Hearts Month

Today was my third (and thankfully, the last) day of "calling in sick" at work.  Over the recent weekend, my cough and colds got worse so I wasn't able to go to work since Monday so that I could recuperate faster.  As I was feeling a bit better, hubby asked me to go on a post-Valentine's Day movie date with him.  It has been quite a while since we've watched a movie (in the theater) so I said yes.  Plus I really, really am super excited with the sequel of Ghost Rider  so even though I was still coughing occasionally, I wasn't able to pass up on this.  I don't like to elaborate too much on the film as I might get carried away and give out spoilers... suffice it to say that you really should watch this if you liked the first movie.  I just love Nicolas Cage... next movie to look forward to would be National Treasure 3:

Since I have been in bed almost the whole time that I was home these past couple of days (my kids are with my mom at my parents' house so they wouldn't catch what I have) I was able to squeeze in reading a couple of books I have purchased a while back but has not gotten the chance to read.  "Call After Midnight" and "Stolen" by Tess Gerritsen were the ones I couldn't put down once I started reading them so I got to finish them.  Lately, I have been looking for more Tess Gerritsen books that my collection of Sandra Brown books may soon be matched by a new favorite author!

Also, since I had so much free time... I was able to research on how I could further stimulate my son's mind by giving him more educational activities at home.  I was already talking to my husband and my mom about enrolling him at a nearby school but my mom said it might be too early for him.  This article is also very helpful when contemplating on "school" choices for your kids.  I haven't reached a final plan yet, but this summer, I would definitely be looking for an activity to expose Adam to "school environment" so I could gently ease him into it and avoid the "crying" when it's time for him to attend "real school" already.

Tomorrow, I'll be going back to work... back to papers and deadlines...

Pichi-pichi

Since my first taste of Amber's Pichi-pichi with cheese about a year and a half ago, I have always compared other pichi-pichi to it.  So far, I haven't tasted any that would surpass the cheese-topped goodies that come from Amber's.  And I am super thankful that Amber's opened a branch very near our place in Parañaque.  So now, whenever I get the craving for their delectable pichi-pichi, I wouldn't have to go far.  Just this Monday, after office, hubby and I went to Amber's to get 30-piece-box to enjoy for merienda.  We got to share it with Adam, my niece-Cheska, and my parents.  The kids loved it so much that we had to stop them from eating too much or they will ruin their appetite for dinner.

The Graduate

My youngest sister graduated last Wednesday, March 30 with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. I must say, that it was quite a happy moment for the whole family since Mae, has been hard at work and study at the same time for almost two years now. She started out as a full time student her first two years of college and then became part of the Jollibee SEEDS Program that enabled her to work, study and earn a bit at the same time. Both my parents has been retired for almost three years now, so aside from the 12,000 per semester shouldered by Jollibee, we have to come up with the rest of the money that is needed to complete her tuition fee. I am fortunate enough to have been able to contribute enough financial and moral support to my very industrious sister who is now a full-pledged graduate! So you may understand how ecstatic I am that we have hurdled the worst, and she would now be able to support herself and maybe help out with my parents' household needs. I love you, Mae, we are so proud of you!

After the graduation rites, we celebrated with a monster meal delivery from Shakey's.  We were all so hungry but we didn't get to finish all of it even though the food was tasty.  Maybe we're just too tired or maybe there was just too much food. :))

Happy Hearts Day

Today marks "the feast of hearts".  We commemorate love and affection almost everyday but today especially... call it riding the commercial wagon, call it corny, call it whatever you want.  But I enjoy seeing lots of people celebrating their love, so this is one of my favorite days of the year.  Where you see heart decorations almost everywhere and you get sweets from your loved ones.  This year's sobrang cheesy gift by my hubby is a short AVP he posted on Facebook.  He says he didn't get to put as much time and effort to it as he wants due to his work (and probably my using the computer every chance that I get).  But it doesn't matter how short or long the time he spent working on this, it's definitely the thought that counts!

It's his rest day today and he usually picks me up from work on Mondays, so we'll see what else he has in store for us this Valentine's day.

Mushroom Burger

Yesterday afternoon, my youngest sister, Mae texted me that they (My Mom, Dad and her together with a couple of my Aunts) were on their way to Tagaytay to look for a plant to add to my Aunt's already wide variety of collection. I wanted so much to come but since I had work, I was unable to. And then later, Mae texted me again that they were near Mushroom Burger already... and so I texted her back that if they came home without a "pasalubong" from MB for me, I would really, really be disappointed! Nyahahaha! It worked! Last night, I had a King Mushroom Burger straight from Tagaytay!

I have only good memories associated with this burger... As a child, we would always stop at the Mushroomburger joint whenever we're near it... On our way to visit my Aunt's family who lives in Batanggas, when we go to Tagaytay for day trips, or whatever. Basta, I have happy recollections when I think about eating a mushroom burger. Haaay, plus it's so sarap pa!

Tubbataha Reef

Have you seen Tubbataha Reef? Sad to say, I have not yet gone to this beautiful and rich part of the Philippines. But from what I have been hearing and seeing about it on TV it is now one of the places I would like to visit someday. What's even more interesting about it is that it is now nominated to be one of the new seven wonders of the world. Currently, it is on number 8 so if you want Tubbataha Reef to become part of the new seven wonders, don't hesitate to vote for it now. It will bring more pride to our country and probably more tourists also. If you've seen the beauty of Tubbataha for yourself, then all the more reason to vote for it, if you're like me though, who has yet to see its full glory, but is planning to... you can vote also!

There are two more wonderful places in the Philippines which have been nominated in the new seven wonders -- The Chocolate Hills in Bohol and The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park in Palawan. Let us bring pride to the natural wonders of the Philippines and vote for them now.

Amira's Tarts

My love affair with Amira's Tarts has always been an open book, in fact I even wrote about it once before in this blog on a post entitled Bountiful Breakfast Bliss. They have Chicken Tarts, Pineapple Tarts, Egg Tarts, etc. My most favorite is the Chicken Tart but for now, I'll have to make do with these...

These Buko Tarts were given to me by my Dad last night...

Thanks Daddy! (I guess that's why I am always being accused by my siblings of being "the favorite" of my dad... I don't really think so, but I am definitely still Daddy's girl!) These buko tarts are really yummy, but no worries, I didn't finish them all at once... I only ate one last night and Charlie took a couple with him to eat at work... now I can't wait to go home and have another of these delightful creations.

Amazing Race Asia (Season 2)

I have been an avid follower of Amazing Race, and then when Amazing Race Asia was launched, it was just a given that I was going to be a fan of that show too. Anyways, tomorrow would be the final episode, and I am really excited to know whether it would be Mark & Rovilson, the team I am routing for, who will be the first to reach the pitstop or not.

Funny First Dance

I Don't know if I am the only one who has not seen this because it has been circulating around the web for a long time now (so I've heard) but I just can't help but post this here because it's so funny...


http://view.break.com/403233 - Watch more free videos

For those who has not seen it before this... it really is good for a laugh isn't it? I wish we'd thought about doing it during our wedding!

Innocent Life

I spent most of my time over the weekend playing Harvest Moon Innocent Life... I have always liked playing Harvest Moon from the time I started playing it on Gameboy Advance. I even had one in my mobile phone before. And at home, in my pc, I had HM in project 64 format. And after finishing the girl game in Back to Nature for PSP, I decided (despite the numerous negative comments from my friends and the ones I read in forums about the Innocent Life version) to try playing it and sure enough I couldnt put the PSP down... Charlie keeps saying that he's going to hide the PSP or the memory stick containing the game (hehehe!). Anyway, I really like it. I also like the plot although I miss the courtin part of the game in the previous HM versions, but there are a lot of new things in Innocent Life, like the cute buggy that the lead character gets as a reward from his "creator" when he is able to open certain portals. There's more area to be explored also plus you get both a dog and a cat as pets. I better stop before I go on and on about this game... I'll probably write more when I finish the game already but as for now, I can't wait for the clock to hit 5pm so I could go home and play again.

Updates!

Ok, I know it's been quite a while since my last real post so this is going to be quite long... Let's start from what happened first...

August 13

Charlie and I braved the streets of Quiapo once again… this time we combed through Evangelista St. to look for bargain barongs and entourage gowns. Earlier on, we decided that we would first buy his barong and from there we would base the color of the gowns of the entourage. You see, he wants a specific type of barong… one that is colored green from the bottom and then the color fades or lightens towards the upper part. Anyways, we looked and looked but all we found were ordinary ones and one that has green leaves printed on it. It looked nice enough but we decided to look again in a couple of weeks in Baclaran or in Divisoria. And then we headed to Ongpin once again, this time to submit our wedding ring design to a shop owner that we talked to during our last visit. We gave her the printout of the ring we wanted and she gave us a quotation much cheaper than the ones we got from the other jewelers we talked to. She gave us her contact number and we promised her we’d call her as soon as we decide, besides, we have yet to finalize the date of the wedding and we want the rings engraved already before we get it.

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August 16

• I was informed by ate Emma, my dressmaker that we would have to postpone our Divisoria textile hunt due to the influx of work load on her part. I agreed naman agad since I still have a lot of things scheduled for next couple of weeks
• My officemate and kumare, Rosebeth, informed me that my inaanak “Justhine” is going to have a party for her first birthday and Justhine and I have the same birthday, I offered to make her invitations in lieu of my not going to be able to make it to the event
• I found out from Charlie that he has overtime work on Saturday (my birthday) so he wouldn’t be able to accompany me to the church and the grocery to buy party needs for my celebration on Sunday. I told him it was ok as long as he would make it on Sunday.

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August 17

• Charlie and I met up for our usual Wednesday novena and mass at St. Andrew’s Cathedral and then afterwards we went to SM Sucat to buy paper and ribbon supplies for the invitations I will make for Justhine
• We told my mom that we would probably have the Ongpin jeweler to make our wedding rings instead of her jeweler-friend because of our limited budget. She still insisted for a while that her friend could be trusted to make rings with higher quality but when we explained that the Ongpin rings would come with certificates and a “sort-of warranty” she relented.
• Having decided on who would make our rings, Charlie and I had to make the date final so I scheduled an early morning trip to the Church the next day

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August 18

• Went to St. Andrew’s Cathedral office to have our date blocked but found out new rule: We have to provide our Baptismal and Confirmation certificates first and have the Canonical Interview before we could even reserve a date!
• Finished printing and assembling Justhine’s invites and gave it to Rosebeth for distribution

• Informed Charlie about the new rules and we decided that we would go to San Miguel Church next weekend with his Baptismal Certificate so he could be confirmed (or be scheduled to have a confirmation)
• Uncle Boy told me of the rates of Multinational Village Clubhouse and I thought that it was a lot cheaper than the other venues that we have inquired. Upon passing on this information to Charlie, we decided to have the reception there (yey! we have a venue!) But we have to move fast on our Church reservation first because I was also informed that there are already quite a number of 2006 events being scheduled in the clubhouse so we could have a date blocked there too!

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August 20

Hmmm… I’m 31 na!

Aside from going to church, making some last minute party needs shopping and having a footspa/pedicure and hot oil at RHC with my youngest sister Mae, I spent the rest of the day just lazing around the house, finishing the latest Harry Potter book (which I have started reading a couple of weeks back but has not had the time to finish!) and watching DVD. Charlie called several times during the day and my cellphone went crazy with all the text greetings from friends and family… All in all, my birthday was very relaxed and peaceful!


August 21
My day started early because I still had to do some last minute cleaning around the house before my guests arrived for lunch. I was still on the last stages of my cleaning when my Ninang V arrived with my Lola and several of my cousins. Good thing my dad and I had started cooking early! I had to take a quick shower before entertaining my guests… By the time I finished dressing up, my friends Andrew and Jaybee has already arrived. The other guests started coming after that… I served them with Inihaw na Bangus, Beef Caldereta, Adobong Pusit, Grilled Pork Strips and Chicken Barbeque. Cheese flavored Ice cream served as the dessert. Charlie came at around 2pm… He came with a big red ribbon cake, a greeting card and a heart-shaped small box which contained our engagement ring! My birthday was perfect! Almost all the people that mattered to me were present (even Vhangie, my friend whom I haven’t seen in a long time and my inaanak and future flower girl, Leanne came!) Jheng, my officemate came even though she was late and alone and has not been to our house before. I couldn’t have asked for anything more… it was made even more special with my engagement ring! I’m so happy!

And here is one more picture of the ring on my finger!


Ok... one last shot! (is it obvious I love it so much?!)


And then of course, I have to post a picture of the person who gave me this really beautiful gift... I LOVE YOU SO MUCH HONEY!