Lovin' ToyWatch!

I might be a little too late into the ToyWatch craze, but then, so what?! I read about the watch sometime last year, but even then, it was already a little bit late, being that it was introduced mid 2006 and featured by Instyle, People, & Lucky magazine among many others.

I've always liked big watches, I even like wearing men's watches most of the time. :) Although, now that we're in austerity (again!), I'm steering clear of shopping for a little while. Gotta make small sacrifices here and there in order to achieve long term gains, right? [Art will be so proud to read this.]

What's so special about these toywatches anyway? Aside from it taking the world by storm, it's a luxury style plastic watch that's reminiscent of a Rolex or Audemar Piguet, but only cheaper! It's designed by Marco Marvilla, an italian wristwatch designer from the US. It's got a wide range of designs to choose from that it's just so difficult to narrow down your choice to only one toywatch. It's been seen on the wrists of hollywood stars such as Oprah, Madonna, Keira Knightly, among many others.

Here are my current favorites:



Gold Chrono Collection - Brown

$275









Neon Plasteramic - Pink

$195










All Black Classic Collection - Black

$275









Twin Collection - White

$375









Luxury Plasteramic - White

$375






*sigh. :)

I was given an Anne Klein plastic chrono last month, and it reminds me so much of the ToyWatch Crystal collection.

Tara Reid's Crystal vs. My AK Acrylic

They look so similar that I think I really can do without a toywatch for now. ;)

Kaden Goes To Toddler School!

In our interest of improving Kaden's social skills, we decided to go visit preschools around Zamboanga City to inquire about available options for kids his age, at the end of the day, Art & I decided to enroll Kaden in Hansel & Gretel.

Kaden went to class right away the very next day but he was without a uniform for the first two days. :( On the third day, he finally got his uniform and he proudly wore it very handsomely. He loved his uniform! He couldn't stop smiling when we first dressed up in it. He refused to take off his jacket even when he was already sweating profusely.

I was worried about Kaden because he can get pretty impatient easily and has quite a problem sitting still, so I was amazed at how well behaved he turned out to be in class. I was afraid he would refuse to be left alone in the classroom but I was so wrong. As soon as he sat amongst his classmates, he completely forgot about us. On his first day, he instantly felt at home even without his uniform. He willingly joined them in the singing and dancing and he looked like he was having so much fun. The next morning, he was the one saying "Lets go to school, lets go!!!" with a huge smile on his face. I've never seen him so excited! and I'm so happy for him. I proudly show his picture wearing his uniform to friends wherever I go. Hahah.

Time flies so fast. Kaden's turning 3 on September. Next thing I know, Kaden will be in nursery already, then college! :) I love watching him grow up. He is such an adorable and lovable baby. He is very smart and I'm not only saying that because he's my son. Most of the time, I get awed by things he would say to me and how he reacts in situations. Obviously, I am so proud to be his mom. I really wish I can give him a younger brother or sister soon. :)

Our Onsite AVP by Jason Magbanua

For those who attended our wedding, you've surely watched the onsite AVP prepared by Jason Magbanua's team just before we called it a night. For those who don't know Jason, you can visit his blog and see just how brilliant he is at his craft. :)

For those who don't know it yet, I am a HUGE Jason Magbanua fan. I have been idolizing him even before he became one of the 25 most influential videographers in the world [for two years in a row, mind you]. I have been an avid reader of his blog eversince I came across his name, while looking for videos of Claudine Barretto & Raymart Santiago's wedding. His videos have always moved me, most of the time even to tears!

I'm glad though that there wasn't much drama on our own onsite AVP, just that feeling of being deliriously happy after having watched it, and I love love love the feeling the video gives me. Art teases me about watching the avp everyday since our wedding, but I notice he always watches it with me [from beginning to end] It's actually sweet how he gives me this huge kiss coupled with a really big smile after every time we watch it. :)

Would you believe we actually moved our wedding day to a week later just so we could have Jason Magbanua to cover our wedding? It's one of the best wedding related decisions we've ever made. :) I gave Jason a giant hug after watching the avp during our wedding and told him what a dream come true it is for me to have him do our AVP. I just can't help but be awed by the man!

For those who complain that the AVP won't play on my multiply site, you may check out the video of Jason's creative genius on his blog, and see just what I mean about him. I'm still awed by the fact that he has posted our wedding AVP on his blog, after the many years that I have been a follower of his blog. It's just so awesome to finally see our names there!

He's one of the really talented people who makes me proud to say I'm Filipino. His work is simply world class. He's truly the best, and as much as many have tried to imitate his style, none have successfully surpassed his greatness. :)

Now with Art gone and me missing him badly, I think I'll be watching the AVP more than I used to. Tsk tsk.

Now A Mrs.! :)

photo by Mango Red

Ah, married life! It feels just wonderful to be married to someone I truly love & respect. Life has never seem sweeter and the future has never looked more optimistic.

The reason why I'm only blogging now about our wedding more than two weeks after is because I've been trying to spend quality time with my husband. But those two weeks flew by us like a sudden gush of wind because before we knew it, it was time for him to leave again. :(

We've been through this about twice already this year, this time around actually makes it a third, but for some reason, it seems so much harder for me to see Art go now than it ever was before. I should feel better now with a ring on my finger, and a new title to my name as he goes but I have never been sadder! I started missing my husband as soon as he walked out the door and left for the airport. Actually, I had already been moping the night before just thinking about him leaving that I wasted the time we should have spent talking or cuddling, even. :(

He'll be back by October and it's not a very long time from now, but the way I'm feeling now, it might as well be forever and a day! I even missed taking my exams today because I just couldn't bring myself to leave the house. I was too sad and too busy sulking while feeling sorry for myself, to get up. The two weeks following our wedding were just too perfect! I hate that it had to end so soon. [Baby, I miss you soooo much. :( ]

After absenting myself from classes & hospital duty for almost a month, I guess it's high time for me to start making up and trying to catch up on everything I missed. It's also my chance to make up for all the time I should have spent with Kaden, especially now that he's starting school! I do know that if I stop moping around about it, time will once again fly and before I know it, my husband will be back with a two letter pasalubong for me. [Yey! :p]

But for now I'm just truly saddened by the fact that I have to go to bed alone for the first time since our wedding. :(

Kung Fu Panda

I didn't expect to like this movie at all, nor was I planning to watch it. I mean, what's the deal about a panda who does kung fu anyway? But after watching it, all I can say is that it's TOO cute!!! I cannot wait to bring Kaden to the cinemas to watch it. I can already imagine his delight, and the thought makes me so excited! :) 

There are values portrayed in the movie, although I worry that afterwards Kaden will be kicking and jumping all over our house doing his version of kung fu and attempting to imitate the panda. I'm almost certain that I will have to get a bootleg dvd [can't afford originals] of this movie, because Kaden will surely be asking to watch it over and over and over again. 

I'll leave you with one of my favorite lines from the film, full of truth & wisdom:

"Often the path one takes to avoid their destiny is the very one that leads them to it."

emotionally engaged

Well, I've been warned by so many people how wedding preparations can take its toll on just about anyone. I told myself many times over that I'm not gonna let anything get to me, but by now I've realized that it's really not that easy. Planning a wedding can be very overwhelming and downright stressful depending on how a bride paces herself. I admit being guilty of bringing stress upon myself because I choose to obsess about minute details & trivialities. I often justify it by telling myself that while these details may be unimportant to other people, they are important to me, and being the bride, it's what I think that ultimately matters. Funny how it seems to sound a bit shallow now that I'm writing about it. Hah!

I'm okaavery blessed that I have a very supportive groom who tries his very best to make me as happy a bride as can be, while the truth is, he doesn't care what kind of wedding we will have, just as long as I show up on the day and say my vows. [love you, baby!] Lately, I cant seem to help wishing more and more that we should have just had a small private exchange of vows, with the people that will really matter in the marriage: Him, me, our pastor, and God as our witness. But even then, I'd want us to have [numerous] pictorials afterwards :).

Art knows that my dream wedding is one that's small & intimate, but living in a province such as Zamboanga, that's not very easy for us to achieve. Most brides-to-be claim that in the course of planning, many unavoidable issues and conflicts will arise that can cause a strain in their relationships with the groom, and I can imagine it being most stressful considering that whatever those issues are, they can affect your future life together either directly or indirectly. Lucky for us, aside from the minimal quandary over whether we should have two sets of photographers, we had very little wedding related issues to fight or even argue about. It was mostly Art trying to make me feel better about something, supporting my decisions or lack of it, and always reminding me that no matter what, our main goal for our wedding day is to be married to each other, nothing more.

Seeing that we couldn't have the small wedding we wanted, we decided that it would be great to make our wedding a family affair, hence, our wedding date [7.12.08]. July would be the most convenient time for family members to come home and share our special day with us. The thought of having our close friends and family fly miles just to be there for our wedding meant a great deal for us, so we picked our wedding date with hopes of that. I don't know where I got the idea that weddings were a family thing, and that it brings the family closer because family members support each other and work together to make the wedding a successful one. What was I thinking?!?

Apparently, a bigger stress in the wedding preparations is when you expect some people to be there for you and they let you down. I wish someone warned me beforehand that brides & grooms should never count on anyone's word, even if it comes from a close family member, because there's nothing that could hurt more or be more disappointing than a close family member who turns their back on you last minute. A lesson learned the hard way for me, not just about wedding planning but about life itself: Never ever expect anything from anyone, because ultimately people just look out for themselves and their self-interests. Even with all Art's support, the fact that he's thousands of miles away from me makes me feel alone in all this.

I know that planning is supposed to be all fun and exciting, but it's times like these that all the supposed joy just flies out of the window. Of course, it's not right that I let one person, or two, or three even, affect my emotions big time. Getting married in itself stirs up a great deal of emotions, not just in me, but in any couple getting into a commitment as life-changing as marriage. At this point, it's kind of difficult for me to fathom how some people can be so selfish, and I cannot see how there are people who like to twists facts and sell others out just to make something of themselves. I'm angry, frustrated, hurt, & disappointed.

I'm marrying a great person, so I'm supposed to be happy! So what if there are people who let me down? What if there are others who seem to take joy in criticizing and making issues, even lies, out of what is supposed to be a happy day for me & Art? Even if they are family?

I sometimes almost forget about the wonderful people who have been there for me. At this point, I can say that after certain realizations about some family members, I have found that I have A LOT of very loyal & great friends who have really stepped up and surprised me by being there for me beyond my expectations. Thanks people, you know who you are. :)

An eye for an eye will surely make the world blind, so I'll just leave it up to the law of Karma to serve as nature's police force. What goes around comes around, and there are NO exceptions, not even for the professional liars.

Mood: frustrated

Pepper Lunch

For my June trip to Manila, one of the musts on my to-do/to-go list was to dine at the newly opened Pepper Lunch at the Powerplant mall. When we got there, the line was long and our starving stomachs had no choice but to opt for delayed gratification since we really wanted to have dinner at that particular restaurant. Good thing, we were also waiting for a few more friends to arrive and we were busy doing lots of catching up, so the wait didn't seem that long.

I honestly had a difficult time choosing what I wanted because they all looked so yummy! Our stomachs were growling louder by the minute, not to mention the line was getting longer behind us as we stalled, so we had to decide fast. Since Angela ordered the Hamburger Steak which looked really good, 

,and since Eric ordered the Chicken & Hamburger Steak Combo, 

I decided I wanted something different from theirs. I ended up ordering the Salmon Pepper Rice.

Thus, I had to live with the joke about me going all the way to pepper lunch just to order rice in a box! :( Hmp!!! Okay, fine, so Gela's and Eric's orders were better choices. But honestly, the salmon pepper rice wasn't that bad. At least now I know what to avoid ordering when I go back to pepper lunch, which I definitely will, and I'm taking Art with me the next time! 

Byron & Lance arrived 30 minutes after we got our seats, and both ordered curries. All I can say is that their orders were also way better than mine! *Sniff. 

Nonetheless, I got to try all their Pepper Lunch meals so I left the the place full and satisfied! :)

Ah, and not to forget the desert. I ordered the Molten Milk Chocolate Cake and I have to say it was a great way to complete my Pepper Lunch dinner. It was yummy to say the least! I can't wait to try all the other deserts the next time around because they all seem equally as sinful as the one I got. 

I'm glad someone decided to open a franchise of Pepper Lunch in the Philippines. It's times like this when I miss living in Manila the most. :( I miss good food! and having so many choices of where to eat and where to go, and of course what to shop. ;)

Pepper Lunch faces to remember:

Razons' Heavenly Halo2x.

FINALLY!!! I got to have Razons' famous halo halo yesterday.  It was oh-so-heavenly! :) If only I can have it for dessert everyday while I'm in Manila...

So, what if my wedding is coming up in less than a month? Hmmm... I could start my diet when I go back to Zamboanga. Hahaha :p