some christmas happenings

and so another christmas gone by with not much hoolabaloo...ibang iba talaga pasko sa pilipinas - inuumaga kakakain at kakainom. but since nandito kami sa amerika, we have to adapt to their style of celebrating it which is not bad naman. it's just that you can't help miss the kind of celebration na kinalakihan mo...the food, the gifts, the get-togethers, the noise of my pamangkins, san mig light, isaw, lechon, sopas.....at madami pang iba!

anyways, here's a recap of how our christmas went...

dec. 24 (noon) - dell took us to rowland heights and he talked about his humble beginnings. we drove by the apartment where their family first lived, the park where he used to play some hoops and the jack in the box where he first worked. on the way back, we decided to pass by marshall's since we needed to buy a gift for our lunch party tomorrow. then we headed home since his sister prepared some lunch for the family. it was sumptuous...we stuffed ourselves with korean bbq beef, grilled veggies (bell pepper, zucchinis and portabello mushrooms) and some greens.

dec. 24 (evening) - we first went to our friend's house in NorCo to have dinner. it's also her mom's birthday so their whole clan was there. and my gulay, they have a great dane named Pumpkin which is bigger than Inigo, a chihuahua named Cooper and another dog (his breed escapes my mind) named ChoCho. they're all cuties and Inigo enjoyed running after them. we only stayed till 8:30pm and then we headed off to Irvine for our other commitment.

the travel wasn't that bad because we took the toll express. ang bilis pero we spent $5 just for toll fee. then as soon as we exited the freeway, i drove going to dette's house. Tita Baby served as sopas, pandesal with ham and mayo and tsokolateng pinoy. oh my...it was heaven so i kinda felt homesick again. it reminded me of what we used to eat on christmas eve...ganong ganon ang kinakain namin (because main celebration is on christmas day). we wanted to stay long but Inigo wasn't up for it. he was cranky the whole time so we just opened his gifts and then headed home.

i called my family as soon as i got home. everyone was there except us who are now based here in the US. i talked to my daughter and had to control myself from bawling my heart's out because i miss her terribly. di bale...malapit na anak!!! then we went to bed.

x o x o x o x o

dec. 25 - when everyone else was happily snoozing, i was up at 7am to prepare the adobo =(. i'm quite particular when i cook so i had to wake up early to make sure that i got everything ready and running.

1:00 pm - heading off (with the car smelling of adobo and onions) for the potluck lunch at glady's (dell's cousin) lovely house in anaheim hills; the ignacio siblings and their families were all present plus kuya venjoy and ana. the food was great and all of us couldn't stop eating. after the usual kwentuhans and updates with each other's going ons we decided to play guesstures. it was so fun because we were playing against our partner (ignacios and relatives vs. their partners in life) and guess who won? hahaha US!!! dell was good but I WAS BETTER!!! hahaha...

it was pretty much a great day, with all the little cousins playing. we even tried to capture some kodak moments with all of them together but tough luck...they were all over the place...maybe when they get a little bigger...

we all called it a night at around 9pm since most of them are working the following day. it was indeed one great christmas...not as fun-filled compared to my pinas christmas celebration but close enough because i was with my new family.

till next year.....=)

all i want for christmas

ok ok...according to dell, impossible daw na wala akong gustong matanggap for christmas since i didn't give him any hints what i want dahil unang una - the child support services started garnishing his paycheck; pangalawa - at kasama pa ang spousal support na $500 a month; at pangatlo - we have bills to pay. so ang kapal naman ng mukha ko kung humingi pa ko ng regalo knowing na kanda-kuba na sa kakatrabaho ang aking ever-giving boyfriend para lang maibigay ang hinihingi ng k*pal niyang ex diba? seriously, i have no issues about the child support because that's how it is. ang kinaiinis ko lang is how the ex tries to rob-off dell with his money. sobrang gulang talaga!!!

at kahit ang dami kong nilagay na wishlists on my previous entries, di pa rin ako nag-give in. i know that he wants to be thoughtful by getting me something for christmas. kasi for the past 2 years, may regalo siya sa akin (with matching christmas card pa yan ha). this time papapahingahin ko naman ung credit card nya. medyo over kaskas na rin kaka-online shopping ko for my scrapstuff.

but just in case, he reads this (which is next to impossible since tamad magbasa ng mga blogs yon...), this is what i've been eyeing for the longest time so that i can start baking again...and i want it in red!

now let's talk about my latest obsession...scrapping! lately i have been experiencing scrapper's block. i have so many photos to scrap and more photos for printing. i keep on buying stuff online, have sketches in mind and in my notebook, surfed the net for ideas and yet.....i haven't had any single output! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME PEOPLE? normally when i'm all stressed out (after a whole day of taking care of igi), i go to my scrap stuff and try to make a LO. i don't care if it takes me days to finish them...the LO is what matters most. pero ngayon - NADA! aaargh!!!

so i vowed to myself (well, sort of a new year's resolution) that i will organize my projects accordingly so that i will not be overwhelmed with the growing photos i have in my computer. my first project would be my baby shower album then the birth album. yan ang target ko ngayon so hopefully i stick to it. my only worry is if i can find the cd where i burned those photos and bring it to a kodak printing machine - whew! napressure na naman ata ako =(

growing old

we were in our usual afternoon walk when i saw an old couple walking towards carrows. they're probably in their 80's - the old lady was using a walker while the old man had a cane. but as they walk, the old man's hand was in the old lady's back...you know how a gentleman would lead her lady to the door. i was so touched with the gesture and infact stopped at my track to watch them (inigo was asleep). and as the door opened, the old lady smiled faintly at her husband as they entered the restaurant.

then it got me thinking, would dell and i get to reach that age, still go on a date and lovingly gaze at each other's face kahit na balat b*tlog na daw siya dahil sa wrinkles. would we be able to walk with each other even if one of us needs a walker. or open the door for me as we enter a restaurant.

di naman kaya ako itulak dahil sa kabagalan ko maglakad?

and would his hair and whatever's left of it would turn gray? hahaha

love u buddha jew!!!

some pics to share

we attended a birthday party last sunday and while everyone's busy eating, dell and the kids decided to have a photo shoot. thanks to sean's nikon that all the shots looked great.

hay.....si pat na lang talaga ang kulang =(

beta blogger is the bomb

i'm no techy geek that's why i find it so hard to tinker with my blog. but when i switched my blog to beta...whew! life has been so kind to me...i can play with my template now without messing up the whole look of my blog. it is so easy - i can now add anything in it. woohoo!!!

on a serious note - i am down with the flu. even if i had the flu shot, it didn't work for me. i do get sick this time of the year and i sort of psyched myself to it. i just hope it's gone by christmas eve/day so that i can enjoy all the food prepared on that special day.

will blog a longer one when i feel a little better.

no TiVo yet

we've been here for almost 2 weeks and still tivoless. i feel so out of touch since i don't know what's going on with the world. originally, we wanted to avail of direcTv's mover's program but they don't have any promo that goes with it so we decided to just apply at costco for a new account under my name. there's a $100 rebate, $50 costco giftcard and the usual package that is $49.99/month is only $39.99/month and good for one year. not bad eh? but when they ran my credit, geez...since i haven't build my credit yet, they're asking for a $300 deposit...WTF? so we scratched that out. then D (the sister) said she'll try to put it under her name...kaso naman di naman siya member ng costco. waaaah!!! sayang din kasi the $150 of freebies diba?

so right now, i just watch my fave shows (Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy) at ABC's online tv and just read the news thru the internet. but i do miss my daily dose of bulagaan and updates in the philippines thru 24 oras.

x o x o x o x o x

and since i am glued to the internet most of my idle time, i can't help but go visit my favorite online scrapbook stores. normally, i would just browse and read the product's description and then go to the next item. but this time, i went on a buying binge again...aaargh! but i was still good because i didn't go over my budget though i still can't find the chatterbox paper set i've been eyeing for the longest time. the other week, i was able to buy 3 of their doodling templates and i can't wait to try it for this month's challenge at scrappinmoms. honestly, i don't join the challenge to win but to hone my skills and admire the works of the other members of our egroup. hay naku...i hope i do find the time to take out all of my scrapstuff from the box and start scrapping again. i'm still not done unpacking kasi just looking at the boxes and boxes of dell's clothes and shoes...napapagod na ko =( or call it laziness? hahaha

anyways, i hope to get a cuttlebug, some dies (alphabets), all colors of MM's paint and some shelves for my craft nook before my free shipping membership expires.

pesteng IE

ok sige, wala na naman akong magawa so i changed my blog's template and made a booboo. and i am pissed with our internet connection because i get excellent signal from our room but cannot open IE. so instead of having the luxury of time fixing my template, it is wasted waiting for the next page to show up because it downloads so slooooooooooooooooow! aargh!!!

siya at maglalakad na muna ako sa neighborhood ng lumamig ng konti ang ulo ko...mabisita na rin ung scrapbook store sa kanto namin. =)

x o x o x o x o x

we're back from our daily afternoon walk...un ang bonding naming mag-nanay. from the bank, we went to ralph's and walked in every aisle (un ang form ng exercise ko ngayon) then headed to starbuck's to get myself a venti caramel macchiatto and low fat banana loaf and my darling son his madeleine's(?). then i realized, ang hirap pala magmaniobra ng stroller with one hand. hala...natapon-tapon na yung kalahati ng kape sa kamay ko.....and of course it didn't help that inigo was pulling his socks off so kailangan kong balikan ung isang paa...haaay! but nevertheless, we enjoyed our afternoon walk. it's our way of exploring and familiarizing ourselves with our new world.