Another Year.

March 22 went by again.  Of course, this is a special day for me and my little boy because it's the Daddy's birthday.


On the eve of hubby's day, the little boy and I surprised him with this...
And this...
But really... nothing else screams HAPPY BIRTHDAY other than this.
I must point out, though, that I never got any gift from the hubby during my birthday... so this screams "Happy Birthday to ME", too!


Happy birthday, love.

Repost: Spot The Difference

This is our 6th Valentine's Day together as a married couple.  And the most unforgettable February 14 to date was last 2008.  Here's why...

March 2008
Multiply Blog


1. Colors of the envelope
     Left -- Red
     Right -- White
2. Brightness -- Left picture seems to have a brighter shade.
3. Time the card was given
     Left -- Valentine's Day 2007
     Right -- Valentine's Day 2008

Things hubby and I realized:
1. Hubby is REALLY forgetful.
2. I am also forgetful.   I shed a tear when I read the message of the card this valentine.  I only found out that it was the same as last year's when I went all sentimental and checked out his past cards to me.
3. His thoughts of me remain the same even after a year.
4. One should never buy cards for the same occasion from the same store for two consecutive years.  In our case, it's The Office WareHouse at the Paseo Center.

Christmas and Love.

Christmas is the best time to give lovely gifts.  And those lovely gifts must shout LOVE! to the special persons who will receive them.


Here is my gift to husband who worked his ass off during 2011.

Here is my gift to self... I, who sort of had a roller coaster ride in 2011.  It will seem to continue in 2012.  But what the heck... that's life... and now, I have this.

(It matches my Kate Middleton ring, by the way).

HP7 at Resorts World.

It's the end of an era so it must NOT be a one-of-those-movie-dates feeling. It had to be special.
For that, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was seen at one of the newest cinemas in town... Newport in Resorts World.


It was my first time in the mall actually so I had to take a lot of pictures of the scenes inside.


This is so The Venetian in Las Vegas.
The cinema area has a nice The Venetian concept, too.  Lots of chandeliers and nice lounge chairs... but can feel a bit crowded because of the lack of space and low ceiling.
The best part about the Resortsworld cinema is their 24hr cinema (or was it just for HP7?!)...  Very suitable for my hubby's work schedule and our date time.


I was a bit teary-eyed at the last part of the movie because I will surely miss Harry, Ron, Hermione and everyone else.  The book (story) is an epic and so are the movies.  I don't think there will ever be another brilliant writer out there for very long time so I seriously felt the actual closing of the last book while seeing the credits of movie.


But it was a VERY GOOD Harry Potter date and a very nice cinema.  The night ended with a nice HP7 chat with hubby on the way home.


Harry, I will see you in Book 1 again soon.

Mercato By Night.

We live less than 5km away but we have never tried going to Midnight Mercato ever since it opened.

Three Fridays ago was the perfect time.  My work was on monthend close mode so that meant overtime.  Overtime meant synchronization with my hubby's office hours.

Welcome to Midnight Mercato!

From Digicam Shots

We went around first and saw all types of food.  There were pastries, burgers, sausages, tempura and street food!  Of course, street food in sushyal version.

There were squid balls, chicken balls, kwek-kwek.

From Digicam Shots

We also saw barbecue, isaw, betamax, etc.

From Digicam Shots

Just like street food, you order then they cook.

From Digicam Shots

They also have samalamig (which is also called Sago't Gulaman).

From Digicam Shots

Here's what we had.

From Digicam Shots

From Digicam Shots

From Digicam Shots

From Digicam Shots

All these plus hubby's bagnet and rice for more than Php300.  Not bad.  But if you grew up in UP... expensive.

While I appreciated the experience, I definitely think this is not the hangout place for hubby and me.  It was a bit crowded.  Eating place was al fresco so it has a good number of smokers nearby.  Indeed... I am getting old.

From Digicam Shots

From Digicam Shots

We ended the night with a chocnut Mochiko ball which was delicious.

I would not mind stopping by again but if I would be made to choose between the two Mercatos, I would pick the morning version.

Happy Father's Day!

You will never guess where hubby spent 3 hours of Father's Day.


He was at the emergency room of The Medical City because of hip pain.

From Iphone loads

Two years ago, we spent my birthday, our anniversary and Valentine's Day at The Medical City due to gastroenteritis.  Apparently, he is still at it.


I just have to say that Medical City service is still excellent.  The best of them all today was the guard on duty at the exit door of Discharge Patio.  His name is Rohwen, I think (shift on Sunday runs over 4PM to 7PM).  Hubby was limping at the parking lot and we expected no help because no one was outside.  Rohwen went out, asked if we needed wheelchair, gave us a wheelchair, assisted hubby, bended the rules so we can enter at the exit area, and assisted us until we got to the elevator, even provided directions to the ER.  Whew!  If someone from Medical City is reading this, please give him an award or something with cash prize.


The orthopedist ruled that it was just muscle pain so we headed home for a 3-way Father's Day celebration -- my Dad, hubby, and my sister's husband.


We had salad, soup, spaghetti, pizza, and Arny & Dading's pichi-pichi.

From Iphone loads

From Iphone loads

Hon, thank you for being a good father to our son.  I hope you are enjoying every minute of fatherhood and that you will continue to love us no matter what!  I love you.


And to my Dad, thanks and Happy Father's Day!


(I hope my Mom does not get tampo because I did not write something for Mother's Day in my blog -- I did greet her offline... so Belated Happy Mom's Day to you.  I love you, both!)

iPhone 4.

With the intention of being advanced on phone software and technology, I upgraded the OS of my iPhone 3G last year to iOS 4.0 without waiting for the reviews to come out.  So, I paid the price and have been enduring a very slow phone for about a year.  Slow as in counting to 10 before I could access say the message function.

I could not wait any longer so even before the August expiration of my Globe lock-in period, I had to approach them for a phone change.  Believe me... it was not easy.  Even with a plan upgrade and my willingness to pay a cashout, it still took me several weeks, several calls and several approvals just to get a new unit via the Loyalty Program.

But all is well that ends well.  Even if I went through all the hassle, I am still loving Globe for the next two years because of this...

From Digicam Shots

From Digicam Shots

Never mind the iPhone 4 White.  Mine is clad in red.

From Digicam Shots

From Digicam Shots

And where is my iPhone 3G now?  It's with hubby.  OS downgraded to 3.1.3 -- thanks to Lifehacker.  He said he is loving it even if pre-owned.  I told him that if he gets lucky, he might get an iPhone 5 next year... ;)

Hubby's Back.

After one looooong month, he's back.

And here is my prize.

From Digicam Shots

It's an Op Art Coach wristlet that I have been longing to have since two years ago. 

Yey!

One Month.

As of writing, hubby is on his way to Boston.  He will be on the other side of the earth for about a month -- longest time we were apart after we got married.

While I am terribly sad that we had to be apart, I am somehow looking forward to the 'short' break.  I have one less boy to think about so that would mean a little more time for me.

The things to do are popping into my mind one by one... I need to organize everything asap.  Here they are in random order --


1. Bond with my son who ADORES my hubby to the brim.

2. Little renovations to our new place.  I need to catch my contractor.  She is currently unreachable.


3. Meet up with my girlfriends.  It has been months.


4. Read my book backlogs.


5. Swim in the clubhouse pool (with my little boy, of course).

The more things I do, the faster the month will go by.  I can't think of anything else... can someone help me?

Please let it be May soon.

March 22.

Happy birthday to my one true love!

From Digicam Shots

And since I was sick during your birthday (still sick today), this was all the surprise that I was able to prepare.

From Digicam Shots

Hope you were indeed surprised!

Love you, hon!

Photography, Hubby, and Walking.

Hubby is not exactly an expert photographer but he has talent so being the supportive wife that I am, I always encourage him to continuously develop this arty side of him.

We got him a basic digital SLR camera and another lens so he could practice.  Apart from that, he also joined a Digital Photography 101 class conducted by the Alcove Perspective -- a photography group under the Filipinas Heritage Library.  These were all 2 years ago so I surmised (and this turned out to be true according to him) that he kind of lost a lot of things he learned from the class including his fascination with the mahalia (read: expensive) gadget.


Good thing the Alcove is composed of an intelligent bunch of people, they kept the contact details of their ex-students in the 101 classes.  Hubby was invited to a Photowalk Challenge!  And since he is sweet, he invited me to join, too.


It was something new and kind of interesting so I said yes.  I do have an artistic side so I am always open to different avenues of expressing it.  Plus, I did not need a digital SLR, just a point and shoot would do.


The Photowalk Challenge required participants to go around Makati and take pictures of a list of subjects.  The list had 22 challenges so this meant submitting 22 photos to the judges.


Jay Alonzo, a professional photographer, provided some words of inspiration to the participants before the challenge was kicked off.

From Iphone loads

Armed with my point and shoot Canon camera (which is 4 years old!!!), I joined hubby and WALKED from the Ayala Triangle to Greenbelt, Glorietta, and back.

From Iphone loads

Here are my finished products.  17 out of 22.


It was very tiring as I don't really fancy walking.  Aside from that, it was drizzling every now and then.  Not my kind of activity but I did enjoy the challenge so I am up for another one next year!

After shooting was judging time.  We had dinner courtesy of Via Mare.  And there were lots of raffle draws.  Hooray!  I won an Olympus raincoat!!!

From Iphone loads

But judging entries from 90+ contestants ain't that easy, so the waiting time was tooo long.

From Iphone loads

Good thing we waited... because hubby was one of the 10 consolation prize winners!!!  My iPhone got discharged, my digicam, too, so I can't show the awarding ceremonies.  

Here are his two best shots in my book.  He has not lost his touch after all.

Challenge: Photograph a lady with an umbrella.


Challenge: Photograph "The Pin" at the Ayala Museum



For more information about Alcove, please check out their website here.