Thank you Patchi. I guess I was really touched because what you just did is one of my “language of love” for receiving.
Yet even with my language of love being different, your gift was just so pretty in that Atsushi and I were simply speechless and can only exclaim “WOW” as we turn every page. Definitely this is one of the most amazing cards we’ve ever received.
And of course, it will not end this Christmas. And yes, indeed we are thankful for the friendship. 🙂
Hubs and I sort of count our blessings everyday as we talk about how our day went as we walk our way home.
This is indeed a very good idea! And one that we should do everyday of our lives. Back when I was doing the wedding preps, I specially count my blessings when something disappointing happened. By doing that, I forget about the bad thing but just focus on the good one.
Today, I guess I should be counting my blessings because there are a couple of things that were a bit of a let down – one of which was i was late on our project meeting because I forgot it was today. 🙁 I didn’t turn on the reminder function.
But I shouldn’t dwell on it. Let’s focus on the blessings:
– thankful for Atsushi
– thankful for the great conversations we are having
– thankful that the client approved my proposed design change within a much shorter time than my boss expected
– found a way to solve my recent headache with a deliverable
I should remember those. And not the misses.
And oh, one of today’s verses:
Psalm 118:1 Give thanks to the Lord who is good.
Indeed! 🙂
I feel so guilty not being able to attend one of the most anticipated Sundays in the Church’s calendar. The 1st week of Advent, which marks the first of the four weeks of waiting for Jesus’ birthday. In the Church’s calendar, today is like the New Year and hence a time of looking forward to the new year’s blessings and joys as well as being thankful to the year that was.
And with a smile, I was thankful that unconsciously, we were also doing our recollections and our share of thanksgiving. We are now cooking something that enabled us to reminisce on how our story started and how it unfolded. Listening to Hubs share how he felt buoys me up and made me really thankful how God has been good to us to have had enabled us to spend our lives together.
And so with joy, love and hope, we look forward happily to the future God has planned for Atsushi and me. I am excited! Because I believe it is gonna be great. We claim it Lord! 🙂
Happy New Year everyone!
Merry Christmas everyone!
~ A and M
The search for our wedding rings started as early as June. Like my usual SOP and probably like most brides, I always go for my first loves. Hence when I came across MokumeGaneya I just couldn’t stop daydreaming about it until we could get to meet with their jeweller. Their rings are just so pretty!! I can’t stop gushing about it.
Mind you, it’s only the mokume gane rings of Mokumeganeya that I love because I find the mokume gane make of other jewellers a tad scary. The jeweller in Mokumeganeya said that this is because of the silver component of the ring which is the main reason for the “black streak” on the ring. Even from before, I don’t want silver wedding rings and having known this new piece of info from the jeweller, I told him I don’t want silver in our wedding ring.
Oh yes, you couldn’t go as customized as you could get with Mokume gane rings. With this kind of ring, couples can choose what metals they’d like to have their rings be composed of. These metals are then melded together and pounded into one sheet about 8 inches length, cut into two (one for the guy, the other for the lady – this fact is quite romantic don’t you think?) and then made into a ring. Since it originally is a sheet of alloy, naturally there is an obvious line on your ring where the two ends met.
This was the main reason why I decided not to go for mokume gane. I would like our ring to be a seamless and continuous one, endless, without beginning and end.
One other reason though was that our rings would cost around 550,000yen. Gulp. Because I didn’t want the silver component (silver is usually the base material) in our rings, the jeweller said the other alternative for base material is white gold. To achieve the colors, pink, green and yellow gold will then be tossed in. Platinum is added on the inlay of our rings and diamonds added to my ring. Hence, 550k yen.
I was floored with the amount. Although I know Hubbie thinks it’s expensive, he gave me the choice whether to go for the ring or not because he knew how I wanted mokume gane for our wedding ring.
Boy was it difficult! I know that we have major expenses our way, what with the wedding and starting our new home hence splurging is impractical. I asked myself if I can wear that expensive a ring knowing there are other important things to attend to. Of course the answer was NO. And mainly, there was this breakline that I don’t want to see in our wedding ring.
Problem was that I didn’t see a ring that I fell for. We looked at Mikimoto, Michel Klein, 4C (I don’t know how to add the degree sign haha) shops but no “it” factor for me. I browsed Tiffany website but I wasn’t enamored with it. Probably because it seems I am just considering Tiffany because of its name/brand and not because of its designs. So I decided to visit the Tiffany store in Minato Mirai.
But I got intercepted in the way by Lazare Diamond in Motomachi. And there, I fell for our wedding rings. They beckoed towards me and sparkled before me way more brilliantly than Mikimoto did. This is it.
Originally though, I opted for the leaf design of the diamond inlay. But I decided against it because it looked like the shape of a wound. The Virtue wedding band was another choice but I didn’t like the grooves. Ultimately I decided to go for a continuous Pt1000 platinum ring wherein diamonds were simply yet seamlessly inserted that it almost looked as if it was molded together with the platinum band. Of course Hubbie opted for my ring’s partner, a Pt1000 platinum ring without the diamonds. We both agree that diamonds are for women haha.
I don’t think I was able to get a good picture of our rings to give it some justice but for now, this’ll do. Rings, please wait for Dino Lara okay? Then, you’ll have the pictures you deserve.
By the way, since we already had our civil wedding and our church wedding is still months away, we exchanged our rings on Christmas Eve in the old Christ the King Cathedral Church in my hometown in Tagum were I had fond memories of my childhood. Our little private ceremony was so sweet and special that I wouldn’t do our “exchange rings” any other way.
Christmas Day. We had a party at our house, organized so that relatives from both my father’s and mother’s side could get to meet me and Atsushi. Around mid-afternoon, Uncle Rafael and Aunt Helen invited us for some road trip and go to their farm in Mawab. My dress wasn’t up for the location but it was an offer we couldn’t refuse and an opportunity we shouldn’t miss hence we made a go for it.
banana plantation
It was a sight for Hubbie to see how a coconut is taken down from its tree.
It was an impromptu visit hence we had to make do with resources at hand. Uncle Pael made a spoon out of the coconut’s husk to use in scooping the coconut’s fruit.
ain't Hubbie sweet? ^___^