A new job and a new cam

I got myself two new things last week.

First, a new job. Quite unexpected. Challenging. Che has enlightened me a lot in making a choice. I have been blessed to be given another promotion. It's amazing that God's blessing never stopped. In fact, it is so far overwhelming. Lord, thank you and may you guide me in succeeding in this new role.

Second, I have finally made a good excuse of buying a camera - that I deserve to reward myself. Hahaha. It's always such a good excuse, right?! I got myself my very own dslr! I've made a lot of research, asked friends, read reviews etc. I chose Nikon D60 since I am new at this. I don't want to spend P50k+ worth of camera for something I have no clue about yet. So far, it is too technical for me but I know in time, I will learn. I am really excited in exploring my cam and it can be quite frustrating when I already want to already capture beautiful photos. Talking about a girl already becoming impatient. Haha. I hope it's weekend again so I can use the cam outdoors!

Another car accident

I have been careless. Really bad.

The day after my birthday, I was on my way to work. Roughly after around 10 minutes of driving and running at approximately 20km/hr, I momentarily checked my bag to see whether my phone was there. When I looked in front, I saw the cars ahead of me has already stopped. I hit the break fast but too late, I hit the Pajero. Damn!

I saw the instant damage on my car with the badly bended hood. The driver of the Pajero checked his rear and saw nothing was damaged. Thank God! I actually hit the hook (for towing cars and other stuff) which SUVs usually have.

Another confession I have to make. It was very fortunate that I didn't cause any damage to other cars. My license has expired on my birthday. I thought expiration was on the day after. If we will call the police due to the accident, my car could have been impounded and I may have been sent to prison.

I believe that I am good at multi-tasking. Apparently, that doesn't apply when driving. When will I ever learn?! Che is not mad. He was more concerned about my safety. I thank God for always protecting me. I promised myself I will be more careful not because of the inconvenience and additional costs these accidents bring, but for the sake of safety for myself and my family.

Lesson learned.

I want....

I have always wanted to own a DSLR and learn photography. I somehow believe there's this creative side in me.

The passion was ignited a few weeks ago when I attended a birthday party of a friend's daughter. Friend J has convinced me to buy a DSLR especially that there are affordable DSLRs now starting at P20k. He convinced me that it was worth every penny. I have friends/colleagues who have plunged and bought their first DSLR as well. I still haven't. For the past two weeks at least, I couldn't get it off my head, to the point I am even dreaming about it. Darn!

What does this mean? That I have really learned to control my spending and not to always impulsely grant my own wishes? I would like to believe so. In fact, I believe I am really pushing myself to the limit. I have forced myself to save. This is mainly driven by the major wish to buy a house. I promised myself that the bonuses I am expecting this April and May will all go to my favorable bank. Also, from pushing 40% of my monthly income to my savings account, I have increased it to 60%. Che, however, still believe I am not pushing myself good enough and that I can do more. Haha! It could probably be true that I still buffered up for good lunches, shopping, weekend leisure etc. A girl still has to enjoy life, right? :)

A friend/colleague told me that my decision could have been easier/faster if it had been a bag. Dang! I then realized it was somehow true. Why is it that my past bag purchases and my recent purchases in Gucci that I never get to use anyways have been an easier choice when in fact the price tag is about the same? What does it say about my choices?

On the defensive side, I have actually not made any electronics purchase for quite some time. Last laptop purchase in 2003, last point and shoot camera bought in 2004, ipod in 2006. I couldn't even hardly remember when and what was my last mobile phone purchase. So see, I have been good at staying away from this arena. Hehe, excuses excuses.

I still believe that I will give up somehow. Not good. I hate this feeling of thinking about something and wishing that I should have just spared myself from thinking 'what if?'. For ego sake, I am just probably prolonging my agony.

Plans this summer..

Don't you already feel the scorching summer heat? Only one thing comes to mind during this time of the year.... beach!

I wish we could go to Boracay or El Nido again and just lay on the finest sand while sipping a fruit shake or a cocktail drink (non-alcoholic of course)..

Che has thought of going to Boracay with just us and the kids (no yayas). But I could imagine how difficult that will be and I don't think it will really end up as a vacation. :)

So considering that it is imperative that we save, we opted to pursue the summer plans with friends...

On first week of April, we will go to LaLuz resort in San Juan, Batangas....
http://www.laluzresort.com/

No pools so not sure how kid-friendly this place is but I bet we will enjoy the day by just relaxing in one of the cabanas while we enjoy the view...

Then on first week of May, we booked a 3-bedroom villa in Fontana Leisure Park in Clark...

I bet the kids will enjoy here....



I actually asked Che whether we can go to Baguio as well. Hmm.. we'll see.

Those are just simple plans for the summer and I bet we will still enjoy it with the company of family and friends.

So where will you be this summer?

A well-spent weekend

The weekend that just passed was quite a good one.

Mommy Melissa bought the kids to Shangri-la Plaza to buy them shoes and to stroll around. Sophia is quite a picky shopper. She refuses whatever Mommy wants for her. We ended up buying a pair for Sean.

After having lunch at Mongkok, the twins rode on the carousel. They enjoyed riding in their 'horsey-horsey'.

Then the twins took a different ride... cuties!

We were then supposed to go to Crocs MegaSale in Ortigas but there was a long queue and so we decided to forego and just went straight to Tiendesitas where we will meet up with Daddy Che. We strolled around the pet zone where the kids enjoyed looking at the cute puppies! We got tired, had merienda and took a short rest in one of these wooden swings...

We then headed off to Fun Ranch before calling it a day..

On Sunday, we went to hear mass and attended a Jollibee party.

They do recognize Jollibee already so it was quite fun that the twins met Jollibee in person... Scared? :)

Aahh.. life is indeed good. I wonder how we can manage all these 'play trips' when we have another baby in tow. We'll see how in 5 months time.

More pictures can be viewed here...

http://melissa23.multiply.com/photos/album/12/Pre-Birthday_Weekend

The Birthday Girl

In a week from now, I will be a year older. 365 days for me to enjoy the fact that my age is still a number I can find in the calendar. I can say my age out loud, I don't have a problem with that. For now, I believe that age is just a number. Besides, I think I had my fair share of accomplishments at my age that I don't have anything to panic about. I have a happy (and growing) family, a stable career that I love and a few tangible and non-tangible things (e.g. belongings and experiences) that I can say I have worked my ass off and I have so far lived my life the best way I could. Hopefully I won't reach that stage when I'll brush-off someone for asking my age because when that time comes it might mean I have developed some insecurities along the way. Ouch if that happens.

Yesterday, I was arranging our photo album when I saw how we celebrated my birthday last year - the year when I hit the fabulous 30's bracket. I realized it was one of the best birthdays I had.

I celebrated my birthday with two families that mean so much to us here in this wonderful island...

I got a surprise birthday cake and blew the candle like I was a kiddo..


I dipped myself in the finest sand with these lovely babies (they hated it by the way!)...

And I had a wonderful dinner date with my dear husband...

We don't have grand plans of celebrating my birthday this time around except that I took a day off work to just enjoy the day and spend it with people that I love. Life is good. It sometimes feel selfish to ask for more.

Reunited

I have lost touch with most of my barkada in HS except with a few whom I have kept in touch with over text (that's the joy of technology these days).

My friend R arranged for a get-together two Saturdays ago. We met at Coffee Bean in Promenade in Greenhills. It was an endless chat! Then we decided to meet up again 5 days after in Makati. G joined us this time around but we are still missing C and T.

It's funny how you get bonded so instantly despite years of non existence. We may all have taken different paths in terms of career but the bond was still truly there. It's also amazing that time flew so fast that we now talk a lot about husbands, children and family life - no more petty stuff you talk about in HS! I look forward to more gatherings! :)

A few things I have failed to blog about

There have been quite a number of things that I realized I have not blogged about yet..

The First Hospital Stay
My twins were confined at Cardinal Santos last February due to viral infection. It was their first time to be admitted at the hospital. At the same time, their Kuya Sato was also sick and recovering at home. Poor kids, they were on IV almost in their entire stay at the hospital due to vomitting and diarrhea. It was heartbreaking as I see the needle being injected on their wrist. Sophia was really mad! She had a bandage on her left hand which she uses to thumbsuck. We had to double the pain and requested to transfer IV injection on the right so she can soothe herself with her magic thumb.

Poor Sean as he seems to have developed phobia with nurses and doctors and whenever something is placed on his body.

The last module in Denmark

I attended my last module for this course I am attending in SIMI. I am proud to say that I bagged both A's on my exams/groupwork! Whew! I am indeed quite pleased to have gotten a diploma with flying colors! :)

For some kwento... after finishing our class early, I went to the shopping street with my Thai and Chinese classmate together with our colleague Mark J. We went to Magasin, a high-end shopping mall like Rustan's. We decided to shop separately to save time since stores close early in Copenhagen. Since we didn't found anything we fancy, I texted my Thai and Chinese friends to meet up earlier than agreed time so we can have dinner already. Then came C, my chinese friend and told us that she passed by Gucci and saw a group of people queieng up outside the store. It seems there was a big sale at around 60% off. We decided to postpone our dinner plans and head off to the store to check some good buys. It was indeed on sale ('udsalg' in Danish). It was by invitation only but the owner welcomed us in anyways. It was a whooping 60-75% off on all items! We all had our share of impulse shopping! I got 2 leather wallets and a pair of sunglasses for myself, a moneyclip for Che, and a wallet for my sister. All these for less than P20k!

Another exciting thing is that we met a Filipina saleslady at Gucci and her name is Maria. She was born and raised in Denmark. We didn't noticed she was a Filipina until she replied to Mark J and I's conversation. She also gave us an additional discount! She's sooo dear!

On the last free day before I leave Copenhagen, I passed by Stroget, the shopping street, again to buy the bags that my friend N asked me to get for her. Before I headed back to the hotel, I took a glimpse of the ski rink. A couple, who appeared to be Eastern Europeans to me, looked at me from head to toe. A few seconds after, the guy handed over his camera and asked me to take a photo of them. I gladly obliged. It was indeed a great view. To return the favor, I asked them to take a photo of myself as well. Haha! I was indeed pleased that, finally, I had a photo souvenir of myself in a chilly Copenhagen.

The Boat Trip in Bangkok

I attended a week-long training in Bangkok just last month. After class on a Thursday, the group decided to have dinner at our company owned boat named Maersk Siam and see the beauty of Bangkok by the river. There have been plans of selling the boat which is used mainly for entertaining clients due to the high cost of maintenance. We had a lovely dinner and before we head back to the hotel, I had to take a photo souvenir of the boat before it even gets sold.

Finally, a facebook account!

I know facebook has been a craze for several years now. I have received quite a number of invites from friends to join various networking site. I've frankly lost interest. I only have Friendster account which I never get to open and update regularly. With the exception of my Multiply site which I find value to maintain due to the blogging feature.

Some weeks ago, I have been asked by friends thru SMS and emails to join them on facebook. It still didn't trigger the interest. What prompted me to open an account is when I met up with HS friends last weekend. We were updating ourselves and I seem to have lost touch already on what is happening mainly with the fact that I don't have a facebook account. Mind you, I never even knew that we had this batch reunion last January. I thought they were talking about was the reunion last year or some years back. Pathetic! And so I opted not to be out in the social scene - See you in face book! :)

Look Alikes?

Like Father Like Son?

Like Mother Like Daughter?

You will be the judge :)

Anyways, I couldn't help but post these photos that captured Sophia's smile transformation...

So from her ordinary smile...

na naging pacute....

na naging 'mukhasim'..

Anak, ano bang pakulo yan?! Hahaha..

The simple joy of being a mom

I do admit that I regret not being able to be with my children most of the time. I leave the house early and go home in time for dinner which is about their bedtime. I regret that even if I don't have work on a weekend, I still can not give 100% of my time with them due to errands and other things I do to make me sane. And yes I know is not even an excuse. I feel guilty, I do. I get jealous at times when they run after their yayas instead of me. It breaks my heart. Deep inside I know they are still innocent and one day as they grow up they'll realize how much I love them.

When they are asleep, hugging them real tight makes the stress goes away. I whisper countless times daily how much I love them. I hope one day they'll understand what it means and I look forward to that day when they will whisper back 'I love you too, Mommy!'.

They mean the world to me. And that's the simple joy of being a mom.