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Initially I just wanted to hear mass this day but dad insisted on dining out . I looked haggard to the last strand of my hair that day, I thought everyone would be nice enough not to mind but Jason did.

Eating out on my date of birth is a living proof that I've probably been binging out pretty bad in the past decade? I wish to just cut off a little bit of the fat I've stored for the past years, even just for this day, but dad wouldn't want me to. Ha! Lame excuse! Oh well, I had flowers! *grin* I have the sweetest brothers anyone could ever have. Dad of course, he's the sweet genes that got into my brothers DNA. And my daughter is and forever will be my muse.

We had fun stuffing in most of what was on the buffet table. And of course, no family gathering would be complete without the messing around and the photo op. Munching breaks were filled with laughs and playing around so when we've had enough of that, we're ready to raid back to the tables for more food.

Then Kiara and my brother finished off the night with a glass of halo-halo and a hug. *sigh*

Best days are filled with these.

I was browsing through my archives of photos and this would probably be the last time when we have Jason with us on a weekend. This was the weekend when we were waiting for Jerad at UA&P. He was there to watch a play and we were impatiently waiting outside doing whatever could to keep our mind off our hunger.

After our eyebrows were clashing due to more than an hour delay on our dinner, we were not dismayed by the big servings in Banapple.

When our food was served, we didn't have the strength to talk, but we had the time to spare for a click or two.

Jason totally refused to face the camera so all my shots of him was in this angle.

Despite the hunger, my daughter was still in a playful mood.

No Food = Low Batt for me.

Banapple

Katipunan Ave., Quezon City

As an evidence on how my family loves the water, we went on an hour drive out of town in mid-December. We took advantage that the sun is not as hot as it is during summer.

We love that the place is still unknown to most, it makes us feel like it's our own private island.

This was really the perfect place for some R&R.

And apparently for some photo op too.

We were all in a survivor-mode, we cooked our own food and we took turns because everyone was really having fun cooking survivor-mode style.

My dad was the top chef for the day, while the little ones were taking on his orders.

This is a perfect pig-out scene, after the heavy meal, everyone tried to find their places to doze off.

After a short nap, everyone got up to hit the beach.

The kids were having fun with the underwater camera, they don't mind looking funny.

The highlight that day was when Kiara transformed into a "Sand Spa" owner.

Kiara: Welcome everyone to our Sand Spa. It's renowned around the world for it's great exfoliating wonders.

Daddy: Wow! Let me try your wonder Spa.

Kiara: Sure sir!

We were all laughing all so hard, Kiara was something else that day. Here's when my brother tried mocking my jolly daughter.

Jerard: World renowned?

Kiara: Yes sir, even Vicky Belo recommended it to her celebrity clients.

Jerard: Funny, I've never heard of your spa services before.

Kiara: We only cater to rich clients sir. So would you want to avail of our sand spa services sir?

Jerard: Do you have free trial?

Kiara: For you sir it's just free.

I swear I regret that I wasn't able to record the whole thing on video. It would have been something I would treasure, seeing my daughter's marketing skills at work.

My water baby. It must be the water that transformed her into something other than her usual self.

She got my genes for sure! Blood and water run through our veins.

It's a great family bonding time.

Everyone had a blast. We'll definitely be back.

I can't believe it's almost been 2 months! I feel life it's just been a couple of weeks.

If not for family, I'm not sure if I'll find myself home at any time. Every little moment spent with family is always an endearing memory.

It has been 9 years since mom left, but every holidays it always seems like she was just in a tour somewhere and that she'll be back soon. I give my dad credit for doing his best to raise our family. Thank you dad for giving us all the love that you can, eventhough sometimes there's nothing more to give.

The best thing about having kids around is their love for crazy ideas. I would like to think that the kids got the better of us. They made us jump around with these things, just for them to beat us in their own game.

Love, love, love from my family to yours.

We were secretly waiting for Kulinarya to re-open and when it did, we were there. I love the cozy new interiors, the contrast and the wall graphics were actually spoons and forks, love it. Now, we were ready to have a taste of Kulinarya.

This is really how it usually goes when we're waiting for our food. Less talk to endure the wait. But after a few spoonful of carbohydrates, that's when the conversation starts.

For the record, I don't want to give too much credit on how strange my daughter's brain works -- in a good way though. Here's the thing, I've never known anyone YET who could outwit her. And I'm not talking rocket science, just general knowledge for a 9 year old and plain old wit. In that category, Kiara would be up in the running for a smart ass girl.

When she would get all intimidated with someone -- especially someone older, even at the point when she would want to disagree she would deal with it like a lady should -- smile. But at the back of her mind there's one big heated debate going on.

Jason: Where did you get your brain fixed?

Kiara: My grandfather's a neurosurgeon, but thankfully my brain doesn't need any fixing. Why does your brain need any fixing?

Jason: See! That's what I'm talking about! You should train me to be all alert in any given situation.

Kiara: Why so?

Jason: When I'm in an argument, my brain just stops working and I go all quiet. And when it's done I go: "Damn, I should have said this..."

Kiara: *face is all lit up* Me? Trainer? OK, here's the thing, when it comes to facts and general information, you should act like a sponge. Absorb it for future purposes. But when it comes to an argument, you should be like a Ping-Pong player, throw it back and hope that the opponent can't catch up.

Jason: Unbelievable! Spoken like a 90 year old, not a 9 year old!

Janiz: What? Don't look at me.

Jason: This was all because of you! You made her like this! Is this your science project? An experiment maybe??

Janiz: Is that a bad thing now? I just exposed her to whatever I have and everything is all up to her.

Jason: Aristotle? Plato? Is that you?

Janiz: I like that, but no, we're not.

Kulinarya

Concourse Level, Rockwell Powerplant, Makati

I've been tweeting about it; how much I'm not into the whole Christmas thing this year. I just wish it could go away or that I can press skip in a remote and proceed to the next episode. I wanted so badly for that. Or I could sleep in through the whole holiday season and wake up when all the spirit of Christmas is gone. I wanted to extradite myself somewhere so I won't screw up someone else's Christmas. I'm not always like this, I used to get excited about Christmas. I guess not this year. But for the sake of my daughter, I'll try to pull this one off. Although just the thought of it makes me want to puke.

Kiara:I love Christmas mom. Everybody seems to be nice, the lights are "ahmazing", the city's all lit up.

Janiz: Yeah yeah. They're consuming too much electricity.

Kiara: *dagger stare* Mom! That's not the point.

Janiz: I know, sorry baby. I don't want to ruin your Christmas.

Kiara: So we'll do "Simbang Gabi" again this year?

Janiz: Yeah, that's the only thing I wanted to do this Christmas.

Kiara: Oh mom, why so down?

Janiz: I don't know. Christmas is not my thing this year.

Kiara:It's ok, at least you're still looking forward to the dawn masses. I guess that's what's important you know, not the gifts, not the lights.

Janiz: Did I tell you how brainiac and brilliant you are?

Kiara: Yeah, more than a million times.

I rarely eat in Italian restaurants when I'm with Kiara since her appetite runs low when we talk about pizza and pasta. But tonight will be an exception since we think we've tried out all possible restaurants in the area.

One good thing about just having Kiara for the night is that we get to talk about a lot of things. She just wont stop blabbering about school and her friends. She was telling me about the news reporting they're doing.

Kiara: I'm so excited about it mom! It was supposedly a usual news reporting, like the group would be standing in front of the whole class and deliver news. But of course our group had an executive producer so we did spice it up a little.

Janiz: Executive producer?? Who?? What do you mean?? I'm a little confused here. Isn't this just another school thing?

Kiara: Yeah it is.

Janiz: So who's this executive producer? And what's it for?

Kiara: (Straightens her back) You're now looking at THE executive producer. *cough*

Janiz: LOL So out of the many roles you take, you weren't contented and wanted to add another title huh?

Kiara: (Smiling and nodding at the same time.) Yup. I wanted our group to be a cut above the rest. Every group did the same thing over and over. So I came up with the idea of doing a reproduction of exactly what you see in the news.

Janiz: So, executive producer huh? You came up with that?

Kiara: It's appropriate for the role I take right?

Janiz: Yeah, and it's brilliant. *mwah*

Everyday is just a new experience with Kiara. Life they say is a road you take, but motherhood is like a side street I took that I wanted to be in for the rest of my journey.

After dinner we were glad that my brother joined us. He was not his usual self since his iPhone was stolen when he took the MRT with his friends. *sigh*

Cibo

Ground Floor, Powerplant Mall, Rockwell, Makati

My brother plans to pull an all-nighter. So it's coffee to go. But when I was trying to convince him to buy at the grocery instead. My daughter gave me that look and said,

Kiara: I wanna do the vendo thing.

Janiz: It's the same thing Kiar.

Kiara: No it's not. The coffee may be the same, but the experience is different.

Janiz: LOL except that you won't be having coffee young lady.

Kiara: I'll keep that in mind. I'll have hot choco instead.

I don't know what happiness this machine does to my kid. But it does make her ecstatic at some point, then when she got her hot choco, it seemed like the best hot choco she ever had. Talk about experience huh?

You know when they say, you can find something amazing in unexpected places? Happened to us. Nothing miraculous or life changing, but a simple satisfaction to our palettes. Going to Greece is on the top of my list, and I love Greek food, but you seldom get to have them around. So you can just imagine how we were when we found this place. So? Let's Go Greek!

We all ordered the same thing because no one would give in and back down. We didn't regret doing so coz the flavors just brought us to a different place. Greece, without the hefty price tag.

Kiara: If you were to travel, what places would you choose?

Janiz: I'm a believer in local tourism. I believe that Filipinos have under appreciated the beauty of the Philippines. We have so much to offer, yet we all still remain to be tourists in our own place.

Kiara: Yes, I do know that and I totally agree with you. But besides the Philippines, where would you choose?

Janiz: It totally depends Kiar. I have different categories.

Kiara: What category exactly?

Janiz: Like you know how much I love art. For the meantime, I've buried it deep within me. But someday somehow, I'll have my own pilgrimage to these birthplace of civilization and art.

Kiara: What are these particular places?

Janiz: I will say this in order. China, Egypt, Greece, Rome.

Kiara: I love Greece! I love their myths. I've been reading a lot about them.

Janiz: How'd you find them?

Kiara: Interesting at most. I would like to believe that those were true.

Janiz: *grin* Believe whatever you want to believe, just be mindful of reality. I don't want others to think that I have a whacked up child who lives in the world of the unreal. Ok?

Kiara: Maybe you do have a whacked up daughter. LOL

Go Greek

Food Choices, 3/F Glorietta, Ayala Center, Makati

This clearly shows how backlogged I am. I just realized that this was taken during Halloween. Explains the spider on top of the doughnut. We are so "matakaw"! That cold dessert was never enough for us so we hit old timer Dunkin' Donuts.

It was actually my brother who was the master of this craving. And there another sugar infested treat for all of us.

And we still had room for doughnuts to go.

Let's give those belly it's much needed rest.