F.B. & I have been married two weeks now. We got to spend our first Christmas & New Years together as husband and wife.

Christmas Eve day F.B. & I went to Robinson’s Metro East early in the morning. We hung out at a net café for a couple hours while I uploaded more wedding photos, etc. Afterwards we had lunch at Wendy’s in Sta. Lucia Mall. (Baconator…mmmm… deadly, but delicious! Hehe!)

We stopped at an electronics store after lunch so F.B. could get me a Christmas gift. He got me an 8GB USB Flash Drive. Yay! We also stopped at the Guess store again… I have a bad addiction with that store in the Philippines! I’ve gotten 4 t-shirts from there already, and it’s not exactly cheap. They were all around P800-P1300. ($17-28 USD).

Christmas Eve we went to church around 9:30pm. The church was packed with people. When we got back to F.B.’s house we had ‘Noche Buena’ around 12am. We exchanged Christmas gifts with the family and took pictures. We had dinner around 1am and didn’t get to bed until around 3am Christmas Morning.

Christmas Day we stayed home and relaxed. Around 6:30pm we went to Mega Mall to Saisaki Buffet to have dinner with F.B.’s family & relatives. Afterwards we had Starbucks.

Christmas Photos:

F.B.’s aunt got me this cute wooden mouse pen and wooden mouse toy for Christmas.

Mugwort eating in the kitchen:

December 28th we had a free overnight stay at the Malayan Plaza Hotel in Pasig City. It was a gift from one of F.B.’s aunts. It’s just around the corner from Mega Mall and Robinson’s Galleria in Pasig City. Our hotel suite had its own little kitchen, with a microwave, stove and full fridge. There was also a DVD player, but we didn’t bring any DVD’s with us!

Our Room:

Our Kitchen!

View from our hotel room:

We wanted to go to the IMAX Theater at Mall of Asia, but it was still packed with holiday shoppers, etc so we ended up going to Robinson’s Manila to spend the afternoon there. I got another cute keychain mouse/rat to add to my collection! We also checked out Fort Santiago but it was really hot that day so we didn't stay long.

New Years Eve we headed to church around 9:30pm. We got back home around 11pm. It was pretty loud with people setting off firecrackers and fireworks all over the place. At 12am we had dinner. F.B. & I had Spongebob necklaces that light up from Ate Malou’s daughter, Jenny.

New Years Photos:

With Jenny:

I also got to call home to my family on Christmas & New Years. My ratties are doing well while I'm away. They even got banana chips as a Christmas Gift from my Mom. Hehe. Here's a photo of Saffy they sent to me, she's wearing a Santa Hat!

Sunday we are headed to the Best Western Astor Hotel in Makati City for 5 days, 4 nights. We check out on the 7th. We also still have to pick up our marriage certificate sometime soon and we are also still waiting on the professional wedding photos. We want to head back to Tagaytay one day this month too. For our first wedding “monthiversary” on January 19th, we are going to go back to the Manila Hotel.

The 23rd I will be heading home. I've already been in touch with our lawyer. I will be contacting him when I'm back in the USA, so we can start F.B.'s immigration process. It's estimated to take 1 year to 2 years at the most. We are doing a longer process on purpose because it will save us money in the long run and F.B. will be a permanent resident when he finally steps off the plane in the USA.

NOTE: Our lawyers Peter J. Gonzales & Shanna Stanton have changed firms. They are no longer with Kahiga Tiagha. They are now with Green and Spiegel LLC, but still located in Philadelphia. 

It’s already Wednesday December 16th here at 2am. (My blog settings are still on my home time.) We are down to just 3 days until the wedding… and even though I’ve been in the Philippines 3 weeks now, it’s the week of my wedding I come down with a cold!!!

Sunday afternoon my nose started running and by the evening my throat was really sore. F.B.’s dad had some leftover cold medicine so that held me over until we could get some more medicine on Monday. Early Monday morning F.B. went to the grocery to get me some Gatorade and menthol cough drops. (Menthol candy here in the Philippines!) Today my nose has just been running & I've been sneezing!!!

Monday we had to go to the Cainta municipal hall to pick up our marriage license. We dropped it off at the mayor’s office for our wedding on December 19th. I also mailed some Christmas cards and we picked up more cold medicine, soup and Listerine at the grocery. We went to Robinson’s Galleria that evening and had dinner at Tokyo Tokyo and Starbucks afterwards… hot coffee feels so good on my throat right now!

Last Saturday we went to Mall of Asia in the afternoon and had lunch at Chow King. I discovered I could get the Peppermint Mocha as a light blended frappucino, yay! F.B. had a toffee nut frapp.(These pictures are especially for Shannon! Sorry, lol!)

Afterwards we met up with F.B.’s parents at the Manila Hotel so we could confirm the reservations, etc for the wedding buffet dinner on December 19th. I was happy because there was free wi-fi at the hotel. I recently had to pay my cell phone company an exorbitant amount of money for blackberry roaming charges, blah. So now I can only use internet on my phone when there’s free wi-fi.

Some pictures of the Manila Hotel:

I thought I would share what our invitations look like all done up:

And these are the favors we are giving away at the wedding. They are in heart shaped boxes. It’s a keychain with our wedding date and an American flag on one side and a Philippine Flag on the other. (A big thank you to F.B.’s family for all of the wedding planning, reservations, favors, etc!)

Our titanium wedding rings!

After the Manila Hotel we decided to go to Trinoma Mall for dinner but it was sooo mobbed with weekend Christmas Shoppers that we just ended up at Big R near F.B.’s house for dinner. We tried a new Japanese restaurant named ‘Kitaro’. I had a chicken teriyaki meal and F.B. had “yakiniku” which was a beef meal. (I told him it looked like Philadelphia cheese steak meat without the cheese!) We also had our favorite sushi, California Maki. Which is just cooked crab meat & mango, mayo. (The USA version has avocado instead of mango.) Kitaro’s had little fish eggs on top too, but it was really good. We will definitely be having dinner there again sometime.

I got some more keychain mice at the 85 Peso store in Robinson’s Galleria. I’ve got a whole collection now!

We also found these weird sunglasses there- I bought them mainly because F & I thought the the “English” on the package is hysterical. I think I may have to submit them to Engrishfunny.com. (Click to make the pictures larger.) Most all of the items from the 85 Peso store are from Japan.

F.B. was excited to have Ruffles the other night, he hasn’t had any since before the flood. I was excited to find plain Snyder’s Pretzels at SM Marikina’s supermarket! (Since I'm still doing my pre-wedding dieting. Which is mainly no junk foods and smaller portions.)

F.B. likes to create sandwiches. Here’s his 3 layer salami sandwich from last week! He and my brother Seth will definitely get along; Seth likes to make 3 layer sandwiches too.

Mugwort was hanging out in front of F’s house the other night he made himself at home on the decorative stone.

Dinner at Gerry’s Grill last week:

Just hanging out at the house:

Saturday morning 12/19 we will be getting married at the Cainta Municipal hall by the mayor. (Which means at home in Philadelphia it will actually be Friday, 12/18 at 9pm!) Around 2pm we will have to check into the Manila Hotel. We are staying 2 nights as a gift from F.B.’s parents. 6pm-10pm will be our wedding dinner. It’s going to be a long day so I will probably be doing a blog sometime the week after the wedding. You can always check my Facebook page for more current updates!

NOTE: If you are getting married in the Philippines and you are a US citizen these requirements from the US Embassy in Manila Philippines, will be helpful: Getting Married in The Philippines.

It's been a very busy week and weekend for me. Last weekend I started looking for cats at different shelters in my area. I put in an application for one kitty but my application wasn't approved so I began my search again. Friday night my brother and I stopped at the Petco near my work because I wanted to apply for some shelter cats I had seen online at that location. We looked at all the cats and I really loved the cat named 'Sara'. She was so pretty and 1-2 years old, already spayed & litter trained.

I got the volunteer hours mixed up though. The volunteer hours were 6-8pm and it was 4pm. We wouldn't be able to fill out an application until then, so my brother & I decided to check out some other pet stores to see if they were selling kittens. We went to 3 different places but they only had male kittens. While at Neshaminy mall I got a great deal at American Eagle though. They were having buy one top get the other 50% off! I was able to get two hoodies for $21! Black & Hot Pink. American Eagle is one of my favorite stores and I love their sales & clearance prices.

We got back to the Petco around 7pm. I still didn't see any volunteers so I went to ask one of the cashiers that I was interested in adopting a cat and was there someone that could help me with an application? The cashiers didn't really know and said they would send someone over to help me. While I waited I decided to call the main branch of the shelter to ask if their volunteer was at this location because I didn't see anyone. (The cashiers never did send anyone over to help me.)

After I hung up with the shelter (they said they would check.) I finally saw the shelter's volunteer cleaning one of the cat's cages, so I waved through the glass and she came out to greet us and give us an application. (I also called the shelter back to say there was a volunteer here.) She came out to greet us and I told her the cashiers told me they didn't know where the volunteers were and she's like, "Oh... I can't believe them." She said the way they set the cages up in this store she had a hard time seeing people if she was in the back cleaning.

She was really nice and let me fill out an application and then came to meet with me and talk with me and ask me questions about my rats/pets and what would I do in different situations. I asked her lot's of questions about 'Sara'. She let my brother & I go in the back and meet her. She was very playful and let us pet her and she was loving on us and rubbing against our hands. After we talked some more the lady said she was going to approve me and I could either pick 'Sara' up another night or I could take her home with me that night! I didn't think I would be approved that fast since most shelters had a 7-10 day application process. I was so happy!

Her adoption fee was $50.00. I bought a pet carrier & Hill's science diet food she was eating at the shelter. With the new adoption coupons the total only came to $46.00 even though the food was $13.00 and the carrier was $60.00! After I signed my adoption contract and wrote a check to the shelter we were able to take her! The lady gave us her little mouse toy & ball toy to play with. Then we stopped at walmart to pick up some toys, a brush and a litter pan. I still have to get her a set of bowls, a collar & tag with her name on it.

I've decided to name her Tansy after the flowers. Because she's so sweet and has these big yellow eyes. I think she's a mix between a tortoiseshell and calico. Her belly is all white but her top is a mixture of brown, grey, orange tabby cat all mixed up. The shelter said she was found back in November as a stray in West Philadelphia. Poor girl.

Meet Tansy:
























On her first night home she was so curious running all around and exploring. She didn't want to sit still. She can be very loving, loves to be pet, will rub up against people. But then she has her moments where she's had enough attention and will give you a look and try to swat you. She is still getting used to her surroundings though and I imagine she is just stressed and confused right now and it will takes some more time for her to feel comfortable in her new home and around us.

We discovered though... she tries to chew wires! So in the evening when we go to bed we've been keeping her in the downstairs bathroom which is very large, with her carrier, food & water and litter. (With the toilet closed of course.) In the morning she is allowed in the dining room and living room, but we've been keeping the bathroom/bedroom doors closed until she is used to the house. And she's not allowed in my bedroom because the rat's cage is in there and I don't want her sticking her paw in and getting bit or for her to hurt the rats in any way.

She's such an intelligent girl though... and naughty. Yesterday I was on my laptop in the living room and it got very quiet. I went into the dining room... and Tansy has somehow opened my mom's china cabinet and was inside! Here is what I saw:































She is a really sweet cat & I love her already. I really feel she was meant to be my cat just because the shelter had given her the name 'Sara'. Hehe. I have to make an appointment for her to get a check up at my vet probably the 2nd week of April.

My cat Popcorn passed away around 8:30pm this evening. She was 15 years old. She seemed just fine today. I saw her in the morning before I left for work, cuddled up on the back of the sofa and I pet her head before I left. This evening she was okay too. My parents said she was even eating some leftover sausage scraps from dinner. My 14 year old brother Sean even gave her a bath.

Around 8pm my mother knocked on my bedroom door and told me Popcorn had had a violent seizure and that she was not doing well at all and asked if I wanted to come and see her. She was laid out on the sofa, next to my brothers still wet from her bath earlier. Her eyes were not blinking her one ear looked crooked and her tongue was protruding slightly. She was paralyzed. She would try to breathe every now and then give a horrible groan and her paws would twitch...

I called my vet but got the answering machine with the number for the emergency vet service. I called them and got directions and got dressed, I didn't want her to suffer all night... we were going to have her put to sleep. I was waiting for my parents to get ready when Popcorn wasn't making any noises. I felt for her heartbeat and it was still there and asked my brother to check too... but just as quick as that she wasn't with us anymore... and she passed away around 8:30pm....

My Dad & Scotty buried her outside under the trees. We said goodbye to her before they took her outside. It was just so sudden tonight... I wasn't expecting this at all. We were all talking about our cats this morning at work... I am very upset... my whole family is upset. We got Popcorn when I was just 11 years old, and I will be 27 this year... my brother Sean who is 14 is also really upset. When I first went away to the Philippines almost 3 years ago Popcorn became really attached to Sean and was his buddy. Goodbye Popcorn... we will miss you...





















Four Feet in Heaven

Your favorite chair is vacant now...
No eager purrs to greet me.
No softly padded paws to run
Ecstatically to meet me.
No coaxing rubs, no plaintive cry
Will say it's time for feeding.
I've put away your bowl, and all
The things you won't be needing;
But I will miss you little friend,
For I could never measure
The happiness you brought me,
The comfort and the pleasure.
And since God put you here to share
In earthly joy and sorrow;
I'm sure there'll be a place for you
In Heaven's bright tomorrow...

By, Alice E. Chase