rayne turns 2!

rayne's party was definitely hard work & expensive! the decision-making, the budget-planning, negotiations etc.etc. but in the end, everything paid off.

like last year, we celebrated her birthday on november 25th, 2 days after her actual birthday.

the theme: based from her fave cartoon characters, spongebob squarepants & dora the explorer.

first off were the invitation cards, which her dad laid out himself. we had pieces developed at kodak. the tarpaulin, created by her dad & my brother's help. i had it printed out 2 days before the party.

i ordered her cake from someone whom i heard makes real sumptious artistic cakes for any occasion off an internet forum. rayne's cake was a 4-layered cupcake tower w/ a 10" round cake at the top. the toppers? ofcourse spongebob & dora.

the venue, kenny rogers q.avenue w/c surprisingly has a garden venue! i immediately pencil-booked. not only was it conveniently located in the heart of q.c, the place was huge & was hard to miss for the guests.

i got the party perks online as well. i ordered balloons, a spongebob mascot, a bubble machine, a bubble show, hotdog waffles & snowcone food carts, a chocolate fountain & character standees.

luckily i didn't have to worry for a host, kenny rogers already had one, w/o charge. they didn't have to worry about anything but the food, host, tables & chairs. i ordered everything else outside. i bought tons of toys, stationaries, bags, for give aways & game prizes.

the venue was already being prepared as early as 12noon. my daughter's party started at 3pm.

one of rayne's godfather's volunteered to be the official photographer of the party. thank god i didn't have to worry about that.

by 4pm the place was still filling up & the corn dogs & snowcones were gone. my daughter was even late (i went ahead w/ rye to check on the setup). as soon as rayne arrived w/ my dad, mom, sister & nieces, we started w/ a prayer.

soon after, kids were being called out to join the numerous games. right before dinner, spongebob made his appearance w/c evidently made my daughter's day.

pictures here:

on the right was my kumare's son who seemed annoyed by the noisy kids haha
the games

my daughter looked anxious & didn't even smile when the guests were singing her the "happy birthday" song

she got her first new bike from her godmother iris & when she saw it, she never once hesitated to ride it during the party.

she was playing her 'ninong' haha

w/ her lola

ninang alex, mayi, sister anna, cousin mike & her gf rianne


holding a turle stuffed toy from one of her ninongs

the 'spongebob' pandemonium

w/ her former yaya

after dinner we had the bubble show. kids were invited to participate (being inside a soap bubble's one thing).

by 6pm, spongbob had his last 15 min. dance number. a few minutes later we said our thanks & distributed the goody bags to the content little kids.

when we got home i was still floating w/ joy w/ how successful my solo project for rayne's 2nd party was. if i'd still have enough money by her 3rd year, i'll throw her out another one, a much much better one!

last day in the beautiful boracay

everybody woke up earlier this time. we were bound to leave the island by noon so most of us did our own itineraries & enjoyed the rest of the morning dining, swimming & shopping in boracay.

we had our last free breakfast at the resort. i did my last minute shopping for small tokens i can bring home to my loved ones.

we spent our last few hours in the waters.

the last batch of our officemates were bound to boracay that day. they arrival overlapped w/ our stay so both batches were able to enjoy boracay at the same time for a few hours.

we packed our bags & showered before lunch & headed to the port to caticlan on our way home.

free breakfast, henna tattoo, body massage, milkshakes & the congress blast

november 13

the girls woke up earlier than myself. i heard them banging the door of my room several times but i just couldn't wake up! anyhow, as i got up by 9am, i headed outside to find most of them already having breakfast at the resort's restaurant. i took my free meal stub from the receptionist & got myself my first day's meal of 'longsilog' & coffee.

some of us hurriedly went back to our rooms to change. i was still wearing my pajamas when i took my breakfast.
as i got back out, i went along w/ some of my officemates for a little shopping at 'd'mall'. i got myself 2 colorful shell chimes to hang at the end corners of my room to compliment the various hues from my daughter's stuffed animals, blankets, curtain & toys. it was perfect!

right before shopping, we took snapshots at one of the man-made sand castles

after shopping, we found everybody lined up to get their henna tattoos. i went looking for another tattoo stand & fortunately found one isolated & empty & got inked. ofcourse we had to dry up our tattoos for 2 hours so we couldn't get wet yet & went back to 'd'mall' for more shopping. eventually getting hungry, we looked somewhere for a place to eat lunch. by the 2nd day, not everyone was 'all in once place' unlike the day before, so we weren't able to communicate everyone's whereabouts & had to eat in different eateries by different groups. we ate near the market stalls at a place which servers fresh hot 'bulalo'. we ordered several other viands like 'bicol express' , 'pinakbet', ' sizzling gambas' & 'mango salad'. yummy!

getting inked

right beside the 'bulalo eatery', a stall was selling delicacies for 3 pieces for a P100. i bought a few for take-home.

at the beach, allen & pope were already skim boarding & the rest were already swimming so we hurried back to our rooms, changed to our swim wears & dipped in the clear blue waters of boracay. we went out of the waters before dawn, showered up & pampered ourselves more w/ body massages right outside of the resort. we had 1 hour sessions each for P350.

by 8-9pm, we went walking towards the other end of the beach looking for another place for dinner. this time we walked & dined collectively. before we reached our destination, shiela who was walking w/ me received a text message from her boyfriend that the congress hall in quezon city was bombed & that it was all over the news. w/ no luxury of having a television at the beachfront & away from the resort, we were all second-guessing so everybody who brought their cellphones called their loved ones, especially myself. the congress building is just across our subdivision. i called home & they said the blast 'jolted' our house. i stayed on the call & made sure my daughter's in her room & checked anyone who might still be outside, or near congress. fortunately everyone was home except my dad who was somewhere still far from our area & only sent the news to me via sms as well. the bombing killed a congressman & 3 others.

calling home

after the brief stopover, we decided to get dinner at jonah's restaurant which apparently was famous for it's fruit & milk shakes. for dinner, we stuffed ourselves w/ calamares, baked shellfish, chicken & sinigang plus. we were done by 11pm.

posed with my jonah's mocha-peanut milkshake

group pictures!

at the terrace at the room adjacent to my room

wacky shot 'daw'

after dinner at jonah's, we looked out for picture perfect venues & posed!
was high tide at bora. scary.

dining & drinking on white sand

after we all changed to our dry clothes, we went to 'd'mall' again to find someplace to eat for dinner. we spotted an empty seafood resto by the beach & settled in. it was a loong wait for our food to get cooked so those who brought their cameras made sure time wasn't wasted & took pictures of us all.

i bought myself icecream after dinner then we all went looking out for a bar. we chose bom-bom's at station 2 which was actually the coziest we've spotted. huge colorful bean bags around wooden tables were set on the white sand just a feet away from the ocean water. the ocean breeze relaxed everybody accompanied w/ the mellow acoustic reggae music played on their small stage.

we stayed up all night with the girls drinking various mixes of cocktails while the boys hammered themselves w/ heaps & heaps of beers.