Belated Anniversary Celebration Part 2

Continuing our 13th anniversary theme of a low key celebration, we spent the weekend at Richmonde Hotel in Ortigas, Pasig. Richmonde Hotel is the most reasonably priced hotel in the Ortigas district. E and I really enjoy our stays in hotels because we can be lazy for at least 24 hours. It was the perfect down time for us, he watched TV while I spent most of my time enjoying internet surfing with my wireless Smart Bro. The best part: we didn't have to clean and tidy up. And free buffet breakfast and a coffee maker inside the room. It was all good, well except they could have offered free internet, too!

December 2009

This month was most eventful, and very busy. I'll try to squeeze in everything here. As most of you know, our Globe internet service has been down for three weeks now. It is only now that I finally gave up and got us a Smart Bro prepaid kit. So here I am . However , I just realized that because I was so busy and distracted, I always forgot to bring the camera to some events. But I will share the few pictures I have, and probably borrow from my brother N's Facebook album.



1. Just ended my 18th term of teaching! If I have an average of 30 students per term, that would mean I've taught 540 students...

2. Started a business with some of my closest friends. It is a deli/cafe that we intend to put up in one of the malls. This Christmas season, we decided to participate in a toys and gifts fair. It was a great learning experience for all of us.

3. E and I celebrated our 13th year of marriage. We didn't get to celebrate in a big way because we were busy with the business, but we enjoyed our "staycation". We decided to stay in Manila this time instead of traveling, and we're so glad we did. Iba pa rin ang pasko at bagong taon dito:-)



4. High School Barkada LCN from San Francisco was home for the holidays and so the barkada got together for dinner at Recipes in Trinoma. Sorry, no camera that night.



5. College Barkada RJW from Hong Kong was home for the holidays. The Christmas get-together was held at the Z home. Again, sorry no camera that night.


6. High School good friend HF from Los Angeles was also home for the holidays. A few of us from high school got together at Freska at the Promenade in Greenhills. It was my first time there and pleased to learn that oysters are cheap there, and good.



6. Christmas Eve at my Parents'


We were joined by SIL's parents and sister

5. New Year's Eve at Pacific Plaza -- BIL's friends from New York who are now based in Manila went home to New York for the holidays and lent us their condo. Such good, good friends! WE ordered food from Casa Armas:

The Cuchinillo!
Paella Negra


Paella Valenciana



Lengua Estofado prepared by my Mom's cook




6. Our belated Anniversary celebration right on New Year's Day at John and Yoko in Greenbelt 5



Some shopping notes: Tory Burch's prices here in Manila are a bit cheaper than in the US if you use the Rustan's discount card, so don't bother buying from the US. However the Manila branch only carries 1 pair of shoes per size per model. If you're seriously thinking of buying one, buy na, now na!

Discovering Discovery Suites

E treated me to this hotel stay this weekend. Really sweet of him because he knows how much I love staying in hotels, being lazy and doing nothing. The stay was really restful and we definitely enjoyed being together. However, Discovery's service leaves much to be desired. There was no coffee maker, now a standard of Manila hotels, and service was really slow at the coffee shop when we had breakfast. At least now we know that we wouldn't be spending our hard earned money in this hotel again.

Happy Birthday Sweetie - Part 1

E's birthday fell on a Tuesday, and the day after he returned from Tokyo. Given these, we decided to spend the day together and plan for the big family get-together on the weekend. For the birthday itself, we had this bright idea of renewing our driver's licenses since both of us will be on leave. Not really a bright idea as we spent the whole morning at the LTO office, finishing just in time before the office declared a lunch break. Needless to say, what a waste of birthday time:-(

We had a nice and quiet birthday lunch with E's parents at La Nuovo Pasteleria, followed by coffee at UCC Vienna Cafe in Greenbelt 5. We heard Holy Mass in Greenbelt for Mother Mary's birthday as well as E's birthday. I think he is fortunate to have the same birthday as Mother Mary.

One of E's birthday wishes was a shopping spree at Adidas, and so we spent some time there, but I was disappointed that all he wanted was the Jawpaw -- similar to Nike's aquasock but way cooler. He says perfect for their bike trips which involve crossing bodies of water. Oh well, we are still set to get another birthday wish one of these days. (He gets to receive an x number of birthday wishes depending on the budget).

Dinner, still with his parents, was at one of our favorite restaurants. Which one is your guess?

Mandarin Getaway

Our friend B treated us to a weekend stay at the Mandarin Oriental Manila last weekend. It was the perfect escape to a rather stressful workweek. E and I enjoyed being lazy, just lying around , reading and watching TV. My greatest complaint is why do 5-star hotels charge for wifi access? Anyway, we went all out by having room service for breakfast. The best thing about the stay is not having to tidy up, clean and prepare breakfast! Feeling rich and famous for the weekend. Thanks so much, B!

As Of Today

And so my full account of our anniversary trip has just been completed in the previous entry. What have we been up to since we got here:

1. I started teaching again (am now on my 16th term) on the day that we arrived from the US. We are having our midterms next Saturday. Halfway na naman kami!
2. To my shock, I've lost a few pounds and 2 of 5 jeans I bought in the US are already loose.
3. We're back to the usual busy days at work, but today, Saturday before Valentine's, E treated me to dinner at Seven Corners. Ever the practical guy, he says, "Let's avoid the rush and save a little. On Valentine's, it will be so hard to go around and the buffet will be twice the price." Oo nga, bigay na lang nya sa kin yung ma-save nya di ba? :-)

Random Things About Last Week

1. Went out with my good friends at work AC and MV. We ate at Pho Hoa, a Vietnamese Restaurant, and I loved their Shrimp and Pomelo Salad! I have another favorite salad place!

2. My friend DP who is based in Hongkong came to Manila on official business and spared some time to have lunch with me. We tried Secret Recipe at Shangrila Mall. I tried their Pan-grilled Dory, which was okay, but I found the sauce a bit salty. Ask that the sauce be served separately if you do decide to order this. They have "healthy" cakes, but we didn't get to try them. Maybe next time.

3. E and I watched West Side Story Friday night. Joanna Ampil played Maria that night. Before the show, we went to Teriyaki Boy for dinner. How I missed their Tempura Tuna Sashimi, and ordered that for myself. Oh no, that must have been at least 300 calories!!!

4. I was happy to know that I still lost some pounds, considering that I was only able to go to the gym once the week before, and that week included birthday celebrations for E and my niece Baby S. Not a good week for losing weight, but I made up by going thrice last week and spending at least 60 minutes on cardio workouts each time. I hope this week will be much better.

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!- Part 2

Birthday Surprise

Just got home from E's suprise birthday celebration. As far as E knew, we were just spending the afternoon together: hear mass, have lunch and then go to BPI to get our Land Title. I had to carefully plan what happens next...

Lunch Date at Cyma, Greenbelt 2 and finally, our released Land Title

I told him that I wanted to go to Powerplant Mall to buy that Nike shirt on sale that I saw last week and to buy a birthday gift for my niece Baby S. I originally planned to take him to the movies (we haven't gone in ages) to kill time, but the only interesting movie showing was "For the First Time", which he absolutely refused to see. So after taking my time on the two errands, it was still an hour before the event was going to take place. So, I said I wanted to go to Zara to look at what's new. I took time there, communicating with people through text messaging while pretending to be so interested in the fall and winter clothes on display. When I was taking too much time, E went to me and suggested that we just have dinner at home. Wow, major stress for me! I had to think fast. I didn't react violently. Instead, I said that I needed to go to the grocery to buy our dinner and other supplies. Of course I was panicking and texted people frantically...

While at the grocery, E's nephews suddenly appeared out of nowhere! E was so excited that he never thought that meeting his nephews was odd. They were afterall frequent visitors of Powerplant. Aha, the perfect excuse to lead him to the designated venue...

After paying for the grocery, I just asked the boys where their parents are so we can say hello...

SURPRISE!!!

Thanks so much to those who joined E tonight!

Venue: Cafe Sugarhouse. Powerplant Mall

Must tries: Beef Salpicado, Callos, Oriental Chicken Salad, Chinese Chicken Salad, Santa Fe Chicken, Marjolaine Cake, Mango Torte, Cashew Toffee Cake, French Apple Pie

Freedom!!!

After 10 years, our home is finally fully paid! We've never felt so relieved and excited. E promised me that we will celebrate this event before we seriously get down to really saving for the rainy day...

This brings to mind memories of our first few years of marriage when it was so hard to make those mortgage payments because it would eat up half of our paycheck, not counting the income tax. So you can just imagine what was left of our paycheck: 100%-32% for tax-50% for the home mortgage. But everything was so worth it. We have a lovely home and we paid for every bit of it through our hard work and determination. Life's never been this good.

UP Naming Mahal

Lunch at Chocolate Kiss, Bahay ng Alumni, UP Diliman

After getting my diploma and copies of my transcript from UP, I've visited UP exactly three times. One visit was when I gave a talk for Financial Analysts at my old college, another was during our high school reunion and another time was when my good friend PZ celebrated her birthday by inviting us to a Sunken Garden picnic!

Today, E and I spent most of the day in UP. Right after my class at 12nn, I rushed to UP where E has been biking since early morning. We decided to have lunch first at Chocolate Kiss at the Bahay ng Alumni. At almost 1PM, the place was full and we had to wait in line for a while. We had Chicken ala Kiev, Hainanese Chicken Rice and Eggplant Parmigiana, and they were all good, and reasonable at P600 for everything!

After walking for a few minutes, we biked around the Academic Oval. It was great! For those who have biked there, following the one way traffic around the oval, you'll know that the side of AS aka Palma Hall is an "uphill" ride and the side of the College of Engineering is "downhill". I thought I was doing well with my biking in the village, but I still had a hard time in the "uphill" side. That only means we have to bike there more often! Everyone is welcome to join us!

Drill Sergeant

After work today, E and I went biking around the village until it was too dark to bike. E picked up speed today, and I had no choice but to follow. Talk about pushing myself to the limit. When we got home, I thought I was going straight into the shower when he said, "Oh no, not so fast, why don't you play 6 games of Tennis on the Wii, sayang naman ang workout outfit mo..."

Oh yes, we finally got our own Wii...

Pasalubong from Hongkong

E arrived tonight from Hongkong and surprised me with:
1. Two black tops from Marks and Spencer
2. Ikea tea light candles
3. Ikea colored napkins in blue and yellow-green

How thoughtful, noh? Thanks E, sige na nga, I don't feel bad na that I wasn't able to go to Hongkong with you. :-)

Surprise Pepper Lunch Dinner Date

E and I have been trying to make time to finally dine at Pepper Lunch (Powerplant Mall, Rockwell), but with our hectic schedules we have not been able to go. This afternoon, I got a call from E and he said, "Hey, want to have dinner at Pepper Lunch?". Of course I said yes, even if it is a bit out of the way between the office and our home. At 6PM on a week night, there were no long lines and we had one section all to ourselves. We ordered the Shimofuri Pepper Steak (P570, P645 with rice and drink) and enjoyed "cooking" and finally savoring the steak. It was as delicious as how we remembered it. Oh, and we saw the celebrity couple-owners of Pepper Lunch, but I was too shy to have a picture taken with them:-)

One Lazy Sunday Afternoon

I've almost forgotten how it feels like to bike, after more than 15 years of not riding one (well except the exercise bike at Fitness First). After a shaky start, I got into the groove and went biking with E in our village. I plan to do this at least thrice a week, hopefully somewhere else besides our village. Can't wait until our UP Diliman bike date with dear friends SC and PZ with their husbands.

Biking

E and I are excited about our new "reinventing dates" plan. We plan to spend weekends biking -- and it could be somewhere as near as just within our village, or somewhere scenic like the Fort or UP, or as far as Subic (of course I mean that we will bring our bikes to Subic, and not bike to Subic!).

Biking really reminds me of grade school, when all my friends and I did on weekends was to bike as far as we could! And I also remember Finland where I spent a month as a Junior Counselor when I was 17 in an international summer camp for 11-year old kids. As a JC, part of my job required running errands for the camp, like go to the grocery, post office (no emails then!) and almost everywhere around the small town where we lived. And I had to do the errands on a bike that was so high, I had to literally find something to step on when I get on and off the bike.

My Birthday Week-Part 3

E treated me to a belated birthday dinner at Italianni's in Bonifacio High Street. We had our favorite Sicilian Chicken Salad. We also decided to try the Seafood Pasta and Combination pizza(half-half) of Pepperoni and Smoked Salmon with Cream Cheese. Haha, talk about carbo- loading. We didn't finish the meal and brought home more than half of the pizza.

His birthday presents: New sandals just in time for summer and a photobook of our travels over the years. Really sweet, huh? :-)

Reinventing Date Night

My dear friend PZ sent us this article from the New York Times and the barkada had a long discussion on this over email:

Reinventing Date Night for Long Married Couples

Well, just to share how we "reinvented" our date , here's our story:

It was the last day of a three day weekend in Manila. Our agenda for the day: to clean the house thoroughly as we have been remiss on this the past few weeks after our US holiday. We had a simple lunch of pork adobo cooked lovingly by E while he straightened out our kitchen cabinets (yes, he is indeed a multi-tasker). My responsibilities were to thoroughly scrub the two bathrooms and clean the 2nd floor, while E, in addition to the above, had to vacuum the 1st and the 2nd floor, and clean the 1st floor. I told him I would have gladly done everything if I had my Roomba:-)

We finished cleaning in the afternoon and were planning to go out for dinner, but we were too lazy to go out by then. Instead we just watched a very Pinoy movie, One More Chance, starring our favorite love team John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo. If you haven't watched it by now, WATCH IT!

Cleaning the house and watching a very pinoy (as in nakakaiyak) love story with my love, now that was a perfect date!