Look...

...what I got for my birthday!

aww..ain't my hubby sweet? He knows I've been wanting and drooling over this for so long. It's indeed a happy, happy birthday for me! Yipee! I can't wait to install all the softwares & abubots I'll be needing for my digiscraps.

Specs:

• Processor: Intel Centrino 1.73ghz
• Chipset: Intel Alviso-G i915GM/910GML
• 768MB DDR2 (Supported dual-channel)
• 60gb hdd
• 15.1" XGA 1024 x 768 TFT with (Antiglare screen - Clearview Technology)
• Optical Media Drive: DVDrom CDWriter - Combo drive
• Bluetooth Built in

Yummy Birthday Week.

I feel like I celebrated my birthday all week long (with an overly stuffed & definitely satisfied stomach).

Sunday (March 11) - My celebration commenced with a merienda treat at my in-laws' house in QC.  We had pansit malabon, a yummy specialty of Pansit ng Taga-Malabon (near Crossings Department Store), and sweetened our tooth with my fave Red Ribbon Cake, Chocolate Mousse.

Monday (March 12) - For lunch, my boss treated the whole group with a sumptuous Gerry's Grill feast. My birthday also coincided with our monthly Department General Assembly that's why after the formal business talks and discussion, I was surprised to see on the projector the powerpoint greeting they made for me as they began singing and brought out the Theobroma Chocolate Cake which I'm pretty sure was bought in our pantry, lolz.

With all honesty, I'm thankful but was not that ecstatic.  There are some challenges with my job that I'm currently faced with and hurdling right now.  Hurt and confused.  Kaya siguro, that's how I felt that time in the office.

At any rate, I tried psyching and consoled myself. After all it was my birthday and had to shrug off all those crabby thoughts. We had Chowking lauriat for merienda..pansit, lumpia, siomai, chicharap, buchi & rice. Well, at one point, it's indeed nice that our general assembly coincided with my birthday so it appeared like our merienda feast was my birthday treat. Lolz.

Our general assembly ended up a little bit late that's why Paul and I had our dinner later than we've planned. Being the celebrant, of course, I got to pick what I wanted for the night. We had Oil & Garlic Special pasta plus 4 large slices of New England's Best Pizza from Aveneto. After which, I splurged on my current fave whenever we set foot at Glorietta...our must-destination..Timezone! I strut my stuff and beat Paul 4 of 6 linked basketball games, got engrossed with Pairs Strategy Game, action-packed Time Crisis and tried out Daytona Racing (I was such a bummer on the race track!).

We went home at about 9:30 pm and pigged out with a yummy Seafood Carbonara cooked by my sister and his boyfriend.

Tuesday (March 13) - My best buds and I stormed Glorietta again for lunch...this time, it was on me. What did we have? Ang walang kamatayang Oil & Garlic Special Pasta and a Platter Meal (spicy chiken wings, fries, onion rings and "crabsticks"- or
whatever they call it) from Aveneto. Isn't it obvious that I'm really into this pasta lately? Lolz.

Thursday (March 15)- We had another big lunch blowout in the office courtesy of a newly-promoted officemate...pansit malabon, barbecue, chicken lollipop, pichi-pichi, lumpia..everything from Ambers. Again, kunwari handa ko. Hehe.

Friday (March 16) - After work, my colleagues culminated my birthday week with a pampering treat. We had foot spa and pedicure at Sense and Spa in Burgundy Plaza, devoured crabs and shrimps at Seaside Market in Macapagal, sipped some Frozen
Margarita, bonded and made tambay until the wee hours of the morning at Pier One in The Fort.

Whew! What a birthday week! Can't wait on my next.. hehe!

And the RAK winners are...

Just dropping by with a quick note...

1.) I would like to thank everyone for the warm birthday wishes. I deeply appreciate those who remembered and greeted me through my blog, friendster, email, SMS, YM messages..and I even got an overseas call! (thanks pa!) I'll be back with my birthday bash kwento this coming weekend.

2.) The RAK lucky number is 17! Congrats to Meng a.k.a. ambush101 for winning a special digiscrapped mouse pad. *Meng, i will get in touch with you (through YM) for the details*

Didn't I say RAK winners? Yep, I'm still giving away the Digital Scrapbooking magazine to one of my Bebot friends who left me love here. I made a random drawing and a big shout out to Wanda a.k.a. forever yang..*Wanda, the mag is yours. I will also get in touch with you one of these days for the delivery details.*

26, Grateful & a RAK.

I'm turning 26 today.

..and it feels so nice to realize that I'm continually blessed with a lot of things. It indeed feels good to be reminded how lucky I've always been knowing that I'm loved by many...that no matter how hard life is, I'm still living a happy life.

On that note & in lieu of my birthday, I'd love to pass on some RAK (Random Act of Kindness) to my blogger and digiscrapping friends. All you have to do is drop me a note with your greetings, wishes and guess which number from 1 - 26 I'm currently thinking of. I've written this number on a piece of paper and will revert to it on Tuesday at 8 pm to see who the lucky winner is. The first to correctly guess will get:

1.) if winner is a digiscrapper:

or, if she's based abroad or got this mag already, a GC from a digiscrapping store of her choice will be given.

2.) if winner is a non-digiscrapper- I will be sending you a personalized mouse pad with pics of your choice specially digiscrapped by yours truly.

So to all of you who in one way or another touched my life, THANK YOU so much! Please don't forget to say a little prayer for me today.

PS: Perhaps you're wondering why will this run until the 13th? It is because I'm having a 3-day birthday celebration which started yesterday at my in-laws' house in QC; today, with a Gerry's Grill (daw) lunch treat by my boss and with a carbonara & pizza party with my siblings in Makati tonight; and tomorrow as I'll treat the Purchasing Group for lunch.

Birthday Pilgrimage.

Paul & I took a leave from work last Friday and went to Pangasinan with my MIL for our yearly pilgrimage to Our Lady of Manaoag. This was originally scheduled last month but since I wasn't able to file a leave earlier, we decided to have it this week instead. Besides, a thanksgiving pilgrimage would definitely be nice in time with my birthday tomorrow.

We hit the road as early as 6 am and thank God, traffic was not that bad along the busy highways of Tarlac City and Urdaneta.  Uhmm..actually, I was sleeping most of the time while Paul chatted with Mommy, Nanay (her lola) & Maricel to keep him awake while driving that's why perhaps, I didn't notice how fast the trip was. We arrived at 10:20 am...way early for the 11 am mass we targeted to attend. While waiting, we went up to the Lady and touched her miraculous image, dropped the letter of intentions we drafted the night before and wandered in the souvenir shop for a while. We then proceeded to the Church where lots of pilgrims and regular parishioners started to flock to hear the mass. Eversince we started this yearly sacrifice several years ago, there never was an instance in which the crowd was scarce.  The church would always be jampacked especially at the end of the mass where a special blessing takes place. It only shows how much believers this miraculous Lady has drawn.  

We had lunch in KFC Urdaneta and headed back to Manila by 1:30 PM.  We were home by 6 pm with a tired butt (from sitting for a long time) and an exhausted legs for Paul caused by the long drive.  Whew!

She has answered a lot of our personal intentions before that's why we wouldn't mind sacrificing and enduring the long drive just to see Her and we intend to keep this for as long as we can.  

PS: Stay tuned for a RAK tomorrow. :)