Noel & Via

We finally had to have our Honda Jazz repaired this weekend, it being a 3-day long weekend due to Quezon City Day. (horay!) Even if this meant being without it for about two weeks, we knew we couldn't delay this errand any longer. Of course the insurance claims person was not around that day as he was on holiday too. So we had to return last Monday to iron things out learning that insurance would only cover the most severe ly damaged part. The remaining repair totalled to a whopping 13,000.00! (Thank you Mommy Vicki for helping us with this. :) )

Anyway, Cosi-Cosi finally had her puppies through C-section as they were too huge. We lost the 2 runts though. :( I want to name the two remaining pudgies Cuddly and Wuddly, alas, we have to sell them. Sigh. Trying not to get too attached. The major drama moment of our weekend is yet to come though...

As Noel, Rose (our helper) and I tried to hold Cosi down to medicate her C-section wound, she went berserk. (Noel yelling I was too slow, me yelling back that it was hard to reach all the way down to her tummy) Poor Noel got bitten twice in the process. His words: "I'll sacrifice myself and throw myself into the lion's den." (we didn't think Cosi would actually bite him) So we had to go to Medical City's Emergency Room to have him get tetanus and anti-rabies- totalled to three shots in all. My husband is such a brave and selfless man.

Posted by Via at 03:58 PM | Permalink

Mine is Magenta. What's yours?

Weird
Creative
Insipired
Thriving

Posted by Via at 09:02 AM | Permalink

Hey Jenn! Is that fair? She tagged me back from Via's original tag. Oh well, I guess I shall comply.

1. What are the things you enjoy doing even when there's no one around you?
I guess the operative word here is EVEN. So I would do these things EVEN if there is someone around... hmm.. I guess I enjoy watching TV, surfing the net, but most especially sleeping.

2. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level?
My number 1 answer to this question for me would be ROWING! Damn I miss rowing. You should watch "Must Love Dogs" there's some rowing there. Sigh, I miss rowing. Anyway, my other answer would be watching some brainless TV or movie.

3. Tag five friends and ask them to post this on their blogs.
TAG! You're IT: Catcat, Dawn, Cargo, Mark, Pet, Harry
I added one more because most of these people are inactive bloggers. Hehe.

Posted by Noel at 08:38 AM | Permalink

Yep, we had fun yesterday. We had lunch in Cafe Puccini at The Fort Strip (in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig). And at first bite of the Quattro Stagioni Pizza I was whisked back into Ivrea (no dindo, not whisked upon a star :) ). Specifically 'Pizza Montenavale' which was our staple dinner place when we were there for my studies. I suddenly remembered their soft Tiramisu, the 'Straciatella' gelato we ordered a lot, even the amaretto shots served in tiny edible chocolate cups.

A friend recently asked what I missed about Italy.. I quickly thought of food but replied that we could get almost anything here. And Cafe Puccini is a classic example.

Posted by Noel at 05:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Noel and I treated ourselves to a full body massage at Fitness First's Body Center at the Fort after a long drive to Manila. We proceeded to lunch at a charming Italian cafe called Caffe Puccini. Noel enjoyed his Quattro Stagioni (four seasons) pizza while I savored my Insalata Caprese (slices of tomato topped with mozzarella and fresh basil) and Spaghetti alle Vongole (with clams and white wine sauce). Next we just had to try the new ice cream place that just opened, Cold Rock- where your choice of toppings are mashed together with your pick of ice cream flavor on a really cold slab of granite. The end result is similar to a Dairy Queen blizzard, except chunkier. We finally lugged our very happy and stuffed selves home after that. It is such a joy to share good food! Lucky for me, Noel loves that too.

Posted by Via at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

By my highschool carpoolmate, Abelina. :)
1. What are the things you enjoy doing even when there's no one around you?
surfing, dreaming, belly-dancing (hee! hee!), reading, watching sappy things on TV

2. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level?
my husband, Cosi Cosi! (our Jack Russell Terrier who's due to have pups this month!), massages, foot scrubs, hair treatments, dulce de leche Haagen Dazs, tennis, shopping (no that increases my blood pressure, I mean Noel's! ehehe!), lavander pillow mist, yoga

3. Tag five friends and ask them to post this on their blogs.
Chris, Toni, Zette, Issa and Jenn.

Posted by Via at 04:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Check out the cool feature done on my amazing husband at Philweavers I'm so proud of you, Noely!!! :)

Posted by Via at 07:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Yesterday Noel was telling me about how he was observing this crew member from Jollibee. He was smiling while turning the pages of his manual that had pictures on how to clean the floor, the tables, etc. And Noel told me how he envied how little it took to make that crew person happy. And then I realized how blessed we were. And how lucky I was that I had my husband to remind me.

Posted by Via at 06:09 AM | Permalink

I'm STILL here at my desk and it's already 1AM!! And it's not because I'm working on something this time. No, I think this is the first time I do unpaid overtime work without actually working. So you ask what am I still doing here on a Friday night? Well.. call it perks of having to manage someone to deliver work that was overdue. Aaak. I'm zleepy.

Posted by Noel at 07:15 PM | Permalink

Rather what would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? This anonymous quote was attached to a friend's email epilogue yesterday. I suddenly remembered it right now because the timing was just so apt, it is kind of frightening. Fear can be so crippling if you allow it to take over...

In fact, I bet many of us would do several things if we knew we could not fail. What would you do?

Posted by Via at 04:56 AM | Permalink

We've already "test-run" two would-be replacements for our dear helper Rose. And both of them left within a few days' time- no drama spared. And both women used missing their children as their need to stop working.

The first woman even cried when she told me she was missing her youngest child. (who as Noel pointed out, is about 22-25 years old already!) The second woman who seemed to have a cheery personality was reported to have been complaining to her sister (who is our current helper's friend) that all she could eat here consisted of leaves (she used the words dahon-dahon) and tuna! Which is far from the truth. I even checked with her if she had any special things she couldn't eat. To which she replied: "Lahat po, kinakain ko." (I eat everything) It's really difficult to find people to trust these days, you're never quite sure what you're letting into your home.

Posted by Via at 04:46 AM | Permalink

I really have to clean up my nightable which is piled with some magazines, Harry Potter book 5 Order of the Phoenix (yes I've fallen behind) and my latest read, When Chic Hits the Fan.

As usual, I was seduced by the book cover of the last title. But it's a pretty funny read (even if half the time I don't know which personality or designer brand is being referred to) talking mostly about Manila's who's-who and wanna-be's and my favorite, never-will-be's. Check out what I mean if you're in the mood for something light that borders on cattiness. It's like Legally Blonde meets Jessica Zafra- or close to it.

Posted by Via at 04:17 AM | Permalink

This article I was reading began with a Chinese proverb: "Rags to riches and back again in 3." (or something like that) It was referring to how it only takes 3 generations to go back to where one started from, financially. Probably very obvious in many societies, including our own, the 3 generations were classified into the following types:

1. Wealth Builders- These are our grandparents- the ones who laid the groundwork to begin it all. Many of them have withstood wars and some unmentionables just to be able to put food on the table. I remember my own Grandmother who was involved in so many businesses from real estate to refrigerators to beauty salons- she had 6 kids to take care of. This was on top of the fact that Grandfather also worked.

2. Wealth Retainers- Our parents. The ones who mainly benefitted from our grandparents' many sacrifices. They live a little more comfortably now, but are still very aware of the value of money and hardwork. Most of them probably took on whatever line of business their parents left to them.

3. Wealth Spenders- this is us! Usually our generation starts with getting a job after college then maybe some of us go on to business school to prepare to take over the family reins. What was so frightening to me about this set was the description of them going on ski lodge vacations, studying abroad in the most preistigious of universities, buying the most expensive cars and gadgets, the list goes on- with no clue (or no regard) as to the efforts that were put in by the previous generations. Now I'm no no financial guru, but this just jolted me to the reality of thinking about the future and putting something away for a rainy day.

Posted by Via at 07:17 AM | Permalink