Tag: friends

I Do, I Do, I Do

Sometimes, the unexpected is just inevitable. Just to be clear, I did not get married. Not getting married anytime soon, either. Well, not yet… 😉

I was looking forward this year for my best friend, Rhodes’ wedding. Such an amazing story written by God! And, I’m just privileged to be able to witness that from Day 1. Their love story is a testament that indeed nothing is impossible with God. Nothing. 🙂

KVN_7225The lovely bride, Rhodes

It was a blessing & truly an honor to be her maid of honor (MOH) and just to be able to help in whatever way I can up to her wedding day. I did not know that special event would somehow open little doors for me.

BBM39498That’s me, trying to be the “Maid of Honor” of the Year (lol)

I thought that was the only wedding I was going to witness this year. Now the story of the unexpected…

Two amazing ladies at our church, aka “The Verzosa Sisters” got married – different time, different place but same year, this year!

Few days after I got back from Philippines (after attending my bf’s wedding), Ria, one of the Verzosa sisters and I had our usual quick catching up after the worship service at church. This was days before her wedding. Who would have thought that our conversation would end up, me being the on-the-day wedding coordinator of her DIY wedding. When she said she didn’t have an on the day coordinator, my “event planning siren” just went off.  I kinda volunteered myself, there. 😉

41787122_10215465625488460_6764261174063136768_nThe lovely bride, Ria

I’ve never been to a DIY backyard wedding, nor coordinated one. Thank God for being a MOH and really saw the nitty-gritty of my best friend’s wedding. I had a great time executing all the details of the wedding, from the ceremony to the reception. Ria did a good job in planning her wedding, an event planner herself. 🙂 Being there to witness not just the wedding but really the celebration of love and family that whole weekend was already a blessing. But being able to help and be the on the day coordinator was a privilege. And I’m truly thankful for Ria & Miggy for just really trusting me to do that.

As I said, there’s another Verzosa sister. Months after Ria’s wedding was Frances’ wedding. And when she asked me if I could do the same for her wedding, how can I say No? It’s such an honor. This time, the wedding was a little bit DIY and mostly setup by the staff at the venue. So, I had to make sure that Frances’ plan for her wedding were properly executed which she also did a I great job. Very organized. A skill every bride needs to have. 😉

45956978_10215908946891218_166715177138388992_oThe lovely bride, Frances

It was another fun experience for me. Thanks also to Frances & Christian for allowing me to help and for the trust! I had organized a couple of events but those were mostly seminar/conference type of events. I never thought wedding coordination could be this fun. My primary goal was to take off the stress from the bride on her wedding day and I hope I was able to achieve that!

41327543_10215401460764382_4296591205954748416_nThat’s me with the bride Ria, in “action” (lol)

It’s just amazing when door of opportunities  opened on such an unexpected season. Those experiences truly made an impact in my life this year. To have courage to just go and do it,  can indeed open to possibilities. I’m excited to more “on the day wedding coordinator” gigs. And I don’t mind doing it for free for all my friends who are getting married. So, if you need one, don’t hesitate. While it’s still of no charge… lol

At your service.

 

 

“Plogging” – First Attempt

Last Saturday,  some of my friends and I went to Central Park in Burnaby for a “plogging” experience. We all love to jog or run or walk for exercise. And so this time, we added some twist to it by making it more purposeful.

I learned about plogging from a post in FB.  And according to Mr. Wikipedia,

“Plogging” is a combination of jogging with picking up litter (Swedish: plocka upp). It started as an organised activity in Sweden around 2016 and spread to other countries in 2018, following increased concern about plastic pollution. As a workout, it provides variation in body movements by adding bending, squatting and stretching to the main action of running.

When I found out about this, I was like, why not do it? I’m glad I got some friends who were also supportive 🙂 We had fun! And, we were happy that Central Park was clean. We did not get a lot of garbage. Good job to the park users! Keep it up!

 

We just didn’t do plogging, we did some “serious” work out! 😀 Central Park has work out stations and there was also a group doing Tai Chi, so we tried everything!

If you are interested to join us for plogging, let me know. We will go to other cities and hopefully we can encourage all the joggers to be ploggers!

 

 

AO#2: Women at the Well

(Me, MJ, Marj, Ate Beth, Ate Don)

I was thinking what I should call these lovely women… I like Women at the Well. Each of them has their own story of how Jesus met them at their own “wells” of life. And if not for Jesus, I will also never get to know these women. He is the reason why we are where we are.

Today is a reminder of the Good Friday that happened more than 2,000 years ago. And because of that, I am able to celebrate this season of my life with these ladies.

I truly appreciate the love they show through enouragements, prayers, time, blessings and just being there to listen. They get busy at times but they always make time. And for that, I am truly grateful.

Love you ladies! 😘

———-o———–

As I commit to be more appreciative to people, I will use my blog as one of the platforms to do that. And why I’m doing this? (Click -> Here’s why )

BREAK-UP

I’m just a bit emotional. I felt like someone broke up with me. Though, I really haven’t experienced one. Haha! But anyway, I just feel like it.

Last 2013, was my first time to resign from the first company that I worked for more than 8 years. But when I left, it was a different kind of emotion. I felt free. Here’s a throwback. 😀

Just this Friday, I said my farewell to the second company I have worked for almost 4 years. And the reason I’m writing now is because I just needed an outlet of how I feel and let it be. I really don’t like dramas but you know what, this is my blog site. I just  want to be dramatic right now. LOL.

Anyway, leaving was my personal choice. It was time to move forward and explore other industries for my own growth. I had to choose growth over comfort. However, leaving this time was not easy.

In my years at the company, I had moved from one team to another. Worked with different people on different projects. Had multiple bosses. Change was super constant. But the last seven months were different. I became part of a team wherein we could all grow together. And to become a part of something that evolves and improves, it’s not just about work. It’s really about building relationship. It was just getting better. And that’s why it was sad to leave. And probably, it’s just me. It’s something I didn’t want to lose.

I just feel like a portion of my life right now got ripped. #drama … lol… But, that’s how I feel. It’s going to take a while. I’ll definitely miss our daily stand-ups and sometimes, excessive clapping. 😀 I will miss grooming  & retro sessions where everyone just really gets “passionate”.  😀  I will miss the crunch time moments when it’s close to end of sprint and everyone just jumps in to help. Just so many things going on everyday that I will surely miss. But most of all, I will miss the team and being part of the team. I will miss working with people who turned out to be friends.

Okay enough with this drama…haha… but those are all sincere words… I’m not going too far so I know I will still see them.

Next week, I will be walking down the hall, seeing unfamiliar faces. And I might still be sad. It’s going to be weird for a while, I guess. We’ll see…

National Leave the Office Early Day!

The Pork That Got Away

It was a pleasant late afternoon when we arrived at Sweltzer Creek Campground. It didn’t rain as we thought it would. We got the chance to setup all our tents and canopies without getting wet. That was a Yay! All of us were just looking forward to the weekend to get away from our day to day activities and enjoy the outdoor life even just for few days. And not to forget, we were able to have bonfire (no fire ban) and roasted marshmallows! That just completed our camping. Yay again!

First night, all good! It rained some time during the night. Still good. We woke up into a cloudy Saturday which we kinda expected. Still good. Rain or the weather did not bring us down. As we started our day, cooked breakfast, got all the meals for the day prepared, then, our major camping setback happened. Karla, one of my friends went to get  the pork meat that we were planning to grill for lunch. She had it out the night before to have it thawed and ready to be marinated. And then she could not find it. So I started looking for it as well. And I could not find it. Everyone who woke up first started looking for it. Inside the vehicles, inside the coolers, everywhere. We all could not find it. Then, for awhile ( a long while probably for some of us *wink*), our shoulders just dropped. I, personally, got a little bit pissed.

That was not just a few pounds of meat. That was an amount to feed 20 people. I was so looking forward for boodle fight over lunch with grilled liempo (marinated pork belly). All of us were. That was like the turkey of Thanksgiving.

We only came to one obvious conclusion that someone took it. Not a bear for sure as it did not leave any mess. Unless bears now can carry a bag and be selective of food. Only the meat was taken and nothing else. Funny when most of our food were just on the tables. Whoever took it must have the time to go around.

How it really happened, we really don’t know. It’s a good lesson for us next time we go camping. Don’t bring pork! Lol. I mean, always secure the food. Well, we just hope that pork served really the need of whoever took it. We’re still grateful we did not lack and even had a lot of extra food. There must be a reason why that was taken away from us. We really don’t know. We ended up mostly eating fish. Healthy! Haha!

Thinking about it, it made me appreciate more the important things that I have that are harder to let go. Even if we did not have the lunch that we imagined it to be. It was not the end of the world. We chose to enjoy the rest of the weekend with the most important that we have – great company of friends. We all had a great time together and we all were kept safe throughout the weekend. That’s the most important. This disappointing event will eventually turn out to be one of our “legendary” camping stories in the future. And we will just laugh about it.

We will always remember the story of the… PORK THAT GOT AWAY.

——————–o——————–

So what do you think happened?

a. Someone took it

b. The bear took it

c. The pork became alive and ran away

d. We were all just imagining that we brought pork

e. The guys who had a drink the night before ate the pork and did not remember

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