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:

the kill

What if I wanted to break
Laugh it all off in your face
What would you do?
What if I fell to the floor
Couldn't take all this anymore
What would you do, do, do?

Come, break me down
Bury me, bury me
I am finished with you

What if I wanted to fight
Beg for the rest of my life
What would you do?
You say you wanted more
What are you waiting for
I'm not running from you

Come, break me down
Bury me, bury me
I am finished with you
Look in my eyes
You're killing me, killing me
All I wanted was you

I tried to be someone else
But nothing seemed to change
i know now this is who i really am inside
FINALLY FOUND MYSELF
FIGHTING FOR A CHANCE
I know now, this is who I really am

Come, break me down
Bury me, bury me
I am finished with you, you, you
Look in my eyes
You're killing me, killing me
All I wanted was you
Come, break me down (bury me, bury me)
Break me down (bury me, bury me)
Break me down (bury me, bury me)

What if I wanted to break...?
What if I, what if I, what if I...

healing nicole

last friday, i went to heckle & jeckle w/ my fellow swing shifters after work. freddy aguilar was just across our table so we braved ourselves for a photo.

w/ khaye & freddy aguilar

today, the family brought nicole for a healing/reflection session at the st. bridgette's church near katipunan. there was a mass before 8pm then a healing/blessing at 9pm onwards. nicole may have recovered but she's not able to walk by herself yet & her left arm is very very weak & her left hand couldn't do much. this situation has impaled her from going to school or doing anything on her own. my sister quit her job to give her daughter the much-needed attention. she's still taking meds for her heart round the clock. everybody's still praying hard to help her get through this.

oh, before we went to church, mom took us to the new jollibee store at don antonio after we picked up nicole from her lolo's house. i took this photo of my daughter while munching on a french fry. she's hilarous, and cute too!

my holy week

march 27

bought a new JVC 21" flat television for myself & rayne's ofcourse. it cost me more than my budget because i let myself get swayed by the sweet-talks of the JVC sales rep. it's got cinema surround sound, a detachable booster box & an ECO sensor {auto-adjust brightness dependent on the surrounding's lighting}. way too cool for a tiny room though. got it at 0% interest installment, payment via credit card.

april 2, holy monday

our office moved towers at the same building. we are now located at the 27th floor, 7 floors lower. it is HUGE. the new noc room's 4x bigger than the old one. we have our own pantry complete w/ microwave & toaster ovens, a refrigerator & a sink. a 29" flat screen tv was setup at the corner. the office has 9 wide flat screen tv's at the north wall for our network monitors & ofcourse, cnn, & another flat screen at the conference room. finally, a breathable office for our chaotic life as service desk analysts {amongst others}.

april 5, holy thursday to good friday

workmate lea's parents were out of town during the holy week so we decided to crash her place that night. khaye, april & myself headed to paranaque after our midnight shifts. the booze & chow were free so we didn't bother buying anything along the way. when we got to lea's, she had already started on fundador w/ her younger brother at their porch. we settled ourselves first, ate light dinner, chose which alcohol to drink & joined lea & her brother at the porch. khaye & myself had white wine, april had her mix of sprite & vodka. we babbled about work, sex life, drugs, alcohol, long distance relationships, failed relationships, virginity, gay relationships & what-have-you. it was so fun that everyone was able to 'ya know, speak so candidly about each others' lives & it built a relieving bond between us four girls who just happened to be colleagues at work. we gave up drinking when the sun rose & rested & chatted & gossiped some more at lea's room. we headed home at 10 in the morning. fun fun fun! {pictures to follow}

april 8, easter sunday

woke up late in the afternoon. rayne's pool was laid out at the garage already filled w/ water. i missed her first indoor pool experience. i remember mom waking up but i truly couldn't open my eyes. i was too darn lazy to wake up. so as soon as i got out of bed, i gave rayne my attention & dressed her up for another swim. nicole joined my darling daughter & it's noticeable that rayne's absolutely enjoying the water!

my mom, ate anna & nicole planned to watch a movie & they asked me to drive them to the ever gotesco. earlier, i had plans to take the whole family out to an all-you-can-eat restaurant but my dad was reluctant due to the price it could cost me so he stayed home. my brother was jamming w/ his band at home so he wasn't available either. so i just asked mom, sis, nicole, my 2 cousins, my daughter & her yaya, to go to dinner before the movies. we ate at max's restaurant. i was supposed to go home w/ my daughter since the rest were already going to the movies but her yaya seemed frantic to watch as well! it was impossible to drive home w/ no one else to hold my daughter during the ride so we joined them instead. so there goes my daughter's first movie! ai ai's comedy flick 'ang cute ng ina mo' was the title. the kids loved it.

indoor swimming

hot spring

march 31

the whole family went on an outing to the laguna hot springs. why hot spring on a summer? it was for my niece nicole. apparently, mineral hot spring plus the stones {i forgot what kind} at the pool flooring are therapeutic. we rode our dad's office coaster {the last we've used it was when we went to baguio 6-7 years ago}. both family sides came along including family friends, & my brother & cousin's girlfriends. we rented 3 rooms for our overnight stay. it was so fun especially when my daughter went hysterical because she wanted to dip in the pool again early in the evening {we started the pool after lunch}. oh she loves the water! i couldn't be more proud of her. i often see kids {like myself when i was really young} who couldn't stop crying to their parents to get them out of the pool out of fear from drowning.

here are some pics.

2nd day out in the pool on another pool; card games & beer

w/ our patient nicole; w/ ninong mike

everyone's literally at the pool except me who's taking the picture; my dad monitoring us

my brother ian w/ my daughter; nicole w/ dad

and ofcourse, my lovely daughter enjoying the warm water

we went home before nightfall.