Buhay Misis, ATBP.

2010-04-17T14:27:00.002+08:00

I can't believe it's almost two years since I last blogged here (see the side bars... so not updated!) and that my last blog was about being pregnant. My life has dramatically changed since then. The arrival of Jia, my darling daughter, has changed me in ways I did not anticipate.

Thank you to everyone who followed this blog. You have no idea how happy your visits and comments have made me.

After a long hiatus, I am now taking up blogging again. And although it saddens me to leave this blog, I deemed it better to setup a new blog to chronicle my "new" life.

Please visit me at my new homes:

I am Clarice and this is my life

Events by Clarice

See you!

:)

One long post about being....*

2008-05-12T20:44:00.001+08:00

Okay, okay, okay... I admit I'm a bad blogger. Even Jojie has been making me kulit about blogging (nagugulat kasi siya na sometimes his friends tell him that they read pala this blog kaya feeling proud naman siya. Hahaha!).

Anyway, the reason I wasn't able to blog for a loooooong time is.... tsadan... I'M PREGNANT! Isn't that like the most ironic thing??? I mean, it's ironic after that post "On having a baby". Teeeheeeheee! But then, it just shows how things can not be controlled sometimes (which is such a big realization for me... mwehehehehehe!).

I find out I was pregnant on November 20, which was a few days before the W@W Christmas party. I didn't think I was pregnant kasi I spotted but when my regular period didn't come, I decided to take a pregnancy test and needless to say, it was positive.

The whole pregnancy process (at least from the time I learned I was pregnant up to now that I'm in my 29th week) is one bumpy but happy roller coaster ride for me. For one, I was constantly in a threatened abortion condition (not sure if I used the term correctly) during the first couple of months. I spotted for almost one month so I was put on bed rest. Since Jojie and I live in a condo unit alone and he had to go to the office, we decided to move back to my parents' house. Kasi dun sure ako na may mag-aalaga sa akin. I accomplished everything in bed. My mom and my sister (who were super duper supportive) would feed me in bed and would constantly deep me company para hindi ako ma-bore. Abie sent me bobo novels to keep my mind off things. Jojie bathed me. All these para hindi ako ma-stress at hindi makasama sa baby.

I didn't miss a single wedding. There were times na hindi na ako nagsa-spot tapos dahil sa stress sa wedding, bigla akong magsa-spotting uli. In spite of all the hassles and the worries I went through, wala akong bride na hindi ako yung nagpalakad. :)

Sa super stressful events, sinamahan ako ni Jojie. The most stressful was probably the W@W Party. It went great naman daw sabi nila... hahaha! pero super duper grabe abot sa ceiling ng Fernwood yung stress ko the days before that and OTD. Jojie was with me the whole time and I was clutching my tummy kasi masakit yung puson ko the whole day. (Btw, Mimi and Karl won the Supplier of the Year award. Very well-deserved, I must say. :)) Nagsisi lang ako kasi I wasn't able to have lots of post-nup picture taken despite the 20+ photographers present! Nakapagpa-picture lang kami kay Mel Cortez and kay Chito Cleofas (two of my "favoritest" photogs! :)) pero hindi ko pa rin nakukuha until now. Hehehe!

Morning sickness was hell.... don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And for the life of me, I cannot understand why it's called morning sickness when it starts at 7am and lasts until 12 midnight! Pucha! One third lang dun yung umaga... dapat whole day sickness yun eh. Hahaha!

The transition to being a pregnant working person was very hard for me. Bigla na lang hindi ako makapag-meeting ng hanggang gabi unlike before. Kelangan may driver ako at may yaya na kasama forever.

In my post about having a baby, I think I discussed about being afraid of the changes I'd have to face if I were to get pregnant. I was so right! Totoo nga palang ang daming changes, ang daming sacrifices. I'm not saying I'm not excited to see my baby or that I don't think the sacrifices are worth it but I have to admit that there were times I wasn't too happy. For one, Jojie and I love to travel. We love the beach and goal naman to go to the beach at least once a year. Normally by this time, nakaka-dalawa na kaming alis. But because of my delicate pregnancy, syempre hindi pwede. Oh well, sabi naman ni Jojie we'll travel next year, and since that would be with baby na, mas masaya! :)

Am giving birth in July. As early as now, I'm making sure all my June, July, and August (konti lang yan, don't worry) weddings are fixed. Pati mga song lists, inaayos ko na. Before the month ends, I'll make sure super konti na lang yung kelangan ayusin. I'm very grateful to all my brides. All of them were very supportive when I told them I was pregnant.

So there... this post is just basically to update you on why I wasn't able to blog.

Till next time!

:)

* - a crossover post; also posted in An Event to Remember

You Raise Me Up

2007-10-14T18:35:00.000+08:00

I was so busy with various things that I never paid attention to the fact that Josh Groban is having a concert here. Josh Groban!!! I cannot imagine how it would feel like to actually watch his concert. Haaaaay!

Jojie saw the ad the other day and knew that I would want to watch (O di ba, nung isang araw niya rin lang nakita? Hay exagg sa busy kami no?!). There are only two concert days. October 17 is by-invitation only while Oct 18 has limited tickets. When he looked at the ticket prices though, Php5,000.00 is the cheapest available. So syempre, binale-wala na niya. Sabi niya pa "Seriously?!"

Then when I told him that I really want to watch, he asked me "Eh sino nga ba yang si Josh Groban uli?"

Sabi ko "Hon, siya yung may version ng The Prayer."

"Hmmm..."

"Hon, siya yung kumanta ng You Raise Me Up. Kilala mo na? Alam mo yung You Raise Me Up di ba?"

"Ah... oo nga... you raise me up." I went back to what I was doing and was going to hum You raise me up when Jojie suddenly sang, "You raise me up before you go-go, Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo, You raise me up before you go-go, I don't want to miss it when you hit that high" Tapos tawa siya ng tawa.

Di ba nakakainis?!

:)

new blog

2007-10-12T01:58:00.000+08:00

I'm putting up another blog, solely for weddings and wedding planning. This blog will revert back to my personal blog.

It's not so maayos yet kasi hindi pa napapalitan the background and stuff but please visit. Will transfer my wedding-related posts to that blog soon.

http://aneventtoremember.wordpress.com

:)

on having a baby

2007-10-12T01:25:00.000+08:00

Whenever I meet someone new (be it a bride, a groom, a starbucks barista, or a taxi driver), I always get asked if I'm married. When I say yes, the next question is always if I already have a baby. My standard answer would be "Wala pa. Mukha lang." Then I'll smile. More often than not, the person would laugh. If I'm in luck, the questioning would stop. If not, next question would be "Eh bakit wala pa? Gaano na ba kayo katagal kasal?" I would answer "Two and half years po" and then, believe me, a barrage of (I'm sure) supposed-to-be well-meaning badgering about my biological clock (oh yeah, isa pa pala sa tanong ay kung ilang taon na ako) would ensue. The person would tell me to stop working and to have a baby NOW NA. The joys of motherhood will be explained and I would just smile. Dati sinasabi ko pang "Nag-iipon pa po kasi." Pero nagsawa na rin ako sa "Naku, eh baka masyado kang yumaman!" So ngayon, my standard answer is "Naku, baka mapa-anak ako sa kasal. Hindi pwedeng ma-agawan ng eksena ang bride!" More often that not, that will end it.

Don't get me wrong. As I said, I'm sure these are all well-meaning badgerings. Even my friends, as in closest friends, and my family, ask me sometimes. Ang kaibahan lang, kilala nila ako, and they support what I want. Nakakainis lang when they make me kulit when I don't even know what I want. :(

Oh yeah, I want to have a baby. Not sure if that's now or two years from now. And yes, natatakot ako sa biological clock. Believe me. But I'm scared. Feeling ko super daming changes na mangyayari na baka hindi ko kayanin. I even asked my mom if it will be worth it and she said that it will be. And looking at my friends, I know having a baby will be worth all the sacrifices and the pagod. Love na love nila yung babies nila eh na I'm super touched whenever I see them.

Haaaay! I don't know. Last month, I thought I was pregnant and mejo natakot ako kasi that would mean baka manganak ako ng July eh wedding yun ng isang supplier na kami magko-coordinate. Sabi ng isang friend ko, next year na lang daw ako magpabuntis, pero naisip ko na wedding naman un ng sister ni Melissa Ferrer-Litao. Haaaaay! (Weird my concerns no? Hahaha!)

Another concern pala is I know how much the kapalpakan of a parent can ruin a child's life (kasi yung clients ko dati minsan gusto ko nang i-adopt kasi super palpak yung mga magulang) and I don't want that to happen to my kid. Pero alam ko rin naman that every mom just does best and just hopes that whatever that is, is totoong the best.

Oh well! Kung ano man, I'll just let God do the decision for me. Honestly, I'm okay with not having a baby. I'm super happy right now and getting happier every day. But I'm also excited at the thought of having one. Hahaha! Sabi naman ni Mama, as long as klaro kami ni Jojie sa gusto namin, be it having a baby or not having a baby, then everything will be okay.

:)

P.S. Sorry but one thing I hated pala was when a couple actually asked me if I could state it in my contract na hindi ako mabubuntis during the duration of their preps. Buti na lang I didn't lose my cool. I mean, wala ako balak mag-baby pa talag during that time pero nagulat lang talaga ako. I know, I know, it's their wedding pero hindi ba over yun? I wonder tuloy if they also asked that from their other suppliers. Hmmm...

Oh I know...

2007-09-25T02:51:00.000+08:00

Warning: This post is a product of just continuous typing so I don't even know if it makes sense. :)

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Yeah, I know it's been ages since I've last posted. I've been meaning to but there would always be something more important to do...

It's almost 3:00 am. Jojie is already asleep. I'm finishing something for a bride and I promised myself I won't sleep without finishing it first. I just finished it and I can sleep now but before shutting down my laptop, I checked my personal email first and I got this comment from Nadia. She commented on my last post.

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Hi Clarice!

This is one of those nights when I'm on an out of town assignment and only the internet can make me sleepy. But then I chanced upon your blog while browsing Veluz',so I ended up staying awake all night, enjoying your insights.

Some of your entries have given me a stinging reminder about compassion, some have made me laugh and realize that I shouldn't take some things too seriously. Some just made me a fan. Hehe. Funny how even after my wedding, life still finds a way for you to help me organize and de-clutter-- without you even knowing it, hehehe.

Oh yeah, I've been meaning to tell you pala how Dax and I get a kick out of telling my chupitero Dad na kilala namin yung nagsusulat ng investment advice that he takes as gospel truth sa pagbili ng stocks. Parati ko sinasabi na asawa yung nung wedding coordinator ko and he would just say ganun ba?--- although ilang beses ko na yung sinasabi sa kanya hehehe. Buti na nga lang bullish ang stockmarket lately kaya parati niyang sinasabi, buti na lang sinunod ko yung stock pick ng Abacus. Mwahahaha.

O siya yun lang. Sobra kong natuwa talaga sa blog mo. Wishing you and Jojie all the best...

:)

Nadia

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Sobra ako natuwa. Funny how everytime I even consider changing jobs, a bride (or a former bride) would make me remember that what I do helps them, even in just little ways. Goodness knows I get tired. Sometimes, the never-ending stress of wedding preps gets to me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy what I do and I LOVE my brides pero exagg the stress minsan. It's my job to shield the bride from the stress kahit papano so in the process, I absorb it. It helps a super lot that I was trained to be a counselor. It also helps that I seem to have a personality which easily puts people at ease (siguro part ng pagiging psychologist). My mom keeps telling me to take it slow. Jojie has told me several times to stop and to just finish the weddings I've lined up kasi nga naman we never had a normal life together (no weekends, meetings at night, phone calls at 12midnight from frantic brides, everything has to be planned like six months in advance, I don't get to attend any family events, etc.).

Sometimes, I just want to curl up and cry. Pero di ba nga, may three minute rule? Three minutes lang pwede mag-self-pity? And miraculously, before that three minute is up (syempre metaphorical ito ha), a bride just pops out of the blue to make me remember how much I love this job. Ang galing no?

Si Nadia was my 4th bride. Her wedding was in Hacienda Isabella na, take note, umulan. That was a really unforgettable wedding. First time kong nagtuyo ng kutsara at tinidor sa kitchen para makakain na yung guests. Nag-distribute din ako ng kubyertos at nag-set ng table.

Nadia is an ABS-CBN reporter while Dax was a writer for Inquirer during the time of their wedding so karamihan ng guests nila media people. Mabuti na lang media sila at sanay sa cowboy way of living. Hiyang-hiya ako nun kasi we couldn't even provide dry chairs for the guests. Oh yeah, that was also the first time na nag-sindi ako ng fireworks for the fireworks display. Masyado kasi mahal pag nagpa-OOT pa kami sa fireworks supplier so bumili kami ng light-it-yourself (sorry, kuripot na coordinator). Nung sisindihan na, nawala yung waiter na dapat magsindi so ako yung nagsindi. Ang masakit nun, ang hirap nang sindihan nung susunod na set kasi hindi na ako makalapit! Hahaha!

That wedding made me realize though that having a perfect wedding doesn't just depend on immaculate setup or having a six layer cake; it depends on the couple and the guests. And with the right attitude, even a garden wedding "ruined" by rain can be really wonderful.

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Hi Nads!

I hope you don't mind that I posted your comment on my blog. :)

Thank you so much for dropping by and for perking me up at this time of the night! :)

Alam mo sa lahat ng naging brides ko, ikaw ata yung pinakamadalas kong makasalubong, makabangga, at makita. Hehehe!

Thank you for your comment. I super appreciated it. I was post-hopping through my blog and I realized na ang dami-dami-dami ko na palang nasulat tungkol sa kung anu-ano and it never occurred to me that people actually read my blog. Hahaha! Feeling ko sumusulat lang ako sa sarili ko... parang diary! Mwahahaha!!

Alam mo, for some reason, reading your comment made me want to seriously consider the hobbies and other things that I've been wanting to pursue. Gusto ko mag-tutor for free uli sa public school students, gusto ko mag-photography, gusto ko mag-bake uli, gusto kong matapos yung kurtinang dalawang taon ko nang tinatahi... hahaha! Funny how a simple comment from you inspired me to explore new things.

When you come to think of it, ang galing kasi kahit na I coordinated your wedding, Jojie and I got married just a few months before you and Dax did. So I realized na we're in the same life stage. Ang saya no?

O cia, mahaba na ito. Masyado nang OA yung reply ko. Haha!

Thank you, Nadia. *hugs*

:)

Clarice

I miss my friends

2007-07-16T10:36:00.000+08:00

I know I have Jojie and I'm really happy with him (I actually have an unfinished blog post about how happy I am with my marriage). We talk all the time and I am able to tell him anything and everything. I am also able to tell him if I get hurt with something he does or if I'm irritated with him. But I still miss my friends.

I miss Candice, one of my closest friends and my maid of honor. She's taking up her residency in California right now and although we email and chat once in a while, I miss her terribly. Pag may problema ako, siya pa rin lang yung nasasabihan ko. Kakatawa nga kasi pag nagkikita kami sa chat at napapakuwento ako, I almost always end up crying.

I miss Kat, my "oldest" friend (we've been friends since grade school). She and her husband Dex migrated to the UK. I know she's very happy but the selfish part of me wanted her to stay. Alam mo yun, yung hindi naman kayo nagkikita pag andito kayong dalawa kasi super busy kayo pareho but you realize that you miss your friend when she's gone.

I miss Emily, also one of my closest from college. Emily and Candice were both my barkada in college. Ems is now in France, married to Tony and taking care of their little boy, the super duper gwapo Angelo.

I miss Michelle, my best friend in high school. Jojie and I met through her (siya kasi yung crush talaga ni Jojie). We kinda just... drifted apart and I feel sad and guilty, too, because I didn't make more effort to sustain our friendship.

I miss Jonathan, my guy best friend. Yeah, anjan pa rin siya sa tabi-tabi but we seldom talk to each other now unlike before when we talked almost everyday and until midnight or even until the wee hours of the morning.

I miss Dowa, my wedding-theme buddy, my partner in coordination, my W@Wie sister. She's in Malaysia right now and I know that she's really happy there, especially with Iaree.

I miss Kat-Kat, my closest friend in AC. I miss talking to her about anything and everything.
But then, I have still some of my old friends and several new friends now.

I have Abie, my W@Wie sister, my partner in coordination, my Mang Boy-buddy, my Divi-friend, my super-kasundo-in-everything-can-talk-about-anything friend.

I have Maye who used to be my super malditang kapatid but with whom I've grown closer since I got married (read: left the house). Hehehe!

I have my team... Mitch, Marielle, Au, Mac... whom I spend so much time with that from mere teammates, we've grown to be friends.

I have Tisha, my event stylist for my wedding and still my favorite event stylist in the world! She and I can talk about so many stuff... weddings, married life, the future, politics, movies, other people... mwehehehe! chismisan pala yung ginagawa!

I have Mama na forever naman talagang anjan. Love you, Mama! Mwah!

I guess, life really is this way. You gain friends, you lose friends. People come and go. But everyone I meet leaves an imprint in my life and touches me in a way only that person can.

W@W Party 2007

2007-07-16T10:32:00.000+08:00

During Tita Jet Versoza's (of Josiah's) brithday party last Tuesday in Josiah's UN, I was asked by Benz to coordinate this year's Weddings at Work's Christmas Party. Tentative date is 3rd week of November in Fernbrooks. At least now, hindi na siguro ako ganun mase-stress. For one, I already know what to expect. Last year's party caught our team off guard. Super daming suppliers! Mas marami pa sa W@Wies! We didn't expect that. Plus daming prizes na dumating OTD so kagulo sa pag-register ng prizes. Isa pa, last year, I kinda felt that I had to prove our team's worth. During that time, we have been in business for just a year and a half and we bagged one of the top ten wedding suppliers position. Since hindi naman talaga kami kilala and I don't naman din talaga socialize with so many suppliers AND I heard that other suppliers were asking around who we were and kung magaling daw ba kami, parang feeling ko I needed to prove that we could handle the event. Lastly, given the small number of weddings I have accepted for this year, I do not honestly think (though hoping, of course) that we'll make it to the Top 10 this year so that will be super less stress.

After last year's party, Ronald of Balay said that we did a good job and we have to do it once lang naman so okay na kami. According din to Tisha, John said naman that that was the first time that Benz was not as stressed. Sana totoo yun! Hahaha! So I think all in all, it was an okay job although super dami ko pa gustong ayusin.

Kanina, Tisha and I were texting and we were already thinking of the theme for the party. Mej hindi naman advanced di ba? Hahaha! Looking forward to this year's party!

:)

A really good week...

2007-07-16T09:55:00.000+08:00

Remember my "Good morning!" post? That good morning stretched to a good week!

Teng, my June 29 bride, texted me last also later that day. Her message went:

"Hi Clarice. Pauwi na ko NY bukas. I juts want to thank your crew again, most especially you for all your help sa wedding namin ni Charles. Parang di pa sapat yung thank you and fee to let you know how grateful we are to you. I hope mas maging successful pa kayo. We'll miss you. God bless and ingat palagi.... Mwuah!"

Then last Friday, on my way to my car, our building guard approached me and gave me a card which arrived via mail. It was a card from Sarah and Lesley, our May 26 couple. This was the card they sent.

Aaaaaw! Aren't they sweet?!

For some reason, everytime I even consider quitting coordination, something like this happens... a former bride texts or emails to thank us and I realize how much I really enjoy this job.

Before I end, just want to share this email I got from Tin (our July 1, 2006 bride). Last January, during the time I was so stressed, Concon texted me and told me that I should continue with coordination then Tin emailed me this super duper heartwarming letter.

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Hi Clarice!

This morning, I thought of you. You see, one of my college friends got married on January 12 and last night we met up and talked about our weddings (masaya pala yun! :)).

She shared that her make-up session (also with Madge) ended a little later than scheduled, because she had to stand up and fix a few things every now and then. She was still awake around 1030pm the night before her wedding day texting people and reminding them. She got goosebumps all over the morning of her wedding day because she was too nervous. They forgot to arrange for packed lunch for the suppliers and everyone else in the hotel until a day before. She walked too fast down the aisle. The church boy was all over their pictures simply because they didn't know what to do and he had to tell them pa. At marami pang glitches. I admire her mom though for pulling it off beautifully pa din.

And then I realized, I didn't have the same problems as hers. I was so relaxed and light hearted a week before the wedding, moreso on the day itself (that is until I was ready to walk down the aisle hahahha). Mhel said, it's because I knew we were alright with you around. :) He was right.

So there. I am sending this just to let you know how glad and grateful we are that you and your team played a big part in making our wedding very memorable. Thank you for giving us your best and more. We will never ever regret having you. :)

hugs,

Khristine

ps. madrama ba? naiiyak nga ako oh, promise! :) hehehe

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I oh so love love my brides!

Good morning! :)

2007-07-10T18:57:00.000+08:00

I woke up this morning with a slightly-higher-than-last-night's fever. My energy level was so low and I know I shouldn't go to work or else baka lalo pa lumala. I extended my hand to serach for my phone (a thing I do every morning). I had one unread text message. It said:

"Gd am. Tita Meli to, mom ni Pam. Remember Mla Pen? Nag-attend ako wedding. Compare ko kay Pam. Wala sa 1/4 ang ganda.... Maganda talaga service niyo.... Ngayon pa lang ako magpapa-thank you sa iyo. Isa ka sa nagpaganda ng kasal ng anak ko. God bless."

It was so heartwarming to know how much Tita appreciated the work we did. It made my day.

:)

a groom's speech

2007-07-09T21:14:00.000+08:00

Weddings are all about love. Guests see and feel the love between the bride and groom. After all, that's the reason for the whole celebration.

In Ryan and Juli's wedding, I was reminded again that the love we feel and see during weddings is not just that between the bride and groom. In Ryan's speech, he thanked Juli's parents for allowing him to marry her. He promised Juli to love her and to take care of her in this lifetime and in the next ones. He thanked his Dad for being there for him. He told him that if he, Ryan, does half as good a job as his dad did, he would know that he succeeded. He told the guests that although his biological mother wasn't there, he was sure that she would approve of the decision he made to marry Juli. Lastly (I put this last because I was most touched by this part), he thanked his stepmother whom he simply called "Mom". He thanked her for coming into their lives, for bringing stability, and for making his dad happy.

Weddings are really about love and not just between the bride and groom.

S

2007-07-05T00:35:00.000+08:00

Got home a couple of hours ago from a "presentation" and although Jojie thinks the two hours we spent there were wasted, I don't.

One of my clients was looking into applying for an Ortigas hotel's membership to save on their hotel preps. I called the hotel last Sunday and asked for info about their hotel membership. I was told that the sales office was closed so someone will just call me the following day. Monday passed but I didn't get a call. Tuesday afternoon I called the hotel again. Mejo mainit ulo ko kasi hindi pa dumadating yung order ko from McDo so I was kinda mataray. (Few clients know how mataray I can get. My friends knows it very well. :)) I demanded to know about their membership. After all, how difficult can that be, right? I was told by the customer service girl I was talking to that she doesn't have the authority to discuss the membership with me so I really needed to wait. She let it slip though that they don't have an annual membership but they have time-sharing instead for 30 years. She also let it slip that the cost is around P400,000.00. I lost my interest and told her that no one needs to call me anymore.

After an hour, someone from the said hotel called and offered me a dinner buffet for two at their hotel for tonight. I asked if the invitation was because I'm a coordinator or because of the inquiry I made. He said that I was being invited because of being a coordinator. I asked again and he replied positively that it was because of my job. Since I get calls like this all the time, I didn't anymore think about it. I just said that if I had time, I will drop by.

Since my meeting with Alex Franco at 7pm was cancelled, I had time. I asked Jojie to accompany me, called my contact, and confirmed my attendance.

When we got to the hotel, we were shown to our table. The buffet selection was very simple but nonetheless good. The staff were very courteous. After dinner, we were told that someone was going to show us around the hotel. Again, since this is usually part of the whole thing, it was no biggie so we went with her. The girl, S, was very nice. She was very friendly and had a bubbly personality. We went to a function room and tsadan! I realized that this was like one of the Family First presentations! Jojie had a million reports to finish so mejo tinignan niya ako kasi nga sayang oras. I told him that at least we got free dinner. He jokingly replied that he would have gladly treated me to dinner if he only had known. But because S was very nice, we listened to her presentation. The presentation, ergo the invitation, was indeed about the timesharing. She proceeded to explain the concept to us but since I'm very much familiar with the concept, we told her that she need not explain everything. We actually had a very good time with her. We joked and we laughed. We were finished with the presentation in no time but she said that she needed to talk to us some more or else her boss will scold her for not being able to explain timesharing well. Since Jojie and I were not really interested, we just continued to joke with her. Mangbabara si Jojie tapos matatawa lang kami ni S. Or basta tawa-tawa lang kaming tatlo.

Jojie and I learned that S was just new and in her two weeks working for the company, she has not yet closed a single transaction. We could see that she really hoped that we would buy. We asked her to tell us the price but she said she couldn't; it was her boss who had to present the payment terms. After discussing all we could discuss, we asked her to call her boss. Her boss, E, was also very nice. We could see that he was a good salesman whereas S, though very nice, really needed more sales pointers. The price of the timesharing was almost Php500,000.00 with the usual discounts if we book tonight or if we pay in cash. With all the package inclusions, the price was actually okay but since we're not looking into having a timeshared hotel room right now, buying was out of the question. E left us and when S came back, I had to tell her that we were not buying. She tried to explain to us and to convince us some more but since I am very familiar with the hotel (stayed there a couple of times), I told her some kinks in their sales pitch (like the hotel was definitely not a 5 star hotel). She accepted defeat then she told us, "Naiiyak naman ako" and promptly cried in front of us. Mejo nag-panic naman kami. We were leaving the room na and she went with us but she went straight to the ladies room. I caught up with her and talked to her. When I told her I am a therapist, she cried even more. She talked and I listened. Naawa naman ako sa kanya kasi I could feel how pressured she was. Being new and having closed no accounts yet, she felt hopeless. I left when she seemed better. Pati si Jojie naawa sa kanya and he admitted din that he had a good time kahit papano dahil tawa lang kami ng tawa. :)

We went home feeling really sad for her but knowing that eventually she would be able to close a transaction. Ang hirap lang ng super pressured to make a sale para kumita. Pero ganun ata talaga di ba? The older we get, the more pressured we are to earn money. And again, I felt so blessed to have Jojie and to have my family and to have my small business.

To S, really enjoyed our chat. Good luck on your job! I know that eventually you'll be able to close an account. *hugs*

:-

P.S. Oh, and to add to my guilt feelings even more, because of listening to the presentation we get 7 nights, 8 days stay free in Bali, Indonesia. Since Jojie and I are planning to go to Kuala Lumpur, we can go to Bali too! P1,000 plus lang ticket from KL to Bali eh. Am I bad for feeling happy?

Transformers

2007-07-03T17:50:00.000+08:00

Since I'm not like Pazette, I don't I'll be able to do justice to do the movie if I write about it so I'lll just say this...

ANG GANDA, GANDA, GANDA, GANDA, GANDA, GANDA, GANDA, GANDA, GANDA, GANDA, GANDA, GANDA, GANDA, GANDA, GANDA NG TRANSFORMERS!!!

For someone who was not a fan and who was not able to watch a single epidose of the cartoon series, I really enjoyed watching the movie. The effects were unbelievable! Although there were many too-close shots (a usual criticism of Michael Bay films, I learned), it was one of the best sci-fi films I've seen. Jojie, who is a super fan, was so happy with the film, too. He kept on saying "Ang ganda-ganda!" during the movie. Watch it!

PJ and Abi's onsite video

2007-06-26T13:00:00.000+08:00

Abi is one of the nicest, kindest brides I have had the pleasure of working with. And PJ, her groom, is equally nice and kind... Mukha bang pilit? Hahaha! I like PJ but I like Abi better though kasi palagi ako inaasar ni PJ... Mwahahaha!!! As I told them, they are my only Catholic couple na super ko na-feel yung pagiging Christian nila. Ang bait-bait nila and during our meetings, I can really feel how much they love each other. Abi is very soft-spoken and PJ, although not as soft-spoken (hehehe!), is calm. They look happy together.

About a year a half ago, Abi and PJ went to Baguio to give a testimony during the Couples for Christ convention. PJ's dad introduced Abi to the audience saying that he would be very happy to have Abi as his daughter-in-law. The following day, PJ proposed and Abi said "yes". The day after, PJ's family rushed his dad to the hospital. From what I know, PJ's dad passed away the following day. He passed away without knowing that PJ proposed to Abi and that Abi would indeed be his daughter-in-law.

Their onsite video contains the clip of PJ's dad introducing Abi in the CFC convention. It is the most poignant onsite video I've seen to date (and I've seen hundreds!). Kudos to Bong of Threelogy! Galing, galing, galing!!! Bow ako!

Here is the link to the Threelogy's blog post. http://threelogyvideo.com/blog/?p=154#more-154

And to Abi and PJ, wish you guys lifetime bliss, good health, and dozens of kids! May God super bless you. And PJ, one word of advice po, wag na wag na wag po kayong magsusuot ng white socks with black pants! Nyahahahahaha!

My bus ride today

2007-06-26T01:13:00.000+08:00

Hindi naman ako burgis. Maarte ako pero hindi naman ako sosyal. Pero parang ayaw ko na maulit sa akin ito. :)

My day started with Jojie not feeling well. So instead of attending my 1130am meeting, I moved it to 1pm and I brought him to the doctor instead. Hindi pa kami nakikita ng doctor, I had to go na or else I would be late. I got to the meeting around 5 minutes late so okay lang. Pero sa super duper dami ng pinag-usapan namin, we finished around 430pm. The bride, knowing that I didn't have my car (nag-overheat ako nung isang araw and I needed to bring Arcy to the casa), asked if I would be able to go home. With confidence, I replied, "Oo naman, okay ako lang, ako pa!" I smiled and they left na.

Dahil hindi naman ako sanay sa Festival Mall (I live in QC), I asked around where I can get a cab. I was directed to the other side of the mall. Ang laki-laki ng Festival so ang layo ng linakad ko pero go lang. When I got to the taxi line, linapitan ako ng mga 4 na drayber at tinanong kung san ako pupunta. Sagot ko "Manong, Project 8 po pero may dadaanan lang ako sa Tektite". At ang sagot nila ng lahat "Okay. Mga 1 thousand yun, iha, kasi sa Tektite pa lang seven hunded or eight hundred na." Juice ko! "Ho? Para namang airport taxi!" "Eh magkano ba bayad mo papunta dito?" "Three hundred plus lang po, ako may sagot ng toll." "Eh kami sagot na namin yung toll." When I walked away, one of the drivers even caught up with me and haggled. Six hundred na lang daw hanggang Tektite. Juice ko! Ano ba yun!?

So I walked. May sign na "Bus Terminal" so sabi ko "Aba, bus na lang ako". Ako pa, sinabi ko sa sarili ko na kaya ko namang mabuhay ng walang kotse at taxi. But I realized that it was drizzling and I didn't want to get sick so I went inside the mall to buy an umbrella. Syempre sa kabilang dulo ng mall yung mga payong so bumalik ako dun at bumalik uli sa sakayan. On the way, I passed by National Bookstore to buy a magazine (Real Living). Sabi ko "Might as well spend for something na pwede kong gawin on the way home than pay P800 for a taxi ride!" Syempre pagbalik ko sa labas, wala nang ulan so walang saysay yung pagbili ko. Hahaha!

I walked to the "Bus Terminal". Lo and behold, company buses pala siya! Hahaha! Since I'm naturally an adventurer, I walked lang. Hindi ko alam san papunta pero sinundan ko lang yung mga tao. Lakad ako hanggang umabot ng Alabang-Zapote road. Dala ko yung magazine ko at payong, bag, at files. Syempre while deciding what to do, I couldn't resist buying streetfoods so kumain pa ako ng calamares sa daan (Piso lang isa. Lima binili ko. Masarap na rin. Isasawsaw mo sa suka.) Syemre bumili na rin ako ng pineapple juice. At syempre pati mani, pinadagdagan ko pa ng bawang dun sa manang.

Ito na, lahat ng bus na andun, papuntang Calamba! Hahaha! But I realized that every once in a while, may dumadaan na papuntang Crossing Ibabaw. So alam ko na may saysay na yung pinuntahan ko. Next goal was to actually ride a bus. So nakipag-habulan ako sa bus. Kasi hindi naman sila humihinto eh. Hahabulin ko sila. O di ba, isipin mo na ang dami kong dala at nakikipaghabulan ako. Sa arte kong ito!!! Hahaha! Nakasakay ako pero hindi aircon. Ayala Ilalim which is good and Crossing Ibabaw which is what I needed kasi I'd meet Jojie sa Shangri-La. PERO Sucat at Bicutan din. So ibig sabihin susuyurin niya pa yung Sucat at Bicutan! Pero sabi ko okay lang. Umupo na ako at kumain ng mani.

After 20 minutes, umabot na sa Metro Star (tama ba?) yung bus. Nakita ko na na maraming aircon buses dito so I got off and walked to the front of the bus pila. At least dun aircon yung mga bus. Eksakto, pagdating ko, Crossing Ibabaw yung bus! And, I couldn't believe my eyes "Skyway Derecho"!!! I was so happy that I boarded the bus. Pag-akyat ko ng unang step, may bumababa na tatlong tao. I gave way syempre. Pag akyat ko uli, puno na pala yung bus. As in wala nang upuan ni isa! But I so wanted to ride this bus kasi "Skyway Derecho" eh. Sabi nung kunduktor, "Dito ka na lang, miss, kung gusto mo. Wala nang upuan eh," referring to a can beside the driver. Hindi man lang upuan. Lata lang talaga. As in lata ng malaking Alaska. Or Promil kung sosyal ka. Pero dahil talagang nagmamadali ako, umupo ako. So ang liit ko ikumpara sa lahat ng tao. Mukha akong gusgusin at I'm sure mukha akong nakakaawa so I got my magazine and started reading. O di vah? Kahit na sa lata ako nakaupo, tungkol naman sa condo living ang binabasa ko! Hahaha!

When the bus reached Magallanes, many people got off and I decided to, too. I walked to the MRT station and rode the train to Shang. Sabi ko naman maarte ako pero hindi ako reklamadora and cowboy naman ako pero sana hindi ko na kailanganing umupo sa lata sa tabi ng drayber eber!

:)

Ging and Jojie

2007-06-20T00:10:00.000+08:00

Jojie and I love photography and pictures. Although we only have a point-and-shoot camera, we literally have thousands of pictures together. This slideshow was made by Jojie originally for our Cebu trip but he decided to just include whatever picture he wanted.

:)

Uno na si Dos!

2007-06-19T23:06:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday, June 17, Ronald Rosales Correos II, or Dos, turned one. The youngest of Ronald and Tisha's (of Balay Kandila) kids, Dos is Ronald's "the second", hence his nickname.

Discussing Dos' birthday party started months ago. In fact, last year pa I knew na that our team would be coordinating the event.* The real planning, however, started two weeks before the event. Syempre cramming forever... kami pa ni Tisha!!! LOL! Sabi nga namin palagi, ano akala mo sa amim, efficient?!?!?! Hahaha! Iba kasi pag para sa client at iba kung para sa amin lang. :)

Tisha was very clear with not having a just-for-kids birthday party. She wanted a party the adults would enjoy. Sabi niya since hindi naman daw maiintindihan ito ni Dos, might as well do something she'll enjoy! Mwahahahaha! The idea for a flip-flops party came later on. In one of our brainstorming sessions, the idea of setting it in "Boracay" was agreed upon. We were also clear with not having the traditional magician cum host since we already did that for Waddy's and we're probably also doing that for X's. Isa pa pala, we were clear on requiring the guests to come on flip-flops... no shoes allowed!

Come day of the party, our team arrived at Fernwood Coral Tree Garden at 10am. The invitation said 3pm so we were expecting people to come in a quarter to 3. I wanted an earlier call time pero super pagod rin kasi yung team namin from a wedding the day before so hindi ko naman sila ma-force to go super early. When we got there, the first order of the agenda was to have our nails done. I brought my trusty hairdresser/manicurist/pedicurist to Fernwood to do our team's pedicure pero syempre ang pinaka-nauna si Ronald! Haha!

I briefed the team on what was going to happen and we started inventory na. Ang dami namin at ang dami pang oras pero parang ang daming kelangan gawin!!! Buti na lang naayos naman lahat just on time. Ang galing ng team ng Balay Kandila! Ang ganda-ganda nung setup. Super bilib talaga ako sa kanila. Syempre rin hindi pahuhuli ang Josiah's. Sir Rommel was our captain waiter. Ang bait-bait niya talaga. Super efficient. Kaya ko rin talaga love ang Josiah's kasi ang galing ng wait service nila (bukod sa masarap food nila.) Yung isang lamesa ata limang beses kong pinalipat ng pwesto kay Rommel pero ni hindi ako nakarinig ng kahit anong angal or nakaramdam ng kahit anong inis on his part. Super super love ko siya.

By 2pm, mejo okay na kami. Super konti na lang ang kelangan ayusin. My team was nanggigitata na sa pawis. They wanted to go to my parents' house to take a bath pero hindi na kaya ng time. Buti na lang may bridal room and Fernwoods. Nanghiram na lang kami ng kwarto at dun kami naligo lahat. :)
By 3pm, everything was set up. We had four game booths. We had Ring a Surfboard, Starducks Dart a Balut, Tumbang Preso Presto, and Wackee Munkey. The RIng a Surfboard was the usual ring a bottle but instead of bottles, we had surboards, hehe! Starducks was the usual dart the balloon pero there were balloons with baluts as prizes. The Tumbang Preso was the usual tumbang preso... may lata na kelangan nilang tumbahin. The Wackee Munkey was basketball with a monkey holding the basket and instead of shoting a ball, you shoot a banana. Sa lahat ng ito, when you win, you get a feather, which you can exchange for prizes in the Prize Pit.

We also had a Dress Up Your Flip Flops corner. The idea was from the Havaianas "convention" where they could dress up their flips flops. So we had setup a corner with super daming beads, flowerettes, ribbons, etc. and kids and adults alike were encouraged to dress up their flops.

Balay also made a photo booth with a family of flip-flops. Super cute nito at super patok!!!

Setup wise, we had banners, japanese lanterns, ottomans, low tables for the kids, and beach chairs just scattered around.

Food... we had Mongolian buffet, fish fillet with curry mayo, baked spag, pork BBQ, and chicken lollipop from Josiah's; roast beef from Albergus; tapa courtesy of Tisha's friend; sorbetero cart and balut corner from Josiah's; mini-burgers, fishball, and fruit shakes from Party Time; a dessert bar with flat tops, sampaloc, and other pinoy candies; and my most favorite of all... mangga at bagoong stall from Tisha's manangs.

Guests started to come in at 3pm. At the registration table, the guests were given their nametags and were aked to get two friendship bracelets from a basket. We started the program at around 4pm as per the agreement with Tisha. L.A., BK's former practicumer, hosted the event. She was very good. Hindi siya pro pero may stage presence. I have to admit that I was not very supportive of Tisha's idea to have her host pero she did really well. There was no program really. LA just led the prayer and explained what awaits the guests. She talked for less about 5 minutes lang tapos open na the food booths, buffet table, and game booths. During this time Katukayo, a really good reggae band, played na.

After Katukayo's first set, we had the program games like Bring Me, etc. Okay naman kasi enjoy naman the kids.

Birthday candle blowing came after. Super panic attack ako dito kasi hindi namin masindihan yung kandila kasi ang lakas ng hangin. Buti na lang suppliers yung mga guests and they helped. Bong of Threelogy and Mallory Ferrer Cosio (Mal, super thank you for helping. Na-touch talaga ako nung lumapit ka.) helped cover the candle. Lisa of Kasalan signalled Katukayo to just repeat the Happy Birthday song over and over. :) Thanks, you guys! :)

After the candle blowing, we had a bubble show and then LA closed the program na. Loot bags were distributed to the kids and flip-flops key chains were distributed to the adults.

I think the guests enjoyed the party. Alam ko kami super nag-enjoy. After the program my whole team had out pictures taken over and over plus kinareer nila yung decorate the flip-flops. Natuto na kami from last year's party. Last year hindi kami nag-enjoy so this year, nakabawi na kami. :)

When I met with Tisha the day after, super high pa siya. It was the really great feeling of knowing that you just threw a really fantastic party. So next stop would be X's dinosaur-themed party and Bethia's (second child of Ms. Veluz and Sir Rene) Wings-themed party. Saya ng kid's birthdays!

:)

* Around middle of last year, Tisha told me that she was planning for the 7th birthday of Waddy, their eldest. Although I treated Ronald and Tisha as friends and I was ready to help, I also knew that they were friends with SOOOO many other coordinators na feeling ko super dyahe to offer our team's services. Sa dami ng friends nila na coordinators na mas matagal na sa amin sa industry (plus they also used to coordinate years ago), nakakahiya talaga na mag-offer kasi baka masabihan pa ako ng pumapapel eh kabago-bago ko sa planning business. :) But then, exactly a month before the target date, Tisha called me and seriously asked for our team's services. Syempre I said yes. Bukod sa pagbabayad ng utang na loob kasi they made my wedding so beautiful, I was really touched (and flattered na rin) that they asked me. One month before the date, wala kaming kahit ano but come the day of the event, super wagi ang party! The kids enjoyed it so much. So naging usapan na rin that our team would also do Dos' birthday and also X's birthday this coming October. Incidentally, when Benz of W@W saw me and Tisha discussing the Waddy's party, she asked me to coordinate the Weddings@Work Xmas party kasi daw mukha daw dumadali yung buhay ni Tisha nung nag-uusap na kami. LOL!

2 and 1/2 years and going strong...

2007-06-15T00:05:00.000+08:00

Jojie and I had a very petty fight last night which ended with him going home and me staying at the office. I had to work but with my mind distracted from the "fight", I took time to surf the net (supposedly to clear my mind but I was really just playing hooky). Kakatawa kasi kaka-bloghop ko (I do not read clients' blogs eh but I do read my ka-batch sa W@W plus my fellow suppliers' blogs) umabot ako sa wedding website namin and I was able to read our story... like how we met and how we ended up together and how he proposed. I remember the time that I was doing that website, I didn't know anything about website making... kapa-kapa lang. This also made me realize how arte a bride I was and how much time I had in my hands during my wedpreps days! LOL!

I think I'm pretty lucky that Jojie and I are doing really well in our marriage. We've been married for two and half years and I know super dami pa naming pagdadaanan but I'm so proud of the things we've achieved so far.

I remember arguing over my schedule during the first few months of our marriage. Di ba ang usapan homemaker ako? To begin with, hindi naman ako super duper malinis sa house. Unlike Jojie's mom who did general cleaning every week (no kid!), sa bahay namin hindi ganun. Eh during our first few months, super maayos ako (hahaha! best foot forward) but when I started getting busy, napapabayaan ko na.

When we were able to resolve this and Jojie kinda acepted that I was busy (you have to remember that I didn't work during the wedpreps so wala talaga ako ginagawa tapos bigla akong nagkatrabaho na gabi ang meetings at weekends ang pinaka-stressful na araw so exagg talaga), naging super okay na kami. During that time, we bought Arci/Arcy na. Arci/Arcy (sorry can't remember the right spelling right now) is our Honda Civic. Kaya Arci/y kasi the plate number is JGC which stands for Jojie and Ging's Civic. Arci/y is its nickname kasi Our Civic... Arcivic... Arci... Gets? LOL!

I was so happy during that time. Feeling ko paunti-unti nakaka-pundar na kaming mag-asawa. We pooled our savings for the downpayment and ang saya talaga. Then Jojie was paralyzed and was subsequently diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. Ay! Umikot ang mundo ko. Totoo pala na nawawala ang saysay ng lahat pag nagkakasakit yung mga mahal mo. That particular time when we were waiting for the diagnosis and ilang beses kaming nagpa-confine was the most difficult period in my life. Wala pa kaming isang taon mag-asawa nun tapos ganun na. :(

January of 2006, Jojie had his thyroid ablated. So hindi na siya mapa-paralyze uli. Yehey! Akala ko okay na but we were in for another round of complications. According to statistics, a significant number of patients who have their thyroids ablated develpp hypothyroidism ten to twenty years after the procedure. Syempre ang asawa ko overachiever... two months after inalisan ng thyroid may hypothyroidism naman. Hypothyroidism is usually accompanied by weight gain (ay! from 180lbs before the wedding, he reached 220lbs during the peak of hy hypothyroidism), lethargy, sluggishness, weakness, memory loss, etc. Although he was taking a thyroid supplement, tagal bago na-regulate his thyroid hormone levels. This period made me realize how strong my husband is. Kung nahirapan siya sa hyperthroidism, mas nahirapan siya sa hypo pero kahit alam kong hirap na hirap siya, he kept on going. Ang hirap pero kaya... kayang-kaya.

Then last November, my coordination team was named one of 2006 Top Ten Wedding Suppliers of the Year. Haaay super dream come true! A few people know this but I was a W@Wie when the first W@Wie Awards was held and I distinctly remember seeing Jody being given her medal for being one of the Top Ten Suppliers that time and I distinctly remember telling myself that I will enter the wedding industry and I will be named one of the Top Ten Suppliers. So being named one of the Top Ten was really a big thing for me. Yun lang ang pangarap ko at pakiramdam ko pwde na akong mag-"retire". Hahaha!

Jojie was really happy for me. Aside from our fight re my schedule during the first few months he was really very supportive of my newfound career. Andun siya pag may meetings ako... well, he didn't sit with me and my clients LOL but he made me sundo everytime gabi na ako. Siya nag-a-absorb ng stress ko. Pag umiiyak ako sa stress, he hugged me. He was a major, major reason for our team's win (syempre bukod sa staff and sa clients and sa fellow suppliers).

But after that really happy period, I realized that the stress I go through during weddings was not worth it kasi nag-iiba na akong tao. Parang hindi na ako counselor, hindi na ako life-giving the way naghihigpit ako sa members ko. And this was when I decided to take a step back. I thought really long and hard. Gusto ko pa ba ituloy ito or gusto ko na tapusin na lang lahat ng commitments ko? I didn't entertain inquiries at all. Deadma na kung sabihan ng nang-iisnab kaysa tumaggap ako only for me to just quit in the end. Ang tagal kong nag-isip. Masaya pa ba ako? Jojie encouraged me to REALLY think. And I realized that events planning made me happy and so I decided to continue working. Buti na lang Jojie still supported my decision. However, although we were generally doing fine, the sould-searching prompted me to instill several changes in the way we handle things para mas efficient and mas makatulong sa couples. Ako kasi when I do something, never half-hearted, so since I decided to go through with wedding planning, aayusin ko pa lalo.

During this time of soul-searching, Jojie and I put up our own fire extinguisher manufacturing business. Weird no? Hahaha! But Jojie grew up with his dad being in this business and he has such a passion for it that I supported him kahit na nung una hindi ko talaga naiintindihan kung bakit fire extinguishers of all things. Hahaha! I remember when Jojie told me about his plans of putting up this business, he also asked my permission. Ang tanong ko lang, "Sigurado ka ba, hon?" He replied with conviction, "Yes". And I told him na susuportahan ko siya.

Ngayon, we're doing okay... I'm still in the process of instilling the changes that I want in the team (Do you know, I so love working with my team? Super ko sila love talaga.) and Jojie's busy with his work as a stock market analyst and we're both trying to boost sales for our firex company. We're doing really good and I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful husband. I thank God everyday for giving me Jojie. And after 30 months of being married, masaya pa rin to wake up next to him. We go on dates and we love spending time with each other. Pag iniisip ko yung buhay namin so far, parang walang panahon na walang major thing happening... pero alam ko din na ano pa man yung dumating, sigurado ako na kakayanin namin. Kasi ganun lang yun.

:(

2007-06-15T00:01:00.000+08:00

Jojie has been so stressed lately and I don't know what to do to help him. :( The stock market has been realy bullish lately which has been one of his greatest dreams for the longest time but also translates to so many reports to write, so many models to update, so many meetings to set, and so many interviews to conduct. Dami ko rin naman ginagawa so hindi ko siya maasikaso. :( Haaaaay!

Staff concerns

2007-06-14T01:17:00.000+08:00

Ang hirap maghanap!!! Our team is currently in need of new coordinators. No, we're not putting up a second team but we do need more people to be included in our pool of coordinators. Madali lang naman requirements. I need someone responsible, assertive, smart, efficient, someone who is alert the whole time, and someone who can think on her toes (kahit sumisigaw na ako sa harap niya). Since I was able to find several people with these traits, hindi ba dapat pwedeng makakuha ng iba pa? Kung meron man, hindi naman pretty... this may sound bad but I do need someone super presentable or basta may authority yung dating. Contrary to popular conception, wedding planning is NOT a glamorous job... it involves being on your knees to tie someone else's shoes, being on the floor to arrange the veil, assisting the bride while she pees... So i need to make sure that the coordinator, after doing all these, still looks presentable or else baka hingan kami ng tubig ng mga guests sa reception (as in "Miss, tubig nga!"). Kahit sa mga waiters, it's hard to command respect pag hindi ka presentable. Hindi naman porket magpakilala ka na coordinator rerespetuhin ka ng mga suppliers. You need to earn that and looking nice makes the job a little, teeny, weeny bit easier. (Oo na, Emily, I know I'm not practicing what I learned in UP.) Plus pa pala, she needs to jive with the whole team kasi promise, we always laugh. I need someone kikay pero cowboy.

I did interview someone last week who might fit the bill. Super gushing siya about how excited she is to be a coordinator. Juice ko, nung tapos na yung interview and I told her to come in for an observation, she told me that she doesn't want to go inside a catholic church. Ay juice! Gusto ko siyang awayin sa loob ng Starbucks! Ang tagal naming nag-usap hindi niya pala naintindihan na ang "wedding coordinator" may kinalaman sa pagpasok sa loob ng simbahan! Juice! Sabi ko sa kanya, "Iha, walumpung-limang porsyento ng Pilipino ay Katoliko. Ergo, karamihan din ng kasal sa Pilipinas Katoliko!" Haaaaay!

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Hey! If you know someone who is interested in wedding coordination (our team prefers those with no prior experience), please ask them to email their resume to eventtoremember@gmail.com.

:)

Peachie and Wilbert

2007-06-12T11:08:00.000+08:00

Peachie and Wilbert's wedding last Saturday was not the usual Chinese wedding. :)

Preps was done at the bride and groom's respective houses. Normally, I do not recommend preparing for a wedding at the bride's home. The parents are more often than not more anxious since they are in effect "hosting" the suppliers. Whereas in a hotel, our team has the run of the room and we can just call housekeeping for anything, in a bride's house, we have to ask for permission for every little thing. Concern din ang aircon because if the bride's home does not have centralized airconditioning, it might be too hot for the bride to stay in certain areas of the house where the picture taking may take place (plus her makeup might melt). Also, since our team does not have a groom's coordinator (we do not see the need for it kasi talaga), we have a harder time making sure that the groom leaves at the time that he needs to leave since we're at the bride's home.

In the case of Peachie's wedding last Sunday, preparing at their house was a non-negotiable thing for her parents. I was really anxious kasi the wedding was at San Agustin in Intramuros while their house, ergo the preps venue, was in Quezon City! Although Sunday naman pero kakatakot pa rin ma-late lalo na sa San Agustin pa.

Our call time was 830am to 900am and my team assembled at 8am. Yun lang, stupid me couldn't find my trusty Nike wedding shoes at first and it took me several minutes to realize that I left it at my parents' place. So I had to go there befor I could go to our team's meeting place. We got to Peachie's place around 845am.

Another thing why I do not want to prepare at the bride's place is... and this is not to sound arrogant... the pictorial spots at a normal home is limited kasi bihira naman yung may bahay na tipong straight from Real Living pages. But in Peachie's case, super ganda ng house niya for pictorial. No exagg pero mas maganda pa sa hotel room yung Master's bedroom where we had the preps. May staircase din sila where pictures can be taken so it was actually a good idea to hold the preps there kung sa picture at sa picture lang naman. :)

The preps went very smoothly. The bride's mom just had an appendectomy and kakalabas niya pa lang ng hospital that morning pero she was game. I really appreciated the fact that she was not pa-importante kahit na may operasyon siya. She was really nice. Actually, the bride's family was very accommodating... and super ganda lahat ng girls sa family nila. :)

A funny thing happened during the preps. Dino Lara's team and Threelogy arrived around 11:00 am. Sabi daw kasi ni Dino sa kanilang lahat bawal daw mag-sapatos loob ng bahay nila Peachie so LAHAT sila pumasok ng naka-medyas lang! Super nakakatawa!!! Isip ko nga next time dapat may dala akong camera palagi para I can capture those moments. Hahaha!

I left Peachie's house around 1230pm to test the traffic. We arrived in Intramuros at 115pm so tolerable naman the traffic, sa Quiapo lang. When we got there, the coordinators for the 2pm wedding were preparing na.

We started preps for the ceremony as soon as the 2pm wedding started. Since nagdadatingan na rin naman yung mga sponsors, we started checking the attendance na. One thing I realized that our team really needs to master is tying neckties kasi ang daming hindi alam mag-tie ng necktie nila eh.

The mass went without a hitch. The thing I'm most proud of is the fact that we were able to clear the area beside the carpet between the doors and the pews. Pag Chinese wedding kasi andun lahat ng guests so what happens is hindi nakukuhanan yung bride ng wide angle pic na hindi nakikita yung isang libong guests na nakatayo. The task was actually not easy since some guests were being very unhelpful (I was told by one of the guests when I asked her to occupy the pews "Ayoko, ayoko, ayoko!")

After the mass, the couple went to the Inner Courtyard for the pictorial while the rest of the team went to Century. When we arrived at the reception venue, papasok pa lang yung Balay Kandila, the event stylist. The ingress was at 430pm, imagine!!! Ingress is normally, at the least, 4 hours before the event pero dahil may lunch event na isang Chinese Association (na I'm sorry pero super duper hirap paalisin), nakapasok yung Balay Kandila just before 5pm.

We immediately started preps for the reception. Buti na lang super bilis ng Balay, ni Alex Franco (for the cake), and ni Strad (for the sound system). By 630pm, almost done na and we were able to open doors at exactly 7pm (as per the agreement with the couple).

The Century function hall was transformed! Nag-mukhang ballroom ng hotel! Ang galing talaga ni Balay Kandila kaya rin they're my favorite stylist. :)

The program was very short and sweet. Cake cutting lang and two AVPs basically yung laman ng program. Super okay talaga pag ganun kasi the guests were not bored (and the guests numbered 900 nga pala!). Paulo Clemente and the RSVP String Ensemble entertained the guests and entertained they did! Ang galing nila! It was my first time to work with RSVP and I understood Paulo's comment that it was great to sing with them kasi hindi sila nagkakamali. :)

The program ended exactly the same time the last course was being served which was exactly our goal. Ganun kasi sa Chinese wedding. The program cannot end after the guests are done eating, otherwise lahat sila umaalis na. :(

Another funny incident, after the program, Marielle and I ran to the Century Hotel lobby (mejo malayo yun ha!) to run after guests who took the centerpieces home. It slipped my mind that aside from the main entrance, there was a side entrance, and guests who knew that we were at the main entrance watching out for vases went out of the side entrance so they can make puslit! Hahaha! Buti may mga naabutan naman kami. I even requested Robert of Dino Lara's team to take a picture of the two of us holding the vases we were able to sequester. Hehehe!

By the way, Candy, my January 27 bride, dropped by to see Balay's work. She chatted with the suppliers and nag-enjoy siya. Sa kulit ba naman ng Threelogy at sa bait ni Alex eh. :)

I got home past 12 midnight. Super kapagod (ushering 900 guests is not an easy task) pero super saya, espcailly running to the lobby for those vases!

:)

never trust an itlog from the tatlong itlog...

2007-06-10T00:17:00.001+08:00

I got home late today from my meetings. With tomorrow's task list still unfinished, I was kinda in a panic na. Then around 930pm, my phone rang. Unrecognized yung number. I didn't want to answer the call pero baka important and baka yung bride tomorrow so I answered. The conversation went basically like this:

Me: Hello?
Guy: Hello! Good evening. May I speak with Ms. Clarice?
Me: Speaking. Who's this, please? (In my thoughts, kilala ko ito! Kilala ko ito!)
Guy: Oh hi! Mag-i-inquire lang...
Me: Yes? (Sino ito?!?!?!)
Guy: For a wedding. You came highly recommended by the community.
Me: Oh, you're a W@WiE?
Guy: Yes.
Me: Ikaw mismo yung W@Wie or yung wife mo? (If this is a real groom, cool! Pero baka niloloko lang ako nito ah!)
Guy: Couple kami.
Me: Oh, ok! When's your wedding?
Guy: 2008 pa.
Me: When in 2008?
Guy: January 2. Are you still available?
Me: January 2. Hmmm... I'll check ha.. (Sino ba to???)
Guy: Yeah, it's in Boracay kasi.
Me: (Checking the calendar and thinking 'sino ba ito?', 'tuesday ang january 2,', and 'tatanggapin ko ba ito?' all at the same time) I think we're still available.
Guy: Mejo nahihiya nga ako sa iyo kasi kakatapos lang ng New Year and syempre you have to be there.
Me: Hmmm.... I would have to ask my team and my husband... (Super wanting to ask, Sino ka ba??? Natatawa na ako by this time and my husband, upon hearing the date January 2, was signalling me NOT to accept the wedding, ang sama na nga ng tingin niya sa akin eh.)
Guy: Pero parang you don't want to. Parang you're turning me down na.
Me: (not wanting to be rude) No, no. I was doing something kasi.
Guy: Oh okay. You were doing something... pero parang you don't want.
Me: (Hmmm.... yeah din... ) No, no, no... (Pag tinanong ko kung sino siya at totoo pala siyang groom, nakakahiya! Ano kaya gagawin ko?)

BIGLANG...

Guy: Clarice! Si CJ ito!!!
Me: CJ!!! G*gu ka talaga! Hahahaha!

... Haaaay! :-D

Yun lang!

:)

sari-sari

2007-06-06T21:21:00.000+08:00

i am currently listening to lea salonga's broadway concert. she's so good!!! i really love her!

=0=0=

last year, our team had 8 weddings in may. there was even a week that we had 5. this month, i only accepted 4 for the whole month but my stress level was the same, if not higher. siguro kasi out of the 4, 3 were full coordination. lesson learned: limit to 2 full coordination in a month.

=0=0=

i remember last year, i was so stressed during one of the weddings... everything was going wrong... the bride lost her arrhae the morning of the wedding (she had two and she lost both. :)) and she wanted a traditional arrhae (yung nasa cage!!!) and we couldn't find a shop which carried one... buti na lang na-convince siya in the end to just use loose coins... the mother of the groom had her own timeline and she didn't listen to our constant pangungulit na magbihis na... ending, she was two minutes late for the ceremony and she wasn't able to march (manila cathedral is super duper strict when it comes to time... isang beses lang kaming pinayagang maging late dun, nung ninang si PGMA)... the emcee, a friend of the couple, was 45 minutes late and the couple wanted to wait for her... basta ang daming small glitches that my stress level was so high... when dinner came, the emcee explained that it was photo-buffet but the guest singer, when he had the mic, asked everyone to go to the buffet table! eh di nagtayuan kalahati ng ballroom to go to the buffet! that exact moment when i turned my back to find half the ballroom gone was so surreal! parang slowmo sa pelikula. i radioed one of my coordinators to take over my post, went to the hotel veranda, and cried. i even called jojie and told him what happened. after three minutes, i went back inside (i have a rule, 3 minutes lang pwedeng mag-self-pity :)) to oversee the reception again.

that was the first and only time that the photo-buffet was not perfect. since then, super proud na yung team namin sa photo-buffet. we also made sure to brief anyone who will be handling the mic about the photo-buffet procedure.

:)

=0=0=

even before we got married, jojie and i agreed that i would be a homemaker. when i started coordination, my self-concept was that i was still a homemaker and just a part-time coordinator. kahit na ang dami ko nang meetings, i don't wash our clothes (we have a neighborhood laundromat which picks up and delivers our clothes), i rarely get to cook (we eat out most of the time), i seldom clean the house, feeling ko pa rin homemaker ako. last week, i finally admitted that i needed help and today i hired a cleaning lady. hooray for city living!

=0=0=

:)

2007-05-19T23:47:00.000+08:00

Haaaay! Try as I might, I cannot blog regularly. Parang ang dami-daming kelangan gawin at tapusin. Ayooko namang mag-blog nang ang daming backlog so ang ending, di ako maka-blog!

:(

MAKE new roads, BLAZE new trails, FIND new routes to your dreams

2007-05-04T13:46:00.000+08:00

This is truly inspiring.

:) CTA

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Mikaela Irene Fudolig
BS Physics Summa Cum Laude
Speech at the UP Diliman Commencement Exercises
April 22, 2007

One of the things that strike me as being very "UP Diliman" is the way UPD students can't seem to stay on the pavement. From every street corner that bounds an unpaved piece of land, one will espy a narrow trail that cuts the corner, or leads from it. Every lawn around the buildings sports at least one of these paths, starting from a point nearest to the IKOT stop and ending at the nearest entry to the building. The trails are beaten on the grass by many pairs of feet wanting to save a fraction of a meter of traveling, no matter that doing so will exact some cost to the shoes, or, to the ubiquitous slippers, especially when the trails are new.

What do these paths say about us, UP students?

One could say that the UP student is enamored with Mathematics and Pythagoras, hence these triangles formed by the pavement and the path. Many among you would disagree. Others could say that the UP student is naturally countercultural. And the refusal to use the avement is just one of the myriads of ways to show his defiance of the order of things. This time, many would agree.
Still, others will say that the UP student is the model of today's youth: they want everything easier, faster, now. The walkable paths appeal to them because they get to their destination faster, and presumably, with less effort. Now that is only partly true, and totally unfair.

These trails weren't always walkable. No doubt they started as patches of grass, perhaps overgrown. Those who first walked them must have soiled their shoes, stubbed their toes, or had insects biting their legs, all in the immovable belief that the nearest distance between two points is a straight line. They might even have seen snakes cross their paths. But the soiled footwear, sore toes, and itchy legs started to conquer the grass. Other people, seeing the yet faint trail, followed. And as more and more walked the path, the grass gave in and stopped growing altogether, making the path more and more visible, more and more walkable.

The persistence of the paths pays tribute to those UP students who walked them first – the pioneers of the unbeaten tracks: the defiant and curious few who refuse the familiar and comfortable; the out-of-the-box thinkers who solve problems instead of fretting about them; the brave who dare do things differently, and open new opportunities to those who follow.

They say how one behaved in the past would determine how he behaves in the future. And as we leave the University, temporarily or for good, let us call on the pioneering, defiant, and brave spirit that built the paths to guide us in this next phase of our life.

We have been warned time and again. Our new world that they call "adulthood" is one that's full of compromises, where success is determined more by the ability to belong than by the ability to think, where it is much easier to do as everyone else does. Daily we are bombarded with so much news of despair about the state of our nation, and the apparent, perverse sense of satisfaction our politicians get from vilifying our state of affairs. It is fashionable to migrate to other countries to work in deceptively high-paying jobs like nursing and teaching, forgetting that even at their favored work destinations, nurses and teachers are some of the lowest paid professionals. The lure of high and immediate monetary benefits in some low-end outsourcing jobs has drawn even some of the brightest UP students away from both industry and university teaching to which they would have been better suited.

Like the sidewalks and pavement, these paths are the easiest to take.

But, like the sidewalks and pavement, these paths take longer to traverse, just as individual successes do not always make for national progress. The unceasing critic could get elected, but not get the job done. The immigrant could get his visa, but disappear from our brainpower pool. The highly paid employee would be underutilized for his skills, and pine to get the job he truly wants, but is now out of his reach. And the country, and we, are poorer because of these.

Today, the nation needs brave, defiant pioneers to reverse our nation's slide to despair. Today, we must call upon the spirit that beat the tracks. Today, we must present an alternative way of doing things.

Do NOT just take courage, for courage is not enough. Instead, be BRAVE! It will take bravery to go against popular wisdom, against the clichéd expectations of family and friends. It will take bravery to gamble your future by staying in the country and try to make a prosperous life here. It might help if, for a start, we try to see why our Korean friends are flocking to our country. Why, as many of us line up for immigrant visas in various embassies, they get themselves naturalized and settle here. Do they know something we don't?

Do NOT just be strong in your convictions, for strength is not enough. Instead, DEFY the pressure to lead a comfortable, but middling life. Let us lead this country from the despair of mediocrity. Let us not seek to do well, but strive to EXCEL in everything that we do. This, so others will see us as a nation of brains of the highest quality, not just of brawn that could be had for cheap.

Take NOT the road less traveled. Rather, MAKE new roads, BLAZE new trails, FIND new routes to your dreams. Unlike the track-beaters in campus who see where they're going, we may not know how far we can go. But if we are brave, defiant searchers of excellence, we will go far. Explore possibilities, that others may get a similar chance. I have tried it myself. And I'm speaking to you now.

But talk is cheap, they say. And so I put my money where my mouth is. Today, I place myself in the service of the University, if it will have me. I would like to teach, to share knowledge, and perhaps to be an example to new UP students in thinking and striving beyond the limits of the possible. This may only be a small disturbance in the grass. But I hope you'll come with me, and trample a new path.

Good evening, everyone.

Things that happen only to me...

2007-04-23T11:24:00.000+08:00

Last Christmas season, I ordered pearl rosary bracelets to be given to the people I wanted to
thank. With my schedule, however, I wasn't able distribute the bracelets. Sabi ko, pag nakita ko na
lang yung mga tao, dun ko na lang ibibigay.

Last week, I went to Josiah's in Marikina and I saw Tita Jet Versoza, Josiah's first lady. :) She told me that she has something to give me. I told her I also have something for her which I wasn't able to give her yet. The following day, I had to go to Josiah's again and that time, I remembered to
bring the bracelet. Tinanong ko pa sarili ko kung nakakahiya bang ibigay yung bracelet kasi baka
isipin niya masyadong cheap pero inisip ko naman na pearls naman yun so hindi naman siguro
nakakahiya masyado. When I arrived at Josiah's, I immediately went to Tita Jet's office to give her my gift. It was in a little box with a ribbon. I also gave her a belated Christmas card. She accepted the gift and thanked me. She said she also had something for me. I thanked her and went back to my client. A while later, Ms. Lirio, one of Josiah's AEs, came up to me and gave me Tita Jet's gift. It was a white paper bag. I thanked Ms.Lirio and took a peek at the contents of the bag. It had lotion, an army knife, and another box. Natuwa ako kasi gusto ko yung lotion and yung knife (it had a folding spoon and fork!).

When I got home, I opened the box. Inisip ko pa bago ko buksan, ang dami namang gifts sana hindi
nakakahiya yung bracelet. Pag bukas ko nung box, lo and behold, inside was a pearl necklace and two pairs of pearl earrings! Nakakahiya ako!!!! Sabi ni Au, my coordinator/assistant/secretary/training officer, at least wala daw bracelet! Haaaay! Nakakahiyang nakakatawa!!!

:)

ATBP.

2007-04-16T01:35:00.000+08:00

hey! welcome back to me! :) hahaha!

whenever i sit down at the computer and i have three minutes of spare time, i browse my friends' and fellow wedding suppliers blog sites. inggit ako kasi they are able to blog. i guess, proper time management is the key. so, since blogging, anyway, keeps me sane, i promise to blog more often (haaay! ilang beses na ito! sana totoo na.)

i have been EXTREMELY busy. not to sound immodest but i've never worked as hard as i worked the last three or four months! exagg! in a way though, it made me realize that i am stronger than i gave myself credit for. i have gone through so many things that there were times that i just wanted to curl up and cry. buti na lang anjan si bernard and my mom. god is really good.

what's with the title? when i started blogging, it was to document our wedding preps. after the wedding, i changed the focus of the blog to my life as a wife. my goal then was to become a full-time homemaker. a couple of months after the wedding, i asked bernard if he was okay with me pursuing coordination. i told him i'd still be primarily a homemaker since i'd probably be handling at most, one wedding in a month. since then, however, my life has changed from becoming a full-time homemaker, part-time wedding planner to full-time wedding planner and part-time homemaker. not that i do not appreciate the direction my life has gone to but for the longest time, i was in denial and thought of myself as still dakilang maybahay. it was only recently that i realized that i seldom get to cook meals for my husband like i did when we were first married. nagising ako at natanggap ko na full-time pala ang trabaho ko! hahaha! i may sound really naive to you but you have to understand, when i started coordination, it was with the goal of doing it for two years tops! as in maximum na yun! after that, it was back to psych. but then, so many things happened and i realized that although i miss therapy and counseling, i love coordination and the gratification being behind the scenes and ensuring that everything goes perfect, gives. if you notice, too, i never wrote about my weddings and my couples and my fellow suppliers before although they were who i dealt with more than half od my waking hours. this was part of my denial.

the past couple of months, though, after the wedding season, i took stock of my life and i realized that even though i have passed the two year mark (An Event to Remember turned two last February 6! am so happy!), i would still want to pursue coordination. buti na lang supportive ang asawa ko at kahit hindi ako sumunod sa usapan ay okay lang sa kanya. because of this and because of the weddings we had last wedding season, i got our team together and made some changes with the way we handle things to further improve the quality of service we render to our couples. sa dami na rin ng nagawa naming weddings, kahit na masayang-masaya pa yung couples, we see those things we know can improve on so we're trying to do exactly that.

so again, what's with the title? if you notice, i also changed the title ogf my blog from "Buhay Misis, atbp." to Buhay Misis, ATBP." i refuse to remove my being a wife in the blog title because being jojie's wife is more important that being a planner but then this blog will also now focus on wedding coordination, thus the emphasis on ATBP.

so there! it's 2:24 in the morning and i still have lots to finish. i'll blog again on or before tuesday, i promise!

:)

Avilon adventure

2006-08-28T10:23:00.000+08:00

since august is ghost month for chinese and of course, rainy season, konti lang weddings. breather before the september to february wedding season (ewan ko ba pati last year dami kami september eh) so i made it a point to do something nice this weekend. a few weeks ago, knowing that i'll be free this weekend, i asked jojie to reserve aug 26 and 27, isip ko out of town kami. i asked, "hon, may gagawin ka ba sa 26 and 27? reserve mo ha." he replied, "actually, sasabihin ko nga na i-reserve mo kasi binyag ng anak ni paul." nye! since paul was his best man and i know he seldom sees his friends from la salle, wala ako choice but for us to go there (masayang kasama yung mga friends ni jojie sa la salle kaya okay din naman for me to go talaga).

since aug 26 would be taken na, i had to be contented with having a day thing instead of an overnight trip. i wanted to plan our itinerary pero since sunday at wala akong magandang play na makita, i couldn't plan another cultural day (the last cultural day i planned went bust because my back ached so much di ba and i had to go to the doctor instead. sobrang tuwa niya kasi inamin na rin niya na ayaw niyang pumunta ng national museum! hahaha!) dahil dun, tinamad na akong mag-plan so i told him to plan instead. syempre aug 26 na wala pa rin siyang plan... andun pa rin lang kami sa "sa morning punta tayo sa starbucks harbor square for breakfast..." tapos wala na siyang maisip na kasunod. haaaay! in desperation, dahil siguro alam niyang maainis na ako, he suggested going to avilon zoo. tagal ko na siyang inaaya dito pero sabi niya ang layo daw.... actually ang sinabi niya eh... "HON! alam mo ba kung gaano kalayo ang montalban?!?" hahaha! eh since desperado na siya for an activity, avilon na kami bigla! mwehehe!

our day started with brunch at pancake house. pero since super late na nun kasi super tanghali na kami gumising, lunch na yun. hehe!

there are three ways to go to avilon --- marikina route, sandiganbayan route, and payatas route. we chose the sandiganbayan route kasi pinakamalapit sa amin. armed with the directions from the zoo's website (which i must say was very detailed), we journeyd the 30 kilometers to avilon zoo. aba! malayo nga yun ah. para na rin akong pumunta ng alabang! :)

we got there around 130pm. we were greeted by a tour guide who explained that the 7.5 hectare Avilon ("Land of the Birds") Zoo housed more than 3000 animals belonging to more than 500 species. we were offered the service of a tour guide but since we enjoy exploring different places on our own, we declined. at least ako yun yung reason. yung asawa ko namahalan sa P350.00 na fee nung tour guide! mwehehehe!

after paying the P208.00/person entrance at the gate, we went inside. we asked the staff if there were maps available or if there were signs along the way, wala daw kasi hindi pa complete yung facilities ng zoo and many areas are still under construction. not to be deterred, we started walking. there were two roads. since the right road had a "this way to parking" sign, we chose to go to the left road. after 30 meters, dead end na at gate na uli! hahaha! nagpanic ako! akala ko kelangan namin ng tour guide! si jojie naman, "ha? yun na ung 7 heactares?" yun pala, the zoo proper was located in the right side. :)

there were amazing animals in avilon. since the cages were designed to look lilke their natural habitat, ang ganda talaga! super kami nag-enjoy sa cats (since jojie adores wild cats.. memorized niya kung ano kaibahan ng lion sa tiger sa cheetah sa cougar sa lynx sa leopard sa juagar...), sa arapaima (you get to feed them by throwing chicken heads to the water), and sa reptiles (which i hate pero syempre gusto rin ng asawa ko!). syempre since land of birds ang avilon, we also enjoyed seeing the different species of bird they have. we particularly liked the american white breasted eagle and the owl (hehe! hindi ko alam kung anong klaseng owl). these two birds are not caged and are just with a zookeeper. they are perched on guests' shoulders for photo ops. :) syempre si jojie dahil mahilig din sa ibon go agad dun sa eagle. ako hindi kinaya at sa owl lang ako pumayag. :) ang super natuwa kami dito kasi nung nakikita namin ung ibang zoo visitors dun sa area na yun, puro pictures lang with the owl and the eagle yung ginagawa nila. when it was our turn, the zookeeper let go of the eagle and it flew about 15 meters away. he gave jojie a thick rubber glove to wear then he signaled the bird to come back. it swooped down to us and landed on jojie's arms! ang galing talaga! :)

avilon, according to the guides, can be explored in a couple of hours. pero kami inabot ng closing time!!! we really enjoyed taking pictures and just looking at the animals. :) jojie and i were saying na super gaganda ang avilon pag natapos na at na-complete na nila yung collection nila (giraffes, elephants, and other animals are scheduled to arrive soon when their cages are ready). we left the zoo at 5pm (sinasara na yung mga cages at meal time na nung mga cats kaya wala na kami choice but to go).

we traveled another 28 miles and had dinner at cookbook kitchen, a sort of secret restaurant (secret kasi wala sa main road at mejo hahanapin mo talaga) i found the other day while surfing for something to do in manila (visit http://anton.blogs.com/awesome/2006/07/cookbook_kitche_1.html). ang sarap ng food! super yuuuummm talaga! we ordered exactly what anton did (pork steak with honey mustard sauce and parmesan-crusted white fish) and YUM!!! the owners were very nice pa. can't wait to go there again. after dinner, jojie and i talked about our day (super kami natuwa talaga) and headed home. and although i know the coming weeks will be really busy, i'll have this weekend to go back to, at least until the next weekend na walang wedding.

:)

Pictures at http://community.webshots.com/user/jojieging2

Things to do

2006-07-05T14:07:00.000+08:00

Been wanting to post for a very long time but there is simply too much to do! :( If walang weddings, there are meetings, or emails to be replied to, or phone messages to be answered, or things to be attended... basta one million palagi ang to-do's. So yesterday, while in the jeep (Had to commute kasi coding. Wanted to take the FX pero wala and I was seriously running late. Wanted so much to take a cab but with my newfound resolution to make tipid, I just couldn't do it), I seriously pondered about the things I want to do if I have all the free time in the world (and the money to spend, of course!) and the things that I just want to do. And this is the list I came up with:

1. Go to Paris
2. Learn Adobe Photoshop
3. Finish my thesis
4. Cook more
5. Snorkel in Palawan
6. Watch all 10 seasons of Friends
7. Take PhD in Developmental Psychology
8. Play tennis
9. Play the piano
10. Disgiscrap
11. Manage time more effectively
12. Go to the gym
13. Lose 30 lbs.
14. Go to New York
15. Watch at least five Broadway plays
16. Write more
17. Go to Boracay
18. Volunteer in a home for streetchildren
19. Tutor public school students
20. Have a baby... have two babies.
21. Be a good... no, be a GREAT mommy!
22. Clean the house
23. Answer emails as soon as I've received them
24. Procrastinate less
25. Read more
26. Delete unimportant messages in my phone inbox
27. Finish website for An Event to Remember
28. Visit my parents' house more often
29. Go to San Pablo at least once every two months
30. Commute more - take the MRT and not a taxi
31. Manage money more effectively
32. Go to mass every Sunday
33. Read more on weddings
34. Read, or at least browse, the newspaper every morning
35. Celebrate life more
36. Eat more fruits and vegetables
37. Be a better wife
38. Go to Corregidor
39. Join walking tour of Intramuros
40. Watch plays

Obviously, this is in no particular order. Otherwise, #37 "Be a better wife" should be in #1. :)

And this, my friends, is what I get from riding a jeepney. At least walang nasayang na oras! :)

:)

Anilao!

2006-03-20T23:33:00.000+08:00

Disclaimer: This is a LONG read! Wrote this mainly for our travelogue and I wanted to be as detailed as possible, hence, the length. Read at your own risk. :)

=====

Just got back from our three-day vacation. For the first time in several months, I was able to erase all thoughts of weddings from my mind. That was a "matinong usapan" between Jojie and I when we first planned this vacation -- that we would enjoy the weekend and talks and thoughts about our jobs were definite no-no's! :)

Here is a detailed description of our oh-so-heavenly vacation. :)

THURSDAY

Our planned schedule was
Jojie - to be at the office all day; to go to Makati at around 7pm to meet up with me after my meeting
Me - to meet a client at 9:00am; to be at Megamall at 3:00 or 4:00pm to get some last-minute stuff for the beach; to get car from Jojie's office; to go to Makati for a 7pm meeting; to meet with Jojie afterwards (oh by the way, this is a normal day for me)

Jojie was able to follow his schedule, of course, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to follow mine. Met with my client at around 9:40am (Really nice couple, btw. The type you become friends with. :)). We went to Dapitan, Dangwa, and Divisoria. Everything was going smoothly except that we had to wait for Carolina's to get the cloth from their warehouse that it took us longer to get everything we wanted. Result was I got to Ortigas (My clients dropped me off, thanks guys! Mwah!) around 6pm. Instead of me going to Makati and Jojie just following, we both decided that we would go together and that I would go directly to my meeting while he would be the one to go to Landmark to get the stuff we need.

My meeting went smoothly and I met up with my gwapo husband around 9:30pm. Thankfully, he was able to buy everything we needed. Love you, baby ko! :) We got home around 11:00pm and I started packing my stuff. Jojie decided to just pack the next day since he's a light packer anyway and he doesn't take long. On the other hand, I tend to take hours packing for trips and I tend to take so many stuff (for example, for this trip, I took 3 sarongs, a bathing suit, a skirt, a pair of pants, a pair of pambahay shorts, 5 blouses, a pair of track suit, and nighties... hehehe!) that I knew that I had to pack that night or else, I won't be able to finish packing. Jojie and I slept at around 1:00 am.

FRIDAY

Really excited me woke up at 6:00am. I had to reply to emails of a few clients plus I had to make sure that things are in order before we go. Also, had to email all my clients about my weekend vacation and to give them Rhodora's number (Thanks, sis!) just in case they had questions or needed some assistance over the weekend. :)

Jojie woke up at 7:00am and he cooked breakfast while I was still in the PC. After a quick breakfast, he took off to have Arcy (our much-loved green Honda Civic) washed while I stayed to finish packing and to take a shower.

He came back around 8:30am and by 9:15am, we were in the car. We stopped by my parents' place first since I realized that all my sarongs were there plus I needed to get the tripod Papa gave me [Hehehe! Super kuripot me refused to buy a tripod (cost was P700.00) so I asked my dad to give me his since he's not using it anymore anyway.].

Being the very organized people that we are (at least nagpapanggap), we had set a schedule, of course, and I am proud to say that we were able to follow it! Yey! By 10:00am, we were on the road!!!

Armed with a map of the place and detailed directions in my Palm, we started for Eagle Point. Jojie was actually nervous about the fact that our guides were just in a PDA. He reasoned that it would have been better if we had a hard copy of the map and the directions but I reasoned that I wanted to use as less paper as possible because of the environment. Also, sayang ink eh! Hahaha! Yun talaga yun!

Anyway... we traversed the length of South Luzon Expressway looking forward (or, at least, I was looking forward, hehehe!) to lunch at Grace Sister of Rose Restaurant in Calamba, Laguna, a lutong-bahay restaurant just a few kilometers away from the Sto. Tomas, Batangas exit. We first discovered this place when Daddy (my father-in-law) asked us to buy bulalo for him from this restaurant. Since it had a very weird name (Why would someone name their restaurant "Grace Sister of Rose"??? Di ba weird?), our interests were piqued and we promised that we'd go back one day to try their fare since it was obvious that they had a large following. So we had a stop-over at Grace's place (Hahaha! Feeling close!) and had lunch there. I wanted to try their bulalo but Jojie said the serving was too big. He also reminded me that we were on a not-so-tipid mode but in a not-so-splurge mode either. I guess that means that I should not order food as if it's my last meal because I do tend to do this sometimes! Hahaha! :) Ito na ang nakakatawa... I ordered one dish, stuffed squid with some kind of sauce, and Jojie ordered lechon kawali. We had plain rice and bulalo soup with that. Halfway through our meal, ubos na ang lechon kawali! So Jojie ordered another serving of lechon kawali... whatever happened to the no "last meal syndrome"?!? Hahaha! We ended up paying much, much more than if we just ordered their gigantic order of bulalo in the first place. :)

We left the place sated and understanding why people kept coming in. And, oh yeah, Grace is the name of the owner of the restaurant (obvious ba?). Grace is, in turn, the daughter of the owner of the famous bulalo restaurant "Rose and Grace" (located in Sto. Tomas, Batangas). I guess, when Grace wanted to put up her own restaurant, she didn't want to use her mom's restaurant's name so she put just her name. But then, I guess she wanted to still incorporate "Rose" to draw crowds so she had "Grace Sister of Rose" as her restaurant's name. Very unusual eh? :)

Jojie and I proceeded with the trip. Super layo pala! Hahaha! It was about 80kilometers from the last SLEX toll exit. Am proud to say that we did good and didn't miss a turn. :) Follow lang talaga ng directions, tanong-tanong, and good old common sense (minsan kasi walang sense yung direction like... When you see Apolinario Mabini's statue, turn right left... duh!).

When we at last reached the private road to Eagle Point, super kami tuwa! But the road was narrow and steep and we were afraid that another car would be driving from the opposite direction. There was no way two vehicles could pass by there at the same time.

We breathed audible sighs of relief when we got to the parking lot. Yey! Andun na kami talaga!

The resort's guard was nice. He even helped us in lugging our stuff to the shuttle. More importantly, although he saw the drinks we were bringing in, he was okay with it. I was afraid that they won't allow us to bring in our drinks (Food and drinks are strictly not allowed.). Sayang naman kasi we brought a couple of bottles of our favorite Lipton Tea, ung green tea nila na super duper yummy. Buti na lang the guard just waved us through and said "Dalhin niyo po yung inumin niyo, Ma'am, importante yan." ;)

The trip to the resort's main core was scary. Now we understand why they don't allow private vehicles to go straight to the resort. The road was really steep and narrow, just enough for one vehicle. Kakatakot kasi meron pa na almost hairpin turn, about 270deg turn, na pababa.

The check-in process was a breeze. They gave us welcome drinks which effectively quenched our thirst. :) A bellboy then helped us with our luggage and led us to our nice room. :)

After unpacking, Jojie and I decided to... you guessed it! SLEEP!!! Hahaha! Akala niyo kung ano na no? ;) After travelling almost three hours to a far-away paradise, we slept! So typical! Mwahahaha!

After a couple of hours, we woke up and explored the place. The resort was nice. They had a game room which offered free use of all the games (oh well, the resort's rate per night is not exactly cheap anyway so they really have no right to charge their clilents for the use of the games) which included billiards, table tennis, and even a trampoline. The place also had an aviary which housed eagles found locally.

Since it was too late to go anywhere else, Jojie and I had a dip in their swimming pool. They had three pools - two swimming pools and one saltwater pool. Since it was Friday, I think there were only a couple of groups checked in at the resort, including us. Result was, the place was really tranquil and relaxing. We stayed in the pool side for an hour. Jojie stayed in the water the whole time while I took pictures, lounged by the poolside, and ate strawberries I bought in Dangwa the day before (5 styro packs for P100.00, winner di ba?). Hehehe!

The view from the pool was amazing. Oh well, I've always loved the ocean so I guess I would really love it there. The water was green near the shore, blue a little further on, and then dark blue up to the horizon. There were also boats passing by every so often.

We went back to our cottage afterwards to take showers and prepare for dinner. The resort's restaurant was nice. More importantly, the staff was very efficient and friendly. We decided to order bulalo and two servings of rice. Juice ko! Ang dami pala nun! Also, their rice was actually equivalent to one a half regular serving. Taste-wise, the food was just ordinary but then bulalo is bulalo, and unless the cook purposely ruins it, the soup almost always comes out the same -- very tasty and incredibly satisfying. Jojie was so full he couldn't even stand up after dinner. Kasi naman pinilit ubusin yung pagkain unlike me who stopped eating when I felt full na. :)

After dinner, instead of lounging in the pool some more, we decided to go back to the cottage. We were planning on spending the evening in the veranda, just talking and lounging and eating the chips that we brought but because of Jojie's condition (for lack of a better term... hehehe!) and probably because of tiredness as well, I decided to go to bed early. Jojie felt bad because he knew how much I wanted to just talk so he snuggled beside me and we just played a game of Questions while just lying down beside each other. Questions is a reallly lame game I invented. We just take turns asking each other a question. That's it! The questions can be about anyting and everything. It may sound really boring but its' a lot of fun because we try to come up with really creative questions and at the same time, we learn so many things about each other. :)

Friday night's Questions was really fun. Learned new things about my husband. Saya lang! :)

We slept around 12midnight (spent about 3 hours playing questions) and the best thing was we actually slept cuddling and facing each other that night [Haaay! Long explanation... At home, Jojie sleeps on the right side of the bed so he can be nearer the door, you know, just in case something happens, and since I have to sleep on my left (to ease my breathing), I sleep facing the wall and my back to him. What I do is just make sure that a part of my body is touching a part of his (like linked legs or something).] But because of the bed arrangement in the cottage, Jojie had to sleep in the left side of the bed so we sleot facing each other.] I slept soundly that night although I was half aware of the sounds of the waves crashing. It was a really good night. :)

SATURDAY

We woke up earlier than we expected. We set the alarm at 7:00am but we woke up around 6:00am. The view from the veranda was simply amazing. I dream of waking up every morning to a view such as this one. I dream of having a house overlooking the sea. I dream of being able to walk the shores every morning and being able to smell the salt in the air. I remember there was a few times my parents wanted to migrate our whole family to the province but then we couldn't leave the hustle and bustle and the comforts of Manila and plans just fell through. Honestly speaking, I'm also not sure if I can actually live a very placid way of life but being able to wake up and see the ocean outside your window... wow, ang ganda lang talaga!

When we were fully awake, we packed our bags and readied ourselves for breakfast and our day at Sepok Island (read: packed all our chips and the last pack of strawberries, hehehe!). We went to the the restaurant and had breakfast. This was included with the resort's package eh so no choice kami here but it was okay so no complaints there. I had daing na bangus with mango juice and Jojie had beef tapa with coffee. Breakfast was yummy. Filling, too.

We proceeded to the dive shop to rent snorkeling gears. We were supposed to rent a mask and a snorkel each pero syempre umandar ang pagiging matipid ng asawa ko kasi may goggles naman daw siya so wag na lang. Haaaaay!

We then boarded the boat which would take us to Sepok Island. Nakakahiya but I'm really super scared of falling into the water (And I love the beach for crying out loud! Hahaha!) that I kept on screaming while I was boarding the boat. All I had to do was step from the bamboo bridge I was standing on, to the bow of the boat which, by the way, I must say, was bobbing up and down because it was, of course, already in the water. I was so scared. I kept thinking that I might slip and fell that I held on to the boatmen so hard.

Sepok Island, Eagle Point's private island, was 15 minutes away. A bit far actually but the boat ride was enjoyable. The boat was pretty fast (mga 18 knots daw sabi ng asawa ko) and the wind felt refreshing on my face. Also, of all the pictures we took during the trip, it was the pics that we took while on the boat that I liked most. It captured how carefree we were. :)

When we got to Sepok, surprise, surprise, it indeed had white sand! The sand on the beach was like the sand in Bora... the worst part of Bora but still, Bora! Mwahahaha!

We got off the boat and put our stuff in one of the tables. Eagle Point has a roofed place with tables and chairs and lots of duyans for afternoon naps. :) We went snorkeling right away. Since it was my first time to snorkel in a long time, I was panicking at first. All I could hear underwater was my breathing! After a while, got used to it and started to really enjoy the view underwater! :)

I love the ocean! Was amazed with the multi-colored fish and the differently-shaped corals. Ang ganda-ganda!

Jojie was a bit disappointed though because there were lots of dead corals. :( Nakaka-sad. We swam over a particular place with just dead corals and it felt like we were in a cemetery. :(

Since I was pretty confident, I wanted to swim further but Jojie did not want to. He said it was dangerous because it was just the two of us. I reasoned that I was wearing a life vest so there was no need to worry but he was adamant. In the end, I told him that I'll just swim a little further out. I knew he was getting irritated but I can be really stubborn sometimes. So I swam again and just enjoyed the view of the ocean floor. When I resurfaced, I was so far from him and from the beach. I told Jojie (shouted, actually, so he can hear me) that I'll swim towards him. I knew he was galit na kasi he just said "Bumalik ka na." I started to swim towards him but the current kept me from moving. That was the time I started to panic. I realized how dangerous it really was to be in the open sea (okay, okay, exagg kasi we were not in the open sea but still). I closed my eyes and prayed to the Lord to help me swim back to Jojie. Natakot talaga ako kasi I don't even know how to swim. After several minutes, I finally reached him. That was when I realized malayo pa rin pala kami sa beach. It was easier though because we were swimming together. I prayed again kasi my legs were starting to tire. After another several minutes, we were able to reach the beach. *sigh of relief*

We stayed in the common area and claimed one duyan as our own. Aside from us, there were two or three other families. The place was peaceful and the facilities were okay. Not amazing but okay. We passed time eating strawberries (with melted chocolate), pringles, and the other chicheria we brought. :)

We had our lunch prepared around 1pm. We ordered grilled chicken and pork. The meal supposed to come with rice and buttered vegetables but we were served rice and pancit canton instead. No complains there. :) Food was okay. Jojie liked their gravy. Since dun din iniihaw yung pork and chicken, mainit pa. At first, I was tempted to get their P500/person inihaw package (comes with inihaw pork, chicken, fish, and prawns plus rice and pancit canton) but after what happened to Jojie, we decided to just get one order of pork inihaw and one order of chicken inihaw. Malaki naman pala yung servings so we had a hard time finishing the food. Buti na lang hindi umandar yung last-meal syndrome ko! Hahaha!

After lunch, what else but rest again??? Hehehe! As Kat, one of our dearest friends, would say, buhay baboy! Hehehe! We played tong-its and pusoy [won more times than lost! mwehehehe! :)] and basically just lazed around.

Fell asleep on the duyan after playing cards. Jojie took a very unbecoming picture of me while sleeping which I won't let anyone see! Salbaheng asawa ko!

We tried snorkeling again around 4pm but after 15 minutes decided to just go back to the resort to try snorkeling there instead.

We boarded the boat again (This time, wasn't so scared anymore. :)) When we got back, we brought all our stuff to our cottage and then proceeded to the salt-water pool because Jojie wanted to swim with the resort's black-tipped sharks (baby sharks lang naman! :)) Ang funny dito, when I first told Jojie about the salt-water pool (back when I first reserved our rooms), he was nonchalant about it. When we first saw the pool, sabi niya "Yan na yan? Yan na yang excited ka na pool?! Yan na yung pinagmamalaki nila? Sus!" Grrrr! Kaines talaga! He was trying to annoy me and well, he succeeded. Kaya laking tawa ko na lang nung mas excited pa siyang lumangoy dun sa salt-water pool kasama yung baby sharks. Ayoko ngang patulan yun "swim with the sharks" ek-ek pero siya, talaga naman!! Hahaha! He donned complete snorkeling gear (he borrowed my mask and snorkel. hehe!) and even a life vest so he can just float quietly so as not to disturb the sharks. I think he enjoyed it so much he almost forgot that I was on the edge of the pool waiting for him. Tuwang-tuwa ang bata! :)

When he got out of the pool, he realized how comfortable it is to have a snorkel and a mask (not goggles) so we went to the dive shop to rent a set for him (Hay! If only he listened to me in the first place. A good wife, however, never says 'I told you so'... she just smirks! Hahaha!)

We snorkeled for almost an hour until I saw the sun setting. Friday pa lang, I told myself I would take a picture of a perfect sunset while we were there so I couldn't let the opportunity pass. We swam back to the dock and climb up the pier (shortest way) to go back to the resort. I almost ran back to the room to get the camera. Buti na lang umabot ako and I was able to get a perfect sunset shot from our veranda. :)

Saturday night was our date night so we dressed up for dinner. Jojie wore a polo and the slacks we bought in Thailand and I wore a skirt and a tank top. :) We had pizza for dinner. I thought kulang sa amin kasi parang 9" lang pero sobra pa pala. After dinner we went to the game room and played tabe tennis. We both didn't know how to play so we just hit the ball back and forth. It was fun! Para kaming mga bata, we would count the number of times we hit the ball tapos excited kami pag matagal yung balikan nung bola! :) After a while, a family entered the game room to play pool and we decided to just go back to our cottage. :)
We were both tired from snorkeling so we decided to go to bed early but not before we were able to make tambay at the veranda, drinking our favorite Lipton green tea and munching on chips. A perfect buhay-baboy way of ending another beautiful day. Mwehehe!!!

SUNDAY

We woke up around 8am. We took baths and since this was our check-out day :(, we started packing our stuff. We had breakfast at the restaurant. This time we both ordered tapa. Mas yummy kasi yung tapa eh than the bangus. Obviously I do not like taking risks when it comes to food.

We walked around after breakfast. Took lots of pictures. Then Jojie had this wild idea of going down to the rocky part of the shore while I stay at the restaurant's veranda to take pictures of him. Hay naku! At yang lagay na yan, ako daw ang mahilig magpa-picture ha! Hahaha! So anyway, he went down and I was able to take several pictures of him. Joined him a while later and we choreographed some shots. Saya ng may tripod kasi you don't have to make pakiusap to other people to take your picture.

As usual, after Jojie's trek, napagod na siya so we both decided to go back to our room. We rested for a while then proceeded to fully pack our stuff. We checked out just before noon. This was where our three-day vacation ends. A real honeymoon, it was. :)

My newest Starbucks passion

2006-03-20T23:29:00.000+08:00

Passion iced tea... simply relaxing!

Anilao, here we come!

2006-02-25T12:53:00.000+08:00

With the wedding season winding down (or baka dahil konti na lang ang kliyente kong naka-book this march... hahaha!), I'm finally getting the rest I badly need. I feel that i wasn't able to properly rest since October when Jojie was hospitalized. I've been asking Jojie for a weekend away since December but our schedules just can't fit a three-day vacation. So I waited and I waited and I waited until it finally arrived! We're both free from March 3 to 5. Yey! So the next step was just to decide where we're going... Hahaha!

At first, we wanted Villa Escudero. But then not-so-good reviews from my mom and Jojie's dad made us change our minds. With Cebu Pacific's promo, pareho halos ang gagastusin namin sa Villa Escudero and Boracay so we decided to go to Bora instead! I spent one whole day jut researching on the flights but then I had to give up kasi no available flights na with the dates that we wanted. :(

Our next choice was Bohol. But same with Boracay, no flights na rin. :(

By then, I just wanted to go anywhere kahit na malapit lang so I told Jojie Baguio na lang. He didn't like it kasi kakapunta lang daw namin several months ago. He wanted Tagaytay. Ayoko nga! Feeling ko kasi wala namang pwedeng gawin dun. Jojie then said na gusto niya pala may dagat then he suggested Anilao. Since I also love the beach (remember my beach-themed wedding?), I immediately agreed and started my quest of finding the perfect resort.

My research (read: pagtatanong sa N@Wies) led me to Eagle's Point Resort. I was really excited when I saw their website. Perfect for me yung idyllic beach. So I immediately called them and made reservations for the two of us. Yipeee!

So we're leaving on the 3rd which is next Friday and as early as now, I'm planning the things to bring and the things to buy (hahaha!). I'm really so excited!

:)

Our Vigan Adventure

2006-02-11T00:29:00.000+08:00

May 29, 2005

Our trip to Vigan was actually a side trip of our trip to Candon City. We needed to go to Candon because Jojie had a meeting there on a Monday so we decided to leave for Ilocos on Friday night to be able to spend some time in Vigan.

We took a bus to Vigan after breakfast at Jollibee in Candon. The trip was an hour and a half long. When we got to Vigan, we had no idea where to go or what we could do so we just asked the bus conductor to drop us off at the plaza.

We went directly to the church, said our prayers (and wishes, too), and asked for directions to their information office. No one we asked knew what we were talking about so Jojie and I decided to just walk around. Thankfully, we found the Information Office so we were to get a map and a list of the must-see places.

Armed with the map and with the bilin of the tourist officer, we hired a kalesa to bring us around the city.

First stop: The main street. Manong kalesa brought us to the main street with the Spanish houses and the cobble stones. Ang cool! We were able to have a few pictures taken and Jojie bought me a body bag in the color of our wedding motiff!

Second stop: The pottery places. Manong kalesa took us to the barangay where the main livelihood is pottery making. Nakakatuwa kasi pag tinignan mo yung lupa pula talaga! So it comes as no surprise that people there decided to make pottery their way of living.

Third stop: Hidden Garden. A really nice garden na parang Sonyas ang dating with wishing wells and water falls.

Fourth stop: Baluarte... The house of Chavit Singson. It has a mini zoo with peacocks and eagles and monkeys and crocodiles and tiger and little ponies. We even got free pony rides! A must-mention detail of the Baluarte is the giant mahjong tiles surrounding the veranda! Hahaha! Sugarol talaga!

By then, our kalesa ride has lasted for more than two hours so we asked manong kalesa to bring us back to the Plaza.

Of course, being the not-really-fond-of-food-couple that we are (hahaha! right!), we had to eat in Vigan. At first we just wanted to eat at the church-inspired McDonalds (with the bell tower, take note) but we figured that since we were there, we might as well try out the local fare. So we trekked to the main street again and decided to try out Cafe Leona, a restaurant in one of the old Spanish houses.

We ordered Bagnet and Pinakbet... ang sarap pala nun! Bagnet is basically lechon kawali na mas malasa served with kamatis, sibuyas, at bagoong isda. As for pinakbet, masarap pala yun! You see, I am not really fond of pinakbet before (did not eat it, in fact)but ever since tasting pinakbet here, I would always order pinakbet whenever Jojie and I are eating out. :)
After filling ourselves with the famous Ilocano cuisine, we hailed a tricycle to bring us to the bus station so we can go back to Candon. So endeth our one day Vigan adventure!

CANDON: We had fun in Candon, too. Stayed at Smurf cottages, which was actually a motel! ;) The highlight of our stay was the time Jojie and I went to the beach (the sand was black!) and the wind and the waves were so strong that we had a hard time staying in one place. We held hands the whole time with Jojie saying “Hindi tayo pwedeng padala sa agos, hon! Kaya natin ito!” :)

Baguio Trip

2006-02-10T21:07:00.000+08:00

May 1 to 2, 2005

This was a sort of an impromptu vacation. Jojie and I were supposed to go to Candon for a meeting there but it got cancelled. At the last minute, we were told that he has a meeting in Pangasinan instead and since his meeting is early Monday morning, we decided to spend a night in Baguio. :)
We went to the Victory Liner station in Cubao early in the morning hoping to catch the first bus out. To our irritation, fully booked sila until mid-morning! Grabe naman pala ang Victory Liner. So Jojie and I went to their branch in Pasay since the dispatcher in the Cubao branch said that we'd be able to catch an earlier bus there. Anyway, to make a long story short, we were able to catch a bus and we arrived in Baguio around two o'clock in the afternoon, just in time for our check-in at Hotel Veniz, our favorite Baguio hotel. :)

Since we were pretty hungry by the time we were able to check-in, we went straight to Veniz Grill where there's yummy Mongolian Barbecue. :) Syempre pagkain muna! Hahaha!

After eating, we went straight to... where else... SM City! :) I love SM Baguio! I love its architecture and the fact that its not airconditioned. I enjoy lounging in the veranda and just enjoying the Baguio view. Although some of our friends think it's a bit silly to travel six hours just to go to SM (and if truth be told, we also find this sily :)), who cares? :)

We went around the mall. Since I had to email someone, I went to find a net cafe while Jojie played games in the arcade. Before I met up with him again, I passed by Booksale and bought Dreamcatcher, a book by Stephen King. I figured it’ll help me relax. After that, we just fooled around by taking pictures and eating choco rocks in the veranda. Kakatawa si Jojie kasi binabato niya yung mga nasa baba kasi raw bato yung kinakain namin! :)

Early Monday morning, after the hotel breakfast buffet (pwede na pero mas masarap yung last time), Jojie and I proceeded to Victory Liner where he had to catch a bus to go to Pangasinan for his meeting. I proceeded to Seattle’s Best in SM to wait for him.

Once in SBC, I ordered Moccha Javakula and just passed time reading. After a couple of hours, I walked back to the hotel, buying manggang hilaw at bagoong along the way. This is what I love about Baguio… the streetfoods! This is the only place where I can buy binatog and mais and manggang hilaw anytime I want. Haaay! Yummy!

When Jojie arrived, the news was not so good, his meeting didn’t go very well so we decided, so as not to totally waste our time here, to extend our trip. So instead of checking out and going home, we decided to stay another day (actually another half-day since we had to check-out at 12midnight so Jojie can go to the office). Yipee! :)

The first thing we did was… you guessed it… eat Mongolian again! Hahaha! After which we took a cab to Camp John Hay. We just asked the cab to drop us anywhere and luckily, he dropped us near the miniature golf course. Where we played the whole 18 holes. Jojie won by 9 strokes. We didn’t really compute it using the par-par scores coz we didn’t know how! Hahaha!

After our miniature golf game, we had merienda at Chocolate de Batirol just beside the miniature golf. Batirol, we learned, is a 19th century blender used to mix hot chocolate. We ordered bibingka at tsokolate… ang yummy!!!!

After eating, we went around the restaurant and took several pictures. Ang ganda nung lugar. It was actually a garden with nooks and tables. Ang ganda talaga. :)

After eating, we walked around John Hay. We would have had more energy to cover more ground if only my husband didn’t think of this really silly way to tire himself out. He wanted me to catch a picture of him airborne so he repeatedly jumped and I repeatedly had to take a picture of him until we got the perfect shot.

After about thirty jumps, we got it! :) It was worth all the trouble just seeing my honey happy to get that perfect airborne picture of him. Yun nga lang, after all those jumping around, pagod na siya and he wanted to go home na! Hahaha! So we took a cab back to the hotel and settled in for the night.

Pero syempre, hindi dun nagtatapos ang istorya. About 7pm, my ever-hungry handsome hubby wanted to eat again so we went down to Veniz Grill again and ate eat-all-you-can Mongolian Barbecue for the third time in two days! :)

We checked out at midnight to catch a bus back to Manila. It was a short yet a very romantic and sweet vacation. :)

Bangkok honeymoon

2006-02-10T21:02:00.000+08:00

Note: For our anniversary (yiheee! one year na kami!), I gave Jojie a travelogue -- an account of the travels we had made in our first year. So I'm just publishing what I wrote there since tagal ko na ito promise sa sarili ko.

===

Looking back, I realize that our trip to Bangkok was one of the happiest times of my life. That was when it really dawned on me that we were really married. Six years, six months, and ten days after we first met (we first met June 8, 1998), we were on our way to "happily ever after". What could be more super than that?! :)

Our official honeymoon started with a two-hour delayed flight -something which would have irritated a lot of people but not us. We were on our way to Bangkok! After thinking that all we could afford was a trip to Baguio, we were actually going to board a plane to have our honeymoon in another country!

We walked around the airport the whole time. It was our first plane trip together and we were both very excited! Ang dami naming pictures na kinailangan naman naming burahin kasi konti na space sa camera! Haha! :) Because of the delay, the airline provided sandwiches and drinks before going onboard. Sayang, nag-dinner na kami! But, of course, we still availed of the free food! Hehehe! We played thumb wrestling while waiting for our turn to board. This was one of the first things I liked about Jojie and our relationship. We can be anywhere and not be bored because we'd amuse ourselves by playing thumb wrestling or sawsaw suka or pitik bulag.

We got to Bangkok around 1am, local time. Our tour guide, Gina, met us at the airport together with the others who availed of the same tour. She dropped us off our hotel (it turned out that we were the only ones staying in Bayoke Suites) after making arrangements for the city tour the following day.

Our room was so-so. We didn't take pictures kasi feeling naman sayang! Hahaha! It was supposed to be a one-bedroom suite but instead of having a receiving room and a bedroom, we have a bedroom opening up to another bedroom. Weird! Also, the reception desk staff on duty that night was not very accommodating and he said that the room he gave us was the only available room with a queen size bed and since that size of the bed was a priority ;) we were okay with our "two-bedroom suite".
Breakfast the following morning was good! At least, dito sulit yung binayad namin. The Bayoke Suites was the tallest building in all of Bangkok and I guess for that reason (and for its cheap price), they have many foreign guests. The breakfast buffet, then, consisted of international and continental food. We ate so much that morning (and actually all mornings of our stay there) that we never had to eat lunch during our stay there. Hahaha!

The half-day city tour consisted of trips to millions of Buddha images! Hahaha! Exagg! Seriously now... :)

First stop: The first stop of the city-tour was Wat Trimit, the temple of the Golden Buddha. At 10 feet high and weighing 5 1/2 tons according to our guide, the statue of the Golden Buddha was amazing! It was covered in plaster during the Burmese invasion in order to protect it. They (whoever was trying to protect it) must have protected it more than they intended because they forgot that it was actually made of 18 karat gold! It was only in the 1950's when the statue was accidentally dropped that the plaster in the nose of the image was chipped and they (a different set of people now, of course) discovered the gold underneath! Cool eh! :)

Second stop: The second stop was again another wat. We didn't take any pictures kasi feeling namin pare-pareho naman! Hahaha! But we were able to ring the bells. From what we gathered, the bells are used by the monks. For what purpose, we don't really know. :) We wanted to do Third stop: The third stop was Wat Pho, the largest and oldest Wat in Bangkok (by then Jojie and I have deduced that "wat" means "temple"). Wat Pho was mainly famous for housing the Reclining Buddha, a really huge, huge, HUGE gold-plated Buddha image! The reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and illustrates the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration.

Wat Pho is also famous for having the most number of Buddha images. 1000 plus ata. Imagine!
It was in Wat Pho where we saw a group of monks in orange monk robes. Jojie wanted to have his picture taken with them but we were too shy to ask them. When we finally had the courage to ask them, they were already gone. :(

Fourth stop: Leather shop. We didn't know that Bangkok was famous for its leather products. The fourth stop was in this leather shop which featured designer leather stuff. Of course, this is all a ploy to have us shop but it was okay since they also taught us how to distinguish genuine leather from fake ones. Also, we were able to buy an RL wallet for Daddy (Jojie’s dad) so the trip to the shop was okay.

Fifth and last stop: Gem Emporium. I was never one to drool over jewelry. In fact, I never had the urge to buy jewelry. Seeing the diamonds in this shop, however, made me want to spend money -- big, big amounts of money -- on diamonds and sapphires! The sparkle and the glitter of the stones were amazing! As in super, super, super kumikinang! Nakakalula! But, of course, since Jojie and I were clear on the no-shopping policy (aside from the fact that we didn’t have enough money with us anyway to buy diamonds, mwahahaha!), I was able to resist the urge to buy! Am proud of myself. :)
After the gem emporium, Gina asked the driver to drop us off the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace was not part of the tour but since this is a must for every tourist, syempre punta kami dun even without a guide.

The Grand Palace was formerly the residence of the Thai royal family. Ang laki, laki, laki niya! The place was simply overwhelming!

The Grand Palace adjoins Wat Phra Kaew, the most important temple in Thailand since it houses the Emerald Buddha, the most revered Buddha image.

After our very tiring tour inside the Palace, Jojie and I decided to explore the streets across. We window shopped and then we decided to eat real Thai food ("real" kasi nasa Thailand talaga eh! Hahaha!)! So we entered a restaurant / pub (which we were pretty sure turned into a bar at night) and ordered food. We were so excited to eat and when the food arrived, we weren't disappointed... super yummy!!!

After eating, we took a taxi back to the hotel. Hay, parang Pilipinas din yung mga taxi dun! Lolokohin ka rin kung kaya. :(

We met with Gina again after an hour or so. I forgot to mention that in between the second and third stops, we asked Gina how to go to the nightclubs which features the dancing Thai girls. Instead of giving us directions to the place, she arranged a tour for us and for whoever who wanted to go with us (syempre siningil niya kami ng mahal!). Most of the people in our group also wanted to go so Gina set the time when she'll pick us up from the hotel.

Before going to Patpong, Bangkok's red-light district, we went to Suan Lum Night Bazaar first. Grabe! Dito ang sarap mag-shopping! Everything we were looking for before the wedding to buy for the house was there! As in! Parang dun kinukuha ng Real Living lahat ng naka-feature sa kanila. If only we had the money (kasi gusto na naming bilhin lahat!) and the means to bring all those stuff back home, we would have shopped till we dropped!

In spite of our self-imposed no-shopping policy, Jojie and I bought an outfit each. Ang ganda-ganda nung pinili niya for me! That's also one of the things I like about my husband, he has really nice taste in clothes. And of course, as usual, the outfits we bought were very similar (this is one of Jojie's kabaduyan, he likes it when our clothes match :)).

After our Suan Lum adventure, we met with the whole group again to go to Patpong. Gina bought us to a hidden nightclub. I say hidden because it didn't have signs. It looked like a normal run-down house outside but inside, it's a club with a stage, colored lights, and even a dancing pole!

The show that we watched was just plain shocking! Jojie exclaimed "Put**g ina!" several times while watching the girls slice bananas, smoke, throw darts, draw, and shoot pingpong balls using their pussies! Personally, the most shocking for me was the part where a dancing girl casually pulled a really long nylon rope from inside her pussy... this would have been nothin-out-of the ordinary but the nylon rope had blades tied to it ever 12 inches or so! The finale was sex between a man and a woman and believe me when I say there was absolutely nothing sensual about what they were doing. It looked like they were just really doing it for the show which I'm sure was the case anyway.
We went home that night with me feeling a bit under the weather. So we had to tell Gina to cancel our Dream World trip for the following day.

Wednesday, day two of our honeymoon. Ayan na, I woke up with a slight fever. After breakfast, Jojie went out in search of medicine for me. Kawawa naman asawa ko, ni walang makapagturo sa kanya ng matino kung nasan yung drugstore. Wala kasing marunong mag-ingles sa hotel eh.
We stayed in the hotel room the whole morning and most of the afternoon just resting. It was probably the stress of wedding preps and the wedding day itself catching up. Kaines naman sa Bangkok pa ako naabutan ng sakit! But it was okay, at least we were able to just lie down. It was a really good thing that we scheduled a four day stay, at least we had the luxury of having one day to rest.

Late afternoon, Jojie and I ventured out by ourselves. Baiyoke was in the middle of Pratunam area, THE shopping district of Bangkok. Imagine Divisoria. Now imagine it cleaner, twice more siksik, and four times larger. That's Pratunam for you. Actually, when I stopped and looked at the clothes for sale, I realized that this is really where all the biyaheras go to buy clothes they sell in Divi. Ang galing at ang mura-mura! But since I'm not much into clothes anyway, standing in the middle of millions of clothing items didn't affect me at all. :) Jojie and I just walked and walked. Armed with our reliable Bangkok tourist map, we went malling and then afterwards looked for Chid Lom Street, a street we passed by the night before and which we promised ourselves we'd explore. We reached Chid Lom, a relatively uppity street. When we were tired walking, we rested by having coffee in, where else... Starbucks! Hahaha! We stayed in starbucks for less than an hour and walked back to the hotel. And that endeth our second day.

The following morning, we had an early breakfast (syempre super dami na naman naming kinain like the last two days! Mwahahaha!) and then we waited for Gina's driver to pick us up. Today was our schedule to go to Dream World, an amusement park located in Pattaya, a couple of hours from Bangkok. Ever since we knew we were going to Bangkok, I spent hours and hours researching what we were going to do (that was why we made sure that we would get to visit Grand Palace and get to eat in a real Thai restaurant, as opposed to just those frequently visited by tourists). I had to choose between Dream World and an animal place (parang zoo na may shows and stuff... can't even remember what it's called). Since Jojie's very fond of roller coasters, we chose Dream World. We actually made arrangements on our own with Dream World but since Gina offered to arrange something for us, we figured it would be easier. At least with Gina, we'd be sure that the driver spoke English.

We arrived in Dream World and immediately started exploring the place. We were like kids, riding all the rides that we could and going to all the shows that were open. The day passed by in a blur. Ang saya-saya lang!

I enjoyed the Giant’s house of Jack and the Beanstalk. Sobrang nakakaaliw kasi ang laki-laki ng lahat ng gamit. Pang-giant nga eh! Hahaha!

Jojie rode the Anchors Away ride alone kasi takot akong samahan siya. Also, if I rode, he would have forced me to ride in the dulong part of the ship. Call me a coward but the last time he was able to trick me into riding that particular ride, gusto ko nang bumaba in the middle of the ride at gusto ko siyang awayin kasi tuwang-tuwa siya samantalang pakiramdam ko mamamatay na ako! Hahaha!

I think the highlight of the day was the Snow Town. It was this huge place where there was snow and we tobogganned!!! Nakakatakot pala yun! Ang bilis-bilis kasi ng pagbaba!!! Jojie enjoyed it immensely but that was to be expected because he loves thrill rides.

We spent the whole day just like that… playing like kids. We rode basically all the rides and watched all the available shows. Kahit nga yung mga walang kwentang vintage cars kunyari, di namin pinatawad. Hahaha!

Oh yeah, the Dream World package included buffet lunch but the food was so yucky that all we managed to eat were the fruits. :(

We also shopped. Jojie bought this really nice shirt with elephant print. Ang cool! My husband’s so gwapo! :)

We went to the pick-up place at 4pm. When we got back to the hotel, we just rested for a bit and walked around again. This time, we were able to explore the Pratunam Center and the shopping districts. We had dinner at KFC, Jojie’s most favorite chicken but oh no! the Thai version of KFC doesn’t have gravy. We had to buy gravy separately and their gravy didn’t even taste so good. Beech!

After dinner, we had coffee at Starbucks again, had my picture taken with the Ronald McDonald statue (the Thai Ronald has his hands held together in the traditional Thai gesture of respect, cool!), and generally just walked around. We went back to the hotel by riding the Tuktuk, the Thai version of a tricycle.

The following day was Friday, December 24, Christmas eve! Our flight was in the afternoon so for the last time, we ventured out and bought some pasalubong for our family. We bought shirts and Thai sampalok.

Gina’s driver picked us up in the afternoon and drove us to the airport and that endenth our romantic and very memorable Bangkok honeymoon. :)

Welcome back to me!

2006-02-10T20:55:00.000+08:00

Hehehe! :)

Haven't blogged for ages. So much has happened. Have tried blogging a few times but, I dunno, I'd always end up just deleting what I wrote.

Anyway, will really, really, REALLY try to blog more since this really relaxes me. I just hope that I get enough time but since the wedding season is soon over, matatapos na rin ang mga weddings ko! More time for myself! Mwahahaha!

:)

Jojie's home!!!

2005-10-28T23:08:00.000+08:00

Jojie's home now! He was discharged from the hospital yesterday. I am so, so, so happy, I can't stop smiling.

I'll post a longer kwento tomorrow. I have a wedding kasi that I'm preparing for (back to the real world).

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who texted, called, tagged, emailed, sent cards, visited, and prayed for Jojie's recovery. We are humbled by the support we received and very much grateful for everything. Thank you.

Fourth Day

2005-10-24T22:39:00.000+08:00

It has been a really good day. Jojie's spirit was up today. Probably because it's the first time he's not attached to an IV so he can move more freely. He was very cheerful today. Nakakatuwa kasi he's his old self again.

Because I've been so tired the past few days and because Jojie slept late last night, we woke up late this morning. I was awakened by Maye's text message asking what time she'll send Nik, our helper, to the hospital. I called her and we chatted for a while. Told her about the internet articles I read about hyperthyroidism and she offered to bring her books to the hospital so I can read more on it.

By the time Mama and Papa came by to visit at around 9am, Jojie was still sleeping. They didn't stay long, just made sure that we were okay.

Jojie and I were looking forward to today because of his scheduled thyroid scan. Although we won't have the results by today, knowing that we'd be doing the test itself felt good. Our nurse for today, however, gave us the not-so-good news that Heart Center's thyroid scan machine is not yet assembled. Sa sobrang bago, walang nakakaalam kung paano i-operate. They told us that we have to go to St. Luke's for the procedure. That was okay with us but we later learned that since the ER is understaffed, there's no doctor who can accompany us to St.Luke's. The nurse told me that we can go there by ourselves but I didn't like the idea of just the two of us going to St. Luke's. What if something happens? What if his heart palpitates or his blood pressure shoots up? So I opted to just go tomorrow when we can be sure that the ambulance with the doctor will be available.
The rest of the day passed by quickly. Maye and Nik arrived in the morning. They stayed for the whole day since I had a scheduled meeting in the afternoon. My meeting was originally set at 1:00pm in Makati but when I talked to my client, they were okay with moving the meeting to QC. I was really grateful. Dahil nahiya naman ako sa kanila, told them I'd meet them in Morato para at least hindi super out of the way for them but Geraldine was even the one who offered to have the meeting nearer to the Heart Center. Thank you so much, Ge and Luigi! *hugs*

Was also able to run errands for my husband. His projects kasi are still on top of his mind and since I couldn't ask him not to think about his work for the time being, we compromised that I'd finish the task he wants done but after that, he'd relax. The problem kasi is his heart is affected by the hyperthyroidism. This is the reason why his heart palpitates or why his blood pressure increases every once in a while. Kaya rin may medication siya for the heart. My mom explicitly told me that I should take care that Jojie doesn't get too stressed. So I figured tatapusin ko na lang yung kelangan niyang gawin para pagkatapos, wala na siyang reason para magpaka-stress over it.

My mom and I agreed today that I won't rely on the nurses anymore to give Jojie's evening meds. Minsan kasi pag nakakalimtan ng nurse ibigay sa morning, okay lang kasi npapa-alala ko pero sinabi na sa akin ni Mama na I should be the one na lang para sigurado talaga ako sa oras kahit na sa gabi. What brought this about was Jojie's passing comment that he was given the med for 6am at 5am. Since it's the med for the heart, ayoko sana na hindi maayos yung pagbigay kasi Ninang Zeny also takes the same med and she said that she was hospitalized once because of wrong dosage. Masyado namang bumagal yung heart rate niya. Nye! Ayoko namang mangyari yun syempre. So tama, ako na lang.

As I mentioned above, Maye stayed the whole day. Super nakatulong talaga that Maye was here. She kept us entertained (hahaha! parang dancer!). Okay kasi si Jojie with my siblings so kwentuhan lang sila. When I went to the meeting, si Maye yung naiwan with Jojie and since Maye is also studying Nursing right now (due to graduate next March), hindi ako nerbyos to leave Jojie with her. Thanks, sis! Mwah!

On a more salbahe note, I was able to retrieve the car from the nearby hospital's (East Ave Med Ctr) parking lot today. I was actually scared that they already towed the car since I left it last Saturday pa. Hirap kasi ng parking dito sa Haert Center so dun na lang. Buti na lang pagbalik ko, andun pa. Funny pa, last Saturday when I got it, I paid P150 for overnight parking (from Friday to Saturday). Tapos kanina when I got the car, I was prepared to pay P300 for two night's parking but since theparking ticket just indicated the time (3:30pm) and not the day and I left the parking lot at 8:30pm, the guard just asked me to pay P35.00!! I actually felt guilty. It's a government hospital and I know they need the additional funds but heck, I also need the money right now.

I have to go. It's 10:30 pm and I have to wake up at 1am to give Jojie's med then we also have to wake up early so we can prepare for our trip to St.Luke's. We're leaving at 9:30am and JOjie needs to fast pa for a few hours prior so maaga siya kelangan to be able to have breakfast pa. But before I go, I'm so happy right now because Jojie and I started a novena to the Divine Mercy together. :)

Good night.

:)

THIRD DAY

2005-10-23T23:35:00.000+08:00

This is becoming harder and harder. I made a really major booboo today. I gave Jojie a shampoo and a sponge bath. Since the dextrose stand was too high, I had to step on a chair to reach it. I accidentally moved the hose and the IV needle was dislodged (or at least Jojie attributes what happened to the needle to what I did). He was furious at me. At first, the nurse told him that the needle was still in place but when he was given Benadryl intravenously, he was in such excruciating pain that he knew something was wrong. When we told the evening nurse about the pain in his hand, she made a simple procedure to make sure that the needle was still in place. Ang dali pala namang malaman kung in place pa or hindi,nainis ako na hindi ginawa nung day nurse! It turned out that the needle was in fact dislodged and had to be transferred to the other hand. Because they knew Jojie was violently opposed to having the needle transferred (plus the fact that Tita Normie requested that the IV be removed asap), the resident doctor just decided to have the IV removed. Hay!

Although I was endlessly apologetic about what happened, Jojie could not be appeased. I know it was my fault but I wasn't able to rein my temper that I snapped at Jojie. I know Jojie's going through so much so I should be more patient but I'm also physically tired and emotionally, I'm still anxious over what's happening to my husband. The good thing was we were able to talk after and he was able to tell me for the first time that he's having a difficult time. That is a big deal you know, to be able to say out loud what he felt. We were both able to verbalize our fears. I think this litle spat came at the right time. In hindsight, it helped us to be closer during this trying time.

On a more cheerful note, Ninang Zeny (one of our Principal Sponsors and Jojie's favorite tita) came to visit with Randy, her son. Kwento-kwento lang. Yun nga lang, when they visited Jojie wasn't in a very good mood (come to think of it, he wasn't in a good mood all day anyway so okay lang yun).

Called Abie in the evening to update her. Nakakatawa kasi although my mom and my sister reads up on hyperthyroidism, it didn't occur to me that I can also do that. But because Abie told me that she's been surfing the net about thyroid abnormalities and then she mentioned something about the procedure being used to treat hyperthyroidism (thanks again, Abie!), I was inspired to read up on Jojie's condition. I connected to the net using the hospital's phone line (Hahaha! Naka-tie up lang yung line the whole time I was surfing the net) and read up on hyperthyroidism and the usual treatments being done. Reading really helped us understand and put together the bits and pieces the doctors have told us so far. Mas hindi na ako nine-nerbyos kasi alam ko na yung nagyayari. Although hindi pa rin definite what's really the cause of Jojie's hyperthyroidism (I hope it's just a simple thyroiditis and not something serious), nakaka-empower talaga pag alam mo na.

Jojie and I surfed together and I read aloud to him what we were able to find out. I think it's the first time nag-sink in sa kanya what's happening to his body. He was subdued for a while but was better after we talked.

Tomorrow is Jojie's thyroid scan. Yey! At least we won't be in the blind for long.

Second day

2005-10-22T22:54:00.000+08:00

It's our second day here at the Heart Center. I woke up at 4:00am to check on Jojie. Before I can get up, I realized he was also awake. He said he was awakened by my stirring (which I couldn't understand since I was pretty sure I didn't make any significant noise). I got up and asked if he was feeling okay. He said he was okay; he just needed to go to the bathroom. Before assisting him up,I checked his dextrose and this is where I screwed up. The lights were still turned off and since I just came from sleep,I mistook the micropore tape as the level of the liquid inside the dextrose bottle. Since I thought the bottle was till half full, I proceeded to assist Jojie in getting up. Before going backto bed, Jojie noticed that the hose attached to the IV needle had about 3 inches of blood;the dextrose bottle was already empty! shit! I was instantly awake. Went to the Nurses' station to inform the nurse. It was actually his fault because he wasn't able to time the IV drip properly so the bottle emptied long before it was supposed to (about four hours before it was supposed to, in fact). The nurse changed the dextrose and fixed everything up. By then, I was really watching everything to make sure that things were how they were supposed to be (as if I'd know the difference but still... hehe! Basta I just made sure that there were no bubbles inside the IV hose).We went back to sleep and was next awakened by the arrival of Dr. Navarro and Dr.Sabido, both neurologists. They just asked Jojie if he still had a headache. When Jojie replied in the negative, they left us to sleep again. I got up after several minutes to start the day. I had a pretty good sleep considering I was just in the couch. :)

My mom called and I asked her to bring some stuff for us. I forgot to bring some necessities like a small knife, sponge and dishwashing liquid, an all-around basahan, etc. It's a really good thing my parents live just 15 minutes away from the hospital.

A really good surprise came next. Candice, one of my closest friends and my Maid of Honor, called from the U.S. She got my text and was worried. Good old Candice! Sobra ko na siyang miss. Although we also didn't see each other much when she was still here,iba pa rin na nasa ibang bansa na siya at ang layo niya talaga.

After an hour, another neurologist came, Dr. Yumul. She explained that the paralysis was caused by low levels of potassium which was in turn caused by an abnormality in Jojie's thyroid. She said that they will still perform more tests to pinpoint the problem exactly. She performed a neurological exam on Jojie and okay naman. When she left, Jojie and I felt much better that the problem was really caused by a thyroid abnormality and not by a kidney problem.

After the doctor left, Jojie called his dad. Since I could see that he wouldn't be able to tell his dad that he was in the hospital, I had to be the one to explain to daddy everything that has happened. He asked me why I didn't inform him earlier and I didn't know what to say except "I'm sorry po. Magagalit po kasi sa kain si Jojie eh. Sorry, 'dy." My father-in-law was understandably upset. And although Jojie repeatedly told him that he should not come to Manila anymore (he lives in San Pablo, Laguna), I had the feeling he'd be over here in no time. My mom and sister arrived after 9am with everything I asked for and McDo longganisa meals for us (with Milo, of course, for JOjie). My mom helped me arrange the stuff in the room. I really, really appreciate everything my mom's doing for us. Thanks, mama!

My mom left after an hour. Maye, my sister, stayed behind but had to leave after several minutes to run errands for me (had to send a marriage contract to a church for a client and since I couldn't drop by the church, for obvious reasons, Maye just sent the documents through courier and I just coordinated with the church to make sure that was okay. Buti na lang mabait yung taga-church office).Lunch time, Daddy arrived from San Pablo. Sabi ko na nga eh! He was really worried about Jojie and we had to assure him that Jojie's okay na. Further tests just had to be done to My mom arrived after lunch. She wanted to be here when Tita Normie makes her rounds but decided to just go home after an hour. She'd just call Tita Normie in the evening, she said. Before she left though, Kuya Alex arrived to get the Eastwood longest buffet tickets. Since I had to get the tickets at home, I decided to drive Mama home. When we were in the car, my mom asked me how I was doing. I could see she was worried about me. Kasi nga naman nakita niya akong umiyak kahapon and she was worried how I was doing. Told her I was okay, much better than yesterday. It felt good to talk about my fears and how I felt. I remember a topic we discussed in class before, Taking Care of the Caregiver. Kasi di ba when you take care of a patient in a hospital, everybody's focus is on the patient (rightfully so) but then everybody also forgets that the caregiver (the spouse or the parents or the children) are also very stressed and very worried and very tired.

After I dropped Mama off, I went home, took a shower, and got the tickets. God! I miss home!

Went back to the hospital. Tita Normie made her rounds while I was away but she was also in a hurry that Jojie wasn't able to ask her much. Kinamusta niya lang si Jojie then she had to go. Nakakatuwa na kahit na hindi na siya yung doctor ni Jojie, she still makes it a point to visit. Maya-maya, Daddy and Kuya Alex left na. So it was just me, Jojie, and Kuya Jon, Jojie's older brother who also arrived when I wasn't around.

Then, Dr. Manalo, an endocrinologist, arrived to explain to us what's realy happening to Jojie. Yey! The paralysis was really a result of low potassium levels in JOjie's muscles. Although the potassium level in his blood was normal, Dr. Manalo said we can't be too sure that the level in his muscles is, too, since this can't be measured. The low level of potassium is, in turn, caused by hyperthyroidism, an overproduction of T4,a thyroid hormone. This, in turn, can be caused by either thyroiditis, an inflammation of the thyroid, or thyroid hyperactivity (i forgot the medical term for it). If it's the former, then we'd just have to wait for the swelling to go down but there's a chance this can recur again. If it's the latter, then we have to remove Jojie's thyroid through a non-invasive process, something radiation. It's actually just a series of pills you take and presto, the thyroid will be gone.While waiting for the test which can determine which really is the problem (this will be on monday), medication will be given for Jojie's heart (two more effects of hyerthyroidism are heart palpitations and increased heart rate) and for his muscles (potassium supplement lang). He can eat anything except food rich in iodine. It felt so good to know what's causing all these. Parang it's half the battle na.After a while, Jojie was given the potassium supplement and the heart meds. Nye! He has an allergy pala to potassium! Nangati siya ng nangati so he had to be given Benadryl to combat the allergic reation. He was also having chills. After the benadryl, he experienced diziness naman. Hay, ang hirap. Naawa ako kay Jojie.

He was able to rest after that. He slept for several minutes until his friends from La Salle came to visit. They had Jollibee delivered so Jojie ate dinner again. He enjoyed naman his friends' company. Pag napapagod siya, pumipikit lang siya. Towards the end, they just watched UFC. You know guys, give them a very violent game and they'd be happy. Victor and Paul (and their wives) left after a couple of hours and we slept na. The end of another long day.

Jojie's confined in the hospital :(

2005-10-21T20:37:00.000+08:00

It had been a really loooong day. We are here at the Phil. Heart Center where Jojie is confined right now.

Overview:
Jojie had a few episodes of not being able to move his legs when he would wake up. He said it's just gout and that his Kuya also had it. He further said that I shouldn't worry because he would be okay in a couple of hours. Kahit anong pilit ko that we should go to the doctor, walang nangyayari. He would agree while his muscles ache but when once he's okay, he would ocnveniently forget our visit to the doctor.
This week and Thursday:

Last Sunday, We checked in at the Linden SUites and stayed there up to Wednesday. After that, we transferred to Astoria Plaza naman, supposedly for just one night and check out again the following day, Thursday. When we woke up Thursday morning, Jojie's couldn't move his legs and arms because of pain. His back also ached. Since we assumed from experience that he would be okay in a couple of hours, we were not too alarmed. I informed the front desk that we would be staying for another night. Jojie and I just stayed in the room waiting for him to be okay. We just watched news and a James Bond movie. As the day progressed, his condition got worse. I went to a nearby
drugstore to buy liniment but it didn't do any good. Early evening, my mom and Dindon, my brother, went to Astoria since my mom needed to print a file from my computer. Everything was okay. We had dinner delivered since Jojie nga couldn't move. As the night wore on, my mom got more worried and decided that would sleep over. Around 10:15pm, Mama called our family's doctor, Tita Normie. Tita Normie has been our family's cardiologist for years now. Siya na nga rin ang doctor ng Daddy ni Jojie. Galing na, ang bait pa. She asked for the symptoms and prescribed two pain relievers, a mild one and a strong one. Jojie's supposed to take the mild one first then if it doesn't relieve the pain, yung malakas naman after an hour. Tita Normie also said that Jojie should have MRI as soon as he can move. Mama and Dindon went to the nearest Mercury Drug to buy the meds. They got back at 11pm na. Gave JOjie the mild pain reliever and waited for an hour for the pain to subside. Nung hindi pa, gave him the strong med and went to sleep na. That was past 12 midnight and I was pretty confident that he would be okay in the morning.

Today:
Woke up at 4pm. No improvement. I was so scared. The possibility of this being something to do with the spinal cord kept crossing my mind. Went to the bedroom, curled up beside Mama (they slept in the room while Jojie and I slept on the floor at the living room), and cried my heart out. I couldn't imagine how life would be like if something happens to Jojie. Mom consoled me, said that everything would be okay and they would be there to help us. She knew how scared I was. We agreed that we would go to the hospital as soon as possible.

She called Tita Normie at 5:30am. Tita advised us to go to the Heart Center asap (this is where Tita has her clinic). Mama arranged for the Heart Center ambulance to pick us up but the ambulance would be available at 8am pa. We then scouted for other ambulance services and thankfully, we found one which can pick us up immediately.

Prepared Jojie for the hospital. Syempre and asawa ko, ang primary concern was Dindon would be late for school. When I toldhim that we'd be going to the hospital, he replied, "Hon, hindi pa ako nakakalakad. Pano tayo makakaalis dito?" Didn't tell him that an ambulance was on the way kasi hindi siya papayag.

Mama helped me fix our things. She was also the one who went to the front desk to check out and settle the bill. My only problem was the car. Since I'd be riding in the ambulance, I needed someone to drive the car to Heart Center. I scanned my phone book. All my friends have 8 to 5 work and I was hesitant to ask them to go to Astoria to get the car. I needed someone who (a) had a business of his/her own, (b) had no work for the day, (c) had a driver, or (d) worked but with a flexi-time sched. I had three people in my shortlist. Victor, Jojie's friend from college; Jonathan, my friend from high school; and Abie, my friend from W@W. Called Victor several times but since he is in the liquor shop business, he usually goes to bed at 3am; thus, it was not surprise that he was still sleeping. Called JOnathan. Was so surprised that he was awake. He said he could do it but after lunch
pa. Jonathan manages their family's hotel so I'm sure his schedule was also full. Told Jonathan that I'd call him if I don't get to contact another friend who can do it earlier. Then I called Abie. She
would normally still be sleeping that early in the morning so I was so surprised when she picked the phone with, take note, a very alert voice. Told her the situation and asked if she could help me with the car. She said she would send Mang Al, her driver, to get the car at Astoria and to bring it to Heart Center. Good old Abie! Super, super, super thank you talaga, sis!

The ambulance got there after a while. It was my first ambulance ride and hopefully, my last.

When we arrived at the ER, Jojie was examined and re-examined by the doctors present. Various lab tests were done to ascertain the cause of his paralysis. By then, he could move his legs about two inches from the bed. Tita Normie arrived and gave us a preliminary diagnosis. Familial Periodic Paralysis. She had to go kaagad so she just assured us that everything would be fine. A spinal cord problem had been ruled out so we're okay na.

Jojie had to be admitted so we had to wait for a vacant room. The waiting line for a room at the Heart Center is notoriously long so I braced myself for the wait.

Jonathan texted me, cOnfirmed my new surname and asked me to look for his sister who's probably on duty that time. Since I didn't really know his sister, nahiya naman ako to just look for her out of the blue. After half an hour, someone called my name, it was Jen, Jonathan's sister. Siya pa yung bumaba sa ER to look for us. She explained what Familial Periodic Paralysis meant; Jojie had low levels of potassium which resulted in the loss of muscle strength. She said that the next step would be to determinewhat causes the low potassium level. It might be a kidney or a thyroid problem.
The best thing was Jen helped us get a room. We were number 3 in the list. Thank goodness she was there or else, goodness knows how long we would wait for a room.

Abie arrived to keep us company. She had Mang Al drop her off at the hospital then she gave Mang Al instructions to retrieve the car from Astoria.

We were given a room around 11am. Buti na lang sa ground floor lang. I really like this hospital. Maganda, maluwag, efficient ang staff, and the price is very reasonable. Abie stayed with us na until afternoon. She just worked on her cases using her phone and Jojie's laptop. :)

Went home in the afternoon to bring all our stuff from the 5 nights hotel stay (ang dami nun!) and to check on our place na rin. I got so sad when I entered our door. To think that just a couple of days ago, Jojie and I were joking that it'd be nice to not go home and just live in Linden forever. Now, I just want to go home as long as Jojie were with me.

Went back to the hospital after fixing our place. I passed by the supermarket to buy some supplies and Jollibee Pinoy Burger Steak for Jojie. Also bought him this month's FHM to keep him busy. I still
needed to run a few errands for clients but I learned that Jojie has a headache so I rushed back to the hospital. Dr. Esguerra, the cardiologist of Jojie's HMO, dropped by in my absence. He said that
the problem was most likely caused by a thyroid problem.

Right now, Jojie and I are just waiting for the visit of his sister. She'd be dropping by anytime now and she has the medicine for Jojie's headache (the medicine they prescribed for the headache was not available in the hospital pharmacy so I had to ask her to bring it since I couldn't very well go and leave Jojie alone).

It had been a really long day. At least Jojie's leg and arm movements have been steadily improving since he was given potassium so I'm not as worried anymore. I just hope they determine the real cause behind all these soon.

japanese mayo

2005-10-04T17:37:00.000+08:00

i wanted to buy japanese mayo the other day so i can make kani salad but the stocks in Cherry (a really good [read: cheap and complete] supermarket near our place) of the jap mayo were only in 1 liter packaging. nye! ang laki! ang mahal pa man din, P155.00 yung pinakamura!! i still wanted to buy it... hindi ko na lang pinapakita yung price kay jojie, hehe! but when he saw me put it in the grocery cart, sabi niya doble gastos daw yun kasi pwede naman ordinaryong mayo. duh! hindi yun pwede no! ang layo ng lasa! pero dahil mahal nga at i'm sure pag nalaman niya kung magkano yun, hindi talaga siya papayag, i put the mayo back in the shelf. i told jojie na hindi ko na rin bibilhin yung kani (i already got one earlier kasi) but he said na kunin pa rin daw namin kasi pwede naman yung ladies choice.

kanina, i wanted to eat kani salad for afternoon meryenda kaya lang wala nga akong japanese mayo (although i already made california maki before using ordinary mayo at okay naman, feeling ko dit hindi mag-wo-work). pero dahil gutom na ako, i got the kani and ate two pieces. i just dipped it in soy sauce, kalamansi, and wasabi. yummy but i really wanted to eat salad. so masama man sa loob ko, i tried ladies choice mayonnaise. i got iceberg lettuce, cucumber sticks, and kani (wala ako nung orange fish eggs eh, hindi available sa supermarket). tapos i topped it with ladies choice. i mixed it and tasted it. eeew!!! lasang mayonnaise! hahaha! then i had a sudden inspiration, i put a little of the soy sauce-kalamansi-wasabi sauce in my salad and voila! ang sarap! so for dinner later, i'll be serving lechon kawali and kani salad! yey! :)

===

for those who are interested in making homemade japanese mayo, here's the recipe:

3 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1-1/2 oz (50 g) white miso *
1 cup salad oil
salt to taste
sprinkle of white pepper
a pinch of grated yuzu**, lime, or lemon peel

* miso is salty paste of fermented soy beans. It is available in Asian markets and some health food stores. White miso is used for soups and dressings.

** yuzu is a Japanese orange used only for its rind. Kaffir lime used in Thai or Malaysian food is an alternative, as is lemon or lime rind.

Beat the egg yolks and lemon juice with a wooden spoon in a bowl. Continue to beat, adding the salad oil a few drops at a time until the mixture begins to emulsify. Keep on adding the rest of the oil, then stir in the miso and the seasonings."

---

If you're not sanay making mayo from scratch though, mejo mahirap ito at nakakangawit. I remember my mom making homemade mayo when I was small. and the few times na pinakialaman ko siya, nasira ko yung mayo! hahaha!

i'm blogging again!

2005-10-04T17:35:00.000+08:00

been so busy the whole month of september that i neglected my blog. and as expected, after a period of not being able to blog, i tell myself, never again! (of course, i know that when i get busy again, i won't be able to blog again as much as i want to... haaaay!).

===

if there was a device which can directly blog my thoughts, siguro super blogger na ako. i've composed hundred of blog entries in my mind!!! posts about things as mundane as our latest diet (perricone diet... it's really yummy! fruits, veggies, and food rich in omega-3 and antioxidants) or as luxurious as my dream european itinerary are in my mind all the time.

===

i want to go to boracay! we're planning a trip to boracay... sana maayos namin yung sched namin... at syempre sana kayanin ng budget! hahaha! and habang naghihintay, i'll just be content looking at mai's pictures.

===

we're going to a walking tour of intramuros tomorrow. i'm so excited!!!

massage... hmmm...

2005-09-15T12:37:00.000+08:00

written august 23; posted sept 15 :)

--

as i previously posted, jojie and i had a massage appointment last friday. we've been wanting to schedule a scrub/massage session for the longest time but our schedule would not permit it. and then, when we actually have a free time, we... este, i lang pala... hehehe... forget to set a sched with the super duper efficent zeny, our favorite therapist at fitness first plus (kasi sobrang alaga ako sa kanya kaya ko siya favorite).

then last week, zeny called me out of the blue. she actually called us at home to make kulit when we'll be having our session! hahaha! it was a really good thing she called or else we wouldn't have remembered. tamang-tama kasi 8th month "anniversary" na rin namin ni bernard this month so tinaon na namin so the massage will serve as our anniv date.

since i was already in metrowalk for client meetings and such, dun na lang dumiretso si bernard after his work. we had an early dinner at chicken inasal (hindi masarap masyado, chicken bacolod is much better!) then proceeded to fitness first in rcbc.

zeny texted me earlier that she didn't feel well so she endorsed us to claudette instead. we got there earlier than our apppointment so jojie and i went to the locker rooms first to take a shower and freshen up. hay! ang sarap maligo! hahaha! after my long, luxurious shower, i went to the dry sauna. i tried the wet (steam) sauna before pero hindi ko nakayanan ko so hanggang dry sauna lang talaga ako. i had the sauna room to myself. ang sarap! i was able to stay long (ang record ko ata sa sauna is 45 minutes. that was withrhodora during our shower for joey... sumakit yung ulo ni dowa after pero ako hindi so i know that i can stay long talaga inside the sauna... i'm not sure nga lang kung may masamang effect na pala yun! hehe!). i took so long that i received a couple of text messages na from jojie asking me why i was taking so long.

went upstairs around quarter to 8. jojie and i always reserve the Couple Room so we can have the scrub and massage together. i chose the green tea scrub and jojie, of course, chose his favorite strawberry scrub. ang sarap ng feeling ng scrub! ang bango pa!

after the scrub, massage naman. i usually have swedish massage while jojie always has sports but my body was aching all over because of stress and all that i decided to have a sports massage as well. it was agood decision! claudette was able to remove all my (bodily) aches and pains that i just wanted to sleep after.

up to now, jojie's still kinda amazed at the fact that i have my breasts massaged... hahaha! (what is it with men and breasts anyway?)

tea is served after every session and although the tea that day wasn't as good as before, okay na rin. :)

we went home that night really relaxed and refreshed. ang funny pa, talagang na-appreciate ko lang yung massage the morning after when, while preparing breakfast, i realized na ang gaan-gaan ng feeling ko (parang ivory!) and that was when i realized na nawala talaga lahat ng sakit sa likod ko. haaay! can't wait for our next appointment.

career dilemma part 2 - the solution

2005-08-22T23:38:00.000+08:00

realized that i really will not be able to hold an 8am to 5pm job. with the load of the coordination business... we have 15 weddings pa this year... yeah i know it's not much but believe me, with the work that coordination entails, okay na sa akin yang ganyang load. isa pa, i'm also doubling as a homemaker (something which i have been neglecting the past few weeks because of coordination), as jojie's executive assistant (for his company and believe me, this takes a lot of my time!), and as a graduate student. so yeah, okay na yung load na yun. in fact, pag nagtatanong yung ibang friend-photographers namin, nagugulat sila na may ganung booking na raw kami considering that march lang kami nag-start. super thankful talaga ako dito.

but i have also realized that i don't want to just do coordination. i really want to do something psych-related. actually, one of my w@wie clients asked me if i'll be able to accept referrals for counseling pain patients/clients but i told her that i'd be more confident if i'll just refer her to someone. una, hindi ko talaga kaya ang regular hours. kahit na hindi naman ganun ka-regular yun, weekly sched pa rin yun. second and most important, kahit gaano pa ako ka-feeling magaling sa counseling, pang-clinical psych yung ganung level and i wouldn't want to shortchange her patients. so what i did was to refer her to someone i know who would be able to do a better job.

so, ano na ang gagawin ko? i want like the one i did in july... i don't think i was bale to blog about that. i facilitated workshops for freshmen students in ateneo for 3 saturdays. it was fun. i was able to do something i really enjoy (to be in front of the classroom), at the same time, hindi super stressful (except for the fact that i had to be there at 730 in the morning) at okay naman yung pay.

so since gusto ko psych-related pero hindi regular, ang hirap tuloy. then, ma'am vina came to the resuce!!! ma'am vina was one of my supervisors before. i never worked directly under her but since she sorta owned the clinic i was affiliated with, boss ko siya. she texted me the other day and asked me if i was interested in accpeting clients for psychological testing. of course i said yes!!! this way, hindi ako mase-stress, magagawa ko yung coordination, makakapag-train pa rin ako sa psych testing, a field which i'm really interested in. hindi pa kami nakakapag-usap since then but my mom said tumawag na daw siya sa bahay ng parents ko asking for my new landline. haaay! excited na ako!

metrowalking

2005-08-19T15:04:00.000+08:00

i have a new hangout! i'm here at starbucks metrowalk right now. they also offer wi-fi so no prob there. pag may wi-fi kasi ibig sabihin the branch management allows people to plug in their laptops. i like it here more coz it's near to jojie's office (his office is in tektite) so it's easier for us to coordinate our sched.

***

sonny belmonte, the mayor of QC, is seating across from me. i'm not usually starstruck you know but i love this guy! i like what he's doing for QC. kakatuwa!

***

jojie and i have a scheduled massage later and i'm so definitely looking forward to it! super tagal na nung last na massage namin. actually nag-expire na nga mga massage certificates namin eh! hehe! buti na lang our suking therapist, zeny (i so love this girl! magaling mag-alaga!) extended the expiration date of the certs. also, when we bought the certs, she gave us one free cert! bait no?! hay! sana 7pm na para massage na.

:)

chocolates = happiness :)

2005-08-18T14:56:00.000+08:00

have you seen the new hershey's chocolates commercial? they equate hershey's with happiness. the chocolate bar they show on t.v., instead of having the word HERSHEY'S, has the word HAPPINESS written on the bar itself.

i was never hooked on chocolates. in fact, when papa would buy chocolates, he would only buy for himself and my brother. sila lang kasi ang mahilig talaga sa chocolates sa amin. they wouldn't share! ang dami nilang bibilhin tapos itatago nila! hahaha!

but things changed when i was feeling down a couple of weeks ago. i can remember that i felt so stressed out that i wanted to pop a pill! as in iniisip ko na kung paano ako makakabili ng prozac! haha! i was worried that i called candice, my super duper Maid of Honor and one of my closest friends who happens to be a doctor, to ask for help. yun nga lang, hindi raw siya pwedeng mag-prescribe ng prozac kasi hindi siya licensed for that. si inch daw, another barkada of ours, yung pwede (inch kasi is a psychiatry resident whole candice is planning to go into pedia). not that candice was also willing to give me prozac (ano ba yun!?!) but she asked me questions and tried to determine where my feeling was coming from. in the end, we both agreed that it was just hormones. so what candice and cris (candice's friend who's also a doctor) advised me was to eat chocolates. it's a natural high-enducer kasi. eh syempre masunurin ako so pinapak ko yung nuttela. shucks! ang sarap! ang sarap-sarap-sarap talaga!!!

and from then on, super hooked na ako on chocolates! sh**! i know i will super duper gain weight because of this (when i told inch about it, sabi niya effective nga yung chocolate pero tigilan ko na raw! hahaha!) but i can't right now. chocolates are just so good! the other night, i had a bar of cadbury hazelnut. yday, i had a bar of cadbury's roasted almonds for bfast. today, since paubos na yung stash ko, i had to make tipid so inabot ng until after lunch yung dairy milk bar. bukod pa yan sa mcdo choco sundae at kung anu-ano pa na kinakain ko pag nasa labas! geesh! it's becoming so bad! waaaahhh! hahaha!

o sige, gotta go. want to drop by mcdonald's before my meeting later to have a milkshake! mwehehehe!

:)

career dilemmas at pangungulit ng magulang

2005-08-16T15:47:00.000+08:00

i find it so weird that after a couple of years of hoping to land a job with a university (yun nga lang puro hope ako at hindi naman nag-a-apply! hahaha!) and then finally deciding to postpone my career in psych to give way to coordination, offers and interviews poured in! (hehehe! mayabang ako eh! feeling ko pag-in-interview ako, good as tanggap na ako! mwahahahaha!)

last may, the head of the ateneo college guidance office contacted me and offered me a job in his department. although i wanted the job coz it would be a good learning opportunity and ateneo isn't so far away, i told him i couldn't accept it because of my events coordination business. nagulat nga ata siya eh kasi he knew how much i wanted to train to be a really good psychologist.

then one month after, DLSU-CSB contacted me for a job interview. isa pa yun, it has been my dream to work in de la salle. una, mataas sweldo! hahaha! pangalawa, i want access to their library. you see, i already hace access to both UP and ateneo libraries so i need access na lang to the dlsu lib para complete ko na. mwehehehe! nahahalatang sobrang nerd ko! but then again, i had to turn that down. of course, because of cooridnation.

then a couple of weeks ago, the dean of FEU-FERN called. i have a scheduled meeting daw with her for a job. weird no? never naman ako nag-apply. syempre, had to turn it down again. okay naman yung FEU kasi ma-okay naman ang benefits nila for their faculty at saka university pa rin yun.

dito sa last na job interview na ito, hindi na nakatiis ang magulang ko at pinagsabihan na ako. our conversation went like this:

Mama: Anak, tumawag raw ung Dean ng FEU sa iyo?
Ako: Oo daw po, ma. jan daw sa bahay. Tapos nag-text at nagpapa-return call.
(In the bground - Papa: Sinabihan ko nga siyang tanggapin niya na eh)
Mama: Eh bakit ayaw mo? Anak, maganda naman ang FEU kasi competitive naman ang faculty salary nila.
Ako: Ma, eh kung mag-e-FEU na lang ako, eh di dapat nag-Ateneo na lang ako.
Mama: Oo nga, mas maganda Ateneo. Eh bakit mo nga ba tinanggihan yun?
Ako: Kasi po full time yung hinahanap nila, eh hindi ko naman kayang mag-full time. *notice that i never mention coordinating here as a reason coz my parents are not really happy with my decision to go into coordinating and to postpone my "promising" career! hehe! instead, the reason i give them why i can't have a full-time job is because of jojie's workload, which is actually true, you know.*
Mama: Ah oo nga pala. Pero ayaw mo nito?
Ako: Ma, eh di kung FEU, eh di dapat nag-CSB na lang ako.
Mama: CSB? Bakit? Tumawag din ba sa iyo yung CSB?
Ako: (ooops!) Oo di ba? Di ba sa iyo binanggit ni Papa? Alam niya yun eh. *hehe! sinisi ko pa papa ko!*
Mama: Eh bakit hindi mo kinuha?
Ako: Ha? Eh full time din eh. Tsaka counseling, hindi teaching. Eh ayoko namang mag-counseling sa school, di ba?
Mama: Ay oo nga pala...

... then, thankfully, we drifted to other topics.

i just find all these so weird! parang kung kelan naman, i'm more or less settled na with coordination, jan naman dumarating yang mga yan. so i asked bernard tuloy to sit with me and talk things over. so we sat and discussed what i really want to do with my life. and after more or less an hour of talking, we were just able to clarify one thing, finishing my thesis is non-negotiable. As for the rest... like how long should I do coordination or should I still pursue PhD like what I've always dreamt of doing or should I still target teaching or should I still open a clinic or should I just really stay at home... well, we'll just play things by ear. For now, I enjoy what I'm doing and that's what matters.

:)

aray!

2005-08-12T01:42:00.000+08:00

10:57 am

just before i start working on our team's task assignment for our next wedding, just need to blog about this.

i'm here at starbucks valero right now, waiting for jojie to finish with his Ayala Land meeting. syempre ang dami dami kong dala, yung bag ko, yung laptop ko, yung laptop ni jojie... kasi pag nawala sa sa kotse baka sakalin ako ng asawa ko kasi sa kalsada lang ako naka-park so kelangan kong dalhin lahat. sa sobrang dami, parang mukha akong hilong talilong. anyway, after 5 long minutes, i was finally able to arrange my table with the laptop and food then i turned my head quickly towards the road (i was seating by the glass window)... shit! naumpog yung ulo ko sa satrbucks sign! alam niyo yun, yung malaking sign, as in yung malaking sign talaga na naka-hang! aray ang sakit! of course, all the baristas and the guard turned to me. akala ko nga nabasag ko yung sign eh! hahaha!
yun lang. trabaho na ako.

shit! ang sakit pa rin! hahaha!

---

1:27pm

i'm now in seattle's best in eastwood. haaay! parang iniisa-isa ko na naman ang coffee shops sa pilipinas. i was supposed to go to heritage today after jojie's meeting in makati (see above) kaya lang the money wasn't remitted in time by the money transfer agent of my client so wala sa akin yung money. i thought of making abono kaya lang i realized that yung fund ko for abono ay ubos na kasi di pa naki-clear yung checks nung last na inabonohan ko kaya wag muna. talked to heritage. next week na lang.

decided to stay here in eastwood na (after jojie's meeting) kasi will have food tasting with josiah's later with one of our clients. josiah's food is good so i'm pretty sure things will be okay. i'm supposed to also have a food tasting on sunday, sa josiah's din kaya lang may prior appointment na ako. sayang! hahaha! on the other hand, the prior appointment is also a food tasting, with VS&F naman. haaay! di na natapos ang food tasting! mwahahaha!

so there... will get back to work na.

:)

pagtitipid and cuisine everyday?

2005-08-11T11:20:00.000+08:00

i'm planning to make chicken curry later for dinner (wanted beef or shrimp curry but we don't have beef nor shrimp so back to good old chicken) and since i'm on a bree van de kamp phase (more on this later), i told myself that chicken curry is not enough. so i browsed through my indian recipe book (yup, i have an indian recipe book!) and tried to look for a dish i can pair up with curry. hay! wala akong mahanap! my problem lies with the spices. i can handle cumin and turmeric but what the hell is garam masala or asafoetida? sabi ko na nga ba, i should have gone to the specialty Indian food stores muna para i could have bought stocks. anyway, so for now, my indian cookbok will remain on the shelf until i can gather those out-of-the-world ingredients it's talking about.

for dinner, if i can muster enough sipag, then i can drop by the supermarket to buy additional ingredients and i'll just make tom yang. :)

anyway... it's 10:44 am and i'm already planning what's for dinner. since i'm home alone for lunch on weekdays, i just have a sandwich or i just open anything canned or i have a salad but i try to make nice dinners. actually, this "cuisine-for-dinner-everyday" phase started just a while ago. you see, jojie and i realized that we've been spending so much on eating out. at first, it didn't bother me. si jojie and matipid eh so siya ung nagwo-worry dun. what he would do is to limit what we order na lang para maka-tipid. like for example, in Terikaki Boy, instead of ordering teriyaki boy chicken don, gyu yakiniku don, california maki, kani salad, and iced tea like we used to do, we'll go for just the chicken don and the gyu don. at first, ayoko kasi feeling ko dapat maraming ino-order para masaya (haha!)but then, i realized na pareho lang pala yung level of satiation ko with or without the add-ons so sige na nga. isa pa, because of stress, i've been throwing up a lot lately so honestly, hindi ko na rin kayang kumain ng marami (sana lang mag-reflect na soon sa dress size ko! haha!).

and then, one time i saw this oprah episode which featured this newly married couple mired in debt. they've been married for only 3 months and already, they're in a $50,000 credit card debt! juice ko! hindi ko ata kaya yun. pag nangyari yun sa amin, baka makalbo ang asawa ko sa stress! the episode got me thinking. we should really try to save! for now, we're living within our means naman (hindi papayag si jojie to live beyond our means! away yun pag ginawa ko yun!) but i realized that we can save a lot by just dining out once a week or so (for the past couple of months, we've been dining out, on the average 4x a week). so i decided to have a conscious effort to eat at home instead of dining out. but then, the problem lies in my way of thinking... you see, if we just eat canned goods and prito-prito everyday, feeling ko kawawa naman ang asawa ko. i know that's a stupid thought and i don't mean any offense to families who have canned goods and fried food everyday pero ayoko lang ng ganun. (yeah, i admit, i do that whenever i'm tamad but i really try to cook nice dishes, you know). thank god we can afford to buy ingredients for dishes that i like to try na alam kong kaartehan lang. dun talaga super grateful ako kay god sa mga blessings kaya lalo natinag yung resolve ko na wag umabuso. :)

so yun na nga, i told myself i'll just cook every night pero hindi puro prito. so now i experiment every night. basta i think of ways na masarap yung dinner. this way, i get to enjoy cooking. i may not be the best cook but i really enjoy cooking. the other night, we had grilled liempo, garlic rice, and salad. ang winner dito i made the salad dressing myself. i made strawberry vinaigrette (sp?) and ang sarap! i was so proud of myself! :) last night we had bologna (good! pero dahil si jojie ang kakain, dapat pinoy style, read: matamis, at hindi italian na maasim), oatmeal chicken (just so-so), and coleslaw. yummy!

and you know what's the best part is? i have realized that ang laki talaga ng natitipid pag kumakain dito sa bahay! for example, for our dinner the other night, yung grilled liempo, ang breakdown nun was:

liempo: P100 (jojie's cousin was supposed to have dinner with us kasi so i cooked 3pcs liempo)
additional ingredients for the liempo: approx P15
garlic rice: approx P5.00
salad: P13.00 for the green lettuce, P12.50 for the mango, P4.00 for the tomato, and approx P16.00 for the dressing.

total is P165.00! which is equivalent to 1 order of chicken don in teriyaki boy or 1 order of crispy tadyang ng baka in crocodile. i was really amazed!!! yung lagay na yan, malaki pa yan for a dinner at home kasi nga madami pa ako arte. ang galing di ba? so everytime i have a hard time washing the dishes afterwards, i just remind myself na ang laki ng natipid ko, nag-enjoy ako sa pagluluto, and nag-enjoy kami ni jojie dining together at our home on our starbucks-look-alike table. :)

so back to dinner for tonight, i'll have chicken curry. i'm debating whether to have bagoong rice or not kasi parang over na sa lasa. what do you think? then i'll just have soup, kung hindi man tom yang, i'll be sure to whip something up. :)

need focus

2005-08-03T12:27:00.000+08:00

i'm home alone. i'm supposed to be working... have lots of things to do... inquiries to be replied to, budgets to be done, suppliers to call, etc.... but i just can't focus right now. jojie has the car today so i can't even go out. i'm thawing ground beef coz i'm planning to make spaghetti for dinner but even the thought of cooking isn't cheering me up. there's desperate housewives on tv but i don't even want to watch. hmmm... what's happening to me kaya? jojie is having a luncheon presentation with a client so i can't even call him. haaaay! siguro side effect ito of this medication i'm taking right now.

i won!

2005-07-27T23:44:00.000+08:00

jojie and i were having dinner this evening when i mentioned charlene gonzales and the high-tide-low-tide question. you guys remember that? when charlene joined ms. universe a decade ago, she was asked how many islands does the philippines have. she asked the emcee if high tide or low tide ba. :) anyway, i mentioned that kanina (i cannot even remember why our conversation steered that way) and then my nagmamagaling na hubby said, in his most "duh!" voice, "hon, ano ka ba? si miriam quiambao yung tinanong ng high tide or low tide!"

"hindi kaya! si miriam quiambao yung nadapa! si charlene yung high tide or low tide!"

and we proceeded to argue for the next several minutes which ended in a bet. at first, the prize was money kaya lang corny naman yun kasi basically hati naman kami sa pera, i mean, talaga namang ibibigay niya rin sa kin yung money niya so walang saysay. then we decided na the prize would be a kinky request na gagawin for 20 minutes. hahaha! we ended up betting a day's worth of being the other's slave! hahaha!

jojie should have realized that for me to bet one whole day of being his slave, i was so sure of my answer. but no! my stubborn hubby continued to boast that he has a sure win. haha!

after dinner, i googled charlene gonzales and of course, i won!!! syempre, when he realized he has lost and that he has to be my slave, aba! binaliktad ang istorya! panalo raw siya kasi tama raw siya na si miriam yung nadapa! excuse me!! grrr!

after an hour of taunting, he finally admitted that i won! mwahahahaha!!!

:)

desperate housewives

2005-07-06T11:44:00.000+08:00

am watching desperate housewives right now and although abie's right.. medyo weird nga na kainggitan sila kasi nga desperate sila... i so want to be a housewife... yun lang...

:)

random thoughts

2005-06-30T16:46:00.000+08:00

i am at starbucks sm city right now. i'm waiting for jojie to finish his meeting. i am supposed to work but am so restless that i can't focus so here i am blogging. :)

--

i am thinking of "closing" this blog since i can't seem to find the time to write but i can't bring myself to delete the account. i promised myself numerous times to find the time to sit down and blog but everytime i make a resolution to do so, something happens. hay!

--

work is good. we had a very... hmmm... for lack of a better term... memorable wedding about a month ago. it was such a nightmare that one of my partners (hi sister!) considered and actually was going to quit coordination. hay! buti na lang okay na lahat. but i am going to blog about this memorable wedding one of these days. hehe!

--

i find it endearing and irritating that my husband seems to lose his self-reliance and independence whenever we are home together. parang masyado niyang ine-enjoy na andiyan ako at nagpapaka-baby. hindi mo alam kung tamad lang ba or talagang nakakalimutan niya talaga na nabuhay naman siyang mag-isa sa bahay for the past couple of years. haaaay!

--

been wanting to blog about this for the longest time (este, mga three weeks lang pala). i think naunahan na ako ng lahat... hehehe! had an EB with the other bloggers about three weeks ago. laine, len, tin, mai, and abie were there. we had a blast! super ingay kami sa finio. buti na lang kami lang ang laman ng restaurant. food was good. sarap ng pritson! len gave all of us chocolate chip cookies which jojie immediately opened at syempre inubos (buti na lang nakahabol ako so sabay naming kinain (thanks, len! mwah! :)). also received a bracelet and a collection of recipes from laine (laine, super enjoy ko ung recipes! thanks, sis! mwah!). it was really good to finally meet mai and tin. they were exactly the way i imagined them to be. i'm all for "real-life", offline friends but with online friends, ang dali at walang pakyeme-kyeme. kakatuwa talaga! girls, it was really wonderful meeting you guys. promise, tin, susunod eastwood na (sorry talaga sa palpak na directions! :))

the quest for the perfect car!

2005-06-14T18:07:00.000+08:00

jojie and i were finally able to buy a car of our own! second-hand pero amin talaga! yipee!!! we've been planning and wanting to buy a car for ages but we figured we should make sure first that we can really afford one before plunging into debt! hehe! anyway, the quest for the car started before the wedding but with the wedding expenses, we said we'll just wait. sabi nga ng papa ko palagi, wag munang kayanin pag hindi kaya. so hintay muna kami. a couple of months ago, jojie realized that i really needed a car of my own (honey, if you're reading this, take note, it's my car! :) i used my dad's car kasi and although pwede ko naman gamitin yun kasi hindi pa naman nagda-drive ang mga kapatid ko at may isa pang sasakyan si papa, mas mabuti na rin na makabili kami ng sarili) and the quest for perfect car started. at first, we were thinking na bili na lang kami ng mura lang na second-hand. so hanap-hanap kami. wala kaming mahanap na gusto namin. actually si jojie may mga nagustuhan pero ako ayoko. either masyadong malaki (na hindi ko kakayaning i-drive) or masyadong
luma (i didn't want a car older than 10years) or masyadong mahal (self-explanatory.. hehe!). next, we focused our attention to brand-new cars so we went to honda and mazda and inquired. ang gaganda pero ang mahal!!! exagg! i can't imagine shelling out 15K monthly for amortization. no way! then we compromised. we realized we'll be better off if we go half-way... second-hand pero hindi masyadong luma so we were looking into 1999-2000 cars. so hanap uli. tingin-tingin. there was even this 1999 white honda that we saw which jojie really liked. he was going to pay for the reservation fee na. buti na lang i called my dad and asked him to go the shop to look over the car first. pabayad na talaga si jojie but we chose to wait for my dad. masyadong namahalan yung dad ko so we told the owner na babalikan na lang namin. we did go back after a couple of hours and asked for the terms and we realized hindi pala namin afford! hahaha! after that, i was resigned to the fact that we were not yet financially ready to buy a car. but my very persrvering husband still continued his search for the just-right car and he told me he found one sa internet. nasa website raw ng honda, pre-owned rin (a fancy term for second-hand! haha!) pero sa casa. so he checked it out and he liked it! so i checked it out and i liked it din! it's a 2000 green honda civic na VTEC (sorry, tama ba yung sequencing ko?) kaya lang same price, actually mas mahal pa ng kaunti than the other honda car so i thought hindi pa rin namin afford. but when he sat down and computed, we realized we can afford it, with the same terms as the last car!!! ang galing talaga! so we submitted na the requirements and voila, the car was released after two weeks!

syempre super excited ang aking asawa so he had different stuff (for lack of a better term) installed
immediately. so meron na alarm, extra matting, tint, and leather seats. haaay! you should see jojie. he's so happy. and i'm so happy seeing him so happy. :)

kakatuwa pa kasi sabi ng mama ko nung nalagyan na ng tint yung kotse, "ang ganda na ng kotse niyo, mukha na kayong mayaman!" pero syempre alam nating lahat na mukha lang yun! hahaha!

will take pics of my hubby's current most-favorite-thing-in-the-world and post it soon. pa-car wash ko muna! :p

playing hooky

2005-06-14T17:06:00.000+08:00

yehey! finally had time to blog again! i'm at starbucks 6750 right now. i'm going to meet two clients, one at 6pm and the other at 7pm. i brought work with me but i'm already done. i can do more but i'm feeling too lazy right now. hehe!

i'm sorry, i just have to vent...

2005-06-03T09:04:00.000+08:00

i was so excited to post but now that i'm in front of the laptop, i can't compose anything about things that matter to me because of something that is bothering me. and i know that some of our current clients read this blog and i'm not sure if it's wise to write about this here but i realize that this is my blog anyway and i would really, really like to vent here. isa pa, i know the people who read this naman are my friends who will not judge me.

we had a wedding in may (non-w@wie). ayoko namang i-assasinate ang character niya pero nainis talaga ako. she was nice naman to me personally so kahit na nakikita ko kung paano niya... no other term for this... alipustahin yung ibang tao, okay lang. she says she's OC pero ang dami talagang gulo ng preps niya. for one, she got her MUA 3 days before the wedding. she got her band 3 days before. her choir 2 days before. makakausap ko lang siya pag ako yung humahabol sa kanya. like 4 days before her wedding, i sat down with her and asked her for the names of her entourage, ni hindi niya mabigay sa akin. the day before her wedding, i went to UP Diliman to have her misalette photocopied. that misalette, i sent her that around 3 weeks before the wedding. four days before the wedding, i sat down with her to ask for the readings she has chosen, tapos inayos ko and ni-layout. pina-photocopy ko the morning of the day before her wedding. pagkatapos kong mapa-photocopy and mapa-collate, she called to tell me na may gusto siyang baguhin so i had to go back to UP to have it photocopied again. the afternoon of the day before her wedding, she called to tell me na mag-RSVP daw ako sa five other friends niya. grrrr talaga! ito ata yung pinakamadugong wedding namin. feeling ko baptism of fire. umiyak talaga ako sa stress tapos napabayaan ko pa yung ibang clients.

tapos the day of her wedding, the original call time for the MUA was 1030. i asked the MUA to come in at 930 para hindi kami ma-late kasi with 1030 as the call time, late kami since 2:00 yung wedding and tatlo yung me-makeup-an. and i told the bride that the people to be made up have to be at the hotel room by 9:30. okay na raw. the MUA came in at 900 am. would you believe the people to be made up came in at 1030? andun naman sila sa hotel pero lang, nag-iinarte! grrr talaga!

so na-late kami ng 1 hour because of that. when it was time for the bridal makeup, ang tagal pa bago siya umupo. pati yung MUA nainis na. pati yung mga photograhers nerbyos na. our team was supposed to leave for the church at 1230 to be able to coordinate with the church, the liturgical entourage, etc. we were able to leave at 1:20!!! 2pm yung kasal! eh di dumating kami dun just in time for the processional and super hirap ayusin nung lineup nila kasi matigas ulo ng mga entourage. pero since expected yun, okay lang naman.

the worst part was that one of the elder sisters of the bride was making us pakialam. kakainis kasi this is the same person who caused the delay in the makeup tapos hindi ko naman siya nakausap the whole time ng preps pero pagdating ng wedding, she was making pakialam the whole thing.

the mass started, okay na sana. the commentator was making rekalmo na kulang raw yung misalette na ginawa ko. sus! kulang kasi wala yung mga "please be seated", "please kneel", etc. eh ayaw ng mga priest na nakasulat ung mga yun as much as possible kasi dapat alam na yun ng commentator.

to top it all, the MUA was making us singil P7500 kasi hindi pa siya bayad and it's time for him to go. and kasi the bride explicitly told us na bayad na raw yung MUA so mejo inaway pa ako ng MUA sobra. inaaway na ako ng MUA sa likod habang nagma-mass. ito na po, time na for the readings and since hindi namin nakausap yung liturgical entourage because of the time constraint (3 kaming coordinators sa church but believe me, eksakto lang yun sa pag-ayos ng processional lineup, pag-distribute ng flowers, misalette, fans, pag-cue ng music, pag-guide sa altar, etc.) and the lector for the first reading went to the commentator's podium and dun nagbasa!!!! juice ko! nataranta ako pero nasa likod naman ako nun habang inaaway ng MUA (yung isang coordinator was with me, the other was taking care of the church paraphernalia and the offertory stuff). so in the end, dun nga sa commentator's podium nabasa yung 1st reading and responsorial psalm.

pictorial time came, nagalit sa akin yung isang ate at hinampas ako ng pamaypay kasi wala silang picture with the couple. dagdagan pa ng nagagalit yung photographers kasi pinapagalitan sila ng church at wala raw silang permit so iba-ban raw sila. haaaaay!

naiinis ako kasi i discussed all the details with the couple and super okay. tapos ang daming nakikialam. tapos ang daming bagay na hindi naman dapat naging problema pero naging problema kasi iba yung nasabi sa amin than what was going to happen, etc. nakakainis talaga. at nagsimula yan lahat kasi late nagsimula even with our repeated pangungulit sa mga tao na kelangan na mag-start.

reception came. okay naman. the band was given free hand to sing the songs they wanted. bride yung nagsabi nun. i personally think na ma-okay yung performance nung band but the bride heard this one song during teh cocktails na super nagalit siya at nagsisigaw. eh what can she expect? she gave the band the freedom to sing whatever songs they wanted eh.

tapos may studio pictorial na i didn't know was going to happen. bigla na lang sinabi. o sige, pinapunta ko dun yung isang coordinator to assist. yung kawawang coordinator nag-entertain ng isang guest na nagtanong sa kanya ng directions... nakita nung sister na pakialamera sinabi na yung coordinator daw namin walang ginawa kung hindi makipagdaldalan! juice naman! super bitchy family.

reception program... prayer na... free sitting so no idea kami kung san nakaupo yung mga tao... the person who was supposed to pray was nowhere to be found... hindi pala siya dumating... nagalit sa amin yung emcees...

klaro kami ng bride na walang speeches... the sister went to the emcees without my knowledge and asked them to call on this and that and this and that to speak. i allowed the first two and vetoed the rest but the sister went to the bride and told the bride na dapat magsalita lahat. the bride consented. tapos after the program nagalit yung bride sa akin kasi bakit raw ang daming nagsalita! ano ba?!

bouquet and garter toss... ang mayabang na emcee ayaw maniwala sa amin kung ano yung mechanics... nakialam pa! grrrr!!!!

sabi namin, yun yung wedding na na-feel naming alipin kami. super nakaka-degrade talaga. naawa ako sa buong team namin. the guests were mayabang. the members of the entourage were bitchy. the family members were just horrible, horrible people. buti na lang mabait yung captain waiter. :)

i was so stressed by that wedding that i got sick the day after.

so far, okay naman lahat ng weddings namin. our brides, we think, are happy with our performance. we have received very good reviews. but this one wedding really was enough to make me question why i'm doing what i'm doing. (btw, this wedding was our first may wedding. after this wedding, we had three more weddings, all them successful.) pero ganun talaga, may mga clients talagang bwisit sa buhay. i guess sa kaht saang field naman. yun lang. gusto ko lang talagang mag-vent kasi inis na inis ako. sabi nga namin, brides who are sabog during preps cannot be OC brides on the day. ang kapal niya naman! isa pa, brides who do not do their part (like give us the correct names of the entourage kaya may nagalit sa aming entourage dahil mali yung pangalan niya) cannot expect na ayos na ayos na ayos lahat kasi super unprepared din kami. ang nangyayari, hindi pa nagsisumula, kelangan na naming mag-troubleshoot. i'm sorry, hindi naman ako galit sa mga brides in general or sa mga clients namin, dito lang talaga sa taong ito.

It's been so long....

2005-06-03T08:54:00.000+08:00

hay! it's been so long since my last post. have been so stressed the entire month of may that i wasn't able to sit down and blog although i've composed probably hundreds of blog entries in my mind. :)

anyway, will start posting from now on.

happy day!

2005-04-16T23:50:00.000+08:00

this has been the most perfect day ever! :)

jojie and i woke up at 10:00 a.m. i was a bit anoyed with him when i remembered that i went to bed before he did and that he did not kiss me good night (he promised me a couple of weeks ago that he would kiss me good night every day even if we're in the middle of a fight). anyway, when i woke up i remembered that so i did not kiss him good morning (hahaha! sobrang petty no?).

i actually did not want to get up yet but my mom was so makulit and called me several times to ask about her dissertation proposal. okay lang naman. tawang-tawa siya sa akin na tulog pa ako. sabi niya gumising na raw ako. sabi ko "ma, alas tres na ako natulog!" grrr talaga! at ang funny dun, she was calling our landline but because we were sleeping pa, hindi namin sinasagot syempre. so ang mommy ko na hindi marunong mag-give up, tinawagan ako sa cellphone. at tuloy tuloy nang nagkwento. she forgot na na sa cellphone pala siya at ang tagal na naming nagdadaldalan! hahaha!

anyway, after talking to mama, i decided to get up (that was around 10) to make lunch. i would normally prepare brunch pero mukhang walang sense na magkunyari pa akong pwede pang humabol ng breakfast yung food na maluluto ko so straight to lunch na.

while preparing the food, i told jojie that i was tampo because he didn't kiss me good night and he made me suyo and lambing to make up for it. :p

i made spaghetti, tossed salad, and garlic bread. super yummy! kakatawa ang asawa ko kasi napaka-pinoy kumain ng spaghetti, naghanap ba naman ng hotdog! hahaha! sabi ko sa kanya, "hon, hindi ka na 7 years old ha, wala ng hotdog ang spaghetti." :) jojie kasi does not like the italian (read: maasim) spaghetti so i learned not to use italian sauces and herbs when i make spaghetti. for some reason ang sarap lumabas ng sauce na nagawa ko (hehehe! at syempre wala naman kayong basis para hindi maniwala di ba?)

funny pa jan, all the major ingredients i used for the spaghetti (the pasta, the sauces, etc.) were fromt the free package we got when we bought our refrigerator. so in a way, libre pala yung lunch namin kanina. :)

for the salad, i just combined green lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, pineapple tidbits, and cheese. i normally use cream cheese kaya lang ang mahal na ng cream cheese ngayon (whereas P86 lang siya a month ago, P115 na ngayon ang philadelphia cream cheese sa cherry foodarama at P124 sa sm super sale) kaya nanghinayang akong buksan yung cream cheese at nag-grate na lang ako ng cheddar (daw) cheese. isa pa, when i open the package i have to make sure na ma-consume namin within 10 days and i'm not yet sure of our schedule next week (aysus! nag-rationalize pa ako, talagang kuripot lang ako! haha!).

for the garlic bread, i just toasted white bread and put butter and minced garlic on it. instant yummy garlic bread na yun.

jojie loved our lunch. sabi niya sarap daw food namin palagi! kakatuwa to hear that.

we cleaned up after lunch and made sure na ayos na yung kitchen before we... you guessed right... slept again. hahaha! wala kaming ginawa kung hindi matulog. before sleeping though, naglambingan lang kami. we cuddles and he made me feel so loved and beautiful. *giddy sigh*

we woke up at 5:15... actually i woke up at 5:15, he woke up at 5:45. hehehe! again, i didn't want to get up yet but someone woke me up again! you're right, nanay ko uli! tinawagan naman ako para makipag-kwentuhan. sabi ng mom ko, "anak, tulog kayo ng tulog!" hahaha!

i made dinner after talking to my mom (deja vu!). this time naman i prepared tuna sandwich... grilled white bread, iceberg lettuce, cucumber, and cheese. sayang nga wala akong apple eh (have you tried tuna-apple sandwich? ang yummy nun promise!). as a side dish naman i made french fries. so the sandwich plus the fried plus the tirang spaghetti from lunch, super yummy na ng dinner!

we cleaned up again after dinner (the good thing with jojie is that he really helps in the household chores esp in cleaning) then made lambingan again (teka, before you think of kinky stuff, lambingan talaga is cuddling and making lambing like declaring one's self as the luckiest person for having the other, etc.).

we decided not to go to a coffee shop. we wanted to stay home for a change and since we have a stock of monet's breadsticks anyway (hi monet!), okay na kasi we had easy to prepare snacks na. pero syempre hind kami nakuntento dun and we went to red ribbon to buy choco mocha crunch.

we arrived from red ribbon just before 9. syempre we watched tv muna. we watched CSI NY. it's good. it has the same scientific hoola as the miami and LV version but it's much more ma-drama.

anyway, after CSI NY, we brewed coffee na and started working (and eating the cake, of course).

i just feel so thankful today. really happy day!

good night! *hugs*

finally had a haircut!!!

2005-04-13T12:16:00.000+08:00

been wanting to get a haircut for a month now. my hair is so long, it's getting too heavy. at saka, ang gastos sa conditioner!!!!

i finally had a haircut last sunday. muntikan pang hindi matuloy because, again, we had scheduled too many things to do. jojie and i agreed na hindi na muna ako papagupit, siya na lang (mas important for him to get a haircut since he has plenty of meetings this week and his hair's too long). buti na lang, the girl who was supposed to go before jojie decided not to have a haircut and she left. since biglang naurong yung time, i decided to get one na. yey!

2005-04-12T23:30:00.000+08:00

Jojie and I are currently at Coffee Bean... he working on yet another report while I, of course, am writing all my to do's for the clients' preps. To help me focus, I listen to music in my laptop and I forgot that I have The Prayer in my songlist. Hearing the song made me stop and remember my walk down the aisle, seeing Jojie waiting for me at the altar. I get goosebumps just seeing him in my mind. I am so blessed to have him.

Need to find a place, guide us with your grace, give us faith so we'll be saved...

Thank you so much, Lord.

It's so good to remember.

---

Still in Coffee Bean...

Say this out loud: wehehehehe!

Now, say it with a high-pitched voice.

Now, say it much like the sound of a horse screaming.

Got it?

Now, that's the sound of the laugh of the girl at the far left table.

Geesh! I can't concentrate because of her laugh. Damn!

I promised myself never to be loud in any restaurant or coffee shop ever again coz the girl typing in another part of the room might just be blogging about me.

:)

Friendster and Ex-es

2005-04-12T12:23:00.000+08:00

jojie doesn't have a friendster account. the reason he doesn't is because when i set up one for him several months ago, the girl i used to hate so much "be-friendstered" him that we ended up fighting. sa sobra naming away, he just asked me to delete his account. :)

so he's not really in the know when it comes to friendster. the other night though, since i wasn't in the mood to work, i surfed friendster and i showed him the profiles of his barkada. he was so aliw reading the profiles that we spent a couple of hours just looking through his friends' sites.

syempre pag may mga friends and schoolmates, there is abound to be an ex somewhere. sa kaka-surf namin, and dami kong nahanap na mga ex niya ("ex" here may refer to an ex-girlfriend, an ex-friend, an ex-fling, etc). and surprisingly, jojie was more open to me that night than any other night with regards to this particular girl that i'm so curious about.

L was jojie's fling back in college. she wasn't a girlfriend nor a ka-MU so i guess fling lang talaga yung term na pwede kong magamit. since hindi naman siya ex-gf, wala talaga akong pakialam sa kanya until one night a couple of years ago when we attended a party and her name came up (actually lasing na si don paul nun, yung best man ni jojie, at kung anu-ano na yung nasasabi). i wouldn't have paid attention but jojie's facial expression changed when paul mentioned her name kaya i knew that something was up. so when we got home that night, i bombarded jojie with questions and i discovered na siya yung girl na matagal ko nang gustong malaman yung pangalan. buti na lang sinabi ni paul so nalaman ko nga.

and although L is in the past, way past, we argued about her. talk about being selosa and paranoid (he doesn't communicate naman with her... haaay!)

anyway, fast forward to the other night. i was so surprised that after years of making him kulit about her and what really happened, he finally told me. and it hurt. it hurt so much. but i dealt with it. he asked me if i were jealous and i said no (i wasn't jealous, i was hurt so i wasn't lying when i told him i wasn't.). he assured me that what happened was in the past and that he loves me so much. i know that but it still hurts.

how does one deal with his loved one's past? i jut tell myself that well, past is past and i can't do anything about the things he did when we didn't know each other yet. it's not that i haven't accepted his past; it's just that thinking about it still hurts me. is that so wrong?

i am dealing with it. and i know that jojie loves me to death.

at the same time, i'm very thankful that he, at last, told me what happened. at least now i know and i won't be so paranoid. actually what i imagined was way worse than what really happened so in a way, i feel relieved. still, it hurts.

i know i will deal with this. i have to.

2005-04-10T01:43:00.000+08:00

It's Saturday, after midnight (so I guess it's Sunday early, early morning na) and guess where we are... that's right... at Seattle's Best. Jojie is writing a report (it's the season for the annual stockholders meetings so Jojie has so many reports to finish) while I am going through the preps of the clients, especially the May brides. Whenever I want a break, I read the bridal magazines I brought to help me keep updated with the trends in the industry. Sigh! This promises to be another all-nighter.

---

I went to the doctor today to have a check-up. I found a lump below my puson and since Jojie is so worried (and my mom is, too), I finally agreed to have a check-up. Went to the doctor who operated on me when I had appendicitis. He's also the dad of one of our ninangs. He assured Jojie that there's nothing to worry about. He prescribed me an antibiotic (probably to reduce the lump if it's caused by an infection) and said I'm to observe the size of the cyst (it's a somthing-something cyst daw eh). If it doesn't go away, then I can have it surgically removed. I'm not worried though although I know Jojie really is.

---

Funny thing... since the doctor's assistant was on leave, it was the doctor's wife, also a doctor, who was assisting him in the clinic (so syempre the doktora ([I'll use the term to distinguish between the two of them) is the mom naman of our ninang]. Since the two of them kinda saw me grow up (we used to go swimming in their pool when we were kids), they treat me like family. Tanong ba naman nung doktora kay Jojie when I was done with the examination na, "Teka, hindi ba naman kaya siya (referring to me) nabugbog sa sobrang ano?" I was mortified while Jojie matter-of-factly replied, "Ay, hindi naman po." Hahaha!

---

The reason I'm blogging right now instead of working is because there's this really, really NOISY group of bikers here in SBC. Grrrr! Ang ingay!!! If Jojie were not with me right now, I would promptly approach them to ask them to tone down their voices kasi ingay talaga! I've had my share of people being maingay in coffee shops (I've overheard networking recruitment meetings, barkadas making chismis about another ka-barkada, law or med students discussing review questions across the room...) but I've never encountered a group who seem to think like they're in a really crowded bar that they need to talk at the top of their voices. For goodness sake, the music is so mellow, all the other customers are talking in hushed tones, why the hell are they shouting at each other? Haaaaay! I know I'm not in any position to complain since this is a public place after all but please, don't they know how irritating their behavior is? Daig pa nila high school students na first time gumimik at sobrang excited.

---

i got the CD sampler of kadense musik and velvet mood today. was able to listen to kadense's na. haaay! gustong-gusto ko talaga sila. sayang hindi ko sila nakuha before. :(

---

after 1 1/2 hours:

They're gone!!!! The bikers are gone! Yipeee! It's 1:30 na though and Jojie, I think, is just halfway through the report. Mukha ngang sasagarin namin yung 4am closing time nitong shop.

Sweet dreams!

on weight issues

2005-04-06T00:08:00.000+08:00

I was so thin growing up, until college graduation, that I never had issues about being fat. I had a really fast metabolism so I never had to worry. When all my friends were getting concerned about gaining weight and all, I continued to eat and eat and eat and I never gained a pound. I remember that everytime I would eat at KFC, I would order the colonel's dinner (too bad they don't offer that anymore); it had 3 pieces of chicken, 2 regular fixins (I would get cole slaw and mashed potato), and a choice between rice and rolls (of course I would opt for rice and would even order an extra one). Top that with large mountain dew and I was in KFC nirvana.

When we were in college, the boyfriends of my friends were in awe of my eating "skills". Hahaha! Sabi sa akin nung isa, "Pucha, Clarice, mas malakas ka pang kumain sa iba kong kaibigang lalake!" I think he said that after I consumed P70.00 worth of food from the campus isawan (a stick of isaw manok costed P1.50 then while a stick of pork isaw costed P2.50). As I said, I never gained a pound so I didn't care.

All that changed when I went to Canada. I stayed there for three months and for the first month alone, I gained 30 lbs!!! Hahaha! Buti na lang mataas talaga self-esteem ko at malaki bilib ko sa sarili kung hindi baka nagka-issues ako big time! Hahaha!

---

When I first met Jojie, I was thin. He was courting my friend then. When he next met, I had gained that 30lbs na. That was when he found me attractive. :)

---

I realize that I really, really, REALLY want to lose weight. And you know why? Because one of my dreams is to have a half-naked picture of me taken when I am like 7 months pregnant. That would be really cool, eh? But I also realize that that picture would only look beautiful if I were thin (by "thin", I mean that I would not look like a blimp with the stretch marks and all). Haaay! I imagine being photographed in a studio with my bulging tummy. I would be really poised and the photographer (I imagine this to be Auey Santos coz I got the idea from her flyer) would take fabulous pictures of me. I would look like Tweetie de Leon incarnate (I saw her before she gave birth to her second child. Boy! Was she a gorgeous preggnant woman! Very sexy and poised.) I would have the pictures laid out to be included in my baby's photo albums (who, of course, will also be photographed by Auey every couple of months).

But then, as I said, I can't do that if my stretch marks show. Haaaay!

---

I love our home but we don't have a full-length mirror! So imagine how I felt when we were at UCC last week (see previous posts on coffee shops) and discovered, when I looked in their bathroom mirror, that I have gained weight, yet again!!! When I came out of the washroom, I immediately asked Jojie why he hasn't told me that I'm too fat. Of course he replied I haven't gained a pound (hehe! yan ang trained na asawa!). Haaaaay! I really have to diet na. I'll do that as soon as I finish this supremo Mocha Javakula. :)

coffee shops

2005-04-05T01:30:00.000+08:00

a. taken an hour ago (SBC morato)
b. taken a few weeks ago (SBC morato...notice we sit in the same table? pareho backgroound eh)
c. taken on black saturday (UCC morato)

Jojie and I love working in coffee shops. We are able to focus more when we're not home. When we're home we end up watching tv all the time that we don't get any work done. Like, today, for example, Jojie and I were at home all day. I was supposed to work on my clients' weddings and Jojie was supposed to write a report. But of course we were not able to accomplish a single thing. We woke up at 10:30. Had lunch at 1 p.m. Cleaned up until 2:00. Looked at our respective laptop monitors from 2:00 to 3:30 and then promptly slept at 3:30. Bumangon kami alas sais na! Ano ba yan?!?

So what we do is we go to coffee shops. At least sa coffee shop nakakahiyang matulog, walang tv, may kapeng pampagising. When we get hungry, we order food. We know it's magastos but since our work (especially his) depend on output, we do it. Besides, these serve na rin as our dates. We have meals at different places so we get to explore pa different restaurants.

Like now, it's 1:30 a.m. and we are still here at Seattle's Best. I am finished with my work but Jojie still isn't so I am blogging. Haaay! Mukhang marathon posting na naman ito.
:)

he's home

2005-04-03T07:40:00.000+08:00

Thank you, JPII!

kakakilig pa rin!

2005-04-02T17:04:00.000+08:00

*while we were watching CNN together

jie: salamat, honey.
ging: saan?
jie: sa pagiging asawa ko. *insert: most tender kiss*

haaaay! :)

i am violeta

2005-03-31T23:45:00.000+08:00

i have a secret which only my closest friends know (hehe! hindi naman pala talaga secret noh? and because of this post, it won't be a secret anymore). it's about a name i wanted when i was a kid.

when i was in prep, my mom went to work abroad. i missed my mom so much and i made it a point to write to her regularly. one of my letters (which until now is in my mom's bedside drawer) goes something like this:

Dear Mama,

Kamusta ka diyan sa Saudi, Mama? Kami po ay mabuti naman dito sa Pilipinas, Mama. Katabi ko po si Maye [my little sister] ngayon, Mama.

Umalis po si Papa, Mama. Ay! nandiyan na po pala si Papa, Mama. Sandali lang po at magki-kiss ako.

*In my dad's handwriting*
Pangga, kamusta ka naman diyan? Pinasulat ako ni Ging dito. Oo nga pala, tinatanong n Ging kung pwede daw palitan ung pangalan niya to Violeta.

*In my own handwriting again*
Mama, sige na po, Mama. Please, Mama. Gusto ko ppo talaga ung pangalan na iyon. Please, Mama.

Love,

Violeta

---
O di ba, eeeewwww talaga yung sulat ko! hahahaha! and, of all the names, VIOLETA??? buti na lang hindi pumayag mga magulang ko. although they still tease me about this violeta name from time to time and have even came up with possible nicknames for me... violy, leta, letty... really! what could i have been thinking??? :)

no job for me

2005-03-31T23:33:00.000+08:00

btw, have i posted about the streetkids home i called and applied to? they needed a person who can arrange a support group and counseling sessions for the mothers and i was willing to do it but i asked for transpo allowance kasi mejo malayo po ang shaw from my home. they denied my request. they said marami raw silang psych volunteers na hindi humihingi ng transpo allowance. (i was asking for P500 a month.) ay juice ko! puro undergrad kaya ung volunteers nila. i shudder to think what kind of program those kids can make. haaay! am i bad coz i asked for 500 bucks? hindi naman sana. actually hindi naman kasi sila nag-advertise for the available position, i just saw their flyer and was impressed with their vision so i called to "volunteer". no go daw eh. sayang!

on being a wedding coordinator

2005-03-31T18:56:00.000+08:00

i told myself that i would not use this blog to make kwento about my life as a wedding coordinator. aside from the fact that mauunahan ko pa clients ko sa pagkwento about their weddings (hehe!), i really think it's unethical to talk about a client. siguro dala na rin ng training ko sa counseling. i realized though that i can write naman pala about the job per se so okay na. :)

i enjoy coordinating. it is stressful. it is tiring. you feel as if you were a slave for one whole day. but i enjoy it. i know it's not the save-the-world job that i've always dreamt of (okay, okay, i know i can't save the world!) and i'm not planning to do this my whole life (my sweet husband actually thought i wanted to be a wedding coordinator until i'm 40). but for now, i enjoy this. i realize that i don't just like it because i'm still hung up on wedpreps but because i've always enjoyed coordinating events. gusto ko kasi talaga feeling efficient ako and what more can make me feel that way than organizing an event? at least you'll immediately know how it turns out. and contrary to what some of my friends think na masyado ako nawili sa preps at hindi ko ma-let go kaya ako nag-coord, i actually told benz march 2004 pa that i wanted to be an events coordinator. nung time na yun hindi pa naman ako haling na haling sa preps.

my parents absolutely dislike the fact that i'm doing this right now. we had dinner with them last easter. just before dinner my mom and i talked and she gave me an earful about my being a coordinator (she already did this by calling me at 630 am last week just to "remind" me about my thesis). i was able to reason with her and even told her in a nice voice to stop nagging me. i thought i was off the hook. tapos dinner na. bernard and i were about to leave when my dad asked me about my thesis. naku po! ayun na! nagsimula na ang litanya. haaay! :D talaga raw bang iiwanan ko ang psych for events coordination? aba! sana man lang daw kung yayaman man lang ako. aside from the fact that i've always dreamed of becoming a top-notch psychologist, they said that the only way i can earn real money from this is if i get a cut from suppliers PF which they sure i won't do (actually, tama naman sila kasi our team already discussed this and although there are suppliers who offer money, we decided not to accept it kasi we think it's unethical). haaaay! to top it all, my husband laughed every time my father would make a joke (papa: "anak, hindi ka ba nakakahawak ng P10,000? tapusin mo na lang thesis mo." bernard: "hahaha!" mama: "anak, masyado mo naman kina-career yan" bernatrd: "hahaha!"). i was so irritated with him that we argued on the way home. syempre biglang bawi ang mister ko ng "but baby, it is your decision naman. i will support you kahit ano pa man ang gusto mo." achuuu! bwiset! pagkatapos mo akong pagtawanan sa harap ng magulang ko! haaaay!

oh well. for now, hindi muna ako pumupunta sa parents ko! hehehe! escaping ba? mabuti na lang bernard and i have this research project so they know i'm busy with the research and not just with coordinating. hehehe!

in fairness to my husband, he does support me. actually buti na lang talaga he does or else, i won't be able to do all the meetings (palaging gabi meeting. at palagi akong sinasamahan ni jojie) and the coordination per se (he prepares breakfast for me and arranges all my stuff if we have a wedding, etc). and in fairness na rin to my parents, they also told me that as long as i finish my thesis, they are okay na with my being a coordinator. magturo na lang daw ako ng kahit na 6 units para hindi mawala sa psych circle.

i really need to finish na my thesis but where the hell will i find 10 high-SES couples with 3 to 4 kids with the eldest aged 10 to 12??? o di ba, ang hirap! haaaay!

oh well! for now, i like what i'm doing. i get to meet many people and get to befriend most of my clients. at the same time, i get to practice my counseling skills when the client gets so stressed na. so the bst of both worlds di ba?

:)

at last!

2005-03-28T18:27:00.000+08:00

because of all the things i'm doing right now -- wedding coordination, thesis (although hindi naman talaga), and this research study bernard and i are doing for a UK market research firm -- i decided that to avoid being burned out, i need to give myself at least 30 minutes a day to just sit and be. i realized, too, that the best way to spend this half hour is to blog so i can organize my thoughts and put thing in perspective. i promised myself that three weeks ago and it's just now that i was able to sit down and type my thoughts.

---

i am supposed to be cooking right now but something happened to our stove so i'm waiting for jojie to come home to fix it. actually, and this is a secret between you and me and the world wide web, i do know how to fix it but waiting for jojie enables me to: 1) blog; 2) watch an ally mc beal rerun; and 3) make jojie feel he's the man of the house.... hahaha! the last one's a joke. although i'm pretty handy around the house, having been my dad's assistant around the house for most of my life, jojie does the "handyman" things around here. i must say, though, that since i'm home alone most of the time, it's a really good thing that i'm used to fixing stuff.

---

i was in makati today to meet with a client and i had lunch with abie. although we've seen each other last week (in a wedding she helped us coordinate... more on that later), we really were not able to talk. so we took the opportunity today to have lunch and to talk and to make chismis about our other friends. hahaha!

it's so funny how abie and i met. we were "forced" to stick together during the w@w5ive because our boyfriends were not with us. a couple of months after, we met again to go to dangwa and to divi. i introduced her to mang boy, she introduced me to divisoria's bubble makers. from then on, she and i would talk every now and then to update each other about wedding preps and life in general and slowly, our friendship grew. although we're in different fields and our life circumstances are different somewhat , we are in the same life stage and although she might not realize it, i learn so many things from her. and as mushy as it sounds (i know abie hates mushy stuff! hahaha!), i'm looking forward to planning our silver wedding anniversary with abie and my other w@w friends. :)

---

jojie and i are doing this research together. the research is about the wheat and wheat flour industry in the philippines. although it's been hard (we're on our fifth and last week of the project) and really stressful and tiring (case in point: we spent the whole holy week in coffee shops until after midnight), the research has given us an opportunity to work together. although we've done this before, working together as husband and wife is a whole lot different than working together as boyfriend and girlfriend. for one, when we were doing research before we had to stay at my house. we were so stressed that we argued many times. since i'm such a bossy editor, jojie and i quarreled a lot. with our current research, we have learned how to utilize each other's strengths and how to take things in stride and how to be there for each other all the time. it has not been easy; there were times that jojie was ready to just give up and i had to be there for him and there were also times that i wanted to give up but he was there for me. i think this is what marriage is all about. working together and supporting each other, all the time. i'm not saying it's easy because it's SO not! but then, having jojie by my side makes the adjustment, the compromises, and all the changes i have to cope with worth it.

surprise! surprise!

2005-03-02T09:01:00.000+08:00

my surprise party was a success!!! i am so happy and bernard was so touched and... hmmm... surprised! hehehe!

my honey's birthday was last sunday, feb 27, but since i didn't want a sunday night party, i opted to hold his surprise party on the night of the 26th instead. isa pa, i think mas dramatic to have him blow his cake at exactly 12 midnight so 26 na talaga.

although i've been planning this since last year, it was only three weeks ago when i (and my mom, syempre, the ultimate party host) finally decided to have the party. the first person i told my daddy, jojie's dad tapos yung family ni jojie and then his friends.

fast forward to feb 26... jojie and i woke up really early because we were going to the hospital for daddy's tests and checkup. because matagal ang tests niya, and pila sa doctor's clinic, and ang pila sa pharmacy, i arrived at my parents' home around 1:00 na. when i got there, i immediately set to work. the menudo was being marinated na (my mom was making the menudo) and i focused naman on the pinanyahang manok. we made sure that the ingredients for shabu shabu was already prepared. around 3pm, i went to the supermarket to buy last minute stuff. nag-order na rin ako ng cake, pancit malabon, and inihaw na bangus (we were supposed to make the inihaw na bangus but one of our helpers, yung taga-luto talaga namin, took the weekend off). after making sure that i had all the ingedients and complete ko na ang dishes, i scouted for a flower shop. i didn't have time na kasi to go to dangwa kaya ordinaryong flower shop na lang kahit mejo mahal, at least malapit lang at di na ko mag-ga-gasolina. i was able to buy gerberas. ang ganda nung gerbera pero yung stem mejo hindi na matigas. the flower shop owner, tito joey (o di ba close kami kahit na nun ko lang siya nakilala), taught me how to use wire to make sure na nakatayo yung gerberas sa vase. i also bought flower foam from him. on the way home, i passed by gazebo royale to buy silica sand (yung white na sand).

when i got home, i started preparing the roof deck. i set up the tables and the chairs (dineliver a couple of hours before). buti na nga lang yung ibang crew ng papa ko andun pa so sa kanila na lang pina-ayos ng papa ko yung tables at mejo mabigat rin yun. when my mom saw na maalikabok yung chairs, kumuha siya ng pamunas at isa-isa niyang pinunasan yung mga silya (o diba, ang bait ng mama ko!). after a while, diosa and marvin (w@wie friends) arrived. dinala ko na sila sa roofdeck para makapag-billiards muna sila habang naghihintay but diosa, ever-reliable diosa, offered to help. although i don't normally trust other people (hehe!), i knew diosa wold do a good job kasi pareho kami niyan eh, ma-OC rin (btw, she was one of my friends who coordinated our wedding and kasama ko rin siya sa business namin) so i entrusted the table centerpieces with her. pinakita ko lang sa kanya kung paano yung gusto ko tapos siya na yung gumawa. we used the vases i borrowed from balay kandila (super love ko talaga sila ronald at tisha, biruin mo pinahiram pa ako ng vases. isang tawag lang yun, walang hesitation, pinapunta nila ako kaagad para mamili ng vases na gusto ko). ang ganda ng kinalabasan nung centerpieces ko, yung classic balay kandila setup na bulaklak na nasa tubig at may sand sa baba. instead of putting paraffin oil, though, since i wasn't able to buy the wick balay kandila uses (mahal eh!), i had candles na lang put in small glass jars (the ones na natira from my gel candle favors) tapos for every table (each tables was rectangular and seats six) had the ala-BK centerpiece and two candles. ang galing ni diosa!

around 5:00, the san mig keg arrived. sobrang hassle-free talaga yun, yung delivery people pa yung nag-setup sa roofdeck so wala talaga kaming prinoblema.

around 6:00, i was already in a panic, hindi pa tapos lahat but i needed to go home na to pick up jojie (i told him that i was in shangri la for a meeting with diosa, abie, dowa, and teenee). syempre naka-uwi ako 6:30 na and akala ko galit na siya kasi ang alam niya we were having dinner with his family at cravings katipunan at 7:00. hindi naman siya galit. buti na lang i also had the presence of mind to ask his sister to tell him kunyari that they will be late.

when i got home, i took a bath na agad. and then, while jojie was making sure that all the windows were locked, etc, i told him na mauuna na ako sa kotse. when i got to the parking lot, inayos ko na yung kotse and when he got down, he was surprised to see me in the driver's seat. i motioned him to sit in the passenger's seat. nagulat siya pero he complied. pag upo niya, sabi ko, "ako na lang drive, upo ka lang jan at pikit ka." tapos i used a hanky to blindfold him. sabi niya, "naku! ano naman ito?" sabi ko, "basta surprise, wag ka alala, sandali lang ito, mga 5 minutes lang. hindi tayo male-late for the dinner." and we took off.

the whole time we were driving (around 7 minutes lang naman from our place to my parents place eh), he was trying to guess where we were going. sabi niya pa, baka raw mag di-dinner lang naman kami sa roofdeck (i did that na kasi on our 3rd month-sary). sabi ko, "eh paano na sila daddy, papunta na yun ng cravings?" "oo nga no," sagot naman niya, "hmmmm..."

the funny thing was when we were near my parents place na, may dinaanan kaming lubak na may takip na bakal. narinig niya yung tunog nung bakal at sabi niya, "ha! papunta nga tayo kina mama, hindi ko makakalimutan yung lubak na yun. un lang ang lubak na ganun!" sobra na akong tawang-tawa pero pigil na pigil.

when we got na to my parents house, i made him go down the car. sabi niya, "tignan mo, paakyat na(sa garage ito), sa inyo lang ito eh." "hon, wag kang maingay, maririnig tayo nila mama, may surprise lang ako sa iyo, hindi ko kasi pwedeng pa-deliver sa atin kaya dito ko na lang pina-deliver"

when we got to the roofdeck, everybody was there na. jojie still had his blindfold on. pinatayo ko siya sa harap ng lahat and then asked him to remove his blindfold para makita niya na yung surprise ko and he was really surprised! nagulat siya kasi andun pa yung high school friends niya (whom he seldom sees). he was so touched and happy. nakakatuwa. i was really happy because i knew that that was his first every birthday party na party talaga. :)

my husband is an introvert and he once confided to me that he's natataranta when he needs to entertain many people from different groups but that night, parang nawala yun. he was able to mingle with his guests. naging biglang party person ang aking asawa! hahaha!

the party went well, i think. :) the guests seemed to have a great time. we had lots of food. akala ko nung una kukulangin pero ang dami pang natira.

by 10:30, jojie was mejo tipsy na. it as probably the firts time i saw him tipsy. :)

around 11:50, i went to the kitchen to get the cake. by this time, yung mga pamilya namin tulog na (jojie's family already left) kaya friends na lang ang natira. jojie was seated with don paul, his bestman, and paul realized na 12 midnight na at wala raw ako. kakatuwa si paul kasi parang nanghinayang siya na wala ako sa tabi ni jojie ng midnight. eksakto naman umakyat na ako, dala ko yung cake, with candles, of course. gusto ko kasi maraming candles so aside from the numerical candles, meron pa akong blue na maliit na candles. when his friends saw me at the stairs, they stopped muna their billiards game and their singing (nagvi-videoke sila) and sang jojie happy birthday. na-surprise na naman ang asawa ko. :)

the last guests left at 3:00 a.m. ito talaga funny kasi around 2:30, jojie was telling don paul pa na umalis na. sabi niya, "pare, birthday ko, gusto kong makipag-sex." syempre hindi umaalis si don paul. tipsy na rin kasi kaya kung anu-ano na ang pinagsasabi. mga bandang alas-tres, hindi na gustong makipag-sex ni jojie, gusto niya nang matulog pero wala pa ring balak umalis si paul (inaantok na rin si percy, yung misis ni paul). sobrang funny kasi si paul at yung mga hirit niya tawang-tawa talaga ako kaya sa akin, okay lang na hindi pa sla umalis. pero si jojie talaga naman naasar na! hahaha! sabi niya sa kanyang kaibigan, "p***** i*** pare, gusto ko nang matulog umalis ka na, pwede ba!" hahaha! nakakatawa silang dalawa! :)

paul and percy left soon after and that endeth my husband's celebration of his birthday. :)

i’m alive! (an update of the last two weeks in one loooong kwento)

2005-02-25T08:38:00.001+08:00

it’s been more than two weeks since i last posted.... been so busy with the coordination business.... i’m really enjoying this. i know it’s not-save-the-world kind of job but it gives me an opportunity to do something which i know i’m good at (hahaha! ang yabang!)

we’ve been in business for two weeks (our business officially started when i unsubscribed from w@w and announced) and we have quite a lot of inquiries. ang babaw pero ako natutuwa na when people, especially w@wies, inquire kasi i think that means they trust us up to some level. a few have also booked us and i am as excited with their weddings as i am with the wedding of really close friends. as much as possible, i really try to develop a personal relationship with them since i don’t to be just another supplier and i don’t want them be to just another client to us. :)

so far, even if, in effect, i am preparing for five weddings (in our team, each wedding is assigned a lead coordinator and as a lead coordinator, you are really the one on top of all the preps), i am really happy. it is a hard job, keeping up with all things-to-do’s and stuff but it is fun. at the same time, i also realized, just the other day, after a client meeting, that i am really taking this seriously, as in hindi lang siya another fun thing to do na pwedeng pagkakitaan while i’m not doing anything meaningful right now. ang galing!

...

i went to obando last monday to interview for my thesis. i was able to interview four mothers. my thesis, for those who don’t know, is about parenting beliefs of mothers on childrearing, and as such, my questions focused mostly on what they believe to be the right way to bring up a child. i was so surprised when during the course of the interviews, i have realized (and of course, i will include this in my discussion) that although low-income parents believe the same things middle-income parents believe, they do that for a whole different reason. for example, middle-income parents believe that education is important. when asked why, they would reason that education would enable the child to be self-sufficient and would equip him or her with the right skills for the future. low-income parents, on the other hand, while also believing that education is important, reason that if their kids are not educated, people would talk about their kids and this would reflect badly on them (the parents themselves); “tatanungin ng mga tao kung sino ang mga magulang niyang batang yan at syempre nakakahiya”. nakakagulat. i am excited na nga other differences pa. i hope i get to find high-SES parents na so i can complete the analysis.

...

my obando trip made me realize again how hard life is for some. although all of them live in concrete houses (so hindi naman barong-barong), their houses are only twice the size of our area rug here at home. the mothers talked of financial difficulty, of their husbands not having jobs, of selling the catch from the fishponds early in the morning so their kids can have baon for school, etc. no, i do not blame god in this instance (siguro kasi since hindi bata yung kausap ko, mag hindi naantig ang damdamin ko), but i blame the government for their plight. naniniwala ako na hindi dapat pinapayagan ng gobyerno na mabuhay sa ganung sitwasyon ang mga mamamayan. pero naiintindihan ko rin na mahirap kasi talaga ang buhay at hindi rin naman maaayos ng mga kahit na matitinong pulitiko ang sitwasyon natin sa loob ng isang linggo. haaay! ang hirap talaga.

...

on a happier note, it’s my honey’s birthday on sunday. he’s turning 28! and for his birthday gift, i am throwing him a surprise party tomorrow night at my parents' place! sobra na akong excited for this! kaya rin naman sobra akong busy kasi inaayos ko nga ito. things are basically set na. just need to buy the ingredients later and to order some stuff like the chairs and kung anbu-ano pa (i ordered a keg of beer from san miguel. nakakatuwa kasi sobrang hassle free talaga.) i was supposed to have an international menu: puttanesca, garden salad, chicken lollipop, and yung other things na babagay pa dun. but then i decided to have shabu-shabu. actually my mom decided that we'll have that kasi masarap. my mom's really into this surprise din. hehe! (thanks, ma! love you!) so nung una okay pa, sabi ko carry na yun kahit hindi partner yung shabu-shabu sa ibang dish. but when i talked naman to jojie's dad, sabi naman niya magdadala raw siya ng lechon. nye! eh di talagang ang layo na, so when i consulted my mom, we decided to have pinoy foods na lang. so our new menu is the shabu-shabu (for the gulay and the soup), menudo , inihaw na bangus, pininyahang manok, lechon, pandan rice, and pandan lychee for desert. i wanted to make oreo cheesecake kaya lang wala akong springform pan. okay lang sana kung kami lang ang kakain, kahit na ordinaryong baking pan lang but because ise-serve, kelangan talaga springform pan. oh well! so bili na lang ako. mas madali pa, mas mura pa. hehe!

i'm really excited. i can't believe i lasted this long without accidentally telling him. i started planning for this august but then because of the gastos of my thesis, akala ko hindi kakayanin ng budget ko pero kinaya ko (well, partly because my mom offered to help me out... bait ng mommy ko!). so now, we're going to have a dinner for jojie's closest family and friends tomorrow night. mga 30 people yung invited. really excited! kakatuwa pa kasi sobrang game family and friends ni jojie. as in super cooperative. galing-galing!

will update you how the surprise bday party turns out.

on being a w@wie and signing off

2005-02-07T15:07:00.000+08:00

posted this in w@w before i signed out. :)

----

we booked our church and reception in november / december 2003, more than one year before our target wedding date. although naka-book na kami, mejo surreal pa for me the whole thing. parang hindi pa totoo na ikakasal na kami! hahaha! isa pa, we were also waiting for the babang luksa (first death aniversary) of bernard's mom kaya parang hindi rin kami maka-plan talaga (talagang pinilit ko lang si bernard na magpa-book na ng church at reception. sabi ko sa kanya pag hindi ko nakuha yung date na gusto ko, hindi na kami papakasal! hehe!).

nakakatuwa yung thought na ikakasal na pero nakaka-frustrate pala wala kang kasama na nagpla-plan. i was the first one to get married among all my friends. ako rin ang unang ikakasal sa pamilya. although all my friends were happy for me, busy sila sa mga buhay nila at alam kong kahit na natutuwa pa sila para sa akin, weno ngayon naman sa kanila na ikakasal na ako no?

then i chanced upon the Bridal Pages and the Wedding Primer at National Bookstore. although hindi pa rin february nun, i bought the books. at least, sabi ko sa sarili ko, pangkasal yun dito sa pilipinas, unlike the millions of bridal magazines na for sale na imported naman at hindi naman applicable sa atin.

may mga ads ang w@w dun sa mga books (syempre, duh!). sabi "we're more than a website, we're a community." nung una sobra pa akong cynical. i thought to myself "achuuu! totoo kaya ito?" then seeing the pictures of the w@wies and the quotes from those who already got married, i was enticed to join. hinanap ko talaga ang w@w sa yahoogroups and i "enrolled". a coupel of days after, i was a certified w@wie!

nakaka-overwhelm ang mga emails! sobrang dami! tapos hindi mo pa kakilala yung mga tao syempre. pero nakakatuwa talaga. at last! there was this group of people who seemed to relate to how i felt and who understood why i wanted to tear my hair out over mundane wed preps stuff!

nung una, hesitant pa ako mag-post. kaka-intimidate kasi!!! but after my first query (i asked for quotations on beaches) at ang daming sumagot, okay na ako. wow! helpful pala talaga yung community (hehe! naki-feeling part of the community na rin!)

and that started my life as a w@wie. since i only had a part-time job, talagang kinareer ko yung w@w at ang wedding planning. pinagtatawanan ako ng dad ko kasi everyday pagkagising ko, i'll check and read na my emails. yun na lang ang gagawin ko buong araw. hahaha!

i volunteered for the w@w5ive para makakuha ng maraming-maraming prenups. syempre pagkatapos nun, volunteer pa uli to segregate naman the pictures. sabi ng tatay ko, hindi na raw ako nagsawa sa kakatingin ng mga litrato ng mga ikakasal. at pati ba naman raw kasal ng may kasal, pinakikialaman ko! hahaha!

bernard was also cynical, at first. but when i explained the concept of w@w and i made him read supplier ratings, na-appreciate niya talaga yung pwede tulong ng w@w sa couples.

our wedding preps went fairly smoothly. there was a time i was contemplating na to go back to fulltime work but bernard and i agreed na sa dami ng DIY namin, hindi namin kakayanin ang pareho kaming may 8 to 5 job on top of the wedding preps (haha! halata bang wedding preps ang priority?).

not being a believer of online romances, i was pleasantly surprised to realize that friendships can really spring online (so na-realize ko rin na totoo rin yung romances). ang dami kong naging friends from w@w. since wala akong friends na makwentuhan about my wedding, buti na lang anjan yung w@wie friends ko na 24/7 ready to listen to my wedpreps concerns.

an advantage of having w@wie friends is that you have people who will back you up on your kabaliwan na ideas which your fiance will never approve of under normal circumstances. hahaha! naalala ko before pag meron akong gustong gawin sa wedding namin na mejo out of the ordinary at sasabihin ko kay bernard, ang tagal na usapan nun. pero once na sinabi ko na "eh, hon, --- is also doing it" or "but, honey, --- thinks it's a great idea." then okay na sa kanya, pwede ko nang gawin. pag may binanggit na akong w@wie friend, mare-realize niya nang pang-normal na tao naman pala yung idea ko at hindi lang pang-baliw na tulad ko! hahaha!

in the end, even bernard was proud of calling ourselves w@wies. i make him kwento about the juicy stuff here in w@w and if you mention a suppplier na sikat, he can make comments na. hehe!!

come wedding day, although there were glitches, our wedding was perfect for us. we were able to achieve the wedding of our dreams. lalo na ako, nakuha ko talaga yung gusto kong wedding (well, expcept for the palpak na projector supplier, that is). ang galing!

and we know that our wedding would not have been the way that it was if it were not for w@w. and for this, we are eternally grateful to you guys. really, thank you very, very, very much. *hugs*

and since every good thing must come to an end, i need to sign off now. around april, i told benz that i was enjoying planning my wedding so much that i wanted to be an events coordinator. she told me that i should wait until after my wedding to see if i'd still like it by then and to see what coordinating really entails. those were wise words so i heeded them. after my wedding, i helped coordinate a couple of friends' weddings to see what coordinating does entail. and being a really OC person, i really find planning and all that delving into the little details very enjoyable (hahaha! nerd ang dating ko!).

galing sa kaibuturan ng aming mga puso, maraming salamat sa lahat-lahat.

:)

clarice and bernard avinante :)

Kwento Ratings

2005-02-07T15:04:00.000+08:00

these are the the libre suppliers that i got kasi either hindi sila professional suppliers or friends ko sila. hehe!

Makeup: Kat Manalo - Very highly recommended

i think i posted about kat several times na. she's been my friend since grade school and after college, she worked as a writer. nagulat when she told me one day that she quit her job to be a MUA. wooh! who quits a good paying job to be a makeup artist? but syempre full support ako kahit na hindi pa ako aware before na gusto niya pala talaga mag-makeup. at ang galing kasi she's really good at what she does now. she does makeup for fashion shows, for celebrity shoots, etc. she's presently the beauty and fashion editor of good housekeeping. she also appears regularly (weekely ata) in unang hirit dun sa segment nila about fashion. she's been interviewed a couple of times by MTV asia.

when i had my trial makeup with her, nung una, takot pa ako kasi hindi niya pa naman ako name-make-up-an ever. but after our session, natuwa talaga ako kasi ang ganda nung makeup ko. kahit na yung prenup photgrapher ko that time (carlo villongco) praised my makeup. tapos ang ganda lumabas nung prenup pictures ko.

come wedding day, i just told her na basta bridal look (hindi bridal look yung trial ko sa kanya. pang-pictorial shoot). ang gandang lumabas at ang ganda ko sa pictures! hahaha! sobra talaga akong happy. :)

Singers: Denden Atanacio (92 AD soloist) - Very highly recommended

Denden was my classmate in a couple of classes. I also worked with him before in a couple of cases in the clinic where we both used to work.Magaling siya talagang kumanta. as in. as part of 92 AD (which is this really good singing group), he is asked to sing for ABS CBN palagi.

when i first invited him to my wedding (ang alam ko pa aalis siya papuntang states ng december so malabo na makapunta sya), tinanong nya ako kung kakanta raw siya. sobra talaga akong natuwa. nahihiya kasi ako na pakantahin siya tas siya pa ang nag-offer!

a few months before my wedding, we talked again about schedules. sobra daming singing engagements ng 92 AD for dec 18. alam ko mahihirapan siya sa sched pero sabi ko siya lang ang makakanta ng bridal march ko. tinanong niya ako kung ano yun. and when i said "The Prayer ung march ko sana", natawa lang siya. sabi niya, siya nga lang! hahaha!

on the day of our wedding, denden came to just sing. pagkatapos niiyang kumanta, alis na siya agad para humabol sa group nila. ang ganda-ganda-ganda raw ng pagkanta niya. hindi napansin ng mga tao na live yung pagkanta at hindi CD. sobrang natuwa talaga si bernard (see wedding kwento). since i unconsciously blocked the music in my mind, i went to our photographer to watch the raw video and hear him sing. ang galing talaga! kahit nung pinapanood ko, nag-isip pa ako kung siya nga yun or CD.

Singer: Abie Co - Very highly recommended

Naku! hindi na ako magkukuwento. basta ang galing ni abie (hehe! magkukuwento rin pala!) first heard abie sing during the w@w5ive. sobrang nakakatawa yun kasi among the volunteers, kami lang ni abie ang walang kasamang h2bs kaya sabi namin magsamama na lang muna kaming dalawa (hapon pa darating ang mga mga partners, just in time for the photo shoot). sabi ni benz yung mga volunteers raw na walang gagawin muna, baka gustong mag-attend ng mass. syempre dun kami ni abie. nagtanong si benz kung sino raw catholic. sabay na naman kami ni abie nagtaas ng kamay. in short, kami po ang naging readers. and as readers, we got to sit in the altar na naka-electric fan at kasama ang pari! hehe!

pag part ng songs, napansin ko, aba! eh mas magaling pang kumanta si abie kaysa sa singer ng sentimental groove (ay! hehe! no offense meant to the sentimental groove singer ha!).

as months passed, naging close na kami ni abie at syempre, as good friends are expected to do, siya pa nag-offer na kumanta sa kasal ko. syempre tuwang-tuwa ako! :)

ang galing ni abie kumanta. palpak lang yung organist nung church kasi ayaw sa kanyang pakantahin yung ibang songs. pero ang galing-galing pa rin. :)

Coordinators: Rhodora, Teenee, and Diosa

pinanindigan ko yung hindi ako kukuha ng coordinator. since sobrang hands-on bride naman ako, parang hindi ko naman kelangan, sabi ko. but as the day drew nearer, na-realize ko na sa sobrang OC ko, baka hindi ko kayanin at baka mag-coordinate ako sa mismong wedding ko! hahaha! ang hirap kasi since ang dami naming DIY stuff at kung anu-anong arte and of course, i wanted to make sure na magde-deliver yung suppliers ko so i needed people na magmo-monitor sa kanila at sisiguraduhin na okay talaga yung flow ng wedding. i have responsible, dependable friends pero since hindi naman sila into weddings, hindi pa rin pwede. buti na lang at nag-offer tumulong ang aming w@wie friends na sobrang hulog talaga ng langit. at least sa kanila pwede kong ipagkatiwala yung kasal ko kasi alam ko they are as meticulous and as detail oriented as i am. (pag coordinator dapat sobrang detail oriented talaga eh.)

nauna sila sa lahat ng suppliers ko. they coordinated with my emcees and my ento. ang galing kasi sobra talaga nilang naka-jive yung mga kaibigan ko kaya enjoy yung wedding preps.

ang ayos ng ceremony namin because of them. maayos yung march. naka-setup yung gallery. nasunod yung mga little details na ibinilin ko sa kanila. ang ganda pa ng recessional namin. ang ayos ayos. talagang nakaka-excite lumabas ng simabahan kasi kita namin lahat ng friends namin na nakapila.

our reception went smoothly. kahit na bigla nag-iba yung layout ng tables, nagawan nila ng paraan and they were able to make good, logical decisions regarding the changes. they even went to my parents' home after para i-deliver yung gifts.

basta, sobra talaga akong thankful sa kanila. thanks, mga sis!

Emcees: Kat Guarin and Eric Asuncion

sobrang funny sila! friends ko sila from assumption. grabe yung patawa nila kasi sobrang spontaneous. what they did was, instead of making fun of us or of the audience, they made fun of themselves na sobrang okay talaga yung dating. hahaha!

kahit si edu cortez of little dreams complimented my emcees. ang galing raw nila!

as you can see, our wedding would not have been possible without the help and support of our friends. sobra talagang laki ng utang na loob namin sa mga kaibigan namin. without them, baka hindi naman kinaya. :)

Wedding Kwento Part V - last na!

2005-01-31T15:18:00.000+08:00

After the mass, we had konting pictorial at the church. The guests proceeded to Balay Kalinaw but we, together with the entourage, proceeded to UP lagoon where we had pictorials. nakakainis lang kasi nakulangan kami ng oras (again because of the late wedding before ours! grrr!) so even though Bernard and i wanted to have pictorial at a near gasoline station (o diba cute yun, pictorial sa gas station, kunyari gas attendant kami... ito talaga nanghihinayang ako), we needed to go to Balay Kalinaw. i didn’t want the program to start without us at pag nagutom naman yung guests ko, i’ll never hear the end of it from my mom.

so off we went to Balay Kalinaw. sayang lang kasi may araw pa so hindi pa kita yung luminaries although sobra akong natuwa sa balay kandila kasi they lined up balay kalinaw’s driveway(?) with luminaries.

when we got there (which was like in 4 minutes sa sobrang lapit nun), my MUA kat was waiting for me for the retouch. kakatuwa talaga pag friend mo ang supplier kasi sobrang support.

the coords had the ento line up and we could hear the program start inside the hall. isa-isa nang tinatawag yung ento. nakakatuwa kasi habang nasa labas sila ng hall, nagkakagulo yung mga ento, nagtatawanan, nagkukulitan, pero pagtawag sa kanila ng emcee, papasok sila ng super poised na akala mo napaka-behaved talaga! hahaha!

it was finally our turn. the emcees, katkat and eric, asked the audience to stand up to welcome us. they asked the people who were sitting “in front” to blow bubbles from my P2.00 bubble giveaways... instead of renting a bubble machine, i bought 80 pieces of bubbles [yung laruan ng bata] from divi and had it distributed to the guests para may participation sila... actually nagkukuripot lang ako eh! hahaha!

anyway, when we entered, i could see my friends blowing bubbles. nakakatuwa kasi ang ganda ng effect. pagkapasok namin diretso first dance. when i met you by the apo hiking society yung song. and although i don’t dance, i enjoyed that dance.

the reception went smoothly. pag nagkwento pa ako dito, mauulit lang uli yung supplier ratings kaya wag na lang. :)

highlights:

1. we had raffles of the guest sheets. the winners were given roses (hehe! confession... since roses lang ang pwede naming prize, we rigged the raffle na girls ang winners) ang cute ng guest sheets namin! ay! ang yabang! hahaha! DIY kasi! haha! we had 4 x 6 guestcards and we had one for each guest/couple. we asked them for their advices, their suggested names for our kids (the most suggested name was Bernice... BERNard and clarICE... galing no? nakakatuwa! ang daming nag-suggest nito at ang mga nag-suggest ay hindi magkakakilala or magkakalapit man lang). we also provided each table with crayons and we asked the guests to draw us.

we went through the guest cards na, sobrang nakakatawa yung mga sagot ng mga bisita! we had the usual advices like ‘love one another,’ ‘be patient,’ etc. but we also had funny ones like ‘babae, wag batuhin ang asawa’ and ‘lalake, matutong umilag pag binato ng asawa.’ hehehe!

2. nasunog nga yung reception program at guest sheets sa isang table. i didn’t see it pero sabi nila lumaki pala talaga yung apoy. kakatawa pa kasi my friend was so busy eating that she didn’t see the fire in front of her. it was another friend from another table who yelled “fire!” (kung ako yun, sasabihin ko lang “SUNOG!!!” hahaha!) when brian yelled “fire!”, ria, the first friend, had the presence of mind to pick up the papers and place it on the floor (which, thankfully, was of vigan tiles kaya hindi masusunog). ang siste, nung aapakan niya na to put out the fire, she realized she was wearing sandals so she asked brian (who was a complete stranger to her) to put out the fire. it must have been so hilarious! tawa ng tawa yung mga kaibigan ko.

3. sobrang palpak nung projector!!!! see supplier ratings!

4. maraming guests na umalis after the pictorial. nung una ang sama ng loob ko. in the end, i realized na okay lang kasi, personally, the friends and family whom i really wanted to be there stayed anyway so when we got to the traditions, konti na lang ang guests and not because nagsa-sour grapes ako, but if i had my way, sila lang rin yung iimbitahin ko anyway.

5. my emcees were such hits! ang galing nilang magpatawa! sobrang spontaneous!

6. ang ganda talaga ng setup ng balay! :)

7. i enjoyed the bouquet and garter toss games. yung sa bouquet toss, i tossed single roses. the emcee told the girls that whoever does not get a rose will be the lucky one. syempre nagkagulo sila, promise! okay talaga kasi game yung friends ko! as in walang kelangan pilitin. syempre, as you probably already guessed, lahat sila may makukuhang roses but one has a stem shorter than most kaya it was nice that the girls had to put the roses together to compare pa the length of the stems.

yung sa garter toss naman, katkat had the guys line up. 1 minute ata yung alloted na time. she asked the guys trivias about us like “ano ang tawagan nila bernard and clarice? a. love b. honey, c. mahal” it was fun kasi kita kung sino yung nakakakilala sa amin at kung sino yung magaling sa tsamba! haha! at the end of one minute, the one who had the most wrong answers was the lucky bachelor.

the reception finished around 8:30. mr. ching was waiting for us (gawa na yung kotse niya) so we couldn’t stay anymore.

it was a really nice wedding, if i may say so. we had our families and our closest friends with us as we committed our lives to one another. my wedding day made me appreciate my family and my friends. ang galing talaga.

Madness in Music - Tag Along

2005-01-31T09:29:00.000+08:00

I've been tagged by Lyra.

Random 10:

1. You're My You
2. Power of Two
3. Cruisin'
4. Seasons of Love
5. Sun and Moon
6. Neighborhood (Ally McBeal)
7. I'll Be There For You
8. Your Body is a Wonderland
9. Fast Car
10. 32 Flavors

1. What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
around 200 ata. kay jojie na laptop ito eh at siya talaga yung mahilig sa music eh

2. The last CD you bought is: Paolo Santos Live

3. What is the last song you listened to before this message: Cleveland (themesong ng Drew Carey Show... hahaha! halatang couch potato!)

4. Write down five songs you listen to a lot or mean a lot to you:

1. The Prayer by Josh Groban
2. Ikaw Lamang
3. Wonderful World
4. When I Met You by Apo Hiking Society
5. At Your Side by The Corrs

5. Who are you gonna pass this stick to? (3 persons and why)

Abie - galing kumanta ni abie!
Len - i love your CDs, len. i play them all the time.
Laine - miss you, sis!

:)

scramble!!!!

2005-01-27T01:06:00.000+08:00

there is a public elementary school near our place, and of course, street foods abound during the kids' dismissal time. there's mangga't bagoong, singkamas at bagoong, fishball, sago't gulaman, and, of course, there's scramble. you still remember what scramble is? it's that frothy shaved ice concotion, usually colored pink or green, with this really creamy powdered milk on top. yum!

everytime jojie and i pass by the school during the kids' dismissal time, i ask him if i can buy food there, specifically, mangga't bagoong. of course he always says no (can't blame him). since i'm also wary of street bagoong, i abandoned the idea. i think he was relieved when i stopped pestering him about it. after all, i also pester him to go to UP every once in a while to eat fishball and isaw and mangga't bagoong. since he does bring me to UP to eat, i guess he thought i abandoned the idea of tasting the food in the nearby public school. what jojie doesn't know, though, is that i'm only waiting for the perfect time (read: he's not with me) so i can buy... not the mangga nor the fishball but the scramble!!! and today, when i passed by the school, on my way to my parents' house, i was able to buy!!! yey!!! i was driving and since i was also in a hurry, i just stopped the car, rolled down the window, and ordered "drive-through" scramble. ang sarap!!!

it just breaks my heart

2005-01-25T10:24:00.000+08:00

i was in the dirty chicken / laundry area last night, cooking pininyahang manok (see previous post) when i saw this boy of about 11 years old carrying the bag of our high school student neighbor. you see, we live in the third floor and i can see what's happening in the streets at the back of our building. every morning while cooking breakfast, i see these three sisters wait for their school service. it was only yesterday that i saw their service bring them home from school. in the morning, the school service driver drives up to the front of these girls' house to pick them. in the afternoons, however (or at least that's what they did yesterday), the service dropped the girls a good 15 meters away from their gate. i saw the girls walking towards their home and i noticed that one of their bags was being carried by an 11 year old boy (based on my estimate). the bag was definitely heavy and he was having a hard time carrying it. what is more, he was limping. when he reached the gate, he brought the bag down, agve it to one of the girls, and run-limped towards the service. it just broke my heart to see a boy so young having to work for a living when he should be in school. he was "serving" fellow children, for goodness' sake! i remember having our own "kuya" in our school buses before but they were aged 18 at least (still young to work but at least not a child anymore). i was so disturbed that i left what i was cooking, went inside, and cried. jojie didn't know what to do. he admitted afterwards that when i cry because of the plight of streetchildren and children who need to work for a living, he just doesn't know what to do.

i just think that life is so unfair. how come some people just throw away their money while some have to work at a very young age to survive? how can God allow this? why do i allow this?

i really need to finish my thesis as soon as possible. an MA degree will enable me to conduct free counseling services to streetchildren through NGO's. i know i can do this now but the degree will give me more credence. pray for me.

recipe site and pininyahang manok

2005-01-25T08:52:00.000+08:00

i discovered this really wonderful website which contains lots and lots of recipes! it's called The Radical Chef: A Filipino Mom's Food, Cooking, and Recipes Journal. the website is maintained by connie veneracion, the recipes there are very simple and yet look so appetizing. so last night, while deciding what to cook for dinner (i wasn't able to make a menu for this week), i decided to browse this website. since i already started thawing chicken, i just clicked on the link to "poultry" and scanned the recipes for a relatively easy-to-cook one. i decided on Pininyahang Manok not because i like it (in fact, i've never cooked it before) but because we have canned pineapple tidbits we got for free as part of the christmas package included with the fridge we bought early this month.

this is the original recipe from the website. i will put in parentheses my comments and the little changes I made.

ingredients:

1 kilo stewing chicken ("stewing chicken", according to the radical chef, is the native chicken. mas masarap nga naman kasi talaga ang native chicken, mas malasa kasi. but since i only have magnolia chicken, syempre pwede na rin yun. also, since i was just cooking for the two of us, i cooked like 1/3 of a kilo lang. tip: when you come home from the palengke or the grocery, store the meat in the freezer na good for one meal per pack. that way, when you need to thaw, isang pack lang ang ilalabas and that's good for just one meal. also, i have learned that a good size chicken can be cut into at least 12 pieces so i get to divide one whole chicken into three meals [4 to 5 cuts per meal].)

1 whole garlic, peeled and crushed (of course, for this and teh rest of the ingredients, i used just a third of what the recipe calls for)
2 white onions, halved and sliced thinly
2 tomatoes, chopped coarsly

500 g. of fresh pineapple chunks, canned may be used but should be unsweetened (i was already simmering the chicken when i realized that the canned pineapple tidbits that we had was in heavy syrup. rather than go down [we live in the third floor] and look for unsweetened canned pineapple, i used what was available. it turned out to be good kasi tamang-tama yung tamis)

1 tbsp cooking oil
water
salt and pepper

procedure:

heat the cooking oil in a casserole. when smoking, put in the chicken until the outside starts to brown (i used slow to medium fire and really waited until the juices and fats of the chicken oozed out). add the garlic and the onions and cook until limp (by now, ang dami nang mantika nung manok). add the tomatoes and continue cooking until they start to liquefy (i was kinda in a hurry by this time but since i know cooking needs patience, i had to tell myself to wait until the madurog talaga yung tomatoes para maging malasa talaga). pour enough water to cover and bring to a boil (i put in the salt and pepper before pouring the water). cover and simmer for one hour. the liquid would be reduced to half by such time (since jojie arrived by this time and he was sort of hungry na, i just simmered the chicken for 20 minutes then put it in medium to high fire. in no time, the liquid was indeed reduced to half [remember though that i was only cooking a third of the recipe]). add the pineapple chunks. add the juice if using canned (by this time, i have realized that i only have sweetened pineapple. at first i just put in half of the juice coz i was afraid the syrup would ruin the dish. but i poured everything after a few minutes when i realized that i wanted the sweetness to come out). cover and simmer for another hour (again, i just simmered for 10 minutes and put it in high fire for another 10).

the result was delicious. jojie liked it so much! happy cooking!

dinners and a recipe

2005-01-24T07:35:00.000+08:00

we marked our first month of marriage with a three-day long celebration. last sunday, the 16th, jojie and i went to TGIFriday's to eat. we haven't eaten in Friday's for a looong time, ever since we decided to save and that was like three years ago! ang tagal na talaga! nagbago na nga ang menu nila! hahaha!

we had fried button mushrooms (yummy!), grilled chicken salad (sobrang sarap), and steak (ata... can't remember pero it was yummy din although naubusan na sila ng corn which i sobrang love). i love their food talaga but after seeing our bill, though, i resolved never to make aya jojie there again :)

last monday, dec 17, was our pre-anniversary. "pre-anniversary" coz 17 marks our monthly anniversary (yeah, i know mali yan. :)) as mag-boyfriend while 18 marks our wedding anniversary. i cooked sinigang for dinner and syempre nasarapan ang asawa ko. super duper favorite food niya in the whole world ang sinigang. even if i feed him sinigang everyday, he wouln't mind. that's how much he loves it.

since we already had our Friday's celeb and our sinigang dinner, jojie thought that we wouldn't celebrate 18 anymore when, in fact, i had planned for a more-special-than-usual dinner for a week. my plan was to go to the supermarket early tuesday morning to get all the ingredients i need and prepare a candlelit dinner. but my plans were foiled when we woke up at 5:30 and jojie announced that he wanted to take a leave from work that day! hay naku talaga! hindi na tuloy ako naka-alis papuntang supermart.

come lunch time, i told jojie that we were going to have left-overs for lunch. he's not really picky when it comes to food so that was okay with him. we had sinigang (left over from the night before), menudo (left-over from sunday), and ginisang kaalabasa with alugbati (left-over from saturday). ang dami naming ulam! hahaha!

after lunch, i told jojie i needed to go to my parents' place to fix their computer. i said i will also pass by red ribbon to buy cake (we try to always have a cake in the fridge so that we can have coffee and cake whenever we want). he also needed to work anyway so he was okay with me leaving him. buti na lang! hehe!

since jojie only knew about the cake and computer, i needed to do my shopping as fast as i could. i bought spareribs, fries, and the other ingredients i needed. i then went to my parents' house and prepared the beef and the marinade. of course, i was also tinkering with the computer at the same time kasi i really needed to fix the computer eh. jojie was calling me na and asking what time i was going home.

when i got home, jojie saw the marinated beef but thought it was spaghetti. sabi pa niya, "naku! nag-shopping ka naman sa bahay niyo!" hahaha! everytime i go home to my parents kasi, i end up bringing food home. jojie calls that "shopping". :)

i started preparing for dinner around 5:30. since i'm putting jojie on an eat-vegetable-as-muc-as-you-can diet, i made garden salad (3 kinds of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, cheese, and bacon bits). i had plenty of dressings to choose from so i figured i'd just make him choose. for the soup, i opened a can of clam chowder (hehe! nag-shortcut ba?) but in fairness, nasarapan ako sa soup. for the sidings, i prepared french fries and for the main course, i prepared beef spareribs.

i asked jojie to go inside the bathroom so i could setup our dinner but he wouldn't cooperate. we compromised; he laid in bed with his back turned and promised not to peek. since our dining table was just enough for two (think of starbucks tables), i removed the rug in front of the tv and set our dinner there. i lighted a few candles and my scent burner. i played Len's Volume 3 CD. overall, the effect was pretty romantic.

although he was expecting something na, i think he was still pretty surprised when he opened his eyes. we sat down at the floor and started eating. okay na sana lahat kaya lang nung nakita ng magaling kong asawa yung ulam, tinanong ba naman ako, "pinagawa mo sa bahay [referring to my parents' house] itong beef?" i answered, "hindi, ako gumawa. bakit?" "hindi mo pinagawa kina rina [my parents' cook]?" "hindi. bakit?" "ah okay... [saying this while munching and really concentrating on the spareribs] wala lang... kaya mo ito? parang ang hirap eh!" grrrrrr! he liked the food so much, he thought there was no way i could have prepared it! kakabwisit! ('x') hahaha!

anyway, it was a funny dinner. i thought it would be really romantic with the candlelight and the scent and all. i thought it would be more romantic than our TGIFriday's dinner since i was the one who prepared it. but alas, no! unlike our dinner at Friday's when we just ordered and had time to look at each other's eyes all throughout, this dinner found me looking at my husband and he looking and concentrating really hard on his food!!! we talked but not that much kasi the whole time, sinisimot niya lang yung pagkain! hahaha! i cooked eight slices of the spareribs; i ate two and he had the rest. (he'll kill me if he reads this!) hahaha! he even got some of my fries when he had eaten his. i guess i should be happy that he really liked the food. sobra lang ironic! hehe!

so there! that endeth our three-day celebration for our first month of marriage. :)

-----

I am not saying this is really good but my husband liked it and your partner might, too. so here's the recipe for the spare ribs. :) happy cooking!

Beef Spareribs with Ketchup Sauce (a really unimaginative name!)

1 kilo beef spareribs ---> (P187 / kilo; i halved the recipe so i just got a half kilo)
8 ounce Sprite
salt
oil for frying
1 cup banana ketchup
1 tbsp. minced garlic
3 tbsps. butter or margarine
2 siling labuyo, minced
1 small bay leaf
1 tsp. black pepper, ground
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. white sugar

1. rub spareribs with a little salt. set aside for 15 minutes.
2. pour Sprite on the spareribs.
3. mix banana ketchup, garlic, butter (or margarine), siling labuyo, salt, pepper, white sugar, and bay leaf.
4. marinate spareribs in the mixture overnight [i marinated mine for like 3 hours lang].
5. heat oil in pan. scrape sauce off spareribs then fry in oil.
6. when brown, pour 1/2 cup (or more, if you like) of the ketchup marinade. simmer for 5 minutes.

voila! you have an instant sosyal food you can serve with fries, corn, mashed potato, or rice. :)

we've been married for one month!

2005-01-20T01:38:00.000+08:00

hay! isang buwan na ang nakakaraan mula nang ikasal ako at magbagong buhay. sa isang buwan na yun, nalaman ko na sobra pala talagang mainitin ang asawa ko! biruin mo, sino ba naman ang taong naka-aircon na ay nag-e-electric fan pa?! juice ko ay tang! isang buwan na rin akong gumigising ng alas 5:00 para magluto ng agahan! samantalang dati rati pagkagising ko eksaktong tanghalian na! hahaha!

isang buwan... nalaman ko nang sobra pala talaga oc-oc itong napangasawa ko pagdating sa dumi sa bahay. aba! eh napakaburara kong tao, natuto tuloy akong maglinis.

isang buwan... sapagkat nung isang araw lamang kami nalagyan ng keybol sa telebisyon, isang buwan akong nabuhay ng walang teevee!!!! juice ko po talaga ay ponkana! biruin mo dati rati pagkagising ko sa umaga, kakapain ko na ang remote para buksan ang tibi. bago matulog sa gabi, siguradong naka-islip ang katabi kong tibi. tapos isang buwan! isang buwan! isang buwan! biruin mo! isang buwan na walang keybol! kung hindi nga ba naman pag-ibig ito, ewan ko na lang!

isang buwan na akong maybahay. tinatanong na ako ng nanay ko kung magaling na raw ako sa 'home management'. home management? ano yun? hahaha!

isang buwan na akong dumudungaw sa kapit bahay habang nagluluto sa may likuran. isang buwan ko nang pinagmumuni-munihan kung ano kaya ang buhay nila. hoy! hindi ako naging chismosa sa loob ng isang buwan... ni hindi ko nga nakikita ang mukha ng kapitbahay namin... bubong lang at kakapiranggot na garden nila ang tinatanaw ko araw-araw. talagang araw-araw lamang na ginawa ng diyos iniisip ko kung masaya kaya sila sa loob ng malaking bahay nila, anong klaseng tao kaya sila, at kung anu-ano pa. lahat yan, araw-araw, sa loob ng isang buwan.

isang buwan... natuto na akong gumawa ng menu para sa isang linggo nang, teyk note, walang nasisira, walang napapanis, lahat nauubos. aba! baka nga tama ang nanay ko! baka marunong na mag-home maneydgment!

isang buwan...

isang buwan...

isang buwan na akong gumisiging sa umaga ng masayang-masayang-masaya. nakikita kong katabi ko siya. maaaring yapusin anong oras ko man naisin.

isang buwan na akong nag-aabang ng pagdating niya galing sa opisina. sabik na muling yakapin siya.

isang buwan na akong sobra-sobrang nagpapasalamat sa Diyos sa pagbigay Niya sa akin ng isang taong mamahalin ko at minamahal ako ng buong puso at buong pagkatao.

isang buwan na kaming araw-araw magkasama, hindi nagkakasawaan, pakiramdam ko nga kulang pa.

isang buwan...

isang buwan...

isang buwan na puno ng pagbabago, ng saya, ng pakikibaka (parang wrestling!)...

isang buwan...

ang galing! ang dami palang pwedeng mangyari sa isang buwan. ang saya!

Wedding Kwento Part I

2005-01-13T23:57:00.000+08:00

Although we started preps early and I was a hands-on bride (I didn’t get a full-time job because of wedding preps), we still had lots and lots of stuff that we were able to do just at the last minute (last minute for me is like a week before). Our wedding was on Dec 18, I’ll start my kwento with the highlights of the two weeks before the wedding.

Dec. 6
As we expected, none of the guests replied to the RSVP. But since we had definite seating arrangements with place cards, I had to make sure who will really be able to attend. At first I wanted to call or text all of the guests but calling would entail too much time while texting would be too impersonal. Also, Rhodora told me that if I were to personally ask the guests if they would be able to come, some would say yes kasi mahihiya lang sila to say no to me although they would know beforehand that they won’t be able to make it. So I thought of this really ingenious thing to do – I got the spare prepaid SIM card we had at home, loaded it with credits, and texted all my guests using that SIM card with this message. “Good morning. This is Rhodora and we are coordinating Clarice and Bernard’s wedding on the 18th. We would like to confirm your attendance….” Basta something to that effect. I forgot the exact wordings. It was a success! Everybody replied and some did say no. When they confirm their attendance, I would send the following message naman: “Thank you for your confirmation. We have reserved ____ seats for you. Attire is formal for ladies and Barong Tagalog for gentlemen. Thank you again.” If they say no, I would just thank them.

This was what I did the whole of Dec 6. Then I rearranged the seating arrangement accordingly. Sigh! I must have rearranged our seating arrangement like one million times! Exagg! Haha!

By the way, I woke up on the morning of the 6th with a slight fever. My dad, since he was home with me all day, noticed that I was not feeling well. Pinagalitan niya lang ako kasi baka raw magkasakit ako, pano na raw sa araw ng kasal ko. He didn’t know na may sakit na ako talaga.

Dec 7
I had an appt with my thesis adviser on the afternoon of the 7th. After my meeting with her, I called Bernard. We were supposed to meet at Ortigas to grab dinner but I felt that I would not be able to drive from Ateneo to Ortigas anymore because I wasn’t feeling well so I asked him to just meet me some place nearer to Ateneo. He said he’ll just pick me up in Ateneo then we’ll just have dinner in Katipunan. He arrived after around 30 minutes. We had dinner at Gayuma then he told me na he had a surprise for me. I was kinda surprised coz he knew that I wasn’t feeling well but he was insisting that we go somewhere pa after dinner. But since we rarely had time to ourselves na walang kinalaman sa preps, I agreed. He blindfolded me then brought me to this place. Kakatawa pa kasi naka-blindfold ako sa kotse, then paghinto ng car, he guided me, sasabihin niya sa akin kung may paakyat ba or pababa or kung may tao. We entered an elevator pa nga. When he removed my blindfold, we were inside a bedroom sa isang hotel/motel! Sabi ko, “Ano ka ba? Bakit tayo andito?” Natatawa ako sa kanya na nawi-wirduhan! For goodness’ sake, it was like two weeks before our wedding! Hahaha! He replied “Ayaw mo ba dito? Maganda ditto!” Ako naman, “Ha?” Then I heard a chorus of voices behind me, “Surprise!” Okay, bridal shower ko pala, thrown by my w@wie friends! Hahaha!

We had fun that night. Usually when we have shower parties, it was just us girls. But since Bernard was already inside the motel room (yeah, motel nga na nagpapanggap na hotel), we asked the hubbies and H2B’s of our friends to join us. Sobrang enjoy yun gabing yun. They gave me lots and lots of thongs and “barely there” nighties! Hahaha! I even received a crotchless panties!Tuwang-tuwa si Bernard! Hahaha *wink* We even watched Playboy porn (na promise walang kwenta so wag na kayo manood)!!!

Dec. 11 - Saturday
We threw a surprise bridal shower for Abie (ni Rey) at my house on Saturday. Funny thing was, since all our schedules were messed up, it was Abie who arrived first. So when she got there, I asked her to help me with my gel candle packaging. I needed to put a ribbon on the sinamay bag and I was really having a hard time doing it. Ang galing ni Abie kasi she knew how to tie the perfect ribbon! I, on the other hand, attended to Abie’s CD souvenirs. I assembled the packaging. It was funny coz we were doing each other’s wed preps chore! Haha!

Around 7, Candice, my maid of honor picked me up (Abie and the rest were still at my home. I just left them and they finished the ribbons!), kunyari to have a meeting with our emcee kasi raw may prob or something. It was another bridal shower, this time arranged by my MoH. She invited all the single women na friends ko na invited sa wedding, kahit na yung hindi pa niya kilala. Kakatuwa noh! I really have the best MoH ever! The funny thing here was that I knew they were planning a shower for me kasi one of our friends who now resides in Paris emailed me the day before and asked me where the shower would be held. She asked me to text her the hotel and the room number! Hahaha!

Candice knew naman pala that I knew so the whole time from my house to Makati, we were making kwento lang, nakikiramdam. I didn’t know that she knew. She knew that I knew but that I wasn’t telling her. Hehe!

We had dinner lang (We were supposed to have the whole stripper thing but Bernard didn’t allow it daw! Hay!). Each brought a gift which the giver thought symbolized something the two of us shared. Sobrang touching yung pagbigay nila. Then they gave me a scrapbook. Each of the invitees / attendees of the shower had a page. They wrote a letter for me, put pictures, and, because they knew I love to cook, put their favorite recipe on their pages. I was really so touched by all their efforts! I really love my friends!

By the way, kasabwat pala yung mom ko sa lahat ng shower parties ko. Both Rhodora (for the first shower) and Candice (for the second) coordinated with her. :)

Dec 14 - Tuesday
Bernard and I had a facial that afternoon then went to Greenbelt to meet with my friend coordinators, MoH, and emcees. Sobra talagang bait ng mga friends ko! Imagine, they were all willing to troop to Greenbelt just so we can have a final rundown of what was going to happen on the wedding day. My friends who were part of the group but were not part of w@w were so impressed with Rhodora, Teenee, and Diosa. Sobra raw efficient! Syempre, w@wies ang coords ko eh, what can you expect? Sino pa ba ang mas OC sa weddings than w@wies? :) We started around 6:30. We finished 11p.m. na ata. Four days to go! Kaka-excite na!

Wedding Kwento Part II

2005-01-12T21:54:00.000+08:00

Dec 15 - Wednesday - Christmas Party!!!!

I made place cards and table cards all afternoon. We were supposed to go the pictorial kaya lang hindi na kinaya ng schedule. So we just attended the Christmas Party. :)

Haaay! What a night that has been! Sobrang nakakahiya kasi kinareer ko ata yung prizes! Hahaha!

When Bernard and I arrived at Gazebo Royale, he told me that we should sit in front, near the stage. He remembered kasi that during W@w5ive, we couldn’t see the projected video because there was a huge poste in front of our seats. So he said na this time we should be seated where we can really see everything so we sat in front of the stage nga, as in right in front of the video screen!

We were seated with Eileen and Matthew (na ka-seatmates din namin sa W@W5ive) and Abie. Sarap food!

Ito na po ang kwento ng mga prizes. When the emcee, Raquel, started the raffle and the games, I thought we didn’t have a chance of winning. After all, we’re not so lucky when it comes to raffles and then all the Bring Me items were wedding-related like gown swatches, supplier contract, etc. It was 3 days before our wedding. I’ve let go of the preps two weeks beforment e and I didn’t have any wedding paraphernalia with me. I think it was during the second round of Bring Me when I tuned out of what Raquel was saying because I knew that the items would be wedding-related again so I figured I didn’t have a chance. I just looked at my hands and admired for the millionth time my engagement ring when I heard Raquel’s voice saying “engagement ring”! Wooh! The Bring Me item was an engagement ring! Bernard was so surprised when I bolted out of my seat and ran up the stage! Hahaha! According to him, he has never seen me run so fast! Hahaha! That won us a gift certificate from Alex Franco.

After winning, we realized that we had a chance in spite the fact that we did not have our wedding preps folder with us so, now, we were in the game! When Raquel mentioned that the next prize was a major one – pearl earrings worth P12,000, I told Bernard that I wanted to win that and that I even told my Mom about that. When Raquel said that the next item was to be brought to John, stupid me thought she was talking about John Mateos Ong! Hahaha! Isip ko pa, bakit kay John? And then I realized kay JOHN pala! Haha! (Sorry, John!) When Raquel said that the Bring Me item was a size 10 shoe, I immediately remembered that my fiance wore a size 10! I don’t normally remember that; it’s just that we just shoe-shopped for his wedding shoes a few days before so I remembered. He ran to John and luckily, he won! Yehey! When he got the earrings na , he first thing he told me was “O yan ha, may gift n a ako sa iyo!” Hmph! Haha!

The next prize we won was the Little Dreams package. Syempre Bring Me uli (told you we didn’t have luck pagdating sa raffles eh). When Raquel announced na the prize was a Little Dreams package, I thought if I were going to play pa for that. After all, our wedding was like three days away but I figured that maybe I can ask for a discount or something (haaay! sorry, gahaman ba?). When Raquel announced that that item was with Tony (Pionilla of Little Dreams), I told myself na I won’t play na. But then no one was going to Tony either. One of the suppliers (girl supplier, may edad na ng kaunti, asawa ng isang photographer, I think team sila) kept on motioning me to run and go to Tony! She pointed where Tony was. I didn’t stand up na kasi I was waiting for the others. Siguro she had to motion to me around 3 times before I gathered enough courage to go to him. I was wearing boots with like 3 inches heels for goodness sake! Ang hirap tumakbo! When I reached Tony, I politely told him na that I was a client of Little Dreams. I think I said something like “Good evening po. Client po ako ng Little Dreams...” I was going to oh-so-politely ask him to give me the item (a calling card) but he was ignoring me! Instead, he just held on to the calling card and raised it with his hand. I didn’t know what to do but then when I saw around 3 people in my peripheral vision about to grab the calling card, syempre I grabbed it na without hesitation!

Benz told me that we had to verify with Mel Cortez if I could upgrade my own package to Decisive using the package I won. When Mel said no (I knew Decisive was already taken anyway so it was okay), we had the certificate “re-raffled” and I was able to choose from the available prizes in lieu of the Little Dreams package. :) Oh, by the way, the day before my wedding I learned from Little Dreams that they’re giving me a P5,000 discount because we won nga! Ang galing! Sobrang naging win-win yung situation! Really love Mel Cortez!!!! :)

We had a really great time at the party (Juice! Manalo ba naman ako ng sangkatutak na prizes noh!). I met so many w@wies! Galing!

December 16 - Thursday
Since hubby didn’t invite people from his office (except for a few, they didn’t even know that he was getting married!), we decided that we’ll just bring lunch to his office to treat his officemates. It was his last day coz leave na siya ng Friday and nun lang nalaman ng officemates niya na ikakasal na siya! :) So I cooked food (you know, nagpaka-dakilang girlfriend ako) and brought it to his office in Ortigas. I waited na for him kasi usapan namin after nila mag-lunch sa office, alis na kami kasi may surprise naman ako sa kanya.

I went to Megamall while waiting for him. I had a quick lunch and I looked for a dressing-up outfit. I saw this really nice Kill Bill outfit (a pair of yellow sweats) which I figured would look really nice in the pictures. Btw, I don’t normally wear yellow kasi I feel na I’m too dark for yellow. For some reason, I still bought it kahit na yellow siya. Buti na lang kasi it really looked nice sa pictures. (By the way, thanks to Abie and Eileen who, when I told them that I wanted a dressing-up outfit like Autumn’s, told me na I can just buy a generic pair of sweats and have it embroidered with the word “bride”.) I tried to look for a shop who can embroider “Bride” in front of the top pero sobra nang puno at Dec 26 ko pa raw makukuha!

After shopping, Bernard and I met na. I had a surprise for him; he never had a full-body massage ever in his life and I brought massage and body scrub certificates from Fitness First RCBC for the two of us. That was the longest I’ve kept a secret from him! Nagulat ako sa sarili ko! I bought the certificates last August and I managed not to tell him about it. When we were in the car na, he asked me where we were going. Syempre I wouldn’t tell him. I even asked him to wear a blindfold so he wouldn’t know. Kaya lang he figured out na pala! Nakakainis! Since I told him to give me the exact time when we could leave for Makati, he figured that wherever we were going needed an appointment. That was the only clue he got and he figured it out! Haaay! Kainis! Pero okay na rin kasi when I realized that he knew na talaga, I let him drive na lang para mas mabilis at hindi kami ma-late sa appointment. :)

We had the time of our lives inside the massage room. We got the couple’s room and sarap talaga magpa-scrub and massage. Bernard loved it so much that we bought 7 massage/scrub certificates after! Yehey! Bernard brought me home after our spa (we had a little accident on our way home, little dent lang naman, thank God). When I got home, I called Ronald and discussed the reception layout over the phone. I slept at 3:30 a.m. that night since I arranged all the things that needed to be brought to the hotel.

December 17 - Friday
Candice picked me up from our house around 10:30 a.m. We went to a nearby salon to have foot spa and have our nails done. Since I was so magulo, we managed to leave for the hotel around 3:00 na! Hay! Buti na lang since I paid Linden for our suite months in advance kaya they couldn’t cancel our reservation. Arrived at the hotel around 4p.m. (sobrang traffic!) but our suite was not ready yet! Grrr! It was okay thought because Linden just gave us free snacks at their restaurant. We were starving by then so buti na rin lang late nag-check out yung previous occupant ng room! Hehe!

Candice left for Megamall around 6 so I was alone sa suite (she had to buy shoes and yung pouch for the arrhae). Nakapag-preps pa ako ng kaunti. In fact, I even had to make a few place cards kasi may mga last-minute (talagang last minute changes sa guests namin. hay!). I called Bernard sa Astoria. He seemed so relaxed! Nakakainis! I was panicking na with the place cards and all tapos he seemed so relaxed! Tinanong pa ako ng “Hindi ka ba magsi-swimming?” Grrr! I already had the fitting form so I tried to iron the gown so I could put it sa fitting form pero hindi ko magawa. Masyadong mahaba yung train! Buti na lang my mom arrived na with my whole family (they brought dinner kasi and my sister and brother were also sleeping at the hotel) and so she and my dad fixed my gown. Maya-maya dumating na rin si Candice uli and we had dinner na.

The messenger from our honeymoon travel agent arrived around 9. Juice ko! I learned that our travel agent changed our airlines! Grrrr! From Kuwait Airlines, naging Lufthansa! Okay naman yung change ng airline per se but the time of our arrival in Manila on Dec 24 changed from 4pm to 7pm! Sobra talaga akong nabwisit! Tinawagan ko yung travel agent at inaway ko ng sampung minuto, straight! The fact that my parents were just nodding their heads while I was screaming my head off at the travel agent was proof enough that I was the one wronged! Haaay!

My parents left around 10 and we slept around 11. I texted Bernard before sleeping. Sabi ko, "Good night, my husband (and in 17 hours, totoo na ito!). I love you." He replied, "I love you, too, Mrs. Avinante!" Then I fell asleep na. :)