Struggling

For years, I've struggled (but immensely enjoyed!) maintaining a blog because the problem is I am too impatient. I am not as eloquent as my sister. But I have lots of free time (I hope I don't sound too desperate), and I'd like to keep an online journal. So here I am.

I've jumped from blogspot to livejournal to wordpress to tumblr, then back to blogspot again. How indecisive can I get?! I've changed my blog title a few times, too!

But marriage somehow grounded me and made me more calm and stable. As I get used to my new surname, I promise to make this blog more interesting. :)

Apple Bee's

Late lunch at Apple Bee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar, TripleOne Somerset last Sunday. We love the laidback suburb vibe the restaurant exudes!

I learned from Apple Bee's website, that it originated in Atlanta Georgia around year 1980. Although I was unable to find any branch in New York, there are around 19 restaurants in New Jersey. Will surely visit!

Sirloin Steak (The best well-done steak I've ever tasted... tender & juicy!), Half Baby Back Ribs, Mozarella Cheese Sticks and Chocolate Chip Cookie with Ice Cream! We love Sundays! If you can't brunch, then do the late lunch! :)

Which reminds me, we have to come back soon and eat more steak redeem our voucher! :)

On the road : Phuket

As promised, here are the rest of the pictures of our second honeymoon in Phuket Thailand.

We stayed in Sugar Palm Grand Hillside Hotel at Kata beach, which is the perfect beach for us. Cozy restaurants, crystal-clear beach, powdery sand, and a few nightspots. You get the picture.

We love Sugar Palm!!! I found this modern hotel in trip advisor. I don't want to stay in a hotel that looks like a Thai temple, so I searched for reasonably priced hotels.What made me book Sugar Palm is because of the pool access room!!! I can imagine my hubby jumping in the pool as soon as he woke up. You see, my hubby is a beach lover. Well, he was not able to do that but he sneak in the pool in the middle of the night. Another thing that made my hubby so happy when we arrived, is the mac-mini installed together with a Samsung TV inside our room. Worth every baht. :)

Hubby went parasailing!

Island Hopping!

Last but not the least, the oh-so-delicious authentic thai food!

We would come back soon because of the thai food and massage! Ooooh the heavenly massage!!! :)

Phuket Honeymoon Teaser

We recently had our 2nd honeymoon in Phuket. While my husband (feels good saying that everytime!) is still editing most of the pictures, I'd like to share the view from our hotel room. It turned out really good! Hope we can come back soon! :)

After the wedding

Quick recap of the happenings after our wedding. :)

1. Honeymoon at Shangri-la Boracay (August 30 - September 2, 2011)

A gift from my dad. Great Deluxe Seaview rooms. Luxurious Amenities. Delicious Food. Clear Waters. Excellent Personalized Service from hotel staffs.

2. Airplane watching at Changi Coast Road

My brother rented a Hyundai van for the weekend during my family's visit in Singapore. We found a spot where most planes about to land to Changi Airport are so close, it almost touched the trees. It was a fun experience.



3. Dad's Birthday Celebration at Medzs

Mediterranean Restaurant, located at Orchard Central, Basement 2. Similar concept with Marche. Great selection of food. Colorful Interior Decorations. Some were not as good as I expected, but I like the grills and seafoods.

4. 2nd time at Universal Studios

This time with Mom & Dad, my godmother-aunt and cousin, and Kuya's gf Karen. 9 of us, so much fun!!! We made sure to watch all the shows, especially the Monster Rock Musical. And yes, I did not ride any of the roller coaster rides!!!

Will be going to Phuket next month, I'll surely blog about it. :)

Thank You notes

Almost 2 months after our wedding, and I have not written a single thank you note. Bad bad me!!! I may have written on our coordinator and couturier's fb wall. But for me, giving them a handwritten thank you note would be much more appreciated.

I'd like to share you this article from bridal book on how to write thank you notes. It was featured a day after our wedding was featured in bridal book, it was like a way of telling me to start doing it already!

How to write Thank You notes by Anna Oposa

There's one last item to cross out of your wedding to-do list when you get back from the honeymoon : writing thank you cards. Text, e-mail or a call just won't do - these notes need to be handwritten, signed, sealed, delivered.

1. Make a directory of your wedding guests and their addresses.
2. Try to use personalized stationery.
3. No need to write an epic, a few lines will do.
4. Follow a reasonable deadline.
5. Split the task.

For more information, follow the subject link.

Wish me luck, I hope I can finish them before our 2nd wedding monthsary! :)

We got featured on Bridal Book!

I almost forgot to blog that we got featured on bridal book as couple of the day last 30th September 2011! See my screenshot above, I'm so kilig!!!

Our couturier, Ms. Joe San Antonio gave bridal book people the link of our wedding pictures from Jayson and Joanne Arquiza website. A few days after that they emailed me and provided some questionnares to fill up. And because I just came back from work, I did not get to reply not until about a week after.

I'm just so happy, that I want to share it to y'all! :)

My Bucket List

I'm back!!!

I know I should be writing a wedding-related post, but I've been wanting to do this for the longest time, so here you go.

1. Find your life's passion.
2. Become a bag designer.
3. Make a hole-in-one.
4. Learn Mandarin and French.
5. Take singing lessons.
6. Ride in a hot air balloon.
7. Meet supermodel Tweetie de Leon - Gonzales, my forever peg.
8. Sell my beads on etsy.
9. Be a bookworm.
10. Get a master's degree.
11. Fly First Class.
12. Create a tradition of getting together with family at least once a year.
13. Have a large family.
14. Have a home with a well-stocked pantry.
15. Own a Chanel Bag.
16. Sponsor a child at World Vision.
17. Donate Blood.
18. Be passionate about a cause.
19. Attend the Oscar's.
20. Have a signature dish.
21. Go to Rome.
22. Ride the oriental express.

I'll update this as much as I can. Let's hope I get to accomplish most of it. :)

Busy Weekend

I'm expecting it get's busier in the coming weeks. Our schedule is already full with all the meet-ups, shopping, DIYs that we still have to do. I'm creating an itinerary for the wedding related activities, from August 1 to September 2. Meaning until the honeymoon... (wink!)

We already bought gifts for principal sponsors, male & female entourage. But I don't want to reveal too much details here, since I want their gift to be a surprise. I hope they like it. We also bought other personal accessories. I hope we can finish everything before I go back home on Sunday.

We finally managed to start on DIY-ing our boutonniere, I don't have any pictures to show here yet. But I promise to try to post a step by step procedure in creating a bout. :) Here are some of my inspirations. Wish us luck!

Non-floral bouts

Aligaga

This is how I feel right now. Seriously. Aligaga (translation from tagaloglang.com) meaning frantic with activity.

We now have approximately 22 days to go before the wedding. I have one week to go before I go home. But there is still a LOT of pending things to do!

Let me name a few.. We still need to buy neckties for male entourage, suit for one of our groomsmen, favor boxes, guestbook, prizes for games, gifts for entourage and suppliers. Whew! Forms & Lists are never ending... but I cannot completely hate them because they remind me of things, I can easily forget.

But looking at the brightside, I bought my wedding shoes already!!! What a relief! I've been agonizing about this for so long, I finally found a perfect fit. :)

Wish us luck! Next few weeks is super duper crunch time! No more time to relax! Hehe. :)

Almost August

August is just a stone's throw away!

I woke up early today feeling excited about this weekend, full of wedding preparation activities. Maybe it's a sign that my mind & body is ready to face the days, months, years ahead! :)

I just felt like updating this blog, while waiting for a call, then I'm off to a (wedding) shopping spree! :) Ohhh I almost forgot, we got our wedding rings yesterday night! Yippeeedooddles!

I'd like to share some of the ideas I came across while wedding blog hopping.. :) Enjoy! Happy weekend! :)

Light Bulb as reception decor

Frame for photobooth

Now, where to buy this?

Details on the table napkin

Cupcake tower with toppers

One month to go!

Can't believe how fast time flies! After almost a year of preparation, here we are... 1 month before the wedding, still so busy!

Everything I have dreamed about since I was young, is slowly turning into reality. I feel anxious that in exactly one month, I will change my civil status. I feel happy and excited to spend the rest of my life with Mr. J. I feel restless that there is still a lot of things to do. I feel blessed that Mr. J is actively participating in the wedding preparations. It's a roller coaster of emotions, but I tell you, you will definitely enjoy the ride. :)

We finished sprucing up our wedding invites, and I love it! Will share the pictures when I get the copy from Mr. J's camera. It's distribution time for our families, because we are not physically present to do that ourselves. I feel so blessed, everybody is so helpful. :)

Feeling Giddy!

Mr. J & I is celebrating our 64th monthsary as a couple today. :) It's our 2nd to the last monthsary before we get hitched. I'm just feeling the love, now more than ever. Mr. J is now more involved in the wedding preparations. Partly because I threw a tantrum the other day, hahaha!

We saw our wedding bands yesterday, though we did not get to bring it home yet. We asked Love & Co to engrave a love message. We will get it on July 29, can't wait!

And my sister Mabel, got our new york skyline invites yesterday! We love it, it's so unique! Expect to get your invites sooner than you say, New York! :)

Dreaming of Louboutin

I can't believe how fast time flies! Now, it's almost 1 month to go for us! Can you spell, P-A-N-I-C? Hehehe!

A quick update, tomorrow my sister will be collecting our final invites in behalf of us, because as you may already know we are here in Singapore. We will also be collecting our wedding rings at Love & Co Singapore tomorrow! Yey!

For the past few days, I've been contemplating about my wedding shoes. Why only now? Some of you might ask. Hehehe I've just been pre-occupied by other wedding details. I'm not exactly what you may call a shoe person, I'm more of a bag person. :)

After some research, I decided I want the glittery peep toe style for my wedding shoes. What could be better, than a Christian Louboutin shoes?

So gorgeous! I wish I can afford it! :)

58 days to go!

Just came back from my 5-day wedding preparation in the Philippines. I really could not call it a vacation, I was not able to rest, because our schedule is very hectic. But still, I am happy we were able to accomplish a lot of things. :)

June 22

10: 00 AM - we met with our wedding host, Sweet Casuyon at Shangrila Mall. Eventhough she is not feeling well that day, we still had fun, discussing about the wedding program. It's good to know that I could relate to her, she is so easy to get along with. :)




Me, with Sweet


1:30 PM - we went to Impress Prints at Cubao to choose the color of our envelopes and to clarify some things. I saw the previous drafts of our invites in one of their catalogues. Galing!

4:00 PM - we went to binondo for Hearts & Bells cake tasting. Honestly, I was a bit hesitant to book them, or any supplier for that matter, without any comparison. Well, that is my disadvantage as an overseas bride-to-be. I've learned how to let go, of my desire to canvass every supplier. Plus it was raining very hard, and we almost got lost going to their office. Hahaha! Mom told me, "i-book mo na yan, sayang yung binyahe natin!" Kalurks! In fairness, I like their cake designs! :)

June 23

12:00 PM - My gown fitting with Joe San Antonio. :) Super love my gown!! It's so me! Unconventional but still feminine. We also finalized details for mother's gown and entourage. I cannot post a picture just yet, I wanted it to be a surprise. :)

4:00 PM - Meeting / Ocular with Darlene at our Reception Venue, The Enterprise Center. We super love her talaga! She makes every obstacle seem so easy to deal with! How she deals with us, how she takes care of every wedding detail is so galing! :)

June 24

11:00 AM - Filing of Marriage License at Pasig City Hall. Darlene said it's easier to get Marriage License sa Pasig City Hall than Malabon, and she is right! As always! Ms. May is very flexible and so easy to deal with! Normally, it would take 7-10 working days before we can get the marriage license. In our case, since we cannot personally get the license, she gave us a notice, in order to let Magallanes Church know that we already filed. We can get the license by August na, when we come home for the wedding. :)

This is it!

4:00 PM - we went back to Joe San Antonio for the groom's suit measurements, and more chika with Joe! We love her too, she is so nice and accomodating! Mas excited pa nga sya sa gown fitting ko! Hehehe. :)




Eto si manang, sinusukatan ang groom

 6:30 PM - we had final food tasting / table mock up with K by Cunanan. By this time, super bagyo na talaga but go pa din kami! Because this is our only time to taste the food, which is going to be served at the wedding. :) Everything is so yummy! We were able to decide on most of the dishes, except the main dish. Hehehe. My fave is the waldorf salad, which K customized for us. :)

Eggplant Parmigiana

Clam Chowder

Osso Buco

Mini Burger and Crostinis with Ratatouille

Herbed Spatchcock with oven baked vegetables

Cheesecake, Panna Cotta, Chocolate Mousse, Turon

Baked Fish in cream, sprinkled with slivered almonds.

Waldorf Salad

June 25

1:00 PM - we went to Ihadresses office at Don Antonio Heights QC for our flower girl dresses. My niece had so much fun fitting the dresses!

My flower girl is happy with her dress!

June 26

10:00 AM - we met with Flower Power, which is recommended by Darlene. Super kulit ni Ryan at Jen! I hope they give me a good price for my flowers! :)

Me, with Ryan and Jen

2:00 PM - Canonical Interview with Magallanes Church. After much discussion about our canonical schedule, now it's done! My advise to those who have yet to have their canonical interview, don't fret. Just come with an open heart and a clear mind, just reply to the questions honestly. :)

Whew!!! After this, we rushed home to get our things, because we were also scheduled to go back to Singapore later that night. Oh well, vacations are always bitin!

Wedding Monogram : Logoswithlove

A recently engaged couple may ask... "Do we really need a wedding monogram?" I guess it would really depend on the couple. If they want a uniting logo, that will tie together all the aspects of a wedding, then YES, you may have one.

"A wedding monogram is a visual symbol of the union of two people becoming one. It is a great way to illustrate the union of two families and can be inexpensive, yet sophisticated way to visually tie together all the aspects of a wedding. A monogram is uniques to the couple and will leave a lasting impression to their guests...."

More information about monogram here.

I tried to DIY our wedding monogram since early this year, but I miserably failed. Hahaha! Attempting to do it without proper tools and technical know-how is just crazy!

So I searched w@w for possible wedding monogram makers, I emailed logoswithlove and fozzy replied promptly. She changed its name to thefozzybook, which is a combination of monogram making and calligraphy for the envelopes. How to order a logo from her? Click here.

One of the monogram she made for us, which is part of the first draft. The final monogram, is a surprise. :) We love it so much! Can't wait to use it on our wedding details. :)

Singapore Engagement Shoot by J&J Arquiza

Our engagement shoot was posted last May 20 on Jayson and Joanne Arquiza's blog and facebook page. It's definitely worth the wait! We got so many compliments from family, friends and long-lost friends. So happy!

Some of my favorite pictures! View the whole set here. :)

Bridal Car : Checked!

We booked our bridal car almost two months ago, but I only got the chance to blog about it now.

Side kwento : We initially wanted mini-cooper or beetle for our bridal car. But because I'm tall and long-legged, plus my gown has an elaborate skirt, I had to let go because it will be very hard for me to come in and out of a small car. We even met with mini cooper suppliers already last February 2011, to see if I can comfortable fit in. But sadly, only two-door mini-cooper is available. Could have been nice. :)

Fast forward to March 2011, still thinking if we can go with the mini-cooper na lang and just be extra careful with the skirt of my gown because we are running out of time... Till one day, an idea came to Mr. J's mind of having Honda Civic Type R, as our bridal car. To our advantage, both our older brothers are members of Honda Club Philippines, so it's much easier to find. Fortunately, Mr. J's brother found a white car, that we can borrow for our wedding day. We just need to bear the gasoline expenses. How lucky can we get?! Happiness!

Wedding Rings : Love & Co

We purchased our wedding rings three weeks ago from Love & Co. The same store where Mr. J bought the engagement ring. See the story of "the proposal" here. :)

Sis Jhed from w@w advised me to buy our wedding rings earlier because it will take 2-3 months to manufacture customized rings. We took advantage of the long holidays in Singapore and started looking for prospective rings, during our break.

We started at Love & Co orchard branch, and there it was. After browsing thru a number of rings, we finally found it! Pictures to follow. Or maybe not, will just make it a surprise. hehe! We love it even though we went over the budget!!! :) 

Kate Middleton's Wedding Dress

Billions of people watched the #royalwedding today! Most of them would like to see Kate Middleton's wedding dress. It was designed by Sarah Burton of Alexander Mcqueen. It's truly fit for a princess! So elegant! :)

The Pamamanhikan Story

I was just browsing my site, when I realized I owe you guys, our pamamanhikan story. So here it is. It happened last January 3, 2011. Did you know that Mr. J initially thought of January 3, 2011 as wedding date? How cool is that?!


Unlike most "pamamanhikans," there are no awkward silence in ours since our families have met already and should I say, have very well bonded since then. It's just that, it's the first time for our family to experience pamamanhikan, so we are kinda clueless! The funny thing, is that when J's dad asked my dad for permission in J marrying me, J told me that my dad did not answer. Hahaha! What is "lutang"? Very much like the story of J's proposal, where J claims that I did not answer YES!

A few more chitchats and laughters, and after we finished the sapin-sapin, we headed to Shakey's to eat pizza and mojos. Just because J is craving for it, see how light and easy-going our pamamanhikan is! I love our families, miss them terribly!!