Gutter girl for the night!

We could not really think of what else more to do when jay and i go out during our free days, we often just dine somewhere new to eat, watch a new flick on theaters or me shopping and definitely him going cray cray on his shoe shopping. and to all i mention this would just go by far the list we usually do.

But Heyyyy, tonight he had his iterinary set for us, he wanted us to play bowling. of course, i totally did not agree yet coz it has to be with friends when you bowl, i mean it would be so stale if it was just me and him bowling. I even had to slowly turn off his light bulb to bowl but him giving me the guilt trip saying he wanted to have QT with me, aww fine so i went to go yes to his idea.

of course we had to take pictures on solos while playing and taking charge of the good photos to post. We chose the second to the last lane so we can hide a bit of our talent lol. no, so it would not that be embarrassing to showcase our gutter balls. Few pictures of us feeling like pros haha, there are times that we had to stop and be amazed on how the others strikes it all quickly.

i'm a gutter girl for the night, i can't believe i am getting beaten by a first timer, i mean this ain't my first time, had bowl before in high school in Guam and non of that orange ball would be there i'd be striking few pins though oh just remembered that was 6 years ago? :)

it was my first time to bowl here in the philippines since i came back, pretty much i had fun with my dork while i stayed as the gutter girl for the whole game. definitely coming back for revenge next time i'll do make sure that i'll sweep his ass down in the gutter. :)

Xoxo, <3 izzay

Carb-overload!

I was a bit determined to write about food today, not so much of food review over this restaurant. Just basically what jay and i had and the experience.If you're one of those wanting the "carb-overload food" then this is the right place you can dine in to.

I was surprised on how this Italian resto in libis, Eastwood could be so small on its entrance but with spacious party place upstairs oh, and with loud crowd too. it was a late dinner when we dined in around 12ish more like midnight snack so i think they turned off the AC on those time.

My boyfriend and i decided to dine here to just try out their pizzas but we changed our mind and had some carb overload instead as you can see with the pictures haha. Anyhow, as we all know it is Lenten season and every year i just have to give up something for the year. It was a mutual decision that i and jay will give up meat for lent and i'm glad that i'm sticking with it getting by till the very end, on the other hand Jay just did not get into the program and quit it right after the second day "i can't seem to go far with no beef/pork baby!" and so he had beef stew after. Well, so i was down to always get myself chicken, back to the food so I had this chicken served with spaghetti marinara. 

Chicken isn't all that original like every resto can offer it but i love how it is flavorful inside. Spaghetti was okay, i downed the plate though :)






Babe, had the same chicken but his was served with Italian rice. No biggie for that Italian rice, it is plain rice with herbs i guess? but you can't taste it either.

Jay really loves pizza so he tried a slice of bigoli supreme and twas perfect. They're very generous for making a single serving a lot, you get what you pay! kudos to that!




I also had a chicken pasta salad which took a while to be on our table, it came after i ate my main meal; did not fall as my appetizer instead i had it to go and i love it! 

Well, that's about it with the Bigoli experience, if you would ask me if i would go back and dine again? yes maybe, i love their chicken pasta salad even if i had to eat it at home for my breakfast it was still fresh!. I'll probably go back for another pizza night with the monster in pizza jay :)

xoxo, Izzay <3

                              

Surfing check!

And as i told you i'd be trying to update our baler getaway somewhere this week, but i guess today it is! i have the time of my life this afternoon, boyfriend just left an hour ago to work so just decided to get done with the unfinished business tadaaay!

 I did not talk much about SURFING yesterday because it was part of our day 3, yesterdays post was more of  day 1 & 2 consisting all the places we visited, all the feeling involved in climbing, walking and whatsoever. =) so today this will probably a quick post on our surfing experience, well it is gonna go by fast since i don't have enough pictures to show you. Jay and i went to baler as a couple, do random things as a couple and do take some pictures for each other. We did surfing together, so there was no one to take a snap for us while riding the waves. i know it could have been so much better if i have pictures of both of us standing on our boards with the waves, but depressingly i do not have of those.

prepping to paddle on! photo taken by our  instructor

so most of my friends that wanted to try surfing often asks how was it? was it fun? is it scary? did you even get to stand on your board? so much of those questions well i have all the answers with me just so bummed out to the fact i do not have pictures to show them =(

HOW WAS BALER? Baler could be one of the place you can do surfing, but if you are looking for some night life kind of beach like puerto G. Baler is not the place, Sabang beach are mainly for surfing only. I did not even get to see people swimming on the beach without a board.

HOW WAS THE EXPERIENCE? It was indeed an awesome experience especially for me and jay. it was part of our bucket list and we both crossed it out at the same time. It's like fulfilling a dream (okay, i'm exaggerating) but for me it was somehow an accomplishment, it was big for me..

IS IT SCARY? well first- i do not know how to swim and just by seeing all those big waves scares the hell out of me! second- i'm not so much of an athlete to actually try those risky stuffs but that day i was a superwoman! I had to rubbed in to my instructor that i do not know how to swim, and i'm scared to death but he made it clear that he got me! that it will be fun and safe. and yup he was really nice and patient with me =)

DID I GET TO STAND ON MY OWN BOARD? Omg! yes i did! miraculously i stood on my board after 65865 waves haha! i had to go hard on myself, i want kuya the instructor to be proud of me because he had been screaming his lungs out cheering for me to get that wave with me! And hey so i did really like maybe a good 7 times i did not fall =)  On the other hand, my boyfriend stood there like it was his sport at all! he did it right away after his first wave even, he just got it, he has no fears at all! i'm such a loser =( lol.

he was so excited morning before we surf!

After our surfing experience, btw i have my own board my instructor
carried it up and it was PINK =) 

 That's about it and our surfing. i was thankful for my instructor for being patient with me my last wave was the bomb and i got him screaming. Jay was so proud of me, i conquered my fear with him and we both had our surfing checked out on our bucket list. So for all of those who wanted to try this out i totally recommend it! it's fun and achieving.  Oh but your body or more of your upper extremities will be sore after a day though, my sore went away after 2 days but it was okay NO PAIN, NO GAIN =) Thanks for reading!

xoxo, Izzay <3

Venturesome Explorer- Baler, Aurora

My boo, Jay had the best idea ever to celebrate our second year of valentines in a different place were we can enjoy and relax for a 3 day getaway. He wanted to do more outdoor activities were we both can cross out on our bucket list together and thus Surfing in Baler, Aurora sounds like his best idea ever!

Ever since, Jay had been the adventurous type of guy, and i just the witty follower of his versatility. With him being a venturesome explorer, we do out of towns usually from "I heard it was great in that place.."so we will travel with our bags and map without knowing how to get there nor what to expect there. That's how he explore places, it has been all through and it is becoming our routine to travel clueless together yet we bring an awesome experience "as always" luckily, afterwards.


First time riding with Genesis Joy bus, their deluxe trip to Baler. I was impressed on how the bus looked inside or maybe i was just used to riding in day time (Deluxe,Victory liner) and thus the lighting of the bus got me carried away. It has larger seats though it is not pro actively for couple because the middle arm rest serves as the barrier not like the other deluxe bus were you can easily pull it up to make it as lover seats. Usual complimentary food and drink, blanket, no movies on board maybe because they wanted us to sleep, and WiFi but along the way it disconnects so i had to use my data. We were expecting to be in Aurora at 5:00 am and i as usual kept on asking how far was the place at again and again. My ass was so far due in sitting =)

Welcome to Baler, this was taken after we settled on our room to stay in. There was so much stuffs going on in Aurora, that it was hard for us walk ins to get a place. It was fully booked and we had to literally go down by far each hotels to ask, thanks to Mang narding for helping us and he just made an agreement that he will be our tourist guide easy as that!. It was Aurora week, we did not get to watch the surfing competition the day before we arrived, and there were several events we missed in Sabang beach and that was a down fall for us,only if we knew.

 Any who, It's our first day and this will be mostly pictures and captions so it'll go by fast, i'll be posting places that we  went to and the must to see in baler. have fun!

                                     Our balai like breakfast on valentines day, pinoy style! 

First food of the day Bangsilog. Gave up meat this lent so i had this bangus and the boyfriend just had to follow me. Fuel up before we head out to visit the tourist spots of baler and we're not wasting anytime to be slouching around. Jay wanted to go around after breakfast.

 Museo de baler- where most of the foreign leaders that are part of baler's history is painted 

out here, not popular and does not even have face value- looking all mean. We went around the museum pretty interesting how there was lots to know about baler and about this people beside us. 

Baler church, were the famous Baler movie was filmed. We were brought here  

because this is one  of culture/ historical interest that you may wanted to know about in  Baler. 

Panoramic shot of this Amazing top view of the Ermita hill 

Ermita Hill- were the history does make sense well according to mang narding- our driver, tourist guide for the day. Ermita hill was created by the tidal wave before that washed away a part of baler, this was only few members of each families that had climbed the steep hill in able to survive the tragedy. One of those family are the Angara (senator) who triumphantly leads the whole province even today. This is the bottom part of the Ermita hill.

Diguisit beach and Anao Islet

PAGASA weather station- it is on the top most of Baler and thus just looking at our faces this is the face of such relief after a 30 minute walk from a super steep hill. What a success in walking, way to go boyfriend for choosing this place! I knew i had the biggest feeling of walk when our driver said "try natin kung kaya ng tricycle ko" and then there our driver and his tricycle left us in the middle of nowhere. "I'll be waiting up there" and that "there" his saying was a lie it was way up there, on the top! I don't know how to describe the feeling of collapsing and walking at the same time but that's how we felt, and  i know how much i yelled to my boyfriend for waterrrr! =)

There was no power by the time we got up in PAGASA weather station so we did not have the chance to at least see all the weather apparatus they use. One guy just had to do such explaining while we ask about how do they radar weather in Baler, he was nice enough that he gives us detailed answers to learn, while i finished two bottles of water. THIRSTY! btw, the white ball is the radar.

According to the locals in Baler this 600 year old Balete tree could take about 60 adult people holding each other in able to surround the tree. That's how big it is and thus tourist visits this tree because of the tangled roots that you can climbed up to it's top.
 

Jay was extremely down to climb the balete tree on its top while i was undecided feeling all crappy to be alone down there. I hate waiting but i was also scared on how the roots were so tangled- it was too high, i can climb yes! but i don't know about going back down and that was the hardest part. After all i did climb and it took me a whole lot of time to get down. 

Our tourist guide was really down for this last place that we're going to, to be exact we knew how the place called and we know that this is somehow the best part because it was the last part of the tour. No expectations as our usual motto, it has been an adventurous tour for us from walking to climbing since the start. Going all through the baranggays in Aurora was quite an adventure especially we're doing it just by tricycle as a mode of our transportation. To this last place we though this could possibly made the tour a wrap! and it is...

Trek down to Ditumabao Falls- this would probably the highlight of all the places we visited today only to know that i'll be sort of Lara Croft were you would cross rivers with strong water currents, crossing bamboo bridges, and a 30-40 minute trek up high to "Mother Falls" above the generation power plant.  

This was a 30-40 minute trek up to the falls and again asking is necessary, how long would this take? Are we there yet? My boyfriend jay, could not seem to give up and gives more of an effort to push me half way, i was dead tired. Our tour guide did not even went up with us, he only trek till before crossing the first river. This was the last leg of the tour series and it was a combination of all we had for the whole tour- walking, climbing plus extra slipping and bruises made it all.                                           As i mention i was dead tired so i asked jay to look  ahead if we're even halfway or are we going to be able to do it farther, and so i stayed in this one huge rock in the middle of the river. He came back with a huge smile saying "yes!, it's there we're almost there!." I knew it was a lie. =)

Reasons why i had the strength to climb more was these, even my boyfriend had to lie that we're almost there when it is one kilometer more. I knew that after this 40 minute trek there's this amazing falls that will welcome me to not complain but ponder on what i see is the best of God's creation. I was completely swept after seeing this, i was truly excited to see Baler's Ditumabo Falls we can hear it by far.

and after all the complaints, it was truly worth the climb, you would want to stay for hours and not wanting to go down. It is the determination of each other that leads you to strive more. Jay was right, we're here half way there so don't give up i know this is not so much of those material things that they give with their girlfriends on valentines but this is more of that this are the moments to share with. It is the experience we had here together and will become a happy memory on this special day. All i whispered was "Thank you and I love you baby!"

Alright, so this is a wrap on this post as well, i'll go by the second adventure we had in SURFING on my next blog (not too long since no one took pictures for us while we both surf). This post is long as what i have expected and i'll continue the best part tomorrow. I promise.

 xoxo, Izzay <3

Feb just got better!

Today would serve as my first day again in writing blog and definitely will be posting several updates this year. I had neglected this side of my world and i think it's about time to write again. My brain needs to be sharpen =) and Since it's only February, let me just start this with the Love month.

February would be all fine with or without someone else, just got lucky that i have someone to spend it with. Came along the right time and been part of my life in such mysterious way. Keep posted on my valentine blog getaway to Baler, Aurora and you'll be amazed how God's creation in the Philippines is just simply magnificent.

xoxo, izzay <3