Thursday, August 25, 2005

Fr. Carl Seewald, svd

We finally met our officiant early this evening. He is Fr. Carl Seewald (Society of the Divine Word) who is one of the Associate priests of All Saints. This is the first meeting so it was pretty much getting-to-know-each-other type.

We also filled the Form A, which basically is the application form. He interviewed me first while filling out my form, then Randy had his turn.

He also explained a few things they do during weddings which are not commonly done in outher parishes. All Saints is pretty much a very "different" parish compared to others in the area. Just to make a point of how different this parish is, we don't have a Parish Priest. Instead, we have a Parish Life Director who is a lay person.

Anyway, we will meet again next month, September 8th. And I'll be able to share some more by then.

Monday, August 22, 2005

On reception sites...

After Miles' christening last Saturday, Randy and I went to our 3 appointments. At 3:30 we went to Crow Canyon Country Club in Danville, Ca. This is about 15-20 miles away from our church. It has a very nice antique-looking bronze door and immediately you will see the foyer. After that you will be in the grand ballroom. It has a nice view of the golf course. They have a very good wedding package for friday weddings. =) I was particularly impressed though with their restroom, may mouthwash pa! hahahaha!

We then went to Round Hill Country Club in Alamo, Ca. This is about 8 miles farther than Crow Canyon. I like this one particularly because they have a "Breezeway" where in guests can hangout for cocktails and then they have a separate ballroom. They also have a very good wedding pakage for friday weddings, very similar to Crow Canyon. However, Randy didn't like the fact that it's a bit farther because we have guests coming all the way from San Francisco & San Jose.

Finally, we went to see The Bridges Golf Club in San Ramon. Now, this is my favorite! This is a mediterranean-villa-ish country club with a fabulous view of the golf course, hills & mountains! They also have this fountain- great for pictures! They don't have this friday wedding-package that the first two offer. It's a lot more expensive too! But it's my favorite among the three.

The following day, we went to check out 3 more places. 2 golf course...but i'm not going to elaborate on this anymore. Talo sha! Ayaw namin ni Randy. Tawa nga kami ng tawa kasi alaskado kami! Since we were in the area and we've already consumed gas, we decided to check out Marriot San Ramon and oh my....fantabulous chandelier in the ballroom!!! I like!!!

I just called Marriot and requested some information/wedding packet to be sent both through mail & e-mail. I can't wait to see it...we'll see.

Miles' Christening

Last Saturday, Randy & I attended the baptism of Miles Jacob Roque, my 9th godchild. Haaay, i'm really getting older. I don't have pictures yet though. Promise, once i gather everything, i'll post them. I was so touched to see the people who witnessed this event. Truly this child of God is such a wonderful blessing.

I say it is because I felt very blessed that I was there to witness and profess my faith for him. I I felt blessed that once again I am reminded of my duties as a Catholic to bring Jesus to others. Miles is just one of them.

After the baptism at St. Thomas More in San Francisco, we went to the luncheon reception at Dominic's at Oyster Point in South San Francisco. My gosh, it's so nice there! Since it's in the marina, the view is spectacular! Aside from this, it was very nice to see our friends especially from Days with the Lord. Funny, my friend Woody jokingly said, "Ganito na ba talaga ang Days ngayon? Dati pagandahan ng kotse, ngayon pagandahan na ng stroller!"

We gave out the favors that we've made and honestly, I knew it was a hit! Trader Joe's belgian chocolates are the best!

Randy & I had to leave early though because we had 3 appointments that afternoon. Although I must saym it was a very good party...Thanks to Rose & Raoul Roque!

Congratulations baby Miles! May this event just be a start of the many blessings from the Above.
-Love, Ninang Edrei

Thursday, August 18, 2005

For Miles Jacob...

Yesterday was pretty hectic. at 9:30am, randy dropped me off at the Castro Valley BART station to go to San Ramon. Rose (one of my bridesmaids) picked me up from the Dublin/Pleasanton station and we went to Denny's for breakfast. Today, we planned to do the favors for Miles' christening this coming saturday...since i love doing favors, and Miles' will be my inaanak, i helped her.

We went to Joanne's for a few more sheer ribbons and to Safeway to get bottles and bottles of wine for the reception. Picked up Michelle (& her daughter Chelsea almost 2 months old) who is our "scrapbook friend", since she will do the guest book.

Finally, we went to Raoul & Rose's house to start everything. We managed to do a few but wrapping chocolates (belgian chocolate bars from Trader Joe's) was a very tidious job. At 4:30pm, Michelle & Chelsea were picked up by Felix, while Rose & I left for San Francisco. We met Roaul (Rose's hubby), Sharon (another ninang, mom of our flowergirl Shariz) & Woody (one of the ninongs) to attend the class for parents & sponsors for baptism. the 1 hour class became 2 hours because the priest showed us his collections from Isreal, Bethlehem, Jerusalem...and then the class!

By the time we left San Francisco, it was already 9:30pm. We were supposed to come back to San Ramon to finished the favors but just called it a day.

Today, I will go there again to hopefully finish everything. I'm not complaining though, it's a good bonding with Rose (my very dear friend, kumare and bridesmaid) who has been very true all these time. =)

Besides...all these just for Miles Jacob...



I love you baby Miles...don't grow up too fast ok?

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

what kind of bride am i?

You are a traditional bride.
Congratulations! You are a traditional bride!

What Kind of Bride Will You Be?
brought to you by Quizilla


i came upon this article from Jane's blogsite. i just wanted to know what would it say about me. i wasn't surprised at all when it said i'm a traditional bride. you could probably tell by our wedding anyway...Traditional Church Wedding & Reception with a Modern Filipiniana Theme.

Highlights of my day...

1.) I noticed the pain on my left leg had significantly subsided today. I hope my "tendinitis" goes away soon.

2.) Cooked my homemade beef tapa and found it's better to use Beef Chuck Roll than Beef Brisket. Randy said two-thumbs up!

3.) I was looking for something sweet after dinner and found nothing in the fridge nor the cupboards. Finally, I saw my Chocolate mousse style Yoplait yogurt sitting behind the butter. Aha!

4.) Finally, I received an e-mail from Veluz, my designer. Inspite of my wedding date change, we're still ok. Thanks so much Veluz!

By this time, i feel like jumping for joy, but remembered my left leg is still in a bit of pain. So, my other option was to write it all down here!

So, how's your day?

Monday, August 15, 2005

On childhood games...

During my younger years, I've always loved playing games...with or without playmates. I was an only child for 9 years and so aside from my cousins who i would play with during weekends and my yaya, my frequent playmate is myself. Yes, I have mastered the art of playing by myself. It's fun because I never lose. hahaha!

There was the jackstones, which i love to play even just by myself. I particularly like the metillic plated ones or the plastic ones with neon colors. I remember i always choose the ball...no, not the brown one that doesn't bounce high enough. I like the almost gel-like kind sometimes with glitters inside.

Chinese jackstones came. These little pillows (almost the size of a tea bag) with monggo beans or rice inside. I don't particularly remember how many pillows..3 or 4 maybe, plus another one with a different fabric to be used as your ball. I've played both...complete with exhibitions pa ha!

Street games were always fun. Sure. Sadly, I don't have much memories of patintero, habulan-base, cops & robbers, habulan line, and tumbang-preso in our neighborhood. But i remember playing langit-lupa (langit lupa impyerno im, im, impyerno) and monkey monkey in school though during recess and lunch break. But the most fun, for me is taguan (hide and seek). Remember the phrase we recite/sing..."Wala sa likod, wala sa harap, wala sa gilid. Pagkabilang kong sampu naka-tago na kayo..1..2..3..and so on." Even when our friends were older we would still do it! Funny how we would secretly assign one person on that day, and when he's "it" already, we would just go home and call it a day (which he doesn't know, btw). poor guy (or girl), gabi na hinahanap pa kami!

Now, who would not forget the "bato bato pick"...and "kampihan"..or the "pendong kotseng kuba" days? And who can forget all those games we call "bahay-bahayan", "tinda-tindahan", "bangko-bangkuhan", "teacher-teacheran", etc. I love to play bahay-bahayan with my cousins but only if i play the katulong. yung tipong inaapi-api. hahahaha! those days were so fun & funny!

How about the chinese garter & 10/20? Fun di ba?

As I grew older, we found these games too childish for me thus looking for more mature games. Remember Game & Match (octupus is my favorite!)? How about Tetris? Frogger?

I cannot relate to Playstation, XBox, etc. though.

I wrote this because for months now, I have been very addicted to
Bejeweled 2. My goodness! I could spend hours just beating my old score! Very contradicting nga kasi the game gets stressful but i feel it's a stress reliever for me. When my mind is tired, I'd just play it. I used to play Zuma & Rocketmania too, but Bejeweled2 is the best!

How about you, what is the one(or two or three) childhood game/s you love most? How about now?

I've been tagged!

Passing a tag from Heidi:

1. What are the things you enjoy doing even when there's no one around you?

Oh, a lot of stuff from house chores to just being a couch potato. hahaha!


2. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level?

Let's see, i have hypertension (high blood pressure) which caused my kidneys to fail (but i've had kidney transplant already last year, so no more dialysis!)...so what lowers it is hydralyzine 100 mg 3x a day. other than than, i enjoy manicures & pedicures, a cold bottled water and a massage from Randy! Cooking is also a form of therapy for me.

3. Tag 5 friends & ask them to post it in theirs:

i dunno if i can come up with 5. this TAG thingy has been going around for some time now and the only 2 people from my list who hasn't been tagged (at least i didn't see it on their blog posts) are...

cathy
rocks

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Totally hilarious!!!

I saw these pictures from my w@wie friend Cathy's blogsite. It's sooo funny and honestly, i can relate..hahaha!







And then there's Veluz...






















I've had these sketches made by Veluz Reyes for a few months now, just around the time when our computer crashed. When we're able to finally fix it, i had to look for them but i felt stupid because it was in my yahoo!photos all along.

  • Sketch A - corset bodice with spaghetti straps with V-shaped boning on center front. Detachable sleeves and panuelo to complete the filipiniana look. A-line skirt. Optional shrug or bolero for the reception. Detachable fully embroidered train, main gown will have a short sweep.
  • Sketch B - very similar to sketch A but the corset will be straight instead of V-shape. Main gown will have a low square neckline with shoulderline straps, not spaghetti straps like in A.
  • Sketch C - still detachable panuelo and sleeves. Main gown with straight skirt. "Medyo oriental and dating, retro, very actually", Veluz said. No more sweep on the main gown and once train is removed, will look like an evening gown. A shawl can be worn during reception.

I showed it to Randy and as expected, he couldn't visualize the sketch. Malabo daw...eh kaya nga sketch lang eh. hahaha! I showed him the description and the more he got confused. can't understand daw yung mga "bodice", "corset", "sweep", "panuelo", etc. It's so funny.

I showed it to my mom & 2 sisters (Micah & Maecy) who will be my MOH, and we all decided we like Sketch A. Mainly because of the V-shaped bodice which, i read it one of the bridal magazines i have, will elongate my body. I just e-mailed Veluz that I want additonal beading in front by the calfline. Veluz said she personally likes Sketch A too!

And after seeing the sketches, mom asked me, "so anak, nasaan na ang sketch ng gown ko?". hahahaha! nakakatuwa naman because she's very excited and supportive.

Even though i've already told Veluz that i like A, comments & suggestions are still welcome. So what do you think? A, B, or C?

Saturday, August 13, 2005

what a cutie!


Don't you think this flower girl dress is sooo adorable? This dress is actually for toddlers, but we only have 3 flower girls and their not toddlers anymore - Shariz is 4, my neice Isabel is 5 & Chesca, who's 6.

What we will do is make the skirt part a little longer for our cute flower girls. Same color applies.

Oooh, I can't wait until the little ones are wearing them already!!!

All Saints Catholic Church


This is the church where Randy & I will exchange our vows.

We chose All Saints because this is where we go to church every Sunday. We love its interior charm. We go to the 7pm mass and enjoy the music of the choir - acoustic, soothing & very inspiring. We hope to be able to book them for our wedding.



Here's another shot of the church exterior.

The stained glass detail of the church's facade.

Finally, 07.07.06!

this morning, i called all saint's church to find out if we can change our wedding date from august to july 8th 2006. i explained the situation to fr. carl (that my ate steph is getting married on july 1st and that we want to get married the following weekend so that it will be convenient & practical for our relatives especially from out of town -- mostly from the east coast). fr. carl said he'd check the master calendar and would call me back, however, suggested to think about having a friday wedding, too...just in case.

i called my mom and ask her how would a friday wedding sound like? if you will ask why i called my mom instead of randy, well, randy's at work and he calls during his break and it was too early to bug him so i called my mom. first my mom said, "bakit?" and so i explained to her. (refer to side kwento below for explanation).

after a few minutes, my cellphone rang and it was fr. carl! ang bilis ha! i was crossing my finger that something will be available. well, there is actually, but it's at 10am of july 8th. the 12 nn is pencilbooked for a quinceniera and the 2pm which is my preference is already reserved. friday the 7th is very free though. i agreed to pencil book our wedding for 5pm of friday the 7th! he then scheduled an interview/meeting with us on august 25th. my gosh! i hung up after i said goodbye to fr. carl & was so excited!

randy called and i told him about it..shempre he got excited too. for weeks now, he's been upset because the church has not called yet. yun pala may dahilan kasi we will have our wedding date move to an earlier one.

i called rose, one of my bridesmaids, who will be going to manila in july next year for her parents' 50th wedding anniversay just to make sure she knows that our wedding will be before she leaves for manila. initially, she said they will just leave early july and come back after the 50th wedding anniversary celebration in time for my august wedding. she said my 07.07.06 is even better that way everything will be done before they leave and that they can spend their 3rd wedding anniversary (august 16th) in the philippines.

i also called my youngest sister Maecy to tell her. My other sister Micah (the one next to me) was at work so i couldn't talk to her. I have to tell them, of course, since they are my Maids of Honor!

Tomorrow, i will contact Ate Kaye, Jaziel, Maybelle & Cha...my bridesmaids.

Finally, 07.07.06!

*Side Kwento:
My cousin Ate Steph & Kit are also getting married next year. They wanted to get married in June while Randy & I wanted August. Then, she moved her wedding date to July 1st because all saturdays of June in her choice of church were booked already. I asked her if it's ok with her if we get married the following week. My reason is so that our relatives will not have a hard time flying to Cali for her wedding then fly back to the east coast, then fly again to Cali for my wedding the following month. Too expensive for their part & besides it's not really easy to take off from work. So she said it's fine with her and she liked the idea. We can actually plan something for our relatives during the week after her wedding/or before my wedding..since it's 4th of july!!! nice!!!

i also asked her if she would still like to be one of my bridesmaids, she said yes but she can't help me obviously. i said it's ok, i just want her to be part of my bridal party. i like her, we were playmates before they moved to US when she was 4 (and i was 3). she taught me the alphabet song (up to the ceiling...) that she learned from school since i was not yet schooling back then. she's nurse now and when i had my kidney transplant last november, she called her friends from UCSF where she used to work and where i will have my transplant and told them to take care of me. she's friends with my kidney transplant surgeon and was e-mailing him before & after my transplant to make sure everything is ok. that's why i want her to be one of my bridesmaids along my my other cousins Ate Kaye (my best cousin), Jaziel (my little cousin), Cha (my bestfriend in manila since HS), Maybelle (good friend & rector in SF Days), and Rose (my good friend and kumare here in US).


*Side Kwento Part 2
My mom asked me why I was considering a friday wedding so I told her all the pros:
*easier to book for a venue on fridays & sundays
*cheaper deals on fridays & sundays since saturdays are in demand
*church has nothing scheduled on fridays so i can choose whatever time i want, in my case, i want a late afternoon wedding.
*if we start the wedding on a late afternoon, there will be no lull time for guests to wonder what they will do between church & reception; short time needed for photographers and videographers, and since they charge by the hour, it ill be a lot cheaper. i can probably get their 6hour package instead of the 10hour one!

Sunday, August 07, 2005

back to blogging...i hope

it's almost 2 in the morning of sunday (august 7th), but i'm just about to enter saturday's events kasi ang haba ng may, june, july updates ko. =P

this morning, i was so excited to go to the bridal fair at the Pleasanton Hilton (thanks to myra, a
w@wie who forwarded the email to me last week). randy & i had waffles & bacon for brunch and started to get ready. around lunchtime, i check myra's e-mail once again. OMG! bukas pa pala yung fair! hahahaha! so randy & i just watched "when harry met sally" which was playing in channel 48.

around 230pm, randy said he's going to have the car washed. so i said i'll just stay home & start cooking na our early dinner. i cooked menudo today. miss na ni randy yung cooking ko kasi since last week we have been eating out or like sandwich lang kasi sobrang init para magrice. lol.

anyway, i'm alone tonight. no, randy & i didn't have a fight. he's actually staying with his mom in the hospital. sha ang naka-sked tonight to make bantay. mama was admitted in the hospital last week (july 28th) because of an extreme abdominal pain. she had tests including a ct scan and found diverticulitis. a few days after, her appendix ruptured. kaya we're taking turns in staying & helping her in the hospital.

i miss randy...that's why i'm still here blogging kasi i know i won't be able to sleep right away. nagpapaantok muna ako before i go to bed. funny, parang sanany na yung katawan ko na katabi si randy (hello? more than 2 years na kaming magkasama, hehehe). i noticed this the other night when he slept in the hospital the first time. as in i can't sleep talaga and every hour i kept waking up. 5am na ata, gising na gising pa ang utak ko.

*sigh* di bale, tomorrow, we will go na to the bridal faire. i told him to be home around lunch time para hindi sayang yung araw (& the entrance fee!).

may, june, july updates...

ok, so the last entry was last may when we went to LA for my kuya tim & ate claire's wedding. haaay, super tagal na talaga and i dunno where & how to start all the kwentos!

memorial day weekend (may 28, 29, 30)
we left the house saturday the 28th and drove to fresno to chop & maia's house. chop is randy's ka-batchmate in ateneo. we were so late and when we got there everyone was already outside waiting to go to church. tapos we went na to Kings River for camping & white river rafting the following day. it was my (& randy's) first camping trip. sobrang fun kasi reunion nila randy yun and i get to meet them & the wives. we spent the night there tapos the following morning (the 29th), they went rafting na. i was left at the campsite with phil, who was advised by his doctor not to go & nel, a fremont cop, who have had a lot of rafting escapades na. i didn't go kasi it's only been 5 months (at that time) since my kidney transplant.

naku, good thing i didn't go rafting! randy's boat tipped (actually nagparang "L" yung boat kasi super plunge yung nangyari) and 4 of them were thrown off the boat. 1 almost got thrown, while 1 was left alone on the boat. randy was the last one to surface and unfortunately, hit his head on a rock underwater. one had a busted lip. luckily this happened near the campsite and patapos na yung rafting trip nila. we packed our stuff and chop drove randy, kiko (busted lip) & i to the ER. i was sooooooooooooooo worried to death! you could imagine the feeling, being the hypertensive that i am pa! he had a head ct scan and it was a minor concusion. i was asked by the doctor to wake him from his sleep every hour that night and watch for any seizures. we stayed at chop's house and went home the following day, the 30th).

Michelle's baby shower
June 5, we threw a surprise baby shower for Michelle & Felix at the Macaroni Grille in Dublin. I made the favors, of course, because i love doing them! This is their 2nd baby na. Joshua Theodore is their panganay.


Welcome Miles Jacob Santos Roque!!!
My, my! June 06, I receieved a text from Raoul that Rose is in labor already!!! Miles, shocked us because he's due to come out June 19 pa. Rose is one of my bestfriends here in the US and also one of my bridesmaids. Miles is their firstborn. Congratulations Rose & Raoul!!! Warm welcome to my inaanak, Miles Jacob!


Randy's aunt passed way
Auntie Baby (Giselda Aganon) battled lung cancer and died at the age of 77 last june 17th. she was randy's mom's oldest sister (mama is the youngest at 64). she was going to be one of our ninang pa naman sa wedding, but i'm glad she's up there where there's no more pain, just peace.

she's actually a very funny lady. i have only met her recently but it was a great pleasure. she likes to eat a lot (she love food and yet so skinny, i'm jealous!). she tells us, "wag kayong magulo, kumain lang kayo jan, maraming pagkain!"...she walks fast at 77 ha!...she is very religious and goes to quiapo to visit the poong nazareno...she loves the poor so much...she loves her family...no wonder she wasn't afraid of death.

i'm glad i was able to cook for her too! during the time when she was already sick but is able to eat pa, i brought her baked boneless bangus, which she loved! i truly miss her.


juan & emily's wedding
juan miguel (or john boy) as we call him, is paulo's (my youngest sister, maecy's boyfriend) brother. magulo ba? basta he is Tito Abel's (one of our principal sponsors) eldest son. last june 25th, him & emily got married in mill valley, california. it was a very intimate wedding, with a garden ceremony (emily's wish) and an indoor reception. emily is white...and is actually taller that johnboy, but it didn't matter. they looked perfect for each other! emily wore a pina gown and johnboy, barong tagalog of course.

randy was able to wear his pina barong tagalog! hahahahaha! sobrang pinakamimithi nya yan! he looked so handsome & dignified. i love you honey! i just wore a black dress with an apple green wrap and matching strappy sandals. mom & dad were there of course. my baby sister maecy was there with paulo (best man & baby brother of johnboy). my sister next to me, micah wasn't able to make it because of work.


Welcome Chelsea Carolyn Aquino Antero
Ang galing ni Felix & Michelle! as in exact due date talaga when Chelsea was born, June 29th. Congratulations parents& kuya josh... & welcome Chelsea! incidentally, i was asked to cater the baptism on Sept. 11th.


Ateneo Alumni Assoc (in the Bay Area) Summer Picnic
Last July 2nd, we went to Santa Clara University for the picnic. well, we were late as usual kasi mainit. hahaha! Randy & i were assigned to bring the famous Inihaw ni Randy...it's grilled pork, actually. but since i marinated the pork the night before, and Randy let's me because I know he knows i do it better (ehermmm), it's now called Inihaw ni Edrei! with matching suka pa yan as sawsawan ha!

we picked up mama (randy's mom sa SFO airport) who came from manila for the funeral/burial of auntie baby's remains in loyola. yahoo, i finally got my metro weddings from my high school bestfriend & one of my bridesmaids na si Cha! (thanks Cha!)


Since then, i've been having this pain on my left leg. doctor from the transplant cinic said it's tendinitis. argghhh! told me to take advil but i'm allergic to ibuprofen, so he gave me another pain meds kasi i don't want vicodin. ang sakit talaga. on friday the 12th, i'll see my primary care physician. sana mawala na ito. in the mean time, i'm taking my meds & put hot&cold patch to relieve the pain. btw, i'm using crutches so i won't strain my leg, but i feel embarassed so d2 lang sa house, paglumalabas kami...i limp. how pathetic. tsk tsk tsk.

back to civilization!

finally our computer is fixed!!! clap clap clap...

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