ARREZAPH.COM

It's been down for more than 2 weeks now. My 1 year old blog has been deactivated by Google due to a bad widget I installed. So you guys better stay clear of that Bloglinker widget or risk losing your site.

Yeah there's Twitter and Facebook to keep me pre-occupied, sadly, not enough to make me forget about blogging.

After much thought, dilly-dallying, and registrar researching, I finally gave in.

I bought a domain.

And everyone's invited to go visit. The new address is ARREZAPH.COM

Moving Back to Blogger

Hello to all!

This blog has moved to OVERFLOW.... If you enjoyed (I hope) reading our family's adventure/s, captured moments as well as mishaps, please update your links to http://moonlight-mom.blogspot.com/.

I really hope to see you all there. ;)

Advance Christmas greetings!

Hong Kong - Day 1 (Novotel Citygate)

Toilet & Bath for Matt & Kyle, originally uploaded by gratitude.

Something happened here. To continue...

LP: Ang Pagwawagi

Hindi pa tapos ang pakikipagsapalaran sa akademiya ng aking mga anak. Sa bawat taon na napipili sila bilang honor students, para sa amin, ito ay representasyon ng tagumpay sa bawat baytang na kanilang daanan.

Pasintabi lang po sa mistulang pagyayabang sa lumang larawan na ito pero nais ko lang ibahagi ang para sa aming pamilya ay isa sa mga simbolo ng pagwawagi.



Batiin natin ang mga litratistang nakilahok sa linggong ito sa tema ng Litratong Pinoy.

Less One Day

Monday! Work was okay save for one annoying incident when the accounting firm erroneously deposited the funds to another corporate account. They were not even aware of it until I tried tracing where the funds went. Ugh! Anyway...

That didn't stop me from having a generally good day. In fact, I've been "wearing" this silly smile on my face. Here's why...

Pre-school Jitters

My hands were clammy. I felt my tummy in knots. I couldn't relax at all as I sat there on the first row with Jerry. My kid in Nursery2, being a finalist in the Voices of Children poem recitation contest, was about to compete with the rest of the finalists.

He was the 4th to recite. Finalist number 1 recited softly and sheepishly even as the mom moved closer by the stage to give moral support. Finalist number 2 or 3 didn't go up the stage at all. Oh no!

Jake was next. I saw him peer from the side of the stage as if looking for our faces in the audience. We waved at him. He flashed a big smile upon seeing us and then he walked up the stage...

Please click here to continue....

Rihanna - Chris Brown Concert in Taguig

We were at the venue 2.5 hours early! We stood the whole of 3 hours watching CB first, then Rihanna with a brief fireworks display break in between as they completely changed the stage set-up.

Verdict: Best concert I could remember. Hehehe (as if I watch too many!)

A few pics and a vid here.

When Cute is Not

Me: Hmmm... *kiss, kiss*...*hug, hug*...(Smothering my 4 year old son)
Me: Why is my Jake so cute?...*presses cheek*
Me: Why is your skin so soft, hmm?
Me: Mama wants to hug you... always.
Me: Cute cute cute....
Me: This one is cute (presses cheeks)... this one is cute (pats his tooshie)...and this too (points to his male organ).
Jake: No! That's not cute.
Me: Huh? If it's not cute, then what?
Jake: Big.
Me: Oh!

And then in my peripheral view, I saw my husband laughing.


Jake and me (using Photo Booth)

Fashion Watch

I don't really consider myself a fashionista. In fact the closest I'd get to being one is when you see me browsing some fashion magazines or watching makeover shows on Velvet or Lifestyle channels... You can say I'm not the type to want to be first in sporting the latest trend since I'm already comfy in my jeans and shirt and basic footwear.

So... when I received an invite for Fitness.Fashion, at the Waterfront Hotel (Lahug), I was confused. Hahaha. What do I wear to such an event??? The dress code said: "Wear something chic". Right... What's chic these days? That's very ambiguous.

After deciding on a top I already had and a good pair of jeans (yep, dark skinny denims) and stilletos, off I went with my friend Dahlia.

The show was a mixture of collections from several designers, the likes of Joey Samson, Louis Claparols, Tonichi Nocom, Protacio Empaces, Jun Escario, Rajo Laurel, Philip Rodriquez, Vic Barba, Rhett Eala, Arcy Gayatin, Randy Ortiz, Cary Santiago, James Reyes, Lord Maturan, and Edwin Ao (list of designers lifted from StyleCebu.com).

There were really nice clothes on the ramp but Dahlia and I, along with our other lady-companions on the "green section" were aww-ing and ahh-ing at the buff and lovely (male and female and Cebu celebrity) models more than the collection. Hihihi.

So much for fashion watching. It was a new experience for me and taught me a bit about style (which needs to be put to practice I suppose). I hope I don't see myself in pictures with a blacked out face and labelled "what not to wear to a fashion event" or "caught by fashion police". ;)

Touring Terraces

We've been frequenting the Terraces for the past few days until the last weekend. It's a nice venue to take my Manila-based parents to. They're impressed that there's something like Greenbelt or Glorietta in my Cebu home-base. Hehe... For city-dwellers like them, malling is a staple activity. Yep, I should know. :P



Here we are, enjoying Yellow Cab pizza and calzone a few hours after a filling lunch at Big Mao (both at Terraces)

41st (Part 2)

What: My 41st
When: October 31
Where: Laguna Garden Restaurant at the Terraces (Cebu’s answer to Greenbelt or Glorietta)
Who: with my boys, my folks, my paternal and maternal relatives

41st (Part 1)

What: My 41st
When: October 30
Where: Ginza Restaurant then went to the Terraces (Cebu's answer to Greenbelt or Glorietta)
Who: with my boys and folks

Playing Catch Up (2) - A Night with Marcel

With friends distributed around the globe, every chance we get to meet up with a good friend, we really give time for it. One such occasion was when Marcel Fernan flew in (Cebu) from the US a few days back.

We all met up at the Tinder Box for wine and pica-pica and then moved to Z Bar where the men had a few more drinks, hmm, as usual. They had the perfect excuse.

Funny that (almost) everyone (except for myself and Monica Climaco), were in black garb that night.... Trying to show a slimmer silhouette perhaps? Try harder guys, just kidding.



From left to right: Rene Ybanez, Henry Lopio, Marcel Fernan, Jerry Rapes, Manny Climaco

Playing Catch Up (1) - Mama Sol's Birthday

The past weeks have been busy for me at the homefront with my youngest and me getting sick one after the other, like a tag-team of sorts. Then to add to that, we also had major movements and changes at work. Think, paperwork and tighter coordination among all groups.

To cut the chase, I'm posting pics of other events that happened in between. So this is part 1:



We got invited to Mama Sol's (aunt's) dinner party at the Marco Polo where we were served a fusion of Japanese, Italian, Chinese and native food. Yummm! However, the al fresco dinner was mildly rained on and prompted most of the guests to wear the table napkins on their heads ala "hat" party. Wehehe... I guess that was what caused me to get sick for a week. :P


When the mild drizzle stopped, the dances began. One of the dance numbers was from a belly-dancer, to the men's delight. As the music commenced, I threw side-glances at my teenage boys who seemed to enjoy the serpentine moves of the curvaceous dancer. Ah boys... My Papa Lalo (uncle) was regretful of the fact that he left his eyeglasses home! Haha! That was amusing and definitely good news for my Mama Sol!


Since it was a Tuesday, with work the following day (my sons were on school break), we left at about 930pm. That was when most of my uncle and aunt's contemporaries started boogie-ing and chacha-ing the night away...

LP: Maalaala Mo Kaya

Isa ito sa unang pumasok sa aking isip para sa tema ngayon sa Litratong Pinoy.


Litrato ko at ng aking kapatid, mahigit 35 taon na ang nakalilipas. Wehehe, ang tagal na nun!

Ito rin ang litratong kasama sa feature sa nostalgia bloggista noong isang taon.

LP: Kadiliman

May mga ibang lugar na sadyang madilim para mas maganda ang dating... gaya ng bar. Ang lahok ko sa linggong ito sa Litratong Pinoy ay kuha sa Treff Bar sa loob ng Waterfront Hotel & Casino sa Cebu. Ang bar na ito ay glass ang bubong kaya "see-through" ang mga bituin sa kalangitan. Pag tumingala ka, ganito ang view mo:

There are only two things

Sitting up in bed while busily 'facebooking' and munching my Cheezy corn crunch junk food, I "accidentally" let out a loud burp.

"Ew! Ma, that's disgusting! Burp is disgusting!", exclaimed my 4.5 year old son.

My husband, who was sitting shirtless by the desk and fiddling with the remote control of the a/c while wondering why the freon suddenly ran out on this warm night, guffawed.

"Hey...did you teach this little imp that?", I asked my hubs as I tried to stifle my own laughter. "Of course not!", he quickly retorted.

"Fine", I said. Now turning to youngest son, "Ok, and what do you mean by disgusting???"

"Burp and "ut*t" (f*rt) are disgusting", he remarked looking proud of himself.

"Oh... and what about "u-*" (sh*t)? Is that disgusting?", I asked, trying to pick his brain.

"No... Ma, there are only 2 things that are disgusting and that is not", he stressed.

Ooo-kay...

That's just on day one of their semestral break. I wonder what other things he'll "learn" next.

LP: Liwanag (Light)

Kung ikaw ay nakarating na sa Manila Ocean Park, kapansin-pansin ang lugar na kung saan nakapuwesto ang mga kwadradong upuan na ito na gawa sa plastic. Madilim dito at ang nagbibigay ng bahagyang liwanag ay ang mga upuan na merong ilaw sa loob. Ang maganda, nagpapalit-palit pa ng kulay ang ilaw ng bawat isa. :)

Ayan, nagkaroon ako ng lahok para sa linggong ito. Teka, tingnan naman natin ang ibang klaseng liwanag na ibinahagi ng mga ka-litratista sa Litratong Pinoy?

Temporary Disconnection

My sons were warned a couple of months back to limit their mobile phone usage. Just recently I requested Globe to deactivate the wap service of Kyle's phone after it's 2 billing statements registered P1,500 and P1,000 respectively on data / internet usage alone. Argh! That's even higher than an HSDPA's monthly subscripiton plan for unlimited use of internet! *Groan*

At first I figured it must be the mobile phone's button placement that triggers the accidental connection to wap/internet, whenever it's in the pants' pocket. But the second time it happened, despite Kyle's statement that he doesn't use wap, I thought this still looked more deliberate. Hence my request for deactivation.

Matt on the other hand, was heavy on text messaging. His SMS usage lately was NOT lower than P1,000 (net of free sms)! That's easily about 30 messages a day! Ugh.

Over the last couple of months, I successfully collected from their allowances the total subscription fees thinking that this would make them feel the waste of money and probably put a stop to the runaway cost. They paid me but this strategy wasn't effective in lowering the expense. It was still beyond their combined P750/month plans.

Now they're phones can only receive calls and messages. Outgoing calls and messages have been barred. They tried to negotiate with me, for me to re-consider my decision and pay the bill. I was playing hard-ball this time. Heh! And then I came up with a plan that would benefit both parties.

The deal was for them to start blogging online (which they are not too keen about). If I see at least 10 posts (of not less than 200 words per entry), then their mobile plans would be paid and reactivated. So far, they have both created their accounts with Blogger. Matt has written 3 posts and Kyle is on his way to writing his entries as well.

I hope this works. *Crossing my fingers*



Matt & Kyle

Homeschooling? Sort of...

When my eldest son entered pre-school 12 years ago (he's now 15), I assumed the "new" role of the mommy-tutor. We would study his lessons and do his homework together.

It was the same thing three years later when it was my 2nd son's turn to enter school. Study time became part of our daily routine on weekdays, usually after dinner time. My hubs and I divided ourselves between the 2 boys. I was in charge of Filipino while Jerry handled the kids' Mandarin lessons.

Hiring a professional tutor was never a plan even if my husband and I were working full-time and leading busy lives. As parents, we were pretty much involved with our boys' academics and extra-curricular activities (though I was rarely active in PTA stuff).

So fast forward to this school year. I'm no longer as strict and as hard on the boys' studies. Why? The early habits formed became ingrained in them that they are now able to handle school stuff by themselves and consistently maintain their slot in their respective honors' classes.

Nowadays, eldest son checks on 2nd son and youngest sons' (nursery2) lessons when we (the parents) are not around or need to stay out late for some matters. I'm relieved and very glad he can now help us out when needed. Soon, we'll regain some more free time when both elder boys play an active role in their little brother's studies. Let me share what I captured on video...




And here are some pictures of Matt with his peers doing some research and snacks afterwards.