Holiday plans

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I am bored this past few days at work and although I am totally fine with it (means I am not stressed out), my mind wanders a lot.

Planning activities for our Hong Kong trip in July seems to be too tasking that I don’t know how to start.

Imagine doing an itinerary for 19 people that consists of 5 seniors, 4 kids, few millennials and a number of Gen X and Y – it’s complicated.

I need to plan the following:
– How to go from one place to another
– Activities
– Cost
– Where to dine
– How not to lose each other

Good thing that I already booked the hotel and flights. One less headache.

Since thinking of Hong Kong doesn’t excite me yet, I am checking hotel rates in UAE for some good staycation.

Fujairah Rotana Resort and Spa has good Ramadan offer and I almost booked until I remember how far it is.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Fujairah and I love staying in hotels but staying just for 1 night is tiring. And right now, I only have weekends to spare.

Then I thought why not check Anantara in Abu Dhabi and do some desert and nature activities, I excitedly went to the website, enter my preferred dates and the price for 1 villa is AED 6k++!!
I had a migraine.
Immediately closed the tab.

Ok, let me go somewhere near. Let’s try Ajman Saray. Beautiful hotel, good reviews, close proximity from Dubai and Sharjah.
But strange that there’s no availability on all weekends from Ramadan until August.

Is it just a system glitch? Are they full? Under renovation? Or they don’t like me?
Whatever it is, I am not very keen to call and make some personal interaction. I prefer the anonymity of online browsing. It’s their loss not mine. Choz.

Then, I really want to go to Georgia this December or January to experience snow! But I want our family to travel with group of friends. When playing in snow, the more the merrier. Do you want to go?

As if that’s not enough, my siblings and I are planning to go to Paris next spring break. This is totally an upgrade to our usual travel plans. Although we’ve been travelling together to several cities and countries, this is the first time that we will go to a place where visa is required.
Hope all of us can get a visa otherwise it won’t be that fun.
All the best to us.

 

I have such a big problem, right? Right! 🙂

Enjoy the day friends 🙂

 

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Random thoughts 2

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I’m into some kind of a diet and this is how it goes

  • Drink 1 glass of water early morning, just before you take anything
  • Have coffee or juice for breakfast
  • Drinks lots of water (think 2-3 liters per day)
  • For lunch, either don’t eat, have soup or something filling but low calorie like watermelon
  • Take a handful of assorted nuts and that’s your snack. Coffee and tea again or another glass of juice
  • 1 cup of brown rice for dinner plus whatever dish prepared by the nanny
  • Another cup of green tea to end the day

That’s how my meal plan every weekdays.
For weekends, I’m like a bear preparing for hibernation. I eat everything and anything served to me. Continue reading →

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Dreamworks Spa Dubai

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“Eat lightly at least an hour before you step in for any type of massage. An exaggeratedly full stomach will be painful to lie on”

I know this is one of the basic rules before a full body massage so why the hell we ate first at Noodle Bowl before our treatment?!? Only the food god knows.

Well to be fair to myself I only booked a few hours before our treatment and we have a few hours to kill before our session and the ‘light’ meal turned out to be a full-blown Asian fest. No regret though.

I’ve been researching for a massage place where I can use The Entertainer and stumbled upon Dreamworks Spa. Their rates are reasonable and it has decent reputation.
We know that having a massage here in Dubai is either dubious (think of those massage parlour cards sticked into parked vehicles) or headache-inducing expensive. Continue reading →

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Noodle Bowl Dubai

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For our April couple’s date, we decided to have a massage at Dreamworks Spa in Jumeirah 1 and dine somewhere near.

Noodle Bowl is an Asian restaurant located in 2nd December street (previously Al Diyafa) and has been there for a 10 years, TEN YEARS!
Strange that we never tried this place when we were stay in Satwa for half a decade.

To be honest, I don’t even know their cuisine.
I thought it’s Chinese or Indonesian.
But a quick Google search shows that they’re specializing in Malaysian dishes.

We’re lucky to find parking space just in front of the restaurant.
And since it’s only 11am, we were the only customers inside.
Noodle Bowl Dubai Continue reading →

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Toshi Grand Millennium

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We had our March date night in Toshi at Grand Millennium Hotel. I was given a voucher for an event that I organized there and why not use it for our date.

Toshi has different theme every night and since we went on a Friday, we had the 7 Asian flavours night and we got to experience dishes from China, Singapore, Myanmar, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam and Thailand.
Toshi in Grand Millennium Dubai Continue reading →

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Biel’s 5th birthday

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I’m not very fond of arranging parties. I prefer sit-down dinners and just chat with handful of guests.
So I never really had big birthday celebrations for my kids (bad mum!)

But of course I want to make sure they will feel special on their day.
We usually dine on their fave restaurant, we prepare party bags for their class, and they can choose their own gift.

For Biel’s 5th birthday, we started the celebration 1 day before her birthday.
We picked her up from school and went straight to Dubai Festival City.
Had lunch at Cheesecake Factory (no photos).
Followed by the much-anticipated trip at Build-A-Bear. Continue reading →

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Novena to St. Expeditus

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I saw Chuvaness’ post about this novena and I thought let me try. I want one thing to happen immediately and I was so worried it will never materialize (I’m losing hope actually).
After a few hours, I received a message that my wish was granted. And just want Chuvaness did, I’m sharing this post as a promise.

St. Expeditus is the saint to pray to

For a financial crisis
For house and home problems
For quick help
When you are in urgent need
For quick action
To end procrastination
For desperate causes
For intercession and protection

“Just call out to Saint Expedite, to get his attention, and ask for what you need. Be sure to offer something in return for his efforts. Most importantly make sure you live up to your end of the bargain, with no regrets or complaints (there is nothing worse than a sore winner). If things did not go as anticipated than either you did not make yourself clear or you did not think your needs through. You can’t expect Saint Expedite to tailor everything to wishes he had no knowledge of. Always offer him a reward for helping you.” – from this website

LET US PRAY:
My Saint Expeditus, saint of fair and urgent causes,
Help me in this time of affliction and despair.
Intercede for me with Our Lord Jesus Christ!
You who are a warrior saint
You who are the saint of the afflicted
You who are the saint of the desperate
You who are the saint of urgent causes,
Protect me, help me, give me strength, courage and serenity.
Hear my plea … (say your plea here)
Help me through these difficult hours
Protect me from all those who want to hurt me
Protect my family
Respond to my plea with haste
Bring me peace and tranquility.
I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life
and speak your name to all those who have faith.
Many thanks, my Saint Exeditus.

Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and make the sign of the cross.
This prayer was approved by the Church.
Pray especially on the feast of St. Expeditus on April 19.

Wishing everyone a blessed day!

xx,
LynJoy

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Flavours Restaurant – Hawthorn Suites

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I’ve written this post in January and never got the chance to publish, wtf!
I thought of re-writing it but it would take me another 3 months to push that publish button so let me just post this once and for all. 🙂 Please forgive the Happy New Year greeting…

* * * * * *

Happy New Year!!!

I have several plans this year and one of them is becoming a better blogger. Better in the sense that I will write often and consistently. Last year’s plan was to post one article per week but I am being realistic this year and will do twice a month. If I write more than that then I’ll pat myself at the back for a job well done.

I will again share my experiences on some of the restaurants that I tried. If you noticed, I stopped doing dining reviews sometime last year because most of the places I visited were my frequent go-to restaurants. I felt that you’ve been there before so what’s the use of sharing.

But a friend told me that she appreciates reading my dining experiences since she gets to know new restaurants. And I’m like, these restaurants have been here forever but it’s still new to her. It made me realized that we can always learn something different from each other.

Going back to the topic, my dear friends and I always meet before Christmas for much needed catch-up. This year, I was given the task to find a restaurant venue because they probably know that I love searching for places that serve good food with matching great price. Good thing that I read Cuddle and Crumb‘s experience and I thought it’s worth a try. Continue reading →

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How to be you po?

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I always like Anne Curtis. She’s confident, pretty and seems down to earth.
She saves a big chunk of her income that even Kris Aquino was inspired.

And the hairstyle she’s sporting now is to die for!

* * *

Edgar “Injap” Sia II is one of my business idol. He made me believe that I can be a billionaire too.


Imagine, he only started Mang Inasal in 2003 and within 7 years he was able to grow the business that he got the interest of Jollibee to buy 70% of his company for 3 billion in 2010 and the remaining 30% for another 2 billion in early 2016.

Being a Bulakena, I am so inspired by his statement.

“I am a very proud provinciano. What will be a difficult endeavor for a non-promdi is I think three or five times difficult for a provinciano. I want to inspire. I want to tell people not to be afraid to go out of their comfort zone. Most of their fears are just totally unfounded. It’s not difficult,”

* * *

I’ve been reading her blog since forever. Cecile Van Straten aka Chuvaness is witty, funny and totally entertaining.
I’m fan-girling whenever she replies to my tweets. And she earns a lot as a blogger – one of the top earners in Philippines blogosphere. Not bad eh!

* * *

I love Oprah. Who doesn’t, right? She always encourages people to be positive and live life to the fullest. Even though she’s extremely rich, she uses her money to inspire others.

* * *

She calls herself as Money Mindset Advisor. I just chance upon her blog probably more than a year ago but I’m totally hooked.
I bought some of her products, downloaded her books and been devouring every blog posts weekly. I’d like to think I am part of her ‘bee’ community.

Denise Duffield-Thomas of luckybitch.com is very transparent. She likes to share what she knows (like me), very practical (like me) and a Virgo (like me!).

Go to her blog and thank me later, ok?

Let me add more to this list later… Good evening!

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