best be overdressed » La Familia

Rose, the Masseuse

Kristine Roa — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:53:37 +0000

I remember when I was still living with my parents and I haven’t heard of spas and massage parlors yet because my mom would always have someone over to do her (that didn’t sound right) whenever she felt something on her muscles. Sounds like she’s making an excuse to get pampered, right? She would call Rose, her home service masseuse. Because Rose has so many clients calling her every day, she would make our house her last stop because fortunately for her my dad would always have someone to drive her home after.

Her last stop is at 10pm. One hour for mom and one hour for me would turn her into this panic frenzy person who pinchs and karate chops your limbs until you can’t wait for her to end. One time when she was in the middle of running her knuckles down my back at 1030pm, I realized the entire world stopped and I can only hear her breathing hard. I opened one eye (we all pretend to fall asleep to avoid convo, right?) and snuck a glance at her. The silly old nut is dozing off! Hands poised on my back, she was breathing hard with her eyes closed! Multi-tasking, the sneak! The muscle on my shoulder twitched and she fluttered her eyes open. When she realized where she was, she continued kneading on my back as if nothing happened.

That was a trip.

I haven’t seen Rose in 7 years now.

Pescetarian for a week

Kristine Roa — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:08:39 +0000

A pescetarian, thanks to a friend who corrected me after I said fishtarian, is what I became when someone dictates that you eat anything but meat on holy week.

That someone happens to be my mother whom I forever cast my undying love and devotion to until the day I die. My entire family was here last week and before I could go ‘Yey, great vacation!’, I was reminded of how strict and religious they are. It wasn’t that long that I conditioned myself to a week long solitude on reflection that is bordered on a conviction it was a great idea for them to come over despite the fact that I will be missing this huge thing in Bantayan Island for holy week.

Holy Thursday last week, I arrived at the port of Tagbilaran at 8am by Oceanjet Fastcraft. They have this promo going on that only charges P300 for your roundtrip going to Bohol and back. Very cheap, yes and almost all fast crafts that go to Bohol travel at the same number of hours. Thanks to my friend, Melgrace, for telling me about their promo fares.

The resort had a driver to pick me up who was carrying the resort’s banner on his chest. I went up to him and told him in hasty English that I wanted to claim my parent’s seat number at the ticketing counter and would he be kind enough to wait for me. He said, “Yis ma’am, I will wet here.” Wink.

My parents were already at Sherwood Bay Resort when I arrived fifteen minutes from the pier. The place was breathtaking!

Lunch during holy week consists of seafood and more seafood

See how tanned I am. haha.

Breathtaking Sunset at Sherwood Bay

My parents

You will immediately get a view of the infinity pool that seems to go on forever and the ocean just greets you with a vastness that reaches as far as your eyes can see. Vacations are blissful, yes, until the zen feeling I got after seeing all that was erased when my mom told me I only have 30 minutes to get ready for our Bohol tour. A tour! Just when I just arrived, they were already dragging me to go see the man-made forest, which by the way, is a total blah but great for photo shoots, the viewing deck that will show the entire chocolate hills grandeur, some python sanctuary, tarsier mini-forest, the Baclayon Church, and my favorite part of the itinerary, the Loboc River Cruise.

The newly constructed Loboc Terminal is now open to the public. Different kinds of buffet caterers to choose from that offers lunch plus the Loboc Tour for as low as P300 only. Oh well, I wasn’t crazy about their food – shrimps, pork belly, BBQ and vermicelli? I could eat those anytime. But I guess it was the whole cruise-y experience everyone was after.

More photos at my multiply site and

flickr.

Hoh yes, we climbed that 200-step peak just to go see Chocolate Hills.

THE VIEW. Chocolate Hills

my sister Vanessa in her past life.

Lunch at Alona Kew, Panglao Island

This holy week is purely filial in nature. I love the resort we were in, too. Now that is a different story which I posted for TripAdvisor just to show my appreciation for Lisa Gomi, the resort’s owner, and Sherwood Bay Resort itself.

See Tripadvisor review here.

My family spent two days in Cebu after Bohol. That’s going to be a different post but here are the rest of the photos from that leg. Hahah. Till next. Toodles.

Hukad Golden Cowrie

Banana Leaf

Vudu with the sisters

feeling bakasyonista

Kristine Roa — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:12:37 +0000

//updated with photos

Last weekend, when my friends from work decided to conquer Cagayan de Oro, I told them to check out the white water rafting adventure because after the flood, they can “raft” their way to Limketkai, Opol beaches or Gaisano City. Of course it was a bad joke but they did arrive in Cagayan de Oro on the same day I did and yours truly felt it was my compunction to show them around.

Photo at Del Monte Clubhouse, Cawayanon Bukidnon. Cawayanon is a 35 minute drive from Puerto, Cagayan de Oro.

Their steaks are at P250-750. You can order their unlimited pineapple juice at P60.

Manfred Jugador’s log cabin

Anyway, I never did get to try the river rafting experience because I’m not really an outdoorsy type of person. My friends who came from Cebu talked about all kinds of activities in Cagayan de Oro that they wanted to try out and to my consternation, I didn’t hear a single “indoor” activity they mentioned. Rafting! Canopy walk! Zipline! Horse back riding and river trekking!

After their rafting and tour around Cagayan de Oro rivers, I took them to Makahambus Cave and their canopy walk and zipline activities. For P300, you can already cross the bridge at I forget how high it is and zipline your way back to the starting line. Not bad, it’s just that we could perhaps do a lot more at Mapawa Nature Park. (Sorry Igs, peace!)

Makahambus Cave. 10 minutes from Lumbia Airport.

The “light” after that 2 minutes tunnel.

The canopy walk at Makahambus Nature Park

So here I was going to places that I’ve already been to a million times and taking photos of them a million times and storing them in my hard drive a million times and realized that I will never stop being a tourist and a tour guide at the same time. There is something about places that changes their whole look when you are with a different crowd – not to mention a crowd who does not see something the same way you do. When Reiona gushed about breathtaking Bukidnon and how she wanted to raid Manfred’s ref and claim ownership of one of the rooms in his house/log cabin, I was overwhelmed at my complete nonchalance of the whole thing.

This is the indoor activity I like. At FU. Okay.

Street love this time. At Barbie Fortich’s lola’s streets.

Cookie’s Bday.

Cagayan de Oro will always be in Mindanao just like the river rafting experience will forever make millions in the city but that I guess that kind of thinking depletes the dinero of ever doing the storytelling first hand.

I took the liberty of taking my friends’ photos for them whether they are at the airport, in the plane, getting on the plane, buying pasalubong and even when they are standing beside the Welcome to Cawayanon sign – everything is documented and will forever remind me to yes, take the plunge and maybe, just maybe, get on that raft, brave the rapids and take a video of myself while I’m on a zip line. Fun, right?

The TARTUFO at Candys! Familiar? P250 per serving. Serves 4

What’s a weekend at CDO without a Candy’s nightcap?

From L-R: Yours truly, Babe, Michelle, Jay and Tihn

A pit stop at OIC

The 2008 Gratitude Post

Kristine Roa — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:15:50 +0000

When did Christmas ever mean anything? 14 years of a Christian upbringing, your parent’s scoffing at your denims on Christmas Eve and you suddenly declare December 25 as Holy? Sure, people could just tick you off by asking in all their plastic-faced glory why couldn’t everyday be a December 25. But that’s what they say, too, on Valentines and Thanksgiving. Pooh.

Christmas IS special and the holiday is a perfectly good excuse to get on the next trip to your parent’s city and not feel guilty gorging on that home baked ham.

I wish for the best this year and send off a fervent prayer thanking Him…

…for having a job that writers would kill for
…for friends that I would kill for
…for all of my shoeboxes that don’t yield to gravity yet
…for family that you can always go home to during the holidays
…for the second home that could almost buy me a Condo unit with the monthly rent I’m paying for
…for that sweet getaway in Bukidnon when you wanted no other air but nature’s.
…for the arm that is around me when I wake up in the mornings. sweetest thing in the universe, babycoo.
…for the mornings that I wake up asthma-free
…for my grandmas who are still around
…for renewing my relationship with mom – unconditional love at its best.
…for ATMs, credit cards and check books
…for my next door neighbor who’d harass me with her manuscript but wouldn’t think twice about being my In Case of Emergency person
…for the island of Cebu
…for Zero fares.
…for SUNCELL’s unlimited calls.
…for having a pretty cool Manager who doesn’t give a shit about what you do as long as you get to answer her questions at the end of the month…
…for the health insurance that supports my dysfunctional lungs
…for hair clips during those emergency brush offs

This list will forever be an understatement because there are so many things that I’ll continue to be grateful for. Everyday I see, hear, and feel gratitude hitting me up like a colossus. That woman in the street peddling with her breast jutting out. That guy who is talking to the HR right now. The kid who took 10 minutes to get on the jeep because of his leg. Experience all that and you would be keeping a daily journal of everything you are thankful for – but I guess my bandwidth would not allow that for sure. I saw that I haven’t been writing that much last year also and I felt bad because I had a foot long list of reasons why I should be writing everyday but sometimes the drive isn’t just there. What makes this year any different is definitely a good question to ask me.

So let’s see – I broke up with a stressful lover last year, watched Kaskade, hopped from one beach to another, met people who you normally do not see on my multiply albums, big adieu to my old title and welcomed a new department and until now, I’m still trying to understand what the fuss was all about when clearly, all I could ever show as a 2008 souvenir was another broken heart and a hospital bill that reminds me so much of an irresponsible lifestyle.

One thing I want to promise this year – stay healthy. Be healthy. No more hospital trips. Eating vegetables is a consideration. Be patient, I’ll go there.

My first 2009 shameless self-production. Candid. Honest. Personal. Happy New Year everyone!

Camaron at Gloria Maris

Kristine Roa — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:24:58 +0000

Been home again – the annual Cagayan de Oro vacation every holidays.

WHO’S DELINQUENT?

Kristine Roa — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:49:02 +0000

Still post-delinquent, I have to admit. Delinquent here but not on other sites of mine. I haven’t realized the gravity of how tedious it is to copy write and maintain your personal sites as well. Even if I have ALL the time in the world to write, I no longer get to respond to real emails! My friend Joe Wagner has been asking me how I was and it is just ironic to not reply back with lengthy mails like how I used to do before when I hardly have the time to write.

Ersh… Ersh… spilt milk.

The real dilemma is trying to get a moment with the boyfriend when we both have different Timezones. I already swore myself off the PST, CST, MST and EST jargons and am happily deducing myself to think that, hey, it’s 4pm, MANILA time, and, yes, 4pm, in the afternoon where sunlight still is cancerous! I do miss my bank moments and lunch with the old team but the new department that I am now at doesn’t seem to have any problem at all with the schedule so why should I? When I say lunch, it is at 12 N-O-O-N.

Back to the boyfie (why does this always have to be about me?), he works at night, goes home in the mornings and is a light sleeper – meaning he sleeps when there’s light! Contrary to my schedule, he zonks out when I get out of work. Poor baby. He really does make an effort to spend time with me regardless of his lack of sleep. But what about my lack of sleep? Argh. I find myself sometimes rushing along with Cebu’s traffic to get to work. Whoever said compromise is easy? Yes, only Edward Cullen can do that but not everyone is a few decades old, lives off on Volvos and possesses amazing supernatural strength.

Trouble in paradise? Nah, time is just the third-party that we didn’t anticipate to creep up on us. Once the rhythm is established, the flow will ebb. Let’s rock the boat, shall we?

Meanwhile… our photos from last CDO trip.

Dinner with the family at Gloria Maris

for the TWILIGHT Movie

M2 after with Warren

Beach with friends

Candys with friends

of course, you are welcome to check out the full coverage here.

We all stopped counting at 25.

Kristine Roa — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 06:29:12 +0000

This recent trip to CDO last month was a two day weekend rendezvous spent for celebrating birthdays – Michelle’s and my mom’s. Michelle’s was actually the major highlight but don’t tell my mom that.

For weeks, we have been planning on this Saturday getaway in White Island, Camiguin and an overnight stay at Paras Beach resort. With our bikinis and suntan lotions in tow and shutter shades, everything was all good – except we didn’t anticipate the heavy rain that poured all over Southern Mindanao! The road to Balingoan was already blurry on the windshield and by the time we got there, no ferries were brave enough to cross the island.

Michelle took it in stride and came up with a PLAN B to Duka Bay instead. Thanks to Iggy, the party Gods favored the municipality of Medina rather than Mambajao, Camiguin and gave us – surprisingly, perfect weather.

It was a “Goes to show plans are always jinxed” moment until Michelle balked because we should have applied the Law of Attraction (note: The Secret) while we were on the road to Balingoan. Call all forces of nature to work with us. Positive energy should emanate from our chests so that the universe will conspire to make it all happen. The Secret or not, everything went well.

Say happy bday to Michelle. I missed everybody.

…and happy bday to mom.

Randy and Erika, my friends from Cebu also came! Its so surreal to actually have them in Cagayan.

FUN. Lovelies. I went out with my sister on Saturday night and she turned out to be a heavy drinker than moi.

Me, on ice tea. She, on SML. “Ate’s such a loser.” I had to live with that for days. Hahah.

My birthday is also coming up soon. I do not know yet if I wanted to see that 26 candle on any of my cake. Bah.

Ocean Pavilion

Kristine Roa — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:50:15 +0000

Oohh, my first wedding this year! Seems like every year I get to be on a wedding lately. This time, it’s Aunt Nina’s wedding in Cebu. She married an Australian who she has been together with for five years. Sexy.

Mom came to Cebu with her friends and was somehow reunited with her highschool and college girls. They were giggling and acting like how it was 20 years ago. They sounded like me when Im with my girls! Hahah. They kept me up all night with their incessant chatter. Who’s getting divorced? Who married who?

They claimed there is a Gretchen Barretto, Ruffa Gutierrez, and Dawn Zulueta somewhere. Hahah.

I miss my mama! Haha. There must be a Dawn there somehow. Below, Tita Nina flanked by her boys who took her to the altar. Awww..

My mom wanted me to get married at the Pavilion. I told her I’m dating a Sultan from Kudarat.

Happy Father's Day!

Kristine Roa — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 05:53:34 +0000

IF YOU SEE MY DAD, GIVE HIM ONE BIG KISS AND HUG FOR ME, please. ?

Pop at DELMONTE Clubhouse for the annual Golf Tourney.

La Familia in the boondoks

Kristine Roa — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:40:16 +0000

When my dad went boondoks like that, I eventually was close to rebooking my ticket two weekends ago and hugging my broadband as if leaving the connection for a mountainful weekend and family bonding will make me inutile for days. One day isn’t that bad, I realized, especially when you practically packed your entire apartment with you and the only thing major you did with it was charge your iPod from your laptop. Consolation: at least my playlists are organized and it’s been one of my TO DO list since birth.

a pine tree!

There were horses that has been kept for years and they were still in um, good condition. Haha. Useless stallions who don’t do anything extraordinary but just stand there and take all the beating they get from my booted heel to just do as much as trot. FUN. I guess they hardly have people who slavedrive them into walking so they do not have that much exercise. Poor things, I should go back there from time to time.

Sancho, one of them, is already like 8 years old, and had been doing well until he started to stall for a few minutes just to eat on grass. I have like half-hearted gallops then he just stops. Annoying, right, but kicking on my heels won’t even get him started again so I have this cowboy to do it. It’s embarrassing to get help because I thought I knew about horses and what to do with them when I was still little but now my riding skill is kinda rusty and the cowbody just indulged me with his services. My boots by the way are classic Italian leather that just goes as high as my calves and have heels. They were definitely not designed for rugged terrain activities but why would I do rugged terrain activities? =)

Nature bonding? If that entails talking to trees and playing with squirrels, then no, but besides that, yes. Nothing against family bonding, I mean, I love my family to death but bonding with them is only tolerable for the weekend and anything past that is beyond consideration. Mom is noisy, dad is Nazi, my sisters are always arguing about anything so yes, just your everyday normal family that you can’t wait to get away from every weekend but couldn’t imagine not going home to from time to time.

The Sunday morning was at the Transfiguration Church in Malaybalay, Bukidnon where monks serve brunch after mass.

Monks with hair. Like that.

Tolerable during a weekend

Where this takes precedent: dad and mom with their friends

I bonded with lechon and some wine. I know I do not drink but my dad’s friends brought this wine from Australia saying that its their best wine. I forgot what it is but there is no difference to me, coming from a non-alcoholic drinker. That’s as much alcohol I had over that weekend. Boooooo.

My LIFE. Happy Mom’s Day!

Dad at Del Monte Clubhouse at the monthly Golf tourney, Sunday May 12.