La Roca: Swimming time with Hernandez

Now let me share with you some details about the resort.
Again, this is a public resort in Los Banos Laguna and if you are just looking for a place to have some water with cheap rates then this is one of the places to be.

If you want a private place then you can choose La Rocas's private area where you have your house and little pool.  There are also a lot of private resorts in Los Banos or Calamba Laguna to choose from.

Now back to La Roca! 
I must say that it already improved from the time we went there almost more than 20 years ago.

This is where we stayed.  We rented half of this area, at the third level is an air conditioned room that can accommodate 15-20 people. 

Below the room, you have a shared toilet and bath.

Then we have the eating area with refrigerator, tables and chairs.

There is also an area for BBQ!

If you want a cheaper place to stay in La Roca, there are more tables and cottages available.  

There is also a place for some recreation like table tennis and volleyball! 

They have two pools, one for kids and one for adults. The one for adults has one slide.

If you want a simple swimming then this is really the way to go! 

Overall, I enjoyed my stay at La Roca! 
Visit them and see for yourself !! 

Xoxo

Hernandez' Bingo Royale @ La Roca

Another great event just happened last weekend.  It all started with a throwback profile that we want to play Bingo! 

A bit of history: More than ten years ago, when Mamy Lola was still alive and living at San Crispin, we were all (Hernandez Family) used to go there almost every weekend to play Bingo and eat Sopas.  Yes, those were the days and because Mamy Lola joined our Creator in 2005, then we got all busy and all, our Bingo Sessions stopped.

Going back to the post of Tita Baby - she asked Hernendez family if we want to play Bingo for old times sake (it was around March) and then everything followed.

Towards the end of April, the Hernandez Bingo Royale was formed!  We all agreed to have the event at La Roca Resort - it is a public resort in Los Banos Laguna and we rented the other half of the cabana (I don't know how they call it).  We have an aircon room that can accommodate 15-20 people, then we have a mini sala set and a closet (with hangers). Then below the room, we have the open area where there were tables and chairs that can accommodate almost 30 people, refrigirator and a water dispenser.  Electric fans were also available.

Every time we gather like this (like our Christmas Party) we do pot lock and therefore each family is assigned to bring one dish and their own rice and utensils.  It was a blast of food!! One of the most awaited was the Langka and the Tulingan!  Here is what we all shared!

Let me share with you the food that we shared! 

I think we ate for an hour, immediately fixed the table and started to play Bingo! The most awaited part of the gathering! It was so exciting because before -- its just us cousins playing bingo -- but now our nephews and neices are playing with us as well!  

It's exciting to play Bingo especially if there are a lot of side comments and reactions when numbers are being called.  Papa Gary is the one calling the numbers and one funny moment was when he called a number in Spanish then one of our nieces asked.. 

It took them 2 hours before they reached the peak of the Bingo Royale -- the famous "Black Out".

Our host (Tita Baby) was the one who called out for the " Black Out" and it was so intense!! Everyone was excited but at the end of game winners will prevail! It was lucky Mika and Joshua!! 

Yey to a successful Hernandez Bingo Royale! Til next summer outing! 

Xoxo

Accenture: FY15 Core Milestone School

Last FY14, I was privileged to be able to attend the Core Milestone School for new hires and newly promoted Specialists and Associate Managers.  See more of it in my Core Milestone Story.

 

This FY15, I was again privileged to attend another Core Milestone School.  This time not as an attendee but as one of the speakers for "First Year Stories". When I was tapped to do the 20 minutes speaking engagement, I just can't explain the emotions but I eagerly took the opportunity to share my personal story on real-life engagement.  As I always believed that a real life engagement stories will go a long way when shared to an engaged group! 

True enough, the group was very enthusiastic to know about our (mine and Maj's) first year stories and personally their participation made me even more engaged and encouraged to share what I learned along the way and how the people from Accenture helped me achieve my success story.
 

Even if I was not an attendee, having the opportunity to attend such event is truly an inspiring moment for me. It's a testament of how Accenture would like their employees to grow professionally and personally.  A confirmation that engagement and support are key to success! 

I will always be here to learn and to share what I have learned.
Yean to Learn always!

Xoxo

Baguio Foodies: Chef's Home

Still not too late to go to Baguio to beat the heaty summer in the metro. 

When we had our Team Building last week of March, our first lunch in Baguio was a bomb! 

With the help of Tine we discovered this simple food haven in Baguio.  With our stomachs crumbling this is just the right place to satisfy our hunger! 

We went to Chef's Home -- it is just at 13 Outlook Drive, Baguio City. 

On the outside, you can already see that it's not that spacious but you can be assured that your cravings will be satisfied.

On the inside, it can only accommodate up to 40pax, so if you want to be seated then you have to make reservations or be there early.   You can call them at 0916 444 5756.

See, we occupied almost the entire half of the place :p 

Lucky for us, we arrived at around 11am so there were got seated immediately. This was the menu.

We decided to get the following (of course all with rice).

Bokchoy:

Boneless Chicken:

Tilapia with Tamarind Sauce:

Black Pepper Pork:

It will never be complete without a drink! Yes, we have Ms Tine to model it out! Nice smile there pretty little sister!

Then we ended the meal with this must try dessert.
Roti Chef's Home with Coffee Sauce and Banana.
There were no banana at that time so we were given peaches instead! 
It was really triple goodness in one dessert!

I will definitely go back to this wonderful place -- I want Sweets to taste the goodness!

This is the entire group with Chef Ricky.  He is the Filipino Chef that Chef Alvin trained! Thumbs up for the great food experience!

Xoxo

A Glimpse of our 3D2N Baguio Adventure!

We initially planned our Baguio trip way back last Christmas (2014) because the weather during Christmas season was great!  However, it didn't pushed through because of the some conflicting schedules.  

Finally! After several attempts of arranging this Baguio trip, we were able to come up with a common schedule and there we were! This is the famous landmark of the Summer Capital of the Philippines! 

It looked like we were alone, yes we were that lucky! 
Normally many tourists stop over this site to take their pictures! 

Our first stop in Baguio was lunch!
With the help of our trusty Tine, we experienced great food for our first stop.  We headed to Chef's Home - another blog post shall be posted specific for this restaurant. :)

This is us with Chef Ricky! While we were preparing for this photo opp, Chef was asking us how was the food and gave us some tips on how to cook the Tamarind Tilapia (it was a winner!)

Let me share with you where we stayed. 

This was our neighbor.. He he.. They call it 'Big House' and yes I super agree that it was indeed a big house!! 

This is where we stayed, they call it 'Small House' -- yes that's how they call it. ^_^

On our last night in Baguio, we had the opportunity to play ball.
Bowling it is and we all did a great job!! 

Let the games begin!

We were also given the opportunity to dine at Baguio Country Club - burp with the salad and lamb!  After dinner we had a small (very small program) to thank everyone for their participation and most especially for the support of our manager, Ms My!

We had a little fun in guessing the descriptions of everyone! Here we are with our personalized simple notebooks! 

Then we had some 'lakas maka Madam' shots! 
Here are just some of them! 

Watch out for more posts!
Enjoyed this moment with the team!
Thanks again everyone!

How we welcomed Summer !!

The first week of March was gone just like that! 
With this hectic schedule I didn't even had the chance to write about our Panagbenga experience and so before I totally forget -- here it goes! 

Everyone knows that Baguio is the Summer Capital of the Philippines simply because of its cold weather!  One good time to go to Baguio is during the Panagbenga Festival (Flower Festival) and this year the culminating parade was last March 1, 2015.

We (Sweets and I) planned to visit Baguio for that festival this year because we haven't attended that festival before and we traveled together with Mama Lena and Papa Nestor. 

We left Angono at 8pm and we arrived Baguio at 1am.  It was via NLEX, SCTEX, TPLEX and Kennon Road and Sweets was our only driver.  Lucky for us it was not raining and thus the travel going up was smooth, we only stopped when we needed to pee.  We decided to left that night because we anticipated that traffic will be very heavy, specially because it was Panagbenga Festival!

When we arrived at 1am, it was 18 degrees cold and I can feel it in my bones!  We had no plans to visit any tourist spot in Baguio because we really visited because of the Panagbenga Festival parade and thus our Saturday was plain simple: 

- we had our breakfast at Mountain Lodge
- we watched the Dance Parade in Session Road
- we had lunch at Jollibee (Yes, di na kami nag isip!)
- went back to Mountain Lodge to rest
- went to Good Shepherd to buy their finest spreads and sweets
- went to Mines View's carenderia to eat merienda
- went back to Mountain Lodge
- dinner at Zoi's Pizzeria! Burp!
- went back to Mountain Lodge to sleep! 

I can't say that it was a fun filled day -- it felt like we went to Baguio just to eat at Jollibee!! Haha!!  

Let me share more information on our day 2 in Baguio in another blog post! ^_^

Xoxo