Boracay 2010

Of course we went to Boracay for our honeymoon!

We stayed at Taj Guesthouse located at station 2. It was fine, just don't get the rooms at the back. It was kinda claustrophobic! No windows except for the tiny one in the bathroom, which, by the way, faces a wall. We were given the room on the second floor initially, but due to my fragile condition (pregnant) I couldn't keep coming up and down the stairs. So we had to transfer to that box. They also boast of a WiFi connection, but it's terribly sloowww that you can't even check your email. They also say they have a security box to keep your valuables, but the one we had was broken. The rooms upstairs didn't even have security boxes.

But the place is kept clean and the staff are attentive; and if you're lucky enough to get the rooms up front, then you're all set.

Supplier's Rating

It’s been awhile since our wedding! I think it’s time to rate my suppliers during my big day.

Church: Madre De Dios Chapel (10 out of 10)

Beautiful chapel! It’s small and perfect for intimate weddings. Their Chapel Coordinator Mr. Prince Marcelo was such a big help and did his job efficiently and competently. There were 3 weddings that day, but they kept the chapel clean after every wedding.

Reception/Catering: Highlander Steakhouse, Tagaytay Highlands (9 out of 10)
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Loved the venue and loved the food. They were so attentive with the guests. Our AE Ms. Apple Ilano was helpful with the planning.

Photographer: Hyds Valencia of ImagineNation (10 out of 10)
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I love this girl! But most of all, I love her pics! Two other girls were with her, Diane and Leanne and they were both exceptionally good.

Cake: Krispy Kreme, MOA Factory (10 out of 10)
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I know it’s technically not a cake, but we don’t really like cake so we chose donuts! It was the best decision ever!!! I mean, who doesn’t like Krispy Kreme? We even received a complimentary dozen from them.

 

Coordinators: Dr. Jem Atotubo-de Villa and Dr. Cathy Marzan (11 out of 10)

Jem’s not really a coordinator, neither is Cathy; they’re my bestfriends who helped with the planning. Jem has experience with coordinating a wedding and also, her cousin is a wedding coordinator so she has a few ideas. Cathy, on the other hand, is my MOH and she super exceeded her MOH duties!

HMUA: Realm Salon Makeup Team with Mr. Ritchie Catalan (10 out of 10)
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Make-up was done by Ms. Ludy and hair was done by Ms. Fe. People said don’t get HMUA from Salons because you can’t be sure of who’s putting on your makeup. Well, I lucked out because the ones I got were great! The salon they came from wasn’t very well known. I only came upon them when me, my fiancé and my MOH went to one of the bridal fairs and they had a free trial makeup. I just had to get one. I’m a sucker for anything free. I liked their makeup, so did my fiancé and MOH. So I booked them right then and there. They were honest and open to suggestions, prompt and easy to talk to.

Florist: Jennifer and Agie Flower Shop Flowers for all occasion (-1 out of 10)

They were the WORST! I was sooo DISAPPOINTED with them. Their only upside was that came early…wait…that wasn’t an upside. They came TOO early that they wanted to leave early! See, the wedding was at 5:30pm and they came at about 7:00am. I couldn’t have them set up yet because there was a wedding before mine. In fact, there were two weddings before mine. They even gave the excuse that they thought the wedding was at 3pm! AND they were charging me extra for making them wait! I gave them an itinerary of the wedding and what time we could setup, so being there too early was not my fault. I also gave them a list…actually, two lists of what flowers I wanted. I wanted carnations for the bouquet and all the entourage flowers. They gave me a few carnations and threw in roses! In fact, 70% of the entourage flowers were roses! Good thing I had a great MOH and wedding coordinator that sorted things out.

DIY Map

I was able to make my first ever map. I don't usually make maps, besides the fact that I have no idea how to make one, I also get myself lost most of the time. People who get lost most of the time don't get to make maps. But, since it's a small place and it is for my wedding, I made a map for my E-vite.

My cake

My hubby to be and I aren't very fond of cakes, so when asked what kind of cake we wanted, we both drew a blank. 

Sieg: We like brownies, can we have that? 

Ami: No.

Sieg: We like Turtle pies, can we have that? 

Ami: Hmm...turtle pie...umm..no.

Let's just skip the cake idea for now.

Walking through glorietta while waiting for the movie to start, Sieg had a craving for donuts. So off we went to Krispy Kreme for one of their original glazed and one Oreo flavored one. As we were eating our yummy, warm donuts we joked about just having donuts for our wedding cake. That joke ballooned into an idea and I started researching if it was indeed possible to have donuts as the wedding "cake". Wouldn't you know it, it actually is possible.

Here are a couple of ideas from the net:

photo from krispykreme.flagsolution.com

photo from weddingsatwork.com

I just hope we can pull this off.

PMP

I learned something new today! PMP, it means Portable Multimedia Player, ever since I saw my cousin watching with his Cube PMP, I knew I wanted one of my own. An iPad could be considered a PMP, but I don't like iPad, I never liked iPhones and I kinda, sorta, like iPods. But that's only because I own one and this is probably the last of it I will ever own. 

Back to the PMP, my cousin got his from China, I mean, really. His dad went on a business trip and got him one for about 5k or something. After that, I have been looking all over this country looking for one. I think this is the one he has:

it's 5.0-inches  and only supports 800 x 480 screen-wise and with only 4GB of storage The Cube H600HD plays RMVB, RM, AVI, FLV, MKV , DAT, MPG, MP4, MOV, H.264, MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, OGG at 1920 × 1080 pixels.  No WiFi but it does have an expansion slot.

Trial HMU

I've been lagging on my blog posts lately. Oh well.

I just had my very first trial HMU yesterday and it turned out fine. Not as good as I hoped it would, but it was OK. 

Here's the end result: 

Mahjong

It’s called by many names; Ma Jong, Mah Jong, Majiang or simply Mahjong, it is one of the many games we have adapted from the Chinese. I never really understood how a bunch of tiles with weird markings could be understood, much less played. Thanks to an extended weekend, it was only yesterday did I finally learn how to play the game.

Book releases

Soo many books out I haven't had time to follow up on them. I've never thought I would be that busy!
Well, to help me remind myself about the releases, I decided to post them here and maybe create a calendar so I can keep up with it. Although, it's quite useless when your bookstore isn't always updated. Here's a list of a few of my favorite authors and their release dates this 2010.

New releases:
April 27, 2010
Into the Dark (all of the ebooks combined + bonus Lord material) by Gena Showalter
Kiss of Death (Morganville Vampires, Book 8) by Rachel Caine
Lover Mine (John Matthew's Story) by J.R. Ward
Burned (House of Night Series) by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Flowers

I was at Dangwa the other day to get suppliers for my flowers. I heard they give great prices for the flower arrangements and I seriously need affordable flowers. I’m trying to keep within the wedding budget, but man, is it hard! To start with, you need to have about 100k to pull off a DECENT wedding party with no more than 50 guests. No wonder my h2b keeps hinting on getting a civil ceremony. But, what I learned is that, you can actually pull off a great wedding with limited funds! You just have to do your research and you must be open to everything. You have to figure out what your priorities are and what’s important to you before you start planning.

 

Here are pics of my bridal bouquet mock up. A dozen purple carnations with hypericum (did i spell that right?) berries, but I think I want baby's breath instead and probably white ribbons. The actual bouquet will be two dozen.

summer swimming

It’s great to get out of the city once in a while. This past Holy Week we were able to visit our home town in Zambales. Initially, I was reluctant to go because I didn’t want to leave my dogs in a kennel for even a couple of days. So, we decided to bring them along. All of them. All 8 of them! Well, they’re not all my dogs, only 4. The other 4 were my sister’s. So we had 2 mini pins, 5 shih tzus and 1 lab puppy. They were all so well behaved during the travel that I kept giving them extra treats! We were able to go swimming during the trip too.

Food tasting

We went back to Tagaytay for the food tasting at the Steakhouse. On the way there we had to swing by Brother’s Burger at Nuvali, Sta. Rosa, because I was sooo hungry! Eat a burger before a food tasting? I know! What was I thinking? Anyhoo, when we got to the Steakhouse, Sieg and I were not disappointed with the food. The salad, Sliced Lyoner Sausages with Pickles, was great! It had olives (which is always a big plus for me). The soup, Cream of Potato and Leeks, was creamy, yet light. They even gave us extra croutons, how nice. The entrée they served was Roast Caraway Pork on Braised Cabbage; at first I thought the meat would be tough and rubbery, on the contrary, it was nice and tender and very flavorful! Almost as tender as the Lengua Estofado which they also served. Sieg, with his love of Chinese food, had to have the Stir-Fried Oriental Noodles with Chicken and Veggies. Of course, we can’t have a food tasting without the dessert! I had to have them change the Mocha Rolls for the Chocolate Éclairs. All in all, it was a very successful food tasting. I also got to meet the AE who helped me (and still helping me) with all of the planning. She was really easy to talk to and very accommodating. One of the best things at Tagaytay Highlands is that they give A+ service.

Sliced Lyoner Sausages with Pickles, Cream of Potato and Leeks, Roast Caraway Pork on Braised Cabbage, Stir-Fried Oriental Noodles with Chicken and Vegetables.

chapel and reception

YAY!!! We were finally able to put the reservation for the chapel and reception venue to "lock" the date. 
The Madre de Dios chapel at Tagaytay Midlands is quaint and peaceful, perfect for an intimate wedding. I just love it. 

I didn't get to take a picture of the reception though, there was a wedding reception going on at the time.
I still can't believe I'm getting married. I mean, really, finally! Well, that's one task done! About 99 million more to go! 


Next up, the photographer and the dress.

beachy

Last Saturday, February 6, 2010, I went to visit a beautiful resort along with my hubby-to-be and mom. After 4 hours of driving and getting lost, we finally made it to Laiya and eventually, Virgin Beach. We were directed to the reception area or front desk office of the resort. We were greeted with a smiling face of a girl whose name I neglected to ask. I then inquired about weddings on the resort at which she gladly handed me an album to peruse. The album contained beautiful weddings done at that resort.

67th Annual Golden Globes

I was watching the 67^th Golden Globes the other day with my mom. I was amazed by how, even after years of being in the limelight, some actors still fumble and falter during their acceptance speech. Would it be nerves or just the excitement of winning an award? It’s a little hard to imagine they are all just people. Better paid people, but still just people.

And here are the winners:

Colon cleanse

I downloaded this detox recipe off the internet one time and decided to try it out. It was called the Epsom Salt Detox. Before I list the ingredients and procedure to make this concoction, let me first warn you that after this detox, I swore that I will never, ever do this again! Although, I must admit, my hair was shinier and my skin and nails looked healthier and more radiant. I also felt lighter, more active and not sluggish. But, the night of the detox, I had to take multiple trips to the bathroom, I looked green and I felt nauseous. Proceed with caution!
Here's the recipe. Don't say I didn't warn you though.

Epsom Salt Detox

passport renewal

I was at the DFA yesterday to have our passport renewed.

The last time we renewed our passport, we didn't need to go to the DFA. All you had to do was fill-up the necessary forms and submit 3 pieces passport picture and send it there. After a few days, they send the new passport along with the old/canceled one.
Now, you have to appear before an authorized DFA personnel in the DFA office to sign and give your thumb marks. So naturally when you get there, there's a process involved in the filing of passport renewal. You have to stand in line because they need to assess each and every individual and so if you're late, then its a long wait.

My mom, Bugz and I were there at 8:30am sharp to meet up with the travel agent who helped us arrange the papers and forms needed for the passport renewal. It was really so much easier when you have an agent to help you with these things. It only took us less than 15mins to get in line, sign and give our thumb marks. Except for the photos, which we needed to retake because the ones we got were rejected (stupid studio...never again!), everything went smoothly.

We may have paid a little extra for the help but it sure beats standing in line for hours.

James and Egie

Egie got married today! It was a very simple civil ceremony over at peach blossom along North Avenue, Quezon City. The food was bland and tasteless but I didn't mind. All I cared about was that one of my best friends was getting married! She's finally found THE ONE! She calls him God's Gift (or GG for short). Yes it's cheesy, but aren't we all cheesy when we're in love? So to Egie and James, Best Wishes and Congratulations! I love you both!

more pics here.

COP reunion 2010

What a great day!

We had thing reunion of sorts with friends from college at Jem's parents house at Multinational, Paranaque. We had such a great time! We all brought our significant others and then some.

the men

and the ladies.

 

 

and of course, the kids.

 

and this great 34inch pizza! The pizza was from  NIRO Cafe and Pizzeria at 283 Aguirre Ave. BF Homes. Absolutely delicious! The dough was nice and soft and the toppings were just perfect! I think they have branches at Pioneer, Valero and Dela Rosa Makati and Ermita.

I wish they'd bring a branch here in QC.

more pics here.

New Year 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

 I took a video of the incredible fireworks that night.