Lala the Grateful

I've been thinking of everything that I'm thankful for during these past days. People. Things. Places. And I decided to write about them in my blog...

Two Tuesdays ago, I found myself sitting in Jo’s dining room with Aenid and Coco. Jo's our dear friend who came home from Canada to visit us for three weeks. We listened to her stories, shared ours, and realized how much has happened to all of us in a year. Jo has been through a lot for the past year and I am just happy that she is truly happy now. We all missed her and we were all thankful that she came home.

Here's one of the photos that we took.

But we weren't really all just seriously talking that night. Is that even possible? We goofed around with Jo's nephew, Enzo. Although it was only Enzo who could pull that "Cute look with his tongue", we tried. :p Mine was the "Inaantok look with my tongue".

And then come Wednesday, I was supposed to have dinner with Tita Irene, Cess, and Kenneth. We wanted to have my post birthday dinner but we've been having difficulties fixing our schedules that we still haven't gotten together. Cess' sister was about to give birth that night so we rescheduled the dinner again. And what I am actually thankful for is the healthy baby girl born that evening :) Aww...

Then last Thursday night, I attended my first "formal" zipping lessons in Bel Air 3. The very first lesson I attended was during the Levi's Freedom Camp last April 1 where I learned from the Mastah Zippers. But it was last Thursday that I joined the actual classes of Paulino.

Coincidentally, GMA 7's Kay Susan Tayo planned on featuring the class. So before having the actual class from Paulino, the PlanetZips team was also present for the shoot and interview. And I learned new zip moves from one of my blog mentors, Cat. Before personally meeting Cat, I've actually heard so much about her from Paolo and when I finally did meet her in Levi’s Freedom Camp, Paolo's stories came into life. Cat is truly a warm and positive person. :)

Back to our zipping lessons, I had a bit of difficulty learning the "weave" but Cat was patient enough to teach me. She checked how I did it, praised the correct things I've been doing, and pointed out what I still had to learn. When I finally did the "weave", I couldn't help but exclaim "Cat! I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" like a little kid discovering something for the first time. To Cat, thank you so much for everything! For all the encouragement and inspiring words, thank you. :)

Then there's Coco, my partner-in-crime for the past month :p Coco's taking her summer break from med school so we've been trying out new things together for the past weeks. It started with wakeboarding in Lago de Oro then zipping that night. I tried to teach Coco how to zip when we went to Calatagan but I only knew the basics so I only taught her a few things. We then both decided to attend real lessons (originally with Aenid). We got two zipping lessons in one night! Yay! Coco learned the basics right away. She's a natural zipper!

Sarah, one of my most treasured friends since grade school, arrived shortly after the crew of GMA 7 left because she had a shoot for a print ad. We were actually wearing the same pair of pants that night although in two very different styles. ;-)

Sarah also attended Paulino's class and the three of us all learned parts of Module 1. By the time we were finished with class, it was almost midnight. And I was so hungry by then because I think we've been zipping from around 8:30pm? I ate an early dinner at around 5:30 pm but apparently that wasn't enough for my stomach :p

I was more sleepy and tired than hungry so we all went home right after. That was when I realized that someone stole something from my car. Upon entering our village, the guard (who was incidentally new) asked where I was going so I politely said my address and he politely asked me to get the 2006 car pass sticker. I've always had our village car sticker beside the Ateneo sticker so I was shocked to see only its sticker mark left on the windshield. I guess I'm thankful that whoever did it only took my car sticker and nothing else. (This has other implications however so the incident needed reporting).

But aside from that stolen car sticker, I had a great night!

me with my bottles of water and the PlanetZips team playing with fire :p

Coco and Sarah, my dear friends who have such beautiful spirits :)

The next night, the three of us together with other adventurers left for San Juan surf resort in La Union. There were 15 of us, half of which haven't tried surfing yet, including me!

So I learned how to surf for the first time! Whooohoo! but this isn't me. I wish! :p

I'm one of the first-timers, just happy to stand for the first time. Zoom in! I swear I'm smiling!

My instructor, Peps, was patient enough to teach me twice. Jericho, Sarah’s instructor also lent me his skimboard in exchange for basic zipping lessons ;p. Then we saw college schoolmates who were also there before they headed for Pagudpud. Lani, our batchmate was part of the flag football team and their quarterback, Ziggy was there too so they taught us how to catch and throw. Lani, Ziggy, and Pong: Thanks guys for teaching me the post, flag, in, and out. :-) And for letting me try to play flag football for the first time!

These are the ladies I was with. My sister, Ling. My "official date", Ada. My angel, Sarah. Our new friend, Mia. My partner-in-summer-crime, Coco. Our beautiful blockmate,Tish.

To Mia, Chickoy, Coco, John B, Sarah, Rocky, Ada, Raffy, Rally, Mike, Tisha, Matoy, Marco, and my sister, Ling, YOU GUYS ROCK!!! ;-) (Franco joined the group picture! I was talking to him over the phone :p)

After all these surfing, zipping, frisbee-ing, and football-ing, I am now as dark as dark could be. I don't think I've reached my peak yet coz I've been oh-so-blessed with melanin. Let's see how far I could get with this... For more pics, click here.

For some indoor stuff... Kindly visit my friend’s blog! :) I've always been thankful for all the tips and help that I received when I started with my blog so I was more than happy to pass the "blogging spirit" on to someone. Since she’s a sorority sis of my sister then I guess we’re kinda sisters too ;-) Check out Doralicious.

And to cap off my week, we had "ladies' night in" again in Mayen's place. :p I'll post the pics next time. :) Enjoy the coming weekend, everyone!