I'm not an endorser, just a happy client!

I will never get tired of telling stories about my wedding day.  It was and it will be the most unforgettable experience in my life!  I have already written my 'Thank You's' in another blog "Maybe Late but always in my Heart!" but what I would like to highlight is a person who was very significant in that event.

None other than our dear Photographer, Noel!

I don't even want to call him a "Photographer" because he was more than that!  He was able to capture every single moment from our wedding.  By simply looking at the pictures, it felt like going down memory lane because the emotion was there and for me it was just perfect.


Not to mention, Noel was one of the persons who made me forget the flowers (that didn't arrived). He told me that he will stop taking pictures if I don't stop being grouchy! It worked! :)












Like any other weddings, there is this thing called "Pre-nuptial pictorial". 
I don't know where it all started but it was a cool idea to have one before getting married.  They said that you have your pre-nup pictorial so that your photographer will be able to establish rapport and get to know the couple better. 


This way your photographer will have a hang on how the two of you relate with one another and will know how to beautifully take your pictures at your wedding.

This will also establish your relationship and will make the couple comfortable with the person who will capture the events on their special day.


We did not had a hard time dealing with Noel, he was fun to be with, knew how to relate with us (knowing that we were a bit older than him) and even with Sweets' parents and very humble!


He welcomed any idea that we had and brought his ideas as well that made the pre-nup a lot of fun.

 

Here is a taste of our Pre Nuptial Pictorial

It was a lot of fun! I wish to write about it soon but there is no need to wait for my blog because Noel's blog typically captured everything that happened that day!

Then came the wedding day! 

Oh boy! here is the story, care of Noel! "The Day"

I put all the blame to Sweets, for deciding to choose Noel for our wedding! 


A positive blame it is!! Sweets' has never been wrong in doing things.  Besides the fact that they are both "Noel", they also both love "Orange".  It was just the perfect railway!

I guessed it was luck but over time I realized that we were blessed to have found Noel for our wedding.  

I will never get tired of bragging about this one because I was greatly satisfied and I will always remember our wedding day every time I see the pictures.

Special thanks to Noel's Team! Jed Calara and my dearest pretty Sis Michelle Morelos :)

What is in the air?

I was just talking about playing in my other post (Let us Play), and speaking of, just last Tuesday (aug 30) my husband bought one of his dream toy, remote control helicopter. Even if when we were still in the Philippines, he has always wanted to have one but we just couldn't find time to get one.


Now, this dream came true when he was able to get one for himself. 

That same night, we tried to play with it inside our room and it was so cool. Not being able to play with it when I was young, I was amazed on how people was able to create such toy. I was used to seeing toy cars and trains only, planes and helicopter but they cannot fly but this one, for me is cool and we were able to get a hand if it without asking money from our parents.


To sort of test drive it, we planned to play with it at the Padang Astaka Park. Since Nelven and Ed also have one, it'll be cool to play! 


Before we proceed with our agenda, I will never forget to take pictures first to make sure that we will be able to capture the moments! :)

Ang mga Pilot!

This is Chokchok, Sweet's helicopter!


This one is Ed's and Nelven's Helichoochoo..
Sorry if I was noisy! :p




AZ brought his frisbee and they also played.  It was my first time to see how it was played live and threw one!  If you want to stay fit, this sport is a good one, you will not feel working out because your goal is to catch the disk! :p




They plan to do this on a weekly basis, I am just not sure if this will be true!
If yes, they can play frisbee then I will jog :)


Another activity that will help keep bonding alive!

There is something in common!

While I was doing my thrice a week dance routine (Yep, from daily to thrice a week), I noticed something from two of the MTV that I use for dancing.


This one is JLo's "On the Floor"

This is Taio Cruz' "Dynamite"



Aside from being part of my dance routine, they have something in common. Can you spot it? Hehe


Love music - Love to dance - Love to live!

Being far from Home!

Working abroad means being far from your family and friends.  It means that some or all of the important occasions in ones life shall be celebrated far from your loved ones.  When you think about it, it looks very sad and you will feel like going back to your homeland but when I think about it now, I am pretty sure that everything is in mind setting.

My husband celebrated his birthday far from us (Philippines) because he already needs to work here in Malaysia.  Missing the chance of greeting him personally does not mean it's the end of the world, technology has helped a lot in making everyone so near even so far.

I was happy to know that even if Sweets is far from us (his family) he has found his own family here in Malaysia.  His family are his housemates and office mates, all Pinoy.  This is when I realized that even if you are far from home, you can always find home together with your fellow Filipinos.

Everything has a reason, and each of them has their own reason for working abroad.  Being together means they have to draw strength from one another, motivate each other and always think of priorities BUT never forgetting to have FUN!

He celebrated his birthday here in Malaysia together with his friends.  He received one of the greatest gift a person could have, and it is the warmth of friendship.

Cake from "Elitistas"

Pizza, Shrimp and Cola

This is one image that tells us that there is always home away from home.

Lots of fun and laughter!

Happy birthday Sweets! 

The company!

What is Dieting?

Dieting is not starving yourself to get thin.  Basically, it is getting the right amount of nutrients that your body needs on a daily basis. There are a lot of sites that helps promote proper diet and this is based from our age and gender.  One may have more needed RDA (Recommended Diatery Allowance) if a person is pregnant or lactating, or if a person is younger or older.


You can identify your needed RDA by visiting the Diet and Fitness Today (RDA). Often, we may not be that conscious when it comes to the proper RDA that our body needs. We focus more on how much calorie intake we should take on a daily basis to make sure that we achieve the weight that we want.  I am guilty about this one because I focused more on my calorie intake rather than my needed RDA, well, it all depends on priority but we also need to be careful to make sure that we are still healthy.




On an average, a woman, should not take less than 1200 calories per day and for men it should not be less than 1500. Our calorie intake differs because it depends on; (1) your weight (2) amount of muscle you have (3) your activities.


What helped me find out my needed calorie intake was the Calorie Calculator.  This also showed me when I can achieve my ideal weight and being familiar with this made me create my own program for my weight loss.


Limiting our calorie intake may help us lose weight but generally it should always go hand in hand with exercise.  Best way to lose weight is to lessen your calorie intake by 500 (depends on the person) and lose more calories from exercise. 


This is when I started to read the labels of my food intake, I wanted to make sure that I am within my needed calorie intake.  

This took me some effort but I already got used to it.  Being familiar with our calorie intake is the first step in taking responsibility of our health and body.  We want to give the best for ourselves but moderation is always important.  What I did was to create my own spreadsheet, nothing fancy, but it helped  me monitor my calorie intake for the day and if I needed to compensate it for the entire week.

I was guided by the Food Browser of Calorie Counter and this gave me an idea about the calories that I took from food (for those that didn't have labels).  When I first tried this one, I had no time for exercise (Sedentary lifestyle) but it worked for me.  It also helped that I had the moral support of my husband!


Just a bit of evidence! :)


One intervention may be applicable to a person but may differ to another, so studying ourselves and looking at where we want to go and how far we want to do it will be our baseline in reaching our goals.  If we know that we can do more, then we can add a little spice with our diet and exercise; if we know that we can only achieve a little then that's it. We should take it one step at a time, not abrupt or we will just kill ourselves.


Have fun!

Let us play!

When I was a child, I remember that my favorite game was luto-lutuan. My mother bought me those miniature clay pots and pans.  

I will get leaves from our garden, cut it into pieces and mix them with water and I will cook my own meal.  I played with my brother (well, we were both young then) and we were very happy!  

That was 25 years ago, when for kids like us, having fun is playing with one another, picking flowers, laughing and sharing.  

I also remembered that we used to make bubbles out of Gumamela flowers; made bracelets and necklaces out of Santan flowers. It was just amazing how we can make things out of what we see in our environment. We used to play "Luksong Tinik" and "Luksong Baka" how fun to jump and hop. It was a lot of fun!

Now that we are at Generation Z a lot of internet gaming and gadgets are being introduced not only for adults but for kids as well.  Examples may include Laptop / Net-book, PSP, iPhone, iPad, Xbox and a whole lot more.  

Kids no longer play luto-lutuan, it has been replaced with Diner Dash or Restaurant City.  They might not also enjoy tree planting activities together with their parents because they just want to stay at home and play FarmVille.  Or maybe Farm Town, does not want to go out to sweat under the sun play because they'd rather play Tennis and baseball with their Nintendo Wii.

A lot about games has evolved but how are we "adults" are catching up?

* First, we need to accept that we are at the time of our lives where toy trains and barbie dolls are not that "in" anymore.  Where kids are more savvy with gadgets than us. 

 * Second, we need to learn how they did it! 

Personally, I am not into gaming, I do social networking but hardly play games online or via FB, iPhone or iPad.  Recently, I had all the time in my hands and had a very good opportunity to play not only one but three games (and many others on the side).


It all started when I was introduced to "The SIMS Social" one game in Facebook that made me interesting because I will be making my own home and socialize with friends.  I can create rooms and fill them with furniture and appliances and it will increase my house value, how cool!

I know this is kind of late, but I was also introduced to FarmVille!  I just do it for fun but I am not in a hurry to widen my farm yet.


Then another one is the "Bug Village", I play this one via iPad and I find it really cute because I am growing my own Village full of ants and bees.

Generally speaking, there are a lot of online games that we have right now.  No age required, for as long as you have the resources and the interest then you can go ahead and play them. One can stay at home all day and just play them all (no kidding! there are people who plays the entire day and night), in short, its sort of addictive.


There is nothing wrong with online games, I am not against it but we just need to remember that there might be negative impacts of being so engrossed with online gaming.  For kids, this lessens the interaction that they should be enjoying with other kids by playing hide and seek or running.  With this, kids should be guided by their parents or guardians in limiting the use of technology for playing.


Technology for learning is a different story all together.. :)

I also tried Boxing

In search of an effective way of loosing weight, another option that was presented to me by one of my friends, Yeyen, was boxing.  She was about to get married at that time and she needed to loose unwanted fats, thus the suggestion for me to join her.

I thought it would be fun, especially if I am with a friend. It is always encouraging and motivating when you are doing something with friends, it does not only help you achieve your goal, you are also building a relationship!

Yen already figured out which boxing gym to go to and so I went along with her.  We went at the Elorde Boxing Gym in Ortigas.    

I was excited because I will learn a new skill plus it will help me achieve my goal of loosing weight.  When we arrived, first thing we did was to register, we decided to get a membership so that registration will be cheaper every time we have a session.  We did boxing sessions for twice a week (if my memory served me right).

Boxing is also an entire body workout and will definitely help you loose those unwanted fats plus other benefits.  You will have warm up first and then you will do the punches, you have a trainer who will guide you along the way so nothing to worry about. Each session run for an hour.  Remember that it's not how long you have worked out that matters, it's how hard you've worked out.

We had several sessions before and one of which was when I was with our other friends, Erika, Gami and Dave!

We added fun with our workouts and thus made it even more exciting to come back!

This was a very nice comic made my Dave!

I believe I lost at least 8 lbs, i just did the following:

1. 2 months with twice a week session

2. Balanced diet

3. A lot of determination

Go ahead, try it.  It can be a way to loose weight, a good self defense, bonding time with family and friends and stress reliever.