The Year in Review ( a link-up)

I have been thinking of doing something like a "look back" to the year that was and then I stumbled on Brooke's blog and found out she's doing a link-up with the same theme. It's called Year in Review. I thought, I could just link-up.

So, let's have a look at the year that was.

January

My engagement became official.  Ruel's family came over for the traditional pamamanhikan thing.  They  and my parents formally talked about our wedding.  At the time though, Ruel and I had already set the date, and booked the church and reception venue.

February

I played a part in our university's adaptation of the musical play, Brigadoon.  It was my almost life-long dream to be a part of a play and this was such a happy month for me!

I also learned how to curl my hair !

March

I prepared the students for the Recognition Day, taught them a song, with actions.  I also attended my own son's graduation from Grade 6.

April

 This may be considered as buffet month.  I had two buffet lunches and three buffet dinners. This was also the month I learned I was finally going to be a real aunt!  

May

I made my first blog post and made my first blog header! I met so many wonderful people and became addicted to the blogosphere.

I enrolled my son in junior high.  Spent tons on tuition fee, uniforms and other supplies.  Mixed emotions.

June

I was appointed editor-in-chief of our university's pre-opening newsletter, The Paulinian Windmill. I enjoyed  working with the team, enjoyed the stress that came with the work.

Oops! You can't find me in this photo. Only the people in my team are here.

I finally had a taste of how it is not to be a homeroom adviser.  I never knew how liberating it could be till then. 

July

We booked our wedding florist. I realized I needed to give up my addiction to milk tea.  I made a woven bag  with the help of actress, Sheryl Cruz.

August

Again, mixed emotions.  My son turned thirteen, officially a teenager!  I couldn't believe how fast the years have flown by. 22 days after he turned 13, I turned another year older!  

We celebrated my last birthday as a single parent in a Greek restaurant.

 I read  my fourth Sophie Kinsella novel (I've Got Your Number) and had laugh-out-loud moments so many times!  

September

Ruel and I attended a trade fair and I bought myself a new wallet made of snake skin.

I was so disappointed when my sister told me that she couldn't attend our wedding because her OB didn't give her her okay to attend my "destination wedding"  too late in her pregnancy.  

October

Ruel and I, together with my sister and her husband went to Tagaytay for our food tasting.

Manuel, my sister's husband took some pictures of me and Ruel afterwards.

Ran into a big problem about our wedding that day. We solved it two weeks after.

We got our invitations from the suppliers and I spent a couple of days addressing the envelopes.

We attended our pre-wedding seminar.  

I had to get anti-rabies shots.

November

  I didn't like how the gowns of our mothers turned out.  Didn't like how the gown I designed for myself turned out either. We had our prenuptial pictures taken. I had pre-wedding jitters and I got so stressed with the last minute preps.

December

December 2 marks the beginning of  the new chapter of my life when Ruel and I got married.  If you'd like to see our pictures and some details of the event, cick here, if you'd like to see more,  feel free to click on the tab above that reads, "My Wedding".

Ruel and I woke up to our first sunrise.

And there were so many other firsts this December, including our first Christmas.  

It's like I am experiencing everything for the first time.  

I can't wait for all of the other coming "firsts" in 2013.  The blank pages of this new chapter is waiting to be filled.  This time, I will be writing it together with Ruel and of course, my son, Toots.

2012 was indeed an amazingly beautiful year filled with new experiences. I trust that more blessings are coming our way.

May God bless us all with a happy, safe and prosperous 2013! 

Wedding Pictures Part III

 Here I am again with the part three of my wedding pictures.  I promise this is the last batch.  Please bear with me as this post has tons of pictures. As I have said in my last post, I promised a cousin who was not able to attend the wedding that I would post a lot of pictures.

Here we are with my family.  The guy beside my sister is Manuel, her husband.  The one holding the violin is my son, Manuel whom I fondly call Toots or Tootsieroll, and the one with the glasses is my dad, Manuel.   Just in case you're wondering, NO, not all Filipino men are named Manuel. It just so happened that in my family, that name seems to be so popular.  Actually, my new nephew, the one inside my sister's womb when this pic was taken is also named Manuel.  His name is Manuel Emilio.

This is my extended family, minus a lot of those who live abroad.

This is Ruel's extended family.

Here are my super busy friends at the registration table.  Thank God for them, they truly saved the day for us, running around where I wanted them to go, doing the things I wanted them to do.

The set up of the presidential table

A bird's eyeview of the reception area.  This was taken before the program started.

165 guests confirmed their attendance.  Only 137 attended.

                           
                               Before the program started, we spent a few minutes for our pictorial.

Our green cake with pink flowers.  The inside was chocolate.  Totally delicious!

Some of our desserts

still desserts

We also had fresh fruits.

Here's our entrance.  The fog machine was on, there was also a bubble machine. Too bad the bubbles can't be seen here. Our entrance music was Ever After from Enchanted.

Yes, we were really this happy!

I love this pic!

The release of the doves

my relatives

still my relatives....the woman in yellow is the only sister of my mom

with my mom, my dad, my aunt who is also one of the godmothers, a nephew  and Mr. Ultado, one of the godfathers

New faces: Ruel's uncle, and my grand uncle

with Ruel's brother, her sister and her sister's family

with my pretty sister and her husband

one of my favorite pics

The sun has set!  I'm still wearing a smile!  It was indeed a happy day.

Here we are, enjoying the song, Grow Old with You.  It was sung by my Brigadoon friends.

Time to slice the cake!

Here's Ruel proposing a toast to me. Sorry I forgot what was so funny.

me, proposing a toast to my husband

Here's Polly, a former student of mine  giving her message to us.  She said so many nice things about me and reminded Ruel, "Tito Ruel, you're very lucky to have Ms. Claire as your wife."

Time for me to say thank you to everyone. ...the minute I opened my mouth I started crying.  Funny thing was, my son was not listening and then he suddenly heard his name, and that being the only word he heard, he thought I was calling him so he came up to the front and that's why my face looks like that.  I didn't know whether to cry or laugh.

My thank you speech was quite long and I tried hard not to cry but I just couldn't stop the tears from flowing specially when I was saying thanks to my family.

 Finally, our first dance....we used So Close from Enchanted .

It was truly an amazing and happy day.   It was a day filled with laughter and tears of joy.  The morning was stressful because of the rain but it stopped right before the wedding and we enjoyed beautiful weather all throughout the reception.  

I thank God for giving me what I prayed for.  I prayed for beautiful weather and He gave it to me.  I actually wished for showers in the morning because there's a belief that if it rains on your wedding day, it means blessing.   I didn't pray for it because I was afraid it wouldn't stop.  Still, I wished there would be showers and God gave that to me even without me praying for it.

My sister said she couldn't come to the wedding because she was due any moment, but in the end, she still did.  

We also thought Ruel's brother wouldn't be able to make it but he did.  

Almost everyone who mattered was there.  Of course I understand those friends and relatives of mine who were a million miles away or those who were sick so they couldn't attend.  I know that they were thinking of me on that day.

It was indeed a happy time, and a blessed day.  

I'm now married for almost a month and my husband has turned out to be such a sweet and gentle husband.  

I feel so blessed.  

Wedding Pictures (raw) Part II

I promised you all that I would post more wedding pictures. So, here they are...I hope you wouldn't get too bored. I have a lot  in this post and I have a lot  more coming in my next post. A cousin of mine who lives in Malaysia is requesting for a lot of pictures and I have promised her I would post a lot. So I hope the pictures won't bore you.

Here I am rushing out of the villa.  This was around 1:35 pm.  The wedding was at 2pm.  Good thing the church was just five minutes away.  The guy with the knapsack is my friend and emcee who just arrived at the villa.  No, he didn't attend the wedding dressed like that.  He changed after his arrival.  We were one and a half hours away from the city so a lot of my guests either spent the night before the wedding in Tagaytay, or changed at the villa.

As you can see, I am short.  And I couldn't wear really high heels!  Can't stand them.  I wore shoes with two-inch heels.

The guy in the middle is my groom. I think you all know him by now.  Here he is with his dad, his brother and his mom who spent a lot of time crying....I think we have something in common. :)

Here is my son.  Don't know why he looks so serious!

Here I am after crying for a while inside the car.  The crying actually smudged my eye makeup.  I don't know why I cried. The moment  my friend, Niki opened the car door to wait with me inside, I started crying.  It was I guess mixed emotions.  I cried and then I stopped, cried once more and stopped again and then cried again before I finally had to get out of the car for my turn to march.  I marched alone for a few yards and then met my parents.

Here I am, asking for my dad's blessing....

...and then my mom's. And no, the woman with the glasses is not a guest.  She's the church coordinator. 

Now, I'm marching with my parents.

Here I am asking for the blessing of my mother-in-law who was waiting for me with Ruel at the altar.

I loved how the baby's breath turned out.  Simple but lovely.

Here's my son, playing the violin.  The organist and the singers are all my friends.

My friend, Jessica and Ruel's brother-in-law clothed  us as one with the secondary veil.  The veil should cover my head and but should only cover Ruel's shoulders.  It signifies my submission to my husband.

Ruel's best friend, Ronald,  and my cousin, Laura were the cord sponsors who tied us as one.

I wouldn't have posted this picture if not for the reaction of the priest.  I loved it!  He seemed so happy for us, don't you think?

Here I am with my son back at the villa before we finally went to the reception area. He loves making faces instead of smiling at the camera.  

That's my sister beside me. She was still pregnant at the time.

I will post the reception pictures next time.  Goodness! The connection is just too slooooow!  Stay tuned for the next batch of pics.