3 posts tagged “friends”
LO credits: Sir Scrapalot 4 photo template, Angie Briggs Tomboy minikit, Jennilyn Rustiron paper, Shabby Princess Sweet Serenity and Sweet Sprinkles.
I had quite an activity-filled Saturday. My calendar was never this full on any other May day, I reckon.
Weeks ago, my mom told me about their office outing, it was going to be a day trip to a resort in Laguna. She signed me up, along with my dad and my nephew E. Of course I said I'd go, I had not gone swimming yet this summer. Work has been filling my life lately and I knew I needed to de-stress.
Then plans were made for a get-together with college friends, in celebration of our first baby's (Iskra) third birthday. Without even thinking about it, I said I'd be there. Later realizing it was the same day as the Laguna stint.
Add to that the fact that the boyfriend's schedule was changed this week. We no longer shared the same off, which meant that date night (or day) would have had to be moved to Saturday.
And of course, there are my batchmates from work. We marked our second anniversary at NCO on the 23rd and though there's only 5 of us left from the original 24, we wanted to celebrate. They wanted it to be Saturday too.
One more thing to add to the mix
How on earth would I make room for all these in one day?
Here's what happened:
Early morning Saturday I uploaded my Monitors. Deadline is Saturday 3pm and there's just no way we'd be back home before then so I definitely had to complete the task beforehand. I slept through Friday afternoon (what a waste!) so when I woke up around 10pm, I knew I had to get working. Of course, being me, I didn't do it right away. I don't even remember what I did but I know I had to rush through my uploads from 3-am til 5. Oh, and I found time to load my gadget with good music too.
Leave for Laguna by 6am. Took a shower, packed my stuff, grabbed a bite and a drink and got in at the backseat of my dad's car and snoozed til we got to the SLEX stopover. I had to get another drink, and junkfood, for the day's stash. Popped two Advils too. I would not let a headache ruin my day.
Relax. Take in nature. Read a book. Listen to good music. As I feared, I wasn't able to take a swim because my friendly monthly visitor decided to overstay her welcome. I had to content myself to playing with some of the kids while they were away from the water; eat good food; listen to music; and catch up on my reading. I had a great time.
The kids on the left are Kian (2) and younger brother Liam (9 months). At first, Liam wouldn't come to me but when he eventually did, we played for close to an hour! He turned the pages of my book and clung to the post of the cottage to hold himself up on top of the picnic table. Kian was my dad's swimming buddy. Dad was missing Esban because he's always around when we go swimming but he couldn't go this time.
I liked the place (La Roca De Trinidad). It was a hot and humid summer day, but being under the trees, it felt quite cool. And it isn't expensive. I seriously am thinking about bringing my team there. Simple lang, inexpensive. In the end you'd be able to enjoy the company of people you choose to go there with.
It was an intimate outing even if it took two buses to transport everyone (plus us). Intimate because everyone felt like family. In truth, a lot of them really are family. There's Aunt Betsy whose daughter Liza is a dear childhood friend. Aunt Fran whose daughter Tania I grew up with, and whose family lived next door to my mom's a long long time ago. My grandparents and Aunt Fran's parents were buddies too. I'm sure there's even a blood connection there somewhere. There are so many others that we relate to not just because they work with my mom, but on a more personal level. You really have no reason to feel left out.
Being with them reminds me so much of what used to be and at the same time reminds me that I can still have it if I choose to. Be with the community, I mean, and not be isolated in my own little world. (Perhaps I'll write about it some other time).
Among pretty flowers. Late afternoon drive. Coffee and pasta. Rain, rain, go away. We went to those stalls by the highway that sold plants. I think we brought home about 6 different plants, some of which bear flowers. I convinced mom to get the Lily because the flower looked magnificent! The one we brought home is a younger plant and currently has no flower though. I'm sure it will bloom in due time.
We took a pit stop at one of those stations along the SLEX because my dad wanted to have coffee and pastries. I was hungry so I had pasta. By the time we were done, the rain was pouring really hard, we had to wait it out. It didn't take long though til we felt comfortable enought to run to the car and get a little wet.
It was long enough for traffic to build up though.
We arrived home later than I hoped - 7PM. My date with my girlfriends was at 7, I did tell them I was going to be really late though.
It was my youngest cousin Jomar's 12th birthday and just as we arrived, they were serving the food. That, I missed. I had to feed Zune and take a quick shower to get to Trinoma and meet up with the girls.
I didn't want to miss his birthday, specially since I've been missing out on hanging out with my cousins, and the kids. To think that we live in one big compound, it's just unacceptable. But the day was just too full to cram anything else unplanned in.
Late into the night with the girls, and our guys :)
This story will have to wait another day. But I will write it because I have so much to say about this reunion. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves for now.
Show us something you bought on sale.
I love buying previously owned books. Because I save almost half price, I get to buy more books with the budget i have.
These were the last three books I bought on sale. Actually, the Elizabeth Berg paperback was a two-in-one: Talk Before Sleep and True to Form. I have finished the other two books quite awhile ago, and finished Talk Before Sleep last night. And I was touched by the Ruth and Ann's friendship, and the way they dealt with breast cancer, and ultimately, the way they dealt with death.
The story honestly reminded me of F2F's Smoke. How she prepared for her imminent death too. Also from cancer. How she has made peace with herself and to those she held dear to her heart. And as any talk of death, and cancer, I thought about my Aunt and Grandma again. But mostly of my Aunt. Unlike Ruth, and unlike Smoke, she wasn't able to say her goodbyes. And we weren't able to make peace with her.
I still think about her, and how I wouldn't have let her go, had I been beside her at the time of her death. And the other night, I still cried thinking about it. This is two years after her passing.
Funny how a topic "on sale" gets me talking about something else.
