our humble abode...

We have been living at this small house for more than a year now. We transferred to this house last May 2008. We are just renting it out, starting out like any other couple. While I have a digicam in my hand, I started to snap away... taking pictures of our house. When we moved in, the place is really bare. We do not have enough stuff in it. Just a bed foam, my mom's very old ref, my wardrobe cabinet from highschool and our tv and dvd.

For a period of one year, we were able to fill the house with some stuff. We acquired a rice cooker and some small kitchen appliances and borrowed his aunt's small stove and sofa. The best of all our acquisition is a bed frame and new bed foam.... We have been sleeping on the floor for some time now, even the time that we still lived with my parents! Having a bed is really really nice to my back!!! We even have a washing machine now... Our next target maybe after the wedding an airconditioning unit!!! To my guests... i really really would like to have one of those! Hint hint!!!

The kitchen part of our house but we usually cook outside where the stove is.

Our bedroom... disregard the messy study table that is right now collecting dust.... I have been on leave (AWOL more likely) from school to finish my masters.

The living room cum dining room view from our bedroom.

Slowly but surely our house is looking more like a house... rather than a bare unit like it was before. I just wish once we get married in April we will be able to start saving up to buy our own house.

Longing to have a longer hairstyle!!!

Now that we are planning our wedding... It makes me sick to think that I have a short hairstyle!!! If I only knew that we are getting married next year, I shouldn't have cut my hair short last April!!! The summer was so miserably hot that I need to cut it and now I am looking for ways to have my hair longer before we have our engagement shot and of course before the wedding.

I have my hair this way:

I cannot wait for it to grow longer now. My old friends know me for sporting a short boy-cut hair.... I want to shock them for having a longer hair. I already found the hair and make up that I may have for our wedding. I found it while watching "Priviledged" the other week.

It looks nice right??? Very girlie... very not me! hahahaha

The Ring.... the symbol of forever

Christian and I have been around the whole of Metro Manila in search of the ring that we want. We have been to almost all the jewelry shop in SM North Edsa and even tried to inquire with the jewellers in Mall of Asia!!! Not to mention the several ring suppliers from the 3 bridal fairs that we have been to. I was just crazy!!!! If not for the budget constraints, I guess we have found the ring that we want already.

He is just specific to have a white gold ring with a matte finish. I want the same as well, so there is no fighting over that one. It is set to have that one. My friend, Chris, from North Carolina, told me to look at rings online.... even at Walmart.com... I never realized that Walmart have rings. I did what I was told do being the obedient person that I am. Walmart did have rings.... good one at that and really cheap compared to what we have here. Once online, I just can't stop searching. I googled all the necessary words that will give me a result for rings + cheap!!!! I found what can be our rings... when I showed it to Christian, he said that he likes it to since it is very simple and it goes well with our budget...

One problem though... they online ship within the US. I asked my cousin about mailing it to him and then he said that he will just order it for me and it will be his gift for us!!! I am so happy to hear that... So one more supplier off my list... I thought we will end up having a stainless steel ring that we found in Hearts and Arrows... hehehehe... I guess not!!!

One funny note: I have a bigger ring size than Christian... what can I do with that my fingers are fat and short!!! It was really embarrassing to go around the ring suppliers and have them measure our fingers!!! At least I am done with that humiliation already!!!

Here is a photo of the ring that we want:

My handy dandy wedding clearbook!!!

If Steve of Blue's clues has a handy dandy notebook, I have a handy dandy wedding clearbook!!! I started this a few days after we started our wedding preparations. It keeps me organize with the stuff and serves as my scrapbook as well. The first few pages I have printed out the photos of inspirations that we bookmarked. It also contains the contracts from the suppliers that we already book and of course the receipts for the payment that we made. The other pages will have the flyers from the bridal fairs that we went to but of course we already browsed through the mountain of flyers and kept the ones that we will like to book.

The clearbook is somewhat old since I used it since my first year in UP SOLAIR but I have to recycle it. The content it has is gathering dust in our house, I better put it in good use now. I carry this clearbook around with me whenever I go out. It is an easy way to convey the mood that we want for our wedding whenever we come across a supplier that we need to talk to. I think it is really weird to carry it around with me but I find a certain joy whenever I look at it specially if my day is going bad!

Just look at the dirt in front of the folder. I cannot take it off. Dust nearly ate the whole folder when I found it! :-)

Monograms designed by Sis Ri from w@wie! I have it printed on photo paper and it really really looked so fine!!!

A reminder of my OC-ness!!!!

I also keep the name tags and IDs that we have during bridal fairs... just for memories sake!

The clearbook is really helpful to keep me organize specially with the receipts of suppliers and contracts that we have. I am very picky with contracts... Obligations and contracts is my favorite subject in law school.... hehehehe :-)

Bridal magazines galore....

I think I found a new hobby... collecting bridal magazines!!!! I just love them... well not all of them. I prefer the US magazines that I have which came from my friend Lynn. She gave it to me when she arrived last July for some work here. It has more dresses and I made me really love a simpler bridal gown. My mom also tagged some pages to get inspiration for her dress!

Some of the magazine are really just ads! I can't belief that it will contain so much ads. I love the one from Wedding Essentials which I got just yesterday. Christian and I got some ideas that we can incorporate in our wedding. Maybe try to DIY some stuff in it to. The magazine is really making me want a themed wedding. I have an idea but I am not yet really sure. I wanna set it all up first before I share it with Christian.

Presenting... our save-the-date cards/boarding pass

I have been looking around online on what good DIY stuff to do for our wedding and I came upon this boarding pass template.... I was then inspired to make our save the date cards using the template. I never realized that it will turn out fine after I printed out a page of it to give out for my UP SOLAIR friends of whom two of them will be our principal sponsors. There are two different boarding passes --- one for the entourage and principal sponsors and another for our guests. I am really not a creative person but I guess this is a good start to stir my imagination. We are both thinking of making our own invites ourselves to save on the cost since this DIY project costs us less than 500 pesos... hehehehe!!!! We also started distributing all the STDs to my relatives last week and I will be handing them out to my friends this week.

The boarding pass that we have for our entourage and our principal sponsors....

The envelope that we have made to enclosed our boarding passes. The color of the envelope is ecru and it is hard to distinguish it here in the photo.

The boarding pass for our guests.. we really want the language in Filipino but in consideration of our friends from the US, we have it in English. We used our monogram as a sticker to close the flaps of the envelopes.

To keep up with the list of DIY projects that we are planning.... I saw this neat box from SM Cubao the other day to place all my DIY junk (Christian calls them junk!). This will greatly help to keep myself organize and have all the things I need in one place. What made me really buy this box is that it is 50% off .... so it costs me Php 75.00 .... :-)

Very organize right... brings out the OC-ness in me.

I can't wait to start with the other projects that I can create!!!!

Another bridal fair...

Me and Christian went to another bridal fair at SM Megamall with my American friend, Chris. It was a very small fair unlike the other fairs that I have been to before. I registered for it since I saw the list of suppliers that they have and it included the photo/video supplier that we really feel good with during the first bridal fair at the world trade center. I even texted the owner just to informed him that we will be putting in a reservation to save our date.



The fair is indeedly small, most of the suppliers were photo/video. One thing I noticed is that the suppliers are providing really good rates than the previous fairs that we went to. The rates are really suitable for budget concious soon-to-be-wed couples. We had a very good deal with our photo/video. I also love the fact that we got a 10% discount on the package and got some deals with it as well. It might not be a known photo/video provider since they are just starting up but I am really at ease with dealing with the owner of the business and he is the videographer as well. CD Worx is the name of the supplier and we cannot wait to work with them! Their photo albums are not bad as well and the pictures are really good pictures! I am keeping my fingers that everything will be good since pictures are important to since this will be the one that I can show my children when they are all grown up.

The search continues...

I have been setting aside for weeks now the trip to Bureau of Internal Revenue office in Intramuros. Christian made me go today by picking me up from work and headed straight to the BIR office. He said that reason why we don't have any signed clients at the moment because of my lack of enthusiam in taking care of this one. Well, I guess he is right, so I just gave in. As expected, we got there with the place still closed. We then decided to go around Intramuros and checked some of the reception venues around the area. I was really planning to see La Castellana without me telling him. Hehehehe!!!

We walked... saw Villa Immaculada and the other venues of Tamayo's, but Tamayo's out of the question. I got upset with them for not sending any proposals that I requested from the bridal fair last June. I also heard that their food is so and so.... So Tamayo's off the list. We went around and notice that La Castellana is right next to Villa Immaculada. The place was still close since it was just around 7 AM so Christian said that we can come back after I finished my business at BIR. Once the BIR office opened, I hurriedly finish the thing that I need accomplished!!!!

We went our way back to La Castellana. We were able to go inside the venue and it was nice but I am not keen of not having parking for my guests. I guess that is the reason I don't want our wedding reception in Intramuros.... I want to save my guests on having problems of getting a parking space. The rates were ok, almost the same with the rates of Light of Love. Place is good if you are really looking for a reasonable venue in Intramuros. So off we went and walked around, I saw the Angelo King Center which I read can also be a reception venue. Hmmm... what can I say about the place.... the reception will just be set up in the building's lobby... it is not even a hall. Off the list.

Then we decided to go to my mom's place instead... another day ended but I think Christian is already decided on Light of Love. We just need to make the reservation before the month's end. Too bad I do have a camera with me. I would love to share the sights of these venues. Sorry!!!

Entourage Gowns

I am not really good with dresses and gowns or anything to do with fashion. I am not the girlie girlie type. In short, I do not have any FASHION SENSE! I am senseless with fashion! LOL. With picking out the gowns for my entourage, all I wanted is for them to have an outfit that they will be able to use again. I let my sisters decide on what they want to wear. They told me that they don't want to have the same outfits but will follow a cut that will be the same. Both of them ended up agreeing on having Greek like outfits. This is where the attempt to have a Greek theme came up.

They downloaded tons of dresses online but I will post some of what they really want. Even my mom ended up looking for a dress of her own. My aunt even joined in the bandwagon since she will be one of our principal sponsors.

Here are the photos that they have sent me....

My sister, Sharleen, wants this one. Of course the color will be mainly aqua with a touch of chartreuse. She said that she wants to have her outfit be the same outfit she will be wearing for her JS Prom to save money. I guess I will have to agree on that!!!

I will still have to see what my maid of honor and secondary sponsors think about these dresses. I have some other dresses on the wedding magazines I got from my friend from the US. I can say that Americans are really serious about weddings!!! The magazines contains a lot of designs to choose from.... One thing is for sure, I don't want any shiny materials for their dresses.... I am not a fan of shiny stuff!

Finding and keeping a LIFE PARTNER

I have read this article from w@w c/o sis bhey and I guess it is worth noting here in our blog, just in case I forget about it, there is a place where I can check and read it again and again!

FINDING AND KEEPING A LIFE PARTNER

Golden rules for finding your life partner by Dov Heller, M.A.

When it comes to making the decision about choosing a life partner, no one wants
to make a mistake. Yet, with a divorce rate of close to 50%, it appears that
many are making serious mistakes in their approach to finding Mr. /Miss. Right!

If you ask most couples who are engaged why they're getting married, they'll
say: "We're in love"; I believe this is the...1 mistake people make when they
date. Choosing a life partner should never be based on love. Though this may
sound "not politically correct", there's a profound truth here.

Love is not the basis for getting married. Rather, love is the result of a good
marriage. When the other ingredients are right, then the love will come. Let me
say it again: "You can't build a lifetime relationship on love alone"; You need
a lot more!!!

Here are five questions you must ask yourself if you're serious about finding
and keeping a life partner.

QUESTION...1: Do we share a common life purpose?

Why is this so important? Let me put it this way: If you're married for 20 or 30
years, that's a long time to live with someone. What do you plan to do with each
other all that time? Travel, eat and jog together? You need to share something
deeper and more meaningful. You need a common life purpose.

Two things can happen in a marriage: (1) You can grow together, or (2)you can
grow apart. 50% of the people out there are growing apart.
To make a marriage work, you need to know what you want out of life!

Bottom line: marry someone who wants the same thing.

QUESTION...2:Do I feel safe expressing my feelings and thoughts with this
person?

This question goes to the core of the quality of your relationship. Feeling safe
means you can communicate openly with this person. The basis of having good
communication is trust - i.e. trust that I won't get "punished"; or hurt for
expressing my honest thoughts and feelings. A colleague of mine defines an
abusive person as someone with whom you feel afraid to express your thoughts and
feelings. Be honest with yourself on this one. Make sure you feel emotionally
safe with the person you plan to marry.

QUESTION...3:Is he/she a mensch?

A mensch is someone who is a refined and sensitive person. How can you test?
Here are some suggestions. Do they work on personal growth on a regular basis?
Are they serious about improving themselves? A teacher of mine defines a good
person as "someone who is always striving to be good and do the right"; so ask
about your significant other: What do they do with their time? Is this person
materialistic? Usually a materialistic person is not someone whose top priority
is character refinement.

There are essentially two types of people in the world: (1) People who are
dedicated to personal growth and (2) people who are dedicated to seeking
comfort. Someone whose goal in life is to be comfortable will put personal
comfort ahead of doing the right thing. You need to know that before walking down
the aisle.

QUESTION...4:How does he/she treat other people?

The one most important thing that makes any relationship work is the ability to
give. By giving, we mean the ability to give another person pleasure.

Ask: Is this someone who enjoys giving pleasure to others or are they wrapped up
in themselves and self- absorbed?

To measure this, think about the following: How do they treat people whom they
do not have to be nice to, such as waiters, bus boys, taxi drivers, etc.. How do
they treat their parents and siblings? Do they have gratitude and appreciation?
If they don't have gratitude for the people who have given them everything; can
you do nearly as much for them? You can be sure that someone who treats others
poorly will eventually treat you poorly as well.

QUESTION...5:Is there anything I'm hoping to change about this person after
we're married?

Too many people make the mistake of marrying someone with the intention of
trying to "improve"; them after they're married. As a colleague of mine puts it:
"You can probably expect someone to change after marriage for the worse" If you
cannot fully accept this person the way they are now, then you are not ready to
marry them.

In conclusion, dating doesn't have to be difficult and treacherous. The key is
to try leading a little more with your head and less with your heart. It pays to
be as objective as possible when you are dating; to be sure to ask questions
that will help you get to the key issues. Falling in love is a great feeling,
but when you wake up with a ring on your finger, you don't want to find
yourself trouble because you didn't do your homework.

Another perspective...

There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance... It's
amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of or at least minimize your time
with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going anywhere relationships. Observe
the relationships around you.

Pay attention...Which ones lift and which ones lean?
Which ones encourage and which ones discourage?
Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill?
When you leave certain people do you feel better or feel worse?
Which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know, or appreciate
you?

The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around
you...the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front
row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

An African proverb states, "Before you get married, keep both eyes open, and
after you marry, close one eye"; Before you get involved and make a commitment
to someone, don't let lust, desperation, immaturity, ignorance, pressure from
others or a low self-esteem make you blind to warning signs.Keep your eyes open,
and don't fool yourself that you can change someone or that what you see as
faults isn't really that important.

• Do you bring out the best in each other?
• Do you compliment and compromise with each other, or do you compete, compare and
• control?
• What do you bring to the relationship?
• Do you bring past relationships, past hurt, past mistrust, past pain?

You can't take someone to the altar to alter them. You can't make someone love
you or make someone stay.

If you develop self-esteem, spiritual discernment, and "a life"; you won't find
yourself making someone else responsible for your happiness or responsible for
your pain. Seeking status, sex, and security are the wrong reasons to be in a
relationship.

WHAT KEEPS A RELATIONSHIP STRONG IS:

1. TRUST
2. COMMUNICATION
3. INTIMACY
4. A SENSE OF HUMOR
5. SHARING TASKS
6. SOME GETAWAY TIME WITHOUT BUSINESS OR CHILDREN
7. DAILY EXCHANGES (meal, shared activity, hug, call, touch, notes, etc.)
8. SHARING COMMON GOALS AND INTERESTS
9. GIVING EACH OTHER SPACE TO GROW WITHOUT FEELING INSECURE
10. GIVING EACH OTHER A SENSE OF BELONGING AND ASSURANCES OF COMMITMENT

I hope others will find this helpful too.