here comes the bride...

december 26 marked another milestone in our barkada --- it was grette and romel's wedding. the last wedding we'll be having for the year. this time, i made sure that i wouldn't be late and that i did. i was even an hour early!

every bride is radiant and beautiful on her wedding day and margrette was no exception. while walking down the aisle, however, i think i saw her fighting back some tears. :) but aside from that, she was glowing with happiness and pride, a smile on her lips the rest of the evening.

puerta real was transformed into a magical place as christmas lights were strewn everywhere. the clear night sky helped make it an even better evening, if that was even possible. as promised to grette, when it was time to be called upon for the bouquet throwing, we all (though reluctantly) got out of our chairs. but as always, we were able to dodge the bouquet and even myn got away.

as always, with all the other weddings i attended, it also doubled as a reunion and it was great to see old friends again. a cherry on top of the ice cream, you might say.

to romel and grette, best wishes to you both and bon voyage! take care!

christmas celebration

well, let's start with december 24. eventhough i promised myself that i would buy everything way before christmas, there i was trying to buy all the presents that i could for my family. i was not even thinking of buying stuff for friends anymore. well, first because i didn't have time and second, because i didn't have money. (i'm sure they understand *wink*). together with karla, faye and aljo, we were going around sm southmall trying to buy all our gifts plus what dad and mom would be needing for noche buena.

noche buena was a potluck dinner at the arco's place. we had five families altogether --- the endayas, the mendozas, the albises and of course, the marcoses and the arcos celebrating christmas. all families connected through the marasigan blood. :) we heard mass in hillsborough and then... noche buena! :) but the highlight of the evening was not the food but the exchanging of gifts. dad started off, being the oldest in the clan. and he picked... me! he handed me a package from bench that i put off opening until later. and then i had to give the gift to my baby... dad! talk about exchange gifts! :) another highlight for me was when tito ronnie was handing out his gift. he asked for five volunteers and since i was nearest and he was still lacking one, i joined in. he wanted the volunteers to guess who his baby was and whoever got the correct answer would win P500! his first clue was that his baby was a part of the family (meaning, not any of our helpers). then he said that his baby was very talented. i blurted out the first person that came to mind.. faye! then he said that his baby was a bunso (youngest). that made me think because faye was not our bunso though she was the youngest girl. his last clue was that his baby was still studying. venisse guessed via --- and via would fit those descriptions 100%. but then tita baby said that there was a hitch in tito ronnie's clues... and then tito ronnie announced that it was indeed faye and that i won the P500! :) wooohoooo!!!

after the exchanging of gifts for the monito-monita, we proceeded to give gifts to everyone. i got a shirt for dad, a blouse for mom, a bag for karla, a shirt from artwork for faye and a cellphone battery for aljo. for my aunts, i gave them didache, a gospel reflection guide. for tito ven and reggie, who always helped me with car questions, car trouble and anything related to cars, i gave them a bottle of car shampoo and a special car cloth (i have no idea what it's called). for my ninang, a foot spa set. for franco, cd's of sesame street (hoping that he'll enjoy something other than barney). ate tetet and kuya weng got a magazine rack from us (which doubled as mom's monito-monita gift). i also gave venisse and via a powerpuff badminton set and a cd holder for bea. the boys got chocolates (i wanted to give something generic and having so little time to shop, that was what i came up with). those are really just very simple gifts but the spirit of giving is the reason why i tried really hard to have something for everyone.

merry christmas everyone!

a very special day

a very happy birthday, dear jesus!

and a very merry christmas to everyone! :)

pre-christmas celebrations

i arrived home safely, and with a definite holiday mood eventhough i missed our company's christmas party yet again.

december 20, that next monday, i went to the office for a while to attend a conference call with the folks in bangkok. on a normal day, i would have wished that i was there physically as i have never been to thailand but this was an exception because a dear friend was getting married. and this time, they had their church wedding. me attending the conference call was not really a good decision since i (together with raf and rona) arrived late for the wedding rites. it had been such a long time since i last saw jen and karl so this also served as our reunion. we so wanted to throw a bridal shower for our friends who were getting married (jent, grette and jenp)
but our schedules were already hectic because of the christmas season so we weren't able to. jent was more beautiful than ever in her gown, her hair shining with the crystal-encrusted piece she wore. the reception was held at bahay ng alumni in u.p. and it was yet another reason for me to reminisce. the traditional bouquet throwing did not happen and instead the bride decided to award it to someone instead knowing that her single female friends (me included) would try to avoid it as much as possible (we aren't at that age yet where we're scrambling to get it). and the bouquet was awarded to... myn! this is the second time in our barkada's series of weddings that myn got the bouquet. i'm now wondering if there would be another set of wedding bells that would ring. :)

after jent's wedding, ginia was ever so kind to bring me to audrey's place in green meadows for the implementation team's christmas party. and so i was all dressed up when i arrived there. i made it on time without a white elephant gift though because i thought i wouldn't be able to attend. it was a costume party and since i was a bit dressed up, what i wore to jen's wedding doubled as my christmas party costume. we played games and our team even won in the "paint a picture" game since we had roy (dressed as a priest) and bert (dressed as santa). and since two of the scenarios were simbang gabi and santa on a sleigh, there was no doubt that we would win. :) lu, aileen and jocy went through the traditional new hire presentation. we even thought that they had it easy because they presented in front of a small group. the party finished a little past midnight with still a lot of beer and chips so it seems we're going to have another party to finish it all up. :)

december 21, a party long-awaited and long-discussed about finally happened --- the tsongers' christmas party. i would have wanted to say this was a long-planned party as well but me being in china made it hard for me to consolidate everyone's wish list and so i emailed some folks (those whose addresses i know) to just send their wishlists via sms. i knew most of the parent-baby combinations since i got to pick for those not in manila. even where we were having the party was a last-minute decision. we had to decide between chili's and red crab and those wanting seafood won. i called up red crab (which is actually the seafood club in greenbelt) and asked for a reservation but i was calling at 6 pm for a 7 pm reservation so they said that they would just accommodate us when we got there. the one i talked to said that there was a reservation for 12 people (we were 18) and if they did not come on time, they'd give that slot to me. and so i rushed from the office to make sure i arrived there on the dot. i had a minute to spare when i got there.

i looked like an idiot sitting in a table good for 18 people and so i texted everyone to rush. plus, if the waiters saw that i was sitting alone for a long time, they might make me move to a smaller table and then we're back to square one. good thing that everyone arrived soon and the party went under way. the food was delicious, it was even better since it had been a long time since i last had crabs. and a kilo of crab was actually just a single giant crab. when they said king crab, they weren't kidding! after sampling the different crab dishes, we had our exchange gifts. and so it went: alvin - eden - marta - eins - jo - bri - irish - andrew - romer - pogs - art - bert - reno - rose - neil - pearly - tintin - kat - alvin. it was great seeing everyone again and seeing all the gifts being given. better yet if your baby really liked what you got for them. :)

after dinner, we went for coffee (starbucks) and tea (coffee bean and tea leaf) and proceeded to a not-so-crowded area of greenbelt. that's where we spent until midnight exchanging stories. but like the song goes, all good things never last and we had to part ways eventually.

i am not sure when we'll all see each other again (probably next christmas) but this one could probably sustain me until our next reunion. :)

waiting to go home

one nice thing about starting a blog is that it keeps you occupied. like now. when you have more than six hours to kill while waiting for your flight home and you've been around to almost every store there is, it's definitely something to keep you busy.

right now, i'm in starbucks, drinking green tea frappucino (you'd think i i've had enough tea after a week in china) and having a slice of chocolate marquise (rich and heavenly!). a christmas song is playing though i don't recognize what song it is. the singer does remind me of shania twain, though.

there's really nothing much to do here in especially when your laptop doesn't turn on. i wish i could buy a book and charge it in my expense report, writing "to keep myself from being insane due to boredom" as a comment. or, have a bookstore here much like powerbooks where you can read all you want and not get angry looks from the attendants. i would probably finish a couple of books while waiting.

i'm almost done with my green tea frap and my chocolate slice is already gone (though it did remove any more thoughts of chocolate i may have had). i'm off to the free internet area where i can actually post this in the blogsite. two and a half hours more and i'll be on my way home.

see you in the philippines!

jotted down 3:55 pm
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note: the attendants in the airport bookstores did not actually give me the get-out-of-here-if-you're-not-buying-anything look but i'm not risking it.

this coming week

i close my eyes and pray that somehow this doubt in my heart would soon be taken away. i'm a worrier... probably the reason why somebody once told me that i think too much. soon i will know if i had a real reason to be jittery or it's just me giving unnecessary stress to myself. my fingers are crossed, hoping it would be the latter. wish me luck!

today...

...i am in my late 20's.

i know, shocking. and try as i may to will it not to happen, i am getting older. but turning 27 is not such a bad thing. well, sometimes it is if a lot of your friends are in their early 20's and the age thing comes up. everytime that happens, i don't know if i would be flattered that my younger friends are surprised that i am in fact, not in the same age as they are or if i should start saying that my age didn't go beyond 18.

whatever the case, i still have so many things to be thankful for... a wonderful job, good health, enough material things... but most especially really amazing people who have touched my life.

my family, for always being there for me. my parents, who have always been very supportive and loving. in their eyes, i am perfect. and nobody could love me as they have. my sisters, who have always been my confidants. they are the ones who i have pestered with nonsense stories but would always see the sense in them. they have always been the ones i can depend on to listen to the sad, happy and crazy stories of my life. my brother, loving as always and the one you can count on to be malambing. he sustains the looney side of me. my lovable nephew, who tires me so effortlessly but is so worth it.

my extended family, my brother-in-law, cousins, aunts, uncles, and even to my grandparents who are all with the Lord now, for keeping my sense of family intact. thank you for making me see how wonderful a family can be.

my college barkada, who i constantly keep in touch with only through emails and the occasional text messages and the far in between gimmicks. however seldom we may see each other, their love has remained constant and steadfast and after all that we have been through i know that neither time nor space can diminish the friendship that we have. love you, gels!

the tsongers, who i always pester when i need some company, need someone to talk to or to keep me awake during sleepless nights. thank you for keeping my spirits up, for all the tsismis and simply for being there when i need you. a lot of us may not be loyalty awardees, but all of us will always be loyal to the tsongers. to the wounds! :)

all my other friends... those i still have kept in touch with, those that i haven't, those that i may have forgotten or may have forgotten me. at one point in my life, you have shown me the meaning of friendship and for that, i will be forever grateful. if we have lost touch through the years, i hope one day our paths will cross again and we can rekindle the friendships we have shared.

the people that inspired me, for giving me moments i could blog and share with my friends, for giving me simple reasons to smile, for making me believe that dreams come true and for making me a better person, thank you.

and even strangers whose life threads have intertwined with mine. i believe that you are angels sent by God to give me a message, to uplift my spirit, to teach me life's lessons. all i know is that my life would have been different had you not been a part of it.

and to the Lord, for all the graces and blessings You so lovingly gave to me, thank you. thank you for letting me celebrate one more birthday and for letting me experience all the wonderful things that life has to offer.

my apologies if this sounded like an acceptance speech for an acting award. :)

i still have many wishes for my birthday but for now, it'll just stay between me and Him. i know He heard me. i just wish that He would also give me the patience to wait for them, the grace to be thankful if and when He grants them and the understanding that He knows what is best in times when He decides not to.

thank you, Lord, for making it indeed a happy birthday.

celebration

it was a hurried plan but since it was quite a few years since we've celebrated our birthdays, we decided to have one this year. it was karla's idea since she was planning on preparing something for her officemates but because she was willing to shell out quite an amount, i suggested that i just add on to that and hold it here at the house instead. we then told faye to invite her classmates and friends as well.

i invited my college barkada, my officemates from my previous company, officemate from my current company and some other friends. sadly, very few were able to come. i must admit, it was very short notice for a lot of them so they had their own plans by the time i sent out the emails and text messages. but some of my close friends did come and made my part of the celebration special.

it was a short celebration though since roy, the only one from my present company that made it to the party still had to travel all the way back to quezon city with abby. and as usual, the jlpt had most of my friends hurry home to get the needed sleep to tackle the kanjis and nihongo words that were to come their way the next day.

still, thanks to all of you who have made it special. until next year...

special time

aside from christmas, there's a time of the year that i regard as really special. three of my very best girlfriends are celebrating their birthdays. and during this time, i get reminded of how lucky i am to have them in my life.

to my sisters --- ate tetet, ate karla and ate faye --- i may not always say it and i may not even show it, but i hope you know how much i love you. be assured that this is one of the things in my life that will remain unchanged.

valentines in december

serves me right for not going to sagada with some friends. i did not just missed visiting a place i've been meaning to go to for a while now, i also missed one big event! it might be the cold weather or maybe something about the coming season, i don't know. all i am sure of is that love is definitely in the air!

cheers to you both! :)