Michi Photostory

Today is the exact date of my first blog anniversary and I can’t believe that it’s been a year already. I would like to thank you for wasting your time, I mean taking your time reading my post. I have no idea that someone would be interested reading my blog, when I started my blog I only have 3 readers, me, myself and I. Then I told my mom and hubby about it and they became my number one fan. Thank you for your support.

Like I always say, Michi Photostory is like my online diary and sort of “me time”, as a full time mom, I need to have an outlet where I can freely write or express my feelings. And this blog is so helpful and keep me sane. I’m happy to share my experiences as a mom and wife, our travel escapades, our food trip and others. You have no idea how happy I am when my followers and subscribers are increasing and most of all I really appreciate your comments and thoughts. It is my pleasure answering your questions and messages because in my own little way, I can help. 

I never thought that blogging could be fun and interesting. I have learned a lot through blog hopping, I saw interesting places around the world and I came to know hole in the wall restaurant, and because of that I have long list of “places to go to”, “must see resort” and “food trip list”. I learned new information, ideas and techniques in dealing with kids and reading mommy blogger’s posts make me appreciate and enjoy motherhood. I even gained weight in reading food blog post, because of your post I keep on trying new recipes and restaurants.

Thank you for those bloggers who help me in doing my itinerary and planning our trip. Thank you for those people who gave me opportunity to earn on this blog, it is not that much but still thankful for the few paid post and paid links. One thing I learn about blogging is, “Blogging is not all about earning but learning and gaining friends” and I’m glad because I gained online friends.

I hope someday, I can also meet you in person. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for following my blog and to show my appreciation, I will be giving a small reward (Starbucks Tumbler) to my top commentator. As of this moment, I have 359 blog posts and 2,122 comments so I know that it would be difficult for me to check my top commentator so I added a widget last Sunday. Here are my top 20 commentators…. (drum roll).

this is the reason why I need to go to Starbucks last Tuesday. =)

We started our Laoag - Pagudpud tour at 8AM, Glenn was not available at that time so his cousin was the one who drove us to Pagudpud. The first stop is the Sinking Bell Tower. It is one of the tallest here in the Philippines. This is walking distance from our hotel, they say that you can see St. Mary image in this tower. Can you see the image?
Laoag and Vigan are like revisiting the past while Pagudpud is enjoying the nature and scenery so I’m not surprised if more people stay in Pagudpud than in Laoag and Vigan. It is 2 hour trip from Laoag and 4 hours from Vigan.

Let the photos do the talk.

Note: We're so busy taking pictures and we did not notice na may parating na malaking alon, ang layo namin sa shoreline pero inabot kami, nagulat na lang kami at nabasa na kami at natanggal ang slippers ng anak ko, so habol ni hubby yung slippers, then one lady is shouting for help, yung kasama niya paglingon namin, nakahiga na sa sand and basang-basa so takbo ulit si hubby and inalalayan and sinave din ni hubby yung slippers ni lola.

1. UKL Ever Hotel – we’re lucky that our room accommodation has 2 complimentary breakfast. (sulit!) The only problem is we only have 4 choices; tapsilog, hotsilog, longsilog and tocilog. Our favorite is longsilog and tapsilog. Extra order is P80. 


Since we had an amazing race tour, we did not go out for dinner; we just ate at their restaurant. Our favorite is breaded porkchop P120 and fried chicken P120.


2. Café Uno – in Vigan.

We ordered pinakbet plain, pinakbet with bagnet, sinigang na baboy, grilled bangus, chicken inasal, plain rice and bagoong rice (rice, bagoong, kangkong, salted egg and tocino). They have big servings so we keep on ordering rice just to finish everything. We all love the food, I’m not fond of vegetables but I like their pinakbet. Price is affordable, for a group of 8 people, our bill is only P1k+.


3. Irene’s Vigan Empanada – they all ate empanada in Vigan except me, not a fan of empanada. P35 per piece.


4. BergBlick Restaurant in Pagudpud, can you believe that there’s a German restaurant in Pagudpud. We were supposed to eat at Evangeline Resort but they could not accommodate us because they are expecting 100 guests and we could no longer wait because it was past 1PM already so we ended up in BergBlick Restaurant. 

We ordered a fish platter, Ilocandia express, sinigang na fish (I can’t remember the name) and crème brulee for dessert. The price is a little bit expensive for a group of 8 people, our bill is P2k+. Our favorite is the fish platter.


5. Jollibee – in Laoag for snacks.

6. La Preciosa in Laoag, we ordered diningding, lengua estofado and mocha sansrival. Hubby and son enjoyed their diningding, he even said “sabaw pa lang ulam na”. I always love lengua estofado and La Preciosa did not fail me.

My son liked his mocha sansrival but La Preciosa best seller cake is carrot cake. I got to taste it because my sister’s friend gave me a slice. They have big servings and the price is also affordable, for a group of 3 people, our bill is only P500+


Like I said, La Preciosa carrot cake is their best seller and I even see some people at the airport who have boxes of La Preciosa cake but I still prefer mocha sansrival because I am not fond of carrots. I enjoy the cake but I have to remove the shredded carrots. 

pabaon from my sister's friend

7.     Street Food

Food photos are not complete; blame it on our hungry stomachs.

At the entrance, you will see the small horse-drawn carriage called “tiburin”, the rides are free but of course “manongs” are expecting the tip. I know that it is free but my husband who’s not reading my itinerary asked manong if we can ride the “tiburin” and if it is free. Then manong whispered, tip lang po. 

I do give tips but I dislike when people are expecting them. Anyway, we rode the carriage and he brought us to the camel, took some pictures and he dropped us off at animal encounter shows.

After our lunch at Café Uno, we started our tour in Pagburnayan Jar Making. If you are going to Vigan do not miss this place, it’s really nice to see how they mold and shape the clay into jars, vases and pots. It looks so easy but I know that it’s difficult.

Last year, my sister decided not to have a birthday party for my nephew’s 7^th birthday instead they will just have a family out-of-town trip. So when I saw the PHP12 Cebu Pacific seat sale, I personally invited myself to join their family trip and informed her after I booked our flight (Ethan and I). Hehe!

Hubby was not interested to join but after our stressful week last December, he promised that he will join our Ilocos trip kahit magbus siya (babawi daw). But God is so good and I was able to get a seat sale ticket for my hubby last month.

A month before our trip I booked our hotel accommodation at UKL Ever Hotel and rented a van for 2 days tour. Actually, we can avail of the 3 days tour but 2 days tour is much cheaper and I can do Laoag tour on our own because we will be staying in Laoag Centro.

Fast forward, we started our tour as early as 7:30am, first stop is La Paz Sand Dunes, I thought this will be part of our second day, so I was not prepared, namuti tuloy ang black shoes ko. If you remember the “Temptation Island” movie, this is the location. As far as I know, you can also avail of sand boarding lesson, P2,500 for a group of four.

I can’t believe it’s already February, since Sunday we're so busy packing and unpacking stuff for my husband’s Baguio trip, Subic trip, and our upcoming trip. Very stressful week but finally we will be out again. 

Though I’m a bit nervous because we (my son and I) have to commute to meet my hubby (who is coming from Subic) before going to the airport. Good luck to me and my son, it’s been four years already since I rode a bus (bus from our place) so I still asked my former officemate a.k.a busmate regarding bus schedules and bus stopover.  Good thing I’ve asked, iba na pala. 

This is one of the disadvantages of living outside metro manila, there is no taxi. This will be the start of my busy days, I love February month. Hoping for good weather. We left early because I do not want to miss the bus, so we rode the tricycle and jeep to reach the last bus stop over. Thank God, we did not miss the bus, buzzer beater nga lang. It took us only 1 hour to reach our meeting place but hubby wasn’t there yet, we waited for 1 hour and 30 minutes before hubby arrived.

When we reached the airport, the security guard said no more parking slot and he asked for our flight schedule. Naawa naman si manong and he said, “sundan niyo, try ko maghanap bandang dulo,” We only have less than two hours so we’re so scared to miss our flight. Thank God again because we’ve found one available slot.

We had a great time in Laoag, Vigan, and Pagudpud except for last Sunday. There are some mishaps that really stressed me.  

1. After our half-day tour, we really don’t know where to go to kill time, we went back to the hotel and stayed in the lobby but we were so bored so past 2PM, we decided to go to the airport already. We asked first the hotel receptionist if Laoag airport is already open and she said yes. 

Off we went to the airport and we were so disappointed because it was still closed and we were the first passengers there. For the second time around, early bird na naman kami. We experienced this in our Puerto Princesa trip, after check-out we went to the airport for our past 2PM flight and the airport was closed. We waited for almost an hour.

chichacorn, longganisa ilocos, bagnet, shirt, salt, garlic, onion, bangui windmill magnet, keychain and display

Yesterday, after church service we went to Soderno, I’ve been meaning to go here since last year but it is always crowded whenever we passed by maybe because it was Soderno nights. Sunday organic market is not crowded, it is almost empty and I only see few food stalls.







Before we left, I asked hubby to buy cake from megabox because I saw “buy 1 take 1 promo”” but he bought pastries, P40 each.  (napakamasunurin).  =). If you visit Soderno, don’t forget to try megabox, we love their brownies and revel bars and it is not expensive, too bad, hubby bought only 3 pieces.

it may not look good on the picture but it is really yummy.

Orlando, Florida is also known as “The City Beautiful” and there is no doubt about that because we all know that Orlando, Florida is indeed the beautiful and interesting place. It is the home of Walt Disney World Resort, SeaWorld Theme Park, Universal Orlando Resort, Gatorland, and Wet 'n Wild Water Park.

We went to Pangasinan last weekend to attend the “Babang-Luksa” of my grandfather-in-law. Sort of family reunion though we’re not complete. One thing that I always look forward to every time there’s an event in Pangasinan is no other than my favorite lechon. It’s love at first taste, I don’t know how they marinade their lechon but I always enjoy this dish. I was busy eating lechon so I have no time to take some pictures so I just borrowed pictures from my cousin-in-law. =)

sorry pig!

Don't forget to bring your Tupperware!

When I was still in elementary one of my favorite subjects is HEKASI (Heograpiya, Kasaysayan, and Sibika) maybe because I enjoy knowing and learning about beautiful places in the Philippines. There is so much to see in the country but I still have no money to visit these places, so I promised myself that someday I will be able to go here.

So when I reach College, I open a savings account and start saving my allowances so I have money to spend on vacation. Little by little I was able to explore our country and when I graduated from college, that was the start of my travel adventure via plane.

I cannot consider myself a certified traveler but I’m still proud of myself because slowly I’m achieving my dream and for someone who is not rich, this is really an achievement. I want to be rich with knowledge, experience, and memories, things that I know I can treasure forever and no one could take it away from me.

This is my list when I was a kid. 

If you still remember last year, I went to the hospital for three consecutive weeks but my doctor was on Holiday leave so I just went back today, after Holiday. Thank God, she’s back and because she was away for several weeks, there were so many patients. While waiting for my turn, I’m checking my record and I was shocked when I saw my weight.



Last January 2011, my weight is only 86lbs and after one year, I’m now 100lbs, so 14lbs gained in 12 months. This is really shocking to me because for 28 years, I never had any problem with my weight. In fact, I always research on how to gain weight because even I eat plenty of foods I’m not gaining weight but last year, things changed and now I do not know why I’m gaining weight.

Last summer I started to buy clothes because my clothes won’t fit me anymore, from size XS to S and now Medium and from size 25 to size 26 and now size 27. So imagine my dilemma every time I wear my clothes and pants and it no longer fits me. 

I need to buy new clothes just to have something to wear if I’m going out. Good thing that I am a full time mom and I do not need to change my whole wardrobe. I’m happy with my weight now, I just want to maintain it and stop gaining more pounds because I have no more budget to buy new stuff again.

I was searching the internet a while ago, looking for reasons why I’m gaining weight and here’s what I’ve found.