Our 2016 Chinese New Year at F1 Hotel

This post was a couple of weeks late coz I had'nt got the knack to blog coz I have lot of work in my hands. Anyway, we had a relaxing weekend last long weekend. We had an overnight stay in F1 Hotel from Feb. 7-8, we really chose these dates because of the holiday.  We actually got this when F1 Hotel had a sale last Nov. 27-29, 2015. I can't remember how much we paid because it was Papa A who paid it. We got the city suite.

Their reception area on the 5th floor is big and accommodating, makes you want to make tambay lang sa mga sofas. Staffs are very friendly and always greet you with a smile on their face. Elevator lang was kinda slow and small, that it only accommodates not more than 10 people, paano kung may trolley pang dala?

 

Reception Area

The city suite room was quite big, but I didn't like the layout. I am not used to beds where there's an empty space behind. Actually it's not empty, our head is towards the bathroom door, which made me uneasy. Diba ang headboard is supposed to be rested on the wall. Take a look for yourself.

Work area

Sala area and coffee area

View from Bathroom

They have a swimming pool, both for adults and kids. We did not try to swim coz the weather is cold, and my son has a cough and colds. The pool area was open, so fresh air was coming in unlike the pool area in Makati Diamond Residences (I have not blog about this yet have'nt I?) You can make tambay here also and order for drinks.

We used their gym facilities the next morning before having the breakfast buffet. The treadmill, stationery bikes, were equipped with tv monitors. Bring your headset with you and plug it to the output and you can watch your favorite tv programs in cable tv. They also have an ipod/iphone dock for your own music to listen to. I just hope they upgrade the dock so that they can accommodate iphone 6. The gym was small, but the treadmill is the only equipment that I need so no problem with me. Papa A was looking for more.

On the same floor where the gym is, there's a spa. We did not try it anymore as we were not in the mood to have a massage.

At 7:30 AM, a dragon dance was held at the lobby on the ground floor. We watched for a while then went straight to 3rd floor for our breakfast buffet.

To be honest, I loved the selection of their breakfast buffet. Sakto ang timpla, may variety, not too many, just enough to be able to taste a little bit of everything. Hindi yung super dami then you can't taste everything naman. Then manghihinayang ka because you were not able to taste everything, kahit pa konti konti.

Love their bacon, not too crispy, but not soggy. Sakto lang.

The first batch I got were scrambled eggs and lotsa bacon

Cheese, cold cuts and salads

Cereals

 

Various pastries, for refill pa.

Noodle soup

Eggs station

Champorado or Oatmeal?

Congee or Arozcaldo?

Love their selection of breads as well.

I tasted all, except for the cereals. We were satisfied with everything that we have experienced specially the breakfast. May isang kulang lang pala. There's no bath tub, e yun pa naman habol ng anak ko. Sana if it's suite na, the bathroom includes bath tub na.

O well, you can't have everything talaga. Basta overall we enjoyed it.

DIY Craft: Repurposed Wall Clock

I woke up 3:00 am this morning.  Ewan ko ba di ako makatulog. Madami akong naiisip gawin like updating my records, various crafts na naiisip ko, watching DVD, de-cluttering may desk here at home. Mag declutter na sana ako ng pedestal ko, when I saw this:

I know this was a gift to hubby from his officemate from his former office. It's a cutesie wall clock that used to hung in our bedroom. Kaso it fell down kaya na dismantle. Good thing the glass did not break.

So I thought of repurposing it to a wall decor kasi nasasayangan ako e, ang cute nung  maliliit na seashells on the side.

I just looked up a quotation from the internet, printed it, making sure that the size will fit into the frame. Trial and error sya so first print ko was too big, so from there, estimate na lang how much to re-size. I needed a glue gun to put back all the parts together and to seal the glass to the wood.

So when I finished I hung it on the wall beside my working desk. Eto sya:

Notice the seashells on its sides?

Cute diba? That's why I don't want to throw it away, sayang the design. O sige isip pako ng recylable things that I can find around our house. Till next craft.

My 2016 Travel Expo Experience

If you still do not know, or have not seen the news yet, today will be the last day of the Travel Expo held by Philippine Travel Agencies Association. It started last Friday, Feb 5 at the SMX convention center in Pasay City.

I have been hearing about this Expo for years now but my curiosity was not that high for me to go to previous ones. Beside, may piso fare naman noon diba and it's easy to just book online.

Yesterday, Saturday, was my first time to go. I was right not to let my son go with us because of the length of time we had to wait and the bulk of travellers that wanted to buy tickets under promo fare. You see, we arrived there at 6:45 a.m., there were already few people in line, some I presume to have slept there, because of the thermos they had with them and blankets.

We just dropped off my SIL to fall in line at once, lest there will be a bulk of people who will come early also like us. We parked at the basement of the SMX, which probably took us only about 10 mins, when we got to our SIL, there was already a long line behind our slot. See?!? It was only 10 minutes that transpired.

We left again our SIL to buy her hot choco and my coffee, as I can not really function very well without it. Talk about caffeine addiction, huh?

Anyways, when we got back to our slot, here is what greeted us:

See the bulk of people at the back? And it was only what, 7:30 am. Me, my hubby and my SIL talked for awhile, my hubby even asked an older couple behind us whether they will be buying in bulk. They said yes, about 10 tickets as their children will be coming home and they wanted to go to a local destination.  They said that they were already in the expo the night before but there were really a lot of people. They just went back to their car. At the parking lot, out of curiosity, they asked another family whose car was parked beside theirs if they were able to buy tickets. The other family said yes at P600 each ticket for a local destination.

Exciting! We are set to go to Cebu this May to attend another SIL's wedding. My hubby's side of the family including his cousins want to attend as well. So all in all, we will be buying 14 tickets to Cebu. That would cost us only P8,400. Woohooo! Ang saya sana pag ganon, kaso I'm sure hindi.

It's not that I am being a nega, but it was the 2nd day. And from how the older couple told the story that there were already a lot of people on the first day, I am pretty sure, that almost all promo fares have been exhausted. We just have to wait and see. So we waited for 10:00 am by watching The Martian on my SIL's smart phone. 

And the doors opened. We rushed to the entrance, and went directly to all the assigned booths of Cebu Pacific. They have at least 20 booths, or agents that will entertain you. But you know what, when we were still in line, there were like 70 people ahead of us. Bakit pag pasok namin, parang hundreds na ang nasa loob? Ummm.... it's a mystery that I can not solve. Alam na......

This is what it looks like inside the hall of SMX:

And here is the reason why people are flocking SMX every travel expo and why the long lines on all Cebupac's booths:

What's our verdict? As I said those who were there the first day, got hold already of the promo fares to the point that nothing was left on the second day. Probably meron, but not on those dates that you preferred. Our travel to Cebu in on May, but travel dates covered by the promo fare is from July 1 - Dec. 31, 2016 only. Even if I try to book with Airasia, which by the way has also a long line, but not as long as Cebupac, Airasia's travel period under promo is from Feb. 6 - April 30, 2016 only.

So we bought our tickets under regular rate for Cebu, then we asked the agent to quote fares for Japan on our preferred dates. This was actually our agenda why we braved early morning drive and the bulk of people in the expo. But again sad to say, and the agent actually already warned us, that promo fare for Japan will be impossible to get. Naubos daw on the first day. Sayang 2499 lang sana one way. The available fare that the agent can see only is the P16,000 per head. Hay naku! 

The agent said, there might another one on July. Might is the word. If ever there will be another one, naku I will really file a leave on the first day, kasi always Friday yan e.  Baka nga I will suggest to hubby na Thursday night pa lang to camp out na in front of SMX. Lolz! Bakit ba? The sacrifice is worth it, makakuha ka ba naman ng super cheap na airfare to Japan.

Till next time, better luck to us.

Updates on the new rulings issued by PRC-BOA

Like what I said from my previous post, I had my license renewed last Friday, so that I can apply for an accreditation with the Board of Accountancy. Fortunately, there was an update regarding the rulings. The BOA decided to defer the requirements of having a BOA accredited CPA in preparing the financial statements for December 31, 2015.

Based from the recent updates, the new ruling shall no longer take effect this December 31, 2015, but instead it will start on the fiscal year, June 30, 2016.

O diba bongga? I'm sure there were lots of complaints and rants that came from CPAs. Hehehehehe!

Now I have time to complete the CPD units required to be accredited by BOA.

Day off from work

Hello mothers! It's Tuesday and I had a day off from work today. Bumalik kasi lagnat ni bagets. Last Friday, I was also absent from work coz I had to renew my CPA license. E that morning, I felt W, na super init, I got his temp and it was 39+.

So, I let him be absent from school, and since I am absent from work, I had him checked up first sa Medical City in Sta. Lucia before going to PRC. The pedia, gave him antibiotics and anti-allergy medicine, and paracetamol. Sunday morning, ok na ok na siya e. As in energetic na ulit sya. So I decided to let him attend school come Monday.

This morning, I felt maiinit na naman siya, sus, nakakaloka diba? Gumaling na, bumalik na naman ang lagnat. So I took my day off again today, nakakahiya man mag text sa boss, but you know, the welfare of my family comes first so I had him checked up again sa Marikina Valley Hospital.

Goodness, pabagalan yata dun, yung HMO nila 2 tao lang yata nag veverify sa dami ng patients e, mamumuti talaga mata mo sa kakaantay. Kahit ang doctor ang tagalness, muntik na nga kami mag palit ng doctor, my hubby was getting na the LOA, tapus the nurse then said ready na si Doc. Sus!

Anyway, dengue was ruled out (thank you Lord!) It was viral daw. Baka panic mode lang ako kaya I had him checked up again. Anyways, we arrived home early mga 5 pm. Ganun pala yun, pag nasanay ka makauwi ng  8 or 9 pm, parang ang weird makauwi ng house na may araw pa.

So goodluck to me bukas. Wednesday na agad. I am not yet done with my payables due on the 10th, paalis na nga ang boss ko e. Hayz!