2014

good day everyone. how is your 2014 so far? (^_^)

well, in my case, it has been very nice (^_^)

i was able to go to my services in lectors and commentators and i was able to attend a leader's conference for CFC.

for my family, all seems well. we have a few conflicts but we are still together and we have been talking about our future plans recently. they seem to be more open to the things i have been doing recently and i am really thankful for that (^_^)

there is definitely more to come this year.

i am blessed that i am alive to experience all these.

it makes me feel like a witness to life, to God's greatness, to God's love.

more to see, to experience, to know this 2014.

God bless us all. (^_^)

super update

hi everyone! how are you? (^_^)

it's been almost a month since my last entry.

there have been so many things that has happened but to tell you all the truth,

i cant remember most of them anymore.

hat i can assure you though is that i feel always tired.

if you have been following my entries,

you'll know very well why i have been so tired and busy to the point of not being able to update my blog. (^_~)

moving forward, i will now post an update of what has been happening in my life.

since i am hungry at the moment, i will start with food.

carbohydrates and brewed coffee.

my lifeline at work at the moment.

i have a bigger appetite now because my body really needs the extra energy and the caffeine to make me feel like i am always in a hurry.

i am careful not to over do it with the coffee because i can get too hyper that it won't really help me finish my work.

next, the "poison" at work.

those commercially, over coated chocolate thingies!

yes, there are lots of those at office.

so dangerous i'm telling you.

the manifestation that i have not been taking care of myself well lately?

severe lower back pain!

i'll let you all research what that means (^_^)

moving on...

every sunday is family day.

12:01am, sunday, we ate donuts and ice cream while watching tv.

hey, isn't this dangerous for family ho has history of diabetes? (^_~)

anyways, so, sunday is family day.

we go out, we eat, we window shopping...

anything, as long as we are together.

oh, did i mention we sometimes fool around? (^_^)

my parents took the picture.

thanks parents. (^_^)

as for my sfc household,

were have been meeting quite regularly.

in one of the sessions, we had this activity where we share a food/milk that represents us.

the sharing was great and what did i share?

milk! i'll leave it up to you the reason behind that. (^_~)

oh, before i forget.

i was able to watch the Phantom of the Opera with my siblings!

it has its greats and disappointments, but overall it was a chance of a lifetime. (^_^)

now on we go albums.

on the first day of september mama and kuya benjie had a big party to celebrate their birthday.

i'll let the pictures do the talking. (^_^)

also, rei attended the asian pop convention a few weeks back.

the whole family was there to support her because she sang.

our parents felt awkward but my brother enjoyed it at some point. (^_^)

let pictures do the talking once more. (^_~)

and lastly, to finish it off before i go to sleep.

i would like to share a picture of the Quest team (not everyone though)

colleagues out for a sweet evening treat.

scoops of ice cream, tacos, cake and more!

despite the stress of work, i'm still happy and surviving with where i am now. (^_^)

i am blessed!

chaio~

family day sunday

yesterday, we went out for a very late family lunch at a japanese fastfood chain at Ali Mall.

of course me and my siblings were goofing off as always. (^_^)

ryo's family day

a few weekends ago was the school family day of ryo.

ryo had a performance with his classmates and he also had a performance with us, his sisters. (^_^)

for our performance, ryo did all the planning.

we simply polished it. (^_^)

nice job young man!

family/ movie day

sunday is always family day.

as much as possible, we would stay at home or do things with the whole family.

this sunday, we went out for a family lunch then we watched the movies we liked.

papa, mama and ryo watched the movie Brave.

while rei and i watched Sadako 3D.

the reason for watching the movie was pretty obvious,

Seto Koji (^_^) and Yamamoto Yosuke.

i wont deny that we were feeling a little arrogant while inside the theater.

hontou ni gomenasai! m(_ _)m

happy 12th birthday ryo!

our brother ryo tuned 12! (^_^)

friday, we just had a simple cake and pancit.

the big celebration was the next day.

there was a swimming party and the guests were ryo's friends from the condominium,

his friends from fairview,

and his friends from perya. (^_^)

they had games and lots giveaways.

judging from their happy faces and really tired bodies at the end of the day,

i would say they all enjoyed it. (^_^)

i too enjoyed the swimming and the food. (^_~)

family trip

hello everyone! sorry i was not able to blog immediately about our trip. it took some time before i could upload all the photos and i have been quite busy... sleeping that is (^_~) since we arrived, except for today, i fixed the condo. (^_^) anyways, here are the details of our family trip. (^_^)

to naga and day 1
the adventure of this family trip started when we rode the bicol express train from manila to naga city, camarines sur. it was our first time to ride this specific train and it was our first time to ride in a sleepers coach. the travel time was approximately 12 hours, but supposed to be it was only for 10 hours. we didn't mind the long travel time because we were enjoying the experience of sleeping and eating in the train. (^_~) oh, i almost forgot, by chance, señor jaime fabregas was on the same coach with us, only on a different sleepers chair/bed. anyways, when we arrived at naga, we ate breakfast at jollibee. then we visited the san francisco church. after our church visit we rode a taxi to pasacao, camarines sur. there we stayed for a night. when we arrived at the resort, we got our room and immediately prepared for the agenda for that day. we rode a boat to an island and swam there. when you look at the pictures closely, the foot of the island is not a beach. it's actually black rocks immediately meeting the sea. i was really amazed! after about an hour of swimming we went back to the resort for our lunch, which was prepared with freshly caught seafood. delicious! we had about 15 minutes of rest then we headed to our next destination, the suminabang cave, via boat. we saw stalactite and stalagmite formations. after that we went to another part of an island and we had our second round of swimming. the sand at the second venue was yellowish and we saw these amazing colored stones. we were there for quite a time before we decided to call it a day and return to the resort. it was still a little early for dinner so we had snacks, bread and whatever leftovers we had during the train ride. i had a bottle of tanduay ice while my parents had beer. my brother still wanted to swim so i accompanied him at the beach which was just a few steps from our resort. come dinner time, we had this large shrimp. yes! a large shrimp! it was the best dinner that we had. and that was the end of day 1.

day 2
we had our simple breakfast, leftover from the train ride, and then we got a taxi back to naga city. on our way, we passed by an old church, the st. joseph the worker church. we said our prayers, looked around then we continued our travel. we attended mass at the naga cathedral. after the mass, we started looking around the church. after that we went to our hotel, golden leaf hotel. though my parents did not like the fact that we were on the fourth floor, they still liked the balcony. (^_~) special mention, the doves beside the balcony. anyways, we then walked around to find souvenirs. after that we had our lunch at the mall. again, the food was delicious! despite the commercial place, the food tasted quite authentic and fresh. after our meal, we went to the supermarket to buy some food to eat during our church visits that afternoon. we passed by the hotel to drop off some things then we rode the tricycle to the our lady of peñafrancia basilica. the church was huge and there were beautiful colored glass designs. we went behind the altar and wiped the statue of the our lady of peñafrancia, and prayed for a few minutes. after the basilica, we then went to the our lady of peñafrancia church, it was the original church of the our lady of peñafrancia. the church was smaller but still beautiful. after visiting the church, we visited the cemetery behind the old church. we took pictures of the designs of the tombstones. you rarely see these designs on the present tombstones. we finished early with our church visits so we decided to take a taxi to another church which was at the other town. we visited an old church, the bombon church and the leaning tower of bombon, the bell tower of the said church. it's not clear on the pictures but the tower was really leaning on it's side. you really have a feeling that it was about to fall. after we said our prayers, we looked around, then went back to the hotel. we rested for some time before we went out for dinner. the dinner was our father's birthday dinner so we ate at a japanese restaurant. oh, his birthday was the next day but we decided to have the birthday dinner that night because the next night, we would be traveling back to manila. anyways, for dinner, we had shabu-shabu and okonomiyaki. really delicious! it did not taste commercial like the japanese food here in manila. the japanese food really tasted authentic. it was such a great meal! after eating we headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for our last day at naga city.

day 3 and departure from naga
for our last day, we only had one agenda, to visit the museo del seminario conciliar de nueva caceres. the museum is beside the cathedral. it featured memorabilia of prominent bishops from the town, ecclesiastical vessels and artifacts, paintings and archaeological finds like burial jars and chinese wares. after the tour, we had some rest at a small shop near the area. we then headed back to the hotel to eat lunch and to prepare out things for the trip back to manila. while we were fixing our things, we noticed that it was raining. we were really lucky to finish all our visits before it started to rain. (^_^) before we left, i took a last picture of the view from the balcony, the isarog mountain. (^_^) we did not go straight to the train station since it was still too early for our train, so we went to the mall to buy food for our trip and to each early dinner. after about two hours, we went to the train station. luckily we were able to get tickets for the sleepers bad/room. we once again took our own beds, ate some and slept the whole trip. we arrived at manila after 12 hours.

my family spent most of the day sleeping when we arrived. but for me, i had a different agenda.

please see next post. (^_^)V

oh! by the way, did you all notice that i was wearing dresses the while trip? (^_~)

night swimming

last tuesday, we went night swimming because we were invited to the birthday celebration of our uncle.

we went to jed's island resort.

the resort was huge and wide.

unfortunately, it was not maintained well.

the pools were huge but there were also so many dead insects on the pool, plus the water on the pool had to much chlorine that it hurt my eyes.

i simply tried my best to enjoy the swimming opportunity that i had.

my sister and i stayed at the pool for a long time.

we started around 8pm and we got out of the pool at around 3am the next morning.

we rested for about 4 hours and when i woke up, my eyes were sore and feeling a little irritated.

thankfully, this did not last for a long time.

we went back home around 11am and slept the whole afternoon away.

we were sooooooo tired!

delicious words

this was a conversation between me and my brother ryo while i was reading a book with him.

me: ryo, you are eating your words!

ryo: but it's delicious~

me: i'm serious!

ryo: me too~ (T_T)

i could not resist laughing after that. (^_^)

birthday!

to everyone who greeted me today, thank you very much. (^_^)

22 years!

i am thankful for all the blessings i have received, specially the year that has passed.

the year that has passed is quite challenging, to be more specific, the med school life.

i have discovered a lot of things about myself and this has helped me build my "self".

i am very thankful for the knowledge i have received,

my med school friends who gave me guidance and protection.

they comforted me in times of great distress,

and they have witnessed my tears and my smiles. (^_^)

i am very thankful for their patience with me specially when studying.

i will always be grateful to them.

i am also thankful that i am now a member of the singles for christ community.

they have been my support during my difficult moments.

the prayers and the company has helped me feel closer to God.

they have made me realize and strengthen my spiritual faith.

this community has also become my outlet in sharing my talents and finding a part of myself that has been suppressed for some time now.

through this community, i felt that have become stronger in a lot of ways. (^_^)

to all the people in the past and in the present who have touched my life,

who have inspired me, pushed me forward and pulled me up,

i thank you from the bottom of my heart.

to God Almighty, thank you for all the blessings you have given me and thank you for the guidance.

i continue life and live it to the fullest~

(~_~)

mango cream dessert

i made this dessert yesterday, i mixed light cream, condensed milk and mangoes, then i chilled it.

to tell you all the truth, i wasn't following any recipe list and i don't even know what this dessert is called.

but hey it was delicious and it was a success. (^_^)

i made another batch today because my dad was not able to eat some last night.

my mom and my brother suggested that i put graham crackers next time or even milo. (^_^)

sweets galore

recently, we have been going to the other house to clean it up and to do our laundry there.

while staying there, we decided to have some sweets. (^_^)

my mom bought donuts for us.

well, it was actually for my younger brother ryo because he had a fever and that was his "sick food"

"sick food" is the food that we would request to eat when we are very sick. (~_^)

anyways, while also staying at the other house, we decided to make leche flan.

we made around 5 regular shaped leche flan and one big "family sized" one.

it was the perfect dessert! (^_^)

abra trip 2012

holy week and the santo entierro.

it is the main reason why we go to the province.

it is to continue a tradition.

the preparation was long and tiring but we are glad that we were able to keep up and finish all that was needed.

a miracle even happened during the good friday procession.

despite the hot weather and the busy preparations,

i am thankful that i was able to breathe fresh air, each fresh vegetables, meat and fish,

and most of all, have a more refreshing and relaxing view of the world. (^_^)

pictures here.

building blocks

building blocks is fun!

z = zukki, a = araki, t = taito (^_^)

made from my brother's building blocks. (^_^)

by the way,

i went swimming again today!

two days in a row,

i love it! (^_^)

enrique + boots = awesomeness

we went to mass yesterday.

and for some unknown reason,

ryo and rei had a dare thing that involve ryo wearing rei's boots.

in the end,

ryo won, and ryo wore the boots to church.

mind you, ryo looked really awesome. (^_^)

swimming!

saturday morning,

my brother ryo asked me to go swimming with him.

being the sister that i am,

and with my liking to swim,

i agreed to swim with him.

the water was freezing cold~

of course, that did not stop me nor ryo!

warm up, gradual increase in activity and adaptation did the work. (^_~)

the feeling after the swim was great!

i hope i could still do this next week. (~_~)

hisashiburi

good evening everyone.

we had a surprise visitor today, it was tito allan!

it's been almost two years since we last saw him.

he was with us during our "new year" accident two years ago.

he had the worst injuries of us all.

he was on coma for a few days, had cranial bleeding and he was at the brink of death.

thankfully, he was able to recover physically and go to the province with his family.

but mentally, he did not have a sense of reality.

seeing him today, he was well and mentally capable was a great joy for us. (^_^)

treat

i know that i have a lot of treats lately,

but who am i to say no if it's given to me? (^_~)

a heart-shaped dilly bar from my brother enrique. (^_^)

how to train your dragon

i watched the movie yesterday at my friend david's place. (^_^)

really cute! no wonder my brother likes it!

22th weeding anniversary

last night was the wedding anniversary of our parents. (^_^)

we all went out for a family dinner at this chinese restaurant that we all love. (^_^)