Accomplishments and other Kwentos

Long overdue, I know.

My Baby got back from HK last 29 Sept. He bought me lots and lots of gifts :)



The perfume (Anna Sui) is the scent he's been raving about for years that he loved but was not yet capable of buying for me before... and yielded negative results when we tried looking for it here when he was already financially-able. Anyway, that's the scent he wants me to wear on our wedding day.

It's mild vanilla that's really easy on the nose and blends well with my pheromones.

And because he says he still couldn't buy me a Canon Rebel, he bought me an mp3 player (512 mb) con flash drive... and a card reader for my CF card (I think the Card reader is more a conjugal property actually).

He also bought a WIFE CAKE for me.

"Legend has it that back in feaudal china, a daughter-in-law offered herself for sale in return for money to cure her ill-health father-in-law. In a desperate attempt to redeem his spouse, the husband created a gourmet cake for sale in the bazaar. His product did pay off with the proceeds saved. The couple was able to get back together again and lived happily ever after. His recipe then spread from place to place, winning the name "Wife Cake".

It tasted like hopia crossed with buko pie. Dididn't like it much because I don't eat buko pie. But I saved the box because it tickled me pink to think of myself as a WIFE.

Notice too that I now have 4 kraft punchers. Ahehe.

*~*

Most of the accomplishments where wedding preps are concerned happened last week, Monday, my birthday.

See, we've made it a tradition to both go on leave when the other is celebrating his/her birthday. And what better way to spend the day than file for a marriage license right?

MARRIAGE LICENSE
We were already at the Manila City Hall at 8:00 AM. It was horrifying to see women wearing blouses in this gaudy flower pattern. Anyway, I digress.

Inferno to Manila City Hall... their employees are a LITTLE helpful. One made us line up (although they could just have made a sign that people should line up by sitting on the chairs they made available... and not by standing in front of the counters...).

We rushed to attend the Family Planning Seminar/Pre-Marriage Counselling (they have a 9:00 AM one and a 2:00 PM one) where all thoughts of having sex were banished from our minds (temporarily, of course) by the video that showed a woman giving birth.

I immediately reconsidered being child-less :) Or at least, the 7 kids.

Anyway, inferno to the Nurse who conducts the counselling... he was able to give a wonderful summary of things we should consider, or things we should have already considered concerning married life.

He tackled fertility, money and responsibilities among other things.

He was also very gender-sensitive and quick to warn the women (there were 3 of us) not to use our sex/gender to emotionally blackmail our future hubbies.

He also encouraged sex during pregnancy where the woman is willing/comfy... and was quick to correct a misconception that couples who still have sex during pregnancy will have a child born with the guy's semen all over its head. That's wrong because women actually "shed" the semen after intercourse and the cervix actually closes once a woman is pregnant.

Basta, it was fun and the facilitator was very engaging.

Unfortunately, the 'seminar' is conducted in their office... a mezzanine office where the facilitator's fellows engage in noisy, distracting conversation.

So yes, Mayor Atienza has money to beautify parks but not enough to designate a room just for this purpose.

Anyway, after the seminar, we were to submit properly filled-up forms... We kept messing up the forms (erasures and different color ballpens for the male-female part) and had to fill the same form 3 times. Gahhh...

Oathtaking was done oh-so-cassually in front of this designated person in the middle of Manila City Hall's chaos.

Our license will be released this Friday, 14 October.

We paid P150 all in all. It's really just P120 but we had to pay an extra P30 for new forms. Ahehe.

MONEY CLIP FOR GIFT TO SS and RING CHEST
We decided to look around for whatever in SM Manila for awhile before having lunch.

Oceanic was having a 50% clearance sale!!!

My baby fell for a money clip and we ended up buying all 5 remaining for P75 each. We intend to also get ties for our SS together with the money clips.



Super thrilling to be shopping at that store :D I had to stop Jojo from buying compacts and cake servers.

And we also bought a chest for our rings. Remember me saying something about our rings being humongous? We figured they won't fit in the usual jewelry box anyway so might as well buy a chest for them. Our unity coins will also be paraded in a chest so might as well have our treasures both in chests for the ceremony.



We got the chest at a totally cool price of P160.00.

HAIR PINS
After having lunch (where I got mild allergic reactions to the tuna), we then proceeded to Divisoria.

168 Mall, kikay heaven, was our first stop. Jojo was adamant we buy hairpins already even if i wanted something that looked similar to my orig veil pin.

But getting the usual rhinestones won't do anyway, because they'd just catch the veil in places. So these babies are better because the 'crystals' are soldered onto something underneath (pic showing only 5 of them).

Bought along Pasilio A, it's P90 for 2 pins but we were able to get 10 of them for P400. Fitted my budget too.

GROOM'S BARONG
We went to Double O (Pasilio H, 2nd floor, Cluster Building) and decided to just get the groom's barong there. We chose this lovely Piña Raya design and bought swarovski buttons for my groom's chinese-collar barong.

It cost us P4,500.00 but that's barong only. I know we could have probably gotten something cheaper but we figured, he's the groom so might as well spend a little on his attire too.

Supposedly, we can get the barong today but we might get it this coming saturday instead.

Now, my Baby needs dress pants and shoes. Am thinking caramel brown pants instead of the usual black.

PRINTER, COPIER AND SCANNER
I don't know why but we headed back to SM Manila because Jojo couldn't pacify himself. We ended up buying a Canon Color Printer, Copier and Scanner in one that's on sale (P4,000 and 6 months to pay, zero interest). Scanner resolution is great (so my Baby says) and we don't really intend to print our own pictures so that will do.

Another conjugal property. Now, all we need is one afternoon to do all the scanning of old photos we want. Who knows, I may end up learning digital scrapbooking too. :)

FOOD TASTING
If all those accomplishments weren't enough, we went to Barbara's Intramuros for our food tasting too.

We were joined by Jojo's parents, brother and sister. Jojo's parents had their 25th wedding anniversary reception there some 3 years ago so we thought it will be a treat for them.

Food was divine! Everything for me was perfect!

I was so glad that the alterations we made in the menu complemented each other. :) MIL found the Seafood Basil Pasta a little too oily for her taste but FIL reminded her that it won't be that oily once they make big batches of the dish... plus, better smothered in olive oil than serve dry pasta, he said.

I especially loved the Roast Pork Loin because it gives that Holiday feel to the menu without necessarily invoking Noche Buena... and Barbara's Cheesecake is way, way better than Red Ribbon's (Cheesecake etc. i've never liked kasi... and both Jojo and my sis tell me I make better cheesecakes than the ones they sell)... napakain tuloy ako!

Barbara's is actually known for its great food. However, they don't really market their resto as much as they should. They also cater but seldom join expos and fairs to advertise. Still, I really hope more brides will stray away from the usual Josiah's (not that there's anything wrong with them exactly) and get them instead.

Anyway, we really loved the food. And seemingly on gastronomic high, FIL decided to brings us to La Copa (?), this sorta expensive resto near the airport, to feast on oysters and seafood paella.

To cap the evening off, parents-in-law also gave me a chocolate mousse cake.

*~*

And so it went, my birthday was actually a happy one... but it did end on a bad note... finding both Jojo and I in the hospital for my nephew.

Pyro has been confined for a week now, and we're still awaiting the biopsy results.

And i'd like to thank the kindhearted souls that are my w@wie sisters... for taking the time to e-mail comforting words and assurances of including us in their prayers in the midst of their own wedding preparations.

*~*

Really preoccupied with Pyro lately... we've missed tackling our daily assignments per our wedding calendar.

So now we're pressed for time as we look for a place to live in after we get married.

And issues about household management are cropping up... we've scheduled to 'dialogue' about them this Saturday.

Heaven help us that we don't hurt each other much as we make room for each other in our lives... for good... forever.