Getting Back on Track

Oh what a week it has been. Don't you just love the New Year. It gives people the chance to reboot their lives, and as my Wally app reminded be ever so nicely...It's almost the end of the month, want to get your life back on track. Lol. It's a hilarious app. Anyway, every year we get a chance to get perspective back in our lives. We re-asses and make a mental list of the things we should prioritize and those that quite frankly should just take a back seat. At least that's the way it is for me. I hope. hehe

So this year I decided is the year I get back on track when it comes to being healthy. I used to play sports. Used to being the operative word. Now I want to at least be able to walk around a foreign country without feeling like I'm about to keel over. It's good motivation. :D I've been so unhealthy lately it's not funny and since I was vegetarian for awhile, and was too vain to take vitamins because they make you fat, my immune system suffered tremendously. I've been crazy sickly and well, let's just say I'm tired of that and decided that it's high time to change it. What have I done to get back on track? Well, signed up for 6 months of yoga. Weeee...see it works 2 ways, I now have access to yoga for half the year and it's wasn't cheap so every time I'm too lazy to wake up I just have to remember that I paid all that money and I must push myself. Haha...Hopefully I'm more kuripot than tamad. Oh and I have a yoga partner, well 2 if everything works out. :D Ele and I have both signed up and she's game all the time some times I want to bonk her on the head. LOL. You know I love you El!

We took advantage of the promo from Bliss Yoga. Yaaaay!

Seriously though, the first week of January has been awesome. I've been to yoga 4 days in a row and although initially it was painful and everything felt stiff, I've survived and can honestly say it's not crazy painful anymore. I just need to work on a lot of stuff. Every time the yoga instructor asks us to set a goal for the practice mine is always the same. I want to be tone but more importantly I need to improve my balance. It is seriously frustrating not to be able to do any of the balancing poses because I keep falling over. :( Must concentrate and not be so negative about it. I'm sure it will come.

My other goal for this year is to take more photos. I keep telling myself I want to buy a new camera so that I can take more photos but part of me thinks I'll be too lazy to actually lug it around. Must really decide on that. To be honest though, it kind of made me sad that I haven't been taking a lot of photos lately especially since I used to be such a camwh*re it was ridiculous. So this year I will take more photos and I will make sure to upload them somewhere so I never loose them. :D

Now the only problem with that is I also told myself that this year I will curb on all the spending. When I looked back at all the things I've been spending on the past year it's been crazy. I have been trying to write down all our expenses to give ourselves a respectable budget that way I won't feel like I'm punishing myself and after seeing everything I paid for last year, you can say I was shocked. That is an understatement. Which led to the fact that this year, before buying something, even if it costs 50 pesos, I have to think twice about it. If I don't really need it it's not going to be bought. Oh, and I'm not taking money out of the savings account either.Which means someone's got to work hard to spend hard. LOL. Notice how it's not really I, this is a marriage and that means it's a team effort. LOL. I'm sure my husband knew what he was getting himself into before we got married. :D

So I've got to earn my camera before I buy it. Now, which camera should I get? I haven't decided yet, will have to consult the experts. Husband wants a dslr kind of camera and I honestly cannot see myself lugging that around so we have to meet somewhere in between. :D We'll just have to wait and see.

Here's to keeping our resolutions!

2014 Bring it On!

This year is the my most favoritest year EVER! That's cause this year I married the love of my life and although it's been a crazy year of planning and planning and stress everything was worth it. :D Since some of you weren't there to witness the wedding let me share with you one of my favoritest parts of Miggy's vows. :D

• My favorite quote about love goes...“Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.” from the movie Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I must confess I've never watched the movie but I've loved that quote since I read it the first time! hehe so you must imagine my surprise and excitement when my husband started his vows with that exact quote. :D It was perfect. He was perfect. I am still all gooey inside when I think about it. 

Weee...how lovely it is to be loved. My heart is a happy little heart. Anyway, enough with the cheese...for now. I've been blessed with a lot this year. A lot of changes have been happening and as my aunt texted me about a month ago, 2 big things happened for me this year. A change in surname and a change in career. Although there is always uncertainty when you venture out on your own there is also that excitement for what the world has in store for you. So even if recently I've been scared sh*tless because of the possibility that this might not work out I'm even more excited because I know God has so much more blessings to shower upon us. 

On a more personal note, no we're not pregnant so please stop asking..LOL I'm having the time of my life being a wife. :D Ok, so I don't do all the stuff normal wives might do. I'm still lucky enough that I don't have to manage a household or do chores. But I still make sure I take care of the things my husband, eeep, still not used to that term, might need. Oh, and I love spoiling him. Making him happy makes me happy. So the PS4 might not have been the best idea, everyone keeps telling me I'll never hear from him again, I'm still happy about it cause he's like a little boy all excited. Oh, and I get to do whatever I want since he's always on that thing anyway. Win - win! :D

2014 is going to be a year of many firsts. I've given us a budget and the idea is to stick to it, although I'm already thinking it might not be enough. What a challenge! I've also decided that in 2014 I'm not going to go crazy shopping...all the time. It's time to invest wisely. I'm so freaked out because I think I'm starting to sound like a grown up. Waaaaah! It's so surreal. So here's to a better year for everyone. 

Oh, and before I get too lazy to write another blogpost let me try to write down my resolutions for the year...bear with me here. 

1. Learn to live within a budget. A non-negotiable budget. LOL. There are just some things we can learn to live without. I won't die if I don't get to buy all the crap I love buying. 
2. This year I must learn to keep with the yoga program. Last year was crazy, loosing weight because of the stress was easy now they're back and they want to take over the world. 
3. Travel more with the husband. Although this may be extremely difficult because he has an extremely inflexible schedule I think short trips can be arranged. :D
4. Learn to cook...or at least get back in the kitchen. It won't kill anyone until it actually does. Hehe...
5. Spend time with family. Because in the end they are the people who matter.

So here's to an awesome 2014 for all of us! :D

Long overdue Thank You part 2!

It's the last day of the year and I realized I've been procastinating blogging enough I must get on with it and truth be told I've been feeling bad I haven't completed the Thank You's and we've just gotten to our 2 month as a married couple mark. I thought it was high time I start writing the second part of my list of people to thank. See, I have been racking my brain trying to figure out who to thank first and stuff like that. But then I figured, it's not in the order but it's in the content. That means this post is bound to be a long one. LOL! Be warned!

Most people would think that since I have experience in planning events it would be easy-peasy planning my wedding. Boy did they get THAT wrong. See, as I mentioned in my vows, which I totally should write about in another post, I'm not the typical girl. I didn't really know what I wanted, I was fickle. We had a color theme and half way through the planning we, by that I mean me, decided to change it. It wasn't right. And I'm glad I did! :D That meant everything that already got made had to be redone. All the planning and designing and pegs hunting had to be redone. It was chaos...in my panic riddled brain at least.

So let me introduce to everyone my best friend Val, or as she prefers to be called Master. :D I had to italicise the best friend because she thinks I'm kidding most of the time. LOL! But seriously though, Val and I have been friends since high school. She's my go to person for all things design. "Best friend are you busy? I need kasi..." hahaha...most often texted line between us. Whoops, I'm sounding soooooo abusive. But I'm nooooot. I promise!!! :P So obviously Val did all the designing for the wedding. From Save the Dates, to Invites, I made her do 2, to missalette covers. And I think because we've grown up together she knew just exactly what I wanted. The best part...she actually drew/designed us...don't understand what I mean...let me show you.

I was super aliw with it and everyone kept commenting on Mig's hair. Yes, he really has curly hair. :D So super kaduper thanks Best Friend! You are awesome!!! 

The thing that caused me the most panic was finding someone to take care of the styling of the venue. I was in so much panic. The venue had so many restrictions and there was so many other things that needed to be considered, primarily the budget. LOL! So there I was literally a week before the wedding talking to a bazillion people trying to figure out what to do...and then literally like mana from heaven my aunt tells me she found all these things that I could use. That was already on top of all the other things she previously got for us. So you can imagine how much of a load off that was. All the little things you saw at the wedding she had a hand in. From the words of love and encouragement spread all over the tables to the little balls of light to the spray painted (by hand might I add) butterflies and fireflies, everything came from her. I was beyond ecstatic. So thank you Auntie Stella for picking up all the little things that made our reception look perfect. :D 

see the famous cake topper, one of her first buys. :D Isn't it perfect?!?

And everything put together was just perfect. :D

Add to that the fact that she hosted 2 Bridal Showers for me. Am I not the luckiest?!!? :D It was so much fun being a bride I kind of miss it but I'm happier now because I don't have to stress so much. So super kaduper thank you Auntie Stell. You are the awesomest!!! 

And then there's Barbs. Who amongst all the stress I would call and she would repeatedly tell me to relax. Things will work out and we have tons of time. I was so stressed about everything it wasn't even funny. The only thing I wasn't stressed about was the amount of drinks we had. Miggy's number one priority when planning the wedding, make sure there are drinks enough to get everyone drunk. It was epic. Everyone was plastered including me. :D By the last week before the wedding I was literally just calling her to make sure I didn't forget anything. On the day of the wedding I didn't stress about anything. I gave everything to her and she took care of the rest. I literally left her with all the things she had to hang on to our bag of angpao's because as previously stated I was too drunk. LOL! I love you Barbs and my best girl Bea! hahaha

Chiqui (my drinking mentor) and Barbs! :D

There was so much alcohol at the wedding my bouquet is still with Barbs. LOL! :D

And then there's Ed, who literally came in to save the day. I don't even remember how it came up but one day we were talking and the next thing I know he said he would take care of styling the venue for me. He talked to the florist and got all the elements and put them all together. As you can tell, I was in love with everything. So thank you Ed! You are a life saver.

Finally, I think it must be mentioned that our flowers were more than I had dreamed of. From my bridal bouquet to the flowers by the table. Everything was beyond what I was expecting. I am blessed to have family who love me and make sure that my dream wedding would come true. So thank you Auntie Lilian for making sure the flowers were just perfect. They tied everything together. They were so amazing Miggy made everyone take home as much as they could. Even the fratmen. LOL. I don't think I should have shared that. Haha...

This year we have been blessed with so much and I'm sure next year will be even better. So yay for all of us! :D It's been crazy but I'm sure it's going to get even better!  

Thank you...part 1! :D

OMG!!! We’re married!!! :D

It’s crazy because after 11, well almost 12 as my dad pointed out, of being boyfriend – girlfriend this felt a long time coming and now that it has I still can’t wrap my head around it.

So as made obvious by the numerous posts I’ve been writing, or not, my life has been tumultuous as of recent. From the wedding planning to work to just plain being sickly old me there hasn’t really been any time for me to sit down and actually write down the stuff that’s been going on. But since the Bu and I are leaving for our Honeymoon – woot woot – tom night I figured I should at least get our thank you post out already! :D Ok, so obviously this didn't get posted in time, but today marks our first month together and I think it's about time this post gets out, don't you? haha...

There’s just too many people to thank and admittedly during the reception itself we didn’t really make a list. Hah! Ok, I forgot and let’s face it Miggy wouldn’t really know who to thank. Haha…So let’s face it, this is going to be an extremely long post. You’ve been warned! Read on if you want to, but I encourage you to. Haha…

I keep trying to think back on who I should thank first. And well it only comes down to one person. Tita Baby! :D I can’t really go into much detail since she told me not to tell anyone, but she’s one of the main reasons why Miggy and I finally sat down together and decided this was really going to happen. So thanks TIta Baby for being that push we needed to get us moving! :D We love you to bits! You’ve no idea.

So who did I first share my awesome news with. I can’t really remember. To be honest though, we had already begun planning our wedding waaaaaay before we announced our engagement. But I remember one of the first persons I told was Mervin because I wanted him to design my gown. I remember the phone call when I asked him if I ever got married would he help me with my dress and without even waiting to be asked he already volunteered to do it. He’s awesome and don’t you agree that I looked stunning. I couldn’t have done that all on my own you know. I met Mervs a few years back when we worked at the same company and we became fast friends. I don’t think it was really hard considering he’s such an accommodating guy and all around he’ll just help you when you need it. Awesome stylist/designer even more awesome friend! :D And yes, he did design and make all the decisions when it came to the gown and my second dress. :D He also made sure my make up and hair looked perfect. I love you Mervs, you don’t know how much. Thank you for making me look stunning that day. Everyone loved the dress, although I must admit I should have practiced walking in it first. LOL :D

That's me trying not to bawl my eyes out...I love the dress Mervs. It was perfect!

I’ve also got to thank my sister-in-law Alay because even before I told her she was going to be my Matron of Honor she was already helping us out with all the planning. Although she lacks arts and crafts skills, don’t believe me ask her to cut something for you with a pair of scissors, she was always willing to run errands with/for me. She also made sure that whenever everything seemed daunting for me she’d ask me to calm down and make a list so she could help. Oh, and in case you were wondering who the other crying person was at the wedding, that would be her. From coming to the fittings and trial make ups with me and making sure I had all my wedding paraphernalia in check. Thanks Lay! You know I love you but I might as well let the whole world know. :D

My Ahia's lovely family.

Wow, just three people and already this feels like a novel. Makes me think I should break it down into another post but to be honest I’d just end up being lazy. Haha…so let’s get on with it.

Alay was my official Matron of Honor but behind the scenes I had another Maid of Honor. Haha…we would joke about it but really Miggy and I wouldn’t be married if it wasn’t for Kaka. She literally drove to the City Hall with me, twice!, to make sure that had our Marriage License and stuff. She also went around running errands with me. I must not forget Rockie too! Both of them sat me down a month before the wedding and made sure I listed down all the things I needed and made sure I actually did it. But most of all, I need to thank these two awesome people for being extremely understanding!!! A couple of weeks before the wedding I got extremely sick it wasn’t even funny. That meant I couldn’t really do my share of work when it came down to it and not once did they say I was being unfair. They kept on insisting I rest and get better for the wedding. I did by the way. I got sick a week after the wedding though, typical me. So thanks awesome friends you guys are the best partners a girl could ever ask for! :D I love you to bits!

I couldn't find any photo with just the two of them, so here are some of my awesome friends who came to the wedding. 

Then there’s Eleonor. I’ve known Ele since we were in High School. I actually remember telling her we were getting married when she called me the night she got engaged! Hahaha…I couldn’t help sharing her happiness. Ele got married earlier this year. I originally thought we could plan our stuff together but she decided she didn’t really want to do a long engagement and got married in a jiffy. Which worked out for me because I could pester her about all the little details that drove me crazy and she would calm me down by telling me either they didn’t really matter or they would work themselves out. It was also awesome timing that she got married a few months before us because that meant she still had all her files and checklists and stuff and I could work from there. Ele also helped me with all the small stuff. From coming over to paint décor with me, to planning my surprise bridal shower with my sis-in-law and aunt, to forcing me to go to yoga because we both needed to get fit! Thanks for being my go to girl El! :D Love you!

There’s still so much more people we have to thank and this post is getting extremely long. So let me cut it here…LOL! There’s more to come! For now it’s of to Bali for us! Weeeee

A reminder that we're all human. Thank you PO1 Joselito Sevilla

I started writing this blogpost yesterday when I was extremely frustrated by the customer service of Globe. I wasn't able to finish it because I didn't want to seem to harsh or mean. So I let a day pass and tried to get my emotions in check. But then again I guess God has different plans for me today. As I was browsing through my FB timeline this afternoon I come across this link shared by a friend and it made me realize, I shouldn't really fret about the small things. Let me share with you the link that I am referring to... The Crying Cop

Everyday I try to be mindful of at least one thing in my life that I am thankful for. It keeps me grounded and sane and it makes me remember that I am indeed extremely blessed. Yesterday wasn't such a good day for me. I had a horrible time getting service from Globe. We've all had our share of horror stories and hair-pulling-extremely-annoying instances that as consumers we can only hope gets better. But then again reading that story made me realize how menial my problems and frustrations really are. Everything has to be put in perspective. However, I do admit that I am only human and there really are instances where in you loose your temper. I may look like I'm perfect but I'm really not. Hahaha, since it's my blog I have free reign and I say so. 

But let me put in my 2 cents worth on the crying cop. I am a firm believer of free speech but I am also a firm believer of respect. You can't have one without the other. I respect that some people who feel that they are oppressed have the right to go on the streets and march in protest to get themselves heard. But have they not heard of a peaceful protest? Sometimes it seems as if the ultimate goal of these protesters are to come into physical blows with the people who are trying to maintain order and safety. How do they expect to be heard when they themselves do not know how to listen. I know how frustrating it can become when you feel as though you have no voice and it will reach a point where in you will feel the need to take up arms. But what has that ever achieved? I remember a talk I had with an aunt a long time ago about being an activist. She used to be one in college and then she said she stopped because there came a point wherein she realized that she really did not know what they were rallying against, it seemed as though their only goal was to rally. Those words stuck with me. I wonder how many of those people actually know what their cause is, what do they want to achieve, what they are fighting for? I hope one day they realize that there are better ways of getting answers, there are better ways of being heard, there are more peaceful, more proactive, more productive ways that they can do aside from going into the streets armed with rocks and sticks itching for a chance to hurt someone. There is no solution in violence.

To the police officer who reminded us of the hardships and sacrifice they do to keep us safe, saludo ako sayo. Thank you PO1 Joselito Sevilla for being human enough for all of us. For standing there and keeping calm despite the crazy that was going on. Thank you for being unwavering in duty despite being there for 2 days without sleep, rest or food. Thank you for your service and your good work. Thank you for serving as an inspiration and a reminder that we can all become better people. You are a hero in my book.

I hope that when I'm having a bad day and I don't get the service that I want right away I remember that on the other side of the phone call or table or barricade, whatever it may be, is a human being and he too might not be having the best day.

Photos taken from Rem Zamora.