Gem Talks

Today, I turn 35. I remember 5 years ago, I said to myself that I will be at my fittest body (complete with abs) when I turn 35. Here I am, at my healthiest state of mind and heart with no abs! Who am I to complain? God blesses us with what we need and what we deserve. With all the sweets and salts, I have no heavy heart but just a stronger determination to make the lifestyle change today.

Looking back at the past 34 years, I have come to appreciate more of the experiences I got and the people I have met.

My students and co-teachers gave me one of the wacky memories of my early working years. I wish I could still spend a lot more time with them but life is full of roads that each of us have to be in. I just hope that someday, those roads would meet again so we can laugh about the craziness of their youth and my youth as well (I was young then too!).

This week has been so busy that I wasn't able to accomplish a lot of house chores. The week was spent writing the course I have to finish, dance and singing practices for a friend's 60th surprise birthday, and all about our broken and new refrigerator.

 The weekend was a terrible cheat day for me!

My first post for 2018!

So many things have happened in 2017. The last quarter has been extremely productive for me and I couldn't thank God enough for all the projects He showered me with. This 2018, my goal is to always include my passion in the things I will accomplish this year. This includes updating my blog and a regular video content creation for the memories I treasure the most.

With this, I am starting "The Sunday Currently"

When I celebrated by birthday at Jump Yard last April, I learned these 5 things that people who would like to try the trampoline park must know.



Jump Yard is an indoor trampoline park located at Frontera Verde Complex, Ortigas Avenue Corner C5, Pasic City. 

1. I would advise not to bring kids under 6 years old.

Why? You are required to watch them all the time. If you have a nanny to look after them, sure why not. However, I still don't think you'll get the value of what you're paying since children under 6 only have a designated area to play. They can't go to the other parts of the park.



2. You need to buy grip socks

You can insist on wearing your own socks but using grip socks would give a better experience. Jump Yard sells grip socks. You can reuse it for your next jump or even use it as an ordinary socks.



3. You need to do a LOT OF STRETCHING and should know your limits

Jumping on trampolines is a form of exercise. And just like in doing any exercise, stretching is a must. Something that my Boy and I didn't do. So let's just say that I am still suffering from occasional knee pain whenever I squat.



4. Bring extra clothes

You will surely sweat buckets after trying all the activities such as the slam dunk area, dodgeball, wall climbing, monkey bars, and a lot more. It is best to bring an extra shirt so you can change afterwards.



5. Follow the RULES

They require the jumpers to watch a video regarding the safety rules. Follow it and you are sure to have a great time.

#gemtalks - Eve of VDay from gemtalks on Vimeo.

This was how my Valentine's day eve was spent. We checked in at The Exchange Regency Residence hotel, dined at PBA Cafe and had a tiring but eventful weekend.




I really don't believe that single people should dread or disregard Valentine's day when this day should be all about "love". It is about your love for your parents, for your craft, your pet, your siblings, your sport, etc. Personally, celebrations for me are just terms created to remind people to take a break from their work and celebrate life.


















Aside from the delicious but affordable food in PBA Cafe, you can also watch PBA games because there are flat screen TVs everywhere. They have basketball recreations for kids and you can even play basketball on a half court with a maximum of 4 players by paying 50 pesos for 12 minutes.

Starting today will still give me 365 days since 2016 is a leap year.



And this little cute guy has been my happy pill! Sometimes we are so busy working that we fail to see the things that really make us happy, like a kiss from a member of a family. Happiness doesn't always come from material things. Love is always the best form of happiness.

One of the romantic places you can celebrate your special occasions with your significant other is Ninyo's Fusion Cuisine & Wine Lounge. It is located in Loyola Heights, Quezon City. It is a residential house turned into a restaurant. In the morning, you probably wouldn't notice Ninyo's because the façade looks like a usual house with a signage of Ninyo's. But when you get inside, you will see how romantic the place is.










The food is a mix of Japanese and French degustation with set meals. For the budget, I would say prepare P700 each. Or if you have prepared a good budget, you can order a 3 course meal (or was it 4?) for around P1200-2500.









Ninyo's Fusion Cuisine is at

Following these basic theater etiquette will not only benefit you but it will also benefit the viewers and the performers. It helps to create an environment suited for enjoyment. Anyway, that is the goal why we watch live shows- so we all get entertained!

Tickets are available at Ticketworld outlets, www.ticketworld.com.ph, or call 8919999 and the Ballet Manila marketing hotline at 552 7502.

I have always been fond of traveling. My heartbeat races when I hear a trip to somewhere I have never been to, or do an activity that I haven't tried yet. However, when I was much younger than my age today, blogs, instagram, Facebook and all other forms of social media were not the mainstream. If you forget to bring a digital camera (which you don't necessarily bring everyday unless you're a photographer), you don't have a readily accessible smartphone that you can snap to capture the moment.

It is never too late to start. Thus, I created this blog to record all my trips- the planned and unplanned "LAKAD" to remind me of the events of my life and hopefully, to give readers ideas on how they can spend a trip on a budget.

One of my entries is me and my husband's unplanned trip to Tagaytay. Tagaytay is the most accessible place to visit if you want to get out of Manila's busy roads. It is a 1-2 hour drive from Metro Manila. And because I am not and I don't know if I'll ever be a person who can read or memorize directions, we used Waze, a smartphone application, to get directions to Tagaytay.
Since we got there late, around 7:30pm, we first drove around looking for a hotel to stay at.

TheWindy Ridge Hotel

We ended up in Windy Ridge Hotel because it was very close to Tagaytay's main roundabout. The hotel's rates are average. It ranges from Php 5,000 to as low as Php 2,800 for those in budget.
The Windy Ridge Hotel Rates (*includes free breakfast)

• Ambassador Suites- 5,200     (Full view of Taal Lake with whirlpool jacuzzi, King-sized bed)
• Green Suite - 4,200                (Full view of Taal Lake, Queen sized-bed and single bed)
• Premiere- 4,000                      (Full view of Taal Lake, King-sized bed)
• Classic - 3,800                        (Full view of Taal Lake)
• De Luxe - 3,500                      (Two single bed- twin sharing/ with private garden)
• Standard Rooms - 2,800         (Double sized bed)

Since we are only going to sleep in it, we took a standard room.

STANDARD ROOM RATING: 2.5 Stars

• clean
• has shower (with hot water)
• colored TV with cable
• table, chair and cabinet
• toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, soaps, tissue)
• towels
• telephone

The hotel also has reception and accepts credit card.

Here are some customer service suggestions I have.

I hope they were proactive in giving information on the WIFI details. The standard room is two floors down. The signal of my phone was Edge so even if you have a data plan, it wouldn't work. I searched for WIFI but didn't find any. In the morning, when we had our breakfast, I saw a posted message on one of their doors saying The Windy Ridge Hotel is a WIFI hotel. So they do have wifi! It would have been better if they inform their customers the moment they check in that they have free wifi mostly accessible in the dining area.

The Windy Ridge Pool

While we were taking pictures, I accidentally discovered their pool. If I hadn't seen it, we would never know that they have a pool at the back of the hotel. We had to ask the reception how to get to the pool.

The hotel needs repainting at the back. It didn't look like the picture I saw from their website. And of course, I can't imagine who would swim in the pool with a very cool weather.

But I would give credit to the hotel attendants for being nice. One showed us the way to the pool and the other one went downstairs when we couldn't figure out why the shower heating system was not heating up.


SPA EXPERIENCE
When we arrived at Windy Ridge Hotel, we unloaded our stuff then went outside to walk to the nearest spa. Body Cures Spa. Their massage services ranges from 300- 1000 Php. Too bad I forgot to take a picture of the establishment. I couldn't find any online site of them either. Body Cures Spa is located at Emilio Aguinaldo Highway, Silang Junction North Tagaytay.

Foot Spa before going to the full body massage

And just a few steps from Body Cures Spa is Papa Prito. We ate a non-greasy pork chop with unlimited garlic rice! If I remember it right, the price was only 90 or 95 pesos!
In the morning, we had our breakfast courtesy of the hotel and we took pictures of the Tall view from the terrace.

American breakfast with coffee from The Coffee Experience

American breakfast with coffee from The Coffee Experience

There were other places I wanted to visit but I was in a hurry to go home because of work. We left Tagaytay and drove to Nuvali from Lunch.