Happy Birthday, Cathy!

I cannot believe it has been 3 or 4 years straight that I was with her to celebrate her birthday. So happy! Since we started being friends back in college, we both never missed each other's celebrations and I am lucky to have found a friend like her (plus her boyfriend too).

Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday Cathy!

12 Midnight: The sweet boyfriend with the girlfriend's birthday cake.

The always present girls. Excuse my eyes, I was intoxicated way before 12MN struck.

It was just a small, intimate "salubong" of her birthday. A few close friends and the boyfriend.

I just noticed I have quite a number of friends who are September celebrants, there's Ate Nin, Anna, EJ, Michelle, and Cathy. Hmmm. Maybe I should have a "Happy Birthday" portion in this blog too? It's not a bad idea cos I am almost always present in every friends' birthday celebrations (when they one) and I love blogging about them too. So, let's see.

In the meantime, Happy, happy, happy, happy birthday Cathy!

Follow me on Twitter if you guys haven't yet. I put up a button on the right side of this blog for easier "following". :)

A Happy Happy Birthday Indeed!

Saturday, the 27th, was the eve of my birthday. The day, and by that I mean 12MN, began with a text message from my friend, Jo who greeted me cos she seriously thought it was already the 28th. I laughed but thought it was really sweet. Then a couple of hours later, I was on the phone with a guy. I don't exactly know how and what to call him because we are not really close friends (we are barely friends) although we have a lot of common friends, we're not an item but we talk every single night for at least an hour, exchange couple of text messages throughout the day, la la la la, I don't know. Anyhow, after we hung up I went to sleep and woke up earlier than usual. I received a few more text messages greeting me a happy birthday, I didn't correct them and just said thank you.

When 6PM came, I started getting ready. The small party is set to "start" at 9-10PM. A friend arrived at my house past 6 and I was still getting ready. My cousins, friend and I left home at 7:30PM. It was not really a big party so it did not take me long to shower and get dressed. I intentionally wanted to be there that early cos my cousins and I wanted to have dinner first before the gang arrives and the whole booze thing starts. So one by one they came and one by one they left. There were some who said they'd come but didn't and there are some who never replied but came. The celebration was literally small, intimate. 

When 12 Midnight struck,  it was officially my birthday, everybody greeted me and raised their beer bottles. Even the bar's  featured band's singer, Pow Chavez, greeted me. I even requested Pow to sing Love, Sex, Magic during her 2nd set but then she intentionally wanted to sing it during her third and final set cos she said I'll leave right after she sings it. LOL. It was overwhelming having them, my friends, there. After that, there were only 4 of us left and a few minutes after that there's only me and the guy. We went home earlier than expected but still not early enough, 4:30 AM. The guy and I talked for a few minutes, went to sleep at 6 AM, woke up at 10 AM, checked my Facebook and WOW, I got about 50+ birthday greetings from my friends on my Wall and my status. And then 20+ birthday greetings via text messages that same day. It was touching.

Here are some of the photos that I promised:

The early birds. The booze thing is just starting.

One of the closest girl friends I have, Cathy. Congrats to you this is your 5th straight year that you've attended my birthday celebration since we became friends 5 years ago! :) Love you Cats!

Pow Chavez. Thanks for the Love, Sex, Magic. You rock! \m/ Next time sing it earlier! LOL. I won't leave, promise!

And then the crowd goes "More! More! More!". Yes, she's that good. If you haven't seen her perform and heard her sing, feel free to check out YouTube and type Pow Chavez. Or better yet, visit Booze Stop Bar and Grill in Makati every Saturday, Pow's there. And so are my friends and I. That goes especially to my Filipino readers who are looking for a steady place to have drinks in, or dinner, or listen to good bands, or hang out with friends or all of the above! :)

Yes, I have a little more guy friends than girls but it's cool. I love them all nonetheless. :)

A few more pictures (some crazy wacky ones) are not on my camera. I wonder whose camera it was. No one's uploading yet. As expected.

Now, I have to go get ready for my dinner with my former boss. I know the photos I shared are not much but I hope you enjoyed looking at it and felt as happy as I was when they were taken.

Thank you to every one who posted their birthday greetings! 

And last but not the least, I'd like all of you to know that I am so excited because I won Jerri's of Gems by Jerri's contest! Remember this post that I made? Well, I won!! The first time that I joined a contest and the first time I won and it's my birthday!! I already e-mailed you my details. I can't wait!! Thank you!!

P.S.

Tonight's Wimbledon match is between Roger Federer and Robin Soderling. Feels like the Roland Garros all over. I hope Roger wins! And Roddick too who is up against Berdych. And Simon and Ivanovic and Safina. My bets are playing tonight! Too exciting!!

Nadal withdraws from 2009 Wimbledon and a few other updates.

I am not a big fan of Rafael Nadal but it's bad that he won't be defending his Wimbledon title this year. World number 1, Rafael Nadal, withdrew from Wimbledon Friday night after the Men's draw earlier that day. 

"He was diagnosed with tendinitis in both quadriceps tendons as well as a small amount of fluid on the kneecaps."

I think it's sad. Again, it would be more glorious if he would lose and Roger Federer would re-claim his Wimbledon title after losing it to Nadal last year. But health should come first and Nadal has decided to get better first.

Here is the complete article including the reshuffled list of the Men's Draw

Moving on, I previously joined a contest over at Gems by Jerri, my first time to enter any contest since the start of my blogging, and just today I joined my second one over at Tired Mama, she will be giving away an iPod Shuffle and a $20 iTunes gift card. One entry if you comment on her post (that is if you have honestly did some exercise for the day), another entry if you Twit about it and another one if you sign up to the website indicated on her post. Since I don't have a Twitter account, the next best thing is posting about her contest here. I don't know if this will count but I hope it will. If not, I still have one very hopeful entry praying to be drawn as the winner. :) PLEASE LET ME BE THE WINNER. IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! IT WOULD BE NICE TO RECEIVE A GIFT. :) :) :)

Aside from the Wimbledon update that I have and another contest that I have joined, today is going to be another eventful day for me. I will be out tonight to celebrate one of my dear friend's birthday. Well, his birthday is actually tomorrow but he'll be having his party tonight. His birthday has become quite a tradition every year and this one is especially meaningful because this is the first that all of us are college graduates, meaning this party would be sort of like a reunion too. Exciting! More exciting is that I am tasked to invite ALL our friends to attend. As if I didn't see that one coming. Them guys always ask me to either be the events coordinator or the treasurer or most of the time even both. At least they have something to say about me in my eulogy! It's a little exhausting because he only told me about it yesterday afternoon while I was blog hopping and trying to finalize my ideas for my new blog. 

By the way, I am still open for suggestions about my new blog. Wordpress or Typepad? How to monetize? Theme? Title? Button/Badge? La La La La La La La.

Happy Birthday Abs!

left-right: Me, the birthday girl, Apple

Happy belated birthday Katrina Abalos!

After almost a month of not seeing each other, we met up in Pearl and had lunch at Cibo in Shang. Yummy yummy. 

The waiters were supposed to sing her a "Happy Birthday" song but they (Apple and Abs) were so killjoy so the waiter ended up just giving us Apple Pie as a complimentary. Too bad we were so full already so we didn't get to finish the whole pie.

Thanks for the treat Abs! :)

Wish we were complete.

Happy Birthday Jiggy.

Happy 21st birthday Jiggyboy!

The birthday celebrant posing with his giveaway look-a-likes. :)

Well, belated that is.

We celebrated one of my college friend's birthday last night at Fish&Co. in Shangri-La Mall. Great food but too bad we were only 8 including the birthday celebrant. His mom reserved the whole first floor for the "surprise" party with a minimum of 30 pax and only 7 of us showed up. I felt kind of sad the surprise didn't go too well. It could have been more fun if we were at least 15. It was almost a reunion for us. Anyway, there were many left-overs since it was buffet so, his mom let us take home all of it. Divided by 5.

I hope next party at least half of the invited could make it.

Hugs,

Mara