going the extra mile

Was really happy when Dhonna told me of the happy news that she and her husband Ghepoi will be doing our wedding cord. Was even happier when Dhonna told me our cord was already finished. So imagine my happiness when Dhonna told me that they went the extra mile – they are making us a container for our cord! 🙂

This was the first take.

But after talking it out with Dhonna about the pearls being avoided if at all possible on weddings, they revised it to this one. Tada!

Thank you much talaga, Dhonna and Ghepoi! You’ll be blessed, even more so. 🙂 Am thankful of the gift of friendship that even distance and time can’t overcome.

Container and cord will be making their journey from US to Japan then to Manila. Buti pa sya. 😀

31 in 1

I don’t need to hide the facts. Yes, i’ll be 31 in exactly 1 week!! I am excited with this birthday (as I always am with my birthdays haha) because this is the first time I’m gonna celebrate it as a missus. And yes, my last year to hang on to a calendar number.

Wasn’t it just yesterday that I celebrated my “great crossover”? Haha, yes, I called it “the great crossover” as I crossed from the tweeties into thirties. Ugh, “thirties” does sound old. Haha! At the time that I was calling it “the great crossover” I didn’t have any inkling that it really was a crossover in many ways than I would have anticipated.

As a 30-yr-old, I really did cross the status boundary from a miss to a missus. I was almost reeling when I remembered how I said out loud back when I was in university that I WILL get married at the age of 30. And then I actually reeled when I realized that I really got married to a man whose qualities I have imagined way back in university days. Answered prayer, eh?

I celebrated my great crossover pampering myself in Makati Shangri-la, yes, by my lonesome. Singles out there, there should be times when you’ll treat yourself and have some pampering, albeit all alone. I hold those “me” times precious to me.

The night before I checked in, I had dinner with groupmates from the office, who suprised me in the manner I like – they gave me their flowers, cake and wine one moment at a time (flowers were sent at the office, cake was during dinner in TGIF, wine was after dinner). I just love the groupmates. Kat and Rey also gave me flowers and treated (?) me to lunch. And Hubbie serenaded me for 3 hours haha! Let’s reminisce, shall we? (Pictures courtesy of Gali Montalbo)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It has been a year full of blessings and I look forward to this year that’s brewing with interesting and exciting things to come. But I only have a couple of wishes before I actually hit 31, yes, wishes to come true in less than one week (I need to keep saying 31 to make myself get used to the mental kick everytime I say “31”):

  • be together with Atsushi just before my birthday
  • have my own self-hosted website. I’m trying to read and learn now, but I find API 520,521 a far better interesting read. Haha!

long walks and food ideas

Came across Mrs. Dexter’s post in Freshly Pressed and came to like her simple albeit quality-time-inducing ideas, especially for married couples who have been living together for sometime already.

I specifically agree on her idea #8, re: taking a walk together. Both Hubbie and I loved our long walks together, in our previous trips, and we both dearly long to have our weekend long walks hopefully in the near future. Indeed, I agree with what Mrs. Dexter said that “we always have good conversations when we go on walks, and I always come home feeling loved and encouraged”. It was what I exactly felt in those long walks. 😀

My imagination and yearning to again experiment on cooking was triggered with this:

I imagine flavored minced meat, with bacon, herbs and bits of boiled egg wrapped in cabbage leaves and then steamed on a flavorful broth. Yum…

For now though, we can only anticipate. And hope.

Chancery and Canonical Interviews

Timing was the key for these series of interviews for us. The Pre-Cana and wedding banns are requisites for the interviews hence we attended the Pre-Cana during our Christmas vacation in Tagum and announced our wedding banns from end of November and well into December. We were just in time then to visit the churches for our interviews come early January, just right before Hubbie flies back to Japan.

And what a roadtrip it was. Chancery interview was to be in Lipa Cathedral (or in the seminary of the Chancery Lawyer Fr. Dong Rosales). Canonical interview was to be in St. Francis Xavier Church, Nasugbu Batangas. Both Lipa and Nasugbu are on the edges of Batangas battery limits and would take you some 2 to 3 hours to travel from one to the other. Whew! We actually had to have the Chancery interview on Jan 4 and have the Canonical interview the following day. In between, we visited Caleruega and Ville Sommet and Yellow Coco for Hubbie to see the sites personally. And of course we just have to stay at Sonya’s to check on the place before actually booking our guests.

Chancery interview was so fruitful in that we also found the priest we’ve been looking for to officiate our wedding. I’ve no priest friend and although Mama has a couple or so, flying him to Tagaytay is so out of the question. But both Hubbie and I liked Fr. Dong when we had our interview and he was most kind to show us around Lipa in that we decided to have Fr. Dong for our wedding.

One thing though: he doesn’t allow the Unity Candle on the ceremony. But he allows personal vows so I can settle with that. 😀

Chancery interview certificate! I had to brushout some names though, for privacy and security purposes

Canonical interview was suprisingly really fast! We had to make a queue with the other couples who got there ahead of us (we arrived in St Francis at 8am, left Sonya’s at a quarter to 6 but we were already couple number 11!) but the interview itself was only 2 minutes max each for me and Hubbie. Too bad though I wasn’t able to take a picture of the canonical interview certificate.

Anyways, that’s it, Church documents preps are done! We’re all set for our Church wedding! 😀

PS: Chancery interview is only required for couples where one of the marrying party is non-Catholic, non-Filipino.

Max’s Sizzling Tofu and Goldilocks’ Multi-Grain Bread

I’ve eaten Max’s Restaurant’s Sizzling Tofu and Goldilocks’ Multi-grain bread separately and both is just so tasty. But eaten together? Oh, it’s just an explosion of flavor! Max’s Sizzling Tofu comes lightly fried and in coconot milk with bell pepers and onions. Goldilocks’ milti-grain seemed to heighten up the richness of the coconut-cream-infused tofu and at the same time levels out its richness, creating fireworks of flavor in your palate. The combination is-just-so-freakin’-good. Try it!

dekita!

Finally! Was able to finish wrapping ang tying up our invites. Started Saturday evening. Whew! Deliveries will commence tomorrow. Have to think of a good outside packaging for those that has to be mailed, to keep everything intact. Can’t wait to give them personally to Hubbie…

Please powers that be.

—–

Thanks to Kat for giving out our invites to JPhil folks. mwah!