Cold Feet

Less than a year before our wedding and I'm having doubts... again... Is this what I really want? It's not the person I'll marry but the life after the wedding. I don't know if I'll ever be ready. Nico told me to go on a vacation, alone if I want to, just to try and find myself and do some soul searching. I really feel bad for him. This is the second time I told him about my fears. I appreciate his patience. Hay... I don't want to see him breaking down again.

12.08.2009

Okay... Let's begin this 14-month wedding preparations. Buckle up people, it's gonna be a bumpy ride! First stop is to book the church, St. James the Great.

Done!

We’ve finally taken the first step in our preparations. Finally! After a lot of arguments and anxiety (at least for me) regarding the date and whether or not we should reserve the church this early, we’ve went there and booked St. James the Great in Alabang for 10:00 AM, next year. (Note: wasn't able to take pictures of the church of the church so i just "grabbed" these included the its respective links)

http://family.webshots.com/photo/1464701916078540587PQpwXR

http://digitalformat.blogspot.com/2007/12/st-james-great-parish.html

Choosing our wedding date is really important to me. I don't want to choose just any other Saturdays of December. I want it to be special, to be meaningful. When Nico and I started discussing about our wedding plans, I wanted for it to fall on our anniversary or the day we've met. March 1 is too early for us. We don't have enough money in our savings yet so the only other perfect choice would be on December 8. The only problem is that it falls on a Tuesday and it's the feast of the immaculate conception so we're not sure if catholic churches allow weddings on that day. And I'm glad they do. Hay salamat...

Now, the only thing that bothers me is that the day itself will fall on, again, a Tuesday! I'm not sure if my guests would be able to file a vacation leave on that day. But I really hope they do, specially my barkadas and cousin Epi, who's currently residing in Italy. I want to share with them an important milestone in my life.

Anyway, we still have a looong way to go before the wedding day itself, a lot of things can still happen.

Next stop would be the venue and reception... the bloodiest of them all....

Rainbow Brite and Friends

I am an 80s kid. I used to watch cartoons when I was just a little girl (and up to now, but so what?) and I remember liking Garfield and Friends, My Little Pony and Friends, Smurfs, Carebears, Gummy Bears, G.I. Joe, She-Ra, He-Man, and Thunder Cats. But my favorite was Rainbow Brite and Friends.

I can't believe I almost forgot about the other characters in this show. I badly needed to refresh my memory, and that's what I did., Thanks to http://www.rainbowbrite.net.

It was story of a girl named Wisp, who found out about a place called Rainbowland. She wanted to save it from the darkened state it was in. She was instructed to find the Color Belt and the Sphere of Light.

The first met a white sprite named Twink. Next, they found the magnificent horse Starlite.

They endured many struggles but finally found the Color Belt and the Sphere of Light. With the help of the rainbow, she was able to The Dark One and restore color and happiness to the land.

She was given the name Rainbow Brite and put in charge of keeping color alive in Rainbowland, and on Earth.

Her helpers are the Color Kids (one for each color of the rainbow: Red Butler, Lala Orange, Canary Yellow, Patty O' Green, Buddy Blue, Indigo, and Shy Violet)

and the small furry Sprites (Romeo, OJ, Spark, Lucky, Champ, Hammy, IQ) who mine Color Crystals in the Color Caves.

But not all inhabitants of Rainbowland support Rainbow's efforts. Murky Dismal and his sidekick Lurky are always up to some mischief - trying to take the Color out of the world.

A trip down memory lane... So you also like this colorful cartoon character? =)

10 Dresses

This is my version of the movie, 27 Dresses. Mine's called 10 Dresses. Hahaha.

I've been part of a wedding entourage of a quite number of times now. Mostly from my female cousins and high school barkada. At first, I wasn't really that envious since I thought I was so young and there's no need to marry soon. But eversince my high school barkada started getting married year after year after year.... waaaahhhh!!! Takot at inggit nako! I'm 28 now and most of my batchmates are now wives, mothers, or both.

Anyway, these are some of the dresses I was able to keep. (Please excuse the quality since these pictures were taken from my cellphone camera.) FYI: the gowns looked better during those wedding

And here are the list of weddings I've took part of (flower girl not included)...

Maid of Honor:

my cousin, ate Haidi

another cousin, Geraldine

my bestfriend, Tonee

Bride's maid:

my close friend, Candy

Secondary Sponsor:

my cousin, ate Leny

my cousin, Babylyn

my cousin, Marissa

my cousin, Roda
my close friend, Deberrie

my close friend, Pia

Next year, I'll be turning 29. Malapit na mawala sa kalendaryo like what people say. I wonder, how many weddings will I take part as an entourage again? I don't really know. And I'm not scared na din. Actually, I wouldn't miss wearing bridemaid dresses... because anyway, I'll be wearing my own wedding dress next year.

Shopping as Therapy

I'm so exhausted and freaking tired... It is starting to affect my performance at work these past few weeks. I've been coming to work late a number of times in a week and I've got a personal all time low performance scores. My boss noticed it too. Jokingly told me not to resign but for me to file for a few days of vacation leave. And of course I did! I gave him the leave form before the end of shift.

Partly, I think I felt so burnt out because I haven't been doing my favorite past time: SHOPPING.

I got my salary yesterday and after months of depriving myself from shopping, I finally did it! I shopped! One of the stores I've been frequently visiting (just to window shop then) is Plains and Prints. I like most of their collared blouses because the collars are different, I find it funky. So like a shark circling and observing its potential prey, I finally attacked and got myself three blouses. It was soooo worth the wait.

Shopping lifts my spirits, makes me feel alive. Hay... I'm feeling better already!

Proud!

I'm sure you've already heard this news last week but just the same, I'm posting this news clip from Malaya dated 7/16/08. Reading some of the familiar names I've encountered growing up fills me up with pride. All I can say is I am proud to be from Las Pinas and a Josephian! Congratulations!

Las Piñas boys choir bags gold in world tilt
BY ELLEN TORDESILLAS

THE Las Piñas Boys Choir won the gold medal in children's category at the 5th World Choir Games, in Graz, Austria last July 12.

It also won the silver medal in the Musica Sacra (sacred music) category.
The 20-member choir, based in St. Joseph Church in Las Piñas, where the world famous bamboo organ is found, bested 70 choirs including those from the United States, Greece, Estonia, United Kingdom, Russia and South Africa.

"This is a proud moment not only for the Las Piñas Boys Choir, not only for Las Piñas but for the Filipino people. Once again, we have shown the world that the Filipino talent is world class!" said Fr. Benjamin "Didoy" Molina, part of the management team.

The choir members are George Angeles II, Bernard Paolo Caro, Alvin Joshua Cayetano, Josiah de los Santos, Justin Claude Fernandez; Jadlae Aivan Fernandez, Joseph Vincent Gregorio, Carl Paolo Hernandez, Japheth Juanillo, Herman Manalang; Jhansseen Martinez, Dhonel Martinicio, Alwyn Dominique Panoso, Rupert Kim Pastrana, Ramon Paolo Quintero; Chazz Reyes, Karlo Reyes, Francis David Salonga, Joshua Gabriel Samiley, and Joe Sengson.

Accompanying the boys were Professor Armando Salarza, conductor; Alejandro Consolacion II, accompanist; staff and consultants January Hernandez, Norie Salarza, Leo and Donna Renier; and managers Msgr. Albert Venus and Fr. Molina.

Held every two years in different countries, the World Choir Games is the largest international choir competition. Past competitions have been held in Xiamen, China (2006), Bremen, Germany (2004), Busan, South Korea (2002) and Linz, Austria (2000).

In the LPBC blog, Fr. Molina described the emotion-filled announcement of the winners:
"All the members of the winning choir went up on stage and the national anthem was played while the national flag was hoisted. Various emotions were displayed by the winning choirs, with loud cheering, jumping and unabashed crying.

"When the Musica Sacra category was announced, the LPBC got a silver medal!" Molina related.
He said the excitement was raised to a high level in the announcement of the final category: Children's Choir.
He said they became more excited when the name of the Las Piñas Boys Choir was not called for the bronze and silver medals. "And then the momentous music that signals the world champion will be announced was played. The Las Piñas Boys Choir was announced as the world champion in the Children's Choir category."

He said the Las Piñas Boys Choir team rushed onstage, the Philippine National Anthem was played and the Philippine flag was raised.

Las Piñas Boys Choir was founded in 1969 by Rev. Fr. Leo Reinier, CICM, assistant parish priest in St. Joseph Parish. Fr. Leo believed that the Bamboo Organ could achieve the fullness of its being as an instrument to praise God only, when there is a good choir that can put into words what the music conveys. With this in mind, he started recruiting boys between 8 and 12 years old with potentially good singing voices from parochial and public schools in Las Piñas.

Choir members are enrolled in St. Joseph's Academy where they enjoy scholarships earned through engagements and performances. They also perform regularly at the St. Joseph Parish Church.

Choosing a wedding dress

Although our wedding plan is still more than a year, I can’t help but browse through the Internet for the perfect wedding gown. This would be the most important dress that I will wear may be in my lifetime so it should really be perfect. I don’t have a budget at this time because I’m still considering the style.

I like dressing sexy most of the time. I have full hips and narrow waist so I would like to emphasize these “assets.” I am no fashion expert but this is the reason why I think the mermaid cut is much appropriate, it would bring out my waist. As for the neckline, to balance out my bottom, I think I'd like a sweetheart neckline because this would work well in accentuating a cleavage. In terms of color, I'm not into the classic white wedding gown, I would love it if it's off white or the lightest mint green, my favorite color.

Though i want to have a traditional wedding ceremony, I want everything else to be different than the usual custom. I want my wedding to be an affair, worth to be remembered!

Choosing a wedding date

The month of June is now here, I can hear♪♪♪♪wedding bells ringing! What is the month of June associated with weddings and marriages?

Personally, I don't want to get married in June since it's the start of the rainy season in the Philippines and I don't really know what's the fuss about being a June bride. Sure I've always wanted to be a bride but not a necessarily a June bride. I mean, why not make it a March bride or an October bride? Geez, I kinda feel stupid like some of the customers I interact everyday, ranting things that doesn't make any sense at all. Or does it?

Anyway, I would want to get married in December because churches would have better decorations in prepartion for Christmas (so I wouldn't have spend too much on flowers) and besides, the weather is colder, perfect for the honeymoon. =) I know that December is a peak season for weddings but don't you just love the feeling of getting married during a time when most people are happy and cheerful? Not to mention "galante?"

These are some of my stupid reason in choosing December for our wedding month. No specific dates yet but hopefully it'll be December of next year.

Summer Outing 2008

Bye bye sun, hello rain! Although rainy season officially started, my blog will not be complete without any post about a summer outing. Summer outing is always fun! We had our summer outing at Laiya, Batangas with my cyber intern teammates. It started out as a disaster because we rode a van going there while majority of the people were at the bus. But after a hefty lunch and a lot of picture takings, I was calm and at my element again.

Twenty Eight

glitter-graphics.com

I just celebrated my 28th birthday two days ago. I guess I'm really getting older (hopefully wiser as well) since I was surprisingly satisfied with the things that happened and things I did on my birthday no matter how simple and shallow it may seems.

Anyway, here are my 28 birthday celebration (non)highlights:

1. I woke up early in the morning smiling of it was my birthday!
2. Prayed and gave thanks to God for another year
3. Read some of the birthday sms greetings from friends
4. Got slobbered by the dogs (I guess those were their greetings)
5. Ate breakfast, took a bath and went to church
6. Updated online accounts
7. Went to MOA for lunch out with family
8. Unable to decide where to eat, chose to dine at Gerry's instead
9. Shopping with my mom
10. Bought a box of Krispy Kreme for take out
11. Went home, traffic at Airport Road
12. Updated online accounts again, uploaded some pictures
13. Waited for Nico
14. Went to BF Paranaque for dinner
15. Ordered siomai at Henlin's (i was already full coz I ate at home)
16. "Rainbow" played over the radio. I haven't heard that in ages! (That was the background song playing when I dreamt about my deceased ex-bf telling me to move on)
17. Window shopping at Ruins
18. Went home and sleep (technically ended my birthday)
19. The next day, woke up late, ate lunch, took a bath
20. Let Nico wait for an hour, then drove to Greenhills
21. Strolling, Shopping, Strolling, Shopping
22. Snacked on some churros
23. Strolling, Shopping, Strolling, Shopping again (I was at my element!)
24. Had a steak dinner at the House of Minis
25. Tried to catch "celebrations" at SMX (wedding exhibit) but it was already closed
26. This one's rated "X"
27. Went home
28. Tried some of the clothes I bought and slept

Grabe! As I was listing down these things, I realize that it was indeed boring. It doesn't seems like a birthday celebration at all. Hahaha! It was okay but I was really really happy because I spend it with my love ones.

My favorite TV Series

As I was watching some of the old tv series on Velvet, I remember my "devotion" to these kind of shows. I would sometimes skip class, do all my homework the very first thing I got home from school, or go home early so I won't miss a single episode. Of course it was very hard to religiously watch every show, I think I was pretty good at it, maybe missing a couple of two episode per season. But right now, thanks to YouTube and DVDs (pirated or not), I never miss any single episode of my favorite TV shows.

Here are some of my favorite TV series in alphabetical order since I can't decide which one is really my favorite (not including cartoons and reality shows):

Ally McBeal
It focused on the romantic and personal lives of the main characters, though sometimes using legal proceedings as plot devices to contrast or reinforce a character's drama. Bonus point is that Vonda Shepard regularly performed at a bar below the office building.

Charmed
It's about three sisters who are the world's most powerful good witches, known throughout the supernatural community as "The Charmed Ones", but known to everyone else as the Halliwells. Each sister possesses unique magical powers that grow and evolve over the course of their lives.

CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI:New York
This series trails the investigations of a team of Las Vegas, Miami Dade, and New York forensic scientists as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths and other crimes.

Dawson's Creek
The show is semi-autobiographical, being based on the small-town childhood of its creator Kevin Williamson. The lead character, Dawson Leery, shares Williamson's interests and background. Filmed in Wilmington and Durham, North Carolina, the show was set in a small fictional seaside town called Capeside, Massachusetts and focused on four friends who were in the early part of their Sophomore year of high school when the series began.

Felicity
The series revolved around the fictional college experiences of the title character, Felicity Porter as she attended the "University of New York", based on New York University, across the country from her home of Palo Alto, California.

Friends
This sitcom is about a group of friends in the New York City borough of Manhattan

Gossip Girl
It revolves around the lives of socialite young adults growing up on New York's Upper East Side who attend elite academic institutions while dealing with sex, drugs, and other teenage issues.

House
Gregory House, M.D., is a maverick medical genius, who heads a team of young diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. Most episodes start with a cold open somewhere outside the hospital, showing the events leading to the onset of symptoms for that episode's main patient. The episode follows the team in their attempts to diagnose and treat the patient's illness.

MacGyver
The series revolved around Angus MacGyver (known to his friends as MacGyver or "Mac") who favors brain over brawn in order to solve desperate problems. MacGyver's main asset is his practical application of scientific knowledge and inventive use of common items—along with his ever-present Swiss Army knife and duct tape.

SeaQuest DSV
The series follows the adventures of the high-tech submarine seaQuest operated by the United Earth Oceans Organization (UEO), a global federation of nations, similar to the United Nations, which was created following a major showdown of nations that occurred circa 2017. The seaQuest was built by NORPAC (a military organization mentioned in the pilot) and given to the UEO after its creation. The storyline begins in the year 2018, after mankind has exhausted almost all natural resources, except for the ones on the ocean floor. Many new colonies have been established there and it's the job of the seaQuest and its crew to protect them from hostile nonaligned nations and to aid in mediating disputes

Sex and the City
It tackled socially relevant issues, often specifically dealing with women in society in the late 1990s, and how changing roles and definitions for women affected the characters.

That '70s Show
This series centered on the lives of a group of teenagers living in the fictional town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976 to December 31, 1979.

Ugly Betty
It follows the life of the unglamorous but good-natured Betty Suarez and her incongruous job at the ultra-chic New York City fashion magazine Mode.

Will & Grace
The show takes place in New York City and focuses on Will Truman, a gay lawyer, and his best friend Grace Adler, a straight Jewish woman who runs her own interior design firm. Also featured are their friends Karen Walker, a very rich socialite, and Jack McFarland, a struggling gay actor.

The X-Files
In the series, FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are tasked with investigating the "X-Files": marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena.

Xena: Warrior Princess
The show is a historical fantasy set in ancient Greece, although with a flexible time setting, and it also features heavy Oriental, Egyptian and Medieval elements in various episodes. The show freely borrows names and themes from various mythologies around the world, primarily the Greek, anachronistically adapting them to suit the demands of the storyline.



**all tv series info came from wikipedia

My Birthday Wishlist

I got this idea from my college friend, Kariebeck. I feel blessed already because I have a wonderful family, a loyal and loving boyfriend, and friends who accept me as a whole. These are just material things that I want to receive this coming May 16. Simple things that would make my day. (Baby, are you reading this?)

1. Portable DVD Player. No specific brand, I just want to watch DVDs at the comfort of my own room
2. Guess Satchel Bag. I don't know, I just like this bag. 3. Gladiator Sandals. I still can't find the perfect pair for me. 4.Maxi Dress. It's flowy and cool specially this season.
5. Dresses. I particularly like the Black Halo Jackie O dress and the Tracy Reese scalloped dress 6. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. To satisfy my sweet tooth7. Pokemon Video Games. I just love pokemon nintendo games! 8. Celebarate at my favorite restaurant. I want to celebrate my birthday at Bubba Gump. I loooooove their shrimps.
9. Money. Enough said.

10. Birthday Greetings. As long as I'll receive birthday greetings from my friends and people who care, I would be happy.

Gossip Girl

Watching “Gossip Girl” brought back high school memories that I almost forgot. No, I wasn’t like the “It girl” Serena van der Woodsem or the “Queen Bee” Blair Waldorf (although sometimes I wish I was) who both have famous outfits to die for. I was the mysteriously anonymous “Gossip Girl.” Sure I knew some of the campus tsismis but I didn’t start it, I only learned about those from my friends. After all, who doesn’t like juicy gossips especially if you were in high school?

Like most high school girls, we enjoyed talking about boys, fashion and of course gossiping about others. Up to now, it’s normal. It helped us cope with the anxieties and complications of being a teenager. Some of our schoolmate became famous because of the rumors spread about them.

In general, I was a good girl then, getting average to above average grades and with a big attention seeking barkada. Going back to my story, since gossiping became an everyday “thing” I didn’t realize that I was spreading a rumor about one of my teachers. I really forgot what it was and I didn’t really know if it was me who spread it. Maybe I was just “informing” some of my friends about it, I really don’t know. But one day, one of my classmates and I were sent to the Principal’s Office (in our school, if you did minor offenses, you’ll be sent to the Disciplinarian’s Office, if it’s major… it’s to the principal’s.) I remember the two of us sitting opposite each other clasping our hands tightly and was just scared to death. The principal was so upset, her voice raising while lecturing about how bad it is to gossip. I know we explained our sides to the story and kept saying sorry to her (but not to the teacher) promising that it will never happen again. I was so scared that they’ll contact my parents and get kicked out of school. Luckily, we were forgiven.

I learned my lesson the hard way but that didn’t stop me from gossiping. Hahaha! Sometime’s its just addicting. I’ll just have to be more cautious and discrete this time. Til next time! xoxo…

Wavemates

On December of 2004, I've met my bestfriends at work during our training days at Convergys. Out of all the trainees for wave 10, I’ve enjoy the company of Jhen (Ms. Seductive), Mhei (Ms. Congeniality), and Bones (Ms. Heartthrob). We have different backgrounds, principles, and interests. But surprising, we got along pretty well.
About two years ago, Bones left the company in the middle of a controversy. We were left to defend her and thankfully, the hullabaloo just naturally died down. While we didn’t miss the trouble, we did miss our troublemaker (hahaha!) friend. For two years, we tried to set dates, but after a lot of indyanan here and there, we finally got together last night, March 14, at Vivere Skyline.

Four hours isn’t enough for a two-year worth catching ups and tsismisan but we have to go since its getting late. As I capture (with my camera phone) my friends and I going our separate ways, I know tomorrow or the next few days, I’ll see them within the walls of Convergys or the streets of Alabang. But I will truly miss our honest to goodness long conversations and laughter. It doesn’t matter if new friends come; I cant really explain but… it’s just not the same.

It's our third!

It's my longest relationship ever and I'm hoping that this would be my last. We already have plans on getting married and I'm keeping my fingers cross. I just can't imagine myself growing old without him by my side.
Anyway, we celebrated our third anniversary in Baguio. My niccolo, gave me a white wallet from Guess. I've been looking for wallets fro a few months now, I just can't find anything that I would like (plus I'm in my kuripot mode since the start of 2008) to buy. So I added that on my wishlist for 2008 and I've been bugging him to buy all those things for me (which of course he declined to do so.) I'vw been relying on my old coin purse for year now and I'm glad he bought me one because I badly needed one!

After searching dozens of websites, we finally settled to stay at Inn Rocio in Kisad Road (http://www.innrociobaguio.com/) and were given room 1 as our resident for 3 days and 2 nights.

Day1
It was drizzling with light rain on our way to Baguio and I was feeling a little anxious. I don't want to spend my 3 days staying in our room (although that wasn't a bad idea as well, I would have love cozying with my niccolo.) And Nico wouldn't have liked it as well since there was a storm when he first went to Baguio so he didn't really enjoyed Baguio the first time. Upon stepping out of the bus, I was blown by a strong chilly wind and I stupidly blurted out "Shit! Ang lamig sa Baguio!"
Since Nico had trouble sleeping on the bus (and since it was still raining), we spend our 1st day watching cable tv, sleeping and hoping that tomorrow would be a sunny day.
Day2
It was sunny throughout the day so we were able to stroll the tourisy spot in Baguio. We had the usual pasalubong shopping. And when I say shopping, it would be complete without a pair of shoes. We went to SM Baguio (huh? a tourist spot?) and I was able to grab myself a pair of shoes from So Fab on sale for P299. But most of our pasalubongs were bought from Mines View.

Day3
It was our last day and I was anxious again (I'm an anxious person, can't you tell?) because I don't have any prized ukay ukay finds yet. So there I was, walking hand in hand with my beloved near Burnham Park when I saw a bunch of ukay ukay stalls. I was actually looking for a jacket but I stumpled upon this stall which sells bags and shoes. I was hesitant at first because I would never think I'd wear or buy used shoes from somebody I don't know. But I'd really liked it and since I kept on going back and fort to that same stall, Nico told me that if I really want it, I have to haggle really hard before buying. I can tell that he wasn't too keen as well buying used shoes. To make a long story short, I did haggle and I really liked the shoes. It actually looked kind of new or worn only once. You can tell from the soles.

Finally, after fixing our things, we headed to the bus terminal with both of us are carrying too many paper and plastic bags with our matching bulging Convergys sports bags. It's time to say "Bye Baguio, we'll see you next time!"
It's not really the cold atmosphere that made this trip romantic or memorable, more than anything else, it was the time you spend with your loved one. Yes I've enjoyed the view from SM Baguio, shopping at ukay ukays, and strolling aroung Burnham Park and Session Road but it wouldn't be twice as memorable if I hadn't spent it with the most important person in my life on a very special day.

Funsol

After weeks of preparation, last February 8, 91M41 had our one and only team building at Pansol, Laguna. It was the last day for some of us with the cyber interns since some will be transfered to regular cyber teams. It was bittersweet for us. We were hoping that we'll be complete but due to some untoward (read: tinatamad) incidents, some were not able to join us. But that didn't stop us from enjoying the overnight swimming/team building. After all, girls just wanna have fun!

Sa van... going to Laguna (me, arby, becky, donna, diane, gem, red, and lons)
Upon arrival.... (donna, arby, becky, lons, me, gem, and red)
Swimming, posing, swimming... project pa din ako kahit giniginaw...
we're on our way home...
We're back!!!
goofing around at northgate
dunalen: pimp daddy