An Interesting Week

This week had been an interesting week indeed! I started the evening of Monday, Nov 26 with a seminar called by the Archdiocese of Manila wherein Fr. Genaro Diwa, head of the Liturgical Ministries of the Catholic Church gave a seminar on the roles of the wedding planners/coordinators in a Catholic wedding, as well as in a Catholic marriage. There were several enlightening points that he spoke about, but the rest are actually confirmation of what I had been practicing as a catholic wedding planner all along. He said that one of the seminar's aims was to consult with the participants on how to improve church and planner relationship. It also aims to get inputs on how to standardize the church requirements and practices at least within the Archdiocese of Manila. Well, that's a very good objective, and now at least we know that the Catholic Church does not shun wedding planners but rather looks forward to the assistance that we, as wedding planners/coordinators, can give.

Tuesday evening, Nov 27, was the PAWP Christmas party. The theme was "Razzle Dazzle" and our president JP wanted us to come in our most colorful attire.. And so I did.. and I won the "most colorful attire" of the evening... The evening was fun, despite the continuous rains due to "Lando" and "Mina" storms converging in one night... Talk about a couple.. As one DJ said, "lets hope we dont get a third party, or we will really have a havoc in our hands"... I was thinking of the poor people in Bicol and the southern Philippines, and the northern luzon areas which were being battered by the two storms causing them to be evacuated out of their homes... But I cant miss the PAWP party as we had invited several suppliers who have been supportive of PAWP thru these years. Suppliers attendance was real good, considering they had to travel thru the traffic caused by the rains. Ben Redulla, PAWP's favorite emcee, hosted the games and he proved to be really fun! We have to thank JP and his committee members Nenita, Jody, Liza and Peaches for a job well done. The decors were great, and food was delicious! Congratulations, guys!

This week was capped by suspense and disappointment! At 10:30 in the morning of Nov 29, once again Trillanes and his group tried to do a coup, a poor call for people power but in the end had to surrender to the government due to lack of people support. At first the suspense was there because I really did not know what they have in mind, and what will come out of this adventure. But in the end, I will call it a misadventure! Talk about poor strategy... Now the whole of Luzon has been placed under curfew from 12 midnight till 5 a.m. The government says it will only be for a day or two... but who knows??? Will this be a prelude to martial law again? Oh dear Lord, I pray not..

Balikbayan guests at Punta Fuego

I just came home from an overnight stay at Punta Fuego with Nena Abellera and Cora Musni,and Cora's sister Lulu Zafra. They came home to Manila for a week and they wanted me to bring them to Tagaytay. I thought that they have seen Tagaytay before, what else could be seen there? So I thought of bringing them to Punta Fuego. And since I am also coordinating a wedding there on Jan 3, 2008 (Giraud-Tamondong), I thought I can also do an ocular. I asked Lyn, Gaudiel and Weng to come. However only Weng can make it,and since she requested if her husband Eric can come, too, then I told her to bring him... That was a good move for me, because Eric had been very helpful in assisting us with our luggage and other needs, esp with Lulu who is afflicted with a kidney disease that makes her quite weak..

I just met Cora, and I learned that she came home purposefully for her sister, knowing that she has a debilitating disease, she wanted to spend time with her... I find that a very nice and thoughtful gesture... Cora is a very vivacious person, somewhat straightforward, but I know that she meant well... she is also very generous and caring, esp for those who serve her: waiters, bellboys, drivers and even to my staff. She has a kind heart, always solicitous of others... Maybe that is why she is so blessed... To travel and to spend seemed nothing to her.

Nena is now known as Maggie, from Magdalena, her filipino name. She has been a good friend of mine in my teen years. We lost contact and didnt know each other's whereabouts until one time when she saw Papa's picture while looking at Yoly Liwanag's album. What a small world! Yolly is their neighbor and good friend in Cerritos,California and she is an hijada of Papa for her wedding. The Liwanags were very close family friends, because Papa was their lawyer-retainer for all their properties and businesses since the 50's till Papa retired...

Going back to Nena... when she saw Papa's picture, she started asking the hows, whys, and wheres that led us to be connected again after all those years... That was in 1992 when Gerry was the GM of MIAA.. Since then, whenever I go to LA, and Nena comes here, we make it a point to see each other.. We have been reconnected again...

Nena and Cora arrived in Manila midnight of Nov 10.. I fetched them sunday morning, Nov 11, brought them to mass in Magallanes, and proceeded to Punta Fuego for an overnight stay. while there, we talked, walked, ate a lot. Meanwhile, I utilized some time to go to the venues for the Jan 3 wedding ceremony and reception. I was able to talk to Froilan, the head waiter. Overall, I was able to do my job at the same time entertain my balikbayan guests.

The next morning, Nov 12, we proceeded to Tagaytay Highlands to have lunch there and show them around, too. By 3:00PM, we proceeded home, and I checked them in at Discovery Suites where I gave them a free-night stay with breakfast voucher and passes to the swimming pool and gym. The free night is on the 3rd night. Its one of my vouchers from my Lifestyle Card membership... Nena has always been showing me around LA and vicinity too, whenver I was there... I'm just glad I was able to reciprocate somehow...

My Birthday

Oct 21 came and I planned for a very intimate time with my family. It was a sunday, so we went to Mass at 12:00 noon in Magallanes. Aimee was still in Baguio for a convention, so only Cheya, Gerry and I went to Mass. Gian and Gilan waited for Aimee so they could hear mass together. Gilbert and Joy came home from Montalban. After the mass, we had a sumptous lunch at home with only Benjie and Dorsay as our guests.
Benjie and Dorsay came over to bring mama to a hilot because she had a slight accident the night before. She fell from her chair, and had blood oozing out of her head that made us so scared we rushed her to Makati Med. Her CT Scan and Xrays showed nothing irregular. Her wound was bandaged, no stitches, since it was only superficial, so we brought her home... Thank God she is OK...

The day was just a relaxing day with the family...Although I spent practically the whole day answering text messages and phone calls of greetings.. :-) What a nice feeling.. :-)
Dinner was also at home. Rochelle cooked really special dishes that day... kare-kare, laing, Bicol express, roast chicken, sotanghon guisado, steamed prawns... She did them all.. Praise God for Rochelle!!

Cheya was already planning for a party on my 60th birthday... Hmmm, lets see..

I thank the Lord for my 58th year. I am so blessed with a loving and happy family. I am so touched by what Cheya said in one of our earlier dinners, that she does not mind us not having too much financially, nor does she mind about her sickness.. She just wants our family to remain as close, as bonded and as loving as we are now... Praise the Lord.

Well, October went so fast! TSC's anniversary, my birthday and 3 weddings... Truly, to the Lord be the Glory!!

My old blog

I actually started a blog last July 14,2006. I cannot transfer it here, so if you want to read it, just log on to http://www.thesocialconnection.blogspot.com/

TSC 8th Anniversary at Discovery Suites

There were two important milestones that happened to me this month of October: Oct 19 was the 8th anniversary of The Social Connection, Events Coordination Services, the day I registered this company with the DTI; and Oct 21 was my 58th birthday.

I decided to have a planning session with the staff, so we checked in at Discovery Suites in Ortigas on Oct 19. Everybody arrived quite late, as I came from several meetings, and the staff came from their respective jobs. Only Ate Jo was not able to come due to her trauma from the bombing that happened at Glorietta Makati earlier that afternoon.
Ate Jo already brought her overnight bag and deposited it in Landmark. Then while she was having lunch with her neighbors at North Park,the bombing happened which left her shaken. They all decided to go home straight-away, leaving her things behind at Landmark.

At Discovery Suites, I was pleasantly surprised that we were upgraded to a 3-BR suite. It had a kitchen with complete equipment, a big dining and living room. We were complete by 9PM, so we had dinner delivered from Racks, and had a delicious caramel cake given by Joy San Gabriel for dessert. After dinner, we started our planning and review for our December weddings... With all the chiding, ribbing, picture-taking and side-kwentos,we finished at 4:30A.M. We did not even touch the January weddings, and we were all poofed!! So we went to bed...

Everybody was up at 9AM the next morning, so I told them to have their buffet breakfast ahead. Since I normally really dont take breakfast, I decided to stay and have brewed coffee in the room instead. Ate Jo arrived with Joan, and we all had a grand time telling her stories about last night's session. She had to catch up and review, though. We could hardly separate from each other even when it was already 1:00PM, and had to check out. But separate we must...

Cheya,who stayed with us for the night,and I had lunch at the Serendipity Lounge where we discussed with the Captain waiter her proposed party for her 30th birthday in February, 2008.