23: Food | Gifts | Haul

Exactly one month after my birthday, I will finally get to share with you some of the stuff that I ate, got, and bought for my birthday! (This is such an overdue post.)

My family and I had dinner at Mesa in Tomas Morato for some delicious Filipino dishes. We fell in love with this restaurant at the first try, so we went back!

My team ate out for lunch since it was my teammate's despedida. We went to Ral's in UP Technohub for a lunch buffet. Look at how I eat during buffets. I had to stuff my plate with rice or else my meal would be incomplete! A few more plates followed after, but I wasn't able to take pictures anymore since I was so busy eating. Haha!

Before we headed back to work, my colleague surprised me with this cute little cake from Starbucks!

My college friends had a reunion/sleepover a week after my birthday. We had home-cooked fried chicken and hotdog. These kind of food remind me of children's parties, but I liked it a lot! Fried chicken is actually my favorite thing in the world. Haha!

Then they surprised me with a hate cake! :O Haha!

My mom gave me an SM gift card so I could choose whatever I wanted. I got a nude-colored bag from Parisian (just because I love neutral-colored bags), and a gray-colored slippers with butterfly detail from Toeberries. I bought a new pair of slippers because it was flood season then, and I could wear it on my way to work (if ever it gets too rainy for my shoes to function). Gray goes with everything!

My dad got these cute Frostings cupcakes for me and my sisters.

This has to be one of my favorite presents - a Forever 21 makeup bag from my sister! I wanted this but couldn't get myself to buy it since it was too pricey, but my sister gave it to me! Yey! My makeup now has a new home. This one is soooo roomy, which means that I can get more makeup to fill it up. :D

The following gifts I received from my officemates came in pink. Oh they knew me quite well! A pink kikay kit, a pink Michaela umbrella, and pink-and-purple flats from Tomato!

This one is my gift to my darling baby niece - she turned 2 last August. The colors remind me of the Tomato flats above!

This one I also consider as a birthday gift, since I won it on my birth month! I got a P3,000 GC from Melissa shoes from Maven magazine. But I have yet to pick my perfect pair!

The last 2 kikay stuff, I got for myself! I repurchased the Snoe Magic Apple Whitening S-rub from my favorite Snoe counter in Landmark Trinoma. This stuff works like magic. It instantly brightens my skin!

I also bought this new book, Seventeen Ultimate Guide to Beauty! It's my favorite beauty book since it has a lot of makeup and hair pegs. It's very inspiring! (Will share what's inside soon!)

Hope you enjoyed my birthday haul post! ♥

Love,
Helen

A Random Cake on a Leap Day

Last night, Papa saw me cooking some instant pancit canton. I was going to eat it together with rice, which served as my second dinner/pre-midnight snack. I had dinner 5:30PM and was starving again by 10PM so I had to eat something or else I won't be able to sleep. Then he told me that he was going to buy "something" tomorrow (which is today) so we won't be hungry during the night.

Then today, he came home with this! A random cake! Papa loves buying whole cakes for us even when nobody is celebrating their birthday. I call this cake our "Leap Day Cake".


And it did not even reach midnight untouched, because by the afternoon, I already had a slice! >:)


I have the sweetest Dad. And until today, he still wonders why we all can't gain weight. I do not know why either.

Love,
Helen

PS. Last day to join my giveaway! Enter now for a chance to win Etude House Bubble Hair Color. Giveaway ends tonight, 11:59PM.

Cindy's Birthday Lunch at Luk Foo

It was my sister's birthday last Saturday and we celebrated it in Luk Foo, one of our favorite restaurants. (I wrote about it before in this post.)

Birthday Cake

House Tea

Chicken Corn Soup (P230.00)

Luk Foo Fried Rice (P270.00)

Salt & Pepper Spareribs (P260.00)

Crispy Golden Shrimp Cake (P280.00)

We were a party of 5, and we ate these all up! That day, the crew we encountered in Luk Foo Q.I. Central (near E. Rodriguez) were all in good mood and gave great service. We left the place with happy faces and tummies. Thanks for the treat, Cindy! Sana araw araw birthday mo nalang. :D

Love,
Helen

Turning 22

Last week I celebrated my birthday. I treated myself to a 2-day leave from work (even if it meant I won't get paid for 2 days). I think that companies MUST provide their employees with a birthday leave, since no one would want to get stressed on their birthday. For my pre-birthday celebration, my friend went on leave, too! He met me outside my workplace (the day before my 2 day vacation) and gave me this!

Thanks for the flowers! :)

We were looking for a restaurant we haven't tried together yet, so we chose Super Bowl of China. I ordered the same stuff my boss and I did way back because we found it good.

The Eat-All-You-Can Kropek

Yang Chow Fried Rice 
Golden Shanghai Chicken (with separate sauce, just the way I like it) 

The food that day were so-so. Nothing really special with the food, but good company made my day. On the actual day of my birthday, I spent the day with my dearest friend, La Reina! We have been close friends since high school and nothing's changed since then, even though we don't see each other all the time. Don't you just love friends like that? We both went to SM Manila to window shop and have lunch. We ate at Max's Restaurant, which by the way had great service.

Couch seats. Yey!

Yummy Platter Meals for the both of us

I was able to finish this all. Well, except for the caramel bar because I was too full already!

When I got home, my Papa and Mama surprised me with this! Of course I was expecting a cake from them, I just did not know which cake they would get me. It's a Coffee Crunch Cake from Red Ribbon. Papa is fond of buying cakes from Red Ribbon. My sister also got a Red Ribbon cake on her birthday. Only, he forgot to let them write the dedication and ask for a candle! LOL. My sister lighted a match and asked me to blow it ASAP for my birthday wish.

Thank you, Papa and Mama! :)

Last weekend, I met up with my college friends for a post-birthday dinner. (Since when did my birthday become a weeklong celebration?) We have this "Saturday Club" where we meet up every Saturday and just eat, eat, and eat!

With Jef and Paolo 

We had a Transformers Bucket Meal in KFC Trinoma. We still haven't gotten over that movie! XD The Optimus Primer tumbler is mine. I got 2 raffle stubs for buying the bucket meal, and maybe I could win the 8-ft tall statue of Optimus Prime that I saw in SM Mall of Asia. (Where I will put the statue if I win, I do not know! Haha!)

Transformers Bucket Meal

My friends gave me a super lovely cake, too! I hesitated when I had to finally slice it. It's a choco-banana cake from Dezaato Pan.

Thanks for the cake, Jef and Paolo!

There goes my birthday week! I'm finally 22, but I don't feel any different.

Love,
Helen

Happy Birthday, Vivian! :)

It's my sister's birthday today! Let's all greet her a happy birthday. :)

Dear Ate,

Happy birthday, Vivian! Here's a cake for you. :)

Red Ribbon Dulce de Leche

Heavenly layers of white chiffon cake with custard cream filling, enrobed in luscious sweetened milk and caramel icing. Wrapped in fine toasted chiffon crumbs and laden with a frosted caramel crystal layer: Gloriously crowned with white cream rosettes and chocolate spirals.

I hope you enjoy your day! Come home early so you could play with Daphne. :D

Love,

Helen