Congratulations, Sam! (Oops! This is the closest emoticon we have to a panda bear. Haha!)

Next Wednesday is a very special day for all you Candy girls/Sam fans because you’ll get another chance to chat with our adorable cover boy. He’ll be in Candy’s ChitChat from 5 to 6 pm so don’t forget to log in early! However, if you’d rather see Sam in the flesh (which I’m sure you do!), you can catch him and his buddies Kevin Concepcion, Jackie dos Santos, Candy Jan-Feb cover girl Cheska Ortega, Athena Tibi, PJ Valerio, and Janeena Chan perform on May 17 (tomorrow) and 24 (next Saturday) at Enchanted Kingdom’s Spaceport Zone! Entitled “Enchanting Teens Musical,” expect a one-hour concert that’ll make you dance, sing, and swoon. Lucky park guests can even win a Sony PSP, so visit the amusement park now or get the details from their official site.

Sam and his performing posse at Enchanted Kingdom.

I’m off to the beach. Hope you guys have a great weekend. Remember to make the most of your remaining summer days…

Mimi

Jenny and Amanda here, writing our last blog entry as Candy interns.

Yesterday was our last day of internship, and we got to go with Reggie, Ate Angel and Ate Marla to a situational shoot. (How cool is that? We started with a shoot, and ended with a shoot.) Ate Mimi and Ate Macy also came by and we were so happy we got to see them one last time before our term as Candy interns ended! (How dramatic! Haha!) It was a pretty laid-back day, but still super fun. We even had a great Rack’s meal after, made even more delicious by everyone’s cheerful chatter.

Here we are having some yummy spaghetti!

When the meal finally ended and there was nothing left to do but go home and say goodbye, we felt really sad. Maybe we didn’t show just how much we were going to miss interning for Candy, but we really, really felt it as those last good-byes were said.

Alas, our internship is officially over. No more waking up early. No more riding the super packed MRT to Robinson’s Galleria. No more typing, blogging, going to shoots, and attending events. We will miss all the many things that go with being a Candy intern.

Here are the top 10 things we will miss the most:

10. Feeling all grown up when people ask where we’ve been. We love saying “We came from the office!” Haha!

9. Our daily pig-out sessions after being dismissed—from Hong Kong style Noodles to Dairy Queen, from Bicho Bicho to Greenwich—you name it, we’ve tried it all. And yes, we gained weight, but every pound was worth it!

8. The joy of going around the shops and returning the pull outs. There’s nothing like saying “returning pull-outs for Candy Magazine” that gets the salesladies to treat us like VIPs. Haha!

7. Meeting models and celebrities (we even got to interview a celeb! Buy the June issue to find out who!). We learned that they’re not so intimidating after all.

Here we are trying to be models! (Are we any good? Haha!)

6. Events, and of course the goodies that come with it! Jenny even won a microwave at the Pushing Daisies launch!

That’s Jenny at the Pushing Daisies launch… and me with a pretty cupcake!

5. Shoots. The way the make-up artists and hairstylists transform the models and make them look perfect for the camera is nothing short of magical. The atmosphere at a shoot is just so alive. Its like a beehive, buzzing crazily because a million things are happening, all at the same time. Plus, we’ve learned insider tips on make-up, fashion, photography and posing!

Beauty Shoot… and the WOW make-up kit at a Cover Shoot.

4. Days at the office. Being in the place where the magazine we love to read gets put together is amazing. Of course, the Candy eds make it super fun too, with their Gossip Girl impersonations and their fun, light-hearted banter.

3. Looking forward to tomorrows. We loved anticipating what incredible new assignment they had for us next! Now that the internship’s over, there’s not as much to look forward to. (Except, of course the season finale of Gossip Girl! Haha!)

2. That tired yet blissful feeling we get after a day at work. It’s a different (and totally addicting) kind of tiredness when it comes from doing something you love.

1. Meeting the Greatest People You Will Ever Meet:
- Ate Mia, who made us feel right at home with her soft voice and sweetness
- Ate Marla, spotting the cutest boys and always letting us sit on her chair
- Ate Mimi, the Gossip Girl on Gossip Girl who made us laugh a lot!
- Ate Angel, who believed in us and trusted us with assignments, despite the fact that we were newbies
- Ate Steph, who, like all of us is addicted to Twilight
- Ate Roch, the only Lasallian in a (summit) sea of Ateneans, who always got “Charlie bit me!” stuck in our heads.
- Ate Macy, who is really nice, and can download the latest Gossip Girl episode minutes after it’s shown in the U.S
- Ate Jennie, who is super fun, gave us all sorts of make-up tips and has the cutest kids in the world!
- Ate Margaux, a great fashion editor whose interesting outfits made us want to go shopping for new clothes.
- Our co-interns Micah and Regie, from the short period of time we hung out, we feel like we’ve known you guys for ages!

Here are Jenny and Micah goofing around at the Cover Shoot… and us with Reggie!

- All the stylists, make-up artists, photographers, models, celebs who gave us all these great tips and who were all really nice to us and made us feel a little less intimidated during the shoots.

This summer definitely kicks last summer’s butt! We loved every moment of it. Some of our friends might be inclined to say we didn’t have a life this summer because we spent almost every day working for Candy. But on the contrary, we did have a life this summer, a great roller-coaster ride of a life—the Candy Intern Life.

We’re really bummed about saying good-bye and having it all end so quickly. But then again, it isn’t goodbye-for-good. After all, we’ll be Candy girls forever. We’re sure of it.

Love,
Jenny and Amanda

The month of May is a very special month for our family. Two of the most important boys (men? haha) in my life celebrate their birthdays this month. My dad on the 8th and my younger brother Manu on the 13th.

We celebrated with a Sunday lunch at home with our relatives. My dad’s family brought lots of food and I made birthday cupcakes for the celebrants.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream and Rainbow Sprinkles

To the two special boys in my life, happy, happy birthday. To Manu, good luck with your review. I know that you will do well in the board exams later this year. You have been and always will be the genius of this family. To Daddy, keep up your daily exercises and you’ll be up on your feet soon. I love you, guys!

And this cupcake’s for my mom. Belated Happy Mother’s Day to the best mom in the world. I <3 you!

Macy

We are delighted to tell you that thanks to your love and support, our May issue has been flying off the shelves! Your Team worked super hard on this issue, and we’re glad you seem to be enjoying it. If you don’t have your own copy yet, go grab one while you still can. Our four Guest Editors—Sam Concepcion, AJ Perez, Eri Neeman, and Jonathan Rice—cooked up lots of cool stuff especially for you, and I must say they did a fantastic job. Congratulations, guys!

For this entry, let me tell you why we here at the Candy HQ love this year’s Boy Panelists/ Guest Editors (all photos taken by Roch):

I was never really aware of how popular Sam was until Macy and I were invited to his induction as the DepEd’s new youth spokesperson sometime last year. It was craaazy—there must have been more than a hundred girls and guys screaming his name, taking his picture with their cameras and mobile phones, and crowding around the van he was in! And although I’m a bit worried about the overwhelming amount of attention he’s getting, Sam seems to be taking it all in stride. In fact, he lets none of the adoration from his fans go to his head, and I think this—more than his talent and good looks and natural charm—is what makes him such a huge star. We’ve seen him grow up (figuratively AND literally) over the past couple of years, and we’re pretty certain he’s headed towards even bigger and better things.


AJ, like his friend and co-star Dino, is makulit in a totally cute and non-annoying way (which you can obviously see in the photo above). This boy’s heartthrob material—no wonder you girls can’t get enough of him! He gives great advice to all your love problems too (you can e-mail him at askajATcandymagDOTcom), proving that makulit guys can be quite mature as well. Plus, he made the funniest captions for the gift guide he styled!

I love this photo of Eri because he looks so happy here. Eri is actually one of the most pleasant, most good-natured people I’ve ever worked with—which makes working with him so much easier, of course. I like how he really poured his heart into the feature article we asked him to write, and it’s refreshing how, despite his celeb status, something as simple as receiving positive feedback for his work always seems to put him in such a good mood. (We asked him to write something else for a future issue, by the way. Make sure you get to read it!)

Rice, with his boy-next-door charm and cheerful smile, won us over with the fact that he’s game for anything and never complains—even when we make him wait for hours and overfeed him! Haha. He made all of us kilig when he modeled for the Jan-Feb issue’s Love Firsts special, and wrote awesome reviews for his page—we are officially impressed.

So there you have it: more reasons to love this year’s Boy Panel, and therefore grab a copy of the May issue! And when you’re done reading, don’t forget to e-mail us—we’d love to hear from you. Enjoy the last stretch of the summer!

Big hugs,
Marla

Actually, I want to try all of the Cliffhouse restos eventually, even the ones that have Manila branches, like FIC and Cafe Breton. I know, I know, one-track mind and all that, but I feel I have this mental foodie checklist that I have to complete, and right now I’m fixating on Cliffhouse.

For this trip, I stepped inside Buon Giorno!, the lovely Italian resto in the corner by the water.


It’s no secret how much I love Italian food, so instead of going for my usual pizza or pasta, I chose the veggie risotto. And I couldn’t believe how much that one decision changed my life! Their risotto was so incredibly yummy and moist, and the veggies were so tasty. It was the most comforting bowl of food I’ve ever had. And now, one week later, I’m still looking for something in Manila that’s just as good (the risotto I had last Saturday in a resto that shall remain nameless doesn’t even come close).

And the perfect end to my happy meal? Their fab selection of dolci had me wishing I could have dessert there every day. I tried their Molten Chocolate, and I must say, it definitely lived up to its name! A light and fluffy cake with liquid chocolate inside, plus vanilla ice cream on top—yum.

And yup, call me baduy, but seeing those two spoons had me extra kilig because it meant I was sharing the dessert with someone I love.

Next on my checklist: their chocolate chip pancakes. But this’ll take extra work on my part. I’ll have to be up at the crack of dawn if I want to make it in time—they only serve it from 7:30-10 am!

Buon Giorno! is at Cliffhouse Tagaytay on General Emilio Aguinaldo highway, in Maharlika East, Tagaytay City.

I got to catch the premiere of Speed Racer at Imax the other night, and I was totally blown away with the eye-popping colors and effects of this campy, anime-ish movie! Here are three great reasons why you should go, go, go rush out to watch it:

1) Two words: eye candy! I loved how the heavens were all vanilla skies (pink/purple/orange tinted) and how the colorful costumes added to the characters’ spunkiness. One particularly cute moment was when Speed’s little brother Spritle was wearing Paul Frank PJs, while the family chimp Chim Chim was wearing PJs with lil’ boy faces on them.

2) While watching the flick, it felt as though I was in the passenger seat of Speed’s Mach 5. And, can I just say, it was so awesome how they made the race scenes! It seemed as if the racers were stuck inside a big pinball machine, getting thrown around and hitting each other like bump cars. When the racers crashed, a bubble-like enclosure would engulf them. (I wish they’d invent this in real life to lessen harrowing car accidents.)

3) The boys. Hey, of course you knew I would say that. Haha! I couldn’t decide who I liked more: Speed (read more about Emile Hirsch on our May Gossip Girl page), Taejo (played by Korean pop star/actor Rain who was adorable in Full House), or Racer X (Matthew Fox’s voice was just to. Die. For.). I was even crushing on the young Speed (he looked so cute pretending to race in the classroom, no wonder Trixie fell for him instantly!) and older brother Rex (played by Friday Night Light’s Scott Porter).

All in all, the Wachowski Brothers’ latest offering is fit for anyone who’s in need of a speed/sound/sight rush, but if you aren’t careful—like if you lack sleep from the night before, which I kind of did—you might end up getting a trippy, color-laden headache.

Let me know what you think after you see this movie, okay?

XOXO!
Mimi

Last weekend, my mountaineering club organized a camping activity for kids at the La Mesa Eco Park. We didn’t go hiking, but the kids were able to experience a lot of cool stuff (like boating, zipline, and rapelling) and learn important things about camping and surviving in the wild (like first aid!).

Since I was going to be with kids and nature, I borrowed Mimi’s Fisheye Darla and decided to try my hand at lomography! Here are some of my shots.

This is the lake at La Mesa Eco Park. You can even go fishing here!

Here I am with my group leader Angie (double exposed with some flowers). We nearly went crazy trying to take care of the kids!


This is Kenzie, one of the kids in our group. He’s sooo makulit but fun to be with!

This is Gabby, showing off her painted flower tattoo. She’s a really sweet girl—she won “Friendliest Camper” because she loved talking to everyone!

Poor Kyle was so tired, he fell asleep during one of the sessions!

In the evening, we had a bonfire where the kids roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. Yum!

All in all, it was a really fun event! The kids were great and my pictures came out pretty well, doncha think? (Mim, thanks again for lending me Darla!)

Speaking of kids, Margaux, Jennie, and I dropped by the My Talent Summer Workshop in Eastwood yesterday to give some tips on modeling. Here’s a snappie of us with all the aspiring models! Can you spot the Candy cuties?

That’s all, folks. Hope you’re all having a great summer so far!

Angel

First issue my name was on the magazine:
July 2007. I still get kilig whenever I see my name on the Mag hehe

First article:
Jan-Feb 2008 Locker Room

It’s been great so far and I wish to celebrate more years with Candy in the future. Thanks for making me part of the family, Candy girls!

Roch <3

What do Sam Concepcion, Dino Imperial, AJ Perez, Yael Yuzon, Einar Ingebrigtsen, Kenny Waymack, Francis Ramos, and Mickey Perz have in common? They’re all Certified Candy Cuties, that’s what!

Yep, it’s that time of the year again. The search for 2008’s CANDY CUTIES officially starts now…and it starts with YOU! If you know anyone—your brother, cousin, boyfriend, guy bud, classmate, crush, neighbor, sister’s blockmate’s nephew, etc.—who has Candy Cutie potential, do let us, and the rest of the Candy world, know.

Send in their name, age (he should be 13-25), school/occupation, and two clear photos (we have to see his face, so no baseball caps, shades, and dim lighting, please) to certifiedcandycuties@gmail.com. Please include their contact numbers, home address, and email addy as well. Feel free to give us as many cuties as you want, and you might just see them on the pages of Candy. Wouldn’t it be great to flip open our September 2008 issue and see one (or two, or three) of the guys in your life smiling back at you?

For celebrity cuties, just post their names on the Candy Cuties thread in Teentalk, which we’ll be putting up real soon. Oh, and tell us who you want to see on the cover too.

Deadline is on June 6, Friday, ‘k? We’ll be waiting! Thanks!

PS: Don’t worry, all nominations will be kept confidential—we promise. (Meaning, we won’t tell your crush that you find him cute enough to send us his photo!)

Love,
The Candy Team

After choosing my colors, I took forever deciding what pins to put on my pair.

Finally settled on placing my name, Swarovskis, and headphones. The headphones are my favorite!