Dayon, dayon!!!

Magnet #426 - Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa

Or, welcome, welcome! to Fantasy Island.

In my very first magnetpost, I mentioned the Shangri-La in Cebu, Philippines. Truly an oasis. Our port in an otherwise hot and humid storm. As part of our family trip, my sisters and I made sure that the three of us booked at least one night in this gorgeous five-star resort. Some resorts bill themselves as world class, but the Shangri-La is world-class.

Please, don't get me wrong - we were staying with our family in Consolacion, and it was a gorgeous house. It's not like we were roughing it at all during our trip. But, we knew after all the running around that we were doing, we'd need a break to pamper ourselves.

And by pamper, I just mean nonstop air-conditioning, cool to the touch sheets on perfect beds, people calling us mam left and right, and gold star service wherever we turned. Oh! And a business center. Shut it.

The sad of it is, most of the resort went to waste on us - we're not spa people, so we didn't even check out any of the spa offerings. I don't even think we had dinner there, at least, not from what I can remember.

In the end, we really only had time for the pool that night (all of our relatives and their helpers came over to hang out), and then the beach the next morning. I've said before that I'm not a beach person, so I got to plop down on the beach and clear my mind, while the two sisters snorkeled. No, they didn't see any seahorses. Note, I did go into the water - but my problem was that it was too clear, and I just didn't want to actually see the fish I was wading with.

I'm also not a pool person, and to be honest, I've never, ever understood the need for chlorinated pools when you're right by beautiful stretch of beachfront.Nevertheless, we sure had a ton of fun in the superfun submerged chaise longues, and making our way through their incredibly large pools.

I'm betting that after the end of my sister's confirmation trip (yes, there's a magnet, and a story there) there this coming week, she'll wish she'd booked a stay here again. Lord knows, next time I get a chance to stay at a Shangri-La, I'm taking it, with no reservations about it.

I bought this seahorse tongue depressor bookmark magnet at the little lobby shop. They had no other magnets, so, as usual, I had to jimmy something up. I picked this one for today, because yesterday, Neatorama featured Evil Mad Scientist's 17 Cool Magnet Tricks blogpost.

Holy freakin' cow. There are 17 more fun things you can do with magnets! Other than having a magnetblog! Make a motor! Use magnets to pull out batteries from things! Fool your Mac into going to sleep! Find studs! In your walls!

But, buried within the magnet tricks post, was this even better 2006 post, Making Crafty Fridge Magnets! Jeepers! A whole magnetpost on how to make your own magnets out of eclectic food packaging. Altoids! Sun-Maid Raisins! Yoo-hoo!

Ok, ok. I know, I've been jimmying up magnets out of whatever the little shops have in lieu of magnets - usually keychains, buttons, or stickers. But dudes. I've never thought of making cool food packaging magnets. Good gravy.

Just. You. Wait.