Everything Under The Tropical Sun

Have you ever had that feeling that you just HAD to get away from it all? Week after week, the stress piling up… Then one day, you KNOW you just had to get away from it all. Even for just a fleeting moment. Maybe an overnight far from the insane rituals you call life.

I rummaged the internet for places to go to within a few (or several) hours drive from us. We wanted a not-so-cheap accommodation wherein we can just relax and be pampered. We (meaning I) didn’t want our usual gung-ho backpacking expeditions.

That’s how we ended up in Pulchra Resort. (pronounced as pool-kra)

Now that I look back… we could’ve gone to more deserving places for what we paid for. The room rate at that time (year 2006) was about $200/night. That’s just with their regular room. Though the more expensive ones are cool. It’s like a villa with your own jacuzzi and a little pool. Really nice.

It’s quiet there too… I’ve only seen one couple with a baby about 8 months old. Other than them… mostly honeymooners. The food’s questionable, though. We didn’t like it very much and we really didn’t have a choice because there were no other neighboring places to eat.

Though we did get to relax because of the serenity of the resort, the food’s not exceptional (I love to eat!) and there weren’t much activities available. But if you’re just going to spend your trip indoors with your loved one (…know what I mean?) and don’t really care much about the food. This is a good resort to go to. Just for that you-and-me-inside-the-room kind of vacation.

It’s been 3 days now. I’ve been staring at this website practically as soon as I wake up and before I go to bed. It contains a list of Nikon Digital SLR packages which are relatively cheap for us locals. It’s come to a point when my husband would peer over my shoulder and see that the site that’s got me so engrossed is that damn list (when he would usually find me blog surfing, doing research or typing up a storm)… and start laughing that sympathetic laugh of his. He’s never seen me so obsessed.

I’ve been resisting the urge to get myself one for years because I knew it would spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E for my pocket. My Papa has been taking pictures ever since I could remember. My mental picture of him would always be with his camera draped around his neck. I’d remember that he’d buy a new lens but had to buy filters that would go perfectly with it… then comes a tripod about ye high… then another one that has a motor… and so on. I knew that if I do get a DSLR camera, that it wouldn’t end with just getting a body but a range of accessories as well.

I’ve been successfully and blissfully ignoring the DSLR urge when my irritating friend, Teach (yes, it’s all YOUR fault) was kind enough to tell me that the Nikon D40 was on sale in his area. It was too cheap to pass up on. So what I did next was something any curious person would do… I googled it.

BIG MISTAKE! Not only did I find out that the D40 is not for me but the urge that I’ve been suppressing all these years have taken a life of its own. What started as curious googling to know if the D40 was a good buy became a full blown obsession. After 3 days, I’ve made a decision that the best DSLR camera for me would be the Nikon D80. It’s the only model that I feel I won’t get frustrated over… and it didn’t stop there. Teach told me about a good lens then (stupid me) googled again. Found out that the lens that usually comes with the D80 body has limitations (and the list gets longer…).

Why a Nikon you say? Rather than a cheaper alternative like Canon? Uhmm… grew up with my Nikonian father. ‘Nuff said. I refuse to go into a debate about Nikon vs. Canon. It will NEVER end. Believe me. I tried batting for Canon because I simply don’t want my wallet to take a beating but my heart belongs to Nikon. A friend and avid Canon fan actually helped me in this realization. He says that Nikon has brighter blues and greens… which is perfect because I like to take pictures outdoors. I don’t see myself cooped up in a studio.

So what’s the hold up? My wallet won’t grow money. *sigh* I have to wait. Save up. Keep my fingers and toes crossed that they’d bring down the price before the D700 comes out at the end of the year. A Nikon DSLR in my future? I’d say: just a matter of time.

I got my 350 Challenge certificate the other day! Woohoo! This blog has helped me offset 350 pounds of carbon. I have officially stopped driving my car for two whole weeks!

I wrote about this challenge in an earlier post. I’m so happy they changed their mechanics! They’ve reached their goal of 350 bloggers and they’re not stopping there (i thought they would). For each blogger to post their badge, they will offset 350 lbs. of carbon in the blogger’s name (i wonder if i post another one, will they offset an additional 350 lbs for me??? ). Nah… I can’t just sit pretty. I’ll have to try offsetting carbon on my own. Too bad for my husband, he has to contribute too.

Anyway… come on you guys! They now have 400 bloggers on their list. Be counted! Go on and head on to the 350 Challenge by Brighter Planet website and get your badge. What’s that itsy-bitsy space anyway? You can even choose the size of your badge. You have total control in how much space it’ll eat up. Give a gift back to Mama Earth!

*Humming-oh-so-merrily*

Welcome to Everything Under The Tropical Sun’s permanent home!

Again, I give 1,000% credit for this running site to Teach. Update: I give 500% credit to Teach and another 500% to Harry (thanks, Harry! I owe you one). They worked out the back end of things and now it’s up and running! Woohoo!

There was some sort of problem with the mySQL (totally clueless on what it does) at one point last night and Teach had to enlist Harry’s help (very unusual… hmmm…). I don’t know how long it took for them to correct the errors but was told that I owe Harry a beer. I guess it took them a while. Hehehehe.

As promised, I woke up this morning and found that the site is ALIVE. Now I can just keep blogging… and blogging… and blogging. Thanks so much, you guys!

Across the floor we swept away,
There weren’t much words for us to say.
Your gentle eyes said it all,
It had much love than I recall.

I wanted to tell of things in my heart,
But I didn’t know how to start.
Your loving arms held me so,
That I didn’t ever want to let go.

Behind my eyes I could never hide,
It told you everything I couldn’t confide.
That I couldn’t say how much you meant,
When the moment came up and went.

“I love you, Papa. More than words can say,
I’m grateful for you in every way.”
Our eyes welled up for all to see,
But that moment belonged only to you and me.

Judgments.
We are all guilty of judging people by the way they look and so are we all victims of being judged.

Pretty = Dumb
Glasses = Nerd
Fat = Lazy
Sweet = Weak
… and so on.

No wonder many of us are don’t like ourselves too much. Take a paper and pen and make two columns: a column for the things you hate about yourself and the other for things you absolutely love about yourself. Without looking, I am willing to bet that it took longer for most to list down the things that you absolutely love about yourself.

How I love Felicia Fields’ quote and aspire to live by her words. A complete change in mindset is in order to be able to help others too. I am my own harshest judge. To be able to accept myself for who I am, gives others permission to do the same.

I was rummaging through some of my photos in my hard drive when I came across some old photos of Siargao. I miss Siargao!!! It’s been 5 years since we last visited that beautiful island. Last time we went, it was for business (with A LOT of pleasure) because I had to write an article about the place for our local newspaper… Surfing Siargao. I’ve never been back since.

Believe it or not, the first time we went (which was three months before my “business” trip), we ended up spending P5,000/each (about $120) for the entire week. This includes our boat fare, accommodation, food, boat rental (for island hopping), surfboard rental (with guides), etc. We didn’t have first class accommodations but that’s part of the experience. I realized that it was cheaper to go with a group (we were seven on the first trip) because when we went back, we ended up spending a bit more. It didn’t help that we missed our boat and had to fly back home, either.

I wasn’t aspiring to become a surfer or anything but finding surf spots around the Philippines was a fairly new thing and at the time, my husband (boyfriend at the time) and I was hungry to try something new. It wasn’t so difficult to enlist friends to take the journey with us even if none of us knew anything about Siargao. We were really going on an adventure which really paid off. We had the time of our lives and we still talk about it to this day.

My husband commented that it was so out of character for me to suggest, better yet, PLAN an adventure to the unknown. I hated surprises and have an obsession in making sure everything goes off without a hitch. I guess, that’s why I love Siargao so much. It was a place that rewarded me for taking chances, for being spontaneous and for treating the unknown with excitement instead of fear.

Since then, we’ve made trips to different parts of our country. I wasn’t scared to try new things and visit new places anymore. In fact, I welcome it. 7,100 islands… there’s still so much to see. Now, our “Places to visit” list no longer consists of mostly foreign countries but local destinations instead. How can we appreciate what is out there if we don’t know what we have here? Discovering the beauty of my country one place at a time is such a pleasant challenge.

If you’re like me, most likely you fell in love with the wrong person at least once in your life. I am such a sucker for “love at first sight” stories which may or may not have been part of the wrong choices I’ve made in the past. I’d like to believe that there are couples out there who truly met and fell in love all within a span of a second. But like most people, I had to trudge through a path of heartaches… leaving behind a trail of painful memories.

There were times when I lost my faith in love. There were also times when I felt like maybe there was something I did that was so bad that I did not deserve to belong with someone else. A few tears later and after the self-pity has subsided, the hopeless romantic in me would gain strength and I would be back on the search once more… only to fail miserably again.

It wasn’t until the day that I said: “All or nothing” when things started to change for me. It was a secret pact I made with myself. It was either I’d find the one or I’d spend the rest of my life being content with living life precariously through my siblings. By then I was feeling pretty pessimistic and was thinking that nobody every really finds the one. People around me were merely settling down and my parents’ relationship ended up in separation. Not very inspiring. Until I met him.

It wasn’t the fireworks-at-first-sight kind of thing when my brother introduced us and we didn’t become fast friends either. I can’t remember it exactly when we became close friends. It was like one day I just knew who he was and in the next, we were hanging out so much… text messaging each other every day ’til one day, I found myself missing him. My day didn’t feel complete if I didn’t get to speak or see him. That’s when I knew that I’ve fallen… that was four years before we got married and six years ago from today.

He has always been so wonderfully patient with me and still loves me even when I am at my worst. He makes me feel so secure. I see him across a crowded room always a vision of calm and quiet confidence, nothing else mattered. Not my nervousness enveloping me in a room full of strangers, not my inability to make small talk… none of those feelings mattered. I can’t think of a better person to spend the rest of my life with. I feel so privileged to be growing old with him. I can’t wait to know that one day far from now, I’ll be at his side and watch the world pass us by.

There are so many things in him that I am grateful for. I am most especially thankful for his love. It is his love that has shown me that I am indeed worthy. He makes me feel loved not just by him… but also by my self.

The song “Bless the Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts summarized everything I felt and feel. I know that many of you can relate to this song too. Here’s the video: