We had a very long day last Friday. There was a Chinese New Year celebration at Bela’s school that day but hubby and I can’t take a leave from work so my mom and dad accompanied Bela to school and her lola became her official photographer (you can read about MSS CNY celebration here.)

Then they fetched me from work and since I haven’t eaten my lunch yet, I asked them if we can go to Serendra for lunch at Conti’s. It was already past lunch time when we reached Conti’s and so I was really hungry and I ended up eating one and a half cups of rice plus dessert and fresh fruit shake. After lunch, we went to A Different Bookstore which is just across Conti’s restaurant where Bela bought a new book. She also played for a bit there and so it was almost 4 PM already when we left Serendra.

We fetched Howell from work and went straight home as we will be meeting with Peachy and her family for a dinner at the President restaurant in Binondo. It was a very sumptuous dinner. We went home straight from Binondo after dinner.

When I reached home, I was greeted with tons of work to finish (insert a grin here as this means more moolah even if I will need the best acne treatments since for sure I will be staying up late again to finish all my work). I tried to start with my work but I guess after that very long day my mind is no longer working so I decided to just call it a night and doze off to bed.

On our second day in Singapore, we went to Singapore Zoo. We initially planned to drop by my friend’s house before going to the zoo as Bela wants to take a dip in their pool but since we had a very long day on our first day in SG, Bela was asleep until 9 AM and Howell doesn’t want to wake her up.

As soon as she is awake, we gave her a bath and we had breakfast at the hotel. Then we took the MTR again going to the zoo. The zoo was just a couple of stations away from our hotel so we reached the Singapore zoo in no time.

Bela had a real good time. She loves animals so she really went crazy as soon as we we’re inside. We we’re able to do almost everything that we can do at the zoo. We were able to watch all the shows. After the elephant show, there is a feeding program and Bela get to feed the elephants up close. I thought she will get scared but instead she really had fun. Then we also watch the Splash Safari Show. We had lunch first at the restaurant near the Splash Safari Theater so when we entered the theater, all seats are already taken and so we just sat at the back of the theater. But this did not stop Bela from enjoying the show. After the show, we lined up for a photo encounter with Carlos, the sea lion where Bela got a really wet kiss from him.

This time also, Howell and Bela we’re able to try the elephant ride. I wanted to join them but I am pregnant so I decided to stay behind to take their pictures.

After our Singapore Zoo trip, we are all tired already and it was even raining on our way home. Lucky we we’re able to get a bus easily to go to the city. We went straight to Orchard road for dinner and shopping. Howell wanted to go to his favorite toy store in Takashimaya mall so we ran there after I am done with my shopping. The store is already closed but they opened it for us and waited for us to finish with our shopping so Howell and Bela were really happy.

It was already past 10 PM and we are dead tired already so even though we still want to do some more shopping, Howell and I decided to call it a night an went back to our hotel.

You can view more pictures here.

My good friend Bo got inspired to scan and post in Facebook some of our group’s pictures some decades ago. LOL. Really a blast from the past. Just look at the pictures:

And look at us now.

Notice how big we have grown? LOL. Do you think we all need diets for quick weight loss? But did you know that one reason that we lasted this long as friends is that we all have something in common – we all love to eat. Be it at a small carenderia eating tapsilog with five cups of extra rice (paging Bo. LOL) or in a nice cozy restaurant eating ox tongue, or just home cooked sinampalukan manok at Dante’s house. Gosh, I miss those days. We are planning to go out of town this summer and food tripping, swimming and just having some crazy fun. Hope it will push through because one of our friends, Aubrey, is already busy with the election campaign.

I miss you all guys! Hope to see you all soon!

It is a long weekend for Howell since he is on holiday on Monday. He delegated the tasks to his staff (which is really a miracle) and he said that he is not working overtime on Monday. So for days now, he has been convincing me that we go out of town this weekend. First was that he wanted to go to Baguio to witness the Panagbenga Festival. He said that with the help of our ipods, Bela will be preoccupied and she can take the long trip and will be no problem. We have been to Baguio before and Bela did not mind the long drive as she is busy watching the trees, the cows, and the carabaos on our way to Baguio but it is not Bela who is the problem, but me. I am already on my 5th month of pregnancy and I am having a sensitive and difficult pregnancy this time so I don’t think a long drive will be such a good idea for me.

So he dropped the Baguio trip and he suggested that we go Bohol instead. He is asking me last Thursday to book tickets but when I checked, the airfare is P7,000 per person. That is ridiculous and I told him that if it is promo fare, it will just cost us P1500 each per person to go to Bohol.

So it is a no-no for Bohol and he suggested White Rock in Subic or Villa Escudero. But since it is Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day, both resorts are fully booked already. LOL.

Howell was a bit disappointed but I told him there will be more chances to travel so he should not fret. LOL.

I am just listening to the news and all I hear is that all prices are going up. This is still because of the budget deficit that the government is facing and the effects of global recession.

Because of these happenings, I can’t help but think of ways on how I can make extra money and that is when my friend suggested that it is time to buy gold bullion. I did some reading and research and landed on the page of United States Gold Bureau.

Gold has always been a good investment options and United States Gold Bureau can help first time investors like me, to make decisions and make the right investment for my hard earned money. With the status of the economy right now which is really so unstable, investing in gold is the best way to go since unlike other investments, it doesn’t depreciate in time and no matter what the form is – bullion, coins, etc, it is widely accepted and can be easily turn to cash.

I will do some more reading as United States Gold Bureau site offers a lot of good information that can help us make a wise investment decision.