GRATITUDE JOURNAL

We had a short window to plan for a family vacation last summer. Matt, the eldest, only had mid-April up to May for school break while Kyle, the middle son, was in Xiamen from March up to May. That left us with barely a week to be complete as a family and enjoy each other's company before the start of school. With a few days before Matt flies back to Manila, we made sure to spend the limited time being together even if it meant simply sharing home-cooked meals or just driving around town. One such place we drove to was the SRP (South Road Properties) in Cebu. Right now, it looks empty and massive, but it gives you an unobstructed view of the sea on one side and the mountains on the other side. Jerry once told me that Kawit Point used to be a small island but is now connected to mainland Cebu because of the SRP. Click here for "then and now" images. Hmm... I have mixed feelings about that. Anyway... SRP will soon be the site of the new SM, UP campus, Bigfoot,...

Googling it confuses me more as I see it written both ways. Anyway, the restaurant's name is Lemon Grass and it's where we were invited for dinner to celebrate our good friends Forden and Dahlia's birthdays last May (catch up entry #2 after almost 3 months!). I used to think their serving size was on the small side but after that night, I had a change of heart. The Vietnamese-Asian fusion dinner we had was actually filling and delicious. I should give this resto another go soon. :)

It took a looong time for me to post this and sadly, I have no excuse except for the "procrastination" bug that hit me. I haven't been actively blogging as of late. And save for the birthday greetings to family and friends to let them know they are in my thoughts on their special day, I haven't been posting as much status updates on my Twitter, FB or Google+ (yes I had the nerve to create yet another one) accounts. Social media burnout? I hope not. :) After going through hundreds of entries from the very first time I started blogging in Oct. 2002 (that long ago!), I felt energized to up and start again. So here goes catch up entry #1. Sometime in May, Cindy and her family spent a few days in Cebu. With my Jake and her kids in tow, we spent an afternoon chatting about stuff that covered, well, everything! We talked about family/kids, school, work, R&R, plans, health and errr... gossip. Hehehe. We practically lost track of time. And like always, storie...

We have moved a few times in the past. This was our 3rd. And each time, we are excited and hopeful that the new place would be better than the last. To those (few blog readers) not in the know, we lived with my mother-in-law for 7.5 years, then bought a condo and stayed there for 7.5 years. We sold the latter for a decent extra and bought a townhouse. Four years and one month later, we moved to this current one, a (condo-sized? :D) house... For how long we'll stay is another story, but we plan to stay put for as long as the space permits. :D Barely 1 week from the time we moved in, I think I have rearranged the furniture quite a bit I hope I didn't cause any permanent damage to the flooring. :) So far, this is how part of the ground floor looks like... standing from the main entrance, the living area is on the left, tv room on the right, dining area by the yellow wall, and partly hidden on the right is the kitchen More pics to follow as soon as I'm done empty...

We have just moved in to a new address. The house took over a year in the making. And as everyone is familiar with how much work that entails: prior, during and after the move itself, imagine my current state of mind. I still have a lot of sorting to do. Errr where do I even start? And what am I doing tapping this post when my boxes and clothes are a messy mound sitting next to me? Well, I call this a short break... hehe... just a quick "me" time to check out what's new online. First off, I think I found a really good app to use for my Excel spreadsheet on my iPad. So far so good. Best part is it doesn't cost as much as the other similar apps with limited capabilities. I'm happily porting my finance and budget spreadsheets now and loving it. I will soon find out if its any good handling form 4868 tax extension or if it will meld with popular tax software s. For now, I'm going back to sorting my mess, unless I don't mind sleeping on them li...

Glory to God for Spring is Here Toronto, Canada "Glory To God In The Highest" Glory to God in the highest, Glory to God in the highest, And peace to His people on earth Lord God, Heavenly King, Almighty God and Father We worship You We give You thanks We praise You for Your glory Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father Lord God, Lamb of God You take away the sins of the world Lord, have mercy on us You are seated at the right hand of the Father Receive our prayer For You alone are the Holy One For You alone are the Lord For You alone are the Most High Jesus Christ With the Holy Spirit In the glory of God the Father Amen Gabby is now officially 3 ft tall! His full winter has allowed him to grow bigger but at the same time become more lovable in his mischievous ways. Since September, he bade goodbye to his 2 sets of lolos and lolas who left for the Philippines before the onset of the cold-er season. Although Winter wasn't harsh this year, we still had enou...

It's the first of June and we're now on the brink of summer vacation, right before school starts. And I just heard the collective groans of my sons, who are now glued to the digibox watching CSI, when they heard me say that. Heh, kids... We have a long list of activities on the homefront lined up for the succeeding days and that doesn't even include school. A big move is happening and we may appear unflustered by it all but the undercurrent is such that I couldn't even begin to describe. To cut the story short, my parents are moving from Manila to Cebu. Now it's my turn to groan. Haha! Just kidding on the "groan" part. This has been a long laid out plan we hatched since 2002 when my father underwent a quadruple bypass. They were hesitant to move and be under our care up until last year when Pa had to undergo yet another heart procedure, angioplasty. Soooo... after a lot of talks and wavering in between, they are finally coming. More on thi...