After having an early dinner, Butch dragged all of us to the SM Mall of Asia. Knowing there are [tag]fireworks display[/tag] at 7:00 PM every fridays and saturdays, the idea of sipping coffee and watching the outdoors fireworks display sounded like a swell idea. Just as we sat down on our chairs in the UCC Vienna Cafe, the crowd of mall shoppers started to swell. Fumbling with my camera’s navigation buttons, I failed to see the video option. Fireworks’ images don’t say much of the dazzling display . It’s the video that captures the splash of colors and the sounds of the crowd’s gasp of oooooh and ahhhs. Too bad I didn’t get to take a video of the 5 minute fireworks’ display. It’s my first time to see a huge fireworks display amidst a wide area of black space of Manila Bay. It’s really pretty.
Just as we went back to the coffee shop, Steven Tan, the general manager of SM Mall of Asia called out my husband’s name. What a delight to see Steven! He invited us to their New Year Eve’s [tag]fireworks[/tag] display at 12 midnight. According to Steven, the pyrotechnics cost 1.8 million pesos. What a hefty sum to blow off for just a few minutes. Perhaps the fireworks play a purpose to drive away the evil spirits and bring in good luck and harmony for the new year. I don’t know if we are going to watch the fireworks display. It’s always been our New Year’s Eve tradition to create loud noises ,toot the horns, light up a few sparklers and fireworks and then eat our noche buena. Safety is an important consideration . I get paranoid of stray bullets and careless people who just throw off fireworks to passing cars. We’ll see if a change of scenery might be worth it.
These are a few Photos of the Fireworks display that I took tonight.
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Today is the third death anniversary of
With the arrest of Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan at the vicinity of Ingrid Ramos’s townhouse, the question is Who is Ingrid Ramos?. In today’s issuse of 


My husband and I just arrived from an overnight trip from Baguio. Oh I just love Baguio on a non-peak month. Traffic was so smooth all the way to Baguio and back. We were supposed to stay at the Baguio Country Club but the club gave such a lovely promo to its members , like pay one night for a two nights stay . Naturally, all the rooms were fully booked. We decided to stay at my husband’s ancestral home instead. Not quite the romantic interlude I expected for the weekend but oh well, at least I was with my loving husband. Revisiting Baguio is such a bittersweet experience. Every summer and Christmas season, we bring the three kids to bond with their roots or rather with their father’s roots. I also bring them to Cebu, where I grew up. Camp John Hay is one of the places that 

My dear husband turned 47 years old last night. Heh, he’s 2 years younger than me. We thanked God for another year. I told my husband that every year after 46 years old is a celebration for me. My mother died young at the age of 45 and I am full of gratitude that for every year added to my life. Every year I buy practical gifts for my husband usually kitchen appliances. How boring is that? I should be more romantic in my gift choices. This year, I wanted to buy him the 
I prepared a lot of food for his birthday dinner such as beef stroganoff, Lemon-Thyme Barbecued chicken, Shrimp Potato Salad, Pepperoni Pasta and Jasmine Rice. The 2 girls arrived from the dorm that night just to be with their dad. Awww. It’s a rarity to have these close moments with your college kids. They have their own friends and social life. Inspite of having midterms exams the next day, the celebration of their dad’s [tag]birthday[/tag] was more important to them. It was a wonderful celebration only made more meaningful when my aunt called to say that her house (which we sold to her in 1998) is up for sale exclusively for us. We were delighted to hear the good news. There were tenants who were still living in the house so that was an obstacle to the sale. What a wonderful birthday gift from God.
The mother of a my husband’s brother-in-law passed away early this morning. Although the mom was ill for the last two months, her death was still sudden. A few minutes before she passed away, she scribbled a note saying “Welcome J and A”. It’s like she knew she was leaving. Since the children are all based abroad, they had to rely on friends and relatives to check on things while they prepared for their trip to the Philippines. How stressful it must be for them to think of all the funeral arrangements. Having experienced 5 deaths in my immediate family from 1976 to 2003, the stress alone in funeral arrangements is overwhelming. While on our way to the chapel tonight, I told my husband that we should consider having funeral insurance (I forgot the term for it). I can’t imagine having to burden our children with our funeral.