I recently bought a 2-pc rat glue board and I placed it underneath my bed overnight. I was surprised to see 12 little mice trapped. Yes, 12. I won't even post a picture because it's just gross. Although, I must say that I somehow pity them, especially when they squirm.

How true is the saying that when you catch/torture/kill a rat, it will come back with a vengeance? I've heard of rats destroying your clothes and peeing in furniture. Does this apply to tiny mice?

True or not, I am throwing the boards far from the house. Hah!

P.S. I am promising to dedicate my weekend in cleaning the house. Supposed to be done last week but got sidetracked.

True to the photos you see on the website, Casa Ibiza really is photogenic in real life, even with the unkempt resort, everything looks good in photos. The real cause for our whole team's pledge to never go back with friends and family was really simple and could have been prevented, that is very unsatisfactory customer service.

Being from a company that provides IT services, we have been living on a standard of providing service that is nothing short of our best, which is why it was frustrating how everything has been handled--from the reservations to the logistics.


Let me also disclose that we availed a voucher from a deal-buying site. Does this entitle us to be given subpar service? No. Also, as per TripAdvisor, even without deal sites, the reviews are leaning towards bad. So it can't be just us, right?

Main swimming pool.

Wading pool, whatever the heck that is.

On the upside, you are allowed to eat the food you order from the restaurant at the poolside.

Downside of ordering is that it takes them really a long time to prepare. A 1-hour wait for cheesesticks and fruit shake? Really? We were the only ones ordering so we can't understand how it took that long. We wanted to take over the kitchen and cook for ourselves-- which brings us to the corkage fees issue.

Photo from Casa Ibiza Facebook page

We saw a photo from their Facebook page under the "Photographs taken by guests" album that people were grilling liempo so we inquired if we can do the same. We promptly received an email from Danielle Lee and as it turns out, it was Divine Lee's shots (her sister, model, celebrity, role model ko haha I love her) and she was only taking the photos to show how the food is being cooked. But we CAN avail the cook-your-own-food drama, but we'll have to pay... wait for it... 700 pesos. EACH. And that, my friends, was the discounted rate. Obviously, we opted out.

So for both lunch and dinner, we just decided to eat outside, rather than spend a ridiculous amount of money so we can grill and/or wait for their kitchen staff to bring out the ordered dished in a timely manner.

The deal came with free breakfast. It was decent but not great. Acceptable though, since it's free. There were three breakfast items to choose from: corned beef, tapa and ham. It came with orange juice.




Another pro, (that I could think of) was the free horseback riding sessions. You are not obligated to, but a tip for manong would be nice. 


More photos of the place.

Unkempt cabana, morning na to ah, makalat pa rin :'(

Where we stayed

Bar/dining area

We were frustrated. I even wished the photos didn't turn out to be this appealing, because really, it won't compensate for all the trouble, and that feeling of dissatisfaction. I don't know if they are just understaffed or the training was poor. I'd like to say though that it has a potential to be a go-to place to relax.

I'm one of those people that Twitterverse calls "typical atat Pinoys" who braved the opening day, along with my college dance troupe friend, Jayson. It was not planned, we found out about it and spontaneously decided we should go right after our shift. We were both on night shift so we thought it'd be a good idea. Not.

Especially if you're really impatient, like me, it is never a good idea to go shopping in an opening day. I guesss I just had to experience it for myself as I missed Forever 21's chaos. I must say, it is a good life experience. Will I do it again? Maybe, if there's good company. Also, most probably, I will, for Cotton On.

So here goes. I tried sneaking up on people to take shots. Sorry if I can't post your names here. If you are in the photo though, just holler and I'll include your name.

Old guy happily walks by with his purchase.

My favorite subjects were mostly my line-mates since Jayson has still not yet arrived. Again, sorry for invading your privacy. I must say that I really loved the crowd. Everyone were wearing comfortable clothes, you won't see girls in frilly dresses that look alike. Just lots of line photo-taking and nice people.

Cute shoes! I want.

And when he finally arrived, we also got to swap taking photos of our haggard selves to remember this day by.


In fairness to MOA, even with the shizoprenic airconditioning, the lighting is really good. You can almost say that we had an 8-hr sleep. Almost.

I'd say the long line going to the store was nothing compared to the chaos inside of the store. I wasn't even able to take photos because there were too many people you'd bump into. The line to the cashier was another story, it was painful. It spanned all over the store, zigzaging into aisles. You could even do your shopping while in line to the cashier. But since I didn't want to stay put, here's when I took advantage of taking product shots, if you could call it that.

First off, the ones I really wanted to just buy stuff from the items currently on sale. Jayson, on the other hand, kept on getting clothes that aren't.

<...Forgot to bring my SD card, will continue with the post some other time>

It is the day we all dread, may you be a student or a working professional like me. What's to love about Mondays! This day says to your face, "wake up to reality, lazyass!"

So in order to make things better, we compromise. For me, it's having fresh Avocado shake.

You see, growing up, we had lots of fruit-bearing trees in our backyard. It was the province, after all. One of them is a mango tree, but it rarely gives us fruits. Our avocado tree, on the other hand, would give us big basketfulls of fruit.

You might not believe, or may, but I was the one picking them off the tree. I would climb branch to branch. I even have a branch which I like to call "my spot" because when I have my neighbors over, I do not want them wandering in my tree spot! I'm very territorial when it comes to our trees.

Yup, that was how we roll. We also like to secretly hitchhike at the back of trucks, but that's for another story.

Haha. What a tomboy I was as a kid.

So anyway, from the fruits that I garher, there will be almost three times a day where I'd make my avocado shake. I'm also very territorial with MY blender. I would not take it lightly if you use it. I am the only one who blends.

And that is the long story of how drinking avocado shake on Mondays make me good to go.

Disclaimer: Title coined by the juanrepublic here. I do not claim to be the best of it as I could think of many people who are a lot better but it's nice to see people actually liking this certain photo collection of me. Also, I get to be the queen for once so yay!

Doing jump shots has been my thing whenever I go swimming. You see, I don't actually "swim", not because I don't like to but because I don't know HOW. Yes, You can always call me the Palawenian Who Can't Swim.

So there I was, on a beach somewhere, wearing a cute two-piece swimsuit. Of course I'll have to produce a picture that would make me remember the place. And since camwhoring in swimsuits is something I couldn't actually just post around and be proud of, I started doing this thing that would catch attention (hello, this is miss attention whore!) and something that not everyone could do, hence my jump shots.

I think this started around summer before my 2nd year in college. Kaso hindi pa uso non ang DSLR kaya camera phone lang gamit ko. Back then, I was still too shy to do it. I would place my phone on a stable platform and set the timer so that no one would have to see me doing silly poses and jumps.

Fast forward to my first summer getaway with my officemates in my first year working, I got this photo.

La Union Year 1

It was hyped the moment I posted it. I got comments and compliments. But I do realize now that I do better jumps now.

Then beach trip after beach trip, I simply won't return home without one.

Bataan

Bataan

Bataan 2

This next one, was from Laiya. Seriously, this bikini is getting the most jump shot mileage. Every beach trip, I bring at least two pairs. This orange pair I bought from House of Vanita, I always bring as backup. Can you guess why? Yes, I DO have other pairs. Many pairs in fact. I used to think I had to buy another pair for every beach trip so now I have lots. And of course, the moment I pick my ass to do these shots would be the time I'm coincidentally wearing the backup bikini.

Laiya, Batangas

Sometimes, I tame them down when I'm with other people.

La Union Year 2

Nagsasa Cove, Zambales

 I actually tried this next one, without thinking what I'd do. I was a bit pressured. I was being shot by two people and I felt like I had to do something spectacular so they won't get disappointed. I knew I had to do something different, or else it would defeat the purpose of doing the same exact thing, just on a different beach, won't it?

Baler, Aurora

For my second Spanish Peeling process, I asked my dermatologist what I can do the make the peeling go faster. He answered, "The secret is to not make the peeling noticeable, a good moisturizer can do that."

That right there can cover my entire face. Do note that I have skinny hands so the amount is relative.

He then suggested an over-the-counter drugstore moisturizer that I never thought would change the way I feel about moisturizers. It's a common name so I'm sure you'll recognize, and in case, like me, you are also living under a rock, I also included photos below.

Oh, it's Cetaphil moisturizer by the way!

You see, before this, I was only familiar with the facial wash. And if you are also familiar with them, you'd recall that the packaging has a off-white/blue/green color palette. So silly me, went looking at Mercury Drug for the same. I was so unsure when I saw a Cetaphil moisturizer, boxed in pink and off-white, however was afraid to ask if there was another one. (Read: Easily intimidated by sales attendants)

Been using it for a month, hence the condition of that box

Easily, after one application, I fell in love with how it locked the moisture in. It was not greasy on the face, like how Myra gets after a couple of hours, and a little goes a long way. I wanted to test it first before I rave about it here but then I got so hooked that I never got to post about it.

Price: PHP468 at Mercury Drug. Quite pricey for drugstore moisturizer, I know, but it is worth every cent.
Will I  buy this again? In a heartbeat! I just need to find a way how I can consume all this.