hip! hip! hooray! it's charles' 1st birthday

got to believe it! justice league super heroes~ superman, wonder woman, batman, the flash and green lantern, and the fairies and villains of the fantasy world had come out for a common mission…to honor the chief of the indian tribe… huh? a new animation or play? you might think...but you’ve heard it right, ooopsss...i mean sort of hehehe.. the bulilit version of them showed up yesterday on our son’s 1st birthday costume party. yeap, we’ve decided to throw a costume party to add the zing to the celebration, and it turned out groovy and amusing. our son dressed up in indian costume with their tribal head band to match the outfit while our daughter had her fancy fairy costume. to accolade the participation and effort of the the kids and of course the parents we awarded gifts for best in costume ( 1 boy and 1 girl ), the judgment was based on the most applauded kids.. nakuha yata sa paramihan ng kamag-anak hahaha...The bibo kids also showcased their talents. france recited a special poem to her brother and subsequently had her a dance number, babaero song was then rendered by zorro cousin, girbaud followed by the another dance number from the trio cousins fairy and devil girl. the games and prizes were delighted by both kids and their parents. the cool sunset breeze in our village’s clubhouse was a big help for the kids to feel comfy with their costumes. the food catered by ALON”S (relative) was good and plenty with five main courses, 2 desserts (w/ sorbetero) and drinks plus set kiddie meal for kids. the not so good about the party was the attendance, only around 75 guests attended against the 125 reserved paid seats medyo sayang yung food tsk, tsk...according to them they have other engagement sabay ng christmas party (christmas na nga pala) yet overall, the party was FUN! my gratitude to my in-laws for the assistance and preparation of the program thanks, thanks,thanks...

My Birthday - A Family Indulgence

Reality Bites
When I got married and live separately with my own family I’ve opted not to celebrate my birthday, I mean, going out with friends for a treat or a sort of gathering where relatives and friends coming over the house…and this is of course associated with “handaan”. Reasons are behind it, top on the list is that I have kids now and I really love the thrills of organizing party for them, thus, I am reserving as much of the our resources for them. Next, no one will take charge of my celebration except by myself and that is absolutely exhausting for a celebrant (although my husband is supportive, he’s not into this stuff hanggang morale boost na lang..ahihiahuhu). Unlike before when I was still with my parents, my mom was the one dealing with everything, I’ll just invite and eat ha-ha that was my job before! just got to realize the significance of mom’s role in every event of our life and I appreciated and missed that thing. The fact is, the piece is now passed to me.. to us.. to the new mothers, apparently, that is the cycle of life and we are certainly next in line (serious huh!).

Unconventional
Nevertheless, emancipation from our daily routine is our aim, thus, my birthday is far from the usual day for the family. In lieu of the party/”handaan” which is costly and wearisome we prefer to indulge ourselves (exclusive for the family pasensya na po nakabudget.) something soothing...sumptuous...something…suite, “as in” spending a day and the whole night in a hotel. This has been a custom for the past years thru my husband’s initiative. It is good that my birthday is on December because it’s a month of bonuses and in the same way month of spending…buti na lang ahihihi.

For the past years we spent my birthday in Tagaytay while last Dec.16, Sat we have checked in in one of the hotel in Manila. My actual birthday is Dec. 13- that was a weekday, which means conflict with france’s school and py’s work schedules (I anticipated that) thus, I decided to move it on dec.16, saturday at least, nothing had suffered.

Online booking
The emergence of internet has become the tool for communication and transaction and it is indeed an information superhighway, yet let’s not go profoundly, we’re still here..I just want to share how beneficial the internet to me when I made a booking for our hotel accommodation. I was able to locate, took a glimpse, compare and pick the hotel based on own preferences from the wide array of online bookings. I was able to book and pay online conveniently and at a guaranteed cheaper rate! This is lower for as much as 5k! as compared when you book directly to the hotel and it includes buffet breakfast (pls. take a look of the info and our photos at the hotel at end of this blog) .You can choose on your own preference that suits your taste and budget i.e. room rates, inclusions and hotel classification. I was very surprised to find out that the room rate of the hotel-resort we had checked-in and booked directly to the hotel last year in Tagaytay was cheaper by around 1k per day!! when you book online. Moreover, what is notable is that it includes buffet breakfast for two! which costs around 600/pax. oh! that’s a big plus! tsk, tsk, tsk…la pa kasi kami internet connection sa house that time hehehe while sa office intranet access lang nakablock yun outside sites.

Anyways, to get the best deal of booking online, tips are you have to be religiously resourceful and persistent. If you want to get the lowest rate but not sacrificing the quality or if you want catch the promo you have to compare as many online booking/travel sites as you can and check the sites regularly as rates and promos are changing with time. The best travel site I’ve seen and engaged so far is the Asiatravel.com http://www.asiatravel.com/(for Asia booking). . They really attend to the queries within 24 hrs. you can count on them because they have offices here in Philippines and in other asian countries and it helps. More importantly, the rates of the room, tour packages, airport transfer and others are comparably lower (free ad ah!).

Miscellaneous
***For those who are planning to travel (asia and domestic flight), cebu pacific is offering veryyyyyy lowwww airfare! extended yata yun promo nila. we’ve got one for hongkong, timely for our plans.. yahoo!(excited na) just add na lang land arrangement package from asia travel or from CEB. You can check their website http://www.cebupacificair.com/.

***Thanks to everyone who remembered my bday thru friendster reminder & yahoo groups.. salamat sa bati.

*** Can’t wait for our baby charles’ 1st birthday costume party! this coming saturday na yun…hope kids will gonna come in their costumes…abangan…

More Pics

Congrats France! - 1st runner up Ms.UN '06 (CFC preschool)

pls.click HERE to watch the video.

Another recogniton for our daughter, this time in non- academic field. She bagged the best in talent and 1st runner up in their school's ms/mr UN talent search last Oct.28. Thanks to her lola Brenda for her colombian costume. Apparently, we didn't bother to look for and spend for her costume ( libre gastos na hehehe). Biro mo she made it out of home curtains (resourceful huh).
I've tried to upload her video to new google video so you can watch it but it failed, ewan ko ba...Anyways,I'll try it again.. Can somebody help me how it will gonna work?

happy bithday france!

Today is the 5th birthday of our panganay and she will always be our little kulit girl. As usual, we have celebrated her bday in her school (CFC) and she always loves it. Actually today is declared holiday, however, due to time constraint raw according to school admin, they decided to go on with their classes, exam kasi nila, kala ko ligtas na sa blowout e hehehe. Anyways, she enjoys how her classmates sing for her the ever popular "happy birthday to you" , making wishes afterwards, accepting presents from them and of course, the cake and ice cream time... Just a while ago she asked me when will be her 6th bday. ? 'kabebirthday mo lang a " i replied; ganon yata talaga pag bata always looking forward on their next bday.
To you, our smart daughter, happy birthday and wishing you lots of cheers and may GOD bless you always...We love you...

Voyage of Love

i don't usually write a poem but i made one for 'py'. I wrote this way back in 1999 on our first year together.. give me the chance to share this with you...I hope this will not sound 'corny'.

VOYAGE OF LOVE

Speaking to my senses, i found myself
" you've been waiting for so long" utter the mind
yet the soul is searching and the heart is longing
for someone to arrive, I do not know when

Fatously inspired, I am to this man
praying he will be the one, I've besought to Him
yet time seems not to come and chances not to care
how soon shall he fall to behold my heart

Sovereign voice through angels is heard
"succumb to the fate where you'll be destined
he meant not for you, though discourage despair
for someone will come to touch your heart"

Awaken by the sound, the eyes have witnessed
a sight of a man has seized my journey
gone are those moments I realized
ah! that was yesterday, I sighed

The warmth of his embrace, perceived by my soul
and conquered my being with might yet gentle
incomparable affection I felt within
exchange this not to moments then
for this man loves me so tenderly

and the journey lives...

Milenio

Last Saturday afternoon, Sept. 30 we headed to “muddy” SM Sta Rosa for our grocery. We’re always buying consumer goods in SM supermarket, coz I’m considering the bonus points I will earn every time I use my advantage card, I’m mababaw, who cares?? just find it advantageous as the card title clearly says.. Anyways, yun nga, we went there primarily to buy meat coz we ran out of food, why?? we forced to cook all the meat we got in the freezer to prevent from spoiling (we cooked it lahat abodo…chicken, liver and gizzard adobo and pork abodong tuyo), apparently, our ref gone absolutely empty!... You guessed it right…the culprit is MILENIO, the blustery gusty typhoon who whacked down the sturdy huge trees (the acacia tree at the back of our house almost hit me when it fell down, thank God that our fence hindered it from dropping it on me.), crashed the heavy billboards on the road, blew the roof and turned the land into a river. Furthermore, the equally important transmission and facilities such as water supply, electricity , internet and communication were disturbed. Milenio hit manila, calabarzon and nearby regions in the daytime of September 28. Lots of residences, industries, farms and establishments were devastated…and worse, lives were taken…
….. Back to muddy SM Sta Rosa… the whole parking area was covered with mud of about a thickness of 2” when we went there 2 days after the typhoon. ‘Py’ told me that it was not just the parking area that was flooded as we first thought but the mall itself. His officemate who happened to be there at the height of the typhoon had experienced how the water rushed into the mall and rose up to his chest level. All the people there grasped each other's arms so as not to get lost. It’s hard to imagine how it will be like if you’re there with the kids around!.... It will be better if you leave the mall if similar incident happens…than be caught by the terrible flood.

Addendum…as of this writing,,nakadown pa rin broadband connection namin. I’m currently using the limited internet access via cellphone to post this message… grabe ang connection super slow mamumuti mata mo …haaay life…

My very own

hooray for me!! finally i got it! my"very own blog"...my own space...on my own pace and own voice...however i want it to be... well , of course the comment is yours... i guess this is my latest stuff...and i am starting to plunge into it...i really am into it...

let me thank my "py" for convincing me to upgrade or i would say.. replace our antiquated PC which apparently allowed us to get into hi-speed connection... so here i begin...

welcome and thanks for visiting...