Happy 30th!

I celebrated my 30th yesterday with a party at McDonald's Eastwood. It was filled with fun, laughter, togetherness and so much love! I was surrounded by family, in-laws, my better half Vin and my dearest and closest friends.


Posing with my parents, my beau and mom-in-law Tita Vee


Asis Kids and one scary mascot!


Friends for keeps: Jeje, Kath, Nadine and my besty Len (who suprised me with an awesome video she made herself. Thanks besty! Love you!)


My French classmates. Thank you so much for the friendship! They all loved me and accepted me for who I am. And I will always be grateful. :)

Honey surprised me with a lovely and gigantic fairy-themed cake. Thank you, sweetheart ko!





It was a beautiful day. And indeed, I am so blessed! Not with material things, but with people who love me and truly, truly care for me. Hmm... and am blessed with beauty, too. :)

Oh happy day! More pics here.

To all those who sent me their greetings, thank you so much for remembering. May God bless you as much as He has blessed me. Overflowing!

And so I turn 30...

In a matter of minutes, I shall be another year older, and oh what a number! The other day while I was filling out my registration form for the Men's Health Miracle Run, my pen paused at the box that said AGE. What do I put? I am legally still 29. But the fun run happens the day after my birthday, so grudgingly I write down...

AGE: 30

Fuuuuuuuuuck!

That does not seem right to me. But the truth hurts, so I swallow my pride and admit to myself: TRENTA NA AKO. Thirty. Trente. The big 3-0!

Ang tanda ko na. Parang kailan lang highschool pa kami ng bespren Len ko sa Pame (Holy Family School). Nanood kami ng sine sa SM North. Princess Sarah starring Camille Pratts. Ngayon nanay na si Camille Pratts. Pucha! Ang tanda ko na nga! Hindi naman sa yun ang basis ano. Pero kasi bubwit lang si Camille Pratts dati. Ngayon may anak na siya. So what does that make me? A monkey's uncle.

So magre-reminisce ako ng konti ha. Wag ka na kumontra. Birthday ko. And this is my blog, so you just read on.

Dati rati... (yun!) nagba-bike lang ako sa BF tuwing hapon. Excited ako lumabas kasi makikita ko yung kapitbahay namin na boyfriend ko. My first boyfriend, Erwin Mark Angeles. I was in 6th grade back then. (Bata pa lang, ang landi na.) Ang baduy ko pa pumorma noon. Wala kasi kaming scanner so I can't scan my old pics and place them here. I'll try to have them scanned tomorrow. Anyway, I used to wear the weirdest things: tuck-in sa shorts, Rusty Lopez boots na mukhang DMs, jumper na match sa kulay ng sneakers ko. Ambaduy! Uso pa noon yung Color Me Badd, and my favorite song was Close to Heaven. Memorize ko pa yung spanish lyrics nun. Me vuelvo loco pensando en tu amor...Cuando te veo, tiemblo por tu calor... (Tama nga ba?)

Tapos nung high school, barkada kami ni Len. Together with Vochie, Zenia Budomo and Faye Auayang. Lumalandi na kami sa boys noon. I called up one guy na kakambal nung type ni Len (sino nga ba yun bespren?) and I made a script so I would sound spontaneous.

"I heard you have a twin. That must be interesting..."

Hahahaha!

On to my college years in Uste. Makapal pa kilay namin noon. I learned to shave my legs through my friend, Kat. I smoked like a chimney. And I fell (tumbled, crashed, drowned) head-over-heels with Anghelo Generoso. Ayaw ni Nadine yun kasi mukha raw chicharon yung nose niya. Pero mas guwapo naman ng 1 million times si Anghelo compared to her boyfriend back then. Hahahaha! Peace tayo, mare! And I had a huge crush on my Radio Workshop professor, Henry Bolo. Hindi niya ako type so he matched me up with one of his buddies from the hood named Alvin Carilo. At doon nagsimula ang love story ng buhay ko. :)

Grabe. Parang kailan lang noh?

Generations ago, by the time a woman reached the age of 30, her children were old enough to cook or gather wood for the fire. (Hmm...exagg naman yung gather wood. Basta old enough. You get the picture.) Ngayon, 30 na ako. Wala akong anak. Wala akong asawa. Pero meron akong boyfriend at nagmamahalan kami ng tunay. Meron akong career, sarili kong pera and the freedom to do whatever I want. Ayos pa rin naman, diba?

I have reached the age of 30 with different achievements, but achievements nonetheless. I have climbed the success ladder at work and now sit at the Assistant Station Manager's chair, with a KBP Golden Dove Award to my name. I bought my first car, and my second one. I have not made my first million...yet. I've made half, and that's not so bad, right? Back in college, my biggest dream was to voice for a TV station, like the Lifestyle Network girl. Guess what? I became the voice for Maxxx. Plus the other TV and radio ads I've voiced. I have traveled to a few places, experienced different cultures and traditions, and have actually tasted the McDonald's and KFC in another country. I put up my own events company, Events at Play Inc., with my siblings, my besty and my beau. Dati pangarap kong magka-boyfriend na white ang uniform nung college. At natupad ang pangarap ko nung naging kami ni Alvin kasi white ang uniform niya sa UERM. (Hehehe...ang labo.)

So, kahit madami ang nagsasabi na napag-iiwanan na ako ng panahon, I believe my life for the past 30 years has been extremely fruitful and trememdously exciting! I have achieved so much, and my list of goals still goes a looooooooong way! I did not miss out on anything. Not at all!

And although I cringe at the sight of these two digits on my bio: 30 - I can't help but smile (quite smugly, too) at what I've accomplished (not a lot but enough), where I am (on top of the world!), who I am now, and what I look like. I may be 30, but I'm still damn hot! :)

Tomorrow, I celebrate the Big 3-0 with Ronald McDonald, my dearest and closest friends, my family and in-laws, and my dashing knight-in-shining-armour Alvin. Looking forward to blowing all 30 candles on my cake. Can't wait!

And this is where Martin D and Billie sings:
Birthday ni Annjoy...Birthday ni Annjoy ngayon!

:)

Wheee!

We're finally done with the series of pictorials Team EAP has been working on for the past 4 weeks. Yahoo! It has been a long and grueling month, but fun, too. Now that we've packed up our equipment, I'm starting to miss the trips in and out of the metro, and all that carinderia food.

But we're not resting just yet. We still have the editing and printing of all 2,500++ photos to worry about. EAP is also doing the photo coverage of the actual graduation events in April. So it's gonna be a busy, busy summer for us.

Complaining? No way! We're earning and learning at the same time. We're having the time of our lives. :)

Thank you to our Makeup Mudras for transforming the AICS students into lovely subjects. We miss you guys already!


The makeup artists we hired for the project: Wella, Dan and Donald

More photos here. Go Team EAP! Go for gold!

:)

A bit of kwento...

Vin and I attended my French classmate's (meaning, classmate in French 3) birthday party Sunday.




Liezl celebrated her 40th with a dance fete at the AFP Army Clubhouse. I'm not much of a dancer, but that night, we all danced like there was no tomorrow. Such fun!



Syempre lahat kami nakatingin sa feet nung D.I., like our lives depended on them. :) More pics here.

Next in line for a party is...moi! The countdown to the big 3-0 is nearing its end, and I'm actually excited to be now called "old." I don't look it anyway, so who cares! :)

Since everything's hectic because of the big project EAP is working on, I decided to just get a McDonald's birthday bash like last year. I wanted a summer pool party with kiddie stuff like cotton candy and ice cream and hotdogs. But I can't even sneak a foot spa into my schedule, let alone organize a pool party. So I'm letting Ronald McDonald do the job for me.

Yesterday I drove around looking for a good store for the party. After about an hour and a half of searching, I ended up in Eastwood. Back to where I held my 29th. The place and I were meant to be. I picked the theme, paid the fee, chatted animatedly with the store supervisor, and went home with a double cheeseburger meal as a reward for my searching.

The theme I picked was Disney Fairies. The invitation cards are absolutely adorable, with little fairies clad in blue, purple, pink and green. So, being the "arte" girl that I am, I wanted to use pink and purple pens to write on them. I asked my bro, Ant, to drive me to National Bookstore at the Techno Hub, where we grabbed some pink and purple markers, fairy-themed coloring books for the kids in my party, and boxes of crayons. I also got a nice blank scrapbook that I can turn into a dedication book for my guests. I got some scrapbooking materials - little hearts on strings, glittery stickers, embossed butterfly and star stickers, some extra strength glue. I thought I'd make a nicely crafted notebook where they write messages or whatever.

Wait a minute. Shouldn't someone else be doing that for me?

Bah! What the heck. A girl's gotta love herself, can't she? :)

A lot of people don't understand why I'm making such a big deal out of it. But turning 30 is not an ordinary birthday. It's a milestone. You're officially old. You're off the February calendar. You're no longer part of the "youth." You can now get mid-life crisis. Every decade you celebrate is a milestone. That's what the fuss is all about. Get it? Good.

And now I am very much excited. I got all the right people on the list this time. I think there won't be loads of extra food to bring home anymore. I'm getting it right this year. Only people who really care. :)

11 days and counting.

Walang kokontra!

My daddy, the strong, authoritative, tough guy that he is. In his shiny, big black Pajero, this is what's hanging on the windshield...



And when we start to laugh, he'd say with a smile, "Bakit? Totoo naman ah."
May kokontra ba?

:)

I love my makeup artist!

Cheryl is the only one who makes me this beautiful...



She doesn't cover me up with cosmetics. She merely enhances my natural look. Saturday, she turned me into a Princess in time for my Asian Life Awards Night hosting gig.



The no-makeup look to match the elaborate gold beadwork of my gown. Cheryl makes sure this host-slash-dj looks absolutely beautiful every time she steps out into the limelight. Thanks sis!



Makeup by Cheryl Cabanos.
cherylcabanos.multiply.com

Go Team EAP!

Events at Play is busy working on something quite big right now. And for this project, which consists of a series of pictorials, we needed to buy our own lighting equipment. Alvin and I trekked to Quiapo one Saturday to buy the stuff, and we were beaming with pride and excitement as we brought home our very first photography lighting equipment.



My beau set it up at my place for some practice shooting.

Alvin: Okay, paano ba ito?
Anne: Wala bang instruction manual?
Alvin: (smiles) Wala, baby, eh.
Anne: Ah okay. Kaya mo yan!


One happy mani-niyut!


Adie poses with our softboxes.

And I posed for the test shots...





Congrats, team EAP! Go for gold! :)