I'm His Girl

He was on stage with his guitar.

Then he started singing but the voice is not his – it’s Ruffa Gutierrez’ voice singing!

After the song, he came down to the audience to get his mom adn they both went up the stage. (this is so Piolo!)

Then we started dating. Girls we’re envious of me.

We’re at home doing laundry, while his mom’s in the living room watching – she’s actually watching us with spite in her eyes thinking “She got lucky!”

Then we started fooling around and started kissing. Aaahhh.. If I close my eyes can still feel it haha!

Then I woke up!

I dreamt of him…





Abbie, di ko alam kung bakit….hindi ko naman sya ganon ka-type. Di nga ko kinikilig pag nakikita ko sya sa TV ahahaha! Baka pagalitan ako ni Bebe.

What I'm Doing Right Now

Consolidating my list of prenup pics to be included in our guestbook with Joema's list. We've had the CD for a few months now but haven't finalized our list yet. It's all Joema's fault really. Our game plan was I write my list then he writes his then we compare them and include in the final list the photos that both of us included in our list. So after only a week of the CD with me, I gave it to Joema. He said he looked at it within days of receiving it, and had written down his favorites. But lo and behold he lost the piece of paper where he wrote it. He wasn't able to look at the pictures again after that until last week when I gave him a deadline for his list - finish or not yet finish pass your paper! LOL I'm having a hard time because I have more than 100 photos on my list and he has around 60 on his (we had to submit around 40-60 photos for the guestbook) but only around 25 photos are both on our lists. So frustrating! And it's so hard to choose if there are tons of great photos to choose from. But this is a good probleam really. So I'll stop whining and continue with what I'm doing.

Write...Right?

I have been writing much about our wedding preparations in this blog. Sorry to bore you with the itty-bitty details of our wedding. It's just that most of my time, aside from work, goes to preparing for the wedding. And I haven't really thought about any other things to write about. Even if I wanted to write about something else, I can't seem to start to write about it. Much like in school when I was required to write essays or book reviews. Did you know that now you can buy essays online and then submit the essay to your teacher? Some internet website specializes in providing writing services to students. Some may argue that you won't be able to learn, if someone does your homework for you but still...isnt' this neat? You pay people to do custom writing for you. It can be compared to paying for tutorial services I presume. No more worrying about failing to submit required essays from your different subjects in school, just let them know your specific requirements. For us Filipinos, this is actually not a new concept because there are shops in Recto, near the university belt, that sells thesis papers to students. Do you think this online custom writing is a lot different from the shops in Recto?

Imeldific Much?

I was supposed to have my 2nd fitting with Tria last Saturday, but it was moved to this coming Saturday. During my first fitting they advised me to bring my wedding shoes for my second fitting. Joema and I went to Marikina Shoe Expo (aka Cubao Expo, I still call the place Marikina Shoe Expo...old habits die hard) a few Saturdays ago to see if I can buy cheap wedding shoes there. I didn't want to spend so much on white shoes that I will use just once, unless I get married again. But then again, if that's a second wedding then I don't want to wear white. Anyway, everyone tells me that I should buy white shoes for the wedding so I was looking for a white pair. I already went around the malls but I couldn't find anything that I like. Anyway, Joema and I looked at almost every store in Marikina Shoe Expo when my mom arrived to meet up with us. We went around the complex one more time with her. And before we exited we saw one shoe store that Joema and I didn't enter. Actually, they have a rack of shoes/sandals outside the store that were selling for P200 a pair. I tried on a silver pair of strappy sandals and immediately liked it. I figured even if I don't get to use it for my wedding I can still use them on other weddings (especially Pam's upcoming wedding). The saleslady asked us to enter the store because there were more choices inside. While inside I saw this really cute pair of strappy sandals in gold/cream. My mother told me to try it because it can pass up for wedding shoes. I tried it and it looked good on my feet so I bought it. Yey! My wedding shoes for just P600 ahahaha! All the shoes in the store are on sale so I looked around for more shoes hehe. I've been looking for office shoes for a while now and I scored this gray peep toe slingbacks for just P300. So you thought I was done shoe shopping didn't you? Well, I wasn't. While I was trying on different shoes, another girl was in the store trying on pair after pair of shoes. I liked one of the wedge sandals that she tried on and asked the saleslady on what rack are those sandals displayed. I think she just took the sandals from the girl and asked me to try it on. I was a bit shy to try it on because the girl was still deciding what to take. In the end, she left the store empty handed. So then, I tried the sandals. And they looked good on my feet. My mother bought it for me coz I told her I didn't have enough money and I was thinking I'm buying too many shoes hehe. Yey! For a little over P1,500 I got four pairs of shoes. I was so happy and vowed to return to that store. I don't remember the name of the store but the brand of three of the shoes is Judelle's. The other one is Around World. LOL!

Now my report on the shoes: I've only worn the slingbacks and the wedge sandals. For the slingbacks, the left one is pinching my little pinky so I was in pain by the end of the day (a weekday, I've worn it to the office). But I'm hopeful that it's only because they were new. I'm planning to wear it again tomorrow to see if they're really painful and not as comfy as I imagined. The wedge sandals, I didn't have a similar painful experience. I've worn it on a weekend from morning till night. I had some difficulty but it really comes with wearing high-heeled shoes so I'm still okay with it. As for my wedding shoes, I plan to start using them while inside the house so that come our wedding day, my feet will be accustomed to the straps, to the height of the heels, to my beautiful wedding shoes.

Meet the newest Miglet

This is Alfredo Johann Miguel. We visited him last Saturday a few hours after he was born.


The happy parents – Joy and Mek.

Doctrines and Rings

I’m happy to have started striking off one by one the items on our list of church requirements. The latest one off our list is the Christian doctrine seminar as part one of the pre-cana seminar of EDSA Shrine. We were there by 8am but we were informed that the seminar really starts at 9am, we can instead have our breakfast first and then come back. So that’s what we did. We went to Ministop at Galleria to eat breakfast. Actually I’m the only one who ate because Joema had his breakfast before meeting up with me. It was still too early when we got back but most of the participants started arriving. Most of them are there to attend as requisite for the baptism of their child. Joema was so paranoid he kept telling me that we’re attending the wrong seminar. Not even the first speaker acknowledged the fact that there were couples who are about to get married. She just assumed that everyone’s married and already has a child about to be baptized. Anyway, the first speaker was Tita Minnie. She started talking about the sex and family planning, though this wasn’t part of that seminar, just to kill time. She said that love making is holy because it intended by God for procreation. She added that it was like the highest form of prayer. So next time when we’re in a family gathering and we are about to make love we can excuse ourselves and just tell our family member that it was prayer time already. And then the in-laws will say “Napakabait naman ng napangasawa ng anak ko..napakamadasalin” ahahahaha! She was about to tell us how to make a baby boy or girl based on the Billings family planning method when she saw that it was already 9am and time to start the real seminar.

The Christian doctrine seminar tackled three topics: the Credo, the seven Sacraments and then the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. For each topic there was a different speaker. Tita Minnie was the most affable of them. She had tons of stories of her travel in the Holy Land. I wished she could have done the other two parts. But we’re lucky because she’ll be the facilitator in the second part of the pre-cana seminar: Parenthood. Anyway, after the first topic we had a mini-break and we’re told that we can go down to their office so that we can give our “donation”. The “donation” is actually the payment for those attending the seminar for the baptism or maybe it’s the payment for the baptism itself…I’m not sure. We went there just to confirm if we’re on the right seminar. When we asked, the guy said “Ah walang bayad yun” and then informed us that there is a second seminar.

The second and third topics were okay. We finished rather late because after the third topic they grouped us and had to report on what topic touched us the most. We were so eager to leave because we had to go to our jeweller to pick up my engagement ring and our wedding rings.

We arrived at Quezon City around 1pm. Yey! I finally have my engagement ring again.

Before

After

See i'ts now white gold to go well with our wedding rings. I love love love my wedding ring! Although we weren’t able to take home our rings yet because the engraving was wrong. Mine had “Cris” instead of “Joema” and vice versa. Boo! We had to leave them coz they will correct the engravings. Den den asked if I was in a hurry because she told me we can have the engravings corrected at Rustan's but I told her we weren't really in a hurry because our wedding is still a few months away.

Survey from Anna

1. WHAT WAS I DOING 10 YEARS AGO? “Enjoying” college …hay sarap ng buhay estudyante..ang problema ko lang kung traffic bas a Katips papasok sa school haha.

2. WHAT ARE THE FIVE THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY? Aside from work:
a. buy Quaker Oats – I’ve been feeling a bit whoozy this morning and it might be the cholestorel again OR
b. have my eyes checked – it might be because I really need a new pair of glasses :-(
c. wedding related stuff - email florist to get quote for the wedding, proofread wedding invitation wording before submitting to EJ, arrange measurement of Sharon with mananahi this weekend
d. call Import Export Bank – no, I don’t have money there. Someone just asked me for a favor regarding his investments.
e. finish this survey hehe

3. SNACKS I ENJOY Mr. Chips, chocolate, ice cream, caramel sundae, instant cup noodles.

4. PLACES WHERE I LIVED The boondocks of Antipolo City, the not-so-sosy-side of Alabang, and there's no place in the world like Manila

5. THINGS I’D DO IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE Get married in Vatican City and honeymoon in Europe and the Maldives. I will buy among other things a house and lot, and then a beach house heck I will buy an island for me and Joema. I’ll buy a Tagaytay vacation house for my parents and a car for my brother. I will travel around the world with Joema. And for the non-selfish things – I’ll build schools and hospitals. Pero sana I’ll be able to maintain it para free education and medical care for the needy. And then save the rest in a trust fund for our future kids.

License to Wed

Had a chance to watch a lot of movies during the weekend like National Treasure 2, American Pie Presents Beta House, Jerry Maguire and License to Wed. I was able to watch License to Wed last Friday - the night before our pre-cana seminar at EDSA Shrine. It was a bit funny because I can totally relate to what's happening in the movie. Mandy Moore wanted to get married in the church where she grew up in while her fiance is a bit skeptical about the idea. Her finace wants to have a destination wedding but had no other choice but to give in to her wishes. As I mentioned in my previous posts, we're having a bit of a difficulty on our church requirements because of Joema's religion. He knows from the start that I really wanted a church wedding - a Catholic church wedding. And he really can't say no to me hehe. In the movie, they had to go through the church's marriage preparation course before the priest marries them and they had to do it in three weeks. Although I think Robin Williams' character Rev. Frank went a little bit too far by bugging the couple's apartment, it is a really good idea to go through a pre-marriage counseling. I wish we still have time to attend Discovery Weekend or even the marriage preparation program of CEFAM. But if not, then we'll have to make do with the pre-cana seminar of EDSA Shrine and the DSWD family planning seminar we attended in Antipolo.

Manic Monday 129

How would your friend describe you to someone who has never seen you?

I suppose since that someone hasn’t seen me my friend will describe me physically: petite girl/lady who’s morena and wears eyeglasses.

Do you trust anyone to protect you? Who, and why?

Yes, my parents and Joema. I know that they’ll risk their lives for me.

If you died or went missing, who would miss you?

My family, Joema, and I suppose most of my friends and some colleagues. Or else I will haunt them haha.

Manic Monday Meme

Nice Morning

This morning our boss gave each one of us this shirt.

Here's the back:

Although I don't think I'll be able to use it because it's Extra Large. I'll probably just give it to Joema though it won't fit him too haha.

And then our friends, Jo and David, dropped by the office to give me this. It's not really for me but for Joema. We didn't get the chance to chat because they had some errands to do. They're going back to Singapore this afternoon.

Joema and I initially planned to go to Singapore this September to watch the F1 Grand Prix BUT because of the wedding we won't be able to go. We're hoping to see the F1 race track in Sepang, Malaysia instead when we go there for our honeymoon.

First Fitting

Last Saturday was my first fitting for my wedding dress. I’m having second thoughts if I should post my picture here wearing the lining. I went to Dream Bride with my family but only my mother saw me wearing it, well of course also Ms. Linda and Lennie of Dream Bride. My mother was telling me not to take a picture coz she was worried I might show it to Joema. I told her no I won’t show it to him. This was because she was asking Ms. Linda if brides really fit the wedding dresses nowadays (panahon pa ni kopong-kopong nagpakasal nanay ko) because during her time it was a big no-no or else the wedding will not push through. Ms. Linda told her it was okay for the bride to fit the dress but not to be seen by the groom while she’s wearing it. I love how the shape of the dress turned out to be. Ms. Linda was happy I didn’t have a big tummy. She said the fit is better without the bulges haha and then she told me to bring shoes the next time. So now I’m on the look out for my wedding shoes.

About the photo, well maybe I’ll post it next time. Maybe I’ll blog about the before and after look of my wedding dress. Abangan!

Jen Gets Married?

Have you seen this?



According to Jennifer Aniston's rep the stories that she's getting married and that she's pregnant "are completely fabricated."

But Perez Hilton writes:

Though Jennifer Aniston's publicist just issued a statement branding OK! magazine's new cover a "complete fabrication"….

A rep for the magazine tells us they "stand by our reporting."

And, as if to prove their point, they forwarded us the following:

USMAGAZINE.COM
Famous Denials By Jen Aniston's Publicist
Wednesday August 9, 2006

Publicist Stephen Huvane with Jennifer Aniston on March 27; Aniston and Brad Pitt with Sting

**Jennifer Aniston**'s publicist, Stephen Huvane, is denying our cover story that **Vince Vaughn** popped the question on June 27. But, then again, he's told some whoppers over the years. Let's revisit them, shall we?

1) BRAD AND JEN ARE NOT ENGAGED After Jen and then-boyfriend **Brad Pitt** took the stage during a Sting concert in November 1999 and Jen flashed a big diamond ring on her left ring finger, Huvane told the media: "She has a ring, but it's not an engagement ring." He continued to deny any engagement until the couple married July 29, 2000.

2) BRAD AND JEN ARE OK Two weeks before Brad and Jen announced their separation on January 7, 2005, Huvane told Us: "They are looking forward to spending the holidays with each other. There is no split. They are fine."

3) JEN ISN'T MOVING TO HER FORMER BACHELORETTE PAD In February 2005, Huvane denied reports that Aniston was planning to move back into her former Hollywood Hills home, telling the New York Daily News, "Jennifer is not planning to move back into her home that is leased out to Ali G [Sacha Baron Cohen]. That is another fabrication." Cohen and his fiance, Isla Fisher, were ousted from the place that same month, Aniston moved back into her old pad later that year, and Vaughn joined her in January 2006.

4) JEN AND VINCE ARE NOT DATING When pictures of Vince and Jen cuddling on the set of The Break-Up surfaced in July 2005, and rumors circulated that the costars were dating offscreen, Huvane denied the coupling to the New York Post: "There is no romantic interest. Vince is a good friend of Jennifer's. I think the tabloids are so eager to see her with someone romantically that they just make these false assumptions."
And, hey, for good measure…

5) GWYNETH IS NOT DEPRESSED In 2003, rumors surfaced that **Gwyneth Paltrow**'s depression over her father's death caused the actress to drop out of the films I Heart Huckabees and Happy Endings. Huvane, who is also Gwyneth's publicist, denied the reports, saying, "She's not going through a serious depression, she just needs some time off."

"I was so depressed about my father,"ÿ the actress later said of the time in her life.

I feel sorry for her because every time something good happens to the Jolie-Pitts her name always comes up…how she’s not yet married and she doesn’t have children yet and she’s nearing 40. I hope she’s really happy with John Mayer. Watcha think? Are the wedding rumors for real?

Photo from www.okmagazine.com

08 08 08

The opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be tonight at 8pm. Good luck and God bless to all the Filipino athletes! Make us all proud!

Blind Faith

I’ve been inspired by Anna to do a series of “book reviews” here in my blog. In quotes because they probably won’t be a really helpful book review. I’m not sure how it will be. But anyways, I just wanted to keep tab of the books I’ve read. I actually have an account in Shelfari but haven’t updated that in a while. I might add a Shelfari widget here in my blog some time soon. I love reading. When I was younger, as a student I really love reading my text books hehehe. I didn’t have money then to buy pocketbooks then so I usually borrow from classmates or from friends like Karen. I remember borrowing Sweet Valley High from them hehe.

Now, I still don’t buy a lot of books. I’m much of a cheapskate to buy them at their regular prices. So I still borrow from friends, especially the more popular ones like Harry Potter books and Dan Brown’s books. I usually buy from book sales because for less than P200 I can buy books in hardbound hehe and I usually go for autobiographies or biographies. I’m a true blue chismosa haha!

So without further ado, my latest read is Blind Faith: The Miraculous Journey of Lula Hardaway, Stevie Wonder’s mother. The first half was about Lula Hardaway but most part of the book is really about the music history of Stevie Wonder. Stevland Judkins, his real name, is the third son of Lula but her second child with Stevie's father. She was forced by Stevie's father to be a pro, although she only gives blow jobs and never had sex with her "clients", to pay for their food. I didn’t know he was already a big star at age 12, even before he hit puberty. And the word Motown actually stands for Motor town and the Motown record company. And that Motown's big boss, Berry Gordy, gave him the monicker Little Stevie Wonder. He was only 10 or 11 when they signed him under their label. I didn’t know much about Stevie Wonder so this was an interesting read for me.

Photo from simonsays.com

Marriage License

We have our marriage license already! Yey! One down and a thousand more things to go hehe. Well, actually my brother has it. He just got it from city hall. Thank God he was free to get it or else I would have to file for another leave just to get it.

So anyway, here are the things that are needed when applying for a marriage license in Antipolo. I live in Antipolo while Joema lives in Bulacan so we have to choose between the two towns. It's no question who's in charge here haha joke!

birth certificate
certificate of no marriage (CENOMAR)
DSWD family planning seminar certificate
1 x 1 ID picture

If you between ages 18-21, you have to get a parental consent. While for individuals aged 22-25, you need to get parental advise. I don't know what the heck is the difference. Please note that different municipalities may require different documents when applying. Some would require a copy of your community tax certificate, some may even require barangay certificates. Fellow bride Dins blogged about how to get the marriage license in Manila, Makati and Quezon City. It's always better to call your Local Civil Registrar's (LCR) office.

For the birth certificate and certificate of no marriage, you can get copies of it from the National Statistics Office. You can go there or order by phone or online, which is what we did. It’s a bit more expensive when you order it online but if you don’t have the time to go there yourself or you can’t ask someone to get it for you then the easiest way is to get it online. The birth certificate will cost you P315 while the CENOMAR will cost P415. If you are requesting for both you and your fiancé and receiving from you both, ready an authorization letter from your fiancé. The site actually reminds you to have an authorization letter ready if you are not a family member or relative of the requesting party. It’s just weird that they are not consistent with their rules because I wasn’t even asked for the authorization letter. After paying, it will take only around 2 to 3 working days for them to deliver the documents.

Now the family planning seminar is held only every Tuesdays and Thursdays and it’s supposed to be from 8am to 12nn. We went on a Thursday because when I called, they told me we can attend the seminar in the morning and to everything else in the afternoon. I called them several times because I wanted to make sure we won’t wasting our time there. The first time I called and told that we have to have the DSWD family planning seminar, I asked where we should attend the seminar..in DSWD..their answer..yes. Of course I panicked. Where the heck is the office of DSWD and we wouldn’t be able to finish it in one day if we’re supposed to go to DSWD first (I’m thinking their office is somewhere in QC) and then go to city hall in the afternoon. Pam calmed me down and told me they probably have a branch there in Antipolo and that I should probably call again to make sure. She told me to ask which floor is DSWD located in city hall. So I called again and asked and made sure that DSWD is in Antipolo city hall. The lady from the LCR said it was located on the first floor and even gave me their phone number and then told me the schedules of the seminar. And then I was calm. Haha. Anyway, when we arrived at city hall a few minutes before 8am, we asked the lady in the “Information” where the family planning seminar is held. She said it wasn’t in that building, it was in POSD. OMG! Where is that? It’s near the market just after Mercury Drug. How do we get there? Just walk from here. So we walked and when we were nearing a couple was in front of us, looks like they were going to attend the same seminar. The men outside the building who saw us immediately shooed us away and told us to go at the back. They probably have seen many couples every Tuesdays and Thursdays and directed them to where the seminar is really held. When we got at the back of the building, the door was locked and no one was there. I told Joema to ask the man again where it is. I was coaxing him that we are players in amazing race and that these couples are our competition and that we have to be ahead of them hahaha. As I’ve blogged before we had to wait for an hour before the seminar started.

Before the seminar started the lady in charge had the audacity to ask “Who came in late?”. I didn’t have the power to control myself, I blurted out loud enough for her to hear “IKAW!”. Of course, she thought it best to just pretend she didn’t hear me. Stupid couple in front said they were the last to come in. Haller! We were all here before that stupid lady!!!! She asked them to lead the prayer. I was still fuming mad when she decided we should have a little game first – the boat is sinking. Grrr!!! Joema and I are the snob types (well more of me I think, he’s just too shy to mingle with the others) so we weren’t too happy with these. After the game, she sort of had us introduced ourselves. She eased on us when she knew we were both from UP. I don’t know why. Well, the seminar wasn’t really about family planning. It was more of pre-marriage counseling. She had us answer a bunch of questions about love in a marriage, communication, money matters, religion, sex, etc. It wasn’t really a total waste of time but I hope they can improve the hall where the seminar is held. There was no electricity and the place stinks. We finished around 12noon got our certificates from her and then we’re off for lunch.

We went back to city hall to apply for our marriage license. It was already one o’clock but the person in charge wasn’t in yet. Someone just handed me the form and asked me to accomplish it. When we’re done completing the form, the lady wasn’t there yet so I kinda submitted the form and our other documents to the person next to the counter for marriage license. I was terrified of this lady. She didn’t smile and asked me arrogantly where our documents where (they’re all attached to the form). And then she checked our form and then asked where the “Jr.” of Joema’s father is in the form, I pointed it to her. And then she asked why my father’s middle initial is different (it was a typo error in my birth certificate) and then asked why my mother’s maiden name is Arcilla in my birth certificate but I wrote Ercilla in the form (again a typo error). Registry in the earlier days sucks! I was so terrified of this person I couldn’t speak. The lady who signs the forms is much much nicer. When she saw that we attached all our original documents, she told we could just attach photocopies since she knew the original ones cost more (if we had to get new ones). After that we were asked to pay the P350 fee at Window 9. There were no lines for the payment so we were back at the dungeons in no time (their office is at the basement). And then they told us to return Aug 4 which is 11 calendar days after the date of our application. Voila! We were done! We would have been done in less than 30 minutes if the lady in charge was there by 1pm. But who am I to complain? I have to live with this kind of service.