GRATITUDE JOURNAL

Our free day is being spent with an afternoon tea at the Marriott. Jerry and I are quietly having our couple time sipping hot green tea as we go online using our phones. Hehe. Together... but doing our own thing. Don't get me wrong. It's a good thing for us. :) In a few minutes, we'll be picking up middle son from the mall and then back home to our youngest who is currently not feeling well. Tomorrow, we start a new work week.... * Praying for eldest son too who will be having his finals this week. hot green tea at Marriott, same price as in Starbucks, but in a better and quieter ambiance

After a few hours of sleep, it was time to head off to the airport for his early flight back to Manila. It's a good thing his classes for today start after lunch. He will have enough time to catch up on sleep when he arrives at his dorm this morning. As for me, I will eagerly await the next weekend he comes home. Holiday or no holiday. :)

It was originally declared a holiday this Monday so we bought Matt's Cebu plane ticket way in advance. Some of his friends from DLSU and ADMU were also scheduled to spend the long weekend in town. Perfect timing for them as one of their friends was celebrating his birthday. Well, the holiday has since been recalled at the last minute so the supposed long weekend has been shortened and we were unnecessarily subjected to the additional cost of rebooking fees and fare differences. Ouch. Anyway.... It shouldn't put a damper on our plans. Any homecoming is always a welcome thing, right? On Matt's first day back (Friday), he saw some friends, did some errands, bought stuff, had his haircut and met us again for dinner. At dinner, the one notable thing he mentioned to us was: "Yes! Decent food! No fastfood (or carinderia) for me this time!" Lol. Anybody who stays in a dorm would know what food is like in canteens, fastfood restos and local carinderias.

We were all up early yesterday (Saturday) to bring Kyle to his school intramurals. It was the opening day for high school students and everyone participated in the cheer dance competition. Jerry and I were there to watch. Our eldest, who was in town for the weekend, chose to meet up with his buddies in their old campus as well. I like being in their school during activities like this one. Everything looked very organized from the parking grounds to the program proper. And whatever hitches there may have been (I'm sure there were some), more than anything, the parents were excited to see the energy of the students as they cheered and danced. I truly appreciate the blessing of being able to send the boys to this institution. Jerry and I see how the school population has grown. It used to have a predominantly Filipino-Chinese population, but with the bigger, more spacious campus, I now see a more varied mix of students. I heard that a lot from the nearby international sch

Baby squid in olive oil, laing (gabi / taro leaves) - 2 ways, grilled liempo. Delish!

by Junnie Google the term "Blood bloggers", or "Sibling bloggers". Done? Oh, after clicking that blog on mental illness you'd know that wasn't part of what I wanted you to do. We wanted to know if there have been a lot of collaborative projects between siblings who have decided to put up a blog about the goings-on in their lives. Well here's one from Cebu, Singapore and Mississauga. The effort has led to a community that all 3 siblings brought in from their respective blogs and when combined was strong enough to have a great following. Lately though, with so much blogs, status updates, twitter entries to follow and read, the numbers have plateaued. Good thing this Gratitude Journal was kept afloat by eldest sister, Linnor . "It was a memorable year for the Arreza's! We had additions to the family, achievements in school, moving from one apartment to another, graduating to university and a lot of travels in between.", recalls M

Have you had those moments when you have nothing much to do and you start tinkering with stuff? Sometimes you'd clean out your closet, purse or your laptop / gadget and find "treasures" you've long forgotten about: a top you haven't worn that still has the tag on or a precious photo tucked several folders deep in your hard drive. Well that was what happened to me last night while I was waiting to drill / review my son in preparation for his test. I found this 4 year old video I made. It was taken during our Pa and Ma's 40th wedding anniversary in Cebu in 2006 which my siblings and I prepared from scratch with whatever limited resources we had. There was no event planner engaged. Junnie bankrolled a major part of it. I had to design the invitation which my sister, May, finished off, assemble the giveaways (rosary bracelet in a red velvet pouch we had made), order red roses for the church, book the Pedro Calungsod chapel, reserve Mayi restaurant for th

It's the newest craze these days. Our 13yo Kyle just got bitten by the running bug. He joined the 2010 St. Ignatius Run together with his friends last July 31. I was apprehensive when he first told me he signed up for the 10k race. 10k??? That would be too much for him, I thought. The recent news about a number of unfortunate incidents during the Milo Marathon and the Energizer Night Run , made me feel even more anxious. Only after his Pa assured me that he would be there did I finally say yes. Kyle was a bit disappointed when the organizers relegated them to the 3k race instead of their 10k preference. That was wise of the organizers and something I secretly welcomed. Hehehe. Long story short, Kyle ran his first 3k race and finished in 21 minutes. Not bad! Woot! Kyle is second from left