What to do with all your old clothes, bags, shoes? - Donate them!

After cleaning out my closets, I realized that I am such a pack rat! I have so many old clothes, shoes, bags that aren't exactly in mint condition, but aren't trash either.

Loads of shoes that I will never wear anymore and are just being stored in another room

boxes full of old clothes

bags that I used in highschool and will NEVER EVER use again ;)

 I had several different ideas:

1. Sell it to an ukay-ukay and use the cash to buy new stuff
2. throw it away and let someone else turn my trash to treasure
3. Leave it in the "tambakan room" and don't do anything about it.
4. Donate it

I decided to donate the whole lot. I found a great organization that will meet up with you and get your old things, then ship them off to their target province. I emailed them today, a Saturday, and got an immediate response. These people are hardworking and really deserve any help we can give them.

from their website : http://hbu-inc.webs.com/

"In-kind donations are now accepted

Our organisation has started accepting second-hand yet usable clothes, used DVD's and VCD's kept in your cabinets, old toys, books/magazines, old shoes, household and school items that you don't intend to use anymore.

There's a different sense of happiness it can give when you see other people having greater needs of those items.

Kindly support our organisation to thrive with your in-kind donations and let's make our poor community members happier in availing more low-priced donated items."


I didn't really think about researching other Non-government Organizations, I just picked the first one that I found to be legitimate. :) And Ok, I can't even pronounce Himakas- Binuligay - Uswag (HBU) Association. Maybe next time I'll try researching more on initiatives for my own province.

Of course, you can pick any organization you want. Just google about "donating" and you'll find a lot of foundations doing the same thing.

You don't have to start doing something for others just when there's a calamity or when it's Christmas and you feel like giving. I know a lot of my friends are generous, but they just don't have the avenue to fulfill their selfless ideas.

Sometimes a little Google is all we need :P

Every little thing we do, every little thought we have for someone less fortunate than us, will bring us one step closer to bringing out our truest potential as human beings. At least that's what I think ;)

Have a happy weekend guys!

The Ayala Triangle Experience

I often passed by ayala triangle when it was still a dilapidated plot of land. I used think that this place should be made into a park! The place epitomized "concrete jungle" because it literally looked like a jungle in the middle of all the CBD buildings.

Last year, Ayala fixed it up! I heard from a friend that it's because Bonifacio Global City was marketing and positioning itself so well as a residential area in the city, that the value of residential spaces in the CBD were diminishing. People in the city wanted a weekend life as well; so parks, churches, and other recreational spaces were more in demand.

Once the park was in place, my officemates and I started to use it as a jogging area. It was a great place to run because it was so near. The only catch is, that if you run in ayala triangle early after office hours, the smog from rush hour is too heavy to handle. We started running elsewhere, but the newly landscaped lawns were still a lovely addition to the busy area.

Then the restaurants finally opened. I was so excited to try them out because I really love eating out. I wouldn't recommend anyone to jog there anymore because the trail gets cut off by the people waiting in line to get into the restaurants. And besides, I think it's just a 1km run around the triangle. Pretty useless. So now for me it's just a nice place to eat.

SEE? =)...

 

Ayala Triangle in the Morning

 

Ayala Triangle at Night

OMAKASE

Sushi Boat at Omakase :)

 BONCHON CHICKEN

 Bonchon Chicken and Friends

BFAST by Chef Laudico

yeah we eat A LOT.

Amici

Ice Cream Cakes!

Wee Nam Kee

Cereal Prawns and Roasted Chicken (headache inducing fatty goodness)

(OK, this was taken in Singapore, but that's still what we ate, just a little smaller here)

Buffalo Crab claws - when plain buffalo wings aren't enough

If you wanna try this:

Buffalo Crab claws

or this :

Baked Oysters Rockefeller

go here :

Blackwood Bistro at The Venice Piazza (photo from Trix Deseo)

I decided to go some place new.. I kept on hearing about shows at the Venice Piazza and really hated the name of the place. It felt a little too pretentious, given that the we were far from Venice and the canals I imagine in Manila rhyme with urinal, imburnal, foul, etc. =) 

Nonetheless, I was intrigued. I trooped over there, and was surprised at how quaint the Venice Piazza seemed. I looked around and picked out the restaurant with the coolest interiors. 

There were people seated on a long table outside of the restaurant drinking wine, laughing, and looking pretty well-dressed. The whole place felt like one cozy dinner party. Once we sat down, the Chef came up to us and chatted. We weren't there for dinner, just for some cocktails, so he pointed out his recommended appetizers. It went great with the white wine he prescribed. 

The Buffalo Crab Claws laid 12 de-shelled crab pincers which were basted in buffalo wing sauce priced at Php 395. It kept with the cozy dinner party theme and kind of felt like comfort food. I was a happy camper =)

The whole Venice Piazza looks better at night :)

Blackwood Bistro is located at:

Ground level, The Venice Piazza,
Mckinley Hill, Fort bonifacio
+632 659-4409


Budget P500-1000

How to survive in makati : Professional Cleaners! :)

As a young professional in Makati, my schedule is swamped. Working in the office from 8-8 or even longer, exercising (yoga, running, or whatever's the next craze) then partying til 12 or even longer...

There's no way I can thoroughly maintain a household like my mom used to without changing my lifestyle. Since I'm only 24, I have no plans of becoming a manang anytime soon =)

After the New Year I decided to finally give up the notion of becoming a supergirl - someone who checks off all the things on her bucket list in a year and STILL maintains a pristine 3bedroom-condo by herself. Although my home is always (most of the time) orderly, it is by no means stepford-wife level.

I didn't want a stay-at-home household helper because I wasn't even at home all the time. My electricity bill could shoot up in a matter of days. My only choice was a weekend maid, but you had to have connections to get those (parang mafia lang). I remembered wanting to put up a professional (on-call) cleaners business for condos. I thought it was a novel idea but after googling, I realized that someone already thought of it. So last week I hired professional cleaners:

ROMA ! "The Professional Cleaning Services"

Intimidating huh? they told me that they could clean my whole house from the walls to the floors, sterilize my bathroom and kitchen, dust, vacuum, sweep and mop, all for the low low price of Php 1,610 for a 70sqm space for 4hours. I think I exclaimed a shocked "woahhh" after they told me that. Really pricey. They said that 2 people would work on it and eventually sales-talked me into it.

It was the new year and I wanted to start the year right. They came down from a white Fortuner carrying loads of complicated cleaning paraphernalia.

In the end I was quite pleased with the job. But I didn't exactly get my goal of finding someone to maintain the place. 1,610 a week was not exactly a bargain.

Being the master-googler that I am, I searched for a part-time maid. Lo and behold, I found the ONLY employment agency that provides part-time maids.

AMARIAH EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

# 1108-A J.P. RIZAL ST. GUADALUPE VIEJO, MAKATI CITY

TEL. No.: 899-8106; 775-4112 CELL No.: 09309158753

For 150 office fee (like the flag down fee for a taxi) and 75 pesos an hour, I can call them up and request them to provide me a helper within an hour or so.

As I write this entry, a friendly 40something lady is in my house teaching me cooking tips on how to make a good ampalaya gisado while folding my clothes =)

Yay!

Looking for something different? Try Basilio's

I usually find out about these kinds of places because a friend of a friend opened a restaurant or bar and we HAVE to try it. Like I said, I will try anything at least ONCE :) But this place, deserves a second, even third.

Just look at this scrumptious little calorie-buster:

Molten Chocolate cake ala mode

I'm a sucker for molten-chocolate cake and this one definitely got high marks from me. best I've tasted so far and the food presentation isn't bad either. I also tried the spanish adobo which is yummy with all of its oily goodness.

Prices are reasonable and the cocktails are yummy. I took one of my girlfriends there on my 2nd visit to test out the bar part of resto-bar. I have to find out where they bought these glasses:

Cosmopolitan in a funky glass. :)

Basilio's is at 

Unit 151 Forbeswood Heights,
Rizal Drive corner 29th Street
Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
(near Furnitalia)

I decided to only put the address if I like the place. har har har

toodles! :)

Cubao Expo and shoe designing

I decided to blog and blog until I get sleepy today :)

It's so therapeutic!

Anyway, my super-fashionista-owner-of-designer-bags-by-the-truckload officemate told me of his(her) whichever way you wanna look at him(her) shoemaker. He has his designs made by Solimann shoes in Cubao expo. Cubao Expo is a chic hangout for trendy and artsy-fartsy people. I felt like such a stiff! Just take a look at the cool shops!

I dunno what this is, but I was mesmerized! Intense detail!

Mogwai is your typical Saguijo - type bar but with 10x more character

My mind started making interior design plans for my room when I saw this chair!

Even my honda civic felt out of place. 

and of course... Solimann Shoes, Just ask the manong to make a copy of a shoe from the magazine or remake your favorite shoe that's already beyond repair or even out of circulation ! it should be with you in a few weeks. :)

cubao expo used to be called the Marikina Shoe Exchange. I guess "Cubao Expo" does have more name recall...

 Oh!! extra pic :              

  

Bellini's! I think it was the restaurant in "One more chance" or some other iconic pinoy drama. We didn't eat here because we were craving isaw at UP. but I wanna go back just for this!

more adventures to come!!

Ukkokei Ramen

I had a very bad craving for Ramen yesterday. It was so cold in the office (I borrowed my officemate JP's jacket and even wore the hood... didn't care if it totally ruined my outfit) and I read in one of Kuya Kim's tweets that it was 19 degrees celsius in Manila!.


Off to Ukkokei we went! My wunderbar friend who knows lots of hole-in-the-wall great places to eat, introduced this place to me. I tried my first bowl of Ramen in a Ramen bar in Osaka, and it made me feel all cozy inside. My 2nd bowl of ramen was at Ukkokei along Pasay Road and it definitely singed a memory in my mind. It's a bit pricey at 360-580 per bowl but you won't care once you sip the first spoonful.

Joseph had the Miso with a slice of pork and I had the Tantanmen. The tantanmen was super rich and I got full mid-bowl :) the Miso was a little thinner so Joseph was still hungry even after finishing mine! hehe...

Yay! Ramen craving nixed! :) Don't you just love the little Japanese character on the placemat?

back to tax provision!