Joy to the World!

Happy holidays! The Christmas season - which officially starts in September in the Philippines haha - has been tremendously busy, but in a good way.

I've gotten to meet up with so many of my friends for the holidays. Some of my ex-colleagues decided to organize our Christmas dinner at the new Opus Mall in Pasig. For our venue, we picked Tomatito. We ordered a lot of food, including this porchetta dish. It was sliced into five large pieces and there were five of us so we all got a slab each but they were really hefty. Some of us couldn't even eat their whole piece!

Tomatito in Opus Mall

We picked the first seating at Tomatito which was at 6pm so we were done with dinner by 8pm which meant it was now coffee and dessert time! We decided to try ST. ALi which was a restaurant/cafe that none of us had been to before. So in one night, I got to visit a new mall and have coffee and dessert at a new place. Cool!

ST. ALi Coffee in Opus Mall

I also got to spend an evening with some of my ex-teammates at Podium Mall. We had dinner at Burnt Bean - we had all been there before - but while this restaurant is pretty good and they do have dessert options, we thought of trying some other place. We found ourselves at Opulence Cafe. This place was quite posh! I can't recall what cake I ordered but it was quite good. And the cup and the saucers were all really fancy!

Opulence Cafe in Podium

Speaking of, Grace Park also has some pretty nice cups and saucers. I had dinner here with my college friends when two of us - Val and Louie, who have been based abroad for a really long time now - spent some time in Manila for a short while.

Dinner at Grace Park

I got to revisit one of my favorite restaurants in Metro Manila that I hadn't been to in a while: Duck & Buvette in Shangri-La Mall. I had lunch here with more ex-colleagues for our Christmas reunion. This restaurant has been around for a long time now but no one else in our group had eaten there before, making it a new experience for all of them. Cool! I ordered the pork belly...

Pork Belly at Duck & Buvette

...and for dessert, I had their French macaron ice cream (with coffee, of course).

Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich at Duck & Buvette

I also attended my second Jollibee party in a year. My inaanak Pio celebrated his 1st birthday and his family decided to have the party at the nearby Jollibee.

Jollibee birthday party

My sources of joy went beyond catching up with people. For instance, I got a new light fixture. This was because my previous one was no longer working. I initially thought the bulbs were just burned out or busted but I soon realized that it was the actual light fixture that had a problem. I decided to get a new one, and I picked this light - Sigma 4 Ceiling Lamp - from Decor Manila. With four bright bulbs and a mirror base to reflect the light, my apartment has never been brighter. I was so surprised at how happy my new light made me haha.

New light fixture from Decor Manila

Another thing that made me really happy was getting a few Peanuts and Snoopy shirts from SM Department Store. While doing some errands in SM, I passed by a Peanuts clothing display to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Peanuts. (As it turns out, Peanuts' official anniversary was in 1950, meaning this anniversary display was a year early but maybe they were kicking off a year-long anniversary celebration.) I initially planned on getting a shirt for myself but I ended up getting a couple more shirts to give as Christmas gifts.

Peanuts celebrates its 75th anniversary

I also donated some e-waste again at The E-Waste Project.

My e-waste donation

I used to wait for their collection week before I could donate but thankfully, they have now set up round-the-clock e-waste drop boxes in UP Diliman. This means that anyone can donate e-waste pretty much at any time. That is super convenient! Thank you, The E-Waste Project! (Don't forget to check out their Facebook page.)

E-waste drop box of The E-Waste Project in UP Diliman

And finally, I got my Spotify Wrapped results and they were quite unexpected. Then again, given how eclectic I am, I guess that unexpected results are my norm haha. My top song was Shivers by Ed Sheeran...

...while my top artist was Florence + The Machine.

But while I do tend to listen to a lot of more mainstream music, I did listen to other genres too. In fact, May was my Victorian Instrumental Classical phase, during which time I listened to music from composers like Bach, Offenbach, and Rosseau. Wow!

The holiday season isn't over just yet so I look forward to more reunions, get-togethers, and quality time with the people I love.