Monday, September 24, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Bag love
I have a lot of bags, and I love them all. So why not start a chronicle of them?
Here's the first bag I'll feature. This bag is about my age and belonged to my grandmother. She's a very simple woman, mind you, so she didn't buy this for herself. Her sister who is based in the US and has much grander tastes gifted it to her. She has never used it though and the bag stayed in its box throughout more than 2 decades. This is why the leather is still so perfect - it still smells delicious, feels so soft, has no scratches and is just perfect! My grandma gave this to me when I got engaged, for it to form part of my dowry. It was the star, actually, because it was the most beautiful thing I owned.
I love it so much because it's something I'll always remember my grandma by, even next time when she's no longer physically with us. I also love it because it's so pretty and I would never otherwise get to carry one had it not been an heirloom.
❤❤❤
Here's the first bag I'll feature. This bag is about my age and belonged to my grandmother. She's a very simple woman, mind you, so she didn't buy this for herself. Her sister who is based in the US and has much grander tastes gifted it to her. She has never used it though and the bag stayed in its box throughout more than 2 decades. This is why the leather is still so perfect - it still smells delicious, feels so soft, has no scratches and is just perfect! My grandma gave this to me when I got engaged, for it to form part of my dowry. It was the star, actually, because it was the most beautiful thing I owned.
I love it so much because it's something I'll always remember my grandma by, even next time when she's no longer physically with us. I also love it because it's so pretty and I would never otherwise get to carry one had it not been an heirloom.
❤❤❤
Hanging issue laid to rest
I mentioned a few posts ago that there's a career opportunity that I got really excited about - it's actually the one opportunity that got me psyched, in all these 7 years I've worked in Smart. Anyway, I'm officially giving up on the opportunity. It's been more than a month since the last update and I'm guessing that, while I may have made the cut in terms of qualifications, my pay grade may have been way beyond the level they need. Admittedly, if I were honest with myself, I'd say that I am overqualified for the position. I was just really interested because the training I would receive in that place was worth more than the incremental pay I would get. In fact, I was willing to take a paycut, can you imagine! It was that exciting to me. But I guess it's not meant to be. For better or worse, I guess it wasn't meant to be my next professional stop.
I am going for an interesting meeting tomorrow though. I hope that one pans out. :)
I am going for an interesting meeting tomorrow though. I hope that one pans out. :)
China!
Off to China next week for our annual family pilgrimage ;)
Thank you for my family, my husband and Santo Singkong.
Thank you for my family, my husband and Santo Singkong.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Domestic issues
So much issues with our housegirl -- health issues, actually. Praying everything gets resolved soon.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
D&G II
In a week's time, we would hit our second wedding anniversary. 24 months of wedded bliss. I'm so grateful to have married the love of my life, my best friend, my soulmate and my perfect complement. The past 24 months were not 100% perfect, of course. There were low moments, or more like moments when we were on opposite sides of the fence. But, as I said, these were just "moments", not even days, or mornings or evenings. Moments like an hour... a few minutes... And for that, I am so grateful. I'm grateful to have a respectful, loving marriage, to a respectful, loving person - someone who strives to understand my perspective and who is willing to let his pride and his guard down so we can come to a compromise and come together after taking opposite stands. I strive to be the same type of partner to him, and I hope I succeed more than I fail.
These 24 months were in part totally honeymoony - your typical "I can't believe you're mine forever" feeling whenever I wake up and see him beside me, the random discoveries about each other, the little things that we do for each other "just because" and the totally opposite but totally compatible bursts of realizations that "I can't believe it's already been 24 months" and "I can't believe it's only been 24 months!" Being married to Atty has been the best thing I've done.
These 24 months were also full of learning - about each other and about life. It is of no secret to anyone who reads this blog that we've been praying for our own little miracle to grace our married life. Sure, we did "not try" for the first 6 months of marriage, but the past 18 months have been almost exclusively focused on this dream. And this "dream", by any measure, has been the hardest struggle and harshest trial to-date. Apart from the financial costs associated with reaching for this dream, it is the costs to the heart that ask for a lot of recovery time and recovery love. While the wait and the monthly failure that we've faced so far do take a toll, I have decided with all my heart and mind that there is definitely one casualty that I am not willing to accept or sacrifice - and that is our relationship. I refuse to let our marriage disintegrate into clinical, almost sterile attempts to procreate and I refuse to give in to the negativity that sometimes feels like a magnetic pull. It's hard, I tell you, and sometimes I'm afraid I ask for so much of his patience and understanding, and that I may not be giving him the same amount in return. At times, I'm afraid that I may be pulling away from him whenever I take on the pressure myself or feel that he cannot possibly understand fully how I feel, because his body does not undergo what my body does. I feel those fears whenever I get tempted to shut him out, not bothering to explain how I feel, thinking that no matter how many words I use, he cannot possibly understand how it feels to have a bloated uterus from injection shots or super sore boobs for 8 days only for the soreness to disappear a day before the goddamn bleeding arrives. Or that even if you try to manage your expectations, the PMS-y symptoms buoy up your hopes for good news, and when that comes crashing down, the pain feels like an underwater current pulling you into a deep, unexplainable sadness that, in my head, someone without a uterus or a vagina cannot possibly understand. I try to catch myself though, whenever I feel like this, and try to snap out of the self-pity fog and realize that maybe his pain may actually be much bigger than mine, precisely because he cannot feel what I feel. The mystery behind how things actually feel inside a wife's body may translate into a wholly different level, but just as acute, pain to a husband. I cannot claim monopoly of pain, and he needs comforting as well. I've come to learn this and respect it these past 2 years.
These past 24 months were also about a lot of fun and a lot of blessings. We've been blessed to have visited a lot of places and taken a lot of trips. We've gone to Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, KL, Paris, Rome, China and Thailand. We've also visited Boracay, Cebu and Davao, watched Broadway plays, tried out new places to eat and reached career goals. We've been able to enrich our savings account and even bought a second condo unit. We've been able to pay down our housing loan to the last 22%, and are on track to finishing the loan by end-2013. So many blessings. So much more than what we expected.
Truly, the past 24 months have been special - both for the good things they have brought (mostly for that!) and even for the tough times that came. I hope the next 24 months will be even happier, and (I just need to say it) also see the arrival of our dream.
Cheers to D&G II! :)
These 24 months were in part totally honeymoony - your typical "I can't believe you're mine forever" feeling whenever I wake up and see him beside me, the random discoveries about each other, the little things that we do for each other "just because" and the totally opposite but totally compatible bursts of realizations that "I can't believe it's already been 24 months" and "I can't believe it's only been 24 months!" Being married to Atty has been the best thing I've done.
These 24 months were also full of learning - about each other and about life. It is of no secret to anyone who reads this blog that we've been praying for our own little miracle to grace our married life. Sure, we did "not try" for the first 6 months of marriage, but the past 18 months have been almost exclusively focused on this dream. And this "dream", by any measure, has been the hardest struggle and harshest trial to-date. Apart from the financial costs associated with reaching for this dream, it is the costs to the heart that ask for a lot of recovery time and recovery love. While the wait and the monthly failure that we've faced so far do take a toll, I have decided with all my heart and mind that there is definitely one casualty that I am not willing to accept or sacrifice - and that is our relationship. I refuse to let our marriage disintegrate into clinical, almost sterile attempts to procreate and I refuse to give in to the negativity that sometimes feels like a magnetic pull. It's hard, I tell you, and sometimes I'm afraid I ask for so much of his patience and understanding, and that I may not be giving him the same amount in return. At times, I'm afraid that I may be pulling away from him whenever I take on the pressure myself or feel that he cannot possibly understand fully how I feel, because his body does not undergo what my body does. I feel those fears whenever I get tempted to shut him out, not bothering to explain how I feel, thinking that no matter how many words I use, he cannot possibly understand how it feels to have a bloated uterus from injection shots or super sore boobs for 8 days only for the soreness to disappear a day before the goddamn bleeding arrives. Or that even if you try to manage your expectations, the PMS-y symptoms buoy up your hopes for good news, and when that comes crashing down, the pain feels like an underwater current pulling you into a deep, unexplainable sadness that, in my head, someone without a uterus or a vagina cannot possibly understand. I try to catch myself though, whenever I feel like this, and try to snap out of the self-pity fog and realize that maybe his pain may actually be much bigger than mine, precisely because he cannot feel what I feel. The mystery behind how things actually feel inside a wife's body may translate into a wholly different level, but just as acute, pain to a husband. I cannot claim monopoly of pain, and he needs comforting as well. I've come to learn this and respect it these past 2 years.
These past 24 months were also about a lot of fun and a lot of blessings. We've been blessed to have visited a lot of places and taken a lot of trips. We've gone to Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, KL, Paris, Rome, China and Thailand. We've also visited Boracay, Cebu and Davao, watched Broadway plays, tried out new places to eat and reached career goals. We've been able to enrich our savings account and even bought a second condo unit. We've been able to pay down our housing loan to the last 22%, and are on track to finishing the loan by end-2013. So many blessings. So much more than what we expected.
Truly, the past 24 months have been special - both for the good things they have brought (mostly for that!) and even for the tough times that came. I hope the next 24 months will be even happier, and (I just need to say it) also see the arrival of our dream.
Cheers to D&G II! :)
Monday, September 10, 2012
Waiting
Was told over the weekend, through a Buddha-mankind messaging system that we observe in our religion, to wait. To be patient. To know that there is a season for everything. To learn to stay still. To learn to let go, sit back, and... there it is again, wait.
I've been trying, and sometimes I think I'm successful, but there are times when waiting is just too hard and almost feels cruel. Time passes so painfully slowly when you are itching to get moving but you're obliged to stay put and.... wait.
OK, so let's wait.
I've been trying, and sometimes I think I'm successful, but there are times when waiting is just too hard and almost feels cruel. Time passes so painfully slowly when you are itching to get moving but you're obliged to stay put and.... wait.
OK, so let's wait.
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