Fairy Bride

Confession first: the truth is I started researching about wedding preparations even before Joema proposed to me. Hahaha well, haller ika nga ng matatanda sa pagkahaba-haba man ng prusisyon sa simbahan din ang tuloy namin. There were already talks of getting married, the only uncertain thing was when. So that was maybe a year before he proposed I started google-ing for wedding suppliers. When he proposed I already have a mental note on how much our budget would be. So yeah I only started being obsessed with weddings when we or I started preparing for the wedding. I guess I never fully appreciated the time and effort a couple has to put into preparing a wedding until we had ours.

I'm not like other women who knew even when they were just little girls where they want to get married or had a vision of what their wedding gown will look like. Now, I even miss preparing for a wedding and I love looking at wedding pictures even of other people's.

I was bloghopping the other day when I saw the blog of Rajo Laurel and he featured the wedding of Sarah Meier. Apparently, they're really good friends and he designed her wedding gown which is oh so beautiful!





She was such a pretty bride. She looks like a fairy.







All photos from Rajo Laurel's blog.

Our First Thai Festival

For the third day of our honeymoon we went to Krabi, Thailand. When we arrived at the airport, someone from Pakasai Resort was already there to welcome us. The welcoming party gave me my bouquet of flowers and directed us to the parking lot. When we got to the car, he gave us our bottled water which I appreciated because it was hot when we got there, not that I'm not used to the heat hehe. When we got to the hotel, they gave us our welcome drinks and cold towels to freshen up our faces.

Our welcome treats

Our room was wonderful – really perfect for honeymooners. This is what you'll see when you enter.


Can you read what's written in the bed?


View of our room from the veranda and from the bathroom. You can slide the partition between the room and the bathroom or leave it open like that.

Complimentary toiletries.


They also provide a beach bag which includes two beachmats.


The flat screen TV.

Right after we settled in, we ordered room service. We were famished as we haven't had lunch yet and it was I think almost 4pm by then. Here's Joema ready to attack his lunch.

After eating we went directly to the pool.


We swam for a bit but we didn't stay that long because they closed the pool area early. There was supposed to be a dinner treat for the resort guests by the pool. They were celebrating the Loi KraThong Festival then. But unfortunately it rained so dinner was transferred to the resort's restaurant.

So after taking a bath and dressing up for dinner, we went to the restaurant. We were greeted by this staff making krathong.


During dinner there were dance presentations, I think atleast three dance numbers by Thai girls. Their costumes are awesome. The details of their clothes are so intricate, and those head dresses are something else. And it was like a wedding reception because after every dance, the girls table hop and have their pictures taken with the guests hehe.


Honestly, I didn't enjoy much of the food but atleast I was entertained by the dance. My plate and margarita with krathong as center piece.


We wanted to leave after the second dance, but the staff discouraged us and told us there will be a parade after the dance and dinner so we stayed. Good thing we decided on staying because we experienced how they really celebrated the festival. So after dinner, all the guests lined up and we paraded down to the beach. Each of us holding our krathong while the resort staff were dancing around us while someone was beating the drums for some music. When we arrived at the beach, we let the krathongs float in the water and washed away by the waves. While some were lighting lanterns and flying them like kites. It was fun watching the lighted lanterns.

Here's hoping this won't be our last Loi Krathong Festival.

That's Baseball to Me

I arrived home yesterday and my husband was watching baseball. He said it was the championship: Korea vs Japan, and that was the equivalent of the World Cup in baseball. The little I know about baseball I learned from our HS Phys Ed teacher. I know that there's the pitcher, catcher, right and left fielder, the shortstop and some other players haha. So anyway, yesterday it was already the 8th inning when I got home. Hisashi Iwakuma was pitching for Japan. He got me interested because he was cute hehe.

Photo from www.reuters.com

And then he was taken out of the game, and another Japanese pitcher was the substitute. Anyway, the crowd was fussing all over Ichiro Suzuki who was cool as ice while playing. Joema said he was the most famous Japanese baseball player.

Photo from http://www.nytimes.com/

And then came another pitcher, Yu Darvish. I started really getting into the game then. He was pitching when Korea tied with Japan 3-3.

Photo from http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/

I'm obviously rooting for Japan because of their cute pitchers. :) I never knew baseball was that exciting. They had the 10th inning because of the tie. But Ichiro saved the day, and Darvish striked out 3 Korean players. And they won!

Photo from http://www.nytimes.com/

Please head on here for a real account of the game as you can see I have very limited baseball jargons.

Vote! Earth

Let's all do our share in saving our planet. I'm re-posting here what's in our company website regarding Earth Hour.

Earth Hour 2009 – What Will You Be Doing?

Cuddling up with your loved ones and admiring the stars in the night sky or organising a treasure hunt in the dark? At 8:30pm on Saturday 28 March, people from all corners of the world will turn off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour - and cast their vote for action on climate change. Anybody can participate and join together with millions of people across the globe celebrating Earth Hour.
Earth Hour is about taking simple steps everyday that collectively reduce carbon emissions – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.

Here are different ways to spend Earth Hour and reduce your carbon footprint:

1. Attend a local Earth Hour event or organize your own by throwing an Earth Hour street party with your neighbors
2. Gather family and friends for a night picnic in your local park and look at the stars
3. Enjoy a family dinner by candlelight
4. Organize a treasure hunt in the dark
5. Take the dog for a night walk
6. Have a candle-lit bath
7. Sit in the dark and share stories
8. Organize a family night playing board games
9. Share a romantic night in with your loved one

Earth Hour Executive Director, Andy Ridley, is encouraging people to participate in whatever way they choose and to think beyond the hour. “There are no hard and fast rules surrounding participation in Earth Hour. We only ask that you flick that switch and have fun doing whatever you choose to do during that time. Make Earth Hour work for you. Families with young children should feel free to turn their lights off earlier than 8:30pm and for those having too much fun in the dark during the hour, don’t feel you have to limit yourself to one hour and switch back on at 9:30pm.”

To find out more about Earth Hour, visit the official website www.earthhour.org, sign up and join millions of people in more than 1,400 cities and towns in 80 countries throughout the world by turning off your lights for one hour at 8:30pm on Saturday 28 March.

Ninang Susan

Ninang, it's sad we weren't able to spend enough time for me to know you better. All I have are stories told by Nanay and Joema and their other family members. But I know Joema will continue to remember the memories he has of you. Thank you for loving him as your own son. Please look down on us and continue to guide us. And whisper to Jesus to bless us always.

Showbiz Dream

Sometimes, I have the strangest dreams.

Last night I had another "showbiz" dream. I dreamt that Pia Guanio and Vic Sotto are about to get married. I don't even know why I was there. We were in a big house where the wedding was supposed to happen. Only a handful of people were there including me. Pia was wearing this white flowy gown which looks like this but it had blue accents on it.




And then as my dream progressed, other people started coming in. Which I think is the reason why the wedding didn't push through. They called off the wedding because a lot of people knew about it and they wanted to keep it low-key. So strange!

Photo: gown by Vera Wang from brides.com

My Grandfather

My grandfather was finally laid to rest last Sunday. We went to Umingan, Pangasinan for the wake early Friday morning.

I don't really have much memories of my grandfather. But I do remember that when I was a toddler and we lived in Valenzuela, I was usually at their house and my mother had to scold me just so I'd go home to our then apartment. But that was it.

In June after my father's brithday, we learned he had a stroke or was it a heart attack. I didn't know the details.

I told him a few weeks before my wedding that I was about to get married. After so many text messages exchanged, it was decided we should instead visit him than him going to Manila and travelling alone.

We were supposed to visit him last weekend. But decided against it when my other cousin was scheduled to come home the same week. It was his (my cousin's) birthday weekend and he was supposed to have a birthday party. We wanted to be complete when we visit him, so we told ourselves we should visit him some other time. We weren't able to see him alive because he died Monday on the same week we were supposed to visit him. I don't even remember when I last saw him.

I pray that he's happy now. That he's with Our Creator looking down on us. For whatever happened, we know in our hearts he is still their father and is still our grandfather. The same blood runs through our veins.

This Made my Day

An officemate was trying on some coats and jackets she borrowed for her upcoming trip to Europe. They were taking pictures of her with her donning the clothes.




G: R, bagay sayo yan..para kang artista..parang si Katie Holmes.
me: tara dali magpapicture ako sayo para kunyari fan mo ko



Thank God for officemates who are a lot of fun to be with. Makes each passing day easier to go through.

Another One

After exactly two weeks, it was my lolo's turn to go home. :( I hope this will be the last death in our family for this year. Or can I wish for the last death during my lifetime?

I remember during Joema's lolo's wake, one of his younger cousins asked me if my lolo is still alive. And I told her all my grandparents are well and alive. But now, I have to say goodbye to my lolo as well. Please pray for him and our family.

Feeling Paparazzi

Last Friday, there was a wedding reception held at the pool area of our condo. I couldn't help but take pictures of the event. The man wearing a dark blue polo was staring back at me after the flash of my camera went off. *teehee* Maybe he felt violated? hehe

Beautiful in My Eyes

On Sunday, Joema and I will be married for exactly 4 months. But still everytime I look at our wedding photos, specifically the ones during my bridal march, I can't help but still get teary eyed. Arcbishop's Palace has a very short aisle, so we requested for the red carpet to be extended up to the driveway. Joema chose the song for my bridal march, Beautiful in My Eyes, and we requested my cousin Adam to sing it. I guess I was a bit nervous marching down to Joema. I started crying when I was about to enter the chapel and heard Adam's voice singing beautifully. It's hard to explain, actually it's hard to even think of why and what I exactly felt. All I can think of was I was overwhelmed with so much emotion at that specific moment of my life.

Beautiful in My Eyes by Joshua Kadison

You're my peace of mind in this crazy world.
You're everything I've tried to find, your love is a pearl.
You're my Mona Lisa, you're my rainbow skies,
and my only paryer is that you realize
you'll always be beautiful in my eyes.
The world will turn, and the seasons will change,
and all the lesson we will learn will be beautiful and strange.
We'll have our fill of tears, our share of sighs.
My only prayer is that you realize
you'll always be beautiful in my eyes.
You will always be beautiful in my eyes.
And the passing years will show
that you will always grow ever more beautiful in my eyes.
When there are lines upon my face from a lifetime of smiles,
when the time comes to embrace for one long last while,
we can laugh about how time really flies.
We won't say goodbye 'cause true love never dies.
You'll always be beautiful in my eyes.
You will always be beautiful in my eyes.
And the passing years will show
that you will always grow ever more beautiful in my eyes.
The passing years will show that you will always grow
ever more beautiful in my eyes.

More pictures of my bridal march here.

This Young House

I've been frequenting Apartment Therapy nowadays. Got the itch to house hunt but we can't buy a house yet. We're perfectly happy with our loft-type condo but we can't possibley stay there when we have kids. So, I surf the world wide web for inspiration. Anyway, Apartment Therapy is giving away this award "The Homies 2008". I haven't really had the time to browse on all the nominees' websites. But the header of one nominee caught my attention - This Young House.


The owner of the site is a young couple who did some major renovations on their purchased home. I so love the way they decorated their home. And I am now dreaming of having our very own sun room. They blog about everything regarding home decor and even give design advice to their readers. I love their posts with the before-and-after pics. They also have a separate post about their wedding which was a big DIY project. They feature other weddings as well.


Oh, I'm so excited to have our own little home where our future kids can play and where Joema and I can hang out and grow old.


This is not a paid advertisement by the way. I just love love their site.

Traffic Tagaytay Taboo

As I mentioned before, we spent the weekend in Tagaytay. Joema and I were both itching to get away so we were both very excited to get to Tagaytay. Actually we were all excited for this weekend getaway. There were so many good news that need proper announcements – Janice getting pregnant and Mands and Weng getting engaged – that all of us were eager to see each other. Unlike our other previous trips where we followed an itinerary, this trip was different because we really didn't plan anything. Although we agreed on having Saturday lunch at Sonya's Garden and Sunday breakfast at Josephine's.

Penny and Pao fetched us around 8:15am. The original meet-up time of 9am at SLEX was cancelled. Charline was running late, and Janice was having her morning sickness. Jose was still not sure if he can come with us. While we left Manila early, the traffic in SLEX was bad we arrived at Sonya's Garden around 11:30am. Charline and Allan were there a few minutes after us. And before we started eating, Al and Janice just came in time.

I enjoyed the salad. Although I really didn't eat that much because I wanted to have more pasta haha. But I was disappointed with the sauces and toppings for the pasta. Good thing the dessert was good. I loved the chocolate cake. But they could have given us a bigger slice. I don't think the price of the meal was worth it. I felt that I didn't get what I paid for. I don't know if it's just the food or my whole experience while there. We weren't able to go around the garden. We were told not to go further when we were walking towards their bed and breakfast. So instead we went inside their gift shop. When we were inside I started feeling weird, I felt my eyes bulging. And true enough, when I looked at the mirror my right eye was so red and I had welts around both eyes. My allergy was acting up again! Argh! I was panicking because I didn't want to go to a hospital in Tagaytay and ruin everyone's day. I forgot I had my medicine with me, so Charline offered here Claritin instead. Joema and I hurriedly went back to the restaurant and asked for a glass of water. I figured it must be the salmon from the pasta that triggered my allergy because it's the only seafood in the menu.

Here's me trying to still enjoy the place. Had to use my sunglasses to cover my eyes.

After spending a couple of minutes at their panaderya, we proceeded to the house we rented. This is the same house we rented for Grace's despedida. I'm glad everyone loved the place. I immediately sent an MMS of the place to Jose to tell him what he was missing hehehe. We all felt relaxed and comfortable, we just stayed inside the whole afternoon chatting. It wasn't only until Janice got hungry that we got ready to go out again for dinner. But first, we dropped by Robinson's to get few things from their grocery. Then we hied off to RSM for some lutong bahay our preggy friend is craving for.

We waited for Weng and Mands to arrive at RSM. It took them forever to get to Tagaytay (haha exxag!). They went church hunting the entire day and talked about their choices while having dinner. We're all so excited for them both. We asked them to tell the story of Mands' proposal when we get to the house because it was a bit noisy at RSM. We all wanted to hear what they were saying. After they've eaten, the rest of us went back to the house while Penny, Pao, Charline and Allan went to get Carlo's Pizza and some Starbucks.

We actually got ready for bed when we got home – well really just washed off and brushed our teeth and changed into more comfortable clothes. And when we were all ready, Mands told the story of how he proposed hehehe. Great! Another wedding for our group! After that we played Taboo. I didn't know it was so much fun playing that game. Some of the funny things we said during the game:

WORD: fort
Weng: blank Santiago
Someone said: Rowell Santiago
Another one said: Randy Santiago
Then I said: Raymart Santiago

WORD: I can't remember
Mands: hip
Allan: hop

WORD: sovereign
Allan: king
Mands: queen

WORD: album
Joema: you see this in your sala…blah blah blah
What do you know, they figured out it was an album ahahaha

WORD: frame
Joema was supposed to be the one to have it guessed
Cris: sige simulan mo ulit sa sala yan

I know it doesn't sound funny while reading this but we sure had a lot of fun playing it.

Anyway, I think we finished playing around 2am. We had to go to sleep afterwards because we planned to have buffet breakfast at Josephine's. Everyone was up and ready by 8:30 the next morning. Josephine's was packed that day. There was a long line at the omelet/egg station and they ran out of taho. *sigh* During breakfast, we again talked about Mands and Weng's wedding. Gave them a few tips (there's already three married couples in our group. Us and Penny and Pao were the latest ones who got married so we're already missing wedding preparations and are very eager to lend a helping hand to them.

After eating, we again headed back home to rest. Yeah we get tired just because we were eating so much hehehe. Some of us heard mass at Lourdes while we headed straight to Paseo de Sta. Rosa for some outlet shopping. On the way, we stopped by the furniture stores. We saw this store who's selling some really great furniture that looks like Cobonpue furniture. Since I don't think I can ever afford Cobonpue pieces, then I can comfort myself by having those sold in Tagaytay.

It was so hot in Paseo de Sta. Rosa so we had to have halo-halo at Razon's before heading home. All in all it was a great weekend filled with food, relaxation, good conversation and did I already say food? =)