Category: X-Archives

Crazy about Peter Pauper Press Journals

Rhiza15 Comments

I’m very brand-loyal. When I found the right brand of pen, you bet that’s the only brand you’d ever see me buy. Same goes with cosmetics. And laptops. And journals.

Picking up my first Peter Pauper Press journal was random. I got the first blue floral-printed journal that caught my attention from a pile of stuff at a FullyBooked counter at the start of 2011. Since then, I never bought any other brand of notebook other than PPP.

I had a total of 7 journals last year, including the one I’m writing on right now. Allow me to share photos of them because they’re just too photogenic! And they’re actually prettier in real life than the ones you see on their product catalog!

It’s difficult finding them here in Manila, so when I was in New York, I hoarded a couple of pieces from Barnes and Noble. Later on I learned that if you looked hard enough, you’d find them at some National Bookstore, Power Books and Fully Booked branches. I love them so much I started buying them not just for myself but to give to some friends as well.

To make it sweeter, I’ve so far made sure I didn’t get the same design twice. (Hover over the photos to see the captions.)

Their paper is usually plain white and finely-ruled, but once in a while you get yourself a little surprise. Some of these notebooks come with dainty little prints like these:

I’ve made myself visible online all these years, blogging, twitting, posting here and there; but nothing still compares to writing things down old school way—paper, ink, and heart. My journals are the keeper of my most honest thoughts and musings, my most daring prayers, and even my dried-up tears on its pages.

I love the thought that long after my blog sites are abandoned, my eyesight too blurry to see the computer screen, and my hand too shaky to type on a computer keyboard, I still have trinkets of my life preserved in a box-full of journals, which, hopefully, I’d get to hand down to my kids.

What were you doing exactly a year ago?

Rhiza3 Comments

Lately it’s our favorite pastime, the what-were-you-doing-exactly-this-time-last-year game. Especially this past year when, for us, changes have been dramatic.

i.e. (1) Last year, on my husband’s birthday, we were saying good bye; this year, we woke up next to each other and ate pancakes for breakfast. (2) Last year, on New Year’s Eve, we were shouting our greetings to each other over long distance phone calls, twice, because of the time difference; this year, we’re in Manila Hotel with David’s extended family, we watched the last sunset of the year together, and we welcomed the new year in the same continent and timezone. And then we had a beautiful quality time, just the two of us, at home, before work and classes resumed.

Behold the last sunset of 2011.

I had quite a number of milestones in 2011.

I encountered God like I never did before, after which, answered prayers and miracles happened one after the other I can never stop praising and thanking God.

And then LifeXtreme happened in this life of mine. It’s a humbling experience to be part of the committee that frontlines our church’s Youth Worship. This coming March marks LifeXtreme’s anniversary and I’m so blessed to have witnessed God’s work in our church’s youth ministry up front and center.

I turned 28, and celebrated what turned out to be my last birthday as a single person.

I let go of  a comfortable work-from-home set-up to make room for a more stable, more organized office job in Makati. I never thought I’d go back to the work force again after 2 years of being an SEO nomad, but stability is more important to me now than adventure, and I love how I can separate work from home and home from work this time around. Someone’s getting old.

I got married, which opened up a floodgate of big changes, like the change of address, and a hyphenated name, among many others.

It’s heartwarming, looking back and seeing what God has done and how far He has brought us in such a short period of time. Before 2011 started, our game plan was quite different. As the year ended, God proved once again that He’s a God of sweet surprises, and that we can never out-plan Him.

Which brings me back to our game. Try it. What were you doing exactly this time last year? How much has changed since? Are you doing something you planned and worked hard for, or something totally unexpected?

A warning, be careful to not dwell too much in the past. It’s one thing to look back and be stuck in what-ifs and what-should-have-beens, another thing to look back for the purpose of moving forward and being thankful for what you have now.

New Years are for clean slates and new beginnings. I pray that you find yourself counting blessings this 2012. :)

On Christmas Traditions, Typhoon Victims, and Being Still

Rhiza4 Comments

Exactly a month ago, we put together our little Christmas tree at home, and I think I may have said I was “excited” to post more photos. So much for my excitement. The month has been packed with so many things, and uploading these photographs was the first to be pushed down my list! Anyway, here they are, for traditions’ sake.

It’s our first Christmas as husband and wife, and I love that we get to start our own Christmas traditions. Last year, I had some instax photographs up on my Christmas tree, and this year, we decided to do the same. We picked some of our favorite photographs from the wedding and the honeymoon and printed them out with our Polaroid Pogo. It’s a cute little project, something we hope we can keep on doing for years to come.

On another note, I know it has been a challenge for our country to celebrate Christmas this year when Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City are still under the state of calamity. We don’t have a television at home and, quite honestly, my husband and I have only seen and heard so much. I know we’ll never really have a clear picture of what’s happening out there but our family feels somehow involved. My eldest brother is there since last week; as part of his job, he’s with the ABS-CBN Engineering Crew which covers the relief operations there. It’s our first Christmas Day without him, probably even New Year too. And so we had to let go of certain Christmas traditions this year so my brother can be where he’s needed more.

I look at Ate Imy (my sister-in-law) and Isaac and I imagine how difficult it must be for them to celebrate Christmas without Kuya. But then I think about the thousands of families in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan who lost their loved ones and friends over the flash flood, and how devastating Christmas and New Year must be like for them. As I stare at our Christmas tree here at home, my heart goes out to the victims of Sendong who lost their homes and didn’t get the chance to put up their trees this year. At the time of this writing, the death toll has reached about 1,500. This is even more tragic than Ondoy.

Suddenly, no personal issues or problems are too big.

It’s easy to question the goodness of God at a time like this, but words from the Bible pop up like bright stars in the dark sky: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9) God sees everything in a bigger perspective, and as far as His grand scheme of things is concerned, everything happens for a reason and for our own good. His ways are higher, we only have to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10)—and believe that with all our hearts.

For the rest of us who are not in the center of this tragedy and are watching this from a distance, it’s our chance to help and make a difference. I’m not directly connected with any relief efforts for Sendong, but I think the surest way for our donations to reach Cagayan de Oro and Iligan is through Red Cross. We have 2 more days left before 2011 ends, let’s make it count.

Changes, Inside Jokes, and Caffeine Fix

Rhiza4 Comments

Between work, church, and family, it’s quite a challenge for me to squeeze in my schedule spending time with old friends and colleagues. Which is why I love friendships that transcend time and distance, the kind which doesn’t need too much effort keeping because you know that no matter how far you’ve come, and how long the time spent apart, you can always pick up where you left off.

I guess that’s why I love Joni & Mae and this threesome that we’ve effortlessly become since 2007. We hardly see each other and this blog has been a witness to those rare times. So when we finally got together last Monday after so many failed attempts, it’s inevitable that I give this a much-deserved blog space. ;)

Three beautiful things, Joni, Mae & Riz edition:

1. I was wearing a wedding gown the last time I saw these girls, that is, four months ago. M didn’t have a boyfriend at that time, but now she does. And J’s relationship, after 5 years, is still as solid as ever. It’s amazing how things can dramatically change in a year, while some things have lovingly remained steady and constant.

2. Three years down the line, we still joke about being frustrated food bloggers. Not everything lasts forever, but sometimes, some inside jokes do.

3. After we had dinner, we had our caffeine fix at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Our choices of drinks made me smile: M ordered a hot Tea Latte,  J had Green Tea, and I had an iced Caramel Machiatto. Too different, and yet somehow the same. Much like the three of us.

I hope I get to spend more time with them, but I love how it *seems* like we’ve grown significantly older and wiser everytime we see each other.

Til the next session, ladies. Much love!

Inspired to pray for Israel

Rhiza8 Comments

Last week, Ate Vilma, our Sunday School teacher/mentor/discipler/friend (and to add to her growing list of titles, our Ninang), came back glowing from the Holy Land. I had the privilege of spending an entire Saturday afternoon with her, listening to stories about her trip, of those places in the Bible that she used to just teach us in Sunday School—the same dusty roads that Jesus walked on, synagogues where Jesus taught, bodies of water that were witnesses to His miracles.

It was awesome listening to her, I can just imagine how much more mind-blowing it would be if I get to experience it myself! I’m stealing some photographs off her Facebook wall, praying that I’ll get to take truckloads of photos and see Israel through my own lens someday.

1) View of the Dome of the Rock (what used to be Solomon’s temple) from the Mount of Olives; 2 & 3) The Sea of Galilee; 4) The Western Wall and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; 5) Ate Vilma pinning a paper to the Western Wall with our names in it! 6) And that’s her, Ate Vi, sitting by the Sea of Galilee

I’m still a bit stoked at the thought that MY name (and my husband’s) is listed somewhere on the Western Wall of Jerusalem. Thanks to our dear Ate/Ninang Vi, whose passion never fails to inspire, to give hope, and to encourage.

I’m officially adding a new item in my bucket list!

Also, blogging this now so when the time comes, I get to trackback on this post. ;)

Israel, I shall see you someday.

*All photos taken from Ate Vi’s Facebook wall, post-processed by Riz.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Rhiza3 Comments

It’s December in 2 days and I bet you’re wondering too where on earth November went! Time flies fast, no?

Last night, we put up the Christmas tree at home. We started putting up Christmas lights at the veranda, too, last week, getting the place ready for some Christmas parties and get-togethers. It’s our first ever Christmas together since we met 12 years ago, and I’m kinda giddy about celebrating it with him! I used to think that Christmas is the saddest of all holidays (I had my share of depressing blog posts, IKR), but this year is bound to be so much different from all the other Christmasses we’ve had apart. Sweeter, and happier, for sure.

So I had my brother deliver to me the old tree I’ve had since 2009. We deliberated on buying a bigger tree this year, but we thought we’d save the money for a much-needed, much-awaited Christmas present we want to give ourselves instead. Besides, this little Christmas tree is perfect for our little home, for now. The idea of using Instax photographs as ornaments came about last year, and we thought we’d do it again this year.

This could be the start of our very own Christmas tree tradition or something, putting up photos on the tree like a timeline, representing milestones and beautiful memories of the year that was. I’m all for traditions these days, especially now that I’m starting new ones with Bud.

I’m excited to post more photos, for some reason. I think Christmas looks really pretty in photographs because of the Christmas lights. (: