Snippets of Our 2014 Valentine

We are living a relatively boring life here in Edmonton (haha!) so I wanted to inject a bit of spice this Valentine season. I've always had a thing for knick knacks so please let me indulge.

I wasn't really able to hoard much Vday stuff this year because my in-laws are here (I'm still 'nangangapa' in having them around). I also started working last February 1 so I got busy.

But anyways, here are some snippets of our Valentine Day 2014:

Heart-shaped pillow. I asked hubby to buy this for me at Walmart. It's perfect for my white-with-pink-themed "Me" room.

Heart-printed socks. Aren't these the cutest? I got them from Dollarama. I think I have more, I just wasn't able to take pictures.

Kisses Chocolates. Nice pink packaging noh? I bought it on sale at Target.

Heart-printed bowl. I saw this last piece of bowl at Target and grabbed it. Perfect for my chocolates.

Chocolate Bouquets. These were last-minute purchase at Dollarama. I wanted to give something for my mother-in-law and sister-in law. How I wish I had the time and money to find something better haha!

A Welcome and Vday Note for Cecille. My sister-in-law arrived on the night of Vday while I was at work so I had to do something to welcome her.

My Feb. 14 socks. This is what I wore on hearts day itself.

Ford's gift for me. Wow! Thank you, Dear! I love it!

My gift for Ford. Again, I am a proletariat wife so please excuse my Dollarama-purchased huge greeting card and XOXO Hershey's chocolates for the husband. It's the thought that counts naman, ayt?

Next year, I'll try to do better.

Valentine 2014: A one-hour date at Denny's

February 14, 2014 (Friday). I was originally very excited for Valentine's Day. Why, it was the first time that the Husband and I will celebrate that love day being physically together. But things don't always happen as we plan it, right? Ford's mom and dad vacationed here from January 30 to February 20 and his sister even followed - arriving on Valentine Day itself. But it was fine, I said to myself. We can celebrate hearts day any time naman.

When Ford picked me up from work at past 10pm, I really thought he'd bring his sister Cecille with him. Akala ko pa naman gigimik kami sa White Ave. But apparently, Cecille was very tired and sleepy na pala.

And so nakahabol pa kami ng date!

I was starving and since ayaw namin makipagsiksikan sa ibang restaurants, we ended up at Denny's. Haha, comfort place na talaga namin yun.

My Valentine since March 2003

Since it was a 'special' day, we deviated from ordering our usual lumberjack slam. Parang di naman bagay sa occasion ang pancake, di ba?

Kaya ito na lang...

I was tired from a long day's (err, night's) work but I was really glad na nasolo ko ang asawa ko kahit isang oras lang hehe.

It was a simple yet fulfilling celebration. We were grateful for the food and for the love and company we've been giving to each other since 2003. Love indeed conquers all.

Happy Valentine's Day! -- Ford & Ces

Valentine 2014: Bourgeoisie Husband, Proletariat Wife

On the night of February 13, upon coming home from work, I found this white gold necklace with heart pendant waiting for me in our bathroom lavatory. Really, I was so surprised! We saw this necklace in a store a few weeks ago and I told him I like it. But I honestly have already forgotten about it.

Thank you, Dear!

But wait! I also had a surprise din naman for him on February 14. I left this inside his car.

Bought at my beloved dollar store lol!

Haha, cheapskate I know! But what can I do, I am the proletariat in this relationship and Pod is the Bourgeoisie! But it's the thought that counts naman, right?

I bought a HUGE card because it was the first time in our 11-year relationship that we were not under postal size restrictions! I added a Hershey's milk chocolate because he likes it.

But seriously, I wanted to give the husband a better gift but since I only started to work less than two weeks before VDay, I had no budget. Ayaw ko namang i-swipe sa credit card niya ang ipangreregalo ko sa kanya haha!

Also, now I know that I will have a hard time surprising him in the future because we only have one joint bank account. How can I buy something for him using our credit or debit card without him knowing about it? Unlike me, Pod keeps track of our card transactions every night (at least). He has a phone application for it ha.

Oh well, it's his fault. He only wants to have our respective salaries deposited into our shared account so he must suffer the consequences lol!

Back to regular programming

Yebaaah, may internet na uli kami sa bahay sa wakas!

Messy wiring in the laundry room. Ford has to do something about it!

It's been exactly a month now since we moved here in our townhome and after the long wait, finally we saw some light! Isang buwan kaming deprived sa internet, nakakaloka!

I am an internet person. I don't have any social life here in Canada and it's the net that kept me sane all this time. So imagine my horror when I learned a day before we moved that we won't be having house wifi for the next two weeks. And the two weeks became a whole month!

It's good though that Pod has data plan on his mobile. But since it wasn't 'sufficient', I asked him to get me a data plan too, just for February. But because we are "heavy" internet users, we've already maximized our plan by the second week of the month. Then I suggested that we buy a Wind broadband stick. It was fast the first few days but after we consumed the 10GB, it became so darn slow! Grabe, we've spent so much for internet the past weeks and still we were disappointed!

So how has my life suffered with a limited internet access?

• I haven't seen my mother in a month. We couldn't do Facetime so we just talked via Magic Jack.
• I wasn't able to blog. Grrr. 
• I wasn't able to read lots of blog entries from my favorite bloggers.
• I wasn't able to socialize well in Facebook and Girl Talk.
• I wasn't able to watch Netflix.
• I wasn't able to watch Pinoy tv shows other than the three teleseryes I am following.
• I wasn't able to post many pictures in Instagram (because I use my Iphone in taking photos)
• My in-laws could have enjoyed their visit here if they were able to watch movies during those dull times.

Oh well, it's all in the bag now. I am just so happy that that ugly phase is over and that we can now enjoy our virtual world again limitless. Back to regular programming!

And ooops, I am glad din pala na may cable TV na kami. Sa wakas, the husband can enjoy his own TV! 

Our Lipat-Bahay Ritual

We are now living in Canada but there is nothing wrong in following some Filipino pamahiin naman, right?

When we moved into our new home last January 24, we made sure that we first brought these items inside the house:

• Our Poon -- Holy Family, little Sto. Nino (given by Sir Tantoco), and small Holy Cross (bought in Guimaras last August 2013) -- to symbolize our faith
• Rice -- for abundance
• Pillow
• Sugar
• Salt -- to ward away bad energies
• Cotton

As Roman Catholics, we prefer to have our new home blessed by a priest. But 'getting a priest' is not easy when you live in this part of the world (i.e. wala kaming kakilala) kaya nagdasal na lang muna kaming dalawa nang mataimtim. 

Ford and I are very grateful for the gift of home. We promise to fill it with love and laughter.

Gone too soon

Who would have thought that two of my closest high school friends will not make it to 35.

Melany, me, Sherillyn and Leilani

In November 2009, Sherillyn passed away due to a freak vehicular accident in SM Marilao. She was 30 years old.

Picture taken from Sherillyn's Facebook account

And yesterday, it was Melany who left us. She was 34. According to our classmate (who happens to be one of her closest friends as well), she was rushed to the hospital due to asthma attack. The attack was so severe that it resulted to some heart complications. Her frail body wasn't able to fight it anymore.

Picture taken from Melany's Facebook account

Hay, I still couldn't believe it that she's gone. Melany and I have not been seeing each other frequently the past years due to our busy schedules, but our friendship remained. Alam naming magkaibigan kami kahit hindi kami nagkikita.

I don't have that many friends in high school and i am really sad that she's gone now. And she's left a one-year-old son. =(

Melany, take your rest now. Sorry I won't be able to go to your wake. I will never forget you. I will miss you.

And please say hi to Sherillyn for us.

I miss blogging...

I really miss blogging.

Picture taken from the net (credits to the owner)

Here's the reason why I haven't blogged in a long time:

• We just moved in to our new townhouse and up until now, we still do not have internet connection at home! Telus promised to install the net and cable by February 24 pa (yep, one month after our move! imagine that!).
• My in-laws are vacationing here in Edmonton (from January 30 to February 20) and I of course have to spend time with them.
• I started working last February 1 so I am not as free as before.

There are times when I thought that I should stop blogging. There's Instagram  that can serve as my real time mini blog, anyway. But my desire to document my boring life wins.

I am not a good writer, I know. But I want to write. I want to share my stories. I want to have something in the internet that could hopefully be online forever. 

I promise to write more in a few days. Too much backlog, really.