i’ve been trying to watch my diet lately. hoping i’d be healthier. but my taste for food is really hard to train. it takes ginormous willpower in order not eat the food that will satisfy your palate.

i’ve started eating yogurt and washing it down with a glass of orange juice in the morning. for lunch I try to eat lean by maintaining a soup or salad diet. broke that rule with a reuben sandwich this morning. and have marchesa’s cooking for dinner. so far i’ve lost weight. but still not as much as I want it to be.

slowly but surely … slowly but surely.

life has its various stages and as we move from one stage to the other, our faith gets challenged.

right before I met my wife my faith was challenged and I didn’t know that it was preparing me for something big. I had the choice of going back home or toughening it out. I did tough it out and I saw blessings that i’ve never experienced before.

i’m at that stage again. i’m struggling through some personal pain. standing at a crossroads of life and maybe even death. its a whole lot tougher now because I am now responsible for two other people. I’ve been having a really hard time coping with my responsibilities at home. I can’t even be there for my family. that’s what happens when you keep the busyness dragon as your pet.

I need to pray more. Read his word. go back to basics. rekindle the fire that once was burning with desire to know my King. I need to live again because I am dead.

I need a personal revival. I don’t want my marriage to go down the drain. I know that the closer I get to God, the closer i’ll become to my wife. I love her more than anything or anyone.

Psalms 85 was very fitting as the scripture that I read in my personal devotions.
Ps 85:6 says “Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you?”.

that is the the longing of my heart right now. a key towards an elevated faith. help me God. I can’t do this on my own.

so cute!

The SJBCI website is finally up. when you get the chance, visit www.sjbci.org. Comments are appreciated.

once i saw these, i was on a mission to get them.  the problem with me is that i try to wait for sales, and hesitate too long that by the time i tried looking at them again for a purchase, all black size 6 shoes were gone.  i searched and searched daily and finally saw one site who carried them but took 3-4 weeks processing my order so i tried searching again for a more efficient carrier. 

finally one day, i found the last pair of black size 6 on solestruck.com and immediately bought them before someone snatched them.  it seems a bit adolescent but this style is really in demand. 

how would i rate them?  i received them today and they fit perfectly!  they’re not too stiff, or too narrow, and the rubber inside is so comfortable, almost as if your feet has a cushion in those 3 inches.  it’s so comfortable to walk in that i don’t have to worry about walking carefully.  it’s also mommy friendly, so britney wouldn’t have trouble carrying her baby with her latte.  and i’m not really gonna comment about the style, cuz look at them, it totally exudes the hit tv show “three’s company.”  you could definitely see terri wear them with adorable white or yellow hot shorts.  i’m really pleased with this purchase.  if i had gargantuan amounts of money, i’d buy myself a rainbow of these shoes, esp. the white, red, & yellow.  i get so many compliments from people, even when i pass by, and i get numerous of requests from people to buy it if i find another available pair.

insanely enough, so many people wanted this shoe and so many requests were made that bc footwear had to ship out much more.  maybe for my birthday, i’ll get the yellow ones.

store: solestruck.com, amazon.com
retail: $54
status: own (black)

the preparation was very hard work…i really need to thank my parents for all their labor spent on food. everyone gave so many compliments on the food. this was also the first time i contributed, as well as my older sister. yes, we’re learning how to cook for people…hahah. anyways, the menu is as follows:

appetizers:
crackers&dip
chips
candy
rice crispies squares with twizzlers ribbons

main course:
hot dogs
spaghetti
lasanga
seafood lasagna
mandarin salad
sweet and sour tilapia
pasta salad w/cooked shrimp
pork barbeque
pork belly inihaw
shumai
crabs
bangus
salmon with mushroom sauce

desserts:
photo marble cake
gulaman/bananas mix
snow cones
ube roll cake
pineapple cheese dumplings
macaroni fruits
fruits: mangos and watermelon

we also rented a 20×20 canopy just in case of the sun. we also budgeted for a moonbounce which ended up being a big hit with the kids (and some ventursome fun-loving adults). i thought that they’d easily get tired of it but for hours and hours on end, that moonbounce was packed. we ordered the 4 in one combo so there was also a long slide adjacent to the bouncing area. it was an awesome idea. we also had a simple pinata for the kids which didn’t really get to busted up. when darielle hit it, its tie got loose and fell off the rope and the kids immediately went Resident Evil on it and just tore that poor pinata open.

zem, for the most part, was surprisingly sociable, esp. at the beginning of the party. she let people carry her around, like ate rose’s sister, and colet, and pstr. ding. she seemed to have a great time and everyone commented on how festive her colored polkadot dress was, which even matched the balloons gathered at the roof of the canopy.

overall, it was a really really pretty party…the decorations…everything, the hello kitty theme, to the food tables, the snow cones (which everybody loved)…to even the cake that had her photo embedded onto the icing. seriously, a very organized and pretty party…not to mention the birthday girl herself, who looked amazingly beautiful in her festive poofy dress.

i think zem enjoyed the afterparty even more though because it was just her family. so she walked outside more while we killed the karaoke, and ended up too tired to finish the day by opening her presents. i’m really proud of her though; she’s really come a long way, and she really deserved a big party for just turning one.

lastly, we want to also thank our family in the phils. we know you were not able to be there with us, but we always always keep you so close to our thoughts during times like these. we will also have our chance to celebrate together soon. til then, we love you and sincerely thank you for being there for us this challenging first year.

to God be the glory for everything accomplished in her…thank You Jesus.

of course great fashion is in france, and these styles from paul&joe is a blunt statement…

i think the most awesome thing about the the styles is its vintage feel, nostalgia’s imprint in most of the articles of clothing.  you can see a lot of the late 60’s to the 70’s, esp. with the modest vintage cut red polka-dot swimsuit.  i’m just loving it really, and am in envious resentment that you can’t find it in the nearest nordstrom.  there’s also such a fusion between the old and the new but the more recent trends are not a obvious, instead a little downplayed, making room for the past.

love it…definitely lo-ve- it…these are a few of the many looks that i love…but below are definitely my favorites.