Trying to Get Out of Anniversary-Mode

Trying is the key word here. But I'm sitting at my desk, in the office, yawning my head off, still. And to think I slept early last night! It's not hard wresting ourselves out of anniversary-mode. For the longest time, for the past few months, the Ruby Anniversary was all that we thought of, pretty much. Most of our preparations were geared towards this past Sunday. And now. Pshsk. Nothingness.

So, to take a break from the monotony of editing org charts and salary spreadsheets, here are more pictures from the wedding:

The Offerors:

Tito Ricky & Tita Rolette
Tito Kito & Tita Nina
Tito Lito & Tita Rosie
Tito Rey & Tita Tinggoy
Tito Ricky & Tita Paloming
Tito Ji
and Lola Nene, mother of the Bride....looking radiant and regal. Who would say she's 89?!?!

Then some family pics. And you know our family......it was sooooo hard to get some decent pics where EVERYONE looks nice and smiling and actually looking in the exact same direction as everyone in the photo is. Hehehehe. Same thing happens each and every time we attempt to take the "perfect" family picture!

Before I try and completely get out of Anniversay-mode, however, a few heartfelt thank yous and shout outs to the greatest bunch of people ever to come together to make this whole celebration work: our family. It is only family where we discover both our weaknesses AND our strengths. It is only with family that we learn to overcome our weaknesses and build on our strengths. It is with family that we are able to put all our strengths together to make something special, to make something way bigger and way more powerful than each of of us combined, because everything we did was done in the name of love.

So to each and every member of this family, THANK YOU:

To my brothers:

Boydee - for being your obsessive-compulsive self, for setting the bar on dancing with grace and with the necessary hip action, for your acting abilities

Dic - for your Bocelli-likeness in voice and appearance (sort of, hehehe), for your grace and ability to do some major catching up on all the dances, for taking care of the transportation logistics, for dealing with the head waiters

Randy - for making it to the wedding in time (!!!), for gamely practicing in Polaris with only a video to guide you,

Rodney - for doing anniversary stuff even with your wedding looming on the horizon, for softening your body for dancing (hehehe), for doing all the budgeting for the event

To my sisters:

Bang - for your organization skills-a perfect foil for Boydee's OC-ness (thank God!), for your detail-oriented-ness (is that even a word?), for your ability to sweet talk even the priests into dancing

Lai - for your grace and ability to do some major catching up on all the dances, for arranging the food for the practices and at the hotel, for the use of Apitong!!!, for coordinating the make up artists

Stella - for your incredibly powerful voice, for popping out Tyler when you did-to make it to the wedding on time (!!!), for gamely practicing in Polaris with only a video to guide you, for teaching Randy to be graceful as heck despite the short practice time,

Zhar - for cheering on Rod to dance, for keeping up non-stop chatter at Tatang's, for tirelessly arranging invites and the wedding cake, for doing all the anniversary stuff despite your own wedding date coming up soon

and of course to my dear husband:

Japa - for putting up with me through all the practices and the annoying reminders of having to be on time, for taking photos of the entire event, including rehearsals, and most especially, of not complaining of having to take on my weight for that tango finale!!! hehehehe

and me? Heck, this is my blog, so yes, I'm thanking me too: LOLOL! Thank goodness I'm bossy enough to know what the strengths and weaknesses are of the family, for delegating certain things (especially when I was uber lazy to do certain things.....like arranging for food, ugh!) and yes, I'm more of the behind-the-scenes kind of gal, so my forte were pretty much the guest books (with their lovely layouts, I may add, hehehehe) and the art of tirelessly texting people for dance practice once, twice, thrice a week. Let me tell you, I think I've memorized the wonderful texting features of my phones because of this anniversary!