first time patient

selle and i have never been admitted to a hospital. that all changed last week when my wife underwent a couple of procedures and had to stay at asian hospital for a couple of nights.

after resigning from work, selle finally had the time (yes, wala talagang time for anything else but work sa samsung) to consult a doctor regarding a couple of things that have been bothering her for quite a while. a series of consultations after, we were then advised that selle had to undergo several procedures… meaning, she had to be admitted to a hospital. we only had a two-week window for selle to undergo the planned procedures so when that window arrived, we decided to push through with it.

we went to asian hospital the afternoon before selle’s scheduled operation(s). since it’s a hotel-like hospital, we wanted to max out our health card by getting the most expensive room allowed by our hmo. 😆


the 18k per night presidential suite…

unfortunately, none was available (yup, fully-booked. ibang klase, no?). we had to settle for the best among the available rooms. palibhasa first time nga namin ma-admit sa hospital so everything that was happening was a new experience to us. we’re not sure if it was normal or not but checking-in to our room was like checking-in to a hotel… with matching bellboy na taga-karga ng aming gamit at taga-explain ng amenities ng room. 🙂


room 1028… in lomo.

a few visits from various medical personnel (doctors, nurses… etc) occured throughout the night. then at around 10 pm, an hour after official visiting hours, our first visitors arrived. 🙂



it was daldalan galore kasi the next day pa naman operation ni selle eh. plus, the fact that she’ll just have general anesthesia, and not spinal (ang kinakatakutan ni selle) gave her much relief kaya daldal to the max naman. 🙂 an hour later umuwi na din sina geri and paul… kahit na ok na din sa kanila matulog sa room dahil gandang-ganda sila. 😀



we woke up very early the following day. 10 am kasi yung schedule ng operation ni selle and she needed to be brought down to the operating room an hour before. also, darating kasi nanay ni selle w/ her ate (and husband). tapos, kelangan na rin sya lagyan ng iv, yet another first, since pinagbawalan na sya kumain at uminom since midnight. nangyari nga lahat ng ito at maya-maya lang eh sinundo na sya ng mga operating room personnel at binaba na. we accompanied my wife all the way to the door of the operating room. syempre, off limits na kami dun.

afterwards, we waited… and waited… and waited. two-and-a-half hours later, the operation ended. then, around 2 pm, nihatid na si selle sa room. she was groggy pa (akala ko nga tulog pa eh). a few minutes later eh dumating na si dra to explain everything (that later on selle confessed na d na nya matandaan kung ano pinagsasabi ni dra kasi nga groggy pa sya). pagkatapos nun eh natulog na muna si selle.

later the day, visitors started coming. many thanks to you guys for visiting… kahit na sa daldal ni selle eh feeling nyo eh ni-lagnat lang sya. 😛


cris came from makati and brought some cookies (yum! 🙂)… and exciting, exciting news about her. 😉


kathleen drove straight from work and brought fruits (yum din… 🙂)


vena and neriz endured horrendous south super highway traffic to bring us bread (which we ate the following day 🙂 and have their picture taken 😀

btw, we did bring our d40 to the hospital. besides documenting our stay, i took some shots around the room and a few snaps outside. thankfully, i did get a few winners. 🙂








and selle played fashion model for a couple of shots… 😉




the following day we were discharged from the hospital (although it took an extremely long time ha). sayang at late na kami nakaalis at balak pa man din namin manood sana ng sine. 😆 we arrived home and got a couple more visitors there also. 🙂



my wife is doing fine and everything went well. friends dropped by to visit and gave us an enjoyable time. once again, God showed us that He is indeed truly great. 🙂

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monday night football madness

it’s no secret that i love football. now, selle’s loving it too. 🙂

yesterday, i got a text message from my wife telling me that she was watching the mnf game between the saints and the vikings. she then sent a message about reggie bush getting a touchdown. no surprise there, bush is a great athlete. but then selle sent this ecstatic message about another bush touchdown. first, i was so happy that selle is genuinely enjoying this game that i love all by herself. 🙂 secondly, i was intrigued by what bush just did so i asked for a more detailed story. unknowingly, bush was having the game of his life and it’s all happening on the the monday night football stage. punt return after punt return, reggie bush was seemingly unstoppable… quickly turning into the punt returner to watch out for.

first, there was deion sanders of the atlanta hawks/san francisco 49ers/dallas cowboys.

then there was dante hall of the kansas city chiefs.

then there’s david hester of the chicago bears.

now, welcome, reggie bush. enjoy… 🙂



here’s the first punt return touchdown (and the de-cleater of a block) in actual game film.



now, ain’t football great? 😀

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stranded

no thanks to typhoon frank (we didn’t know that they started calling them by their international names now), we were stuck here at our home this weekend. the good thing is we can’t be forced to go to work 😉 but the bad thing is we couldn’t go anywhere either. 😦

so what did we do being stranded at home on a weekend? go on a dvd marathon… what else? 😉



nothing like cozying up on a sofa with your loved one. having home-cooked spaghetti (yum 🙂) and grilled bread. watching a couple of good movies while having a steady cool breeze coming through the window. home dates, in some ways, actually turn out to be better (and cheaper. 😀)

taking a break from the movies, i took out our dslr wanting to take a few shots. unfortunately, i was only able to snap off a couple because it started to rain again. with the wind blowing hard, i didn’t want to get our new toy wet (actually nabasa na nga ng onti. pero onting-onti lang naman).



so i went back inside and took photos of my wife instead. silly me. insisting on going outside when i had the best subject right inside our house. 😉



now it’s time to take advantage of the cool weather and take a nap. hopefully, when we wake up, the skies will be much clearer.

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we were supposed to get a light bulb…

…but ended up getting these…



with a smile like that, who needs a light bulb? 🙂

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breaking the work-home routine

our blog has been inactive lately mainly because of waaaay too much work. we’ve had this strenuous work-home routine for quite a while now. 😦

so what happens when we get this rare opportunity to break out of this routine?



what else but my wife going on a shopping spree! 😀

being the fashionista that she is, i got her a couple of new jeans, a new top, new slippers… and of course, her favorite magazines. needless to say, she had a great time. 😉 anything to make my wife happy. 🙂

not to be outdone, i got something also…



…a new haircut. 😀

looks like a fair deal to me. 😉

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25 reasons

25 (obvious and not so obvious) reasons why i love my wife

1) she’s smart (like me) and she studies hard (unlike me 😀).


2) she’s a leader and points people at the right direction. 🙂


3) she’s pretty even when her hair’s not yet done…


…also when she’s wearing just a simple t-shirt.


4) she’s a rocker…


…and i mean it. 😀



5) she’s a dancer too…


…and she can make people dance. 😀



6) she once succesfully threw a surprise party for me. believe me, that is not easy… 😉


7) highly animated and enthusiastic. in short, masarap kausap.


8)she would laugh often and laugh loud. life is so much lighter with her around.



9) she can cook… and cook really well. click here, here and here for proof. 🙂

10) she’ll always be beside me in whatever decision i make… and wherever i would lead our life to.


11) she’s great with kids. perfect since i ain’t. 😆




12) she’s great with elders too.


13) she enjoys going out of town and experiencing the natural beauty of our country.


14) she’s as refreshing as a cold drink on a hot, sunny day.


15) she’s as sweet as a rack full of chocolates.


16) she can be a country girl.


17) extremely competitive… just like me. 😛


18) she makes mundane things enjoyable.


19) she can be one with the boys.


20) she has a a servant heart.


21) we tend to always look at the same direction.


22) she’s a curious cat and longs for new knowledge. 😉


23) peace lover. 🙂


24) she looks at the bigger picture.


25) she sleeps like a baby. 🙂


this post is actually 5 days late. i was supposed to post this on the night of my wife’s birthday as my final surprise for her that day but i wasn’t able to because i didn’t know that i have not completely transfered my personal files from my office pc to our home pc. kaya d ko ma-post kaagad kasi kulang-kulang pala photos ko dito. 😦 then the succeeding days we were extremely busy that we even had to continue our work here at home. i couldn’t sneak blogging without getting caught. 😛

belated happy birthday, favy. 🙂 i hope you enjoyed my gifts…. 😉

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another hidden tagaytay gem

fresh air. cool climate. relatively close proximity. these are just a few obvious reasons why we love tagaytay. to celebrate valentine’s day, i secretly planned a lunch date at our favorite city.

i wanted a new place for that new experience. so i researched as early as january but february came and i still haven’t found the right place. little did i know that i would get the answer from one of selle’s regular magazine buy, yummy magazine. 🙂

bawai’s is a hidden weekend restaurant in tagaytay. it’s actually a house which opens itself up to the public during weekends and transforms into a restaurant (hence the term, weekend restaurant). it’s not surprising that this restaurant is considered to be the source of the best home-cooked vietnamese cuisine in all of the country because bawai (which means lola in vietnamese), the chef, is a true vietnamese.

non-commercialized. practically unknown to both of us. serves the best food. intimate ambiance. what more do you look for in a date place? 😉



and it was a lovely date indeed. we practically had the place all for ourselves. 🙂 even though we’ve tried vietnamese food before, everything we had there was new to us… and isn’t it always nice to experience something new with the one you love? 😉

bawai’s is truly a gem-of-a-find. we will definitely be back… for the food, the ambiance and the warmth of the owners. 🙂 also, next time, we won’t be overdressed. 😆


the smile of a happy wife…. priceless. 🙂






we agree with the experts, the best vietnamese cuisine in the country.
(from top to bottom) 1) hot tea to start everything off. we consumed 2 pots of this. 😀
2) goi cuon or vietnamese fresh lumpia. instantly became selle’s favorite. 🙂
3 & 4)ho tieu and pho bo. vietnamese noodles. sobrang daming laman at nakakabusog. but we’re not complaining. 🙂
5) dessert to finish things off.
yummy meal. 😀


the start and end of our bawai’s visit.


my wife wanted to be a model when she was young… and she can easily be one even without trying. 😉


gotta love the interior….


this is how laid back the place is. guests can literally chill on the couch before or after their meal. 🙂

bawai’s definitely goes to our fabulous discoveries list. go give it a try… we’re pretty confident it would make yours also. 😉

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a dialogue between hands-on grooms

we’re attending a wedding this coming saturday and we’re definitely gonna blog about it (as per request by the groom. 😀). what we didn’t expect was we’re gonna blog about it BEFORE the wedding. 😉

glenn posted this blog post at the weddingsatwork community board which was too good not to share and respond to. here’s his post grabbed straight out of their blog:

Confessions of a Hands-On Groom

Three days to go.

You’d think that by now, I’d start to get cold feet. On the contrary, I’m actually excited about our wedding.

Although Janice and I started preparing for our wedding day a little over 11 months ago, my own personal preparations have begun much earlier than that Sunday morning in Tagaytay. Around two months before I popped the question, I have studied the ins and outs of buying an engagement ring. Add to this the “buwelo” I had to gather before I started to make my move, I’d say I have been preparing myself for almost 2 years now.

I will never be able to recall a defining moment in our relationship when I was finally sure that Janice would be the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It was not a divine sign, nor a dramatic moment, nor a magical night underneath the stars, that led me to this conviction. In between the fears, the tears, the uncontrollable laughter we’ve shared, it just grew, and I knew, that our happy beginning is not a question of “if” but merely a question of when. As we nurtured our relationship, I was starting to pack my bags, preparing to take the train to marital bliss.

Preparing for a wedding is an adventure. Primarily because it is always your first time, and you will never be ready for it. You simply jump into the darkness, and learn along the way.

Weddings have traditionally been the bride’s kind of thing. But having known a couple of male friends who themselves got their hands dirty with the bridal DIY glue, I was somehow encouraged that there is nothing wrong with me for being excited with all of these. I am proud to say that I am a hands-on groom. I was the one who found my bride’s make-up artist, discussed the design of our unity candles with our online vendor, surfed the net for the perfect venue for our prenuptial pictorials, and a lot more, to the point that Janice claims I have done 90% of the work.

Sure, wedding preparations are fun. But the truth is, your wedding can only be as good as the effort you put into it. The truth is, there are elements you have to let go of, ideas that will never work out the way they were conjured in your head. The truth is, two people in love will disappoint and frustrate each other, either through miscommunication or negligence. The truth is, things will never work out perfectly the way they were planned. Preparing for a wedding is a roller coaster ride. It goes ups, comes down, it goes too fast then stalls; it takes a lot of fortitude and faith to keep the wheels rolling towards that envisioned destination.

It is during the homestretch that we discovered the value of Faith in our relationship. Barely 2 weeks into the wedding day, I found myself consoling my bride who was crying over her less than perfect wedding gown. I found myself trying to reassure her that things will be okay, as long as we have faith in Him and firmly believe that He is watching over us. A week into the wedding day, I found myself, with my faith dangerously wavering, trying to convince myself that all these things are trials from God, and that we should, as the Bible puts it, be joyful for them. Last Sunday, God once again manifested his Love for us, and turned things around. Janice now can’t wait to march down the aisle with a wedding gown she loves.

Preparing for our wedding has been a long and exciting adventure for both of us. In our desire to make our dream wedding turn into reality, reality joined the fray and helped us grow together. Fate interfered and multiplied our faith a thousand fold. In preparing for our wedding together, we have now prepared ourselves for our marriage.

like i said, this post was too good not to respond to and we’d like to share our response to it.

being a hands-on groom myself, it’s such a delight to read positive thoughts from a guy’s point of view when it comes to wedding preparations.

the wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event… the preparations included. come to think of it, preps is like a prelude to one’s marriage. to start off a journey, more so a journey of a lifetime, it’s best to begin at the right foot hence, do it together… contribute a lot.

in the process though expect a few bumps. some highs and a couple of lows. that’s all part of the experience and, the good thing, also the growth process. being actively involve in the preps not only solidify a great wedding but, more importantly and as glenn said, a great marriage. and that’s what this is all about all along.

i know this guy (i’m not sure though if i’m of those “couple of male friends” he was talking about)… and i couldn’t agree with him more. so, glenn, i know that all your effort will be rewarded by an awesome wedding and an even more awesome marriage.

my wife and i just catched the movie 27 dresses this past weekend and there’s a line there stuck with me which, somehow, i knew would come in handy one of these days. to glenn and fellow w@wies, remember this line from katherine heigl’s character as she was walking down the aisle,

“everything was perfect… and i didn’t care.”

one thing remains important in weddings… it’s the union of two people. for brides, the guy waiting for you at the end of the aisle. for grooms, the lady walking down the aisle towards you.

see you this saturday, glenn. we’re sure it will be a blast. 🙂

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one happy couple

love, lessons and laughter. simply put, our first year of married life has been nothing but pure bliss. 🙂

days before our anniversary, we had our original plan pushed-back to a later date so i had to scramble and come up with another way of celebrating. for sentimental reasons, i decided that we just go back to where we got married, cool and cozy tagaytay.

the idea was just to have a relaxing afternoon and then cap the day off with a romantic dinner. given the limited time to prepare, this is what i came up with: a massage treatment at nurture spa followed by fine dining at antonio’s 🙂, both establishments we got to know early on during our wedding preps.


nurture spa welcomes their guests in a rustic reception area. cozy, country chairs and sofas plus ethnic tables and stuff. herein we filled up our guest information cards while sipping thru some tea (ang cool ng tea pot & tea cups nila, ha 🙂). afterwards, down we went past through lush gardens…


…into a relaxing waiting area. 🙂

the ambiance was a perfect setup for the massage treatment to follow. ang sarap ng hangin. ang music, nakaka-relax.


and the flowers and decors were simply beautiful. 🙂

after a while, we were ushered in a room for our massage treatment. 🙂


an hour and a half later, we left relaxed and refreshed (although nahirapan ako sa ibang parts ng massage kasi nakikiliti ako 😆).

off we went to antonio’s, a hidden restaurant in tagaytay. actually, isa ito sa mga venues na ni-visit namin when we were venue hunting and we were blown away by the beauty of it. kaso, aside from it being way beyond our budget 😀, the restaurant cannot accommodate our planned breakfast reception. we vowed to come back some other time to experience the reputed antonio’s fine dining experience… and what other day to do that than on our anniversary? 😉



ambiance alone makes antonio’s a winner already. it’s a common thing that guests be seen going around and snapping photos while awaiting their orders. obviously, we did the same. 😀


of the many photo ops around, we couldn’t resist having our photos taken at this colorful mural.

after all the picture-taking, it was eating time! 🙂






after a sumptuous dinnner, we left but not before taking a few more snapshots.




we bid farewell to antonio’s (vowing to be back again… 😉) and went straight home. here we ended the day by opening our wedding time capsule.



time capsule? yah, isa sa mga gimiks namin sa kasal namin. the idea was we’ll have a boxful of letters, stationery and what-nots and it will be kept unopened until our first wedding anniversary. we hand-picked selected guests whom we liked to participate… unfortunately only a few complied. 😦

nevertheless, we had fun opening and reading through the few we got. so many thanks to anna for the warm note; vena & neriz for the creative packaging of sports headlines; red and roju for the digitally created trivia. 🙂 much, much appreciated.

and so that’s how anniversary went. not bad for a plan B, right? 🙂

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exactly a year ago…

…and around this very minute, our wedding ceremony has long been over, the venue’s empty, all the guests have left and we’re already off for our honeymoon .

to celebrate our first anniversary, i made this audio visual flashback of our honeymoon as a surprise gift for my wife. 🙂



i just started this project about a week ago, editing late into the night when selle’s already asleep as to not ruin the surprise. this proved to be tricky and i almost was not able to finish due to lack of time (and opportunity 😀) but thankfully i was able to render it all just last night (past midnight to be exact. buzzer beater talaga. 😆).

therefore, i was able to greet selle as she woke up with this video… and she loved it. 🙂

in a few minutes we’ll be off to celebrate our anniversary. we pushed back our initial plan to next month but we’ll celebrate today nonetheless. more on this on a seperate blog post. 😉

ps a bit of trivia about this video. early this week, i mentioned in passing to our videographer, bob , during one of chats that i was editing this video for selle. imagine my surprise when bob volunteered to edit the video… for free! ah, grabe. syempre, i politely declined kasi nakakahiya naman knowing how busy he is with his numerous clients. besides, i wanted to do this myself kahit na alam kong mas maganda ng d hamak kung si bob gagawa. 😀 bait talaga… 🙂

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