I decided to take a break from blogging during the holidays simply because I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. It's the only time of the year that my family and I can get to spend time together as a family inside the coziness of our home. I'm quite rusty now. I get rusty easily and I can't think of a good gimmick to jump start this blog for the 2013, so I'll just show you some snippets of how my December went.
First off, our cat died. I can't believe my vacation had to start this way. He's a sheltered creature and is very fat because he's the only cat in the house and we feed him lots of food. Our yard is quite big so he never felt the need to go out too. As a consequence, he's not as agile and fierce as most cats are. He can't even defend himself whenever the neighbor's chicken robs him off his food. In the end, he got into a fight with another cat, a stray, and lost.
My sister's bf went for a visit and the first thing we did? Karaoke. Even if it's just the four of us, it was quite fun. I guess I'm more comfortable with small crowds than big ones.
He stayed for a week and most of our activities composed of mostly shopping and food! I wasn't able to take pictures of everything, but here are some really really memorable ones:
Tacos from Eurokitchen, Royal Hotel
T-bone steak from Eurokitchen, Royal Hotel (best steak ever!)
Deep Fried Hito at Springfield Resort
Chicaron Tilapia from Springfield Resort
Shabu-shabu and grill at Tong YangThey didn't like it as much as I had hoped :(
Apareja Halo Halo. The best halo-halo I ever had! The halo halo place is already on the outskirts of Koronadal City but when we got there, the place was packed! 
Tamago roll at Teriyaki Boy. They just opened a branch in General Santos and I can't believe they ran out of Ramen noodles when we went there!
Tempura Tuna Sashimi Tartare. My favorite so far at Teriyaki Boy.
Sizzling Salmon at Little Bangkok. 
Sinigang na Balbacua at Little Bangkok. Fusion of Thai and Filipino food? My sister and I laughed at this when we saw this at the menu. It was quite good though. Little Bangkok is another newly-opened restaurant at SM Gensan. The food they serve isn't authentic Thai food but it was interesting, as well as the interior design.
I think it's a mix of Thai, modern, vintage and retro. Ok. I don't really know what I'm talking about.
We were able to do out-of-town trips too.
Sunset at Gumasa, Sarangani. I find the stretch of beach here better than any beach I've been to in the Philippines, except Boracay.
Zipline at 7 falls, Lake Sebu. The highest in South East Asia, they claim.
You get to fly over 2-4 falls. A shot my sister took WHILE she was on the zipline as proof.
I forgot if this is the 2nd or 3rd falls. There are 7 falls around this area and it's a great place to go trekking.
Sunset at Dole's pineapple plantation.
At Sarangani Highlands. The place is similar to Davao's Jack's Ridge but I think the view and the food here are better.
Giant Santa Claus at SM Gensan. I spent most of my time during the end of the holidays accompanying my sister as she hops hops hops from one mall to another and shops shops shops.
at a random fitting room. The dress was nice but it was too tight.
Of course we celebrated Christmas, but we only got to open our gifts on the 29th. Among the gifts I got, this is my favorite:
It looks like an ordinary red bag that seems to be a bit too bulky but really,
It's a traincase!
This makes my hobby as a make-up artist so much easier.
It was perfect for the recent shoot I had. The photographer picked this savanna-like spot at Gensan and it was all windy and we had to climb this hill. There was no way I could have done make-up in that condition without this traincase.
The photoshoot was fun and both the photographer's sister and my sister modeled for it. Here are some of the shots I got:
What do you think?
my sister requested a sister-shot so the main photographer took this:
me: photographer and make-up artist.It's my first time to shoot with 50mm lens. And this isn't even my camera. I lost interest in getting myself a DSLR and ultimately, in photography as everyone seem to be "photographers" these days. But having used a 50mm lens changed how the camera feels for me. I think I'll save up for a DSLR this year and start a photography blog, and perhaps a food blog too?
is photography for me?Come to think of it, I can be quite independent as a photographer too as I can do my model's make-up and style her clothes as well. Plus I have lots of pretty girl friends who can model for me, not to mention my super cute roommate!
Anyway, I haven't really set my goal for 2013 yet. Something tells me that I should, but then I feel like I'll just have to let things be.
So what now?
Obviously, I'll be back to blogging. I haven't replied to comments and inquiries that were posted on this blog yet and I'm soooooooo sorry for that! But I will once I find the time. I tend to be very busy these days and whenever I have a freelance job, I usually unplug myself from all social networks, EXCEPT twitter. I'm active there because twitter helps me deal with stress. hahahaha! You can follow me at @ilevillegas. I'll follow back if you're a blogger too. :)
I hope you won't get tired of me yet and thank you very much for reading my blog!
while watching The Hobbit
