where the moon shines

A very, very dear friend of mine tied the knot with the man who has taught her what true love really means. Mayeen and Angelo, then Psych batchmates, now husband and wife.  

They weren’t together when we were still at the UP. In fact, Mayeen and I only shared one class with Gelo - Psych 180. We would sit very near the door, with the cool wind blowing through PHAn. I remember we’d talk a LOT, mostly Mayeen and myself, with Gelo occasionally joining in. Haha.  

The Officiating Celebrant at their wedding took the time to make his homily truly personal. He talked about the story of their love, and how it was all about waiting. Waiting several years after college before they finally became close as friends, a few months before they officially became a couple, a few more years before the proposal. And then there was the wait for the actual wedding day. 

I am super happy for Mayeen, someone I consider to be one of my very best friends. She has had her fair share of heartaches, but I believe it really was only Gelo whom she gave all her heart to. And though I don’t know Angelo all that much, I know he takes care of her and will continue to do so. 

The wedding was simply yet lovely. The reception was… wonderful. The food was great, and the company was awesome. We invited other N6 blockmates to sit with us at our table, but as it turned out, we should have been the ones to move to theirs, lol! Our table was so far to the back (granted, it was right next to the bar, and very near the food), but we felt left out in some parts of the program . There was pride though in knowing that we had the pleasure of being friends with both the bride and groom, haha. Among us too were the soloists from Church and at the reception, Carla and Pauie.  

I could see how close the couple were with both sides of their growing family. I think it was Angelo’s relatives who danced towards the end of the program. It was nice of them to really take time out to choreograph and practice!  That signalled the start of dancing too, at which point the ladies and I were ready to leave. 

We also made sure that Mayeen and Gelo got their money’s worth for the photo booth! 

Good thing too that this photo booth was available. By the time we were at the reception, my feet were in pain! I hadn’t broken in my new pair of high heeled shoes, so they easily brought me to such misery. Haha! I wasn’t on Paparazzi mode at the reception and took very few photos. It was a good thing that Alfred was with me at the Church and he did his photographer duties. He didn’t join us for the reception anymore, because he had shift very early the next day (3am) and needed to sleep. When I told him about the lechon and the bar though, he regretted leaving early.  

This is the second church wedding in our small circle of friends. Mayeen is the third to get married. I think Pauie will sing at all our weddings, so she’s got at least four more wedding marches to sing to (five, if Raech ever decides to get married in a church). I love these ladies! I miss them so, and I could get used to seeing them a lot, if only we really could. It was fun seeing Maye, Lynne and Carla again too. Except for Maye, I hadn’t seen them since 2002! 

All the best wishes to the newlyweds! They’re flying to their honeymoon tonight, and I wish them a safe flight and a very happy trip. I know they aren’t planning to get pregnant anytime soon, but I do look forward to seeing Mayeen and Gelo with an Ergo baby carrier holding their little one (or two) in the next few years

Sometimes I watch a movie, read a book, or checkout a blog, then I think about what’s it like living somewhere else. I love the Philippines, and I can’t imagine ever calling any other place home. But the thought of the many possibilities and opportunities available overseas just makes we wonder.

I want to walk the streets of New York, and wander into quaint little shops. I’d love to get cozy in little bookshops and find beautiful books to read. I want to experience snow at least once in my life, and not die from the cold. Living somewhere else, if only temporary, I’d like to experience that. And then come back to the comfort of home.

Leaving the Philippines is far from my thoughts, it is visiting other countries that I would love to do. And I’m not talking about a week’s vacation somewhere okay, or a honeymoon type of travel like what I’d imagine one would get if they were given complimentary all inclusive cancun trip/package. It’s experiencing the culture, living there for maybe 4-6 months at a time.  Much like what Elizabeth Gilbert did in Eat, Pray, Love minus the soul-searching.

Of course I wouldn’t want to go anywhere without my beloved. I just hope he shares the same wide-eyed wonder and longing for these type of things (which is short for, I don’t think he’s into this).

Sigh.

Don’t forget the giveaway!

After walking to McDonald’s to meet up for brunch with the boyfriend, we walked to Hi-Top a block over to buy dog food and some brown sugar. I felt like making chocolate chip cookies and though I didn’t look at the recipe I wanted to try, I knew I’d be needing brown sugar.

On the way to the grocery, I saw that the House of Praise was already open. Though I was across the street from the open doorway, I saw the rack of Kids Praise and I was drawn to it.

We went in, then out five minutes later with this:

As a kid, I grew up listening to and singing along with Psalty. How many albums were there? I forgot. But we must have had all of them! Everyone at Sunday School knew the songs and we’d often perform them in the annual shows we’d mount.

I must admit, I still could not help but remember my Aunt when I started listening to this album, but that need not mean sad thoughts.

One of the dreams I’ve had, or one of the things I listed as stuff I’d rather do, may soon start to happen.

I intend to start teaching my nieces and nephews the songs in this album, and if they want to, we’ll mount a mini performance for friends and family. What a wonderful way to learn about Jesus, and cultivate their talents right?  Today our kids, tomorrow Sunday School. Haha.

And what a coincidence too. While I was baking cookies today, I heard the kids singing outside. And they weren’t singing their usual picks – Love Story, Jai Ho, etc – they were singing tunes they learned from Vacation Bible School. Yay!

So I can’t wait til we can start doing this, but I’ve got to map it out first, have some sort of schedule. I hope they’d buy into this, the big girls too.

There’s one thing about going to the hospital alone – the wait time allows me to start or finish a good book.  In April when I started visiting doctors to see what was up with the never ending cold that I had since the year started, I took The Watchmen with me. Many times though, I found myself not being able to concentrate on reading so I only managed a couple of chapters.  This time around, Elizabeth Berg was my chosen company.  I had the book The Year of Pleasures with me when we went to Baler – it appealed to me like a book fit to read while on vacation. I thought about reading while we were on the road but it was impossible with the bumpiness of the ride, and also because I found admiring the view of the countryside a better pastime.  While Alfred was taking a siesta (still at Baler), I was out at the 2nd floor verandah, put my feet up and started to read. But the cool breeze and the lightness of the surroundings just took over me.  I felt that the afternoon was too beautiful to just spend on reading.  So I gathered the kids who were with us  and tried to do something with them instead (right before heading to the water again!).

Today, I finally finished the novel.

I’ve read Berg’s True to Form and Never Change and remembered really being moved by both stories.  I knew what I was in for when I picked this one up.

The Year of Pleasures is about Betta Nolan who lived a very happy life with her husband John. But the novel isn’t about Betta and John really, because the novel starts after his death.  Betta sells their home, and then drives to the midwest in search of a new life.  It’s wonderful how she found her new home, made new friends, but also reconnected with old ones – friends from before she met her late husband.

The book showed me that there is no single proper way to grieve the loss of a loved one. But it’s also a good resource for someone who may be suffering, so that she may find strength and pleasure in everything that happens around her, even in the small things.

It talked to me about dreaming too. And that it’s never too late to pursue something, specially when it is what will make your heart happy and your life full.

It also made me aware of how true it is for some of us women to totally lose ourselves in our relationships. Not lose in the sense that we have no identity, but… That we get too engrossed in our own little couple-world that we shut everyone else out – without meaning to.

It gave me comfort that Betta reconnected with her college roommates whom she hasn’t seen nor heard from in decades. They remained friends, but they never forgot her. It was amazing how they were automatically there for her when she let them know she needed them. No resentment. That’s what true girlfriends are about.

I fell in love with Betta’s house and her new neighborhood. I could live there, I would love to live that life. I love the idea of her quaint shop – What A Woman Wants, though if it was me, I’d setup a pastry shop/bookshop.

But I was also thinking how stupid it was to move in to a new place, all by yourself, and not install an alarms system! I mean Jovani (a character in the book) had a point – what if someone came in through the door and you didn’t hear it? I lived in a quiet neighborhood and I was left on my own a lot of times, even when I was younger. But no matter how safe you feel, it’s still better to be secured. I know that installing alarms systems is not the norm in most Philippine households, but Betta’s in the States – she should know better! Haha.

There are gems of wisdom in the book, but what stuck with me was a line John spoke to Betta – Don’t let your habits become handcuffs.  Just become you’ve been used to something doesn’t mean you can’t do it a different way or have something else entirely.

Sometimes I think about what will happen to me if the boyfriend dies…

Then I was also thinking, having been away from work for three days because of these flu-like symptoms, that I really don’t want to work anymore. And it’s not because I hate work, or that I don’t like what happens at work. No. Because I was actually happy to be at work these past two weeks. Conflicting, aren’t I? Hear me out.  I like what I do there, but I know I could be happier doing something else. So I think that’s what I’m going to work on.  I will prepare my life so that I can leave and do what I really want. It’s going to take a long time to get where I want to be to do this, but I will work on it.  If I can make half my current month’s salary doing what I love to do, I will quit my full time job. Seriously.  I don’t want to wait until a tragedy happens (like in Betta’s case) before I find an excuse to be daring and to live the life I’ve been imagining for myself.

(It’s probably not going to happen, but it’s good to think about these things, you know? Haha)

I just dug through my blog archives, and you know what I’ve found? This book has been on my to-be-read pile since September 2008! Crazy!

Visit the link below to buy the book from Amazon, or to read reviews from others. And if you’ve read it, tell me what you think okay?

So I am quite psyched about the unit improvement, can you tell? I’ve like posted about it how many times in the past several days? Hehe The sad thing though is that I can’t really own the idea for the design because I will have to take budget into consideration. And I still won’t be living there anyway, so we’ll just have it look ready enough to be rented out. 

If I could really have my way about it (or if I was really planning on moving in), I’d choose between having the kitchen area expanded, or just have a home theater feel to the entire unit itself. I mean, there’s got to be space for my oven (which is getting to be farther and farther from my reach), and then ample space for everything else, including a big table. Right? So there’d just be the kitchen, and then the bedroom. If there are guests, there’ll be comfy seating around the dining table.

Or, like I said, we’d take the existing kitchen area but have no dining table; there’d still be a partition for the bedroom, and then the rest of the space would be a home theater. This wouldn’t be my first option because I don’t have money for the equipment anyway. I mean, what’s a home theater without an HDTV LCD/Plasma screen, or projection TV, and bad ass speakers? Ahh. But I saw these home theater sconces that are really quite cute to have. Okay I changed my mind, even if I don’t end up with a home theater, having maybe two sconces like this would create drama for the room wouldn’t it? The contract with the designer includes additional lighting fixtures, maybe we could choose something like this? Although I think what she really meant was lighting fixtures on the ceiling, so I’d probably have to pay extra just to have something like this installed.

The designer said that we can choose the additional fixtures ourselves, I think she actually meant that we’ll have to buy them and then just give it to them for installation. I don’t have a concrete idea of it yet, perhaps we’ll know more on Wednesday. That’s just two days away! She mentioned that she’ll have something for us to take home, the design rendering, to look at. Haha