Category: Married Life

Love & Relationships (and all the Feels)

If You Want to Go Far, Go Together

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“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

This African proverb has never been truer in my life till late. Oh, the pressure to take the fastest way to a destination as if you lose time and miss opportunities if you don’t.

I had the impression that getting married would make me accomplish a lot more things, and fast. Two heads are better than one, after all. And while this is true in some cases—having a guy around does come a little handy sometimes 😆—David and I also quickly realized that having another person in the journey slows things down a notch. (And then kids enter the picture and suddenly any notion of “fast” is out the window, but, let’s talk about how getting anywhere with kids is a major production another time, shall we?)

And so we learn. To navigate through the world’s pressure of doing things instantly.

To manage people’s expectations and opinions without letting them get into our heads. To take our time, to not feel guilt when we do. To sit still in coffee shops and resist the urge of getting our drinks to go. To take the scenic route, stop for pictures, tell another story, conquer another mountain, pour another cup. Slowly and surely.

It’s an art to master, without a doubt. But when “together” becomes second nature, you know there’s no way you’d rather go. Hand-in-hand you walk, mastering each other’s strides.

You’ll get there anyway, wherever that is, in God’s sweet time. But together, there’s no need to rush.

I Wish You All Have Seen Allegiance Broadway

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My husband and I happened to have tickets to Allegiance in one of those rare nights Lea Salonga was down with colds and couldn’t make it to the show.

There was a bit of confusion, even disappointment, upon receiving our Playbills and seeing someone else’s name under “Kei Kimura”, the charming and fierce female lead who was supposed to be played by Lea. After all, I’m sure many of us Filipinos went to see Allegiance because of her. I saw many of our kababayans gathered in the lobby of the Longacre Theater before the show, whispering to each other about Lea’s absence.

But the show must go on and the disappointment immediately disappeared soon as Elena Wang, Lea’s understudy, took Kei’s spot on stage with remarkable confidence and grace, nailing it one scene after another. I was curious to see how she would handle “Higher“, a song that was composed especially for Lea, but oh my wow, Elena totally killed it and won me over.

She didn’t just “fill in” for Lea. She totally owned the role, and it made me happy to have witnessed just that.  Continue reading “I Wish You All Have Seen Allegiance Broadway” →

Cocoon Boutique Hotel for our 4th Year Anniversary

Rhiza4 Comments

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This post might contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.

Our fourth wedding anniversary celebration was our first night away from the girls since they were born. Now that I think about it, I don’t know why we waited this long! It’s not like the girls wouldn’t let us go—my Mom, who spent the night with them, reported that they didn’t even notice we were gone.

I realized that it’s mostly us (fine, me), and not the girls, who couldn’t get over the idea of spending one single night away, worried about what might happen, like, what if they looked for their Mommy and Daddy while we were away right? (Apparently NOT!)

Just us two

It’s funny how much thought went into planning this one-night getaway, to think we never even left our neighborhood! I realized that this decision-making exercise was a good reminder to us that as husband and wife, no matter how important the children are, marriage still ranks higher than parenthood in our list of priorities. 

Spending extended quality time with each other is a necessary investment, not just for our relationship’s sake, but also for the kids—they are, after all, the recipients of our overflow of love for each other. 

So off to our 4th wedding anniversary getaway we go, and thankfully, there’s a place we’ve always wanted to check out that is very close to our home.

4th-anniversary

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Photographs from my phone’s camera, we didn’t bother bringing a big camera!

Cocoon Boutique Hotel

Hotel service and amenities

The Cocoon Boutique Hotel is as quaint as can be, something you’ll never expect to find in the chaos that is Quezon City. We’ve always eyed this place, having “toured” it the first time when we were helping a friend look for a hotel for their wedding. The interiors are thoughtfully decorated and carefully maintained, even the hallways smell good. :) The staff are very well trained and we felt treated like we were in a 5-star hotel!

Rooftop pool

We spent a few hours of the afternoon in the rooftop pool—my husband taking laps and me reading a book, later on joining him in the pool myself. D is a really good swimmer, and every time we look for a place to stay in, we always make sure to inquire about the pool. Cocoon’s swimming pool is not that big, only about 4 feet deep, with a small pool area for kids. It gets crowded easily, but we were delighted to have it all to ourselves while we were there. At night the pool lights up beautifully; in fact we planned to go back for a night swim, but with a nice little bath tub in our bedroom, we decided to just stay in.

Bath tub!

A deluxe room comes with a bath tub, something you won’t see in the usual hotels. Encased in a glass booth, you can either close down the blinds or pull it up so you can watch TV while in the tub. Such a treat!

Breakfast

The food is not bad at all, either. Once again, something you won’t really expect from a “small” hotel. We had our breakfast in the rooftop, al fresco style, with a generous buffet of salads, sandwiches, pastries, DIY omelette, and a selection of rice meals.

We definitely enjoyed our stay, and while we missed the kids, it was a much-needed time for both of us, to enjoy each other, a king-sized bed to ourselves, soft 600-threadcount sheets that didn’t smell like milk, and oh my goodness, a full 8 hours of sleep!

Every year is a milestone and therefore worth celebrating

Marriage is a lot of work. It takes a lot of work reconciling differences, attending to each other’s needs, planning your life around each other’s lives and your children’s lives, and making time for each other when 24 hours is barely enough for everything else that has to be done in a day. D and I have our share of misunderstandings and lack of time for each other, but being married to him is an undeserved favor and a great blessing in every way.

He makes me happy no doubt (and you know I don’t use the word “happy” lightly), he makes me want to become a better person, he inspires me to dream bigger dreams for our little family, he keeps me grounded and draws me ever closer to God.

Marriage may be a lot of work, but for every good thing that this marriage has added to my life, the effort to make this work is, unequivocally, worth it. In hindsight, working this out with D is, I must say, relatively easy. I couldn’t have asked for a more understanding and kind-hearted and good-smelling partner (that’s right, he smells really good, and trust me that makes a lot of difference, LOL!) and I couldn’t be more grateful to God that I get to do life with this guy.

Happy 4th anniversary, Dear David. Four years down, forever more to go. Let’s do this! :)

About the Cocoon Boutique Hotel

Cocoon Boutique Hotel takes pride in its its environment-friendly interiors and amenities. Complimentary water for guests, for example, are stored in sealed mason jars instead of plastic bottle containers. The interiors are constructed with reclaimed wood and recycled materials. The roof deck houses potted plants and organic herbs both for sale and for use in cooking the restaurant’s food. These, on top of the top-class service and unique amenities you won’t find anywhere else, Cocoon Boutique Hotel is definitely worth taking a trip to the north. :)

I suggest booking way ahead of time. Cocoon Hotel only has a handful of rooms, and reservations run out fast.

Location and contact details
61 Scout Tobias corner Scout Rallos Streets, Bgy Laging Handa, Quezon City 1103, Trunklines: 632- 9212706 to 08 / Fax Number: 632- 4137281 / www.thecocoonhotel.com

For best rates, book The Cocoon Hotel via Agoda.

Who Takes Your Couple Photos on Date Nights?

Rhiza2 Comments

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It’s our fourth wedding anniversary today, and it’s that time of the year where I give myself an excuse to browse through photographs and memories of the past years with David. I was going to apologize for the throwback photos and the ants and the cheese that have been all over our social media feeds all day, but I thought, hey, I’m not really sorry. :D (Sorry, not sorry!)

The web is our backup

Today as I was taking a trip down memory lane, I realized that, que horror, I lost (or misplaced) a big chunk of image files from years 2010 to 2013. I can’t remember where I backed them up or if ever I did! The lost files include photographs from our engagement, my New York trip in 2010, our Boracay honeymoon, our baby moon at Canyon Woods, and other special occasions in between.

The good news is, most of Dawn & Rain’s photographs are intact, thanks to that 52 Project! (Whew!) And as a consolation, we have uploaded a significant amount of these missing image files here on my blog and on social media. The upload-worthy ones. (Double whew!)

You know those times when people cringe at you for posting too many photographs and status messages on Facebook? Well, this is one of those moments I’m soooo glad I ignored those comments and posted photographs on Facebook anyway. Instant backup memory! I’m still wishing we locate those missing files, but if not, I’m glad we have Facebook (and this blog!) as back up.

On going to great lengths to preserve memories

The other night my husband and I noticed how we have stopped taking photographs of ourselves (and essentially stopped preserving memories) since the twins were born. Back then we would take so many photographs of us together—coffee dates, mall trips, grocery runs, random moments, even as trivial as making each other coffee in the morning or cleaning up the house—regardless if we’re posting them or just keeping them.

The past year, well, not so much.

Back then, I would go to great lengths just to preserve fleeting moments together. And I will never regret the times I did.

That said, would you notice that those photographs above were photoshopped? 

Selfies are ok for memory keeping, as long as they come with descriptive captions. But I like taking photographs in context—the setting, what we wore, what we did—which a selfie can’t justify, and two people on a date can’t possibly do without help from a third person.

But of course, you can’t entrust your camera to someone who’s just passing by. In such a case, we like taking turns capturing each other’s photographs, within the same frame, after which I would merge them digitally.

Here’s how to do it, just so you get something actionable from this post:

  • It’s the same concept as cloning yourself in one photograph.
  • In our case, merging two photographs together, here’s how (except we normally don’t have a tripod, so we just make sure to take the photo from the exact spot.)

Make memories worth keeping, and preserve them!

Time flies, and there’s merit to preserving memories, whether through a blog post, a photograph, a journal entry, a twitter timestamp. I can’t count the number of times I relearned lessons, revisited milestones, or remembered God’s goodness through an old blog or some social media posts. Stuff I wouldn’t have remembered otherwise on an ordinary day.

I wouldn’t say go all out posting TMI on social media! I say, not too many details, just the essence of the memory, like the telling of a poignant story, in ways that would inspire and connect people (friends and strangers alike), while serving your own nostalgia.

Here are some bloggers who do storytelling and memory-keeping so well, if you want to be inspired—

My husband and I haven’t planned anything yet to celebrate today. He’s in school all day and I’m at home supposedly working, and I’m not yet sure how we would celebrate this day, except of course I know we will, and that there will be lots of photographs. (And maybe a little something special over the weekend too. ;) I can’t wait!)

December Dawn

Rhiza1 Comment

I woke up this morning to the sound of the rain. Stuck in a tangle of tiny arms and legs, I breathed in the familiar silence that comes with the beginning of each day—the calm before the storm, moms would say.

It was the morning before Christmas and I wanted to bottle it all up: all the feelings, the morning breath, the warmth that filled the room I shared with my little family.

I remember how I ranted one too many times about this most wonderful time of the year, which wasn’t always my most wonderful time of the year. There’s something melancholy about Christmas that I couldn’t quite point my finger at, and every year I grew a little more jaded and cynical and I just wanted the season over and done with.

Needless to say, I felt a shift in recent years. Suddenly there’s something to look forward to on Christmas. And year after year it has become merrier and brighter and more.. hopeful.

With two little kids running around the house and pulling ornaments off the tree, how can you not love Christmas? It never gets old—David and I would find ourselves looking at each other from across a room full of mess, and our hearts would burst with joy and gratitude to God for redeeming Christmas and making a family out of us.

This song played softly in my head this morning, and I thanked God once again for Christmasses and December dawns. It’s a beautiful Christmas love song that was composed and sung by two of my college friends, Reev (music) and Sheila (female vocals) and I often find myself wishing more people knew it!

It’s the anthem to my Decembers, and it’s on loop my Christmas playlist every year, just like Jose Mari Chan’s Christmas in Our Hearts.

Go ahead, have a listen. And I suggest you hug your loved ones a little tighter and longer as the song plays on. You’re welcome.

Merry Christmas! :)

Lyrics of the song after the jump.

Continue reading “December Dawn” →

He Turned 31

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I had a memory lapse and thought we turned 32 this year. He looked at me, stopped for a moment as if he was trying to count years in his head and then asked, “are you kidding?” I wish I was kidding (that was a good joke, right?) but I really got confused for a moment.

Maybe some of us don’t intentionally stop counting birthdays after we turned 30. Maybe we just become forgetful. Or maybe we sometimes feel older than we really are.

We got him a cake this year! Although I intended to maintain my non–cake tradition by making dessert shooters (I planned to stick little candles on them), in the end I thought this year should have a proper birthday cake, even though, as expected, I’ve been eating all the left-over cake ever since. By the way, there’s more cake in the ref as I type this.

So he turned 31 (yes, not 32) this week, and even though we’ve spent the past 3 years celebrating birthdays together, everything I said 3 years ago still rings true today. Still in awe, still kilig, still in constant wonder for being blessed with such a great man to journey this life with.

Happy birthday, D. I love you, don’t forget.