As We Face FOREVER

star quality :-)

2009-08-28T21:46:00.003+08:00

birth announcement

2009-08-19T22:37:00.002+08:00

Where is Garie?

2009-08-14T14:36:00.003+08:00

Garie's actual crib. Linens, pillows and bolsters by yours truly. KInareer ko tlga pananahi while waiting for her arrival :p

It has been ages since my last post. Sorry for not making the tags and droppin’ by your blog to drop a note or a comment and say thank you for visiting our site. Just been busy preparing for Garie’s coming, include to that laziness as well. Hehe. A lot of milestones and stories have transpired during my silence. I do hope I could catch up soon . . . Let me share with you today what I believe will mark a very special moment in our lives . . .

It’s Aug 14, 2009 today. Tomorrow will mark a new beginning in our lives as husband and wife. We'll be facing parenthood. We are expecting Garie’s arrival tomorrow. After 9 months of waiting . . . finally, she’s coming! Just in time for the Feast of Our Lady of the Assumption :-)

A few hours from now – we’ll be leaving the house, drop by the mall and then off to the hospital. Hubby and I decided that I’ll be under going induce labor since I am already 3 days overdue per LMP. I am not feeling any labor pains and my cervix is still closed. It ripens but never opens. As in 0cm. I do not know why my cervix behavior is like this, even when I went thru DNC 2 years ago. Hoping that induce labor will work, I do not want to undergo c-section.

We do hope and pray for safe and healthy baby garie and delivery. Good luck to us!

Bye for now . . . upcoming birth announcement and birthing story :p

It's My Birthday & Our Anniversary!

2009-05-27T08:23:00.005+08:00

It's my 29th birthday today! Happy Birthday to me and Happy 2nd Year Anniversary to us. Hehe.

We do not have any grand plans today, not only because I am pregnant but because of budget contraints. Hehe. We just shed out 10% additional DP for the house, then we are also preparing for our baby's coming as well as her things plus the house customization, aesthetic and furnitures. Hay ang daming gastos. But it's okay hindi naman sa kung saan lng mapupunta eh. It's for our future and baby's future as well.

Hubby and I started the day hearing the 6am mass at NSDG were we exchanged vows 2 years ago. Afterwards, we had bfast at McDo then off to office. Tonight we'll be having simple dinner somewhere at Shangrila, maybe CPK or Claw Daddy. Bahal na were our taste buds will bring us.

Oh we might also have simple get together with the Dizon's & Rodriguez' at Pampanga, pag uwi nmin sa June 6. As usual, I cook for the family and they always watch out for new dishes. Hehe.

Thanks babi for the nice white gold earrings! Love you so much! Happy Anniversary!

Working from home

2009-05-07T13:18:00.002+08:00

I so love this set up. Morning rush is not in my vocabulary. I do not need to wake up early to prepare our baon, our office attire, myself and transport to office.

As I wake up in the morning, my breakfast is already ready. Then I take a bath (office attire not needed, kahit ano na lng. hehe.) and then work starts via remote access. After a few hours lunch is served followed by siesta then work again then snacks, work again then dinner. Hehe. I do not have to think what I shall eat. Every meal is readily available courtesy of mommy. This is the beauty of staying and working from home.

Aside from the fact that I can save some money for food, transpo and time I can even concentrate well in my work. Though the environment is not very office, aircon turned off, e-fan is enough since my room is well ventilated. I can even feel the natural air from the swaying trees, hear the rain fall on the window pane and hear the humming birds when the sun is shinning. Good thing, I am not magnetized by the bed else hindi na ako nka work. Hehe

Amidst all this benefits, I am missing hubby so much.

So near yet so far

2009-05-07T13:16:00.001+08:00

Hubby and I are both in Pampanga for two weeks (May 4-15). He’s at Angeles City conducting training while I am at home, Sta. Ana (my hometown) on a work from home basis.

I have arranged the work from home basis since no one will accompany me at our place and I know for sure that I will be having a hard time in terms of transportation specially now that it is already rainy season though office and our place is merely 15 mins drive.

Home based working is never a practice in our office, good thing they permitted me to do so – since no one will support my users and I am handling 3 major projects that will be put on hold if ever they won’t allow me. So they have no choice but to allow me. Hehe.

Though we are both in Pampanga, roughly around 30 km far apart we don’t see each other and we don’t sleep together, we seldom exchange SMS and we just talk via phone before the night ends. He works up until the wee hours of the morning and needs to wake up early. That’s why he need to stay and rest at the hotel instead of 2 hour drive to and off work.

Oh how I miss hubby. He is so busy. We are so busy kung kelan pa naman preggy ako. Anyway, I understand we are both in the field of IT and of the consulting application. Sometimes wala ginagawa paminsan naman tambak tlga. Hay work life.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2009-04-29T08:54:00.003+08:00

It's my dad 60th birthday today! Certified senior citizen ka na. Hehe.

We may not be around celebrating his birthday today but this coming long weekend (May 1-2)we'll have an out of town trip / outing at Coral View Resort at Morong, Bataan. I find it very exciting since it is our first family out of town. Imagine that!

I just do hope that everybody will have a great time. If not sisihin ko sarili ko as the head planner. Hehe.

I'll post pictures and some kwentos after the event!

Happy birthday dad! We love you!

GD Free

2009-04-29T08:43:00.002+08:00

Yey! I am GD free. I really worked hard and prayed for this. All the dieting and sugar sacrifices are worth it! Congrats to myself. Hehe.

But this doesn't mean that I should skip diet. I still need to, so as GD will not reoccur. I know and I strongly believe that I can make it. That's the spirit. Hehe.

I got GD

2009-04-14T17:53:00.003+08:00

Again, I didn’t pass the 2nd OGTT (Oral Glucose Tolerance Test) last April 4. This test requires 8 hours fasting + 4 hours during the actual test. It was again drinking that super sweet concentrate medical orange juice (but this time in a bigger dosage) that made me dizzy and almost puke. Then every after hour for 4 times - a prick will be done from my finger for blood sample.

Out of the 4 blood sample, 2 of which are positive. I actually forgot the result values. This means I am positive to (Gestational Diabetes) GD. For the meantime, OB asked me to diet, since no oral medicine can cure GD. I am now only allowed to eat ½ cup of white rice/ 1 cup of brown rice per meal, veggie, fish, chicken w/o the skin and some selected not so sweet fruits.

It’s really hard to diet when pregnant. I sometimes feel sad not being able to eat the food I want or not satisfied with the meal w/ small serving. Anything and all the best for Baby R, I am very willing to sacrifice and discipline myself.

I’ll have another round of test this coming Saturday, my 3rd screening. This is to check if GD is gone or if I need to inject insulin. I really hope not.

After all the dieting and almost no sugar intake. I guess I need to diet more. I can't really believe that I got GD.

House Update #04: Ang Pagbuhos

2009-04-03T16:39:00.008+08:00

It's been a while since my last post re our house construction. Why? Wala kasing progress for the past 3 mos. How I wanted na mkipag away sa Camella and contractor because they don't deliver on time. Hubby and my parents prohibited me from doing so dhil daw bka paglaruan ang quality ng house. Dapat daw maging mabait at bolabolahin, kung pwede nga daw suhulan, suhulan. Hehe.

Anyways, finally the construction begun 3rd week of March. So it's very impossible that we can move by May, they're new target is July - which will be the turn over month. How I wish we can move out before I give birth, pero parang it's impossible :(

The foundation and footings or what they call "buhos" commenced last April 1 at around 4PM wherein the scheduled time is 11:30 AM. Na pa whole day leave tuloy kmi ni hubby instead na half day lng sana. We wanted to witness the "buhos" because we believe in the pamahiin na magsabog ng coins during the "buhos" proper, pampaswerte and for abundant life daw. This has been a practice in our family, everytime na may papaconstruct/renovate sa house nmin we do this . . . ok naman ang buhay nmin, hindi naman kmi naghirap or nagutom. Hehe. Pero ung pagsabog salt hindi na kmi naniwala dun para di daw kmi multuhin or aswangin - we will have it blessed naman. Hehe.

It was hubby who did mostly the pagsabog ng coins. He didn't permit me to roam around the small construction, mabato kasi bka daw madapa ako, my role was maging amuyong at photographer lng. Kundi lng ako buntis malamang sinamahan ko pa ung mga construction workers magbuhos. Cowboy here. Hehe.

The sun was really striking hard that day, pero nung actual buhos na umambon then right after umaraw ulit, ang galing! Nakakatuwa. We consider it as a blessing tlga :)

After 3 days . . . this is their accomplishment, not bad. We were actually with our free of charge consultant. Hehe. Archi Jowette (my HS friend)

Though the construction is delayed hubby and I are still happy to see na ang pinaghirapan nmin is turning now into reality.

Friendly blogger award

2009-03-31T13:42:00.005+08:00

"Let's Spread the Spirit of Friendship to all the Blogosphere all over the World."

Here are the rules for this award :

1. Take a Photo or install one now.

- There goes my photo @ 19 weeks pregnant. Wuaaaahh! My nose is getting bigger. Nag iiba na face features ko.

2. Do not change clothes, do not comb the hair, the main image is to be captured (we want to see the real you...hehehe..)

Thanks Carla for the award. I am sharing this award to Mari, Sharlyn and Eds.

Best Ever Foot Spa

2009-03-30T13:38:00.003+08:00

I had the best foot spa ever last night. No, it wasn’t done in a very posh spa saloon. It was just a simple home spa. What made it very special and best of all - is that because hubby did the soaking, scrubbing and massaging. Believe it or not! Hehe.

It was two thumbs up, though it was his first time to do it. All the calluses and dead skin cells were removed. Galing!

Thanks babi for the best foot spa service ever. Sana next time my free pedicure na. Haha. Love you!

Gestational Diabetes???

2009-03-30T11:54:00.001+08:00

I had another round of pre-natal check up last Saturday, March 28, 2009. It’s my 3rd check up for the month. Good to know that I am UTI free, yey! On the other side, we learned that I might have gestational diabetes.

I took the oral glucose tollerance test (drinking a 240 ml medical orange juice that is so sweet, eiiiwww!), after an hour the medical technologist took a blood sample from my finger then did the sugar test into the strip on a digital device. To our dismay the result is 195 mg/dl that is 50 mg/dl higher than the normal values (80-145 mg/dl). I didn’t pass the first screening. Aside from that, I again gained 4.4 lbs in just two weeks. Whuuaaat! I can’t really believe this is happening - after all the dieting and almost no sugar intake. Hay.

Next Saturday (April 4), we’ll be visiting OB again for further blood test to check my sugar level.

Hungry for sugar

2009-03-27T15:58:00.003+08:00

I do not have a sweet tooth, but I hunger for sugar these past few days. When I learned that I have a positive sugar result through my urine exam – I am staying away from it.

My sugar source would only come from low fat milk, wheat bread, brown rice, some veggies and not that sweet fruits. So far I can still say no when they offer me ice cream and donuts here at the office and I am congratulating myself. Job well done. Hehe. Anything for baby and for healthy pregnancy! I hope I can manage to say no until I give birth dahil takot ako magka gestational diabetes at ma CS.

I miss sweets already. Calling some of my favorites - FIC raspberry rapture or strawberry (this makes my headache disappear), my homemade buko pandan and mango tapioca. Hmmm . . . yummy!

Alone

2009-03-27T15:56:00.001+08:00

I was alone for two nights, last night and the other night. Though I used to stay by my self when I was still single, but it is different this time. It is my first time to stay home alone, go to and off work since I became pregnant. It was hard for me because I have been very depended to hubby lately. Good thing hubby is going back tonight from his business trip, just in time for tomorrow’s check up. Yey!

Night 1: I hard a very hard time going home with officemate Lor, because of the heavy rain and traffic. Ang susuplado ang mga taxi drivers. It took us an hour to get a cab – which was far longer than our 15 mins trip. When I got home I just kept myself busy doing some house stuffs until I feel like sleeping.

Night 2: Good thing I am not the nervous type of person and I was positive enough to fight the aches I felt. Backache, abdominal pain and knee pains – which made me, rest early last night. I even chilled in the wee hours of the morning and I cannot get up to switch off the aircon. Normally, hubby does that for me and hugs me tight to fight the chill.

I hope I won’t experience being alone again during my pregnancy stage, no matter how brave you are, I believe it is still not good to stay home alone specially at night. I hope no more business trips for hubby. Hay.

What to do?

2009-03-24T16:45:00.004+08:00

Hubby is living again tomorrow for a business trip and will be back on Friday night. It was just a few hours ago that their office decided that he shall leave tomorrow off to Naga (Mar 25-26), from airport straight to Sn Fernando, then to Olongapo (Mar 26-27).

We are not really prepared for this situation. Our dilemma is who will look over me at night? We do not have a helper, relatives or a friends that would be able to accompany me. Is it safe for me to stay alone at night? I snore and dreams (I sometimes get mad or screams) at night/morning since I got pregnant . . . .

We can not go home to Pampanga tonight (and do my work from home thingy until Friday) since hubby needs to be at the airport tomorrow at 5:30 AM.

Last week (Mar 17-20) hubby was on a business trip also but we didn't have a hard time thinking were shall I stay since his trip was all the way to north only, Pangasinan, Iligan to name a few. So he dropped me off at home (Pampanga) and stayed with my parents, then he goes to north.

As of now, we do not have plans yet. What shall we do?

2 Prenatal Check Ups for March, 1 more to go . . .

2009-03-24T15:24:00.006+08:00

My prenatal check up has been weekly (every Saturdays of March), Tita Bingle is closely monitoring my UTI, OMG! . . . . it's back and it's numerous plus a positive sugar. Whuuuuaaaahhh!

Prenatal Check Up #4 (Mar 14)

- Urinalysis round 4: UTI is back and it's 10-20 pus cells

- Believe it or not, I didn't gain any weight in a month though my tummy is a lot bigger than last month. I did a lil diet - though it's a bit hard for me, I still tried and it was a success. I had no whites (white rice & white bread) and I go for no sugar added juices, I didn't eat too much sweets, I sometimes only eat oatmel or multigrain cereals at night and it works.

- Aside from 8-10 glasses of water intake in a day, Amoxil and Isoxilan (both 3x a day) were prescribed for UTI; continued food supplement for daily vitamins dose.

Prenatal Check Up #5 (Mar 21)

-Urinalysis round 5: UTI is still present and its 5-20 pus cells, no improvement at all. Add into that postive sugar result. Hay. I hope this won't end to gestational diabetes.

- The 1 week window difference has been hard for me to diet or maintain my food intake since I stayed with my parents because hubby was on a business trip and no one will look over me. Mom loves to cook and dad loves to eat - so when I am at home we eat 3 full meals and 2 heavy snakcs. I guess the fresh pick yummy sweet mangoes, buko pandan and mango tapioca made the positive sugar result. Hay.

- Though we found out that I have UTI, this vist was really very touchy . . . for the first time we heard baby's heart bit using doppler (dati kasi we saw it via ultrasound). Though the bit sounds like a running horse I still find it cute, maiyak iyak nga ako eh hearing baby's heart bit. Hehe. We are glad to know that he is doing well - his/her heart rate range is 151 - 155 which is within the normal rate :)

- Again, aside from the 8-10 glasses of water a day, I continued my antibiotics - pero this time Cefalexin naman along with the Isoxilan (3x a day); Tita Bingle also prescribed the following medicines - Hemarate: Iron + Folic Acid in one - after breakfast, Omega 3 - after lunch and Calcium after dinner.

I do hope and pray this coming March 28 (Check Up #6), no more UTI and a negative sugar result.

Noblesse Oblige Award

2009-03-10T13:59:00.004+08:00

Thanks for the award Sha, sorry it took me ages to post it. Hmm . . . I am kinda busy here at the office, rushing some things.

This Award is presented to bloggers who display consistency in any one or a combination of these conditions:

1. The Blogger manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the nuances that pervades amongst different cultures and beliefs.
2. The Blog contents inspire; strives to encourage and offers solutions.
3. There is a clear purpose at the Blog; one that fosters a better understanding on Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Culture and Sciences and Beliefs.
4. The Blog is refreshing and creative.
5. The Blogger promotes friendship and positive thinking.

The Blogger who receives this award will need to perform the following steps:
1. Create a Post with a mention and link to the person who presented the Noblesse Oblige Award.
2. The Award Conditions must be displayed at the Post.
3. Write a short article about what the Blog has thus far achieved – preferably citing one or more older Post to support.
4. The Blogger must present the Noblesse Oblige Award in concurrence with the Award conditions.
5. The Blogger must display the Award at any location at the Blog.

I may not be that new to blogging but I still consider myself as a newbie since I am not that active. I fail to blog some other important milestones in our lives and some important matters that are worth sharing. Albeit inactive and not a good writer, I believe that I inspire other bloggers/readers and I know somehow someway they can grasp some info, and some helpful tips in my entries.

My uRinvited advertisement slideshow helped some of bride 2bs and groom 2bs find their invitation supplier and at the same time a new found cyber friend to consult on wedding things.

More changes . . . boy or girl?

2009-03-05T14:23:00.009+08:00

While the program is being debugged by our ABAP programmer, and while I wait for my turn to test it . . . blog muna ako re my pregnancy - the changes in me. Pampalipas oras. Hehe.

We are now on our 16th week of pregnancy. The 3rd week of my 2nd trimester. 24 weeks more to go. Ang tagal pa, naiinip na ako. Hehe. Can't wait to see, hug and kiss Baby R.

These past few days I noticed a lot of darkening in my body. Eiiiiiwwwww! Hate it! My neck and "batok" are starting to darken, with warts on the side pa. Para tuloy malibag ako. Kadiri. Good thing I have long hair to cover them. My office mate was even making fun of me, para ko daw ibinilad sa araw ang leeg at batok ko. Hmp! Not only my leeg and batok are darkening include to that the singit of my nose (which is also getting bigger) and other parts of the body. Hay . . . kailangan ba tlgang ganito pag buntis? Are these signs na we are having a baby boy? Sana. Hehe.

Aside from the darkening thingy, I am now conscious on how I look particularly with my hair, skin and nails. I make sure that I always have a good hair day, I religiously dry it with blower or electric fan or I even iron it. I am even planning to buy ceramic electric brush and curler in 1. Unlike before wash and wear lng sya. I am always in front of the mirror and check how I look and I make sure that I have a clean nails and nice polish - I love the striking red devil shade now. Hehe. Aside from these, I even bought a complete set of beauty regimen and planning to buy make up kit too. In short, ang arte ko ngayon. Hehe. Is it now a baby girl? As per my office mates, bouncing baby gay daw pag labas. Haha. Pero most of the people around me, they say or they bet, it's a girl. Let's see.

In terms of emotional aspect . . . it is true that pregnant women are emotional, I am. Hehe. There are times na ang bilis uminit ng ulo, ang taray ko and then I just suddenly cry with no reason at all. Pati ako nawiweirdohan sa sarili ko. Hehe. Good thing hubby is patient enough.

Re: my growing progress. The way I see my tummy parang it didn't grow that much but I sometimes feel that Baby R is moving. It looks the same when I was at my 3rd mo and no added inches at my waist. Maybe because I have lessen my sugar intake and I don't eat that much, nasasabyan ko yta ang pag diet ni hubby. Natatakot ako lumaki masyado at lumaki din ang gastos bka kasi ma C-Section ako which is far expensive than normal delivery. Hehe.

Check Up & Changes . . .

2009-02-11T11:24:00.004+08:00

The laziness in me strikes again. Hay. I haven’t posted any update re my pregnancy. Bad me. I know that these are important milestones that I should not fail to document or share with my fellow bloggers. I guess it’s not yet too late to blog about it.

Let me start with my prenatal check ups we have been through . . .

Prenatal Check Up #1 (Dec 13)

- This is the day when we learned that we are pregnant. Hubby immediately scheduled an appointment with Tita Bingle/OB (hubby’s aunt) for check up. Since we already have a record at the clinic, no medical historical background was made. The usual reminder of things and food to avoid.

- Aside from the routine checks (BP, IE, weight, etc . . .) I also had urinalysis – sad to say had UTI again.

- Expected due date: Aug 15 (by LMP)

- Multivitamins (after breakfast), Folic Acid (after dinner) and Duphaston (2x a day-since I had a miscarriage history) were the prescribed medicines.

Prenatal Check Up #2 (Jan 5)

- I had another round of urinalysis, and this time it’s normal! Yey!

- I did not gain any weight.
- I had a transvaginal ultrasound and we are so happy see our baby’s heartbeat. Cuteness! We cannot describe the feeling of seeing our baby and the beat of his heart. This time we can really tell the world that we are pregnant. I felt lesser worries after knowing that baby is doing well inside my tummy. We also learned that baby is already 7 weeks and 5 days old.
- New due date: Aug 19
- Tita Bingle prescribed the same medicines. Another 10 more days for Duphaston.

Prenatal Check Up #3 (Feb 7)
- Urinalysis round 3 – normal again. Yey!
- I cannot believe that I gained 2 kls / 4.4 lbs. in a month. Tita Bingle find it a bit alarming since the ideal weight gain per month is only 1 kl. She advised me not to take too much sugar. If I continued gaining too much weight this might lead to CS delivery and that I may be a candidate for gestational diabetes. Wag naman sana. Promise I’ll watch over my diet.
- She changed my vitamins (this might be the possible reason why I gain too much weight) to food supplement.

Changes . . .

We are turning 13 weeks tomorrow. A lot of things have changed and transpired within the period in different aspects of our lives. In terms of my physical attributes, different things I feel as my pregnancy progress, wife and husband responsibilities.

As a mom to be . . . my tummy is now 6 inches bigger kaya at 8 weeks pa lng I already started wearing maternity clothes (ang laki ko daw magbuntis, siguro dahil giant ang daddy. . . hehehe), my breast became more fuller (gifted eh) , my nipples and areola are darkening (awwww!); headache is always present, heartburn is also there, I sometimes feel dizzy, l easily get irritated, lack of energy and already experiencing lower back pains. Good thing nausea and spotting snubbed me. I beat constipation by taking as much fiber and water as I can. I make sure that I sleep early to catch more then 8 hrs sleep and I take power naps during lunch break. The disciplined me. I reaserch a lot and I do read baby books too! Ako ba to? Hehe.

I still fulfill some of my wife responsibilities but limited to cooking + preparation (with hubby’s assistance pa), folds the clothes and sweeping. No more no less. The rest of the household chores are assigned to hubby since we do not have house help.

I am so thankful that hubby is always there taking care of me and our soon to be baby. He just don’t know how much I appreciate his presence and being responsible enough as all in one – driver (to and off work though out of the way), cook, labandero, iron man (haha!), dishwasher, financer and as a loving hubby. I am glad that he is able to manage all these things though he works full time at the office and with heavy workload. As a daddy naman I find him very funny and sweet every time he talks and sings to baby. Ang kulit tlga! Haha.

Birthday Wishes

2009-02-02T15:08:00.003+08:00

An early birthday wish tag from Carla. Who knows, those not so feasible wishes will trun in to reality. Hehe.

The rules:
1. Make a list of what you want on your birthday
2. The list should be 10 numbers
3. Post the image of this award in your posting
4. Give it to 10 friends of yours.

My 10 pre and post birthday wishes:
1. A continued healthy and stress free pregnancy :)
2. Normal delivery of a healthy baby boy :)
3. To be able to transfer to our house before baby comes out.
4. To re-gain my pre-wedding weight after giving birth.
5. Eye laser to achieve 20 - 20 vision and bye bye astigmatism
6. Lots and lots of money to achieve wishes nos 7 onwards :p
7. To have our house fully furnished with beautiful furnitures, high-end appliances, dreamed interiors and landscape in place before we transfer.
8. Brand new SUV.
9. Trip to Europe.
10. To be a SAHW/M.

Since lahat naman tayo nagbibirthday and everybody has the right to state their wishes, feel free to grab this tag and share with us your wishes.

Fabulous Award

2009-02-02T14:48:00.005+08:00

Thanks Sha for the award. Sorry it took me ages to post it . . .

The Rules for the Tag are:
1. You need to list 5 Addictions that you have.
2. You have to pass this Tag to five (5) or more people with fabulous Blogs.

My Five Addictions:
1. Hubby - haha :p
2. Cooking/Food Experimenting - i religiously do this everyday
3. Malling - i am in the mall everyday, promise :p
4. Coffee - awww! i really miss this. but i sometimes cheat. hehe. sorry baby.
5. SAP - we (hubby & i)/i should be addicted to this since this is our source of income :p

Blogmates, I consider all your blogs fabulous - feel free to grab this tag!

Bye 2008, Hello 2009!

2009-02-02T14:07:00.002+08:00

January 2009 is over and I haven’t even posted even a single entry. I wasn’t even able to post a year ender and welcome remarks for year 2009. Hay. I hope I can catch up this coming Feb and the coming months. Sorry for not making the tags – I’ll try my best to do them. Promise.

There were a lot of untold stories, no updates made re our house construction, re my pregnancy and other things that make my/our world go round. Blame it tons of work here at the office that made no more energy left to blog.

Let me share with you a brief of description of our 2008 and what's in store for us this 2009 . . . as a blog starter for the year . . .

Y2008 has been very good to hubby and me. Almost all our 2008 plans did materialize. We were able to purchase a house, fully paid our not so new car, we did save better than before and most of all we got pregnant! Only zeroing-out our credit cards, failed us - but almost done. I guess we still did a great job. Yey! Congrats to us. Hehe. God is so good showering all these blessings to us. Thank you po.

Y2009. There are a lot of things in store for us this year that makes it very exciting and at the same time challenging. Exciting in the sense that we we’ll transfer in our very own home and we’ll soon be a family – all these by Aug 2009. Challenging in terms of facing a new role not only as a wife but also as a mom and the financials impact. Given these, we did not draft or lined-up plans for this year, except to continue zeroing-out our credit cards. We only made projections on our financials on possible costs and savings for the entire 2009. As per our computation, ok pa naman to survive. We do hope and pray that nothing will go wrong.

What else can I say kundi “Goodluck to us!”

Unexpected

2008-12-31T12:08:00.005+08:00

After being busy and tired with all the invitation orders, getting back in the game and buying presents for the holiday season we never thought that we'll be concieving before the year ends. It is true that things comes when unexpected. We are very thankful for the early Christmas gift we received. This is the best ever Christmas gift we have ever received. Thank God.

World Wide Web Award

2008-12-17T08:49:00.003+08:00

Thank you Joy, for this cute tag; thank you for being my online friend.

Thank you to these people : Mari, Sharlyn, Carla and Rae to whom I'm passing on this
tag for rocking my blogging world.

Early Christmas Gift

2008-12-15T10:07:00.008+08:00

Below is a pic of our early and yet so precious Christmas present from up above.

A pregnancy kit with positive result. Yes, we are pregnant! Yihee!
Please help us pray for healthy pregnancy.

Thank you God for the wonderful gift :)

Back in the Game

2008-12-09T11:38:00.003+08:00

Hubby is back with Darts. I guess giving him a complete dart set as my present on our 1st year anniversary made him an active darter once again.

Last Novemeber up until now he is active joining darts competition. He joined several competions, and on his 5th attempt and he finally won, not 3rd or 2nd place but champion. Yihee! The price is nothing much - a mid size trophy and a small cash price - just enough for the registration fee on his next game. No matter how small or big the price at stake is, what's important is the exposure and that he gained back his confidence after almost 8 years of being idle with darts.

Congrats babi and Goodluck in your next competition.

I am also back in the game. I am trying to revive the one and only sports I excelled in - table tennis. Our mini sports fest at the office inspired me to play table tennis once again. I even bought a new racket - Stiga CarboTech which was my dream racket during my high school days. Now, it is in my hands and it didn't fail me on my game. I won. Hehe. How I wish I can gain back the game I use to play, 12 years ago. Hehe.

I also bought a simple racket for hubby, para naman may playmate ako. He plays well din in this sport. Then eventually hanap ng ibang mkakalaro na medyo higher level. Hehe. If given the chance I'll try to join competition again. Hehe.

This suddenly made me reminish my table tennis days and of course my teammates. Na-miss ko sila bigla and our friendship. We really had so much fun and we almost did it sa national competition. Sayang. Sad to say wala na kming communication. I'll try to find someways on how I can communicate with these guys, and maybe set up a reunion. Calling Coach Lawrence Angeles, Coach Ray Reg, my ka-doubles Laurice Biliwang and Mike Ponce, my other teammates - Rolenjo David, Dale, Mylene Malit, Baby, Joyce, Noemi, Macmac and Balweg-who taught me how to do the spin. These guys gave a big tribute to my HS days. If I were to describe my HS = table tennis. I was even awarded athlete of the year come graduation. Good thing I didn't fail any subject, I even had good grades then. Hehe.

random facts

2008-12-09T10:35:00.003+08:00

The rules:
1. Each blogger must post these rules.
2. Each blogger starts with ten random facts/habits about themselves.
3. Bloggers that are tagged need to write ten facts about themselves. You need to choose ten people to tag and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and also to read your blog.

10 Random facts/habits about me.
1. I love to cook and experiement on foods.
2. I can make clothes.
3. I make invitations and misalette as my partime business and hobby.
4. I push myself to the limits to get want I want.
5. I am a table tennis Pampanga team player when I was in HS.
6. I can draw, draft, sketch and color beautifully. I am artistic in different and many ways.
7. I cannot sing and dance well. :(
8. I am nearsited and have astigmatism.
9. I hate chores dealing with water: dish washing, bathroom cleaning and washing clothes add ironing.
10. Certified OC-OC.

Thanks to Carla for this tag.
I am tagging sharlyn, con, jaque, eds, jhona, joy, trinity, rae, sheryll and wheng

House Update #03: Really?

2008-12-05T16:49:00.010+08:00

It was August when I last posted re our soon to be house. It's true that our house will soon be turned over to us by April 2009. We tought it was just a wrong info. Just in time to celebrate our 2nd year anniversary, my birthday and sabay na rin ang house blessing. Sana no problems will be encountered during the construction. I hope this will all materialize in the given timeline. Hubby and I are uber excited about this, keep on imagining on how we will do the interiors, etc . . .

Last Nov 29, we went to Camella Homes (Alabang) to sign the floor plan layout. While waiting for our turn I took a picture of our house model miniature.

Ground Floor

Second Floor

House Exterior

We don't actually want to sign the floor plan yet because we want to do some revisions in the layout. As per Tina of Camella, signing the plan only means a go signal to start the construction and we will be notified on anything that has to be executed. Construction starts next week. Yihee.! Anyway we can email our prefered layout, no need to go back to Alabang . . . but still subject for approval of the engineer and contractor. Normally customized plans are approved as long as no changes made at the exterior. To our excitement, we signed the floor plan because the more we delay the signing the more na madedelay ang construction. Hehe.

After signing we headed to site (Taguig) and it was a wow! the area has been developed. From a trashy site we saw last March, it's now fenced and the right of way are in place. We can now even pinpoint or lot. The 3 model houses are also being constructed. No wonder why Camella was able to have a price increase of .8m because if the fast development. In addition to that the subdivision has it's name, when we had our reservation kasi wla pa. It's name is GRENVILLE RESIDENCES. You read it right, Grenville not Greenville. Hehe.

out lot

We even got inside the model house that is being constructed. That made us really decide to have our's revised. There are a lot of things I didn't like though these are specified in the contract. I want another style of staircase, I want a bigger kitchen with granite countertop, granite flooring etc . . . hubby wanted a servants quarter and a T&B at the 2/f.

standard stairs - not my type :p

deafult/standard sink - too small for a cooking fanatic :p

The following day we had dinner with my HS barkada, this is actually scheduled because I'll be giving Dex-Grace wedding invites and at the same time distribute them to us. It was also an advance bday celeb for Grace, Noel and Jorrel. So this is a perfect timing to consult our friend, Architect Jowette (whom I also assigned as the head coordinator during our wedding, hehe) on how we can revise the plan. She just asked us on what are things we want and we don't want. She even brought some magazines for us.

Come Monday (Dec 1) the revised plan is already in my Inbox. The plan was cute, I can't imagine that she was able to draw the things we wanted in a 70 sq meter lot area and 52 sq meter floor area, which was very small space. The plan was almost perfect. She'll just make a little adjustments because of my additional requirements. Ahihi. Ang nakakahiya lng, she's giving her services for free and very much willing to help us throughout the construction and interiors as well. I am really thankful that I have friends like Jowette, like my friendships. :-)

the original floor plan

by architect jowette gorospe

We are really looking forward on our house construction following Jowette's plan. A few days from now our hard earned money will be tangible :-)

Busy November

2008-12-05T10:33:00.005+08:00

It's been over a month now since my last post. November has been a very busy month from me. So no more energy left for blogging, i miss doing this.

I have been busy . . .

- preparing for hubby's birthday bash for the first 2 days of Nov. I made sure that outing place is ok (booking), budgeting, marketing and food to be served is something new to the family's palate.

- at work with the new project I am looking at and hopefully be implemented early next year. All concerned are looking forward on this to fast track the processing of their transactions. I hope it will be another success project :)

- rushing my Dec wedding invitations, really had numerous sleepless nights. Finally, I am done with the 4 invitation orders. I made a total of 330 invites (from Sept-Nov). That was really a lot! Good thing I delivered on time. I only dedicate 2-3 hours per day on this. Thanks to hubby, Ronin and Tam (my 2 makukulit na pamangkins) for the help. Until next invitation order. Hehe.

- designing our team jacket and coordinating with the supplier, hopefully by the 3rd week of Dec we'll already have them. Just in time for our Xmas party and awarding ceremonies. Post my first jacket design ever once delivered. Thanks to Johanna (former officemate) for the supplier referal.

- with sports. I am trying to be active in sports again as an exercise and to flush away these excess fats wrapped around me. It has been years since I stopped jogging, badminton, table tennis, aero and gym. No wonder why I gained a lot of pounds. A lot tlga! Agrrrhh!

- with our mini sportsfest here at the office (team and love ones). This was all-of-a-sudden organized because of encouraging everyone in the team to play badminton. Hehe. Everybody were uber excited! Everyone participates and include to that the never ending asaran to the max. We even bought uniforms and may practice practice pa, career tlga. Haha! Wala naman price at stake. Kala mo 1 million ang pinag-aawayan nmin. Haha! This also served as bonding moment of the team with our special love ones too. So far bowling & billiards pa lng nalalaro nmin, later we'll have table tennis. I'll post pictures soon.

- with 2 home trips to Pampanga. We had fun at home and at the same time relax and bond with the family, relatives and meet friends.

- with our soon to be home. We gave Camella homes a visit for the floor plan signing and we also had a site visit. I'll be posting a seperate entry for this :) so much stories and excitement to share. Hehe.

Aside from the activities I have shared, include to that my household chores. The never ending grocery, pay bills, cleaning, cooking, washing the clothes and ironing. I can't imagine how I was able to accomplish/do all these things. Certified lagarista! Hehehe. Whew!

Happy Birthday Memond!

2008-10-31T10:48:00.004+08:00

I woke up early this morning to cook all meat spag and chix cordon bleu for hubby. He wanted something "haba-haba" on his day for long life daw. Hehehe. I also lighted 3 candles which symbolizes his 3 decades of living. Wala lng para my i-blow sya khit wla pang cake. Hehe.

Actual celebration will be on Nov 3 together with the Samonte Family :)

I Love You Award

2008-10-22T10:04:00.004+08:00

Thanks Joy for the love. I love it!

Rule:

Link the person who started this award. Link the person who "LOVE" you . Post the rules on your blog (this is what you are now reading). Tag 7 people at the end of your post and link to them. Let each person know they have been "LOVED" and leave a comment on their blog.

Spreading the love to my entire blogroll. Please feel free to grab it :)

Cup Cake Rush

2008-10-21T10:16:00.008+08:00

It was all about rushing when I semi-DIYed cup cakes for Tammy's 7th Birthday last Friday (Oct 17) . Two days before the party when Ate Rona finally decided to have the cup cakes as dessert and souvenir.

I only have to days (or I may say hours since I go to office 8:30AM - 7:00 PM) to scout for nearby suppliers and purchase for packaging materials. Lunch break was all I have to attend to this. I don't have any idea where to buy these stuff since I am not yet into baking. Thanks to an officemate who provided me weblinks were to find baking needs.

Wednesday (Oct 15) was for suppliers scouting. Thursday (Oct 16) was for buying the supplies, packaging materials preparation and a bit practice. Btw, the thank you labels were scrap materials from the invitations I make. Hehe. Friday (Oct 17) was for assembly. I woke up at 6AM and was able to finish whipping the cream (thanks to my blender that made me work fast-it worked!), decorating and packing the ready to eat 40 cup cakes fresh from groceries at around 7:30 AM. Fast for a first timer I guess. One more thing, I was not late at the office. *Wink*Wink*

Below are some snap shots of the semi-DIYed cup cakes that I consider as a success. Guests find them adorable and cutie :-)

I guess I'll made them better if I was given enough time.

My family and relatives were wondering how I did the cup cakes for they know that I don't yet have an oven. Hahaha. Ate Noli was even telling me that I shall make it as another business. Why not? Hehe.

Supposedly these should be arranged in a 3-tiered cake stand but they are charging us P500 corkage fee so we just ended up distributing them around the cake :-(

See Tammy's Aurora costume? I am prooud to say that it was made by my mom. Galing noh? Sayang lng they forgot to bring the peticot.

This is my family plus the 2 kids of my cousin Doan. Missing in action? Our hubbies - they are all at work.

Post 1: Extra Spices

2008-10-13T17:41:00.004+08:00

Extra Spices is my other side, it talks about my passions in life. This is were I will share with you the my crafts. Basically my dishes, kitchen, uRinvited and some clothings I made myself.

I hope you'll find time to visit. See yah!

I heart your blog

2008-10-10T15:14:00.003+08:00

Thanks Sheryll for the award.

***start copy***

The rules of the award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you have nominated.

Previous awardees: Mabelle, Prily, Ate Norma, I Love Philippines Too, Shenga, Nova, WebbieStuffs, Nancy, Webloglearner, Pinay Wahm, and My So Called Life, Let’s Spice Things Up, Beauty and Shop, Idealpinkrose, allin, kimchiland, Korean Food, The Paper Vision, Embrace Simplicity, Me and Mine, A Window To Our World, A Grateful Heart, Can of Thoughts, A Mother’s Stuff, http://housewifeatwork.blogspot.com/, MommaWannabe, Lourdes Mia, Praning’s Shoutout, When Silence Speaks, Etc Atbp, Aeirin’s Collections, Life is What we Make it, Underneath It All, Cellulitic Bliss, 100% Kelly, C'est La Vie, Our Family Adventure!, As We Face Forever

I am passing this award to Sharlyn, Wheng , Joy , Eds, Trinity, Mari and Jammy

uRinvited: December Blast

2008-10-10T10:41:00.013+08:00

December is fast approaching as we all know it's not only all about Christmas, reunions it also the peak season for weddings.

I never thought that I'll be ending up making four confirmed wedding invitations this December. Not bad at all since I am not yet really promoting uRinvited, it is still in the process of conceptualization, how I will go about it, etc. etc. This made me quite busy and silent in blogging. Hehehe.

Below are my booked weddings, production status, snap shots and some stories to share.

Dec 10: Kenneth - Anne Jerine

I blogged about this sometime Sept and yes . . . I was able to close a deal without even meeting the couple. Transaction was made via SMS, email exchange, LBC and thru my sister.

Since Jerine (bride) is my sister's colleague, I asked her to have the 80 pcs invites delivered last Wednesday. 1 wedding done. :-)

Dec 11: Juan Carlo - Brenda

Brenda was inspired with the wedding invitation I made for Janeth so she wanted me to make hers too. She wanted the same style as Janeth's - Classic wrap with an accent. Brenda is a sister of Belle who was a guest at Aris - Janeth's wedding were Aris is a BIL of my officemate. Dami links noh? Hehe. Like Kenneth and Jerine, I guess I'll not have the chance to meet the couple.

I just finished and got invite mock up approved. The 70 pcs order will make my weekend busy.

Dec 19: Jon - Meann

Jon is Carol's (officemate) brother, she was asked to be sponsor their invitations. For christening and wedding invitation needs here at the office they ask for my services. Hehe. So instant client :-) I guess I won't be able to meet this couple too.

I am done with the mock up, just waiting for the other details. They wanted to have same design as Kenneth and Jerine's using green-red-pearl motif instead.

Dec 27: Dexter - Grace

This couple are my friends since preparatory, elementary to high school days. Grace is one of my "friendships" and Dexter is my art buddy together with Sonic. They are one of my longest standing friends. Though we parted schools in college, we still continue communicating and seeing each other. We know each other from head to toe. Hehehe. We never thought that the two would end up together. I am really happy for them and exicted on their forthcoming wedding.

As a wedding gift to them, I'll be rendering my service and materials for free. They even voluntered to help me make the invites. The two are also good in art crafts, they will be a good help for sure and will fast track the production.

To all my Dec wedding couples . . . thank you for entrusting uRinvited your invitations. Congratulations and Best Whishes!

Fully Loaded Weekend

2008-09-30T10:06:00.007+08:00

Hubby and I had a fully loaded tummies over the weekend. For sure we gain extra extra pounds again. Hay!

Saturday with the Rodriguez Family

The celebrants (L -R: Mom, Llyod & Ronin)

It's Mommy, Lloyd (BIL) and Ronin (nephew) birthdays reason of going home to Pampanga last weekend. It's nice to be back home after a month, specially that the family is almost complete. Our home was also fully loaded with fun and laughter and of course with our high pitch tone. (Mga kapampangan eh. Hehe). Kids running all over the house and shouting at the top of their voice. Ang gulo pero masaya! Hehehe.

As always, mom and I prepared the food. I so love this part since it's a bonding moment with mom, sharing our recepies with each other at pagalingan sa pagluto. Hahaha.

The grillers: Hubby and me

The food

I did the roast beef and grilled korean bbq chciken - which was a best seller. It tastes like the chicken from teriyaki boy daw. Lola (mom's side) took home the excess, kanya na lang daw. Hehe. Mom did her famous chicharon (na hindi ko tlga magaya - she don't share the exact procedure) , ubod, asado kapampangan (one of her specialties na alam ko na rin lutuin), hinilabos na hipon and palabok. We ended having 2 palaboks, the other one is from lola they keep on comparing, which is better - mom won. Takot na lng nila sa birthday celebrant. Hahaha.

After eating we eneded the night with photo session. This was really fun, kasi kagulo kmi tlga - because we need to hurry up tapos ang dami pa nmin dahil my digicam battery is empty - too bad i forgot the charger. We had to heat the batteries with our hands or scratch them at our laps to take another picture. Hahaha.

It seems that it was lola's birthday, she's always at pictures. Pagbigyan na daw, dahil sya pinkamatanda. She even directs how our position should be. Lola tlga. Hahaha. Here are some of the shots . . .

(L-R: Dad, Mom, Lola the superstar, Tita Linda & Tito Sonny)

(The grand & great grandchildren)

Parang ang dami namin noh? Pero kulang pa kmi nyan ng 11. My tita ninang family are not around since they are US based. Dave (at work) and Bonn (at Dubai) are also missing in action.

Sunday with the Dizon family

It's Lolo Leo's (dad's side) death anniversary, Daena's 10th (niece) birthday and Kuya Jon's (cousin) & Family Despedida.

Supposedly, we will start the day with an 8 AM mass unfortunately dad's BP is still high. So Ate Noli & Lloyd attended the mass as our representatives. Come 9 AM, dad was ok and we headed at uncle Diosie's (dad's brother) house for bfast and lunch. Hay, at ang dami din food. Good thing I was able to control my self to eat a lot but not for hubby.

Party with the Frienships

It's Lance's 1st birthday. Sharlyn & Noel's son. Kainan ulit, we had super meal and I almost ate all. Hay.

Lance is the first friendships (my high school barkada) baby. Our barkada is a late bloomer kasi. Imagine we are on our late 20's and yet out of 9, 3 pa lang nag aasawa. 2 pa lang may anak na tig 1 year old. 1 is getting married on dec and the rest are still single and unattached.

Our 4 abroad based friends of course we not around but the cute thing about this is that 2 of them sent their parents as representaives at nkipag kulitan din sila sa amin. Pictures will follow.

This is how our (hubby & I) Pampanga weekend went by - ang KUMAIN ng KUMAIN!

Tunay na Nosebleed

2008-09-25T11:01:00.002+08:00

Hubby woke up with a bleeding nose last week. I asked him to relax, have a sit and tilt his head up with a tissue on his nose and a cold towel (too bad we don’t have ice at home) on his forehead, as first aid. After a few minutes, the blood is still extremely flowing not only from his nose but also from his mouth. Suddenly, he felt dizzy . . . I assume he was nervous and his blood pressure went up, then we decided to go to the hospital because if he falls down – no one can carry him (dahil sobrang laki nya) and we are coming from 5f, at no elevator. Good thing I am not the kind of person that is panicky, I was so calm and can able to think fast on what to do and organized. I was even able to bring extra towel, a lot of tissue and water. Hehe.

That was Wednesday last week, El is coding. So instead of bringing the car – we rode tricycle, because it is readily available, faster and cheaper means of transpo. In less than 5 mins we’re at Polymedic Hosp. That’s what I love about our place everything is readily available and reachable.

As we reached the hosp . . . the attendants immediately assisted him at the Trauma Room where he was asked to tilt his head down to let the blood out (not upward for it won’t let the blood stop – for this will circulate the blood from nose to throat), placed an ice bag on his forehead and a gauge on his left nostril. Then they took his BP and it went up to 150/100. No medicine was given immediately. He was just asked to relax for he was under observation. After a few minutes, the med tech got some blood sample for blood streaming tests. Since the bleeding didn’t stop as they expected – he was given an injectable medicine. Then it eventually stopped.

After an hour, we learned that all the blood tests made are normal. Thank God! As per dra., since he didn't have a traumatic experience, he do not have a fever so the possible cause is that the nose capillaries cannot accommodate the blood flow so instead of circulating it, it went out the nose. He might be stressed out or maybe because of the hot weather. Then we requested to have his BP taken again, and it was normal. Sabi ko na nga ba nerbyos lng tlga. Hehe. Aside from the fact that it was his first time to have a nosebleed, it was also his first time to be admitted at the hosp. At around 9:00 AM we were cleared and discharged.

I even asked hubby weren’t you dreaming talking with foreigners or with your Indian kaberks reason behind when you woke up your nose was bleeding? Harhar. :p

I decided not to report to office for I need to accompany hubby at home, and we relaxed the whole day. Kain – tulog. Sarap! Aircon on for the whole day. Wuaahh! For sure our Meralco bill will be higher. Hehe.

Thanks to the health card that saved us from another expense and to the staff of Polymedic that are very accommodating :-)

EL: Talakan sa kalye

2008-09-22T10:38:00.009+08:00

Last Sept 12, El was scratched at almost 2 feet by an FX door that all of a sudden opened by a reckless passenger. Agrrrhh!

The incident story: Hubby drived me to office that morning, as he entered the premises of Robinson's Galleria compound (from South EDSA turning right to Poveda St, then left to lane 3 provided for shoppers - beside EDSA, lane 1 terminal for Libis services). A FX (that is a collorum) followed us positioning at lane 2. A girl passenger opened the FX door widely and hit El's 2 doors (driver's side) then she hopped in the FX as if nothing happened. Duh!

The scene: Hubby went out the car to disccuss the damages with the FX driver. The driver informed the girl that it was her fault. The girl came out the FX extremely mad, shouting at the top of her voice and she made a scene. She's pointing out that as she opened the door then we came. Duh! It came to a point that hubby told the girl na "may common sense ka ba?, hindi ka ba marunong mag analyze? Edi sana sa bumper ang tama ng sasakyan. SOP naman na bago sumakay at bumaba ng sasakyan ensure na wla parating na sasakyan or wla kng tataman. Kahit hindi ka driver dapat alam mo yan." Then the girl said, "hindi nga ako driver kya nag e-fx ako." Ano ba naman yun. Hay. Hubby added, "at alam mong hindi sakayan dyan bkit sumakay ka, tapos sasabihin mong kasalanan ko".

Hubby didn't want to talk to the girl, because she's not the owner of the vehicle. He told her to talk to the driver not him. She keeps on making "talak" dahil wla naman daw magagawa at makukuha sa driver, etc. etc. etc. She keeps on defending her self though I know that she knows it was her fault.

Hindi ko kinayang hindi makisali sa usapan, I talked to her and told her na she shouldn't talk that way . . . na pwede naman namin mag usap ng maayos and that she can't remove it from us to discuss things this dahil biktima kami. Then she burst out again, this is what I can remember na sinabi nya na kinagalit ko tlga, feeling ko namula ang tenga ko at kumulo tlga ang dugo ko "Gago sya! sinasabi nyang kasalanan ko eh kasalanan naman nya" sabay point kay hubby (while hubby is talking to the driver). I told her in a loud voice "bakit naman sya gago? e kasalanan mo naman tlga!" doesn't she know na ang kausap nya eh ang asawa lng nman ng sinabihan nya ng gago. The hell with her. I wanted to talk more sana kaso hubby instructed me to go to office at sya na ang bahala. He didn't allow me to fight with the girl, dpat daw calm lng kami. Hay. Sarap awayin pa man din nung girl. Hmp.

As I reached office, I went down again to check what happened. Imagine pagbaba ko wala na ung girl. Tinakasan daw sila, she didn't even make areglo with the driver. The Libis service drivers as the miron nakisali din sa usapan aand pointing out that it was the girl's fault and of course the driver as well. Wala kumampi sa kanya, kaya umalis na lng ng wlang pakundangan. The FX driver keep on asking for pasesnysa he admitted that it was his fault.

Since the scratch wasn't that deep naman, kaya sa rubbing compound pero may portion na natuklap tlga ang paint - hubby was asking for 500 na lng dahil he sees that the driver doesn't have money tlga. Hanggang umabot sa 200 lng ang binayad. Hay.

Actually hubby can ask his kuya to put the FX on hold dahil kuya is a PAMI operations manager, he handles the insurances of PUVs. Hubby knows that he can't get anything from the mamang taxi driver, naawa din sya and it's just a waste of time.

Perfect Blend

2008-09-22T10:33:00.003+08:00

This tag is from Joy. Thank you so much!

Awarded: Mai Yen Suzanne Clark & Butchay's Blog MommyBa's Journey Hope This Helps You by Mec Popcorn's Thoughts Our Family Adventure! My Life In Manggachupoy Street, From This Side, As we face forever

Thank you for your friendship.

I'm awarding this to all my blogmates.

spreading the christmas spirit

2008-09-22T09:29:00.004+08:00

Got this tag from Carla & Mari. Sorry it took ages . . . . Thanks sisses :-)

Here’s something nice to go around to spread the spirit of Christmas as early as now. Starts here. It’s so simple. Copy the photo below then write your blog and your wish this Christmas 2008. Your wish has to be something PRICELESS and SELF-LESS… something that money can’t buy… something that another person will treasure dearly.

1. Bits and Pieces by Jan :: I wish Gino and I will be able to convince friends to help us sponsor a simple Christmas party for the children of White Cross Children’s Home in San Juan.

2. The Wifey Diaries by Jannesse : My birthday falls on the 22nd of December. I have always wished to spend it with orphaned or abandoned kids. I’d be super happy to spend my birthday with them. That way, they get early Christmas presents from me. Oh, and can I wish for a baby, too? Please?

3. The Versoza Inc. by Con: I’d like to have a simple Christmas party for all the children of our employees. Times were hard on our company this 2007, but still, the Christmas Spirit should not be overpowered by it. Christmas is about family. So our Christmas party should not be for employees only, but for their families as well. Also, I wish our clan would make it a tradition to have a Christmas gift giving project. My Tita Doi started it last year with the Antipolo church children. I am looking forward to this year .

4. Mommy On Top: I wish I could help a couple of kids (both are related to my kids’ nannies) finish their education so they can, in turn, help their family earn a living. I could try and help them find a job, but without finishing their studies, they can only go too far. With a diploma or at least some certificate of formal education, they could do so much and reach farther. I hope my efforts in hooking them up with this certain NGO will come out with favorable results.

5. Coffeenchoclate : We hope to sustain an extended help for a few elders and be able to increase aid to another few elders before the year ends.

6. C'est La Vie: We'd like to continue on helping out and sharing the Christmas spirit to our household help and their families.

7. Feeling ni Carla:I'd like for me to get preggers..is that selfless?well, being a mommy is a selfless act right?...I also wish that more people be aware of greenpeace or any environmental group for that matter..That more people be aware that it is essential for everyone to pitch in in saving our environment. I wish that people of the future may see the beauty of nature in person and not just in photos or videos. And this can only become possible if the people of right now care for the environment.Since it is Christmas wouldn't it be nice to give a gift to the environment too?

8. A Housewife's Journal by Mari: Since Christmas is for children, I would also like to continue the tradition my dad has been giving in our community. He usually gathers children from the barrio and give them an afternoon filled with fun and games. This time, I wish to add more and make it look like a children's party where there will be food, lootbags and gifts for everyone.

9. As We Face Forever by Rhia I wish that even just for a week or day before Christmas there would price roll back in all commodities so as the entire nation can celebrate Christmas with their families and love ones.

I guess I am too late to pass this tag along. Feel free to grab :-)

Greetings around the world

2008-09-11T09:42:00.002+08:00

Thanks Sheryll for this tag! :)

::: Start Copy Here :::

Memes are a great way to link everyone together. In Cyberspace, many people use English as the Universal Language and say Hi, Hello and more. Have you tried learning other languages of the same meaning? Let’s get to know each other by placing a welcome/hello greeting in your language and spread it over all bloggers in cyberspace.

Rules:

1. Copy the text from Start Copy Here

2. Post it in your blog. Make sure you copy it in compose mode (blogger) or visual mode for the others. This will enable you to copy all your friend’s link as well. Have fun doing it.

3. In the next number, add your blog url and link it.

4. Add the greetings that you use frequently or one that is in your traditional language.

Konichiwa Meme by AikoAiko

1. All About Kawaii says Konichiwa
2. MommyAllehs Up-Close And Personal says Mabuhay! Hello! Hi!
3. Insights from the Grocery Cart says Mabuhay! Haler! Kamusta?
4. Eds Mommy Life says Mabuhay! Kumusta! Hi! Hellow po! Haler!
5. Jhona My Wonderful life says Hi! Hello! Kumusta?
6. Shopaholic ties the knot says Magandang Umaga! Kamusta ka?
7. Our Family Adventure! says Mabuhay! Kumusta ka?
8. As we face Forever says Komusta na ka? Hellow! Halu!

::: End Copy Here :::

Please feel free to grab the tag :)

Isn't

2008-09-11T09:11:00.002+08:00

Hay . . . we expected too much and we ended up frustrated :(

Maybe it’s not yet time . . . but our hopes and faith in Him are high – highest and we are rest assured that our little angel will come in His perfect time.

Hubby and I both agreed to undergo work ups q1 of next year if no bumps will occur.

Is this it?

2008-09-05T09:52:00.004+08:00

It seems that what we have been waiting for almost a year is on it’s way! Our hopes are getting higher and higher as days passes by :)

I hope a can share a good news next week :)

Related Posts:
43rd day.
May 11: Didn’t make it to Mom’s Day

Kenneth - Anne Jerine Invite Mock Up

2008-09-03T11:57:00.020+08:00

This is a request from ate Noli because of a getting married colleague this coming December. Below are the sample invite snapshots I custom made for Kenneth and Anne Jerine base on their requirements: choco brown-champagne (for the meantime replaced with cream) and cheque style. Hope they'll love it and end up closing a deal with them :)

Sample 1 - Front
Main Board comes with:
- Belt accented with
- 2 layered Monogram

Sample 1 - Inside
- Main Invite
- 3 inserts
- V pocket

Sample 1 - Freebies:

- Classic envelope marked with couple's initial/surnames/names and or date
- Guest name in computer calligaphy

Sample 2 - Slide Holder
Serves as invite holder and envelope accented with:
- Belt with
- 2 layered Monogram
- Guest name computer calligarphy (back)

Invite can be slide in/out on both sides (right or left)

Sample 2 - Front
Main board comes with:

- Peep on couples surname and wedding date

Sample 2 - Inside

- Main invite
- 3 inserts
- Straight pocket

Shades of brown selection:
Lithos brown - 230 gsm or Chocolate Brown - 285 gsm

(gsm = paper thickness)

* Sample invite made with chocolate brown

43rd day.

2008-09-03T09:47:00.004+08:00

It's my 43rd day today, counting 1 from 1st day of my last period.

Actually, my cycle is irregular it plays at 28 - 35 days, but my period comes regularly. I am now 8 or more days delayed. I am hoping but I can't say that I am pregnant because I already had 2 (36th & 41st day) preg test and it resulted to negative. How I wish that it is false negative (fingers crossed)

I'll be having another round of test this coming Saturday if my period doesn't come. If it results to negative I guess I have to visit my OB.

What dya think?

Sick and sick again . . .

2008-09-03T09:13:00.007+08:00

Breaking the silence . . .

I was not in blogging mood these past few days due to the pains I have been encountering lately. I had fever, cough & colds last long weekend (Aug 23-25) for the second time (the first one was last July 21-25). Ugh! I was lying for 3 days, I really hated it and I missed lots of fun and activities.

Wasn't able to cook siomai and join for my sisters and pamakins on our swimming getaway
We were not able to go home to Pampanga
Failed to meet our friendships, especially Gang who came home from Singapore and Wet who's celebrating her bday
Wasn't able to cook, sew and make invitations which are a part of my weekends

After the 3 days fever, this was followed by headache and dizziness. This lasted again for 3 days. I felt these when the clock strikes at 6pm onwards . . . I go straight to bed as I reach home.

Yesterday, I was on SL due to my trembling knees. Hay . . . what's wrong with me?

I guess feeling all these pains serves as a reminder that I should give myself time to relax and have a break. I am always on the go kasi - no idle time, hindi nauubusan ng gagawin. Tulog (max of 6 hrs) lang ang pahinga nga daw pahinga ko sabi ni hubby :p

4 days weekend

2008-08-22T15:23:00.006+08:00

Oh yes we didn’t office for 4 days - Saturday, Sunday, Monday which is National Heroes Day and Tuesday because it was QC day. I enjoyed the long weekend so much!

Nah! We didn’t have an out of town trip/vacation. As for me this is just an added expense and I find it tiring. I’d rather stay at home and be productive. I guess I am a certified homebody that’s why I can even stay for a week or longer at home without going out as long as the materials I need are in place. We didn’t even go home to our parents. We just went out of the house to do the groceries and go to church that’s all.

Though we spent our 4 days at home we had fun, we were able to relax and I was productive! Below are the activities that made our long weekend . . .

Cook. This is always a part of my everyday life. But when weekend comes I cook something extra special. Buttered garlic shrimps & kani salad, crispy pata & stir-fry veggie are some of the dishes I cooked over the weekend. Promise, next time I will be taking pictures and share some of my signature dishes. I hope I can share them well for I cook without a recipe.

Family. We invited over my sisters and the kids at home. At least we still had time with our family. I prepared chicken pasta, nachos and mini pizza for them. I also prepared coffee shake for the kids – and it was a sold out and they wanted for more. These kids are truly coffee addicts. After the coffee intake, their energy went up high – the house was a mess. Hehe.

Household. Hay, the never ending. No choice but to do these – wash, fold and iron clothes, clean the house plus the bathroom cleaning. We almost did a general cleaning.

Sewing. I was able to make 3 boxer shorts for hubby (Pictures will follow). Turned our 3 flat bed sheets to fitted and a pouch for my sewing machine pedestal.

This was made by mom way back late 80s or early 90s. This is one of my favorite bed sheet though the print isn't that nice - its the cool, silky and comfy texture that makes me love it. Hanggang sa nakapag asawa ako binitbit ko pa sya. Even hubby likes it . . .

This was a flat bed sheet before. Hubby insisted that I should make it fitted dahil malaki, mabigat at malikot sya matulog - madali magulo ang bed. Khit mag tumbling pa sya ngyon it stays in place. wink** wink**

Sewing machine pedestal pouch made from hubby's boxer shorts excess cloth (retazo).

Pedestal slid inside.

Movie Watch. We were able to watch the DVDs we bought weeks ago. I enjoyed “The Happening” the most. We had lays and shakes while watching. Very relaxing.

Invitation. I finished the last 35 invitation sets of Jun-Jessica. Yey!

Spa. I gave hubby a home foot spa with pedicure, which was a promise months ago – and he really loved it. Since it was his first time . . . he was tickled to the max. He so love his feet after the spa. He didn’t even want his feet to touch the ground and it took hours before he walked. “Ayaw daw nya madumihan.” Haha.

The said activities are also tiring though I hate the feeling of being tired . . . the good thing about it is I found quality time for hobbies, hubby and family. Also, I was indeed productive.

You might be wondering what’s the role of hubby? He is my assistant! Hehehe.

We might be doing the same things this coming long weekend.

this is me today

2008-08-22T13:11:00.002+08:00

Em tagged me.

Rule:
1. List 6 things that describe yourself today.
2. Add your blog to the list. Feel free to add all your other blogs.
3. Tag other online friends you know.

Links: Creative In Me Little Peanut Me and Mine Pea in a Pod Sugar Magnolias Doll Me Up Deviously Creative IamDzoi My Happy Place To the Moon and Back Raising Sandy My Colorful World Working It MyParty.Finds.A Home. Em's Detour Stripe & Yellow Something Purple Vanity Kit Mind Bubbles Living the Healthy Life As We Face Forever

Today, I am...
:: SICK - have dry cough, colds, head ache and watery eyes :(
:: EXCITED - over the long weekend
:: HAPPY - i found a choco brown metallic board for Dex - Grace invite
:: FRUSTRATED - i can feel that my monthly period is coming anytime soon :(
:: WONDERING - what strategy shall I use to set up the withholding tax in our system
:: on HIGH - becuase of the cough syrup intake :p

Tagging: Carla Joy Sheryll

Fill In

2008-08-21T17:42:00.006+08:00

Got this nice tag from Wheng. Thank you Sis.

Players: ALPHA / YEN / Wheng / Rhia

My roommate and I once: though prohibited, we smoked and drunk till the break of down inside the boarding house. the next day our landlady scolded us and almost kicked us out. hehe.

Never in my life have I: dined-in and watched movie alone

High school was: all about varsity (table tennis), bf and friends!

When I’m nervous: I always feel like urinating.

My hair: is brown shoulder length in soft layered cut

When I was 5: I was very talkative and my mom was even asked to go to school because of being too noisy. hehehe.

When I turn my head left: i see my mobile pedestal and printer

I should be: configuring and testing sap for withholding tax entry, but i rather do this first. hehe.

By this time next year: I should be pregnant or already have a baby and a SAHM

My favorite aunt is: Tita Gel, she's the only aunt I got. No choice. Haha. :p

I have a hard time understanding: clothes pattern making

You know I like you if: you like the things that I like to do.

My ideal breakfast is: fresh cow's milk (as in fresh!) poured over steamed rice and tuyo. weired? this is yummy and our (my sisters) favorite breakfast in our province.

If you visit my home town: just like Wheng, you'll go home bloated at may bitbit ka pa pauwi. Plus you'll never forget my mom's signature chicharon

If you spend the night at my house: I will be cooking a very special dinner for you.

The animal I would like to see flying besides birds: Snakes. Can't imagine. Hehehe

I shouldn’t have been: tiring myself too much doing my extra spices (sewing, cooking and invitation making)

Last night I: was making/sewing a fitted bedsheet.

A better name for me would be: Jean (jean-of-all trades . . . hehe, I can really do a lot of things even some carpentry works)

I’ve been told I look like: My dad and sister (hehe) if celebrity Tina Paner daw . . . harhar.

If I could have any car, it would be: bmw, fortuner or cr-v

I'm done and your the next it! Mari , Jammy and Spymama

Jun - Jessica Wedding Invite (09.20.08)

2008-08-20T18:30:00.009+08:00

Another simple invite for simple couple. Simplicity is all what the bride wants. No intricate designs or what so ever . . .

This is how Jessica wanted their wedding invite. Here it goes . . .

the complete set

the envelope were initials are printed in the flip flop and using computer calligraphy for guest names

front view: the invite itself with peep on of the couples' surnames and wedding date

main invite

wedding details

The labor of love serves as my wedding present to the couple. Oh btw, they are my office mates.

This is a very much awaited event here at the office since they have been dating for almost 6 years, they both have good positions and they are in their early 30s and 40s. What are they waiting for??? :P

"Sa wakas" they decided to tie the knot after a long period of time.

Next wedding invite to do is Dex and Grace's. They are both my classmates and friends since gradeschool so this is absolutely a free-of-charge! I will be sponsoring their invites. Again, as a present. I feel so excited to do theirs since the design and layouting is my call. Of course with their approval pa rin. I am done with the layouting and I made it in modern style. Hehe. I'll be posting the output as soon as I finished the mock up.

Aris - Janeth Wedding Invitation

The Invitation Maker in ME

Aris - Janeth Wedding Invitation (08.16.08)

2008-08-20T13:21:00.006+08:00

Here's another set of wedding invitation I made for John's (my office mate) BIL & SIL. Their wedding commenced last August 16, 2008.

- the envelope flip flop is accented with the couple's surname and wedding date

- invitation cards wrapped around with metallic transluscent kiwi green embelished with belt bearing the couples name

- the invition cards that comprises of the (1) main invite, (2) bridal party, (3) location map, wedding registry and rsvp

- the complete set

The metallic translucent kiwi green warp around and the invitation cards printed in metallic peridot made the simple invitation very elegant. Just how the couple wanted it.

I didn't actually interact or talked with the couple. Their requirements was relayed to me through John. Good thing that everything turned out perfectly - no names or words were misspelled. As per John the couple are satisfied and happy. Yihee!

Congrats and Best Wishes to Aris & Janeth.

to my virtual friends

2008-08-20T10:26:00.005+08:00

Thanks Em and Carla for this tag.

FRIENDS: 1. Everyday Life 2. Words of Love 3. Sheng's Simple Thoughts . . . 4. My Life's Rollercoaster Ride 5. Princess Vien 6. Deviously Creative 7 Doll Me Up 8 Living the Healthy Life 9 Mind Bubbles 10 Vanity Kit 11 Stripe&Yellow 12 Something Purple 13 Em's Detour 14 Hesitant Wife 15. Feeling 16. after i do 17. As We Face Forever

We need friends for many reasons,
all throughout the season.
We need friends to comfort us when we are sad,
and to have fun with us when we are glad.

We need friends to give us good advice,
We need someone we can count on,
and treat us nice.

We need friends to remember us
one we have passed
sharing memories that will always last.

Spread the poem of friendship.

Sharing this to my entire blog roll. Please feel free to grab it. :-)

Power of Prayer

2008-08-12T10:22:00.007+08:00

Let us all join our hands to PRAY for all the VICTIMS of mv princess of the stars.

Thank You Nanay Belen for this paryer tag.

Dear God, we pray that you comfort each bereaved family everyday as they grieved for their loss, we pray that you will supply all their needs, we pray for the survivors that they may have a good life after the tragedy, that you will bless them and let them know in the deepest part of their heart that in spite of what have happened, you LOVE and CARE for them. This we pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. I encourage everyone to keep the prayer going. LET’S P.U.S.H. (PRAY UNTIL SOMETHING HAPPENS).

We Prayed: 1. Through The Rain 2. God’s gift 3. The Adventures of Dong and Jing 4. Me, Myself and I 5. malditang bunso’s journal 6. Underneath It All 7. 100% Kelly 8. My Colorful World 9. InkBabyStudios 10. TheSaladCaper 12. MommyTalks 13. All About the Memories 14. Enchanted Play 15. I Am Mommy 16. MY Happy Place 17. IamDzoi 18. ClikTrik 19. I Love the Thirties 20. Explore Manila 21. Because Life Is Fun 22. All Things Me 23. Just What I Always Wanted 24. Simply Jen 25. A Slice of Life 26. This and That 27. Jenny Said So 28. Race Corner 29. A Beautiful Life 30. Moments of My Life 31. My Crossroads 32. My Wonderful Life - 33 Mother ca s re 34 Survivor Mom 35. In Depth 36. As we face Forever

~End Copy.

Passing this to my entire blog roll and to everyone else who wish to grab it.

Glasses on again…

2008-08-08T18:21:00.004+08:00

I started wearing contacts a week before our wedding. Yes, because of wedding that’s why I was forced to order. Aside from the near sightedness, special stigmatism thingy is also in place that makes it 3 times more expensive than the regular ones. Come wedding day I wasn’t able to wear them – why? I lost the right lens night before. Ugh! Maybe because of so much excitement I didn’t feel dizziness and everything was clear but not for the misalette that gave me hard time to read it. After the wedding hubby saw my lost lens. Harhar.

My contact lenses just got expired and I am on my eyeglasses again. I have no choice but to wear them on, else everything will be blur and the tendency of fainting. I really hate wearing this on. I feel like I am 5 years older, though it makes me feel the 20-20 vision and bye bye headaches and dizziness.

Oh how I love to purchase another set of contact lenses but I am afraid of the possibility of getting eye cysts, just like my sister.

When I have more than enough money I'll have my eyes lasered. When would this be? Does laser corrects stigmatism too? I don't know. Have to reasearch on this when I have the budget of undergoing laser. Hehe.

Did you know that our entire family is wearing eye glasses (dad, mom and my 2 sisters). The eye defective family. Hehehe

Transfer?

2008-08-06T15:06:00.004+08:00

While hubby is waiting for me at the mansion lobby, he happened to have a talk with our landlady. She offered us the unit at the 2/f, which will be vacated by month-end. Apparently, the rent is 1k higher. To be able to transfer we have to pay in advance 1k x no of remaining contract months.

We are actually attracted to transfer because our unit is located at the 5/f. FYI, NO elevator! So climbing approximately 60 steps everyday is no joke though we consider it as an exercise. What if I get pregnant? I guess it wouldn’t be advisable for me since I had a miscarriage history.

How about the burden of transferring and fixing our things all over again? The additional pay? Loosing the free Platinum Sky Cable and Wifi connection :p. Will the transfer be worth it if we will stay only until April 2009?

If you were in our case will you transfer or not? Let us know your insights. Thanks.

House Update #02: Turn Over by April 2009?

2008-08-06T14:53:00.007+08:00

Mwhihhi! MIL a.k.a. our broker told us Camella Prestige - Pacific Residences Phase 3 is being developed and by April 2009 our house will be turned over to us. Yihee! Hubby and I felt so much excitement after hearing the news.

We never thought that the turn over will be a quarter earlier. Since our documents are complete and we pay on time, the contractor will be prioritizing ours. Another Yihee! So we have to save more and tipid more so as we can furnish our home with beautiful furnitures and appliances :)

Still, our fingers are crossed . . . hoping that promised turn over will come to reality. Can't wait for April 2009 - that is 8 mos from now na lng! :)

Related Post: http://raymond-rhia.blogspot.com/2008/04/our-very-own-home.html

Shoe Sizes

2008-08-06T12:16:00.007+08:00

Got this tag from Jaque

The never-ending obsession with shoes!

{Start Copy}

What's your shoe size? Are your feet the same size as your mom's feet? How about your sister's feet? Can you borrow shoes from each other?

Post a picture of your latest shoe buy.

Tag the number of women of your shoe size, i.e. size 5 = tag 5 friends.

Don't forget to drop a line in this blog when you're done. :)

1. Jenny and Belle
2. SAHMdom and Beyond
3. Jacque
4. Rhia
5. Your blog here

{End Copy}

my mom's shoe size - 8
my size - 6
my sister's size - 7 (ate nolie) & 8 (ate rona)

Since I am the smallest in the family I also got the smallest shoe size as well. We don't actually share shoes . . . flip flops - yes! When I was a kid I seldomly get new shoes because of hand me down from sisters but now I got the most number of shoes. Hehehe :P

My latest shoes, mary jane Crocs from hubby. Because of my small size we got them at the kids section. It's around Php 400+ cheaper :) that's the advantage of being small :P

What's your shoe size Em Issa Jammy Sheryll & Wheng ?

I hate these chores

2008-08-04T10:24:00.005+08:00

These are the chores that I really hate (it eats my time and makes me feel so tired after doing so) no choice but to do them (ugh!) . . . of course with the help of hubby :)

This is how it goes

~~~START COPY~~~

This meme is pretty simple.

Here are the rules:

1.) List down the household chores you hate and why. Do you think you can survive without helpers and nannies?

2.) Copy the image.

3.) Tag as many girlfriends as you want, the Daddies and Hubbies can also join.

4.) Add your Blog's link in the domesticated divas linky love. You can add all your blogs.

5.) Leave ME a comment and I'll add you up in the master list.

DOMESTICATED DIVAS: Living the Healthy Life / Stripe&Yellow / Vanity Kit / Mind Bubbles / Something Purple / Em's Detour / Insights from the Grocery Cart / Living A' La Mode / God's Best Gift / Life Together Starts / A Housewife's Journal / As We Face Forever

The no.1 chore I hate the most is clothes pressing followed by the chores that deals with water - laundry, dishwashing and bathroom cleaning.

I cannot survive without the help of hubby but can survive without a helper (as of now).

~~~END COPY~~~

Thanks for this Mari, now I'd like to know what chores Bunnie, Con, Joy, Jammy and Wheng hate to do.

For You

2008-08-01T10:19:00.004+08:00

Thanks Joy for this sweet tag.

Start Copy Here~

1. Copy from start to finish

2. This letter should be pass on to your closest friends online.

3. Add your name and URL blog HERE!! 1. Wheng 2. Hazel 3. Janeth Vicy's Life Journey 4. Cecile's Life is Good and Beautiful 5. juliet's My Angels World 6. Grace's Learn, Love and Laugh thru BLOOGING! 7. From This Side 8. As We Face Forever

4. Get back to Me [Rhia] and leave a comment once you’ve passed on the letter. Will then visit your site to make sure your links are complete and proper.

5. To ensure everyone receives equal link benefit, UPDATE your list regularly!

It's true I have never seen you and we have never met. Never shaken hands or even truly hugged and yet I know for sure you care for me by the kindness that you give. And our keyboards keep us together doesn't matter where we live. So I give you this gift to put a smile on your face. And to let you know in my heart you have a special place.

~End Copy Here~

Though it seems that my entire blog roll has this tag . . . I am still sharing this to all of you :)

Raymond & Rhia turns 1!

2008-07-31T10:38:00.021+08:00

MAY 27 is one of our most awaited dates of the year because it’s not only our anniversary but it’s also my birthday! Yey!

I am already 28 y/o – I can’t imagine that I am this old already; my friends might no longer call me Yhang (my nickname). Anyway, I still feel young and look young naman eh. Hehehe.

Our first year was damn so good! I guess our relationship and investment progress is more than enough to have in a year. Though there were some tragic moments and numerous fights, I believe these are part of a blissful and perfect married life.

Let me recap how blissful our married life was :)
Jun – honeymoon; love nest furnishing
Jul – our 3rd year of togetherness
Aug – first time to be apart for 2 weeks because of hubby’s China business trip
Sep – we lost our supposedly first baby
Oct – we started gaining weight
Nov – hubby got a high paying job
Dec – our first time to celebrate Christmas together
Jan – our first time to celebrate New Year together
Feb – Valentine’s Day is all I can remember
Mar – fire incident; made our first huge investment – a house
Apr – we moved to a new place; fully paid EL
May – the splurge month (bought: cellfon, digicam, dart board, sewing machine plus the B&B treat)

Picture taking at NSDG facade after hearing mass.

The baked spag for Denise

We woke up early around 5:00 AM and started our day with a mass. We attended the 6:00 AM mass at NSDG (where we got married). After hearing mass we had a power bfast at McDo (Barangka). Then we went home to pack our things and to cook baked spag as a present for Denise (SIL) whose celebrating her 28th year too. Around 10:30 we left our place and headed to Makati (in laws place) to hand our present. Afterwards, we traveled Tagaytay.

The 3 CELEBRATIONS!

Celebration 1: The Boutique Bed & Breakfast experience (May 27-28)
Before checking-in at The Boutique Bed and Breakfast (B & B) we had lunch at Mushroom burger it’s also along Aguinaldo Hi-way. I am an avid fun of mushrooms that’s why I was really very eager to taste the food there. I didn’t enjoy the food :-(

B & B facade

Lobby

Pamper Me
Upon check-in (2PM) we had iced tea as welcome drinks and it was really refreshing! Then we were escorted at the B&B “Pamper Me” corner where toiletries and room scent selection are lined up. We had a slice of peppermint and tee tree oil soap. Milk & honey for shampoo. Aloe Vera scent for lotion and the best of all was the bedroom scent: lavender – mint fragrance. Smells really good!

Welcome drinks

Soap selection

our toiletries kit

enjoying the giant couch at the lobby

approaching the dare . . .

I dare - After shopping for toiletries we were ushered to our room, which was the “I dare”. As the door opened, the king sized bed with various pillows caught my eyes. Very inviting to lie down. The bed’s headboard was uber amazing! The couch is nice too; it has the same concept as the bed. I also love the patio/veranda where you can almost view Taal Lake.

There’s nothing spectacular with bathroom except for the glass wall were people from the ground floor can peep on you. Hehehe. A cloth is provided to cover half of the glass. The closet were good too, it is has full mirror that serves as the door. There were some items for sale inside the closet like lingerie, boxer shorts, massage tools, etc . . .

The room entertainment was also good. It has an LCD, dvd player, subwoofer and a set of speakers. Wifi access is also in place.

Facial Massage
We had our complimentary ice facial massage at around 6pm. The 10 min massage was so damn good and very relaxing. More! More!

the king sized bed with king sized headboard

posing with the pillows

meditating at the other biggie couch. hehehe

the see through bathroom

hubby enjoying the LCD

view downstairs (from veranda)

another view from the veranda

the hawaiin bbq grill resto

our room

enjoyin' the weaved sets

Hawaiian BBQ Grill
This is B&B resto partner. You may dine or have your food room serviced. In our case to maximize our stay at the room we all had our food room serviced and had it set up at the veranda. Hehehe.

PM Snacks – We had banana split and fries.

Dinner – The famous baby back ribs and chicken loco. So yummy and the serving was so big.

Midnight Snacks – Churos and hot choco. Which is a part of the package too . .

Breakfast – The big breakfast in bed. Ang dami and it was indeed a real power breakfast.

Box of chocolates is given upon check out as a token from B&B.

We enjoyed our stay at the B&B. The place was really very relaxing and the perfect place for your intimate moments. How I wish we could stay longer kaya lng it’s pricey.

After checking out we had lunch at the Fire Grill at the Cliffhouse. We simply enjoyed the food and the view then bought some pasalubong from Amica’s then back to reality na. Hehehe.

CELEBRATION 2: The triple treat at Pampanga (May 31)

Of course I have to celebrate my birthday, our anniversary and promotion (kaya they called it triple treat) with my family, relatives and friends at Pampanga!

Friendships, where's my name? :P

As a yearly practice (except last year) I cook food for them and as always this is done in our backyard. I make it sure that I serve something new to their taste buds - that excites them to eat. Hehehe. If I remember it right we had Kani salad as appetizer, cheesy beef canalone for pasta, main coarse were grilled gindara with lemon butter sauce, pork & mushroom surprise, buttered garlic babies (potato & corn) and ube cake from La crème as dessert courtesy of friends. Mom’s famous chicharon and pork bbq completed the table.

CELEBRATION 3: Another at Makati (June 1)

We had another round of celebration at my in laws. Not because it was my birthday or our anniversary but it was my sister-in-law Denise’s birthday. Yes, were both born on the same year and date. Hehehe. We shared one main dish as our present to Denise and as our treat na rin to them. Tipid na rin. Hehehe.

I was like a star. Had 3 celebrations. Hahaha.

I am back!

2008-07-30T17:13:00.008+08:00

Horaaaay! Busy and sick days are over . . . and I am back to the blogging world. I missed doing this stuff. There's a lot of catching up do and some overdue post to be shared.

June and July has been very toxic months. I can't imagine how I surpassed the days of these months . . . grabe, I am so busy doing lots of things all at the same time and now I am in petiks mode again. Yahooo!

The following made me silent in the blogging world for two months . . .

WORK - The OR Automation:
Yey! After a long period of time I was able to implement the project successfully. I am so thankful that the users love it and they are so happy with the program that made their work easier and faster. No more OT for them. Hehe. My boss told me this project is an added feather in my hat. ***wink***wink***

The Business Planning and SAP Summit were some of my additional activities involving work.

EXTRA - Siomai
It’s not that I am not earning enough at the office. It’s not that I need extra income. Wala lng I just feel like doing these rackets and putting extra challenge in my life. Just checking my capabilities. The art, sales and cooking power. Hehehe.

Every time hubby sees a food cart of siomai house he can’t resists but eat 2-3 orders. Takaw noh? So I explored cooking siomai and tada! It taste even better. My friend even told me that my siomai tastes far better than those sold at Nataniel’s Food House (Pamp). Ehem.

One time my sister requested me to cook siomai for her officemates, as her promotion treat. The verdict – they all loved it! So orders started coming in. Instant business. Hehe. After couple of bulk orders, Hubby and I decided not to pursue it yet because it is the kind of business that requires a lot of time and patience.

Another EXTRA - Invitation
My invitation business strikes again! Another happy client. Yey!. I’ll make a separate post for this.

2 more invites lined up . . . for Jun-Jessica and Dexter-Grace. I also have another 2 prospects but still thinking if I’ll close deal with them. Bahala na.

FAMILY Matters
My aunt came home from US. So we need to go home to PAmp every weekend and spend some time with her and at the same time it is our town fiesta.

SICK Days!
I got sick (tonsillitis was the culprit of my 1 week fever) and I was on SL for a week. Viral infection passed by our office. We are only 10 in the team and 5 of us were infected all at the same time. Good thing that hubby was there taking care of me. Thanks hubby!

I don't feel perfectly okay pa rin upto now :( How I miss my healthy days.

These were the things that made me so busy for the past two months and reason behind why I have been so silent. I promise to catch up! Miss you blogmates!

BUZZYYY!

2008-06-12T08:04:00.003+08:00

Oh how I miss blogging! I am so so so busy this past few days and expecting to be more busy this coming days. Perhaps the whole month of June. Whuaaah! After office naman, I do not have enough energy to blog. I miss petiks days. Hehehe.

I already have 2 pending posts. My birthday/our anniversary special and Shorts! Promise, after the project I'll be posting these 2 entries.

Bye for now, have to work again . . . .

merry MAY

2008-06-02T12:51:00.004+08:00

Got this tag from Mari

The rules:

1.Determine your birthday month and get a word that rhymes with it or you can affix to it. Caps lock your birth month (ex: MAYday! JUNE dune, APRILicious, JULYvely, AUGUST pocus, parched MARCH…). Be unique.

2.Your birth month plus the word affixed or rhymed shall become the tag’s title in your case.* 3.Get your birthday and add the digits involved. Example, if your birthday falls on the 25th of July, add 2 and 5 you get 7.

4.Whatever is the sum, write a list of the MATERIAL gifts you wish to receive, the number of which shall correspond to the sum of your birthday. For example, applying the case above (in rule number 3), you will write seven (7) things you wish to receive.

5.After your wish list, put your name and birthday in the Bloggers’ Birthday Directory, with a link to your blog/s. Note: when you add your birthday, please place it in a way that the dates appear chronological (January, February… 1, 2, 3)

6.Pass this tag meme by tagging as many people as you want.

Name: Rhia

Birthday: May 27

Calculation: 9

My Wish List:

1. Little angel

2. Hi-end Camera

3. Tour (out of the country)

4. Laptop

5. Gas range

6. Bag

7. Shoes/Sandals

8. Spa

9. Teflon caserole

Bloggers’ Birthday Directory

September 30 - Mckhoii

December 18 - JoshuaOngYS

I am tagging all my blogmates :)

It's a small world yesterday!

2008-05-30T13:35:00.004+08:00

Yesterday was really a small world.

Our one and only photo na complete kmi.

Got emails from my closests friends at SMITS (Di, Elaine & Ayie) yesterday . . . sending their birthday and anniversary greetings. I was soo touched that they didn't fail to greet me though I am miles and miles apart from them. Huhuhu. Miss you angels!

I was surprised that Elaine (who just recently migrated to US from Sing) & Di (Chino Hills) happend to be at the same project. At eto pa their office is near Ayie's place (Sn Francisco). Sa dami ng projects at sa laki ng US it so happend na nagkasama-sama sila after 4 years. This wasn't planned . . . it just happend. Good for them, ako na lng daw ang kulang. Huhuhu.

Another small world incident . . .

My cyber friend Mari happend to be the wife of my SIL's (Ate Hazel) officemate Gwen. Ate Hazel and I normally exchange stories, I just can't remember how we found out that we both knew Gwen and Mari. Nakakatuwa. Ang liit tlga ng mundo . . .

Awarded!

2008-05-30T13:07:00.006+08:00

Thanks Jammy for the award. This is my first!

I am passing this award to my 5 visitors: Mari, Joy, Sheryll, Jammy (m giving you this award too) & Issa.

First & Last

2008-05-30T12:44:00.004+08:00

I have been tagged by Joy.

Participants: 1. Me and Mine 2. Creative in Me 3. Little Peanut 4. Pea in a Pod 5. Sugar Magnolias 6. Supermodel Wannabe 7. FunFierceFaboulous 8. A Sweet Taste of Life 9. My Simple Joys 10. Life's Simple Pleasures 11. On A Wonderful Day Like Today12. My Random Thoughts13.From this side 14. As We Face Forever

First Real Job:
IT Application Specialist @ SMITS

First Screen Name:
Whuaaa! Can't remember!

First Funeral Attended:
The first funeral that I rembered attending was my Lolo Goido's funeral. I guess I was 7 y/o then.

First Pet:
Cat named Mingyaws

First Piercing:
ears at 5 y/o na beacuse my ears are so tiny hanggang ngayon.

First Tattoo:
None

First Kiss:
Paul – my ex

First Enemy:
My sisters. Hahaha!

Last Car Ride:
This morning.

Last Kiss:
Hubby. Before we parted ways this morning after the car lift.

I’ll be tagging no one. Hehehe. It seems everybody in my blog roll has been tag with this. Hehehe.

Describe Yourself Today

2008-05-30T12:08:00.003+08:00

I got tagged by Issa. Thanks sis!

Rules:
1. List 6 things that describe yourself today.
2. Add your blog to the list. Feel free to add all your other blogs.
3. Tag other online friends you know

This is me today:

I feel happy today :-)
Today is a good hair day. I exerted a lil effort brushing. :P
I am in casual wear (polo shirt, jeans and my mary jane crocs) while at office and no make up at all.
My eyebrows are in bad shape. Forgot to pluck/shave them.
I feel excited because in a little while I'll be having my own sewing machine. Yahoo!
I am pushing myself to finish my test script and testing by 4, so that I can blog na at 4 onwards. I really missed this and cnt wait to make kwento. Hehehe.

Links: Creative In Me Little Peanut Me and Mine Pea in a Pod Sugar Magnolias BLOGGERHAPPY Berry Scrappy Changing Lanes Pit Stop Kapturd and so i am Princess Bela Our Journey To Life My Planet Purple Women xplore Princess Vien, A Pcketful Of Happiness, As We Face Forever

I'm tagging mari, joy, & sheryl .
Let me kow if you did. :)

After VL

2008-05-29T19:04:00.004+08:00

Damn! I am soo busy the whole day. After 3 days of VL - tons of work welcomed me at the office. Hmp.

Though busy, happy pa rin. My users missed me. Though some problems were encountered during my VL they tried not to call me. Love tlaga nila ako. Hehehe. One more thing that makes me happy and so touched, I received 2 boxes of Krispy Kreme from my Mareng Irene as a bday gift. Super thanks mare!

I'll try to update our blog tom at lunch break. Can't wait to tell our 1st year anniv/bday story.

May 27 @ “I dare”

2008-05-23T17:50:00.005+08:00

I am so excited on our forthcoming 1st year anniversary and my birthday of course! Mwhihi. We’ll be having an overnight stay at “The Boutique Bed & Breakfast” in Tagaytay. I have been craving for this place since it was featured at Boy and Kris. This is it and this is the best time for it. Yahoo!

We just made our reservation and we will be staying at the “I dare” room. Thanks and love you sooo much Babi (kapampangan term for pig - our term of endearment. har! har!) for giving in, though it’s a bit pricey. Hehehe.

We really wanted to have a real out of town trip or out of the country anniversary celebration, but because I am trying to conceive we can’t plan. Maselan kasi ako magbuntis eh. Maybe next year or after having a baby dun na lng kmi mag out of the country.

So when we learned that I wasn’t after the second test (May 22) we started searching where to stay. After reading several good reviews about “The Boutique” we decided to stay there.

Watchout for our "The Boutique" experience. Promise I'll be posting lots of pics.

Happy weekend everybody!

10 Random Things About Me

2008-05-23T08:51:00.004+08:00

I am tagged by Sheryll

RULES:

Each blogger starts with ten random facts/habits about themselves.
Bloggers that are tagged need to write on their own blog about their ten things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog, you need to choose 10 people to get tagged and list their breads.
Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Here it goes ...

I do not have the song and dance talent :-( Never joined dance contests at school and never hold the mic at ktv gimmicks. Takot ako sa failing score. Hahaha.
I so much love cooking but not baking. I never perfectly baked any muffins or cookies . . . what more cakes?
I like doing DIY art related stuff. Invitations, cards, etc . . . awarded best in arts when Iwas in grade 4 and joined several poster making contests. Bwahaha.
I can make/sew my own clothes (pants, slacks, shorts, blouses, dress but not shirts) & linens (blanket, bed sheets, pillow cases and curtains)
I am OC and very keen into details. Aminado ako, tanggap ko at pinaninindigan ko na rin. .
I love blogging but I cannot write a very good composition, but I can write legibly (cursive, printed or khit lettering pa . . . ano connect? Hahaha!)
I cannot lie in bed and watch tv the whole day. I always want to be productive. Bakit tulog lng daw ang panhinga ko sabi ni hubby.
Table tennis is the only sports that I can play and excelled in. Ehem, I was once a table tennis Pampanga team player.
I hate unplanned things. I make sure things are always planned with Option A & B.
I am looking forward of becoming a SAHW/M with part-time business, to study at fashion school, culinary arts, graphic arts and photography. This are my unachieved dreams. Hehehe.

I am tagging Con, Joy, Mari, Michelle & Rocks. Hmmm . . . I only got 5 remaining blogmates that weren't been tag with this entry.

Let me know if you are done so I can know you a little bit more.

Dart Set

2008-05-21T15:50:00.004+08:00

Hubby is a dart player way back his college days, kung saan-saang sulok ng Pilipinas sya napadpad because of dart tournaments / leagues. He was even awarded daw as MVP, 3 times. Hmmm . . . I wonder gaano tlga sya kagaling mag darts. I don’t actually watch him play khit sa anong games nya – darts, basketball, billiards or bowling (hindi naman sports minded si hubby…hehehe). It’s not that I don’t support him – ayaw nya lng tlga ako manood because lalo lang daw sya naprepressure. Hehehe.

Hubby has been longing to buy a dart set noon pa, dahil “gutay gutay” na tlga dart set nya – over used na tlga. Due to super daming gastusin he sets aside buying this stuff. He does his practice at his friend’s place whenever he is invited to tournaments. Sometimes he wins, sometimes not dahil daw kulang sya sa practice tlga. So I thought of buying him as a 1st year anniversary gift.

After office last Friday (May 16) I strolled at the mall while waiting for the rain to subside. To my surprise it was mall wide sale. I hurriedly checked the sports stores good thing that the dart board and pins are 10% off. I consulted Dave (his best buddy) first on what brand and what kind of pins and weight na dpat kong bilhin. Though I find it a bit pricey (o kuripot lng tlga ako), binili ko pa rin dahil for sure hubby will love it.

As I reached home, I left the dart board sa guard dahil hindi ko na kayang iakyat pa sa unit nmin dahil mabigat. Then asked the guard to hand it to hubby pagdating nya. Ung pins na lng ang ni-wrap ko so khit paano may sense of surprise pa rin. I didn’t wait na for our anniversary to come binigay ko na kaagad ung gift ko para magamit na kaagad.

He was soooo happy having a new dart set. He never expected daw na bibigyan ko sya ng ganun. He really liked the present specially the tungsten pins-pangarap daw nya un. Kung sya daw ang bibili para sa sarili nya – ung steel lng daw. If I only knew, un na rin lng binili ko, para nkatipid. Joke. Hehehe.

Though it was already late night, nilaro pa rin nya khit dpa naset set-up. Kala mo batang excited sa laruan. Then he woke up early to set up the dartboard sa wall.

Sana sa next tournament na salihan mo manalo kna. Sana manalo ka ng 1M. Balato ha. Hehehe.

Negative (-)

2008-05-20T15:13:00.002+08:00

It’s the 34th day after my last menstrual period (counting one from first day). So, hubby and I decided to take preg test since I am days delayed. Can’t actually say how many days delayed since my cycle count plays at 28 days to 31 days.

Sad to say, the result was negative – again. :-(

Still, our fingers are crossed hoping that the test was false negative.

A positive result would be the greatest birthday gift ever, khit wala ng sewing machine ok lng.

DIY Curtains!

2008-05-20T14:54:00.003+08:00

Yey! My DIY curtains are finally hanged.

Almost every lunch break I find time to pass by the department store of Robinson’s Galleria (our office bldg is connected at the mall) to check the displayed curtains. Not to purchase, but to inspect how they were actually made. (Copycat! Hahaha!) They are sooo expensive though 50% off pa sya from P1.5k to P750 per panel. I won’t buy such stuff were I know I can make one. Hehehe. The kuripot in me. So these became my inspiration.

Living Area

Room curtain

Table cover from the excess cloth

My DIY are not as good as those in mall. Pero pwede na for a starter and I am still proud of my work (patronize your own. haha!). And take note they are a lot lot lot cheaper. I was even able to make a table cover from the excess cloth. Best buy tlga ng raw materials sa Divi. Hehehe.

Thanks to hubby for setting up the curtain rods and mom for lending me her sewing machine.

Can’t wait to have my own sewing machine! Hubby promised that I’d be having my own on my birthday as a present. Yiheeee!

The Invitation Maker in ME

2008-05-16T17:14:00.006+08:00

I am known here in the office as wedding invitation maker. I already made 8 wedding invitations all in all turning 10 by the end of the year. Most of the invites I made served as a gift. Some couple provided the materials (labor of love for free), some naman are totally free (sa mga super close) and some naman serves as additional income. Hehehe. It’s just another hobby that I love.

I made invitations for the ff couples:
1. Lloyd – Noli
2. Noel – Sharlyn
3. Sherwin – Prime
4. Nicki – Christine
5. Paul – Sheryl
6. Edward – Jhona
7. John – Dette
8. Raymond - Rhia (Our Very Own Wedding Invitation - the hardest invite I ever made)

9. Jun – Jessica (for Sep 20, 2008)
10. Dexter – Grace (for Dec 29, 2008)

Click here for final invitation pictures and here for mock ups.

Last Tuesday I was approached by my officemate Irene to make an invitation for Chanella’s christening and it is super rush daw. Swerte nya the network is down for 2 days – had enough time to conceptualize and layout dahil hindi kmi maka work without the network connection. I just finished the 30 pcs invites last night. Though rush, I guess I did a great job. Everyone admires the simple yet elegant invite I made.

Photos taken by John Garica

Does this mean . . . I can also make invites na rin for christening? Hmmmm . . next time birthdays naman. Hehe. I have to study pa photoshop or other graphics software. For now, word lng ang ginagamit ko – believe it or not.

I always think and a lot of people encourage me to make this as a business. Ewan ko ba bkit I don’t push through with it, to think I am a business minded person. Ang dami ko ng ninegosyo at lhat naman ay patok. I sew slacks for officemates; I sold one of my specialties - homemade stuffed cheese embotido and I sold RTW clothes. The products I sell are patronized naman – magaling ako in terms of sales talking eh. Hehe. Minsan pinipilit pa ako to sell more kaso ako ang sumusuko. I just don’t feel like expanding with this kind of business cguro. But I have this gut feel na swerte ako sa business. Hehe. As of now, I will stay muna as an employee. Wala pa sa isip ko ang mag negosyo as my bread and butter pero it’s definitely a part of our long term plan.

Starbucks served at Matt & Lala’s Wedding

2008-05-16T15:52:00.010+08:00

May 11, 2008
Chapel on the Hill
Sonya’s Garden

This is the second wedding we attended this year. Four more weddings to go this year.

Matt is an officemate from SMITS, while Lala is hubby’s co-worker from Van Melle. Since we were both connected with the couple we decided to attend though church and reception is a bit far.

EL’s wiper is malfunctioning on that day – hubby is having a hard time driving because it was raining. We headed directly at the reception sayang we weren’t able to witness the ceremony.

While waiting for the program to start we had time for relaxation with the beauty of Sonya’s garden. Hindi na kmi nag pa spa, nagkukuripot eh. Hehehe. Below are some of the pictures I took. My bad wasn’t able to take some pics of the couple. I’ll be a good photographer next time, promise. (Babes, please give me a better cam or a DSLR for better quality pics. Hahaha!)

The wedding went well. The set up is simply the best. The food was ok – the salad was perfect. We love the pritchon. The most memorable thing siguro was the Starbucks. Yes you read it right Starbucks was freshly brewed and served after dessert. Astig di ba? This is the first wedding that I attended na nag serve ng Starbucks. I never thought that Starbucks caters wedding functions. Hehehe. Hubby told me that Lala is a certified Starbucks addict. Kaya pla . . .

To Matt & Lala . . . wishing you a blissful married life. Congrats & Best wishes. Thanks for inviting us over.

EL is officially ours :-)

2008-05-16T11:18:00.004+08:00

Who is EL? EL is how we call our first baby. Our car. Hubby called him EL simply because it is a Lancer EL. Walang ka effort-effort mag-isip si hubby ng name eh. Hehe.

Why officially ours? The 4-installment period is over. Full payment made last April 30. Payment should have ended last March 30, due to the fire incident held last March 26 we weren’t able to pay because we needed cash for moving out to a new place (for DP and advances). Good thing no late payment penalty was charged. Hehehe.

EL is our first major investment (property). It may not be a fancy car; at least we have a car that we can use. We’ll just buy a brand new car when we have more than enough money. Hahaha. Tsaka na, house and baby is our priority now.

Background:
EL is actually the car I use when I was still single. It is my official runaway buddy when I home at Pampanga. Since the car is seldom used at home (Dad and Mom prefers the L300 because it is Diesel engine vehicle . . . mas tipid) hubby and I decided to buy it though it is not being sold. At super binarat nmin. Hehehe. Dad and mom gave in though the price is not right and to think it was on an installment basis. Sabi nga nila mabuti na ang binili kahit lugi kaysa hiningi. Hehehe. There were tons of reminders before they handed the car to us, kala mo bata ang tiniturn over sa amin. Hahaha. Ma-alaga tlga si Dad sa kotse, we actually expected those reminders.

Paging hubby, you might be reading this post. Please let me drive EL, I am always at the passenger’s seat. Hmp. You know that I can drive well at our province and I want to test my driving skills here in Manila. Hehehe

May 11: Didn’t make it to Mom’s Day

2008-05-12T18:55:00.002+08:00

Yesterday was supposedly my due date of giving birth to our first baby. I almost made it sana sa mother’s day. Sayang. I am just wondering what situation would I be in right now if our baby made it. Hay, I felt this certain sadness while writing this. Maybe it’s true that things happen for a reason. We might not be able to buy a car and purchase a house if baby pushed thru. Well, God only knows.

It’s almost 8 months now since I was admitted to the hospital for a D&C. It was a nightmare for hubby and me. We didn’t expect that I am sensitive in terms of conceiving. Two months after my D&C we tried making baby again, until now . . . we are not yet blessed. We hope soon. We really want to have a baby and we are rest assured that we are ready at parenthood.

Let me reminisce what happened then . . .

Aug 4 - my last menstrual period

Aug week 4 - I was diagnosed with UTI. Had a week medication. Good thing the antibiotics given were safe for pregnant.

Sept 8 - Some spots appeared on my liners, I thought it was my first day. So I cleaned the entire house and did the laundry. Afterwards we headed to the mall to watch horror movie after movie went to the rest room and to my surprise my menstruation stopped. Then hubby and I heard mass standing for an hour with my high heels on (it’s Mama Mary’s Birthday). After hearing mass we had groceries.

Sep 9 - As I woke up in the morning there were again a few drops of blood in my liners instead of heavy flow since it’s my second day. So we decided to take a pregnancy test. After 10 mins of result waiting, it was negative. An hour after I check again the kit and it turned into positive but it was blurd. To my excitement I even jumped several times. Hehe.

Sep 10 - I woke up early with a smile in my face though there were still some spots in my pads. Went early at the office. After office, I had trans-v then visited the doctor and requested me to take pampakapit, vitamins and a 2 weeks bed rest.

Sep 11-16 - I was on bed rest. Good thing hubby can work at home. So while taking care of me he can do his office work. I lived like a princess. Hehehe. During this week I also had a urine test. I was super surprised of the result it went up to 34-36! This is my highest count ever.

Sep 17 - A week after medication we did another round of preg test. The positive line is almost gone. The doctor requested me to have another round of trans-v. Then it was confirmed that I was miscarriage sad to say I have to undergo D&C. I was immediately rushed at emergency. Operation is scheduled that night but my cervix is not yet opened.

Sep 18 - The operation day. I almost hit the nurse because of the too much pain of the vaccine she shut at my butt. It was the pampakalma. I was really at relax mode, d tlga ako kinabahan khit nung nasa operating room na ako. Then I felt another pain when the anesthesia was injected.

Sep 19 - We were back at our love nest.

Sep 20 - Come Saturday we went home to Pampanga – were I had my 2 mos maternity leave. Hubby needs to go back to office.

This is my D&C story.

Weekend Plans

2008-05-09T18:59:00.006+08:00

Yey! TGIF! It's my fourth post for the day. Isn't obvoius that I am in petiks mode again. Just unwinding. Hahaha!

A weekend for me is doing non-routinely work that’s why I so love it! I want to be productive as much as I can. I actually get up early on weekends than weekdays. Hehehe. Every weekend I see to it that I do the laundry, clean the house and of course cook special food for hubby. (Hay! No wonder why we are getting bigger and bigger. . . Haha!)

Aside doing the household chores . . . this coming weekend Hubby and I are planning to do the following:

Saturday:
1. Have our sink fixed.
2. Set up the curtains rods. Yey! I can finally put my curtains on.
3. Stroll at the mall.
4. Watch dvds at night while relaxing

Sunday:
1. Press clothes
2. Attend Matt & Louela wedding at Tagaytay.

Happy weekend everybody!

Is cooking for Ronin?

2008-05-09T15:58:00.006+08:00

It seems that I am doing a hobby transfer to my nieces and nephew. Hehehe. I am not claiming that I am pro, just like to share with the kids what I know. As much as possible I want them to learn other things than playing and watching TV the whole day. Yeah I know they are still young and I won’t push them. Of course I still want them to enjoy their childhood.

If arts is for Tammy and sewing for Rory . . . how about Ronin? Will cooking suit him? I guess having a 7 y/o cook student is no joke. I have to wait 3 or more years maybe before I can teach him.

As I observe Ronin he has a wide range of imagination. He can do several forms out of his tiny mat set. He loves puzzles and he is really good at it. I can’t even beat him at forming a puzzle. Hmmm . . . it seems that what he likes is far from cooking. Hehehe.

Mommy and I loves to cook but then again we didn’t made it as a part of our career though a lot of people praises the food we cook and encourages us try food business. Nah! I guess being in the food industry is a tough one. Using it in our everyday lives is more than enough.

Will Ronin be the next cook in the family? I hope that the signs of telling his mom that he wants to become a chef someday and watching cooking show will turn into reality.

If I’ll see my nieces and nephew grew up pursuing a career in arts, fashion and cooking its as if my dream came into reality. These 3 fields are my dream of becoming then – but I ended being at IT Specialist. Not bad at all, but there is no sense of fulfillment. Until now, I am longing to have a formal education in culinary, fashion and graphic arts. I hope when I have enough money to study these it is not too late.

Rory @ Sewing 101

2008-05-09T15:56:00.001+08:00

Rory, my 8 y/o niece is going grade 4 this coming June. Eight years at old grade 4? Yes, she’s a year advance. She had summer when she was at pre-school and passed the examination to be accelerated from K1 to Grade1. Good thing she’s not left behind at school she even earned Best in Sibika and Filipino. Hmm . . . intelligent kid.

When I was in Grade 4, sewing was introduced to us and I did great! I was awarded Best in Home Economics at the end of the school year. Grand slam from Grade 4 to 6. Hehehe. Since Rory going grade 4 I thought of teaching her in advance -- Sewing 101.

Lesson 01: The Knot
Lesson 02: Running Stitch
Lesson 03: Outline Stitch

She did a great job! Her stitches were almost perfect but she doesn’t have enough patience and lacks focus. I guess mommy is right that Rory is still young – I don’t have to force her to learn new and complicated things at her age.

She was thinking of being a fashion designer when she grew up like one of the Bratz girls. I hope she will. Just like our love for art, no one among us (mommy, ate noli and me) didn’t take fashion/sewing skills seriously. We simply considered it as a hobby.

Tammy drawing Babis

2008-05-09T11:16:00.005+08:00

(Babi – is a Kampanpangan word for Pig)

As I scan my picture gallery on my cam phone saw this cutie funny drawing of Tammy. Pictures below were drawn by her one Sunday afternoon. As far as I can remember that incident she grab a board and pencil and sat at my mom’s table making fast pencil strokes and keeping what she’s doing from us. After drawing, she laughingly revealed her work. Naughty Tam. (Iha, hindi kita tinuraun mag draw para mang-asar. Hmp!)

Tammy, my 6 y/o niece really loves to draw - and she does it well huh. Her drawings are far better than a 10 y/o child. For two consecutive school years she was awarded Best in Arts. Just like her tita . . . ehem. Hehehe. It actually runs in the blood - Dad and my sisters draw well too. Unfortunately none of us ended being a real artist. No one developed the talent and entered the field of art. I hope when Tammy grows up she’ll pursue a career related to arts.

When I have free time I teach her how to draw, blend - apply colors, shares some tips and tricks to produce a nice piece of art. She’s is patient in learning new ideas, a fast learner and applies what she learned. Bias ba dahil ako ang mentor? Haha!

Productive long weekend . . .

2008-05-08T19:31:00.006+08:00

Oh I missed blogging . . . I have been busy lately at work and with my all time favorite hobby-sewing. Entry below talks about my activities over the weekend of May 1-4 :-)

Spending Labor Day @ Divi

Yey! It’s a holiday! I shopped at Divi with Hubby and Ate Noli. I missed doing this stuff – after wedding preps hindi na ako nkabalik dito. We had power breakfast (sinangag, crispy-fried dried posit, egg and coffee – yummy!) before living, making sure that we have enough energy to shop.

Our first stop: Ilaya St – as in ung kalye, and it didn’t fail us; there were tons of nice cloth for curtains – nakakalula. I ended up buying 10 yards of curtain cloth and 6 yards of curtain rings, and the price is super cheap. I also got 12 yards of cloth for my nieces’ uniform, cheap din. I wanted to shop for more cloth sana for pants and blouses kaso it’s super init and medyo mabigat na rin ung napamili namin. We can go back naman some other time. Malapit lang naman and besides I don’t have enough time to sew and I don’t yet have my own sewing machine. Nakikigamit lang ako kay mommy. Need to go home pa sa Pampanga para makatahi.

Our next stop is Divine Mart – sa may Ilaya St pa rin. We shopped for cloth pa rin for hubby’s pants – pricey pero maganda tlga. Then as we stroll along may nkita kmi polo barong na pamasok that are biggie sizes, parang ginawa for hubby. Hehehe. More than half the price ng nasa mall, pero the quality is the same. I just have to change the buttons.

We walked ng super layo just to have lunch at. . . forgot the resto name (kinda near Binondo Church. Serves Chinese cuisine - we love this kind of food. We really had sumptuous lunch dahil it’s a buffet with free dessert and bottomless iced tea all for 250. Pati sa food nkamura din kami.

After eating we parted ways. I went to Pampanga (home province) to spend my long weekend. Yey! I’m on VL the following day para I can sew and sew. Hehe.

Fridays
Fridays is how we (mom, tita & my sisters) call market day at our hometown simply because it’s held every Friday. There are lots of cheap stuffs that can be bought. It’s like a small Divi, streets are stuffed with lots and lots of items. Since I am on leave I had the chance to shop. I bought 2 cool sandos @ P50 only and cloth for my slacks (1-black & 1-light gray) @ P50/yrd. For my size I only need 1.25 yrds more or less a pants would only cost P90 including zipper, thread and electricity. Cheap noh?

I am so excited to sew all the cloth I bought kaya lng I only have limited time. Matapos ko kaya lahat ng ito? Gusto ko tuloy magbakasyong engrande. Hehehe

Daddy’s Birthday
It’s daddy’s day last April 29 and we celebrated it last May 3.

Though daddy has allergies I am still glad that he is healthy on his 59th year. A year to go and he is a certified senior citizen na. Hehehe. We celebrated his birthday differently this year. We usually dine-out or set an outing. It’s the allergies fault – they are not actually obvious but dad should avoid lots of food. He didn’t entertain the dining out idea because hindi daw nya ma-eenjoy ang food. Outing is not a good thing din because afterwards nagkakasakit naman ang mga bata. We decided to celebrate at home na lng.

Mom ordered special palabok while Ate Noli brought home mango ice cream cake from Conti’s. This served as our afternoon snacks. Yummy!

At dinner we invited over Lola and Tito Sonny’s family. Special food (by yours truly and hubby) served at our backyard, our fav dining spot for special occasions. We had shrimp tempura and crabsticks as appetizer, grilled hotdog for kids. Grilled t-bone steak, salad, rice and red wine as main coarse. Fruits and ice cream for dessert. Ang sarap ng kain and kwentuhan namin we were laughing the whole night. I hope daddy was happy on his birthday.

Happy birthday daddy!

Oh btw, I already finished my curtains (comprises of 4 panels). I made table cover from the excess cloth. I wasn’t able to finish my pants since I was assigned to do the cooking and grilling. Thanks babi for helping me out. Finish product pictures will be posted soon. :-)

The Boxer Shorts

I woke up early last Sunday (May 4) to be productive. I want to sew more sana kaso I have limited time because we’ll be going back to Manila at 3PM . Hay, back to routines na naman. How I wish to sew 2 slacks . . . I know I will run out of time so I ended making a pair of boxer shorts for hubby and me. The boxer shorts are so comfy sarap isuot. Thanks mom for sharing your cloth to us and helping me cut it.

Bling-blings!

2008-04-25T14:08:00.013+08:00

Yehey! After the new look of our journal, bling-blings naman.

(1) Online Message Board (http://www.cbox.ws/)
(2) Blog Roll link
(3) Pinay blinkie - courtesy of Pinay Bloggers
(4) Anniversary Ticker (http://www.daisypath.com/)

Muntik na ako maloka sa kakahanap were to insert from the Hmtl template the blings code. IT pa man din ako pero hindi ako programmer. Hahaha! Good thing I figured out the other way on how to do it without the code insert thingy. Pang functional tlga ako, palusot. Hehe :P

I hope that I can improve pa this and be an active blogger. Find and tag some friends at our Blog Roll and eventually earn from this. Asa pa. Hahaha. Mukhang maraming pa dapat akong i-exert na effort to improve this and become a professional blogger.

Parang I am so obvious na - na wala akong ginagawa ngayon sa office. Hahaha! Actually, tapos ko na po, advance pa nga eh, yabang . . . Hehehe. Nag a-unwind lng para naman hindi ako ma-bore :P

Approved!???

2008-04-24T13:06:00.004+08:00

Before I start the meat of my post . . . wala lng i just like to acknowledge my blog's new look. Hehehe. Still, a lil bit pale . . . pero mas makulay naman than before. Though pale, clean naman sya tignan . . . next time lalagyan ko na sya kaartehan. Add in a customized header cguru, I have to study pa on how I can do that. For the meantime ganyan muna . . . I dnt yet have the time and patience. Hehehe. . .

Approved? Oh yes! My promotion got approved na daw. Sup 3 na ako effective May 1, 2008. A single step na lng and manager na ako, and so??? I hope before this thing happens e nasa ibang company na ako. May 2009 naiinip na ako sayo. Hehehe. Paghahandaan kita and i'll be targeting that 6-digit salary. Haha!

My promotion is nothing to look forward to, nothing to celebrate. Why? Though promoted and a 17% increase will be given - it is still not enough, to think I am experienced and a SAP SD certified consultant. Hmp. Buti na lng at mabait ako, I still do good in my work at di ako nag a-AWOL wherein pwede naman dahil d pa rin ako pumipirma ng contract. Haha!

Sorry but I hate to compare what I am receiving with others. I strongly believe in terms of experience, quality-quantity, service and dedication to work I know I am way ahead. How I wish they know how to weigh an employee's qualification and fair enough in terms of compensation.

Just venting out . . .

House Update #01: Our Very Own HOME!

2008-04-03T14:27:00.016+08:00

It's been months since i started searching for a house via internet, I give myself around 1-2 hrs a day to search (during lunch break or before going home/while waiting for hubby, minsan sinasabay ko na rin sa pag check mail pagdating ko ng office. hehe) I do some inquiry, requests for sample computation and kung pasok sa specs nmin we request for tripping.

Marvela: House model (this is how our home will look like)

Last March 15 we had another round of tripping. Met the broker at Festival Mall at 10AM then we headed sa Daang Hari to see the model units at Camella Homes Cerritos. We instantly fell in love with the model units and with the community. It's really nice! Dahil nagustuhan nmin we decided to see the actual site sa may Taguig (Diversion Road), lapit sa Petron C-5 and Market! Market! As per hubby's assesment ok naman daw sa kanya ang location, hindi kalayuan and malapit sa mga commercial areas. It's just a few minutes away sa Ortigas via C-5, Makati and airport.

After two weeks, we finally decided to invest. We made our reservation last Mar 31. 10% DP will be paid in 12 mos at 0% interest, less reservation fee. We opted for the 10 year term payment scheme via bank housing loan thru RCBC which will start after the DP.

Archi friends any advise? Ano dapat nming bantayan during the house construction? Btw, this is Camella Homes pla. Heard any reviews/feedbacks on this?

This April start na ung development ng site and expected turn over is by 2Q or 3Q of 2009. Sana 2009 na! Para makalipat na kmi . . . we are so excited to furnish our house, fill it with love and turn it into a home :-)

March 2008 (Busy-Fire-Home)

2008-04-03T09:52:00.013+08:00

It's blogging time once again!

Finally, I finished all the asap system configuration, support for small but controvesial projects and my simplified but complicated tech specs for OR Automation Project. Petiks mode muna ulit. Need to rest muna my over used na brain. I am excerting too much effort pero not worth the pay for a SAP certified consultant. Unfair! Hehehe. Anyway, I know time will come for me and everything will pay off . . . yayaman din ako. 1 taon na lng! Hahaha!

March was indeed a very busy month for us (hubby and I) and ang dami rin happenings that we never thought na mangyayari.

Busy! Busy! Busy!
At work syempre! Since Hubby and I have the same profession we understand each other, so this is a no issue. There are times pa nga na we consult each other at kapag medyo light work load ko, I help him. Hubby is busier than me. He even worked nung Holy Week (lapit na ksi go live nila) so I spent the season sa Pampanga. Hanggang ngayon busy pa rin sya. Well I guess this is what IT profession really is, minsan dami work load, minsan wala (tulad ngayon). Hehehe. I love it!

On FIRE!
I guess some of you heard the angelica jones' fire incident. Hay naku! nadamay pa kami dahil we live on the same apartelle/bldg, 2f kmi while 3f sya. Good thing nothing bad happend to us and other tenants pati na rin sa things namin, binaha lng kmi. The worst thing is wala pa rin kami kuryente upto now. Aghrrr! Hindi namin kinaya ang init and mosquitoes.

We have 2 options naman where to stay while waiting for the electricity resoration. Siguro maselan, naninimbang or ayaw lng nmin tlga magkahiwalay. Option 1: Sa condo (Fort) ni ate, where she lives alone dahil wala naman bro-in-law ko. Option 2: Sa in-laws ko (Makati). Dahil we both dont want to stay sa side nya, side ko or sleep separately we ended checking-in every night. At ang gastos ah.

We are now looking for a place were we can transfer dahil hindi pa rin alam when marerestore ang electricity, pero sure sila na matatagalan - more than a month daw. Whew! We were advised by the care taker kung pwede lipat na rin kmi. like what other tenants did. Hay! We don't actually want to give up the unit since matagal na ako dito, 2001 pa. Aside sa matagal na ako . . . I love the location, malapit sa office, malapit sa lhat ng needs and the rent is cheap compared to nearby for rent apartments. Upto now hindi pa rin namin alam kung ano gagawin nmin. Ang hirap magdecide specially kpag ayaw mo iwan ang place were we both started relationship and shared our memories.

Our Future HOME!
It's not that we don't want to leave our rented love nest. Moving out is actually a part of our plan pero hindi pa ngayon ang takdang panahon by 3Q of 2009 pa dahil by this time matuturn-over na sa amin ang aming bahay. Yes on our very own home! Yiheee!

See my next blog for more details :)

Our 1st Valentine as Husband and Wife

2008-02-15T10:00:00.013+08:00

A Valentine present from Celebrations Cake

It was nothing grandious and nothing was planned . . . . it wasn't the usual valentine celebration . . . flower delivery, dinner and exchange of presents. We even joked each other na dahil mag asawa na tayo wala ng flowers flowers at gifts pa. Hehehe.

We are not so excited in celebrating the season of hearts though it is our first time to celebrate it as husband and wife because there were lots of expences last month, this month and next month . . . so we are really in a tipid mode. Hehehe. Pero hindi pa rin namin pinalampas, it was a last minute planning.

We eneded . . . .

After office, Memond fetch me at the office then we decided to dropped by at Celebrations Cake (Wilson St, San Juan) to give the Barbie Doll for Faye's (memond's niece) Bday cake as a cake topper. Mr. Yu (the owner) even gave us a mini LOVE fondant cake. So CUTE! Sobrang na touch tlga kmi sa kanya (Mr. Yu). So bait! We never expected na bibigyan nya kmi ng cake.

Afterwards we headed to Cafe Ysabel (www.cafeysabel.com), buti na lng may available seats pa, by reservation pla tlga dun. I wasn't actually in the mood that night, d ako mkakain ng maayos my stomach is soooo bloated, parang sasabog! Hehehe. Dahil siguro sa buchi na minirienda nmin at sobrang kakatwa with officemates nung late afternoon. So I ended eating salad while Memond is eating Lamb chops . . . sarap! Kaiingit.

The verdict: the food is ok, masarap naman, good service - pricey (nagtitipid daw oh! hehe) nga lang pero the place is very romantic and cozy. A perfect place for dating.

Actually, I have an hidden agenda why we ended up dinning there. Hehehe. Dahil Cafe Ysabel and CACs (http://www.cacschef.com/) are both owned by Chef Gene nasa-iisang place lng cla. I was dreaming of enrolling at CACs kase. Pangarap ko tlga mag-aral dun . . . khit short course lng . . . so after our date we inquired at CACs, buti naman they entertained us. Wala lng para lng may idea ako kung gaano kamahal ang tuition fee nila. Hehehe. At para alam ko gaano kalaki ang iipunin ko or hanggang pangarap n lng tlga. Hehehe.

Valentines for us is not measured how it is being celebrated, what's important is that we are with our special someone :)

Happy Valentines!

2008 Plans!

2008-01-03T14:24:00.002+08:00

Below are our major targets or plans this 2008.

1. To have a baby.
2. Purchase a house or townhouse.
3. Clean up credit cards accounts.

Few plans but hard to accomplish. Hehehe. We do hope that everything will materialize :-) Goodluck to us! :P

Top 10 Hubby and I 2007 Highlights

2008-01-02T10:51:00.001+08:00

1. Hubby and I on full blast wedding preparation mode (Jan to May)
2. Hubby and I had our Pre-Nup pictorial – Lakeshore (Mar 12)
3. Hubby and I had our Pre-Nup video shoot – Greenbelt 4: All Star (Mar 25)
4. Hubby and I got married (May 27)
5. Hubby and I had our first out of town trip - honeymoon (June 1 to 4)
6. Hubby and I furnished our love nest with – aircon, microwave and flat screen tv with cable (June wk 2-3)
7. Hubby and I lost our supposedly first baby (Sep 18)
8. Hubby started a new career with Supply Chain (Nov 19)
9. Hubby and I bought our first major property – EL (Dec 9)
10. Hubby and I celebrated our first Christmas together – Pampanga (Dec 25)

Part 5: Suppliers’ Rating – Stationeries, Tokens, & Honeymoon

2007-09-07T18:02:00.000+08:00

Stationeries
Rating: 5+++ sympre DIY ko eh :p
Cost: dko na compute pa :p

Save the Date, Invitations, Misalette, Table Nos & Table Planner, Confetti Cones, Souvenir-TY Tags, Guest Cards, Wish Cards & Wish Card Pens – these are the items na kinareer ko tlga ng husto - pinagpuyatan at pinagtyagaan. Mahirap din pla maging OC at may kaalaman ng konti sa arts (ka-artehan) – mahirap syang panindigan. Guests might wonder kung ako nga ba ang ikinakasal kung hindi ko ginawa ang mga ito, I bet expected na nila sa akin ang mga ito. Hehehe.

Invitations - This is the most difficult among all my DIYs. Buti na lng tinulungan ako ni hubby. Though I am used in making invitations, iba pla when you are making your own. I came across 10 design yta before we eneded up with this.

Misalette - umiral din kaartehan ko dito. Same design with the invite din. Hehe

Table Nos - see. nka terno pa rin with the invite. hehehe. Kakaiba ang table nos namin. It's not a simple Table 1-2-3 lang. They are the remarkable dates, places and things sa aming 2 ni hubby. So as our hosts call the table nos for guests picture taking and getting of food at the buffet may konting trivia muna. After calling all the tables - the hosts eventually finishes our love story :-)

Confetti Cones - Pati ito pinag-ukulan ko ng pansin. Hehehe. Di kase ako nakuntento sa mga 20 sm & 2 big confetti poppers. Again, nkaterno ulit :p

Guest Cards / Kissing Bells / Raffle Cuopon - Another craft na pinagtyagaan ko. Na halos sumuko ako. Hehehe. Sympre kailangan tapusin ang inumpisahan at kailangan panindigan. Hehehe.

Each guest have their own card wherein their name, table assignment and pre-drawn raffle no are indicated (for the bouquet & garter toss) , sinama ko na rin dito ang kissing bells. I made blank cards for those guests we missed.

Marami nabiktima sa kissing bells, everytime they ring it kunwari bunot kmi ng couple who will also share a kiss. Hindi nila alam scripted yun. Hehehe.

Sabi nga ng iba parang souvenir na rin eh. Most of the guests brought home guest cards :-)

Table Planner - Cnt find a picture of this. I made 2 of this. Sympre nka terno din. Placed them on a cocktail table near the two entrance of the reception area to guide guests where their table is located.

Wish Cards & Wish Card Pens - Cnt find the pics of these. Wish cards are distributed at the registration area along with the guest cards. Were guests are requested to write their messages to us kapalit ng souvenir. Hehehe.

Wish Card Pens are placed naman per table, pati ito kinareer ko rin. Both the signpens at Divi, ganda ng sula at 5each lng. I wrapped them with ribbon like in our invite then accented it with fuchsia and yellow feathers. Dko akalaing ma sold-out mga ito pati sa mga matatanda maaliw. May 1 pen lng na natira sa amin. Iniisip pa man din namin ni hubby na after the reception kung anu gagawin nmin sa sandamakmak na pens na un. Hehehe.

All the hardships naman paid off after hearing the nice comments, lalo na when our guests said na our wedding is very nice specially the details. Tyaga ko daw, sobra! Terno-terno ba naman. Hahaha.

Tokens: Incense Cones & Sticks in Tube
Rating: 5
Cost: 15/each

Memond and I got them at Divi Mall168. For us they are best buy – di mukhang tig-15. Lalo na when we placed na the tags. Ang cute daw sabi ng mga guests. Kulang na lng hingin nila lahat ng scents – pero some guests did. Good thing we bought a lot, namurahan kmi eh. Hehehe.

Our strategy: Our secondary sponsors distributed them at the exit of the reception (pauwi na), para di agaw eksana while program is on-going. Our emcees just reminded the guests to submit their wish cards (instead of passing a guest book/frame) at the exit then be replaced with a token. Para lng marami ang mag wish sa amin, and it worked! Hehehe.

Honeymoon: Alona Kew - Bohol

Air Fare (Cebu Pacific)
Rating: 5
Cost: 5.5k

San ka pa? We got the 1 peso fair. Swerte! Walng kahirap-hirap mag book. Day 1 of the promo nkapag book na ako on line and we instantly have had our honeymoon destination :-)

Travel Agency (Queenspoint Travel & Tours)
Park Square 1
Rating: 5
Cost: 17k (4D/3N Accomodation at Alona Kew and Exclusive Day Tour)

Wala kming alam na travel agency ni hubby, we dnt actually travel under a travel agency. So what we did, the day after our wedding malling sa makati hanggang sa nakita nga namin ang Queenspoint. Okay naman ang tour packages nila, cheaper compared sa mga online travel and tours and sa iba png agency. In less than an hour nakkuha na sila ng confirmation sa Alona Kew. Good thing we got the front beach slot :-)

Nasurprise pa nga kmi ni hubby during our day tour. Exclusive pla kmi, we have our own tourist guide and exclusive din kmi sa isang resto boat sa Lobboc river lunch. Tinginan nga mga kasabayan nmin sa amin eh. Hehehe.

Alona Kew
Rating: 4

The resort doesn’t look that good, pero okay na sya for honeymooners. Not that bad. The staffs are friendly and punctual as well. The food? May kamahalan though hindi naman ganun kasarap.

So that ends our long and overdue suppliers rating. Sensya na. Sana nakatulong. If you have questions, PM me lang po.

rhia ni memond
05.27.2007
nsdg.pse auditorium
http://raymond-rhia.weddingannouncer.com - WEDSITE
http://www.raymond-rhia.blogspot.com - AS WE FACE FOREVER

Part 4: Suppliers’ Rating – Hosts, Coordinators, Strings, S.System & AVP Equipments

2007-09-07T17:31:00.000+08:00

Hosts - Jorrel Yap & Rae Dimaano
Rating : 5+++
Cost : Priceless
.

These 2 guys made the party a success, no dead air – super okay ang tandem nila. Memond & I met them only once – over lunch. W provided them the program flow, how I want it to happen, the script and some instructions. They were able to deliver it nicely, parang hindi scripted. Some of our guests even thought that they were professional emcees, magagaling daw.

Jorrel is a HS friend of mine from Pampanga, while Rae is a college friend of Memond. It so happened that they know each other because officemates sila before sa isang call center and they belong in one account. Galing nga eh, parang pinagtagpo at pinagkakilala sila - small world tlga.

Jorrel actually knows how I want the program to be, dahil co-emcee nya ako dati sa weding ng friend nmin. Hehehe. So it was a bit easy for him na rin. :-)

Coordinators
Rating: 5++++
Cost: Priceless

Church – Officemates: Jhoanna Rivera, Kat Obcena & Aziel Aquino

Reception – My High School Friends: Jowette, Noel, Sha, Gladys, Ericson, Rush, Gang, Dexter & Grace

Saying thanks to these guys is not enough. Another tasks assigned to friends that is professionally done. Again, akala ng mga ibang bisita professional coordinators sila, even our suppliers napabilib nila. The party daw was very organized and kung magtrabaho sila hindi kapansin-pansin as if they were not there. I was actually their head planner. I gave each one of them a role na babagay sa knilang personality and maybe profession na rin along with checklist at mga notes. See our wedsite download page.

I was even touched with them. They even checked-in a hotel the night before the wedding to discuss their roles and checklists I gave them para di daw sila nagmamadali at mataranta the wedding day, manggagaling pa kasi dapat sila ng pampanga, may umuwi pa nga from Singapore just for our wedding :-)

Dami ko coordinators noh? Di pa kasma ung mga ibang nag-assists dyan. Hehehe. I feel so much blessed with friends tlga.

Strings: Impressions Music Ensemble
Rating: 4.5
Cost: 12k (quartet)

Bong & Johanna Lonzon are nice to deal with. Madali silang kausap and they played naman nicely what is on our song list. Ang nakakatuwa pa about them is that dahil hindi kya ng quartet to play our chosen grand entrance song (Father of the Bride – which was their suggestion at ang ganda tlga nya for a grand entrance) sa reception they did the burning in cd at binilin ko na lng sa kanila na sila na bahala coordinate with the sound system supplier and they did. Bait!

The rating would have been 5 sana, kaya lang during the group picture at the church altar sobrang lakas ng tugtog nila, hindi marinig yung sequence ng pictorial announced by the commententator. Kaya konti lng tuloy ang altar group pics and church façade picture taking at wla na masyado guests nung mag dove release na kmi, hindi narinig clearly kasi yung announcement. Hay.

Sound System: 60 Hertz
Rating: 5
Cost: 4k + 500 for bubble machine (reception only)

Since our strings reco them, sila na ang kinuha nmin dahil they will most likely work with each other. Super dali kausap ni Duane Dagsil, thru texting lng ang booking and fax ng contract. Then sa event day na ang bayaran.

The sound system was nice, d sabog or what. Maganda naman ang kinalabasan
.

.
LCD Projector & Screen: ITech Systems
Rating: 5
Cost: 3k (discounted dahil my ni-refer ako :p)

We got the Panasonic 4000 ANSI Lumens projector and 8X8 screen. The lowest rate ever na nkita ko ditto sa w@w at it didn’t failed us. Super linaw and we never experienced any technical probs, lhat ng laptops that connected are compatible.

One of the suppliers na madali lng nmin na book. I met Rence Pagdaayao in our office at lunch break then he did the demo, afterwards book na kaagad. May contract pa khit 1k lng ang DP.

Part 3: Suppliers’ Rating – Attire, Accessories, HMUA & Flowers

2007-09-05T18:20:00.000+08:00

Groom Suit & Bridal Gown: YSABELLE

Rating: 3.5
Cost: Suit – 5.5k (long sleeves included)
Gown – 13k (accessories included)

Lawrence, Rhoda and staff are nice to talk to and very accommodating sila. In terms of fitting sched we never had a prob, if hindi nila mameet you agreed sched, a day or hours before they advise naman. Good thing at very accessible shop nila (EDSA branch)

Suit – Super bagay ni h2b ang kanyang suit along with the fuchsia pink long sleeves and yellow tie. Ang dami nagsabi na pumayat sya sa kanyang suit. He looks so macho on our wedding day. Hehehe. :-) Ok na sana kaya lang too long ung sleeves ng long sleeves nya. Kaya mega silip ung sleeves sa coat. Feeling bride din kasi tong si Memond eh, during his fitting ayaw nya pakita sa akin kya ayun . . . hindi na alter. One more thing hindi gnun natuwa si hubby sa fabric, hindi daw kasi masyado maganda ung bagsak ng pants nya.

Gown – I was not really happy with my gown. What was sketch was not actually followed. One thing na kinalulungkot na during the fitting lng nila na-realize na hindi daw pla possible na ma-follow what was sketched. Hmp!

The following were the things that made me not so satisfied:
- The bolero is actually nice pero it should have been shorter dapat na may konting skin na nka silip at my back. D na daw kaya iksiaan pa bolero kasi tatamaan ung sa armpit. At dahil empire cut daw kaya hindi naman daw mabaan ang likod.
- I didn’t like the beadwork of the gown – d kasi terno with the bolero. Again, hindi kamukha ng nasa sketch. I requested them to fully bead ung parang envelop style sa likod – hindi ako pinagbigyan.
- I had several fittings with them (less than 10 fittings cguro), d tlga makuha ung shape ng likod ko. Parang may bukol tuloy ako sa likod. Everytime I fit they take notes f what should be altered, come next fitting halos wla nagbabago – ganun pa rin.
- Sumisilip ung zipper sa likod. Kala nga ni Nelwin Uy nkabukas ung zipper ko eh.
- Super short ng veil ko! And I hate it! 2 yards lng yata un. 5 yards usapan nmin. Hindi tuloy kmi nakapag pictorial nag magandang flying veil. Pangarap ko pa man din un.
- There were still pencil markings after they made the dry cleaning. Buti hindi masyado halata.

We simply got what we paid for. Hindi naman kami lugi. I expected so much lng cguro on them kaya ganun.

_
Dads’ Barong: Labor - Exclusively His & Fabric - Gle-An’s (Divi)

Rating : 5
Cost : Labor – 1,200
Fabric – 2,000 (pina silk)

This is a no sweat task for us. One of the things na madali lng naming inayos. We both the fabric at Divi, then patahi na lng sa exclusively his - my dad’s in Pampanga, while FIL’s in Makati. A week after nila pasukat nakuha na ung barong and both are perfect fit :-)

Mom, PS, SS, Lola, FG Gowns & Bearers Barong: Raquel Bridal Collections

Rating : 3
Cost : Mom’s – 2k; PS – 1.8k; SS – 1.2k; Lola – 1.2k; FG – 900; Bearers’ Barong – 200 & 300

Since ang mga abay nmin ang sasagot sa knilang mga gowns we really looked for a low cost gown maker. Wherelse kundi sa Divi. We where actually given a budget package price to think na two-toned shantung and dopedyed cloth ang ginamit. I didn’t want silk or other types of shantung dahil super simple n lng designs ng gowns nmin kya binawi na lng nmin sa fabric.

MOG/B Gown

PS Gown

Matron of Honor Gown

BM Gown

SS Gown

Lola Gown

FG Gown

Bearer Barong

Raquel is a supplier sa mga shops sa divi. She doesn’t do designs – bring your own design o

kaya naman pili ka sa catalogue niya. Wla rin syang sariling shop kaya pahirapan sa fitting. Kung pa service ka naman, my 1k-service fee. Dhail mejo tipid kami what we did – we get the gowns at Divi or SM North then distribute to ento (Makati & Pampanga based) then return kay Raquel those that are in need for alteration. I dtake note of what to be altered kala ko nung una mali ako, hindi pla. Nung umabot na kmi ng 2 balik, I told her na sya mismo na magpafit at tumingin – pagbalik mali pa rin. Hay. Umabot kmi cguro ng 3 balik ng gowns sa knya. Ung pang 4th and last to be altered d na ako binalikan ako na daw bhala dhil hinde na kaya ng sched nya; so pina-alter ko na lng sa labas. Hahay!

The fitting wasn’t that good. Buti na lng at maganda ang fabric kundi ang pangit ng kalalabasan.

Groom Accessories - Shoes, Socks & Tie: Tie Line (Glorietta)

Rating: 5
Cost: Shoes (Merger) – 4K; Socks – 300+; Tie - 500

We never thought that tie line sells shoes. Kala nmin dati puro ties lng. We intended to buy tie lng sana ditto to our surprise meron din pla silang shoes. Sa dami namin inikot na mall and shoe stalls dito pla kmi makakabili ng shoes ni hubby :-)

Bride’s Accessories – Shoes (Charles & Keith) & Earrings (Something borrowed)

Rating: 5
Cost: 1.8k (sale price - 20% off)

My shoes were very comfortable. Almost like a tsinelas feeling. :P

I borrowed my earrings from my lola. Not too big and not to small tama lng sa small ears ko. Matanda pa yta sa akin mga earrings na sinuot ko. Kala ko after the wedding bibigay na ni lola sa akin, hindi pla. Hehehe. May sentimental value daw kasi sa knya un. We got them cleaned (for free) sinabay kasi namin sa pagbili ng wedding rings.

Wedding Rites Accessories

Unity Coins (inner Gold)

Wedding Library (Megamall)
Cost: 2,300

Wedding Bands
Supplier: Benhur (Ongpin)

Rating: 5
Cost: 12.5k

This is where hubby bought my engagement ring kya nung bumalik sya sa jeweler laking discount nakuha nmin. We only wanted simple white gold wedding rings. Good thing they have what we wanted. We only waited for an hour for hubby’s ring re-size (bigger - for free) and sinabay na rin pa-clean ng earrings ni lola for my something borrowed nung wedding, we got this for free rin.

Rosary Cord, Unity Candle, Offertory Candles, Match Boxes & Pillows - DIY

Rating: Kailangan pa b? Hehe =p

Est Cost: Rosary & Rosary Cord–400; Unity Candle–300; Offertory Candles–200; Match Boxes–20; Pillows–50

Rosary & Rosary Cord – Sympre dahil mahilig ako mag DIY at nauso dito sa w@w ang rosary cord nag may I make nga rin ako. Hehehe. I bought the materials at Divi along tabora sa morning glory and wellmanson.

Match Boxes, Offertory & Unity Candle – Another DIY po. Dhil we can’t afford to buy/pa-personalize a ako na rin lang ang gumawa since feel na feel ko naman mag DIY, pati candle kinareer ko na rin. Hehehe. Got the mterials from SM Dept Store (megamall) some are scrap materials from invitation. I really enjoyed making this one kasi bango-bango ng candle eh at nakkatuwa tlga sya gawin I find it easy kya lng dapat matiyaga ka lng tlga. Nabilib nga si hubby sa gnawa ko eh, terno-terno ba naman. Ahihihi.

Pillows – DIY pa rin. Halos no cost ako dito. Tussle lng ang bili ko, the rest are from scrap materials. Retazo from secondary sponsor’s gown (na hinigi ko pa sa aming mananahi). I was so happy with the output kasi khit mga pulot lng mga gamit it turned out well pa rin at sympre nka sunod pa rin sa motif. Hehehe.

HMUA - T3 Salon

Rating : 4
Cost : 5,100 (bride +1) includes retouch & hair re-do up to reception
1K additional per head

They got the lowest rate, tapos my special discount pa kmi coz Thea (Make-Up Artist & Owner) is my ex-officemate’s wife, while Rolly her partner did my hair. Okay naman pagkakagawa sa akin, very natural naman ang look ko. My hair updo wasn’t that good. Hindi sya ganun kapulido at ang daling malaglag. Maybe they are considering the hairstyle change for the reception. Pero dpat sana ginawa pa rin nila ng maayos. Some of the entourage loved their HMU while others are not satisfied.

Kaiinis lng is that nagmamadali sila kmi tapusin kasi they have another wedding pa pla. Pero usapan nmin whole day sila sa amin, and ang matitira sa akin for re-touch is Rolly, inawan ba naman sa akin ung assistant lng nila na hindi naman well-trained, at kung kailangan ng retouch hahagilapin pa-kung saan saan nagpuputa. Hay.

Ang mali ko in this aspect hindi na ako nag trial pa with other HMUA para sana my point of comparison, kase ok naman when I had my trial with them.

Flowers - Mang Boy Mahusay

Rating : 4.5
Cost : 10k

The 10k package includes yellow tulips bridal bouquet, yellow tulip boutonniere for groom, 2 mom’s bouquet, 5 female principal sponsors bouquet, 4 bouquets for MOH and BMs, 3 pomander for SS and 6 gold sprayed aluminum pails loaded with flowers for FGs + headdress.
Free: 2 offertory flowers, throw away bouquet, loose petals and delivery

I would have given Mang Boy sana a perfect 5 kaya lng ung tulips sa bouquet ko my mga balikong stems, na halata sa pictures, then he promised me na dadagdagan nya ung bingay kong 7 swarovski, gagawin nyang 15 but he didn’t. I love the flower girls basket, so nice :-)

Those who are planning to have a tulips as their bouquet tip lng – better to scotch tape the flowers paikot after removing the styro net para di bumukaka ng husto at malanta.

Part 2: Suppliers’ Rating – Caterer, Photo & Video

2007-07-13T12:01:00.000+08:00

Ratings would be as follows:
5 – Excellent!
4 – Well Done!
3 – Good Enough!
2 – Poor!
1 – Never Mind!

CATERER: ELOQUENTE

Rating: 4

Cost:
335/head – Anthurium Package (Includes: set-up, tiffany chairs for couple & VIP table, bridal car, cake, ice carving, guestbook, dove, wine & sword parade)
5,100 additional – cake upgrade
400 additional – choco fountain set up and operation
1,900 additional – fruits for choco fountain

SET-UP:
Memond and I love the set up! PSE Auditorium was dressed well. As we approach the venue ng grand entrance namin super natuwa kmi at nakuha pa namin magtinginan at magbulungan and we both said “Ang ganda!” Sabay taas ng mga swords ng mga waiters. Kala nmin 2 swords lng. They were 8 pla. Hehehe. Nakakatuwa! Feeling king and queen tuloy kmi as we walk down the red carpet along with “Father of the Bride” background music.

Guest Tables: Maganda rin naman kinalabasan though they didn’t follow the centerpiece we agreed on. It should have been tall white calla lilies binded with raffia instead of pink and white roses. Infairness with Eloquente they informed me naman the night before na wla cla mahanap na calla lilies – nahilo na daw sila sa kakaikot sa Dangwa. Ung pgkadress nila ng monoblock chairs are ok too, ok lng naman pla na hindi kmi nag upgrade to tiffany chairs. Hehehe.

VIP Tables: This is nice too! The centerpiece is cool though different kinds of flowers ang nilagay nila maganda ang kinalabasan. Meron pang capiz lumies.

Couple’s Table & Backdrop: The best of the all. How we love our table! Ganda ng flowers na ginamit sa table nmin, hindi sya ung the usual set up nila. We opted for the pillars background though nagagandahan ako sa trellis and gazebo kya lng d kasi bagay sa indoor mga un eh. Pillars are ok naman na, pero sana they used the same flowers tulad nung sa table nmin.

Cake Gazebo: D ako masyado nasiyahan with this one – parang ang masyadong makulay. Again, sana same flowers as our table. Not that bad naman :-)

Food Station: It was pleasing to the eyes and malinis at masarap tignan. Even ung chocolate fountain sinet-up and operated (pati pag melt ng bars of Belgian choco) nila ng maayos though kmi ang nag provide ng machine and dippings – for a low additional cost of 400. Additional 1,500 for extra fruit dippings

Generous naman sila in terms of set-up. They provided our extra requests such us, registration table, cocktail tables for the table planners and projector table – though extra – they provided good linens that match the set-up.

FOOD:

Menu:

http://raymond-rhia-weddingpreps.blogspot.com/2006/09/menu.html

Taste: Some of our guest says it’s masarap. Some naman says it’s maalat and matamis daw masyado ung macaroni salad – or bka maselan lng tlga sa food kasi mga Kapampangan mga nagsabi nito. Hehehe. I can’t comment that much sa food dhil hindi ko tlga sya ntikman. Pero atleast busog ang mga guest namin at hindi naubusan ng food.

Cake: The default free cake wasn’t that nice so we decided to upgrade, additional cost is 5k for fresh flowers – parang bumili na rin kmi, namamahalan kasi ako or sadyang kuripot lng. Hehehe. This was actually unbudgeted, kaya lng mukha daw kmi kawawa sabi ni Memond kung hindi kami upgrade – tapos birthday ko pa daw kya dapat lng na khit paano e maganda-ganda ang cake nmin. Mahigpit na pinagbilin namin na wag lalagyan ng figurine – aba nung cake cutting na gulat ako may bride and groom na figurine on top of our cake, gusting-gusto kong bunutin – I actually attempted to remove it pero madikit sya sobra, kay never mind na lng. Hehehe. Nagmukha tuloy cheap. Another bilin na hindi sinunod is big no no to Malaysian mums, sangkaterbang yellow malaysian mums nkita ko sa cake nmin, sana ginawa na lng nila lhat roses. Harhar. Parang d worth it ang upgrade, sana bumili na lng kmi. The taste? Ok lng.

EXTRAS
Bridal Car: White Mercedes Benz. Pwede na kaysa wala. Pinili namin ito vs the sound system (accdng to our String d daw kase maganda) and emcee (we have our friends to do it for us)

Ice Carving: Ok naman for added aesthetic.

We never expected na ganun kaganda kakalabasan for the package price. We still recommend them specially sa mga frugal couples, sulit naman ;-)

_____________________________________________

PHOTO: NELWIN UY

Rating: 5+++
Prenup & Slideshows & Raw Wedding pics

Cost:
40k – Package B (2006 rate)

Inclusions
Standard - 2 Digital Potographers, Nelwin Uy as main; 40 pages 8 x 10 “The Book” digital story book album; Unlimited digital shots, DVD Gallery as proofs (Hi-res photo files); 16 x 20 blow up portrait in special frame; 10 pages guestbook (wire bind)

Freebies - On location pre-nuptial shoot; 2 mos online photogallery; AVP of Pre-nup pictures; On the spot slide show of pictures; 2 mini albums for parents (Free for on the spot booking at the Kasalan 2006 Bridal Fare)

One of our favorite supplier - no need to elaborate further! The proofs speaks for themselves! Mga guests na namin ang humatol! “Ang galing ng photographer nyo!” Napabilib sila sa artistic shots and bilis ng pag-gawa ng on the spot slide show ni Nelwin. Manghang-mangha! Ahihihi.

Though Nelwin is sick during our wedding dahil sa continuous 5 days wedding coverage nya, he never failed to deliver, maganda pa rin gawa nya. :-)

Official Pics
Hotel: http://raymond-rhia.weddingannouncer.com/photoalbums-30352.html
Church: http://raymond-rhia.weddingannouncer.com/photoalbums-30362.html
Reception: http://raymond-rhia.weddingannouncer.com/photoalbums-30423.html
Slideshow: http://nelwinuy.multiply.com/video/item/10

_______________________________________________________

VIDEO: SHIERDAN PAMINTUAN

Rating: 5+++
Teaser & Pre-Nup – Love Story Narration – Old to Dating Pics & OnSite in One

Cost:
9k – 2006 rate
undisclosed – teaser

Inclusions
Standard: 1 cam set – up

Freebies: Pre-Nup – Love Story Narration – Old to Dating Pics & OnSite in One (additional minimal cost for the teaser)

Another favorite supplier! Khit nalate sya on the wedding day ok lng bawi naman nung I-flash na sa projector ang aming 4-in-1 AVP. Mwhihi! Lakas nmin kay Dan. Malakas din naman sya sa amin – I made 2 referrals eh. Pwede na nga daw ako magtayo ng networking business. Hahaha!

Dan is very professional and easy to deal with kahit sa tawaran portion. Hahaha! He’s very cool. He granted our requests ;-) Hindi naman nalelate during our meetings and shooting, sa wedding lng tlga. Hehe. He replies naman kaagad sa text at nakikipagkulitan pa, except sa email. Haha!

It’s worth every penny we spent khit wla pa ung final video output. Parang lugi pa nga sya sa amin eh :P

Watch our videos below to know why we love this guy so much!

Teaser:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2093472619386668279
Pre-Nup – Love Story Narration – Old to Dating Pics & OnSite in One: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4548337977736603914&pr=goog-sl

Part 1: Suppliers’ Rating – Hotel, Church, & Venue

2007-07-12T17:45:00.000+08:00

Dear W@wies,

It’s pay back time!!!

Before I officially start our suppliers’ rating I would like to take this opportunity to thank this support group for making our wedding preparation as easy as possible and enjoyable – most of our suppliers came from w@w. Without your help guys our wedding wouldn’t be as beautiful as it turned out. Special thanks to Mama Benz & Papa John for putting up w@w. A salute to you po!.

We do hope that you’ll enjoy reading our post and find it helpful. You may PM me at rhiamary.dizon@digitel.ph for queries.

Btw, contact details are listed at
http://raymond-rhia.weddingannouncer.com/vendors.html

As promised . . . here it goes w@wies

Ratings would be as follows:
5 – Excellent!
4 – Well Done!
3 – Good Enough!
2 – Poor!
1 – Never Mind!

HOTEL: ASTORIA PLAZA

Rating: 5
Cost (Corporate Rate):
3,500 - 1BR Suite (60+ sqm), includes 2 buffet bfast
5,500 - 2BR Suite (120+ sqm), includes 4 buffet bfast

The perfect hotel for our wedding preps simply because it situated between church and venue.

The hotel is nice, clean, spacious and good lightning. The staffs are friendly and accommodating. Food? Not bad naman. Pwede na, kaysa sa ala carte. Hehehe

The bad side of if wla lng sya grand staircase para mag picture taking and the parking in the basement is super init, parang nkaka suffocate and smells bad.

_________________________________

CHURCH: NUESTRA SEÑORA DE GRACIA

Rating: 4.5
Cost:
9.5k – discounted price (2.5k discount from w@wie Mayen due to slot transfer), includes coordinators, flowers, commentators & priests

The first time Memond and I saw NSDG, we instantly fell in love with it. We love its old, mid-size structure, basta maganda sya. It has ample parking space kya lng nga ung environment around is not that good malapit sa crematorium tapos squatters area along the way. No air-condition and mainit tlga. Kya tumagaktak ng husto pawis ni Memond, buti na lng hindi ako pawisin. Hehehe. Amidst all this nega things we still opted to go for NSDG – ganda kasi tlga e.

The staff here are very accommodating easy to talk to kya lang sometimes mejo mahirap tumawag. On the wedding day – ung usherettes nila according to our coordinators mejo may katarayan daw mga may edad na daw kase. Hehe. One more thing pa pla they even asked my coordinator kung nasaan daw ung gift para kay father. Tama ba un? (pero nagbigay naman kmi and we diretly gave it to father)

On officiating priest: In house priest – si father naman may kasungitan, parang may period (hehehe). During the mass proper sabi ba naman sa amin (in a masungit na manner) “Hanapin nyo nga kung saan na, naligaw nko – ang liit kasi ng sulat.” (pertains to the misalette). We actually made a special misalette (with big fonts – 14 pa yta size nun) for father, twas their usherette fault kasi ba naman sila naglagay ng misalette sa altar bsta na lng kinuha sa things nmin. Our coordinator told them na that wasn’t father’s copy and they attempted to change it, wag na daw. Hayun nasungitan tuloy kmi ni father. Hmp.

_________________________________________

VENUE: PHILLIPNE STOCK EXCHANGE

Rating: 4.5
Cost:
4k/hr – event proper (min of 3 hours)
20k – cash bond (refundable a week after the event (less damage cost & Personnel OT pay – if any))
100/hr – set up
100/outlet – electricity
400/hr – fountain
140/hr/person – personnel fee (x2 for Sundays)

This was actually the last option venue we are looking at kasi hesitant kmi to go for PSE Auditorium because may 20k na cash bond – as in cash, PDC not allowed and it was a way out our budget. Supposedly I am Dec 2006 bride, so medyo mahirap maghanap ng venue. Our other venue options are booked na so we opted for PSE Auditorium. Buti na lng ng mag change date kmi it is still available at no extra charge. Ipinaglaban ko tlga PSE kasi I really like it. Buti na lng at napapayag ko si hubby :-)

I actually booked PSE without Memond seeing it (he was on a business trip kase); I was with MIL during ocular. Since approved sya kay MIL ok na rin kay hubby. Nag visit na lng kmi ulit after his trip para naman may idea sya how the place looks like. Good thing he liked it!

It was Rowena Martin that I used to talk to then eventually I was transferred to Cielo Dizon - Rosco nag re-shuffle daw kasi sila ng assignments, madali syang kausap and very accommodating – malamang kya it was easy to negotiate with her kasi we are both Kapampangan and at the same time we have the same maiden name - Dizon. Kya siguro after 3 days nakapag refund na kmi ng cash bond supposedly 1 week processing un and one more thing hindi na kmi chinarge ng extra hour sa place after the event. Hehehe.

Ang nakakainis lng when we refunded the cash bond they charged us 3k kasi daw may chocolate stain ung carpet. Sympre gulat ako dhil super mahal ng charge, it’s 1.5k/carpet square – 2 daw namantsahan. Mahal daw kasi ung shampoo ng carpet kya ganun. Parang overcharged naman.

Oh btw, if you are planning to get PSE as your venue - bring your own soap ang tissue for the restrooms. We did! Buti hindi ko nakalimutan :P

OUR WEDDING PICTURES & SLIDESHOWS

2007-07-11T14:18:00.000+08:00

Raymond and I would like to share our captured moments last May 27, 2007 - our big day!
Atlast, found time to upload them! Happy Viewing!

Feel free to post comments :)

P.I.C.T.U.R.E.S.
Preparation
http://raymond-rhia.weddingannouncer.com/photoalbums-30352.html
Church
http://raymond-rhia.weddingannouncer.com/photoalbums-30362.html
Reception
http://raymond-rhia.weddingannouncer.com/photoalbums-30423.html

S.L.I.D.E.S.H.O.W.S.
http://raymond-rhia.weddingannouncer.com/ctext-609573.html

OUR WEDDING STORY

2007-07-11T13:19:00.000+08:00

I am back!!!! Oh how i miss blogging - this time new URL and skin. Hehe.

Mrs. Samonte here to share our wedding story :-)

Our wedding is a BLAST! Thank God! He gave a sunny Sunday. Egg offering sa Sta. Clara is effective. Though there were some minor glitches hindi naman halata. It is still the best day of our lives. **wink**wink*** I can’t explain the feeling of being a bride, on the wedding day itself. Something different. Mixed emotions. Pero hindi ako masyado kinabahan dahil I know we are prepared and I am confident na the wedding will turn out as it was planned, and it was. Astig ba? Hehehe

The last leg of wed preps is super nakakangarag takbo dito at doon, pero carry lng nmin ni Memond – relax mode pa rin kmi. Hehehe. Ewan ko ba hindi kmi masyado na tense at nakakatulog pa rin naman. Hahaha. Maybe because it was a year and a half of preparation and we clearly know what we want.

The night before the wedding nakatulog naman ako maayos dahil siguro pagod ako. Hehehe. And sinigurado ko that all the materials needed are in place. On the event day itself nkapag heavy buffet breakfast pa ako, hotel compli. Takaw. Hahaha. Just enough to put something in my tummy dahil alam ko di na ako makakain ng lunch – at hindi na nga.

Hotel Preps (Astoria Plaza)
As early as 8am suppliers started coming. Unang-una team ni Mang Boy, followed by HMU Team of Thea Tan around 9, sumunod si Nelwin Uy at 10 – at super bilib sya sa mga wedding details na DIY nmin ni Memond. Terno-terno ba naman. Hahaha. He even loved our fuchsia pink and canary yellow motif. Ganda daw pla ng combi sa picture – very photogenic. At ang pinakahuli dumating si Shierdan Pamintuan sa hotel at 11:20, late! – anywayz, forgiven dahil my surprise naman daw sya sa akin, as a birthday present. Hahaha.

Ang aga nmin natapos. 1:30 pa lng everything was set, kaya super dmi ko pics with Nelwin – kaya laking tuwa ko, dahil I really love posing. Naiinip nga kmi kakantay sa hotel sa oras. Relax ulit. Hahaha. Pati si Nelwin nainip kaya nagyaya na umalis. Ang aga namin tuloy sa church.

Church (NSDG)
At 2:20 nasa Church na kmi, 10 mins advance sa call time. Nainip ulit ako kakaantay sa loob ng bridal car. D2 ko naramdaman ang kaba, dahil wala ako ginagawa, ininterview ko na lng si manong Chauffeur at pinagmasdan ang pagdating ng mga bisita. Ang pangit lng nauna pa ako kay Memond. Harhar. Pero di naman na obvious ng mga guests, mga 10 mins lng naman. To think same hotel naman kmi, 1 door apart lng. Miscommunication.

At exactly 3, the wedding started. When I heard the Canon in D played – d na ako mapakali. Parang ang bilis na ng oras. When they are about to close the door, one of my church coordinator/officemate approached me and assisted me with my entrance-good thing someone was there to remind me to relax. Nung marining ko na ang “With You” by Martin Nievera naiiyak na ako. Pero sympre pinigilan ko. When the door opened my parents are there in the middle aisle waiting for me, parang naiiyak. Dko na lng sila tinignan, just holded their arms at tumingin kay Memond na nka full smile, eto pla ang tip para maiwasan umiyak. Haha. According to my close girl friends and relatives e nagging very emotional daw sila. Kakaiyak daw ang bridal march ko.

Dko namalayan that patapos na pla ang ceremony . . . ang bilis. Recessional na nga. Everybody was waiting for us at the church façade para magsabog na ng confetti and petals. Super ganda ng effects! We had 2 big confetti poppers and 20 small ones, plus 20 petal cones. Ang dami-dami! The air is filled with confetti and petals. Hehehe.

Reception (PSE Auditorium)
We had photo shoot first at he the PSE Helipad. Grabe hirap umakyat sa spiral stairs wearing my gown. Pakana ni Nelwin to eh. Pero it’s all worth it pagkakita nmin sa helipad. Ganda! Overlooking the Mandaluyong and Pasig area. Good thing hindi ako afraid sa heights.

While we are having are pictorial here. Guests are ushered, distribution of guest cards, serenaded, canapés served and our pre nup AVP is played while they are waiting for us and they were asked to sign their wish cards – para di mainip.

After photo shoot konting retouch, hair do and attire modification. Bridal Party Parade immediately followed, then our AVP Teaser (a brief introduction of us, I introduced Memond and he introduced me) was played before our Grand Entrance – Father of the Bride song was played during our Grand Entrance . . . feeling king and queen kmi. I sooo love this part! Parang everybody was so happy, I can see the smile in our guests faces tapos PSE auditorium was well dressed, makulay na hindi masakit sa mata it blended well with the lights of the auditorium. It was really elegant and classy! Dinner was served immediately along with pictorial with the guests while being serenaded by Impressions Music Ensemble; all songs are in the form of bossa nova, followed by well wishers, wedding traditions and 2 AVPs (onsite pics slideshow & onsite/interviews/old to dating pics/love story narration video (4 in 1))- super namangha mga guests sa slideshows nmin - ang artistic and ang bibilis gumawa ba naman ni Nelwin (Photo) and Dan (Video).

Base on feedbacks the wedding was so organized and beautiful. Very Rhia daw. Hahaha. Ibinuhos ko kaya lhat ng kaartehan, kaOC-han ko dito. Grabe daw ang details na ginawa namin, ma-tiyaga daw. Watch out for the supplier ratings, so as you can picture what I am referring to :-)

Special thanks to my friendships for the overflowing support. The party wouldn’t be a success without the help of my friends – they are the main key; our very own wedding coordinators and 2 of them are our emcee. Sabi ng suppliers they worked like a pro. Gagaling daw nila.

In short, it was indeed a dream wedding come true.

Ang hirap pla gumawa ng wedding kwento. Hahaha Sorry super haba na nito. I hope you enjoyed reading it and at the same time nkatulong sana.