Be the First Bigby's Tripster by Sharing your Travel Story and Win Exciting Prizes!!!

Interested to become Bigby’s very first brand ambassador? Start your travel story by joining the first Bigby's Tripster!

Bigby’s Café and Restaurant has been serving Filipinos with great tasting dishes over the past 19 years with 10 branches in the Visayas and Mindanao area and 3 more to come by the end of the year.

2019 will be Bigby’s 20th year and we have an exciting campaign entitled “Be the First Bigby’s Tripster”. It will focus on travel, vlogging, and food…just what the Bigby’s brand stands for.

The Bigby’s Tripster is a one (1) year campaign wherein we will be producing video episodes to be featured on our social media accounts starting with the Search, the Tripster Challege and the travel escapades of our winning Tripster.

What is a Bigbys Tripster? The first Bigby’s Tripster can either be a male or female, aged 18 to 28 years old. He/she must embody Bigby’s love for travel, adventure, excitement and food. He must also be into vlogging (video blog) or telling their new stories and experiences through videos. Open for all those amateur and aspiring vloggers who want to kick-start their vlogging careers!

 As the first Bigby’s Tripster, he/she gets to experience all of these prizes:

• Get an exclusive 1-year contract as the first Bigby’s Tripster!
• Win an all-expense paid trip to one local and one international destination!
• Get equipped with a brand-new GoPro!
• Be entitled to Bigby’s dining privileges!
• P20,000 worth of rides from Grab!
• P20,000 worth of GCash Credits!
• Be travel ready with brand new luggage and travel gears from The Travel Club, Res-Toe-Run, R.O.X., Herschel and Grind!
• Plus, a whole lot more!

 Mechanics

1.  Open to all nationalities aged 18-28 years old (Male/Female).
2. Like and followed our Social Media Pages (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).
3.  Record a short video (maximum of 1 minute) telling us why you deserve to be the first ever Bigby’s Tripster.
4. Upload the video to your timeline (make the post public) tag us either on FB and IG and use the hashtag #BigbysTripster.
5. Send us your most recent photo to bigbystripster@gmail.com along with your social media handle (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) and the link to the entry video you posted on your profile.
6. Stay tuned and wait for our Creative Team to get in touch with you.
7. Deadline of submissions is until November 15, 2018 only.

After the submission deadline (Nov 15, 2018), the top 5 finalists will be announced online. They will then prove their story-telling potential in a 4-day Challenge Camp wherein they will compete with each other through a number of vlogging challenges in Camiguin.

Nailaholics CDO Celebrates National Pampering Day on October 17 ~ Pay Only P10!

Stress is inevitable. In fact, according to a 2018 study conducted by CNN Philippines, things we encounter on a daily basis cause it - bosses, deadlines, schedules, colleagues, and traffic, just to name a few.

But while stress is clearly unavoidable, letting it affect your health isn't. Remember, your mind and body are inherently linked. When stress starts to feel like it's taking over your life, you have to try to do something about it before it ultimately wreaks havoc on your body. And while getting rid of all the things that stress you out isn't easy, taking time out for yourself is.

Before everything gets too overwhelming, make time for some me - time.

"The ultimate way to relieve stress is simply by taking the time to pamper yourself. Set aside a few moments out of the day to be alone with your thoughts as you indulge in a few moments of luxury and relaxation. Even for just a few hours, this takes you away from the worries of work, and traffic, and deadlines", explains Arvin Amaro, Marketing Head.

"Me" time at Nailaholics Ayala Centrio Mall

And as #NationalPamperingDay nears, be sure to head over to Nailaholics Ayala Centrio or SM CDO Downtown.

This year, you have the option to choose from a dedicated menu of #NationaPamperingDay services: a manicure, hand spa, hand massage, foot spa, or foot massage. You can avail any of these services for just P10 on October 17, from 10am to 2pm - the amount of which will go to Nailaholics' community partner, the La Verna Aged Care and Dementia Village.

It may seem hard to believe that such a small shift in thinking and habits could make a world of difference for your health and psyche. But give it a try and see just what a little pampering can do for you.

Chef Donita Rose and Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil Goes to Higalaay Festival

Yesterday, I was one of the lucky Kagay-anons to catch the exciting session of Celebrity Chef Donita Rose in Centrio Mall. I really looked forward to see her that day because I was, and still is (!), a big fan of Donita since her VJ days.

Anyways, with Regional Festivals rounding up in the country this coming months, Chef Donita Rose, along with Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil, started touring Cagayan de Oro to celebrate the Higalaay Festival this August.

Chef Donita shared her own twist on the famous Higalaay dish of Sinuglaw, composed of sinugba (grilled pork) and kinilaw. The dish was made more flavorful and healthier with the use of Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil, which is Chef Donita's most recommended kitchen staple as it's packed with good fats such as Omega 3 and 6 that are great for the heart. It also has Vitamin A that helps improve eyesight and has the lowest saturated or bad fats among all kinds of cooking oil which makes it a healthier option. Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil also has a high smoking point making it the most ideal cooking oil for frying and deep frying.

Chef Donita's own twist of Sinuglaw and it tasted sooo good!!

"Going around the Philippines during these wonderful festivals and sharing my twist on the local recipes is always such a fun and fulfilling experience for me. It's truly an honor to be part of what Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil has been doing in providing healthier and affordable food choices in local communities and helping spread the heart-healthy goodness of home cooking," said Chef Donita.

Additionally, it was a fun-filled treat to Cagayan de Oro's local moms and foodies who also got a chance to sample Chef Donita's own rendition of Sinuglaw during her live cooking demo at Centrio Mall last August 30, 2018. Local Supermarket samplings were also done in Robinson's and Shopwise Supermarkets in Cagayan de Oro.

"We are thrilled to bring Chef Donita and Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil to our local festival activation," said Fly Ace Corporate Group Product Manager for Edible Oils, Zen Prudentino. "We want to continue educating Filipinos nationwide about the importance of using heart-healthy cooking oil in everyday cooking. We don't need to sacrifice the taste and flavor of our meals; it's definitely possible to always prepare healthy and delicious meals with Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil," she added.

Festival menus are usually oily but with Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil, we can now eat guilt-free knowing that our food choices promote heart-healthy and may help with disease prevention. With the country's consistent No. 1 and most trusted cooking canola oil brand, Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil provides a healthy and affordable option in cooking our favorite festival dishes.

Yours truly and the beautiful Donito Rose ♥

Che Donita, together with GMA and Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil, is excited to prepare healthy dishes during her next Festival Tour in Vigan City's Raniag Festival in Octobber and for the Aklanons during the highly anticipated At-Atihan Festival in January.

For more information on Jolly Heart Mate Canoila Oil, visit their Facebook Page on www.facebook.com/JollyHeartMateCanolaOil.

AllHome Opens its 19th Store in Cagayan de Oro

Good news to all Kagay-anons as All Home finally opens in the City of Golden Friendship! The grand opening was well-attended by a lot of people and Mr. Manny Villar was present during the cutting of ribbon. Read below for more information about what's inside All Home.

The fastest rising home depot shopping solution in the Philippines is now in Mindanao.

AllHome is the country's only full-line home center. It eliminates the need to go to several locations just to get construction and furnishing materials, furniture, decor, and appliances as all of these are readily available in-store. The convenience AllHome brings does not end with its complete line of household materials and needs - AllHome carries thousands of local and imported brands. Home builders and home owners alike are sure to find what they need to build a complete and beautiful home.

AllHome is also the exclusive distributor of a roster of world-renowned and premium brands like leading Japanese sanitary ware INAX, premium Italian tile brand Iris Ceramica, and Spanish tile brands Cicogres, Alaplana, and Platera. With more options now made available to the residents of Cagayan de Oro City, building your dream home is now so much easier to achieve.

Coffee Project, the country's most Instagrammable Café, is now brewing in CDO

Cagayan de Oro is now home to Coffee Project's 28th branch. The boutique café, dubbed "the most Instagrammable coffee shop" in the country, brings to Mindanao region its signature coffee blends, premium pastries, and its work-friendly environment. Patrons can enjoy Wi-fi and a multitude of sockets perfect for extended work hours. Long tables are also available for meetings while quiet corners meant for those who want some alone time are also aplenty. The charm of Coffee Project does not end in its beautiful interiors but instead lies in its ability to give warm service to all kinds of coffee-lovers and café-goers.

Bake My Day, AllSports and AllToys unveil newest stores in Cagayan de Oro City

It's always nice to bring home something oven-fresh that the whole family can enjoy: sweet, savory or even just something to make your favorite sandwiches with. Bake My Day, a new concept bakery, provides more than 50 variants of baked goods at every location at any given time. Introducing its unique offerings to the people of Mindanao, Bake My Day brings its signature bread and pastries such as the Sushi Roll and Okonomiyaki bread. Bake My Day also offers cake customization services - turning every milestone into a memorable celebration.

Opening its 6th store, AllSports provides sports equipment and wear for athletes and enthusiasts alike. With an expansive collection of training gear and athletic footwear and apparel, AllSports gives CDO residents better options when it comes to both performance and athleisure wear. AllSports can also be found in Bataan, Laguna, Las Piñas, Taguig and Quezon City.

Now in the City of Cagayan de Oro, AllToys brings to Mindanao its wide collection of education ang recreational toys for children of different ages. AllToys' 9the branch carries brands like Hot Wheels, Barbie, Disney, My Little Pony, Lego and Hape among many others. For enthusiasts, select Star Wars and Marvel themed toy collections can also be found at AllToys. Not limited to toys, kids and kids-at-heart, can also find a variety of quirky knick-knacks as well as assorted arts-and-craft materials in the store. Cagayan de Oro residents can expect playful and colorful interiors as well as AllToys' signature train display found in all its other locations.

These homegrown brands are bringing a world-class retail experience to Mindanao as they open their doors in Cagayan de Oro City. Bake My Day, AllSports and AllToys can be found along Limketkai Drive at Limketkai Center.

AllHome CDO is the 19th Store to open across the country and is on track to open six (6) more branches in 2018.

Have fun shopping and see you there at AllHome. Don't forget to take a break at Coffee Project or Bake My Day.

Revlon's 2018 Spring / Summer Sun Festival Collection To Take Place in CDO

Image Source | Facebook: Miquel Garcia Cotado

The Sun Festival Collection brought to you by Revlon Professional is a unique collection that breathes freedom, freshness and creativity. It is composed of spirited and vibrant color offerings that took inspiration from the excitement brought about by live music, the enchantment of sheer creativity and the anticipation of must-see events of the festive season. This collection helps women express themselves better by celebrating their different personalities through their hair by reflecting playfulness, friendship and beauty.

The Sun Festival hues are easy on the eyes, very clean, easy to wear, imaginative and stylish. They are designed especially for women who are optimistic, strong and dynamic and those who are able to express themselves freely without the need to sacrifice extraordinary beauty.

This hair color collection offers several magnificent fashion opportunities and a wide array of hair possibilities. This season is dubbed as “The Season of Color” since this collection combines warm and satiny blondes, pale pinks, and coppery chestnuts, bright oranges that have natural bases and even strong tones like electric blue for example.

The three shades in this collection are; Ultra Real, Hippie Chic and Romantic 2.0.

On May 21, 2018 (8 am to 5 pm) – The first ever Summer/Spring Sun Festival Collection Launch will take place at Pearlmont Hotel, Limketkai Drive, Cagayan de Oro. This is the first time this event will happen in Mindanao since it has always been in Manila and other locations in the country.

This event will enable guests to meet Revlon Professional’s Salon owner clients, take instagrammable pictures at the summer-themed Photobooth, view magazine releases, participate and win exciting prizes at fun games and raffle draws, witness a hairstyling competition, meet and greet the Special guests (an International Stylist) and Celebrity Guest, Francine Garcia (actress and Beauty Queen), learn about the Sun Festival Collection and Trends and witness a fashion show of models from Manila. It’s a going to be an exciting and fun-filled event so if you want to be part of it, tickets are sold at P200 each and are available at SMR Distribuzione Inc. Office, Unit 7, 2nd Floor, Juan Fuel Bldg. JR Borja Extension. You may also contact them at; Tel Fax 088 880 7231 or call their Staff Diane 0977 805 7398 for more information. The ticket will cover, a raffle stub, morning and afternoon snacks, lunch and certificate.

My Daughter's First Promenade

This is my beautiful daughter Chloe attending her Prom for the first time. If you are a follower of my (this) blog, I guess you have seen my old posts about her. She was this bubbly little girl that I was fond of posting in my blog. But how time flies. She's not a little girl anymore but transformed into a young lady. I could not even believe what my eyes were seeing on that day. In one blink she's not the baby I used to hold and cuddle anymore. Now, she has her own world, so distant from mine. Sometimes, it's even hard to talk to her...teens (sigh).

But going back to my topic, Chloe had her prom exactly a month ago. Their theme was Vintage Hollywood that's why she donned her hair that way. Kudos to her make-up and hair stylist for achieving her look. We all loved it!

She also had a small part in their program but still proud of her, coz out of the hundred students, she was handpicked to represent the Symbol of Arts.

Try Wing It CDO's Top 3 Favorite Yummilicious Chicken Wings!

Every time I watched movies at Centrio mall, I always brought some snacks with me because it's more fun to watch a movie while munching my favorite snacks (or even a meal). Wing It Flavored chicken is one of my favorites and I was just so glad that they have everything I needed.

 

Wing it! Flavored Wings has taken the trend into passion. It’s usually the other way around, but the small home-grown kiosk has now taken an in-demand dish into something that Kagayanons surely love and linger paired with premium saucy flavors. The bare industrial inspired kiosk serves chicken wings that have been rounded up into three sauce flavors known to be popular around the world! The Italian Garlic Parmesan, NYC Wild Buffalo and Texas Hickory BBQ. As Wing it! Flavored Wings is strong on quality over quantity, majority of ingredients have been brought in from other countries so you can enjoy not just lip-smacking wings but saucy favorites the way others around the world do! Pictures do speak louder than words so here’s the rundown:

12 pieces

Italian Garlic Parmesan

NYC Wild Buffalo

Texan Hickory BBQ

Thank you so much Wing It staff for having us last February 27, 2018. Wing It! is located at 3rd Floor, Centrio Ayala Mall, just fronting the Cinema Ticketing booth.
Here's the yummy Wing It chicken they served:

Congrats Zoe!

This is my little girl, Zoe, who was, surprisingly declared as Champion for their Spelling Bee contest. She is currently in grade 1. Why I said surprisingly? Because she never told us that she won. But there was more to that story...

Zoe has speech delay. However, she's able to cope up with her lessons, she is still at par with her grade level. Her only difficulty is conversing with other people. She talks to me, of course, but her sentence construction is not like the common 7-year-olds. She's currently enrolled in a Therapy center that helps her with her language skills.

So, to be chosen as one of the representatives in their section (there were 2 of them in their section, 10 all in all for grade 1 level) for Spelling Bee was more than enough for us. But winning 1st place was something else!

But I was a bit sad that I never knew she won coz she didn't tell me. I didn't watch coz I thought we were not allowed, but actually we were. Only that, at the back of my mind, I might distract my child's concentration if ever I watch so I just waited for someone to tell me how she did during quiz bee...but no one approached or told me. So, I assumed she didn't win.

But then, I also thought that maybe (just maybe) she got a place coz in fairness to Zoe, she's good in Spelling. She has this sharp mind that she could easily recall the words, and spelling is one of her strengths in English subject. She never even got a mistake in spelling quiz in their class.

So, it was only the following day that I learned that my daughter won and the teacher congratulated me because Zoe was the champion! But looking at Zoe's expression, I don't even know if it was a big deal for her because she just smiled and continue doing her thing, lol.

To our dear Zoe, Congratulations! I always thanked God for you. Thank you for giving sunshine to our lives. You brighten us up always. We love you so much and looking forward for more 'adventures' with you.