Travel Sleeps: Bali 07-12

Bali living = villa living. 'Nuf said.

Photos of our accomodations at Arwana Estate coming right up!

Bali 07-12

The go-to vacay spot for us 3rd-culture-kids hailing from JKT is Bali. 

Have a reunion? Go to Bali.

Venue for wedding? Do it Bali.

Wanna relax for a few days? Chilax in Bali.

Think Bali is known world-wide for a lot of things: cultural, peaceful, exotic, magical. To be fair - it is all that. But to many of my childhood friends, it's their home away from home. 

One of my nearest and dearest friends wanted to celebrate her 30s here. So celebrate in Bali we did! 

We didn't beach (sorry Bali - the Philippines can run circles around your beaches!). 

Nor did we sight see. 

Shopping - just a bit! 

Drinking? Yes - there was. Plenty of it. 

Partying? Strangely, not much at all. 

But delicious chow (of both local and international fare), villa-lounging, spa-ing, good company?  There was definitely lots of that. 

Good vibes, ridiculously good time. Definitely a true reflection of the very person we were celebrating for!

K in her stunning dress!

LPG crew

Grilled seafood dinner by the pool, drinking and night swimming on day 1

The reason for the festivities (and I don't mean the alcohol)

Cheers K!

Uhm... HULLO. *squish*

Those that liked the sun, did lots of this

A clowning around

Lotsa couples with us during the trip! S + B

C+M

A+J

K's lovely fam

K's guests @ Naughty Nuris

K's friends with 3 sets of twins! 

Naughty Nuris decor

Some of us had spa treatments outside, some had them right at home. Some of us had both :D

Y

N & G

Weekend Mornings

I live for lazy weekend mornings.

Thank you "patch-of-green-outside-my-window"for enhancing my morning coffee & toast.

Happy weekend folks!

Donsol

rED went to Donsol this year.

mayon volcano greets me as I deboard from my 10-hour bus ride from Manila

Shortest (2.5 hours) and most remote event to date so logistics was a bit of a challenge. What could you do in that short of a time that would make the most impact? How do you transport all of the rED inventory in and out of Donsol? How do I prepare and run this all of this by myself?!

kiddies helping bring in the broken chairs

Then during the event, it rained right before the build so I had a mini-panic attack trying to figure out how to move the event indoors given that all the classrooms were being used for well.. class. I didn't even want to think about how dangerous and cramped it would be to have 80 kids hammering and sawing in a tiny classroom with very dim light! Miraculously, the rain stopped for the few hours the event ran so we proceeded as planned.

kiddies sharing an umbrella before the rain started to pour

Recently we've been doing elementary school builds and those have posed to be a challenge as well. My great tagalog skills + gazillion kids screaming in bicolano  = big headache + lots of wasted inventory.

briefing the kiddies (picture c/o JPD)

None the less, the event went well! The volunteers (many visiting the Philippines for the first time), had an opportunity to see the state of facilities many public schools are in whilst being won over by the  kiddies. The kiddiess on the other hand had fun asking the volunteers question after question, while fixing up the very classrooms they learn from- hopefully leaving them with a sense of ownership over their school. We left having painted 2 murals, fixed-up close to 40 chairs and planted 70 seedlings.

quick energizer! (picture c/o JPD)

Rest of the time in Donsol was glorious as I had an opportunity to relax- and goodness knows opportunities like that don't come so frequently anymore. My free afternoon was spent sitting on my ass reading a book with mango shake in hand. Evenings were spent either schmoozing poolside or drinking endless supplies of wine and champagne in a 100-year old home that was guzzied up for a party.

nothing but freedom ahead!

One also doesn't leave Donsol without swimming with the whale sharks and going on a firefly cruise down a mangrove-lined river. The butanding experience was surreal! The first time I dunked my head into the ocean, I saw this HUGE maw swimming right at me! I froze for a few seconds before finally swimming out of the way and simply watching in awe as it swam by me.. so close to almost touch! I was swimming along side and chasing it as fast and as far as I could by the next two. Glorious they are!

BIO (butanding interaction officer) on the look out for whale sharks

The firefly cruise I felt may have been more amazing if we had traveled further down the river. Our 6-seater bankga had "parked" itself beside our assigned tree and there we watched the awesome synchronized light show (ie: mating dance!) of the fireflies. I can almost image how breathtaking it would be to see ALL the trees down the pitch black river dotted with twinkling firefly light. What I actually found even more staggering was the night sky. Free from the glow of city lights, the dark blue sky seemed to stretch on and on and on. And the stars?! Stunning. So. Many. Stars.

I wish there were still ceilings like this!

If only I had a the appropriate camera to capture the Mother Earth spectacle I witnessed that weekend!

Firefly cruise time!

Leading up to the weekend, I was consumed with how to get work done in time and how I would manage running the rED event. I hadn't thought at all about the days that would follow- that they would be so... relaxing. So though I did sneak in some work (thanks - or no thanks - to the wonders of email connected mobiles), the weekend forced me to rest and enjoy. Which we all do need once in a while yes?

sorsogon sunset

Glorious Sunday

Today was the kind of Sunday I wish I could always have.

I woke up willingly at 9:30 am, very much well rested. It wasn't so early that I felt I was dragging myself out of bed, nor was it so late that I had felt I had no more time left in the day.

Outside of catchup paperwork and a couple of work related things I had to attend to, there were no meeting I had to run off to, rehearsals to attend or errands to get done.

I spent the day leisurely reading, napping, & working.

I had dinner with my entire family and attended mass with my mom & sister.

Nothing really out of the ordinary happened today, but because they are so rare, this glorious Sunday was extraordinary.

I don't even remember the last time I had a day like this. When I realized I didn't have rehearsals today I almost cried with joy. Sounds a little OA, but seriously true.

As I anticipate a busy week ahead, I am grateful for the opportunity to recharge and to just be still.

Here's to more frequent glorious Sundays in the near future!

Unsolicited

Multiple deadlines looming near - some planned, some out of no where. Necessary errands building up, loitering dangerously near D-day(s). Calls, emails, commitments threatening to spill out my ears and over my head. Every hour and minute necessarily accounted for. Heart's picking up its pace. Shallow breathing...then bam! A meeting is cancelled, a rendezvous postponed. Unplanned, achingly welcomed pocket of free time that snaps open into your rigid schedule. Light and air breath into day as you're hit with a free pass to address the eternal whiny lament of: THERE ISN'T ENOUGH TIIIIMMMMMMEEEEE. You breathe...

So what do you do with this free time? A smart choice would probably be to reshuffle your tasks for the day, stretch out the pile of of things you originally had to accomplish in so many hours, into a time frame that makes you more hopeful that you'll actually finish everything you had set out to do for the day.

Or you procrastinate relax. Breathe. Take a nap. Play. Drink a cup of coffee.

What would you do?

Book Buys

I may have mentioned in the past that I've always been an avid reader. Growing up, I was lucky to attend a school that had libraries filled with thousands of books and regularly invited authors and illustrators to visit and read to us (like Tomie dePaola and Lois Lowry). Grades 1 to 8 are chockfull of memories of reading and re-reading books by Beverly Cleary (Ramona!), Judy Blume (Fudge!) and Roahl Dahl (Charlie!), photocopying books I couldn't get enough of (like the thick books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, hehehe), teasing Hermana 2 about book characters she resembled in personality (Amelia Bedelia) and hobbies (Angelina the Ballerina). Shell Silverstein, Where the Red Fern Grows, Sweet Valley (kids, twins and high thank you very much!), Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, Madeline L'Engle, The Dark is Rising, Berenstain Bears, Babar, Mercy Mayer, Where the Wild Things Are.. I could really go on and on and on.

I guess you could stay I have a soft spot for children's and young adult's literature.

So with a recent book store sale, I indulged and bought myself a few titles. There are a few more books that I want to go back and purchase before the sale ends.

While I was planning on getting some work done this weekend- reading reading and reading has been a delightful way to procrastinate weekend alternative.  My Rick Riordan buys were read tucked in bed after a long day and hot shower while Michael Scott is now being enjoyed on a lazy rainy Sunday. Ah, bliss :)

Work Load

One month in and I feel like I've been with the group forever.

My current priorities, plus all the "smaller" priorities I'm finishing up for the year are keeping me busy, busier than I've been in a while. I find myself incredibly spent at the end of the day.

Some days I wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew and long for consecutive days where I can stay up all night, sleep in all day, roll around, slow down my days and dilly dally all I want. I don't know how others manage to squeeze in the world, and then some. I'll get to that point someday soon I hope!

Most days I'm very happy with where I'm at. I'm happy to be moving forward, to be committing 200% to something and pushing myself to grow.

I'm anxious to get to that point where work happily balances out with my personal life and I don't feel like I've thrown myself under a bus every time I wake up in the morning. In the meantime, I'm having a good time trying to balance it out.

I'm eager to learn and excited about the projects I'm handling, the people I'm working with and the characters I'm meeting. I'm excited about growing in my new role and becoming real good at what I'm doing.

And while it ain't the kind of green I was hoping to be earning at this point, I'm grateful for a steady paycheck and the wisdom that comes with having run amuck with your finances at one point in your life.

So yes, tired bliss is where I'm at at the moment, and where I'll probably nest and make my home in for the next year.

But I haven't forgotten about my other plans! And don't forget about them too. They're still there. On hiatus for the moment and waiting to be revisted at some point next year.

Cave

My room as it is is the favorite go to place for family members wanting to shut themselves out of the world for an hour or two. It's quiet and cool when the rest of the house is stifling. And thanks to a wonderful bed, my room is comfortable and cocoon-like. It also has teeny tiny windows making it rather dark; nice when you're seeking refuge, but recently, has been feeling more like a cave. I, perpetually in my pj's this holiday season, have been feeling like a modern day cave woman.

When we got wifi at home last week, the family joked that us laptop users would probably never ever leave our room. My family had just unknowingly willed me into a week of hiding out in my bedroom.

I miraculously stepped out of my room today and decided to work in the living room, in front of the screen door that opens up to our garden. Loveliness! I forgot how pleasant and refreshingly windy afternoons at home can be.

I think I'll move my virtual office to this location for morning and afternoon work sessions, then transfer over to the dining room for late evening work sessions. Cup of coffee in the morning and mug of tea in the evening and I'm all set. No work from my bedroom for 2010!