Mel and the New Normal

Today, I missed you so much. So much that I surprised myself. Just a year ago, we were both happily enjoying the sunrise and cool Tagaytay air in MonteMaria, unaware of our unfortunate circumstances. Today I return there, and I remember that just 12 months ago, we were happy, and we were together. I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, My baby you'll be. (Robert Munsch)

I am looking forward to next Thursday! Since J and I work everyday (we have no rest days, except when we travel.) Since we have several events on Saturday and Sunday, and even Thursday, I am imposing that one day off on myself to catch up on things I wanted to blog about, bike with the kids, etc. And zzzzzzz. So looking forward to it! In the meantime, check out this pretty view in front of me!

After losing Kat, J didn't want me to be physically active for a few months. One reason was because of the CS operation; the other was because it was a difficult pregnancy. The Polyhydramnios really stretched me out and affected my back. I guess he wanted to make sure that, in case I get pregnant again, internally I was okay. It went as far as carrying everything - my shoulder bag, my laptop, dogs! Siempre, I'm really makulit, so when he wasn't around I'd push around my balikbayan boxes, mwehehe =P At the same time, I didn't want anything to affect my milk supply, or take more time away from it, so I allowed myself to stay at my weight. After two weeks of giving birth, I was already at my pre-pregnancy weight (super heavy), and I would gain/lose 5 pounds depending on how much milk tea I consumed =D But I didn't lose weight from pumping, probably because I was gorging on everything I saw. Fast-forward 7 months later, I asked J what physical activity we could do...

First time for us to be there, just the two of us. Missed our kids dearly, but had a very interesting and different experience too ;) It was a good time to reflect on the last few months, and upcoming future as well. Will post more pics soon :) The first restaurant right outside Airport Express. It was good! Love love love.  All fog outside the cable cars J doesn't like these boots, but they're soooo comfyyyyy Laduree just opened in Ocean Terminal! Overrateeddddd Xiao Long Bao @ Crystal Jade (we couldn't find another good restaurant at Times Square) First time to see the Buddhas!

This post is WAYYYYYY behind. I lost momentum on this one, mostly because the pics were in J's phone. Plus we were eating out almost everyday because of work, so I posted about other restaurants instead. A lot of people were posting and posting photos from CUE in their Instagram accounts. After a few weeks of torture looking at the photos, I thought to myself, "the heck, masubukan nga!" The pictures all looked crazy-good!  After one of my meetings, we decided to give it a try! I had seen Cue already before from the outside, after eating at Slice, so we didn't have problems finding it. Again, since we were late lunch eaters, there were no crowds and the place was quite empty. (We came back a few weeks later at 1PM and it was quite full!) PS, this was the day of the minor explosion at the building beside this, and we were wondering why people were running around. May explosion pala =P (I tell ya, we've got great timing when it comes to these things.)

Apartment 1B... not much more needs to be written about this place. It's popular for great, high-end comfort food. I've only eaten here once, while I was waiting for J to finish a sound system gig. It was surprised to turn a corner and find it right beside the building! Little did I know, I was a few weeks pregnant during that time (Christmas of 2011, to be exact!) 

I think I post an apology every few weeks on my backlog =P Apologies to the 3 people reading this blog. Hahaha! Seriously, I do have a lot to say, write about, be sad and happy about. I can never have writer's block because my mouth/brain just goes on and on and on.... (I'm like that in person as well.) I just have extremely weak time management, and like to keep taking on work. In addition to that, several changes and reconstructions are going on in our company, so it's been really hectic! Will try to mush all my posts all in one night, hahaha! Been up and about like crazy these last few weeks. When you see my upcoming barrage of posts, you'll see why. It's been a good couple of months. I hit the "reset" button, and I'm BACK!

A little back story before I post this. A few years back, when J and I were still in college, we couldn't afford to eat out. By eat out, I mean, ANYWHERE. We had to prioritize the money for diapers, milk *insert sob story here*. Actually our families were super supportive, but they encouraged us to support ourselves financially. For about 5 years, we were content with eating very simply at home, and Starbucks was our treat for ourselves. (Gosh, writing this parang kawawa talaga, hahaha.) But we didn't mind.  Tony Roma's was one of those restaurants that opened during this time. Everyone got to try it (well, that's how we felt) except us. If I may, I will include Cibo and Outback as part of this group of evil restaurants that everyone loved but we never ate in. Hahaha (just kidding).

Two weeks ago, I had the honor of being the godmother to an AWESOME baby boy called Andres. Yes, he is named after the Bonifacio hero, he's THAT AWESOME. Andres is one of 'mah bebes', and he and I, we helped each other out (see post HERE .) He owes me a car when he's older. Anyways, though several minutes late because I came from a setup, I made it just in time for the last part of the baptism! It was a very intimate celebration, and the kids weren't with us. We enjoyed because we were able to catch up with my cousins.  Terry and Nico, Andres' parents, made a super cool larger-than-life standee of Andres as a Katipunero (hahahah) and also had pictures of him propped up on the tables as centerpieces and postcards. I took several home, and wrote on the back of some. One of the requests on the cards was to write something Andres SHOULD do when he's older, like, something fantastic during our time NOW. So of course I wrote down that he ...

Obviously, I'm such a big fan! Though Nick is out of the running, I am ecstatic that my favorite Angie is part of the Top 10. I am definitely not a religious person, so it takes one heck of a voice and talent to inspire me, and remind me of God's love and compassion. Here's her Top 10 Girls Performance, a cover of Colton Dixton's "Never Gone." I heard this song several times in the radio, but it was only during Angie's performance that I realized it was about God. No offense Colton, I love you! I just didn't figure out what the lyrics meant until now.