I'm on leave for a month!!!

I'm on leave for a month! Yey! I am so excited.

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I've been in a flurry of activities these past few days.

Monday

We had our office Christmas party last Monday. And as we usually do, we all came in costume. This year's theme was Cartoon Universe. I so wanted an excuse to wear my knee-high boots that I searched for a cartoon character that wore knee-high boots - my search led me to Sailor Moon. But since there was no glamor in being Sailor Moon (she had curly blonde hair and wore a sailor outfit in red, white and blue) I decided to dress up as Sailor Pluto. Sailor Pluto had long dark hair, wore knee high boots, a black mini-skirt and a white top with a black sailor collar. She was the perfect cartoon character for me! Since I didn't want to spend so much money, I just used my black skirt and pinned on a black cloth on my sleeveless white blouse. My officemates didn't recognize my blouse - they thought that I bought a sailor outfit. Wagi ang DIY costume!!!

Tuesday

Tuesday was my last day of work so I tried to finish all my pending work. New work came in the afternoon but I managed to leave the office in time for Sophie's birthday dinner at Big Buddha. (Sophie is my cute little niece who just turned 4.) On that same evening, I was able to get some of our CD souvenirs from Dio. Dio did a good jobe making the CD sleeves!

Wednesday

Rey and I were supposed to have another set of pre-nuptial pictures taken at the W@W Christmas party. However, I was having a bad cough so Rey and my Papa ganged up on me and demanded that I go to the doctor. Unfortunately, we missed the doctor's clinic hours so we just decided to pass by Daneche for Rey's first fitting of his barong. The first time that I saw him in his barong, I knew that there was something wrong - the barong was too long that it made him look short. It also had embroidery on the sleeves that were a bit distracting. When I asked the sewer why the barong was too long, they explained that if they cut it short, the embroidery at the back would be ruined. It was then that I realized that the barong had embroidery at the back. Not being a fan of embroidery, I was horrified! I also felt so guilty because when Rey mentioned to me that the embroidery on the cloth for his barong was too big for his taste (upon Rey's request, his mom was the one who looked for and bought the cloth), I told him that his mom probably picked the cloth with the bigger embroidery to match Rey's huge shoulders. I didn't tell Rey anything as I noticed that he wasn't too pleased with his barong either. When we got out of the shop, Rey uttered what would be the most unforgettable line in our wedding preps - "I DIDN'T SPEND SO MUCH MONEY TO LOOK LIKE A GOD-DAMNED SMURF!!!"

I found the line hlarious but since Rey was so upset, I didn't laugh. I also volunteered to bring him to Kamuning market so we can get a new cloth for him. We did go to Kamuning market and we were able to buy 3 barong fabrics. Rey didn't like the color of pina (he said that it made him look darker) so we got the pina jusi fabric (which, as the salesladies explained, is really dyed jusi.) After Kamuning market, we decided to have dinner at Chili's. Since Njork was on the same street, we decided to check on my reception gown first. To our surprise, Rey's mom and Panjee were there to fit their gowns!

While I was fitting my gown, I can hear Rey and his mom's heated discussion over Rey's barong - Rey's lines were so funny! When his mom said that he'd look pathetic if he wore a pina jusi barong while his guests are in pina, Rey said that he'd prefer to look pathetic than ugly. He argued that if he wore pina to the wedding, he'd look so dark that people would mistake him for my shadow. And when Rey's mom told him that it would be such a waste not to wear the barong since the fabric was very expensive (it was first class pina) Rey said that even if it was expensive, it still made him look like a mushroom.

The coward that I am didn't leave the fitting room until they finished their discussion.

After my fitting, Rey and I had dinner at Chili's. He was in a better mood and we got to laugh over his barong situation. I also got to call him Papa Smurf the whole evening. I dropped him off near his place on my way to the W@W Party so he can continue his discussions with his mom.

I arrived at Gazebo Royale at around 7:30. The place was beautiful! The driveway was well lit and the area was filled with healthy looking plants. The party area was a covered garden that was adorned with hundreds of Christmas lights and capiz bird lamps.

I sat with Clarise (the big winner for the night! She won pearl earrings), Bernard, Eileen and Matthew. We had lots of fun discussing our weddings and gossipping about wedding suppliers. Since I've already eaten dinner, I tasted the desserts from Aufrance and Hizon's. The buko pandan of Aufrance tasted ok - it wasn't too sweet and it didn't have the plastic balloon taste that I hated in some servings of buko pandan. On the other hand, Hizon's chocolate fondue looked really tempting! They had my favorite fondue partners, bananas and mangoes, but they also served watermelon, melon and pineapple. These latter fruits taste good by themselves but I really don't think that these fruits should be dipped in chocolate. I got some bananas, mangoes and chocolate fondue. I didn't like the chocolate that they used for the fondue.

After having dessert, I went around to chat with my college friend, Carol, who was also a w@wie. She brought with her the pictures that Eddieboy Escudero took of their wedding. The pictures were awesome! I also got to chat with Jen, Millet, Millet (nope, this is not a typo), Joanna of Rey (who won a gown from Galatea!), Kelly ni Gats, Leslie ni Jason and Abie ni Howell.

I was also pleased to see our suppliers - Ronald and Tisha of Balay Kandila, Jason Magbanua and Eddieboy Escudero! I managed to give Jason and Eddieboy final instructions for our wedding.

When the program ended, I was able to say hello to Dee and Dennis.

It was such a fun party!!!

Thursday

On Thursday, I met with Grace G and Patrick so I can get the Sissel CD which Grace bought in the US for me. The CD has Pie Jesu, the song that Rey and I wanted for the bridal march. Charlotte Church ang Sarah Brightman had their own versions but we loved that of Sissel. We shared stories over lunch at Bizu.

Right after my lunch with Grace, I rushed to the office to make my memo of pending work. I also made arrangements with our cashiering department so then can our full payment to Santiburi's account in Thailand. (I really love our office! For Honhon and Salve to send the money to Santiburi, they first had to buy dollars, deposit it in an account and apply for a wiretransfer. The could have chosen to purchase dollars from the bank but they made arrangements so they can get dollars at better rates. We also thought that the bank charges would cost less than a hundred bucks but even if it turned out to be more than P500, they just paid for it first and said that they'll just reimburse the money from me when I get back to work. Isn't that nice?)

At around 5, I went to Nice's office to get my gift certificates for diamond peels at the Blue Mountain Spa. After a brief chat with Nice, I headed to the Mandarin to pay for our reception in full. I was supposed to pay in cash but our AE suggested that I pay by credit card - they didn't charge extra and I get to earn points on my card. I was able to meet with my AE, Kate. She really is so efficient and easy to deal with.

From Mandarin, I went to Njork to fit the gown that I'll be wearing for a friend's wedding. The gown looked so nice!!!

I was so tired that I just wanted to go home and sleep but I promised my officemates that I would meet them at Footzone in Greenhills for my not-so-surprise bridal shower. I never regretted going to Footzone as they treated me to a relaxing foot reflexology with full body massage. Since we didn't have to take of our clothes for the massage, we all stayed in 1 room. We were so relaxed with the foot reflexology and the massage! We also had lots of laughs when I opened their shower gifts.It was a fitting end for a tiring day.

Friday

I was supposed to have a relaxing Friday since I would be singing in Clarise's wedding on Saturday. But my sister, Cecile and I decided to have our Diamond Peel. Unfortunately, the traffic was so bad that we didn't have any choice but to cancel or appointment. We just entertained ourselves by eating at Taco Bell and checking out the shops at the Gateway mall.

After our shopping trip, I left Cecile at home so she can play wth our new niece, Sam. I had a foot spa, manicure and pedicure at our neighborhood parlor. From there, Rey picked me up and we went to meet with his former boss, Party-list representative Kim Bernardo-Lokin and his other former officemates. We had fun exchanging stories. We also got to taste the wine that we're planning to serve during our cocktails - Chez Samantha. Everybody liked its light and fruity flavor. Yey!