Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts

 i don't know how may times i've used this phrase on this blog

but the rainy days (and school days) are upon us again

so it's that time of the year when i look back at the sunny and lazy days we spent at the beach

how time flies (another cliche)
a few years back i had that one girl who wanted to be Moana and now she's on this crystal kayak
plus i have two toddlers that are currently in exploration mode
i'm ever thankful that celestine is so unlike me in a few ways: she's outgoing, sporty and knows how to swim 
cedie and nala are both turning out to be beach bums:
cedie running after the waves
nala doing sandcastles
back in May my family from Leyte came over to visit us
we went to 'Spice'
but technically we were at the Villa Veronica Beach Resort (see photo below)
'Spice - short for Spice of Life' is how the locals refer to the whole white sanded beach front when in fact it is just one of the many resorts in the area
but anyways, that's that 
since when you're down at the sea, here's no demarcation  if which resort is which
so let's just say 'Spice' 😄

got lots of photos of the babies
keeping 'em for future reference
they're the cutest - even though they look like they're about to bolt away in these and they can't keep still
also made a reels a post on Facebook, with a background song that made me feel nostalgic 👇

back to school na sa monday!!!! posting our little summer getaway with the fam before things get hectic again 😮‍💨🙈🌊

Posted by Carissa Ramosa on Friday 13 June 2025
and yep, to happy summers together

cheers! 

xo,
caRissa
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everyday is God's masterpiece
reminiscing this beautiful sunset at caba beach in brgy.  cabacungan, allen, northern samar, circa march 2021, at the height of the covid-19 pandemic, no less!

for full three years, this photo sat on my drafts. i planned on writing something around it
but i never got to publish; it kept getting put off.
this photo is real lovely and it was even lovelier in person.
there were times that i wanted to write a new blog but i just ended up staring at this photo 
for hours and hours.
 how time flies and so much has passed since. 
when I close my eyes, i feel like i could almost go back and 
feel that carefree moment.

i've had two babies since. 
i know, i know. 
and I haven't posted anything on this blog ever since I found out i was pregnant
between being fatigued and nauseated and now living in constant chaos, i barely have 
time to type a thing or two.

but hey, i am not complaining.
my hands are full but so it my heart.
oh, these two!

cedie & nala, constant source of joy and stress. there's no other way around it so let's just call it as it is. 😂

every day there are lessons to be learned and 

one day, I wanna be able to look back and say 

wtf! i did it! as a mom, i did it!


heck, i have no idea if when will be my next blog post 

but i am not letting go of this blog because it feels like a time capsule

and i know i will always come back, maybe when i am less

scatterbrained 

i guess i'll see you around

xo,

mommie cass

well...hello there?

by on Sunday, March 24, 2024
everyday is God's masterpiece reminiscing this beautiful sunset at caba beach in brgy.  cabacungan, allen, northern samar, circa march 2...
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For months and months our smiles have been obscured underneath face masks.
 Let me indulge for just a bit, and please don't hurl accusations. 
Hubby and I dropped our face masks real quick to dine and to have these photos taken. 
There's a new food spot close to home. 
I've been seeing photos of this place and I knew we had to check it out. 
The boardwalk that has a swing at the far end, matched with the serene sea as a backdrop is very 'grammable and who could say no to discovering new places.
More about Igot Shore after the jump.
It was early August when we went there and back then, there were barely any recorded cases of COVID19 in our area so the Victoria-Allen border was not too strict. We were under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) so restaurants were allowed to operate to a limited capacity, given that health protocols are implemented.

Things have changed by the end of August. The COVID19 cases in our province have increased and in truth, it will take a while before we venture out again even if we are under MGCQ  so I'm glad we were able to visit before things got a little bit more crazy.

Let me walk you through Igot Shore. I bet by the end of this post you would want to visit too. 
The short trip was a cake walk, like I said, there isn't much traffic to deal with if you live in the province, moreso if it's a Sunday and there is a community quarantine. 
The place isn't hard to find since the boardwalk that juts out to the sea can be viewed from the highway.
"Charming, serene, and inviting"
I thought when this came into view.
Restaurants operating at limited capacity makes you feel like you have the whole place to yourself. Hubby and I definitely loved the ambiance. I loved the cool sea breeze that I didn't even bother removing my jacket. They couldn't get any cooler but Queen's songs were blaring on the speaker and I couldn't help but belt some. 
After a while, we fell into companionable silence while admiring the whole place. We were afforded a good view of the Dalupiri Pass and San Antonio Island in a distance. I saw people paddling their bancas, some were catching fish.  
How peaceful, we could ALMOST forget that we have a pandemic at our helm. 😆
When you see this part you actually try to act cool and not run towards it immediately. Ha! It can wait, we need to eat first, I told myself. 
 While waiting for our food, my dear photographer of a husband took the chance to shoot.
Whilst I took the chance to take photos of the place.

I'm amazed that we didn't have to wait too long for our food to arrive. Another big plus, especially if I am with a crabby guy for a companion. I'm bummed tho that I wasn't able to take a photo of the menu but I would say that they serve regular farings in Filipino diners. So think pancit, lumpia, chopseuy, bulalo, and basically anything that goes well with rice. They have those. They also have fries, burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches and shakes, which was what we ordered, along with the requisite fried chicken, another Pinoy staple. 😁 Don't worry, the prices are aren't astronomical plus the servings are sizeable so you'll definitely get your money's worth.
I  wish I could have taken better photos before we devoured our meal but we are not keen on doing that, plus we were so hungry we downed everything in a single barf. 
Before we took our last bite we agreed that we would come back soon because we really enjoyed the food and the place. We mused about how lovely (and romantic) this place would look like at night. Someday soon. I heard they close the place at 9:30 so it's perfect for a dinner date. 
Some parts in the compound were still under construction so I have no doubt that there's still more to come for Igot Shore.

The photos at the boardwalk were just icing on the cake. 
But how could we leave without one, so. 😉

Igot Shore is located at Brgy. Colab-og, Victoria, Northern Samar
I found their Facebook Page and their phone number is listed: 09458511134
It also says that they are open from 9:00 AM  to 9:30 PM

Now, masks on. 
😷

Xo,
caRissa

Sunday Lunch at Igot Shore

by on Saturday, September 05, 2020
For months and months our smiles have been obscured underneath face masks.  Let me indulge for just a bit, and please don't hurl accusat...
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Missing school much? Throwback to this moment during Scouting Week at Celestine's school.
...but the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration or PAG-ASA would refute that and just say that this country has no summer season: just wet and dry season. However, ''summer vacation" is how we fondly refer to that gap between two academic years and it happens to fall during the country's dry season so... 

Celestine has had an endless summer vacation, no thanks to the Corona Virus. As soon as the exams were over and it became apparent to me that the outbreak could be a problem, I already put her on home quarantine.  It's been more than a hundred days since then. Thankfully, the virus didn't spread so badly in the provinces so I started easing up on her and allowed her to mingle with other kids. The virus has been contained for now, at least in our area and I hope it stays that way. The government says that school will be back in August but there won't be a face to face contact until a vaccine would be available. I don't know how that will work out but our kids' safety is top priority. We just have to keep safety protocols on hand while rolling out with the new normal.

My kid has made use of this free time to learn some important skills. I'm proud of her achievements so far: she can now ride a bike! That's kind of a big deal for me because I never learned how to. 😅 She encourages me tho and constantly tells me that it's not too late to learn. We'll need a bigger bike for that beb. I caught on cam the very first moment that she was brave enough to show off. She seems wobbly at first but daddy and I are so proud nonetheless.


I thought of how cool that moment was but I was so surprised when dad videoed her during their recent impromptu beach trip, and I found out that she could already swim. Yet another thing I can't do. I get the feeling that this pair would be bullying me a lot in the coming days. Oh well....my daughter is really slaying it in the physical activity department. More like dad, less like mom.

***
Musings. 
We're halfway through 2020 and it feels like so much has happened but at the same time, it also feels like nothing has happened. Get what I mean? No? Well that shit was pretty convoluted so let me try again. 
What I mean is, so much has happened to the the point of exhaustion because of these new rules that we have to live by, and yet it feels like nothing has happened because most of the things that we planned to do this year got cancelled. 
I'm not complaining about the exhaustion part, okay, because at this point, no one is probably more exhausted than the front liners. They literally keep the world spinning. Kudos to them! God keep them and envelop them in His strength.
Back to me, and looking back to the previous months at the start of the community quarantine when I scared myself shit because of overthinking! Ha! 
Now, I just tell myself to live in the moment and stop with the crazy scenarios in my head.
Live in the moment but take safety precautions. 
Baby steps and we'll make it through. 

XO,

Cassie
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Another blog post? Yeeaap! The lockdown has afforded me more time for online ramblings. I'm on a skeletal/wfh shift, so don't be surprised if I blog even on weekdays and office hours.
I've also used this time to bond with my daughter and to take a closer look at the things that interest her these days. Well, she's doing a lot of Minecraft, I can barely keep up. 😆 She also loves watching YouTube videos. Last year, I often caught her watching unboxing videos of different toys on that platform. She has repeatedly asked me to get her an LOL Surprise Doll similar to the ones on YouTube and I would have happily obliged. However, when I checked the price tag of the said toy, I was like, hold up, no way! 🤣
Thankfully, she does have an enabler of an Uncle/Godfather who bought her one during the holidays. 
If you are curious about what an LOL Doll is, or you are collecting them and you don't have this variety yet, you can check it out after the jump.
BTW, L.O.L. stands for Little Outrageous Littles. Hold on to that information as if your life depended on it.
When Celestine got this, she actually made an unboxing video. It was 30-minutes of being tongue-tied. 🤣 I guess she got overwhelmed  because she has wished for this for so long. If this were a real time unboxing, the toys would have come in layers or different packaging with a "surprise" being revealed as you tear away the layer. We don't have the layers now, as they've already been previously opened.
So this is what the container looks like. 
It's supposed to resemble a hairspray can, because this is the LOL Hairgoals after all. Then it opens up just like a closet. The top can be opened to reveal a "nozzle".
The doll has a container within a container. Which doll do you think she got?
And there she is... my daughter got the Witchay Babay. Again, this is a surprise doll so you don't get to choose who you get. 
According to the lolsurprise.fandom.com, Witchay Babay is a popular doll from the Spooky Club. These are the accessories that came with Witchay Babay. She has a sippy cup, a comb, a see though top and skirt fit for a witchy, a pair of booties and a hat. There's also that magnifying glass with all the sparkles. The tiny ones were contained in that pink barrel that resemble a roller, again going with the Hairgoals theme.
Witchay Babay is a color changer. When you dip her in ice cold water, some marks appear on her face and on her belly. Put her in warm water and the marks disappear like magic!
I dressed her up with the clothes and the accessories. She's such a badass, with her white hair and lavender-purple eyes.
The removable top can be used as a stand. Here's our Witchay Babay in her full glory. 
The funny thing about kids: they seem to loose interest the moment they get what they want. Or is it just my observation, but I have barely seen Celestine play with this.
When I asked her, she said that she's just being careful because she doesn't want to loose the tiny pieces of this toy. Okuuuur.
But the last time I checked, she's always on Minecraft and it seems that she has already moved on to a Barbie-looking doll.
She's moving on so fast.
Well, this is a P 1, 375.00 doll so Imma take care of it. 
This will make for a cool collection.  

Does your kid have an LOL Doll? 
Which one did he or she get?
Drop a comment below.

Xo,
caRissa 🖤
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