gratitude list 11.08

1 - i had a very busy day at work, but i'm still thankful because i wasn't asked to write anything.
2 - i learned some ways of reconstructing a shirt via video tutorials on youtube. (p.s. i also made a new blog on tumblr. if you're over there. please do follow me here. thanks!)
3 - dinner with the boyfriend after work. also checked out vans x hello kitty at glorietta, which was a bit disappointing. good thing i already have this cute pair from zara. kim also taught me how to sketch today. guess which one was mine? :))

4 - watched ang babae sa septic tank with this big group of old and new friends. (when in doubt, i-elevator na yan!)

5 - spent some bonding time with my nephew in the province and visited my niece who was confined in the hospital due to fever.
6 - these cheap lace trimmings for my diy projects made me so happy, heh.

7 - i finished another diy shirt project, yay!
8 - i had a fun night with my best college friends.

9 - i went to sleep early, yay!
10 - i learned that drinking a glass of cold water after fasting for 12 hours will give you a terrible stomach ache. (tip: if you do this accidentally, take one or two 10mg of buscopan.)
11 - i had some reading time before going to sleep.
12 - it was a sunny friday so i was able to wear my diy tank top for the first time today.
13 - kim and i finally had the chance to check out late night mercato centrale.
14 - kim gave me a drawing of the two of us on our wedding day. it made me teary-eyed, heh.
15 - i've been suffering from this sore throat for two days now and i ended calling my mom to ask what medicine i should take. i always feel like half of the healing is done once my mom knows that i am sick. thank god for moms!
16 - i had to exercise again after two months, aja! i only lasted for 20 minutes of mixed floor and ball pilates routines and jumping jacks though.
17 - banapple dinner with my gs gehls <3


18 - i'm just thankful to be alive...
19 - today is my mom and dad's 33rd wedding anniversary and my niece's 1st birthday. a blessed day, indeed.
20 - my morning was spent watching cartoons and then exercising and playing soccer with my nephew. i am helping him lose weight, heh. i also tutored him in math (pemdas, y'all!), haha. after-lunch was boyfriend-girlfriend time. later in the afternoon, i had a short meet with my long-time friend jeanne at the mall. the night was spent on secret garden marathon at home. thank god for family and friends.
21 - breakfast was pizza, which i bought for my parents' wedding anniversary. lunch was roasted chicken and pork barbecue and then dinner was at shakey's for my niece's 1st birthday party. family day <3 

22 - hello, office! i'm alive!
23 - i was finally able to book tickets for our "unplanned" life-changing trip next month. we're keeping our fingers crossed.
24 - i was able to have the finance and late charge fees of one of my credit cards reversed, yay!
25 - i was finally able to book a hostel for our nine-day vacation, yay!
26 & 27 - spent a rainy weekend in tagaytay for kim's 27th birthday.
28 - my iphone has been restored after a whole day of dormancy.
29 - i was able to go grocery-shopping with kim again! kim has been doing the grocery for me for months now but i love grocery-shopping so i was just so happy i had time to go with him again because it's a holiday. also enjoyed fast and free wi-fi at ucc park cafe. i loved their strawberry waffles!!!

30 - it's holiday again! i went to work later than i normally should because it's allowed on holidays. and i also can't wait for my next paycheck, heh.
31 - we had bonchon for dinner, yay! my simple happiness.

kim's birth month: week 4

celebrating kim's birthday always feels like it's also my birthday because no matter how i try to make him the boss and the happiest birthday boy in the world, he would end up making me even happier.

for the last stretch of his birth month, we spent a rainy weekend in tagaytay. we were really not interested in staying outdoors so we didn't mind the gloomy weather. kim said our togetherness brings sunshine wherever we go.

we love taking road trips because we can decide the wherever's, whatever's and whenever's on the spot. it also gives us time to talk about everything and anything.

for this road trip, i took care of all the expenses as my birthday gift for kim. i could have kidnapped him as a surprise but he has to drive for me so that wouldn't work, heh. we left for tagaytay on friday and our first stop was at paseo de sta rosa. we had lunch at cafe breton.

mandatory birthday boy shot #1:

kim had this huge breton burger,

while i had a chicken run sandwich.

we then headed to tagaytay and checked in at the lee boutique hotel tagaytay. the hotel is relatively new so everything looked nice even though there really is nothing fancy about the place. (tip: if you ever decide to go here, specify that you want a room on the top floor upon reservation. we didn't so we were given a room at the ground floor.)

as you can see, the room is spacious. it was also very neat and i love the comfort room (toilet, shower, bath tub, wide mirror, complete toiletries, towels and robe). the room also has a flat screen cable television, personal refrigerator and mini bar.

there is also free wi-fi!!! that's why, after settling our things, we immediately started planning our singapore itinerary. in between our planning session, we watched the last episode of secret garden and one episode each of hellcats and teen wolf.

around 6 p.m., we decided to go to the cliffhouse, where we took tons of photos of each other. i will not be posting all of them for my readers sake, heh.

mandatory birthday boy shot #2:

we had dinner at buon giorno.

mandatory birthday boy shot #3:

this pumpkin soup is so delicious and perfect for the cold weather.

we also had margherita pizza,

and spinaci ravioli.

the following morning, we had the complimentary breakfast at the hotel, which was nothing fancy (corned beef, fish, sunny side up, java rice, bananas, orange juice).

we had some camwhorage before checking out. sharing this a la family portrait sofa photo, haha!

on our way to batangas, we made a last stop at nuvali and had lunch at italianni's.

mandatory birthday boy shot #4:

we loved these truffle fries,

and herb chicken (good for sharing).

back in batangas, we caught the last full show of cars 2 in 3d at sm city lipa. kim was the noisiest kid in the cinema, lol! the toy story clip before the movie was also funny.

mandatory birthday boy shot #5:

the day was capped off with a drinking session at kim's house. of course, i couldn't join them due to my gastritis so i just sat there and listened to their stories and laughed with them. i watched them get drunk while i cheered tequila, tequila, tequila! *\0/*

aya's 1st birthday party

how time flies so fast! my little niece is now one year old! she had a barney-themed shakey's party last sunday.

of course, there were pizza, pasta, mojos, bread and flowing *non-alcoholic* drinks, and games both for the kids and the adults!

captain shakey's dropped by after the blowing of the candle. (funny side story: i filmed the kids singing a happy birthday to aya but i forgot my digicam was muted so there was no sound! hahaha! *toinks*)

i took a lot of pictures using my brother's dslr so photos are soon to follow.

for now, here are photos from the wacky booth! these are raw photos that i edited via picnik.com. thanks to my hs friend meg, for letting me use her premium account, heh.

with sis and mom <3

with kim :))

family is <3

kim's birth month: week 3

this week was off to a good start with our simple 122nd monthsary celebration.

on wednesday, i tagged kim along to a dinner date with my gs gehls at banapple. it was our first time there and i let kim order for the two of us.

pork something something :))

banoffee :9

we could have gone out on thursday night but i was rushed to the hospital due to severe stomach cramps. i was diagnosed with gastritis. (sorry, baby... babawi ako sa week 4!)

good thing i was feeling better by friday so we were able to go to splash island with his family.

on saturday, we played resident evil on wii. and then had a secret garden marathon after.

122nd monthsary

august 14. kim was on leave so he picked me up from work and then we headed to our favorite pizza place--california pizza kitchen. on our way there, he slipped a folded piece of paper into my bag and it was the first thing i checked when we reached our destination.

ahwww... <3

it was late already so there were no other guests when we got to the glorietta branch. it felt like we had the whole place reserved. at one point, "power of two" was playing in the background while we were eating, sweet. <3

it was a little pass 10 p.m. (and we were halfway through with our food) when four guests came in and occupied the table near one of the televisions which was tuned in to "magandang gabi vice." we couldn't help but watch too and we found ourselves laughing with them from four tables away, haha.

a woman also came in and sat two tables from ours. she was alone and asked for a shot of vodka on the rocks. it made me imagine myself being alone and living in a foreign land. i don't know why that woman was alone but imagining myself in her place made me sad that kim had to comfort me that i will never be alone.

anyway, we had thai chicken satay and white pizza (and iced tea, which worsened my sore throat).

kim's birth month: week 2

on wednesday, we went to starbucks again. we saw this ad along the underpass and of course i had to bully the birthday boy so i could photograph him with it, hehe.

for a change, kim had my usual hot choco while i had chai tea latte because i had a major tummy problem earlier that day. we just talked and talked and talked but at one point kim zoned out while checking the stock quotes so i just read a few pages of "the year of pleasures" by elizabeth berg. we also spent a good deal of our time planning the month ahead, heh.

me, my planner, pink pen and hello kitty stamp set :))

on friday, i let kim chose where and what to eat the whole day. we had mcdo for brunch, toast box for merienda and shakey's (tip: their new burger pizza is a must try!) for dinner. aside from eating, we just spent the day hopping from glorietta to landmark to greenbelt to landmark to glorietta to sm makati, heh. oh, but before everything else, i accompanied kim at tony & jackey so he finally had a haircut, which i think gave him a totoy look, haha.

i love this shelf at toast box,

and my hot choco--better than starbucks'.

on saturday, it was a toss between sm mall of asia and bonifacio global city. we ended going to the latter with the thought of checking out mercato centrale in the evening. we went to market!market! after lunch and after a failed attempt on shopping, i let kim chose where and what to eat for dinner and he chose pizza hut.

as a consolation (for the failed shopping), i got kim a new pair of earphones for his *ancient* samsung corby and a donut wire winder, heh.

after that, we walked to serendra and bonifacio high street. we spent the earlier part of the evening at fully booked. and then by 9 p.m., we were on our way to mercato centrale. we had to wait for about 45 minutes because apparently the market opens at 10 p.m. we just walked around mc depot, passing lexus' showroom, and played with my camera.

taught him how to make a "bokeh"

we were not able to eat a lot because kim ordered lechon and rice so we were full already after that. but i was happy to have quail eggs and corn on the side. and avocado and melon shakes. we'll come back next time and remind kim not to buy something too heavy on the stomach so we can have a real food trip.

by 11 p.m., we called it a day. of course, there has to be a souvenir shot for this first mercato centrale experience so here you go.

we were too happy to catch a bus to edsa at 11:25 p.m.

kim's birth month: week 1

on wednesday, we had some fun-with-art moments at starbucks. i hurt my feet from too much walking and had to use my emergency domo band-aid and upon seeing it kim suddenly thought that his cap can be made into a domo cap. i entertained the idea and offered my ohp pen and correction fluid pen.

et voila!

for a job very well, and cutely, done, i believe he deserves a star and so i pulled out my hello kitty stamp set from my bag and let him choose which design he likes, haha. he chose the biggest one, just like a kindergarten would, haha.

he also drew the two of us on these paper cups before we leave. i just have to take a photo of them because they really looked like the two of us that night.

<<< 333

on saturday, kim bought himself a pre-birthday gift--a varsity jacket from zara, which he offered me to wear while i was chilling...

it fits me well, too ;D

...over a cup of chocolate truffle gelato at gelatissimo! haha. here be a photo of my cup while kim devoured his almost instantly.

we also went book-shopping. kim got just one finance book and read some other books while i hoarded a few titles, including "bunny's fuzzy christmas" for my niece and "the water horse" for my nephew.

we then ate dinner at bonchon before watching rise of the planet of the apes. i had my usual chicken sandwich meal while kim ordered drumsticks with rice.

p.s. kim's hair is screaming "hair cut!!!" so i think i would be suggesting a salon date for week 2.