part threes

may 21

ryan asked me out for movies & dinner. we met at eastwood libis & reserved seats for shrek 3. we then headed to the jack's loft for dinner. i ordered their caesar seafood salad while he got the beef pot pie & some pasta. for dessert, we ordered the vanilla ice cream-filled eclair w/c we were able to eat only a quarter of so we had to have it packed & left at the resto for picking up in a few hours.

a shot at the jack's loft

we were at the cinemas on time for shrek 3. we immediately had to separate ways after the movies since ryan had to run to work by 9pm so i just went home. oh, about the movie, it rocked funny! as usual.

may 28

it's dad & mom's day again. *:)

ryan fetched us from home round noon. he had set a movie date once again, this time for the third installment of pirates of the caribbean, at world's end.

we brought rayne with us & would drop her off to her lola's for a visit. beforehand, we ate at the old spaghetti house at banawe w/ our kid. i ordered the simplest pesto pasta & ryan had a spaghetti alfredo which by the way was sooo delicious! we had a mud pie for dessert.

shot at the old spaghetti house

our daughter recently received a stuffed frog backpack from her ninang maricel as a late christmas gift. i had my baby wear the bag that day & she was so adorable watching her actually showing off the new bag to anyone who'd take notice!

after lunch we dropped her to her lola's which was just 5 mins away from the restaurant then headed straight to eastwood libis again for pirates. we reserved for 2 seats ofcourse & stayed at starbucks below the mall for some coffee while we wait for the start of the next screening of pirates.

afterwards we took some shots outside where an exhibit for er, pirates, was on display.
we picked up our daughter after & went home for more movies, on dvd.

naomi bognot's christening

may 20

a few weeks back, i had been invited to the christening of naomi nicole bognot. my kumpareng oned & his wife len, ryan's friends & also neighbors whom he had neglected to see for almost a year, born a baby girl a month ago. they didn't have ryan's # so the multiple invites were sent to me instead. i couldn't provide any acknowledgement other than a question if the couple had a girl or a boy due to the fact that ryan & myself were still separated at that time.

but as foretold, at my latest blog post, ryan & myself were already eager to make amends so a follow up rendesvous would be good for the relationship. i asked him about the event. we agreed eventually to attend the christening for another reason, so her ninongs, who apparently are all of ryan's friends & guests to the occasion, could see our doting daughter once again.

we weren't able to attend the actual baptismal at the sto. domingo church so we went directly to the shangrila restaurant at west avenue for the reception. the hosts waited for all the guests to arrive & by noon the food was served.

we left an hour after lunch coz our daughter was ready for her noon-time siesta...which she spent at our car. we visited her lola after, went to sm fairview again for a few more bonding moments w/ our child, stopped by ever for some dvd movies & took out starbucks' frappes on the way home.

father & daughter photos:

shot at shangrila restaurant

shot at starbucks

mom's day with dad?

may 15, a day after the elections

miracles do happen *:)

rayne's dad asked us out for a post mother's day celebration. he brought us to sm fairview. unfortunately for him, i was awfully cranky that day coz i just came from my graveyard shift & had not slept at all. gladly enough, he had learned to be very submissive of my crankiness & finished the day w/ me w/o those fierce arguments.

we ate at chef de angelo. here's a suggestion, buy their new tuna pesto pasta, it's so delish! ryan bought me a slice of cheesecake as well which always partnered every meal we took at that resto. *memories! haha*

we took our daughter to the play spaces inside the mall but i had to pull her out from the amusement center before time was up coz aside from my baby having pooed in her diapers, i was so ready to close me eyes & sleep.

me baby photos:

we passed by don antonio to buy a few new dvd movies before going home. ryan got 'turistas' & 'an epic movie' for myself.

i slept when ryan left at 5pm.

american idol champ

jordin sparks is the 17 year old winner of this year's american idol and daughter of former NFL cornerback phillippi sparks. congratulations!

but her fame has become a feast for criticism, mainly because she is..well, big? a website commented that she is as huge as an Amazon girl & too obese???

here's a statement from a disgruntled blogger in quote "when I look at jordin, what I see is a heart disease, I see diabetes, I see high cholesterol."

hey dude, shut up. she's got what it takes to be the american idol, fat or not. all i heard was a derogatory statement from a computer geek who hides behind pseudo-names, oh you know, a hopeless who auditioned for american idol & yapped to shut up by simon cowell after just 2 lines?

unless you want your idol to look like nicole richie?

a day with the mothers

may 13

i woke up & found more than 10 messages in my phone of mother's day greeting's. my mom, myself & my sister greeted each other in the morning. it struck me once again that i am a mother, has been for 2 years, & will forever be a part of this celebration.

it was a very busy day ahead of me. after lunch, i fulfilled my promise to my niece nicole. i brought her to sm fairvew to shop together w/ her sister trisha. when we got home by 7pm, the rest of the family were already dressed for our dinner out for our mom's day. we did some grocery first at puregold tandang sora. here's a shot of my daughter & nieces:nicole, with all her will & faith, have started walking by herself w/o crutches nor guidance from anyone. we are intensely praying & hoping that she can begin her normal life as a 10 year old child very soon.

anyhow, we shopped at puregold for 2 hours filling our carts like panic buyers. good thing dad shared the expenses with me. ian, his son & sam, who's another mother, followed after for the dinner. after loading our goodies in our pickup, we went in the luk foo restaurant just beside the grocery.

dad ordered a meal package. having dined there for the first time, we were surprised by the deluge of viands set by the waiters at our long table. every entree was delectable in the eyes as well as the taste. fortunately again, dad shared the costs w/ me. *:)

twas the best moms' day ever.

out & about

may 5

took out my girlfriend alex in the evening, all expense paid..hihi. had kabab for dinner then to kalye juan over at tomas morato for drinks. we ordered 'zombie', our first ever hard drink out. finished a pitcher together w/ some cheese sticks & green mango {we're mangga & bagoong lovers} then to starbucks to unwind some more. got myself my fave coffee jelly frappe & a java chip frappe for her. we called it a night by 3am.

may 11

half of our 14.5 bonus at work has finally arrived. was able to pay overdue internet, phone & credit card bills.

may 12

took my baby to her pedia for her quarterly immunity shots. went to sm north with nicole & my daughter's nanny afterwards. i promised nicole some shopping but lack of sleep & being not able to contain my kid's naughtiness, i called it a day after taking lunch at shakey's & swore again to my niece to go to the mall the next day to hold on to my initial promise.

held on to my promise to myself as well of an overlong siesta when we got back home.

noc office inauguration

may 2

our british boss made sure the new noc office receives its much needed attention. he scheduled an inauguration day. he invited all the call center managers, assistants & team leads from the makati & sta. rosa callcenters, vendors, our VP & carriers from the US etc. bouquets of flowers lavished the inside & outside of our office door. balloons were strung to our office tables. the caterer served pasta & finger foods. 4 huge lechons c/o the vendors were chopped & served as well. a priest arrived to bless the office space & 1 peso coins were scattered all over the place as well.

a meeting with the VP was scheduled in the afternoon. i was invited to join, bringing to the table inputs from my team. the aim of the meet was to present suggestions on benefits, salary adjustments, work comfort, & ofcourse, our grievances. the VP took down notes & responded very carefully to each of our concerns so we won't get deluded by any unkept promises management would later commit.

may 4

a follow-up party, ofcourse, was booked at the makati republic bar for the noc office inauguration. fun fun fun!!!

elevation

april 23

came to work, did my usual duty as a senior helpdesk analyst & magic administrator. the bosses were having several meetings. everyone was becoming anxious. at 10pm, my supervisor called my attention, held me inside the conference room, then dropped the bomb. "you have been promoted to a NOC supervisor". whooah!!! wasn't expecting that!

ecstatic? yes. why not? higher pay, a favorable career path, free parking pass, superiority..etc.. but the timing? nothing to be very enthusiastic about. there's an ongoing salary realignment in the global technology employees, causing alot of chaos & retaliation amongst the group. we already lost 2 exceptional employees due to the fact & more upcoming resignations. how could i gratify myself from this new position if my team is understaffed & those who are left are less motivated to do their work?

oh well....good luck to myself....

family bonding @ grotto vista

april 28

my brother ian set an outing for his kid & gf & invited us as well. i came from my graveyard shift, i slept for a few hours after i came home. my dad woke me up after lunch confirming the outing. surprisingly, the whole family did prepare. food was packed already. i still had time to pack clothes for myself & my kid. i drove the pick up while my bro drove the SUV. my dad decided to spend the day at the grotto vista, well, again.

we went home before 10pm.

here are some photos:

family bonding @ rizal

april 21-22

the whole family {excluding my bro} set a visit our grandmother at our father's side's ancestral province at rizal, nueva ecjia. april 22 marked the fiesta as well so food was overflowing during our overnight stay. our grandma, whom we call 'nanay', cooked every meal my father would yearn served everyday at our dinner table. nanay welcomed our visit w/ a lechon, dinuguan, kilawin, papaitan, leche flan, gelatin, baskets of fruits and more. we all plunged in for the food, especially the lechon right after we stepped out of the mini-coaster. well, we travelled for more than 5 hours w/o any stop overs for food that's why.

it was my daughter's first lengthy journey.

after multiple rounds from visiting the dinner table, the kids entertained themselves w/ the playstation 2. my father & the rest of the adult men celebrated through hard drinks at the balcony, my mom & some of my aunts went to see a beauty pageant & ballroom dancing at the baranggay during the evening whilst myself, my ate, cousins & nieces bonded at the sala playing over the PC game called 'mystery files' at my dad's laptop.

my cousins & myself pleasured ourselves at the terrace during the late night, listening over mike's PSP on his collection of dane cook's hilarious antics. that went on until 4 in the morning.

the next day was no different, there was still a deluge of food at nanay's table. after brunch, my baby enjoyed swimming w/ her cousin nik at a make-shift pool nanay set for them. in the afternoon, we visited our tita's newly renovated house a mile away from nanay's to again, feast on their table. we went back to nanay's an hour later, packed our stuff & went home before nightfall.

the mini-coaster's cooler broke so we had our windows open during the journey home. my niece nicole lost her favorite pillow when she accidentally threw it out the window while playing with her sis. she initially reacted as if nothing had happened which surprised everybody so we decided to just leave it at the road, but in a few minutes, she started crying, begging & hollering out to everyone to turn the bus around for her pillow. everyone of us tried our hardest to make her stop crying {her heart condition does not allow heavy emotions or she may experience another stroke}. we promised her a starbucks bear along the way. we stopped by the petron gas station along the highway & purchased her an expensive starbucks signature bear to alleviate her longing for 'er favorite pillow. each of us enjoyed our own frappes as well. we got home before 10pm.

here are some photos: