Paoay, Ilocos Norte

This is an over due post of our summer vacation in Ilocos Norte last May 30. I just had so many pictures that I wanted to share and I had to color correct most of them and resize, and stuff. But anyway, here, better late than never. I will post the vacation by part so you won't be overwhelmed. :)

First itinerary in Paoay is the Malacañang of the North. It's where the Marcoses stayed in whenever they were in Ilocos.



Grand entrance of the house, eh, mansion. My dad and my sister. :)



The sala or the living room. Look at the fabulous chairs and the paintings on the wall! Behind are the doors leading to the dining room.



The long dining table where they seemed to have hosted for a lot of people.



The spacious veranda and garden where the lake is just overlooking.



If I had this view whenever I looked outside our house. Haha!



The curving staircase. Gorgeous!



Bong-bong's room.



And the girls' room where they each had a toy chest. :)



Vintage, ragged looking dolls from the girls' room. Kinda creepy if you ask me, but I like them nonetheless.



And of course, the master's bedroom. Very spacious, too spacious in fact. Sister is photobombing the shot. Haha!

Next location is the Paoay Church.



This is one of the most awesome architectures I've ever since. I mean, it looks like a building Mayans and Aztecs would have built.



And look at the texture from the weathered rock.



The inside of the church is not that impressive but look what we found. It's where the priests say their sermons in the past. Kinda cool. I'm not sure if they still use it though.

Alright, that's it for Paoay, next would be La Paz, Bangui, and Burgos, Ilocos Norte. :)

Oh. My. Gosh.

And to think just this morning I was pissed to lose my reviewer for a quiz in Rizal. But these totally made my day!

First, after I finished Ate Ana's (of anagonzales.com) header, I got an email that she wanted to blog about me to help find more clients. I really appreciate her offer since I'm almost graduating Read the feature here!



And then second, through Ate Ana's post, I learned that the first header I made for Vern of vernenciso.com was displayed at Roxy in Robinson's Manila. Roxy had Vern style their store window and the header I made served as Vern's logo/identity. I'm so lucky! Nasama din ako sa luck ni Vern. Read her post here for more pictures!


*Photo from verneciso.com

All this time I didn't know that my works are being displayed in public events, etc. Here I recently found a picture of a logo I made for Ate Ana's online store Anagon Collection from Bloggers United 2.


*Photo from anagonzales.com

I've been very much blessed this month. Ever since my feature on Vern's and Ate Ava's (of artsyfartsyava.blogspot.com) blog people have been emailing me to have their own header made too. Thank you so much for patronizing my works! :)

Headers Headers Headers

So I've been making blog headers lately. I started with making a header for Vern of vernenciso.com for her birthday (above). And then it just so happened that she was making over her blog and she wanted me to make another header which looked a bit like the previous one I made her. And so we've come to this.





So those were the first two choices. She posted both of these in her blog (right here) to know her readers' opinions. And it turned out that most of them liked header two but found it too similar with the old header (I personally like header one). But she decided to just sort of combine the two headers.



I'm not sure if I got it right though. Still waiting for her reply and hopefully I'll get exactly what design she had in mind. :)



And then I made another header for Ate Ava of artsyfartsyava.blogspot.com because it was her birthday last April 21. I have been eyeing her artwork (this one) since last vacation and thought it would make a cool header. And so I found the perfect excuse to digital-ize it. :)

P.S. I'm looking for potential clients nowadays since I need income. If you're interested in having headers made email me at chessoriano@gmail.com

To Pagudpud

Off to Pagudpud in a few hours. We'll be in an 8 hour ride by bus tonight. I hope everything goes well and it doesn't rain in Pagupud while we're touring. Top things that I'm looking forward to is seeing the windmills, the lighthouse and also Former President Macoy, swimming in Blue Lagoon, tasting local foods (Bagnet and Crispy Dinuguan), and taking lots and lots of pretty pictures. Oh! And of course I'm excited to ride a plane for the first time.

Will be posting a lot of pictures when I come back which won't be until April 1, of course. I'll see you guys until then! :)

Kera Smooth After Wash

So here's how my hair looked when I washed it with Nivea Baby Shampoo and used Avon Advance Techniques Daily Shine Conditioner. It looks a lot healthier, shinier and sleeker than before. It just flies away a little because of my hair cut. I had the layers cut higher. Lol. It was a bad decision. Anyway, my hair was frizzy and dry because it was damaged by rebonding. So yea. I will definitely keep having my hair treated every 3 months.

Kera Smooth

Last December I had my first Brazilian Blowout in Going Straight. It's like a rebond which lasts for 3 months. The only difference is that this is a hair treatment (not just straightening) and there are no certain restrictions (e.g. curling, tying your hair). I would recommend this for the ladies whose hair was damaged by rebonding. After 3 months, I can really notice that my hair is more manageable than before. So even though the blowout is sort of expensive for a treatment which lasts only for 3 months, it's really worth it 'cos your hair becomes healthier every session. Thus, the result will be for the long run.


And since it has been 3 months since I've had my blowout, I had to go for another session. But when I got to the salon, they priced the blowout a lot higher than I expected. The last time I only paid 2500PHP for the blowout but now it was 4700PHP. I only expected it to cost around 3000PHP since my hair isn't really that long. I had to stick to my budget so they recommended the Kera Smooth instead. This was cheaper of course, it costed around 2,300PHP for a my hair (my hair's sort of thin). It's similar to the Brazilian Blowout. The only thing is that they use a different medicine and also they blow dry the hair instead of ironing it. I sort of like the result although it's not as fabulous as the blowout. We'll see how it'll look like when I wash my hair.


I even bought the Nivea Baby Shampoo. I'm planning to use it during most days and my normal shampoo (Avon Advance Techniques Daily Shine) only once or twice a week. The salon where I have my haircut done (yes, I don't have my haircut in Going Straight since I think the price is, well, unreasonable) recommended using baby shampoo when having a blowout or treatment to prolong the effect. Normal shampoos are actually too harsh and strips off the treatment quickly thus it doesn't last up to 3 months like expected.

Pusho Pusho and Topokki

Remember these? I blogged about them from my last post. I ate them during the weekend and here's my review.


☆☆★★★ Pusho Pusho (부셔 부셔)
Pusho Pusho is like Nooda Crunch. It's basically raw crispy noodles which are supposed to be crushed and mixed with the powder provided. It's a little too spicy for my liking but I think it will be good for sharing.


The spiciness makes my eyes squint. Haha!


★★★★★ Topokki (떡볶이)
Topokki, on the other hand, is actually good. It's surprisingly savory for a junk food. The real Topokki is a dish (picture on the right). It's basically penne (the pasta) shaped rice cake which is cooked with a spicy sauce. Yes, it's spicy but the spiciness is moderate and is really delicious.

Photo from kourmet