happy thanksgiving!

And just so I’ll do something new in this blog, I joined the Booking Through Thursday meme for the first time ^_^ And being Thanksgiving Day in the US today, the meme’s topic is THANKFUL:

So–just for today–how about sharing 7 things that you’re thankful for?

This can be about books, sure–authors you appreciate, books you love, an ode to your public library–but also, how about other things, too? Because in times like these, with bills piling up and disaster seemingly lurking around every corner, it’s more important than ever to stop and take stock of the things we’re grateful for.

Here's my take on the meme-- the seven things I'm thankful for today: my good health and that of my family + friends, Labsie enjoying his trainer work, it’s a sunny day today (its been rainy the past few days and I just stayed in bed, sooo lazy!), our super cute and playful dogs, the horrific Mumbai bombing / hostage crisis is winding down (I’m on CNN/BBC right now), my youngest sibling is getting mature (he’s 23yo, LOL), and that Labsie + I are enjoying our (newly) married life! ^_^ How about you? What are you thankful for?

Elbanbuena-Solito Wedding: the KADA!

Or at least, the ones who were physically there. Hehe! To my maidens of honor – Jinx and Chin, thanks so much for all the help! Especially on the wedding day itself. Can’t wait for your upcoming weddings! Sa man Chin? Muahaha! :-p To my now-ninong Reynald (veil sponsor), thanks for being on time for our wedding! It’s a miracle!!! LOL ;-) Now, on to more fun photos! Just hover over them for the labels and click to enlarge. Enjoy!

Now for the KADA who weren’t there: to Sophia, thanks for all the wedding files, advice and flower freebies! Love them all! ^_^ To Charo, my gratitude for all the wedding planning guidance in early 2008. To Penavi, no worries for not attending my wedding – lovelife first, anniv gud ninyo! ^_^ To Pia, thanks for showing up for our wedding “celebratory” dinner in Greenbelt. Hehe! To Mhe, haayy.. Wala akong masabi! :-p

definitely NOT ready to become a parent!

56%?? Passing grade in my books is 75%, base zero! I’m definitely way off here – and this just confirms what I repeatedly told my parents, brothers, relatives, friends and those well-meaning people who say “O, make babies asap ha!” – I am definitely NOT ready to become a parent. I wonder how Labsie will fare in this quiz, most probably not better than me. We might be married but that does NOT mean we are ready to have kids.

 

You Are 56% Ready to Be a Parent

You are mostly ready to be a parent, though you could be better prepared. If you had a kid tomorrow, things might be difficult at first - but you could pull through. You don't have to be an ideal parent, but if your life was in better order, it would help. Make yourself a plan of how you'll raise and pay for a kid. You'll feel better if you have all your ducks in a row. If you're already a parent, you're probably doing a good job. Even if things aren't perfect, you're making the best of it.

 

Of course, we talked about having kids -- while I really don't want kids (for the next 5-10 years, or NEVER at all), Labsie is fine if we'll get pregnant by next year. If we have kids, he's fine with it. If we won't, he's okay with that too. If we'll adopt, he's fine as long as the adopted is from within our relatives. There goes my hope of us becoming Davao's Brad Pitt + Angelina Jolie with rainbow family. Hahaha!

 

Kidding aside, I am too selfish to have a baby right now. I love my freedom too much, I love spending time just doing nothing, I love my lithe body, I love not having to worry about a hapless newborn, etc, etc. Maybe three years of medical school plus two years of cyclic every-3-days 24hrs duty made me selfish of my time and what I do with it. Back then, I didn’t even have time to eat and sleep every 3 days :-(

 

Plus I saw everything that could go wrong in pregnancy, delivery and raising babies. I can't take that right now (and maybe never). Mama says I lack faith that God will make everything okay -- I say I have faith but knowing too much about Obstetrics and Pedia makes me go crazy. Ignorance is definitely bliss in my case! Yup, if it weren’t for my medical education, my parents would have grandkids already..

Elbanbuena-Solito Wedding: The Bride

Due to insistent public demand, here are some of the photos from my Bridal Pictorial Session. Next time na pud ang groom, hehe! Photos taken in Grand Regal Hotel's Bridal / Premier Suite and by Kent Photography. Just click the photos to enlarge ^_^ My gorgeous bouquet is by Spring Flowers (shop located in front Grand Menseng Hotel in Magallanes). More photos in my Friendster profile. My on-the-day Wedding Coordinator, Events by Ria, also have some photos and she even made a video chronicling our wedding! Here are the links:

My Friendster profile
Ria's photos of our wedding
Ria's short documentation of our wedding
Elbanbuena-Solito Wedding: The Bride gallery

Notice that Papa is the bridal car driver + Mama is my chaperone! Ganyan ako ka-guwardyado, LOL! We're around 10 minutes married here. Hehe!

Kahlil Gibran: On Marriage

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

Obama wins!!!

But being a Filipino, I take each political win with a grain of salt. That means, I REALLY HOPE President-Elect Barack Obama will make good on his campaign promises. And that he won't be like the Pinoy trapos we all hate, tsk! Here are Obama's promises that I'll be watching in 2009:

1. He will close Guantanamo.
2. He will provide jobs for the newly fired Americans (Circuit City just declared bankruptcy!! DHL will cease ground cargo in US!!).
3. He will cut the taxes of the middle class.
4. He will eliminate all capital gains taxes on startup and small businesses to encourage innovation and job creation.
5. He will appoint Oprah Winfrey a cabinet position -- KIDDING! Hehe! More of Barack Obama's "promises" HERE. Enjoy! ^_^

honeymoon chronicles: sea creatures and robots

WARNING: LONG POST AND PHOTO OVERLOAD AHEAD!

And the honeymoon posts are back! =) So far, we're in Day 3 (yeah, I'm so effin' slow!). As earlier posted, Labsie and I started our day early in Salcedo's Saturday Market and by 8am, we were back in our condo for a second breakfast.  After resting and showering, we headed to our second destination of the day: Manila Ocean Park! This was around 10am and we were both super excited for our "ocean appreciation tour" ^_^ Labsie and I love anything water-related. He especially loves the ocean for its fishes and other sea creatures. Their family has a saltwater aquarium with Nemo (clown fish), anemones, and other colorful fishes. Labsie missed it so much that he asked Mama quite bluntly if he can build a saltwater aquarium in our home! LOL! Anyway the photos can enlarged (just click) and they have labels, just hover / mouse over them. Enjoy! ^_^

It was my second time in Manila Ocean Park (entrance fee is P400) but I was still taking pictures left and right with my SE k800i phone. I sooo love the pretty and weird fishes!! =) We took our time appreciating the rich marine life but we managed to finish within 2 hours. We were on tight schedule as we still have to go malling in the world's third largest mall, exploring the latest in science and movies, and experiencing Manila's famous sunset after. Anyhoo, on with the pictures! Not much photos of the fishes (and me!) coz we're still celebrating Labsie's 27th birthday -- so all you'll see is his face! Hehe! :-p BTW, can you guess where's the fish in the photo at the middle of the collage below??

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Around 12noon, we arrived in SM's Mall of Asia (MOA), the world's third largest mall. Instead of eating in the food court or in one of the numerous restaurants there (RACK's has a branch there!! We totally dig RACK's ribs!!), we found a cozy spot in one of the open air spaces / indoor park strewn in MOA. There, we ate our maki and other food from Salcedo's Saturday Market. It was refreshing to breath fresh air (sometimes tangy coz of the nearby Manila Bay) "inside" a mall! ^_^ After lunch, we explored MOA a bit but mostly we spent our time in bookstores browsing for books. Around 1pm, we went ahead to our 3rd destination of the day: SM Science Discovery Center! Woohoo! Can you tell we're nerds?? Oceanarium, bookstores, and now a science center! Sa honeymoon pa talaga, hehe!

SM Science Discovery Center (P350 entrance fee + freebie ice skating tickets and popcorn discounts) has over 400 exhibits in 10 galleries. Plus they have the Philippines' ONLY state-of-the-art Digistar Planetarium! Info about it is pictured above. This got me really excited coz the last time I was in a "planetarium" was in Pisay, more than 10 years ago! I can still remember watching the heavens lying down, while a voiceover droned on about the universe and its magnificence. I can't wait to experience it again! ^_^ Luckily, a show was scheduled at 120pm -- we only have to wait 20min! Woohoo! The planetarium shows start at 10am til 10pm, with 3 shows every 2 hours. Anyway, that's us below inside the dome-screened 158-seat Digistar Planetarium. The seats were reclined and the blue "screen" was 180 degrees, like half a globe above us.

As usual, we were with noisy kids. There was an excursion and the SM Science Discovery Center was crawling with grade school children! Gahh! Also, around this time, I was very feverish, dizzy and weak. I told Labsie that if I won't improve after taking my meds, we have to cancel our sunset dinner by Manila Bay and watching Superman in the IMAX Theater (also in MOA). I badly need to rest. Aside from this not-so-good news was another disappointment: the planetarium show wasn't about the planets and the stars! =( It was a short movie about the deep blue sea, its fishes and their bravery. Yup, it was cartoons in 3d! Tsk! Still, it was enjoyable especially since you were kinda "inside" the movie, the screen was a dome after all! All around me was the beautiful ocean and its creatures =) After the show, we enjoyed the Center's 10 galleries. Loved it all!!

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GROSSOLOGY: Learn about the icky stuff! From burps to slime to odors -- you're sure to learn about grossness the super fun way!

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ROBOTICS: Two galleries -- Robot Inc. and Lego Mindstorms Robotics Center (closed when we were there). The former gallery features the famous mechanical and electronic wonders, shows you the historical evolution of robots, and the importance of machines.

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TRANSPORTATION NATION: Build your own car (see photo below), the first automobile (owned by Pilipinas Shell), Philippines' own solar-powered car (Sinag), Segway and prototypes of future cars and transportation solutions. Labsie had lots of fun here! GUYS!

SPACESHIP EARTH: Pictured in the small photos below. "Know what's happening and what needs to be done to save the world!"

Other galleries not pictured: Lifeclock (factoids about Internet, send emails to the future), ImagePort (learn everything about the camera!), SMART Media City (free internet and PC games, experience the latest software and digital trends, play CG games), Virtual Reef (too dark to take photos; a fish will "talk" to you, so fun!), and City Science (earthquake simulation, TALL scaled models of the world's tallest buildings).

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By the time we finished exploring SM Science Discovery Center, I was very weak. I also felt very cold and couldn't imagine sitting over 2 hours inside an air-conditioned IMAX theater =( So we decided to go home.. But before that, we bought dinner first. I cannot cook in my condition and Labsie has absolutely no idea how to cook! Hehe! And since we were quite feeling low (I really wanna have a sunset dinner!!), we lifted our spirits by splurging on food -- in SBARRO!!! We got yummy veggie salad, creamy spiral pasta, HUGE stuffed pizza, and bread"sticks" -- carbo-loading to the max! Thus, despite me being sick and us missing IMAX movie-watching and Manila Bay's sunset, Day 3 ended on a happy note! ^_^ Nothing like good food to drown all your sorrows eh? Hehe!

 

ALL PHOTOS taken with my Sony Ericsson k800i ^_^       (except for the Astroboy photo pala!)