BFF's 37th!

A friend like you doesn't come along very often. You make me laugh, and you're there for me when I cry. That's why your birthdays are so special. It's one more time to tell you how happy I am to have you for a friend.

May you enjoy a day of leisure, with hours of simple pleasures, on this day set aside, just for you! Have a Happy Birthday, Ruth!

Through the Years

Friendships like ours, are not made in a day or even a year.
Friendships like ours, are built with long talks and revealing our true selves.
Friendships like ours, make us feel accepted and loved.
On your birthday, I want you to know I feel blessed to have you in my life.


I'm glad to have a wonderful friend like you. See you in June!

Ribs and Laughters

Since it’s the season for giving gifts and endless parties, for us, it is also a season of reunions and re-acquaintance with people we have not seen for a while. It has been years, I cannot even recall if it is five or six, but it’s been a while since we last bonded face to face. Good thing we have email, SMS and FB, the friendship is still intact.

The original date was weeks before but we had to reschedule because of the flu. We’re supposed to attend our HS reunion but conflicts on dates forbid us to attend. After a week of delay, we had our date set and ready for a night of chitchat and laughter.


For our date, we find La Maison Brasserie, a French Casual Dining Restaurant, in Greenbelt 5 an interesting place to eat and share good food. It was advertised as having the “best steaks” or at least something along that line.

First to arrive was the super trendy, Ms. Charito “Chato/Iking/Chamy” Gabriel, clad with her powerful Prada bag, Mikimoto pearls and of course, the Philip Stein watch. As always, Chato depicts the corporate banker type with elegance and character. I love her salt and pepper hair, suit her more compared to the highlighted do from before. She’s on the thin side nowadays but as I told her, adding a few pounds will do her good as well. As we were getting settled at our table, Chato bombarded me with tons of questions, I cannot help but look at her and go back to years back when we were still classmates in HS. I did miss her laughter, her antics and sarcasm and most special of all, her with and humor! Nothing beats Iking!

As we were waiting for our other date to arrive, we had to update ourselves and it was tiring yet fun. As the clock ticks later in the night, we wondered how come she’s still a no-show. I suddenly remembered she gets lost in the area. Tadah! She did!

The other Maria for the night is the very petite and cute, Ms. Rubyanne “Deng” Canasa, sporting a new hair color and laughing out loud that she got lost again within the Greenbelt 5 premises and having a hard time finding a parking slot. The ever conscious Deng is still the same, prettier in fact, as others say, the added years suit her best. She lamented on how hard it was for her to find a parking space for hours and it was a real laugh for us to hear her rant! Between the two, I have more contact with Deng through the years, but hearing her voice again, brings back memories.

We feasted ourselves with the house specialties and the baby back ribs were indeed tender and juicy as mentioned by some friends who already dined at La Maison. The service was good; very polite and helpful staff. The ambiance was quiet and comfy, stylish but relaxed. It is absolutely perfect for a date place. Overall, we really had a great dining experience.


Even though we missed my dearest twin, Mrs. Evangeline "Vangie" De Jesus-Cruz, the laughter and the voices were really ear-splitting with our own stories to tell and the tons of chismis with regards to our other class/batchmates. Just like in any occasion, we talked about almost everything under the sun. Next time around, we do hope to have Vangie with us - physically.


Much as we want to stay longer and chat, the night was almost over and everybody have her own schedules for the next day - getting ready for the last working day for the year and for flights to catch. After exchanging presents, kisses and hugs and tons of pictures, we said our goodbyes.

See you again soon, Deng and Chato! Hopefully with the rest of our intriguing classmates and friends! Oops, might be sooner, maybe along Harbour City Shopping Centre perhaps?!

A Double J Celebration

It was a rainy Thursday when Vangie sent a personal message informing me she’s already in Manila for a short period of time. It’s a double header celebration for her two beautiful daughters – Julianne’s 2nd birthday and Jasmine’s baptismal. As always, the party fell on a Saturday. Knowing Vangie, she won’t take no for an answer even if I did give her my valid reasons.

Since I have class till 6pm, I asked my sister to buy my presents. I asked her to buy my twin’s two daughters dresses at Rustan’s Makati and to have them gift wrapped for the occasion. Dutifully, she obliged despite not having eaten lunch that day!

Back to my story, class was extended for a few minutes and as usual, traffic in EDSA was the worst. As we were going to the De Jesus’ residence, I can’t help but reminisced some of the funny moments with Vangie during our ES/HS days.


The party for the kids started at 3pm. We came in at around 7pm. Even though we are 4 hours behind, there were still a number of guests. Food as always was provided by Corrhin’s Catering. I got to taste again Nanay’s special fried chicken. Even my sister enjoyed the Hotdogs. Yum!


Although we were late, I got to chat longer with my twin. We talked about almost all the topics that can be covered while I ate dinner and enjoyed each other’s company. I always feel at home whenever I’m at the De Jesus’ residence – para ka lang nasa bahay!


As I said my goodbyes, I can’t help but be teary eyed. It was as if we were just mere students the other day and now my twin is a mom of two beautiful girls. As the night goes deeper, I got good news – she’s coming home for good before the end of the year. Definitely more time for bonding and as I was leaving, I kidded her, one more round – make it a boy!

Gie, don’t forget to get me a room at the Venetian! Let’s have some fun in Macau before you head back to Manila for good.

Breakfast Delight

The other week, I was eating breakfast while waiting for the bank to open. I asked Yaya Juvy if she heard my name being called. Somebody was calling “Ralline, Ralline, Ralline!” I was busy browsing the newspaper… then I looked up… and saw a familiar face.

Josephine Ragunton-Galang, commonly known as Jheng during our elementary and high school days, was on the other table. She was waiting for her husband, JM (Jose Maria), and their breakfast as well. Jheng works as a Relationship Manager in the bank and JM goes to a telecommunication company nearby.


“Makikita ko na ba yan mamaya sa Facebook or sa My Space”, Jheng said of the pictures taken. But, it took me almost two weeks before I could upload the pictures. Still, I can still recall the chitchat as if it were yesterday. It was nice seeing Jheng again, even though I am used to see her in bank, but seeing her as a wife and a mom, that I still have to get used to. Nevertheless, motherhood suits her; I see a certain glow with her smile.


Today is Jheng’s birthday and she’s spending the week with her family in Hong Kong Disneyland.

For Jheng: Wishing you a beautiful birthday and a lifetime of beautiful tomorrows!

Julianne's First

More than a month prior to the birthday party, my very good friend, Evangeline “Vangie” O. De Jesus-Cruz was already informing me about her daughter’s first birthday celebration.

Julianne whose exact birthday is May 8 celebrated her first birthday with a Hawaiian themed party at the Poolside of Legaspi 300 Towers in Roxas Boulevard. They flew in to Manila from their home-based, Macau, on the day of the birthday. The family decided to celebrate the event here with close family and friends.

Since it was a Saturday and I have plans every Saturday morning, I told Vangie that I’ll be late since I’ll be coming from the other side of the city. Just as I told her, I was late – big time! Traffic was bad and some parts of the Metropolis were experiencing a terrible rainfall.

I arrived with my sister just in time with the blowing of the Lilo-inspired birthday cake. It was great. Julianne or Lianne is such a cute girl though she doesn’t like being passed around to visitors – good thing when I was talking to her Mom she gladly came to me even for just a few seconds.

The food was good since Vangie’s family catered the event as well but since I was late I only took just a few bites and spent the rest of the time chatting with my so-called twin.

Sad part was it rained and most of the guests were seeking cover in the tent. Since I still have to meet with my brother and my parents, we left and said goodbyes.

To Julianne, happy birthday! To Vangie, it was just like old times. To Vangie and Jayson, congratulations and wishing you all the best during this happy, happy time.

Six "Single" Ladies

As early as the last quarter of 2007, Kumareng April’s very excited for her trip back to Manila. We didn’t get a chance to see each other the last time April and her family went to visit in 2006 so I’m so eager for their next visit.

Before they left Vevey, Switzerland I already confirmed with April our date with other HSFs. Gladly, I called and informed a few HSFs and booked the date. She’ll have a hectic schedule with the family and we want to have a concrete date of our kitakits. January 3, 2008 turned out to be a memory-filled event for us.


Along with Mrs. April Daisy Tupas-Buenaventura and me, four more HSFs were able to attend. Mrs. Adina Benosa-Manansala, Mrs. Ruth Cervantes-Casiño, Mrs. Czarina Imperial-Cuenca and Ms. Agripina Banigoos completed our group. Yes, only six HSFs, I invited a few more but due to their work load and the traffic that day they opted not to attend.


Six HSFs is a good number. April was happy to see familiar faces after a long time of nil communication with other HSFs. Agripina who was back for the New Year from Malaysia was also happy with the dinner date. Much to our surprise, Adina was able to go with the permission of the very jealous husband (hihihi). Czarina was able to leave her kid with her Mom to enjoy a night with friends.

Even though we’re only six, the laughter and the voices were really earsplitting with our own stories to tell and the tons of chismis with regards to our other class/batchmates. Just like in any occasion, we talked about almost everything under the sun.


Much as we want to stay longer and chat, the night was almost over and everybody have their own schedules for the next day. After exchanging kisses and hugs and tons of pictures, we said our goodbyes.

To Adina – Thanks for everything. Salamat din kamo kay Alvin. Kitakits sa YM. Ilang talon ka lang sa akin ha.

To April Daisy – I’ll see you soon and kisses to your two cute boys, sama na si Francis. Let’s keep the communication lines open especially when you’re back in Vevey. Don’t forget my Bacci.
To Agripina – I’ll miss again your laughter; hopefully, we’ll see each other before September. Don’t forget the Malaysian chocolates.

To Czarina – Freshen up your IT skills ha para mas updated. Send our regards to Oliver.

To Ruth – A few more months and you’ll be closer to my home; more bonding time with my BFF. Did Elian love the “pabalot”? Give our thank you’s to Cong. Teddy for driving you all the way to MOA and having a picture taken with the group.


Dinner was very filling and with all the stories told that night it was way over board. Kailan na kaya maulit?

Keeping Old Times, Strengthening Old Ties

Year in and year out we make it a point to see each other during special occasions. If we can’t make ourselves available in any ordinary day, we see to it that we meet at special dates within our lives. For years, I’ve been a little bit off in keeping my word with BFF Ruth in terms of seeing each other whenever it’s our birthday or the holidays. Time and distance are some big factors behind it but whatever date I miss, I make it up with constant emails, love letters and sending SMS.

For this year, I made it a point to lessen my shortcomings. BFF is always busy with her chores and I on the other hand have my own excuses. After I visited her at Cardinal, I told her that I’ll see her soon for the holidays. Lo and behold, after a number of missed get-togethers, we saw each other one more time before 2007 ended!


Over Chinese lunch and hot tea, we celebrated an early Christmas Lunch at the Highlands China Palace with Teddy and Elian. Baby Emilio’s still small so he stayed home with the grandparents.


Elian’s my godson and last time I saw him was three years ago in their residence in Don Antonio. I missed some of his birthday celebrations but I know I’m forgiven, because I didn’t forget my gifts! How’s that?! Hehehe. He really enjoyed the stuff I brought and was happy that we ate Chinese since he loves siu-mai.

Teddy, on the other hand, is looking very good; Ruth also. It looks like parenthood suits them both.


Seeing Ruth again with her family makes me reminisce the old days; the night-outs, the movie-dates, even the special lunches. Nowadays, it is really hard to do all the stuff since she’s already a mother of two and I’m always on the go.

Nevertheless, even if our bonding times are less, the true bond of friendship is still strong and will continue for a long time.