Something Blue!

It all started when Cyd had me listen to ‘A Little Too Much’ by Natasha Bedingfield. The song was used in the trailer of Something Borrowed, a chick flick based on the novel of the same title by Emily Giffin. It was love at first listen. As the song played on heavy rotation in my phone, it soon snowballed into a desire to read an Emily Giffin book over the weekend. It’s been a while since I last bought one for myself. I figured, a little indulgence wouldn’t hurt right?

So guess who got herself Something Blue last Saturday?

The book provides us closure to 'Something Borrowed'

Yayyy! I’m currently halfway through the book and I’m still hating what a self-centered bitch Darcy is. Yes, the jilted fiancee from Something Borrowed is now the novel’s main protagonist. Not to say that she isn’t relatable though. She has her moments. I’ll post a full review once I’m done with the rest of the chapters.

Kitchen Chronicles: Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes remains to be my favorite side-dish ever. Whether it’s at KFC or Red Ribbon, I simply can’t get enough of it. So I thought, why not try making one at home? Thanks to Mommy Fleur’s blog, I was able to find an easy DIY recipe that we can re-create ourselves. The ingredients are pretty simple: potatoes, Nestle all-purpose cream, cheese, butter, salt and pepper to taste.

Ingredients: Grated cheese, butter and all-purpose cream

The results turned out pretty well much to my relief. It was a hearty Saturday night dinner for the family as we feasted on fried chicken, ginisang sayote and mashed potatoes. Although I think I went overboard with the cream (you can just use half of the pack if you want). My siblings loved it though. From their reactions I guess this is going to be a weekly dinner staple from now on.

friend chicken and ginisang sayote... yummy!

mashed potatoes + fried chicken = FOOD COMMA

So is this good-bye, Harry Potter?

Never mind the 4 hour sleep, it was helluva freakin’ worth-it to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 on IMAX last July 14. We opted for the first showing since I was coming straight out of a shift. I was with my sister, the person whom I credit for introducing me to the series a decade ago. At SM we met up with Isa, one of my closest friends from college who’s a fellow Potter fan like us. I would’ve loved to watch this with the TKC girls but sadly we’re islands (and countries!) apart. Remind me to suggest having a marathon of all eight flicks when we’ll have our get-together again next year. DVDs are on me. :)

The whole experience was bittersweet. I started reading Harry Potter when I was already in college but it never stopped me from appreciating the wonderful world that JK Rowling created. I bought the first four books in paperback. After that we (my sister and I) made it our goal to get the succeeding ones in hardbound, expenses be damned. That was much of a sacrifice since we were still students then.

Now, seven books and eight movies later… has the time finally come for us to say good-bye to Mr. Potter? Needless to say, I cried during the movie. Only two Potter movies had me sobbing this hard ever… Goblet of Fire and Deathly Hallows Part 2. If you hate spoilers then I suggest skipping the post below:

Neville and the Trio warns you of spoilers... and rants!

Daniel Radcliffe has improved leaps and bounds ever since he started doing the series. The Harry Potter in this flick was finally the take-charge kind of guy with Ron and Hermione duly designated as his wingmen. His strongest moments were probably those at the forest and the one with his son in the epilogue.

When it comes to secondary characters, it was Neville Longbottom’s turn to shine in this flick and boy did Matt Lewis deliver! Kudos to whoever added that fan-service part about him and Luna. ( you know what I mean *wink*)

Unpopular opinion: I will always love Bonnie Wright and her portrayal of Ginny Weasley. C’mon, the girl has managed to make do with whatever material has been given her. It’s not her fault that Kloves (or even Yates) failed to realize early on that Ginny was always meant to be with Harry hence giving her scraps of dialogues and scenes from the earlier movies. Why also blame her for the fact that she managed to grow taller than that shrimp, Daniel Radcliffe? :) JKR has already set it in stone, and I don’t think throwing bitch fits about how book!Ginny > movie!Ginny is going to change the fact that they will still end up together in the end.

Don’t even get me started on those who think that Daniel had more chemistry with Emma. This is Harry Potter. Everyone knows how JKR had it all end in Deathly Hallows. Magdasal nalang kayo na sana magka-movie silang dalawa na sila lang. [/end rant] There, I said it. My allegiance will always be to OBHWF (Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione).

Oh, and the editing still hasn’t changed. I scratch my head every time Mark Day gets a nomination for his work on the series when his shoddy editing ruins the transition of emotional scenes. Case in point: the deaths at the Battle of Hogwarts. Clearly, the guy still hasn’t dropped out of the Ryan Murphy School of Editing.

And last but not the least, the redemption of Severus Snape had Alan Rickman simply bowling everyone over with his portrayal of the long-suffering, conflicted yet heroic professor. Oh the perils of unrequited love! It was, and will always be, about Lily after all these years.

With the eight movies finally done, I hope we’ll get decent extra features on the DVD for Deathly Hallows Part 2. More like, Goblet of Fire-generous if you must David Yates. And please… not Hermione-centric ones.

I want a Kodak Playsport!

My birthday is next month, is it too late to make a wishlist? I'm really obsessing about this HD pocket video camera that I saw in Patty Laurel's blog. This would've been the perfect accessory to our San Remigio get-away and that #flyinflyoutmanila trip. Not that there's anything wrong with our DSLR. I just think home videos are quite fascinating too.

Trivia: Back in college, I was the designated videographer of our block. My (late) uncle was kind enough to let me borrow his trusty camcorder whenever we had school projects or class outings. But it was purely home video-style. I had no knowledge of video editing softwares and shots were spliced the old-fashioned way... through VCRs! Imagine how LOL-worthy our presentation on the life of Mao Zedong was for a PolSci class.

That said, I want to explore that interest again. From photography to directing. Nakkks! I'm aiming towards buying either a Playsport or a Flip mino before the year ends as my own Project 2011. Sometimes I scare myself. I'm so maluho with gadgets yet I never earn from them.:) But at least this is much cheaper than a DSLR which cost us an arm and a leg and a few months worth of savings.

Look who’s back on Criminal Minds?

I need happy thoughts to distract me from the fact that I just lost 500 bucks at the grocery earlier. Katangahan galore, I know. This experience taught me never to stuff bills again in my pockets whenever I’m wearing skinny jeans. *sighs* But it’s no use crying over spilt milk anymore. Whoever picked up my 500, I hope you’re happy now with the extra grocery money you’ve got.

For good vibes, I’m setting my thoughts on the Harry Potter movie this week. And look what I found while going through PEx earlier?

My Hotch/Prentiss dream lives on! Hahaha...

I’m loving the scruffy look on Hotch. And yayyy for Prentiss ditching the bangs! It made her look old, IMO. I hope she doesn’t revert to that horrible hairstyle again mid-season. Such a warm feeling seeing the cast complete again, huh? It was never the same without Prentiss and JJ in the group. 

*photo swiped from SpoilerTV

See you on the 14th, Harry!

I could hardly contain my glee when we finally purchased our tickets to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last Saturday. Yes, I am watching it in IMAX with my sister and Isa. First showing, y’all! I would love to go on VL for that day but considering how stressful the account is recently with the current headcount, maybe I’ll just come in late. What’s the use of having a flexi schedule, right? :)

It’s just lovely how on Facebook, me and my friends from college could barely contain our excitement for the movie. Great minds think alike. I’m happy I convinced them to read the books almost a decade ago. The same way I got them to watch Star Wars Episodes IV – VI after seeing The Phantom Menace. Haha! I can be pretty convincing at times.

Watching the videos from the world premiere isn’t doing me any good. It makes me all the more hyped up for July 14. And yes, I’ve broken my promise of staying away from spoiler clips until I’ve seen the movie. Harry/Ginny ones are just hard to resist! But to be fair, I’ve only seen two and vowed to not watch anything else. Here’s one of my favorites:

Click at your own risk! It’s just a 26-seconds clip anyways but I love how they managed to get Ginny’s character right here. No dialogues, the action says it all.

JK Rowling’s Big 7

Thank you, JK Rowling, for recognizing this core group that made the movies even memorable. The trio will never shine without their friends and Harry’s rivalry with Draco was really something for the books. Dan, Rupert, Emma. Bonnie, Matt, Evanna and Tom… we will all miss you too. Thank you for bringing to life Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna and Draco. *cries*

The Big 7

Crazy, crazy day!

What a way to start your week after a holiday! This is why I should never take Mondays off. (I never learn!) Things get a little crazy once you get back to work the next day. And yeah, lesson learned? Spoon-feeding is the way to go. 

Perhaps this was the price I paid for that little white lie. But on to the good stuff… look what we experimented on over the weekend!

pasta w/out the toppings! (from Yummy's July issue)

Our very own version of Yummy's Breaded Spanish Sardines w/ Garlic-Basil Pasta

Yummy magazine’s proving to be very handy these days since we’re running out of dishes to try out. This pasta turned out okay despite our reservations however I think I preferred our version of the Pasta Puttanesca more. Zaragoza spanish-style sardines, FTW!

Albert and Charlene: The (Other) Royal Wedding

I missed out on CNN’s coverage of the religious ceremony because I could barely keep my eyelids open that evening. The next morning, I was into Getty Images and The Daily Mail reviewing photos from the event. Monaco’s bachelor prince has finally settled down! His bride, Charlene Wittstock, managed to walk down the aisle despite earlier speculations she planned on bolting the wedding.

The prince and his bride say "I DO"

You all know my fascination for royal weddings. It’s such a treat to see all these royals come together for one of their own. And boy, Monaco’s royal wedding did not disappoint! It was a guest list of who’s who in European royalty.

The Casiraghi siblings: Pierre, Charlotte and Andrea looking all regal and dapper for the wedding reception

Equally gorgeous siblings: Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine of Sweden

I would love to see William and Kate, or even Harry, attend events like these in the future. I’m getting tired of seeing Prince Edward representing the British monarchy whenever there are royal weddings. But then, budgetary constraints might not allow it. Siiigh! Even the wedding (W+K) was running on a budget… not all the royals I expected were able to attend.

Milestones and HPDH2

Guess who’s having a long weekend? Thanks to the fourth of July, I’m getting Monday off next week. So I’m catching up on missed mall dates with my sister that were abruptly halted when I got sick. And yes, catching up (again!) on my blogging. It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway into the year. Where did all those months go?

July, though, is a month of many milestones for me. It was the same month last year when I was told of my promotion. OA na kung OA, but I was full of good vibes that month especially since Spain recently bagged the World Cup championship a few days prior to the announcement. Everything fell into place after that. Twelve months later, I’m still here --- continuously learning and definitely getting better at what I do.

The seventh month is also something that I usually associate with Harry Potter. This year, we bid goodbye to the movie franchise as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2 opens on July 14. We’re watching this on IMAX, as promised! But SM Cebu is just too far that I’m having bouts of laziness in reserving the tickets. Guess I’ll just have to purchase them personally (at SM) when we do watch it then.