June Round Up

My June 2007 Round Up

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

What with the soltera, Hong Kong trip, wedding and planning our anniversary trip, it was a WONDER that I started --- and finished --- Jodi Picoult's Songs of the Humpback Whale!

A basic summary: Jane runs away from her husband after a major fight. Her daughter goes with her. She writes to her brother who tells her where to go in his next letter, delivered to the Post Office of the next town. This continues until Jane's husband, a well-known oceanographer, finally tracks her down.

This is a pretty deep, complex book. I was very confused with the book having 5 different narrators, not just Jane. It was a chore to have to completely change my reading perspective every chapter, but as I got the hang of it, it wasn't too bad. :) Jodi Picoult explores these 5 characters and how they relate to each other very thoroughly. Then the reader gets to tie everything together. Though not by all means predictable, Songs of the Humpback Whales is most definitely NOT an easy read. Be prepared to spend a few hours delving into this book.

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

We had kiddie movies this month: Meet the Robinsons and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Enjoyable films both, but not sure if it's worth getting the DVD, hehehe. Maybe Meet the Robinsons.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

June 11 - Rogan's 8th birthday. He had THE most brilliant idea for his birthday celebration: Bowling!!! Everyone had a blast at Paeng's Skybowl, especially the kids. And for me? The EASIEST party to (non) prepare! Hehehe.

June 12 - Double celebration here. We had Philippine Independence Day, of course, where we went on this fabulous walking tour by led by Carlos Celdran. AND Rod proposed to Zhar that same night!!!

June 14 - Lola Nene's 88th Birthday! Some trivia: Rogan is exactly 80 years younger than Lola, and I'm exactly 50 years younger than Lola! :)

June 15-17 - All Girls' Hong Kong Trip. Just Mom, Tita B, Bang, Lai and moi. It was a trip where we literally did not do anything BUT eat, shop and sleep. A vicious cycle, but we had so much fun!

June 17 - Father's Day. Scroll down towards the bottom of the post to read about what we did for Father's Day this year.

June 18 - Despedida de Soltera of Stella. Squeezed myself into an old gown, whew! My girls looked beautiful in their too-old-for-them (maybe) dresses, hehehe, and my boys looked very dashing in their barong tagalogs!

June 21 - Birthdays of Tito Lito, Stella, Yuri.

June 22 - Wedding Day of Randy and Stella. Go check out the photo-heavy post! :)


What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

My back's been acting up, as usual. Maybe it's all those hours sitting on a chair doing the chaplets, or all the walking in Hong Kong, maybe even all the scrapping *wink*! Oh but wait, can't have been the latter since I usually scrap on my bed! Hehehe. Yoga has been a lifesaver yet again; I'm actually on week 5 of my 10-week program. Couldn't do a whole lot of yoga the latter part of the month, what with everything that was going on!

Had a major toothache. So bad that I wanted the dentist to pull the effing tooth out, but she wanted to preserve the dang tooth! Ugh! Luckily I listened to her; it was a short, painless procedure :)

Tita San is still in and out of the hospital. We're not sure if things will ever look good for her. :(


What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

Aside from all the birthdays and parties we celebrated this month, we also had:

1. The Sisterhood Challenge - To date, we have done the cover pages and the first month double spreads. I've finished Baptism pages for Raegan only. Like I said, it was a busy month. Sigh!

2. Swimming Competition - The kids competed in Celebrity Sports Plaza where they had a 50-meter pool! For the first time ever, Rogan's time in freestyle was way faster than his Ate's!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Hmmmm.....I always have difficulty completing this part of the Round Up every single month! Well, with all the shopping that I did in Hong Kong, I can't remember everything! I did buy Boydee's birthday gift early....

I also bought Randy and Stella's wedding gift, a 4-inch memory foam mattress with 2 king size pillows. I also got a 6-pack of standard memory foam pillows for us, just because they're hypo-allergenic. Maybe it'll work wonders with the kids' allergies.

Oh! And THE most unusual gift for this month? This one that I gave to Stella for her wedding shower, hehehehe:

What were this month's disappointments?

Tita San's deterioration. She's sometimes a shell of what she used to be; for a lot of times though, remnants of the old Tita San are seen through a smile, a grimace, a look.

What were my accomplishments this month?

My Cebu Album is DONE!!! Ordered through Shutterfly; I just CANNOT wait to get the finished product!

Still earning a bit via my blog, although my (very few!) faithful readers have started to complain that I've got too much advertisement going on, hehehe. I've resolved to cut down on those ads in the future. Maybe *wink*!

I've done a couple more weeks in the Yoga program despite the busy schedule for this month! In fact, I kept doing it even during our trip to Hong Kong!

Anything else noteworthy to record?

Plans are pretty much set for our anniversary trip. We won't be able to make it to Vegas on our date, but we get to go to Hawaii when we accompany Dad there on a layover enroute to Los Angeles. And yes, tickets have been paid for for our East Coast trip as well as reservations confirmed on our RCI exchanges in Virginia and Pennsylvania.

April Layout Count: (a measly) 23!

***End of Round Up***

(This post reconstructed July 23, 2007)