SPh@Nuel 03.23.08

This is our first wedding attendance for the year of 2008 and indeed it was special. Shane had been my friend for years now. She was my MBA buddy.

The bride was radiant in her Inno Sotto gown. It was indeed a day of celebration. The Lord has risen! Paul and Shane decided to start their new life as a married couple on this especial day.

I am glad that these two were able to pull off their wedding! I remember not long before their engagement here was Shane via text message telling me that the wedding is off, and I was laughing while reading her message, because I have been there and I know how the wedding preparations can put strains in the relationship. Same with us, we almost called off our wedding plans!

Paul was all smiles when I saw him at San Agustin Church, he was telling me “Dapat maganda yan (referring to Shane) kung hindi isosoli ko yan! Ang tagal ko naghintay!” (She must look really good or else I will return her, I have been waiting for too long!) They have been on the BF-GF mode for seven (7) years. And indeed Shane, the bride was stunning when she got off from the bridal car and did her bridal walk! And believe it or not, it was Paul, the groom in tears! I hardly see men cry and when I do, my heart melts! Ha Ha!

The ceremony was quick and direct to the point, meaning the priest immediately jumped in the marriage rites. I mean maybe it is really like this when you don’t know the priest personally, maybe because they don’t know what to say in the homily. The wedding ceremony soon over in an hour, Paul and Shane finally married! Hoorah!!!

Reception was at the Maynila Ballroom of the Manila Hotel and it was beautiful! The dress up was fit for the occasion! Cocktails were served in the adjacent hall and my friends and I had a good time in the FabPhoto booth! We kept coming back for more!

The food was real good and free flowing! And we were full to the max! The lechon from Elar’s melts in your mouth!

Seeing the photos presented during the reception program taken by no less than Chito Cleofas himself brought back memories of my own wedding almost three (3) years ago and there were almost tears in my eyes seeing Paul and Shane’s photos. Chito is really good and for me he even got better! Oh well, Chito is the best!

The on-site video by threelogy was something to look forward too since I really wanted to see what went on before the wedding. And if only I don’t have Anne and I am not a busy mom I would have gone ahead at the hotel to be with Shane during her preparations, just like what I do to when my friends gets married.

My husband Dzune could not believe that a video can be edited that fast! Oh well I told him that it is indeed possible and if only we had enough budget during our wedding we could have gotten threelogy also and an on-site video at that. But during our wedding I scrimped on the budget for the video because photographs were more important to me.

Oh and at the last minute I was asked by Shane to deliver the speech for them during the reception. Thanks to HRH (his royal highness) Jjun Bana who helped me prepare my message. I was confident with my message because it was exactly what I wanted to tell Shane and Paul, but as I hear the host, Mallory call my name, I got nervous.

My message to Paul and Shane, which I know by heart, says:

“I met the bride, Shane in Graduate School, and hit it off quite quickly especially out of the classroom. We’ve been friends since then. With her friendship, the demands of graduate studies were made doubly fun and challenging. I’m happy to see you married my friend! Seven (7) years it worth the wait, I’m sure! I wish you both good health and happiness, as I believe that all else follows when you are healthy, you are happy. Congratulations and best wishes!”

Truly, I continued graduate studies because of the friends I gained there. And if there is really one thing that I am truly happy with, I gained friends in graduate studies.

All in all I can say that the wedding was a huge success. Everything paid off as Shane has said it. I can’t wait to see more of the photos; I told Shane that when she goes to Chito’s office I would go with her so I can finally get our wedding album.

8 Facts About Myself

8 Weird Facts

This is a tag from Rocks. It’s called “8 FACTS ABOUT MYSELF”. Here it goes:
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In 8 facts about yourself, you share 8 things that your readers don’t know about you. Then at the end you tag at least 8 other bloggers to keep the fun going. Here are the rules:

RULES:* Each blogger must post these rules first.* Each blogger starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.* Bloggers that are tagged need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.* At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.* Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
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This tag is hard from me, I can't think of anything weird about me, I asked my husband if he finds anything weird about me and his answer was none, wow I don't know if that's a compliment. Anyway, here goes. Pardon me if I cannot complete the 8.

1. The guys (boyfriends) that I had a serious relationship with were all born on July. Former bf Joel's birthday is July 19 (I think) then Erwin (may he rest in peace) July 18 and then hubby's is July 24.
2. Two of these guys (Erwin and Hubby) were Letranites. I don't know why I am attracted to them.
3. A few months before our wedding in 2005, I got hooked in the Korean Telenovela "Full House" I cannot sleep in peace without watching it.
4. I am with the same educational institution for 10 years now. And with the same department at that.
5. I finished all the academic requirements for my graduate studies but I don't want to continue with the thesis part.
6. I design, do layout as part of my work but the layout of our wedding album is not even in my to-do list yet.
7. I almost always do the layout and production of my friends, office mates baptismal invitation but I didn't have a baptismal invitation for my baby when she was christened.
8. When I gave birth, the first night our baby was home, I cannot sleep, all I want was to stare at the baby because I was afraid she might stop breathing!

Sorry if this is becoming an excuse, I don't know whom to tag since it has been long since I was tagged. Sorry.

MannaFromHeaven,LenaTeacher’, CornerJuliana Pinay Wahm, Roselle’s Sweet Escape, Roselle’s Blog,Life In The Blogger Lane,My PreciousMy Voyage,Berryblitz - Berry Blog, Happy ,
Rocks' Through the Rain, God's Gift, DzuneJenn

The Best is Yet to Come!

Like the author of this article, I want to share this with the world because I myself is a believer, thanks to my husband, Dzune who never gives up in telling me that the best is yet to come. 

The Best Is Yet To Come!

A Wife Of A Jobless Husband Shares Her Story of  Waiting…

I met Yane Pe Benito when I gave a talk at her company. Yane is a lovely woman with such an amazing story to tell, I decided to share it to the world.

Two years ago, Yane’s husband, Beni, without warning, lost his job. It was doubly painful because it was a great job. For 6 years, Beni enjoyed working in a multinational distribution company for skincare products. But because of a reorganization that happened in the company (which is happening in many companies nowadays), he was “redundated”. 

Yane decided to tell her two small children, Gabriel (then age 6), and Marga (then age 4) about the sad news, carefully choosing the words she’d use to put it to them. “Kids, we have to take better care of our things… and not waste our money because …Daddy doesn’t have a job anymore.”

Little Gabriel said, “You mean Daddy was fired?” Yane was surprised at the bluntness of his words. “Now where did you learn that word?!” Her son said matter-of-factly, “From Peter Parker - Spiderman.”

But yes, redundated was just a fancy word for “Get out, we don’t need you here anymore.” Losing a job is always painful, even if it goes with a “separation pay” or a “redundancy package”. While Yane was thankful for the windfall, part of her was anxious, wondering how long their family was going to have to live off the separation package.

The first few months were OK; Beni got an average of two invitations per week to come for interview. But as the months stretched to a year — and then more, the invitations got fewer and far between.

During the almost two years of her husband’s joblessness, Yane was going through her own anxiety. As a mother to two growing schoolchildren, she saw their savings getting smaller. (As a contingency measure, she moved out of her 8-yr old job to accept a higher-paying one.)

But aside from the dwindling funds, she was also worried about Beni’s self-esteem. It wasn’t that he wasn’t trying; it was apparent thatthere just weren’t enough job opportunities for middle-aged men with his background and experience. There were actually two jobs that he accepted, but both were short-lived. Call it a conflict of personalities or a clash of styles, but he couldn’t see himself working there long-term. Anguished, Beni would walk out the door again.

And their marriage started to suffer too, since she was the one who was now earning for the family. “Will my husband’s ego take this for long?” she asked herself many, many times. As each month passed, she was getting more and more worried for Beni.

Yane began questioning God, “Lord, I don’t understand what else you’re trying to teach us! How else should we pray? What else should we pray for?”

That was when Yane realized that their prayer had to be more specific. 

So she gathered her two kids around her and said, “Let’s pray for Daddy, that he would find a good job with a good boss – someone like his first boss in his former company.” 

And so that became the family’s specific prayer. “Lord, please help Daddy get a boss that is as good and kind as his first boss in his old company, in Jesus name.”

One day, about a year ago from today, Yane came home from work and saw the kids and her husband in a huddle. “What’s all this about?” she asked.

She heard her kids whisper excitedly, “Show it to her now!”

Beni handed her a brown envelop.

Yane thought it was something from the kids’ school.

But no. As she slowly pulled out the paper from the envelope, she read the name of a company…then her husband’s job title… then his salary… At these, she merely nodded in satisfaction.

But when she got to the bottom of the paper, she was shocked. For there was a signature. It was that of Beni’s favourite boss!

To her kids’ astonishment, Yane began to cry and laugh at the same time. She could hardly believe it! Like a child, she jumped up and down with joy, much to the kids’ amusement who jumped and laughed along with her. 

Gabriel asked his mother, “Mom, why are you crying and laughing at the same time?”

Yane saw a great opportunity to explain, “I’m crying because I’m so happy, son. Remember how you prayed for a good boss for Daddy? Look at this name,” she pointed to the paper she was holding. “We were merely asking for a boss that would be like Daddy’s old boss. But no, God gave your Daddy exactly the same boss! He answered our prayers!” 

That was when Gabriel began to sob.

“Why are you crying?” Yane asked.

“Because I’m so happy too,” the little boy said, as the entire family embraced each other.

When Yane shared me this story, I knew I had to share it with you.

Because all of us go through many hardships and losses.

We lose our jobs, we lose our loved ones, we lose our money, we lose our friends… And sometimes, we wait and wait for the pain to go away, for the loss to be recovered. Sometimes, we wait for a long time. (Yane and Beni had to wait for two long years.)

But in the end, I believe that God has prepared the very best blessing for you.

Have faith. Trust. The best is yet to come!

I remain your friend,

Bo Sanchez

Anne and her love for kamatis (tomato)

I don’t know how it developed and when. All I remember is that one day I came home with a bag of tomatoes then Anne kept pointing to it which I cannot understand, I tried to ignore her until my Mom told me to wash one and give it to Anne and we will see if she eats it. And she did!

From then on she eats tomatoes whenever she sees one on the table or wherever she sees it. I don’t know if its in the genes, her father tells me that he was fond of eating tomatoes when he was a kid and so as Anne’s Ninang Lyra. Oh well, if eating tomatoes will make her grow up to be as pretty as her Ninang Lyra, then I don’t have a reason from stopping her eat/like tomatoes!

Anyway, I did a research and what I learned is that it really doesn’t have much nutrients like the other fruits but it is really rich in Vitamin C. A medium tomato (120 g) contains about 23 mg of vitamin C and it enhances iron absorption. But tomatoes is poor in calories that’s why it is often included in diet since you need not worry about excess kilos when you eat it. In addition, tomatoes has lycopene which is the responsible in the red color of the tomato and which is known to a phytochemical, which means that it fights some cancer.

When buying tomatoes, pick the ones with really smooth skin, avoid the ones with bruises and the soft ones or refrigerated, since the cold damages them. When exposed to cold, crakes will create on the skin opening it to bacteria, so never store tomatoes that has been washed. Just wash them on warm water before eating it but not before storing it. Tomatoes must be stored in room temperature but not for too long for it will ripe.

Tomatoes can be added to anything since it goes well with any food. A trick I learned is that if a recipe calls for peeled tomatoes you don’t use a peeler for this, drop the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute or two then place it under running water and the skin will easily fall off. Isn’t this Interesting, guess I’ll try it one of these days.

Tagged! Message in a Bottle

Got this tag from Jan ages ago. He he. Well, I took a break from blogging because I got sick. Anyway, I want to do the tag because from the time I read about it on Jan's blog, I know what my message in a bottle will be.

Here are the rules:

You are about to send a virtual Message In a Bottle across the Blog Ocean. Leave a message in the sand or on the bottle. Write anything you wish. Be a pirate or a poet. Serious or silly. Anonymous or not. What message would you like to send out to the universe?

1. Compose a message to place in your virtual bottle.

2. Right click and SAVE the blank graphic below.

3. Use a graphics program of your choice to place the message on the picture.

4. Post the Message In a Bottle meme and your creation on your blog along with these rules.

5. Tag a minimum of 5 bloggers - or your entire blogroll - to do the same. Notify them of the tag.Your virtual bottle will remain afloat in the blogosphere ocean for all blogernity (That’s a Mimism for blog + eternity.)

And my message in a bottle reads:

Now I need to tag someone. But am clueless whom to tag...

Then I need to go over Mimi's Site since I got this tag from Jan and add my blog's name on the master list I guess.

We are sick

I guess it's the weather.

I've been sick for a week now. Not to mention Baby Anne is sick too. She is better now I guess, been giving her cough meds. I hope she continues to recuperate. It's hard when a baby is sick. Yesterday she turned 15 months. But because I've been sick and let's say I've been taking things easy at home, I didn't cook her the usual pansit (noodles) I guess I will have to make up to her but we have plans for the weekend.

We will be going over to my in-laws, they will be celebrating I think their 37th wedding anniversary. Wow! I really admire them for that! Imagine being married for 37 years and counting. I wish they will have more anniversaries to celebrate. I bet they are also looking forward to seeing Anne on that day. It's been months since we went home to the house in Balut. We are having a busy schedule. Dzune is enrolled in Graduate School and he has classes all day Saturday, (as in until 9pm) and we only get to spend the day together on Sundays, and I cannot travel alone with Anne. She is a handful. So I cannot bring her to my in-laws on my own. I guess, we will just make it up to them on the days that we don't work, like this coming Holy Week. 

A course on blogging

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

An award for me!

Hey Anna thanks for sharing with me  this tag/award! This is the first award I ever got!




All I have to do is copy/paste my tagger's thingy then tag 5 other people after. So here goes.

Rule: Copy the entire list and add your name at the bottom. And tag at least 5 friends. (But you can tag as many as you like)

Thea, my scrappy side, Childstar, abie, aggie, alpha, apple , apols, jacqui, jane, jody, joy, mike, kelly, mich, peachy, dorxie, Butchay, lena, anna,jhen

i really don't know whom to tag...let me pass for now, i will think first whom to tag.