my birthday

It's a month-long celebration of sorts. *wink* Happy Birthday to me! :D

Exactly a week before my actual birthday, good friends (Tito Mon, Tita Nelda, and Lawrence) gave me a very pleasant surprise in Bellevue :D I had a bit of errands to do after our badminton game that caused me to be late for our lunch. I almost didn't make it but they insisted that I get there asap, fly if need be. Haha!

Running up the spiral staircase. Trying to catch my breath. Getting there just in the nick of time before the buffet was cleared, my beautiful cake was there. It was a lovely surprise. A week early, but a wonderful surprise nonetheless. :D The four of us ate food enough for an army :grin: mwehehe! It was an afternoon of good company, endless conversation, and celebration.

Then just a day before my actual birthday, the family planned to have lunch in Tagaytay. Just so my sister can join us since she's staying at the dorm. But then plans had to be rescheduled since my little niece, Gaby, was rushed to the hospital that day. :( I was so worried. But she got through it and was a bit amused, I think, with her diaper clad hand that seemed bigger to her than her other hand. :grin: It seemed she enjoyed her stay in the hospital some of the time. Everyone visited her day in and day out. With little gifts for her or chocolates (her favorite!) :D The whole family was just excited and relieved to see her back home, healthy and on her way to full recovery. And so our family lunch was scheduled for the next Sunday.

That Sunday came. And went. But our lunch had to be postponed again for the next week. This time Josh was in the hospital. Sick :( poor little kids. You really know he's not feeling well because nothing would appeal to his taste. Not even his all-time favorite Xtra Big Pancit Canton with Calamansi. :( I'd just as soon give up any kind of celebration as long as my niece and nephew were in good health. But resilient Josh, he pulled through. He is now okay and is continuously trying to outwit his Mom in giving him pansit canton most of the time :grin: Hehe!

The Day. Val took the day off from work. It's Val's National Holiday, my Dad jokes :D The day was so special in its simplicity. We played badminton with my group the whole morning after having breakfast at home. Then we had lunch at home and rested a bit before visiting Gaby in the hospital. Then he surprised me with his gift. Which took most of the day. Despite my firm objections, he wanted to give me a new phone. Claiming that my old one was just about to conk out anytime now. Well, it is conking out. Literally. There are times when I can't text at all. Or it just turns off by itself. But I loved that phone. He gave that to me a few years ago. And it's one of the best phones I've used. He gets really praning when I don't text back right away. he worries too much. And so the solution: a new phone. *sigh* It's not practical. With all our expenses now :( but he can be really stubborn at times.. =S And it is a beautiful phone :grin: Thanks, lovey! Mmmmmwah! *hug*

I noticed that everyone else was more excited about my birthday than I was :) I feel old :pout: Brittle. Achy. Ancient. Old. *sigh* I didn't even know my birthday was coming up until Mom succinctly pointed it out :) Val, Mom, Dad, and Yaya were psyched on planning a little thingie for me. Anything. As long as I said yes to a little dinner to celebrate my birthday. Sooo sweet. I feel so loved. :D

And so the day was set. They wouldn't take no for an answer. :) A simple dinner get together of a few friends. It would be on the Friday after the day. I just invited a few friends over. I wanted to keep it simple and intimate. Just my badminton friends. My best friends since Grade School. My closest college friends, the juicy kids. And a few other friends. My Mom insisted on cooking a loooot of food. Knowing how our family loooves to eat, this would just be maintaining the normalcy in our home. Hahaha! Yaya derives much pleasure in feeding us. So she was in on the cooking, too. Daddy and Val were the self-appointed official taste-testers of the day. Hehe! Mom wasn't feeling too well that day. And I know that she's been so tired from work for the past days. But she still stood firm on cooking for the gathering. I have the best Mom ever :D They even set up a centerpiece for the buffet! :D

Yaya did her famous Caldereta. Mom made Tinola (for Val - it's his favorite :grin:). They also cooked chicken, Menudo, Lechon Kawali, and Stir-Fried Beef with Broccoli. By demand, I cooked my Putanesca. For dessert, we had fruit salad made by Mom and Yaya, my infamous carrot cake, and two cakes from Conti's (Yaya bought for me the gigantic Banana Cream and Val got the also gigantic Mango Mambo - yum!). Although I told them we already had enough dessert, they both just waved off my protests and got the cakes just the same :D

The night was fun. We were laughing and goofing around. Friends meeting other friends. A little bit of wine. "best brand" *wink wink* hehe! Soon everyone piled out and went home. But a couple of friends insisted on still dropping by. So the night ended in the morning. And we were tired. But happy. And I was touched. And grateful. And blessed. With a great family, a devoted beau, and good friends, what more can anyone ask for? Nothing more, I guess. :D

Finally! Our family lunch happened. My sister felt so bad she couldn't go home for the party. So we really looked forward to going out as a whole family. We had lunch at A Veneto. We didn't eat breakfast in preparation for the binge that was about to take place. hahaha! It's always great getting together with my parents, brothers and sisters. Of course, Yaya was there and the little chikitings, Gaby and Joshua. Boy, did we eat a lot! Then we went to town center to pasyal the kids. And I thought the day was over because everyone was tired yet happy. We were still a bit full from the food we had for lunch.. So it was a bit of a surprise that my Dad insisted on still having dinner out. This was too much of a celebration! But, if you know our family, you wouldn't be surprised that it takes quite a bit of will power to resist food. And so we had another fiesta in North Park. Hahaha! I think the food we ate for the day could've lasted for a week in a normal household. :grin: But then again, nothing beats our family assemblies. :D

Thank you, Lord, for all the blessings.

missing in action

I haven't been back to the gym for so long... I miss working out. :( But now that school is out, I'm back! Yipee! :D

Now that I'm back naman, my other friend is missing in action. I just thought she missed a couple of classes because of her busy schedule. Yun pala she's preggy! :D *clap clap clap* :D What great news to hear. Almost three months on the way. :D Surprisingly, her cutie kulit 2 year old daughter is taking it pretty well, she says. Hehe!

How exciting for her... :D

greatest daddy in the world

To my Daddykins... You inspire me to be the greatest person possible. You give such corny jokes but manage to make me laugh so hard. You take away my fears and create a cocoon of comfort and safety. You constantly show us how much you love us in big and little ways. Always unconditional. You have such faith and confidence in us that we think we can do anything. You work so hard in being a great father, and yet make it look so effortless. You bend us when we need bending. You push us when we need pushing. Someday, somehow, today and for always, we'd like to try to give you back what you've given us.

Thank you. We love you so much. :hug:

HaPpY 7th BiRtHdAy JoShUa!

It's my little boy bugoy's birthday. Everyone is excited. He's turning 7. Oooh! Big day for the big boy *grin* He's been so psyched now for days that he can hardly eat or sleep. All he talks about is his big party. Hehehe! You'd think it was THE event of the season :D He's invited everyone possible from his former classmates to his present classmates to his busmates. Sooo cute! :D

The day was packed with fun. We had a loooot of food. Of course, this is mandatory since our family loooves to eat :D hehehe! We had outrageous games that included the children and their mommies and/or daddies. There was an awesome exhibition by the international yoyo champion (my bro got so nervous with one of the stunts when he was asked to assist the yoyo man hahaha). There was a b-ball shoot out contest. There was 'Manong' who did a great job of doing caricatures for the parents and children. We had glitter tattoos done (oh, this one i loved so much! *tee-hee!*). And the prizes were to-die-for. :D Even I wanted to get some. But of course, my sis-in-law said I was way too old to get the give aways and loot bags. Hehehe! ;-)
Sayang! :)

Everyone came in their favorite sports attire. Cool! The kids came as soccer players, basketball players, some were cheerleaders, others were in baseball player costumes. There was even a kid in a karate costume. There were so many athletes around I can hardly mention them all. :) The party was a blast! It was held in Kingswood Condominium Clubhouse Tower A in Makati. Check out our pictures if you have time. Click here to see more of the fun :D oh, and click here to see our cool caricatures :D

missing him...

It's been almost a week now since my last day in school. I kinda miss it na. Going all the way to school and riding shotgun to and from with my sweetums. I guess this is what I miss most. Our time together. Although, I should tell you that most of the time I'm dozing off in the car. Hahaha! :crazy: It's quite a challenge doing everything - work, school, preps, etc. - at the same time. It was the summer term so everything was crammed into the one and a half months of school. Whew! It's a wonder I still have my sanity. But then again, maybe I lost it a long time ago. Mwehehe!

My Dad borrowed my car today since his car is number coding. And the big sweetie that my Daddy is, he filled the tank full! :grin: This made me think of the days we really needed the gas. School is so far and petroleum prices have been rocketing :( I really do have the best Daddy in the world!

omg!

Oh my! My test was sooo hard! I think I'm going to get sick :( It's technically the last day of school and I'm all jell-o-ey because of that exam. :sigh:

*nail-biting*

. . . . .

Oh boy, there's so much to read. how do you prepare for an exam like this? =S it's so nerve-wracking! Breathe in... Breathe out...

=S

For some reason I woke up jumpy and on edge today. =S maybe because it's finals week? Or maybe because I haven't slept properly for weeks now? Or maybe it's because the workload is overwhelming.

Hmm.. It's probably a combination of all those things. I've always eaten stress for breakfast before. It's always been a part of my life. I thrive on pressure. But now, it's introduced itself to me with a whole new meaning attached to it. *sigh*

I just hope it doesn't get the better of me.