How to Get a Papal Blessing Parchment

Years ago, I told Hubby that I wanted us to have a renewal of vows for our tenth wedding anniversary.  I wanted to have another wedding, complete with an entourage, with me wearing a beautiful wedding gown and hubby wearing a tux, and reception dinner, Unfortunately, we never set aside any budget for it nor did we actually sit down and plan anything, and since our anniversary is in three months, you can be sure that that idea won't be pushing through.

Caila's Trolls Themed 8th Birthday

Since my sister treated Caila (and the rest of us) to a luxurious weekend stay at the InterContinental Dubai Marina as a gift for her 8th birthday, I knew I couldn't top that... material-wise, at least.  Thankfully, my eldest daughter had already told me how she wanted to spend her actual birthday and it didn't include a big party so we didn't have to dig too deep into our pockets this time. Whew! 

However, it did include giving away goody bags to her close friends and classmates at school.  It would have been an easy task (just buy treats and put them in bags, right?), but since she was so used to having a theme every year for her birthday, she insisted that there be a theme as well this year...yes, even though it would just be for the lootbags. This time it was Trolls. 

Caila’s Birthday Surprise at Marriott

If you think Caila’s birthday celebration ended when the last guests left the party, think again. My sister had arranged a special surprise for her niece, and it was one that we all enjoyed. The only clue we told the birthday girl was that we would be staying at a “nice, nice house” (how she describes a hotel) after the party. That alone made her excited already.

Ate Ning had booked a 2-bedroom apartment at Marriott Executive Apartments for that night, ordered helium-filled balloons in white and green (Caila’s favourite color), and two dozen cupcakes. A fruit arrangement, delicious chocolate cake, card from the staff, kiddie toiletries, and swan and monkey towels were a bonus courtesy of Marriott.

A Late Birthday Gift of Time

A couple of weeks ago, I finally bought my gift for Hubby’s birthday (which was last December 6). Yeah, I know… overdue and very late. I had good reasons though: (1) I was waiting for the DSF sales and promos, and (2) It was taking him a long time to choose. Again =) The thing is, I didn’t want to get him another gadget. My past gifts to him were a laptop, iPhone 4, LED television screen, and Samsung Galaxy Note (I can’t remember which one, though). I knew he would have loved to receive a pair of Jordan shoes but he had several of those already, and I didn’t want to feed on his hobby. What I wanted to give him was a watch. The catch was he’s never worn or owned a watch during his entire adult life; the last one he had was when he was still in college, so I didn’t know what he would like.

My Pandora Charm Bracelet

If you recall, I mentioned last year that I wanted to get myself a Pandora bracelet with charms…but that plan took the back seat when I bought myself an Anne Klein charm watch bracelet instead. This year though, I really, really wanted to own a piece of Pandora jewellery, but now I didn’t want to buy it myself; I wanted it to be gifted to me. And I approached the only person I could ask…Hubby, of course =)

The Past Week and More Goodies!

I didn’t blog as much as I wanted last week but I have two good reasons. One, because it was our company Year-End party last Friday. And two, because Hubby and I had an exam last Saturday and we were cramming to prepare for it.

Just like last year, I was responsible for everything for our annual event. Yes, I was practically a one-woman show again.  Unfortunately, despite all the planning and preparations, our company party wasn’t as successful as I wanted it to be. Not my fault, though. The problem was the venue and their operations department. And because of their miscommunication, the program was delayed for an hour and a half, I became angry and was in a foul mood (although I did try my best not to show it because I was the host and needed to be all happy and gay), there were several lapses and we needed to move some parts of the program around, and I didn’t eat eat much even though I was really hungry.

It’s a good thing our top managers were understanding of the situation and just took everything in stride. There was even a time during the party when I forgot what happened earlier because I could see our managers and a few guests enjoying themselves as they followed the moves of the Just Dance video. That was fun! But I was still upset, and as soon as I went back to work last Sunday, I informed our contact person at the hotel what happened and expressed how disappointed I was.

As for the exam, we’ll know the results after a couple of weeks. I think I did well in 3 sections, but I'm not that confident for the last. I do hope I was able to make up for some parts of it, though. We’ll see.

Anyway, I’ve been receiving more goodies lately. Two colleagues arrived from trips to Thailand (one for vacation and another for business), a guest visited from Japan, and the other is actually not for me, but for Sophie.

These came from my colleague who went to Thailand for a 5-day vacation:

She said everything was really cheap there, so she brought a whole bag full of mangoes, packs of dried mangoes, Haw Flakes, small jars of tamarind candies, and keychains for each for us.

These came from the other colleague who was there for a 3-month assignment:

He knows I like to collect magnets, so whenever he goes on a business trip to another country, he never fails to bring me one from the place he visited, and other treats for our other female colleagues. He’s the same one who gave me the magnets from Texas.

This morning, a manager who joined us from Japan brought these colorful boxes of yummy mochi of different flavors

And Sophie received this cute handmade card through the mail from the daughter of a n@wie for our Christmas Card Exchange.

It's not really obvious, but these were made with fingerprints! =)

I know she may be too young to understand the meaning of the Exchange and appreciate the thrill of receiving something handmade and via snail mail, but I’m sure she will when she's a bit older. At least next year, she’ll be able to make one herself and really take part. This year, Caila was the one who participated for both of them, so she had to send 2 cards and gifts to my daughters’ assigned recipients.  She didn't mind, though.  She found it fun.

Oh, one last thing! I just received a call a few minutes ago telling me I can collect a prize I won through another draw I joined. Yaaaaaaayyyy!!!!! I’ll be collecting it tonight after work and I promise I’ll blog about it as soon as I can. For sure I’ll tweet about it later when it’s in my hands, so if you want to see what I won, follow me on Twitter.

I’m so excited!

The Great Surprise

So Saturday was Sophie’s 2nd birthday party. I still need to post about it, but first I want to share the surprise we got at the venue: Mama is back in Dubai! Hurray!!!!!

Come to think of it, I don’t think I mentioned here that she had gone back to the Philippines last July, but, yeah, she had to because my sister wasn’t able to apply for Mama’s Residence Visa before her Visit Visa expired.

Naturally I was so, so happy to see her. And considering the circumstances, I really hadn’t expected it at all, so it really was a great surprise.

Before I get ahead of myself though, let me share with you the background. It’s a bit long but I need to mention some details for you to get the whole idea why her arrival was unexpected...or maybe I'm just totally clueless when it comes to these things =)

When Mama left Dubai after her three month visit, Gabe went with her so that he could spend the rest of his summer vacation there. Soon after, Ate Ning managed to apply for Mama’s Residence Entry Visa. The plan was for her (my sister) to go home in August so that she had the printed document in her hand and they (her, Mama, Gabe) could all travel back here together. However, Mama had to undergo a minor surgery that time and her doctor said she wasn’t allowed to travel until late September for the wound to heal, so it was only Gabe who returned to the UAE with his mother.

Mama’s Residence Entry Visa was valid until the 1st of October. Sure there was time, but because the doctor said she wasn’t allowed to bend down too low and/or carry anything heavy (i.e. luggage), she couldn't travel alone. And unfortunately, none of us (me, my sister, hubby) could go home for a few days to fetch her. For one thing, the tickets aren’t cheap. For another, none of us had the time to travel, especially me and hubby since we have two kids, one of which goes to school.

Another option was to ask around if any of our friends were returning from their vacation, but my sister was always uncooperative when I asked her what the plan was. She would usually answer “Ewan ko” or “Hindi ko alam” or “Bahala na” because she “didn’t have enough money.” Actually, she often answers that way whatever we ask her so I just figured she had other plans.

During our weekly conversations, Mama and I would ask each other if Ate Ning had decided on what to do, but we always replied the same thing: we didn’t know anything.

It seemed that my sister was going to just let the validity expire and either request to extend it (if that was possible) or try to apply again. I admit I was disappointed when I realized that Mama wasn’t going to be able to be here for her youngest grandchild’s birthday, but what to do? Ate Ning was Mama’s sponsor, after all.

Then early last week, my sister called me and said that she had a training in Abu Dhabi from Thursday until Saturday afternoon, so she needed Gabe to stay with us during that time. Since she usually does this, I didn’t think much about it. She dropped him off at our apartment on Thursday night and that was that.

Friday afternoon, I called Mama as I normally do. We talked for a bit, but since she was in the mall waiting for my brother to take her to his place and it was pretty noisy, our conversation didn’t last too long.

On Saturday, Sophie’s birthday, we were all busy with the party preparations. A part of me wondered why Mama hadn’t called to greet (because she’s usually the first one who does), but I figured that maybe she was out or busy. I tried calling her number once, but it was switched off so I just thought she didn’t have signal wherever she was or her battery was empty (which is usually the case).

Saturday afternoon, Ate Ning called me saying that she had arrived at her apartment from her training and she would just take a rest, then meet us at the party venue later.

Fast forward to 6:50pm. We were at KFC in Al Nahda and the party hall was still being used by the group before us, so we just sat around waiting and mingling with some of our friends who had arrived early. When my sister arrived, she told Sophie and Caila that she had a surprise for them. Since Sophie wouldn’t let go of me, I carried her to where Ate Ning was leading us. I thought the surprise was her boyfriend carrying a gift, so imagine my shock when I saw Mama in the flesh standing on the stairs smiling at us.

I couldn’t help it; I immediately hugged her tight for a long time (with Sophie still in my arms) as I cried tears of joy, grateful that she was actually here.  You know I'm really close to her right? So you can totally understand my reaction that night.

Thank you, Mama. And thank you as well, Ate, for the absolutely perfect birthday gift to Sophie…for me.  It absolutely made my day.

A Great Wedding Gift Idea

Hubby and I were part of the service team of our CFC cluster’s Marriage Enrichment Retreat 1 that took place over the weekend, and definitely we were busy. Hubby was the head of the Marshalls and Logistics Committee while I was part of the Child Care Committee. Fortunately, the overnight activity took place in Auris Hotel at Tecom (unlike past MERs that took place in other emirates), so the journey going to and from there wasn’t long.

Anyway, I just wanted to share the souvenir that the participants received. It was such a nice token, the service team also ordered these souvenirs as well.

It’s a Marriage Memory Jar! Whenever something good or special happens, the couple will just need to write the details on a piece of paper, and put it inside. Or if they go out on a date, they can get a remembrance from that event (a paper napkin from the restaurant, a movie ticket, stationery from the hotel, etc. ) and put that in. It’s a nice way to remember all the special things that they shared and went through together.

One thing that makes it a memory jar especially for (church) married couples, is the sand. There are 3 different colors of sand inside: neutral (white-brown), blue, and orange. There’s an explanation for this.

In all marriages, there is the husband (blue) and wife (orange). But a couple alone can never make their marriage work. Someone should be part of it. Of course I’m not talking about having an affair. I’m talking about God…who is the only third person that can should be part of every relationship. Without Him as the foundation, couples won’t be able to face and overcome the problems that come their way…their marriage wouldn’t last.

Initially, the jars were distributed with only the neutral colored sand in the jar, and the blue and orange sands were given separately.

At the signal during the program, the couples poured in their colored sands into their jars together, at the same time, and were asked to mix them well. The challenge given to them was if the day comes when one or both of them want to part ways (and for sure, that day will happen), they need to separate the different grains of sand. If they could do that, then and only then can they break up.

Practically impossible to do, of course.

Which is why the jar was such a nice token for the MER1. And why I think it’s such a great wedding gift idea. Or even a wedding anniversary gift to couples.

And it’s not expensive too! All you need is a big glass jar, normal sand (from the beach), 2 different colored sands (the ones used for ours were from Ikea; any colors will do), different colored papers to write down memories in, and whatever things you want to use to decorate the jar.

Simple, easy, yet very meaningful.

what made my heart smile on valentine’s day

Belated Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 

So, how did you celebrate the day of hearts? Dinner by candlelight? Movie-date? Or did you just opt to stay at home and enjoy the freedom from the traffic and crowds?

When Hubby went away last Thursday for a business trip, I thought that my Valentine’s Day would just be like an ordinary day. However, this was not the case. Although we didn’t get gifts for each other (we actually don’t celebrate this occasion that much), there were some nice things that I received which made my heart smile yesterday.

Last year, Caila had given me a card which she had made from school.  But this year, she was sick and absent for most of the week.  So what she did was write this small note first thing in the morning after I greeted her Happy Valentine's Day and gave it to me as soon as she finished

The day before, I had informed our ET barkada that I was going to have a lonely Valentine because Hubby was away.  But, yesterday afternoon, as the T’s dropped me and my daughters off at home after a party we all attended, they surprised me with this

Then in the evening, Hubby finally got the chance to call and spoke to all of his girls (me, Caila and Sophie), and later sent me this image on WhatsApp

Now who wouldn’t feel loved after getting all that?

charms for a decade

I’ve been looking for a particular type of accessory for almost a month now. Back in November last year, I wanted to get myself a charm bracelet from Pandora and collect its different charms as time passed. But the desire wasn’t that strong, and I just put it on my wish list of items that I would get some time in the future.

On Christmas Day, as we were walking around Al Ghurair Centre, I saw a particular charm bracelet that had a watch. It was nice and pretty; but again, the desire wasn’t strong enough to tempt me into buying it or even to check how much it cost.

Then early this month, I noticed that the gold marks for the hours on the face of my watch had fallen out of place (probably from being dropped by my kids so many times). On top of that, it seemed to have run out of battery and I had to constantly adjust the time. So I decided it was time to change it, and, recalling that I liked the charm bracelet watch I had seen last month, started looking around for it or something similar.

Since we were attending a birthday party at Chowking on the 4th of January, I went back to the stall where I first saw the watch. Unfortunately, they only had it in silver tone. There it cost around Dhs480.

Out of curiosity, I checked Souq.com and it was selling at Dhs460, plus delivery charges.

Last Friday, when Hubby and I went to DCC, I checked 2 stores that also had the same item, but again, not in the color I wanted. In one, it originally cost around Dhs625, but after their (supposed) promotional 25% discount, it came to Dhs470. See how the DSF isn’t such a big sale event at all?! In the second store, the price tag read Dhs575, but after some haggling, the salesman lowered the price to Dhs470. That was before I found that they only had it in silver and rose-gold tone.

Finally, yesterday we were at Mirdif City Centre so that Caila could enjoy the remaining hours of the long weekend at Aqua Play. As we were walking around, we passed by a shop (same as the second store in DCC that we visited the day before) and I checked if they had the watch. They did, and in the gold tone I wanted too! Checking the tag, I saw it was Dhs475. I was willing to buy it at that price already, but after I asked the salesman if they had any discounts or promos for it, he offered me 2 choices. In the end, I paid Dhs400 for this elegant and girly Anne Klein charm bracelet watch:

Isn’t it pretty? It’s a bit heavy and chunky, but I like it. Simple enough to be used for casual wear, but elegant enough for special evenings. The reason why I wanted it in yellow gold is because the jewelry that I usually wear are also the same tone. The Swarovski crystal accented charms are an added bonus to match the set I have (see here and here).

Actually, despite looking around for it for some time, I had really been hoping I would be able to buy it yesterday. I wanted it to be my Decade in Dubai gift for myself…and that’s exactly what happened. Yay!

michael kors selma bag and wallet

Saw this on our bed after I stepped out of the shower this morning.
The reason for the gift: wala lang. 

in pink!

Thank you, Mahal!

5th anniversary gifts

To avoid being disappointed or not happy with the gifts we receive from each other, Hubby and I have agreed that it’s simply easier to ask what the other wants. Sure it loses the thrill of surprise, but at least it saves us the trouble from wasting time thinking of what to give and roaming around the mall. Plus, at least we’re sure the other will like and appreciate the gift.

pick-me-upper #1

Even though my spirits lifted after reading those bible verses the other day, I still couldn’t help feeling a bit miserable. After all, I’m still human; you can’t expect the feelings of crappiness immediately disappear. The next day (yesterday), I went on with my life as normal and did whatever I needed to do. I was still offended, but I had already accepted the fact that it just wasn’t time to get what I was hoping for. In the afternoon when Hubby fetched me from work, he asked me what the plan (for the rest of the day) was. We didn’t have our regular upper household that night, so our evening was totally free. I just shrugged and said “Wala. Anong plano mo?” To which he asked if I wanted to go to Deira City Centre.

birthday giveaway: the richest man in babylon

After work yesterday, Hubby and I, along with some of our friends, attended a seminar on Wealth Management. For someone who has absolutely no knowledge about investments, it was very interesting and gave me lots to think about the way we handle money and where we put it. The latter part of the seminar was a bit boring though, because of the terms that were being used which seemed like a foreign language, but at least Hubby understood what the speaker was saying.

Anyway, aside from the loads of helpful information we were able to take away from that seminar, we each received a goody bag containing a pretty notebook and pen, and a copy of George S. Clason’s book “The Richest Man in Babylon.”

3 on 3

In one day, I got all these!

Last Sunday, the 3rd of February, I received a message in my e-mail saying that I won the “Footprints in Dubai” book. Weeks ago, I had entered a contest of a site that I’m a member of and that was the prize.

Then a few hours later, the Sales Manager handling our account in The Galleria dropped by our office to give me the complimentary dinner voucher.

And in the evening , I won the Dhs25 gift card through Carrefour’s scratch and win contest.

out with the old, in with the new

Remember my Father's Day gift to Hubby? Well, Father’s Day, GITEX season, Hubby’s birthday, Christmas, and even New Year’s day came and went, but Hubby still hadn’t made up his mind as to what TV screen he wanted. By mid-December, I kept reminding him (jokingly, of course) that his coupon would expire at the end of the month, but he just couldn’t decide...even when our almost 9-year-old TV broke on UAE National Day (it suddenly decided to stop showing the images on the screen), forcing Mama and Yaya Cel to settle on listening to their favourite telenovelas and using their own imaginations. Sure there were a lot of great offers in the supermarkets and electronics stores, but the urge to get a new one just wasn’t that strong...until yesterday.

posh weekend: jewelry set complete!

I can’t believe I forgot to blog about Hubby’s anniversary gift to me! Can I just blame it on the effects of pregnancy? Hehehe.

Anyway, I didn’t expect to receive a gift from him, so it was a complete surprise. It was during our stay at St. Regis when I was rummaging through his bag looking for something when I saw a small box. Because of the lighting, it looked like a Patchi box of chocolates so I pulled it out and asked him what it was. Before he could answer, I had already opened it and found this inside:

shining, shimmering, splendid

Remember this? Well, when Hubby read it, he just snickered (snorted, actually) as if to say “Yeah right! You wish!” Honestly, I was a bit disappointed, but I could understand. The time I posted that was the same period of our apartment’s renewal...and Ate Cel’s visa renewal was coming up...AND we were going to enroll Caila in Nursery and Kindergarten...PLUS some family members in the Philippines were sick and eventually hospitalized. So naturally, we just had to put all these other payments and priorities first.

have a little faith

Thank you for the gift, Aiza!

The most inspirational man I know only reached his potential by helping a child reach his.
"Faith is about doing. You are how you act, not just how you believe."
"From generation to generation...rituals are how we remain...connected."
When you come to the end (of your life), that’s where God begins.
"It is far more comforting to think God listened and said no, than to think that nobody’s out there."
His morning prayers began with “Thank you, Lord, for returning my soul to me.” When you start that way, the rest of the day is a bonus.
"The secret of happiness...Be satisfied. Be grateful. For what you have. For the love you receive. And for what God has given you."
If you could pack for heaven, this was how you’d do it, touching everything, taking nothing.