Ondoy

I woke up to a rainy Saturday. We had plans for that day - a birthday party to attend to, a birthday treat to go to, Singapore Grand Prix to watch.

My mother started texting me around 11am. She was going back home because their househelp told her water was going inside the house. A cousin helped the maid get some things inside their room but that was it. I think they only got some important documents and immediately left the house because the water was waist-deep. They went to my Tita's house. My mother never got to our house. The jeepney she was riding got them off a nearby intersection. She waited for a few hours then realized she had to check-in in a nearby hotel/motel. She was panicking a bit because my brother was not replying. We were texting back and forth the whole time. While she was worrying about my brother, I was wondering where my husband was. His last message said he can't ride a tricycle because the water was flooded and he was going back to wait for a cab. After an hour there was a knock on our door. My husband braved the flooded streets because he wanted to go home. I immediately told him to have a quick shower and we ate our late lunch afterwards. I wasn't at all worried about everyone else outside our little nook. Later on, my mother texted me that my father and brother are both OK. But that night they slept separately, mother in a motel, my brother with my cousins and my father inside his car parked in a supermarket. My husband and I were able to watch the Singapore qualifying around 12 midnight. The birthday hooplas were all cancelled.

The next day the sun was shining. I thought everything will be OK. My cousin called me asking me if he can go home. He slept with a classmate but I told him not to go home already. They didn't have electricity and the roads weren't cleared yet that morning. So I told him to stay put because he will be safer there. It was only last night when the impact of the typhoon really hit me after I talked to my brother. He was in a panic asking me where our parents where. It was then that I realized it was me who was connecting all of them. My mom was texting me, he was texting me, even my cousin was texting me. But they weren't able to contact each other. My brother told me our little chow-chow didn't survive the floods. Mini was gone. The other dogs were safe. He said the water inside our house was neck-deep, and nothing was salvaged. It was only then that I started to worry. I guess I'm sad for my family. I'm not sure if I could have done something for them. I couldn't even go to them because most roads were not passable. I could only pray that everyone will be safe.

It was also yesterday when friends started texting me how my family was. I think they saw it on the news. I wasn't even aware how they knew or what they've seen on the news. Thanks so much for the concern. It felt like you were more concerned with my family than I was. And for that...thank you! I am so so grateful my family's safe. Even though we lost every thing in our house, I know nothing will compare to the loss of a love one. I am grateful my family was spared from this disaster. No one was harmed.

Another Set of Clues

Dear Anna,

It seems that the last photo I posted is not unique to the place we visited because you still did not get it right *teehee* Here's another clue. This is their FIFA World Cup Stadium. When we were there, a group was rehearsing for the 6th Asia Song Festival. *hint hint*



xoxo,
Cris

PS Can you tell that this is my way of postponing my travel posts? hehe I don't have all our pictures with me now so that will have to wait until next week.

PPS I'm glad you liked my little "Dear-xoxo" post. :)

Pre-Singapore

We're excited to watch the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend. It's the only night race in Formula 1 and after last year's controversy for this leg of the season, every F1 fan will surely be watching it.

So anyway, I've lost hope for Vettel to win the driver's championship after last week's race when he got only 1 point. And it was only because Hamilton who was in 3rd place lost control of his car during the last lap and wasn't able to finish the race. Plus the Brawn boys are back on top so the championship might be between Barrichello and Button. If it had to be the two of them then I'm hoping it will be Barrichello. He's just so much fun to watch when he wins and I don't really like Button hehehe. Oh by the way, the commentators mentioned that Hamilton and Nicole apparently has broken up that's why the Pussycat Dolls withdrew their participation in the show for the SG Grand Prix. A little chismax to make F1 more interesting hehehe.

Walang Tama

Dear Anna,

Walang tumama kahit isa man sa mga hula mo ahahahaha. But I'll leave you with this clue. I hope you get it right.

xoxo,
Cris

The Stork's Been Busy

Another friend is pregnant! Other than D and J, another couple friend of ours is pregnant with their first baby. I must admit after knowing about her pregnancy I was a bit pressured to get pregnant too. Don't get me wrong, I am truly happy with this very great news. But the truth is we really do not plan on getting pregnant during our first year of being married. I don't know why I felt pressured. Maybe just a bit worried that I'll get those "O kayo kelan kayo magbe-baby?" remarks from other friends. Although there are times when I feel like I want to have a baby of our own now, but there are also times that I feel I'm not yet ready to begin a family. I love how we're like boyfriend-girlfriend now doing silly things with each other. I feel like if we have a baby, we'll suddenly grow up and concentrate on the baby instead of each other. I'm sure mothers will tell me that it will all be worth it and I'm pretty sure I will feel that way when it's my turn. But for now, let me immerse myself with all these me-and-hubby-time, let me take it all in.

Coming Up for Air

Sorry I haven't been updating this blog. But I'll eventually catch up. I hope to blog about these things:

1. Italian and SG grand prix
2. Metro Bar with Mek and Joy (was able to watch Kamikaze and Parokya in one night)
3. Our recent trip (can you venture a guess where we went?)

So yep those are the major things I have to blog about. Don't wanna bore you with posts about work although that's what's been keeping me busy busy busy.

Later!

The Day Keeps on Getting Better

Yes it does!!! In a matter of a few hours, I will have our wedding album and blow-up picture in my hands! Yippiii!!!!! I'M SO SO SO SO SO EXCITED!!!!

Thank you, Jayson and Jo Anne! Special delivery pa!

Happy Happy News

Nothings beats a great news to make your day. Got an email this morning with the subject: MIGLET COMING SOON. And the message: tama ang nabasa nyo. 6 weeks preggy na si jo. due date may 1 2010.




Congratulations, D & J!!! We're so so so happy for you!!!

Honey, Honey

You've probably already watched this Youtube video of a couple's wedding march to the tune of Chris Brown's Forever. When I first heard of this from a friend I immediately told her that this was supposed to be the music to our first dance during the wedding. Here's our convo on FB.


I really wanted this song because I liked the beat and the lyrics… "It's like I waited my whole life, for this one night. It's gonna be me, you and the dance floor" Grabe sobrang perfect! But I don't think we're hiphop enough to pull off this music. So I've let Joema choose another song and we finally chose "Honey, Honey" from the musical Mamma Mia. I'm not sure if I've mentioned here before that our term of endearment is honey so we thought this would be apt for us. We actually hired a dance instructor to choreograph our dance. Her name is Phyllis Lim (contact no: ) . She was really really patient with us. We only practiced for one session, that's for two hours. She would ask us if we can do this steps and if we're comfortable to do them before she teaches the steps to us.

And thank God, we were able to pull it off. During the reception, after our parents, principal and secondary sponsors were introduced, we were called in to enter the ballroom and was introduced the new Mr. and Mrs. And then from the entrance of the ballroom we immediately went to the dance floor and danced "Honey, Honey". Everyone was stunned! No one knew we were gonna dance, not even our families and closest friends. A friend was even telling us that they were all surprised, they didn't know if they should take pictures or video record our dance hahaha!




Photo and layout courtesy of Jayson Arquiza. The hug isn't part of the dance, we don't have that "sweet dancing" (as my PE high school teacher calls it) part. Joema was just absolutely embarrassed after the dance that he hugged me so tight and didn't want to let go of me ahahaha! (Happy 8th monthsary yesterda, honey!)

Buying a Car

The hubby and I are commuters. We don't have our own car. We're actually thinking of buying a car since it's not really a luxury to have a car anymore but a necessity, I believe. It's hard to stand in the rain to wait for a jeep or a bus, it's hard to ride the MRT especially during rush hour. The hubby wants us to buy a car before we start planning on having a baby. He doesn’t want me commuting while I'm pregnant. We are saving up to buy one, even looking at used cars if we can't afford to buy a brand new one. The problem is we both don't know anything about cars, well except for Formula 1 cars. So it might be a problem if we settle to buy a used car. It would be nice if we personally know the previous owner of that car. At least we'll know if the car is well maintained or if they use it for city driving only. We'll see.

Just Had to Let This Out

I officially hate you. I thought we were going along well. But it wasn't meant to be. Maybe deep down inside you like me because why would you say such things about my husband? You don't even know him. You are not even as half as good looking as him. You are not good looking. Aside from that I even thought you were gay when we first met. I don't know what your wife saw in you. Basta! I hate you for saying those things. Who are you to judge our marriage!!?!?!?!?! And working in a call center doesn't mean being promiscous. Plus I don't believe you when you said you were promiscuous. Maybe you paid those girls. Yuck! I wanted to wrangle your neck when you said those things. Binabalaan mo pa ko ha! Kapal ng mukha mo! My husband isn't like that.

Back on the Podium

After two unfinished races, my boy Vettel is back on the podium with Kimi and Fisi this time. Although he was 3rd, it's still not bad. Considering of those driver's who were vying for championship points, aside from him it was only Barichello who got 2 points. Now Vettel is up to 3rd place for the driver's championship with the Brawn boys still ahead. But I'm still hoping he can win and Button will continue to not get championship points in the next races ahahaha.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to watch the qualifying last Saturday and had no news on who had pole position. So we were a bit surprised that Fisichella was in the first row for race day, with Trulli of Toyota. Then on second row was Heidfeld and Barichello. And another surprise was Button and Alonso didn't even qualify for Q2. Sayang talaga we weren't able to watch it. It must have been super exciting! We spent Saturday night at my parent's house and they don't have cable so no qualifying race for us. Boohoo!

Photo from http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk

Janice's Baby Shower

Our little baby shower for Janice is actually a surprise. We didn't tell her that our get together was the baby shower for her. See, we've been fixing all of our schedules to have this get together. It was supposed to be a summer outing but obviously that didn’t' push through. Anyway, after much preparation we finally had a date and unknown to Janice we were preparing a little something for her. She was totally surprised. When we shouted "surprise" she didn't even realized she was the one we were saying surprise to, Al was even thinking of who is celebrating his/her birthday ahaha.

We had a few games. The first is guessing how big Janice's tummy is. Here's me telling them what the game is all about. I'm the self-proclaimed host with Jose as my co-host ahahaha!

Here's everyone else trying to measure their waist and adding a few inches there. Mands won the game by the way.



And then for the next game, they were divided into two groups where they chose their "baby" and had to dress him/her in diapers using toilet paper. My husband was the baby boy ahahaha! But the girls won this.


We also had a game for the boys only with the soon-to-be-dad Al of course. They had to finish up a bottle of beer but the beer inside a feeding bottle. Mands won this game again! He was racking in the prizes!



For the ladies game, they had to taste baby food and then guess the right flavor. Weng won this game. She guessed every single flavor. She and Mands were on fire that night. It's like they are the only two people who won!



Of course, what's a baby shower without the gift giving. Joema and I gave the baby some onesies and these cute shoe-socks from Funky Feet. Got a lot of gift ideas for babies from Laz's blog, Anna's cutie son, by the way.


The night wouldn't be complete without the food and more fun - Rock Band and Taboo!








The next day before we left, we had our photos taken with the Cory Aquino painting hanging in one of the rooms hehehe

We hope to see these guys again, soon!

My Print is Here!

Are you excited to see what I bought from Etsy? Here it is!

It's called Terrarium. I know, I know it's not even in the list I was considering to buy. Call me chicken but I'm a bit wary shelling out money in things I haven't tried before. So I went into the Sale items of The Black Apple and saw that print. And I was torn between this and the other prints that I posted before. So I made the husband decide - without telling him about the prices of course. And he chose this one! And I'm so happy with it! The print finally came yesterday. It was packed in this very cute envelope.



With this...aaawww isn't that cute!



Here's a photo of the print still in plastic. I don't want to take it out of the cover coz I still don't have a frame for it. I know that the site has the measurement of the print on it but I was still a bit surprised that it was bigger than what I imagined it to be.



Then these came with the package. The one on the top is I think a bookmark, and then the other two shows the contact details of the seller at the back.



Now I can't wait to buy that Branch Bed print! Oh I wish it will be included in the Sale bin hehe.

First photo from The Black Apple. Blurry photos courtesy of my phone cam.

Chicken in Basil, Tomato and Cream Cheese

Remember when I blogged about us eating healthy? Well, I experimented again and made this sandwich. I just put basil leaves on some olive oil and then marinate the chicken breast there for a few minutes. Then I fry the chicken on a gridle. No need to put oil on the gridle because the chicken has olive oil on it already. And then I start making the sandwich. Just added some cream cheese and tomatoes..voila! My inspiration for this is the tomato, basil and cream cheese in bagel sandwich from Starbucks that my husband ordered a while back. I thought that was easy to do and they charged us what almost a hundred bucks I think. I can do that too but I need to add chicken, you know for protein hehe.

Date with Hubby = Lunch + Grocery

Usually the most exciting part of my and hubby's week is during the weekends. This is of course if we have somewhere to go to or an event we have to attend like the past weekend – still no photos hehe. But there are times when we just laze in our cozy little home and spend time with each other. And then there are also some weekends where we go out on dates. I didn't realize until recently that we were going on dates when we go grocery shopping. My routine during our "Grocery Saturday" is house chores in the morning and then I get myself ready for our "date". I only realized this two weekends ago while taking a bath getting ready to get out of the house and meet him. I felt giddy thinking that we're having lunch together and can't wait to see him again. Is that weird or what? So anyways, I usually meet him up at the mall and then we have lunch first. Our chosen food for that day…Mongolian! We always end up full after our lunch date so it makes perfect sense that we do the groceries after. The walking around helps us burn all those calories. Oh and that Saturday look what I saw in what one of the shelves.



Someone hid his plastic cup in the canned goods section! That is so gross! He or she could have just waited and threw it in a trash bin outside the store. I can't believe someone would do that.

So anyways, that's one of our dates. Not your usual movie dates but still a "date" nonetheless. I wish hubby will surprise me with a gift on our date. Hubby, you can buy me a Rolex or something. Get it at http://www.bestoftime.com/. I'm not picky ahahaha! How about you, what do you do on your dates?

Lousy Race for Vettel in Valencia

How was your weekend? Most people here in Manila went out of town because of the long weekend. Even though we weren't a part of that holiday, our weekend was equally jampacked. Went to Alabang for an overnight get together with friends (baby shower and a lot of rockband-ing) – will have to wait for my friend's photos before I blog about it in detail. But we were still able to watch the qualifying with Vettel finishing 4th. I'm not about to let the qualifying pass without watching it, we waited 3 weeks after the last race for Valencia. I was worried the whole time we were watching because I heard the commentators saying that Vettel had to do some penalty what with the changing of his engine and he will be 10 places down after his finish. I don't really understand this but it seemed it's a rule that the teams have to use their engine for two races. So there I was a worry wart because I wanted to see Vettel in the podium again. The hubby was telling me that I could've heard it wrong because after the qualifying, the hosts didn't even mention it again. Then Sunday came for the race day of the Valencia leg. While watching the pre-race show I actually fell asleep because of exhaustion and lack of sleep the night before that. But I woke up in time just before the "five red lights illuminate" – as Steve Slater puts it. By the way, when I was asleep Steve Slater discussed the supposed penalty for Vettel and it turned out there will not be any penalty for him. So that kept me all the more confused because I didn't get to see the explanation behind all that. Anyway, Vettel did a good 16 or 17 laps before he went down to the pits but he had to go back again for the second time, right after his first so that kept him on the 16th place. Oooohh that pissed me off so bad I had to switch channels and didn't want to finish watching the race ahahahaha. We eventually went back to watching it when I calmed down, but when we switched back the channel he was already out of the race. Argh! Apparently it was another engine failure. Haay!



I eventually stopped worrying when he was shown smiling from the garage like he can't care much because it wasn't really his fault he had to retire from the race. So from then on I was just waiting who will finish first and get those championship points. Both Vettel and Webber who finished 9th didn't get any. Button got two points and Barrichello finished first and got himself 10 points. So after the Valencia race, Vettel is down to 4th place for the driver's championship with Button, Barrichello and Webber ahead of him. I'm just glad Webber didn't get any points ahahahaha! I don't want Red Bull favoring Webber ahead of Vettel hehehehe Affected much! Like him, I'm still hoping he gets to win the championship.

Photo from here.

In The Fishbowl

Online shopping is addicting! After a few purchases from Ukay Manila and my first purchase from Etsy (although I am still waiting for my print to arrive – I will blog about it then), I bought this dress from In The Fishbowl.



Like Ukay Manila, they sell ukay-ukay items. They upload weekly new items and then you have to bid for whatever items you want. Bidding starts at 9pm every Monday. But since I still don't have internet access at home, I haven't participated in the bidding once the new items are uploaded. I made a bid on this dress a few days after it was uploaded. And yey no one else made a bid so I got it for the starting bid price!

For now, I am done buying online because my Paypal account is down to its few dollars. Let me save some more before I purchase online again.

Moving

Well, hello! I feel like I haven't been here in a long while. I've moved work areas following my promotion. It usually takes a month after the effective date of the promotion for the physical transfer to take place because I'm moving I moved to a different department. But even though I knew all about it, the move was actually done in haste. So stressful as I only knew on the day itself (it was less then a month from the effective date). Good thing I was able to turn over my responsibilities to my colleagues and there wasn't much work left behind, although there were a lot of documents left to be filed. Sheesh! And now I'm trying to study my new work. This is all new to me so I'm trying to read books and references online.

I feel like I haven't had time to be sad about the transfer. I mean it's only now that I'm typing this down that I realize how much I'll be missing all my friends from my previous department although of course we're only a few floors away from each other. And for the past few days I've still been seeing them everyday. They've all been very good to me. And I'm really going to miss them.

I wasn't even able to join Riz's contest on posting what's on your desk because when I read her blog at the time I was packing my things in boxes to be transferred to my new work area. And now that I'm here, my things aren't. phooey! Some kind of miscommunication with the people involved with the moving of my things. Haaay!

So that's about it. I'm still here. I hope to blog more about myself in the next few days heehee. I'm excited about this weekend because we're seeing some friends we haven't been with for a few months now. See you when I see you! Or should that be "read me when you read me"? :)

Four Eyes Times Two

Does that make it eight eyes? heehee


The husband is now wearing eyeglasses too. He's survived the past few months wearing contact lenses. But when he's at home and a bit lazy to wear them, he ends up with a headache because he's straining his eyes. So I persuaded him to buy eyeglasses even if just to wear them at home. And we eventually bought one. I told him he's lucky because he started wearing glasses only when he hit 30. I started wearing eyeglasses as a kid. I've had poor eye sight since high school. If only there were a lot of styles to choose from back then. I think I had glasses just like Harry Potter's hahaha those black round ones. Back then you have to go to those optical shops were most styles are for adults. Not unlike the young generation (or even us adults) now when you can shop online and get affordable fashionable $ 8 Rx eyeglassses with just a click of the mouse. High Five to Zenni Optical for offering very affordable eyeglasses online. I would have bought something like this when I was a kid.






Isn't it cute! Purple frames! I could pull off that style even until now, right? :-)


Before buying the husband's glasses, I wish we've watched Zenni Optical on TV!!! and known about them. But I don't think they have advertisements on local TV. I wonder if there are local optical shops who sell online?