My graduation

Last Saturday, I finally graduated from my Master's degree.  Finally, after three years of hard work, I can finally say, I'm finished :) I was so surprised to find out that I will be graduating Magna cum Laude.  I only found out on the day of my graduation while they were distributing the programs. It was a pleasant surprise and I was glad to make my mom, dad, sister, and husband really happy :)

With my graduate friends :)

With my proud husband <3

My medal

With my mom and aunt, my son's constant babysitters

With my medal :)

Tiamban, Romblon

My family and I visited my grandmother-in-law.  We were very busy during our stay so we could only go to the beach the day before leaving.  On our last day, we went swimming in one of the most famous beach resorts in Romblon, Romblon.  The resort's name is Tiamban Beach Resort.  The weather was perfect.  We were there from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon.  We waited for the high tide before going back to the house.  Romblon is a cove so waves aren't too big even during the high tide.  It was a great finish before going back to Manila. :)

Celebrating Ash Wednesday and Chinese New Year

RToday is an important day for the Catholic Christians.  Today is Ash Wednesday.  On this day, Catholic Christians are reminded that we came from ash or dust and to dust we shall return.  It is celebrated by going to mass and having ash placed on our foreheads.  On this day, Catholics from 18 to 59 years old should fast (eat only one full meal the whole day) and abstain (no eating of meat).  This sacrifice means that we are sorry for our mistakes and wrongdoings and we want to make God happy.

My son with ash on his forehead.  

Tomorrow, is Chinese New Year.  My husband's family is half-Chinese so we are going to celebrate it tomorrow too.  Usually, we celebrate the night before, which is tonight.  But because of Ash Wednesday, we will postpone it until tomorrow.

My sister-in-law gave this to him when she went to Taiwan

My sister gave this to him when she went to Beijing, China

Bamboo in Asian culture symbolizes uprightness and perseverance

My son in our garden

May we all have a blessed Ash Wednesday and a wonderful Chinese New Year. :)

My wedding dress

Today, one of my students and I talked aobut weddings in the Philippines.  She loved to sew so I decided to show her my wedding dress.  She suggested that I take a picture of it while wearing it.  I gladly obliged because I had an excuse to finally wear it again.  I haven't brought my wedding dress to the dry cleaners since I last wore it during my wedding day.  I love my wedding dress because it was simple and easy to wear.  I think I am a very practical woman. I do not like pouffy, heavy dresses so when I told my cousin to design my dress, I wanted one similar to Princess Kate's but in short sleeves since it is hot here in the Philippines.

Front

Detail at the back

zipper

Detail in front

Me wearing it awhile ago haha!

Back detail

I noticed after taking pictures, my gown has turned a little bit yellow.  Now, I am worried and determined to make it white again.  I am also thinking of cutting the skirt soon to make it a weekend dress that I can wear to parties and events. I will have to ask my cousin how it should be designed.

By the way, sorry for the poor quality of pictures, lately, I have been using my camera phone instead of my Nikon dSLR.

My day with Rurouni Kenshin

Watching on the TV

My husband loves anime.  One of his favorites is Rurouni Kenshin.  When they made it into a movie, he was very excited to watch it.  Today, he watched the second Rurouni Kenshin.  It was in Japanese but I asked him to put English subtitles so that I could understand.  I realized that most were taken in Kyoto, one very famous place in Japan.  My son was very excited to see the men fighting with swords in the movie.  I was impressed with Japanese production companies.  The quality of the movie was comparable to movies made and produced in Hollywood.  I plan to watch the anime version since my husband said it really nice.

My 29th Birthday

A few weeks ago, my husband and mother asked me what my plan was for my birthday.  HEre in the Philippines, birthdays are really celebrated.  It is almost like Christmas.  A lot of food, family, and friends gather to celebrate a perosn's birthday.  But our family is different.  I grew up abroad so my family and I are not used to some Filipino customs and traditions.  Having birthday parties is one of them.  But since I got married, my husband made it a point to celebrate our birthdays even if it just the three of us or with my parents and in-laws.  My husband said he will grill steak for me and he'll take care of the other food.  He called his mom and she came to Manila from the province.  She brought my favorite seafood.  My mother also wanted to cook but I told her I didn't want her to be tired from cooking.  I wanted her to rest so she decided to buy my favorite local noodles and fried chicken. 

the cake that my mom (and Jared) got for me

Pancit Malabon:  my favorite Filipino pancit.  It has egg, shrimp, and lechon as toppings.

Shrimp and lobster fresh from my husband's hometown

Chicken wings

My husband the chef for the day

grilled beef tenderloin 

My family.  Sorry for the blurred picture.  The one who took it is not very good.

 She also bought me chocolate cake.  My father and mother in laws as well as my sister in law arrived and we had a good lunch..

I thanked them for making an effort to make my birthday special.  :)

Very late post: What we did last New Year

We welcomed the New Year in Manila because my husbnad couldn't be too far from the hospital.

 This year we spend it in Edsa Shangri-la.

   I met my in-laws and we had New Year's Eve dinner at Gloria Maris, a famous Chinese restaurant chain here in Manila.  

We were able to see fireworks display because our room was on the 15th floor.  But since it was just me in my son in the room, we slept early.  

My husband came the on New YEar day and we had breakfast at the hotel.  

We celebrated New Year again by eating out at a fancy Chinese restaurant.  We wanted to eat Japanese food but most of the restaurants were closed.  My son and I also went swimming while my husband slept in the hotel room. 

We prayed that we would have a good and fruitful year.

Christmas 2014

Christmas is my favorite holiday season.  Since my husband became a doctor, it has been difficult to fix our schedules for the holidays.  As usual, my son and I had to adjust to his schedule.  This year, we had our annual family picture earlier and Christmas celebration later.

We had our Christmas family picture on December 23.

 My son got a barbecue set from me and my husband.  He chose this in the toy store and we had it wrapped.  He loves to pretend to cook.

My husband and I got my parents Uniqlo shirt for my mom and winter gloves for my dad because he will be going to Beijing, China in February.

My son asked for crackers, lollipops, and dark chocolate from Santa Clause.  He has very simple wishes and was very innocent about it.  We were fortunate enough to capture his smile through the camera.

My nieces and nephews came on Christmas day to celebrate with us.  It is a tradition in our family to have "pasabog."  Pasabog is when money is thrown from a high place and children (and adults) try to catch money.

My nieces and nephews taking a picture

We are ready for the pasabog!

 This year we decided to set up our electric grill for my relatives to cook their own beef.  Beef tastes better if it is newly cooked.

My uncle cooking his beef.

Salad, rice, shrimp, corn and bittergourd soup, peanut butter and beef dish, spaghetti, and sponge cake!

Merry Christmas Everyone!