On Weddings

I dedicate this post to my high school friends Nel and Ann, who finally sealed their 10-year love story with marriage vows this 4th of December. I know they've gone through all sorts of highs and lows, but they've managed to stay together. Just how awesome is that? :) Love really endures, yes? I truly wish them well and may their marriage last a lifetime. Godbless Nel and Anne. :)

Don't you just love weddings? I do. I love any kind, the grand ones, the simple ones, even ones on rainy days such as this. Why? Because every weddings tells of a story that makes me smile and sigh at the same time, it even makes me cry sometimes. Because it makes me believe more and more that LOVE does happen and God is at work writing love stories and allowing it to be sealed with a lifetime commitment. Because it actually makes my heart hope for something like that to happen too, someday, somewhere, sometime in my life, by God's will and grace. :)

 I was one of the bridesmaids, yet again. But I'll assume a different role soon. :)

Black and White Photos

I've always thought black and white photos are awesome! Everyone must have at least one good B&W photo in their FB profile. I have one! :) Unlike colored ones, B&W exudes a timeless feel and makes the subject say what it has to say minus the complication of colors. Lousy description from a photography enthusiast? I knooooow. Hahaha! :)

In reality though, I rarely take B&W photos or convert colored ones to B&W for obvious reason that I love playing with colors. But I know someone who loves taking them all year round. It's his type of photography. I am into dreamy, vintage and colorful ones. :)

What you will see now are the photos that brought a big big smile to my uber stressed face immediately after seeing the first one. These photos are really funny and sweet and the effort behind them is just priceless! I will truly treasure these for the rest of my life. Lovesick ba? Hahaha! Kinda. But hey, you'll only get to be lovesick for only a period of time. Someday soon, the familiarity of being with each other and the worries of life will take over. That's a reality.

It's nice to have something to look back to someday when you need a reminder where you started and how much love you have for each other then and pretty much someday, when you're gray and old and you want your children and grandchildren to know how awesome God is for answering your heart's prayer. ♥

November 30, 2011 = 11 monthsary. :)

Friday Nights and Christmas Lights

Day 2/30:  Tonight is just one of the so many Friday nights I chose to simply spend at home, in the confines of my chaotic but cozy room. Though I like going out once in a while on Friday nights, I've always preferred curling up in my bed with a company of a good book, or with my laptop typing nonsense or editing photos, or just talking to God or crying out my frustrations for the working week that has been. Like for example tonight. 

I had a bad day at work. The last 30 minutes I spent in the office confirmed what I've been fearing since week 2 in my new job: a boss albeit indirect dislikes me. At first I thought of it as pro-activity issue. Just like in school, I've always been the silent worker but I've always managed to gain the proper amount of respect anyhow so what happened this afternoon shook the remaining confidence in my already depleted self-esteem. It's only by God's grace that I reached home without shedding a tear and with a perfect peace in my heart.

My walk with God this year has taught me that in all things, God works for our good. All things, the bible says, be it good or bad. A "No" answer from God ultimately leads to a "Yes" answer that is a million times better than the ones that God said "No" to.  

I consider my trials at work to be God's way of training me to persevere more and give my best despite the criticisms and doubts, of trying to see the truths in the criticism before being defensive, of not speaking ill of others who (I sort of feel) despise my existence one way or another, of learning to forgive.

***

On a more positive note, I still think that Friday nights are awesome because they put some pause on work, allowing us to breath in the goodness of life on Saturdays and Sundays.

Another awesome thing I ought to write for Day 2: the Christmas lights hanging all over Ayala triangle! Don't you just love the mirage of colors and the dancing of lights? I most definitely do! Haven't had time to capture this year's lights, so I'm posting the ones I took last year:

Agree? :)

Friends and lovers chillin' around! After all, it's Christmas and there's free entertainment at the Ayala triangle! :)

Bokehs brought about by Christmas lights!

Wedding Preparations

I just love planning and preparing for the big day; loving every bit of it! You see I have this innate creative side that loves the tiniest of details. I'm most alive admiring the beauty of the small details that are mostly left unnoticed. Aside from that, I'm also your resourceful bride. :) I can spend all night rummaging the web searching for inspiration! 

But the reality is: wedding preps are indeed stressful. Thank God, I'm getting by with fiance's heroic patience and some help from friends here and there who've been there, who've done that. At first, I was giddy and excited, having been engaged only 3 months, I got overwhelmed and didn't know where to start. Right now though, I'm more focused (well, I should be!) But dear Lord, please prevent me from DIY-ing or trying to DIY everything! Hahaha!

Maybe now you'd like to know where we are so far including some of the gazillion inspirations, as I also like to find out on my own, hoping I've made progress and have a sound idea of where we are headed. To recap:

Wedding Date -  first thing I learned upon joining the wedding industry is to set the date. June 30, 2012 is our wedding! I never dreamt of being a June bride, but I'll be! 30th is our monthsary so we kinda wanted it to happen that day, plus 30th of June is a Saturday plus the practical sides of June as the slackest month in our career. My boss even told me I can have the whole June by myself! 

Motiff - pink and purple are a MUST! plus lots and lots of pastel colors!

my inspiration for a motif:

(photo credits to Sarahrhoads which by the way are simply fab photographers! i so love them!)

Venue - We wanted a Christian wedding in a garden setting, so a garden wedding it is! I've already made ocular inspection in Tagaytay with fiance's sisters and my mama. Got some shock with the rates though! Top two choices: Hillcreek and Splendido.  This is how I want my wedding ceremony to look like:

A girl can dream, right? :)

Theme - One thing I learned from my friend Jahyra is to set a wedding theme! I was shocked, honest, telling her, "may ganon?" But because we love photography and travels, that's the theme! On how to put that into a comprehensible and doable theme is still a work in progress. I was stalking Rhiz, a fab blogger and just admire everything about her wedding. And this is what their travel-themed wedding look like (in details):

Wedding Gowns - Sigh. I wish I could gain 10 pounds to pull one of these out! I love Kate's gown and might really request for a copy of her absolutely simple but elegant gown!

That's all for now. :)

11th m♥nth

It's the 30th again. Today is the eleventh month in the year 2011, and hey we're already 11 months old! :)

But what's more awesome is that I'll see you in 10 days! Yippppeeee!!!

As I look back in the past 11 months, I can only say one thing: It's the best 11 months of my life! All the difficulties of a long distance relationship that we endured, all the penny spent on long distance calls and internet connections, all the LQs, all the sweetness, all the beautiful flowers, all the love notes and the photos, all the prayers sent up to heavens, all these have made us stronger and grounder.

As always, I thank God for you. :)

Now the 11 monthsary photos:

12 dozen white roses for the 11th month. This should have been just 11 roses! Haha! :)

Roses and my scrapbook from my Ireland trip!

Christmas lights, Buck (the stuff toy from Buckingham, London), Christmas Snow Globe, the 12 dozen roses from Island rose, our wedding notebook,  the Belgian chocolates in 3 flavors which I'm not yet eating :) = LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Some Christams bokehs!

Chocolates! 

And lastly: Sunset today and some words from 1 Corinthians 13:

Saved by Love

I'd just like to do a quick post. It's already 2:40 AM and fiance and I are finishing cramming for my video/teaser for my company's Christmas Party which by the way I despised doing but I'm left with no choice.  Imagine us at the opposite sides of the world, on different time zones doing little videos that will be consolidated into one before I can finally sleep, secured of my reputation and capability of doing one video/teaser that I'm not sure if anyone would even remember watching! Sigh. But responsibilities are responsibilities. I accepted, therefore I'm accountable. Sigh. I can say that tonight, I'm the luckiest girl on the planet. Without fiance and his encouragement, I would have abandoned this video project and just maybe opted for an AWOL!

Another long and deep sigh. I started this project last week but windows movie maker kept "not responding" each time I tried to save my video. It was so frustrating having to save and restart and redo things over and over again. I even went on sick leave last Friday for this, missed Sunday service and gotten into LQ with fiance because I think the world was not cooperating with me and my simple prayers were not being heard and well, all my frustrations, my bruised heart from criticisms and my impatience have gotten into a helluva mix of ungratefulness and selfishness. I had gotten too tired and too sleepless to even bother. Sure, LQs will happen, but that's another piece of story that must be dealt with separately and carefully. I kinda mixed all my frustrations into one deadly serving!

I know all these lessons of laying all my negative emotions before God and just surrendering but really there are times that it won't just work with me. I honestly think I failed in my latest trial. :( I had been praying last week, I honestly did, what I failed at miserably was that I was too panic-stricken and deadline-driven that I failed to listen to the still small voice telling me "Lai, things like this would happen, test of faith will happen to bring about perseverance and faith". Oh, yes, I am of little faith. :(

But there's one person here on the planet who wouldn't give up on me and there's One up there Who wouldn't give up either. I am so much saved by love, so much that I have to write about it eventhough I only have 3 hours to sleep and get energized for another work day.

Windows Movie Maker says I can now play the consolidated videos (made by me and fiance).  Dear world, I now have the right to be one with my comfy bed.

I'm so sorry dear God... thank you for extending Your unconditional love through Lando. Thank You for sorting things out and giving us both the humility and the perseverance needed for a long distance relationship. We'll surely talk about this more. Right now, I just want to say sorry for having little faith. May you continue to work in me, teach me to please You more than the temporal people at my new workplace. Teach me to use my negative emotion as a cue to come to You and to align my life with your Will. In Your Name, amen.

Happy Birthday Fiance!

First things first: Happy happy birthday Ce! :) I love you and I thank God for you. I couldn't help but smile at the thought of spending two of your birthdays with me, albeit virtually. Let's recap your two birthdays! :)

November 22, 2010

Same time last year, we were messing around in Skype. I was somewhere in Mindanao and you were in SG. It was your birthday and we were chatting through the night till the clock struck 12. We talked. We laughed. We prayed. You were still courting me then... I was still weighing things, somehow content that eventhough we're miles apart, you looked sincerely head over heels in love with me (hahaha!) and anxious at the same time, giddy anxious. 

November 22, 2011

How time, days and even years fly so fast. It's the 22nd of November again.  You are surely in the office at this time while I'm writing this post. I've already said my prayers for you on your birthday. We both know the power of prayers, and right now, that's what I can give you. Ce, you know how much I love you and I can't wait to be with you. Right now, I thank God that eventhough we are miles apart again (for the second time), He is holding the two of us. There are some sacrifices to be made, some dreams to be chased and in between I know God is preparing and molding us for the future.

Happy happy birthday Lando! I celebrate life with you today! Oh, and I'll be marrying you soon!

All the love,
Lai

***
Happy 30th! :)

Happy Birthday Tito Lando! (my nieces' song)

Pansit for long life! Fiance clapping for Mama's yummy pansit bihon!

Let Me Take You to Ireland

Ireland. The first European country I ever stepped on, made more special because bf fiance was there. 

County 1/26 - Dublin

County 2/26 - Wicklow

County 3/26 - Kilkenny

County 4/26 - Galway

County 5/26 - Clare

County 6/26 - Kerry

My favorite place in Ireland

It's Kerry, no doubt about that! :)

Life is not all about Work

"Still you hear me when I'm calling

Lord you catch me when I'm falling

And you told me who I am...

I am Yours...."

For the past two weeks, my work life has been a helluva roller coaster ride, with a big sudden dip splashing me with criticisms and testing my self-esteem earned in the last seven years in the market place. But I was just briefly reminded that my security should not be placed on work. "What do workers gain from their toil?" asks Solomon in Ecclesiastes. Life isn't just about work. Though I've been failing more and succeeding a little in my current marketplace, I don't have to be insecure especially when I'm fully aware that I've been giving my best.  

If I'm sad about work, that doesn't mean I should be sad about life in general. It's a big part, yes, because I work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and work, I've learned in my Christian walk is a ministry, a place where I can use well the talents I've been granted with, a place for training to relate to people, to practice love and kindness. But it's not all.

If I lose my work now, I won't grumble, I won't complain. It won't be the end of the world because I know, God will still take care of me. I'm secure in my place in His place somewhere out there. God loves me no matter what,  He hears me when I call, He catches me when I fall, and He always tells me who I am. :)