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.