left Katips to have some food trip in UP: isaw, kwek2x, tapsilog at Rodics, and cakes at Chocolate Kiss.

 we almost missed their last few pieces

please excuse my party attire. this outfit was meant to last 'til night haha

 tapsilog at Rodic's...w/ extra egg for Maze

 w/ our newly found friend, Sarah

 it took us 15mins to finally get a table inside

 woah...i missed their iced tea!

 blueberry cheesecake!!!

 devil's food cake

Then we got a text message inviting us to drink at Hang Over in Ortigas Home Depot.

Then I realized that my friend was waiting for us at Club Circa in Eastwood. Some of our DJ friends will be playing there that night also so we decided to go there as well.

But I was craving for pizza and pasta so we had some at Pasto. Then Angelia and I went up to Circa to party for a bit. haha.

 Margherita

 Frutti de Mare (seafood)

 they didn't want to party so they were left there haha

 another VIP night at the DJs booth! partyyy!!! 

Oh yeah...Saturday! =P

Please support.=)

This is an upcoming event of my college organization. I really hope I could come.=)

For students out there, you need to be pro-active, most especially with this issue.

It's February again, and the most awaited UP event is coming near....UP FAIR!!! I'm glad that our brods got a fair night again. So please support them by attending the Wednesday night of the UP Fair. =)

Awww I miss being a college student!!!

it's an F day! :)

FAMILY

First bonding for the year at St. Claire and SM North.

FAITH
Prayed and offered eggs to St. Claire.

eggs to offer

my wish/prayer

wishing fountain

FULL
I finished all the food when we had lunch at Max's. Ruined my diet. Argh!

FINALLY!
We bought a laptop for my little cousin and it came with a free Smart Broadband Prepaid Kit! haha! I've been wanting to own one but I never attempted to buy. haha! Luckily, it came by surprise! wahaha!=))

FRIENDS

Went to UP to fly a chopper but the owner forgot it at home haha! We had picnic instead.

pancit canton, bread, chips, C2

FANS! =))

While having a picnic, we saw Duncan of Southboarder jogging. He promised to take a photo with us on his 2nd round so we waited for him. haha! On his 2nd round, he told us to give him another round, but we insisted that we're about to leave already so he finally granted our request. Yeah, he's in all sweat but we didn't mind.=P


FABULOUS!
We went to Manor Superclub at night. Pretty girls' night out (though two of us brought their dates).

outside Jack's Loft (and everybody stared at us haha)

FURIOUS
Had a daredevil moment as I took my friends' shots that they passed to me. Taking 4 straight shots of Bacardi was like jumping off a cliff. haha! (Well that's after having a glass of Apeach-7Up and 2 glasses of Long Island haha)

and last but not the least...

FUN!!!!!

I can feel that 2010 is gonna be a really fun year! this is a proof! wee! I'm so excited for the rest of the year! =)

shoe lovin': my favorite pair!

I'm not actually much of a shoes fan so I don't collect them as much as I do with bags. But whenever I get myself a pair of new shoes, I make sure that it's something I really love. I only choose what I think is best--fit, style, comfort, and price. Well maybe this is why most of my shoes get a lot of flattering comments from people every time I wear them.

So I've got some pumps, strappy stilettos, flats, and ankle boots. As of now, my favorite pair is my pink ankle boots, which my cousin got for me from Japan. Wherever I go, every time I wear it, people can't help but notice it and give really flattering feedback. Even those who just see it on my pictures leave comments on my sites telling me that they like my shoes. Some of those who have expressed their love for my shoes were a TV actress/host, one of my favorite popular photographers, and several close friends.
Wow, it really gives me a good feeling. Makes me love my cousin even more! Haha. Well actually even my Grandma and Aunt deserve credit because it was the three of them who got me this pair of nice booties last summer.

I love wearing this pair of shoes with shorts and skirt. It really matches perfectly, plus the shoes gets more noticeable because of my long bare legs. Hmmm I haven't tried it with jeans though, but I will soon.
I'm glad I had the chance to wear them in one of my photo shoots, which was done in UP Diliman (My Alma Mater haha). Really nice. Thanks to Bernard Chang for this photo.

Thanks to everyone who liked my shoes. But I'm so sorry my friends 'coz you can't have them. I just can't let them go. Haha! Why? Hmmm because if you're single like me, having a pair of shoes like this is a must! Hahaha!=P