Career talk part 1

here i am at the office, at a little past 7:30, too early for work, i should say, so i'm gonna take the time to blog away. i intend to work today! hahahahahaha!!!!

anyhoo, yesterday just before going home (i was in a rush because nobody was using the pc and i can catch up on my MU skills), i dropped by National Bookstore to buy the book I was eyeing since the day before. I had really, really wanted to buy it, and yesterday my heart told me to go for it!!! i bought a few more books i intended to add to my collection too, here they are:

This was the book i really wanted to buy! I wanna be more productive!!!


I like john maxwell's books! although i've yet to finish his other book i find the stories in his books really worth keeping to mind. I still have "the 17 Qualities of a Team Player" here with me which I intend to finish first (before the next MOR). This one, though, is all about leadership. i'm so excited to get to to it!


This one is from John Gray, the one who wrote the Mars and Venus series. I originally wanted to buy a Mars and Venus book but it was all about relationships. And I figured there really isn't anything wrong with my relationship at this point, so I don't think it'll really matter right now.


Notice anything (aside from the fact that I may have bought too many books already?) Most of the books I bought were on Personality and Career development. I dunno, right now wedding preps is sort of taking a backseat over my plans to improve myself. Maybe because I want to make use of my idle time this summer? or maybe because i'm in the stage in my life where i know what i want but i want to get there faster, hence i want to be prepared for it. Not to say I'm not prioritizing my wedding, a lot has to do with organizing my time and my life to be able to live it with quality. I anticipate the months of September to December will be the busiest in my life, since I'll be juggling work, school and wedding preps, and soon after adjusting to married life. So i want to prepare myself for that, and at the same time, I don't want to lose sight of what i'm really working for.

Tabs and I both agree that the baby should come after MBA, inasmuch as everyone (both of us included) would like us to have a baby already, we figure that I should first finish MBA so we can pave the way for a better future for both of us. So the master plan is for me to continue working, finish school, and then have the baby sometime 2007. Long time? yeah, but hey, look at it this way, my first year at school is already over, isn't that an accomplshment?

This is such a long post already. Will write na lang a part 2!

Preview to HK Disneyland

waaaaahhhh! gwen from w@w just sent a link to the group, the Hongkong Disneyland website!!!! It was all ooohhs and aaaahhhs for me! its opening on Sept 12 this year, and right now all i can do is to wish with all my heart that we can afford to go there for our honeymoon. hay....
right now there are no definite plans for the honeymoon, it'll depend a lot on the money we have by the time of the wedding, as there are just so many expenses in the way. we have to build up the apartment, pay for the rent (which would definitely be a minimum of 2 months rest, because it'll cover the advance and the deposit). then we have to spend for the appliances and furnishings (read: bed, tables, chairs, sofa, cabinets).
hay, i dunno, sometimes its sad because we really can't depend on anybody else but ourselves for the wedding. yeah, my sisters and tabs' parents have volunteered to help with a few details, my sisters' help are fine with me, with tabs' parents he didn't want to accept it because he thought they should instead use it for their needs. while i think he should at least accept a small amount because this will be a gift from his parents, i know where he is coming from so i accept his decision to not take it. i know that he'll be doing his best to make ends meet for the wedding, so i have no reason to make any more objections to it.
still, a part of me wishes we can have a really memorable honeymoon.... like perhaps 3 days in hongkong... meeting mickey mouse....

countdown to our 9th anniversary

wow! it just dawned on me today that a few days from now, exactly 11 days that is, will be our 9th anniversary as a couple.
looking back, the nine years together has proven to a lot of people how a relationship can really, really work, and really be happy at the same time. i know, i know, a lot would say, but hey! you always get into arguments, you don't always agree, etc. etc. people will always raise their eyebrows and say, they're not the perfect couple.
and we are not. we are far from being a perfect couple. if someone would ask me now what lessons i've learned with my relationship with tabs, herein would be my answers:
1. That you can meet someone you will love so much more that yourself.
2. That fights aren't made to break you up, they are there to make you strong.
3. That breaking up is easy, but forgetting the person isn't
4. That love has no boundaries, no ifs, no buts.
5. Truth be told, you can be in a 9 year relationship and still be hopelessly in love with that one man.
I'd probably be able to say more. But these are the things i've really learned. like i said, ours was never a perfect relationship. we fought, and fought and fought. in our early years together (year 1 to 3) we fought too often, broke up often, and argued a whole lot more. those were the days when we were getting to know each other. it was probably easier then to break away, but for some unknown reason, we held on. yeah, we broke up, but not unlike what others did. some couples would break up for a week, a month, a few months, years even. we broke up for hours, days, and weekends. never longer than that. maybe because it was easy to forgive than to forget the person, or maybe there was not enough reason to do so.
so why have we held on too long, when some would just break up? i guess its because we both knew how much we loved each other. it was there, probably not from the start, but it grew in us. to the point when we knew that come wind and rain, come all the problems in our way, we'll stick with each other.
and yes, we are the best of friends. although i know we both have friends, whether in school or at work, ours is one of a kind. its the kind that you can say anything and everything about yourself, your feelings, your fears, without being judged. we can say what we mean when we're together, no need to pretend to say what we don't really mean.
i've always said that i consider tabs as God's gift to me. He was given to me to play a special role in my life. To tell me that someone loves me and that that love, when returned, can lead to such a beautiful relationship. More than 9 years ago, amidst the battle of my teenage years, after a frustrating "relationship" with a high school batchmate (i say its a "relationship" because it lasted for about a month, cool off for about two, and what would one define as a breakup after a few more months... at our age, that is considered a relationship). Anyway, after that somewhat confusing event, i prayed, i prayed to God that the next person to come along, let him be the one for me. i may not have seen it at first. but i'm sure when i finally did, that it was the right decision.
hay, reminiscing... i could go on and on raving about how much i love my future husband, but you'll probably be bored to death! hihi. will get to writing about our love story one day. hopefully soon. :-)

grad pics

was able to scan some of my pics in preparation for the avp i plan to work on during the summer break from school. its a big chunk of free time where i plan to squeeze in a lot of preps time, time to read, and time to sleep. amazing how much time i have to NOT think about schoolwork!
anyhow, here are our grad pics, will be shown just as a slide in the AVP, at least i want to make the most of it by showing it to the world first! bwahahaha...



amazing how different we actually look a few years ago (well... at least for tabs here, who only got handsomer! teeheehee).



as an added bonus, i scanned the cards tabs gave me... good or bad? i was only able to fill a page! bwahahaha!!! funny though, reading back through these cards gave me a lot of fond memories of our earlier years. i seem to miss college years a lot, we had so much more time together then. but hey! what's to be so sad about? in a few more months, we have all the time together to spend! :-P

books! books! books!

vacation! i love vacations! whew, a few more weeks and i'll have a few months without schoolwork! woohoohoo!!! yipeeeeee!!!! long way to go though, still have a lot of papers to do.
last wednesday i dropped by national bookstore to check out some books. whew! would you believe i was able to buy 5 books? call it impulsive buying -- of course the 5 books included the bible for the wedding. But now more than ever, i'm looking forward to school break so i can read! read! and read! Here are the books i currently have on my to-do list:

Learn massage - isn't this lovely, of course i need someone to practice it on, i plan to be an expert by december. hehehe...


I've been wondering about the content of this book for the longest time, i think the vacation would be a good time to reflect on my life's purpose, too. :-)


Hahaha, this one caught my attention. I guess it'll be a good read, not that I suppose I can apply everything with our culture, but hey, what if I can?


This one was lent to me by my boss, I'm supposed to present on one of the qualities on our next MOR, this one is on top of my list. :-)


This one is an important book i plan to read over the summer. Its one of the bestsellers and I hope to gain a lot from it too.


Blame the expense on my Management Control professor who forced (motivated is a better word!) us to be "voracious" readers. I find her suggestion really sincere, hehehe.... i guess its really worth it to be good readers. I just hope I can someday find the time to read the Business World, as she suggested.

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Surprise for me!!!!

Yesterday my E-proc friends brought ice cream and cake for my birthday. :-) i was touched! Never had too many surprises in this lifetime, I guess I was just really happy and lucky to have them as my friends.
Its funny because all throughout the morning yesterday I was in a rush, then all of a sudden everyone was asking me where i'll have lunch! hehehe... should have known something was coming up! I was really not going out for lunch but Tabs was on leave so we decided to have lunch. Funny, but my parents were also in Megamall and they wanted to have lunch sana, sayang! hehehe....
Then in the afternoon they went to our department with the cake and ice cream. kakatuwa talaga sila. hehehe... still waiting for the pics from cathy - nung food. :-) so glad to have nice friends.

my birthday

yesterday i had my 26th birthday, actually it was celebrated sunday, with family, tabs and my best friend, karen. it was really a tiring day for me, but i enjoyed it nevertheless. i so love my nephew and nieces. my nephew, at 11 years old, is very, very sweet. when he arrived he greeted me happy birthday with a tight hug. ain't that sweet? and then as they were leaving he gave me a hug ang pulled me up! huwatt!!! am that petite my 11-year old nephew can carry me, haaha. and my nephew, Kenneth, lets me hug and kiss him pa. i hope he doesn't change for the next 10 years! hahaha... kidding.
karen spent the night at home, while tabs left around 10. prior to that tabs and i were in the outside sala taking a nap, with his head on my lap and we were both tired!
hay, yesterday was ok. tabs and i did not meet anymore because i have an exam today. hay. its ok. was thinking that next year we'd be together on my birthday so ok na rin! hehehe... got a black forest from mon, ninong2be. then ara gave me some cinabbon too. haven't tasted it, will bring some tomorrow. my classmates are so sweet. ;-) tita agnes, ninang2be, gave me flowers and toblerone! hehehe... tita irene gave me a really cute flashlight key chain. really nice of them to give gifts. was so touched because i feel na one of them na ko sa dept even if i've been there for a year pa lang.
over all i feel blessed. went to mass in up to think Him for all the blessings. :-)

My HMUA is Brenda!

Yipeeeee!!! Had a really, really fantastic time last Saturday, when I had my trial HMU with Brenda Belgica. I really had a nice time being made up, and I found Brenda so much fun to talk to. We were just chatting away the whole time, also with my MOH and best friend who went along.
Its really nice to have a supplier who you can get along with, and I guess I'm lucky to have tried out Brenda. I initially planned to have a trial with Eddie Bruan and Ross Regala. But my coord told me of Ross' price increase and I was hesitant to schedule a trial too early. So my coord recommended Brenda instead. But of course I didn't decide yet to try him out. At first I was gonna schedule Eddie Bruan but then he was pencil-booked already, was still going to try him out except I learned that he had a trial already with one of the brides who pencil booked him. Plus it was hard to schedule a trial with Eddie because his weekends are full with weddings. Finally I gave Brenda a call and she said there are already 4 brides pencil booked! Huwaaat!!! But none of them had trial yet so I told him I'd get a trial last Saturday. Texted my best friend and she was luckily available. We set the trial at 9 am. We finished around 11 and boy, i found myself admiring me! teeheehee. Its nice because Brenda happened to work with some of the best in the industry, Juan Sarte, Lala Flores. What was nice was we knew some people in common. It really was not hard to have a conversation with her.
I booked her right there and then. Paid the 50% dp and gave her extra tip. and was so happy to learn that her rates are inclusive of retouch for the reception! yipeee!!!
Here are my pics:

Before the Trial (no make-up whatsoever) -- para sulit! hahaha!


Nice curly hair!


I look like a bride!!!!


Nice hair!

my blog has an all new look!!!

welcome! welcome to my all new blog!

whew, spent the entire day changing my blog! whew! i finally gave up trying to hide the comment section. sheesh. my head is aching trying to figure out how to hide that thing. but then, now I'm really, really satisfied with my blog. now it doesn't look like the ordinary blog. personalized it with my colors and my pics.

it really is fun to build webpages. so accomplishing (see: my mood today)

looking forward to tomorrow's trial make-up with Brenda. Hope all goes well. geez. my head and arms are aching. hihihi.

My dog is in heaven

this is our dog, Rudolf. At 3 human years, he was diagnosed with pneumonia just last Thursday. Yesterday the vet said that that was all they could do to save him. The sickness had gone to his lungs. The morning before he suffered from convulsions, he was still attentive and strong. I miss him so much. He's actually on comatose right now, but they will take him home today... if only so we can say goodbye to him.

He's such a great and loving dog. We will surely miss him.

reminiscing...

here i am, at almost 12 midnight, looking over at high school batchmate's blogs and pics... i was actually just searching for blogs and stuff to put at my avp, but i got to going over some batchmate's blogs. its actually a lot more interesting to look at high school batchmate's life that the college ones, because you know how different our lifes have become over the almost 10 years of separation. and yes, so much has changed.
i still see some of my high school friends of course, tabs, for one (joke!). my closest, dearest friends are my high school batchmates: karen, murs, marione, jeff, joey. friends for life. we meet every once in a while, go on overnights and generally catch up on things.
one of our batchmates, majella, just got married last january 12. they were the couple who got together a little before me and tabs (i figure they're also 9 years as a couple before tying the knot). i remember when pazzie got married and we got together to get the invites from her, i was kidding her that they should get married first. and they did. and its nice because a baby is on its way. funny how our perceptions change as we get older. me? what about me?
my plans? i plan to finish school. an mba was something i've always wanted. as soon as i graduated college its been part of my plans to take up graduate studies. the questions was really when and what course. now that im in up, i think its the best career decision i have ever made. yes the hard work really gets to you, late nights, cramming, tuition fees, school expenses... all of that pays off knowing that im learning a lot of new stuff, working my way towards success. and i enjoy it.
family? in a few months im getting married, something i've always wanted, something tabs and i are dreaming of for so many years...kids will have to wait till i finish school, although we both want it, its just that we feel that there is a right time for it, hopefully in 2007. and if there is anything i look forward to MORE that my MBA graduation, its getting married to the one man i truly, truly love and admire. the one person who can make me smile, laugh, cry, and the one person i know who loves me more than he does himself... and so do i. i can go on and on and on raving about how deeply i am in love with this guy, but suffice it to say that marriage comes as a thrill and as a fulfillment of all our dreams.

long weekend - Bridal Expo and Bonding with Hunny

God really has his ways of showing us how much he loves us. Last week was a terrible week for me ang tabs. we had a lot of disagreements, most of them, i admit, coming from me. I can't blame myself though, as I was pretty much stressed for the whole week. Its a good thing I had the weekend to look forward to. The wedding expo, my trip back to Ready to Wed for my gown, and tabs and my sunday date was really something to feel excited about.
I really felt happy when tabs decided that he'll join us to the bridal fair. Pero due to unforseen circumstances, we went to Ready to Wed first (the unforseen circumstance being that the Fort bus did not pass by the NBC tent before going to Market! Market!) So we dropped by Ready to Wed, I fitted my gown again (oh this was fun!) tabs saw it, he thinks its too simple, for me i think he hasn't seen me all dressed up really so he can't say it's not for me. I've always been the type of person to know what I want, and definitely, I knew what I wanted with my gown so I'm so happy with it.
This is the pic of the gown. I think its really so beautiful, simple and beautiful.

Anyway, afterwards we went to the bridal fair, looked around, and i had some sort of trial MU with Clamar. I wanted to book them but decided to try out others so I wont regret anything.

I was also able to book the bridal car (whopping 3700 for the car! whoohoo!!!) and I was able to buy our Unity Coins. Overall it was a fruitful trip, Tabs was very behaved (hihi) the entire trip and afterwards he texted me that he enjoyed it. He also said Id be beautiful, no matter what I wear or what kind of makeup I have. I know that, I know marrying him would make me beautiful, if only because the happiness will show in my face that day.
Sunday we spent a lot of time together. ALso Monday (took a leave from work). One of the things I appreciate about our weekend together was that we got the communication back. It really is so nice to be able to chat away, about life, career, family. Im just so happy.
Down with two sets of presentations for Management Control. One to go on Sunday. Hay, looking forward to school vacation! Then I can concentrate on the preps!

one presentation down

i did not imagine myself having to make a presentation 3 times in 2 weeks. sobrang tiring pala, emotionally and physically. as in after the case presentation last night my head was pretty much blank na. parang naglaho lahat ng laman. I really cant blame my groupmate, i know she's trying very much to give effort to our cases, siguro nga mabilis lang talaga ako at ang hirap mag-catch up. but i always find it flattering whenever she says na bilib sya sa kin. hahaha.... nagpapabola ba? she's always saying she admires me for being able to cope with all the acads, and work, and wedding preps, and somehow still find time to "enjoy" the everyday things in life. parang ganun. haha.

she's not seeing the weird things that's been happening to me though. as in, inaaway ko na si tabs, last wednesday when he was begging off our date nainis talaga ko. i was fuming mad no amount of apologies or what could really calm me. medyo nakalma lang ako when i got home. the next day i can't pinpoint why i was mad at all! waaahhh! nahihibang na ako!

yesterday i was cramming for my presentation at syempre inaaway ko pa rin sya! i was complaining about a lot of stuff and panicky that i won't be able to do well in the presentation. ayun, after a while mejo ok na rin kami, tapos he wanted to go with us to the bridal fair, gusto nga lang nya wag na si karen kasama ko sya nalang. hellloooo... di naman ata pwede yun kasi karen and i were pretty excited about the fair tagal na. whats more, i want to stay a while sa fair kaya magandang andun si karen. kasi kung kami lang baka 30 mins lang kami dun at di ko pa mabili unity coins ko!!! malay mo manalo pa ko trip to hongkong! bwahaha... (my sense of humor seems to be coming back, must be because i'll have a happy weekend ahead... sana). seriously, i plan to book a bridal car and get the unity coins today. afterwards baka makuha na namin ang wedding gown ko (this excites me!!!!!). i called ready to wed yesterdayand nandun na daw gown ko. makikita ni tabs pero ok lang naman sa kin. its not as if we've known each other for so little time naman. i think the thought of me on that gown on december 3 would still be just as exciting naman. sayang wala pa kong corset.

anyway, two presentations in line pa, tuesday and sunday next week. di bale, kaya ko itoh!!!! go jennie go jennie go!!!

a stressful month ahead

here i am, at 12:13 in the evening, typing away at my pc, with little hope of sleeping before 3 am. i'm actually resigning myself to the fact that this may be my routine for the next 3 weeks prior to my birthday and to holy week. just this evening after class our professor gave out the remaining cases which we will be discussing for the next 3 meeting, all 7 cases! imagine that!!!! 7 cases???? we barely have time to make 1 case in a week, let alone an average of three in a week! what's more, with all of us 9 in class, that gives us a grand total of 3 case presentations! isn't it just ironic? that's only for 1 subject. Oh, by the way, the pay-off for the 7 cases would be an early finish for the Management Control Class, which means 1 less subject to worry about after the Holy Week.

Now we move on to Organizational Behavior. Don't take me wrong, I think this is a good class in terms of subject matter, not so much with the professor, but in class there are a whole lot of insights to gain. Plus the textbook is really great. Now, aside from the finals, which i presume will be after the holy week, there is still the journal to submit, and frankly, in as much as i have a lot of ideas to write on it, based on experiences and my insights on the matter, i just can't seem to squeeze it in schedule. So, unfortunately, this is something that I can only start after the last case in Control is over and done with. That would be after March 13.

Lastly, Marketing. This is turning out to be an interesting class, in as much as i have yet to learn any concepts, I find the insight papers really interesting subjects. I myself will be reporting probably on March 21. Still have to work on that report, but added to it, we still have to submit 2 more insight papers (mar 7 and 21) and we have a class/group project to submit too.

So much for the requirements. All of my three subjects will have finals. For Control its Mar 22, OB and Marketing skeds are yet to be announced.

Bottomline? Wedding preps have to take a backseat at least till after my finals. whew, once i get through this semester i promise i'll sleep at 8pm and wake up late! i'm so looking forward to summer vacation (in acads of course). There's still work, but hopefully after my classes I can really pour 100% of my efforts to work quality and hopefully learn new things.

Waiting for Saturday, Karen and I will be going to the Wedding Expo. This will be the last time I'll go about wedding preps, after this i need to stop it for a while to focus on acads. Its ok though, I have the whole summer to think about my wedding so a few more weeks really don't make much difference.