Today I Braved Black Friday

We've been warned. But yes...we've always believe in learning from experience. So off we braved the streets of Phoenix and head straight to Circuit City in Camelback. Bits of apprehension and anxiety kept nagging at us for failing to be at the store before the 5am opening schedule.

Yes, we have been repeatedly warned. But we were too tired to drag our asses out of bed on a very very cold day.

Good thing the delayed effort still paid off. We got the pretty merchandises that we came for. Weheheeeee....but mind you. It took us 6 hours to get to the counter. If not for the Ethan-Hawke-Lookalike at the check out counter...we would have join the herds of men and women that were barking the whole day at the store's managers.

And now yes we got what we came for. And before we retire tonight..we're proud to have survived Black Friday. :) But yes. People go insanely mad on Black Friday. Thanks for the warning Karen!

Catching Up With Good Ol' Friends

Age is very evident in conversations. Reg, Liz and I have proven that when we met up for lunch yesterday. 10 years ago, we would have had that lengthy conversation over bottles of red horse and with batch 95 mascots around. But well, change is indeed inevitable as the cliche goes. Now who would have thought be lunching over conversations of our families (the one we can call our own at that!) miles away from Mely's, Duey's, 3rd spot or even our beloved UPV campus classrooms. It was a nostalgic day for the 3 of us. And yes we did have a lot of catching up to do because the lunch stretched to coffee time and before we knew it it's time to go or else i'll miss my flight.

Before heading back to Phoenix, Lissa took me to mass at Saint Joachim Catholic Church in Costa Mesa. Then it was time to go. I hate bye-byes. But I know. Like I knew when Lissa said bye bye 4 years ago...that we will see each other again here. By then, maybe I'll be visiting with Tibs already.

Reg...who's gonna pay for lunch then??? :) Your boys are both gonna be men by then! Yey. Post the pictures soon...

Yes age is evident. But this is one of those aging moments that I was glad to happen.

Sweet Rabbit – My Ode To You :*

At home nursing a jetlag that is expected to stretch for a month based on a colleague’s experience, I have been thinking for days…why not document these random thoughts down. At least, the memories are kept somewhere. When time comes for my husband to shout for hugs and kisses I have these ready for him…

Husband — wow. Years ago, I never thought I’d be able to refer to somebody as my husband. In fact, months before Tibs came into the picture I was totally resolved to remove this word from my vocabulary. But whew…I dunno. Things did take a turnaround. A major one at that. Now, I do not only have a real husband to call…I have a bestfriend at my side as well…really cliched…but well…this is what 14 hours of turbulence and 3 plane changes can do to your brain. It’s close to getting high actually. Not that I ever experienced one…he he.

But really, love is the best antidote. For a sick heart, a troubled mind and an exhausted body. I feel reformed. Like it’s a new life. I almost forgot how it felt like to be in love. But I would have really regretted forgetting it if I allowed my anger and temper to set in.

To my husband – you are now my life. And I hope I am yours. As I promised God, I will stay with you and will love you for richer for poorer for sickness and in health till death do us part…these words I will forever take in to the deepest part of my heart. Will carve it to rest down at the deepest part of my soul…to stay for eternity.

For the past 3 years, we’ve never been apart for more than 48 hours. Now that we will be…I promise to think of you every minute of the day. To send kisses and hugs every minute I can. Promise me you’ll take care of yourself till I come back into your arms. Can’t wait to reclaim my place beside that cozy bed of ours…!

we got our invites!!!!

got our invites already. yey yey.

they're as cute as i am hehehe. cant wait to distribute them. hihi.

will post pictures. as soon as i get hold of a better camera than what we have at home. he he he.

i liked the tags the most. printed matter works really fast. and efficient. and they were really nice to talk to.

there. can't contain my excitement, obviously.

updates...updates

wow...i looked at the date on my last entry and realized it's been sometime since i last posted an update here.

the last two weekends were all a swirling, whirlwind series of events. up to now, i still am a bit caught up and still catching my breath. but to cut the story short, God listened to my prayers. he gave me everything i prayed for. he is really truly good. tibs and i may both come from families who never had deep rooted faiths in God but we would like to start one has God as its center. because to us as individuals our faith played a large role in shaping us to become the persons that we are now.

after i got the confirmation i needed from my new employer, tibs and i resumed our preps. although this time, it felt like we were running out of time. so we are running and doing the preps like crazy. no more lazy days. tibs had to brush up on his people skills because he has to do the talking since i'm still on night shift till the end of this week. so far though, he hasn't failed me. we were able to book our foodtasting sched with Josephine's and submit all our banns last week.

Felt like we are on the right track now. My sis was also able to finish our unity candle. Just needs final touching on our monograms and it's all set. My gown however is a total disaster and Annalyn's had to remodel it coz i was really on the verge of breaking down when i did my second fitting. Tibs was in fighting form but i stopped him in time. I promised myself that till our wedding day, I am not going to pick a fight with any of our suppliers. And it will stay that way.

My trial with Am was also moved to an earlier date. We're doing it this weekend already! Prenup pictorial was rescheduled as well. Will pray for good weather on Saturday. I'm really excited to visit UP again. it's been sometime...

Anyways, this is all for now. Will chat more next time.

and now...the waiting part...

I am done with my pre emp medicals. Now, all I need to do is wait for 2 to 3 days and its either bad or good news for me.

Sometimes, anticipation can kill. That's what's happening to me right now. But I will just keep praying. And will heartfully accept whatever is the outcome of this gamble I took.

Six months of wedding preps might be lost soon. But I still hope God hears my prayers and award me with a win-win answer.

met a w@wie couple and their wacky friends

We met sis dindin and her fiance, felix, last saturday at a coffeeshop in Angeles City. They came with their couple friend - boch and faye (my namesake! yay). Both couples were very nice and we did not need a lot of time to warm up. Soon we were all engrossed in wedding-preps-related-conversations.

We had fun exchanging tips and ideas for our wedding preps. Boch and Faye had wonderful anecdotes and tips to share since they just recently married. Boch especially was really excited about his wedding. It was sort of a first time for me to see a groom whose really cheery about how wonderful his wedding turned out to be. I kept telling Tibs he should get tips from Boch. he he he.

I am looking forward to more stories over coffee. thanks Din for a wonderful night of pleasant stories. :)

got our mock up invites and upcoming (?!?) life changing events

we received our mock up invites yesterday. we just had a few revisions but we went ahead and gave our go signal for printing. so the invites will be out soon! yipeee....

on the otherhand, i am praying praying hard that a decision that i might be making anytime this week will not in anyway affect our wedding plans. although i was assured that i should not worry about having to postpone the wedding...i still have reservations (that we might just really need to move it to a much later date).

i miss liz, she, kleng and have long dreamed of breathing some stateside air. and i am almost just a signature away from clinching that dream. tibs kept telling me to set aside some 'big' expectations like this one but i just cannot help but get excited.

on the otherhand, we might have discussed and sort of agreed to move the wedding to a much later date...and i might be overwhelmed with the latest update in my career...i still feel sad to even think that we might have to wait for a few more months before we make our union official...i've been too excited to even think of postponing. hay. but life's like that. sometimes, things just really get complicated.

i just hope God hears my prayers and that things will just fall into the right places.

Supplier Updates

Tibs barong arrived yesterday. Shipped from Iloilo by my sister and bought from Aklan by Daddy.
Got excited and ripped the package open almost immediately.

I was awed by how fine the weaving was. Finally, my worries were relieved. It was definitely a good decision to follow Daddy's advise. Tibs couldn't be any happier.

Update from printed matter: Our mock-up's now ready. Now, we just have to find time to drop by their store. Tibs is sick though and is not in the mood to bother himself with wedding preps for now. And he's requesting I nurse him. Yay. Demanding. He he he. But I have no choice but to follow's the hanibants desire. Dakila eh.

O sya...more updates soon!

Meeting with Am Yap Joco

Just got back from my meeting with Am. And she's such a dear. :)

I'm nearly decided on booking her. But since it's almost like customary for brides to go to trial first before booking, I would have to wait for September before we sign her up. Hay im soooo excited!

:D

HMUA Hunting

Have touched based with a prospective supplier. The last important supplier that I need to book to make this wedding happen. I'm meeting her this Friday. She sounded very nice over the phone and I hope that impression remains the same until my wedding day ;-)

Am Yap was a recommendation from a fellow w@wie, Teacher Louise. Out of all the HMUAs that I considered and quoted, Am was one of the few who quoted cheap but looked to be a quality pick. Quoting Louise, Am is a budding HMUA. Well, following her thought...I also would like to believe that budding artist should always be given a venue to prove her worth. I hope my TMU goes well so I can make up my mind on whether to book her or not. But my gut-feel tells me...its gonna be her :)

Will update soon! I'm excited to meet her this Friday.

Pre-cana seminar and meeting KJ

This whole month of July is the busiest month we've had since we officially got engaged. But this sort of brings me a feeling of relief because it tells me how determined we are to make this wedding a beautiful one despite the budget constraints and other problems that we've been having since we decided to push through with our church wedding.

Here;s my documentation of what has taken place over the weekend.

Saturday - we again head off to Tagaytay for our pre cana seminar. We were unfashionably late and had to take some 'beating' from our first speaker. Whew. We did apologize though. And she accepted it wholeheartedly. Moving on, the seminar was sort of an eye opener for us...in a sense, we realized that there is still a lot of things to work out. Between me and Tibs. Between us and our families. But mainly, in our relationship we do have a long way to go in terms of dealing with our day-to-day interactions in a mature way. And I'm glad Tibs willingly listened and shared his thoughts in some of the discussions. It was a 'breakthrough' for my very very shy hanibants. :)

Sunday - we finally met with KJ. Our prospect photographer who was recommended by my dear friend Mich. KJ took photos of her wedding and I know he is passionate about what he does. Our only concern here is if he will fit our budget. And voila - he did! Now we're just waiting to sign the contract with him. He's really very very very nice. Up to now, I still can't believe he gave us that price for the package that we got! :)

So there...it was a tiring but very, very fruitful weekend.

The 100-Day Countdown

Technically, it's not the start of our 100th day countdown because that day's 3 days past already. Since I was not able to mark that day here I'll just make a post-100 day comment :) (blabbering again, here i go...)

Saturday I was really exhausted from our divi trip. Day was scorching hot and I was all sweaty when we arrived in Anna's shop. We went thru the variety of designs for Tibs' barong since we decided to change the material to pure pina cloth. We thought, yeah, it's going to cost us but well this is a rare occassion for Tibs' why not go for the best...he he he. So there, we picked a design and Anna quoted the price. Whew...it's a loooot more expensive than my gown. But I told Tibs' to go ahead as he was kinda looking a me with that worried expression on his face. I know he really wanted that design. I was happy with my gown already....I just want him to be happy with his as well.

Anyways, the gown fitting was a bit uncomfortable at first. At first glance, Tibs blurted - "ang lapad mo sweet"...I myself could not believe I was that big. But when I got into the dress, I heaved a sigh of relief when I found out they just made it like 2 sizes larger than it was supposed to. But the designed turned out better than I expected. Although it was far from the look that I really wanted to achieve. But still, I was thanking God it did not turn out to be a disaster.

So there, done with my first fitting. But did not have pictures to show yet. Was not able to download it from tibs' phone. But will post it soon....

When birthdays turn sentimental

Shed a few tears awhile ago when I read the card Daddy sent for my bday.


It read:

Kaps,

Happy_Birthday_!

to us, today s perhaps one of ur most significant bday bcos at least we cud still claim u to be ours. but the preservation of d human specie must not be broken hence im looking forward to a more significant event in ur life come october. im right here behind u. i love u pangga.

It made me realize for a moment that my family recognizes how important this event is to me. Although I know that when my dad sends me stuff like this, the reality it's just him telling me this and not him representing the whole family. For a moment, it made me feel good. The tears were actually tears of joy.

But then reality comes biting again. And the thought that my mom, my youngest sister and me are still not in good terms come rushing back. It's a very sad feeling. Something that I really do not wish to dwell on any longer.

But despite all of these, my bday was a happy one. I received tons of greetings as compared to several bdays in the past. It felt good to be remembered by friends especially good old friends from UP.

Today, I vow to let go of the bitterness. I will let time fix whatever issues exist at present. If time cannot handle it...I know love will not let this go unrepaired. Tibs and Auntie Jingjing are there to help me do that. And I thank God everyday I have people like them to help me get through all this.

To Mommy and Maoche, this may be something you can never and will never relate to. This could be something you think is just a whim of mine. But someday, I know...you will understand. And time will come you will remember there were happy days shared with me. That there came a time you were the number one priority in my list. I will wait for you to remember.

OA Sweets - Wedding Souvenirs

Met Farah today. She's such a sunny person. Despite of the weather today, and a very tiring day our meeting with Farah went okay. Daming baon na kwento. Tibs and I liked her instantly.

Ayun lang. I don't have a lot to share today 'coz it was a very disappointing day for Tibs today. We're supposed to get his passport but unfortunately we had problems with his birth certicate so we felt like a day was wasted.
But well, it must be the weather. Things will get better soon.

Invite printer found!

Had a brief chat with Andie of Printed Matter at Glorietta today. Finally, I found a printer whose willing to take in our order. One task down.

It's beginning to unfold. Most days, I can barely cover up my excitement.

I wish though my relationship with my mother and my sisters would improve soon. I was telling Tibs I have a feeling not everybody in my family's going to be present in my wedding. But well, I have to make a stand here. I am just praying that like what Rej said a week ago..."this too shall pass..."

Where are we now, a month after preparations started?

One month after deciding to push thru with the church wedding, how are we doing?

We'll so far we're done with the major stuff...

Church
Reception
Photographer
Gown
Barong
Rings
Wedding Favors - OA Sweets (still to meet Farah though)

To do's -
HMU - Hopefully can get a referral from ate lea or des...(?)
Invites - c/o Scarlet (yahooo...love you ma'friend)
Bride accessories - c/o Lorie (yahooo love you too ma'friend)
STD - c/o Tibs...bilisan mo na....para makapag ilabyu na din ako sa u. wehehhee
Shoes
Des' Gown
Arrhae/Unity Coins - c/o Mara (yihee...swerte swerte ko tlg)
Pre nup pics - still to decide if it's really necessary
Guestbook

Whew. Ayan pa lang naaalala ko. Alam ko madami pa yan. Teka work muna ulet. hehehe. Kullleeet!

IT'S HAPPENING!

It was a realization for us. Right after paying the reservation fee for the reception, we realize - this is finally it. What we really wanted since the day we openly admitted our love and devotion for each other is really happening!

Booked Josephine's already. Paid reservation fee...Anne was nice. I hope we won't have any 'big' issues with them...

Paid DP on the church as well. Ted was also very nice and accomodating. I think this aspect of the preps is gonna be easy breezy for us :)

Panic Attack!

Tibs is spending the weekend in Pampanga today. I forgot to tell him days ahead that the bridal fair in Megamall is also happening this weekend. So ayun, I have two choices - I either go alone and book suppliers on my own or I will have to pass up on this event and just wait for the next one (who knows when though)...

We still have a long list on our to-do's. This morning I was talking to Daddy before he left for his flight back to Iloilo. He mentioned my disagreement with Mommy. But I was not reactive. I just decided I'd better stay numb with regards to topic about Mommy. Or else, I might just breakdown again. That I cannot afford anymore.

I already told Tibs I will not cry over the rest of this wedding preparation activities. No matter how tiring the work entails...I will not fret. I will not fret. Will just vent here he he he...

This Sunday, we're scheduled to make the ocular inspections on these following churches - Caleruega, Chapel on the Hill, Our Lady of Loudes Parish and lastly Ina ng Laging Saklolo (if all 3 fail to match our criteria), if left with no choice. I hate to make it sound like they fall last on our list as Ted (the church coordinator) was really nice and accomodating. But Tibs just wanted us to get whichever of these 4 would be worthy of the money we'll spend on church fees.

Hay I just hope we'll be able to seal the deal with Josephine's though. I really want to finalize at least one supplier before the week ends. Pray. Pray. Pray.