First Month

Today marks our first month in the US. I can't really say that I'm already 'in love' with our new life because if you look at it, it really hasn't started yet. We have yet to start work with our new employer as we're still waiting for our intern licenses to come out. Although, the California Board of Pharmacy has assured us that our licenses will be released in 2-3 weeks. But until then, I am just somebody on vacation. *grins*

Our first two weeks were spent on relaxing, getting over jet lag and spending time with family. We are currently staying with Jerome's parents who have been nothing but generous, supportive and welcoming of their new daughter-in-law. *blush* Dad and Mom has guided us in every application process that needs to be done in order for us to start work ASAP - from our social security numbers to our credit card applications. I am just one lucky girl to have such wonderful in-laws.

We also visited Lolo Boy and Tita Trina's family in San Francisco. It was nice catching up and seeing how my cousins have all grown so fast over the year! It was also extra special to meet the newest addition to their family - baby Hanna. :-)

We also got together with our closest cousins, Ate Kathleen and Karl, in L.A and spent more than a week at their new house. The three of us plus Kaye (Arvin came much later into our lives. Haha.) literally grew up together. From learning how to ride bikes to going on our first unsupervised gimik at Hard Rock (it was the IN thing then, hehe), we experienced them all together. And now as we have grown older, the comfort of being around them hasn't faded.

As expected, L.A. was F.U.N.! It was even more memorable because my best buddy, Rachel, came with us! Back in college, we made a pact to go on a foreign trip before either one of us got married. Since the plan didn't push through, this is the next best thing to it! So there, we all went tourist-y in Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Disneyland. Haha.

I also had the chance to spend some quality time with my highschool kabarkadas, Tylou and Clarice. Tylou is now based in L.A. while Clarice lives in San Francisco. It was a blast making chika again about each other's lives especially now that Tylou is a soon-to-be mom and Clarice's family just moved to a house that they can now proudly call their own. That plus me filling them in on with details about our wedding, it was just chika all the way! Ang saya!

For the more serious stuff, I am proud to say that we have accomplished quite a few milestones over the past month. First, with the help of Jerome's dad, we were able to buy our first car. A Mazda CX-9. :-)

Plus, we were able to receive our social security numbers in less than 2 weeks, got ourselves US numbers and iPhones (woohoo!), bank accounts with Bank of America and applied for credit cards.

And most of all, I've been learning how to cook! Thanks to Jerome's mom who has been patiently teaching me her delicious recipes.

Not bad for our first month, don't you think? :-)

On Leaving

If things go as planned, Jerome and I have only 12 days left in the Philippines before we start our new life in the US. Honestly, things haven't really sunk in yet. Sure there have already been despedida parties left and right with our dearest friends and more to come in the next week with our families but I still can't believe we only have two remaining weekends left! Two! Just two and then what?

This will be the first time that I will be away from my family. I remember how I admired those classmates for being strong as they went to Manila to study while their families lived in different parts of the archipelago. Some even as far as Mindanao. While I couldn't imagine myself being away from my Mom, Lola and brother. I even cried out of homesickess the first time I slept in a dorm in my first year of college. And now I have to endure thousands of miles away from home...*sigh*

My wonderful family

I will also definitely miss the familiarity of my life here. I will miss the routine of getting up at 6:30 in the morning and rushing to beat the long line in the terminal to catch a van to Makati. I will miss hiding my slipper-ladden feet from the guards as I enter our building as wearing of slippers to work is prohibited by building management. I will miss Manong Art as he greets me a "Good Morning Ma'am, very early!" as his way of teasing me when I am rushing to "time-in" just before 9 am. I will definitely miss morning chika with Miel, Noemi, Ann and Tricia over coffee and breakfast. I will miss walking to my workplace and knowing exactly what needs to be done and accomplished for the day. I will miss lunch at 1 pm at our 12th floor cafeteria and pondering whether to order at Lola's Kitchen, Japanese or Mongolian as you've been eating the same food over and over for the past 4 years. I'll even miss enduring the long line at the Standard Chartered terminal just to catch a van home.

A view of my building from Buendia

My Workplace

I will miss every little thing of my life here. And I do hope that my "new" life in the US will be as fun and fulfilling as my life in the Philippines have been.

A Story of our Wedding Preps (As Told by the Pictures from my Phone)

We've been married for 4 months now and I still haven't gotten around to posting and blogging about our wedding preps and the big day itself. Now that I am officially on 'bum-ville', I now have plenty of time to do all of these! Yey!

So let me walk you through the 7-month long preparation of our destination wedding. Here are some pictures taken from my phone during those fun and exciting, at times tiring and frustrating, months of looking for a venue, hair and make-up artist, gown fittings, meetings with suppliers, etc.

First off, we really wanted to get married OUTSIDE of Manila. We've been living in the fast-paced city all our lives and wanted this one special day to be relaxed, peaceful, intimate and AWAY from the frenzied city. But before finalizing our decision for a destination wedding, we looked around Manila for a Church that may possibly be the 'one'.

Paco Park Chapel

Of all the Churches that we visited in Manila, Paco Park Chapel won hands down. The chapel was just enough to accomodate our small wedding and we could even have a garden reception right inside the compound.

But since an out-of-town wedding was still our first priority, we decided to look for a venue in Tagaytay or nearby Batangas. We felt that it was the best destination for three reasons - 1) it was close enough to Manila but is still 'out-of-town'; 2) we had our first date there and 3) Jerome proposed in the same restaurant that we had our first date in. O di ba, perfect?!

And there we found the perfect chapel...

Chapel on the Hill at Don Bosco

The Chapel on the Hill is located inside the Don Bosco Retreat House in Batulao, Batangas just outside of Tagaytay. It's a very small chapel and can only accomodate about 250 persons. The Chapel is circular in structure and has a labyrinth inside. People are advised to meditate while traveling along the labyrinth and pray once you arrive at the center. Please try it if you get to visit this Chapel. It was a very calming experience and made me feel God's presence around me.

Simultaneously, we were also looking for reception venues. In Manila, we went around the recommended venues in Intramuros but were disappointed with them as they were either too stuffy and dungeon-like or poorly maintained.

Reception venues in Intramuros

In Tagaytay, we visited Sonia's Garden, Hacienda Isabella and Josephine's Restaurant. We decided on the latter as it served the best Filipino food, had a spacious Parasol Garden and a very affordable wedding package.

Josephine's Parasol Garden

And during the day itself, the garden was beautifully decorated with candles, lights and flowers by our florist, Jojo Calderon of Saint Jo's Flowers (will post pics soon!).

I had my gown made by the up and coming young designer, Joel Escober. His works have already been featured in some fashion magazines like Metro. Joel has always been our family's designer over the years. He made my lola's gown for her 70th birthday and some of my tita's everyday clothes and gowns. Over the years, Joel hasn't changed a bit. He is still the same humble and down-to-earth guy who made a Mexican outfit for a 7-year old Arvin during his elementary days. Haha.

This was taken during my first gown fitting. I still remember how excited I felt back then. Hehe.

The gowns of my entourage were also made by Joel. Our motiff was rust orange and chocolate brown. I wanted kasi our wedding to feel like romantic autumn. We made sure that these were apparent from the flowers to the invitations and the gowns of the entourage.

Noemi - our veil sponsor

Miel - our candle sponsor

Chiqui - our bridesmaid

Susan , our maid of honor, with hubby Hubert, our groomsman.

Posing with Joel during their gown fitting :-)

With the help of family, friends and good and reliable suppliers, our wedding went beautifully as planned. It was just how we wanted it to be.