Christmas is in the air

Tomorrow will be December 1 and during this time of the year we will soon be celebrating Christmas day. Here in the Philippines, Christmas starts during the ber month but not all of us don't decorate that too early.

Yesterday, my churchmates and I celebrated our Christmas party. Why is it so early? Because we will all be busy in the following days especially during the "Simbang Gabi." We were supposed to be celebrating our party in Tagaytay but our van went crazy and started to have problems last Sunday. So we had to cancel the travel.

So we celebrated it in the house of our fellow member. We were assigned with different foods and drinks. We had a great lunch!

All were happy and chitchatting. We also had our exchange gifts.

During our snack we had ice cream

 Then we went to another house of one of our member. We went there to have a videoke. We had a great time too, we sang, danced and had red wine :))

I think it was a blessing that we did not went to Tagaytay after all. My cousin said that the rainfall was hard during that day. We will not have much fun as we did here so it is good. But we will visit and plan again our trip to Tagaytay.

Next week, we will have another Christmas party but with a bigger group. This time all other areas in our main church will be there. I will post it here soon. Till my next post! See yah!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

It was September 6, 1979, when this very sweet couple tied the knot. They are my Dad and my Mom. They were the envy of all because they were inseparable. After a year, my Mom gave birth to my Sister, she managed to still work and take care of her together with her sister. After 3 years, I came in the world, My Mom decided to quit her job so she can take care of us two.

My Dad decided to work abroad by the time I was 2. It was a very hard decision for them because they are far away with each other. It was through snail mail that they communicate. Every year he has a vacation here in the Philippines and during that 1 month long, they make the most out of it because it wasn't long enough before they will be far away again from each other. But even amidst of all these, I remember them still in love with each other. My Dad is still so sweet with my Mom that he treats her like a Queen. I don't remember a time when they had quarrel. Maybe they did but I sure didn't notice it.

Years has passed when my Mom was diagnosed with a cervical cancer. At first she did not utter a single word about it with us but my relatives finally said it to us. It was a very sad year for us that my Dad's brother made a phone call and told Mom's situation. Dad immediately came home here and he took care of my Mom in the hospital. Mom didn't like it at first because she said that he should be working there. Then came the time when the doctors said there was nothing more that they can do. We took her to our house and we all took care of her. During the last night with her we hardly did not sleep because her situation got worst. But my Sister and I went to the school that morning. It was 12 noon that she died, my Dad went outside to buy a medicine and it was my Aunt who noticed her last breath. But still, my Dad went all the way home when my cousin told him about it. It was minutes when he cried and finally said his last goodbye; It was the year 2003, 24 years of great marriage. Years had passed and we still reminisce our dear Mother and My Dad still misses her. Even if he was going abroad every year, we are still waiting for the time he will be here together with us stable in the Philippines and spend our times together as a family.

Goodbye Tita Cor

It was barely a month since my Grandfather died and now it is very saddening that an important person in our family has also passed away. She is Our Dear "Tita Cor" she is the sister of my mother and my Godmother who used to take care of us and our cousins when we were young. When my mother was working then, my sister was left with her and her husband until I was born that my Mother quit her job. She is very kind, sweet and generous, she was born with polio and complications on her heart and asthma. She earned a living with tailoring and had a son. But when my cousin's mother died she took care of one of my cousin and accepted her as one of her daughter. She also has taken good care of her grandsons and grand daughter that they call her "Mama".

We know that she is in good hands right now and would continue to watch over us. We thank God for giving us an Aunt who doesn't stop touching people's lives. We love her and will miss her.

My Niece's 2nd birthday celebration

Yesterday, my sister's daughter Nicole celebrated her 2nd birthday. Because my dad and his father were not here (both working abroad) we decided to celebrate her birthday with a fun day for her. We went to Old spaghetti house for lunch, we had mozzarella sticks, pasta, pizza and a desert. Then we headed on to Fun Ranch. When we went there, there were a few people and other rides are not yet opened. We toured the whole place for a while and found an express train. Nicole and her Mom went to a ride around the area. This is a picture of her in the train.

During our tour around the area, there is a bridge that she loves to walk on. She keeps coming back for a couple of times. We were a bit dizzy while walking in the bridge but she loves it. haha. Here is a few pictures of her in the bridge.

The other rides there is a bit for larger kids so we went to Active Fun wherein they have big slides and interactive center for kids. They can play and learn at the same time. She was with her Mom and they enjoyed it so much! Her time was for an hour but she wants to stay longer so we had to make her calm and stop her from crying. Here are some of the pictures I've taken.

After that we went to Ark Avilon Zoo. It is just beside Fun Ranch and we still want to let Nicole explore the place and let her look at animals.

Our Gradeshool - Highschool Batch Reunion

I wasn't able to post this yesterday. We had our gradeschool and highschool reunion 2 days ago. After 10 long years, we've seen each other again. The calltime was 6 pm. I was there 5 mins before 6 but I just saw Kristine. Then she texted Eve who was there for a few minutes already but was on the near store. We waited a bit longer and then Briss came. We went to the cafe and waited for an hour and then the others came. haha. We've started our dinner about 8pm. We've talked for hours and took pictures. Others are married and have kids already while others (like me) are still single. Anna is celebrating her birthday the day after so we also celebrated and greeted her. They gave her mango cake with a greeting text and a candle on it. It was so fun reminiscing our school days. Thanks to facebook we were gathered all together but we were not complete because most of them are living abroad and others are busy with other events on that day. Maybe we'll see each other again for another 10 years. haha.

Homemade Sushi

Yesterday, my sister made homemade sushi. She bought the ingredients in the grocery store that morning and did it for our merienda. Instead of japanese rice, it is our plain filipino rice but soaked it in water for a few minutes to make it sticky. It has a combination of crab sticks, cucumber sticks, stripped mango, tuna and egg roll with japanese sushi sauce (not sure if it is the right term for it haha) There is also a bit of wasabi in the tuna roll. It tastes very good and I ate a lot hahaha. I told my sister to make it as a business and she said she'll think of it. :D She likes to make and invent dishes from time to time unlike me. hahaha. Looking forward for another dish.Till my next post!

New endorser of Cup Noodles? Haha

I have a niece named Nicole, she is turning 2 yrs. old this coming end of march and she loves to eat noodles. Earlier, we had cup noodles for "merienda" and she was so cute when she eats it. So my Sister said why don't I video her. She's excited everytime my sister would give her noodles she even wants it over and over again haha. She says its yummy and ok haha so cute! This is the video I've taken. I'm no professional in taking video so please don't expect much :) Sorry if the background is a bit noisy because of the television. But my Niece's voice is pretty loud to understand :D Here's the video:

My 27th birthday celebration!

Today is my 27th birthday even though my eyes still hurt, because I had a sore eye on my left eye :(( I celebrated it happily with my family :). We had lunch at Kimono Ken at "The Block" in Sm North Edsa. I have a craving with Japanese food yum yum :D then we strolled a bit at the mall. We couldn't stay longer because we are opted to be at the house before 3pm because of the color coding of our van haha. But nevertheless, I had fun because I was with my family and my 2 cousins. I'm not really the type of person who would go big time and invite many friends on my birthday and maybe because of my condition (my sore eyes) that I had to celebrate it with my family. When I got back home, I checked my facebook and wow! I got tons of greetings on my wall. I can't believe that all of them at least remembered and greeted me. I was so happy and delighted that I have tons of friends and family who loves me! Come dinner time my Dad cooked carbonara and we had barbecue on the side.

I wish that me and my loved ones would received more blessings and all my family and friends are going to be ok. Thank you for those who are part of my life. My life would be nothing without all of you.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my Mom's birthday. I really miss her because it's been almost 7 years since she died. If she was with us now her age would have been 63. We went to the cemetery late in the afternoon, put up candles and a white flower. This is the first time my Dad is here on her birthday because usually his vacation is during April and March. He cooked carbonara and then we have some fruits and peachy-peachy and softdrinks. I was with my dad, sister, brother-in-law, 2 nieces, 2 cousins, 2 uncles and my aunt. We just stayed there for almost 2 hours and prayed the rosary before we left. I know that she is very happy because she is with God now. I will never forget all our happy moments together. I love her so much. Happy birthday Mommy!

Blog Anniversary

I can't imagine how time flies it's been a year since I've created this blog. At first I was not so serious about this. My purpose at that time is just to showcase my overlay designs in friendster and share some useful information on html (which I studied on my own). But then the scope of my blog eventually broaden. I've shared other things that I'm interested in and thought that I should share it also here. Although I'm not the type of blogger that would blog everyday but I'm always checking my blog every now and then. I've also experimented on my blogger layout. During my few months, I was changing my blog theme every week.and change the elements and contents of the sidebars. Until I was satisfied with the look of it and designed my own header,  which is what I am proud of. With all the study I did on the net, I did many research on how to customize my blog including blog designs, blog traffic, few tips and tricks on how to add spice to blog, etc. I  gained friends from fellow bloggers and encouraged other online buddies to make a blog of their own. I happened to have another blog which focused mainly on my artworks.
I'm so grateful to all my fellow bloggers, readers, friends, family and visitors. I will continue what I have started and will still find ways to improve my blogsite. Thank you to those who are really helping me make this blog a meaningful one. :)

My Mom

It's been 6 years since my Mom passed away because of the dreadful cervical cancer. I really missed her, she is my bestfriend , best Mom for me and my sister and best wife for my Father. Now that the all souls day is coming again, I remembered her again. We haven't visited yet her grave, we should have visited yesterday but it rained in the morning and then in the afternoon. Today, there are so many people there and decided not to go because we have my niece with us. My uncle and some of my cousins went there. Probably we'll visit sometime this week or the next week.

It was 29 years since she gave birth to my sister, and 26 ago when I was born, At first, she still worked in the office but when I came in the world, she decided to take care and be a full time Mom for us two. She is very kind, generous and patient. She is very soft spoken, that even if she is angry, you wouldn't know it. Because Dad is working abroad (Doha, Qatar) she is the one who took care of us. When we went to school, she always has time to be there when parents are needed. She would come to events, programs and our graduation. During our elementary days, we have our school service. During our college days, she would come with us and teach us how to commute. We have a van, but then my Dad is the only one who knows how to drive at that time. When summer comes, Dad comes for a 1 month vacation. That's the time that we got to be as one family again. But then as much as we wanted to be all together for the rest of our lives, we couldn't, our lives are just a gift from God, and he has plans. I know that our Mom is already happy with Him. She sacrificed many things for us and it's time that we give her the happiness she deserves. I love you Mom!

Typhoon Ondoy in the Philippines

Last September 26, 2009, Saturday was the worst experience that the Philippines had. A typhoon named Ondoy set off since Friday night. Heavy rains poured out and hence dams had to release waters that caused so much flood throughout the NCR and CALABARZON area. We were one of the few who are lucky here in the Novaliches Gulod area. But sadly, most of our neighbors were badly devastated by this tragedy. That morning My sister and cousin went to the clinic for the check up of my niece. I was washing our clothes then, I was with my niece and uncle. During the afternoon, my sister texted my uncle that they had nowhere to go because of too much flood. But then they were lucky and went on a shortcut and got home safely. During that time, I was busy washing clothes and helping my niece with her project. My uncle was uneasy and he was going out of our house to check out the flood in our area and was saddened to see that 4 houses apart from ours was flooded until  the 2nd floor of their house and when we checked our window from the back of our house it was like a sea of mud. My sister took pictures of it:

That area was Joan of Ark. We were shocked and was so afraid that we packed our important things and set it to our van just in case the flood would go into our house. We heard a lot of screams, and even witnessed a pile of men who are in their rooftop saving someone. We are afraid ourselves and even crying and praying that the rain would stop.

This was taken in the front of our house. 4 houses away from ours.

Half of our subdivision was merged in sea of flushing mud. Our chapel was wiped out. The bridge beside it was destroyed. Many of our neighbor's houses crashed. Later that afternoon, about 5 pm the rain stopped and the water slowly went down. That night, the water decreased and left a lot of damage to properties and even lives.
The next morning, my Uncle went out to see what happened. He said, there are many trashes in the street, dirty and muddy, he also took videos of the scenario. This was taken with the same window as yesterday:

That mud-like sea yesterday was the pile of houses. All were fixing their houses. And some where asking for help, especially their loved ones who where victimized by the calamity.

All day we tuned in the news, and was shocked to see that so many were stranded, lost their homes and lost their lives. It was very alarming that many of the places that we don't expect to have this would end up like this. In a span of time, this would happen. News said that the amount of rain  that happened during that 9 hours was more likely to be compared to a 1 month of rainfall. Also the government did not warn people that they would be releasing water in the dams. Private and exclusive subdivisions are also victimized, all walks of life were victims of these. Hundreds were killed, thousands were homeless, billions worth of properties were damaged. I am very thankful that we were not part of this and not harmed. I pray that all those who experienced this would be able to get up and be able to rebuild again. Although the lives that were taken can't come back, let's pray for their souls and may they be with God our Father.

Begginings

Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses. 

"There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.

A time to be born and a time to die."

(Ecclesiastes 3: 1-2)

Yes, it was the summer of 1978 when this young man named Danny first set eyes on this newly hired lady named Raquel in one of the biggest advertising firms in Makati. It just started from his and hellos the blossomed into a romance. Soon they became good friends sharing happy times together. They were inseparable even though they work in different departments. Oftentimes their officemates would tease them, "Sa umpisa lang yan", because of their sweetness, their friendship. The mother of my Dad didn't even know about my Dad's girlfriend until he had mumps, and the manager of the company became curious about his absence that he asked my Mom to go with him to see what's my Dad's condition. When they reached the house and when the mother of my Dad asked who was the girl and my Mom said that she was the girlfriend of Danny, that was the only time my Lola and Lolo or the Mother and the Father of my Dad had known about their relationship.

Then on September 6, 1979, they were married in a simple and quiet ceremony at San Isidro church in Pasay City. Only close friends and relatives were there to witness the affair. A reception followed at the Aberdeen Court in Makati. Although only special people attended this very special affair it was still a success. They were there to witness the union of a perfect couple which are the envy of their officemates, friends.

They were the envy of their friends because they were a perfect couple. After 3 months Raquel started feeling something individual when she consulted her doctor she was told that she was pregnant. Of  course both were very happy and excited to hear that. news. In the morning of April 10, 1980, Raquel was brought to St. Mary's hospital in Sta. Cruz, Manila because of labor pains. It was 11:00 in the morning when a beautiful and healthy baby girl was born. She was the apple of everybody's eyes because she was the only baby in both family sides. She is my sister Ruth.

In the middle of 1982, Raquel conceived again. In the morning of February 26, 1983, I was out in the world. I was named Ria. They said that when I was born I have no hair, unlike my sister who has thick, very black hair. When I was a kid, I was playing toy guns. My sister always takes care of me. In fact, my Mom would  like the two of us to wear identical clothing because we were inseparable. When I was about 2 years old, my Father worked abroad to earn more money (It was his first trip to Doha, Qatar) and my Mother is also working in the office so we were under the care of our Tita Cor and Tito Paeng. But my sister started to go to school when she was 5 years old, so I am alone with my Tita's and Tito's. My Mother stopped working when I was 3 years old. She said that she needs to stop because my Tita Cor was getting weaker and it was difficult for her to take care of me and my sister because she has polio.

1987, The year I started going to school in St. Peter Preparatory school in Quezon City. I was 4 years old then. On the first day I was very excited but a little nervous. But as days go on, I found it interesting and fun. It was a very happy experience especially when I got the second highest award when I graduated. My parents were very proud of me.

The following year, I was enrolled in Kinder-A in Siena College, Q.C. Because I already knew was school was, I was eager to come to class but my adviser, Mrs. Roque was quite strict and unapprochable unlike my prep teacher so I developed my shyness in the classroom. She is always angry with us especially with my classmate who is very naughty but I forgot his name. After that I became quiet in class. When years came, I still developed my shyness but I don't know why I am very shy. Maybe because of my teacher in Kinder A. This was a bad effect for me.

When I was grade 3, I gain many friends. My friends are Mary France, Jennifer, Jacquelyn, Noriyo, Donna, Michelle, Rio, Karen and many more. But my best friend is Mary France. She is always there for me whenever I have problems and if she needed my help I also help her. I enjoy the company of my friends. We are always happy as if we have no problems at all. I cannot forget my friends especially Mary France because she is in the other school now and also Noriyo who was now in Japan. But my other friends are still there like Jacquelyn, Jennifer and Gelanie. But after grade 6, Galanie transfered to another school. When I was first year high school, together with Jennifer and Jacquelyn we met Cecile, Michelle and Haidee and we became good friends.

They are always there when I have problems and we  were like sisters. We often go out and enjoy but sometimes there were misunderstandings so we have to talk about it. I think I am blessed with my family and my friends because they are very kind to me and very loving. And I thank God for giving me a perfect family and good friends.

I also hope that this may continue. Because I know that there will come a time for sadness and triumphs but I know it is part of our lives.

Sometimes I wonder why I am very lucky now. Other people have broken families, goes to a bad barkada and something like that. I have a very loving parents and sister and also good friends that I can't receive more blessings. But I also look up for my future. It I will be a successful businesswoman or something else and I am very afraid of that because what if something went wrong with my life? I hope that God will give me and my family more blessing but working hard for what I want and I'm looking forward to that.

 (This was written year 1998 when I was 2nd year high school)