2 weeks of married life

I can't believe it has been already 2 weeks. The wedding itself progressed without any hitches. It went by so fast, the only thing that proves I did get married is when I look at the pictures.

Speaking of pictures, our main photographer has gone AWOL so I haven't seen the 'official' photographs. Well truth be told, he was the one who got shocked because he is a co faculty/friend of D. D didn't want to inform the whole university where he teaches that he was getting married so he tricked B his friend who dabbles in photography that his niece was getting married so when B showed up and saw D in a barong and he was informed that we were getting married, he was pleasantly pissed to be the last one to know. he he he I guess he is busy or something, we haven't heard from him. I joke around that B has developed the pictures and posted them all over the university as some act of revenge. :D

I did manage to see some pictures which my relatives took and dare I say I look like a blushing bride courtesy of Ed, my very reliable make up artist who made me look elegant in my simple chignon and my minimal make up. But if you want to see me you need to send me an email at daphnelaura at gmail dot com because I ain't posting them on this blog. Blah :D

Anyways So I know you are all asking me how does being married feel like?
It has been pretty hectic from the honeymoon (2 nights hotel stay) to ferrying mother in law to Quiapo (she is a fervent devotee) all the days she was here. Buying pasalubongs for in laws in the US and getting stranded waiting for a taxi during rainy days was a nightmare. Trying to get the apartment fixed and making it more livable is an exhausting task since we are suddenly faced with some major house issues like leaking pipes and blocked drainage. Getting used to sleeping with someone beside me on the bed is a major adjustment but quite pleasant too if you know what I'm implying. ;-)

But so far everything is still all peachy and rosy, things are pretty good. I can't ask for more since D is such a nurturing person, he knows major handy work so he is always pottering around the house as well as cooking for his spoiled bride. My contribution is to wash the dishes! Teehee.

My PC is still at my place and I still need to find time to transfer my things here in Project 8 but I will do so soon so I can get to more frequent blogging. So this is all for now.

Stay tuned!

It's the eve of my special Day

The time has finally come. One day to go!
I will finally at long last be a Mrs. Yes I know it is 2 AM.
But I just finished packing. I've packed both for the pre-wedding stay.
As well as for my honeymoon. So brace yourself for that! Hehehe

The giveaways are all nicely wrapped.
The misalettes have been proof read.
My gown is in its garments bag.
My shoes is in a ziplock bag.
The namecards have been printed out.

What else?

At times like these (well it only happens once unless I get married
again or maybe renew my vows!) I wish I had more help.
BUT my sister has been sooo amazing. She practically did most of the stuff.
Me being such a scatter brain, I would lose my bearing.
I couldn't ask for more, really. Of course I realize she is doubly as tired as I am.
But I am glad and thank God for the best sister!

It helps that we are all so busy I don't get the opportunity to

think about living away from my family.
Especially my dearest sister except when I write these poignant posts.

Before I start crying while I type this entry, let me conclude.

I like to thank all of my blogger friends for tagging along through this journey.
You have been avid witnesses since this relationship started.

You cheered me on, endlessly. You encouraged me when times got rough.

So I feel like you are all a part of my valuable (blogger) family.

I am so grateful for having such a nice 'audience' who shared my joys,

my worries, my fears and my exciting moments .
Thanks for all the good wishes.

Special mention goes to my dear friend Pinky for the gift you sent.
I really appreciate it so much. Thanks!

So without further ado, I sign off my last post as a single person!

Before the date changes ...

... I want to summarize briefly kuno the dramatic moments I dealt with today!

D was late as usual for the appointed time so we got stuck in horrendous traffic to get to the freaking airport to fetch his mother who arrived today. Poor Mama had been waiting for almost 30 minutes and thought she had been abandoned or forgotten by us. Of course, I distinctly blamed her beloved son for being tardy. My heart broke when I laid my eyes on her. She is a frail 78 year old woman who endured 16 hours on her flight home just to make it for her son's nuptials. But she was/is still very much alert, independent minded, stubborn, very chatty narrating her numerous life experiences in an animated manner and quite emotional that she cries at the drop of a hat. Now such scenes utterly break my heart. So I almost forgot all the hours we got stuck in traffic getting to the airport then going all the way to Project 8 in Quezon City. My dearest sister is a saint for being such a patient driver. But I reckon I won't hear the end of her sermon on how D showed up really late to fetch his dear mother from the airport. *sighs*

Me in my infinite and sometimes puzzling belief in his good moral character was angry, at first. I gave him the silent treatment when he finally showed up and while we were stuck in traffic. Then eventually out of the blue, I got over my anger somewhere between Pasay and Paranaque. I mean after all, he is really fatigued from attending to all those wedding requirements, moving into the house, dealing with all the needed repairs and trying to find a semblance of order in all this big chaotic mess. He has already lost so much weight. I worry terribly for his well being and the toll on his health. If my own blood pressure is at elevated levels, I can only imagine how much more his readings are! Especially now that he has to deal with such a highly emotional sometimes irrational mother who likes to get her own way. So I do cut him some (oh alright a lot of) slack and really dislike it when I have to keep defending his failings against my family. These past few days I've been thinking that we might have been foolish to think we could plan a wedding and move in at the same time but I guess it is much too late in the game to second guess ourselves by now.

The day ended on a high note since I managed to (barely) make it to my nail spa appointment. I had a soothing mani/pedi session. I'm not really a big fan of pedicures since I don't like people touching my feet but I gave in to my sister's demand that I relax and get my hands, legs and feet massaged, caressed and polished into happy digits and happier feet.

Thank God for nail spas to redeem the day! =)

Time off

Because I am such a big fan of the reality show "Survivor", I am putting everything on hold for 2 hours this afternoon so I can catch its season finale.
Nothing beats watching crumbling alliances, backstabbing comments and the vitriol which will be unleashed by the members of the jury during the final tribal council where they will vote for the sole survivor.

Besides I need a break from stressing myself out from the countless problems which suddenly cropped up like wild mushrooms few days before my nuptials! Everything from guests not RSVPing, guests inviting themselves and wanting to bring extra people I never knew existed, adding extra seats for the lunch to accommodate uninvited guests to get this, you ready? The mother of the groom deciding at the very very last minute she wants to attend the wedding of her beloved son by making a grand entrance, she will be arriving on the eve of the wedding! Now isn't that irritatingly convenient???

Goodness gracious me, Lord have mercy!

Time to de-stress!

Dear Mom

Happy Mother's day!!!

I know I have been such a bad itch lately.
I've lost my temper several times when you keep
hounding me regarding my wedding preparations.

I'm really sorry.

I know I should be cherishing these last few days,
I will be under your care instead of snapping at you.

I couldn't ask for a better mother in the whole world.
You have nurtured me for the past 39 years of my life.
You have enriched my life with so much blessings.
For the longest time I have always been the spoiled one.
You always took extra care of me.
Probably you thought I couldn't handle life.
I am the person I am now because of your unconditional love.
Your enduring faith in my abilities to succeed in anything
I endeavor to do is a great source of strength for me.

I want to thank you Mom for everything you've done for me.
Not only during these few months since I announced I was
getting married but since the day I was born.

Don't worry Mom I am in good hands with D.
I am lucky to have found him to spend the rest of my life with.
I am positive with God's help, you and Dad's proper guidance
and my sister relentless support, I will be strong enough to
face the pitfalls of marriage.
Your 40 year marriage (and still counting) with Dad
is truly inspirational in every sense of the word.

I love you, Mom!


Lovingly yours,
Your very soon to be bride daughter.


P.S
Mom I know this is a silly request but please try to contain your tears during the wedding. I don't want to start bawling my eyes out, ruin my make up and look like a raccoon in my wedding pictures.

The frustrating saga of a table(top)

Before we bought our new dining set, we canvassed around the different furniture shops as well as the furniture section of department stores. We had also measured the tiny space in my living room so we knew which size, shape to shop for. Plus of course we had a very specific budget in mind. I even had a tape measure ever present in my handbag so I could easily jot down the dimensions.

It wasn't long before we found a suitable one per all our specifications. I distinctly remember purchasing it (with my parents in tow since they generously paid for it) on the first Friday of this month, May 2. 2008. Our instructions were please deliver it the next day, Saturday. They said they will at any time between 1 PM to 5PM. We wrote D's home number plus his cellphone number but specifically told them to kindly text him because because our new place didn't have a land line yet. D also provided them with a sketch which he drew on the back of the delivery form.

Saturday morning, they arrived at 12:30 AM at the address provided. Good thing that D was already at our place to receive the 4 seater oak wood light brown dining set. Being such a meticulous person, he inspected and checked every nook and cranny of the item. He discovered a hollow scratch about 3 inches long on one of the legs of the table. The guys try to assuage him it was part of the design. But how can that be? When it was clearly discolored and looked more like somebody bleached that portion of the leg. So fine they agreed to come back, Monday for some retouching. I call D up to ask him about the table and he tells me about the 'defect' and so I deemed that it was just proper for us to request for a replacement instead of merely retouching the damaged part. I called the furniture shop, told them the problem and they agreed to replace merely the leg with the defect.

Monday morning D calls me to say that the guy didn't bring a replacement leg part but merely brought some varnish/polish to retouch the scratch. He didn't accept that since we had requested for a replacement of the leg. So on the report he wrote down, please replace the entire table na to avoid any confusion. We scheduled it for Thursday since we had a thousand things to attend to and couldn't wait idly around for them to get their act together.

Thursday comes, D texted me the guys from the furniture shop arrived earlier but "palpak na naman sila Hon, hulaan mo bakit" ("They messed up again Hon guess why")
"They brought chairs instead of the replacement for the table?" Wrong!
"They insist on merely retouching/varnishing the damaged part?" Wrong!
"They brought the wrong table?" Strike 3 Still wrong!
D was having fun, teasing me when I was running out of patience and kept asking him what was the fiasco, this time.
D blurts out "They brought only the tabletop NO legs" hahahaha That was so funny in an irritating way, I burst out laughing while I was inside the comfort room emptying my bladder. Of course I told my parents and sister about it and they were fuming. I couldn't stop laughing and neither could D when I talked to him over the phone.

Now if that isn't the height of inefficiency I don't know what it is. Lack of coordination between their central office and their warehouse staff, plain stupidity, no follow up report or they are really messed up they can't get a simple request right not once, not twice not even thrice!

In the meantime, we wasted like almost a week just waiting for them to get things right instead of attending to more pressing matters. It was so frustrating for me. D amidst all these guffaws can still shrug his shoulders and laugh about it. I was ready to hurl invectives at their office manager and their warehouse manager for not properly checking an item which was paid in full by a customer before they deliver it to its destination. I even wanted to call DTI to complain about bad service. Or report them to the stupidity police (if such an agency existed!) but D told me it was useless stressing out over an already stressful situation.

Latest update: Finally today, they got their senses back and replaced the damaged leg part and it took only 3 short minutes to do something they should have done a week ago!!!

No wonder my blood pressure levels are at an all time high, these day.

6 days to go!

A few days after the parish priest aired his concern that we don't fight, D and I had a major argument yesterday. Go figure! I don't want to air my dirty laundry in (blogging) public but suffice to say it wasn't pleasant. I said things I shouldn't have said and honestly I still don't regret saying them to him, at all. I figure it stems more out of frustrations and misunderstanding instead of irritation for each other's inadequacies. (nag analyze pa) Anyway I won't dwell on it much further, the issue is best resolved between the both of us and not discussed on a blog which he doesn't read naman.


In other news:
1) I got the misalettes na, today. But I still don't know who the officiating priest will be since the Church still hasn't assigned one yet for our wedding. (Nice going!)

2) D finally bought a raw silk/jusi barong for the nuptials. It was fun making him try several barongs before he finally chose one to his liking. (Very meticulous pala siya!)

3) I had a satisfactory consultation with my hair and make up artist (naks, feeling artista!). A bubbly gay person who gave me several suggestions for my appearance based on the climate for that day, my earrings as well as the beading work on my gown. (Kaaliw!)

4) I'm done (with the help of my ever dependable sister) with the 'packaging' of the giveaways. We have attached the tags, the stickers for all the giveaways both for the guests as well as the special gifts exclusively for our ninongs/ninangs (We have 3 pairs)


5) We (D and I) have dealt with several wrinkle inducing snags with regards to the delivery of our appliances and furniture. This topic along deserves at least 2 long posts filled with contempt for the inefficiency and the lack of proper coordination between their central office and their warehouse staff. It has been quite a terrible nightmare, I tell you. (palpak palagi!)


All I say is Ay naku all these last minute preparations and major unpleasant circumstances are making me really stressful but there is really no time to rest my weary soul. I hope the body scrub and the appointment at the nail spa which I've scheduled next week will work its magic on me!

Interrogation este Interview pala

Finally finally our canonical interview pushed through yesterday. Boy that was quite an eye opener. Reverend Father N, the parish priest where we will get married next week probed and poked extensively asking us really thought provoking questions. I was the first one 'grilled' followed by D then the both of us, together.

Conclusion: we passed the interview.
His main concern/worry: We have never fought or had any major arguments!
He asked D: "What if we suddenly had to face a major problem/crisis during our marriage, would we be able to handle it?"
D gave him some standard line but he kept probing till he got a satisfactory (in his books) answer. Well I guess Father N does have a valid point but we managed to convince him we will handle arguments, maturely.
He remarked "Alright I hope no I will pray that if ever a problem crops up it won't be powerful enough to break your marriage"

Geeez yikes thanks po Father ha for being optimistic about our chances of surviving conflicts!

But overall the interview was OK more like a little chit chat with an authoritative figure. It was casual yet formal at the same time. He could tell we have a mature approach towards our expectations in marriage and life itself. But did you know that ultimately he could make or break a wedding? He told us that so far he has already rejected 2 couples from pushing through with their wedding. He deemed they weren't ready, one party was being forced to marry due to an unwanted pregnancy, another couple were too young and immature to handle marriage. When he told us that I was thinking so they have to cancel all their bookings??? What if they only had a week before their special day? Grabe naman, di ata fair yun, di ba?

Anyways that part is over and done with, we "passed"! I can now concentrate on making myself as relaxed as humanely possible before I face the firing squad. Hehehe A tall order really since we still have a million things to do mostly with regards to furnishing and moving our things into our new apartment!

On to more less depressing news

I'm just going to recap my hectic sked these past few days sans the melodramatic emotional outbursts.

I got my gown from the designer who upon seeing me wear it said "para kang ikakasal" ("you look like a bride") Touche! I never let on that I was the bride lest he charged me an exorbitant fee which will surely bankrupt me for life. I simply said I was attending a wedding. I saw one of his designs at the mall, loved the style and wanted it designed according to my measurements in off white hue. Clever trick, right? Anyways I got it this past Saturday. It was designed according to my instructions flimsy sleeves and all (much to my chagrin but I need to comply with the Church dress code). Somehow I felt I looked fat and kept asking my sister in stuttering French "do I look like a beached whale?" To which she remarked several times "no you don't, in fact you look too thin, you should start eating more to fill up the gown". But I persisted and kept whining that I knew she was going to start slapping me just to hush me up. Teehee. I will try it again later and if I feel uncomfortable I will have it altered yet again. :D

Our first furniture (c/o my very generous parents) was delivered to our house, last Saturday as well. A four seater dining set made of light brown oak wood, made in Malaysia. Rectangular shape, small enough to fit in our tiny living room area but big enough for up to 6 people to squeeze themselves in.
The good part is that they delivered it on time well ahead of sked really. They said anytime from 1 to 5 pm, Saturday. By 12:45pm they called D and said they were already there so he had to rush from his place to our apartment to accept the delivery. The not so good part is that upon closer scrutiny, D discovered one of its legs had scratches and the other parts needed retouches. So here's the thing, if a customer orders in good faith, pays for the purchase in full won't the decent thing to do would be to closely inspect the product to make sure it was up to par? It is simple as that, right? Instead of having the customer call up the store again to resked another inspection by their warehouse team then determine what needs to be done which further merits another visit which needs to be squeezed into our busy sked!
Oh well as I write this post, D texted me that the furniture guys are on their way so hopefully everything gets to be settled in an amicable manner. Or else they will feel the full wrath of my katarayan, something that I need to work on with proper guidance from D. He functions on the principle that it is useless to further stress yourself over a situation already stressful enough on its own. Well something to that effect. =)

Still on the topic of squeezing in 'unnecessary' activities on top of our already tight sked, the Church still hasn't set a date for our Canonical interview. I was under the impression that I was to be informed of the date and time of our 'sermon' based on the sked of the priest. I go there Friday to pay for the remaining balance of our wedding fees and I was asked by the person in charge have you had your interview yet? I answered demurely (not in mataray fashion, take note!) well not yet I am still waiting for your call. So far, we have postponed D's tentative lipat (move) to our place as well as the delivery date for our new appliances for 2 reasons: (1) the streets were being dug up due to some maintenance works c/o of Manila water and (2) we were patiently waiting for the set date of our interrogation.
So instead of firmly setting a date, he tells us OK I will check Father's sked on Monday (today) and perhaps it can be set either Tuesday or Wednesday. What do you mean PERHAPS??? Ay Naku! So the waiting game continues! Arghhhhh.

Lastly don't you just dislike it when you text/email people asking about their services and either they don't reply right away or they don't reply at all? What's the use of advertising your products/services online complete with a flashing cellphone number and/or your email address when you no longer use said number, you hardly check your inbox regularly or you take your own sweet time replying back? In my book that is not a good way to conduct business. Unfortunately it is something I have learned to accept dealing with establishments here in our beloved country. Inefficiency, no follow up service, incomplete details, no sense of professional standards. Thanks for adding up to my already high stress levels, ha. It is much appreciated, NOT!

Alright enough ranting for today, time to make more phone calls!

Encrypted Post

I wonder if this is how it is going to be from now on.
I get caught in the middle during no win situational arguments.
One side of the equation is always persuading my family that I understand their worries are all valid while the other side of the coin is to keep justifying our (D & I) major decisions regarding our married lifestyle. I don't like being put on the spot especially at this juncture of my life. It dries me up emotionally, physically and mentally. I hope I can chalk this up to being under extreme pressure with everything going on, but a little voice inside me tells me there might be a larger issue involved behind all these emotional outbursts I've been dealing with these past days. I'm tired! Enough said!

May Day May Day

Ohhhh it's already the 1st day of MAY.
I guess the ticker bar on my desktop says it all.
It clearly says 14 days to go!!!
I am excited, anxious, nervous! Well think of all the emotions ever named, add them all up and that would be me. A lil hyper ball bouncing off the walls.
I know this post doesn't really make much sense. I just wanted a reason to post the fastly ticking bar countdown to my special day.
There are several really funny anecdotes I could share about D's experiences in making the apartment ready for his bride. But I can't really gather my scattered thoughts right now to recount them. Maybe next time!
I am also taking full advantage of the few days I have left to enjoy my Internet connection at my place before I move my things over to my (I keep forgetting to use the plural form!) our new apartment.

Alright I'm out of here!
More incoherent posts to come, I promise! =)

Art Storage

I've moved a lot in my lifetime due to dad's several stints abroad so I know that packing, storing, moving can be a daunting task. But there are certain items which need to be handled by professionals who are adept in providing good service. Art pieces are very valuable. They range from precious artifacts and antiques which are part of one's collection to large paintings, sculptures and even huge chandeliers found in museums and fancy mansions.

Mind's eye is a company whose main expertise is Art Storage. They offer a wide range of services which mainly caters to your 'artful' needs. Different suitable packages are available and can be customized according to types of art pieces, your art requirements such as vaulting, storing and transporting and they also take into consideration your budget. They provide crating, transporting, storing and showcasing virtually any kind of fine art. Their clients include private collectors to museums and art galleries. They know that each client is unique so they ensure high quality customized service for your art needs. Wow even their website is a piece of art with their bright colors and their interactive frame like portals which offer all the relevant information you need for art storage.

Check them out at http://www.imaginemindseye.com