hello, world! (a long overdue update)

Long time no see old dear blog. My last post was January 2013; how did that happen?! And it wasn't a happy post at that! Well, I won't let 2014 pass without an update. And THIS will be a happy update! :) To get you up to speed with my life, you can follow me over at Google+ and Instagram. I may have stopped blogging, but I never stopped writing or preserving memories via photos.

When I started this blog in 2007, it was a purely mobile blog. That is, I posted a daily photo with a brief caption through my super trusty Sony Ericsson k800 phone. It took great photos at 5mp and is able to connect to the internet that's why I'm able to blog. What I did back in 2007 is what I'm doing now in Instagram~ posting a daily photo to preserve our memories.

With that, this blog has become redundant. Also, I'm not just "Melissa Solito" anymore. Time for a new blog persona I guess. So, I'm closing this blog full of memories with a heavy heart. I won't take it offline though as I have good stuff posted here (mostly travel) that will be helpful to Google searchers :) I will probably do one or two updates before closing this completely.

So where's the "happy" part of this update? Here it is: I'm actually blogging again!! No, I don't mean this post, haha! I have made a new blog, a more appropriate one for the stage of my life that I'm in right now. Yes, motherhood. And being a wife. And finding myself amidst all of the responsibilities that those two "labels" entail. Where's the new blog? I'll update you when it's ready! ;-)

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! :-)

Birthday Challenge Day 10

DAY 10: MY BEST FRIEND!

Make that best friendS! ^__^ That's them below -- Labsie, my one and only boyfriend and now hubby, Chin (left) and Jinky (right). We're in my wedding reception here, nearly 3 years ago! My, how time flies.. Now, Labsie and I have 16-month old Iya, Chin and Man-Man have 6-month old Ysha, and Jinky and Madz have an upcoming baby boy this September ^__^

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!

in the last stretch of my pregnancy

Top view of my belly in the third trimester ;-)

It's been more than six months since Labsie and I officially found out we were having a baby. From looking for maternity clothes, pregnancy pants and baby layette, to attending childbirth classes and touring hospitals -- we are now finally on the last stretch. Soon, we will see our firstborn.. ^_^ But even though time did not fly by that fast and I had plenty of time to think about being a mother, I'm still finding myself not quite ready for the motherhood thingy. Truth be told, having a kid is not among my life's goals. All I ever wanted were:

1. become a licensed medical doctor (done last 2008) and help people
2. travel around our country (mostly done), the world (err, 1% done! LOL) and go into outer space (this is NOT a joke!)
3. live normally and happily with my family and loved ones.

As you can see, even having a wedding and marriage were not on my list! But right now I can honestly tell you that I'm loving married life with Labsie so I'm really hoping I'll learn to love motherhood too. I just hope our baby Iya will be a good girl and won't give us headaches, hehe! ^_^ On a side note, exactly today, I'm on the 36th week of my pregnancy. Yep, we're on the 9th month already! In just a few days, I'll be giving birth (normal and easy delivery please!) and married life as Labsie and I know it will soon be over. SO HELP US GOD!

guess who's back?? :p

Heya guys! First and foremost, happy 2010 to all of you! I know it's nearly one month since I blogged here -- it's coz I was busy with our wedding, baby and make-money blogs! If you wanna know what I've been up to since late last year, click the blog post links below:

- BABY BLUES -

Six months pregnant!

Cloth versus disposable diapers

FOR BETTER OR WORSE..

DIY wedding wine labels

Destination wedding: Las Vegas!

Bride's emergency kit

My bestfriend's wedding! ^_^

QUICK BYTES!

What to buy for baby and the new mom

Haiti 7.0 earthquake =(

Saturday 9 meme!

Lamaze classes

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!

check out our baby blog!

It's been up for quite awhile but it's only now that I'm starting to promote it as it has lots of content already =) And to start off, here are our first trimester posts! Well, actually, it's below the ultrasound photo (our first look of our sweet baby!). We're on the sixth month of pregnancy and so far, me + hubby + baby are doing great ^_^ Enjoy the posts!

Weeks 1 - 6: The First 6 Weeks

Week 7: August 2 - 9, 2009

Week 8: August 9 - 16, 2009

Week 9: August 16 - 23, 2009

Week 10: August 23 - 30, 2009

Week 11: August 03 - Sept 6, 2009

Week 12: September 6 - 13, 2009

Science Stuff: First Trimester Recap

pregnancy aches and pains..

I'm nearly five and a half months pregnant, and boy, the weight I gained is taking a toll on my petite body! I gained a total of 6.5 kilos for the first half of my pregnancy and though my body mass index (BMI) is still normal for my height, this is the heaviest I've been my entire life! I've been chubby during my high school life and during summertimes but at most, I only weighed 47-48 kilos. The added weight plus my bulging abdomen have been killing my back, calves and feet! I badly need a full body massage and foot spa but I'm so lazy to get out of our house. As it is, I'm relying on hubby for mini-back massages and foot massages every day. He sooo good at it, especially with the foot!

Hubby's aunt (who lives in New York) even compared his "expertise" to podiatrists manhattan! =) I think Labsie's aunt compared him to Dr. Les Glubo, a leading podiatrist in New York who has been providing expert foot care for over 25 years. I've seen this foot doctor being interviewed in Inside Edition, Fox News and The Early Show, and I was impressed with his credentials and the wide array of foot services his office offered. Wish I was in New York and have my aching preggy feet pampered by him!

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!

8 THINGS ^_^

It's being a long while since I did a tag -- but who am I to refuse sweet baby Sam? I can't.. coz she's sooo adorable! Manag-mana sa mommy! Hehe! ^_^ Anyway, here are my answers:

8 things I'm looking forward to:

- watching Angels & Demons in cinema tom!

- the coming weekend! can't wait to relax with hubby.. =)

- arrival of my parents this Friday = lotsa food gifts! yum, hehe!

- my youngest brother's college graduation next week, finally!!

- hubby arriving from work everyday ^_^

- getting the "Celebrity Chef" label in Hell's Kitchen - Facebook game, hehe

- our first wedding anniversary in 5 months! w00t!

- our Macau/Shenzen/HK family trip on October ^_^

8 things I did yesterday:

- slept in til 11am, blame the rainy cold weather! hehe

- watched the action-packed "Fast & Furious"

- watched the hilarious "The Promotion"

- watched the last 2 mind-blowing episodes of Heroes season 3

- lazed around the whole day with hubby =)

- cooked chicken oatmeal patties for dinner

- played Restaurant City and Farm Town on Facebook

- became "Cook" in Hell's Kitchen game on Facebook, hehe

8 things I wish I could do:

- read people's minds ;-)

- win the multimillion lottery! hehe!

- clean our house really, really, really well like my Mom

- finally decide on what medical residency to enter *sigh*

- speak Japanese, French and other languages

- DRIVE without fear!!

- read the Braille and learn sign language

- tour Europe with hubby and family!! ^_^

8 shows I watch:

- Damages

- Top Design

- Top Chef

- How I Met Your Mother

- Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN)

- American Dad

- Family Guy

- all CSI-esque shows (CSI, Criminal Minds, Bones, Numbers)

Catholic Life in the Spirit Seminar

It's also known as CLSS and last Friday, together with my husband, we attended the 3-day event. Friday was our 7th wedding monthsary and I thought it was great that we're doing something important to celebrate it rather than just eating out as per the usual when we celebrate anniversaries =) Anyway, for 3 days we stayed in St. Francis Xavier Major Seminary (REMASE), Catalunan Grande, Davao City. The area was fab! Lots of trees, very cool, very quiet. Perfect for a faith renewal activity =)

The Catholic Life in the Spirit Seminar we attended was organized by the Oasis of Love - Davao, a charismatic community where my parents have been members for several years. My mother has invited me to attend the seminar for quite some time but I always had something going on — 24 hour duties, reviewing for the medical board, stuff.. But finally, I was free. And Labsie (my husband) was in as well! Talk about “all in God’s time..”

CLSS is all about renewing your faith, healing your spirit (very helpful if you have lots of family and relationship issues) and receiving the Holy Spirit. I can't say much about it as the organizers asked us to keep the details secret so the next participants' experience won't be spoiled. Suffice to say, it was an awesome experience and the food in REMASE was home-cooked great! ^_^ I can’t believe I had 6 meals per day the entire time we were there! LOL! Anyway, if you're interested to join CLSS, there'll be another one next summer. Contact Oasis of Love for details.

a healthier us in 2009! =)

Labsie and I are both health conscious. He has been noticing his increase in abdominal girth and the development of double (triple) chins the past year. Of course I have been noticing my rounder figure too, ughh!! So what to do? Diet and exercise of course! And so far, we have been good *angelic grin* Here’s what we’re up to:

1. BIG breakast everyday to keep the hungry pangs away throughout the day. I usually cook meat viands and eggs during breakfast.

2. SMALL dinner — 1 cup rice for Labsie and half cup for me. Non-meat viands like fish, other seafood and veggies.

3. Eating HEALTHY foods. We have brown rice which have more fiber than white rice, and we have plenty of fruits — which we’re trying very hard to eat at least once a day.

4. EXERCISE!! Labsie does abdominal crunches every morning and walking about a kilometer if his morning sked allows. Me? I’m still dreaming of getting state-of-the-art treadmills, hehe!

5. Drinking WATER instead of softdrinks. No problem with me while Labsie is still weaning away from Coke. He can get Diet Coke though..

2009 Project 365: Week 2 (Jan 5 - Jan 11)

2009 Project 365: Week 1 (Jan 5 - Jan 11), originally uploaded by cutieissa.

My first full week! =) And it's my first time to play with Photoshop Elements 7 too. I have been using PSE5 since 2007 and I must say PSE7 is way, way much cooler! It's almost like CS3 but very user-friendly. All my Project 365 digiscrapz are on my new "dedicated to P365" Flickr account.

To read my notes on the scraps, click on the photo. You would then be taken to its Flickr page. On top of the photo, click the "ALL SIZES" button and voila! You'll be able to read my notes. Not that you're required to read them, LOL ;-)

credits: template from Hummie's World and papers from Bren Boone Designs & Flamingo Amanda

2009 Project 365: Week 1 (Jan 1 - Jan 4)

2009 Project 365: Week 1 (Jan 1 - Jan 4), originally uploaded by cutieissa.

I have been trying to take digital photos EVERYDAY since 2005 but it’s my first time to join Project 365 (Google it!) that has been the rage in the online world this year. The bonus? I’m forced to SCRAP my weekly photos. Time to get my creative juice running! ^_^ Anyway here’s my scrap page for Week 1. I'm nearly finished with Week 2 (7 photos this time) so stay tuned for that =) Wanna join in the fun? It will be great to see on December 31, 2009 the photos you've taken the past 12 months!

credit: template by IkeaGoddess

Labsie's 2009 wishlist

Since I put up my wishlist more than a week ago, the husband thought I should put up his wishlist too. LOL! And so here it is! I hope I got it all Labsie — I cut the uber-expensive stuff though. Sorry, hehe! Oh yeah, he says there should be a different list for our JOINT BOOK wishlist so stay tuned for that =)

1. a telescope!!

2. 16gb USB drive

3. a good ole leather belt

4. sneakers or skater shoes

5. 500gb external hard drive (just like my wish! His and Hers, hehe)

6. steel eyeglassses frame or a year’s supply of contact lenses (grade: 100)

7. Dragonlance books — we already have 90 books in our collection and we’re missing a few in our must-have sets. Check out our book wishlist next time! =)

it’s Christmas Eve!!! ^_^

This is my first Christmas post as Mrs. Melissa Solito-Elbanbuena and will probably be my last post for the year 2008. And what a dramatic year it has been! Not just for me but for the whole world (economic crisis, epidemics, disasters, etc). WHEW! I wonder what’s in store for 2009?? o_O For this blog, expect my personal 2008 Year in Review, more of our wedding pictures and finally, our honeymoon photos! I know a lot of people have been waiting for that (so sorry guys!) but I’ve been really busy (yeah, pathetic excuse I know) even after our wedding last October. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

One, I was choosing and segregating wedding photos from 5gb worth of that stuff. I got to choose what to send to the printers, what to put in the albums we’ll give to our parents (the official storybook album was taken cared of by the studio), what to reprint for families, friends, and sponsors. The task seemed daunting! But I finally finished it and was even able to post some wedding photos in this blog =) Two, I was making a wedding invitation (second page below) for my cousin who’s in Zamboanga (his bride is in Dubai). Thank god for email!! I finally finished it first week of December. And yeah, I did it for FREE =) Three, loads of extra online work! Gotta earn dough for my insurance payment due this month!

Four, I was going out of my wits Christmas gift shopping for 2 families, 4 clans and 4 godchildren. Gahh!! Also, Labsie and I had a hard time scheduling how we will spend the meager holiday vacation time he has. Unlike most employees who had a 12-day vacation, Labsie will only be free on Dec. 25-27 and 31 (yes, he had work on 24 and 30!) and Jan 1-2. And since we knew his family was hankering to spend time with us, we knew we had to squeeze a mini-vacation in Panabo (his home). And did I mention already the 2 baptisms, 4 school reunions, and 4 family reunions that we have to attend? But wait, there’s more! Four of that reunions will be on Dec. 27! Are we supposed to halve our bodies now?? LOL! I tell you it has been (and still will be) a hectic December for us! Married life is effin’ crazy during Christmas!! o_O

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.