Our Love Story

This is our love story… NOT!! Actually, I just found these old pictures while scanning through my newly fixed laptop and decided to made fun of it. These pictures were taken last 2010 during a photoshoot for our wedding invitation. Our good friend Winston Almendaras of Batang Yagit took these photos and we really had fun during the photo shoot. Anyway, I edited this photo using only my iphone. Cool eh!? I was really bored the other day and decided to explore the photo editing apps in my phone and I came up with this — a Love Story Comic Strip!

Just a dose of sweetness to start your week right. Happy Monday everyone! 😘

Farewell Uncle

One is never prepared for the loss of a loved one..

Last month was a difficult time for the whole family after losing a great person who we loved dearly. We will surely miss our Uncle Nass and we pray that he is happy in the company of our creator. The whole family was complete (cousins from abroad came home) but unfortunately we were reunited because of this tragic happening in the family. Tears were shed and emotions of grief and sorrow embraced everyone who loved our dear uncle. I pray that everyone in the family may surpass this trying time especially my Aunt who lived all her life with my Uncle. She lost not only her husband but her bestfriend and her confidant. May she gain the strength to continue living her life and may she feel that she is not alone. We will really miss you Uncle and all the happy memories we’ve shared with you. I thank you dearly for accepting Andrew as part of the family even though he was still my boyfriend the first time I introduced him to you and thank you for being our “Ninong” during our wedding. We will treasure all the life lessons we’ve learned from you and we will remember you not only as our Uncle but a great mentor.

Farewell Uncle! We, the people who loves you dearly, will really miss you. May you rest in peace in the good hands of our Lord.

Wild Weekly Photo Challenge: Flowers

There are many kinds of Flowers around the world and nature blessed us with an abundant number of these beautiful flowers. These flowers help make the world a beautiful place and brings simple happiness to us. Flowers are just everywhere, there are flowers in your garden, flowers in the pond, flowers hanging from a tree and even flowers in the desert. But my favorite photo of a flower which I was able to capture was that of a flower in an unexpected place… the SKY.

This flower may not be a natural flower but nonetheless, it is still a flower I was able to find outdoor. This pretty flower was a Hot Air Balloon that participated in the 17th Philippine Hot Air Balloon Festival last year. An unusual flower up in the sky that made me appreciate the beauty of a flower in a different way. As it glided up to the cloudless sky in the early morning, this hot air ballon Flower was a beautiful sight to the thousand of spectators looking at it and luckily, I was one of them. 😀

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For this week’s LetBeWild.com’s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers, the Challenge is: Flowers.

Hotel Venezia and My Favorite Hotel Bed

Last month, I finally found my favorite Hotel Bed. Yes, you heard me right, a hotel bed! LOL It’s the most comfy hotel bed with the softest and fluffiest pillows. I could sleep in that bed forever and I certainly wish I could bring it home with me. Haha The bed was my favorite part of our hotel room and for that I give the hotel, Hotel Venezia, a thumbs-up! 👍

• Hotel Venezia’s bed, can I bring you home!? •

Hotel Venezia is a 3-star hotel in Legazpi City, Albay. The hotel is located inside an exclusive village named the Renaissance Gardens and its just a two-minute drive from the Legazpi Airport. We stayed in a Junior Suite Twin Room and I adore the room. Its spacious, with elegant and stylish interior, big LCD Tv, lovely bathroom, a balcony and of course, 2 of the most comfortable beds!

• R playing with the Safe deposit box •

• And that’s me doing a mirror shot! LOL •

Sorry for the bad photos, I wasn’t able to take good pictures because my little boy was busy running around the room and the yaya and I was busy chasing him. *sigh* Anyway, the room was really great, the hotel staff were very friendly and accomodating, breakfast buffet was yummy but hotel food is a bit pricey though. Overall, our stay in Hotel Venezia was great and we will surely come back. I will really miss the hotel bed and we will be back to try and take a dip in the hotel’s swimming pool.

So if you’re looking for a place to stay in your trip to Legazpi City, do checkout Hotel Venezia. You can find out more about the hotel and their wide range of accommodations and facilities in their website here. You can also find more details about Hotel Venezia and easily book a room in this website here. 😀

Keep Calm and Hug Your Child

It’s been 8 days since my last post and as much as I want to write everyday, there’s just a lot of things going through my head. I was also a bit cranky and wasn’t in the mood to write because I was really distracted with all the things that’s been bothering me.

I guess there comes a point in our lives where we feel lost and unsure. A time when you get to think about all the things that you want to do with your life but there’s just something that hinders you from doing so or some things are just not meant to be. I, for once, want to do a lot of things in my life but I don’t know which one to purse or when to start chasing that dream. Wondering what are the things that I want to do!? Well, I want to be a hands-on mom to R but I also want to pursue and have a successful career as a nurse. I guess I miss working in the hospital. I also want to learn baking and eventually start a business with it but before that, I still need to study and take an exam this March for our application for immigration to another country. I really want to travel and explore many places too but I can’t do that if I don’t have enought moolah and with that, I need a job. But if I want to have a job and still be a hands-on mom to R, I need to have a home-based work or start my own business right!? So many things but which one should I choose?

This crossroad in my life made me realize what’s my priority and what I value the most. Being a mom is my priority since family always comes first and my career can wait. I guess I just need to prioritize all those other things and accomplish them one by one. As long as I have my supportive husband and my cute little boy, I know I can surpass all these trouble and life will be better.

So to all Moms who are in a certain crossroad in their lives just like me, just breath and…

Childproofing the Cabinets

Taking care of a 15-month-old toddler is no easy job. R is an energetic kid who loves to dance, walk around the house, play with his toys, grabs anything that catches his attention, put things inside his mouth and play with the kids in our neighborhood. He does all these things just like any other toddler would do. But what scares me the most is his likeness for climbing the stairs and opening cabinets containing things that are unsafe for children.

[ That's R, playing with the cabinet. Silly boy! ]

Two weeks ago, R opened the cabinet where we store our kitchenwares. In a split second, he was able to grab a glass and drop it on the floor breaking the glass into pieces. It scared the hell out of me. Luckily he didn’t hurt himself and he nonchalantly walk away from the cabinet after the incident. But that incident was an eye-opener for me and made me realize that I needed to Childproof the Cabinets to prevent the same incident from happening again.

Childproofing means making things safe for children to prevent tampering or opening by a child. Experts suggest that childproofing your home should start even before your baby arrives and/or when your baby begins to crawl. And when your baby becomes a walker, baby-proofing the house will need some changes.

With R, we did childproof the house but there’s something about cabinets that sparks curiosity with the little boy. But finally, just a week ago I was able to find an answer to this problem — Baby Safety Locks! I’ve been looking for baby safety locks since time immemorial but I only found it a week ago and I’m so glad I found it.

Drawer Safety Lock

Lock Band

Voilà! I found these 2 safety locks in the mall a week ago and my problem was instantly solved. Childproofing the cabinets – CHECK! At first, I was hesitant about these locks because I thought R can just easily pull and break it apart. But to my surprise, these locks were able to withstand R’s constant pulling.

I used the Lock Band for our plastic cabinet where we keep our kitchenwares. The lock band was perfect for the said cabinet because the flexible band fits the curved cabinet door.

For the other cabinet, I used the Drawer Safety Lock. Though the cabinet is not a drawer, the lock still functioned properly without any problem.

The saying that “Locks are a parent’s bestfriend” is indeed true! These safety locks are life savers and will make things easier while taking care of your baby. It made my life a bit easier and I’m sure it’ll make yours too. Thank God for these safety locks!

Since childproofing the cabinets is now out of my list, I’m now left with one more problem and that’s Childproofing the Staircase. I’ve been searching for a Safety Gate for our staircase for a couple of months already but unfortunately I haven’t found one yet. I hope to find one soon and I hope before that happens, R will not get himself into trouble with our staircase. 😰

OOTD: Going To Work Look

Last week, Andrew, my husband sported this highschool boy look for work. Cute, right!? Andrew doesn’t really like dressing up or I guess he does if he notices that I dress up a bit when we go out. Most days, he lets me decide which clothes he’ll wear, which shirt matches with his pants and which shoes to wear. But for this look, he was so proud that he thought of this all by himself. Haha Its an OOTD-worthy look! Good job!

Actually, what inspired him to create this going to work look is his new Adidas shoes. He bought this shoes just a week ago and he couldn’t wait to show it off. And what’s amazing about his shoes? He bought it at a dirt cheap price and it is indeed a good bargain. 😉

His Look | Polo Shirt: Human, Jeans: Wrangler, Shoes: Adidas, Backpack: Samsonite |

A Look at Mount Mayon from Cagsawa Ruins

Last weekend, we went again to Legazpi City in Albay. Legazpi has been our go-to city whenever we want to go to a different mall other than SM which is the only decent mall in Naga City. Well apart from that, we never get tired of going back to Legazpi even though its a 2-hour drive from Naga because we always look forward to seeing the beauty of the majestic Mount Mayon.

[Mount Mayon on a sunny Morning]

Mount Mayon really is one example of God’s perfect creation in nature. Its almost perfect slope will surely amaze you the moment you see this volcano. Known as the most active volcano in the Philippines, Mount Mayon is actually flooded by tourists whenever it erupts because the view as they say, is amazing.

On a normal day and do pray that its a sunny day, you can clearly look at Mount Mayon from the Cagsawa Ruins. This tourist spot in the municipality of Daraga, Albay which is only 8 kms away from the city of Legazpi is the perfect spot to look at the beautiful Mount Mayon and that’s what we actually did last weekend. The Cagsawa Ruins (also spelled as Kagsawa or Cagsaua ), now turned into a park, is a well-visited tourist attraction in Albay and will give the tourists a postcard-worthy view of Mount Mayon. Entrace fee to the Cagsawa Ruins Park is only 10pesos, there are parking slots available and there are little stores inside and outside the park selling refreshments and souvenirs.

Here are some of the photos I took using my phone’s camera during our trip to look at Mount Mayon from the Cagsawa Ruins.

[Me and my 2 Boys]

Its absolutely breathtaking, right? This is the reason why I endure the long drive to Legazpi with a hyper toddler driving me nuts in the front seat. Just looking at Mount Mayon is already a stress-reliever for me. Definitely not the last time we’ll visit Cagsawa Ruins to gaze at Mount Mayon. 😄

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Can’t get enough of Mount Mayon? Look at the winning photo of Mount Mayon that I submitted in a photo challenge that made me an honorable mention winner here. 😀

500 in Instagram

It’s been 48 weeks since I first joined Instagram and yesterday, I uploaded my 500th Instagram picture. Wohoo!! I love Instagram and I am an avid fan. Amidst the ‘Rate Limit Exceeded’ problem I encountered a few months ago which I blogged about here, my relationship with Instagram is pretty good. Instagram has become a part of my daily routine and its the first thing I check online everyday. ☺

I’ve been posting in Instagram almost everyday and it somehow helps me remember the special things that happened in my life. In short, Instagram is my ‘Photo Diary’. My Instagram is a collection of my favorite photos of my family, mostly of my baby Rylee, happy and fun moments, travel, fashion, landscapes and random things. I can basically look at my Instagram and see how my baby Rylee grew up or look at it and be reminded when a certain thing happened. I just hope Instagram wouldn’t die just like Friendster did. 😐

So for 2013, I’m hoping to post more beautiful pictures and be able to share it to the 80 million users of Instagram in the world. I just also wish that Instagram would add more features such as additional filters, frames and other things that would make Instagram more fun. Instagram is already fun and cool but I guess tweaking it a bit would make it even better. 😉

Do check out my Instagram account here and feel free to follow me. You’ll surely be bombarded with cute and adorable pics of my little boy and random pictures from my side of the world. 😀

Davao’s Doggy Pawlour: One Fab Pooch

While we were in Davao for the holidays, Drew and I decided that our little dog Stackee needed some grooming. Stackee is a 2-year-old pure Princess-type, male Shih Tzu and he was our baby before I gave birth to Rylee. He’s Kuya Stackee now. We still love him to bits but unfortunately, we have to leave him to my mother and sister in Davao who can take care of him better. Rylee, our son, is still a little boy and we only have one helper/yaya in the house, it’ll be a little difficult to manage one hyper little boy and a spoiled dog together. Anyway, we’re planning to get Stackee back when Rylee’s a bit older. 😀

[Meet Stackee! 😄]

It was our first time to visit the new “One Fab Pooch Pawlour/ Hotel/ Fitness Club”. We usually bring Stackee for grooming in the old One Fab Pooch, but this time around we decided to personally check out the new one. And we were impressed!

The new One Fab Pooch serves as a doggy Pawlour, a Hotel for your pooch and its a Fitness Club too, for your dog that is. They have 21 premium rooms, has a fitness gym, 24 hours airconditiong system and unparalleled grooming services. One Fab Pooch also sells doggy foods and accessories through their Le Pawtique. They also offer veterinary services per appointment for your doggy.

Too busy to take your pet to One Fab Pooch? Don’t worry! One Fab Pooch can pick-up your precious munchkin and deliver your pooch back to your home after grooming. Convenient right!?

I also love the interior of One Fab Pooch and that’s the reason why I quickly snapped some photos while hubby was busy talking with the One Fab Pooch personnel about Stackee’s grooming. Stackee had the Ultimate Pamper Wash plus some add ons such as Ear and Teeth Cleaning, Anal Sac Cleaning and a Tick & Flea Medication. We paid around 700plus for Stackee’s grooming. It’s a bit pricey comparing to the prices we paid when we had Stackee groomed in Manila, but they are the only doggy pawlour in the city and they do offer a great grooming service. So I guess the price is reasonable enough.

Curious about One Fab Pooch’s Rates? Take a look.

So, what do you think about the rates? Affordable or expensive? Well I guess if you want your pooch to be pampered the classy way, spending for One Fab Pooch’s Pawlour services wouldn’t matter to you. If you’re leaving town and you don’t want to leave your dog at home alone, One Fab Pooch’s Hotel is the answer to your problem. And worrying about your dog’s health and social skills? One Fab Pooch’s Fitness Club will help you solve your worries.

Hey, you might think I’m being paid to promote One Fab Pooch but I’m not. I wish I was though. Haha If you want to have your dog pampered the One Fab Pooch’s way, be sure to bring in your dog earlier because the waiting time could be long. We left Stackee there around 11 am and we were texted that he’s ready for pickup at around 3pm. So be sure to feed your doggy before leaving him in One Fab Pooch.

One Fab Pooch Pawlour/Hotel/Fitness Club is located at Sunflower Hotel, Tionko Avenue corner Araullo St. Davao City. You can call them at 305-4601 & 305-0351 or you can hit them an email at onefabpooch@yahoo.com. Also check out their Facebook page here.

Stackee was clean and fresh after his pawlour session with One Fab Pooch. Too bad though we have to leave him again in Davao since we have to go back to Naga. My sister will probably bring him back in One Fab Pooch again for his next pawlour session. Til’ Stackee’s next trip to One Fab Pooch!😀