A Short Trip to the Land Down Under 2014

I've been working as a freelancer in Odesk for over 2 years now. Close to a month before my first month in Odesk, I was hired by an Australian businessman to do desk tasks for them. I often say that freelancing is not really for everybody but I am always thankful that I've found my niche here.

Fast track to 2013, Dan (my Aussie client) mentioned that they have plans of bringing me over to see their production and warehouses. Originally, we are looking into 3rd quarter of 2013 but it's been moved and set aside a couple of times because of schedule conflict. Finally, first week of February, we began discussing the itinerary and the documents needed. Within a week, all the documents from them was mailed to me and visa application fee and visa lodging fee was transferred to my account. I lodge my visa application last Wednesday. The courier picked it up in my house and the waiting time begins. What's good about Australian visa application is that no personal appearance/interview required. You can schedule for a pick up from their partner courier and the courier will also deliver the results to you after. Easy and hassle-free. I thought it would take a month for the visa application to be processed but this morning I received a text that it was already in transit back to me. Then this afternoon, I received the same envelope I have submitted to them. No other documents inside except the OR for the visa fee and the Visa Grant Notice. Another thing with Australian visa, they don't need to stamp your passport as they are already computerized. You will have to pay $70 if you want your passport stamped.

photo courtesy of Metropole.com.au

So Australia, here I come! I may have apprehensions of going because I am soooo used to being in my comfort zone (hence I find it so enjoyable working at home) but this is an opportunity I know I shouldn't miss.

Wedding Prep Mission: on the look out for wedding paraphernalias in Oz. :)

BOOKED: Margarush

This is the supplier that J and I know we really wanted to be part of our wedding. When we tried their Lime Margarita on a fair last November, it was love at first sip. That's how good it is. So we hunt them down last Saturday to reserve our date. The day before the fair, I had lunch with my college bestfriend and I've mentioned about frozen margaritas for my wedding and he said it would be better if I'll jut book a mobile bar to have other options. It got me thinking but my heart is really set for Margarush. Actually, J and I already talked about it since his friends are hard drinkers so we don't think they will enjoy margaritas (since it is a ladies' drink). But we both loved Margarush and we can't think of letting it go. Haha!

When we drop by their booth, Kuya gave each one of us free taste and as expected, my two male cousins liked it as well. They urged me to book them right then and there. Haha! Kuya is so makwento din and mabait. He gladly gave us another round of margaritas while making chika to us. He also suggested that since the package comes with just 100 personalized cups, we can opt to bring our own plastic cups instead of ordering additional cups since it's Php1,500/50 cups (Tipid tips! :)). Too bad (but good news too) that they are serving the Lime flavor again. Kuya said they initially prepared 2 flavors but the other container was busted so they were only able to offer 1 flavor. Yes, we are a company of five and we each have 2 shots of margaritas (total of 10 cups) but I wasn't able to take a picture of it. Bummer! Was too excited sipping it, I guess. :)

2nd Booked Supplier

OOT fee for Sta. Rosa Laguna is Php2,500 and we got a Php2,000 discount for booking in the bridal fair so looks like we will only be paying Php500 as OOT fee. We are scheduled to have our drink tasting on the next bridal fair in SMX and we're excited. :) Roxy (the owner) is a pleasant lady who is nice to talk to. Side note: we haven't decided on our L/S yet but we might also get their LST mobile since we will only pay for 1 OOT fee for both Margarush and LST (nice deal, eh?)

Hay Margarush... you are loved. :) I know you will be such a hit come our wedding day.

2 Mobile Bars?

Prior to booking Margarush, we drop by GQ Mobile Bar's booth first just to try other options. We tried other mobile bars on the fair last November but we didn't liked it. Now with GQ Mobile, I've read many good reviews in W@W and GT about them. Not only are their drinks good but they also have cheap packages. I also mentioned that my bestfriend think I should just get a mobile bar and forego of Margarush to have varieties of drinks so for options, we checked GQ first. I asked the bartender for their margarita and although it is good din naman, it's not as suave as the one Margarush offers. Yung sa GQ kase "humahagod sa lalamunan" yung alcohol. Haha!

The owner and the bartender are both accommodating (not to mention the bartender is cute) Haha! The owner (sorry I forgot the name) said they're not strict with the number of persons in a package as long as there's supplies. They also accommodate "stop time" since the packages cover 4 hours only of unlimited drinks.

Aside from the margarita that I've requested, my cousin also requested for the Black Forest and they said it is good. My sister drink even the last drop. :)

Black Forest

The bartender concocted another cocktail for me which he said is their bestseller for the ladies. The Appletini is good, too. Tama nga yung mga nabasa kong reviews that their cocktails are good.

Appletini

I forgot to take a picture of the Margarita but all in all we tried 3 drinks lang. We ALMOST booked them prior to booking Margarush. But we decided to drop by Margarush first. Now we are torn... since we already booked Margarush (which I don't have any regrets), I also want GQ Mobile. Haha! Hindi pa ako drinker nyan ha. I just want our guests to have a good time. For now, on hold muna ang GQ until we can decide if we will get them as well. We will have to check with our budget first and will put it in our "nice to have" list muna for now.

W@W Pin

We dropped by the W@W booth at the last bridal fair and we are so happy to meet a couple of other w@wies and of course Mimma Benz! Nice set-up din and kuddos to those who designed the booth.

We weren't able to stay longer kase madami pa kami hindi naiikutan na aisles. But it was fun talking to other w@wies even if it's just for a short period of time. Everyone seems kind and bubbly.

Thanks to sis Dheng and Ivy for the pin!

Weddings and Debuts 2014 Bridal Fair

So last Saturday, me and J together with my sister and two male cousins (yes, so many alalays) went to the 2014 Weddings and Debuts fair in SM Megamall. We leave the house early and arrived at Megamall 15 minutes before opening time.

Since we arrived early, a lot of the suppliers are still coming in and prepping their booths so we decided to have our breakfast first then came back an hour later. I didn't know where to start kaya pabalik-balik kami sa mga aisle (kaya hindi din namin naikot lahat). We went first to Irene Manigo's booth since I've read from w@w that she's from Muntinlupa so less or no OOT fee. Her prices are a bit higher compared to others but she has no OOT fee for Sta. Rosa, Laguna and I've read a couple of good reviews din naman in w@w. My sister is the one who is REALLY excited to have a trial make-up in the fair so s'ya na lang pinatrial ko since we're looking for suppliers for her debut din naman. Her forte is eye make-up and my sister loved what she did to her. Fast forward kwento: I tried looking for other HMUA but I decided to drop by Irene's booth in the afternoon to have my trial as well. I liked din naman what she did to my face but I didn't have the "this is it" feeling. So I told her we'll look for other options first for comparison. I appreciated that she is not makulit and pushy.

tons of flyers again after attending a fair

We were able to check a couple of cake and photobooth suppliers too. Almost all the cake suppliers have a free tasting of their cake flavors but we all liked Top Cakes, Bethany and Honey Glazed the most because it is moist and rich. 

We booked one supplier (we really hunt them down in the fair) and I will do a separate post about it. We finished roaming around by 4 pm and we are not even tired yet. Siguro kase hindi din orgnized yung pagiikot namin kaya andami namin namiss na booths. 

cute photo frame from Weddings and Debuts

Cuppacakes

On our way to the parking lot, we pass by this cute cupcake store and so we bought a few to try at home. They are individually boxed (left bottom corner in the photo) which is soooo cute. I think they also offer dessert buffet and can accommodate orders for weddings and other occasions. I didn't like their Red Velvet but my cousins liked it. What I personally like are the carrot cupcakes and the Brazo de Mercedes (I think with cheesecake in the bottom).

2 bridal fairs down and many more to go! :)