INSIDE OF ME

Apple's Wedding at Canyon Cove

2012-01-25T00:29:00.088+08:00

Apple's wedding to Salah last December 21, 2011 was the first beach wedding I attended as a guest.

Apple, known to us as Futsa is Gretel's younger sister and very close to my family like a sister. She had been working and living in UAE, where she met Salah, for a few years before she decided to tie the knot with him. Now, Futsa decided to be a full time homemaker based in Qatar.

This is their third wedding ceremony after having one in an Embassy in UAE(or probably Qatar) and another one in Egypt - Salah's home country. But it is their first Christian wedding ceremony. The bride's family are Christians so Tita Nita, the mom, is very adamant that a Christian wedding be held for her daughter as well... even going as far as planning the entire wedding herself :)

Canyon Cove

Nasugbu, Batangas

www.canyoncove.com.ph

I was again acting in a supporting role for my son for this wedding because he was the Bible bearer.

The Venue

The ceremony was held on the shore of Canyon Cove at dusk in a nice calm ocean with drizzles before and after the event. The reception was supposed to be on the poolside but when it rained after the ceremony, we had to move to one of the pavilions. Canyon Cove is owned by the bride's relative so as a gift to the newly-weds... they gave a surprise fireworks and float paper-lanterns to the sky after the program.

What's unique in the wedding was they didn't use table numbers in the reception's table arrangements. Instead, as a nice twist... the table identifications have been all the places and milestones in Apple and Salah's relationship...And while the host was calling each table for picture taking with the couple, she's narrating the love story of the newlyweds..how romantic =).

During the festivities, Yonky enjoyed the photobooth provided by Prolens. He had 8 sessions there most of it was alone because according to Yaya Juvy, Yonky lined up on his own hehehe (mana sa lola and mommy... mahilig sa pictures). Photos soon!

Family Bonding

Since this was an out of town wedding, most guests decided to spend the night and checked-in so the day after was family bonding for most of us.

Canyon Cove's beach was sooo good(better than the last time I remembered it) and the pool was even better! Their pool has three levels of depth. Yonky enjoyed wading and jumping on the 1st level(kiddie) pool so much he slipped and gulped some water... Despite throwing up due to excessive coughing, afterwards he acted as if nothing happened like the big boy that he already is... he just laughed and continued to play and swim again.

I was planning for an out of town trip ever since our visa got approved but never got around to finalizing anything despite the good deals at metrodeal Php5500 for a 3D/2N in Boracay or Php16000 in Shanghai, HK or Singapore. After stressing out too much, I just then and there decided I would prefer a delayed gratification this time around. I also admitted I couldn't do everything so I'll just let the wind take me for a change. No use rushing anything and was glad we got to spend 2 days out of town for Apple's Wedding and visiting Papa's relatives in Bauan for free! Too bad Dada wasn't able to join us because of work but nevertheless... my parents, Yonky and I had a wonderful time together. I was even able to activate Papa's talking GPS on his Nokia cellphone while on the road which he enjoyed very much =).

And also during this particular vacation, I got to practice Yonky to do his jumping shots hehehe... (oh sooooooo cute!!!!).. so our trip had been worth it.

Thanks Apple and Salah for a wonderful wedding and a wonderful time with you guys. God bless on your new life in Qatar and hope you'll continue your plans in migrating to Australia!

A Touching Letter from my Mentor

2012-01-22T22:10:00.000+08:00

I couldn't help but cry when I read this one day I was soo tired from work. It's only barely a week now and I do understand why my teammates would want to take VLs at this time... I anticipate some very rough days ahead of them while they adjust to my absence... They had become so dependent on my guidance and decisions.. I do really feel for them..

here's the letter I got from my boss in Salt Lake... my professional and personal mentor

Mei –

You are an Angel!

Thank you for your kind comments. I REALLY hope that something works out for you in the SYD office. If I can be of any help in that area, please let me know. I would be glad to put forth the highest recommendation possible for you. I think you have the best balance & experience in so many areas (functional, technical, social, etc…) on our team. You really are irreplaceable.

A good analogy of how I feel is: If you take a cup of water & put your finger in it then pull your finger out, the water instantly backfills the gap, but your leaving CM will be a very noticeable gap, that will always have a void.

I’m very happy for you & your family & for the new adventure that awaits you. From the bottom of MY heart, I sincerely wish you & your family all the success, joy and happiness in the world. You deserve it Mei & I hope you’ll always know that you’ve really been an outstanding employee & friend. You should be proud of all you accomplished during your time at Navitaire and the positive impact you had on our company. I will greatly miss you Mei – and … the scriptures you put at the end of your e-mails!! J

I hope you’ll keep in touch and if by chance you do end up working for SUS DBA’s that you’ll continue to help CM out! J

YOU’RE THE BEST!

-Z

I'd like to save this and post it because I know I'll need this inspiration one way or the other when I do face the new challenges ahead of me...

My only armor is my faith and my action is prayer...and I kept praying and praying and praying...

May I honor God in my decisions and actions all the days of my life.

Our Prince's Shining Christmas

2012-01-14T00:22:00.002+08:00

I guess you can't blame me when I go gaga every time my son poses like that. He's just so adorable don't you agree? Perfectionist too! At such a young age of three he no longer can't accept defeat... my my it's very tough to be parents but as I always say.. I wouldn't trade my life for anything else... and all because my darling Yonky just keeps my day oh so bright.

Right now he is already an expert "bolero"... always saying "mommy you're soo beautiful".. or "mommy you're so sexy" which of course I know isn't true but nevertheless the words... because it came from him give me so much joy (I know ang babaw ko hehe). You can't also just say no to him now... he would demand an explanation so there are times that I would suddenly stop and say "are you really just 3 years old?!... sounds a lot older to me".. and if I may quote an old TV show I used to watch "Kids indeed say the darnest things".

His love for books and new information is becoming more and more apparent also as he constantly request for me to read him books... which unfortunately sometimes I wasn't able to grant because I'm doing some preparation for our move which would make me feel guilty but what can I do, I'm not a superwoman... but when I explained to him why I can not, he is always so forgiving by saying "it's okay mommy.. tomorrow na lang?.. i love you"... which again would make me stop and thank God that my heart's longings can now be pampered by just having my son around.

For his first school Christmas celebration last December 2011... I was once again a proud mommy because Yonky was such a good performer. He shines on stage... so very unlike me. He has no fear performing on stage and of the crowd and he's even the one requesting for replay of the songs that he's going to perform at school when we're in the house and loved to practice all the time which he enjoyed so much like he's just playing.

When his school launched their online system for parents where we can watch our children's activities real-time at school... I was amazed to watch that Yonky was really the only one paying attention to what the teacher was saying unlike his classmates who were just running around the classroom.

This Christmas season was also the first time Yonky was able to participate in the children's games on his own.. enjoying doing so as well. In fact, we even brought him to Jollibee's Christmas party and he was still able to participate on the games with different kids who were strangers to him:) Dada was so proud of him and said he truly shined.

I was very thankful to God... Yonky was able to experience different Christmas celebrations this year. I'm getting sentimental on our move and very touch that Yonky had such a fantastic time bonding with his cousins, family and friends this Christmas.

Thank you Papa Jesus! Please continue to guide and protect him all the days of his life. AMEN

Christmas Season 2011

2011-12-28T23:00:00.001+08:00

I guess I spoke too soon when I said Foodie 2011 would be my last entry about foods this year:$ I underestimated that Christmas is also a season for eating!!!

I'm quite guilty I have been neglecting writing lately... it's just that I got preoccupied with my two other loves... movie marathon and reading ;) I'm the type that would like to do things at my own schedule and oftentimes on whim... might call me a loner but I'm not your typical girl who likes going to the bathrooms, shopping or salons with girlfriends... maybe because I have a distorted view and poor patience but that's me.

Come to think of it, I don't have many close friends that I still keep in touch of upto now... In fact, I could count my friends in my fingers at different stages of my life... they're really so few (oh noh!)

Childhood - Gretel and her siblings
Elementary - Vivian
High School - Sherryl
College - Ten and Jt and Prince David housemates
Launch-Now - Mano, Madz, Tin, Jeff and Diane
Navi - I love my team and have some good friends but I don't know for sure if we'll keep in touch after I move to Aussie.

As I grow old though, I crave to have more friends like my mom. Having many friends is really a gift... when we're in need and grieving this past few months, my mom's friends just gave us comfort and so much assistance we felt like family... it helps of course that my mom is really very good with people and has a lot of PR as she says... something that I unfortunately didn't inherit :$

Marciano's

Greenbelt 3

marcianos.com

So anyways it's about time for some girl time... Jannel organized some chit-chat for us and Ajay after we meet for lunch one day. This was not planned ahead and was just one of those spur of the moment thing decided over the weekend. Jannel and Ajay are two of my Prince David housemates and among the ones who introduced me to girly fashion and flared pants as I was super boyish in college hehe =)

We don't have a place in mind when we got to GB3 but eventually ended up eating at one of Marvin Augustin's restaurants - Marciano's.

Jannel placed the order and paid most of the bill.. I believe it's one of the package ones. I loved their shrimp dish and the caramelized apple dressing on the salad! Yum! The package also included pizza which I wasn't able to capture with a shot... We didn't get to finish all the foods because they're so plenty plus we're all so conscious of our weights, especially me as they noticed I'm F-A-T-T-E-R than when they last saw me huhuhu.

Still we had a nice time catching up on each other... wedding bells soon for Ajay!

Gumbo

The Gateway

gumbo.com

On December 24, Dada was in the mood to treat us for a nice different restaurant and since I wasn't done with my Christmas shopping yet, we decided to go to Gateway which is a very convenient mall for us to go to aside from SM.

They have one of those color-it plate mat which became a nice diversion to Yonky who's turning into a super kulit little boy... The waitresses also wear unique and interesting headdresses and dada didn't pass the chance to have one picture taken with Yonky.

We super love their Family platter which is just less than Php700... and consists of some seafoods, chicken and mushrooms. I'm so satisfied with it. It is good for sharing for upto 4pax but the rice that's included in it is estimated for two only.. so just order additional rice like we did. Dada didn't like their buffalo wings though but love their Peach pitcher ...first time that I've seen canned peaches used as drinks... (dada even thought it's mango ehehe).

Then Christmas night we spent with family.... Since we're the 2nd generation, we're not the ones receiving the gifts anymore but the grandparents were given the honor to spoil and pamper their grandchildren. Mawi, I and Ate Rhoda became game masters but mommy financed the cash prizes - Php5000 divided into the new Php20 bills. The money got a long way because we were able to conduct several games. The children had a blast competing with each other for the money and I can't blame them.. I used to be the same a long long time ago :p

I swear I took pictures of the food courtesy of our very own cousin che-che Cindy who's the chef at Selah but didn't get to upload them from my parent's camera :$ Her baked salmon with wasabe coating is to die for, you gotta order this!

And since ate's world became just her condo... for 3 more weeks at least until the baby became full term and it will be safe for her to walk outside at her heart's content, we visited her as well as Gretel who just gave birth to a boy. Lucky for baby Ethan he has a lot of batchmates among our family friends.. baby boom season indeed.

With that.. A blessed, bountiful and spicy year ahead. There are a lot of scary 2012 prophesies according to some calendar featured in National Geographic but have faith!!! The only thing to look forward to and put into action next year is a closer relationship to our one and only Lord and Savior Jesus Christ... everything will just follow after.

GOD BLESS and a HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Family Foodie Foodie 2011

2011-12-18T19:12:00.001+08:00

This year has been a roller coaster ride in every sense of the word. Whew! I've never cried as much as I did in this past few months to the point that I sometimes had a severe headache the next morning but still I had to work.

So for me to change the mood a bit and since it's Christmas season after all... I'd like to create my last food entry for the year =) Yey!... not that I'm consciously taking pictures of our family food dates but as I browse through them, I'm amazed that I still have quite a lot of photos and it did make me feel happy... Hope they made your mouths water as well =p

Fish & Co.
Greenbelt 3, Makati

www.fish-co.com

The three of us had a nice bonding time at Fish & Co. in Greenbelt 3 on the day of our Happy Feet 2 movie date with Yonky Bonky =).

I was a bit hesitant at first because the foods were truly on the pricey side but as soon as I'd tasted their Seafood Platter and pasta... I couldn't help but be satisfied plus Yonky soo enjoyed the Fish & Chips!

Shi Lin
The Podium, Mandaluyong
www.shilin.com

We enjoyed watching them prepare the noodles and dimsums...very classy and it gave us satisfaction that everything was fresh and cooked on the spot =).

Mexicali

Megamall A, Mandaluyong

www.mexicali.com

I missed my Mexican lunch outs at SLC one day after church and we wanted to try something new as well so when we spotted Mexicali at the ground floor of Mega A, we just knew we had to try it and we were not disappointed.

I didn't particularly like their plates because they had some dents but the foods are quite good... it would definitely be a good hang-out foe us when we were in need of some dose of Mexican dishes.

Cafe Mediterranean

The Podium, Mandaluyong

www.thecafemediterranean.com

We celebrated Father's Day for dada on Cafe Mediterranean because that's his request. It is one of our favorite restaurants here in the metro and it is because of their affordable Kebab Platter which is just around Php700+. The platter is good for four persons but if it is my husband and me who would be eating, we could finish the entire plate =p! That day we decided to order two more dishes instead of our regular but all-in-all we could be good on just the platter.

*****

Plus plus we also tried the Racks @ El Pueblo, Pepper Steak in MOA and Orchard Road in Megamall... =)

The Racks' Baby Back Ribs never failed to gratify my husband and me and Yonky had fun coloring in their plate mat. Orchard Road looks expensive in the outside but food is surprisingly very cheap... small, simple servings but very tasty. And whose mouth doesn't water in the aroma and succulent meat of Pepper Steak?!

Then on some days... when I am in the mood to just chill at home and cook, we just stayed home... have some sweets which we partner with either herbal or loose teas. I am also very proud of my new mastered dishes this year... Baked Fish with peaches + my version of the Java Man's Crispy Sardines Pasta (no picture yet)...

To be honest we still had no plans for Christmas because papa is still recovering from his Angioplasty and I still can't find the time to do my Christmas shopping... I will probably just waive gifts this year :$ Still.. wishing everyone a very very Merry Christmas!!!

Let's not forget that Christmas is God's expression of His love... it is in this season that I feel closest to our Savior because everybody is celebrating big time!!! More than the gifts, the laughter, the parties... first and foremost it is God's gift of eternal life if we could just be willing to receive this gift...

Tita Dora...You're Finally Happy Now, See You Soon

2011-11-29T23:41:00.003+08:00

We just accompanied Papa at Cardinal as he was admitted and began waiting for his angioplasty procedure today. Also had a relaxing, happy and very tasty dinner with Aunt Venus at Crystal Jade Xiao Long Bao in Greenhills. As we drove home, mom got a call... all I heard was the sound of crying at the other end of the line and I already knew something was never going to be the same again =_(

Tita Dora died today November 29, 2011... reason or complication still unknown as of writing but she had been battling against her stage4 bone cancer as early as June this year. I was sooo surprised my first impulse was to cry but held on because I know my mom needed to feel strong as Tita Dora's family would depend on her. Mom is soo torn she couldn't leave papa here in Manila and at the same time fix tita's funeral in Isabela. She became superhuman again arranging everything long distance when I knew all she wanted was to cry as well.

For as long as I live, our house and tita's house in Isabela are literally just a spit away. And I had fond memories of her...

- As I was growing up in the province, I would sometimes wake up with my mom shouting "Manang Dura" in her hardest Ilokana accent because they love to catch up and share stories with each other.

- My siblings and I would vie for the best spot near our tita in the car or buses during long drives to Manila because we loved to sleep on her lap and knew she always packed meriendas and would know exactly when we would be feeling nauseated.

- When we were kids we love playing at their house and I remember when we would eat with gusto at their house, she would always say that "Ito ang pagkain ng mahirap, mas masarap ang pagkain ng mahirap kesa sa mayaman ano?!".

- Being a professor at Philippine Normal University (Isabela Campus), I was always looking forward for her to bring us to her out of town trips with her co-teachers as sometimes she would bring us and take us sightseeing and swimming.

- I also remember loving hanging-out at the dormitory that she owns for teacher students and at her Home Economics quarters. She has one whole building on her own and students would just go there for her lectures. They had pretty cool projects and tita would always lend me some or help me do it for my own HE projects at school.

- I was also especially amazed with her ghost stories. Tita believed and experienced first hand the workings of the supernatural and unseen elements and spirits most especially as her students were involved and got possessed with what she called dwarves and other unseen creatures in the trees. She also witnessed how the tribe people cured the possessed individual with salt.

- I will always treasure her. She was really very-mommy-like. She would always prepare our foods whether for under the bridge stop-over picnics, black saturday swimmings, night swimmings and travels to Manila.

- Tita introduced us to jeepney and LRT riding during our vacations at our aunt's house in Caloocan.

- My aunt backed me up and helped me get out of the mess as I was being grilled by my other late Aunt Emy who was suffering from lung cancer that time because I lost the one thousand she asked me to keep while on vacation in Baguio.

- It was my tita Dora who accompanied me during my entrance exams to different universities and I passed all four of them.

- Tita fixed my dorm during my summer class pre-freshman year at Ateneo and patiently waited for me to get home and taught me what tricycle to ride and the route to take from the dorm going to school.

- Tita with my mom accompanied me during my graduation at Ateneo.

- I once dream of having the same life as my tita - simple yet I felt she was happy. She travelled a lot and I liked hearing her stories and adventures.

- Tita supported my decision for a beach wedding and said it would be different and worth the experience.

- When I gave birth, Tita took care of me at the hospital... helping me to pee in the bed pan, assisting me to walk, recognized the pain I was going through after the catheter was pulled out and suggested I should pee to relieve the pain as she said I got used to the catheter so I wasn't used to the feeling of wanting to pee anymore.

- Tita accompanied and assisted us as we brought home Yonky on his first trip to Isabela prior to his 2nd month birthday.

- Tita prepared the foods, party and bought the cake for Yonky's 2nd month birthday because my parents were in the US at that time and my in-laws were visiting.

- Tita told me not to worry and assured me "ako bahala kay Yonky, wag ka mag-alala" as they took him home to the province and I was on my way to the airport for my very first and only onshore assignment.

Just on my birthday this year, Tita was regretful she wasn't able to join us because she already made plans ahead of our decision to go to Sta. Ana that she will go to Davao with two of his co-teachers and friends. She wasn't planning on retiring yet and still would love to teach this year... She had plans of using her pension which she already computed that time to travel to other countries. I am really so sad she wasn't able to accomplish this last wish...

Then I heard she wasn't going back to Manila anymore for her bone treatments and was consulting hilots and albularyos instead to ease the pain on her hips. According to her she was not sick except for that pain which she attributed to being slipped previously which might probably dislocated her pelvic bone. Then lately she took chemo tablets and morphines for the pain but still the pain won't go away...

Last time I saw tita was during the loong break in November 2011. She already couldn't walk at that time and I had a difficult time looking at her and talking to her because I would get teary-eyed and don't want her to see my weakness... because according to her daughter my ate Rhoda, tita doesn't like to be pitied on. I mentioned to mom that tita already looked different and had some swelling in the face ("manas") and mama said tita's condition isn't good anymore which would confuse me because Ate Rhoda and Ate Osel would be very positive sometimes texting me that tita tried to walk and we would be happy and other days that tita wanted to give up =(.

During the All Saint's day, mom did her best ordering catered foods for all of us but eventhough food was delicious and satisfying, it was never the same because Tita Dora was usually the one who arranged for the cleaning, set-up, flowers and other necessities in our Pua-Camungao mausoleum. We forgot the candles, the chinese incense and our store boys did the folding of the chinese monies for the ancestors. So my most favorite holiday of the year was also sadly different because Tita's spirits and stories were missing.

After papa's family devotion at their house November 5, I kissed tita goodbye because we would be leaving for Manila the next day.... and that's the last time I saw her =_( I sent her 5 boxes of Sante Barley which was delivered to her Friday but that too was already too late and will not be going to be consumed by her anymore. It's her time to go and the sad part is she didn't even wait for Christmas. She was able to wait for the birth of her apo to Kuya Rommel named Vincent but was not able to take care of him anymore...

I had dreams of taking tita to my travels... of her seeing the US and Australia with us but God had other plans and Heaven is definitely better but still I grieved.

As I was crying silently as I reached Yonky's room to get him and transfer him to our room to sleep after we arrived home today, I just lost it and just cried and cried and cried. Yonky kept hugging and kissing me and told me "it's going to be okay, Mommy" and I said yes but I could see he didn't believe me because I still kept on crying so I told him "Owa Dora is already gone" because we included Owa Dora to feel better in his prayers.... As I was explaining to him what heaven is and that we will see Owa Dora again in heaven, I was able to ask him if he wanted Jesus to be his Lord and Savior and he said yes!... I led him to a prayer of acceptance and at that moment, God made me aware that something good could come out of Tita's passing away...

I would definitely miss Tita Dora, my second mom... so allow me this moment to cope, to write, and to reflect on all her goodness and love to the family. She's happy now I know... no more pains... no more sadness... it would take a while for us to see her again in heaven but we will see her =_( soon tita... I love you!!!

Life and Death: Who Am I

2011-11-13T19:18:00.002+08:00

I haven't gone through a phase where everything goes slow motion for a looong time... I used to have this melancholic feeling back in 2005 but during the long break, I was again faced with the mortality of my loved ones...

my tita Dora, whom I loved so dearly and always regard as my second mom since she's the one who always accompanied me to my entrance exams, prepared our packed foods whenever we travel to Manila...and always assisted my mom in every gathering and hospitalizations... is now facing a stage 4 bone cancer. It's very difficult for me to watch her unable to walk =_(

my dear tito Mar suddenly got a brain tumor and their family albeit their wealth was put through trying times as well. He was now recovering after the procedure and an agonizing decision which my Aunt Venus had to go through with him over the long break.

my beloved Papa... albeit being physically active (daily walks and tennis in the mornings and sometimes even in the afternoon...) without feeling the least bit pain in his chest, was suddenly ordered by the head of cardio to not exhaust himself and to make a decision whether to undergo a heart bypass or angioplasty.. both dangerous and both don't have 100% success rate which therefore put our entire family... (including my brother who rarely calls from the US) on edge

As I reflect on what's happening to our clan, I was constantly being reminded of my very first Biblical Foundation 1 Class on Heaven and Hell through the example of Lazarus and the Rich Man and was comforted today by this song from Casting Crowns..

What do all of these mean God?

Who Am I

by Casting Crowns

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
Vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
Vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
Vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours

I am Yours
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
'Cause I am Yours
I am Yours

lyrics taken from lyricsbox.com

All Out at Wensha Spa

2011-10-23T18:24:00.002+08:00

Wensha Spa

Pasay City

wenshaspa.com

I have a little risky side... When I was assessed on why type of investor I am, it showed that I am a medium-risk investor. I got a Rudy Project watch when I signed up which I gave to my husband. But that's just me, my husband on the other-hand is a little wary on those stuffs(he's a low-risk investor) so I had to convince him to invest too for our son's sake... which he eventually did a year after I did. In return for convincing my husband to invest in Sunlife's flexilink, our request for freebie perks (spa) was granted in the form of 2 GCs at Wensha Spa.

I was so excited as we haven't been to a spa together for a while so I brought my camera,

but to my disappointment, cameras are prohibited as posted in the reception area upon entering the spa.

I understood full well why when I entered the girl's locker room...(silent gasp)

I've already given up wearing my fabulous collection of two-piece swimsuits at beaches after I've given birth so I only wore them at spas... but to my shock, even my favorite sunny two piece wasn't allowed inside!

THE GOODS

- worth for your money

And not just because we went there on free GCs but because I saw the basic massage price which is Php680... and with that you already have access to hot and cold jacuzzi, sauna and steam rooms, basic massage and dada's favorite - buffet (shabu-shabu at that!).

- relaxing buffet/movie area

There's a projector screen at the jacuzzi area as well but what I love the most is that there are several flat screen TVs in the buffet area... cooking shabu-shabu, eating other entrees and drinking unlimited juices are really more enjoyable with movies and comfy chairs =) I can even raised my feet... so nice hihihi

- love the bathrobes

Upon entry to the spa, we deposited our shoes and switched to rubber slippers. I was then provided with magnetic key bracelet, two towels and silk bathrobes =) Dada and I wore the bathrobes in the buffet area before going to our massage/body scrub and it truly added to our enjoyment as we watched and ate our shabu-shabu noodles and soup.

THE BADS

- no room for inhibitions

One should really need to go all-out... I thought I could at least wear swimsuits but was told I need to remove everything. I'm married but I'm still modest. I'm even shy showing everything to my husband after 5 years of marriage yet I was ask to remove everything...uh-oh

It took me a while to get comfortable which fortunately I did after being relaxed in the soothing warm water and sauna.

- noisy attendants

This is a spa after all so I was expecting it to exude a solemn and relaxing mood... Since I have very sensitive body which doesn't allow me to enjoy massages, I opted to upgrade to Papaya Body Scrub with Whitening Mask and this was applied to me in a separate room where the attendants were unfortunately very noisy and kept on gossiping with one another about their personal and vulgar topics that guests couldn't care less about.

This wasn't true however in the massage area because as per dada he was able to sleep and was completely relaxed after his massage... I also saw that they have nicer ambience in the massage rooms. I honestly felt more relaxed in the jacuzzi area though than when they're doing my body scrub... and if not for the smoother skin result, I wouldn't try doing a body scrub there again.... I'll just try ventusa next time (or not... dada said you couldn't take a bath for 3 days after the massage if you avail of the body massage with ventusa)... I'll bet that would be relaxing.

Korean Drama Addiction

2011-10-06T08:30:00.000+08:00

A lot has happened lately... I even found out (albeit late) that friendster is no longer the friendster social network that I used to blog on, get testimonials from, upload photos to and connect friends with. I was sad all my previous memories, comments and testimonials are now gone... but at least I was able to save a backup of my blog and now able to transfer it to wordpress but without the pictures though as I can no longer retrieve my albums.

I guess... you really can't rely even on technology and internet nowadays to store memories...

So with that, and will all the stress of preparing for the "move" of our lives, I find myself wanting to zone out lately and just get inspired... I couldn't bring myself to read Harlequin love stories though so I turned to Korean drama.

I haven't been watching marathon dramas anymore since Boys Over Flowers. But as I saw ABS-CBN's Pure Love commercials, my interest got picked again =) Good thing, there are so many free online streaming nowadays... even I got amazed I'm not getting any lags when watching them with our home internet connection via my laptop and Sony Bravia TV.

I've watched several dramas since then but was not able to continue with some when it failed to capture giddiness in me...

So here are some of my favorites (will continue to update as I finish more) with their awesome online HD clips...

They made me laugh, cry, "kilig" and just plainly relaxed and left me in me warm feelings which is my goal when I'm zoning out of the stress of the world.

1. Lie To Me by Goldenbot - SBS (16 episodes)

2. My Princess by JhayKDrama- MBC (16 episodes)

Thanks to these sites for their wonderful reviews and synopsis and of course to Youtube

http://www.koreandrama.org/

http://www.dramafever.com

http://www.mysoju.com/

Enjoy watching!!!!

Yonky's Reward: Malabon Zoo

2011-09-26T23:48:00.002+08:00

Malabon Zoo

www.malabonzoo.com

Yonky has been requesting to go to a zoo whenever we ask him where he wanted to go on weekends. Unfortunately, during the week of his birthday, it had been really really rainy so we brought him to Cosmic Kidz @ MOA instead but it's not his cup of tea. He didn't even want to go inside because he didn't like the noise and he got soo overwhelmed with too many kids. Also, I've read so many bad comments on the stinky smell at Manila Zoo and our friend had a not so nice impression on Avalon Zoo so even if we want to bring him to a zoo, we don't know where to go :$

When I got his report card, I immediately texted Dada who was at a team building in Subic that time and he said we will reward Yonky and bring him to a zoo. I mentioned this to Yonky and explained to him that we will go to the zoo because that is his reward for being the top in his class. My son is very curious and smart and he always ask both the negatives and positives of a situation. This scenario was not an exception...

Yonky: "Zoo, wow!"
Mei: "Yes that is your reward because you're #1 in school! Yey"
Yonky: "How about not #1?"
Mei: "then no reward... no zoo"

I was not sure I answered that correctly because I didn't explain that a reward is like a gift which is a word he knew but sometimes because my son asks too many questions I become careless and just respond on the fly instead of seizing the moment and giving him words of wisdom. He didn't even understand what a reward is but I hope this is the start that he'll be introduce to the word...

Malabon Zoo...

Dada did all the planning for this trip so what I knew of this zoo only comes from him prior to going there. It was recommended by his teammates and what attracted us to it initially was the comment that the place was cleaner than Manila Zoo. Dada also mentioned that the zoo was previously a collection of somebody and he donated it to the municipality of Malabon when his collection grew big.

Entrance is Php120 each. I don't have SLR camera so I started getting frustrated when I couldn't get a decent picture of the animals because of the several lines of fences where the animals were in. I thought the place was small but after going around, I've noticed that it has several labyrinth cages and picnic area too. Yonky was immensely overjoyed and good thing we stayed a while after finishing the rounds because they have a program where they put some children of the animals for a little show and tell and picture taking (Php50 photo opportunity) to the visitors. I thought we just arrived on time in the zoo at around 9:45am but felt bad for Yonky when Dada was informed that we already missed the baby tigers photo op:( So instead of the planned tiger, Yonky turned to Marimar - the baby orangutan in a diaper!

The trip is worth it for me - giant fishes, sleepy tigers, orangutans, and dancing bear are just some of the highlights. I even enjoyed it better than the animal farm in malagos garden during our trip to Davao. We end the zoo trip by watching a 20-ft crocodile jumped into the air to get his meal...

Yonky had it in him to finish all the university floats in Jollibee (I think he's turning into a mini me because he keep tabs on what he already tasted when he said, "Red check... Blue check"... so he requested for us to taste green(Green Apple flavor) for our lunch that day:)

Looking forward for Yonky to see Koalas and Kangaroos next year!!!

Pahiyas

2011-09-20T19:34:00.000+08:00

Due to a lot of suspended classes for preschool because of the recent typhoons, STI's celebration of Linggo ng Wika with theme "Pahiyas" was delayed by a week. It was the first school event for the school year that parents and families were allowed to watch inside the social hall.

Because I am a stage mom, I always file a leave from work when there's a school event coming because I wanted to give my full support to Yonky. However, I was made aware of the student-only affairs during the Nutrition Month celebration because I thought we can freely take pictures and go inside the classrooms but much to my dismay... we were blocked. I was glad I wasn't the only mom trying to get in though =p (most of the parents even blatantly disregarded the school rules and still went inside until they were forced out by the school's founder and the doors were locked like we were some kind of undisciplined outsiders hehehe.

So I was glad that finally for this celebration, we were able to watch our little bulilits perform on stage! I was so impressed by the STI Preschool's arrangement, knowing full well that parents would be clamoring for a chance to take precious videos and pictures of their little ones, they'd freed up the first four lines of chairs in the social hall so that the parents of kids who will be performing can go there when it's their child's turn to perform... "everybody happy".

There was even a contest for best decoration of the classrooms wherein parents and guardians were asked to help decorate two weeks before the event. Yonky and I enjoyed going through each and every classrooms to take some pictures before the Pahiyas celebration started.

During the Pahiyas, I was finally able to put faces on some of Yonky's classmates that I knew only by name because Yonky would recite their names when I asked who his new friends are and because of the list that the school provided in the circular...

His favorite berks are Scott, Charles and Kaleb while his favorite girls are the twins Monique and Valeen. Here are the complete list of the morning nursery class.... (really wanted to get their full names so I could search them in fb and tell Yonky about them even if we move to Australia).

a. Aba, Charles Adrianne
b. Ablaza, Ryan Vincent
c. Cabauatan, Ryhon Klarenz
d. Jalgalado, Kaleb Lucian
e. Misoles, Victoria Monica
f. Misoles, Valeen Manuela
g. Wong, Scott Jacob
h. Engaling, Charmine Ann

***

Hope you guys would cross paths again someday!!! God bless!

When I got Yonky's report card and evaluation sheets recently showing that his rank#1, I was asked if I wanted to move Yonky to the more advanced afternoon class but my husband, me and my mom decided not to since we don't want to stress Yonky out and besides he has already made some good friends in his class and I don't want him to re-adjust himself again when we only intend for him to finish the school year here.

Also we were already so grateful that he's learning so much at school... so amazing, his focus and skills in writing and coloring has definitely improve in the last 3 months..hurrah!

More Power STI!

Our Journey to Australia: God's Perfect Timing!

2011-09-13T23:11:00.003+08:00

I always hear that GOD is seldom early but is never late!!!

My walk towards achieving this answered prayer sure wasn't easy. God closed the door for me in the US then in Singapore... until finally last September 9, 2011, He opened the opportunity for Australia =). Why Australia? Up to now all I can answer is that it's nearer to the Philippines than Canada, UK or US... so nearer to my parents as well which is one of my wishes too.

Also, as I was writing this I was convinced that because I haven't been and therefore wasn't used to life in Australia, we will be in total dependence upon God on this journey. I'm excited (and yes a little bit scared) to see where God will bring us.

Let me share with you my walk with God throughout this whole process of waiting for God's answer.

~@~@~@~

Early this year, we were busy looking for a house because we wanted to cleave and stand on our own two feet. When I finally found my perfect dream lot, I consulted God if we already should make a downpayment and He impressed upon me that I should let my husband decide. So my husband prayed about it and the answer to him was "NO"... I forgot the exact verse but I'll post it here once I recall it. The answer was puzzling to me because I knew God's heart would be for married couple to leave their father and mother and unite as it is stated in Genesis but nevertheless we obeyed... soon enough we received from our agent that we need to process our medical for our Australia immigration petition and the answer not to buy a house made sense. By April, our distant cousin ate Maila and her family migrated to Australia at about the same time that we completed our medical. We were told both by them and by the agent that after medical, it usually would just need two months before the final visa verdict would be released.

I admit I panicked at that time and admitted to God, our dgroup and to myself that we were not ready to leave yet... I got so stressed out researching and bugging friends who lived in Australia trying to find a house and a job, then a car, a school and childcare for Yonky and so so much more... then two months had passed and there was no update... and so I sought God once more.

My Walk with God:

These are my notes in sequential order as I sought, prayed, complained and begged God for answers regarding our migration to Australia. Often times, I would asked Him to just please make it clear and as plain as "Yes" or "No" but as you'll see below, God gave me comfort and assurance which I presumed as "Wait" ... (not my forte)

Bus MMC - showing signs of Jobs to Australia
June 3, 2011 - I saw Australia Harvest poster
June 10, 2011 - IELTS results of Ryan didn't meet 7 and I started to question God why? He can still work in Australia but we're hoping he get 7 on all 4 areas of IELTS so he can already start processing registration in Australia Nursing Board. At this time I also asked God if I was not understanding His will right, if this desire is just my personal wish. Hence, I requested for Him to please remove the desire to migrate in my heart if it is not His will. Both my husband and I received peace all through this time and felt that it was God's will for us to migrate. We would often asked each other and we agreed that we both felt light... anxious but we don't feel rejected.
June 29, 2011 - I heard in DZAS a testimony of Pastor Abdul when he migrated to Canada. He said it was a humbling experience working blue collar jobs as he was so used to having somebody do things for him here because he was already a boss here before he left and migrated with his family. I felt God telling me, are you ready to humble yourself and start at the bottom? I said if we continue to trust God, we can make it..."kaya namin God basta diyan Ka lang"
July 3, 2011 - Psalm 81:7 "I answered You"

"⁷ In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud..."

July 4, 2011 - Psalm 84:11 "no good thing does He withhold"

"¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless"

July 10, 2011 - Philippians 1:6 "God will carry it to completion"

"⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

August 11, 2011 - Psalm 111, Psalm 115:12. At this time I was also praying Jabez's Prayer

¹² The LORD remembers us and will bless us..." -Psalm 115:12

August 12, 2011 - Psalm 116:1, Genesis 18:14 "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

"¹ I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy." - Psalm 116:1

"¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year..." - Genesis 18:14

August 22, 2011 - dream 1year. I forgot the exact dream but I got one year in my notes
August 23, 2011 - Psalm 112 "no fear of bad news"

"⁶ Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. ⁷ They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD. ⁸ Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes. "

August 26, 2011 - Psalm 145:16 "satisfy". By this time our GH(Glorious Hope) series was also completed. We didn't get to finish all of the modules but God has started in me a way to understand where my anger and temper are coming from and how I could be responsible for my own actions and response to situations. I believe this would be vital as we face new challenges in a foreign land.

"¹⁶ You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing."

September 10, 2011 - We finally opened the house for housewarming and had our 1st dgroup session in the house that God Himself provided. At this point I asked for a prayer from our group on what else God wanted us to learn before we migrate to Australia.
September 11, 2011 - Numbers 11:23 "Now you shall see if My word will come true to you or not". This popped to me at the Sunday service. At this time I was petitioning God to speed up the 2006 bank statement requests that I made to two banks which would prove that payroll deposits had been made as this was requested to me by our agent. As per the bank it would take upto 3 weeks before I can get the printout and at this point I feared we wouldn't meet the September 20 deadline. Nevertheless, I lifted that concern to God. I was also surprised by my response this time that I'm not getting OC on completing items by myself but rather letting God control the situation.

"²³ The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”

September 12, 2011 - I got a call that our VISA has been approved!!! - exactly 1 year and 13 days after the application was lodged by the agent. The agent said they have argued with the case officer regarding my payroll and finally it was ruled that the bank statements wasn't needed because they already have my salary deductions record on file. Indeed God's reach is not limited to protocol and deadlines precisely what was said in the verse above! Then I started thinking about Yonky and on how he will adjust and cope to the new environment but since worrying is a sin, I threw that concern to God as well saying "since bigay Mo to God, Ikaw bahala sa amin dun. Ikaw magbibigay ng work, Ikaw magbibigay ng house and most importantly Ikaw bahala kay Yonky!" Then shortly before leaving the office I was able to read this... Proverbs 14:26

"²⁶ Whoever fears the LORD has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge."

And I was like... really God's timing and answers are sooo amazing! After receiving a good rating, being okay with my former boss and understanding how I've learned a lot from him from all we went through together and how I'm missing his guidance and pushes to perform at my very best, I was soo blessed to just be able to share the blessing of obeying authorities because everything fell at God's perfect timing. I've proven my worth at work, I've humbled myself to authorities, I let go of all the pains and bad feelings... and yes now I'm ready for our next adventure and more awesome journal of my walk with God... day by day and moment by moment.

TO GOD, the ONLY LIVING GOD who ANSWERS PRAYERS and the GIVER of BOUNTEOUS OPPORTUNITIES... I WORSHIP YOU! THANK YOU... YOUR GRACE has cause me to cry with tears of PURE JOY.

~@~@~@

All verses are quoted from BibleGateway NIV version

Celebrating Performance

2011-09-07T23:21:00.000+08:00

I sure grumble a lot most especially at work... Just when I felt I'm just sooo tired and couldn't push through anymore... I'll receive these wonderful messages and points from our company's rewards program which surely lifted my spirits =) very humbling and very very thankful....(awww they noticed my efforts).

From my boss in SLC:

"Everything Mei touches ends up working. She never seems to give up, and has a great reputation within the company as someone who's very knowledgeable & very very good to work with. She's very positive & uplifts those she works with. She has done a tremendous job supporting, designing & implementing the SkyPrice lab and worked through the many issues encountered to ultimately come up with a great long term solution for that team/product.
You're incredible Mei - I sure am impressed with your skills & abilities. Thanks for all you do and for the example & mentor that you are to those on our team."

From my bosses in MNL:

"Mei was able to take on monitoring items for CM yesterday, jump in on some of the items left off by a colleague on leave, and still continued pushing/moving forward with the Geneva efforts. Keep up the great work Mei! Thanks."

"Mei continued to show her excellent research and troubleshooting skills with the resolution of the recent issue on the MQSeries. Zerin was very much impressed with Mei's work on this. As always, keep up the great work Mei!"

"Mei spearheaded the initiative to create a CM and QA FAQ page. Mei worked closely with QA resources to get information on different functional setups and organized the data to easily understand the setups.

Thanks Mei for pushing the FAQ page in the CM portal to completion. This provides a big lift in the team's operation as QA resources will now have a venue to search for functional setups and common environment issues."

"Quick turnaround of issues logged by reporting QA. Efficient deployment of build despite issues.

Thanks Mei for your commitment in making sure that CM clients are happy with our service and deliverables are met on time."

Thank you GOD for your gifts - my skills and capabilities. I offer these back to Thee=)

On Giving

2011-08-29T20:00:00.004+08:00

Giving(aka tithing in the Christian world) has been part of my life ever since my parents enrolled me to Daily Vacation Bible School(DVBS) when I was in grade 5. At that short class, it was already impressed in my heart the reverence to God and His sovereignty and our role to give 10% of our earnings back to God (yup, even if I was already soooo kuripot then).

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. - Malachi 3:10(NIV)

Two of my inspirations that exhibited this Bible principle are:
1. William Colgate of the famous Colgate toothpaste
2. and Quaker Oats founder Henry Crowell

...both gave a huge percentage of their income to Church... even more than the percentage that they actually kept(see links to their names above for their testimonies)... yet both their companies are still surviving and if not two of the most successful companies for the last century.

For me, I was Catholic before and I was already giving Php20/week to church after DVBS which when I think about it now, it was more than 10% of my weekly allowance. I had my slips but I always bounced back because God will convict me. And I'd like to think I was a blessed individual because of this, I would pray for my exams religiously then and did my best, so even if sometimes I had no idea how I passed because I was not the smartest in class... I still managed to graduate Valedictorian. I also didn't find myself lacking anything both materially and in other things that matters. I feel kinda spoiled to God in this way like God is saying "Don't worry, I will take care of you and your family". My tithing continues from whatever I received for my allowance until my college days. There are times that I would struggle on tithing and saving personally because I truly love to save as well, but most of the time God finds a way to convict me and put me back on track. Imagine being able to graduate BS Physics when I didn't even understand the abstractness of Quantum Physics...Only God made me pass that subject...and that in itself is a huge blessing for me.

As I started working, my tithing would also increase because naturally my salary increases as time passes... You see I have this kind of relationship with God wherein I can talk to Him anytime anywhere and sometimes I dialogue with Him on my mind even if there are other people around, making sumbong, saying sorry when I snapped at my officemates or got irritated by someone, seeking help, and just plainly updating Him about my day and wanting to hear His voice and get direction on my decisions...

So for all these times, I thought I was doing well in this area of giving. I only struggle most of the time with sacrificial giving which is giving in addition to tithing like a year or so ago but not so much in tithing... In fact, I could testify to blessings brought about by obedience to tithing and cheerful giving because remember my worry that time was not being able to earn dollar again, but God was just able to send me back to the US without hassle and more than the dollars, I had an experience of a lifetime.

So yeah, I was confident I didn't have problem on this area... so I thought... until one morning while I was showering, God convicted me in terms of not including my extra incomes to the tithe. I was only tithing 10% of my regular net salary, making the extra incomes bonuses but looks like God is not happy with that and He made me feel as if I was robbing Him of what I should be giving Him. So I said my sorry and rectified it immediately after a minor struggle. I also prayed that God will open my heart willingly every month to do this as I want to be a cheerful giver.

And last last Sunday, this popped up to me in the Sunday service:

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless. - Psalm 84:11(NIV)

Pastor Bong without knowing what's going on in my head and also with a different topic being discussed altogether(about Jealousy and Envy) also mentioned that "God gives the work and the ability to work" and "God's blessing is not limited to material blessing". I felt this is God's way of communicating to me. He could as easily give work and remove it depending on His purpose and all my resources are from Him, so why oh why would I struggle giving? (tsk tsk... Human Nature)

Now the answer and if I may say one of the blessings for obeying proper tithing came just before the long weekend... I lost my focus at work ever since I gave birth, my friends knew that, my bosses mentioned it... yeah yeah I finished my work and all my tasks but my heart was not in the work at all and I would rather stay with Yonky at home and I said to God, "don't let me leave this place until I have justified myself, prove my capabilities and bring back the glory to You".... and finally after almost 3 years and so much suspense and anxiety, I finally did that based on my performance last year. My bosses told me to keep it up =)

Hence, I was so in the groove to sing this to God now(I truly love singing and dancing to Him as music is my most favorite form of worship)... Enjoy!

YOUR GRACE IS ENOUGH

Chris Tomlin

A blessed blessed FY12 to all of us! I worship thee God for Your faithfulness!

Globe's Amazing Blackberry Service

2011-08-27T16:12:00.000+08:00

After 3 months of dissatisfaction with Smart's service without resolution at all to my complaint, I already started contemplating moving to Globe even if that would mean I have to update all my records and lose possible important calls/texts. When Smart made a wrong move of cutting my line all together even after settling my valid June, July and August bills without so much as "abiso" and even after trying to reach out to them through their hotline, webconnect and even email, and receiving no return call at all after their several promises... I just step out of the office and buy my first Globe sim in a long long time(last one was college days pa).

To my amazement... and as in AMAZEMENT, I was so impressed with Globe's response to my query. I only bought my sim a day before before I tried their Blackberry service. On that first try I wasn't able to register my account to their BIS site. After researching through forums, it pointed me to the fact that it is because I've already registered my BB PIN to Smart BIS and this is Blackberry's ant-theft feature wherein it will be impossible to use the BB features if PIN was previously registered already to other network unless previous registration was drop. I called the Globe hotline which was immediately picked up, stated my problem and where I was coming from and I was satisfied that the agent didn't need for me to repeat what I said unlike in Smart and when he gave me a timeline of 3 days, I readily accepted it as I was so used of waiting for the past 3 months anyways.

To my awe, a technical agent named Caitlin called me up barely an hour after the first call and told me to try again... she's so patient and waited for me as I try to log-in to my laptop and walked me through the steps very patiently. I also got the sense that she has that urgency in her to resolve my issue ASAP. When she walked me through registering to BBMAX50, I was again in amazement that I was able to get through the BB service in a snap without having to restart my phone, remove my sim and do all sorts of stuffs that Smart agents made me do. When the BIS registration still failed, Caitlin said she'll look into it and will update me as soon as possible. Again to my wonder after I reached the office, I received the second call and my issue with Globe BIS was fixed just like that... a little over 2 hours after I made the first call to their hotline. WOW... Very very impressed with their service. I didn't even need to follow-up!

Kudos to Amazing GLOBE's excellent customer service. It shows to me that they're way ahead as a network phone provider for Blackberry phones here in the Philippines most especially with Torch. Keep it up, I'm one happy customer! =)

Our Prince's 3rd Birthday

2011-08-19T14:25:00.003+08:00

"... But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD" - Joshua 24:15 (NIV)

Our son Yonky is our greatest testimony of God's tremendous grace and awesome blessings. Even from the time of his conception, wherein nobody in the family could feel excited because they knew I just had general anesthesia for my tonsillectomy barely 2 weeks before I found out I was 7 weeks pregnant, God already put a loud and clear message... "He is more powerful than any scientific explanations". From all the possible complications the anesthesia could have caused the developing fetus, Yonky came out not only healthy and bubbly...but also gifted - more than we have prayed for.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible - Matthew 19:26 (NIV)

Blessings kept pouring in as he grew older and for his third birthday last August 18, 2011, he is still super healthy and received so much love, well wishes and gifts - his favorite Lightning McQueen RC car and other Cars characters and also a bonus Sony Bravia Internet TV from his generous grandparents Oh Manny and Owa Letty =). Now our house's living room is no longer bare.

At the end of the day, the material blessings are just bonuses... so for me, I gave to him what any growing kid wants... his parents' presence. For four whole days... I'm all his and he even said thank you to me awwwww =_(. You're truly so loving my bonky.

We had a simple celebration at home with the family and Yonky is super duper happy dancing and singing to his birthday song, skyping with loved ones that are in Isabela and playing with his now growing CARS characters collection.

GOD, we might not know Your ways all the time... but we trust that You'll be guiding Yonky's every step. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways,”
            declares the LORD.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts. - Isaiah 55:8-9(NIV)

Happy Happy Birthday Yonky Bonky.... Have a blast @ 3 years old!!! WE LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH.

NEWS and DREAMS

2011-08-16T00:01:00.004+08:00

I haven't been watching news (local news) for a long-long time... The last major Philippine issue I probably kept tabs on was Jun Lozada's ZTE senate hearing while I was working from home during the early part of my pregnancy back in 2008. Nothing on the local news nowadays can contribute on my personal well being(IMAO). I only consciously tuned in to news when the weather is bad.... sounds apathetic for some but I would rather concentrate on more fruitful things than all the bad news being exaggerated on television or radio.

So lately because my husband and I try to do away with all the bad news, my husband and I started tuning in to 702 DZAS AM radio on the way to work. I must say this radio station is a bearer of good news all day =). But even if I knew this radio station's reputation already from our church mates and friends, I was still pleasantly surprised one morning to hear of a P01 being interviewed for a job well done(he himself got surprised that he was being interviewed)... a really really nice contrast in today's society wherein news being presented are more of the not so good ones instead of the inspirational ones.

In return as I also like to be a bearer of good news, I'd like to share this wonderful email entitled "Life's Greatest Spiritual Secret" which I received from my papa. I think it was taken from their yahoo group and from http://nubiagroup.blogspot.com/(pacorrect na lang po if mali)

Background of my state of thinking:
I'm currently waiting for something grand to happen... I was raised to excel. My parents always puts in my heart the desire to be successful professionally and spiritually. There are times I couldn't reconcile the two but I knew in my heart because my parents already made it this far, I knew we children must do more. My parents have conquered the bankruptcy of their parents and were blessed to overcome the challenges of life(mind you there were plenty, I should know I saw the worst!) and achieve a comfortable lifestyle. I could say now not only based on personal observation but from what others are telling that their story was like those of rags to riches.

So even though I already like my life here, I make it my personal goal to raise the bar for my son... not by pressuring him and expecting from him as only God knows his future but by opening for him a whole new world of opportunity to explore. If my parents were able to send me to Ateneo, I dream of sending my son to schools abroad someboday...even giving him opportunity to live there if God permits.

Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for everything... I believe God will correct my desires as I walk with Him day by day...But while He still allow that desire in my heart, I can only concur that my goal is motivated by my love for Him by wanting to be the best so I could glorify God; and by my love for my son by praying and making sure sure that he'll grow up to have a good and blessed life...

Hmmm...when I want something this big so soon so badly, I always remember Jabez's prayer:

1 Chronicles 4:10
New International Version (NIV)
¹⁰ Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

At times, with these goals and supplications I, like a normal human being who stumbles, am also getting tired of waiting for something to change, to do something different but this piece puts my doubts and frustration in a proper context.

Here's the email content, hope you'll appreciate the biblical concept as much as I did =) Thanks Pa!

Life's Greatest Spiritual Secret

Have you ever struggled and fretted because your life wasn't going the way you wanted? Do you feel that way right now?

You have legitimate needs and desires. You know what would make you happy and you pray for it with all your might, asking God to help you get it. But if it doesn't come to pass, you may feel frustrated, disappointed, even bitter. Sometimes you do get what you want, only to discover that it doesn't make you happy after all, just disillusioned.

Many Christians repeat this cycle their entire life, wondering what they're doing wrong. I should know. I was one of them.

A spiritual secret exists that can free you from this cycle: Trusting God. Trusting in the Lord.

"What?" you're asking. "That's no secret. I've read that dozens of times in the Bible and heard lots of sermons on it. What does he mean, secret?"

The secret lies in putting this truth into practice, by making it such a powerful theme in your life that you view every event, every sorrow, every prayer with the unshakable conviction that God is totally, spotlessly trustworthy.

That's where we mess up. We want to trust in anything rather than the Lord. We'll trust in our own abilities, in our boss's judgment of us, in our money, our doctor, even in an airline pilot. But the Lord? Well…

It's easy to trust in things we can see. Sure, we believe in God, but to allow him to run our life? That's asking a little too much, we think. The bottom line is that our wants may not agree with God's wants for us. After all, it's our life, isn't it? Shouldn't we have the say over it? Shouldn't we be the one who calls the shots? God gave us free will, didn't he?

Advertising and peer pressure tells us what's important: a high-paying career, a head-turning car, a drop-dead-gorgeous home, and a spouse or significant other who will make everyone else green with envy.

If we fall for the world's idea of what matters, we get trapped in what I call "The Loop of Next Time." The new car, relationship, promotion or whatever didn't bring you the happiness you expected, so you keep searching, thinking "Maybe next time." But it's a loop that's always the same, because you were created for something better, and deep down you know it.

When you finally reach the place where your head agrees with your heart, you're still hesitant. It's scary. Trusting in the Lord can require that you abandon everything you've ever believed about what brings happiness and fulfillment. It requires that you accept the truth that God knows what's best for you. But how do you make that leap from knowing to doing? How do you trust in the Lord instead of the world or yourself?

The secret lives within you: the Holy Spirit. Not only will he convict you of the rightness of trusting in the Lord, he'll help you do it. It's just too tough to do on your own.

Because the Holy Spirit knows you better than you know yourself, he'll give you exactly what you need to make this change. He's infinitely patient, so he'll let you test this secret—trusting in the Lord—in little baby steps. He'll catch you if you stumble. He'll rejoice with you when you succeed.

As someone who has gone through cancer, the deaths of loved ones, broken relationships, and job layoffs, I can tell you that trusting in the Lord is a lifelong challenge. You never finally "arrive." Each new crisis calls for recommitment. The good news is that the more often you see God's loving hand working in your life, the easier this trusting becomes.

When you trust in the Lord, you'll feel as if the weight of the world has been lifted off your shoulders. The pressure's off you now and on God, and he can handle it perfectly.

God will make something beautiful of your life, but he needs your trust in him to do it. Are you ready? The time to start is today, right now.

Scripture Of The Day: "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man." - Psalm 118:8 (ESV)

By: Jack Zavada - WB Journal

GOD BLESS!!!

My Craziest and Most Rewarding TeamBuilding Ever at Phillip's Sanctuary

2011-08-04T00:23:00.003+08:00

Phillip's Sanctuary

Antipolo City, Rizal

www.phillips-sanctuary.com

I always thought of myself as lampa-batchoy but that didn't stop me from wanting to try different things...yep sometimes even extreme ones. So I was one of those who voted for an outdoor teambuilding activity last July - our last one with our colleague Naeem.

After our experience in this teambuilding I was once again reminded of this beautiful verse... please pay attention that this is very different from Confucius which is a passive one(Secular teachings can be very deceiving if you don't know your Bible)... this verse on the other hand teaches you to be ACTIVE, to do good things instead of not to do bad things for example.

¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 7:12 (NIV)

A very nice verse for the entire team!

***

1st Day
The teambuilding almost became an indoor activity due to some very stringent requirements from our company but luckily Phillip's Sanctuary met all the safety requirements. We left early at work and ordered Jollibee takeout for dinner.

It was an agonizing trip as we're all not familiar of the place and the road was kinda wet and dark but as they say all's well that ends well. The place we slept into was very spacious, bathroom was tiled and clean and has all the needed fixtures that made my bathing experience comfortable. We also received some free Marang fruits from the good caretakers before we ate our breakfast.

First set of activities and games were organized by our very own CM members Rod and Zherwin... I must say they're really really good. We had a blast from the ala amazing race-relay games that got us running, doing and eating all sorts of stuffs.

2nd Day
We're requested to wake up early the next day because our day was fully packed. This time Phillip's Sanctuary assigned a game-master "Kuya JC" to our group(part of their teambuilding services) so our organizers Rod and Zherwin also got to participate in the games. First agenda after breakfast was some warm up games... wherein the second game called "Unity Walk" almost had me gasping and aching right away as the stress focused on my lower back which after having epidural shot during child-birth has become extra-sensitive.

The most challenging for me was not the 10-ft wall climb because the boys from our purple team helped me to go up the wall by pulling me... but rather the 7 low-rope course which had me fearing injury. It's also the first one that we had to accomplish a challenge individually and team effort was just timed. It required tremendous balance and arm strength which made me thankful I had gym membership prior to this activity otherwise I'll be more a wimp than I already am.

We ordered lunch from the Breakfast club which was also owned by the Pestaño Family. It was served to our hut VIP style. They have very diverse fruit-bearing trees and on the day we went there, we saw some very nice dragon fruits which were just harvested.

As the games geared on improving team relationship and camaraderie, we also had trust fall(above right), hanging bridge crossing, raft challenges, etc:). By the time we went to the water challenges, I was already enjoying myself even if I fell on the water when crossing the log(most fell anyways hehehe).

(a not-so pleasant fall from Stan on the log balance race - middle)

Everybody was so game that we even did the optional games - zipline and mudslide for Php125 each. Everybody did the mud crawl(before and after pictures above) then went straight to the mudslide. I must say the mudslide was soooo worth it! I didn't expect it would be that enjoyable hehehe. Although you need to make sure your shorts/leggings has the right fabric so you wouldn't stop in the middle like what happened to Stan which was such a bummer as he was the only one who didn't experience the exhilarating rush.

I would highly recommend our game master Kuya JC(sorry we forgot the tip kuya!). He gamely took our gorgeous pictures and was very kind and supportive. But you could guess that we had such an exhausting day so after showering, we couldn't wait to just lie down and rest. I, for one, didn't want to go out of the car anymore after packing my things because I was just oh so tired. Spirits were way up high but body was begging for rest. Hence, we all forgot the tip and also the first part of our going-away surprise for Naeem!

A once-in-a-lifetime teambuilding experience for me! I didn't feel as close to our team as I did after this activity. Thank God we all came home safe and alive.

Love You Shared Services... We'll all definitely miss Naeem's charms and life-of-the-party spirits but Aja!

Our Humble Abode II

2011-07-12T21:49:00.215+08:00

6 months ago... our house looked like this, after getting a free makeover early this year... I'm now happy to say that it looked even better. Not that we didn't encounter headaches because we did. Renovations should only take 2 months but due to some problems with the contractor... it took more than 6 months and in the end my mom had to enlist our handy man Kuya Ador's help to finish the house because my mom (being Chinese and all) didn't want us to be moving on July-August(which would be the case at the rate the contractor was going) because for the Chinese those months are called "ghost months". In Chinese traditions, it's a no-no to move, enter into business... and do all sorts of stuffs during those months.

When I saw the house for what it could become and after everything got tidied up, I couldn't believe that I even cried on my husband's shoulder when my mom said they're renovating the place. As I've often said in some of my write ups, I'm no good with change...I could get really sentimental in terms of things that I grew up with, things that I designed, things where Yonky grew up in... but God convicted me in one of my devotions that...(yeah they're just things)

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

-Matthew 6:19

Since then, I can only look forward living back to the renovated house but the wait became long and tedious. Not until before Dada left for Korea this July, our humble abode started to feel like home again. The maid's room downstairs was tore down because they'll now move to the attic since we've stopped renting out the room when the renovations started last January. Hence, the ground floor now have enough space for Yonky to play in and my parents already evicted Yonky's study area and toys from their house.

the living room

My mom wanted me to change the sofa but since I feel it is still in good condition and it's a good wood plus it has sentimental value because it used to be Yonky's makeshift changing area when he was still a babe =), I decided to just keep it. I don't want to spend unnecessarily (oops but the clock on the upper right is one of the exceptions... looks lovely right?! hehhe) unless I have to. The wall color isn't my choice as it was sooo white so I just balanced it with some accessories. Plus, I'm so fond of pictures and of my family so I always wanted our gorgeous pictures stuck to the wall for everyone to see. The entertainment wall on the other hand(lower left above) is still bare and waiting for a giveaway flat-screen TV(hoping *wink) and components. My mom didn't agree on this one as she said the design was very outdated but believe me the design that I've provided and the contractor signed prior to renovating looks nothing like that although I do want a lot of storage in my house. Blame it from me watching and loving a lot of lifestyle and design shows... I desire to maximize each and every corner of the house to make sure enough storage are available. I do share old stuffs and clothes to our househelps whenever they started to overpower the house but still accumulated items could still grow.

dining and kitchen

The dining table (upper right above) was just a surprised... my initial preference if I would buy one is circle but my mom made an emergency purchase for relative's use when Ate got married since they stayed in the house even though it wasn't yet finished that time. The kitchen looks fabulous IMAO, the interior designer at least listened to my color choice for the laminated cabinets (brown) but the new semi-electric/semi-gas stove isn't still working as of writing and we still need to coordinate that one with ELBA because the contractor didn't test and finish the installation before we decided that Kuya Ador will finish the left-overs.

Master Bedroom

We didn't change much on the master bedroom except for the shelf/study/TV area which they fixed securely to the wall; and the right wall which was extended to make the room look more spacious. The bay window seating area that I've requested wasn't completed though and we're still currently canvassing for customized cushions and interesting pillows for that. Wall color was my choice after getting approval from my husband because the previous color was kinda masculine and this time I wanted the room to have the "romantic" feel because I read from one marriage book that if I only have a budget to renovate one room in the house, it should be the master bedroom. Mommy wanted me to change the bed because it was just queen size and has old style and in fact I was already eyeing an extra-size low white bed (japanese style) but I'm still hesitating on the cost and din't want the current bed to be put to waste. So we'll see...

What I love designing the most is the bathroom. After living independently my whole college years and living in the US for a while, I became really meticulous and hate sloppy bathroom users because I only wanted the shower area to be wet and not the rest like how it is in hotels and in the houses abroad. I also wanted everything accessible and classy so when I accessorized it, I imagined precisely how I would use the bathroom then bought and put some things to make everything comfortable and efficient.

I could honestly say that even though mom's house next door look more expensive, I still like our home better... not because it's new but because it has more character. I also like the living area's lighting better in our home than theirs... more bright, young and more us... hence even though Ms. Marge didn't complete the entire house, I'd still thank her for her idea and design.

I truly hope our dgroup leader could visit and say a blessing of prayer for our home and most especially for the ones living here.

TO JESUS CHRIST...who makes all things possible, we offer this blessing back to THEE.

Smart Telecom's Very Poor Service

2011-07-09T13:18:00.003+08:00

I've been hesitating to blog about this but after a month of complaining... really my patience can only go too far... I just had enough. I had Blackberry Torch since November of last year (as soon as it was out in the market) so to my utter surprise and of all the months, Smart charged me Php6000 last May.... their reason: they couldn't control data charges that BB does.

Background:
As soon as I purchased my BB, I knew I only wanted BB plan to be prepaid as I have internet at home anyways so I will only need the portability of using BB apps when I'm on the go. I then immediately called Smart to avail of their unlimited BB monthly offering but I was turned down because my plan is only Plan500 even if I was on auto-debit. They said I could only use BB daily so for me that sounded fair enough since I don't anticipate much usage and would only use BB service when I need to check on some urgent email at work as I'm in the field of support and service as well.

Ever since I had my BB, widgets and browsers aren't working unless I use BB daily. I even complained about this lots of times because even if there's wi-fi available, it wouldn't let me connect unless I subscribe to BB service. So fine, I still can live with that.... So how in the world could some data access pass through when that's the case in an area when there's barely a signal, no BB service was accessible, and no wi-fi, widgets and browsers aren't working! Why oh why?!

Trouble with Smart:
The first text informing me that that erroneous charge was made to my credit card was on June 8. I immediately complained saying they could even trace my history to as recent as a May 14 call made to them complaining that after three BB daily's I did, BB service for Smart on my Torch wasn't working. I remembered precisely because we were on the airport that day on our way back to Manila.

But after weeks and weeks of follow-up... and yes headaches, I wasn't getting a response... 48 hours turned into 7 working days... then another 24hours... then countless 48hours. I already snapped at the agent because it took me a while to connect to them (Yep...their 24-hour customer service hotline come at a price of waiting for 30minutes before you can talk to an agent!!!!), yet all they can say was there's no update yet and that I would receive an update within 24-48 hours... the heck! They didn't call me back! I even demanded talking to the supervisor and manager and yet even them don't have any word of honor. I only received a text that they credited back Php4500 to my Smart account on June 22 after threatening them that I would go to media a day before. Back then, I haven't seen my printed statement yet so I didn't know if they have credited all erroneous transactions yet. I was just happy at least a huge portion was given back.

When I finally did receive my bill, I noticed at least a thousand more worth of charges that shouldn't be there so I made another complaint. In short, the only valid charges only amounts to barely Php600... a very huge discrepancy to Php6000+! This final complaint was not still resolved as of writing and after two weeks of complaining I was already pushed to the limit. They didn't even have the decency to call or send me a system generated text that they're still working on it when they are in the business of COMMUNICATION. What a TOTAL JOKE!

I only have less than 5 apps that I downloaded from the net... none of those connects to the net stealthily because I've been using them as I said since November... and even this the supervisor couldn't understand and kept on insisting that there must be something in my phone that did the charges(Yeah right!). I used to just ignore some of the erroneous charges that I see in my bill but after this experience I became aware that their company could just as easily make bogus charges. Because when I demanded itemized record of the data charges they said my phone automatically did when it tried to connect in the net, they couldn't give me any! Finally, they admitted that Torch is quite new and has OS 6... I would bet 100% since I was also in IT that Smart system didn't do a very thorough quality test for this particular phone model.

Reasons why I said that: (I made several complaints to them because getting a successful BB service was intermittent and sometimes my Php50 would just go to waste. I would follow their suggestions and would ask them to give me all the steps as I'm tired of calling them up... yet service is still intermittent)

1. An agent told me when subscribing to BB service that I need to restart my phone for it to take effect

2. After another complaint, another agent told me to wait for 2 minutes so it will take effect

3. Yet another said after another complaint that I should have big 3G on my network bar before I can browse

4. And yet after another complaint, they said I should remove my sim and reinsert it for the service request to take effect. (When I said to the supervisor that this should be automated and that I should not be doing a single manual thing when subscribing, her response was that they're checking on it and ask if I would like to submit my phone to them so they can check???Are they for Real?!?)

This final solution isn't still working to seamlessly activate BB service (sometimes working, sometimes not) and I will not make myself a guinea pig. They even couldn't give me a concrete step on how those data charges could be avoided in the future. I just as easily decided to just turn-off data charges completely until they can find me a better solution and while I'm not subscribing to BB daily.

Insights:
They had my credit card on file and my account was on auto-debit so for me just because that's already a sure sale for them since they're automatically getting paid by the credit card, they didn't bother to validate their charges and reverse the wrong charges if they made some. They said I should just consume the Php4500 that they've credited back but I cannot accept that because I only have 4 months remaining with them which is only equivalent to Php2000. They made an erroneous charge on my credit card and they should make a reversal because it is their mistake! What a very very poor service that I'm even the one who's demanding that. When I was in the US and my tour was cancelled due to weather, the tour company immediately reversed the charges on my credit card no questions asked, no follow-up needed. When I made a cancellation of a service in a hotel, a reversal was done no questions asked.... and yet this Smart wouldn't do it voluntarily as part of their service - for their mistake!(my husband previously worked in a bank so he knows this can be done, as to why they don't want to...I'm totally clueless).

For them to charge me Php6000 when the BB monthly unlimited is only Php1200 was totally rude and illogical. They wouldn't allow me monthly Php1200 on an auto-debit sure sale for them because my plan was small and yet they just freely charge me Php6000 out of nowhere!!! And of all months the charges came when I was out in Cagayan where there's barely any 3G signal at all. My very analytical brain couldn't comprehend that at all except that their accounting system, billing system and usage tracking systems are of poor standards or the company is just a natural leech who just wanted to suck at people's resources as much as they could. As of date, I've already backed out auto-debit for them not to take advantage of me like this anymore. If they over-charge, then I will not pay... that will be the deal.

I've been a loyal Smart subscriber for years and would even defend them to my friends... so it's very sad that I suffered this totally unacceptable service from them and because they deliberately ignored my reports and didn't provide me the correct service that is due me... I already don't want them and just waiting for the final days that my contract with them will be over and I'm out. I also had decided to post this to warn other subscribers as well and to get inputs if others have faced similar fate as well.

Hope this will serve as a catalyst for them to improve on their service!

NURSERY

2011-06-29T23:13:00.162+08:00

My Yonky Bonky is finally a full-blown nursery student!

I remembered when he just turned one, I called up TMA and inquired about homeschooling.... the preschool coordinator said I was too excited hehehe and should wait when he turned three instead. Being a staged-mom, I was really on top of what my son should be learning at a particular month and stage in his life. I guess introducing a love for books at an early age is also a plus. We could definitely see the fruits of that now. I don't know any child who screams with excitement upon receiving new books as Yonky does. He treats both books and toys in the same way and my husband and I couldn't be happier.

Just recently, he received surprises from Owa Letty - two cloth books that are very creative and two other learning tools. He wanted the books to be repeated to him over and over... never grew tired which is just so amazing since he is just a toddler and toddlers have short time span when it comes to focusing on anything but play much less in reading.

Really though, we don't want to take credit... we believe we've just been shown grace by God. My husband and I are both not perfect children... in fact, I'm stubborn and full of pride as my mom would say. So I believe, our son is a blessing...he was given at the right time for us to learn a lot of lessons that we couldn't grasp when it was just us two - worldly, living for the day, selfish and without purpose.

We entered him as "saling-pusa" at STI prep early this year to gauge if he is ready for school already as last time in E-child he still wasn't.... This time we could see he is ready... After calling TMA however, they advised us to just let Yonky play since they're only admitting preschool at age 4. We actually tried to look at different options wherein our child will not feel stressed out and yet improve his motor skills. His English and Math skills are already superb so I wanted something that would enhance his motor skills as there's not much running and climbing space here in Manila as compared to our house in the province. And since he already love STI Preschool and due to the proximity, we defaulted to that. Sending a kid to preschool nowadays is like sending a kid to college, I couldn't believe it when I first learned of the fees...=p

We only wanted him to seat-in again 3 times a week but after his assessment (computer and one-on-one), he qualified for nursery because he impressed the teacher with his comprehension. After we enrolled him, however, we saw in the handbook that nursery age should be 3.6yrs old - 4.5yrs old and yet Yonky will just turn three in August! I could say this time around we didn't know if we made the correct decision sending him to school as we're getting mixed feedbacks from different parents and schools. We just prayed about it and hoped for the best. As he was enjoying himself and learning socialization, I'd like to think we made a correct move but time will tell. Right now, I don't want him to feel the pressure of excelling more than he is ready to give. But we will give 100% guidance in honing his skills.

Everybody seems to think my child is gifted though as he is truly learning so fast. My only prayer would be that at God's perfect timing and if it is His will, we would be able to finally homeschool him. I believe head knowledge is meaningless compared to moral values that we parents are responsible in embedding to our kids so I'm still fully gearing to homeschooling Yonky someday. My husband already inquired at TMA and we could still enroll him there even if we are in a different country because his teacher-time will be conducted via Skype as TMA is accredited in the US as well. In the meantime, we're just blessed he can go and try regular private preschool now. Although, I couldn't believe preschool nursery could have so many assignments... as in everyday! So it's a tough job for us parents as well.

When I gave birth, my only wish was for my son to be healthy and have complete body parts - God gave us more. Now, my wish would be that Yonky will grow up believing and depending on God. We're having a beautiful family series during our Sunday services in CCF and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect timing...really God's timing is just so perfect! We're so blessed to learn ways of disciplining and raising our kid biblically at this stage of Yonky's life. Parents way back at my parent's time didn't know any better so now that the youths and young parents are getting trained, I believe we'll have better community and family structure if people will apply the concepts that God taught in the Bible.

Happy learning my sweet and loving Yonky Bonky!!! Hope you'll still like to hug and kiss us when you grow older.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

Paradise Anguib Beach

2011-06-20T18:42:00.001+08:00

Anguib Beach

Sta. Ana, Cagayan

My jaw literally dropped when I saw this awesome beach up north

Anguib is still an undeveloped beach.... just simple cottages, pay-before-use bathrooms, some fresh seafoods for paluto and that's it! Water is calm... warm... all too clear... powdery white sand... and soothing atmosphere.

I've always wanted to go to Pagudpud of Ilocos ever since I heard of the raves of some relatives and friends but when mom said Anguib is more beautiful, I am now not that enthusiastic to go there... (except probably just for the waves and experience?!).

The beach was just 30 minutes from Sun City where we stayed at... and a small portion of the trip(around 8 minutes) was still rough-road. There's a minimal entrance fee per person which is probably just for the upkeep of the place. It was low-tide upto lunch time when we went there... we were already at the middle of the sea but the water was still just upto my chest... (and I'm barely 5 feet!). Hence, my three year old son didn't get frightened walking and wading in the salty water.

After our sumptuous kamayan lunch... I broke my policy of not swimming from 10am to 12 noon, which are the most dangerous times for the sun's UV rays as per the talks I've attended when becoming a Nu Skin distributor, because the water was just oh so inviting =). By then, the water was already deep and cold but still enjoyable nonetheless.

At the entrance of the place... a placard was clearly seen stating that this beach is "eco-friendly". To my disappointment and frustration however, there's not enough garbage bins (or come to think of it... none at all) around the area or at each cottage. Whoever is in authority... just a reminder that you need to preserve this beautiful place... it is a pride of the province and you need to maintain it as such! Besides it wouldn't cost a lot to put up trash bins... some used oil cans, or man-made disposals from twigs with sacks would do.... instead of some unconscientious visitors loitering the place when they got to enjoy it almost for free!

To my kababayans in Cagayan Valley... help me spread the beauty and preservation of this one in a million paradise on earth.

To GOD's awesome creations.... again, I'm so awed by Your perfection.

Thousand Teas, Kaya and Food Dates

2011-06-09T21:02:00.212+08:00

Thousand Teas

Mezza

thousandteas.ph

Change isn't really one of my strong points. I truly hate it.
I was stressed out by all the organizational changes at work... I felt I would start again... feel the pulse of the leadership again... I could grumble for hours but I wouldn't. I'm trying to apply what I learned so far in my Glorious Hope seminar that my security lies in Jesus... not on the things around me but on Him alone. That God will take care of those things I usually worry about and that I should not worry and only concentrate on my walk and relationship with Him. He is after all ALL-POWERFUL.

It's a blessing that when Dada saw that I was down one night he picked me up from work, he suggested to get some coffee or something and I remembered one of Ate's friends suggestion on the last day of gown fitting that there's a new cafe in Mezza - Thousand Teas. The way she made it appear is that the cafe is just on the ground floor yet we haven't tried it? I'm not really a coffee person... I do enjoy some sips once in a while as a form of socialization and chill time but I prefer teas most especially at home so I said we could try that one. It's so near at home and it was already late that time so that made Thousand Teas a perfect choice.

Perfect indeed... I was fascinated by their tea infuser pot... very stylish. They have some for sell too so I immediately told Dada that I wanted one as gift when an occasion arise hehehe. I got relaxed right away. We got the Php75 single order each because we wanted to try different flavors. Each infuser has some loose teas depending on the order and one could request as many hot water refill as one likes but after the refill... have the tea sit for 5 minutes before infusing the tea and drinking =). I tried Iron Goddess which is a red tea while Dada tried Gen MaiCha which is from some sort of grain and then we ordered banana crepe to bind with our tea drinking. I liked mine better =p

For the tea lovers out there... try this one!!!! You won't be sorry.

Kaya

PowerPlant Mall

www.kaya.com

On our movie day date... we tried to find a not so expensive restaurant in Rockwell and found Kaya. My last try of Korean dish was the bulgogi I cooked for mom in the early days of my chef journey and the last Korean restaurant I'd been too before this was Kimchi back in Katipunan days. Dada also hasn't yet eaten a kimchi ever so we decided to go Korean that time.

Their noodle serving was big and order is affordable. The bulgogi serving, on the other hand, was small but can be shared by two persons. To make Dada happy, we also had one order of kimchi which he enjoyed a lot, too spicy for me though. And to complete, we had Bokkum Bap for rice.

***

I might not be doing food cravings as much as I used to... it's because I don't intend for my blog to be a food blog and I'm saving space for more of my passions, reflections and visions. That doesn't mean that I don't like to create food entries once in a while because I really do... because really I love food! And FOOD is part of who I am. Eating, trying new restaurants and watching cooking shows are my and my husband's favorite date and bonding activity. That's one of the things that we truly can get giddy about together. I also love to take food pictures and look at it afterwards because it feels kinda therapeutic for me and my entire family and Dada's family are all food lovers! So yeah... I would still create food entries =)

From our Japanese cuisine cravings... to sweets... office treats... Ben-A-Bien... to Pasto

to Cafe France... coffees... to Kenny... cafes ... Astoria free dinners and road trip cravings of Cinnabon stix and chillax,

No wonder I was not getting slimmer harharhar. But my point really is I was saddened (and yes a little ashamed) that when I looked at my blog, I have more food entries than Walk by Faith and family stuffs which I am hoping I could rectify this year by just consolidating our food escapades.

CIAO

Papa's 57th Birthday at Yakimix

2011-06-05T19:58:00.003+08:00

Yakimix

The Podium
yakimix.com

Papa celebrated his birthday a day early this year because his real birthday fell on a Monday. My parents are the type who usually give hint that they wanted you to treat them on special occasions but when it comes to actual paying... they would kid us that we will not be able to sleep so they'll go ahead and take care of the food bill anyway =p. They are well-off financially compared to us siblings who are just starting our own families but I believe they just wanted the thought that we could also return the favor and pamper them once in a while...Every parent does.

I really pray we could do that whenever they're here in Manila especially as mom would turn 60 in September but old habits sometimes get in the way and we get into the pattern that we grew up with which is wait for our parents to take us out on fancy places.

For this trip, I believe the hint was given to Ate Tess and she relayed it to my sister so ate suggested we have the dinner at Yakimix in Podium. In our minds, this will be ate's treat before her big day so I didn't bother to bring a camera as I assumed ate will bring her SLR. She didn't so I had to rely on my handy BB. Nevertheless we had fun eating together and Yonky enjoyed hearing "Irashaimase! :) " when the waiters welcome new guests in the restaurant.

It was my first time to have smoke-less grill on our own table here in the Philippines. I've tried one before on my aunt Fe's treat before I left them in Florida. And our family usually have shabu-shabu especially when my mom's sisters had get together so I was quite observant on how things work with the grill. Looks like it had a fan of some sort under the table sucking the smoke so cooking is quite enjoyable... I wish I could have one like that at home. It is pretty easy and convenient to use as I could eat healthy grilled foods without having to stand up and queue in grilling stations waiting for my food to get cook.

Yakimix also has a buffet table for all other Japanese dishes so we took our time eating and choosing dishes and at the same time got some fresh seafoods, yakitori and other bbq stuffs for grilling in our own table.

For all of the food choices though, I couldn't remember if there's anything I fancy in particular. The grilled stuffs were definitely tasty though especially as the waiter gave us a nice concoction of special sate sauce.

In the end, I still didn't know who paid for the food... ate or my parents?! Just thankful =)

The highlight of the day was probably that Papa saw Cesar Montano and Sunshine Cruz on our way out of Podium. Mom was hesitant at first but Papa approached Cesar and requested for a picture =) HO HO HO.

Love you Papa and Mama.

Sun City - Cagayan Holiday and Leisure Resort

2011-05-16T17:57:00.006+08:00

Cagayan Holiday and Leisure Resort

Sta. Ana, Cagayan

www.55suncity.com

www.cagayanresort.com

When my mom mentioned to me that Sun City is way better than Acuatico and a lot cheaper too, my interest was piqued and I'd decided to time our week long family vacation to our home province of Isabela and make a side-trip there during the Holy Week and Papa's birthday in order to maximize the holiday break. However, my mom decided they'd stay here in Manila a week prior to ate's wedding so she requested to move my leave on my birthday instead. Luckily, my leave plans got approved but it was cut short to just 3 working days. As I was thinking this might be my last birthday here in the Philippines before we move, when my mom mentioned that she'll brought along some relatives and friends, I got excited as it will be a big and happy group.

My mom was concerned that Yonky will get tired traveling by land because it would be another 4 or so hours from our home town, so I'd booked the earliest Air Philippine Express flight to Tuguegarao, Cagayan instead of riding a bus on my birthday. My parents picked us up from the airport and after a 3- hour drive (with lunch stop), we finally arrived to what they call - SUN CITY (aka. Cagayan Holiday and Leisure Resort). It's around 5-minute drive from kilometer zero or the northern-most tip of Cagayan bordering China Sea so I was told by papa that the resort's previous clientele were mostly the people of Taiwan who can reach kilometer zero by boat.

THE GOODS

- one word: grandeur

Everything is grand in this place from accommodation, to amenities, to restaurants, to casinos....grand, grand, grand. To think this was only opened to Filipino clientele less than a year ago since it used to be Chinese-only-Club-VIPs exclusive resort. Such a waste if we Filipinos couldn't enjoy it when it's in our own land!

My cousin ate Rhoda puts it as "di mo akalain may ganito sa Pilipinas".

casino and reception area

To give you an idea on how big the place is... it has 360 5-star villas and you need to ride a golf-cart given service of the resort to tour around. Fortunately, our accommodation was near the reception so we were able to walk to the infinity pool.

Their casino is said to be one of the best in the world. I'd only taken a peek by opening the door as I don't want to enter and get tempted, but the grand staircase and lobby are pretty grand with a VIP section on the second floor.

- sooo affordable accommodation

For its classiness and style, Php4000 for a 2-bedroom villa is just unbelievable.

Every accommodation has centralized air-conditioning. Our villa (the cheapest) has two bedrooms, master bedroom has its own bathroom, a separate common bathroom, complete living and dining sets, hot and cold showers, percolator and mini bar. The hot and cold showers are being charged by solar panels...(so nice nice). Another good thing as they're still on "promo-mode" is they're not strict on the number of people in a villa... you can have people sleeping on the sofa if you're a big group.

Most television channels are still Chinese or with Chinese subtitles like AXN and Discovery. The resort is still working on getting Filipino Channels like ABS-CBN so I had to find my mom a live streaming from mytfc.net for her to be able to watch her Mara-Clara hehe.

Their biggest villas are mostly near the entrance and farthest from the infinity pool area. It has 5-bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, 4 of those rooms has their own bathroom and it costs around Php17, 400 and has its own private pool.

Reception building has convenience store which mostly sell Chinese products and goodies if you need to make emergency purchases. Inside the room they also have beach shorts and havi slippers for sale on affordable prices of Php200 or less.

- very comfortable and relaxing amenities and spa

They have world class high-end spa, gym, sauna and steam room plus spectacular land area. Cagayan is believe to be the hottest place in the Philippines, so seeing this resort in Cagayan to have beautiful green grass is simply impressive.

- beautiful infinity pool and beach

They have water sports available at the resort, a floating bar in the infinity pool which is especially gorgeous at night and one can have parties on the beach front for especial occasions which we did on our last night - dinner by the beach served and serviced by their waiters =). Yonky even gave an enjoyable singing performance which his Owa Letty and the group loved while we were chilling at the beach dining area after dinner.

I wasn't able to try swimming on their beach though as we went to a nearby Anguib beach but it's picture perfect when I saw it... just brown beach though and not white.

- affordable restaurant and no additional fees if you bring in foods

They have one restaurant called Noodle House near the Casino area which is very affordable. A normal chinese order of Shrimp Wanton Noodle is only Php100+ and is already good for 2 pax and has lots of big shrimps. It helps that the resort is near the fishing area so seafoods are cheap. But if you'd like to bring in foods, you can do so, just be sure to bring your cooking paraphernalia like what we did. On some of our meals there, we cook our own foods after our cook bought the freshest seafoods in the market and had our own picnic celebration on my birthday =) Thank you to my ever generous parents and party planners. They gave me an Ilocano tradition of honoring the birthday celebrant for the first time!

- paradise beaches a few minutes away

We were able to try Anguib beach (watch out for my next post) and it was absolutely awesome and just 30-mins from Sun City by land. The golf-cart driver we talked to also mentioned a much beautiful beach called Cave Enganyo which is an hour away by boat and is a favorite destination of foreign nationals.... another place to visit next time =)

THE BADS

- no halo-halo

when Yonky had a nap, my husband and I sneaked out to explore the resort. As it was a hot summer day, we tried ordering halo-halo but they don't have any in any of the resort's three restaurants. We ended up ordering scallion pancake and some chinese dessert which turned out to be black gulaman in a can with chinese characters.

- sauna has separate fee

my eyes grew wide when I saw the sauna and steam room at the ladies bathroom so I went in and told the receptionist I'd like to try it because they don't turn the heater on automatically. After waiting a while for the room to get warm, I felt so pampered when they gave me cold towelette for my face and a glass of water inside (so classy!). However, my surprise came when I finished and went out as they said I need to pay Php230 for their service! I was only in there for 20 minutes! And I thought it was free since it is part of the bathroom's amenities. They could have told me there's a separate fee when I informed them I want to try it....tsk tsk. Lesson learned.

- better to have clubhouse with indoor activities

for improvement, they could also have a clubhouse that offers other activities for the guests like indoor jacuzzi, kids playroom, mini-theater, etc which are some of the facilities you could find in the south's high-end resorts. It will provide nice alternative activities for guests on summer days.

Nevertheless, my family enjoyed our time together... there's around 26 pax of us in four villas! Hope we have more times like these in the future complete with Ate Leng, Kuya Edward and Apot c";)

TO MY GOD's AWESOME BLESSINGS.... I THANK THEE ALWAYS!!!

My Sister's Wedding

2011-05-05T00:39:00.001+08:00

~@@@@@@~

Labiano-de Guia Wedding

April 30, 2011

The Blue Leaf

~@@@@@@~

Normally, when you say my sister's wedding... most people would think the sister is the younger one. Well not in our case... I got married earlier and for the longest time everybody in the clan had been looking forward to ate tying the knot especially when she reached the 30s... pressure was definitely on.

As I was tasked to look after her, be the chaperone with our good friend Tingsi on her dates and report to my parents the boys courting her back in her HS days, it was really funny for me how things have changed when we reached college days as she became more focused in her studies. I saw her cried a lot of tears and experienced so much heartaches... but looking back, I can see God's hand making her stronger in those times. While she still wasn't ready for a life-long commitment, she grew as a Christian. She became involved in a lot of church ministries in CCF including NextGen youth ministry, photoministry, dgroup and even became involved facilitating in retreats. In short, she was able to seek God first until late December 2009, without her planning to, God allowed her to meet her God's best - Kuya Edward.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him - 1 John 5:14-15(NIV)

Nobody could have done that except the loving hands of our Lord Jesus Christ... as only His perfect hands could do, ate's co-dgroup member Elvie, who is a friend and batchmate of our brother Apot, is Kuya Edward's sister =) How cool is that hehe!

Initially I had reservations as they only had a short courtship...but I guess when you know, you know... right?! They're both decided... On the day of the wedding they're both gorgeous and when I saw ate as a blooming bride... my first thought was, this is it! God will do the rest.

And God did, the wedding was awesome.

The Ceremony

Ceremony was held in one of Blue Leaf's pavilion and officiated by CCF Pastor Robbie who's also my parents' mentor and friend. First touching moment was when I saw Kuya Edward teary-eyed when Ate Leng began her walk in the red carpet...then the speeches to honor the parents...then the wedding vows... I got sentimental when my thought wandered to my baby brother Apot who wasn't able to come home from the US...we miss him especially as this is an important occasion in our family.

On a funny note, there's one blooper in the ceremony when Pastor Robbie called on a reader for some Bible verses in Genesis 2 and ate's friend who's supposed to be the verse reader was still caught in traffic.... I was asked by one of the coordinators to sub (and boy...I hate speaking in front of a crowd!)...plus there's no Bible, I couldn't find where the Bible bearer was as I was seated in the bride's side of the aisle while he was on the groom's side(panic mode). Thank God for gadgets... Pastor Robbie has a Bible application in his phone and he had me read from it (that was a close call!).

The Wedding Suppliers

Flowers: Flowers & Concepts 09162283354
Bride and entourage's bouquets were done by Flowers and Concepts of our good friend Ate Gemma who was also the maid of honor. Tulips were especially ordered from Holland if I'm not mistaken and good thing they arrived on time hehehe.

Hair and MakeUp
Ate Leng found Xeng Zulueta in the net and I must say she and her friend Felicity who did the hair did a really great job making ate glow on the best day of her life.

I was the first one they put on the make-up seat so in-between applying makeup and hair-styling.. I was also taking pictures of ate and the wedding gown and objects using her SLR =p (gotta be a multi-tasker).

Venue: Blue Leaf
Kuya Edward and Ate Leng chose Blue Leaf as the wedding venue. They decided on Banyan and Jade Pavilions. I think one of them was complimentary (must be the Jade) as the ceremony was also held there since we are Christians.

It's a great venue as there is an open garden area which became the place for guests' cocktails and photobooth while the couple were doing the pictorials around McKinley after the ceremony. That's the only time they both got to ride the bridal car which was part of Josiah's package.

Caterer: Josiah's
We all love Josiah's food and preparation. For the wedding, they've provided cocktails which I didn't get to taste as I was tasked to pay off balances of the suppliers and had to roam around. Main buffet dishes were some sugpo, salmon, chicken cordon bleu and lechon from Elar. Salads, desserts, coffee and tea, pasta and steaks stations were on different areas so Dada had to get them for me to taste and I only got to try the desserts after the guests left when it was just us relatives chilling and catching up on each other.

I must say it's really different when you're part of the immediate family and entourage as I couldn't sit still and just enjoy the food and take pictures because I had duties to perform and a naughty son to look after hehe (he enjoyed the Photobooth of Baicapture and wanted to stay outside and had his picture taken over and over and walk and walk and walk....and dance).

Other suppliers - all highly recommended

Bride's Gown: Edward Teng

Bridesmaids and Maids of Honor's Gowns: Fashion Matters by Ellen Pua Decena

Motif is pink and gray. Secondary Sponsors have pink as the main gown color with gray accents while us bridesmaids and maid/matrons of honor have gray as the main gown color with pink accents. Principal sponsors and parents have different shades of pink and gray. The men were allowed to wore any kind of barong hehe while the groom wore a suit.

Photographer: J. Lucas Reyes

Video: MG Digital

I love both the photos and video AVPs! They captured the essential moments. I love the background songs too... I initially thought they were provided by the suppliers but both J Lucas Reyes and MG Digital consulted ate on what music she likes and she had given her preference which were really great.

Band: the Kadense Musik (c/o Juliet Tan 09154450559)

Lights and Sounds: Sensitivity Lights and Sounds (c/o Meanne 09175983636)

Photobooth by Baicapture

The couple also availed of the photo album guest-book so they have actual print-outs of the photos of guests in an album and guests were asked to sign and give a short message in that book after Baicapture took the pictures. Each guest was given two print out copies.

Last but not the least was the host: Max Tiu (09175375369)

He is so great! I love him. Our tita Venus recommended it to ate and he can sing too! My parents and our guests enjoyed him a lot. He provided an interesting song game for the singles - a nice variation from the usual bouquet throwing and garter catching.

What I like best about all of ate's suppliers are their professionalism.... they performed their duties first before they went to eat and chill. I even invited some to eat their dinner already but they declined and only ate after the party ended. Thank you for that.

Why Royal Family? My uncle Sam told me when I mentioned his choice of 'Royal' in the album names,

"We are children of God making us belong to a Royal Family and as Christian we are also called to a Royal priesthood"

so I adopted it here... here's the Royal Clan at the reception...

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

The Day: Pre-Wedding

2011-05-01T21:42:00.004+08:00

Labiano-de Guia Nuptial

***

Bride and Groom's Preparatory Location: Manila Peninsula

When: April 29-May 1, 2011

***

My first task as Matron of Honor is to print my parents' speeches plus a couple other details about the wedding such as alpha and table list of guests, seat plan, supplier's balances, supplier, entourage and liturgical's complete contact numbers... plus plus plus. Ate's coordinator was Kutchie but since my mom is OC (yup, I finally accepted that that's a trait I inherited), she requested me to make other copies of guest list because she wanted to make sure her friends will be taken care of and properly seated when a family member sees them.

Next, I was asked to check us in at Manila Pen because they're still doing some last minute beauty treatments. I already had my toe nails polished and my underarm waxed a week ahead so I'm already set. Dada had work though so even if the check in time was supposedly 2pm, we only got in around 5:30pm while my parents and the couple even later than that. There are some glitches at the reception because the receptionist was just 2 weeks at the job resulting to us settling in a little later than I expected. I then texted the room numbers to the coordinator, ate, mommy, ate Ellen - my cousin who owns Fashion Matters and the one who made the secondary sponsor's gowns and also my co-matron of honor, and then later on ate Gemma who's also a maid of honor.

It was my first time at the hotel as from what I remember, we used to go to Shangri-La but Blue Leaf, ate's chosen ceremony and reception venue, gave a free night for the bride at the Peninsula so the immediate family was asked to book there too if they wanted.

this is where the "magic" happened after the wedding hehehe

Our family had two room accommodations - a bridal suite and one deluxe room. The deluxe room was for my parents' supposedly...but mommy being insomniac when in other location said we should sleep there instead. The suite was pretty big, had some free sweets and fruits and mini-bar refrigerator in a neatly obscured location under the flat-screen TV.

The deluxe room was just so-so for me... for its price (and we already paid a discounted rate courtesy of Blue Leaf), I would say you can find something more affordable yet equally comfortable in Ortigas and Makati area if you're on a tight budget. I guess you're paying for the name, the grand lobby and other amenities.

Free breakfast included for the suite was two but for our deluxe room it's just one since it's on a corporate package discount rate as per the receptionist. We're not informed about this upon check-in so when I was asked to sign because both Dada and me ate, I immediately complained to the receptionist and they waved my breakfast on our first day (whew!). Child's breakfast was free so I didn't have to worry about Yonky.

Since my nutritionist informed me already on what I should not eat, lately I'm already not getting the proper value for buffet meals as I only eat reasonably. For this breakfast, I only ate my normal intake and resisted the urge to eat the sweets... I just roamed and looked for some interesting and unique dishes and on this particular day, I found Egg Cocotte with Salmon. I must say I loved it...it gave a decadent taste on my palate.

It's also a first for me to use a tea-infuser as I'm used to buying and using tea bags for my home-used... neat but not as cute as Kmae's duckie infuser.

The bride and groom always got lost from my sight (nagsasarili hehe) so I wasn't able to take pictures of them while walking around the hotel.

Just too bad for them not to try the other amenities...as they were probably preoccupied with thoughts about the wedding and for my mom who couldn't sleep because of the tension the night before the Wedding... Dada, Yonky and I, on the other hand, were already set to enjoy our stay at the Pen and we did!

Manila Peninsula's pool and spa has a gym, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room and a long outdoor tropical pool. We explored all and swam to our hearts' content... I felt my arms burning from exhaustion in just one lap because the pool was long... what can I say, I do know how to enjoy myself and my boys were getting influenced =)

GOD IS GOOD. Many thanks to our parents for letting us stay there!

Ate's Surprise Shower Party @ Linden Suites

2011-04-27T21:16:00.001+08:00

Linden Suites

San Miguel Avenue, Ortigas

www.lindensuites.com

What: Honeylet's Bridal Shower
When: April 9, 2011 (4pm - 10:30pm)
Where: Linden Suites

Ate Gemma and I started planning Ate's Bridal Shower around a month ago. We canvassed prices on several venues until Ate Gemma mentioned that she can get a free voucher discount from a friend for Linden Suites. Ate Gemma, a common friend of Ate and I, once gifted Kaan and me with a voucher on the swimming pool and jacuzzi at Linden so I knew that the facilities are great but I haven't tried their suites yet except for what I saw in their website.

We chose April 9, 2011 because we don't want it to be near Holy Week as some of ate's friends might probably go out of town or out of the country for the Lent season already and we didn't want it to be so near the wedding date because Ate's fiance will already come home from New Zealand by that time so we knew they would want to be together and iron out some details about the wedding first.

We were given a voucher for the one-bedroom suite. I was the one who checked us in since it was Ate Gemma's task to act and bring ate to the hotel for the surprise party. I wouldn't be able to do the acting because I will only laugh hehehe. And Ate Gemma said we were a great team and we pulled it through together with the help of all of Ate's friend.

Around 2pm, we were already at the hotel and started the setup. Suite was great - has complete kitchen equipments and utensils and we were able to request additional chairs for our guests. Yonky enjoyed the bathtub as well and we enjoyed free buffet breakfast the day after. I think we were more than 20pax that day and we fit in the suite comfortably.

The agenda for the day was some games culminating to a surprise Q&A and message from Kuya Edward. We initially panicked when I couldn't view Kuya's video email because that was the highlight until we just resolved for him to export the video in youtube and I found a site a day before the surprise party that enabled me to download the video so we didn't avail of Linden's WI-FI which was not free. The video was very cheesy and I thought Ate will only missed two of the questions but those of us listening and watching Ate had a blast when Ate failed to give the correct answer one after the other and we in turn had to paint her face until it ended with this look with just three correct answers.

Icebreaker were cheering competition and charade then followed by a puzzle of one of their prenuptial pictures in facebook. By that time, Ate's friends started to become competitive already until we break for dinner. Menu was potluck but mom being how she is with guests gave me additional budget for food; and Dada and I were able to order some Party Picks dishes at North Park(very yummy and highly recommended as one party pick order is for 18-20pax). In the end we had more food than we were able to eat and some guests were able to take home food after the party =).

Next game after the overflowing of food from guests was Pinoy Henyo for some facts about Ate. Then one of the game I thought of was the Baby Edward and Leng game wherein each group was given pictures of Ate and Kuya and the groups will need to combine the two depending on which feature they think the baby should have from Ate or Kuya =). In the end both babies kinda resemble ate more hihihi =p. We then did the traditional bridal gown competition but I only limited the materials to white crepe papers, pink japanese paper and grey/silver paper to go with Ate's motif because in some of the bridal showers I had attended, the bridal gown didn't look like a bridal gown most of the time due to many colors of crepe paper... The game's final outputs that day were very distinct - one out of Carrie Bradshaw's library and then the other was a traditional long tube wedding gown.

Of course, a bridal shower wouldn't be complete without the gift giving which was very enjoyable to watch as Ate was shy when she received naughty gifts and didn't want her pictures to be taken with them hehehe.

Wedding day coming soon... stay tuned!

Am I Causing Him Pain?

2011-04-22T20:38:00.003+08:00

I hope you're watching this straight through my blog and not through feeds... (hence I'm posting this without the lyrics because I guarantee it is more powerful to watch).

Feel The Nails by Ray Boltz

I know...I know... I too cried a bucket of tears at church today....

Why did He have to suffer and die like that???....

Because His blood is the only pure, unblemished and holy blood who's worthy to rescue me and you from eternal condemnation because of our countless sins (big or small, white lies or red lies or simply lie)

Because He loves you and me....

Because He wanted us to have eternal life with Him...

And...
All He is asking is have faith in Jesus... in what He did for you in the cross of Calvary...

Do you believe that He suffered and died because He loves You? Do you accept Jesus as your only Lord and Savior? Do you accept His Love? Does your life reflect your responses to the questions?

I truly hope and pray that you do... otherwise Lent is meaningless without you reflecting on this truth. As for me, I'm ashamed and convicted that my life doesn't always bring glory to Jesus my Lord and Savior moment by moment and that I am still causing Him pain when I sin =_(

Company Outing @ Fontana

2011-04-17T15:16:00.002+08:00

Fontana

Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga

www.fontanaleisureparks.com

You could say I had an awesome time from my first company outing last year that I immediately signed up when I found out that my favorite outing companions Chod and Me-anne were going to attend this year.

And I wasn't disappointed.

This year's theme was very Filipino - Fiesta sa Fontana, with the different teams named after Philippine's festivals. I was part of team Pintados and joined most of the game in Fontana on April 8, 2011 except dodge ball (since I was hit in the head by a volleyball ball back in HS and I was scared of any balls being thrown in the air ever since... nice excuse huh =p).

Foods served were also Filipino dishes... taken from traditional Filipino fiesta foods. I was kidded several times that my gym efforts were wasted because I didn't put a limit on the foods that I ate - morning meryenda, lunch and afternoon snack. But what the heck... it's a once in a year thingy right?

I could feel the people's awesome team spirits when the game proper began. Hosts and speakers were told to only speak Filipino but our VP expat was excused hehehe. I enjoyed watching the reservation development director expat who joined us in the Filipino street game patintero, so cool... his hands and legs were so long that I wonder why the competing team were still able to pass through him =). I had so much fun even if we were dead last in the pregames at the office because our team's energy and support in Fontana were great! I even finished the last stage in the limbo rock game because of their support which made me so proud of myself even if I felt my back cracked in rebellion from the stretch.

Before going to Fontana, I was initially worried when I found out from Chod that we were assigned different buses and villas since we already talked to bring chips and eat together but when I checked the list and found out I was grouped with my shared services family, I easily became at ease since I also liked bonding with them. Even if I was abandoned by my CM boys in the bus to travel in a separate car with their crushes, I was adopted by my friends at shared services AUT team and we rejoined them at Fontana before the games started so all became well c";).

Fontana was awesome... beautiful lobby, theme parks, Casino and villas... well at least the Villa 02 that we crashed into since our Villa 01 didn't become available right away. My mom already brought us here when we were younger but I didn't remember the place's banners to have Chinese characters before so I kinda think it was improved. I was grateful for the hospitable revenue team that welcomed us in their villa.

Villa 02 was very beautiful. It has around 4 rooms (one didn't have bed), 4 bathrooms, 1 maid's room, fully equipped kitchen, living room plus a private pool with showers and sauna. When we entered the villa, revenue team were already jamming in Videoke and some were playing board and card games while the others were swimming in the private pool.

I didn't get a chance to see and compare with Villa 01 though because I went swimming, left my things at Villa 02 and just decided to shower in Villa 02 after trying out the waterpark. According to some not so pleased QA and shared services members, they didn't like Villa 01 because it was smaller than that of number 02 and they're already tired of waiting since it only became available around 3pm.

While for us, instead of waiting for our villa to be available, after resting a bit and photo ops in the revenue team's villa, we already started persuading people to go in the theme park. I failed to persuade Me-anne and any of my shared services girl friends to swim with me though because they didn't bring any swimsuits so I just joined the boys in the water theme park. Glad I did too as I had an even more fantastic time in the water.

When we entered the park, there were only around 10 Navi... already including the five of us who just entered the park (though some more entered later in the day) and I believe 200+ tickets were paid by the company so it's a waste some failed to grab the opportunity. Each ticket on a weekend costs Php400.

I super enjoyed the wave pool and slides (I believe the Paparazzi in TV5 shot one episode in the wave pool of Fontana based from what I saw in TV). Before the day ends and before eating the final snack of the day, I was able to try the three different branches of the winding slides - one riding in a ring floater, one lying down in the tunnel branch, and the other one sitting in the rightmost open slide. I felt some bumps, hit my head on some areas, and the last curves before hitting the water were fast for me but when I talked to Red, he said the slide was slow... I just didn't know if I was lighter(feeling! hehe) or if because I'm smaller so I was able to glide through the slide pretty easily.

Nevertheless, I had a fantastic time. As our team leader said in email prior to the outing... "let's enjoy ourselves and have fun"... and I think I did that. Just too bad that when I talked to my mom if she still has membership in Fontana because I planned to bring Yonky there too, she said she's no longer a member and that the resort in Cagayan that she's always bragging to me is even more beautiful... so I hoped my birthday plans to go home in the province and try out that resort would push through so I can enjoy and bond in the water again with my son Yonky as well.

Love Them Like Jesus

2011-04-10T18:56:00.000+08:00

Hello... been busy with extra-curricular stuffs but I just had to write about this one which I heard from church today.

***

A wife gave a testimony in our church... she had been through a lot so early in life... got pregnant early and gave up everything to marry the man she loved and later on found out that her husband was a drug addict...in desperation for love, clung to another man and committed adultery... got thrown in the streets and got separated from her two sons...went to Japan to be an entertainer...had other kids with another married man... lost both of her kidneys... until she called unto God and she found God and God showed her amazing grace through the love of her now Christian-first-original husband who accepted her back.... how?

She quoted this verse from Jeremiah... my life's verse is Jeremiah 29:11 as well but as she mentioned and read up to verse 14 though... God's word becomes even more beautiful especially as we saw it in this wife's life testimony. My God is really a God of restored relationships!

Jeremiah 29:11-14 (New Living Translation)
¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² In those days when you pray, I will listen. ¹³ If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

now listen to this...and reflect
(silent cries) =_(

Love Them Like Jesus

Casting Crowns

(lyrics taken from azlyrics.com)

The love of her life is drifting away
They're losing the fight for another day
The life that she's known is falling apart
A fatherless home, a child's broken heart

You're holding her hand, you're straining for words
You trying to make - sense of it all
She's desperate for hope, darkness clouding her view
She's looking to you

Just love her like Jesus, carry her to Him
His yoke is easy, His burden is light
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves her and stay by her side
Love her like Jesus
Love her like Jesus

The gifts lie in wait, in a room painted blue
Little blessing from Heaven would be there soon
Hope fades in the night, blue skies turn to gray
As the little one slips away

You're holding her hand, you're straining for words
You're trying to make sense of it all
They're desperate for hope, darkness clouding their view
They're looking to you

Just love them like Jesus, carry them to Him
His yoke is easy, His burden is light
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
Love them like Jesus

Lord of all creation holds our lives in His hands
The God of all the nations holds our lives in His hands
The Rock of our salvation holds our lives in His hands
He cares for them just as He cares for you

So love them like Jesus, love them like Jesus
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
Love them like Jesus
Love them like Jesus

Hope the song touches you as much as it did me. As we wrapped up 40 Days of Love campaign, we were left with this... to impact others enough to bring them back to the Lord just like what the husband did..... what other cause could be more worthy than to love like our Savior.

Sampaguita Beach @ Bauan, Batangas

2011-03-29T01:31:00.008+08:00

I got an unexpected off from work due to some confidential thingy. It was so forced and I felt I wasn't given a choice but instead of sulking, I just decided to treat it as a normal vacation. My husband said to just accept it anyways as it's my mistake after all. Coincidentally, my cousin invited us to her daughter's baptism so our place of destination for the weekend was decided - BATANGAS.

My father's roots are from Batangas and I grew up swimming in the beaches over at Anilao and Nasugbu so Batangas is not alien to me but I haven't been there without my parents or their driver so it's quite a challenge for us getting to Bauan.

Since we're with Yonky, I searched for a beach near my Aunt's house that is not expensive as we're gonna be there for a daytour only since we'd decided to spend the night with my father's older sister so Yonky can bond with them. If you'd searched google for Bauan, Batangas beaches, you most probably would see about coconuthills resort but then I searched some more until I found out more about the stretch of Sampaguita Beaches through Ajay's blog which piqued my interest.

THE GOODS

- Clean and calm beach
whiter and definitely more peaceful than the beaches of Puerto Galera.

- affordable (need only to pay for the hut)
no entrance fee for people. We just need to rent a cottage for Php250.

- good for family picnics
Another young family was swimming with us the day we went there, just enjoying their time together. And since the place was not very crowded, kids were able to play freely and enjoyed making sand castles without fear of interruptions.

THE BADS

- if going by land, roads are very steep and narrow
I got really really scared as the way up the mountain seemed endless. As we were first timers and we didn't know if we're getting lost, the winding roads made the anticipation worst and that didn't help with our anxiousness. Although in reality from Bauan town proper, it would only take 30mins to get to Sampaguita Beach.

If it would help though, view is pretty awesome on top. Felt like I was in a different country.

- it is still not developed.
There were some bathrooms but no finishings. There were also no lights and changing areas. We had to leave around 530pm while there are still some daylight and because at that time the tsunami warning was raised and my sister-in-law panicked and called my husband that we should go home ASAP.

The beach is also kinda rocky so it would be good to pack your booties... (good thing we thought of buying Yonky one before we headed there)

- no restaurants
resorts in the area are kinda private so there's no restaurants yet in the area. You must bring-in your own foods like we did. There are no corkage fees.

Hope the Bauan municipality would develop the roads and make them wider to attract more tourists in the area.

To a Healthier Me

2011-03-26T01:25:00.005+08:00

I do this then I do that...I seem to keep on entering into activities that have no connection with each other except that I'd like to try them... (IT to Culinary to SPED...then to FitnessFirst)

"Motivation is what gets you started....habit is what keeps you going" -FitnessFirst

I'm acting like a complete cuckoo and you're probably right, why do I have to do this... I don't even have a clear cut answer. I just have so much energy, I need to find an outlet. Most told me it's far too early to have a mid-life crisis... but who can say right?!

Lately, because I thought I'd like to be fab @30 and because they say "life begins at 30".... I thought to enter into a fitness program. Besides, ate is getting married in a month's time and I still am not fit. When I got married, ate was not in shape so I don't want to be like that at her wedding.

I used to to be good at motivating myself to workout at home as I thought paying for a fitness program would be a total waste of money... but after being a mom, having a house under renovation plus yeahh age and stress putting a toll on my health and body... I gave up trying to do this on my own. After all, I've convinced myself I deserve to spend for my own self for a change...I'm not getting any younger!

The people from my team are also sport enthusiasts so I got motivated. I even got a cosmo diet from Kalli, a friend from work, which I've modified a little by adding carbo as I need it in exercising as per my Fitness First's nutritionist (message me if you want to have a copy of this 7 day diet).

I most probably would not extend after 4 months' time as I still want to save and the house would be complete for me to workout there by then... and a pleasant news came up that I'm so excited to tell to everyone but just not yet as I don't what to preempt it or it might get jinxed... nevertheless... my first week into Fitness First's fitness program proved itself to be as enjoyable as I'd hoped for. The staff are super friendly to me... assisted me and put me in peace when I acted distant as I don't want to pay any other extra fee hehehe (monthly dues and start-up fee are expensive enough thank you very much).

I super love the dance group workout classes (at least the Body JAM and Retro which are the only ones I've tried so far)....Like that there are friendly PTs to assist me when I have questions on the instruments; love that I can watch different channels while working out; love that I can shower so I won't stink when I return to work and love that I can relax in the sauna to sweat some more.

I thought I only need to lose 6 pounds until the Tanita machine computed that although I'm in normal body weight, most of my body composition is fat and my muscle composition is pretty low (now that's why I'm "lampa batchoy"). Four more months as my month of March is free... then, let's see.. let's see if I can meet their target weight for my body which is 101lbs and more body muscle percentage than fat.

Kimono Ken and Yoggle for February 2011

2011-03-23T17:24:00.119+08:00

Yoggle

Ronac Building, Ortigas Avenue

yoggle.com

After a very tiring malling day in search of a swimsuit (we went to 3 malls already but I still didn't find anything worthy to buy), I decided to indulge in my yogurt cravings after we spotted Yoggle at an unusual art building along Ortigas Avenue.

This is so far the only yogurt store I know in the Philippines where I am the one getting as much serving of different yogurt flavors from fancy yogurt machine dispensers and putting the toppings very much like the TCBY I so loved in Utah. Cost is per weight too.

Chairs are so comfy... and at that time we're the only ones in the store so Yonky was able to roam around. Outside the store, there are some sculptures and trivia boxes probably from the art center's collection.

Kimono Ken

Podium

kimono-ken.com

For our end-of-the-month family dinner date, we went to eat at Kimono Ken because it's been a while since we went to a Japanese restaurant and my husband and I were both craving for some maki rolls.

We ordered Kimono Roll (Php210) because it had some interesting ingredients (mango, spicy tuna and tempura). We initially thought that it is expensive after the waiter told us that a serving only have 5 pieces but after we saw the serving size, we understand why it costs that much. One maki even has a full blown tempura sprouting on it. We also chose Crunchy Kani Maki (Php150) which has some crabsticks and if I'm not mistaken, those were crab eggs on top.

We of course also got some soup for our son for sharing Shoyuramen (Php195) which according to the menu is soy-based. Their Japanese fried rice called Chahan costs Php60 while plain rice Gohan costs Php40. With all of the orders, I only got the value for our money with Beef Teriyaki (Php200) because it is really plenty... plenty for us three adults and 1 kid.

Sadly, there was nothing remarkable with our orders... I was disappointed with the maki (nothing special with it)... my cravings were not satisfied and made me crave even more for some tasty ones like in Teriyaki Boy.

Mcdonald's and Greenwich Kiddie Model

2011-03-21T17:29:00.171+08:00

Super Cute Fast Food Model Anyone??? =)

McDonald's

www.mcdonalds.com.ph

My son Yonky loved one of McDonald's super saver meals Php50.00 (Chicken Fillet with rice with drinks), a great great deal.

We let him have this McDonald's meal as we stopped in SLEX's Petron Express Center III on our way to Batangas one Friday for our family outing and relative's baptism. He liked it a lot when he saw us eating the same thing that he volunteered to feed himself =) Yipee!

Again, I was amazed and humbled that after three months, Yonky has finally regained his weight back which he lost when he spent around two months in Isabela while I was in the US. Both my parents justified that Yonky became more alert when he got thinner in Isabela because he was obese when I left him and indeed he was but as a mother, I still prefer for him to have some extra stored fats because it can only take one bout of sickness and all huggableness could be gone in a snap.

I just couldn't believe that my parents who had been so strict with us growing up and made us eat all foods they put on our plate even if we're already full gave in and let Yonky fool them with his simple trick of acting crying stint. Grandparents are really spoilers!

Nevertheless, I'm back now and I intend to discipline Yonky with his eating habits. I know he's a toddler and toddlers are known picky eaters but I have to be creative and make him understand that lots of kids don't have foods to eat and he is lucky and blessed and should not waste food just because he doesn't feel like it...

One thing I've noticed is that at 2 1/2 years, he already wants what he sees us eating. Good thing for us since it means we can already start to plan the same dish for us all for each meal instead of a separate variety for him. But being a mother and wanting for him to still have all the nutrients his small body needs, I still allot a separate budget for his food for those times that our foods are not as healthy for a growing kid. A rule of thumb in our household which I instructed our househelps (especially when our grocery and refrigerator food supplies ran out) is we adults can have no foods but Yonky should always have fresh and delicious meals(no repetitions in a week) so I always left a separate budget to his yaya for emergency market purchases and meryenda budget for them as a gratitude for watching over my son while we're working.

Greenwich

www.greenwich.com.ph

It also help that Yonky is already very articulate and expresses his likes and dislikes well enough. One day while watching TV, John Lloyd's commercial caught his attention and said he wanted pizza. I promised him I would buy him pizza snack the next day. With kids, my husband and I are in agreement that we must not promise anything if we don't intend to keep it because kids will lose their trust in you if you forget your promises. I also reprimanded Yonky's yaya countless times when she was promising unrealistic things to my son just to get him to obey her. I firmly believe it doesn't work that way.

I kept my pizza promise to my son and I was surprised he so loved it... well at least the pizza flavor we ordered from Greenwich - 5-star Bacon Burger Melt with Fries in a thin crust.

He is already learning to feed himself and this is one of the foods that he can pretty well devour on his own. Messy but we can't help but be proud...(mama na siya, taong tao na).

We've already ordered this pizza twice and Yonky was loving it each time he grabbed a slice because of the richness of the melted cheese, the bacon, mushroom and the tasty flavored fries toppings.

California, USA take Three

2011-03-17T19:03:00.005+08:00

My first time in California... I had a chance to visit the famous theme parks - Universal Studios, Disneyland, Sea World and Six Flags.

Second time around, my godmother brought me to Hollywood overlooking, Reagan Library and Hollywood Walk of Fame where I also saw where the famous Oscar's award is being held yearly.

On my third visit, I had the pleasure of being with my brother and he brought me to Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Sta. Monica Beach and Huntington Beach.

I wasn't exactly on vacation so I didn't have much time to see places but I was so glad my brother took me to places that I hadn't been to yet. According to him, Rodeo Drive is where John-lloyd and Ruffa were spotted before (tsismoso hehe). It is a block of signature shops (a haven for the fashionistas) which I couldn't exactly afford so I was contented to just have pictures on the area.

Next stop was Sta. Monica where we had some sumptuous meal. While my brother was shopping, he asked Jordan to take me to Sta. Monica beach because he knew I love beaches... too bad it was so dark already I couldn't enjoy the view but according to him it was a known venue for some TV series. It is also the only beach I know that has carnival.

My favorite ever was our trip to Huntington beach a few hours before my flight back to Manila. It was so crunch time, I was just practically on the dot for boarding in LAX and also in Narita.

Haven't been to any beaches in California before so i was really amazed that they had some gorgeous ones up there... just a shame I didn't have a chance to dip. This one according to my brother is the surf capital in California... it's where some surfing contest is being held every year.

Now I think I've mentioned before that our family love to take pictures right? Well well... my brother is an awesome amateur. He has an eye really... kept telling me to get some greens and blue skies to have some contrast and all so I became his model that day.

Here are some samples hehehe...

I definitely want to come back and swim someday... someday...

As of date, I got a news that my brother charged an SLR camera from my mom's extension so I'm the only one now without an SLR.... paging paging mommy and papa harharhar.

Grand 60th Birthday for Tito Fred and Tita Selya

2011-03-16T21:55:00.000+08:00

A year added to a life of a loved one is always a reason for celebration.... more so when that loved one reached the golden age of 60 side by side the person they married years ago. To tito Fred and Tita Selya... a great great birthday indeed. Three of their 7 children were in other parts of the world (2 in US and 1 in Canada) so you can see that they were blessed for their hard work and love.

My family were the only ones in our clan who was able to attend. It had been a crazy week of celebrations and Ate joined the celebrations on our mother's side while I joined this one on our father's side as they always said I am the more batangueña among us three siblings. Looking back, I had the most experience mingling with them than my brother and sister.

It was held in Caloocan City...the place was really gorgeous, I just forgot to take the name which was also the caterer's. Even though it was not air-conditioned, it was fully ventilated and fresh. Food was great too.

The grandchildren from the US were able to send their dance and song numbers via youtube =). Family and other well-wishers were able to give special and touching messages for the couple. There are 6 candles, 6 wines..etc. I gave the message on behalf of papa who wasn't able to attend. Lucky my son look like papa so he was the appropriate stand-in hehehe.

MORE and MORE birthdays to come for the couple who are so much in love after all these years!!! CHeers

Pre-End Times...

2011-03-14T17:29:00.057+08:00

Flood in Australia
Numerous Wars and Ousters in the Middle East
Earthquake in New Zealand... then in Japan... then the disastrous tsunami

I honestly don't know what I suppose to feel but to wonder... and yes hope... that those who lost their lives heard the Good News and believed. I am sure you've also heard in numerous news channels that these devastations were not heard of in so and so years...until now. Yet it all make sense to me, not that I want to convey fear, but these things need to happen because the Bible said so

⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Matthew 24:6-8 (NIV)

I became conscious of the world happenings ever since I attended the End-Times series last year and ate, I and my husband gave knowing looks at each other last Saturday when we watched in CNN for the first time what happened in Japan since my family was at Batangas when the earthquake and tsunami took place... all of us had the same thing in mind... "the signs of the end times". Wars and calamities will be more frequent and more intense.... as the events are unfolding we can see that this is just not isolated in a particular continent and country but the entire world is made aware and hopefully will start to question and find their answers in the correct path. That these catastrophes and the toll of lost lives will just be all it need to send a loud wake-up call to everyone...

I hope and I hope and I pray.

Apot's Food Treats

2011-03-13T19:40:00.103+08:00

My brother Apot loves rice... period. So even though he has been living in the States for nearly four years now, he still wouldn't trade Asian foods for American dishes.

And boy...how he still loves to eat. He has grown so huge we're all worried about his health but as for him, food is his source of comfort. He's a nurse so he knew how deadly his lifestlye has become and every insight that we can give, he knew already so when I went there and he started feeling bad everytime I start to lecture him during his food treats, I would feel bad too... but what can I do, I love him and I want him to be healthy...

Nevertheless, and I am confident my mom, aunt, cousins, and sister would all agree as he always treat people who visit him in California... that he really has amazing taste in food so I enjoyed every food trips with him.

First off on our way to the airport, he brought me and our good family friend kmaks and her boyfirend to a Vietnamese restaurant which was very ordinary in the outside but really serves good, hot, tasty dishes.

I super loved the shrimp spring rolls and the all-in seafood Pho soup. Warmed me up on a cold day.

When we arrived at our Sandy hotel in Reno, I was actually contented just to roam and eat in the in-house restaurants but my brother had other idea. He immediately asked for the nearest Chinese restaurant in the area so he is really "maabilidad" in that way.

There's only two of us but we ordered so many foods. He always like to have soup so he kinda remind me of my mom... said it soothes him . We met a nice Filipina who was the wife of the owner so she told us that the movie house was just a walking distance and that there's really not much to do in the area except Casino and all. We opted to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows after eating which we missed the night I arrived in California because we got lost as his GPS was broken so we can burn what we ate as we walked to the cinemas.

In Tahoe, we had no choice but to eat inside our hotel Montbleu because we were in the middle of the blizzard but then again, I asked the receptionist which one served Asian dishes as I know my brother preferred to have rice than pasta.

I was finally able to eat the pasta that I was craving for and at the same time my brother was able to eat his favorite sweet and sour pork... he said his dish even tasted like his favorite sweet and sour pork from Melvin's in Sta. Fe here in the Philippines... so he was so satisfied. I always remember eating at Melvin's when we travel to and from our province Isabela to Manila when we were younger wherein we look forward to eating my mom's favorite orders of Hototay soup, beef with broccoli and sweet and sour pork. My brother remembered too =).

On my last night in California, he again brought me to a Chinese restaurant... a very fancy one might I just add right in the heart of the Sta. Monica hollywood gimmick place.

This time we were with our good family friend Jordan and he already grew up in the States but he hasn't yet eaten in this place while my brother has!... just shows that my brother has his nose on the best eating places in town hehehe =). They served us some fancy desserts which they made us choose from some wax samples(which Jordan and I mistook as the real desserts already until the waitress stop us when we attempted to eat them...embarrassing hehe... my brother already left us that time to do some pasalubong shopping so we had no idea) and each of us can choose one depending on our preference. Jordan taught immediately to bring his girlfriend there for a date when we were presented with good authentic Chinese dishes and enough sweet dose for the night.

All of these were my brother treats to me... I was the thrifty one so I technically didn't fight so hard when he chased me to paying for the foods... so yeah all the pounds that I hoped I lost in Utah when we went into a week of intensive work out before I left for California were carelessly thrown into the air because of these delicious foods.

Thanks so so much Apot... till next time. love you... take care.

Kicking Off Summer 2011 @ Pansol, Laguna

2011-03-09T19:07:00.009+08:00

Pansol, Laguna is known for its abundance of hot springs resorts.... really they're practically all over every streets... and this is where we kicked off 2011 Summer Season - two resorts in one weekend =)

JC Manzano

www.jcmanzano.com

Our team had grown so big from the past year and I appreciate being a part of this boisterous group. I could say that now I'm finally home again being a part of a big group since my last one was 6 years ago.

Fun do really come most of the time from the younger generation hehehe... I couldn't imagine that the junior members in our group have so much creativity in them! For the past two grand team buildings, they'd exerted so much effort and passion in making sure everybody had fantastic time...they'd always been awarded CP points for their much deserved brilliance =).

We're supposed to go to a 50% discounted promo at one of the high-end resorts in Antipolo but after missing the deadline due to work schedule, our assigned venue-finder narrowed down our choices to two resorts - one in Laguna and one in Cavite. JC Manzano was the one in Laguna and was recommended by our manager. After having a list of activities to do in the resort, majority voted for JC Manzano in Pansol, Laguna.

THE GOODS

- Perfect for team building - lots of activities to do, fully-furnished, private
It was definitely a perfect choice for our first overnight team building activity. We couldn't do an overnight when the group was still small so this is absolutely one of the great perks of having many members as the budget would be enough for us ~12pax. We rented JC Manzano 1 for Php8000 and the place is very convenient for the size of our group... there are two rooms with double decker beds. The boys beat us to the room with a CR =p. Girl's room can fit 6 people and there is another CR and another shower room in the first floor. Place was furnished with a stove, refrigerator, some utensils and we're even able to borrow knife from the caretakers to cut our green mangoes with. There are billiards, videoke and a hot steamy pool all for our entertainment.

We were able to grill hotdogs with marshmallows and some chicken but most foods were bought outside for our convenience. Lucky our manager treated us for dinner and we had some budget from our late funds so we didn't chip in any other expenses.

We first played a bunny something game which is a creative variation of bato-bato pick for the group, then song charade that made all really rowdy when Volt couldn't get his team to guess "Born to be Wild" after so much crazy acting harharhar, a swim relay with a kick then a final activity for one of the team's leads Cling who will be leaving us so our time was made even more memorable when each of us was asked to give something that will make her remember us (a tear-jerker). I was happy again I was able to share my faith =)=)=). My apprentice was the one in charge of the food and he made us eat with our hands in banana leaves - standing room only hehehe.

- Warm, Steamy Pool
Very soothing and relaxing. Not too deep as well... only 5 feet deep.

Cling brought in different kind of liquors so while everybody was drinking, some of us were singing our hearts out in videoke and some were playing billiards. I was able to leave around 2am since most were just drinking anyway and I'm not a drinker so I can be with my family who checked-in at a different resort two streets away. I was told most didn't sleep that day and some got really drunk c";)

RockPoint

www.rockpointhotel.com

Since I will be in Laguna and I knew that hot springs have healing elements for the skin, I thought to ask my husband if they wanted to come too. We're both shy to imposed them to the rest of the team though so we searched for an affordable and child-friendly resort nearby. Dada arranged everything for this trip and I'm pretty proud he got exactly what I would have pick myself.

THE GOODS

- Clean, homey and courteous staff
- Variety of things to do

They have 3 pools, gym, spa, restaurant, and meditation area.

Baywatch Model (Puwede?!)

-Affordable accommodation
Our standard accommodation Php1700 + Php400 for extra adult person had free breakfast already and restaurant is just near the lobby... very convenient.

There's also a huge bathtub in our room. We're only expecting a standard size but we're pleasantly surprised that the three of us can fit into the bathtub. Yonky already had a grand time just in that bathtub alone.

THE BADS
- Outdoor Jacuzzi isn't in working condition
They're no longer filling up the outdoor jacuzzi and we were already told about this when we asked in the phone since that was one of its selling point to us but when we saw that it was just left bare in the open, my husband told me to post it here that "it's really too bad they don't maintain it anymore"

- Kiddie play area is no longer available
Good thing Yonky was easy to please and enjoyed himself in the gym while we were working out but nevertheless, it would be nice if they could put this back for those busy parents out there who wanted to relax with their kids in the same place.

- The steamy hot spring water falls was opened late.
I was expecting an equally steamy and soothing pool just like in JC Manzano's but was disappointed that even though the water was warm it was lacking the hot spring feel. We were already swimming for about an hour when the steamy waterfall was opened and by the time I returned to the room it was only able to make the small area near the stone wall jacuzzi-like while the rest of the pool was left in an unappealing mediocre warmness.

All of us enjoyed the trip both in our team activities and in our family weekend getaway and we will definitely come back to Pansol (probably try other resorts too) since it is just near Manila. My first visit was when we had our first block outing during our first year in college 12 years ago...I hope it wouldn't take that long again to come back here hehehe.

Madz's Wedding @ Aberdeen Court

2011-03-01T00:10:00.000+08:00

These are my CRT/Launch-Now Accenture barkada at my kumareng Madz's wedding before Christmas =). We all don't look our age huh?! hehehe. We shared a special bond because all of us had to endure a week of overtime (not just ordinary overtime mind you, but overtime till dawn) every other month's releases to conduct rigorous end-to-end testing. Most of us move to different teams like development before we got out of the project but all of our teambuildings those days were out of town overnight trips so we kinda get used to each other's habits, quirkiness and truly had happy moments. We're lunch mates too and every Friday we hunt eating spots in Glorieta/Greenbelt area and usually extend our lunch hours till 230pm. Oh, how we loved to walk during those times... something I'm kinda missing in my current work.

Among all of them, I was pretty close to Mano and Madz and Madz is the one and only friend I'd ever invited to sleep in our house here in Manila. She's a batangueña as well so we immediately clicked. She's with me in the car during those times that I got lost driving from work past midnight after overtime and I shared the gospel with her in the car as well. I admired her a lot because she took good care of her tatay until he passed away. My papa even gave me remarks when he found out from their conversation that Madz has been providing and giving allowance to her dad and wanted me to do the same which of course I didn't do because I knew they will not value it since they don't need it as they have more money than I do, right?... right!

I am happy my CRT friends still has some form of communication thanks to FB and for still being in Accenture albeit in different projects and office locations. I still haven't yet found the same bond that I had with them with any of my new colleagues at work... so yeah I don't easily warm up to people and I miss having them around me daily just to keep me smile. They could make me smile even if I'm sooo maldita c";)

We had a launchnow/APS reunion prior to the wedding so Madz was able to give the invitation formally even though she already invited us in FB.

Aberdeen Court

The Great Eastern Hotel, Makati Avenue

www.greateasternhotelmanila.com

The foods served to us during reception at Aberdeen Court were great... A-OK - bird's nest soup, yang chow fried rice, cold cuts, and other usual Chinese lauriat dishes. It was served to us VIP style per table...so convenient and so plenty. Location choice was also perfect, friends' work schedules and office location were considered so I knew she wanted us there on her wedding =) I didn't even have to file a leave and just ask permission to return late so I could finish the celebration.

It was a two-story reception area which I would not mind if there's big screen and good sound system at the second level so the guests could see the happenings below where the bride and groom were seated. It was easy to guess though that the Great Eastern Hotel cater to multiple weddings because of their great food and service(di ka mapapahiya sa guests) and because that day alone there's also another wedding taking place in the building which we almost mistook as Madz's until we saw the motif.

GOD BLESS MR. and MRS. SOBERANO! LOVE LOTS

Food Trips Jan 2011 @ Cafe Ben-a-Bien, Buffalo Wings 'N Things and Mister Kebab

2011-02-26T14:00:00.106+08:00

Cafe Ben-A-Bien

N. Domingo, San Juan

We always pass by this place on our way home from church... so one night when we're craving for some foods(we always do so by the way... that's something my husband and I are in soo much agreement, so much so we're having a difficult time to go on a diet =p). Cafe Ben-A-Bien is a small cozy cafe near our home. It's not very crowded when we went there and we're pretty surprised by the quality of the food because the price range is really cheap Php 100-200.

My husband ordered the baby back ribs while I got the best crunchy chicken in teriyaki sauce. Our eyes twinkled when we tasted the foods both thinking the same thing that we now don't need to go far when we wanted affordable and tasty treats.

Buffalo Wings N' Things

Metrowalk Ortigas

get.buffaloed

We felt so bad when the Greenhills branch closed that I immediately surfed the net for other branches... I couldn't believe such amazing buffalos will just be gone and I am right. I found a branch near our church so immediately after church service our whole family went there for some sumptuous finger buffalo yumminess =)

Triple Sample was ordered right away wherein I got two orders of my favorite Garlic Parmesan(dada can't complain hehehe) and one order of his New York's Finest for Php365 plus some dirty rice for all of us... even Yonky got to eat the semi-spicy mexican rice=).

Still highly recommended... finger licking good!

Mister Kebab

West Avenue, QC

Mister Kebab has been an all-time favorite during my pregnancy every after my monthly checkup with my OBY-GYN in St. Lukes but we haven't visited their new place when they moved to a bigger location since I gave birth. So you could just imagine the excitement on my husband's face. It was after all him that introduced me to this place.

We only usually order Beef Keema with Eggplant, Special Beef Kebab and Special Chicken Kebab... but we got Shawarma with Rice for Yaya Juvy.

We consumed even more extra calories from the margarine on our rice and showering everything with their delicious sauces tsk tsk tsk hehehe. Bon Appétit Dada!

Volunteerism

2011-02-22T23:16:00.001+08:00

This is it... finally had my first day of orientation through GUIDE (Guided and Unified Interaction for the Development of Children Inc.) last February 20, 2011.

You see, I always have a soft spot for kids and old people. And in my experience, most kids always gravitate towards me. My mom would kid me that it's because the kids probably think I'm at their level because I'm baby-face and/or because of my height (I already stopped growing at grade5 after suffering from Kawasaki measles). When I was a kid, I used to dream of owning hectares and hectares of land...not for personal benefit and fame but to donate it to the less fortunate families... that I would give each family enough capital and seedlings of crops for them to be able to start anew... because it kills me that old people in our community are still doing heavy farming work.

When I was in college, I joined Kythe - an organization in Ateneo that do volunteer playtime, storytelling and bonding to children with cancer in East Avenue Medical Center, to help alleviate their pain and put smiles on their faces. In the end, I learned more from them than they did with me. Those pediatric cancer patients had sooo much strength! This was after my mom got full remission from breast cancer. You see we come from a family of "bukol" as my relatives and aunts would say... I'm no exception because I was required to have annual breast ultrasound... so I have passion serving cancer patients too. After my first Christian retreat in college, I was awakened that I do want community work... just too bad my mom wanted me to take on Pharmacy instead of Nursing as pre-med (when I knew from the start I couldn't stand the smell of medicines so I didn't pursue the course even if I passed the entrance exams at two of the best medical schools in the country) and also we got into so much drama when I told her I wanted to shift to Psychology at my second year in college... I could have been a compassionate doctor.

Still, after years and years of corporate work... I'm still restless(my mom still appear clueless and blames me... so parents might I just suggest to let your children decide what they wanted... don't influence, don't impose authority, don't kill their enthusiasm... just guide and give the pros and cons, I know I would).

I believe God created me for a cause not just confined in the four corners of the office with people only paying attention because they wanted something from you(but otherwise could potentially be talking snide remarks at your back) nor at the four corners of our house where love exudes but application could still extend further. My desire for continuous learning didn't help... I want and I need to enrich my knowledge constantly or I would go crazy...hence I couldn't stand admin and repetitive tasks even if the pay could be higher... I know it will not make me happy. Last year, I pursued culinary, this year I planned to know more about kids with special needs and on how I can be of help so I took the orientation and volunteers training.

*****

"Understanding and Management of

Children with Disabilities"

Feb 20 - March 27, 2011
Eulogio Rodriguez Integrated School, Mandaluyong City

At the start of orientation, we answered 7 questions that would identify what kind of helpers we are: altruistic, egoistic, or simply unhelpful. By number 6, I got two scores each....then the GUIDE founder Kuya Jherrie went to the next page so I wasn't sure what my final assessment was... so "bitin" - egoistic or altruistic? Altruistic helper would require nothing in return and wouldn't broadcast the deeds he/she does because helping itself would suffice and would give him/her joy.

Kuya Jherrie wanted us to only call everyone else either kuya or ate because he wanted to model what the kids would call us at camp without explicitly instructing them to use kuya or ate. Something that I absolutely agree to because that's something we're practicing at home to properly model to our son proper manners. Topics such as Volunteerism, Psychology of Helping, Caregiving, and Multiple Intelligence were discussed. I understood that this desire of mine was instilled early on with us raised in an environment where my mom is always helping people in need as it was taught that helping could be genetic. I also found out that my area of expertise Logical-Mathematical is pretty boring (just in my opinion) in kids' camp world because teaching it at camp is only through activities like connecting the dots, puzzle, pattern making or lining up... I'm much interested to improve on bodily-kinesthetic, visual-spatial, or existential intelligence (now those sounds a lot more fun) =). These concepts only convinced me all the more that our decision to homeschool or send our son to non-traditional learning like our neighbor's sons is the best approach because kids have different ways of grasping information which our 3rd world country educational system unfortunately doesn't yet support either due to lack of funds, resources or support.

What struck me the most in this whole day volunteerism orientation is Kuya Edmund and his testimony. He is special yet he has been volunteering for 5 years already and he's graduating from HS this year! I was floored and felt guilty. I challenge myself and also you... why CAN'T WE do the same when we're normal and have all the resources and skills to volunteer? I bet any excuse you can come up with will just appear pathetic in light of Kuya Edmund's dedication.

Come Join us then every Sunday... and after 6 weeks decide if you're ready for the 10 day Summer Camp at Tayabas, Quezon to personally take care, teach, learn from and love one special kid.

How I Love Autumn

2011-02-17T22:30:00.005+08:00

Autumn?!... only loved it from the movie "Autumn in New York" before I experienced it for the first time in the US.

It was really funny that when my teammates in the US asked me what I wanted to do while I was there, I just said I wanted to ski hahahaha and they just stared at me with blank faces =p. When I inquired them days after what places we could go to to maximize our stay since it was not snowing yet, a teammate mentioned Snowbird...

Teammate: "you should try the tram in Snowbird"
Mei: "but there is still no snow"
Teammate: "even better... at this time, you'll see the trees changing color...it's just so beautiful. We'll be married this time next year because it's starting to get cold and we both love how the color of the trees changes during Autumn"

@Sugarhouse Park

Autumn or Fall's prominent tree color change wasn't very obvious at where we're staying in Utah though but even if I was not searching for it consciously, I still found some good places in some of my trips.

In Grand Teton, I saw my first good cluster of beautiful trees at different stage of their "yellowness". I couldn't resist the urge to pose ala Koreana harharhar.

I thought at first that Autumn was already soooo cold I couldn't possibly stand Winter (at least in Utah Autumn is super cold in the mornings and at night) but as I look back, the weather when I was there was just so perfect. We had comfortable, sweat-free mornings.... bearable sun at lunch... and relaxing coolness in the evenings.

So, I really enjoyed our day out at Sugarhouse Park just a few minutes from the apartment when we ran out of road trips to go to.

Sugarhouse is just so movie-perfect autumn location! - great for me too coz I so love taking pictures!

Now my brother, being a Californian and all, hasn't yet seen a perfect Fall season because there you could only distinguish the season through a good Baguio-like weather all through out the day. So when we went to our Reno-Tahoe trip, he was just so excited and amazed whenever we see some reddish, yellowish trees, I couldn't help but feel excited too... too bad we only enjoyed it for a day before the blizzard kicked in.

Autumn, autumn how I love thee...and how I wish Philippines can have autumn all throughout the year.

FOR RENT: One Bedroom Condo - Prime Spot

2011-02-15T17:00:00.014+08:00

***This might be an overdue post, but I decided to still write about it as we're saving up for our son's future =) *** THANK YOU GOD and THANK YOU MOM

We're renting out a one-bedroom condo unit in a new SM Development - MEZZA RESIDENCES.

The unit is already fully furnished and since it's a new development, you don't have to worry about any deteriorating part of the building yet. It's located in a prime spot location at the heart of Sta. Mesa - walking distance to SM City Sta. Mesa, UERM, CCP, and LRT2 V. Mapa Station. Save More grocery, other restaurants like Starbucks and Mann Hann among others, laundry, salon and water shops, and banks are located just on the business ground level. Other parts of Metro Manila are accessible through PUVs that regularly pass through Araneta Avenue and Aurora Boulevard.

The condo unit area is just cozy enough for a starting or small family. As a policy and to avoid any inconvenience on our part, we require a one year commitment for those who want to rent.

In return, we assure you of a comfortable lifestyle through Mezza's condotel amenities - daily dip in the pool which are being cleaned everyday, hotel-like and high-end lobby for your guests, jogging and walking area...and eventually a gym =).

Feel free to leave me a comment if you have questions.

40 Days of Love

2011-02-14T16:00:00.064+08:00

I decided to finally pursue my heart's desire to go into missions. To start, God gave me a way through my co-onshore assignee turned friend Gigi to go into Special Education (SPED) seminar which would start next Sunday and will end before Holy Week (such perfect timing! thank you God)... I felt this is truly God's answer to my prayers because at the same time, our church is also launching 40 Days of Love campaign which I believe would address my relationship and commitment issues and would allow me to have the right heart, attitude, patience, and compassion for missions work - in other words, to learn how to LOVE ... in JESUS' way.

This campaign originated from Saddleback Church, same church that launch the world renowned campaign - the Purpose Driven Life. Coincidentally the book that we're going to use entitled "The Relationship Principles of Jesus" was written by Tom Holladay - the person behind the podcast that I'm subscribed to in iTunes entitled Drive Time devotions which I'm also plugging in this blog.

Jesus said in Mark 12:29-31

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^[a] ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^[b] ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”

Why then... are divorce/annulment, broken families, teenage pregnancies, juvenile crimes and suicide so rampant? Why does 80% of resignations in organizations due to one's direct supervisors? Yup even here in the Philippines.

Hence the campaign tag line "We Were Made for Relationships"

Join us in this 40-day campaign by registering in a discussion group here. Our dgroup will hold ours every Saturday at St. Francis. For my friends and colleagues, if you're shy to join discussion groups with strangers and opt to discuss topics while having cooking bonding in our house, just ping me =).

GOD BLESS and hope we could all learn how to love properly. LOVE.LOVE.LOVE

HAPPY HAPPY VALENTINES!

HotAir Balloon Fiesta @ Clark Freeport

2011-02-11T16:50:00.005+08:00

HotAir Balloon Fiesta
Location: Air Force City, Clark Freeport, Angeles City Pampanga
Date: February 10-13, 2011

What a fun fun day under the sun =)

February last year, we tried to watch PyroMusical Competition...now it's HotAir Balloon.

We left at the wee hours of the morning. Yonky was sound asleep in the car which was a very good thing because by 5am we could no longer make him sleep. He's so excited by all the activities in the area. We got a very nice spot near the front and laid down our mat and picnic stuffs for us to chill as we wait for day break and the much awaited balloon flights.

And we're not disappointed. There were a lot of unique hotair balloons... even Darth Vader... so cool! The balloons were so pretty as each of them glided up in perfect blue skies.

Ticket cost is just Php150 each, bought from TicketNet which is soooo worth it because we were able to take home some freebies like photobooth souvenirs, visors, fans, umbrellas, two slurpee drinks each from 7-11 and we're able to bring in foods so we totally saved a lot of bucks...not to mention we had a blast from the show yipee yipee yey!

Yonky didn't mind the sun, I didn't mind the sun but I put sunblocks to us both... Dada on the other hand had known issues with sun and heat (...he gets cranky because his body has a really weird weird way of adapting to temperature changes...)...but in the end he enjoyed the different activities too because Yonky's eagerness was so contagious and the balloons and other aerial exhibitions got him awed.

We're not able to ride the hotair balloons though because we couldn't afford $150 per person per ride... and I totally envied the paragliders and skydivers...so awesome.. part of my goal since friendster days before I reach 30 is to do one...(clock is ticking).... next year perhaps??? hehehe

Yonky got so tired playing in the open field, seeing airplanes and balloons, posing for me, and doing some coloring from Crayola that he was knocked out before the car drifting started. We decided to go home then to allow him to have comfortable sleep in the car's air-conditioning. Yonky always comes first c";)

Let it Snow, Let It Snow

2011-02-02T22:47:00.001+08:00

I was able to accomplish 3 out of my four possible reasons of returning to the United States - saw and bonded with my brother Apot, shared the gospel with our carpool, and snowboarded in snow (well technically three if you could switch skiing with snowboarding =))

Some would call it lucky... but for me, I just felt so blessed. I thought I could only experience snow in my sidetrip with my brother that's why I begged him that we go to Tahoe but God gave me Autumn and then Winter too in Utah. After a year and so in Florida with merely hurricane and heat, all I ever wanted was to see snow when I came back in the US... I didn't care about Autumn... but never in my wildest dream would I appreciate and love Autumn more than snow (sorry...but that's the truth hehehe)... God's ways are just so amazing; He really knows best! I just felt soooooo humbled.

It's a must that we went to Snowbird on our last week in Utah since 3 of us never got a chance to tire and immerse ourselves with as much snow as we could yet and I was prepared to spend $100 for an instructor-led ski lesson and gear rentals but as fate would have it, I only spent less than 40 bucks (food and gas included) when the group decided to share the snowboard since ski lessons wasn't opened for the season yet. With snowboard we could easily share but I doubt if we could do that in ski since ski boots are way different.

I felt like a kid... giddy as the bus reached Snowbird, couldn't wait to go out and took some pictures for remembrance very early that morning. I immediately touched some snow, laid down on it, made snow angels but because I was freezing to death, I totally skipped making a snowman!

What a rush! Totally ignored all health-hazards and just seized the moment. Thank you God you kept me safe and you gave me friends that were not kill-joys hehehe c";)

It was an experience to remember no doubt thanks to the abundant kick of adrenaline rush from experiencing everything the first time which helped our bodies adapt to the pains too much exposure to snow could give(and it's really painful mind you, like your hands and face would be ripped out of you)... Okay... okay... so maybe I'm being extra-harsh (it's not like I don't like snow)...we were just not properly clothed with some ultra waterproof, stuffy, leathery materials. Nevertheless, I think it was still worth every risk even then.... Even after having body-aches 3 consecutive days after.

Afterall, how many could say that they'd experienced Autumn and Winter in a single onshore assignment? - not many I bet because I talked to those assigned there for 6 months and they'd missed Autumn or Winter while I was only there for a mere 6 weeks but still I got the best of both seasons.

I got all the snow, near-forstbites, bodyaches and snow pictures and videos that could last me a lifetime.

Our side-trip reminded me, on the other hand, that I need "to be careful on what I asked for"

I didn't just get snow... I even got blizzard.

Lake Tahoe is bordered by Nevada and California (two states in one location woohoo)

You would think that would prevent me from exploring...but nope better think again (I'm the major major lakwatsera according to my mom) so yeah... even though my brother was panicking that "we were going to die"....even I already felt nervous as the South Tahoe Express traversed snow storm from Reno on our way to Montbleu... still I made the most of our side-trip snowbound and all =p (more of our adventures and misadventures in my next posts when I found the time).

For those who didn't know my brother... he is just the most wonderful, jolly, life-of-the-party kind of guy (pag walang sumpong hehe.. love you Apot) and he is my protector. We always have Ate but ate has the most responsibilities and she's a disciplinarian while Apot and I are on an entirely different level.... we both don't want to stay here in the Philippines and we both want to explore the world and make a stamp of ourselves uniquely without influence and pressure from our parents. Everyone in the family knows he's my favorite and with our side-trip, he again proved just how much he loves me too.

I'm more aggressive and has stronger personality than my brother (he's a bit of a sissy when it comes to riding roller coasters =p) and he's sometime afraid of risky trips so for him to be able to accompany me despite ultra bad weather and even arranging for a taxi(when I opted to walk to save $10) so I could finally see with satisfaction the famous lake itself in Lake Tahoe was just so adoring.

and here it is.... amidst inches and inches of snow I got what I came there to do.

Thanking God time and again for all His wonderful blessings and beautiful creations.

Love & Other Drugs

2011-02-01T09:01:00.000+08:00

from watchloveandotherdrugs.com

There's a lot i dont understand about life you meet thousands of people and met one person and your life has change

I wanted to watch Love & Other Drugs ever since I saw the trailer when I was in the US. I mentioned this to my husband then but due to being separated from the world after being sick, fasting week, a very disappointing the Tourist from Angelina Jolie and only watching IMORTAL, starworld, lifestyle, velvet and national geographic on some days... I lost track of its showing date here in the Philippines.

Good thing dada was in the loop and he informed me but since I was in training and most of the time were dismissed around 3pm starting Thursday, I informed him we could watch in Gateway on Friday night instead so we could spend the weekend with our son.

I was shocked with the first few "liberal" scenes of Love & Other Drugs because I am a prude (...not for those with gentle sensibilities and I'd like to think since they'd already worked together in Brokeback Mountain together, the lead stars had gotten more comfortable with each other on this one)... but it's so hard not to love the characters of Jamie (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) and Maggie (played by Anne Hathaway)... really my cup of tea. I was instantly swooped into the world where LOVE is the most powerful of all - a known chick-boy falling in love with an exquisite woman with Parkinson's disease which the movie was able to bring into light in a not so serious but still effective context.

My husband couldn't stop laughing too... I guess you could say he was immensely entertained by Jamie's younger brother Josh's antics which was played by Josh Gad - a geeky, chubby guy with a sexual maturity of a boy on the verge of puberty. Not to mention my husband could relate with the scenes because he's currently a med-rep (or a pharmaceutical salesman as the movie puts it).

You'd think it's all about laughs but the best is yet to come right before the end (got teary-eyed as the scene punched me straight in the heart)... with a final scene fading away on the gorgeous angelic face of Maggie... I just loved it, wanted to watch it again.

TWO THUMBS UP!!!

My Childhood Friend's Wedding @ The Glass Garden

2011-01-29T13:34:00.002+08:00

The Glass Garden

Pasig, QC, Marikina Border

theglassgarden.com.ph

My childhood friend Gretel (or Tingsi as most of us close to her call her) wedded the love of her life Xave last November 29, 2010 in a Christian Ceremony officiated by CCF Pastor Pastor Robi. Tingsi was such a gorgeous bride...ever since we were little she already has some resemblance to Winona Ryder and as a bride she was even more blooming =).

I've known Tingsi practically my whole life and she's more like a sister and though we seldom see each other ever since we studied in different schools when we started college in Manila, we still fell on easy conversations when we do see each other in family gatherings. Our families are very close friends and when we were younger my siblings and I slept in their house or she and her siblings slept in our house when our parents had mahjong sessions in our houses hehehe.

Her mom is Ate's ninang and my mom is her brother's ninang and Tingsi is Yonky's ninang; Tingsi and I were most of the time classmates from kinder to 4th yr HS except for 3yrs in elementary and 1yr in HS when she studied in different schools; and My brother and her sister were also batchmates for even longer duration. In fact we match those two but they're in two different worlds right now (Apot in US, Apple in MiddleEast)... hopefully they'll still end up together someday.

Starting our Grade 6, when my sister and I moved to a different town to study, Tingsi, her siblings Apple, DJ, Sonson plus Ate, me, Apot along with other family friends Kmae and later on Chammy stayed in a single townhouse apartment near our Chinese school. We'd also been in some mischiefs together when we were young... the fun days =)

What more... Tingsi's grandmother was one of the people that helped my mom when she's still starting to venture into business. For that alone, our lives are already intertwined before we were even born.

I was still jet-lagged that day from my US trip, so pardon me if I wasn't able to take-in all the details.

The Wedding

Their wedding was held in Glass Garden near Marikina. It's pretty far from our house so we had to leave early because my parents and my son were part of the entourage.

(added this one after Futsa's comment on FB) We trained Yonky to walk months before the wedding and he was in the mood to walk too but then the sound-system got cranky (and he's really scared of firecracker sounding effects) so Dada in the end had to drag him gently to the podium and when Yonky saw his grandparents who were already in the front, he was able to finally reach the ceremony area. Good thing, the rings weren't attached to his pillow thingy and was already being kept secure by the bestman =)

They are a big clan so there are a lot of guests plus her mom is like my mom who likes to invite lots of people too. In fact I was the only one there from our HS and Elementary batch, yet there were still lots of people most of them relatives and acquaintances. Some of my aunts were invited by her mom too because they grew up together in our small town.

The Place

It's a pretty garden wedding on a perfect weather.

If I can have one complaint, it was probably that the projector screen wasn't place in a more dim area because I had a difficult time viewing the AVP made by DJ containing our childhood pics. I didn't know who their photographer was but I saw Tingsi got tagged by Jay Jay Lucas in facebook with perfect capture of the wedding moments. Jay Jay Lucas always have Bible verses in his albums and blogs so I like him hehehe.

Caterer was Josiah's and food was great as always... lots of appetizer and set-up had different buffet area for salads, coffee, and soups so those who were already super hungry but weren't called-in yet (picture with the couple first before you can queue in the main courses buffet) for the main course still had something to eat while waiting for their turn.

Ceremony was held in the same place so the front was initially setup "church-style" for the entourage then later on also converted to 10-per-table set-up. For us who were not part of the entourage, we were already seated in our eating table assignment. For ate's wedding I think she was able to get a discount at her venue to have separate place for the ceremony and the reception so there would be no re-arranging after.

The Couple

Very noticeable was the couple's aura (and I've been to a lot of weddings already)... they're both super relax and happy, very rarely have I seen this in weddings. It was so relax there are laughing bouts in the ceremony itself c";) Hope all weddings would be like that and hope theirs could last a lifetime.

GOD BLESS TINGSI AND XAVE... with both of your awesome faith in GOD, I know He'll guide you throughout the ride.

Love lots c";)