Month: February 2017

Art Fair 2017

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A few weeks ago, the January Girls met up for another Art Tambay at Makati during the Art Fair Philippines weekend. ♥ We chose Fundamental Coffee as our location. Heavy rains poured the whole afternoon, so it took a while for us to be complete.

Pretty interiors.

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Getting to Fundamental Coffee is easier than the previous coffee shop we went to. From Glorietta Mall, exit through the Glorietta 2 exit (the one with the new activity center/waterfall entrance), and just cross the street to Park Terraces.

The menu.

Hannah and I got there first. I ordered the Double chocolate mocha & their Fundamental French Toast. Hannah ordered their best seller, which was Cappuccino with butterscotch. We talked about the interiors of the cafe while waiting for our orders.

Their fundamental french toast was heavenly. ♥ Three hefty slices of french toast with honey & nuts. So delicious!

Double chocolate mocha. The chocolate foam was a unique touch to this drink.

We invited another person to our art tambay. She was our (Aiza & I) group mate back then in the ATC trade last year. Her name is Monique. She makes the yummiest food illustrations on instagram! I did her portrait during this art tambay. Speaking of portraits – I did portraits of the girls as gifts for this meet-up. I’m glad they liked it. ♥

Flat lay attempt of my table space lol.

That cute tin can pictured above is from seamountainco. A local store that makes its own artist-grade pigments! Thank you Jean for gifting us a sample of your watercolor paint! I can’t wait to make art with this. ♥ I did try it out during our art tambay, and its really pigmented! A small amount of paint goes a long way for this. I can’t wait to experiment with it.

After that, we decided to go to The Link for the Art Fair. This event is held at the top floors of a parking lot building. There was a long line to the entrance. But it was orderly and the management/security did their jobs well. We went on a Saturday so the venue was crowded. This event showcases the best of the Philippines’ contemporary art. Here are some of the paintings that caught my eye:

Mass hysteria number two by Liv Vinluan.

Ramon Orlina glass sculptures.

Takahiro Hirabayashi paintings.

And that’s it for the month of February. For March, we plan on meeting again at the Just Add Water + Ink event. Hope to see you there!

Vanderlust

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Not all those who vander are lost.

Corny. HAHA. Anyway. A few weeks ago, we were looking for a place to have coffee & dessert long Tomas Morato where we found Vanderlust Bistro + Patisserie. A European cafe hidden at the corner of Tomas Morato & Sct. De Guia. Curious, we went in to see the display case showcasing European desserts: German Schneeball, Italian Cannoli, and Spanish Churros. The well-trained, friendly staff explained each dessert to me and recommended their best sellers.

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Second floor. Or maybe Mezzanine? Ceiling height is a bit low. You could say that this place is “cozy”.

How to enjoy the Schneeball.

Our order.

I ordered the calamansi schneeball for us to try. Coffee was Mocha for me and an Americano for him. I loved the procedure to eat the schneeball! You put it in the paper bag, and wack it with the mallet. It felt like my frustrations with work were being wacked away. HAHA.

Overall, our stay was really nice. We didn’t get to try their non-dessert food. But there’s always a next time. ♥

Vanderlust Bistro + Patisserie : Menu | Facebook page.

Crystal Beach

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Our group went to Crystal Beach Resort over the weekend. Reasons for this trip were instagram shots, photoshoots, surfing, and s’mores. Picture heavy post ahead!

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And of course a much needed trip for all of us since its been a while since we last got together. ♥ This place was one of the most recommended trips from the DIY Travel Philippines Facebook group. I discovered that a weekend trip is doable and cheap. Thankfully most of us were available. I reserved the following for our group:

  • Malachi – 2,550php for Inggo. This is an airconditioned room for 2pax. It has its own bathroom with toiletries, tv, and bed. It comes with free breakfast buffet stub for two.
  • Shem (They got transferred to Micah) – 1,700php for Ruth & Joy. This is a bahay kubo type accommodation. Comes with a bed, electric fan, electric sockets for charging. It also comes with free breakfast buffet stub for the next day. Its at Kampsite 1 and near the public shower area.
  • Tent (Mariel) – 750php/pax. If own tent its 550php/pax. 250php of those are consumable within the resort. You could instead add 35php at the dining hall for the breakfast buffet. Tent comes with mat & pillows. Its at Kampsite 2.

After confirming the availability of these rooms via phone call, I reserved the same day via online banking. We paid 50% of the total rooms. We just printed the email confirmation & deposit slip and presented it at check-in. We also paid the remaining 50% on site. There’s a 1k deposit per room (in case of damage) and a 500php deposit for the tent. This is refundable at check out. The deposit for the rooms we knew, but we didn’t knew about the tent deposit. It was a good thing that Inggo had extra cash.

Waiting at the reception. It was hectic that day. They were at full capacity! But the receptionists were friendly & helpful.

So pretty. ♥

Hugot wall. HAHA.

Esther. This is near the Micah bahay kubo.

LOOK AT THE TREES.

My signature travel pose. HAHA.

This is where Mariel (our tent) is located.

Our view with the Agoho trees. ♥ #ItsMorePineInThePhilippines

I found Mariel. HAHAHA.

To the beach! ♥

For your (Cigarette) butts.

One of the most Instagrammable shots in the resort. One point perspective guyssss.

The beach ♥. The other side of that mountain is Anawangin cove I think. One of the islands in the background is Capones island.

Pretty ♥

The beach has two areas: the surfing area & the swimming area. Check the signages! You could only swim between the colored flags. The waves were huge during our stay. It was fun screaming & jumping at the waves. Para kang nasa Splash island HAHA. I urged Ivy and Inggo to try surfing. It’s 400php per hour with an instructor. It was soooooooo much fun! ♥ Those two had aching muscles after though. HAHA.

S’mores night. ♥

It was only for a while but we had some s’mores at the bonfire after dinner. We didn’t get to eat as much s’mores as we want since the staff added more logs to make a bigger bonfire, huhu. There’s also an acoustic night during weekends, so it was a nice night eating s’mores and listening to music. ♥ If only we brought a large mat so we could sit here. Oh well, lesson learned! We stayed at Micah for some girl bonding before sleeping. ♥

The next day, we ate breakfast at the dining hall. I didn’t get to take photos because I was hungry or something. HAHA. After that, we explored the resort and took more photos. These are our italic shots:

Ivy.

Hannah. Her italic shot I think is too embarrassing to post here. HAHA.

Ruth. ♥

Me. ♥ Can you see my jacket? It has wings on it HAHAHA.

Check out was at 12 noon. We packed our bags and off we go back to Manila. ♥ We managed to ride a bus at the town bound for Caloocan. Lucky! And that’s our #WeekendWarrior trip. After all these years, one outing finally went out of the drawing board. lol.

Itinerary:

  • Ride the Cubao Victory Liner bound for Iba, Zambales. Tell the teller that you will alight at San Narciso, ticket price will be cheaper. (310php compared to 380php). Terminal guide here.
  • We were supposed to ride the 7am bus. Unfortunately, we were too late & the tickets for the 7am ride were sold out. We took the 9am bus ride instead.
  • Travel time is 4 hours with stops in between.
  • Alight at San Narciso. You will know its San Narciso if you will see the San Sebastian Church to your right.
  • Ride a tricycle to Crystal Beach. Fare is 15php per person.
  • Going home depends on which bus you will ride. The Caloocan bound bus fare is around 272php.

General idea of expenses:

  • Bus roundtrip (310php) = 620php.
  • Tricycle roundtrip = 30php.
  • Own tent = 550php.
  • Total = 1,200php for these. You could do a weekend trip for less than 3k/2k. This will depend on your food budget

Other expenses:

  • Surfing with instructor = 400php. Board rental = 200php.
  • Additional for breakfast buffet = 35php.
  • Rentable sports equipment also has a price per hour. Ask the staff for this.
  • You could also do an island hopping to Capones island. Ask the staff for this too!

Crystal Beach Website | Facebook

Hope this helps!