Happy Holidays!!

How are you guys coping up with Christmas 2014? It seems that this holiday season has been steadily becoming a stressful event as the years go by. Too much traffic, too much commercialism, too much everything. Do you feel that way too?! Thankfully Labsie and I have kids so there's still that bit Christmas magic in the air :) This year, we started the Advent calendar with simple Bible readings to explain the real meaning of Christmas to them. Hopefully, when they are all grown up, they wouldn't buy into all that holiday commercialism crap. And before I even go more Scrooge-y, here's our lovely holiday greetings! Haha! Pic taken from our wedding anniversary this year. I love it so much!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone! :)

Where's our kids you ask? They're on another holiday card, the one with our entire family of four in a reasonably nice pose. Haha! You know how it is when you take family pictures, one kid (or two) is bound to ruin the entire photo ;-) I will update this post when our family Christmas card is up on our new blog. Yes, I still have not introduced our new blog here but I already did in our Davao wedding blog so go over there and find out about it! :)

UPDATE: Here's our family Christmas card. Check out the kids, haha!

beaches to casinos to stinky tofus to mall tripping

The title just about sums up the 4 years of family vacations we had. Though, technically, the first family vacay (beaches) was our honeymoon and the second one (casinos) was our babymoon. I was 4 months pregnant with our first baby then :) The third one (stinky tofus) was truly our first "family of 3" vacay and our most recent one (mall tripping), just this October, was kinda like "family of 3 + 1 in the bun" vacay. Yep, folks, we're pregnant again! o_O But I will reserve the second pregnancy story for another post, heehee!

BEACHES

Back in 2008, the place we honeymooned was still kinda a secret vacay spot. I never blogged about it (did not even share photos in FB!) coz I wanted it to remain a secret place ;-) However, other people who went there blogged about it as the place is truly awesome! Now, Coron / Busuanga / Calauit Islands in Palawan is not so secret anymore. Coron town in Busuanga Island has lots of new hotels and I hope, a better road from the airport to the town proper. Anyway, here's one of my favorite honeymoon photos (unedited from my phone camera) that captured the splendor of one of Palawan's last frontiers:

CASINOS

On our first wedding anniversary, we went to Macau and Hong Kong. It was my first time in Macau and second time in HK, but the first time I went there, Disneyland was still not yet operating. For Labsie, it was his first time in both places. Now, as much as I hate to admit this, I'm a fan of casino games, whether offline or online. So you can just imagine my excitement in visiting Macau's ultra-awesome casinos! :) My fave casino past-time, of course, are the slot machines. There's just something addicting in trying to win from a machine >.< Now, if it weren't for my cheapskate tendencies, I would be in so much debt right now due to my casino-loving nature. Hehe!

But.. I'm so much smarter than that because I use casino bonuses! In The Venetian Macao (pictured below), I got free $20 worth of casino voucher from a roving hotel employee. For online casinos, I trawl the web for blogs and sites that offer no deposit bonus codes and casino bonus coupons. That way I can try different online casinos without spending money. After all, what if I don't like the online casino? My deposit would be wasted then! At least with codes and coupons, I get to try the online casino for free- and if I like it, I will probably use my own money to play some more without any hard feelings ;-) Back to The Venetian, isn't the casino hotel gorgeous?? And that's only one of the many stunning casino hotels in Macau! By the way, that's my youngest brother with 4-months-pregnant me in the photo below :)

That's it for now! Stay tuned for part 2, involving stinky tofus and mall tripping! ^__^

Vacay 2011 is on! :)

Its 330pm on my phone- that means in 30 minutes we're off to Manila! Yesiree, it's that time of the year again- our annual vacation! Woohoo! ^__^ If you're a follower of this blog, you already know why we go on vacay during October. If you're new here, these are the reasons: October is when we celebrate our wedding anniversary, our couple anniversary, and Labsie's birthday. Three special occasions deserves 10 days of vacay! :-)

lil red riding hood in Buda!

Yep, that's Iya in the red jacket :-) We're currently in Seagull Mountain Resort in Buda with my family. I've passed by this place since the early 2000s but it's only now I explored the resort. Highlights: new restaurant that serves affordable and tender steaks, freshwater pools (waterfalls run off), pretty chapel with a view, the cold climate!! :-) Right now my parents and bro are in the pool area while Labsie and me (with Iya of course!) are resting in one of the resort's wooden swings. We're enjoying the cold cold wind slapping our noses red. Hehe! Anyway, we were walking towards the pavilion at the edge of the resort and got tired- the result of thin mountain air + our aging bodies- thus we rested for a bit here in the swing (and I live mobile blogged) ^__^

all pink in Panabo! ;-)

We are currently here at my in-laws in Panabo City as Labsie had a rare weekend off. Normally his rest days are Mon/Tues but we don't go to Panabo coz most of his family are working and thus couldn't bond with Iya. Which is, of course, the reason why we go visit them.Ü Our lil girl had a full day today. She rode a tricycle (first time!) which she enjoyed very much and went malling in Gaisano. Yes, they have malls here, hehe! And the best thing? It's less than a 10min trike ride from Labsie's family home! Super convenient! :-)

Anyway, the photo above was taken this afternoon when we went out to buy ice cream. Iya was wearing her usual pink getup- fuschia yoga tank top and pink fairy pants :-) To my utter delight, Labsie bought Iya a baby pink Magnolia popsicle which perfectly matched her pink outfit! Of course I had to snap their picture and mobile blog about it, hehe ;-)

P.S. If you noticed, the pic above is vertically oriented with a frame to boot! Would you believe that it's only now I knew that my 3.5yr old phone can do this when I'm mobile blogging?? Go check my moblog posts since 2007, all the post pics are horizontal. Not a single vertical one! I'm such a n00b really :-P

When your CebuPac flight is delayed..

..do an International food contest! :p I'll tell you the contest mechanics later as I'll share first how I came to 'invent' this contest.Ü When we came to Manila last Monday, our Cebu Pacific flight was delayed 30minutes. It was annoying but bearable. Today, for our 12nn flight back to Davao, we arrived early in NAIA3 to check-in. To our horror, there was NO specific lines for different destinations. The result? Super long and slow moving lines! Add a super kulit toddler (yes, our very own Iya) to the mix and you have the recipe for a toddler tantrum / meltdown :-( The only thing that kept Labsie and me sane was the thought that we'll be in Davao soon (2pm!)..

But, as you must have known from the blog post title, us arriving in Davao by 2pm was not to be :-( When we *finally* received our boarding passes, we were told our 12nn Davao flight was pushed back to 4pm! That's four FREAKIN hours of entertaining Iya! Hayy.. But the Lord is good- its 230pm (May21) now and Iya is finally asleep after traipsing through gates 130-134 and back, over and over and over again. Labsie is now able to relax and I'm now able to mobile blog :-)

As for the International food contest, it goes like this- buy food from different cuisines and let your toddler eat from the selection. The food s/he eats or chooses wins! ;-) The picture above was our batch1- Vietnamese spring roll, French basil quiche, Japanese assorted maki and American Slurpee (not pictured). WINNER: Slurpee! LOL! Since Iya didn't eat any solid food, we were forced to have batch2- Italian tuna pesto penne (pasta), Aussie meat pie, Filipino Jollibee Chickenjoy (CebuPac's 'compensation' for the delay). WINNER: pasta and Chickenjoy!! Iya really enjoyed the olives from the pasta and of course, the famous crispylicious chicken of Jollibee. Happy Iya = happy Mommy and Daddy! :-)

off to Makati! =)

130pm, 05/16/11

Currently waiting for our 230pm flight to NAIA3 here in Gate Lounge 8. As usual, Iya is busy walking everywhere with her Daddy on her heels, hehe! :-) Our Makati trip is unplanned but since an opportunity presented so that Iya and Euna can play with each other this summer, we grabbed it. These 2 kids adore each other and it really warms our hearts when they're together :-)

Needless to say, our CebuPac tickets were (relatively) expensive as we got used to paying PISO fares the past several years :-P Two hours more and we'll be with my bro's family na- can't hardly wait to take pics of Iya and Euna playing together! Summer = Family Fun!Ü

Its Palm Sunday!

And that can only mean a whole week of no-meat meals to look forward to- mehh! But then this kind of sacrifice comes only once a year, during Holy Week, so I'm sucking it up. I will survive! Hehe! And so, on this fine overcast Sunday morn, Iya and I found ourselves accompanying Daddylo and Mommyla in one of Davao's largest wet markets (the Toril market pictured above) to buy loads of fish for Holy Week. I hope we'll get seafoods too (yes, we're still here- I'm live blogging via SEk800i) but then eating shrimps and crabs isn't much of a sacrifice eh? Hehe! ;-) Have a meaningful Holy Week everyone! Eat (less), Pray (lots), Love (lots n lots)!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! :)

It's our baby girl's FIRST Christmas and everything is just awesome! Sure, we have a hectic and full-packed schedule starting tomorrow (involves traveling back and forth 3 cities, with a baby on tow!) but the Lord is truly good for He blessed us with the best families, relatives and friends a person could ask for; who, I know, will help us til the holidays are over :) From our family of three to yours, have a wonderful Christmas season!

11 years of US! :)

Taipei Zoo :: Oct 2010

And 2 years of marriage, and six months of parenthood! Hip, hip, hooray! :) To celebrate, we had a family vacation in Makati and Taipei for a total of 1week. It was just me, Labsie and Iya at 6months+. Traveling with a baby is hard but we made it work. Much of the success has to do with Iya's temperament ~ the girl just loves to sightsee! As long as she's full and not sleepy, she's alright with whatever me and Labsie are doing. Atta girl! :) Here's to more years to us Labsie and to more family vacations with Iya!

guess who retired?

My father!! Yep, after 29 years of working for a multinational company, he retired and is now a bum like me. LOL! The surprising thing is, Papa is just 49 years old! Most people thought he's too young to retire but he says he's tired of working and of the corporate scene. Well, you can't really blame him -- he went to work immediately after college graduation and has been with the same company since then. So, what's my retired father doing now? Setting up his business! Of what nature will his business be, I still do not know. He has lots of business ideas, wants to seize every business opportunity that he can, and frankly, I think Papa is way over his head. Hehe! Maybe he needs an Interim Management director or something like that to guide him.

Aside from setting up a business, Papa plans to travel a lot with my mother. For the past 10 years or so, they have vacationed in most Southeast Asian countries. Post-retirement, they plan to go to the US (tourist visas already approved, yay!) and have tasked me to create an itinerary for them. I made them a 5d/4n Taiwan itinerary recently and they love what I’ve done thus this new task. But sad to say I’m flummoxed this time! USA is such a big country and there’s so much to see that I don’t know where to start and what to include in the itinerary. Time to research online and read travel reviews!

yes, I'm a SAHM! =)

SAHM means “stay at home mom” and though I’m not a “real” mom yet (3 more months!), I have been in mommy mode since my 2 younger male siblings were born. I am the eldest and the only girl, and so it’s just natural that I’m my mom’s right-hand gal =) Anyway, last October 2008, I got married and chose to be a stay at home wife instead of practicing my medical profession. Most of the people I knew (especially my parents) didn’t understand why I would waste my time staying at home instead of earning moolah being a doctor. My female friends asked me don’t I get bored staying at home day in and day out?

Firstly, being in mommy mode most of my life “trained” me not to get bored spending 24/7 at home. Even during my hectic days in medical school I still did some cooking, cleaning, taking care of our dogs, and doing other household stuff. And when I took a 1 year hiatus after graduating from med school (and before I took my Physician Licensure exam), I further honed my housewife skills. My parents were not living with us due to my dad’s work, and I had a 5-room home, 10 dogs and 1 spoiled brother to take care of. Taking care of our finances and housework was easy-peasy for me. While most “modern” women don’t like cleaning and cooking, I adore it! =)

And then I got married. I now have 2 guys to take care of :p Hubby and I initially planned that I’ll spend the first year of our marriage at home and take specialty training after October 2009. But then I got pregnant around July! We had no plans to have kids until after 3-5 years of marriage so we can really save up for our kid, and now this. Our best-laid plans just got awry! Since I was pregnant, I had to say goodbye to specialty training. I could do it but I don’t wanna stress myself and our sweet baby =) That’s why, until now, I’m still a SAHM! Needless to say, homebody me is loving it!

happy 28th birthday to my hubby!

October is a big month for me and Labsie. It's the month we celebrate our wedding anniversary (Oct 8), our couplehood anniversary (Oct 15) and the best event of all -- Labsie's birthday on Oct 31! Yep, my hubby is a Halloween baby! And would you believe he was born around 11:45pm? Very near the witching hour of midnight! =) But no worries, he's not scary or monstrous at all. My hubby is the sweetest guy ever!

This year, Labsie decided to have a simple dinner celebration in his family's home with my family as guests. Just two families coming together to eat and celebrate hubby's 28th birthday. We had seafood extravaganza, with crabs, shrimps, prawns, clams and grilled tuna gracing the table. We also had the usual pansit guisado, lumpia ubod and birthday cakes. Yes, cakeS! Coz Labsie had two, courtesy of Tita Ling and my mom =)

To Labsie, may the Lord grant the desires of your heart. Stay as great as you are! Love u always.. XOXO

we're 3 months pregnant!

It's official, Labsie and I are 3 months pregnant! Hubby is very thrilled while I'm quite ambivalent about it. After all, we planned to have a baby after 3-4 years of marriage. And we're still on our first year. Tsk! But hey, God thought we're ready to be parents so here we are: unexpectedly expecting our first bundle of joy! ^_^ On a side note, four posts from August and 2 posts from early September will now be published below. We wanted to wait until we're 3 months pregnant to announce publicly that we're expecting and these 6 posts contained references to our pregnancy that's why I didn't publish it yet. Enjoy reading!

our foodie weekend!

We had a very stressful Friday as I wrote HERE. The next two days weren't much different. We were traveling to and fro, rushing here and there. The good thing was Labsie and I were stuffed with food the whole two days of Saturday and Sunday! LOL! June 6 (Sat) was my brother's birthday and my hubby's grandpa's birthday too. Since my bro resides far, far away from us, we just contented ourselves with greeting him on phone and the web. As for Daddy Bert (the grandpa), we went to Panabo (Labsie's hometown) for a lunch feast. My hubby had a graveyard shift the night before so badly need sleep but still off we went! At Panabo, we had super-fresh grilled panga, fried lumpia and the requisite noodles for long life. Then Labsie went to sleep and we went home by 7pm, another 2 hour ride.

Sunday we were just catching our breath in our home when Labsie's dad called around lunch saying we will eat at Cafe Marco buffet in Marco Polo Hotel. Yeah, the only 5-star hotel in Davao! Tired as we were, we couldn't say no to this gastronomic opportunity. Hehe! Off we went to downtown and stuffed our selves with gourmet food. I tell you, I can barely walk after. I was too full!! I was even making gagging sounds, LOL! :p My father in law then announced that there's a dinner feast with his relatives later that night. Of course we were required to attend. We then went home, slept for 3 hours and went to the party. As expected, Labsie and I ate sparingly. We were still full from the buffet! LOL! Yup, it's definitely"what a weekend!" for us ;-)

Lens Day Challenge: Black & White

My beautiful mother and me on my wedding day.

You can join in the fun HERE!

what's the perfect Mothers Day gift?

The celebration is less than a month away and I still don't know what to get my mom. I've given her perfumes, health books, travel bags, money (LOL), personalized photos and picture frames, various trinkets, and what-nots in the past AND now I'm frankly out of ideas. My mother isn't into technology so no fancy gadgets for her. She's into house and home stuff but we differ on design sensibilities so what I like or think she might like, she may not like. Tsk! What we both like though are rustic furniture to put in our vacation home. Unfortunately, I can't afford them. LOL!

Now isn't the log bed lovely? Even if I can't afford them, I can point my mom to the right direction where to buy it. Is that enough to be considered a gift? LOL! Anyway, I found this magnificent rustic bed in ScenicFurniture.com -- a company that makes bedroom furniture (log beds and sets) and western furniture. They use woods ranging from oak to cedar to hickory. The set featured above is the "Eastern Red Cedar Bedroom" -- lovely! I'm sure my mom would love it too. ^_^

Happy 49th Bday Pa! =)

Make a wish and blow! ^_^

2009 Wrap Up — First Quarter Edition (part 1)

1. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THAT YOU’VE NEVER DONE BEFORE?

January - I bathed naked in a public room! LOL! Labsie’s Christmas gift to me was a SPA experience in a new Korean spa & massage center in Lanang which I "redeemed" first week of January. I spent 30 minutes in a sauna, bathed briefly in a warm jacuzzi (dang, the germs!!) and washed it all off with a cool shower. Since there were no closed stalls that offer privacy, I just bathed naked in the open. It was liberating to say the least, LOL!

February - Had my very first annual “Executive Check-Up” with Labsie. We had our blood sugar and necessary blood chemistry levels taken + chest X-ray and other tests. The bad news is we both have high cholesterol levels. The good news is mine was high coz my good cholesterol (HDL) was high. Labsie had low HDL and high LDL (bad cholesterol) which is NOT good! Time to say goodbye to fastfood!

March - [a] Made all-original dishes: baked savory beef-stuffed squid rings and pan-fried bacon-wrapped fish. YUM! =) [b] Touched a newly-operated person’s TITANIUM-implanted back. It was a bit cold and oh-so awesome!! [c] Asked a bartender for FREE shots at a bar and got two, LOL! ;-) [d] Joined Earth Hour for the first time and surprisingly, I got a lot of things done w/o electricity! [e] Had an overnight vigil with Labsie in a funeral home for my bestfriend’s dad’s wake..

2. DID YOU KEEP YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS? - Not all. I was still impatient and a bit moody at times =( What I was able to keep was the Project 365 photos and everyday diary entry =)

3. DID ANYONE CLOSE TO YOU GIVE BIRTH? - Hmm.. No one *that* close but I heard some of my friends gave birth. 

4. DID ANYONE CLOSE TO YOU DIE? - One of my bestfriend’s dad died unexpectedly =(

5. WHAT COUNTRIES DID YOU VISIT? - Didn’t visit any countries, didn’t even travel save for within Davao del Sur and Davao del Norte =) 

6. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR THAT YOU LACKED EARLY THIS YEAR? - Hmm.. I guess more income streams. LOL! Right now my income is just from freelance writing and paid-to-blog opps. I want my Adsense and affiliates commission earnings to ramp up. Family and marriage-wise, I have nothing to ask for. Everything’s just dandy! =)

7. WHAT DATE WILL REMAIN ETCHED UPON YOUR MEMORY AND WHY? - February 13 and 14 coz Labsie got me a Valentines cake from Bistro Rosario and the entire Harry Potter series in hardbound! It was the first time he got me a cake for Vday, LOL

8. WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR SO FAR? - I can walk away from a heated quarrel without yelling and too much talking. Trust me when I tell you this is an achievement, hehe! It’s coz I’m a very passionate person and it’s hard to keep my emotions in check.

9. WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST FAILURE? - Character failure: I’m still a procrastinator, I’m still subject to my mood swings, I’m still undecided about my medical career *sigh* 

10. DID YOU SUFFER ILLNESS OR INJURY? - Yes! Was down on New Year’s Day and the next 2 days due to a bad case of food poisoning. My mom and Labsie was also affected. Was also sick early February with atypical pneumonia which took weeks to resolve.

11. WHAT WAS THE BEST THING YOU BOUGHT? - YUMMY FOOD!! LOL! ^_^

12. WHOSE BEHAVIOR MERITED CELEBRATION? - Probably my youngest brother’s. He worked on his thesis and went to work at the same time. Awesome Tots!!

13. WHOSE BEHAVIOR MADE YOU APPALLED AND DEPRESSED? - Mine? Hehe!

14. WHERE DID MOST OF YOUR MONEY GO? - Savings! Where else?? =)

15. WHAT DID YOU GET REALLY, REALLY, REALLY EXCITED ABOUT? - Labsie’s Masteral thesis and upcoming graduation this April! Also our planned summer getaway alone and with my family, can’t hardly wait! I just hope I won’t get sunburn, LOL

16. WHAT SONG(S) WILL ALWAYS REMIND YOU OF THINGS THAT HAPPENED EARLY THIS YEAR? - Hmm.. Probably the theme songs from “Iron Chef America”, “Top Design” and “Jon & Kate Plus 8” =) The first quarter of my life was all about food, organizing our marital bedroom and finding the ‘new’ family rhythm -- there are now 2 married couples living in our home after all =)

my new Lakbayan grade!

YESSS!! My new grade increased a notch! =) So what's Lakbayan? Click HERE. And before we go to my new Lakbayan grade, here's a rather longish backround --

July 2007 is what I consider my freedom month -- finally my formal education was over AND I WAS FREE!!! =) Six years of primary education, four years of science high school, four years of college in UP, four years of medical school and one year of post-graduate medical internship has taken a toll on my creative self. Mind you, 19 years of straight schooling (breaks during summer and Christmas vacations only) with good grades to boot is quite a creativity killer. I felt like an artist imprisoned and struggling to get out of the system and unleash my art on the world! Errmm, I'm not really an artist in the real sense okay?? Hehe!

Anyhoo, I realized in July 2007 that I just wanna loaf around for some time and not worry about what my parents will think about my life. You know how parents are, always worrying about their kids -- multiply that to infinity and you get my parents' worrying level ;-) I was set to take the August 2007 Medical Board Exam but my inner self kept on telling me to rest and nourish my soul. My inner self knew that once I'm a licensed doctor, my parents will not let up and will just pressure me to go into Residency (and then go into practice as a Specialist and so on) immediately. There would be no respite for me then =(

And so I put my foot down and "promised" that I will take the Medical Board Exam on February 2008. Of course, we all know that didn't happen coz Labsie and I announced our engagement that month and my parents were caught up in the excitement that their only daughter is getting married to think about my Boards. Hehe! ;-) Anyhoo, since I was off the hook and free to do what I want, I went traveling (with my family, of course). From October-November 2007, I was all over Luzon (Makati, Manila, Subic) and Boracay. I also spent time in the pretty Samal Island beaches with Labsie =) Then on December 2007, my family went to General Santos City (Gensan) and Lake Sebu. 

My Lakbayan grade is B!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan! Created by Eugene Villar.

Yup, that's my new Lakbayan grade above =) I was B- in mid-2007 and now I'm a B! Whee! All the traveling I did for about 6 months really made a difference. YEAH!! Aside from my late 2007 trips, I traveled anew early 2008. The plan was to have a road/sea trip from Visayas to Mindanao. Awesome huh?? My grandmas were very thrilled about it =) So on March 2008, we flew to Iloilo City (from Davao) then rode a barge to Bacolod City which belongs to the province of Negros Occidental that we explored. From there we drove whole day to Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental. The next day we rode a barge to Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte where we visited Jose Rizal's home and the awesome Dakak Park and Beach Resort.

Then we criss-crossed Mindanao to reach Kidapawan City, my grandmas' hometown. We passed by several cities like Dipolog, Ozamis, Iligan, Cagayan de Oro, and other places I'm not familiar with. Hehe! In April 2008 I went back to Makati/Manila to scour for cheap wedding supplies in Divisoria. Our family also went to cool Tagaytay and visited Manila Ocean Park + Malabon Zoo =) After that I was busy reviewing for my Boards and planning our wedding. My last trip for 2008 was our honeymoon to Makati, Manila, Laguna and Coron in Northern Palawan which was more than awesome!! I still have to blog about Coron so stay tuned for that! ^_^ How about you? What's your Lakbayan grade? How much of our beloved Philippines have you seen?