cool brods




beta epsilon with their families

husband gelio have this brilliant idea for the longest time and a few weeks ago, it has materialized. he organized a mini get together for his engineering college fraternity, the beta epsilon.  contemporaries, families, partners and even the fraternity sweethearts were invited. attendance reached 87. obviously, it was a success! clap! clap! clap! guests got to enjoy the games, raffle, swimming, badminton, lunch and of course the drinking afterwards. event was held at the al fresco side of the rockwell metro club.

venue is perfect for such private gathering. not too small and not too big. pool and courts are just near each other. shower area is clean too. no hassle, really. club membership really has its perks.

this fraternity, the beta epsilon, i am proud of them. i am happy that gelio is part of it. i have known my husband's fraternity brothers since i met him about ten years ago. before, i thought that being part of a fraternity will just make you look "cool" or be part of the "in" crowd. i don't really know the frat's objectives. but this much i can say. they, if not all then most of them, are a true gentlemen. they treat women especially their wife/daughter/sister/mother with respect and trully makes them feel like a queen. they give help in whichever way they can when somebody is in need whether monetary or materially, a referral for a job, when a brod's car broke down, when a brod had a car accident, when one needs to pass a resume, and even when somebody needs marital advice. they are always there. they live life by enjoying simple pleasures such as playing a sport, or playing bridge or poker, or watching a movie or basketball game, or  serenading a girl, or just playing the guitar or jamming. they can have a good time talking or discussing business over a few bottles of beer. i say of these admirable traits because i myself have witnessed it. i don't know if these are being taught in their fraternity. but they are who they are and we are blessed to have known them. and that's COOL enough for me

trying out yoga

i've always wanted to give yoga a try. thanks to my good friend nics who gave me my first taste of yoga when we were vacationing in seoul. and so about a month ago, i saw and purchased a discount coupon for a 5-day yoga class just to try it out. i've had 3 classes already. and i like it a lot. i like for a fact that i don't get to do strenuous activity and yet i sweat more. and i feel that my whole body, arms, legs and even the mind had been stretched to the max! what a workout, right? i believe that inner strength will also be developed through yoga. i need to read more about it since there are different types of yoga. but i think it all teaches about balance, flexibility and strength. right now, i just want to try whatever fits my schedule. feel it and decide later on. me and my friend attends the hot flow yoga. sort of like the bikram yoga wherein we practice yoga in a heated room. in our class, its not really heated, its just that there's no fan or aircon. :) after my 5-day class coupon  expires, i might enroll again for another week. the location is a bit far from where i live though. however, i do want to continue it. there's a bikram yoga class near raya's school. i could attend the class while i wait for raya everytime i bring her to school. suits our schedule and location. its like hitting 2 birds with one stone. let's see.

it is just about money

i've mentioned ealier in this blog that my sister is getting married this coming september. i think i failed to mention the location. it's going to be in hawaii. W-O-W!

i'm sorry but we won't be going :'( it saddens me to decline her invitation. i know i am the sister and it is just right to go. but we tried. fact is, we just don't have the budget for it. i know they announced the wedding a year ago and that i even had a year to save up. it is just not enough. last year was really difficult for us in terms of financial matters. i don't want to go through that again. God has been faithful and He has been providing. for the past months we are ok and i am trying to budget and save for the rainy days. if we have to go through that hardship that we experienced last year, i want to be at least ready.

yes we would love to go. she is family. it might have also serve as a vacation for the 4 of us. an adventure even, since it will be the first plane ride for raya and robin, the first international flight and the first travel wherein the 4 of us are togther. i guess that dream will have to be on hold.

our goal for this  year is to pay our debts. we are slowly doing that. thank you Lord! if we attend the wedding, we will be up to our necks in debts. even if i go alone without husband and the kids, it will still add up to our expenses such as tuition and other bills. to spend US$1,000-US$5,000 to attend a wedding is just not possible for a single-earner family like us.

flying cebu pacific

when i recently had a trip to seoul, it was my first time to take cebu pacific  for my international flight.  i had two local flights before and i think i didn't have problems unlike those we read in emails. well, thank God for that! it trully is a no-frills flight. no free food, no blankets and pillow provided and i heard, not even water. you have to pay if ever you want one of those. that's fine with me. my flight going to seoul was on time. going back, there's just a 30-minute delay which was fine with me since i was late going to the airport. hehe.

there is one thing that isn't quite ok with me. since this is a budget flight, passengers are only allowed 15kg of baggage. i admit that i wasn't able to shop a lot and that my luggage is huge but i was overweight. c'mon! my luggage only contains a few clothes, 3 boxes of choco pie, 2 bottles of kalbi sauce and some knick knacks. i swear thats it. and it reach 22kg! paying the excess baggage is not an option since its too expensive.

anyway, what i realized is that flying cebu pacific is ok for local flights or short flights. also, no shopping! but for people who goes to other countries to shop like in hong kong and vietnam, just choose a different airline who has better service and has a higher capacity for baggage. just book in advance to get a cheaper fare.

thats how it is. you do have to pay for those 'privileges'.

separation anxiety

right before my second daughter robin was born, we bought my first born raya a bed of her own. she was excited of course. happy that she now have her "own" bed. but she slept on it only for a few nights. then went back to sleeping with us after that.  

that bed was just right beside our bed in the room. so it's like 1 whole big bed. when robin was about 6 months old, she used raya's bed up until last week. the kids sleeps like crazy. they move a lot, talk, kick us, roll over and they like to have lots of pillows. its funny. but its getting uncomfortable already especially since they're getting big every day, kick getting harder and it really disturbs our sleep :) 

i think it is time.

so what i did was to put raya's bed in another corner of the room.  i told her to start sleeping there. i put some pillows with nice bedsheets and superhero blanket. we even encouraged her to put stickers on the wall on the side of her bed. i also helped her make a collage of her pictures. now its her corner.

i watch her read a book in her own bed. i was there on my bed on the other side of the room when it hit me. my first born, raya, is now getting big :'( time flies. i was the one pushing hubby to let raya "separate" from us. ako pala ang di pa ready. i wanted to back away from the plan of slowly letting them on their own. we plan on letting them sleep in their own room. but i know it is time. this is another first for me and once again, i didn't know how it is until i am right in that situation. 

in a few months, robin will also have her own bed. up until now, she still is so clingy to me. im used to it. i try to let her be close to her aunts and grammy. i think its going to take a long time before she lets go. and i know, i'll have a hard time too.

and this is just one of the many letting go situations.