Here’s the announcement from Adarna:

‘PS. Mahal kita.’ A Valentine Tertulia at Adarna

Date:   Saturday. February 13, 2010

Time:   7:00pm ~ 10:00pm

Location: 119 Kalayaan Ave., Quezon City

A tertulia is a social gathering common during the turn of the century. Friends usually congregate in someone’s home late in the afternoon or early evening to enjoy conversation, art and culture. The mood is informal and the guests themselves provide the entertainment.

In celebration of Valentine’s day, you are cordially invited to participate in this special tertulia by sharing real love letters, poems or songs expressing Pinoy romance .

This is a FREE event but guests are requested to come in Filipiniana attire—regional, period, or even as literary or historical Pinoy lovers!

Come and celebrate the timelessness of Pinoy love at Adarna.

For questions and reservations please send us a message through our FB accounts or through:

adarnafoodandculture@yahoo.com, and adarnafoodandculture@gmail.com

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Guidelines for the Love Letter Contest

1. All entries must be authentic (actually sent/received) and unpublished.

2. Love letters refer to those actually sent/ received in whatever manner (electronic, postal, hand-carried) expressing/professing ROMANTIC love. This means, that letters expressing love for country, children, pets, nature etc. will not be allowed at this time.

3. Love letters may express the whole range of:
• emotions—crush, passion, lust, sadness, rage, madness, rapture;
• states—beginnings, endings, long-term, it’s complicated;
• forms– proposals, odes, affirmations, vows;
• or cover a range of situations—unrequited, lost, long-distance, second chances, wartime, forbidden, secret, marriage, young love, May- December, LGBT, cyber, interracial, virtual etc.
• letters may be old or new but not written for purposes of joining the contest.

4. Love letter readers may or may not necessarily be the writers and vice versa

5. The entire letter, or an excerpt thereof may be read provided that it does not exceed one short bond, double space, 12 font. For letters written in long hand, it must not exceed 350 words.

6. It is not necessary to reveal the identity of the writer or receiver, however a brief (2 mins!) background on the context of the letter is requested to help the audience appreciate the letter.

7. Only two letters written/sent/received by the same person will be considered.

8. A reader can only read a maximum of two letters.

9. Ideally, the letters should be in Filipino or English so more people can understand it. However, love letters in other Filipino languages, or Spanish may be read and briefly translated.

10. The manner of judging and prizes will be revealed during the tertulia.

Performances
1. Guests are encouraged to share their talents during the program. Songs, dances, poems or the playing of musical instruments are welcome provided that it is in keeping with the theme.

2. Please advise Adarna at the latest, February 10 so we could queue you in the program.

3. In case you require any special set up or intend to bring special equipment, please give us at least three days notice, so we can in turn inform you if such can be arranged/accommodated.

COMING SOON!
• February 6 Pinoy Cocktails

Enjoy old and new Pinoy cocktails beginning February 6. Perfect while waiting for your lunch or dinner orders or just to unwind.

HAPPENING NOW!

For the whole month of February, enjoy 20% off when you order a bottle of any of our red, white and local wines.

Try our new appetizers available only this February!
• Higados- Filipinos of old, used to ‘feel’ strong emotions not with their heart, but their liver called ‘atay’ or ‘hati’. With this as inspiration, Adarna offers chicken liver cooked in wine and spices liberally sprinkled with freshly ground pepper. Excellent with red wine.

• Garbanzos y patatas picante – Fiery crunchy chickpeas and crisp chili potatoes are a fun vegetarian hot treat. Goes very well with chilled white or fruit wine.

• Albondigas en salsa – A dish of meatballs in spicy olive tomato sauce served with bread sticks for some serious flavor. Try this with red wine.

Do you remember how you felt the first time you visited a theme park as a child? You’re all wide-eyed with excitement and you couldn’t wait to try every single ride.

I get the same feeling when I’m in a shopping mall. Those racks and racks of dresses; rows and rows of shoes in every imaginable color and style; and those bags… wow! Different sizes, different shapes… and all so pretty! The mall is like a theme park to me; every stall promises lots of fun and unending surprises. I’m giddy with excitement when I find something I like. And once I’ve started putting things in my shopping cart, I can’t seem to stop, especially when I’m shopping for shoes.

When I go into a shoe store, I’d usually tell myself I’ll only buy a pair. But the displays are so pretty, so nice and cute and they feel oh so comfy when I try them on. Shoes are my real weakness. My plan of buying just one pair… never happened. I’d usually end up with three or five pairs. And that makes me feel happy. When I walk out of the store, I’m in cloud nine and a big smile is pasted on my lips. Thank God, my buddies, Visa and Mastercard, are always with me (which means BILLS by the end of the month, but… *sigh* I’ll deal with that later).

Believe me, shopping is not a stressful activity. It’s therapy! It makes you forget the rough day you had, how difficult your boss is, or the fight you had with your boyfriend earlier. Shopping simply is enchanting.

If you’re a shopaholic like me and  Rebecca Bloomwood, you know exactly how it feels. All shopaholics should catch “Confession of a Shopaholic” in Cinemas on February 18, 2009!

All of us who attended should congratulate WordCamp Philippines 2008 organizers, especially mindanaobloggers.com, the group who spearheaded and made WordCamp Philippines possible. Everything was organized, from the gate of the venue, to the registration, the talks, etc.

I went to the Camp with two friends: Brainteaser and MJ. We were able to attend the lectures facilitated by Jayvee Fernandez, Blogie Robillo, and Danny Arao during the morning sessions. After lunch, activity was resumed at the Augusto-Rosario Theater where Mr. WordPress himself, Matt Mullenweg, shared to the excited audience the latest developments in WordPress and did a demo of WordPress 2.7 which will be released around November (I’m already looking forward to it!). Sponsors of the event also shared information about their product and services that will make blogging even more exciting and dynamic.

It was a day of fun, sharing and learning. It’s fun to blog and share information with other people via cyberspace. But as bloggers, like what Danny Arao pointed out in his talk, we should learn to be responsible bloggers.

Photos at WordCamp Philippines 2008:

Speakers and participants: (1) Blogie Robillo’s talk on Building a Blogging Community; (2) Danny Arao’s discussion about Blogging and Journalism; (rest of the photos) scenes inside Augusto-Rosario Theater and at the hallway.

Lunch time scene: Food provided by Chowking plus mini cup cakes from spot.ph

Photo op with Mr. Matt Mullenweg.

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*Some photos provided by MJ.

a sample of how the picture-based warning will look like in cigarette packs

Picture-based health warning is already being implemented in countries like Singapore, Thailand, Venezuela, Uruguay, UK, Australia, Switzerland, Panama, Hong Kong, Romania, New Zealand, and India. FCAP believes it is high time the same rule should be applied in the Philippines. Right now, the average Filipino does not really have a clear image of the dangers of smoking or being exposed to cigarette smoke. The picture-based warning will achieve that, thus, reducing the number of smokers if not totally eradicating the habit.

FCAP is trying to collect signatures to support HB 3364 and has an online petition in their website. If you believe in this cause, get involved and sign the petition here or here. Also, FCAP has another event coming, “Run 4 Ur Life,” again to promote the Picture-based Health Warning. It will be held at UP Diliman Campus on August 17. Additional information can be viewed here.

Here’s the press release from NBS and the schedule of activities:

Let your kid’s imagination take flight in Bestsellers’ National Children’s Book Day celebration on July 25-27 at Robinsons Galleria. With the theme: The Future in Literature, the 3-day affair is jam-packed with fun and educational activities for young readers.

Be charmed and inspired by storytellers (July 25), puppeteers (July 26), and cooking experts (July 27) only at Bestsellers. Other exciting activities include ballet performance, coloring, drawing and scrapbooking in the Robinsons Galleria Activity Center and Jumpstreet.

Admission is absolutely FREE! Loot bags will also be given away for every purchase with any of the participating brands. Don’t miss this great opportunity to introduce your children to the wonderful world of literature. Log on to http://www.nbsstores.com for the full schedule or visit Bestsellers (Level 4, Main Mall Robinson Galleria, EDSA cor. Ortigas Ave., Quezon City) for more information. See you there!

________________________

Love books, love knowledge!

Support Children’s Book Day

WordCamp Philippines 2008 is made possible through the help of the following sponsors:

• i.PH: the Domain for Individuals
• Free Online Flash Games
• Wazzup Manila Philippines
• Real Estate CRM
• Real Estate Website Designers
• Orange County Real Estate
• Auto Insurance Quotes
• Lane Systems Inc.
• RedMedia
• Orange County Business Lawyer

(this post is ripped from my other blog)

I’m sure all of us are excited about the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, which will officially open in less than a month(look at the countdown in the sidebar). Wherever we are in the globe, we’d want to take part in this event, right? You must have listened and watched Jackie Chan sing “We Are Ready,” even if you barely understand the lyrics of the song. I am also very sure that you’d like to have a souvenir of the Olympics, no matter how little it is as long as the Beijing 2008 Olympic logo is carved on it.

We’ll, I’ve got mine already, and you can grab one too. Because at McDonald’s – one of the official partners of the Olympics – for only 20 pesos, you can have a Limited Edition Luminarc glass with the Coca-Cola logo on one side and an Olympic event and the Olympic logo on the other. There are five designs (Olympic event) to choose from. All you need to do is buy any of McDonald’s value meals, add 20 pesos to buy one glass or you can buy all five. Me I bought all the five glasses!

My Olympic glasses from McDonal’s

Maligayang ika-110 Araw ng Kalayaan sa lahat ng Pilipino. Saang dako ka man naroroon, saludo sa iyo ang mundo. Ipagbunyi ang iyong kalayaan! Nawa’y patuloy mong pangalaan ang kalayaang ipinaglaban ng iyong mga ninuno at patuloy na makibaka para sa iyong dakilang bayan.

Laging taas-noo. Dahil ikaw ay malayang Pilipino.

(Larawang may kahalintulad na paksa)

I wait for a different ‘event’ in May. I’m a probinsyana, a girl from the countryside. I grew up running along cornfields, chasing chickens, walking between paddy fields and watching rice stalks gracefully dancing to the music of the provincial breeze, climbing guava trees, collecting sticky sap from the trunk of jackfruit trees and use it to catch dragonflies and butterflies in the field (hell! I didn’t even know the existence of the net!).

May is a month of many festivities. But aside from Flores de Mayo and the numerous fiestas in almost every corner of the country, I anticipate the coming of the first rain of May, better known to us probincianos/probincianas as Agua de Mayo. I remember my grandmother telling us that the first rain of May is sacred. It’s a blessing. Others believe that it’s similar to agua bendita or holy water and it has healing powers. For whatever other reasons, Agua de Mayo is important to agricultural communities. An ample amount of rain during this month signals a good planting season for rice farmers. I’m really praying for a good planting season and good harvest for our farmers and a sincere hope that we’ll get through the rice crisis.

Anyway, when it rained on the first day of May, I couldn’t let the event pass by. I just had to get out and feel the rain on my skin. And take pictures, of course!

Raindrops keep falling on my… hand! Lamig!

Welcoming the rain.

The fog almost covered the mountains.

Yesterday (April 5), together with some friends from work, I spent a whole day at Avilon Zoo for the second time, and boy, I had a wonderful time! As they say, the second time is always sweeter, well in this case, much, much better than the first since a lot of improvement had been done by the administration of the zoological park (and still doing more until now, kudos to them).

Unlike my first visit, our small group didn’t hire a tour guide. Since I’ve been there before, maybe I’ll just be the tour guide (minus the explanation about the animals, of course! ). Avilon Zoo is a seven hectare park and it’s fun to get lost at such a big place when you’re with carefree, good-tempered people. Nobody complained about all the walking, the heat or to those who arrived a little late. All of us just had fun! And I’d like to share just how much fun we had.

Look who loves being cuddled!

This baby tiger doesn’t have a name yet, but it’s been making friends with the visitors. Really cute and cuddly.

Meet Camille and Louie (and the rest of the family! )

These two are the sweetest! And they have manners. They shake the hands of everyone they meet. Louie loves to be cuddled. Look how he clings to “mommy” (peace, señora ).

This summer, going to the beach is not the only thing you can do. Avilon Zoo is an alternative, so put it in your list. It’s less crowded at this time since school term’s over. Besides, it’s very accessible from the metropolis. Avilon Zoo is located in Rodriguez (Montalban), Rizal—thirty to forty-five minutes drive from Quezon City. Or you can take the PUJs/PUVs from Cubao and Philcoa, tell the driver to let you off at Eastwood (subdivision), then ride a tricycle and ask Manong driver to take you to Avilon Zoo.

More Friends

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