On Beautiful Bicol

I am married to a Bicolano. A HARD CORE Bicolano, meaning, when he talks to his relatives, it's like he's speaking in tongues. He belongs to a truly amazing family: all genuinely nice and would always make you feel right at home.

We took a recent trip to Legaspi to visit his grandpa. Papalolo (combined papa and lolo or grandpa in English), as he is fondly called, has Stage 4 colon cancer and my husband, Mac, wants to spend as much time with him as possible. Since Mac works in Cebu Pacific, he gets free flights to any domestic location. Last weekend, I decided to go with him since Papalolo was not able to attend our wedding.

He looked frail and really in pain. Papalolo weeped when he saw the two of us. Mac and I tried our hardest not to cry. I can see he is fighting hard to conquer his illness. I have nothing but high hopes that God will take care of him.

Mac and I also took this time to visit some of his relatives. It was a wonderful 2 days in Bicol and I'd like to share some pictures. :)

Once you land, the majestic Mayon Volcano welcomes you to Bicol 

It's our first trip out of town as husband and wife. :)

I already mentioned before that Mac's grandparents' main source of income is their abaca slippers business. Here are some of the materials being dried out before assembling.

Mac's cousins came over when they heard we were in town. The little girl is Crella, also Mac's cousin. She's adorable!

This little girl is such at Angel. This is Crella with his Kuya Mac

Mac is the eldest grandchild. Most of his cousins are girls. (Aya, Tala, Crella and Mac's sister Em)

The tres marias. ;)

Feel na feel magpa-picture!

Every Filipino home must have pictures of the entire clan! Plus displays of certificates and special memorabilia.

And now, we move to another house, where Mac's great grandma lives. We call her LolaInay and she is 95 years old! Amazing!!!

Isn't she lovely?

Mac with LolaInay

LolaInay with her two daughters. I super love this picture! 

After sleeping for a bit, we decided to go around and visit more relatives. Mac's dad's side of the family lives up in the mountainside. It was so peaceful out there! Here are some shots...

The view from the top

Yummy bananas for merienda

Mamalola, Mac's grandma

Mamalola, Em and Tito Tayi (Mac's uncle)

The couple of the year. :)

Mac's nephew. He is super cute!

Literally on top of a mountain

This is Tita Lina, the sister of Mac's dad

Em seriously needs to gain weight!

Ang gwapong tindero!

Mac and Mamalola

More pictures soon!

On Being Married

Yes, I am now married! And I am loving every second of it.

Mac and I have been married for 14 days now. Time indeed flies when you're having fun! :) He's been the sweetest, most supportive husband and I thank God everyday for giving me such a wonderful partner. And speaking of wonderful... let me share some pictures of our lovely, new home. Since Mac and I saved a bit of money from our wedding, we used this to renovate my Tita's old apartment. She used to live here until my cousin (her daughter), who works in Singapore, asked her to live with her permanently. It's about 3 streets away from my old house, which makes this place even more perfect! Everything is by my fabulous interior designer-friend Marja Corcuera (she owns Diseno), who's our college Magna cum Laude (just had to say that!). She is awesome!

Let me take you on a grand tour of the place Mac and I now call 'home'...

If William Thacker had his "house with a blue door" on Notting Hill, Mac and I shall be "that house with the red door". Come on in!

Once you enter, you'll see this mini foyer kind of area.

I often sit on this brown couch, which is evidently separate from our main sofa. Our living room isn't complete yet so I won't post a picture of it. :)

My favorite section of our house: the kitchen! This is where I whip up my favorite dishes. Mac has gained weight since we got married. Yey! And yes, all our doors are red. The one you see is the door leading to the small area where we wash our clothes. The one next to it is our bathroom. :) Our dining room is attached to our kitchen counter. This move made our apartment look even more spacious. I super love our kitchen talaga! I can't wait for Masterchef Rika (my best friend since high school who got me inspired to start learning how to cook) to see this!

A closer look at our kitchen. Pretty 'complete' already. We have everything we need! I can stay here all day.

Loving the light coming from the exhaust! Makes our very fancy looking kitchen look even more posh.

Some of my kitchen essentials: Cans of Hot & Spicy Century Tuna (I make a kick ass tuna pasta), my kitchen timer (I love instant noodles!), spanish sardines as my fave breakfast, my MAGGI MAGIC SARAP (my ultimate kitchen tool) and Mac's coffee, sugar and creamer containers. Got the white extra shelf from the Japanese section of SM Supermarket in Southmall. They have awesome stuff there, I tell ya!

I am SO in love with our knives!

You can never go wrong with Corelle. These black and white babies were a wedding present. The glasses are a wedding present too from my good friends Earl and Tons Tan. Our mega reliable Gourdo's chopping board was a gift from my stylish college friend, Tin Borillo.

Eating is extra fun when you have really fancy forks and spoons. :) Thanks to my friends, Robby and Laurie for these! Bought this plastic container again from that Japanese section in SM Supermarket in Southmall.

Love our clock!!! This was a bridal shower gift from my one and only K.A. :)

The red door leading to the bathroom... (Red shower mat from Ace Hardware.)

The peg for the bathroom was that it should be "spa"-like. And it is, indeed!

I want to take a bath 10x a day!

Bathroom set from Ace Hardware. They have pretty decent, reasonably-priced stuff!

Thanks Tin Borillo (again) for these candles!

Now let's go up the second floor...

There are two rooms at the second floor. Room 1: We have a walk-in closet! Dream come true!  Won't post the other sections. Hope you don't mind! :)

And of course, the Master's Bedroom. Our room is lovely. :)

Across our bed is my work station. Really can't help it! I work best late at night so there must be a place where I can write down my concepts and... tweet. Hahaha! By the way, that's Mac's creation on the wall. He made me that as a birthday present several years back.

Marja improved on the lighting as well. Overall, the look and feel is very modern, homey and a small piece of heaven on earth.

Mac and I love, love, love our house! :) And we love you, Marja!!!

I hope you enjoyed the tour! What do you think?

On That Shoe That Fits

I think every lady should have a nude, flat shoe. It goes well with pretty much anything. And the best part is that this one I have from Lady Rustan's (P995 only!) is super comfy and makes my size 5 feet look a tad bigger.

Was inspired to do a "fashion"-related post because 1) of Cuz's influence 2) of my college barkada Tonich, who's been waiting for a "fashion" blog from me. HAHAHA!

Greenbelt (M Cafe): I can live in this denim dress that I bought from Plains and Prints in Robinsons, Dasmarinas. The belt gives me shape. And I LOVE big, chunky necklaces. Got this one from Boracay. This was what I wore when I went out with my high school friends before Christmas. 

Tagaytay!: Wore this to my college barkada get-together before Christmas as well. Got this beautiful dress from TopShop. Saw that Anne Curtis has this exact same dress. She wore it in her last Kris TV interview. Chunky necklaces are from SM Accessories in Southmall. Black belt, again for the shape. :) Plus, my only designer bag to complete the get up.

Bought the black, maroon, blue and yellow flats as well. Yes, of this same style. I like it pointy, since round tips make my feet look smaller (bordering on keychain like, good god!).

Visit my Cuz' site: http://style-irl.blogspot.com for other style stories. I plan to blog more about Fashion Necessities. Feeling-feelingan. :)

So go purchase those perfect nude flats now!!!