birthday pictures - part 1

birthday greetings!

Below are the greetings I got from families and friends…unedited:

Jay said...
♪Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday pretty Faye.
Happy birthday to you.♪

Ellen said…
Hi Faye,
Belated happy birthday! (Jul 2 di ba?)

Faith said…
Happy Birthday, Faye!!!

Aileen said…
hello faye,

happy birthday. how have you been? i hope your day is a very special one full of showers of blessings and love. many more happy ones to come. take care and reagrds to irvin.


aileen and family

Rea said…
happy birthday faye!!

Caryl said…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FAYE !!!!!!

sana magkababy ka na din, hahahaha......
more blessings and healthy years to come! have a great day!

Faye, Migs has something for you too.... see attached...



and my gift for you is here... (hope you like it!)



Jonel said…
Faye, wishing u all of God's best on ur birthday!

Jeng said…
Happy Birthday! Faye

May ginawa just last night. Pasensiya kana nagpractice pa lang ako..... hehehehe




Sarah said…
Happy burpday, faye!!May all your dreams come true!!!!!!

Rachel said…
fayeski!!! hafi vertdey!!!!

Ruby said…
Happy Birthday, Faye!

Wishing you happiness, good health and a bountiful life.

Song said…
FAYE, happy birthday! I hope you're having one swellof a birthday tomorrow. Ise-celebrate ko nga ngayondito. Hic! Regards to Irvin!

Carmela said…
HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

MAY ALL YOUR WISHES COME TRUE...

GOD BLESS.

Jane said…
Hi Faye! Happy Happy Birthday! May you have many more birthdays and more blessings to come.

Take Care and enjoy your day!

Muah!
Jane

Aou said…
Advance Hapi Bday!

Kuya Lito said…
Hi Faye! Advanced Happy Birthday!!! May you have many more to come filled with the Lord's Love & Blessings.

Regards.

Tita Aba said…
hi faye, kumusta na kyo ni irvin? work na ba sya? wow! birthday mo tomorrow, ano handa mo? last wk pa naalala ni nanay birthday mo. d2 pa sya hanggang ngayon. ano na latest sa inyo? ok, happy, happy birthday! god bless you always. mwaah...

Ernie said…
Hi Faye. May this birthday bring you more happiness and joy. Many more years of peace and abundant blessings from the lord. God bless you and your family. Happy happy birthday!!!! All the best. Ernie

card from Ernie.

Christopher said…
Tita Faye,

Happy Bday!

Malu said…
MAHAL KONG FAYE,

NAIS KO LAMANG IPA-ALAM SA IYO NA IKAW AY NAAALALA SA IYONG KAARAWAN. NAWAY PATNUBAYAN KA NG POONG MAYKAPAL NG ISANG MAHABA, MASAYA, MAGINHAWA AT MAPAYAPANG BUHAY SA PILING NG IYONG MGA MAHAL SA BUHAY.

NAGMAMAHAL,

TITA MALU

Ella said…
Hapi bday pepay! Sana ay masaya k ngaung iyong kaarawan. God bless u.

Papa said…
Hapi b-day, congrats, ur 1st b-day as a wife, GOD BLESS

Tita Baby said…
Hello, how are you? happy happy happy birthday!

Tzie said…
Hapi bday! enjoy n all d best.

Mama said…
Good morning…tinanong ko c papa kung ngtxt n cya sau..sagot nya bukas p ang 5 dun… hehehe..i love u anak nd happy birthday. saan ka magcecelbrate?

Vel said…
Happy happy birthday fayeee! Wishing you all the very best.

Adoy said…
Ate Faye, Happy Birthday! (Philippine time). Bukas greet kita ulit U.S. time na! :)

Alynn said…
happy birthday faye! muahhh..

Litzie said…
good thing I opened your blog! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY FAYE! wish you and irvin the best of everything! you deserve it! God bless!

Maridel said…
Fayee.....

pahabol, happy happy birthday!!!! first birthday mo as a married woman, how was it? how did you celebrate your special day?

Sorry, tempted na tempted na nga ba ako kahapon to call and greet you kaso sabi ko gusto ko mismong day .... kaya lang nawaglit sa isip ko!! when I remember, too late to call na, am sure tulog ka na.

I wish you all the best, my dear friend! and may God bless you more and more, each day! may you finally realize all your dreams and ambitions in life and be truly happy ... in all aspects of your personal and career life!

love you my friend!!!!

happy birthday again!

maridel

Ricci said…
Belated Happy Birthday Faye!

Rommel said…
Happy birthday Faye...

Kelan ba birthday mo? Ilang taon ka na?

Jing and Noel said…
Happy Birthday beautiful Faye! Stay happy and enjoy your day.

Joey said…
Faye,
Happy Birthday sa iyo at sana everything is ok with you and Ervin (hope tama ang name, he he he)

All the best my friend and see you soon !

Dala ako ng camera this Friday para makita mo mga makukulitna kaibigan natin…..

Oh...Tita Laling and Manang Fely also called me at my cell phone to greet me.

Many thanks to all of you for remembering my birthday. I really appreciate it! I may have Irvin here with me to celebrate it with but it'll be a lot better to have all of you. :)

*****

And as I’ve mentioned previously, we went to Applebees last night for dinner. They were too busy that we had to wait to be seated. It’s always good to have an occasion to celebrate. Why? Well we always have an excuse to eat more. Haha! We ordered nachos topped with the salsa, guacamole, sour cream, lots of cheese and I don’t know what you call the ground meat. I had the honey baby back ribs as usual. It comes with French fries, beans and coleslaw. Irvin had the garlic sirloin skillet which comes with garlic mashed potato, garlic broccoli and mushrooms, and toasted garlic bread. For drinks, he had root beer and I had Oreo cookie milk shake. Hmmm… yummy! We didn’t have any dessert anymore. We still have the strawberry fruit cake at home anyway.

Then, we’ve decided to just watch “S” on Friday. We were both tired and restless. But we dropped by Kohls really quick and bought some clothes for my niece (Daighne) and Irvin’s nephews (Miggy & Kyle).

I still haven’t uploaded the pictures though…

Today is my Birthday!

Yes today is my day! Well it may look like I’m announcing my birthday but I just want to share with you what has happened so far…

It was my brother Adoy who greeted me 1st. Then, I got a text message from Marivel, Mama and Tita Baby. These were all received yesterday, July 4th.

Irvin and I had a little celebration when the clock hit 12 last night. He cooked Fettuccine Alfredo. Oh it’s so good! I really liked it! I just couldn’t eat that much since we still need some sleep before going to work. We had some champagne (sparkling cider). We just didn’t have wine glasses and used regular ones instead. I also blew the candles on my cake…3 big ones and 2 small ones which means I’m already 32. Haha! I’ll share the pictures later. You know what’s cute? We were already in pajamas! Oh and we also took a short video of it! I just don’t know how I can share it with you. Let me figure it out ok!

My in-laws called earlier at around 7AM. I was still in the shower rushing to go to work. That was really sweet! Everyone greeted me except for Miggy who’s always shy to talk to me. Then, I got more birthday greetings through e-mails. I’ll make another post on that. Thanks, guys!

Well it’s only 12noon. We will see what else is in store for me for the rest of the day! :) One thing for sure is we'll have dinner tonight at Applebees and we might watch Superman Returns. Well I can’t accept him yet as a replacement of Christopher Reeve but I’m also curious since a lot of people say the movie is really good.

happy 4th!

July 4th has always been a big celebration in the US history. It is an important day signifying their Independence from Britain. There is always a beautiful fireworks display in Manhattan by the East River. It’s just that being alone for the past 4 years I never had the chance to watch it. So after having attended the BBQ dinner at Ate Lulu’s house, Irvin and I went to the city to witness a once a year event that Americans commemorate. We were kind of late though having watched the fireworks in its last 5 minutes display. At least we got to experience it! :)

craving for Chinese food

Irvin cooks dinner most of the time since I get home almost 7 pm daily. As usual, dinner was ready and the table was already set when I reached home last night. But I was craving for Chinese food which I try not to eat as much as possible. Well it definitely tastes good but is also high in MSG which is kind of bad for your health. And so this was our conversation:

I: Let’s order from Jade Garden (the one we usually order from) then.
F: But I want a taste of different kinds!
I: So where do you suggest that we go?
F: Well the nearest Chinese Buffet here is Century Diner Buffet in Springfield Blvd. but I’ve never been there.
I: So let’s go!
F: Wait! I have to find out first how much it is per person. There is this restaurant which serves good food…well at least for me…which charges $21.95 plus tax for dinner buffet. If it’s less than $15, then we’ll go.

I called Century Diner and voila! It’s only $12.99! I mean it’s not that bad and I don’t crave all the time anyway!

And so we went. There was a wide selection of dishes. I will have to say that serving oysters and crab legs are good for that price. There were just some that are salty. Bottom line, we were stuffed and we didn’t regret going.

college days...

The Class of Bachelor of Science in Accountancy Batch '95...

There were only 15 of us in the class… 2 of which were irregulars. Accountancy as a course in St. Paul College of Manila was never easy. It wasn’t just a matter of what you like. There were some qualifications that you have to meet to stay in the course. We were like in a reality show where we were being rated and eliminated. Enrollment every semester was a horrible moment for each one of us. There you’ll wait on line waiting for your judgment…waiting for them to tell you if you can stay or not. Some professors were nice but some were strict. Despite these difficulties, there were those ‘happy moments’. I have gained friends. I’ve learned a lot from the school and teachers. I have developed self-confidence. I’ve learned that you’ll have to work hard to achieve something. Time will slip away but knowledge is something that will remain in us.

1995 - 2006

Jennifer has created a yahoogroup for BSA class of '95. It's been 11 long years since graduation. We may have communicated with some of our classmates but we weren't really updated with what's what to some. So what happened to me after our college graduation?

I’ve always wanted to be an Accountant. Imagine taking the board exams four times! Maybe it wasn’t really for me. But despite that, I decided to stay in my chosen career. I was lucky to have been employed by Castrol Philippines. I started as a Finance Clerk. I spent a little more than 6 years with the company. I have very high regards for Castrol even up to now. It may sound biased since that’s the only company I have worked for in the Philippines but employees’ growth was one of the company’s priorities. It was there where I experienced traveling. I had so much fun flying and working in the field. I also learned how to be an effective speaker having had the chance to present to the top management on a regular basis. I was also conducting seminars to clients/distributors and sales executives. I have attended various seminars not just those related to my field but also on computers and self-improvement trainings. I was holding the position of Credit Control Officer by the time I left the company. I didn’t really want to leave but I came to a point of wanting to move to a different phase of my life…which is to go to the US.

On the personal side…I’m not sure if you can still remember Irvin. He was my boyfriend in college who also became my husband. I’m so lucky to have someone as kind and loving. During the course of our relationship, I crazily fell in love (I’m not even sure if you can call it Love) with an officemate in Castrol. I wouldn’t anymore elaborate on that. I still consider that as one big mistake in my life up to now. I mean I have to say that that was one of the things I regret still. So Irvin and I had our ‘off’ moments then but for us, we never counted those and we still consider being together in the relationship for 11 years and 8 months before we finally got married.

I came here in the US on March 2002 as a tourist. It was not until 2 months later when I started looking for a job… internet, papers, even through referrals. My passport was stamped for a 6-month stay. I told myself I’m definitely not staying if I can’t find a job but I luckily did. My god sister contacted me in Massachusetts about a job opening in their sister company. I went to New York for an interview and I was lucky to be hired on the spot. I tried haggling for the salary but they wouldn’t consider it. So it took me 3 weeks to finally accept the offer…good thing the position was still available!

I was kind of desperate at first. Homesickness is something which is very hard to deal with. The 1st few months of my life here was horrible so to speak. I didn’t know anyone. I was a total stranger to the place. I missed my family and friends. But God has been always good. I got adjusted pretty fast with the new environment. My performance at the job paid off that I got good salary increases. I got along well with co-workers. The thing is I couldn’t go home. There was a big risk of not being able to come back since I changed my status here. Irvin became desperate and we even came to a point that he was making me choose.

I did a lot of thinking until I finally decided to accept Irvin’s marriage proposal. It was August 2004. This I think was the hardest decision I ever made. I have already started a life here. It wasn’t easy. I’ve gone through a lot of sacrifices. Anyone would really feel sorry if everything will turn to waste…considering also that life in the Philippines is hard nowadays. But I lifted everything to God. I did what I had to do and just prayed that He’ll do what’s best. Anyway, we told our parents about it and started planning right away… reserved the church… decided on the reception venue… etc. etc. I went home mid-September 2005. I underwent an interview at the US Embassy and I got approved for a working visa. We got married on October 1st of the same year. I came back to the US without encountering any problems. Three months later, Irvin got approved for a dependent visa. He was finally able to join me on February 28th. The only thing that we worry about right now is Irvin couldn’t find a job. That’s the restriction of his status. Still, we both believe it’ll happen in His time.

Well, I think I have covered the significant areas of the 11 years that had passed. What’s next? Maybe it’s time to have a baby! I’ll keep you posted!

Joe & John

I never used the video feature of my digicam before. Well I must admit I have not read the manual up to now. Anyway, I tried it when we were in MA and here's what I got...

MA vacation

Wow it took me almost 2 weeks to make this post on our 5-day vacation in Massachusetts (MA). Well, I’ve been kind of busy with work lately and most of the time I don’t even want to touch the computer at home. All I want is to relax.

Anyway, we traveled to MA on May 24th. I took off an hour and a half early from work. It was Irvin’s 1st time to see MA and to meet Tita Laling and her family. We were earlier than scheduled but I noticed there weren’t much buses running then. Well Memorial Day wasn’t until the 29th. I was confident that we will make it for the train (last trip) going to Leominster as I’ve already taken this schedule a couple of times before. But I started to worry when the operator dropped some passengers off at Framingham. He even stopped by at a resting area for 10-15 minutes. We took the subway upon arrival at the terminal. But despite the running and panting, we missed the train. It was already past 12 midnight so there wasn’t any choice but to take a cab. And so we took a cab. I asked the driver how much but he said he needs to find out. I told him to start going because it was already late. Tita Laling, on the other hand, gave me an idea that a cab coming from her place would cost us $92. I was shocked when this driver told me the fare is $152. I was really shocked. It was really a rip-off. I felt really bad being charged that much just because they know we don’t have a choice. Grrr!!!

We didn’t really get to visit many places. We were just basically at Tita Laling’s house most of the time. Going out can be best described as going to the mall, grocery supermarket or to the restaurant. But despite that, the feeling was just great being in a house you feel like home. Irvin felt the same way too. I’m also glad that he pretty much got along with Tito Ken and Joe especially.

Irvin would sit down with Tito Ken most of the afternoons having some little talks and some beers. i don’t remember Tito Ken doing that except when it’s family.

Tita Laling also took Irvin to Longhorn…my ever favorite American restaurant. Why? Their honey baby back ribs are just yummy and juicy!

We also went to a seafood place called Weathervane. Their fish and chips also taste good. But you know what’s funny?! We were just so hungry every time we go to these restaurants that I forgot to take pictures of the food.

You just can’t resist trying Mommy’s barbeque. I don’t know but I really like it. Irvin asked the recipe from his Mom and we tried it there. I couldn’t say it was really a success but it tasted like hers.

We met Joe’s friend… John. And just like my cousin, he eats basically the same kind of food that Joe eats… never ending popcorn, chips, cheese pizza and the latest to the addition is the chicken fries from Burger King. These two guys are just fun to be with. I think they also enjoyed playing basketball with Irvin. Now every time Joe asks about Irvin, either he’ll ask if he’s eating Cheetos or watching basketball!





Irvin also enjoyed Tito Ken’s collection of old cars…





And here’s Tito Ken’s family…



Lastly, we went to downtown Boston with Tita Laling’s friend Weng and her son Billy. Prima who took us to Harvard also met with us. One of the many things which make Boston famous is the Street Theater. And we were lucky to be able to watch one…





It was a tiring but definitely fun-filled day with these guys.







For more pictures, please click here…

Oh and before I forget... here in the US, you pay $0.05 per can/bottle as deposit whenever you buy soda or beer. While we were in MA, we returned the used cans and bottles which have been piled up in Tita's yard. You know how much it came out to? $130.60! Yes! $130.60! At least I felt a little better that we were able to cover up for that cab fare. Haha! Again, thanks to Tita Laling! On another note, I felt kind of awkward when Tito Ken said... "Why do you have to return the cans? We have money!" Yaiks! :)

thanks to technology!

Being the 1st grandchild, I was ‘sort of’ raised by my grandparents. Mama even told me Tatay had to enroll me at the age of 4 without them knowing it. Tatay was basically making up excuses so my parents could not get me from them. Anyway, Tatay left us quite early… at an unexpected time.

Nanay, on the other hand, has never been showy…not vocal with what she really feels. But I know how much she loves us. I am a witness to how she showed her love… attending to our needs but not much in words. I try to call her once in a while. And it makes me sad every time I hear her cry for she misses us. She’s currently at Tita Aba’s house and thanks to technology! I was able to see her through the webcam with the help of my cousin Gail. I think she lost a lot of weight. She said she can’t really sleep and eat properly. I guess that’s how it is when you’re ageing. She looked sad and was teary-eyed. She said she misses me so much. She asked me when I will go home for a vacation. I told her maybe next year but not to expect. I mean who wouldn’t want to! But it’ll still depend on the situation. I just told her to take care of herself... that I want her to be in good health all the time.

I'll see you soon, Nanay...

it's my father-in-law's birthday!

Happy Birthday, Daddy! Wishing you happiness and good health always!