Planning for Jaed's First Birthday

I love kids and kiddie parties. My friends who have kids know how much I enjoy planning for kiddie parties. May it be a small intimate gathering at home or a big one just the same as my nephew's first birthday.

When Jaja, Ikang and I gathered one hot Friday afternoon to check out wedding venues in the metro and devour ourselves with greasy fries and burgers at Mcdo and Yummy Korean Ice cream, we all agreed that Jaed should have a theme party even at their own home! 

Luckily for Jaja, me and Ikang have been really hands on with our nieces and nephews that we know a lot about kiddie parties. Jaja, being the kind mother that she is and the nicest friend, loved the idea! Well then, if she loved it? I became obsessed with it. I sent them many ideas everyday! Later on, we all agreed that the theme of the part would be...(drumroll please..) PIRATES!

Cool Pirate Party Ideas 

Oh how I find this theme exciting! We have a gazillion ideas - food, design, tarps, balloons, backdrops, goody bags! Even if it would be a small celebration, I am pretty sure that it would be fun, exciting and memorable for Jaed, his mom and dad....and to his titas too.

We're still finalizing all the preparations. The moment we're done and after we have executed the party smoothly, I will definitely post the pictures and how to plan the coolese Pirate Party for First Year Olds!

Ciao,

Wawan

Reminiscing Mom

I was with her every waking moment of my life and two years after her death I still miss her. No one can really understand why the pain is still inside me. Yes, I have accepted her death but the longing is still there. Maybe because her death was sudden and there were no proper goodbyes. But life goes on for the people around me and I should too. Mom would be happy if I move forward and that's what I have been doing. There are still days that I want to hear her voice and would just do anything to hear her laughter. I only have a short video of me, my nephew and her that I play over and over again and I feel at peace. I know that she is in a far better place now.

One of our last birthday surprises for Mom.

October is her birth month. It's also the month when she died. I wrote an article just in time for her 2nd death anniversary and birthday.


Here's an excerpt:

It’s not easy for a daughter to lose a mother. More if that mother was beside her all her life.

I never had the chance to be far away from Mom except for constant field exposures and leaving the then sleepy town of Palo to study in the best state university in the country. She always made sure that she had regular visits in the metro and it was only a matter of time when our family decided to relocate to Quezon City for good. Mom was evident in my life for as long as I could remember.

 You may check the rest of the article here. 

Me and Mom in one of the thousands of parties we attended together.
I was always her "Chaperone."

To everyone out there, say "I love you" everyday to your Mom and mean it. Make the most out of your time together. Love and appreciate everything she does. You'll never know, you just never know when God decides to take her away to be with Him in heaven. When Mom left us, we were not ready. We had to deal with it and there were many, many "what ifs." I told myself that maybe I should have told her every minute of every single day that I loved her and I wanted to thank you for looking after me all these years. Or perhaps I could have refrained from being the spoiled brat that I was and avoided our petty arguments. Or I should have cherished our intimate talks together and her waking me up everyday coz I might be late.

Mom and Sammy, her favorite dog

Mom lived life to the fullest. She was the joy of the crowd. She stood out in a sea of regular faces. She was beautiful inside and out. She was imperfectly perfect. We kids were blessed to have a Mom as wonderful as her. I used to ask why Mom had a brain aneurysm attack and why it was so sudden. The answer was simple. God didn't want Mom to suffer for so long. God wanted her to have peace and He was so good. He granted that peace to her. 

After her death, I started appreciating life more. I learned how to live life as if it's the last day on Earth. Just like how Mom lived when she was still alive. I hope you do too. 

My kind of Shabby Chic Wedding

My friend Jaja is getting married. When she told me and Ikang about it, I went into dreamland. You see, I really, really, really, really love Weddings! From the time of engagement, to choosing the theme, the motif ideas, the long gowns and bridesmaid dresses, the reception, the bride's gown! Everything. as in EVERYTHING! I waste hours and hours each day checking out blogs and pictures of weddings that are done elegantly. Even my boyfriend is kind of pressured about this hobby. Or so I think. He understands that I do freelance wedding coordination on the side and have planned numerous weddings a lot of times. 


But, Jaja's wedding will be different. It will not be your typical wedding - it's a garden wedding at home! Mind you. And I love garden weddings. If only I had the chance to do have my own garden wedding but I can't. I am Catholic. Jaja is Christian so she can have her wedding. We gave her choices, beach or garden? Being the soon-to-be-bride that she is, she often changes her mind. One day it's a beach wedding. The next day, it's a garden wedding. Upon seeing their nice backyard at home, we realized that yes a garden wedding would be nice. All those lush greenery and chirping of the birds would make a nice backdrop for a garden wedding. She was ecstatic!

Here are some ideas that we have planned:

The backyard will be like this! Heavenly!

White Wooden Folding Chairs which I really love!

And since Jaja wants the motif to be white and yellow there would be lots and lots of white and yellow lanterns, white and yellow pompoms, lights and more lights! I promised Jaja that it would be the best wedding she has ever attended and it would really be her in all its white and yellow glory!

For the invitations and other designs

I might even incorporate gray in the white and yellow motif since gray goes well with it. Ikang and I are really taking this seriously. We are all wedding addicts!

These are just some of the ideas that we are finalizing. I cannot wait to tell you more about it. For now, enjoy and drool over those pictures.

Tell me, do you have your dream wedding? What is it?

Ciao,

Wacky, Weird, Wicked Wawan is Home

I have a confession to make. I stalk Facebook Friends. I guess that's what you get from posting too much of your life online. I made a report on Social Networking Sites a few months ago during the time when a lot of crimes were reported on national television and radio about people who met through social networking sites. Mind you, the outcome was very alarming.

As much as I would like to understand the benefits of these sites, I just find it toooooooo weird that most of my friends now post everything online - from status updates of what they are eating and drinking, where they are at that very moment, what they did last night, who they were with, pictures, pictures and a whole album of pictures! It's scarier than I thought. Come to think of it, do people really care what you are eating at this very moment? And why do most individuals nowadays change their profile pictures every two days, every week or worse, every day?

Sometimes I do not get it. Is it me growing older or is it society that have fallen prey over the disadvantages of these sites? I had friends who deleted me because they said that friendship's over between us. I had close friends before who really do not give a damn about me anymore and I can feel it because they show me weird signs on this social networking sites. I had deactivated Facebook once before because I do not really benefit from it anymore. It's supposed to be a site where people would talk and make kumusta. Not boast about what you have or what you are currently eating - a cheesecake, ice cream, etc. I have two close friends who do not have Facebook accounts and they are quite okay with it. In fact, they do not give a damn. I wouldn't have started it if not for the prodding of my family and friends who were in foreign countries and who I seldom see here.

I do not know if I am the only one who shares this opinion. I have had enough (i love Twitter though) And before you all fret that I have been stalking you, worry not, I only stalk once a month or when I feel like logging in Facebook to play Tetris (yes, I am that addicted.) Most of the time, I do not really stalk and when I do stalk it's for those people who I often talk to or see.

And while I am writing this and ranting away, I just wanted to tell you all that I started a new blog. (How weird of you Wawan!) At least, blogs have depth, blogs have meaning and blogs, well they build communities. 

I used to blog non-stop before having had 3 blogs all throughout college. It was so tiring! Since I missed it, I am back! Below is the header I made. I think it is artistic enough (for me!) to others it might look like trash. haha. I am no graphic artist. I think I am more on the implementation kind and not the visualization. Wicked Wawan will be my own personal blog. Like what the "tagline" says everything wickedly good. As you can see there's a lady (that's me in black and white). In this blog I would talk about everything that I find wickedly good -buildings (i love churches and old buildings!), food and wine, travel (i would be launching a new travel blog..stay tuned!), books (i try to squeeze in reading when I have the luxury of time, art (oh i love art, i really do), art films, etc. Of course I would also be talking about weddings, family, friends (better hide!), love, life, freelance writing, my favorites sports - running, football, airsoft and everything in between. Wicked Wawan will be my online diary of sorts.

So before you get mad and "unfriend" me in the social networking sites, I would like to welcome you to my new wacky, weird, wicked online world. This is my new virtual home so welcome, welcome, wecome. I would really appreciate it if I see you around. For now, take time to get to know what the blog is about and more information about me.

Ciao,

Wawan

p.s


could you tell me more about the header? is it..uh artistic enough? haha