it took me forever to write this but ‘d like to greet my wife a super belated happy birthday. no, i wasn’t a bad husband that forgot his wife’s birthday. it’s just that i was a bad blogger. on my defense, we did go out the day before to her second most favorite restaurant and spent the whole day with some crazy kids at ocean city in joizee.

i met her when she was two and twenty. that was seven years ago. seems a long while but still feels like yesterday when we went rollerblading in washington lake park to celebrate her birthday. for those of you who know me, anything that concerns with wheels under my feet, or anything under my feet for that matter is bound to be disastrous, unless it’s got something to do with flames. that didn’t turn out well either.

seems just yesterday when i tried my best to convince her that i stink at rollerblading but she won’t believe me, so i indulged her since i already said no the week before. i strapped on my skates, 5 minutes later, i fell .. in love. (more…)

I couldn’t fit these pictures in the previous blogs so I gave it its own blog. 
Pictures will be up shortly on Twelvesixteen.net photo gallery.

I’m 29!  I remember when I was 21 wishing I was 29.  Now that I am 29, I’ve stopped wishing for numbers.  I love things as they are, and any age is a blessing. I mean it.

Just this morning I was reading my past blogs from last year and true enough, like last year, we went to Red Lobster for my pre-birthday dinner.  I don’t know why, but I absolutely love the place.  Em is in love with their biscuits and Perze and I are seafood lovers.  Perze laughed that night on the drive there saying, "thank goodness your mom has simple taste."  Hahahaha…it’s true. We can buy whole lobsters and cook it at home, and I’m soooooooo excited.

The day of my birthday, instead of going through Perze’s initial plans of hitting NY, we agreed to spending the day w/ the YB at the beach.  People thought it was sacrificial of me, but I never think hanging out w/ the YB is ever anything chore-like.  They’re friends, just younger and more drama saturated.

The day was perfect, having been not too hot, with blankets spread all over, drinks in the cooler, an umbrella providing shade, Emma digging holes, Perze enjoying the water w/ his daughter, and the YB laughter.  I brought a couple books along to read but never got the chance.  The YB were sweet enough to bring a carvel in the cooler which waited for me for 2 hours, trying so hard not to melt until I came to eat it w/ a trusty fork.

We ended up leaving the shore around 8pm to eat dinner.  For the second time that week, courtesy of the YB, I was serenaded by restaurant servers w/ their rendition of "happy birthday" in the key of off.  

I just want to thank everyone who left facebook messages, voicemails, texts, phonecalls, hangouts etc…

I’ve been eyeing this since it came out last year, specifically the gold one.  This year, I’ve really started wearing gold jewelry since I’m very into golden yellows when it comes to clothes.  This caught my attention because I’ve always been a fan of lockets, words on jewelry, and long lariat chains that you can wrap around twice to create a bit of layering.

This gold necklace opens up revealing a picture and a colored stone of your choice.  Engraving is optional and "Joyful" is etched on the front of the heart. 

Source: Redenvelope.com
Original: $225
Bought: $50
Status: Own

I post this every 26th of August:

"Since I started for the kingdom
Since my life He controls
Since I gave my heart to Jesus
The longer I serve Him
The sweeter He grows.

The longer I serve
Him the sweeter He grows
The more that I love Him,
more love He bestows
Each day is like heaven
My heart overflows
The longer I serve Him,
the sweeter He grows

Every need He is supplying
Every need He fulfills
Every day my way gets brighter
The longer I serve Him
The sweeter He grows"

Thank you Lord for the countless minutes of sweetness knowing You and basking in Your blessings. 

I notice outside it’s growing chilly and windy again, getting darker earlier, and that hint of fall and coffee are calling pensive thoughts to resurface again.  Flashbacks of long solitary walks and fall’s fashion are making their way into my thoughts and it’s just making me a bit nostalgic.  My birthday is tomorrow and I’m realizing how big Emma’s getting and everything’s reminding me about time’s merciless indifference. 

Perze yesterday mentioned something about the fountain of youth.  It’s not that I ever would want my youth back; it’s more like sometimes I want to keep things as they are, with the things I love most within my reach: i.e. Emma saying I love you and that I’m her best friend and that she’d never leave me.  Seeing my parents still active and happy.  My siblings reaching for future endeavors, close in proximity.  and Perze right beside me every sunrise.

It must be because it’s the day before my birthday…the emo mode on.

The weekend was great, filled w/ some friends and family coming over to spend time with us and also my sister’s family, who Godwilling will be moving closer to us by the fall.

Friday night, the Rabs bought us dinner.  Afterwards, Lei and I tweaked one of their wedding photos to use for their thank you cards.  After they’ve mailed all of them out, I’ll post in on twelvesixteen.net.  Michelle came after dinner and then the Ngs.  We all just sat around playing w/ the kids and Mariokart-ing, talking (of course) about everything going on and everything that went on, and laughing (siempre!).  Everyone ended up home around 1am.  I’m excited for the possibilities of my sister moving south so there will be more opportunities to hang out like Friday night.

Saturday morning, after an hour of taking care of the two toddlers and one infant, Perze and I were mercifully rescued by my kuya Fred and sister Kris who came up to visit the kids.  This made it a little easier to take care of Hong and Ems who have this love/hate relationship when it comes to play.  Due to the difference in their genders, their personalities and emotions on how the perceive things sometimes collide and result in toddler altercations.  Thankfully, they forgive and forget very quickly and they’re bffs  once again.   That night, we were Michelle and her friend Kevin joined us for dinner out.

Sunday morning, we parted w/ the Ngs so we can attend our weekly church service in SJ.  Emma got to visit her lolo afterwards and Perze and I got to catch up fellowship-ing w/ the adults and youth group.  The YB held their carwash last sunday to increase the YB funds that were depleted by BASIC.  We also made plans for the coming week and just got the chance to sit around and talk, which is something I like to do to keep updated in their lives.

After eating dinner at SJ, we left for home, listening to the Christmas Cantata music on the way.  Yup. It’s here again, about that time again.  It made me a little sad cuz I knew that my youth time would suffer again.