We miss you terribly, Mahal.

Py has been asking for you everyday.

Anyway, will call Barbara's later today for our food tasting on Monday. I'd also ask PICC if they already have a date for The Courtyard's launch.

Other than that, we still don't have a priest.

And I still really miss you :(

*~*

Jojo texts me from HK:
"Mahal, i saw this very cute baby, kagat yung cheeks ng Dad nya. I can't wait talaga to be with you and have kids with you, I love you mahal"

I text back:
"Wag kang alala mahal, i'll make sure lahat ng anak natin, kakagatin ka."

Ahehe.

HMUA booked!

I made super maganda at home all day Saturday. Angie Cruz came on time w/ his friend (I forgot his name talaga) and proceeded to beautify me. Having no prenuptial photoshoot scheduled, I asked the hairstylist to arrange my hair the same way he'd arrange it on my wedding day.

And I was very happy with the results so I booked them there and then. I was actually the 3rd Dec. 28 wedding who inquired/had trial with them but they said their policy is whoever pays downpayment first and not who asked first.

Anyway, my face is just really oily so i'd really need oil blotter all thru the night. Other than that, I was amazed at how they were able to make my round-square face a little less round and a little less square.

Haaayyy... my sister is more excited now with her do for my wedding :D

And the fact that they didn't scare Pyro (who is deathly afraid of gay people, resulting from a traumatic first hair cut) meant a lot to me too.

And of course, seeing the expression on my beloved's face... him obviously falling HARD for me again and so thoroughly convinced he's marrying the most beautiful woman there is (he's wrong, I know, for he's marrying the sexiest one, not the prettiest one... bwahahaha), made the P1k trial charge worth it.

And yes, that's another less thing to worry about.

Pictures?

Voila!


(pics taken at different times)

And i was advised to get around 12 fancy-dramatic hair pins to complement the hair.

*~*

I have owed our precious' pic for a long time now. Anyway, here is our tri-color band with the date of our wedding in roman numerals.

It was a challenge taking its bloody picture... and I don't think I gave it justice. Also, I doubt people can appreciate just how thick these babies are, and how humongous they are when worn on our fingers.

My Baby's ring won't even fit in the usual ring case :D which is why we still don't know where to place them for the wedding day shots (aside form the usual tied to the pillow ekek).

*~*

I'm sounding hyper and all but am actually sad. Jojo will be gone for 10 days and will return the weekend before my birthday. I alreay miss him very much.

And it's sad knowing he's in HK and I won't be following him, like last year.

Sigh.

I'VE BEEN TAGGED

I've been putting off answering this meme... I know someone else tagged me first but I couldn't find who (was it Dionne ba?), and then I got tagged again by Joy :)

Seven Things That Scare Me:
1. Having any of my children or grandchildren die first before I do
2. Not having a succesful marriage
3. Rats
4. My parents' mortality
5. Reptiles (lalo na the lizards and salamanders and geckos)
6. Having loved kids die first
7. Losing Jojo

Seven Things I Like The Most
1. Ela, Pyro and Jojo
2. My other nieces and nephews
3. White Chocolate
4. Cakes and Ice cream
5. My bed
6. Harry Potter
7. The waters of Boracay (and strutting around in flimsy outfits!)

Seven Random Facts About Me
1. I make mean desserts.
2. My crazy ways keep Jojo interested (and entertained)
3. I still eat powdered milk
4. I sleep on my side and wake up on my front
5. I am sexy!!!
6. I am very passionate about family.
7. I dream of becoming a teacher or guidance counselor.

Seven Important Things in my Bedroom
1. My bed.
2. Jojo's pillow.
3. My books.
4. My abubot (diaries, bags, letters from friends, etc)
5. My ID and other cards (credit cards, PAL Smiles, etc)
6. My Derma ekek
7. My wedding preps foldder (with all the receipts)

Seven Things I Plan to Do Before I Die
1. Donate blood.
2. Have kids and become a full-time Mom.
3. Bungee Jump, Parasail and White Water Raft
4. Bake cakes.
5. Travel abroad.
6. Plan my 10th, 25th and 50 renewals with Jojo.
7. Be the sexiest grandmomma ever!

Seven Things I Can Do
1. Read all HP books in just one week.
2. Make mean desserts.
3. Cry and laught at the same time.
4. Grind and Gyrate really well.
5. Climb mountains.
6. Sleep all day.
7. Listen real objectively to problems.

Seven Things I Can't Do
1. Swim.
2. Drive.
3. Eat live things.
4. Win the Amazing race of Fear Factor challenge.
5. Not care about my family.
6. Stop crying when am super happy or sad.
7. Reach the tip of my nose with my lips.

Seven Things That Attract Me to the Opposite Sex
1. A general smiling face.
2. Lean body (bwahahaha... even if mukha na syang adik!)
3. A penetrating gaze.
4. Long but slightly rough fingers.
5. A real cute butt.
6. Intelligence.
7. Gentleness.

Seven Things I Say the Most
1. Potek.
2. Kainis.
3. Shootix.
4. Letse.
5. Shungak-shungak.
6. Ay tanga.
7. Paksheff.

Seven Celebrity Crushes
1. Billy Zane
2. Edward Norton
3. Gary Oldman
4. Ralph Fiennes
5. French Stewart
6. Bill Pullman
7. Mr. Bean :D

Seven people you want to take this Quiz
i am sparing my friends na because I know this meme has gone around and chances are, those am close to have alerady been tagged :)

107 days away...

so OK, fine... i should take a reality check and update :)

church: ST. PANCRATIUS CHAPEL (Paco Park)
I'm targetting to fully pay everything by 1st of October, but they said they only accept the remaining balance of P8k after a couple has completed all their requirements.

We have yet to submit the following:
baptismal and confirmation certificates
marriage license
marriage banns
DW certificate (in lieu of the usual pre-wedding seminar)
license number/information of the priest we're bringing in

And speaking of priests, we've given up on Father Dave Dulfo, the one we originally wanted to officiate in our wedding. And i've been trying to get hold of Father Jomar Sibug (Head, Letran Media Center) but he's just so busy.

I told my Baby that if I don't get hold of this priest, maybe it's time to consider that as a sign and consider Ate Sienna's uncle instead.

I still don't know when i'd go to San Miguel Church to be re-confirmed. But definitely before my birthday.

And I should remind myself that we still need to go to Malate Church for my Baby's baptismal certificate to be annotated "FOR MARRIAGE PURPOSES". Also, MIL should ask for his confirmation certificate from La Salle-Zobel to be stamped with the same. And yes, I should ask my uncle in Bicol to send me another copy of my baptismal certificate with the proper annotation. All before my birthday.

Oh and yeah, we scheduled filing for the marriage license on my birthday (Oct 3) so we'd only have to go on leave for a day. But Manila City Hall frustrates me so. A call to their Civil Registrar to inquire about requirements and schedule of seminar proved pointless... it seems Manila City Hall is too poor and the Civil Registry people are sharing landlines with some other department who refused to have someone from the department I need come over to talk to me.

The girl even had the gall to ask me to just send a sibling or my mother to go to City Hall just to inquire!!!

Gahhh....

Las Piñas City Hall was more helpful...only, they require attendance to a day-long seminar on Family Planning and pre-Wedding Counselling which they only hold on Thursdays. And no, even if we arrive to file our papers very early on Thursday, we'd just have to return another Thursday for the seminar. Hmmpfff...

reception venue: THE COURTYARD, PICC
Payment of half of the venue price is due on 28 Nov. and the remaining balance 2 weeks before our wedding date.

I still have to hear from Leonor (the AE) when the place is really going to be launched (they say, October) and if they have approved the 30 minute-difference in the time of reception I asked for.

Also, I have yet to receive a layout plan of the place, with the dimensions and entrances/exits.

We have also yet to inspect it at night, so we can better gauge how much more lighting we'd need and where to strategically place the luminaries and spotlights.

This is one supplier am real frustrated with right now... simply because i really want everything to be mapped out already.

reception caterer: BARBARA'S
Hopefully, we'd have our food tasting on my birthday. Sniff, that's the grandest I can think of for my birthday (mwehehe, don't mind me, am in the depths of menstrual cycle, wedding preps stress and birthday blues) and I scheduled it for 5:00 PM.

Hopefully, the fates will be kind and Manila City Hall just offers 2-hour seminars every day, after we've filed for the license.

gowns: TET HAGAPE
Uhm, I still have to check if my paternal grandma IS indeed coming so that I can have her measured too, and have Tet design another gown for her. Mommy is being very pasaway and still hasn't sent me via e-mail her measurements.

Entou fitting will be on Oct. 9. Good luck to us, carting everyone to Pasig.

The sponsor for the gown has also inquired us about how she could send us the money. Haay... thank Heavens for wonderful, genrous people.

rings: VERAMOR
Our rings still don't have a fancy, for-the-wedding-day-pictures home. But they've been polished and I no longer try mine on for fear of tarnishing it. Ahehe.

Good luck to us both so we can really wear them every day.

photo/video: VIGNETTE PHOTOGRAPHY
When we went to the Wedding Expo, we asked the Ignacio couple to give us a discount on additional mini books. We couldn't really ask for a discount on the package we got because we've booked them months ago already.

Mr. Danny was sooo nice and agreed to give us additional mini albums for only P2,500.

Also, their new Guest Book layout gave me an idea of how I want our album cover to look like.

It's real funny to have gotten them because I loved how their album looked, but really, their shots are at par with the usual ones... but their albums are the best!

We also have the option to get them for prenups for only P3k but we have yet to decide if we'd have one.

hotel reservation: WESTIN
We've already booked rooms online but would still have to confirm 2 weeks before the wedding, and let them charge our credit cards for the two rooms. But those will be rooms I alone would be using, we're still figuring out where Jojo will be spending the night of Dec. 27.

cake: JUDY USON
I guess we'd just have to coordinate with her again around november-december. We're thinking, if we have some disposable money around that time, to pay for extras (filling, flowers, tier, whatever) but really, what she offered was grand and great enough :)

florist: STEVE DOROTAN
Thanks to Aggie for the referral!!! I almost hugged Mang Steve talaga.

That day I was meeting him, I got a quote of P19k from Din 21 (the in-house florists at St. Vincent Parish). Mang Chris' wife tried to justify the exorbitant amount by telling me that flowers cost more around December (which I knew) and that gerberas could fetch up to P200 a bundle (which I also knew).

Still, I was seething with anger (nyahaha... emo wreck no?) because I did not order hundreds of gerbera bundles.

Mang Boy from Dangwa quoted me a cost of P10k for more flowers than what am asking for right now!

So, I met Mang Steve at Dunkin Donuts. He looked at the flower arrangements I wanted, asked me certain questions, etc... and looked me in the eye and told me that local gerberas could cost up to P250 per bundle...and P350 per bundle if imported. So imagine my shock when he quoted higher costs for gerberas and yet gave me P9k estimate!!!

So anyway, am still having citrus topiaries for my aisle :) And he was kind enough to assure me he'd come up with a way for us to be able to transport the topiaries safely to the reception site. Love him!!!

sound system: ENIGMA AUDIOWORKS
I first pencil booked with Sound Syndrome. Sir Elfren was very accommodating really, and friendly. But I got mildly pissed when he gave me a certain time to pay them an ocular visit at the Loft last Sept. 03 and when I was confirming that morning our inspection... he gave me another time.

The new time was going to be an inconvenience because we had already planned out that day. So I asked again what time we should really be there to be accommodated.

NR.

He didn't even ask why we didn't show up.

And then after that, he'd take a really long time to reply to my queries about availability because I really wanted an interview first before paying the downpayment.

In the end, I got impatient :)

Meanwhile, Mr. Ismael of Enigma would respond readily to queries. He'd even call me on my cell phone! Baby and I met with him last week and the interview went well. He was able to assure us well enough to pay downpayment there and then.

We have till last week of November to inform him if we're renting his LCD projector to avail of the free videoke... for the after-party party :)

invitations/stationery: RAINTREE TRADING AND PUBLISHING
Owners are family friends of the Arevalos for over 30 years now. They only make invites for friends and family. They're just waiting for us to finalize the layout we like and the enourage list. They're also printing the maps and RSVP cards.

We have yet to ask them if they could print our missals for us, and personalized stickers and gift wrappers. We're willing to pay for the extras since G was very generous with us.

barongs: NONE YET
Jojo has finally decided on a look/design he wants but we have yet to really exert energies into sourcing a possible supplier for him.

giveaways: NONE
I have decided (yes, I) to just donate money to the Child Foundation of PGH. Less hassle for us (that's minus one Divi trip, at least) and it's really the better thing to do.

hmua: NONE YET
I have a trial with Angie Cruz this weekend though :)

church musicians: NONE YET
My Baby has yet to call the choir who regularly sings at Paco Park.

emcee: NONE YET
We might ask couple friends to do it for us

other things we have yet to finalize/acomplish:
gifts for entou, offertory stuff, liquor for the reception, reception programme, DIY kissing bells, DIY coin chest, accessories, fertility check-up, luminaries, song list.


Uyyy... some kinda konti na lang ah :)

I just might have a happy, stress-free birthday pala.

But i'd miss my Baby when he leaves for HK for TEN LONG DAYS.

Sniff.

Maybe that's why i've been acting up.

Anyway, thanks to everyone and everything that is making all these possible.

Shameless Promotion

It's not really a big thing, but my interview about having a wedblog came out today (check out Manila Bulletin's Techie News, Blog-O-Rama part, or check the article HERE).

Basically, I talked about the growing power of bloggers to reach out to other soon-to-weds as well as keep wedding suppliers on their toes.

My Dad couldn't get a copy of the paper because he's in Lipa and has started fencing our house there so he sayas he's busy, but has also instructed cousins to get him a copy.

My Baby's Mom texted Jojo, "In fairness gwapo ka dun sa first pic, kaso wala ka namang sinabi" Bwahahahaha....

*~*

Went to the Wedding Expo last Saturday and got the Cd of our prenup pics taken at the W@W Grand EB :)

All photos courtesy of Franco from Imagineer.




(forgive the hair, we didn't intend to avail of the free photo ops and got there late... didn't even take time to freshen up, and it was dang HUMID, I was sweating like a pig)

and my fave, fave shot...


*~*

As a prize for being good enough to have that skin test (for allergies), my beloved bought me PEARLS at Market, Market.

He also brought me and his sister this funky pearls and magnet bracelet/necklace thingie... and he kept expecting me to get rashes from the metal-looking thingies in the bracelet.

I really think I got him traumatized so bad... poor Baby!