LIGHT PAINTING PHOTOGRAPHY

CAFE MOCHA CAKE

I have always wanted to bake, ever since I started watching TLC (Discovery Travel and Living then). I loved Jamie Oliver, Nigella, and I even watched Everyday Italian everyday! (Haha!)

So last week, we celebrated the 2nd birthday of my daughter, and I thought, maybe I should bake! But here's the thing, we don't own an oven! dang! So I googled for desserts that would include me baking using an oven and I saw one! cafe mocha cupcakes from yummy.ph. 

But see, I don't have all the ingredients of the recipe at hand when I made it, so here's my version:

LET'S GET LOST BOOK REVIEW

I am now an official fan of Sarra Manning. I'm now on my 5th Sarra Manning book (Unsticky), and just finished my 4th, Let's Get Lost just last night. I just could seem to tear my eyes away from her book. It's all very humorous and serious at the same time. Seeing a person's point of view on how to deal with their problems. 

Isabel, the tough chic who just loves to bitch around everybody, no exceptions, her classmates, friends and even her family. But in every tough exterior has it's sobbing story, and in Isabel's case, a very sad story. She doesn't let anybody in until she meet Smith, she discovered what love is (or what she thought what love is), but her relationship with him is just full of lies, lies to protect herself. She told her best friend (yes, she has a best friend who she also bullies sometimes, because she just can't help herself) how she felt about Smith, but this very best friend used it against her. 

Lies plus lies leads to more lies. And the result damages Isabel beyond repair (well, she'll manage to get through in in the end).

HEX HALL BOOK REVIEW

Hex Hall was my first "magic" book after the Harry Potter franchise. And it was like a breath of fresh air after reading all that chic-lits. I almost forgot how amazing it is reading young adult novels, not focusing on romance (well, there's a little bit of romance, but it's not the main concern of the book).

Sophie Mercer entered the Hecate Hall (Juvie for monster, her words, not mine) when she accidentally performed a spell gone wrong on prom night. A non-gifted mother was no help and her estranged father whom she knew nothing about except for his name and being a warlock, was her family. A lesbian vampires whose obsessed with pink as a roommate. And a very mysterious (not to mention very hot) warlock as a love interest. Until mysterious series of bloodsucking events keep happening, and all the blame was on Sophie's vampire/friend/roomate, Jenna.

Well, Sophie is quite an interesting character, she's very sarcastic in a very funny way, and how she and Archer just go well together, except Archer has this a supermodel of a girlfriend. Jenna, the pink-lover vampire, is so just like Sophie except he drinks blood in the wee hours of the night. I loved it, 4 out 5 since the ending was a little disappointment, but it has a second book, surely it will answer my burning questions.

Rachel Hawkin's style of writing was just so amazing, she'll make you laugh and even though there's death(s) in the book, you won't feel creepy about it, it's like, mentioning the death of the character and then, let's move on folks! Even the terms she used, normally you'll freak out but in this book, you won't.

4 out of 5. And while writing this review, I'm nearly finished with the second book, Demonglass. 

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ON THE WAY TO CAMBODIA

Our last day travelling will be spent in Cambodia, we only had 1 day left and where else would we spend it, none other than the world famous Angkor Wat in Siem Reap. 

But before we get to Siem Reap, this is what my view of Cambodia.

We left Saigon around 8 am by bus (Phnom Penh Soria Transport, costs 12USD) to Cambodia. By noon we arrived in Cambodia, and the moment that my eyes saw Cambodia, I thought that it was so different from Vietnam. 

The people, the vibe and even the smell is different. The people were darker, almost Filipino-Indian-like, some bulky, and they have big eyes while the Vietnam people where fair skinned, they have slanted eyes (singkit), and almost all of them have slender figures. Even how they treat foreigners are different, Vietnamese people are more guarded (I have a theory about that), while the Cambodians are very easy to get along with and very accommodating, they are just like the Filipinos.

LIN PHUONG GUESTHOUSE

Lin Phuong Guesthouse is located at the backbacker's district of Ho Chi Minh City.



Verdict (Cammie Morgan Style)


Pro: The family is very accommodating.

Con: They are not fluent in English. You need to do sign languages for them to understand you.

Pro: Located in the backpacker's district.

Con: You need to book extra early (or just be lucky like us)

Pro: Breakfast, wifi.

THE VINCENT BOYS BOOK REVIEW

I've been listening to Christina Perri's Distance and reading Abbi Gline's The Vincent Boys. 

The song goes like this,

"And I will make sure to keep my distance

Say I love you when you're not listening

How long Can we keep this up?

And I keep waiting for you to take me

                                        You keep waiting to save what we have"

Listen to the song:
Christina Perri (feat. Jason Mraz) - Distance

And it totally got me thinking that this song is the right song for the book The Vincent Boys.

Beau Vincent, Sawyer Vincent and Ashton Gray had been the best of friends since they were little. All of that changed when Ash, became a girl, a real girl and not just one of the boys. Sawyer saw the transformation and asked Ash to be his girlfriend, and ever since, Beau became a stranger to Ash, they no longer talk to each other and their friendship became nonexistent in a poof!

TRAVEL-TRAVEL: THE REUNIFICATION TRAIN

How did we get to Saigon from Hanoi? Well, there are three ways how, by bus, by plane and by train. So here's the thing, if we chose travelling by bus, we'll just be very tired by the time we arrive in Saigon, so a big X! If we chose flying in an airplane, we be spending a lot of ka-ching! It's the fastest, simplest, pagod-free and did I mention most expensive! So no, we didn't ride a plane (but if have the money, and you need to get to Saigon fast, then plane it is for you). And lastly, there's the reunification train! Yey! Alas, this one suits us, since we wanted to see the country sides, it's faster than a bus, cheaper than a plane, and we could lie down and sleep all day if we wanted to. 

The view in the countryside is just amazing that makes 35 hours in the train all worth it.

Okay, this is how things went on the day we almost missed our chance of getting on the train.  Early morning on that day we found out that

First look Cambodia: Ta Prohm

First Look of our trip to Cambodia.

Trees growing out of the ruins in Ta Prohm.

TRUNG NGUYEN COFFEE

When we arrived in Saigon, one of our companion said that there's this one coffee shop that's leading the coffee business in Vietnam, and was also said that it is even bigger than Starbucks! Well, come to think of it, I didn't even remember seeing a single Starbucks in Vietnam.

In every corner, you'll see the Trung Nguyen Coffee shop, it's like Jollibee here in the Philippines, I mean that's how I felt when I started to notice it everywhere I look.

So, when we got to the place, We thought it was closed, because there are no customers around, and little did we know, there's a second floor and all the people are in there. Getting back on track

How to Get Police Clearance in Angono

Requirements:

1. Baranggay Clearance

2. Cedula

3. Reciept from payment from the Municipal Treasurer's Office (165php)

4. Prepare 100php payment in the Police Station

FLIPPED MOVIE REVIEW

I saw the book Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen last week when I was browsing in goodreads.com, it has become a hobby to search for my next book to read even though I have so many lined up, two of my friends gave it a 5 star review and one marked it as to-read book, well it must be a very good book, I thought. Then I took a closer look at the book cover and discovered that it had been turned into a motion picture, I imbd-ed it, and watched it online yesterday. 

YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME BOOK REVIEW

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me is a book by my one of my new favorite author Sarra Manning. I just loved how she write books, she's straight to the point and there's almost no boring bits in her writings. Even though this books is very long, I mean 500 plus pages long (and I'm not used to reading books that long anymore since I've finished the Harry Potter series, and even the thought of finishing the last installment of The Twilight saga makes my head hurt), I really enjoyed reading it. 

TRAVEL-TRAVEL: MEKONG DELTA

Mekong Delta is about 2 and a half hour bus ride from Vietnam's capital, Ho chi minh City also known as Saigon.

I know the Mekong river looks like Pasig River (see the pictures), but its so much bigger in person, and I swear it didn't smell, and if you're not a travel geek, FYI Mekong river is the 12th longest river in the whole world, it runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, AMAAAZING isn't it! Just think about it, you could get you're passport stamped so many times just by riding a boat in China up to Vietnam!

ADORKABLE BOOK REVIEW

I'm not planning on reading ADORKABLE by Sarra Manning until I've read the sequel of French Kiss, but things happen and finally ended up reading the first page and I just couldn't stop reading! Sarra Manning proved again that she is a very good writer even though the story is long, you couldn't help yourself  and even though you've commanded yourself to stop, you JUST COULD NOT because the story is THAT good and her writing is so amazing.

I don't even know a real dork in person but it didn't stop me from enjoying the book, the heroine, Jeane Smith is so not any other girl I've read before, she's just brave, acts like she didn't care but still has a heart. Her relationship with Michael Lee is just so amazing, they didn't have expectations from each other and yet they still managed to be faithful and it makes me feel that they cherish their weird relationship deep inside. And it's not like they were just kissing buddies but they're also real friends even though they didn't know it. They're there for each other when one of them is down and they just love each other though they didn't want to admit it themselves. 

The story is just fun and sweet and the characters are so brutally honest AND I'd just like to imagine how Michael Lee looks in real life (since I also have an almond shaped boy myself).

4 out of 5. 

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NOTHING LIKE YOU BOOK REVIEW

I was a little excited to read this book. I am a sucker for the "best friends turned lovers" stories that's why I'm crazy about My Life Next Door, The Academy and The Boy Who Sneaks in my Bedroom Window (I'm still planning on the contents of my review). I even want that very plot to happen to me in real life in one point of my life. 


Nothing Like You is written by Lauren Strasnick, I did some reading of reviews and of course the  plot of this book, I guess I knew what would be the ending but, I was so wrong. And the turn of events of the story in the book is the least I have expected. 

The book is about a girl named Holly Hirsh who just lost her mother six month's ago, she's been feeling numb about the whole situation and she wants to feel something so she ended up losing her virginity to Paul who she barely even knew. Holly didn't even bother telling her best friend Nils on what she's feeling and what she did with Paul. Paul keeps nagging Holly when she didn't answer his calls and just completely ignores him, but Holly came around and find herself liking Paul back. The big problem is Paul has a girl friend, Saskia (that's also the name of my best friend in elementary! just sharing), and Holly also became close to her while they (Paul and Holly) are having a secret and I mean you-should-not-tell-anyone-or-i'll-ruin-your-life secret relationship. 

Well... This is how I see the characters, 
1. Holly. I haven't read any characters that's like her, I mean she is so annoyingly stupid in terms of relationships. I know there this saying of some sort, crazy in love usually does stupid things, but in her character, she just took it to another level. Period. I thought at first, since she's a little aloof that she'll be some kind of a strong heroine or something, but it just proved me wrong about one third of the book when she starts not to think straight and not realize what Paul was doing to her brains and her body (he's just freakin' using her!). 
2. Then there's Paul. The time I discovered Holly's stupidity is also the time that I thought that Paul is an addict/always baked or drunk or something, he's just the meanest! 
4. Saskia. The stupid blond at first, then became all friendly afterwards.
 4. and lastly there's Nils, the I-thought-savior-of-the-day best friend who turned out to be the one that got away. 

And here's what I thought about the book.
The characters are unpredictable or maybe predictable in real life. The story is just not what I have had expected from what I've said earlier, it was a little boring but I still managed to finish it because I was hoping and hoping and hoping that things would get better but it didn't that I was so pissed at the end. Then there's this thing about ghost whisperer which is just so annoying, I mean who in there right minds would actually believe in ghost whisperers?! and Holly just bought that whole shit! Lastly, Nils the best friends who Holly didn't trust, and became her sort of lover and just left her at the end when she needed him the most. 

It was just a waste of time reading this book and good thing that the book is short that I was able to finish it.

1 out of 5 stars for this book. 

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SOPHIE & CARTER BOOK REVIEW

I've been searching for Sophie & Carter  of Chelsea Finefor like eternity and finally found it yesterday and my eyes are itching to read it! I've been wanting to read it because of the plot.

Neighbors. Best friends. Then they fell in love.

I know it sounds very cheesy but that's why I like it. Sophie and Carter are neighbors since they were little, sounds familiar? Well, it sounds very much like what I've just recently finished reading, The Boy Who Sneaks in my Bedroom Window ( I haven't made a review of that book yet, but I will if I still remember it), Again, they're neighbors, they're always there for each other, and they managed to fall in love despite or because of all the craziness that's happening in their lives. But unlike The Boy Who Sneaks in my Bedroom Window which have the words "lusting" and "sex" in them, Sophie & Carter is very pure, their love, their relationship even when they were still friends is very pure, which in my opinion is seldom in books anymore. They fell in love because they saw right through each other.

They both have problems in their families, Sophie has a prostitute as a mother and Carter has an abusive father. As they grow older, they had each other at the end of the day (and I mean really at the end of the day) to just relax after the crappy day their having. After years of friendship, they finally discovered they're in love with each other. I know it's very cheesy and all but it just is a perfect book after you've read something like teenagers ranging with hormones book or in my case a girl who suicides book. It's just plain, easy, loving book.

I'll give it a 4.9 out of 5. Minus .1 to be perfect because, I hoped it would be longer. The book is very short, like a long short story. 

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