Let me fill you in

Hi Everyone, sorry it's been awhile.. (seem's like this excuse is getting pretty old:) anyway it's been crazy the last couple of weeks, most of you probably dont know that Chad and I worked at the same place, the same department and belong to the same team too, we even sat across each other (only devided by a desk wall).. anyway the 3rd week of November is when we received the bad news, we knew it's coming, it was just a matter of time.. anyway we're both made redundant (well the whole department anyway).. and yes this is due to the economic crisis, so we've been busy looking for jobs..we decided that we will just take it easy during the Christmas break and we'll look harder next year in January..since most businesses are closing during the Christmas break, so most of them are not hiring until after Christmas..with all of this going on, Chad and I decided to booked our flight to Japan in March crazy huh??:) i would love to go and do a Europe trip but its expensive at the moment so we settled for Japan ( we got cheap flights plus we'll be staying with friends most times.. we're both very excited! Last week, my Australian citizenship application has been approved and hopefully i will get sworn in on Australia day the 26th of January to become an Aussie:) and yes i will be applying for a dual citizenship, still am proud pinoy!! anyway for now I still work 1 day a week as an administrative Assistant in the consulting firm but even that is a little slow because of the holiday season.. So we hope that 2009 will be a great year for us..I wish you all a Safe Holidays!! Happy Christmas and a safe and wonderful new year!

continuation - A day in the park

Cricket in action
Take two Ava kissing mummy
Chad and moi - paparazzi shot by Ben hehehe!!
Take two, i dont know what i did my somehow, the photos from the post disappeared, so here it is. Take two!!

A day in the park

Top pic: Ben and Ava

2nd picture: Chad bonding time with Ava,

3rd Pic: Jacob, me and Isaac

bottom left: us

Bottom right: Ava giving her mummy a kissy.



Chad invited us to come see him play cricket (this was last Saturday), His dad, his sister(Hope) and hubby (Ben) along with bub Ava and 2 of his nephews Jacob and Isaac, when it got a little bit boring to watch, we explored the park and took some photos.

A day in the park

Cricket Season

Practice hitting at the nets!


The Ranger's Team (Left)









Chad's team mate giving him way after he scored
106 out of 52 balls (which is excellent result). The black and white photos are taken during their practise session, warming up!





For those of you that doesn't know what cricket is, it's one of the most loved sports here in Australia, as well as in England, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh, West Indies etc, and it's played here in Oz during the summer season,If you have never seen it before, you would probably think the same way i did when i first watched a match on TV, you would think that it's the most boring game ever..but strangely enough i fell in love with the game (unfortunately) lol:) it's not because of Chad but this sport is actually very interesting to watch, Chad love's this sport, he's actually been playing it for 3 yrs, he plays for the Rangers Club under Queensland Churches Cricket association and he plays every saturday from 11am to 5pm, since this season started i haven't actually been into any of the matches and sadly i missed the matches where Chad scored a lot of runs:( - i was babysitting that day!! But they took some photos when Chad's walking out of the field (when he got out). Here are some of the photos.

cricket season

For those of you that doesn't know what cricket is, it's one of the most loved sports here in Australia, as well as in England, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh, West Indies etc, and it's played here in Oz during the summer season,If you have never seen it before, you would probably think the same way i did when i first watched a match on TV, you would think that it's the most boring game ever..but strangely enough i fell in love with the game (unfortunately) lol:) it's not because of Chad but this sport is actually very interesting to watch, Chad love's this sport, he's actually been playing it for 3 yrs, he plays for the Rangers Club under Queensland Churches Cricket association and he plays every saturday from 11am to 5pm, since this season started i haven't actually been into any of the matches and sadly i missed the matches where Chad scored a lot of runs:( - i was babysitting that day!! But they took some photos when Chad's walking out of the field (when he got out). Here are some of the photos.

September

I cant believe i'm only posting now, i had the whole month off (September) and yet i only manage to post something now, sorry everyone! I guess i was enjoying my time off work and didnt really think of it heaps, i was having too much fun just sitting around doing nothing, well not really doing nothing, i've watched dvd's, read books and went on a walk in the afternoons and... i did lots of cleaning (general house cleaning) since i havent done it for awhile, so i thought it would be the best time to do it..

Why did i take the whole month off work you might ask! - Well i was feeling really tired, i guess you can say that i've hit the wall- so i thought i need some time to re-cooperate and as well as personal reason, while having the time off work, i enjoyed sleeping in every morning.. well that's not entirely true because i still got up early to teach seminary but i went back to bed afterwards:) September is almost gone so i better prepare myself and go back to work next week, i think i'm not so tired anymore, i actually feel refresh, so i dont mind going back to work, a month is sufficient enough to relax don't you think? anyway, there's not much happening with us really, Chad's cricket season is starting soon (this Saturday is his first game), he's got a week off University this week and this is the last week off for seminary as well, next week will be full on again..and oh, Chad and his sister are having a sort of combined 80's birthday party this Friday (well this is mainly Paige's party bday party, but she having it on Chad's actual birthday so Chad invited some of his friends as well, so will post some pictures later:) that's all for now, until next time!!

Bullocks moments...

Another one of my "not so clever moments".. i seem to be having a lot of this things lately, It's our deadline at work, very busy of course and on top of that i seem to be getting all of the irate customers, I wasnt having a very great day and i'm not a happy camper at all!!Anyway while i was on my break, my boss was handing out a copy of our new rosters and oh by the way 2 weeks ago, i emailed the person that is in charge of the roster cc'd it to my immediate boss about my new availability, so i was expecting them to give me the hours that i requested since i rarely change availabilities, I have always work the hours they gave me happily and without complain, eventhough, there were suppose to change my availability every month automatically, have been working with this company for 4 and a half years to date and if i remember it correctly i probably have changed availabilities 3 times, upon receiving my new roster i found out that not one day that i was rostered according to my request, anyway i emailed my supervisor and told her " i'm sorry but i cannot work these hours as i have other commitments", she emailed me back and said, just email this X person and get it rectified and p.s. she said - it's really hard to get your roster right especially when you change your availability so often (this was coming from my supervisor). Well i didn't take this comment very well at all, upon reading it, i was agitated and angry that she said that, as i've mentioned earlier, have been working with the company for 4.5yrs and have only requested to change my working hours 3 times max, so i was sitting there fuming and mumbling to myself, " I don't believe this!!", i need to vent out, so i thought i will forward my boss's email to Chad and winge about it at the same time, so i wrote an email that's a little out there(angry email) - but remember that i'm venting out because i'm upset, and wrote somethings which i shouldn't have, hit the send button!! and as soon as i did it - i thought i saw my bosses name in the To: section instead of Chad's name, i realized right then and there that i replied to my boss's email instead of hitting forward and send it to Chad.. Whooopsy Daisy, this is Bullocks!! oh dear oh dear is the only thing i can think of to say:) I have no means to stop the email from going through is there?.. so there's no point fretting, so i just let it go and moved on and i said to myself "Well at least my boss now know how i feel:) After 10 minutes or so, i got an email back from her saying: Is this for me?? - I replied - No! - it wasn't intended for you it was meant for someone else, i was venting out and upset that instead of hitting forward, i hit reply, oh well at least you now know how i feel!! I thought that she will reply and say - You're fired Irene but instead she emailed me back and said - It's okay! you can vent out anytime you want:) So see how bullocks that was?? lol:) Well she haven't fired me yet.. so watch out for my next blog.. because that's probably the next subject hehehe.... stay tune!!

Leave it to the Pro

Such a rookie mistake!! Friday night the 1st of August 2008 at 7.30pm, the boys are playing Xbox live (Chad and his younger brother came over for a cricket training for the next day, that's why he's over that night, so he's also able to witness my stupidy), Anyway i was bored.. so i decided i should do something to amuse myself right?? aside from reading books or watching a dvd..so i said to myself why not do some girly stuff?? (that's a great idea Irene i mumbled!), went to the bathroom and started looking in the cupboard under the sink where i keep my girl stuff, like waxing strip etc..:), since i havent pluck my eyebrows and they're kinda getting bushy (well i'm exagerating) and i'm starting to get a mustache too lol:) so why not wax?? so i did my mustache first - the result - fantastic!!, then hmm i should do my eyebrows too right?? i might as well. NOTE: I'VE NEVER WAX my eyebrows before on my own, my hairdresser always done it for me. So to save myself from those one by one plucking sting, i might as well have a go at waxing at least i would only have to feel the pain ONCE, so i've put the strip on, then i counted one.. two.. three...and then.. ripped and SCREAM!!!! NO!! wait i didnt scream because of the pain, i screamed because of the result: whaaaaa!!! (, Chad came in to check what's wrong, (by the way this is a good technique to get the boys attention away from the XBOX:) but not a very bright idea to make yourself a complete idiot:( anyway, so i showed him, and he said why did i do that??am i stupid or stupid?? - what a nice way of empathizing right??, but that's Chad, that's how he lets you know he cares:) anyway he walked away went back to whatever he's doing while i was busy patching it up, Chad and Cody is having a great laugh of their life (I am the laughing stock by the way).. anyway to make the long story short, he took a photo of me.. and would not stop laughing!! So i said to myself from now on, I will leave the waxing to the pro's, because i wouldnt want to have a patchy eyebrows ever again.. good thing there's MAC the eye line -thank goodness, and what a good coincidence that i have a fringe or a bangs as some people would call it. So whatever you do, don't repeat my rookie mistake, there are somethings that are better left to the pros:) like waxing for example - unless you trust/brave enough to do it yourself, which i thought of myself by the way but still ended up with a very bad result.... so until then.. or should i say till my next embarasing moment:)

it's unbelievable

I lost track.. or should i say i can't keep up! there's so much on my plate at the moment, Full time work, full time seminary teacher, full time wife lol:) anyway i just couldn't keep up with the demands of my daily lifestyle i guess:) well time for an update! - Chad's back to university, still have a couple of semesters to do but i'm happy that he's getting close to finishing; I have been working as a personal assistant/ admin/ office manager in a consulting firm, lots of paper work - I just can't believe how many documents lawyers have to copy and file, it's unbelievable!! aside from the paper galore, everything is good, i like being in the city, i love to window shop on my lunch breaks but there's a negative side to that, see.. i'm kinda compulsive buyer/shopper sometimes, so normally i ended up buying a couple of stuff which i don't necessarily need:(, to solve the problem, i decided to leave my money/cards at home and just bring enough to buy lunch and stuff, although i'm getting better at it i must say, but the shop-a-holic side of me was pretty disappointed most times:) Last Sunday after church, Chad and I went with some friends to an International Day (adoption thingy) whose going through a process of adoption just like us. It's fun seeing different kids whose been adopted to Australia from all over the world dress up with their native dress/clothing and performed their native dance or sang their native song, lots of beautiful kids, it's comforting to know that we're not alone, and it's amazing how many couple's going through the same thing we are..Pity i forgot my camera that day so i wasn't able to take any photos at all! But it was indeed a great fun day! I think i'll have to stop here now, i hope to blog more soon.. i gotta go and finish my lesson for tomorrow!! Scripture Mastery Faire is coming, so i'll be better prepared! Au Revoir!

Long Week end Labour day getaway- North Stradbroke Island

Pictures were taken on our Sunset walk and the Gorge walk in the morning, we enjoyed swimming everyday on the beach eventhough it was a little cold when you first got in to the water but it felt fresh after a little while, we enjoyed staying there, it surely is like a paradise.. we love it!!!

The Phantom of the Opera

Chad and I went to see the Phantom of the Opera production before they leave Brisbane, many have seen it before us and we were told that its fantastic, so we decided to see it ourselves - and they were spot on!! it's worth all the penny:)
We had dinner first at the Satay Hut (Malaysian Restaurant) the chicken Satay sticks - appetizer was excellent yummy.. Chad had Malaysian beef curry and i had Mee Goreng, all the dishes was beautiful but we only ate a little portion of it as we're a bit filled with our entre, what a waste!! anyway, after the lovely dinner we had to make our way to the theater.. We were both blown away about th production, everything was excellently done, the actors were fabulous and the singing, acting, dancing, orchestra etc., I cant say anything else but BEAUTIFUL!! everything was just perfect, we loved every single minute of it, I wouldn't mind going and seeing it again if i can..The Phantom was just so delightful(Anthony Warlow) to watch..It was a great Experience indeed.. and we had fun..

Fun time

Its been awhile since my last blog i know..i'm finding it hard to keep up these days.. what's up with us you may ask?? well here's a short recap - still mourning over the death of our fishy’s – they died one by one, they had parasites – I think we killed them when we went crazy cleaning the tank and put some new gravels in it, the next day they had a tiny white spots all over their bodies and we didnt what it is ( we didnt know that it's parasites), how they got it? absolutely not sure but we suspected that it could be from the new gravel that we've put in there, Chad went to the pet shops and asked for an advice, but he was told basically that we cant do anything about it.. thus they died one by one, it was really sad, they are cute fishes, they all had their own characters, so now we only have the one cleaning shrimp left and 2 snails, we cant buy new fishes for at least a month, we have to clean the tank first and let it recover. Anyway enough with that - on the Week ends we had our friends kids with us for the night and one day, they are gorgeous kids, we didnt realize that kids gets up early in the morning hahaha lol:) it was a good experience and good practice for us lol:) here are some of the pictures we took of them and us -

We also welcome the newest addition to the family, Ava Marie Hurt on the 19th of April, she weighs a whopping 10.2 lbs but she's gorgeous..we went to visit her on sunday after church and we got to hold her for the first time:)

Ahead - i cant wait for Friday, Chad and i are going to see the Phantom of the Opera before they leave Brisbane, i've seen the movie but never saw the actual play.. many that have seen it said it's brilliant, i am so excited.. so hopefully i wont be too lazy to give you an update soon..

Back in Brissy safe and sound

My Plane landed at 6.30pm on the 17th of January in the Manila International airport and got all my bags and stuff by 7pm, the weather is not too bad, the humidity was slightly higher than Brisbane but it wasnt bad at all, it didnt feel like you were in the oven :) Mys sister Linda came to picked me up. I forgot how crazy the traffic was, we didnt get to my sister's place until 9pm!! YES you read it right 9PM, 2 hours drive for what you normally drive for just 10-15 minutes if you are in Brissy. Anyway, first day back in the Philippines - my other siblings, my mum along with my other 3 half brothers, and some cousins came to see me, We had a big feast and all, lots of laughs, singing karaoke, etc, Good times:) And that was my routine while Chad is still in Australia, but on the 2nd of Feb Chad came to join me and it was even better because i feel complete (haha!! sooooo corny - Jerry Macguire:) we then traveled to see my Dad in Isabela which is 10-12 hours bus ride north of Manila, (Chad loves the bus rides - kidding haha, i'm being sarcastic - he hates it with a passion:) We stayed there for a few days, we had fun, enjoyed the river and the enjoyed the Rice paddies and never ending corn fields and then when we had enough of it, we went back to Manila, and in between those travelings we had to meet some friends from Hong Kong and stuff, then more bus rides for Chad yahoo!! (poor thing) went to my visit my mum in Laguna (3-4hrs bus ride south of Manila depending on the traffic).. man Chad must be loving this, but hey its all worth it in the end because he adores Laguna, he loves it because its really Green, lots of Coconut trees and bananas, the Weather is beautiful - nice and cool, very different to Manila type of weather, Chad and i also just had our 5th year wedding anniversary on the 7th of February and this is one of the reason why we had to go back to Laguna because we wanted to take a picture at the same place spot we took our picture 5yrs ago - Charming!! haha just kidding:) the place still looks very pretty as it was, but Chad and I gained a few extra baggage since then (what a shame!!). Overall our trip back to the Philippines was very pleasant, we enjoyed catching up with family and friends, enjoyed the foods, the shopping (this was only applicable for me - because Chad hates shopping:) pampering and everything..aside from the incident at the airport when we're leaving and you dont even want to know about it, trust me..its totally different story, Got to see and meet my 2 nephews and niece for the first time, 40 days over was well spent and worth it!! I'm feeling a bit homesick right now, but I am also very happy to be back at my homes comfort:) Below is the before and after picture i'm talking about..


taken 5yrs ago before we got married in 2003


just taken recently Feb 2008

My plane landed at 6.30pm on the 17^th of January in the Manila International airport and got all my bags and stuff around 7pm, the weather is not too bad, the humidity was slightly higher than Brisbane but it wasn’t bad at all, My sister and her husband along with their eldest daughter (2&8mths old) picked me up at the airport. I forgot how crazy the traffic was, we didn’t get to my sister’s place till 9pm!! Yes 9pm – the driving distance would normally take about 15 minutes if you are in BrisbaneL. First day back in the Philippines- my siblings, mom and my other 3 half brothers and some other cousins came to see me, we had a big feast and all!! Lots of laughs, singing Karaoke, etc. Good timesJJJ!! That was my routine while Chad is still in Brisbane, on the 2^nd of Feb Chad came to join me and it was even better, we travelled to see my Dad in Isabela which is 10-12 hours bus ride north of Manila, Chad hates those bus rideL we stayed there for 4 days and we went back to Manila, after 2 days we travelled to my mums place (in Laguna) which is 3-4hrs bus ride south of Manila (poor Chad – more bus rides!) but Chad loves Laguna because it’s very Green and the weather is really nice and cool, very different to Manila, Chad and I also just had our 5^th yr wedding anniversary on the 7^th of Feb and the photo below was taken at mum place in Laguna (which we used as our wedding invite photo then) and we took another picture 5yrs after on the very same spot – charming (kidding), the place still looks pretty as it was but Chad and I gained a few extra kilos since then as you can see. Overall our trip back to the Philippines was very pleasant, I really enjoyed catching up with my family and friends, enjoyed the foods, shopping, pampering and everythingJJ I got to meet and see my nephews(2) and my niece for the first time. 40 days was well spent and worth it!! I am still feeling a bit homesick right now but I’m also happy to be back J.