Ibyang
Ibyang

Cherished Memories

My Mom’s Here!

My mom arrived yesterday for a 7-week long holiday in Sydney.

My mom's here

I’m so so so happy she’s here!

My mom's here


She had a smooth flight but had crappy breakfast on the plane (they served softdrinks and didn’t offer coffee so she says—que horror!). She’s currently loving the cold winter weather as she said, “It’s just so hot in Manila!”. Before we went out the airport, I kept on insisting she wear her jacket but she said, “It’s not that cold”, to which I replied, “They’ve got the heaters on here but once we go outside, it will be cold”. I even brought her an extra jacket (the one I’m carrying on the photo above) but the jacket that she finally wore before we went to the parking area was enough.

From the airport, we went straight to one of my auntie’s place. This will be her second home while she’s here. She’ll be shuttling back and forth from our home to my auntie’s home so she can also spend time with my grandma and her sister.

My Husband and I spent the whole day with the relatives. I love days such as these where there’s an overflowing of great conversations and food shared by a family. After lunch, we just left all the food on the table so anyone can have a bite or two when one feels hungry.

My mom's here


For afternoon snack, my grandma cooked Turon (banana with langka wrapped in lumpia wrapper).

My mom's here


Then one of my cousins asked my auntie, “Do you have ice cream?” I’m amazed at how my auntie seems to have everything inside the fridge hehe.

Voila! Turon with Cookies and Cream ice cream.

My mom's here


If we’re not eating, we are usually hanging out at different parts of house. Some would be in the lounge room playing games or watching TV.

My mom's here

My Husband and I set up camp at the formal dining area so we can do some work. That’s one long table with our stuff. Eventually, my cousins joined him to work out some stuff about recovering some files.


My mom's here

But always, we end up reunited around the table for some good ‘ol fun conversation and yummy food.


My mom's here


Love is one happy family gathered around a table full of delicious food.

READ MORE

SATC2 With My Girls

Two years after the first SATC movie and the girls are back! Fun, fashion and friendship all in one movie. If you want to be entertained, you will be entertained. If you want substance, please lower your expectations. This movie has a thin plot with a long running time of 2.5 hours.

There’s not much storyline but if you are a married woman, some scenes might be relatable to you. I remember an unmarried friend of mine from the Philippines tweeted me a week ago with “You really have to watch it, Ibyang. This movie is more for married people.” And she was right. SATC 2 touched on issues about married life, parenthood, menopause blues, being a woman of today and knowing when to have a break.

The hits. I have enjoyed some heartwarming and funny moments in the film. My friends and I oohh’d and ahhh’d when we saw some of their outfits and accessories. The kind of friendship they have is still the same inspiring kind of relationship any woman would be lucky to have.

Their trip to Abu Dhabi was a miss for me. First of all, their shoot really took place in Morocco. The make-believe Abu Dhabi hotel they stayed at was an insult to the real luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi. 

So was it worth our time? Yes. As followers of the tv series, it’s still nice to see their stories unfold for the second time around. My girlfriends and I have watched the series and the first movie and it’s so easy to get the jokes of the SATC girls because we’ve known them for a decade already. No matter how lame some scenes may be, we found them funny because we understand where each character’s humour or eccentricities are coming from.



Two years ago, we watched SATC together so we made a pact to watch SATC2 when it comes out of the cinemas. And that’s what we did last Saturday. Me and my girls Rache, Hilda, Ara and Yyoni met up on Saturday and saw SATC2. We had so much fun inside the cinema.
We met up at McDonald’s for a quick lunch (parang college lang kami uli!!!). It was the nearest fastfood to the cinema and we were due to watch the movie in less than 30 minutes.

 
After the movie, we had a bit of catch up, shopped for some hair accessories and had hot chocolate at Max Brenner. A perfect day with my girls.

Organizing an all-girls day-out is not as easy. So we are very grateful for our husbands who make it easy for us to have our “me” times. The five of us are very lucky to have husbands who would gladly drive for us, wait for us and take care of the kids for us.

My Husband, other than tag along with me to the mall, babysat Jiona (Yyoni’s daughter) for awhile. 

  
Somehow, the friendship of the SATC2 girls reminds me so much of my friendship with my girls. Like them, our friendship goes way beyond being just friends. We treat each other as sisters….as family. Their presence in my life are food to my soul.

READ MORE

Jeanny in Sydney

I met Jeanny online. A casual encounter via Litratong Pinoy (LP) where Filipinos share photographs weekly based on a theme. From LP, we transcended to being plurk friends and it’s at plurk that I learned that she will be visiting Sydney for three months for work reasons.

On the first week she arrived here, we immediately met up. On our first rendezvous, My Husband and I took her to a quick visit to QVB (Queen Victoria Building), dinner at Pepper Lunch, dessert at Lindt Cafe and a walk thru Darling Harbour before we went home.


She’s a coffeeholic and so I made a point to bring her to some cozy cafes I know. One of which is The Chocolate Room. One Thursday afternoon, we hung out here after work.


This was where she celebrated her birthday and since she likes Korean cuisine, my Husband and I treated her to Korean BBQ!


The place where she stayed had a mini-gym, pool and sauna. Some nights we’d hung out at her apartment, have a good hour at the gym and a few minutes at the sauna. Before I go home, Jeanny and I would eat her delicious pasta dishes. 

Being a photo-enthusiast like me, I invited her to come with us to the Sydney Camera Market one Sunday of March. 

This was held in the morning so for the rest of the afternoon, we took her to the Fish Market for lunch…

let her experience riding a Metro Light Rail…
and have a quick tour of Star City, the casino place in Sydney.

The days passed by fairly quickly as we both became busy for the past few weeks. Before we knew it, we had our last dinner date and coffee klatch.

Friday night (23 March 2010), My Husband and I took her to dinner by the bay, with the view of the Harbour Bridge. As a parting gift, we gave her a Starbucks Sydney Tumbler.

After dinner, we hung out by the harbour. Such a beautiful night. My Husband and I would sometimes just hang out by the bay and just appreciate the beauty of Sydney at night. We wanted to share that with Jeanny before she left.

Two nights before departure for Manila, we had coffee at a cozy cafe I found in QVB called Old Vienna Coffee House (more on that later). 

We gave her one last parting gift–guess what this is????
…..it’s a USB! 🙂


We ended our night on a quick walk thru George Street (main street in the city–it’s like the equivalent of Ayala Avenue in Manila).
 
Saying goodbye isn’t always easy. I know we’ve only really met three months ago but with all the great times and company we have shared, I have found a friend in her. We look forward to seeing each other again–in Sydney or Manila–it doesn’t matter.

Thanks Jeanny…for your great company, for the friendship and for being the true person that you are. We miss you already.

READ MORE

Hen’s Party at The Tea Room, Drinks at The Royal George

I had one of the most fabulous afternoons with my girls on Saturday (10 April 2010).

In celebration of our good friend Hilda’s birthday and upcoming wedding, we organized a Hen’s party for her at The Tea Room.
It was a High Tea affair so we all dressed up to the nines as we sipped our choice of tea/coffee and enjoyed delicious cakes, pastries, sandwiches and scones.
The pastries and sandwiches were served in three-tiered serving racks on very classy English-inspired plates. Not only did our table looked so alive with all the food but the dining ware and glassware made it more vibrant and abundant. It was so lovely.
The food was a winner. Not only did they looked inviting and cute but they tasted great too. Worth every penny spent. 
My plate: a slice of egg sandwich, a scone (it’s big!) and a mini-cupcake.
Since we were in a celebratory mood, we had champagne!!! Happiness is drinking champagne at 12 noon with your girlfriends haha! :).
I was the official photographer of the event but my Husband also came with me to the restaurant so he can take photos of the group for a few minutes. The minute the food were being served he left me to my own devices.
This was my first time to shoot a Hen’s party and I’m very challenged by the fact that the star of the day is a friend of mine. I have seen Hilda in so many different light and we have gone thru a lot of good and bad times together. There is a certain level of familiarity between us already because we practically treat each other as sisters. I was afraid that familiarity will make me take some things for granted when I’m taking photographs of her.


Days before this event, I had to think of different scenarios inside my head. I came up with a very concrete idea on what I want to capture that day. Other than the food, the place and the scenes that will take place, I wanted to capture her–her glow, her peace and her happiness.
And this was what I have captured. Here’s the lovely and glowing bride-to-be. I’m so so happy for her. 
The group gave her a tiara and sash to wear.
This was not the usual hen’s party where you have strippers or naughty games but nevertheless, we played a couple of games and we enjoyed it. Rachelle won on the first game, while I won during the second game. 
As a token for everyone’s presence, I made Girly Loot Bags and gave them to the girls. I called it a Girly Loot Bag because each bag contained body wash, lotion, lip gloss and nail emery boards.

After High Tea, some of the girls went home but some of us decided to have more drinks at a bar. My Husband joined us so he took care of taking photos so I can just focus on having fun with my girls.

Rache, Yons, Hilda and I walking in the streets of Sydney.
(This photo reminded me of the Sex in the City girls walking in the streets of New York. I love it!!!!)
We found ourselves a the Ivy (yes, that’s the name of the place). The Ivy is a compound of bars and restaurants. It’s one of nicest places to dine here in Sydney.
 
We had drinks at The Royal George. Talked some more…laughed some more.

It was one of those perfect Saturday afternoons with friends. We all had a great time especially the Bride-to-be.
Acknowledgements:
To all the girls, for the great time, the laughter and for joining in all the fun. We shall continue this party on the wedding.
To Michelle, for organizing the whole event and for bringing all of us together.
To Rachelle, for the bubblies.
To Abby, for the games that made the afternoon more exciting.
To my husband Chris, who helped me in preparing the Girly Loot Bags, for helping me take photos and for patiently tagging along with us after the High Tea Party. I know you don’t mind helping out but I’m truly grateful that you chose to spend your time with us instead of stay home and rest.
To Hilda, thank you for spending your Hen’s Party with us. Your friendship means a lot to all of us, no matter what happens, we are always here for you.

All photos by Chris and Ivy Sanchez, Copyright 2010
Canon 7D with 17-85mm lens and Canon 400D with Fujinon 55mm lens
Flash: Canon 430EX

READ MORE

Our 3rd Anniversary

20 January 2010. 🙂

For this year, we chose a more relaxed and spontaneous anniversary getaway.  

On the morning of our anniversary, we started a 3-day road trip to experience the Grand Pacific Drive, a drive from Sydney’s Royal National Park to the south coast area of New South Wales. I will tell you more about it soon (with more photos!! hehe). For now, let me share with you snippets of the things we saw and enjoyed on the day we celebrated our 3rd year together.

Not-so-early in the morning, we drove down to Royal National Park to see Garie Beach. 

Then we headed down to Bald Hill and had lunch inside the car. Had an ice cream for dessert as we are mesmerized by all the beautiful scenery below us. It was beautiful. 

Next stop was Sea Cliff Bridge, spend a few minutes there to take photographs. 

Then off we went to Wollongong, our home base for two nights.

After we checked-in at the hotel, we just rested a bit then went out to have afternoon tea. We walked along the streets of the CBD and found this pretty boutique cafe called Lee and Me. We had a cake and coffee. There was a kebab place beside it and since I was pretty hungry from the traveling and heat (one of those hottest days in NSW that time) I bought a chicken kebab (a.k.a Shawarma)

After our yummy afternoon tea, we walked around some more looking for a resto to have dinner at later. We didn’t have any reservations anywhere–no idea whatsoever on where to eat. We wanted to play it by ear and just follow our senses (the way we mostly did when we went to Melbourne for last year’s celebration). After an hour and a half of walking, we found nothing–nothing that we liked. We went to the hotel and decided it was time to look online.

We decided to have dinner at Harbourfront Restaurant. We came in with no reservations but thank God, we were accommodated and even got a table with a great view of the small lighthouse and sailboats. We loved it! 🙂 And the food was delicious. I would go back here just for their rib eye steak (will share in a separate post).

After dinner, we sat by the harbour and enjoyed the serenity around us and the cool breeze that night.  We went back to the hotel and since it was still pretty early, we sat by the bar and had wine and talked some more.

It was a great day for an anniversary celebration: the roadtrip, the sunny weather, the amazing sceneries we saw, the fun drive, the restaurants we discovered, the delicious food we ate and the time spent together. We are grateful not just on “our day” but everyday that we are experiencing this wonderful journey called Marriage. 🙂

For more photos of our 3rd anniversary celebration, please check them all here: Our 3rd Anniversary

READ MORE