Byebye Fluffy

Fluffy, our family's pet guinea pig, died today. For days now he had a fever and diarrhea, but the doctor wasnt able to find out what exactly was wrong with him, and just gave him injections of some kind.

I find myself tearfully writing this entry. It came to me as a shock...I thought he was going to be okay already, when Mama broke the news to me and that Tim, my sister, buried him underneath a tree near our house. There was a lot of crying back at home.

I know that it might be hard to believe how we could get attached to a pet which spent most of its time inside a cage. Let alone a pet which isnt as cuddly as a cat and looks like a cross between a hamster and a white rat.

But Fluffy wasnt just some ordinary guinea pig. He was smart. Everytime I arrive at home and even before I call out his name, he immediately stands on the side of his cage and gnaws at it in greeting. He is so special that everytime my family goes out for grocery, we buy the freshest vegetables we can find, just for him. Oh, and only boiled or mineral water for him...my brother will get into a fit if he ever sees you give Fluffy water from the faucet.

He was also affectionate. Everytime Tim gets him out of the cage for exercise, you wont see him running around trying to escape and hide from you (like some of our old hamsters did). He will just walk around a bit but still in sight but goes back to you and be content in being cuddled and stroked. For sure, he knows the comings and goings of everyone in the family, he sleeps when everyone else is asleep, and if ever you wake up in the middle of the night, he will just look up at you and goes back to sleep.

We thought Fluffy would be with us for a long time, we read somewhere that guinea pigs can live up to eleven years old. But Fluffy only lived to a little more than three years old.

I don't know if and when we are going to get a new pet. I don't know if the vitamins and special food I bought as pasalubong for Fluffy here will ever be used. All I know is that even if we get a new pet, Fluffy will always be loved and remembered by us, his family.

Our Wedding Rings are Now In Process!

Yesterday Laser went to our chosen supplier for our rings to have them made already. We shall be getting it by Saturday next week. I can't wait to see them (even if just in pictures).

We have long decided on our ring design since last year and have gone to various jewelry makers for their quotations. We consider the wedding rings as one of our priorities...so we put much effort to make sure that we will be satisfied and happy with the final product.

It's going to be an 18k gold comfort fit band, with an inner area enclosing the diamonds dipped in white gold. We bought our own diamonds from a supplier in Cagayan de Oro (Laser's hometown) when we visited there last March. We saved a lot from buying the diamonds ourselves (with some more extra maybe for my wedding accessories!).

Anyway, it turns out that we have big diamonds for the design. For me, I will have 5 diamonds instead of 7, or else the whole band will be filled with the 7 diamonds. And then both of us will have a 6mm ring width to fit the diamonds...and I thought 4mm would be ok for me. Gosh, I can't imagine now how heavy or big it would turn out.

Let's see next week! We're really excited about it.

Harry Potter Mania

I really had no plans of buying from here the new Harry Potter book, thinking that I can wait anyway until the paperback version would come out. So on the eve of the day it was released, I just watched amused in CNN that millions of people had preordered the book while others are waiting in line way before store opening time just to buy it.

So I was really caught by surprise when I strolled by the mall the next day and saw stacks of the new Harry Potter book. It interested me because of two things: (1) it was the English edition (the only English book for sure in that store, if not, in the whole area), and (2) it was only 16 euros, around 400 pesos lower when you buy it from Powerbooks (of course I just had to text my friend Jerinne, another Harry Potter avid reader to get the price). I'm sure you can guess what happened next!

But I swear, I did try to control myself in finishing the book quickly, kaya nga it took me around 5 late nights (and feeling groggy at work in the mornings).

It really is a good read, of course, although the ending wouldnt exactly make you feel lighthearted (no more details to those who havent read it, don't worry!).

Ah but I can't wait for the next installment. And while I don't like the movie versions at all, for sure we will catch the first day of showing with the best seats we can find.

Supplier Hunting

Now that our major (or what we consider as essential) suppliers have already been booked, we are now on the lookout for suppliers for the following: avp (full), emcee, HMU and bridal car. Laser just texted me to say that he wasn't able to find prospect suppliers in the Wedding Expo that was held today at the Century Park Hotel. Oh well, maybe we will be able to find them in the next 2 major expos in September. Laser will just have to do all the legwork and schmoozing without me as it looks like I still wouldnt be in Manila then. Di bale I'll be there naman in spirit (and in text hehe).

Of course, we still have the problem of our souvenirs. We really havent made up our mind on what it should be. We want something that would be useful (or if not at least something
that wouldnt just collect dust)...but at the same time would say something about us. We have some ideas in mind kaso we for those we wanted, we havent found a good supplier yet. Laser doesn't have the time during weekdays to do calls, and of course I can't also from here.

Hmmm...maybe it's time for me to call reinforcements. I think I will call Mama and ask if she might have some ideas. Ask ko na rin my other friends.

Wow, writing in a blog really does help process your thoughts.

Wedding Preps Panic Attack

It's a little over 7 months to go until the big day...and I find myself in a bind, feeling that we are somehow behind the wedding preps and yet thinking that it's okay, we have prepared what we can for the time being. I guess when you hear about brides-to-be with a wedding date even later than yours totally immersed in their preps you think...why the heck am I not panicking? Am I being too complacent and letting it all slide down? Should I also also be losing sleep thinking of this and that wedding detail?

Ok... breathe in breathe out...time to calm down and do a reality check. We have accomplished a lot and it is only logical that the wedding prep timetable has shifted to the dates when I am back in Manila. I'm sure then I would be complaining about sore feet and exhausting weekends.

And maybe it is not me who has been losing sleep over the wedding details...but my Laser has certainly been. For the past weeks he has been thinking and dreaming a lot about our wedding...finalizing the design in our rings... conceptualizing our avp and researching for an avp
supplier... thinking about the attires for his entourage... etc...etc. I become teary-eyed everytime he texts me of the things he is thinking about our wedding, touched of all his efforts....but most of all, I get teary-eyed because I am reminded once more how lucky I am to have him, and how I miss him terribly.

Close Encounters of the Pinay Kind

I was queuing at the grocery cashier to pay for the one kilo of rice I bought when I noticed that the girl in front of me, about 16 or 17, 5 ft tall, with brown curly hair, looked familiar.

I recognized her as the girl who asked me when I got off the bus one morning"Excuse me, anong oras na?" in somewhat halting, accented Tagalog. I was really surprised..not only because it was so out-of-the-blue, but also because I wouldnt think that she's also from the Philippines, with her skin a darker shade of brown that I can't exactly put down and eyes shaped somehow differently. I had the fleeting thought that this girl has perhaps a Pinay yaya and is naughtingly practicing what she has been taught.

But anyway, this time, I was the first to give her a smile which she returned, and then asked me in Deutsch 'What country are you from?'. Now, I don't know if she just forgot about our previous encounter or it's just her attempt for conversation but anyway I answered 'Philippines.' I don't remember her reply anymore, but I remember asking her how she learned Filipino, and she said that her mother is a Filipina.

As we walked outside the store, we exchanged names and I learned that hers is Lorilyn (sounds like a Filipino soap opera name huh). She also asked me where I lived. We parted ways then, with her saying in that same 'accented' Tagalog "Sige po ingat po kayo."

I guess for someone who seemed a bit lost in this land of blondes and big physiques, it must have been comforting for her to see someone who can speak the same language her mother taught her in growing up. Or maybe it's just her curiousity about this Filipino side of her. I can only surmise about her background and what prompted her to speak to me.

But then, it is always like that everywhere...close encounters like this is always inevitable...whether it is in a crowded airport lounge, a train ride, or in a grocery lane queue. When we are but strangers in another land, even just a warm smile or greeting from a fellow Pinoy never fails to bring us a bit closer to home.

Tagaytay Getaway

It is only now that I had the chance to upload our pictures from our Tagaytay getaway around three weeks ago (waaah have I only been away that long?...it seems like ages ago).

It was one of those spur-of-the-moment things. It started over some light conversation about going to Tagaytay for bulalo and ended with us, meaning Ana (one of my dearest friends) and I, cajoling our honeys to go with that crazy idea of ours to go there and have bulalo that Tuesday night after work.

And so off we went! The one and a half hour drive to Tagaytay seemed like a blur as we chatted the time away. Upon getting to Tagaytay proper, we started off our 'gimik' by buying those yummy buco pies and espasols from Collette's as pasalubong.

Happy Night Eating Bulalo

It was a really fun evening. We ate in one of the bulalo restos there, and we were really stuffed! We ordered two palayoks of bulalo, plus inihaw na pusit. Yum!!

Of course to cap the night off, we just had to have coffee in a place that you can't find in Manila...and so we had fraps from...Starbucks! He he he...well, all the 'native' Tagaytay coffeeplaces were closed anyway at that time so we really had no choice.

With Ana and Mike

So who says you can't have fun on a Tuesday night?