cant wait for nov 22!

oohhhh.... i cant wait for nov 22!!! but it's almost a month away!! hmm.. but i think ill be too busy with work to notice the time... it'll fly by. reaaally fast.

so wats up with nov22??? im going home!! wooottt! hahaha... i just filed my leave today... hahaha tinayuan ko yung senior manager namin! as in di ko umalis sa tabi nya hanggat di nya pinipirmahan yung leave application ko hahaha! i was soo happy!

(pasencya na nagtatagalog ako meron kasi nagbabasa ng blog ko na mga kaopisina ko. lam nyo na. medyo ingat lang hahaha)

so wats with nov22? actually, we (lui and myself) need to go home to process our church requirements... pre-cana, canonical interview, atbp! but the real reason i want to go home is... pagod na pagod na pagod na ako... sa work sa mga tao dito gusto ko lang maiba ang ihip ng hangin...

at syempre gusto ko naman pumunta dun sa pagtitipon tipon ng mga wawies no! hahaha! excited na ako...

hay miss ko na din mama ko... aug pa ako last umuwi. tagal na din yun. usually kasi tig 2 months lang gap ng uwi ko. sigh. pati na din syempre ang baby ko...

and i might be going to shanghai on the 26th... that one is 70% sure. more or less going... so i want the time to go home first before i go china :) exciting times, i tell ya :)

yun lang. antok na ako... malapit na 3 months countdown!!! uwahhh! hahahaa ano ba yan para akong bangag. bwehihi...

im very proud to say... DLSU has won yet another UAAP title! wooot!!!

when i heard about the news yesterday (from my mom, no less) i was ecstatic and also a bit sad... i miss watching UAAP games!!! my dlsu life revolved around UAAP games. hahaha well not really, but i love the months of aug-oct!! i just love eet. :D

during this time, i would just forget about accounting (eek) and just go all ga-ga over the games! i would even queue up at 5am just to get upper b tickets! back then Im soo happy if i get an upper B tix. much better if it's an upper A! hehe...

i remember the first championship game i watched, i was a frosh (freshmen term in DLSU) back then... i think it's the most sulit ticket i've ever gotten in my 3 yrs stay in DLSU! i paid only P20 for the tix, we were at the last row of cuneta astrodome (i can hardly see anything) as in we were right there by the windows na! hahaha... but that was the craziest and most memorable game ever! DLSU vs UST. a few minutes remaining. dino had free throw shots. it went in... the game goes over time! DLSU won the game :D it was the BEST game ever...

another unforgettable time was when we went to school early in the morning (i think around 4 am) to get tickets... we were so worried that people might cut lines (coz from the downstairs lobby of the sports bldg, we had to take the lift to the 7th floor) that we began distributing numbers!!! it went on until early afternoon... what made it unforgettable is that we were reprimanded by the discipline office, coz they were saying that they never sanctioned such action. (hell! didnt they see that people were actually glad that somebody was taking action?) hehehe.. anyway, i was interviewed for the school newspaper... kinda like an anti-DO article for all the hassle they made the students go through... (from 7th floor, they made us go down the fire exit and wait there. grabe it was so hot and stuffy and they made us wait for an hour or so)

but you know what? after all their complains and what-nots, the DO still used our 'numbering scheme' to keep order in selling of tickets. o diva!! hmph!!!

but yah... those were the times. i miss watching uaap! and of cors the post-game parties!!! ;)

my gown sketch! ;)

finally! i got my final gown sketch from veluz (&niko)! :)

just a backgrounder, when i went for my first fitting with veluz, she changed the original design that i chose. (luckily!) and she forgot to send me the new design. hahaha i've been bugging her and niko for ages! and i finally got my sketch!!!

ladies (& gents) let me know what you think! :D

i really miss home

hay magtatagalog muna ako at masakit pa ang ulo ko kakatapos nung report namin kagabi. gusto ko nga sana mag MC ngayon pero syempre hindi pwede...

ewan ko ba nagsesenti na naman ako. pano naman halos mamatay matay na ako sa dami ng trabaho ko! 4 ba naman ang clients ko ngayon. o diva? superwoman ang dating ko! sheett... nakakapagod na mga tito at tita. kakaloka na tlaga!!!

anyway, nung isang gabi (hindi kagabi, yung gabi bago kagabi hehehe labo) nag overtime ako (sigh yes, overtime... kahit na yaw ko e kelangan no choice.) e bigla na lang may pinadala ang aking pinakamamahal na inay na litrato... grabe. sobrang natuwa tlaga ako. as in laki ng ngiti ko!

e ikaw ba naman send-an ng ganitong pic:

hehehe ang cute ng baby ko no? :) sobrang mingaw (miss in bisaya) na... how i wish pwede ko cya isama dito. kaso si mama naman ang malulungkot (apo daw nya yan hahaha... feeling tao tuloy ang aso ko). cute cute no? :) halatang nageenjoy kakakinig hehe... ignorante kasi yan. pagpasencyahan nyo na...

eto pa isang picture:

ay sus! ang cute. hahaha... although medyo madumi na cya. hahaha... 2 yrs old na yan pero mukha pa ding puppy. hehe. biased lang siguro ako pero sobrang cute nya talaga! hahaha...

ayun lang. wala kasi ako magawa ngayon. ayaw ko naman mag trabaho so papetiks petiks muna haha!

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mooncake festival pala kagabi. grabe muntik na ako maiyak... pano kahit magkalayo kami ni mama sabay pa din kami kumain ng mooncake! haha natetext-an pa kami na "o kakain na ako." grabe long distance din ang relationship namin ni mama! kakamiss tuloy lalo. muntik na talaga ako maiyak sa bus. pinigilan ko lang tlaga.

bumili din ako mooncake para kay aimee at che. hehe swerte daw sabi ni mama e! e kelangan namin ng swerte ngayon :)

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si lui... ayun nasa manila... hehe inaasikaso ang mga papeles for marriage license. dami kasi prob nung mga papeles nya. bwahahaa. but pa yung akin! ;p joke. pupunta din cya divi ngayon para bumili ng mga tela para sa mga ninong at ninang. good luck sa kanya! hahaha. ngayon lam na nya kung gano kahirap ang preps. nagrereklamo na nga kagabi e! hahaha

ayun. eto na lang. mukha ata akong bangag hahaha. meds :)

i miss my mom's cooking.. :(

went through my picasa album and realized that i havent posted new pics for so long! need to update it soon...

anyway, i came across the pics i took last december when i celebrated christmas in manila and saw this:

lui and my sis devouring the food!

close up on the food

grabe my tummy literally growled when i saw these pictures... nakakamiss... nakakagutom... nakakalungkot. i wanna go home!!!

sigh :( oh well, a few more months and im in manila na! (hope i can last that long)

my cake inspiration :)

when i saw this picture in Alex Franco's site. I knew right there and then that it was the cake I want for my wedding :)

kaya when we met up with Alex, it took us less than a minute (well, not really hehe) to decide on the style of the cake. :) i just pointed out the pic of the cake from the album he brought and that was it! hahaha... i think he'll change the flowers but the cake, same style - with white chocolate carvings hehe yum yum :)

we opted for 5 layers of chocolate and apple walnut and of cors the mango fillings:) sarap!

what do you think? ;p

Entou gowns inspirations

my entou had their measurements taken last sunday in trinoma... i heard all about it from my sis and my other friends. they seemed to have had a great time... sayang i wasnt there :(

anyway, im sharing my gown inspirations. some of them i got from fellow wawies. and some by searching through blogs like fotogra, veluz and threelogy

here are the 'inspirations'...

for the MOH: this gown was chosen by my maid of honor Louise... we are adopting the same concept only we're not going to use lace but instead chiffon or organza as top layer and shantung for the lower layer ( i think hehe) then we're going to add an obi sash and change the collar to chinese collar :)

for the bridesmaids: this one is from con-con's wedding. since we are using the same colors, i decided to just use this gown as my inspiration... instead of the plunging neckline, we'll still have v-neck but a bit moderate. hehe. then we're going to add baby sleeves (as requested by my bridesmaids hehe) and there is also going to be an obi sash :)

for the secondary sponsors: this is actually a veluz creation. i love love love this gown hehehe :) i told clarice i want something like this but a little less elaborate :) so we're changing the shrug to chinese collar then we're going to have tube but i think with a straight neckline. and of cors, the obi sash :)


what do you guys think? let me know your thoughts :D

NEW blog template

is it too dark?

wala lang... i just felt like changing the template a bit... i actually wanted a different template but somehow it doesnt seem to work with my blog (some text goes a-missing)

let me know what you think :)

this template actually symbolizes exactly how i feel now.

very dark and gloomy...

we're going widescreen! :)

it's confirmed... we're getting the widescreen package from threelogy!!! :) why?

because of this:

my new baby! :D

sooo loving it (all 32 inches of it) hehe :) now i can watch naruto widescreen-style hahaha!

Prenups in Bohol :D

it all started with a simple chat with mr. karl de leon. :) they (m&k) came from an outing in boracay with threelogy and i told him i havent been to bora before. from there, the idea of having an out of town prenup was born. :)

the original plan was to go to bora for prenup since fotogra has a wedding there in aug... sobrang swerte tlaga kasi im going home to manila on the dates that they're in bora... but we (lui and i) were concerned with the costs of having an out of town prenup...

but with another stroke of luck cebu pacific launched their piso fare promo!!! grabe... blessing tlaga!!! so we decided to go, who can fight destiny ika nga nila? hahaha. but during another chat session with karl, i asked him "bora or bohol po?" and he answered "bohol tayo!" mimi also said that bohol is one of the places in her list that she wants to shoot. so bohol it is :D (plus the fact that i super duper love bohol) hehe...

so we booked the tickets and made reservations in the hotel. we're on our way. there is no stopping us! :D

aug 11 - lui and i arrived a day earlier than mimi and karl. (since both of them are still in bora at that time) instead of going straight to bohol, we decided to stop over cebu and just take the ferry to tagbilaran... we arrived there at 8am with nothing planned... hehe we didnt know where to go! buti na lang a friend of lui met us and toured us around. hahaha naging instant tour guide pa cya!!! funny thing was, he didnt know where to bring us din! talk about a tourist in your own country... or city for that matter.:D bwahahaha... but we went to magellan's cross and sto nino church to look at the structures. after that we went to the taoist temple and had lunch... around 1pm we were on our way to the pier for the ferry to bohol :D

taoist temple in cebu

when we arrived in bohol, we didnt know what to do... we didnt even know how to get to the hotel. hahaha talk about unprepared... so we asked the guard at the pier where we can find a taxi and they suggested that we just hire a van... nakakatawa kasi parang he said a magic word kasi a guy suddenly appeared "van? van po??? san po kayo?" hahaha... ang galing meron yatang bionic ears. bwahahaha... when we asked him how much going to dumaluan he said "P400 lang po" us, being kuripot and all, thought that that was too much so we said, "manong magtatanong muna kami sa taxi" well, what a waste of time that had been coz the taxi also quoted us 400 bucks... in the end, lui decided to take the van "ksi nauna naman kayo" as he said to the van driver. :) since they were quite nice, we later on decided to hire them for the next day tour.

dumaluan hotel view from the beach

aug 12: mimi and karl in tagbilaran! :D our van drivers "philip" and "ian" (philip ian, kaano-ano mo sila?) offered to pick them up at the airport and meet us in the hotel. (included in the tour fee o diva? bait.) so we met up with mimi and karl and asked them to settle their things in our room first since their room was not ready yet... so they went to our room and opened their atache case and began taking out gadgets... grabe!!!!! feeling ko i was watching a movie... lam nyo yung movies when the soldiers pick up their guns and start loading them with bullets and strapping themselves with different kinds of ammos?? ganun!!! ganun feeling ko bwahahaha... they had so many gadgets that i was so amazed just looking at them assemble everything nahiya naman ako sa 350d ko. hehe after that we headed out to start our prenups! :D eto na!!!

we went to the following spots:

1. baclayon church - good thing the mass just ended hehe so there were no people around... but bad thing coz they closed the church door, so we were only able to shoot outside. funny thing was, someone came up to us and asked us if they can take our picture... photography student daw cya... o diba? instant models pa kami. bwahahaha! :D

baclayon church

2. pantalan near baclayon church - i have to give it to them, they really have sharp eyes... karl saw the pantalan when we were shooting at the church and asked the driver to take us there. ang ganda... hehe! white vs blue always a nice combo :D

lui jumping at the pantalan hahaha!

3. loboc river - we shared one ferry/boat with a lot of people and i was really apprehensive about the shoot.. feeling ko kasi pagtitinginan kami ng mga tao... good thing was, at the end of the river there was a children's choir who was performing for the tourists, that opened an opportunity for us... hehe (dali habang walang nakatingin!!!) it was hard to take shots on the boat because of limited space but i believe m&k were able to pull it off. syempre sila pa!!!

children's choir at loboc river... wonder if i can get them for my wedding? :D

4. loboc museum - this wasnt part of the tour but again, karl asked the driver to bring us to the museum... the museum was quite old... medyo scary nga e... but mimi and karl were unstoppable... they went scurrying and searched the place for good spots. they kept asking each other "may nakita ka?" "ako may nakita ako" hehe it was fun watching the masters at work :D

5. man-made forest - this one, i asked mimi if we can stop and take pictures here during one of our chat sessions... i so love this place. it's just so enchanting... so we did... although it was hard to take pictures because we were by the road and cars can come anytime... nakakatawa na naman kasi there were by-standers and they asked our driver and tour guide if we were artistas hahaha etong loko lokong ian said to them that we were models... hahaha heller?? pwede ba yun??? two fat models? i dont think so man... hahaha but nevertheless, they still took pictures of us. hahaha funny talaga!! :D

the enchanting forest

6. tarsier... we just went there to take a look at the cute tarsiers. we did take a couple of shots but i dont know how that will turn out. hahaha

cutest tarsier hehe

7. chocolate hills - what is a trip to bohol without choc hills? (as singaporeans say: "die die must go lah!" hehehe) grabe... we did a lot of jumping and climbing there that we were sweating all over the place!! especially lui kasi pawisin tlaga cya. (sebo!!!) hahaha... but we had fun. :D good thing the weather was on our side and the clouds were just great!!! very good as backdrop. hahaha

beautiful backdrop

8. dumaluan beach - last stop for the day.... hahaha we did a lot of funny things here. we were just laughing and laughing the whole time!!! good thing it was low tide so we had a lot of area to play around with... sabi ko nga kay mimi kahit di pala umulan mababasa kami... coz we were wet as in drenched. coz we lied on the sand, ran, jumped and everything you can think of. hahaha but it was soo fun :D

dumaluan beach in the morning

aug 13: the next morning we had a short photo session with the beach as back drop.. sobrang nice nung beach. :D grabe mimi asked us to run by the shore. ang sakit sa paa!!! hehehe but it was fine of cors laugh trip na naman haha

taking a shot of lui's havs :D

so there, haba na naman nitong post ko... anu vah!!! hehehe. as of the moment, im still waiting for the prenup pics from mimi and karl. :) it has only been less than a week pa lang naman... but knowing the ever atat me, i cant wait for it. im just dying to see it!! napapanaginipan ko na nga e. hahahah... (i was able to take a sneak peak at some of the photos and i was so amazed!!! galing nila...pramis... no bias)

overall here are our ratings for the suppliers:

a. lui's friend, erwin: 5!!! he was so nice to tour us around even though he didnt have to
b. philp and ian: 4. they were so nice :D they didnt overcharge us and they let us take our time during the shoots :)
c. dumaluan hotel: 3 expensive! hahaha... plus the water tastes like salt haha.
d. dumaluan beach: 4 beautiful :D
e. makeup artist: 5+!!! love your own ;p
f. bohol: 5+++++++ i love bohol... and i will always love bohol :D
g. mimi and karl: 10+++++++++ ang galing galing nila. basta ang galing nila!!! they were so patient with us and they withstood the heat and the strain of 3 succeeding photo shoots. kudos to them... saludo talaga ako. bow bow bow...
h. my canon 350D: 100++++ now that it has mimi and karl's touch. hahahaha!!!!

mimi and karl hard at work albeit the scorching heat! :D

karl and lui pose while mimi takes a sample shot haha

our great photographers!!! (sorry out of focus... candid kasi. feeling mimi ako hahaha)

PLEASE VISIT: www.mimiandkarl.com for the prenup pics :) (i love it!!!)

pic of my bouquet :)

here's the picture of my bouquet :) let me know what you think ;p

there are going to be some changes... we're going to add more red and orange equador roses and we're going to change the yellow callas to mango callas (as suggested by Tisha of Balay Kandila) :)

My August trip to Philippines...

Warning: I am drafting this blog entry while im still on the flight going back to Singapore, so please pardon any grammatical error or typo errors. I really want to sleep, but I cant since there are a lot of turbulence going on… (after last time’s scare, I’ll never be able to sleep thorugh a turbulence ever again) :)

Another warning: this will be veryyyy verryyyy long. But I’ll try to cut back as many words as possible… hehehe

I went back to the Philippines last Aug 7. Lui also managed to take leave from his work so that he can join me with some meetings with our suppliers… This is a good thing… most of the time kasi I just meet with the suppliers on my own and just let him know what had been agreed upon through mail or phone calls. Though I try to keep him up to date, sometimes I do tend to forget some details that I know I should tell him hahahaha. Hindi po sadya pramis :)

Anyway… It has been a long and hectic week for us!!! We didn’t even let the storm/typhoon stop us! Hehe.. No rain is too hard and no flood is too high… :D Here’s a preview of what had happened for the past week :)

Aug 7 – arrived in the phils… I had just woken up from my morning nap and realized that I had a message from clarice… she was asking me where she can call me so I gave her my home phone number. After a while, her assistant Mae called and asked if we can discuss the menu for Josiah’s for the food tasting… grabe groggy groggy pa ako that time!!! Haha… pero I still managed to concentrate as Mae started to read off from the list of food and I tried my best to choose the the food that I think would be the best for our reception… (lahat kasi mukhang masarap!!) hehe hopefully I chose correctly hahaha… bhala na si batman.

Aug 8 –I woke up early because we had a series of meeting with suppliers… but I was so upset when I saw how dark the sky was. Hay naku mega baha to! And not to mention traffic!!! And knowing Lui, there’s no way he’s going to drive us around in that rain… I can already sense that we’re not going to get anything done that day… With a spark of (OH NO… cebu pacific is doing their soo baduy on-flight games… camman… it’s 9:38pm!!! Let the people sleepppp!!!!) hope, I asked my mom to ask my aunt if we can borrow their FX and driver na din (classes at all levels were suspended). Luckily, my aunt agreed. But by then, Lui and mom were already discouraging me to proceed with any of the meetings. Especially the trip to dangwa… but I stood my ground and told them NO – we are going no matter what... anu bah.. don’t they realize how hard it is to set appointments with these suppliers??? And clarice is not even backing out, so why should we??? So finally I was able to persuade Lui to go on with the wedding preps albeit the rain and flood… bwahahaha

So first stop was DANGWA to meet the ever famous Mang Boy Mahusay… grabeee baha cya… well it wasn’t that deep naman pero baha tlaga cya! Hahaha. But there was no stopping me… I was a bride to be on a mission. Hahaha Si lui, medyo nandidiri pa… haha OC kasi… pero he went with us pa din.. as if he had a choice. :) (I found out later on that Lui was struck by the fact that clarice didn’t have any kaartehan… coz she was the first one to tread the flood hehe as in diretso lang cya. Kakatuwa tlaga) When we arrived in Dangwa, a man approached us and began assisting Clarice. It was Mang John, the ever reliable assistant of Mang Boy … Clarice began telling him what sort of flowers we needed for the bouquet and Mang John immediately went to search for the flowers. After a while, Mang Boy arrived…. I cant help but think “So this is Mang Boy”… hehe well, all I can say is, he looks like a very big teddy bear… hahaha. He doesn’t look that scary for me. Maybe because he was so nice to Clarice and I can see how he respects and pampers Clarice…:) (side kwento lang: apparently there was a fire in Mang Boy’s place that morning that’s why he was late… no worries, no one was hurt in Mang Boy’s family… but the funny thing was, he was saying that the first thing he grabbed was his stack of yellow papers. Hahaha… sabi nya kasi nandun daw mga orders, mhirap naman na mawala yun bwahaha so funny talaga. Inuna pa daw nya yun kesa sa asawa nya… but later binalikan naman din daw nya asawa nya… hahaha. Kwela tong si mang boy tlaga…) so after a while, mang john proceeded to create my bouquet… initially my bouquet was supposed to be red galla roses… but I told clarice that I don’t want a full red bouquet, it just doesn’t suit my personality… I don’t know para sa akin it seems so posh and serious, which I don’t think I am… I wanted a colorful / lively bouquet. So we settled for red equador roses, orange equador roses, yellow cybidiums and yellow calla lillies… When Mang John was creating my bouquet, I was trying my best not to peek. I wanted to be surprised… I wanted to see the bouquet when it was completed so that ill know how ill feel about it.. yung tipong mapapa “wow” kaya ako or yung “okay ah”… so finally when mang john handed me the bouquet, the only reaction I had was “ang ganda!!!” I literally gushed over the bouquet… I soo loved it!!! Even Lui liked it… sabi nga nya first time lang daw nya naappreciate ang bouquet hahaha.. funny talaga tong si Lui.. clarice also loved the bouquet… she kept saying “ang ganda ng bouquet mo… ganda tlaga…” even the people in dangwa were borrowing my bouquet so that they can take pictures of it to show their clients. Hahaha… I guess that’s a good sign that my bouquet is indeed maganda :D So after settling the contract (yes, the equally famous yellow paper hehe), paying for the mock bouquet, settling the downpayment and three cute coke saktos later, we headed to Unifair…

When we got to UNIFAIR, there wasn’t a lot of people assisting us… But a male, which I am assuming is the boss approached us and asked if we needed help… but clarice told him that we’ll just look at some of the samples and try to select from there :) so after a few debates, we finally settled on our invite layout… it was simple… just the way we wanted it.. plus it was cheap! Only P60 per set… oki na diba?? So we just settled the layout of the invitation and told the lady/owner that the details, to follow na lang (still have to settle the list of ninongs and ninangs) hihihi headache eto!

After unifair, we went to Trinoma to have lunch.. (yum yum recipes so sarap!!!) there, Clarice ran through all the details (again) with Lui and myself. This time just to make sure that Lui is agreeable with everything we have discussed and decided on our previous meetings… Luckily, Lui didn’t have any major objections naman…:)

We had a 4pm meeting with BALAY KANDILA so around quarter to 4, we headed to Balay’s office somewhere in QC (I think it was QC.. it was raining so hard I cant see where we were going!) When we got there, I can see all the props being set up in the garage… I was quite amazed… it looks more like a production outfit more than an event stylists’ office (not that I know how an event stylists’ office looks like bwahahaha)… anyway, we waited for Tisha to arrive… when she did, I was so delighted to see that she’s very nice and bubbly as well, not as intimidating as Roland. Hehehe… Unfortunately, Roland couldn’t join us because he was preparing for a set up the next day… tisha went through all the details with us once more… I was a bit surprised that she changed almost all the setting that Roland had described during our first meeting… but it still had the same flavor, but a bit different. but still okay for us… tisha also loved my bouquet and gave some suggestions on how to “beautify” my bouquet even more… surprisingly, lui was so willing to take on the suggestions eventhough it will entail more costs. That’s how much he loved the bouquet hahaha. Clarice and Tisha also took pictures of my bouquet… sabi nila pwede na daw pang WE :) (I am soooo happy!!!). when we finally settled the details, we paid the downpayment and went to our next meeting… the meeting that I have been waiting for… our meeting with Alex Franco (yey free cake hahaha… ill finally be able to try that cake!!!)

Our meeting with ALEX FRANCO was supposed to be at 6pm but it was slated to 7pm because we had so much fun discussing the details with tisha hehehe… anyway, we met Alex at his famous office/meeting place – Chowking Pioneer. Hehe… what can I say, that meeting was the most unique meeting I ever had!!! Feeling ko tlga si Alex Franco is Mary Poppins personified. Hahaha… Kasi ganito yun… Alex started with showing us pictures and pictures of his beautiful cakes… so that we can have an idea on the design that we want… also he discussed with us the different flavors and suggested which flavor to choose (we chose b&w for all the 5 layers :))… so after settling our cake design and flavors, he began his lecture on how to slice the cake… the lecture started with him drawing a perfect circle in a bond paper.. then he told us how big the slice of cake should be… he told us that no matter what, we have to make sure that the slice of cake should not fall… meaning everybody should be able to see the different layers of the cake and so that the photographers and videographers will be able to take pictures of how beautiful and colorful the cake looks like. Haha grabe pressure ito!!! Anu bah… so when he asked us who was going to be in charge of slicing, I immediately volunteered Lui… ayaw ko nga… bka pagalitan pa ako ni alex franco hahaha… :) after that, he took out a veryyyyy looonnngg knife from his brief case. Grabe medyo nashock ang lola nyo hahha… ang haba nung knife… ganun daw tlaga yung gagamitin for the slicing!!! Yikes. :) after that, he demonstrated on how we should slice the cake… sabi nya matigas daw yung cake so medyo mahirap… he showed us this sawing motion… ngek parang naglalagari ng kahoy hahahaha… then after that, he took out a fork and yung thing you use to take out a slice of cake… (what do you call it nga ba? Yung triangle in shape??)hehe kumpleto tlaga sa props tong si Alex. the he again demonstrated on how to transfer the slice from the cake to the plate, again, he asked who will be in charge of transferring the slice of cake, again, I happily volunteered lui. Hahaha :) Alex told me not to worry coz he’ll give me a role. Sa loob loob ko sabi ko “naku po kahit wag na po… ill be happy eating the cake na lang. hahaha” eventually he told me that I am in charge of holding the plate and assisting Lui lang. whew… I think that I can manage. :D hihi… anyway, the meeting ended with Alex handing us the sample cake (let me at that cake!!!) I couldn’t wait to get home and try the cake. Hehe… (masarap cya… as in pramis!) I really like Alex Franco, he’s soooo nice. And you can really tell that he’s so proud of his cake… you can just sense it ;p

Aug 9 – We were scheduled for a food tasting with JOSIAH’S in their Marikina office. We met Clarice and Tisha in Mcdonalds near Sta Lucia and convoyed going to Josiahs… buti na lang at nandun sila Clarice coz if not, we would have gotten lost! Ang layo!!! (well we did get lost on our way back to civilization hehehe…) The food tasting went well… there was primavera, seafood carbonara, chicken teriyaki, grilled sole fish, lengua and mongolian bbq. Ang sarapppp!!! As in sobra… just thinking about it now makes my stomach growl… sarap sarap talaga… I loved the mongolian bbq and the fish. The best tlga!!! Yum… since we are not getting a lot of the ammenities we managed to get their hanging cocktails worth 7k… we also got their dessert buffet for free coz we booked them when they were still having their promotion! :D ang saya. The owners of josiahs were there during the meeting and they were really nice… :) ms ghet also suggested that instead of fettucini for primavera, we should change the pasta to spaghettini. Mas masarap daw…:) o diva? Then we also got to sample their new creation – strawberry cheesecake! Ang sarap!!! Haha linoloko nga ni lui si ms ghet na feel free to have sample/testing on our wedding daw. Hahaha. Loko tlaga yun… tawa tawa lang naman si ms ghet:)

We were supposed to have our hotel-hopping after the food tasting but since medyo napatagal din because of chikahan (clarice, tisha and ms ghet are good friends so you can just imagine the chikahan and jibbing that’s going on hahaha) we decided to just to the hotel-hopping the next day.

Aug 10 – hotel-hopping! So kapagod… we went to pan pacific, hyatt, century, trader’s and g hotel… amongst the five hotels, I like pan pacific best… though it’s the most expensive (aside from hyatt) but it was nice and looks so cozy… we’re now choosing between traders and pan pacific… so if you can suggest which one, help naman po… hehe kasi si lui, he wants traders ako pan pacific… hehe…

Oki dito muna. Ill post another blog for our prenups in bohol!!! Eto lang masasabi ko… sobrang saya!!! As in super duper saya. Hahaha… cant wait to see the pics!!!

(by the way, ill be posting some of the pics soon) hehe

Life's Curveballs

I just want to share this article... Jennifer (or Jenny as we call her) is a graduate of DLSU - same batch as mine. She placed 2nd on our CPA board exam and she's now working in Tokyo. :) I always thought of her as one of those fortunate people who has a natural intellegence and beauty to boot! (going to bora just before finals?? how cool is that? hahaha!)

I just wanted to post this article since I share the same sentiments as her... (though i think I miss my family more than she does. hahaha)


By Jennifer Galang
Inquirer
Last updated 02:51am (Mla time) 05/24/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Too many times I have been asked, by foreigners and fellow citizens alike, why Filipino professionals leave our country to work abroad.

On one occasion in Tokyo, a light dinner conversation took a more serious turn when my American friend brought that subject up. “Everywhere in the US,” he said, “There are Filipino doctors, nurses and IT and business professionals like you. If you all go back to the Philippines, you could easily drive your economy to a boom,” he said.

I was quick to argue. I am, after all, one of these professionals. “It’s not like most of them have a choice,” I said. “People leave because otherwise their families back home wouldn’t have anything to eat.”

“True, but not for you. Your families are well-off,” he said, referring to me and another Filipino at the table, a lawyer who’s also working here in Tokyo. I almost choked on my kimchi. My Filipino friend rebutted, “The economics of our present situation is not that simple. If all the professionals return, you have to deal with the unemployment and the loss of remittances. Our economy, our people, just can’t afford that right now.”

The debate went on for a couple of minutes more and, as expected, ended on a hanging note. If I only knew the answer to our country’s problems, I would have shut all the politicians back home up, and that would easily win me a Nobel Prize.

The interesting thing, though, is a few years ago I shared Inquirer columnist Conrado de Quiros’ fervent views about professionals leaving for work abroad. I lived a rather comfortable single life in Manila. As a CPA, I was paid enough to enjoy an apartment in Makati City and a few occasional luxuries. I didn’t have any reason to complain. I frowned upon the professionals who chose to leave (as opposed to those who had to leave for the dire need of a better income), for I thought life in Manila was quite livable. However, I gave up those views like someone would drop a hot potato when I received an offer to work abroad. I packed my bags without hesitation and left.

For most professionals, especially CPAs like me, I could have chosen not to leave. Clearly, in my case, it was not a question of needing a higher paying job. Nor was it a question of nationalism or lack thereof. I am here because of a desire for personal growth, to realize my potential as a young, skilled professional. This, I believe, is not essentially bad in itself, which is why I’m bothered that we, the “leavers” are branded to be the bad, unpatriotic youth.

On what basis are we Filipino professionals being criticized for working abroad? Will our going back to our own country be able to solve our economic problems? To tell you the truth, those questions are not even relevant to me anymore. I believe the more important question is, why should I be expected to live my entire life in the place I grew up in? Is there something fundamentally wrong with living and working outside your country?

I will not appeal for your empathy by saying that under my circumstances, what I’m doing is a sacrifice. It is not, and I might be the first one to admit that. On the contrary, I feel privileged for being given this excellent work opportunity.

Some say that living away from your family is a sacrifice in itself. Yes, it could be tough at times, but isn’t that true wherever you go? Life throws curveballs at you wherever you are. As a person who always sees a glass half-full, living independently for me is just a part of the appeal of living abroad.

The experience of stepping out of my comfort zone in Manila was nothing but exhilarating. I fend for myself, cook my own dinner and clean my own apartment. I have made friends from all over the globe, exposing me to new values and new realities. My office is a hodgepodge of cultures -- American, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, British and so many others -- that my accent is now all confused. My work is well appreciated in my job and that has made me confident enough to deal with clients from anywhere. I have countless choices I’ve never had before and numerous opportunities that I would never have had, if I had chosen to stay. I can choose to stay here or move to our office in another location, or I can take my MBA in the United States or in London. Even my overactive imagination as a kid never conjured that life could be like this. And all of these are because I am here.

This is not an encouragement for others to leave as well. I have my personal reasons, as I’m sure others have their own. My being here is essentially about living in another country, and not about leaving my country. I’m not here because I wanted to leave the Philippines. I’m here because I want to be here. Because I like being here. I believe that clearly distinguishes between being a sincere Filipino and an apathetic citizen. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with wanting to stay here. I have chosen to brave the other side of the fence with the purest of personal convictions, and without regret. I should not be condemned for doing so.

my trial makeup pictures

im so pissed... :( my sd card is not working. i dont know what happened but i cant transfer my pics to my laptop. uwah!!! shet talaga.

so... now, i can only share two pics of the trial makeup i had with eddie bruan. sigh. sayang... huhuhu. ill try to ask for pics from him since he took some shots as well. sigh...

so... here it is. :( i cant even show you the back view.

not my usual face... (i usually put on a bit of makeup):

with flash:

without flash:


addendum: i just received so many wonderful comments from fellow wawies. hay... im really so happy that everyone liked it. it's different kasi when somebody else comments... :) di biased. hehe thanks mga sis!!! i soo love being a wawie :D

What Men Can Get Away With (sooo sooo true)

wala lang. i just love this article. well, most of the things written are true. :p this is a funny article written by a man i believe. hehe

What Men Can Get Away With

Like it or not, we live in a world of vicious double standards, where a promiscuous woman is labeled a slut while a promiscuous man is heralded as a stud. Fortunately for us, the enormous one-sided benefits don't have to end there. Take a glimpse at some of the things men can get away with that women simply can't.

Fashion

Looking like a slob
When it comes to fashion, most men expect women to look like they're preparing to compete in the Miss Universe Pageant. To that end, a woman wearing anything other than a swimsuit or an evening gown is viewed as something of a mild disappointment.
Luckily, men aren't held to the same ridiculously high standards. We can emulate Crockett and Tubbs by sporting five days' worth of stubble, we can wear clothing so wrinkled it looks like a topographic map of the Alps, and we can keep the same haircut for decades at a time. Hell, we can even walk around with the underside of an iron scorched on our shirts and no one will think anything less of us. After all, we're men. The very fact that we remembered to put on pants before we ambled into work is considered something of a minor miracle.

Owning one pair of shoes
When it comes to footwear, most men ascribe to the philosophy, "One pair of feet, one pair of shoes." Frankly, it's hard to argue with the math, even if it does occasionally mean having to attend a wedding in your basketball sneakers.

Going bald
Irish whiner Sinead O'Connor made female baldness sexy for approximately three seconds back in the 1990s. Ever since then, mankind has skipped over women with male pattern baldness faster than you can say "Kojak."

Wearing drab, unexciting underwear
Believe it or not, women don't buy G-strings because they like the refreshing lack of support. Rather, they spend millions of dollars every year on alluring lingerie solely to excite us. Luckily, they don't expect us to return the favor. Even as you're reading this, some woman in a $250 lace teddy is being seduced by a man in a pair of yellow Y-fronts that he bought for $2.99 back in 1987.

Wearing the same clothing from one season to the next
Fall... winter... spring... summer... for most women, these are important seasonal divisions that dictate a radical change in fashion and trends. For men, on the other hand, they're a handy way of tracking which sport is on TV. Luckily for us, the predominance of classics in men's fashion allows us to get away with handy little tricks like wearing the same navy blue suit to absolutely every formal function we're invited to.

Dressing like a lumberjack
A man who dresses like a miniaturized Paul Bunyan is generally regarded as being "rustic" and "rugged," two highly prized masculine qualities. A woman who dresses in the same manner, meanwhile, is generally seen as being "really good at field hockey" and "a huge fan of Melissa Etheridge." Either way, she's bound to be a horrible date, unless your name is Sheila.

Grooming & etiquette

Farting and burping in public
For reasons that elude us, the act of men emitting gas is drop-dead funny. Who can forget the hilarious campfire farting scene in Blazing Saddles or Howard Stern's raunchy superhero, Fartman? For men around the world, passing gas isn't just healthy, it's hilarious.

Ball shifting
If you ever meet a woman who can get away with this, quickly look for an Adam's apple and slowly back away. Trust us on this one.

Gaining weight
According to University of Florida professor Kim Walsh-Childers: "There is a broader range of what is accepted to be a sex symbol as a male. You can be older, heavier or bald." She has a point. We live in a world where Buddha, Santa Claus and even Kevin James are seen as cuddly and cute, while Star Jones and Delta Burke are regarded with grave suspicion by men and buffet owners alike. It's little coincidence that jokes about "yo' mama" being so fat proliferate, while witticisms about portly fathers rarely see the light of the day.

Aging
Let's be honest: The only time you see an older woman on TV is when your remote control breaks during a documentary on the Queen or a rerun of The Golden Girls. Like it or not, Hollywood has taught us that older women are denture-clattering naggers with nipples down to their knees. Luckily, many young women believe wheezing geezers, such as Robert Redford and Sean Connery, are still sizzling sex symbols.

Letting our hair go gray
For most women, showing subtle signs of aging is akin to a dog showing its jugular. That's why pharmacies are overflowing with dozens of hair-coloring kits and concealers. Women with gray hair are said to be "showing their age." Men like Richard Gere and George Clooney, on the other hand, are said to look "distinguished."

Sweating
Glance through a glossy magazine and you're likely to see images of topless male models glistening with sweat. The message is simple: Perspiration is sexy. Sweat highlights musculature, and hints at a job that's been done and done well. Men can sweat, but women must "glow."

Cursing
It used to be that cursing was the singular domain of salty pirates and speed-addled truckers. These days, swearing has been elevated into an art form thanks to the profanity-laced rants of men like Richard Pryor, Andrew Dice Clay and Eddie Murphy. No matter how you look at it, swearing is cool... so long as you're a man. Otherwise, it's a tacky debasement of the English language. After all, aren't girls supposed to be made of sugar and spice and everything nice?

Not shaving below the neck
For most men, body hair is a cherished sign of virility. The very first chest hair is awaited eagerly during puberty and silently celebrated when it finally arrives. Similarly, patches of hair on your arms, legs and even your back indicate that you've graduated from boyhood. While no man wants to look like a Wookie, a little smattering of follicles is generally a welcome sight. The same cannot be said of women. In order to appease us, the fairer sex must undergo a grueling regime of plucking, threading, cutting, and waxing that has more in common with sadomasochism than it does with personal hygiene.

Lifestyle

Having a criminal record
It's a well-documented fact that women love bad boys. The danger and sense of adventure intrigues them, while the prospect of a forbidden romance brings out their inner Harlequin novelist. So what if you only went to jail because you forgot to pay a parking ticket? You're a fugitive, damn it!

Having scars
For many men, scars are battle wounds that tell of wars and conflicts past. They illustrate a man's essential toughness and show his ability to weather pain. A man with scars has a history. A woman with scars has either: 1) A parole officer; 2) A totaled vehicle; or 3) A girlfriend of her own.

Peeing anytime, anywhere
Being a man means having the freedom to make the entire world your urinal. From trash compactors to dank alleyways, every darkened locale is just another potential toilet. Men around the world, we give you a one-gun salute!

Dating

Talking about past conquests
Perhaps it's a vestige of our warrior past, but men are expected to have numerous conquests. Even if the women we've dated bear a striking resemblance to Screech from Saved by the Bell, having had multiple partners shows we're experienced and desirable.

Gorging
A man who eats every meal like it may be his last is praised for his "healthy appetite." A woman who approaches her food with the same candor, on the other hand, is assumed to be bulimic.

Being a complete and utter wreck
Women love reclamation projects. How else could you explain the success of shows like Extreme Makeover and Trading Spaces? There's just something about a wayward man that kicks a female's maternal instincts into overdrive.

Engaging in adultery
In many cultures, it is more acceptable for a husband to have a lover than it is for his wife to have one. A man with another lover is praised for his virility and chicanery, while a woman who cheats is considered to be a shameful miscreant whose actions threaten to jeopardize her family's stability.

Double dipping
Double standards are never just... until they actually work in your favor. So what are you waiting for? Put on a beer gut, toss out the Grecian formula and start swearing like a syphilitic sailor. It's high time you learned to embrace society's irrational impartiality and made it work for you!

Wedding Kwento - June 07 Visit

MAs posted in W@W :) LLOONNGG read :)

im back from the phils!!! hay nako sobrang bitin nung bakasyon ko. :(

anyway, i was supposed to NOT do any preps during this break because i just wanted to stay at home and rest... but it's all good coz im soo happy naman with what had transpired during the last three days... :)

first, i met clarice in shangrila edsa last june 8... we went through all the details once again. sabi nga ni clarice pasencya kung makulit gusto lang daw nya mapulido yung details. actually i was the one who came unprepared. because there were some questions i didnt have responses to. hehehe... sabi nga ni clarice "busy ka na no? hehehe" well yah.hahaha and the fact that i didnt bring my files... hihi. sobrang hilo pa ako nun. sobrang init as in suuupeer...

then we went to metrowalk to meet roland (ronald?) of balay kandila.sabi ni clarice she contacted jun hen, april and karen, teddy manuel and balay. but only balay responded... well, oki.... anyway, sobrang natuwa ako kay roland. medyo natatameme lang ako kasi medyo scary syang tao. hahaha. naiintimidate ako! hihi... but the sketches he made for the backdrop as well as the centerpieces, super nice. pero mahal. :( in the middle of his sketching, he was interrupted by clarice telling him "meron po kaming budget ha" hahaha kasi naman from what he was sketching, i can feel sweat trickling down my forehead. i can see all the $$$ that we have to shell out but as i said i was so intimidated i couldn't talk hahahaha! good thing clarice was there. pero it was all so pretty. i want tlaga. :( sigh have to check the budget muna...

june 9, clarice set an appointment with eddie bruan for my trial makeup. grabe i was soo excited! this is it na. do or die. hahaha... i wasnt familiar with rockwell area so clarice volunteered to pick me up at starbucks rockwell and drop me at eddie's. :) bait diba? hehehe...sobrang lapit lang pala nung shop ni eddie sa rockwell! hahaha. :) anyway, regarding eddie bruan, sobrang nice nung makeup nya. medyo makapal lang ata (i think) but everybody loved it! including my mom. my mom kasi wasnt too happy with the trial i had with angie. super simple daw. kasi i usually wear makeup and she said, parang kaya ko daw gawin yun (o diva, hahaha makeup artist na pala ako). but kay eddie, sobrang gandang ganda si mama sabi nya mukha na daw tlaga akong bride. hihihi...

teka wento ko lang experience ko with eddie :) first when we got to the shop, he asked his assistant to prep my hair na and all his makeup was displayed in front me so i did a quick browse. (pakialamera ang lola hahaha) grabe super high-end ng mga makeup nya. as in. chanel,awake, shu, id bare essentuals, mac, lahat high end tlaga!!! ang lowend nya lang ata is yung body shop eyeshadow and yung maybelline mascara nya. yun lang! ang galing. but i guess the thing i liked most about eddie is, super bango ng hands nya. as in!!! sobrang nice kasi feeling mo malinis yung nagaayos sayo. plus sobrang gaan ng kamay! he plucked my eyebrows and i didnt feel a thing!!! galing. hehe... and when he was putting on the foundation, hindi ko na feel na parang binabanat yung mukha ko hahaha... and the foundation he used was just right. although medyo maputi kapag may flash ang gamit. ganun ba talga yun?? nakaktawa nga kasi he brought out his super big camera (natalopa yung 350D ko) and he kept taking shots! hehehe. kakatawa tlaga. para akong nasa studio. :) i had my own camera din so he took turns. one for his cam then another take for mine. hehehe funny tlaga!!! oh,and he is a perfectionist... kasi naman, when his assistant did my hair the first time, medyo magulo cya... curly curly sa likod. he didnt like it, so he personally redid my hair! hahaha sabi nya ayaw daw nya mapahiya kapag pinost ko yung pics sa website. hahaha :) kakatawa tlaga cya. sobrang bait.

i was at eddie's from 1:30 to 4:30 pm. o diba ang tagal!!! hahaha

june 10 - clarice invited me to visit one of her weddings so that i can taste the cake of alex and to check out na din yung setup nila balay. it was in century restaurant (fellow sis wawie, ganda ng wedding mo! hehehe). i went there with my sister, and we were both surprised and delighted with what we saw... grabe super ganda ng century! pwede palang gumanda ng ganun yun. hehehe... ang galing ng balay!!!

i also met threelogy (the whole group) and super nice nila, especially cj! super kulit. hehehe.. so funny. si bong, medyo tahimik lang... i understand naman coz he's doing the avp ata. then si jon, hahaha inaasar ni cj kasi di nya ako matandaan and he was the only one from the trio that i actually met. :)

alex franco was also there, eto lang masasabi ko HE IS SUPER DUPER NICE. as in super. walang ka ere-ere. he was even a bit worried coz he didnt bring anything with him. sbi ko naman, it wasnt his fault coz it was really last minute. hehe. then he gave me his calling card and told me to text him so that we can meet on aug. :) super niceeee as in suuuupppeeerrr! hahaha and he was kidding around with cj. sobrang aliw sila tingnan.

oh! i even met THE dino lara! grabe sobrang hiyang hiya ako. coz he remembered that i was the one who asked him for pics of 1esplanade.hahaha... sabi nga nya sino ba ang ibibill ko. naku po. hahaha. but he's really serious. tahimik lang cya... pero i saw his avp. grabe sobrang galing!! iba tlaga si dino lara... :)

mom was also there. but she and my sis took turns because we broughtmy baby doggie with us :) so they took turns going in and out the century restaurant :) si clarice sobrang kakatawa, kasi hinatak nya simom papunta sa harap e si mom sobrang mahiyain hahahaha! pero oki daw si clarice sabi nya kasi sobrang bubbly daw. hahahaha.

that visit was so nice. :) i enjoyed being able to talk to the suppliers and actually see them in action. ang galing... :)

hay dito na lang muna. sobrang haba na tlaga nito. hehe. ill post some pics in my blog soon. :)
thanks for your time!!!

ohh!! i forgot to add! im already confirmed! hehehe sobrang bilis langpala sa san miguel. kakatawa yung pari kasi wala akong marinig sakanya... pero ha ang mahalll!!! P600! yikes. pero at least that's overand done with na :) yun lang po.

wento wento lang

been so busy for the past few weeks that i havent had time to update my blog. actually nothing much have been done for wedding preps as well, but im not worried coz i know clarice has everything covered. (plus we'll cover a lot of grounds in aug)

anyway, i was supposed to go back to philippines in aug... but as time passed, i knew i couldnt wait that long anymore! so i booked myself tickets to go home in june. it's just a five-days visit so im not planning to do much but to stay at home and sleep sleep sleep...

i havent gone to the gym for almost a week. usually im too busy to go or im just too darn tired. :(

i've been sick for the past few days. i have a bout of gastric viral flu or something like that...

we had a wawsg eb last friday... im so glad i was able to meet my wawie friends again! i missed them so much. grabe they're getting married one by one. kainggit hehe.

oh, it's philip's and cresta's birthday today. happy birthday you guys! i miss you sooo much!

my shopping spree is officially over. i have to stop buying things or ill shop my entire salary away!!! i got two lacoste shirts (my first lacoste woohoo!), esprit shirt, levis pants, iora shirt and pants, mac makeup and a lot more! hey, it's the great singapore sale... you can't be on an island where everything is on sale and not buy anything right? hahaha. hala. wrong line of thinking. erase erase erase. hehe.

that's all for now... no pics to attach. :( havent uploaded anything recently...

Our Celestial Rings

The hunt for our wedding rings is finally over!!! :D It took us a long time to finally find the pair we wanted and it was not easy indeed!

In all honesty, we did get a pair last year. Call it excited, call it stupid... but we ended up getting our wedding bands from SooKee soon after our engagement.

But as time passed by, I began to have doubts. The rings were so simple and were too thin. There's no oomph or wow factor. Yes. That's a bit OA but I wanted something that we would really love... And the rings will stay with us till forever right? So we might as well get ourselves a pair that we would like to wear for a long time right? (please say yes hahaha)

After a while (after several long talks, arguments, and a lot persuasion on my side), we decided to get a new pair. Weee :D

So when Lui visited last April, one of our iterinary was to scout for wedding rings. It took us two tries - the first one didnt get us anywhere cos we didnt know what we were looking for. The second was a long and painful process but we managed to succeed! hehe drama.

Here's the story on our ring hunting escapade.. We went to Vivo city and I think we visited each and every jewelry store there! We looked and looked. We tried on so many rings. We collected so many calling cards but we finally found our rings on the last store we visited. Hahaha.

Before going in the Goldheart store, we already saw one pair of rings in Lee Hwa. They were white gold, half matte and half shiny with a princess cut diamond in the middle. From all the rings we tried on, we liked that ring the most. Plus it was within budget. (We want identical rings and it was hard to look for identical cos most of the time the guy's ring doesnt have any stones hehehe lugi nga daw sabi ni lui. )

But, when we tried on the ring in Goldheart, what can I say? It was love at first try! hahaha

As soon as Lui tried on the ring, we knew that IT was it. It was gorgeous. Yes, it was more than we budgeted for, but it was soooo beautiful! That was it. There was no turning back. :) Lui even said that he dreams about the ring. hahaha that's how much we liked them!

So after Lui left for the Philippines, I waited for his go signal and when he gave it, i finally went to get our rings from the store. Sadly, the right sizes were not available so I had to come back and get it.

The second time I went back, the ring could not fit my finger! Anu bahhh!! And the lady was insisting that I get the size 18 for Lui when in fact his finger size is 21! Kainis talga. So I had to give them another try and get the right ring sizes....

After a week of no news from them, I called them up. I checked if the rings were there and they told me that they'd call me back when they are there! ABA!!! hmmm... My blood was boiling and I couldnt concentrate at work so I called back. Buti na lang the pinoy salesman answered...I asked "Kuya, kayo po ba to?" And then he said "Uy kaw pala yan!' So I explained my situation. I told him if possible to get at least two sizes each for the rings so that I can try on different sizes when i get there and dont have to go back. At first he told me that they will try to do that and then he said maybe I can go back to the store and finalize the size before they have it delivered. Anu bahhhhhh nakakainis na talga. As if I had a choice no, of cors I said yes, that I'll go back that afternoon to try on sizes (again!).

I really wanted to rant about their lack of customer service. But good thing was when i got to the store, all the rings were there! Sizes 9 and 11 for me and sizes 18 and 20 for Lui. According to Kuya Ron, they just arrived that afternoon! (I think they got scared coz I talked to Ron for almost 30 friggin minutes) So I tried them on. They were forcing me to get the size 11 ring... But I didnt like it coz the ring keeps moving around and the diamond moves to the back... The size 9 naman was a bit small. I told them I wanted size 10 or 10 and a half. The girl (which i didnt want to talk to) said that they'll have the size 11 resized. I told her to go ahead. Then finally when I said i didnt want it, tada, they take out a ring which is the perfect fit. Hay nako!!! But i had to pay extra 16 bucks coz it was a higher quality diamond DAW. As for Lui's naman, I got the size 20. Hoping that it will fit... Anyway, I can exchange naman daw if it doesnt.

So finally I got the rings. Sigh after four trips there. I finally got it. And the sales people were very apologetic about all that happened that they gave me additional discount for the ring i bought for myself. hehehe. but that's supposed to be a secret. so hush hush na lang :D

Good thing na lang tlaga that Kuya Ron was there. Because he was really helpful. And he explained to me carefully and slowly why "I should get this and not this". I also asked his opinion on the sizes and he gamely gave his two cents. hehe

At least I finally got the rings... Our rings are from the Celestial Wedding Bands collection, two-toned. The outer lining is rose gold while the middle is white gold. Each ring has a solitary diamond which are certified. :) and we both love it!!!

Here's a pic I took :)

my first prenup

- as the photographer! :)

just spent a very sweaty and tiring day in singapore botanic garden, posing as a free-lance photographer for my two wawie friends. :) although i was just playing saling kit (i was the backup photo wanna be) i still had a lot of fun!!!

it was a very hot and humid day and we were sweating all over, but that didnt stop us! the official photographers were really very dedicated (considering that they're doing this prenup for free) and the two couples were just sooo fun to be with! they did all the poses we asked them to do! hehe it was non-stop laughter all day!

it also doesnt hurt that we had the prenups in a very beautiful place. who could imagine that you can find a place like that in singapore! goodness!

my style for the day was to get as many candid shots as possible. though i did help out with some of the poses, i wanted to focus on the emotion between the couples. thus there were only a few full body shots (i left those to the other photogs)and a lot of closeups (palusot since i dont have a zoom lens i just used my f1.8 the whole day! :p)

these are some of my favorite shots of the couples. :) you can view the rest of the pics here (faye and rommel) and here (steph and joel).

hehe i enjoyed the whole day! tiring but very satisfying!!! enjoy the pics!

Lui's Visit to Singapore! April 2007

Lui came to Singapore last April 04 for the long weekend. :) Grabe sobrang saya. We had lots of fun in the sun. hehe.

It was really so much fun that I still feel I have "vacation hang-over."

We went everywhere! We did everything! We ate LOTS of food!!!

Thursday night, Lui wanted to cook for us. (his specialty daw kuno) hehe. So, me being a good fiance, I offered to help out. Turns out, I almost did all the cooking! Wahahaha. Sanay lang pala magluto when everything is prepared na. But the process of preparing the ingredients, no way man! haha. Buti na lang masarap! (peace lui! hehe)

Then on Friday morning, we left for Bintan. we stayed at Nirwana Gardens. It was a great place. Quiet, serene, clean... It was an almost perferct vacation if not for the gruelling ferry trip to Bintan! Grabe. I thought I'd die right then and there! I was so nauseous that I kept puking and puking until i cannot puke anymore. Kakahya nga kay Lui. Wa poise. :( But aside from that, everything was great. I have a tan now (well, not as much as I want pero enough to give me tan lines hehe) and I had a blast. (I remembered to take medicine on the way back hehe) I'd say, people should give Bintan a chance. it was so much fun. the people are so nice and the food's great!!! We went to Punta Oleh Oleh and ate at Bintan Idol. Food was superb and nice service as well :) It is really a great place. Well worth every penny you'll shell out. Ooohh.. we managed to buy some souveneirs. I'll post a pic of it some time. Cool!

On Sunday, we went to Sentosa naman... Even though it was raining in the afternoon, we still managed to have fun! We did almost everything! Butterfly farm, underwater world, dolphin show, Songs of the sea (which is much better than the magical fountain) and a whole lot more. Sayang lang because we didnt manage to try the luge. It rained na kasi when we were about to try it. tsk sayang. :(

We also managed to go to Vivo City and Chinatown. We spent almost the whole day in Vivo City! My balakang was killing me! Pero I had to endure it for Lui's sake. :) hehe

Oh! We finally found our wedding rings. It's perfect. :) We went to all the jewelry stores in Vivo City and found our rings on the last store. It was gorgeous. Simple yet very very elegant! But a bit pricey. Pero sabi ni Lui oki lang so go! hehehe. :)

Sobrang laugh trip talaga kami and major food trip! I think I gained weight on the few days that Lui was here. Pero no regrets coz i enjoyed every minute of it! Sarap ng chocolate banana cake!! yummmm

Click here for Bintan pictures and here for Sentosa pics. (sidenote: we took two cameras with us. I used my Canon EOS and Lui used my Nikon coolpix. Sad to say, mas maganda pa colors ng nikon point and shoot ko kesa sa Canon SLR ko. tsk. i think i want to change camera!!!)

P.S. Sorry medyo sabog ang story... nagmamadali kasi hehe. :)