jogging mania

for the past 6 months, i've been ranting at how fast my tummy has bulged - and i'm not even pregnant! we're talking about around 8 soon-to-be-retired pairs of pants if i don't do something about it. early retirement. i love those pants. pinatahi ko'ng mga yun sa maxim's tailoring sa paranaque!

i'm not alone in the eliminate-the-bulge issue. sige go go jog na kami ni mike! 30 minute lakad-takbo. that's what we planned to do. here was our first jog ever, pawis and hingal and all.



i bought 1 nike running shirt. kuya insisted that i buy nike shirts, nothing less, so i could have that f na f na get-up. dagdag to the gana factor daw. ikaw na ang fashion consultant!

hindi ko maatim. na bumili ng sangkatutak na 30+ sgd na shirts na papawisan ko lang sa araw-araw. mike and i got these instead from carrefour (a la sm) at 10 sgd each! kuya couldn't take the sight and smell of cheapness. ikaw na ang sosyal! bwahahaha.



progress was good. the runkeeper app is a good motivation tool. you get to keep a record of each run: how far, how long, number of calories. here's mine and i feel good every time i look at it :)



so far, i've got:
- a sprained ankle
- strained knees
- the bulge STILL
- sapilitang pag zip ng pants ko STILL

hehe. bakit hindi? i've been in rest mode for the past 3 weeks? promise, i'll just let my knees heal and i'll run again. maybe i'll take it easier. hey, i love my knees too! kuya sent me some stretching tips and he swears there's no pain after a jog if you stretch properly. ikaw na ang fitness instructor! :) stretch it is!

ang tanong: magamit ko kaya ulit nang maluwalhati ang mga pants ko? :p

flooded

manila was flooded again last night. i called my mom. she asked me to call back, "cat, mamaya na lang. nasa baha kami" ok, i was a bit alarmed, but i know my mom has been through the worst "floods" in her life. a little drizzle like this is probably just sisiw to her.

apparently, they just had to walk through a few meters of knee-deep flood before coming home. that's fine. it could have been worse.

this morning, i saw a tweet from recio and he was describing his worst flood experience during college.

here's mine, and i think it's an infant compared to the bad, bad experiences of others.

it was 1997, i think. it was raining hard in manila and the streets got flooded. mauie and les (my bus mates) and i opted to still board a bus routed to the south despite the flood and the dead traffic. wrong move. it took us about an hour from gokongwei to the university mall! that's like a few 200 steps!

we decided to head back to the school campus because we didn't think traffic will improve. the consequences: wet shoes, wet legs, wet pants, wet feet. not bad, but the thing is, my shoes were blue. and it bled when it got wet. so i had wet - and blue - feet. yay! in fairness royal blue ang shade! :)

we ended up being stranded in the school. i can't remember how and what we ate. i do remember that we initially stayed at the tambayan area and ended up sleeping in one of the classrooms. the next morning, there were still no buses but we eventually got home around noon. sheesh!

the valenzuela flood with liza is another story... and it IS the story! wait lang. nahihilo na ako sa bus. later na lang. bye!

sunset

why is the sun so fascinating?

i got home early one day and i was at the bus stop when i witnessed the sun setting by the ummm buildings and kalsada. and road construction machines. hehehe. that's the best sunset i could see these days. yes, the sun still sets beautifully and gloriously in the midst of life's hustles and (not so) occasional glitches.

tangkilikin natin ang freebies - OMG

at talagang napa OMG ako sa mga pangyayari kagabi. hindi ko maipaliwanag kung paanong ang plano kong ipahinga ang na injure kong paa ay nauwi sa matinding parusa at pagtityagang pumila sa IT fair. OMG talaga. para sa libreng tv!

so it all started when i decided to work from home after having a bad foot after jogging. the plan was to complete some pr forms and sleep early. heto na si general aldwin tumawag... may free na tv raw ang starhub cable kapag new subscription. since our current subscription is under april's name, we have to terminate it and get a new plan under my name. sounds like a witty plan, but here are the glitches:

1. we had to go to suntec because that's where the roadshow is. seriously - masakit ang paa ko!
2. we had to go last night because baka maubos daw ang tvs kung ngayon pa. seriously - 7pm na!
3. seriously - bakit ba seriously ako nang seriously? makaarte lang :p

so we got there at 8:30 pm. we queued, the staff warned us that the processing will take about 2 to 3 hours. seriously?! pero since kailangan namin ng tv sa kwarto. sige tyagaan na itong matindi. we waited for our turn. 120+ customers lang naman ang nakapila. 120+! heto pa:

1. hindi pa kami nagdidinner
2. hindi ka na makakalabas para bumili ng food dahil di ka na makakapasok ulit
3. may katabi kaming annoying, noisy, big (sorry, i just have to say) girl

but we survived! for the love of freebies! what did we get?

1. a new and better channel set
2. a new tv, to be collected after july 11
3. $40 robinsons voucher
4. a disney tumbler for keyla
5. free water. i super appreciate this. this sustained us!



11:30 and it's a done deal. ang isa pang matinding pagkakamali - nag bus 518 kami. at nakarating sa bahay after an hour. dinner was served at 1:00 am - maggi chicken noodles.

susme! anong pangyayari ito sa buhay namin? :)))

cheese sticks :)

meryenda last sunday = cheese sticks love

pros:
- super yumyum
- cheese overload

cons:
- hard to prepare
- hindi nakakabusog

i had more than 5 sticks but these didn't sustain me hahaha!

kung po 3d

watched kung fu panda 2 in 3d last friday. loved it! hilarious! we watched it in golden village in tampines. kuya said cathay cinemas are better so we'll try it next time :)

we were sitting next to 2 girls who were around 9 - 10 yrs old. it was fun because i got to watch a kiddie movie plus witness children's reactions in the purest forms! lulutong ng tawa ang saya! hihihi!

hey, this is our 2nd sg movie date! :) the first one was source code. so this is how it goes when you are together! go go go!

stealth mode

two buildings trying to hide behind some trees. life's like that sometimes. no matter how hard you try to hide, "they" just keep on finding you.

ps: wala akong pinaghuhugutan. i just like the scene, that's all. :)

sharing my room

next tuesday will be a legendary day.  my husband is coming here - FOR GOOD.  i know it isn't easy for him to leave his room, his house, his friends, his car, his family.  it isn't easy taking away your comfort zone.  likewise, it isn't easy taking you away from your comfort zone.  but honey, we have to build our own comfort zone together.  it isn't easy for me too because this is the first time i'm sharing a room (and my life) with a "stranger", you know :) and we both have to adjust and we can't get  there unless we start now.

some 5 months ago, we got married, signed that piece of paper, and lived our separate lives just the same.  now where's the marriage there?  i could say i've had enough of long distance affairs and i'm feeling i'm getting too old for it, life is too short!  let's live our life to the fullest -- being TOGETHER.

here are a few preparations, as you requested:

a mat at the entrance of the door

and a matching one beside the bed so we could wipe off the dust before getting on the bed.  see that bin?  this is where we'll put your socks, as you requested too :)

on this site will rise (hehe) our tv.  it's a tv rack, alright, but it acts as a vanity drawer for now.  tv coming soon, i hope.  now we have to get a new kikay corner.  ps: keyla got all the stuff into a big mess!  it's not me!

a bedside table.  i was hesitant to buy the drawer i found in ikea.  it's a bit small so the table will do for now (batas militar, i know).

a computer/study table.  this one's all for you.  i could do without one, but as you requested, i got you one :) i know the chair's not ergonomically built and we already get backaches just by looking at it.  one by one, we'll get there.

a bench at the foot of the bed.  you said you wanted to have one, so here it is :)  i'm thinking of transferring it to the other side of the bed so we could sit on it when watching tv... let's see.

and the sacred resting place, the bed :)  oh, remember the quilt cover that mama gave us?  the one that's apparently a king size and wouldn't fit our quilt because we have a queen size?  i already altered it and now it fits perfectly! :)

and something to remind us of the happiest day of our lives.  that's an everlasting flower on the background.  got it from the bouquet you gave me the last time you were here.

i know you are sad for now, saying goodbye to your friends and family, saying goodbye to your single life, but beyond that "death" is a new life that we'll build together.  i will forever thank you for the sacrifice.  let's seal it all with a prayer that things will continue to be better.  after all, the best is yet to come.  God makes ALL things beautiful in His time :)

are you ready?  brace yourself!  let's be  A W E S O M E  together, sweetheart! 

byebye, baby tee!

i am such a sentimental freak.  some 6 years ago, i was sent to ohio for a one-month training.  those days were sweet.  weekends were spent visiting other filipino communities or going places or going shopping.  i don't really love shopping.  i rarely shop and i just buy clothes when i need them.  sometimes i need them and i still feel lazy to shop.  yahoo!

but since i was there and shops were everywhere, ok, i got a few items.  and by few, i really mean few!  i could even count the items i bought and i think of them more as souvenirs of good times.

there's this gap baby yellow tee for, ehem, kids - size 10.  i loved this shirt!  i know ate maj also bought one.  i was thinking i should have bought a dozen.  why didn't i?  it's very cute and comfy and fits me perfectly!  i wore it a lot when i went out.

after a few years, my favorite shirt became so losyang because of wear and tear.  she became so losyang that she was embarrassed to be seen in public and just wanted to stay home.  thus, she became a pambahay.

and now... i made a very hard decision... i am about to clean the house and i have no basahan.  baby gap is a very sound candidate because she is the oldest in the bunch.  she even has stretch marks!  poor baby tee.  she will now have a different purpose in life, and that is to make other things squeaky clean.

here is baby tee in her less glorious form.  sniff sniff.

iced green tea

when i was a kid, tang was the known brand for panghimagas orange juice and then came eight o 'clock.  and of course there was nestea iced lemon tea!  everything comes in powder and in tetra packs!  hehe.  nestea iced tea was a wonderful treat at home.  

one hot, summer day, we ran out of nestea (not that it was a staple at home.  as mentioned, it was just a treat.)  papa boiled some water, dumped in a few liption yellow tea bags, some sugar, calamansi, and tons of ice.  and it dawned on my childhood brain that iced tea is simply just "iced" tea!  yes, it was obvious, but i didn't know it was one and the same!  haha ang labo ko.  i was surprised at how it tasted so similar to nestea, and even better!  so there goes the history of how i came to know how iced tea is made. :)  well, the powdered iced tea is another story.

a few weeks ago, we didn't have juice on a hot day.  i used the same ingredients that my papa did, but as we don't have yellow tea, i used green tea.

verdict: hmmm... hindi masarap.  toinks!  

let's just stick to yellow tea, pokka even! :p

life's little surprises

2 weeks ago, we were not at our best.

you were there, i was here.

you think this way, i think otherwise.

you do the most "normal" things, i get upset.

every little thing is foul.

every little thing is magnified.

then i told myself a good movie with good friends is a good thing to do on a good, long weekend.  fine, do your stuff and i'll do mine (plus, i'm really excited over this movie... why not, it's thor!)  when was the last time i watched a movie?  all done, tickets were booked courtesy of elzie.  she even sent us the confirmation number.

then one of the most bizarre things happened.  elzie told us that due to "technical issues", our movie tickets were not booked.  ergo, movie date is cancelled.  fine.  "what about the confirmation number?" i thought.  being the gullible person that i am, i believed.  no doubt, no questions asked.

then came sunday.  i had to go to church alone.  kuya, april, and keyla went to a baby shower party.  i was feeling a little sad hearing mass alone, but i realized a me-time isn't that bad, and in fact it was very good.  i felt very peaceful, very one with my God.  after mass, i roamed around pasir ris west mall and looked for anything interesting i could find.

then i got a phone call from tita.  she was asking me where i was and what time i would be home.  odd, i thought.  tita never calls me, never asks where i am and what time i'll be home.  i told her i'm about 10 minutes away from home.

then i arrived home, the wonderful baby girl greeted me with cheerful shrieks and laughter.  i carried her and we went to my room.

then i found flowers on my bed.  who could be sending me flowers?  i asked tita but she didn't answer.  fine.  maybe those are from kuya.

then i found you at the door, with the biggest smile on your face, the warmest hug in the world, and one of the most priceless moments that halted time.

then i remembered again how you seldom give surprises but the ones that you execute are just the cutest and the sweetest.

then i'm reminded once again that i'm spending the rest of my life with you.  bati na tayo.  fine.  

PS: i missed thor.  it's a connivance.  a pleasant connivance :) life is wonderful.

the saddest place

this is changi mrt station and i think this is the saddest place in singapore.  i only go here when i send someone to the airport.  i started to associate it with sadness because i go and bring a loved one to the airport and i go through the ordeal of taking the mrt all by myself.

the last time was last monday when i had to bring my husband to the airport and, again, i had to be in this place alone when it was time for me to go home.  surprisingly, i wasn't madrama that time.  maybe because sending him away means i am welcoming him soon after 1.5 months - this time for good!  come to momma!

this place isn't so sad after all :)

parang nagbabasa lang ako ng magazine

and linaw linaw mo

para lang akong ano

nagbabasa ba ng magazine

gusto kong ika'y maging akin

yuck ang corny.

pero 'di nga.  nagulat kami ang mura na lang nito.  i think mga 1300 to 1400 na lang sya.  super linaw!

the little girl turns one, the mommy turns 31

april 9 - araw ng kagitingan

april 9 - kaarawan ni april

april 9 - kaarawan ni keyla

wow!  3 wonderful events happening on the same day every year!  how cool!

last year, april's due date fell on the 1st/2nd week of april.  they had a very brilliant idea of inducing her labor on april's birthday.  because of this, the hospital gave them a present: a cake!  and they get to have the pleasure of celebrating their birthdays on the same day, year after year after year after year. :)

i heard some of april's pregnant friends are now considering of inducing labor if the birth month falls on a significant month too.  wow trendsetter!  :)

so the little one turns 1.  but wait, there's more!  the mommy turns 31 too!

next year, the little one will turn 2 and the mommy turns 32!  how poetic.  hehehe.  i love it!

here is keyla's lovely dress and balloons, i was in charge of carrying these.  if i let go of the balloons, the balloons will go to heaven, we also say goodbye to the dress.  hihi.  dead ako.

feelingera mode: on
nakikibirthday mode.  woohoo!


tito mike celebrating with us.  we just had to have a picture with the balloons!
 

and the hats too


thanks to donna for allowing us to celebrate at their place.  here's everybody busy - pumping more balloons and adorning the place.  bhernz and kaloy were the first ones to arrive to help in the preparations.  very helpful :)


keyla's birthday cake!  the baker is a pinay.  a very good pinay.  it wasn't just lovely, it was yummy as well.  i think it tastes like goldilocks choco cake, only it's heavier.


here are the loot bags - not only for kiddies but also for the adults.  chocos inside :)


here's the background of the "stage".  they painstakingly went through thousands and thousands of keyla's pictures to come up with the cutest set.  i wouldn't agree with the last sentence though.  any picture with keyla in it is cute (stage auntie, but hey everybody would agree) :) they printed these on photo paper and the effect was perfect.


pens from divisoria as prizes for the games.  such cute pens!


and hats for everybody!


the little one, probably still unaware of how special this day is, and how special she is, and how special her mother is too.


april is lucky to have good friends who host our parties and organize the games.  donna, roanne, bhernz, noemi, neri are the best and they're always game and alive na alive during parteh partehs.
there were games for kids:


and games for adults too.
easy on the balloons, big boy! :)

easy on the kendeng, papa! :)

here are the ubs people after having a full tank.  :p burp.  wow!  ang galing ko naman magtago ng billbill.  nakakagigill.

and finally, the birthday song and the candle blowing.  a few days before the birthday, we trained keyla to blow her candles.  the best she could muster though was a faint "ha".  pure voice and no air.  haha.  no pressure, little girl!  mommy can blow it for both of you :)

PS: it isn't so obvious here but my tummy is just so yucky and so big!  tita, an ever appreciative mother, said, "hindi naman, mahigpit lang ang damit mo nang konti siguro." awww!  i love mothers!

the version 2 of the camacho family

PS: i love keyla's shoes!  where can i find one for myself?


a dramatic birthday letter to april and keyla:

ever dearest april and keyla,

april, when you came into kuya's life a few years ago, i was so happy to finally see my kuya happy again.  i think i've seen just the surface of him at his lowest point and it was a devastating sight.  i could not gauge how happy he is (and me too) when you finally came around.  i know it's wrong to say that somebody came to fill the missing piece, but you did just that - and more.  i was simply thankful that someone as patient and understanding as you came.  couldn't ask for more.

kuya did not just have a partner, i came to have a sister as well.  i grew up being the only girl in the family but it wasn't even a challenge living with a new girl around.  it was even a blessing and a privilege.  it wasn't hard and it will never be hard to accept you in the family :)  you are the best!

keyla, when you came into our lives, you couldn't imagine how happy we were.  i know i love kids but i couldn't imagine how much i will love you.  when you were born, my first glimpse of you was from your dad's camera.  i cried.  you were so tiny yet i could see a lot of kuya and april in you.  i could even see a tiny part of me in you.  you were a miracle.  you are a special girl.  your first cries were merely kitten meows.  now you are a tiger.  sheesh.

living with you is a blessing.  everyday, i get to see how you learn new things.  i get to see how you grow up to be a playful (that's a subtler way of saying maldita mwehehehe) little girl.  every morning, i get awakened by your babbles (and baby tv) and i know it's time to wake up and play with keyla!  i'm not your mother but i am excited to go home everyday because i know you are there.  i swear i could play with you all day.  i could play with you all my life.

april and keyla, i love you both.

nagmamahal,

ate charo

ps: thanks to kuya's cam, mike's cam, and my phone for the pics.

off to chinatown we went

on mike's 2nd day, we went to chinatown so he could see what's there and take some pictures.  i've been there before to shop for our prenup dresses.  :)  it's pretty much the same as all the other chinatowns - hehe i've only seen manila and NY -  but it's worth visiting :)

i went there wearing this lovely pair of comfy shoes, given by my mother-in-law from the shopping haven, divisoria.  it's hot pink, as you could see, and i got a lot of stares wearing it (maybe i'm just paranoid), but i really, really, really love it!

first things that caught my attention were these oriental-inspired slippers.  we started this slippers/shoes-off scheme at the house and i'm loving it.  kuya isn't.  so to compromise, he will keep all shoes off the floor but he's looking for a nice pambahay tsinelas.  i sent them the pic and asked if he liked it.  he didn't.  k fine.  thanks.

next stop was the chinatown heritage center.  it was rather funny how we bumped into this museum.  we were just looking around when a man approached us and asked if we wanted to go and see the museum for 10SGD.  napakadali naming kausap.  we said yes and went in :p  it was time well spent anyway.  we were able to see a slice of the history of singapore.

the following are pictures taken from the museum.  pretty interesting :)

we learned that by the 1920s, opium was sold OTC.  wow!  here's an old man who seemed so lulong.  goosebumps!  when i was living in the humble barangay of sto. nino, everybody knew drugs were rampant but i never saw someone actually doing it.  might be a scary sight.

not only drugs but brothels were also rampant and there was a time when stds were so widespread!  here is a how a typical brothel looked like.  goosebumps ulit!

i think this is my favorite quote in the museum.  this was one of the early migrant workers.  i think we're talking about early 1900s here.  the caption says, "When we first came here, we thought about making some money and going home.  Then, after some time here, we wanted to work a little longer and a little longer after that.  We forgot about going home altogether."  i feel a lot of the filipinos here could relate.

here is a board showcasing the origin of the chinese family names.  when you turn the blocks, it shows some more information about the family name.  hihihi they look an awful lot like mahjong to me.  :)

i love these windows that also doubled as blinds.  i think i wouldn't want something like this when i get my own home as it doesn't let too much sunlight in but it's just a fascinating thing, the way you can peep without actually opening the windows.  i played with it for a while.

i call this my reverse version.  when you stand at the bottom of the stairs, you could see a timeline of the history of singapore.  there's a chronological order of years and what happened on that particular year.  well, i wasn't that much interested on the year ekek so i just took a picture from the top of the stairs :) what did i attain?  nothing.  hihihi.

ah, this one's nice too.  this is how hawkers looked back then!  if i remember correctly, the first hawkers were a wide array of street food on wheels which were rather unhygienic and for the less privileged classes.  now, when i hear hawker, i think of inexpensive, yummy, authentic foodie!  think of lau pa sat!

spell yummy!  hawker food!

dragon dance!  it was funny how this dragon "mechanically" danced.  it was so stiff and as in literal na may mga kanto ang damoves nya!

hmm, operas were also sikat back then.  when i saw this part, i remember HS: ibong adarna, florante at laura, and how we were so gaga over earl ignacio.  sheesh.  where is he now?

nice structure :)

and this is my 2nd favorite quote.  the migrant workers lived in shophouses, which were shops where they get their means of living and at the same time their homes too.  imagine crammed rooms with work areas and sleeping areas.  there were common toilets.  and toilets = buckets.  what do you do when a bucket gets full?  you empty it.  i wouldn't want to be a bucket collector.  please, no.  thought bubble... if a bucket collector spilled the pupu and the wiwi on the floor of the house, who would clean the mess and how long will the stench remain?  :-S

the common kitchen of a shophouse.  i wasn't shocked.  we could see similar scenes in manila.  :(

and this is a sample of the crammed shophouse.  this is a typical setup during the dark years of sg.  sad to say, we still have this same setup back home.

probably one of the bigger shops.  this is a tailor house.  aha, only the rich can afford to have tailor-made suits back then.  sosyal ka kung nagpapatahi ka ng damit!  now, it's the other way around.  you find a style that you like and you go to your suking mananahi to have your dress cloned.

an old school sewing machine.  awww.  we have this in our paranaque house!  lola, i miss you!

i realize i don't have a picture of the diorama of a shophouse.  it was so realistic!  sayang.

so that's it for the heritage center.  we went out and explored the other streets of chinatown.

here's the hindu temple: 

and what's inside:

and what you have to leave behind before you go in:

we wanted to go in but we were wearing shorts and we weren't sure if you are allowed to go in if you're in shorts.  we didn't ask.

yet another temple, the chinese temple.  i was able to see what's inside during the time mami and wawin visited us a few months ago.  quite interesting.

there's a time to walk.

and a time to eat.

chow time at maxwell hawker center!

crispy noodles yum

chicken rice semi-yum because it's fried.  i like the roasted or steamed style better.

pineapple juice was a little bit weird but yum just the same.  mikey liked it too.  he said the juice base was sugarcane and they just put pineapple tidbits.  i can't recognize the sugarcane taste though.

that concludes the chinatown adventure.

dear mikey,

i'm so looking forward to spending more and more days of going here and there with you.  let's visit every nook and corner!  we'll go places as long as our feet can carry us.  and if the time comes that my feet can't, carry me, will you?  haha donya?!

love,

me