Everything Under The Tropical Sun

We went to yoga… could you believe it?! We actually pushed through!!! Isn’t it amazing?! I heard no excuses… no alibis… nothing. Not-a-thing. I was so amazed.

So we went to this little yoga center hidden away in the middle of the city. They teach Ananda Marga yoga. You can check out their website: www.yogaincebu.com and apparently, they’ve been around for quite some time now. They hold 8 sessions for beginners held twice a week: Tuesdays and Thursdays. We get a certificate when we’re done… (uhm, what it’s for… its benefits… I really don’t know.) but what I forgot to ask was what happens if I still want to stay at the beginner level? Do I pay again for another 8 sessions of beginners yoga?

The good thing is if we decide to advance to the intermediate yoga classes, once we’re done with it, we can join the classes for free… all we have to do is donate a little for the food and the use of the facilities. Not bad huh? Though the facilities were less than appealing. It’s definitely not commercial yoga since the class was half asanas and half meditation.

I’m grateful for the meditation part. My husband and I were both able to point out where we are in our own lives because of it. What happens when you quiet your mind? What comes to mind when you shut everything else out? What can you learn from it? Just being aware of what we try not to think of on a normal day gives us power over our thoughts. At least that’s how I treat it. How can you have power over something you don’t know exists? Since I’m now aware that I have certain insecurities with some of the things that I’ve done recently, I can deal with it right? Instead of pushing my insecurities in the back of my mind and let it fester and brood… forgotten but so active… a dangerous combination. Before it gets out of hand, I’m aware… I can acknowledge its presence… I can deal with it. Wonderful.

I’m happy that we were able to go and I didn’t hear much complaints from my husband. He actually generally enjoyed the session and we’re going back tomorrow. Yes. Tomorrow. Can you believe it? After a year… my life partner and best friend finally fulfilled his promise. In his own time. I’m so happy.

Breaking our normal routine, instead of waiting for my husband to pick me up at work, I went to his office and waited for him the other day. I went straight to his desk, moved his laptop aside and cleared a space up for my own laptop. I do this every time I go to his office first because I know he’ll take forever to finish his work. He usually works about an hour… an hour and a half overtime every day. He usually has a very stressful day at work. The day he starts relaxing… is the day that the accounting department is going to start stressing out. So consensus says, it’s better that he gets stressed rather than the accounting department. Poor guy.

He has always turned to music to balance himself out. When he needs to get his adrenaline running, he’d usually pump up the volume and rock out to his favorite tracks. He’s always been into rock music and maybe it’s derivatives like punk, alternative… not really into heavy metal but he likes some tracks from that genre. Sure, he’d venture out to Hip Hop music but he’d always come back home to rock.

Imagine my shock and a bit of awe when I heard Con te partido blasting from his laptop. Opera music. Then classical music. My goodness! What ever happened to my husband?! Why would he… my own rocker… listen to classical music?! I mean… sure… he can appreciate practically all types of music… he does not discriminate and he has a mind so open that he’s hardly judgemental. But in the 7 years I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him listen to classical. I couldn’t help myself and started acting silly… acting like I was a conductor (there’s this cool Brazilian conductor we’ve seen perform on TV… so I was mimicking him)… he mentioned something about Bugs Bunny and we laughed.

Without having to ask him, he explained himself. Whenever he listens to rock nowadays, his heart starts pumping really hard and with his stress levels at work, it’s not helping him. Classical music keeps him calm and alert all throughout the day.

Hmm… good explanation. I can believe it. But… SHOCKING!!!

Ann, one of my best friends (I only have three), and her family are back home. They left for Manila two whole years ago and now they’re baaaaack!!! (Thank God! She is the only one who’s in the Philippines… the other two are in the U.S. and Dubai). Well, they’ve been back pretty much the same time Ivee quit smoking… about a month ago.

Anyway, I’m so happy! We’re not the most social couple but  just having Ann and Juno around makes me feel like my social calendar’s back on track when in fact, we just hang out at their home. These two people are the ultimate butterflies in the social scene. They’re in touch with practically everyone we know and they’re updated on what’s happening with everyone.

If you’ve noticed, I’ve added a new “colon” title to my blog entry: Monday Club. That’s because every Monday, Ann, Juno, my hubby and I would get together and have a certain food theme. Our first Monday was Japanese night. Which, I regret to tell you is about two weeks old when I posted it. Hey… I have to save some of my entries right?

So anyway… last week’s Monday club was cancelled because Ann wasn’t feeling well… Tonight’s Monday club is temporarily moved to tomorrow night (I know, A TUESDAY) because they have to buy school supplies for their kids. School is opening very very soon. It’ll be traffic in the streets of Cebu once again. Both our offices are located next to schools so it’ll be a while ’til we get to adjust to the traffic once more.

ANYWAY… they’re home!!! I’m happy… Juno’s happy… (not sure if Ann is  happy… the jury’s out on that one). I’m glad they’re home.

I’ve been overloading this blog with photos from our Bantayan trip. It just goes to show how unexpectedly pleasant that trip was. So it’s just fitting for me to tell you all about our trip and bore you to death! Hahahaha! Sit tight and get ready to snore…

It was our first time to go there. Though we have friends (plus my siblings) who’ve been there but none of them went with us. We were supposed to take Neptune with us but since she moved her flight (made her regret that!), we couldn’t move our booking and we were going to leave for Bohol 2 days after she gets in Cebu, my hubby and I decided to just go ahead and go to Bantayan.

We didn’t really know where we were going but getting away from the city brought out the adventurous spirit in both of us. All we knew was that we had to drive all the way to the northen tip of Cebu and from there we ride a boat to Bantayan. Nine municipalities/cities and a 3 – 4 hour drive before us. The farthest we’ve ever been in the north was Compostella. That’s only about a 45 minute drive away. But the sun was shining… we were in high spirits and was in the mood for a road trip. We were so excited by the mere idea that we were going to be over a hundred kilometers away from the city… away from our offices… away from the stress. It was going to be just the two of us but we didn’t really mind. We love being with each other even through the silence between us. It was always comfortable.

About halfway through our drive… it started to rain. It really worried me because I felt our vacation was under threat. Our once-in-a-blue-moon fantasy (well, that was what we could afford – time wise) vacation was under threat. For a while there I felt sad… and worried. Then I said it out loud: “Nevermind… who cares if it rains? Then we’ll just lock ourselves in the room and just hang out. As long as we’re not getting stressed out at work or worried that we’re simply a phone call away from work.” My husband agreed… my mind was at peace once again and I continued to enjoy the road trip. Rain or shine… nothing was going to jeopardize this trip. As I looked outside the window, I found myself silently praying for the rain to stop.

The sky opened up just as we hit Bogo… one city away from San Remegio which was where we needed to go: The Hagnaya Wharf in San Remegio… The view was breathtaking…

We got a little lost along the way to Hagnaya wharf and had to stop at a gas station for directions but all in all, we were able to get to the wharf where we parked our car in a private parking lot. For P100/day (about $2/day) charge was great savings rather than bringing our car with us which would cost P1,700 (about $25) and that was only one way. Usually it would just be around P500 plus 2 passengers free of charge but something about the day (maybe because it was Saturday) made the cost higher. But it’s okay. We just paid the lot a total of P300 (about $6) and P120 (about $2.40) each for the boat fare to Sta. Fe, Bantayan. The rest, you’ve seen through my photoblog. It was such an amazing experience and I’ll recommend it to everyone who plans on going.

This is the last time you’ll see anything about my previous Bantayan trip. I promise. Until the next one…

Teach introduced me to Chase Jarvis. He’s one heck of a photographer. I follow him on twitter and just found his “iPhone pictures portfolio”… one would wonder why would he post photos he took with his iPhone? And why in the world would a photographer of his calibre use a 2MP phone cam?

Here’s the answer: Chase Jarvis’ iPhone photos (click for the link)

(sigh with me, Teach)

Chase Jarvis is the photographer’s version of the singer who can sing a phone book and make it sound sooo good. Some people just have so much talent. How I wish it was transferable. I’d go to his house and lick his spoon if that was the case (yuck, right? desperate much?).

Anyway, just wanted to share how amazing that album was. Goodnight.

I’m doing a quick, quick post. So forgive me. One of our beloved colleagues is getting married today. It’s such a happy day and we’re going to shoot her wedding. Everyone’s in on it: Bible Guy will be covering Strawberry Cow, Mamykills and I will be covering Herbie and Trickster will be assisting us. So I’m expecting a FUN, FUN, FUN day!!!

For now, I bid adieu and ask for forgiveness for this half hearted post. Hehehehe…

So busy! But happy busy.

Neptune’s here and we’ve been having a blast catching up. She hasn’t changed one bit. Same “oplok” girl I knew in high school. Now, I’m on my way out the door to pick her up. We’ll be spending the night at my mom’s house because we’re leaving for Bohol tomorrow!!! Bright and early. The boat leaves at 8:45 AM.

Bohol is a separate island from Cebu… another city and a 2-hour boat ride away… but equally as beautiful. I’d say they have better beaches than the ones found in Mactan. Cebu’s mainly made of rock and Bohol has beautiful white sand beaches. I’ll shall say it again: I LOVE LIVING IN A TROPICAL COUNTRY! I LOVE CEBU! I LOVE THE VISAYAS! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

Hopefully, I’ll have internet connection so I can post. But I doubt I’ll have the time. We’ll be spending our days just lounging about… catching up on some reading and generally having a great time. I won’t be surprised if I’ll put this blog on the back burner for a while. So for now, I bid adieu my precious blog. I’ll be going on a bloggie break for the next four days. I’ll miss you… I really will.

Have a fun and great Holy Week everyone and an advance Happy Easter!

We just got back from Bantayan… but we’re leaving again in an hour to pick Neptune up at the airport! I’m so busy… even when I’m not working… I love it. I love my work, I love my downtime. What more can I ask for?

Well, the trip was a blast. Had a great time with my husband (as always). Spent most of our time laughing, eating (no surprise there) and getting a little tan. Bantayan is such a wonderful place. Though we had hoped to have had better accommodations, Beach Placid is so-so. They’re in dire need of some proper branding by the way but it seems like they don’t have too big a budget yet so maybe later on… when the island picks up more tourists. Right now, main tourist pool are Cebuanos then some white people. The good thing was I didn’t see a single Korean. Thank goodness.

I’ll be posting a more detailed account of our trip a little later… right now, I need to nap a bit before we head on out to pick Neptune up from the airport. She’ll be spending a whole week here in Cebu so I’m very excited! I just hope Ann would be able to come home too. It won’t be the same without her. Nep will be going to Bohol with my family on Thursday so that should be a blast.

Expect ONLY beach photos from me during the whole of April!

PERFECT! –> one word to describe my husband’s barbequed baby back ribs! I’m drooling just thinking about those flawlessly grilled tender baby back ribs. When he first grilled these babies a few weeks ago, they were so good that I just couldn’t wait and didn’t mind repeating a meal in less than 2 weeks. I’m in love… with my husband’s baby back ribs. He claims that the first try was just “practice” and that he got it right this time around (what a showboat! but has every right of being one). Anyway, they’re yummy and this is the closest way I could share it to the rest of the world.

Three gorgeous boys walked into my life two Saturdays ago… *sigh*… Gorgeous! Gorgeous! Gorgeous! Their mom is a good friend of ours and requested for a shoot. So we scheduled it… did it for free… (because I needed the practice) PLUS triplets are ultra rare. It was such a treat to photograph Kai, Ryo and Gin.

It was my first time to use the company studio and to be honest… I SUCKED. Hahahahaha! I was totally clueless as how to position the lights and worse… I should’ve experimented with the white balance but didn’t. I got what I aimed to achieve: LEARN. It was still such a fun experience for me and made me realize that this month has been a great month for photography so far… I’ve picked up my cam so often and learned so much.

Maybe I will take up that 365 challenge. That challenge is taking a self portrait once a day. I don’t know. I still haven’t figured how I’m going to do that and I’m still waiting for the tripod I ordered. Kinda hard to do a self portrait without one. If I asked my husband to press the shutter then technically he took the photo right? So we’ll see.

Anyway, back to the triplets… they’re so cute! And my photographs didn’t turn out half as bad as I thought. Though that camera shake was a pain. Gotta keep making mistakes… gotta keep making new mistakes… gotta keep learning. A triple treat. Thank you little ones… you’ve made my month! I’ll be posting some photos of them in the future but for now, here’s one just to show you how completely adorable they are…