“Do you have rose petals?” The florist sounded a bit too excited when he asked “For your bed?”. I could have smacked the nosy florist but I took everything in stride. “No, it’s for my daughter’s hoity-toity grown-up party”. The nosy florist continued ” Oh she is scattering petals on the stairs”. Maybe this florist asks every customer what they do with their rose petals. He proceeded to narrate how a wife preferred rose petals strewn all over her house, over the thorny rose flower. Enough , enough. I need the petals now. The rose petals will serve as as floral decoration for the party tables. I patiently explained to the florist. For 100 pesos ($2.00) I got a sizeable amount of rose petals.

As usual, the stage mother in me was tasked to procure those rose petals while the daughter basked in the soothing wonders of the beauty salon. Not only is my daughter a creative writer, she is also a creative party events person. I bet she can make a career out of it.

I remember how Lauren planned her 18th Debut party that was centered around a medieval theme. Even her 18th birthday invitation card exuded words that could make you chuckle. Most of all her debut didn’t cost us an arm and a leg . You will be surprised at the savings as compared to most debutante parties. What is most amazing is that the keyword “18th birthday party“, “18th birthday cake “, “18th debut” is sought most often from Google searches. It is no wonder the Google Adsense income has more than paid us back for the expenses. Isn’t that cool?

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Lauren gave me a couple of her yearbook photos.

Tomorrow is her graduation day. All week long, she has been wailing…

“I can’t believe I am graduating!” I assure her that we are just as shocked. Shocked that another milestone marks her parent’s lives. Shocked that we are getting older.

The other day, Butch turned to me as he drove the car “can you believe ? our daughter is graduating?”

I can believe it.

Tomorrow is the Commencement Exercise at 4:00 PM for the School of Humanities and School of Social Sciences. She will have a long day. Her day will start with a Baccalaureate Mass at 7:30 AM then a graduation rehearsal at 11:00 AM.

What a disappointment that after paying such a huge sum of tuition averaging 55,000 pesos a semester or a total of more than half a million pesos for Lauren’s college years, we , the parents have to endure the tropical heat at the high school covered courts, the venue of the commencement exercise.

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Technorati Tags: yearbook photos, graduation day

Half a million pesos or so later, my husband finally gets to visit Ateneo de Manila campus today. Can you imagine that? Sure he has seen the campus through the windshield as he drops Lauren to school but to actually step down and take a stroll…err no. My daughter’s college came up with this “Congratulatory Ceremony” with cocktails in honor of the graduating class of 2007. Lauren says they are around 25 Social Sciences Major in her batch.

Butch and I arrived in separate cars and met up at the Figaro coffee shop in some new building in the campus. We sip coffee and nibble on carrot cake as we reminisce of the past when sometime in 2004, a financial crisis hit us. Thanks to blogging because Lauren was able to pay half of her tuition fees in college (details here). I have to give credit to L for being so frugal and wise. She gives herself so little credit. I am so blessed with a daughter who has a vision of her financial independence. Feeling generous for all the blessings she showered on us , we bought her a Fender Squier guitar and a trip to Singapore and other Asian cities in the next two weeks and a US trip soon after. Squealing with joy then hesitates a bit “we have money for this?”

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Six years ago on May 27, 2000

Butch with Luijoe at Maribago Bluewaters Beach Resort in Mactan, Cebu

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For one hour, the fountains stared at me or rather, I stared at the fountains of Ayala Tower 1. Out of boredom, I took a picture. Click.
”

I felt like a stage mother all over again. Waiting for my daughter as always.

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According to this article, on Childhood obesity problem:

“Global fattening” poses an equal threat to global warming, according to obesity specialists.

Overeating has resulted in 20,000 children suffering from so called “adult onset” or type-2 diabetes, not previously seen in children, while more than 400,000 have impaired glucose tolerance, a pre-diabetic stage which puts them at sharply increased risk of the condition.

A year ago, I was borderline obese at 163 pounds. Today, I’m 129 pounds. I lost 34 pounds in seven months. Aside from health reasons, I decided to lose weight because I love my girls. I don’t want to set myself as a role model of a mom who turns obese in their forties. Most of all, I don’t want them to acquire diabetes.

I sound like some advertisement of a weight reducing salon or diet pill. Hehe.

So at 163 pounds , I looked like this :
(don’t you just love before and after pics)

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Technorati Tags: obesity, diabetes, diet pill