TOPAZ HORIZON

Yesterday, April 5, was the 11th anniversary of the day Vince and I met. Yes, just the meeting. Normally, people don't celebrate that kind of anniversary but we do because, well, it changed our lives!

We met at the U.P. National Writers Workshop. When I got in the fellowship, I was so thrilled. It's every Filipino writer's dream to become a fellow in this prestigious workshop! And I got in! I knew those two weeks in Baguio, with the country's best writers, will change my life. Little did I know how--I was going to meet the man who would become my husband!

Those two weeks were just magical. I was soooo happy to be with writers and, at the same time, I was falling in love fast with the long-haired quiet guy with the big grin, who wrote heartbreaking stories and played the guitar, and can engage me in the longest, deepest conversations. Yup, we fell fast and hard. In fact, by the end of those two weeks, April 18, Vince and I were inseparable.

So yesterday was our 11th meeting anniversary. We didn't want to celebrate it actually because there's a big anniversary coming up--the wedding one on April 18. But after we visited my OBG and got a private tour of St. Luke's Global City, we figured we'd go have dinner out anyway!

But first, we had to check out the furniture stores. Of course! Vince is such a home decor geek and he really wanted to inspect the leather sofas in Natuzzi and the shelves at Jesse.

After deciding that Italian leather sofas are way beyond our budget now (big sad sigh there), we figured we'd have Italian food instead!


We just ate at Italianni's. Nice big place and we haven't eaten there recently so in we went! I like the old photos on the walls, the murals and the big iron chandeliers reminiscent of Murray Feiss lighting.

We first had a nice basket of warm bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Then we had a big crisp salad. See? We're eating healthy now!


Then I had a minestrone soup. I liked it--filled with chunky veggies swimming in tomato goodness. Very hearty!

Then we had this salmon dish that wasn't so good. It was tired and tasteless. Salmon should be firm and fresh and have that hint of saltiness.So I just had a bite since I didn't like it. Vince didn;t either but he ate all of it.
Then Vince finished things off with a big lasagne. These are huge servings, by the way, so I'm mighty impressed with my husband's appetite. I didn't even have the pasta dish anymore since I was happily eating the bread (I love carbs!).

So there! That's how we celebrated our mini-anniversary! Oh, then we went home and had a Big Bang Theory marathon with mugs of Selecta's Hazelnut Brownie ice cream. Burp!

And they're written by old friends!

Well, one of them by my bestest friend in the world who also happens to be my lover! Do check out Third World Nerd and recommend to your techie friends. Vince talks about gadgets, music, TV, cars, books... ya know, nerdy stuff! But he's one of the few people in the world who can talk about the nerdy stuff in a funny and engaging way. So many geeky blogs out there just bore me to tears. Third World Nerd is nothing like that! Hooray!

The next blog I adore is All My Sugar, written by the sweetest girl that ever walked this earth--Mariel! You see that photo? That's homemade noodles. It's Mariel's almost insanely loving attention to detail in everything she does, especially food preparation, that makes her such a wonderful read. You always learn from her--and in this new blog with such a saccharine name, foodies will be blown away!

The third blog I'm currently enjoying is Here, Tishie Tishie by Good Housekeeping's new editor-in-chief Tisha. This girl is the bomb. She's sporty and sexy, smart and funny, stylish and casual... she's the kind of girl you want to be your friend forever, the kind you also slightly secretly envy because she's got it all. Now imagine this kind of girl writing a blog about her life!!!

Do check out their blogs, my friends. They're very new so the posts are not too many, but do give them a warm welcome!

I'm feeling much much better! Been sleeping and eating all day, just resting and getting stronger by the day. Thank you to everyone who wished me well and prayed for my Jelly Bean. If it's not too much to ask, please still include this little boy in your prayers, just a quick little breath of blessing as he's only halfway through his journey out my tummy and I wish him all the love of the universe--yours!

So just a tiny update on the preparations for the little one! One sentence: We've just about depleted our savings for him! While we haven't bought anything for the nursery yet--no crib, no changing table, and definitely no toys like foosball tables --we did splurge on these:
Li'l blue Mazda 2 that Vince named Zoom Zoom. It's blue! Vince can't wait to take his son for a spin in the blue car he bought the little guy. 

An Eames RAR rocker. Its curved runners are made of really hard wood that our parquet floors--made of softer wood--get marked! Hence, the rug underneath it. I guess we ought to replace the floor. Sigh.

The hospital bills. Another big sigh! Thanks so much for all your concern, folks. I do want to say that TMC wasn't such a disaster--I am, after all, better so they did their job well. It was just the pulmo and the health insurance that caused us pain.

We've also finished furnishing the house! Well, maybe we need to replace that old sofa, but for now it will do. Here I am, organizing my magazine pile. Vince is very keen on getting the house in order for his son's arrival so, aside from the cleaning, he's also bought pieces of furniture that have finally made our house cozier than ever.

Vince and I really wanted the house to be complete before the baby arrives. Everyone warned us that when the kid's here, it's all going to be about him so we kinda rushed to make sure we've gotten everything we wanted. And now everything's ready!

Well, we haven't started with the nursery. We figured we'd wait till we meet the little guy first. After all, what if we decorate his room baby blue, then he arrives and turns out to be a brooding no-nonsense creature of the brown and black sort? Yep, we'll wait till we meet him!

We've known for quite some time now but I wanted to keep it a secret. Then my hubby starts a blog and he couldn't contain himself. Click here to find out what our firstborn is!

Meanwhile, I will again rest. I'm actually at work, putting to bed the May issue of OK!. Once this is done, off to bed I go. Need to rest! I have lots of stuff to tell you but, right now, let's get this magazine finished and this body rested. See ya around here soon!

Vince is a new blogger and he's really cute--excited and all. Go make sure you give him a warm welcome to the blogging world, okay? Thanks! Now I will sleeeeeeeeep...