journey to lose 8kg!

80 days before the wedding. 8 kg target.

the tagline sounds more dramatic than achievable if you ask me. but I have a strong feeling it is achievable.

I have always been a size small but within the span of 4 yrs I've already transitioned to medium. I know its a part of growing up and medium isn't really large and it isn't that bad yet but I just really want to lose unwanted belly bump and facial fats for the day that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

Since 2010, I've weighed 53kg. Starting tomorrow, exactly 80 days before the big day, I'll start a new diet to target 45kg.

this is me 4yrs ago

\

this is me a year ago

I wonder how I'd be in 80 days....

I'll be posting! Wish me luck!

freakin invitations

I always thought na madali lang gumawa ng wedding invitations and ay nakoww napakahirap pala!!!

Nakokorta na utak namen kakaisip ng wordings and soooo freaking frustrating!

Grrrrr! wish us luck!

climbing for love

Pamamanhikan, as most Filipinos call it is something we've/I've long been dreading for. I really don't like drama, especially if it includes families!

Today, as we celebrate mothers' day, we're relieved to have gotten through this important step to our married life. Due to unfortunate events, we weren't able to do it home as accustomed. We celebrated this union while we eat out in celebration of mothers' day. Nothing fancy. But the important thing is both sets of families were there, sharing a meal and getting to know each other.

As for me, all I can say is whew!!! I've gotten through this, I think I can get through more wedding drama!

the Ayubans w/ the Manalacs

ww18 - 1st week of May - blessings & giddyups!

"Grabe na the week the week that was!" - Like what the old talk show used to say.

The 1st week of May have come and almost gone in a blink of an eye. At work it would mean impending deadlines for the previous months reports, formulation of more action plans  in an effort to address mistakes that has never turned out to be effective, and the never-ending completion of the current week's task allocation. However, amidst the heavy work load this week has yet again proven the Lord's faithful blessings working in Von's and my life.

Monday -
Von got a new baby, Stacy! Though Stacy came with a well loved price, Mazie. The lost of Mazie however, has just proven to be for the better in more than a hundred reasons. I've never been happier to see Von this giddy and excited since Stacy came but I must say I still miss Mazie, especially her scent! I have still not gotten used to Stacy's smell. I can't help but feel nauseous whenever I'm in Stacy, I just wish her smell would go away, fast! I remember just a few months back, we saw another Stacy in a parking lot and we have followed her the whole time instead of looking for a parking space. Von had prayed for her since then and with God's mighty power, I'm so happy to say that the prayer has been claimed! I know, that most of you don't know about Stacy yet, so I'm really sounding a little crazy already. Lol. Here's a brief glimpse of who Stacy is.

Stacy :)

Tuesday -

A new opportunity has been presented. I'm intrigued and interested. I prayed for God's guidance and by His will asked if this opportunity is for me.

Wednesday -

God answered NO, it wasn't for me. At first I didn't really understand why, but later through the day I learned why. The Lord really is good! All the time! He knew that I would be more miserable if He would give that opportunity to me and He doesn't want that and I'm so thankful!

Thursday -

As I have mentioned many many times, I'm so full of research, wedding research that is. So earlier during the year, I came across a blog from Before I Do bridal fair for a best in prenup photo contest for soon to wed couples. Being the competitive (scratch that) combative person that I am, of course I wanted to join! We really didn't have to do anything but to send in a picture and we get to win a prize. From the mechanics, top 5 pics we'll be displayed in the bridal fair in Megamall this May and those participating in the fair will get a chance to vote for the best picture. So with the help of our ever helpful photog, we sent in an entry. I don't really know how many entries were there but as I was again doing research I came across this.

I know its a long shot but who knows, we've been so blessed lately and I know that there are more blessings to come! Even if we don't win the trip to Punta Fuego (you won't really understand if you don't check the link!) we still get a free blow up of our picture! I can just imagine our soon to be small home filled with blown up engagement and wedding pics! So if by chance you'll be attending the fair in Megamall this May, please vote for our pic. Ours is the 5th pic, the most contemporary among all the entries. Wish us luck!

Friday -

Well Friday I'm in love! Aside from the day being the most loved day of the week, our engagement pics was published in our photographer's James Limsoc's blog site and I fell in love all over again. Lol! With our chat with him during our prenup, he has mentioned that he has been on straight shoot for weeks now. So putting 2 and 2 together, we thought that , he has many clients but he doesn't really publish all their shoots in his site since there are just quite a few entries there. A few days after our shoot with him, I was communicating with his wife, Ms.Malou, via email and she was telling me how they loved our pics and asked if they can publish them. Now who am I to refuse, as I told them, the pics are ours as well as theirs. I'm really very happy to have gotten them. Here's my favorite pic published in their site. For more pics, click here.

2 more days until the week officially ends and I can't help but feel giddy and look forward to the coming days. Life really is better with the Lord's grace and guidance. With that I'll end this long post with "God bless us all" and "Happy weekend!"

Unity Sand Ceremony

I've mentioned once before that prior to me starting this wedblog I've been following quite a few others. Blogs about food, travel, wedding, the works - and one thing that each blog has in common is information. All these other blogs I've been visiting are very informative and I guess that they serve their purpose - to keep their readers informed.

As I read back on my previous entries, I realized that I have not really shared much information beneficial to any of the good souls reading my senselessness (what a word!). Instead of being informative, I must say it's a wee bit whiny (yes, I am very hard on myself). So with that, here's my first lame attempt at being informative. And what better way to start than with the Unity Sand Ceremony.

I've been getting a lot of blank faces whenever I mention the Sand Ceremony being incorporated to our wedding (even from my husband to be) and based on my research (which I'm very full of) this type of ceremony has not been common to Filipino weddings. The Unity Candle Ceremony has been more well known and widely used in traditional Filipino weddings (I never have gotten a blank face when I mention candles!)...

Here's what Google has to say about the Sand Ceremony:

The Unity Sand Ceremony, a celebration that is usually two to three minutes in length, is a meaningful symbolic joining of two lives. In this timeless ritual of marriage, the couple ceremoniously pours various colors of sand from separate containers into one special container, the unity vase, symbolizing their coming together as one.

It provides a way for couples during their wedding ceremony to brilliantly show the joining of the flow of their two lives into a single stream with their individually colored sands joining as one in the Unity Vase.

Plus, because it can be displayed privately or for all to see for years to come, the symbol of the couple’s love is always present, always a reminder, and always a touchstone of truth. As such, the Unity Sand Ceremony and the unity vase can be treasured forever.

After the ceremony, the vase would look a little something like this:

As opposed to the Unity Candle ceremony, the sand in the vase can become a beautiful keepsake and decorative house interior piece after the ceremony. This picture just shows 2 colored sands representing the bride and the groom but we're going for more colors so more members of our family can participate.

For our wedding, we're planning to have 6 colors 7 participants. If everything goes as planned, the vase should look something like this: (from bottom to top)

1. White sand - to be poured by the Pastor representing God to be the foundation of our marriage
2. Light Blue - for the Groom's family
3. Dark Purple - for the Groom
4. Lavender - for the Bride
5. Light Pink - for the Bride's family
6. Gray - for the 2 sand sponsors (extended family members)

To show our personalities, we're also planning on using a wine bottle as our unity vase, a beer mug for the groom's sand, a wine glass for the bride's sand, and regular glasses for the other participants all of which can be reused and abused after the wedding.

Well as of writing all this are still plans and we haven't really started on looking for the things we need, so as far as this being informative is concerned I'll say "a lack therefore!". But hey, its a perfectly "lame" attempt! I'll be posting progress when we have one. :D