new years & after

new years eve

after sending my still sick baby to sleep, i went out to our garage & joined the rest for new years dinner & drinks. there was still a quarter left of that cuervo tequila & served it for myself, my cousin & brother. rye took an off that eve (he was on duty christmas eve) & joined us after several hours playing metal gear on ps3. as the clock struck 12mn, i went to check on my daughter which was crying hysterically already due to the loud fireworks outside! i took her to our garage where everybody was & enjoyed watching the fireworks by our neighbors & nearby subdvisions. it rained harder after midnight so the noise from the fireworks died down shortly.

january 2, 2009

we went to our mother-side relatives' house at greenland, marikina for a reunion. my mom's uncle & auntie who are permanently residing in london visited for the holidays. they've been holding parties here & there & giving out tokens to everybody. pictures here:

first time for rayna to ride her new motorbike at the street

she looks like me doesn't she!

january 3, 2009

dad was supposed to bring us kids to the quezon city circle after the party at marikina but rayne's motorbike was suddenly inoperable after charging it's battery. i brought it to the toy kingdom at sm fairview the next morning for a quick repair (a wire got loose), went back home & prepared my daughter for a stroll at the park w/ my sister, nieces & yaya before late afternoon.

christmas 2008

my poor baby daughter was sick all through out the holidays. her doctor did advise that i admit her to the hospital if she continues to not take her meds. giving her meds particularly took a toll on us especially my baby. she'd cry hysterically & vomit afterwards. she shed off alot of weight during th holidays when most of us were putting on christmas weight. gradually, through persistence, she took her meds. she recovered before new years but still with coughs & colds. she's now finally gaining the weight she lost.

in the meantime, we still had the typical/traditional 'de guzman' christmas eve celebration at home. here are some pics:

my sickly baby opening her gift/s; our christmas tree loaded w/ gifts for everybody

munchin' on watermelons, look how thin she got *:(; cousin jolo flashing my gift to him

preparing for noche buena; my baby w/ my cousin mico

dad & tito norbie watching a reply of the pacquiao fight on internet; nik lovin' her knee high osh kosh socks

tita ebeth holding our gifts for her; cousin mike flashing my gift to him

nanay (grandmother) opening our gifts for her; nanay giving out ampao (chinese envelopes w/ money inside) to her apo's (grandchildren).

mom & dad & their gifts

tito norbie & badeth & their gifts

cousin mico & the gifts i gave him; yaya who jumped for joy when she got these gifts i got for her

& the drinking sessions after served w/ vodka cruisers, san mig light, tequila & red wine

receiving on christmas day

here are some of the awesome gifts myself & my rayna got this christmas. thanks to everyone who remembered! i'm not used to getting gifts anymore since i practically became an adult. the only ninong i know alive said i'm earning more than he does now! (not fair!)

a slinky black flower-printed blouse from my sister & nieces

a madilta rag doll from ninang alex a blouse from mayi who dropped by after xmas just to drop off gifts amidst the rain. so sweet!lip gloss & bangle from my lovely sis-in-law sam a fancy (but expensive!) diamond studded ring from ninang alex which she got at prp & a gift to myself, this lovely necklace a cute little shirt for my li'l one from my sister & niecesfrom rayne's ninang

i did mention i got my daughter a motorbike for christmas.

the cat posed pa ha; little bitch sticker courtesy of her ninang irish haha

& my li'l girl on her motorbike. now learning exhibitions hahaha!

giving on christmas day

what makes me most particularly giddy anticipating the christmas season is the gift giving! unlike last year, i had saved enough cash to get a gift for each member of my family, friends & a few officemates.

here's what i got for each of them:

for my parents - wensha spa & wellness gift certificates each. was supposed to get platform sandals for mom at the people are people shop but they ran out of sizes & a polo shirt for dad but noticed that it had been years that we've been giving him the latter so i wanted to make it different & unexpected this time.

for my daughter - i bought the mini-motorcycle she's been craving for everytime we went to the toy kingdom.

for my partner - a couple of shirts & a bag/case for his brand new playstation 3. yeba! exciting except for the fact that the games are uber expensive! ps3's are still unmodifiable as they have just been recently released unlike the ps2 where one can buy 100 peso above pirated games on cd's all over metro manila. we were lucky enough to find a stall at the market market shopping mall for a less than 3k game. good thing we're surrounded with ps3 owners who lent us a handful of games in addition to a couple we purchased.

for my sister - a cutesy pair of red disney infant rubber shoes for my soon-to-arrive nephew.

for nieces trisha & nik - (in addition to cash) a couple of osh kosh knee high printed socks for nik & art-y pair of hip stockings for trish.

for rye's mom, a couple of my uncles & their families - stone wall crosses i got for a very reasonable price at eastwood.

for 6 of my friends at work, sam, alex, saleng, shiela - balls of rose & lavender bath salts from watson.

for my daughter's yaya - a pack of nail polishes & a cologne.

for one of my tita's & my 2 grandmothers - colorful scented candles.

for my brother - 3 t-shirts.

for my boss - bath salts, oil & sponge from watson.

for one of my tita's - a can of danish cookies.

& small tokens each for mga inaanak, cousins & friends' kids.

it never mattered if i was left w/ only a few pesos in my wallet from the shopping when it's time to take out the gifts under the christmas tree & witness the sheer joy i bring to my loved ones when they open their respective gifts. it always felt really good *:)

next post, the gifts my daughter & myself received & with photos this time!

kgb noc xmas party 08

december 13, 2008

the blue leaf

i had an earlier committment, saleng's baby boy miell's 1st birthday at marikina which i'll post next as soon as i get the pictures from her, so my attendance to our department's xmas party was suuper late i was almost teary-eyed while i hastily drove to the venue. i almost did not make it to registration (for the raffle!) hence the drama, gets? especially when there's this gamut of prizes from a game console to a 32" lcd flat screen tv. the tears weren't exactly an exaggeration ok! ehehe

not only did i had to be at a children's party, i also came from a graveyard shift & spent an ample amount of time to bond & have breakfast w/ rye at the pancake house near our place. i woke up 3pm, suppossedly 2pm to give a li'l leeway for hair & make-up. i was only able to insert an extra few mins for a blow-dry...sigh. after which i went to alex' to fetch her & borrowed some of her fancy accessories then drove back home to fetch my daughter & yaya for saleng's son's birthday. the jollibee party started before 5pm & i was supposed to leave 5pm but my daughter was antsy to see the jollibee mascot & we had to at least eat so i stayed for an hour more. i left 6pm (our xmas party registration opened 6pm), sent my daughter & her yaya home, got dressed, put on a thin amateur make-up ahahay then fled to the fort. i arrived before 9pm, the registration closed 9pm, thank God they extended it. after the party, i was no longer sure if all my efforts were worth anything because i only won a P500 sodexho gift certificate! geesshh!!!

anyway, i was surprised to still had sincere fun the entire time. i did mention on my previous post that i was in charge of the entertainment, once again. i was able to successfully & cheaply book (hehe) the juan pablo dream yeyeye!!!

jpd during their 2nd set

jpd here while waiting for their 2nd set my girls plus me

my team

as expected, my british boss extensively enjoyed the band which was my objective in the first place.

the venue was posh, the food was fantastic, the people were fun, everybody won something & the band completely made the night just perfect.

riverpark

i got so excited when my sis-in-law & kumare got a tiangge stall at the riverpark in marikina for the park's annual christmas bazaar. the lease is until next month only.

alex was finally able to market her unique art-y accessories, ones she personally crafts & sam looked clearly delighted everytime she was able to sell a one or 2 of her also unique merchandise of clothes, accessories, figurines & sex toys. yes, sex toys!!! hahaha

watching & helping them sell got me so engrossed i even thought of renting my own stall & have a bodega sale! but ofcourse the yearning got immediately spoiled when my mom gave me a big NO NO. i have work so i won't be able to man the stall 24x7. my sister's pregnant (yes! she's having a boy in 3 more months!), my mom has to tend to my dad when he gets home from work every night & selling would greatly stress her. so i had noone.

setting aside the inggit hehe, i still found time to visit sam & alex' tiangge every after work & enjoyed watching the thick crowd & the ruckus brought about by price negotiations & the hustling & the non-stop touching & not buying (of goods) of those who entered the tiny but fabulous stall of ours (uy nakisali!)

that's alex; that's my back...i brought old clothes to sell which i'm afraid are still not disposed off yet *:(

november 20, 2008
saleng's bday! i went to the tiangge one night & met w/ my lovely friend saleng & brought her a slice of cake for her birthday. we walked to a nearby bar to celebrate after the bazaar closed at 2am. we tried the new infinit alcopop (2.5% alcohol content) & shared a bottle each. we said our goodbyes before 5am. lovin' ya always saleng! mwaaah!

saleng & myself; sam; saleng's brother & his gf