Chasing Dreams, Year 3: What I was doing exactly a year ago

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I’ve been blogging for almost a decade now, but it’s only been 3 years since I registered Chasingdreams.net and made a permenant residence in this space. I’ve jumped from one domain name to another all these years, and from various blogging platforms too, but I’m happy to report that I think I’m staying here for the long haul. :)

And yes, I’ve been practicing.

It’s always good to celebrate milestones, yeah? And since we’re halfway through the year, I thought it’s time to mark June and July in my blog calendar too. For this purpose, let me answer this question my husband and I had fun asking ourselves as Year 2012 was about to begin:

What were you doing exactly this time last year?

My answer: Holding our breath and being blown away by how God was answering our prayers one by one, is what we were doing exactly a year ago.

Thank you, Facebook timeline, for making my trip down the memory lane a breeze. I smiled and laughed as I browsed through my Facebook posts from June and July of 2011, and how full those months were. A new job, two months to prepare for a wedding, family gatherings and bridal showers in between long days at work, David coming back to the Philippines after more than 10 years living in New York, answered prayers here and there.

The days were so full, in fact, I only blogged once during that period, admitting that I was at the end of my strength. There was just too much happening that time I can’t remember now how God managed to pull it all off, but myy, did He pull it off so awesome-ly.

Looking back, I honestly don’t think I want to do those months over again! It’s the kind of feat that’s meant to happen only once in a life’s journey, I guess that’s why people are supposed to get married just once their whole lives. No, really.

Today I share the joy (and the stress, hah!) of my friends and loved ones who are  taking the highway to marital bliss these coming months. Jasper and Darlene. Kuya TJ and Tracy. Kat and Ish. Ivy and Angel. Robert and Tin. Jody and Vince. I’m rooting for you, guys! It’s an exciting adventure, challenging yet fulfilling, stressful but worth it. There won’t be butterflies and unicorns all over the place, you may even have to make difficult choices and go through heartbreaking situations, but trust me.. the best is still yet to come.

So yay, it’s been a year since our own pre-wedding adventure, and it’s been 3 years since www.chasingdreams.net started to exist. I think I’m getting myself a Banoffee Pie and a Grande cup of chilled milk to celebrate. :)

Mae’s Ikea-fied room; An Afternoon With My Girls

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Saturdays are for family, and friends, and love. And even though I decided to discontinue my 52 Saturdays Project (I shall not bore you with excuses and explanations), I’m still making the most out of my Saturdays, and taking photographs as much as I can. Last Saturday was spent with my girlfriends while the husband was away for our church’s Men’s Encounter. Ivy and I went to Mae‘s, and spent the afternoon hanging out at her newly renovated room.

And look at what a cozy little haven it is! If only her bed was bigger, I would camp out there for days! :)

Edit: Mae just finished blogging about the details of her room. CLICK HERE!

You bet I took more photographs than these, but I’d let her post it up on her blog herself.

Mae’s room reminds me of my blue room, back in its glory days. I remember locking myself up in my room for days, and investing so much time and money to prettify my little nook. No regrets, even though I only stayed there for less than a year, until I had to move out again.

Mae painted her walls all white which makes her room look bigger than it really is (there goes a tip for small spaces!), and used red accent pieces all over the place. Some of my favorite details in there are her vintage camera collection, her snow globes and souvenirs from her travels, and the Ikea items she collected while she was still in Singapore. Can I just say, I’m crazy about that wall print! Ahh, when will we ever have Ikea in the Philippines?!

Our private viewing of Mae’s room aside, spending time with my best girl friends is the highlight of my day, maybe even week. I’ve known them since we were in diapers, and I’m so blessed to have them around all these years, no matter what phase in life we’re in, and wherever in the world we are.

LOL. They touched my baby bump like it’s the fertility statue or something. I have such weird friends.

But that’s okay. That only means I can be my weird self around them. :)

Week 15: It Held You Until My Arms Could

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It’s a rainy Friday night, and I thought I’d post these sunshiney photos of me and my bump from last Sunday.

I was on my 15th week when these photos were taken, but I can seriously feel (and see) a significant change in my bump in just about.. 5 days. No, really. They’re growing fast!

My husband insists I put lotion on my tummy everyday to lessen the stretch marks, especially now. I wasn’t at all worried about the marks at first, really, until I started seeing photos of women with their post-pregnancy stretch marks from Google images (don’t try it!). I have to say, it made me.. frightened.

I really should take the lotion more seriously.

But then I found this poem written by a photographer name Cassie Fox..

Birthmarks

A mark for every breath you took, every blink, every sleepy yawn.
One for every time you sucked your thumb, waved hello, closed your eyes, and slept in the most perfect darkness.
One for every time you had the hiccups.
One for every dream you dreamed within me.

It isn’t very pretty anymore.
Some may even think it’s ugly. 

That’s okay. 

It was your home.
It held you until my arms could, 
and for that,
I will always find something beautiful in it.

..and my eyes teared up almost automatically, reading the poem, just as it would any time the hormones would strike. It dawned on me once again that lives are being formed inside of me, and what a beautiful experience it is to be used as God’s instrument to make life.

Suddenly, I’m not afraid of getting birthmarked anymore. Sure, I’d still put on some lotion (for my husband), but I won’t mind getting a remembrance from our babies’ first home.

Long, Exaggerated, Happy Sigh

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I posted this photo on Instagram and Facebook this morning, and I can’t resist posting this here too.

I was just about to leave for work this morning, it was drizzling, and I watched as my husband busied himself in that little corner we call our garden. Soon, he came back with a big smile on his face, a scissor on one hand, and this freshly-cut single-stemmed rose on the other. I didn’t know he was growing rose bushes out there until today!

What a sweetheart, this guy. I fall in love everyday!

I know I sound like a lovestruck wife in every blog post, but everyday I’m also reminded that surely something as beautiful as this married life has got to have some greater purpose than just making two people happy!

Gary Thomas said it best,

“What if God didn’t design marriage to be ‘easier’? What if God had an end in mind that went beyond our happiness, our comfort, and our desire to be infatuated and happy as if the world were a perfect place? What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”

I agree. I definitely agree.

I’ve been thinking about blues and greens

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..and yellows.

It’s the second trimester adrenalin kicking in, and I think I finally have the energy to start moving things around the house and getting it ready for the babies! We don’t have a lot of floor space around here (which is a problem), but it doesn’t seem like we’re moving to a different apartment anytime soon. So we’re thinking of adding more shelves (we do have a lot of walls!) and just making the most out of the space we have instead, at least for another year or so. And of course, we want to add more bright and happy colors! Now that is the part I’m most excited about. :)

I would have considered pinks and and corals really, but I keep reminding myself that there’s a man living in this house with me so I have to choose the right colors that would satisfy us both. Besides, we’ve already invested on lots of blues and earth colors when we moved in, so that’s a plus.

Quite obviously, my recent color obsession has found its way on this blog as well. (I’m on a roll, take that progesterone!)

Ahh, is this what they call “nesting”? It’s like we’re converting our whole house into a nursery!

Photo credit: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Year 29, bring it on!

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These photos have been up for a week now, just waiting for words to come with them. The truth is, I’ve ran out of ways to say what a riot this past year has been, so I’ve put this on hold for a while. Birthdays are the best times to count blessings and to look back at how far you’ve come. I’ve blogged about mine each and every year, and this year has so far been the biggest leap for me.

On the contrary.. after so many years of throwing parties/get-togethers on my birthday (and being surprised with one), my 29th birthday has got to be the simplest celebration I ever had—by choice. I didn’t think I needed a big celebration anyway; after all, this year has been full of BIG celebrations already, starting with our wedding. And then I’ve got myself the biggest gifts: Being married to the sweetest husband ever, these two babies growing inside of me, and having my two best friends both in one continent again.

And of course there’s my family, who’s always there to celebrate with me and support me in all of my joys and triumphs, including loving my husband and whole-heartedly accepting him as part of this new life that I have. I’m not sure how I’ll cope with all these changes without the support group that they are.

So that’s exactly what I did on my 29th birthday—spent the day with my greatest gifts.

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