The Married Life

Husband and I never really celebrate Valentine. Based on our “Valentine history”, it’s the occassion that we never really think about and which we almost always spend with family and/or friends. I think the only time we really made an effort was on our very first Vday–that was in 2003. We had to watch a Boyz II Men concert because we were given tickets (which was one of the coolest gifts we have received in our couple life). The following years after that, we either get-together with my parents for dinner or hang out with our friends. Vday was never an exclusive thing for us.

It was a normal day for us on Saturday, only that the Husband surprised me with a gift at 12 midnight. I was embarrasingly amused hehe. I didn’t have a gift for him. I never thought he would get me something.
Anyway, the highlight of our was day was the Vday party our friend organized. Since our circle of friends have not seen each other for a while, we decided to celebrate Vday together.

On Saturday night, we met up at a friend’s place, shared yummy food and lots of laughter.

We also played couples games…and Wii!!!! We played Guitar Hero and an array of Sports games: Tennis, Baseball and Bowling.

Husband and I pretending to be rockers

On Sunday, I prepared a small feast for dinner…my way of making up for not getting him a gift. I cooked Penne Spaghetti and my own version of Creamy Baked Potato.

So how was your Vday weekend?
For more photos of our party, click here.

Ito ang aking lahok para sa Litratong Pinoy na may temang PUSO.

Dalawa sa pinakaimportanteng bagay sa buhay naming mag-asawa ay ang aming Unity Coins at Wedding Cord.

Ang pinaka-paborito kong Unity Coin ay ang coin na may simbolo ng Love.

At ito naman ang box kung saan namin nilagay ang aming Unity Coins at Wedding Cord na may simbolo ng dalawang Anghel na may nakasulat na Love.

Dalawang simbolo na maaring nakakalimutan namin sa araw-araw. Dalawang simbolo na maaring hindi na namin inilalabas sa munting kahon nito para tignan. Pero ang dalawang simbolo na ito, hindi man maisip or makita, ay palaging nasa PUSO namin.

Maligayang Araw ng mga Puso…hindi lang para sa Sabado, kundi para sa araw-araw 🙂

In celebration of our 2nd anniversary and my 32nd birthday, we decided to take a quick break from Sydney and spend it in MELBOURNE!!!

Melbourne is such a refreshing and welcoming place, so let me share with you the things I love most about it.

I love their quaint alleyways that entices you to follow your senses: you’ll smell heavenly food offered by eccentric little cafes and see dainty boutiques that sell fashionable clothes, bags and accessories.

I love their different modes of transportation: the colorful trams, old and new buses and their cute cute trains.

I love that this place is the coffee and chocolate capital of Australia. Every nook and cranny, you’ll find cafes that serve delicious chocolate and coffee.

I love that this is the fashion and shopping capital of Australia. Need I say more?

I love that everywhere I look, I find something artsy like sculptures in the middle of the sidewalk, graffitis that doesn’t seem offending, and some of their buildings’ architecture here are more innovative-looking that can rival structures in Dubai and Hongkong.

I love it that they have the better Casino place here that boosts of a great hotel (where Roger Federer stays so I’m told hehe), a beautiful view of the Yarra River, posh restaurants and designer boutiques.

I love that they have Nobu Restaurant and TGI Friday’s here.

I love that this is the home of the Australian Open. This was an event that we weren’t keen on participating on the onset, but we’re glad we spent one day watching games at the Australian Open. It was such a marvelous experience.

I love their night market: numerous stalls of clothes, bags, house decors, lamps, food and even massages!

I love that they have an avenue full of photography shops where we even found a cafe called “Zoom Cafe” (how cool is that!)

I love that this is the maiden home of “Wicked” The Musical. It is because of this musical that made my birthday doubly special…and one of the main reasons why we chose Melbourne to spend our 2nd anniversary and my birthday in.

Our anniversary and my birthday were significantly more special because we spent it there, all the more making our trip to Melbourne magnificently memorable.

We were in Melbourne for only four days, but it felt like home…and we would gladly go back there with or without a special reason.

For a more detailed account of our Melbourne experience, please click on the following links:

First day in Melbourne

Anniversary Dinner at Nobu (Crown Entertainment Plaza)

The Australian Open 2009 Experience

Melbourne at Night

A “Wicked” Birthday Celebration in Melbourne

Housewarming Party.
Anniversary Party.
Birthday Party.
All in one day!

Saturday was spent with our couple friends as we officially welcomed them in to our home and to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary and my birthday (both occassions happening this week!). 

The Husband and I were so happy to seem them all—it’s been a long time since we’ve had an occasion where everyone was there.

We had a great time catching up, laughing our heart’s out, playing with babies David, Caleb and Joaquim, playing Wii and of course, eating. 🙂

For more photos: Click here.

The Husband has finally converted our wedding AVPs into MP4. These have been uploaded in youtube and vimeo but because we are celebrating our 2nd anniversary week, I’m sharing these videos with you my dear friends in the blogosphere.

There were three AVPS that were shown on our wedding day.

The first one was a tribute to our parents which showed our baby to adult photos. The song used was “Thanks to You” which truly describes how much we are grateful for the love our parents have given us. We love them so much, without them we are nothing.

The second AVP consisted of two songs: (1) Accidentally Inlove and (2) At the Beginning. The first song was a tribute to our friends and the second was our prenup photos taken by Mel Cortez. If you are a close friend ours, you might see yourself here.

The two songs in this AVP were both from two famous cartoon movies, “Shrek” and “Anastacia” respectively. Was it intentional? Yes and no. Yes because we wanted two songs that had a common denominator and no because it so happened that those two were really our favorites and best speaks of how we are as a couple.


Chris and Ivy Prenup AVP from Ibyang Sanchez on Vimeo.

And the last one, shown at the last bit of our wedding programme, the grand finale.

It was the Onsite AVP showcasing the events that happened from pre-wedding preps at the hotel to the Church ceremony.

These three videos will always remind us how far we’ve come, how much we have grown as individuals and to finally facing life together as a couple.