Becoming Part of God's Family

Welcome to the Christian World, Randolph Tyler!!! My newest godson (ahem!) was baptized today, at the Shrine. And *naturally* I was one of the godmothers, hehehehe. Like Randy had a choice---I told him I EXPECTED to be a godmother to his firstborn; that's a privilege that I can take as the eldest (and only!) sister he has, bwahahahaha! And yes, it's the same for all the firstborns of my brothers.:) Because it's the same for them as well, standing in as godfathers to all my kids. If not my brothers, then their wives: our Sisterhood.

Here are the proud parents, Randy and Stella

This is me, showing off my personalized Ninang Candle :) How cute is that!
This is proof, that yes, I'm a godmother---making the sign of the cross on Tyler's forehead
The proud parents, grandparents AND great-grandmothers. On both sides! COOL eh?

Take a closer look at Tyler's christening gown....all 10 of Mom's grandchildren wore that same gown during their baptism. Truly an heirloom! It's made of pina cloth, the same fabric used for the formal barong tagalogs. Then sewn with pink beads at first, since Reese was the first one to use it, followed by Rielle and Raegan. When Rogan was baptized, Mom had blue beads sewn on the gown as well, so that ALL her grandkids would be able to use the gown.

After the baptism, we all trooped to the Manila Polo Club for some uber delish pasta, pumpkin-stuffed pastry, barbecue and banana bread for dessert. I was stuffed! After the heavy merienda, we heard mass at San Antonio in Forbes since it was so near. Ahhhh....air-conditioned comfort! YES! Hehehe :)

It's Pajama Time!

All I can say is, thank God that I have a brother who has the same birthday as me....who has a loving wife who loves to plan parties.....and doesn't mind that I hook up and join the party as a celebrant....AFTER birthday preparations are made. Hehehehe. I love you, Bang!!! And really, I thank God that you married Badabada!!! (not just this reason but for other reasons *wink wink*)

The celebrants: Boydee, Zhar, and me. This is going to be cool....and CHEAPER....in the long run for whenever we have joint birthday celebrations! Hehehe.

And our cake! The lovely Michelle Hechanova of wedding-cake fame (remember Mom and Dad's Ruby Anniversary cake with chocolate dipped strawberries---and you'll see another one of her wonderful creations this Saturday (or whenever I get to upload pics) at Rodney and Zhar's wedding) sent me this absolutely, yummy, TO-DIE-FOR chocolate concoction of a cake!!! I kid you not when I say that when I started slicing it, I could FEEL how moist the pureness of the chocolate cake-ness inside!!! And that fondant covering (it is, right?) seemingly holding the entire cake together just beautifully, simply melts in your mouth!!! Did I say heavenly chocolate goodness yet? That's what this cake is!!! THANK YOU, MICHELLE, for this chocolate perfection! It made my night --- it was the BEST dessert ever!!!

Here we all are, blowing our candles...

This is me, making pa-cute....and trying to hide the largesse of my arms with that itty-bitty m&m pillow of the kids, hahahhahaha!
and striking my goddess pose bwahahahahaha

Here' a passable pic of Japs and me. Check out my lovely french-tipped nails. Hehehe. Those are real! Oh darn it, I have NO lipstick on here! :(

Mother's living room was transformed into a humongo bedroom dorm. Our tables were decked in real bed sheets, with a pillow at the head of each table, along with a kiddie book and a stuffed toy. Oh-so-cute! I think Zhar thought of the idea, told Bang, who arranged it. See? With sisters like these, wouldn't it just be easier to sit back and relax.....and just whip out my checkbook for my share? Hahahaaha! I'm serious, sisterhood! You know how I hate parties....especially mine!

And in keeping with the pajamas theme, our food was breakfast food---my whole family's all-time fave kind of foods! We had corned beef and ham from The Plaza (totally yummy!), we had hot chocolate, pandesal, tocino, rice, and other things that I don't touch like dinuguan. I had the makings of Eggs Benedict, so I helped myself to 3 of those (while trying NOT to think about the cholesterol I was ingesting!!!).

All in all, it was a pretty cool party, something new for all of us. And the most important part? We all had fun, and once again had the chance to be what we do best: no, not eating (ok, that too!) but we're best at being a FAMILY. Ohana, if Lilo were to say it. :)

Good night!

ROOT-y TOOTy SCRAP

ROOT-y

Two visits to the dentist down, 1 or 2 more to go! Today's session wasn't too bad. Gone were the humongous syringes of anaesthesia, and no x-rays to be taken today. The dentist took out the temporary filling she had put in last week, and started cleaning and scraping the canals of my tooth.

Turns out each tooth we have has 3 canals....and because the nerve of this particular tooth was exposed, causing my tooth to hurt REALLY bad, a root canal had to be done. The dentist had inserted a piece of rolled up cotton dipped in some medicine/antibiotic into the canals of my tooth. Today she took that out and SNIFFED it! Eeeww! I asked her if it was stinky and she said, "surprisingly, no!" and proceeded to stick the piece of cotton in front of my nose. Oooookay. But I did take a sniff and nope, no nasty gross smell, but just the smell of the medicine she had put a week ago. The anals of my tooth are actually clean, yeah! Hehehehe.

Inserting those coiled springy thingamajiggies into my tooth again, I heard scraping and scratching but didn't feel a thing. The dentist promised that my tooth wouldn't be hurting this week at all. Crossing my fingers that it happens the way she describes it!

TOOT-y

I'm tootin' the fact that I'm in a magazine that came out today! Woot woot! No, not scrapping related, but more baby-related hehehe. It's called Baby Mag, and no they don't have an online version nor have I scanned in the couple of pages it has on me. Titled Paddle Parenting, it's under the Working Mother section.....and it just focuses on how we influenced the kids to be involved in sports because *we* were involved in sports. It came out pretty nice and I thanked Ditas, the writer, for making me sound so fun, so FIT (!!!) and such an awesome Mama!

I'm going to buy copies tomorrow so I can show off, hehehe. You can bet that those couple of pages will be framed! :) Yes, I'm going to try and scan them or take a pic of them as proof that I'm famous (sort of, lol!)

SCRAP

And I got a page done just now!

FALSE EYELASHES

Off to bed now...to read :)

I am 39 Today!

Must be a sign of getting old....or maybe just mellowing down? I had a good day today: woke up 9ish, showered unhurriedly, and went to the office because we were having first Wednesday mass. Mass by Fr Benny at 1215, lunch at the office. I *was* going to do some backing up of scrapping files, but somehow I didn't have time to do that.....Japa and I left the office around 3 pm. And went straight to the parlor. I wanted to get my hands and feet done and I did: I had a wonderful, relaxing time getting my manicure and pedicure and I felt nice and ladylike with my french tips (which actually looked fake since my nails are sooooo long now!---I'm preserving them until Rod and Zhar's wedding of course!)

Then home to veg out a bit. It was nice to sit on the couch with Japa, watching TV--first time I've watched TV in a week or so, hehehe! I had a sudden urge to go to Xocolat to have a sinfully-calorific laden cup of thick bittersweet hot chocolate.....so we waited for the kids to come home from swimming before heading over. We (except Ranger who didn't want to leave his damned Mario Kart!!!) had a blast just being together; I guess I miss out just going out with Japa and the kids. I mean, I LOVE my family to death, especially when we go out and just eat eat EAT, but it is nice to be quiet for a change, hahahahaha!

I know, I know...you family members are reading this and saying what the heck but this is my blog and my birthday, so there! :) You know I love you guys!

Anyway, just because, here are 39 very random things that you may or may NOT know about me:

1. I have attempted to read the dictionary from start to finish before--attempted being the key word, since I did not finish it, hahahaha

2. When I read books, I must have complete silence when possible.

3. I am deathly afraid of the ocean (underneath).

4. I have a steel rod (that may not have melted since it was done oh-so-long-ago) in my left arm when I had an operation for a fracture.

5. My left arm is stronger than my right, even if I am right-handed.

6. I cannot bike standing up, no matter how hard I try...even those spin bikes won't do it for me!

7. I have run a half-marathon, in the LA Marathon in the 1980 something, when I ran with our crew coach so he'd have a running buddy.

8. I detest running, but only did it because of crew.....and just so I wouldn't end up being last in team standings.

9. Every time a new Harry Potter book comes out, I read the entire series to "set the stage" for when I read the latest book.

10. I have always wanted a second name.

11. I hate my real name :)

12. I've always wanted to take voice lessons.

13. I would love to play the violin or the flute someday.

14. I used to play the piano and the organ.

15. I've always wanted to be a redhead.

16. I *hate* waiting. For anyone, or anything.

17. I've always wanted 6 kids...I have 4 kids now and have had 2 miscarriages before getting pregnant with my 4th baby.

18. I had wanted to wear Mom's old wedding dress when I got married...but of course that was physically impossible as she had a 24-inch waist and that was the exact size of ONE of my thighs, hahahahaha!

19. When I was younger (12 and below if I remember correctly), Mom would have a new dress MADE for me every single week. Sometimes I had 2 dresses a week.

***man, I'm ONLY halfway through?!?!? Didn't think it was going to be hard to think of all these random things!***

20. If it were up to me, I'd dress in capris, jeans, and tee shirts every single day.

21. I wore a skimpy bikini (one I used when I went on my honeymoon) when I was 4 months pregnant with Rogan. Yes, I already had stretch marks on my belly from Raegan. :)

22. My nursing bras would make a nice snug cap for Boydee (who has the smallest head among all of us!)

23. Japa and I decided on a wedding date after taking into consideration when the Dragon Boat World Championships were going to be (they were in June, we got married in July).

24. I have enjoyed science fiction books and have the Star Wars series and the Dragonlance series as proof.

25. Despite 4 kids, I have never owned a copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting---I always borrowed Elizza's, hehehe.

26. I looooooove everything and anything Disney, especially the amusement parks in California and in Florida.

27. One of my dreams is to take my family on a Disney cruise (while the kids are still kids).

28. Going on a hot-balloon ride is still on my bucket list, as is driving a forklift or a semi-truck.

29. I hate Filipino food with a passion. It would be my LAST choice to pick when thinking of a restaurant to go to.

30. Give me Mexican and Italian food any given day!

31. I have gotten drunk twice in my lifetime; one of those times I puked on the street. Then I said never again, obviously!

32. I drank 22 shots of tequila in an hour to "catch up" to a friend because Japa and I arrived late at her party.

33. I've always wanted to learn how to ski (or snowboard).

34. I hate helpless, whining, totally dependent women.

35. I've always wanted to see the aurora borealis in person.

36. I hate sharks and rats. If I were to have to face them as a contestant on Fear Factor, no amount of money would help....I'd most likely quit right there and then.

37. I've done crew, sculling, dragon boat, and outrigger.

38. I love to read.

39. I used to do cross-stitch.

Whew! That was not easy at all! haaahaha!

Happy Birthday to me.....and to Boydee! :) Love you, bro!

On a Scrapping Roll!

After a few hours doing work at home (!!!), I actually scrapped today. A lot!!! Very productive day, crossing out several CT kits that have been used. Yeah!

BEST BUDS
GLAMOR GIRLS
LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES

And oh-so early this morning, I even finished another book! This one I was glad to be done with. Very slow moving plot, and too descriptive for my taste. It was a tad bit boring, and the title didn't really quite make any sense...until the middle of the book. And then when the concept was sort of introduced, it ended there. Eh! Nothing I would recommend. This is going back to Elizza stat, hahahaha.

A short summary: Kim Edwards's stunning family drama evokes the spirit of Sue Miller and Alice Sebold, articulating every mother?s silent fear: what would happen if you lost your child and she grew up without you? In 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins, he immediately recognizes that one of them has Down Syndrome and makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and to keep her birth a secret. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own.

On to the next book! If you look to the right of my blog, my bookshelf shows books on my nightstand....to be read with relish! :) I'm going through the entire Jodie Picoult series, I think, since I like the way she writes. I'm also on the lookout for the Twilight series; it's a teen's book, but I've heard some great reviews about it....and it's always out of stock now! Gotta go to those out-of-the way bookstores to see if they carry it. Another book that's on my list is A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, an Oprah book-of-the-month club recommendation.

So it's been a good week so far, reading and scrapping wise. Hoping to continue this trend the rest of the month until I'm able to catch up on all CT requirements (and then some!) !!! :)

Now, I have to get home to the kiddos!

I am Reading Again!

Whoohoohoo!!! I have been reading again, starting the past few days. And it is just wonderful to be holding and turning the pages of a novel! I forgot how relaxing, how a story can just take me to a different place, a different time. Ahhhhh......I love books, I love reading!

I finished reading PS, I Love You by Cecilia Ahern a few days ago and I've been reading voraciously ever since.

A short summary: PS, I Love You follows the engaging, witty, and occasionally sappy reawakening of Holly, a young Irish widow who must put her life back together after she loses her husband Gerry to a brain tumor. Ahern, the twentysomething daughter of Ireland's prime minister, has discovered a clever and original twist to the Moving On After Death concept made famous by novelists and screenwriters alike--Gerry has left Holly a series of letters designed to help her face the year ahead and carry on with her life. As the novel takes readers through the seasons (and through Gerry's monthly directives), we watch as Holly finds a new job, takes a holiday to Spain with her girlfriends, and sorts through her beloved husband's belongings. Accompanying Holly throughout the healing process is a cast of friends and family members who add as much to the novel's success as Holly's own tale of survival. In fact, it is these supporting character's mini-dramas that make PS, I Love You more than just another superficial tearjerker with the obligatory episode at a karaoke bar. Ahern shows real talent for capturing the essence of an interaction between friends and foes alike; even if Holly's circle of friends does resemble the gang from Bridget Jones a bit too neatly to ignore (her best friend is even called Sharon).

Not a bad book; it was enjoyable for the most part, until the end. Hehehe. I know, I know. But for me, if the end isn't a great one, then it makes the book a so-so book. So yes, this one's a so-so book. Would I read it again, maybe, if there was nothing else to read. For a light, no-thinking read, this should be ok. But if I had a choice, I'd probably pick something else.

Not only have I been reading, I actually SCRAPPED today!! So double TOOT for me today!!!

GALERIES LAFAYETTE

I'm going to have to speed scrap soon, to catch up on all my CT requirements!!! But man, it felt sooooo good to open up Photoshop for something other than wedding stuff! :)

TTFN!

Last of the Wedding Pics

Yes, heave a sigh of relief. This is probably the LAST day I'm going to be uploading pics of the Ruby Anniversary. It's time to actually SCRAP these photos and a TON more, not just upload them to the ole blog! I'm hoping those who weren't able to come to the celebration more or less can see what they missed, hahahahahaha! But truly, it was a wonderful FUN night; I had fun doing all the dances and all through the countless changes we did in between numbers with a minute or 2 at the most!

The TANGO

The finale: Boogie Wonderland

It was a fun day, a fun night. All the stress melted away when we were on the dance floor. All the practices, all the worries we had in the days, weeks, leading to the 27th were all erased as we simply danced and had FUN. That was the best part. :)

Now, to think of what to be uploading in the next few days, hehehe. I have GOT to scrap!!!

Cary Fitting and Performance Photos

We went to have our fitting for our Cary Santiago gowns. And they were just GORGEOUS!!! No, I won't upload a photo here because I look positively FAT in the photo Zhar took! Hehehehe. Rodney did say I looked pretty good (whoohoohooo!!!), considering Cary used up 18 meters of fabric on my gown alone! Bwahahahahaha! He is known for his laser cuts and shags (?) and he did not disappoint! Everything was just drop dead gorgeous! His gown made me look pretty good, if I do say so myself......with the exception of the damn arms, of course! Aaaargh! With all our discussion on WHAT to do with my arms, I don't even know what he's going to end up doing! Oh well. We'll just see in about 3 days when he makes some adjustments to our gowns and sends them here from Cebu. Can't wait!

Before more pics of the reception, I have some great news!!! I'm going to be August-guesting for Rachel Young again! Yeah!!! Thanks for the opportunity, Rachel!!! Now, I'm crossing my fingers that I *can* scrap SOON, what with everything happening at the same time. Again. :)

Ok, on to the photos...

Here's our stage:

No, that's no stereo cabinet behind those pillars. We had a control booth on the upper level, on the left, complete with light controls. :) Pros, eh? Hehehe. Our theme for the night was Hollywood...kinda looks like the Chinese Mann Theater, don't you think? Sort of.

Program Proper:

This is a medley from GREASE

cool shot of Rodney

the kiddos going all out

yes, that's a very pregnant Mavie in the center there, hamming it up for the sake of the dance!
the guys in Greased Lightning, totally lip-synching it, too! LOL!

everyone during the final cut of the medley
Next up was the theme from James Bond. Yes, that's Tito Rey there, a last-minute fill in for Randy, who arrived the morning of the wedding. He did a fab job, as did the other Bond boys, Carlo and RJ.
and Mom's angels plus Avic and Monique dancing sexily
This was the best Shake Your Groove Thang pic I had. This is Mavie and RJ.
Then it was Stayin' Alive.
Boydee was THE performer, as he totally hammed it up for everyone.

The angels were great in Dancing Queen, showing off their still-sexy bods

The PACEM priests brought the house down with their YMCA (Mom and Dad NEVER expected the fathers and brothers to be up onstage dancing!)

Whew! That's a LOT of photos! The performance isn't done yet though! Come back tomorrow, hehehe!

It's August!

Where *are* the days going?!? And how come they're moving so fast?! Yikes! I can't believe August is upon us; I guess too many things were all happening at the same time this past month, the month just flew by. And from the looks of things, it's not going to get any easier, too! There's still Rod and Zhar's wedding in mid-August, along with the fittings, the hours of shopping for gifts, shoes, what-nots, the soltera, the shower, the stag party, the wedding rehearsal.......and it's my birthday month, along with Boydee and Zhar too! So who said anything about us getting a breather after the Ruby Anniversary celebration?!?

Lai and I were in the office when we both suddenly remembered that it was fiesta time over at Fr. Benny's parish, in Magallanes. Ooookay.....and we weren't exactly dressed to go to a semi-formal event! So around 3ish, we hurried home to change. I dragged Ranger along as my date, since Japa was in Malaysia. Surprisingly, Ranger, came along; he usually just likes to stay at home playing Mario Kart :)

We all then converged upon St Alphonsus Parish Church to attend mass and a "salu-salo" afterwards. The food was ok, and I loved the bibingka with the freshly grated coconut. Ranger had a plateful of baked macaroni. We were eventually able to get seated at a table, after chowing down on some food at cocktail tables. And soon after we had a photo opp with Cardinal Rosales, we left. .....to go to another restaurant since the dang boys were still hungry!!! Aaargh! And I'm trying to lose more weight BEFORE the wedding!!!! Sigh! Only this family, I tell you!

So we went to Yu Jinn, a favorite Japanese restaurant of Randy and Stella. I stuck to my guns and didn't eat a thing, except for a bit of tempura ice cream that Ranger didn't want, and a banana shake. I did pretty well actually. Ranger, on the other hand, lured by Dic with talk of tempura (pampura, he calls it), inhaled 4 of the steaming tempura. And promptly fell asleep.

If Japa could see me now, hehehe. Another night out for me when he isn't here :) Oh well. It just so happened that there was some thing to go to......*wink*

Ok, some more Ruby Anniversary pics, this time AT THE RECEPTION:

The ballroom

The centerpieces, arranged beautifully by Tony Rodriguez. Note the crystals in the vases and the red tealights on the mirrored table center to reflect shades of reds...

And the GORGEOUS (and yummy!) cake by Michelle Hechanova. Five tiers of fondant covered cream cheese pound cake with strawberry (or was it raspberry?) filling....Yes, gain the ten pounds now, even as you read it, hehehe. We were so scared the cake was going to fall, especially during the cake cutting ceremony, but it remained steadfast and did not budge!

Zooming in closer to see the ginormous strawberries that Michelle stuck in the sides of the cake. Don't they make the entire cake look even more luscious? Oh, and yes, they were dipped in white chocolate! :)

Speaking of chocolate, I was disappointed ---and pissed at the waiters!--- for giving away that tiny tier at the top...Michelle had made that a DARK CHOCOLATE one for Bang and me because we prefer the REAL chocolate (hehehe). Michelle had given strict orders that that tier was to be given to the presidential table....but the stupid waiters apparently did not understand English!!! Grrrr!!! Oh well. Good thing the entire cake was good and I did have my dessert; I also gorged on the chocolated dipped strawberries to satisfy my *need* for chocolate :)

And those gave me the energy and the sugar high I needed to dance onstage with the rest of the family! Hahahahaha! THOSE pictures will be uploaded tomorrow! :)

TTFN!

Root Canal

Ugh. Can you believe? Spur of the moment visit to the dentist turned into a necessary root canal of all things!!! My tooth had been hurting the past couple of days; it wasn't the run of the mill kind of hurt that would go away with flossing or gargling or thoroughly brushing my teeth. It was this teeth-gnashing, irritating OUCHIE, gnawing that was just killing me!

So first thing this morning, I bounded into the dentist's clinic and sat in the chair. And opened my mouth wide. Turns out that this particular tooth was the SAME one that had been bugging me since *2001* (!!!) and that *HAD* been due for a root canal all those years ago!!! Grrrr! But the pain had gone away and of course I avoided a root canal like the sane, logical person I was!

Fast forward to 7 years later and here I am, seated at the same clinic, having the dentist tap at the exact same tooth. Ouch! She scraped the filling and the gross, GAPING and DEEP hole (#($*&(&%*@($) was in my tooth; I could feel it with my tongue!!! Aaaargh! This was soooooo NOT good!!! Anyhoo, after agreeing to have the danged root canal done just to get rid of the infernal toothache, 2 injections of anaesthesia with these foot-long GINORMOUS stainless steel syringes, I was feeling no pain and was falling asleep with my mouth wide open.

Hehehee. The poor dentist was having to instruct me every so often "open wide!" Oh well. At least I got a nap out of the whole exercise. Sigh! I could literally FEEL the dentist SCRUBBING the innards of my tooth canal with these tightly coiled springy things to sterilize and clean the inside. Oooookay. Then she put on some temporary filling to tide me over for a week. With final instructions of NOT chewing on that side for 24 hours, I was done.

***

On a lighter note, here's an AVP that Japa had made for the Ruby Anniversary. He spent hours poring over photos hunched over his laptop. The result? One of the best videos ever. And that's with NO bias tainting the praise either, lol!

Sit back, relax, grab a cuppa joe. You're going to LOVE this!



***tooth by Jacque Larsen

.