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.

This past Saturday we went to Mall of Asia for the afternoon. We saw the movie Planet 51. Which is a CG film. It was a twist on alien invasion- because the human lands on the alien planet and thinks he is the alien. It was pretty cute.

F.B. wanted to get me new Havaianas sandals but the store at Mall of Asia had a really long line just waiting to get into the store. We checked after the movie to see if it would be shorter and it was actually longer! I got a cute purple t-shirt at SM Department store and some new pearl bracelets at Kultura.

We also had Starbucks again… of course, lol! Though I’m trying to behave before the wedding, so whenever we go I order a tall nonfat coffee. I discovered you can also get light blended frappucinos for 100-200 calories instead of 400-500 calories. I had a tall Mocha light blended frapp the other day without whipped cream and it’s just as good as a regular frapp. I decided to try non fat iced Peppermint Mocha when we were at Mall of Asia… (Can’t wait until after the wedding to try it as a frappucino!)

Since Mall of Asia was really crowded on Saturday we went to Robinson’s Galleria for dinner. We tried The Old Spaghetti House. I got a dish with salmon and rice, but it wasn’t the best meal I’ve ever had. Kinda bland and the cut of salmon wasn't very good. I think I ate more of our appetizer, calamari.

They had a sign on the table with ads of their newest dishes and I thought this was kind of odd... I like peanut butter and banana sandwiches… but peanut butter, banana and BACON?!?! I dunno!

We saw this funny sign down in the parking garage. From our angle it looked like it said; “leave valuables inside your vehicle.” The “please do not” was covered. Hehe!

Sunday morning we were surprised to find F.B.’s Christmas gift had been delivered. We had it scheduled to be delivered Monday, but it came early. I got him a new cell phone. It was a belated Birthday/Christmas gift. (I had ordered him a phone for his birthday but with the flood, I had to cancel the order during the clean up.) Here’s his new shiny Nokia 2630, I ordered from Filgifts.com. It even came with headphones and has a radio built into it!

We went to Ayala for the day to Glorietta Mall. We got to check out Glorietta 5 one of the new areas. Just went to National Bookstore while in there to get a magazine and playing cards. I taught F.B. to play the game ‘war’. Hehe.

We went to ‘All Flip Flops’ to get my new Havaianas sandals. I really like them; they are super shiny, haha! They were my Christmas gift from F.B.

Starbucks at Glorietta Mall and me with my light blended mocha frapp! (No whip!) F.B. got a Coffee Jelly frappucino but it wasn't so good.

We headed back to Robinson’s Mall near F.B.’s house so we could stop at the grocery. Then we went to Sta. Lucia mall for dinner. We went to Yoshinoya which is like a Tokyo Tokyo. I had a rice bowl with chicken teriyaki and vegetables. F.B. had a beef and rice bowl. We also had these dumplings with crab called, Kani Shu-mai.

After dinner we were heading back downstairs when the Guess store distracted me. I saw this really cute pink t-shirt with butterflies that wasn’t even in the window so we went to check it out… P990 though! (Almost $20). I think that’s the most I’ve paid for a t-shirt, lol. I usually get mine on clearance in the USA. But it was too cute to pass up.

F.B. and I browsed the “Louis Vuitton” bags after the Guess store. He haggled the bag I wanted down to P900, which is a bit more than we paid for my last bag but they originally wanted P1200. ($24). I love it, it’s really big inside. I told F.B. he will have to take me to all the “rich” places now with my “Louis Vuitton” bag, my Guess t-shirt and Havaianas sandals, hehehe!

The weather hasn’t been too bad here. It hasn’t rained yet and it’s been very cold at night to me. F.B. laughs at me because he lives here year round and I’m the one cold at night in the Philippines. I’m also the one the heat doesn’t bother so much.

Next Monday we get to pick up our marriage license at the Cainta municipal hall and we may be going to the Manila Hotel this coming Saturday to confirm our reservations for the wedding dinner on 12/19!

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.

Wednesday was our appointment to apply for our marriage license. It was the longest day ever! We got up around 7am in the morning and we left for the Cainta municipal hall around 8am. First we just had to sign in. Around 9am we had to go to two seminars. Only they were in Tagalog and I didn’t understand them. The first seminar was 2 hour long. The 2nd seminar was a “health” seminar… AKA sexual education class in Tagalog! F.B. said they don’t have sex ed classes in school. It was about an hour long… though I could figure out that one from the nurse’s props; (condoms, birth control pills, etc). We were given certificates for attending the classes. (Though I don’t know how I counted- considering I didn’t understand anything! Hehe!)

After all the classes were finished it was lunch break for the employees so we couldn’t fill out our application for our marriage license. We went back to F’s house to relax until we could go back to the municipal hall. It only took about an hour to submit our paperwork and fill out our application. F.B.’s mother brought her friend along who is secretary to the mayor to see if we could expedite things. After we paid our fee for our marriage license they gave us a receipt saying we can pick up the license on December 14th.

F.B.’s mom wanted to see if the mayor of Cainta could do our wedding ceremony so we went to wait until we could see him. It ended up being about 2 and half hours and I am very impatient with waiting, lol. It wouldn’t have been so bad, except we were just sitting around for all of that time and I was tired already and had a headache and hadn’t had lunch yet. Around 4pm we got to see the mayor. Since he had a lot of appointments that day we agreed to do the wedding ceremony at 10am at the Cainta municipal hall. Then later in the evening around 6pm we will have our wedding dinner at the Manila Hotel.

Our wedding invitations arrived and F.B. showed me one. I took a picture of it to share with everyone.

Sunday we were going to see the movie 2012 at Robinson’s Galleria but it was standing room only! So we went to SM Marikina instead to buy tickets. (The movie was okay- it was kinda predictable to me.) We had dinner at Tokyo Tokyo. They have teriyaki salmon now! F.B. got that but he didn’t like it very much. I think I will try it next time. I got the teriyaki chicken. We also had California maki, yummy!

I found a neat little pink roll away suitcase at SM Marikina for about $20 USD! (50% off sale!)It’s a bit smaller and nicer than the carry on I brought with me. It also has a longer handle. (The carry on I brought with me has a crack in it, that F.B. helped me repair last year, but it's cracked in the same spot again.) It was just by chance we found the suitcase sale!

At Robinson’s Galleria we found an 85 Peso store. (Almost $2 USD) I got this neat light up keychain that turns different colors and this cute keychain mouse. I want to hang the mouse on my rearview mirror in my car when I get home.

When we were walking to the supermarket at SM Marikina we saw a pizza in a cone stand!!! Lol! It reminds me of the movie ‘The Jerk’ with the pizza in a cup stuff. F.B. & I want to try it some time just because pizza in a cone sounds weird!

I also got a Ratatouille Pez dispenser at the supermarket, hehe!

Oh and F.B. got his picture next to his “favorite” person, Hannah Montana!

We keep seeing this ‘Swish’ guy EVERYWHERE! It’s an advertisement for mouthwash! He was on the front of Mega Mall too!!!

And I thought this was funny, the mini tissues I got at Watson’s drugstore were called mini hankies, hehehe!

F.B. ruining my picture, lol!


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.

 

Sugar was doing very poorly the week before I left for the Philippines. She got progressively worse the night before I was to leave. She had 2 large mammary tumors and was losing a lot of weight and getting very frail.... my poor girl. I spent as much time as I could my last night home with her. When I woke up around 1am though Sugar couldn't move and was taking shallow breaths... I think she had had a stroke. I had to leave for the airport around 3am, so my brothers kept an eye on her while my parents took me to the airport for my flight. Around 5am I got a call from my brother at the airport, that Sugar had passed away.... she was around 2 years 1 month old. She lived a long life for a rattie. Sugar was my first rattie. When I went to Petco over two years ago she was the one standing up against the glass looking at me. I adopted her and her sister Spice back in October 2007. Sugar lived about a year longer than Spice. I will miss you so much my girl.... goodbye Sugar... 10-23-2007 - 11-24-2009

I left on Tuesday for the Philippines. My first flight was from Philadelphia to Chicago. Then Chicago to Tokyo Japan. When I finally arrived in Japan after my 13 hour flight I found out my cell phone wasn't working. I almos had a panic attack because I had no way of contacting F.B. to let him know I had arrived safely in Japan. I tried going to the money changer but I couldn't understand how to fill the form out and the Japan payphones were really odd looking too and you need Yen for them. I didn't know how I was going to let F.B. know when I was in the Philippines so he would know to come and pick me up in the waiting area. The flight from Japan to the Philippines was about 4 hours right before we were going to land I realized on the control for the LCD movie screen there was a phone on the other side you could use with your credit card so I called F.B. from the plane. At first he couldn't hear me so I had to call back and then he was like, "You're at the airport?" "No, I'm ON the plane! We're going to be landing my cell phone isn't working!" After all that once I did land in the Philippines, my cell phone did work. F.B.'s dad said Japan is on a different network and that's my phone didn't work.

We got back to F.B.'s house around 11:30pm on Wednesday. He had a red rose for me and some ratties waiting... hahaha! There was also a sign in the dining room Ate Malou made.

The next day was Thanksgiving so we headed to Mall of Asia for my "Thanksgiving" in the Philippines. We also watched 'A Christmas Carol' with Jim Carrey in 3D at the IMAX theater. We also had to pick up a new voltage box because my laptop wasn't working with the one F.B. got after the flood. We had dinner at Gerry's Grill like we did on my "Thanksgiving" last year in the Philippines. We had Gerry's grilled squid & veggie rice. We also tried a tofu & pork appetizer but it wasn't so great.

Friday we got up early to go to the US Embassy in Manila to get my 'Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage' We left the house around 6am and arrived around 7am. On the way to the building F.B. forgot he had his cell phone in his pocket.(No electronics are allowed inside the embassy.) As we were walking back to the car F.B. heard this guy say "Sarah Lynn". We were a little freaked out at first until the guy introduced himself. A few weeks ago I recieved an email from a blog reader who works for Department of Homeland Security at the US Embassy. He wanted to let me know that the embassy would be closed on December 1st and that November 27th would be a half day since those were the days we were considering going to the embassy. He had been at the Starbucks and was walking back to the embassy when he said he recognized us from my blog pictures, lol! I'm world famous now, haha!

I emailed him later in the day to thank him after we ran into him and he replied:

Hello Sarah-Lynn and FB, I am glad all is set now for the big day. It was nice, definitely a coincidence, running into you both this morning. Although I think I may have scared you guys a bit when I approached you and FB on the street with my Starbucks cup. You probably thought I was panhandling!

We really weren't at the embassy too long. I had to fill out my paper, go to another window to pay for it, then the longest part was waiting for them to do a background check. After that our name was called and we were interviewed briefly before I signed my paper and it was notarized. We were out of there around 9:30am. Then we headed back to Mall of Asia for lunch at Chow King and then back to F.B.'s house. Wednesday we have an appointment at the Cainta Municipal Hall to apply for our marriage licence. Saturday we just spent the day hanging out at his house watching movies and relaxing after the past 2 busy days.

Today we are at Robinson's Galleria. I'm at an internet cafe right now. We are going to see 2012. Afterwards we will be having dinner at Tokyo Tokyo.

I will leave you with some silly photos we took today!


And this is "Mugwort" he is another stray cat that likes to visit F.B.'s house. He survived the flood too. F.B. was trying to carry him out of the garage when the water was up to their necks but he jumped off his shoulders and swam away! F.B. named him "Mugwort" because if you look up the Tansy flower on wikipedia (My cat's name.) Mugwort is another name for Tansy. He's like the male Tansy, lol

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.