ending july

continuation...

july 22

day out w/ dada & rayne. we went to sm fairview, ate at the conggo grill at the 2nd floor & ordered steak & baked mussels. our daughter, as usual, couldn't sit straight for half an hour so we had to take turns looking after her. at her age, she can eat anything we eat so choosing a restaurant or food chain has been easy unlike before when we always had to choose ones who has mashed potatoes, fries or noodles in their menu. i took some photos while we wait for our orders.

complete fam'ly picture

after lunch we headed to the ace hardware to get rayne's bathroom rubber mats. she slipped in that bathroom floor before while i was bathing her. she suddenly disliked taking a bath in her inflatable 'duck' bath tub. she wouldn't sit & if forced, will make her cry non-stop. anyhow, after we got the mats, we strolled a bit in the mall, got starbucks & donuts from go-nuts then drove home. back home, we had a dvd marathon. ryan bought several movies which we watched together that day. we watched 'three', 'vacancy' & 'the prestige' 'til the wee hours of the morning.

july 28

brought my nieces to the trinoma mall for early dinner & shopping! i brought along my darling daughter ofcourse plus mom & sister. we ate at chef de angelo at the small food court located inside the mall. i was craving for their tuna pesto but unfortunately they don't have it on their menu at that branch. after meals i brought my daughter to the play library at the 3rd floor. mom looked after her while my sister & niece nicole shopped at the toys 'r us. myself & trish went to another store to shop for her toy gadget & ended up buying an electronic scheduler/calendar w/ phone set. we went back to rayne after an hour. nicole wanted to play as well so we stayed & strolled the mall for another hour.

rayne's kakulitan shots:

july 31

i felt extreme body pain during the night i didn't go to work this day. i had mild fever & could barely get out of bet so i filed a sick leave. ryan brought me 2 slices of different cakes from mocha blends after work. we watched an anime/manga series which he discovered from a workmate. titled 'death note', apparently popular, so out of curiosity, i watched it with him as well. it's a story of a 'shinagami', japanese for 'death god', who accidentally dropped his notebook, called a 'death note', on earth. it's ownership landed in the hands of a student who eventually used its powers to 'kill' all criminals by writing their names in the notebook, to make the world a 'better place' to live in. creppy huh?

ryan mentioned there was a film about it which we are yet to know where to find. i browsed the internet & apparently there's already a part 2!

harry potter & the perfect lunch

just to catch up on my whereabouts last month:

july 14

finally, ryan took me to the mall of asia. my first moa experience was when the office had a team building. we went ice skating & watched a cartoon at IMAX. this is actually ryan's first. our plan was to have late lunch & watch harry potter's order of the phoenix. the IMAX theater seats were sold-out so we settled with normal seats. we ate at the fish & co. which was superb by the way! i'd recommend it to everyone. it's at the outside corner of one one the buildings near the theater mall. here are some pics while we relished on our 'so-gooooood' meals.

it's a little expensive though, P500+ per plate/order, but i assure no regrets!

then ofcourse the movie...w/c was not exactly as good as everybody expected. the theater seats we got was terrible we had to actually sit at the first row to get a perfect view of the movie!

july 19

rayne's new yaya from the agency wanted to leave so i reserved for another. they gave me an older yaya. she has been staying for almost a month now. filed a half-day at work to meet ryan at eastwood for dinner.

HK panic

mom's hounding me for the hongkong trip treat i promised her since last year. she failed the canada visa interview this year so to help alleviate her frustration, i made a promise to treat her abroad since she has never left the country, ever. she's studying again for a second interview w/c the canadian embassy has yet to schedule.

anyway, cebu pacific dropped prices on airfare so i reserved the lowest fare for september (august was sold-out). i paid via credit card via phone 2nd week of july. by end of july, i got so freakin' mad & felt so badly cheated by the airline. they dropped the airfare prices by 50% as an impromptu marketing strategy. i vented my frustration & anger to the agent i spoke to & eventually asked for a supervisor. it was so unfair for my part coz not only was it 50%, i paid for seats scheduled on very late flights just to get their 'supposed' lowest airfare rate! also, they were advertising in their website & their hotline IVR that customers book their flights early to avail of the lowest rates! eventually, through several debates & disputes & points given w/ the callcenter's team leader, i was suggested to what she said was her 'best' advise, to refund my previous payment, refund fee waived, then book again. downside is, credit card refunds take about 2 months or more so i have to wait til then.

anyhow, i have been browsing the net daily for any travel & shopping tips i can find. been looking for the best but cheapest hotel nearest the shopping districts in HK. i have yet to book for one, deciding whether i'll book through a travel agency who has a disneyland trip on the side. so wish me luck!

reserving was easy, despite my very busy schedule at work. i was still in deep waters with my project last month, expected to please the users so i had to not only expedite but modify alot of the items i've already finished. inbetween, i had to train our techs from the UK on how to use the application, work w/ the application's vendor whose techs are from india, to troubleshoot some of the issues i was running into during the development.

i just went back to the supervisor chair last monday & all's been running smoothly still. gladly enough, i received compliments from my manager on my first day on how i handled, w/ my team ofcourse, a critical outage.

tylord's 3rd birthday bash

another month as a developer. i still had a few items left in my project timeline which i had to finish & polish. i was so proud of myself i exceeded my own expectations in this project that i have done stuff w/c initially appeared technically impossible! anyhow, the 'magic' application w/ all its new features was introduced to the users in the US & UK. gladly enough, almost 90% of the users accepted the new system. the rest were just jabbering about not being able to access it via their firefox or mac browsers. geesh. IE only folks!

july 4

independence day in the US. my manager told me i didn't have to go to work. teehee!!!

july 7

tylord's 3rd birthday celebration.

the celebration was in advance. tylord's birthday was on the next, the 8th. the venue was at the don antonio royale's clubhouse. the presentation was way too neat it appeared like a debutant's birthday bash or a wedding perhaps. the center of the room was where the cake, gifts, give aways were displayed. a huge tarpaulin hang at the north wall w/ tylord's graphically-enhanced picture sitting at the hood of a red ferrari. it was a ferrari birthday themed party. the rest of the walls were embellished with racing flags of varied colors & ofcourse balloons. the host was wearing a red ferrari jacket by which ofcourse the handsome birthday celebrant's attire was as well.

family picture

the event kicked off w/ a crayola coloring contest while the host waited for all the guests to arrive. the line for the face painting was piling up as well. my daughter was so frightened at her turn. she thought she was about to get the needle, probably thinking it was one of her vaccination appointments w/ her pedia haha!

my sis alex came along. my best friend che & her 2 kids arrived an hour later. the room filled up entirely during the reception.

a magic show started after meals. i paid the clowns at my daughter's 1st birthday party to do magic tricks as well w/c when i saw this one at tylord's, proved only to charm babies (who don't even have a grasp of what they are doing). this magic show at tylor'd party deserved claps, 'ahhhhs' and 'wows' from its audience.

anyhow, after tylord blew his cake, sam announced as well that they were celebrating my brother's birthday. his birthday was on the 10th. we packed before 6pm. the party went on for the 'young' adults at the gilligan's bar inside the trinoma mall. alex & myself, followed hours later buying my kid first her new pair of purple crocs. my sister, her bf, my nieces & mom followed before 10pm. we stayed for an hour only coz my brother's & sam's friends had started piling up & we could no longer fit the very long table.

july 8

the prince's actual birth date. sam brought tylord to our house that sunday. ian invited everyone out for dinner & malling at the trinoma. dad asked to be left home to guard the house, as usual. ate anna, aj & my nieces were already at trinoma shopping so we all met inside the mall. we had dinner at the 'chicken inasal' restaurant.

a few shots of bonding moments of my daughter & her cousing tylord. the last 2 pictures where shot when tylord was imitating rayne's blissful & playful shouts *:)

what? where was i last june?

i've been totally busy. workload came like pressure coz i was given, oh wait, i gave myself a timeline to accomplish my project.

project? u may ask. i thought i was a supervisor. yes i still am actually. for a month i did 'supervise', then i was assigned back to develop 'magic'. i was asked to integrate another ticketing system to our 'magic' so we didn't have to use both. simply put but terrifyingly complex & difficult. i had no help, i did the planning, the testing, the programming, developing, & implementation myself!!! that went on for 2 months! and it's finally over! i finished it, efficiently on time, and anyone who should grade me should give me 101%! anyway, lemme enumerate the inbetweens of my 'so-few' happenings this month.

june 8
my sister anna's bday. she turned 33 my gosh! and for those who doesn't know, we were born 3 years apart so that means i'm turning?? stop guessing.

i gave her a gift, for her diet, which seemed so expensive now, so i wasn't able to give her follow ups so she's still fat as a cow. haha! peace sis! love u!

june 9
rayne's flu shot schedule. expensive again. had lunch at the pancake house w/ rye & rayne then to her lola's for a visit.

june 10

was havin' problems w/ rayne's yaya so i had her replaced. i hired a neighbor who applied for the position. that didn't work out. rayne was afraid of her, cried everytime she gets anywhere near her. she was not capable of handling my fragile little baby for a few more days that i've observed her so i fired her eventually.

sorority sisters alex and preggy salie visited. i lent salie my electronic womb song and a few clothes to fit her bulging belly. my best friend sheila's pregnant as well! they are both expecting to give birth on the same dates! and these are 2 of my best friends! wow!

june 12

mom's bday! we didn't celebrate at home. she went to our grandma's to celebrate. there was school and office anyway.

months ago, the hospital where i gave birth to rayne called & advised me that i was expecting a few thousand pesos as refund from philhealth. i went to capitol this day and claimed the check. ryan fetched me from the hospital & we ran into a minor car accident as we were about to leave the vicinity. the car behind us hit us thrice. the driver was apologetic explaining that her car was having engine problems & was just about to send it for repair after she dropped her kid to school behind the hospital. our car didn't have any scratches anyway. the back bumper had an indentation from the main car's body which can be ignored. ryan settled for P500 & let it pass. i sent ryan home & brought the car to work.

june 15

night out with workmates. we went to the makati replublic after we clocked out at midnight, drank a few beers & cocktail then went home.

june 17

father's day! i bought dad cake from red ribbon and shopped at the grocery w/ mom & rayne.

june 27

i took a leave coz my baby was sick.

june 28

rayne was still havin' a flu so we decided to bring her to the doctor. she was just prescribed with the usual meds for her condition. we took her afterwards to her lola's since ryan was on a day off & i had to go to work.

june 29

night out with workmates. the original plan was to bring them to saguijo but the place was jump packed when we got there (we clock out at past midnight), everyone was outside. looked like an mtv event was held inside. so we checked jupiter st. instead, thought of settling for videoke but there were no rooms available. we drove a few blocks later and eventually landed at the strumms bar. good thing we came late, we were no longer charged with the entrance fee of P300.

june 30

rayne's still at her lola's so ryan took me out for a date at the eastwood mall. we watched transformers the movie which was superb by the way. we went to trinoma first hoping to experience the theaters there but the ticket lines for transformers were the longest we have ever seen so we transferred to eastwood hoping to get good seats after we had lunch at heaven & eggs. at the eastwood theaters, we did get reserved seats but we got the ones nearest to the screen. shocks! we enjoyed the movie anyway, then suffered stiff necks after hehehe.

i managed to hire a yaya from an agency this day as well. worth it? let's see.

an ayala mall in the heart of qc

june 3

i had work in the morning & clocked out by 7pm. mom, my daughter & the rest of my relatives invaded the new mall across sm west, trinoma. they messaged me non-stop since the afternoon to fetch them at the mall after work. it is surprisingly huge, in fact, i got lost driving within the area looking for the 2nd floor parking lot.

the facade of trinoma

the play area. an exact replica of glorietta mall's

one of the many parking lots

the core

i was already dead tired when i got there. my friend alex came along as well & met us there. i went looking for them at the top most floor where the arcades are & finally found my daughter strolling along the hallways passing through people, fortunately not getting hurt, like she doesn't give a care in the world. she didn't see me at first but ofcourse when she almost got near where i was standing, i immediately took her or else she'd get lost amongst the crowd at the arcade floor. shortly, we went downstairs to the playground where my daughter was so eager to entertain herself in. there were stuffed animal rides at the middle which was perfect fun for my child. my mom rode w/ her while my friend & myself caught up. we ate at the tokyo tokyo, my treat, for dinner & went home past 9pm.

june 5

due to being dead tired last saturday at my first trip to trinoma, i never really was able to get to anywhere except to where i met my folks & my kid, to the central playground, tokyo tokyo for dinner & to the parking lot. so i asked ryan to bring us there again last tuesday which was both our day off.

it was a whole lot different of a malling experience. i couldn't even compare the mall of asia to trionoma which is equally huge & most of the food chains & restaurants are outside as well, except ofcourse the lack of IMAX in the latter. you'd never find most of the stores in trinoma anywhere else. i honestly felt like i was strolling in an american-built mall (flashbacks when i was in dallas, texas).

we ate at the la maisa for beef/fish & pork steaks paired with a wonderful lemon cake. afterwards we had cold coffee frappes from the coffee bean & tea leaf.

oh, there's a toys r us in trinoma which i thought was amazing, however, most of what they sell are what you'll be able to find in the toy kingdom of sm w/ a few little things you can't...like the umbrella stroller which i was looking for in ages (in exaggeration eheh). ryan bought rayne her pink drumset while i got her the umbrella stroller.

baby was getting a little tired so we went home before nightfall.

rayne's riding a stuffed horse at the toys r us

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?