My Birthday

It was my first birthday as a wife. :) I had to go to the office in the morning because we had a meeting but I was off to celebrate after that. Heard mass at SM Megamall during lunch and then met up with Joema afterwards. We ordered food from the nearby Chinese resto - pansit (for long life), crispy pata (for cholesterol which might lead to a short life hehe) and beef with ampalaya (wala lang).

Syempre I'm wearing red kahit hindi naman kami Intsik hehe

Since my birthday was on a weekday, we extended it up to last Saturday. We didn't throw any parties but Joema and I had our first "toma session" as husband and wife hehe.

Yeah..I was a bit tipsy =P Cheers to more toma sessions!

We didn't realize we were drinking that much because soon after we were both tipsy already. We mixed Absolut Kurant with Sprite. It's yummy! Maybe that's why we didn't realize we drank a bit too much.

The next day we had a hearty breakfast of pancakes and sausage. Haaay..this is the life!

I am so blessed to have everything that I need at this moment of my life. I'm just praying that He will continue to shower us with blessings and for us to be happy and contented with what we already have.

Cuppy Cake

Saw the news on this cute little boy (another Youtube sensation) on either the Today Show or ET (can't remember!!!). Apparently he guested on the Tyra Show where he sang with Tyra. He's sooo chubby because he has a kidney disease which requires him to take steroids. He's name is Sam and he is so adorable!!!

Arriving in KL

The title should actually be in past tense because this post is about our honeymoon hehe. And we've already flown in and out of KL as early as the second week of November last year. Most of the first day of our honeymoon was spent travelling. We were at SM Megamall by 7am to ride the bus going to Clark. Our flight was at 12:30pm that day. By 1:30pm, the captain announces that we are ready to land. WTF?!?! The travel time from Clark to KL was supposed to be around 2 1/2 hours. Apparently, "there's a very violent man at the back, and we have to return him to Clark. We cannot bring him to KL as this is going to be a long flight" (the flight attendants' explanation to us). Kaloka! When we arrived back at Clark, there were soldiers (?) boarding the plane to pick up the guy. Scary! Finally arrived at KL's LCCT at around 4:30pm. Travel time from airport to the city center was around 45mins to an hour. We just had enough time to checkin at the hotel, rest a bit and wander the city at night.




Here's us in front of the Petronas Towers. We had to take as many shots because we couldn't fit the two towers in the frame plus us at the bottom heehee.

2009 Philippine Holidays

Because of the wedding expenses (we haven't recovered yet), travelling will be limited this year. But that does not mean we wouldn't travel. It only means that we have to find ways to minimize our travelling expenses. The key to that is planning, planning, planning. Migs is already thinking of our summer outing. I'm already planning our road trip with the Flyfish Gang, although that will be mid of this year hehehe. Talk about excited! For those of you planning their long weekend getaways, let me share with you the the regular and special holidays for 2009 as declared under Proclamation No. 1699 from Malacanang.

Regular Holidays

Maundy Thursday - 9 April
Good Friday - 10 April
Araw ng Kagitingan - 4 April (Monday), Monday nearest 9 April
Labor Day - 1 May (Friday)
Independence Day - 12 June (Friday)
National Heroes Day - 31 August (Monday), last Monday of August
Bonifacio Day - 30 November (Monday)
Christmas Day - 25 December (Friday)
Rizal Day - 30 December (Wednesday)

Special Non-Working Holidays

Ninoy Aquino Day - 21 August (Friday)
All Saints Day - 1 November (Sunday)
Additional special non-working day - 2 November (Monday)
Additional special non-working day - 24 December (Thursday)
Last Day of the Year - 31 December (Thursday)

No date yet for the Eid'l Fitr. (The proclamation was signed 24 December 2008)

Although of course, we here at The Bank, don't really follow some of these holidays. Blech! And Joema's company follows some of the American holidays. So we really have to schedule everything and file for our leaves in advance.

Family Visits

When Joema and I got married, I asked him if we'll regularly visit our parents during the weekend. He said we'll visit but not regularly like every Sunday we should be at my parents house or every other weekend we'll be at his parents house. So on the first Sunday after we came back from our honeymoon, we made plans with our friends to have lunch. My father and mother texted me (separately) that they had dinuguan cooked for them. I only replied "Wow sarap ng ulam ah" and then told them we were going out to have lunch. Little did I know it was their way of "asking" if we were coming to visit. I only knew of this when we went to visit Tita Zeny in Pampanga and Mama shared that they were sad that Sunday - walang kibuan sa house, yung kasama lang namin sa bahay ang umepal at nagtanong "Uuwi ba sila Cris ngayon?" ahaha. From then on, I told Joema we should visit them (my parents and his) more regularly. Although we really can't do it every week, we try to visit them as often.

******

January in our family is special. My parents' wedding anniversary, both my and my brother's birthday are all in January. My lola's birthday and a cousin's birthday are also in January. Last Jan 6 was Nanay's birthday so we went to Bocaue. And then this past weekend, we made our way to Antipolo, it was my bro's birthday last week. We had dinner at a Chinese resto.

Happy beerday!

Papa and Mama

Yummy Chinese food

My First Vegetable Dish

You know how I bragged about my adobo. Now, I'm going to brag about my chopsuey ahaha. I'm nearing my yearly annual physical exam again and I don't want to have to be told again that my cholesterol level is up so I told Joema we have to include vegetables in our diet. So when we went grocery shopping last weekend, we bought different vegetables. I'm so happy the finished product did taste like chopsuey. You see my husband is a picky eater and aside from that he really doesn't eat much (obvious naman sa katawan di ba?). Sometimes I have to force him to eat extra servings but when we had my chopsuey he ate a LOT! Yey for me! :)

ingredients for chopsuey

my plate

the happy hubby

Here's the recipe I followed, only I didn't use celery and sitsar; and added other vegetables like baby corn, cauliflower and red and green bell pepper. Again this is from my Maya cookbook (inari ko na yung cookbook..wala ng solian 'to!)

2 pcs chicken breast, deboned and cut into strips
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 eggwhite
1/4 cup oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped
1 cup sitsaro, stringed
1 medium-sized carrot, sliced into rounds
2 stalks celery, cut into 1/4" lengths
1 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
1 cup water
2 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce

Combine chicken, salt, cornstarch, soy sauce and egghwite in a bowl. Marinate for a few minutes.
Heat oil in a wok or frying pan. Saute garlic until light brown. Add in onions and cook until wilted. Add the chicken and cook until tender. Stir in vegetables and stir fry for 5 mintues. Add half of the water. Disperse the cornstarch in the remaining water. Add this to pan. Blend in the bouillon, sugar and soy sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until vegetables are cooked.

To My Brother

Happy happy birthday!

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When Joema and I were on our way home from Bulacan last weekend, he asked me if I feel homesick at times. I told him honestly that I really don't feel homesick even though there are times I am left alone at home because of the schedule of his work. But then I told him that whenever I see pictures of my family, I miss them so much especially my brother (although that's hard for me to admit hehe). So when I first got the CD of our wedding pics and started browsing on the photos, it was the first time since our wedding that I truly missed my family.

Sexy Back*

My Ninang Penny got married last January 3. It was a beautiful beautiful wedding. The reception program was a mix of different emotions. One minute I was teary eyed because of her dad’s speech the next I was smiling from ear to ear watching Penny and Pao’s first dance* (the first part of their dance was tango then the second part was Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back).

Here are some pics from their photobooth.

Say My Name, Say My Name

I’m getting frustrated with this whole changing of my maiden name to married name thing. First here at the office, my name’s already changed in the online directory but the IT department hasn’t changed my email address yet and my name in the Lotus Notes address book. Hence, people can not find me on Lotus Notes if they use my new surname. Plus I haven’t received my new ID yet. So I don’t have any ID’s with my married name on it. I don’t really plan on changing my driver’s license and passport yet. I’ve just renewed my passport and I don’t want to go to DFA again to have it changed. My driver’s license won’t expire until 2011. I’m planning on having my name changed on both IDs by the time they are about to expire. But now I think I have to have it changed because I went to my bank earlier and they told me that I need to present 2 ID’s showing my married name to have my account name changed from maiden to married. And I only have one – my company ID – which technically I don’t really have because they haven’t issued it to me yet. Are you still with me after all this blabbering? Argh! So what I can do as of the moment is just change my account from single account to joint account but retain my maiden name.

The Day Before The Day

Let me start the new year with my backlog posts about our wedding hehe.

The day before the wedding I was up and about really early because we had to fetch Grace and take her to our modista. Grace was really happy with her dress so she decided to have other dresses sewn for her. Good thing the repair of her maid-of-honor dress was done in less than an hour. After that, we went to Tria’s shop to get the body form. And we finally headed back home but before that we dropped by the bank (for Grace’s finances) and the salon (for our mani/pedi). See I don’t really have regular manicures and pedicures so I just had my fingernails cleaned and had a foot spa. Sulit talaga when sa trusty neighborhood salon namin dahil a little over than P500 lang ata nagastos ko for the two of us. When we got home, a hearty lunch was waiting for us. Grace had time to sleep for an hour before we all (me, Grace, my brother and mother – my dad has work) left for the hotel. When we were loading the boxes with our chocolates, I noticed that there were tiny ants crawling in one of the boxes. Hay, di na matapos-tapos ang mga langgam! Good thing we had a lot of extra holders so we just discarded the ones that were “infested” by the ants.

Marj was already texting me by 2pm that she’s already at Astoria. Sheesh we arrived there around 3pm. I surrendered most of our wedding stuff to Marj. We didn’t have time to talk much because she had another appointment after. So we bid her farewell and checked into our suite. I wanted to sleep for a few hours but wasn’t able to. I just lay there on the bed with my eyes shut but my mind wandering about. I don’t know what time Joema and his family arrived at Astoria because my mom was the one who gave them their room keys. And I really told him that we shouldn’t see each other before the wedding. Ang arte!

By 6pm, we fetched my dad to have dinner at Megamall and then Grace and I had more shopping to do. She bought new shoes for the wedding. The ones she brought were not really for formal occasions hehehe so I forced her to buy new ones. Then I bought black socks for Joema, some toiletries for me, and bottled waters and biscuits for us (we had this at the bridal car for the ride from the church to the reception). Before we went back to the hotel, Marj texted me about the projector that will be used the next day. There was some misunderstanding with Bim but everything was cleared that same night. She informed me that eveerything’s okay and that I should get some sleep. This was around 9pm already. But I had some last minute things done and probably slept by 11pm. Oh and just before we slept we were still looking for ants crawling around the chocolates hahaha.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

- Max Ehrmann

from http://marilee.us/desiderata.html

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An officemate came by today to make chika about her recent trip to Hong Kong, but somewhere along the chickahan she talked about Desiderata and that she's writing it down in a small notebook to give as a gift to her son. She said she's been living by these principles and read a few bits of it to us. I admit it's the first time I read it although "Desiderata" sounds vaguely familiar. It's beautiful isn't it? And her idea of giving it as a gift is wonderful!

*******

Have a blessed Christmas everyone!

Wedding Photos are Up

Yehey! Jayson blogged about our wedding (nawala ata yung sakit ko nung nakita ko mga pictures) and I'm pasting all the photos he posted here at my blog mwehehehehehe. But head on over to his blog to see all his other couples. We actually have the CD for a few weeks now but we haven't got the time to sort everything out. So thank you so much for this, Jayson! And belated happy birthday sa photographer naming asteeeeeeeg!!!

Slideshow: http://www.redefineweddings.com/slideshows/joemacris.html

Christmas Decors

I'm not feeling so good since yesterday. :( I've been popping pills since I woke up yesterday afternoon. Must be because of the cold weather plus we slept in late last Saturday night, or should I say Sunday morning. Anyhoo, Christmas is just around the corner and we haven't finished shopping for Christmas presents yet. Promise, next year October pa lang mamimili na ko ng gifts.

My mother-in-law gave us some Christmas decors which we've used in our little home.

Little santa penguin and dog (?) with an angel

Christmas ribbon by our bathroom door; detailed shot of the ribbon

Decors by the stairs; view from the top

My First Adobo

Before I blog about my first adobo let me tell you first about my cooking skills, or lack thereof. I don’t really cook. In our family, I’m the only one who doesn’t know how to cook. So when my brother and I are left at the house he’s the one who has to cook and I wash the dishes haha. There are only two times in my life when I attempted to cook - the first time was when we didn’t have a maid and I cooked tinola, I remember having to taste the dish every so often because I was afraid it won’t taste right, by the time it was cooked and ready to eat, I didn’t eat anything at all. The second time was when I cooked a simple pasta dish for Joema, I don’t remember if it was his birthday or it was our anniversary. My problem is I don’t know how to tell if the dish is cooked already - I know everything in theory but I don’t know anything in real life haha!

One of the wedding gifts we received was the George Foreman grill. I figured it will be a breeze cooking in this thing. So we bought chicken breasts and barbeque marinate. The manual of the grill says that the chicken should be cooked in 9 minutes. I set the alarm in my cellphone to 9 minutes and popped the chicken in the grill. After a while, I started smelling something – not like when someone is cooking. Basta it smelled and I was afraid I was going to burn the chicken. And then I heard a toot toot tooot. I was panicking already and telling Joema that it must be a fire alarm or I’ve set the smoke detector of our unit. Joema followed the sound and he tells me “E yung cellphone mo lang yun e nag-aalarm!” holding up my cellphone for me to look at. LOL That was hilarious! I was ready to call someone downstairs to help us. But anyways, inspite of the anxiety attack that chicken caused me..it tasted good (thanks to Mama Sita haha!) But suffice it to say, we haven’t used the grill after that.

I’ve only ventured into frying chicken and pork after that. Or we buy cooked dishes. The other day, I attempted to cook my very first adobo. I know it’s a simple dish for those who really know how to cook. But it’s still a milestone for me – cooking something that’s not fried haha. And I used other ingredients other than salt, pepper and oil *teehee*

Pork adobo (recipe from Maya Kitchens cookbook, which was lent to me by an officemate)

1 kilo pork, cube
1/3 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
1 bay leaf, crushed
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
salt to taste
½ teaspoon pepper
water
1 tablespoon oil

In a saucepan, put pork, vinegar, 1 tablespoon garlic, bay leaf, soy sauce, salt and pepper.



Bring to a boil then simmer uncovered until pork is tender. Remove meat from sauce.




In a skillet, heat oil then sauté remaining garlic. Add meat and fry until light brown.



Add the sauce.


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We only bought half-kilo of pork so I divided every measurement of the ingredients by two. Nasarapan naman si Joema. :-)

For Resty

Here are my answers to your questions:

1. POSD is Public Order and Safety Department. The family planning seminar is held at the back of the POSD building. Parang walang phone line dun sa mismong place where they hold the seminar pero here's the contact number that I get in touch with to ask questions...697-1325.

2. Pwede ka na magsubmit agad ng requirements for the marriage license sa Office of Civil Registry ng city hall without the seminar. Kaya lang kailangan mo pa ulit bumalik para sa seminar dahil nga isa sa requirements yun. Since we don't have time to go there again and again kaya we went on a Thursday para after the seminar, diretso submit na lahat ng requirements. Yung iba namin kasabay sa family planning pangalawang balik na nila yun sa city hall dahil yung una nilang punta wala pa silang dalang certificate ng family planning.

Here are my related posts regarding the marriage license application in Antipolo City Hall.

While Waiting
Marriage License

Best to call the contact number I gave you if you have other questions na hindi ko nasagot :)

One Month

I can’t believe it’s been a month since the day we said our “I Do’s”. Yes it’s been 30 days since our wedding and I haven’t finished blogging about it. Yikes! I don’t think I’ll be able to blog about it in one go because of work (year-end is hectic!) and Christmas is just around the corner (we haven’t started shopping for gifts yet! Sooo bad!). We haven’t received our CD from our wedding photographer yet. They’ve been busy with work also – can’t blame them because December is the busiest season for wedding suppliers.

I only realized that it’s our “monthsary” when I got here at the office and changed my date stamper to the correct date. So it was a delightful coincidence that Joema prepared my baon for today. It's the first of, I hope, many more baon preparations to come hehe.

I fried the fish last night but he was the one who cooked the rice, cut the tomatoes and put them in their containers.

Chopsuey

I haven't been feeling well the last couple of days. Had a fever and wasn't able to go to work this week. Been back for not even a week and I've been on leave again. Haaay... I just realized for three consecutive weeks, I haven't been going to the office 5 times a week. Last week, I went back starting Thursday, and then this week I was on sick leave Wednesday, and then next week Monday is a holiday. Hurrah!

Yesterday, I was going around the mall with a friend when I saw a Christmas countdown...28 days to go! Oh gosh! We haven't even started shopping for gifts yet. We haven't decorated at home. We have Christmas decors but haven't got the time to put them up. Maybe tomorrow, if I'm feeling better.

An officemate told me that I might be getting sick because I'm cleaning now, that is, I might be allergic to dust. Oh yes you read that right...I don't clean my room, our house..any thing when I was single. We have househelp to do that. But now I have to do it or else we'll be living like filthy pigs. Oooh I have plenty of "newlywed" stories to tell ya!

I'm waiting for the hubby to text me so I can go and meet him. We're buying some appliances tonight. We're buying them one by one.

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He texted me already..Bye bye!

My Maid of Honor Arrives

But before she did (this was Thursday before the wedding), we spent the entire day doing the packaging for our placecard holders. I bought the candy holders really early into our wedding planning. I think around March or April. Bought them at Living Well and got the cake and bell toppers.

I initially asked Grace if she could purchase for me the personalized M&M’s. But this proved to be very expensive. So when I saw those personalized Hershey’s kisses from The Knot website, I thought to myself, I can do that. I just need to buy the kisses and then print out those stickers (they are the same kind of round stickers I used for our save-the-date cards). But because I was out of time, I didn’t do the stickers anymore but stuck with Hershey’s kisses. My knows the local distributor so I can get them on discounted price anyway. Those were what we picked up from My the week before that.

So there we were, the whole morning of Thursday packing the chocolates in their individual packages and putting the name cards with their ribbons. That was a bit easy, but Marj wanted these delivered to them and packed per table.

Look how pretty they are

We can’t just put them in plastic bags because that will ruin the organza ribbons and the name cards, so we were desperate in finding boxes for them. We couldn’t find any in National Bookstore and Robinsons Department Store. So off we went to SM Megamall. SM really does have it all for you. We found shoe-box typed boxes at their Stationery department. I was exhausted after that because before the task of finding the right box, we were at Greenhills looking for jewelry for my mother. She wanted a specific kind of necklace that will go for her earrings that she wanted to use for the wedding. We then picked up my dad, before eating dinner and finally going home.

But the night was still too early for us. When we got home, we boxed all 180++ pieces of packed kisses in their respective boxes. Each box were labeled with the names of the guests for each table. And then I emailed Marj our guestlist with the seating arrangement. Had a few minutes to rest, and then my brother and I are again out of our house. This was probably around 10 in the evening already. We first headed to Lorena’s house to pick up Heili and Grace’s dresses. And then we were off to Makati to bring Heili’s dress and pick up the CD they made for the surprise audio-visual presentation for us. After that, we were cruising our way to the NAIA terminal 1 to pick up Grace. How pathetic the arrival area of our international airport is! You have to pay P30 just to get inside that waiting area where you can see the balikbayans across a road (you can even cross the road to fetch them, they have to cross the road to get to you) and watch them from a TV monitor that will not even show you a clear shot of your balikbayan’s face. Grace’s flight landed early but we waited for her for almost an hour to come out. I was watching the TV monitor the whole time but I didn’t see her, when I set my eyes across the road she was already standing there hahaha. Jay and I had to go back to the parking lot, get the car and go around the terminal to get her. Can’t anyone think of a better way to do this? We have lots of Overseas Filipino Workers. I’m sure a lot them come back to the Philippines each day, can’t we atleast make their arrival easy for their families waiting for their return and for the OFW’s as well?!?!?!

Anyway, we brought Grace to her condo after that. It was already Friday by then and was past 1am. I had her fit the gown because if there alterations to be done, we have to be up and about early morning of Friday to go to the modista. And as luck would have it, the dress didn’t fit her. Blame it on her for giving wrong measurements harharhar. We left her to rest but when I got home, I still had to some packing. I still had to pack my clothes – those I will bring to the hotel (nights before and after the wedding) and those I will bring for our honeymoon. Finally got some shut-eye at 3am but was already awake by 630am.

The Days Before

I’ve been back to work since Thursday last week but haven’t blogged much because I’m not sure how I’ll start blogging again now that I’m married – yuck ang drama! Di ko lang kasi maisip if I should start blogging where I left off (a few days before the wedding) or blog about my daily life as a newlywed.

Anyways, let me go back a few days before our wedding day.

Monday night

Joema and I met up with the choreographer of our first dance, Phyllis Lim. Phyllis is such a sweetheart. She not only arrived on time, but she was early (promptness is plus points for me as I’m a stickler for time). She didn’t teach us any steps that we were uncomfortable doing. She suggested that we do separate steps as intro for our dance but Joema was adamant he will only dance if we’re dancing together hehe. The first part of our dance was … shucks I don’t remember what style of dancing it was called =P The second part was swing. Phyllis was really patient in teaching us. She was the one urging us to practice, practice and practice. She even suggested we record our dance on video so that when we practice by ourselves, we have something to guide us. I'll upload this video on my multiply account soon.

We chose the song “Honey, Honey” from the OST of Mamma Mia. Actually, Joema was in charge of all the songs/music used in the wedding. He gave me the list of the songs and I just gave my final sign of approval.

Phyllis even gave us some tips like we should practice before our first dance. If we have an “alone” time between the church and the reception, she said we should practice then since if we just go there unprepared even if we practiced the night before we might forget a few steps. Another important tip she gave, never make eye contact with your audience. If you’re not a seasoned perfomer (surprise, surprise we’re both not!), you should not make eye contact with anyone during the dance. If you have to look at the audience, look at the top of their heads. She said making eye contact will make us lose our concentration and forget our steps.

When Phyllis left, we felt we accomplished so much hehe. Now learning the steps is one thing, pulling this first dance off is another.

Tuesday

Joema and I met up for another round of dance practice. This would be the last day that Joema and I will see each other before the wedding. He was telling me we should see each other Friday night so that we can practice but I told him we shouldn't. We were both eagerly anticipating our wedding day.

Wednesday

Since it was only a few days before the wedding, I planned to go to confession on this day. I went to EDSA Shrine because they had regular confessions everyday. It was my first time to confess there so I though there will be a confessional box. Of course before going, I had an examination of conscience and started listing down all my sins. It was really my plan to just read the list when I go to confession. When I got inside the “box”, the set-up was face-to-face with the priest. I had a big paper bag with me because I brought home Mama’s gown. I reached into it because I placed my prayer book there with my list. The priest (he’s a funny one!) said “Oh I thought you were going to give me pasalubong” ahahaha. He was I think of Indian descent so I was surprised to hear him speak Tagalog. When he saw my list, he just asked me to hand over the list and he read it himself. There’s probably something on my list that made him ask my age. When I told him, he asked me if I have a boyfriend so I told him yes and that we’re getting married. I also told him that we were having a mixed marriage because my fiancé isn’t Catholic. Then he asked “What? Muslim?”. Before I left he asked about the wedding again and I said it was that coming Saturday and he wished me well. It was a very “easy” confessional. I wasn’t terrified to be there at all. The priest was very warm and very “forgiving”.

Appetizer

Visit Bim's blog for our onsite video.

Will post more after I'm done sorting out work. Just came back from a short vacay after the wedding.

Countdown: 5 days to go

I think I spoke too soon that I'm not worried. Because the other night (mm...that was Saturday night)I woke up in the middle of the night (nyak! redundant!) so worried about some wedding details. Now, I don't even remember what it was about. Good thing, I was able to fall asleep again. This morning I woke up really early and worried again! I know I woke up early because my alarm went off only after a few hours (I think). Hate that feeling that your mind is awake but you still don't want to get up and fix yourself. Hate it that I woke up before my alarm went off. I'm pretty sure I don't have anything more to worry about. I just keep on thinking about the small details which is sooo frustrating.

I'm also paranoid I won't fit into my wedding dress. For the past couple of days, I've been eating rice three times a day and not going to the gym. I only went once last week for a 30-minute cardio exercise, that's after a week of rest (because of my sprain). So I decided to go today and surprise surprise! I lost 1.5 pounds. Now that is amazing. I don't know what happened for me to lose that weight. Although I've been drinking tea and using this foot patch that's supposed to detoxify you. Note to self: blog about this patch after all the wedding hulabaloo!

And then later this afternoon, we'll be doing something as a surprise for the our wedding guests hehe. I hope we pull it off. (Is that giving away so much on what it is?)

Countdown: 7 days to go

It's exactly one week before our wedding. I'm left here at home while my family left for the province to visit the grave of my Tito. They didn't want to bring me just to be safe, since I already proved that the saying is true for me hehe. Anyways, I stayed here the whole day. Joema didn't visit because his family stayed with him at the condo. It's their last weekend together, his last as a bachelor, so I can't force him to come here. Atleast I still get to be with my family everyday. Unlike him, when he started living at the condo he only saw him atleast every other week.

So what have I been doing for the past 12 hours? Not really twelve hours because I woke up at 10 this morning. I think I haven't slept that long since we were in the thick of wedding preparations. Then I started watching Samurai X heheh or should I say Rurouni Kenshin asindicated in the DVD. I saw Jay watching it the other day and I was hooked. I was fascinated that it tackles much of the political arena in Japan during an era after their revolution. I just don't know how historically accurate are the things in this anime. Or if these are all fictional. The primary character, Kenshin Himura, known as Battousai the Manslayer was a former part of the Imperialist group. As his name suggested he slays the enemies of the Imperialist government. Most of the fights are done with much talking between the two opponents. Himura usually convinces his enemies that their principles are not for the good of the majority in Japan. See I'm really into this hehehe. One more thing, Himura reminds me of Zaizai. I don't know why because as Joema points out Himura is Japanese while Zaizai is Taiwanese =P. Must be how the Japanese anime is where one moment the charachter is serious and then the next the drawing will be all whacky. Zaizai is like that in his Taiwanese dramas and in real life I suppose because he's the clown in F4.

Okay, I'll continue watching as I'm having a hard time typing and watching the subtitles of this anime.

Countdown: 8 days to go

I'm on a holiday today (one of the rare times that The Bank is on official holiday and the outside worlds still have to work hehehe). My brother and I did some errands for the wedding. We first picked up my purse from Dream Bride. I actually have my wedding gown already together with the pillows, veils and cord, we picked them up last Saturday. But Tria was not satisfied on the purse so she had it re-done. I'm really really happy with Tria. She didn't scrimp on the materials used in my gown and the paraphernalias even though I really haggled with her on the price. It doesn't matter if you paid a little or you paid so much, she really gives you her 100% attention and makes sure your gown is really beautiful. As I kept on mentioning, I'm really happy with how my wedding dress turned out. It was more beautiful, if I can say so myself, now that I've seen it complete, than when we had our last fitting. It's simple and elegant.

Our next stop was meeting with Marj. This is actually the fifth time I've met up with her. The first time, I was with Penny, and we were still scouting for wedding coordinators then. I actually didn't meet up with any other coordinators as I was satisfied with my meeting with Marj. The second time, I was with Joema, and we discussed the details of our wedding. I was actually surprised because Marj contacted me more than a month before the wedding to have the meeting set up. I was expecting to receive word from a month before but was happy she was pro-active that I didn't have to be the one to initiate the meeting. The second time, we were supposed to have the final menu tasting with Eloquente but Ms. Tina begged off at the last minute. Marj decided we could still meet up and jsut make chika hehe. But we still managed to talk about so may things about the wedding details. She has a lot of stories about her other brides. She also makes suggestions on how we should do things. By the way, she's also our emcee for the reception so I'm pretty sure our program will flow smoothly. I didn't actually have to think about the program proper because she just gave it to me and we just have to make some inputs. She and her husband, Carlo, were also with us for our final food tasting (4th meeting). I was with Joema and my parents then, so Marj got the chance of meeting the 'rents already hehe. She and Ms. Tina talked about the details for our wedding reception. In the end, we had Carlo be in charge of our sound system (my quartet specifically requested for a direct box and monitor speaker, which are not included in the basic sound system of Eloquente). And of course, we all had a taste of the good food provided by Eloquente. Today (5th meeting), I turned over some of the wedding stuff to Marj. She really wanted to make sure that her bride are worry-free come wedding day. That's why she requests most of the stuff to be turned over to her a week before the wedding. We (me and my helpers - Jay, Mama and Papa) were still finishing the misalettes last night but everything turned out okay. Just a few more things and everything will be in Marj's hands. I can sleep well (if I can) the night before the wedding.

After the meeting with Marj, we went to My's house. We picked up the Hershey's Kisses we'll be using as fillers for our place cardholders. My knows where the local distributor of Hershey's is so I requested her to buy a box for me.

Last stop was SM Megamall for some last-minute buying. Although I'm pretty sure I will still be back there next week to buy more stuff for the wedding hehehe.

I Just Noticed

..that our ticker says 10 days! 10 days before our wedding! 10 days na lang!

May Nagpapapansin!

Kailangan talaga blue ang buhok?!?!?! LOL Kaw talaga ZZ bigla kang nagpaparamdam porke less than two weeks na lang magpapakasal na ko! (Bahala kang intindihan yang Tagalog ko at wala na kong panahon mag-aral ng Mandarin ngayon hahaha)

*Images sent via email by zashi

When We're Not Busy Going to Hospitals

We managed to buy Joema's shoes. Where else but at Cubao X.

Joema choosing among the myriad of shoes

Mirror shot

And we also got his suit.

Mang Oman of KNIK altering the length of the pants

Waiting...waiting...

Two more weeks, baby!

This blog invests and believes, the proximity*

Thanks to Cheryl for giving this to me. Sorry it took some time to post this. Hope you're feeling better.

*I had to google the translation of the award. Got the translation from here.

Your Fingerprint, My Fingerprint

We have our wedding rings already, but I would love to have this kind of wedding ring..


Wouldn't it be nice to carry something unique to your spouse wherever you go?

Source

Another Trip to the ER

Oh yes! You read that right. After my allergy attack last week, I was back at the ER (Medical City) this past weekend. *sigh* Yung kasabihan ng matatanda na “Lapitin sa disgrasya pag malapit ng ikasal” - so true for me! Joema and I were in SM Megamall last Saturday night. We were walking down a flight of steps when *bham* natapilok ako and sprained my righ ankle! I felt my mind went blank and when I opened up my eyes, I was holding on to Joema for dear life. I was squirming in pain. I had to ask him not to let go of me and to let me sit down for a few minutes.

Joema and I went to the MegaClinic at the 5th floor but their orthopedic wasn’t in. They instead gave me the schedule of their doctor, which I didn’t need at that time, because it was then that I was feeling the pain. I needed the doctor right at that moment. So again, I called up Ge and she advised me to go to the ER of Medical City instead. But since it was a weekend sale at Megamall, we figured we might have a hard time getting a cab. So I called up Pam, only to ask if it’s wise not to go to the ER hehe. But she advised me to go as I am getting married in a few weeks, and it’s better to be safe than sorry hehe. There was a long queue for a cab outside Megamall so we started walking towards Podium along Julia Vargas. Yes, even if it was killing me, we walked. And it was all worth it because we got a cab at the intersection of Julia Vargas and ADB Ave.

Triage Area

When we got to the ER, I filled up some forms and then they “wheeled” me to their “trauma” area. The doctor took a look at my ankle and then we had to wait for a few minutes. Then they wheeled me to have my ankle x-rayed and then we waited again. After a few minutes, the doctor said the x-rays were clear, that they had to bandage my ankle and to keep it there for 24 hours, and to rest my foot for 48 hours. So during the weekend, I was carried around the house ehehehe. Thank God for my medical card, we didn’t have to pay for anything. I had to call Jay to ask him to pick us up. But it was okay, as he was the one who told our parents what happened. I really didn’t want to tell them but I can’t hide my bandage. Jay was just in time to pick us up as we were cleared from the cashier and Joema has bought my medicines.

Patient Tag

My mother was still awake when we got home. So we told her what happened and that there’s nothing to worry about. Joema and I ate dinner (we still haven’t eaten, that was 10pm already!) and he had to carry me to my bedroom after. Hahaha nauna ang pagbuhat kesa sa kasal!

Now, I’m back to work but my foot is still swollen. *boohoo* Please, no more accidents. No more trips to the ER.

My bandaged foot