February

It's My Mother's Birthday

And since mom's birthday was a weekday, we opted to just give her flowers and cake. My nephew recorded a video of us singing happy birthday to ma and it was hilarious. There was a part of the video where ma and I were not moving and were keeping our sweetest smiles because we thought that Zandro was just taking a picture of us. My sisters and brothers had a good laugh with the video and I am not posting it here, haha!

Come Saturday, we just dined out at Gerry's Grill at SM Pampanga. It was also one of those days that my nephew and nieces love ShoeMart to bits. As they put it when we are at SM, "Yeheeey! Tom's World!!!!"

Valentine's Day

It was not a lonely Hearts Day for me! I may not have a partner(romantically) at that time but boy, I have enough love to fill me. I woke up with the kids holding those heart-shaped lollipops which they bought from their allowances. They gave me, Mommy Dess, Daddy Kong and even a few of our neighbors - they're the sweetest!!! I really love my babies!

Then we went to Shean's baptism at Party Land in San Fernando. The food was great. We went home very full and happy. Then, we had a small photo shoot at home. Zandro, Cheska and Pia were in the mood for pictures. I was expecting that this Valentine's Day would turn out to be one of the sad V days, if not the saddest. But I went to sleep that night, thanking the Lord for the abundant love from my parents, brothers, sisters and most specially from my babies! I was happy :)

What's up next? Watch out for March highlights... We have so much to be thankful for having a wonderful Oh!Life!... Cheer up everyone!

Our January

Curahee's Get Together

Aside from the fact that we celebrated New Year with the family during this month, I was also able to bond with friends - the Curahee. Friendship with these happy people started when we were still newbies in AOL. And we are so thankful that even if we are no longer in the same company, plus there were also few who are already working in foreign countries, we still manage to have our get-together every time we have the balikbayans. Of course, it always feels good to get these treats from them (hehe)  and to cope up with the happenings in our own lives.

The picture will tell you that we indeed enjoyed the night. It started with a dinner at Xtremely Xpresso at SM Clark. Check out the Big Ben pizza - it's always a hit with my friends (got different sets of friends but one common denominator: they all love Big Ben, heheh!). Then we went to Lei's crib and drank the night away.

Staying awake til 3 in the morning is always worth it when you are with good company. You never run out of stories to tell and you would never feel your cheeks hurting from non-stop laughing.

 Ate Vic Leaving for Australia
 
But then, life is not all about laughters... Sometimes, you also have to feel sadness. Ate Vic went to Australia last January 28. She's the wife of my brother, who happened to be our boardmate when we were in college. So guess what? More than a sister-in-law, she is also a good, good friend! After work, together with my other sister-in-law, Tits, we went for coffee at Starbucks at SM Pampanga.

The picture might not really show it but we were already crying that time. We will surely miss each other terribly even if there is already video chat ( there goes our line: iba pa din pag personal, with feelings!). She treated us for a coffee so that we could accompany her the whole night crying - and that was actually what we did. We waited til morning watching and joining her cry as she stared at the 3 little rascals, who need to be left behind for the meantime.

But life goes on and we are just waiting for next year to finally see each other again and do all the chikahans ( personal na yun non, so with feelings na ulet, heheh)

I never thought that having this "looking back" to the half year of my life can really be fun! So let's post that smile and enjoy Oh!Life!

No Promises

Aha, no more promises of updating this blog regularly - that's because I break those promises anyway, haha! But seriously, we're only counting 5 months and 2010 would soon be over - ambilis! I don't know if it's because I kept myself busy with a lot of things that days and months came without me noticing. I am not complaining though because I was busy with those times bonding with friends and family - lovin' those times! :))

So what's up with my next posts in this blog of mine that I neglected for how many months? (special message to my blog: Please don't hate me if I neglected you... please?) I will try to touch a little with the highlights of each month. And the operative word is - will try.... told you no promises! hahaha!

So hang in there, dear readers(do I still have? hahah) and sigh away the worries in your Oh!Life! (*o*)

Comfort Food: Fro-yo!

It's summer once again and what food would comfort you on this time of the year than a frozen yogurt! I love yogurt and I love it even better if it's frozen. Thank God SM Clark now have The White Hat Frozen Yogurt!!! I love this store.

It has the creamiest fro-yo I have tasted so far and you have so many toppings to choose from to go with the yogurt. I had mine with strawberry toppings. Nikki and I sampled it when we had a simple get together with our Curahee friends. And these pictures were grabbed from Nurse Nikki's facebook. Thanks, sweetie for dragging me to this store. Yup, we're fro-yo addicts :)

The White Hat Fro-Yo Store at SM Clark

It's yummilicious!!! :)

I Know...

Yeah, I know I am not keeping up with my promise on always updating this blog, booo! If there is one thing I need to blame this time, it would be my Internet provider. It's Digitel (major boooo!). For almost a month now, I am using Globe Tattoo and Smart Bro Prepaid interchangeably. We do not have a good signal at home but that's better than no Internet at all.

I grew tired of talking to the customer service since every time they go to the house to fix it, it worked temporarily. But the connection is intermittent and you would need to wait for about 15 to an hour before all those modem lights are on. And when it's on, count 5 to 15 minutes and the Internet is out again. Waaah! I know I am venting this is my blog anyway, lol!.

So I would just probably sneak sometime at work for blogging, eh? I am afraid I could not do that also. The two sites are just so demanding! Oh well, I think I'll just change the title of this post to "Venting" instead, LOL!

Valentine Suggestion: A Night for the Broken-Hearted

And if you think that all of the Valentine suggestions that I would be providing here would be for lovers/with partners, you're mistaken. Here is one for those single and broken-hearted (ouchie). We all still have a little place in this world, you know (nuff for self pity, lol!). Here is Party Place Bar's take on this Valentine's Day.

 Party Place Bar is at Mac-Arthur Hi-way Dolores, San Fernando City. You can call them at 045-961-3360. Be sure to wear black on February 13, 2010. They would be featuring an R&B band from Manila.

So if you are into this, do I get to see you on Saturday wearing black at Party Place? Ey, I won't be there - it's Pinoy Big Brother's Big Night. I would stay awake late just to catch this show everynight even if I have work the next morning - so NO I should not miss the Big Night. But thanks to Party Place -- they know that there are still those who would rather wear black than red on V Day. ;-)

Valentinte Suggestion: 15th International Hot Air Balloon Festival

The Hot Air Balloon Festival has been a regular event here in Clarkfield, Pampanga every February. Last year it coincides with Valentine's Day and same with this year. It starts on February 11, 2010 and ends on Valentine's Day. So don't you think it would be romantic to spend the Hearts' Day on this festival? The highlights usually are the balloon flights which usually happens at 5:45 AM to 7 AM and the night glow. The night glow is the best part (between 5:45 to 7:30 PM), in my opinion :) The sight is just spectacular! Check this photo taken by Vic delos Santos.

Tickets cost P150 each and are available at the TicketNet  or you can call +632 384-0085 and +63927 340-4994. For the full festival schedule, you can check it here.

This Made Me Laugh - Big Time!!!

I was having my favorite lunch (rice and mom's delicious kilain) while my parents were listening to the AM radio. It was a debate (or a question and answer?) for the presidentiables. I heard Eddie Villarde answer a question - not bad. Then there was Noynoy - not bad, too.

Then a question was thrown to Jamby Madrigal. The question was: "Magkano ang isang kilo ng galunggong at ang itlog na maalat?" She said: P60. And everyone in  the crowd shouted "boo!" - you could hear it clearly in the radio. Then she added: "Hindi ko alam kasi vegetarian ako." (ha!).

The itlog na maalat question was not forgotten. She went, "Di ako kumakain ng itlog." (haha!) You could hear the people shouting at her answers. As for us three (mother, father and I), we were laughing. But of course, this just proves one thing. I just hope the Filipino people would get to vote REALLY wisely.

I Heart Get Laud!

Lately, I am having this certain likeness for dresses. Maybe because they really are so girly. They bring out that femininity in you (if there's any, ha!). But then of course, I could not afford buying those expensive ones plus I am scrimping (save, save, save!). So the solution? Buy those from Get Laud!

Okay, they haven't paid me for this -- not yet (heheh, kidding!) but I am loving their designs plus they are easy on the pocket. A dress would be around 400 to 700 pesos only (about $8 to $15) but they are really chic. Lookie:

photos by Vic delos Santos

And most of all, they have good customer service. A friend from Dubai wanted to have that silver dress but they no longer have one in SM Pampanga branch. All you have to do is message them and you'll get that "special delivery" of the item you wanted. :)

In this time, you can still look fab like celebs (Phoemela is the image model and Desiree wore their multi-dress in May Bukas Pa) without spending a fortune! Now, if you're wondering if I felt like a celeb while in them - hmmm, not really. Slight lang! teehee!!! :)

Valentine Suggestions

Okay, just because I am "technically" single right now, that would not stop me from talking about Valentine's Day. Yep, it would not stop me, hehe! Love is still in the air in my parents' our home and I am still in love with a lot of things.

I will try to add more in this blog once I get to know these promos/events. So here are my first two:

Love's Perfect Company at Holiday Inn - Clark, Pampanga

The set up is really romantic for events like this in Holiday Inn Clark, Pampanga. Last year I saw their set up at the pool side and it was really impressive. And the featured artist this year is The Company. I am a BIG fan - I got to watch their show sometime in 2008 at the Casino. They were really awesome!!!

Love the Tiger at The Mansion - Enclave, Angeles City

Since the Chinese New Year coincides with V Day, the newest and most talked about bar in Angeles City came up with this event. The best dressed for the night would be able to come home with 10,000 worth of GCs from Penguin and Paper Dolls. Just make sure that you go at The Mansion wearing your best GOLD outfit. It would be best if you go with your partner so that you would both bag the best dressed award. That would be 10,000 GCs times two plus the millions of joy you get in this "highend" and posh club.

Get Bitter to Get Better

We were watching the onsite video of Rica Peralejo's wedding, when I suddenly said: "Ahh, they are so happy. It's making me sad..." Yup, obviously I am bitter! And for a woman who just came from a failed marriage, it is just normal to feel bitter over those who are so happy with theirs.  And that's reality - oh! life!

Of course, I am just a human being and I just want to nurse these kinds of emotions every once in awhile. But take note though it's not everyday that I feel bitter (Wow! Do I sound defensive?) about all these stuffs. The only exemption I think is if everyday, I would see uber sweet and cheesy couples who are clinging to each other while on the jeepney . Probably, it would then be an everyday thing.  Heehehe, bitter! :) 

For me, feeling bitter helps me face reality. It jumpstarts the desire to change things little by little. Of course, I could not guarantee that it is the best thing to do to move on but as for me, it really helps. Hopefully, the next time I see very happy couples(even if it would be on a day to day basis, heheh), I would no longer feel that . Anyway, we have that built-in immunization in our system. There would come a time that you would get used to it. I am already close to this stage - at least I would want to think so :)

How about you? How do you cope up with moving on?

CTRL-F

This is what technology has done..

~ While searching for the tons of cds in the cabinet to find the one that has the Hip Hop Abs, I was wishing to just punch in CTRL-F and find the CD in a snap.
~ Was looking for the manual of the universal remote control and have searched hi and lo but it's nowhere to be found. Why does CD-R-King's universal remote manual has to be so tiny? Please help...CTRL-F again. Sigh!
~ My niece and aunt were looking for her girl scout uniform. They have searched all the cabinets including those in the kitchen (duh!). Francesca was already getting impatient and was bugging me to text her mom (in Australia). If the house has CTRL and F keys, probably they would stop bugging me. :)

 
In life, we also try to find something or someone that would make us happy. We're always in a search. Would you want to have CTRL and F keys too in your life? Ah, what's funny then is that when you already keyed in CTRL-F, we end up not knowing what to type in that find box. Oh that's life!

On Moving On...

"Let go of the past. There's a significant reason why it can't make it up to your future."

I read this from one of the tweets of “The Love Strings”. Without any hesitations, of course, I totally agree! :) And this is how I am living my life since August of 2009. I just have to accept the fact that what happened, really happened for a reason. And it is meant to happen that is why it just has to end that way. It has no space in my future – so it is done, ended, ceased and finished! :)

It was also last August 2009 that my brother and my then soon to be sis-in-law had their prenuptial shooting. The photographer is my very good friend, Vic and as my way of moving on, I also need my own photo shoot. :)

This is me walking away from the past but moving on to a sweeter future.

Burying the past but reliving the lessons learned.

Looking to a brighter beginning with a big smile because life indeed is beautiful – in spite of and despite of!

Finally Gave In

I am now approaching my third decade of existence in this world and it is just now that I finally gave in to seriously learn how to drive. Fear and laziness are the main reasons for this. Today is my last day in the driving school. Oh, I hope that I would really be confident enough to brave the roads especially during the night. 

Would learning how to drive equals buying my own car? We'll see but I don't have the budget yet and I am saving for a very important thing (tis my priority #1). My father's wheel has been our constant ride since I was in high school (do the computation). Good thing it still serve the purpose of bringing us to wherever we want to. And of course, there comes the sentimental value - father could not just ditch it anyway. So I really need to learn how to handle the old jeep :)

Gotta go now, I would need to prepare for my 10-12 driving lesson.

It's Time....

... for a new blog. Though I have been a lousy blogger, I still miss writing little blog posts once in awhile. Since there is a new "ME", I need a new cyber notepad to account my thoughts. And now, here it is (drum roll plz) ... welcome to my new OH! LIFE!

You will get to know why my "oh life" just have to be punctuated with two exclamation points. It is just like that right now - really!   It is just full of strong emotions and full of everything new. And if you want to know more about these, of course you will keep on watching for my next post and then the next and the next.. (wink wink)  See y'all around!