Counting blessings: 24 weeks to go

Posted on November 13, 2010 by Marjorie

Accomplishments for this week:

Hubbie already received our ROM. yey!
I received Hubbie’s DHL package containing our marriage certificate and other necessary documents required by the Church
Mama was able to send me my Baptismal and Confirmation certificates
Because of items 2 and 3, I was able to send our documents both to Lipa Chancery and to Xavier Parish via LBC earlier this evening. It’s expected to reach its destination by tomorrow. I hope Ivy and Sally, respetively, can receive it then.
booked flights
drafted our itinerary for December – January holidays
got body measurements of Mama, Okasan, sis-in-law Mayumi and Carl and forwarded to Tita Linda (Entourage couturier)
applied for passport renewal at DFA (uber looooong queue!!). DFA really has to get down on how to have a better system.

Things to look forward to next week:

Ocular inspection with Ville Sommet (again) and Hacienda Isabella (full, exciting story later once everything clears up)
Cindy’s (Bridesmaid) gown-fitting
Hubbie’s visit to Ministry of Japan
shoe-size fitting with Solea
more flight bookings and hotel bookings
(hopefully) receive clearance from Lipa Chancery
(hopefully) receive endorsements for both wedding banns publication and Pre-cana seminar from Xavier Parish (the Parish handling Caleruega couples)

doing it the right way

Posted on November 7, 2010 by Marjorie

Weddings ain’t cheap. It comes with a hefty deduction on your savings. Hence, soon-to-weds make a real effort to think of creative ways to make their wedding beautiful yet not that pricey.

In all my dealings with our suppliers, I get really happy when I get to negotiate a discount from the usual package. Because it would mean we can have a budget for the additional items that we haven’t foreseen that may come up later during the detailed design phase (yeah, talk about EPC business, hahaha!).

Hence a certain encounter I had last week brought us to a really tricky situation. We would be able to save from the VAT if we will not ask for the official receipt. And with VAT, we’re talking about more than 20,000pesos here. I can do a lot with additional 20,000pesos. I can have 2 lechon with that. Or one additional dessert. Or pay our musician/strings ensemble. Or pay our hair & make-up. Or pay the entourage flowers. Or have a mobile bar. Or pay a one-way ticket to Japan. Or book the hotels for the entourage.

But not paying the VAT would be tantamount to tax evasion. As an employee, I’ve been paying enough tax as it is since it is immediately deducted from my salary. And well, knowing that a major portion of my salary only goes to greedy politicians really aches me and can be motivation enough not to pay for the VAT.

But the Philippines needs some change. And we can contribute to that change by starting the change ourselves.

It has been a difficult decision. It’s easier to be selfish and just think of the amount we will be able to save. But we want to do it the right way hence we decided to pay for the VAT, even if it costs us. Something will just have to be given up (the mobile bar, for instance). As Hubbie pointed out, it is important that we start our new life as husband & wife in the right way, in the just and correct path.

And I can only hope that all couples, when presented the same situation, would also take the same course. Our country needs our help guys.

Hachinohe

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Marjorie

The FEED Phase of this project found us seatmates in 34th Floor South Wing of Queens A. If not for that, it would have taken longer for us to find each other. I say “longer” because I believe that eventually, we will still find each other. But then again, I think, that that time when furtuitous events led us to being projectmates and seatmates has been the perfect time that we have been praying for.

http://www.jgc.co.jp/en/01newsinfo/2010/release/20101021.html

EPC is now underway for this plant. Hope it’ll be a very productive phase this time, as it has been in the previous phase.

engineer bride bloopers

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Marjorie

I inquired at some invitation suppliers this afternoon at neighboring malls for printing services of our save-the-dates. On one supplier, she was asking for some samples of what I wanted. She used the word “mock up”. The engineer me heard “mark up” and was thinking of P&IDs. Hence the engineer me got so confused why she was asking for mark up. hahaha!