Ibyang
Ibyang

Milestones

Celebrating Milestones at the Night Noodle Festival

Spent late Thursday afternoon at the Night Noodle Festival. Been going to this festival since 2006 and I wouldn’t miss this for anything. Very convenient as it goes on for two weeks and starts at 5:00pm. Perfect for people who just came out of the office.

It’s also but fitting to end my workweek by having dinner at the park and pre-celebrate with my Husband two happy milestones: my 4th anniversary here in the Land Down Under and our 1st anniversary in our first ever “munting tahanan” (yes, 1 year na kaming nagbabahay-bahayan!!!:)), both events incidentally happened on the 16th of October 🙂

On to the Night Noodle Festival, as soon as we got there, we lined up to get these free bags from The Sydney Morning Herald. Inside it were a couple of promo catalogues for Crave’s October Festivities and some pins. Nothing much really but the recycle bags are useful and pretty enough (the shade was Olive Green which I love).

Then we got a few free Ferrero Rondnoir chocolates, Ferrero’s newest chocolate. If you’re a fan of dark chocolates, this one is for you.

After that sugar rush, we lined up to get our real dinner. Off to the Dim Sum Station we go to have our Yum Cha fixes.

Fresh from the steamer Pork Buns and Pork Siomai and fried Vegetable Spring Rolls.

For our noodle craving, we had our last stop at Thai Express for some Pad Thai and Satay Chicken.

With dinner on our hands, we found our spot at Hyde Park and had a laid-back dinner as we wait for night time to appear. Thank God for the great weather. Still cold and windy but at least the sun shone that day and that really helped.

I loved our simple dinner immensely. We were in a festival and yet I felt so peaceful just sitting on the grass, surrounded by trees and a fountain, of happy people and of course in the great company that is my Husband. Our dinner was sort of a Thanksgiving for the four years that I’ve been in Sydney and for the 1st year of happy, peaceful living in our first home.

After dinner, we explored Art & About where you’ll see the finalists in Sydney Life, the much-loved exhibition of large scale photographs depicting Sydney.

This is my favorite photograph of all. This is a photograph of an old Filipino Couple who finally got married in church 75 years after their civil wedding ceremony. I like it because it was such a moving photograph, really speak volumes.

When you say large scale photographs, this was how big the photographs were.

The Husband took lots of photos that night…this was my favorite. Somehow describes a lot of things going on in my life on my 4th year here in Sydney: ever-changing, ever-vibrant, ever-challenging but always ever-fabulous.

For more photos, please click this: Night Noodle Festival and Art & About 2009.

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Chris’ Birthday Bash

Last Saturday (19/9/09–love the date!), I organized a party for friends in celebration of the Husband’s 30th birthday. It was one of the happiest moments of our lives as our friends gathered around to wish him a very happy birthday.

It was our 3rd time to have a party at home and Chris and I are somehow getting better at hosting parties we think (haha!). Other than the fact that we love doing party preps, entertaining and having friends around (we love hearing laughters echoing inside the home), we enjoy organizing events TWOgether (I guess it’s because we’re used to working together at the office when we were still in Manila). Organizing parties is just one of the effects of our teamwork and we love successful parties!

We did a couple of new things for this party such as our table centrepiece. We usually put flowers but for the first time, I made this simple candle and fruit centrepiece. These are two things that I love seeing on our dining table on any normal day so why not use it for special occassions too.

Served Cabanossi Sausages as part of our Antipasto Platter to give that meaty flavor to wet the appetite before diving into the mains.

For our mains, I served Chicken Lollipops with homemade gravy and Pork Asado for the first time. I used to cook these before but always with the help of either my mom or my grandma. We also served Spring Rolls and Chicken Meatballs.

We were fortunate enough to have helpful friends who brought food so we had lots for everyone. They brought Spaghetti, Baked Macaroni, Veggies, Duck in Red Curry. They even brought dessert! Amazing.

It was also the first time that Chris baked for our friends!!! Yes, my Husband bakes now while I cook—we are really a team now even when it comes to the kitchen. He baked Friands in three flavors: Blueberry, Almond and Chocolate for dessert. Our friends loved it! I’m so proud of my Husband :).

The food was just the icing on the cake but the company, the laughter, great conversations and time spent with our friends are biggest bonus of the celebration. We are truly grateful for their presence.

For more of the happy photos on Chris’ birthday bash, please click HERE.

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The Husband Turns 30! :D

Happy happy birthday to my beloved Husbandski! 🙂

My beloved, the love of my life,

On your special day, I just want to thank you for being one of the greatest blessings in my life. Your presence has made me doubly happy and you have gifted me with so much peace in this lifetime. In our fun and sometimes crazy journey as partners in this thing called Marriage, you always bring out the best in me. Thank you! With you, I am never without love.

Happy birthday Husbandski. May all you wish for come true. Love love love YOU.

For the past years, gift giving between me and the Husband during special occassions usually occur before or after THE day. A simple reason is that on THE day, we’d like to focus on the celebration of the occassion. We’d like to focus on spending time with people that matter to us or find joy in the simple things that we’d like to do on special days—because that is what truly matters.

So today, we celebrated my Husband’s birthday by:

  • Attending mass to celebrate with God the blessing of this beautiful day
  • Having breakfast at a cafe
  • Watching “Up” in the cinemas…it was the first day of showing and it was fortunate that the playdate of “Up” in Australia is today.
  • Eating Yum Cha for lunch
  • Having dinner with our kapamilya.
  • Just being TWOgether.

Thank you to all our family, relatives and friends who remembered. Chris sends his appreciation to all of you. We are truly touched by your good wishes.

Will upload photos soon.

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31st Monthsary Breakfast at Cascade Cafe

Since the Husband started work last year, it was very seldom that we have breakfast dates as we both like arriving to work early so we can also go home early.

Last week, I attended training for two days in the City which fortunately coincided with our 31st monthsary on Thursday (20 August). So we grabbed the chance to have a breakfast date as a way of celebrating our special day of the month.

I initially thought we would just have coffee at Starbucks but the Husband took me to Cascade Cafe which is just located in the train station where he gets on and off. Nothing really spectacular about the Cafe, the only special thing about it is that it has this faux waterfalls.

I find it relaxing just hearing the sound of free-flowing water even if I know I’m in the CBD. I think I found another place where I can have my “Me” time.

Now, for the food….the Husband had a latte.

While I had a glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice. I love it!!! The price of the OJ, on the other, made me cringe–it was AUD$5.80. Really expensive but worth it. If ever you visit Sydney, you should never leave without having a taste of our freshly-squeezed OJ.

Main event. We shared a plate of their Big Breakfast. It had 1 big sausage (sliced in half), mushrooms, bacon, 2 eggs, big tomatoes, 2 toasts and chips.

With that serving, even if we already shared, it was difficult to finish it all off and we were both so full afterwards.

Cascade Cafe is located at 15-16 Town Hall Square, Sydney.

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On Marriage (Thoughts on Our 28th Month)

“I’ve learned this much about marriage. You get tested. You find out who you are, who the other person is, and how you accommodate or don’t.”

“…there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don’t respect the other person, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t know how to compromise, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don’t have a common set of values in life, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike.”

“I think marriage is a very important thing to do, and you’re missing a hell of a lot if you don’t try it.”

– from Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Husband and I are celebrating our 28th month today. Last night, before he tucked me into bed, he surprised me by saying “Good night!!! Happy monthsary!!”. Being busy with so many concerns for the past weeks, it was only last night that I realized what day is today. I’m the kind of person that takes note of little things and whenever the Husband does any little thing of thoughtfulness, generosity or anything good, I appreciate his gesture with all my heart.

I shared an excerpt from Tuesdays with Morrie which tackled about Marriage because it is all true–in our case, that is.

So far, in the past 28 months that we have been together, we are doing good as a married couple. At a very young stage of our marriage, we have weathered a few challenges here and there…laughed so much, cried a bit, pissed each other off once in a while. Lots of crazy but fun times.

With each day together, I discover how lucky I am to have him for a husband, partner and bestfriend. Marriage is a challenging thing but what makes it easy is that our center has always been our Faith and our values in life.

To my dear Husband, happy 28th month! Because of you, I’m never without love. 🙂

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