Arrested Development

Nope, I’m not talking about the now defunct TV series. This is all about the Afrocentric hip hop band from Atlanta, Georgia who rocked Dubai during Irish Village’s 12th anniversary a couple of weeks ago. And as if rubbed by the luck of the Irish, Ryan & I managed to get in for free. Read on to find out how we got our names placed in the guest list.

A few days before the concert day, my bessie invited us to stop at Gap Store on Friday afternoon because Arrested Development was gonna be there for a meet-and-greet event. Athat point, we knew nothing about the concert yet.

The band's name rings a bell, but I just couldn’t remember their songs. I was told they were a hit back in the early 90’s, and that's the end of what I know about the group. Anyway, hubby & I decided to come in for the sake of giving support to B who was one of the photographers for the band’s Gap Store visit.

That Friday morning, the husband & I went to Deira City Centre to do some shopping (I badly need a few pieces of warm clothes for the winter season). Since I was taking so long as the Zara SA had to take my measurements for the alterations, we decided to split up to save time. Ryan went to Sharaf Digital for his technology update, while I went on with my ‘corporate attire’ shopping (see, my spending was very much justified..hehe!).

Anyway, I didn’t notice the time as I was so consumed with all the new collection all over the store. realizing that it's already half past two, I  scrammed to meet hubby at the Gap, which is on the other side of the mall *darn!*. When we got there, I waved at B who signaled for us to queue for the shoot and autograph signing. And so I did, but not with the husband. He was too shy for this kind of thing.
When it was my turn to shake hands with the band members and say hello, I was starstruck. I didn’t know who to talk to first because they were all talking to me at the same time. Their oldest member and spiritual guru, Baba Oje who’s 76 years old, even stood next to me to say ‘hi’. Quite a friendly bunch, I must say. When they asked me where I’m from, I proudly said 'from Manila'.  I was grinning from ear to ear the whole time we were chatting. When they asked me if I’m catching their concert, I just blurted, “absolutely!”. Looking very pleased with my answer, they all thanked me and handed over my autographed CD and with a postcard each for myself and Ryan.


Of course you must've already figured out that I lied. First of all, I don’t know when and where their concert is taking place, and secondly, I don’t know any of their songs. Yes, I’m that horrible *boo!!*.

When I met up with Ryan at the men’s section of the store to wait for B and our other friend K to wrap up after the meet-and-greet, a guy walked towards us and introduced himself as Joe Lamont. Ok, hello Joe :)  The Pinoy in us automatically chatted with him, and we found out that the reason why he’s interested to chat with us is because he heard I’m from Manila. Turns out he’s holding a concert there in Aliw Theather in a few weeks’ time. His song, ‘Victims of Love’ is quite popular in videoke joints that even children as young as 5 could sing his song. He was bowled over that when he was invited to perform, he jumped on the opportunity without hesitation. He said he’s in touch with Steve O’Neal of RJ 100 FM, and he also intends to do other projects with our local artists in Manila. I wish I can say what projects they are but I’ll leave it to his partners back home to announce what they’re cooking up. By the way, when I did my research about the guy, I found out that he's not just a singer, but also a song writer, producer and concert promoter worldwide. Wow! I'm so glad we're friends already :)

Of course the Arrested Development’s concert also came up during our conversation, and we sheepishly admitted to him that we may not be able to watch them perform. Perhaps our faces gave away the truth that we don't have tickets so Joe (ehem, first name basis) asked for our names and told us that he’ll just add them on the guest list so we can come and watch for free. And true enough, when we got to The Irish Village that evening, we were indeed on the list. We felt very special, I tell you! (haha, ang babaw!)


Ok, don’t laugh now but in all the years I’ve lived here in the UAE, I’ve never been to The Irish Village. Yep, such a loser, I know! And I have a pretty good excuse – I don’t drink. Well, ‘used to not drink’ actually because now I’m starting to learn the trade, thanks to some friends who mix me good cocktails for my tasting :)


The Irish Village doors opened at 7:00 pm, and when we got there, the first front act has just finished with their last song. The second front act was a Dubai-based groove-core band called ‘Sandwash’, who had 3 Pinoy members - Jay, Crom and Mike, and one white guy named, Pavel (sorry, I’m not sure of his nationality). Without being biased, I could say they were pretty good.

At around half past ten, the Arrested Development began to perform, much to the delight of the audience. I managed to step up on one of the lamp posts’ base and saw how thick the crowd was. All throughout the band’s performance, people were shakin’ their booties and singing to their songs while nursing their drinks. It was so much fun!


When they sang ‘Tennessee’, ‘Everyday People’ & ‘Mr. Wendal’, I heard myself sing with them. See, it’s not true that I don’t know any of their songs…I just don’t know what the songs’ titles were :D Oh, and we also did bump into Joe towards the end of the concert. He gave me a friendly hug like we're old friends, asked if we were having fun, and thanked us for coming. Good PR skills, eh?

As we headed for home, Ryan & I realized that we’ve never really gone out on a night out ever. Being out on a party like that was something new for us that we kind of liked and enjoyed. We mutually agreed that we should do this on a monthly basis just to chill and have fun. 

Picnic Day

As I stepped out of our building this morning, the first thing I’ve noticed was the cool breeze of the air that blew on my face. The weather’s getting better by the day, and I am so glad because it means we can now go out on picnics without feeling the intense discomfort of the heat.

I love going to parks to just walk around and people watch. I especially enjoy seeing kids run around to their heart’s content and laugh like there’s no tomorrow. So whenever there’s a chance to just relax and unwind at one of the local parks here, I make sure we go. In fact, the last picnic we’ve been to was a Pinoy Family Day that I organized.

It was a lovely day in March where we spent almost an entire day at the park. All the Pinoys at work with their respective families gathered for a pleasant Saturday chill out at the Dubai Creek Park. Each family brought with them food for pot luck, which were all lip-smackingly good. I could still remember the yummy barbecues we had! We also celebrated two of our colleagues’ birthday. Ryan made each of them a Pineapple Upside-Down cake, and that’s what we had for dessert.

For entertainment, we prepared games for the kids and adults, too.

And there I was taking a first stab at face painting. Here are pictures of the kids who got decorated on their faces:

It was a fun-filled day for all of us. not only did it give us the chance to meet each other’s family, but it also was a good venue for us to bond together as Pinoys. It reminded me so much of family outings, minus the swimming pool & beach. for a moment, It felt like being home.

I hope we could all do this again before the weather gets a lot cooler for outdoors. I'm thinking of an early Christmas Party of some sort. I hope everyone says affirmative to that.

Face Painting Stint

This is what i usually do during kiddie parties or any gatherings with kids.

Yep, like Weng, I am a part-time face painter. Well, not exactly a professional one but I guess I’m good enough to pass the little kids’ standards.

Here are a few snaps at Klyde’s birthday bash with a couple of my customers:

a flower for a lovely girl

don't cry hunny...this won't hurt

Sorry I don’t have better pictures that clearly showcase the drawings. These are both candid snapshots which I just nicked from a friend’s site who was also at the party.

I'm thinking of buying my own set of face paint so that I can practice more & try new drawings that I know kids would love. Problem is, who do I use as my guinea pig??

My New Pink Thing

Other than my blog’s layout which coincidentally is in tune with this month's Breast Cancer Awareness month, I have something else that’s new and pink. It’s one of my favorite gameboard of all time, and it's officially our home’s 3rd Monopoly set. It’s pink, it’s savvy-looking and I’m lovin’ it!

Presenting my Monopoly gameboard Boutique Edition:

the package

Just like any other limited edition Monopoly board, all game pieces were spruced up to keep up with the theme. Since it's designed with fab girls in mind, even the dice that decide your fate are both in pink. Instead of picking out Chance and Community Chest cards, you get to 'receive' Instant Message and Text Message cards. Properties are different from the original game, too. They have shops & stores available where you can add pink & purple translucent boutiques & malls instead of green houses & red hotels. Even the title deeds are changed from boring to hip cards - all pink, pink, pink! And the whole set comes with a pretty carry case - perfect for a banker where a flocked tray for the monies is available for ease of use. Oh, and did I mention that redesigned money is also very cute?

posh lookin’ case

pink dice

funky playing tokens

the message cards & play money

the purple boutiques & pink malls

the femininely-revamped board game

Last Saturday afternoon, I forced the hubby to play with me.  He went bankrupt while I went crazy with shopping but earned from my investments. LOL! It was so much fun! :)

The Apple Of My Eye

Last Friday was my sister’s birthday, and I had a chance to chat with her for a good half an hour. The whole time we were talking, I kept hearing my niece on the background screaming for “Mommy”. My sister passed on the phone to her to talk to Tita & she just blabbed to me for a good minute. I was laughing so hard after our short dialogue.

The last time I saw my niece was January 2007, a few days before we flew back to Dubai. A couple of days after we arrived to Manila for our wedding in 2006, Ryan & I borrowed Ysha for a whole weekend so that the eager Tita could spend quality time with the princess. She was a year & a half then. I was so thrilled having a toddler around the house walking and running and making us lose sleep at night…LOL! She was a fairly good girl -- not picking out the Christmas balls from the tree and quite careful not to topple any other decors in the house. She was just happy she had big space all to herself where she could run and stretch those little legs.

She also discovered the joy of live music since Ryan’s family owned a drum set and a few other musical instruments to complete a rock band. Ysha greatly enjoyed the pulsating sound from banging the drums. and the Tita just had to take pictures!

give me a beat, baby

On a Saturday afternoon, we brought her to the mall to let her enjoy the rides at the Quantum Amusement Center. I can’t say she loved the whole experience because she was obviously so bored to death with most of the rides she’s gone for.

Exhibit A:

She hated the carousel!! Too unexciting for her. I tried to persuade her to smile for the camera, but I guess you can’t force a little imp to flash on her bright chompers especially when she’s uninterested with what she’s doing. She couldn't wait to get out of it, I tell you!

We moved to the other side of the mall to see what other rides and attractions for kids are available. Because it’s the weekend, a lot of families are in the amusement section so most of the kiddie rides were taken. We opted to have her hop on this cute little car, which was a bumpy ride that jerks from front to back while swaying from side to side. I had to hold her firmly, afraid that she might get scared, or worse, fall off the ground. Surprisingly, she liked the car ride so much! We took her to try the others but the only other ride she liked was the elephant ride, and the rest she was extremely bored with. She kept picking out the first car she’s ridden. She literally hogged the car, not giving the other kids a chance to try the ride. The girl wanted something that would elicit excitement not some kind of melancholic ride that most girls would want. When we got home later that evening, she was totally knocked out!

With all these reminiscing about the little miss pretty, I’m starting to miss her even more. She’s definitely my ultimate favorite niece in the world (well, she’s the only one, anyway so she wins by default!) and when we come and see her on December, I promise we’d gad about and enjoy lots of fun time under the sun, too. For now, I’ll have to prepare all my loots for her. From my list of Christmas gifts to my family, she’s the only one getting 10 gifts from me :)

Procrastination Overdue

I have a confession to make. I’ve been a very bad girl, and I know this is unpardonable but…well, uhm…I haven’t been to the gym for 3 weeks straight! Yes, I’ve succumbed to procrastination yet again. And just thinking about it makes me cringe with embarrassment. I’ve been moaning for months about my weight and shape but I’m obviously not trying hard enough to do anything about it. I keep telling myself I’d go, but would later on decide to postpone for the next day. I lost my momentum right after the miscarriage, and now it’s just so hard getting back into the groove.

I’m contemplating on cancelling my gym membership because I’m too lazy to work out but my bessie’s discouraging me for so many reasons. She’s being hopeful that I’ll re-channel my energies to exercising instead of fussing over my ballooning size. Looking at the calendar, it shows that it’s only 53 days to go till we fly over to Manila. I only have limited time to shed off some unwanted pounds and I'm getting apprehensive already!

I wonder if ‘The Secret’ would work to lose weight.

Golden Goodies

Since hubby is working this weekend for a project at work, we decided to do our grocery shopping last Thursday night. We went to Karama to buy our Filipino goodies stock, and was so thrilled at finding these at the store:

We've been going there for a couple of months now and it's the first time we've chanced upon these Goldilocks goodies (monggo bread, chewy brownies & pinipig polvoron), and Gardenia California Raisin Loaf, my favorite back home. In our excitement, we just dumped them in our shopping basket without checking the price.
Now since these goods were air freighted, we expected they would be slightly pricey.

• Goldilocks monggo bread loaf, AED 15.00 (USD 4.10)
• Goldilocks chewy brownies, AED 5.50 (USD 1.50) each
• Goldilocks pinipig polvoron, AED 1.95 (USD 0.50) each
• Gardenia raisin loaf, AED 18.00 (USD 5.00)

Yes, they may be a lot costly compared to their retail prices back home but the joy of these goods tickling our tastebuds is priceless. It will take us about two more months before we can fully enjoy these Pinoy finds. Let's just say these ones are our teasers of more Pinoy goodies which we'll indulge ourselves into before the year ends.

Birthday Parties Extravaganza

Since last month, we've been invited to a number of birthday parties left and right that I haven't had time to blog about them. To summarize things, I'm just gonna post pictures here of the shindigs we attended & make a brief of how the party went, not forgetting the details of how good the food were!

Party # 1 - Gayle's 27th 'Pink' Thanksgiving Party
Location: Gayle & Pid's flat

Gayle is a fellow Dubai w@wie who is my batchmate. We met through the forum and coincidentally, she's also a close friend of my team mate at work, Hazel. Gayle's party was screaming pink, and we guests had to wear pink, too. Hands down to her for being able to prepare such a feast. We loved the sushi, grilled salmon and baked spareribs! And she's quite lucky for having a sister as pastry chef...look at that home made cupcake tree!


Before we left, we were given tokens, too. It's like a debutant's party! Everything was well thought of and executed.


Party # 2 - Klyde's Cars-themed 2nd birthday party
Location: Fun City, Reef Mall

Remember my hosting stint at Klyde's 1st birthday Last year? My , my -- it's been a year already and how big Hazel's boy has grown since! This time, his party was held at an indoor amusement area in a mall. Party details were carefully chosen, as well as the artworks used for the tarpaulins. Klyde's Lightning McQueen costume and some of the decors & balloons were even shipped from the U.S. Food was catered by Salt & Pepper while the kids were served Mc Donald's kiddie meals. There was so much food that we were even asked to bring home some take aways. How can we resist when they were all sooo good? ;-)

Party # 3 - Armil's 30th birthday bash
Location: Armil & Mabe's studio flat



Armil is one of Ryan's oldest friends. They've been blocmates, housemates and brods back in college. We joined him, his wife and his other friends in celebrating his big 30 which was filled with laughter and surprises. Armil is one lucky birthday boy...he got a new Nikon D700 and Nintendo wii at the same time -- thanks to the wife! :) Food was really delicious, and we specially loved the dry sisig, sweet & sour fish and the grilled liempo...mmmm, sarap!! Thank to the couple, by the way, as we were introduced to the electric smoke-free griller Delonghi available at Hyper Panda :) 

Party # 4 - Emtee's 28th Purple Beerday Party
Location: Emtee & Rico's villa



Emtee is another fellow w@wie who happens to be my cousin Sarj's classmate back in college. See how small the world is? ;-) For her birthday party this year, we made sure to be present 'cos we failed to attend her last year's party. Good thing we were there otherwise we would've missed the delectable dishes her family served. Lechong kawali was a cardiac arrest treat that I kept coming back for at the buffet table. The carbonara was so tasty to the lips I almost went for a second helping had I not been distracted by the kare-kare to which i'm a fan of because it's partnered with bagoong that I love! Alcohol was also overflowing. Tequila and Jack Daniels got me singing to "What a Feelin'", which was rather embarrassing! *blushing cheeks*

Party # 5 - Tin Tin's 2nd Pink-themed party
Location: Fun City, Reef Mall



The daughter of my ex-colleague, Maria celebrated her second birthday last month, too.  I've seen Tin-Tin practically grow up from a darling little imp to one of the cutest and brightest toddlers in town. The little girl amazed us with her dancing abilities and good manners - saying 'thank you' whenever she's handed a gift (she knows where to put them, too). She sure does know how to entertain her guests at a very young age. She also perfected the blowing of candles of her cake...we were told she's had a lot of practice at home.

Meal time was fun for all of the guests, too. They served Mc Donald's kiddie meal while for us grown ups, we feasted on pinoy dishes catered by Cortage. The palitaw, pork menudo & buko pandan brought me back to town fiesta days back home!

Now that wraps up the string of birthday parties we attended the last few weeks. Here's to hoping for more to come for the all celebrators. Cheers to their good health!

Rock On

I promised the husband that I'd be treating him for a nice brunch last Friday. and my choice of venue for our gastronomical experience was the Hard Rock Cafe.

Hubby's been here for two years but he's never stepped foot on this most awesome rock cafe's branch in Dubai. It was fairly easy to coax him -- I simply guaranteed him yummy food and he easily gave in. *wink*






It was also a chance for me to test drive my All Access Card which i availed from San Diego last May. Since i'm a "hardrocker", we got a good table at the 2nd floor which gave us a nice view of the entire place. While waiting for our orders, a friendly clown (who happens to be Pinoy) came by our spot and made me a big bouquet of flowers out of balloons. Sweet!  To satisfy our hunger, we had Hickory Smoked Chicken Wings for appetizer and Grilled Rib Eye Steak and New York Strip Steak for our mains, which we gobbled down quite easily. Yeah, we're meat lovers - what can I say? :) For drinks, we had Berrilicious and Margarita Sunrise. For an additional AED 20 each, we got to take home the hurricane and margarita glasses from our drinks as souvenirs. On top of the great service we got, we also had 10% discount on food and beverage. That's rock star treatment for you!

clowning around

yummy!

his tender

my juicy

hungry hippos

Of course we didn't leave the cafe without passing by their merchandise section. You see, whenever I travel, I always make it a point to swing by a Hard Rock branch and grab some souvenirs for myself and Ryan. A t-shirt is a must for the husband, sometimes topped with a cap, while I buy shirts, too and HRC pins for myself. Yes, those pins you see on the servers' tees & sash!  I've begun collecting them just this year, and I'm keeping them pinned on my free All Access rucksack. We ended up getting 2 t-shirts for Ryan and a Dubai guitar pin for me. I also bought a Pinktober shirt with pin in support of the Breast Cancer Awareness program they have where a portion of the proceeds for such items will go directly to breast cancer research. As the Pinay cashier was so fond of us, she even gave me an additional pin for free to add to my collection. See, it really pays to be nice & chatty! :)

Next up: Hard Rock Makati!