Craving For Brother's Burger

I'm now in my fourth month of pregnancy and I still have some cravings. According to what I've read, cravings would continue throughout the nine months of pregnancy. The other day, I was craving for Brother's Burger but I was not able to satisfy it because we were off to a Christmas party and the nearest branch is out of the way. My tummy ached when I was not able to eat the burger. I didn't understand it, was it really because of not satisfying my craving or was it just a psychological thing? Yesterday, I was craving for it again so my husband inquired if they deliver. Unfortunately, they could not deliver in our location. I thought I would not be able to eat it that day. I got a little depressed and my tummy ached again. My husband and I just looked for the Tomas Morato branch and there we ordered the much coveted burger. I was happy!

Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) Wedding Ceremony

I was privileged to attend an Iglesia ni Cristo wedding primarily because I have not yet witnessed one. Good thing my college friend invited me and it happened to be on my birthday. It was also a perfect timing because I had an appointment with my OB so I can attend her wedding. When we arrived at the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) church San Francisco Locale, San Francisco Del Monte, Quezon City, I felt at home because of the serene environment. The spacious grounds of the church provides ample parking for all the guests with a car.

The church was also accessible to the commuters since it's easy to hail cabs when you just step out of the church's gate. It was also my first time to enter an INC church. I was awed with the how they maintain the cleanliness of its interiors. At first I expected that the church ministry would be so strict about the guests' attire; requiring all the female guests to be wearing a dress. Thank goodness no one approached some of our friends who were wearing slacks. I guess it was because our friend already mentioned that instance to the church ministry. I was also expecting that somebody would approach my husband to transfer to where the male guests are seated, but it did not happen. It was not that so strict after all. I heard that the strictness varies per locale.

After a while of musings and looking around, our friend was ready to march down the aisle accompanied by a traditional wedding entrance song. The wedding rite itself is very solemn, and it only took 30 minutes to complete the whole wedding ceremony.

Differences versus a Catholic Wedding:
1. Only traditional wedding music can be played when the bride walks down the aisle.
2. No wedding symbols such as wedding arrhae, wedding cord, and unity candle.
3. Ceremony only takes 30 minutes.

Sign of Life

It's pretty amazing how the sign of life can be detected thru this small tool called pregnancy test kit. I was feeling something peculiar one day so I thought of confirming my insinuation by having a pregnancy test. I did not wait for the morning to come, I was just excited to discover the result so I did it immediately after I arrive from work. I closed my eyes and silently pray that whatever the result will be, I will gladly accept it. After a few minutes, I opened my eyes and I was extremely happy to learn that the result is positive. Yes, I'm pregnant! :) The Lord has just answered our prayer in his perfect time. To make sure that my initial finding was real, I made another test. So, it's really confirmed, there's life inside me!

More than the excitement, pregnancy is where motherhood begins. It's all about sacrifice and being selfless. For a working person like me, it's a time to slow down and think about nothing but safety and welfare of the life growing inside my tummy. At first, I was fearful about pregnancy because of the changes that will happen with my body and the horrible stories I hear when giving birth. When I firrst became pregnant, I had miscarriage. I guess that's the Lord's way of tellng and preparing me for this second pregnancy. This time around, I'm enjoying it and I welcome this life-changing experience with open arms and a big grin. After all, God has designed a woman's body to carry a child and He has gifted a woman to endure the pains of childbirth. With that thought to bear in my mind, I know I will make it up to nine months.

Perfect Staycation

Just this weekend, my husband and I just had a budget-friendly yet relaxing vacation at home. Stay-at-home vacation or "staycation" is simply our enjoyable and practical way to have lone time together without spending so much. We thought, with the increasing prices of gas and commodities, it's no longer practical to go out every weekend.

Of course, our staycation is not complete without healthy food to share. I prepared these myself.

fresh apple-carrot juice

nacho dips: beef, tomato salsa, white onion, cheese dip

ready to dig-in nachos

I do not mind long hours of stay in the kitchen because I enjoy cooking and doing it for my husband. Dinner was as good as we were having it in a cozy restaurant.

fresh lemonade

chicken wings with sour cream sauce

ripe mangoes with chocolate syrup

Fruit and Vegetable Carving

It has been almost two months since my last post. I have been really busy in the past weeks, both at work and at home, primarily because our house help already left us. :( My time for blogging was dedicated to doing household chores like cooking, cleaning, washing the dishes but not washing and ironing our clothes. Thanks to my mom who has been so sweet in taking responsibility of making our clothes clean and well-pressed. :) Without a house help around, I really felt being so much a wife; it's quite hard but it's satisfying enough though.

Now that I finally found time to update my blog, I was thinking of what topic to write about. I was browsing through my files of photos until I saw this picture, an apple and tomato carving which I did last year. Apart from cooking and love for food, it also interests me to expand my culinary skills by learning food styling and fruit and vegetable carving. The husband of my sister-in-law, who is a chef and is a multi-awarded fruit, vegetable, and ice carver taught me the basics. I never would have wanted to try ice carving as it requires more effort and energy to do it considering the tools that will be used in order to transform an ice into a wonderful work of art. So, as a baseline, we started working with an apple and a tomato. The apple has been amazingly transformed into a swan while the tomato, into a dainty flower. For photographic effect, I just arranged brownies on the side. :)

By the way, it requires different knives in varying sizes in order to carve different fruit and vegetables. For the apple and tomato, we just used a small one but it's the one really used by a professional. Hmm... the tools are really something to invest on in pursuing this kind of interest. I've tried using an ordinary small knife but it's hard to achieve the desirable result.

A Day of Bonding

Last May 18, we were off to our destination but my husband was not yet disclosing where we will go. I was totally clueless but when he drove the way going to UP Campus, I got an idea that we are going to Antipolo, Rizal. Ok, I knew it! (haha) We are staying overnight in one of the resorts in Antipolo. :) What a pleasant surprise! Since he just wanted it to be somewhere near, budget-friendly yet romantic, Overlook Resort is not a bad choice.

On our way to Overlook Resort, we saw directional signages leading to a Swiss Restaurant called Vieux Chalet. Curious about the food they serve, we agreed to visit the place. We were welcomed by the restaurant's homey atmosphere. It also boasts a romantic mood and gives an overlooking sight of the metro. We difinitely enjoyed our food while romantic songs were being played on the background. The cool climate ultimately completed the whole romantic feel.

It was a simple and memorable celebration; a celebration of love and togetherness. To us, being together as husband and wife for a year is already an achievement. But of course, we both knew that we will still battle tons of challenges ahead of us. As long as we will live with our promise ... "till death do us part", and with trust and faith with each other, we believe that we can make our marriage last.

Spice of Life

On May 19, it will be our first wedding anniversary. My husband and I both took a day off from work for a simple celebration. Prior to that, we've had several plans but it ended up to going somewhere peaceful and relaxing yet a budget-friendly treat to ourselves. My husband was able to book a place somewhere near but he is not telling me where it is. Some sort of a surprise? Hmmm .... I wonder where he will take me and what surprises he has for me. Oh well, this is what I call spice of life -- colorful, bountiful, fruitful, exciting, adventurous and definitely fun! I can't wait for Monday :)