Project Home

is about to start for real! :) I'm soooo excited! Now that we've finalized our interior decoration drawings (thanks to Attorney's cousin, who did it for us for free as a wedding gift!), we're now ready to get the place jobbed-out to a contractor! Yehey! Now I feel like we're actually starting on Project Home already :P

Hopefully, though, it doesn't cost us too much. Within our budget is okay with me; I'm not even shooting for savings. I know that I can't scrimp in areas that need to be spent on (like the kitchen and the toilets), so I'm not going to penny-pinch like I would if we were referring to certain parts of our wedding. I know that it's an investment. I just want to stay within budget so we'll still be able to pay for some other planned items (hint: HM!) Let's keep our fingers and toes crossed! :)

confeeeeermed!

Got confirmed yesterday at Binondo Church. It was an interesting experience, though the seminar was seriously sleep-inducing. I successfully executed my part in the ceremony and even got a gift from my confirmation godparents! :) Hehehe. While it's true that I only did it as a requirement for our church wedding, I must admit I liked the solemnity of the ceremony,and the meaning of the whole thing wasn't lost of me at all, even if I'm not truly part of the faith. After all, I studied it in college. I even remember getting a flat 1.0 in the Sacraments class :)

Dennis was also sweet enough to accompany me through the whole thing, even sitting through a 2.5 hour seminar. He said he wanted to be there with me, even if the task at hand didn't involve him. Guess it's an exercise in marriage too. As my dad says, you don't always like what you do for your spouse, but you just do it :p

ohm.... namaste.... yoga...

OK, I was so tempted to blog about my yoga sessions after, well, the first time I went to yoga class in LKG. But I stopped myself, because I feared it meant I'll jinx this new fitness routine and I'll end up eating my words and doing "ningas kugon" (i.e. never go back after the 1st try). So now that I'm on my second month of doing yoga, I figured it's safe already to formally talk about it (at least as "formal" as this blog goes :p )

First off, I SUPER DUPER love yoga! Because:
1. It's sooo relaxing. It eases your mind of worries or stress and never fails to recharge me after each session. No fail! Since it has a lot to do with proper inhalation, requires tremendous concentration, demands focus on the here and now, and expects you to leave your troubles at the door. It's so calming and has such a nice de-stressing effect on me.
2. It helps my posture. Enough said.
3. It's making me stronger. I don't know if this is just a trick of my own mind's making, but I do feel incrementally stronger since I started doing this kind of yoga. I don't get out of breath as easily or as fast when Guia and I walk to Greenbelt. I can also take the stairs at the office and at home two steps at a time, all in one go (no more than 1 second interval between each two-step). I don't know when I can expect toning of the limbs to happen, but I think the increased strength is such an encouraging result.
4. It's strenuous enough yet it doesn't make you sweat like a pig or get "hingal" in a what-the-F kind of way. Admittedly, these are the main reasons I didn't like the gym. I didn't like how I felt so spent after each time I go. With yoga, I still get those "muscle aches" post-session, but nothing like those I get from going to the gym. So I still feel the workout's impact minus the icky sweating :p
5. There's variation in the yoga poses each time I go, so it never gets boring.
6. It's something I can easily replicate at home, maybe starting my 4th month of doing yoga. I need to get the poses down right first before attempting to do it at home, lest I injure myself. But once I get to do that, I can do yoga in the comforts of my own room. Which obviously, no gym routine can allow.
7. No need for special shoes, clothes or other paraphernalia. Apart from the studio fees, there are no required additional expenses!
8. The center is so near my office (at least for now.. I hear they're planning to move to Rockwell in Sept. Boohoo!). There is no excuse for me to skip my Wed-Fri twice-a-week routine.

Are those reasons enough? Hehe. I'm so happy that, after 27 years of existence, I've finally found an exercise routine I love. In fact, I super look forward to each session, in a way I never ever expected to feel about a physical activity. I never looked forward to gym or to PE. Ever! So this is definitely a good sign. I really love yoga!

HM Planning!!

The past few weeks, I've been jumping from one type of planning to another. First was wedding day planning, especially when I meet up with my wedding planner, then off to condo renovation and interior decoration planning, especially when we got our keys and signed all the documents, then to honeymoon planning, especially when I found a super great deal online for our Honeymoon Phase 1 in Singapore! :)

Anyway, this blog post is about the latter kind of planning. I'm so excited it's actually a bit painful to have to wait sooo long for it (7 more months!). After finding a super great deal on Cebu Pac last Christmas for our tickets to Sing (super cheap- as in, cheaper than a dress in Zara!), I went on a mission to find us the perfect hotel. Given that it's our honeymoon and that we're leaving 48 hours after we tie the knot, I wanted to splurge a bit on the hotel and not book us in a 30-sqm box. If I let budget be the only consideration, chances are, we'll end up in a shoebox-lookalike, given how expensive Singapore is on an average day, further compounded by the fact that September is F1 Race season there too. On the other hand, to sort of temper this desire to go all-out, I wanted to not spend too much on Phase 1, so that we'll have more money for Phase 2 (more on that later). So I surfed the internet more than I care to admit, until tadaaaaa I found the perfect deal!

We are staying here for HM Phase 1:

Conrad Hotels Singapore, a Hilton hotel

Got our room at 50% off in their winter sale last month!! How cool is that? :)

Then tonight, I made another discovery. Assuming we do get to go to NYC for our Honeymoon Phase 2, I really really really hope we get to stay in this hotel:

Room-Mate Hotel Grace NYC

I just love love love this hotel! Not only is the concept different, it looks really fun, the location is perfection, and there is, brace yourself, free breakfast! I thought that was an impossibility in NYC, at least not unless you're staying at a 5-star place. It's also got a nice pool, lounge area, lobby and entrance hall. Service doesn't seem to be a problem either! :) It's not cheap, mind you, as very few things are in the concrete jungle where dreams are made. But it's cheap enough, relatively speaking, especially if you factor in the location, which is the biggest consideration if you want to maximize your time in the city. :)

OK, I should stop sounding like a tour guide. Please please please please!!!!! :) I pray the stars align to give me this one special gift-- I hope we have enough money to responsibly go to NYC, then I hope we find cheap airfare (I have an idea what airline to take, but let's hope it pulls through for us!), then we BOTH get our US visas renewed (this may be the most unpredictable one of all the factors), and finally we get to take leaves off from work to go (this may be the easiest factor naman). Hehehe. I really really hope so. I really want NYC. Cross your fingers and toes we get there in 2010! :)

last call!

This weekend marked my last Valentine's day as a single person and my last CNY at home. Made me more wistful than I expected. Guess this just means we truly must enjoy every minute of every day and cast aside all worries about tomorrow or hang-ups about the past. Just enjoy the present. Because, just like with everything else in life, it's fleeting and it'll be gone before you know it.

Kung Hei! :)

it's REALLY happening!!!!

We got the keys to our condo unit today! Hoooooorayyyyy!!! I'm so excited and giddy, yet nervous all at the same time. Hehe. It's really happening! Once we finalize our renovation plans, the contractors can start work, in time for hopefully a finished place by June, and we can start slowly adding furniture to the place, in time for September!

To say I'm excited is an understatement :p

couch, come to mama!!!!!

Cobonpue: Highlight of Cebu

OK, so I'm back from Cebu, for a sales conference for SMART. It was a 3 day, 2 night trip, and we stayed in Mactan Shang. All I can say is that the hotel is nothing like Makati Shang but for a free 2-night stay in a 5-star hotel, I wouldn't really complain too much.

The highlight of this trip though was visiting the factory and showroom of Kenneth Cobonpue in Mandaue City. It was my boss' idea, actually, to go furniture hunting / shopping on our last day in Cebu, since we pretty much had the whole day (up until about 1:30pm) free and what else could we do that didn't involve too much cost. When she mentioned going to Kenneth Cobonpue, I immediately thought that his stuff probably cost an arm and a leg and for sure I wouldn't be able to afford anything. I had heard of his work and his legions of fans, though, and was actually curious to see his stuff up close and personal. They always struck me as "hard"-looking, like they weren't comfortable to sit on or lie down on, so I wanted to see what the big fuss was about.

After a 30-minute car ride from the hotel, we arrive at the showroom and were greeted rather enthusiastically by his staff of showroom girls who were really friendly and accommodating. We went through both sides of his showroom and I'm happy to report that I was so pleasantly surprised to see how usable his pieces are. Not only are they "impactful" visually, especially the bed and sofa pieces, they are also designed for human comfort. His furniture are all MASARAP to lie down or sit on. MASARAP na MASARAP.

When we were going through the first part of the showroom, I was thinking, wow, I'm actually impressed by his work! But I wasn't seeing anything particularly breath-taking or at least merited a feeling of wanting to take anything home with me.

Until we went to the showroom at the back and I saw THE COUCH. The couch that I would die to have in my condo when we move in in September. It's called the Yin Yang L-shaped couch, and it's HEAVENLY. Not only aesthetically pleasing but also remarkably wonderful. Like I want to sit there all day and maybe sleep on it at night. Hehe.

Alas, apparently, they do not sell the pieces in the showroom. Also, if you want to buy something, upon agreeing to the price quotation (which apparently is only released to you via email and on a per-request basis because the price of his raw materials are organic and thus their prices change from time to time), they will make your furniture piece from scratch. The leadtime is usually 60 days, and they ship to Manila. If you want some aspects or dimensions changed, this means your piece will be "customized". It will be subject to a round of special designing by Kenneth and you will of course be charged a corresponding customization fee. The girls actually didn't recommend customization. If you just want a couch lengthened because you find it a bit short for your fiance's leg length, then you're better off adding an ottoman to your purchase and save yourself a bundle of pesos.

Hehe. That last bit was my only predicament with THE COUCH , which the salesgirl was able to successfully address.

So now we gotta wait. How much will THE COUCH cost kaya? The other pieces there had quotations made out for today, so we had an idea on his price range. I'll tell you one thing about his prices- they are NOT cheap, but they are certainly NOT chump change either. If you consider the amount of labor that goes into the actual materials and the furniture, which we were able to see for ourselves, you'll realize why the prices are the way they are. In fact, you'd even think of charging more if you were Kenneth.

That last bit were my actual real thoughts as our car pulled away from the showroom's garage as we left for the hotel again. Hehe.

For more info on his work, you can check his website. THE COUCH isn't in the catalog for some reason. I kinda like it actually- the thought that it's not published in the site yet, and hence it's still my (or our, including my companions today) little secret for now.

:)

officially a homeowner!!

We got a copy of our condo certificate of title today! WOOHOO!! :p

The feeling is a mixture of a really powerful emotional high and a really freaky sense of anxiety with a helping of queasiness in your stomach that can easily trigger cold sweats. Hahaha! Did I just make it sound so weird? Anyway, the feeling is really a combination of "yehey, we're on our way to realizing our dream" and "what the.. how will we do this successfully?" especially since the place is really still on loan with the bank. While we do have a payment plan, the ultra-responsible and ultra-"praning" side of me can't help but feel the weight of the math computations on the flimsy piece of paper in front of me. What pressure. So this is what "game time" means for adults. Not just simple transactions like shopping or beautification routines that, when charged to credit cards, tend to "surprise" you at the end of the month. This is a true-blue, honest-to-goodness jumping into real-estate-mortgage territory, with serious consequences and pretty much just you and your husband left to your own devices. It's quite scary!

But, as my dad said, it's okay to have that "my heart is throbbing so fast I feel like I'm getting cardiac arrest" feeling. It means you're growing up. It means you're stretching yourself farther and reaching for a dream, intending to make it real. It means you've stopped daydreaming and started pushing the pedal to the metal (oh yeah, my favorite, cough cough, phrase)... and start living your life.

Nice to hear, and probably better savored when the debt is all paid for, but I know it's true. I guess it's also the responsibility of it all that would make it feel so much more worth-it and fulfilling in the end. Just like with anything else in life, the feeling you get after getting something you worked for is so much richer, so much more heart-warming and so much more meaningful than something you got through a dole-out. Not to say that dole-outs aren't good; in fact they are VERY VERY VERY much welcome. All I'm saying if part of enjoying the gain, more often than not, entails going through some pain.

Starting with.. no unnecessarily shopping starting today. I made some progress in January, it being the leanest month (spending-wise) for me, since probably my first few months of working. I just hope I keep it up. Hehe. I have a feeling I will be able to, though. Nothing takes the wind out of your clothes-shopping urges than a mortgage staring at you squarely in the face.

Let's not forget to celebrate too, though. We're officially homeowners! Hoorah! A feat by itself :)