The Story of my Life

This is us with Tina and Jajie in Jalapeno. We spent one weekend in summer at a beach in Batangas, and we're planning another getaway this September. In Cebu this time. Can't wait.

I joined a badminton tournament last weekend organized by the DLSU-Alumni Association, for the benefit of the Alumni Scholars. With my current weight, I could really use a weekend workout so I joined.

The tournament has several groupings -- 20 & under, 30 & under, 40 & under, and 50 & under. Naturally, we signed up for 40 and under which made me feel really old. But on second thought, I realized this will be for my advantage. If people from our category are in their late 30s, we definitely have the upper hand being in our early 30s.

Booked myself for several badminton games last week to get me in top shape for the tourney. But when I saw the schedule of games, I found out that we will be competing against players 25 years old and under. I wanted to contest, but decided otherwise. I wasn’t there to bag the trophy, anyway. I only wanted to play badminton and sweat out excess fats.

I was okay competing with a much younger player, hoping that experience would prevail over age. But to compete with a former UAAP player is a different story. Aside from the age factor, their experience in competitive badminton and advanced skills were beyond us. In other words, we lost the game, both games to be exact. Hahahaha

Better luck next time to us. :P

Do we look exhausted?

Since I learned playing badminton I never wanted to stop, ever.

I started playing regularly in 2006 when I discovered that there was a club for badminton aficionados in the office. Since then, my regular badminton schedule was Tuesdays and alternating Fridays. The club also organized trainings which were perfect for newbies like me. I was so into badminton at that time that I was joining tournaments here and there, looking for other venues for my regular dose of badminton, and watching games of famous badminton players, whether live or on TV.

Starting last year, in an effort to lose weight in preparation for the Big Day, my badminton gig became more frequent. Aside from after-work-games on Tuesdays, I also play on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. And if I have more energy, I would still play Monday evening. That’s how addicted I am, that’s how much I love the game.

This morning as I was on my way to my workstation after a fun game with my friends, I realized how much I’m going to miss badminton once I become pregnant. But then, maybe, when that happens I will love my baby more than I love badminton.

This photo was taken from the most recent tournament I participated in.

(Story of that tourney in a different post)

I called my in-laws' house yesterday (looking for my brother-in-law) and I got the chance to talk to my niece, Charlotte. This is how our conversation went:

Me: Hi baby, how are you?

Charlotte: Ok. (in her monotone voice)

Me: What are you doing?

Charlotte: I’m eating.

Me: What are you eating?

Charlotte: Sabaw. (When she moved here she had an accent that we sometimes find hard to understand. But now, she can speak straight Filipino.)

Me: Wow! What time are you going to school?

Charlotte: I said I’m eating. Call me again later.

*Pause*

Me: (Not knowing how to react) Oh, okay. I’m sorry.

Charlotte: Call me again later. Around 5:00 okay? Cause I’m going to school. I’ll be home by 5:00pm.

Me: Okay. Bye baby.

Charlotte: Bye.

Now I know better. Never never interrupt a child in the middle of her meal if you don’t want to be scolded.

I want a new bag. I said it hoping that the feeling will go away as the words escape my lips.

The idea came out when I realized that I’ve been using the Louis Vuitton bag everyday since husbo gave it to me last year. Out of 365 days, I could count with my fingers the number of times I let it rest.

I know I can’t spend much these days because we’re saving up on a major trip next year. And if I don’t save up, I’ll be left behind which is unacceptable. So for now, I’ll just be contented with having them in my blog.

I vividly remember saying I don’t get this bag. I’ve seen so many of these lately and I really don’t get why it cost so much given its look and design. But today and yesterday, it’s what I’ve been eyeing for. So weird me!

I hope tomorrow I'll forget about these bags. I hope our bills come tomorrow and then I'll realize I need to save. Oh wait, I need to get a new battery for my car. There, enough motivation to not spend.

So what do you think? Of my blog’s new look that is. Have been wanting to give my blog a facelift but for lack of technical knowledge, I settled with my previous template. Then a kind soul taught me the tricks, and here you have it folks, a fabulous new look.

I chose this template because of my fascination for the color red. I’m getting and liking things in the shade of red. Red lipstick, red shoes, red bag, red clothes, and red furniture. Yes, red furniture. Husbo and I are thinking of getting an accent chair to match our home's black and gray motif, and the one we’re eyeing is a red coconut chair. Thus the couch up there (if couch is what you would call it).

The Lighthouse
Subic Bay Freeport

Hamilo Coast
Nasugbu Batangas

Balai Isabel
Talisay, Batangas

Bamboo House
Talipanan, Mindoro



Lago de Oro
Nasugbu Batangas

Las Casa Filipinas de Acuzar
Bagac, Bataan

When I was growing up, I had a love-hate relationship with my dad. He thinks I am rebellious and out of control, and I think he is unreasonable. He thinks I will bring nothing but humiliation to the family, and I think he is unfair. He was hard on me, but that same fact inspired me to do well and be good.

In the middle of our war was my mom. My dad was never confrontational when it comes to us, his children. So whenever he has issues with us he'd talk to my mom and my mom will talk to us, which means we never had a chance to have a dialogue to sort out our issues. His means is my mom, my way is by letters. There were a couple of times I would write him a letter to air out my side which would lessen the tension, but after sometime we'll be back to square one.

He only loosened up a few years after I graduated. Since then, I had more liberty to do the things I want. And although he would still remind me of the effects of my vices, his approach became more subtle and loving. We became more vocal about our feelings on certain issues and we were saying i-love-yous to each other more often.

These days I get to spend more quality time with him. And the more I talk to him, the more I understand and appreciate the kind of man that my father is. He may not be the best father there is, but at the end of the day he is still my father. He is still unreasonable at times, but somehow I managed to embrace his imperfections. He may not be the smartest, loving, patient or richest father there is, but I love him just the same.

Happy father's day, Dade. I love you so much.

After our lunch buffet with Husbo's family, Husbo and I headed to Max's Tiendesitas to meet up with his high school friends for that much awaited chicken-all-you-can fest. Max's Restaurant, in celebration of their 65th year anniversary, launched Chicken-All-You-Can promo. The deal is you pay P165 per person if you want to avail of the promo (rice not included). You get ¼ chicken for every order. And they will refill your plate as you wish.

I was still full from lunch so I didn't find the chicken appetizing, that considering I am a chicken-lover. Plus, I'm not a fan of Max's chicken--I find their chicken bland and dry. But I availed of the promo, nonetheless, primarily because if I ordered something else it would probably cost us more.

Their chicken was surprisingly good – flavorful, crispy and freshly cooked. I liked the first serving so I had two plus 1 cup of rice and Kare-kare on the side. If my stomach was empty, my chicken count would probably be close to or more than the boys' count. They had an average of 6 servings or 1 ½ chicken. If only I was that hungry.

Not to worry, I'm already planning our next visit and I promise to come prepared.

I was never really an NBA fan until today.

I've been hearing husbo and dad talk about NBA in the last few times they were together. And every time they do, I feel like they're in a different universe and I'm somewhere else. In Facebook, a lot of people I know follow the games. So in order not to be excluded, I learned a thing or two about who's who in NBA through the husbo.

Husbo is rooting for LA. When I asked Dade who he's rooting for, he said "LA. ever since the world began." So it is only but fitting that I follow lead. LA it is.

Today was the last of the best of 7 finals. Was able to catch the last few minutes of the game and I did get hooked. At 1.5 minutes left, LA was leading by 6pts but was trimmed down to 3 after a Boston player hit three points. Immediately after, Lakers shot a 3-pointer to secure their 6-point lead. But Boston was persistent, they put in another 3-pointer. At that instance, my hands were already cold out of excitement. I couldn't make a premature declaration that LA was going bag it because, with the caliber of these players, anything can happen.

Didn't know it was so much fun watching the NBA. So maybe next season, I'll tune in again.

Here's a short clip of the highlights of the game:

When I thought about this post, what I had in mind was our most recent purchases, the ones that husbo referred in his facebook as "getting what we want". Then I realized, those were not the only purchases we've had in the last five months. We've had both major and minor purchases that created a huge dent on our savings.

Whenever we’d think about it, we laugh and tease each other about our spendings. We spend as if we're millionaires, purchasing items and properties at whim. But not to worry, of course all of our purchases have been well thought of. We’d like to believe, it is part of the building-our-future kind of thing that newly married couples go through.

Let me share with you what these items are.

Notebook

You know I'm not techie, right? The last time I bought an electronic gadget was in June 2006, my dear digicam and ipod, which I hardly use nowadays. As a non-techie person, you won't be surprised to know that I don't have my own computer at home. Yes, I don’t. I've been planning to buy my own desktop or notebook, since 2006 but I have this strict budget and specs requirement for a personal computer that if it goes beyond that I get easily turned off.

It really pays to wait because just a few months ago, I found the right notebook computer that perfectly fit my requirements. She's pre-owned, but she looks brand new. She was initially priced at 23k but got her for 20k. She has 4GB RAM, 160GB hard disk, and Intel Core Duo CPU. I think with the specs I don't have to worry about it konking out anytime soon. I know I named her before, but I completely forgot what I baptized her with so I am calling her Dei. Here she is.

Tick-tock

My ever reliable and favorite dress watch stopped ticking. This watch was given to me by dad sometime in 2004. It's an automatic Sandoz dress watch so the problem can't be battery. I had it checked in a watch repair shop in Megamall and the repairman said there's a problem with the mechanism, and repairing it would cost about P2,000. I took it home and never went back.

I found a replacement but it was way above my budget. But because I really wanted it I made a deal with Jerome that I'll use my June and July allowance as seed money for my watch fund. He agreed but he said I should save up for the rest.

Finally, last month, as we were strolling around Megamall, Jerome asked me where I stand in terms of the watch fund. I told him I'm still short by this amount and he said, let's go get it. He was going to fill up the gap (but he said, it was also an advance birthday gift). Yey! And I went home that night wearing a pretty watch around my wrist.

Vroom vroom

Sometime ago (before we got married), whenever I'd borrow husbo's notebook I'd see several internet pages showing a car advertisement. I remember asking him before if he was really getting a new car and he'd outrightly say no. But recently, he's been keeping an eye on the new Tucson. He drools whenever he sees one so I thought he was keen on getting that one. Only to be surprised one day when he told me we were going to check out a bimmer that was on sale at Tsikot.com. Everything happened so fast. We checked the car Monday afternoon. It was ours Thursday afternoon.

The first driving experience was funny. We were going to gas up but couldn't find the knob to open the tank. And whenever something would light up on the panel, we'd panic and end up consulting the manual. Thank God for the manual. I tried driving the car and what do you know, my legs are too short for the pedal! Hahahahaha! I can reach the pedal naman but I have to extend my legs to fully press it. Other than that the car is a winner!

So we now have 3 cars at home. But husbo said, we're going to dispose one of the old cars to cover part of the purchase cost. I thought it was a good idea considering that both our cars are more than 10 years old. They both need to be disposed.

Home sweet home

Yes, you got it right. The major purchase was a home for our family.

The idea came up when I found out that I can already avail of a housing loan. Plus with the amount of rent we are paying now, we can already get a unit of our own and the monthly amortization will more or less be of the same amount.

The place we got was at Cedar Crest in Taguig, just across Fort Bonifacio Global City. It’s a mid-rise condo developed by DMCI. What we love about DMCI developments is that their buildings have atriums allowing natural light to pass through and air to flow in. The compound also has extra facilities like swimming pool, function rooms for your parties, a park, gym, basketball court etc. All these give you the feel of living in a real subdivision.

Our unit will be turned-over to us May 2011. But when we drove by the area earlier they’ve already started constructing our building. I’m starting to get excited about the prospect of going home to a beautiful and happy home with our kids waiting for us. Oh and the kids, that one is a work-in-progress.

Since we got married, Jerome and I have been living on our own in our humble abode in Fort. Our home is basically the same home Jerome put up back in 2008. So what I did was just to move in with all my stuff, clean up and get things "a little organized".

One major obstacle we had, and still have, is getting our clothes organized. I never imagined I have so many clothes until I moved in, and that considering I've already given away a lot of my old clothes. Anyway, since they're too many, they won't fit in one dresser so for weeks, my clothes were either lying on the floor or tucked in my luggage.

A month or so after I moved in we were able to buy two clothes rack. We'e been in search of a nice and spacious dresser but to no avail. So in the meantime, we settled with just the clothes rack …which eventually broke because it couldn't bear the load of our clothes. We managed to (temporary) remedy the damage, and thankfully it is still standing.

And now when I look at all our clothes - one dresser and two clothes-rack-full - I realize I have to stop shopping for clothes. Or maybe, we should just get another clothes rack so there'd be more space. The latter sounds like a better idea. :D

One of my non-negotiable for our wedding was that we write our own vows. Which I learned was not an easy task because every time I would start writing my vows, I would break down. And my heart will be filled with gratitude, for him and for Jess, for the immense love they have shown and showered me. I didn't want to be specific about how I would love him because what I know might not be right and important for him. All I want is to be the wife that Jess wants me to be for him.

The exchange of vows was one of my favorite parts of the wedding. All my insecurities, all my fears, and all the doubts I had in my heart vanished hearing Jerome say his vows. Here's the complete transcript of his vows:

Hi Claire. You’re so pretty today.

I remember, 5 yrs ago, in 2005 also on a January, we met in graduate school. We became groupmates & barkada. 2 years later, after countless gimmicks, parties and events, we officially became boyfriend and girlfriend. Another 2 yrs as a happy couple, going on out-of-trips and traveling, and spending so many occasions together, here we are now in front of God, our families and closest friends, announcing our decision and promise to be with each other for the rest our time

Claire, I love you.

Starting today---- always remember these 4 letters which will remind you of my love and commitment to you. (Don’t worry, it doesn’t start with L).

E
…as in -- ENJOY. We will enjoy every moment of our journey together. I look forward and I’m so excited, to starting a new life with you, and our future kids. To building our new house, buying our first car, and traveling abroad (just like my mom and dad). I know its not all going to be happy moments, but I’m sure, we will get past all those, as we have survived trials in the past. (…of course with the help and love, of all the people here with us today).

N
NURTURE. I will nurture you and take care of you and the kids, be supportive of your work and hobbies, and continue to spoil you as much as I can.

G
GOD. God will be a cornerstone of our family life. let us continue to let GOD be in the middle of everything. Ever since, everything in my life has been drafted and planned, and I have been following a strict schedule, just like I treat all my projects. I knew until when I’ll be employed, when I'll start my own business, how much I'll be making, and how I’m going reach my personal goals. Everything was according to my blueprints-- except you. It,s because God had other plans, and gave me, more than what I asked for – He’s giving me not just a wife, but a best friend and a perfect life partner.

R
REMIND. As agreed, remind me to give you- your monthly allowance - for your visits to the salon, your massages, night-outs with friends, and for you travel & shopping. (but of course I will also remind, you that everytime wala ako projects – sagot mo ko and ikaw ang bahala saken). More importantly, aside from reminding each other of the things we always forget, or about our bad habits that we want to change, lets try to reassure each other every now and then, that we love each other, that we are one, and that we’re in this together, until our last breath…

Every day I thank the Lord for leading Jerome to my path. Everyday I thank the Lord for giving me hurt and pain because I would not be able to appreciate life and love the way I do now. I would do it over again if at the end of it all, Jerome is right there waiting for me. I am not perfect.

We're 5 months married now, and every morning I wake up beside him I feel the same love and appreciation for this great blessing God has given me. Thank you Lord.

This video was prepared by Threelogy.


Another video from our photographer, Jayjay Lucas of ImagineNation.

After all the brouhaha, we finally came down to our wedding day.

It was tough planning the wedding side-by-side an on-going family problem. But two months before our wedding, Dad was on the way to recovery. While we were busy putting things together, he was busy getting fat…so that he'd look good at our wedding. hehehe

We checked in at Bellevue, Tagaytay Highlands, on 1 January. When we've settled down, I told Jom I'd like to have a couple of vodka shots before I sleep so I could be fully-rested. I knew the excitement would keep me up all night but if I counter it with alcohol, I'd be dreaming about Alaska for sure.

Unfortunately, despite the alcohol, I was up until 2:00 am. Then woke up at 6:00am. I only had 4 hours of sleep night before my wedding day! But what the heck, I didn't get Madge for nothing. I'm sure she'll do something about it.

Anyway, as early as 7:00am, suppliers started arriving. First, Cecilio (Couturier). Then Threelogy (Videographer), Blissful Occasion (Coordinator), Madge's Team (Make-up artist), and finally Jayjay Lucas (our Photographer).

They started doing me at 9:00am, and then pictorial here and there. In the middle of our preps, I got a call from my uncle saying that they had an accident. Thank God, no body was injured. But Krugger was crushed. I worried for a moment. But my friends told me to forget about it. Today's the day. And in my mind, I thought,"that's it. One final blow and we're on to happier days."

The moment of the walk finally came and boy, was I dead nervous! But more importantly, I was excited to finally get there, at the end of the aisle, where Jerome is waiting. This is it. The moment I've always dreamed of. The moment which I thought would never happen to me. I only have love, joy and gratitude in my heart because God made it all happen.

I cherished the moment. I told myself, I have to remember everything that happened because I will only be here once. I still have vivid images of Jerome, waiting for me at the end of the aisle, wiping his tears off his eyes; Kuya smiling at me as if to say I am so happy for you; and Dad who once told me "anak, gusto kong ihatid ka sa altar". I didn't see mom, but I know she's up there watching and smiling.

I've been with ADB for 7 years now. 2 years in another department and 5 years in the current. On my second year in my current department, I've already started applying for a promotion. At that time, I didn't know that, aside from skills, senior staff are given priority in terms of promotion – senior meaning their length of stay in the organization. The longer you are in your current position, the better are you chances to get promoted. Another plus factor is that you have to continuously apply because it gives Management the impression that you seriously want to move up. So I applied and applied, but to no avail.

When a position opened up in our department, I thought about it several times. I had to consult other people whether I should apply or not, most of them said I should go for it regardless of who the contenders were. But what really convinced me was when I consulted my former boss, who's now in Nepal, of what would be the best thing to do. Coming from her I know it would be a little biased, considering that we've had a very good working relationship while she was here, but I also know her to be fair and straight forward. And that she'd tell me, honestly, if there was anything I should improve on. Her opinion gave me so much to think about, and more importantly, she made my self-esteem move a notch higher.

Thankfully, all the preparations paid off and I got the promotion (I almost didn't apply for this promotion, would you believe?!). Finally! After more than four years of waiting, I got the promotion I wanted. The icing on the cake is, I was going to support a cool guy. Then I realized it was good that I didn't get promoted in all the positions I applied for in the past, because God has something better for me.

A couple of months after our engagement, I came face to face with one of my life's greatest challenges to date. Dad got hospitalized due to kidney failure. Both his kidneys have stopped working and the doctors recommended he undergoes dialysis 3x a week. This is one of things I feared most. That's why whenever he would get sick, I was always the first to worry, and that's why I have always been the police when it comes to his diet and medicines.

Since my mom passed away, I have always prayed for my loved ones' good health, primarily because I can't imagine losing another one of them. I am just not ready for that. Not yet.

I heard so many horror stories about dialysis. How it cripples a person's life because of the time spent in the hospital; 3x a week dialysis can also be financially exhausting for the family; and the complications resulted by the procedure is scary.

Dad knows all about these things. So when we brought him to the operating room to get his fistula installed, his lines were "Anak, I'm sorry. Ginawa ko naman lahat. Sorry Anak. Kung hindi nyo naman ako ipapa-transplant, hindi na lang ako magpapadialysis." It broke my heart seeing him hopeless and ready to give up. But I had to be strong. I have no idea where we would get the money to support his dialysis, all we had in mind was to give him immediate relief.

For 7 months, my dad was in and out of the hospital. We were exhausted, emotionally and financially. It was emotionally tormenting. And we were already contemplating on selling some properties to defray some of the medical expenses. There were days I would suddenly cry while at work whenever I'd remember his condition. There were days I was just hopeless and desperate to the point that I want to run away from everything.

In the time of my desperation, God would make miracles here and there. And it would bring my sanity back. First, our request for financial support from PCSO was granted. They gave us half of the amount we needed to kick off my dad's kidney transplant. They gave us P1,000,000. Yes, P1,000,000!!! For heaven's sake, you can't get that amount of money easily. Without the grant, we would be totally broke by now. Thank you Lord.

Next, there were friends and relatives who gave financial support to my dad. Friends from DWTL and ADB organized fundraisers for my dad, my brother's friends also pooled in some money for him. And there were some who gave money outright. All of these helped our family. One professional staff in ADB, whom I haven't met, made his wife's birthday party a fundraiser. Isn't that wonderful?

After the financial aide from PCSO, family and friends, there was the kidney donor whose kidney was a perfect match to my dad's. He is a family man in his 30s. Doctors said we were lucky to have found a healthy and perfect kidney match. Other patients spend a fortune and wait for years to find a match. But this one passed instantly. And as we speak, my dad is healthy and strong.

Finally, there's Jom. When all of these were happening, I thought about postponing the wedding until things get better but he brushed off the idea. Things were so messed up that I felt I was emotionally and psychologically unstable to get married. I was so scared this mess would knock his head off and make him run for his life. I was scared as hell. But in spite of these, he stood his ground and became my strength. I gave what I could and he filled up what I was falling short of. He showed me love in a different perspective. Cliché as it may sound, but he is indeed my sunshine after the rain. God's gift.

At the end of the day, I realized that love, indeed, can move mountains. The same way that Jerome's love moved me, or our love for our dad made us do anything and everything possible to save him... and God's amazing and enormous love for us made all of these possible. When all hope is lost, God's love remains.

Without counting the previous post, I would admit I have been M.I.A. for more than a year now. Boy do I have a lot of updating to do. Especially since last year was one of the most eventful year of my life.

Been to both record-breaking highs and lows last year, which turned out to be a real test of faith, trust and love--not only for me but also to the people around me. And at the end of it all, only those who have steadfast faith, those who trust and those who love deeply survived.

Before I can let you in on what's current with me, let me fill you in on what you missed last year. This will be a series of updates, so please bear with me.

Pamamanhikan

As you know, Jerome and I got engaged in March. Two weeks after he proposed, Jerome and his family did the traditional "pamamanhikan", with a twist. Instead of them going to our home, we rented out a function room in Serendra where our families met. We also invited some of our closest relatives and friends to join us. First, our families had a "closed-door" meeting where Jerome and I laid down our plans for the wedding. After the family meeting, we had dinner with our relatives and friends, followed by a short program. It was a memorable occasion simply because it was our first big step in letting the whole world know that we love each other this much.

Highlight of the event: This event was considered a dry-run of D-Day. And so we learned that (i) Jerome and I can stay calm even under pressure; (ii) entertaining guests is a tough job; and (iii) my feet would hurt at the end of the night if I didn't get comfy shoes.

Here's a photo of us with our families

Thinking of reviving this blog or creating a new one. Either way, I think I need to go back to writing. Need to find a medium to express my mind.

Watch out.

Men, as explained by Jerome, appreciate a song for their melody or music and less of the lyrics. So whenever I tell him I have a song for him, his initial reaction is "sounds good" followed by "what does it mean?"

The other day, he said, he found a nice song that we can use for the wedding, maybe after the you-may-now-kiss-the-bride part. I didn't think the lyrics meant special to him until last night, when I was teasing him how much he loved taking my picture even when we were still friends. He said he loves the way I smile (aaaawwww...kilig!!!! hahaha), thus the song: