Flashback Fridays: The Holidays

As promised, my second post for FF today! :D

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The recent holidays had been awesome so I'm not letting go of this second chance to share it with you. I have to summarize though, and focus on the parts I loved best. Now, let's get this going.

If I have to describe Christmas 2010 in one word, it'd be FABULOUS. You know how much of a stage sister I am so just imagine how giddy I was while looking at them all dolled up! I don't know what got into their head that they decided to wear lovely dresses and kick-ass heels like real women. I heart!

2nd of 6: Minette Faye, 15. Hmmmm.. Could it be the shoes? She looks like a rock princess to me and I loved it.

3rd of 6: Meriel Louise, 13 years old. Her style: Pretty and Poised. It's sooo her! :)

4th of 6: Micah Miguela, 11. Pink and black combo never goes wrong. She looked so dainty, and the balloon skirt kept the carefree personality.

5th of 6: Mariah Junie, 9. Her statement: Young and beautiful. She carried such a simple dress so well!

How about Haley, you ask? Well she likes pants, so we got her a cute and colorful pants-and-blouse terno.

Our Bunso, Mikayla Haley, charming as ever in a Dora the Explorer ensemble.

As for me, I didn't put much effort dressing up. Christmas is for kids anyway. But I love the bold print of my shirt so it's still worth posting :D

I should always do this pose. I look kinda slimmer. Hahaha. Oh, the sandals is nice too. If you wanna them, they're here.

And since I've already showed you my siblings, why not include a family picture narin? :)

If I ever get to be asked about one thing in my life that I'm proud of, I can answer in a heartbeat. My family :)
Photo taken after the Christmas Mass at Malate Church.

Now, this post is entitled The Holidays (with an s) for a reason. New Year's Day is next! :)

I think I've mentioned in a post or two that we live with our extended family, Tita Antin and Nanay Letty. And ever since I can remember, we celebrate the New Year with them, with Tita providing everything in the table during Media Noche. But this year is different. They spent it with another aunt's family in Cavite so we had the house all to ourselves. That also means I stepped up with my cooking skills and prepared the banquet.

We had Carbonara, Graham Cake, ham, hotdogs, bacon, tuna sandwich, ube halaya, puto-kutsinta and hot chocolate. Not bad, right? :)

Twas also my first time to follow the superstition about 12 round fruits. They say it's for 12 months of good luck. Let's see :)

J brought me this from Marikina and it has become a personal favorite. If you are into kakanin, I swear you'll love this. Ooops, free advertisement right there! Haha.

And of course, the obligatory family shot.
Thanks to my ever reliable camera's self-timer :)

I enjoyed this year's celebration. It was just the 8 of us, the easy-to-cook meal, the firecrackers in the background and the hope that 2011 will be a blessed year for our family of 8 and our other loved-ones as well :D

Oooooh, speaking of loved-ones, let me end this with a picture of me and the person who completes my holidays! :)

Mind sharing with me how your holidays went? :D

Flashback Fridays: Meeting Tisha

It's Friday but it doesn't feel like Friday at all. Thanks to weekend work on Saturday night. Boo. However, there's still something about Friday that helps me cheer up. Any guess? Well, you're right. It's Flashback Fridays time again.

Because I was having fun with my girls last weekend, I thought I should make up and do two FF posts today. Thank heavens, I am sooooo in the mood to blog these days!
 
Now here goes the first one :D

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I started out the year good. I kicked 2011 off by winning a giveaway from Tisha, Good Housekeeping Magazine's editor-in-chief and blogger extraordinaire. After a few e-mails, we agreed to meet up 6th of January. With the way she answered my messages, I instantly felt she's a nice woman, and when we finally met, I've proven myself right. She's nice. No... she's waaaay beyond that ;-)

I easily recognized her the moment she walked in Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Greenbelt. Her style was simple yet sophisticated and her attitude, nothing short of warm and welcoming. We sat over a glass of juice and frap and you know what's the first thing she told me?

"Sooooooooo.. tell me something about yourself!"

"Oooooh, job interview?" I answered. And we both laughed.

That was a great way to break the ice. :)

From there, we started chit-chatting and asking about each other's life - family, hobbies, and of course, love life! Even though I was nosebleeding deep inside (I don't usually make kwento in English, you know) I enjoyed our conversation. There's something about her that made me feel like I was talking to an old friend. We were practically strangers but she didn't mind sharing a thing or two about her personal life. She told me about her beloved sport - frisbee - and oh,  her wedding too! :)

In about half an hour her sundo (the hubby, who's equally nice) came. And since it's not everyday that I get to spend time with people like her, there has to be a souvenir shot! :D

Once again, a big thanks to Tisha for taking time off her hectic sched. Advance happy anniversary to Here, Tishie Tishie! More years to your blog! And more love for you! :)

This is what's inside that paper bag above.

By the way, she has an ongoing giveaway again. Gorgeous swimsuits up for grabs! We all want a sizzling hot summer, don't we? Do yourself a favor and join now! :D

Flashback Fridays: A Month Ago

Well, hello there weekend! You know what that means? It's time for another Flashback Fridays post! And since today is the 4th of the month, I'm sharing with you a little celebration that we had exactly a month ago :-)

Among the many eccentricities that I have that Jhay has learned to live with is my love for Gab. Now who the hell is Gab?! Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, I would like you to meet my little angel, Gabrielle Alexandra...

Yes, folks, she's a stuffed toy... but I love her to the bones! ^_^ She's the first (not to mention, only) stuffed toy Jhay gave me so she's treated like a princess. Okay fine, she's actually named Matthew (by Blue Magic) but she's mine so I baptized him her with a lovely name.

Now lemme give you Gab's short biography:

Gab was born on February 4, 2008 over a Max's dinner for our 18th monthsary.

Here we are during one of our mommy moments. You see, I'm very maternal even before Haley came :)

On her 1st birthday, her granny Minie gave her a bath to make sure she'll look good...

...and I bought her a birthday dress

...so that she'll be the prettiest!

Of course Daddy joined the fun, too! The three of us went to the mall, had dinner and took pictures with her birthday cake.

Then came her second birthday. She's growing up fast! :P

Mommy forgot the cake but bought her two dresses to make up. We didn't go out this year to celebrate but we had some quality time at home.

See how much her daddy loves her? Hahaha

And finally, last month, Gab turned three. Jhay and I had dinner first to celebrate our 68th month (we're like kids, we still celebrate monthsaries :D) then we bought her a Red Ribbon roll.

Our little family! :) Oooops, granny was a little busy she forgot to give Gab a bath! Hahaha

I love this picture! We look so happy, don't we? Makes me look forward to having a real baby girl :)

Noticed something wrong with the dedication? Kainis the Red Ribbon crew, he started writing in the middle so there's not enough room for "Gab" in the end. Ayan napunta tuloy sa unahan. I asked him to put a comma after the name to at least look okay but he put an exclamation point! My goodness! Good thing the yummyness of the cake made up for it.

Oh, I have another story. The entire time we were singing the birthday song and taking pictures, Haley was staring at Gab with a frown. She doesn't want Gab near. Look at the expression on her face.

Then here's our conversation the next morning (yeah, Haley speaks really well for a 2-year old):

        Me:  Ye, sinong bestfriend mo?

        Haley: GK. (that's the neighbor's daughter)

        Me: Eh si Gab, hindi mo friend?

        *she shook her head*

        Me: Friends na kayo. Tignan mo mabait sya oh.

        *she was silent, like thinking real hard. then after a few moments...*

        Haley: Ate Em, san eyes nya???

Turns out, she doesn't like Gab because she was pretty scared that she doesn't have eyes! When I swept Gab's fur to the side to reveal her eyes, Haley smiled. And the rest, as they say, is history. Hahaha. Kids talaga...

Yes, they're friends now! In fact, she gave Gab that violet dress because it doesn't fit her anymore daw. Sweet! ^_^

Once again, Happy 3rd birthday Gabby dear! Mommy and Daddy loves you! :)

Presenting... Flashback Fridays!

If you are a frequent passer-by of Maude's Avenue, you may have noticed how not just once I've neglected publishing posts on a regular basis. My absence spanned 7 days, 1 week, and then just recently an entire month. I'm definitely not happy about it, I tell you. Especially because in those days that I'm not posting, there are some draft blogs that completely lost their value. Some became already outdated (i.e. my "2010 in Review" post) or some just became a distant memory I'm not sure if I'll still be able to capture in writing. The good news is, I'm determined to give it a try ;-)

Hence, a blog series that I'll call...

Here in my blog, Fridays are dedicated to a food trip, a barkada bonding moment, a family affair, or a romantic getaway that occurred in the past but I haven't had the chance (or the energy) to share. We all deserve second chances, don't we? :D

Because it'll be Saturday in a few minutes, next Friday comes the first official FF post. Stick around, ha? ^^,