tying the knφt

We're married!

2005-12-26T21:21:00.000+08:00

happy holidays everyone! :)

2005-11-29T12:28:00.000+08:00

15 days to go!

Here's what we have accomplished recently:

1. Missalette covers
2. Guest cards
3. Wine labels
4. Tags for the tokens
5. Souvenir tags
6. Bought ring and arrhae boxes – Got pewter jewelry boxes for these; really lovely and elegant. :)
7. Bought my bridal shoes - and at a very good price at that :D
8. Bought tokens for all the members of the wedding party
9. Finalized the mass attendants
10. Finished making the missalette. Still waiting for the approval from St. Jerome. After which, we need to pass a softcopy to our coordinator so she can start the production.

Items 1 to 5, DIY by Godwin :)

On the other hand, here's a rundown of what we still need to finish for the big day:

1. Review the guest list and make a seatplan. Will probably just do zoning, I don’t intend to go crazy over this.
2. Buy earrings and hairpiece. I finally found the hairstyle I wanted! Thanks again to Jane for saving my life. :D
3. Finalize the reception program. Still waiting for the draft from our coordinator
4. Doves! ACC won’t provide the doves. I hope our coordinator can find a shop near Alabang.
5. Wrap tokens before packing them into our luggages.

So am I nervous? Well, I had a bad bout with hyperacidity last Thursday night that prevented me (and Godwin too) from getting any sleep the whole night so I was unable to go to work last Friday. Godwin kept asking me whether I was skipping meals and I said I was not. Only after I got the medicines from the doctor did I finally admit to him that it was probably because of wedding jitters.

I made the draft of this blog entry on Thursday night, shortly before I went home.

2005-10-24T21:37:00.000+08:00

Here's a list of our activities during my 5-day trip back home. In chronological order:

Wednesday

- Coming from the airport, we just dropped my stuffs at home, had a quick lunch and proceeded to Freshcut at Vivere to discuss our reception and entourage flowers and mini-cakes. We also settled our booking with Vivere. We just need to call them a week before the event to confirm the feasibility of late check-out.

- We then proceeded to Alabang Country Club with both our moms to have our first ever meeting , do an ocular inspection of the ballroom and have food-tasting.

Thursday

- We went for our Pre-Cana interview at St. Jerome. All fees have been paid in full.

- I had my 1st-fitting (lining only). The fit was almost perfect. It's good because it means they're accurate and efficient since I only sent them my measurements. Bad because it means I still haven't lost weight. I think I've even gained some pounds since we got back here in Singapore. Huhuhu!

- We had a meeting with our OTD, Queen and David of Just Like Ours. The meeting took very long since they were very thorough with the details and I came prepared as well. I dished out my 8-page checklist (narrowed down from 18 pages. haha!) so I can update them on the status of our preps.

- Had dinner with one of my very good friends and we also distributed invitations to my former work colleagues in Alabang

Friday

- At 7am, Sujee promptly arrived at our house for my trial makeup. Since I'm not really familiar with makeup brands and techniques, I placed my full trust on her to make me look decent with makeup on and she did not disappoint me. TMU itself took almost 3 hours because she tried different shades of foundation before finally settling on one since I told her that my skin is very acidic. Luckily she chose the perfect shade for me and it didn't turn darker at all the entire day. As for my hair, she had difficulty setting the curls because I have thick and stubborn hair strands. She told me that her hair assistant wasn't available that day but she will bring her along on the wedding day itself. We were running late for our prenups at UP so she did the curls haphazardly. As expected, the curls didn't last very long. I only had wavy hair by the time we got to UP. She promised to do better curls on the day itself.

- By 1130 we met up with Karl and Mimi of Fotogra at UP. We got down to business immediately since they had an appointment at 2pm. Our prenups was originally scheduled at 10am so we were 1.5 hours late. Madami-daming pictures na din sana yun. :( Anyway, we shot at Eng'g Building, Beta Way and the Lagoon.

- We were scheduled to have our civil wedding at Manila City Hall at exactly 3pm. We left UP at 230pm, flew...err...drove all the way to Manila but since both of us were not familiar with the area, we took Espana. Why is it so jammed at 3pm, isn't peak hour supposed to start at 5pm?! :-P Anyway, to cut the long story short, we were 1 hour late for our civil wedding. Our parents were teasing us that the judge is about to leave so we won't be wed anymore. Hahaha! Good thing the judge also came in late (but she was still earlier than us) so it wasn't that bad. When she met us before the proceedings, all she could say was "Ang tagal nyo!" pero with a smile naman. Hehehe! After 20 minutes, we were pronounced husband and wife. :)

- Next stop was Baywalk as we had to shoot our AVP with Frank of Imagineer. Frank also covered our civil wedding as part of our AVP. No interviews, no mushy videoke scenes. We just sat on one of the swings along Baywalk, watched the sunset and Frank even took pictures of us even if we only got him for video. :)

- By 6pm, we were at the doorstep of Casa Marinero for our civil wedding dinner with our immediate family. Our families feasted on Lengua, BBQ spare ribs, Grilled Tanigue with Lemon Butter Sauce, Carbonara and Molo Soup. They had huge servings and both families were able to take home a hefty amount of leftovers. :)

Saturday

- Saturday morning, we visited my uncle pianist who will be playing on our wedding. We gave him a list of songs which he will perform live. During the lunch reception, he will still be playing the piano but only instrumental music. Since he regularly plays at hotels and functions, he has a standard set of love songs so we'll just let him decide on that. One disappointment with ACC though is that their piano is not usable. Good thing my uncle is open to the idea of bringing his baby grand to ACC. We're just waiting for Lyric's quotation on the cost of transporting the baby grand to and fro their house. I hope it won't cost us an arm and leg. :)

- Afterwards, we had dinner at Sugi for the pamamanhikan of my sister-in-law's fiance.

Sunday

- Our flight is at 1220pm so we had to be at the airport by 9am. We just had a quick breakfast with our families at Jollibee (i missed jolly hotdog!) then they dropped us off at the airport.

Married life has been such a bliss. :) I think we're enjoying it immensely that we have neglected the remainder of our preps for the past 2 weeks. Haha!

52 days to go! We better get back to our preps so we can give our OTD coordinator some updates whenever we catch each other online.

2005-10-24T20:59:00.000+08:00

i loved my makeup. :) if my memory serves me right, this is the first time i looked decent with makeup on. during the very rare times that i needed my face to be made up, i always end up looking like someone else. hehe!

i'm glad i only needed one trial makeup session. aside from being costly, i didn't have the luxury of time to go for another one.

2005-09-28T13:41:00.000+08:00

Vannie took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test!

"Over-imaginative and given to fantasy or day-dream..."

Click here to read the rest of the results.

hmm...

***

not much update preps-wise. i have a little dilemma though. i've always loathed having a video of myself taken. i don't know why but i'm not really keen on it. having my picture taken is one thing but videos really make my knees wobbly. hehe! thus the difficulty godwin had when he wanted his proposal to be recorded on video. :P
now, he WANTS an AVP from our videographer. i saw a sample from them and it was a plain interview which didn't appeal to me at all. can anyone suggest a videophobic-friendly AVP concept? :D

please don't suggest a photo slideshow/flash presentation, we're also doing that on top of this AVP. thanks! :)

2005-09-18T21:22:00.000+08:00

89 days to go! :)

we have accomplished quite a number of things and my 18-page checklist last june has been reduced to 5 pages now. not bad, eh?

* we got victor's lights and sounds for our sound system and LCD projector. they had the cheapest package rate we could find for these 2 "items".

* i didn't know that proofreading an invitation layout can be very tedious. our entire week was spent on correcting the proofs over email. i don't understand why they couldn't make everything correct at one time. good thing the people at unifair are easy to talk to. maybe they just need to pay more attention to details. the email marathon wasn't enough though so godwin is coming down tomorrow to finalize everything so they can commence printing our invites.
plus points for unifair:
1) their prices are very reasonable
2) they are very generous with freebies
3) they agreed to print our map at no additional cost

* i changed my gown design...again. hahaha! it's now a hybrid of my original choice and the sheath gown i posted earlier. big thanks to jane who took pictures of THE GOWN at one of germany's bridal shops. :D i had my measurement taken earlier today by finn's (fellow w@wie) mother-in-law (dressmaker) who's here for a visit. thanks again finn! :)
i'll be sending these measurements to my mom so our gown-maker back home can start making a "kacha" version for my 1st fitting in october.

* 23 days to go until i go back home. can't wait! :D

2005-09-03T20:24:00.000+08:00

ay, may blog pala ako?! hehehe!

been caught up with the preps since godwin has officially completed his mba studies mid-august. graduation will be on october 1. congrats 'by! :) his graduation also meant another thing, now he can run errands for our preps. :D

so far all suppliers have been booked. ang galing namin. :D contracts have been drafted and down payments have been made. we really wanted to settle everything before he joins me here in october and i also want to turn over all details to my OTD coordinator when i go home next month.

***

we have started distributing our save-the-date cards. thanks to eye for the layout. :)

we just printed it out on photo paper to get better picture quality.

***
september 5 update:

guess who had a divi adventure yesterday. :D

godwin, with one of his groomsmen braved divi on a busy sunday afternoon. i made a list of the things to buy: barong fabric, sinamay bags and gel pens. thanks to the w@w yahoogroup, we knew ahead of time where to buy such things and special thanks to leah for the referral on LCM house of barong because we got a discount. ;) we got pina silk for him, pina cocoon for both fathers and pina jusi for his brother-in-law. sinamay bags for 750mL wine bottles (18 pesos each) and gel pens (54 pesos for a box of 12) were bought at divi mall. i was supposed to ask godwin to buy rolls of ribbons but his reply was “sa national na lang. ayoko na dito.” hahaha! na-traumatize ata. and when i asked him if he will ever go back there again, all I got was “depende" (with matching ROTFL icon sa YM) :P

2005-08-13T22:24:00.000+08:00

finally, some updates! :)

* we have decided to have our preps at vivere suites. thanks to pebbles and leo (both from w@w) who generously shared their pictures taken at vivere. the staircase may not be as grand as other hotels but it's good enough for us. we plan to book the suites by end of this month.

* our quest for a videographer is finally over. i have pencil-booked imagineer digital for a 1-cam setup earlier this week. video was not among our top priorities so we really didn't allot much budget for it; hence, i had difficulty scouting for a supplier who'd meet our budget. i earlier pencil-booked one videographer who gave us a lower rate than imagineer but i'm really disappointed with him since he doesn't reply promptly to text messages and emails. i'd hate to think what if he doesn't show up at our wedding, scary huh?

* i have bought tokens for the female members of our entourage. another item off the list.

* i have placed an order at sookee jewellery this afternoon for our wedding rings! :) the leadtime is 6 weeks, plus 4-5 days for engraving. the ETA is just right so i can bring it home in october when we have our civil wedding. the happiest part is that godwin will be joining me here after our civil wedding then we'll just go home again in december for our church wedding. yey! :)

we originally planned to have our rings made by godwin's mom's jeweler but it seems she was not familiar with comfort rings so we just decided to get our rings here. we ended up not getting comfort rings anyway. hehe! thanks to both our parents who generously offered to pay for our rings (among other things). :D
here's how our rings will look like:

******************************************
i've been tagged by leah!

A is for Accent: I'm born and raised in Manila but when I'm in Quezon, my parents' hometown, i speak with a strong Tagalog accent. (yano ito ay! heheh!). Now, I'm consciously trying to avoid adopting a Singlish accent. (can or not? hahaha!)

B is for Biggest expense: One-time expense: laptop and digital camera; otherwise i'd have to say shoes and bags. :D

C is for Chore I hate: Ironing!!! Ack!

D is for Dad's name: Virgilio

E is for Essential cosmetic item: VMV armada

F is for Favorite perfume or cologne: I don't really have a favorite but I'm currently using D&G Light Blue

G is for Gold or silver: White gold

H is for Hometown: Quezon City

I is for Insomnia: Only when I'm too engrossed with chatting. Hehe!

J is for Job title: Hardware Engineer

K is for Kids: At least 2. Sana twins agad para 1 time lang ang sakit. Haha!

L is for Living arrangements: Sharing a flat with my aunt and uncle. I hope to move to our own flat once we get married. :)

M is for Mom's birthplace: Atimonan, Quezon

N is Number of apples you've eaten: A lot! I take apples especially when I go on a drastic diet. :P

O is for Overnight hospital stays: can't remember now

P is for Phobia: I don't like watching horror movies

Q is for Quest: To be able to raise my own family successfully.

R is for Religious affiliation: Roman Catholic

S is for Siblings: 1 younger sister

T is for Time I wake up: weekdays - 730am; weekends - anything goes

U is for Unnatural hair colors I've worn: burgundy when i had my hair cellophaned some 3 years ago

V is for Vegetable I refuse to eat: a lot! this question is easier to answer if i just need to list down what veggies i eat. :D

W is for Worst habit: Procrastinating. Nuninuninu....

X is for X-rays I've had: Since companies require a chest xray for new employees, i've had 3 in 4 years. Had a dental xray some 2 months ago.

Y is for Yummy foods I make: Adobo? Even I am not sure if it's yummy enough. However, I'd like to think that any dish I cook/prepare is edible. Hehe!

Z is for Zodiac sign: Aries

I'm not tagging anyone. If you like this survey, feel free to answer it on your blog. ;)

2005-08-06T12:36:00.000+08:00

sheath or ballgown?

when we started our preps in june, i easily found a design i liked from theknot. since i won't be having my measurement taken until october, my gown design has taken a backseat in our preps. now, i feel like changing my skirt design. :D my original choice was a ballgown but now i've been thinking that it might be difficult for me to go around with a ballgown and it will look too "bongga" for a morning wedding. i'm totally ignorant of silhouettes, fabrics, practically everything related to making a gown. i stand 5'3", i have an hour-glass body type, my waist needs some work though. haha! won't a sheath silhouette make me look stocky? i'll have a corset top like the one in the picture. and instead of having a ballgown, i'm considering these 2 sheath silhouette skirts for my gown.

***

i'm having difficulty finding the right song when we show godwin's baby pictures in our AVP. any suggestions? please reply to this entry since my chatterbox is usually down. thanks! :)

2005-07-31T20:08:00.000+08:00

I've been tagged by Haydee! (ito Ref, kaya kong sagutan. hehehe!)

1. What are the things you enjoy doing even when there's no one around you?

I read a lot. I have no preferred genre or author. I read anything that I can find in my room. Usually I’d borrow books from the library, buy magazines or bloghop. Reading pa din naman yun diba? :D And autistic ako pag nagbabasa, a trait I got from my father. Hindi talaga ako nakakausap ng matino pag may binabasa ako. Hehe!

I dance. During the very rare times that I play mp3’s from my PC or turn on the radio, I often find myself dancing to upbeat songs. :)

I shop. There are times that I tag Godwin along because he can stand walking around the mall for hours and he’s very patient in giving me his opinion on the things I buy. Wag lang madalas kasi hindi nga sya magrereklamo but you will see him grimacing in pain from too much walking. Wawa naman.

2. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level?

Talking things out with someone. I talk a lot and I need someone to hear me out. He/she doesn’t have to say anything. I probably won’t agree anyway. Hahaha!

Comfort foods. I love sweets. Cakes, chocolates, ice cream. But now I have to cut down since I really need to lose weight ASAP.

Shopping. When I’m agitated or anxious over something, shopping soothes my mood. Hihihi!

I talk to myself. Nope, I’m not psychotic. :-P But I usually try to motivate myself to see things from another point of view. Since I practically live alone, I don’t have anyone to vent to and I can’t do the 1^st item on this list. :D

3. Tag 5 friends and ask them to post it in theirs.

Let me tag my friends from w@w so we can all take a breather from our preps. ;-)
Jane (Eugene)
Jane (Joey)
Jannah
Leah
Marj

***
i know this is supposed to be a breather entry but i just need to list down something related to our preps. :-D

i'm still on the lookout for a cupcake supplier. as always, i'm working on a tight budget so the cupcakes with packaging has to be under 50 pesos each. short-listed are cake world, sugarbox, joy san gabriel, virginia cakes, costa brava, freshcut, vienna cakes and cake craft. if you know other suppliers or you have any feedback on the suppliers in my list, i would really appreciate it. :)

whew, july flew so fast and we didn't have any updates. nuninuninu...

2005-07-14T22:17:00.000+08:00

one of my college friends gave birth today to a healthy baby girl, the first in our group. congratulations to jojit and cheryll and welcome to the world carla julianne rey valderrama! :)

ref, it's your turn now. :-P

***
my leave application for december has been approved! yay! i even get to spend christmas and new year back home. yun nga lang, i'll go home only 5 days before our wedding day. am i crazy or what?! hehe!
BUT i also applied for a week's leave in november to settle things like wedding gown fitting, trial make-up, prenups, meeting the suppliers, etc. in short, walang tulugan sa november. :-D

***
i've been trying to eat healthy the past 2 weeks. think low-fat milk, low-fat cereals, no rice, less oil, fruit/veggie salad for dinner. sana kayanin ko hanggang december. :D my office colleagues are planning to play badminton weekly starting next week, syempre join ako.

i just wish godwin and i will have enough willpower to wake up 30 minutes earlier everyday to jog or do some workout. :)

***
EB Update:

only finn, joan and myself met up at takashimaya. joan came later than we did so finn and i whiled the time away by feasting on the goodies sold at the food festival. hehe! sorry, we didn't take pictures since it was quite embarrassing to take one in the middle of a very crowded mall. :-D but we promised each other to meet up again next time, hindi na impromptu para other w@wies can join us as well. :)

2005-07-09T20:25:00.000+08:00

there really isn't much update on our preps, just some inquiries here and there. you see, godwin is supposed to finish his MBA thesis and pass his oral comprehensive exam within the month or in august at the latest. so no preps for him, ako lang dapat. but i think he's also addicted to the preps as much as i am since i often catch him checking our email account which is subscribed to weddings@work. nagugulat na lang ako if he suddenly asks me over ym what's a diamond peel, or who was that w@wie na nagsend ng pictures ng vivere (thanks leo!). ang kulit! sinabi na ngang walang preps e. matatawa yun pag nabasa nya 'to (peace tayo 'by). :-P
***
so much for not falling prey to the great singapore sale. as soon as i got my pay last week, i bought 2 bags, 2 shirts and 1 perfume. ngayon naniniwala na ako sa kasabihang, "habang pinipigil, lalong nanggigigil". hahaha!
***
july na. sabi ko last month i will start working out by july. hanggang ngayon di pa rin ako pumupunta sa gym.

i.need.to.start.losing.weight.
***
for all bride-to-be's out there, worried about crying/bawling on your wedding day? here's one sensible advice i found through blog-hopping (thanks Christine!):

"I should've followed my friend's advice and should've sang 'Tong, tong, tong, tong, pakitong-kitong...' in my head to keep me from crying."

let me know if you find it effective. :-D

suppliers' rundown

2005-07-02T12:54:00.000+08:00

After a month of preparations and with 167 days to go before the Big Day, here's a rundown of the suppliers we have:

Church - St. Jerome Emiliani Parish
Reception - Alabang Country Club
Cake - Alex Franco
Designer - Mary Ann Intac
Hair and Makeup - Annalyn Paniza
Bridal Car - AdeB
Wedding Rings - Godwin's mom's jeweler
Photographer - Mimi Abesamis
On-the-day Coordinator - Queen Gutierrez-David

Still need to finalize the following:
Hotel for Preps
Videographer
Florist (Reception & Entourage)
Invitations
Sound System, Projector and Screen
Barong Fabric Supplier
Tailor

***
A check with ACC confirmed that flowers are not included in the reception package. Thus, I had to revise my list of floral requirements. The 1st florist I considered gave a steep quotation so I had to resort to a florist from Dangwa. Good thing a friend of mine who got married last year got a Dangwa florist to do her entourage flowers. She helped me in getting a quotation and after much haggling, Gemma agreed to a price well-within our budget. With the specs changing every so often in order to reduce the cost, I decided to make a powerpoint presentation with all the details and pictures of the flowers I want, converted it to pdf, have it printed out and presented to the florist para mas malinaw. ok di ba? :D
***
Our wedding rings will look something like this (Milgrain Comfort Fit Wedding Band). Sana kaya ng jeweler gumawa ng comfort fit rings. Godwin and I tried some comfort fit rings at Sookee Jewellery and we liked the fit a lot.

***
Nakakapagod din pala ito. We definitely enjoy the preps and all but sometimes we find ourselves wishing na sana December 15 na. :D

new template...same problem plus updates

2005-06-25T23:08:00.000+08:00

still couldn't figure out how to align the rest of the body with the sidebar. but at least this template is better, it only leaves out the comment portion and not the content of the entry. will have to make do with this for now... until my OC side intervenes. :-D

***wedding updates***

godwin finally met up with alex franco a while ago. we're getting a 5-layer satellite cake and based on my family's reaction on the sample cake, we really need to ask alex to keep 1 layer for us just to make sure that we'll be able to have a taste of our wedding cake. hehe!
***
we also got queen of just like ours as our otd coordinator and emcee. godwin met up with her and paid the reservation fee after his meeting with alex. so far, queen has been very cooperative and generous in giving us ideas. i just hope she'll continue to live up to our expectations. :)
***
a recently former w@wie, velvet, has started her LCD rental business and she's having a promotion for w@wies who will book their services until september, 2005. i've already reserved the infocus x2 projector for us and that means savings in our budget. yey!
***
mama already got the swatches for my gown. she'll be sending it over soon, i just need to find someone here who can take my measurements. that won't be until october so no rush but i really need to start losing weight. :-D
***
our prospective videographer is taking forever to send me the package inclusions thru email. kung di lang kami nagtitipid... nuninuninu....
***
i'm keeping my fingers crossed that yasmine of tita beth's flowers will give us a reasonable quotation for the reception and entourage flowers because this is one of our least priorities. as long as they are not wilted, it's fine by me. i just hope she'll be able to provide us with presentable flowers at minimal cost.
***
we still haven't finalized the hotel for preparations. it seems that bellevue is more expensive than vivere if you're not availing of the privilege card. mama mentioned that one of my aunts know someone from parque espana and that we might be able to get a referral. we'll be including the place in our list of hotels to do an ocular inspection. i wonder if their lobby looks nice for photo-ops.
***
my tito who moonlights as a pianist in several hotels in the metro has generously agreed to play the piano during the reception. i just need to find a female vocalist because some of our chosen songs are better sung by a duet or a female.
***
booked and paid the reservation fee for an MB E320 bridal car from AdeB.
***
found the website for personalized m&m's, they have the candies in our motif and they are so cute! too bad they're quite expensive. we still haven't finalized what souvenirs to give but it will definitely be something edible. siopao, anyone? :-P
***
we've short-listed some suppliers for the following but we haven't made any final decision yet:
1) invitations
2) barong fabric and tailor
3) sound system

commercial muna

2005-06-18T20:38:00.000+08:00

came from a pinoy foodfest at meritus mandarin earlier. the food was not bad but there was a very limited selection of dishes. i feasted on siomai, lechong kawali, baked mussels, lechong manok and various pastries for dessert. too bad i couldn't try halo-halo because i'm suffering from colds and sore throat now. sayang, walang crispy pata and bibingka, yun pa naman ang main motivation ko sa pagpunta. hehehe! promise, magdadiet na talaga ako starting next month. :-D

***

please congratulate me. it's the 3rd weekend of the great singapore sale and i haven't bought anything yet. zero. nada. zilch. i couldn't bring myself to buy a new bag or pair of shoes thinking that that amount can already pay for the invitations, or our wedding cake or other wedding-related items. nyehehe! 3 more weeks to go. can i truly evade the great singapore sale? abangan! :-P

baby steps

2005-06-10T21:25:00.000+08:00

i'd like to think that we're making fast progress, these are the things that we have accomplished for the first two weeks of preparations:

1) booked the church (st. jerome) - already made the downpayment
2) booked the reception venue (alabang country club) - already made the downpayment
3) booked the photographer (mimi abesamis) - downpayment will be made this weekend
4) booked the cake-maker (alex franco) - godwin will be meeting up with him soon to discuss the details
5) finalized the motif - it will be canary yellow and lavander. wala nang theme, wala akong maisip e! hahaha!
6) finalized the gown designer - both our moms went to see the designer a few days ago and she gave us a reasonable quotation. got the referral from godwin's sister, she was the one who made her and her entourage's gown during her wedding. i just hope she lives up to our expectations. :) the designs will be submitted this weekend, 1st fitting for the entourage will be on september. mine will be later than that, which is good. hahaha!
7) finalized my gown design - found it on theknot and i'm so glad mama liked it when i sent her the pictures. she's my worst critic so i really feel jubilant whenever she agrees with my choices. haha!
8) save-the-date cards - my good friend eye has generously agreed (o pinilit ba kita? haha!) to make our std's. we are just finalizing the design and i plan to send it out by end of this month. sorry eye, now you can't make up your mind whether you want to be a photographer or a graphic artist. hehehe!
9) barongs for the groom and immediate family members - this will definitely be kingsmen because godwin doesn't want any other barong-maker. so kingsmen it is. :) he will be inquiring this weekend on the available designs and their leadtime.

now we're on the lookout for the following suppliers:

1) invitations - we have already chosen a design, we just need to know the cost. btw, does anybody know how much an embossed sticker costs? or will it be cheaper to buy the embosser, then just buy sticker paper separately?
2) florist for the entourage - since st. jerome has an official florist and acc has its own in-house florist, this is our only concern. hopefully the packages won't be expensive, this is one of the least items on our budget.
3) bridal car rental - typical white car will do as long as the upholstery and aircon are good. hopefully this won't cost us over 3k.
4) videographer - initially we didn't want to have this since we'd rather invest in pictures. but after thinking it over several times, we decided that we need one to at least cover the event. no fancy editing required. godwin will be coming to the bridal fair this weekend, hopefully he will find one who will fit our measly budget. :-D
5) hair and makeup artist - i have some concerns which i posted in w@w and i'll be cross-posting them here. i might not have enough time to get a trial makeup before the wedding so please make recommendations based on these considerations:
a) my face is soooooooo oily. and acidic. in fact, when i put on face
powder, it turns a few shades darker on my face after some time. as
for oiliness, face blotters help a lot but i would like to minimize
using them on the day itself.
b) i have chinky eyes, i don't want to have double eyelids just by using
make-up because i don't think it would look natural. i just want to
open my eyes a bit more, my before and after pictures still need to have some resemblance. :-D
c) our budget is 10k and below for at least 5 persons. i would love to
get denise go but hair and makeup is not our priority so her fees are way over
our budget
d) someone who can stay until the reception - this is optional but
will definitely be a big plus

long way to go...

THE proposal

2005-06-06T21:58:00.000+08:00

a magnified view of my engagement ring. the design is called hearts and arrows. :)
******
cross-posting this story from our wedding website
***
He recently went for a vacation here in Singapore and on his birthday, I prepared some food at home even though we had plans to go out after hearing mass at 6pm. We planned to go to Boat Quay since he has never been there before. So after mass, we went to Boat Quay. We always brought my tripod along so we can freely take our pictures whenever we wanted to and so we took pictures along the way. When we reached the far end of Boat Quay, near to the bridge which lies over the Singapore River, he wanted to take a video of us watching the river boats go by. I don't know what hit me but I truly didn't like the idea. I thought it was so cheesy. It was like he wanted us to make commentaries of the river boats passing by. So while he tried to coax me to make the video with him, I kept being difficult, super stubborn talaga. That's when he started 'maglambing', 'pagbigyan ko na daw sya, just this once', and lastly 'may sasabihin lang ako'. Stupid me but I never had a clue even after the last statement. I reluctantly set the camera to video mode, set the timer, pressed the shutter and took my place in the frame.

All of a sudden he went down on one knee, and said 'Will you marry me?'. My world stood still. Suddenly there was just the 2 of us in that place. I think I cried at first, but I knew I was smiling or was it laughing (in a good way, of course). At least that's what he said. Hahaha! I'm not sure whether the word 'yes' came out of my mouth but I was definitely nodding my head in approval while crying.

Alas, we realized that we were not alone and there were people who witnessed the event. This is because one Caucasian lady went up to us and joyfully congratulated us after she saw what happened. It was totally unexpected. May extra pa sa video namin. :) When I gained back my senses, first thing I did was to check the camera. I wanted to replay everything because I felt that it happened so fast. Guess what, I did not press the shutter at all!!! I must have thought that I pressed it but I only managed to do a half-press. I was really so frustrated and ashamed of myself. He tried damn hard to convince me to be in this video, was so tensed that I was not cooperative at first and he was racking his brains how to convince me just so his proposal plans will push through. And what did I do? I didn't press the darn shutter all the way through! Sigh, we knew we couldn't repeat that moment ever again. But we still wanted to have a memento of that event and so after giving it some thought, we did a take two. Hahaha! This time, I made sure that everything will be captured. He still did the kneeling part (in public ha, just imagine his guts to do it twice!) and though I feigned the getting surprised part, I admit that seeing him propose all over again still made me giddy and dreamy. Nope, nobody came up to congratulate us again but we heard some people clapping after I accepted his 2nd proposal. Hehehe!

His reason for not proposing yet to me at an earlier time? He said he was waiting to do it at the right place, at the right time. And his plan couldn't have been more perfect than this. :)

St. Jerome Emiliani and St. Susana Parish

2005-06-04T19:46:00.000+08:00

godwin and i have heard tons of masses in this church during weekdays (1st friday or holy days of obligation). since i used to work in alabang and he in laguna, this was the most convenient church for us. katabi kasi ng atc. hahaha! when we decided to get married, this was really our 1st choice. our 2nd one was the parish of holy sacrifice in UP since that's where we always hear mass during sundays. luckily there was still an open slot when we inquired, 10am nga lang. but it wasn't really a problem for us. as long as it's the 15th and it's going to be in st. jerome, we're happy with that. :)

*images swiped from http://artwalk03.tripod.com/

danger! woman at work!

2005-06-04T15:41:00.000+08:00

this blog will be undergoing some overhaul because of the recent developments in my life. :) since i'm too lazy to maintain even just one blog, creating another blog for the wedding is not an option. so for the meantime, (until december lang naman. hehe!) this blog will document all the preparations we are doing for the big day. :)

lots of updates coming up! :)

*check out our flicker badge on the sidebar, those are our pictures over the years. ang dami 'no? kahit ata di na kami mag-prenups, makaka-5 AVP's kami. hahaha!

this is where our journey begins

2005-05-30T21:07:00.000+08:00

Boat Quay, Singapore

it was his birthday
we were just strolling
taking pictures as we went by
then all of a sudden we stopped by the bridge
he said he wanted to take a video of us just because
i found it cheesy so i didn't agree
little did i know what his real plan was
reluctantly i agreed
and so i took my place in the frame
before i knew it, he was down on one knee
asking me to marry him
i cried
i laughed
i kissed and hugged him
all at the same time
i couldn't find my voice
but i still managed to blurt out 'yes'

this is where our journey begins...

*kinikilig pa rin ako hanggang ngayon :-D

time to hit the road...again

2005-05-21T12:06:00.000+08:00

Saya pergi jalan-jalan ke Kuala Lumpur dan Genting, Malaysia. :)

take a dip

2005-05-08T13:23:00.000+08:00

with the temperature in Manila reaching as high as 36 degrees Celsius lately, wouldn't it be nice to go for a swim whenever you want to? or as my family always does back home, we hie off to the nearest (think 5-minute-walk-near) mall. hehe!

good thing rain has been continuously pouring here since this morning. it's quite windy, just the perfect weather to stay in bed.

all ears

2005-05-03T22:39:00.000+08:00

my current obsession: dangling earrings!

love 'em! in fact, i can't get enough of them. especially after my sister and I reached a conclusion that dangling earrings indeed brighten up your face (read: blooming ang dating). :-D

an office colleague noticed earlier that i have been wearing these lately and she offered to make me one. yey!

somebody.stop.me.

our house... in the middle there's a tree

2005-04-30T12:46:00.000+08:00

i'm back! :) greetings from tiny's keys. yup, got my major wish last christmas although i bought a different brand. :) so now, no more excuses not to update this blog. or so i thought because i've had tiny for more than a month and it's only now that i'm posting an entry. haha! salamat sa lahat ng tumulong para di mamatay ang chatterbox ko. :-D

our lot used to have a humongous acacia(?) tree on one edge, good thing DENR allowed the developer to remove it. otherwise, the title of this entry would have been applicable to us. hehehe! this was a design made by one of papa's architect friends. we expect to move in by end of Q3. :)

God is good. Always. :)

meat trade

2005-02-08T10:40:00.000+08:00

Chinatown

tomorrow and thursday are public holidays since singapore is celebrating the lunar new year. i wonder if i'll ever receive a hong bao. :-D

Gong Xi Fa Cai (May wealth come your way)!

shower of blessings

2005-01-27T18:05:00.000+08:00

St. Andrew's Cathedral

i make it a point to thank Him constantly for the blessings He has given me all these years. just this week, i have learned from my loved ones of 2 good news which has made me really happy and excited.

sabi nga nung bata sa favorite kong jollibee ad - "thank you po!" :)

view from top

2005-01-22T13:35:00.000+08:00

Sentosa

it was a public holiday yesterday (hari raya haji) so my sister and i went to sentosa where we had a fun-filled day. this shot was taken onboard a cable car and on the foreground is the humongous superstar virgo.

most of our conversations yesterday went like this:
vannie: o andito na tayo, dali pose ka na so i can take your picture.
eves: ano ba ate, pagod pa ako sa kakalakad kinukuhanan mo na naman ako ng picture.

addict na ba ako? hahaha!

better than s_____

2005-01-19T13:05:00.000+08:00

Henlin, Tagaytay

Q: What's better than siomai?
A: Siomai, with a view. :-D

getaway

2005-01-11T13:53:00.000+08:00

Sonya's Bed and Breakfast

another picture taken in tagaytay. we loved the atmosphere at sonya's, very calm and conducive to relaxation. too bad they served mostly veggies that's why we never ate there. hehe! but the place was definitely very nice. g and i took lots of pictures...err...i took lots of pictures, g just had to pose for the camera. :)

happy new year!

2005-01-05T14:01:00.000+08:00

Tagaytay

i had a wonderful vacation back home during the holidays though it lasted for only 11 days. i'm so glad i was able to see the people i love and care about - my family and friends.

i dreaded saying goodbye again to my parents and g though. hopefully it won't take another year for us to see each other again. my parents have plans of visiting us (yep, us since my sister will be joining me here in 2 days' time) by middle of this year.

g and i had a post-christmas date in tagaytay and this was one of the nice pictures we had. it's only my 2nd time in tagaytay and i always immensely enjoy this place. the weather is so cool, you have a great excuse for cuddling even in public. hehe!

last night, i was feeling giddy and my nape was aching. i thought i was having a high blood pressure but fortunately, the doctor told me this morning that my bp is ok and it's most probably just stress. whew, just 2 days in singapore and i'm already stressed out. haha! sabi ko na nga ba, i needed a longer vacation. :-D

christmas cheer

2004-12-20T17:45:00.000+08:00

Sentosa Fountain Garden

2 more days and i'll be home again. i can hardly wait!

happy holidays everyone! :)

3rd

2004-12-15T10:20:00.000+08:00

Night Safari, Singapore

one candle for every year you've brightened my life...

happy anniversary baby!

wish(eses) ko sa pasko

2004-12-08T10:20:00.000+08:00

Wat Phra Kaeo, Thailand

Christmas is just around the corner, let me chalk up a list for Santa just in case he's feeling a little generous this year. :-D

1. an IBM Thinkpad X31-1UA or an iBook G4 - i've long wanted to buy a notebook and now that my company's offering a PC loan, i guess this will become a reality soon. yey! but i still wish that Santa beats me in buying it. :-D
i'm really torn between getting an iBook or a Thinkpad. I've never used an Apple computer before and although they say that i can easily migrate from Windows to Mac, i'm a bit doubtful about it. yun nga lang, kikay kasi tingnan ang iBook 'no? haha! PLUS, an iBook is S$700 cheaper than the Thinkpad model that i want. form-factor wise, it has to be a 12.1" for me so pasado silang dalawa sa criteria na yun. anything else i need to consider? hmm... alin kaya sa dalawa?

2. a pair of black south sea pearl earrings with diamond studs - ito, definitely wish lang talaga. hayyyzzz...

3. a gift certificate worth $5,000 from The Body Shop. I hardly use make-up (heck, i don't even know how to put on proper makeup!) except for a little cheek tint and some lip gloss but a lot of my skin care and bath products are from body shop. wouldn't it be so nice to get a gift certificate from them? a lifetime supply of their products is even so much better. swapang na ba?

4. a leather watch whose straps are preferably red/magenta. something like this or this.

5. a novita steamer - ironing is my least favorite household chore! receiving this will really make me jump in delight.

6. a new bed - but this design also looks nice 'no?

7. a full-length mirror - but i want something which can double as a clothes rack, i just couldn't find it in the Ikea website. siguro pag pumasok ako sa Ikea aabutin ako ng 3 days bago lumabas. haha!

so what's the relevance of the picture in this post? simple. i wish i was rich enough to live in a palace like this so i can easily afford everything that i want to buy. ;-)

a glimpse of bangkok

2004-12-02T14:20:00.000+08:00

here are more pictures taken in bangkok. from top to bottom starting from the left-hand corner:

1) a traffic enforcer in the middle of their highway (reminds me so much of EDSA!)
2) looks a lot like our own baywalk, huh? this is actually a park beside a national road. it seemed so serene, maybe i should have taken a picture of the humongous jam on the other side of the road. hee!
3) this local tricycle look-alike is called the tuktuk. aside from buses and taxis, tuktuks are the most commonly-used means of transportation for tourists and locals alike. remember the james bond-visa advertisement? pierce brosnan rode a tuktuk there. however, they usually charge as much as taxis do so it was more convenient for us to take a cab instead.
4) a typical residential-cum-commercial area in the streets of bangkok
5) traffic jam as seen aboard a bus. typical aircon bus fare is 12-20 baht. like in the philippines, they also have bus stops but you can flag them down and alight from the bus anywhere you want, even in the middle of the road. :-D
6) BTS national stadium station. BTS fares are so high! we paid 35 baht for a 9-station trip from national stadium to mo chit where chatuchak market is located.
7) emporium mall holding a midnight sale. we weren't able to buy anything from this mall because they only sell signature stuffs.
8) the view from our hotel room

amazing thailand

2004-11-29T17:36:00.000+08:00

Wat Phra Kaeo, Thailand

i'm back! :)

bangkok was a blast! we had a great time visiting all the temples and other tourist spots and an even greater time shopping! :-D our hotel was situated in the middle of pratunam so just by going out of the hotel lobby, you'll already have access to the shopping stalls. even the malls are nearby, usually just a 10-minute taxi ride away sans traffic. needless to say, bangkok is a haven for bargain-hunters.

for someone like me who has never travelled anywhere other than to my parents' hometown, a trip like this seemed so surreal. my best friend and i shared the excitement and the feeling of independence. we felt so grown-up. (late-bloomer ba? hehe!) we can't wait for our next journey!

naturally, i took lots of pictures so i'll be running a bangkok series on this blog (read: di na ako mahihirapan mag-isip ng entry. haha!) so i can share with you a piece of bangkok as i saw it. :)

just rambling

2004-11-10T13:05:00.000+08:00

Singapore Botanic Garden

i am sooo tired. been going to and fro indonesia for the last few days where our contract manufacturer is located. when i woke up this morning, i honestly thought it was already saturday. good thing tomorrow is a holiday (Deepavali), i just hope i won't be called in to work overtime. monday is also a holiday (Hari Raya Aidilfitri) at sayang yung friday na na-sandwich, sarap mag-SL. :-P

buti pa ang mga tao sa picnic ground na 'to, pahiga-higa, pagulong-gulong. uhm... hindi naman ako sa pagulong-gulong naiinggit, syempre. haha!

but then again, this is all good because it just means that i still have a job, right?

~o0o~

2 weeks to go before our trip to bangkok. i need to file for a leave asap!
any shopping provisions for me? ;-)

~o0o~

came across this entry in her blog. now i'm craving for a beard papa cream puff all over again. pano na lang ang diet-dietan ko nito? dapat wag akong dumaan sa takashimaya anytime soon!

~o0o~

ey, only 44 days to go before christmas, have you done your christmas shopping yet?

the good, the bad, and the filthy

2004-10-27T10:10:00.001+08:00

Sentosa Orchid Garden

let me introduce you to the characters in this entry:

bab - if becky has bobby, maganda has malakas, and alwina has aguiluz, then i have bab. with reference to the entry's title, he's "the good".

tiny - that would be not-so-tiny me. need i explain why i'm "the bad"? :-D

and lastly, meet winnie - short for winnie-the-fish, our pet flowerhorn. read on to know why he gets the last monicker.

we bought winnie from a pet shop 1 year, 5 months and 4 days ago along with his 4 "siblings". we knew that flowerhorns are territorial creatures but we were hoping maybe not when they were barely an inch long. unfortunately, we were wrong because as months went by, winnie eliminated them one by one and emerged as the sole survivor.

winnie and the gang live with bab and since he is very busy with a demanding job and equally demanding graduate studies, the aquarium only gets to be cleaned at least once bimonthly, and that's if they're lucky. :-P

as flowerhorns get bigger, they need to be fed with live fishes so you can just imagine how filthy the water can get in between cleaning periods. because of this, bab and i have a running joke that winnie has gotten so used to living in a sewer-like habitat and might get sick if we clean the aquarium too often. haha!

but as i said earlier, our winnie is a survivor. and now that he is as long/big as a peso bill (see inset), his proud parents (that's us, tiny and bab) couldn't be happier. :-)

identity crisis

2004-10-20T10:12:00.000+08:00

Fullerton Hotel

i was pleasantly surprised to see our flag among a group of flags hoisted in front of the fullerton hotel. i tried to find out what the reason for this was (using my favorite search engine of all time. hehe!), but i haven't had any luck in doing so. the oc in me tells me that maybe i should i send them an inquiry via email about this. :-P

i have been mistaken as a local countless times since i came here. no thanks to my chinky eyes and fair complexion. calling extreme makeover team, give me double eyelids please!!! :-D usually they would just come up to me (to ask for directions or sell something) and start speaking in mandarin or cantonese. when i tell them that i don't understand what they're saying, they'll always go "ooh, you look like a local, lah!". some assume that since i don't understand them, i must be a bahasa-speaking malaysian. the only thing that would give away my real identity would be when i start to speak in english minus their singlish accent (some malaysians use this accent too). there are times that i just let it go because i'm too lazy for a small talk, but often i would correct them and tell them i am a filipino. some of them stop at that while others would go on probing and ask me what i do. i simply tell them that i'm an engineer, smile sweetly/smugly (depends on how they posed the question) and in no time, they'd stop "investigating".

plane rides and cruises

2004-10-13T09:45:00.000+08:00

SuperStar Virgo as seen from a monorail ride in Sentosa

no, i'm not going on a cruise YET. hopefully (read: budget-permitting) by next year. :-D

anyway, i'm off to bangkok, thailand for a 3D/2N holiday next month with my best friend. yey! can't wait to go shopping, sightseeing and taking lots of pictures. twinkle (my beloved ixus 430) and i will surely have a great time. i just hope i won't forget to take pictures in the middle of a frenzied shopping expedition. haha!

next on the list is a trip back home to the philippines just in time for christmas and new year! :) this may not be a big deal for others but for OFW's like me (it feels funny to be called as such pero yun talaga ang tawag sa akin di ba? hehe!), going home for the holidays is one of the major things we look forward to every year.

so there, 2 events in 3 months' time. hindi naman pala ganun ka-uneventful ang buhay ko. :-P

i love the night life... not!

2004-10-08T16:35:00.000+08:00

Taken from the 70th floor of Swissotel The Stamford Singapore

tgif! another week has passed and i'm looking forward to waking up late in the morning again. blissful, isn't it?

while most of you would probably hie off to your favorite night spot or to that newest club in town tonight, i'll be going home straight from the office, fix my dinner and watch the weekend slowly creep as i devour my books. such a bore, huh? well, night life has never been my thing. even back home, i'd rather go to the mall or have a quiet dinner than party all night, inhale all the cigarette fumes (which always triggers an allergy attack) and get wasted. not that i have anything against people who love partying, it's just that i have a different definition of having a good time. oo na, pang-manang ang definition ko. :-P

when i was younger, i detested the fact that i was not allowed to go out as much as i wanted to. i was always the party-pooper, having to go home way much earlier than anybody else did. but now that i'm on my own, i just can't bring myself to party wildly as much as i would have wanted to before. yes, i am a certified victim of the stockholm syndrome with my parents as my captors! hahaha! anyway, i may have missed a lot of action because of that but whenever regret starts to consume me, i just tell myself that the money i would have spent for a few hours of gimik could go a long way if i just use it for shopping. ;-)

happy weekend everyone! :)

macro wannabe

2004-10-06T13:05:00.001+08:00

Singapore Botanic Garden

photography talk: i know i'm not supposed to put the subject smack in the center of the frame, but how on earth do you apply the rule-of-thirds for a macro/close-up without adding unnecessary details? btw, there IS a difference between the 2 but i don't exactly know how to categorize this shot. macro na lang para mas techie ang tunog. hee! besides, how do you find a subject to focus on within the subject (which in this case is the flower)? i really need to practice...

wok with van

2004-10-04T18:15:00.000+08:00

being independent has brought out the domesticated in me and i'm not so sure if that's good or bad. haha! back home, i never bothered to learn how to cook my favorite dishes because i knew that i can always rely on mama, papa, or my sister to cook it for all of us. now that i'm on my own, i have nobody to rely on to cook those dishes for me anymore. yesterday, i whipped up 2 dishes for my baon this week, partly because i've gotten tired of the usual fare at the hawkers and foodcourts here.

1st on the list is pork adobo with button mushrooms. this one is relatively easy since i've learned how to cook adobo from my papa way back in college. i just added mushrooms because well, i love mushrooms and that's just about it! :-D the 2nd one is sweet & sour fish fillet. i bought a pack of frozen fish fillet from the grocery, coated it with flour, added some seasonings and deep-fried it. (please don't count the calories as you read this entry. haha!) the sauce is a bit more tricky since i never really tried knowing what mama puts in her sauce that makes it taste good. and so, i made a quick overseas call while in the grocery just to ask her what i needed for the sauce. btw, i found out that she uses pineapple juice instead of the traditional sugar and vinegar. makes life much simpler, doesn't it? or so i thought because mama is the type of cook who just relies on her tastebuds and instinct while cooking so she couldn't give me the exact proportion of each ingredient. hokey... so i prepared all the ingredients, threw them in the saucepan and hoped for a miracle. haha! luckily, i ended up with an edible sauce, delicious if i may say so, and would really make my mama and papa proud (because both of them cook very well!). :-D when i told godwin about it later on, he couldn't be happier because he knows he wouldn't go hungry daw in the future. of course not! what are take-outs for?!? hehehe!

if you want the recipe, just let me know. i'll gladly share it with you. and oh, i can now also cook beef caldereta, menudo, picadillo and sinigang. hee!

island-hopping

2004-10-01T13:46:00.000+08:00

Palawan Beach, Sentosa Island

This picture was taken from the viewing point of the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia, an islet located just below Sentosa island in Singapore.

bit by the blog bug

2004-10-01T13:20:00.000+08:00

yey! 1st post. :-)

i bet my friends who really know me well would be surprised if i lead them to this blog. truth is, even i am surprised that i'm finally blogging. i can think of a thousand (okay, not a thousand but it's definitely numerous) reasons right now why blogging was never enticing to me.
1) i hate writing. i struggled to finish the formal and informal themes we did back in high school and although i had a brief stint in the school paper back in 6th grade, writing was really never my thing. i was more into math and science, hence my engineering degree. but of course this is not always the case for engineering grads. take the case of this good friend of mine who doesn't have any problem at all in expressing her thoughts.
2) so if i hated writing that much, why can't i just make a photoblog? well, it's because i never had an eye for anything artsy nor picturesque. i must admit, this friend of mine is really good and has put a lot of pressure on me to come up with maangas entries if i decide to plunge into photo-blogging. haha! plus the fact that most of the pictures i take include me (i love my tripod!) and that being the case, i'd rather share the link to my online album than make my blog a photo album, right? lastly, i'm too lazy to look for photo-ops. :-P
3) i am so fickle-minded that it took me 3 hours to decide on the title of this blog! haha! i just can't imagine how long will it take me to finish a single post in the future.
4) i don't know a single thing about html programming. guys, help me out!

so why am i blogging?
because of peer pressure! kidding!
it's because some time in the future, i want to be able to look back and see how far i've gone in my journey in life. naks, serious. :-)

disclaimer: this blog is neither a full-fledged journal nor photo blog so please bear with my hybrid entries.