2010 recap

The best of 2010: 

January – Family trip to Las Vegas.  I am one of the few [young] people who have been to Vegas and yet have never stepped into a bar or club over there.  Even my husband who doesn’t dance and drinks very little has been inside one of those places.  #manangkasiako 

February – Annual Cioppino night at St. Thomas More School.  I am already looking forward to this tradition that me and my friends have.  2011 should be even better because Paul can finally join us and see what this night is all about! 

March – Paul’s birthday!  We had little celebration at home for his 33rd birthday.  Isaw party!!!!! 

April – Washington, D.C.  Paul and I have never been back since we first went there in 2005.  5 years later, with Michelle in tow, we headed east to visit Paul’s side of the family.  It was great to see them again and for Michelle to meet her cousins.   

May – Our trip to Maui for my 30th birthday!  Oh what a vacation!  I loved it and can’t wait to go back again in 2011! 

June – Paul comes back to the bay FOR GOOD!  After 2 ½ years of flying back and forth from Portland to the Bay Area, my husband now comes home every night and has dinner with us.  We do errands together and disagree a lot more (hehehe) but that’s what married life is all about!  I love it! 

July – Michelle enters pre-school.  Her first day was flawless…no crying, no tantrums.  Michelle thrived when she started going to schools.  She knows her letters and can write her name…and her name is the only word she can read right now. Hehehe but that will change soon.  The school’s director told me they’re moving her to a different class beginning January because Michelle is ready and needs to be challenged a little more.  we also renovated our kitchen this month.  the two week project (according to the contractor) turned to 4 weeks.  in the end, I'm happy with my kitchen (dapat lang!).  my aunt, uncle, and niece from the philippines also visited this month and I saw joy, gelsey and gave in oxnard.  it was a very busy month.  =) 

August – My Ate Anna Dayag left this world on July 31st and we said our final goodbye to her in August.  I miss the sound of her voice and her infectious laughter.   

September – Paul and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and Michelle turned 4!  Ang bilis talaga ng panahon!   

October – Philippines – it was so nice to be back to see friends and family.  If only we could stay there longer.  Michelle had a blast and adjusted very well to the new environment.  She bonded with her cousins and enjoyed the beach in Boracay.   

November – Driving through snow and ice.  I have never seen so much snow in my life when we went to Tahoe the day after Thanksgiving.  I was so out of my element because I like the beach more than I like snow.  But it was a good experience for me (although a little bit nerve racking).  Ski lessons are in the works for when we visit the area again in January with my cousins.   I also saw Harry Potter during our company's advanced screening.  that was a great treat!

December – I just love the holidays so much!  We went to the symphony, cooked and ate a lot and went to countless holiday celebrations.  We’re going to Tahoe again in a couple of days.  December is/was a great ending to a great year! 

Thank you, Lord for 2010.  I know you have prepared 2011 to exceed all that was in the past.  2011 shall be the year of restoration, promotion, and abundance.  Thank you, Jesus!

michelle opens her christmas presents

Ballet and Hula Hoop

while waiting for christmas eve dinner, michelle entertains herself this way...

Michelle covers the Beatles

she's not perfect after all

'train up a child in the way she should go, even when she is old, she will not depart from it' - proverbs 22:6

 michelle has always been an easy child.  she listens to what we say, she's not super likot, follows what we say, she's very understanding and very well behaved.  she's never thrown a tantrum.  that is, until tonight.  

she threw a hissy fit we never saw coming.  it caught me off guard and broke my heart into so many million pieces.  *sigh*

but we've made peace now.  and again everything seems perfect.  but tonight, she reminded me that no matter how much i try to make her perfect, she will never be and she will make many more mistakes.  this may be the first tantrum she's thrown in her 4 short years, but it's definitely not the last.  all i can really do is train her in the way she should go so when moments like tonight happen, she'll know how to find her way back and get on the right path again. 

 oh how much i love her. 

(i am ever so thankful she doesn't throw tantrums left and right.  i'd like to think of it as a learning experience for the both of us.)

sf symphony presents...

last year, we saw the nutcracker on christmas eve.  this year for the holidays, we went to the san francisco symphony last night to watch the snowman with the sf symphony orchestra as musical accompaniment.  ganda!  michelle enjoyed the short film and the festive music.  towards the end of the performance, the orchestra played some of the most popular and well-loved christmas carols and the audience all sang along as they played.  christmas is such a joyous event.  =)

the sf symphony orchestra did a wonderful job.  paul and i hope to watch more of their performances in the future.  

here are some pics from our family date:

a very snowy lake tahoe trip

the day after thanksgiving, paul, michelle and i went to south lake tahoe to enjoy some early snow.  winter came early in this part of the world and the sierra mountains saw snow as early as the 2nd week of november.  

when we headed up to the mountains on friday, the sun was shining brightly.  the snow looked so pretty as it glistened under the sun!

after we checked in at the hotel, we rushed to get to the nearest snow park so we can go sledding.  at this time of the year, it starts to get dark at 5 pm.  we reached the snow park at 4 pm and didn't have cash to pay the snow park to go sledding.  after running to the nearest atm to get cash, it was already 4:15.  the good thing about being late is that we were only charged $10 to go sledding instead of $30 (it's normally $10/person).  

now, i am scared of heights and the feeling like i'm going to fall out of control.  even the feeling when you slide down a playground slide, i don't like that.  but that's exactly what sledding is.  sliding on snow while seated on a sled.  yes, my heart raced as we swooooshed through the slippery snow but it was so much fun! 

 

we had dinner at applebee's afterwards and then relaxed at our hotel.

now, look back up to pictures number 1 and 2 and see how clear and sunny it is.  the next day, right outside our hotel, it looked like this:

and we drove through this...

which made me feel like this...

early on saturday morning, i was silently praying paul would just say, 'i'm not gonna go snowboarding nalang.  let's just head home...this weather is horrible.'  pero wala akong super powers!  we went to the ski resort and paul snowboarded for only 1.5 hours.   michelle was soooo bored!  the ski class we wanted to take started at 1 pm and we got to the resort at 1:30 so we couldn't take the class so michelle and i decided to just go sledding.  as we walked to the sledding area of the resort, i asked for directions only to be told that sledding is closed kasi nga matindi ang snow.  bigo!  so we headed to the lodge to beat the cold.  buti nalang one of my friends from way back was there (small world) and we hung out and tried to entertain michelle.  at around 3, paul found us and said the words i had hoped he would say 6 hours earlier.

we lost one of our tire chains and had to buy a new pair.  fortunately, the folks at the resort helped us install the 2nd pair.  it took us 2 hours to drive a distance of 30 miles.  the drive that would normally take us 3.5 to 4 hours took 6.  but we made it home safe. =)

it will take some time for me to get used to the snow.  i still like beach vacations the best.  i do not like dressing in so many layers.  it's a whole production to get michelle in and out of her clothes just to make sure she is seated in the toilet in time! but i am looking forward to another ski trip next month, this time for a whole weekend instead of just overnight.  and this time, my cousins are coming so mas masaya and we will make sure michelle and i get to ski class before it starts!!!

harry potter

ok, medyo delayed na to...pero i'll try to recap the things that happened since we got back from pi. 

harry potter 7 part 1 - i work for a BIG company na maraming mayamang kliyente.   as a thanksgiving treat to the clients, we hosted an advance screening of harry potter in union city 1 day before its worldwide release.  i was not a fan of the harry potter movies or books.  i just never got into it.  but to prepare for this screening, i called the biggest hp fan i know and borrowed her dvds.  i had 1 week to watch all the earlier movies and i was quite surprised i found all of them very interesting and very entertaining.  that j.k. rowling has some wonderful imagination!  at the screening, we could take whatever we wanted from the concession stand.  all the popcorn you want, ice cream, nachos, candy.  parang fiesta!  after the movie, there were goody bags waiting for us as we walked out of the cinema.  scarves, wands, and harry potter glasses. wow!  it was such a well received event.  we've gotten so many 'thank yous' from the clients (well, their kids actually) saying how special they felt because they got to see the movie before everyone else did and how special they all felt! 

a few days after the movie, as i was reading facebook updates from friends all over the world, one particular comment about harry potter cracked me up.  my friend said, 'watched harry potter 7 today!' or something to that effect.  and the comment from my friend's friend was this, 'maganda sana yung movie...kaso i didn't like the ending!'  i cracked up when i read that!  maraming sarcastic comments pumasok sa isip ko pero syempre di ko nilagay.  sinabi ko nalang kay paul. hihi!  i'm looking forward to part 2!