Monday, May 27, 2013

Mother's Day

On Mother's Day, I woke up to this silly girl and my darling husband giving me their Mother's Day cards.

My funny little daughter


I never knew I would love being a mother. Well, there are days that get me tired or frustrated  or sad but look at that face and tell me those days are not worth it. I know I'm not a perfect mother but I try my best to be there for her, to take care of her, to guide her. It is my hope and prayer that she will be a responsible and good human being when she grows up.

Anyway, we then had lunch with my parents at Burgoo. Here are some photos.

Using the colors provided
 

Trace daw nya yung paa nya hahaha. Sorry to the OC moms out there.
With Lola
Playing with the small umbrellas from our shake. "Ambyeya" daw sya kasi mainit haha!

Three generations
 



As long as she likes the food, she eats a lot
 
Group picture with the family

 
After lunch, we treated everyone to blizzard. :)

We let her indulge in ice cream once in a while :)
And then in the afternoon, I had a much-deserved haircut. Finally!!!

 
I hope you Mommies had a wonderful Mother's day as well!

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Where to Stay in Tagaytay: Discovery Country Suites

As I've mentioned in my previous post, we went to Tagaytay for Joema's birthday. We stayed overnight at Discovery Country Suites. Bought a voucher from DealGrocer for P6,650 for our overnight stay here. This includes:
  • overnight stay at Andalucia suite (we had the option between Andalucia, Saint Tropez or Ceylon)
  • country breakfast specials for 2 at Restaurant Verbena
  • wine and cheese buffet
  • milk and cookies before bedtime
This was not included in the voucher, but they gave us 20% discount on our dinner at Restaurant Verbena.

I didn't have a hard time booking our rooms. They immediately sent an email for the confirmation form. And then on the day of our arrival at almost 2pm (check-in time), they even called us to ask what time we will be arriving.

Here's a tour of our room (I think my camera was in low-light set-up):

The foyer of our room



The door on the left from the foyer will lead you to the bathroom. The basket on top of that steel shelf holds the toiletries.


Here's the lavatory. When I first saw the lavatory, I thought no toiletries were provided. I didn't realize the toiletries were kept in the basket atop the toilet.

Toiletries
 
Acca Kappa toiletries. I only get to use luxurious toiletries when we check-in at hotels hehe.
 
Andalucia has two beds. This view is from the side of the foyer.

From the other side of the room. There are cabinets at the side of the wall connecting the room and the bathroom.
 
 

 
 

TV and seating area

Seating area with a bay window

Complimentary water and fruits

View from our window
 
Welcome drinks - pineapple with mint. If I had to go back to Discovery Country Suites just for this, I would! So delicious! I drank mine and Miya's share haha!
Discovery Country Suites
300 Calamba Road
Brgy. San Jose
Tagaytay City, Philippines


For inquiries and reservations
(0915) 517 2150
(02) 529 8172 (Manila)
(0927) 523 2139

(046) 413 2540 (Tagaytay)
(046) 413 4567



Friday, May 24, 2013

Joema's Birthday

We spent Saturday before Joema’s birthday with our friends. Here’s the birthday boy blowing his candle with the help of the little girl.
 

Our little girl giving her godbrother some love.

 


The night before hubby’s birthday, Miya and I gave him our birthday card and gift. We were already settled on our bed that night and I kept on asking Joema if he needs to go to the bathroom hahaha. So when he finally did, I got our card and gift and asked Miya to hide under the bed covers. I told her to say “Happy Birthday, Daddy!” when Daddy finds us. Surprise was a success. Joema was so happy seeing her daughter greet him happy birthday. He told me later on that he was so happy seeing Miya’s face when she greeted him. He said the birthday card was enough, he didn’t really expect the gift. See, we’re not really big on gifts (I wish we were hahaha!) so it came as a surprise when we gave him his gift.
 
Happy birthday, Daddy!

 
Terno daw sila
The next morning, we both woke up early to hear mass and then we had breakfast at Milky and Sunny. The original plan was have breakfast at Poco Deli but we were at Kapitolyo too early and they were still closed. So we opted to eat breakfast at Milky and Sunny. It was our first time to eat there and I’m glad we weren’t disappointed because their servings were big.


 
He brought me to the office afterwards and then he went home to celebrate with my inlaws who were able to visit. The next day, we were on our way to Tagaytay. We passed by Paseo de Sta. Rosa first as we were on a mission to buy rubber shoes for the birthday boy. It took us a while to find the Nike Outlet Store there. If you’re going to go outlet shopping there, Nike is at the back of Paseo 4 – waaay, waaay back. It’s near the hospital that you passby if you travel from Tagaytay and then exit via Eton Exit. We first went to the Bench stores in Paseo 4 then went back to Paseo 1, I think, where we saw the first Nike store. After asking around, we went back again to Paseo 4 to Nike Outlet Store. At Bench, I went through the racks of Mothercare and F&X. Miya’s so funny she imitated me going through the racks, going through each of the hangers hahaha. Then when we passed by Crocs, we had her try on some shoes. She was picking the styles and colors she wanted. One style fit her but I didn’t like the color, so I went to a violet-colored one. She started pointing at it and told us, “Gusto ko vio-yet (violet)!” Too bad they didn’t have her size. She kept on insisting she likes the violet ones hahaha. It was the first time we brought her shopping with us and let her choose what she liked so it was a bit of a surprise to us that she had her own preferences now. Although at home she already likes to choose what clothes to wear or what color of shoes she likes.
 

We then had lunch at the nearby King Bee.

 

 After lunch, we headed to our final destination, Discovery Country Suites. After checking in, all of us took a bath. It was so hot that day that we had to take a bath after settling in.
 
Pictorial after ligo hehe


As you can see from the photos above, Miya discovered making faces to the camera. Most of her photos for this trip, she's either looking sideways or pretending to be a zombie. After taking our baths, it was nap time.

 


I think we woke up just in time for an early dinner. But before eating, we explored their garden. Miya had fun running around their garden and looking at the jacuzzi.





Yes, kunyari daw galit sya.
When she got tired, we went up to Restaurant Verbena for our dinner. Our accommodations included wine and cheese buffet but we didn’t really had a second serving of the wine and cheese. The first serving was just enough. We ordered their surf and turf and a tomato based pasta (forgot the actual names of the dishes). Before our main course arrived, we were given complimentary bread and various pates and spreads. Miya ate so much! She ate most of the bread, grapes and pasta! She was one happy baby after dinner. She was even complaining that her tummy was aching hahaha ang takaw kasi. Both hubby and I were also happy with what we ordered.


Ayaw nya daw tumingin sa camera


Here I am tickling her...ayaw matinag!


Good girl eating her dinner
Our yummy yummy food


Family pic that the baby photobombed!

Here's a nicer one =)

When we got to our room, the pampering was not yet over we were given milk and chocolates (part of our accommodation). We watched Nemo, which we borrowed from hotel, before going to bed. It was Miya’s first time to watch Nemo and she enjoyed it.  

The next day we again went to the garden first before eating. Miya loved the garden. I wish our future home will have big nice garden or yard she can play in.

Funny face again

 

 
Another funny face


Breakfast was as yummy as our dinner.

 
Ayaw na naman ngumiti ng isa dyan


Happy si birthday boy sa dami ng bread
Yummy breakfast
Miya was able to take a nap before we went home. But not before watching Nemo again. On our way home, we passed by Solenad. This time it was Mommy’s turn to buy shoes and Havaianas for Miya and me. Again, Miya chose the style of slippers that she wanted. At first, she wanted blue ones and then she said she liked green – “Gusto ko yung coyoy byu, gusto ko yung coyoy gween.” I had to point her to the Minnie Mouse ones. But first she liked the 101 Dalmatian pair but they didn’t have her size. Good thing I was able to convince here the Minnie Mouse pair was cute as well. She already wore the slippers when we got out of the store.
 

Thursday, May 23, 2013

DIY Cards with Miya


Wow has it really been that long?!?! I haven’t blogged for a month! My last two posts were more than a month from each other. Ayayayay! I guess so many things has happened that I’ve not had time to blog. Well, I didn’t really had the time and energy to blog about anything, that’s why. I thought I lost my blogging mojo. But now I’m back. And I hope this time I’ll be on a roll hehehe. I haven’t even finished blogging about Miya’s 2nd birthday yet (her celebration with Lolo and Lola). But that’s 4 months back – oh no!

 Anyway, let me start with these DIY projects we did. Since her Dad’s birthday and Mother’s Day was on the same week, we had 2 back-to-back DIY card projects for two consecutive Saturdays. For hubby’s birthday, I asked her to color the card that I pre-made. I made the letterings on the greetings and drew a cake, a gift and some balloons inside the card.
 

For our gift to Lola on Mother’s Day, to have some variety I had some magazine cut-outs and asked her to paste them. We actually did two cards because she enjoyed pasting the cut-outs so much. She was actually the one who told me which objects to cut out.
 

 
Up next: Joema’s birthday
WTS: Discovery Country Suites
Mother’s Day
My trip to Pakistan
Miya’s trial class
Tali Beach

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Going...going...

Nope...still here!

I can't believe it's more than a month since my last post. In case someone is wondering where I was, well, I was just here hahaha. Well actually I went on a business trip a few weeks ago but that's that. In between I was just here. I think my blogging mojo went kaput!

Anyways, imagine my surprise when I went bloghopping and saw this from Pepper's blog.

The Positive Parental Participation Blog Award


Ack! Gusto ko maiyak, honestly! Thanks so much for giving this award to me, Pepper! I truly appreciate it. And you so much deserve this award as well. A is such a sweet little young lady.

Vivian created this blog award to recognize a blogger who exemplifies the tenants of Positive Parental Participation:
  • Encourages children to love books and reading
  • Believes that young children need to play in order to learn
  • Supports positive parental participation
So without further ado, let me pay it forward and present this award to these following moms. I read a lot of mommy blogs but let me present this award to the mommies who I feel I connect to on a personal level (although we really just interact online).

1. Anna of blue law by anna - I first read Anna's blog even before she got married and had Laz. She's my inspiration in teaching my kid to love books and to love reading. Thankfully, my little Miya loves to read.

2. Liz of mrsT - Liz is a real life friend (as opposed to online friends hahaha). I am simply in awe of how she manages to take care of her two kids and her husband and manage her house without any help. She is my super woman!

3. Anj of From A to Zo - Anj is a tiger mom! I am so grateful for bumping into her blog. Because of her I have a deeper understanding of Asperger's syndrome (I have a godson who's diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome). She has faithfully rallied behind her son and continues to do so.

4. Marsy of Planet Marsy - I feel Marsy is my soul sister hehehe from our daughters' almost-similar-names (Lia and Miya) to our love for Titanic and Meteor Garden, I feel like we have so many things in common. Although admittedly I would love to be as well-travelled as her. Her little bibiyow is the best actress in town!

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