Gifts from My Big Sis

my ever-generous sister and her thoughtful husband

I've got a really amazing, fantastic and generous sister.  And a loving brother-in-law too.  Well, I've got a really awesome family but I meant to write about my sister (and brother-in-law) only today.  I'm saving my other family members for future posts ;-)

You all know that as an early wedding gift, she and my brother-in-law decided they'll let me use their brand new white Toyota Fortuner as my bridal SUV.  Prior to their kind gesture, I was already thinking of renting out the blue Chrysler 300C from Fly to Manila (at 8k for 4 hours or 12k for 8 hours, all inclusive), or perhaps one of the more affordable Mercedes Benz from Don Robert's Bridal Cars (the cheapest model was at 4.5k already).  After scouring the net for potential rides for my big day, I seriously developed a headache.  Why does it cost too much to just take a ride from your hotel to your church, then from your church to your reception venue, then back to the hotel?  It's just one of those things I don't understand.  So having been given the pricing information I need, early on in the wedding preps I had to say good bye to dreams of riding in a Cadillac or Jaguar Mark as I knew that I'd be so regretful after paying a good one month's worth of apartment rental fee for a mere four hours use of these cars (insert an Ilocana's smile here).  :-p   One night after our engagement, my sister visited me at home and suggested we use her SUV for my bridal car.  Thanks, Ate!  That's an instant 8k savings for me and Mr. M :-)

Source:  La Germania

But, wait.  There's more.  More?

This afternoon, my sister called me up to say that she had just bought us a four-burner gas range with oven from La Germania (apparently, in an effort to get me more encouraged to pick up my cooking skills haha!).  Yehey!!!!!!  Thank you, Lord, we haven't even gotten married yet but our future home is starting to fill up with all the essential items!  My sister knows we're going to live in a small, one bedroom apartment for the meantime, but she said we can have items like this since it's going to be used for the long-term.  After all, we can still bring it to our new home when we transfer later.  Thank God for her wisdom, so now I can happily prepare spaghetti, sinigang na baka, and the like in true housewife style!  

Source:  Archi Expo

I'm the type of cook who is neither a beginner nor an intermediate.  I don't have original concoctions, unlike some people who even have food blogs of their own.  I follow recipe books to the letter, save for this one time when out of the blue I decided to turbo-broil a whole chicken.  So next to the gas range or stove, what is a woman's best friend in the kitchen?  You guessed it right, the refrigerator!  Well, to even add up to the "pressure" of learning more recipes and whipping out more delectable stuff, my sister (and brother-in-law) threw in a brand-new fridge on top of their other gifts!!!!!  I'm pretty sure that my fiancee would end up the happiest in this case, because he's the one at the receiving end of all my cooking efforts and adventures.  Hahaha!  :-D  I couldn't really thank God enough for all these blessings!

So this afternoon I visited blogs I frequent for food inspirations.  I knew just where I should go for some ideas on what to prepare ---- Enchie's From My Kitchen and Beyond and Mae's Newlyweds' Cravings.

Hhmm....With my spanking, brand-new gas range and ref, who knows?  I just might end up with a cooking blog!  :-D

Look what I found on our mailbox today.

Earlier, I posted about receiving an early Christmas gift from my mom (one of the many, LOL!).  Guess what I found on our mailbox today.  Another set of gifts from no other than the founders of Weddings at Work, Sir Abet and Ma'am Benz Rana!!!!!  Yahoo!!!!!!

It's the W@W Desktop Calendar and W@W Wedding Primer delivered to our house via 2Go!

Close-up shot

Message from the Couple who founded Weddings at Work,

Sir Abet and Ma'am Benz Rana

Of course, by instinct, I checked out our wedding month :-)

Yes, that was me!

And another quotable from me!  :-)

The W@W Wedding Primer --- a must-have for every bride-to-be and groom-to-be.

It's a medium-sized book which contains a lot of very useful tips and info (from real brides at that!) for your special day.

It has lists, checklists and planning forms to get you organized and ready from day 1 to the day you march down the aisle.

The calendar will soon sit on this bedside table/desk.

That cute box right next to the calendar is my coin box which I got from Tiendesitas for only php 130.00

Thank you so much, Sir Abet and Ma'am Benz!

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Don't have the wedding primer?

You can get it from your local bookstores in Metro Manila or online via thebookfan.net.  

Lunch Date @ Diamond Hotel

Christmas is still a few weeks from now, but my mom decided to give Mr. M and I one of our Christmas gifts earlier --- a fabulous lunch date / buffet at the Diamond Hotel (Corniche).  Woot woot!  ;-)

We're the t-shirt, jeans and rubber shoes type of couple, so it was a bit of a challenge choosing what to wear for this date.  I wanted to show up in jeans and my favorite top, but mom wouldn't have any of it hahaha ;-) So I took it as an opportunity to dress up and be kikay for a day without going over the top or being inappropriate.  Tee heee ;-)  I'm glad Mr. M liked my outfit.  ;-)  (Note to self: wear this dress again, and buy more dresses in the future!  Hahahaha!!!!)  I was so happy with the shoes because I absolutely dislike high heels and the pain they bring.  After our sumptuous lunch, we headed straight to Tutuban to scout for my gown, and hopped on over to Binondo to book our wedding cake, but my feet didn't complain a bit. Yey!

Hooray for this very nice present from my mom.  She really knows the two of us -- that we appreciate all kinds of food.  Hahaha :-)  Here's our take of that day:

Christmas is in the air judging by the door of the entrance to the hotel

We had the gift certificate.  Yey!

Read to eat!

Yes, I wore a dress with gladiator heels ;-)

We love this creamy pumpkin soup.  

See how big his smile is?  He's just too happy to be eating here ;-)

I love it!

Nice ceiling decors

He's wanting for more!

We don't get to eat this everyday so we tried the lobster, among other things hehehe ;-)

....and he devoured it so quickly!

My picks for dessert....

Uber happy with the ice cream and mangoes....

Don't be fooled with the photos.  Actually, we stayed at Corniche for about two hours.  We ate slowly so that we could enjoy as much food as we can ----- Indian, Japanese, Western, Filipino ----- name it, we tried them all!  However, I forgot to take some of the photos of the things we tried.  :-(    Hence, only a few made it into this blog.

Diamond Hotel is truly beautiful and classy.  I would go there again even if commuting to the place is quite a hassle (December isn't a nice time to go there if you don't have a car).  If I were to organize a Manila-based wedding, I would have seriously considered this place for the preps.  The proximity of Diamond to Manila Bay is a plus factor because of the opportunity to shoot fabulous photos.  High on my list is Hotel Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila too, but then a strong typhoon once hit Manila and parts of this spectacular hotel were flooded. 

Magnificent tree at the lobby...

More sumptuous desserts at the lobby...

We were so full so we decided to walk around and we saw this amazing stairway which I often see in the websites of wedding photographers.  Incidentally, there were two weddings being held at the time we were eating but I didn't get to take a shot of the brides. 

Take a dip!

Man-made waterfalls at the pool

Playing with the mirror

Hahaha!

The lobby as we were about to leave...

Next time you're in the Manila area and you're looking for a great place to eat, try Corniche at the Diamond Hotel.  It's a fantastic, classy hotel with equally amazing food and wonderful ambiance.  

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Diamond Hotel

Roxas Boulevard cor. Dr. J. Quintos Street, Manila, Philippines 100

Tel # 528-3000

Fax # 526-2255

Website:  http://www.diamondhotel.com/

The Five Love Languages

Does your partner feel loved?  If you answered yes, let me ask the follow-up to that question:  what do you do in order to make your partner feel loved?  Is this the kind of thing that he / she wants you to do for him / her? 

One of the many things that I truly appreciate in my relationship with M is that he tries to really know me, do things that really please me, and just love me the way I want to be loved.  Our Monday night dates would always be short and sweet, but he finds creative ways to get to know me better and deeper.  There are times when he asks me straightforwardly so he can find out more info; at other times, he just observes and concludes, then discusses with me what he thought about, and whether it is true or not. I am really thankful to God for giving me someone who tries his best to meet my emotional needs in a way that does not overshadow how God provides for everything that I could possibly ask for.    

I'm no relationship guru, but one of the best things I've learned is this: whatever type of relationship we are in (as romantic couples, as parent-child, as brother-sister, etc.), if we want the other person to feel loved, we need to find out what is his / her love language, and "speak" it.  Be consistent with it.  Be intentional about it.  Love must be mutual in order for a relationship to be successful, and how can we make it succeed if the other party does not feel loved in spite of all the efforts we've been doing?

Loving someone is both a task and a decision; there are lots of hard work to do, and a good and lasting relationship requires the deliberate effort of the people involved in it.  If we give 110% in our careers, shouldn't we do the same to our love lives and relationships?  Love isn't just a matter of expressing it any way you want to; it has to be done in a way that clearly and consistently communicates your love, dedication, affection and fondness for the other.  It is a language that you have to speak, and one that the other person must fully understand.  For instance, what good is it to keep buying her flowers, when all she wants is for you to give her your full attention whenever she talks?   

I've heard countless stories of people breaking up, or getting in a violent fight or too many arguments (things that can potentially destroy any relationship), which could have been avoided if only people learn this important principle:  know your loved one well enough to do what he / she wants you to, and therefore, make emotional deposits into his / her love bank as often as you could.  We all experience days when it feels as if the love bank has just gone empty with too many withdrawals (ie, arguments, misunderstandings, etc.), and speaking the kind of love language that your partner has is one of the best things a person in a relationship can do to further nurture and nourish your love. Some people feel most loved when you give them quality time.  Others need to be affirmed by receiving gifts from people who matter to them.  Some people are touchy touchy type, so physical contact matters a lot to them.  Others need to hear your words of assurance and affection every so often.  And finally, there are those who feel most loved when the people who matter most to them help them carry out tasks.  People may sometimes speak not only one, but as many as three love languages.  Whatever their love language is, the bottomline is this:  if you want a successful relationship --- one that is continually growing and maturing --- then make your loved one really feel LOVED.  And one of the best ways to do that is to find out his / her specific love language(s).  Curious?  Click here to find out what is your love language.  You can also try more specific tests (ie, for singles, wives, husbands, children, etc) from this site.

Mr M gave me this huggable dog we named Choco last summer.  No reason at all.  ;-)  He just wants to give me a dog to hug as I sleep. To date, I think I have about 5 dogs and a big white teddy bear --- all coming from him.

Pardon the cheese, but he also grabbed this one the moment we stepped in Papemelroti.   We both are fond of dogs, though ironically, neither of us owns one.  Not even a puppy.  He said someday we will.  In the meantime, this brown pooch is him, and the one white is me.  ;-)

I took the 5 love languages test, and it revealed what I had known all along:  my love languages are receiving gifts and quality time.  Good thing I have a beloved who pampers me with small and big surprises every now and then  ;-)

I am just so glad that even when I was still single, my cell group leader from church taught us the 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman.  That best-selling book went on to sell millions of copies, and has been rewritten to fit different kinds of reader.  So now there's 5 Love Languages for Teenagers, for Singles, for Married People, for Men, for Children, and most recently, an edition that lets you discover your apology language.  About two years ago I bought myself the original one, The 5 Love Languages paperback edition for only Php 400.  That book has been read by a couple of friends and officemates who responded positively when I told them about it. Many of the principles from that book still ring true today.  I am so glad Mr. Chapman expanded it such that we now have The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, God Speaks Your Love Language, The Marriage You’ve Always Wanted, The Family You’ve Always Wanted, How to Really Love Your Adult Child, and a couple of other relationship-related books which I would want to have in my personal collection.

If you don't know your or your partner's love language, or if you want to further improve your relationship with anybody (not just your fiance), I have four practical suggestions:
1.)  Take the love language test.  It's really very simple.  Click here.  No cheating please.  Let your partner also take it separately.  Then discuss the results.  Affirm and confirm. 
2.)  Immediately apply what you have learned about yourself and your partner from the test.  Please be deliberate and intentional as possible.  And the best time to do it is NOW.
3.)  Check out your local bookstore.  Start with National Bookstore or OMF Literature, Inc.  Or visit the Christian bookstores nearest your place.  Or go online via Amazon or other reliable online sellers.  Buy yourself a copy of Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages in the edition of your preference (Original edition, Edition for Teenagers, for Singles, for Men, etc.)
4.)  Are you a frequent blog reader?  Then add The Five Love Languages Blog to your blogroll.  

All images of the books were taken from the Five Love Languages Official Website.  The rest have been taken by me.