happy "bloggersary" to me...

hahaha i just had to come up with a word...my lord, it just dawned on me that on wednesday, i'll be a year-old blogger! yipee!

wow, something that i thought i wouldn't be able to keep up with is actually a year-old! wow... i'm proud of me ;p

i'd like to say THANK YOU to all those who read my blog, i'm so happy to share my life, our life with you...

my trail of thought doesn't end there, this time last year, ricky and i were up to our ears with wedding preps and puttin' up gotcha. that means, gotcha will soon be a year old and soon after that, it'll be the paper anniversary (am i correct? paper is the first year?) of the babuys!!! :)

hopefully, i'll be able to realize some blog resolutions:

1. blog at least 3 times a week;
2. post more pictures and
3. link up more ka-blogmates!

:) well, i really hope these resolutions are fulfilled...


currently in my discman:


r. kelly: tp.3 reloaded

i can't breathe...

i never thought i'd see a nebulizer much less need one during my asthma attacks. unfortunately, last saturday, not only did i have to consume a nebule of ventolin, i had to consume 3! i thought i had outgrown my asthma. i mean, i don't have an inhaler and it certainly isn't on my top 5 essentials list.

but last week's bout with asthma was a reality check.

rewind to august 18 or somewhere around that date. now the metro's weather is at times very unpredicatable. you get summer in the morning til noon then somewhere in between 12 and 1 p.m., the clouds sudddenly check in on the horizon and sooner or later, it's raining cats and dogs! now, i really don't like lugging an umbrella around therefore, getting wet was inevitable. so, i guess that's where my cough and colds decided to come back into my life. i was taking cough medicine but before i knew it, i was wheezing at night. no need to panic since i popped a ventolin capsule and i thought it would go away. it did; but just for a few hours. the wheezing progressed into a full blown attack and the ventolin capsules were no match for it. i slept for two nights in an upright position (read: sitting) and my cough progressed into such a nasty one. i also had chest pains akin to broken ribs. when i coughed or sat in a certain position it was painful. it was so difficult to walk and climb the flight of stairs at the lrt and mrt stations...sometimes even going down the stairs resulted into shortness of breath.

workload at the office wasn't letting up either and i was informed that i was to handle the first 2 batches of accent training in subic on monday (aug. 22) which meant travelling to subic on sunday. damn!

so saturday, aug 20, i voluntarily went to makati medical center with ricky in tow. i told him, "please take me to the hospital." i couldn't take it anymore. i went into e.r. had my vital stats checked and the nurse wheeled me into the pulmonary section of e.r. the physician on-duty (he was so cute!) held a stethoscope to my chest and back and listened to the rock concert going on inside my lungs...then he put me on my first (of three) nebule of ventolin. in between nebules, i told him of my chest pains so he decided to photograph (read:x-ray) my lungs. he did explain to me that the pains were actually muscular pains due to the inflammation in my lungs but just to be sure, after an hour, i had my chest x-ray and then they injected a steroid...

well, it was a relief to be finally let go and feel it easier to breathe. of course, my prescriptions read like a mini-pims hehehe: ambroxol capsules, azithromycin (antibiotic for my lungs which were so costly!), medrol (steroid), bambuterol and of course, my latest fashion accessory, the salbutamol inhaler :)

although it was easier to breathe and i slept on my side after so many days of sitting, i still had the wheezies. but my trip to subic was much more comfortable. i could imagine the difficulty i could've been in had i not decided to have my self checked at makati med. it's been a week after and there are still traces of the cough but the wheezies are gone and the pain has subsided but the meds go on for another day. after that, i hope i won't go through this again.

and at 35, i thought i was rid of the wheezies...

my dearest yan-yan

happy birthday!

we don't get to see each other regularly but whenever we do, it feels like we just saw each other yesterday. (well, now that you're in europe, it's gonna be another month or so before we really get the chance to catch up...)

i wish you all the best girl and i'm so thankful to have you as a friend.

love you!!!

best positions in bed

i got these cute pics from a message mae reme (my hs classmate) sent to our hs e-group...aren't they adorable?

happy birthday bro!

KUYA BOYCHIE !!!!

happy, happy birthday! ricky and i wish you all the best...

we miss you and love you!!!

have i found this?

The Best Kind of Love
by: Annette Paxman Bowen

I have a friend who is falling in love. She honestly claims the sky s bluer. Mozart moves her to tears. She has lost 15 pounds and looks like a cover girl. "I am young again!" she shouts exuberantly.

As my friend raves on about her new love, I've taken a good look at my old one. My husband of almost 20 years, Scott, has gained 15 pounds. Once a marathon runner, he now runs only down hospital halls. His hairline is receding and his body shows signs of long working hours and too many candy bars. Yet he can still give me a certain look across a restaurant table and I want to ask for the check and head home.

When my friend asked me "What will make this love last?" I ran through all the obvious reasons: commitment, shared interests, unselfishness,physical attraction, and communication.
Yet there's more.

We still have fun.

Spontaneous good times. Yesterday, after slipping the rubber band off the rolled newspaper, Scott flipped it playfully at me: this led to an all-out war. Last Saturday at the grocery, we split the list and raced each other to see who could make it to the checkout first. Even washing dishes can be a blast. We enjoy simply being together.

And there are surprises.

One time I came home to find a note on the front door that led me toanother note, then another, until I reached the walk-in closet. I opened the door to find Scott holding a "pot of gold" (my cooking kettle) and the "treasure" of a gift package. Sometimes I leave him notes on the mirror and little presents under his pillow.

There is understanding.

I understand why he must play basketball with the guys. And heunderstands why, once a year, I must get away from the house, the kids - and even him - to meet my sisters for a few days of nonstop talking and laughing.

There is sharing.

Not only do we share household worries and parental burdens - we also share ideas. Scott came home from a convention last month and presented me with a thick historical novel. Though he prefers thrillers and science fiction,he had read the novel on the plane. He touched my heart when he explained it was because he wanted to be able to exchange ideas about the book after I'd read it.

There is forgiveness.

When I'm embarrassingly loud and crazy at parties, Scott forgives me. When he confessed losing some of our savings in the stock market, I gave him a hug and said, "It's okay. It's only money."

There is sensitivity.

Last week he walked through the door with that look that tells me it's been a tough day. After he spent some time with the kids, I asked him what happened. He told me about a 60-year old woman that had a stroke. He wept as he recalled the woman's husband standing beside her bed, caressing her hand. How was he going to tell this husband of 40 years that his wife would probably never recover? I shed a few tears myself.

Because of the medical crisis. Because there were still people who have been married 40 years. Because my husband is still moved and concerned after years of hospital rooms and dying patients.

There is faith.

Last Tuesday a friend came over and confessed her fear that her husband is losing his courageous battle with cancer. On Wednesday I went to lunch with a friend who is struggling to reshape her life after divorce. On Thursday a neighbor called to talk about the frightening effects of Alzheimer's disease on her father-in-law's personality. On Friday a childhood friend called long-distance to tell me her father had died. I hung up the phone and thought, This is too much heartache for one week.

Through my tears, as I went out to run some errands, I noticed the boisterous orange blossoms of the gladiolus outside my window. I heard the delighted laughter of my son and his friend as they played. I caught sight of a wedding party emerging from a neighbor's house. The bride, dressed in satin and lace, tossed her bouquet to her cheering friends. That night, I told my husband about these events. We helped each other acknowledge the cycles of life and that the joys counter the sorrows. It was enough to keep us going.

Finally, there is knowing.

I know Scott will throw his laundry just shy of the hamper every night; he'll be late to most appointments and eat the last chocolate in the box. He knows that I sleep with a pillow over my head.

I guess our love lasts because it is comfortable. No, the sky is not bluer: it's just a familiar hue. We don't feel particularly young: we've experienced too much that has contributed to our growth and wisdom, taking its toll on our bodies, and created our memories. I hope we've got what it takes to make our love last. As a bride, I had Scott's wedding band engraved with Robert Browning's line "Grow old along with me!"

We're following those instructions. "If anything is real, the heart will make it plain." There are some people who meet that somebody that they can never stop loving, no matter how hard they try. I wouldn't expect you to understand that, or even believe it, but trust me, there are some love that don't go away. And maybe that makes them crazy, but we should all be blessed to end up with that somebody who has a little of that insanity.Somebody who never lets go. Somebody who cherishes you forever.

Hope you find this kind of love in your life.

swiped from ian's blog - thanks ian!