Start at the heart

"Create for me a pure heart, O God! Renew a resolute spirit within me!"
-Ps. 51:10

David doesnt say, "Change the way I behave." He says, "Change my heart." Its not that how we behave is unimportant. Its just that we have to start at the heart. We can go through the right motions without our heart being right, but if the heart is right, everything will fall into place.

Thanks for this message yesterday, Pastor Dy!

Clap clap clap

As of July 26, 2009... 1 yr na gid man. Wuhu! Still have a lot of hoping and praying to do though :) hay gugma!

Roadtrip to Escalante

With Paul and TP's wedding behind us, the rest of us met up the following day, Saturday, and I had more time to spend with my mom and Tito Nonoy on Sunday. As long as those two are invovled, it always means that you have to get your stuff together and put on some comfortable, sensible shoes. In my case, my trusty, ever loyal havaiana slippers.

For the past few years, Negros never ceased to amaze me. There's just way too much to see. To be honest, I haven't been to Antique so I can't say I've been all over Panay. Maybe its the thrill on being on unfamiliar ground. I only get to visit every so often so each time, I literally see something new.

There's so much to eat in Negros as well. The fruits that can be found there, such variety! They cook their stuff so well, too. From the simple inasal which is their forte, from other Filipino food, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, American, Middle Eastern. The diversity of choices are too many to count and they all taste good. Its one thing to be diverse, another thing to do it right. My stomach is growling at the thought of what I ate just this weekend.


Still the best way to get to the good stuff. How can you beat this set-up? And there were a handful of them all in one row, lining up the highway.
















It's Santol season. Pass the toothpick please. This is going to take a while.







The typical landscape of the region. Now you know why they have so much of the sweet stuff.

A little beep that went a long way

Have Gerard to thank for this message. He sends me tons of messages a day. From the inspirational to the funny to the wala diri, wala didto. Keeps my day fun. But this one came when I needed it the most. God moves in the most unlikely places.

Often, we get impatient and take things into our own hands...
but God said "Be still, trust Me. I know your needs better than you. Just wait and allow me to work for you".

Paul & TP's wedding

These two have been together for ages. Tying the knot was the most anticipated wedding of the year! It was such fun seeing how things came together for the two of them. They are so perfect for each other. Wanna see what their babies are gonna look like. Pics are courtesy of Ana. My camera was too big to fit into my favorite champagne purse. The price for fashion dahling!

Bryan is sooo the senorito in this shot. I just realized he was the only one sitting down! But it does warm my heart to have him in a family pic.
Brownies... Abuelita's influence, perhaps? Ana and I ended up with the exact same fabric on our dresses! Different sources pa ha!

Wish I had more pictures. Sigh! It was a fun wedding. The food was superb! Everything was wonderful, despite the pouring rain. Yup! Meant to be.

nilagang baby!

this is rafa. david and san2's baby boy. love him! he is so adorable and so pleasantly overflowing with fatty goodness! we were joking around a few sundays ago and were thinking of different concepts for rafa's photoshoot. well, his father does have a very good sense of humor and actually made the most popular idea happen. kulang nalang paminta. yum yum!

my weekend

i like calling it my weekend. just because i got to do all the things i wanted to do for my birthday. its been a while. i didn't need to obediently follow anyone's wishes. hoorah!

it was mongolian night on the 27th. eat all you can! that was so good. satisfying and simple. just what i wanted. a few drinks after. got to hang out by the sea. damn the rain though. had to be greeted by a downpour. but then again, that always happens on my birthday every year. thats what you get for being born during the rainy season.

sunday was a nice simple day. wanted to show bryan talon for the longest time. must have been 3 years since i last set foot there. such memories. this is where it all began. this was our past. to see how much it changed really broke my heart. the old house no longer exists, hence we had to use what used to be one of the offices there. the people who makes it all happen, old and fading.

this is ford, the lifeblood of the whole talon community and business. i love him! he is the sweetest, most thoughtful, kindest man around. talon would never be talon without him. this man is a walking book of tales of life in the midst of all this chaos. the normal and the paranormal, he has stories for everything. he isn't kidding about anything either.

if only i had the money, i would try to fix the old house back again. life in talon will always be part of us. it was only fitting for me to spend my last year in my 20s in the place where i had the best memories as a child. and also to be able to say thank you to people like ford for that extra facet in my life.

on the downside, had the worst sun burn! stupid me forgot to put on sunscreen and was all over the place around 12noon to 2:30 pm!

dinner was spent at home with family. it was perfect.