family

I got extra sentimental today about family. My family. How much they mean to me. How much I'll miss them when I get married. How thankful I am to have been born into this family. How much of a role they play into forming my character and my values. How important it is to me to stay as close to them as possible even after I move out. I love my family. If only I can just "add" Dennis into the present family equation and not have to change anything else. I love my family.

holidays merry days! :)

It's been a full week past! Some highlights:
1. Had my tinghun last Saturday! Blissful experience with minor booboos and lots and lots of pictures (that hopefully I get to see very soon!). I didn't think I'd have so much fun following tradition, but given that I'm the only girl in this household, I think it also meant a lot to my family, esp my lola and parents, to have thrown a tinghun for me. I also loved that it was held in the house I grew up in, sort of as a tribute to the place that housed most of my growing-up memories. I also loved getting ready in my room, then moving on to my lola's room since she had more floor space, and eating downstairs on our dining room table. The gifts were also awesome, but more than that, the experience itself is the most precious thing, and the memories it created :)

2. Work is over, at least for the year! We also got a hefty, generous Christmas bonus, for which I am very grateful. Indeed, we had a lot of bad slumps this year, so it was very generous of management to still grant us a generous sum. It would be very helpful next year! :P

3. Christmas! I don't know if it's because I'm engaged, but majority of the gifts I received this year were honeymoon or newlywed related. Hehe. I love every one of them! :) This Christmas is a bit different from years past, because we spent it at the hospital. My lola's still there, but her condition is improving day by day, and hopefully she'll be able to get out before the new year rolls in :)

4. Heard some good news about friends expecting and friends getting engaged. 'Tis the season of blessings, truly! :)

Hopefully the last few days of 2009 keep up the stream of blessings, hope and love, all the way until the new year!

exciting times are coming... :p

One week to go 'til tinghun!

Two work weeks left to go 'til official holiday break!

Two weddings and a baby await us in 2010. (Will it be three weddings? Hmm.. Abangan!)

tinghun countdown!

Ten days to go!!!! :)

thank you

Obviously, my family and I are as far from being American as siomai is, but just because we don't celebrate the actual holiday doesn't mean we can't give thanks :p So, in honor of American Thanksgiving, I loudly proclaim to the universe my ever-flowing gratitude for the following:

~ Attorney Dennis Chan and the blessing he represents in my life, for all of my life
~ My dad, my mom, my lolas and my brothers
~ My lovely friends, all of them, near and far, from all stages and parts of my life
~ My mentors at work
~ My teachers and my students
~ The opportunities that come my way, big or small
~ The sense of safety and security that allow me to sleep well at night and look forward to every morning
~ and most importantly, the "Big Man" up there, known by many names by many people, who's my true benefactor for all the things I'm grateful for.

Thank you.

i want to sit on the floor and whine...

"Hello? MBA graduation? Are you still out there????"

Days like this make me want to sit down on the floor, pump my fists in the air and kick and scream and whine. MBA is dragging out with seemingly no end in sight. I feel like indulging my inner brat and whine 'til kingdom come. Why again am I doing this??!?

This may just be a manifestation of me trying to do it all and juggle so many things in my life. But giving up on this is just not an option.

Hay.

For now, whining is all there is to do.

Hay.

i gotta feeling...

I will win this year's Christmas gift challenge vs. Attorney

:D

:D

:D

forward thinking: the math

Ok, the OC in me likes to plan things ahead of time and gets kinda stressed whenever I'm told to "go with the flow". I know some people like it and live by it, but I'm just not wired that way... Also, the Math geek in me likes to see things on black-and-white and formulas put in place so that things compute properly and everything is accounted for. I do not like cracks or have things fall into them (you know what I mean)... Anyway...

This OC-ness led to me draft up a household budget for me and Attorney, for our life-together to be launched in mid-Sept 2010. The excel sheet accounts for all expected income flows as well as expenses, and computes for yields in terms of gains or losses as a function of income minus expense. It also creates another scenario where a baby is involved. I estimated costs incurred by pregnancy and the baby entering this world, annualized it, and made a safety padding to include inflation and to absorb the cost of cutesy baby things that are pricey but simply cannot be passed up (see, I'm also very realistic!). I wanted to know if we're financially prepared for this occurence. I know we planned not to have a baby until my MBA is done, but sometimes, these things cannot be helped nor 100% planned for, so I wanted to know if we'll be on shaky ground if I pee into a stick and find out we're with-child. I'm sure we'll be happy but I want to know if our wallets will be just as happy.

Bottom-line, nearly break-even if with child with a little bit stashed away for savings. Not a bad scenario all-in-all.

I'm happy now. :)

And can breathe better.

Math calms me down this way. Numbers don't lie. :p

Oh, and I just realized, imagine if we didn't have to pay 32% income tax. That would mean a 32% immediate increase in our takehome and more moolah for our little kid. Tsk tsk tsk. Instead it goes to the fat pockets of you-know-who.

Oh, and I also just realized, I didn't plan for the occurence of us having twins.

I don't think we have twins in our genes. So it's an improbable matter. :p

Ok, too much OC. Gotta get back to work.

taking stock: SG trip

OK, tangible loot from SG trip with FILC (aka our first abroad trip together):
- Two Cotton On cardigans
- 1 Rubi (pronounced as roo-bi) flats
- Ikea loot: 1 candle holder, 4 rolls of gift-wrapping ribbon and a cool salt/sugar canister (yes, I know it's not much, but I haven't really gone to Ikea to shop, in all the 4 times I've been there, but really more to look around and have fun with the place. Hopefully my next visit will be more productive retail-wise)
- Burberry perfume and NYC guide for Dennis
- Jerky and chocolate pasalubongs
- Sephora loot (Makeup Forever and Benefit cosmetics)

That's it! Probably one of my leanest trips abroad ever, in terms of shopping hauls. However, this trip majorly kicks ass coz of:
- Super cool Unilever-sponsored apartment aka Trinidad Bed & Breakfast, with Julette as the assistant tour guide
- as usual, Singapore food that I love love love love, including Din Tai Fung which wasn't in the original list in my head of places to hit
- The "night-in" that we had on our 2nd night there
- Lychee martinis
- Pictures ("broken arm"!)
- New malls on Orchard road
- New terms such as "BV" and "GV" widely used throughout the trip
- Fun as usual with the girls

:D

Sa uulitin!

SINGAPORE!!!

The first FILC trip was to Boracay 4 years ago. We had a lot of fun and we always said we should take more trips together, ideally once per year, but obviously, since we're only about to take our second one, that "ideal plan" didn't really pan out. Hehe. But nonetheless, I'm so excited!!! FILC's 2nd trip will be this Friday, to the land of the merlion, the hawker stalls, Orchard Road and the EZLink card, aka Singapore!

This trip is especially special to me, because it's most likely the last trip I'll go on with friends, as a single woman. True, Dennis has never stopped me from taking trips with friends, and I don't foresee him doing so when he's already my husband, but I feel strangely nostalgic, as I have been these past few days, for this time in my life. It's the last time I'll go on a trip with no other responsibility but myself. And that's something to acknowledge, I think.

Which is why I'm especially happy that this trip will be to Singapore, my most favorite and most loved city in the whole wide planet. I love love love love Singapura (its original name) ever since my parents sent me there to study when I was 10 years old. I love how the city is actually a country but feels totally like a city, like a home. You can walk around and get to everywhere you need to, without depending on cars or enduring through traffic jams. You have no fear of criminals, snatchers, rapists, etc, as it is one of the safest place in the world. You can find cheap, CLEAN and fantabulously delicious food in the humblest of places (aka my lovely hawker stalls). You can go there 4 times a year and it'll still look different somehow.

It's where my naive 10-year-old self learned what it meant to be independent, to be responsible, to know how it is to stand on my two feet and take care of myself. I believe it's where my 10-year-old self discovered her strengths. I remember having my first ever growth spurt there, but more than the physical, bodily growth, I really grew up, in the real sense of the phrase, and I credit so much of who I am now to that chapter of my life.

Singapore will always be my most favorite place on earth. I know it's been making a lot of changes lately, architectually and even in terms of regulation, but I don't care. Singapore will always hold a special place in my life.

With that said, it'll be made even more special by the fact that I'll visit it again, this time with my bestest friends. Can't wait! :)

overwhelm

These past few days, I've definitely been feeling the strain... that weighty, overwhelming feeling that I've been bracing for ever since I realized the multiple balls I'll be juggle throughout late 2009 to early and mid 2010. I am on the bridal gown stage of wedding preps, which probably is the most attention and thought requiring part of the process, apart from the main items otherwise known as date, time, church and venue. Met with some designers, the experience of which I realize can be both confusing, tiring yet fun, exciting and very giddyness-inducing. It's also finals time for my darling students, so I have to finish grading all the papers and prepare for my final day in class, as well as do the prep work to compute for their grades. I also launched a new product recently, one that requires a lot of attention given the sales/trade work it needs. It was also budget season a while back. The stress it causes needs no explanation. MBA is also still ongoing, with some of my classmates being a bit "difficult" to work with, esp with regards to our often conflicting work schedules.

So many things, so little time. In fact, the only other "ball" I have that I do not need to "juggle" yet right now is house decorating. It's a task for early 2010, when we have to start (and finish) the repair work at the condo, and design ideas and decorating concepts will be angling for space in my brain, versus all the other things I listed above. I am super excited for that stage of my "fiancee"-ness, but I also know I want enough time to enjoy the process.

I remember telling Dennis recently that, for the first time since we got engaged, I am truly, truly, truly grateful to have this much leadtime before our big day. I am not the type to cut corners, or to close my eyes and do eenee-meenee-minee-mo with my choices. I am soooo the type to think it over, consider different angles of the decision, before settling down with my choice. I also dislike the feeling of being rushed. So, with all these other things going on in my life, I definitely love the fact that I have time. Enough time. To breathe. To relax. To take things one at a time. To enjoy and have fun. To be. Just be.

I've been thinking of and doing so many things that time seemed to fly by and before I know it, my 27th birthday is upon me. Tomorrow, I turn a year older. And I realize that my 27th year on this planet is perhaps the most exciting and life-changing year of my existence just yet. It's a year full of firsts- of the start of my official life as the wife of my beloved and the start of my full-fledged independence. By this time next year, I would've been a wife for a little over a month. Hopefully I'll also be doing wifely things such as cooking for my husband, preparing things for him, talking about expenses, trips together, wedding gifts unopened, etc. I'll also be entering the third and final stage of my MBA life. And hopefully something good at work is also in store for me, God-willing..

There's so much growing up to do next year... I can't help but feel nostalgic... The next 12 months are definitely something to savor and to cherish. To enjoy and to remember. This sort of thing only happens once.

OK, I don't feel so overwhelmed anymore. I feel so much better :p Which is a good thing. My birthday is in a few hours :) Can't be in a funk on my day. :p

little details here & there...

but at the end of the day, it's me and you. Me and you. Me and you.

Handle With Care

I love this book. I love the story, the characters and the twists and turns. Jodi Picoult does it again. She writes about life, about love, in such a poignant, sensitive way. I'd read this book over and over again.

:-)

2009, what's wrong????

Is it just me or is 2009 probably the toughest year we've had in a long long time? I've personally never seen a year more filled with challenges... so many deaths, mishaps, accidents, disappointments.. a year more riddled by would-have-been-but-never-was... It's just so strange.

Well, that is, except for the fact I got engaged (super high "high"), my overseas trips and the salary adjustment I got mid-year...

Gotta mention those, in case I begin to sound ungrateful. I'm still very thankful for my blessings, universe. It's just that I can't help but think 2009 seems to be a year people would rather forget once it's over.

Strange.

one random day...

He was just being himself...

Chattering on about something at work...

Feeding himself in between sentences...

Being all animated, using all the intonations and hand gestures in the world...

And I thought to myself...

I want to be with you forever.

:D

ok so new date 09/19/2010

OK, so now we have a new date, which the MIL seems to like a lot better, plus it gives way to an evening reception. Everybody happy, perhaps? Well, not just yet. We've already landed a church, but we have yet to get a reception space that fits all the requirements. Gosh, if you want to know what stress feels like, try planning a Chinese wedding.

Abangan....

:-p

spoke to soon

Apparently, churches do not allow Sunday morning weddings anymore, to make way for back-to-back masses and encourage parishoners to attend mass. Well, good for them but bad for us. With the rule, we have one of 2 choices: Get married in a garden or anywhere except a church; or, Change the date.

I guess we're changing the date.

I'm kinda tempted with the first option though.

:p

Trying to keep positive and avoid the control freak in me from..... well, freaking out.

Wooooooozaaaaaaaaahhhhh.....

10-10-10 at 10am!

We have our date!!! :P

When Dennis first told me the date that was found to the best schedule for us to be married, I was initially excited by the 10-10-10 proposition, but found the 10am a bit too early... I had always imagined our wedding reception to happen at night... So all the way home that evening, I tried to adjust the way I looked at this new development..

Then, I remembered something! When I was freshly out of college and one of our college friends got married (Cia), the rest of us were talking about how only one to two of us should get married per year, because at that time, we felt it was expensive to buy wedding gifts, so this expense should be spaced apart :p (haha, I know... when you earn minimum wage, you count your pennies very ver well)... Since there's quite a number of us in the digdipper group, we took turns "claiming" years and/or dates. I remember saying 10-10-10 will be mine, because it's a Sunday and it seems auspicious. This was back when: (1) I was just 21 years old and didn't know any better about anything in life ; and (2) I was super single and wasn't even really dating anybody. Wala lang. I think it's interesting and quite a story for it to turn out that I will indeed get married on this date. At may extra 10 pa for the time :p hehehe..

So, next year, 10-10-10 at 10am! :D

house hunting

One of my favorite things to do on a weekend these days is to go house hunting with my fiance. It's such an adventure. We'd choose a certain spot, drive around and look for possibilities. Today, we found the best one we've seen so far. It's so spacious and well designed, and it's in a really good neighborhood. I could practically imagine us living there when we were being taken for a tour this afternoon. I love it!

I wish money grew on trees so we can buy it on the spot.

tick tock.... tinghun!!!

We have an official tinghun (Chinese engagement) date! December 19, 2009 :D

Action items for the next few months:
- Finalize the details (venue, etc) of the tinghun
- Plan my attire (always a happy thing for any girl... and her mom.. Hehehe, my mom is already planning to visit designers in the next few weeks)
- Choose the gifts we want (at least the ones we can have a hand at deciding :p)

I'm excited!!!!! :D