Last Day of the Year 2012

Another year is ending, another chapter is coming to a close...

I’m really thankful for all the wonderful things that filled this year : family gatherings, friends’ get-togethers, travels, business explorations, training seminars and so much more. It’s been filled with opportunities to know more and learn more. There were a few people i know who passed away, quite sad to learn they’re gone. Others have gone on to seek greener pastures elsewhere. All the best to everyone. I also got to meet new faces this year and travel to new places and revisit old familiar ones. Happy to say that i got reconnected with old ties (both family and friends) through visits, personal meets and/or via the internet.

Here's my year 2012 in review: 

Have been happily chatting away and reconnecting with Pearl via her blog, Windowshopping, here at blogger. Ansel also writes at Allness World.

Meantime, Glo said goodbye to her blog, Daragang Magayon, as she will be busily clicking away in SG. 

Was happy to note that Gemma became very visible in FB (or was it me getting hooked with too much free time on my hand?).

Kept constantly updated about happenings with friends Cherry and Melai through FB, even though they are already living miles across the ocean.

Enjoyed my Lenten reprieve at our farm in ZDS.

Met with av and stayed at her place then had breakfast at my fave place Rowena's!

 Here are some fam pics in iligan and zamboanga during the summer, fiesta and clan reunion.

Met with QA gals who i have missed a lot. so sweet of them to treat me so kindly. And 'twas a happy birthday dinner for tikz and bona as well. Got updated about news at the plant once again.

Joined a baking seminar so that i can help mommy set up the bakery or home bakeshop that she's been hoping to have.

Also attended the coffee summit organized by the phil. coffee board. Sure learned much about coffee that i never knew before, esp. the topography of the industry in our country. I even took home a poster on coffee planting to bring back home to share with the folks in our farm. Am so wildly hoping to be a coffee entrepreneur someday.

Met with CS friends cath, jing and marvz after such a long time. First, i went with jayne to register at the mandaluyong city hall (yipee, we're officially registered now!) then we hooked up with cath in alabang and proceeded to marvz and jing's new place at la marea.

Lennie and george's family came home for a vacation. Was sure glad to meet with them again. kuya came to meet with george. The kids have grown a lot. And it was my first time to see the twins (who are so opposite in character but both so sweet really!).  How wonderful to talk to a good friend after so long. 

Went to attend siosy's wedding at club balai isabel in batangas. The place is nice. But the people are more important to be with. Happy to see jing, meanne, av, tikz, ganda and siosy once again.

Set up a get-together with CS gals as i was not able to attend the big gathering during this year's Kapnayan. Happy to dine and wine with folks beautiful at heart. And at the same time was able to see the home bakeshop of pretty sis miel in her apartment in marikina. Glad to meet Miel and Din after so long.

Went back to yupielbi to meet the birthday girls (mga bru) loren and bjing. As usual, laughter was overflowing and sharing of memorable moments so priceless!

Sure am glad i was able to see my classmate from high school, meliza dela paz-clancy, who took time out to see me before heading off for their family's trip down south (bohol-camiguin-cagayan-iligan). Still smart and pretty, well-grounded and big-hearted as i remember her.

Was happy that lexa and kwin could squeeze in some time to see me this christmas season just as the holiday rush was coming. AV organized the christmas dinner and i was happy to relate to them my latest raket on the bath and body products i've been making for giveaways.  

And, of course, the AS sisses also had a get-together at det's place. Food was sublime and the talk equally precious.

And here are pics of some items i've  produced as our "market research" attempt. Hopefully, we can go full blast by this year, once things get finalized. I'm happy with the feedback i've been getting. And we continue to solicit comments and suggestions to better improve our products.

Christmas day was celebrated with my family this year at our home here in Iligan. I am very grateful for the faces around the table as we celebrated Christmas day. My family really are God's greatest gift to me. I look forward to a brighter, healthier and happier year ahead. My heartfelt gratitude to all who have been a part of my life’s journey for this year 2012.

My fervent wishes for more blessings to all of us for this year 2013. May our lives be filled with peace and hope and love!

                                            

The Word Made Flesh

Gospel Acclamation:

       The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. To those who accepted Him he gave power to become the children of God. 

John 1 : 1-18

       In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ....

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In this season of joy, divinity came down from heaven to visit us and dwell with us. He lived among us only to die for us. May we not forget the real meaning of Christmas.

Christ is the reason for the season. Without Christ there is no Christmas!

Full Saturday

saturday was completely filled with activity. trish woke me up at four in the morning so we can go to the tiangge. we usually buy clothes for gifts and for ourselves as well at the tiangge where the prices are so low. and what's more, they're all made by filipino garment-makers. as part of my resolution this year to patronize filipino entrepreneurs, i've been buying only philippine-made items for giveaways and for personal use; be it clothes, paper-made gift items, food, bags, clothes, etc. i think that it helps to lift the economy somehow when we are patronizing our very own business enterprises and not the korean and chinese items proliferating anywhere nowadays.

then, we had to rush to bring langga to school as they will be preparing for their school play competition in the afternoon. and off we went to salcedo village in makati to see what's there to buy. again, our own small entrepreneurs are there selling their products and produce. one can see all good food everywhere; e.g., pancakes, milk, gourmet tuyo, tinapa (we bought jaq's sumptuous vodka tinapa and tinapa with malunggay), breads, pizza, pasta, meat cuts, filipino ulam, ice cream, taho, etc..   and the organic produce were a sight to see. trish made sure to buy some stuff and greens for salad at home. after having our fill of what's to see and taste and smell there, we were on our way home.

pics i took were only of the flowers near the entrance/exit when we were already leaving.

hardly have we sat down, when the phone rang and we were fetched by trish's mom, tita chelle, as they still have to check out several places and confirm the venue for their christmas party. we just freshened up a bit and again were on our way out the door. trish hurriedly took a picture of me at Serendra while tita chelle was busy on the phone.

at one o'clock in the afternoon, we had to go back to rockwell to watch the musical competition. it was a competition between the year levels. Grade 7 played The Sound of Music, 2nd Year played Miss Saigon (good acting for their actors!), 3rd Year played Cats and 4th Year played The Phantom of the Opera. well, i was only able to take a pic of the first one to perform and after that, my phone went dead.

here's a peek at the fab costumes of the cast of Cats:

each year level took almost an hour each for their chosen musical so it was already past six when we decided to go home. sure was glad to be back home. took a bath and soon headed off to dreamland.

Simbang Gabi 2012

Simbang Gabi has started, not only here in the Philippines but anywhere else where there's a Filipino community. this is a tradition of filipinos to attend novena masses in preparation for Christmas. originally conducted as misa de gallo or dawn mass, presently it is also celebrated as anticipated mass the night before.

i hope i will be able to complete all nine days this year. i also pray for everyone to be able to complete their novena masses this year.

What Date is Today?

the date for today when written in the shortcut form is quite memorable. just like the 10-11-12 date that i've blogged about before, this date is easy to remember. why? just because... duh!    ",)

it'll take another century to have this date again. i reckon i won't be around anymore when that happens. at the 22nd century, again, it'll start with 01-01-01, then 02-02-02, and so forth... ahh, but that's too far away from now.

looking at things this way, a lifetime is just too short.

need to do all the things that i want to do in this lifetime. need to fill my life with meaning.

Biz Planning

it's quite exciting having something worthwhile to do again... after  along time.

plans are a-hatching. but still need to continue with the 'market research', so to speak. this may take a while but i do believe that all good things come to those who wait.. and hope.. and pray.. and pour in enough effort to bring our plans to fruition.

PacMan Lost by KO

* photo courtesy of pacquiaovideo.com

it's a sad day for Filipinos. the people's champ lost his fight today at the MGM Grand Garden Arena to Juan Manuel Marquez by a knockout in Round 6. i don't really know anything about boxing so i'll leave it to other bloggers to talk about the technicalities of the game. to me, it's just another case of  'you win some, you lose some'.

Lazy Sunday

today was a lazy day for us here at the house. no laundry was done (clothes piling up high now), no food was cooked (we bought food from outside), yep, no heavy cleaning at all (just the light surface cleaning trish did early in the morning to clear up the table from its mess). we were all busy in front of our computer / notebook typing away and/or just surfing the net.

am happy i finally finished AV's order for Christmas giveaways in her canteen. will have to start making the eau de cologne now so they can age in time for delivery.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Gospel Accalamation:

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.

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Today celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics here in the Philippines. This feast is not about the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, but it is about the conception of Mary in the womb of  her mother St. Anne and by her father, St. Joachim. As per Roman Catholic doctrine, from the very moment of her conception, she was already filled with the grace of God and her most pure soul has never been stained with sin so she could be a pure vessel worthy of carrying the Lord Jesus in her womb and through her God could enter the world.

Prayer to the Immaculate Conception

O God,
who by the Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
did prepare a worthy dwelling place for Your Son,
we beseech You that, as by the foreseen death of this, Your Son, You did preserve Her from all stain,
so too You would permit us, purified through Her intercession, to come unto You.
Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

Invocaion in honor of Mary Immaculate

Mary, conceived without sin,
pray for us who have recourse to you

On Relationships

saw someone post this on FB. i just thought it's nice! and so very true....

My Project

posting here some pics of what i have been busy with these past few weeks. enrolled in some livelihood training seminars (am not employed, you see). need to earn this christmas season. hopefully this will eventually be a business with trish (thanks for the support - moral, physical and financial) and some friends.

At SM Marikina Today

met up with meliza for lunch. meliza is a friend from way back in high school at pisay diliman. she and her family now lives in australia since she married an aussie. they came home for an 8-week vacation. anthony's mom (mel's mom-in-law) came along for the vacay. and she's having fun. their pics on facebook tells it all.

well, had super fun as well, reminiscing and sharing/updating each other on what's happening with our lives now.  was real glad she liked my gift for her.

Pablo Came and Went

when we got wind of the news that a strong typhoon (stronger than Sendong) was coming, everyone back home got ready for another lashing from mother nature.

 

the weather bureau has labelled it as the strongest typhoon to hit Mindanao in two decades. and with the traumatic experience of Sendong from the previous year still very much alive in people's minds, there was intensified info dissemination and LGU campaign to prepare Iliganons for a possible calamity. the power and electric company has advised for everyone to charge all devices that may be needed as it will be shutting down electricity once the storm sets in. there was an enforced mandatory evacuation for those who are in high risk zones. and almost everyone (even those not physically there) were monitoring the news channels and internet updates on the storm. because there was a sudden change in direction and speed of the typhoon, destruction was lessened. still, there were casualties in areas rattled by pablo. Purok 9A across us was again deep in water and houses in Orchids Village were submerged/flooded up to the windows. in surigao/ compostela valley, landslides happened. deaths occurred. some people's lives will be scarred. but with the typical resilience that Filipinos are known for, we can make a move forward once again.

we worried over here in manila because we could't call home in the early hours of tuesday morning, the predicted timing for pablo to enter davao area of responsibility. telephone lines were cut and the various networks were down as well. but my brother was posting updates on his plurk (via mom's so we got pacified. finally i was able to place a long distance call home and talked to mommy. in the evening, daddy called also and told us he could not contacted because he was conserving energy so he switched off his phone to open only when necessary.

now the sun's come out. the storm has passed. will need to pick up the pieces and start rebuilding homes. but most importantly, another opportunity has been given to build up lives, making it stronger than before.  life has got to be celebrated!