travels

we went to the NATAS fair last friday. it was a fair that featured good travel deals. i'm not sure if they were pretty good prices. kuya and april scouted for packages for their planned australia tour on august. i went to look if there were nice packages for our honeymoon on december!

mike and i initially agreed on going to palawan for honeymoon. original choices were: cebu, bellarocca resort in marinduque, and palawan. i forgot how we narrowed down the choice to palawan. hehe. we initially had thailand in the list but we figured once we are here, it would be easier to go to thailand (due to proximity) than to go back to the philippines. so palawan it is.

but come friday, i saw some really tempting offers in the NATAS fair. we've always wanted to go to koh sa mui in thailand. the pictures are just gorgeous! i think the prices are not that good but the beaches are really nice! and so i was torn. i wanted to go to thailand and i wanted to go to palawan too. i sent mike and SMS and asked him, where are we really going? things are really easy for guys. his reply was really simple: "palawan :)". hehe ba't ba nanggugulo ako?!? so again, palawan it is! hahaha!

as for kuya and april, they decided not to get the australian tour because it's quite expensive too. so in the end, all i had taken from the NATAS fair is the picture above. :) people going to the MRT from the fair. hehe i wonder: how many of them went home happy with their dream travel packages?

ps: NATAS is SATAN spelled backwards. scary. :s

God Makes Wonders

today, when i logged in to facebook (yes, facebook is a part of my daily routine), i saw that dear mike became a fan of "God Makes Wonders" page.

the moment i saw it, i clicked "become a fan" right away. i have so many reasons to become a fan today.

• God makes wonders because today, i received a very good news. i was haunted since last week. it could have been worse, but i received a call today.

caller: hi, the results are back
me (ever bingi): huh? did you just say "the results are BAD?"
caller: sorry to frighten you. i meant the results are back. B-A-C-K. you have nothing to worry about.

yes, God makes wonders. despite my being bingi, i heard good news!

• God makes wonders because we were able to execute a successful despedida party for our dear sunshine who is leaving the team. the wonder here is we were able to celebrate and see beyond the sadness of saying goodbye. it was a joyous night. good food, wonderful people, happy laughter.

• God makes wonders because i have a strong mother - strong in all aspects. she is still in very good shape at age 56. no major health issues, i bet she'll outlive me :p she is just as strong emotionally. she has been through a lot, still going through some more, but she sure knows how to make lemonade out of lemons thrown badly at her. i know God is behind her every step and every breath.

• God makes wonders because baby girl is coming in a few more weeks. how else could you define a miracle? a concrete example is how a mother carries and nurtures another living creature inside her. new life never fails to amaze me. can't wait to see you, baby! auntie cat is here for you :)

dear God, i am a big fan. i am a big fan of how you make little wonders each day. i am a fan of the magnanimous blessings. i am a fan of how you touch my life. i am a fan of how you teach me and mold me into becoming who catherine really is. i am a fan! :)

sugarol

last saturday, we went to the resort world casino upang umusyoso. hehehe. it's not my first time to go to the casino. we were not frequent visitors, but mama, kuya, and i went to "visit" the casino filipino for a couple of times. wow! couple of times. couple of times na ba ang 3? hehehe. i was never lucky in gambling.

mukang hindi na mauulit ang casino visit namin dito dahil naman, meyn! papasok ka pa lang, olats ka na! nakapaskil sa entrance:

100SGD - entrance fee for Permanent Residents and Singaporeans
2000SGD - Annual Fee

my toinks moment:
me (malabo ang mata, napasigaw. later on wishing i did not think aloud): wow! ang mahal naman ng bayad kapag may dala kang ANIMAL! 2000! bat naman ako magdadala ng ANIMAL sa casino?!?! edi iiwan ko na lang sa bahay!
april (tumawa, pero parang nairita): ANNUAL yun! magsalamin ka na nga!

bwahahaha bat kasi nagmamaganda at ayaw magsalamin :p

visitors have no entrance fee. april and i are PRs, kuya and wawin are not. so entrance pa lang, may cash out na agad kaming 200. wow talaga.

anyway, we went there to have some fun. at the top of our heads, we'll not spend more than 100 each inside the casino. so ayun, mega buy na kami ng chips. 400 all in all, tig 100 na taya kung saan mo gusto. kuya introduced us to the roulette. ang ganda pakinggan! pero in reality, para lang syang laro sa perya hehe. may roleta, papaikutin ang bola, hanggang patigilin sya ni gravity at ma-stuck sya sa isang number sa board. ang mga tao sa paligid ng mesa, bago tumigil ang bola, maglalagay ng chips sa hula nilang lalapagan ng bola. pwedeng odd, even, red, black, first 12, 2nd 12, etc., or yung single number mismo ang tayaan mo. yun ang pinakamalaking premyo - kapag nahulaan mo yung single number!

as i said, malas ako sa sugal, so si wawin ang pinaghawak ko ng 200 namin. sabi ko "wawin, bahala ka nang tumaya kung saan mo gusto pero bago tayo umuwi, itaya mo ako sa number 5. yun lang ang hiling ko."

haling na haling ang mga tao sa pagtaya! as in isang tayaan ay 1600! na nawawala na lang na parang bula kung mali ang hula mo. as in!

hay, inabot kami ng 6 na oras sa loob. mananalo, matatalo. paulit-ulit lang. hanggang nagsawa na kami, malapit nang umuwi. pinaalala ko kay wawin ang number 5 ko. na-tempt akong imbis na 2SGD chip ang ilagay, 25SGD na lang. pero nagpigil ako. sayang naman ang 25. pinigilan din ako ni wawin na tumaya sa single number, bagkus ay inudyok nya akong tumaya sa 1 to 6. ibig sabihin, mas mataas ang chance na manalo pero mas mababa ang premyo. fine. sige malas nga ako diba?

boom! lumabas ang 5! "akalain mo?" yan na lang ang nasabi ni wawin. hahaha. jackpot na sana :p as i say, malas ako!

wawin's toinks moment:
kuya: o ito ang roulette... blah blah blah
wawin (bumulong sa akin): roulette? yun ba yung russian roulette?
ako: win, may baril ata yung russian roulette e. hahaha!

so magkano ang nalustay?
caths: 100 (entrance) + 50 (bets) = 150
wawin: 50 (bets) = 50
kuya: bawi lang (bets) = 0
april: 100 (entrance) + bawi lang (bets) = 100

ayus. pwede na rin ;) uulit ka pa? hindi na po :)

numbers (and june ticket booked!)

three reasons i should go home this coming june:
1 - it's maumau's wedding on the 25th and i'm MOH. i love maumau. my soul and her soul were twins during college. they still are :) very evident in the similarities on certain details on our weddings.
2 - we're having our engagement pictorials. the plan is to have it in boracay since we both love beaches. but... we're also trying to trim down the expenses so we opted to go with plan b - aquatico - we fell in love with this resort! so nice! promise! we still have to deal with out-of-town charges for the photographer and makeup artist, though. so we'll see if we can have aquatico.
3 - i want to see mama and mike.

two reasons i missed the cebu pacific seat sale:
1 - i haven't asked for leave approval yet and the sale was only until 21st of feb.
2 - i'm starting to boycott cebu pacific. they did something terrible to my mom.

two reasons i booked with jetstar:
1 - they have a prosperity sale! i booked my ticket at only $240++.
2 - jetstar is not cebu pacific.

one thing you should not do on facebook:
1 - post how you feel during petty and major fights with your bf. i think cheesiness is tolerable but fights - no no. give the other person some respect and dignity :) and do you really want the whole to know that you are fighting? :p baka naman gusto mong sa pribado nyo na lang pag-usapan yan, or why not have an imaginary thought bubble? AND KEEP YOUR THOUGHT IN THE BUBBLE? sounds better? :) yup!

one how-did-that-happen moment:
1 - i am trying to trim down my guest list. target is 75. the original list that i have contains 85. this morning, i sat down and tried the impossible task of trimming down the guest list. from 85, i was able trim it down to 91. toinks! how did that happen?!?!?

one person i miss:
1 - you
walang kokontra. sabi ko pwedeng maging cheesy. :p

Facebook says...

he's been nagging me to change my status since last year. :p yes, call me the queen of pessimism. i think i've cultivated too much negative vibes in me. i wanted my status to remain as "single" so i won't have to go through the shame of having it changed back to single again if something went wrong. :p

now that we're almost halfway done with the preparations, maybe it's time to change the darned status. so there you go. :) medyo nagtatampo na sya, kasi parang wala lang daw hahaha.

i am not an active member of w@w. i've just been lurking for the past months. i haven't posted a single query, neither have i helped another bride-to-be by answering a question or posting a suggestion. i guess it's just my personality to always just be in the background.

so how did it all happen? since last, last year (i think), we've been talking about getting married.

i have a backup plan, though: to remain single until old age. i told God, "dear God, i really, really, really want to get married and have kids. if it's not in your will, then please allow me to age gracefully and build loving relationships with my mother, brothers, nieces, nephews, and friends. let me live a happy life, married or single."

marriage was all just a dim plan until october, 2009 when we finally informed my mom and his mom about it. again, nothing formal, we just let them know and asked for their blessings over a quiet dinner at golden fortune. basing from the reactions on their faces, i could tell they were shocked. maybe they really didn't see it coming. maybe they thought it was just a quiet dinner :p

shocked, yes. i didn't sense anything negative from both sides, though. mama and tita and tito were all very supportive from day 1 up to this moment.

getting kuya's approval was another problem (or so i thought). though i know that he will not say no, he shows his disapproval in ways that will let you feel "wag ko na lang kaya ituloy?" hehehe. God moves mountains. no doubt :) when mike went here last christmas season, kuya welcomed him. no questions asked, like nothing bad ever happened in the past. i love my family. i love how supportive they are. likewise, i love his family too. equal levels of support from both sides. blessings from God = overwhelming amount talaga. woohoo! thank you, papa God!

and hey, i have my ring :) he gave it to me last december after a very loooong walk in funan. he said, "don't worry, you'll be happy later." and then i knew that he'll give the ring on our scheduled singapore flyer ride. you see he's not so good in keeping surprises hehehe.

so the preparations began. at ten months to go, i think things are great. :)

we need prayers for a smooth preparation. credits to mike for being very hands on. sometimes i feel so helpless being away from him and being away from manila - the site of the wedding. he has no choice but to arrange things on his own. much more than smooth preparations, we need more prayers for a blissful married life after 10 months. :)

may we learn to accept our differences. may we learn to complement and compliment each other. may we learn to forgive and love unconditionally. may we learn to not sweat the small stuff, but just laugh at trivial, silly things. may we learn to correct each other in a loving manner, in a manner that does not hurt the other. may we learn to accept corrections in the hope of being a better person. may we learn to grow old gracefully with each other. may we learn the art of reading the thoughts of each other in times of danger and distress (inspiration: lily and marshall). may we learn to live and love :) so help us, God!

remnants

he was here for 5 days. five. precious. days. if that's all that we could have then i'll take it. :)

we spent a good amount of time shopping. i told him no more shopping next time he's here. sayang ang miles. we could have just strolled to cool places or talked or enjoyed silly stuff instead of doing the less glamorous art of shopping. i never enjoyed shopping :p

moments like these remind me that i somehow have a bf :p whatever. hehe.

and now he's gone. i'm used to being away, yes. but somehow, seeing little things brings back good memories. i'm not sure if it makes me happy or sad seeing them. happy because we shared good times. sad because it's just temporary.

the towel that he borrowed from me on his last day still hangs on the terrace.

his unfinished pack of calbee chips is still in the ref.

his green cross alcohol is on the table. he left it because the bottle is broken.

the bed sheets that we used are still unwashed in the hamper. in fact, i'm still using the pillow case that we used.

he didn't bring home the souvenirs that he bought for his friends. how could he if they weigh 10 million kilos? hehe

there's this little stool that he brought out on the shoe rack area because he had a hard time time tying his shoes. must be the belly :p

little things. magnificent effect on my emotions.

the goal is to see each other again on feb.

cheers to a good year, cheers to forever! *wink*

saturday extravaganza

saturday was special! pamper day and social day for me.

first stop was my facial. i think it has been more than a year since
my last facial. masakit. dumugo... ang mga pimples kong pinutok ni
ate. awww... but i love the feeling of facial massages! and someone
else removing whiteheads for you!

second stop was cafe cartel lunch. i was a bit disappointed with the
baby back ribs. where did all the flavor go? mistulang nilaga lang
ang ribs at pinunasan ng bbq sauce. whatever happened to marinate?
haha! nevertheless, it was a good meal. masaya naman. mushroom pasta
was also good.

third stop was pedi session with april. i have to salute ate for
being tough to my stubborn calluses. whew she was so tyaga. i think
she's the most meticulous pedi girl i've met. i swear, nakayod talaga
ang kalyo ko! cheers to ate's tough skills!

and last stop was the ubs dnd at the arena in clark quay. it was an
anap night. music, food, performance, raffle winners, etc. the
favorite phrase was "lahi na naman nila?" hehe. anyway, it was a fun
night. we danced like we were free-spirited creatures! susme arte
lang. the interaction with other groups was great. i need more
mingle lessons maybe. hehe

the day was good :) simething different :) nyt!