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‘Life & Living’ Category

  1. The non-OC bride’s guide to getting married: post-wedding thoughts

    February 10, 2009 by ajay

    I was a non-OC bride and just left it to God to make our wedding come true:) Never mind if I singlehandedly took over the planning, coordinating and implementing our wedding. A few months before, hubby made it clear that he was willing to spend on a wedding planner and I said no, we only had a small wedding and I could do it on my own. Never thought it would suck the life out of me, or it would be the cause of some arguments because of my mood swings. “Non-OC” does not always equal “non-stressed out.”

    While it appeared that the major details were already ironed out, it was the last-minute details that got me. I thought I didn’t have decent pics for the bridal preps because instead of facing the make-up artist, I was writing the reception program outline an hour before. My manicure and pedicure was also done four hours before, and on the big day itself, there I was in the bowels of Binondo buying my son’s camisa de chino. I still regret that we weren’t able to print out our missalette, even if a well-meaning friend shared with us theirs.

    Still, all’s well that ends well. Funny how some betrothed couple can fuss and plan 360 days in advance about something that happens only in one day, but that’s the way it is. In our case, it was only 59 days preparation time or so :(
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  2. God made our wedding come true…..

    February 6, 2009 by ajay

    Life is good, we gotta wear shades….

    me in shades

    After what seemed like an eternity of bungles and jumbles, we were finally married in our church, the church of my dreams.

    Binondo Church

    I walked the aisle to the tune of “‘Til There Was You” because that was truly meaningful. Later on, Mr. Z would choose “People Will Say We’re in Love” by Glenn Miller for our first dance.

    Earl-Shots-1363

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  3. Soon to be Mrs. Z

    January 26, 2009 by ajay

    Prenup

    I remember the time when love failed me

    and to be reminded of the present
    where I have someone who’ll think about me and my family
    more than he’ll think about himself.

    It is a nice wonderful feeling

    to experience that just when you think you’ll grow old
    struggling with your seeming emptiness
    someone will come along
    loving you for who, and what, you are.. warts, wrinkles and all

    Prenup

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  4. Litratong Pinoy 41: Asul

    January 16, 2009 by ajay

    The seas of Batanes

    Lumaki akong kaharap lang ang dagat kaya naman ako ay nabibighani kapag nakakakita ng tanawing tulad nito. Natatandaan ko noong ako’s maliit pa, nakikita ko ang mga mandaragat na pumapalaot sa kanilang bangka tuwing umaga. At pag gabi naman, naririnig ko sa aking kwarto ang paghampas ng alon sa mga bato.Too good to be true, pero totoo.

    Masasabi mo ngang malayo na ang narating ko kasi nasa Maynila na ako. Pero ano naman ang panama ng mga naglalakihang mall at gusali ng siyudad sa puting buhangin at malawak na dagat na kinagisnan ko? Kahit wala man gaanong pinagpiyestahan na TV at tsokolate sa paglaki, nakaukit na sa isip ko ang mistulang paraisong kinamulatan na yon.

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  5. Visa Waiver Program: have ESTA, will travel

    January 16, 2009 by ajay

    If you’re a Filipino hard put in getting a visa at the US Embassy, this is not for you. But in case you’re still interested, read on –

    Citizens of countries under the US Visa Waiver Program will now have to make an extra effort to enter the US. This is made possible with the Electronic System for Travel Authorization implemented last January 12 by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Prospective passengers are now required to apply online for travel authorization at least 72 hours before their trip.

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  6. Whoa, 2008…you were such a colorful year!

    January 14, 2009 by ajay

    This year-ender is coming a bit late, since another year is obviously beginning. But it feels poignant to reminisce how full of milestones and pitfalls my 2008 was. For 2009, I can only wish for peace, stability and of course, never-ending love. Best wishes to us all!

    January – New Year, New Dear. My online knight in shining armor flies into town to spend New Year’s with me, and we do so at Sofitel’s New Year Countdown by the bay. Sparks fly, literally. We go on a long drive with the kids to Baguio, and afterwards decide to fly by our twosome to Batanes.

    Little did we know that what awaited us as we struggled to get out of the island-paradise. Our three days and two nights vacation package became eight days and seven nights ‘stranded in no-man’s land’ package. Our travel agency rescues us by wiring money from Manila, since there were limited ATMs, plus Visa & Mastercard were unheard of in the island. In the meantime, we were so tortured waiting for the flights to resume that we joked about going to Taiwan instead, since it was nearer to Batanes than Manila. The much-maligned Asian Spirit would eventually become Zest Air.

    February – A generally quiet month. By the time Valentine’s Day approached, I get accustomed to the wonders of ‘online delivery.’ I reciprocate by posting pics of a meal I prepared for him. At around this time, the Sweetheart wins an online ‘Tell Your Love Story’ Contest :D

    March – More food trips. The family just spends Holy week in Manila. The blogosphere is agog with the expose on the Gucci Gang, and I get to have an interview with Brian Gorrell.

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  7. ‘The Music Coming From The House’ : A Christmas Tale from Paulo Coelho

    December 24, 2008 by ajay

    nativity

    I treasure the email I got last week from one of my favorite authors, Paulo Coelho. He attached a short story which is worth pondering over this Christmas. No matter what our stature is in life, we always have to be ready to welcome our God and our salvation who knocks on our doors, sometimes when we least expect it. Happy Holidays to all of our readers, friends and family!

    The music coming from the house

    Paulo Coelho

    On Christmas Eve, the king invited the prime minister to join him for their usual walk together. He enjoyed seeing the decorations in the streets, but since he didn’t want his subjects to spend too much money on these just to please him, the two men always disguised themselves as traders from some far distant land.

    They walked through the centre of the city, admiring the lights, the Christmas trees, the candles burning on the steps of the houses, the stalls selling gifts, and the men, women and children hurrying off to celebrate a family Christmas around a table laden with food.

    On the way back, they passed through a poorer area, where the atmosphere was quite different. There were no lights, no candles, no delicious smells of food about to be served. There was hardly a soul in the street, and, as he did every year, the king remarked to the prime minister that he really must pay more attention to the poor in his kingdom. The prime minister nodded, knowing that the matter would soon be forgotten again, buried beneath the day-to-day bureaucracy of budgets to be approved and discussions with foreign dignitaries.

    Suddenly, they heard music coming from one of the poorest houses. The hut was so ramshackle and the rotten wooden timbers so full of cracks, that they were able to peer through and see what was happening inside. And what they saw was utterly absurd: an old man in a wheelchair apparently crying, a shaven-headed young woman dancing, and a young man with sad eyes shaking a tambourine and singing a folk song.

    ‘I’m going to find out what they’re up to,’ said the king.

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  8. What is it with birthdays…. and food?

    November 4, 2008 by ajay

    So another year has gone by. You know you’re getting officially getting old in the digital era when friends greet you via Plurk and your Facebook Wall. I haven’t yet reached the great 4-0 but I realized that am already in my midlife. Still have to write my own profound thoughts on the matter. Certainly, what I don’t want to be is to be old and jaded. I may have mellowed considerably, but I still want to view the world with open eyes and pursue my life’s passions with the same excitement as before, if not more.

    One of my life’s passions being food. No way I can celebrate my birthday without it. Some friends and I planned to eat out at the Highlands Steakhouse in Mall of Asia without knowing that they have my favorite prime rib buffet going on. Simply had to have that. Dear Santa would understand if I splurged a little on my birthday, especially as I said before this prime rib was better than secks :P

    Prime rib buffet

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  9. Stress-busters to remember by….

    October 11, 2008 by ajay

    All right, it’s been a stressful week. Dealing with loss can bring a lot of stress, and so does staring at death almost in the face. Rather than stay like this in a daze, I deem it better to answer the Middle Zone Musings’ “What I Learned From...” carnival. Blogging about one’s feelings is therapy, and so are the following stress-busters:

    Elders often tell us to count till 100 before blowing off steam. This is so true, except that am sometimes too impulsive. Other people would call it mind-conditioning. For every one ugly situation facing us, there are 10 other angles to view it differently from. Couldn’t help but be amused that Google has something like the Mail Goggles. Before trying to send mail you might regret, the email-sender is given a mathematical exercise to verify if one’s in the proper state of mind:

    mail_goggles

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  10. The man who snatched my bag… was a policeman!!

    October 8, 2008 by ajay

    As you can see in my Facebook status here, it was an unlucky Monday. I know I’ve been a victim of thievery several times before that I already consider it a form of TITHING :( Somehow, you never expect it to happen again to you and then bam! there goes another one. So that’s what happened to me last Monday in, of all places, the company parking lot. I was just a few steps to my car when a man in a motorcycle very casually grabbed my handbag away from me and sped off. I was at first speechless from shock, but managed to shout “please run after him!!” to nothingness. It was dark, and there were no roving guards. At least the ones who came responded very late :( It was an early Christmas for that snatcher, as he carted away with him an XXXXX amount of cash and three of my high-end gadgets.

    This incident would have a bizarre turn as my officemate told me that she heard on TV how a motorcyle-riding man was apprehended in the same area early this morning, after he tried to snatch again the bag of another woman. And that he was a policeman! The Inquirer story is here.

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