Unbearable Lightness of Being Me

Lola Lola's 78

2012-01-31T01:45:00.000-08:00

My grandmother (Lola Lola to my kids) turned seventy-eight yesterday but we celebrated her birthday last weekend to coincide with the Welcome Home party for two of my late grandfather's siblings, Lolo Ric and Lola Nita. The clan showed up in force and well it seems that we were the team to beat in terms of attendance. It was pretty interesting getting to know several second cousins during the affair. The oldies of course danced the night away. The young ones snapped a lot of pictures. Was it not a decade ago that roles would have been reversed? Old ones taking photos and young ones on the dance floor?

BTW, the last photo was just of the Buenviaje-Rellosa clan with the oldies.

D'Lovers Line Bibingka

2012-01-23T22:52:00.000-08:00

Years before people in the metro enjoyed bibingka (rice flour hot cake) food stands, Lipa locals were already enjoying the freshly baked rice cake from clay pots near the town's cultural center in front of the Lion's Den. The simple stall also offered one kind of drink, salabat (ginger tea) poured into small tea cups from plastic thermos. It is definitely a must-try when visiting Lipa, specially during the cold months, when the piping hot tea and the freshly baked bibingka will warm even the coldest of hearts. Hehe.

The store is named D'Lovers Line. Even my little picky eater approves. The special bibingka has both cheese and salted egg.. but even the old plain ones will do. John can wipe out three or even four of these cakes as a snack. While we were eating after our ocular visit at Valentino, Inay had the bright idea to serve bibingka as cocktails during Yvette's wedding. I would agree it is a brilliant idea to have some of the local flavors included in the wedding and one might say that if indeed it can be done, serving these little wonders would be nice.

Valentino Place

2012-01-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

From my previous post, I started with the tour of the main resort we crossed over the baranggay road to go to Valentino Place where there was the complex that can house guests conference style. Each of the rooms would have multiple bunk and trundle beds so you save money in accommodations. The main resort has villas which can house your bride and groom but the rest of the family or wedding party can certainly settle in this place.

The pool area was nice, you can choose to have your bridal shower here and treat your entourage to spa treatment and outdoor massage or just have a mani-pedi party. One can even have their after wedding party here. Most definitely.

The rooms were housed in several wings, each room can house 8-10 guests with very simple furnishings. There is a communal bathroom in each wing, one has to plan bath time if you intend to get dressed here.

There was also a koi pond at the front of the complex. I was very afraid that the boys were going to fall into the pond were a hundred pretty fishes were waiting for them. I must have shouted a dozen pleas for Zib to stay put but he was very much enjoying running around and driving me crazy. For a simple photo op, the little one tried to climb over his older brother.

The boys had fun looking at the koi. We deemed the golden yellow one to be the prettiest. They were also amazed by this giant beetle camouflaged at the door.

Valentino Resort and Spa

2012-01-23T22:21:00.000-08:00

We went home to Lipa for the town fiesta last Friday, though we reached it pretty late in the day we were still able to enjoy the usual fiesta fare: dinuguan, afritada, morcon, kaldereta, pochero, sisig, and leche flan. We spent the next afternoon checking out the possible venue for Yvette's church wedding in December. I heard about this place from Froi, who spent an overnight in this resort. Yeah, that is usually the case that people from outside of your hometown knows more about places there that you do. In any case, the website looks promising and Inay mentioned that the staff were very accommodating when they checked it out the first time. We brought along the two little ones to get their stamp of approval.

The boys got very excited when we were asked to ride a golf cart to go around the resort. The place itself has a lot of hills so the cart helped people go about the rolling terrains. There was a wedding that afternoon hence the bouquet of flowers up front.

The pavilion itself is huge. This set-up was for 300 guests and so we an assume there would be a lot of space for something for 175 guests. The resort staff mentioned that this one was not in-house catered so they also didn't have a say on the decoration set-up. Definitely need to have a stage and a dance floor so the folks can do some serious dancing.

Next we explored the pool area which was hidden from the view of the main pavilion. This ensures privacy and some order and organization very much needed in such affairs. The deep blue of the pool will definitely provide some pictorial opportunities.

We let the boys spend some time at the playground. Definitely a highlight for the little ones. Zib had a grand time.

There was also a lots of greens.. again a great backdrop for the wedding pictures.

Next we checked out the Valentino place which can house the guests who want to spend the night in Lipa.

To be continued..

Afternoon Tea

2012-01-17T00:39:00.000-08:00

"Would you like some tea? How about some cookies?"

This line was repeated a few times with an English accent attempt, over the course of the afternoon. We cannot help it, I'm afraid. The fascination with the accent is far too strong for us Asians and the pantry was too dressed up for our normal Filipino way of speaking. In any case, this is how we celebrated Sarah's 30th birthday afternoon tea in the pantry and it all started with the concept that she didn't like to have the usual pizza and soda for the folks in the office.

Of course the Pepperfy friends showed up in full force, though you won't see us in the pictures below. We work best in the background, but we did snap a few pictures of the cute set-up and the other guests. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring a nice camera but everyone else were snapping photos left and right with their cellphones. Here are a few pictures that I took.

That afternoon a couple of tea varieties from Sarah and Sol's growing collection were served. The French Earl Grey was a favorite, of course, it was served iced and hot. The cold drinks were frozen brewed tea so no need to worry about it being diluted. It is a good tip for future parties and a very welcome alternative to those powdered or ready-to-drink ones that only have a lot of sugar in them.

The spread included Danish cookies, good old chocolate chip ones, lemon squares, and these special sweets that are on the blue cake stand. I need to ask Sarah the name again because most of her guests were raving about that one. (Edit: Alfajores or caramel sandwich cookies) Of course there was cake, in fact there were two, Tablea from Xocolat and Blueberry Cheesecake from her team.

Decorations included cheesecloth tablecloths and flowers in mason jars. Jeanie also made some pompoms in yellow, red, and white. Sol brought the flowers from Farmers market and she was quite happy with the bargain. Also below you will see Sol's collection of cute teapots and Aren's crystal pitcher.

Say with a little bit of effort and Pepperfy magic, the pantry did look tons nicer which goes to show that one can create ambiance anywhere.

Happy birthday dearest Sarah!

Itch Seven Years

2012-01-09T03:19:00.000-08:00

It has been seven years since we had our church wedding. We got married before the wave of themed weddings and uber expensive suppliers, so I still find it hard to believe that a good videographer would cost a whopping six figure for their basic package. I only watched my own wedding DVD once and maybe plan on watching it again for our tenth year anniversary (if I remember where I stashed it). That said, even if we didn't get the best photographers in town and I only have enough nice pictures to come up with a decent wedding album, but it doesn't stop me to take a look at them at least once every year. Thank God my wedding photos got spared from the death of my storage device.

Incidentally, my wedding coordinator who is now based in NYC is asking for copies of these pictures. I particularly like the last one, as I only rediscovered it this afternoon. It looks like we were dancing on the green fields with only a handful of chickens as our witnesses. I had my wedding party in a farm after all.

Bits of 2011

2012-01-03T00:40:00.000-08:00

Just like that it is now 2012. First to look back at the bits of last year.

January

Every year our company mandates a Christmas shutdown of sorts.

The first days of the first month of the year was spent with family. In 2011, we also welcomed our newest nephew Kobee. We were also able to go on a vacation with my own family, something we have not been able to do in years.

February

Before we usher in the month of love, let me run through some of the things I have not mentioned in my recent posts that happened in the first month of 2011.

I spent Valentines Day in Europe sans John and spent half of the second month of the year in the old world. I visited Frankfurt, Prague, Brussels, Bratislava, and Vienna. I saved the western part for someday when we can go visit the very romantic Europe together. At least I realized this dream of mine without breaking the bank thanks to a new role I found myself in.

March

Today, I have come to realize that it is already my birthday month!

I turned thirty with a party. The last one I had was way back when I turned eighteen. Truly this was a marvelous milestone. I entered the third decade of my life with two adorable kids, a loving husband, the best of health, and a great career..truly I am just grateful.

April

Just like that summer is officially here in Manila.

We spent the summer months with not a lot of fanfare, no trips abroad or even to the other islands. We pretty much stayed on base and for the most part shipped off the boys to spend their vacation at Batangas.

May

It seems that we are going to explore most of the roads in Batangas this summer.

We did visit San Juan, Taysan, Lian and discovered Pico de Loro in Hamilo Coast in Nasugbu. I would say that indeed there are world class beaches within 1-3 hours driving distance from John's hometown.

June

Last night while putting my boys to sleep, my eldest boy had a request.

Last June, Chase turned seven and we gave the biggest party after our wedding. More than a hundred of our friends joined in the celebration. We went all our with the DIY preparations and the kids had tons of fun with the homemade props. It was just so nice to see my eldest boy enjoying his big day.

July

Books have taken me to faraway places.

August

Summer time in the Northern Hemisphere means that friends and family based in the US or Canada have some time to spend here in the Islands.

Certainly part of the highlights of 2011 would be Jona and Max's homecoming August to September. We threw a party for Max and spent several dinners together. One of John's best friends, Apok, also went home from Canada and introduced us to their baby girl Rae.

September

While I wait to have access to the better pictures taken at this splendid party, I have decided that will let you in a sneak peak into the party that made me once again realize that parties are best shared with your closest friends.

October

After the big storm Pedring hit, Zib got confined to the hospital because of systemic viral infection.

November

They say when you get older you will learn to appreciate more what your mother went through to raise you.

December

Every since I started working from home, I think I’ve put on a couple more pounds.

This year I started working from my house most of the time. This meant more time with my kids, less time in traffic, and more time waiting like a demi-housewife. We didn't make any big purchases this year nor any big trips that were not work related but it was a year full of milestones. Chase and Zib continue to do well in school and they are still in that age where they crave our presence but are slowly forming tight friendships with their peers. John and I remain strong in our relationship (ten years overall) and continue to make dreams for our little family. I hope 2012 brings us all more love and more dreams fulfilled.

Happy New Year!

Mobile Bar Reunions

2011-12-27T23:25:00.000-08:00

We decided to play bartenders to both our family reunions. Mobile bars are usually a big hit in any party and one can easily mix mocktails for non-alcohol drinkers so they can join the festive spirit. It would also save you some hours slaving away in the kitchen but then again it would also mean you cannot move away from the bar that much so the party needs to come to you. That said, it would be best to situate the bar where the action is happening.

For the first party we mixed frozen margarita (lime juice + triple sec + white tequila) and then the blender conked out. After that we mixed vodka sprite shooters (vodka + grenadine + sprite), the best seller cuba libre (rum + coca cola), tequila sunrise (orange juice + grenadine + tequila) and candy cane martini (creme de menthe + vodka).

For the second party we had pretty much the same drinks served but the teenagers decided to experiment on their own and mix some mudslide and jade (lime juice + blue curacao + vodka). The little kids also had frozen juice slush and other mocktails. I think the best thing is that you drink is that you can control the alcohol content and even the amount served. So anyway, here are a few pictures of everyone enjoying our little treat.

Kid & Kurly's Wedding

2011-12-27T22:54:00.000-08:00

The boys were once again asked by me dear friend Kurly and Kid to become bearers on their wedding. Chase was the ring bearer while Zib was the coin bearer. It is usual to have at least one wedding over the holiday season and this was our only wedding for this December. The couple are friends from the office and I have seen their love blossom through the years they have been together. Kurly has baked Zibby's birthday cupcakes the last two years and we are the only two ones remaining of the old gang from EUWM.

My sons' outfits were made of damask pattern silver gray vest with handmade blue striped boutonniere and a cute little black cravat. My dress was actually two pieces, a gray tube dress with a pleated skirt and underneath I wore my black tulle skirt which created a petticoat effect. It made the dress a bit longer which I like better. I did my own hair and make-up and saved tons of money and time. So after all these years I think I have this wedding guest business under control.

This was another memorable wedding for us because it was the first wedding when both boys were officially part of the entourage. It was definitely nice seeing their long names on the invitation plus no tantrums and no drama until the reception. So now I can definitely say my boys are professional wedding bearers.

Photon Dinner

2011-12-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

Once a year, I meet with my high school friends for Christmas dinner. We were very happy we beat last year's attendance and several happy announcements were made. John and I hosted the dinner at our tiny home. Last time we did was three Christmases ago, when we just moved into the house. Joan's crib is too far away, Sarah's building has a curfew, and Jem and Jae hosted the last two ones.

Tseri's homecoming from SG was right on time and it was the first year Leks and KC arrived before any of the guests. We feasted on food ordered from a nearby restaurant and I found out every Chinese resto actually carried La Hon Chai which was a vegetarian dish. In any case, we were able to do the annual cake massacre and swap stories and once again reminisce about the good old days.

Most of us have reached the third decade this year which would make high school almost fifteen years ago. I am glad we still are friends and keep in touch over birthdays and milestones, not to mention facebook. Most of our friends are abroad and we miss them dearly. Maybe one day we will have a Christmas dinner in another country hosted by one of them... or maybe next year we will take it out-of-town to Las Pinas or even to Los Banos.. certainly one step at a time.

I Saw Mommy Kissing...

2011-12-18T21:31:00.000-08:00

This year John was invited to be the Santa Claus at Zibby's Christmas Party. It was so funny looking at the little boys and girls who got so excited seeing my husband in costume. Zib was particularly cute as he said that it was Daddy not Santa because "It was Daddy's eyes, mouth, and shoes". Yes, unfortunately the shoes gave him away.

Xavier on the other hand was let into the secret and he volunteered to be one of Santa's helpers, handing out the gifts to the little ones.

Zib gave us a basket of ornaments for our Christmas gift. All three now hangs upon our tree.

Zib played one of the shepherds with his classmates. His costume was made from a fabric I bought at IKEA a few years ago. I turned the rest of the cloth into pillow cases. Zib's schoolmates (must have been close to 50 kids) all lined up to get their gifts from Santa Claus. Our hardworking Mr.Claus gamely posed for pictures.. here are a few of my favorite ones.

First Editions

2011-12-15T04:21:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks back I finally got my hands on the Penguin Classic books that Sarah ordered online for me. I have never purchased anything online aside from plane tickets. I am so not part of my generation with regards to that and I am paranoid like that. So anyway, I already finished two Austen classics Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. First time I read both. Found out I like P&P more. I am at an age that I read the long introduction and some footnotes. I never had the patience to do that when I was younger.

I’m on to my third book, which is my favorite, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I grew up reading the series and saw the movie with my high school classmates. It featured Wynona Rider (before she got convicted and vanished from the face of Hollywood), and Christian Bale (before he turned into Batman cum Madman) and Claire Danes (long before she turned Persona Non Grata in the Islands). I also watched a play last year by the Repertory Philippines based on the novel. So you can say this book has been part of my life.

I found out that in the first edition, Laurie was portrayed not be taller than Jo and was dark and Marmee was not a very pretty lady. This was altered a bit as the book gained popularity. In any case since I am now past my teenage years, the original portrayal does not bother me one bit.

It seems to be the right time of the year to read it again.. as Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,'

Gift of Time

2011-12-13T22:49:00.000-08:00

I read an interesting article which I 100% agree with. The amount of toys that overwhelm us parents is something usual, if you have children below seven years of age. We have in the last couple of years developed a method of ensuring we have some control over the toy clutter we tend to accumulate every couple of months.

Toys that are Out

Birthday gifts get opened all on the birthday but we only allow a certain number to be taken out of the box, preferably less than ten. All the rest get stored in the topmost shelf in our cabinet for the rainy days. Over the course of the year, if the boys did something worthy of a gift, like say scoring high on an exam, we don’t go out and buy a new toy, we only ask them to get one which technically they already own. In their eyes, for all intents and purposes, it is still new.

The Toy Stash

Two or three times a year we give away old toys. There are of course favorites, those that will never be given away, like our cyber-stomping robots. In the last four years, we had garage sales, orphanage donations, and well their nannies never have to shop for birthday and Christmas gifts for their own nephews as they are the primary beneficiary of my children’s generosity. At the beginning, I had some trouble with my children giving away their cherished possessions but now, they actively take part in giving their toys away. Charity can be taught and yes can be learned.

Zib at their annual Charity event in school..

Gift packs and Toy gifts.

Kids learn the true meaning of Christmas easily.

This is not to say though that I have the system perfect. I realize that we, as godparents, also feed into the clutter. Every Christmas we spend a sizable amount of money buying toys for our godchildren. Most of these would probably end up in a pile after the first thirty minutes that the child is fascinated with it. Giving the gift of time is a wonderful idea.

Next year (since we are already done with the toy shopping this year) I will just invite my godchildren to a playdate with my children, maybe a visit to the zoo, pool, or an amusement park. I did have a date with one of my godchildren a few weeks back and I think that it is a better idea. It gives you time to get to know the child better, like I found out that my godchild wasn’t really into dolls, to her mom’s dismay who has collected a huge amount of them from us clueless godparents and relatives.

Also next year in lieu of birthday and Christmas toys, I will just ask my children’s godparents to give them the gift of time.. maybe like a movie date or a sports event, or even just to eat out at their favorite fastfood. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. That and I'll have to think of some props to put under the tree. Just like last year, it is now crammed with toys.

Lucky Lucky Lucky

2011-12-11T21:08:00.001-08:00

A few years ago, John went home after a Christmas party with a 6 cubic feet refrigerator. I had an inkling my husband was lucky in raffles. Well, last year he brought home a complete golf set, which has not been used to this day, also from a party. I was texting him last Friday as we had simultaneous office Christmas parties, to go for the biggest prize. Well, he didn't really win the grand prize which was another golf set, but this year he brought home the biggest (in size) prize.

John was able to set it up with little help from my father-in-law. Serious face on, trying to get the cables in place. We then dropped by the handyman store for some electronic supplies. Nice to see him all excited with the new shiny gadget.

We spent the weekend setting it up and trying it out. The boys were glued to cartoons but we managed to watch Hachi, NBA Michael Jordan 91-93 season highlights, and Love Actually. I say a good collection to start burning the pixels. I need to call my techie friends to set us up for more high definition viewing. We are totally clueless.

Did I mention we totally got it for free? Lucky lucky John.. as for me I am luckier to have been married to the man.

Pompoms Hanging

2011-12-07T17:36:00.001-08:00

Remember when a couple of weeks ago we decided to try making rosettes? Well Zib and I got busy again after a stressful day for me and started working on some Pompoms to hang by our stairs. As usual I only rummaged into my stash and found these japanese paper I wanted to use for the Cat in the Hat party that never was. So anyhows, I think we had better success with this one than the last craft project. Next time when I am braver I will try the ones with the pointy ends.

Hard Sell

2011-12-04T21:26:00.001-08:00

After visiting the orphanage on Saturday, we went to the Kiddo-Preneur bazaar to help our friend Mio man his booth on Sunday.Our shift started at 12 noon, and Chase woke me up at about 9 am to incessant rains. Yes, it was a gloomy day, but my son's excitement to do some selling couldn't hardly be dampened by grey skies. Zib was a little bit under the weather over the weekend, so we decided to have only the big boy join his friends from school to do some selling.

After some minutes of selling, Chase came up to me to say he was already hungry. I told him to try to at least sell one merchandise before we could take a break. His other classmate Rocky, who was trying to rally everyone to selling also gave up after a couple of tries and promptly said "This is a disaster!" When his mother asked him how many have he sold, he told her with a straight face, "One card and two flyers!". Haha. The boys began to realize how hard it was to make some money, and had to convince themselves to keep on selling. You could hear them say over and over again that they were there to sell, not to play. Of course, they took a quick break to play some DS and eat cookies... and I think before we left after the first two hours of operation, they did manage to sell a couple of greeting cards and gift cards. Not sure how well the other kids did after that.

In my conversation with Jacqui, the other Mom there on shift, we talked about common themes in our household, how we need to teach our children to be more giving, to appreciate what they have, and yes to realize that money doesn't grow on trees. We all have a long way to go before our children realize really the lessons of these little life experiences, but I'll give all my weekends to such as these. This is the true homework, more important ones than addition worksheets and spelling lists.

Waiting for his shift to start.

At the booth, studying the price list.

Art works with Mio's seed drawings.

Rocky and Mio at the booth working.

The nicer photos are taken by Chris Clemente. You can read more about the Kiddo-Preneur here.

A Different Playdate

2011-12-04T20:29:00.001-08:00

After watching Despicable Me hundreds of times, Chase goes up to me and asks
"Mom, what is an orphanage?"
I told him that it was a home where kids with no more Mommies and Daddies live.
He follows it up with another question.
"But why Mom? Why do their Mommies leave them there?"
Well, that was the harder question, I tried to tell him that some Mommies die and others cannot take care of their babies because they don't have money or means to do so.

My answer followed some silence.

I thought of an idea and promptly said. "Why don't I take you to an orphanage so you can meet some kids there?"

Chase wailed. "No, Mom!!! I don't want to go to an orphanage!"

Understanding that he took my suggestion differently, I tried very hard not to laugh. I guess my son took it to mean that I would leave him in the orphanage for good. Bad Mommy.

It just so happens that my husband who recently turned thirty shunned the idea of a big party. Well, I had mine in March, and while he gamely sponsored the whole she-bang, he wanted a low key affair for himself and suggested we visit an orphanage instead. Our first plan of throwing a kiddie party there didn't push through, so we opted to just buy them their very much needed supplies. We were supposed to go to this orphanage, John's cousins visit it annually as well, but their plans changed and we opted to visit CRIBS Foundation which was ten minutes from where we live.

We packed away boxes of old toys, some stuffed animals of John's sister was carted off as well. We also bought several cans of formula milk as this was the most needed supply in their wish list. The orphanage is open to visitors every 2-4 pm in the afternoon, so if you have some time to spare you can come and visit, the babies are very much into cuddling. They want to be carried and hugged all the time. My boys had a playdate with the kids for about an hour. Chase even let the toddlers piggy back ride him for a while until all the kids had the same idea and well that was the end of that. Zib was a bit overwhelmed with all the kids and probably didn't know half of what was happening, but soon enough he will understand.

The gifts were sitting at our garage for some days.

Chase deep in thought on the way to the orphanage.

My Zib with the toys. The two little ones carried these off to the house.

John at the nursery.

I'm pretty sure my sons will remember this visit for a while, John and I surely will.

Love is a Piece of Cake

2011-12-01T01:39:00.001-08:00

Every since I started working from home, I think I’ve put on a couple more pounds. I’m not exactly sure how many as we don’t have a weighing scale at home but I’m pretty sure I went a size up. I got depressed trying on clothes the other weekend. In any case, the likely suspect is of course the easy access to food. I have two boys who have wonderful snacks for school, like say yummy peanut butter oreo cookies. The other thing is that John seems to have missed me so much, probably missing my singing and rattling in the morning and evening commute, that he decides to bring me often pasalubong.

Some of the cakes he has brought home recently..

In Banchetto at the Shopwise Libis Parking Lot, there is a stall Cakes by K that sells pretty affordable cakes. Their best seller is this layered crepe cake.. you can order it a day before if you want the whole cake but one slice was enough to convince me of its goodness.

John also bought this mini chocolate cake that wasn’t so bad at 300 PhP. He reasoned out that he wanted to try the cake stand I bought the last time we visited Dapitan. Why wait for an occasion to use this 150 PhP cake stand? John pointed out it was just a plate stuck to an inverted bowl, but I don’t care, I still think it is a bargain and it works.

Next chance he got, he brought home this banoffee pie from Purple Oven. It was the very same bakery that supplies the pies to Starbucks. This was yummy too.

Is She Pretty?

2011-11-29T03:36:00.001-08:00

My boys are as different as can be. I’ve said it a couple of times before.

Chase on a road trip would ask countless of questions. When he was about three or four and at the height of asking questions, John and I developed a look that says “it is your turn to answer that one.”

Lately, I’ve noticed a couple of blue slips coming from the school’s infirmary. It seems that the little boy has gotten a liking of going to see the school nurse for little things such as his pinkie hurting or throwing up after a huge meal. One afternoon, I confronted him about the blue slips. It was nasty. He started to cry. I made him promise not to go to the infirmary if he wasn’t really sick.

So lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions like:

“Mom, if I have a toothache, can I go to the infirmary?”

“Mom, if I vomit four times can I go?”

“How about if I just vomit two times?”

“What if there is no food in the vomit?”

“Mom, if I fall in the schoolyard, and I got a small wound, can I go?”

“How big is the wound before I can go?”

Since I brought this upon myself convincing him that his standards for going to the clinic was not good enough I tried with a straight face to answer his questions.

In my exasperation, I think I also asked a question like:

“Is the school nurse pretty?”

He, of course, being seven looked at me as if I am from another planet.

KiddoPreneur Bazaar

2011-11-27T22:39:00.001-08:00

My boys are taking part in Kiddopreneur Bazaar this Sunday, December 4 from 12:00 NN to 6:00 PM at the Rockwell Club, Palm Grove.. Hope you can join us as we help our friend Mio sell cute greeting cards and other merchandise done by Mio in collaboration with artist friends.

One Decade

2011-11-20T21:21:00.001-08:00

We have been married more years than most of our friends, making us the old married couple, but in total we have only been together for only ten years. I met John as a freshman in the university and the rest they say was history. We have literally spent all of our adult lives together.

For our tenth year of togetherness, we had dinner at Lemuria, the elusive fine dining restaurant at Horseshoe Village. It turns out it is just several streets away from Jem and Jae's condo which make it part of the familiar realm of the metro. We have been meaning to visit for quite some time but it is memorable now because we spent the night of our tenth year together eating sumptuous dishes from the menu.

So anyway, since all the photos I have from the night are blurry ones from John's blackberry, I will just post a few of our couple pictures this year. Sorry I have the same smile in most of the pictures while my dear husband tries very hard to make a funny face in some of the shots. This is one of the reasons why we stayed together this long. He makes pa-cute all the time.=)

First Time Bakers

2011-11-20T20:48:00.001-08:00

Although I don't bake, I have several baking books. One particular book, Classic Breads, focus on delicious bread recipes around the world. There you would find pages filled with how to make baguette, Genoan focaccia, naan, tortilla, and any other bread you can think of. We are not a bread eating nation, our pan de sal comes very far compared to our carbohydrate staple rice. So we don't usually bake bread at home. But since I have this book, a gift from one of previous Kris Kringles, and I have an oven... I decided to have some fun with the boys.

First we chose a recipe that is not too daunting, Bridge Rolls from England.

From the book: Excellent plain or filled, sweet or salted, these little rolls are delicious snacks to cheer up bridge parties. They are also ideal for breakfast, buffets, or picnics.

It promised 30 minutes of preparation time and 90 minutes for rising. Baking time is 15 minutes.

Chase helped me prepare the dough. Yes that is flour on his forehead.

The book has nice pictures of the bread. Our finished product didn't look exactly like the one in the book, but that should be expected with first time bakers.

The boys had fun making interesting shapes with the dough. This cat was made from one of the decorative models in the book. They also made hedgehogs, which is a favorite animal in our household because of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Bread baking in the oven.

Busy little first time bakers.

Kids Club

2011-11-15T03:27:00.001-08:00

Xavier has been invited to join a Kids Club at his old (and Zib's current) school, Child's Space. The kids gather once or twice a month to enjoy activities such as treasure hunts, movies, or simple arts and crafts. Of course, the undertone of all this is Jesus Discovery so most of the activities are centered around learning about God. My boy likes it. He gets to see his former classmates and meet new friends. This sort of thing he sorely missed when he went to big school last two years ago. The other night he told me he wanted to go back to the fun school. I guess the usual load of homework overwhelmed him once again. What ever happened to the no homework policy that DepEd was investigating a couple of months ago? I would readily support it. That, or I should learn to make homework more fun, like this club.

Browsing through the school's website, I found a few of Xavier's pictures posted. These of course brought a huge smile to my face.

Christmas at Home

2011-11-07T21:49:00.000-08:00

I've been confined to my home working the last couple of days. My long weekend went kaput! So the only happy news I have is that Christmas finally came to our house. We've finally put up the tree and a few new things also were brought via a quick trip to Dapitan arcade. I don't believe that our Christmas tree should like the ones in the stores so I try not to buy ornaments all in one go. Every year we add in a few and the boys insist on adding in a few unusual items we picked up over the years. So maybe in a few decades I will say that the tree is complete.. or maybe it will never be complete, it will just keep on evolving just like our little family.

This is the first year we had a star on top of the tree. I'm afraid it is a bit heavy, made of capiz and plated metal. It keeps on threatening to fall of. It is driving Chase crazy. Every few hours he would ask me to straighten it up. But in any case, I like it and it hasn't fallen off yet.

Exotic creatures inhabit our tree, like this little friend we got from Bohol. We also have wrought-iron butterflies and dragon flies, reindeers, and four white bears.

This year aside from our green Christmas tree, I also decorated our twigs with raffia angels, capiz stars, and glass balls. I also bought the glass jar for 120 PhP and the capiz tray for 140 PhP. I love the glass balls because they remind me of chem glassware.

My home office during the weekend. No more space to put a home office desk. The coffee table works for now.

Yeah and I also got these nice elves as watchmen. I got them for a bargain at the grocery. So there, how about you have you put up any decors yet?

Yipee-Ya-Yey

2011-11-02T02:25:00.000-07:00

After almost a day of beach bumming we headed back into the city but stopped for a sumptuous Bulalo at Dalampasigan and some horse riding over at Tagaytay Ridge. The boys really had fun going round and round the small track and we also had some photo snapping under the warm afternoon sun.