My March

Well, looky here. I can't believe it's the already the second week of March. Actually, I can't believe that it's already March, didn't we just celebrate the holidays?

I'm loving my March so far! At the home front, it's been very happy and fun lately, we're really blessed. We're all excited about Joe's vacation mid-month, and we're glad that he's now a yearling or a third class cadet--that's a second year student for us civilians.

This month, I've also been doing good with my fitness goals. I have a rather ambitious goal for this Lenten season, and I'm well on my way to achieving that by Easter. I've been trying to eat well since Ash Wednesday, but I amped it up at the start of the month by going to the gym after work. I actually went four times last week, and this week I'll aim to go everyday. I'm on a roll! During lunchtime, I now utilize a phrase I didn't really use before: "Half-rice lang po, 'te."I am so getting my sexy back this year!

Has anyone seen Alice in Wonderland yet? I'm a big Tim Burton/Helena Bonham Carter/Johnny Depp fan, so this is something I've been looking forward to since last year. The reviews on my friends' Facebook statuses are mixed, but Abet and I are still looking forward to watching it in 3D. We'll wait for a couple of weeks for a) our paychecks, because we're currently poor; and b) the opening weekend crowd to die down (but it's mainly the former, haha!).

Speaking of movies, I've been "craving" for some movies lately, I'm making Abet download random movies I'd like to watch again: Land Before Time, Fern Gully, The Cutting Edge, Drop Dead Fred, etc. Maybe it's because I'm getting older (aren't we all?), but I want to watch movies from my childhood again.

And speaking of poor, Abet and I have been staying in a lot recently. Weekends are now spent watching movies and TV shows on his laptop instead of going out. We take turns choosing movies. So far he's picked Somewhere in Time, I've chosen The Graduate and Children of Heaven, a beautiful Iranian film about a brother and sister and shoes. We also make the other watch our favorite TV shows: he's now watching How I Met Your Mother and Glee, and last night I watched the pilot of Ed (ancient, I know, but it's his favorite). We just make popcorn with their cool electric popcorn maker. I guess we'll be having more of these tipid movie nights in the next 18 months 20 years.

You know what I'm most looking forward to this month? My boyfriend's birthday! Abet will be turning 29 this year--pwede na nang mag-asawa! :D

Have a good month, y'all!

Father & Son

From That Girl

The long way home

Papa finally got home today after being stranded since Thursday, thank God! It was just supposed to be balikan trip, all he brought with him was leche flan and chocolate muffins for my brother. No thanks to the landslides that blocked Marcos Highway and Kennon Road, he got stuck in Baguio with no change of clothes and no cellphone charger. Still, my dad is a very hard-headed chum and wanted to come home already, especially since Mama just came back from a week in Surigao yesterday. This is the same guy who went up to Baguio in the midst of typhoon Pepeng, after all (while my paranoid office took us home early as a safety precaution--and dropped us off in front of our doorsteps).

And so, my dad is home, safe and warm, but not after three bus rides, one jeepney ride, one van ride, one tricycle ride (12 of them crammed in one tricycle!), and three long, muddy hikes...

the Victory Liner bus from Baguio took them only up to here

damaged road

hiking along the highway

lapuk

boulders along Kennon Road from the landslides

more walking along mud

finally, dry land

this bridge in Pangasinan was impassable...

because it collapsed

Seems like my dad had quite an adventure--and a 12-hour adventure, at that! He's exhausted and is getting a massage as I type. I'm glad that he's as tenacious as he is (he seemed to forget that he's a heart patient, my God!), because if he weren't, he'd still be in Baguio right now, and we'd still be deathly worried.

Anyway, it looks like he enjoyed the way home. Who says baby-boomer dads can't camwhore?

Kalat-kalat.

Mama is in Surigao, Momon is in Cebu, Mimay is in Cavite, Joe is in Baguio, and Papa is en route to Baguio right now. I can't wait for the gang to be all together again.

8 Years in the Making--A Proposal Story

FINALLY, MOMON AND ROS ARE ENGAGED!!! Kudos to my brother Momon for pulling off a most creative proposal!

From Momon's Facebook:

Finally proposed to Ros yesterday. We went back to UP since we had plenty, if not, the majority of memories there as a couple. I prepared a game for her, as a tribute and also to get back at her for giving me a quiz before we became official 8 years ago. Anyway, I tied ribbons in places where we had unique or special memories (like in AS parking lot, where we saw a dead body) and gave her clues where to find it. I gave her a puzzle piece for every ribbon found. Ros loves and has a collection of jigsaw puzzles so I made one out of our favorite picture.

waiting for Ros to start
Momon tied pink ribbons all over campus

and Ros had to find each one

each ribbon was equivalent to a clue to another ribbon and a puzzle piece

CLUE: Dead body| ANSWER: AS Parking Lot
I remember Ros texting me that morning they saw a corpse

lunch at Trellis after the hunt,
where they celebrated their first and second anniversaries

Ros solving the puzzle with the help of their dearest friends

A puzzle of their favorite photo, taken at Puerto Galera

♥Yihee!♥

this made me cry...

the newly-engaged couple

I picked out the ring! :D

Welcome to the family, Ros! Congratulations to you both!

Flowers of Baguio

Actually, these were just inside Fort del Pilar:

--=-=--

I just love Baguio City. The city is so charming with its pine trees, gorgeous mountain views, cool fresh air, picturesque winding roads, quaint restaurants and cafes--and taxi drivers that give you change down to the last peso.

You know what I like most about Baguio?

The fact that my brother is there, of course. :-)

#173 on the list of fun things to do when on sick leave

My nose is congested (if it's not running), it might as well be blackhead-free.

*We miss Joe so bad.*