more updates

just when i already gave up on the thought of ever getting an engagement ring from joseph, he pops up one for me just before the pamamanhikan. i wasn't expecting it really. i was so thrilled when he initially handed me a bouquet of roses which he hid in the car's trunk, then rummaged through the glove compartment to hand me this tiny silver box which contained my beautiful engagement ring. it is not much of the ring but the thought that he took time to buy me one. so this is how it feels to be truly engaged... overwhelming!!!

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joseph and his family came last 18 december 2004 for the pamamanhikan. it was nerve wracking alright! joseph brought along his parents, 2 brothers (Elmer and Eric), Elmer's wife (ate Nimfa) and their 2 kids (Jill and Ernest) and their Auntie Citas. there was some initial awkwardness but after my mom revealed that they were UP alumni, everything went well. joseph and i weren't really expecting for the meeting to turn out good. i think it's a good sign that the 2 families were able to relate well with one another.

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we still haven't decided on a venue, videographer and photographer. i'm starting to panic a little bit because december is almost ending and i would have wanted to book ASAP to get a cheaper deal on the suppliers.

more pictures to come! we had some trial prenup pictorials during the w@w christmas party. i've uploaded already shine's shots of us during that day. we'll be getting mimi's this afternoon. i'm excited! i'll keep you guys posted.

a little update

yesterday, we went around the alabang area to find a venue for our reception next year. we got to visit the alabang country club, the palms country club and vivere suites.

the ACC wasn't that impressive in terms of its architecture and layout. but what attracted us to it was that they do not have these packages for weddings that tie you to their exclusive supplier. it is good in a way because you can get the supplier you want without any conflicts with the venue. BUT it's a bit of a hassle since you have to contact them on your own and coordinate them all for the big day.

we couldn't say much about the PCC. we were speechless! the place was in itself very impressive since it sat on a hill which overlooked part of the alabang area. one hitch though was their package that required us to spend 200K minimum for an evening wedding reception at their place. that was a bit steep and way beyond our budget.

as for vivere suites, we found the place to be real cozy and intimate though their facade didn't say much, just like what every other hotel is. they also had these packages but they didn't require you to spend any minimum amount. we got the chance to peek into an already made up reception before the wedded couple got there and we found it good enough. the ballroom's size for us was okay since we arent expecting a huge crowd. since we want it to be an intimate gathering, it was just the size we needed.

i guess it's now between the PCC or vivere suites. i'm leaving that all up to joseph. i'm cool with either one of them so any one is real okay with me. it's finally taking shape! i'm really enjoying this. i can get used to this!

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tonight we'll be going to the w@w christmas party at gazebo royale in quezon city. i expect it'll be fun since there are so many things lined up for the event. to mention a few, they'll be hosting a free pre-nuptial pictorials for the couples and there'll be 10 photographers taking the pictures. we signed up for this. freebie eh! there's also going to be a rafle and an auction. dinner will be sponsored by auffrance and hizon's catering, if i'm not mistaken. pretty neat huh?

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after the party, we'll be meeting up with girlie (a real good friend) and eric (her fiance). this is nice because we finally get to meet as engaged couples. joseph has never met them before so he is also looking forward to this little get-together.

hectic schedule

i thought i'd squeeze in a little "blog time" into my schedule. lately, i haven't been able to post anything here since my busy schedule the past few days wouldn't permit me. plus i don't think i'll be able to post in the next couple of weeks as mostly i will be out of the house. so here i am typing in between bites before i head to the shower to prepare for another tiring day.

tomorrow, joseph's going to be home. finally! i never thought this day would come. it used to seem like that the days and hours would endlessly drag on. but now as i look back, i realize time did fly so fast. our second meeting will be totally different. this time as fiance/fiancee. we'll be really busy once he gets here since we'll be seeing some suppliers already. we hope to finally book a reception venue/caterer for the upcoming wedding. this'll be tough because there aren't many venues in the alabang area that we feel is reasonably priced.

oops! time 's up for me. i need to log off now and get dressed. i'm still going to attend the workshops offered by the post-graduate course i announced earlier here.

on online dating and marriage...

today marks our fourth month of being a couple. but it seems that we have known each other far longer than that.

the cartoon above is one of my favorites. just shows my apprehensions about online dating. sometimes i've grown used to our method of communication that when we do get the chance to talk on the phone, i'm occasionally stumped, left with nothing but blank thoughts. it's hard to explain but how can you fill in the gaps of conversation like the "lol" and "hehe" in basic chatting?

even if we do get to chat every night, it's a sacrifice in a way not to be able to talk the regular manner. but then again, nothing in this world is ever perfect, right? so we settle with what works for now.

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shocking news! a friend of mine announced of her bf's and her plans of getting married soon. i will keep my friend's name in complete anonymity for now as i promised not to tell anyone yet. too late! i'm posting this one on my blog! hehe...

anyways, we weren't really expecting that they decide so soon. i think they're planning to get hitched earlier than me. first question i asked her, "ano bang pinakain sa yo ng bf mo?" hehe! bad friend noh? :P but hey, just a few months ago she was in a dilemma because her bf was already pressuring her to tie the knot and she just wasn't quite ready yet. that's what she told me then.

well, things change. and i suppose she's come to her senses now and she's more sure of herself. i saw that this afternoon, after playing devil's advocate, just to check if she was already firm with her decision. seems like it!

i guess it just hits you when you decide to marry the person you so love. my friend janet asked me earlier how to tell if a person is ready to settle down. in my case, there is this feeling of security that i felt that joseph can only give me. security in all aspects -- emotionally, spiritually, financially, physically. with that, i feel i am assured of a more blissful married life. there is a strong conviction for us to want to be together for the rest of our lives. that, i think, says it all. once you've decided, that's it. end of story.

now i miss my sweetie. in just a week's time, i'll be able to see him and touch him again. i am soooo looking forward to nothing else but that. it'll be our first christmas and new year together. =)

the beaches of san remegio

malayo ang tingin... hehe! this was me when i was in my junior
year in HS (early 90's), looking over the beach of San Remegio
((photo credit: rex)

speaking of Bogo, what i remember most whenever i think of it are the beaches. well, they aren't exactly found in Bogo, but rather in the neighboring town of San Remegio. we used to go there a lot during the summers of the 90's. it was a regular place for us to hang out whenever the weekends would come. so it wouldn't really be a surprise to see me all tanned up in most of my pictures during those times (that explains why the picture above is in black and white... hehe!).

the white beaches of San Remegio then were a haven for us, untouched yet by the commercialization of humans. you can walk for miles along its very wide shores, especially during the low tide. we would typically rent a little cottage by the beach (then costing P25 for the entire day) and spend our time swimming, eating (boiled saba, puso and sinugbang baboy -- yum! :9), kwentuhan and even sleeping. cheap thrills! :-) those were the good days.

i haven't been to San Remegio for quite some time now. i don't know what to expect when we go there this coming christmas. i just hope that it remained to be the beach we used to know -- clean and affordable.

my destiny

heto nag-trip na naman. :-) read on...

The flowering of compassion, through your ability to merge on a feeling level and to empathize with all, is a key theme for you in this lifetime. This propensity to share others' emotional experience has both its blessings and its deficits. At your finest, Leah, you have a deeply-felt understanding of human nature which goes beyond words or intellect, and which enables you to forgive others' misdeeds and make allowances for their weaknesses. You are acutely aware of others' pain, including the emotional wounds and brokenness they carry within, and your ability to listen with an understanding heart and to unconditionally accept people as they are can be a healing influence in their lives. You are inclined to exclude nobody. At a deep level you feel and know your oneness with all creatures, and thus every snail in the garden or stray cat is part of your "heart's family".

However, this same all-embracing emotional/psychic openness and receptivity can be the source of some of your greatest challenges in life. It is easy for you to become overwhelmed by the world and its sorrows, and to seek some form of escape from it and from your own extreme sensitivity; for instance, over using drugs or alcohol or even food to alter your mood, or retreating from life into the unreal world of television or other diversions. You may simply withdrawing into your own private fantasies to avoid confronting the challenges in the physical world. At its worst this tendency can devolve into evasiveness and playing ostrich "about important issues in your life". While your imagination and your sensitivity are the well spring of some of your richest experiences and gifts, if over indulged you may become passive, ineffectual, lost or confused. Especially when young, Leah, you may lack a strong sense of self, of definition and identity, because on a feeling level you identify with others so easily. It can be difficult for you to separate yourself, to know what your boundaries are, when to say no or how to stand up for your own personal interests. Since you are not narrowly focused on self, others may take advantage of your natural generosity and sympathy. Learning and incorporating the concepts of discrimination and clear judgment will enable you to give of yourself in ways that are healthy for you and the ones you are giving to.

different kind of christmas

this year, i'll be spending christmas in my hometown of Bogo in Cebu. it's a town 100 kms north of the queen city of the south. haven't been there in years. i think it was before the millenium even started. now that i look back, that is a long time ago.

christmas was supposed to be spent here in manila, like all the other christmases that passed before. but because my grandmother suffered from a hip fracture just a few months back, her doctor had advised her not to travel yet. so, to bring the family together, we're the ones going home.

it's sad in a way because we were really sprucing up the house a bit for the pamamanhikan on the 18th, hoping that everyone will be here to celebrate the momentous occasion. my grandparents won't be here to witness it. too bad. :-( oh well, things happen for a reason, i guess. for now, that remains a mystery.

i'll only be gone for 4 days max. can't afford to stay long in cebu because my fiance is also waiting for me in manila. we are hoping to maximize our time together since we rarely get to see each other and be with each other for a whole month.

speaking of coming home, there's only 2 weeks left before my sweetie comes home. can't wait. ;-)

blog mania

judging from the new look of my blog site, one can assume that i did nothing today but face the PC and toyed with the scripts of my template. i didn't realize it would turn out to be so fun, not to mention, easy! it just took me a lot of research though, but i'm happy the results. at least for now! i can never get enough of something especially when it greatly interests me. you'll be seeing more blog revisions in the days to come. that's for sure! =)

THE church

the parish of st. james the great in alabang

finally, i breathe a sigh of relief as i was able to reserve a date for our upcoming wedding. we decided to hold it on the 22nd of december 2005, since all weekends of december were already filled up. the available fridays were either too early or too late. so we ended up with a thursday.

it makes a whole lot of difference having a date for the wedding. prior to this, i was a little panicky having no date yet. now, we have to book a venue for the reception. this will narrow our choices to the alabang area. hopefully, when my fiance comes home in december, we can book it already.

i've attached a picture of the church. i took this when i went there to reserve for the date. my mom and i fell in love with it instantly. we paid immediately since there were no doubts as to the beauty and elegance that the church boasted of.

i had mixed emotions when i first saw it. it finally dawned on me that i was no longer a kid and that i was soon going to enter another phase in my life. it was just overwhelming.

a little bit of astrology

just for fun today, i tried this astrology site's compatibility/conflict analysis. wala lang. trip lang. here's what i got:

Emotions and Communication Between You
These aspects detail the quality of the emotional connection and basic comfort between the two of you and your ease or difficulty in communicating, talking with each other and simply understanding where each of you is coming from. These aspects also describe how you reason together and resolve issues or problems.

Leah's Mercury in Aquarius, and Joseph's is in Pisces:
Although you are attracted to each other, there are times when one of you will have great difficulty in figuring out where the other is coming from and what she (or he) is trying to tell you. Your styles of communication can be very different. The premises upon which you base your reasoning or the logic you use will often perplex your partner. Especially if you have to decide on projects or activities together, your differences can quickly become an issue between you. Talking things through slowly, step by step, will help each of you to understand how the other arrived at his (or her) opinion or conclusion. This will take patience but in the end will be worth it. What's more, by taking the time to really understand how your partner is thinking, you can not only learn something important about your partner but also get a different perspective yourself. You will also learn how your communication affects others, since your partner is probably not the only one who can't always understand what you're trying to say or figure out your logic. You've attracted this kind of relationship exactly for the purpose of fine tuning your thought processes and becoming more adept and flexible in the ways you have of communicating with others. This will be doubly useful if you are in a business that requires writing or regularly communicating with others.

well, what can i say? there's some truth to it. hehe! :P

blunder number one

me at 18 months

see the title? hehe! my original intention was to upload a picture to my profile. instead, it posted the picture here. oh well... now i know! :-P

so as not to put my picture to waste, lemme talk a little about my childhood. the picture was taken just outside our house, where i am still residing. i really think i don't look me. as my mom puts it, i started out looking like a caucasian infant. but after the first trip to the beach, i wasn't able to give justice to that anymore. i took on my dad's skin color since then. typical morena.

i had so many good memories of my childhood -- from wearing adidas striped shorty shorts to wearing bell bottoms to being subject to my mom's experiments on my hair. god, that was disastrous! hehe! those were the times...

kids these days are too hung up on malls, the TV and all the other comforts that their generation can offer. my sisters don't even know how to ride a bike or swim! i guess to get something we have to give up something in the process.

time to turn in now. i hope next time i get it right. but just in case i don't, i'll make sure to post another equally nice picture. something that i can talk about. until then, wish me luck! =)

poetry day

it's poetry day today. didn't know what else to post.

it all started in high school when our english teacher encouraged us to write some poetry. that did it me. since then, it has become a hobby, a past-time. it's cathartic, if you ask me.

for starters, here are a few poems i wrote way back in college...

entanglement
entangling the folia of my mind
resembling a huge nimbus
I am confused.
unbelievably happier moments
on wired conversations
transfigures into
utter awkward deafening silence
as we face.
what happened?
what went wrong?
ask me not.
rather
ask him.
~lmyd 080695

vision
the purest of thoughts
unfleetingly lingers
traces of your face
perspectively kept.
time passes
am caught unawares
as though, in isolation
I exist.
trapped, unabled
as the matter of the gray
fades into absolute blackness
yet for a tiny speck of thought
on which a blinding vision
of you
I see.
~lmyd 080695

the following set were created very recently. inspiration was drawn from my other half. ;-)

slave
you haunt me,
in wanton pursuit,
whether in dreams of deep slumber
or in wakened states of consciousness.
a fragment of you,
a reminder everywhere,
i extricate myself.
sheer madness is what it is,
as the vicious cycle
ceases not,
i am enslaved once more.
~ lmyd 062304

bliss
the hot breath of your moist mouth
on my skin,
it tingles with anticipation.
the subtleness of your touch
wreaks havoc yet is sublime.
my lips quiver as they await,
yearning with a thirst
only you can sate.
the absurdity of it all
i care not,
as i ceaselessly wait
for exquisite bliss.
~ lmyd 062304

rain
i drifted into a trance
as drops drummed heavily on the tops
into an emerging realm of boredom.
the swish of rods
hypnotically sway me into absorption
thru perilous depths of thoughts.
swimming, as though drowning,
gracious as the blaring horn jolts me
but still staring blankly
into the immense vast pane.
~ lmyd 062304

first meeting
thunderous beating
pounding in my ears
bursting with emotion.
walking hesitantly
stealing glances
through the screen.
meeting of the eyes,
body and soul
coalesce into one.
~ lmyd 082904

that's enough literature for one day. it's raining outside. very ideal weather for curling up next to a warm body. sadly, my warm body is far away. it's times like these (among other things) that i miss him so much. can't wait for december.

first time

finally! a blog of my own... it took me a while to get started because the darn site keeps telling me that my preferred URL(s) is/are already unavailable. i was really stumped! i ended up including my sweetie's name to end my misery. hehe!

i'm not really sure what goes on in writing one's blog. i've had a couple blogs from my hipstir and myspace accounts. but i think this is entirely different because there is so much you can do with it. the possibilities are endless.

since we're on the subject of "first times," this is THE first time i'll be announcing over the web on the net. yup, this is it! i'm getting married!!! :-) i never thought it would ever come to me. but i guess everyone deserves to be happy also once in a while. i am really excited but still quite dazed. everything has happened quite fast and sometimes i have to pinch myself to see if all is true. so in the next entries, you'll be reading a little about the wedding preparations aside from the usual stories-of-my-life bit.

bed time now for me. had 5 patients today. i can't imagine how my colleagues can manage to see 7-8 patients in a day. maybe it's the age. hehe! :P

ta-tah! till next entry... :-)