Turning 26 at Trinoma Mall

  In accordance with an annual tradition of celebrating my birthday at a newly opened mall, I chose to celebrate my 26th birthday at Trinoma (Triangle of Manila) Mall in Quezon City.

Just like last year, I chose Gerry's Grill as my restaurant of choice and set the date for June 23.

  It was my family's first time to set foot in this Ayala Land project so we decided to roam around before heading to the restaurant. There were plenty of trees and plants in the area and a lot of water fountains provide interesting focal points in the area.

It took us some time to get a table since it was a Saturday night, incidentally the same night when Yeng Constantino performed her first major concert at the Aliw Theater. Anthony was the first to arrive while Omar came straight to Gerry's Grill, Trinoma, after coming from Tagaytay.

  Glenn came and explained that he was now staying in Laguna and (surprise! surprise!) that he was hung over from a drinking spree. Still, that didn't stop him from ordering a beer that night. He argued that his liver was just a "metaphor" only.

The night after my party, we watched Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah Ze Muzikal at RCBC Plaza (with K Brosas as the lead character) and his PEP article actually climbed to the top spot in the entertainment guide.

My college blockmates Rhea and Maui came and asked me to invite them to my future trips. I usually tell them but we have yet to go on an out-of-town trip together.

  Leo, our other blockmate, arrived rather late and he swore that it would be his last time to go to Trinoma because of the heavy traffic. Another college friend, Babs, even called up from Pangasinan to greet me that night.

My High School friend Niña came with her cousin and they invited us to go to Fete de la Musique, which was taking place that night at Ermita. However, the heavy downpour that night discouraged us from going.

  I was pleasantly surprised when the staff of Gerry's Grill sang a birthday song for me and gave a cup of vanilla ice cream. I was too keyed up to go home so I suggested that we head to a coffee shop to chat. Niña and her cousin still went to Fete de la Musique while Mama, Joseph, and Omar went home already.

  But before we went our separate ways, my brother Joseph snapped this photo of us in front of Gerry's Grill.

We went to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and swapped stories of our college days. I even asked for their suggestions on how to pose for my pictorial with Ocs Alvarez for our new Summit ID. Shortly before midnight, we bid our goodbyes and Anthony and I dropped off Glenn at EDSA.

We then proceeded to Eloisa's house to meet up with her. She was unable to come to my celebration since it coincided with her boyfriend's birthday dinner.

We chatted about the evening, I showed her pics from my digicam, and stayed until 3 am at their house.

It was such a fun night and even though I had to miss out on some events (the night also coincided with my Elementary batchmates reunion), I had such a blast!

P.S. I guess I'll just share my pics and stories about my birthday celebration in the office in this blog entry as well.

On the actual day of my birthday, June 19, I bought two bilaos of spaghetti and cake from Goldilocks for the PEP and YES! teams as well as my friends from Special Publications. Paul Mata even dropped by and her served as our photographer since Noel and Nerisa were at a press conference.

  It turned out to be a reunion of sorts for UP CMC students and we had a good time recalling our carefree college days. When I was still in college, I really didn't want to graduate since I was scared of having to work for a living. But when I started working, I quickly adjusted and realized that I didn't want to go to the academe.

So, now I'm 26 years old and I've come to realize that deep inside, I'm still a wide-eyed kid exploring the many facets of life. I get giddy with excitement when my crush reaches out to me or when articles finally see print. But these are stories worth blog entries of their own. For now, suffice it to say that turning 26 is a milestone that is worth cherishing with family members and close friends.