book nook

well, as i said, biographies/autobiographies (so sorry, "living history" is an autobiography) are generally interesting; if you found them interesting enough, you would buy the book. in my case, i am intrigued by her life and what she has done. i read somewhere that she may run in the next u.s. presidential election and it wouldn't hurt "to know her better". i don't do book reviews so please do not expect an in-depth review of the book.

i also wanted to get "in my life" by bill clinton but, it's not available in paperback and for the price i'll have to pay, there are other books i'd like to devour.

i hope to finally read the book on the bus on the way home to cabanatuan. that is if i don't get to sleep first... hehehehe

bye everybody!

The Muppets

they're back! the muppets! disney has bought the franchise and has relaunched the muppets!

they now have a website and are currently planning a movie (if they haven't already begun filming it) with queen latifah and quentin tarantino in a cameo, i think. a television show is in the works.

maybe that's why i don't mind being called babuy (especially if ricky is doing the calling). i was known in the house as miss piggy.

speaking of that fabulous pig, she has her own "corner" ala sex and the city

ricky is due in a few minutes and for lunch, we will be having danggit! our friends mako & cris gave us some when they came back from cebu...

gotta go, sago!

teehee, it works!

holy schmolly! the smileys are animated! now i won't be limited to the colons, semi-colons and parenthesis...for those of you who know how animated i get sometimes, these smileys are just like looking at me while talking to you

now, if i could get that cat to run around the blogspot.....

let's try this...

just trying out some new stuff that i want to add somewhere here on my blog.... this'll keep my mind un-PMSy

hibernating piggy

oh god, another hibernation.... i'm back for the meantime. whew!things are starting to get crazy....

well, we're going to get the invites tomorrow. when susan (of vcraft) said that, i really couldn't believe it. as my egroupmates say, it's a different feeling when you get the proof, another feeling when you get news about when they'll be ready for pick-up and an entirely different emotion when you see your invites. i hope and pray that they're alright. i'll definitely tell you when we've gotten them; hope to post pictures too!

well, we have really been de-stressing via movies lately. it started with "the incredibles" . i really love most of the films disney & pixar collaborate on ( i haven't seen home on the range on dvd yet.) and this joins my favorites lion king and finding nemo. truly entertaining and wonderful animation i might add! makes me wish i had the artistic talents of both my brothers... last saturday, we caught the 11 p.m. screening of "taxi" a truly hilarious movie! ricky and i had a great time. hehehehe tonight, since it's a holiday, we will close early and watch "after the sunset" (together with my family two/too ... get it? ;) - the syjuicos :))

tell y'all about it tomorrow... ciao!

happy birthday babuy!

i am blessed as my mood says so! blessed because 31 years ago, my babuy was born. little did i know, we would meet, fall in love and move on to a lifetime of "togetherness".

i only wish that he will always be guided, protected and blessed by God.

i love you ricky, happy, happy birthday!

what's up?

yup, what's up everybody? hehehe maybe i should ask myself that question. it's been two weeks since i last posted something here and i guess by now, the very few people who visit my blog regularly have now left me *sob,sob*

well, things at gotcha have been picking up, our customers have been slowly coming in. we really hope it picks up and stays that way. we were open last nov. 1 and i must say even here along chino roces, makati sure is different. different in the sense that when it's a holiday, you don't get to see much. it was pretty quiet last monday but we weren't without customers. meron pa rin!

on the wedding preps front, i finally got my legal capacity to marry affidavit from the u.s. embassy. whew! i really thought i'd get into trouble *wink,wink* but luckily all they asked me to do was to raise my right hand and swear that all the information i provided on a sheet of paper were true. :)) then the consul signed the affidavit.

hehehehe one step closer to getting married ;)

ciao people!

astoria plaza

well, we have started attending to our wedding preps again. whew! now, with almost 2 months to go, we're starting to feel the panic. hehehe but don't worry it's manageable, feigned panic lang.

ricky and i were in search of a place for our wedding preps and of course a place for my family to stay before and after the wedding. we wanted a hotel in the ortigas area. a few months back, mako mercado, a good friend of ours, showed us some pictures of the room they stayed in once and i noticed how spacious it looked. i thought, "might be a good place to stay for the wedding"; little did i know, it would be THE place for our families and preps. :) mako promised he'd help us with astoria because he's a regular there. so, together with our friends mako and cris mercado, ricky & i visited astoria plaza last tuesday, oct. 19, 2004.

i noticed that the hotel doesn't have a grandiose lobby nor a spacious one. but for the pictorials before heading off to the church, its staircase at the lobby will do. i'm not particularly fond of having my pic taken so, that's okay.

after waiting for a few minutes, the receptionist had us escorted to a two-bedroom suite and i must say, my jaw dropped! i didn't expect it to be that big! hehehe there are two bedrooms (kaya nga two-bedroom suite eh! 'sensya na po, excited lang...) one is big enough to place extra single beds. there's a sala, a kitchen (complete with ref, stove, microwave, pots and pans) and a maid's room. it has one bathtub and it's a bit small compared to the ones in galleria or shangri-la but it'll do for me. i intend to soak and relax in the tub before d-day :))

i was excited that my family won't have any problem about where they'll (we'll) stay for our wedding. another plus is that it's situated in the ortigas area so it's near shangri-la mall, megamall and even galleria, pwede na rin. so if my mom and sisters want to go shopping (ma, shopping po tayo! hehehe) malapit lang.

we're also extremely lucky that it's still available in december which is a rarity nowadays, considering all the functions and weddings that'll be happening. so, we've reserved it for dec. 28-31, 2004. you might wonder bakit dec. 28? hehehehe mom and i will go shopping HEHEHEHE 'love yah ma, mwah!

inspector gadget

good morning! i swear, my titles are getting cornier by the minute! hehehehe

again, good morning and welcome back to my blog. geez, i promised to write soon but i realized that it has been more than a week since i last posted something; a message that is. but, i posted the results of my "what kind of smile are you?" (right now, i can't smile because...) and of course, you can check out my mood as of the moment. but for those of you who know me, my mood rarely changes from what i've chosen today. HAHAHAHAHA

so, in an effort to keep my eyelids propped up (without the use of toothpicks...:)) i decided to visit a website i haven't seen for like ages. the palm one website. now, i am not a techie and a gadget freak but i couldn't keep my mouth shut when i saw the overview of the tungsten t5. i was like, "oh my god" & "wow!" i felt so guilty that i took out my trusty m100 and told her she was still my original baby.

i was just reading the overview but when i viewed the specs, i let out a long whistle. the memory is just right (hehehe just right you say?), bluetooth is the way to go, there is an expansion slot, speaker and headphone jack; it can be my mp3 player too! it's entirely different but i'm thinking, i can scratch off the iPod on my wish list and just get this. i mean i don't have to lug around so many beautiful gadgets right?

but i think i can bring so much stuff around if i can iPod my BMW ;P what-my-what you say? yup, you read it correctly, if i iPod my BMW. this is another entry on my wish list. who wouldn't want to drive a bmw? now, who wouldn't want to drive while listening to your fave tunes at the same time? well, iPod Your BMW allows you to (as it says on their website) savor the "...pleasure that comes from experiencing the perfect marriage of design and technology." WOW is all i can say.

now, how can i get a BMW X5 SAV?

holy guacamole is all i can say.....

ice cream anyone?

i've come to learn that one of the best things in having a convenience store is access to food. one of my current faves is the quezo real ice cream stick from selecta. hay, ang sarap. it's creamy and the cheese! oh man! ewan ko ba basta ang sarap. and because it's small, i end up eating two in a row! hay... sarap talaga.

wow! the weekend went by so quickly! it's monday already! last saturday, we had dinner @ the king crab restaurant along jupiter street. we had crab in sotanghon, crab with rice, veggies and lapu-lapu! grabe, ang sarap! nabusog ako. sarap talaga, oh did i mention masarap? :)

then, because ricky and i haven't watched a movie in such a long time and we wanted to relax a bit, we caught the 11:00 p.m. screening of "shark tale" @ glorietta 4. now, i'm no movie critic but i must say, the movie made us laugh and we were entertained which is exactly what we wanted. mind you, the screening was full and there were a lot of kids in the audience as well! critics didn't rate "shark tale" highly. i guess they were expecting something along the lines of finding nemo. but you gotta admit, after nemo, the bar for animation was raised (so high i must add). (i love finding nemo as well, dory and squirt are my fave characters.) oscar and lenny aren't nemo and marlin but, our admission was worth it.

oh no...i'm craving for another quezo real stick. hmmm at the rate i'm going, i might be the first bride to have her gown altered kasi, lumaki before the wedding! hehehehe ;)

i wonder what we're having for dinner.....

mwah! ciao!

intensity 6.4

last night, at around 10:35 p.m., an earthquake rocked the metro and nearby provinces.

ricky's friends & cousin were here at gotcha and were having a few beers. we were all chatting at the dine-in counter when we noticed that we were swaying; some jokingly thought na baka may tama na sila sa beer. but when we all realized it was an earthquake, we went outside. the cables in front of the building were swaying and people in other buildings also went out.

it lasted for more than a minute and luckily there were no aftershocks. on the late night news report, phivolcs reported that it was an intensity 6.4 earthquake with the epicenter in oriental mindoro; tectonic in origin (i really hope i got that right). no reports of damage or casualties even in oriental mindoro were reported.

i'm particularly scared of earthquakes because of what happened in 1991. i'll never forget that day. sometimes when ricky and i are on a flyover or bridge and i can feel it "moving" (because of trucks or heavy vehicles moving along the other side, i'm on the edge of my seat. talagang, kinakabahan ako.)

at moviehouses, there's this unconscious effort to sit near the exit. once, ricky and i thought there was an earthquake and we left the cinemahouse. talagang kinabahan kami, lalo na ako. as it turned out, wala naman sayang ang sine hehehe.

hay.... *burp* ;)

well, what's up peeps? i'm doing okay, taking a break from gotcha. actually, ricky & i just ate lunch ( i had fried fish & munggo .... yummy!). so i'm on an extended lunch break.

by the way, this morning i took a few pics of gotcha. i know that the pictures we took last night were "a bit dark" so, please visit the snapshots link and view the Gotcha Mini Mart album.

tell me what you guys think....

mwah! don't forget to sign the guestbook or better yet, leave a note on the tagboard here (so that you'll come back...)

2 for the road

two more...


ricky & i crossed the street to get this shot. unfortunately, the cables block the view of the signage 



another shot, closer shot, of gotcha from the outside 

more pics

here are a few more shots we took a few minutes ago...



signage @ night; it was designed by our friend, rose :) 


just in front of gotcha 

ngayon....

after that arduous task of posting pics, let's fast forward to the present. gotcha has been operational for a little over a week now. time sure does fly by fast!

we're doing okay, sales is slowly picking up but we're far from profit :( we're now trying to boost sales by adding items, coming up with specials for OGM (Oriental Gardens Makati) residents & soon, we hope to tap into the numerous offices in the area to offer Christmas packs or something like that. Our friend and marketing guru Marlet is going to help us explore this idea...

essentially, ricky and i wanted to offer more chinese products than the usual stuff but we found out that we can't subsist on just that. you've got to weigh things and compromise to strike a balanced product mix. but its difficult. we get mundane questions such as "may stockings kayo?". stockings being the term used for pantyhose. ;) at first, i was like "duh? us carry stockings?" after some thought, gotcha is after all a convenience store; convenience being a relative term. oh well... (hehehe then i remembered last sunday as ricky and i were buying goods for gotcha, he said, "magtinda kaya tayo ng stockings?")

it's going to take some time for us to really establish gotcha here in the vicinity of chino roces. but a store like ours does have its own place under the sun.

posting pics isn't as easy as i thought :( or maybe because i haven't mastered the technique yet?


counter & rack for wine, cigs and batteries

baby gotcha

i'm hitting two birds with one stone here: i'm going to try to put pics in a post and of course for you to see what gotcha looked like in the first few weeks after renovation (pre-opening, time when we were just starting to put everything together)was complete, hence, baby gotcha (ngek!)

this is your view once you've stepped inside the store. i don't have pictures yet of the back (or what's beyond the chiller)



some of the chinese delicacies we offer; this was our first batch of items


the 3-door chiller for the drinks; the door to the right leads to the office, restroom & mezzanine stockroom

opening day :)

september 28, 2004 - mooncake festival, an auspicious date in the chinese calendar because it falls on a full moon and the opening of Gotcha Mini Mart :)

ricky and i were there early, around 7:30 a.m. the head waiter from la milagrosa catering was already there. the tents were set-up the day before so people who were in the vicinity knew that something was going to happen. the staff came in as well and we prepared the store, tidied it up did some last minute arrangements for the items.

by 8 a.m., the waiters were already preparing the flatware for the tables. we "borrowed" the empty space next door because 100 guests wouldn't fit outside. there were only about 4-5 tables situated under the tents. the rest, sa loob na. industrial fans were set since lunchtime ang kainan, mainit sa loob. good thing it didn't rain even if days before, there were sudden downpours even if the sun was shining. the flowers started coming in as well.

the lechon which was a gift from jackie, ricky's ate (and my "ate" as well... :) am i allowed to say that already? :)) ) came in at around 10 a.m. it was funny because they unloaded 2 small pigs. when they checked the receipt, we were supposed to get the big one. so they "exchanged" the pigs. mario saw the pigs being loaded into the delivery van and panicked so he asked "bakit, anong nangyari?" when i explained they mistakenly unloaded the two small ones instead of the big one, he smiled. :)

the priest was due any minute so, i had to change from jeans to my slacks. our friends started coming in & of course, our invited guests. after waiting for those who'll cut the ribbon, by 11:30 a.m. the ceremony was underway. it was a short ceremony followed by the "coin & candy tossing". i don't know the origin of this but it bodes well for the business. the owner throws candies and coins into the store (papasok) so that the customers, money, good fortune will also come into the store. people inside the store rush to get the coins or candy, either of which mean good luck as well for those who get it. (am i correct? anyone who wishes to shed light on this please do so...)

then, everyone proceeded next door to eat lunch. now, this is where my memory of what transpired is as fuzzy as my fave fruit, the peach. why? well, ricky and i didn't get to eat as much because either we were entertaining our guests or we were at the store; some of the guests bought goodies. so we had to shuttle back and forth between the store and the lunch. our friends were teasing us that it was some sort of dry run for what was going to happen in december. kulang na lang ay bumisita kami sa bawat table at magpakuha ng picture hehehe ;)

after eating some guests bought stuff, others went back to their offices. parang nag-lunch out lang sila. hehehe others stayed at the store, tumambay lang, nakipagkwentuhan or ate some goodies they bought.

opening day was in its own right, a huge success. ricky and i are truly grateful for a wonderful grand opening and blessing.

pictures wil be posted soon, please bear with me.... i know you guys always do.

next: what's been happening since sept. 28?

the mother of all openings

wow... i can't believe it. at this time a week ago, we were all on pins and needles trying to get everything done for the opening and blessing (the 28th). it's about 5 in the p.m. and at this time, i was acting as a shopper and asking the cashiers to "practice" punching the right keys, scanning the items properly and counting change. our cash register has a training mode so we were able to simulate the process.

when you go thru it, it seems as easy as pie. hehehe but the next day, one cashier was so nervous her hands were shaking while punching the keys and giving out change.

ricky at this time was on the phone, speaking to some suppliers, or talking to mario kong (our friend, broker and gotcha "consultant") going thru any detail we may have missed or overlooked.

then, we were also tagging the items or "labelling" them, checking out the set up on the gondolas, checking if the chiller, freezer and ice cream freezer were functioning properly. there were also some deliveries made and deals closed. it was really frantic for all of us.

ricky and i weren't getting enough sleep already even two weeks before opening. but teamwork really does pay off and the help of countless hands certainly made everything possible.

the night before, marlet, a very good friend of ours even helped tag some items. hehehe lahat sila naaliw sa pag label ng items (price - using the price labeller).

after a tiring day, we all had dinner together at grilla (near rockwell). just to relax a bit from such a stressful time; some sort of breather before D-Day.

we called it a night at nearly midnight. the next day, we had to be up and at gotcha earlier than usual.

next: the grand opening & blessing

hello again...naturally...

a big hello to everyone out there!!!!!!! whew! i'm back and i hope it stays that way. please forgive me for the loooooonnnnngggg absence. my life has been super chaotic and you should see the state of the office right now! i have just been on my hands and knees to install everything and i had to check if pacific internet changed the caller id. (i must say that they are really efficient! i just emailed them last night and what do you know! connected to the net via our gotcha! number already. wow!)

i know everyone is dying to catch a glimpse of the gotcha pictures and story. please bear with me for like a couple of days. i'll try to blog everything that i remember (hehehe).

ricky and i would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who graced the grand opening and blessing, as well as those who couldn't make it but wished us well. to our family and friends who put up with ricky and me prior to the event and helped us put everything together, WE LOVE YOU!!!

okay, wait a minute! my cashiers need to change a large bill.....

please check in every now and then okay! mwah!

oh my god...

although my browser's home page is set to my blog page, believe it or not, i haven't had the time to look at it. even the tagboard! not until now. oh my god. please forgive the absence. things at gotcha have made my life so hectic that i'm always tired.

the store will open next tuesday and there is still a lot to do. the items have slowly been coming in either by deliveries or by our "shopping trips" to makro or wherever. whew! nakakpagod talaga. ricky and i haven't even resumed our wedding preparations.

jenny! thank you, thank you for the garfield dvd...hehehe i'll look forward to that in dec. i enjoyed the movie and whenever kuku & i pass by the garfield store in glorietta, i spend a few minutes to watch whatever episode of the cartoon series they're playing. i'll watch that on our honeymoon HAHAHA (di naman kaya magalit kuku mo sa akin?) so, how's wilcon doing? i'm sure you won't have any hunger pangs anymore now that the chef is there :) i haven't visited your blog lately but i will promise!!!

kuya boychie! i didn't know the amazing race won. what i do know is that sarah jessica parker won an emmy for SATC ! i was torn between her and jennifer aniston because i also love friends, they're two of my fave shows.

tomorrow, the finale of the amazing race! i hope to catch it at gotcha in the morning.

that means, i must go to sleep so i can wake up early!

see yah! mwah!

amazing part 2

the teams unanimously yielded colin & christie, the leading pair (for most legs). they travelled from malaguena motors to victoria and had to choose between "plow" or "fowl". in plow, magaararo sila as in may kalabaw! in fowl, they have to herd 1,000 ducks from one pen to another. after that, they travel to coconut palace, this leg's pitstop.

they all chose "plow" and nakakatuwa ang pagararo nila. they plow till they unearth their next clue, hidden in the ricefield.

watching the teams, well, i must say teamwork is really essential. i noticed that most of the teams were both on the ricefield with one leading the carabao and the other one holding down the "araro" which worked to their advantage. one pair didn't work together, which had the carabao going around aimlessly which cost them some time.

fortunately for them, it was the last non-elimination leg of the race therefore, it's still 4 teams. next week, they're off to el nido in palawan then to the finale, in canada if i'm not mistaken. that we've got to watch...

ciao!

amazing!

i woke up earlier than usual just to catch this week's episode of the amazing race 5 because the 4 teams left are coming here! woohoo :) so far, they're all enthusiastic about coming to manila and i hope they enjoy their "stay" here. right now, they've arrived, travelled to cavite to malaguena motors and are now "embellishing" a jeepney.

it's such a thrill to see them in the race here!

i wonder if ricky & i can join the race? heehee that'll be an experience!

something for ricky

tess and i were strolling around the music section of sm because she had some cds to buy and bring to canada. i looked around as well and found a couple of cds (digitally remastered) of one of ricky's faves, apo hiking society (AHS). there were several and i didn't know which ones to get. so, i just chose two because i couldn't remember if he already had any AHS cd. now, we listen to those cds most of the time when we're on the road :) certainly amusing. specially when he sings along with "blue jeans" or "when i met you" nakakatuwa :)

looks like these cds are going to get lots of playing time in gotcha :) :) :)

sing me a song

on our way to gotcha, i asked ricky, "ano paborito mong mga kanta?" after thinking about it, he gave me his favorite artists instead, whose songs he loves. here goes:

1. VST (tito and vic sotto's group, sikat during the early 80's, tama ba ako?)
2. Ric Segreto (undoubtedly, one of the most popular pinoy balladeers. "don't know what to do" is a great song and a lot of recording artists have sung their version of it. too bad he died a couple of years ago due to an accident.)
3. Apo Hiking Society (sino ba ang hindi nakakakilala sa group na 'to? when it rains, i sometimes find myself saying "pumapatak nanaman ang ulan sa bubong ng bahay...")

ricky's faves are from some certain periods in his life. VST & Apo from his high school and college days; ric segreto from the days we worked at mcdo. the crew would always play a ric segreto tape, over and over... :)

i like listening to upbeat, pop and dance tunes. ironically, three of my fave songs are:

1. love moves in mysterious ways (julia fordham - it's how i "describe" what happened and is happening to me and ricky. hehehe i know, mushy-mushy)
2. the way you look tonight (tony bennett although michael buble's version is great too...)
3. what you won't do for love (originally by bobby caldwell but i got hooked on go west's version)

artists well, i like, julia fordham, babyface, brian mcknight, j. lo. (yup, the latina), sarah mclachlan, matchbox twenty. locally, of course, ariel rivera ;)

hmmmm....it's been a long time since i popped a cd into my discman, drifting off to sleep listening to whatever it is i feel like listening to...

g' night guys... mwah!

hi, my name is chie

that's just in case you guys have forgotten me. hello! i'm so sorry for not having posted anything for the past 4 (or is it 5? oh my god...) days. whew, my days have been a mish-mash of hellos, goodbyes (in the form of a despedida), thank yous, and pondering on fave songs.

hello because a very good friend of mine, rose, came back from a month-long assignment in cambodia. we (our barkada) met up the other night at megamall and she had a lot of interesting stories about her stay in cambodia. she gave us our pasalubongs and she gave me this adorable watch :) it's a bracelet watch, which is the best way to describe it with the straps made of piggy faces!!! it's so cute and i promise to post a picture of it, hopefully soon...

goodbye because one of my closest friends will soon leave for canada to join her husband. it's sad that she's leaving but of course, being with her husband is more important. so, even if the barkada is sad to see her go, deep down inside we're happy that they'll finally be together. bakla (our term of endearment for each other, please don't be alarmed) I'M GONNA MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY....

thank yous, well that's actually thank you, because, our electronic cash register was delivered today. soon, we'll start pragramming it to contain our items and all that stuff. truth be told, ricky and i have forgotten everything they taught us during our training hehehe. but there's always the trusty manual ;)

then from the tagboard, my kuya boychie (hello kuya boychie!) asks, "lynchie, ano ang favorite song(s) ninyo ni ricky?" i must admit that question got me thinking bro...

let me count the ways...

this question was posed in my yahoogroup (one of the best in the world - W@W) today, "name 3 things you love/adore about your partner/hubby/wifey". let me answer that question here. but instead of 3 things let's make it 5, just like in John Cusack's film, 'High Fidelity'.

what i love about ricky:

1. the way he cares for and loves his family is an indication of how he'll be with me and our future family.

2. he spoils me! on a recent trip to korea and china early this year, he bought so much stuff for me, WOW talaga! things he knew i'd really love, things that made me realize he was thinking of me often. :) and he still spoils me until now... ;)

3. he always wants to hold my hand. when we're together, he automatically reaches for my hand and holds it. even if i'm busy searching for something in my bag, he'd be waiting. if i'm carrying something, he'll take whatever it is i'm holding so that my hand is free to hold his.

4. he is determined, responsible and hard-working. he wanted to finish college and earn a degree even if it meant being a working student (he paid for his tuition) and taking 8 years to finish his course.

5. he accepts chie for who chie is. inside and out. i'm far from being flawless and sexy; at times i'm bitchy, lazy and stubborn. still, he wants me to be his wife...

gotcha!

hey! sorry no post yesterday. even with the absence of wedding preps, ricky and i are still very busy.

we are opening a convenience store in makati. and for a store that occupies a mere 57 sq. m., there sure is a lot to do! especially now that it's crunch time - the store is slated to open on september 28. just like the wedding preps, only ricky & i are attending to the business.

the store is named GOTCHA MINI MART. it's the 15th business name we submitted to SEC for approval. names 1 -14 were all taken so, gotcha mini mart it is. it's also a chinese deli because we will be offering hopia, eng bee tin products, mahu (pork floss), canned chinese products, candies and haw flakes just to name a few. as soon as i can, i'll post pictures of GOTCHA, don't worry...

it dawned on me recently that working together on the store has allowed us to know more about each other. it's heartwarming to know that this project is for ricky and me and our future family.

bye! take care!

1 + 1 = twogether

in my first post, i announced that ricky & i are getting married on dec. 30, '04.

i just realized that we have officially entered the BER months which means that our single days are definitely numbered :) the prospect of getting married is daunting because it's a big step for us. but we definitely love each other and marriage is actually something we look forward to.

wedding preparations are underway. once i've uploaded some pictures, you can all click the SNAPSHOTS link and view some of the wedding stuff there. for now, you can visit the website of our ceremony & reception venue, Fernwood Gardens. ricky & i really, really fell in love with the place when we checked it out. we didn't book it immediately because it is beautiful but you've got to pay the price (if you know what i mean *wink,wink*). until february, we finally wrote out the checks for the cycad garden (or the 3rd venue).

then we chose VS&F, one of the accredited caterers of Fernwood. after a delightful food tasting :), we decided on getting them. then we slowly accomplished other things like a photo/video supplier, a couturier, & our wedding rings (yehey! we were soooooo happy when we got them!).

ricky also got confirmed so, we're also attending to the req'ts for the church; for submission hopefully by the end of the month.

whew! that's not all, there's the entourage line-up, invites, make-up, misalettes, reception program, candles, shoes, hotel accommodations and a "million" other details. but preparing for a wedding is actually something that's fun! specially if your husband-to-be is as involved as ricky is. it makes me love him more ;) wonder if i can turn it into a business? on second thought, not for me. let's leave it to the pros.

hmmm, i need my coffee fix so, catch you guys later or maybe tomorrow! mwah!

good morning ;)

rain, rain go away, come again another day...wow, it's been raining again since early morning. i'm thinking if this keeps up, each household should have a kayak, speedboat or something. if it's not a tropical depression, it's monsoon rains or a typhoon...oh well...

for those of you who have visited more than once (anyone out there? please??) you'll notice i added a tagboard. i can't explain what it really is HAHAHAHA but in lieu of a guestbook, feel free to "TAG" me. think of it as a virtual post-it.

also, if you want to be on my Bloggers Block (link to your webpage or blog) just drop me a line at cpacot@yahoo.com. or better yet, put it on the tagboard.

okay, see you guys tonight. i'm off to the mall ;) mwah!

me? a blogger?

yes, i just had to give in. mmmm, your first time is always memorable, isn't it?

hehehe i have just created a blog! (what were you thinking?) well, blogger has made it easy for me ;) others may read this and say "where the hell has she been?" well, i am extremely proud that i've taken that first step!

i'm just so overwhelmed at everything that i've got to "format", "edit", "post" and "publish" so please bear with me. (if you're still with me, thanks...mwah!)

disclaimer: the author may be incoherent at times no, make that, most of the time

what to expect?

A LOT! for the first few days, you'll read a lot of entries. that's because i'm still trying to arrange everything, links, photos and other info. so, visit as often as you can. (thanks!)

but why alone...together? i racked my brain to come up with a "title" that'll include anything and everything i want to share with you. essentially, it's an oxymoron. but it's about me, about ricky, what i've been doing, what he's been doing and things about us and our "projects". the biggest of which (in my opinion that is; ricky will disagree ;)) is our wedding on december 30, 2004! yup, yup, yup :)

alone...together also means being single and married (soon). i must admit that is one of the biggest reasons why i wanted a "blogspot". i'd like to share what we've done and let you in on the developments as they unfold until "D-day". of course, even after d-day there'll be a lot more to share.

so, gotta go guys. see you later or tomorrow? well, whenever... ciao, mwah!