I'm Alive!!!

It's been so looong since I last blogged. My excuse? I got caught up in other things. Yeah, it's a lousy excuse, but it's the only one I can think of.

So, what have I been up to?

Hmmm.

September - I designed invites for the first birthday of sam, my niece, for the fifth birthday of gen, my godson, and the first birthday of gen's sister, maki. Rey took a job at the BIR.

October - My niece's first birthday! We also saved up for our 11th anniversary as a couple.

November - We celebrated our 11th anniversary by staying at the Manila Hotel for 2 nights. G joined us on the second night. Sobrang nakakaaliw! On our first day, we just stayed and enjoyed our room, which had a lovely view of Manila Bay. We also walked around Manila Hotel and had dinner at this cheapo buffet place near Bay Walk. For around P250 each, we had loads of grilled squid, really good french fries, peking duck, paella, salad and iced tea! The next day, G joined us. We drove around Intramuros, then went to Westin Philippine Plaza to enjoy the sunset. For dinner,we went to Seafood Palace in Malate. After dinner, we went back to the hotel room for a Sponge Bob tournament on the XBox. As expected, I got third place! I really love Manila Hotel even if they have ugly furniture. The service is always excellent and they have the best buffet breakfast!

December - Christmas season! Grabe, nakakapagod. Three of my officemates were on leave so we had to take over their accounts. We worked like crazy! On the 24th, Rey and I visited his dad's family in Blue Ridge in the morning, had lunch and merienda with my family in Project 4 and had Christmas dinner at home. We had so much fun, though, and we loved the gifts that we received! On the 31st, we had lunch and merienda at my sister's house, then dinner at home.

The first wedding anniversary - We didn't plan on celebrating our first wedding anniversary on the 27th as we planned on going to Bali for a second honeymoon. So, we were quite prepared to have an ordinary day at home. BUT, Rey's uncle died a few days before Christmas and we buried him on the 27th. So, the first activity for the day was to go to the cemetery. At least I got to wear white!

So that we will have happier memories of our first anniversary, we decided to eat out. With the generous Christmas gift of Rey's siblings, we decided to splurge and have dinner at Price Albert. When I booked our table, they asked me if we were celebrating an occasion. I told them that we were celebrating our first anniversary. When we got there, we were happy to see that the place was almost empty. We got a nice corner table and ordered our favorite Prince Albert dishes - smoked salmon, steak and seabass with risotto. We were in foodlover's heaven. We had our own waiter (who seemed able to read our minds as we never had to ask for anything) and the food was, as expected, perfect. The sweetest thing though, is that Prince Albert gave us an anniversary gift - a chocolate cake!!! I wanted to kiss Francis, the captain waiter. I kissed Rey instead.

January - Despite the recent bombing in the Kuta area, we decided to proceed with our Bali trip! We stayed at the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel. We were given a room near the beach with a view of the swimming pools. The furniture were old but were utterlky charming as they looked so Balinese with all the trimmings. The food at the hotel was also excellent - they served the best nasi goreng we ever tasted and we pigged out on bamboo lobsters during theur lobster night! The reception area also reminded us of our honeymoon in Santiburi, Koh Samui. The Nusa Dua area was also beautiful - it had landscaped gardens on its streets and had beautiful gates and sculptures. The beach was peaceful and didn't have too many people. And I loved strolling around Ubud. Hay, sana I get to write about our trip in detail soon!

Also in January - I got my first black eye! As I was climbing up a flight of staris to the reception area of our office, I coughed continously and got dizzy. I tried to the sofas across the room but I ended up with my face at the side of the reception table. According to the 3 doctors that I consulted with, I had a tussive syncophal attack. In english: I passed out due to excessive coughing. It turns out I had pneumonitis and bronchitis. It's a good thing they didn't see anything wrong with my heart and my head. It was an experience to go through the tests, though. It was the first time I had a 24-hour holter monitor test where I was strapped with a tiny machine across my chest for a whole day. For my brain, they attached a whole bunch of tiny wires all over my head for about 40 minutes to monitor my brain waves. The whole thing stressed me out as they suspected that I had arrythmia, a serious heart condition. It's a good things that they were able to rule it out. I was also conscious about my appearance - battered wife ang dating! I wore Paris-Hilton-shades all the time. I even wore shades during the much-awaited dinner with Pazette, Tin, Laine, Len and Clarice!

February - here's what I wrote to my girlfriends about our Valentine celebration:

"una, dahil nasa tipid mode kami (saving for a trip na sana talaga matuloy), nag-decide kami na dito na lang sa Hotel Hogan (aka A Casa di Mama) mag-dinner. mabyuti na lang at na-inspire ang mother-in-law at nagluto ng japanese dinner. so meron kaming fish tempura, grilled prawns and sukiyaki. dinner in bed na lang kami (as always kasi di kami kasya sa ka-isa-isa naming food tray sa kwarto) pero habang lumalafang, nichi-chika namin si mommy. nasa room din si panjee pero nag-e-edit ng kaniyang webpage.

after dinner, naglabas ng roses ang Biik for me and panjee! wag kayong maawa kay MIL kahit wala siyang roses galing kay rey dahil nabigyan na siya ng isang gigantic floral arrangement ni FIL at may natanggap din siyang super sosi floral basket with cabbage roses and gerberas from ate korina (naks! feeling close). pinagkatuwaan namin ni MIL ang cabbage roses at ibinalak isawsaw sa balsamic vinegar para maging salad. tapos, pinatulog na ang panjee at ni-arrange ni MIL ang roses na binigay ni Biik sa vase. Habang nagpapaka-ala Boy Mahusay ang MIL, nag-email muna ako ng kung anikanik habang naglalaro si Rey sa computer. after 30 minutes, umalis na ang MIL and back to valentine's day na! at ang activity - manood sa DVD ng "The Maid"! sigaw ako ng sigaw. (I wonder what our neighbors were thinking.) at sobrang kaming physically close ni Rey kasi nga nagpaka-duwag ang lola niyo, medyo mega-kapit sa Biik!!! (I wonder what MIL was thinking nung nakita niya ang scratch marks sa braso ni Rey.) After The Maid, In Her Shoes naman para makalimutan ang mga kakatakot na scenes. naaliw naman ako pero di naman natapos.

happy kami kasi sobra kaming tipid pero di kami feeling kawawa. Ay, si Rey pala, di masyadong happy kasi feeling injured (hanggang ngayon may scratch marks pa.) hehe."