My Friday nights and Saturday nights have become quite of a ho-hum now since I've moved to BC but that's not to say I'm not enjoying it. Granted, I was not much of a party-animal back home, I rarely go to bars (and I mean that in the most literal sense), but of course I can always look forward to sudden events to take place come weekends. A group of friends from work who have nothing planned would suddenly come up with something exciting at the last minute and we'd be up for it. And then I'd find myself having dinner at a somewhat fancy place, heading out to Starbucks for some much-needed late-night chillaxin,' watching some romantic-comedy flicks, heading over to our fave hang out spot Central BBQ Boys to have a few drinks, and having the night of my life talking about nonsensical stuff to the most sensible of things with my friends. Yes, life is good that way in Pinas. ☺

Weekend nights now may not be like that anymore but it sure has brought a whole new meaning to bonding. I'm in a whole different high when I'm surrounded with friends, that's for sure, but these nights now mean one thing - bonding with the family, and for that I am most grateful for. I thank God that we came here together. I may have been stripped off of my friends from home but it's nice to know I can always come home to a family. I have dinner with them while laughing our heads off to Two And A Half Men, Friends, and According To Jim, while fighting over ice cream. Haha! But seriously, that's really how we spend our week nights here! Come Friday night and we'll double up in size as my aunt and her family would come over to dine, chat and whatnot. A typical Friday night would see the dads drinking beer, the boys playing Xbox or on the laptop, and us girls (or my mom and aunts) facebooking and chatting about their earlier school years and me joining in and laughing at their conversations. These nights I really treasure, it's when our apartment truly becomes a home of a happy family.

Now Summer is nearing and living in Richmond has made me come to know about two things about Summer. First, it's synonymous with outdoors and barbecues (and I really thought that was just in the movies!). Second, night market. We have already listed our places to go to this Summer, the first of which was the Cultus Lake (and we intend to go back there on a hotter day), and many more to go of course! But last weekend, we didn't have anything outdoor planned and so we decided to head out to the Night Market which opened up two weeks earlier. It's basically like Greenhills in Pinas except this is situated in a big space outside, and most vendors are Chinese, there are no Indians. Hehe! Not all the stalls were occupied but the place is already packed! And we got a neat treat of an entertainment as the designated performers that day were Filipinos. Wanting to introduce the Philippines, they sang Filipino songs and grooved to the traditional dances such as the Tinikling. And I tell you, those girls and guys sure know how to move their feet! They really wowed the audience when they danced Tinikling to the fastest beat their feet could muster up. Of course, it ended with a great applause from the audience. (Too bad I wasn't able to capture photos of that, I myself was too amazed! I cannot dance that even to save my life! Haha!)

Speaking of pictures, here are some of them I captured using my BB phone. See, I was to shy to take out my shocking-screaming-pink of a digital camera and take photos like I'm some tourist when I live here! Lol! And forgive the poor editing of the pics, I'm quite amazed with lomo pics and their vintage effect that I tried to copy it off to my pics. ☺

Stalls of some 'festival games'

My cousin enjoying a ride on the plane

People looking around

Time to eat Chinese, what else? ;)

My food

Happy Birthday, Dearest Bestest Friend! :)

As classmates, seatmates we started and then it grew from there.

I remember being annoyed at the seating arrangement back when I was in 5th grade cause I was seated beside a girl I didn't know. Of course at that young age, you'd always want to be around your friends, right? So there I was, sad that I wasn't around my friends and then you just introduced yourself and began talking to me. You were such a chatterbox! Lol!

I remember we didn't really get along that well (though not in a bad way) 'cause it seemed to be your ultimate pleasure to annoy the hell outta me, knowing I wasn't such a sport. But thank God you persisted with your teasing or I would've remained such a spoil sport. I am able to laugh at myself now, thanks to that.

I remember you showing a picture of Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho, which ignited the anime addiction in me. And now, old-but-young-looking as we are, we still giggle over mangas and animes that 10-year-olds enjoy! Haha!

I remember that imaginative boyfriend of yours, Denvin or Denver, was it? You really had me fooled, you idiot! Hahaha! Being that naive and gullible girl that I was (naive, not anymore, gullible, sadly yes haha), I believed you and kinda longed to have a love of my life back then. At an early age! Hahaha! You silly girl!

I remember our major dramatic confrontation over our friendship - LOL! That's all. Hahah! And then another one, which ended quite well as it established a solid foundation on our friendship.

I remember still fighting over silly things when we were in our senior year. Both feeling guilty afterward, we'd end up apologizing and renewing our bond.

We've been through a lot huh? The list could go on and on but since our friendship still continues, this story would never end. And I hope to God it will not! I don't say this as much as I should but I love you, Grasha!

We're 700 miles apart now and I miss you everyday. Thank God for the internet and messenger, if not, we might as well be strangers by now. Let's talk soon, until then,

Happy Birthday, Bru! Wishing you all the best in life and praying to God for everything that you need. Remember, God loves you and He is there, and so am I. Just call on us anytime. I love you, I miss you, Happy Birthday! ♥

READ: Rest, Enjoy And Dream :)

As I was happily reading a book while sprawled on the lake shore on a windy day in Cultus Lake (such a long description haha), I kind of gotten that READ idea. Okay, not really, I just wanted to have a dramatic effect on how I ponder things, lol! But kidding aside, if you're on twitter and following RevRunWisdom, you'd know that he likes to put deeper meaning to some words. I liked that idea and after squeezing my brains out, finally came up with READ: Rest, Enjoy And Dream. Simply because I feel exactly that way everytime I grab a book to read. :D


Enjoying the sun that day while starting on this book, I can't help but wish that life were this uncomplicated, this peaceful.

But realization immediately hit me,

If life were this simple, we would all have been unappreciative idiots.

I leave you with that thought and happy READ-ing. ♥

Serenity in Cultus Lake

May 24th marks the celebration of Victoria Day, one of the holidays commemorated all over BC, giving us another long weekend to enjoy. And for us, that only meant one thing - go out of town and discover the great backyards of BC! As Hello BC ads say, "We go out there every chance we get!" (Or something along that line anyway.)

All the planning for the holiday was already planned a week ago and we've decided our stop would be at Cultus Lake in Chilliwack, BC. So with our luncheon packed and cars fueled to the brim, we began out an hour and a half drive on early Monday morning (despite weather warnings of just "sun breaks").

We were greeted by the crisp cold morning air upon our arrival and the inevitable clouds. The first thing we did was jog around to warm ourselves up, really!


All warmed up and ready to explore, I took it all in and fell in love with Canada more. It was just a sight to see, and it wasn't even the top tourist spots in BC! The lake just screamed serenity everywhere you looked. It was picture-perfect.


You could imagine yourself having a vacation home there and going there with your hubby/wife and kids and doing outdoor activities - fishing, kayaking, cooking up some barbecues, swimming, sun bathing, playing frisbee, reading your fave book stretched out on the shore, jogging, walking your pet, biking, do yoga, and the list goes on. It is just a dream.

Being there just made me more grateful to Him who has given us much more than we deserved, than we asked for. It has also stirred up that feeling that's become so familiar to me - missing my family back home. Both my brother and I have become nostalgic that day, wishing that our cousins and other relatives were with us there. After all, the more the merrier, right? We have hope, that by next year another family will be with us here, experiencing everything we are enjoying right now. Till then, I continue to pray for that dream to become a reality.

Next stop: North Vancouver to do some crabbing! Weeeee! Can't wait! *big grin*

Hi, I'm back (for good, I hope)

It has been a loooong time since I last updated this blog and I've been meaning to write about everything I'm experiencing, every memory - both good and bad.

So yeah, let's just start off with a peak on the past. I was feeling nostalgic for the past few days (okay, always, ever since I moved to BC) cause I realized time is just moving way too fast, and I can't keep up. That resulted to me wanting to go back to Pinas and to how I used to live before (minus the immaturity and quite regretful events). I guess being stripped off of all things and people known to you just make a person a bit emotional at times. It is quite a mental struggle really and as much as I hate it, I sometimes just have to let it out, "Being away from the people keeping you sane just to pursue the good stuff and the good life: Is it really worth it?" Ok, that's out, now I stop. It is not healthy at all to keep thinking about that and forget to live in the now and in the here.

But for now, let's go back a few years ago, shall we? I'd just let the pictures do the talking as you might just get bored (for those who personally know me, they know I can go on and on and on! Hahaha!).

What 500 Days of Summer Made Me (or all of us) Realize

"This is a story of boy meets girl. The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New Jersey, grew up believing that he'd never truly be happy until the day he met the one. This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music and a total mis-reading of the movie 'The Graduate'. The girl, Summer Finn of Shinnecock, Michigan, did not share this belief. Since the disintegration of her parent's marriage she'd only love two things. The first was her long dark hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off and not feel a thing. Tom meets Summer on January 8th. He knows almost immediately she is who he has been searching for. This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story."

Just because we are deeply in love with someone doesn't make that someone the one for us.

Now, I don't know how to explain the part where Summer said, "It just happened," or something along that line anyway. We won't know until that happens - that moment when we'll just wake up and know, what we were never sure of with the others we loved. And that's just the way it really is - a magical experience, if I may say so.

"You were right about destiny. You weren't just right about me."

Yeah, we always tend to put the label "He's the one," or "He's the right one" to whoever we're with at the moment as long as we feel that "love." Of course, this is a natural reaction. I mean we wouldn't be seriously dating someone if we don't think it will lead to something better in the future right? But sadly, that's not the way it works. If it's not meant to be, it won't be - this will always be difficult to understand and accept by someone whose heart has been broken. Then we go through that heartbroken cycle, one of the most painful things to go through. And then we just snap back to reality and then understand the bigger picture and finally accept that some things are not meant to be - and it's not always a bad thing. :) I can go on about this, but many of us who've experienced love and breakups already know the drill.

"Most days of the year are unremarkable. They begin, and they end, with no lasting memories made in between. Most days have no impact on the course of a life. May 23rd was a Wednesday."

What day will be mine? I don't know. But that day will come. And then I'll just know. ;)

The Three-Month Ordeal

. . . is over, finally. I can breathe.

As with every beginning, I believe the first three months are the most trying months people have to go through. It's just a relief right now that our first three months here in Richmond are over, now I can only expect great things and opportunities to come our way.

The three months we've been here had been spent discovering this fine city in the midst of Vancouver - exploring city's common places, tourist spots, beaches, parks, great amenities, learning the transportation ways, and getting acquainted with its lifestyle. It was fun while it lasted.

Being in a new place is exciting and refreshing for sure and I love that I came here. But of course, since this meant being away from friends and family I've been with my whole life, it took quite a toll on my emotional health. I was in an emotional imbalance as the days passed by and the homesickness seems to be unbearable at some point. I began to question what I am doing here, is this move worth everything I've given up for? Just regular depressing issues of someone who has moved a thousand miles away from her home to pursue a better life - or in better and shorter term, homesickness gone worst. Well, I regretted thinking that way, after all, I've prayed hard for this to happen. I just thought I was mentally prepared for what I was about to go through. And well, as you can see, I learned I wasn't, the hard way.

But enough, li'l ol' me (emphasis on little, haha!) is back to being the positive me, now that I think the storm's over. Whew! We made it through! :D So, from now on, I can only expect great things to happen and to look forward to. But I'm still thankful for this ordeal, for it opened up an opportunity for me to be closer to God. He really did help me a lot and my relationship with Him improved. I've learned to really trust and have faith in Him and to draw strength from Him. And wow, it worked wonders in my life! It was hard to trust that everything's going to be okay especially when you feel the exact opposite but don't lose that trust and faith in God, and you really won't lose your way. His promises won't ever be broken.

Going through this phase has made me become really appreciative of what I have and everything's that happened in my life. I remember reading this story in a book called Our Daily Bread back in my highschool days, and it goes something like this - A boy and his sister were walking up a mountain and the girl complained that there were so many rocks and stones around that it's getting harder to climb up, she complained that she was getting bruises because of those. Her brother's answer was simple,

"But the rocks and stones are what we step on to climb our way to the top. How are we going to get there if not for these rocks and stones?"

The very answer we're all looking for everytime we're experiencing a rough time in our life. Reading that, I guess that's when I've learned to become optimistic in everything that I experience. :)

"Everything ends well for anyone who believes... in God."